Chapter Two: The Meeting

Pinkie frowned as she laid upside down on a bench. It seemed like everypony was ignoring her today. She knew better, of course, than to think that they were ignoring her because they didn't want to be her friends anymore. No, that was a lesson learned. Today, she was simply bored.

She had nowhere to go, since nopony was around to do anything with her. She couldn't work, as the Cakes had given her the day off even though she begged to do something. They literally had no work for her to do today, and had even gone out with the twins. It was quite bizarre. Pinkie knew, of course, that it had to do with birthday planning.

"Uggh," moaned Pinkie, "what to do?! Stupid birthday, I want to see my friends!" Then she sat up. "Maybe I can crash their little get-together..." she snickered as she deviously rubbed her hooves together. "Ohh, yes, and I'll discover their little surprises...hehehe..."

"Okay, ponies," announced Twilight in the library, where almost everypony in Ponyville was gathered, drawing everyone's attention. "We have our work cut out for us, especially when planning a party for Pinkie Pie." Murmurs of assent swept through the crowd. "But we have a new ally on our side to help the party as we keep Pinkie from discovering the contents of this party...I'm sure you all remember Cheese Sandwich?" The aforementioned pony hopped up from out of nowhere, in a burst of confetti, and was greeted by applause.

"Cheese Sandwich! Long time, no see, eh?" asked Rainbow Dash, flying up to high-hoof him.

"Yep! It's good to see ya, Rainbow," replied Cheese.

Twilight cleared her throat. The two ponies settled back down. "Right. So, this is going to be kind of like Winter Wrap Up, in a sense." The entire crowd stared in confusion. "I've divided us into three Groups. Group A," she listed names and the respective ponies grouped together, "will be working the party. It is headed by Cheese Sandwich, of course, and shall be occupied by ponies who are creative, good with manual labor, and good with tools. Other talents will be required, as well. Group B," she listed more names, "will be on snack duty. Headed by the Cakes," the two ponies waved along with Pumpkin and Pound Cake, "you will be in charge if picking out the food for the event. Group C, and this is the toughest group of all, will be on Pinkie duty." Again, she gave a list of names. But this time she was met with confusion.

"Pinkie duty?" asked the crowd.

"Yes, Pinkie duty. Remember, Pinkie is more than a match for all of us when it comes to spying and the like. This party is meant to be a surprise, and it's obvious that Pinkie knows about its existence. But we cannot allow her to know any more. I will be in charge of this group. I will let you know what is to be kept a secret. Now, I'm going to be holding a meeting every day." A collective groan sounded. "We cannot allow Pinkie to find us out! If she sees that the same ponies have disappeared every day then she will know something's up."

Applejack chimed in then. "What about our meetings, Twilight?" she asked. "Pinkie'll figure out easily when they are. Ah think it'd be better to come up with another solution with the meetings."

Twilight considered. "That makes sense...all right. I'll make schedules for our meetings, and which groups and all that. Just meet here tomorrow, same time. But first, somepony must volunteer to spend time with Pinkie so she'll be distracted. I'll make sure you get a schedule. So...anypony want the job?"

Nopony said anything. After a few minutes, Mrs. Cake spoke up. "I feel rather silly not thinking about this before, but Pinkie can just watch the twins while we're here."

"That's perfect!" exclaimed Twilight. "And maybe you should do something that makes the twins hard to handle, so that Pinkie will have her hooves fu—"

Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door and a hush fell over the crowd. The curtains had been drawn and nopony could see who was outside, but it was obvious. "Hello?" asked a muffled voice. "Anypony wanna talk to Pinkie?"

Twilight looked among the crowd, gave them a significant look that told them to be quiet. She went up to the door, and opened it a tiny crack. The crowd made an attempt to move out of sight, but it was already quite crowded in the library. "Oh, Pinkie Pie! What a pleasant surprise."

"Hiya, Twilight! Mind if I come in?"

Twilight laughed nervously. "Uhh...well...for once, I do rather mind. I'm, uh, very busy, er, writing and...stuff."

Pinkie glared with narrowed eyes. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Really really?"

"Yes."

"Really really rea—"

"Yes, Pinkie, I'm busy, please don't bother me right now!" snapped Twilight.

The pink pony stared back at her, a tear in her eye before snapping back and grinning. "Okay! Catch ya later, then!" She trotted off happily. Twilight didn't see the evil grin on her face; she knew she had the right house. Even so, Twilight knew she has a reason to be frightened.

Twilight stared after her before slamming the door and locking it, a look of pure fear on her face. "She knows. I'm sure she knows. Everypony, get out, but one at a time! If you can teleport then spells are much appreciated!"

After only fifteen minutes, most of the ponies had gone due to the unicorns' willingness to teleport. Only Cheese Sandwich remained. "We need to keep you under wraps," Twilight had said before, "so you'll go last. I recently perfected an invisibility spell, so I can use that."

Cheese had wondered, "But aren't you a princess? I mean, I thought you already knew all of the spells."

Twilight's eyes had widened in utter shock. "All of the spells? I wish! There are so many left to master, it'll be years before I even come close!"

Now, Twilight had used the invisibility spell on Cheese and he was moving towards the inn. She warned him that it would only last for a hour, and that he was not to dawdle. He made it to the inn soon and without much event, and he collapsed on his bed after a long and exhausting day of party planning.

Twilight was picking up some of the books that had fallen during the meeting when suddenly her door was thrown open. The Alicorn was regretful she had unlocked it. Pinkie stood there with her Party Cannon, dressed in a military outfit. "All right, everypony! The jig is up! I'm blasting this place to smithereens if you don't...huh?" The pink pony sagged as she realized she was too late. "Aw, come on!"

"What's wrong, Pinkie?" asked Twilight innocently. "Were you hoping to find somepony here?"

Pinkie snorted. "As if! It's not like I expected to see anypony, I don't know, planning anything for a certain party of a certain pony who HAS to know, oh, please tell me, Twilight, PLEASE!" she begged, falling on her knees.

"I'm sorry, Pinkie, but there's nothing to tell," replied Twilight with a shrug. "Nothing that interesting has been going on here today."

Pinkie raised a suspicious eyebrow at her friend. "Uh-huh? So what was all that 'I'm too busy to open the door' business?"

"I was doing an extremely important reshelving. I had a large amount of books levitating and I couldn't lose focus or I'd drop them," explained Twilight. Luckily, she had recently picked up "Lying for Beginner Ponies" and studied it...only for Pinkie's party, of course!

"Oh. That makes sense," replied Pinkie. She still wasn't convinced, but Twilight wasn't going to attempt to make Pinkie believe her. The pink pony was smarter than she seemed sometimes. "I guess I'll see you around, Twilight," she said in an unconvincingly unsuspecting voice. She trotted off.

"Bye, Pinkie!" called Twilight. She closed the door and picked up the book "Lying for Intermediate Ponies" before retiring to bed, Spike at her heels...or hooves, or something.

Thats all for now! I'm a bit concerned that I'm moving a bit fast but I really don't want to have to edit it unless it's necessary. But constructive criticism is always appreciated! :D

And I'm honestly doing Applejack's twang kinda overexaggerated because it's fun. If anypony is insulted by it then tell me and I'll stop. :)

God bless!

Shippings