Like Mending Glass

by Eyeswirl the Weirded

Chapter 13: Fashionably Late

Today had been interesting, Blueblood decided. Not only due to finding a long-hidden pirate's hideaway, but a realization he'd been mulling over since the moment it occurred to him to start deliberately setting off traps. I actually knew what to do there. It was still a dangerous enough situation, but with an aim of some sort, a goal besides not getting killed in a few seconds. Triggering traps on purpose with projectiles from a safe distance, though he was still a little worried for himself and the two foals at risk, gave him a little bit of the feeling he'd had when speeding down the street towards the construction site, or sword-fighting Trixie before that. Now, walking through Ponyville at night, nary a thought to spare for winged horrors, he felt he understood why.

In all of those events, I stood a chance! I held my own well enough against Trixie's cutlass to not feel cornered, Vinyl's plan to survive the impact sounded solid enough, -it wasn't, but at the time it made sense- and if anything disarming the remaining traps after that frantic dash had been too easy. Maybe it's just a matter of picking battles I might actually win, not just fleeing for dear life?

He chuckled to himself as he thought about Long-Spoon's difficulty in setting up a magical door probably translating to her trap-setting skills in some way, if a grown stallion and two fillies could charge through unscathed. It was the exact opposite thing one should reasonably try to do in that situation, though maybe that was why it worked? Panic-fueled luck or not, it was getting late. He'd head back to the hotel, rest for the night, and try Carousel Boutique again in the morning.

Such were his thoughts when the feeling of burlap enveloped his entire body and the world went dark. He felt an impact, slamming onto his side, it felt like he was being dragged... Am I... Am I being abducted? Is this a kidnapping attempt? He tried calling out to the one apparently meaning to take him somewhere in a sack.

"Uhm, pardon me?"

No response.

"I, uh... I have to ask, what the hay do you think you're doing?"

Still nothing but the sounds of soil being disturbed by his weight.

"Because if this is what I think it is, you'll soon be sorely disappointed."

With that, he charged up the fire spell in his horn, no inhibitor, the accessory of choice for any that hoped to capture a unicorn, adorning it. He kept it small, so as not to have the flames blaze out of control and cook him, just the part of the sack against his horn, which quickly burned away, enabling him to pop his head through the hole and into the night air. He turned to the direction he felt he was being dragged only to have something forced down his throat with the help of a funnel, followed once more by darkness...

---

Bright lights. A pleasant change of pace, though perhaps not when shining directly into my eyes.

Blueblood sensed he was on his back, clenching his eyelids at the uncovered lightbulbs above. He tried to sit up only to find he'd been tied to the surface on which he lay, a very dull ache on his stomach. Ok, he thought with more than a hint of anxiety, don't panic, you have a spell for this... Which one was it? Intangibility would work for the binds, but I'd likely sink into the table and be much worse off, I'm not sure I can aim the fire spell well enough to burn only the ropes, I STILL haven't gotten around to practicing teleport like I keep meaning to, maybe there's something around here I can use to cut-

SLAM!!

He jumped, so to speak, at the noise of door abuse, seeing his captor for the first time. He was nearly certain he'd heard of a mare of this description, even heard her voice once or twice, but she looked... Off. Pink fur, pinker mane hanging limply from her head, bright blue eyes, and a wide smile that reminded him a little of the mare he saw in Everfree. Cringing at the memory, he shifted gears while desperately trying to remember a spell useful for his predicament.

"H-hello there Miss Pie," He forced a grin, "wonderful timing, if you could just untie me, we can vacate the area at once!" Slow-fall? No. Repair? No. One of the grooming spells? No. With the cleansing spell, he could probably make the ropes on each limb the cleanest ever tied to a captive, but doubted it would do much good, long-term.

Pinkie Pie took a few steps closer, closing the door much more softly than the way it was opened. "Hiiiiiiiiiiii, Prince Blueblood!" There was a short-lived twitch in her face as anger briefly entered her inflection. "You're late, ya know! Not just for the party I had waiting at Zecora's place, but the one in the hotel, the one in Twilight's place, the one in Sugarcube Corner, You missed them all." She giggled girlishly, stepping closer.

