Mind of Pie

by Sun Dial

Chapter 1 Reflections

Twilight held her hoof up to the mirror in front of her as her reflection copied her. She pressed it to the mirror, its surface rippling like water.  Retracting her hoof, the mirror returned to its solid appearance.

Did she really want to do this?  Did she want to see herself as Pinkie saw her? What if Pinkie saw her as this crazy book obsessed mare who always had to mess up before she managed to do things correctly?  Would she be able to accept that view of her? Was that how she viewed herself and she didn’t want to face the idea that somebody else viewed her like that?

Twilight was uncertain and her thoughts drifted to the others.  Rainbow would have gone through in a flash.  Her unwavering Loyalty wouldn't care about what Pinkie thought about her.  Rarity already knew what Pinkie thought of her.  Applejack?  Applejack was the nearest thing outside Princess Celestia that Twilight could describe as perfect.  She was strong, loyal, honest, hard working and despite her own financial problems was always looking to help everypony else.

Then there was Fluttershy, the kindest sweetest pony Twilight had ever known.  How could anybody think bad of her?  Finally, there was Soarin.  Actually, Twilight wasn't sure what Pinkie thought of the stallion.  She wasn't sure that Pinkie knew him well enough to see him as anything other than a Wonderbolt and maybe a goofball.  Then again, Pinkie practically defined the definition of goofy.

Twilight was different. She had always been a little, well, condescending of Pinkie. Whenever her friend had come seeking advice Twilight never once trusted her to understand the situation completely. She always assumed that Pinkie was being immature.  The time with Gilda she considered Pinkie's concerns about Gilda to be jealousy. With Cranky Doodle she tried to prevent Pinkie from connecting the poor donkey with his loved one, thinking that she knew better.

Worst still was when Pinkie created clones of herself, Twilight was too stupid to realize that Pinkie herself was depressed, unable to have fun with any of her friends.  She should have known the minute that Pinkie started talking existentially exactly who the real Pinkie was.  No, she hadn't even trusted her knowledge of her own friend, even when that friend gave her the answer to solve the riddle of the true Pinkie.

As atrocious as that was, it didn't match up to when Pinkie was babysitting the cake twins for the first time. Twilight in her brilliance and understanding of how friendships worked berated Pinkie for how irresponsible she was.  Pinkie had forgiven her without qualms of course but something in Twilight was scared.  How many times had she complained about “somepony” being a harebrained nut case?  If she went through that mirror, she'd see exactly the kind of stuck up snob she was.

Her reflection glared at her, daring her to take a step back. To not do whatever she could, to fail in her friendship.  To do the one thing that Rainbow Dash said she never did.

Her purple hoof slid slowly through the liquid glass.

Fluttershy was lying down in fright, frozen stiff staring at her own reflection in the mirror.  Almost on instinct she could feel the thumping of Angel telling her to be brave and to not run and hide.  Fluttershy covered her eyes, unable to stare at herself any longer while letting out a small squeal.  Her reflection, however, did not.

“You will stare into Pinkie's very soul.  There is no secret she'll be able to deny you access to.  She will not be capable of lying.”

Fluttershy’s reflection stood up.  

“I'm not sure I follow you Princess.” Applejack spoke up.

Fluttershy carefully opened her eyes and gasped in horror to see her reflection standing.  She back-shuffled further into the rock silo.

“She means that Pinkie won't be able to hide anything she feels from us.  She won't be able to laugh away pain and tell us that there’s nothing wrong.  She can’t tell us that she’s perfectly fine because the hurt will take its own form,” Twilight clarified.  “Everything we encounter will be a representation of her in some way.”

Fluttershy gasped and frantically looked for somewhere to hide as her reflection started to step thru the mirror.

“Twilight Sparkle is correct, but you must be careful my little ponies,” Luna warned.  “Even Pinkie has nightmares.  These nightmares know how to emotionally destroy a pony until they can consume them.”

“If it isn't Old. Weak. Fluttershy,” Her reflection scorned with a snarl.  “Why did you even come, did you possibly think that you could help me? Or where you too weak to tell Rainbow no?”

“But I'm not old Fluttershy anymore.” Fluttershy managed to eek out, desperately wishing that Rainbow or Angel was there to protect her.

