For Your Birthday, Princessby TinyweaselsChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 1For Your Birthday-Chapter 1 "Thanks for helping me move all this stuff, Twilight," Pinkie Pie said, looking over the boxes Twilight levitated out of the attic and into her bedroom. "You're welcome, Pinkie. What is all this?" Twilight asked. She looked from one box to the next, some filled with toys, others with old flattened balloons and party favors and one with what appeared to be old long stale baked goods. "My childhood! I've saved loads of stuff and I brought it all with me when I moved here to Sugarcube Corner. Ooh, lookie!" She held up a rock from a box Twilight was levitating. The box seemed to collapse under its own weight; rocks and papers and various items fell to the floor. "That was the first pile of rocks I ever moved!" she said with delight, gathering them up and placing them in an orderly pile. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Pinkie, seriously, you saved a pile of rocks?" "Of course, he's like an old friend!" "He?" Twilight asked, both eyebrows going up. A gold bit rolled across the floor over to Twilight and when it touched her hoof it fell over. She levitated it in the air and Pinkie Pie noticed Twilight looking at the coin, very perplexed. "Pinkie, where did you get this coin?" Pinkie walked over and looked at it. She smiled widely. "Granny Pie gave that to me when I was just an itty bitty Pie!" Twilight's brow furrowed as she studied the coin, while Pinkie merrily bounded around the room, humming a tune while she dusted off her treasures to display them. "What's wrong, Twilight?" Twilight cleared her throat and assumed a scholarly tone. "I'm familiar with the magic the princess uses to prevent counterfeiting, and only someone of her power could ensure the validity of an entire nation's currency system. She has complete control over the looks of the coins to also ensure size and weight. Every coin in Equestria is exactly the same and has been for centuries—her profile on one side with her sun mark on the back. And believe me, I know the Equestrian monetary system. I did a research paper on the history of coinage back to the age of the barter system." Pinkie Pie stopped her bounding and tilted her head, looking at the coin, trying to see what was so strange. "So?" Twilight held the coin up. "This coin bears Celestia's royal consistency magic and no unicorn in the world could imitate it; so why does this coin show Luna on the front and Celestia weeping on the back? And look, under her are the words 'In Memory of Luna. Let her legacy in life be remembered rather than what she became at her death.' Pinkie Pie, there has never been a coin minted in Equestria that looked like this." Pinkie sat down and gestured for Twilight to do the same. "Oooh, a funny story about that. Well, maybe not funny, but interesting and ultimately maybe actually kinda funny. A long, long, long time ago, in a place just like this—also called Ponyville—there was born a little filly named Pinkamena Diane Pie..." Every year the children of Equestria made a birthday card for Princess Celestia and Pinkie Pie was determined to make a super duper one. A pink blur ran through the Pie house, grabbing ribbons, candy, sparkles--anything she could think of to make the special card. Pinkie Pie sat at the old oak table in the rustic farmhouse kitchen, staring at the clock on the wall as the minutes ticked by, she looked at the blank piece of paper and rolled her crayons along the table with her hoof, awaiting inspiration. "What should I write in my card, Granny Pie?" Pinkie Pie asked, picking up a crayon and beginning to draw the princess. She tried several times, but each time there was something not quite right about the image of Celestia. Then it dawned on her. In her pictures Celestia was smiling. As she thought about it, she couldn't ever remember seeing an image of the princess with a smile. "Just wish the Princess a happy birthday," Granny Pie said, looking up from her baking. "That's all? Will it make her happy? Princess Celestia's never seems to smile." Granny Pie sighed as she made a rock cake. "That's because she can never forget Princess Luna," "Who's she?" "She was the sister of Princess Celestia. They lived together a thousand years ago in a castle in the Everfree Forest." "Was?" Granny Pie reached into her shawl and produced a gold coin that she showed to Pinkie Pie. The pink pony's eyes sparkled with the coin's shine and followed it hypnotically. "So what happened to her, Granny Pie?" Granny Pie put her cake in the oven and leaned against the counter and smiled at her granddaughter. "About a thousand years ago, Luna ruled the night. She was jealous of Celestia's day and turned into the evil Nightmare Moon. Celestia tried to save her, but Luna was too far gone. Celestia had to destroy Luna to save the world. That's why all the little fillies and colts send her cards, to help make Celestia feel better." Granny Pie wiped the tears from Pinkie Pie's eyes and then from her own. "That's so sad, Granny Pie!" Pinkie Pie said. "Now I know why the princess is always sad." "Yes, it's a terrible burden she bears, little one." Pinkie looked down at her card, suddenly wishing it was ten times bigger. "And no one can make her feel better?" "Nothing can take away her pain, child," Granny Pie said, sitting down next to her. "She will bear that burden the rest of her life and that will be a very, very long time." She pressed the coin into Pinkie's hooves. "Keep that with you, little Pinkie Pie, so you always have something to remember Luna by." "Thank you, Granny Pie!" Pinkie Pie said, hugging her grandmother tightly. "You are welcome, dear. Now, its getting late. Time for little ponies to get to bed." Granny Pie helped her get the girls tucked in, then Pinkie Pie snuggled down and clutched her plush Princess Celestia doll tightly as she watched the sun going down; she began giggling, recalling the no-fear song her grandmother had taught her. Granny Pie sat on the edge of Pinkie's bed and ran a hoof over her granddaughter's puffy mane. "I wish I could be brave like my sisters," Pinkie Pie said. "The night still scares me. Why can't I be more like them?" "Well, dear, you're... different than the other fillies. You have a special gift, even more special than you or anyone else realizes. You bring joy to people's lives and lift their spirits." Pinkie Pie looked up at her with eyes full of pleading. "But what good is that gift if there's nothing I can do to make the princess feel happy?" Granny Pie smiled down and patted her worried head. "It's sweet of you to be so concerned about her, dear, but no one can help her. The events that caused all this happened long before we were born." Pinkie Pie nodded and looked her stuffed Celestia in the eye. "I'll think of something, princess. I promise you'll be happy again." It was too easy to just make a regular promise, she really meant this. "Cross my heart. Hope to Fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye!" she said, then began humming the song her grandmother had taught her. She giggled as she drifted off to sleep. Pinkie Pie always looked forward to her dreams—ever since she had gotten her cutie mark, her dreams had gone from fun to extraordinary. A giant party of all her dreamland friends welcomed her—Madame LaFlour, Rocky, Mr. Turnip and Sir Lints-a-lot, along with Pinkie Pies of all shapes and sizes from all over the universe. The party guests could see right away she was troubled, but no amount of hugs or cake could lighten her mood. "What's wrong?" the bucket of turnips asked. "Well, Mr. Turnip, I want to do something special for the princess," Pinkie Pie said. "It's a sad day for her and I want to make her happy but Granny Pie told me nothing can make her happy." "What can we do to help your princess?" Sir-Lints-a-lot said. "Yes, surely there must be something we can do to help her!" Madam LaFlour shouted. Pinkie Pie's voice became small and discouraged. "We can't do anything. She had to make her sister go away forever and she's sad about it, but it happened a long time ago. "We must speak to the Big Brain!" Sir Lints-a-lot said sagely. "Oooh, the Big Brain!" Pinkie Pie brightened up but then the frown returned. "She doesn't like to be disturbed though." "Its for your princess, Pinkie!" Mr. Turnip exclaimed. "Yes, you're right. For the princess! Come on, to the Big Brain!" she shouted, holding up her Celestia doll. All the other Pinkie Pies and her other friends marched forward; Madam LaFlour walked on her stubby corner knot legs; Mr. Turnip shook several turnips out of his bucket and hopped on top of them, using them as makeshift wheels; Sir Lints-a-lot hopped on Pinkie Pie's back; Rocky tried to move, but toppled over. "I'll just wait here till you get back," Rocky said, gathering himself back into a pile. Far, far away in the Land of Smarts was the home of Big Brain. High in the Mashed Potato mountains far West-East of the Land of Parties, across the bridge spanning the treacherous Fissure of Rolando, after many brave and heroic adventures, and after mistakenly visiting the Big Brian, they finally arrived, "Yo, maybe someone could carry me?" Rocky said from the other side of the brain. "We've come too far to turn back, Rocky, forgive me," Pinkie Pie said, looking back at the pile of rocks at the table. "I just need a bucket like Mr. Turnip," Rocky muttered. "Rocky, ve can't abandon our noble quest!" Madam LaFlour said indignantly. "Well, back to teaching myself to juggle." he sighed and began tossing parts of himself in the air. Hesitantly the group approached the giant foreboding iron doors that led to the Hall of Brainy Stuff. They pushed open the doors and were immediately met by two dangerous looking thoughts. "Who goes there?" one thought demanded. "Pinkie pie!" "A likely story!" the thought said dismissively. "Prove it!" the other thought demanded. "How?" "You should've thought of that before you came to see the Big Brain." From out of nowhere Pinkie Pie produced a crayon and paper and began scribbling away. She showed what she had drawn to the thoughts. "I really am Pinkie Pie, I promise! See, I drew a picture of myself as proof." The thoughts looked at the crudely drawn pink pony with barely readable crayon cursive that said "Me" and a crooked arrow pointing to the pony. The thoughts stepped away and conferred in whispers and then returned a minute later. "Okay, your paperwork checks out," the thought said. "The Big Brain will see you now." The group of now brave heroes entered the impressive Hall of Brainy Stuff. As they walked along the red carpet that ran the length of the room, they could hear classical music playing and could see on marble pedestals there were math equations and word problems, busts of historical figures, beakers and jars filled with bubbling liquids and most prominent was the life-size model of Pinkius Piecus. As they approached the end of the hall, they saw the Big Brain hovering over a golden throne. Pinkie Pie strode boldly forward, the others too awestruck to continue. "Why have you come to the Big Brain?" the Big Brain said in a deep imposing echoing voice, which was really Pinkie Pie's voice trying to sound deep and imposing and echo-like. