Ponyville's skies were clear and bright as the sun shined on the bustling crowd below. Ponies were going to and fro pass Sugar-cube Corner and the chatter of the locals filled the air. All the while, a certain pink pony was stirring in her room as the electric sensation of anticipation of the day tingled down her spine.
“Oh, I can't wait!” Pinkie squeaked to herself as she hopped over to her window and looked down bright-eyed at the passerby's below. She opened her window and let the sounds of the town fill her room as she smiled.
“Good morning, everypony!” she leaned out and yelled with a joyous lilt in her voice.
Some ponies skipped a step and honed their ears in on the source of the loud greeting. “Oh, hi there, Pinkie!” A mare finally said waving a neighborly hoof as other ponies joined in as well. With a mile long smile, she waved back and closed her window shut.
Her hooves made a thud against the floor as she bounced over to her calendar like a skillfully skipped rock over water. Her blue eyes traced down the current date and she crossed it off with a stroke of the pen.
The sound of joyful giggles cascaded down the stairs as she made her way down each step. “Hia , Mr. and Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie came to a halt in front of the kitchen as the Cakes kneed dough.
“Good morning, Pinkie.” Mrs. Cake chuckled softly. “You sure seem extra happy today?”
“Well yeah!” Pinkie playfully waved her hooves for emphasis. “This is only like one of the bestest days ever!”
“Oh, that's right!” Mr. Cake chimed in and placed a hoof to his chin in a mock thought just to see Pinkie's excitement build as she silently and intently waited for what he was going to say. “Your grandma is visiting, right?”
“Yepper-doodles, for a whole week!” Pinkie responded with an enthusiastic hop. “I've been waiting for two whole weeks! And I haven't seen her since moving to Ponyville!” She cantered over to the party supply closet.
Anything and everything a pony would need for any festive occasion was miraculously crammed into that tiny closet; confetti, streamers, balloons of every color – you name it, she has it. Pinkie opened the door and it popped open like a soda can releasing air. In a split second, she was rushed off her hooves in a flash flood festive tidal wave that bellowed out of the packed closet.
“Wee– ” Pinkie joyously squeaked before being muffled by the supplies that engulfed her.
Mr. Cake blinked and smiled in bewilderment. “How in Equestria did she get all that– ” Pinkie's head shot out of the party-mountain and confetti erupted into the air.
“Wowee!” she giggled and blew a piece of confetti off the top of her mane. “I think I'm gonna need a bigger closet!”
Mrs. Cake shook her head with a smile as she put the dough in the oven and walked over to the counter. “So, Pinkie, how many cupcakes you think you'll need?” she asked.
“Hmm...” she stopped rummaging through her supplies for a moment, tilted her head, and squinted her eyes. “Thirty-five cupcakes I think would be good!” She snapped out of her thought with a skip over to the drawer to look for tape before she paused again.
“Oh, no, make that an extra three on top! The cutie mark crusader's should be here soon to help with the decorations and I want to give them sweets for part of their work.” She blurted out as she was now choosing balloon colors.
Mr. and Mrs. Cake winced in unison at the idea of the cutie mark crusaders “helping” while simultaneously calculating the time and/or bits needed to fix their “volunteerism” in their shop. They exchanged a furtive glance at each other while Pinkie's back was turned.
***
In a few short hours, Sugar-cube Corner was transformed into party-central. There were a few hiccups with some glasses and a minor hole in the wall; but nothing that couldn't be fixed. Streamers hung artfully on the walls; balloons and confetti were thrown about and left to fall how it wished; the tables were set with cups, paper plates, and a signature punch bowl was placed in the center; but most importantly hung a banner across the niche that exclaimed, “Welcome to Ponyville, Granny Pie!”
Pinkie took a step back to survey their work and smiled ear to ear at the sight. It wasn't the biggest party she had ever thrown, but it was one of the most important.
“Girls!” Pinkie said while inhaling air for what she'd say next. “This looks wonderfully fantastically amazingly awesomely great!” She hopped in the air and fluttered her hooves before meeting the floor again.
“Great!” Applebloom said while kicking a balloon around with Scootaloo.
