Pinkie Pie's Cupcake Surpriseby UnstoppableChaptersRarity gives clarityFluttershy Cannot LieApplejack is Up to BatTwilight Will HighlightRarity gives clarityPinkie Pie was starting to get frantic. Her eyes darted left. Then they darted right. Then they darted left again. They had been doing this for the last two minutes. She would have continued to do this if it wasn't for a new detail making itself known. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a well-groomed tail slip behind the corner of a building not too far away from her. Her eyes darted toward the location in space that the tail had previously occupied. She knew that purple tail anywhere. Without a moment to lose, Pinkie darted toward the corner of the building and peered out into the street that the pony she was looking for had just gone toward. When she saw what was beyond the corner, her heart sank. Today was a busy day for the Ponyville marketplace. The streets were packed with ponies going about their daily commerce lives. One pony that caught Pinkie's eye was offering half off for flour today. She made a mental note of this before reminding herself that she was on a question to find her lost cupcakes. "Poor cupcakes", Pinkie Pie thought "they must be so lonely without me". Reminding herself that she had already wasted enough time thinking about this, she ran into the crowd before her in an effort to find the marshmallow pony that she was looking for. To her surprise, she found the pony she was looking for mere seconds later. In an effort to get to her faster by getting her to slow down, Pinkie Pie called out to Rarity, "Hey!". Rarity didn't even look behind her when she started a mad dash forward and further away from Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie went ahead in pursuit. "Where are you going!", Pinkie Pie called "I want to know who took my cupcakes!" The chase was on and Rarity was far ahead of Pinkie but Pinkie was closing ground. The ponies around were not too happy about a pair of tail chasers running past them. "My eyes!", cried one pony who had an open barrel of jelly get knocked on top of him by a careless Rarity. Another pony saw the two coming and panicked in the least productive way possible. Instead of getting out of the way, this pony ran directly forward in the direction the two mares were. He, however, was much slower. Rarity caught up very easily and crashed into him. Pinkie Pie, having only the singular focus of catching up to Rarity and forgoing situation awareness, quickly reached her goal soon after that and crashed into Rarity. The random panic struck pony was quick to get up and run away frantically while all the while yelling, "Don't hurt meeeeeeee!" Now that the chase was over, a very annoyed Pinkie Pie turned to Rarity and said, "Rarity! Who took my cupcakes?" Rarity began to stutter a response, "I-I-I don't know Pinkie b-b-but it wasn-n't me". Pinkie Pie began to get really close to Rarity. She squinted her eyes and focused them very carefully into her friend's eyes and said "then why were you running from me?". "I-I was scared by your sudden yelling and-and decided to run" Rarity was even more scared now than she had been during the persuit. Her legs were beginning to shake and she made a wish that someone would come to save her before the worst case scenario happened. However, she did not need saving as Pinkie Pie snapped out of her stare even faster than she started it while saying, "Ok, I believe you. Have a super fantastic day Rarity". As Pinkie was hopping away from her friend she could have sworn she saw her faint. She didn't have time to turn around, however. She needed to find the next of her friends to see if they had the cupcakes. "Oh cupcakes, where are you my delicious cupcakes", Pinkie pie said and proceeded to sigh as she began to make her way over to a little cottage on the edge of the Everfree forest. Fluttershy Cannot LieFluttershy was having a very good day today. The birds were chirping particularly playfully and the bear gave her an extra special warm hug today. However, the day was not meant to be entirely perfect and it all came crashing down as she peered out of her window. What she saw shocked her. Pinkie Pie was making her way toward her cabin. Quickly she pleaded her animal friends to help her. She asked them to make Pinkie Pie go away through any means they could and to make sure she didn't get into the house. Her animal friends agreed and proceeded to walk out the door and windows until they were all standing in a line outside of the cottage ready to face down Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy would normally be very happy to see Pinkie Pie but, you see, she was keeping a secret. She knew that if Pinkie Pie knew what she knew, Pinkie Pie would not be happy. She would not be happy at all. These thoughts made Fluttershy shudder before she quickly realized two facts. One, Pinkie was still bouncing up to her house and two, Fluttershy is really bad at lying. After these two realizations, Fluttershy turned from shuttering to panicking. All she could do now was hope that her critter friends would save her from having to spill the beans. In stark contrast with the doom and gloom atmosphere inside Fluttershy's cottage, outside her cottage, everything was abuzz with joy. There was a sense of excitement in the atmosphere which could only be attributed to the presence of Pinkie Pie. Pinkie couldn't see anything particularly wrong with the fact that all of Fluttershy's animal friends were standing in a line outside her cottage. "Maybe they were ready to play a game?" thought Pinkie. Then the birds started coming up to her. At first, they seemed friendly enough. They were chirping and distracting...err dancing around Pinkie Pie. Pinkie very much enjoyed this but knew she was on a mission so she started coming forward. The birds adjusted their tactics and got more in Pinkie's