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Big Brain, but I need your help." "What is your question?" "Princess Celestia is sad," Pinkie Pie said, holding up her doll for emphasis. "The princess lost her sister a long time ago and she's really, really sad about it. How can we make her happy again?" The Big Brain began to process this deep and complex issue. "This requires all my faculties. Thoughts, bring my raiment," Big Brain commanded and thoughts quickly put a giant pair of trousers and a hat on the brain. Pinkie Pie struggled valiantly against the urge to laugh. "What?" Big Brain demanded with irritation. "Sometimes I need my smarty pants and thinking cap!" After a minute, the Big Brain spoke again. "You have two options: Bake her some cupcakes or travel back in time and change the past." Pinkie Pie and the others gasped in awe at the brilliance of the Big Brain. "Hmm, Granny Pie hasn't taught me to bake cupcakes yet," Pinkie Pie said. "So I'd better travel back in time. That sounds safer; Mom doesn't like it when I try to cook." "Good," the Big Brain said. "Got your crayons? I'll show you how to build a time machine." The Big Brain explained in great detail the particulars of building said time machine, the plans so complex it took almost the whole side of the sheet of paper. Pinkie Pie looked over her time machine schematic then rolled it up and put it in the same magical place where she kept her paper and crayons. "Thank you, Big Brain! You're the best Big Brain I ever met!" She rushed forward and hugged the brain. "You are welcome, Pinkie Pie. Good luck on your journey. Until we meet again," Big Brain said fondly and returned to her meditations. "Now we can give the princess the best birthday ever!" Chapter 2For Your Birthday-Chapter 2 How to Make a Time Machine and Past Friends A cheer went up among all the Pinkie Pies and her other friends as they exited the Hall of Brainy Stuff and began the long dangerous journey back to the Land of Parties. "Don't mind me. I was just here all alone. By myself. In the dark--hoping not get eaten by wolves," Rocky said as he saw them exit the Hall of Brainy Stuff. "What kind of wolves would eat rocks?" Mr. Turnip asked. After the long and dangerous five-minute journey, the dream party resumed full force, but Pinkie Pie would not let anything get in the way of her goal; even a good game of pin the tail on the pony. Pinkie Pie spent her remaining dream time examining the diagram, making note of where she could find all the parts. When she woke up, she was immediately at her paper and crayons and recreated the diagram she had seen in her dream. She put her saddle bags on and put in her Celestia doll and anything else she could think of that might be useful when traveling back in time and then rushed down to breakfast. "Pinkamina," her mother said, noticing her daughter's even higher level of energy than normal as Pinkie Pie seemingly inhaled her meal. "Are you feeling well?" "Yes, Mommy. I feel super duper! I had a great idea for a present to make for Princess Celestia's birthday!" she said, her body nearly trembling with excitement. "Oh... that's nice, dear. Um, do try not to hurt anyone or blow anything up." "Don't worry, Roxy," Granny Pie said. "I'm sure Pinkie will behave herself." "Try to be home by lunch, dear. And make sure to keep your party supplies in a safe place," Roxy Pie said, still trying to come to terms with her daughter's new ways since getting her cutie mark. "Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully before bolting from the table so fast that she was little more than a pink blur. Pinkie Pie headed to the old shed behind the barn where her father stored stuff that "he'd get around ta fixin' one o' these days." She turned on the light and laid out the diagram on the dusty old workbench. "Okay, first step to building a time machine—a waffle iron!" Slaving away minute after minute, Pinkie Pie worked tirelessly on her machine, following the crayon drawing to the very last detail. She lifted up her welder's mask and removed the lead lined gloves from her hooves and wiped her brow. It had taken almost fifteen minutes, but her invention was at long last completed. To the casual observer it might appear to be a clock, radio, weather vane, cheese grater, and curlers attached to a waffle iron, but to her it was a time machine. She removed her protective gear and took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes!" The time machine sparked alarmingly at first and then made a safe, stable humming sound. Pinkie Pie reached out and began turning the clock's dial backwards--she could see through the shed's window that the sun was moving, now setting instead of rising. She turned the dial further and soon it was night again. She turned it the opposite way and it was daylight. "Sweet!" she exclaimed with glee, moving the dial back and forth quickly to see the sun rise and set. She moved it faster, going, "Wooo, wooo, wooo!" as the sun and moon sped by. "Oh, the princess. That's right. Gotta help the princess!" she said, digging the Celestia doll out of her pack and putting it on the time machine in front of her to help her stay focused. Pinkie Pie began manually turning the clock back farther and farther, but her hooves quickly got tired. "This is taking foreeeevvvveeeerrrr," she whined. "Oh! I have an idea." She picked up a crayon and wrote on the clock face "About a thousand years ago" and then moved the clock hand to that and the sun and moon blurred in lightning motion as her mane and tail whooshed straight back with the force of the movement. Seconds later she was no longer in the old shed, but in a forest. She looked around nervously. "Hmm, I don't think I'm in Ponyville anymore. GASP! The castle! That's right, Granny Pie said they was at a castle in the in Everfree Forest." Pinkie Pie picked up her crayon again and wrote on the machine "To the princess in the castle in the Everfree Forest" and then she moved the hand to that indicator. Again the machine quickly whipped her around and she found herself in the courtyard of a castle of such beauty that it almost defied description. The garden around her was filled with all manner of exotic plants and animals. A happy voice behind Pinkie Pie helped bring her out of the daze the trip left her in. She turned and saw a small blue alicorn looking at her curiously. "Are you from the village?" the alicorn asked. " I so rarely get to meet the ponies outside the castle. I don't think I've seen you before." "I'm Pinkie Pie! I'm from Ponyville and I'm from the future!" "I am Princess Luna. What's the future like?" the princess asked. "Its very... futurey." "Oooh," the princess said in wonder. Pinkie Pie began explaining the wonders of the future when suddenly Luna reached out and touched her shoulder. "Tag! You're 'It'!" she squealed and galloped off. Pinkie Pie didn't travel a thousand years through time just to be "It"! She sprang in action, chasing after the princess. "Hey, no fair, I wasn't ready!" Pinkie Pie giggled as they chased each other around the courtyard, passing "It" back and forth. They played tag and hide and seek and just romped around the grounds for fun until both were too exhausted to play any more. Luna finally noticed the strange machine of Pinkie's and wandered over to it. "What's that?" "That's my time machine! I just built it." "Is this part of it?" Luna asked, pointing to the Celestia toy. "No, silly. That's my Celestia dolly." "Ooh, she looks so pretty with those colors in her mane." There was suddenly a loud rumbling noise. Princess Luna looked around nervously. "What was that, an earthquake?" "Nope, just my tummy. I'm hungry. Do you want a cupcake, princess?" Pinkie Pie asked, pulling two cupcakes from her saddle bags. "What's a... cupcake?" "It's like a cake, except it's in a cup. See?" Pinkie Pie held one up to Luna as she ate hers in one bite. Luna took the offered cupcake and examined the alien confection, gauging its weight and consistency. She held it up and sniffed it, then hesitantly took a nibble and her eyes went wide and she gazed at it in astonishment. "Om nom nom!" Luna devoured her cupcake. "It's wonderful!" The princess began asking all kinds of questions about cupcakes and other foods of the future and soon their chatter became silly childhood nonsense. "Knock, knock," Pinkie Pie said with a smile. "What?" Luna asked. "Its a joke. You ask who's there." "Who's there?" "Boo." "Boo, who?" "Why are you crying?" Pinkie Pie replied and fell on the ground laughing. It took the princess a few moments to get it, but then she started laughing just as hard. The princess wiped the tears from her eyes, still giggling. "I never laughed that much before. Are all ponies as funny as you in the future?" "No. Granny Pie says I have a special gift for making people happy." "Yes. You made me really happy. It gets real lonely at the castle. So I don't get to make friends." "I'll be your friend!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly. "Really?" Luna said with equal excitement. "Where is this Ponyville you're from?" "It's in the future. I don't know if it was here so long ago." "You're from the future," Luna said, her voice trailing off. "So you can't stay here." "No, guess I can't. Mom, Dad, my sisters and Granny Pie would be really sad if I never came home. When I'm born in the future maybe you could visit me in Ponyville!" "We'll still be friends?" Luna asked hesitantly. "Yep! Friends forever! It'll just have to be about a thousand years until we can meet up again and then we could have more cupcakes and games and jokes and we'll have all kinds of great stories to tell... oh, except you won't—" Pinkie Pie covered her mouth with her hooves. "What? I won't what?" Luna asked, clearly worried by Pinkie Pie's words. "I-I don't think I should say," Pinkie Pie said, nearly panicking at having said too much to her new friend. "Please, tell me!" "No, I shouldn't." Luna turned away in a huff, pouting. "I thought you were my friend!" "I am your friend! Okay, okay. In the future you get jealous of Celestia and turn evil and try to destroy the world and die." Luna's mouth fell open and tears started running down her cheeks. She turned and bolted. "Celestia!" Shortly a blinding light appeared before her and a alicorn appeared, towering over her. Her pink mane flowed in the wind and while her face showed suspicion, there was a note of familiar kindness in the voice. "How did you manage to avoid the royal guard, little one?" the large alicorn asked. "You know that the castle is forbidden, except by invitation." Pinkie Pie's eyes went wide. "Ooooh, princess Celestia. You're so... pink!" she said, then remembered her manners and bowed. "The castle, yes! I am sorry about that, princess. I used my time machine to get here. I hope you don't mind." "Time machine?" Celestia blinked, appearing confused. Pinkie Pie smiled proudly and pointed a hoof at her odd contraption. "I made it myself, with the help of my Big Brain! It let me come here from... the future!" she said, putting extra emphasis the word, prolonging the last syllable and waving her hooves around. Celestia took a look at the object and then smiled down at Pinkie Pie. "That's nice, dear. I'm glad to see you have a good imagination. But you shouldn't go around telling old mare's tales. Now, if you'll apologize to Princess Luna for scaring her, then I'll have someone escort you home." Pinkie Pie shook her head. "You don't understand, Princess. I came here to help you! Something bad's going to happen to Luna in the future and I came back to help her!" she said and held up the coin Granny Pie had given her. Celestia's horn glowed as she levitated the coin. "Strange, that's not a--wait it is an Equestrian coin. 