"Wooooo-aaaahhh! That is one huge snowstorm! I mean, it’s been, but it still is! It just keeps going and going and going and going..."

Sitting on her haunches in a quaint bakery, Rainbow Dash would have to agree with Pinkie as she continued her trail of 'and going'. There was a gigantic storm going on outside, with flurries of snow flying past the windows. She could even swear that the cold was seeping through the doors, bit by bit. All in all, it was a real 'doozy', according to Pinkie’s seemingly trademarked ‘Pinkie Sense’.

"Heh, yeah," the pegasus agreed, half-laughing nervously, interrupting the pink pony's hyper-extended spiel. If a storm as big as this one-the beginning of Winter blizzard-the final step after sending the birds away, and getting the animals to sleep-had her trapped with Pinkie, the most hyper pony in Ponyville, who knew what would happen?

That's also why her voice quavered ever so slightly-what would happen?

Of all days, she'd chosen possibly the worst to make her decision. On a blistering cold weekend.  The decision to go see Pinkie, and here she was, trapped inside the bakery like a common hamster. And with Pinkie’s demeanor...things could get awfully odd.

"You look cold!" noted the earth pony, interrupting Dash's dreamlike thought trance. “I know! We can hop around really fast! That’ll be nice and-ooh, hot chocolate! No wait, we don’t have any cocoa...how about-”

The cyan mare vaguely heard the exuberant earth pony ramble on as she let out a huge yawn, stretching. She’d already missed her mid-afternoon nap, and boy, was she tired. If she went to sleep now, maybe she could catch her mid-late-afternoon nap.  Pinkie was fun to hang around with-you could never guess what she was going to do next-but she was pretty exhausting, too. And Dash could only take so much of it.

“...and mashed potatoes!” finished Pinkie, absolutely beaming as she completed her excited suggestions list.

“I have an excellent idea,” Rainbow claimed, rubbing her eyes groggily. “How about I go to sleep?”

The bubble-gum pink pony’s grin faded a bit. “Awww, but that’s no fun! Hmmm...how about a song? Or maybe pin the tail on the pony! Maybe even the pony p-”

She stopped. Dash was already stretched out on the floor, head resting on her forehooves. She snored gently, an occasional laugh arising as she dreamed. “Wow,” Pinkie mused. “Dashie really must have been tired. Oh well! More fun for me! Where’d I put those hats...”

---

Urgh. No, no more cider. That’s...that’s enough. I never thought I’d say this, but...that’s enough.

“Dassshie. Daaashie!”

Dash’s eyes flew open, automatically going into ‘alert mode’-she’d heard a voice near her! Had something snuck up on her, ready to pounce? Or were they going to...

As she looked, up, a pair of glimmering cyan eyes stared right back at her, and she almost instantly knew who it was.

“SURPRISE!”

The ecstatic cheer rose from right in front of her, and Dash couldn’t help but to spring back in alarm, narrowly avoiding bumping into the wall right next to her. “Pinkie!” she exclaimed, trying to hide the tremor in her voice. “Don’t do that! Haven’t I told you before?”

“Sorry, Dashie! But it’s party time!”

The pegasus frowned. ‘Party time’? If there was a huge blizzard, and they were the only two in there, how could one have a ‘party’? It wouldn’t exactly be all that fun...

But a quick glance towards the window revealed otherwise-the sun was streaming through brightly, skittering across the floor in a gentle cascade. The snow that blanketed the ground was no more than 3 inches deep, and it seemed perfectly peaceful now. Aw crud. I must’ve slept through the night by accident. I really gotta’ stop doing that...

“But it’s onl-” her next skeptical statement was cut short as she looked back, past Pinkie, who loomed close to her in anticipation.

There were, in fact, 4 other ponies there;the ever pompous Rarity, Fluttershy(who seemed as introverted as ever, though perhaps a bit less so then usual), Applejack, who wore her hat tilted slightly upon her head as always. Twilight completed the group, with her nose stuck in a book labeled ‘Aviary Species-Volume 3’, focused intently on the words that lay within.

