"Pinkie!?" I said in disbelief, with a wide grin on the mare's face being my response.
"The one and only!" Pinkie began to bounce around, I knew this was how she tended to act, but there was something surreal about seeing it in person.
"So this is where you've been the past few days? Planning a party?"
Pinkie gave me an odd look, "Don't be silly Twilight! Anypony knows I can whip up an awesome party in a jiffy! I've been working on this party since last night, tops!" She began to shuffle towards me, giving me an intense stare, "The REAL reason I've been away the past few days is a doozy!"
I found myself staring at what seemed to be a totally inanimate Pinkie for the next few minutes. Was she going to elaborate, or..?
"And that is..?"
"A secret..." Pinkie whispered, patting my mane with her hoof.
I rolled my eyes, "And I take it this is some kind of elaborate surprise that I'll have to wait and see?"
"Bingo!"
I rolled my eyes again, I wasn't sure whether or not to just bear with it, but hey, this was Pinkie Pie, it's not like I was ever going to guess what it was.
I smiled at Pinkie, "Okay then, thank you so much for the party, Pinkie Pie. It's very thoughtful! But you already threw me a party when I moved to Ponyville."
"Oh, I know! Buuut you'd been in the hospital for so long, and everypony was missing you so much, so when you woke up I said to myself 'Pinkie, one of your best friends is back! She's been through so much and deserves the best welcome home party in Equestria!' So I did everything I could to make this the most super duper party EVERRRR! Then I spoke to AJ and Fluttershy, and they told me you couldn't remember much, so I figured, even if you couldn't appreciate a 'Welcome Home Party' you could think of it as a 'Welcome to Ponyville Party Version 2!'" Pinkie was once again bouncing up and down, it was clear how much work she put into all of this, there were balloons everywhere, food and punch, and a lot of ponies I didn't even recognize. One thing was for sure, nobody back home would have ever done this for me.
Touched, I pulled Pinkie into a hug, "Thanks again Pinkie. Now let's party!" As I said those words I was greeted with a cheer from the ponies all around me.
One thing was for sure, Pinkie Pie definitely knew how to throw a party. Of the few parties I'd been to during my teenage years, none of them had ever been as fun as this one. It was fascinating to meet ponies I'd never even heard of before, all eager to chat and 're-introduce' themselves with me. Some offered me their sympathy, wishing me the best of luck in 'getting my memory back', others were keen to just stop and chat, asking me how I was enjoying the party. I really enjoyed talking with the Cakes, telling me about Sugarcube Corner and how they even made a cake for me, but Pinkie ate it before they got here. I also spoke with that one filly from the Cutie Mark episode, she brought along her two friends who had named themselves the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'. Knowing very little about Cutie Marks from an episode I watched a long time ago, I just smiled and nodded. But perhaps the most interesting pony to talk to was this cross-eyed Pegasus. Despite not knowing if she was looking at me or somewhere else, she was really friendly and was telling me all about her job as mail pony. Gotta say though, tough break with the kinda name she has... And I thought Doctor Horse was bad.
I had to hand it to Pinkie Pie again, or should I say hoof? Her parties were like those that a 6 year old on Earth would get, but it was somehow more fun than the few "age appropriate, alcohol serving, drunken" parties I had been to.
Still, as fun as this was, I was eager to get some alone time to try and put my thoughts together. I still didn't know if this was all a dream and I was in a coma, or something beyond my imagination was at works. It's safe to assume that strange figure is the reason I was here. If I could just talk to him again...
"Hi Twilight, how are you enjoying the party?"
My train of thought was broken as I turned around to see Fluttershy approaching me, "Oh hey Fluttershy, yeah, it's great. I was just lost in my thoughts, is all."
Fluttershy gave me a warm, comforting smile, "Oh, I understand, you must be nervous. When we first met I could barely speak, it must be strange to have to meet people who have known you for years for what feels like the first time."
She wasn't entirely on the mark, regardless, I nodded. I then waved away her concern, "Yeah, I'll be fine though. You go and enjoy yourself."
"It's no bother, really. I'm not exactly the most talkative pony anyway, I can stay with you if you want."
