No Laughing Matter
A pink pony is perched at the end of a long table, “May I have some tea?” questions a voice from the other end of the table.
“But of course!” squeals the pink pony at the end of the table, she hurries over and pours more tea into the full cup. “Oops!” she giggles at the mess. There is a single chair open, she thinks about this, `Madam le flour said a 'guest' is coming by today` she thought to herself; she's waiting for the party's VIP. She thought about what day it is, she twitched at the memory. Why on today? She remembers the day a year ago.
~~~~~~~~~~~ 12 Months Earlier ~~~~~~~~~~~
“Wow, I can't wait! It's gonna be so fun!” yells a pink pony, her excitement bursting out as she thinks of their journey.
“I know, to think that Celestia would invite us to such an event!” exclaims rarity. Pinkie wasn't listening to the rest of their conversation though, she was distracted by her sudden urge to go to the bathroom. After her need for the restroom is resolved, pinkie heads farther up the train. The train is unusually empty as she sees no ponies the whole way to the front deck. She pauses to look out the window and look at the beautiful scenery, with a deep sigh of content pinkie turns around to leave. She's stopped by a mysterious thud coming from the front of the train, overcome with curiosity, pinkie heads to check it out.
Pinkie peels her tail twitch and dodges a rock flying past her. The one who threw the rock is an unidentifiable figure, he (or she) is gone before pinkie can get a good look. She looks towards the conductor, he's lying unconcious on the floor. Pinkie looks out the window, she doesn't like what she sees. Her suspicions are confirmed by a terrible trembling, and this time she knows what the doozy is. Running back to her friends she tries to explain the situation as quickly as possible.
“We're gonna crash!” she screams before turning tail and running back towards the front cabin in a feeble attempt at somehow stopping the train. The thing about pinkie sense is that it's never wrong. She attempts to pull on the brakes, but they won't budge. Finally after pulling with all of her strength she feels the handle start to move and she feels the train lurch forward as the brakes take immediate effect. The screeching of tracks is heard underneath.
“Pinkie? What's going on?” shouts a purple unicorn behind her. Turning around, pinkie prepares to shout back, but there's another lurch. The train had been going too fast to avoid the sabotaged tracks, even with the brakes it was still rushing along at a tremendous speed. This time the lurch is felt by both mares, pinkie hops in surprise. She watches as the ground spins up and then down and then up and down again. They were tumbling with the train, the ponies are thrown about the cabin by the sheer force of the train. Pinkie watches through blurred vision as the unicorn in front of her hits a wall with a sickening crack just before everything goes black.
~~~~~~~~~~~ Present ~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie snapped back from her thoughts as she heard a voice speak up, “um, can I get some tea too? if you don't mind...” the voice was soft.
“Oh, yes! Here you go fluttershy!” the pink mare skips over to the cup of her friend and fills it to the brim, “Oh, and you have to try a cupcake too!” she puts a cupcake on a plate beside the cup.
“Okay...” is the reply. The cupcake just sits there as pinkie returns to her seat.
“This party is great pinkie!” a voice from next to pinkie calls out.
“Thanks twilight!” pinkie beams as she grabs a cupcake.
“I concur, this party is simply splendid,” speaks a cultured voice.
“Oh rarity, is the tea good?” pinkie asks excitedly.
“Oh, it's exquisite darling!” pinkie smiles at the fact she is able to please her. Rarity would know if the tea is good, she's good with high quality.
Pinkie turns to look at her friends, she thinks about the day once more, her thoughts are interrupted by a newcomer. She can only guess that this is the VIP madam le flour was talking about.
“Sorry I'm late!” the mare calls out, sitting at the opposite end of the table from pinkie. The newcomer is a unicorn with a gray coat and a brown mane with red tips. The mare takes a sip of her tea and a bite of a cupcake.
“You must forgive me, but I can't remember what this parties for. A big event that happened on this day?” the unicorn queries. Pinkie twitches at this, she looks at the mysterious mare.
`I've never seen you, why would madam le flour expect you?` she thought curiously. “an event...?” she says absent mindlessly. There’s something about this mare that's different.
Pinkie snaps back to reality to think about why she had planned this party today. “oh my, I seem to have forgotten as well, what is the special occasion?” spoke rarity once more.
“Whatever it is, it must have been big!” drawls a southern accent.
