//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: That's How the Accursed Cookies Crumble // by The Descendant //------------------------------// "That's How the Accursed Cookies Crumble" Written by The Descendant Chapter 2 In the reserved suite in the Hotel Sea Biscuit the masses moved towards implementing the next act of the gag. It was a massive operation, and in a fluid motion the dozens of ponies, reptiles, animals, and sole (if adept) dragon moved about in secretly practiced proficiency. "Spike, dear," said Rarity, "I've just finished up with the next principal actor, so if you have a minute you and I should soon begin…" "Oh, of course," he said, his expression calming from the militant one of his role in the gag into his usual love struck persona. In his clawed hand he held a small token, one that would add an air of authenticity to his role. Watching from before the canvas Twilight rolled her eyes. If Rarity asked if she could pour jellyfish venom into his eyes Spike would probably agree, as long as she batted her lashes at him. Twilight watched her crew clear Pinkie's room, gingerly removing the large adult alligator under Fluttershy's guidance. Her crack insertion unit, the C.M.C. placed the "evidence", and her "cleaners" looked for anything that could have betrayed their presence. The Cake family, willing and happy accomplices, waited to lock the door…and all of this played out in the swirling paints of the paintings before her. At once she felt a shadow, and she looked up at a smiling face. "Your turn, big guy!" she winked. Applejack had run up to the farm to do a quick chore or two, all play and no work made her a dull spur, but now she made her way back down the path, a happy look on her face. Fluttershy waved at her from the porch of the hotel, and Applejack nodded back and laughed along with the pegasus. At once a large figure crossed behind the hotel, being secreted along, and Applejack picked up her pace, knowing that the next phase had begun. Rainbow Dash baked in the mid-morning sun, the early spring day being uncommonly warm and sunny, even for a place where her kind controlled the weather. Watching Applejack canter by she scowled, then turned to Pinkie. Pinkie however was not so concerned by the coming and going of ponies. She was also, it seemed (to Dash's great annoyance), not overly concerned with the construction of the trebuchet. Dash looked on unimpressed and disturbed as Pinkie passed her popped balloon mark back and forth between her cupcake-covered eyes like a game of table-tennis, making "Doup, de doup, doup, de doup…" sounds as she did so in narration. "Pinkie," asked Dash, one part horrified and another part entertained by the display, "Why are we building this trebuchet?" "Oh," began Pinkie, the song starting once more, "Today is a day, a day of pranks, a day of jokes…a day for tricking lots of folks…" "And…" interrupted Dash, the rubber chickens once again falling through Pinkie's visions uselessly, "What are we doing with the trebuchet?" "Making 2,467 old filled doughnuts fly through the air, covering all with their custardy goodness!" said Pinkie, theatrically balancing at the mention of the day-old delights. "Okay…now, if we're almost done, shouldn't we have them here? And, perhaps, shouldn't somepony who has been saving custard doughnuts go retrieve them?" asked Dash, motioning to Pinkie. "Doup, de doup, doup, de doup, doup…" came her reply. "Pinkie!" shouted Dash, laying her head on Pinkie's, the thought of touching the shrunken bit of cutie mark causing her flesh to crawl. "Yes?" Pinkie answered with a grin. "Go get the doughnuts!" called Dash. "Okay!" replied the pink earth pony, bouncing off once more in her unique style. As Dash watched her go she brushed cupcake crumbs and frosting from her own forelock. As she watched Pinkie head off she wondered at her friend. Looking up to the trebuchet she wondered how this would all end. Entering Sugarcube Corner Pinkie began looking for her stash of custard doughnuts. She was however interrupted by Applejack's return. "Heya' Pinkie, ya' need any help…I feel bad about droppin' all of this cookie madness on ya'…" "Heh, well," stated Pinkie, "I can't really ask for help, 'cause, well…wink, wink…but if you'd like to help me to move some boxes to an undisclosed location I'd appreciate it!" "Oh, ummm, sure…" said Applejack, following Pinkie up the stairs. Upon entering the apartment Pinkie stopped dead, her mouth dropping open in surprise. Applejack moved alongside her, and with a look of shock she stared at the safe. The presence of an acetylene torch…not to mention the huge hole cut through the metal shields, the chains, and the safe's wall…was a rather large clue that something was amiss. Applejack turned to Pinkie, a look of horror across her face. "Pinkie, Pinkie tell me…did you…?" "No, no, no!" she