The tension in Fluttershy’s living room was palpable. It made Pinkie Pie think of a tasty muffin filled with particularly explosive strawberry jam. The kind of muffin that you knew you couldn’t resist chomping down on even if you also knew it would mean a bath right afterwards.
Now Pinkie Pie was hungry, too. It was almost enough to drive a mare to distraction, but only almost. She held the strings of a cluster of balloons in her mouth, and her saddlebags were filled to the brim with enough confetti to blind a flight of dragons. She wasn’t really facing dragons, though. She was up against a far more formidable foe. She was facing Twilight Sparkle.
The very second the unicorn had spotted Pinkie Pie’s party paraphernalia, Twilight had let out a loud groan. Apparently the other ponies and Spike had been in the middle of bringing out Fluttershy’s finest tableware and all that went with it. None of it looked like the colorful kind of fun stuff that screamed “let’s have a good time.” Twilight was preparing for a banquet while Pinkie brought the party, and now the spacious room was slowly going quiet.
Fluttershy paused on the last step of her stairs coming down from the second floor with Rainbow Dash in tow, Rarity stopped polishing the silverware, Spike peeked in from the kitchen, and Applejack’s efforts to move the dinner table into the middle of the living room slowly ground to a halt. Pinkie Pie opened her mouth and let the balloons decorate the ceiling for a bit. There was really only one thing to do in a situation like this.
Twilight come on, Celestia clearly likes fun!
The napkins are boring and where are you hiding the games?
Just because it so happens she’s the one raising the sun,
That doesn’t mean she’s into things that are nothing but lame!
Pinkie bounded into the room with a giggle on her lips, but when she reached in for a hug, Twilight drew back. The unicorn raised a foreleg and her voice both.
What you forget here is that she’s still a princess,
I’m sure that your plans are amazing and very grand.
I still say confetti has no place in this, my organized bliss,
A disappointment we simply can’t stand!
Rainbow Dash swooped in from the other side of the room. She passed Twilight so close by, her mane and tail stood out straight in her wake. Pinkie grinned when the pegasus landed at her side, lending her support and her voice.
You saw for yourself, she’s just looking to share some laughs,
Not everything has to be planned by equations—
They’re graphs! Twilight snapped.
Not about to leave her friend alone, Rarity put down the silverware she had been inspecting a moment prior, trotting up to Twilight’s side.
Where royalty’s concerned one is wise to observe,
The respect and the dignity they’ve come to deserve.
Pinkie trotted past the two unicorns and grabbed napkin from the table. In a few quick movements, she folded what could generously be called a paper crocodile, depositing her creation on Twilight’s back while she carried the song on.
All this fussing and worrying makes no sense,
We’re all friends here, and she’s just another mare.
She didn’t say she wanted yet another fancy soirée,
We could even have a garden party, let’s go get some air!
Twilight sighed and surrounded the hapless and inert reptile with her magic, straightening the napkin back out before she replied.
While she clearly isn’t here to talk policies or war,
She is royalty, she’ll expect us to be our very best.
She’s a princess, and what’s more, she’s still my mentor,
Even though she hasn’t said a word, it’s still a kind of test.
Twilight’s head drooped with those final words, but she had barely the time to finish before Fluttershy sidled up to her. The pegasus nuzzled Twilight and smiled, her soft voice continuing where Twilight left off.
The princess she has always been ever so nice,
She loves you and she wants to see you too.
We don’t have to tear down my cottage to play cards or dice,
Just breathe steady, you know that we’re all here for you.
Finally, Applejack moved to Pinkie Pie’s side, a grin on her face as she wrapped a foreleg around the pink pony’s neck. The earth mare wasted no time in force-walking Pinkie towards Twilight.
I think it’s clear that it’s time that we call a truce,
Though you’re different, you both very obviously care,
With twice the ideas there’s nothing we stand to lose,
Now let’s buckle down, get up, there’s much to do to prepare!
Pinkie Pie reached out and offered Twilight a full-bodied grin to go with the unicorn’s tentative smile. There was a moment’s reluctance, but eventually, Twilight reached out and hugged Pinkie Pie around the neck, and Pinkie was all too happy to return it.
