A Party for Every Occasion
The sun rose over Ponyville, casting golden rays over the rolling hills of apple trees along the eastern border of the town. Even though it was winter, the sunlight was bright and warm, reflecting off the white ground and shining happily into windows, much to the despair of the ponies inside, who were still trying to sleep. Throughout the whole town, only one pony seemed to be happily awake and working: Pinkie Pie.
She buzzed around Sugarcube Corner, icing cupcakes, checking batter consistency, setting timers, and leaving a trail of confectioner’s sugar behind her as it fell out of her mane. An oven timer beeped, and she skipped happily over and pulled out a cake pan with her bare teeth. Turning around, she dropped it into her hooves and frowned.
Every available surface in her kitchen was covered in baked goods in varying stages of completion. One counter was covered in mixers, working in tandem to create cupcake and cookie batter, as well as multiple colors of frosting. Another was full of cooling racks, stacked high with muffins and cake layers. The last held all her ingredients and bowls full of wet, sugary mush.
“Hmm,” Pinkie mused. “Where am I supposed to put this one?” She giggled to herself as she realized that, once again, she had gotten carried away and made too many treats.
She had begun mentally reorganizing the counters when a sudden, harsh beeping made her lose her train of thought. Puzzled, she darted around the kitchen, cake pan still in hoof, to check the ovens, but unable to find the source of the noise, she continued to reorganize, moving the cooled pastries on top of the hood of the stove to make room for the hot cake.
Upstairs, Carrot Cake groaned and smashed his face into his pillow before grudgingly getting up and plodding down into the kitchen.
“Pinkie Pie,” he muttered sleepily. “Your alarm clock is going off.”
The mare in question threw the cake pan in the air and disappeared up the stairs in a pink blur. The beeping stopped, and a second later she zipped back into the kitchen, catching the pan before it hit the ground. She smiled sheepishly at Carrot Cake.
“Sorry about that, Mr. Cake. I was just so super-duper excited about my party today that I just couldn’t sleep and then I thought ‘Hey, Pinkie! Why don’t you get up and do all of your baking now so that when Mr. and Mrs. Cake get up you’re not in their way!’ So then I thought that was a fantastically-super idea so I came down here but I guess I forgot to turn my alarm off! I’m extra super sorry if it woke you up. Muffin?”
Pinkie reached on top of the stove hood to offer a cranberry-oat muffin to the sleepy stallion, who stared blankly at her.
“Pinkie, it’s four o’clock in the morning,” Carrot Cake shook his head. “How long have you been up?”
Pinkie stuffed the muffin in her own mouth and chewed thoughtfully for a moment before responding.
“Well, I think I got up around 2:30 or so because like I said, I couldn't sleep because I was so super excited. Are you sure you don’t want a muffin? They’re really good!” She waved a muffin under Carrot Cake’s nose temptingly.
He started to trudge back upstairs, calling down to her, “I’m going back to bed. Just keep it down in here for the next couple of hours, will you? The twins are finally starting to sleep through the night.”
“Okey dokey lokey!” Pinkie chirped happily. She looked down and was met with a hopeful, wall-eyed stare. “Hey, Gummy! Do you want a muffin?”
At 9:30 on the dot, Pinkie Pie stood in front of the Ponyville Library with a cart full of balloons and baked goods strapped to her back. She knocked enthusiastically at the door, and a bleary-eyed baby dragon answered a few seconds later.
“Hiya, Spike! Is Twilight around? I brought the goodies for the Hearts and Hooves day party! I’m just so super excited about this, aren’t you? I mean, I can have parties everyday but they’re little ones like ‘Happy Twelve Year, Seven Month, and Six Day Anniversary’ or ‘Third Tuesday of the Month’ or ‘Congratulations on Getting your Hemorrhoid Removed’ parties,” Pinkie babbled cheerfully. “But this one’s a real holiday that’s on the calendar and everything! I bet the Princesses even celebrate it! So this party has to be the most amazing incredible terrific party of the whole week!”