'In Memory of Luna. Let her--oh my." She read the rest of the coin in silence and let it drop. Pinkie Pie picked up the coin and read it again and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry princess," Pinkie Said, "but now that you know something bad's going to happen we can fix it so you don't have to be sad in the future!" Luna was in tears now. "Celly, I don't want to die!" Celestia comforted her sister with her wing. "Don't worry, Luna. I won't let anything happen to you. Go back to the castle now. I need time to talk with this filly." "But Celly, I want to hear, too." "I know you do." Celestia hugged her. "Do as I say for now, please. I'll tell you about it later." Once Luna left, now under the care of two of the royal pony guard, Celestia led Pinkie to a private shaded part of the garden. They sat on silk cushions while Celestia produced tea and cookies on the elaborate stone table between them. "Now dear--Pinkie Pie--tell me what you know. How does Luna...how will Luna die?" Pinkie Pie looked nervously at the princess, not sure how exactly to phrase her response. She knew she'd have to do this as gently and subtly as possible. "You kill her... after she tries to destroy the world," she replied to the startled princess. She then recounted the brief story that Granny Pie had shared with her. During the strange tale, Celestia let her tea get as chilled as her heart. "Nightmare Moon. So, what Seer Fatestorm told me is true. I did not want to believe it." Celestia bowed her head as tears started to fall. "She told me that Luna would be overtaken and turned to evil. Now you have shown me the proof, little one. There is nothing to be done, then. The prophecy is already written in the future." Pinkie Pie quickly took a sip of tea just so she could do a spit take. "No! We have to be able to do something! Just... do something and make her not become Nightmare Moon... or something." The princess sighed, forcing a smile, "If only it were that easy, child. I have great abilities but time is something I cannot change. What is written is what is written." Pinkie Pie shook her head. Big Brain had said they could change things but the Princess said nothing could change. The princess could raise the sun and the moon, but Big Brain was, well, Big Brain. She couldn't believe either one could be wrong. She felt very confused. "Please, Princess, you've got to think of something!" Celestia closed her eyes and appeared to be thinking hard indeed. Her eyes flashed open. "Wait. There is something. You." "Me?" Pinkie Pie looked back, confused. "What can I do?" "It is what you have done already, dear. Your presence here means that time really is not the immutable thing I thought it was." "Im-mut..." "What I mean is, time can be changed." "Oh, okay. Then we can change what happens!" "I admit temporal mechanics is not something I have dealt with, so perhaps something can be done. Time is like this cookie…" the princess said and levitated a cookie and then turned it sideways to make it appear as a disc. "Imagine that this is our planet and the way time affects our world is like…" Pinkie Pie's eyes were on the hovering cookie. Celestia used her magic to make the cookie turn into a planet and around it other planets formed as she began giving Pinkie Pie a lesson on the time/space continuum. Pinkie Pie watched, engrossed as the cookie became a planet and her mind began to wander. I wonder what a planet would taste like? Ew, but eating a planet would also mean eating every bug on the planet. Wow, these cookies are super duper good! I should get the recipe for Granny Pie. I wonder how Celestia makes her mane and tail ripple like that? There's no wind. I wonder if I could do that? I wonder if that takes a special shampoo? Pinkie Pie began concentrating, trying to make her mane and tail wavy, but nothing happened. Hmm, I wonder if I could summon planets like the Princess does? Pinkie Pie attempted briefly to levitate a cookie with telekinesis, but failed. Does she have to comb her mane or does it comb itself? Her mane looks like cotton candy. I love cotton candy. I wonder what Mom's making for lunch? I hope it's not rock soup again. Oh, I wonder what candy soup would taste like... "And that's how Equestria was made," the princess said in conclusion. "Wow, thank you, Princess," Pinkie Pie said, snapping out of her daydream. "You are quite welcome dear. While my logical mind tells me that knowing the future cannot change it, my heart tells me I must try. I knew that darkness was coming, and I will do all I can to save poor Luna. Thank you for this opportunity, my little pony. You have given me some comfort in the face of this specter to come. Return to the future, little one. Hopefully, things will change for the better. At worst, events will remain as they are." "Okay, princess. See you in the future and tell Luna I said bye!" Pinkie Pie said, excited by the thought of there being two princesses in the future and wanting to see how it all turned out. As Pinkie returned to her machine, she looked up at the castle and saw a horn sticking up over the edge of a window sill and a few moments later a smiling Luna bounced up for a second, wildly waving her arms; she bounced several times and with each bounce Pinkie Pie smiled and waved back just as enthusiastically. When Pinky reached her time machine, she took out her crayon and wrote "The future" on the dial and activated it. Within moments, she disappeared in a flash of light. Chapter 3For Your Birthday-Chapter 3 Future Shock, Backward is Forward and A Fond Remembrance Pinkie started up her time machine and with another whoosh she was in the future. Strangely, she didn't find herself back home, but outside the same castle. It was almost pitch black out; only the moon and stars provided any light. She could make out the shadowy outline of the castle nearby and approached it. The castle seemed to be in ruins now, bare earth and the dead, leafless trees surrounding it. Why was it so cold? She rubbed her extremities to try to keep warm as she entered the castle. "Hello? Anyone?" Pinkie Pie called out into the darkness, but the only sound was the echo of her hooves on the marble floors. Digging around in her pack she found a bag of jelly beans and began leaving a trail to follow as she walked deeper into the castle. She saw leaves gathered in corners and watched the moon through the broken windows. Pinkie Pie was getting very frightened by the spooky empty castle and she started whistling the song her grandmother taught her. But as she couldn't whistle, it was more like puckering and spitting the tune. With each few steps she'd drop one jelly bean and eat one. She became aware of a sound—it was the sound of a mare crying. The sobs were deep and mournful and by the time she found her way to their source, she was crying herself in pity. There, in the ruins of the enormous and once magnificent throne room, sitting on a crumbling throne sat a mare of dark blue color, her hooves to her face. Pinkie Pie stepped forward, carefully avoiding pieces of armor scattered around the foot of the throne. She approached, afraid to disturb the mare's sorrow. "Hello?" Pinkie Pie asked meekly. The sobs continued without interruption. Pinkie Pie cleared her throat, then again, a bit louder and still the crying mare ignored her. Getting frustrated, she approached the throne and poked the mare with her hoof. "Why are you crying?" At that, the mare finally looked up, then looked around and saw Pinkie Pie. There was no expression on her face as she stared blankly at the filly. "Princess Luna? Is that you? You're all big now!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly. "So, where is everyone?" The princess went wide eyed with fear and she cowered back from Pinkie Pie. Her mouth quivered, as if struggling to speak. "I-I.." "Princess, what's wrong?" Luna jumped off the throne and hid behind it as Pinkie stepped toward her. "Princess Luna, its me, Pinkie Pie! Remember me and the fun we had?" Luna hesitantly stepped out from behind the throne, her mouth still moving, trying to form words. "P-p-p-ie." "Right, Pinkie Pie," she said, going up to the princess and patting her hoof comfortingly. The princess slowly and cautiously reached out and touched Pinkie Pie, her eyes still wide with terror. "Pie." "What happened to you, to the castle?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking around. "P-pink... Pie. Pinkie Pie!" she finally managed to articulate. Luna leaned in close to look at this pink filly, examining her and her saddlebags. "Princess, are you sick? What's wrong?" "No... spea... thou..." Luna closed her eyes, concentrating hard. "Not word use—not use word years. Argh! Not talk long—not speaking in..." the princess took a deep breath, enunciating each syllable slowly and carefully. "I. Have. Not. Spoken. In. Over. Thousand. Years." Saying that prompted another round of tears. "Wow, I think I would explode if I couldn't talk just one day!" Pinkie Pie said. The princess suddenly stopped her crying and looked at Pinkie Pie in astonishment. "You're...still here!" "Well, yeah! You haven't told me what's going on and why you haven't talked in over a thousand years." Luna again examined Pinkie Pie and poked her with a hoof. When she was truly certain she wasn't a hallucination, she managed a small smile, but the smile faded quickly and tears began running down her face again. "Killed them all!" Luna sobbed. Pinkie Pie tilted her head, puzzled. "Killed all of who?" "I kill all! Night never ends. All gone." "This is the future?" Pinkie Pie wondered aloud. Then at once she understood. "This is the night that would last forever," Pinkie Pie said, feeling scared and lost as she sat by the throne. "All gone!" Luna sobbed. Pinkie Pie looked around, then back to Luna. "Where's Celestia?" "All gone." "Where's Nightmare Moon?" "Gone." "But she's the one who wanted the night to last forever." "She weak... she grew weak. I fought free, but too late to save them!" she wept. Princess Luna gathered up Pinkie Pie in her hooves and held her close. "I'm so... so sorry, Pie... Pinkie Pie," she sobbed. "But you and Celestia knew it was going to happen. Why couldn't you stop her?" "She had... other ways. She still got me. Knowing the future—knowing it changed things. Celestia was supposed to stop me, but she couldn't this time." "This is all my fault," Pinkie Pie said, looking around at the darkness. "No. My fault," Luna muttered, slumping back down onto the throne. "How did you fight her?" "Magic." "Oh yeah, your horn." "A different kind of magic. I was lost... lost in darkness for a long time, but then I began to remember." "Remember what?" "The magic of friendship. I remembered how much Celestia loved me, the good times; I remembered the little pink filly who said she traveled through time to save me. Who shared her cupcakes with me, who told me silly jokes and who played with me in the castle grounds. A filly