“That's right. Now it’s New Fluttershy.” Fluttershy let out a meep as her reflection had somehow gained a viking hat complete with long curved horns. Horrible memories surfaced in Fluttershy's mind. “New Fluttershy thinks things like parties are lame.  New Fluttershy thinks streamers and cake are things for foals.  New Fluttershy knows that Pinkie just throws parties so that everypony will like her!” The scorning tone drove mental daggers into Fluttershy’s delicate mind.

“Maybe I shouldn't go.  You know I can help Rarity take care of everypony.” Fluttershy said very quickly.

“As much as I thank you for your offer, Spikey-wikey and I can handle it quite well,” Rarity replied calmly.  

“Well then, you know I do have a lot of animals to take care of.  You guys can go on without me.”

“Come on Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash groaned.  “Pinkie needs our help so stop making excuses.  Aren’t you the Element of Kindness? Now are you in or not?”

Fluttershy's reflection stood above her.  “New Fluttershy knows that you doesn't deserve … ”

Fluttershy had begun to sob knowing what the next few words were and she was right.  She really didn't deserve the Element of Kindness. She was the worst pony ever.

There is no secret she'll be able to deny you access to.

The words never came and Fluttershy cautiously looked up into the glaring face of her counterpart.  “It must be horrible having all the built up rage inside of you and never being able to let out. To be eaten from the inside out, but New Fluttershy doesn't have that problem. She knows exactly what she deserves!” Her mirror sneered at her.

She will not be capable of lying.

Something clicked in her mind as it buzzed with activity that led to understanding. Fluttershy stood up. “Umm.  Excuse me, but why didn't you tell me that I didn't deserve Kindness?”

“However to enter into Pinkie's essence, you will have to see yourself as she sees you.” Luna's voice held just a small amount of sorrow. “Whether that be as family, friend, rival.  Perhaps even as an enemy.  Until you can accept how she sees you, you'll never be able to dive further into Pinkie.”

The reflection stood still, unable to answer the question.

Fluttershy knew that she understood something that New Fluttershy didn't. “You can't say it because you don't believe it.  You think that I deserve my element.  You don't really think any of those things.  I don't think any of those things about you and neither should you.”

Fluttershy reached up and hugged her counterpart.  “You don't have to be new Fluttershy, Pinkie.” The room was silent.

“I” Pinkie couldn’t find the words to say.  The silence permeated until there was a quiet unzipping sound.

“You can just be Pinkie Pie.” Fluttershy stated as she helped the pink pony out of the Fluttershy costume.

“Fluttershy.” Pinkie choked out. “I, I don't deserve a friend like you.”

“Now now, shhhhh.” Fluttershy said quietly while stroking her friend down the back.  She could feel the tension flowing out of Pinkie.  “You're one of the best friends a pony could have.”

“We all carry nightmares and you will come across Pinkie's. As you help her overcome her nightmares her condition will stabilize.  I would tell thee a word of caution.  My sister left my mind very bare of secrets, every nightmare overcome, every concern whittled away.  All but one. A single nightmare that I hid even from myself.  The nightmare that I refused to face.”

Fluttershy fell over onto the ground, face planting into dirt and bits of loose gravel and a small ruby.  She tried to find where Pinkie had disappeared off to, but saw no trace of her.  She looked at the mirror on the other side of the silo.  Fluttershy was confused, not fully comprehending what just happened.  Why did a nightmare show up already?

Fluttershy giggled to herself, glad to know that she helped her friend. After all, even Pinkie just needed a little Kindness sometimes.

The Pegasus strode merrily towards the mirror, garbed in crystal jousting gear..

'The tan pony pressed herself tightly against the wall as she glared down at the snakes crawling towards her eerily.  Their creepy little black eyes and annoying little round (actually somewhat oval if you put a square inside an oval) noses stared our hero down.'  “Snakes.... I hate Snakes.” Daring Dash muttered.

“Pinkie, I do not hate snakes.” Rainbow said calmly, stepping on the head of the nearest one.  “Besides these are garden snakes.” Dash smashed a charging snake with her hoof, flicking it into some its friends. “Even Twilight wouldn't be scared of these things.” Dash leaped into the air, flying a few hoof lengths above the snakes.  “Can we move on?”