cried, "Cross my heart, hope to fly…" and with that she delicately opened a nearby window, removed any impeding objects, and jumped out. Applejack, looking on in shock, was joined in her sudden horror by those in the hotel where sat a mass of wide-eyed denizens. The familiar sound of hooves came flying up the stairs, and a disheveled Pinkie Pie ran to her private stash and dug out the last of her designer cupcakes. She ran them across her face vigorously, calling out, "Rub a cupcake in my eye! My! Eye!" "Okay…well, that leaves the usual suspect!" said a concerned Applejack. At once Pinkie was off to the bathroom, leaving a trail of cupcake to join the cookie crumbs. "Careful!" called Applejack after her, "We don't know what kinda cookie he ate! He could be anything!" Pinkie didn't care; she just wanted to find Gummy, to see that he was alright. She was so intent on finding out what had become of him that she accidentally passed first through her bedroom. She zipped directly past the mule lying in her bed, covered with rose petals and basking in the candlelight, before arriving in the bathroom. "Hey A.J.! I don't see him! Were there tiny cookies in the box? Could he be really, really, really tiny? How about invisible cookies? Did you see any invisible…no, wait, that was silly…how about…" "It was a gingerbread mule," said Applejack, arriving at the other door, "The gingerbread mule that was in the box is gone. Had all these candy hearts on it, couldn't hardly miss it. Who knows what that means…" "Well, okay I guess…no, wait. Hold on. I'm missing something important here," she said, looking into the tub. "Oh, ummm…well, retrace yer' steps," suggested Applejack. "Okay," said Pinkie, returning through her bedroom, saying "Excuse me," to the mule, it blowing kisses at her as she went by. "Well, we saw the safe, and I went crazy and jumped out the window, and rubbed cupcakes all over my muzzle…" she said, turning around and heading back out of her sitting room. "Then I passed through my bedroom here where there was a mule all covered…with…rose…petals…" At that she stopped dead, looking upon the spectacle of the mule. As she watched it poured oil over itself and began flexing, and she began to blush. By the time Applejack dared look out from the bathroom Pinkie had turned such a brilliant crimson, blushing so intensely, that her hue challenged the dozens of candles that were scattered around the room in power of luminosity. "Pinkie, my love!" called "Mully" leaping from the bed athletically, "I have acquired, by means of the magic of the cookies, an equestrian form! Now, yes now, I can reveal to you my secret longings!" As Applejack looked on the mule, or Gummy to Pinkie, declared his love in grandiose and provocative terms. "C'est l'amour!! C'est toujours!" he finished, "And now, my little cupcake, for your amusement…the gun show!" With that he hopped back upon the bed, poured a significant quantity of oil over himself, and therefore the bed, and flexed indecently. Pinkie Pie had, by this point, begun blushing so hard that the she was leaving visible scorch marks on the floorboards and adjoining wall. Applejack, fighting with all of her strength to keep from laughing out loud, hid beneath the tub, using its bulk to keep from breathing too hard and letting loose with laughter. At the hotel, the entirety of the cast of "Operation: Have Some, Pie!" rocked back and forth with laughter, the entire room pulsing with their mirth. The availability of the air supply in the suite was jeopardized as the assembly laughed until their sides hurt. There was a knock upon the door and Fluttershy, struggling for breath, answered. Before her stood a manager, and as she tried to stifle her laughter he asked, "On behalf of the hotel and due to complaints I must ask if you could keep the raucous laughter down to a reasonable…" "No, no…I'm, I'm sorry…I, I don't think we can!" said the pegasus, giggling, slowly closing the door. "Oh," said the surprised manager, trying to peak within the suite as it closed. Back in Pinkie's apartment the declarations of the mule had now reached the point where he had gathered up her hoof and was kissing it while saying words like "moon" and "June" and other rambling and rhyming romantic utterances. It was at this point where Pinkie's blushing reached a critical mass and she, with a single flash of fire, burnt a hole through the floor of her rooms into the shop below. "Don't reject my love!" he called into the smoking edifice, and then slid to the floor in false tears. In a moment Applejack, having regained control of her body, approached him and he looked up to her. "How'd I do?" asked the mule, putting his hooves behind his head. Applejack smiled and raised her hoof, and he gave her a hoof-pump in reply. Prancing down the stairs Applejack put on a serious face, ready to continue the