Applejack was having a good day. She might have gotten up even earlier than she usually did, but for whatever reason, ponies from all over Ponyville were flocking to her stall. With Celestia’s sun high in the sky, Applejack and Big Macintosh were selling their wares by the bucketful, and the register was rapidly filling up to its brim. A smile seemed permanently plastered to her face.
“Thank ya muchly, Caramel!” She yelled to her most recent customer as he walked away with a pained grin on his face and a large bushel of apples balanced on his back. “Come again soon!”
“I will, AJ! Have a good day!” He called back as he slowly got further and further away.
“Oh, I certainly will!” She waved to his back as he disappeared around the corner. Applejack turned to face the next customer in line with a smile. “Welcome to the Sweet Apple Acres Sweet Apple Stall! What can I get ya today? Apples? Apple pie? Apple crumble? Apple jam?" Applejack opened her eyes and looked to the new customer.
“HI AJ!” A high pitched voice nearly screamed in her face. Applejack grabbed onto the counter of the stall as she pressed a hoof against her heart, breathing heavily.
“Sweet Celestia, Pinkie, ya nearly killed me!” She scolded, shaking her head. Pinkie cocked her head to the side, but otherwise seemed unphased. “What is it that ya need?”
“Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to go frog hunting with me, and then have a picnic afterwards!” She cheered, jumping up into the air with excitement. Applejack frowned at her, unamused.
“Pinkie, can’t you see I’m working with my brother? I don’t have time to go have fun today! Besides, we all had a picnic last weekend.” Applejack turned back to the stall and started sorting through her apples once more. “If there’s nothing else, you’re holding up the line. I’m sorry I can’t hang out today, but there’s work to be done.” The farm pony offered an apologetic smile and a shrug. Pinkie looked lost.
“B-But what about frog hunting? I need a buddy to go frog hunting with!” She mumbled, scraping at the ground with her hooves. Applejack didn’t reply, but somepony else did.
“Frog huntin’?” Big Macintosh asked, looking towards his sister. Applejack merely let out a short bark of laughter.
“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Mac. She’s just being Pinkie Pie.” Applejack answered, shaking her head. Big Mac nodded and went back to selling his wares to a beige colored earth mare.
“But…” Pinkie whispered, but neither sibling looked up at her. “Okay…” The earth pony turned and walked away, alone.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Has anyone seen Pinkie today?” Applejack asked the other four mares in the room. All of them shook their heads and shrugged. “She came by last week to the stall, but I haven’t seen or heard anything of her since.”
“Have you checked Sugarcube Corner, darling? She could just be working overtime there.” Rarity suggested, flicking a curl over her shoulder. Applejack shook her head.
“I checked there, but the Cakes said that she took the week off.” Dash interjected, hanging her head. “I really want to find her. Have we checked everywhere else in Ponyville?”
“We should split up. She’s bound to be somewhere!” Twilight jumped up with newfound vigor. “Let’s go girls! Search every crevice of Ponyville there is!”
“Yeah!” The other four chimed.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Whatcha doooooooooing?” Pinkie asked, popping up behind Rarity. The unicorn mare’s concentration was broken and Rarity let go of her sewing machine, causing it to go haywire.
“Pinkie! No!” Rarity yelped, trying to wrestle the machine back under her control. The needle ticked and clicked sporadically against the blue fabric she was sewing. “The cloth will be ruined!”
“Grab it, Rarity!” Pinkie cheered her on, oblivious to the chaos she had caused. It was all just a big game to her. “You can do it!” Rarity gritted her teeth and pulled hard on the fabric with her hooves, simultaneously unplugging the machine from the wall with her magic and lifting the needle up. As soon as the plug left the wall, the machine slowed down rapidly until it was still, and the only noise in the room was Rarity’s labored breathing.
“Pinkie Pie, you nearly ruined this! It will take me ages to work all this thread out!” Rarity slumped forward, exasperated, as she looked at the cloth. Sporadic lines of the golden thread went everywhere, starting out straight and neat, and then branching off in every different direction towards the middle. “I have to get this done by tonight!”
“Oh! Well, when you get a few moments, do you wanna go to Froggy Bottom Bog with me?!” Pinkie asked, hopping up and down in place with a wide smile on her face. Rarity turned and glared at her.
“And just why would I want to do that?” She asked, narrowing her eyes.
“I wanna go mud sliding! I was originally going to go frog hunting with Applejack, but she was too busy…” Pinkie stopped bouncing and noticeably deflated. “And she said something about ‘Pinkie just being Pinkie.’”
“Hah, well, count me out on both those activities, Pinkie Pie. I’m sorry, but your actions have just given me hours more work ahead, when I could have been done in just a little bit.” Rarity scoffed, shaking her head angrily. She normally wouldn’t say such harsh words, but it wasn’t the first time that Pinkie had damaged her hard work, costing her hours of her free time, and perhaps a client.