who told me the truth even though it was scary. A filly who said she'd be my friend forever, but I didn't remember those things soon enough," Luna sobbed. Pinkie Pie hugged the crying Luna, finding it strange that less than an hour ago they had been about the same age. "There has to be a way to change this! Pinkamena Diane Pie will think of something. Hmm, I need to sleep on it... zzzzz." Immediately she found herself in the Land of Parties and while she was very tempted by the cake and games, there wasn't time. "Come on, I need the help of the Big Brain again!" The others fell in line behind her and soon they were marching in rank—except Rocky, who one of the Pinkies carried in a bucket. Madam LaFlour sang an inspirational song and Sir Lints-a-lot played the bagpipes in accompaniment while Mr. Turnip joined in on the drum and Rocky played accordion. Everyone in her "army" had pink uniforms and carried candy weapons. When they came to the dangerous looking thoughts guarding the doors to the Hall of Brainy Stuff they stopped and at first only Pinkie Pie dared approach them. "We need to see the Big Brain again!" Pinkie Pie said fearlessly. "She doesn't want to be disturbed. She's busy," the thought replied. "Doing what?" "Washing her hair," the other replied, laughing. Pinkie Pie suspected they were lying. "The night will last forever if we can't talk to Big Brain!" "No can do," the one thought said. "There's nothing you can do that will make us let you in," the other added. "Okay, you forced me to use my greatest weapon!" Pinkie Pie warned. She approached one of the guards and stuck her hoof out, almost but not quite touching the thought. "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! Does this bug you? I'm not touching you!" Soon her army of friends joined in, surrounding the guards, but none of them actually touching the thoughts. The guards endured as long as they could, but soon the deafening chorus of "I'm not touching you! Does this bug you?" could be tolerated no longer. "Okay, okay!" the guards finally shouted and opened the door. Sir Lints-a-lot raised the flag of Pinkavania in triumph. "It is a great victory this day! Despite the terrible casualties we suffered, the fallen will live in our memories forever!" he shouted, looking down sadly at Rocky, who's bucket had gotten knocked over in the excitement. "Medic!" Rocky shouted. "Viva Pinkie Pie!" Mr. Turnip shouted. Striding boldly toward Big Brain, Pinkie Pie was a Pie on a mission. The world was headed toward the most unfunness that was possible and only she could stop it. To her surprise, Big Brain appeared with a towel around it and shampoo on top. "I hope you have a good reason to be interrupting my "me" time, Pinkie Pie," Big Brain intoned gravely. "Uh, yes. I might have, accidentally, destroyed the whole world." Big Brain sighed and Pinkie Pie was sure that if she had eyes she'd be rolling them. "And you want me to undestroy the whole world?" "If you don't mind." "Well, for you, I suppose I could take a look at your little problem," she said with a hint of good humor in her voice. Pinkie Pie took a large breath and for a minute straight blurted out the details. "And so that's why we're back here and if you don't help I don't know what we'll do and the world will be dark and sad with no parties and I can't imagine a world with no parties!" "Hmm, that is quite a pickle you've found yourself in. Do you still have your time machine?" Big Brain asked as she hovered over to Pinkie Pie. "Yes." "Good." Big Brain went silent for a few moments. "Bring out my entire wardrobe!" she commanded and attendant thoughts quickly brought out multiple pairs of smarty pants and thinking caps and soon Big Brain wore several sets of pants over each other on top and bottom of her and hats stacked on the pants. Pinkie Pie paced nervously, waiting for Big Brain's answer and the others amused themselves as best they could. "Is it... a pile of rocks?" Mr. Turnip asked. "Yes! You are ze master of 20 questions, Meester Turnip!" Madam LaFlour said joyfully. "Lucky guess," Rocky huffed. "I have made my conclusion," Big Brain announced finally. "Please tell me you can undestroy the world. Oh please, please, please!" Pinkie Pie pleaded. "Time flows like a river, Pinkie Pie. It will move relentlessly toward its destination. Nightmare Moon's incarnation cannot be prevented." Pinkie Pie's heart made a "Clunk" sound as it fell from her chest to her stomach. "All my fault," she muttered, looking down sadly. "I didn't say you should give up hope!" Big Brain said in exasperation. "I was just building dramatic tension before the big reveal. Yes, the river of time flows relentlessly, but like a river its path can be altered and diverted. As you have seen the past can be altered, so now you must travel with Luna to the past. She holds the key to defeating Nightmare Moon. She must teach Celestia what she knows, teach her how to remind the imprisoned Luna about those elements of her defense that set her free. It still may be a difficult road for Celestia to travel, but it gives her the best chance of saving the world and rescuing Luna," There was a cheer from those assembled at Big Brain's latest amazing revelation. Pinkie Pie looked up appreciatively and then hugged Big Brain again. "Thank you, Big Brain! I owe you one!" Pinkie Pie woke abruptly to find herself sleeping in Luna's arms, the princess' wings wrapped protectively around the filly. "Princess Luna, I know how to fix things!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, hopping up and down with excitement. "How is that possible?" she asked in confusion. "You'll come to the past with me. You can tell Celestia how you defeated Nightmare Moon, then when you become Nightmare Moon, Celestia can remind you about how you did it so you can defeat her, only better this time." "I still have to become Nightmare Moon?" she asked sadly. "Yeah, kinda," Pinkie Pie said sheepishly. "From what you say, my options have been either death or ruler of a dead world. Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope, a chance to live again," she said, a spark of happiness entering her voice. She looked to Pinkie Pie with a smile, the first the filly was sure had appeared there in a very, very long time. Pinkie Pie lead the princess to the courtyard where her time machine was and then prepared her time machine and looked it over carefully. She wasn't sure why, but when her father prepared to use any kind of machine, he always looked it over carefully so she thought she should too. Princess Luna levitated the toy Celestia and started to cry again. "Oh Celly, I can finally see you again," she sobbed and clutched the toy tightly. Pinkie Pie pulled out a crayon and wrote "Back to the castle with Celestia back then" and then turned the clock. Again she felt the rush of time against her face and through her mane and to her surprise, Luna raised her hooves and joined her in shouting "Woooo!" as she experienced it too. Shortly they found themselves back at the castle; they could see Celestia walking away from where she had left her earlier. Princess Luna cried out and covered her eyes. "Confounded daylight!" Celestia turned and saw them and she gasped and began walking back. "Who is this?" Celestia asked, looking suspiciously at Luna. Luna lowered her hoof, still squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light. "Celestia..." Luna uttered, seeing her beloved sister alive again. "Luna?" she asked in astonishment. Pinkie Pie was all smiles. "Yep! I went to the future and brought her back here to teach you how to stop Nightmare Moon!" Celestia looked from Luna to Pinkie Pie. "I don't know what to say." "I do!" Pinkie Pie said and began singing. "Happy Birthday to youuuu..." "And that's how Equestria was saved!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, throwing her hooves up triumphantly. "But how... where... when..." Twilight muttered. "Strange that the coin didn't change when it was all over," Pinkie said, turning it over again. "I guess since I took it with me it stayed like it was when Granny Pie gave it to me." "Okay, Pinkie Pie. Where is this time machine of yours?" Twilight asked skeptically, beginning to levitate the various boxes and looking all around the room. "Oh that, Big Brain told me later on that it was a really, really bad idea for me to have a time machine so I took it apart and then ate the plans. But first I had to go back and forth a few times to make sure we got it right, but eventually the Princess figured out the whole Elements of Harmony thing and then we were set. It wasn't the best way things could turn out, that whole thousand years on the moon thing for Luna, but of all the other ways things could have gone, this really was the only one that worked out with a happy ending. Fate really, really had it in for her." "What about the other Luna?" "Well, Celestia said she had to go back to her own time to be there when her timeline would merge with ours, but I didn't want her to have to be there all alone, so I set the time machine to "just right before the time lines merge" and got her back just a few minutes before that and then she and the other Luna became one." "Why wouldn't the princess tell me about something like this?" "She said that since it actually was possible to change time, that doing stuff to time can make weird things happen. So she and Luna probably don't even remember me from back then, but that's okay. It all worked out in the end. The Princess got what she really wanted for her birthday and that's all that matters, though if she doesn't remember any of it, that birthday card I sent probably didn't make much sense." "I-I'm going to have to ask the princess about all this," Twilight said, rubbing her head. "Ooh, if you do, ask her whatever happened to my Celestia doll. I think I left it back at the castle," Pinkie Pie asked, smiling fondly at the memories. Celestia sat in her private study, moving a landscape painting of her castle off the wall. In its place she put up a recently taken picture of herself and Luna. She smiled deeply, thrilled beyond description to have her beloved sister back. She had let her study get a bit cluttered over the years and she moved things around until she uncovered a small glass display case. She moved it to a prominent place and looked at it fondly. Inside the case was a magically preserved plush toy—a Celestia doll, left behind by a time traveler long, long ago. A drawer pulled out from the base of the display case and an envelope floated out to her. It was of much more recent vintage, little more than a decade old. The hoofmade card slid out of the opened envelope and on the front was a crayon drawing of herself, a filly Luna, an adult Luna and a little pink filly. Celestia made it a point to read this card every year to celebrate her birthday. She sat on the cushions near the fireplace and summoned some tea and read the card with a smile. Dear Princess Celestia, You probably don't remember me. I was the filly who went back in time to help you with Luna so that she would be okay. When Granny Pie told me why you were always so sad, I wanted you to have the best birthday ever. So that's why I went back in time. I hope you like your birthday present! Happy Birthday! Pinkie Pie "Yes, Pinkie Pie, I liked it very much," she said, smiling and sipping her tea.