“Right,” Twilight said, loudly exhaling. Applejack tipped her hat and resumed her quest to get the table centered, and the other ponies were back to work as well, leaving Pinkie and Twilight by themselves. “So, how about you decorate a bit, and we ask her what she wants to do after dinner? Is that an okay compromise?”
“Oh, asking her sounds great! And you know, I wasn’t planning on tossing streamers and banners and stuff all over the place.” Pinkie Pie giggled and nosed open one of her saddlebags, digging a game board out from the protective layer of confetti. “It’s not like everything is better off looking like a birthday party. Balloons, on the other hoof. Those go with anything!”
Twilight sighed and nodded. “Sorry. I guess I overreacted.”
Pinkie Pie leaned past her, sniffing the air. “Whatcha making? I can’t smell anything cooking, baking or even burning.”
The answer came in the form of a baby dragon poking his head in from the kitchen. Spike wore an apron and a chef’s hat, wielding a pair of wooden salad forks. “Fluttershy had an idea for a salad with nuts and tomatoes. I’m having sapphires!”
“Oh!” Pinkie nibbled her own tongue. “I thought you were making some huge fancy dinner. Salad sounds great!”
Twilight chuckled at that. “A multiple course meal? At noon?”
Pinkie shrugged, hopping past Twilight to help Rarity with the tablecloth while Twilight herself levitated over a large bowl of salad from Spike’s grip. It was a pleasant sort of silence while the ponies milled about and prepared the cottage. Sunlight streamed in through open windows, and birds, rabbits and all kinds of little animals occupied the windowsills watching them at work. Even if Pinkie Pie pretended for a second she liked quiet, she knew it wouldn’t last. Twilight had that odd sort of look about her that usually heralded an incoming doozy.
“Can you believe ponies in Manehatten generally don’t do group songs?”
Pinkie Pie blinked. Suddenly, she felt, very, very cold. “But—but how do they get anything done, then?”
Rainbow Dash snorted from over by the couch where she was taking her break. “That’s lame. The Canterlot ponies are down with a good song, at least.”
“Speaking of down with a good song,” Pinkie said, squinting at the open door that led to the kitchen. “Spike, what gives? Nothing?”
“Uh, I’m more into duets, really,” Spike called. “Sorry!”
“Much as I love to hear Spikey-wikey sing, I have to say he would’ve ruined the symmetry,” Rarity said. “Now do be a dear and help me find the rest of the silverware. I only found two forks.”
“Um. I only have two of those, sorry,” Fluttershy said. “For you and Twilight. Since, well, you know.” She shrugged and lifted a hoof.
“Well, that all only matters if she shows up at all, don’t it?” Applejack huffed, casually kicking the couch where Dash lay when she passed by. “And get up, you. We need to get a few more pillows for seating.”
Twilight nodded, a strained smile on her lips as she looked to Pinkie. “As much as I hate to say it, we have to consider the possibility that she might not show up this time either. I know you were upset last time—”
“She wasn’t very upset,” Fluttershy said. “She, um, well, she just kind of disappeared. You were the one who—”
“Anyway!” Twilight said. “She might get called away on royal business, that’s my point.”
Pinkie Pie nodded along with every word, and once Twilight was done speaking, shook her head once. “She won’t.”
“As long as you’re aware it’s a possibility,” Twilight said. “I don’t like it either.”
“She won’t,” Pinkie said. Perhaps Twilight hadn’t seen Celestia’s face, but Pinkie had. She knew, and if she didn’t know, she’d still pretend she did simply because she wanted it so very much.
Twilight closed her eyes for a second and rubbed that spot she rubbed very often when she was talking to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie’s own little spot of Twilight forehead territory.
“You can’t know that, and while I know I shouldn’t get into an argument with you on theoretical things that have no bearing on reality—”
Pinkie Pie perked an ear up at a noise and glanced past Twilight. “Theories?”