“B-But what about later tonight?! When you’re all done?!” Pinkie forced a smile as she trembled slightly, upset that she had caused Rarity to be mad. “What if I stay and help you!” Without allowing Rarity time to respond, Pinkie jumped up and zoomed off into Rarity’s work room, slamming the door shut behind her. Rarity stood in place for a second, blinking, and trying to comprehend what had just happened. A loud crash broke her trance.
“Pinkie, no! Stop! Don’t touch anything in there!” She screeched, throwing open the door, or at least trying to. After a few inches, something blocked the door from opening further.
“Ohhh, my head!” Pinkie moaned from inside. Rarity peeked through the crack and saw the pink mare lying down on the floor, holding her head. A few boxes blocked the doorway. Rarity gritted her teeth and pushed with all her might, dislodging the boxes and causing them to go flying across the room. The door swung open.
It wasn’t fair to say that Rarity’s work room was clean to begin with. She preferred it to be ever-so-slightly messy. She knew where everything was, and everything had a place. The room that she had just entered was not her beloved, ever-so-slightly messy work room.
“Pinkie Pie, what did you do?!” Rarity screamed at the pink pony, who was lying amidst the destruction. “My room…” And indeed, the room was a complete disaster. All the boxes that were once lined the shelves were tossed carelessly onto the floor, their contents spilled out. Her spare dress ponyquins were toppled over, and all of her fabrics had been unrolled, covering the floor. “How did you do this?!”
“Ugh,” Pinkie sat up, still rubbing her head. “I wanted to help you finish your commission, so I ran in here to try and find some of the same fabrics, but I was running too fast and I hit the shelf, and…” Pinkie trailed off as she saw Rarity’s face go red.
“You were in here for all of five seconds before I heard that crash. How could you have gone through here like a hurricane so quickly?!” She demanded, stomping over to her and glaring with furious eyes. Pinkie immediately shrunk under her gaze.
“I-I was just really excited, and I wanted to h-help… I can still help, Rarity-“
“NO!” Rarity screeched, picking a surprised Pinkie up with her magic and rushing her out the door. “I don’t need anymore ‘help’ from you! Please, leave me to clean up your mess! I’ll never get this piece done by tonight!” Pinkie swore she could see steam coming from Rarity’s ears, and she allowed herself to be ushered outside.
“I-I’m sorry, Rarity…” Pinkie mumbled sadly. Rarity didn’t say anything until she dropped the mare outside of her porch. Rarity began closing her front door.
“’Pinkie just being Pinkie’ indeed.” The unicorn muttered when she thought Pinkie couldn’t hear. Pinkie sat there and allowed the door to be slammed in her face before walking away to the outskirts of town sadly.
~~~~~~~~~~
“I feel absolutely dreadful about the way I treated her last time she dropped by to visit.” Rarity hung her head in shame. “I basically kicked her out of my home. Oh, some Element of Generosity I am.” Twilight pulled Rarity in for a tight squeeze.
“Rarity, don’t be so hard on yourself. You told us the story, and I’m sure any of us would have reacted that way. She can be hard to deal with.” The two mares separated and Rarity gave a weak smile at Twilight’s words.
“I know, but I still feel terrible. I really want to find her and tell her how sorry I am. I was just so angry; I don’t know what came over me!” The five ponies departed from Twilight’s library, and headed towards the center of town.
“Well no matter what happened, we have to find Pinkie! That’s priority number one. Try not to think about it, Rarity. I’m sure she’s fine.” Twilight told her. Rarity just nodded.
“I hope nothing bad has happened. I didn’t treat her very well either when she came over to my house last time…” Fluttershy muttered sadly. Rainbow Dash turned to the other pegasus and scoffed.
“You, being mean to somepony? I find that hard to believe, Flutters.” Rainbow teased. Fluttershy retreated behind a wall of pink mane.
“I know, but I still feel bad. I basically had to turn her away in her time of need…” Fluttershy hung her head. Twilight stopped and turned to her.
“Really? What was wrong with her?” The alicorn asked, curious. She leaned in to Fluttershy, causing her to retreat and hide even more. “What happened?”
“Oh, I was so busy that day, and so much had happened that morning…”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Maybe Fluttershy will be home…” Pinkie mused out loud, sadly. She hated frowning, but she just couldn’t help it. “Maybe a nice, quiet afternoon with her is what I need.” Pinkie turned corner after corner, not lifting her head once. After trotting the path so much, she could navigate her way to Fluttershy’s cottage in her sleep. Sure enough, after a while, the thatched roof slowly poked over the bushes in the distance. Pinkie smiled despite herself, and sped up.
“There there… I know it’s hard, b-but this is the way of things… we just have to remember him fondly and move on. Shh, shh, it’ll be alright, just let it all out…” A broken sounding voice chimed out over the forest, breaking its silence.