Chapter 1For Your Birthday-Chapter 1 "Thanks for helping me move all this stuff, Twilight," Pinkie Pie said, looking over the boxes Twilight levitated out of the attic and into her bedroom. "You're welcome, Pinkie. What is all this?" Twilight asked. She looked from one box to the next, some filled with toys, others with old flattened balloons and party favors and one with what appeared to be old long stale baked goods. "My childhood! I've saved loads of stuff and I brought it all with me when I moved here to Sugarcube Corner. Ooh, lookie!" She held up a rock from a box Twilight was levitating. The box seemed to collapse under its own weight; rocks and papers and various items fell to the floor. "That was the first pile of rocks I ever moved!" she said with delight, gathering them up and placing them in an orderly pile. Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Pinkie, seriously, you saved a pile of rocks?" "Of course, he's like an old friend!" "He?" Twilight asked, both eyebrows going up. A gold bit rolled across the floor over to Twilight and when it touched her hoof it fell over. She levitated it in the air and Pinkie Pie noticed Twilight looking at the coin, very perplexed. "Pinkie, where did you get this coin?" Pinkie walked over and looked at it. She smiled widely. "Granny Pie gave that to me when I was just an itty bitty Pie!" Twilight's brow furrowed as she studied the coin, while Pinkie merrily bounded around the room, humming a tune while she dusted off her treasures to display them. "What's wrong, Twilight?" Twilight cleared her throat and assumed a scholarly tone. "I'm familiar with the magic the princess uses to prevent counterfeiting, and only someone of her power could ensure the validity of an entire nation's currency system. She has complete control over the looks of the coins to also ensure size and weight. Every coin in Equestria is exactly the same and has been for centuries—her profile on one side with her sun mark on the back. And believe me, I know the Equestrian monetary system. I did a research paper on the history of coinage back to the age of the barter system." Pinkie Pie stopped her bounding and tilted her head, looking at the coin, trying to see what was so strange. "So?" Twilight held the coin up. "This coin bears Celestia's royal consistency magic and no unicorn in the world could imitate it; so why does this coin show Luna on the front and Celestia weeping on the back? And look, under her are the words 'In Memory of Luna. Let her legacy in life be remembered rather than what she became at her death.' Pinkie Pie, there has never been a coin minted in Equestria that looked like this." Pinkie sat down and gestured for Twilight to do the same. "Oooh, a funny story about that. Well, maybe not funny, but interesting and ultimately maybe actually kinda funny. A long, long, long time ago, in a place just like this—also called Ponyville—there was born a little filly named Pinkamena Diane Pie..." Every year the children of Equestria made a birthday card for Princess Celestia and Pinkie Pie was determined to make a super duper one. A pink blur ran through the Pie house, grabbing ribbons, candy, sparkles--anything she could think of to make the special card. Pinkie Pie sat at the old oak table in the rustic farmhouse kitchen, staring at the clock on the wall as the minutes ticked by, she looked at the blank piece of paper and rolled her crayons along the table with her hoof, awaiting inspiration. "What should I write in my card, Granny Pie?" Pinkie Pie asked, picking up a crayon and beginning to draw the princess. She tried several times, but each time there was something not quite right about the image of Celestia. Then it dawned on her. In her pictures Celestia was smiling. As she thought about it, she couldn't ever remember seeing an image of the princess with a smile. "Just wish the Princess a happy birthday," Granny Pie said, looking up from her baking. "That's all? Will it make her happy? Princess Celestia's never seems to smile." Granny Pie sighed as she made a rock cake. "That's because she can never forget Princess Luna," "Who's she?" "She was the sister of Princess Celestia. They lived together a thousand years ago in a castle in the Everfree Forest." "Was?" Granny Pie reached into her shawl and produced a gold coin that she showed to Pinkie Pie. The pink pony's eyes sparkled with the coin's shine and followed it hypnotically. "So what happened to her, Granny Pie?" Granny Pie put her cake in the oven and leaned against the counter and smiled at her granddaughter. "About a thousand years ago, Luna ruled the night. She was jealous of Celestia's day and turned into the evil Nightmare Moon. Celestia tried to save her, but Luna was too far gone. Celestia had to destroy Luna to save the world. That's why all the little fillies and colts send her cards, to help make Celestia feel better." Granny Pie wiped the tears from Pinkie Pie's eyes and then from her own. "That's so sad, Granny Pie!" Pinkie Pie said. "Now I know why the princess is always sad." "Yes, it's a terrible burden she bears, little one." Pinkie looked down at her card, suddenly wishing it was ten times bigger. "And no one can make her feel better?" "Nothing can take away her pain, child," Granny Pie said, sitting down next to her. "She will bear that burden the rest of her life and that will be a very, very long time." She pressed the coin into Pinkie's hooves. "Keep that with you, little Pinkie Pie, so you always have something to remember Luna by." "Thank you, Granny Pie!" Pinkie Pie said, hugging her grandmother tightly. "You are welcome, dear. Now, its getting late. Time for little ponies to get to bed." Granny Pie helped her get the girls tucked in, then Pinkie Pie snuggled down and clutched her plush Princess Celestia doll tightly as she watched the sun going down; she began giggling, recalling the no-fear song her grandmother had taught her. Granny Pie sat on the edge of Pinkie's bed and ran a hoof over her granddaughter's puffy mane. "I wish I could be brave like my sisters," Pinkie Pie said. "The night still scares me. Why can't I be more like them?" "Well, dear, you're... different than the other fillies. You have a special gift, even more special than you or anyone else realizes. You bring joy to people's lives and lift their spirits." Pinkie Pie looked up at her with eyes full of pleading. "But what good is that gift if there's nothing I can do to make the princess feel happy?" Granny Pie smiled down and patted her worried head. "It's sweet of you to be so concerned about her, dear, but no one can help her. The events that caused all this happened long before we were born." Pinkie Pie nodded and looked her stuffed Celestia in the eye. "I'll think of something, princess. I promise you'll be happy again." It was too easy to just make a regular promise, she really meant this. "Cross my heart. Hope to Fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye!" she said, then began humming the song her grandmother had taught her. She giggled as she drifted off to sleep. Pinkie Pie always looked forward to her dreams—ever since she had gotten her cutie mark, her dreams had gone from fun to extraordinary. A giant party of all her dreamland friends welcomed her—Madame LaFlour, Rocky, Mr. Turnip and Sir Lints-a-lot, along with Pinkie Pies of all shapes and sizes from all over the universe. The party guests could see right away she was troubled, but no amount of hugs or cake could lighten her mood. "What's wrong?" the bucket of turnips asked. "Well, Mr. Turnip, I want to do something special for the princess," Pinkie Pie said. "It's a sad day for her and I want to make her happy but Granny Pie told me nothing can make her happy." "What can we do to help your princess?" Sir-Lints-a-lot said. "Yes, surely there must be something we can do to help her!" Madam LaFlour shouted. Pinkie Pie's voice became small and discouraged. "We can't do anything. She had to make her sister go away forever and she's sad about it, but it happened a long time ago. "We must speak to the Big Brain!" Sir Lints-a-lot said sagely. "Oooh, the Big Brain!" Pinkie Pie brightened up but then the frown returned. "She doesn't like to be disturbed though." "Its for your princess, Pinkie!" Mr. Turnip exclaimed. "Yes, you're right. For the princess! Come on, to the Big Brain!" she shouted, holding up her Celestia doll. All the other Pinkie Pies and her other friends marched forward; Madam LaFlour walked on her stubby corner knot legs; Mr. Turnip shook several turnips out of his bucket and hopped on top of them, using them as makeshift wheels; Sir Lints-a-lot hopped on Pinkie Pie's back; Rocky tried to move, but toppled over. "I'll just wait here till you get back," Rocky said, gathering himself back into a pile. Far, far away in the Land of Smarts was the home of Big Brain. High in the Mashed Potato mountains far West-East of the Land of Parties, across the bridge spanning the treacherous Fissure of Rolando, after many brave and heroic adventures, and after mistakenly visiting the Big Brian, they finally arrived, "Yo, maybe someone could carry me?" Rocky said from the other side of the brain. "We've come too far to turn back, Rocky, forgive me," Pinkie Pie said, looking back at the pile of rocks at the table. "I just need a bucket like Mr. Turnip," Rocky muttered. "Rocky, ve can't abandon our noble quest!" Madam LaFlour said indignantly. "Well, back to teaching myself to juggle." he sighed and began tossing parts of himself in the air. Hesitantly the group approached the giant foreboding iron doors that led to the Hall of Brainy Stuff. They pushed open the doors and were immediately met by two dangerous looking thoughts. "Who goes there?" one thought demanded. "Pinkie pie!" "A likely story!" the thought said dismissively. "Prove it!" the other thought demanded. "How?" "You should've thought of that before you came to see the Big Brain." From out of nowhere Pinkie Pie produced a crayon and paper and began scribbling away. She showed what she had drawn to the thoughts. "I really am Pinkie Pie, I promise! See, I drew a picture of myself as proof." The thoughts looked at the crudely drawn pink pony with barely readable crayon cursive that said "Me" and a crooked arrow pointing to the pony. The thoughts stepped away and conferred in whispers and then returned a minute later. "Okay, your paperwork checks out," the thought said. "The Big Brain will see you now." The group of now brave heroes entered the impressive Hall of Brainy Stuff. As they walked along the red carpet that ran the length of the room, they could hear classical music playing and could see on marble pedestals there were math equations and word problems, busts of historical figures, beakers and jars filled with bubbling liquids and most prominent was the life-size model of Pinkius Piecus. As they approached the end of the hall, they saw the Big Brain hovering over a golden throne. Pinkie Pie strode boldly forward, the others too awestruck to continue. "Why have you come to the Big Brain?" the Big Brain said in a deep imposing echoing voice, which was really Pinkie Pie's voice trying to sound deep and imposing and echo-like. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Big Brain, but I need your help." "What is your question?" "Princess Celestia is sad," Pinkie Pie said, holding up her doll for emphasis. "The princess lost her sister a long time ago and she's really, really sad about it. How can we make her happy again?" The Big Brain began to process this deep and complex issue. "This requires all my faculties. Thoughts, bring my raiment," Big Brain commanded and thoughts quickly put a giant pair of trousers and a hat on the brain. Pinkie Pie struggled valiantly against the urge to laugh. "What?" Big Brain demanded with irritation. "Sometimes I need my smarty pants and thinking cap!" After a minute, the Big Brain spoke again. "You have two options: Bake her some cupcakes or travel back in time and change the past." Pinkie Pie and the others gasped in awe at the brilliance of the Big Brain. "Hmm, Granny Pie hasn't taught me to bake cupcakes yet," Pinkie Pie said. "So I'd better travel back in time. That sounds safer; Mom doesn't like it when I try to cook." "Good," the Big Brain said. "Got your crayons? I'll show you how to build a time machine." The Big Brain explained in great detail the particulars of building said time machine, the plans so complex it took almost the whole side of the sheet of paper. Pinkie Pie looked over her time machine schematic then rolled it up and put it in the same magical place where she kept her paper and crayons. "Thank you, Big Brain! You're the best Big Brain I ever met!" She rushed forward and hugged the brain. "You are welcome, Pinkie Pie. Good luck on your journey. Until we meet again," Big Brain said fondly and returned to her meditations. "Now we can give the princess the best birthday ever!"
