Friends

Friends

I see friendship all around me.

The other ponies, they're all friends. They all play, they all dance, they all joke and they all laugh. They all pass me by without a thought, just nodding in my direction by sheer instinct alone. Rarely do they talk with me, play with me, dance with me, joke with me... But that won't stop me from making them happy. It never has.

I look around and see everything I could ever ask for, everything I could ever possible dream of, everything that makes me who I am. Ponies by the snack table, noses spewing punch as they laugh from a joke being told; some over there, by the sofa, just relaxing and talking amongst themselves; others still, wandering around aimlessly, chatting with anypony they happen upon. Friends as far as the eye can see, from wall to wall, corner to corner. It just makes me so happy, seeing them so happy. It always has.

The punch bowl is empty; I should go refill it. As I bounce into the kitchen to make some more, I see Lyra playing music on her lyre, chattering ponies clustered around her. Over there, Rainbow Dash, a wide-eyed Scootaloo grinning in childish glee as her idol acts out one of her many stories. And then I lose them, my sight passing the corner before it lands on the kitchen cabinet on the far side of the wall. It doesn't take long to refill the punch bowl: just a quick little opening of a package and mixing it up with my hoof. Mrs. Cake always tells me to use the spoon, but that's no fun.

The punch bowl's back on the table, and I see a few ponies headed straight towards me. My heart skips a beat or five, and my smile grows in intensity as they approach. My eyes are ready to pop out of their sockets and I can barely keep myself from springing up to the ceiling. Closer they come, and closer my heart threatens to burst from excitement. They're but a few feet off now, so I hop over to them before I collapse into a fit of agonizing excitement. Just a few short little jumps more, and...

Two of them nod and smile ate me as they pass by, the others moving off to either side so as not to bump into me. They're just headed for the punch bowl, of course. Why would anypony want to speak to silly ol' Pinkie? That would make them just as silly as I am, I guess... It's hard to remember that sometimes. I stop my grin from wavering and bound off towards the small, empty DJ booth. Just as I'm browsing my selection, I remember Lyra's music playing from before. It wouldn't be very nice to ruin her concentration and disappoint her crowd, and so I step away and head off to make sure all of my guests are having a fun time. After all, if they're happy, then I'm happy. And Pinkie is always happy.

"Hello there, Pinkie Pie! Wonderful party."

I stop mid-bounce and turn to the voice. The speaker doesn't really surprise me as much as it used to; Rarity always compliments my parties, when she shows up at them. Fluttershy isn't with her this time, though. That pony needs to stop being so shy all the time... Oh well. Rarity's here, and that's all that matters right now.

"Hi, Rarity! How're-" I start to say, but she's already walking off.

I don't really want her to leave as soon as she usually does, so I hop over and make sure I stay on her side. She doesn't seem to appreciate the contact, though, just as usual. She backs away and looks at me like I'm crazy or something, then her startled look turns into pure, unfiltered terror.

"Pinkie! Y-your hoof!" she practically screams, and so I look at all of my hooves. Nothing seems to be wrong with them, as far as I can tell. It's probably nothing, anyways. Rarity's always so concerned with little itty bitty details that don't even really matter. I'm not exactly sure what she's going on about, so I look back up and see her stuttering. "I-it... it's...

"It's all wet!"

Oh. Of course she'd overreact about a little bit of punch on my hoof. I don't get why she's concerned with other ponies' cleanliness and her own at the same time. It just doesn't make any sense to me. Nonetheless, I realized a loooong time ago that ignoring Rarity would only lead to disaster, and so I start licking my hoof clean.

"Pinkie, what're you doing?!?" Rarity screams, pushing my face away from my still-wet hoof.

What an odd question. It's not like cleaning my hoof can look like very many other things. Maybe she thinks I'm tasting myself, satisfying some hidden cannibalistic desires or something. I dunno. There isn't much point in thinking of things she might think I'm doing.

