The Wonderful Life Of Ford Mustang

Chapter 24- A Day with Pinkie Pie

Two Months and Three Weeks Remaining...
~ Early of April (33th Week) ~

One fine morning on the upper level of Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie is snoozing cozily underneath the thick, party-balloon-themed covers. Soon enough, she gets herself up as she lets out a nice, long yawn. But after smacking her lips a couple of times, her drowsy, half-lidded eyes immediately widen with sudden perkiness by the surprise that's waiting for her.
Engulfing her entire party-filled room are thousands of plastic, colorful spheres, making her bedroom into one giant ball pit. Normally, ponies would question on why their bedroom has been suddenly transformed into a gigantic playroom.
"WEEEEEEE~!!"
But that doesn't bother Pinkie one bit as she dives right into the pool of colorful orbs. Once she resurfaces, the playful, pink mare spits out a stream of balls like it was water before she splashes and jumps around her personal playground like a happy-go-lucky porpoise. After spending some time in the sea of spherical plastic, Pinkie Pie hears somepony else giggling as she turns her head to the source. Hanging right outside one of the Earth Pony's window is the crafty pony responsible for the room's alteration as she displays a big, amusing smile over her friend's usual playfulness.
"Morning, Pinkie Pie! Having a ball over there?" Rainbow Dash asks with a witty grin.
"Yep, I sure am! In fact, I have tons of them!" Pinkie replies happy as ever as she tosses the spheres up in the air. "I've got to say, this is definitely a nice surprise! I'm impressed that you were able to pull this off so efficiently!"
"Well, I do learn from the best." Dash responds with a proud smile before she jumps into the ball pit and creates a mighty splash with her cannonball.
After Dash reemerges, Pinkie Pie inquires with a soft smile, "So what's the special occasion for today, Rainbow?"
"Oh nothing much." Dash replies sly with mocking casualness as her irrepressible smirk gets bigger. "Just came by to see if you want to tag along and go on a pranking spree with me." Then, with the saddlebag strapped to her torso, Rainbow pulls out a familiar book as she shares it with her fellow prankster. "I even brought over the book you gave for me for my birthday so we can come up with some ideas together."
With a very wide, toothy smile, Pinkie Pie nods ecstatically as she replies in shrill delight, "Yeah, that sounds like super fun! But... can we stay in the ball pit for just for a little while longer?"
From that humble yet playful plea where the slightly pouty, pink pony displays her big, bright blue eyes and lightly quivering lips, Rainbow Dash giggles to herself while answering with a humorous grin, "Okay. But let's not take too long now. We've got a schedule to keep, you know."
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As part of their usual morning routine, Octavia is taking a lovely, steamy shower to start her day afresh while her rambunctious party pony of a wife, Vinyl Scratch, is still in the middle of her snoozing as she lightly snores in such an adorable manner. But unbeknownst to the preoccupied cellist, the ever-so sneaky Pinkie Pie pulls off a miraculous appearance when she slowly emerges from a nearby toilet whilst cladded in her skintight spy suit and snorkeling gear.
Carefully, the outlandishly clever spy steps out of the toilet bowl before verifying her surroundings. Presently, Octavia is still absentminded from her shower as the curtain barricades the two Earth Ponies in-between, only to reveal the cellist's silhouette from Pinkie Pie's line of sight.
With the musician distracted for the moment, Pinkie Pie puts her plan in motion by pulling out a plastic bottle from her special sachet. Then, she snatches a hair product from the counter next to her and squeezes out the gel to pour into the empty container she carried with her. Next, Pinkie quietly pulls the curtain a bit until she spots another bottle of shampoo that's similar to the one she just refilled. And with a quick sleight of her hoof, the lovable trickster switches the two bottles without the humming musician noticing it. Once the switch has been made, Pinkie Pie obverses Octavia's outline from the shower's curtain as the latter picks up the shampoo and applies it to her mane.
Meanwhile, in the musicians' bedroom, Rainbow Dash silently finishes up her own prank as she tightens a knot to an object that is attached to it. Hanging from the ceiling is a long rope that is dangling a familiar frying pan inches away from Vinyl's sleepy face.
