One afternoon, Pinkie Pie purchased a new toothbrush, blue with a pale green vine pattern on the handle. That night at bedtime, she used her old one for the last time, bid it goodbye, and threw it into her pink trash can. She put the shiny new toothbrush in the holder and looked forward to using it the next morning.
Pinkie brushed her curls and got ready for bed. She lifted Gummy out of his tank. "I think it's a little chilly for you to sit next to me on a pillow tonight," she told him.
Fluttershy had gently advised Pinkie that it wasn't ideal for an alligator to be denied access to his water source for the entire night. Pinkie had been troubled, because she was certain Gummy preferred to sleep in her bed, but of course she couldn't let him be uncomfortable. Twilight had been delighted to be called in to solve the problem with a No-Spill Magical Hydration Pillow to provide humidity for Gummy without getting the bedcovers damp. Now Pinkie placed the little pillow at the foot of the bed, on a corner of the quilt, put Gummy on the pillow, and tenderly rolled him up into a snug hatchling alligator packet.
Pinkie's quilt was a patchwork of varying traditional, if lopsided, patterns that came from all sides and crashed in the middle. It had been hoofmade by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Pinkie had bought it at a sale held by the school to fund a field trip to the geode factory. The foals were all excited to learn how the Earth pony specialists get the crystals inside the stones. Pinkie Pie yawned, settled down under the quilt and cuddled her pillow.
In the morning she pulled her recalcitrant curls into a red paisley bandanna to get them out of the way until after breakfast. Most of her mane escaped, but Pinkie felt her attempt showed that she was making an effort to appear neat at the breakfast table. She put Gummy in his tank. She had fed him the day before. Fluttershy had told her it was best for hatchling crocodilians to eat only every other day, and Pinkie had determined to wait until the following day to feed Gummy again. "Fluttershy knows what's best," she reassured Gummy as well as herself. She went to her washstand at the mirror, briskly washed her hooves, and glanced toward her toothbrush holder, which held the new—no, the same old toothbrush.
"Where's the new one?" Pinkie wondered. She looked under the sink, in the pink trash can, in the medicine cabinet, and in Gummy's tank, but there was no new toothbrush. "Tricky old toothbrush! It must really want to stay with me. I'll have to buy a new one again, though. Buying new toothbrushes is something you gotta do, even if my toothbrushes have always been faithful friends."
She headed downstairs for breakfast. On the top step she recognized the feeling of a stray jelly bean smushing under her hoof. She checked the color of the splotch on the underside of her hoof. "Strawberry, almost the best flavor, after cherry. It's the same flavor I stepped on yesterday, right on this very step." She scraped the smashed jelly bean off of the bottom of her hoof with her lower teeth and chewed it carefully. "In fact, it tastes like the very same jelly bean! Hm. That's strange. But tasty!"
Pinkie Pie sat in the kitchen and had breakfast: yesterday's unsold sponge cake, some ice cream, and a little oatmeal with honey. By the time she was finished, she could tell Celestia was raising the sun; the nighttime outside the window was fraying and yellowed around the edges.
She heard a wagon roll up outside the back kitchen door and went to greet Biscuit and Baked Beans, the twin brother teamster mules. They had brought a delivery of fresh cream cheese. Pinkie wondered a little at this—Mr. Cake had just gotten plenty to last for a couple of days, the morning before. Biscuit helped Pinkie unload and carry the cream cheese into the kitchen. Pinkie thanked the teamsters and tipped them with some sugar cubes. After they drove out of the alley, Pinkie said to herself, "I'd better find a way to use this all up." Then she snickered. "Oh, no, I'll be forced to make lots and lots of cheesecake."
Pinkie opened the icebox to stack the cheese inside, and yesterday's order of cream cheese was no longer there. The bakery didn't have too much after all. "Huh. Mr. Cake must have had a huge secret cheesecake order."
Croissants had been shaped the afternoon before and were waiting in their usual place in the icebox. Pinkie Pie put them in the oven, and while they were baking she decorated cupcakes that had cooled overnight. The sky turned greyish blue, and peach-colored sunbeams from low on the horizon slanted across the kitchen. Pinkie hurried to make fresh muffins before the shop opened.