Uhmmm, smokescreen spell? No. Light orbs? No. There's that spell I picked up just a little while ago, but I have no idea what it does! Save for opening large, eerie doors, that is. Have I tried telekinesis? He looked for around quickly for anything he could use to free himself as Pinkie approached, her grin growing wider.

"I'm almost glad I didn't set up any parties in the other places I looked for you," she said with something like a laugh, "You'd have probably missed those too!"

It was too dark everywhere outside the circle of light projected by the one directly above him to be sure, but from what he could tell, there was nothing in the apparently blank room. Nothing, nothing at all, don't I know any other spells?!

Pinkie climbed onto the table, her eyes locked onto his, drawing closer...

He struggled in vain against the restraints, desperately trying to pull off the sort of look he'd given Screw Loose the other day. "P-perhaps there's been some sort of misunderstanding, I was never given any sort of indication as to-"

"It was a surprise party." She drew closer, standing over him, not blinking.

Blueblood sputtered, rapidly running out of ideas, even panic wouldn't do much good here. "W-what, I, h-how could I have known if it-"

She was nose-to-nose with him now, he could smell cake frosting on her breath. "Don't worry," her eyes narrowed, "I have everything figured out..."

As he started to whimper, trembling, something changed in her expression. The smile didn't seem so forced, her eyes, blinking again, looked somehow friendly, and her mane POOFED to fluffy proportions! Standing on the table, forehooves extended upwards, she shouted. "SURPRISE!!"

The blinding lights he'd first been treated to dimmed, replaced by less luminous ones around the room, revealing what appeared to be the set up of a foal's birthday party, akin to what he'd woken to in the hotel.

Pinkie looked back to him, giving what would be an adorable smile if he weren't nearly certain that it was her who strapped him to a table after abducting him in a sack. "Welcome to Ponyville, Prince Blueblood! Now we can finally have that party!"

He blinked, feeling a lessened, but not entirely absent, sense of threat now. "Party?"

She giggled, snorting once or twice. "Duh, I've been trying to set up your welcome party for days now!"

He kept his voice calm, feeling that keeping as diplomatic as possible was important at the moment. "...If you know I've been in town for a few days, is a welcome party really still neccesary?"

She didn't seem to hear him. "Of course, nopony else could make it, something about 'too many other parties this week,' and, 'I don't think he'll attend this one either,' and, 'if I eat any more cake, I'm gonna be sick!' Well, that's just fine, it's still a party with only two ponies, right?!"

He looked around for anything he could undo the binds with. Streamers, some torn and ripped, balloons, a few clearly popped, a snack table full of things he wasn't sure were safe to eat, though thoughts of poison were perhaps an unrealistic pessimism, no knives or anything, he thought. Why did I never learn how to undo knots?! ...Because I'm a unicorn? Hoo-rah for we weilders of magic. Stalling for time it is. "Err, y-yes, still a... Party." He cleared his throat, forcing a grin somewhat easier. "So, what shall we be doing, then?"

Pinkie beamed, drawing a clipboard from within her mane. "Hide-and-seek, check! Next up is tag!" She touched him with a hoof. "Tag, you're it!"

Blueblood could only hope his silent stare was question enough as to why she'd run behind the snack table, him being in no condition to chase her. Wait, this is perfect! He gave the most charming grin he could muster. "You know, it's awfully difficult for me to play like this, perhaps if I were out of-"

Pinkie zipped to the table, pressing a hoof to his mouth. "No can-Tag.-do, Blue!" She winked conspiratorially, "I know you're the best there is at hide and seek, but I gotcha once, and it's too soon to play again!" She stepped back, allowing him to speak. "How about a board game?"

I'll think of something. He smiled a bit. "Such as?"

---

A game of Parasprite Trap, Guess Hoof, Two games of Checkers, and a strange game involving two bent boards, a variety of aerial objects, such as clouds and birds, and guessing spaces at random hoping to hit something the mirrored space on the other player's board. Seemed like a pegasus war-game. All of this passed and Blueblood was no closer to escape than he was sleep, having gotten little rest in his time spent unconcscious. Telekinesis was, at least, a suitably lazy way to move his pieces, when needed. They were currently playing Chineighse Checkers, and judging by the way Pinkie was also moving her pieces around apparently at random, he wasn't the only one wearing down.

