//------------------------------// // Daybreak: Unexpected Guest // Story: Sigil of Souls, Stream of Memories // by Piccolo Sky //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie let out a loud, long yawn before raising her hands and giving a stretch. “Mmm-mmm! What a great nap! I feel like I’ve been sleeping forever!” Keeping her eyes closed, she stretched a bit in bed as she reached up and scratched at her messy hair with one hand and her side with another. After a moment, however, her face became a bit perplexed. “Hmm…that’s funny. I don’t remember Rarity’s bed being so scratchy.” She shrugged and finished stretching, before leaning up and out of bed. She put her feet on the floor only to pause again; looking slightly perplexed once more. “Hmm…that’s funny. I don’t remember Rarity’s floor being rock and so damp.” Again she shrugged as she opened her eyes. However, still looking half-asleep, she only seemed to lazily look around as she shook her head. In response, her hair fully sprung back up to its former “poofiness” before she stood up. She glanced about her a little, noticing that the room she was in was rather bare, unpainted, cracked, half-rotted, had a leak in a corner, and was generally unwholesome. A rather greasy-looking rat was nibbling away at an untouched tin plate with a slice of bread on it. “Hmm…that’s funny. I don’t remember Rarity having a pet rat.” Shrugging yet again, she began to walk forward. She only got so far however, when she hit something and was forced to stop. She opened her eyes a bit wider. “Hmm…now I definitely don’t think there were iron bars on one side of Rarity’s room…” “Hey…hey! Look! She’s up!” Fully opening her eyes at last, Pinkie looked past the iron bar grating in front of her and ahead, at last recognizing that she wasn’t in her room at Rarity’s factory or anywhere close. Instead, she was in what looked like a stone hewn and mortared prison cell facing a block of other cells. They were empty, but a compliment of ten soldiers, each one attired in the armor and coloration of the infamous “Hippogriff Legion” of Mount Aris was now rushing to the cell. In moments, all of them were facing her and each one of them had their respective long-barreled rifle up and aimed through the slots. She looked them over mutely for a moment. “I’m starting to think that I’m not at Carousel Couture.” What happened next was rather rapid even for Pinkie. The very first thing they did was unlock the cell she found herself in, but she realized in short order it wasn’t to let her out. Instead, they decided to play some sort of game with her that required her to be blindfolded, except they didn’t have a blindfold and they shoved a black bag over her head instead. Once that was done, she figured she also wasn’t supposed to use her hands to reach out and feel for anything because they yanked those behind her back and tied them. After that, they led her around somewhere, making sure to hold onto her in order to guide her along the way but being a bit too rough in spite of her attempts to say they could grasp her more gently. After that, she found herself put in a hard chair made of iron, and so they tied her down into it at her ankles and wrists to make sure she couldn’t slide out by mistake. After that, they removed the head covering only to expose several of the bigger, stronger, and uglier-looking Hippogriff Legionnaires in her face. One of them handled something that looked like a strap. Another handled a cane. A third was tending to some irons over a bin of hot coals. A fourth was right in front of her, so close she could smell his breath. She responded by smiling. “Hi there! What’s your name?” “I’ll be asking the questions around here,” he snarled back, nearly spitting the words in her face. “And as for you, you’ll be spilling your guts.” In response, Pinkie wrinkled her nose and shrank back a bit. “Er, speaking of guts, I think you must have a lot of onion casserole in yours, because your breath? It could really use a couple sprigs of mint…” He glowered but also leaned back. “Trying to be funny? That’s only going to make it worse on you, you know. We can make this very easy or very difficult. You won’t like it when it gets difficult. You see my accomplices?” He gestured behind himself. “This is just the appetizer.” “Can we cut right to the main dish?” Pinkie answered. “I haven’t eaten anything since that cake I made for Twilight and I think that was at least a couple days ago by now…” The man slammed his hand down on the same armrest Pinkie was strapped to. “Who do you work for?!” “Oh, nobody, silly! The Cakes had to let me go! By the way, do you need a baker around here?” “Still playing dumb, huh,” he sneered as he leaned back up. “Well, there’s more than one way to get you to talk.” With that, he reached to one side. Pinkie only then realized some sort of lever was mounted into the stone floor. He grasped it and gave it a yank, letting something heavy knock loose. Moments later, she saw the world around her begin to spin, much to her surprise, as the chair itself that she was seated on swiveled about from an unseen wall