Author's Note

Alright. Here it is. After nearly two months I finished this chapter. It should be the longest one so far. Also, I wanted to thank to Onrlu for supporting me and helping me with grammar. Thank you, dude :D this chapter is for you

Chapter 7

"Come on, ten more. You can do it," Rainbow Dash cheered me while I was doing push-ups. 41, 42, 43... I counted in my head. I really wanted to make 50. I wanted to make Rainbow proud. But I was at the edge and I could slip over any second now. 46, 47... c'mon Scoots, only three. My muscles were burning. My instinct was telling me to give up. 48... I'm so close. I have to do fifty at once. 49... Only, one, more. I couldn't lift myself up. I was stuck in the middle of push-up without power to finish it. No. I can't give up now. Do it Scoots. For Rainbow Dash. I screamed as loud as possible when I withdrew my last reserves of energy. 50. I collapsed onto the ground, smiling triumphally. I did it.

Rainbow Dash looked at me from above. "Good job squirt. But don't think it's...". I haven't heard the rest. Somehow, I fell asleep.

I woke up to a smell of something delicious coming from kitchen. Then, my stomach drew attention to its presence with loud growling. I was about to get off the bed when Dash entered the room. She looked disappointed when she'd seen that I'm awake. I saw the marker she held in mouth right before she threw it away. So this is how it is. I wondered what would my face look like if I woke up ten minutes later.

"Um...hi. You're awake. I just...I...went to check if you're okay. Twilight made a dinner, so..." Rainbow Dash stammered.

"Great. I'm hell hungry. What's for dinner?"

"Twilight calls it 'the cake of a thousand secrets' but I have a suspicion that she just mixed everything she found. But it smells good."

The cake of a thousand secrets? At least it sounds interesting. I wanted to ask something. What was it? Urgh...oh! "How long have I slept?"

"Not so long. About two hours. And next time when you decide to take a nap, do it nearer the library. I carried you all the way home and believe it or not, you're heavier the last time I carried you."

The last time. I remember. Rainbow Dash had probably seen the flash of sadness in my face and she began to apologize. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

"It's alright. We can't change the past,".

"Oh...yeah. You're right, I guess," she had turned around, when she remembered why she came here. "And shall I tell Twilight to serve a piece for you too?"

"Sure. Do you really ask me?"

"Okay,". With these words, she left the room.

Only then, I realized how tired I am. Every single muscle hurt me like it was on fire. I recalled what were we doing sooner that day. Rainbow Dash was a tough teacher. First she let me run around Ponyville. The town is larger than it seems. Then, I had to stand in push-up position but instead of standing on my front hooves, I was on my knees. Rainbow made me stand like that for five minutes. Easy, you think? Try it. I barely made it. Then, she got an idea. Masterpiece of training terror. She tied on my back a wooden board, put on it six stones, each of them weighed at least 1.5 kilos and told me that I have to carry them for 30 meters without dropping a single one. Each time I dropped one, I had to do it all over again. The stones were heavy as hell and balancing them made the task million times harder. It took me eight tries to accomplish it. Then and only then, I had a break. Full five minutes of rest. After that came the push-ups, and now I'm here.

I trained with Dash three times a week when two lessons were dedicated to flying (today was obviously non-flying). In these, Rainbow Dash was testing my limits, giving me tips and helping me strengthen my wings. I wasn't making much progress. But I didn't know what awaited me yet.

A week later, at the beggining of another flying lesson, Rainbow Dash had a little surprise prepared. Well, it wasn't surprise at all, more like special lesson with secret teaching methods. But since Rainbow Dash was very unclear in details, I had no idea what's planned. She even covered my eyes with a scarf. I had a small overview of where she takes me. She lead me through the town square, judging by noise. Then, we entered some building and we were going up the stairs. When we walked out she finally let me take off the scarf.

"OK. Here we are. You can take it off,".

We were in the corridor of the town hall.

"What are we doing here?"