“Yeah, we're glad we could help!” Scootaloo chimed in before kicking the balloon between Applebloom's hooves and making off with it. Applebloom playfully protested as she chased after her.
“Here's a bit and cupcakes for you girls!” Pinkie said giving it to them and exchanging it for a boop on their muzzles.
“Thank you, Pinkie.” Sweetie Bell giggled and scrunched her muzzle in response.
“No, thank you!” Pinkie winked. “Granny is going to be so excited to see this and I can't wait wait it's gonna be so much fun and I haven't seen her in so long...” She rambled on a mile a minute.
The cutie mark crusaders exchanged glances as if negotiating on who would break her rant. After a hoof-ful of seconds, it was unanimously settled on for Applebloom to do the job. “Uh...” she chuckled.
“...And I'm gonna show her around all of Ponyville!” Pinkie finally finished and she inhaled to catch her breath; it was a mile down the road by then.
“So, when's the party, again?” Scootaloo asked bouncing a balloon on her head.
“In a hour! So ponies should be coming soon!”
***
Right on schedule, ponies began to arrive at Sugar-cube Corner. The atmosphere was filled with the contagious excitement exuding from Pinkie as she hopped about; juggling her hosting duties with considerable ease. She had told so many fun stories of Granny Pie over the past two weeks that there wasn't a pony there that wasn't excited to meet her; including all but one of her friends who were sitting at a table talking.
“I can't wait to meet her; I bet that she is just a darling!” Rarity said bright-eyed while nibbling on her cupcake.
The girls nodded in agreement. “Me too, Rarity.” Twilight chuckled softly into her hoof as she watched Pinkie hop about energetically at work. “She's practically been talking about her non-stop since she found out at that she was visiting.”
Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash who was twiddling her hooves end-over-end and cocked her eyebrow; confused by her silence. “Rainbow, is something wrong?”
Rainbow looked up and then to the left. “Oh, uh, nothing.” And dropped her head back down and resumed winding her hooves around each other idly.
“Spit it out, RD” Applejack all but demanded and looked clear across the table as every pony now stared at her and then back at Rainbow Dash. Dash looked around at the peering stares for a moment before she slumped her shoulders. “Oh, alright! – but you made me!”
“Go on, Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy's small voice reassured.
Rainbow checked behind her shoulder, then looked side to side, before leaning in and lowering her voice. “How do we know she is as fun as Pinkie says she is? Two words: Maud Pie!”
The tension the girls were unknowingly and silently holding in were released all together with those words.
“Rainbow...Thank, Celestia, I wasn't the only one thinkin' that.” Applejack leaned back in her chair and adjusted her hat.
“Oh come now! I'm sure this time will be different.” Rarity tried to reassure, but her saccharine smile coupled with her furrowed brows all but lied on her.
“It seems we all been having the same thoughts.” Twilight facilitated. “But, we can't make a judgment on somepony we haven't even met yet.”
All the girls nodded in unison at her words. And instead of resuming the same subject, they decided to change it to something else.
Everypony was in the shop and were talking and mingling; passing the time while they waited for the guest of honor to arrive. Pinkie hopped to the center of the room and raised her voice to speak to the crowd around her. “Hia everypony! I'm super happy you all came! Granny Pie should be here any minute! I have Scootaloo watching for when she comes and she'll give this signal...”
Pinkie promptly twirled around, hopped twice, blinked three times, stomped her fore-hooves, shook her head and tail, and jumped again. Scootaloo looked absolutely mortified by the steps, but smiled all the while to cover her nervous tracks.
“When you see this signal, that means to find a hiding place really quick!” Pinkie hopped behind a chair to demonstrate.
“Uh...what a minute, Pink.” Applejack raised a hoof amongst the crowd. “Do you think a surprise party is a good idea? I mean, ain't she kinda old? –”
“Silly Applejack!” Pinkie happily brushed her concerns away with giggles. “She'll love it! When she opens the door – ” Pinkie continued without missing a beat and hopped out from behind the chair. “We'll yell–” a knock suddenly came to the door.