"Really, Fluttershy, I'm fine. Thanks though." I returned her warm smile. Fluttershy nodded and walked off. She really was the kindest pony you would ever meet.
As the party went on we played games, listened to music, and I met more and more ponies. And it was great fun. Parties certainly weren't normally my thing, but I felt content here. As if I was always meant to be here. As soon as I came to that conclusion I immediately felt wrong. What did that say about everything I went through at home? Sure, Ponyville was nice, but I couldn't ever consider it my home. If I was dead then I needed to move on because this wasn't some kind of afterlife, if I was in a coma I needed to wake up, if I just body hopped across the universe in to the body of a Purple Unicorn, well, I didn't know what to think.
Later on, Pinkie Pie jumped up on the table in the middle, "Okay everypony! As you know we're here to welcome Twilight back home!" This was responded with by a loud cheer from the party guests.
"I know, it's totally superly awesome! Now, as some of you know I've been away the past few days on an epic adventure across the world! Running through the Everfree Forest, fighting with Dragons, partying in Saddle Arabia, Sailing with the Pirates of the Grand Li-"
Applejack raised a hoof, "Weren't you in Canterlot?"
"Uhh, yeah! Didn't I say that?" Pinkie grinned and continued, "Anyway, I went up to Canterlot to sort out a surprise for Twilight. When organizing this party I knew one of the best things to do would be to make sure I could get as many of the ponies closest to Twilight to come! So, I managed to bring four ponies you all may know very well, here to Ponyville!"
I raised my ears, what was Canterlot again? And who were these four friends of mine?
At this point Pinkie was bouncing up and down with excitement again. I don't think she could have continued speaking if she wanted to. Fortunately Applejack took this time to jump up on the table and nudge Pinkie off.
"Eh, hem. As Pinkie was sayin'. Since we want Twilight to get to know everypony again, she went to Canterlot and brought four ponies very close to Twilight back with her. So I'd like y'all to welcome, Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadence and the Captain of the Royal Guard, Shinin' Armor!"
I was expecting another round of applause, but instead everypony did what I could only assume was bowing. I turned around to see an incredibly tall white Alicorn with a colorful, flowing mane, I recognized this pony as Princess Celestia, she was followed by a smaller Pink Alicorn with an equally colorful, but not flowing mane. She was followed by a white Unicorn stallion with an authoritative composure and... Nightmare Moon!?
I hunched down, ready to pounce, "What are YOU doing here!?" I growled, baring my most likely non intimidating, now herbivore teeth.
Nightmare Moon looked at me, shocked with my level of aggression, "Twilight, what's wrong with-"
"I mean it, I don't remember much, but I do remember YOU were a danger to Equestria! I might not be able to beat you, but I won't go down without a fight!" I lunged Nightmare Moon, ready to kill.
If I remembered correctly she couldn't be defeated unless somepony used these 'Element' things. Regardless, she was a threat, and needed to be taken down. As I was almost upon her, I felt myself being pulled away. As I looked around I was in mid-air, being levitated by the magic of Princess Celestia, as you could expect, I freaked out, "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! GET ME DOWN!"
The White Alicorn walked up to me, with concern in her eyes, beyond that concern however, was what I could only assume was an infinite wisdom, with an authoritive composure that put the stallion's to shame. It was more than enough to calm me down, and I get the feeling that it would have been enough to intimidate too. "Twilight, that's my sister, Princess Luna. You and your friends used the Elements of Harmony to help her return to normal. Remember?"
As I thought back to the episode I did remember the main cast driving away her evil, or whatever. Whoops.
I raised my hoof to the back of my neck and grinned sheepishly, "Oh yeah, my bad. Sorry Princess Luna!"
Luna raised her eyebrows at me, but eventually smiled, "You are forgiven, young Twilight."
Celestia took that time to let me down from her levitation, then addressed the ponies in the room, "It is a pleasure to see you all here to wish your great friend, and my dearest student, Twilight Sparkle back to Ponyville. However, I hope you will forgive us if I take our conversation somewhere private. I can't stay for as long as I would like and I need to address some business with Twilight, and her friends." Celestia nodded towards Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow, Applejack, Pinkie and Spike.
