There's a new unicorn in town and she's just learning about friendship, something that the local pink baker excels at. Pinkie's mission, to bring the joy of friendship to Twilight even if she actually hopes for more.
Twilight moves to Ponyville, learning about friendship with the help of her five best friends. Little does she know that one of these friends has always wanted a little more than friendship. Can she learn about a new kind of friendship? How does 'Pinkie Sense' work? Will two of the most polar opposite mares in the town ever realize what they mean to one another? Find out in the story of the Party Animal and the Bookworm!
Edit: yes, I've changed a few things if you are re-reading this. I'm trying to get it all updated and fixed up; please let me know if anything's wrong. Gwg is a HUGE help in editing this among all my other work.
If you don't like it and give it a thumbs down, please let me know; I like to learn what I did wrong to either fix it or grow from it.
For Pinkie Pie, it was just another day in Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds singing away and the Cakes gave her the day off since it was the Summer Sun celebration. They had gotten caught up with all the baking they would need and the big catering job for the festival at town hall.
So Pinkie hadn't much left to do but trot through town to help with the preparations. If there's one thing that the pink earth pony did well, it was help plan and host parties. She had gotten a sense that today was going to be special and thought that a quick walk through town would help pin-point why it would be such a nice day.
As Pinkie Pie walked along, waving to the various ponies she knew, she saw a glint of light reflecting off of something in the sky. As she looked up, she was slightly surprised to see a golden chariot heading towards Ponyville.
(I wonder who that could be. The princess isn't due to come yet and I don't know who else would be important enough to use a special chariot but you never know and maybe they need a tour of Ponyville and they're hungry which means that we should stop by Sugarcube Corner and they would be so happy they would LOVE to be my friend and then maybe we could be bestest friends forever and we'd have so much fun and I better go meet them right away! We have lots of baking to do!) With this chipper thought in mind, the pink mare trotted over to where the chariot was landing.
After a moment, the chariot took off for the skies once more and in its place: a purple unicorn and a purple and green dragon. As Pinkie Pie contemplated how one could befriend a dragon, she got a better look at the unicorn who was speaking with the dragon.
Before she could really look at the new mare, the wind blew the purple unicorn's scent towards the party pony and she closed her eyes to sort through the new smells. The new mare smelled of books and ink and and magic! She opened her eyes once more as she stood in front of the purple mare, fully intending to start off her introductions and friend-making process when she felt a special Pinkie Sense go off.
The party mare paused as she felt this 'sense' occur. It was one she never before felt but her Granny Pie had told her all about which 'sense' was for what and how to figure out what any new ones meant.
First her heart beat stopped then sped up to a rapid pace as her mind went blank. Then it seemed as though the world around the two mares disappeared and they were the only ones left, which suited the pink mare just fine. Pinkie Pie knew this was a super special Pinkie Sense, one that she thought she would never feel for anypony else. As realization of what the Pinkie Sense meant, the party mare gave a large GASP and took off to start planning a 'Welcome to Ponyville and please be my bestest best friend!' party.
The purple mare was rather shocked at this behavior and decided to ignore her first attempt at speaking with the locals.
As Pinkie Pie gathered all the needed supplies for the party, she replayed how the unicorn's voice sounded so cute when she hesitantly said 'hi'.
(Oh my GOSH. She is so super cute! She was all shy and nervous and I wonder if she has any friends? Well, she seemed kind of lonely actually, which is something that I, Pinkie Pie, must correct! So I'll invite everpony to the party, but where to have it? Well, she did smell like books and ink and things, ooooohhh, she'll want to go to the library then! You can only get certain kinds of smells when you really really really like something and she MUST like libraries and so she'll have to go there eventually and that would totally be the best place to have the party! The party will be easy peasy to set up, but to add a more personal touch, I better follow her and see what kinds of things she likes. Not that I'm following her because she is so pretty or cute or anything...)
And with this non-stalker-ish mindset, the pink mare began to follow the purple one as she went about her checklist of things for the Summer Sun Celebration. Pinkie Pie thought it was both cute and funny how unsocial and easily frazzled the purple unicorn was and Pinkie Pie was able to learn her crush's name relatively quickly, the small dragon seemed to really like calling Twilight by name.
(Even her name is really nice! Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. Like how her eyes sparkle. So let's see, that's the Apple's to invite, she even got Rainbow Dash to work right away! So Rainbow Dash to invite, Rarity, and well, maybe she did scare Fluttershy a little, but she opened up in the end which so totally cool! I guess we can't have too loud of music then because Fluttershy would be coming.... Alright, time to get the party ready! Oooooohh, she's gonna be so super excited and surprise!)
(Why isn't Twilight out enjoying the party? Did I not get the right cupcakes? Was the punch too much? Hmmmm, hey! There's Spike, maybe he knows!)
The pink mare hopped over to the purple and green dragon who was dancing near Rarity, trying to show off his moves. As a means to surprise him, Pinkie Pie put a lampshade over his eyes and made him guess who it was.
“Uhhh, Pinkie Pie?” The dragon wasn't sure, but out of all the ponies he met at the party, Pinkie Pie seemed to be the only one who would place a lampshade over someone's eyes instead of using hooves.
“Wow! You're an amazing guesser! Can you guess where the pony of honor is? 'Cause I can't and this wouldn't be a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party if the pony who's being welcomed isn't here! I've searched all over, she's not under the tables or hiding behind books and there's no book forts and -” At this point Spike put a claw over Pinkie's muzzle, he had a feeling that she wouldn't stop otherwise.
“Well, maybe I can guess where she is. I'll go and see if I can get her to come out.” Spike took his claw off her muzzle as Pinkie Pie simply nodded gratefully.
As Pinkie Pie watched the young dragon go up and come back down alone, she got more nervous. She wanted this night to be really fun for Twilight so that she would want to stay in Ponyville and Pinkie Pie could get to know her more. As Spike told her what Twilight had said (well, more like paraphrased) Pinkie Pie resolved to stick to the unicorn's side like icing on a cupcake to make sure she had a good time.
(Who knew that some evil Mcevil pants would come and now Twilight has to go find some elements of harmony? I sure didn't! Well, I mean, I knew this night would be special, but not that special! Oooohhh, my poor bookworm, she's having a hard time finding a book. I bet because she didn't come out during my party for her and look around the library... Elements of Harmony, elements, elements... Hey look! Elements of Harmony, a Reference Guide! I wonder if this is what she was looking for...)
Soon all six ponies stood in front of the Everfree Forest, a forest some said was cursed or just plain unnatural. One pony in particular was having a blast, nothing brought ponies together better than a good party or a dangerous trek to save pony-kind!
After making it half-way to the castle of the royal pony sisters, the six ponies came into a thick forest. Using her night vision and Pinkie Sense, Pinkie Pie knew that nothing was wrong. She was concerned at first as to why everypony else was so scared and yelling. Once she saw the problem though, she just had to laugh. A bunch of silly faces on trees! As Pinkie Pie saw Twilight's face though, she knew she would have to do something to set their minds and hearts at ease.
(And what better way to do that than a SONG! Oooohh, I bet she'll love this one!)
Even as the ponies faced more problems, Pinkie Pie remained in high spirits. She had gotten her new friend to laugh. And not just any kind of laugh, but a full belly roll onto the ground laughing. It was almost as good as when she first saw the purple unicorn, but really, what could top that?
Even when they got to the final boss level and it seemed hopeless for a moment, Pinkie Pie kept faith in the power of friendship, which was second only to the power of parties. It didn't surprise her one bit that they represented the Elements of Harmony, she knew that the group of ponies around her were special and it only seemed fitting.
As the heroes returned to town and everyone threw a celebration for the return of the sun and Sun Princess, Pinkie Pie noticed that Twilight didn't seem all that happy; especially after Princess Celestia asked if Twilight was ready to go back to Canterlot.
It was at this point that Pinkie Pie froze in worry. She wanted the purple unicorn to stay in Ponyville so they could get to know one another better.
(Canterlot? She's going back to Canterlot, but I thought she would want to stay here! I mean, that's what the party was for, and then we went on a death-defying journey to save all of pony-kind from eternal night and we are all friends and I don't want her to leave...)
Just before Pinkie Pie could start to cry or even plead that Twilight should stay, Twilight herself asked to stay. Princess Celestia smiled upon her student and dictated to Spike to note how Twilight was to stay in Ponyville and learn more about friendship.
The party mare could hardly contain her happiness, she was the first to go and give the purple unicorn a great big hug. She knew that this was the start of an amazing time and that this was going to be super fun and exciting!
(This is going to be soooooo good! I'm so excited, are you excited? I've never been so excited, well except for that time when I went GAAAASSSPPP but really, what can top that? It's not every day that you meet your future special somepony. I hope she'd want to be my special somepony. But I need to learn all about her first! Oooohhh like her birthday! Birthdays are good days for parties and confessions of love! Or her favorite color or book or thing to do or cupcake or ….)
“Hey Twilight! Can I ask you a question or a billion?”
Pinkie Pie knew it wasn't good to stay cooped up inside all day and night, she just HAD to get Twilight out of the library. Twilight wasn't use to life in Ponyville yet and spent most of her time in the library tree, studying.
(But what would convince her to get outside? … Oh oh! Cupcakes! That always makes me want to go outside! If I make a bunch of different ones, I can ask Twilight to taste test them, then she'll want to be outside! Oh, wait; a picnic! That would be perfect! But I wouldn't want to leave out the others... I'll just invite them all, and then Twilight can't say no, because everyone else will be going too! Then I'll have Twilight taste test right afterwards. This is the the most perfectest greatest plan!)
Pinkie Pie bounced into the library, in search of a pony needing a picnic. A quick look showed that the purple mare was by the desk, reading a couple of books at once while she made cross references. The hyper mare hopped over and landed right next to the unicorn who gave a small jump of surprise while dropping the books she had been levitating.
“Hey Twilight! I had this great idea, what if we had a picnic! We'd have it in the park, for a park picnic, unless you wanted it somewhere else, then it would be a somewhere-else picnic, which could be fun too! I'm inviting everyone else as well! Do you want to come? Do ya do ya do ya?” Pinkie Pie asked as she leaned in towards Twilight, staring straight into her eyes.
“Umm, I don't know Pinkie...” Twilight hedged as she backed up a little from the pink pony. She magicked the books once more to get them off the floor and neatly stacked them next to the desk.
Pinkie Pie's smile faltered a little and turned into a full blown pout with puppy dog eyes as she knelt in front of Twilight, putting both hooves together in the begging position. Twilight sighed as she closed her eyes, trying to block the view but knew that it was still there.
“Please please please with sugar on top and a cherry and those little star sprinkles you like and just the right amount of fudge and caramel and -”
“Alright! Alright Pinkie. When is it?” Twilight couldn't believe she caved in so quickly and rubbed at her temple, Pinkie's rush of pleas were hard to understand at high speeds.
“YAY!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she jumped up from the floor. “It's at noon and in the park near the old oak tree. I'm off to invite everypony else! Bye~!” Pinkie flew off to invite the rest of their friends as Twilight merely shook her head at the speed and response. Somehow the pink pony could get Twilight to do just about anything when looking at her like that.
Twilight sighed as she turned to the books and checked the clock. She still had two hours, she could finish a book or two.
“Spike! Remind me about the picnic in two hours, I'm going to try and get a little more reading done!” Twilight shouted as she pulled a book over from the stack next to her.
“Ok Twilight.” Spike agreed as he dusted the shelves from on top of a ladder, shaking his head in shock at how quickly Twilight had given in to Pinkie's puppy-dog eyes.
Pinkie Pie zoomed into the Boutique, where Rarity was putting the finishing touches on one of the many dresses in the room.
“Hey Rarity! Are you hungry? 'Cause I am! Let's have a picnic! A park picnic! Pack your nicest blanket, it's going to be a great day~” Pinkie almost-sang as she hopped around the unicorn who had stopped in her tracks to watch the pink mare.
“Um, sure darling. When is it?” Rarity asked as she took off her red glasses and set them on the nearby table. Pinkie Pie had stopped right in front of the grayish-white unicorn and grinned.
“It's at noon and not a moment too soon. See you there!” The party pony said a little louder than needed as she turned around rapidly and hopped out of the Boutique.
The unicorn blinked a few times before shrugging at the usual antics of her friend and went in search of her best blanket. One simply does not have a picnic on the grass! She began to search her well-stuffed closet for just the right blanket for the afternoon's picnic.
Pinkie Pie's next stop was at Sweet Apple Acres, in search of a certain cowpony who was at the time applebucking in the west fields.
(As if she would be doing anything else! Ha ha, ooohh, that means that she'll have some delicious apples on hoof for our picnic! OH OH! And that would go great with cupcakes! Sweet!) The pink mare thought of all the food they would have at the picnic as she jumped from tree top to tree top on her way to where the orange mare was kicking.
Pinkie Pie hid in the next tree that would be bucked and once the cowpony was underneath, she popped out with a “SURPRISE! COME TO THE PARK PICNIC!” Once she finished yelling, Pinkie Pie had a huge smile on her face at the cowpony's surprise.
Applejack fell forward and tottered for a moment before settling all four hooves onto the ground once more.
“Consarn' it Pinkie Pie. You sure did give me ah heart attack. What's this about a picnic?” Applejack looked up to the pink mare as she frowned a little at having been surprised like that.
“I'm inviting everyone to a picnic in the park. Could you come and bring some of your great apple food?” Pinkie Pie asked as she jumped down and landed in front of the other earth pony.
“Well shoot. 'Course I can sugar cube. What time is it?” Applejack asked as she settled her hat more firmly on her head (it had almost come off when the pink pony surprised her).
“It's 10:15 right now! But don't worry, you have plenty of time to get ready, the picnic's not until noon! See you there!” Pinkie Pie said as she zoomed away, heading on her way to find the speedster and much shier friends.
Applejack just shook her head with a smile and turned to head back to the house, she'll need to get cooking to meet everyponies' hungry needs.
Pinkie skipped over to Fluttershy's cottage, she still hadn't found Rainbow Dash yet but hopefully the other peagasus knew where she was. As she skipped up to the small house, she saw that Rainbow Dash was performing some tricks to the crowd of animals and peagasus below in the field that was to the left of the house.
With a last flourish of a spin and flap of the wings, Rainbow Dash landed down and Pinkie Pie could just barely make out the sound of Fluttershy congratulating the cyan pony.
“Hey guys! Gosh, those were some cool tricks Rainbow Dash! Did you guys want to come to the picnic today? There'll be lots of yummy food and everyone else will be there! It will be at noon and it'll be in the park. It will really cool!” Pinkie Pie asked as she walked up to the two peagasi.
Fluttershy gave a 'meep' of surprise at the sound of another pony and hid behind Rainbow Dash, who merely rolled her eyes. By the time Pinkie finished her question, Fluttershy had mostly came out from behind the cyan mare. Pinkie Pie kept her voice softer and did less sudden movements so that she wouldn't scare the cream-yellow mare.
“Sure thing Pinkie! Sounds good to me. I'm going to go and get some more practice in before hoof though, I'll see you guys there!” Rainbow said as she took off in a flash of colors.
Pinkie Pie tilted her head a little at the sudden take-off, and turned to look at the remaining peagasus.
“Oh.. um.. hi... uhm.... If... If everypony else is going.... I guess... I could go...” Fluttershy muttered, while she scrapped her right hoof on the ground.
“Great! See you there Fluttershy. Sorry for scaring you.” Pinkie said as she turned and walked away. She didn't want to scare the other too much with her sudden speed.
“Oh, that's .. ok... bye...”
(Everyone is going to be able to make it, even though it was short notice, and it's promising to be a very super-duper yummy picnic! This is working out great! Pinkie Pie, you are a genius!)
Soon the seven friends met in the park, with only one tree nearby to offer shade. It was a rather nice day out and perfect for a picnic. The food was great, a mixture of apple foodstuff and desserts. Everyone was enjoying the food and having a great time.
Rainbow Dash was sitting next to Fluttershy and telling her about her latest heroic adventure. Fluttershy listened and oh'ed and ah'ed at all the right moments, giving her cyan friend her moment to shine.
Applejack was sitting under the nearby tree with her hat pulled down over her eyes, taking a nice nap to relax.
Spike was trying to impress Rarity with some tales of his work in the library, to which the unicorn half-listened as she drew on a notepad some inspirations that came from being outside and with friends.
Pinkie Pie was sitting next to Twilight since she wanted the purple unicorn to be the one most relaxed of the group. Luckily, Twilight was enjoying herself, relaxing in the sun with good food and great friends. The party mare watched as the studious mare's body slowly loosened from all the work in the library, to which Pinkie gave a great big smile for a mission accomplished.
The seven friends spent most of the afternoon sitting in the park enjoying each other's company and the food. But like a party, all good things must come to an end, and everypony else had things they had to go and finish before the day was over.
“Sorry darling, but I must get back to work. It was a marvelous picnic; we simply must get together again. Toddle-lo!” Rarity said as she packed up the blanket and walked home to finish her dress making, notepad of new ideas tucked away in her saddle bags.
“Ah gottah be going too, sugar. Applebucking waits for nopony. Thanks for the picnic Pinkie Pie. See y'all later!” Applejack said as she headed back to the farm, refreshed from the relaxation.
“Yeaaahhh, I gotta go too. I want to try and work on my latest tricks for the Wonderbolts! I call it, the Amazingly Awesome Rainbow Flash! Once I got it down, I'll show everypony. See you guys later.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew off in a flash to the open skies.
“Oh um... I've gotta go too, if that's ok... Thanks for the picnic, Pinkie Pie. It was lovely... bye..” Fluttershy quietly said as she flew close to the ground towards her cottage, where her animals were waiting to be fed.
Luckily, Twilight didn't have anything else to do and was content to stay in the park reading her book, while Pinkie Pie planned to stay and have her test out her latest creations.
(All according to plan!) Pinkie Pie thought to herself as she rubbed her hooves together for a moment before turning to look at purple mare.
“Hmm, well, the library should be fine without me for a little longer and it really is nice out here. I think I'll just keep reading for a while longer.” Twilight said as she settled back onto the ground with her book open in front of her.
Spike had gone with Rarity to help carry the supplies back to the Boutique, so the librarian didn't have any pressing duties to do at the moment.
“Okie dokie lokie! Oh oh Twilight! I just had this great idea! I'll stay here with you and you can taste test my latest creations of cupcakes! I promise they're super-duper extremely wheemly yummy!” Pinkie Pie said as she hopped around the unicorn.
Twilight rolled her eyes and gave a small sigh, though she smiled all the same at the pink mare.
“Sure Pinkie. What kinds did you make?” Twilight asked as she put her book away, she wouldn't want it to get dirty. Cupcake frosting was SO hard to get out...
“Weeellll..... I've got lots and lots, but we can play a game where you GUESS what kinds I made! This way I know you are really tasting them! Hehehe.” Pinkie giggled as she plopped down in front of her friend, setting the basket of goodies in between them. This earned another eye roll and small smile from Twilight who decided not to question where the basket came from.
Twilight managed to guess at half of the cupcakes offered to her, and while most were pretty good, some of them could have used some more thought before being made.
(Jumping bean cupcake? Really? I'll have to give her some pointers about what things are ok to try and cook and what's not.) Twilight thought as she ate other cupcakes to get rid of the taste of the weirder ones.
Soon they were out of cupcakes and Twilight really just wanted to read. So she sat on the nearby bench and opened her book.
“Well, that was, um, yummy. Thanks Pinkie Pie; though you may want to re-think some of those ideas. If it's alright with you, I'll start working on reading my book.” Twilight said as she settled down, while keeping an eye on hyperactive mare.
“Sure thing Twilight! I'll just be here, keeping you company. You know, you really should get out more! Staying inside all the time isn't good for anypony. And get some exercise too! Like how Rainbow Dash practices flying so much! This one time, she was doing some tricks and I was watching and she was like woohm zoom whoosh! And then she loop-de-looped and flipped around and it was so totally hoof-biting action overload! She was like a sun super-star, flying higher and higher and then...” Pinkie Pie continued to talk on and on about the latest Rainbow Dash trick, while Twilight started to tune her out as she read.
Soon the pegasus in question flew overhead and Pinkie Pie paused in her speech as a great idea came to her.
(Oh oh oh! I know, I'll get Rainbow Dash to help me pull off some pranks, maybe that would help Twilight lighten up a little more! Though, she does look really relaxed now... maybe I should cut today's helping of Pinkie Pie short.... Sounds good to me!)
Pinkie Pie laid on the ground in a heap, next to a broken pink machine with propellers on top, everything bent out of shape. She was lying on the ground from where she had fallen, not hurt physically but hurt emotionally as her attempts at hanging out with Rainbow Dash and her new-old friend Gilda were met with failure.
(What a mean grumpy mean meany pants... *sniffle* Come on Pinkie Pie! No sad frowny faces here! What's the best way to cheer up a mopey Pie? Visiting the smartest cutest pony in Ponyville of course! She'll know what to do about this grumpy griffon!)
It was the start of another regular day at the town library, Twilight Sparkle having just finished checking the library for any would-be pranks. She checked all the ink wells for invisible ink, made sure all the books were fine and in proper order on the shelves, and that all the doors were clear of any traps waiting for unsuspecting ponies to walk through.
While this may seem extreme to some ponies, especially considering that this took at least two hours to do, it was necessary when Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were on the loose. Twilight even had to keep checking on Spike who was an easy target for the pranksters, and Twilight didn't want any other extra scrolls sent to Princess Celestia by mistake again.
(Ah, some peace and quiet. Perhaps I can start reading the precursor to my next assignment...)Twilight mused as she floated a rather large book over to her desk.
Just as she opened it up to the first page, the door slammed open and Twilight flinched, though it was a small one. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to be able to have a peaceful afternoon that day to begin with and had expected something to happen. As she looked over to see her newest visitor, she saw a very annoyed Pinkie Pie stomp her way indoors and over to the lavender mare.
While Twilight was tempted to start her reading, the annoyed, dampened air around the normally happy-go-lucky mare gave her pause. Though once Pinkie Pie started to rant at high speeds about some friend of Rainbow Dash's, Twilight rolled her eyes and looked to her book, thinking that the pink mare was once again trying to persuade her to be a more active pony like their cyan friend.
“... And then she was all like 'Why don't you make like a bee and buzz off!' which isn't even funny and I was totally like 'Oh my gosh, she's such a meany mean pants!' and...”
At this point Twilight sighed, resigned to not being able to focus on her book. From what she had managed to hear even though it was all said in high speeds, Pinkie Pie was having trouble with a new friend of Rainbow Dash's and came to the purple mare for help with it. Though Twilight wasn't sure Pinkie Pie would like the kind of help she could offer.
(Well, this would be a good chance to grow in my friendship studies. Learning to share one's friends... Though she was spending a lot of time with Rainbow Dash...) Twilight frowned a little at this, finding that she was mildly annoyed at the focus that the pink mare was giving Rainbow Dash.
Once the purple mare realized that she was getting annoyed at this fact the frown became a little deeper, aimed at herself this time. Twilight didn't know where this new train of thought was coming from and shook her head to focus on the more pressing matter of the hyper mare in the normally quiet library.
(She'll just have to learn to share her friends and not judge somepony, or griffon in this case, after the first meeting. She won't like this one bit...)Twilight's heart twinged a little at having to say this to (and maybe even hurt) her party-loving friend. Unsure where this uneasy feeling was coming from, Twilight turned from her book to look at the pink pony.
“You know what I think Pinkie Pie...?”
“Well, that could have gone better.” Spike said as he settled back down onto the staircase, reading his book on how to cook gem treats.
“Sigh. This is Pinkie Pie we're talking about. You've seen how she acts around others, especially to possible new friends. I'm sure this 'Gilda' just got thrown off by how Pinkie acts and Pinkie just misinterpreted Gilda's reaction. If Pinkie Pie hasn't realized how she comes across to others by now, somepony had to tell her before it was too late.” Twilight said as she turned back to her book and began to read once more.
But the studious pony couldn't focus on it, instead she could only see how Pinkie was annoyed and squeaked stomped out (she wasn't sure how such a movement was possible, but it was Pinkie Pie we're talking about). Twilight tried in vain to continue reading, but the uneasy feeling came back and would show her the image of the hurt party pony, distracting her from the book. After a few more minutes of trying to continue her studies, the purple mare gave up the attempt and stood.
Twilight sighed and closed her book with magic as she turned to look at her assistant.
“Come on Spike. Let's take a look around town, see this friend of Rainbow's and what others think of her.”
After walking around town and asking everypony she saw, Twilight didn't know anything at all about Gilda. The pair went around town asking everyone and no one knew anything about a new griffon in town.
(It's like she didn't even try to meet anyone at all... Maybe Rainbow and her have been too busy catching up...)Twilight nodded once to herself as she continued to walk through town, waving to anypony she knew, which were the ones that came to Pinkie Pie's parties... Which was pretty much everypony. She was pleased to at least recognize most of the ponies around town by sight if not by name, feeling as though she was getting better at the whole 'friendship' thing.
Suddenly there was a blur of pink and an invitation was at placed in front of Twilight's hooves. Twilight used her magic to pick up and open the cream-colored envelope, though she could already guess at what was inside.
(Yep, an invitation to a party. A 'Welcome to Ponyville, Gilda' party huh? I guess she took my advice to heart then.) Twilight thought with a smirk as she turned around and headed for Sugar Cube Corner.
“What is it Twilight? What was that blur? Why are we heading this way now?” Spike fell silent as Twilight showed him the invitation.
“Oh, a party! Cool. What are we waiting for? Let's go!” Spike shouted as he jumped onto Twilight's back and pointed towards the bakery.
Twilight shook her head with a laugh and picked up the pace a little.
(Ah, perhaps someone here has meet Gilda. Let's see...) With that thought Twilight asked the others if they had encountered the griffon. She was about to give up her quest after asking some of the others (it was like the she didn't exist before today!) when she heard that Flutterhsy had met her earlier that day.
“You met Gilda right? What's she like?” Twilight asked as she leaned in a little towards the shier mare.
“Oh, um... I'll tell you later Twilight...” Fluttershy quietly said as she headed towards the organizer of the party.
(Hmmm, that's odd. Normally Fluttershy would have something (usually nice) to say about anyone. I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this...)
As the griffon of honor came to the party, Twilight wasn't sure what to make of her. She seemed like a nice griffon, if a little stiff but that may have been due to having a party thrown for her suddenly.
Twilight felt bad for the griffon, she seemed to be catching all the pranks placed at the party. Most of the others had to put up with a week of increased pranking, and knew that both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were the main culprits to said pranks, so they cautiously did everything at the party. Gilda, however, didn't seem to suspect any pranks and kept glaring at Pinkie Pie for whatever reason.
Twilight became concerned as she watched Gilda get more and more annoyed at each prank, and while she laughed along, she was starting to worry about there being one too many pranks being done to the griffon.
(I thought Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie said Gilda liked pranks? Maybe she likes to prank others and has little patience or acceptance for being pranked... That's not very good, but maybe I'm over-thinking things...)
The turning point of Twilight's internal debate about the Gilda's qualities came when Pinkie Pie rolled out a large cake for everyone to share and Gilda pushed Spike out of the way in a harsh way.
Luckily the dragon was getting used to similar behavior from being near Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, and didn't make much of it aside from that the brown griffon really wanted some cake. Which made sense, the cake did look really good, but Twilight was starting to think it wasn't just that.
After that point, Twilight made sure that she and Spike stayed farther away from the griffon who kept on getting madder and madder as the party went on. The studious pony was also starting to wonder how many more pranks were placed around or if Gilda was just really unlucky that way.
