Waking up was not one of Strange Brew’s strong suits. In fact, anything revolving around the morning even vaguely tended to go against him. Whether or not it was because he was an Alategus or not had yet to be determined, but he was pretty sure it was, and that was the excuse he was sticking with.
It was that reason he was pulling himself out of bed at eleven and was slinking across the floor in a futile attempt at fighting off the day through laziness.
He continued his one pony war against time while slightly taming his green mane, and brushing his teeth.
After realizing though that it wasn’t going to work, Strange was grumbling and reluctantly forcing himself through his own house, in the direction away from his bed. “Stupid sun...” He passed through his home, glaring at the window for a moment, “Why must you be so bright?”
After his short staring contest with the sun, something he was doomed to lose, he reached his kitchen and found his calendar. “Now, what day is it?”
Strange spent a few moments staring at the dates, taking note of which ones were crossed out, and how that one at the end of the string of passed days had a circle on it and had yet to be crossed out.
“Oh hey, today’s something important!” He smiled, slightly more awake at the thought. “Let’s see what-” He froze, staring at the day’s contents with that same smile, but a shocked and almost vacant look in his eyes. “I...I forgot...”
Seconds later, he was bursting through his front door and almost ran over a pony passing by. “I FORGOT!”
The poor colt had every reason to panic at that moment. For you see, Strange Brew had done something so heinous, so unforgivable, that there was no possible way he would live to see tomorrow, if he did not rectify this grievous misdeed.
He forgot his friend’s birthday.
As he bolted from store to store, looking for the perfect gift, he could already feel it. Those blue eyes were watching him from the shadows. Judging. Sentencing! But Strange had so little time! Just how was he going to find the perfect gift?
In his blind rushing, and subsequently in front of Sugarcube Corner, he ended up tripping on his hooves and landing face first into the dirt. “Ow.” When he pulled his head from the ground, a color he was dreading, one he normally enjoyed when seen, was donned by a pair of hooves inches from his nose. “H-hehehehe... Hi P-Pinkie?”
“Hi, Strange Brew!” The party pony cheered as she pulled the nervous wreck of a stallion from the ground. “What’s got you in such a hurry?”
“Oh, pffft, me?” A bead of sweat dripped down the side of his head. There was absolutely no way he could let her know. It would be his end. “Just... out on a jog?”
Pinkie blinked a bit before giggling. “You’re really bad a lying Strange.” His heart stopped a beat as the icy hooves of dread crept up on him. He knew it was futile. If it even slightly related to a party, this pony simply knew.
What happened next would stick with Strange for the rest of his days. Replaying in his mind every single time he saw her. Reminding, no, forcing him to remember this moment in crystal clear detail.
She handed him a cake with green icing and a bunch of red and yellow swirls along the top.
Strange blinked dumbly as he looked at the cake in his dull blue hooves. “....What?”
Giggling made him look up again at Pinkie, who to him was taking some enjoyment out of his confusion. “For Verident Springs Birthday today!”
The poor stallion squinted in confusion both at the cake and the logic and reality-defying pony. “Wait.... how do you?” Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “Right. Stupid question.”
“Mmmhmm.”
The two sat for a moment before Strange looked at her again. “So... any ideas how to get this to their house in... half an hour?”
Pinkie nodded and pulled out her cannon. “Quickly!”
“Right!” Jumping in, Strange held the cake before him and looked out the end of the cannon, as the party pony lined her shot. “FIRE!”
As Strange Brew flew through the air, Pinkie just watched him fly away smile on her face. It was about then that Mrs. Cake looked out with a bewildered stare. “... did he forget he was wings?”
Pinkie just giggled. “He’s a silly pony.”
Meanwhile, Strange had his target in his sights. The home of his recent friends was coming closer and closer at a speed that would probably be alarming for anyone with a shred of sensibility.
Thankfully he got rid of that ages ago.
With a crash, Strange found himself lodged halfway through their room and looking down at Verident Spring and his wife Doppel, and the green pony and yellow changeling looking up at him in response. The three just stared at each other for a moment, either in shocked silence at the fact that their room just got invaded yet again by a good friend of theirs in the most impressive way yet, or in that awkward silence when you just interrupted something... Er... private... again.
The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. Eventually, though, Strange’s mind came up with the perfect silence breaker.
“Hey, guys! I brought cake!”
Yep. He was a genius.
The two blushing lovers below him, however, had a different opinion on the matter.
“Strange,” Doppel said as she glared up at him, “what did we say about using the door?”
Strange just blinked a bit and glanced at how he was still stuck in the ceiling. “That I should do it more often?”
“Yes. That.” Verident Spring rubbed his face with a sigh.
Rolling his eyes, Strange started to wiggle himself free. “Well, it’s kinda hard to do that when you’re launched out of a cannon.” He fell to the floor with a thud and shook himself free of debris. Somehow through it all, the cake was still pristine and had all its candles. “Now come on! It’s cake time!”
“But we already-!” Verident Spring tried to interrupt, only to be ignored as Strange left the room.
“Oh cool, a sock!”
Verident and Doppel both let their heads thump against the foot of their bed. “At least his heart’s in the right place.”