face. They started to obscure her vision. The further she went the more annoying they became. "Cut that out" Pinkie exclaimed. And then it happened. The first bird pecked at Pinkie. "Ow, what was that for?" yelled Pinkie. The other birds caught on to the idea and started pecking the poor pony in the same manner. "Stop that!", exclaimed the pink pony "What did I ever do to you?" By this point, Pinkie made it about a third of the way to Fluttershy's cabin. What she hadn't noticed, because of the birds pecking her and obscuring her vision, was that the small and medium-sized animals had been making their way to Pinkie in a second wave and had just reached her. By the time Pinkie noticed, it was almost too late....almost. Pinkie figured out what was happening because of one moment of clarity between the pecking. Just before the other animals were on top of her she dodged out of their range. She moved left and right and bounced around like a...well a bouncy ball. With one final push, she propelled herself forward and past the last of that wave of animals. All that was standing between her and the door was a big and fuzzy bear. She began to stare the bear down. Their eyes locked and they both moved into a draw pose. Pinkie's vision suddenly went wide screen and so did the bear's vision (which surprised him for a second but even he knew that Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie so he shouldn't question this). The seconds ticked on by. A clock tower that was CLEARLY not there a few seconds ago suddenly felt like it had always been ticking down the seconds in the background. Just a few more to go. "I'm going to get through that door you, you, door blocker" was all that Pinkie could think to say. "roaaarrr", was the bear's response in kind. "Hmm, well said" responded Pinkie. With those last words, the clock struck the hour. The bell rang and Pinkie began running forward. The bear did the same with fury. He held his arms open and ran forward on two legs. He was ready. She was ready. And on the last second....Pinkie somehow disappeared out of sight. The bear paused. He stopped moving forward and shifted his gaze around. He didn't know what just happened but what was important was for him to find Pinkie Pie and stop her from entering the hut. Just then, though, he felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around he suddenly found a Pink ball curled up on his chest. This was really starting to confuse the bear but just then the ball sprang forward while using him as a platform. The ball hit Fluttershy's door and was sucked up by into the creases of the door until no Pink could be seen anymore. On Fluttershy's side of the door, a pink mass came through the door. It popped back into Pinkie Pie's form and proceeded to head toward the lamp shade that Fluttershy was trying to, although poorly, hide behind. "Hey there Fluttershy" said Pinkie "whatcha doing?" "Go away" Fluttershy fearfully said, "You-you can't see me". "Clearly I can silly" said Pinkie "Why are you trying to be so silly willy with me" Fluttershy decided to drop the antics and stopped hiding behind the lamp. "There you go Fluttershy, Isn't that better? ", chirped Pinkie Pie "Now, I'm here to ask you one simple question". It was at this time that Fluttershy lets out "eep" before beginning to cower again. Pinkie Pie came in really close before whispering into Fluttershy's ear, "Where are my cupcakesssssss". It was at this point that Fluttershy knew she wouldn't be able to take much more. She hadn't even gotten to the whole "keeping secrets away from Pinkie Pie" yet. She simply knew that there wasn't much left needed to crack her. With this in mind, she said "w-w-well y-you see-" "lier" scoffed Pinkie Pie. "H-how can you even-" responded Fluttershy before once again being cut off by Pinkie who said, "Silly willy, I know you too well Fluttershy. Besides, you aren't very good at lying even to a complete stranger let alone a good old friend like Pinkie Pie. Now, tell me where my cupcakes are". This time, Pinkie Pie squinted her eyes and got up really close and personal while waiting for Fluttershy to answer her. After a few minutes of this, Fluttershy finally caved in "Ok Ok, I don't know where your cupcakes are but I do know somepony who may be able to tell you more." "Go ooooon", said the pink pony with a brimming smile. "Sh-she made me promise not to tell you", shuttered Fluttershy. "Shhhhh, don't worry. If they ask, I'll tell them the trees told me. No one ever thinks about the trees when they plan a secret" Pinkie reassured. "I'm...I'm doomed. I might as well tell you now. They would expect me to tell you anyways." sighed Fluttershy "Applejack She'll be able to tell you more. She swore me not to tell you that I saw her with them". "Okey dokey artichokey", said Pinkie as she started bouncing up with glee "see you later Fluttershy". "huh, I forgot I was talking to Pinkie Pie" said Fluttershy "maybe I didn't need to be so afraid". Then wish a sudden realization that It wasn't just Pinkie but also Applejack that she was afraid of that thought of hope went away. "I'm sorry" she whispered to no one in particular. Pinkie Pie then started hopping her way over to Applejack's farm. She wasn't really concerned with what happened during the party. She knew that she would find out what happened while she was blacked out in the end anyway. All she really wanted right now was to find her sweet sweet juicy cupcakes. Hmmmm cupcakes. Applejack is Up to BatApplejack was down by the farm when she suddenly got a bad feeling. She thought about it for a second and then just shrugged it off. Normally she wouldn't be feeling this paranoid but today was...different. She had a secret she had to keep from a certain pink pony and she needed to make sure she kept it well. Surely she would be able to keep things quite for one da- "Hey Applejack", chirped Pinkie Pie. Those words caused