At Gilda's final outburst and the resulting confrontation between her and Rainbow Dash, Twilight gave up the hope that Gilda wasn't a 'grumpy mean meany pants' and stood by her friends facing the griffon.
Once Gilda stormed out and Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash made up (not that there was much to make up), Twilight walked up to Pinkie Pie a little hesitantly, nervous because of the mistake she had made concerning Gilda.
(Gosh, I can't believe how wrong I was. I even misjudged Pinkie Pie! Sigh. I hope she forgives me.)
After apologizing and the subsequent forgiving, Twilight tried to enjoy the party and made sure to send the latest friendship report to Princess Celestia. But she couldn't stop thinking of how much she had wronged the pink pony and kept a close eye on Pinkie Pie to make sure she was doing ok during the rest of the party.
While watching Pinkie play games with eveyrpony else, Twilight tried to ignore the twinges in her chest. She couldn't get the image of an upset Pinkie Pie out of her head nor could she get rid of the uneasy feelings it brought. The purple pony tried to focus on how Pinkie was doing fine now and didn't seem upset at all, but there was a tiny voice in the back of her mind asking 'what if?'.
(I guess this is a double lesson for me. To stick by your friends and to trust Pinkie Pie more. Well that and to get the full picture before passing any judgment or advice...)
It was another sunny day in Ponyville and all was quiet; until the residential party pony woke suddenly and sprang out of bed.
Pinkie Pie blasted from the bed, ready to greet the day. She looked around her light pink room, in search of a little green.
“Hey Gummy! Ready for today? I can tell it's going to be another super-riffic day today!” Pinkie said as she lifted the alligator by his mid-section and spun him around.
Gummy was used to his owner's antics and showed little reaction, though this did not deter the pink mare. The alligator blinked one eye at a time at his owner as they spun around. After spinning for a few minutes, Pinkie set him down on the bed and ran to the window, throwing it open with a bang.
“Gooooooood morning Ponyville! It's another fab-ab-abulous day!” And with that shout Pinkie Pie shut the windows just as quickly and hopped down the stairs to start the early morning baking.
Pinkie Pie didn't want to miss an instant of fun so she always got an early start. Once the first few dozen of everything were done and Mr and Mrs Cake were up and setting up the next few batches, Pinkie Pie went out front to open the store. Usually Pinkie Pie watched the store in the morning and had the afternoon off so that she can have fun and host all sorts of parties around town, though sometimes they switched so she could do stuff in the morning too.
Lately the first customer of the day has been Twilight Sparkle who would order some cupcakes and today was no exception.
( Ooooh, I hope Twilight comes again today! I have a new flavor of cupcake that she's just going to love! Wait, wait, wait, I think that's her now! OoooOOhhHH~~)
The door opened and in walked the lavender unicorn looking around at the shop before resting her gaze upon the pink pony hopping in place behind the counter.
“Heya Twilight! Early again huh? You're my first customer of the day! Again! Gosh, you must LOVE these cupcakes! Oh oh! I have one you haven't tried yet, didja want a Blue Red Purple Berry Merry Cupcake? OH OH! I just made some Chocolate Chocobos, want some of those? Do, Do do Dodo, do do Do do DOOO~!” Pinkie finished in a chipper, somewhat poultry tone.
Twilight smiled at how very odd Pinkie Pie could be and decided not to comment on the somewhat out of place tune.
“Hi Pinkie, yes, I'd like some cupcakes. I'll take some of the new ones you suggested and two of the chocolaty chocolate ones please. What are you up to today?” Twilight asked as she trotted over to the counter, where Pinkie Pie was rapidly gathering the desired cupcakes.
“Oh you know me! I'll be baking in the morning and partying the afternoon away! What are you doing today? Do you need lots of sugar for it? I have more sugary treats in the back!” Pinkie Pie asked as she handed over the paper box of cupcakes.
“No, thanks Pinkie, I don't need extra sugar for my studies. I'm learning about some of the more traditional holidays and histories of Ponyville...”
As Twilight went into detail about what she was going to learn about that day, Pinkie Pie couldn't help but be a little distracted while she listened to her favorite pony explain what she would be learning that day.
(Aww, Twilight looks like she has a lot of studying planned. Guess my surprise-the-bookpony-party this afternoon will have to wait. I better make sure she has LOTS of energy to get through all those books she's going to be reading... Though I should schedule a 'check on the studying like crazy pony' time, just to make sure she's going to make it. Okie dokie lokie! Extra cupcakes and an extra helping of Pinkie Pie later today! Just what the party pony ordered!)
“Thanks for the cupcakes Pinkie Pie. You sure can make some yummy treats!” Twilight called as she walked out of the store while levitating her cupcakes.
“Thanks Twilight, I've had a lot of practice! I'll see you around! And remember not to go overboard!” Pinkie Pie yelled to the leaving figure as she waved a hoof goodbye.
“Hey Twilight. Hhmm, smells like cupcakes! Did you go to Sugarcube Corner again? They make the best treats this side of Ponyville!” Spike exclaimed as he greeted the unicorn by the door and followed her to her desk, where she opened the boxes and shared their contents with the young dragon.
As the dragon enjoyed the snack, Twilight began to levitate the needed items for the upcoming study session. Including her checklist of what to have when beginning a study session AND her checklist of what to have at the end of a study session.
Once all the cupcakes were devoured (Twilight wouldn't want to risk getting icing on her report!) Twilight dug into her books, which were about the history of Ponyville.
[And so the Apple Family was granted cupcakes from the Princess...]
(... Wait. What? Cupcakes? That can't be right.)
[And so the Apple Family was granted the land south of Canterlot to settle upon by the Princess... After their first successful harvest of Zap Apples, which is a mythical fruit from the mysterious forest of Cupcakes...]
(... Oooh, a forest of cupcakes, sounds like something Pinkie Pie would- wait wait wait... Let's try this again....)
[... mythical fruit from the mysterious EverFree Forest, settlers, led by one Stinkin' Rich, began to make cupcakes...]
Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head for a minute.
( Focus Twilight, focus. You just had cupcakes this morning, you'll be fine. You will! Now, from the beginning...)
[And so the Apple Family was granted the land south of Canterlot to settle upon by the Princess. After their first successful harvest of Zap Apples, which is a mythical fruit from the mysterious EverFree Forest, settlers, led by one Stinkin' Rich, began to occupy the land nearby. This attracted more cupcakes that soon lived there along with their relatives, the pies. Pies come in all colors, but most notable is the notorious Pinkie Pie....]
(Alright, that's it! No more studying.... I can't believe I'm saying this! I'll go and further my studies of the Magic of Friendship instead and come back to this when my mind is NOT on a certain food or its creator.)
Twilight got up from her desk with a sigh. She couldn't seem to focus today and she had no idea why. Spike looked over shocked that Twilight was getting up after not even 10 minutes of study; he's seen her go whole weekends before leaving her place at the desk. He wasn't sure if he should be worried for his safety or not and decided on simply following the lavender mare before making any decisions.
Twilight headed for Applejack's first, hoping that some manual labor would help distract her mind from its current topic. She found her orange friend applebucking in the West Orchard.
“Well Howdy Twilight! What can Ah do ya fer? Don't normally see ya about this early in the day.” Applejack paused in her bucking, looking towards the unicorn.
“Hi Applejack. I was just wondering if you needed any help with the farm today. I'm taking a break from my studies and thought some physical labor might help my thought process.” Twilight said as she looked about the farm in curiosity.
“Well, sorry hun, but Ah've got it under control fer real this time. Big Mac is feeling fine again and is working in the East Orchard and Applebloom is working on her chores at the barn.... Ah thank ya kindly for coming ta offer yer help, but we're pretty good here.” Applejack stated as she lifted her hat to wipe her forehead with a hoof.
Twilight didn't quite hear the cowpony as she was looking at the nearby trees, whose fruits of burden were (cupcakes? Really?! Even outside in the air and sun they are GROWING cupcakes? Twilight, you've gone too far with this. I guess helping Applejack won't work out like I hoped.) Twilight sighed as she turned around and headed towards the edge of Ponyville next.
The orange earth pony was a little confused about her friend's lack of reply and slightly down demeanor but shrugged. Trees waited for nopony and they had a harvest to collect.
Twilight made her way towards Flutterhsy's cottage next, perhaps there was something she could do there. If nothing else, maybe she could learn a little bit more about animals from a first-hoofed perspective. As she trotted up the lane to the little cottage, she noticed a blue blur was flying around in the sky overhead. Twilight knocked on the door but didn't get any response.
“Hello? Fluttershy? Anypony home?” Twilight walked around to the backside of the cottage and saw her quarry sitting on a hill a little farther away from the house.
Twilight walked slowly and announced her presence a little bit away from the extremely shy mare, in order to not startle her as much.
“Hi Fluttershy. What are you doing?” Twilight winced as the shy pony still jumped and took off for a nearby bush, while peeking out with wide frightened eyes.
“Oh, I'm sorry Fluttershy, I didn't mean to -”
“HEY! Who's bothering Fluttershy and interrupting my awesome performance?! Oh, it's just you Twilight. What'cha doing around here bookworm?” Rainbow Dash asked as she landed in front of the bush Fluttershy was hiding in.
“Oh... um... hello Twilight.... I'm sorry.... I didn't notice you there ….. uh umm.... and you startled me...... sorry....” Fluttershy slowly came out of the bush and stood near the cyan pony looking at the purple one while hiding behind her mane, though she did peek out to check that she hadn't upset the unicorn by being so startled.
“No no, it's ok Fluttershy. Like I said, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just coming over to see if you were doing anything that would need help with.” Twilight reassured the pony while waving a hoof to emphasize her point.
“Weelll, I was in the middle of an extremely radically awesome performance. Did you want to watch as well, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked as she flapped her wings open and hovered in spot.
“Um, sure. Thanks Rainbow.” Twilight said as she sat next to the yellow mare who turned to watch the cyan peagasus take off for the skies once more.
After a few minutes of breath taking stunts, Twilight began to notice the shapes of nearby clouds...
(Ooo, that one looks like it has those yummy pink sprinkles on it, and that one is a triple layer cupcake with just the right amount of icing on top and – ARRGGG! Not again! This is no good either. So Applejack is out, Rainbow and Fluttershy are out, maybe Rarity has something that can take my mind off of this current topic!)
Twilight got up without a word to either of her friends and walked back into town.
“Hey, where'd the egghead go?” Rainbow asked after having looked at her audience once she was done with her performance.
“Um, I'm not sure... sorry....eep...” Fluttershy cowered a little in place as she looked up at Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow merely sighed and shrugged.
“Well, she's missing out on some awesome tricks! But we really need to work on your cheering Fluttershy...” Rainbow said while glaring at her friend who merely eeped in worry.
As Twilight walked up to the Boutique, she heard a distinct lack of noise from the building. Closer inspection showed that nopony was home, Rarity having gone out to collect more gem stones for her dresses.
(Hmmm, perhaps Spike would want to help her collect those, though he may just try to eat them all first. I'll make a note to ask her when she gets back if she wants Spike to help her with that.... But now I have nothing to do! And I still can't stop thinking about CUPCAKES!........ )
Twilight began to walk around town, hoping to find something to take her mind off of the wondrous treats. It wasn't working so well, since she now saw almost everypony else as cupcakes.
(And there is a gray one with yellow frosting and there's a cupcake riding on a scooter....And hey look! A PINK cupcake! With Cotton candy on top. How interesting. Wait, is that cupcake speaking to me?) Twilight's eyes began to refocus and she could hear her friend's voice even clearer as the cupcake vision swayed and faded away to show a very concerned Pinkie Pie in its place.
“... Oh my gosh! Spike was so totally right! You aren't focusing at all and not even hearing anypony and that only happens when you have a book but you don't even have a book! And now you're looking at me even funnier than before when you were drooling a little and muttering about cupcakes and ….”
Twilight shook her head vigorously to clear it of the icing covered treats and looked back at the pink mare in front of her.
“I'm sorry Pinkie Pie. I can't seem to focus on much right now and was just about to head back to the library to take a nap or something... maybe some tea... tea would go well with some cupcakes.... ARGGG! NOOOooooo!!” Twilight raised her fore-hooves to the sky as cupcakes invaded her mind once more. It didn't help that Pinkie smelled like the treats since she rushed over from the bakery to check on the purple mare.
(Oh no! Twilight's going to lose it again! If only I knew what it was about, then I could help. Hang on a horse drawing minute, did she say cupcakes? OH! Maybe all those cupcakes I had her taste test made her want to learn how to make her own and so now she's just too embarrassed to ask me how to make them!)
“Don't worry Twilight! Your aunty Pinkie Pie is going to help!” Pinkie declared as she patted Twilight's head as the lavender pony stood on all four hooves once more, panting heavily.
Twilight blinked, unsure if she heard her friend properly. “Huh?”
“There's no reason to be shy silly-filly! I'll teach you how to make the most awesome cupcakes ever!” Pinkie said as she pulled Twilight along by one hoof, while still bouncing a little as they headed for the bakery.
Twilight gulped as she realized how she never did explain to her friends about her skills -or lack there of- for cooking of any kind.
“Hey Mr. and Mrs. Cake! I'm going to show Twilight how to make the bestest cupcakes in Equestria! So we'll be in the kitchen!” Pinkie shouted as she quickly led Twilight to the back kitchen to start her teaching session.
Mr. and Mrs. Cake looked at each other and shrugged. Hopefully nothing would go wrong and Pinkie would be able to help out in case they got super busy today.
After three dozen different types of cupcakes, two different kinds of cakes, and four dozen different kinds of cookies, Pinkie Pie was told by the Cakes that they couldn't keep using the store's supplies to teach Twilight how to cook. Twilight hung her head and scuffed her hooves against the floor. Pinkie nodded to the Cakes and turned to the saddened unicorn.
“Awww, Twilight, your last batch was pretty good! You'll get the hang it in no time, I know it! Let's go to your place and continue baking! I just know we'll get to cupcake level in no time.” Pinkie Pie said as she put a leg over Twilight's shoulder.
Twilight smiled meekly at the party pony's attempt at cheering her up, though she gave a small shudder at the thought of more baking.
“No no, it's ok Pinkie. Thanks for trying anyways. I'm just not meant for cooking. I'll leave you to your work.” Twilight said as she headed for the back door.
“Awww, if you're sure Twilight. Here, take the best cupcake that we made today and you let me know if there's anything your ol' auntie Pinkie Pie can do to help.” Pinkie said as she picked up a pink with purple icing cupcake and gave it to Twilight.
Twilight smiled and took the cupcake with her magic.
“Thanks again Pinkie Pie. I'll see you later.” Twilight walked out of the bakery and straight over to the library, she didn't want anything to distract her new focus.
As she entered, she found Spike pacing in the center of the room.
“Hi Spike, what's going on?” Twilight asked as she placed her cupcake right next to her parchment on her desk.
“OH! Hi Twilight. How- how are you feeling?” Spike questioned as he scrapped his claws together and glanced over to the lavender mare.
“I'm feeling much better, thank you! I think I can focus on that report I was going to do. Are all the books still here?” Twilight asked as she looked over what was already written.
(Sigh. I guess I really did have Cupcakes on the brain. Well, now at least I can focus on the right topic, hopefully....)
Spike looked over at the lavender unicorn, noticing that she kept glancing at the cupcake sitting next to her as she worked. He was pleased to see that Twilight was able to focus once more on her studies and was glad that he had gotten the pink baker to help. He had a feeling that Twilight was thinking of cupcakes (he absolutely didn't look at what had been written by the unicorn to come to such a conclusion) and knew that Pinkie Pie would be able to help. Though he wasn't sure why the purple mare had a cupcake next to her, he could have sworn she didn't want to risk getting icing on the report.
In the room above the local bakery known as Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie woke up suddenly and bounced out of bed with a bang and a light rain of confetti. She hopped over to the bathroom where she checked her mane to make sure it looked just right. Seeing nothing out of place and just as bouncy as ever, she gave a happy nod before exiting the room.
(It's an important day for Twilight and I'm going to help make sure everything is perfectly perfect! And what better way than to make the most perfectest food ever?) The pink baker hopped down the stairs to the kitchen.
“GOOODDD morning everypony! Who's up for some baking?” Pinkie Pie nearly shouted as she busted through the swinging door leading to the kitchen. What she saw gave her a slight (only a very small fraction of a second) pause. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were galloping back and forth in the kitchen baking up a storm.
(Oooohh... a baked storm. How does anypony bake a storm? Oh oh! Chocolate chips for rain maybe, and some cotton candy for the clouds or do they just use a storm cake mold? And icing for lightning! I can't believe no one's made one yet! Ohhhh, they sure have a lot of baked goods made already. I know they make really yummy delicious food, but have they tested it for royalty? I wouldn't want anything to go wrong for the visit from the Princess, Twilight would be so upset if something did go wrong... Well, better safe than sorry!) And with that, Pinkie Pie bit into a nearby chocolate cake.
Soon she was mowing her way through all the baked goods.
“Pinkie! Deary, what are you DOING?!” Mrs. Cake shouted as she paused in her baking.
“Well, I'm making sure that everything tastes just super-riffic because if it's not then the Princess would be sad and that would make Twilight sad and I don't like seeing my friends sad and everyone is my friend and ...” Pinkie Pie continued her tirade as she ate through more of the baked foods.
Mrs. Cake gave a panicked look to her husband as they doubled their efforts to try and have something to present to the Princess.
Soon the door opened and the local librarian walked in, checking on the status of everypony in town.
“Hi Mr. and Mrs. Cake! How's it coming along?” Twilight asked as she stepped into the store.
“Uhh, it would be coming a little better if if uh....” Mrs. Cake stammered as she tried to think of how to phrase what Pinkie Pie was doing.
“Pinkie! What are you doing? Those sweets are supposed to be for the Princess!” Twilight cried as she looked at the pink mare who had icing all over her face.
“I know. That's why I'm tasting them. Somepony needs to make sure everything is tasty enough to touch the royal tongue!” Pinkie demonstrated with her own tongue out as she stood above a table that used to hold many delicious baked goods.
“And I, Pinkie Pie, declare that these treats are fit for a King! Or a Queen. Or a Princess!” Pinkie declared as she was about to taste test a very yummy looking strawberry cake that was sitting on the counter nearby. She paused as Twilight started to get mad at her, though reflex caused her to eat the cake anyways.
(I was only trying to make sure nothing was wrong with the baked very goods... Twilight sure is pretty, even when she's all riled up about the visit, she needs cupcakes! That should help her calm down. Or speed her up. Oh hey look, it's Fluttershy! Ooooh, I actually HEARD heard what she said! Without needing my Pinkie Sense to know what she said. She's getting a little louder over time, Dashie's a good influence on her... OoooOOhhh! Twilight's eyes are sparkling again! She must have found something interesting! GASP! And a BLUSH! I want to make her blush! She's even cuter than cute and -)
“Would you like one Pinkie?” Came a quiet voice interrupting the party pony's monologue. As Pinkie glanced towards her shy friend she noticed what was in Fluttershy's pink mane and groaned.
“Yuck! A Parasprite? No way! Now I have to find a trombone!” (And at least half a dozen other instruments! Where should I start looking?) The pink mare began to think of all the instruments she would need and where they might be located as she strode to the door.
“A trombone?” Twilight asked, even more confused than usual at the party mare, and this was just after being told that she had been taste-testing everything, which wasn't really necessary.
“Yeah, you know, uurrRRppherm~!” And with that Pinkie hopped out to find instruments, leaving two very confused ponies and two slightly less stressed bakers behind.
(Ok Pinkie Pie, where can we find instruments..?. We'll need a trombone, maracas, tambourines, an accordion... I think I know where that one is... Oh of all the days for a Parasprite infestation! It took Las Pegasus three days to get rid of them and they had tons of instruments all over the place! It's an important day for Twilight, and by golly, I'll make sure nothing wrecks it for her!) Pinkie Pie thought as she trotted quickly to the market place. She knew most of the stores, but one never knew what you could turn up suddenly. The only place that had any instruments was the Prank Palace, and they only had a bazooka.
(Oohh, this is bad... Hey, there's the Boutique! Maybe Rarity has an accordion, it's the most important one and she is rather generous...)
“Rarity!? Do you have an accordion?” Pinkie asked in the doorway of the Boutique, but nopony heard her, they were too busy cooing over the Parasprites they had near them.
“Grrr...” (What does anypony see in those anyways? Don't they know how bad things are going to get if I don't find some instruments fast?!) Pinkie Pie was slowly losing her cool at her friends' reaction and not-so helpfulness at trying to get rid of the infestation.
So Pinkie decided to go door to door to try and find instruments for her quest. While it was strange for most of the citizens to have the pink pony knock on their door asking about instruments, they had known Pinkie Pie for a few years now and were willing to accept her strangeness. Unfortunately, most Ponyvillians weren't actually all that musical and couldn't help her in her quest.
It was by chance that she found a pony who had an accordion. A strange unicorn stallion with an orange-red mane and pale white fur was walking through the market place, on his way home from his music class. Pinkie Pie was pretty sure the stallion's name was Alex, though a lot of ponies called him Weird Alex because of some songs he made.
(Which is pretty cool, I mean, he made his own MUSIC? That's pretty neat and impressive and it was a different kind of music than a pony normally hears and I loved the one about eating! Eat it! Just eat it! Ooohh....Oh right! Now I have to find the other instruments, but no pony has any and it's getting late …. NO! I must continue to search for the sake of Ponyville! I can't rest knowing that every second is a second more for the Parasprites to multiply! I'll visit all the late night shops and clubs, maybe they have something.)
And so, Pinkie Pie spent the night looking in all the shops and even some garages and sheds in the town before making her way to Sweet Apple Acres just as the sun was beginning to rise to start another day. She spent the entire night looking and hadn't had any luck yet, though due to her emergency stashes of cupcakes, Pinkie Pie was able to have energy to continue her search.
She walked up to the Apple's home and started to knock to get anypony's attention.
“Hellooooo? Anypony home?”
'“What'n tarnation? Pinkie Pie? What are ya doin' here so early?” Applejack asked as she came over from the barn, cart attached to her sides as she was getting ready to begin her morning chores.
“Hi Applejack! Do you have a harmonica? It's super-duper extremely important! Doya doya doya?” Pinkie asked as she leaned in close to the orange earth pony.
Applejack stumbled back a little to preserve personal space (normally non-existent when around the pink mare, but one had to try) as she looked at the party mare in confusion.
“Huh? What do ya need a harmonica fer?” Applejack asked a little surprised at the sudden demand.
“Weeelllll~~ Twilight came over yesterday and was checking on the Cakes about the cakes and pies and cookies (which were delicious!) when Fluttershy came and actually spoke! Like normal tone of voice and everything and she was showing Twilight this creature called a Parasprite and I-” An orange hoof cut off the party pony's explanation as the farmer sighed.
“Sugarcube, Ah think Ah have ah harmonica in the house, let me go git for ya. Just... wait here ah sec, ok?” With a shake of her head at having expected a normal explanation from the pink earth pony, Applejack unhooked herself from the cart, walked into the house and found the harmonica her family kept for the Apple Family Reunions.
“Here ya go Sugar. Good luck with... whatever it was yer doin'.” Applejack bid her friend goodbye as she walked towards the nearby apple trees to start on her chores.
Pinkie Pie jumped up and down rapidly in place for a minute, excited at having found another instrument. (Ehe he he he! This is a good start! I gotta show the others! Hey look, there's the Boutique again! )
(Why does nopony want to help?!? Don't they understand the importance of a banjo? I know! I'll go to the smartest smarty smart pants pony in all of Ponyville! Twilight will know how important this is and maybe she'll know where to find some Maracas! Where is that pony anyways?... hmmmmm)
“Twilight! You have to help me! We don't have much time!” Pinkie yelled as she ran alongside her friends who were all running towards the EverFree Forest for whatever reason.
“You're right we don't have much time! The Princess will be here soon!” Twilight cried as she barely contained her panic at the situation.
“Exactly! That's why you have to help me find some maracas!” Pinkie Pie asked with a tilt of her head, happy that her smarty smart pants crush knew the importance of what she was doing.
“Maracas? Pinkie, we've got much bigger problems than missing maracas.”
“Gasp! You're right, getting a tuba has to be our number one goal! Follow me!” Pinkie said happily, glad for Twilight's help and wonderful suggestion.
( I can't believe I forgot the Tuba! Hey... where's Twilight? )Pinkie ran back to her friend, though since she didn't want to just turn around again and get all woundy roundy, she merely ran backwards.
“I saaiiiddd, follow me!” Pinkie Pie looked at her friends in confusion.
“Pinkie Pie, you are so random...” Rainbow Dash stated in annoyance at the pink mare, unable to follow her train of thought or why she was collecting instruments.
“And you all are so stubborn!” Pinkie Pie knew she wasn't going to get much farther with her friends, they were being super unhelpful for whatever reason and left them to do whatever it was they were trying to do.
(I hope they don't think that rolling a big ol' ball of Parasprites into the forest will make them go away. They only need one to be a pain and that's if the others don't just fly back, hungry for more...Oh well. On to the next instrument!)
Pinkie Pie ran back to town, determined to show her friends how important this was.
As luck would have it, Octavia Melody was having a practice session of the Canterlot Philharmonic Orchestra in her home with Beauty Brass, Parish Nadermane and Frederick Horseshoepin in attendance. Just as they were about to start playing, a loud series of knocks sounded at the door.
“..... I apologize. Allow me to get the door so that we may get to practice quickly.” Octavia said as she set her double bass against her seat and walked to the door.
“Not so quickly if it's a certain blue maned unicorn...” Frederick muttered to the others as they watched Octavia answer the door. However everyone winced upon hearing the hyper voice replying.
“Oh no... not Pinkie Pie.” Parish murmured as he put a hoof to his eyes.
Beauty Brass only rolled her eyes in response to Parish's dramatics when suddenly a certain pink pony was right in front of her leaning in closely and looking directly into her eyes.
“Hiya Beauty Brass! What a lovely sousaphone you have! Can I barrow it, it's for the safety of Ponyville! I'll return it as soon as I repel this infestation we have of Parasprites, I Pinkie Promise!” Pinkie Pie asked in rapid fashion with a smile never leaving her face as she made the motions of the Pinkie Promise.
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“I'm sorry Beauty. She slipped past me as soon as I told her how the orchestra was over for practice.” Octavia apologized as she stepped up next to the pink pony and looked at Beauty Brass.
“It's alright Octavia. Um, I guess it's fine Pinkie Pie. You're not going to do anything dangerous with it are you?” Beauty asked as she took the sousaphone off of her middle and handed it to Pinkie.
“Nope! I'm just going to use it and other instruments to repel the invaders! See you guys later and good luck with your practice!” Pinkie yelled as she zoomed out of the house leaving the four others stunned at the sudden speed.
“I suppose that this means we won't get to practice today either. If it's not one thing in this town it's another....” Frederick stated as he got up and walked to the door.
“If we ever do get the chance to practice I'll be in Canterlot, enjoying some fine wine. Heaven forbid we get ready for the Gala this year...” He finished with a mutter as the others also got up and followed him out the door.
As Octavia watched from the door as her friends headed for the train station, a white unicorn wearing purple glasses walked up.
“Hey Tavi, I thought you said you guys were practicing for the Gala today?” Vinyl asked as stepped up to the door. Octavia stepped back to give Vinyl Scratch room to enter their shared home.
“Well I was, but Pinkie Pie needed Beauty's sousaphone for whatever reason right this instant and so we had to cancel practice.”
Vinyl lifted her shades to get a better look at the gray mare.
