A Midnight Stroll

by Vargras

Party of Two

Luna had heard of this place before. Her sister had come here for an event, and Luna had been forced to stay behind at Canterlot - she was still recovering, after all. It wasn't like she had a choice in it. She was about to knock when she found herself face to face with a pink earth pony, the mare's impossibly-curly mane going every which way.

"Ah, you must be Pinkie Pie. My name is-"

Pinkie gasped aloud, a comically large smile plastered on her face. "Princess! You got the invitation! Oh, it's so good you could come! C'mon, the party just started!"

"Invitation? But I never got an invitation to any parTYYYYYYYY!"

Before she could even finish, she found herself being hauled through Sugarcube Corner with a strength not expected of someone such as Pinkie Pie. Soon enough, Luna was seated at a table filled with all kinds of sweets - a large banner hung overhead, with the lettering "Gummy's After-After Birthday Party-Party-Sleepover". The Princess winced as she felt the strap of a party hat smack her chin - like it or not, she had been 'invited'. Pinkie Pie popped in front of her, shoving a plate full of cake towards her.

"What's a party without cake, right? And just think of everything we can do afterwards! We can play Truth or Dare, Pin the Tail on the Pony, dancing, ghost stories! Gummy's gonna have the best after-after birthday party-party-sleepover ever!"

Lunk blinked at her, ignoring the cake for the time being. "I'm... sorry, but who's Gummy?"

"Oh, that's Gummy!" The pink mare pointed at Luna's crown - at the very top, Gummy tried in vain to nibble at the Princess' crown. Any other pony might have been irritated or frightened, but Luna simply watched it instead.

"It's... an alligator?"

"Yep!"

"With no teeth."

"That's right!" Pinkie Pie threw a ball of twine away from the table, Gummy hopping off Luna's head to give chase. The Princess couldn't help but smile as she watched the small alligator chase it around, nudging the ball with its nose.

"That was a kind thing you did, Pinkie Pie. I doubt it would've lasted long in the wild with no teeth."

"Huh? I just thought he was cute. But that works too! C'mon, you haven't eaten your cake yet!"

"Oh alright." Luna eyed the cake before her and gave it a sniff - it smelled a bit like chocolate with some cherry thrown in, but with Pinkie Pie, you could never be sure what you were getting. She thought back to her earlier encounter at Sweet Apple Acres, and decided that if it were anything like a s'more, she had nothing to lose in trying. The Princess gave it a nibble - a test, nothing more - and let it sit in her mouth for a bit while she formed an opinion. Pinkie Pie sat mere inches away from her, a smile on her face as she waited for the Princess' reaction.

"Weeeeeeeeeeell?"

"It's good. Really good, in fact. I haven't had cake like this in a while."

Pinkie edged even closer to her, and was quite literally eye-to-eye with her at this point. "You mean it?"

She was uncomfortably close, but Luna didn't really have anywhere to go. "Pinkie Pie, may I um... finish my cake?"

The pink mare suddenly hopped off the table and ran off to play with Gummy. "Well of course you can, silly! Why wouldn't you be allowed to finish your cake?"

Luna simply blinked at Pinkie and sighed before finishing her cake in peace. Just as she began to push the plate away however, Pinkie Pie showed up with another, pushing the slice towards her. "You gotta say that too."

"I'm afraid I don't follow, Pinkie Pie."

Instead of an actual answer, Pinkie Pie instead snorted and began to roll on the floor, laughing all the while. She eventually settled down and hopped back up on the table, leaning over towards Luna once more. "Oh, you know! Don't act like you don't!"

"I... I really don't know what you're talking about."

"C'mon, Princess! The doubled thing!"

Luna stared at her, not quite able to believe it. Of all the things... Pinkie Pie wanted her to do that?! "You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding, Pinkie Pie."

"Nope! Why would I be kidding about that? Now c'mon, say it!"

"No. I absolutely refuse to."

"Aw, c'mon! Pleeeeeeeeease? Do it for Gummy!"

The Princess huffed, her ears flapping in agitation. She looked up at the banner raised in Gummy's honor, and her expression softened. "...Fine. I'll say it."

Pinkie Pie was grinning ear to ear at this point, and ran off to quickly grab Gummy, bringing him back so neither of them would miss the occasion. "Okey dokey lokey! Ready!"

"Ha ha. The cake has been doubled."

"Yay! The Princess said that just for you, Gummy! Tell her 'thank you'!"

In response, the tiny alligator clamped onto Luna's nose, gnawing feebly on it. She simply sighed and stared at it, though Pinkie was quick to pluck him off. "Aw, he likes you! C'mon Princess, time for some games!"

"But I haven't even finished the ca- what are you doing? Oh... oh goodness."

Pinkie Pie was already hard at work on blindfolding Luna, giving the fabric a tug to make sure it was tight over her eyes. Satisfied, she placed a paper tail in the Princess' mouth and gave her a good spin. "Time to play Pin the Tail on the Pony!"

Luna, who had hardly been expecting any of this to happen, had a rather hard time controlling herself - the Royal Canterlot Voice slipped out here and there. "WHAT IS GOING ON? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"

"Whoa Princess, why is your text so big and... boldy?"

"WHAT TEXT?"

