Rays of sunshine filtered through the ruined roof of a ruined castle. It had been some time since either of the two ponies now trudging the ancient halls had visited the Castle of the Two Sisters, but they had been given a mission, and both of them intended to see it through.

But mission or not, it didn’t mean at least one pony couldn’t voice some of her concerns aloud.

“Are you super duper sure about this, Twily? I’d be the first pony to trust prophetic dream ghosts, but I feel like whatever this gift is, it’d be long gone by now. ”

“You’d be the first to trust a dream ghost?” Twilight glanced over at her girlfriend. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be used to Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.

She wouldn’t have it any other way. A mere week had passed since they had returned to Ponyville, and it felt like Twilight had finally woken up for the first time in her life. The world seemed a little clearer and a little more colorful.

“Well I mean, if they’re giving instructions that specific, of course I’d go looking. Anypony who goes through that much trouble at least deserves the benefit of the doubt, you know?” She bounced alongside Twilight, looking at the various stained glass windows as they tried to find the ominously named ‘organ room’. “Any idea what it is anyway?”

“Given everything, I’d assume some sort of unpublished treatise or essay on the nature of thermodynamics as it relates to something like say, a rubber chicken or a whoopie cushion. Something rubber, I’m guessing,” Twilight raised an eyebrow coyly. “I thought that’d be obvious.”

“Ohhh I know, I just wanted to know if you were thinking what I was thinking,” she squealed. “Just think Twily! A lost manuscript from Peritwinkle! Ooooo imagine if it’s pie recipes! You know the field of prank pies hasn’t seen a breakthrough in over two hundred years? They’d have to rewrite almost every course on battle clowning at the Royal College! They’d be SO mad! Hehehe!”

Twilight smirked. “I take it that the irony over them not being amused over something dedicated to amusement is what makes it amusing?”

“Exactly! Good wordplay there, Sprinkle,” Pinkie, never one to miss an opportunity to try out her girlfriend’s new pet name, pulled Twilight in close for a proud nuzzle. “I guess those clown lessons are rubbing off on you.”

Twilight returned the nuzzle. “What can I say? A princess can hardly expect to support her new Royal Fool if she hasn’t studied the material in question.”

Her girlfriend gave a whoop of delight at the use of her new title, the silver bells on her juggling bag ringing out a happy melody as Pinkie extricated herself from the nuzzle and bounced around the room with a typical amount of hyperactive joy. Both the bells and bag were, historically, an important symbol of office.

Sure, said office hadn’t been used in a century, but what good was it being a princess if you couldn’t appoint a mare or two? It didn’t break any Princess Rules after all.

“I’m soooo glad you’re getting in touch with the silly part of your family, you know.”

“I don’t think I’m ever going to be cut out to be a full clown, sweetheart.”

“Yeppers! That’s what you’ve got me for,” she wiggled her rear, listening to the sound of the silvery bells as she did. Even a thousand years later, they jingled gloriously. “But that just means you’ll appreciate all my best material alllll the more! It’s like Grandma Pie always said: ‘if you don’t like sausage after you learn how it’s made, stop eating sausage’.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Grandma Pie made a lot of sausages, did she?”

“Nope! I have no idea where she even learned the idiom!”

And so it went, both mares stepping down the hall as they opted to simply enjoy each other’s presence. Ghostly dream mission or not, the couple were comfortable exploring and trading jokes and banter, until both ponies eventually stumbled upon the room they had been looking for.

To their relief, the organ room held an enormous and overly complex pipe organ, which dominated most of the back wall. Pinkie bounded in ahead of the princess, looking around the cobblestones around them until…

“Yoo hoo! Over here, Twilight!”

Sure enough, most of the stones on the ground looked the same, save one. It was slightly larger than the others around, with a fancy ‘P’ carved into it.

Levitating the rock away with her magic, both ponies peered down. Inside the hole was a small iron box. Despite over a thousand years in the ground, it looked no worse for wear. The sight of it made Twilight begin to tear up again, prompting a pink fluffy hug from her pink fluffy love.

“That’s it,” the princess said. “It’s got to be. He had said that he had had it enchanted to last forever, and there’s not a speck of rust on the box .”

Pinkie nodded in agreement. “Are you ready?”

“I don’t know,” Twilight hesitated. “I might… I might end up crying again.”

“Good.”

“Good?”

“It’s the final thing your dad left you! That kind of thing would make anypony cry, because it’s supposed to!”

“Right. Just be ready with a hug.”

“Always, I’ve got that title for a reason.”

With a wave of magic, the alicorn delicately lifted off the lid of the box, showing a small leatherbound notebook inside. Even more delicately still, as if it was the most precious thing in the world, she lifted it out of the box and Twilight stared at the cover, then began to laugh, she laughed harder and harder, and tears and sobs soon joined those laughs as she pulled Pinkie in for a tight hug.

“What is it? What is it! Lemmee see!”

Breaking the hug and opting instead to rest her head on her girlfriend’s poof of hair, Twilight’s magic slowly turned the leather bound notebook over, showing the letters that had been printed on the front.

1001 Dad Jokes

Luna agreed: every joke was terrible.

It was a wonderful book.

Author's Note

And close with a rimshot! That's all folks!

Thanks to Trolleytrainer and the Discord for all the various proofreading.