The area around her was, in fact, set for a party. A refreshments table was erected, and a colorful yellow-blue tablecloth hung off of it. On top sat a bowl of punch, and various sweets, many also apple related. A few errant banners stretched across the walls, and streamers hung near the windows she’d noticed just seconds before.

“I decided to throw this party because Winter’s here! It’s gonna be so fun!” Pinkie squealed. “We can have a snowball fight, and build a snow fort, and a snow pony, and...”

Almost instantaneously, the pink pony stopped her excited drawling, and called, “Most importantly, it’s PARTY TIME!”

This cry shook Twilight from her book as the others chorused in agreement, the rainbow maned pegasus joining in with nearly as much vigor as Pinkie had.

Another party? This is gonna’ be awesome! she thought, as the ponies around her began scattering around, doing whatever they mostly did at Pinkie’s parties. I wonder what random ‘surprise’ she has this time...

As she watched, though, Pinkie just bounced away from her, towards the purple unicorn, and began excitedly chatting, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Dash just watched, confused. Huh. Normally she does something...different at the start. At least, since last week or so.

“Rainbow, y’ all right?”

Dash’s head turned as a voice with a southern accent emanated from behind her. Applejack stood behind her, eyebrows knitted in concern.

“Huh?” Rainbow managed. “What’re you talking about, Applejack? I’m fine.”

She watched as the orange mare chuckled. “Well then, better close your mouth. You’ll catch flies, y’know!”

Confusion and bewilderment instantly swept over her. Had her own surprise taken over again? It wouldn’t be the first time, and even with Pinkie being ‘Pinkie’, she couldn’t help but find some things entirely...out of place. She couldn’t really understand those things, and normally just looked on, slightly stunned, before shrugging it off. Today seemed to be different.

“Yeah, yeah, Applehack,” she muttered, twisting the earth pony’s name slightly maliciously. “Why don’t you go mess with Twilight or somethin’?”

The stetsoned pony inspected Dash with a critical eye. “Somethin’ just ain’t been right about ya’ lately...” she contemplated. “Ever since that there day a week ago, with that li’l water balloon incident ya’ll been actin’ strange. Like, all...quiet, bitter. Even weirder, only ‘round Pinkie. Never us alone...” she trailed off. “Just take care, Dash.” she finished bluntly, before walking off over to Fluttershy. Dash hardly noticed as she scratched her head.

Oh yeah, the ‘water balloon incident’... she remembered. I really don’t know how that one backfired on us. It was foolproof! But then of course, Ditzy just ‘happened’  to show up...and what’s with Pinkie? I might as well ask. She has been a little weird since that day...

“Hey, Pinkie!” she called, walking towards the eagerly speaking figure. “Can I ask ya’ something?”

Pinkie paid no heed, though. She continued hopping around almost faster than Dash’s eyes could follow, stopping only to say something to somepony, or to briefly dance with Gummy, who stood blankly off to the corner.

“Pinkie!” repeated the pegasus. “Equestria to pink pony, come in pink pony!”

Though normally the party pony would have responded by now, she continued to hop around, as if she couldn’t stop for the life of her. Her cheeks were tinged slightly red from all the movement, or at least Dash thought so. But more importantly, why was she ignoring her?

“Urgh...forget it...” she muttered. “She’s just Pinkie, anyways...it’s probably nothing.”

A quick glance at the clock revealed that it was already 10:30 in the morning. “Oh horseapples!” she cried, rushing towards the door. “I’m late! Sorry Pinkie, but I gotta’ go! If I’m late again...well, who knows what happened to the last pony who was late?”

Dash hardly heard Pinkie’s call of, “Hey, wait!” before the door closed behind her, and she sped off. Unless I can bring in a whole bank of clouds from Cloudsdale in about 20 seconds, I am so in trouble...after all, they don’t move themselves. But Pinkie’s gonna say something sooner or later, and I’m not gonna be gone to miss it...

---