There were only a few customers during the first half-hour of the bakery being open. Pinkie thought the orders these ponies made seemed unusually familiar, but she was pretty sure they weren't regular requests made by these specific customers. She puzzled over it in her mind, and fulfilled the orders with a cheerful smile.
A golden-brown Earth pony mare with shaggy, darker brown mane entered Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie had seen her the day before, when she had brought in a mixed-up order for replacement.
"Hi, Cinnamon Caramel Streusel Crunch Swirl! Are you having a Day After Adoption Day party today?"
Streusel, along with most of the ponies of Ponyville, was used to Pinkie assigning feasts and hoedowns to nearly every day on the calendar. "No," she answered, "we're only having the one party, and it's today." She drew back her lips and took two bakery boxes off of her back with her teeth, laid them on the counter, and flipped up the lids with her hoof. "I picked up the order yesterday evening. I'm sorry to be a bother, but I ordered sugar cookies and brownies, and I received cinnamon caramel streusel crunch swirl cupcakes."
That was word-for-word what she had said the day before. Pinkie cocked an eyebrow and flapped one ear sideways in confusion. She peered into the boxes. Sure enough, the very same scrumptious, yet wrong, cupcakes were lined up in the boxes. "Oh, no! I'm so sorry about that. I can't figure out how I got it so mixed up." Hearing the words come out of her mouth was a little like listening to a record and reciting along with it, with the timing slightly off.
"It's not just you," said Cinnamon Caramel Streusel Crunch Swirl. "It happens to me fairly often."
"Aww, I know you're only saying that to make me feel better, but thank you anyway."
"I wish I had more time to give you to correct it," said Streusel. "I should have opened the boxes last night."
"I'm so sorry this happened," Pinkie said again. "I can set you up with the brownies we have on hoof." She tapped her lower lip with a hooftip. "The problem is the sugar cookies. I have some plain, not iced, and you obviously need iced for the party."
"They're supposed to be light green and blue," said Streusel slowly, in the way of a customer who's trying not to be too much trouble, but who really wants what she ordered. "To match Sea Lion's and Squirrel's coat colors."
"I have some white icing, just waiting for colors," Pinkie said thoughtfully. "The only trouble is that royal icing takes so much time to firm up." The best Pinkie could do was make a lunge and a long foreleg to the candy display and offer two alphabet all-day suckers with sugar pictures of a sea lion and a squirrel.
"Oh, how cute!" said Streusel, twirling one by its paper stick. "Well, I can certainly make the party work with these and the brownies. Thanks for doing your best, Pinkie."
"I always do my best," said Pinkie, but the cheerful squeak in her voice came out a little forced. Did she always do her best? Was this her very topmost best? "Here, take some more suckers for the other foals." She remembered offering that yesterday, too. She glanced hurriedly in the icebox. "Have a raspberry cream cheese pie, too. I'm sorry for this mix-up! It's a good thing I don't make mistakes like this every day. Just—yesterday evening and the evening before that. Hope the foals enjoy the party!"
"Thank you very much." Streusel left at a careful walk with the goodies balanced on her back.
Pinkie pulled out the house brownie mix to replenish the shop's supply in plenty of time before the lunch rush. She had also done that the day before. It was beginning to look suspiciously like today was masquerading as yesterday. She said so to Mrs. Cake.
"Every day should seem a little bit like the day before," said Mrs. Cake, "so we know what to do next, and save time. That's the benefit of having a routine."
"It's not just routine, it's exactly the same so far," said Pinkie, "except for my own actions. If I decide to change them—for instance, say I set off a confetti popper right now—" she pulled one out of her mane and gave it a twist, and confetti sprayed over the cooling racks. Mrs. Cake, without comment, picked confetti out of fresh, hot muffins. "That was new," said Pinkie, "because I just now chose to do it."
"Are you sure you're not confused, or misremembering?" asked Mr. Cake.
"I'm confused about how this could be happening, but I'm sure it is happening. I have a good memory for days," said Pinkie. "It's how I can get so many birthday parties planned—oh no! What if it really is the next day, and I've forgotten somepony's birthday?" Pinkie hopped to the counter and checked her cake-a-day calendar. "Phew! I haven't missed a party day. It's the same handsome, brown-sugar buttercream cake on the cake-a-day calendar. But, wait—if this is the same day over again, poor Gummy will be hungry!"
