ponyville Happy Derpday! (Open)

[SteelEagle]

 

The pair weren't sure how they had missed the commotion with the tree, but such is the way of things when you're either consumed with worry or trying to pull another out of that very pit of worry and fear. Indeed, the pair only became aware of what was going on when there was a loud exclamation of- umm, maybe victory? Hard to judge what the intentions were and how the outcome looked when you barely had an idea as to what started it all. Of course it WAS Derpy, so this should be expected. She was in many ways the town klutz, though still as lovable and affable as all get it. That was why Applejack was so happy to be dragging Fluttershy along, who would have preferred sending her gift through the mail despite the fact the party was a good leap away.

 

"Howdy there, Sugarcube," Applejack said to Rainbow, who was the only pony to greet the newcomers. No foul, there was a bit of interesting chaos off to the side. "How'd she get into that?" She asked, motioning towards Derpy Hooves. If Applejack were to guess, shiny objects or food. Or both. "She isn't hurt, is she?" Fluttershy added her own questions to the mix. She was willing to help Derpy if she was hurt, though it would put a damper on all the festivities that were supposed to kinda be going on instead of this decidedly less fun possibility. 

 

Luckily it seemed just about everypony who was supposed to be here had made it and was helping out. Or watching. Or kinda both, depending on perspective. Ponies were huddled around or using magic and strength to help the birthday filly. Twilight was here. Inkbrand was here, and making a fine cushion for Derpy who looked shook up and tired. Hopefully he liked flank. There was Bevel speaking fancy, Fire Walker looking dashing, Wind Walker looking adorable, Flux bein' kind, and Pinkie being herself.

 

Looked about right.

 

"Howdy, y'all. Anythin' Ah could do ta help?"
"W-we brought presents..." 
 

[PyroBlaze]

"A mending spell? Hmm..." Flux replied, tapping her chin with her hoof as she tried to remember if she knew that one. While that was happening though, another unicorn came through and fixed it up for them. 

 

"Thanks! I'm Flux! Who're you?" She asked, smiling at the other unicorn before looking over at the earth and pegasus mares that had just spoken. She gave an enthusiastic wave to them before turning back to her little group. "Oh, and her name is Wind Walker! Wanna be friends?"

[Zeig]

 

Two minutes into a party, and he already had a pretty mare in his hooves. 

 

Nice. 

 

Never mind the circumstances leading up to the awkward positioning that had left him a bit dazed and wondering why he was suddenly staring up into the sky - he was still counting it as a new best record.

 

The slight ache that was emitting from the back of his head wasn't nearly enough to distract the grey stallion from the fact that, hay yes he had a pretty mare in his hooves. And while Inkbrand certainly wasn't one to complain about little details like that, he definitely could complain about the most obnoxious tree root in existence that was currently making itself a pain against his back and not letting him just enjoy the moment. The light grey Pegasus seemed in no hurry to get up either, content to simply lounge on his belly as if he were a particularly comfortable pillow. 

 

Which, again. A-okay in his books, except tree root. 

 

"You uh. You planning on buying me dinner, first?" Inkbrand groaned, propping himself up on one elbow to survey the mare with a raised eyebrow. "Not that I'm not enjoying this, sweetheart - I mean, if this is how you want to spend your birthday, who am I to object?" the grey stallion commiserated with an exaggeratedly put-upon sigh, as Inkbrand glanced over to the Princess with his best 'what can you do' look. Never mind one of his hooves sneakily beginning to snake its way around the Pegasus's waist, while the other folded underneath his head. The two of them could have been any other couple basking in the beautiful day under the shade of a nice tree...while carnival and fair attractions ran rampant around them. 

 

'Ya know. Like any normal day in Ponyville.

 

[[ OOC : I could have sworn I was waiting for someone else to post. Sorry for the wait! ]]

 

[Bellosh]

 

"Dinner?" Derpy Hooves replied back with a hint of bafflement in her voice; "But... doesn't everypony else pay for the birthday filly's dinner?" The young mare's cheeks started to blush, the result from the awkwardness of having to contemplate that question on the very anniversary of her birth. Oh, and there was that leg of the stallion's sliding onto her waist too. If Derpy didn't know any better, she would have guessed that the fellow actually enjoyed ponies falling down on him and-

 

Wait, what was that thought just now? What sane pony would enjoy being a cushion for falling ponies? That made absolutely no sense at all! And goodness; where was Derpy's manners???

"Oh ponyfeathers!" it dawned on the wide-eyed pegasus that indeed, she fell on top of the tattooed stallion; "Uhh... here, lemme help you up. My bad!" Derpy attempted to get up and help the stallion onto his hooves... well, unless his leg was wrapped too tightly around the birthday filly's waist to prevent her from rising.....