Chapter 2For Your Birthday-Chapter 2 How to Make a Time Machine and Past Friends A cheer went up among all the Pinkie Pies and her other friends as they exited the Hall of Brainy Stuff and began the long dangerous journey back to the Land of Parties. "Don't mind me. I was just here all alone. By myself. In the dark--hoping not get eaten by wolves," Rocky said as he saw them exit the Hall of Brainy Stuff. "What kind of wolves would eat rocks?" Mr. Turnip asked. After the long and dangerous five-minute journey, the dream party resumed full force, but Pinkie Pie would not let anything get in the way of her goal; even a good game of pin the tail on the pony. Pinkie Pie spent her remaining dream time examining the diagram, making note of where she could find all the parts. When she woke up, she was immediately at her paper and crayons and recreated the diagram she had seen in her dream. She put her saddle bags on and put in her Celestia doll and anything else she could think of that might be useful when traveling back in time and then rushed down to breakfast. "Pinkamina," her mother said, noticing her daughter's even higher level of energy than normal as Pinkie Pie seemingly inhaled her meal. "Are you feeling well?" "Yes, Mommy. I feel super duper! I had a great idea for a present to make for Princess Celestia's birthday!" she said, her body nearly trembling with excitement. "Oh... that's nice, dear. Um, do try not to hurt anyone or blow anything up." "Don't worry, Roxy," Granny Pie said. "I'm sure Pinkie will behave herself." "Try to be home by lunch, dear. And make sure to keep your party supplies in a safe place," Roxy Pie said, still trying to come to terms with her daughter's new ways since getting her cutie mark. "Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie said cheerfully before bolting from the table so fast that she was little more than a pink blur. Pinkie Pie headed to the old shed behind the barn where her father stored stuff that "he'd get around ta fixin' one o' these days." She turned on the light and laid out the diagram on the dusty old workbench. "Okay, first step to building a time machine—a waffle iron!" Slaving away minute after minute, Pinkie Pie worked tirelessly on her machine, following the crayon drawing to the very last detail. She lifted up her welder's mask and removed the lead lined gloves from her hooves and wiped her brow. It had taken almost fifteen minutes, but her invention was at long last completed. To the casual observer it might appear to be a clock, radio, weather vane, cheese grater, and curlers attached to a waffle iron, but to her it was a time machine. She removed her protective gear and took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes!" The time machine sparked alarmingly at first and then made a safe, stable humming sound. Pinkie Pie reached out and began turning the clock's dial backwards--she could see through the shed's window that the sun was moving, now setting instead of rising. She turned the dial further and soon it was night again. She turned it the opposite way and it was daylight. "Sweet!" she exclaimed with glee, moving the dial back and forth quickly to see the sun rise and set. She moved it faster, going, "Wooo, wooo, wooo!" as the sun and moon sped by. "Oh, the princess. That's right. Gotta help the princess!" she said, digging the Celestia doll out of her pack and putting it on the time machine in front of her to help her stay focused. Pinkie Pie began manually turning the clock back farther and farther, but her hooves quickly got tired. "This is taking foreeeevvvveeeerrrr," she whined. "Oh! I have an idea." She picked up a crayon and wrote on the clock face "About a thousand years ago" and then moved the clock hand to that and the sun and moon blurred in lightning motion as her mane and tail whooshed straight back with the force of the movement. Seconds later she was no longer in the old shed, but in a forest. She looked around nervously. "Hmm, I don't think I'm in Ponyville anymore. GASP! The castle! That's right, Granny Pie said they was at a castle in the in Everfree Forest." Pinkie Pie picked up her crayon again and wrote on the machine "To the princess in the castle in the Everfree Forest" and then she moved the hand to that indicator. Again the machine quickly whipped her around and she found herself in the courtyard of a castle of such beauty that it almost defied description. The garden around her was filled with all manner of exotic plants and animals. A happy voice behind Pinkie Pie helped bring her out of the daze the trip left her in. She turned and saw a small blue alicorn looking at her curiously. "Are you from the village?" the alicorn asked. " I so rarely get to meet the ponies outside the castle. I don't think I've seen you before." "I'm Pinkie Pie! I'm from Ponyville and I'm from the future!" "I am Princess Luna. What's the future like?" the princess asked. "Its very... futurey." "Oooh," the princess said in wonder. Pinkie Pie began explaining the wonders of the future when suddenly Luna reached out and touched her shoulder. "Tag! You're 'It'!" she squealed and galloped off. Pinkie Pie didn't travel a thousand years through time just to be "It"! She sprang in action, chasing after the princess. "Hey, no fair, I wasn't ready!" Pinkie Pie giggled as they chased each other around the courtyard, passing "It" back and forth. They played tag and hide and seek and just romped around the grounds for fun until both were too exhausted to play any more. Luna finally noticed the strange machine of Pinkie's and wandered over to it. "What's that?" "That's my time machine! I just built it." "Is this part of it?" Luna asked, pointing to the Celestia toy. "No, silly. That's my Celestia dolly." "Ooh, she looks so pretty with those colors in her mane." There was suddenly a loud rumbling noise. Princess Luna looked around nervously. "What was that, an earthquake?" "Nope, just my tummy. I'm hungry. Do you want a cupcake, princess?" Pinkie Pie asked, pulling two cupcakes from her saddle bags. "What's a... cupcake?" "It's like a cake, except it's in a cup. See?" Pinkie Pie held one up to Luna as she ate hers in one bite. Luna took the offered cupcake and examined the alien confection, gauging its weight and consistency. She held it up and sniffed it, then hesitantly took a nibble and her eyes went wide and she gazed at it in astonishment. "Om nom nom!" Luna devoured her cupcake. "It's wonderful!" The princess began asking all kinds of questions about cupcakes and other foods of the future and soon their chatter became silly childhood nonsense. "Knock, knock," Pinkie Pie said with a smile. "What?" Luna asked. "Its a joke. You ask who's there." "Who's there?" "Boo." "Boo, who?" "Why are you crying?" Pinkie Pie replied and fell on the ground laughing. It took the princess a few moments to get it, but then she started laughing just as hard. The princess wiped the tears from her eyes, still giggling. "I never laughed that much before. Are all ponies as funny as you in the future?" "No. Granny Pie says I have a special gift for making people happy." "Yes. You made me really happy. It gets real lonely at the castle. So I don't get to make friends." "I'll be your friend!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly. "Really?" Luna said with equal excitement. "Where is this Ponyville you're from?" "It's in the future. I don't know if it was here so long ago." "You're from the future," Luna said, her voice trailing off. "So you can't stay here." "No, guess I can't. Mom, Dad, my sisters and Granny Pie would be really sad if I never came home. When I'm born in the future maybe you could visit me in Ponyville!" "We'll still be friends?" Luna asked hesitantly. "Yep! Friends forever! It'll just have to be about a thousand years until we can meet up again and then we could have more cupcakes and games and jokes and we'll have all kinds of great stories to tell... oh, except you won't—" Pinkie Pie covered her mouth with her hooves. "What? I won't what?" Luna asked, clearly worried by Pinkie Pie's words. "I-I don't think I should say," Pinkie Pie said, nearly panicking at having said too much to her new friend. "Please, tell me!" "No, I shouldn't." Luna turned away in a huff, pouting. "I thought you were my friend!" "I am your friend! Okay, okay. In the future you get jealous of Celestia and turn evil and try to destroy the world and die." Luna's mouth fell open and tears started running down her cheeks. She turned and bolted. "Celestia!" Shortly a blinding light appeared before her and a alicorn appeared, towering over her. Her pink mane flowed in the wind and while her face showed suspicion, there was a note of familiar kindness in the voice. "How did you manage to avoid the royal guard, little one?" the large alicorn asked. "You know that the castle is forbidden, except by invitation." Pinkie Pie's eyes went wide. "Ooooh, princess Celestia. You're so... pink!" she said, then remembered her manners and bowed. "The castle, yes! I am sorry about that, princess. I used my time machine to get here. I hope you don't mind." "Time machine?" Celestia blinked, appearing confused. Pinkie Pie smiled proudly and pointed a hoof at her odd contraption. "I made it myself, with the help of my Big Brain! It let me come here from... the future!" she said, putting extra emphasis the word, prolonging the last syllable and waving her hooves around. Celestia took a look at the object and then smiled down at Pinkie Pie. "That's nice, dear. I'm glad to see you have a good imagination. But you shouldn't go around telling old mare's tales. Now, if you'll apologize to Princess Luna for scaring her, then I'll have someone escort you home." Pinkie Pie shook her head. "You don't understand, Princess. I came here to help you! Something bad's going to happen to Luna in the future and I came back to help her!" she said and held up the coin Granny Pie had given her. Celestia's horn glowed as she levitated the coin. "Strange, that's not a--wait it is an Equestrian coin. 