With her trap all set, Rainbow notices Pinkie Pie peeking out of the bathroom's door, and she pulls a foam hand that displays a thumbs-up. Once she receives the Earth Pony's signal, the smirking Pegasus gives her friend a quick nod and a salute before she lands softly on the ground first. Then, she gently pulls a stray feather from one of her wings and resumes her careful hovering right beside Vinyl Scratch.
Steady as possible, the grinning Pegasus uses the feather clutched between her teeth to lightly brush the DJ's muzzle. At first, the slumbering Unicorns swats it away without her sleep being disrupted. But from Dash's second attempt, the ticklish feeling is enough to cause Vinyl sit up straight while trying to swat the pesky feather away once again. Unfortunately, from lifting her head up, she hits her face directly into the hanging frying pan.
BONK!
The echoing slam of the flat-surface object is enough to disturb the groggy Vinyl Scratch from her sleep as she rubs her eyes and forehead while wincing in pain, "Ow! What the...?"
But as she begins to open her ruby eyes, Vinyl can see the circular outline of the frying pan and eventually, her blurry vision dies down when she can see her own name engraved on the bottom of the cooking tool. And from recognizing the accursed instrument, her eyes swell up to considerable proportions, and frantically, she scooches against the headrest before raising her shaky hooves up to protect her face from any more damage that may come.
"WAIT TAVI! I CONFESS! I WON'T USE YOUR CELLO STICK THINGY AS A BACKSCRATCHER EVER AGAIN!"
Upon her screeching confession, the jumpy Unicorn hears a couple of snickering, so Vinyl Scratch peeks with one eye to see where the muffled laughter is coming from. From there, the laughter gets a little louder as Scratch is surprised to see Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in her bedroom. Then, the bewildered DJ looks up and sees how the notorious frying pan is hanging by a long string in front of her. With her two friends continuing their snorting laughter, Vinyl finally figures out their ploy as she frowns with a mild blush over their amusement.
"Oh ha ha. Very funny, you two." she mutters underneath her breath sarcastically while crossing her forelegs to signify her grumpiness.
"Ah, don't feel too bad, Scratch." The blue Pegasus reassures in the midst of her giggling. "I'm sure you'll appreciate what's in stored for your wife over there."
Vinyl raises an eyebrow as she wonders what Rainbow meant by that. But before the Unicorn could ask her friends about that, the trio see Octavia stepping out the bathroom with loads of steam seeping from behind as the gray Earth Pony dries her mane with a towel.
"Vinyl! Is everything alright?" the cellist asks as she takes off the towel from her head before wrapping it around her shoulders. "I heard you screaming and--!"
But she pauses with wide eyes as Octavia notices the unexpected appearance of her two friends, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. As for the other three mares, there are equally wide-eyed as Octavia, but from seeing on what's so different about her.
Instead of that long, flowing, black mane of hers, it is replaced with very wild hairstyle with strands sticking out in every which way like the prickly quills of a porcupine. In fact, unusual style of her mane looks similar to Vinyl Scratch's. With the combined characteristics of the two musicians' manes, her new hairdo resembles that of a glam rock star.
As Rainbow and Pinkie desperately try to hold their chuckling in, Octavia speaks once again to warmly greet the two in surprise, "Oh, Rainbow Dash! Pinkie Pie! What are you two doing here?"
"Oh nothing much." Rainbow answers softly with an uncontrollably silly smile. "Just thought we would drop in and say 'hi.' "
"Yeah! Love what you did with your mane, Octy!" Pinkie emphasizes her compliment, which nearly cause her and Rainbow to lose it from holding in their laughter for too long.
"Oh thank you, Pinkie Pie." the other Earth Pony responds chivalrously. "But it's nothing too special really. It's how I normally condition my hair--!"
But her obliviousness didn't last for too long as she starts to observe the two visitors' faces puffing up with such ridiculous smiles and rosy cheeks. Then, Octavia turns to her wife to see why their friends are acting this way. But to the cellist's bewilderment, Vinyl's expression is far different than Rainbow's or Pinkie Pie's. Still sitting in her bed, the infamous DJ-PON-3 bears big, sparkly, ruby eyes and a very huge, toothy smile, one that showcases her barely contained excitement on what she sees in front of her.