"Does this mean that I don't have to hide out in my room for the rest of the day? I get to hang out with the luckiest pony in Equestria?" Vinyl asked with a smile as she closed the door behind the pair as they walked into the living room.
"Why would I be the luckiest pony? And yes, this means you don't have to 'hide out' in your room for the rest of the day. Honestly, you make me sound like an evil step-mother or some such." Octavia rolled her eyes and smiled back at the unicorn.
"Because you live with me, DJ Pon-3! The coolest of the cool and the hottest of the hot!" Vinyl laughed as she wrapped a fore-hoof around the earth pony's shoulders. Octavia merely smiled and shook in her head at the white unicorn's usual antics.
Pinkie Pie ran around and asked everypony once more if they had any instruments to spare. After pestering Granny Smith at the farm (who had been taking a nap at the time), she got a banjo and she had to express order cymbals. Luckily it was a very speedy express peagasus delivering the package and soon enough the cymbals arrived from Canterlot within ten minutes. Pinkie Pie was so excited about the cymbals that she just HAD to show them to her friends who would surely by now help her with her quest to save Equestria!
(Why won't they stop and listen to me when I try to explain what is happening?! It's like they have the super thick icing mix in their ears which they don't look like they do since none of their ears were flat on their heads due to the heavy weight of the icing which is really yummy but can't be used on the more delicate cakes since it's so heavy, it's only good for the heavy duty cakes for the extreme cakers... Oh, I hope my cymbals aren't bent; they aren't half as good when they don't have the perfect cupcake top shape... Oh good. They're fine, just a little dusty, which will be taken care of quickly for what I have in mind for all these instruments. I'll just have to play them all myself since nopony else is helping... I wonder if I have enough instruments? Hmmmm, trombone, sousaphone, cymbals, banjo, harmonica, accordion..... I think I need one more! Where could I find some tambourines....?)
Pinkie Pie walked through town, looking left and right in hopes of finding the last instrument she'll need to defend her town. As she walked around, she heard the sounds of a circus on the edge of town. It wasn't a very musical circus, having mostly singing voices, but she could hear the sounds of the one instrument she needed to collect playing along with the singers.
After watching the circus perform their act, which was mostly acrobats and tumblers, the tambourine player came back on with a small four pony choir who sang in a tone reminiscent of a native culture of the San Palomino Desert.
Pinkie was enchanted by the music and once it was done, she was stomping her hooves the hardest of the surrounding ponies while managing to bounce in place and cheering quite loudly.
The performers were a little shocked at this display of happiness, but they took their bows all the same. And when that same pink mare that was so pleased with their performance asked for their help, they didn't mind loaning her all the extra tambourines that they could spare to help with a Parasprite infestation; though they decided to leave soon afterwards, considering Ponyville's latest trouble.
On the way back to her room above the bakery where she had put all the other instruments for safe keeping until everything was ready, Pinkie Pie noticed her friends along the way... as well as the Parasprites. She tried one last time to get their attention before giving them up as a lost cause in helping her with the infestation.
(Hmmm, I don't think I've ever seen Parasprites eat stuff and not food... My Pinkie Sense is telling me this has something to do with my cute little unicorn and her need for magical remedies... Oh well. I'll fix everything for her in a jiffy! But wait! Rarity had a clarinet didn't she?! And if the Parasprites are eating things now instead of just food... don't worry clarinet! I'll save you! I wonder if clarinets taste good? Hmm, has anypony made an orchestra dessert yet? Ooohhh! More ideas to try! I bet the drums taste the best!)
(Alright, now that I have all the instruments that I could carry and find on short notice, let's put them all together to save the day! Yay! Okie-dokie, so this one goes here, and I'll put that one there, and hang these guys from my sides and...)
“You saved my reputation with Princess Celestia. And even more important, you saved Ponyville! ........................................ Or not.” Twilight stated as they looked around the mostly destroyed town.
Pinkie pulled out the one instrument she couldn't fit in her mis-mash of a band, and played the trombone in a short rift.
“Pinkie, who are you playing for?” Twilight asked as she walked up to the pink pony who was putting the trombone back from here she plucked it from (which is someplace Twilight didn't really want to think about at the time).
“For anyone who's listening, silly. Anyways, as soon as I give back all these instruments I'll totally help with rebuilding the town, I've always said it needed more of a dessert look.” Pinkie Pie said while holding her hooves in a frame shape to look at the various parts of the town.
“Uhm, darling, why don't you take care of the instruments and we'll take care of the town, since you were such a help?” Rarity asked after a moment of shock and forcing herself to remain calm at the suggestion of a 'dessert-looking' town.
“Okie-dokie-lokie!”
Once everything was put back to its proper way, Twilight invited Pinkie Pie over to the library in order to learn more about these 'Parasprites'.
“So, Pinkie, how did you know about these creatures in the first place?” Twilight began her question session as she hovered a clip board (with parchment of course!) and quill to record Pinkie's answers.
“Oh that's easy! Las Peagasus had an infestation of them years and years ago while I was visiting! Not that I caused it, but I got to help get them out of town!” Pinkie Pie responded as she half watched Spike try to clean up the library and half watched the unicorn in front of her.
“Hmm, I haven't read anything about that... but wait! You were visiting Las Pagasus? When – Why was that?” Twilight asked as she wrote a side note to look into Las Pagasus' news to find a reference for the incident.
“Oh well, I grew up on a rock farm not far from Ponyville when I discovered my special talent. While working with my family became a little more fun, I knew it was my destiny to make lots and lots of other ponies happy and I couldn't really do that from the farm, so I went on a journey of discovery and of joy! I traveled over all of Equestria and learned lots of things! Like in Baltimare I learned...” While Pinkie Pie began to recount some of her adventures before settling down in Ponyville, the quill that Twilight was levitating flew across the parchment in an attempt to keep up with the hyper speed of Pinkie's speech.
A collection of notes on a certain pink chaotic mare - Edited!
“What's wrong, Spike? Never thought you'd see me with an umbrella hat on?”
“Not really, no.”
“Pinkie's tail's twitching. What else can I do?” Everyone shared a laugh.
Just as Twilight finished dictating her latest report to the Princess, Spike became flustered once more.
“Ummm, Twilight?”
“What is it Spike?”
“I, ah, the report, um... I think we used the invisible ink.” Spike scuffed a foot along the floor, worried about the purple unicorn's reaction to having to re-write the whole thing again.
Twilight raised a brow and looked over at the hyperactive mare next to her who was trying to hold back her laughter. As Twilight smirked at her, Pinkie Pie lost control of her laughing and fell onto her back, rolling with laughter.
“Ah ha ha ha, my gosh Twilight, aha ha ha ha, you should really, ha ha *snort * check twice ha ha ha when writing letters!” Pinkie managed to laugh out as she wiped at her laughter-induced teary eyes with a hoof.
Twilight sighed as she shook her head and levitated a fresh bottle over to the dragon who began to re-write the report with only minimal reminders of what was said.
“Did you want to do anything else today Twilight? It was super fun when you were secretly following me!” Pinkie smiled at the unicorn while her tail continued to twitch. Pinkie looked at her tail with a hoof to her chin and began to worry about the purple unicorn, so much had happened to Twilight that day because of all the predictions.
“How did you even know that I was following you? And it's still not safe yet? I thought YOU fell.” Twilight nudged the earth pony who grinned back.
“I knew you were there because of my Pinkie Sense! And I guess that something else is going to fall... You should stick with me Twilight! I'll protect you from your bad day!” The pink mare slung a hoof around Twilight's shoulders while checking their surroundings for anything else that may fall.
Twilight blushed at the close contact and couldn't help but take in the baker's unique scent. (Hmmm, vanilla, icing and something else...)
Twilight blinked, realizing that she had spaced out and hadn't responded to the pink mare's statement, which was causing Pinkie to watch Twilight carefully in case something had already fell onto the purple mare.
“Oh, of course. I should have known it was that... I would like to hang out more with you Pinkie. What would you like to do?” Twilight asked as she let her mind wander as to why she was acting this way around the party mare.
“Oooo! How about we go get something to eat from Sugarcube Corner?! You look like you can use some pick-me-up cupcakes!” Pinkie shouted as she grabbed Twilight's hoof and pulled her towards the door.
(Maybe she's hungry? Getting hit by lots of things must really take it out of her, getting her some sugar should help get things back to normal! Cupcakes almost never fail! The only other thing that does even better are parties, but I don't have any of the supplies for a 'pick-me-up-because-I-got-so-hurt' party. Hmm, I'll just keep that as the back up plan.)
“Heh heh, sure Pinkie.” Twilight smirked at the almost expected response of the baker, which was that cupcakes could fix just about most issues.
(Pinkie Pie is practically a cupcake herself, from the way she smells to how she cheers up everypony else. Full of energy, very sweet, even her mane looks like it's a topping of a cupcake....! Is that why I've been craving cupcakes lately? I've actually just wanted Pinkie Pie? Wait, does that mean that I... like her? As in LIKE her like her...? Well, I mean sure, she's a very special pony, and there aren't any who are similar, unless her family is...) At the thought of her family, Twilight shuddered, worried there may be many more Pinkie Pie-like ponies running around someplace. As she came out of her musings, she noticed that they were just walking into Sugarcube Corner and Pinkie Pie was just ordering some cupcakes for the pair of them.
As the two ponies sat at one of the tables, Twilight contemplated on how to pose her new questions to the mare in front of her. She looked about the room for distraction and inspiration, but it was a slow day for the bakery and nopony else was around. Even the Cakes were in the back, making more treats to restock their shop with.
Just as Pinkie Pie was getting even more worried and considering drastic measures (a few dozen cupcakes should help!) Twilight cleared her throat and looked into blue eyes. Though this proved to be a distraction from the original question than helpful.
“Pinkie Pie, where did you get your Pinkie Sense?” Twilight waved her hooves reassuringly when she saw the frown beginning to form on the pink muzzle. “No no, don't worry, I know it's real and that's it's a part of you. I just want to know if you have always been able to do this or or if there are other family members you may have that can do it.”
Pinkie's face cleared of worry, pleased that Twilight didn't doubt her abilities and even wanted to know more about her and her family.
“I've always had my Pinkie Sense! At first I so totally didn't know what it all meant, though I started to figure it out slowly, especially as certain things kept happening. Actually, it got a lot stronger after I got my Cutie Mark!” Twilight realized she may want to take notes about all of this and magicked a scroll and quill out of thin air, having just teleported them from the library.
“You see, after I made that super awesome party for my family to make them happy, they realized they were being grumpy silly pants about how the rest of my family live and act and brought Marble and Limestone and me to our Nana Pinkie and Granny Pie!” Pinkie paused for a breath as Twilight began to wave her hooves around to get the pink mare to slow down. Once Twilight got Pinkie's attention, the purple mare rubbed her temple with a hoof to help her think.
“Ok, hang on. What party? How many siblings do you have? What other family members? Why would your parents be upset with the rest of your family?” Twilight asked as she stared at the party mare, feeling like she jumped into the middle of a story that had long since been going on.
“Weeellll, my family lives and works on a rock farm! There's my dad, my mom, my three sisters and me. I'm the second oldest! I threw a party for my family so that they could be happy and that's how I got my Cutie Mark! After the party, my mom realized that she was being a silly filly about arguing with my Granny Pie and Nana Pinkie about how to run a rock farm and how a pony should live their life and so she took us to visit them after that! That was when my Pinkie Sense started to get stronger and my Granny Pie noticed and taught me ALLLL about it because she has it too and asked if any of my other sisters had it and they didn't but that was ok. And then I started to learn all sorts of things from my Granny Pie and Nana Pinkie!”
Twilight was writing so quickly to keep up with all the information that her quill began to smoke. She blew on it and the paper so that nothing caught on fire and the ink would dry quickly.
“Ok, so you have two grandmothers, one of whom has a 'Pinkie Sense'? Any grandfathers? Which grandmother is on which side of the family?” Twilight began to try and make a family tree for Pinkie, to help organize her thoughts about the hyper mare in front of her.
“Oh no no no no no no. They're not on different sides of the family, we're all one great big family! Granny Pie and Nana Pinkie are really happy together, even though Granny Pie was married to Shepard Pie before he passed away, and then she got together with Nana Pinkie, which my mom didn't seem to like at first but then after my make-everypony-happy party, she didn't seem to mind it anymore. She did say I was named for both Granny and Nana, which doesn't make sense but does make sense, since neither one is 'Pinkie Pie' but if you ADD the two names then you get 'Pinkie Pie' and my mom told me that when I was born she knew right away that I would be special especially since I was pink just like Granny Pie!”
Pinkie chatted on while keeping an eye on the purple unicorn who was desperately trying to keep up with her writing. The party mare was worried that Twilight wasn't feeling well still, they had a whole pile of cupcakes and she only had one so far while Pinkie had at least four, well, maybe seven. Alright, more like two dozen.
As the pink mare ate some more cupcakes, Twilight put the finishing touches on her copy of the explanation. She was pleased to learn more about the mare she was falling for, but some of this was confusing to take in at once. Twilight put a note at the top of the scroll to revisit it later on after the rush of words weren't effecting the purple mare's thought process (trying to keep up with high speed speech takes up most of the brain's power after all).
“Ok, well, thanks Pinkie, for telling me all this. Uhm, was there anything else you wanted to do together?” Twilight magicked the scroll to the library, having already taken up all the space with her notes on the pink mare before her.
Pinkie Pie was still worried that Twilight wasn't feeling well and pondered for a moment on what could be done.
(Even cupcakes aren't working! Maybe she's been studying too much, she needs some fresh air and sunlight! The park! Time to be a relax pants!)
“Yep! Let's go to the park! There's, ah, something I want to show you!” Pinkie Pie tried to think of a reason why Twilight should go to the park, it would have to be something good to keep the studious pony away from her books.
Twilight raised a brow at the vagueness of the request, but went along with it anyways. She followed the hyper mare out of the store and to the park, once again wrapped up in her own thoughts.
(I wonder if her 'Granny Pie' or 'Nana Pinkie' bounce along like she does. I'm not sure if I'm happy to know that her family has these genes in the bloodline or not, perhaps since Pinkie herself has these traits any foals she has won't get them... but … I don't want her to be with somepony else!) Twilight almost came to a complete stop at the thought of Pinkie Pie dating somepony else, but she realized she was getting left behind and didn't want to worry the pink mare.
(… Just because her grandmothers are in a same gender relationship doesn't mean that she would want the same. But it could also mean that she wouldn't mind such a relationship, having shown no anger or annoyance at her family's relationships... Maybe I do have a chance.
There would be one good thing about dating her, I wouldn't feel the need to eat so many cupcakes! I can't believe that I only ate one! One! I've had whole boxes while studying and multitasking without noticing but while sitting next to Pinkie Pie I didn't want that many at all!
How does she travel like that? It's as though she cannot simply walk someplace, she must hop, bounce, skip, jump, zoom... I wouldn't think it possible had I not seen it myself. It's rather interesting how her mane and tail remain the same no matter how she travels. And to travel in such a way while still saying hi to everypony around her that she can remember everything about! How does she do it?...)
Pinkie Pie was unaware how the purple unicorn's attention was on the pink mare and her many feats and antics, though Pinkie did notice how quiet Twilight was being. Had they not already arrived at the park, she would have taken Twilight back to the library and checked that all the injuries she had gotten that day didn't hurt her badly.
“Here we are Twilight!” Pinkie loudly exclaimed, staring into the purple mare's eyes, trying to see if she was among them or not.
Twilight gave a small start, having lost track of her surroundings while she thought.
“Oh, ok. Uhm, what was it you wanted to show me?” Twilight glanced around so as to avoid getting lost in sky blue eyes.
“Oh! Uh, ah, this right here!” Pinkie pointed a hoof a nearby tree with a big grin on her face.
Twilight gave her a blank look though a smile was trying to creep its way onto her face.
“That's an oak tree, native to these climates and location. Is that really what you wanted to show me?” Twilight couldn't fight the smile as she watched the usually on top of things pony become flustered.
“Oh, uh, well I thought it was a really neat looking tree! Makes you want to sit out in the sunlight and enjoy the fresh air and not move and totally relax.” Pinkie explained as she skipped over to the tree in question and sat beneath it, patting the seat next to her in a sign for Twilight to join her there.
Twilight smiled as she shook her head and sat next to the party mare and looked out at the park, waiting to see if there was anything else behind the mysterious request.
“Hey Twilight, you are feeling better right? You took a lot of hits and ouchies today,” came the quiet quarry from the mare next to her.
Twilight froze, she had forgotten all the almost-comical pains she went through that day. She smiled even wider as she realized that was why Pinkie was acting a little off during the afternoon, the pink mare was worried for her.
“I'm fine Pinkie. I'm a fast healer, and I know a few spells that help things along. It comes with being a student in all things magical, you have to have a high resistance to injuries and an ability to recover quickly.” Twilight explained while looking at the pink mare.
Pinkie smiled once more and sighed in relief. She was starting to worry that her Pinkie Sense was nothing but trouble for the mare of her dreams.
“That's good, it's no fun when somepony is sick or hurt, and then everyone's sad and no one can have fun or go to parties or anything! Was there something you wanted to do Twilight? I didn't really have a reason to be in the park, I just thought you needed a break from all that studying, you can't be a smarty smart smart pants all the time.” Pinkie Pie scuffed a hoof along the grass in front of them at having to admit that she didn't have a real reason to get the purple mare out in the open air.
“Heh heh, that's what I started to think was going on. I don't mind staying like this for a while longer, it is nice to take a break from studying every now and then. I put off the whole day's schedule anyways when I first started to try and figure out how your Pinkie Sense worked anyways.” Twilight laughed lightly as she rested her head on her hooves and enjoyed the park and mare next to her.
Pinkie gave an even larger smile at this and settled down properly, ready to enjoy the day with the pony she liked the most.
“Well, I guess we know what Rainbow will be doing for the rest of the day. Did you guys want to stay up here or head on home?” Twilight turned to her friends as the stadium emptied out around them, the pegasi flying off to enjoy the rest of their day.
Rainbow Dash had just won the Best Young Flier competition and was flying off to enjoy her day with the Wonderbolts, leaving her friends up to their own devises.
“Well darling, if you could cast that cloud-walking spell once more, I would like another tour of Cloudsdale. I was, ah-hem, a bit distracted the first time around.” Rarity sheepishly said as she ran a hoof through her mane.
“Oh well, um, if you want, I could show you around... if that's ok with you.” Fluttershy asked from behind her mane, as she looked towards her friends with one eye. She was nervous about whether or not she had been too loud during Rainbow Dash's performance and as soon as the rainbow maned flier was out of sight, hid behind her long pink bangs once more.
“Sounds good to me. I'll come with y'all, if'in ya don't mind.”
“Oh, no, it's fine. I don't mind at all... I mean, if it's ok with the others....”
“We don't mind at all darling.”
“Oh, let me cast the spell first before you try walking around.” Everyone laughed for a moment as they realized they made all the plans without the key element that would allow it to work.
Twilight closed her eyes in concentration as she replicated the cloud-walking spell for the gray-white unicorn; after a bright flash of light, the lavender unicorn smiled and nodded to the fashionista, signaling that it was safe to exit the light purple balloon.
After a quick test to make sure it worked, Rarity got out of the balloon basket and walked over to the others. Applejack grabbed a rope that acted as the tether for the balloon and tied it to a post just outside the stadium for safe keeping. Just as Twilight was nodding her approval of the parking job, a pink hoof grabbed her purple one and towed the unicorn away.
“Ohh! This is the perfect opportunity to show you how you need to get out more! I'll show you all the best spots in Cloudsdale! There's the stadium where they have the Best Young Flier Competition, which we just came from silly!, so that's one down. Then there's where Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy worked, and then there's...” And so the pink mare pulled the lavender one along the cloud roads, chatting away the whole time.
The three others looked at one another before laughing at Pinkie Pie's antics and walking away to have their own tour of Cloudsdale, led by Fluttershy who was content to stay on the clouds and walk next to her friends during the tour.
“But Pinkie, how do you know where everything is? You can't have visited before... right?” Twilight looked at the other mare with one brow raised.
Pinkie Pie giggled while still holding the purple hoof.
“No silly. You only found that super cool cloud walking spell today, don't you remember? I know where everything is because other peagasusususes told me ALL about the coolest places. Well, that and I have a Pinkie Sense for Fun-a-fun fun!”
Twilight rolled her eyes and allowed herself to be pulled along. Their first stop was at the Commander Hurricane Museum, a place where lots of young fillies and colts often had school field trips. There was a group going through at that moment, seven young pegasi and a teacher who was lecturing about the various parts of the building.
“Oooo. Did you know that all the military planning took place here? Including the decision to find new lands which would soon be Equestria? Or that this room is where Commander Hurricane was first promoted and chosen to lead the peagasuses?” Pinkie asked as she and Twilight followed the flow of visitors passing through the central command room.
“No, I didn't know that Pinkie.” Twilight smirked as she watched her friend tilt her head towards the teacher standing nearby.
“Oh! Oh! How about how Commander Hurricane met Private Pansy in this very hallway as young fillies in the military, bonding almost imminently and stayed life-long friends since that day?”
“Wow, really?”
“Yeppery!”
Twilight tried to contain her giggles with a hoof across her muzzle as Pinkie's ears honed onto more of the teacher's lecture before flicking back to the sound of giggles.
“Hey Twilight, what's so funny? Ooo, did I miss a good joke? Shoot, I love hearing new jokes!”
Twilight couldn't hold it anymore and leaned against the pink earth mare as she laughed quietly.
“No no, you didn't miss the joke; though if you want I could try to think of one.”
Blue eyes lit up at the thought of a new joke and the fact that the lavender mare was enjoying herself and Pinkie rapidly nodded her head while making sure Twilight had her whole attention as she told a joke.
“Hmmmm.... Ok, how about this one? Commander Hurricane walks up to Private Pansy and asks, 'What's the matter soldier? You're looking a little green'!” Twilight looked at the party mare with a small grin, sheepish at her attempt of a joke.
“Oooohhhh! 'A little green'! Ahahahahahaha!” Pinkie began to laugh a little too loudly for a museum as she leaned back against the unicorn beside her.
Twilight chuckled at her friend's reaction, though she looked nervously around them at the other visitors who gave small glares at the pair. The teacher in particular led her class farther along with a sniff of disdain in their direction.
“Oh, that was a good one Twilight! What do you want to do now? Want to keep looking here or go to some other really cool places?” Pinkie stood back upright as she looked at the unicorn in curiosity, wanting to make sure they had fun at all times.
“Well, we could visit other places if you want.” Twilight looked at the hyper mare with a smirk, consciously aware that they may have annoyed the other patrons too much with their laughing and trying to leave before they got into trouble.
“Okie-dokie-lokie, let's go!” After a quick nod at the suggestion, Pinkie grabbed Twilight's hoof once more and lead the way outside and further down the cloud street.
They visited the current mayor's office, weather factory and flying training center; though all of the tours were shorter and less informative since there were no tour groups nearby to eavesdrop on.
After the tours, they went to the market and had lunch at a cafe called 'Cafe De Sol'. It was different compared to what they usually had since the cooks used storm power to make everything. It gave the food a fluffy-weather like taste, reminding the two ponies of a spring rain.
Just as they were finishing their meal of hay fries, baked apples and cherry cupcakes, Pinkie Pie's left hind leg bounced in place, her back got itchy then her right hind leg bounced in place; at the first bounce, Pinkie Pie had stood completely still to focus on what her Pinkie Sense was telling her.
Once it was done, she gave a huge grin to Twilight who had become very curious as to what was going to happen, though at the grin the unicorn became a little weary as well. Pinkie got up and waved a hoof to the librarian to get her to follow along as they searched the nearby pavilions and market.
The pink pony gave an airy laugh as she found what she had been searching for; a party was just getting started in an open air pavilion not far from where they had lunch. Twilight had to shake her head in wonder and smirked as she watched the pink pony bounce ahead of her towards the dance floor.
(Leave it to the definition of a Party Animal to find parties even in a place she's never been... Wait, are those pegasi using weather to make the music?) The scholar pony watched in awe as the pegasi used various clouds and winds to create music; though they did have a few normal instruments specially magicked to stay on the cloud platforms.
They had thunder clouds for drums, winds to play chimes and special pipes and rain clouds to be shaken. Then there was a guitar player, a clarinet player and a trombone player. Twilight was able to watch this interesting mix of sounds create music only for a moment before she was pulled onto the dance floor by the original party pony.
“Let's show these ponies how to really Paarrtaayy~!” Pinkie shouted with a circular wave of her hoof while using her other fore-hoof to pull the reluctant unicorn onto the dance floor.
At first the unicorn was worried of her lack of dancing knowledge but after watching the pink dancing machine bust out crazy moves that boarded on not being not actual dancing but hazards to those around her, Twilight decided to give it a try and dance however she wanted. It helped that a lot of the other dancers were flying in the air above the dance floor and the two friends didn't need to worry about bumping into anyone else.
Pinkie watched with a large smile as her friend shook loose of her worries and began to enjoying herself.
(Good, she's relaxing and dancing how she wants. I knew parties solved everything! Maybe I can figure out a way to get some of these weather instruments down to Ponyville for my onepony band...)
After dancing for a good portion of the party Twilight had to throw in the towel. Being as studious as she was, the unicorn wasn't prepared for long bouts of dancing.
(How in the wide wide world of Equestria can Pinkie still have that much energy? She's been going non-stop and with much wilder moves than myself...I feel bad about doing this, but I can't keep dancing. I'm about to drop... )
“Pinkie Pie? Sorry Pinkie, but I'm just not as energetic as you; I have to sit for a moment or my hooves will fall off.” Twilight began to walk towards chairs placed around the edge for any tired dancers.
Pinkie paused in her dancing (doing a jig with her front hooves as she shuffled along the floor) as she looked towards the unicorn.
“Okie dokie! Let's find a nice place to sit. Wouldn't want anypony's hooves falling off, it would be hard to anything fun then; unless you used your tongue, but then you can't use your tongue for tasting things, like yummy cake!” Pinkie landed back down to all four hooves and trotted over to where Twilight had stopped.
After giving the pink mare a blank stare at how she would have fun without hooves, Twilight came to her senses and shook her head while waving for the party mare to keep enjoying herself.
“No no, you can keep dancing.”
“Nopey dopey! I can dance any ol' time, I only get to hang out with the bestest pony for a certain time here in the cloud city. Besides, I know this really cool place!” Pinkie leaned in a conspiring manner as Twilight gave her a confused look.
“Huh? But I – uh. Sigh. Alright, where is this 'real cool place'?” Twilight raised a brow as she watched the pink mare check that the coast was clear; she had thought they found some of the 'cool places' already.
“Around the water hole.”
“The water hole? What's so great about the water hole?” Twilight felt silly repeating things but couldn't think of how a cloud city could have a water hole let alone features that would make it 'cool'. Pinkie merely giggled with a hoof covering her mouth before responding.
“Nope! But good guess. I'll show you when we get there!”
“..... Huh?” Twilight gave Pinkie a blank stare as the pink mare led the way hopping, with the lavender one following along after giving a shrug and eye roll.
Soon they arrived to the edge of the city where a park had been made to see the lands below and the sunsets. They could see the nearby mountains and Canterlot, as well as the river that lead away from the waterfalls flowing from the mountain city. As sunlight was streaming through the water to make soft rainbows among the mists near the foot of the mountain, there were clouds that seemed to gather on the horizon lighting up in orange and soft red as the sun set ever lower into the sky.
