Surprise, Surprise

by SaddlesoapOpera

First published 11th of October, 2011

Pinkie Pie is overjoyed when she meets a Pegasus who seems just like her. What could go wrong?

Pinkie Pie is overjoyed when she meets a Pegasus who seems almost exactly like her.
She's fun, silly, and Pinkie's friends take an immediate liking to her.
What could possibly go wrong?

Translated into Russian here!

Mirror, Mirror

PART ONE – Mirror, Mirror

Pinkie Pie bounded down the lane on the outskirts of Ponyville without a care in the world, humming cheerily and bobbing her pink frizzy-maned head.

She’d spent the early part of the afternoon visiting Rainbow Dash on her flying cycle-copter-majig, but now that her Pegasus friend had left to take care of some cloud-busting, Pinkie was looking forward to getting back to Sugarcube Corner – specifically, to the wide array of delicious treats lurking inside the shop. And with today’s special event, there would be even more treats around than usual.

Thoughts of frosted fresh-baked delights shaped her tuneless humming into snippets of a little ditty for which she was well-known around Ponyville:

“…Hmm-hm-hm-hm-hm…And you count to four, hm hmm hm-hm hmm hm hm hmmm…Cupcakes–”

“So sweet and tasty!”

Pinkie skidded to a halt. The voice – which sounded very much like her own – had come from somewhere above her. She looked up and around, her pale blue eyes darting to and fro. Nopony was there. She perplexedly scratched the side of her head with a front hoof.

She soon lost interest in the mystery, however. She shrugged and bounced back on her merry way, picking up her song where she’d left off.

“Cupcakes–”

“Don’t be too hasty!”

This time, Pinkie stopped in an instant and jerked her head upwards. What she saw made her eyes widen.

A bright white Pegasus was leaning over the edge of a low-hanging cloud, her deep purple eyes shining with mischief and her golden-yellow mane a riot of untamable tangles. If not for her colours and her wings, Pinkie could have sworn that she was looking up at an identical twin.

“Cupcakes…?” Pinkie sang hesitantly.

“Cupcakes!” the Pegasus sang back, hopping off the cloud with a flap of her wings and landing before the pink Earth Pony. Even her Cutie Marks were similar to Pinkie’s; where Pinkie had a trio of blue and yellow party balloons, the Pegasus was Marked with three identical purple balloons.

“Cupcakes!” Pinkie belted out joyously.

“CUPCAAAAAKES!” they both sang in unison, spreading their front legs out to the sky.

Both Ponies collapsed on the sun-warmed grass, giggling and snorting and kicking their legs.

After a good long laugh Pinkie Pie rolled onto her belly and wiped a tear from her eye. “You’re fun!” she said to the Pegasus. “I thought I knew everypony in Ponyville, but I’ve never seen you before – what’s your name?”

“That’s ‘cause I’m not from P-Ponyville,” said the Pegasus, still somewhat out of breath. “I live in Cloudsdale! My name’s Surprise.” She offered Pinkie a front hoof.

“Neat! I’m Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie slapped a hoof against Surprise’s.

Pinkie and Surprise suddenly convulsed as an electric shock ran through them both. When they managed to break contact, they revealed their joy buzzers to each other and fell into another fit of helpless giggles.

Rainbow Dash reclined on the pillow-like surface of a small low-hanging cloud and folded her front legs behind her head. She sighed a self-satisfied sigh.

With the exception of her current napping spot, the skies above Ponyville were totally clear and cloudless – and in record time, as always.

She was a minute or two from dozing off completely when she heard the familiar sound of a certain pink Earth Pony’s cheery giggle rising up from the streets below and echoing down off–

Rainbow Dash half-opened one eye and took in the view of the utterly empty skies. Off…what?

Suddenly, a snickering rush of white and yellow swooped past barely six inches above her. Rainbow Dash yelped in shock and nearly tumbled off the cloud. She clung to the underside of the cottony mass, and looked “up” at the ground below.

