Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A Party Solves All Problems

Rarity smiled at her new customer. "So, I assume you're here for the special deal?"

"You bet, Rarity. Magic's gonna be awesome," Carrot Top said with a smile.

"Okay, just pick out a dress. Remember that once you get the dress and spread the word about Carousel Boutique, you get magic."

The earth pony looked around at all of the dresses inside the boutique. The ponies in the short line behind her were anxious to get their end of the special offer, but Carrot Top still took her time. There were dresses of all colors. There were orange dresses and green dresses and purple dresses and blue dresses and red dresses, she just couldn't decide.

"I thiiiiiiiiink I want this one." She approached a blue dress on a ponnequin. The dress featured emeralds strewn along the hem and white patterns all throughout the dress.

Rarity had to hold herself back from gagging. The clash of colors was simply too much for her to bear. "Well, I...um...think that dress does look good, buuuuut I think this one would suit you better." The unicorn retrieved an orange one that was similar to the dress Carrot Top had chosen, but with a different color scheme. It still had the emeralds and the patterns. The only difference was that the dress itself was orange instead of blue. "It will look much better on you, believe me."

The orange pony nodded. "Alright, I'll take that one then. It's 80 bits, right?"

"That's correct."

Carrot Top gave her a small bag jingling with the sound of bits. Rarity would use some of this money to buy sweets. The rest of it would most likely go toward making more dresses. Rarity smile at her customer and said, "Well, I'm sure you're ready for the special offer, are you not?"

"You bet I am!"

On cue, Pinkie Pie hopped out from out of nowhere. "One super duper magical power treatment coming right up!"

The pink pony didn't even change facial expressions as Carrot Top let out a loud "WHOA!" After shaking her head, the orange pony said, "Heh, that felt funny."

Rarity turned to her friend and said, "Splendid job, Pinkie Pie. Here you are." Her eyes were shut proudly as she lifted three gumdrops onto the table. Pinkie Pie gobbled them up as soon as they touched the table.

"Rarity!"

The white unicorn looked into the doorway where the familiar call came from. Twilight Sparkle galloped into the boutique as Carrot Top left. She was followed by Rainbow Dash, who nearly plowed into the customer. "What are you doing?" Twilight asked.

Rarity gave her friend a welcoming smile and spoke with a simple conversational tone. "Twilight. I'm so glad you could make it. I assume Rainbow Dash told you about Pinkie."

"Yes she did, and what are you doing?" the unicorn repeated.

The fashionista ignored her friend's worried tone. "Oh, it's a new deal I'm making my customers. It's simple. First, they buy one of my magnificent dresses. Then, I give them magical abilities thanks to Pinkie Pie. I taught her to control her ability to share magic. Once they can use magic, everypony they know will ask, 'How are you using magic?' Then the pony will respond with, 'Oh, I got it at Carousel Boutique. The same place I got this fantastic dress.' I become a top-class fashionista. Ponies get special abilities. Everypony wins." She finished her speech with an excited giggle. "And so fat so good. I've had at least fifty customers so far."

Twilight Sparkle let out a small whimper when she heard the number. "Rarity," she said with a puny voice. "You need to stop spreading it."

"But why, darling? Everypony's happy."

Twilight's magic lifted a book and opened it to a page featuring a picture of an earth pony performing magic. "The reason Pinkie Pie has magic is because I had a sickness called Magic Spurt. It's a disability that boosts magical ability."

Pinkie Pie leaned in to read the book. "It doesn't seem like a disability. It sounds like fun!"

Twilight ignored Pinkie's comment and continued. "It has the ability to spread to earth ponies, giving them the ability to use magic as well."

Rarity, who started to look worried, interrupted, "And what are the symptoms of this Magic Spurt other than magic?"

Twilight hesitated in delivering the bad news. "Well... I haven't quite pinpointed the incubation time of the virus, but-"

"You turn into sand!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. Twilight couldn't waste time telling Rarity about incubation periods. The clock was ticking.

Rarity let out an audible gulp that seemed to speak for her. It said, "Oh, horse apples. What have I done?" Then the unicorn spoke for herself. "Is it curable?"

Rainbow Dash interrupted Twilight Sparkle's answer when her eyes darted to a flowerpot in the corner of the room. It contained a flower shaped like a T. It was yellow with a blue center. "Yeah. It's curable." She sped to the pot and plucked the flower. "I used this thing to cure Twilight Sparkle right on time."