Okie Dokie Lokie! Now let’s see. Dash could hear ruffling. A FeatherBrain's guide to how to write a Daring Do story.  Create undeniably suspenseful opening.  Check.  Introduce Daring to the Handsome Stallion of the day.

“Uhh... Loyalty here Pinkie.  I'm not just going to run around with any old stallion just to make your story follow the advice of some dumb book.” Dash said, bored.

I know that, silly.  Now let’s see, stallion check.

Dash rolled her eyes. She assumed the weird old zebra she met at the beginning was supposed to be this fabled stallion.

Trap Daring in an old ancient temple. Check.  Daring fights snakes, Check.  Oh that’s right. Daring goes through dangerous death defying traps and fights bad guys pawns to reach ancient artifact.   Alright here we go.

' Daring soared through the ruins of the ancient floating castle. Nobody had been here for years.  The foreboding city awed our super duper spectacular adventurer as she took in the sight of the ancient floating city of Trot.  To the east she could see the giant Trot pegasus in all of its traitorous glory.  It stood as a monument to the  ancient city’s grace and its fall into ruin.

However, despite the gloriousness and effort that the author put into making the city the most amazing thing ever for her little Dashie, our Hero merely flew towards the impending leaning tower of peas, duh.

Dash mostly tuned Pinkie out as she soared and enjoyed the scenery. Its general design looked much like the pictures in the books but it seemed to have its own unique Pinkie flare, such as Dragon roosting nests and gem golems and even a balloon stand or two.

Pinkie’s imagination proved to be most interesting in the engineering of this cloud city.  The Daring Do costume was pretty snazzy too.  The tan hide and awesome adventure outfit all fit perfectly. She had kept her Rainbow Lightning cutie mark and mane color, making her distinctly different from the adventurer.

She was glad that Pinkie saw her like this, an awesome adventurer, able to take on any situation.  Pinkie had once explained to her the psychological standpoint of Daring Do and why she was such a great character and the most amazing hero.  She was flattered that the way Pinkie had described Daring Do was actually what she thought of Dash.  It was pretty radical to know that her friend viewed her this way.

Daring's ear picked up the sound of ancient machinery as the mechanical defense Golems began to whir, ready to defend their territory.  Daring barrel rolled to the right, no, the left as crossbow bolts whizzed by her.  She tore through the sky desperate to get away from the flesh rending bolts.  Fear coursed through her system as this proved  to be fatal mistake, the Golems above letting loose their own deadly weapons catching our Hero in the crossfire.

Dash barely managed to maneuver out of the way nearest cross bolt, fast realizing that the air was far from the safest route to her objective. She watched as the golems reloaded their crossbows.  “Too easy.” Dash smirked her I'm awesome smile as she saw her opening.  Corkscrewing around a bolt she dove directly for a tower where two of the golems were attacking.  Using the speed from the corkscrew Dash slammed through the chest of left golem, tearing out its enchanted gemstone.  

Daring spun as the second golem leveled its crossbow, but this devilish doer was quicker and slammed her hoof into the crossbow. Catching the fallen weapon with ease, Daring pierced the golem’s gem with its own bolt before tossing it aside and letting out a “Whew.”  Just then all exits leading to the outside magically vanished and the roof began to cave in, but Daring was always one step ahead.  She had already dashed into the Hall of Randomly Flung Sharp Things.

Dash leaped over a spear that was shot from a hole in the wall.  She grabbed onto the now thoroughly stuck spear and used it to change her direction. She launched herself upwards far faster than she could have done on her own. The quick change in direction allowed her to avoid touching the dust that had settled over the magic trigger wires. Taking a quick dive, Dash managed to just barely avoid a barrage of arrows set specifically in case somepony managed to avoid the other traps.

Rolling through the exit left Daring with a thrill of exhilaration and she smirked. Didn't these silly traps ever learn? She was Daring Do, the most dazzling adventurous adventurer ever! Her rejoicing was quieted as she entered into what appeared to be the bottom of a long shaft with a radius of 16.10101042Gummy6_9* pony lengths.  Staring down at her was hundreds of golems with crossbows aimed at her head.  At the top of the shaft stood the Mirror!  The artifact that Daring so desperately sought.