Pinkie whirled about the kitchen gathering and preparing Gummy's meal, and hurried upstairs with it. A small aquarium of minnows sat next to Gummy's tank; Pinkie Pie netted a few and put them in the water in the 'gator habitat. On the land section she put snails and a scrambled egg in a dish. Gummy was a good eater, and from his point of view it had been two days—she could tell because he snapped up the egg right away.
Pinkie went downstairs to help with the breakfast rush of customers. As soon as that was over, Pinkie made sure Mr. Cake could handle the counter for brunch time, got a stack of library books together, the same titles she had gathered up the day before, and went to the library.
She entered the cool, wood-smelling interior of the library tree. Twilight stood at a bookstand, reading. She looked up. "Hi, Pinkie Pie! I'm just about ready to head out to Sweet Apple Acres."
"We did that yesterday, too," said Pinkie as she placed her books on the returns pile.
"Who's we?"
"You and me."
"But . . . we haven't been out to Sweet Apple Acres in a while."
"We've been there today."
Twilight's brows angled down and she raised and ruffled her wings. "But I've been here all morning."
"I know, I met you here yesterday, too. I think tomorrow is today, now."
"That tends to happen," smiled Twilight.
"Almost every day," agreed Pinkie, "but this time I think tomorrow galloped on ahead and left me in today. Yesterday morning is the same as this morning."
Twilight was fighting it, Pinkie could tell, but slowly the librarian's right eyebrow twitched upward, and her head tilted ever so slightly. It was the onset of a skeptical expression. Still, Twilight carefully kept her attentive ear position and her friendly smile.
"Don't worry," said Pinkie. "I know what you're thinking. You're wondering if I'm just being Pinkie."
Twilight's mouth twitched in what looked like embarrassed amusement. Before she could speak, Pinkie continued: "Of course I am being Pinkie! I'm almost always being Pinkie! But this is more than that. This is really, super seriously, something scientific you can help me with, and you probably understand it better than I do."
Twilight snapped out of her skepticism. "Okay! So let me see if I have this straight. This morning is the same as yesterday morning, down to you coming to meet me, and the two of us planning to go out to Sweet Apple Acres?"
Pinkie bobbed her curly head. "Yep indeedy! And before that, I took in the cream cheese order over again, and there was plenty of room in the icebox, just as if we'd never received it before, so unless we got disappearing joke cream cheese yesterday, it was the same fresh cream cheese, as fresh as it was the first time. And Cinnamon Caramel Streusel Crunch Swirl returned the very same identical cupcakes as she did yesterday morning, and trust me, I never forget a cupcake. And the library books, the same ones, are due again, although they were always due today."
"Hmm. First of all, let me check you over." Twilight's aura slowly moved over Pinkie from muzzle to tail.
"Hee. Tickles."
"You're loaded with your own personal magic, but that's normal. There is no spell on you that I can remove," said Twilight. "If there's an artifact causing the effect, which is highly likely, I might be able to cast a spell on that. But the safest way is to find out what the artifact is, and then not bring it into your life today, or, barring that, to use or interact with it differently than you have so far."
"What would this artifact look like?" asked Pinkie.
"That's the hard part. It could be almost anything. Is anypony else in the loop with you?"
"Hmm. Not Streusel, who's never come back to me with the mixed up order before, from her point of view. And Gummy believed me when I told him I'm living the same day over again, but he swears he isn't, himself. Mr. and Mrs. Cake seem to think I'm confused."
"The artifact could be something you first come into contact with during this repeating day," Twilight said, "or the effect could be caused by something you've had around for a long time, and only just today used or interacted with differently."
Pinkie pondered with a hoof on her chin. "I ate some doughnuts."
"Sugarcube Corner doughnuts, made with the usual ingredients?"
"Yep."
"Things you made and ate with ingredients that have been in your kitchen for days, or that you received from the same suppliers, are not likely to be the culprits. Have you bought anything new lately?"
"I've bought lots of new things lately! Some of them were party supplies and door prizes and I gave them away, and some of them were gifts for myself so I kept them. Some of them were foods and I ate them, or fed them to Gummy."
Twilight said, "If somepony else used them up, then that's probably not it. It would be good if I could magically go over the new purchases that you've kept, so I can narrow it down."
"I'll bring a pile of everything!"
Pinkie had turned tail and was preparing to sproing out the door when Twilight said, "Wait, Pinkie. How many new, unused party supplies are there?"