Pinkie Pie was there, meeting her gaze with a bright-eyed smile…but Pinkie’s giggle was coming from the top of the cloud.

“What the…?” Rainbow Dash frowned in confusion and then scrambled back up over the edge of the cloud, where she bumped nose-to-nose with a near-perfect Pegasus double for her Earth Pony friend.

“SURPRISE!” said the Pegasus.

Rainbow Dash was, indeed. She jerked back and dropped off the cloud. She landed safely on her back in a small haystack – which, for some reason, was sitting in the middle of the street.

“Hi again, Dashie!” said Pinkie, excitedly bouncing out from behind the haystack. “I made a new friend – her name’s Surprise! Isn’t she fun?”

Surprise flipped off of the cloud and twirled down to land in front of the other two Ponies. She folded her wings and waved a front hoof friendlily. Pinkie waved back in an identical gesture.

“Cool!” said Rainbow Dash. “You two got me good, there! Pleased to meet ya – I’m Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, I know,” Surprise replied. “It’s hard not to know about you – you’re the one who pulled off the Sonic Rainboom! And at such a low altitude…! I mean, how awesome is that?”

Rainbow Dash looked away and chuckled modestly. “Oh, well, I mean…” She giggled and trotted in place, her grin almost wider than her head. “I KNOW, right? I never thought I could do it again, but then…POW! Polychromatic Vapour Cone!”

“Poly…whah?” said Pinkie Pie, tilting her head to one side.

But the two Pegasi continued despite her confusion, their chat peppered with complicated aerodynamic shop-talk. Pinkie quickly lost the thread of the conversation entirely.

After a minute or two more she simply cut in, pushing the Pegasi apart with her hooves. “Hey, you guys! We should introduce Surprise to the rest of the gang – we can throw a welcome party!”

“Good idea, Pinkie!” said Rainbow Dash. “C’mon, Surprise – I bet they’ll get a real kick out of you!”

“So, Dashie,” said Pinkie Pie as the three of them trotted off deeper into town, “didya hear the one about the…” She looked to her side, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t there; she and Surprise were hovering above and ahead, continuing their conversation. “…Oh. Um, okie dokie – I’ll tell ya later!”

Pinkie bounded along as eagerly as always, but her ever-present smile shrank just a tiny bit.

“My, my, my!” said Rarity, eyeing her Pegasus visitor up and down. “How do you keep your coat so white? You simply must tell me your secret!”

Surprise, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had stopped in at Carousel Boutique to introduce Surprise to their fashionable Unicorn friend. Breaking the ice, it seemed, was not going to be an issue.

“Aww, it’s easy,” said Surprise, waving a front hoof dismissively. “A rain-water shower and a quick scrub with a piece of cloud every morning keeps me bright and shiny!”

“You use clouds instead of sponges?” Rarity sighed at the thought. “They must be so wonderfully soft.”

“I could bring you down some – I bet you could use your magic to hold them!” Surprise grinned.

“You could? Oh, why that would be simply marvelous! How kind of you!” Rarity clopped her front hooves together excitedly.

“Nah, it’s no problem!”

“Now, now, don’t be modest. And speaking of that – I love what you’ve done with your mane. So daring!”

Pinkie Pie’s eyes darted from Surprise’s frizzy locks, to the reflection of her own identical mane in a nearby mirror, to the industrial-strength hairdryer under which Rarity had insisted she sit for ages and ages before the last Grand Galloping Gala, and back again. Her brow knitted in confusion. “But, you said my mane was–”

“Pshaw!” said Surprise, cutting off Pinkie’s quiet objection. “This ol’ mop? I can’t do a thing with it.” She nudged a springy forelock with a front hoof. “You want to see a great mane? Check her out.” Surprise pointed to Rainbow Dash, who was standing nearby idly balancing a tower of thread spools on her outstretched back leg.

“Oh, don’t bother,” Rarity lamented. “I’ve tried again and again to get her to let me style her, but she won’t have it.”

“Really?” said Surprise with some, well, surprise. “I’d a’ thought you’d be right on board with a slick ‘do, Dashie!”