“She's here!” Scootaloo blurted out in a whisper before dashing for the nearest hiding spot. On her cue, the lights were turned off and every pony rushed to their respective places. Running out of places to hide, Rainbow Dash flew to the top of the ceiling. All any pony could hear was the sound of each others breathing as they waited silently while Granny pie continued to knock at the door.
Suddenly, the door began to turn on its hinges until it was fully opened; with that, the lights were flicked on and everyone leaped out of their spots and yelled at the top of their lungs: “Welcome to Ponyville Gran– ”
“–Mother-of-Gems; you guys are just too nice!”
“Spike?!” Twilight face-hoofed in disappointment.
“Yeah! Uh, wait...what's wrong?” Spike cocked an eyebrow in confusion and looked around as ponies shuffled their hooves out of their places.
“No worries, next time for sure!” Pinkie blurted out not phased at all.
Everypony began to mingle again and resumed their activities like they had only moments ago. The false alarm served to actually heighten the excitement and anticipation of Granny Pie's arrival. Stootaloo went back to her watch post and pressed her muzzled and forehead against the window as her eyes intently scanned back and forth.
Pinkie skipped over to the table the girls were seated at to take a short break from her hosting. “You girls enjoying yourselves?! I'm so glad you all could come!” She said plopping her rum in a chair.
“We wouldn't miss it for all of Equestria, Pinkie!” Twilight said with a warm smile. “I can't wait to meet your grandmother! – she seems like so much fun.”
“Oh, she is!” Pinkie went airborne in her sit in excitement. “She was the first pony to teach me to laugh my fears away when I was a filly! If it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't be me! And the me that could have been wouldn't truly be the me that the true me is today! – which means the true me today is a variation of the me that could have been but never was but probably is right now! And – ”
“ – Wait...What?” Rainbow Dash said scratching her mane.
“Wow Pinkie! You surprise me sometimes. It's the Multi-verse Theory.” Twilight began and put her hoof in the air as if holding an invisible ruler. “It means that in an infinite number of alternate universes that...” She trailed off as she watched Rainbow's and Pinkie's eyes rapidly glassed over in boredom and let out a sigh. “Never mind.”
“Uh, girls? – what in the hay is Scootaloo doing over there?” Applejack pointed out gesturing with her head over to Scootaloo who was dancing awkwardly by the window.
Rarity tilted her head. “I have no idea, AJ. Goodness, Dash. I would have thought you taught the poor filly how to dance.”
“Hey! Don't blame that on me!” Rainbow threw her hooves in the air.
Scootaloo posture slumped in exhaustion after trying in vain to remember the signal. She looked up to see ponies carrying on obliviously as they had before and she threw her head back in frustration. She decided on a more direct approach and yelled at the top of her lungs before hiding behind the drapes. “Granny pie is here!”
The party came to a screeching halt; you could have almost heard the sound of scratched record.
“She's here! Hide everypony! Hide!” Pinkie blurted out excitedly before crouching down and hiding under the table with an elated smile. Quickly following her cue, everyone sprung into action and frantically turned off the lights and the music as fast as they could; which only left the sound of hooves scurrying chaotically to and fro to the places that they had hid before. Within a short minute, the whole shop fell silent; so silent that you could hear the sound of a pin drop.
“Ow! – my tail!” Spike screeched disgruntled. Shushes came from all directions but they were suddenly cut short by the sound of hooves approaching the door. And then a knock. And another. And another one on top of that. After another long moment of silence, the door finally began to turn on its hinges and a silhouette of an old mare appeared. On that cue, the lights flicked on; Pinkie was the first to leap out of her hiding place and everypony followed after and yelled with gusto: “Welcome to Ponyville Granny Pie!”
Granny Pie stood frozen in the front door for a moment; her eyes widen as she began staggering back in surprise before gaining her balance again. “Oh my...”
“Surprise, Granny!” Pinkie bounded over happily and wrapped her forehooves around her in a warm hug. “I missed you so much!
Still a little frazzled in shock, she took a moment to respond; blinking intermittently before returning her hug. “Oh, I missed you so much too, Pinkie.”
Everypony stood around watching the reunion while waiting to introduce themselves. The music was turned back on and Mrs. Cake brought out an extra batch of cupcakes. To Pinkie, the party was just getting started. “Let's party, everypony!”