farce, but was surprised to see Rainbow Dash in the store. She made a trio of onlookers that, along with the Cake family, looked down upon a bedraggled, harried, and cupcake slathered Pinkie Pie. "And there was oil everywhere!" she yelled, looking up to a blushing Dash from where she lay on her back, before whispering "Everywhere." Pinkie lifted up her head in alarm, yet her body remained immobile. "Ohmigosh! I'm gonna need new bed sheets!" She laid down her head, a blank expression barely hiding her confusion, then quickly lifted it back up, "I'm gonna need to burn my bed!" "What…is…this…nonsense!" demanded Rainbow Dash, winging her way past Applejack, streaking up the stairs. By the time Applejack had made her way to where Pinkie lay a blushing Rainbow Dash, not nearly as red and bothered as Pinkie yet still remarkably vibrant, had fallen through the same hole. Recovering a bit the pegasus shook an angry hoof to the distant hole in the ceiling and cried, "Whatta ya' mean 'consolation prize'?" As Dash sat in a huff the Cake's continued their role in the gag. "Pinkie," asked Mr. Cake, sitting next to her, "What's going on?" "There's a love-struck mule in my room!" "Young lady," continued Mrs. Cake, "You know our rules about having colts over!" "But he's not really a mule, he's Big Mac!" said Pinkie, flubbing what she meant to say. "Best to avoid love triangles, Pinkie, they don't work out," suggested Mr. Cake with a knowing sigh. "But he's not Big Mac either! He's an alligator…but he ate…The Accursed Cookies!" replied Pinkie, slowly waving her forelegs through the air, her head bobbling back and forth on the floor. Dash, showing great impatience, tapped her hoof on the floor over and over, waiting for Pinkie to show signs of mobility. Having made the arrangements for having all 2,467 of the doughnuts transported to where the trebuchet awaited use her patience to be complete with the project was now being tested…and Dash did not suffer waiting well. "The Accurrrrsss...edddd CoooOOOooookkkkiiieeeessss!" stated Pinkie in a long and drawn out tone. "Pinkie, we…" began Dash. "The Accurrrrsss...edddd CoooOOOooookkkkiiieeeessss!" "Oh for Celestia's sake!" called Rainbow Dash, taking Pinkie's tail in her mouth, spinning her around, and leading her out of Sugarcube Corner. At once she began to strain, and looking back she saw Pinkie's hooves grasping at the floorboards, long spirals of wood reeling around from where she was digging in. "A.J., please, ya' gotta give Gummy another cookie," pleaded Pinkie. "But, we don't know…we gotta wait…" stammered Applejack. "We can't wait for Twilight! I have to be able to go into my room…and I'm not ready for a long-term relationship!" said Pinkie as the spiraling wood splinters grew larger. "Pinkie, we don't know…he could become anything…what if he becomes some kind of oatmeal monster?" "Preferable!" called Pinkie, grasping the doorframe, "Please A.J.!" Applejack looked at her and, with a sigh, nodded her head. "Thank you!" called Pinkie as she disappeared outside, a call of, "Accurrrrsss...edddd CoooOOOooookkkkiiieeeessss!" being her adieu. When Pinkie and Dash had disappeared from view Applejack, smiling broadly, turned back to the Cake family and with a small blush of her own issued an apology. "Sorry 'bout the floors, folks…we'll have the boys over here in a bit to put in new floorboards," she said with a nod, borrowing a piece of paper and a pencil to leave Pinkie a note. "Oh well," said Mr. Cake, his wife laying her head into his chest as she giggled at the oddness of the day, "That's how the accursed cookies crumble." At the Hotel Sea Biscuit the operatives of "Operation: Have Some, Pie!" were preparing for the final iteration of the plan. As Applejack returned to the suite she was greeted with cheers, the foals draping an impromptu laurel wreath around her neck. As friends, family, and colleagues hugged and embraced her she took a series of bows. Her part of the Saga of the Gag had come to an end, and she had played it marvelously. As the excitement died down she looked to where Rarity worked behind a screen. Cantering over she looked down to where she put finishing touches on her latest masterpiece. "Boy howdy, Rarity! He looks perfect," said Applejack, looking Spike over, joining Gummy, the real one, and Greener Gummy in gauging the effect of the dragon's transformation. "Well thank you, Applejack! It is most appreciated," she said, placing something in her hooves. "Spike, darling, one last bit of costuming…look at the ceiling, dear." As Spike blinked Rarity placed the contact lenses over his eyes. In a moment he had adjusted, and looking into the mirror he saw the entirely different specie of animal that stared back at him, and he grinned a malicious grin. In his reflection he saw Rarity and Applejack looking back with smiles, and either side of him stood