“Ugh, Anonymous dear, do you really have to be plucking away at that damnable violin while we’re eating?” Rarity says annoyed as you play another sour note while you practice.

“Well I have a busy schedule today helping Cheerilee and the others get prepped for the graduation party, and I made a promise to Octavia when I bought it off of her that I would play it every day. It was her first instrument you know.” You say running the bow across the string to produce a quick playful tune.

“But I worked so hard on these horderves! And you’re just letting them go to waste because they’re not covered in grease and that mealy protein powder you shovel into your gullet.” She says derisively.

“Oh please, the only time you ever get your precious hoofsies dirty to make lunch at your place is when you want to hear the especially juicy gossip.” You retort, accentuating your point with an aggressive riff.

“Hah hah, you truly know how to treat a lady who’s slaved over a kitchen counter.” She says turning her nose up to you.

Her act doesn’t hold up long though, gossip is this mare’s weakness. She tries to hold a tone that would portray otherwise however, “Besides, you wouldn’t want to hold your romantic pursuits away from your bestie, would you?” She says fluttering her lashes at you resting her head on her folded hooves.

This gets a good laugh out of you and you elect to put down your instrument, “So if I didn’t have any news about it, would you kick me out?” You joke.

“Oh come now, we are good friends! I wouldn’t think of doing something so uncouth.”

“Well I hate to break it to you, but I actually don’t have much since we last talked about it.”

“What!?” She balks, “How can you have nothing prepared? I mean really, do you think Pinkie deserves something so last second? The party is in two days Anon!”

The accusation actually makes you feel a little guilty. You really did like Pinkie more than you can describe, but everything you came up with just didn’t seem right. A picnic? Too simple, and she beat you to that already. Proposing? Well, baby steps. Hey, it’s not like you showed up here with a troupe of groupies around your waist, cut yourself some slack.

“It’s just… I’m not really a big gesture kind of guy, I just kind of go with the flow. Are you sure it’s really necessary and I can’t figure out a more simple way to get it through to her?”

Rarity holds a hoof to her forehead as if she’s about to faint, “Anonymous, really! The Grand Gesture is the only way to a mare’s heart, I can tell you that for sure! Now I told you that your feelings you described for how you felt about Pinkie were perfect the way they are but you need to channel that into something, Rien n’est petit dans l’amour!”

“Rien huh?”

“It’s Prench for love is no small thing, dear. You must make a grand occasion to sweep the mare off of her hooves, not wait for one to happen!” She says banging a hoof on the dainty table as she’s wrapped up in her passion.

“Do you want her to be disappointed in you?” She asks.

“N-no.”

“Do you want her to be taken from you by the hooves and charisma of a more dashing stallion!?” She says climbing halfway across the table to press foreheads with you.

“No!” You say loudly.

“Then figure something out Anon! You do know Pinkie is going to be the one managing that whole event, right?”

“Well yeah, I knew that for a while now.”

“Well find a way to get in close to her and surprise her at her own party! Nothing can top getting the drop on Pinkie in one of her own parties.”

“W-well that seems like a pretty tall order to fill,” you say.

“That’s why you play to your strengths--not to your literal ones you oaf!” She says irritated as you glance at your biceps.

“I’m sorry! You’re just making me nervous!”

Rarity takes a moment to compose herself and back down into her seat upon realizing her intensity shook you a bit.

She continues in a more gentle fashion, “What I mean by your strengths is that you’re practically glued these instruments of yours. Don’t they have bands of some kind playing there?”

“Well yeah, one. But a band takes this stuff a lot more seriously than I do, I don’t think they’d want me cutting in for some romantic gesture, even if Pinkie deserves that and more.”

“Oh please, ponies will bend over backwards to help you with that kind of thing here! Just come up with a smooth suave ballad just for her and she’ll be in your loving arms in no time!”

“Are you sure?” You ask her.

“Anonymous, I absolutely assure you that this is going to work out in your favor. But if you never make a shot, then the only thing you’ll be missing is your one chance to get her.”