Confused as ever by their reactions, Octavia shifts her head to a long mirror nearby to see what they are looking at. But with just a simple glance at her reflection, she finally sees the results of her once-pristine mane as it has been transformed into absolute mess.
With the completely thunderstruck mare starring in disbelief at her own reflection, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash finally let it all out as they burst in uproarious laughter. As the two tricksters try to catch their breaths from their infectious snickering, Octavia finally breaks out of her frozen stance as she screams in shock and horror while her fore hooves desperately try to smooth her hair down to its usual style.
"EEK! MY MANE! H-how did this happen?! It looks just as atrocious as Vinyl's!"
Upon hearing that, Vinyl breaks from her own daze as she whines out loud, "Hey!"
From taking a break with her constant chuckling, Rainbow Dash implies slyly, "I dunno. Maybe you used a new conditioner."
"That's impossible!" Octavia retorts over Dash's implication. "It's the same one I use every--! Wait...?"
But then, she pauses on a sudden thought in mind before heading back into the bathroom to verify something real quick. After she swiftly slides the shower curtain, she grasps the bottle of shampoo she was using earlier to examine its content. From unclipping the lid, she takes a couple quick sniffs and recalls a similar smell, one that is normally associated with her wife's fragrance. With a twist of her head, Octavia spots a half-empty tube of Vinyl's special hair gel that she knows full well on whom that one belongs to.
That's when it hits her.
With bulgy, infuriated eyes, she charges out of the bathroom and demands in a thunderous roar, "YOU TWO SWITCHED MY SHAMPOO WITH VINYL'S HAIR GEL?!"
Without even flinching, Pinkie Pie pulls out the cellist's bottle of shampoo she switched earlier from her secured pouch and confirms with an upbeat smile, "Yepperoni~!"
At once, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie resume their laughter as they begin to lose their balance from laughing too hard. Unable to stand this mockery any longer, the enraging cellist notices her frying pan hanging by a string. Ruled by her growing aggravation, Octavia quickly takes her instrument of destruction with a mighty snap of its string and immediately charges forward at her two hecklers.
"LOOK OUT!" Pinkie Pie gasps in tremendous fright. "SHE'S GOT A FRYING PAN!"
Terrified just as much as her pink friend, Rainbow Dash issues their retreat, "BAIL! BAIL!"
As the mad mare flails her frying pan around wildly, she chases Pinkie and Rainbow out of the house through an opened window, and they amscray as far away from Octavia's reach as possible. With the two pranksters out of sight, the disgruntled cellist lets out a heavy sigh as she sits along her grinning wife before setting her frying pan aside on their bed.
"Can you believe those two? Ugh! It's going to take hours to get all of this out of my mane!" she whines as she gently tugs her spiky, black mane to try to get it straight once again.
Still as ecstatic as ever, Vinyl shares her opinion shrewdly, "Oh I don't know, Tavi. I think it's a pretty good look for you."
Octavia stares at her grinning wife with an unamusing frown, but despite her intimidating glare, she couldn't maintain it for long as she bears a tiny, amusing smirk in the midst of her response, "You are such a narcissist, Vinyl Scratch."
Not taking any offense to her wife's remark, Vinyl pulls Octavia in for an affectionate hug as she adds with a giggling smile, "And you're as cute as ever when you use big words like that."
"Sigh... what am I going to do with you?" she asks with a cynical smile as she softly shakes her head.
"Well... I could think of a few things in mind." she purrs with a seductive grin as she playfully wiggles her eyebrows.
Following up on Vinyl's sly implication, Octavia chuckles to herself before she gives her rascally wife a warm, welcoming kiss on the lips. After sharing that pleasant smooch, the grinning Earth Pony adds, "Alright. But only if I get to brush your hair for a change."
"Why? 'Cause it's that atrocious, right?" Vinyl responds in mocking sternness as she raises an eyebrow.
Caught off-guard by Scratch's sudden firmness, the ashamed cellist does her best to explain herself, "N-no! I just thought it would be funny to see what your mane would look like if it were mine and...! Sigh... I'm sorry, dear. I shouldn't have exaggerated like that. I really do think you have such lovely hair no matter how much of a mess it is."