the two smaller alligators, their mouths wide with surprise. "Bro-claw," he demanded, holding up his small hands to each, still staring into the mirror, one still gripping tightly to his little surprise. The two alligators responded, and with that he walked over to where Twilight waited. "Twi," he said quietly, knowing that she was charging up, seeing the concentration on her face. The unicorn looked up to him, and at once her expression brightened. "Spike!" she said with a smile, "You look great!" "Heh, thanks," he said, blushing through the paint, but quickly turning back to her, some small worry in his voice, "Are…are you gonna be alright?" "It will take a lot of concentration, and Rarity will lend me some of her strength, Sweetie Belle and the other unicorns too," she said, comforting him. Quickly she changed the subject, "Do you have it ready?" Spike opened his hand, "Haven't let go of it since this morning," he said with a giggle. Fluttershy approached, and as she did Twilight saw her crews stealthily evacuating the distant apartment one last time, their exit portrayed in the shifting paintings. "Okay…okay, you…are you ready, Spike?" asked Fluttershy, motioning to the dragon. "Yup!" and with a quick hug from Twilight he jumped onto the back of the pegasus. In a moment Twilight saw them both enter the rooms in her paintings, and then saw Fluttershy exit, leaving Spike alone. Back at the trebuchet site Rainbow Dash looked on in disappointed bemusement as her friend, the distracted Pinkie Pie, attempted to help her complete the trebuchet. In the distance something moved, and Dash thought she saw the familiar form of Fluttershy dart between buildings…apparently carrying something. She thought for a second to look to Pinkie, wondering if she had seen it as well. Pinkie though was utterly diverted, she kept sighing, kept stopping mid-project, kept staring back down the slope towards Sugarcube Corner. "Ummm, Pinkie, are you okay?" asked Dash, wrinkling her face at the scene that played out before her. "Yeah, I'm okay…why?" replied Pinkie with a forced smile, her one eye twitching. At first Dash worried that it indicated that she was about to predict some impending tragedy. She calmed a bit when she realized it only foretold an impending mental breakdown. "Well," said Dash, leaning towards where Pinkie worked, "You know, I asked you to saw the last of the runway planks in half, and put the doughnuts in the sling…" "Yeah?" replied Pinkie, continuing to operate her saw. "Well," sighed Dash, closing her eyes, "You put the planks in the sling, and you've spent the last ten minutes sawing the doughnuts in half…" Pinkie startled, looked up to Dash, then back down to her workspace. There a goodly percentage of the 2,467 custard-filled treats sat, now divided vertically, their disgorged filling dripping down the sides of the trebuchet. Pinkie looked the gristly scene over, then looked back to Dash with a self-conscious smile. As Dash began filling the sling with the doughnuts she looked back up to Pinkie. Her friend stood and stared off towards her home, and Dash knew there was nothing else to be done. With a falling expression she went through the motions of finishing the loading of the sling, and cantered up to Pinkie. "Go," she said. "What?" answered Pinkie, aghast. "Go, go check on Gummy," said Dash looking away, an unidentifiable expression driving down her face. "Dash, I'm sorry. The trebuchet isn't…I'm…" stammered Pinkie. "It doesn't matter. I know…he's family, go," said Dash, looking at the ground. At once though she was caught up in a massive hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you Dashie! I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise! Cross my heart, hope to…" began Pinkie, bouncing around. "Just…just go," mumbled Dash, lying on the ground, her legs drawn in beside her. Pinkie looked at her friend (as best she could through the mass of drying cupcake components), saw her staring at the ground, her plan for this day, the day of gags and jokes…this day flitting away. Yet, at once her concern flashed over her and she was off towards Sugarcube Corner. Dash lay on the ground for long moments, the heat of the new spring radiating from above, and the cold of the earth seeping up from below. In time she raised herself and looked at the trebuchet, essentially ready for service as it was, and she sneered. With that she cantered away, leaving it alone in the mid-day sun…her purpose and need for it essentially ceased. Pinkie Pie had raced through the streets of Ponyville, but having reached the door she inexplicably stopped. As a few customers came and went she couldn't force herself to enter, and suddenly she wished that Applejack would return and be with her as she went within. As the town clock chimed noon she swallowed hard and pushed through the door. Rather than