Later that afternoon Sunset was still sitting on the couch, catching up on some schoolwork, when she heard the doorbell ring twice.
“I’ll get it!” Luna called from upstairs. She had gone up to her room to collect herself after sharing her story.
“Ok!” Sunset responded.
Luna came down the stairs and went down into the entryway and opened the door. A pink, intensely energetic being bounded into the house. “HI Ms. Luna!” she cried.
Luna smiled at her. “Welcome, Pinkie. Sunset is in the living room. I’ll take your bags up to her bedroom.”
“Okie-doki-loki!”
Luna shook her head with a bemused expression as she lifted Pinkie’s sleeping bag and duffel and headed back upstairs.
Pinkie proceeded to bound up the short flight of stairs into the living room as Sunset watched her with both amazement and a bit of anxiety. She’d had to admit to herself that she was regarding a day with Pinkie with some trepidation – Pinkie was a person of nearly limitless energy and enthusiasm, and Sunset was worried about keeping up. Dealing with her own physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion and pain was taking just about all she had.
Pinkie hopped right in front of Sunset, coming to a stop that was so abrupt Sunset was quite sure it violated at least one physical law. Pinkie, wearing a neutral expression, leaned down and looked carefully into Sunset’s face for several seconds.
“Uh…hi, Pinkie?” Sunset ventured as the silence began to be uncomfortable.
Pinkie still didn’t respond. Her forehead furrowed, and at last she stood up, put her hands on her hips, and gave Sunset a small smile. “You’re anxious!” she stated brightly.
Sunset’s eyes widened. “Uh, I am?”
“Sure you are! You’re worried that I’ll overwhelm you because I’m a person of nearly limitless energy and enthusiasm, and dealing with your own physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion and pain is taking just about all you have!”
Sunset boggled. “How…how did you know that?”
“Eh. Just a hunch. Well, don’t you worry, Sunny!” Pinkie suddenly sat down next to her and, just as suddenly, began to speak in a strikingly calm and soft voice. “I’m not here to make things hard for you. I’m trying to show you how to be a good friend. Rest assured, I can gentle when I need to be.”
“Oh,” said Sunset, still wide-eyed, but now a bit moved by how kind Pinkie was being.
“This is supposed to be fun. You know, I have two older sisters and a younger one. I’ve taken care of them when they’re sick and when they’re sad, and they’ve taken care of me. So I know how to keep from overwhelming you.”
“Wow. Thanks, Pinkie. I didn’t know.”
“Well, you and I are going to get to know each other!” Pinkie said, with an only slightly toned down version of one of her usual smiles. “But, first things first!” She reached into her hair and produced what appeared to be a large blueberry muffin. “You need a muffin! Priorities, you know!”
Sunset stared, slowly reaching for the muffin, her mind grappling ineffectively with how Pinke had been carrying the muffin in her hair.
“Dag nab it!” Pinkie suddenly said. “I always forget.” She reached into hear hair again and brought forth a small plate. She put the muffin on the plate and handed it to her newest friend.
Sunset took the muffin and inspected it. There was nary a hair on it. It looked and smelled not only pristine, but unbelievably delicious. Cautiously, she peeled the wrapper and took a bite. Instantly she was transported to a new level of gastronomic ecstacy. “Sweet Celestia, Pinkie! Did you make this?” she gasped.
“Nope! I can’t make that claim. But I know who did! I make it my business to always know where to find the best desserts, candy, and baked goods. This muffin was baked by Derpy.”
“Derpy! No way! Oh boy, do I owe her an apology. I always thought her eye problem kept her from doing anything well, but this muffin is otherworldly,” Sunset opined, shaking her head in amazement.
“And you should know!” Pinkie pointed out, winking at her.
Sunset was somewhat distracted by the muffin, and so failed to catch what Pinkie was getting at. “Huh?” she asked with some confusion.
“You of all people should know about ‘otherworldly’. Get it?” Pinkie smiled hugely.
Sunset finally caught on. “OH, I get it. Heh, heh, ‘otherworldly’!” She sniggered slightly.
Pinkie fist pumped furtively. One, she thought to herself, and smiled happily as Sunset finished the muffin and sighed contentedly.
By evening the count of Sunset’s episodes of laughter was up to ten, and Pinkie was feeling very pleased with herself. During dinner she proceeded to ensure that the entire family was in stitches. The very atmosphere of the Solaris household was lightened considerably, which turned out to be a desperately needed respite from the emotionally fraught events of the previous few days.