Unable to see her mare bear such a pitiful look, blue-haired Unicorn gives her wife a reassuring kiss on the Earth Pony's forehead and eases her with a comforting grin, "It's alright, Tavi. I was only messing with you. I know you didn't mean any harm."
"So... may I?" Octavia beseeches softly in such a cute manner.
"Go for it." she permits with a chuckling smile. "But don't go too crazy. I got an image to keep, you know."
As Scratch turns around to present her mane, the ecstatic Octavia quickly reaches for a hoof-held brush before repositioning herself right beside her wife and complying with a giggling smile, "I will try my best to restrain myself."
Wanting to relish this moment for as long as possible, Octavia begins her brushing in a nice, slow manner as Vinyl Scratch feels more relaxed from her wife's soft stroking. But as the cellist carries on with her delicate task, a random thought crosses her mind as she scarcely recalls her wife's screeching earlier. Overtaking by her curiosity, Octavia stops her brushing for the moment as she inquires in a soft yet firm tone.
"By the way... what were you saying about my cello bow earlier?"
From hearing her wife's insistent tone, a disturbing chill travels across her spine as Vinyl Scratch responds in ever-increasing fear, "N-n-nothing!"
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A while later, Ford Mustang comes back to his floating house from his morning errand as his saddlebags are stuffed with tons of groceries. And after putting the items in their proper places, he heads upstairs to carry on with his work in the meantime. But once he enters his studio room, Ford freezes in place as he is lost in words on what has befallen to his private sanctum.
"What in the world?!"
With his mouth hanging open like it was weighing a ton of bricks, he stares up in immense disbelief on how his art studio is literally turned upside down. Nearly everything: his cabinets, his drawers, his easel, his table... everything is inconceivably stuck to the cloudy ceiling. And not much to his surprise, Pinkie Pie is magnetically stuck up there too as she greets the flabbergasted stallion with her big smile and an energetic wave of her fore hoof.
"Hi-yee~!"
Then right on cue, Rainbow Dash comes around the corner and enters the scene before she leans against her still speechless husband whilst explaining in a hearty chuckle, "Hope you didn't mind us tidying up around here. We figure it could use a little spring cleaning."
"Tee-hee! From up here, I'd say that he's pretty pleased with our work." Pinkie Pie adds with a giggling smile as she points out on how Ford's gaping mouth looks like an overjoyed smile from her inverted point-of-view.
"Please tell me you didn't use super crazy glue to pull this off." Mustang pleads in a quiet voice.
"Oh don't worry, Musty-Wusty. We only used special adhesive pads." The giggling Earth Pony reassures, and she pulls up one of her forelegs with an audible pop to demonstrate one of those sticky pads underneath her hoof. "See, I'm like a spider! But I'm also a mare! Ooo! My Pinkie Senses are tingling from a little ditty coming to mind~!"
And once she positions herself in a crouching stance, the cheerful Pinkie Pie hums a familiar tune that Ford knows all too well as she crawls around the crowded ceiling.
After the Pegasus couple takes a moment to watch their pink friend's latest antics, Ford shakes his head with a smile and says to the two mares, "Well, I'm glad you two had you fun with all of this. So would you mind helping me take all of this off?"
Sharply enough, Rainbow picks up Pinkie Pie off of the roof and replies in hasty, witty manner, "Sorry, hon! Places to go! Pranks to pull off!"
"Byeee~!" Pinkie Pie adds gleefully as the two grinning mares leave the house right away.
Leaving the speechless stallion alone in his art studio that's still topsy-turvy, Ford Mustang takes a moment to examine his wife's latest prank. And from seeing the hectic amount of work will be required to remove all of his stuff from the ceiling as well as to rearrange them in their proper places, he lets out a tiring sigh before muttering himself with a small smile.
"Sigh... figures."
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Hours later, in Sweet Apple Acres, Rarity just finished pot of ooey-gooey caramel as she sets it aside from the stove's heated spot. With a graceful twirl of her spoon, thanks to her Unicorn Magic of course, the seamstress continues to stir her melting pot whilst waiting for the final ingredients to arrive so she may complete her treats. And right on time, her two friends enter the kitchen as Rainbow Dash carry a bushel of apples whilst Pinkie Pie carries something in her saddlebag.