[tacobob]

 

Fire Walker was slightly miffed. Her former traveling companion had completely ignored her. She didn't expect a big hug, but a little acknowledgement wouldn't have hurt. The officer also pondered if Bevel had spoken with that outrageous Prench accent before? The mare was in full 'polly voo franzy' mode today. Maybe she really did hurt herself. Almost sounded like the odd bit of news she had heard awhile back. Some stallion in Las Pegasus managed to knock himself out while he was distracted by the city's flashy lights. When he woke up, not only was he able to speak Germane, he could also now play the flute. Two things he supposedly had not been able to do before the accident.

 

 

Wind Walker was rather pleased to see that the bounce house...Or bounce castle...was fixed. "Thanks Crazy Lady!", she saluted the inventor pony, "Oh, I mean.", she cleared her throat, "Merci, Dame de folle!" Hopefully that was correct as the filly only started on her Prench classes. And speaking of odd, the adult mare wanted to be friends with her? Still, this was the village of Friendship! She could almost imagine her father as a tiny shoulder angel who demanded that the filly ask Flux if she could cook! If she could, she would need to marry one of the Walker Brothers and end the family curse.

 

"Yeah. We can. But first, we must bounce!" the filly quickly made her way into the bounce-house. "Come on Pinkie!", she shouted at the party-pony, "Betcha can't out-bounce us!"

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

AAAaaaaaand the bounce house was FIXED!

 

"WOOOOooo HOOOOooooooo!!!" Pinkie bounced about as the house inflated back to its epic original size...which was huuuuge! This was no mere bounce house! This was a bounce mansion! A bounce castle!

 

"You know what?" She focused on Wind Walker. "I don't know why Twilight even lives in that castle of hers! She should have had a castle just like this one!"

 

"Um Pinkie?" Rainbow interjected.

 

Pinkie was bouncing about outside the bounce...whatever it was.

 

"Um PINKIE?!" The pegasus spoke louder.

 

"Yeppers?" Pinkie froze mid bounce near by.

 

"I believe you were just challenged to a bounce off?" Rainbow waited for it.

 

"A bounce off?" Pinkie came closer. "A BOUNCE OFF WOO HOO!" She grabbed the smaller pegasus Wind Walker around her middle. "Let's get the challenge started!" 

 

Rainbow watched as the bounce competition she was sure would be epic got started. After a bit she remembered...that pony who had gotten the castle air pump in working order again! Whoever that was deserved a thank you at the least! Pinkie would be too occupied with her bouncing to do the thanking so Dash took it on herself.

 

"Hey there!" She called to the mocha unicorn who still had a top half of sooty black.

 

"How did you get that hunk of junk running again so quickly? Pinkie bought it off of Flim and Flam for a hay of a deal but it's no wonder why it was! It was hardly working earlier and then not at all!"

 

Rainbow paused. The mare she was speaking to wasn't bad looking. Perhaps a bit of flirting was in order? "Oh, the name's Rainbow Dash by the way! What's yours?" She smiled a winning smile and offered a hoof. 

 

[Lux]

Spoiler

"Dear Princess Celestia,

 

I really need to watch when it's my turn to post!

 

Twilight Sparkle" 

 

With her magic might, Twilight assisted Inkbrand in pulling Derpy from a tree. It worked... sort of, as the Princess found herself staring with Derpy sitting on the stallion that tried helping her! Twilight didn't know what was more awkward, the fact that Derpy used the pony as a pillow to break her fall or that Inkbrand... enjoyed it? Really, was this stallion willing to date every mare he saw in town?

 

"Maybe you could invite her to dinner later," Twilight said as she checked on both of them, "Right now a certain pony here needs to get to her party! I bet there are several others waiting to wish you well, Derpy, on your day." 

 

 

[Zeig]

 

Well, it'd been nice while it'd lasted.

 

Sans, you know. The most obnoxious tree root in the world.

 

Inkbrand - rather graciously, in his humble opinion - allowed the grey colored Pegasus to slip off his lap, grasping her proffered hoof to rise onto his own legs. "What the pretty Princess said," the tattoo-clad stallion groaned, stretching out his back in relief from the sharp pain of obnoxious tree roots, and honestly, Princess Twilight Sparkle's reaction had been a pretty pleasant surprise in and of itself. He had fully expected the purple Alicorn to descend onto him breathing fire for daring to hit on the grey Pegasus, really he had. But, considering what she had gone through during Applejack's age-reverted stage, maybe she'd learned not to jump to lay the blame on completely accidental accidents. 