Dash was thrilled, she could take on any challenge Pinkie threw at her.  Dash was already in the air by the time the first bolt was loosed.  The wind rushed past her ears as she propelled her magic out and her body forward the protective White Shield encircling the front of her.  Her veins pulsed and her fur flowed back, pushed by both the wind and magic force she exerted.  Every leyline pumping magic into the atmosphere, accelerating her thrust.  The White Shield sharpened, overloaded with Pegasus magic.

The golem's bolts did nothing as they bounced off of Daring's shield. Then, in an instant all went quiet.  Time seemed to slow as the magic couldn't hold the most amazing pegasus ever back.  The explosion  rocketed every golem like it was giving them a giant magical hug as they all exploded with joy of seeing something so awesome as the Sonic Rainboom.  Daring slowed herself as she landed next to the mirror.

“Hey Pinkie, that was pretty awesome.  Did you make this all yourself? I mean the story and city and everything?”

Of course I made it. This isn't Fluttershy's magical essence, Dashie, or did you enter the wrong pony? Oh that would be horrible that means I'm not me. I'm just somepony else's imagination of me and if I'm not me then who am I? Will I have to stop liking parties since I'm not me? Wait, that would be just silly.  Even if I am somepony else everypony loves parties.  You know we could have the greatest party ever here! The Daring Adventure party. Isn't this the most perfect place for that?

“Well it is pretty radical.  Once we save you and everything, we'll definitely have the coolest party ever.” Rainbow slipped through the mirror before Pinkie got even more random.

Daring goes through dangerous death defying traps and fights bad guys to reach the ancient artifact.  Check.  Now let’s see, what's next.  Oh, that's right.  Best friend gets Daring and Stallion together.  

Check!

Rarity hummed to herself as she stitched together a light blue pillow with a thunderbolt down the middle.  She had chosen to start on Soarin's first since she had never created anything for a wonderbolt before. The prospect of making something for a celebrity was always tantalizing.  Studying her work, Rarity frowned for a second.  She'd have to ask Twilight to enchant it so that Soarin could use it in Cloudsdale.

“You seem to be disappointed.” Luna said from across the room, sitting and watching the fashionista with interest. “I think you are doing a wonderful job.”

“Oh yes.  The pillow itself is coming along quite nicely.  My disappointment comes from a different source.” Rarity flipped the pillow around to inspect it from the a different angle. “I fear that my work shall go to waste after this ordeal is through.”

“Could you not enchant the pillow? I’m sure Soarin would love to  keep it with him.” Luna was perplexed that this could be the reason for disappointment.

“Well yes,” Rarity started, “But you see that's always been more of Twilight's thing. Knowing all the fancy magic.”

Luna was still befuddled.  “It is not a hard spell and I could teach it to you.”

“I couldn't ask you to spend more magic than you already are,” Rarity declined politely.

Luna laughed and let out a small smile. “I raise the moon and then protect ponies from nightmares.  It would be of no consequence to show you such a spell.”

Rarity huffed and her face contorted in anger as Luna was blatantly ignoring her attempts to not learn the spell. Twilight had always noticed her attempts of moving the conversation away from her magic, so why couldn't Luna? Really, as a Princess she should know how to read ponies and conversations better.

Rarity turned around and let her face and mind work through her irritation before turning back to Luna as graceful as she always was.  “You see, I'm not very good with magic.  Its been years since I've learned a new spell and I hardly passed basic spell casting in school.”

Luna frowned, unsure of how to process this information.  Rarity was a bearer of an Element of Harmony. She naturally had a higher amount of magic stored within her.  Why then was she so inept? “That is peculiar.” Luna’s gaze went around the room to see each of the Elements sleeping what seemed to be peacefully around Pinkie, the dark glow of her magic covering each just slightly.  

“Rarity really is the most amazing magic user.” Spike said carrying some apple strudels, “I mean nothing like Twilight.  She's unbeatable you know.” Rarity politely levitated a strudel off of the plate Spike held. “But Rarity can out duel Twilight.” Spike's feet pittered as he walked the other two strudels to Luna.