"Hey, Rarity! We're back!" Rainbow grins excitedly as she sets aside the apples on the table nearby. "Got the caramel ready?"
"Mm-hmm! All set!" Rarity nods beamingly. "Did you two get what you need?"
"Right here!" Pinkie Pie answers with an equally enthusiastic smile as she pulls out a different produce altogether.
In Pinkie's grasp is a pear; a simple, innocent-looking fruit for a very devious prank to come. With the use of her magic, Rarity levitates the pear in mid-air and skillfully cuts the top portion of it with a knife. Next, the dexterous Unicorn jabs a wooden stick into circular-carved fruit and then carefully dips it into the warm pot of freshly made caramel. Now, the perfectly modified pear has taken the shape of a scrumptious-looking caramel apple.
"Thanks again for helping us out with this prank." Rainbow says with a grateful smile.
"Of course, darling." Rarity replies with a giggling grin as she continues to make more caramel apples with the real apples this time. "I'm certainly glad I could join on the fun just to see the look on Applejack's face."
"Yeah, this is going to be so rad!" Dash agrees with a very mischievous chuckle as she alongside Pinkie Pie help out with the apple dipping.
As the trio share a good, quiet laugh over Applejack's expected reaction, Pinkie Pie's sharp ears pick up the sound of somepony clopping down the stairs and she quickly shushes her friends' merriment to not spoil the fun, "Shh! I think Applejack's coming downstairs!"
Immediately, the three grinning mares hush up as the orange farmpony enters the scene while greeting them with a smile, "Howdy, girls. Whatcha makin' down here?"
"Just enjoying some good, old-fashion caramel apples." Rainbow Dash implies with an impish smile as she grabs one of the real caramel apples from the cooling tray to indulge one for herself.
Promptly, Pinkie Pie grasps the fake caramel apple and presents the alluring treat to AJ with a big, persuasive smile, "Care to try one?"
Without second guessing the deceitful fruit in front of her, Applejack responds with a hungry smile, "Don't mind if I do!" And without hesitation, the farmpony snatches the caramelized pear and takes a huge bite out of it.
While the three tricksters suppress their uncontrollable giggles to the best of their abilities, Applejack is too distracted to notice the trio's bottled-up emotions by the mouthwatering taste of the sweet, sticky caramel that coats the unorthodox fruit. But as AJ begins to savor the actual fruit, she pauses in the midst of her chewing as she tries to verify its unusual taste.
"Hmm..."
"What is ever the matter, darling?" Rarity asks with mocking concern as she playfully bashes her deceiving eyelashes.
Once she slowly chews her first bite a little bit longer, she finally swallows it before responding with great uncertainty, "Don't know. This here apple is much mushier than usual."
While munching on her own caramel apple, Rainbow suggests with a devious smirk, "Well, maybe you hit a soft spot or something. Try taking another bite."
Despite her indecisiveness, Applejack shrugs her shoulders before she proceeds to take another bite of her caramel pear, which earns her some more muffled laughs from her crafty friends. But just like her first bite, AJ still can't quite figure out its puzzling flavor as she expresses a sour frown over this conundrum.
"Nah, it still tastes funny. What kind of apples did you use anyway?"
After having another case of the giggles, Pinkie Pie answers shrewdly, "Oopsie. Sorry, I must have accidentally slip something else in there."
"Really?" Applejack puzzles even further as she continues to chew on her second bite. "How could you honestly mistake an apple for something else?"
"Oh, it's no big deal really." the pink pony reassures with an irrepressible, sly smile. "Just a pear, that's all."
And with the reveal of that forsaken fruit's identity, Applejack's pupils shrink drastically to the size of raisins. And right away, she darts to the nearest trash can to spit out the unbearable mush in her mouth.
"GACK! BLAH! PTOOEY!"
As AJ continues to hunch over the wastebasket whilst she repeatedly gags out what's left of the pear she just consumed, her three friends couldn't hold it in any longer as they topple over each other and laugh uncontrollably at the farmpony's anticipated reaction. In the midst of their overwhelming laughter, Rainbow is the first pony to catch her breath as she openly mocks her friend's exaggerated plight.