The pep talk is just what you needed to burn away your lingering doubts about this, and you tighten your fists in determination.

“Well Twilight is helping Cheerilee coordinate this year, so that might throw a wrench in things,” You say pensively.

“That is quite the predicament, you would be going up against the Impenetrable Armour of Twilight’s Scheduling. Touched as she was by your feelings for Pinkie Pie, nothing is going to persuade her to make a last-minute change of plans.”

“But if I get Cheerilee on board…”

“Then consider that armour penetrated! And Twilight can be none the wiser!” Rarity cheers.

“And Pinkie-- Uh, won over!”

Rarity laughs saucily at this, “Save your enthusiasm for the performance!”

You smile as you see everything coming together, “Thanks Rarity, you know under all that snark is a really good friend. You should do that more often.”

Rarity rolls her eyes at this and you wrap her in a hug to show your appreciation. She pushes away from you and furrows her brow seriously.

“Now Anon, I do hope you keep this between us until the day of the party. Tell the wrong pony and they’ll spill the proverbial beans wherever they go!”

“That’s awfully ironic coming from you Rara,” You say with a laugh.

“Oh I wouldn’t blab about this for the world! The story is just getting to the best part!”

As you step out the door you turn to her with a smirk, “I think you live a little too vicariously through me Rarity.”

She gives you a friendly smile, “Well darling, when your life is already so perfect you have to make your own fun!”

Even with your perky pudgy pink party pony face pressed powerfully against Rarity’s window, you can’t hear a darn thing! You really wish you took that lip reading class at the learning annex instead of the soap making one. Oh who were you kidding, those bars of vanilla soap sold like hot cakes! The hot cake scented ones did too!

But you’re never going to get anywhere finding out what special surprise to do for Nonny if you can’t get any hints about what he could want! You felt a pang of guilt when you thought about how you’ve procrastinated something like this until the last second, but you haven’t tried to be in the dating game for a good few years. Honestly you were kind of nervous. Really nervous. Tummy butterflies and jelly legs, the whole shebang! And when you get nervous about something, you get distracted a lot more easily than usual. Especially when you found that cool bug, that snowballed into a whole series of events that ate up your entire week!

“Oh shoot! He’s hugging Rarity and he’s leaving! Gotta hide.”

He should be hugging us with those big mamma jammas.
“Oh hush, you. In due time!”

Well you gotta think of something, you’re running out of time.
“Oh I know that, but you’re not helping!”

Well use your noggin! Just do the same thing you always do when you do something nice for a friend!
“I’m trying! But everything I think of doesn’t seem good enough for somepony like him.”

Just KISS.
Your face heats up considerably at this, “Well I WANT to, but I gotta win him over--”

No! Keep. It. Simple. Silly! Take something basic that he likes and BLOW IT UP, Pinkie style! You gotta trust the Cakes on this, you have the pizzazz to blow him away already!

“Oh. Oh! That’s a good idea!” You say triumphantly from your tactical bush position. You just had to break Nonny down into his bare interests and find something to really surprise him with!

Hmm… that’s a tough cookie. Whoever made it shouldn’t have added so much flour. Nonny’s down for everything usually, but what’s his jam? Ooh, you should have some PB&J for lunch. Wait! JAM! Nonny’s favorite thing in the world is music! And there’s bound to be a time slot during the reception for you to blow him away with a music number, just for him!

...

“I’m sorry Pinkie, really I am, but we really can’t fit something like that into the schedule.” Twilight says.

Pinkie’s mane and ears fall flat at the news, “Aw please! Not even at the end?”

“Pinkie, after I ratify a schedule I just can’t amend it, it would destroy the concept of scheduling itself! How could I mar the face of something so immaculately organized?” Twilight hugs her clipboard to herself dearly as if it were her child.

“But Twil--”

“Listen Pinkie, not to be a Gabby Gossip, but I’m absolutely certain any gesture you make for Anon will win him over. That’s pretty much a guarantee!”

