Twenty-seven years prior to Princess Twilight Sparkle's reign

Ever since she had earned her cutie mark, Pinkie Pie had devoted her life to making ponies want to smile. So it was extremely hard for her to ask Twilight Sparkle to meet her at the bridge in Ponyville to talk about something important.

Ponyville had two bridges, but it was well understood that one was simply a road and that the other was an actual destination. If somepony from Ponyville was told to go to the bridge, they would always end up going to the bridge that crossed over the park's river.

It was Hearth's Warming Day and the park was empty. Pinkie was sitting on a bench close to the bridge, looking over the scenery as she rehearsed what she knew she needed to say. The snow was falling lightly over already white fields, but the sun was shining brightly. It wasn't warm and Pinkie was wearing a scarf, but there was no wind so the cold wasn't piercing. By anypony’s standards it was a beautiful winter day, and a perfect day for Hearth's Warming. Which only made it all the more difficult for Pinkie.

She had told Twilight to meet her at one, it was half-past twelve. Which meant that Twilight would be there soon, unless something had come up.

An hour passed with no sign of Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie could not bring herself to be surprised.

Twilight Sparkle was a princess, and she was clearly being prepared to succeed Princess Celestia. But even so, no matter how busy she got, she always made the time for her friends when they needed her. Unless, of course, that friend also happened to be her marefriend. It wasn't quite fair to say that -Twilight was a princess after all, and had to miss out on time with her other friends as well -but it was especially difficult for Pinkie to be objective when it came to her marefriend.

Pinkie didn't necessarily think that it was bad that she saw things from her own perspective, but she also knew that Twilight would never agree. One of their first real fights they had was because Twilight Sparkle was fundamentally objectively minded, while Pinkie Pie was much more partial in her viewpoints. She could be objective, she just liked knowing where she stood first.

When Pinkie considered it, she realised that most of their fights had started because Pinkie had done something that upset Twilight. But Pinkie supposed that made some sense, Twilight had never really needed to compromise any part of her personal life with another pony before moving to Ponyville. Pinkie, on the other hoof, had lived in a colourless environment for two years after getting her cutie mark.

Anyway, it didn't really matter much. None of their specific fights were why Pinkie was waiting for Twilight. Pinkie had been all too happy to help Twilight become accustomed to sharing her life, it was more that Twilight had proven that Pinkie wasn't her true priority. There were two times in their relationship that Pinkie had gotten angry at Twilight. One was settled after a few days, just an unfortunate misunderstanding. The other, Pinkie would say, had never really been settled.

It was on their fifth anniversary of becoming marefriends. Pinkie had spent months planning the -for her at least -relatively simple event, she cooked and baked for hours to make sure that everything was just right. She even hired Rarity to make her a new dress, although Rarity insisted that it was a gift and wouldn't take any bits for it.

Everything had been set up perfectly, Pinkie had decorated one of the rooms in Twilight's castle for the anniversary so that they wouldn't have to worry about the Cakes or the twins and Spike had gone with Fluttershy to chaperone the Cutie Mark Crusaders camping trip. It wasn't very often that they could just be alone and be themselves, so Pinkie had been looking forward to it. But when the time came, Twilight didn't arrive. The sun fell and the moon rose, but Twilight still hadn't shown. It wasn't until near midnight that Twilight finally returned to her castle. Pinkie had been worried about her, it wasn't like Twilight to be late, but it was simply the start of a new trend.

Princess Celestia had asked Twilight to help her with cataloguing the spells in the Starswirl Section of Canterlot Castle’s library. It was unlikely that Celestia knew that it was Twilight's anniversary, but Twilight had known and still chose to stay in Canterlot.

Even with how upset that had made Pinkie, if it had been just that, Pinkie would have been able to forgive and move on. It did not stop there though. As time went by Twilight Sparkle was late or absent more and more often.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Pinkie refocused on the task in front of her. It was getting late, already three in the afternoon. If Twilight didn't arrive soon, Pinkie would have to call it and head back to Sugarcube Corner for the night.

Hearing the crunch of snow, Pinkie looked up and saw Twilight Sparkle approaching from the other side of the bridge. Pinkie Pie stood up and walked over to meet Twilight about halfway across the bridge.

“Hello, Pinkie,” Twilight Sparkle said when they reached each other. Twilight leaned down to kiss Pinkie, but Pinkie moved her head away. “I'm sorry that I'm late, Princess Luna wanted me to review some old laws and decide which should be reimplemented and which should be repealed.”

Twilight assumed, reasonably, that Pinkie was upset that she was late for the meeting. And she was, at least a bit, but Twilight being late was just a symptom of why Pinkie turned away. “Hello, Twilight.”