"So AJ, how did you like your first caramel pear?" she asks knowingly before resuming her over-the-top cackling with her two giggling friends.
Once is certain that she has expelled as much of doppelganger treat as possible, Applejack turns to face her instigators with a stone-cold glare and answers in a cold, cynical tone, "As much as Ah love filthy, apple-thievin' varmints!" Then, she shifts to her icy gaze to the tray of caramel apples nearby and before hurtling towards them while adding in sharp wit, "Here, let me show ya!"
And with her ammunition ready, the infuriated farmpony rapidly throws the candied apples at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie while Rarity lunges for cover without getting caught in the mess.
As Dash hovers in mid-air to dodge the incoming projectiles, she retorts with a humorous grin, "Yeesh! Learn to take a joke, will ya?"
As Rainbow and Pinkie make their necessary retreat, the latter snatches up as many caramel apples as possible to store them in her saddlebag while adding in a giggling manner, "Yeah, it's not like you're allergic to them!"
"Ah might as well be!" Applejack snaps without a second thought as she continues to fling her coated apples at the fleeing tricksters. "Get back here, you rotten, backstabbin' scoundrels!"
Of course, the two snickering mares pay no mind to AJ's threats as they dash outside and away from the farmpony's shooting range. After pausing at the kitchen's doorway, Applejack lets out a tiring grump and trots back into the center of the room. Then, she locks gazes with her grinning wife, who just got out of her makeshift shelter.
"Was this payback from last week, Rarity?" Applejack asks with a deadpan sigh.
"Hmm... possibly." Rarity answers with a shrug and a very shrewd smile.
In response, the country pony lets out an unamusing pout before stomping towards the counter as Rarity lightly scolds her wife with a chuckling smirk, "Oh, do lighten up, darling. It was only a pear."
After pulling an empty mug from the cupboard above her, Applejack sets it next to the spout of a micro barrel inside the refrigerator as she remarks in a sharp, grumpy tone, "Rarity, that there's the forbidden fruit of Tartarus! And Celestia have mercy on me if Ah forsake myself like that again!"
Once her mug is filled to the brim with that sweet nectar of hers, Applejack chugs it down quickly like a shot of tequila. And with a firm slam of her cup, she sighs with immense satisfaction over the sweet, familiar taste of her family-owned cider.
"Ahh! That's the stuff right there! Ah'm gonna need like a whole barrel of this just to wash the awful taste out of my mouth!" And right away, she pours herself another cup of cider and finishes her second glass in the blink of an eye.
"Ooh, you poor thing~!" Rarity pities her grouchy wife in a lighthearted manner as she nuzzles her closely and giving her a light peck on the cheek. "Tell you what, darling. Help me clean this mess up as well as finish coating the rest of these apples in caramel, and if you're a good, hardworking filly, I might make a delicious apple galette just for you. Will that be enough to make up for today's atrocities?"
AJ thinks about her playful wife's proposition for just a moment, but it didn't take too long as she replies back with a growing smile, "Ah guess so. But there's no need to go the extra mile just to make an apple pie all fancy-schmancy."
As the married couple begin their clean-up together, Rarity reiterates in a sharp yet sophisticated tone, "It's a galette, Applejack. Not a pie. It only tastes like an apple pie but with half of the calories."
"Whatever you say, sugarcube." AJ shrugs with a hearty chuckle. "As long as it doesn't have pears in it, that's good enough for me."
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After a long morning of wholesome pranking fun, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash takes a break from their harmless practical jokes when the pink Earth Pony brings a picnic basket she packed earlier from Sugarcube Corner, so they can enjoy a nice lunch in the park together. In a more secluded spot, the two mares indulge on their afternoon meals in peace as they reflect on all they have accomplished in their little band of merriment.
"Woo! What a day!" Pinkie remarks with a frivolous smile. "We haven't had this much fun since our first pranking spree together!"
"Yeah, those were some good times we shared, huh?" Dash mutters with a small, reminiscing smile.
As the pink prankster happily chews on what's left of her lunch, Rainbow becomes awfully quiet as she takes a moment to gather her thoughts before she once again reveals her grim secret to another one of her best friends. From recollecting over the nightmare of her own funeral, she can still visualize the absolutely disheartening look on Pinkie Pie's face. With her unsuspecting friend almost done with her meal, Rainbow inhales a deep yet soft breath before she gets her friend's attention gently.