Pinkie thinks back to her previous thoughts, “The accident...” she mutters.
“Oh, right...” speaks Fluttershy's hushed voice.
“Yeah, but we all got through it! Right?” an energetic tomboyish voice speaks up in an attempt to lighten the mood.
“Pinkie...” pinkie looks over to twilight to see concern dotting her face. Pinkie twitches as she remembers something...
~~~~~~~~~~~ 12 Months Earlier ~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie wakes up to screaming and frantic cries, “Wowie! Quite a tumble, better go s-” she halts her mouth as she sees a lifless figure in front of her. It was the figure of her friend, twilight. There is a pool of blood surrounding the unicorn, pinkie scrambles over and frantically feels her skin; it is cold as stone. She runs back into the cabin where her friends are, she's surprised the train cars all stayed attached and landed upright. “there's something wrong with-” she starts before looking around the room, “twilight...” she muttered as she looked at the mess before her.
She sees her friends scattered across the floor in varying degrees of broken, but only one is awake. The others were visibly in pain, but not dead. Except for the figure that the only other awake pony was sobbing above. Fluttershy was weeping and murmuring to herself, “dead, dead, dead, she's dead...” pinkie looked down to see Rainbow dash's mangled body. A warm feeling ran down her face as pinkie watched her friend mourn solemly, reaching a hoof up to her head she could feel that it is wet. She pulls the hoof away from her head and into view to see blood. Looking toward the dead body she silently collapsed. Fluttershy rushes over to her, pinkie looked up and saw her azure eyes before blacking out once more.
~~~~~~~~~~~ Present ~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie is pulled out of the memory by a voice, “It was unavoidable, she saved me...” she heard Fluttershy murmur. Pinkie looked over to the two empty seats next to her, she could have sworn twilight and rainbow were sitting there before.
“But they were...” pinkie trails off as she fails to find the words to express her confusion, “they...” pinkie looked frantically at the two seats, searching for an explanation. She had nothing else to say, they couldn't be dead, could they? They were just here a second ago.
“At least were together...” drawled a voice, pinkie looked at applejack and rarity across from where rainbow and twilight had been. Looking at them she twitched; she looked straight across the table to see her guest, the VIP, looking directly at her. Her eyes seemed to say that she wasn't quite getting something, what could it be? Pinkie looked at rarity and applejack to see that they were looking back in fear, why are they so scared. Pinkie felt something deep inside, it brought with it another memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~ 4 Months Earlier ~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie awoke with a start, “Owie, that hurts. Huh, this isn't my bed...” she trailed off, looking around she deduced that she is in the hospital. `that would explain the headache` she thought, she got up and saw she looked perfectly fine. She stumbled for a bit, her head spun. After getting her bearings she tried to think of why she is here, “Wow, feels like I haven't walked in months! What happened any-who?” she exclaimed to no pony in particular. Walking over to the door and peering out she sees a familiar face, “ooh, Nurse Redheart! Nice to see ya! Say, do you know why my head hurts? I'm sure you do! Say, where are my friends? Is it visiting hours?” she questions rapidly as she bounds over to Nurse Redheart.
Nurse Redheart turns in surprise, “Pinkie? You're awake?!” she exclaims. She frantically flips through her papers, after finding what she needs she rushes pinkie back into the room and motions for her to stay put. Pinkie hops onto the bed to wait for Redheart to come back.
“Hey doc, what's up?” she greets as Redheart returns with one of the doctors.
“Pinkie? Do you remember why you're here?” the doctor's tone laced with worry.
“Gotta say doc, not a whole lot. I remember a train, then I woke up here with a headache. A doozy of one too! Could you fill in the holes doc?” Pinkie didn't even notice the worry on his face or voice.
He let out a deep sigh, “Pinkie... you've been under for 8 months. you suffered massive head trauma, but you've been diagnosed with no other injuries. It seems yo are experiencing a memory loss, the memories should come to you in time,” he pauses to let his words sink in. “you're friends... are dead. exc-” he's cut off by a frantic pinkie.
“What?!” she screams, `it's gotta be a joke. A cruel joke...` she thinks, but she is reminded that doctors don't joke around.