“Goodness, Pinkie,” Celestia gasped as she finished catching her breath after one of Pinkie’s most effective jokes, “you certainly have a gift with humor. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time.”
Luna could only nod – she was still speechless. Even Sunset was still fighting to recover.
“I wasn’t always this good at making people laugh,” Pinkie said. “Would you believe that I practically grew up on a strip mine?”
“A strip mine?” said Luna incredulously, having recovered enough to talk.
“Yes indeedy. My parents are geologists. They used to help mining companies identify the best places to mine. My sisters and I would have to help them, so almost all our free time was spent scouring the landscape for different kinds of rocks. And it was very serious business, too – at least, that’s what mom and dad used to say. No joking, no laughing, no ‘levity’ – nothing that could distract you from finding what you were looking for and nothing that risked causing you to misidentify a rock. I’ve since learned not all geologists are like that. I guess we Pies are just…the way we are.”
“Wow,” said Sunset.
“It’s true. It was right before I started high school that I discovered laughter and smiling and parties, and then everything changed for me. The rest of my family is still pretty serious, but they still love me and have learned to accept my…eccentricities. You might say I’m the pink sheep of the family.”
The others chuckled.
“Still, things might not have turned out so well if mom and dad hadn’t gotten jobs teaching at Canterlot University. We moved to Canterlot and I got sent to CHS, so I didn’t have to help hunt for rocks anymore.”
“Do you miss it?” Celestia asked.
“A little, now and then.”
“So that’s how you did so well in Earth Science!” Sunset realized. “I couldn’t figure it out – you didn’t even pay attention in class!”
“Yep! I’d known all that stuff for years.”
“I wish I’d known, Pinkie,” said Celestia. “You could have tested out of it and maybe taken a class that was more interesting.”
“Oh! I didn’t know you could do that!” Pinkie responded with amazement. “Well, it might not be too late for my younger sister Marble. She’s in 8th grade, so she would take it next year.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Celestia responded.
That night, as Sunset and Pinkie got ready for bed, Pinkie noticed that Sunset’s relatively good mood had begun to fade.
“What’s the matter, Sunny?” she asked gently from the cot, her sleeping bag billowing around her. “You seemed so happy at dinnertime. Did I do something to make you sad?”
“No! No, definitely not, Pinkie. I mean, you’ve done the impossible today – I didn’t know I was capable of laughing like that.”
“What do you mean?” Pinkie asked almost sharply. Her expression had suddenly become extremely serious.
Sunset wasn’t sure how to react to a serious Pinkie. “Erm…well…I meant just that. I’ve never laughed like that in my life.”
Pinkie just stared at her for a moment. “Sunset. That wasn’t even full power. I’m being gentle with you, like I said.”
Sunset didn’t know what to say.
“I mean, today was only about a 5 out of 10 on the Moment Mirth Scale™. You’re telling me you’ve never even gotten to a 5 before?”
Sunset shrugged and nodded. She started to become concerned, however, as she noticed that Pinkie’s hair was becoming inexplicably straighter. “Pinkie, um, is it normal for your hair…”
But Pinkie interrupted her. “That is so sad. How is that possible? I guess in all honesty I’d never even been to a 2 myself before I turned 14, but my family’s a bit unusual in that way. What happened that your life has been so unhappy up until now?”
Sunset realized that Pinkie had come straight over after school. Therefore, she hadn’t had a chance to learn anything about Sunset’s past from Applejack. “It’s kind of a long story, but there are reasons.”
“I’ll listen, if you have the energy to tell me.”
“I can’t tell you the whole thing tonight – I’m getting really sleepy. Suffice it to say that I grew up in an orphanage – my parents died when I was barely more than a year old. Orphanage life was tough. Then, Celestia – that’s Princess Celestia, our principal’s counterpart – took me as her ward when I was 8 so that I could be her personal student in magic. She was very kind, but I was already ambitious and driven and worked harder than she asked me to. I had no time for friends or fun. And, when I was almost 17, I had a bad falling out with her – my fault, of course – and I fled through the portal to this world. A world without magic. I had to learn to live on my own, and at first I almost starved and you’ve seen where I used to live. And then, I let my bitterness toward Princess Celestia boil over into a quest for revenge. Even here, as a high school student, I’ve been devoted to dominating everyone and learning all I could so that I could surpass her when I returned. Pinkie, the bottom line is this: I’ve had some bad things happen to me, but I’ve made things way worse than they had to be. There hasn’t been any room in my life for fun or laughter.”
Pinkie’s hair was now completely straight. She was silent for nearly a full minute. Then: “I didn’t know it had been that hard.”