Twilight’s reply was forestalled by a faint rustle of wings, a team of pegasi and a familiar gilded chariot swooping past the windows outside. A moment later, Rainbow Dash winced in sympathy as the royal guard struggled to bring the vehicle to a halt on the crooked little path. She opened her mouth to speak, but whatever she tried to say was drowned out by the sharp blare of a horn. Once that died down, it was shortly followed by a gruff voice that did not sound like it enjoyed the company of other, more polite inside voices.
“Her Royal Highness, the Princess Celestia of Equestria!”
“I think that’s her,” Pinkie Pie whispered as loudly as she could.
“My little ponies, hello to you all,” Celestia said, ducking past the door frame as she entered. The six ponies and baby dragon all sketched quick bows that were quickly dismissed by a smile. “I am glad to see you. Ah. Iron Scales, Long Stride, you may go. I don’t think I will need a guard detail tonight,” she added.
While Pinkie shrugged out of her saddlebags, Twilight glanced every which way, subtly inching to the side and in front of the table as if her body could obscure the room entire. It didn’t take more than second for her to give up on that, instead trotting over to briefly cross necks with the princess.
“We didn’t expect you so early, sorry. We’re almost done, though.”
“Oh that’s quite alright. I should have told you; Luna’s apparently making me take every Sunday off from now on,” Celestia said, a bemused smile playing across her face.
“She can do that?” Dash asked.
“Not as a princess, but as a sister. Besides, she already takes Thursdays off, and that was at my request.”
“Thursdays?” Applejack asked. “Why in all things good’re you making her take a day off in the middle of the week?”
Rarity squinted at the table, carefully nudging one of the plates an inch to the side as she spoke. “It’s commonly held that the stars are more beautiful on Thursdays as of late. If you’re not employed in a normal job, why not?”
At that, Celestia smiled. “Rather, the stars always shine brighter then precisely because she takes the day off, so it’s the other way around. All the same, I did intend to make the journey here the last time, and I am sorry to have disappointed.”
“Oh, that’s fine,” Fluttershy said, the others muttering words to the same effect.
Pinkie nodded as fast as her neck let her. “You’re here now! D’you wanna eat? We should do something fun afterwards! Rainbow Dash brought the family edition of Battleclouds. Oh, we can probably have fun while eating, too, but salads are terrible for food fights.”
Rainbow Dash perked an ear and peered over at the salad bowl as if she intended to challenge just that, and the other ponies shifted nervously—or opened their mouths looking all frowny like they were about to say terribly boring things like “no.” Applejack beat them to it.
“Can’t we just eat? I’m right powerful hungry.”
Celestia chuckled and headed for the table at that. “The food looks lovely, and I’d love to play a game afterwards. I’m sure the rules can’t have changed that much in a thousand years.”
Pinkie Pie giggled and clapped her hooves together when Celestia moved the heron one step to the left on the game board. The salad bowl was all but empty, the dishes were cleared, and game pieces littered the table that was surrounded by seven ponies and one baby dragon, bringing the fifth round to an end.
“You win again!” Pinkie said.
“I’ve never seen anypony play like that before,” Twilight said, her brow knit in thought.
Spike grunted as he strained to reach for the middle of the table, grabbing the last of his pieces. “I thought you said you hadn’t played Battleclouds before, but you’ve won the last three rounds out of five.”
“Um, I said I was sorry. I could have let you have the first win if you really wanted it, Spike,” Fluttershy said.
“I don’t get it. Attacking with all the clouds always works,” Dash muttered.
“Yes, well, perhaps you’d have more success if you varied your tactics a little,” Rarity said.
“Hey, I always win against you!”
Rarity huffed. “It’s hardly my fault that the game doesn’t reward setups that are pleasing to the eye.”
Celestia cleared her throat, glancing back and forth between the ponies. If Pinkie Pie didn’t know better, she’d have thought the princess looked the teeniest little bit nervous or embarrassed. It wasn’t that she actually knew better, either. It just took a lot of effort not to blurt out that the game was really simple and that Pinkie had let them win all day; you just needed to get the right result on the dice, and that was cake.
But no. Nervous.