'In Memory of Luna. Let her--oh my." She read the rest of the coin in silence and let it drop. Pinkie Pie picked up the coin and read it again and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry princess," Pinkie Said, "but now that you know something bad's going to happen we can fix it so you don't have to be sad in the future!" Luna was in tears now. "Celly, I don't want to die!" Celestia comforted her sister with her wing. "Don't worry, Luna. I won't let anything happen to you. Go back to the castle now. I need time to talk with this filly." "But Celly, I want to hear, too." "I know you do." Celestia hugged her. "Do as I say for now, please. I'll tell you about it later." Once Luna left, now under the care of two of the royal pony guard, Celestia led Pinkie to a private shaded part of the garden. They sat on silk cushions while Celestia produced tea and cookies on the elaborate stone table between them. "Now dear--Pinkie Pie--tell me what you know. How does Luna...how will Luna die?" Pinkie Pie looked nervously at the princess, not sure how exactly to phrase her response. She knew she'd have to do this as gently and subtly as possible. "You kill her... after she tries to destroy the world," she replied to the startled princess. She then recounted the brief story that Granny Pie had shared with her. During the strange tale, Celestia let her tea get as chilled as her heart. "Nightmare Moon. So, what Seer Fatestorm told me is true. I did not want to believe it." Celestia bowed her head as tears started to fall. "She told me that Luna would be overtaken and turned to evil. Now you have shown me the proof, little one. There is nothing to be done, then. The prophecy is already written in the future." Pinkie Pie quickly took a sip of tea just so she could do a spit take. "No! We have to be able to do something! Just... do something and make her not become Nightmare Moon... or something." The princess sighed, forcing a smile, "If only it were that easy, child. I have great abilities but time is something I cannot change. What is written is what is written." Pinkie Pie shook her head. Big Brain had said they could change things but the Princess said nothing could change. The princess could raise the sun and the moon, but Big Brain was, well, Big Brain. She couldn't believe either one could be wrong. She felt very confused. "Please, Princess, you've got to think of something!" Celestia closed her eyes and appeared to be thinking hard indeed. Her eyes flashed open. "Wait. There is something. You." "Me?" Pinkie Pie looked back, confused. "What can I do?" "It is what you have done already, dear. Your presence here means that time really is not the immutable thing I thought it was." "Im-mut..." "What I mean is, time can be changed." "Oh, okay. Then we can change what happens!" "I admit temporal mechanics is not something I have dealt with, so perhaps something can be done. Time is like this cookie…" the princess said and levitated a cookie and then turned it sideways to make it appear as a disc. "Imagine that this is our planet and the way time affects our world is like…" Pinkie Pie's eyes were on the hovering cookie. Celestia used her magic to make the cookie turn into a planet and around it other planets formed as she began giving Pinkie Pie a lesson on the time/space continuum. Pinkie Pie watched, engrossed as the cookie became a planet and her mind began to wander. I wonder what a planet would taste like? Ew, but eating a planet would also mean eating every bug on the planet. Wow, these cookies are super duper good! I should get the recipe for Granny Pie. I wonder how Celestia makes her mane and tail ripple like that? There's no wind. I wonder if I could do that? I wonder if that takes a special shampoo? Pinkie Pie began concentrating, trying to make her mane and tail wavy, but nothing happened. Hmm, I wonder if I could summon planets like the Princess does? Pinkie Pie attempted briefly to levitate a cookie with telekinesis, but failed. Does she have to comb her mane or does it comb itself? Her mane looks like cotton candy. I love cotton candy. I wonder what Mom's making for lunch? I hope it's not rock soup again. Oh, I wonder what candy soup would taste like... "And that's how Equestria was made," the princess said in conclusion. "Wow, thank you, Princess," Pinkie Pie said, snapping out of her daydream. "You are quite welcome dear. While my logical mind tells me that knowing the future cannot change it, my heart tells me I must try. I knew that darkness was coming, and I will do all I can to save poor Luna. Thank you for this opportunity, my little pony. You have given me some comfort in the face of this specter to come. Return to the future, little one. Hopefully, things will change for the better. At worst, events will remain as they are." "Okay, princess. See you in the future and tell Luna I said bye!" Pinkie Pie said, excited by the thought of there being two princesses in the future and wanting to see how it all turned out. As Pinkie returned to her machine, she looked up at the castle and saw a horn sticking up over the edge of a window sill and a few moments later a smiling Luna bounced up for a second, wildly waving her arms; she bounced several times and with each bounce Pinkie Pie smiled and waved back just as enthusiastically. When Pinky reached her time machine, she took out her crayon and wrote "The future" on the dial and activated it. Within moments, she disappeared in a flash of light.
Chapter 3For Your Birthday-Chapter 3 Future Shock, Backward is Forward and A Fond Remembrance Pinkie started up her time machine and with another whoosh she was in the future. Strangely, she didn't find herself back home, but outside the same castle. It was almost pitch black out; only the moon and stars provided any light. She could make out the shadowy outline of the castle nearby and approached it. The castle seemed to be in ruins now, bare earth and the dead, leafless trees surrounding it. Why was it so cold? She rubbed her extremities to try to keep warm as she entered the castle. "Hello? Anyone?" Pinkie Pie called out into the darkness, but the only sound was the echo of her hooves on the marble floors. Digging around in her pack she found a bag of jelly beans and began leaving a trail to follow as she walked deeper into the castle. She saw leaves gathered in corners and watched the moon through the broken windows. Pinkie Pie was getting very frightened by the spooky empty castle and she started whistling the song her grandmother taught her. But as she couldn't whistle, it was more like puckering and spitting the tune. With each few steps she'd drop one jelly bean and eat one. She became aware of a sound—it was the sound of a mare crying. The sobs were deep and mournful and by the time she found her way to their source, she was crying herself in pity. There, in the ruins of the enormous and once magnificent throne room, sitting on a crumbling throne sat a mare of dark blue color, her hooves to her face. Pinkie Pie stepped forward, carefully avoiding pieces of armor scattered around the foot of the throne. She approached, afraid to disturb the mare's sorrow. "Hello?" Pinkie Pie asked meekly. The sobs continued without interruption. Pinkie Pie cleared her throat, then again, a bit louder and still the crying mare ignored her. Getting frustrated, she approached the throne and poked the mare with her hoof. "Why are you crying?" At that, the mare finally looked up, then looked around and saw Pinkie Pie. There was no expression on her face as she stared blankly at the filly. "Princess Luna? Is that you? You're all big now!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly. "So, where is everyone?" The princess went wide eyed with fear and she cowered back from Pinkie Pie. Her mouth quivered, as if struggling to speak. "I-I.." "Princess, what's wrong?" Luna jumped off the throne and hid behind it as Pinkie stepped toward her. "Princess Luna, its me, Pinkie Pie! Remember me and the fun we had?" Luna hesitantly stepped out from behind the throne, her mouth still moving, trying to form words. "P-p-p-ie." "Right, Pinkie Pie," she said, going up to the princess and patting her hoof comfortingly. The princess slowly and cautiously reached out and touched Pinkie Pie, her eyes still wide with terror. "Pie." "What happened to you, to the castle?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking around. "P-pink... Pie. Pinkie Pie!" she finally managed to articulate. Luna leaned in close to look at this pink filly, examining her and her saddlebags. "Princess, are you sick? What's wrong?" "No... spea... thou..." Luna closed her eyes, concentrating hard. "Not word use—not use word years. Argh! Not talk long—not speaking in..." the princess took a deep breath, enunciating each syllable slowly and carefully. "I. Have. Not. Spoken. In. Over. Thousand. Years." Saying that prompted another round of tears. "Wow, I think I would explode if I couldn't talk just one day!" Pinkie Pie said. The princess suddenly stopped her crying and looked at Pinkie Pie in astonishment. "You're...still here!" "Well, yeah! You haven't told me what's going on and why you haven't talked in over a thousand years." Luna again examined Pinkie Pie and poked her with a hoof. When she was truly certain she wasn't a hallucination, she managed a small smile, but the smile faded quickly and tears began running down her face again. "Killed them all!" Luna sobbed. Pinkie Pie tilted her head, puzzled. "Killed all of who?" "I kill all! Night never ends. All gone." "This is the future?" Pinkie Pie wondered aloud. Then at once she understood. "This is the night that would last forever," Pinkie Pie said, feeling scared and lost as she sat by the throne. "All gone!" Luna sobbed. Pinkie Pie looked around, then back to Luna. "Where's Celestia?" "All gone." "Where's Nightmare Moon?" "Gone." "But she's the one who wanted the night to last forever." "She weak... she grew weak. I fought free, but too late to save them!" she wept. Princess Luna gathered up Pinkie Pie in her hooves and held her close. "I'm so... so sorry, Pie... Pinkie Pie," she sobbed. "But you and Celestia knew it was going to happen. Why couldn't you stop her?" "She had... other ways. She still got me. Knowing the future—knowing it changed things. Celestia was supposed to stop me, but she couldn't this time." "This is all my fault," Pinkie Pie said, looking around at the darkness. "No. My fault," Luna muttered, slumping back down onto the throne. "How did you fight her?" "Magic." "Oh yeah, your horn." "A different kind of magic. I was lost... lost in darkness for a long time, but then I began to remember." "Remember what?" "The magic of friendship. I remembered how much Celestia loved me, the good times; I remembered the little pink filly who said she traveled through time to save me. Who shared her cupcakes with me, who told me silly jokes and who played with me in the castle grounds. A filly who told me the truth even though it was