"I'm cleaning my hoof, silly! See?" I still wasn't very sure if she thought my hoof was redder than normal because of punch, or because of blood she might've thought I was tasting. You can never be too sure, so I decided it was the best time to give her a closer look.

She didn't take it so well, though. Instead of examining the punch with her eyes all squinty and focused, she started pushing me out the door. Of course, I wasn't one to complain.

"Come now, Pinkie. We're going to the Boutique to get you nice and cleaned up."

That seemed promising enough. She's really the only pony to ever invite me over, even if it's just to clean me up from all of my 'fashion disasters' or whatever. A little bit of idle talk, some stories, maybe I could convince her to let me stay the night this time. It was starting to get pretty dark, after all.

"And then maybe I could finally fit you for a dress or two! You're always throwing such nice parties, I should really ask you more often. Oh! And you don't have to worry about those old designs from that other time. I already have a few new ones made just for you, Pinkie! Oh, I just know you're going to love them."

Yeah, she could make me some dresses. Maybe after the board games or the scary ghost stories or the- wait. Dresses? That again? Last time she wanted to fit me, I got all itchy and twitchy and it was so booring and... But I really wanna hang out with her, but I really don't want to be bored and stuff... But there isn't much point in arguing with myself, and when I argue with myself, there's only one option: Escape. A nice, simple little plan, with absolutely no way for it to go wrong.

And so I ran off as quickly as I could. Rarity looks so silly covered in confetti and streamers, 'specially when she has that look on her face. She looks like she's trying to melt my party cannon with her laser eyes or something. Maybe I shouldn't have left it behind... Its sacrifice will not have been in vain; I'll make sure of it.

I stop running when I reach Sugarcube Corner and look back. Rarity's still just a few feet away, staring at my party cannon. Not knowing why she's so interested in it, I shrug and head inside. It's amazing how little changes from minute to minute; Scootaloo is still drooling over Rainbow Dash, Lyra is still playing music, the ponies over by the sofa are still talking about whatever.

Trying as hard as I can to close the door as quietly as I could to not disturb anypony, I realize it's a vain attempt. They're all staring at me, and they probably have been even before I opened the door. Normally, it'd be great to have ponies focus on me during a party, yet this is a totally different kind of attention. It's the kind of attention you get when you do something totally crazy and unexpected and the whole thing just turns awkward really fast, and I don't like it. So I just smile and bounce over to the punch bowl for a drink, then run around making sure everypony's okay. And then I get some more punch, and run around again. And again. And again. And soon the moon's high in the sky and the three remaining guests smile at me and wave goodbye as they head out the door.

It's almost how funny it is, everything being so quiet after a party. I head over to my super special birthday cake I made just for myself; there's one slice left, with a little note saying, "Thanks for the party, and happy birthday!" I don't know who left the note, since nopony ever has before. It's still enough to bring a smile to my heart and I gobble up the cake in one bite. It just makes it that much more special that somepony saved it just for me, and the smile stays on my face as I clean up the mess everypony made. I just wish I'd known who did it, if only to give them a super-duper-extra-special-amazing hug or maybe a thank-you party tomorrow.

It doesn't take long for me to finish cleaning up, so I shut off the lights and start to head upstairs. Halfway up, my hoof gets caught on something and I trip over it. It's not that hard for me to gather my bearings, and I look back at whatever I tripped on. It's too dark to make anything out, though, so I reach over to pick it up and feel something soft. And warm. And strangely pony-like. It doesn't matter to me, though, and I pick it, or them, up and continue on my way to my room. Only when I turn on the lights can I make out who it was I tripped on.

Yellow coat, long pink mane, wings, and- weird. There's a pencil stuck in her mane... I didn't even know Fluttershy showed up. It doesn't really matter that she never said hi, though. She's way too shy for that. Just the fact that she showed up and stayed long enough to fall asleep from being tired is enough for me. She's really lightweight, too, so it's no problem to ease her up onto my bed and under the covers. I give her forehead a little kiss goodnight and tuck her in before getting myself nice and cozy with a blanket and pillow on the ground.

Maybe, just this once, I can have a slumber party.