A Show Full of Surprises

Most of the time, Surprise’s legs were full of life and energy. That wasn’t happening this time. Instead, her limbs were nearly ready to give out on her, and she forced herself to smile. “H-Hello, stranger...”

A familiar pink pony with the same mane style as her was standing nearby, curious and happy to see Surprise. “Hello to you, too! Anypony ever told you that you have a nice mane? Or that you look happy?” She took Surprise’s cheeks with her hooves and stretched them out. “You even have nice teeth!”

Surprise wanted nothing more than to fly away, and she couldn’t get out of there soon enough. But Pinkie might wonder what was going on. “Umm... uhh...”

“Oh, I’m just being rude! Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! Are you new to Ponyville? I’ve never seen you before.” She extended a front leg out for Surprise, just as cheerful as ever.

Surprise, however, could feel her mane trying to deflate. She looked down at the pink hoof in front of her, and she had no idea if she should shake it or not. If she did, it might give away that her voice was similar to Pinkie’s, and then Twilight would find out and--

Her hoof was shaking Pinkie’s without realizing it. “Surprise... heh heh, I’m new around here...”

“Really?” Pinkie glimmered. “That’s amazing! I should show you around town and throw you your very own Welcome to Ponyville Party! There’s so much you’ll love here. Sugarcube Corner, the sunny air, we even have our own princess! Princess Twilight is the best friend you could make.”

Even if Surprise just met Twilight, she didn’t want to take the risk. “Maybe we could just have a party! You know, that thing where you have fun and invite people and…” She gulped and tried to keep it together. It wasn’t working out.

“Exactly!” Pinkie shouted. “Now where to begin…” She pulled out a roll of paper from her mane, because that was something she could do, and she read it over. “We’ll need five cakes, four bowls of fruit punch, and a lot of other things! What kind of cake do you like--”

Pinkie lifted her head up and found that Surprise was missing. The pegasus panicked and flew as far away from the spot as she could. Pinkie might have been a nice pony, friendly even, but she couldn’t take any chances. If Twilight couldn’t put two and two together, maybe the pony she was cloned from would figure it out.

She flew for a good minute away from the street, feeling bad because Pinkie was being nice to her. Then she saw that she didn’t actually know where she was going. Fair enough, there was no way Pinkie could catch up to her. She lowered herself down to the ground and rested by a tree.

“Are you okay?” Pinkie asked right next to her. Surprise jumped up like a cat and clung to the branch above her head. “You seem really jumpy.”

“Ahhhh!” Surprise sprung ahead with her wings and raced on the other side of the town. She came to a complete skid in front of Ponyville’s school, and she thought she was finally safe... until she saw Pinkie ringing the school bell. “How did you get there so fast?”

“It’s one of my side jobs,” Pinkie pointed out. “I’m sorry about the cakes. We can just do one if you want--”

And then Surprise was gone in a flash. Her wings strained from the pressure she put on them, but she wasn’t going to stop if she could help it. Instead, her wings started to give out on her. “No no no…”

Sure enough, Pinkie was standing right where Surprise was heading. The pegasus whined from the sight, but her wings had enough for once. She ended up being forced to touch down, and she face planted in front of the pink pony. “It’s all over...”

Pinkie tilted her head. “What’s over? We haven’t even started the party yet!” She took out a balloon and inflated it with her breath, and it only took a moment to get it filled with air.

Now that wasn’t something Surprise expected. She lifted her head up at the Earth Pony. “Wait, you’re not mad at me? You don’t know who I am?”

“I just met you, silly.” Pinkie patted her mane and placed a party hat on her head. “You said your name was Surprise?”

The more Surprise thought about it, the more she was stunned. Pinkie should have been able to recognize her own mane when she saw it. There wasn’t a hint that she knew the truth about the pegasus, however. Maybe she could make it work...

“Uhh, well, yes.” Surprise made herself stand up. “I just thought that you’d--”

“That I’d want?” Pinkie remained stumped by her newest friend’s actions.