scary. A filly who said she'd be my friend forever, but I didn't remember those things soon enough," Luna sobbed. Pinkie Pie hugged the crying Luna, finding it strange that less than an hour ago they had been about the same age. "There has to be a way to change this! Pinkamena Diane Pie will think of something. Hmm, I need to sleep on it... zzzzz." Immediately she found herself in the Land of Parties and while she was very tempted by the cake and games, there wasn't time. "Come on, I need the help of the Big Brain again!" The others fell in line behind her and soon they were marching in rank—except Rocky, who one of the Pinkies carried in a bucket. Madam LaFlour sang an inspirational song and Sir Lints-a-lot played the bagpipes in accompaniment while Mr. Turnip joined in on the drum and Rocky played accordion. Everyone in her "army" had pink uniforms and carried candy weapons. When they came to the dangerous looking thoughts guarding the doors to the Hall of Brainy Stuff they stopped and at first only Pinkie Pie dared approach them. "We need to see the Big Brain again!" Pinkie Pie said fearlessly. "She doesn't want to be disturbed. She's busy," the thought replied. "Doing what?" "Washing her hair," the other replied, laughing. Pinkie Pie suspected they were lying. "The night will last forever if we can't talk to Big Brain!" "No can do," the one thought said. "There's nothing you can do that will make us let you in," the other added. "Okay, you forced me to use my greatest weapon!" Pinkie Pie warned. She approached one of the guards and stuck her hoof out, almost but not quite touching the thought. "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you! Does this bug you? I'm not touching you!" Soon her army of friends joined in, surrounding the guards, but none of them actually touching the thoughts. The guards endured as long as they could, but soon the deafening chorus of "I'm not touching you! Does this bug you?" could be tolerated no longer. "Okay, okay!" the guards finally shouted and opened the door. Sir Lints-a-lot raised the flag of Pinkavania in triumph. "It is a great victory this day! Despite the terrible casualties we suffered, the fallen will live in our memories forever!" he shouted, looking down sadly at Rocky, who's bucket had gotten knocked over in the excitement. "Medic!" Rocky shouted. "Viva Pinkie Pie!" Mr. Turnip shouted. Striding boldly toward Big Brain, Pinkie Pie was a Pie on a mission. The world was headed toward the most unfunness that was possible and only she could stop it. To her surprise, Big Brain appeared with a towel around it and shampoo on top. "I hope you have a good reason to be interrupting my "me" time, Pinkie Pie," Big Brain intoned gravely. "Uh, yes. I might have, accidentally, destroyed the whole world." Big Brain sighed and Pinkie Pie was sure that if she had eyes she'd be rolling them. "And you want me to undestroy the whole world?" "If you don't mind." "Well, for you, I suppose I could take a look at your little problem," she said with a hint of good humor in her voice. Pinkie Pie took a large breath and for a minute straight blurted out the details. "And so that's why we're back here and if you don't help I don't know what we'll do and the world will be dark and sad with no parties and I can't imagine a world with no parties!" "Hmm, that is quite a pickle you've found yourself in. Do you still have your time machine?" Big Brain asked as she hovered over to Pinkie Pie. "Yes." "Good." Big Brain went silent for a few moments. "Bring out my entire wardrobe!" she commanded and attendant thoughts quickly brought out multiple pairs of smarty pants and thinking caps and soon Big Brain wore several sets of pants over each other on top and bottom of her and hats stacked on the pants. Pinkie Pie paced nervously, waiting for Big Brain's answer and the others amused themselves as best they could. "Is it... a pile of rocks?" Mr. Turnip asked. "Yes! You are ze master of 20 questions, Meester Turnip!" Madam LaFlour said joyfully. "Lucky guess," Rocky huffed. "I have made my conclusion," Big Brain announced finally. "Please tell me you can undestroy the world. Oh please, please, please!" Pinkie Pie pleaded. "Time flows like a river, Pinkie Pie. It will move relentlessly toward its destination. Nightmare Moon's incarnation cannot be prevented." Pinkie Pie's heart made a "Clunk" sound as it fell from her chest to her stomach. "All my fault," she muttered, looking down sadly. "I didn't say you should give up hope!" Big Brain said in exasperation. "I was just building dramatic tension before the big reveal. Yes, the river of time flows relentlessly, but like a river its path can be altered and diverted. As you have seen the past can be altered, so now you must travel with Luna to the past. She holds the key to defeating Nightmare Moon. She must teach Celestia what she knows, teach her how to remind the imprisoned Luna about those elements of her defense that set her free. It still may be a difficult road for Celestia to travel, but it gives her the best chance of saving the world and rescuing Luna," There was a cheer from those assembled at Big Brain's latest amazing revelation. Pinkie Pie looked up appreciatively and then hugged Big Brain again. "Thank you, Big Brain! I owe you one!" Pinkie Pie woke abruptly to find herself sleeping in Luna's arms, the princess' wings wrapped protectively around the filly. "Princess Luna, I know how to fix things!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, hopping up and down with excitement. "How is that possible?" she asked in confusion. "You'll come to the past with me. You can tell Celestia how you defeated Nightmare Moon, then when you become Nightmare Moon, Celestia can remind you about how you did it so you can defeat her, only better this time." "I still have to become Nightmare Moon?" she asked sadly. "Yeah, kinda," Pinkie Pie said sheepishly. "From what you say, my options have been either death or ruler of a dead world. Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope, a chance to live again," she said, a spark of happiness entering her voice. She looked to Pinkie Pie with a smile, the first the filly was sure had appeared there in a very, very long time. Pinkie Pie lead the princess to the courtyard where her time machine was and then prepared her time machine and looked it over carefully. She wasn't sure why, but when her father prepared to use any kind of machine, he always looked it over carefully so she thought she should too. Princess Luna levitated the toy Celestia and started to cry again. "Oh Celly, I can finally see you again," she sobbed and clutched the toy tightly. Pinkie Pie pulled out a crayon and wrote "Back to the castle with Celestia back then" and then turned the clock. Again she felt the rush of time against her face and through her mane and to her surprise, Luna raised her hooves and joined her in shouting "Woooo!" as she experienced it too. Shortly they found themselves back at the castle; they could see Celestia walking away from where she had left her earlier. Princess Luna cried out and covered her eyes. "Confounded daylight!" Celestia turned and saw them and she gasped and began walking back. "Who is this?" Celestia asked, looking suspiciously at Luna. Luna lowered her hoof, still squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light. "Celestia..." Luna uttered, seeing her beloved sister alive again. "Luna?" she asked in astonishment. Pinkie Pie was all smiles. "Yep! I went to the future and brought her back here to teach you how to stop Nightmare Moon!" Celestia looked from Luna to Pinkie Pie. "I don't know what to say." "I do!" Pinkie Pie said and began singing. "Happy Birthday to youuuu..." "And that's how Equestria was saved!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, throwing her hooves up triumphantly. "But how... where... when..." Twilight muttered. "Strange that the coin didn't change when it was all over," Pinkie said, turning it over again. "I guess since I took it with me it stayed like it was when Granny Pie gave it to me." "Okay, Pinkie Pie. Where is this time machine of yours?" Twilight asked skeptically, beginning to levitate the various boxes and looking all around the room. "Oh that, Big Brain told me later on that it was a really, really bad idea for me to have a time machine so I took it apart and then ate the plans. But first I had to go back and forth a few times to make sure we got it right, but eventually the Princess figured out the whole Elements of Harmony thing and then we were set. It wasn't the best way things could turn out, that whole thousand years on the moon thing for Luna, but of all the other ways things could have gone, this really was the only one that worked out with a happy ending. Fate really, really had it in for her." "What about the other Luna?" "Well, Celestia said she had to go back to her own time to be there when her timeline would merge with ours, but I didn't want her to have to be there all alone, so I set the time machine to "just right before the time lines merge" and got her back just a few minutes before that and then she and the other Luna became one." "Why wouldn't the princess tell me about something like this?" "She said that since it actually was possible to change time, that doing stuff to time can make weird things happen. So she and Luna probably don't even remember me from back then, but that's okay. It all worked out in the end. The Princess got what she really wanted for her birthday and that's all that matters, though if she doesn't remember any of it, that birthday card I sent probably didn't make much sense." "I-I'm going to have to ask the princess about all this," Twilight said, rubbing her head. "Ooh, if you do, ask her whatever happened to my Celestia doll. I think I left it back at the castle," Pinkie Pie asked, smiling fondly at the memories. Celestia sat in her private study, moving a landscape painting of her castle off the wall. In its place she put up a recently taken picture of herself and Luna. She smiled deeply, thrilled beyond description to have her beloved sister back. She had let her study get a bit cluttered over the years and she moved things around until she uncovered a small glass display case. She moved it to a prominent place and looked at it fondly. Inside the case was a magically preserved plush toy—a Celestia doll, left behind by a time traveler long, long ago. A drawer pulled out from the base of the display case and an envelope floated out to her. It was of much more recent vintage, little more than a decade old. The hoofmade card slid out of the opened envelope and on the front was a crayon drawing of herself, a filly Luna, an adult Luna and a little pink filly. Celestia made it a point to read this card every year to celebrate her birthday. She sat on the cushions near the fireplace and summoned some tea and read the card with a smile. Dear Princess Celestia, You probably don't remember me. I was the filly who went back in time to help you with Luna so that she would be okay. When Granny Pie told me why you were always so sad, I wanted you to have the best birthday ever. So that's why I went back in time. I hope you like your birthday present! Happy Birthday! Pinkie Pie "Yes, Pinkie Pie, I liked it very much," she said, smiling and sipping her tea.