“What’s wrong, Pinkie?” Twilight asked, deciding to simply get to the point.

Pinkie’s voice and eyes had none of their characteristic warmth when she responded. “I wasn’t sure that you would make it. I was about ready to give up and go back to Sugarcube Corner.”

“Pinkie, I was busy,” Twilight started, not seeing why Pinkie would be so upset. “I can’t just ignore my duties as a prin -Wait, Sugarcube Corner?”

“That’s exactly my point! You are so focused on being a princess that you never make the time to meet with your marefriend. Even on Hearth’s Warming Day, you are hours late!” Pinkie said, exasperated by Twilight and her excuses. “And why? Because Luna asked you to do something that can absolutely wait until next year, let alone a few hours. And yes, Sugarcube Corner, I still have my room there.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted. I realise that it was wrong, but you don’t need to leave the castle. I love you, Pinkie.” Twilight said, as though it solved everything.

Pinkie looked into Twilight’s eyes as she spoke. “You did once, maybe you still do. But no matter how much you care for me, I still see distance in your eyes.”

“Distance? What do you mean?” Twilight asked, starting to get very concerned by where Pinkie was going.

“I can’t-” Pinkie’s voice caught and she took a breath to steady herself before continuing. “I can’t live my life waiting for you. Maybe that’s what it is to love a princess, but I didn’t fall in love with a princess.”

Twilight wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say. She was a princess, she couldn’t change that.

“I fell in love with Twilight Sparkle, a unicorn who loved books and loved her friends even more. The only pony who ever tried to throw me a birthday party. I do still care about you, but Princess Twilight Sparkle thought that the important thing I had to talk to you about on Hearth’s Warming was less worth her time than old laws that nopony remembers.”

“Pinkie, that’s not -I,” Twilight stammered, trying to find the words but was unable.

“It’s alright,” Pinkie interupted, turning to look into Twilight’s eyes. “I understand. You are a princess. Equestria needs you, and Equestria is more important than I am. I’m not mad about that and I do not blame you, you made the choice you needed to make so that you won’t regret it someday.”

“It doesn’t have to be between you and Equestria, Pinkie,” Twilight Sparkle said, desperately.

“I'm sorry,” Pinkie said with a tear in her eye.

“No,” Twilight whispered, knowing what Pinkie would say.

“But it's time to say goodbye,” Pinkie's voice was soft, but it also held a tone of finality.

Pinkie Pie turned from Twilight Sparkle and walked away from the pony she loved.

As she watched Pinkie, Twilight Sparkle just stood there, wishing that she could reach out or call for Pinkie to come back with a promise of devotion. She could cast aside her princesshood and pledge herself to Pinkie. But she had no right to. Somewhere deep inside, Twilight knew that Pinkie was right. That between Pinkie and Equestria, or even between Pinkie and Celestia, Pinkie Pie would never be the choice she made.

When she could no longer see Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle turned her head up to watch the sky and listened to the river under the bridge. It wasn’t until she saw the moon above that she realised her eyes were blurred with tears.

“I still wish that I could have not been so stupid, that I could have seen what was wrong before it was too late. There was nothing I could say or do by the time I realised how selfish I had been, she was already lost to me long before that Hearth’s Warming,” Twilight Sparkle finished recounting her story.

Throughout Twilight’s story, Midnight had quietly listened. He had heard of Pinkie Pie, of course, but he had never known that she had been in a relationship with Princess Twilight. It shook his understanding of the Elements of Harmony and their adventures to know that two of them had been romantically involved, but it also helped him to understand the princess he served.

“If you do not mind me saying,” Midnight paused to let her object if she wanted. She stayed quiet. “From what I know about Pinkie Pie, and what you just told me; I don’t think that she regretted your time together, and I don’t think that she was trying to hurt you or make you change by leaving.”

Twilight smiled a bit at that, but it quickly fell again. “You are definitely right that Pinkie was not trying to hurt me, and to be honest it was not her leaving that hurt me the most. What hurts is that I made her need to leave me to be happy.”

There was nothing that Midnight could think of to say to that.

“She told me that I made the choices I made so that I would not regret it later,” Tears fell into Twilight Sparkle’s tea and sent it rippling in the cup. “But every Hearth’s Warming I just wish that I could go back and see what might have been if I had just chosen her instead of being a princess.”

Author's Note

I have never rewritten and reformatted a story quite as much as this one; four almost total rewrites for this chapter alone. Not to mention completely rewriting the ending multiple times, which required going back making everything fit the new ending.

Normally I write the ending pretty early on or at least know what it will be, but not for this one. I enjoyed writing it, but if it reads a bit strangely, that is probably why.