"Oh, about fifty separate kinds—categories I guess you'd call them. But some of those I'm counting as one thing, like a case of twenty-four swoopfoomers, or a box of one hundred paper snaps."
"Okay. Don't bring everything. Only bring about a dozen things; that's all I can get through in one day. A boxful of one kind of party supply from one source counts as one thing. If we don't figure out what the artifact is today, and if this happens again, you'll have to remember what I already looked at, and bring me a different selection."
Pinkie dashed out and soon returned with an old grain sack full of new party supplies balanced across her withers. Meanwhile, Twilight had selected a number of books and stacked them out of the way on the floor. "Put the party favors here, Pinkie, and then we'd better get going to Sweet Apple Acres as we planned. It's best not to change too many variables when you're dealing with magic like this."
On the way out to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight jogged, and Pinkie Pie pronked. Twilight planned to meet Big Mac and Applejack for lunch, and Pinkie had to pick up some ingredients for the Cakes.
Pinkie chattered to Twilight about her plans for the afternoon—which were the same as they had been the day before. "Me and Cheese Sandwich are collaborating on a party for the Elks Club. There'll be a guest speaker, buffet, and a film. There won't only be elks there; there'll be some ponies, too. It's kind of stressful for Cheese," said Pinkie, "since he isn't used to small, indoor parties. He wants lots more room to spread out. If we had all the stuff he wanted to set up in the lodge, we'd crowd out the ponies and the elks! Then who would party? Something I said yesterday—it might have been something incorrect about cheese—the food, not Cheese the pony—something I said touched him off yesterday, and we got into a teensy tiff over putting dipped marshmallows and marshmallow fondue on the buffet, when he wants room for ten kinds of cheese balls. I didn't even know there could be so many kinds of cheese served as balls! And when I made the super-smart suggestion of marshmallow-filled Pepato cheese balls, we got into a huge shouting match."
"I'm sorry to hear that. But you can choose not to get into an argument with him again today," Twilight said wisely.
"Anyway, how likely is it, really?" said Pinkie, absently.
"Well," said Twilight, "you and Cheese have very different party-giving styles. It can create some tension. But I'm sure when you meet in the middle the results will be wonderful."
"You bet they will!" said Pinkie. "Of course, I haven't found that out for sure yet, because I haven't hosted the party, which is tomorrow, that was supposed to be today. Ooh, if today really is the same day over again, that means the party I'm throwing with Cheese Sandwich is still tomorrow! I don't think I could ever get tired of anticipating a party!"
Twilight smiled, then changed the subject. "It's your turn for supper with Rarity, isn't it?"
"I knew you were gonna ask that, because you asked the same thing yesterday—and yep, it's still my turn, because I guess from your point of view I didn't have supper with her last night."
"That's right; I had supper with her last night—at least, that's how I remember it. And I still think something's wrong with her and I can't quite put my hoof on it. She tried to fool me, but I could tell something was off. Maybe Rarity's just working too hard on this project, and it will sort itself out before Canterlot Fashion Week."
"Maybe," said Pinkie Pie doubtfully, "but whatever it is, I'd love to help her."
"Maybe tonight the two of you can sort out whatever the trouble is."
"I sure hope so!" said Pinkie, pronking gracefully across the neatly grazed lawn to the Apples' barn door.
Inside, Granny got slowly up from her rocking chair. "Howdy, Pinkie, Twilight. Twilight, Big Mac and AJ will be in for dinner soon. Weather's gettin' a little chilly. How're you enjoying the quilt the girls made, Pinkie?"
"It's wonderful! So cozy, and the design is so crazy!"
Twilight stiffened, on alert, but Pinkie told her, "I got the quilt from the school sale weeks ago. Been sleeping under it since then."
Twilight relaxed and gave her mane a little shake-out. "Traditional arts and crafts works have a high probability of becoming artifacts."
Granny placed a hot casserole on a trivet on the dinner table and invited Twilight to help herself to fresh apple slices while she waited for Big Mac and Applejack. Pinkie planned to go back to town for a quick sandwich at home before Cheese Sandwich arrived. "I'll have a cheese sandwich, then it'll be foreshadowing his arrival!"