(Too bad that it's not complete sunset yet, but then the sun is lower and there's nice clouds to make it easier to see (ohh, that one looks like a bunny!) and there's no storms or anything.... Boy am I glad to have heard about this park, though maybe I could send a letter to the Princess about setting the sun sooner but I don't think it would make it in time; even I'm not that fast, though if we had brought Spike then I'd definitely could get a letter to her in time, but then Twilight might think something is up...Oh well, hopefully this works just as well...)
“Oh my gosh Pinkie! This is amazing!” Twilight stepped forward as she looked at the scenery before them with a large smile on her face at the sight.
Pinkie hoof pumped with a smirk. “Nailed it!”
“Did you hear about this place from other pegasi as well?” While Twilight had a hard time looking away from the beautiful view below, she was grateful for having managed it to be able to look at the mare next to her. The sunlight gave the earth pony more of a glow than usual as the pink mare smiled at the lavender one, who couldn't form any sound or thought aside from one. (Beautiful.)
The party pony was also at a loss for words, a rare occasion indeed, though she couldn't stop her mind from forming thoughts a mile a minute.
(The sun is just right, making her eyes do her name justice. They sparkle so much when she's lost in thought.....)
It seemed like time had stopped or at least slowed down for the two mares as they got lost in one another's eyes.
“Well Ah'll be; this here's a pretty nice view Fluttershy.”
The two ponies gave small jumps of surprise at the sound of a voice they knew well. They glanced at each other with small blushes before turning to face their friends who were walking into the park while looking at the marvelous view before them. Pinkie Pie had an easier time hiding her blush within her pink coat, so she hopped ahead of Twilight towards their other friends.
“Heya guys! You came for a nice view too huh? Isn't this the neatest neat place to sit?”
“Why hello darling! Did you come for the view as well?”
By this point Twilight managed to rein in her blush as she came forward to meet the others who had stopped a few paces away from the edge to sit and look about the park.
“Well howdy gals! How'd y'all find this park?” The three friends watched as Pinkie Pie hopped around them for a little bit as Twilight kept walking towards them.
“Hi girls. Yes, we were enjoying the view. Pinkie had found this place and it really is amazing.”
“Oh, hi; um, yes, it is.... It's my favorite spot in all of Cloudsdale... When I was a filly, it allowed me to see the ground below since I wasn't old enough to live down on the ground by myself... I hope we weren't interrupting anything...”
“Oh don't worry, you guys weren't interrupting anything. Did you show this to Rainbow Dash before?” Twilight asked as she sat by her friends.
Once the lavender unicorn had taken her seat, the three other friends stopped trying to keep an eye on the pink earth pony and turned to look at the view instead.
Pinkie Pie was still hopping around them with a huge smile on her face; she couldn't contain her happiness of having been lost inside of inquisitive purple eyes. Twilight, on the other hoof, had a hard time not watching the happy pink mare bounce; though it did help that the others had long since learned to tune out some of the party mare's antics.
“Oh! Uhm, yes we use to come here often ….. Especially after I was... Bullied....” Everyone gave the shy pony sympathetic glances while Rarity patted her back.
“At least you had Rainbow Dash to help you.” Rarity stated with a gentle smile, trying to get the shier mare to look at her, wanting to be sure that the cream yellow mare was going to be alright. Fluttershy gave a small smile in return as she looked at her friends.
“Yes.”
The four friends sat near the edge of the park watching the sunset, pleased with the view before them. Pinkie Pie couldn't seem to sit still and kept bouncing around the park. Suddenly there was a rush of wind and an familiar cyan pegasus landed down in front of the four sitting ponies, while the fifth one paused in her bouncing.
“Hey guys. Should have known Fluttershy would show you our secret base.” The yellow mare blushed while peeking from behind her mane.
“Oh! I'm sorry...... You don't mind, do you?... Uhm... Eep...” Rainbow Dash laughed a little at the shy pegasus' reaction as she settled down next to her friends.
“Nah! It's ok. Besides, it is a pretty cool place; I'd have shown them too.”
“Oh, ok.... Um, did you enjoy your day with the Wonderbolts?”
“It. Was. AWESOME!” Rainbow squished her cheeks with her hooves and squealed. The others smiled at the unusual reaction of the cyan pony before turning back to the view below them, while keeping an ear on the conversation near them.
As Rarity, Applejack and Twilight continued to watch the sunset, Rainbow Dash sat next to Fluttershy and asked about the places the friends visited that day. As the cream yellow pony started to go into detail of where they went, the pink pony hopped over to the other side of Rainbow Dash and cut into the conversation every now and then with talk of the places she and Twilight had gone to that day. Rainbow Dash was a little surprised that they had split up but shrugged; it was Pinkie Pie they were talking about, and she had done stranger things.
Once the cyan pegasus got the whole story (this took a while since Pinkie Pie didn't seem to want to go in order of what they saw and would try to get a word in between Fluttershy's, causing more confusion than helping) she realized they had visited a lot of places and were about to head home at this point.
As the friends spent a few more moments in relative peace, Fluttershy kept the impatient blue pony's attention by asking how her day had went; which the cyan mare was more than happy to explain while at the same time reassuring the shy pony who was nervous after having visited old bullying locations during her tour. Pinkie Pie was was running around the park once more, looking at anything that caught her attention but still somehow managing to remind her of a certain book loving mare.
Soon everyone felt that it was time to go and they all headed back for the balloon. Once they untethered it, they floated back to the ground below; Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy helped to guide it back to Ponyville using the extra ropes on it since the evening winds had picked up a little during their stay in Cloudsdale.
They returned the balloon to Cherry Berry, who was grateful that nothing had gone wrong, and the friends went their separate ways.
Before the pink baker could travel more than a few steps the librarian called out to her, making her pause with hope as to what Twilight wanted to talk about. The hyper mare turned to face the unicorn as she trotted up to the party pony, trying to think about the best way to ask to hang out more; she had a fun time learning about a new city with the energetic pony and wanted to do so again soon.
“Pinkie Pie, would you be willing to come by the library in the next week or so and tell me more about the unique aspects of various towns and cities?”
Pinkie thought for a moment, with a hoof to her chin and tilt of her head. She wanted to hang out, but she knew that the bookworm still needed to get out more.
“Sure thing Twilight!” Twilight gave a sigh of relief that the pink mare had agreed to the badly worded request and was about to make arrangements for a time that the earth pony could come by when Pinkie continued speaking.
“But we should go and see them; not just talk about them, silly!” Pinkie called back to the lavender mare as she walked home to Sugarcube Corner, leaving the lavender mare standing behind her in shock.
Twilight's breath hitched when she heard that sentence and it took her a moment before speech was usable again.
“Wait, what? But I can't just – We can't just up and – what about – HUH? PIIIIINKIIIEEE!” Twilight shouted to the sky as she threw back her head to get more volume.
The lavender unicorn was going to continue to yell for the pink earth pony to explain herself but had glanced around her and saw that the other townsfolk were staring at the distressed unicorn in confusion and concern. The lavender mare gave a sheepish smile and a small hoof wave before proceeding to run after the retreating figure of the party pony, determined to understand what she had meant by her last sentence.
Spike sat up from his bed, rubbing his eyes with a claw. It was early in the morning, before sun up actually, and the residential unicorn was pacing while muttering to herself.
“Geez Twilight. What's got you pacing this time?” The young dragon sighed as he walked up to the nervous unicorn.
“I have to re-plan this entire week in case Pinkie Pie was serious about us visiting someplace. She probably has nothing planned! No idea of where we would go or do or pay for anything or or... anything!” Spike rolled his eyes and turned around to head back to bed.
Not even a minute after Twilight finished her 'in-case-Pinkie-Pie-was-serious-about-a-day-trip' checklist slash schedule, there was a series of knocks at the door.
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes as she trotted over to the door. As she opened it a pink muzzle came perilously close to her lavender one as blue eyes shined.
“Goood morning Twilight!You ready for a super awesome day?”
Twilight backed away from the door only to be followed closely by the pink mare.
“Yes, hi Pinkie. What is happening today then?” Pinkie's face fell for a moment before she tilted her head in confusion.
“I thought we were going to go out today so you can get out of the library more?” The lavender mare sighed.
(So she was serious. Good thing I made that emergency checklist. Let's see what I'm in for today...)
“Ah, yes. That. I wasn't sure when you planned on going... is there a plan?”
“Nope! Wouldn't want to have any best laid plans of mice and ponies, you know?”
Twilight face-hoofed and gave a small groan. “Pinkie, how will we get wherever we're going, where are we going, what would we do there? THAT'S why ponies make plans, mice don't need to be involved.”
“Does this mean you don't want to hang out?” Blue eyes began to mist over as they were downcast.
The unicorn sighed as she rubbed a hoof to her temple.
“I do want to hang out, but more planning and advanced notice would have been nice.”
The pink mare perked right up and nodded rapidly with a grin on her face. After doing some quick calculations, the lavender mare figured they could roughly spend a day someplace without too much issue.
“Alright Pinkie Pie. Let's make a lunch to take with use and we'll just spend a day somewhere nearby, ok?” Twilight asked as she headed for the kitchen.
“Sure thing Twilight! Where did you want to go?” Pinkie hopped after the unicorn, excited for more hang out time. After more rapid thoughts Twilight decided that Fillydelphia was close enough to suit their needs.
“Fillydelphia.”
“OooohhHH! That's a good one!”
Twilight smirked and rolled her eyes. (I bet I could have said any place and you'd think it was good one.)
They finished making lunch together and grabbed some bits as they headed out the door. Twilight did pause long enough to write Spike a note on what the two mares were doing and some chores for the young dragon to do while they were gone. Then the two friends took the train east, heading for the sea side city of Fillydelphia.
The two hour trip was filled with chatter from the pink mare who was discussing where they should go. Luckily there wasn't anypony else riding the train with them at this early hour, so no one else had to endure the barrage of comments.
By the time the two mares arrived in the big city, Twilight felt like she already knew the whole city. Though it didn't stop her from being amazed by the sights.
The tallest building in Canterlot was three stories high, and while the castle was tall, it was also part of a mountain. This city had a lot of buildings that ranged from two stories to eight at least. And while there weren't an overload of tall buildings, there were enough to make it feel like they towered over the crowds below.
Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, merely pranced though the streets, eyes closed in happiness and humming to herself.
For awhile the two friends followed the crowd, Twilight following the bouncy pink tail as she looked at all the buildings. Pinkie would look back every so often and giggled at the shocked mare behind her. The pink earth pony was tempted to use her tail to close the lavender unicorn's gaping mouth but didn't want to upset the mare more than she already did from this morning's surprise trip.
(At least she's much happier now! This IS the perfect city for a first time traveler. Though if it's time travel, perhaps we should speak to Time Turner... I know Twilight would like it, a blue box full of all sciency and wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.... Ohhh, look! A candy store! I wonder what- wait. what's going on here?) The pink mare's train of thought derailed at the sound of a young colt's cries.
The purple mare noticed the sudden shift right away and walked forward enough to look for what grabbed the flighty earth pony's attention. As Twilight's ears grew accustomed to the sounds of the city once more, she heard what was going on before seeing the crying colt. He was sitting in the middle of the street, crying as ponies passed by without so much as a glance at the upset child.
It was a light brown earth pony with short spiky dark blue mane and tail. From what Twilight could see, he didn't have his cutie mark yet, though she couldn't be sure as the pink mass of energy flew into action.
A large blue ball was inflated at high speeds and soon a pair of pink hind hooves were on top while fore-hooves juggled 5 more balls (red smaller ones). The lavender mare could only watch as the pink one sang songs to cheer up the crying child.
“First you wiggle your tail! Oink Oink Oink! Then you wiggle your snout! Oink Oink Oink! Then you wiggle your rump! Oink Oink Oink Then you shout it out! Oink Oink Oink!”
By the time Pinkie got the first few lines of song out, Twilight found her hoof rather firmly on her face. Which was, sadly, a common occurrence for the unicorn. Before she could stew about how she couldn't be in her crush's presence without a hoof to her face for long, she felt a quick jerk the hoof covering her eyes. She snapped to awareness just in time to catch the red balls flying her way. Due to the rate they were moving, Twilight automatically made them continue moving, much like she was juggling but with magic instead of hooves.
By this time, the young colt had reduced his crying to mere sniffles as he stared at the weird pink mare. Once Pinkie got to 'wiggle your tail', the colt smiled a little, which is what caused the party pony to get the studious pony to help. At the sight of two ponies juggling, the colt began to laugh while some of the passing ponies stared and began to smile along, though they kept a decent distance from the performers, making a circle in the middle of the street.
Twilight was keeping up with the hyper pony pretty well, especially as the things thrown at her to juggle got weirder and weirder.
(Balls, sure. Handkerchefs? Rarity would be proud. Rubber chickens? Really?.... wait, no, she can't expect me to juggle a BOWLING BA- erph, heavvyy....)
Twilight gave a small grimace of pain at the various things she was juggling while Pinkie Pie both juggled and played some tambourines. As Pinkie swung into a second round of her song, the tambourines flew towards the unicorn who's eyes widened in surprise. Purple eyes met blue as the unicorn telepathically asked if this was a wise move. Blue eyes reassured purple, conveying complete faith in the unicorn's magic and musical abilities. The lavender pony blinked slowly and a half smirk appeared on her muzzle at how much faith the pink pony had in her.
As this took no longer than a second, nopony around them noticed the exchange or delay in the show. As Twilight levitated no less than seven different things (two of the red balls, a handkerchief, a rubber chicken, a top hat, a tricycle, and a bowling ball) and played the tambourines, Pinkie had the small colt dancing and singing along. Towards the end, the pink mare grabbed the young colt and placed him on her shoulders as the party pony stood up while singing and bouncing along.
Just as the number finished and Twilight started to put down everything, a shout rang through the air.
“Felix Fixit!”
The colt's face went from happy to ecstatic at the yell.
“Momma!”
Pinkie's face broke into an even larger grin as she turned towards the light yellow earth pony who was pushing through the crowd to the empty circle by the two performers. The mom had a long blue mane and watch taken apart for a cutie mark. Pinkie placed the little colt onto the ground and stepped back to stand next to the slightly panting lavender unicorn. Twilight wore a half smile as she tried to regain her breath and energy after the performance. She wasn't use to to doing so much at once, though it was good practice.
The colt, Felix Fixit, ran up to his mom and hugged a fore-leg as the other leg wrapped around him in return. The mom looked at the two performers with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.
“I can't thank you enough! Thank you, thank you! For a moment I feared... but it doesn't matter. Thank you!”
“It was no problem ma'am.” Twilight responded with a wave of her hoof.
“Yep! We're glad that this was solved so super quickly!” The yellow earth pony gave a small smile.
“Well, if you hadn't raised him up so high, and caused such a big scene, it may have taken me longer to find him. What do you say to the nice ponies Felix?” The light yellow mare gave the light brown colt a pointed look. The colt released his mom and gave the two friends a quick hug with a rapid “Thanks!” each before grabbing a hold of his mother once more.
“Thank you again. What have I told you about running off? I don't want to lose you...” The mother gently scolded her child as they walked away.
As Twilight turned to Pinkie, she noticed how all the objects she had just been juggling disappeared. The lavender unicorn spent a minute looking around trying to find them as the pink earth pony giggled behind a hoof.
“Something the matter Twilight?”
“Huh? Oh, um... No, I guess not. Let's get something to eat from that bakery and find a place to have our lunch. I'm starving.”
At the word 'bakery' blue eyes lit up and their owner bounced in place, though once the unicorn finished the pink mare raised a hoof to wipe at her chest and look at it with a rather bored expression.
“I guess if you really want to.”
Twilight rolled her eyes with a smirk as they began to head towards the bakery, the pink ball of energy following close behind the slower mare.
(You know, considering how she's a real life bookworm, she's really fit and trim. Maybe it's all those crazy panics she has. I'd say she couldn't be eating right except that Spike is a really good chef. Maybe she can eat lots and lots and use lots of brain energy power and uses up all that energy. Ooohhh that would explain why she orders cupcakes every morning! I better make sure she has enough to eat so she can use cupcake power and become a super-unicorn warrior!) With this thought foremost in her mind, the expert baker examined all the specimens before her as the two friends enter the bakery.
The unicorn merely shook her head at this usual behavior of Pinkie's, unaware of why the baked treats were being examined in every way possible. Before Twilight finished looking at less than half of what was on display, Pinkie Pie was already at the counter ordering for the two of them. At first the unicorn was mildly annoyed until she saw what had been order.
In her rapid search, Pinkie Pie had found the ones that she knew the studious pony liked as well as ones that the party mare would enjoy and ones that would give a large amount of energy to the two mares (with a resulting crash for any unused to such large quantities of sugar).
The store owners were so pleased with the two mares' performance (which drew in a lot of extra customers to the bakery that day) that they got a discount on their purchase. Pinkie accepted it at face value and started to trade baking tips while Twilight was in slight shock and stammered her thanks.
Once they finally left the bakery, after Pinkie Pie exchanged contact information with the bakers for any further exchange of ideas, they began to search for a good place to sit and eat.
Pinkie lead the way to the park in the center of the city. Twilight had the feeling that she was going to be in shocked silence for most of the day, as the pink mare showed her more and more surprises. The large park was another in a growing mental list of amazement.
It was large with a mini-lake in the center, with a good amount of open grass space around it. Around the grass area was a pathway for those who wanted to walk or jog, and beyond the pathway were just enough trees for shade but not to feel like a forest.
The two mares choose a spot near the water and had their picnic. Between having walked around the city for a few hours and having done a lot more multitasking magic than she was use to, Twilight scarfed down her food with an enthusiasm that she normally didn't have. Pinkie Pie ate in her usual way, with large bites and much of it seeming like a performance, while at the same time mentally congratulating herself.
(After serving her favorite cupcakes for so long, I know exactly what her favorites are! And with these sugar bursts, she'll have just enough energy to last through the rest of the day. Though I'll have to take it easy on her, she used a lot of magic today. I just knew she'd be up to the challenge. AND she can play tambourines pretty well too. There's nopony else like my little star! Maybe I should see about setting up some music classes for her and she could help me with musical accompaniment!)
As Twilight finally slowed down to notice her surroundings once more (the majority of the food gone, just some cupcakes to enjoy slowly) she noticed the earth pony in front of her was staring back with a small grin on her face. The unicorn waved a purple hoof in front of unfocused blue eyes as she called to distracted mare.
“Pinkie Pie? Is everything ok?”
“Huh? O, sure it is Twilight!” Twilight waited for the more in-depth explanation common from the chatty mare, only to frown when none came.
“What were you thinking about?” The lavender pony felt weird asking this, since it took no effort for anypony to hear EVERYTHING that came to the pink mare's mind.
“Oh, well, I was thinking about what we should do next.” Pinkie said without hesitation, it wasn't a lie per say, she was thinking of what to do next while at the same time thinking of the lavender mare in front of her.
(I don't want to make her feel awkward with how I feel towards her. I don't even know if she lives mares or stallions. Somehow boy- or girl- friends never came up in the conversation. I wonder why that is? Maybe Ms Faust didn't want to scare away the kids... Anyways...) “Stuff to do... well, we could always look at the sports team here or check what kind of stores they have or or … Oh~! I got it! Come on Twilight, let's not waste a minute!”
After the first explanation, Twilight was getting extremely concerned. (This isn't like her at all. Maybe she's still hungry? Maybe she's bored of showing me around? How can this be fixed...) Once Pinkie began to think out loud of where they could go, Twilight's face started to clear of worry. By the end, she wore a smile as she packed up what was left of their lunch as Pinkie Pie began to hop in place, excited at what she thought of.
Once everything was packed away, pink hoof grabbed purple as their owners raced away, with pink leading. The two friends couldn't help but laugh at how it felt similar to when they visited Cloudsdale the day before.
Soon they were on the steps just before the second largest library in Equestria. As they entered the old but well maintained four leveled library, Twilight's jaw dropped at the sight of thousands upon thousands of books and large historical archives. Pinkie Pie watched with a grin as the book pony found her second home away from home (the first home away from home being Canterlot) while taking half steps in different directions before just turning in circles, unsure of where to start.
The lavender pony, catching sight of pink, stopped suddenly before rushing at her friend and secret crush, giving her a heartfelt hug.
“Thank you!” She whispered into a pink ear.
The pink earth pony gave a small shiver as she felt the air rush past her ear and returned the the hug with gusto, along with a nuzzle on the side of the unicorn's face. The lavender mare shivered at the nuzzle before squeezing and then releasing her crush. Both ponies had small blushes but smiled all the same before turning towards the books all around them.
Twilight had to constantly reminder herself that they were only staying for the remainder of the day and that she couldn't take all the books she wanted, build a fort out of them and bury herself in the stories they told.
Pinkie Pie noticed this and plotted her next visit location. (It's going to have to be the last one too, Twilight's slowing down and we still have that LOOONNGG trip home... Besides, if I know my lovely book-bound crush, she'd want to spend a lot of time with this last place to visit.... Too bad we couldn't see any of the museums here, we'll just have to come again some other time! Alllright! Road trip! Oh right, we're already on one.)
The pink mare nudged the lavender one in the side with her muzzle. Twilight snapped out of the zone as she blushed once more, identifying who it was by the smell of cupcakes and icing.
“What's wrong Pinkie?”
“Oh nothing's wrong. But I wanted to show you one more thing, and then we have to go home. But we don't have to go right now!” the pink pony rose onto her hind legs as she waved her fore-hooves in the no-way signal. The purple pony smirked and waved a reassuring hoof in return.
“Ok, ok. We'll see this last place and decide if it's late enough to leave or not.”
As the two friends walked out side by side, the more studious one promised herself that she would be back.
(This day can't get any better. And while it's not the royal archives, it's still an impressive library. I WILL be back! And I have to find a way to thank Pinkie Pie for this day trip. I wonder where - )
At this point Twilight saw the only thing that could make the day even better. An almost as large as the library they just visited bookstore. Pinkie Pie giggled as she looked at the the other's shocked face.
(Soon she'll be able to eat whole pieces of cake like I do. I'm so glad she's having fun... Well, I hope she's having fun, she hasn't said much all day actually...)
“Twilight, you are having fun right?”
“Of course I am! This day has been great! Thank you thank you thank you!” Twilight yelled as she pulled her friend into a standing hug while bouncing in place. The pink mare beamed as she reciprocated and made a mental note of this new type of hug.
Soon the pair were searching in the large book store, as though it was Hearts Warming day all over again. For the unicorn it was the prospect of new books and a day spent with her crush. For the earth pony it was that she brought joy and new places to the reclusive pony as well as having spent the day with her long time crush. What the pair didn't know was that they had the second reason in common.
After an hour of searching, both ponies bought what they selected (Twilight had half a dozen books while Pinkie Pie only had one) and they headed for the train station. It was late in the afternoon and they still had a two hour trip ahead of them.
As they found a compartment for themselves, they placed their luggage under their seats as the two friends sat across from each other. Not even a moment after sitting down, the studious mare fell asleep in a sitting positing, with her head leaning forward. The party mare was much more use to staying up and being active for long periods of time and just enjoyed watching the other sleep peacefully.
The train lurched a little as it pulled away from the station, causing the unicorn to tip forward. Before she could begin to fall in earnest, she was caught by swift pink hooves that pushed her more firmly onto the seat. But momentum caused the lavender mare to fall backwards onto the seat instead of just a better placement and in an instinctive move to hold onto something as she fell, grabbed the helping hooves and pulled the pink mare towards her.
Pinkie Pie offered no resistance to being pulled in to almost cuddling position as her mind went blank for a moment before zipping off into hyperspace.
(Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh SHE IS SO CUTE! Come on Pinkie Pie, she's asleep, defenseless, helpless, completely trusting... I SOOOO want to cuddle!!! She's just too cute, I'll hug her and cuddle her and pet her and call her George! Well, actually, I'd rather call her my little star and I shouldn't snuggle her, she may not like it but if she didn't like it then why would she be holding me so closely and we only have a few hours and – GERONIMO!!!)
With a mental leap, Pinkie Pie slowly got up onto the seat next to the sleeping pony who pulled the pink mare even closer with a grin on her face and nuzzled the pink neck with her nose.
(GASP! No far, she nuzzled first! I'll just have to snuggle twice as much!)
And with the snuggle wars off to a cute start, Pinkie Pie allowed the rest of the world to drop away around the two of them. Though she had her Pinkie Sense on alert for when they got to Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie felt the need to sing softly while she enjoyed this rare opportunity to be as close as she wanted with the cupcake of her heart.
“Twilight is my bestest friend, whoopy whoopy, she's the cutest smartest all around best pony, pony, I hope she'll soon like me, like me, I just can't wait, hopefullllyyy~~”
After what felt like only moments, Twilight opened one eye to see why she was being prodded in the side. She was surprised to see a pair of blue eyes extremely close to her and gave a small jump before sitting up properly, leaning back slightly from the close face of Pinkie Pie.
“Hey Twilight! We're coming up to Ponyville! You should really get up now unless you want to stay on the train, I wonder if they let you stay on the train after you were suppose to get off? Oohh, wanna stay and see if we get more rides to far away places?”
Twilight rubbed a hoof across her eyes, trying to remember what happened in the past few hours. As she slowly came to her senses she heard a voice carry across the train.
“Ponyville! Next stop, Ponyville!”
“Oh, um, sure. Wait. I mean, thanks for waking me up Pinkie Pie, but I don't think they would like it if we tried to stay on the train without paying for new tickets.”
Pink shoulders gave a quick shrug as their owner dove under the seats for their luggage. “Okie dokie. Here is your bag Twilight! Today sure was fun! We should do it again soon!”
Twilight nodded as she grabbed her bags in her magic. “Yes, it was a lot of fun. And we should do it again, but please, let me know ahead of time so I can plan around it at least!”
“Sure thing Twilight! Ooo, it's going to be so much fun!”
Twilight smirked as the pink mare hopped out of their compartment and followed with a shake of her head.
Before long the two friends found themselves back in town as evening was just settling in. Twilight took note of how dark it was getting and hoped that Spike didn't do anything too bad while she was gone. She turned to the mare next to her and smiled.
“Thanks again Pinkie. It was a lot of fun. I'll see you later, ok?”
“Sure thing Twilight! I'm sure I'll see you bright and early for your usual cupcake order!” The party pony felt even more energized after spending the whole trip back cuddling the best pony in Ponyville. She gave a large smile to her crush and bounced away, planning some new cupcakes to try based on what happened that day.
The lavender pony smirked at the unusual farewell and slowly walked back to the library.
The young dragon, who was cleaning some of the top most shelves with a feather duster, turned when he heard the door open.
“Sorry the library's closed- Oh hey Twilight! I was wondering when you were going to be back. Did you have fun? Where'd you go? What'd you do? Did you get me anything?” The purple and green dragon hopped down from the ladder he was on and walked over to the unicorn who was pulling books out of the bags she had with her.
“Hi Spike. Yes, I had fun. We went to Fillydelphia and we went to the park, the library and a book store. I did get you something, a book on how to age gems to get a better quality from them. I bet they make it taste even better too!” Twilight levitated a blue book over to Spike who had a hungry look on his face at the thought of better tasting gems.
However, it wasn't too long after putting away the books that the unicorn felt the day catch up with her once more and heading off to bed. As she started to walk up the stairs, she came across her number one assistant asleep with the new book open below his head. She shook her head a little and picked up the book and dragon, putting both away before heading to bed herself.
As she closed her eyes, she felt as though something was missing and could have sworn she smelled cupcakes. With a quick jerk of her head, she dislodged those kinds of thoughts and turned onto her side. Luckily, the studious pony was so tired that she couldn't think about what it all meant as sleep came to her swiftly.