immediately head upstairs she instead helped the Cake's put the lobby of Sugarcube Corners in order. She helped Mr. Cake fix the hole, though she made a point not to look up through, and then assisted as Mrs. Cake laid a carpet over the scratch marks. She found them amazingly understanding, and though she promised her salary to the needed repairs they refused. With tears in her eyes she hugged them both, these wonderful ponies that had become as close to her as family. With those tears adding moisture to the cupcake remains that covered her face she slowly made her way up the stairs to her apartment. "Gummy?" she said, opening the door. "Are you here…and not a shambling monstrosity…but mostly here?" Creeping through her own apartment she peeked around the corner into the sitting room. There stood the safe, denuded of shield and chains. It stood open, the light shining through the hole on the opposite side where it had been cut through…as she looked at it she discovered a note. "Pinkie," it read, and she recognized Applejack's hoofwriting, "I took the cookies someplace else, as it weren't doin' no good here. I'll be 'round for the safe later. As per yer' request I left one cookie fer' Gummy…a little plain one. Had some sprinkles on it, though. Good luck with it, and remember that you can disable most attackers with a swift…" Pinkie didn't bother to finish. Instead she crept through her sitting room on silent hooves. Darting from flowerpot to vase she spied within her bedroom. It was startlingly clean and comfortingly free of mules. Feeling a little more confident she made her way to the bathroom, her eyes closed. Opening them she saw a figure in her bathtub. Approaching it she sized it up, then spoke, "Gummy?" What she assumed to be the alligator, as she blinked through the cupcake remains, looked at her with large purple eyes…and didn't say "E'yup" or launch into a diatribe of amore. She gathered him up and swung him around happily, "It's my Gummy, it's my Gummy…he's back and it feels good in my tummy!" Something was different though, and as she set him back in the tub she looked him over as best she could. "You're, you're a bit bigger…are, are you still changing?" she asked with obvious concern. With that he lifted his hand, and opened it. There in the clawed palm was a single tooth, shining and tiny. "You're losing your teeth!" said Pinkie happily, "That's great! That's wonderful! Well…it's actually not good, kinda sad actually, but…well, it means you're getting back to normal…well, normal for us…" Spike, doing his best to stay in character, tried not to laugh at the truth behind the words. In the suite at the hotel Applejack spoke to Twilight as the dozens of participants in the mission looked into the paintings. "How'd you manage that?" she asked in a whisper. "It fell out by itself last night…baby tooth. Could hardly of asked for better timing," she replied as Fluttershy and the foals cooed. "Dragon's growing up," remarked Applejack as Twilight smiled. There was another knock on the door. Applejack prepared an apology, but as she opened the door it was not a hotel staff member who stood there. Instead of an apology she offered up her hooves, and a familiar form fell into them, and the two laughed and wheeled around the room. "Fillies and gentlecolts!" announced Applejack, "I present to ya' all the over-arching mastermind of 'Operation: Have Some, Pie!', the Chief Jokeitect, the Prankmaster General, the Gagmeister Rex, none other than…" A drum roll sounded as the assembly pounded the floor, causing plaster to fall into soup bowls in the restaurant below. "…Miss Rainbow Dash!" As the crowd cheered, whistled, and clapped Rainbow held her forelegs wide, basking in the adoration. "Thank you, thank you!" she said, waving off the applause, "I can't thank you all enough…you all were fantastic! But, I really must thank my Field Commander, Twilight, and my Chief Operative, Applejack! Without their awesomeness, this would not have been possible." As the unicorn and the earth pony accepted the congratulations Dash approached and looked deep into the paintings. Pinkie sat on her couch in her sitting room, petting "Gummy", Spike trying to avoid blushing. "I do fear for my good friend," laughed Dash, "Let's end this as soon as possible…" Almost by magic at that moment Pinkie said, "Ya' know, Gummy, I'm glad you're getting back to normal…but I wonder if the sprinkles on the cookie meant anything…" Twilight quickly looked to Dash and asked, "Is the word given, General?" "The word is given!" replied Dash with a devious smile. At once all of the unicorns ignited their horns, the others feeding Twilight their magic, and the entire assembly laying their hooves on them…their love and friendship of Pinkie becoming fuel for the grand finale of the prank. In her apartment Pinkie's eyes went wide once more, this