“Please, let me finish. Your friends are all dead, save one. Two died in the crash, two died before we could save them. The on that's still alive saved you from losing too much blood. She is in intensive care as we speak.” he stated. Pinkie dashes out of the room and down the hall, stopping at every door to look in. finally she finds the one she's looking for; she hops in, surprising the doctors inside.
A familiar pegasus looks at her in shock, “Pinkie! Your awake!” her friend exclaims, Pinkie runs forward and nuzzles her.
“Fluttershy! I thought I lost you all!” pinkie exclaims.
“There, there... I was worried you wouldn't wake up...” replied Fluttershy. They they stayed with her for a good 30 minutes before the doctor coaxed Pinkie back to her room.
~~~~~~~~~~~ Present ~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie is brought back to reality to realize she's still staring at the same seats, except now they are empty. “Where, where did they go...?” she murmurs, “They were here...” she looks over to the only filled seats.
“You're remembering.” the pony's reply was almost inaudible, almost.
Pinkie gives the mare at the other end a half confused, half scared look, “W-what?” she finally stutters.
“Think Pinkie, think hard.” the mare took another bite out of her cupcake, it's nearly gone. “Look at Fluttershy, what do you see?” she motions to the pegasus sitting next to her.
Pinkie looks at the pegasus, “It's okay Pinkie, I'm here for you...” her friend vocalizes. Pinkie twitches at this, she noticed it, the glitch. Fluttershy had spoken, but she hadn't moved her muzzle at all.
Pinkie let one word escape her lips before zoning out, “Fluttershy...”
~~~~~~~~~~~ 4 Months Earlier ~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been a whole week since pinkie had been in the hospital as a patient, but she still went by to check on Fluttershy every day. Pinkie woke with a start, she hopped out of bead and headed to the kitchen. She got a glass of water, she gulped it down in one big chug. She put her glass into the dishwasher and glanced at the clock. It read two sixteen, `huh, well it's not the weirdest time I've woken up...` she thinks to herself on her way back to her bedroom. She's contemplating going back to sleep or not when her left hoof starts to shake, her pinkie sense is acting up. It must be something pretty rare, that only happens when an unspecified great thing will happen to a friend! Maybe something will get better for Fluttershy!
Pinkie began to head back to her room when she thought of something, “righty brighty, lefty-” pinkie realized where her logic went wrong. A right movement is good, a left movement is the opposite. Her left hoof was the one that was shaking, not the right one. Before she could think any more about it she galloped off at tremendous speeds towards the hospital. She didn’t know what is happening, but it can’t be good. She burst into the hospital with such speed that nopony could see her; she didn’t have time to stop and check in anyway.
Pinkie reached Fluttershy’s room in a panicked mess, she had to save her friend. Throwing open the door with tremendous force pinkie dashed into the room, but everything is deathly quiet. Seeing no immediate danger pinkie calms down a little and sidles over to her friend, `she looks so peaceful` pinkie thinks as she runs a hoof down he fur. Pinkie stops her hoof in shock, Fluttershy is cold as stone. Then pinkie takes a second glance at Fluttershy, her first glance had betrayed her. Upon first glance nothing had seemed wrong, but at the second glance it’s clear what is wrong; the usual motions acquitted to breathing, such as a soft rise and fall of the chest, aren’t happening.
Pinkie heard a small deflating noise as her mane fell completely straight, but pinkie is more concerned with what she isn’t hearing. The usual beep that showed her friends heart beat is gone, it is replaced by a sickening silence. The silence is broken by a pony rushing into the room, pinkie spins around in fury, “What Happened?” she hisses harshly.
“Mrs. Pie, I-I’m sorry, but visiting hours ar-” pinkie stamps her hoof and yelled in outrage.
“Don’t give me that! Tell me what happened!” the nurse cowers in fear, she glances past pinkie at the equipment. She lets out a gasp and rushes over to the equipment.
“All of the cords and wires have been cut! When we had that power outage somebody must have cut them, that would explain why the alarm didn’t go off!” she yelled frantically, pinkie didn't care.
“Foal! You are inadequate!” Pinkie yelled to the nurse before she turned back to her dead friend. She gave a cold glance of malice at the cut wires, somebody had sabotaged her friend, just like all the others. “you have failed pinkie...” she mutters to herself as she looks at her friend. A moment later she collapse to the floor in a pink pile of unconscious pony.