“F-Fluttershy…?” Pinkie called out lightly, not wanting to interrupt anything. She rounded the corner and took cover behind a tree, peering around it to see what was going on. In the middle of the meadow beside her home, Fluttershy was lying down, her head pressed against the grass, cooing softly to a field mouse.
“Let it all out, Mrs. Mousey, it’ll be alright. The first couple weeks are going to be hard, but the pain will heal, I promise. I’ll be there every step of the way.” The pegasus stroked the mouse’s head gently, and when Pinkie listened closer, she could hear sad little squeaks coming from that direction as well. She debated about not going over there, and just leaving Fluttershy alone, but something urged her to go forward.
“F-Fluttershy? Is everything alright?” Pinkie asked gently, stepping out from behind the tree and into clear view. Fluttershy and the mouse immediately looked up, and both looked shocked for a moment. The mouse looked a little frightened, but with a few whispers from Fluttershy that Pinkie couldn’t hear, she calmed down.
“Oh, hello Pinkie Pie. How are you today?” Fluttershy asked sadly, giving her a weak smile. Pinkie didn’t say anything for a moment, instead moving a little closer.
“I’m fine, Fluttershy. Is everything alright? Is something wrong?” She asked, concerned. Fluttershy looked down at the field mouse, who resumed its crying.
“Oh, no, everything isn’t alright, is it, Mrs. Mousey?” The field mouse squeaked pitifully before collapsing into sobs again. Fluttershy gazed back at Pinkie. “A few days ago, Mr. Mousey went out, and he didn’t come back home… I went out looking for him tomorrow, and he…” Tears filled Fluttershy’s own eyes. Living so close to the Everfree Forest, Pinkie didn’t need to make a second guess on what had happened.
“Oh, Fluttershy, I’m so sorry! That’s awful!” Pinkie rushed forward and barrelled Fluttershy over, causing the two of them to tumble a few times. Fluttershy let out a shocked, fearful squeal as they rolled. Pinkie squeezed her tightly.
“P-Pinkie, p-please!” Fluttershy fretted, trying to shove Pinkie off of her. Pinkie held on though, and only squeezed tighter.
“Oh, what can I do to help you? Do you need me to bake you anything?! What about some cupcakes, cupcakes make everything better!” Pinkie yelled, shaking Fluttershy. “How about a song? Songs are always fun! Let’s have fun, Fluttershy!”
“Pinkie, stop, please.” Fluttershy whispered, her voice shrinking as Pinkie’s got louder and louder. “I need to-“
“’ALL YOU REALLY NEED’S A SMILE, SMILE, SMILE, TO FILL MY HEART UP WITH SUNSHINE, SUNSHINE!’” Pinkie yelled at the top of her lungs while grabbing Fluttershy’s sides and swaying her back and forth. As Pinkie continued singing, Fluttershy’s voice began to get sterner and sterner.
“Pinkie, this is not the time-“
“’ALL I REALLY NEED’S A SMILE, SMILE, SMILE, FROM THESE HAPPY FRIENDS OF MI-INE!’” She continued, her voice seemingly growing louder. “Come on Flutters, you know the words, sing along and give me a smile!” Pinkie grinned brightly in her face.
“Pinkie Pie, this is really too much-“She tried to say, but Pinkie interjected once again.
“I don’t see you smiling! Where’s that smile? Come on, show me one! I’m waaaaiting!” Pinkie leaned in and pulled on Fluttershy’s cheeks, stretching them upwards into an awkward smile. “There we go! That wasn’t too hard, was it? Let’s go have fun, wanna come swimming with me?!” Pinkie let go of Fluttershy and tugged her up until they both stood. The earth pony started ushering Fluttershy towards the lake.
“PINKIE PIE!” Fluttershy yelled, squeezing her eyes shut as she pushed Pinkie off her with surprising strength. “THAT IS ENOUGH!” Pinkie collapsed onto the ground, frozen. A look of shock was plastered on her face.
“W-What did I do wrong?” She asked, her lower lip quivering. Fluttershy’s face lightened slightly, but was still stern and upset. The pegasus walked back to her original spot, next to the field mouse that Pinkie had forgotten about.
“Oh Pinkie Pie, this isn’t about me! You have no right to come here and try to take me away from Mrs. Mousey, the one who TRULY needs my help right now.” Fluttershy chided, laying back down and taking the mouse into her arms. Mrs. Mousey resumed her sobbing, harder than ever now. “You’ve frightened her.”
“F-Fluttershy, I’m… I was just so sad… Rarity and Applejack, they-“
“Shh, shh, Mrs. Mousey, there, there. Everything will be alright.” The pegasus cooed, her attention completely taken away from the party pony. “That was just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Don’t mind her.”