“I’m sorry if I’m being a poor sport, but a variant of this game was played a long, long time ago, and when it all comes down to it, it’s just tactics. I suppose I know a thing or two on that front.”
And then she smiled again. Just like the smiles that she tried to suppress every time she won. Pinkie Pie had seen many smiles over the course of the years. Smiles were her forté. Her every action was towards that goal; to make ponies happy, to make ponies smile, but Celestia had so very many of them.
Pinkie had seen Celestia smile when the gang of friends returned from some particularly dangerous and fun adventure. Proud and beautiful smiles that said “I knew you could do it.” She’d seen the restrained smiles that Celestia wore when she’d rather not. Smiles that weren’t. Just now, she’d seen smiles that said “I won, and that was more fun than I had expected, but I shouldn’t smile too wide because it wouldn’t be right,” and smiles that said “I’m sorry if I’m being a poor sport.” The last one had been just a moment ago, but it was different.
And none of them were the smile Pinkie wanted. If there was a pony, a mule or a griffin in Equestria Pinkie had met and not made smile, she’d feel awful. Rarity had said that some smiles were bigger on the inside, and Rarity was a very smart pony, but even if that was the case she wasn’t after a smile. She was after the smile. The smile that said what all smiles should say.
Pinkie Pie shook her head and smiled, rejoining the conversation, and as she did, she smiled. Here were her best friends, and they were having a good time. She smiled because she was happy.
“Actually, before we move on,” Celestia said, sitting up and stretching. “I would like to say my thanks.”
Pinkie Pie tilted her head, pulling her eyes away from the long, pretty neck. Everypony- and dragon sat upright, but Celestia made a dismissive little gesture.
“It is nothing much, I just don’t want to forget to thank Fluttershy for being a wonderful hostess,” she said, making the pegasus so named blush and nod before Celestia turned her eyes to Pinkie Pie. “And to Pinkie Pie for, ah, let’s just say ‘convincing’ me to come.”
“Convincing, harassing,” Applejack said, triggering a low set of giggles around the table. The only one not to laugh was Celestia. The princess nodded slowly at Applejack.
“You may joke, but I’m both sincere and indebted.”
This time, the angle of the princessely lips wasn’t quite as important as the words they spoke. Pinkie bolted upright and hopped on the spot.
“Ooh! Debt! Does this mean I get a wish?”
“That’s for leprechauns, Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy said. Another round of giggles, and this time Celestia laughed the loudest. Pinkie deflated and nodded. Celestia didn’t even have a green coat, so there wasn’t much point in arguing.
“Aw. That’s a shame, because I’d have wished for you to come visit again.”
Another smile from Celestia. Still not the right one, but this one was close. Rarity made some cute little noise or other, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but Celestia was quiet, looking around the table with painstaking slowness.
“Well. Fortunately, I have the power to grant myself wishes, and it may be that I wish to come visit more often. It wouldn’t cost me to come visit every other Sunday, and with luck, it might give Luna some peace too, to know I’m in good company.”
“Hay yeah we’re good company,” Dash cheered, pumping a hoof in the air. For a moment the table was a delicious riot of mutters and cheers and all things good besides. Pinkie threw a hoof-ful of confetti into the air for good measure.
“Aw that’s great!” she said. “See, Twilight?”
“See what?” Twilight said.
“It’s so much more fun when we’re just being good friends, or even great friends, and when we’re not being all weird like when I said Celestia was cute, which is obvious, I mean, duh!”
It was rather remarkable how quickly the noise in the room could slow down and die, much like a bicycle with its wheels suddenly removed.
“Um,” Fluttershy said, as the first to speak, or rather, not-speak. Her cheeks were flushed red.
Rarity cleared her throat rather noisily. “Well. You’ll forgive Pinkie Pie, I hope. She’s, uh, gone heavy on the—”
“Walnuts?” Spike supplied, glancing over towards the kitchen entrance.
Twilight said nothing this time, the unicorn content to look up at her mentor, and while Pinkie Pie felt a little bit like sinking back down onto her pillow, Celestia hadn’t budged. She sat rather still, the selfsame content smile in place.