"Er... nevermind. Enough spinning for you, though! Go pin the tail!" Pinkie Pie gave the Princess a good shove, and slowly but surely, Luna wobbled her way over to the paper pony that had been pinned on the wall. She felt herself begin to fall, and was about to curse such a dreadful game when she felt herself stop - and Pinkie Pie was laughing.

"What? What's so funny, Pinkie Pie?"

In between snorts and giggles, she finally managed to answer the Princess. "Take... take off your blindfold and see for yourself!"

Irritated by the entire ordeal, Luna quickly pulled her blindfold off, eager to see what was so funny - she wasn't expecting what she saw, and soon she too found herself rolling on the floor in laughter. Luna had managed to completely miss the intended paper pony, and had instead pinned the tail to a poster of her own sister, Princess Celestia. What made it all the better was that the tail had been pinned firmly to her chin, giving her the appearance of an incredibly long beard. She had never expected to see such a thing, but the sight of her sister with a beard caused her to laugh harder than she ever had in a very long time. The two ponies rolled about on the floor, laughing, giggling, and snorting, until they finally managed to calm themselves down.

"At first I thought that was a terrible game, but... pinning the tail on my own sister made it worth all the trouble. I haven't had a good laugh in a while. Thank you, Pinkie Pie."

"Noooooo problem! That's what I do, after all - the laughing, not the game. Well, yeah, the game too. I guess both?"

Luna nodded and smiled, but a quick look out the window showed her that the night was beginning to run out. "I had a very good time, Miss Pinkie Pie, but I'm afraid I need to be going."

Pinkie's mane deflated, but quickly poofed back up. "You won't even stay for more cake?"

"I simply don't have the time."

"Aw. Well I'll just send you another invite for the next party! Say bye to the Princess, Gummy!" The alligator blinked at the Princess, then began to gnaw on a balloon. Pinkie Pie leaned over towards Luna and whispered, "That means 'Bye, Princess'."

Luna stifled a laugh and slowly made her way for the door. "Have a good evening, you two. Try not to make too much of a ruckus."

Pinkie Pie waved at her as she departed, even while Gummy frantically gnawed on her mane. "Night, Princess Luna! Tell your sister she has a lovely beard!"

Comments

[Meta Knight]

♫♥I look forward to reading what happens next in your story♥♪

[Vargras]

29170
29176
Thank you for the comments, both of you.
If anyone reading has any feedback they'd like to post, please do so. The story is still a work in progress, and I'm willing to make changes if it means improving the story.

[Steelhooves]

Hehe "The cake has been doubled!" I litterally

[Vargras]

29185
Apologies for the terrible humor, but I simply had to put in a reference to that episode in Pinkie's chapter. Besides, Luna wasn't too happy about saying it either.

[Autumn Wind]

What I see here is a cute fic of simple fuzzy fun, and that works pretty well.

HOWEVER

I feel you could improve your story by detailing a bit more on the events. It feels like you're really rushing through things, I think you could stand to give Luna a bit more time with each pony, develop her a bit more.

Keep at it, you've got promise.

[Vargras]

29236
Luckily, it's not yet complete, so I can go back and add to things if necessary. Luna is trying to rush through all of this in a single night, so it's not as if she has an infinite amount of time. It's surprisingly difficult to keep a sense of urgency, yet still make it feel like she's spending a decent amount of time with each pony.

Thanks for the comment, I'll go back and make adjustments.

[Vargras]

29246
Not to worry, I likely will be going back and further revising some of the chapters. I'm pretty happy with the length of Applejack's chapter, likely won't change much there - same for Dashie's. I do think I rushed through Rarity's chapter too quickly, so there will likely be additions there.

[Vargras]

29273
I had intended Pinkie's text comment to be the only real fourth-wall break, as I'm aware that repeated use of the same gag can make it rather tiring.
What was the second one you saw?

[Professor Donger]

MOAR DAMIT!

[StarSorio]

Funny, seems like it was bit akward. though i lol'd at the "big and boldy text" part. XD

[ColtRazorZX]

Good old Pinky breaking the 4th wall at any moment XD. But man I really love this story.

[Luna4Prez]

29282
I think he's talking about when Pinkie Says "nevermind" after the princess asks what text she's talking about.
It is a little strange just because it implies that Pinkie trying to keep her knowledge of the 4th wall a secret- which is not something we pick up on in the show.
I think it would work better if it was Luna saying "nevermind" giving up on trying to make sense Pinkie's randomness.
If it's not completely disrespectful to do. I just think it would be totally awesome if it was something like this:

"WHAT TEXT"
"Er... Nevermind." Pinkie said uneasily, realizing how close she was to revealing the secret that mysterious red headed alicorn had told her. She was extra careful never to tell anypony secrets. Since loosing a friends trust was the fastest way to loose a friend "FOREVER!"
"Huh?" Luna questioned again, "what forever? Oh, nevermind..." Luna gave up on trying to understand Pinkie.

Anyway- loving this so far. The fourth wall reference is tight- as is the story in total.

[iFiredone]

OH DEAR GOD THE FOURTH WALL HAS BEEN BREACHED

[EmperorJewel]

By Celestia's Beard! This is a wonderful chapter. Especially Pinkie and her 4th wall antics.

[RoyalBardofCanterlot]

Funny and cute.