~~~~~~~~~~~ Present ~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie stares st her empty table, save two seats; the one she sat at, and the one her special guest occupies. “but... they were...” she can't even bring herself to believe that they were still alive. She hadn't even known her own friends were dead, how could she keep up such a ruse. Applejack would be ashamed of her for going so far as to believe her own lie, but she can't believe her friends are all dead. “Why? Why am I alone?” she asks solemnly to the only person she can ask, her special guest.
“You're not. You're friends may not be here, but you're not alone,” the unicorn replies.
“Are you going to disappear too?” pinkie asks bitterly.
“No Pinkie, I'm here for you,” the unicorn was giving her a warm smile. Somewhere deep inside her pinkie felt a tug telling her to accept the mare's kindness, but pinkie shunned the feeling.
“Who are you?” there is an edge to her voice, even though the question was made out of curiosity, not malice. Pinkie desperately wants to take comfort in the pony, but she can only feel resentment and suspicion towards her.
The unicorn moves to the chair closest to pinkie, she reaches out and brushes a piece of pinkie's straight mane out of pinkie's eye. “I'm help,” is the answer pinkie got, and she knows that this unicorn isn't lying. She can feel a motherly sort of feeling from this mare, like everything's going to be alright. It make's her sick, `this mare thinks she can just come in and fix me? What is she going to do? She can't bring my friends back!` Pinkie thinks as she grows increasingly angry.
“Where are my friends! Why did they go?! They were just here!” she yells, surely this unicorn is tricking her. `She's just deceiving me with her twisted mind games!` pinkie seethes at the mare trying to comfort her. Pinkie looks around for where her friends could have gone, she feels one more memory coming on.
~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 Week Earlier ~~~~~~~~~~~
Pinkie wakes up in a dark room, she can identify it as a hospital from the bed and the smells. It has that distinct smell of sterilized sickness and contained contagion. “Why am I here?” Pinkie can't remember a single thing, she gets up to go find some answers. Looking into the hall she tries to see if anypony is there, but the hall is dark and eerily quiet. She returns to the room and flips on the light, looking around pinkie gasps at the pony she hadn't noticed.
“Ah, your awake! Took quite a tumble there! Glad to see ya up and about sugar-cube,” the voice drawls the figure in a thick southern accent.
“Hey Applejack! What are you doing here? Wait, what am I doing here? It must have been a doozy! I can't remember a thing! Is that bad?” Pinkie exclaims in excitement.
The doctor walks in to see Pinkie talking to the corner in front of her, “P-Pinkie? What are you doing?” he asks incredulously.
“Oh, hey doc! Just talking to AJ,” Pinkie replies, she turns around briefly, but returns to facing her friend.
“Wow, sounds like a doozy, I'm glad nopony was hurt” Pinkie replys to her friend, she had just finished hearing Applejacks explanation of her accident. “How long ago was that? Oh, that makes sense. I'll ask the doc!” Pinkie turns to face the doctor standing behind her in confusion. “so doc, how long was I out?” she waits for his answer.
“Well, the accident was about a year ago, but it's only been about four months since you were last up...” he trails off in increasing worry about Pinkie's mental state.
Pinkie looks at him incredulously, “It's been a year? But I've only been out for four months? Did I forget waking up the other times? Did you know I was up earlier, AJ? Oh, okay. Well, how much longer till I'm good to go, doc?” Pinkie looks at him with anticipation.
“Ms. P-Pie... there is no pony else here...” the doctor starts with hesitation.
“Of course not silly! Applejack just went to tell the others! Is it alright to see them now?” Pinkie asks in excitement.
“Ms. Pie, there was never anypony else here. Your friends died from the crash-” the doctor's tongue catches in his throat as he looks at pinkie. She's glaring at him darkly, he trembles under her stare.
“That's not a very funny joke doctor...” pinkie's mood suddenly raises, “But that's okay! Besides, Applejack should be back any-, here she is!” Pinkies eyes had turned from dangerous slits to cheery orbs in no time at all.
The doctor rushes from the room, `that mare is crazy!` is th only thought on his mind as he flees the scene.