“Dashie?” said Pinkie Pie. “That’s m–”

“Who, me?” said Dash, leaving Pinkie cut-off once more. The spools dropped to the floor. “No way! I keep things natural.” She mussed her already-unruly mane with her front hooves.

“You know…” said Surprise airily, “A smoother mane and tail could reduce your drag coefficient…”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “I hadn’t thought of that…!”

“Makeover-rr-rr!” sang Rarity gleefully. She started hustling her rainbow-maned friend toward the Boutique’s cosmetology room. “Pinkie,” she added over her shoulder, “could you keep an eye on the front door until we’re done? I don’t want to miss any customers.”

“Well–”

“Splendid! Thanks so much!”

The trio headed off to work on Rainbow Dash’s coiffure while she was willing, and soon laughter and delighted chatter echoed out from the adjoining room.

Pinkie sat down heavily in front of one of the shop’s many, many mirrors and felt her smile lose another few degrees of width. She looked up at her dangling, frizzy pink forelock and blew up at it. It flipped aside and then quickly bounced back into place.

Twilight Sparkle surveyed the perfectly-tidied interior of her library home with pride. The re-organization had taken the better part of the day, but now every book was properly filed according to the Dobbin Decimal System.

And then a blue Pegasus smashed in through a window and crashed into the largest shelf.

“RAINBOW DASH!” Twilight bellowed angrily once the dust had cleared, “…did you change your mane?”

Dash pulled free from a large pile of tomes and shook out her wings. Her mane was swept back into a tight multi-hued braid and her tail was similarly bound, with the tip styled into a fin-like flare. “Yup! Sorry about that, Twilight – I’m still getting used to it.” She ran a front hoof over the smoothed hair and chuckled.

“Since when do–”

“SURPRISE!”

Twilight yelped and leaped back as a white Pegasus burst in through her front door. Rarity and Pinkie Pie brought up the rear behind her.

“Hi!” said the Pegasus. “You must be Twilight Sparkle! It’s just great to meet you! I’m Surprise!” She took Twilight’s hoof and shook it energetically and then jerked her head to and fro, taking in the library’s interior. “Ooh! Books! This is so neat!”

“It is…?” said Twilight, still somewhat dazed. She shook her head. “I mean, yes – I suppose it is!”

“We mostly just have scrolls in Cloudsdale.” Surprise trotted over to the pile and hoofed at one of the fallen books, flipping its pages. “Hee hee! Cool! How do the pages stick together?” She closed the book. “And what are these holders made of?”

Twilight grinned. “It’s usually a combination of resin and thread.” She magicked up the book, angling it to show its bottom edge. “And the covers are wood or layered paper coated in cloth.”

“Oooohh…” said Surprise, clearly fascinated. “Tell me more!” Flattered to the point of blushing, Twilight obliged.

“Really?” said Pinkie doubtingly. But with Rainbow Dash experimentally streaking to and fro near the ceiling and Rarity busying herself with magicking the fallen books into neat piles, nopony answered. Pinkie turned, hopped up on a nearby stool, and rested her front hooves on the damaged windowsill. She looked out at the town and sighed.

As the group of five Ponies approached Sugarcube Corner an outdoor display came into view. Banners and pennants marked with bright red apples hung everywhere, and tables covered with freshly-baked desserts covered the area in front of the cake shop.

Pinkie Pie had been lagging at the back of the group, but she perked up when she saw the decorations. “Oh wow!” she said. “The promotion with Sweet Apple Acres! I forgot all about it!”

“Howdy, y’all!” said Applejack as the group approached the tables. The orange Earth Pony tipped her Stetson at Surprise when she saw her. “Well hey there, stranger. I’m Applejack!”

“This is Surprise!” said Rainbow Dash, surging up next to her fellow Pegasus and friendlily wrapping a front leg over her shoulders. “She’s visiting from Cloudsdale.”

“Heya!” said Surprise. Applejack nodded and smiled. Behind her, near the cake-shop’s front door, Applejack’s massive red brother Big Macintosh copied her nod.