They'd gotten to talking over however long they'd been here, with no shortage of interesting stories from Pinkie Pie. She lazily waved the forehoof she wasn't using to move a piece on the board, giggling. "And then we had to start the WHOLE investigation over, with Twilight wearing the detective hat!"

Blueblood had long ago given up on strategy in this game, instead settling on moving one of his pieces to every corner of the board. He grinned. "Your deductions were certainly theatrical, at least."

She giggled again, resting her head on the table not occupied by cardboard, plastic, or trapped royalty. "Yea, but they were still all wrong." Her smile held strong, but her eyes flickered with regret. "I'm kindof a dummy-mummy sometimes."

"Dummy-mummy?"

She grinned, momentarily jubilant as she sat up and waved her forehooves emphatically. "A mummy acting dummy, 'cuz their head's wrapped in funny, like the dummy mummy has rummy in their tummy, but the rummy-tummy mummy isn't funny, so we call them dummy-mummies!" And then her head hit the table again, frowning.

Not even trying to process that, he moved a piece to break the following awkward silence, a small part of him gleeful for another corner conquered in the name of Blueblood The Explorer. "We all do silly things now and again, you recall my excursion to the cake factory?" She had laughed harder than what seemed warranted when he'd told that tale, suggesting he should have made a cake of pure frosting and left it on somepony's desk as a prank.

Pinkie sighed a bit. "Silly like kidnapping somepony so they can make friends, when you're the only one in the room?"

He raised a brow. "What?"

She rubbed her head against the table in a nod. "That's the whole point of these things, I throw parties for new ponies in town, invite everypony to come join in, and they make friends." She waved a hoof around the room, vacant of life apart from the two of them. "I don't want anypony to be lonely, y'know? Kinda like this, if there were one less of us."

"Ah. Sorry about that." Blueblood had only the faintest understanding of why he, the one still strapped to a table was the one apologizing first, but if Pinkie was anything like Fluttershy, he didn't care. "I really didn't intend to cause you so much trouble, my activities visiting your town thusfar have been largely made up as I went. The most far-reaching, most concrete plan I've had was probably to go to sleep, wake up, and try to meet somepony I owe a debt to around here."

Pinkie was perfectly still as she stared at him for a few seconds, but it passed, as did the smile that flickered across her face. "Sorry I put you in a bag, hit you with a rolling pin, and tied you to a table in the basement."

He blinked. "You hit me with a rolling pin...?" Is that why my stomach hurt a while ago...?

Her eyes widened in realization for a second. "Err, well, I-uh, it's, um..." She gave the widest abashed smile he'd ever seen. "Sorry?"

There was a short-lived awkward silence following the statement.

"I'd call it even if you untied me, you know."

It was fascinating to Blueblood how calmly he'd said that. He was sure he would once have shouted and threatened in this situation, but felt more relief than indignation when it was clear, mostly, that he wasn't going to be brutalized. Or made to behave like an animal for somepony's twisted idea of natural beauty. Shouting didn't seem to work on Photo Finish, either...

Pinkie nodded and undid the knots of rope, either not worried he would flee and fetch the nearest authorities he could call for, or not caring if he did.

Getting his hooves on the ground and stretching a bit, Blueblood smiled, Pinkie wearily returning it. Oh, come to think of it! "When I first arrived in town," he ventured, "I'm told I was caught in a well-placed, well-timed trampoline. How did-"

"Twitchy-tail, itchy-hoof, switchy-tongue," she stated, grinning, "Something falling, incoming fancy pony, and it's time to move the trampoline again!"

Her cheerful expression didn't fade in the entire four minutes the nearest fancy pony struggled to interpret what he'd just heard. He gave up. "R-right, well nonetheless, thank you for saving my life that da-AY?!" He was suddenly gripped in a pink vice. Working out that this was a full forehooves hug was much easier than the trampoline thing.

"Doooon't mention it, Blue! I fall out of my candy-copter sometimes too, I guess that's why they leave flying to the pegasus ponies!" The intensity of her embrace somehow didn't lessen as she counted off imaginary digits on her hooves. "And bat ponies. And alicorns. And griffons. And Rarity that one time. And birds. And bees. Ooh, but not birds and bees, that should be kept on the ground, probably indoors, too!"