Pinkie was off before Fluttershy had another chance to look up.
~~~~~~~~~~
“So where haven’t we looked, then?” Twilight panted to the rest of her friends, who were similarly fatigued.
“Only every building in Ponyville…” Rainbow huffed, landing on the ground. She winced as she reached back and rubbed the base of her wings. “I’ve been flying to every shop and house from one end of town to the other.”
“Oh, yes, and none of my animal friends have heard anything from her either… I even checked around the base of the Everfree Forest, and I didn’t see any sign of her.” Fluttershy put in, hanging her head so low that her long, pink mane trailed along the ground.
“Nowhere around the orchard either. I know that she loves to play ‘round the apple trees, so I figured she might be playing ‘round with some imaginary friend of hers or whatever, but I saw nothin’ that might of told me that she’s been there.” Applejack took off her hat and threw it onto the ground, stomping angrily.
“There, there, Applejack. We’ll find her, don’t worry.” Rarity stroked Applejack’s mane comfortingly as she turned to Twilight with worry in her eyes. “Won’t we?”
“Of course we will!” Twilight responded with a smile. “I don’t know why you girls have gotten so upset by this! This is Pinkie Pie we’re talking about! She’s bound to show up later. I’m sure that tonight, when I’m home with Spike reading, I’ll crack open a book and she’ll pop out, telling me about how she just had some fantastic journey with a wizard or something!” That got a little bit of a chuckle out of her friends.
“You’re probably right, Twi. Hey, you girls remember last time this happened?” Rainbow let out a short, quiet laugh, one that sounded grim. “She disappeared and nopony knew where she had gone to.” Twilight’s ears flicked backwards.
“Oh yes, I do remember that! It was a city wide emergency! Everypony thought that she had gotten lost, or ponynapped, or eaten by some awful creature in the Forest!” Rarity shook her head. “Ridiculous! I, for one, knew that she had not gotten eaten! Bah, what a thought!”
“Wait, where did she go to?” Twilight asked. The rest of the group ignored her.
“The Mayor had me send out my animal friends to every corner of the Forest to find her!” Fluttershy giggled.
“Where did she go?” Twilight asked again, a little louder this time.
“Oh Twilight, it was the most ridiculous thing!” Rarity laughed. “The whole place was in a state of emergency!”
“Pegasi were everywhere in the sky, searching for her. We thought that maybe she was in a rogue hot air balloon!” Rainbow nudged Fluttershy. “Remember that? We were flying for days on end!”
“Oh, yes, my wings weren’t used to so much flying… I was sore for weeks afterwards!” Fluttershy cringed at the memory.
“WHERE HAD SHE GONE?!” Twilight yelled, stomping on the ground. The other four quieted down and looked at her. Rarity swung her forearm over the alicorn’s shoulders.
“Oh, let us tell you the whole story, darling.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Maybe Rainbow Dash will be willing to put up with me today.” Pinkie whispered in fear of her voice breaking, even though there was nopony around to hear it. “Maybe I won’t be a burden to her.” Pinkie rounded the corner of the path was greeted by an open field. Lucky for her, Rainbow’s house wasn’t too far away from Fluttershy’s cottage.
There was her telltale mailbox, conveniently placed at ground level for earth ponies and unicorns to reach, and a doorbell, which somehow connected to Dash’s floating cloud home. Pinkie always marvelled at her house that never drifted away from its spot despite the fact that there was nothing anchoring it down, but there were weirder things in Pinkie’s life than that.
“Dashie? Rainbow Dash? Are you up there?” Pinkie called out, weakly at first. Silence greeted her for a few moments. “Dashie?” She called a bit louder. No response.
Thinking quickly, Pinkie Pie ran to a nearby tree, one that had a large hole in the side of it. The earth pony stuck a hoof in and dug around, feeling for something… there! She had found it. Pulling her hoof out, it was now grasping a load of un-inflated balloons. She blew them up as fast as she could – which was very fast, considering how much she did it – and tied the strings around her waist. The balloons slowly but surely started floating her upwards into the air.
“Thank goodness I’m so light!” Pinkie laughed out loud as she floated nearer to Dash’s house. “Dashie! You in?!” A shuffling inside of the house was heard.
“Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow stuck her head out the window in surprise. “What are you doing here?” She looked dubiously at the floating pink figure with balloons strapped to her. Pinkie waved frantically to her other pegasus friend as she attempted to float closer.
“I came to hang out! Everypony seems to busy, and I really really really really really really want to spend time with somepony! Please hang out and come have fun with me, Rainbow Dash, pleeeeeeeease?!” Pinkie grabbed Dash’s face when she finally floated close enough and thrust her face right up against her friend’s.
“Uh, that’s nice Pinks, but I’m kinda busy right now, sorry. Got a friend over, and we were about to head out and do some flying tricks.” Rainbow Dash mumbled, pulling away and looking down guiltily. Pinkie’s face fell.