“But this is the biggest event we’re going to have for a long while!” You whine, “It’s about the principal! It’s in the moment! It’s. Huge! I know the band and they’d be cool with it! No trouble at all, that’s a Pinkie Promise!”

Twilight shakes her head at you once more, “I’m sorry Pinkie, some love ballad just won’t flow with the theme of ‘school graduation party’. Just because you want it doesn’t mean that other ponies will, either.”

“I--Well!” You start, but suddenly an idea strikes you. Other ponies, huh?

Suddenly your mood becomes more chipper, and your mane bounces back to maximum poof, “Okie dokie lokie! Sorry about all the hassle Twilight, guess I’ll just find another time!” You bounce off excitedly, and Twilight chuckles to herself at what she assumes is just another one of your antics. Silly old Pinkie, you bet she’s thinking.

For being so smart, underestimating you was a very un-smart thing to do.

Cheerilee was not having the best time. Her mane was frazzled, she was on her 6th cup of coffee and counting, and she kept having to run back and forth between various stations to make sure everything goes perfect.

At least, that’s what you could tell just from watching her for the past hour. Climbing down from your ladder after hanging the last of the curtains, you yell to the construction manager that you’re taking a lunch.

Pinkie and the Corner provided most of the food for the crews, man that mare was unbelievable. If it involves making people happy, hell even satisfied like a good lunch can, she’s got everything covered. You saw her several times throughout the day, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to chat it up with her like usual. The pressure just feels to be too much, you don’t want to do something majorly stupid before the big event.

Damn, you’re getting the cart before the horse you want to date. You gotta convince Cheerliee to let you perform first.

You manage to track down the crazy mare as she’s trying to collect the streamers she dropped, and stopping some more from being stolen by the deviant wind. She lets out a shaky breath as she tries to compose herself, so as a kind gesture of support you come up from behind her and present her a muffin.

“You know, all that coffee and no breakfast is bound to make your anxiety run wild,” You say to the teacher.

She puts the runaway streamers back in a bag on the supply table, and runs a hoof through her mane to try and smooth it out, “That obvious, huh?”

“You know if you need help I happen to be a man who’s handy, a handyman even,” You say relenting the treat to her ravenous maw.

Almost scarfing down the paper wrapper it came in, she gives a soft laugh to your offer, “That’s very kind of you as always Anon, but I always get this frazzled around graduation time. The kids start slacking off more on their schoolwork, you know the deal.”

You raise an eyebrow to this, “I’m sure, but since Pinkie’s in charge this year the bar has to be set a lot higher, and a lot more stuff to do.”

Cheerilee grimaces at the thought, “Yes, but--”

“Cheerliee, Cheerliee,” You say raising your hands to quiet her, “If it’s not a no it’s a yes, and I insist you let me be your assistant to take the load of your withers.”

“Anon,” Cheerilee says coyly, “Since when did you start charging ponies for lending those hands of yours to them?”

You find yourself at a loss for words for a moment, no way she’s onto you!

“I have no idea--”

“--What I’m talking about?” Cheerilee finishes for you with a laugh, “I’m sure that this whole con would have worked on anypony else, but I’ve been around kids for years Anon. They’re usually only this nice when they want something.”

Your shoulders slump as she’s quick to catch you sooner than you thought, “Alright alright you got me, but I have good intentions!”

Cheerilee laughs at your lame excuse, then becomes flush, “Oh… Anon I’m flattered but you’re not really my type.”

“Oh, this is awkward.” You say.

“I-it doesn’t have to be! We can still be friends!”

“No that’s-- that’s not the reason Cheerilee, promise. I was just hoping you could squeeze me into the schedule so I could do a… personal performance for Pinkie Pie.”

Cheerilee looks visibly relieved, “Oh phew! But… I don’t know Anon, as romantic as that sounds I don’t think Twilight will let me do something like that. You know how she is.”

“But what Twilight doesn’t know won’t hurt her, and it’ll be all the more surprising for everypony, wouldn’t it?”