Although, in her half-asleep state, the unicorn began to hum a small tune that sounded familiar yet new as she drifted off.
“Are you sure you don't want me to come back tonight Twilight?” Spike asked as he pulled out a red bandanna and a long stick to tie it to. He then started to gather various lab equipment and brought them to the table to pack them away.
Twilight looked over at him from her spot in the middle of the library. She was going over a checklist of things that Spike was packing.
“I'm sure. We need those the experiments to be safely delivered and I'd rather you go and pick up the books. By the time you'll be done it will be really late and it's dangerous to travel alone at that time. Especially for a baby dragon.” Spike merely grunted as he packed some food for himself, the experiments that Twilight completed and was submitting to the Canterlot University of Magical Achievements and the list of books Twilight had ordered for the library that had to be picked up.
Twilight didn't trust the normal delivery service after they mixed up hers' and Sugar Cube Corner's orders the last time. They had to order new books since they never did get the flour and icing off them. Though she was able to pick up some 'on-the-house-because-I-made-a-mess-of-your-books' cupcakes.
“Are you SURE you're going be ok by yourself tonight Twilight?” Spike asked as he wrapped up the last of the things to be carried and settled the pack on the stick, which he then lifted to rest on his shoulder.
It was a little heavy so it bowed towards the ground, though Spike wouldn't hear of any other way to pack and travel. Twilight had tried to get him to use a suitcase or something of the like, but he wouldn't hear of it.
“I'll be fine. Besides, if I get too lonely, I'll just see if the girls want to have a sleepover. How's that sound?” Twilight said as she followed the young dragon to the door.
“Alright... If you're sure.” Spike said as he gave Twilight a hug that she returned and exited the library tree. He waved goodbye as he walked backwards to keep Twilight in view, until he nearly ran into a food stand, then he faced forward once more and headed for the train station. Twilight waved in return while watching him until he was no longer in view.
The lavender unicorn closed the door behind her as she walked into town, looking for her friends. As she walked along, she kept an eye on the sky in case Rainbow Dash was napping. Though the first one she came across was actually Fluttershy.
“Hi Fluttershy! I wasn't expecting to see you in town. How is it going?” Twilight asked as she stepped up next to the yellow peagasus.
“Eep! .. Oh.. hi Twilight.” Fluttershy softly responded as she glanced down for a second, having been startled.
Twilight, having expected something like this, didn't take it to heart and proceeded with her questions.
“What are you doing in town? I almost never see you around here in the middle of the day.” The lavender mare asked with a tilt of her head.
“I'm getting some more food for my animals, there's a cold going around and the poor dears are feeling awful. I'm making a heartier soup that should restore some of the nutrients they need to get better.” Fluttershy said with a small smile as she glanced back at her saddlebags that were full of food.
“Oh, well I hope they get better soon. I suppose this means you wouldn't be able to come over for a sleepover then?” Twilight asked, though she had a feeling of what the answer was going to be.
“Oh!.. I'm sorry.. but I can't tonight.. um.. but thanks for thinking of me... sorry...” The shy pony cowered a little, upset that she had to decline her friend's offer.
Twilight sighed really quietly and gave Fluttershy a small smile to show that she was fine.
“It's ok Fluttershy. It's important that the animals get better. I'll see you later.” Twilight gave a small wave as she walked on, looking for her other friends.
The next pony she saw was Rainbow Dash, who was taking a nap on a cloud above the town. Her rainbow mane and tail hung over the sides, as she laid on her back with both fore-hooves behind her head.
“Hey Rainbow Dash! Are you busy tonight?” Twilight called up to the napping peagasus. At the sound of her name, Rainbow Dash flipped over on her cloud and looked towards the pony calling her.
“Nah, don't have too much planned. Why?” The cyan pony asked in return.
“Well, I was planning on inviting everyone over for a sleepover at my place. Want to come?” The lavnder unicorn asked a little hopefully.
Rainbow Dash had heard of Twilight's previous attempt at a Slumber Party and desperately thought for an excuse not to go.
“Oh, man! Uhh, I just remembered. I need to go and help for tomorrow's weather. Yeah. Sorry Twilight. Gotta dash!” Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed the back of her head before flying off in a burst of speed.
Twilight blinked in surprise at the sudden rush and gave a shrug. As she continued through town, she saw Applejack at her apple stall in the market. Twilight walked up and then sat nearby to wait for the orange pony to finish with her currant customer.
“Well hiya Twilight. How can Ah help ya today?” Applejack asked as Twilight stepped up to the counter.
“Hey Applejack. I was planning a sleepover tonight and was wondering if …” Twilight trailed off as she saw Applejack frown a little and shake her head 'no'.
“Sorry sugar. Ah'm afraid Ah can't tonight. Harvest starts tomorrow and we'll need to hit the hay early tonight so we can git up before sunup for an early start.” The farm pony said as she rubbed the back of head.
Twilight gave a slightly bigger sigh than before and nodded in acceptance.
“That's all right AJ. Harvest comes first. Let me know if you need any help this year.” Twilight said as she turned to go.
“Sure will sugarcube.” Applejack responded with a nod.
Twilight walked up to the Boutique next and was surprised by the sounds of Rarity muttering loudly to herself. As Twilight entered the shop, she had to duck from the flying cloth and ribbons as Rarity ran from one end of her store to the other, muttering about certain types of cloth and designs.
“Hey Rarity. What's going on?” Twilight asked as she stood near the wall, watching the other unicorn run back and forth.
“Oh hello darling. I simply cannot chat right now, an important client wants ten of my fabulous gowns made to order in merely two days and I'll have to work throughout the night to finish it in time!” Rarity said as she gathered more ribbon and cloth and stacked them to the side.
Twilight gave another sigh and nod.
“Alright. Good luck!” The lavender unicorn called as she walked outside. She sighed again as she walked though town to Sugarcube Corner.
(At this rate, I will be alone tonight. Oh well. Perhaps Pinkie Pie can come over. It would be nice if she could...)
As Twilight entered the store Pinkie Pie, who was watching the counter, zoomed over and bounced around the lavender mare.
“Heya Twilight! Whacha doing? Are you having a great day? Want some cupcakes?” Pinkie Pie chirped as she bounced.
“Hi Pinkie.” Twilight said with a small smile. “I don't suppose you'd like to come over for a sleepover tonight? I tried inviting everypony else, but they're all busy.” Twilight continued as she watched the pink pony bounce around with a big smile on her face at seeing her unicorn friend.
At the words 'sleepover' Pinkie Pie landed in front of Twilight and hopped in place. Once Twilight finished though, Pinkie Pie jumped up waved all four hooves around and screamed “YES~~!!” rather loudly.
Twilight winced a little at the sudden sound and movement but smiled at party pony all the same.
“Great. I'll see you tonight at seven, ok?” Twilight asked as she watched the pink mare hop all over the store in joy.
“This is gonna be so fuuunnnn! Just you, me and Spike! We'll have the best slumber party EVER!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she hopped on the tops of the chairs and tables in the store.
“Oh, well, actually it would be just you and me, Pinkie. Spike's gone to Canterlot on Library Business.” Twilight said as she folded her ears backwards and rubbed her fore-hooves together, while looking at the ground with a small blush.
Pinkie stopped mid-air and landed down in front of Twilight with a soft 'Oh' as she gave a blush as well.
“Okie-dokie-lokie. I'll be over at seven and we'll have lots of fun and you won't be all alone tonight.” Pinkie Pie said with a big grin and a single nod of her head.
Twilight's ears went forwards once more and she smiled back at Pinkie Pie.
“Thanks Pinkie. I'll see you tonight.” She said as she turned around and exited the bakery.
Pinkie bounced into the back of the store and told Mr and Mrs Cake about how she'll be over at the library that night for a sleepover. This didn't come as too much of a surprise to the older couple, since everypony within two blocks could have heard Pinkie Pie's response and joy of a sleepover. The party pony didn't notice how they were rubbing their ears to clear them of the shouting and gave a huge smile as she turned about and flew up the stairs to get ready for the night.
“Pillows? Check. Flashlight for scary stories? Check. Popcorn? Check. I think I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Let's put the Slumber Party 101 over here, out of range but near enough for quick reference...” Twilight muttered to herself as she levitated a quill and checked off her list for the sleepover.
Just in time too, for there was knocking on the door not even a second later.
*knock – knockknockknock knock ... knock knock!*
Twilight rolled her eyes at the rhythm of knocks at the door and opened it with her magic as she walked towards it. Luckily she was still a few steps away when the door opened with confetti and a horn blasting through it. Twilight gave a small smirk and shook her head.
“Hi Twilight! I'm here, so let's get the partaaaay started!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she leaped through the door and landed in front of the lavender pony with a large smile on her face.
Twilight smiled in return and greeted the already hyper pony.
“Hi Pinkie. Thanks for coming. Do you want to set your stuff down so we can get started?”
“Yeppers!” Pinkie tossed her saddle bags in the center of the room, where streamers and balloons exploded from it. Pinkie giggled as Twilight shook her again once more.
“Alright, let's see... we'll start with-” Twilight began as she floated her check list over when Pinkie cut her off with a giggle gasp.
“Silly-filly! A sleepover doesn't need a check list or a 'how to-' book!” She laughed as she grabbed the check list and the nearby book and tossed them into a corner of the room. Twilight caught them in her magic just before either could get damaged by the throw and set them down gently.
“How do you have a sleepover then?” Twilight asked with a small glare at the treatment of her book. Pinkie giggled at the glare and gave a sheepish smile.
“By doing whatever you want!” And with that the party mare proceeded to dig through her bags.
“Alright... and what do you want-?” Twilight started to ask when suddenly a clear bag of popcorn flew at her, catching her off guard.
“POPCORN FIGHT!” Pinkie yelled as she pulled more clear bags out of saddle bags and held them over her head while she stood on her hind legs.
Twilight stared in shock before grinning at the pink mare, then proceeded to picked up the recently thrown bag with her magic and returned fire. Soon both ponies were laughing like mad as the popcorn bags ripped and sprayed the room with their contents.
Once all the bags were opened and empty, the two friends began to eat the remains, laughing almost the entire time (though they made sure not to choke by accident). While Twilight did managed to get some of the popcorn, Pinkie Pie swam though the mess, eating the majority of it.
After the fight and resulting clean up, the two ponies played game after game, some which were made up on the spot by the party pony. She did this to prove that you didn't have to stick to plans or known games. They played Pin the Tail on Truth or Dare, where you were spun around and had to pin a tail on a poster that said truth or dare and do as it said. They also played three layer chess, where you put three chess boards next to each other and the first one with two dead kings lost. They played many more after these as well. After all the games, the two ponies danced most of the night away.
Once they tired themselves out, they plopped down and giggled at each others' antics.
“See? No plans but still fun! What do you want to do now Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asked a with a big grin and tilt of her head.
“Well... I don't know... umm..” Twilight said quietly, while glancing away from the curious blue eyes.
Twilight wanted to read but that wasn't really done at a sleepover. Pinkie tilted her head the other way as she looked at the lavender unicorn. After a moment of thought, the pink earth pony nodded once and grinned even larger than before.
“We can read books. You're suppose to have fun, and I know you like read. Oh! Oh! We can read parts of our favorite books out load to each other! How's that?” Pinkie Pie asked as she bounced up and down in spot.
Twilight looked at the pink mare in surprise. (How did she know I wanted to read? And that would be interesting, reading to each other...)
“Sure, that sounds rather interesting Pinkie. Let's go find some books!” The lavender mare said excitedly as she jumped up and they both ran to the bookshelves to find a story they'd want to read.
Once they both had a book, they sat down on Twilight's bed so they could read comfortably. Twilight had a detective novel and Pinkie Pie had a book on a traveling baker who made everypony happy with his desserts. As they read, whenever they came across an interesting/cool/mysterious/funny party, they read it out loud to the other. It was as if they were reading two books at the same time and both friends enjoyed it greatly.
Soon the night proved to be too much for Twilight as she feel asleep next to Pinkie on the bed. Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, was use to late night partying and was still mostly awake. She chucked to herself as Twilight's book nearly fell off the bed as the lavender pony leaned into Pinkie's side. The pink mare took both books and put them on the drawers next to the bed. Then she pulled the blanket over the two of them.
(You're so cute Twilight. It's amazing that nopony else has tried to catch you! But I, Pinkie Pie, will catch and keep the bestest pony in all of Equestria. And teach her how to have the most fun ever!) Pinkie thought as she snuggled closer to Twilight who gave a soft sigh of content and smiled as she returned the snuggling.
Twilight woke up the next day extremely content, though at first she wasn't sure why she was. She gave a mental shrug and nuzzled closer to her pink pillow, with her fore-hooves wrapped around it.
She took a deep breath in, smelling the scent of vanilla and frosting... (Wait a moment, Pink? Pink Pillow? Frosting scent!? I don't have pillow like that!) Twilight's eyes snapped open and she took a look at her 'pillow'.
It was Pinkie Pie's chest and lower portion of her mane. The pony in question was curled half around the lavender mare, with fore-hooves holding Twilight's head as she remained asleep.
(Wha-wha-what happened?! How did we fall asleep like this? What do I do what do I do what do I do....) Then the studious pony heard the front door open and Spike shouting through the tree house.
“Hello!? Anypony home? I'm back Twilight!”
(Spike? He's home already? But it's still really early! How did he get back so fast?) Twilight panicked as she glanced out the window to see where the sun was.
It was actually almost lunch time, both ponies having had so much fun the night before causing them to be so exhausted that they slept in.
(Oh no no no no no no no! I have to get up RIGHT NOW!) Twilight slowly edged out of the pink pony's hold and off the bed. It took an extra few minutes, since it was as if Pinkie didn't want to let go of the unicorn, though Twilight did managed it in the end. She gave a soft sigh of relief as she tip-toed down the stairs to welcome Spike home.
“Hey Twilight! There you are! I was starting to think you had stayed over at somepony else's house for the night instead of staying here.” Spike said as he placed his packages on the nearby table in the main room of the library.
“Hi Spike, sorry, I had slept in by accident. Now my day's schedule will be off, ugh. I'm happy to see you made it back alright, were there any problems getting the experiments delivered or picking up the books?” Twilight asked as she opened the packages and put the new books away on the shelves.
“You? Sleep in? Wow, who did you invite over for your sleepover? Pinkie Pie? And no, there wasn't any trouble getting the experiments to the university or picking up the books.” Spike huffed as he helped to put the books away before heading towards the kitchen.
Twilight followed as she flinched at the accurate guess of Spike's.
“Well, yes I did have – PINKIE PIE?!?” Twilight exclaimed as she jumped into the air with her hair puffed outwards in shock at seeing the party pony in the kitchen, cooking a huge breakfast for three.
“Huh?” Spike asked in surprise upon seeing the party mare and Twilight's reaction at seeing her there. Though it was a nice change to not have to make Twilight's breakfast for once.
“Hey there Twilight! It's about time you two got in here, pancakes are almost done~!” Pinkie Pie half-sang as she flipped some pancakes onto a plate that already had a decent amount on it.
“Wha-buh-how- Pinkie! How did you-? Wait. No. Never mind....” Twilight covered her eyes with a hoof as she gave up trying to understand the pink mare.
The studious pony could feel the start of a headache already and knew it wasn't a good idea to start such a long research project as understanding Pinkie Pie. Especially so early in the morning without any food to keep up her energy.
The lavender pony and the small dragon took a seat at the kitchen table as the pink pony served each one a large helping of pancakes, hay-hashbrowns and apple juice. With lots of syrup of course.
“That was really good Pinkie Pie! Thanks a bunch. Though it could have used some emeralds...” Spike muttered as he cleared the table of dirty dishes.
“Indeed, that was an excellent breakfast. Thanks and thanks for staying over last night Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said as she looked at the hyper pony. Twilight noticed with some distress that the syrup bottle was now quite empty and she and Spike didn't use all that much.
(Guess I'll have to keep a large stock of syrup and sugar on hand if Pinkie Pie comes over more.)
“No problem Twilight! Last night sure was fun! If you need any help or anything else, just let me know and I'll get it done in a jiffy!” Pinkie said as she hopped over to help clean up the kitchen.
Twilight nodded as she watched Pinkie Pie for a short while before heading over to her desk to write some notes on friendship in general and Pinkie Pie specifically. She paused in her writing as pink hooves gave her a quick hug before a rush of wind told her that Pinkie Pie was leaving.
“See you later Twilight!”
“Good-bye Pinkie Pie.” Twilight tried to call back as she heard the door open and close.
(That was a close one Pinkie! You almost made it obvious how you feel for the wonderfullest pony in Ponyville... Twilight sure looks adorable as she's working on understanding mysteries. And she was so soft! Too bad we had to get up, but at least she wasn't lonely last night!) Pinkie Pie thought as she hopped to Sugarcube Corner to start her day of work while humming along the way.
“Twilight is my bestest friend, whoopy whoopy, she's the cutest smartest all around best pony, pony, I hope she'll soon like me, like me, I just can't wait, hopefullllyyy~~”
In the desert was the small town of Apploosa. The towns folk, local buffalo tribe, and seven guests were celebrating the peaceful ending to a local feud. They had all the apple foodstuff (with lots of pie of course!) anyone could want and were having a fun time together.
All except for one pink earth pony with poofy cotton candy colored mane. A lavender unicorn looked over and noticed how her friend had gone quiet and wasn't having her usual fun at the picnic celebration.
(She's been quiet since that little outburst earlier after the buffalo did their traditional stamped ...who was she talking to anyways?.... Almost like she heard my mental note of what I want to send in my letter to the Princess about what I've learned here... But then again, that by itself is very Pinkie Pie-like... I better go check on her, I won't be able to focus on anything else until she's cheered up.) The lavender pony stood from her space at the table and walked over to the pink pony.
The pony in question noticed when Twilight began to walk over and watched her come closer. Once Twilight made it to Pinkie Pie's side, she took a seat and looked at the pink mare with a question in her eyes. Pinkie took one look at the purple eyes before looking at the table before them and leaned into the unicorn next to her.
“Why did no one like my song? The instrument was fine, the message was clear wasn't it?, the choreography was spot on...” Pinkie asked softly with a serious but confused face.
Twilight gave a small sigh as her shoulders slumped and looked towards the sky, trying to word her answer properly.
“I think...” Blue eyes lifted to meet purple. “I think, they just weren't expecting it. I don't think they have many friends who like to sing like you do. Remember, it took us awhile before we were use to you singing all the time too.” Twilight stated with a smile.
Pinkie giggled a little and Twilight gave a small laugh as well as she nudged the party mare.
“Maybe we can visit more often and get everyone here use to your singing. How's that sound?” Pinkie's eyes sparkled at the prospect.
“Really? Really really? Like REEAALLYYY Really really?”
“Yes, really.” Twilight waved her fore-hooves in a calming gesture.
“Ohhh! Twilight your the bestest best best ever!” Pinkie hopped around the laughing unicorn.
Then the pink earth pony rushed in to give her crush a nuzzle under her chin, a quick little peck on the cheek and sped away with a cry of “They're dancing, I gotta show them how we in Ponyville shake our groove thing!”
Twilight remained sitting as she put a hoof to her cheek where Pinkie gave her a peck. After a minute of stunned silence, Rainbow Dash landed next to her.
“Hey, Twilight, we need you to be the judge for our race! We're going to see who's the fastest, Little Strongheart, AJ or yours truly! Hey, Egghead. You in there?” Rainbow asked as she poked the lavender unicorn in the shoulder. Twilight gave a start of surprise and looked at the blue peagasus.
“Oh, uh, yeah, I can be the judge for you guys...”
Together they set off for a nearby area that had no obstacles, aside from natural ones.
“Now remember Rainbow, no wings! This here is a race fer running!” Applejack glared at the cyan pony who scuffed a hoof along the ground.
“Yeah yeah. Keep you hat on.” Little Strongheart laughed softly behind a hoof as the orange earth pony tied the cyan pony's wings to her sides to prevent any 'accidents'. Twilight rolled her eyes with a chuckle as Spike found a near by twig to use as his microphone.
“Ready.... Set.... GO!” Twilight yelled as the three contestants took off like the wind, Spike acting as the commenter for the race, keeping the nearby crowd informed as he watched with binoculars.
Meanwhile back in town, up on a roof top where no one thought to look, a pink fluffy maned pony sat looking towards the race on the edge of town. Though it wasn't the racers that had the pony's attention, it was the lavender unicorn judge who had the mare's complete focus.
Pinkie Pie watch Twilight as she sipped from her cup of punch, who in turn was watching the racers. Once she drained the last drop, she firmly placed it onto the roof where it made a hollow sound. Pink ears perked forward as they heard this new sound. Blue eyes focused on the red plastic cup as a grin slowly spread across a pink muzzle.
Pinkie Pie flipped the cup over and allowed her instincts to take it from there. Pink hooves clapped twice, drummed on the bottom of the cup for three beats before clapping once more, picked up the cup and shifted it over with a thud. Then she picked up the cup by the rim of the top, smacked the open end on her right hoof, set the cup back down right ways up with another thud, lifting it up it once more to switch hooves, slapping her left hoof onto the roof before setting the cup back down in it's starting position of upside down with another thud.
The pink mare continued this rhythm for awhile as she began to feel lyrics bubble up. She gave a small grin as she began to sing...
“I got my ticket for loong way round, two bottle of whiskey for the waay, and I'd sure would like soome sweet company and I'm leavin' tomorrow whaddya say?
When I'm gone, When I'm gone-ooOOon, You're gonna miss me when I'm gooone. You're gonna miss me by my hair, You're gonna miss me everywhere, ohh, You're gonna miss me when I'm gone.
When I'm gooone, When I'm goone-oon, You're gonna miss me when I'm goone. You're gonna miss me by my walk, You're gonna miss me by my talk, oohh, You're gonna miss me when I'm goone.”
By this point, the music for the wild and the mild west dancing had came to a complete stop as everyone listened to the very interesting song. They couldn't tell where it was coming from, but enjoyed it none the less. Soon the musicians started again, but in an attempt to go along with the singer. All the dancers started to dance in time with the song along with their partners...
“I got my ticket for the long way roouund the one with the prettiest of viewws. It's got mountains, it's got rivers, it's got sights to give you shivers, but it'd sure be prettier with you.
When I'm gooone, When I'm goone-OOhhoone, You're gonna miss me when I'm gooone-OOHhooone, You're gonna miss me by my walk, You're gonna miss me by my talk, ohh, You're gonna miss me when I'm goone.
When I'm goone, When I'm gone-ooOOon, You're gonna miss me when I'm gooone. You're gonna miss me by my haair, You're gonna miss me everywheere, ohh, You're sure gonna miss me when I'm gooone.
When I'm gooone, When I'm goone-oohhne, You're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my walk, You're gonna miss me by my talk, ohh, You're gonna miss me when I'm goone....”
Pinkie Pie wasn't aware of any of her surroundings as she sang and tapped on the cup aside from the cutest smarty smart pants unicorn in all of Equestria. She repeated the song twice more before fading off, watching amused as the lavender unicorn lifted the split hoof of Little Strongheart into the air, proclaiming her as the victor. The other two racers were off to the side panting from their run. Soon all five friends were laughing and heading back to town.
As the pink earth pony became aware of her surroundings once more, she noticed cheering from the crowds below.
(Oohhh, maybe they realized who's coming back and just how acca-awesome my little star is! While I don't mind sharing [and caring!], I just hope she always comes back to Ponyville after saving the world and helping everyone with their problems, it would be so much less fun if she wasn't there, something always seem to be happening when she's home [or at least more things happen than usual]. I mean, random magical beast attacks have gone up in the last half a year by 15% alone, not including all the interesting ponies that come by nowadays....)
The five friends walked back to town in high spirits (or in a young dragon's case, had a pony-back ride) as Spike was retelling the highlights of the race.
“And she was like – zoom! Right past you two as you were fighting again. Man, that was a cool race!... hey, why is everyone clapping and cheering?” Spike pointed towards the town folk who were indeed cheering and clapping as they looked around.
The four others looked at one another and shrugged. Twilight took the lead as they walked over to the nearest couple and asked what was going on.
“Why, we're just thankin' whoever sang that amazin' song! And played an instrument none of us ever heard of before. Sure made for an interestin' tune to dance too.” The stallion stated while his date nodded along.
The five friends pondered this for a moment when Twilight had a sudden urge to look up at a nearby roof. With an 'eep' of surprise and sudden blur of pink ducking down, Twilight couldn't help but smile with a soft chuckle.
“Oh Pinkie Pie.”
Three of the four others' faces changed from confusion to comprehension as they too gave little laughs. Little Strongheart was still confused so the blue and orange ponies lead the way, explaining about their hyperactive pink friend. Twilight remained where she was, watching the roof that hid a pink party pony.
Once she saw a pair of blue eyes and half a nose appear, Twilight waved a hoof and smirked. Pinkie Pie, in turn, sat up quite suddenly and with a big grin, waved both fore-hooves in the air as a return greeting. Twilight gave a louder laugh as she waved once more and turn to follow the others.
The seven friends continued to have fun at the celebration (Pinkie Pie had gotten down from the roof top) after the dinner and race they had. They played the various carnival games that were set up, such as horseshoes, apple tossing, pencil in a haystack search, and others of the like. They even had the horse drawing horse-drawn carriages draw the seven friends in western dress.
But like any good party or celebration, everything must come to an end. And night came quickly as the celebration came to an end with the buffalo heading to their tribal home and most of the towns folk heading in for the night. The seven friends gathered all their possessions and headed for the train station.
To make the trip home seem shorter the seven friends went back to Ponyville that night, much like when they first traveled to Apploosa. Rarity was annoyed that even with the tree delivered, they still didn't get private bunks. The others merely laughed and said it was like another sleepover. As the friends chatted with each other, Twilight finally convinced Pinkie Pie to share the second song she had performed while in Apploosa.
As the the pink mare whipped out a plastic cup (light purple this time) the others' conversations dropped off slowly. Once the pink pony started the beat, everyone fell completely silent as they watched in amazement. Pinkie Pie tried to keep her eyes closed during the song since the last time the world disappeared around the lavender and pink mare and Pinkie Pie didn't want to be TOO obvious as to who she'd want to travel the long way round with. The others watched as the normally very energetic and hyper mare sat still and only moved her front hooves. Though it seemed to Twilight as if the poofy maned pony was singing to her.
(Come on Twilight, just because she's leaning towards you, sort of, and her smile might seem bigger when she's facing your way or or ...anything really!.... doesn't mean that it's meant for you... though it sure be nice if it was.....)
As Pinkie let the sound fade away she opened her eyes to find herself looking into purple ones. She gave a big smile before managing to force herself to look at all of the others (and not just a certain unicorn). Everyone clapped their hooves.
“We'll Ah'll be! That there was a sight to see.”
“Why yes, it was. That was magnificent darling!”
“That was so totally awesome! You gotta teach us that!”
“Oh my. That was lovely Pinkie Pie. Where did you learn that?”
“Yes, that was amazing! Where did you learn that and please teach us!”
“Well sure I'll teach you guys how to do this. And I didn't learn it somewhere, I made it up myself. Pinkie Pie Super-Secret Numbuh 442!” Everyone gave a blank look at the mare who was standing on hind legs with one hoof on her hip while she pointed her right hoof into the sky.
Everyone succumbed to giggles as Pinkie pulled out an assortment of colored cups.
Everyone reached out and grab a different color from each other. Rainbow Dash grabbed a light cream cup, Fluttershy picked a light blue one, Rarity choose a light orange cup, Spike grabbed a white one, Applejack picked a red one and Twilight choose a pink one. The party mare tried to contain her excitement at the various colors chosen and what they might mean, subconsciously, of course.