Granny trotted slowly out to the spring house, Pinkie maintaining a respectful pronking pace behind her shoulder. In the dark inside the little house over the spring, milk and eggs kept cool. Granny helped Pinkie Pie situate two large cans of cream on either side of her withers. Next came boxes of carefully packed eggs, two dozen in each box, stacked and tied with an array of straps on each side of Pinkie's barrel. On top she cinched her own saddlebags, splayed across the egg boxes. It was satisfying, as a farmfilly earth pony herself, to pack a load once in a while.
On the way back to town, Pinkie jogged gently, out of consideration for the eggs and cream. "Don't wanna make the cream into butter on the way home!" She snicker-snorted delightedly at her own joke.
At home at Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie quickly munched her cheese sandwich lunch. She had just finished and come out of the kitchen when a dun messenger-colt in a beige uniform shirt approached the bakery case and hoofed across a small envelope. "Hiya, Pinkie. This is for you. I'm supposed to wait for your reply."
Because she had already lived through a day just like this, Pinkie knew what the envelope contained: an invitation to go to Fluttershy's cottage that afternoon to have lemonade and listen to phonograph records.
Pinkie grabbed a piece of Sugarcube Corner stationery and a pink envelope and quickly wrote a note. As she wrote, she said to the messenger-colt, "I have to decline the invitation. Gotta meet Cheese Sandwich soon, to do some party prep work. I'll tell Fluttershy I can come another day. But that's okay. Anticipating good times with friends is such a fluttery, exciting feeling. Sometimes it's even the best feeling. You can't have anticipation unless you have to wait to visit your friends. There!" she scribbled her signature, sealed the envelope, and tipped the messenger-colt with a cherry tart. He touched his cap to her and left, the bell on the door jingling above him.
Pinkie waited until Mrs. Cake could handle the bakery customers, then pronked over to the Elks Lodge. She pushed open the heavy door and entered the large, cool, dim room. It would be all lit up later, for the party, but for now all she and Cheese needed was just enough light to work by.
Cheese Sandwich sat on his haunches across the room by the unfolded, bare buffet tables. He was surrounded by detritus from unwrapping supplies. Next to him stood a precarious pile of folded tablecloths. He was using his forehoof to apply lip balm to Boneless Two's beak.
"Whatcha doin' there, Cheese?"
Cheese looked up. His curly mane was frizzy, his jaw tight and his shoulders tense. A tablecloth clip curved around one lock of his mane. "Oh, hello, Pinkie." Cheese held up the tube of lip balm and waggled it. "Contrary to popular belief, chickens do have lips, and they can get chapped."
"Aw, that's too bad," said Pinkie. "It's kinda strange, though. Ever since you let me have Boneless the First, he's hardly ever had chapped lips. Did he used to get chapped lips when he was living with you? What do you suppose could be causing it in Boneless Two?"
Cheese worked his jaw for a moment. "Are you saying I don't know how to take care of my rubber chicken?"
"Of course I'm not! But have you considered that maybe it's his diet? How about feeding him less cheese? Are you sure White Stilton is good for rubber poultry lips?"
Cheese's eyelid twitched.
Boneless Two maintained a prudent silence during the ensuing noisy argument, although it was about him. After almost ten minutes, Cheese sat once more on his haunches, ears splayed. Pinkie had a cream pie splattered in her mane, the pan stuck at a jaunty angle. She had rolled into it during a particularly vehement tirade. She coughed. "We should get back to work. I'm getting hoarse. Hah! Get it? Horse?" Pinkie snorted and poked Cheese with a hoof in case he needed prodding to appreciate how hilarious she was.
Cheese raised one ear, then flattened both ears.
"I came here to help set up fondue pots," said Pinkie. "That was the plan."
"I guess we'd better stick to the plan," Cheese reluctantly agreed.
"What were you working on, besides Boneless Two's lip care, when I came in?"
"I was trying to choose the tablecloth for the fondue table."
"Let's do it now." Pinkie held up two from among the now-rumpled pile on the floor. "Balloon print tablecloth or red and white checkered tablecloth?"
Cheese Sandwich wearily waved a hoof at the red and white checked cloth.
"I agree!" Pinkie sprang in place like an eager Greyhound. "It's good we agree so often!"
Cheese smiled a little.
Pinkie and Cheese worked until suppertime. Then Pinkie hurried to the Hayburger to make her date with Rarity.