A Journey through Memories
Chapter Three - Pinkie Pie's Party
I left early that afternoon, feeling ecstatic and distraught at the same time. I was ecstatic because I could finally meet Twilight Sparkle; however, a week ago, that thought would have stopped me dead in my tracks. The only downside was that I may not be able to see my sister for a matter of weeks, even months; I would miss her greatly, and we both knew that. Yet I’d set the road beneath my feet, and now I needed to follow it through.
There was one other reason, unbeknownst to my sister, as to why I was leaving Canterlot. One thousand years is a long time, and I was sure there would not be anyone who could remember those days, but I still needed to make amends. How many ponies out there would try to kill me for what I had done? How many would hate my sister for forgiving me? I knew the only way I could even remotely make myself accepted would be by talking to the descendants of the people I betrayed: griffons, unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies were all wounded by my actions, I wanted to talk to those communities, to ask them what they wanted of me.
I cleared my head of these thoughts; I had to get to Ponyville by nightfall and remain in disguise. I had enough magic to make myself look like any other pegasus pony, and as flying would be the fastest way to get to Ponyville, I simply chose to hide my horn from others’ eyes. I could see Ponyville from here, it was just a matter of getting there; my wings weren’t quite what they used to be, but I knew that, with even a small amount of exercise, they should return to normal alicorn strength, which was greater than most pegasi.
It was around mid-afternoon when I touched down in Ponyville’s town square. It was at that time I realised I had no idea where the library was; or, indeed, what it looked like. I stopped to take in my surroundings. I had been too far detached from society at these levels (which seemed to be much more complex than those of the nobility) that I was astounded by the trivial things which people talked about. Then I knew. I knew that life is so much more amazing and so much more interesting than I remembered. I had forgotten the niceties of society in my exile, having nopony but myself to talk to. I remembered this, and so with an earnest grin on my face, I walked up to a handsome red stallion who seemed to be selling apples. I walked over to him.
“Brilliant afternoon, isn’t it?” I asked. I only realised later that most ponies would think I was mad.
“Eeeyup,” the stallion answered.
I looked at the cart, and appreciated how much energy flying could take away from you. I saw the stock available. Apple pie, apple crumble, apple strudel, apple cinnamon crisps, red ladies, granny smiths and golden delicious were all on the cart. The many apples reminded me of the official breakfast not three days gone; I felt my grin suddenly fade.
“Are you okay?” The red stallion asked as politely as possible.
“I’m fine, sorry,” I answered, but the stallion gave me a look which showed he did not think I was fine. I changed the subject from my wellbeing, but he earnestly seemed to be worried about me. “May I please have a slice from the apple pie and three golden delicious apples?”
“Eeeyup,” the stallion answered, and handed me the appropriate stock. “That’ll be thirteen bits.”
I handed him fifteen bits; I had plenty to spare. “Keep the change, but can you please direct me to the town library? It’s my first time here in a long while.” Just how long, I didn’t let on.
The red stallion directed me down the right street. “You can’t miss it. Just follow down that road until you see a really big tree with a beehive on one of the branches.”
I thanked him profusely for his help and went about my way. As I looked back, I noticed he was watching me thoughtfully. No, I thought to myself. He’s an earth pony. There’s no possible way he could see through my disguise. Or... maybe he’s just more than he seems. He looked like a very wise stallion. This encounter lowered my confidence a bit, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me. I moved on down the street where I saw a very large tree, with a hive on its branch, just as the red stallion described.
I walked towards the base of the trunk where a red door with a candle on it was set. I knocked on the door and waited.
“I’m comin’,” a voice called from inside; a few seconds later, a small purple dragon opened the door. “Hi! What can I do for you today?”
“Hi!” I answered quite brightly, my good mood returned to me. “I was just wondering if you know where Miss Twilight Sparkle is.”
The dragon grew a bit skeptical. “What’s it to you?”
“We have a mutual friend who wanted a letter delivered straight to her hoof.” At this, I rummaged in my saddlebags and pulled out a scroll with Celestia’s seal on it. “Is that okay with you?”
Upon seeing the seal, the dragon replied, “Ah, I see. Well, Twilight’s gone to one of Pinkie Pie’s parties. It’d be a good idea to go over now if you want to see her.”
Oh, hay. A party. That’s the last thing I want to go to right now. While I was still excited about the bedrock of our civilisation, I didn’t think I would be ready for a party. Still, I had to be polite, and I had to follow through with what I promised myself. “Thanks. Where can I find it?”
* * *
Having been directed to the town’s bakery, Sugarcube Corner, I thanked the dragon and began towards my dreaded destination. I trotted along, munching on the slice of apple crumble. As I neared Sugarcube Corner, I realised that the party was both successful and in full swing. I cautiously neared the door and opened it.
I shut it again almost immediately. A game was underway where someone tries to pin something against a door. I thought so, at least.
“Oops,” a high-pitched filly’s voice called out. “I’ll remember to put my favourite game of pin-the-tail-on-the-pony on the wall, next time.” At these words, I inched the door open, and upon seeing nopony trying to pin a tail onto my face, rushed in and slammed the door after me. As I turned around, I saw two bright blue eyes inquisitively staring back at me.
“Umm...” I stammered, not sure how to proceed. “Good afternoon, Miss.”
Thankfully, the filly backed away, and I saw her body was composed solely of pink. Her mane, however, was a bit darker than the rest of her. She smiled a wide grin and said, “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I threw this party because it’s someone’s birthday today.” Before I could get a word in, she continued. “I think it might be my birthday. Hey, Applejack! Is it my birthday today?”