Blueblood acknowledged he was following along perfectly by turning blue and letting out a pained wheeze.

"Oh!" Pinkie released her captive for the second time in under ten minutes, stepping back and smiling apologetically. "Sorry, I kinda forget what I'm doing while doing other stuff sometimes." Thinking the following statement somehow positive, she beamed. "That's usually how I fall out of the candy-copter, too!"

Breathing normally again, the prince determined that not intently listening to every word this pony said may be in his best interests. "You know, all things considered, this went a lot better than the last time I was abducted."

Wide-eyed shock was not quite the desired effect of that statement.

"D-does, uh..." Pinkie glanced toward the door. "Does that happen a lot...?"

He looked to see what she was apparently checking for, but saw nothing of note. "Nnnnoooo...?"

He was milliseconds from asking why, apart from the implication that he'd been kidnapped at least twice in his life, she wondered that, -he hadn't told her about the Photo Finish incident or the time with the three foals- but Pinkie spoke first, grinning ear to ear. "Wannatrysomecupcakes?! They're SUUUPER-duper tasty!"

Taking a second to work out what was said, he looked to the snack table. Cupcakes, cookies, candycanes, and a pie? In what's most likely the early hours of the morning? He was about to, politely, in case she still had that rolling pin and wasn't as stable as she appeared now, decline the offer of sugary sweets in place of a meal at such a time, but a thought from earlier in the day rang in his head. 'What would Vinyl Scratch do?' He grinned. This wouldn't be a perfect imitation, as he couldn't conjure something to make offensive amounts of noise or bob his head the whole time for the complete experience.

Trotting to the table, the prince lifted a slice of pie in his magic, took a quick look around, and took a bite straight out of it, disregarding years of instruction in use of silverwear. Grape! Pinkie joined his lack of etiquette with gusto, smashing her face onto the table where a cupcake had been with worrying force, licking her lips when she got up again. She beamed, her now perfectly-flat face popping outwards to it's normal proportions in an instant. Having not eaten since the picnic with Discord, this did nothing to diminish his appetite, frightening a thought as that was. He ate like he'd sometimes wanted to as a colt.

---

"So, I'll seeya in a few weeks?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die, unless I should sprout wings and fly."

Pinkie gave him a lopsided look. "That's not how it goes at all!"

Blueblood had been coerced to attend a proper welcome party, if only because of all the effort she'd gone to and the fact that he still hardly knew anypony in town. What better way to improve one's reputation, afterall, than getting to know ponies a bit? It still came second to his goal of repaying the owner of Carousel Boutique, but Pinkie was apparently burned out for parties for a little while anyway, and would need to regroup after so many supplies were wasted in the first half-dozen attempts.

Standing outside building he'd been dragged into, which might have been the same one he was eating green waffles on the roof of what was now yesterday, the prince chuckled. "How did it go again?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

He nodded, repeating the words and hoof-motions while faintly thinking of Zecora. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, while for now I say goodbye, I'll be back again, Miss Pie."

Eyes widening in surprise for a second, Pinkie drew both forehooves to her mouth to keep from laughing, and failed. She still tried to keep the noise down, ponies were trying to sleep.

Blueblood only grinned, distantly abashed at the silliness. Rhyming was still plenty of fun. "Goodnight, Miss Pie."

She might have returned the sentiment, but it was hard to tell through her gigglefits, eyes tearing up as she fought to keep from waking the neighborhood.

He returned to the hotel he'd been in the night before, paying for himself this time while making the note that he was running low on bits. Come to think of it, I should probably head home soon, I've been away for, what, four days now? Wouldn't mind having my Skeleton Key either, maybe see if Auntie needs anything, if anything's happening back in Canterlot. But first, sleep, followed by a visit to the pony he hadn't repaid yet.

Author's Note:

Hope this wasn't too forced or too dull, but at least Pinkie's party-planning headaches are over. For now...

Comments

[The Richmaster]

I love the idea of Pinkie getting frustrated by not getting to throw a party and the overall interaction felt pretty fitting

[Shadowshame]

Well at least pinkie didn't go full blown we all know how horrifying that is