“It isn’t Gilda, is it?” She asked, her lower lip quivering. Rainbow Dash’s eyes shot open and she shook her head.
“No, no! Don’t worry, no! Her name is Pizelle, I met her in the Wonderbolts Academy. She’s a good friend of mine, but she lives in Cloudsdale, so I don’t get to see her much. Since the Academy is on break right now, she figured that she would come see me. We were gonna go out and practice so we wouldn’t be too sluggish once it opened up again.” Dash felt another surge of guilt pass over her as Pinkie deflated even more.
“Oh… well… what if we all went lily pad hopping together? Could you guys practice your tricks some other time?” Pinkie inquired hopefully. Those hopes fell when she saw Dash bite her lower lip.
“Oh, uh, I don’t think so Pinks… she’s only in town for a few days, and we really wanna get this done. Sorry.” Rainbow leaned in and pulled Pinkie back down, who was starting to float away. “We can hang some other time, alright?”
“Alright, that sounds… that sounds great, Dashie. I’ll look forward to it.” Pinkie put on a smile. “Do you mind flying me back down to the ground? It’s a little difficult to get down there myself.”
“Oh, sure, of course. Gimme a second. I’ll be right there.” Rainbow ducked her head back in and Pinkie waited patiently for her to return. After a few seconds, she heard a quiet, hushed voice.
“Who was that chick?” A female voice whispered. Pinkie’s eyes shot open and she leaned in a bit closer in hopes that she could hear the snarky sounding voice better.
“Oh, that was my friend Pinkie Pie. She’s a little weird, but you get used to her.” Dash answered with a short laugh. “I just gotta fly her down to the ground and we’ll be outta here.”
“Psh, I’ve never heard of an earth pony tying balloons to herself so she can fly. And what the hay is ‘lily pad hopping’? I’ve never heard of such a ridiculous idea.” Pinkie fought the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Lily pad hopping was fun! She and Dash did it together lots of times in the past.
“Oh, it’s just some silly game that she made up a long time ago. Just forget about it, kay? That’s just Pinkie being her regular old Pinkie self.” The party pony remained hovering in the air for a few more seconds until Dash flew out, grabbed her forearm gently, and began tugging her back down to earth.
“Sorry about the wait, Pinks.” She said nonchalantly. Pinkie just nodded. The two were silent for the short trip back down. “I’ll catch up with you later, alright?”
“Yeah, sure… hope you have fun.” Pinkie mumbled, already turning to walk away. Dash stared at her back as she went, but shrugged and flew back up to her home nonetheless.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Are you kidding me? That’s where she had been for a week? She hadn’t told a single pony?” Twilight gaped at her friends, who were all giggling.
“She had given us all quite the fright, she did. After that, Pinkie made sure to tell at least one pony if she was goin’ away!” Applejack concluded the story with a smirk. Even Twilight started laughing.
“It’s just so surprising! I mean, Pinkie is friends with everypony in town! It seems strange to me that she wouldn’t tell any of her close friends about something like that.” The alicorn pursed her lips in thought. Rarity shrugged.
“I suppose she may be ashamed of such things. She has expressed… ‘awkwardness’ – for lack of a better word – in the past, when explaining her upbringing.” The unicorn suggested. The rest nodded and sat in silence for a little longer.
“Hey Twilight, what’s that word when you’re talking about your past with your friends and you’re all having a good time?” Rainbow asked suddenly. Twilight blinked at the pegasus, taking a moment to process the question.
“You mean ‘reminisce’?” She answered. Rainbow nodded.
“That’s the one. While it’s all fun and good to ‘reminisce’ and stuff, we really should be finding Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow exclaimed. Twilight nodded proudly at her use of a large vocabulary word.
“I agree, but there’s simply nowhere else to look.” Fluttershy mumbled sadly. The other four fell quiet, and the gears in Twilight’s mind began churning.
“Wait a second…” The alicorn’s eyes went bigger and bigger. “Girls, how have we not figured this out yet?!”
“Whatever are you talking about, darling?” Rarity asked, obviously confused. The others shared her puzzled look.
“The story you just told me. You said that once she had come back, she told you where she had gone! I’ll be willing to bet anything that that’s where she went again! Why didn’t we see it before?!” Twilight exclaimed in excitement, jumping up. The others took a second to catch on, but jumped up with her once they understood.
“How could we have been so feather brained?! We gotta go get her! Come on girls!” Rainbow yelled, leading the charge. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy were hot on her tail.
“Don’t worry Pinkie Pie. We’ll find you!” Twilight whispered to herself out loud.
Multiple passer-by’s on the street stopped to watch four mares and an alicorn princess barrel pass them, on a road that lead directly out of Ponyville.
