One day remained...

One day remained until the big day finally arrived.

Rainbow's birthday was soon arriving, and you couldn't wait. In all your time in Equestria, you hadn't yet found yourself in an event as major as this.
Of course, it was only a birthday, but whenever one of the Mane 6 had a birthday, it was always a big deal. Especially when it came down to Rainbow Dash.

But still, one whole entire day stood between you and the birthday. One whole day of boredom, and a lack of things to do. All the buildup to the big day had been getting to you, and now time was passing over twice as slowly as usual.

Combining that with the fact that the only thing you had to do was go to work at Sweet Apple Acres, it was gonna be an excruciatingly long day.
Both of your gifts were still hidden under your bed, waiting to be received, but you would still have to bare another day of work to see Rainbow's reaction.

While you were almost certain she would like the Wonderbolt's tickets you had gotten her, the other gift you were... unsure about.
It was merely a piece of paper, but the two words that were on that piece of paper could change your life in this world forever. For better or for worse.

Nevertheless, the quicker you got to work, the sooner the day would arrive. There was still the matter of cleaning up the barn after the food fight you had with Rainbow yesterday. Applejack was almost definitely going to make you clean that up.

It was something to do, though. Anything to abbreviate the boredom or speed up the time.

"Heya, sugarcube!" Applejack greeted you cheerfully, as you landed in front of her. You were attempting not to make eye contact, fearing her reaction to the mess you had made of her barn, "I, uh... Don't suppose you had anything to do with that mess in mah barn?"

Just what you had feared. Of course she was going to bring it up as soon as possible. Well, there was no point in denying it. Only you and Rainbow had even been near the barn during that timespan.

"Ok, yes, I may have had something to do with it." you admitted, lowering your head shamefully, "I'll clean it all up as soon as possible."

Wanting to bear the brunt of your punishment as soon as possible, you had already turned towards the barn, but Applejack stopped you.

"There'll be no need for that, sugarcube!" she said, cheerfully, and stopping you dead in your tracks in the process, "Ah already cleaned it up!"

You quickly spun around in her direction with shock. She had really cleaned up the entire barn by herself?

"You did? But why? I made that mess!" you said, the guilt now getting more intense.

"Well... after seeing all the cider the two of you had made, I figured it was the least ah could do. Besides, ya'll helped get all those apple, remember?" she explained, giving you a reassuring smile.

That did make you feel a little better about the whole situation. You had bucked every single one of the Apple Family's fields clean of apples. Not a single tree remained unbuckled.

"I guess, but..." you said, not managing to fully suppress the guilt. While the trouble you and Rainbow got up too, it always tended to have its repercussions.
Whether that be illness, or tedious chores, the fun you had usually came with a price. It would always be worth it though.

"But nothin', sugarcube. Anyway, ah got another job for ya today, anyway." Applejack said, diverting your thoughts from the guilt that was once again beginning to build up.

If Applejack had a new job for you, that was definitely gonna help this day go by faster.

"Oh really? What is it?" you asked, eager to find out what you would be working with today. As long as it wasn't as boring as making apple cider, you would be fine with whatever the orange earth pony threw your way.

"Well, it's not exactly work for me..." she explained, giving an anxious smile, "Ah want you to go and help Pinkie Pie plan the birthday party for tomorrow."

That wasn't what you were expecting, but you'll take it. Everything was fun when Pinkie was involved. Somehow, that pink bundle of joy managed to brighten up every situation. It was only fitting that she would be planning the party.

"Sure! Where do I go?" you asked, eager to see what she had planed for the big day.

"Sugarcube Corner. You've been there before right?" Applejack asked, still remaining conscious of the fact that you were still relatively new to Ponyville.

"Yep! My welcoming party was there, remember?" you reminded her.

Quite honestly, if you could relive a day, you would choose that one. Being able to meet all the Mane 6 for the first time was like a dream come true. Not to mention, now you were best friends with the majority of them.
It didn't get much better than this.