Pinkie turns to the figures, “Twilight! Everypony! I'm so glad your all okay! I can't imagine what I would do if one of you was hurt!” Pinkie pulls her friends in for a group hug. `I feel like I'm forgetting something...` Pinkie pushes the thought aside, `If it's important, I'll remember it!` she thinks cheerily. She smiles as she releases the ponies from her ginormous hug, `besides, I have my friends.`
~~~~~~~~~~~ Present ~~~~~~~~~~~
“The doctor wasn't joking?” pinkie asks, fear is tinted into her speech. The silver unicorn sitting next to her just shakes her head to affirm that the doctor had been telling the truth. “whats... what's wrong with me?” Pinkie mutters, more to herself than to her guest. She isn't angry at the mare anymore, it's obvious now that she isn't the one at fault here.
“Nothing, you built a coping mechanism like any person would,” the mare calmly replies, “But everyone must face the truth at some point,” the mare's comforting gaze did little to help Pinkie.
“I'm alone. I survived and they didn't...” Pinkie mutters, she begins weeping openly. Pinkie looked up when she felt a comforting hoof stroking her back in a relaxing manner, the mare had gotten up to stand beside her in her time of need.
“There, there. Yes they are gone, but not forgotten. As I said, you're not alone. You have family and tons of friends that still love you. The whole town has been waiting to have their pony back, the old Pinkie. It may seem dreary, but it will always be well in the end. If things aren't looking good, don't worry, it just means your not at the end yet,” the mare spoke with a soft, yet regal, tone. Her confidence showed in her voice and in her eyes, they showed that she truly meant what she said.
Pinkie looked through her tear blurred vision to see a smiling face, as Pinkie's vision began to clear, the words began to sink in. Pinkie wiped her eyes with her hoof and pulled her guest in for a gigantic hug. A loud poof sounded as the mare returned the hug, “That's the pinkie everyone knows and loves...” the mare murmurs.
“Thanks, I really needed that. I'm sorry I was being a mopey pants! I forgot my number one rule, Smile! I should be celebrating their life, not sulking over their death. My friends would want me to be happy! Thank you so much!” Pinkie stopped abruptly and pulled the mare in front of her. “Oh my Gosh! I don't know you! You're new! I have to prepare a party! What's your name? What type of cake do you like?” the pink party pony returned to her previous vigor as she fired questions at the new pony.
“I am Starlet Mint, and I would be honored to be part of one of your pinkie pie party spectaculars, but I won't be here long. I have other places to go, other ponies that need my help,” she replies in an apologetic tone.
Pinkie wouldn't accept no so easily, “that's okay! It can be a really quick party! Besides, I need some way to thank you, don't I? So... what type of cake?” she nudges starlet with her hoof, urging her to accept.
“Hmm... been a while since I've had a cake... then how about chocolate?” starlet finally answers, sometimes you just can't win against pinkie. A party would be a nice change of pace, she's got time.
“Terrific! Great choice!” Pinkie darts to the door, once there she urges starlet to follow. She complies at a much more casual pace. Pinkie was bouncing down the hall when she stopped mid-air, she fell with a thud. She had a thoughtful face on, like she just realized something. “Say... how do you know me? How do you know any of that? I didn't tell you any of that, not even my name...” Pinkie trails off, she turned around to face the mare. The unicorn gave her a playful smile and caught up.
“Oh, it's just something I do. I'm... different,” that's all she says before changing the topic. “But enough of that, we have a party to plan!” Pinkie just watches her continue down the hall. After she reaches the stairs, starlet turns to address pinkie, “you coming?” she asks.
Pinkie hops to her feet and rushes over, `she sure is interesting...` Pinkie muses, she happily bounds down the stairs with starlet. Pinkie hops into the main part of the store, starlet, however, was making her way along more calmly. “Hey Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie beams, but Mrs. Cake couldn't see. Mrs. Cake was preoccupied with work, “oh... uh, hello pinkie. um... how are your 'friends'” she asks without turning around. Her voice was shaky and the last word had an obvious strain to it; she knew that pinkie's friends were dead, but she knew pinkie didn't know that.
“Oh Mrs. Cake, they're dead. How would I know how they're doing, but I bet they're doing great!” pinkie cheers, Mrs. Cake stops what she's doing to turn around. She gasps as she sees pinkie, the first thing she recognizes is pinkie's mane. It's full of curls again, it's not straight like it had been recently. The second most noticeable thing was pinkies smile, it was full of cheer and happiness. Her smile as of late had been broken, it wasn't natural.
“P-Pinkie?” she asked hesitantly, she's still in shock from seeing pinkie so full of life.