For the next few hours Pinkie Pie showed her friends how to do the song and rhythm. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the fastest at getting it down pat while Rarity and Spike got it after another hour or so of practice. One could hardly hear when Fluttershy did it but Twilight had the most trouble. She just couldn't focus on the rhythm and keep it at a steady pace. It didn't help when light blue eyes glanced over to see how it was going and pink hooves showed how it was done for the nth time.
“Sorry Pinkie. I can't seem to focus right now. I'll keep practicing though.” Twilight quietly murmured to the pink pony in front of her.
“It's fine, I understand Twilight. Let me know if you need any help though, ok?” Pinkie Pie replied just as quietly, with her ears flipped back as she looked downwards for a short moment. Light blue eyes glanced at purple ones before their owner turned back to the others in the cabin and checking how they were doing with their task.
(Ooooo, I went too far didn't I? Oh Pinkie Pie, why do you do this to yourself? You came on too strong, now Twilight can't even look at you for long. I bet she's embarrassed by that kiss you gave her and now she doesn't want anything to do with you and will never be your friend ever again and doesn't even want to learn the song after hearing what it sounded like and how I kept looking at her and OOOhhh, I can't take this! I'll just act like nothing happened and never mention it again and never do it again even though I really really really want to but NO. Twilight's friendship is more important and I can't lose it! EVER.)
The pink mare then acted just as hyper and happy as normal, determined to prove that nothing was wrong and nothing had happened. While most of her friends didn't notice Pinkie Pie being extra Pinkie Pie that night, the lavender unicorn did and began to grow concerned as to why.
(Why is Pinkie acting like that? It can't be because of what happened earlier can it? Was it because I can't get this song right? I just can't focus with her bright blue eyes staring at me in hope and faith. Especially after that trip to Fillydelphia, when I was able to play music just fine! Arrggghh. What is wrong with me!? Ever since that kiss, Pinkie has been on my mind more than usual. I bet it's because I'm acting oddly... Alright, I'll try to act normally. I'll not let anything, even my own feelings, ruin our friendship. I'd rather never have the chance of a relationship if it means I lose her friendship.)
With that thought foremost in her mind, Twilight tried to get the rhythm down until it was time for bed, even though she STILL couldn't get it right.
As the unicorn laid in bed, analyzing what went wrong, a new train of thought came to mind as to why it might not be working out. (Perhaps it's because I WANT it to be a song for just her and myself. We did take a trip on our own, perhaps I don't want to perform it in front of anyone else but her... Sigh, I guess I won't be able to show her that I can do the song for awhile then, if when I do so I'd want to be more than just 'friends' with her...)
The next morning the seven friends arrived back home and spent the day catching up on chores and business, pleased to be back home where they belonged and out of the desert heat. Though a pink earth pony and lavender unicorn were already missing the company of the other, however they all had chores to catch up on and couldn't get away to meet up once more to hang out.
For the next few nights at the tree library, Spike was constantly woken up by the sounds of a cup shifting around and soft singing.
“I've my ticket for the loong way roouund, two bottles of whiskey for the waay. And I'd sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow whaddya say?
The lavender unicorn was walking around town,lost in thought. She didn't have a destination in mind, aside from avoiding a certain bakery where the object of the distracted mare's thoughts lived.
(Pinkie has been a great help and taught me so much these last few months. How can I show her how much I appreciate her?)
As Twilight walked through town she looked at the various stores and their potential gifts, shaking her head 'no' at each.
(No, she has lots of pranking supplies. She doesn't need any quills OR sofas. She has lots of musical instruments. I don't think she would need anything fixed and she doesn't need a watch to tell the time. From what I can tell, her Pinkie Sense does that for her. What does one get or do for a mare already happy and throws parties for everyone else?)
Twilight came across the park and decided to sit for a short while to relax. Maybe inspiration would come from watching others. Little did anypony know (aside from a two-toned blue maned DJ) that it was a certain somepony's birthday and a surprise was waiting for them in the park.
“Come on Tavi. It's not much farther!”
“But Vinyl, I would rather just have a nice meal at home...”
“Ahhh, come on Tavi! It's good get fresh air sometimes... this should be good... right around HERE.” As the two ponies came to a stop on top of one of the hills in the park, at the shout of 'HERE', confetti exploded from the trees near them and ponies popped up with shouts of 'SURPRISE!”.
Octavia held a grey hoof to her chest in surprise while Vinyl lifted the cover off of their picnic basket revealing presents instead of food.
Meanwhile a pink maned pony bounced forward with a large box on her head. As the ponies at the center of attention hugged, the light grey one with tears in her eyes, the party pony extraordinaire displayed what was inside the box. It was a chocolate cake with light brown chocolate icing in the shape of Octavia's favorite instrument, a custom build piece with the features of both the cello and double bass. Twilight watched on as the grey mare gave the white one a kiss as thanks while the friends surrounding them laughed.
(That's it! What better way to show the party expert that I/we care than to trow her a party! When is her birthday anyways?... I've known her for over half a year now and I don't even know when her birthday is?!? Who knows everything about everypony?... aside from Pinkie... Rarity. Rarity should know when Pinkie's birthday is. Hopefully.) At this the lavender unicorn set off for the Boutique, not wanting to waste a moment.
As she left the park where the party was going full swing, the pink mare noticed her leaving and a frown crossed her face as she looked towards the unicorn. But as she became aware of her surroundings once more she merely shrugged and promised herself to check on the librarian later. First she had a party to host!
“Thanks Pinks. Tavi was surprised perfectly. I owe you one.” A pink hoof waved off the thanks.
“No problem at all. After all, we're all acca-buddies. So long as the awesome DJ Pon-3 can find some time to help with music ambiance should it be needed, then we're all even stevens.” Vinyl threw her head back as she laughed and slung a leg over pink shoulders.
“Acca-awesome.” As Pinkie hugged the white unicorn back, the grey earth pony came and joined in the hug session.
“Thank you so much guys.”
“Heh, you haven't even opened your presents yet Tav', you should save your thanks for later. And there's a nice big one waiting for you at home too, when it's just the two of us.” Vinyl said with a wink. Pinkie giggled as Octavia's face flushed at the implications. Soon all three friends were laughing as they turn back to the party.
Meanwhile, at the local dress maker's shop, two unicorns were slightly panicky at the knowledge that neither one knew when their party loving friend's birthday was.
“But I thought you knew about everypony!”
“Darling, I know about the important ponies of Canterlot, where one must take note and follow cues to stay important and relevant. You are thinking of Pinkie Pie, who does indeed know everything of everyone in Ponyville. Why, if one wanted a party, you go to HER first, least you overlap the parties. We'll just have to try another method of finding when her birthday is.” Rarity huffed as she ran a hoof through her mane.
Twilight rubbed her face with a hoof as she tried to think about who else would know about the pink earth pony.
“Ok, ok. What about the Cakes? They should know right?” The light grey unicorn nodded, watching the lavender one as plans began to form in her mind.
“Ok, I'll go and ask the Cakes, could you go and ask our friends to visit one at a time so Pinkie doesn't realize what's going on?”
“Sounds like a marvelous plan, as usual. We'll meet back here when we've completed our tasks, correct?”
“Yes. Once we know when it is, we can develop a time table to get everything ready. Alright, I'll see you within the hour.” Both ponies left the store as the fashionista flipped the 'open' sign to 'closed' with her magic and went their separate ways. One headed for the bakery, while hoping that the party was still going on in the park as the other headed into the market place to look for their blue peagasus or orange earth pony friends.
Twilight entered the bakery and checked to make sure the cost was clear. Mr Cake was at the counter and noticed this. He glanced around as well and when Twilight leaned forward to whisper to the baker he leaned inwards while tilting his head in order to hear the lavender unicorn.
“Is Pinkie Pie around?” Twilight whispered while glance around, making sure no extra ears were listening in.
“No. I think there was a surprise party that's suppose to last the afternoon that she's hosting. Why?” He whispered back, since it felt like the thing to do.
Once she knew that Pinkie wasn't back yet, Twilight straighten up with a smile.
“Oh good. I have two questions for you then Mr Cake. When Pinkie's birthday and would you and Mrs Cake be willing to make a cake for it?” The lavender mare asked in a louder tone, though not too loud, she didn't want anypony to overhear. At the questions Mr Cake's face cleared and he began to smile.
“Well of course we'll make a cake for that! I think she said she found gummy the day before her birthday, which would put it at April 1st. Still a month away. How would you like the cake to look and would you want it to say anything?” At the news that she did not in fact miss her crush's birthday, Twilight beamed at the baker as she thought about what kind of cake would be best.
“Great! Uhm, if you could make the cake with her favorite flavors and say, ummm, 'happy Birthday Pinkie Pie'?”
“Sure thing! We'll have it ready the morning of the day, so you can pick it up whenever you need to.”
“Thanks! Oh and could you make sure Pinkie doesn't know? It's going to be a surprise!”
“Sure. Would you like anything else today?”
“No thank you. See you later!” As the unicorn exited the store, giddy at her success, the orange stallion went to the kitchen to share the news with his wife.
For the white grey unicorn, things were not going as well. She couldn't find the typically napping peagasus in the skies around town and the Apples didn't have their stand out that day. The fashion pony did an about face and began the trek to Sweet Apple Acres. As she was midway to the orchard, she saw Rainbow Dash flying overhead.
“Oh Rainbow Dash! Darling, a moment please?” The cyan peagasus pulled to a stop in midair before zipping down to the unicorn.
“What's up?”
“Rainbow dear, we're going to be planing a surprise party for …. Pinkie Pie!” Rarity leaned closer to the cyan mare while checking that the coast was clear as she whispered the end of her sentence.
Rainbow had a grin that grew slowly as she too checked the surrounding area.
“What's the deal? What kind of party?”
“Well, it's for her birthday. Twilight's gone to make sure we have the right date and then we'll meet 'one on one' as it were, so that a certain somepony doesn't become suspicious of our activities.”
“SWEEETTT! This is gonna be so AWESOME! So Twilight knows, you know and I know, have you told the others yet?” Rainbow hoof pumped both limbs as she closed her eyes momentarily, already thinking of the surprise the pink pony would be getting, before looking back at the fashion minded pony before her.
“Not yet. I'm on my way to Applejack's now and I was going to head towards Fluttershy's cottage afterwards. Unless you could tell the dear?”
“Sure thing! I'll keep Fluttershy in the loop. Let me know when you need either of us. This is gonna be so cool!” With a last hoof ump, Rainbow Dash took off at usual high speeds.
The rush of wind caused havoc with Rarity's mane, who gave a cry of alarm. Luckily the damage wasn't too bad and after a minute of styling, continued on her way to the farm.
After checking in with Granny Smith, who told her where the orange earth pony was, Rairty headed for the south fields, where she found her quarry bucking apples.
“Well Howdy Rarity. What brings ya out this ways?”
“Hello Applejack. I'm here about setting up a surprise part for...” Blue eyes shifted side to side checking for a clear area as their owner leaned in with a hoof to the side of her mouth. “Pinkie Pie! … But we must meet one at a time so that she doesn't suspect anything.”
“Ah getcha. Well, if ya want, we could use the barn to have the party. She don't normally go in there, we could set everythin' up a little early and she won't be the wiser.”
“Why darling, that's a splendid idea! I'll let the others know. Thanks again darling.” Rarity said as she turned to leave.
“No problem at all. Ah'll see ya later, let me know when ya need mah help.” Applejack gave a wave good-bye and readjusted her hat as she went back to work. Soon the air was full of the sounds of apple bucking as the fashionista head back into town.
The two unicorns met back in the dress ship once more.
“Did she see you at the bakery?”
“No, she was out at the time. Did you run across her?”
“No, no, not at all. And all the others know as well now. But come, don't leave out any details! When is her birthday?”
“April 1st. We'll have plenty of time to gather the supplies in small enough quantities not to arouse suspicion. And the Cakes said they would make the cake.”
“Oh~ marvelous. And dear Applejack has offered us the use of her barn to hide the supplies and get the party set up.”
“Perfect! Ok, here's the plan. Rainbow will get the supplies, since no one would look twice at her being in the Prank Palace, since they merged with Party Supplies and More. Let's see... Applejack has offered use of their barn. And she could provide the rest of the party food. Since we'll be in a barn, Fluttershy could speak with the local animals to make sure they don't eat or get at any of the party stuff. You'll be in charge of decorating the barn when it's closer to the day and I'll make the supply lists of things needed for the party.”
“Sounds like a wonderful plan. I expected nothing less of our Winter Wrap Up All Group Organizer!” Twilight blushed as she scrapped a hoof along the floor.
“Now we just need to make sure Pinkie Pie doesn't catch wind of this.”
“Indeed! I'll pass the word to the others, you run along and get those lists started.” The lavender unicorn nodded once and gave a salute before exiting the store.
She had to remember to act normal on the way home, she didn't want to ruin the surprise by hopping home or shouting about it. Once she was inside though, she did jump in circles with a large grin on her face.
Spike came over and watched for a minute before decided that she most likely wouldn't stop any time soon and tried to get her attention.
“Twilight? Twilight. Twilight! TWILIGHT!” At the last call, which was more of a shout, Twilight froze in the act of jumping up once more. She looked over to the purple dragon who had his arms crossed and looked back with one brow raised.
“Heh heh. Sorry Spike. I'm just excited -” at this green eyes rolled in place “- about setting up a surprise party for.... Pinkie Pie.” The last two words were whispered in case the pony it pertained to was listening. Which wouldn't really surprise the unicorn.
Spike's face cleared of confusion and annoyance as he leaned forward.
“That's gonna be great! Can I help Twilight, can I?” Twilight petted his head as she nodded.
“Sure thing Spike. For now you can help me make the supply lists and when it's closer to the day you can help Rarity with the decorating. How's that sound?”
“Works for me! Let's get started!” With a flourish, Spike pulled out a scroll and quill, ready to start. While it may seem like a Pinkie-esque ability to pull it from seemingly nowhere, it was more due to the fact that Twilight kept some all over the place so that there was always some within claw's reach. Soon the two friends were on a roll as they spent the rest of the afternoon making list after list of supplies and phases for the party.
(Come on Pinkie Pie, I'm sure there's a logical -heh heh, logical- reason for why Twilight had to leave just as the party was getting started... like maybe she didn't know Octy and Viand didn't want to interfere... though I make sure everypony is invited to my parties and Twilight should have met them already... maybe she's allergic to CAKE! But she eats lots of cupcakes and cake and...GASP maybe she's sick! And she wanted to be away from everypony else so they didn't get sick too! Ohhh, Doctor Pie is on the case!)
At the persistent knocking, Twilight opened the library door a little hesitantly to find Pinkie Pie in a white lab coat with a stethoscope and head mirror on top. Twilight gave a backwards jump of surprise with a shout of “Pinkie Pie!”. With a quick panicked shot of magic of teleporting the scrolls of supplies away, the unicorn smiled at her friend who followed her closely as she held the stethoscope to a purple temple. This caused the unicorn to freeze in confusion as she looked at the serious face of the pink mare.
“hhhmmmmmm.... I can't hear anything on this thing! Which means either one of two things. A) This thing is broken and only good for Nightmare Night Costumes or 2) You have no heart beat which means you're now a zombie or vampire. Have you suddenly felt the urge to eat brains or sparkle in the sunlight?”
“No.” Came the short response with corresponding brow raise.
“Do you feel the need to break out in song and dance? Or feel like you are stuck to the floor? How about the room, is the room spinning round and round? ” A flashlight appeared and was shown into purple eyes which dilated as their owner backed away, while putting a hoof into the way of the intruding light.
“No! What's going on Pinkie?”
“I'm seeing what kind of illness you're sick with.” A pink hoof grabbed a triangle hammer and bonked Twilight's head as a pink ear rested against the purple skull, listening to the thud of the hammer.
“Ow! I'm FINE and I don't think you're using any of those the right way.” Twilight pushed Pinkie away from herself as she rubbed a hoof over the bump. It felt like she was growing an extra horn. She gave her friend a glare as Pinkie looked sheepish.
“Oh, good.” The doctor's outfit came flying off before disappearing altogether. “I was worried that maybe you weren't feeling well since you left the park before the party really got going...”
“Oh.” The lavender mare felt both pleased and worried that the extreme partier noticed when she left.
Twilight was please to know that even in the midst of a surprise party (which was one of Pinkie's favorite kinds), she still noticed when the unicorn left. But at the same time worried, afraid that the pink mare was suspicious or even worse, knew about the surprise party for her.
“Well, I realized that I still had research to do and Spike and I were just setting everything up for it.” Blue eyes lit up at this usual behavior of the studious pony.
“Oh ok! What was it about? Can I see?” The pink mare began to zip around the library in search of the 'research paper'.
“Oh, uhm, I already sent it to the Princess to be graded.”
“Oh.” Pinkie slumped for a second as she stepped in front of the lavender mare. But she perked up as a new thought came to her.
“Ohhh! Does this mean you're free the rest of the day?! Can we do something!? Can we can we can we?” Twilight was surprised at the onslaught of pleas but saw an opportunity to get the curious mare out of the library and away from hastily hidden scrolls.
“Sure, Let's, ah, go and find a rock farm and you can tell me about the different kinds of rocks, ok?” Twilight's question was rewarded with a brilliant smile and a jerk on her hoof as the pink mare lead the way out of the library.
“Oooohh, you're going to like this! I would show you my family's farm but it's further away from Ponyville than we could travel in half a day, which it's less actually since it's already 2pm, where did the morning go?, and a round trip from Ponyville to my family's farm and back would take 6 hours and then we wouldn't have a lot of time to go over all the kinds of rocks on a rock farm. But I did come across this one farm that's not too far and we...”
Twilight smirked at how she was able to both please and distract the pink maned pony. (And I get a lesson in local geology. I just hope Spike is able to properly hide those lists...)
After that extremely informative lesson, the next month seem to pass in a blur. As they slowly gathered supplies, they managed to keep their sharp sensed friend in the dark. Supplies Dash got were chalked up to stockpiling, Rarity's sudden trips were for business purposes and Twilight obsessing over list was just normal behavior.
It was a few days before the party day when things started to slip up with the arrival of a singing telegram. This caused some panic among the 5 friends (Spike being the only one sure things would work out in the end due to Twilight somehow), until they decided to step up the time table and get everything (aside from the cake) set up early. Luckily, Pinkie Pie was busy getting ready for her own party and didn't notice the other party preparations.
The night before the party for the ultimate party pony, a certain unicorn couldn't sleep. She was too excited for the next day and the pink mare's reaction to a party in her honor. Though it was to her great surprise when she was invited to 'gummy's after birthday party' the next morning.
(Great. Just great. Just because you couldn't keep your muzzle shut Pinkie has set up another party. Right when hers is! All because you had to let something slip. Hopefully everyone else comes up with reasons why they can't go. And hopefully she doesn't suspect anything. And hopefully we can still convince her to go to Applejack's.... Sigh, there's a lot left to chance. Oh well. I'll just stick to the plan and hopefully nothing goes wrong...)
(How can everything go so wrong?!? Not only did Pinkie see all of us acting strange but we so vague, evasive and strange that Pinkie lost all faith in us and de-friended us!....... were our bonds that weak? Are we that dismiss-able?.... Am I?.... There's only one way to find the answers. Investigate! Carefully...)
Even the new to the social scene pony knew that it was a bad idea to ask such serious questions in the middle of a party. So the lavender pony put aside these burning questions and made sure the pink mare had a lot of fun.
As the party was just finishing, cake eaten, punch all drank, and everyone couldn't dance anymore, the lavender mare walked up to the pink one and sat next to her.
Pinkie Pie Pie was enjoying the after-glow of a good party, watching her friends as they sat around chatting with each other. As soon as she saw the lavender unicorn come over with a small frown and concerned face, she knew it was question and answer time. While she loved playing 20 questions, she had a feeling of what this topic was going to be about.
“Pinkie Pie?.... Why... did you think we didn't want to be your friends anymore?” Blue eyes couldn't hold purple as their owner rubber her right fore-leg against left while the lavender pony tried to peer into a pink face.
“Well, I, ah, because, well.... Before, in another town, I tried to settle down and have lots of fun. You know I always invite everypony to all my parties, but after awhile some didn't come to my parties anymore. I tried to find out why not and at first they gave reasons, which turned into excuses, then they just avoided me altogether! I kept trying to find out why but before I got any answers they had somepony else come and tell me to leave them alone. I thought the same thing was happening here and so I decided to cut to the chase, how can you cut a chase?, and not invite you guys to any more parties or be friends anymore before you could do that to me.” Blue eyes misted over as they looked towards at her friends who all were listening in rapt silence.
“But I do want to be you friend! I was so sad that I couldn't be your friend that I made made, like built from things I found in my room, which is odd that I had some turnips around but still, made new friends! And they weren't half as nice as you guys are.” At this point, Pinkie Pie wasn't the only one with tears in her eyes as the others came closer to the party mare.
“You are important to me! All of you! And I promise to never doubt you again!” At this everyone joined in for a group hug, happy to finally know what caused such a saddening misunderstanding.
When it was time to head home, Twilight offered to help Pinkie Pie with carrying her presents back to the bakery. While she knew the pink mare would probably be fine carrying it all home, she still had one last question to ask her crush. Twilight had asked Rainbow Dash about these 'creepy town friends' Pinkie was having a party with, and was a little worried when there were only four made-up friends (with none of them sounding like the lavender mare).
As the two friends trotted along the quiet roads on the way to the bakery, Twilight tried to think of the best way to ask the question. It didn't help that Pinkie Pie was actually rather quiet as well as they walked along, distracting the unicorn with curiosity about why her friend wasn't her usual chatty-self.
“Pinkie Pie? Actually, I have one more question about what happened today.” Twilight peered at the mare next to her from the corner of her eyes.
Pinkie had a feeling that she'll always remember today as both the best and worse day ever. She wondered briefly as to what exactly Twilight wanted to know about but decided it was most likely part of the worse day ever.
“Yes, Twilight?” Pinkie looked at the mare next to her with only a small grin on her face.
“I asked Rainbow earlier... she said you only made four 'friends' and gave a little description as to what each looked like and acted like.... It almost seems like … you made each of our friends... except for … me.” Twilight looked to the ground, worried about why she was left out of the make-believe friends.
The pink mare sighed. There was no way she could get out explaining of this one without going into some of her hidden feelings for the lavender mare. But she knew she had to try.
“I couldn't pretend that some random object was you. You're too important to me for that. I mean, all of our friends are important, but it just didn't feel right to make something to take your place....” Pinkie couldn't look at the mare next to her as she stated this and looked forwards instead.
“Oh. Um. You mean a lot to me too Pinkie. Well, you all do, but ah. Yeah.” Twilight gave a small blush as she stared at the ground.
Since she was studying the ground so thoroughly, she didn't notice Pinkie's surprise or short rapid hopping session at the news that Twilight liked Pinkie in a potentially special way as well.
(Now Pinkie Pie, you don't know if she feels the EXACT same way or if you are just her bestest best friend ever.... Though if she thinks your important to her, maybe she didn't mind the kiss in the desert. Ohhh, this is so exciting. This is so totally the BEST DAY EVER!)
The two friends stayed quiet the rest of the trip home, lost in their own thoughts, though both were much happier than at the start of their journey. After helping Pinkie Pie put away all the gifts, Twilight walked slowly back to the library. Spike had already left for home awhile ago while the librarian had helped the party pony with her gifts.
Twilight was so distracted with her thoughts that she didn't notice when Spike tried to get her attention about what took her so long and merely went straight to bed.
As she laid in bed, she rested her head on her hooves as she thought about the last conversation with the pink mare.
(Ugh, that was the perfect chance to see if she likes me like I like her. Why can't I seem to convey it to her? Three simple words. I've read thousands of words, why can't I say three simple ones? Sigh. At least I know she thinks I'm important to her...)
It was like any other day in Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds signing, and Twilight Sparkle was shut up in the library doing a research paper.
She had stayed up the past few days, focusing on nothing but her research. Spike gave up trying to rouse Twilight (or even to get her to go to bed!) a day and a half ago. Now he just got whatever she asked for and took cat-(or rather dragon-) naps when he could. Twilight's friends had a bad feeling about what was going on, though they didn't realize the extent until Pinkie Pie went to check on the lavender unicorn.
As soon as Pinkie Pie saw Spike and the giant mess in the library as well as the huge pile of books next to Twilight (who was also a mess from stress and lack of breaks) she took off in a flash, leaving a rather confused dragon at the door. He shrugged and closed it gently. He didn't want to disturb the unicorn anymore than needed.
Pinkie Pie ran all over Ponyville and gathered the others. Once they were all assembled by the library entrance, the pink mare threw open the door and they all saw the mess inside.
There were gasps all around as Spike tottered into view, barely awake as he brought more books over to Twilight who was surrounded by piles of books while more still hovered in the air around the unicorn in a light purple aura. Twilight's mane and fur were sticking up in odd ways and her eyes were practically bloodshot as she levitated a quill over a roll of parchment rapidly while her eyes zoomed over the various pages of the hovering books.
Her friends, after a moment of stunned silence, huddled in a circle in the middle of the library to discuss the plan of action.
“Egghead sure has gone off the deep end huh?”
“Oh, look at the poor dear's coiffure! We simply cannot ignore this.”
“Ah think it's ah little worse than jus' her mane. Ain't no way we're leavin' her like this.”
“um.... but uh how...”
“How are we gonna get her away from this super duper mess? She's glued to her books, which can't be good to be glued to a book, unless you're Twilight I guess.... OH! What if we shot her out of my party cannon?” Pinkie Pie pulled out her party cannon from nowhere in the hope that it would help their book-bound friend.
“NO!” Everypony else shouted at the pink mare, who put the cannon back with a small frown and a dejected “awww....”
As the five friends realized they had just shouted rather loudly in a library, they expected to be told off by the residential library (which they were half-hoping to begin with, since it would mean that there was still hope for their book obsessed friend). Five pairs of ears flipped back when they saw that not only did Twilight not notice, but that the young dragon had tripped over his own feet and fell with the books on top of him.
“So, what are we gonna do? The bookworm hasn't looked up since we got in!”
“And poor Spikey-Wikey! He's asleep on his feet!”
“Alright y'all. Simmer down. Ah'm tryin' to think...”
“Are you sure that's a good idea dear?”
“.....”
“Oh, never mind me, darling. Please, by all means, continue.”
The four friends looked at the fifth as Applejack tapped her chin with a hoof.
“Ah got it! We'll take her on over to Rarity's and plop her in front of a mirror. Hopefully she'll see how she's gotten and then we'll spend the rest of the day making her relax, usin' our own various methods o'course.”
The others thought about the idea and nodded along.
“oh.. um... but... what about, uhm, the library?... I don't think that Twilight would ahm want to leave it... unoccupied.... maybe...” The other ponies had a hard time hearing this, but they concurred that it was a valid point.
“Oh Oh! Me me me! Pick me! I'll watch the library! I have the rest of the day off! I'll take super duper awesome care of it!” The four friends looked at each other before looking back at the pink party pony.
While it wasn't the best of ideas, no one else had the time or patience to stay in the library (not like the pink mare did, but if she was willing to put her mind to it, how could they say no?). Besides, Pinkie's method of relaxation may not be what's called for at this time.
“Alright Pinks. You can watch the place. Just don't go crazy, ok? I don't think it would help the Egghead to relax if the library explodes.”
“Okie dokie lokie!”