"Hey, Pinkie. I've got something important that I need to talk to you about."
After swallowing what's left of her food, Pinkie responds perky as ever, "Sure, Dashie. Whatcha need to tell me?"
"Well... umm... first you got to Pinkie Promise me something before I tell you."
"Of course, Rainbow. You know how important it is for me to uphold Pinkie Promises. Whatever it is you need to say to me, I won't spill it to anyone, not even one syallable."
"I know I can count on you when it comes to keeping secrets, but for this Pinkie Promise, you need to promise me that no matter what I have to say, you will never stop being that wonderful, perky, random self of yours."
Before Rainbow can receive her answer, there is a short pause between the two of them as Pinkie Pie stares at her increasingly uncomfortable friend with curious eyes. But then, she gentles shakes her head as she reassures with that optimistic smile of hers.
"Rainbow Dash, nothing is going to bring me down that easily. But very well. Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
And after Pinkie completes her promise with a hoof over her eye, Rainbow smiles in relief before she prepares herself on what needs to be said for her friend. "Okay, here it goes." And after inhaling another deep breath, she says in a solemn tone, "Pinkie Pie, I am led to believe... that I might die once the twins are born."
After getting straight to the point compared to last time, there is another longer, more dreadful pause between them as Pinkie Pie's eyes become as wide as saucers while her pupils shrink slightly. In the midst of the disturbing silence, Rainbow Dash braces herself on the expected, heartbreaking reaction from the speechless party pony. But as Dash could hardly handle the suspension any longer, she notices a slight alteration on her friend's face.
Pinkie Pie... is smiling.
But it becomes more than just a smile as subtle giggles seep from the expansive mouth of the pink pony. And eventually, she breaks into a bizarre fits of laughter. As Pinkie snorts and chuckles out loud, Rainbow is completely dumbfounded by the Earth Pony's unpredicted reaction. But as Rainbow Dash continues to puzzle over her friend's sudden hilarity, Pinkie finishes most of her laughing as she wipes away a tear from her eyes before responding in a still giggling manner.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash! That's so funny! You nearly had me there!"
Baffled beyond belief by Pinkie's confusing response, she tries her best to clarify herself in awkward hesitation, "Pinkie, I'm not making it up. I really think that I might not make it out alive on this one."
But Pinkie pays no mind to the bewildered Pegasus as she restates in mild amusement, "Come on, Dashie. That's enough kidding around. You shouldn't make a habit of repeat the same joke over and over again."
"Pinkie Pie, I'm not joking here!" Dash retorts in an increasingly peeved manner. "I'm being serious--!"
And out of nowhere, Pinkie's usually cheerful demeanor shifts drastically to its opposite self as the bright, pink colors in her mane, coat, and tail de-saturate into duller variations while her usually poofy hair deflates into much straighter strands. And just as her appearance has shifted, the demented Pinkie Pie lunges for the startled Rainbow Dash before shaking her shoulders and shrieking at the top of her voice.
"BUT IT HAS TO BE JOKE, RAINBOW DASH! IT HAS TO BE! A JOKE THAT GRIM AND TERRIBLE CAN'T POSSIBLY BE TAKEN THAT SERIOUS AT ALL! IT JUST CAN'T BE!"
After Pinkie's shrieking hysteria, the wide-eyed Pegasus is completely petrified within the Earth Pony's trembling grasp as the latter depresses even further by expressing big, watery eyes and quivering lips. Unable to contain herself, the bawling Earth Pony shoves her teary face into Rainbow's furry chest as she hugs her winged friend very tightly with her sobbing eyes closed shut. Then, Dash hears a faint whisper from Pinkie's constant weeping.
"P-please... just stop kidding around."
As heartbreaking as that was to hear it from her, Rainbow Dash needs to be strong for her friend. So after hugging her whimpering friend for a just a little while longer, Dash fully realizes the dramatic change in the Earth Pony's appearance and states in a sharp tone, "Hey, wait a minute, Pinkie Pie! You Pinkie Promised me that this won't bring you down, no matter what I say!"