a chill to go down Applejack's back. "Feeling a little cold Applejack?", asked the pink pony. "Wha, how could you eve-" "it's a gift", interrupted Pinkie Pie "what can I say? I can see things that are well hidden" Applejack Gulped, "Well, regardless I hav-ta get back to my chores Pinkie so if you don't mi-" Applejack explained before suddenly getting interrupted for the second time while talking. "I'm sorry Applejack I'll just be a minute" brimmed Pinkie before proceeding to stare at her...a few seconds passed....a few more passed...during this entire exchange Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie with a blank stair while Pinkie stared back with a brimming smile. "What are you doing?" questioned Applejack. "I'm taking a minute", responded Pinkie "I really only needed a few seconds but I asked for a minute so might as well spend it". "Oh for crying out- look, just ask what it is that you want to ask" exclaimed Applejack "I'm here for you as a friend so just tell me what you need and I'm sure I'll be able to help you" Applejack ended this line with a warm smile and waited for a second before Pinkie Pie spoke up again. "I wanted to ask you about some cupcakes" Pinkie Pie responded slowly. With this Applejack's heart suddenly lurched into action and she began to stutter "C-c-cupcakes? I don't know nothin about n-no cupcakes Pinkie Pie. I spent the last couple of hours c-cleaning around the farm" Applejack's heart was racing. She knew she had to get out of this situation fast. "Curses", thought Applejack "who told her? Was it Rarity? Maybe it was Twilight? No, I bet it was Fluttershy. It must have been Fluttershy she is the one to always go around blabbing out things that she shouldn't" "That's funny" Pinkie Pie slowly said "because I heard from a little bird-sorry-tree that you knew something about my cupcakes" "Huh?" Applejack said, "w-what was the last place ya saw them?" At this point, she was desperate to get out of the situation. Maybe she could push off the secret to someone else who also knew. She just had to make sure Pinkie Pie wasn't talking about a DIFFERENT batch of cupcakes. I mean she works for the Cakes so maybe this was a different batch. Right? It has to be. She couldn't have possibly remembered just how gooood those cupcakes were, right? Maybe this was a bulk shipment that couldn't get remade in a hurry. "Oh, last time I saw them-" Pinkie Pie calmly said while checking her hoof for scruff marks. She then snapped her eyeballs up to look directly at Applejack "was at last night's party". Applejack completely shut down. She said the only words that could come to her mind "o-o-oh th-th-those cupcakes? Y-y-ya I've seenm ar-round. Twilight ha-d-d em last I saw them" "You sure?" questioned Pinkie Pie. "y-ya I'm p-p-positive" Applejack nervously said. "Ok Applejack. I understand now. Thank you for telling me the truth. Oh and Applejack, I know it was you that had them last", Pinkie Pie flatly said "but don't worry, I'm not mad at you. You were just keeping a Pinkie Promise" Pinkie Pie ended cheeringly. "You knew!?" yelled Applejack "How is that even POSSIBLE!?" "Didn't I just tell you silly?", Pinkie Pie responded, "I can see things that are well hidden". With that, Pinkie Pie slowly walks away from the barn and leaves Applejack to continue her chores in silence and shock. "Hmm", pondered Pinkie Pie "that still doesn't answer all the questions...Oh well, I guess I'll find out in the end anyways". With that last thought out of her head, Pinkie proceeded to hop her way back to the main part of Ponyville which was just a turn around the corner from Twilight's castle. With A smile on her face and feeling of happiness, Pinkie Pie starts to make her journey to Twilight, who was clueless as to the situation. Or was she clueless? Twilight, being Twilight, had prepared herself for this situation in fear that it would come true. Pinkie, being Pinkie, made sure that this specific situation was to be the one to come to fruition. Both of them would be surprised at the resolve of the other to meet the goal they had set out for themselves. Twilight had a secret to keep and Pinkie Pie...well she had cupcakes to find. Neither one could have possibly known what was about to commence. Soon, however, they would face off to find out who would be able to meet their goal....and who wouldn't. Twilight Will HighlightThe sun was beginning to set. "Not much longer", muttered Twilight as she stood hunched over her work. For her, the setting sun was a mixed bag. On the one hoof, the lack of sunlight made the crafting of the potion she had been working on for the last hour more difficult. The books were harder to read and the colors of the potions were harder to distinguish by candle light relative to sunlight. On the other hoof...Pinkie. Pinkie was a pony Twilight knew she had to avoid until the sun set. Once the sun set, Twilight could offload the cupcakes to another pony safely without risking Pinkie catching word of the transaction and interfering. Pinkie had a habit of being able to gain information from any pony she met. She can also sense when a big change is about to happen through her Pinkie sense. So, Twilight deduced that if all the ponies in Ponyville were asleep Pinkie wouldn't be able to talk to anyone to get any information out of them. When are all the ponies asleep? They all sleep at night. So Twilight had to wait for nighttime to stop Pinkie from asking the right questions. She may be able to get any information she wants, but she has to ask the right questions to get useful information. Her Pinkie sense would tell her exactly what to ask and four other ponies existed that knew about the cupcakes other than Twilight and Pinkie Pie so that meant that four other ponies were at risk of telling Pinkie the next part of the plan. Any other pony might not know about the plan or the cupcakes but they would be able to tell Pinkie