“Nevermind. Did you say you’d want to throw a party for me, even though we just met?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Pinkie asked, as if that was common sense. “You’re new to Ponyville. That’s enough for me!”

“That does sound...” The bounce returned to Surprise’s mane. “Pretty fun! Can I invite some guests? There’s two ponies I know that should be there. They’re right by Twilight’s castle.”

“Ooooh, so you do know about the castle!” Pinkie bounced. “Sure, we can get them. This party’s all for you, after all!”

The thought warmed Surprise’s heart. Maybe this way, she could bring in Trixie again. They’d stay friends. And maybe she would be friends with Starlight.

Surprise had never seen anypony other than maybe herself work that fast. Pinkie turned the Sugarcube Corner from a typical bakery into a party palace in just three minutes. No matter how much she wanted to help, Pinkie was already three steps ahead of her. Still, the banners, cake, and other decorations were all welcome to see.

“Wow. When you go out, you really go out,” Surprise noted.

“Of course I’d go all out! Don’t worry, I sent the invitations. You’re going to love it here!”

“Wait, invitations? How did you even do that?” Surprise questioned. “You never left the Corner.”

“That’s easy.” Pinkie went to the nearest wall and pulled away a brick. “I have letter delivery places stored all over Ponyville! In case of letter delivery emergencies, or when Derpy sends the letters to the wrong place.” She stuffed a letter into the hole, and it went down a plastic tube to somewhere.

“Oh, that makes sense. I think.” The next thing Surprise knew, she saw two familiar unicorns walk through the door, and she gleamed from the sight. “Trixie! Starlight! You’re already here!”

Trixie glanced around the room and chuckled. “A party worthy of the Great and Powerful Trixie, let alone her trusty assistant.” She stopped, however, after seeing Pinkie there. “You.”

“Hello to you, too!” Pinkie chuckled. “Hey, are you both friends with Surprise?”

“I just met her, but we could be friends,” Starlight noted, and looked Trixie’s way. “Uhh, why are you looking at her that way, Trixie?”

“Let’s just say... we’ve met before.”

“Ooooh, I just realized something about your friends, Surprise!” Pinkie pulled the pegasus in and pointed at the unicorns. “Trixie used to be a big meanie and even took my mouth away!”

Trixie scoffed. “Trixie will have you know she has changed! It’s a long story, but you can thank Surprise for that.” Surprise smiled warmly at the compliment.

“Also,” Pinkie continued. “There was a time where Starlight was a big meanie when she tried to use a time spell to change everything, but now she’s changed and a really good friend, too!”

Still, both unicorns weren’t exactly comfortable with what they heard about what they’ve done in the past. Trixie hid her face in her hat and Starlight glanced off to the side. “But that’s okay!” Surprise butted in. “You’re good friends now, right? That’s all that matters. Trixie has been a really good boss and eventual friend to me, and Starlight... well, she has been really nice to me.”

With that in mind, Trixie brought the hat out of her face and grinned. “Just the kind of praise Trixie deserves. And Starlight’s turned out to be a wonderful magician that could, one day, be as good as me.”

Starlight chuckled and went up to see Surprise. “Still, this party’s all about you. Trust me, nobody throws a Welcome to Ponyville party quite like Pinkie. Go ahead and have some fun.”

“Fun? FUN?” Surprise shook around like someone hooked up caffeine in her veins. “We can have as much fun as we want?”

“Of course! It’s your party!” Pinkie pointed out.

“Then let’s have some FUUUUUUN!” Surprise practically exploded and bounced off the walls, not even needing any wings to fly around. All of a sudden, the party took on a whole new meaning to her. The cake, the decorations, she was even blindfolding herself to play Pin The Tail On The Donkey, even though nobody suggested it to her.

“Hold on, I’m coming!” Pinkie rushed in on the scene after the pegasus, and soon enough, it turned into one big blur. Surprise would stuff her face into a plate full of cake, right when Pinkie was about to do the same. Loud party music would be blaring, and Starlight and Trixie would know this wouldn’t be for them. They took a seat at a table on the edge of the party.