 

...Maybe it was his turn not to jump to conclusions, eh?

 

Either way, his back was now root-free, giving Inkbrand leave for one more stretch before dropping back onto all fours with a satisfied groan. "Pretty sure P-squared's got to have at least half of Ponyville on the burners," Inkbrand snarked, golden eyes glancing back towards the pink mare's direction. The hyperactive pony worked at a bakery, for crying out loud - dinner would probably consist of enough teeth-rotting sugary goodness to send every single pony in town into a food-induced coma. Even the ponies that weren't attending. 

 

"But don't think I've forgotten my payment," the grey Earth Pony suddenly whispered, head bent down to brush directly against one of Derpy's ears. "I'll stop by to collect, later." Inkbrand didn't dare push it any further - Hearth's Warming fuzzy feelings or not, he wasn't trusting the purple Princess to not blast him into smithereens just yet - but he did content himself with a careful brush of his tail against the grey Pegasus' flank, expertly hidden from view. The tattoo-clad stallion laughed lightly, before pulling himself away from the newly retrieved birthday filly in order to check out the newly revived bouncing house.

 

And stopped cold.

 

"The buck is this," Inkbrand breathed, half-admiring, half-completely-flummoxed-out-of-his-bucking-mind, because the structure standing in front of him was not a bounce house. It was a bucking bounce castle. Seriously, there were -

 

- were those rooms he could see?

 

"Bucking epic," the grey stallion crowed, as thoughts of dinner, kisses, and pretty mares completely fled from his mind, to be replaced by sheer, unadulterated, foalish, glee. "Dude! The buck is this!" Inkbrand repeated, much louder this time, as his words spoke of some kind of warning as the grey stallion abandoned his frozen pose in order to throw himself, headfirst, into the bounce house. 

 

"Waaaaahoooooo!" the grey Earth Pony bellowed as he immediately hit the floor of the house, only to ricochet and end up against what looked like a staircase, "holy buck, tell me this place's got a hot tube! 'Ay P-squared! Yo, Pinks!" the tattoo-clad Earth Pony yelled as he bounced around the house, searching for the pink mare that he'd seen disappearing into the behemoth that was the play structure. "Marry me after we're done with this birthday party, alright?!" 

 

Because seriously. Fun-loving, great cook, and capable of creating physics-defying structures that allowed him to flounce around like a foal in an amusement park? Was she seeing anyone? Like, literally?

 

He could put up with the faster-than-light speed talking for just the bounce house alone!

 

[Bellosh]

 

As Twilight Sparkle mentioned, there were many activities for Derpy Hooves to do today other than lay on a pony pillow. The googly-eyed pegasus made note of one thing however as she brought the tattooed stallion onto his hooves; there were so many darn-tootin things to do. Derpy didn’t know where to start!

 

Before the birthday girl could deliberate further, she felt sudden electrifying sensations along her ear and flank, giving her goosebumps to the max. It was that stallion, promising he’ll come to... do what again? .....Oh yeah, it was something about a kiss. That’s right; she agreed to his request without question back when she had been stuck in that tree.

 

Miss Hooves though never imagined she’d wind up kissing a stallion who looked so... coarse and unrefined. In her daydreams, her dream stallion was somepony much more heroic and gentlecoltly. You know; guys like that handsome guardpony who caught her falling out of the sky back during the last Winter Wrap Up.

 

He had certainly been quite the dreamy pony…

Mr. Tattoos was a different story however; one that filled Derpy with doubt. Her mind filling with questions, the blonde pegasus turned towards the closest smarty-pants pony she could find. “Hey uhhh, Twilight?” she asked the lavender alicorn; “I know you’re not really a Princess of Love or anything like that, but welllllllll..... When you promise to kiss somepony when you’re stuck in a tree, but you really didn’t mean it... do you still have to kiss him?”

[Pretzelparty]

 

 

The pony stayed staring at the metal box, having pushed herself up next it with her ear resting on the cold metal as she listened carefully to the sounds of the machinery within, humming, whirring and whizzing like nopony's business. A cough of black smoke escaped her muzzle once she pulled herself back up to spin around and stare at the curious pegasus with the rainbow patterned mane. A big grin spread over her face which was now more less jet black, the mare's sharp, yellow eyes making her (well, at least her upper body) look like a sentient nightmare night black cat decoration with a manic grin.