Rarity looked at the flower like it was from some foreign planet. "THAT'S the cure? Lily Root?"

The purple unicorn turned to the pale one. "Where did you get it anyway?"

"Oh! Zecora gave it to me as a gift a couple days ago. I found it matched the walls oddly well, so I figured why not. But Zecora told me they're incredibly rare. You're lucky Rainbow Dash found one in time."

This was another problem. They were rare and one flower cured only one pony. Then the pegasus got an idea. "Twilight! Don't you know a spell that can copy things? You can just make copies of this Lily Root stuff."

Twilight smiled at the idea. "That would be perfect. Let me see the Lily Root."

Rainbow Dash retrieved the flower in her mouth and spat it out at the unicorn's feet. Twilight closed her eyes as her horn grew a purple glow around it. The Lily Root now shared the same aura and began to shine brightly. Twilight let out a small grunt, her eyes now squeezed shut. She was even sweating a little. Suddenly, the glow subsided and the single plant fell to the ground.

Rainbow Dash inspected the single plant. "That didn't work. I thought you were a magic whiz." The pegasus was confused. Twilight could do a spell like that in her sleep. At least, the pegasus thought so. Maybe it was a complex spell.

Twilight was out of breath. "I...I don't know. I never had trouble with a duplication spell before."

Rarity was equally confused. "Not to mention you looked like a work pony pulling a plow you were working so hard. What happened?"

"Oo! Oo! I know the answer!" Pinkie Pie interjected. She zoomed next to Twilight's side.

Suddenly, the purple unicorn let out an uncomfortable yelp. "Pinkie! What was that?"

Pinkie Pie laughed. "It's me giving back Magic Spurt! Duh!"

Twilight Sparkle wore a face of complete bewilderment. Rainbow Dash's jaw was dropped even lower than the unicorn's. Rarity's eyes were wider than both of the two's eyes. The pegasus spoke, "You WHAT?!"

Twilight shook off her frozen face of surprise and exclaimed, "Pinkie! We don't have time for you to be-"

"Try it now," the pink pony interrupted.

Twilight was so surprised and confused she almost stepped back. "What?"'

"Try duplicating the thingy now. Cuz you said the virus makes magic stronger."

That made sense. If she needed to get this done to save Ponyville and possibly Equestria. This sacrifice seemed infinitesimal. Twilight turned to the Lily Root and once again lifted it with magic. Sure enough, the unicorn effortlessly made nine more of the flower effortlessly.

Rarity looked at Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie with amazement. "She's right. The reason you're so good at magic is because you're infected with Magic Spurt."

The purple unicorn stood there with a look of shock on her face. Her eyes were wide open as she said quietly to herself, "Without Magic Spurt, I'm useless?"

Rainbow Dash had to interrupt. The only ego-wrecker around here was her. "Twilight. So what, you couldn't get a duplication spell. It's sorta advanced. It is, isn't it?" she asked as she gave a comforting hoof over her shoulder.

Twilight still looked miserably at the royal boutique's floor. "Yeah, it is." She shook her head. It wasn't time for moping. It was time for action. "So how do we get at least fifty people together in one place at once?"

The four ponies thought to themselves for only a couple seconds before the pink pony perked up. "Oo! Oo! I know the answer to this one, too!"

------

The party happened the next day. Everypony who took part in Rarity's special offer was invited to a special party to celebrate and perfect their magical skills.

Or so they thought.

The plan was that once every guest is present, Rainbow Dash would shut the doors as quickly as possible. Twilight Sparkle and Rarity would urge the crowd to apply the Lily Root, and if nopony agreed, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash would do it forcefully.

Normally, they wouldn't have done it forcefully, but complications arose. After trying to talk one colt into getting his powers taken, they discovered that nopony wanted to give up their magic. When Rarity told the colt about Magic Spurt, he didn't believe the fashionista. Taking magic away from fifty ponies was going to be difficult. They needed to be healed.

It took place inside Carousel Boutique, which was fitting since that's where the sale took place. Everypony who attended wore his outfit that they had purchased from Rarity, causing the pale unicorn to gush at how her fashion had won over a crowd. Aside from formal attire, it wasn't any different from any of Pinkie Pie's other parties. There were a couple games like Pin the Tail on the Pony and Musical Stables. There was punch and a cookie cake made by Pinkie herself that read "Yay! Magic!" in icing.

