The Party Hasn't Ended Part 2

The Party Hasn't Ended Part 2 starring Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and the whole cast of Friendship is Magic

As they approached Sugar Cube Corner, things were strangely quiet in the bakery. It seemed to be closed. Had something happened to Mr and Mrs Cake? Pinkie had felt a little twitchy – but it was a kind of twitch she had never felt before. It had started in her tail and travelled up her spine, detoured down her right foreleg then back across her shoulders and down her LEFT foreleg, until finally coming back up to her neck and finishing in her ears, which had gone all floppy. It wasn't a doozy – but it WAS something big!

Spike had stubbornly refused to tell her anything as they hurried back.

"No time for explanations, Pinkie Pie!" he had replied to her excited, incessant questions  as he bounced up and down on her back. "Besides, it something you've got to see for yourself!"
"I know, I know, I know!" Pinkie Pie had chirped, "Butwhatisitwhatisitwhatisitwhatisit?" She took a deep breath and kept on going. "Whatisitwhatisitwhatisit?"

"You'll see soon enough!" Spike had replied, a bright smile that Pinkie couldn't see breaking onto his face.

Now they stood before the door to Sugar Cube Corner. Spike hopped down and indicated the door with a sweep of a claw.

"Go ahead and open the door, Pinkie Pie!" he said.

Pinkie approached the door with trepidation. Her heart was bounding around in her chest like a rubber ball. Sweat poured off her face as she brought a hoof closer, and yet closer to the door knob. Finally she cried out "I can't stand it anymore!!!" and flung the door open.

Silence.

But inside Sugar Cube Corner something amazing had happened. When Pinkie had left it in the morning, everything had been set up for the day's business. All the muffins and cakes and cookies had been sitting on their shelves ready to be sold. But now!

There were streamers and confetti and ribbons and balloons and all kinds of decorations, and all of them different shades of pink! It was as if a cotton candy machine had exploded and left the room looking like the inside of a bubble of pink bubble-gum.

Pinkie stared in astonishment, and then she almost fell backwards – but luckily Spike had his wits about him and managed to push Pinkie back up onto her feet before she sat right on top of him.

Pinkie took a step forward into the room, and there was a sudden ear-splitting shout of

"SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

All her friends suddenly leapt out from their hiding places around the room – Applejack from behind the punch-bowl table, Twilight struggling out from inside a mass of pink balloons, and Fluttershy from hovering behind the banner that hung overhead. And last of all Rainbow Dash jumped down from the corner of the ceiling where she had been hanging like a ninja, ready to spring.

"Woooooooah! What is this?" Pinkie was still in a daze.

"Oh, Pinkie Pie!" laughed Rainbow Dash, taking one of Pinkie's forefeet in the crook of her own and leading her into the centre of the room where her other friends were waiting for her. She pointed up at the banner Fluttershy had been hovering behind.

It read: "Welcome to your surpris party, Pinkie Pie!"

"But doesn't 'suprise' have an 'E' on the end?" asked Pinkie.

At that moment Rarity stepped into the room, dressed in a shimmering silver saddle with matching sequined bridle. She kissed Pinkie, who blushed, then turned and arched her eyebrows at Rainbow Dash. "I TOLD you she would notice the 'E', darling."

Dash smiled in embarrassment. "Look, I'm more of an ACTION pony than a SPELLING pony, OK?"

"I love it even more without the 'E'!" Pinkie giggled. "But where were you hiding, Rarity?"

Rarity sniffed. "I wasn't 'hiding' anywhere, darling. 'Hiding' goes against every FIBER in this gorgeous body!" She tossed her mane. "Besides, the most important part of ANY party is one's entrance – and I was SCARCELY going to leap out like some jack-in-the-box from some UNSEEMLY position, was I?"

Applejack snorted in annoyance. "Now if that ain't the snootiest thing I've heard outa ya all season! Ya couldn't even make an exception fer Pinkie's party, could ya?!"

Fluttershy, sensing an argument was brewing, asked "Were you really surprised, Pinkie?"

Pinkie nodded. "I'm STILL surprised! My heart is going thumpa thumpa thumpa and I'm kinda worried it's going to spring up my throat and jump out of my mouth!"

"Let's hope THAT doesn't happen," muttered Twilight. The unicorn pony looked at Applejack. "I still say I should have been hiding behind the punch bowl. I mean really," She pointed to her horn. "Balloons and unicorn ponies? It's a disaster waiting to happen! I almost ruined the surprise.'

"Aw Twi," replied Applejack, "We already discussed this. Pinkie woulda seen yer horn stickin' up over the punch bowl."

Twilight frowned. "That doesn't even make any sense. I could have just kept my head down –"

"You should have accompanied me in my GRAND entrance, darling," said Rarity.

Rainbow Dash groaned. "C'mon everypony! This is Pinkie's party! Less arguing and more partying!" She threw a hoof in the air and shouted "Whooohooo!" and the other ponies shouted out as well.