A hoof came out to meet the pegasus' own and shake it vigorously, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Manquer Dash!" She said in her usual accented voice, it being most noticeable on the word that preceded the shortened version of the flyer's nickname. "And to answer your question: It's my fate!" She glanced to her mark on her backside, a cog gear with a swirl of gold going through it that was reminiscent of an infinity symbol, "Well I suppose maybe saying fate as an answer is a bit too solid, My destined talent is an innate knowledge of all things mechanical and magitechnological! If there's a machine at this fair that isn't working I can promise you that I can fix it or make something three... no, five... Nono... FIVE THOUSAND TIMES AS GOOD!" She said leaping up into the air and cackling in excitement.

 

She stood on her hindlegs, panting harshly from her long spiel before turning right back to Rainbow Dash. "I'm Bevel Gear by the way! Ravi de vous Rencontre." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PyroBlaze]

Flux gave a happy gasp as the bounce castle began inflating again, making her bounce in excitement as she watched it. After it was done, she wasted no time in zipping forward, throwing herself into the bounce castle and bouncing off the walls quite literally. The disguised changeling basically froze in place as Wind and Pinkie came in for a bouncing contest.

 

"Yay! Bounce contest! Let's go!" She said happily, smiling widely at the two ponies before she heard Inkbrand coming in as well. "Inky! Come join the bouncing contest, Inky! This place is amazing!" She giggled, launching herself into an uncontrolled bounce that eventually saw her flying towards the stallion. At the last moment, she tried to throw her weight to the side, causing her to bounce around him instead of into him. "Hiya Inky! How's it hanging?"

[tacobob]

 

 

 

Wind Walker let out a little squeak as she was snatched up by the pink mare. "That would be fun.", the blue Pegasus pony said as she bounced, "But I'm guessing it would be hard for her to fill our her princess-paperwork.", she continued to bounce along with the others, "Considering her quill might pop her castle, and then she'd be out of air and out of luck..And also.", the filly turned a little on the green side. "A bounce-bathroom in your bounce castle, probably wouldn't be as fun as you'd think. Messy yes. Fun no."

 

Holy leaping lemurs! Wind tried not to show it, but she was very impressed by Pinkie's bouncing skills. The pink mare probably could bounce like that forever.   And considering the size of this place, she probably could. Also, the little pony hoped the rather large inflatable building did not squish anypony after it was probably inflated by the crazy mare. Wind wanted to warn Pinkie not to marry Inkbrand. He was a sneaky stallion. But she found herself away from the pink mare, and now she was is the bounce study? There were plenty of inflatable books to be seen. All were about bouncing! There was 'An Dummy's Guide To Bouncing', 'Bouncing To The Oldies', 'Bounce! Bounce! Bounce!' and also a copy of 'Finnegans Wake'. That one was probably meant for another castle.

 

Along with the tattooed pony's voice, the filly also heard Flux's. What did her name mean? Sometimes you could tell what sort of a person a pony is by their name. Now if only she knew what 'Flux' meant. Was it like 'flex'?

 

 

 

Fire Walker watched as her sister disappeared into the rather insane looking bounce castle. While this was an party for an adult, it suffered from being a 'Ponyville' party and one that took place during the early day. So the strongest stuff she would find would be the party punch, which sort of tasted like bubble gum. The officer poured herself a cup of the kid-friendly beverage as she watched the others mill about. She caught sight of two of Princess Twilight's companions. The always impressive Applejack and the keeper of Ponyville's beasts, Fluttershy. The only pony from their group that was missing was the seamstress, Rarity. While she only met the mare briefly, she could see this was probably too low-brow of an event for the elegant mare.

 

Once she was finished with the sugar-filled beverage, the Pegasus made her way towards the farmer and the ranger. One of these days she was going to ask if Princess Twilight's friends had been knighted or not. Considering they had saved the world at least two times, you would think their heroics would have given them a title by now. Still, to be safe, she addressed them properly.

 

"Lady Applejack.", she gave them a proper nod, "Lady Fluttershy." Fire was a proper Canterlot mare and while she was a solider, she was a also an officer. "Good to see you two here. I've heard about Lady Pie's epic Ponyville parties, but I had yet to be part of one." And before she forgot, the mare quickly added, "Fire Walker. First  Lieutenant Fire Walker."

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Pinkie bounced like she had never bounced...well in the past five minutes. She tumbled through the air, ricocheted off the walls, hovered in mid-air and did the moon walk. She loved a good bounce castle!

 

Looked like others were enjoying themselves too! Woo hoo!!!! Nothing made Pinkie more happy than to see her friends having fun!

 

She winked at Inky as the stallion bounced about and made quite the bold offer. "Oh now Inky! You know I can't marry you! That would just be way to much spectacularness if me and you were together!" She grinned super big and bounced about some more.