~~~~~~~~~~
“I guess you’re probably too busy too, right Twilight?” Pinkie Pie said aloud to the door of the Golden Oaks Library as she debated about whether or not she should go in. Steeling herself, she decided to, and pushed open the door with a loud creak. She was greeted by silence.
“Hello? Anypony home?” She called in. It was empty. There was no Twilight, sitting in a corner, reading quietly. There was no Spike, doing the librarian’s job of re-sorting books and dusting the shelves. She was alone. Completely alone.
“T-Twilight?” The library was dark. Celestia’s sun was disappearing over the horizon, and shadows were stretching over the floor. Yet it didn’t unnerve Pinkie in the slightest. Sleeping in a basement for her entire foalhood had taught her that there were rarely things to fear in the dark.
“Confound it all! This simply doesn’t make any sense!” An angered voice yelled from below Pinkie. She looked down to the floor and saw nothing there before realizing that it had come from the basement. Shaking her head at her own silliness, the party pony started for the staircase and slowly made her way down them.
“Twilight?” She whispered, poking her head around the corner. There, at a lab bench, stood the newest alicorn princess, complete with goggles over her eyes and a lab coat covering her wings. She was levitating multiple vials filled with unnamed substances in them, and had her nose buried inside of a book.
“Why don’t you make any sense? Ugh, where’s Spike when I need him?!” She moaned, lightly banging her head on the table. “I’m exhausted!” Pinkie bit her lip and weighed her options. On one hoof, she could just leave and let Twilight deal with her problem. On the other, she could sneak up behind her friend, surprise her, and hopefully the two of them could go do something fun! She didn’t have to think long. Pinkie grinned as she dropped into a crouch and started snaking along the ground.
“Ugh, I know I should take a break, but I can’t leave this unfinished! I’ll just add this one final drop and be done with it.” Pinkie was close to Twilight. She watched as the alicorn brought two of the vials close together very, very slowly. The pink pony thought better of her plan and slowly started to slink away.
“Steady now, steady…” Twilight stuck her tongue out in concentration and started tipping one vial into the other. Pinkie was watching the vials so intently that she didn’t bother to look around her, and backed up right into a lab desk, letting out a loud ‘oof!’ and knocking over multiple books and beakers.
“AH!” Twilight yelped in surprise as she dropped both the vials she was levitating. Pinkie watched in horror as they smashed against the ground, their contents spilling out and filling the room with a disgusting smell. Twilight turned to see the cause of the distraction. “Pinkie Pie!”
“Twilight, what was in those things?!” Pinkie asked as she stood up with a hoof covering her nose in a futile attempt to block out the rancid smell.
“Pinkie, that doesn’t matter! You ruined my experiment! It’ll take weeks before I can get more of that stuff!” Twilight stared in disbelief and sadness at the broken shards of glass on the floor. “Why were you in here?!” Pinkie backed away slowly, making sure not to bump into any more tables.
“I-I was just seeing if-“
“If what?! If you could ruin my work? Because you certainly did that! Do you have any idea how expensive and rare that stuff is?!” Twilight yelled, bucking the table with her back hooves. She held back though – nothing fell off or broke.
“C-Can’t you just use your s-super special princess discount?” Pinkie joked, laughing weakly. She immediately silenced herself under Twilight’s glare.
“I know that Rainbow doesn’t respect my workspaces, but you, Pinkie? I expected better out of you. At least you don’t come crashing into my library every other day!” Twilight scolded, slumping onto the ground and resting her head against the table. “I’ve spent all day working on this! And now it’s ruined!”
“I’m sorry, Twilight, I didn’t mean to…” Pinkie rubbed at her eyes, feeling downright miserable.
“It’s my fault, really. I should have locked my basement door. Of course Pinkie Pie is gonna be Pinkie Pie, and pop up out of nowhere! Why didn’t I see that one coming?!” Twilight groaned, talking to herself now more than Pinkie.
“C-Can I help clean up, at least?” Pinkie asked, trying to keep from crying. Twilight laid her head on the table.
“No! Just leave before you cause any more destruction, please!” The alicorn sighed deeply. “I’m sorry Pinkie… I didn’t mean that… I’m just so stressed out, I’m sorry.” Twilight raised her head again.
Pinkie was gone.
~~~~~~~~~~
“You really think that she’s gonna be here, Twi?” Applejack asked, looking around. Night had fallen on their part of Equestria, and the darkness did nothing to ease the nerves of the five young mares. Twilight gulped loudly and nodded.
“I think so, AJ. We just have to find their house. Have any of you been here before?” She asked the rest. Everypony shook their heads.
“Can’t say we have.” Applejack dipped her Stetson over her eyes for a second before yawning. “Gosh, all this runnin’ around today has gotten me mighty tired.”