“Pinkie Pie can of course say exactly what she wants,” Celestia said, glancing over at Pinkie Pie. Their eyes met only briefly before they fled back to Twilight. “That said, I believe the royalty back in Canterlot would get a laugh out of that.”
Rainbow Dash snorted and giggled, and Applejack guffawed. Pinkie Pie watched all her friends make everything from riotous laughter to polite and muted giggles, but she didn’t much feel like laughing along this time. It wasn’t as if her friends would ever hurt her, or mean to, but if she had said something funny, she couldn’t quite understand what. She looked up at Celestia again, but the pretty white pony wasn’t looking back at her this time. That made everything a lot harder.
“Ah. About time to lower the sun,” Celestia said. She closed her eyes, and her horn slowly acquired a faint sheen.
“Here?”
Rainbow Dash’s words hung in the air, and Celestia opened her eyes, horn muted and dull white again.
“I mean, can you do it just... sitting here? Like that?” Dash gaped.
“Oh. Well,” Celestia glanced about, as if there was something or somepony else around. After a moment’s silence, she rose to stand. “It would probably be more fitting to go outside. I suppose I could use some air as well. I will be back shortly.”
“I could make us some tea?” Fluttershy said.
“I’ll give you a hoof with that,” Applejack said, rolling her neck and standing up. Pinkie Pie sat as still as she could, watching as the ponies spread around the room. Applejack and Fluttershy disappeared into the kitchen and Rainbow Dash reclaimed her spot on the couch. Pinkie didn’t move at all when Rarity and Spike began clearing the table, nor did she budge when Twilight moved over to a nearby bookcase.
Pinkie frowned. It was a very small, very cautious frown, not a mopey frown that meant she was angry or even disappointed, but it was sticky all the same. A cloying little frown that didn’t understand why she was dismissed and ignored, laughed at for the second time when she’d made a comment about Celestia.
About a princess, Twilight’s voice repeated in her head. Pinkie didn’t sit around and wait for another lecture from all the ponies in her head. She got up and headed out the front door chasing after a smile, biting down on that silly frown to turn it into a grin of her own.
The sun became part of the distant horizon, much like a bit of butter subjected to a hot frying pan. Flattened and smooshed. It was a little sad, but the colors that bled from from the orb made it worth it. Pinkie’s every step was slower, and she was barely halfway to the bridge by the brook outside of Fluttershy’s cottage when she had to halt for a moment. She’d seen almost as many sunsets as she had sunrises, but this one was prettier than most. Yellow mixed in with pinks and blues to weave a sky almost as colorful as the mane and tail of the pony who made it.
Celestia looked very different when she wasn’t under the full sunlight. Very different, and so very much the same. The princess pony stood on the bridge ahead, her horn brightly lit yet dying as Pinkie approached; without daylight on her form, she was darker, as was the entire world, but she lost none of her color.
“Wow. That’s a super-duper pretty sunset,” Pinkie said, bouncing up on the broad stone railing of the bridge. This way, she was taller than even Celestia, and that was worth a grin and a giggle.
“Thank you,” Celestia said. She glanced over at Pinkie and walked up to the side of the small bridge, peering over the railing at the brook below. A pair of otters looked back up at the two ponies, and then promptly went back to their otter-y business. Just like most critters, really.
And unlike most ponies.
Pinkie slipped off the railing and rested her head on the flat stones, twisting around until she looked up at Celestia. “Why are ponies so silly around you all the time?”
Celestia opened her mouth right away as if to reply, but no words came. She closed it again, and turned very slowly to look at Pinkie. Pinkie thought the princess looked a little curious herself, brows furrowed.
“Most would say it’s respect.”
Pinkie pursed her lips, and Celestia shook her head before continuing.
“I don’t think it’s right either. They might think it is, but that makes it sound like ponies who act differently don’t respect me. I wouldn’t accuse my sister of not respecting me. Not ever. Nor would I suggest you don’t. Many respect the rules and regulations, even if there is no malice in it. They respect crown and implications, not me.”