 

"Who thinks they can beat me in a bounce race?"

 

What was a bounce race? You'd have to join in to find out!

----

 

As Bevel introduced herself, Rainbow felt her cheeks blush a little. She was a sucker for accents!

 

"Uhhh...good to meet you too Bevel! Yep you've got a way with mechanical stuff for sure!" She smiled, flapping up to inspect the engine one more time. "Looks like it's working great now!" 

 

She glanced around. "You feel like helping me get the big surprise ready for Depry?"

[Zeig]

 

Well, a stallion could dream, couldn't they?

 

"Oh, break a stallion's heart, why don't you," the tattoo-clad pony bemoaned, one hoof clutched over his heart in mock-agony at Pinkie Pie's answer. The overall effect was kind of ruined as he kept ricocheting off the sides of the bounce house, and the floor, and the ceiling, which was all well and good really, because try as he might Inkbrand couldn't keep up the acting for very long. His face quickly reformed back into a rot-eating grin and utter glee as they bounced around, as were soon joined by a - now very familiar - purple Unicorn.

 

Who was showing off some slick moves inside the bounce house, nice.

 

"Wouldn't you know it, baby," Inkbrand crowed, attempting to grab the pony around the waist to throw her up in the air a few times, and landing flat on his face for his efforts. "I'm bouncing on air!" he finished, as soon as his face was free of the floor of the bounce house, and simply remained on his stomach as the two mares around him did all the work, bouncing him up and down and up again. Buck, Wicked Rhythm would never let him live this down if she ever got wind of it. 

 

...Then again, if she'd been here, she would have been right next to him, no doubt about it. 

 

But that was neither here or now, and - with some truly spectacular effort on his part - Inkbrand managed to flip himself over mid-air, landing on his bottom just as the pink Earth Pony provided her challenge, causing a glint to appear in his eyes. "Bounce race? You are so on," the grey stallion grinned, teeth bared as he managed to right himself into s semblance of a starting position. "Once through every room, yeah?" he questioned, not really caring about setting down strict rules for the race as a sly grin broke out over his features, because - "onetwothreego!" 

 

Not that Inkbrand had any ideas about wining against a bucking bounce champion, if the house was anything to go off of. Then again, as he landed flat on his face for a second time, Inkbrand decided he could really bucking care less about winning or losing, because buck he felt like a foal again. The sort of feeling he only really got on Nightmare Night.  

 

...That reminded him, he needed to pick up his costume this week. Preferably early in the week. 

 

...But, more on that later, because right now was bounce time, and a bounce race he was going to lose horribly. 

 

[SteelEagle]

 

Well, there was Fire Walker at least who was willing to converse with the pair. Truth be told Applejack and Fluttershy were starting to wonder if this was some sort of fever dream since they'd been ignored completely since they arrived. Maybe that was because thee was simply so much going on that'd it be hard to find the time or inclination to greet them. And with a bouncy castle involved and the birthday filly getting all squared away, no doubt the next agenda item was a whole bowl of fun for everypony involved. "Howdy thar Fire Walker! Fancy seeing you here. How's tha party been so far? Looks like Inkbrand over there has gotten ta know Derpy's backside rather well," she followed with a chuckle, following Fire Walker towards the bouncy house because by all rights she was a filly at heart sometimes.

 

Fluttershy was happy to follow. She didn't mind having a bit of fun, but the lack of contact with anypony had thrown her off a bit and made her think something was wrong. Well, more wrong than what was going on when they had first arrived, anyway. That was a silly looking accident by the sound of it. The lack of greeting and consistent silence towards them made Fluttershy feel like they had done something wrong, gone to the wrong party (even though everypony they had been told to expect was there). Luckily Fire Walker was here and Fluttershy was greatly relieved. As they started walking towards the bouncy fun she did have one question though, her thoughts most concerned with the birthday mare. "Ummm, Fire Walker, do you know where everypony was putting their gifts for Derpy?"
 

[Lux]

 "What the pretty Princess said,"

 

Twilight was relieved that Inkbrand agreed with getting Derpy to the party. Perhaps she assumed that Inkbrand would be stubborn to her. Strangely, Inkbrand also appeared relieved like he was scared of her? Did he think she'd blast him with her magic if he disagreed? Maybe things weren't so patched up after the Applejack incident after all. But no sooner had the trio approached where Pinkie set up the birthday, Inkbrand got excited over the bounce house! Indeed it was a very impressive structure, even for Pinkie Pie whose parties have always impressed Twilight. But before she could follow him and introduce the birthday mare, Derpy asked her a question.