Another difference between her normal parties and this one is that Pinkie Pie had taken a peek inside some of Twilight Sparkle's magic books and learned some spells. One spell made the streamers sparkle with a bright gleam. Another spell made the punch automatically refill.

Rainbow Dash was still invited to the party as "a guest of honor." The title made her proud, but the pegasus knew why she was here. Her duty or lack of magic didn't keep her from mingling around, though.

The speedy pegasus trotted up to Pinkie Pie talking to a handful of guests. The pink party pony was more eligible to be a guest of honor since she gave all of the ponies magic.

"...and that's how Equestria was made!" Needless to say, this confused everypony since she was talking about how she got her cutie mark only seconds earlier. Most ponies looked at each other and shrugged while Pinkie Pie left the smile on her face.

A voice rose from the confusion. "What an...interesting story, Pinkie Pie. You're always full of surprises," Lily said from the small crowd.

Pinkie Pie laughed. "Oh, just you wait. I've got a whole bagful of 'em. Be right back."

Suddenly, the voice of Rarity boomed across the hollow boutique. She was using a microphone "Hello, everypony. I see you all are enjoying your newly equipped magical powers."

Rarity's response was a loud unanimous shout of joy. They didn't like magic. They loved it. That was the pegasus' cue. She bolted to each of the doors and shut them in less than three seconds. It was perfectly timed so that no one noticed since they were yelling.

"Well, I'm very glad that you appreciate your new magic deal. But I'm afraid that we have received bad news. The reason you all have magic is because of a virus called Magic Spurt." the white unicorn lifted the book using magic and opened it to the page showcasing Magic Spurt. No one could see it, but they knew it was there. "It's a disease that gives the host the ability to use magic, or enhances magical abilities in unicorns." This comment was followed by excited murmurs. "However, having this disability too long causes the host to turn into sand." The murmurs quickly changed to a more concerned tone. "But not to worry, everypony. We have found the cure and we will cure all of you."

Rainbow Dash looked into the audience and hoped they'd cooperate. Overall, the reactions of the group showed belief. But of course, healing them just like that would be just too easy.

"You're just trying to rip us off!" yelled a blue stallion from the back of the crowd. He was the first loud voice from the audience. The crowd once again spread murmurs. Now they didn't believe Rarity's warning.

Fortunately, a voice of reason spoke up. Twilight Sparkle approached the podium and frantically tried to warn the crowd. "Rarity is telling the truth! I almost turned into sand today trying to find the cure."

The annoying blue colt didn't even hesitate. "You're one of Rarity's closest friends. She probably paid you to say that!" The crowd quickly sided with the conspiracy theorist.

Rainbow Dash decided this was the worst case scenario. It was time to use some force. She picked up a Lily Root she kept in the corner and sped to her first target. That annoying blue stallion.

"Hey, bucko! You can win a crowd, but you can't outrun me!" the pegasus cried as she sped toward the colt. Right before shoving the plant down his throat, he disappeared. Rainbow Dash stopped in surprise.

A voice from behind her said, "Oh yes I can." The speedster turned around to see the colt staring at her proudly. He had teleported. The other ponies at the party crowded around as Rainbow Dash began to charge at her nemesis. Before she got halfway to him, the pegasus felt herself hurdle to the wall.

As she collided with the fancy wallpaper (which gave Rarity a heart attack), she grunted and said, "Cheater." Twilight Sparkle looked at the spectacle and tried to urge the two to stop fighting. This clearly had no effect. Rainbow Dash was about to take a more tactical approach to the magic wielding colt.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The entire room turned to the source of the blood-curdling scream. They all saw Pinkie Pie, whose body was half gone. Underneath her was a pile of pink sand. The rest of her body was changing to sand rather quickly. Much quicker than Twilight's body. "Help me!" It was already at her neck.

Rainbow Dash took a second to snap out of shock and dashed to her friend as quickly as possible. When she got to her friend, she quickly realized she forgot the root. "Pinkie Pie! Hold on! Don't turn to sand!"