Pinkie nodded and swallowed. Celestia still looked more thoughtful than anything, but the words filled Pinkie with an odd sort of sadness she couldn’t describe. A hole had been gouged somewhere, and Pinkie could no more locate it than she could fill it.
“I’m trying to change that, though. I don’t know how, but it’s something I want. For myself. I didn’t think about it until recently. I think you’re to blame.” Celestia arched a brow, and the darkness lifted a little bit.
“Oh wow, thanks! I think? Is that a good thing?”
Celestia chuckled and lifted a foreleg to lean on the railing. “I’m still trying to work that out.”
“But you’re happy, right?”
No thought, this time. No frowny thinking princess. An automatic smile and an equally mechanical nod.
“I’m content, yes.”
“That’s not at all what I asked, silly.” Pinkie prodded Celestia in the side. “I asked if you were happy. Totally not the same thing!”
Celestia blinked once, then twice more, staring at the spot where Pinkie had poked her as she expected to find a smudge of pink or something equally crazy. At length, she shook her head. “I think you lost me.”
“I asked if you’re happy. Happy is like this!” Pinkie brought out her broadest, happiest grin for a moment; it was almost sad to let it go afterwards. “You said you’re content. Content is like, oh wow, I don’t even know if I can go that low. That’s like getting three muffins when you ask for a dozen, but you say you’re fine with it anyway because you didn’t like muffins that much to begin with—oh no, no, that’s worse, that’s far worse. Still, you get the idea!”
For a little while, it looked like Celestia really didn’t get the idea. She peered down at Pinkie with big, wide-open eyes, but even Pinkie could see that her sage wisdom bounced off. That, or she had something on her nose.
Pinkie licked her nose. Nothing.
“I... am satisfied, if that is what you are asking,” Celestia said.
“No, no, no!” Pinkie stuck her tongue out as she thought. “Not satisfied, not okay, not content, but happy! You should be the happiest pony ever. Almost everypony I know who have jobs or hobbies or whatever, they’re happy because they love what they do. Because they look past their snouts! Or manes if they have really long manes, I guess. And you’re like, the most biggest most important pony ever, and everypony loves what you do! It’s just like you’re always throwing a party, every day! Raising the sun? Thanks for that by the way. It’s really nice to have light out, but I mean, wow. I’m kind of jealous, except not really.”
Celestia let out a breath rather audibly. “It’s not quite the same. What I do is duty, and it brings satisfaction. I’m of course pleased—”
“Pleased is good! See, now we’re getting somewhere!” Pinkie said. “But if you’re not happy, it’s like a baker who keeps baking these amazing treats without taking time to think about how many customers she’s making happy! I love that! When I host a party, the best part is making sure everypony has fun, and when I bake a particularly tasty batch of dandelion muffins, I just have to rush over and give one to Fluttershy and watch her face as she enjoys it!”
That got something of a reaction. That, or Celestia was looking away because she was still annoyed that Pinkie Pie had interrupted her. The princess peered down at the babbling brook again. She did sound a little annoyed.
“If you are asking me to do something, I’m not quite sure what that is, ignoring the fact that you have no authority to ask me to do anything at all.”
Pinkie Pie squinted. “I don’t think I do either, I got a little distracted and now I’m thinking about baking something really tasty. Hey, do you want to grab another game of Battleclouds? Or maybe Monopoly? Applejack is really good at Monopoly!”
Celestia drew breath and closed her eyes for a second. The tension that almost was, was no more, and that was the end of that.
“I think I can make time for one last round, yes.”
Pinkie joined Celestia as the larger pony started back towards the cottage. Again she failed to give up that one smile, but she didn’t look unhappy. She usually never had, and that was a start, but today the princess made less than half as much sense as Pinkie was used to. She put on a smile twice as bright to make up for it.
“There you are,” Fluttershy said once they entered the cottage again, the pegasus perking up. “Oh. Both of you. Um, green, black, or—well, those are all I have, sorry.”
“I’ll have what she’s having!” Pinkie said, leaning against Celestia. The larger pony tensed up a little and cleared her throat.
“Ah. Black. Please. And then I really have to be going, I think.”