As one, the five friends turn towards the lavender unicorn, Rarity sparring a glance at Spike who was asleep under the stack of books he had been carrying. In a flurry of movement, the five ponies picked up the sixth and flew to Rarity's, placing the lavender pony in front of the largest mirror Rarity owned.
The orange and cyan ponies had to hold the lavender one down by the hooves since as soon as she was moved from the desk Twilight put up a weak resistance to being picked up and hustled out of the tree house.
“Guys! I was at a crucial stage of my research!” The lavender pony tried to break free of their grip but had so little energy that she couldn't budge an inch.
“Twilight, darling, just look at yourself! You have to got to stop and relax, before you absolutely ruin your health!”
“Look at yerself Twilight. Spike looks just as bad.”
“Yeah! You may be a super smarty smart pants, but getting sick because you over did it is NOT smart.”
As her friends continued to chastise her, Twilight got a good look at herself (especially since Rainbow Dash's hooves were forcing her head to look at the mirror).
Twilight began to notice what her friends saw at a glance, tired bloodshot eyes, complete mess of a mane and coat, slight twitch of her eyes and hooves and things her friends guessed at but couldn't tell; hungry, mentally tired, stressed out... Twilight sighed and her friends all went silent, hoping they got through to the lavender mare.
“Alright, I see what you mean. Yes, I could do with a break. But I can't just leave the library alone! Spike's most likely in a similar shape to me and wouldn't be able to do much at all.”
“We've already got that covered Sugarcube. Let us take care of everything while some of us show you how we relax.” Applejack said as Rarity stepped forward and took the lavender unicorn by the hoof.
“Come with me darling. We've off to the spa, where a pony can relax AND look fabulous!” Rarity lead the way to the local spa, wanting to fix the mane and fur emergency as soon as possible.
The others trailed away, heading to their various homes to get ready to show Twilight how to relax while still doing some of their daily chores. Meanwhile, Pinkie hopped back to the library, pleased to be doing something so important for her friend.
As Pinkie Pie stood inside the tree library, she shook her head at the mess.
(Ah Twilight. You're the cutest pony ever, but where would you be without us? Having nervous breakdowns and not a drop of fun in sight, that's where! Oh, she'd probably crack under all that pressure and run away from home and be living in the streets with an old brown cloak, muttering about Equestrian history to nearby trash piles and ponies would think she's crazy and throw tomatoes at her and oranges and baked bads and GASP! We mustn't let them throw the cupcakes! We have to make sure she never gets that bad off ever again. I, Pinkie Pie, do accept this mission...) and so the party pony rambled to herself as she picked up Spike and put him to bed before starting to clean up the piles of books all over the first level of the library.
As she cleaned, Pinkie Pie continued to imagine Twilight's fall from grace (who the hay is Grace? And why is she pushing ponies?). Since her mind was occupied, she wasn't paying attention to how she was putting the books back and ended up putting them back by color. She wasn't thinking of the Librarian way of organization and cleaned like she would have at her house, by colors and sizes. Once she got the floor cleared, she noticed the clashing books (the ones on the shelves not being color coordinated) and started all over including the ones already on the shelves. She didn't want things to be half-organized, that would just drive the lavender unicorn even more crazy.
Once that was done (Twilight now had a gathering of trash piles to whom she gave roaring speeches) the pink mare noticed the mess of quills, ink and paper. She decided to put all the extra supplies away in the nearby drawers. While Twilight was leading an uprising of trash piles in the great purge of the Academy for Gifted Unicorns, Pinkie Pie didn't see one of the full ink wells tipping over.
Just as Twilight's world was getting dark (the uprising was met with resistance) Pinkie became aware of the ocean of ink flowing across Twilight's research paper.
Pinkie Pie gasped and tried to save the paper but it was too late. Her ears flipped back as she mopped up the mess. She tried to read any of the scroll in an attempt to save it but the only thing not covered in ink was the title; “The Life of Star Swirl the Bearded and His Accomplishments”. Considering how long the scroll had gotten, Twilight had been near the end of her research.
The earth pony's eyes darted around the room, she couldn't remember what books Twilight had out to read from. She looked at the shelves and realized that she didn't put the books back right at all and she couldn't remember what section was where originally (the local librarian liked to re-shelve often, making it a little difficult to memorize the proper placement of books)....
Pinkie Pie decided to start over from the bottom up, with re-doing the books first then finding this Bearded pony. After another hour of sorting (nopony has come in wanting any books, is that normal for a library?) Pinkie had the library back in order by alphabet. She then started on the research paper, but she was having a hard time finding anything on this Bearded Star (he he, silly star! How'd you grow a beard in the first place?).
(No wonder Twilight was looking all crazy, this pony's harder to find than a cupcake without icing in a baking contest! Who would make a bald cupcake anyways?How can I fix this paper without the right book? And just what is with stars growing beards?) The party pony thought as she tapped her temple with a hoof.
“Ah-ha! If you can't find a book in a library, go to the next best thing! A book store! Luckily the book store is open. I'll be back in a jiffy!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she zoomed out the door.
However, luck was not with the energetic pony that day. The pony at the store had no idea who 'Star Swirl the Bearded' was and all of the history books had only small mentions of him along with some 'Clover the Clever'. The one good news was that there was a HUGE book store that might have something on that topic. The bad news was that it was in Canterlot. Pinkie figured she may be able to run the whole way there and back before Twilight's relaxation time was up (it would be faster than using the train).
Pinkie Pie ran at lightning speeds, a pink blur to any passing ponies who may have had a glimpse of her in her travels.
(Heh heh! I should show Dashie how fast I can really be! She'd be so surprised, her jaw would drag across the floor and be able to eat a whole cake! Ah ha ha ha *snort* ha ha ha)
Soon enough the pink pony reached Canterlot and began to search for the store. After the fifth pony she spoke with (who walked away quickly afterwords, disturbed by the pink mare, much like the first four), Pinkie Pie got directions to the store and popped up next to one of the staff, startling them.
“HI! Do you have anything about Star Swirl the Bearded? It's super important!” Pinkie asked in her rapid fire way.
The staff pony was a light brown unicorn with dark blue short mane and tail. He wore a black tie and had small reading glasses on his nose (black, of course). He blinked slowly at the hyper pink mare and responded just as slowly, hoping that the mare would take a hint and act properly.
“Star Swirl? Well, nopony really wrote just about him. But there are a lot details about him in 'A Reference Guide to Obscure Unicorn Historical Figures', along with a few other noted historical unicorns. I believe we have it in stock, actually. Would you like a copy?”
“Would I ever! Thank you so so much!” Pinkie yelled as she gave the staff pony a big hug who grimaced at the contact.
Once everything was settled the earth pony took off like the wind. She had to make a stop for cupcakes to keep up her energy for the trip home however, just to make sure she made it back with enough time to try and redo the report.
Meanwhile, back in Ponyville, Spike woke suddenly with a yell.
“I've got the books!”
He took a moment to look around himself as he noticed that he was in his bed and Twilight was nowhere to be found. Spike was confused at first as to why he was so nervous, then he remembered the past few days. The research paper. Spike hopped out of bed and made his way downstairs. He noticed on the way down that it was much later in the day. He worried about how the unicorn was going to react to his sleeping in and the mess that was the library as he had last seen it.
Once he got downstairs, he stopped in his tracks, shocked. The library was clean, all the books were put away though he noticed that they weren't put away according to the newest shelving order, the quills and ink was put away and so was the extra parchment. Though there was some kind of mess on the desk where Twilight's …. research …. paper …. was .......
Closer inspection showed an inky mess of scrolls that looked familiar. After reading the only thing not covered in ink, Spike ran back up the stairs and hid under Twilight's bed, terrified of what had happened and what Twilight's reaction would be.
After what felt like eternity (but was really ten minutes) Spike heard the door open and close quietly. Had it been loud, he may have thrown himself to Twilight's mercy, but it was quiet so he wasn't sure what was going on. Quiet hooves on the stairs made him shiver in fright. The door opened slowly and then suddenly shot open as a pink mare gasped and shouted “Where'd he go?”.
Spike relaxed a little and was contemplating coming out from under the bed when after spinning in a quick circle Pinkie Pie zoomed over to the bed and looked Spike straight in the eye.
“Found you! That was fun! It is my turn to hide?” Spike stiffened at the sudden rush of hyper words before rolling his eyes at the mare before him.
As Spike crawled out from under the bed, Pinkie backed up as well to give him space. Then they both took a seat next to the bed, looking at each other, one with a confused face and the other a smile at having found the young charge.
“What's going on Pinkie? Where's Twilight? Did she... did she finish her report?” The young dragon asked as he twisted his hands together, not quite looking the pink pony in the eye but watching her at the same time.
He wasn't too happy to see blue eyes shift around downwards as she scrapped a hoof along the floor.
“Wellllll... I came to check on you guys and I saw that Twilight had gone crazy with her research so I got the others and we ponynapped her and we showed her how crazy-wazy she was getting and now they're forcing her to relax, is being force to relax relaxing?, and I would watch the library in the mean time and I thought it would be a good idea to clean up the books and quills and inks but then some ink spilled and ruined Twilight's report and I couldn't find any books on the bearded star and had to go to Canterlot to get one that had information about him and I was just coming on check on you and I thought that I messed that up too since I couldn't find you but then my Pinkie Sense told me to look under the bed and -” at this point, Spike got over his shock of the high speed explanation and put a claw over Pinkie's muzzle to silence her rant.
He put his other claw to his forehead as he sorted through the high speed speech. Once he got the jest of it, his eyes went wide and he looked at the pink mare who was tapping her hooves together nervously, glancing at the dragon then looking downwards nervously.
“Where's this book you bought?” Spike asked slowly as he removed his claw from the pink muzzle.
Pinkie Pie gave a small grin and pulled out the Reference Guide.
The spa twins, Aloe and Lotus, went straight to work on Twilight, cleaning her up while getting her to slowly relax. Rarity stayed with the lavender pony, for support reasons of course!, and chatted away with Twilight about small unimportant things.
After spending the rest of the morning at the spa, the friends moved onto phase two of their master plan: sit Twilight someplace out in nature near shade if she wanted but in sunlight as well and let her sleep.
They used an open space in Sweet Apple Acres (away from any apple bucking and Cutie Mark Crusading), had some of Fluttershy's birds sing softly nearby while Rainbow Dash made sure it was a nice sunny day while keeping an eye on the sleeping unicorn.
This was after they made sure she had double helpings at lunch, of which Twilight had scarfed down her food like she hadn't eaten in two days. Twilight then had a lovely sleep, undisturbed by anything or anypony. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep as well as she was keeping watch over the unicorn and missed when Twilight had a nightmare. She didn't scream but woke up stiff and anxious, as she looked around to reassured herself that it wasn't real...
Twilight had dreamed that Pinkie Pie was upset at her because of how she ignored her and the others for days. Pinkie Pie's hair was straight and her light pink color had faded to dull tones and was on the verge of tears. Pinkie said that if Twilight didn't want real friends instead of books than she would just find somepony else to be best friends forever with. It was as the pink mare was walking away that Twilight woke with a start.
(Sigh, if only I could see her, I could know that she isn't upset with me... or even if she is I'd explain and apologize... Maybe Rainbow knows where she is.) Twilight thought as she rested her head onto her fore-hooves while laying down. She looked up at the cyan pony in the sky (on top of the only cloud left in the sky) and called up to sleeping mare.
“Rainbow? Rainbow Dash! Wake up! I want to ask you something.”
“Huh? Whazzat? I wasn't napping!” Rainbow Dash looked around quickly before looking at the lavender unicorn with a guilty smile.
“Of course not.” Twilight smirked. “Have you seen Pinkie Pie? The spa was Rarity's contribution, this is yours, Applejack's and Fluttershy's. But aside from the intervention, I haven't seen her.”
“Oh, er, heh heh, well Pinkie is, ah, watching … the … library...” Rainbow Dash trailed off, cringing.
She knew the library was a touchy subject if anypony was watching it in Twilight's stead. Twilight froze, her first impression was the tree library exploding in a pink cloud. Then she gave herself a shake and tried breathing normally.
(Spike's there. How much could go wrong... But perhaps I won't stay out too much longer...) Twilight tried to relax again but her concern grew for the library and her research project! Twilight jumped up and called to the sleepy peagasus.
“Hey Rainbow Dash! I won't be able to relax until I check on the library. I'll be back.”
“Oh no you don't. I'm coming with you to make sure you relax.” Rainbow crossed her front hooves as she hovered in the air above Twilight. Twilight nodded once and took off at a fast trot to the library with Rainbow Dash flying overhead.
Soon the tree library came into view and while Twilight did feel better seeing it, she couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom. They slowed to a walk and Twilight managed to not kick open the door in her anxiety.
The first thing she noticed was that the library was clean, cleaner than when she left. The next thing she noticed was that the books were organized differently. While it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it meant something happened. Then she saw that Spike and Pinkie were hunched by her work desk, muttering to each other.
As Rainbow closed the door behind them, the odd pair spun around to face the visitors. Pinkie had a huge grin on her face when she saw who it was, while Spike had a nervous smile and had his hands behind his back (never a good sign).
“Hey Twilight! Didn't expect you to be back so soon! Did ya enjoy your relaxing? Are you a relaxed happy calmed pants now?” Pinkie asked as she bounced towards the pair by the door.
Twilight couldn't see anything but the desk as she ran up to it, noticing the lack of long scroll. As she stepped up to the desk, she saw a much shorter scroll that had details about Star Swirl the Bearded with a book open to corresponding section next to it. The other three in the library began to get nervous as Twilight searched around the desk and flipped the scroll back and forth, looking for the original research paper.
“Where is it? Where is it? This can't be it, what happened to my research!?!” Twilight's hair started to become frazzled as her movements became jerkier and slightly twitchy.
The cyan pony looked at the pink one as Pinkie Pie's shoulders slumped and she walked forward slowly. She sat next to Twilight and put a hoof on the lavender mare's shoulder to try and calm the frantic movements.
“Twilight? I'm sorry... it was an accident. I was cleaning up and then suddenly ink spilled and it was all over and I tried to fix it but you didn't have a book about the Bearded Star and so I got you one and I'm really super sorry and-” At this point Twilight looked sharply at the pink mare, shook off the reassuring touch and cut off the attempt apology with a shout.
“ACCIDENT?!? This was just an ACCIDENT?! No no no, Nightmare Moon Rebelling was an ACCIDENT! This is a CATASHROPHE! Do you know how long I worked on this?! Three days! Three whole days, down the drain, because of an 'accident'! Not including all the preparations before starting to write down anything!” At this point, Twilight's fury couldn't contain it's self as it peaked in the form of a fiery mane on the lavender mare, who hovered a few inches off the floor, facing the others in the room.
Twilight closed her eyes as she yelled in rage and frustration before looking at the mare before her. Once the fire went out, Twilight took a few steps towards the pink mare, who had backed away slightly at the peak of the unicorn's rage. Pinkie Pie crouched lower as Twilight towered over the mare with her purple mane sticking out in random places and having a slight singed look to it, as well as frown and slightly twitchy eye.
“THIS IS WHY I COULDN'T RELAX BEFORE! Now I'll start all over again!” Twilight shouted as she sharply turned back to her desk, levitating more quills, inks and books over.
“Twilight, I really am sorry, I tried-” Pinkie tried once more, with ears flipped back and a shake to her voice.
“If you're so sorry, you should just leave me alone so I can get some REAL work done!” Came the snappy response.
Pinkie Pie's whole demeanor drooped. Her ears dropped, blue eyes downcast with a slight watery sheen to them and she wore a small frown.
“Ok Twilight. I am really sorry though.” Pinkie quietly said as she walked away out of the library, dragging her hooves along the way.
Twilight felt a sudden sharp pain in her heart as reality was over-shadowed by dream as she saw her nightmare come true before her. She was so stunned that she could only watch as the pink pony left.
Rainbow Dash managed to throw off her shock at the scene before her as she saw how her party friend had tears forming in her eyes and flew into the unicorn's face, her own face crunched up in anger.
“Listen here Egghead! I know that report was important to you but from the sounds of it Pinkie went to a lot of trouble to set it right! She even got you a new book, not including trying to write the report over again. It was Pinkie Pie who showed us how you were acting before. And she knew you wouldn't have liked her method of relaxing so she offered to watch this boring old tree for you! I'm going to get the others and when we get back you better be ready to make it up to apologize to Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow angrily shouted at the still stunned unicorn before flying out the door to gather their other friends.
Twilight remained in a stupor, only having vaguely heard the cyan peagasus. She couldn't form any thought aside from how her dream had come true, and it was all her fault. Unsure of what to do, the studious pony turned back to the desk, and noticed the 'report' that had been made. As habit dictated, she read the report in front of her, if for nothing else but the act of doing something.
As Twilight read the report slowly, Spike walked over quietly as he scrapped his claws together nervously.
“Pinkie Pie really did try to fix it. I mean, she went all the way to Canterlot and back to get that book for you. And while it's not much, we did get some of the report rewritten for you... Twilight?” Spike peered at the hunched unicorn.
Twilight's ears twitched to catch everything that her young assistant was saying as thoughts began to form once more in her mind.
“All the way from Canterlot huh?.... and it's true, I didn't have this book.... sigh.” Twilight face-planted onto the desk.
(The report isn't completely ruined, it's just less detailed... there must be a decent amount about Star Swirl the Bearded in that new book.... she even got me a new book, she knows how much I love getting new books....)
Twilight gave a small snort of laughter. (Bearded Star? How does she come up with these things?....)
Twilight's eyes teared up thinking of the hurt she caused her secret crush.
(Oh Pinkie Pie, I'm sorry about how I reacted. I didn't really mean what I said. How can I show you that I'm sorry too and that I don't mind that you tried to help? How can I set things right? Come on Twilight! This is one thing you can't mess up!) Twilight sat up at this thought and put a hoof to her chin in thought.
Spike was getting a little more worried, Twilight hadn't said much after Spike tried to explain and she kept making funny faces. Just as he was about to creep away Twilight jumped up with an “AH HA!” while slamming her hooves onto the desk. Spike gave a jump as well, surprised by the sudden outburst and watched as Twilight ran to various shelves and suddenly sat at the desk. She wrote a little on the report before handing it to Spike to send off. He was even more confused at this.
“But Twilight, this is the one Pinkie and I wrote. Wha-?”
“Just send it Spike. Hopefully all will be revealed soon.”
While eying the lavender unicorn, the young dragon sent the report with a blast of fiery breath. Not even a minute later, Princess Celestia sent a response. Twilight snatched it out of the air and read it quickly.
“What's it say -?” Spike tried to ask but Twilight just ran out of the library. Spike scratched the top of his head and shrugged. He turned to the desk and cleaned up the mess left behind.
Ten minutes later the rest of the gang busted through the door with Rainbow Dash in the lead and Fluttershy bringing up the rear. While the others searched and called for Twilight, Fluttershy closed the door behind them. Spike came out from the kitchen at all the shouting, where he had been eating gems to help ignore the slight worry he had for his long time friend.
“Spike! Where's Twilight?” Rainbow Dash rounded on the little dragon, who took a step back at the anger in the cyan pony's voice.
“Uh, well, she sent the report, got a response and took off. I'm not sure where to though.”
The confused ponies looked at each other and left to find their missing friends.
Meanwhile, Twilight was searching for a certain pink mare. She wasn't at Sugarcube Corner and not around town, so the lavender pony began to search the lands close by.
As Twilight was searching in the forests close to town, she came across an open glade on top of a hill, surrounded by trees on all sides aside from one which faced the town below. Sitting on the edge facing the town was a grey pink pony with extremely straight hair. She was laying down on her stomach with her head on her hooves as she faced the town below. Twilight slowly walked up to Pinkie and sat down next to her, while trying to catch her eye. The earth mare turned her face away as she sniffled, though she made no effort to leave the clearing.
“Pinkie Pie, I'm really really sorry. I know you were only trying to help, I was upset over unimportant things. Here, I wanted to show you this...” Twilight floated a scroll over to the pony next to her, who opened it with a hoof, making sure to not look Twilight in the eye.
[My faithful student, I'm glad to see that you are working together with your friends.
It's always more fun learning new things together. As you requested, here is your report back with accompanying grade (A+ of course!). Please give Pinkie Pie and Spike my regards.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia]
Pinkie looked over the rest of the scroll, confusion written all over her face.
“Bu-but, Twilight! This is the report that Spike and I did! You didn't re-write it or change anything or or anything! Why-?” Pinkie asked as she looked Twilight in the eye.
Twilight could see some unshed tears still in the blue eyes, which she felt bad about since she was the cause but there was also a small sparkle of hope as well.
“I looked over the report and while it wasn't as long or extremely detailed it had the main points. So not only did you write a decent report, you bought me a book from Canterlot. You know I love getting new books.” Twilight asked with a small smile and nudged the party mare.
Pinkie Pie gave a small giggle and smile.
“I mean, my gosh, how did you get there and back so fast?!” Twilight asked with a bigger smile.
Pinkie grew shy once more and looked away.
“I ran.” She quietly murmured.
Twilight's eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to dispute that when she remembered what happened not even twenty minutes ago. So instead she just shook her head a little and smiled at her friend.
“Of course. You must be faster than Rainbow Dash to have come and gone so quickly, the two of you should race.”
Pinkie Pie just giggled a little and laid her head back down onto her hooves.
“Pinkie, I'm really sorry that I spoke to you that way. I didn't mean it. Please don't be sad...” Twilight asked quietly as she nuzzled the neck of the pink mare. Pinkie leaned into Twilight in return.
“You're not still mad?...” Came the soft whisper.
“Oh Pinkie Pie. I'm not mad at you... I'm sad though.”
“Why are you sad?”
“I'm sad because I've upset a good friend of mine with thoughtless words and petty concerns. Any ideas how to cheer up somepony that I've upset?” Twilight asked as she tried to catch blue eyes that were trying to not look back at her.
Pinkie pondered a little, with a hoof to her chin as she looked to the skies.
“Did you apologize?”
“Yes, it didn't help.”
“Oooooh, a toughy.... how about an apology cupcake?” Twilight nodded slowly, warming to the idea.
“That may work. But I may need help picking the best one for an 'apology cupcake'. Can you come with me to Sugarcube Corner?” Twilight asked slowly, looking at the other mare with pleading eyes.
While it wasn't 'Pinkie Pie' level of puppy dog eyes, the party mare couldn't say no to such honest eyes. She had a feeling of where Twilight was going with this but wanted to see for herself. So she nodded slowly and together they left the clearing, heading back to town.
Since their friends searched the town first, they missed the two mares who walked slowly to Sugarcube Corner as the five others began to search the nearby fields.
As the lavender and pink ponies entered Sugarcube Corner, they were greeted by Mr Cake who was working the counter at the time.
“Well hi girls!... Pinkie, are you ok?” He asked in concern. Pinkie Pie merely shrugged and nodded.
Mr Cake looked towards Twilight, hoping she could explain about the non-bouncing, un-energetic mare before him. Twilight waved her right hoof in an assuring manner, conveying that it's being worked on.
“Alright Pinkie, show me the best 'I'm sorry' cupcake in history.”
Pinkie gave a small smile and walked over to the nearest display, humming in thought. She proceeded to look at all the cupcakes in a detailed manner, even standing on top of display cases to look at them from above.
“Hmmmm... HHHMM? Hmmm...*inhale* HMM? Hhmm-hmmm...” This continued for a short while, Twilight smiling a little at the more Pinkie-like behavior and Mr Cake even more shocked that the pink mare wasn't chatting away like usual. Finally Pinkie Pie came to a sudden stop as she found the perfect cupcake.
“Ohhh, Twilight, this is the bestest 'I'm sorry' cupcake in the history of the history of Equestria! The blue wrapper to show how sad the give-ee is, the strawberry cherry goodness center for sweet feelings and yellow colored icing to make everything seem like it's a brighter better day!” Pinkie said a little excitedly looking at the unicorn before getting down from the display and sat while staring at the floor, her face going back into a neutral expression.
Twilight gave a bigger smile before turning to Mr Cake.
“I'd like a baker's dozen of the ones Pinkie just described.”
Mr Cake nodded and quickly but quietly got the order ready, he was still shocked at the behavior of their best baker. Once bits were exchanged the lavender mare leaned in towards the orange stallion and whispered into his ear. He grinned at the unicorn, pulled out some pink icing and wrote on the cupcakes before closing the box and hoofing it over to the lavender mare. Who then promptly turned to the pink mare and offered her the box.
Pinkie Pie looked at Twilight with a confused tilt of her head. As Twilight opened the box via magic, she leaned it slightly downwards so the other could read what was written there.
(I')(m)(S)(o)
(r)(r)(y)(P)(i)
(n)(k)(i)(e)
“I'm sorry Pinkie Pie. Please cheer up. I Pinkie Promise to think before yelling at my friends, especially when they are just trying to help.” Twilight said as she made the motions while looking at the pink earth pony.
“Oh Twilight! I forgive you, you silly filly!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as her hair poofed up and gave Twilight a big hug, which Twilight was more than happy to return.
“And I Pinkie Promise to not forget what's really important and that my friends will always care for me.” Pinkie Pie squeezed the unicorn before stepping back from the hug. Mr Cake smiled in relief, glad to see Pinkie back to normal.
“Have you read your new book yet Twilight? It has lots of interesting facts. Have ya haveya haveya?” Pinkie asked in her usual rapid fire way as she leaned forward to look Twilight in the eye. Twilight in turn just gave a light laugh.
“No, not yet. I was trying to make up with somepony, remember? Why don't we go and you can show me some of these facts?” Twilight asked as she stood up and turned towards the door while keeping an eye on the pink mare.
Pinkie jumped into the air with an excited “OOHHH!” as she waved her hooves around before landing back down and frog-hopping towards the door. Twilight shook her head and laughed while picking up her pace to keep up with the once again energetic pony.
“And so the unicorn says to the ursa minor, 'You can be a MAJOR pain'!” The lavender mare said to pink, who proceeded to crack up with laughter. The unicorn was thrilled that their friendship was still intact and laughed as well as the two friends walked (or frog-hopped in one's case) to the library.
Suddenly a blue blur rammed into the lavender pony and pinned her to the ground.
“I've got her guys! Over this way-” Rainbow Dash began to shout until a pink blur landed on to of her and causing to Twilight to grunt as more weight landed on top of her.
“AND I'vvvveee got YOU! Is this a pony pile? Ohhh, here's the others! Come on and join in girls, it's a pony pile!” Pinkie yelled from on top of Rainbow Dash, who in turn was on top of Twilight.
The other three ponies (and one dragon) ran up to the pile only to stop in confusion at the happy earth pony, slightly annoyed peagasus, and sheepish unicorn who was looking a little flattened at this point.
“Piiinks~! It's not a pony pile! Get off me!” Rainbow tried to push the party pony off but Pinkie merely looked confused at her and allowed her weight to settle even more to prevent from being moved.
“But why did you tackled Twilight then?”
“What in the hay is goin' on? Sugarcube, Rainbow here was tracking down and preventin' Twilight from tryin' to escape. Ya have some explaining to do girl...” Applejack said as she glared down at the unicorn who gave them a sheepish grin.
“Oh.” Pinkie looked thoughtful as she got up from the pony pile. “Are you guys playing tag? Or hide and go seek?”
“No Pinkie Pie. We're trying to make sure egghead here doesn't mess everything up even more by exploding over nothing.” Rainbow Dash also shot a glare at the unicorn who remained on the ground even though the cyan mare stood up from the pile. Though Rainbow Dash stayed nearby in case Twilight tried any funny business.
“Sigh. I am sorry for how I reacted and I've already made it up to Pinkie Pie.” Twilight said as she finally stood up but couldn't look any of her friends in the eye.