Gazing into Rainbow's eyes with a very pitiful look on her extremely gloomy face, Pinkie replies back in a sniveling tone, "I... I... I know I said, b-b-but... I'm having second doubts and--!"
"Nuh-uh! I won't let you do this to yourself!" Rainbow retorts firmly as she shakes Pinkie up a bit to hopefully snap her out of her own melancholy. "You yourself made a Pinkie Promise, and nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise no matter what!"
"B-but... but...!"
"No buts! Who's gonna put smiles on my kids' sad faces if their Auntie Pinkie is no longer there to cheer them up?"
From the mention of that potential, bleak outlook, Pinkie Pie ceases her sniffling as she contemplates on how much she hates to see such sad faces on others, let alone on colts and fillies, and that her being sad all the time won't help her bring smiles onto others. With the party pony looking down on the ground aimlessly, Rainbow Dash seizes the moment by tilting Pinkie's chin up gently as the Pegasus bear big, expressive eyes and delicately pouty lips before softly pleading to her friend once again.
"Please, Pinkie. Don't just do this for me... do it for my foals. ...Please?"
As Dash maintains that unbelievably loveable, beseeching expression of hers, Pinkie Pie stares at it for a long period of time. But just like before during the previous momentary pause, Pinkie Pie breaks into a sudden case of the giggles. But as Rainbow begins to fret for the worst, she sees a more positive change in the giggling mare's physical appearance. Her pink mane and tail puffs up to its welcoming, frizzy state, and her coat brightens up to its pink brilliance. Despite Rainbow's confusion earlier, she's thankful to see Pinkie Pie back to her usual, cheerful self.
"He-hee-hee! Sorry, it's just that... I never thought I would see you, the coolest pony ever, pull off such an adorably cute face like that!"
After hearing Pinkie Pie's giggling remark, Rainbow Dash blushes from that comment as she frowns immensely while sharply turning her head away in a harrumph. Regardless of her own discomfort, Dash breaks into a contended grin as she is more than happy to have back the Pinkie Pie she knows and loves.
"So... you'll keep your promise then?"
"I... I never faced a promise that's so demanding like this one before." Pinkie answers unassuredly at first. "But... I will keep my word and never break from that Pinkie Promise, no matter what." she guarantees with a big, bold smile.
Happy to hear the party pony extraordinaire renewing her sacred promise, Rainbow Dash pulls her smiling friend for a big, warm hug while saying to her with soft, heartfelt gratitude, "Thanks, Pinkie. That's means so much to hear you say that for me."
After maintaining their tender embrace for a bit longer, the two best friends resume what's left of their picnic as Pinkie Pie pulls out a couple of candied apples and offers one to Rainbow Dash.
"Care for another caramel apple?" she asks with a subtly shrewd grin.
"Thanks." Rainbow accepts without question as she is unware of whatever mischief Pinkie Pie has up her sleeve.
And from that first bite, Dash experiences an sudden burst of extreme sourness. Immediately, she spits out the contents before examining the tarnished treat for the cause of such a bitter flavor.
"UGH! What the--?!"
"What's the matter, Dashie? Too sour for you to handle?" Pinkie goads with a very mischievous smirk.
"Hey, I can handle anything! It's just that this one tastes more like an--!"
From that bite mark, Rainbow sees dozens of rings and quickly figures out the fake caramel apple's true contents: a fresh onion, which still has that atrocious smell that's so strong it causes the Pegasus's eyes to get all teary.
As Rainbow Dash cover her nose before the overwhelming smell makes her watery eyes even worse, the sly Pinkie Pie declares her conquest with a winning grin, "Tee-hee! Gotcha!"
As the joyous, pink trickster laughs over the success of her latest scheme, the Pegasus is speechless from having to fall for such a trick as she didn't even pay any attention on when Pinkie Pie brought that onion as well as dropped it in the caramel with that one pear and the rest of the apples. For all Dash could gather, the playful trickster could have planned this from the very beginning.
All the same, Pinkie Pie got Rainbow Dash good, and the Pegasus laughs alongside her smiling friend in as she acknowledges the party pony's playful ruse with a respectful, chuckling grin.
"He-heh! Good one, Pinkie Pie!"