 

“Hey uhhh, Twilight? I know you’re not really a Princess of Love or anything like that, but welllllllll..... When you promise to kiss somepony when you’re stuck in a tree, but you really didn’t mean it... do you still have to kiss him?”

 

Twilight could only sigh, not at Derpy's comments but at the fact that Inkbrand was thinking of hooking up with Derpy even after this one moment. The Princess could only wonder why the grey stallion hadn't tried to hook up with her!

 

"Derpy, while normally I'd say that a pony should keep their promise, in this case if you don't want to kiss Inkbrand you don't have to. Nopony should force you to do something you're not comfortable about. Beyond that, I'd have to say do what you feel is right."

 

Granted she was no Princess of Love, but hopefully this would help the mare make a decision. 

 

"Now, let's check out this bounce house!" Twilight said as she entered the colossal castle. She had only entered one of the many rooms when she spotted Pinnkie Pie and Inkbrand, and a rather unsettling thing the Party Mare said. 

 

"Oh now Inky! You know I can't marry you! That would just be way to much spectacularness if me and you were together!"

 

Twilight could only hope that Derpy was out of earshot as if the Pegasus heard this when she was asked to get a kiss it could ruin her mood on her special day! 

 

Spoiler

Bellosh: if you prefer to have Derpy go to another room, let me know. Otherwise I'm assuming that Derpy is still following Twilight!

 

"Err... right. Anyway, great idea having a bounce castle, Pinkie. And here's the birthday mare!"

 

Spoiler

Also Zieg: I know you mentioned a Purple unicorn that he was bouncing around with, so I assumed it was another pony not Twi.

 

[PyroBlaze]

(Lux, the purple unicorn Zeig mentioned is my character, Flux. At least I assume so.)

 

Flux giggled happily as she watched Inkbrand's failed attempts to grab her. Not that she really knew why he was trying that, but it was funny watching him fall on his face in here. She was very happy right now, this place was great! Wind had disappeared somewhere, but she would be fine, and she had two other friends right here!

 

"A bounce race? Yay! Let's do it!" Flux bounced even more in excitement, though she just ended up bouncing straight up and down from floor to ceiling. Before it could start though, two more ponies showed up, and one was a princess!

 

"Hiya you two! I'd love to stay and chat, but we're about to start a bounce race!" She said, waving at the two. After that, Inkbrand started the race, and Flux bounced off the floor hard enough to send her flying through a doorway while she let out a happy sound the whole way. 

 

She wasn't entirely sure she could beat Pinkie, but she would have fun with it all the same! The disguised changeling bounced as quickly as she could from room to room, which was fast enough that she couldn't really tell where she was. She was just launching herself through doorways in the hope that it was where she needed to go. So far, the strategy hadn't let her down. 

[Bellosh]

 

Do what you feel is right, huh? In that case, following Twilight's subsequent suggestion to go in the bounce house felt like the thing that felt most right to Derpy! Why worry about tattooed stallions when there was still a birthday of hers she needed to partake in?

 

"WHOOOPIEEEEEEE!!!!!"

 

Derpy Hooves didn't get past the first room in the Bounce Castle before her inner child took over. She'd always enjoyed those bouncy things as a little filly, and she wouldn't let such inconveniences like  adulthood keep from reveling in the nostalgia of bouncing around and loudly hollering without a care in the world. Little was the happy, googly-eyed mare aware that she had made her way into the Bounce Study, occupied by several inflatable books and a blue pegasus filly.....

[Pretzelparty]

 

What was that? Assisting the preparation of the birthday pony's big surprise? Was there even a need to ask when she's already made the horrifying faux pas of forgetting a card?! Well, she may not have even really intended to even come to this party in the first place.  Actually what was the string of decisions that brought her hear again? Oh well, didn't matter. The inventor zipped back over to the side of the engine that was being inspected by the rainbow maned pegasus, a grin of delight still spread over her muzzle before she planted a hoof on Rainbow's shoulders.

 

"Je pourrais tu??! JE POURRAIS TU?!" She asked in an incredulous tone, "I absolutely could! So what's the surprise? I giant robot in her likeness doign a dance through the town or something like that?!" With a excited leap, Bevel landed back on the grassy floor and looked back to the metal housing of the engine. The Mare's jaw fell, "Don't suppose you know any quick ways I could get this soot off me do you, Manquer Dash?" The prench pony shaking out her fluffy mane and sending some small black clouds drifting off of her  but still sticking to the rest of her. 