“I agree, darling. I can’t wait until I can get home and finally rest. But obviously, I couldn’t do that until I know that our dear Pinkie Pie is at home, resting as well.” Rarity said as she side-stepped a dirty rock on the road with a look of disgust.
“Look, I think I see a light over there!” Fluttershy exclaimed happily, pointing into the distance. Everypony else looked and saw that there was indeed a candle burning in a windowsill of a house. Specifically, the Pie Family Rock Farm House. After exchanging happy smiles, they started running towards it.
“I’ll go knock.” Applejack volunteered herself, trotting forward and rapping on the door three times. They all shifted a few times as they waited to be greeted. After a minute or so, the old wooden door creaked open, and a stern faced stallion greeted them.
“Who are you folk?” He asked, blowing smoke out one side of his mouth. Applejack turned away from the smoke and coughed lightly.
“Uh, we’re here to see our friend? Pinkie Pie? She around?” The farmer asked awkwardly. She shrunk from his disapproving glare.
“You talkin’ about Pinkamena?” He asked. Applejack nodded wordlessly. “Well she ain’t in.”
“B-But she’s here then? On the farm?” Twilight spoke up hopefully. The stallion snapped his gaze to her. He ran his eyes over her back and noted her wings.
“You’re the new princess, ain’t cha?” He asked in the same tone.
“Um… yes?” She chuckled, trying to keep her wings from unfurling. “My name’s Twilight Sparkle, but you can just call me Twilight.” He snorted.
“I’ll be callin’ ya ‘young’un’. Pinkamena’s around the east field, if you gotta see her. Girl’s been down in the dumps ever since she came home, she has. Go tell ‘er to be quiet when she’s comin’ in, alright? Her ma’s asleep.” The stallion then slammed the door in their faces. Everypony was silent.
“Well, he was a rude fellow, wasn’t he?” Rarity huffed, sticking her nose in the air. Applejack nudged her playfully.
“Well wouldn’t you be if a bunch of strangers came knockin’ at your door at this time of night?” Rarity returned her smile.
“I suppose so. The east field, huh? Well, let’s go. No time like the present!” The five set off in search of their sixth member, and it wasn’t long before they heard the telltale clinking of a pickaxe against stone. In the distance, a sad, flat maned Element of Harmony was sobbing while she swung the pickaxe with her mouth. She flinched every time it connected with the stone, and cried a little harder each time. The handle was covered in blood, both dry and wet. Twilight’s eyes shot open as she witnessed it, and ran forward.
“Pinkie Pie! Stop!” She yelled out. Pinkie, shocked, dropped the pickaxe. A small dribble of blood escaped her mouth. “What are you doing?”
“Twilight? G-Girls? What a-are you doing h-here?” She whimpered, sitting down. “I t-thought you hated me.”
“Pinkie, we would never hate you! Why would you think that?” Fluttershy came up behind Twilight with a slight tear in her eye. “We’ve all missed you so much! We spent all day looking for you!” Pinkie looked from Twilight to Fluttershy, and then to the other girls.
“Really? B-But you all told me to leave before…” She mumbled, scraping at the dirt. She wiped a hoof across her chin and wiped away some of the blood. Twilight moved forward to her.
“We really should get you inside, Pinkie. That looks painful; we need to get you medical attention.” She ordered, trying to pull Pinkie along with her. The earth pony pulled away from her and let out the first giggle that her friends had heard from her all week.
“Oh no, I’m fine Twilight. We’re used to it here. The Pie Family is made with rock hard teeth.” She pointed to her mouth. “I just haven’t had to use these chompers for rock farming in a while, so they’re a bit worse for wear.”
“You’re sure you’ll be fine?” Twilight asked again, still concerned. Pinkie nodded, and against Twilight’s better judgement, she dropped it.
“We still want you home, Pinks! Come on, let’s get off this crazy rock farm and go back to Ponyville! We can go pranking tomorrow if you want! Pizelle went home a few days ago!” Dash nudged Pinkie playfully and started flying circles around her. “Whadda say?” Pinkie smiled weakly again.
“Oh… I don’t know, Dashie… I made everypony so angry last time I visited you all…” She bit her lip at the memory. “I’m sorry.”
“Pinks, you didn’t make me angry!” Rainbow yelled, landing on the ground. Her voice softened when she thought of her friend. “Pizelle… Pizelle isn’t too welcoming of new ponies in her life. She’s very… uhh…. ‘reclusive’.” She turned to Twilight for approval, who nodded with pride once more.
“Well, what about you, Flutters? I made you yell at me!” She threw herself at Fluttershy’s hooves. “I made you angry!”
“Oh Pinkie Pie, you didn’t make me angry… I just had to be there for Mrs. Mousey in her time of need, and you… you didn’t know that. Neither of us are mad at you, I promise. You just have to know when it’s time for fun and when it’s time to be serious.” Fluttershy cooed gently, stroking Pinkie’s flat mane. “It’s alright.”