Spike yawned and moved out of the doorway. “Hi Pinkie Pie,” he replied, unmoved by her enthusiasm. “Twilight’s upstairs triple-checking her party-planning checklist. I’ll tell her you’re here. Come on in.”
As the little dragon pattered upstairs to get Twilight, Pinkie hopped over the threshold and tapped her hooves impatiently.
Twilight came rushing down the stairs. "Good morning, Pinkie," she chirped, summoning a checklist and a pair of glasses with her magic. "You're right on time, and you brought the...treats?" She trailed off, looking at the mountain of baked goods strapped to Pinkie's back. "Starswirl's beard, Pinkie! Did you make all of these this morning?"
Pinkie nodded. "Yep! You know what they say: time flies when you're baking pies!" She wriggled out of the harness and began to unload the decorations from her cart.
"I don't think that's it," Twilight muttered. Shrugging it off, she began to levitate the treats onto different tables around the room, making note of where everything was going.
The two mares continued to set up the main room of the library for the party, each occasionally dashing out to grab an extra roll of streamers, or a spare punch bowl, or something else that had been forgotten. By 10:00, Twilight and Pinkie had put the finishing touches on the party, and they sat down to take a quick cup of punch before the first ponies started showing up.
"I don't see how you do this every single day, Pinkie," Twilight commented. "It's so exhausting, even with two of us here."
"It's super easy once you get used to it," Pinkie reassured her. "Besides, parties are FUN!"
Just then the library door opened, and a green unicorn walked in, closely followed by a beige earth pony.
"Oh, look, Bonbon!" Lyra giggled. "We're the first ones here. How awkward."
Twilight grinned at them. "It's great to see you girls! There's cookies and punch over there by the door, and Pinkie is going to bring out the cake once some more ponies get here. Help yourself."
Bonbon and Lyra looked at each other in silent agreement and walked over to a corner of the library, snuggling into the pillows provided as Lyra picked a book off a nearby shelf with her magic and brought it in front of Bonbon, who cleared her throat and began to read aloud in a quiet voice to her marefriend.
Twilight looked over at them and whispered to Pinkie, "That's so cute, don't you think? I wish I had somepony to read with me..." She trailed off with a wistful sigh, before trotting back over to a table to grab some punch.
Pinkie pondered the two mares sitting in the corner. She'd never given much thought to having a special somepony before; everypony was her friend, and she wouldn't want to lose a friend if she dated somepony and they broke up. But looking at Lyra and Bonbon, she realized that a coltfriend or marefriend was really just a super-duper friend, somepony who was there for you just like a friend, but shared some deeper feelings with you and was just yours sometimes.
The door banged open, shaking Pinkie out of her thoughts. A gaggle of young ponies ran into the library, giggling and chatting, followed by a wearied-looking magenta mare. Taking her cue, Pinkie bounced over to the group and handed each filly and colt a balloon, accompanied with a chipper "Hey!" or "Good to see you!" before herding them over to the games room, one ear open to the other conversations in the main room.
Cheerilee, meanwhile, was in discussion with Twilight.
"Hey, Cheerilee! What brings you all out here? I thought you normally just had a Hearts and Hooves Day party in your classroom," Twilight inquired.
Cheerilee blushed and swallowed a glass of punch before responding. "Yes, well, I thought perhaps a field trip was in order. Everypony in my class has been behaving themselves lately, so it was only fitting..."
Twilight smirked. "Yes, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that this is the first year that you've had a special somepony on Hearts and Hooves Day."
"Well, I-I mean, that is to say," Cheerilee stammered. "It all depends on your brother, doesn't it? If Silver Shield doesn't have the day off, then he won't be able to come visit. Like I said, this is a treat for the kids."