Spike was the first to speak up, "Of course, we can take the other room for now."
Once we were all in the other room, the white Stallion approached and embraced me in a warm hug.
"Twily! I'm so glad you're okay. We were all worried sick back in Canterlot. Sorry we couldn't get here sooner."
I smiled back at the stallion, "No problem, thanks for coming, uhhhh..?"
The stallion looked back at me, "Huh?"
"What's your name..?"
The stallion, shocked, stepped back with wide eyes, "What do you mean? Don't you remember your older brother?!"
Mirroring the stallion I stepped back with wide eyes, "I have a brother!?"
By this point the stallion was incredibly upset, lowering his head he looked directly into my eyes with a look of pain, "I knew you lost some memories, I just didn't think it would be this bad... Try to think back Twily! I was always there for you before you moved to Ponyville. What about my wedding? Don't you remember that?"
I was struggling to come up with an answer, fortunately Applejack took that moment to speak up for me, "I'm sorry Shinin'. But Twilight can remember barely anything. Apart from a few memories after coming to Ponyville, she can't remember much at all."
Rarity added in, "Don't take it personally, Shining Armor. Twilight is taking this just as hard."
With the same concern in her eyes as before, Celestia walked up to me and embraced me in a hug.
Gee, all this hugging was getting kinda awkward...
"I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you Twilight. Knowing you have all these amazing friends, and yet knowing so little about them." Celestia turned to face my friends, Shining Armor and the pink Alicorn, "It's worse than I thought. Twilight here doesn't remember much at all. Something just doesn't seem right about it."
Wait, did Celestia know? I had to ask, "What do you mean, Princess?"
Celestia turned back to me, "Honestly, I don't think this memory loss is down to head injuries. Not alone at least."
Ah, so that's what she was talking about. Well, there was no point going along with the whole "I'm a human from another planet" routine, so I let them continue.
Luna picked up where Celestia left off, "You represent one of the Elements of Harmony, which are themselves elements of the most powerful form of friendship. I'm afraid it makes little sense for you to forget all but a few memories, with such a strong bond with your friends, you would surely remember all of your time spent with them, at the very least."
Applejack spoke again, "Well, can she get her memories back?"
Celestia smiled, "I think so, yes. As my sister mentioned, Twilight represents an Element of Harmony, something that you have in common with her. It may take some time, but with the Magic of Friendship, I'm sure Twilight will begin to remember more."
I wasn't sure whether or not to cringe at the constant mentions of friendship, regardless I kept my cool. It was at that point Princess Celestia and the others made their way towards the door. "I'm sorry we couldn't stay for long, Twilight. I wish you the best of luck." were Celestia's last words before parting with us. As Shining passed the doorway he looked back to me with a sad smile, "Get well soon Twily. I can't wait to have you back to normal." and with that, he was gone. Princess Luna merely nodded towards me and left, and the Pink Alicorn looked towards me with the kind of sympathetic smile only reserved for a sister, "Sorry we didn't get a chance to hang out, Twilight. My name is Cadence, I was your foal sitter when you were younger! You also saved me on my wedding day, so I'll always be grateful to you for that. We'll speak soon, sister-in-law." And just like that, they were all gone as quickly as they came, with the only ones remaining in the room being me, the girls and Spike.
Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up, "Well that's awesome news! You just need to learn about the Magic of Friendship again and you'll remember! Piece of cake!"
Fluttershy held a hoof to Rainbow Dash's side, "Now Rainbow Dash, it won't be such an easy task. But I'm sure if anyone can do it, it's Twilight."
They all began excitedly talking among themselves, hatching plans to help me 'get my memories back', but I honestly wasn't paying much attention. It seemed that everypony was convinced I was going to all of a sudden 'remember I was Twilight Sparkle', but I just didn't see it happening because I wasn't Twilight Sparkle. I sure as heck didn't know what was really going on, or how to fix everything, but until I could, I guess I was stuck here humoring these ponies by trying to remember things that didn't happen.
I guess I was worrying too much, I needed to take my mind off of it for now, until I had some time to do something about it.
"Hey girls?" I said, stopping the conversation in it's tracks.
"Think we could get back to that party now?"