"Almost home..." thought the Pegasus as he flew towards Ponyville. The light brown stallion had been a little late leaving his job at the weather factory. There had been a shortage of clouds following the two rainy days recently and Cloudcover needed to keep a fresh stock of a variety of clouds. The gray and white streaked Pegasus landed in front of his home and trotted inside.
"I'm home! Derpy? Dinky?" Called the Pegasus.
Instantly, a little light purple blur came bouncing down the hall and smacked into his chest. "Hi, Daddy!" Dinky chirped, big yellow eyes smiling up at him.
Behind her, a beautiful wall-eyed face appeared in the doorway. "You're home!" Derpy smiled, trotting over to nuzzle him, "Good news! When I stopped by Pinkie Pie's to deliver her mail, she gave me some fresh oatmeal muffins! And, um, another party invitation..." The mailmare pulled a bright pink slip of paper from her satchel and blinked at it.
Getting up off the floor where he and Dinky had landed, he walked over to meet Derpy.
"Is it just for you, or is it a family invitation?" Cloudcover asked, eyeing the paper slip with curiosity.
Derpy peered at the slip with her good eye. "Well, it's addressed to me, but on the bottom it says, 'The more the merrier!' and Pinkie Pie is known to throw pretty big parties. Remember that one she threw for Twilight? She invited everybody in Ponyville!" the grey Pegasus chuckled at the memory. "So It's probably fine if you and Dinky come with me."
"So, when is the party?" Cloudcover asked, picking Dinky up and putting her on his back.
"It says 2 o'clock...but underneath that, it says 'but it's okay, you can show up anywhere from 3 in the morning to 10 at night!'" Derpy glanced up at Cloudcover. "So, um, whenever, I suppose."
"Alright, I'll get Dinky ready. Did you want to bake some muffins for the party?" Cloudcover asked.
Derpy brightened. "Absolutely! What kind? Chocolate chip? Lemon poppyseed? Strawberry kiwi? Carrot? Green tea? Guava? Blueberry? Ooh, I love blueberry, I think I'll make those. Do you have a preference?" Derpy inquired of Cloudcover.
"Oatmeal!" Dinky squealed, jumping off of her father's back and bouncing in circles around her mother.
"I think Pinkie Pie would like the Strawberry Kiwi ones best." Cloudcover contemplated, "And perhaps a small batch of oatmeal for our Dinky." He said, smiling at the energetic filly.
Later that day, Cloudcover, Derpy and Dinky approached Sugarcube Corner, muffins in hoof. The outside was done up in signiture Pinkie Pie style party decor.
They found the hostess inside, surrounded by sweets. The pink party pony was actually /measuring/ the various cakes and pies spread out on the table. As the mailmare and her family entered, Pinkie Pie looked up from her inspection of a cheery yellow confection. She gave Derpy a smile. Then her eyes fell on the still-toasty muffins sitting snugly in their basket.
"D-derpy... are those... Strawberry Kiwi Muffins?" Pinkie Pie asked very slowly, but excitedly.
"If they are, I need to eat, umm, I mean, measure them! She blurted out.
Derpy nodded. "The ones on the right are Strawberry Kiwi, and the ones on the left are Blueberry."
Pinkie was staring covetously at the muffins. "That's great! Now I really need to, uhhh, measure those..." she grabbed the basket from the pegasus.
Cloudcover trotted over to Derpy after finishing his chatting with Rainbow Dash.
"Hey, Sweety Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom just asked me if Dinky could go to their tree house to play later today. What do you think, Muffin?" Cloudcover asked Derpy.
"Oh, absolutely! Where is their tree house?" Derpy asked.
"Well, they wouldn't tell me. It's supposed to be a secret, you see. However, Applejack was willing to say that it is not far from Sweet Apple Acres." Cloudcover responded.
Derpy hesitated, then shrugged. "Well, so long as it isn't far from supervision, it's fine with me." she said with a smile.