[tacobob]

 

While bouncing about in the bounce castle, Wind Walker tried her best to read the strange bounce book she found in the bounce study. One could bounce and bone up on literature at the same time! “What the heck does ‘Brékkek Kékkek Kékkek Kékkek! Kóax Kóax Kóax’ mean?” Maybe she shouldn’t have read it out loud. In movies, she probably would have summoned a horde of evil zomponies. “Bygmester Finnegan, of the Stuttering Hoof, freecolt’s mau-rer, lived in the broadest way immarginable.” Alright. That was enough! A quick bounce back to the bounce study and the weird bounce book was back in its bounce shelf. Only someone like that dragon-goat guy, Discord could have written such madness!

 

The little blue filly managed to bounce back to Pinkie just as the bouncy mare bounced what sounded like a marriage proposal from that griffon-heart breaking stallion back to him with a great big NO!

 

"Ha!", Wind -believed- she was up to the challenge. "I announce that I can out bounce you all by all accounts and trounce your bounce record, which I now will enounce!" She was ready for the race!

 

 

 

Ho-Boy. That poor girl's name really was Derpy. Sometimes parents could be so cruel. For every Rainbow Dash or Prince Blueblood, there were the less than impressive names. Her little sister Wind swore there was a kid in her class named 'Pipsqueak' and even her friend Scootaloo had an odd name. Almost sounded like something you'd call an outhouse on wheels.

 

"Well.", it took the red mare a moment to come up with a response, "It's very different. Assortment of random amusement park rides scattered about and a giant bounce castle. I heard Lady Pie's parties were unique. And yes, Mister Brand. He's erm, unique personality." the officer smiled back at the farmer. Along with the country-cow-poke, there was also Lady Fluttershy. Good gravy, that girl was gorgeous! There wasn't a single imperfection that she could see on the former super-model. Still, she had heard the animal caretaker was a bit skittish. No sudden moves. Fire let her eyes drift upon the beauty.

 

"There was a long table not that far from here that already had gifts when we first arrived.", the Pegasus pony added, "Little Wind and I placed our gifts on it before we got involved with the whole muckety muck that followed." She wondered how long it took Fluttershy to look that good eveyday. Knowing how things were, the mare probably just needed to get out of bed, shake her mane about and wala! Perfection! "I hope you're enjoying this little party, Lady Shy.", she gave the golden mare a friendly smile as she made her way to the bounce castle, to see what her little sister was up to. "Shame you couldn't get your little sister to come along.", she turned her gaze back to Applejack, "Little Wind gets a little grouchy when she doesn't have a fellow kid to hang around with at these events."

[RainbowFoxxy]

 

Pinkie was having...the...BEST...TIME....EVERRRR!

 

The pink mare bounced from room to room, off the ceiling, off the floor, off the inflatable fish tank! 

 

"This is so super fun fun fun!" She cheered and whooped as she continued her bouncing. She hadn't actually figured out where to race but that didn't matter!

 

"Who think they can catch meeeeee?" She flew around her challenge reaching anypony in range. "First pony to tag me wins a prize!"

 

The bounce house shook about, filled with happy bouncy ponies!

 

Rainbow found herself blushing as Bevel spoke. There was something about that accent! The pegasus shook her head a little, trying to keep her thoughts clear. It was easy to daydream around a mare like Bevel.

 

"Yep! I think I can help you with that!" She nodded to her new friend. "Hold onto ummmmm, that," She pointed a hoof at the edge of the engine that had just been repaired. 

 

"One, two, three!" With each number Rainbow flapped her wings a little harder. The third flap was quite a gust and did the trick of getting rid of the rest of the soot. She hadn't thought about the fact of whether or not Bevel liked the wind blown look.

 

"Ok, that's better right?" She tried a smile. 

[Zeig]

 

Mmm, yup, he was doing just about as well as he'd expected.

 

Flux and Pinkie Pie were off like a dual shot straight out of Taurtarus, leaving poor yet devastatingly handsome stallions to aimlessly, and alternatively, face plant into the floor and ceiling in equal measure, until said stallions finally managed to get their hooves underneath them long enough to steady themselves. It wasn't until he was moving no faster than a gentle bob up and down that Inkbrand managed to get in bearings in the wake of the bounce storm the two mares had left, and by the time that happened, the two were long gone. 

 

Ah well, he'd find them soon enough. This bounce castle couldn't be that big, right?

 

...

 

Right.