The orange earth pony raised her voice to reply, “Yeah, Pinkie, it’s your birthday today a’right.”
“Ooh, ooh, ooh,” she gasped and turned towards me. “Did you hear that? It’s my birthday today! I’m so excited about my birthday!” She proceeded to bounce around me, stopping me from getting away from her. I found the whole experience quite unnerving.
“Hold on!” Pinkie Pie stopped dead, just before she jumped up. “I haven’t seen you here before, so that means you’re new in Ponyville, and I need to throw you a party because everyone gets a party when they arrive in Ponyville. I’m good at parties! When anypony goes to my parties, they have a great time, don’t they, Gummy?” She directed the last question to an alligator with no teeth beside her. Getting no answer, she asked me a question I hadn’t foreseen. “So what’s your name?”
Before I had time to think up a name in my head, she stopped (she seemed to have been bouncing uncontrollably) and listened. “Ooh, I love this song. See you later!” Pinkie Pie shot off.
Saved from an awkward conversation after an awkward pause, I proceeded to try and find my target. After a bit of fruitless searching, I decided I would try and enjoy this party. Pinkie Pie’s laughter seemed to be infectious, because I was earnestly enjoying an event which I would normally have hated to the depths of my heart. I went into the crowd, still in my disguise, and started dancing around with the rest of the ponies. Hay, I was having fun. Unfortunately, I was getting too thirsty to continue, so I moved over to a table where the punchbowl was stationed. After pouring myself a cup of the punch, I moved to a relatively empty area and leaned against the wall. Dancing was a tiring activity.
I finished my punch and as I put it on a table, I saw a purple unicorn mare making a beeline towards me. I had an idea who she was, but I didn’t want to offend her by greeting her by the wrong name.
“Hi there,” she said, brightly.
“Hi,” I returned. I found my mind wandering away from the party.
“I see you got ambushed by Pinkie Pie,” she said happily. I chuckled at her choice of words as she continued. “Don’t worry about it. She’s that way around anypony she hasn’t met before. Come to mention it, she’s like that around everypony. Twilight Sparkle, by the way.”
I hesitated. “Nice to meet you, Miss Sparkle, but I would rather find somewhere more private to introduce myself.” My words obviously intrigued the lavender mare, but she accepted this and walked away, motioning for me to follow. I did so, and I found myself outside the bakery. It had passed sunset, but I felt the party was far from over
“Is here okay to talk?” Twilight asked.
“I guess so,” I glanced around me quickly. Seeing that we were alone, I continued. “I’m Princess Luna and the reason I’m here, among other things, is to ask for your help, Miss Sparkle.”
Twilight was clearly unsure whether to bow or not as she saw one of the monarchs of Equestria before her in an alter ego but stopped her decision making upon hearing these words and asked, “Help you?”
“Yes, Miss Sparkle,” I answered. “And not just your help. Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash would also be helpful.”
“Please, Your Majesty, call me Twilight,” the awestruck mare insisted.
“Okay, Twilight, but only if you stop calling me ‘Your Majesty’.” I felt that I knew her quite well from her friendship reports, and she seemed like the pony I read about, but I was certain that the feeling was not reciprocal. “Celly – sorry, Celestia – has been begging me for ages to visit you ponies. I haven’t been the same pony she knew before... you know what I mean. She thinks I’m... well, I don’t know... traumatised from the experience, and its affecting my behaviour. I have to agree with her; I haven’t socially spoken to anypony besides her for the past year. Celestia thinks that you can help me, and, after reading your friendship reports, I’m counting on it. I think you six fillies are the best chance of being the figurehead I once was for this beautiful country.”
Twilight paused, processing the information. “What do you plan on doing?” she asked.
“I assume you heard about the... assassination attempt two days ago in Canterlot?” I asked Twilight. She nodded, so I continued. “I think it would be best if I kept moving about, and I want you to come with me.”
“If we were to go,” Twilight began, “where do you think we’ll be going?”
“I want to visit some communities which are most likely to not want me on the throne. I want to convince them that I have changed and that I want to work for a better Equestria beside my sister. Along the way, I might just find these radicals who tried to kill me and talk to them. Look, I know that sounds reckless, but I fear that it is the only way that I’ll be accepted by everyone.”
Twilight paused yet again. “I’ll need to talk to the others about it, but after what we’ve,” – she meant me, as well – “been through, I think we should all do what we can to help each other.”
“Okay. Do you know where the town inn is?” I asked.
Twilight gaped at me. “I’m not going to make you do that, Your...” she cut herself off in time, receiving nothing but a raised eyebrow from me. “In fact, I would advise against it: if the radicals come around looking for you, then I think they’ll look in the inn first, and I doubt you can hold your illusion while sleeping. No, I insist you sleep in the library tonight. I’ll go and set up a bed for you.”
“See you there, once this party is over,” I told Twilight. As she ran off, I called after her. “And Twilight. Thank you.”
As the lavender mare rushed towards her home, I confronted what was niggling at my mind since I started talking to her. I wondered what it was which was bothering me. She’s a kind pony. I’m not sure who would give someone a roof above their heads for the night in less than two hours’ notice, I thought to myself. She’s kind, she’s fun to be around; she’s also rather pretty... I cut myself off mentally. No, Luna! No, no, NO! I reprimanded myself as much as possible. Celly would kill me if she found out I had a thing for her protégée.
Or... she would leave alone and let us do what we will. I didn’t know what to think, and I certainly didn’t know how I should act. Okay, Luna, see how it plays out, but don’t scare her off.