Hijinks

That voice was familiar. Cherry knew right-away, and opening his eyes only confirmed it as he was made with mane, fur, and a whole lot of pink all at once. As soon as he opened his eyes, Pinkie extended a hoof to him. "I'm Pinkie Pie!" Cherry was not prepared for this. He had considered options for Pinkie's prank, but he didn't expect to have to choose so quickly. In order to buy himself a few seconds, he immediately jumped to his hooves and put on a cheerful, foal-like appearance.

"Hi! I'm ...ng... Orange Tree!" Cherry was still not a fan of the name. He took Pinkie's larger hoof into his own - or more like the reverse - and shook. Pinkie looked ecstatic. Cherry knew right-away this might be a problem.

"New in town? You're so cute!" Cherry was surprised by Pinkie's immediate and very open honesty about that. It caught him so off-guard, in fact, that he jumped right into the first plan he could think of. He mustered as cheery a face as he could.

"It's my birthday!" He pretended to be super happy and hopped up and down gently... before Pinkie immediately made him realize that was a big mistake. Her eyes lit up like the stars and she looked ready to run off.

"WHAT? AND I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED PLANNING FOR IT!" She looked like she could barely contain herself, as though she suddenly had the weight of the world on her shoulders and had to run. Cherry wasn't surprised by her reaction - she was known as a party pony after all - but he did nearly face-hoof himself for mentioning it. Before he has a chance to course-correct, Pinkie picked him up with absolute-ease, tossed him gently onto her back and began running. To where? Cherry could only assume Sugarcube Corner. "Come on, there's still time!"

"Whoa!" He was used to Pinkie running off to plan parties, but what he wasn't used to was being brought along with her. And now he clung to her for dear life, for she was moving at a speed that would surely hurt to fall from - if the height didn't hurt first. After a short few moments, he found himself in Sugar Cube corner, Pinkie slowed to a complete stop inside the building. Cherry let go and slowly slid off to the side, falling to the floor. "Ow..."

Once Cherry got up, he looked toward Pinkie and saw her looking at him expectantly. She took a deep breath.

"Chocolate or vanilla cake? How many guests? What theme would you like-!" Her questions went on and on, and Cherry wasn't sure what to do. The last thing he needs is Pinkie to suddenly plan an entire party solely because of a prank-gone-wrong, he didn't intend on this.

"It's not my birthday!" He quickly replied in contradiction. Pinkie merely waved a hoof.

"Pff - don't be modest now, silly, just because you're new in town aaaand it's your birthday doesn't mean you have to be nervous!" She looked at Cherry with an eager expression. Pinkie's extravagance turned toward somepony was almost as intimidating as a timberwolf staring at somepony. For different reasons. She gasps lightly, then does an excited squee. "I know...! What about a surprise! Don't worry, I'll get to work on it right away!" Before Cherry could turn her down, a hatch opened in the floor and Pinkie leapt down into it. "Wooo~!" The hatch closed before Cherry could say anything.

"Pinkie! Wait- oh... crud." Cherry realized his only option now was to run, and maybe Pinkie would give up on the entire thing. If worse comes to worse and she comes looking for him, he can always wash the dye off his fur, quickly. If there was one thing he DID know about Pinkie, it was that she was sure to be disappointed once she found out there wasn't a party to be had, but she might just twist this one around into a new party somehow. She was resourceful like that. So... maybe his mistake wasn't that bad.

He urgently left Sugarcube Corner in search of his next target, hoping not to take things too far this next time.