“It would, but--”

You wrap an arm around her withers, gesturing in the distance to encourage her to picture what you’re about to say, “But think about it, no more work for the rest of the day, you could have a nice lunch to yourself with no extra noise, and you can indulge yourself with the thing that every teacher wants most.”

“Wh-what’s that?” She asks.

You put your mouth next to her ear and whisper, “You could have a nice. Long. Nap.”

The word makes her shudder visibly, just uttering it alone makes her putty in your arms for a moment.

“Okay, you’ve got a deal,” She says as you let her go, “Are you sure that you can handle everything I’ve got on my plate?”

“Of course!” You say giddily that you pulled it off without a hitch, “Consider it already done.”

“Thanks Anon, I really appreciate it. I won’t tell Twilight, but I’ll speak to the band before the big night. Those stallions are sure to help you out, so be ready at the end of the reception!”

As she walks off with a yawn she leaves you with the checklist of everything that needs to be covered for the graduation party tomorrow. Couldn’t be that hard right? As you unroll the scroll it hits the ground and rolls away a good foot from you.

You take a deep breath to brace yourself, “You’re doing this for Pinkie,” You say to yourself, “That means anything you do for her--”

“--Will be more than worth it!” You declare to yourself as you trot even faster back home to the Corner. You make the mad dash to your bedroom, tossing aside old party supplies and clothes from your closet that had collected in a messy pile to reveal a storage chest buried underneath.

You haven’t needed these old things for a while now, turns out other ponies didn’t think these were as fun as you did. In fact they kinda got scared of them after a while by how accurate they were. But you’re not using these for parties or for scaring anypony. Popping open the chest, you ponder which one you’re going to choose…

Adjusting your rosé mane and making sure those smiling blossoms were still seamlessly stitched to your flank you return to the schoolyard with renewed vigor. You haven’t used these old costumes in a while, and the zipper got painfully caught in your mane several times as you tried to put it on.

Target acquired. Agent Pinkie, what is your mission?
“Slip in, mentally reconfigure the target, and slip out while not blowing cover,” You repeat to yourself.

“Blowing what?” Twilight asks you, surprising you as you weren’t paying attention to how close you were getting to her.

“Oh! Uh, the blowing up the balloons! How are we in the balloon department?”

“We’re doing fine in that department, all accounted for and sorted by yours truly!” Twilight says happily, “Say, how is that band Pinkie got?”

“Oh Pony Jam? They’re a real solid group of stallions, a little pricey but I-- I mean Pinkie has some solid connections with the entertainment industry!”

“Really? How so?” Twilight asks.

“Uhh, Pinkie told me her mom is actually related to one of the members, Stone Trotter.”

Twilight gives a surprised look, “Wow, I never knew that, you and Pinkie are closer than I thought.”

You try to keep your composure under the questioning, “Heh, yeah we hang out all the time! She’s a real hoot.”

“Uh huh…” Twilight says.

Shoot, gotta take the attention away from yourself quickly, “Why do you ask anyway, you don’t seem like somepony too interested in music.”

“Oh nothing, Pinkie was just pestering me earlier about it. She wants to do some silly musical profession of love to Anon. Romantic as it is it just wouldn’t ‘coordinate’ with the rest of the event, y’know?”

You feel yourself getting riled up, but you force the desire to tell your friend to shove her schedule where the sun doesn't shine back deep down to keep character.

“Oh come on Twilight, loosen up! I think it’ll be a fun way to wrap up the party.”

“Oh geez, did Pinkie try to convince you too? All those romance novels you checked out of my library are getting to you.”

“Listen Twilight, knowing my students they’re gonna be really bored and wanting to go home near the end of this thing. It’s a party! Something huge and spectacular like this would be a perfect way to cap off the night! Make it memorable!”

Twilight stops walking and furrows her brow, “Huge huh, that’s exactly what Pinkie said…”

Your gut runs ice cold, “Uh--Well I--”

Twilight laughs to herself, “Pinkie must have been really persuasive to you, good thing I have enough mental fortitude for the both of us.”