mounting. “Whoa! Hee-hee…wheeeee!” she cheered. “I didn’t know this was a ride!” Moments later, it clicked and came to a stop, leaving her now completely upside down. “Aw…that was over too quick! And shouldn’t it put me back head over heels again?” “Alright, let’s start with her toenails. She’ll start talking after that.” “Ooo! I’ve never had a pedicure!” Pinkie grinned as the man advanced on her. Soon he had seized her boots and was in the middle of beginning to too-roughly rip them off. She nearly opened her mouth to tell him to bother untying them first, but at the moment she was too confused/delighted at seeing the world around her upside down as everyone moved in on her. She giggled and nearly told them all that they reminded her of bats as one of her shoes finally came off. Yet right at that moment, she heard the loud echo of rapidly running footsteps. There were several other yells accompanying them, and as they got closer they sounded like someone calling for someone else to please wait but in the most polite way possible. Soon after she saw a set of legs turn around and enter the room on the far side. Unlike the other legs, however, that were wearing work boots and pants, this one had much nicer, more elegant footwear and a long gown. It also seemed much smaller than the others. “Oh, by all of Seaquestria…” a young, bubbly voice spoke up. “Oh, hi there!” Pinkie shouted, even though she was too disorientated to really see who was talking. “If you want on, you’ll have to wait your turn! I think this is broken anyway…” “What in the world are you doing?” the voice shouted. At once, the other feet in front of Pinkie stepped back. Soon after, still more feet came up behind the new arrival and stopped. “Princess…” a voice said between gasps, “there’s a delicate interrogation going on here…” “Interrogation?!” the first voice shot back in alarm. “I told you all not to interrogate her! I didn’t even want you putting her in that cell to begin with!” “But princess,” the one who had been speaking to Pinkie Pie spoke up, now sounding much quieter and meeker, “what else were we supposed to do? We couldn’t just leave her in a room in the palace! Not after-” “Oh, there you all go again!” she huffed indignantly, before Pinkie rapidly saw her feet take off and begin to approach. In moments, they had stopped right in front of her face, and soon after they shifted slightly, as if their owner was a bit confused how to proceed, before the body they were attached to arched around and put a face in hers. A freckled girl glad in a beautifully made and yet simple pale golden gown with long hair spilling onto the dingy floor and a rose flower in her hair was smiling at her as best as she could. It wasn’t easy as she was also wearing a necklace made from seashells that she struggled to hold on with one hand. “Hi there!” she said cheerily. “So sorry about this! It’s a terrible mixup!” “Oh really?” Pinkie innocently answered, still seemingly oblivious to her situation. “Yeah, everyone was just a little freaked out when you landed…well, I say crashed is more accurate, and I should know since I was there…a month ago right into the palace garden. So they’re all a bit on edge. I said you just came and fell right out of the sky right when I was looking for a new shell for my hermit crab collection, but everyone started claiming ‘assassin’ this and ‘regicide plot’ that…and before you knew it they insisted on throwing you into the dungeon and torturing a confession out of you. I thought I had talked them into just leaving you locked up until you woke up, and then you could explain yourself, but they must have misheard.” “Ooooooh…” Pinkie answered back knowingly. “Yeah, that makes perfect sense.” A pause. “Wait…I crashed into your palace? I didn’t know there were any palaces still in Equestria.” “Equestria?” one of the men in the room echoed. “What does she know about Equestria?” another added. “Is that how she was able to teleport herself into the royal garden?” Pinkie saw the girl roll her eyes before she leaned herself back up. “Oh, there you go again. Put her right side up and let her out right now!” “Wh-what?!” “Princess, she might be dangerous!” Another sigh. Soon, she was leaning down into Pinkie’s face again. “Sorry about all this. Before I let you up, could you please just tell us how you got into the palace garden in the first place?” “Hmm…” Pinkie thought aloud, easily peeling one of her hands and wrists outside of its restraint in order to scratch her chin before replacing it (much to the shock and alarm of those guarding her). “I can’t really remember too well even with all of my blood flowing to my head, but I’m starting to remember Twilight and the rest of us were in a big fight with Nightmare Moon and this demon version of Sunset Shimmer, and everyone exploded, and then I woke up here.” She let out a gasp. “I must have been blown here from Equestria!” The girl looked back at her in puzzlement. “Blown here from…Equestria?” “Come to think of it,” one of the ones near the doorway spoke up, “didn’t she show up here soon after that big explosion was seen from Equestria?” “Oh, that’s ridiculous!” the