Sunset sighed. “Yep. There’s not much to salvage from who I used to be. Celestia thinks she can help me find some things, and she’s probably right, but…right now I can’t see them.”
Pinkie was quiet again for a while. Then, her hair began to curl again. She smiled at Sunset – a deep, joyful smile. “Sunny, I don’t know much about salvaging things from before. But I do know one thing, without any doubt. I’m here, in your life, to help you learn to be happy. To experience joy and laughter and fun. And the fact that you haven’t experienced those things very much before – that just makes the chance to help you learn that much more special.”
Sunset just stared at Pinkie. She had never, in her wildest dreams, imagined Pinkie capable of such wisdom – in fact, she’d thought of Pinkie as an airheaded weirdo. She realized in that moment that she had underestimated all five of them. I wonder what I’ve underestimated about Fluttershy? she wondered to herself. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll find out.
“Pinkie,” she finally said. “I can’t thank you enough for what you just said, and what you’ve already done for me. I don’t know how I got so lucky – to fall into the hands of such amazing girls as you and your friends. Not to mention Celestia and Luna.”
“Our friends, Sunset. Our friends,” Pinkie said pointedly.
Sunset just shook her head in wonder.
Later that night she awoke in horror, having again had the nightmare where Twilight and her friends left her in the crater. As she struggled to get her breathing under control, she wondered if that one would get to be a “golden oldie” over time. At least she hadn’t screamed or cried out – she was hoping she could at least keep from waking everybody up. No such luck, though, as Pinkie stirred and sat up on her elbows.
“Sunset? Are you crying?”
Sunset swallowed. She tried to lie in the hopes that Pinkie would just go back to sleep, as she felt guilty about waking her, but the Rainbow Wave compelled her to answer honestly. “Yes,” she whimpered.
“Aw, Sunny – a bad dream?”
“Yeah,” Sunset admitted, still breathing hard.
“Will you tell me about it?”
“Uh, ok. But didn’t the others tell you about my nightmares already?”
“A little. You don’t have to go into detail…”
“This one’s pretty straightforward really. It starts with me in the crater with Twilight looking down at me, furious. But instead of offering her hand to me, she leaves me to rot, and the rest of you do too. Then demon-me comes and taunts me.”
Pinkie rolled from the cot onto Sunset’s bed and pulled her into an embrace. “That’s awful. I’m sorry you had to dream that.”
“Well, at least it was just a dream.”
“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie said. She was thinking about teaching Sunset her grandmother’s practice of laughing in the face of fear, but she wisely figured that some fears were a little too personal, and perhaps a little too fresh, for that approach.
“Yeah, Luna really drove it home for me last night. She taught me that it’s important to remember the things that didn’t happen,” Sunset elaborated.
“Wow, that’s a really great perspective.”
“She’s something else,” Sunset mused.
“We’re all glad you have her and Ms. Celestia, Sunny. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to know that you’re not spending each day and night in a lonely, run down, cold, unsafe place.” Pinkie said.
“It’s…pretty miraculous, really.”
“It’s probably, like, destiny or something, right?”
“How…why would you say that? I haven’t told you everything I told Applejack yet, and you haven’t had a chance to talk to her.” Sunset pointed out, totally amazed.
“Eh, I just did the math. You seem to belong to Celestia, whatever world you’re in,” Pinkie said.
Sunset’s face fell. Pinkie couldn’t see her expression in the dark, but could tell by her body language that Sunset was feeling sad. “I don’t think I belong to the Celestia of my homeworld anymore, Pinkie.”
“I don’t know. Maybe you’ll find out someday.”
“Maybe.”
Pinkie squeezed her a bit tighter. “Hey. You know we’d never do that, right, Sunset?”
“Do what?”
“Leave you in the crater.”
“Oh. Really? I mean, I know you didn’t this time, and I’m so very, very grateful. But what if I mess up again, Pinkie? I can’t guarantee that this new me will last, though I think it will. But if…”
“If you stumble, we’ll help you back up. Maybe even catch you on the way down,” said Pinkie softly.
Sunset didn’t know what to say. Pinkie could tell that Sunset had turned to look at her in the darkness.
“You talk to Rainbow about it,” said Pinkie. “We’ve all learned about loyalty through all this, but Rainbow can say it best. It’s kinda her thing.”
Sunset sniffled a bit.
“I think this is the real you, Sunny. And if you lose yourself again, or we lose you, we’ll come find you. Through hell or high water.”
Sunset let out a little sob. Pinkie just held her.