A Tumultuous Picnic

It was a gloriously sunny day in the Equestrian countryside. Birds were flitting from tree to tree, bunnies hopped by, and a sparkling brook trickled quietly. And by this particular brook, a group of five curiously differing ponies sat. One was a earth pony mare of a gorgeous shade of pink, with a deeper pink mane, curling around her shoulders delicately in tightly spiraling tendrils, another was a snowy white unicorn, her indigo maine coiffed into a neat bun, her bangs curling into a spiraling arch, a third was similar to both of the first two, a young unicorn whose horn was hidden in her skull with a soft, puffy lavender mane and alabaster coat, and by her sat a tall, proud alicorn stallion, his muscle-bound, light gray coat creating a strikingly beautiful contrast with his two-tone, flowing green mane and majestic wings. The fifth was the oddest of them all, almost as tall as a small tree, with spindly legs, a bone-white coat, and delicate black tendrils in place of a tail, besides his most curious feature of having no facial features at all. These ponies were all sitting on a large, light pink blanket, checked with slightly darker pink, and enjoying cups of tea that the tallest stallion was pouring for the others with his tendrils. The older unicorn mare smiled upon him, looking up at him with her sapphire eyes as her bangs gently fluttered in the breeze.

"My my, Mr. Slender, those tentacles certainly do come in handy, don't they?" She remarked, admiring his skill and precision with them. "It's almost as good as unicorn magic!"

The faceless stallion pricked up his ears, as if he were smiling, "Crackle crackle hisss vrrp!"

The unicorn mare smiled at him, then whispered to her pink companion. "What did he say, dear? All I heard was crackling like firewood, and some strange hissing and warping noises."

"Oh, he was saying 'Thank you!'" the bright pink mare chirped loudly, oblivious to her mare friend's sudden embarrassment. The stallion waved a hoof dismissively and blushed just a little.

"Vrrp hiss pop"

"Yeah, mom, don't worry. Not everypony is able to understand him, even when they know what he's saying!" The younger unicorn replied, teasingly nudging the faceless stallion. He nudged her back, and they briefly play-wrestled. The alicorn smiled at them, sipping his tea gently. Rarity, for that was the name of the older unicorn mare, sipped her tea as well, trying to politely end that train of thought in the process and hoping nopony would notice. When her daughter, Party Pop, had offered to have a teatime picnic with her, this wasn't quite what she had imagined. She pulled out a large basket and smiled.

"'Well, I'm sure you will all enjoy the teatime treats I've brought! Pinkie Pie worked very hard on them, didn't you darling?"

"Oh, yes indeedily! I made macarons, cheesecake, chocolate fridge pie, granola, caramel popcorn, sandwiches, and candy!" She piped up, bouncing in place. Party Pop, the younger unicorn, smiled and giggled a little.

"Oh, mom, you always make so much food! I hope you have fridge space at home." The bright pink pony only beamed even more.

"Well, of course I made a lot of food! I'm sending some home with you, since you'll have another mouth to feed soon."

Party Pop blinked in confusion. "Um, mom... I'm not pregnant, and we don't have a foal in the house..."

"Oh, you will." Pinkie said mysteriously. Pop looked over at her alicorn Master, who merely shrugged. Gold Soul, the alicorn stallion, blushed slightly at the thought of his cute little pet with a rounded belly, heavy with a tiny, precious foal inside... Their foal. He hoped that his slightly mental mother-in-law wasn't just spouting nonsense this time.

Suddenly, a loud buzzing noise intruded into his thoughts. Slender, while absentmindedly sipping tea, had accidentally knocked a hornet's nest out of a tree. Rarity screamed in terror as as she hurriedly packed up the picnic as the group ran as far as possible, fearing for their lives. The hornets were buzzing madly behind them as they went at full speed, tearing across the countryside to get away from them. Gold Soul, with a great swoop of his wings, soared into the air, heading straight for the swarm. He unleashed a powerful blast of green light from his horn, and a few seconds later, the swarm was no more. The party collapsed on the grass, panting heavily. After everypony has caught their breath, Rarity stormed up to Slender, fuming with rage. "Pardon my unladylike behaviour, Mr. Slender, but WHAT THE BUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!? You could have had us killed!!!" She shouted, glaring at him furiously as she stamped her hoof in indignation. Slender flicked his ears back and seemed to be glaring.

"Hiss vrrp!"

"Yeah, mom! It's not like he meant to! He was just enjoying his tea! We shouldn't have picked a spot right by a hornet's nest anyway! Who's bucking idea was that?" Rarity cringed, blushing and hoping somepony would change the subject. Gold Soul looked around and piped up.

"Hey... Where are we anyway?"

Everypony looked around their surroundings. They were in a completely different part of the wilderness, somewhere much more heavily wooded that where they had been having their picnic. To make matters worse, it was getting dark. Rarity groaned. "Oh, how lovely. Now we have to spend the whole night in some dark, dirty, cold-"

"Oh, shut up." Party Pop snapped. "The last thing we need is you whining all night in this situation." Rarity's mouth shut quickly as she blushed. Gold Soul smiled.

"Hey, don't worry, everypony, I know how we can spend the night comfortably. Ms. Pie, do you think you could help me with something?" The bright pink party pony smiled as she followed him deeper into the woods. Soon after, they had a glorious campout, with veggie dogs roasting on sticks under the stars. Rarity smiled as she finished cooking hers, looking over to her son-in-law.

"Well, I suppose this picnic turned out well after all."