where they last saw Twilight which meant they would still lead Pinkie to her. Twilight smiled a little as she put a drop of oak wood extract into her potion. She did this partially because she was pleased with how the potion was coming along and partially because of the genius of her plan. That beautiful book on long-term strategy that Celestia leant to Twilight had done wonders. No wonder Celestia was always able to keep things in check while seeming to do so little. All of the work was always done behind the scenes. *knock, knock, knock* A series of three knocks slowly tapped on Twilight's door and, due to the relative silence up until that point, they were heard throughout the entire castle. Twilight recoiled her head back and put on a puzzled expression on her face. "Who could that be?", wondered Twilight. She left the room she was in and moved down the hallway and through a series of corridors before eventually ending up at the front door. She swung the door open and- "Hey Twilight", chirped Pinkie. "Aah!", was Twilight's only response as she jumped in the air and began to fly as fast as she could down the hallway she had just come. "Twilight wait, come back here!" Pinkie yelled. She began to run down the same hallway Twilight had just gone down. Until now Pinkie had been very happy and cheerful. She had planned to simply ask Twilight about the cupcakes and see what she had to say but this response from Twilight by Pinkie's mere presence confirmed that she was definitely hiding the cupcakes or at least the knowledge about their location and Pinkie was not happy about it. She was not happy about it one bit. "have to *heave* reach *heave* the lab", thought Twilight. She was gasping for breath due to the speed she was going in her quest to make it back to the lab on time. She had to reach the lab in order to finish the potion she was working on. This was her backup plan in case Pinkie had managed to reach her before she could offload the cupcakes and she had to execute it. Going down the hallway, she sees a door open up and Spike walk out the door. "Spike!", yelled Twilight "Spike you have to pull the lever. Pull the lever Spike!" In an incredible stroke of perfect planning, Twilight figured that she may be in just this situation and thought it would be best to set up a system to buy her enough distance over Pinkie in order to reach the destination with enough time to finish the potion. She had installed a series of traps and contraptions in order to slow down Pinkie Pie enough to buy her the time she needed. She had instructed Spike to set off the system with a lever connected to the pulley system that would initiate the contraption. She hadn't told Spike why or what this whole cupcake ordeal was but he made sure he knew enough to be able to complete the task. During this whole fiasco, Spike stood in the doorway a minute before internalizing the instruction Twilight had just given. Before he could turn around to begin making his way to the pulley, however, Pinkie had caught up to the spot where Spike was in her effort to catch Twilight. She quickly ran past Spike only to backtrack a little and turn her head in order to great Spike. "Hi Spike.", grinned Pinkie "How are you today?" Spike, with a slightly surprised expression on his face, said "uuuuh pretty good Pinkie, how are you?" "I'm super. I just have to talk to Twilight. I think she broke a Pinkie promise" responded Pinkie. "Pinkie promise?" questioned Spike "what Pinkie Promise?" "Oh, it was about this batch of cupcakes and-" answered Pinkie Pie before Twilight, now very off in the distant echoed out "Spiiiike, if you had pulled the lever I would have heard lots of thuds and clanks by now". With that Spike snapped back into action and yelled back "Just a second Twilight. I'm almost there!" before turning back to Pinkie and saying, "give me a second Pinkie I just have to go do this one thing for Twilight". To which Pinkie responded with, "Hey no problem. She may have broken a Pinkie Promise but she's still my friend and we'll make amends in the end anyways cuz that's what friends do. I can go help out with that lever thing if you want". "Sure, why not" responded Spike. They then proceeded to make their way to the lever and afterward pulled it... *clack clack ClACK CLACK CLACK CLACK*...*THUD* "That's more like it!", echoed Twilight from the distance. "So what was that lever for anyways?", asked Pinkie. "I donno", responded Spike "Something about stopping a pony from reaching Twilight. I didn't get too much info about it from her. I know this lever activated a whole heap of pressure sensitive traps that are set off by tiles on the floor, however". "WHAT!" yelled Pinkie. "Thanks, Spike" echoed Twilight upon hearing Pinkie yell. "oh, I guess that pony was you wasn't it Pinkie?" Spike responded flatly. Pinkie nods her head sadly. "Well, no good comes crying over spilled milk. Everyone knows you just go out and buy more milk anyways. I guess I'll go do that after catching up with Twilight. Bye Spike. Seya later." said Pinkie. "Bye Pinkie. I'm going to go outside for a while. I think the noise in here is going to be too loud to sleep, for a while" said Spike. With that, Pinkie began to make her way to the entrance of the first hallway. She took one step and....*click* *THUD* A pressure sensitive tile is depressed as a result of Pinkie's step and a giant slab suddenly lurches up twenty feet in front of her before slowing it's speed of ascent and climbing up to eventually close up the hallway. Another thud is heard as the door finishes closing up and Pinkie stairs with a blank face at the door directly in front of her. Pinkie gives off a loud sigh and says, "This is gonna be a loooong trip to Twilight." before realizing she hears laughing in the distance. The laughing is coming from Twilight, who has probably become giddy because she wishes she could see the expression on Pinkie's face right now. Its grumpiness. Pinkie's expression is grumpiness by the way.