“Were gonna throw a party for my newest friend!” Pinkie motions toward the unicorn behind her.
“Pleasure to meet you Mrs. Cake,” starlet greets, Mrs. Cake just looks back at her.
`Is this pony responsible for... this?` Mrs. Cake thinks to herself.
“Ah, yes. She seemed to need a little something to laugh at. A party seemed like a swell idea” starlet replies to the question that hadn't actually been vocalized. She realizes her mistake a bit too late, her face flushes red, “Sorry, habit...” she says hastily in an attempt to cover her mistake.
“Y-you-?” is all that Mrs. Cake could get out before being interrupted by Pinkie Pie.
“This is Starlet Mint, she's new to town! We have to get our party ready, but we'll be back soon. Also, could you do me a big favor? Could you make a chocolate cake for the party?” Pinkie begs as she slowly backs towards the door. Mrs. Cake nods slowly and Pinkie thanks her as she ducks out the door. “You coming?” Pinkie calls to starlet from outside.
“Yeah, one sec,” Starlet calls out, she turns back to Mrs. Cake.
Mrs. Cake regains her voice, “Did you... answer me?” she finally asks.
“Yeah, sorry, it's hard to discern voice and thought. They're registered as near the same, but thank you for the favor. Um, nice place you have... say hi to Mr. Cake for me,” starlet replies sheepishly, she makes her way to the door and follows after Pinkie.
Coming out of her stupor, Mrs. Cake thinks about the mysterious mare. Mrs. Cake decides that she's a good pony, `she did cheer pinkie up, no one else had dared to get close to-` she stopped her thought short. The questions piled up as she thought more and more on the mare, she would have remembered if someone looking like that came in. `Who exactly is she?` is Mrs. Cakes final thought before finally going back to what she was doing, her mind was still muddled with questions.
~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 Hours Later ~~~~~~~~~~~
The pair of ponies arrive back at Sugarcube Corner, the trip had been fairly uneventful and had gone by with very little incidents. Pinkie had insisted to spread word of the party to every-pony, and almost every single one of them agreed to come. Starlet had noticed every-ponies relief at pinkie pies cheerful demeanor and perky tone, they noticed that she was back to her original brilliance and every-pony dismissed their concerns. Pinkie, however, remained delightfully oblivious to their relief, she just continued to hum to herself and gather supplies happily with Starlet.
The friends entered the main shop front to smell a rich, chocolatey aroma floating into their senses. The pair walk into the kitchen to see a two layer chocolate cake with red icing decorating the top and sides, Starlet's cutie mark is in the top. The cutie mark is made of fondant, now it's starlet's turn to be surprised. “you thought I could read minds? What about you?! I love fondant!” the ecstatic silver unicorn exclaims in glee. Mrs. Cake just smiles in response; she isn't sure how to feel about what the unicorn just said, so she settled on happy.
“I'm glad you like it; I would have put a name, But I'm afraid I missed it the first time we talked,” she chuckles nervously, rubbing a hoof against the back of her head.
“That's fine, I like it the way it is. My name is Starlet, Starlet Mint,” the three ponies move their conversation to one of the kitchen tables.
“Well then Mrs. Mint, tell us about yourself,” Mrs. Cake insists.
“Actually, it's just Ms., but what do you want to know?” starlet had an idea on how this was going to play out.
“how about where your from,” Mrs. Cake suggests.
Starlet drops her gaze and answers in a hushed tone, “um... well... I don't exactly know...” Mrs. Cake gasps.
“How about where you live,” she suggests eagerly.
“I've never kept up a stable home anywhere, traveling makes it hard to stay in one place too long. I have, um... 'nowhere' to go back to after each trip,” starlet puts an unusual sort of emphasis on 'nowhere' but Mrs. Cake is too concerned to take any notice. Mrs. Cake is really starting to worry for this mare, she seems to have more problems than she lets on.
“How old are you?” Mrs. Cake asks earnestly, she's running out of will power to not hug and comfort this mare immediately.
“Um, eh heh-heh. It's been so long I've lost count,” Starlet flashes her a nervous smile. The smile may have been awkward, but it had an honest sort of air to it. Pinkie took notice of the gesture with interest, this mare seemed truly happy. Starlet fidgeted in her seat as Mrs. Cake stared at her with an open mouth. Her jaw finally regained some function after a while and she managed to mouth something.