Pinkie Pie continued screaming as the pegasus scoured the crowd for the Lily Root. Rainbow Dash searched so quickly that she knocked over multiple guests. The adrenalin was pumped through every cubic inch of her body. She finally found it on the floor next to the blue jerk, but when she returned, it was too late. There was no more screaming. There was only the pink sand. The entire room was silent.

Rainbow Dash put the Lily Root on the pile of sand. "Change back," she said to the sand as a tear rolled down her cheek. "Don't die!" she commanded the pile of sand. The pink sand didn't move. Rainbow Dash started to cry. "You can't die!" she cried between sniffs and tears. Rainbow Dash knew that it was too late.

The entire room was silent given the exception of the proud pegasus's sobs. The silence in the room was penetrated by the blue stallion swallowing his pride. "I believe we all need to be treated."

------

All 53 ponies were treated, excluding Twilight Sparkle. The two unicorns distributed the Lily Root to every last one of them. None of them wanted their money back and every last one kept their clothes, but it didn't matter. Magic Spurt had been taken down, but not without taking one pony with it.

Everypony but the two unicorns and Rainbow Dash had left the boutique to continue with their average lives. Rainbow Dash spent the rest of the party stand next to the sand pile, weeping softly. After the treatment, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle stood next to their friend to mourn the loss of Pinkie Pie.

For the first couple minutes, there wasn't much talking. They mostly stared at the pile of pink sand. There were small yellow and blue patches where her cutie mark used to be. Rarity broke the silence. "Well, I suppose we should say what was great about her."

Rainbow Dash gave a huge sniff. Tears continued to roll down her face when she nodded. "She was always optimistic. Pinkie Pie was always great at throwing parties." The pegasus stopped for a couple seconds to cry. She was proud and would never live down crying, but the pegasus couldn't stand remembering the fun times they had. All of those moments were gone. Rarity gave the pegasus a pat on the back as a couple tears ran down the unicorn's face as well. Rainbow Dash continued her eulogy. "She was...an amazing prankster."

Twilight Sparkle cut in with little to no emotion. "Tell me about it." Then she giggled to herself.

Rainbow Dash couldn't believe her. Giggling when Pinkie Pie had just died. The pegasus gave her a sour look.

Twilight Sparkle spoke in a superior, informative tone. "This morning, I noticed that there were two books missing from my library. Both of which were rented by Pinkie Pie. The first one was "Party Magic" which she used to do all of this stuff. The other was-"

The unicorn was interrupted by a book pelting her in the face. As it landed, the title was revealed. "Self-Transformation Spells," A familiar bubbly voice from behind them said. "Thanks for letting me borrow it Twilight."

Rainbow Dash could hardly believe her eyes. The sand that they were mourning moments earlier was gone, now replaced by their pink pony friend, who stood smiling at her friends. "I got you guys good."

Rainbow Dash's eyes were wide open along with her mouth. It was all a prank. Pinkie Pie had just single-handedly pranked the entire party and stopped Magic Spurt at the same time. It was brilliant. Rainbow Dash had to give her friend a tackle hug. "Oh, thank Celestia you're alive!"

Rarity was equally surprised. "You turned into sand to scare the crowd into getting healed. Brilliant if I do say so myself."

Pinkie Pie laughed. "My best prank yet, without a doubt." She didn't look like she was ever turned into sand and certainly didn't act like it.

The pegasus had to join in laughing, too. She was so overjoyed that her friend was alive. "Yep. You definitely had me fooled." She stopped laughing, but still smiled. "So does this mean you get to keep your powers or do you have to lose them?"

Pinkie Pie almost answered, but was preemptively interrupted by Twilight Sparkle. "Heavens, no! You saw how scared we were tonight. I don't have any intention of letting her get turned into sand again."

Rarity nodded. "I couldn't bear seeing you putting your life in danger for some silly magic. Besides, it's time for this to end."

Twilight Sparkle turned to Pinkie Pie. "You understand, don't you?"

Pinkie Pie frowned. "Well, magic is cool and all, but if I were to die, then that would be no fun for any of my friends. Let's heal that big meanie pants virus once and for all."

Twilight's head bobbed happily. "Alright, but there aren't any more Lily Root here. The last two are at my treehouse, so-"

Pinkie Pie was already gone. Teleporting away for the last time. "Well, here goes," the purple unicorn said as she teleported away.

The boutique was abandoned, leaving behind the party decorations, the white unicorn, and the rainbow-maned pegasus. The unicorn turned to Rainbow Dash, and sighed. "Thank goodness all of this drama is almost over."