time in no small surprise, as "Gummy" began to levitate. He reached out his clawed hands to her, and before she realized what she had done she had taken them in her hooves. As they lifted through the skylight Spike spoke to her in a gravely voice, approximating what Gummy would sound like if he were blessed with speech. "Pinkie Pie, my dearest friend," he said, remembering his practiced lines, watching Pinkie's face contort in shuddering alarm, "Soon I shall indeed return to normal, but before that moment, I will share with you my last bit of magic!" As they cleared the skylight Pinkie's eyes went wide, and she smiled broadly. Around her whirled candy, balloons, cakes, and all sorts of wonderful things. It was as though one of the songs that whirled about in her head had come to life. Beautiful voices reached her, and her eyes sparkled. "Open yourself to the goodness! Take that which is rightfully yours!" called Spike, trying to remain in the character of Gummy as he started to chuckle. As they landed on the roof amid the swirling mirage Pinkie closed her eyes, awaiting the arrival of the cornucopia of her fantasies. If her eyes had been opened she would have seen Spike diving for cover, and Rainbow Dash loop through the sky. Blues, though, had his eyes wide open, and he saw the signal. With a yank of a lanyard he had his quiet smirking revenge for the earlier accidental comments, and the trebuchet whirled to life. At once 2,467 custard doughnuts, some divided vertically, flew through the air, and found their target atop the distant roof of Sugarcube Corner. As the multitude of the operatives of "Operation: Have Some, Pie!" gathered below Rainbow Dash landed on the roof, a broad smile crossing her face. She found the largest lump of doughnuts, and looking over the catastrophe she pulled Pinkie from the amalgamation. "What, what…how," began the custard-covered lump. At that though Dash wiped the custard and crumbs from Pinkie's eyes. Leaning in Dash allowed herself to gather her own share of the custard as she embraced Pinkie in a big hug. With a flap of her wings she lifted Pinkie from the mess, hovering above the roof of the bakery. "I got you Pinkie," she whispered, tickling Pinkie's ear with her breath, the celebratory words spoken crisply, quietly, and in a hint of a chuckle. "I got you, I got you, I got you…" she continued, laughing a bit, rubbing her forelock to Pinkie's. In a shot of insight Pinkie suddenly saw the growing multitude below, including an adult alligator, paint now flaking off of it, and a mule that looked to her with a big smirk. All of her friends, some holding aloft a familiar pair of bolt cutters and an acetylene torch, waved and whistled from below. "Huh! You, you!" she said, looking into Dash's eyes. At once though she smiled, smiled a vast broad smile, and falling back into the hug admitted, "You got me, you got me, Dashie. Well done!" And so Pinkie Pie began to cry, not tears of upset, or tears of shame, but big wet happy tears that washed the cupcake and custard away, her sparkling eyes opening to once more look over the crowd below. As Dash lowered her back to the roof Fluttershy joined them, offering something small and reptilian into Pinkie's waiting forelegs. She cuddled Gummy, her Gummy, the real Gummy, to her body. The alligator, perhaps sensing the importance of the moment, decided to forego snapping at her and biting her all over, as was their custom, and simply let the custardy goodness of her embrace drip all over himself. As she looked over the crowd they began to sing her song, the verses jumping to life. "A day of laughs, a day of jokes…a day for pranking lots of folks…" As she listened rubber chickens materialized all around in puffs of magic, and soon the operatives were tossing about the faux fowl as the song entered verses she had not yet had the time to write. As she laughed along Pinkie Pie, standing on the roof, displayed the greatest attribute of a champion of any calling…she applauded their efforts. She had received as well as she could give, and Pinkie was very, very, very good at gracing others with her pranks. There would be a rebuttal, and when it occurred it would be epic in scale. Yet, in that moment Pinkie Pie stood on the roof, alligator in forelegs, and basked in the affection of her friends, displayed as it was in this unique way. So it was that the magic of the accursed cookies caused a small pink earth pony to see how wonderfully loved she was, something she witnessed through sparkling cupcake and custard smeared eyes. As Procer Celestia Invictus and Procer Luna Revenio sat on their dias in Canterlot reading Twilight's narrative of the events, laughing hysterically, they understood that this is the type of thing that was possible when friendship is magic, and as long as they guided the sun and moon through Equestria's sky. End.