“R-Rarity?” Pinkie looked to the unicorn. Rarity chuckled.
“Of course I still love you, darling! In fact, you made my work room even more inspirational than before! The utter chaos… it has a surprising charm to it! Why, just standing in that room for a few minutes to cool myself down gave me the burst of energy I needed to finish the garment! The customer ended up loving it, and promised that he would refer me to all of his friends!” Rarity squealed with delight, and Twilight could have sworn that she saw Pinkie’s mane poof up a bit.
“And you, AJ? I scared you that one morning.”
“Aw shucks girl, I ain’t gonna hate ya just cause ya gave me a fright!” Applejack scolded playfully, knocking her fellow earth pony lightly on the head. Pinkie flinched away from her hoof.
“But you said that you couldn’t go out with me!” She complained, standing up. Applejack blew a bit of her mane out of her eyes.
“Well yeah, I couldn’t. Shucks, you work in a bakery, you know how it is! Sometimes, you just gotta focus on your work and not have any fun. I know that working with the Cakes must be pretty entertaining for you, but I need my full attention to be on my job, especially when I’m workin’ with customers outside of the farm. You know that.” Pinkie sniffed and nodded.
“I guess… and you, Twilight? I ruined your experiment. You won’t be able to finish mixing that smelly stuff for weeks!” Twilight shrugged.
“What’s done is done, Pinkie. It doesn’t matter. Like you said, I can probably get more from Celestia. She’s bound to have some in the palace stock. It was just a recreational experiment anyways, it wasn’t anything important.” Twilight hugged the pink pony. “You shouldn’t worry so much. I yelled at you, and I’m so sorry about it. Can you please come home now?”
“But you all said… you all said that I was just…” Her lower lip quivered.
“Just what?” Rarity asked, leaning in worriedly.
“You said that I was ‘just being Pinkie Pie’. I annoyed you all, and then you said that I was just being me.” The other girls exchanged confused glances.
“Yes, and?” Dash raised her eyebrows quizzically.
“And?! And you’re all used to me annoying you! You just brushed me off, and it made me feel so bad! Like I was some unwanted pest.”
“Pinkie Pie, we said that because yes, we’re used to your crazy antics, but we still love you! It’s easier to say ‘it’s just you being you’ because you’re so creative and eccentric than to try and explain it to others. We didn’t mean any harm by it.” Twilight told her earnestly. Pinkie looked to the others, who were all nodding.
“You mean it? I’m not a bother? You want me back?” She asked hopefully. Twilight extended her forearms to her.
“Of course we do. We aren’t the Elements of Harmony without the Element of Laughter. We’re all sorry, Pinkie Pie. We love you.” The rest of her friends moved closer to Twilight and wrapped their arms around the alicorn. Everypony looked expectantly to Pinkie.
“Oh… oh girls!” Her mane immediately puffed up into its usual curliness as she dove into the hug. Her arms seemed to somehow stretch and encompass all five of her friends. “I’m so happy! Thank you for accepting me!”
“N-No problem, Pinks!” Rainbow gasped for air. “I think that’s good f-for the hug though!”
“Oh. Right!” Pinkie let them go and they all fell to the ground, laughing. They laid in the dirt for a long time, even Rarity, and didn’t say a word. Finally, Flutteshy broke the silence.
“Oh, um, well this is very nice, and I’m glad to have you back Pinkie, but shouldn’t we start heading for home? It’s getting very late.” She mumbled. The rest looked around and remembered the night that was surrounding them.
“It’ll take way too long to walk home! It took us nearly two hours to get here in the first place!” Rarity complained with a frown. “Pinkie, does your family have anywhere where we can sleep for the night?” Pinkie opened her mouth to reply but was cut off.
“Not necessary Rarity! With my new alicorn abilities, I should have the power to teleport all six of us back to Ponyville!” She announced proudly. Rarity gaped at her.
“You mean to say that you’ve had that power all along, and you couldn’t have used it to teleport us here in the first place?!” Twilight flushed.
“Well, I admit, I need to know where I’m teleporting to if I want to teleport there. I’ve never visited the Pie Family Rock Farm before, so I couldn’t teleport us here.”
“I suppose that makes sense. I hope it won’t be too much trouble! I’m sure you can do it!” Fluttershy encouraged Twilight, who smiled as she lit up her horn and grunted from the exertion. The other five watched in amazement as it grew brighter and brighter, and the light coming from it enveloped them.
“Here we go!”
~~~~~~~~~~
And as Pinkie Pie snuggled her baby siblings later that night, tucking Pound and Pumpkin, who were lightly snoring, into their crib, the earth pony hummed a happy song under her breath as a tear came to her eye and a smile crept across her face.
When you’re ripe with jubilation, there’s a simple explanation, you’re a wonderful creation and I’m glad to see you smile.