"Well, since you trained so hard, I decided to reward you. I wanted to take you somewhere with a beautiful view and voilà, here we are,"

"Really?"

"Really,"

I didn't complain. I looked into distance. The view really was beautiful. Only the dome on the horizon spoiled it a bit. I wanted to see how high we are. So I bent over the ledge and suddenly, Rainbow Dash pushed me. I screamed. Horror filled my body. I closed my eyes and waited for death. A 'splat' and nothing. But that didn't come. Suddenly, something switched in my head and I knew exactly what to do. Instinct, I guess. I slowly opened my eyes to see that I am... flying.

Rainbow Dash jumped in the air and shouted. "It worked!! Wohoo, Twilight. You're genius!! Haha!"

I was still in the air and I still couldn't believe it. I tried to fly forward, backwards, to the right, to the left, up 'n' down... no problem. I landed safely on the ground. Everyone on the square was watching me, but I ignored that. Original hapiness and excitement were replaced by anger.

Dashie landed right next to me. "That was awesome! Good job ki..."

"AWESOME?! I COULD DIE! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?"

"Hey, calm down..."

"I WON'T CALM DOWN! YOU JUST PUSHED ME FROM FRICKIN' TWENTY METERS! YOU..."

"Hushh! I had it under the control. If it didn't work, I'd catch ya,"

I calmed down but the anger was still clearly noticeable in my voice. "Was it really necessary to throw me off of there? Couldn't you have just told me to jump?"

"Ehm, no. First, you wouldn't do it. Second, if you did it on purpose it wouldn't work. Third, it was Twilight's idea,"

"What?"

"Well, Twilight said it's like with birds. You throw them off the nest and instinct tells them what to do. Twilight suggested me to try it with you. And it worked,"

I thought about it. It was a great plan. And effective. I wanted to argue but no arguements came up. So I only said. "Never ever do it again,"

"Oh c'mon. Cheer up. Pinkie Pie won't be happy if she sees that you're all grumpy on your first-flight party,"

"What did you say? There's going to be a party? For me?"

"Of course there is. You deserve it and this town needs a party. Oh, Pinkie's going to be so so so so happy. She hadn't thrown a party since... you know..."

"Then why are we still here? Let's go to Pinkie," I said.

As we arrived the Sugarcube Corner, I began to feel anxious. It looked so... sad. When the apocalypse had come, both Cakes and Pinkie Pie lost their jobs. Nopony was interested in parties or sweets anymore. Pinkie barely went out and the rumors that she's been driven insane could be heard everywhere. That was probably another reason why Rainbow Dash wanted to throw that party. She worried about her friend. We knocked at the door and waited.

It was Mrs. Cake who opened. "Hi, girls. Did you come to visit Pinkie? Please, say yes. I'm really worried about her. She hasn't left her room in days," Mrs. Cake said nervously. "Come in,"

"Hello Mrs. Cake. Yeah, we came to see her,". Rainbow leaned closer to the blue mare and asked quietly: "How is she? I heard..."

"Oh, she's not that bad. I suppose. But if something doesn't happen soon... I worry she won't make it," Mrs. Cake almost whispered. "She's upstairs. Be careful,".

With these words she left to check twins. As we entered, i felt the emptiness of this building with full power. No smell of baking cupcakes, empty expenses, no customers. It was like the essence of this place was sucked dry and locked away. When we walked up the stairs, I felt like the portraits of many Cake and some Pie ancestors hanging from the wall are looking at me. But we came to Pinkie's room and I hadn't peed my pants (I was wearing ones) even though I thought at one moment that I won't be able to hold it.

When I think about it now, I don't know what I expected. Cut-off pony bodyparts, smell of vomit, blood, and flesh, Pinkie wearing a costume made of her victims cutie marks and upside down pentagrams? No, the reality was very different.

When Dash knocked at door, nobody responded. She knocked again and still nothing. So, we opened the door. For a second I feared that all that we're going to find is just a hanging corpse of the party pony. Luckily it didn't happen.