“Isn’t she lovely?” asked Rarity. “I do love a well-kept coat.”

Twilight Sparkle trotted up as well, and soon the afternoon’s festivities were in full swing. Passers-by came to buy the bakery- and farm-made snacks, and everypony mingled and enjoyed themselves immensely.

Almost everypony.

Pinkie Pie sat at one of the farthest tables, watching a party from its edge for the first time she could remember. She was so preoccupied that she almost didn’t notice when a pink-maned pale yellow Pegasus crept over and sat down next to her.

“Oh hey Fluttershy!” said Pinkie. “What’s up, bestest buddy?” She pulled Fluttershy into a somewhat possessive sidelong hug.

“*oof!* U-Um, I’m…I j-just thought I’d…I was going to…I…” Fluttershy trailed off, squirming in Pinkie’s grip. She let out a tiny squeak and then angled her head so that her mane drooped forward and hid her face.

“Aww, don’t be nervous!” said Pinkie, giving Fluttershy a harder squeeze. “All our friends are here–”

“C’MON, you two!” said a sudden voice from above. “You can’t enjoy a shindig like this by sitting it out!”

Surprise dropped down like a hawk on the hunt and snatched Fluttershy out of Pinkie’s grasp. Fluttershy squealed in dismay.

“HEY…!” said Pinkie, hopping to her hooves.

Surprise twirled in a midair pirouette and then let go of her panicking fellow Pegasus.

Fluttershy flapped her wings desperately in an effort to slow her fall, but she couldn’t stop herself in time as Big Macintosh’s broad crimson hide filled her vision. The impact tipped the hefty stallion over like a startled cow.

“What’s the big idea?” Pinkie shouted up to her winged doppelganger. She pointed over at the tangled pair. “Look what you–”

Pinkie stopped and stared.

Big Macintosh was gently helping Fluttershy to her hooves, a warm but anxious smile on his face. Fluttershy was meekly smiling back. Both Ponies’ cheeks positively glowed with a bashful blush. They shared a long, soulful glance, helplessly drawn to one another, their lips mere inches apart…before they both turned away and chuckled nervously.

Pinkie’s jaw dropped. “H-How…?” she said incredulously.

“Well, it was pretty obvious the way she was lookin’ at him, you know?” said Surprise with a grin. “I figured she just needed a little bump in the right direction!” She swung her hips out at the air.

“Wh-wha…”

Before Pinkie could continue, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, the owners of Sugarcube Corner, stepped out of the front door.

“While we’ve still got the ovens hot, would anypony like to try their hoof at a little baking?” asked Mrs. Cake.

Yes! Baking! thought Pinkie. Just what I need to get back in the groo–

“OOH! I do!” shouted Surprise, raising a hoof. “I’d love to try out this fruit mousse recipe I learned – I bet it would work great with these farm-fresh apples!”

“Did somepony say…apples?” asked Applejack, streaking over to stand next to Surprise in a split second.

Pinkie Pie growled in frustration and stomped her front hooves. While her bosses and her friend went off to go and make mousse-whatever, Pinkie stalked off to a different part of the cake shop.

She stormed up the stairs at the back of Sugarcube Corner and headed to her room. She kicked the door closed with a back leg. The sounds of cookery and laughter from the kitchen downstairs were only partially blocked out.

A tiny, toothless alligator popped up from between the pillows on her bed and regarded her blankly with its staring purple eyes.

Pinkie trotted over to the bed and flopped down on her belly facing her pet. “Oh, Gummy,” she lamented, “what am I gonna do? Everypony likes Surprise more than me! They’re treating me like I don’t even exist!”

Gummy smiled widely, displaying his empty pink mouth.

“But I already tried to just keep smiling!” said Pinkie desperately. “It didn’t work!”

The alligator blinked his eyes slightly out of sync.

Pinkie gasped in horrified shock. “Do you really think so?”

Gummy yawned and curled up for a nap.