"Rainbow Dash is right," agreed Fluttershy. She brought up a tray of drinks in her mouth. "Here Pinkie – please take one."

"Sarsaparilla?!" cried Pinkie in joy. She almost swallowed the whole bottle in her haste and drank it down in one gulp. "How did you know I love sarsaparilla?"

Applejack chuckled. "Er Pinkie – we ARE yer friends, ya know!"

"We know everything about you!" added Twilight, nodding, and then under her breath she added: "Except how your twitching works. Or how you can just hang in the air sometimes with no visible means of support. Or how you can be in two places at once…"

"Oh, this is the best party EVER!" Pinkie cried. "Everything is sooooo super pink. And everything is sooooo super-perfect!"

"Everything except my spelling," Rainbow Dash said, looking off to one side.

Pinkie hugged her, and the Pegasus pony's face suddenly went bright red. "But that's my favouritest thing of all!"

"Well, comin' from Ponyville's prem-ee-iere party pony, that's high praise indeed!" Applejack laughed.

"Actually," added Twilight, "This whole party was Rainbow Dash's idea."

Pinkie was still hugging Dash, and when she heard this she squealed and squeezed the Pegasus pony even tighter, and the red on Dash's face changed from being that of a blush to that of a pony unable to breathe.

"Pinkie….Pie….you're….choking….me!"

"Ooooh, sorry!" Pinkie dropped her forefeet. "It's just that I'm soooooo happy!" She flashed a beaming smile at Dash. "All of this was really your idea?"

"Hehehe yeah," Dash's turned her face away to hide a deepening blush.  When she turned back, her face was serious. "It's just you've looked so…. Out of sorts recently," she explained.

"You've been simply PITIABLE, darling," said Rarity.

"You HAVE looked lonely," agreed Fluttershy.

"Sorta unhappy, too…" added Applejack.

"Definitely preoccupied," nodded Twilight.

"Walking rather than bouncing," said Spike, who had started to help himself to some of the muffins.

"Totally un-Pinkie Pie!" said Dash, and the other ponies nodded their agreement.

"So Dash suggested this here party to put the perkiness back in everypony's favourite lil' pink pony!" said Applejack.

Pinkie looked at all the smiling faces of her friends and all of the hard work they had gone to and she felt a flush of happiness that flowed from her heart to the base of her hooves and to the tip of her ears and tail, stronger than she had felt for a long, long time.

"It's already started working!" said Pinkie, and then she burst into tears. For she realised that inside her heart the party hadn't come to an end after all.

**********************

Pinkie was worried about Mr and Mrs Cakes losing business because of the party, but Twilight put her concerns at rest by telling her that she'd let them use the library for the day.

"Spike thought that maybe a kind of café-bookshop might be a good change of pace for them," she explained, "And they were happy to oblige. They've been worried about you as well. And it took no time at all to transport all the cakes to my place. All it took was a little help from everypony…well, almost everypony," She glared at Dash, who was about to toss a vanilla lemon drop into her mouth, and the Pegasus pony lowered her eyes in shame.

"I was taking a nap," she explained.

Spike suddenly came up and offered a tray to the guest of honour. "Hey Pinkie, tell me what you think of these!" The tray was covered with muffins… strange, misshapen muffins. Pinkie wondered where she had seen them before – and when she remembered, she leapt backwards, terrified, and backed away into a corner.

"B-b-b-b-b-baked B-b-b-b-b-b-bads!" she shrieked.

Applejack looked hurt. "Great flyin' apple-fritters. I ain't never gonna live down THOSE things," She took a bite out of one of the muffins. "These are a NEW recipe Spike n' Ah've been workin' on. We kinda cut out the cup o' sour, added some flour, and swapped out th' real worms with gummi worms…"

"They're actually very good!" Fluttershy said.

"I kinda liked the baked bads better," said Spike. "The gummi worms just don't have the same texture as the real worms…"

"Oh Spike!" muttered Twilight, shaking her head.

"Yer such a boy!" Applejack laughed.

The party continued into the evening. All the sarsaparilla was drunk; Applejack and Rarity were arguing in the kitchen over whether tomatoes were a fruit or a vegetable; Twilight was trying to explain the mechanics of flying to Fluttershy while the Pegasus pony was secretly petting Spike, who was had fallen asleep under the snacks table, a half-eaten baked-bad in his claw; and Rainbow Dash had dunked her face in the punch bowl after challenging Pinkie to a hot-sauce drinking competition – and losing.

All in all, it had been a super successful party! At last it was time to say goodbye.

"Are you sure we can't help you with the cleaning?" asked Twilight. Spike was lying flat out on her back, fast asleep and snoring.

"No, no, no, no!" Pinkie shook her head until her candy-floss hair flung about. "I just couldn't stand having you tidy up after the trouble you all went to!"

"But Pinkie," began Applejack, but Dash interrupted her.