As soon as we entered, my mind was struck with only one thought. Did I look like that too, when Sweetie Belle died? The room was okay. No mess, no hanging ponies, no pentagrams. Sunlight shone through the window peacefully and everything looked alright. Except...

"Pinkie Pie?"

I almost didn't recognise her. The pony I was looking at was so different from the bouncy pack of happiness I knew. She lied in bed, staring at the ceiling, not saying a single word. Her mane and tail were all straight instead of their usual puffy look and I'd bet their color took a darker shade. Pinkie Pie also looked skinnier than the last the last time I saw her. She probably hasn't eaten much in last few days. What in the world happened to her?

"Hey, Pinkie, we are here," said Rainbow Dash, hoping that Pinkie Pie will do something, anything. But she remained apathic.

"You know what would be nice?" Dashie asked. "If you would tell us what's wrong and we could sit together and solve the problem,".

I felt like I should do something, but I was numb. Seeing Pinkie Pie like that was so oppresive. I was scared that if I say anything, she'll just shatter into milion pieces. Like a dropped glass.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie began to talk. No impulse, no question, she just began.

"Once upon a time, there lived a pony named Pinkie Pie. Pinke Pie loved fun and parties and making ponies laugh. She lived happily in a gingerbread house along with a married couple and their children. Her life was perfect. Until..."

Okay, Pinkie got me a bit scared. "P-Pinkie? Are you...". She cut me off.

"...One day, something happened. Something really bad. And since then, ponies weren't laughing anymore, they didn't want to party and Pinkie Pie was sad. If she couldn't make ponies happy, what should she do? She didn't know how to do anything else than making fun. And if fun wasn't needed... Neither was Pinkie. The end,". I've seen tears running down her face.

Rainbow Dash took a word. "And what if I tell you there IS fun needed? Squirt has learned to fly and we need to celebrate it. And who else is going to throw the best just-learned-to-fly party if not the best party thrower in all of Equestria? Pinkie..."

Pinkie Pie didn't move. At first. Suddenly she exploded. Not literally exploded but what happened really resembled an actual explosion. She jumped in the air, her mane instantly inflated and her face formed the grin which I can specify only as Pinkie smile. She began jumping around the room and speaking so fast that I understood only about a half of what she said.

"Oh guys, why didn't you tell me sooner? There's gonna be a party? Who's planning it? Ohwait, that's me. Hihi, silly me. I have so many questions. Is there going to be a cake? Of course it is. What party would it be without a cake. And there have to be streamers. And everypony will play 'pin the tail on a pony'. And.... wait a minute. Where's my party cannon? I'm sure I've put it somewhere here,". She opened a closet. "Here goes nothing. Oh, hi Gummy. Here you are. I guess you won". Small teethless aligator blinked peacefully in the closet.

"Won what?" I asked.

"Hide 'n' seek, silly filly. Gummy, have you seen my party cannon?" Pinkie Pie leaned closer to Gummy as if she was listening to what he says. "Mmmm. Hmmm. Mmhmmm. Thank you Gummy."

Pinkie Pie bounced to the bed and pulled the party cannon from beneath it. I was shocked.

"Was it there all the time?"

"Probably... I'm not sure," Rainbow Dash mumbled.

I wanted to say something, but I was interrupted by Pinkie Pie screaming.

"Let's go PARTAY!!!!!"

Pinkie was a bit disappointed, when she learned that the party was actually happening three days later, but it didn't bring her mood down. She was once again the good old Pinkie Pie, the best party thrower in all of Equestria (more accurately, Equestria's remains). And I can say, her Just-learned-to-fly party was awesome.

There were just a few guests at first. Apple Bloom and her sister, Twist, Twilight, basically all of Rainbow Dash's best friends. Except for Rarity. As soon as ponies learned there is a party going on, first shy neighbours of ours asked if they can join. And then it went like clockwork. Before I could find my feet, half of Ponyville was stacked at Twillight's. It was the best party ever even though I don't remember that much from it. Sweetie Belle would have enjoyed it...