Phew. In the clear for now.

“You want to come to lunch with me?” Twilight asks, “I think a good hayburger will take this whole thing off your mind and back on track.”

Looks like Cheerilee isn’t going to get you any further, “Oh I should be good, had a really big breakfast. You have fun though!”

As Twilight walks off you give a frustrated huff, who else is she gonna need to change her mind? You can’t give up now though! Just gotta be somepony who she wouldn’t expect to be supportive...

Adjusting your faux-Stetson hat, you amble over to the Stables as country-ish as you can muster. Knowing Twilight, she’ll be there. Lo and behold, she and Spike were seated at an outdoor table.

“Howdy Twilight!” You say to the two. Twilight waves to you with a full mouth, and Spike pays no mind to you as he has his own small mountain of burgers that he’s inhaling.

Taking a seat with the two, you turn to Twilight, “How’s the prep goin’ fer the hoedown tomorrow?”

Twilight swallows her mouthful and wipes the ketchup from her mouth, “Going pretty well so far! Pinkie’s been kind of a hassle trying to change the schedule for her own endeavors but I quashed that pretty quickly! The rest is going swimmingly.”

“Whaddya mean?” You ask her.

“Oh just some whole thing about wanting to squeeze a love ballad into the show, really silly if you ask me. I would bet good bits that Rarity got her wrapped up in the concept of these grandiose gestures.”

You grit your teeth at her tone, the nerve of this mare!

“Well I reckon it’d be mighty fun, actually,” You retort.

Twilight balks at this, “You too Applejack? Does nopony understand the sanctity of keeping things functional? This isn’t some random party, it’s a school graduation for Celestia’s sake! It’ll stick out like a sore thumb!”

You shrug your shoulders at this, “I dunno, sounds pretty fun if you ask me, keepin’ things unexpected is bound to rile the crowd up.”

Twilight rubs her eyes in frustration, “I seriously cannot be the only pony who thinks this is just being silly.”

“Hey Twilight, mind if I order another 3?” Spike says putting down his plate that he licked clean.

“You’re still hungry? You’ve had 6 already, you used to only be able to eat one!”

“I don’t know, I’ve just been so hungry the past couple days, maybe I’ll finally get a growth spurt.”

“Aww,” You say to that, “Yer growin’ up so fast little guy.”

“I get that dragons live a while longer than most ponies, but I never understood why people still call me a baby. I stopped being a baby years ago.”

“How old are you?” You ask.

“I’m Nineteen.”

Your eyes widen in shock, “Wow, I never would have guessed.”

“You can just have mine,” Twilight says exasperated, “I’m gonna head back and make sure we’re on schedule before sundown. See you around AJ.”

Twilight disappears once again, and you can help but grow a smug grin as you part ways with Spike as well to contemplate your next disguise. She’s about to crack, just need to hammer it home! Being lost in thought again, you bump into somepony.

“Oof, sorry ‘bout that partner!” You say to...

“What-- just what in the gosh darn?” the real Applejack says incredulously.

She leans to the left, and you mirror her. She leans to the right, and you reflect her again. She starts to go left again, but instead fakes you out and shoots forward, startling you.

“Aha! Just who the hay are ya!?” she asks angrily.

You stammer and stutter, at a loss for words. Digging in your saddlebags you yell “Smoke bomb!”

Pink smoke bursts from the ground, blinding Applejack. By the time she regains her sight you’ve disappeared. The country mare spins around looking to and fro for her doppelganger, but after a moment Applejack just shakes her head.

“Musta been mah imagination. Maybe Big Mac was right and I do gotta drink more water,” she says walking off.

Your head bursts from the hole you dug for yourself and you suck in a lungful of fresh air. You gotta end this soon, otherwise something’s really gonna bring everything crashing down. Oh, you had just the pony in mind to bring this to a rousing conclusion!

This disguise was the best one yet! Even had a cooler hat too, you weren’t too into the cowpony stuff. The star-bedazzled cape was pretty neat too. You’ll try not to have too much fun as Trixie.