“Why is she always on edge?” Starlight asked.

“You’ve met Pinkie before, right? She’s like a ball of energy that took on a pony form and chose to live among us,” Trixie commented.

“No, I meant Surprise. I talked to her earlier and she was really upset. Is something wrong?”

“Oh.” Trixie fidgeted her hooves. “She had a bit of a rough patch right before she became my assistant. Kind of lost, kind of not knowing what she should do, even with her own cutie mark. She seems happier now.”

Sure enough, Surprise was dancing by bouncing off her tail like it was made of rubber. Pinkie was delighted and even giggled from the sight. Trixie gestured over to the pegasus. “See what I mean?”

“I do. Maybe she just needs more friends.” Starlight thought, only to see Trixie irked from the thought. “I’m not saying you’re a bad friend, but I just came from a rough time in my life, too. Having a few friends helped me out.”

“Hmm, Trixie could see that. We’ll see how it goes.”

As they kept talking, more ponies started to show up to the party. It started out with a few ponies, which expanded quickly. Pinkie’s other friends even started to show up later on.

The first of Pinkie’s best friends sped her way in like a blur. “Aww yeah, another Pinkie Pie party!” Rainbow Dash looked around in awe. “Come on in, guys!”

Following her was the timid pegasus, Fluttershy, who let out a simple “yay”.

Next to her was the pony with a southern accent, Applejack, who chuckled as she entered. “Nothing like one o’ Pinkie’s parties!”

“I wonder what the occasion is this time,” the fashionista Rarity followed.

Finally, the princess herself, Twilight, entered last. “If I had to take a guess, it’s probably a party thrown for a new face in town.”

However, it didn’t end there. When the door to the Corner opened, a certain yellow-coated, yellow-and-red maned unicorn walked in the area, seeing all that was going on and smiling. She checked around the place and noticed Pinkie dancing with a pony she wasn’t familiar with.

“Of course this is what I see when I come in here,” she chuckled. “Pinkie throwing another party for a pony she just met.”

Pinkie stopped her dancing and got back on all four limbs. “Oh, I didn’t know you were going to be here! Surprise, this is a really special pony, Sunset Shimmer. She’s from another world where everyone walks on two legs.”

“Oh?” Surprise stopped bouncing on her tail just long enough to settle down. “That’s really cool. I’m a surprise! I mean... I’m Surprise!” She laughed at her own little joke.

Amused, Sunset came over to see the new pony. “Nice to meet you.” She noticed that Surprise’s mane was similar to Pinkie’s, but didn’t think anything of it. “And I’m not surprised, pardon the pun, that Pinkie threw a party for a pony she just met.” She extended a hoof out for Surprise to shake.

“Hehe! Oh, and I’m Trixie’s--the Great and Powerful Trixie’s assistant!” Trixie herself was pleased with the correction, and Surprise took Sunset’s hoof and shook it.

The whole time they were shaking, however, something happened in Sunset’s mind. Her eyes didn’t see the pegasus in front of her, but rather, a whole film reel’s worth of memories. All she could see was the Mirror Pool, another Pinkie running away for dear life, and Trixie finding her. Then she caught wind of the change from being another Pinkie clone to Surprise, and her mind was left boggled.

“Are you okay?” Surprise inquired. “You don’t look so good.”

The moment the highlight reel broke off, Sunset immediately shot a look at Trixie. It wasn’t a hateful one, but she didn’t exactly hide how confused and blown away she was. Starlight was a little on edge from the sight, and so was the blue unicorn.

“Uh... uh... I just need to use the little filly’s room for a bit,” Sunset mentioned. “My lunch isn’t agreeing with me. I’ll be right back!”

She rushed to the nearest restroom, leaving the rest of the party confused and a little worried. She would shut the door and lock it, and she had to make sure she was alone. Yeah, she was the only one there.

Wow. That’s something I didn’t expect to see. That explains a lot about her. She’s literally a clone of Pinkie but with wings. Just imagine Pinkie with wings... nevermind. What should I do about it? Should I even do anything about this?

Does Twilight know about her?