Pinkie Pie’s expression grew stern. “You’re right…! I’m not gonna take this lying down!” She hopped off her bed and struck a determined pose.

Just then, Pinkie’s door swung open and a familiar blonde Pegasus stuck her head into the room. Pinkie Pie scowled.

“There you are, you silly filly!” said Surprise. “I’ve been looking for you!”

“Oh? Why’s that?” asked Pinkie sarcastically. “Wanna know if I have any more friends you can steal?”

“What?” said Surprise in disbelief. “B-But…I’m not–”

“SAVE IT!” Pinkie barked. She trotted up to Surprise until she was almost nose-to-nose with the Pegasus. “I felt like there was something sketchy about you, and now I’ve got you figured out! You think you can just flap in here and take all my friends away! WELL YOU CAN’T!”

Pinkie shoved Surprise back with a front hoof. “They’re MY friends! I made them all by myself, and you can’t have ‘em!” Pinkie’s eyes were stinging with tears now. In her fury, she failed to spot the same thing happening to Surprise. “I’m the Party-Pony here, and you’re just a mean ol’ friend-stealer! So why don’t you just BUZZ OFF!”

The force of that final shout blew the Pegasus’ mane and tail back, and left them straight and drooping in its wake.

Surprise’s features twisted with distress. She backed out of the room until her rump hit the far hallway wall, and then she turned and galloped down the stairs, sobbing all the way.

Pinkie Pie was still standing in her doorway, panting in anger through clenched teeth. But as the sounds of Surprise’s cries echoed from the lower floor, from out in the street and then from the open sky Pinkie felt her rage draining away. Soon it was all but gone, and all it left behind was an icky weight in the pit of her stomach.

“Uh-oh…” she said softly.

Pinkie, Pinkie

PART TWO – Pinkie, Pinkie

Pinkie Pie felt betrayed – not by Surprise, but by herself.

She had stood up for herself and fought to keep her friends – her super-special Elements of Harmony friends, no less – so why did she feel so bad?

“It’s not fair!” she muttered.

She plodded down the stairs and into Sugarcube Corner’s main room, where numerous partygoers – including her friends – were still frozen in shock after seeing Surprise’s teary exit.

“Sorry, everypony,” said Pinkie, her eyes downcast. “Surprise and I got in a fight, and I don’t think she’ll be coming back.” She sighed glumly.

“Oh, that’s simply awful news, dah-ling,” said Rarity, putting a front hoof to her mouth in dismay. “I thought you two were getting along so well!”

“Yeah!” agreed Rainbow Dash. “She couldn’t stop talking about you!”

“Really…?” said Pinkie, her brows knitting in confusion.

“Totally!” Rainbow Dash swept a hoof out in a wide gesture. “I mean, on the way to the Boutique…”

“…Speaking of lift, I can’t believe that Pinkie Pie can walk on clouds, even though she’s an Earth Pony! That’s amazing! And is it true she drank a rainbow?” Surprise could barely contain her eager excitement.

“Well, a Unicorn we know actually did that cloud trick with a spell, but she SO drank one, yeah – right outta the mixing vat! I thought she was gonna EXPLODE!” Rainbow Dash laughed at the memory. “Oh, and get this: she built her own FLYING MACHINE!”

“NO…WAY!” Surprise pressed her front hooves to her cheeks. “That is so…AWESOME!”

Pinkie Pie’s eyebrows rose. “She…she said that?”

“She thinks the world of you, dear,” said Rarity. “Why, while I was styling Rainbow Dash’s coiffure…”

Surprise gasped. “Really? The whole town? How did she do it?”

“It was music that soothed the savage little beasts,” said Rarity. She clucked her tongue and magicked the cape resting around Rainbow Dash’s shoulders into a skin-tight wrap, binding the fidgeting Pegasus while she ran a levitating brush through her tangled mane. “She played a one-Pony band and danced them right out of town!”

“She plays music, too…?” Surprise whispered, awestruck. “Wow!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa…this is a kwa-foor?” said Rainbow Dash with a touch of horror. “That wasn’t part of our deal!” She stirred her hooves on her mane, trying to undo the fine braid.

