How to be Happy

“So one day I was just sitting at home, yeah? And Princess Celestia shows up and is like, ‘Pinkie! I have this student who has no friends, can you—’”

“Pinkie.” Luna put a hoof out to stop her. “Please. Start at the point that you two go separated.”

“Oh.” Pinkie laughed. “Oops, yeah, that makes sense.”

Luna’s calming presence and wise choice of venue was doing wonders for Pinkie, who was already perking up and getting her laugh back. The same couldn’t be said about Pinkamena, though, who was sitting quietly and looking down at her hooves, and every time Pinkie caught sight of Pinkamena her smile would fade and she’d quickly look away.

“So, um,” Pinkie continued, “I—we?—we were sad and went to our thinking spot to think, and then we fell in and, well, you know.” Pinkie threw her hooves up dramatically. “Kaboom!”

Luna looked at her blankly, then turned to Pinkamena. “Can you explain this in a way that actually makes sense?”

“Huh?” Pinkamena looked up at her in shock, then hid behind her mane. “Oh, um, okay… Well, like she said, we fell into the mirror pool and then we weren’t together anymore.”

“The mirror pool.” Luna sighed and shook her head. “Maybe Celestia was right. She always told me to destroy it, but… Well, it’s just so good for thinking.”

“Right?” Pinkie nodded excitedly. “So, yeah, that’s what happened.”

Luna wrote down some notes. “So, then what?”

“Well, we had lunch,” Pinkie told her. “This whole big thing with my sister and our girlfriends, and then—”

“I ruined it,” Pinkamena cut in.

Pinkie frowned at her. “I wasn’t gonna say that!”

“Yeah, so I said it for you.”

“It didn’t need to be said at all!”

“We were both thinking it. I don’t see why—”

“Girls.” Luna spoke sternly, and they both looked at her. “Please, let’s try to stay calm.”

Pinkamena huffed and crossed her legs in front of her chest, but she didn’t say any more.

“You were saying, Pinkie?” Luna asked.

“Um…” Pinkie looked at Pinkamena for a moment, then turned back to Luna. “Well, we found out about each other and had a fight.”

“What about?”

“Neither of us thinks I’ll ever be happy,” Pinkamena grumbled. “I wanted her to admit it.”

Pinkie pouted. “That’s not true! You said it yourself, you just wanted to hurt me!”

“No!” Pinkamena fell forward onto the table in a pleading gesture. Her voice cracked as she cried out. “I just… I was mad, cuz I thought the pool might’ve made it so you couldn’t be hurt at all, and that didn’t seem fair! None of this is fair! Why do you get to be the happy one?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” Pinkie told her. Tears were welling up in her eyes again. “I already feel awful. I already blame it all on myself. Do you want me to hate myself? Because I do! I really, really do, cuz I’m happy and you’re not and it’s my fault.”

“No, I—” Something caught in Pinkamena’s throat, and she fell back. When she spoke again, it was hardly a whisper. “I don’t want you to hate yourself…”

Neither of them spoke for a long while. They receded back into their seats and broke eye contact, Pinkie staring at the floor and Pinkamena covering her eyes pitifully. The only noise was the occasional sigh as one of them pushed down a sob.

Finally, Luna broke the silence. “Well,” she said quietly, “that was… Intense. Did you both say everything you wanted to?”

Pinkie looked up at her. “H-Huh?”

“It just seems like a good time to get things off your chest, is all.”

“Oh.” Pinkie looked briefly at Pinkamena, then looked away and hummed in thought.

Pinkamena spoke up first, though. “I…” She swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Pinkie.”

“What?” Pinkie stared at her.

“I’m sorry,” Pinkamena repeated, “for everything I did to you.”

“But…” Pinkie shook her head. “But you’re the sad one! I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

“Pinkie, you—”

“I mean, if I hadn’t shown up, you could be happy! You could feel better!”

“Pinkie—”

“I ruined your life! I-I stole your smile! I’m supposed to give smiles, not take them away, what’s even the point of me if—”

“Pinkie!” Pinkamena jumped out of her seat and stuck her hoof against Pinkie’s snout to get her to stop talking. When she was sure she had Pinkie’s attention, she went on. “You don’t need to be sorry just for existing. You didn’t ruin my life. If anything… Well, if anypony can make me happy again, it’s probably you.”

Pinkie sniffed quietly and tears started slowly falling down her cheeks. Without warning, she grabbed Pinkamena and pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, Pinkamena,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Pinkamena was shocked at first, but she quickly fell into the hug. She pressed her face up against Pinkie and clung to her, letting the hug last as long as Pinkie wanted it to.

Given that freedom, it was a very long hug, but eventually Pinkie did let go. As she pulled away, Pinkie rustled Pinkamena’s mane like she often did Marble’s and gave her a warm smile, which Pinkamena, to the surprise of them both, returned for just a moment.