“What would be your estimate?” she asks after finally regaining her voice. Her lip quivered as she spoke, she feared for this mare. Pinkie noticed and watched both mare's with intrigue, she was always interested in the strange.
“If I had to guess... I'd say somewhere above 400 years. But you must know that I haven't a use for time usually,” as soon as Starlet spoke Mrs. Cake fainted, it was too much for her.
“Wow, you really did a number on her,” Pinkie prods the unconscious mare with her hoof, there is no reaction.
“Sorry,” Starlet sinks a little deeper into her chair.
“Oh, I'm sure she's fine. She'll do that on me sometimes too, but usually not just from talking,” Pinkie just leaves her unconscious aunt where she is and turns to her bag of decorations. “we should get to decorating now!” Pinkie pulls out various streamers and confetti from the bag. Starlet takes a final glance at the unconscious mare and lets out a deep sigh before heading over to help pinkie. Pinkie had frantically grabbed a variety of decorations and was jamming them into something, Starlet pulled a couple items out of her own bag, a few choice items. As soon as pinkie was finished filling her mysterious object she turns around and it's clear what it is, pinkie had just reloaded her party cannon.
“This should do the trick! Let's get ready to party!” the last word is drowned out by the sound of the cannon going off, Mrs. Cake's head jerks up in reply. The various decorations that had been inside the cannon are now precisely placed all over the room, not a streamer out of place.
“What happened?” Mrs. Cake asks, brushing confetti out of her mane.
“You fell asleep after talking to Starlet,” a look of stark horror comes to Mrs. Cakes face as she recalls Starlet's answer.
“Was that true? Over 400 years? You don't look a day over 18!” Mrs. Cake shouts incredulously.
“I aged wonderfully, didn't I?” Starlet looks at the decorations around her. “mind if I make a few changes?” she asks after a
while.
“Sure!” Pinkie was a little skeptical of Starlets age too, but she decides it doesn't matter. There must be a reason she doesn't want to say, Rarity always said something about it being impolite to ask a mare her age.
“Alright then,” the room is encased in a bright red glow as Starlet's magic goes to work. After a minute the glow dissipates and the two other mares get a good look at the changes. The once pastel colored decorations are now bright colors with a misty sheen over them, sparkles were dotting the misty decorations. The lights were a considerable amount dimmer, not too much, but enough to notice. The most noticeable change was the snow, the sparkling white snow that gently floated through the air. The room was not any colder, but tiny flakes of frozen water danced through the air like shining stars. The snow didn't collect on the floor, it simply faded away. When the two mares looked to Starlet she wore a content look as she admired how the room looked.
Pinkie was the first to break the silence as she hopped around excitedly, “Wowie! It's snowing! How did you do that?” Pinkie asks, she proceeds to try and catch a snowflake with her tongue.
“Just some simple illusion magic,” she says with a giggle, she had watched pinkie try and fail to catch snowflake after snowflake. Each one just floated right through her tongue and continue to the floor, after a while pinkie abandoned her fruitless endeavor.
“When you said a little flare at the store, I never expected anything as awesome as this!” pinkie cheered. “I thought illusion magic was difficult, like high level unicorn difficult?” Pinkie looks at the mare in fascination.
“I've had some pretty good teachers,” Starlet says as a slight blush floats across her face. Starlet takes one of the items she had taken out of her bag, it's a peculiar small canister. Starlet pulls out a bowl, a bag, and a tub of ice-cream. The ice-cream glows a smidgen brighter and Starlet sets it down. “Instant heating spell,” she says to no pony in particular as she takes off the lid and pours the liquefied ice-cream into the bag. Starlet pours the contents of the canister into the bowl, she puts the canister down next to it. Starlet cuts the tip of the bag off and drips the liquefied ice-cream in as the mares watch in fascination, each drop hits the liquid and instantly solidifies.
Once she's finished with dropping in the ice-cream, Starlet goes to fetch another bowl and a strainer. Mrs. Cake steps up to the bowl after Starlet leaves and tentatively touches it with her nose. The bowl is colder than ice.