"Heh, right... Anyways, ah'll see ya'll tomorrow for the party!" Applejack said, walking off towards the barn whilst waving a hoof to you. You saved back as she disappeared into the barn for some unknown reason. Maybe she hadn't finished cleaning the place just yet.

Anyway, you had work to do. Lifting from the ground, you shot off in the direction of Ponyvill, and before long were standing before the entrance of Sugarcube Corner.

It had been quite a while since you were last there. In fact, it had been quite a while since you had last seen Pinkie Pie. As far as you could remember, the last time you had even spoke to her was at the grand opening ceremony of apple cider season.

Realising you were getting lost in your own nostalgic thoughts, you snapped back to reality and walked up to the front door. Already you could feel the vibes of a party resonating through the door.

Finally entering the building, rows and rows of tables all stacked with different cakes lined the walls. The majority of which were decorated with rainbow coloured icing, and multicoloured candles. Mr and Mrs Cake never failed to amaze you with what they could do.

Despite this, Pinkie was nowhere to be seen. You almost expected her to be rushing from one side of the room to the other, hurriedly preparing the party even though she had more than enough time to do so.
But she was nowhere to be seen.

"Pinkie Pie?" you called. If she was anywhere in the building, she would surely react to somepony calling her name.

"You broke your pinkie promise!" Pinkie Pie screamed as she emerged from a potted plant in the corner of the room.

"Holy shit, Pinkie!" you screamed, falling back slightly as the angry pony moved away from the pot she had just emerged from. Out of all the things you were expecting, this was not one of them.
Although, it was Pinkie, so it wasn't too strange of a thing for her to be hiding inside of a plant pot.

And that reminded you, you had broken your promise. She hadn't appeared when you broke it, but you had a feeling she was going to confront you eventually.

"How dare you break your pinkie promise to Twilight!" Pinkie exclaimed, walking up towards you fiercely. You had never been so strangely intimidated.

"I know, I'm sorry, but I had to get rid of my bad dreams!" you said in a futile attempt to calm the raging earth pony.

"Save it! Nopony who breaks a pinkie promise is a friend of mine!" she exclaimed, turning away from your and crossing her hoofs.
You stared at her, sadly, not knowing how to respond. Never in all your time in Equestria had you upset somepony like this, "But you are still new here, so I guess I can forgive you!"

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie turned around with a beaming smile on her face, as if all your past mistakes had been forgotten. You gave her a puzzled look, but her smile didn't change.

"I'm-"

"Oh, I know! You're not really a pony, and you're from another world! But in that other world, you died, and then got turned into a pony and sent to Equestria!" Pinkie Pie explained, enthusiastically.

What in the actual...

How did she know all that? All you were going to say was that you were sorry, but somehow Pinkie knew all of this. You had a feeling that you shouldn't have been surprised. It was Pinkie after all.

"I'm right, right?" she asked, noticing your puzzled silence.

"Right..." was all you could say, still trying to recover from Pinkie's slightly concerning knowledge of your past, "So what do you want me to do here?"

Slightly shaken up, you wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Oh, right!" Pinkie exclaimed, hurriedly tidying up every table in the room in less than a second, "I just need you too..."

Her voice was interrupted by another voice coming from outside, but from the way it sounded, it was almost like she intended to be interrupted.

"Hey, Pinkie! Can I see what you've been up too in there?" a familiar voice called. That voice was the all too familiar voice of Rainbow Dash, and if she entered Sugarcube Corner and saw the party early, then everything that Pinkie had planned would be ruined.

"Stop that from happening!" Pinkie finished, finally concluding the sentence that was interrupted.

You gave her a nervous grin, knowing that you had to stop Rainbow from entering if it was the last thing you did. Walking up to the door, Rainbow Dash was already hovering there, an eager smile on her face.
At least she had the manners to wait at the door and not barge in.

"Heyyyyy, Rainbow..." you said, giving her the same nervous grin you had given Pinkie.

"Oh, hey Storm! What're you doing here?" she asked, currently not seeming to suspicious of your presence.