Rarity gives clarityPinkie Pie was starting to get frantic. Her eyes darted left. Then they darted right. Then they darted left again. They had been doing this for the last two minutes. She would have continued to do this if it wasn't for a new detail making itself known. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a well-groomed tail slip behind the corner of a building not too far away from her. Her eyes darted toward the location in space that the tail had previously occupied. She knew that purple tail anywhere. Without a moment to lose, Pinkie darted toward the corner of the building and peered out into the street that the pony she was looking for had just gone toward. When she saw what was beyond the corner, her heart sank. Today was a busy day for the Ponyville marketplace. The streets were packed with ponies going about their daily commerce lives. One pony that caught Pinkie's eye was offering half off for flour today. She made a mental note of this before reminding herself that she was on a question to find her lost cupcakes. "Poor cupcakes", Pinkie Pie thought "they must be so lonely without me". Reminding herself that she had already wasted enough time thinking about this, she ran into the crowd before her in an effort to find the marshmallow pony that she was looking for. To her surprise, she found the pony she was looking for mere seconds later. In an effort to get to her faster by getting her to slow down, Pinkie Pie called out to Rarity, "Hey!". Rarity didn't even look behind her when she started a mad dash forward and further away from Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie went ahead in pursuit. "Where are you going!", Pinkie Pie called "I want to know who took my cupcakes!" The chase was on and Rarity was far ahead of Pinkie but Pinkie was closing ground. The ponies around were not too happy about a pair of tail chasers running past them. "My eyes!", cried one pony who had an open barrel of jelly get knocked on top of him by a careless Rarity. Another pony saw the two coming and panicked in the least productive way possible. Instead of getting out of the way, this pony ran directly forward in the direction the two mares were. He, however, was much slower. Rarity caught up very easily and crashed into him. Pinkie Pie, having only the singular focus of catching up to Rarity and forgoing situation awareness, quickly reached her goal soon after that and crashed into Rarity. The random panic struck pony was quick to get up and run away frantically while all the while yelling, "Don't hurt meeeeeeee!" Now that the chase was over, a very annoyed Pinkie Pie turned to Rarity and said, "Rarity! Who took my cupcakes?" Rarity began to stutter a response, "I-I-I don't know Pinkie b-b-but it wasn-n't me". Pinkie Pie began to get really close to Rarity. She squinted her eyes and focused them very carefully into her friend's eyes and said "then why were you running from me?". "I-I was scared by your sudden yelling and-and decided to run" Rarity was even more scared now than she had been during the persuit. Her legs were beginning to shake and she made a wish that someone would come to save her before the worst case scenario happened. However, she did not need saving as Pinkie Pie snapped out of her stare even faster than she started it while saying, "Ok, I believe you. Have a super fantastic day Rarity". As Pinkie was hopping away from her friend she could have sworn she saw her faint. She didn't have time to turn around, however. She needed to find the next of her friends to see if they had the cupcakes. "Oh cupcakes, where are you my delicious cupcakes", Pinkie pie said and proceeded to sigh as she began to make her way over to a little cottage on the edge of the Everfree forest.
Fluttershy Cannot LieFluttershy was having a very good day today. The birds were chirping particularly playfully and the bear gave her an extra special warm hug today. However, the day was not meant to be entirely perfect and it all came crashing down as she peered out of her window. What she saw shocked her. Pinkie Pie was making her way toward her cabin. Quickly she pleaded her animal friends to help her. She asked them to make Pinkie Pie go away through any means they could and to make sure she didn't get into the house. Her animal friends agreed and proceeded to walk out the door and windows until they were all standing in a line outside of the cottage ready to face down Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy would normally be very happy to see Pinkie Pie but, you see, she was keeping a secret. She knew that if Pinkie Pie knew what she knew, Pinkie Pie would not be happy. She would not be happy at all. These thoughts made Fluttershy shudder before she quickly realized two facts. One, Pinkie was still bouncing up to her house and two, Fluttershy is really bad at lying. After these two realizations, Fluttershy turned from shuttering to panicking. All she could do now was hope that her critter friends would save her from having to spill the beans. In stark contrast with the doom and gloom atmosphere inside Fluttershy's cottage, outside her cottage, everything was abuzz with joy. There was a sense of excitement in the atmosphere which could only be attributed to the presence of Pinkie Pie. Pinkie couldn't see anything particularly wrong with the fact that all of Fluttershy's animal friends were standing in a line outside her cottage. "Maybe they were ready to play a game?" thought Pinkie. Then the birds started coming up to her. At first, they seemed friendly enough. They were chirping and distracting...err dancing around Pinkie Pie. Pinkie very much enjoyed this but knew she was on a mission so she started coming forward. The birds adjusted their tactics and got more in Pinkie's face. They started to obscure her vision. The further she