original man spoke up. “No human being could just be blasted away from a burst of that size and arrive here unscathed! If there was anything to do with that blast, then that means it had to be a new weapon or device! And we know only Trottingham deals in such things, and that means she’s from Trottingham!” Pinkie let out a gasp. “Oh, you’re good! You guessed I was from Trottingham!” “Aha!” he immediately retorted. “You see? She admitted it at last!” “Well…technically I’m from Flinton,” she corrected soon after. “At least the rest of the Pies are. They had to go to Trottingham when all of the local animals started turning mean and eating all of their neighbors ‘cause of the Lunar Fall. That’s what big sister Maud tells me.” “Wait,” the girl began to answer, “does that mean you’re a Gaitian?” Another gasp. “Wow! You all are really good at these guessing games! My turn! Um…” she thought for a moment. “Oh! I know! Where am I?” A pause. “No, seriously, where am I?” “You’re in-” The girl cut herself off, let out a sigh, and stood up again. “Could you turn her chair back upright already?” “But-” “She answered your question.” “She could be lying!” “Oh! Listen, I told you to do something and that means you have to do it! That’s what Aunt Ocean Flow says it means to be princess and heir apparent!” There was a bit of a pause, before a resigned sigh rang out. Soon after, the lever was grasped and pulled again, and Pinkie Pie let out another “whee!” as she was spun around back upright. Now that she was finally seated normally, she got a good look at everyone again. The princess was right in front of her, surrounded by the same men from earlier. They stood at a distance but were frowning and glaring at her; their tools at their sides. There were even more people crammed around the entrance of the chamber, but they didn’t look nearly as rough or strong as the other men. They seemed to be dressed more nicely, like the princess was, and had the look of officials or attendants. Now that Pinkie was up again, the princess’ demeanor changed to become far more friendly once again. “I’ve never met a real Gaitian before…or someone from Trottingham…or really anyone else outside the palace, for that matter… Oh, this is Mount Aris, by the way. You’re in the royal palace on top of its peak.” “Oooo!” Pinkie exclaimed in delight. “I must have been blown really, really high if I made it this far!” “Were you really blasted all this way? Or, do you mean you were on an airship that blew up? Or maybe you got fired out of one of those big cannons from a circus?” One of the attendants at the door put his hand in his face. “Really, princess…” “Hmm…you know, to be honest, I don’t really know for sure,” Pinkie shrugged. “All I know is things went all flamey and melty when Sunset Shimmer turned into a demon, and then everything went to black, and now I’m here!” “And how were you in Equestria?” the man nearby suddenly spoke up, far more sharply. “That far in, you should have been eaten alive. And more importantly, why were you in Equestria?” “Because that’s where the airship was stole from Trottingham crashed when we went to stop Nightmare Moon.” There were puzzled looks all around at this response for a few moments, before the princess lit up. “Wow…are you saying you actually stole an airship from Trottingham? How did you do that?” “Oh, it was easy once we managed to get away from the two other airships that Sunset had.” “Wait, wait…” She was sounding more excited on hearing this news. “Two more airships? As in there were three of them? How did you manage to get on the first one?” “That one we took when it was still landed,” she answered casually, again removing a hand from a restraint and waving it. “It was fighting off Sunset and all the other Trottingham soldiers that was the hard part. But we had to because we had to save Twilight.” “Twilight… Who’s Twilight? And why was she captured?” This back and forth continued for several minutes, all the while the princess grew more engrossed and entertained by the story. In spite of the chagrin of the others in the room, she was soon leaning so forward she was propping her elbows up on Pinkie’s own arm rests and supporting her chin with them so she could marvel at everything. Yet as more and more was revealed, the others too soon began to pay more attention to the details. Especially the ones about Promethian Sigils. “…And Manehattan just let you go just like that?” “Well, they made us promise that we’d help them from now on. I think that means we have to make sure we do stuff like not tell anyone else too much about everything we told them and not let the big secret of Nightmare Moon and the Promethian Sigils out to just anyone.” After saying this, she sat there smiling innocently…totally oblivious as to what she had just said. The princess was still delighted at everything and beaming in awe. The others, on the other hand, turned to one another. “I think we were in luck to get this one. She’s a bit thick…” “We were right to have the ambassador demand the territory. Considering the fact that Manehattan is weaponizing these ‘Promethian Sigils’ along with Trottingham, and