“Spike, that's not a proper thing for a lady to boast about and Twilight is quite embarrassed about it too.” Rarity scolded Spike giving the dragon a glare from behind her sewing machine.

Luna stretched her wings before cracking her neck.  “What is thy secret? My sister’s prodigy is most skilled.”

Rarity put the finishing touches on Soarin's pillow and smoothed it out.  “Oh it is a talent that I've managed through all my sewing.  Simply find the right thread to pull and it will quickly fall apart.  Do you think I should do Rainbow Dash's or Fluttershy next?”

“Twilight.  Pegasi are superior at roughing it,” Luna replied. She watched as Rarity levitated the pillow over to Soarin and lifted his head with her magic.  Soarin shifted as the unicorn set his head down so that he held the pillow between his head and hooves. He let out a half snort in his sleep.

“As much as I'm inclined to agree, Fluttershy is hardly a camping pony either..  What do you think Spike?”

Spike let out a burp while setting his Sassparilla on the shelf next to him. “I don't know.  Twilight has her own bedding upstairs. I'll go up and grab that so you can work on Fluttershy's pillow.”

“A wonderful idea, oh, and look for some other bedding as well. No reason they should be uncomfortable while waiting on me.” Rarity picked up some yellow cloth and stretched it, testing its durability.

Luna watched as the young dragon went up the stairs.  “Dost thou know what Pinkie thinks of thee, Rarity?” Luna hadn't turned her head to look at Rarity, attempting to make the conversation casual.

Rarity put her hoof to her mouth and chuckled politely. “That is a question better asked to Sweetie Bell then myself, your Highness.”

Soarin yawned as he rolled out of bed, startled to find himself in his bedroom. Not remembering how he got there he brushed it off as a weird night. Surprise probably spiked his drink or something. Glancing at Celestia's sun he set his time bearings, 10:48 A.M., give or take two minutes.  The sun immortal varied the time which she raised the sun each day.

Soarin stretched out his hooves and went through his daily ritual of preparing for a hard day of flying.  “Peculiar.” The stallion found something wrong with the clouds he was standing on.. “My floor density is 1.4, not 1.1” He pushed his hoof through the cloud to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. “Even with dehydration the clouds shouldn't be this thin for another eight years.”

Soarin glanced over to his bed. “Oh. The bed is queen size.  Bizarre, I don't remember getting married.” His eyes lit up in glee like a foal on Hearths and Hooves. “Oh, so a queen size must mean that she's small otherwise we'd need a bigger bed.” He scanned the room for any clues as to who his mystery wife might be. He ran to the closet. “Closet has almost nothing in clothes.  Few dresses.  No stains but heavy stress marks around the wings.” he rummaged through the clothes in his closet to search for more clues, finding nothing he could only come to one conclusion. “She's obviously pretty awesome if she doesn't like to wear dresses beyond formal occasions.”

Something nagged at the back of Soarin's mind as he rummaged around the room looking for evidence as to who his mare was.  Soarin however brushed the feeling off, he had a mystery to solve and that was far more interesting than some nagging feeling.  “Alright, so the bed is worn pretty thin in the middle which means she's wild in bed.  Goggles found in dresser have branch scratches all throughout them. So either she works with trees or has a habit of crashing into them.”

That nagging feeling persisted in his mind but his eyes took notice of the walls. “She's allowed me to keep my poster of the Wonderbolts up, even the one of Spitfire, which means she loves the other Bolts as well.  Small magic burn from a cloud crib means we have a single kid, I'd say four to five.”

Soarin finally paused from his investigation into this mysterious mare.  That nagging sensation wouldn't leave him alone.  There was something wrong about this situation, something he couldn't quite put his hoof on.  “I checked in with Spitfire yesterday, went to Ponyville.  I didn't leave the condenser on.  Do I have any formal meetings today? No, Spitfire would be all over me if that was it.”

Soarin stared at the picture in front of him.  It was him and Rainbow Dash. Dash was in a rather pretty white dress while he was in military formal. Dash looked amazing with just a hint of blush on her cheek, no doubt from some comment one of her friends made about the two of them.  Soarin for a small second wished that he had the picture, she looked so pretty.

That was when reality hit him.  