went the more annoying they became. "Cut that out" Pinkie exclaimed. And then it happened. The first bird pecked at Pinkie. "Ow, what was that for?" yelled Pinkie. The other birds caught on to the idea and started pecking the poor pony in the same manner. "Stop that!", exclaimed the pink pony "What did I ever do to you?" By this point, Pinkie made it about a third of the way to Fluttershy's cabin. What she hadn't noticed, because of the birds pecking her and obscuring her vision, was that the small and medium-sized animals had been making their way to Pinkie in a second wave and had just reached her. By the time Pinkie noticed, it was almost too late....almost. Pinkie figured out what was happening because of one moment of clarity between the pecking. Just before the other animals were on top of her she dodged out of their range. She moved left and right and bounced around like a...well a bouncy ball. With one final push, she propelled herself forward and past the last of that wave of animals. All that was standing between her and the door was a big and fuzzy bear. She began to stare the bear down. Their eyes locked and they both moved into a draw pose. Pinkie's vision suddenly went wide screen and so did the bear's vision (which surprised him for a second but even he knew that Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie so he shouldn't question this). The seconds ticked on by. A clock tower that was CLEARLY not there a few seconds ago suddenly felt like it had always been ticking down the seconds in the background. Just a few more to go. "I'm going to get through that door you, you, door blocker" was all that Pinkie could think to say. "roaaarrr", was the bear's response in kind. "Hmm, well said" responded Pinkie. With those last words, the clock struck the hour. The bell rang and Pinkie began running forward. The bear did the same with fury. He held his arms open and ran forward on two legs. He was ready. She was ready. And on the last second....Pinkie somehow disappeared out of sight. The bear paused. He stopped moving forward and shifted his gaze around. He didn't know what just happened but what was important was for him to find Pinkie Pie and stop her from entering the hut. Just then, though, he felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned around he suddenly found a Pink ball curled up on his chest. This was really starting to confuse the bear but just then the ball sprang forward while using him as a platform. The ball hit Fluttershy's door and was sucked up by into the creases of the door until no Pink could be seen anymore. On Fluttershy's side of the door, a pink mass came through the door. It popped back into Pinkie Pie's form and proceeded to head toward the lamp shade that Fluttershy was trying to, although poorly, hide behind. "Hey there Fluttershy" said Pinkie "whatcha doing?" "Go away" Fluttershy fearfully said, "You-you can't see me". "Clearly I can silly" said Pinkie "Why are you trying to be so silly willy with me" Fluttershy decided to drop the antics and stopped hiding behind the lamp. "There you go Fluttershy, Isn't that better? ", chirped Pinkie Pie "Now, I'm here to ask you one simple question". It was at this time that Fluttershy lets out "eep" before beginning to cower again. Pinkie Pie came in really close before whispering into Fluttershy's ear, "Where are my cupcakesssssss". It was at this point that Fluttershy knew she wouldn't be able to take much more. She hadn't even gotten to the whole "keeping secrets away from Pinkie Pie" yet. She simply knew that there wasn't much left needed to crack her. With this in mind, she said "w-w-well y-you see-" "lier" scoffed Pinkie Pie. "H-how can you even-" responded Fluttershy before once again being cut off by Pinkie who said, "Silly willy, I know you too well Fluttershy. Besides, you aren't very good at lying even to a complete stranger let alone a good old friend like Pinkie Pie. Now, tell me where my cupcakes are". This time, Pinkie Pie squinted her eyes and got up really close and personal while waiting for Fluttershy to answer her. After a few minutes of this, Fluttershy finally caved in "Ok Ok, I don't know where your cupcakes are but I do know somepony who may be able to tell you more." "Go ooooon", said the pink pony with a brimming smile. "Sh-she made me promise not to tell you", shuttered Fluttershy. "Shhhhh, don't worry. If they ask, I'll tell them the trees told me. No one ever thinks about the trees when they plan a secret" Pinkie reassured. "I'm...I'm doomed. I might as well tell you now. They would expect me to tell you anyways." sighed Fluttershy "Applejack She'll be able to tell you more. She swore me not to tell you that I saw her with them". "Okey dokey artichokey", said Pinkie as she started bouncing up with glee "see you later Fluttershy". "huh, I forgot I was talking to Pinkie Pie" said Fluttershy "maybe I didn't need to be so afraid". Then wish a sudden realization that It wasn't just Pinkie but also Applejack that she was afraid of that thought of hope went away. "I'm sorry" she whispered to no one in particular. Pinkie Pie then started hopping her way over to Applejack's farm. She wasn't really concerned with what happened during the party. She knew that she would find out what happened while she was blacked out in the end anyway. All she really wanted right now was to find her sweet sweet juicy cupcakes. Hmmmm cupcakes.