Rarity slapped a hoof to her forehead in annoyance.

“I don’t know about any of that,” said Twilight Sparkle, “but Surprise was definitely pretty excited to hear about how you always seem to be able to find the right book when we need it.”

“…An’ she couldn’t hear enough about all the cake-eatin’ contests you’ve won,” added Applejack.

Fluttershy cringed and mumbled something inaudible in Pinkie’s direction.

Pinkie trotted over and leaned in close. “Hmm…?” she said.

Fluttershy gulped. A soft blush rose up on the bridge of her nose. “S-She apologized a-about…about dropping me,” she whispered, “and she said she was just trying to do what you would have done.” Fluttershy cringed lower. “She was right, too…you always try to help me. That’s, um, that’s…that’s why I didn’t tell you this time. B-Be…B-Because…” Fluttershy’s blush had brightened to a deep cherry red and had spread to her whole face.

“I getcha,” said Pinkie, patting Fluttershy on the head.

Fluttershy murmured unintelligibly.

Pinkie Pie turned to face Twilight Sparkle. “Twilight, I need you to do that cloud-magic thingy on my hooves again. There’s something I gotta take care of…Pinkie Pie Style.”

Surprise plodded numbly into her cloud-built living room. Her dragging hooves left divots in the floor which her flat tail smoothed out behind her. She sat down heavily on a wide pillow.

She looked over to the opposite wall, where a collection of clippings from the Equestria Daily newspaper were pinned up between two windows. One headline read: Six fillies avert eternal night. Another read: Grand Galloping Gala a ‘Fiasco’: Pr. Blueblood. A third: Ponyville Six defeat Discord. Surprise sighed a self-pitying sigh.

And then a pink Earth Pony piloting a hoof-cranked flying machine smashed through the wall.

The contraption spun wildly as it careened into the room, but the pilot managed to guide it to a skidding upright stop.

“Okay, I really hope this one is the right house,” said Pinkie Pie, dismounting and dusting herself off. “Those last four Pegasi were super rude!” She turned, and her blue eyes met Surprise’s morose purple gaze. “Oh…!” Pinkie smiled triumphantly, but not for long. “Oh. Uh…hi,” she said softly, and meekly waved a front hoof.

Surprise frowned and turned away. “Wh-why are you here?” she muttered, clearly putting no small effort into keeping her voice from cracking.

Pinkie rubbed one foreleg with the other nervously. “I’m sorry I was a meanie before. I talked to my friends, and they said – well, I mean they explained…” Pinkie Pie grunted, annoyed with herself. “If you knew who I was and you thought I was so awesome, why didn’t you just say so?”

“Are you crazy?” said Surprise, rolling over to face Pinkie once more. “I couldn’t just talk to you!”

Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow. “Uhhhhh….why not?”

“Well, DUH – maybe because you’re just the most famous party-Pony ever?” Surprise pointed at the clippings on the wall. “It took me forever to work up the courage to get your attention, and after that joy-buzzer bit I was fresh outta material! I mean, how could I measure up to you? You can throw a party together in a minute flat! You saved Equestria! Twice! You’re my idol! I even got my Cutie Mark because of you!”

Pinkie shook her head until it rattled. “I am? You did?”

“Yeah! When I was a little filly…”

Surprise sat on the lone cloud and heaved a heavy sigh. She brushed a lock of straight blonde mane out of her eyes with a hoof. “Dumb popular Pegasi,” she muttered. “Oh, come play hide-and-seek with us, Surprise! I bet you’re reeeaaally good at hiding!” She stomped a hoof on the cloud. “Yeah, right! Hide-and-seek? More like hide-and-get-left-there-on-purpose! …By jerks!” She scowled. “I spent the day crammed inside a rain cloud, AND I missed a Sonic Rainboom! A SONIC RAINBOOM!” She growled in frustration.