 

Though, the grey stallion had only moved one room inward when a familiar voice caught his attention, causing him to turn mid-bounce to flop his way over towards a window - complete with bouncy curtain tied up with an equally bouncy cord. Inkbrand pushed the window open, body still gently bobbing up and down as he leaned halfway the window, catching sight of the owner of the voice that had arrested his attention just moment's before. "Yo, whaddup Apples," Inkbrand hollered, easy smirk stealing across his face as he shifted to drape one elbow across the windowsill, looking for all the world like the average neighbor leaning out a window to say hello. "Joining in on the birthday fun? Heya babe, how 'ya doin'," he added as an aside to the pale yellow Pegasus Applejack was walking with, a vaguely familiar looking mare that he couldn't be bothered to place in memory at the moment. 

 

Wasn't a problem for the third one, who's presence caused the easy smile on Inkbrand's face to shift into something a little bit sharper. "And if it isn't Fire Walker," the tattoo-clad stallion drawled, body leaning a bit further out the window as he leered at the mare, "suppose you 'member your good buddy Inkbrand, this time?" 

 

[SteelEagle]

Applejack sighed. It would have been nice for Apple Bloom to have fun at a party like this, but of course things couldn't be too simple. “Ah wish Apple Bloom coulda made it, but she's got a bit of s fever and is gettin' some bed rest. She should be fine soon 'nough of course- us Apples are pretty dang hardy and she ain't no exception,” Applejack said, taking off her hat and setting it down on top of her gift just as Inkbrand arrived. She greeted him with a smile. “Howdy thar, Inkbrand. Nice ta see y'all can still breathe after havin' a mare on yer head like that,” she said warmly, shaking her head, “Nothing much- Ah'm doin' just fine, Sugarcube. How're you doin'?” She asked, always happy to see him.

Fluttershy was just happy to have a place to put her presents! She really did think long and hard about what to get her friend this year and was worried she wouldn't like it, even if Pinkie wasn't the type to dislike much of anything. “Oh, over there? Thank you,” Fluttershy replied softly, moving over to put her gift down. She did it nice and gentle, not wanting to break it. Well it'd be hard to break, but she was just going to be careful. After she placed it down, Inkbrand was being all flirty!
Oh my!
How scandalous!
She balanced on her back hooves and looked down and away, blushing and whispering. “Oh, I'm great- I'm Fluttershy, by the way. A-Applejack told me your name is Inkbrand?”

[Lux]

With the Birthday Mare safely at her own party, it was time to meet up with her other friends! Navigating the inflatable maze proved to be difficult for the Alicorn as she half bounced/ half tripped through the rooms. Finally he found Fluttershy and Applejack and Inkbrand. This was very awkward seeing the two earth ponies together seeing as what Twilight encountered in Hearth's Warming Eve. But before she could paint Inkbrand in a good light, it appeared he was flirting with Fluttershy. 

 

"Hello there Applejack and Fluttershy. Some party, huh? I see you met Inkbrand." 

[tacobob]

 

“Whaaaaa?” Wind Walker’s blue ears picked up a new challenge. She would need to tag the bubbly pink pony! Or better yet, she needed to poke a Pinkie Pie! Bop a cookie baker! Slap a sugar seller! And win a prize! As the little filly bounced between room to room, she pondered what sort of prize it would be. Would it be an entire set of Encyclopædia Equestria? A year subscription to the 'Sock Of The Month Club'? A year's worth of Rice-A-Poni, (The San Franciscolt Treat)? Nah! It had to be something sweet. She would need to be sneaky and catch the mare when she was not looking!

 

Unfortunately, it was downright difficult to be stealthy in a bounce house! You couldn't turn off the 'bounce' sounds one would make in such a place! The sudden appearance of an inflatable fish also ruined her chances of sneaking up on the candy maker. Maybe this was a clue where her target was at. What room had an inflatable fish tank? To the bounce den!

 

 

 

 

"Oh, that poor thing." What a horrible time to be sick! Not only was there a big party, there was also the assorted carnival attractions the poor kid would miss. Still, she was pretty sure Pinkie would throw a 'No More Fever Fun-Fun Festival' for the little filly once she got better.  "I'm sure she's here in spirit." It was also a shame the apple farmer's hunky brother wasn't here either. She knew it was all 'hooves off' considering how things were going with Swift Squall and all, but it didn't hurt to look! The sudden sound of a stallion that was probably the exact opposite of Big Macintosh quickly snapped her out of her daydream.

 

Fire Walker glanced up at the tattooed stallion. "Well, hello there Mister Brand." Ugh! He was giving her that look. The dreaded Inkbrand stare. "I seriously doubt that I could ever forget you.", she gave the pony an half-smile. That was not meant as an insult. She had an rather 'unique' experience with the pony, along with a few others, like Applejack. Did they ever figure out who managed to turn them all into little colts and fillies? And was he trying to hit on Fluttershy? "I hope you're staying out of trouble." Ha! That guy was trouble!