As Pinkamena got back in her seat, Luna put away her notes and leaned forward on the table. “Well, you two seem better.”

Pinkie nodded, then they both looked at Pinkamena. At first, she hesitated, but after a moment she nodded, too.

Luna smiled. “I’m glad to see it. I’m always happy to help.”

“Yeah, thanks Luna!” Pinkie said.

Pinkamena nodded. “Thank you. Even if you didn’t really, um, do anyth—”

“It seems my work here is done,” Luna interrupted. She got up from the table, turned to the side, and took a few steps as she quickly dissolved away into the aether.

Pinkie caught Pinkamena’s eye and giggled, and Pinkamena couldn’t help but let out a little laugh.

By the time morning came, the storms had passed and the skies were clear. Birds tweeted sweetly outside the big window next to Fluttershy’s bed, and with them wafted the soothing scent of wildflowers.

A tiny sliver of light had snuck in between the heavy curtains that covered the window, and as the sun shifted it moved right over Fluttershy. It almost seemed to shine straight through her when it hit the uncovered parts of her fur, and when it reached her eyes she flinched and pulled her blanket up over her head.

“Mmn… Not yet,” Fluttershy mumbled sleepily. She flipped over onto her other side and reached out to pull Pinkie closer to her, but her hoof found only sheets. She grabbed again, and again got nothing, which was enough to stir her into opening her eyes and remembering that Pinkie wasn’t there.

“Pink…” She yawned and, reluctantly, pushed off the covers that kept her so snug. She rolled and tumbled out of bed. She shook her head to try and shake away some of the sleepiness, then she stumbled over to the window and slid the curtains open.

The sunlight streamed in and washed over Fluttershy, so bright and intense that she almost looked like a mirage as she shot a leg up to protect her eyes.

With squinted eyelids, she took in the outside world. Bees and butterflies floated around the flowers that speckled the little hill behind her old home, and birds sat happily in the homes that hung from the trees. Fish swam up near the surface of the quiet brook that ran through the yard, and in one particularly shallow part, she even spied a duo of foxes splashing and playing together. It all came together into a beautiful landscape, and seeing it again made her heart ache with nostalgia.

Once she felt awake, she meandered over to her bathroom and got ready for the day. Brushed mane, brushed tail, brushed teeth, everything found its place. She looked carefully at her fangs in the mirror, tested them with her tongue, and decided against sharpening them, as it was a long and tedious process that she hated doing. She peeled her eyes open and looked hard into the pits that centered them, but as always she saw nothing. It was a pointless part of her routine, but she worried enough about her eyes changing without her noticing that she kept doing it anyway.

Once she was done with all that, she stretched, yawned again, and stepped out into the living room to start the day.

Then she yelped as a blindfold was thrust onto her. “W-Who’s there?”

“Shh,” Pinkie replied, “it’s just me. I’ve got a surprise for you!”

Fluttershy sighed in relief. “Oh, thank goodness. You scared me!”

Pinkie giggled. “Sorry, but I had to!”

“You realize I could just see through this, right?”

“Well, don’t.” Pinkie started pushing Fluttershy gently towards the kitchen. “You gotta play along, it’s the rules.”

“What rules?” Fluttershy asked as she walked where she was led.

“The rules!” Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Geez, everypony knows about the rules.”

Fluttershy huffed as she was directed into a seat at her tiny little table. “Pinkie, is this really appropriate? I mean, Pinkamena was very upset last time we spoke to her, and—”

Suddenly, Pinkie tore the blindfold off and gestured at the table. There in front of her sat a huge stack of pancakes, made in the shape of hearts, with a little flag stuck in the top on a toothpick that had the words “We’re Sorry” written out crudely.

Past the breakfast, sitting quietly across the table, sat Pinkamena, wearing a small but genuine smile.

“Wh—” Fluttershy looked between Pinkie, the pancakes and Pinkamena. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s breakfast, silly!” Pinkie grinned wide.

Pinkamena nodded. “We felt really bad about everything we put you through yesterday, so we wanted to make it up to you.”

Fluttershy looked back down at the plate, and a wide smile grew on her face. “Aww,” she said, “that’s so sweet. You didn’t need to do this! Neither of you did anything wrong.”

“That’s super not true,” Pinkie told her. “We were both kinda awful.”

“But we’re sorry!” Pinkamena added. “And we wanna… Start over?”

Fluttershy laughed softly. “You’re both being silly. If you’re feeling better, that’s all I need.”

“Just take the sorry!” Pinkie pretended to pout. “If you don’t eat those soon, I’m gonna eat them, and then you gotta find something to be sorry for! It’s the rules.”

Pinkamena nodded. “It is the rules.”

Fluttershy sighed and shook her head, unable to avoid the thought that one Pinkie had been more than enough.