“Well well, if it isn’t Twilight Sparkle!” You say snidely, and you can tell how effective this will be when you see her ears pin to the sides of her head and see her frown at your entrance.

Twilight takes a deep breath and turns to you, “Hello Trixie, what brings you back to Ponyville?”

“Oh just passing through, gracing this town with my presence once more on my way to Canterlot. On tour if you will,” You say pretending to inspect your hoof for any dirt.

“Oh don’t tell me you’re going to try and cut into my schedule too,” Twilight says angrily, “I’ve had enough trouble with this already! The answer is no!”

You scoff at this, “Me? The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie at some small graduation party for small fillies and colts? I’m a showrunner, not a second act.”

“Listen you--” Twilight starts, but looks surprised at your response, “Oh. I didn’t expect you to be so reasonable.”

“Me? Unreasonable? Hardly,” You say, “I know there’s no point in trying to convince you, everypony is just going to have to deal with how you plan the show to turn out.”

“Well thank you Trixie,” Twilight says before furrowing her brow, “Wait, what do you mean ‘deal with it’ and ‘how it will turn out’?”

“Well like I would expect you to have a show be: boring and prrrrredictable. Although I suppose you would call it ‘functional’ to cope with that.”

Oh man, the look on her face, the way stray hairs sprang out of her mane as you wore down her psyche, it was priceless!

“Well just so you know Trixie, I’m actually scheduling a surprise performance at the end of the show that will knock the horseshoes off of everypony! How’s that for boring and predictable!?”

You almost explode out of your costume from pure joy at the news, but you just manage to contain your excitement and pretend to be impressed with Twilight’s declaration, “Well well! I’ll be sure to stick around for that then if it’s going to be that huge and spectacular! Maybe I rubbed off on you more than I thought if you’ve developed some sense of showmanship.”

Twilight growls in frustration and storms off, and the second you slip out of your costume you literally jump for joy at your success. You really need to work on your spatial awareness, because you crash into somepony once more. Wait, not somepony, someone!

Your face heats up as you find yourself almost touching noses with Nonny as you lie on his chest, “H-hiya Nonny!”

“H-heya Pinkie,” He says back. Realizing that you’re probably giving him the creeps with how close you two were, you’re quick to hop off of him and help him scoop up the various party supplies he was holding.

“You’ve been busy today huh?” You say, trying to strike up conversation.

“Yeah, I’m covering for Cheerilee today since she looked like she was needing a break.”

“You know they should really start calling you a handy-man since you’re always lending those hands of yours to everypony.”

“Right?” He says, his mood lifted. Seeing him smile made the butterflies in your stomach go wild, it just made you feel like you did something extra special.

“Say, you’re going to be at the party right?” You ask him.

“Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world.”

Oof, get rigid you jelly legs! Don’t embarrass us!

“Well, th-that’s good! You’re gonna enjoy it more than you know!”

Twilight has had a very long, very annoying day. Opening the door to her library home she sees Spike munching on a mountain of candy. Hopefully all those calories are going somewhere productive, she thinks to herself. Using her magic she swipes a chocolate bar from the pile for a comforting snack.

Spike swallows and chuckles as he sees her unkempt self, “Geez, you look like Tartarus. How’d it go?”

“Unfortunately she ended up wearing me down. Knowing her, she would have had more than enough time on her hooves to keep this going for a lot longer than one day.”

“Well that’s Pinkie Pie for ya, you really shouldn’t challenge her stubbornness like that. You didn’t even let her know that you were onto her from the first disguise?”

Twilight shrugs and takes a bite of her chocolate, “Eh, as much as she deserved it for being such a pest, she’s really doing it for a good cause.”

Spike swallows a large lump and turns to her, “Hopefully their hijinks calm down when those two awkward love birds get together.”

Twilight shudders at the thought of their hijinks getting even more intense when they make it official.

Author's Note

Another chapter up for you all, enjoy!
Next up, the conclusion to the Luna Arc!