She leaned over the edge of the cloud and looked down at the world below. “Maybe I should just give up on bein’ a Pegasus,” she lamented. “Maybe I should just hit the dirt and go farm rocks like those boring Earth Ponies…”

The family in question trotted out of their farmhouse, looking for all the world like the least exciting Ponies who ever lived. But then a frizzy pink foal burst out of the silo door, accompanied by raucous music and several escaping balloons. The Earth Ponies were having a party!

“Whah…?”

Surprise watched the balloons as they rose up to meet her. They were backlit by the morning sun, silhouetted in the bright light. As Surprise reached out a hoof toward one of them, the heat and altitude made them pop. She yelped excitedly and leaped backward on the cloud, and then collapsed into a fit of giggling. “Forget those stupid popular Pegasi!” she exclaimed. “If that Earth Pony can be happy, then I can, too! I’ll have fun, and laugh, and play pranks! I’ll be…” She rubbed her head on the cloud’s cottony surface. Static electricity sparked through her hair, and her mane popped into a mess of frizzy tangles. “...A PARTY-PONY!”

A shimmer of destiny sparkled on her flanks, leaving a trio of balloon silhouettes in its wake.

“I never forgot that, and then years later I found out you were famous, too!” said Surprise, a touch of her former excitement returning to her voice. “I read all about the awesome stuff you and your friends did…” Surprise’s delight faded. “…But then I made you mad, and now you totally hate me.” Her frown was so heavy it seemed to pull her entire body toward to the floor.

“Hey…!” said Pinkie. “That isn’t true! I told you already – I was the one wearing the meanie-pants back there!” Pinkie looked down at her front hooves. “I just got so…jealous! I was scared they’d…they’d all like you more than me. I mean, you know all about flying–”

Surprise raised an eyebrow. “I’m a Pegasus.”

“And you know how to wash with clouds…”

“Pegasus,” Surprise repeated.

“Yeah, but what about–”

“Pinkie, I get the feeling your friends don’t like you for being just like them. I think it’s the opposite of that, actually. Nopony is quite like you! That’s what makes you so cool!” Surprise’s tone was brightening once more.

“Awww…” said Pinkie, flushing slightly. “You aren’t a friend-stealer at all, Surprise! You’re…you’re a ton of fun!”

Surprise perked up further. “I…I am…?”

“Totally! I might have Ponyville covered, but you would make a great party-Pony for Cloudsdale!”

“F-for the whole city?” a faint glimmer shone in Surprise’s eyes. “You really think I could?”

“I know you could!” Pinkie smiled a massive smile. “C’mon – up high!” She raised a front hoof.

A tiny little grin creased Surprise’s mouth. She slapped a hoof to Pinkie’s, and both Ponies shuddered in place as their joy buzzers went off. The shock made Surprise’s mane and tail burst back into clouds of frizz. Once they parted hooves, Surprise pulled Pinkie into a hug.

“Thanks, Pinkie,” she whispered. “I mean it!”

Pinkie Pie hugged back. “Anytime! I’m so happy things worked out!”

Both Ponies burst into joyful weeping, releasing twin fountains of tears.

“HEY!” Surprise recovered instantly.

Pinkie did likewise. “…You know what this calls for…?”

“A PARTY!” they said in unison, spreading their front hooves upwards and releasing clouds of confetti.

A few hours and a great deal of aerial merrymaking later, Pinkie Pie stowed her cycle-copter-majig in the small shed she’d assembled not far from Rainbow Dash’s floating home. She nosed the door closed and turned to trot back into Ponyville.

Pleased with recent events as she was, Pinkie couldn’t help but happily hum as she bounded down the dirt road. She proceeded that way for a time, until she passed by a large pond.

A gentle wind stirred the reeds at the water’s edge, and carried a faint sing-song sound to Pinkie’s ears:

Shooo-bee-doooo…

Intrigued, Pinkie trotted over to the pond and stared down at the water. For a brief moment, it seemed like her reflection wore a slightly different smile than she did…and had fins.

“Nahhh,” said Pinkie, turning back to the road, “maybe next time.”