But know that you thought about it, how exactly were you going to explain yourself. There was no real reason for you to be at Sugarcube Corner, but nothing was stopping you from making up a reason.

"I'm, um..." you began, quickly trying to think of a reason, "Getting some... cakes for Twilight?"

You didn't think it was very convincing, but she seemed to buy it. At least for now, anyway.

"What's Twilight want with cake?" Rainbow asked, crossing her hooves.

"Something about Princess Celestia, I don't know..." you lied. Speaking of Celestia, you were still yet to meet the Alicorn princesses.
That was a moment you were looking forward too, but were scared of nonetheless.

"Oh, well is Pinkie in there?" she asked, attempting to see past you into the building. Quickly, you flew up in front of her in order to block her vision.

"Nope! Pinkie is not here!" you exclaimed with a nervous laugh. You couldn't let her see the party that Pinkie had planned no matter what

"Well got any idea where I can find her then?" she asked, in a somewhat aggressive tone. She must've been getting annoyed by you blocking her view.

"Nope, but you might wanna try Canterlot." you lied, trying to make her give up her search for Pinkie.

You knew that she wasn't fond of flying long distances, so a trip to Canterlot would surely seem like to great of a pain to go through just to find one pony.
And surely whatever she needed to find her for wasn't that important right?

"Ugh! Canterlot? No way am I flying that far!" she exclaimed. Your plan had worked, "Oh, and don't forget about tomorrow, ok!"

Oh, you wouldn't miss it for the world. She was already turning to leave, seeming to give up her search for Pinkie.

"I don't plan too!" you called as she fanned out her wings to take flight. She gave you a quick yet sincere smile before darting off into the sky, a rainbow trail streaking out behind her.

That went surprisingly well.

You closed the door, watching the colourful rainbow contrail begin to deteriorate from the sky. Turning around, Pinkie was already rushing between tables trying to organise different decorations.

"Is she gone?" she asked, stopping dead in her tracks whilst holding a huge pile of party hats. You nodded your head, and her fore legs shot into the air with relief, "Phew!"

The pile of party hats she was holding collapsed down to the floor as she exaggerated wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead.

"So is there anything else you want me to do?" you asked. You hadn't been there for long, so you figured there was at least one more thing she wanted your help with.

"Nope! That's all, Stormy Warmy!" she called, as she picked up a large stack of paper plates, completely disregarding the mess of party hats on the floor.

"That's all?" you asked, refusing to believe that the only thing you needed to do was stop Rainbow from finding the party. It was almost like she knew that she was going to show up.
Then again, she also somehow knew about your past, even though you hadn't told her. You suspected Twilight may have told her, but as far as you could tell, both her and Spike would keep a secret. Especially one as big as this.

"Yep! You can stay if you want too!" she suggested, happily placing each plate at each different table.

As much as you would've liked too, something else you could do to pass the time had come to mind. Reading.

"Nah. I'm gonna go catch up on some Daring Do." you said. There were still plenty of books in the series that you still had to read, and hell, maybe Twilight would give you a copy of her fan fiction: Daring Do and the Library of Lost Souls.

"Oh, ok, Stormy Warmy! Have fun!" she called, giving you a familiar energetic smile.

"Thanks. See ya, Pinkie!" you called, getting a cheerful wave in response. Despite her cheerfulness, you still couldn't help but be shocked that she knew about your past. It was just a Pinkie thing, of course, but it still kinda creeped you out.

Nevertheless, your new goal was to read the next book in the Daring Do series, and hopefully that would carry you to the next day.

After all, tomorrow was the big day.

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the delay, it's taken 4 days to make this chapter instead of the usual 2.

The reason for the delay is that the lockdown is beginning to ease slightly where I live, meaning there's more to do IRL, and less time to write this story. I've mostly been working on this at night, which is when I have the most time to do so.
This means my updates might become a little sporadic. They might break away from the usual schedule, with some taking the usual 2 days, but some longer ones might take a week or so.
I hope you understand.