Twilight laughed at her friend's discomfort. "Relax, Cheerilee. Now that my brother is married to the Princess of Love, he pretty much has to give the guard time off on Hearts and Hooves Day. I'm sure he'll be here later."
The two mares then moved on to discussing the benefits of magically modified versus normal seeds, and Pinkie focused back to the fillies and colts in front of her. Playing Pin the Tail on the Pony were the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Twist, who were being observed (not very stealthily) by Featherweight, Button Mash, Rumble, and Pipsqueak. The colts kept whispering among themselves and nudging each other with their hooves, stealing glances at the fillies, who were running around in circles and giggling as they looked at their increasingly silly-looking pony, who now had a large purple mustache, but no tail.
Then Rumble cleared his throat and walked up to Scootaloo, a heart-shaped card in his mouth. He tapped her on the shoulder and gulped as she removed her blindfold and looked at him quizzically. "Uh, hey, Scootaloo," Rumble muttered around the card. "I was just wondering if maybe, um, you'd like to be my special somepony? Just for the day, I mean, if you want, but I just thought that maybe you--" Scootaloo glanced at her friends, who were looking at her with wide grins, and nodded, gently picking the card out of Rumble's mouth. They both turned red as Sweetie Belle said, "Awww, aren't they adorable?" but wandered over to the main room to share some cupcakes.
Twist, then, seemed to notice Featherweight standing near the back of the room, and approached him shyly. "Hi, Featherweight," she said in a small voice. "Do you want to go get thome punth with me?" Pip nearly tripped over his tiny hooves running in front of his friend. "I'd love to, Twist! I mean, if that's all right." Sweetie Belle walked over to the group and chimed in with, "Let's all go! Come on, Featherweight." She winked at the gangly pegasus, who blushed, and the two pairs of ponies walked out of the room, leaving Button and Apple Bloom standing in front of the discarded blindfolds and tails.
Button, sensing an awkward silence coming, approached Apple Bloom, reaching into his saddlebag for his handheld video game. "Do you want to play with me?" He asked. "I mean, just until everypony else gets back from getting food. It could be a while, you know." Apple Bloom looked skeptically at the small device. "Well, sure, but Ah reckon you're gonna have to teach me how to play one of those things. Never had a chance to play one before." Button grinned and grabbed a second device out of his saddle bags. "Follow my lead."
Pinkie backed out of the room as she watched the foals settle down into groups, mostly of two. She watched Snips and Snails try their luck with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, only to be rescued by a blushing Dinky Doo and Tootsie Flute. Other fillies and colts that were still too young to understand crushes sat with their friends, munching on cookies and stuffing their faces with little chocolate hearts.
Back in the main room, the party had started. The rest of Pinkie's best friends had arrived, along with their dates, and some of Pinkie's other friends had shown up, too. She surveyed the room, taking a count of everypony there and making note of who had yet to show up. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were hoof-wrestling in the middle of the room, Spike was waiting on Rarity, Fluttershy was sitting with Big Mac, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were fretting about the state of their generously donated Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness while keeping an eye on their foals, who were resting in one of Spike's old beds. Cheerilee's coltfriend had arrived; a dark brownish-gray stallion with a gray-and-white mane, and he was chuckling as he and Cheerilee struggled to peel his armor off of him. Blossomforth and Cloud Kicker sat in a corner, chatting and filing their hooves, as Thunderlane came up to flirt with the white pegasus. The door opened and Torch Song and Toe Tapper entered, followed by a gray pegasus mare with an official-looking saddlebag strapped to her back. Noises from the other rooms in the library suggested that other ponies had arrived, and Pinkie grinned. This party was officially in session! Time to bring out the cake.
By 6:00, the last of the ponies had trickled out of the library, leaving behind a bouncing pink earth pony, a worn-out purple alicorn, and one very jittery baby dragon. Twilight surveyed the mess left in the room and sighed, lifting up a broom with her magic and beginning to sweep together the streamers, crumbs, and popped balloons that littered the floor.
