Ponywatching

by ThunderTempest

Prompt #524-Unorthodox Brewing

Pinkie Pie was known in Ponyville for a lot of things. Parties, generally being a bit insane and being the only pony to ever simultaneously terrify and delight every single new arrival in town were chief among her claims to fame. But a slightly lesser one, though she wished it were higher, was that Pinkie Pie made a mean batch of punch, the recipe to which had remained one of the mare’s few closely guarded secrets. Many ponies over the years that Pinkie had lived in Ponyville had attempted to pry, bribe, coerce or seduce the secret to the party pony’s perfect punch out of her. So far, none had succeeded.

Rarity watched through the window of the bakery, her hooves resting on the ledge to steady herself, and her rear hooves were balanced on Fluttershy’s back. Fluttershy, for her part, was straining and panting as she attempted to keep Rarity balanced.

“Um, Rarity,” she gasped out, as one of Rarity’s hooves shifted and rubbed along a sensitive nerve between her wings, “could you please not move around so much? You know, if that’s okay with you.”
Rarity, however, seemingly ignored the straining pegasus beneath her, and instead stared wide-eyed into the kitchen where Pinkie Pie was mixing up a bowl of her punch. A sheet of paper, stained and yellowed with use, rested on the far side of Pinkie, too far away for Rarity to read, but the fashionista could see what Pinkie was putting into the punch.

“Let me see now,” Rarity whispered, making sure to keep as quiet as she could, lest Pinkie Pie’s almost unnaturally sharp hearing find her. “Seven oranges, juiced. Three lemons, and two limes.” Rarity continued to list off the ingredients as Pinkie mixed them into the serving bowl, and then hand to duck beneath the window as Pinkie Pie suddenly looked around the kitchen. When Rarity raised her head back above the windowsill, Pinkie was alternating between looking at her stained recipe sheet, and taking sips from a glass of punch that she had poured out for testing. Rarity watched as Pinkie Pie smiled, nodded to herself and put the punch in the fridge, and left the room.

Rarity blinked. Underneath her, Fluttershy let out a little gasp as one of Rarity’s hooves found another nerve. Was that it? Was there no secret ingredient in Pinkie Pie’s Super Secrety Party Punch? Maybe Pinkie just told everypony there was a secret ingredient, and then the rest was all in the mind of the drinker, when in reality the punch was really no different than any other. Frowning, Rarity finally noticed the state that Fluttershy was in beneath her, and immediately hopped off the pegasus.

“Oh, my dear, I’m so sorry! I was so caught up in my desire to know, I completely forgot about you!”

“Its okay, Rarity,” said Fluttershy, still wheezing, “Really, I’m fine.”

“Nonsense, dear. We are going straight to the Boutique, and you are going to have some tea, and a nice warm bath to recover.”

Rarity led the protesting pegasus off towards Carousel Boutique, putting the mystery of the punch behind her for a while.

[Time]

Back in the kitchen, Pinkie Pie trotted back into the kitchen, and pulled the punch back out of the fridge, and looked one last time at the final, super secret steps to make the punch perfect. She smiled, held the bowl tightly in her forehooves, and danced. She danced, swirling the bowl around, letting the punch slosh around, and at one point, the entirety of the contents of the bowl were suspended in the air, and Pinkie Pie swept them back into the serving bowl. Then, she tossed the punch bowl up into the air. Her front hooves reached into some deep, unknowable space, and pulled, producing the Party Cannon. Pinkie grabbed the barrel of the cannon with one hoof, caught the punch bowl with the other, and poured the punch into the cannon, and then pulled the firing cord on the cannon.

Punch sprayed out of the cannon’s mouth in a long, frothy stream, shooting straight back into the punch bowl. With a kick of her hoof, Pinkie sent the Party Cannon back to wherever she kept it in between uses, and placed the punch back in the fridge, and then proceeded to cartwheel out of the kitchen, humming to herself, satisfied that the punch was perfect, and that her secret had remained so for another day.

Author's Note:

Written for Prompt #524: “Pinkie’s Brew”
The Prompt: The secret to Pinkie Pie’s Punch

Comments

[Themaskedferret]

Nicely done, one of your better ones.