Seeing Mrs. Cakes curiosity upon arriving back at the bowl, Starlet explains the conundrum to her. “This is liquid nitrogen, it's below freezing and upon contact with the ice-cream mixture, it freezes up into dot shaped ice-cream. These can be easily eaten, and melt in your mouth.” she dumps all of the dots into a filter, letting the liquid nitrogen into a separate bowl. She puts the dots back in the original bowl, she then pulls out another strange bag and a third bowl. She pulls out an odd chunk of ice, “This is dried ice,” she says. She places it at the bottom of the bowl and puts the bowl full of ice-cream dots on top of it. She retrieves a glass of water and pours it into the bottom bowl, she's careful not to get any in the ice-cream. The ice and water in the bowl start to steam, or smoke; Mrs. Cake isn't sure which.
“It's not like regular ice, it's actually frozen Carbon Dioxide. When mixed with water it sublimates, creating this gas. It'll keep our ice-cream cool, and give it a great look,” she steps back to admire her work. She grabs the other bowl and puts the liquid nitrogen away,the other mares don't notice though; they're too preoccupied with the amazing sight before them. The group continued with the party decorations; in the end, everything looked great.
Not long afterwards, the guests started to arrive. They each greeted Starlet with a delighted smile, and she politely thanked them back. She chatted with many of them, she used her wide array of general knowledge to keep up conversations with them about their various professions. They were all astounded at her array of knowledge, even pinkie. Starlet saw everyone having so much fun, she smiled to herself as she walked around in search of a certain party planner.
“Pinkie, this is a simply splendid party, I'm so grateful for all you've done. I need to go though, I have important business to attend to. I hope to see you again, though I can't promise anything,” Starlet says to the pony over the din of the party.
“It's ok! I'm sure we'll meet up again! Sooner than you think!” Pinkie adds with a wink.
Starlet looks at the mare in both confusion and surprise, she then lets out a sigh. “Same old pinkie,” she says, chuckling to herself. Pinkie watches as Starlet walks back upstairs, after that Mrs. Cake walks over to pinkie.
“Hey! Starlet just left, how's the party?” Pinkie bounces in place.
Mrs. Cake is carrying a glass with ice-cream dots in it, “Pinkie! She is a marvelous mare, we must make these more often. They're a big-” she stops short, looking at Pinkie with wide eyes, “is that-?” she trails off in shock, `this day is full of surprises, isn't it?` she thinks to herself. “the element of laughter?” she finishes in astonishment. Pinkie looks down at her neck to notice the element, she stops to inspect it for a second. She feels the familiar tug of magic in the back of her mind, Pinkie realizes something is going to happen.
“Yeah, it is! Welp, sorry, but I gotta go! I'll be back before you know it though!” Pinkie looks around her at all the smiling faces before looking back at Mrs. Cake, she herself wearing a big goofy grin. Time seemed to slow down as pinkie felt herself implode, then expand just as rapidly. Darkness surrounded her, she blinks a couple of times just to make sure her eyes are open.
“Welcome to void space,” echoes a very familiar and friendly voice. Pinkie spins around excited ly, upon seeing her friend she has an urge to rush forward and hug her. However, that was already being done by a familiar rainbow maned pony. Pinkie looks around and sees some more very familiar, and entirely impossible faces. Pinkie lies down on the ground and held her hooves to her head in confusion, for she is truly and utterly confused.
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Sorry it took me so long to getting around to reading this. I forget sometimes how much I love this story. It's really beautiful and heartwarming, despite the initial dreariness.
I only noticed a few mistakes here and there in terms of grammar and spelling, if you'd like I could help you proofread your chapters before you post them. Anyway, great chapter as always, I look forward to reading more! 
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Thanks. I know I can be a bit stubborn, and I would just do it myself, but it takes so long for me to actually get time to write it that it would take lonfer to proofread it. I dont really like relying on others a lot, i would rather facing things alone. But some thinkjng has shown me some things. Someone Like me, with a personality like mine needs other people to help them. I'd rather not become some tragic tale of mistake and heartbreak.
I guess what im trying to say is, I would love some help. I really need to learn how to not be really dramatic about things. Even if it does mean more to me, im just accepting help. I gotta always look for that deeper meaning in things, obscure details that show a persons true nature. And here I am rambling here...
4112612
I'll PM you.
It's perfectly fine, I have a friend who's a lot like that as well. I'd be more than happy to help you with editing.
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Ok, im actually working on the next chapter right now.