Rainbow Dash gave a giggle. "Yep. It's all over," she said as she trotted out of the boutique. The secrets and the viruses were finally over. She was going back to her normal life, and out of the boutique and the stress of her friends' potential death. She spread her wings and dashed away.

------

It was another afternoon months later. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were out in Sweet Apple Acres picking some of the orchard's apples. Applejack didn't mind so long as they didn't take much.

Rainbow Dash put a whole apple in her mouth as Pinkie Pie watched anxiously. "Alriiiight, that's ooooone," she said playfully. The pink pony handed her friend a second apple. Without any hesitation or chewing, the pegasus shoved the second apple into her mouth. Almost choking, she closed her mouth all of the way. "And two!" The pegasus immediately spit out the apples.

"Whoo! That was pretty tough. Alright, it's time to see you do it," the competitive pegasus said with a cocky grin as she kicked the apple tree. Three ripe apples fell out, one by one. Pinkie Pie quickly and easily opened her mouth and scooped up the three apples into her mouth. Her mouth shut to earn the title of "Apple in Mouth Master." Rainbow Dash was speechless.

Pinkie Pie swallowed all three apples and said, "That makes me master of 61 different skills, and makes you master of only 17 skills. Whattya wanna do next?"

Rainbow Dash turned to the hills and looked at all of the trees. "Alright, how aboooooout we try to count how many trees there are in Sweet Apple Acres. Perfect time killer. You in?"

No response from Pinkie Pie.

"Are you in?" she repeated as she turned to her friend. She was gone. Rainbow Dash was confused. Did she decide to randomly start a race of some sort? She walked up the hill to try to see over it. The pegasus looked over the hill to see a huge part of the orchard, but couldn't see any pink.

Rainbow Dash looked at the ground in front of her to see something that made her spine shiver. This couldn't be happening. But it was.

A very small pile of pink sand was lying on the ground directly in front of her.

------

Twilight Sparkle was reading a book about advanced spells in her library. It was another free day for her, which was unsurprising since almost every day was a free day for the princess’ assistant. So long as she ad a friendship report, she was off the hook.

Suddenly, a voice from behind her screamed, “Lily Root! Lily Root!” Twilight Sparkle opened a drawer and pulled out the flower without hesitation. As soon as the flower was within distance, Pinkie Pie gobbled it up. Twilight quickly used her magic to lift up the pink sand and put back together the small amount of sand that had fallen off of her friend.

Twilight looked at her calendar and flipped back a couple of pages. “So, the incubation period of Magic Spurt is approximately…three months. Thank you Pinkie Pie, this is very informative. Here you go back.” Pinkie Pie felt the odd tingling sensation once again in her forehead.

The deal that the two of them made after the party was simple. First, they both figured out how to control Magic Spurt. Then, whenever one of them started to turn into sand, the other would heal them with the excess Lily Root they had. Finally, when the pony was healed, the other would give them Magic Spurt again. The process would repeat continuously.

“Weee! This is a super duper fun idea! Cuz I know that I love magic, and you can hardly do magic at all without Magic Spurt, so it’s-“

Twilight stuck her hoof in her friend’s mouth. Twilight hated hearing Pinkie Pie talk about her weakness. “Yes. It is fun. But remember that nopony will ever know. You promised.”

The playful pink party pony giggled. “Of course, Twilight. I always keep a promise. Cuz breaking a promise is the easiest way to lose a friend FORE-“

Pinkie Pie was once again interrupted by a hoof in the mouth. “Yes, Pinkie. I know,” Twilight Sparkle said slightly annoyed.

“So, let’s keep our secret, keep our magic, and most importantly, keep having fun. Sounds good, Twilight,” Pinkie said at a supersonic speed. Afterwards, she immediately teleported away. Twilight continued to read with her boosted magical ability as Pinkie Pie reunited with Rainbow Dash to have more fun.

THE END

Author’s Note: Well, the story is over. This chapter specifically marked a lot of firsts for me. First time I ever FINISHED a fanfic, and my first time trying to write anything sad (so if it was bad, I apologize)

Thank you to Equestria Daily, Flankbook, and Fanfiction.net for hosting this, and special thanks to Kits on Flankbook for editing my first chapter to get it as good as it could be.