Applejack is Up to BatApplejack was down by the farm when she suddenly got a bad feeling. She thought about it for a second and then just shrugged it off. Normally she wouldn't be feeling this paranoid but today was...different. She had a secret she had to keep from a certain pink pony and she needed to make sure she kept it well. Surely she would be able to keep things quite for one da- "Hey Applejack", chirped Pinkie Pie. Those words caused a chill to go down Applejack's back. "Feeling a little cold Applejack?", asked the pink pony. "Wha, how could you eve-" "it's a gift", interrupted Pinkie Pie "what can I say? I can see things that are well hidden" Applejack Gulped, "Well, regardless I hav-ta get back to my chores Pinkie so if you don't mi-" Applejack explained before suddenly getting interrupted for the second time while talking. "I'm sorry Applejack I'll just be a minute" brimmed Pinkie before proceeding to stare at her...a few seconds passed....a few more passed...during this entire exchange Applejack looked at Pinkie Pie with a blank stair while Pinkie stared back with a brimming smile. "What are you doing?" questioned Applejack. "I'm taking a minute", responded Pinkie "I really only needed a few seconds but I asked for a minute so might as well spend it". "Oh for crying out- look, just ask what it is that you want to ask" exclaimed Applejack "I'm here for you as a friend so just tell me what you need and I'm sure I'll be able to help you" Applejack ended this line with a warm smile and waited for a second before Pinkie Pie spoke up again. "I wanted to ask you about some cupcakes" Pinkie Pie responded slowly. With this Applejack's heart suddenly lurched into action and she began to stutter "C-c-cupcakes? I don't know nothin about n-no cupcakes Pinkie Pie. I spent the last couple of hours c-cleaning around the farm" Applejack's heart was racing. She knew she had to get out of this situation fast. "Curses", thought Applejack "who told her? Was it Rarity? Maybe it was Twilight? No, I bet it was Fluttershy. It must have been Fluttershy she is the one to always go around blabbing out things that she shouldn't" "That's funny" Pinkie Pie slowly said "because I heard from a little bird-sorry-tree that you knew something about my cupcakes" "Huh?" Applejack said, "w-what was the last place ya saw them?" At this point, she was desperate to get out of the situation. Maybe she could push off the secret to someone else who also knew. She just had to make sure Pinkie Pie wasn't talking about a DIFFERENT batch of cupcakes. I mean she works for the Cakes so maybe this was a different batch. Right? It has to be. She couldn't have possibly remembered just how gooood those cupcakes were, right? Maybe this was a bulk shipment that couldn't get remade in a hurry. "Oh, last time I saw them-" Pinkie Pie calmly said while checking her hoof for scruff marks. She then snapped her eyeballs up to look directly at Applejack "was at last night's party". Applejack completely shut down. She said the only words that could come to her mind "o-o-oh th-th-those cupcakes? Y-y-ya I've seenm ar-round. Twilight ha-d-d em last I saw them" "You sure?" questioned Pinkie Pie. "y-ya I'm p-p-positive" Applejack nervously said. "Ok Applejack. I understand now. Thank you for telling me the truth. Oh and Applejack, I know it was you that had them last", Pinkie Pie flatly said "but don't worry, I'm not mad at you. You were just keeping a Pinkie Promise" Pinkie Pie ended cheeringly. "You knew!?" yelled Applejack "How is that even POSSIBLE!?" "Didn't I just tell you silly?", Pinkie Pie responded, "I can see things that are well hidden". With that, Pinkie Pie slowly walks away from the barn and leaves Applejack to continue her chores in silence and shock. "Hmm", pondered Pinkie Pie "that still doesn't answer all the questions...Oh well, I guess I'll find out in the end anyways". With that last thought out of her head, Pinkie proceeded to hop her way back to the main part of Ponyville which was just a turn around the corner from Twilight's castle. With A smile on her face and feeling of happiness, Pinkie Pie starts to make her journey to Twilight, who was clueless as to the situation. Or was she clueless? Twilight, being Twilight, had prepared herself for this situation in fear that it would come true. Pinkie, being Pinkie, made sure that this specific situation was to be the one to come to fruition. Both of them would be surprised at the resolve of the other to meet the goal they had set out for themselves. Twilight had a secret to keep and Pinkie Pie...well she had cupcakes to find. Neither one could have possibly known what was about to commence. Soon, however, they would face off to find out who would be able to meet their goal....and who wouldn't.
Twilight Will HighlightThe sun was beginning to set. "Not much longer", muttered Twilight as she stood hunched over her work. For her, the setting sun was a mixed bag. On the one hoof, the lack of sunlight made the crafting of the potion she had been working on for the last hour more difficult. The books were harder to read and the colors of the potions were harder to distinguish by candle light relative to sunlight. On the other hoof...Pinkie. Pinkie was a pony Twilight knew she had to avoid until the sun set. Once the sun set, Twilight could offload the cupcakes to another pony safely without risking Pinkie catching word of the transaction and interfering. Pinkie had a habit of being able to gain information from any pony she met. She can also sense when a big change is about to happen through her Pinkie sense. So, Twilight deduced that if all the ponies in Ponyville were asleep Pinkie wouldn't be able to talk to anyone to get any information out of them. When are all the ponies asleep? They all sleep at night. So Twilight had to wait for nighttime to stop Pinkie from asking the right questions. She may be able to get any information she wants, but she has to ask the right questions to get useful information. Her Pinkie sense would tell her exactly what to ask and four other ponies existed that knew about the cupcakes other than Twilight and Pinkie Pie so that meant that four other ponies were at risk of telling Pinkie the next part of the plan. Any other pony might not know about the plan or the cupcakes but they would be able to tell Pinkie where they last saw Twilight which meant they would still lead Pinkie to