Hard.  

In the back.

“Got you daddy!” A cheerful little colt shouted in triumph, his father sprawled out on the floor, the little colt on top of him.  “ Mommy says to get your lazy flank up and come down and have some pie!”

Soarin rolled over so that the colt fell off and he could get a good look at his kid.  The colt had the same blue fur as he did but it was quite obvious which side he got his mane from. “But I'm not hungry for pie,” Soarin whined.  His son gave him a blank stare, unable to process what his father had said. “I'm hungry for little colts!” Soarin pounced on his son, rubbing his nose into the kids belly.  “Nom nom nom nom.”  

His kid shrieked with laughter as Soarin buried his nose into his belly.  “Stop that...” The kid tried to get a hold of himself but the tickling from his dads muzzle was overpowering.  “Ahhh. Stop! It Tickles! Mooom! Ahh!”

“Nom Nom Nom Nom”

Soarin looked up from his kid as he heard a cough coming from the doorway.  In it stood Rainbow Dash, albeit a much older version than the one he knew.  Soarin grinned sheepishly. He pushed their son towards her. “I left you some dear. He is a most delicious colt.”

Rainbow stepped over their son with a stern look on her face.  “More delicious than my apple pie huh?”

Soarin put his hoof to his face as if he were in deep thought.  “It would be like comparing apples to oranges,” he said profoundly, sticking his hoof into the air.  “There is only one thing that could be possibly be better.” His voice was sly as he took a step forward, rubbing her side with his wings as he nudged her cutie mark.

“And that would be my totally awesome flank.” Rainbow stated with a satisfied smirk on her face.

Soarin snickered. “Nope.”

“Oh Really?” Rainbow would have made an angry face but she was curious as to his answer.

“Yep. It’s  a baked apple colt pie!” he shouted, picking up his son by the scruff of his neck and running to the kitchen.

Rainbow rolled her eyes before following her husband and the shrieks of her son.  The next half hour was quite the blur.  It had something to do with pie smeared over all three of them, starting with Soarin trying to force their kid into the apple pie. His attempts failed, somehow getting a face full of pie wherewith he “tripped” and  smeared it all over Rainbow’s mane.

Rainbow had known her husband long enough to have already made another pie and the three of them ate their breakfast in relative peace. Well, except for the cheesy fight of father vs son for the last piece. Enjoying the show Rainbow tried to sneak it for herself.  This did not go unnoticed by the quarreling males and she was soon tackled by the two, the pie smothered in the process.

After a good laugh and Rainbow scolding Soarin about being more irresponsible than Pinkie, the three of them took a shower under a black cloud and sent their colt to school.  Soarin turned to Rainbow, or at least how Pinkie imagined Rainbow.  “So do I pass Pinkie?”

“Of course, silly.” Rainbow got down on her four legs.  “You were a super duper awesome father.” Soarin shook his head.  It was Rainbow's body and voice, but the words were so unrainbow it hurt. “You were loving, responsible, sweet and fun.  Lots and lots of fun.  I haven't had so much fun since the great cake war against Princess Celestia.”

The wonderbolt chuckled and bowed graciously. “I'm honored you think so highly of me Miss Pie.” Soarin contorted his face trying to figure out how to word his question.  He looked off into the distance at the sun in the sky, then back to the rainbow-maned mare.  The colors reflected around her face so graciously. Her mane, still soaked from the shower, glistened in beautiful prismatic aura.  

Soarin turned around so Pinkie wouldn't see him blush, which was actually rather stupid seeing as he was inside of Pinkie.  After coming to this conclusion he turned back around, but the mare was gone and all that remained place was a water pool with his reflection in it.

Soarin walked over to it the pool and stared into it, noticing himself for the first time since he entered the mirror.  He looked older, more responsible.  He looked like a dad.  “A father huh.  I don't know if anybody has ever seen me like that.” He had always been Soarin the Wonderbolt, Soarin the Prodigy, Soarin High the Pegasi Archmage.  Never once had Soarin the Father ever been suggested to him, but he kind of liked it.

There was just one problem, he had to get a mare to like him first.  He let out a groan of disappointment at that thought, dipping himself into his reflection.

