Author's Notes:

Originally a submission for Equestria Daily's Writer's Training Grounds for "Party Pooped". My first story; feedback and opinions are more than welcome!

"See you all in a few hours!"

"Bye, Pinkie!"
"We'll miss you!"
"Have fun in Baltimare!"

Pinkie Pie was leaving on a trip. She was planning a very special party for two ponies in the faraway town of Baltimare. It wasn't like it was for a whole week--it was only for a few hours, and the pink Earth pony promised she'd be back soon. Now, as she got on the train, she waved goodbye to her friends.

"I'll miss all of youuuuu...!"
And then she was off, only a pink speck in the distance.

As Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack walked home together, it was Rainbow Dash who started the conversation. "So, about Pinkie Pie's super-awesome party cave..."

"Oh, I thought it was amazing." Fluttershy commented.
"Simply divine!" Rarity chimed in.

"I still can't believe she has files on every pony in town. That's incredible!" Twilight had indeed been taken aback by Pinkie's files, and was still completely embarrassed by the fact all of her friends knew about her fear of quesadillas.

"I wonder if we should go down there and take a peek again?" Applejack suggested. "I'd like to see who else she has a file on. We never did get to read many of the files in-depth."

Everyone agreed, with "yes"es and nods of their heads. And with that, they trotted over to Ponyville and Sugarcube Corner as quickly as they could.

As they arrived at Pinkie's place of residence, they said hello to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who of course didn't mind Pinkie's friends being upstairs.

The girls trotted upstairs, and as Twilight once again bonked her head on the cupcake as she was talking to Rarity. The trap door opened, and the Mane 6--save one, of course--slid down the slide that was the entrance to the party cave. It surprised them quite a bit, as they gave yells of surprise when they slid.

Everyone marveled at the cave, as Pinkie had made a few improvements after the Yaks had left: she added more balloons, and more candy. She even painted her filing cabinets while she was at it, a lovely shade of pink.

Applejack was the first one to the files, and starting hoofing through them. "Hey, here's one on Winona! And Gummy, and Opal..."

"Let me see!" Rainbow Dash flew over, and found one on Tank. Picking it up, she began to read. "'Tank loves all sorts of things: leaves, fruits, you name it! He seems to be the quiet type, so I tend to hold his parties with only a few guests attending.'"

Fluttershy had nabbed Angel's file. "'Angel likes vegetables, but what he really really loves is to be the star of the show! He doesn't like big parties, but that's okay--I can usually get him to warm up!'" She couldn't help but smile at that.

"Look, here's one for Apple Bloom!"
"Sweetie Belle!"
"Scootaloo!" Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash respectively grabbed the three fillies' files.

"'Apple Bloom is one hard worker! Sometimes, if her party isn't a surprise, she helps me plan it! She loves apple pie, and sometimes even asks for apple cake, which I'm more than happy to make!'" Applejack made a bit of a confused expression at the 'apple cake' part, but her frown soon turned upside down.

"'Sweetie Belle loves to sing, so at her parties I always try to set up karaoke for her and the other party guests! She loves anything with vanilla--vanilla cake, vanilla ice cream, you name it! She's a really fun party guest too--at other parties I always spot her talking to somepony or just having fun!"' Rarity never knew her sister liked all of those things. It made her feel guilty, because she had never given Sweetie what she liked on her birthdays. But Rarity always tried her best, and her sister knew that. Smiling, the unicorn mare clutched the file to her chest.

"'Scootaloo, on the other hoof, loves anything daredevil, and especially flying, so sometimes I set up flying parties for her so she can get better, and I invite lots of pegasi--I even got a few members of the Wonderbolts here one time! She loves them! Though, she hates strawberry cake, so I always give her chocolate, which she seems to enjoy.'" Rainbow Dash looked a bit shocked as well upon reading the young filly's file. Though Scootaloo wasn't actually her sister, the two pegasi were best friends. "Why didn't Scootaloo ever tell me this? We've talked about birthdays and parties tons of times!"

As Fluttershy and Twilight exchanged glances with each other, they watched their friends marveling over their sister's--and best friend's--files. They didn't say anything.

Until Rarity piped up. "Oh, I feel so guilty! Sweetie Belle always wanted these things for her birthday, but she never had them, because I never knew what she liked. I was a horrible sister!"

"You were never a horrible sister, Rarity. None of us were." Applejack trotted up to her friend, placing a hoof on her back comfortingly. "We all tried our best to give our sisters the parties they liked. And even if they didn't like them, they still had fun anyhow. That's what's important."

"Yeah! It's not the actual presents and stuff that makes a difference. It's knowing we tried our best." The three ponies all shared a hug.

"Now that's true friendship." Twilight commented, with Fluttershy nodding in agreement.

"Hey everypony! I'm back!" The voice of Pinkie Pie could be heard as she slid down the slide. She paused when she saw her friends, who all glanced back at her, and files scattered all over the floor. "Well, it looks like someponies have been looking through my party files!"

"Again." Twilight admitted. "We couldn't resist."

"Yes, darling. Each file is just another reminder of your hard work." Rarity chimed in, using her unicorn magic to tuck the file away into its proper spot.

"And they all have interesting facts too, like did you know Princess Celestia always has a hankering for chocolate and vanilla cake?" Fluttershy waved Celestia's file in the air, but when she did, it caused all of the papers in the folder to fall out. "Oops, I'm so sorry. I'll clean it up." She then began to gather all of the papers in a pile.

"Let me help you!" Pinkie offered, bouncing her way to her friend with a small smile.

"No, no, it's fine, I don't need-" Truth be told, the papers kept on slipping out of the pegasus's hooves. Her visage revealed that she was getting a bit frustrated when her head was down, but when she looked back up at Pinkie, her face showed sadness. "Actually, I...um...could use some help, please."

"Sure thing!" Pinkie gathered all of the papers together neatly. She was about to grab them with her teeth when unicorn magic caused the papers to be tucked back into the folder. The Earth pony glanced at Twilight, whose horn was glowing. She gave a smile, and put the folder away in the filing cabinet. "Oh, thanks Twilight!"

"No problem. And besides, I don't think you want teeth marks on your papers." As the alicorn's horn stopped glowing its usual purple color, she let out a giggle.

Pinkie laughed too. "No...but they would make nice staple indents!" Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Twilight all laughed at that.

"So how was your trip to Baltimare? Was it fun?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh yes! The party for Cherry Top and Mr. Fortune went great! They had loads of fun!" She bounced all around. "And the best part? They asked me to plan all of their parties from now on!" The pink pony's smile turned into a full-on toothy grin, and everypony gave their encouragement and congratulations.

"Now, how about we look through those files some more...?" And with Pinkie's suggestion, the Mane 6 had a day of reading files and learning new things about their fellow pony folk, and even laughing at some of the things they liked at their parties.