At this statement, everyone paused though the confusion left Pinkie's face as she realized what this was all about.
“Yeppery! Good ol' Twilight and I made up and now we're off to see the wizard! Well, more like to the library to read about a Bearded Star in the new book Twilight has.” Pinkie said as she hopped over to sit next to the lavender unicorn and pat her on the head a little. Twilight endured it with an eye roll and smile, still very much glad that Pinkie was back to her usual self.
“Oh! um... I'm – we're so glad to hear that!... it's um never nice to fight among your friends... uh... sorry that we were so rough with you Twilight eep....” Fluttershy said as she stepped out from behind Rarity, where she had been hiding since they all ran up to the two mares.
“Yes, we do apologize for our behavior, we merely wanted to be sure that Twilight did a proper job of making it up to Pinkie. Well! We'll just leave you two at it, come along darlings!” Rarity stated as she she turned around and headed back to her Boutique.
“Well, I'm mighty sorry Twilight for jumping to conclusions like that. Ah'll head back to the farm and leave ya to yer hanging out.”
“Yeeeaaahhh... sorry 'bout that egghead. Glad it worked out. Gotta fly!”
Fluttershy walked up to the two ponies and gave them a small hug.
“I'm glad it all worked out...”The peagasus shyly said as the earth pony and unicorn returned the hug.
“Sorry we made you guys worry. But it's fine now. We'll see you later Fluttershy.” The yellow mare gave her two friends a shy smile and flew home to her animals.
Spike walked up and Twilight gave him a one legged hug, which Spike returned with both of his arms.
“Sorry Spike. But don't worry, everything's going to be fine now. Let's head home and work on some supper. How's that sound?” Twilight asked as she leaned over a little to look at the baby dragon.
Spike stepped back half a step and looked up at the lavender mare.
“Sure thing Twilight! What do you feel like having? Perhaps an Emerald Cake, or maybe some Sapphire pancakes?”
The two ponies laughed as they all turned and headed for the tree house library.
After the mess of not knowing a certain pink pony's birthday, Twilight made surveys for everyone to fill out and share with each other. The others thought that written proof was a little extreme and unnecessary, but the extreme organizer wanted the extra physical proof, just in case.
Luckily, the lavender unicorn never really took a break from all her studying (though she did it in a much more relaxed fashion, though this meant for extended periods of study and work over the course of a week instead of a weekend) and didn't notice when her own birthday started to come up. So it was much easier for her friends to plan the party for her birthday.
Due to force of habit, Twilight planned for studying even on her birthday. The only reason she didn't study on her birthday the previous year was because the Princess made her take a two week vacation during that time (though she still got some reading about the elements of harmony in, which was rather lucky considering how she needed that information not even two days later).
This year though, both the pony in question and her friends were prepared. Admittedly, they were prepared for different things, one a long slow relaxed study session and the others for a surprise party for the studious unicorn, but still. Both groups were prepared.
Pinkie Pie especially wanted it to be a night her heart's desire wouldn't forget.
(That means the most awesome of games and lots of cupcakes! She's been hitting those cupcakes kind of hard lately actually, who would hit poor defenseless innocent cupcakes? But I'll make sure everything goes perfectly, Pinkie Pie Style! Better make sure the Princess doesn't give our smarty smart pants a REEAAALLLY difficult thing to study about...) With this concern foremost in the party mare's mind, Pinkie Pie went in search of the librarian's number one assistant.
It was a month and a half before Twilight's birthday which was June 12th, and while Pinkie still felt that it was cutting it rather close she had most of the supplies needed already. She had actually started to gather the supplies the day after they fought Nightmare Moon, just like she already knew when the unicorn's birthday was because she found out the third day of knowing the mare.
She hopped up to the Gold Oaks Library, where hopefully a certain lavender mare was NOT at so that Pinkie Pie could send her super-secret message without a certain pony finding out.
“Hey Pinkie Pie. If you're looking for Twilight, she just left to put in an order for new books. You actually just missed her by a minute, you could still catch her before she gets too far.” Spike suggested as he lifted a stack of books that were going to being used for the latest study session.
Since they just had a party for two of their friends, Twilight was preparing for another intense relaxed study session, starting with ordering some more books. She thought that since they had two parties at once, surely there wouldn't be another one for a while and could start another study session.
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash just had their combined birthday party which they've always done since they were fillies, Fluttershy being too nervous to have a party just for her. Even though the two peagasi's birthdays were on the 15th and 16th of May, they've always had a party on the 16th so it didn't feel like Fluttershy was the center of attention.
The two pegasi had to explain to the pink mare about how they usually celebrated when it came time to plan the party. After Pinkie finally got why the two had always celebrated together, she threw them the biggest party while still maintaining a small affair for the shier pony.
But this time, the party mare was excited for a different reason. Twilight was indeed out of the library! Pinkie jumped in place while giggling, her Pinkie Sense was really helpful at times like these. It was the perfect time to send the Princess a secret letter.
“I came to see you silly! Could you send this to Princess Celestia for me? It's super important that she gets this right away!” Pinkie followed the young dragon as he walked over to the desk in the library.
She reached into her cotton candy looking mane and pulled out a sealed scroll which she then presented to Spike.
After setting the books down within hoof's reach of the desk, the purple and green dragon looked at the already hyper mare and raised an eyebrow at the extended scroll as the pink mare gave a large grin.
“What's it say? And why does it have to be sent right now?” He reached a claw out and looked at the mare before him while grabbing a hold of the letter.
“I don't want Twilight to find out that I sent the Princess a message. I want it to be a surprise!” The party mare leaned towards the young dragon as she explained in a rather vague and mysterious way.
“Oh, cool! What's the surprise? Can I help?” Spike looked hopefully at the mare. Pinkie put a hoof to her chin as she looked upwards in thought.
She wanted to include Spike in the plans, but he might crack under the pressure. (Maybe if he promised...)
“You Pinkie Promise not to tell anyone?” The pink mare asked as she eyeballed the dragon before her with one brow raised as she stood back a little to see if he was willing to promise.
Spike nodded rapidly as he made the motions with one claw. “I Pinkie Promise!”
Pinkie nodded slowly before leaning back towards the purple dragon.
“I'm asking the Princess to not give Twilight any large assignments before, during or right after her birthday so she doesn't have anything to worry about. But also to not NOT give her stuff to do otherwise she might think something is going on which it totally would be but it's supposed to be a surprise but she's such a smarty pants that she'll figure it out in minutes and then it wouldn't be much of a surprise or much fun.” Pinkie rapidly explained as she nodded at her own logic.
Spike was slowly getting use to Pinkie's explanations, it didn't take as long to sort through the rush of words. After another moment to put all the pieces together, the young dragon nodded as he crossed his arms.
“Yep. It can sure be hard to hide things from Twilight. I'll send that message right away.” Spike uncrossed his arms and held the scroll up in range of his breath. Pink hooves clapped excitedly as a breath of flame turned the scroll into magic ash that flew northwards.
“Ooohh~ do you think she'll message me back Spike?” Pink hooves covered her muzzled as she tried to hold back her giggles, excited at sending the Princess a letter without Twilight knowing.
Spike shrugged before he suddenly felt the need to burp. With a large belch, a scroll came out with flames and smoke around it. Blue eyes lit up at the fast response as Spike grabbed it out of the air. As he opened it up, Pinkie looked over his shoulder to read the scroll at the same time.
[Dear Pinkie Pie,
Thank you for your letter. I do not mind at all that you sent me a letter,
I love to hear from all my subjects. I do not see any issue with
lessening the work assigned to Twilight
in the week leading up to and immediately after her birthday. So long as you
don't forget about the Gala the week before Twilight's birthday, as that
should also serve as a good distraction for my faithful student
from any preparations you may have left to do.
I am certain that the cupcakes would be lovely, I'm sure that's
why Twilight likes them so. Though I am not sure
if cupcakes would be able to make the trip if Spike
sent it. I do apologize, but there is some business I will have
to attend to during that week, though I will be
sending my well wishes on the day in question.
I am glad to hear that you have a surprise
party planned for Twilight, I don't think she's had anyone
throw her such a party for her birthday. I hope it goes
well and please let me know if there is anything else you need.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia]
As Pinkie read the letter she got more and more exited, hopping in place behind Spike who wondered how the pink mare was able to keep reading while hopping. He was also starting to really wonder what Pinkie's letter was about, considering the response.
He could tell that the party mare finished reading before him, since the hopping became even faster and wondered what she was waiting for, when he realized she was waiting for him to finish reading.
Once he had finished, he rolled up the scroll and turned to face the mare beside him, who stopped hopping and merely smiled a huge grin at him and the letter.
“So, ah, what's this mean Pinkie Pie?”
“Well, that's easy! It means it's a Go for Operation 'Surprise the Super Smarty Pants'!” Pinkie pointed a hoof to the sky as she stood on her hind legs, when suddenly her heart picked up its pace and a warm feeling spread throughout her body.
“Uh oh! Twilight's coming back! I mustn't be seen!” With that Pinkie quickly dropper her hoof towards the ground once more and with a soft 'pop' a smoke pellet exploded and the pink mare disappeared.
As Spike coughed and waved a claw to clear the smoke he tried to figure out what was going on.
“Pinkie, what's going on? How would you know that -” As soon as he began his questions about how she would know when the librarian was getting back, the door opened and in walked the lavender pony.
“Huh? Twilight? But how did – what – uh, never mind. Hey Twilight, how was it?” Spike was confused as to where the scroll went to when he remembered who it was that just left in a mysterious and weird way.
“Hello Spike. It went just fine. Is that smoke I smell? Is everything alright in here?” Twilight looked at her assistant with a brow raised as she trotted over to her desk.
She was pleased to note that everything was ready for the relaxed studying, but was concerned about the smoky smell and she saw some smoke clear up out of the top windows. The last time it smelled a little smoky in the library, Spike had sneezed and burnt one of her books that she had needed right away.
“Everything's fine. I, ah, just sneezed. Nothing got burned though, I promise!” Spike said as he got out the quills and ink for the upcoming studying.
The lavender mare shrugged as she looked about the desk, trying to push aside her worry about what may have happened while she was out.
“Alright, if you're sure. Everything ready for the relaxed studying?”
“Yep!”
“Good, let's get started then, we have a lot of catching up to do!”
The party mare hopped home, already excited about the party that wouldn't happen for another month and a half. She always had everything ready before hoof so that there was less chance of something going wrong.
(Now if only there was a way for me to set up a party in a snap... like BANG and everything's there! Hmmmm, maybe Twilight could help with something like that, I bet she'd go all mad sciency! Oohh, I want my own lab where I can invent stuff. I'd make all sorts of party related things and hang out more with Twilight and it'd be so cool! Right, stick that idea someplace so I don't forget it, it's a good idea. And I should let the others know where the party's going to be, wouldn't want anypony to be left out.)
And with that the pink mare turned around and began to find each of her friends to let them know about the surprise party in the library for the lavender unicorn. They were all surprised at how early the party pony was getting everything ready since they just finished one set of parties for their friends, but they all just accepted it as being a part of Pinkie Pie.
Most of them already got Twilight's gifts ready so all that was left was the set up on the day of the party, which wouldn't be for a while yet. It was also fortunate that they had the Princess on board for the surprise, since the unicorn would be sent from the library on the special day to do whatever errands the Princess gave her, unsuspecting of any party planning or preparations.
(Oh, this is so exciting! I can't wait! I just now that she'll like the party and the gifts and the food! I know that she'll like everything at the party! I just wish I knew if she likes me like I like her or even if she liked mares just in general because then I could try and get her to fall for me like how I fell for her, though I didn't really fall, it was more of a flying feeling... Ooohhh, I don't know if I can stand the tension! Time to just bake! Here I come cupcakes get ready to be made and sold/given away/eaten! Which is what you do most of the time, though there are lots of other things to do with cupcakes, like build a castle of them, or throw them at ponies that need cheering up, or gaining somepony's attention, or....)
It was the day of the party for the residential librarian. The pony for whom it was for was currently off searching for all the local flora and fauna as per requested by Princess Celestia.
Twilight would have asked for help from Fluttershy but felt that as it was an assignment she should do it on her own, though with the usual help from Spike, who was taking notes for the unicorn.
Since the lavender unicorn was out in the fields to study, she didn't see the library being readied for the party that night.
Applejack took care of the extra food stuff needed for the night. Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash helped to get the decorations up while Pinkie Pie took care of everything else and still found time to help her friends with their tasks.
It had all the usual party things; games, music, balloons, streamers and a giant banner proclaiming 'Happy Birthday Twilight!'. The whole color scheme was of Twilight's coloring, light purple, dark purple with pink every so often as a highlight.
Even though Pinkie Pie loved all the parties she throws, there was just something special about being surrounded by her crush's colors. She was very tempted to sit in the middle of the floor and lose herself to the colors, but she knew she had a party to pull off first before she could lose herself in the moment.
The Princess had thought ahead and as part of her instructions to her faithful student there was a set time when she was supposed to return to the library.
“I wonder why the Princess wanted me to go back at 7pm sharp? That's an unusual request...” Twilight looked to her assistant who walked next to her as they headed home.
The young dragon merely shrugged trying to keep a neutral expression on his face. He didn't want to ruin the surprise and opted to remain silent instead.
The lavender mare shrugged as well and opened the front door with her magic. As the two stepped inside, Twilight tried to turn on the lights to no avail and just as she was about to get worried about it the lights came on (seemingly by themselves) and her five friends shouted 'Surprise!' from where they had circled around her in the dark.
Twilight jumped a foot into the air with a slight arch to her form at the sudden appearance of her close friends and as she sat down patting her chest to slow her heart rate, took a look around the room. As she took in the scene before her, she couldn't help but smile at the well hidden surprise. Her thoughts turned to the lessened amount of work for the past week and her 'instructions' for the day, suspecting a certain sun princess's hoof in maintaining the secret. She laughed as she pulled her friends into a hug.
“My gosh you guys, this is great! Thank you! It was a complete surprise. And you got the Princess in on it too didn't you?” She pulled back enough to look at her friends as Rarity levitated a pink cone party hat onto the lavender mare's head.
“We're pleased you like it darling. Though Pinkie Pie set up most of this.”
“Yeah, Pinks even sent a letter to the Princess to make sure you wouldn't be too busy this week.” The pink mare was glad her coat color mostly hid her blushes as she scraped a hoof along the floor.
“Aww, it was nothing. I just wanted this party to be just right. Oh and while the Princess couldn't make it, she sends her regards! Oh and she has a gift for you that is now in the great big pile waiting for you to eat cake and cupcakes and have fun first!” Just as the party mare finished, Spike gave a little burp that presented a scroll from the Princess, stating much the same thing.
After Twilight gave the scroll a quick read she shook her head in amazement at how Pinkie can predict pretty much anything. As Twilight hugged the pink mare in thanks no one thought twice about the unicorn's blush, putting it down to having a surprise party for the first time, though it really was from the lengths that the pink mare was willing to go for her.
“Come on, we don't want the candles to melt into the cake, cause then it would be a candle cake and those are harder to eat and that and wouldn't be as fun!” Twilight laughed as Pinkie towed her to the cake in the shape of a the book Elements of Harmony, a Reference Guide, which was sitting on the table in the middle of the library.
The lavender mare took a moment to observe the great amount of detail that went into the cake. She had feeling that it was a certain pink baker that made such a good replica, as she noticed how the candles helped outline the unicorn on front. She could feel the hyper mare beside her bounce in place in excitement as her other friends made a circle around the cake facing the birthday pony.
Twilight thought for a moment before closing her eyes and blowing out the candles. All her friends gave a cheer (Fluttershy was even faintly heard) as Twilight opened her eyes once more.
“Did ya make a wish Sugarcube?” Twilight gave a small smile and blush as she nodded.
“Awesome! What was it? Come on, you gotta tell us!” RD hovered in excitement, wondering what the studious pony could possibly want.
“Ah ah ah.” Pinkie waved her hoof back and forth at each word.
“You can't tell others your wish, 'cause then it wouldn't come true! Then what would the point of making it be?” The pink mare nodded sagely as the cyan peagasus dropped back onto the ground with a dejected 'awww'. Twilight's smile became sheepish as she rubbed a hoof along the back of her head, glad for the excuse to not say what she wished for in front of everyone.
After everyone had some cake, they made Twilight open her gifts next. Rainbow Dash got Twilight the latest Daring Do figurine (from Daring Do and the Empire of the Crystal Skull), Fluttershy got Twilight a book on the local fauna and flora (Twilight sensed Princess Celestia knew about this gift and that Twilight wouldn't have had the time to conduct a proper research in the span of a day and that she could use the book to help finish her report), Rarity gave her a light blue raincoat that went along with Applejack's gift of rain-boots (which were a darker blue), Spike got Twilight a globe of the world and Pinkie Pie gave her a book on cooking ('Cooking from the Ground Up, Starting with the Basics').
After more words of appreciation were given, the seven friends partied long into the night. While Pinkie Pie did make sure everyone had fun, she made extra sure the pony of her heart wanted for nothing. While most did not take note of this behavior, a certain romance minded pony saw the extra attention the lavender mare got from the pink one and Twilight's response to it (which came as blushes and slight fluttering). Rarity went in search of the only other pony who would see it for what it was and not cause a big scene about it.
“My dear, do you see how Pinkie Pie is just fawning over Twilight?” Green eyes looked up from the second helping of apple cupcakes to the two ponies in question, whereas Pinkie was offering more cupcakes to Twilight who turned them down only to have her personal space invaded as Pinkie Pie checked her forehead with a hoof to see if she was feeling ok.
“I dunno Rare. Seems like the same ol' Pinkie Pie tah me.” The two friends watched as Twilight tried to insist that she was fine when Pinkie pulled out a small triangle hammer (neither one wanted to think from where) and held it out toward the lavender unicorn who frantically pushed it away while putting a hoof to the pink earth pony's chest as a means of both reassuring and keeping her at a distance.
As the two spectators watched, it seemed as though Pinkie Pie's face became a shade darker at the touch and she slowly lowered the hammer while nodding. They both watched as Twilight changed the subject to the nearby games and laughed as Pinkie Pie pulled out three sets of chess boards and placed them together (to the confusion of the two watching). As the two friends played three layered chess, the two watchers turned to each other.
“Alright, so maybe it's a little odd. But it is Pinkie Pie. And remember, not even two months ago Twilight freaked out when the Princess came tah visit and Fluttershy tried to help Filamina get better. They both can be odd when the mood takes them.” Applejack said with a shrug.
“Oh shush. You have no sense of romance.” Rarity said with a flip of her mane.
“Tha' might be. The farm keeps a pony busy. But Ah also don't go seeing romance when it could just be two best friends havin' a bit o' fun together.” Rarity hmphed and turned to go sit with the more understanding Fluttershy who was playing a round of battle clouds with Rainbow Dash as Applejack just chuckled to herself at the fashionista's antics.
Twilight, on the other hoof, was both intrigued and enjoyed the extra attention. While she liked how Pinkie made sure she didn't need anything, she also knew that this was going overboard just a little, even for the hyperactive mare.
With Pinkie being so close by, Twilight didn't feel like having as much cupcakes, which Pinkie Pie somehow took to mean that the lavender unicorn was sick. Luckily after that misunderstanding, she was willing to play some games instead. Inside though was a grand debate of epic proportions for the lavender unicorn.
(Don't take it the wrong way. You know how she gets when it comes to parties. She's just making sure the mare of honor is having a great time.... But she's never gone THIS far for them. I mean, really?
Assuming that I was sick because I'm not eating as many cupcakes, surely that's taking it a bit far. Well, you never know for sure, being sick would mean that you can't have fun and are most likely unhappy, so she could just be making sure everyone is happy...
But she's hanging on my every word!But she does that for everyone on their birthday...
But to this extent?) The internal debate continued throughout the party, unbeknown to everyone else.
Also unknown to everyone else was how the pink mare's thoughts were going a hundred miles a minute as well.
(ooohhh, does she need any punch? No, no punch. Oh, how about a message? No message? But she looks tense! Was that a moment of confusion mixed with hope mixed with anxiety? What would make her make that kind of face? GASP! Was it something I said? What DID I say? Now I can't remember, maybe because I'm talking really really quickly? Nah, it must be something else. Oooo.... Oh I know!)
The two friends had finished their chess game and were just chatting when Pinkie jumped up and began to bring lots of extra things to the unicorn, in an attempt to make sure the lavender pony was happy.
She brought cupcakes (“No Pinkie, I'm not hungry.”), punch (“Did you have to bring the whole bowl?”), pillows (“I'm not tired yet.”), blankets (“... I'm not cold either...”), a couple of books (“I appreciate the thought, but I don't really feel like reading.”), the music player (“I could hear it just fine from where it was...”), along with various games and do-dads.
By this point all other conversation and activity dropped off as the others watched the scene before them, while trying to decide if they should be concerned or laugh at the pink mare's antics.
“Piiiinkiiieee.” Twilight whined from the bottom of the pile as everyone gave in and just laughed while Pinkie brought her head closer and fluttered her eyelashes at the lavender mare.
“Yes, Twilight?”
Twilight sighed as she used her magic to lift everything off of herself.
“I was doing fine without all this stuff, Pinkie. Though I appreciate the thought. Let's put these back and just enjoy the party, alright?” She said with a smirk as she put everything back with her magic.
Soon the party returned to normal with the exception that any time Pinkie began to get anxious about whether or not the unicorn was truly enjoying herself, Twilight would rest a hoof on her shoulder and smile while reassuring the mare. Twilight was nearly positive that she was getting extra attention, though she would need extra study to be sure of the theory.
They partied until well into the night and only stopped when they couldn't consume any more sugar to cause a sugar buzz to stay awake. Spike had fallen asleep a few hours earlier and had been long since been put in bed.
As the friends began to head home from the party with the tougher ones escorting the more feminine and fragile ones, Fluttershy escorted by Rainbow Dash and Rarity escorted by Applejack, Pinkie Pie stayed behind to help clean up. As the last of the streamers were put away, Twilight gave a yawn as she looked at the other mare.
“That was a great party Pinkie. Thanks again.”
“No problem Twilight, anything for the best pony in Ponyville.” Twilight blushed at the praise.
“Have you checked your new book yet? Did you like it? Did you want to anything from it? I so totally wouldn't mind helping you learn how to cook some more!” The pink mare leaned towards the lavender one as she looked at her with hope and excitement in her blue eyes. Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.
“I'm sorry Pinkie. I haven't had the chance to look at it yet, though it does look good.” Pinkie's whole demeanor drooped. “We could take a look at it right now if you want though!”
At this the pink mare perked right back up and hopped over to the book before plopping down next to the lavender mare. Twilight laughed as she laid down as well while opening the book to the first page where a note was hoof-written in, waiting for her.
[Hey Twilight! I knew you said you can't cook but maybe you just need a whole book just for cooking! I'll always be around to help, so let me know when you've picked something you want to try and make!]
Twilight gave a small nudge and smile to the mare beside her who blushed and smiled in return.
As Twilight continued to read the book, pausing to look at some of the recipes that held her interest, Pinkie Pie hopped in place, never quite leaving from her spot on the floor. She was excited at both the idea of more hang out time and the fact that she was sitting right next to the one she'd want to have as her special somepony. She looked at the lavender mare beside her, dazed by the unicorn's entire being.
“So which one do you-” Twilight began to ask as she turned her head to look at the mare beside her when it happened.
The two mares were so close together that all it took was for both of them to face each other to accidentally kiss. Even as both felt warmth spread from all the places that touched (their sides, their hooves and their lips) they froze in place, worried about the other's reaction.
After a moment where neither one moved away, Pinkie felt the spark of hope rise into a flame and she deepened the kiss by a small amount, both to test the waters and to enjoy the one chance she may have to kiss the mare of her dreams. Her eyelids drooped to half-mast at the feelings coursing through her, though she wanted to make sure of the unicorn's reaction, in case it went too far.
Twilight's brain shut off as all her senses went into overdrive. She could smell the pink mare's usual scent of baked goods, vanilla and icing. She could feel everywhere they touched as well as Pinkie's breath from her nose and how perfectly still everything was. She saw the spark turn to flame in blue eyes as well as when Pinkie deepened the kiss. This lit her own internal flames as all previously debated emotions and reactions were thrown out the mental window and the lavender mare kissed back.
Pinkie could hardly contain her excitement as she felt the kiss returned and deepened. Neither mare wanted the moment to end and breathed through their noses as the kiss went farther and became a little more heated. Pinkie Pie put her hooves around the unicorn's neck as Twilight in turn put her hooves around the pink mare's barrel as each pulled the other closer.
Soon the need for a full breath of air became too much and they pulled away at the same time before resting their foreheads together. They both gasped lightly, one with blue eyes open and a large grin on her face while the other had her eyes closed though she did have a small smile which grew as she she opened her eyes to look at the pink mare before her.
“Wow. That was -” Began the studious pony, trying to find the right words to describe the feelings she was experiencing.
“AWESOME!” Gushed the pink mare as she hugged the lavender one, knocking the mare over on the floor. Twilight's smile grew even more.
“Yes. Yes it was.” Pinkie drew Twilight closer once more as she nuzzled her neck.
“Please say this means you like me as much as I like you, like like like you, and you want to be my very own special somepony and you won't ever leave Ponyville 'cause I'd be so lonely and things would get boring and -” Pinkie had looked up at Twilight, who was a puddle of warm fuzzies and if she wasn't already, the tirade would have made it so.
The lavender unicorn silenced the mare of her heart with a kiss and while she didn't want to end the feelings she got from it, she needed to respond to the heartfelt plea. Blue eyes sparkled as they looked into purple which melted at the sight before them.
“I do like you Pinkie. Like 'like' like you. I wouldn't dream of leaving Ponyville and I would be extremely honored and pleased to be your special somepony if you'd be mine.” Twilight moved her hooves so that one was across pink shoulders while the other brought Pinkie's head closer so that she could nuzzle the top of the pink mare.
Pinkie responded by hugging the lavender pony even more and cheered. “Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~~”
Twilight laughed lightly as she squeezed back. After a minute (during which Pinkie hadn't taken a breath or paused as she continued to cheer) Twilight looked at the mare from where she lay when the hyper pony knocked her over.
“Pinkie? What do we do now?” She couldn't help but be slightly anxious, it was unknown territory that they were heading into. Pinkie looked back at her special somepony and saw the smidgen of uncertainty, and while she didn't have a whole lot of experience in this area, she knew what would set the mare of her heart at east.
“I vote cuddling! Cuddling is good and comfy and warm and -” Twilight silenced her once more with a light kiss. Twilight loved how Pinkie was trying to set her at ease, even if it was a little wordy.
“And kisses. Kisses are good too.” The pink mare was a little shocked at all the kisses she was getting from the normally reserved pony but she wasn't going to put up a fuss about it.
Twilight giggled at the love-struck face of Pinkie's and had a feeling she was wearing a similar smile. Pinkie soon joined in the giggling as Twilight levitated a blanket and pillows over so that they didn't have to move from where they were currently cuddling.
They spent the night in each other's hooves, content and happy. Both couldn't believe their luck that the other returned their feelings and both mentally agreed that this was the best night ever.
The next morning Spike found them still on the ground floor in each other's embrace. After waking up and having been found in such a situation, they had to come clean and tell the young dragon the news. The small dragon was surprised but after thinking about the past few months, it made sense in a way. And so long as Twilight was happy, then it was fine.
And so Ends the journey of two mares to give voice to what they felt for one another. Now they must face the hazards of a relationship, which is a Story for Another Time.