we’ll soon need all the buffer zone we can get.” “We’ll need to move fast… We’re behind the curve of both countries when it comes to knowledge of this power…” “That story. Was. Amazing!” the princess remarked in elation. “Is there any more to it?” “Sure! I haven’t even started to tell you about what we did in Griffonstone!” “G-Griffonstone?” one of the attendants spoke up. “She knows about what happened in Griffonstone? With that disaster?” “Buuuut…” Pinkie spoke up again. “I’m a little hungry right now and all this talk just made me hungrier. Can I get a snack or two? Five if they involve cookies?” The man frowned. “We’re not giving you anything but-” “Of course!” the princess interjected. “It’s almost lunchtime anyway…” She suddenly lit up, an idea coming to mind. “Oh…oh! I got the perfect idea! You can join me for lunch!” Now everyone around the room really did get shocked. “P-P-Princess! You can’t-” “I always eat all my meals alone nowadays! I’d love to have some company! You like lemonade, don’t you?” Pinkie let out the biggest gasp yet as her eyes practically went starry. “Do I?!” A pause, as she turned pensive. “…Do I?” She lit up again. “Yes, of course I do!” The princess leaned up and gestured to the chair. “Ok, let her out of the chair.” “But princess…” “Ugh, you’re not going to start that up again are you?” “I admit she’s shared a lot of valuable intelligence, but we need time to verify that all of it is-” “No problem!” Everyone stopped and looked back at Pinkie when she called. She had simply removed her hands to undo her own restraints, then slipped them back where they had been before lifting them out of the undone restraints. Soon she was free, standing out of the chair, and smiling broadly. “Took care of it myself! Thank you though! By the way, you really should fix that ride so it spins all the way. It’ll be a lot more fun and get your much dizzier.” While most of the people in the room were dumbfounded, the girl merely snickered. Now that Pinkie was standing, she could see that, despite being younger, she was much taller than her. She immediately reached out and took her hand, which the Gaitian allowed her to do, and began to lead her through the interrogators who could only silently gape and mutely protest. “We’ll get you a guest room where you can clean up before we eat. Maybe some new clothes that aren’t so burned-to-a-crisp either.” “Really? Gee, that’s so nice! You don’t even mind that I’m a Gaitian either, do you?” “You kidding? This is the first time I ever get to meet one!” she cheered in a near singing voice as she led her to the door. The attendants rapidly pulled back and away, letting her pass and then following her and Pinkie behind as she quickly let them to the stairwell. “Oh, I almost forgot! I never told you my name, did I? It’s Skystar. Princess Skystar of Mount Aris.” Pinkie let out yet another surprised gasp. “You’re the princess of Mount Aris? You mean you’re Queen Novo’s daughter?” She smiled and nodded again, although she winced a little as she did. “Well, um…that is to say I was her daughter. You heard of her though?” “Oh, of course! I’ve even seen her once!” Skystar turned more fully to her as she walked along, getting excited all over again. “Really? I was only six when she passed away, and she was always on official business, so I don’t have many memories. I’m always trying to have everyone in the palace tell me more stories about her. Can you tell me… What was she like? What did you think of her?” Pinkie nearly opened her mouth to respond, but froze in the middle of doing so, before she looked a bit uneasy herself. “She, um…looked like she had lost weight compared to the photos…?” Pinkie’s demeanor had mostly remained unchanged throughout the entire “ordeal”, if one could call it that, but she was still looking much better about two hours later. Skystar had granted her a guest room in the palace, despite the protests of those around her, and she had even gotten a fresh pair of clothes out of it to replace her ruined ones. After that, she headed to the “personal” kitchen that was reserved for use of the royal family alone, which, she discovered soon after, usually consisted only of Skystar. She had relatives who were still alive, but most of them had been relocated away from the capitol for fear that an enemy or Nighttouched attack would kill who was left of the royal family. Skystar herself, Pinkie found out in short order, was guarded vigorously. There wasn’t a passage or room that the princess showed her that didn’t have a guard posted watching her at all times. That included the kitchen and the small table in it. It was reserved for the staff, or was supposed to be, but Skystar revealed she preferred to eat in it as the main dining room was always too empty and big. Usually she preferred at least the company of the palace staff, but today she was overjoyed to have a new companion to eat with. “To tell the truth, I was hoping you’d turn out to be nice, even if I didn’t know who you were when you landed in the royal garden,” she giggled as she dabbed the last of her tomato soup with the crust of her grilled