“You silly filly,” Pinkie Pie said, balancing several plates of cakes and other confectionery on her head and forelegs, “you should have come to me first if you were looking for advice.”

        Somehow, the pink earth pony navigated her way through the busy confines of Sugarcube Corner without dropping anything, making sure that every dish made it to its intended recipient. Pinkie Pie had a habit of pulling stunts like this off, yet nopony had ever questioned why. Well, Twilight Sparkle had tried, but she'd quickly given up, coming to the same conclusion as the rest of Equestria:

        She was just being Pinkie Pie!

        “There's no great shakes to making a great squeeze,” she said, making her way back to the counter where Fluttershy stood, “you just gotta be fun!”

        At the mention of the word fun, a bouquet of brightly-coloured confetti bloomed into existence behind her, even though the party cannon was in storage in her bedroom at the moment. Fluttershy felt that she did a great job of not jumping out of her skin at the sudden noise and colour.

        For their part, the denizens of Sugarcube Corner took it in their stride. They were fairly used to these oddities by now.

        “Fun?” said Fluttershy. “Huh, I'm pretty sure I can do that.”

        “Sure you can,” Pinkie Pie replied, narrowing her eyes at the pegasus. “Hit me with your best joke!”

        “My wha-?”

        “Best joke,” Pinkie Pie said, a bit louder and a hair more impatiently than before. Gesturing to the waiting customers, she added, “I got people to serve, missy. Best joke. Now!”

        “Uh, well, that is to say ...” Not accustomed to being on the spot like this, Fluttershy's mind reeled; part of her wanted to run away and hide, but another, altogether smaller and weedier part, demanded that she stay and fight her corner. Eventually, she hit on something in the dusty recesses of her memory. “Why did the horse cross the road?”

        “I dunno. Why did the horse cross the road?”

        “Because somepony shouted Hay!”

        An uncomfortably long moment passed in silence in which Pinkie Pie just stared at Fluttershy, and the pegasus began to grow more and more nervous as the intense eye-contact refused to abate; just as the tension became unbearable, the earth pony hit the deck with a tremendous thud and erupted in a fit of giggles. Writhing around on the floor, unable to contain her cacophonous laughter, she managed to say in between convulsions, “Oh, Celestia, that was a good one, Fluttershy! I mean, Hay! I didn't even see it coming!”

        “It wasn't that funny,” Fluttershy said quietly, but secretly she couldn't help but be delighted with Pinkie Pie's response, even if she was milking it just a tad.

        Literally, milk was pouring out of her ears and nose.

        It made the tiny one percent of her that wasn't a quivering wreck believe that she could, in fact, pull tonight off without looking like a colossal fool.

        “I really do have to serve these customers, though,” Pinkie Pie said, recovering her composure.

        “Oh, right, sorry.” Fluttershy scarpered in a flash.

        “Hay,” Pinkie Pie said, snorting in amusement.