"AJ, you DON'T want to argue with Pinkie about helping with cleaning up!" she warned. "Trust me on this."

Pinkie nodded. "It's all part of the party-pony's responsibility!"

"That's totally right," agreed Dash. "Which is why I'M also going to help with the cleaning up, since I was the pony who organised THIS party!" She thumped a hoof onto her chest.

"But… but…" Pinkie protested, but Dash just opened her eyes wide and stared at her until Pinkie dropped her gaze and nodded. Then she perked right up again. "This is going to be so much fun!" she gushed.

After the other ponies left, Pinkie and Dash walked back into Sugar Cube Corner.

"Oh man," Dash's shoulders slumped and her wings sagged. "This is going to be a huge job!"

Pinkie just laughed and grabbed hold of one of Dash's forefeet and pulled her into the centre of the room. Suddenly, music started up from somewhere.

"Uh Pinkie," said Dash in puzzlement, "Where's the music coming from?"

Pinkie was starting to bounce up and down. "I don't know! It just always starts playing when it's time for a Pinkie Pie song!" she exclaimed.

"A song?" groaned Dash. "Pinkie, we don't have time for…."

Pinkie started to dance around the confused Pegasus pony. "Oh, Dash, with a song the cleaning will go soooooo much quicker! In a couple of shakes of a pony's tail it'll be all done!"

Oh,
Whenever there's housework to be done
Resist that urge to cut and run!
Oh, never mind! You're sure to find
Some helpful pony to aid you!

Pinkie leapt into the kitchen and cleaning equipment started flying out – brushes and pans and mops and sponges and dishrags. They landed in a pile on top of Rainbow Dash, who popped her head out and cried:

"PINKIE!"

"Oh Dash!" the pink pony laughed. "There's no time to mess around!"

Oh,
Whenever you see there's stuff to clean,
Get off that rump! Don't sit and dream!
Just look around and there is bound
To be somepony to help you!

Pinkie spun about the room, a whirlwind of cleaning and polishing. Dust flew off her in a cloud, and whatever she touched sparkled and shone. Dash, a feather-duster in her mouth and a mop in her fore-hooves, struggled to keep up.

"Hey, wait up, Pinkie!"

Pinkie looked back at Dash, who had sweat pouring off her. She started to giggle. "Oh Dash. I thought you were supposed to be fastest pony in Ponyville!"

Dash pouted. "That's FLYING, not CLEANING!"

Pinkie laughed and jumped up onto a table and started to grab dishes, flinging them like Frisbees onto spinning piles without breaking a single one, and as she did she sang:

Oh,
Whether you're flying or tidying stuff,
Give it your all – it'll be enough!
Don't be down! Reverse that frown!
You have somepony beside you!

Pinkie looked around as she spun to a halt. The decorations were all bagged, the dishes piled up, and the floor and walls sparkling. And there was Dash, sitting in the middle of the newly-cleaned floor with a look of disappointment on her face. She glared at Pinkie.

"Pinkie Pie," she began.  

"Yes, Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie fluttered her eye-lashes at the Pegasus pony, clueless.

"You just went and finished everything yourself! I didn't even get a chance to help you," she sighed.

Pinkie frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry Dash. I guess I just got carried away!" But then she perked back up, and grabbing Dash off the floor, she twirled the annoyed Pegasus pony around as she finished her song:

Oh Rainbow Dash, please don't be mad!
I never want to see you sad!
For don't you see that you've got me
A little pony who loves you?

The smile that had been growing on Dash's face as they danced suddenly disappeared, and she dropped Pinkie's hoof in shock. "You… you love me?" said Dash, frowning.

Pinkie's beaming smile froze on her face. "I… ah… of course I do, Rainbow Dash!" Her pupils skipped left and right. "Like a friend! I love you as a friend. I mean, we're all each other's very best frrrriiiieeeends, right?"

Dash looked at her sideways. "Are you sure that's what you meant, Pinkie Pie?"

The pink pony nodded rapidly up and down. "Uh huh!"

Dash's face was serious and thoughtful. "Well… OK then." She looked around. The room was full of trash bags, the tables and chairs still needed to be put away and there were piles of dirty dishes everywhere. "We'd better get on with the cleaning, I guess. There's still a mountain of it to do."

Pinkie nodded. And although she didn't stop smiling, her eyes started to get misty, and she turned away and closed her eyes so that Rainbow Dash couldn't see. And as tightly as she squeezed her eyes shut, she couldn't hold back the single tear that fell down her cheek.

"Hey, Pinkie?" she heard Dash ask suddenly. She quickly wiped the tear away with a hoof and turned around to face her.

"Uh… yes, Rainbow Dash?"

The Pegasus pony was carrying a teetering pile of plates.  "Is it OK if I put these in the kitchen?"

Pinkie nodded. "Thank you so much for your help," she said, and then she added, in a voice little more than a whisper: "I can't do anything without you."