cheese. “You seemed like you were nice-looking, but I also wondered if everyone else had a point. They’re always scared that assassins or invaders will attack the palace and try to get rid of the last member of my mom’s direct line.” Pinkie had already polished off her own lunch, not due to hunger only but due to the expected promise of cookies she had heard about earlier. She did, however, help herself to her eighth glass of lemonade. “I’m glad you ended up being so nice! Most people don’t really like Gaitians, especially when we show up out of nowhere.” “By the way, I’m sorry again about…you know…tying you into that chair and having you interrogated thing…” “Oh, don’t be!” she waved off. “It’s not like it’s the first time it happened!” Skystar went a bit wide-eyed at that. “You mean…you’ve been treated like that before? What happened?” She shrugged. “Eh, I wandered off our reserved property once because I thought I heard the candyman going down the street. There was this group of four or five big tough guys who saw me and asked what I was doing heading off of the reservation. When I said I was looking for the candyman, they said he didn’t have any candy for dirt-licking, inbred devil worshippers like me. Then they asked me if I was all alone and when I said I was they grabbed me and drug me to town, and I got put in a chair just like the one your friends put me in!” Skystar’s look belied Pinkie’s casual smirk and smile. “That sounds…pretty awful. What happened?” She shrugged. “Don’t remember, but big sister Maud always told me to care about my enemies and those who…what’s the word…‘persecute’ you…oh, me I mean. She said that’s what Gaia Everfree wants, because she cares about everyone no matter what they do.” The princess smiled a little back. “Hehe…you’re sister sounds like a pretty neat person.” “Maud’s the best! She was my first and bestest friend! I can’t wait to introduce Twilight and the others to her!” Again, Skystar’s smile faltered as she looked to one side. “Sounds pretty nice…having so many friends.” Pinkie looked up a little at that, puzzled. “Huh? What’s the matter? Don’t you have a lot of friends too? I mean, you’re so nice! You gave me lunch, new clothes, and a shower right after we met!” “I don’t get to see too many people in here. No one who isn’t the castle staff or family. Everyone’s too scared of the royal line ending before I have a chance to be queen. So…usually I just stay right in the palace.” Her face sank a bit more. “If it wasn’t for the garden, I wouldn’t really get outside at all…” Now Pinkie was frowning sympathetically as well. “Gee…that really doesn’t sound like fun. Even ma and pa and me and the sisters at least get to go outside…” Skystar continued to hang her head a bit longer, but then brightened up and smiled again. “But hey! I made one new friend today, so why be so down? Let’s get into the cookies!” Pinkie instantly lit up again. “Now you’re talking!” The princess quickly excused herself from the table and made her way to a cupboard. She returned with an earthen jar that was rather tall and rotund, and brought it right in front of Pinkie. On opening it up, she lit up to see a sizeable amount of chocolate chip cookies inside. She quickly took one as Skystar helped herself as well and sat down, and was already devouring it greedily before the princess had a chance to take a bite. However, by the time she did, Pinkie’s face had changed quite a bit; looking uncertain. She only slowly swallowed. She took a moment to clean the inside of her mouth as Skystar smiled and ate her own. “Aren’t they great? They’re the cook’s own recipe!” “Um…well…” She hesitated, eventually smiling sheepishly. “Er…definitely not to sound ungrateful, and definitely no disrespect to Miss Cook, but…has the cook ever tried adding a little spice to the cookie batter?” Skystar seemed a bit confused at that. “Spice? What’s spice?” Pinkie’s jaw nearly hit the table. “You…you never heard…of…of…of spice?!” She shook her head as she reached for a second cookie and started eating it. “You mean, you’ve never used vanilla?” A head shake. “Nutmeg?” Another head shake as she kept munching. “Ginger? Cinnamon? Cloves?” She kept shaking her head as she reached for another cookie. “I think the cook used brown sugar instead of white once…” Pinkie let out a near whimper and held a hand to her forehead. “Oh boy…where are the Cakes when I need…” She trailed off as she saw Skystar reach inside the jar. Doing so gave her the first good look at the back of her hand when she reached in, and she happened to notice that there was an emblem in her skin with six points mounted on it. “Hey!” “Hmm?” She froze, hand still in the jar. “You have a Promethian Sigil on the back of your hand too!” She paused, holding her hand up and looking at it. “Oh…yeah, I guess I do! Yup! Just started itching my hand about eight months ago, and it came right out!” Despite her normally flippant attitude, Pinkie looked confused. “And…you’re not at all worried about it? Worried about…you know…going crazy and trying to smash everyone’s heads in all around you in an uncontrollable, blind rampage?” “Oh no!” she