Twilight blinked.  She was in a large spacious marble room with a ceiling three stories high and large set of cathedral doors. Leading from the doors was a long red carpet that extended to the base of  the throne she was sitting on.  Lining the walls in a parallel fashion were stain glass windows separated by banners.  Oh, and she was an Alicorn.

On instinct she shut her eyes and opened them again, but she was still in Celestia's throne room.  She cautiously peered around.  “This makes no sense.” Twilight started. “But wasn't the mirror supposed to show us how Pinkie sees us?  Ugh, this is why I hate psychology.  Ponies aren't logical!” Huffing a little bit at the insanity of the situation, her previously flared out wings started to retract ever so slowly. Twilight looked to the left, then up in confusion trying to get some grip on what was going on.

“Of course.  Pinkie would have her own stained windows.” Twilight muttered taking in the images, then chuckled softly.  It seemed that some of Pinkie's favorite memories were engraved on the windows.  On one was Pinkie holding all of them together in a big hug and Twilight recognized the image as when they held Pinkie's surprise birthday party.

Just to the left the stained image showed Pinkie standing on her friends back singing in the parade she had put together just to sing her Smile, Smile, Smile song. Curiously, Twilight noted that Rarity wasn't there.  It took a minute but she remembered that her fellow unicorn had slipped out after showing up, having a large order to fill.

Across the room she saw a mural of Pinkie under a cloud of chocolate rain. Next to her was the contraption she had created to produce them.  Pinkie had been rather proud of it too until the Cutie Mark Crusaders tried to use to get their cloud making cutie marks.  

There were other memories spread about the windows, some that Twilight recognized and others she didn't.  She walked around the room staring up at the windows, flying to look at others.  After flying around the room she settled back down at the throne.  “This isn't anything like I imagined. Pinkie doesn't think I'm the princess so why would I be in the Princess's throne room looking like an Alicorn.” Twilight took a look at her wings, taking note that they were larger and had a bigger wingspan like Soarin's verses Dash and Fluttershy's more sleek wings. Without noticing she started to pace around the throne.

“Why would Pinkie think I'm like the princess? What is it about the Princess that she sees in me?” Twilight paused putting her hoof up to face to rest on it for a second.  “No.  Pinkie knows that I'm not nearly as strong as the Princess.  Besides, this is an overarching feature of how Pinkie sees me. Not merely some small attribute. So what arch-type does the princess hold that she sees me as?”

A trail of smoke entered into the throne room making its way towards Twilight. She looked up in surprise as it formed a letter in front of her, before plopping onto the ground. Quickly she opened it up and started to read.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I hope you’re not too mad at me for trying to fix this problem myself, but I'm so grateful you guys all came.  Even Soarin!  Do you think you could help me get him and Dashie together?  I just don't know what there problem is.  It’s like they're purposely trying to sabotage all my attempts to make them special someponies.  Wait! I know if I try to break them apart then they'll try to sabotage my attempts to Not get them together and then they'll be together, oh but wait. That means I won't have accomplished my goal either!

What? I'm rambling? Silly, how can you ramble in a letter. Would that be called runonning? You know like a run on sentence but doing it nonsensically, but aren't most run on sentences nonsensical anyways, so how would that be any different.

So thank you very much for coming and I hope you don't mind me making you look like the princess. No disrespect to the princess or anything but I thought you might not like being a small genetically modified mouse with an overly large head.  Just wanted to say thank you for all the help and stuff you've taught me over the years.  You're so smart and I can't imagine would have happened if you had not shown up.  I probably would've been kicked out of town years ago without you to guide me.

Your Faithful Student,

Pinkamena Diana Pie

Twilight looked on the other side of the letter to see if it said anything else. Seeing nothing she buried her snout into the paper reading through every piece of word very carefully.  Pausing, she reread the salutations a couple times over.  Your Faithful Student. Those words had a very special meaning to Twilight being the same way she ended all her letters to Celestia. They were so special to her that they could very well be called her catch phrase.

The words with which she had endeared Celestia so many times before were now being used to describe her.  The faintest of smiles appeared on Twilight's lips.  Pinkie saw her as a teacher and a mentor.

Twilight opened her magical space next to her cutie mark and stuffed the letter inside.