her. Twilight smiled a little as she put a drop of oak wood extract into her potion. She did this partially because she was pleased with how the potion was coming along and partially because of the genius of her plan. That beautiful book on long-term strategy that Celestia leant to Twilight had done wonders. No wonder Celestia was always able to keep things in check while seeming to do so little. All of the work was always done behind the scenes. *knock, knock, knock* A series of three knocks slowly tapped on Twilight's door and, due to the relative silence up until that point, they were heard throughout the entire castle. Twilight recoiled her head back and put on a puzzled expression on her face. "Who could that be?", wondered Twilight. She left the room she was in and moved down the hallway and through a series of corridors before eventually ending up at the front door. She swung the door open and- "Hey Twilight", chirped Pinkie. "Aah!", was Twilight's only response as she jumped in the air and began to fly as fast as she could down the hallway she had just come. "Twilight wait, come back here!" Pinkie yelled. She began to run down the same hallway Twilight had just gone down. Until now Pinkie had been very happy and cheerful. She had planned to simply ask Twilight about the cupcakes and see what she had to say but this response from Twilight by Pinkie's mere presence confirmed that she was definitely hiding the cupcakes or at least the knowledge about their location and Pinkie was not happy about it. She was not happy about it one bit. "have to *heave* reach *heave* the lab", thought Twilight. She was gasping for breath due to the speed she was going in her quest to make it back to the lab on time. She had to reach the lab in order to finish the potion she was working on. This was her backup plan in case Pinkie had managed to reach her before she could offload the cupcakes and she had to execute it. Going down the hallway, she sees a door open up and Spike walk out the door. "Spike!", yelled Twilight "Spike you have to pull the lever. Pull the lever Spike!" In an incredible stroke of perfect planning, Twilight figured that she may be in just this situation and thought it would be best to set up a system to buy her enough distance over Pinkie in order to reach the destination with enough time to finish the potion. She had installed a series of traps and contraptions in order to slow down Pinkie Pie enough to buy her the time she needed. She had instructed Spike to set off the system with a lever connected to the pulley system that would initiate the contraption. She hadn't told Spike why or what this whole cupcake ordeal was but he made sure he knew enough to be able to complete the task. During this whole fiasco, Spike stood in the doorway a minute before internalizing the instruction Twilight had just given. Before he could turn around to begin making his way to the pulley, however, Pinkie had caught up to the spot where Spike was in her effort to catch Twilight. She quickly ran past Spike only to backtrack a little and turn her head in order to great Spike. "Hi Spike.", grinned Pinkie "How are you today?" Spike, with a slightly surprised expression on his face, said "uuuuh pretty good Pinkie, how are you?" "I'm super. I just have to talk to Twilight. I think she broke a Pinkie promise" responded Pinkie. "Pinkie promise?" questioned Spike "what Pinkie Promise?" "Oh, it was about this batch of cupcakes and-" answered Pinkie Pie before Twilight, now very off in the distant echoed out "Spiiiike, if you had pulled the lever I would have heard lots of thuds and clanks by now". With that Spike snapped back into action and yelled back "Just a second Twilight. I'm almost there!" before turning back to Pinkie and saying, "give me a second Pinkie I just have to go do this one thing for Twilight". To which Pinkie responded with, "Hey no problem. She may have broken a Pinkie Promise but she's still my friend and we'll make amends in the end anyways cuz that's what friends do. I can go help out with that lever thing if you want". "Sure, why not" responded Spike. They then proceeded to make their way to the lever and afterward pulled it... *clack clack ClACK CLACK CLACK CLACK*...*THUD* "That's more like it!", echoed Twilight from the distance. "So what was that lever for anyways?", asked Pinkie. "I donno", responded Spike "Something about stopping a pony from reaching Twilight. I didn't get too much info about it from her. I know this lever activated a whole heap of pressure sensitive traps that are set off by tiles on the floor, however". "WHAT!" yelled Pinkie. "Thanks, Spike" echoed Twilight upon hearing Pinkie yell. "oh, I guess that pony was you wasn't it Pinkie?" Spike responded flatly. Pinkie nods her head sadly. "Well, no good comes crying over spilled milk. Everyone knows you just go out and buy more milk anyways. I guess I'll go do that after catching up with Twilight. Bye Spike. Seya later." said Pinkie. "Bye Pinkie. I'm going to go outside for a while. I think the noise in here is going to be too loud to sleep, for a while" said Spike. With that, Pinkie began to make her way to the entrance of the first hallway. She took one step and....*click* *THUD* A pressure sensitive tile is depressed as a result of Pinkie's step and a giant slab suddenly lurches up twenty feet in front of her before slowing it's speed of ascent and climbing up to eventually close up the hallway. Another thud is heard as the door finishes closing up and Pinkie stairs with a blank face at the door directly in front of her. Pinkie gives off a loud sigh and says, "This is gonna be a loooong trip to Twilight." before realizing she hears laughing in the distance. The laughing is coming from Twilight, who has probably become giddy because she wishes she could see the expression on Pinkie's face right now. Its grumpiness. Pinkie's expression is grumpiness by the way.