giggled, waving it off. She began to reach for her necklace. “You see, we ha-” “Ahem.” Skystar immediately froze; her smile vanishing. Both she and Pinkie looked up to the sound of the new voice and found themselves looking at the entrance of the kitchen. Framed by the two guards who had stood silent and immobile there the whole time was a new man; taller with a long, hawk-like nose and a dismissive look about him. At the moment, he was glaring down it at both Skystar and Pinkie…far more the latter of the two with no shortage of disdain. Skystar, however, lit up immediately and rose from her seat. “Uncle Sky Beak! You’re back already!” “Yes, your highness,” he somewhat drolly answered, still keeping his eyes on Pinkie Pie even as Skystar rose up to walk to him. “It seems the conference was largely a waste of time and only an excuse for our so-called allies and enemies alike to make threats. Speaking of which,” he gave another look to Pinkie, “it seems you decided to make our intruder into a houseguest.” Skystar nearly raised her arms to get a hug. However, she stopped herself, as if suddenly realizing she was supposed to be too old for that sort of thing, and pulled back instead. A moment later she lit up again and quickly backed up. “Oh, this is Pinkie Pie! She’s a Gaitian from Trottingham! And you wouldn’t believe everything she’s seen!” “Yes,” he continued, still looking at her, “that’s what my subordinates tell me. She’s been quite verbose about her own country’s secrets. I’m not exactly sure, however,” Here, he finally gave a look to Skystar, and a critical one. “That we should be as liberal with our own, your highness.” Skystar blanched, and then cringed like a child being scolded by an adult for being a ‘big mouth’. “Oh…right, right… I’m sorry. I just got carried away. She has a Promethian Sigil too, though, and I just thought-” “That it was alright to disclose national secrets to someone you’ve known for less than two hours, princess?” Skystar gulped. “Well, she’s been so nice and so open and-” “And I’m certain someone who had ill intents in mind for Mount Aris would only come wearing a black mustache and chortling evilly. Certainly not looking like an innocent friend, would they?” The princess began to sweat. She looked so uncomfortable that Pinkie began to raise her hand. “Um, if I’m doing anything that’s bothering the princess, then-” “I’d prefer if you did nothing at all for a few minutes. In the meantime,” He squared his gaze on Skystar. “Your majesty, I request a private audience with you…now.” In spite of his deferential tone, it was quite clear to Pinkie that if anyone was calling the shots in that room, it was Sky Beak. The princess meekly nodded back before slinking out toward him with an ashamed look. He, in turn, snapped around on his heel and walked back out of the room with her following. At the entryway, she looked back over her shoulder one more time at Pinkie with a look of regret, before turning and leaving. She was soon alone with the guards, and considering their own cold looks, it wasn’t long before she was feeling uncomfortable herself. Skystar and Sky Beak were gone for a long time. Enough for Pinkie to start trying to eat the bland cookies again to just stave off growing anxiety. There were no windows or clocks in the room so she had no way of monitoring passage of time. Eventually, however, Skystar rounded the corner and walked back in alone. She was a bit downcast still, although less so than when she left. “Sorry about that,” she apologized. “Although I’m really the ruler of Mount Aris, well…” She winced. “I’m not as wise or as experienced as my mom was. I’m not even old enough to be crowned queen yet. So that means I can’t always just do what I want without talking to people who are older and worked under my mom, like my uncle Sky Beak. He’s our Chief of State and…well, until I can take the role…he’s Acting Commander in Chief too. He gives me a lot of advice on things. And he keeps me from making dumb mistakes that could get our country in danger.” She grimaced a bit more. “It also means I get lectures from him from time to time… I’m sorry, but I almost blew a big secret back there. And he wasn’t very happy with me making you a guest either… He told me I wasn’t really shaping up to be like my mom acting thoughtless like that…” Realizing she had been the source of this consternation, Pinkie sank a bit more in her seat too. “Um…if it would help…I could always go back to my stone cell and the spinny chair that’s broken…?” “Oh no!” she retorted, suddenly adamant. “Certainly not! It’d be rude for me to do that. You’re my guest now and that’s that, no matter what my uncle says.” Pinkie paused a moment, before an idea came to mind. She began to smirk. “In that case…what do you say I show you the Cakes’ recipe for snickerdoodle cookies?” “Snickerdoodles? I never heard of those before…” She smiled a bit. “But they sure sound fun…” “Not nearly as much fun as eating them!” Pinkie grinned back as she got up. “I’ll show you how to make them so you can have them whenever you want! But, um…we’re going to need to find some spices in this palace first.”