"Well, that was just loads of fun, wasn't it?" Pinkie exclaimed, collecting cleared-off cookie plates and emptied punch bowls, scooping them back into her trusty cart.
Spike jumped up and down, unable to control the sugar rush he was experiencing from having single-handedly eaten almost half of the Cakes' creation. "You bet, Pinkie Pie! And Rarity let me spend almost the whole day with her. I almost didn't mind that she spent the whole day with Noteworthy. I mean, she chose to spend time with me, but he just kept coming over to talk to her. What a jerk, huh? I thought it was awful nice of her to walk him home, though."
Twilight glanced over at the baby dragon as she reorganized the romantic fiction section, which looked as though somepony had emptied its shelves and put the books back any way that they fit. She opened her mouth to correct him, but saw his happy face and closed it again, deciding not to step on his fragile crush. Focusing back on her books, she commented, "I had a great time, Pinkie. I had the chance to meet a very nice mare, and we're going out for lunch tomorrow. Maybe you could join us?"
Spike chuckled. "I don't think that's what she had in mind, Twi. I'm pretty sure she meant it as a date."
Twilight blushed, keeping her face hidden from the others by glaring stonily at the shelf in front of her. "Yes, well, thank you for reminding me, Spike. Anyway, I hope you had fun, Pinkie. It looked like you were always going around refilling food plates or playing games with other ponies."
Pinkie popped a half-eaten chocolate into her mouth and nodded at Twilight. "But of course, silly! That's the fun about parties; you get to play games with your friends! Namby Pamby is great at checkers, did you know that? And Mr. Breezy always beats me at hide-and-seek, although it was super terrific that Silver Spoon found him first when it was her turn. And--"
Twilight cut across her pink friend's ramblings. "Yeah, but Pinkie, didn't they want to spend the day with their special someponies? Didn't you?"
Pinkie blinked at her. "What do you mean? I don't have a special somepony, silly! And whenever my friends left, I went and found another friend to play with. That's why it's super great to be friends with everypony in Ponyville! I'm never lonely."
Twilight considered this statement. While Twilight had always been busy with her studies, and was now alienated because of her princess status, she had always assumed that Pinkie would have no trouble finding a special somepony for Hearts and Hooves Day. Maybe Pinkie really was oblivious to certain social cues.
The rest of the evening passed in relative silence, and an hour later, Spike was tucked in bed, having crashed hard from his sugar high, and Twilight walked Pinkie out the door. "Have fun on your date tomorrow, Twilight!" Pinkie whispered as they left the tree. Twilight blushed and thanked her, waving good night as she watched her friend bounce down the road to Sugarcube Corner.
On the road, Pinkie considered her party. She evaluated it to be a 12 out of 10, because everypony was there, so that had to make it super terrifically awesome. Satisfied with her rating, Pinkie's thoughts turned to the events of the party. Everypony was pairing up; that was good, right? It was Hearts and Hooves Day, so it was good that all of her friends found somepony to spend the day with. While Pinkie couldn't stand lovey-dovey stuff from anypony, some ponies liked that, so they should have their special somepony who makes them feel like that.
But Pinkie kept thinking about all the pairs of ponies she'd seen that day, ponies who also didn't seem to like overly-sweet displays of affection: Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Big Mac, Lucky and Flitter, Rumble and Scootaloo. Lyra and Bonbon. From looking at those pairs, Pinkie would think that having a special somepony was no different than having a best friend.
A thought struck her. Maybe it wasn't so different. And Pinkie should know better than anypony about having a best friend. What if she was missing out on something super important about friendship because she had never been willing to date anypony? "Well, no more!" She cried, earning a glare from a passing stallion. She smiled sheepishly at him, then ran the remaining distance to Sugarcube Corner. She needed to rest up; tomorrow would be the day that she entered into the unknown; one game that she'd never played before, at any party she'd ever thrown.
The dating game.