Friendship Day

by Crescent Pulsar

Chapter 14: Food for Thought

Twilight Sparkle lay on the floor for a long while, incapacitated by the dilemma that had her mind working in overdrive.

Despite how real the experience had felt, she still found herself questioning whether what had happened with Pinkie Pie had actually occurred. Had recent events taken such a toll on her that she'd had a psychotic break, leading her to imagine Pinkie Pie appearing in Canterlot and doing the seemingly-impossible, regardless of her being an Earth pony?

She didn't like that idea, and the problem was that she wasn't sure if she liked it any better if that weren't the case. Then she would have to ascertain if anything that Pinkie Pie had said or done was a lie or a trick. Exactly how she would do that for every single statement and feat was beyond her, especially if Pinkie Pie was as powerful as she seemed and didn't cooperate. So, rather than start on the hardest — and possibly impossible — path, she tentatively began to entertain the idea of approaching the problem while under the assumption that Pinkie Pie was being honest.

Which meant: Pinkie Pie was trapped in a time loop that could last for as long as a lifetime; something or someone was preventing her from ending the time loop; she had become extremely powerful trying to escape her time loop and seek vengeance; she had looped over three hundred thousand times; she used her power and knowledge of the future to prevent bad events.

It was a lot to think about, and for a while she didn't know what to do with the information. Eventually, though, after thinking about it multiple times, in addition to everything else, her attention settled on the part about Pinkie Pie wanting to end her time loop. Not only because she wondered what would happen if Pinkie Pie was no longer bound by the time loop, but what would become of her own existence if Pinkie Pie continued to loop, since she was — supposedly — only in her present situation because of something that Pinkie Pie had done during her current loop.

It disturbed her — much like it had Rainbow Dash — to think that she would forget all that she had learned. That, and repeat yet another life in complete ignorance of the powers shaping both lives and history, whether she died before Pinkie Pie or out-lived her. It wasn't something that she had to really worry about for a long time, though, so she focused on whether she should be concerned by Pinkie Pie's time loop ending.

After all, for all that she knew, Pinkie Pie's entrapment in a time loop could act as a sort of prison. Sure, she was supposed to be giving her the benefit of the doubt at the moment, but she had once believed that time travel — of any sort — was impossible, so she had never needed to worry about anyone going into the past and changing it, especially before the moment of her own conception. It just wasn't easy to trust someone with that kind of power.

Still, it would be remiss of her to not even ask about it, so she could base her feelings on something more substantial than her distrust. She didn't expect to have any of her distrust dispelled, but recent shocks and surprises made a good case for having an open mind on the matter. Unfortunately, that meant waiting until the current loop ended to talk to Pinkie Pie: because she didn't feel like leaving the familiarity, quiet and privacy of her residence, which was ideal when she needed to think.

...Or did she have to wait?

Hoping to finish her current train of thought sooner rather than later, while also testing Pinkie Pie's power, she raised her head and queried, "Pinkie Pie?"

"Whatcha need?" Came the immediate reply, as Pinkie Pie's smiling face stuck out from behind a stack of books that had been within view since she had lain down.

Suppressing her curiosity and disbelief, over how she had gotten there without her noticing, in addition to hiding both a head and body that were too big to be concealed by the books, she asked, "After ending your time loop, what do you plan to do?"

Pinkie Pie perked up at the question. "Why, I'd go on the biggest adventure, of course!"

"Which would be...?" Twilight Sparkle prompted.

"Dying!" Pinkie Pie replied without missing a beat, her smile broadening. Upon seeing that Twilight Sparkle was aghast at her answer, she clarified, "Not immediately, silly. I'll live long enough to ensure the world is full of happiness for a reeeeeeeeeeeeally long time, but there isn't really anything else to do, that I haven't already done before, so-oooo..."

While that made enough sense to Twilight Sparkle, for anyone who had lived as long as Pinkie Pie claimed, the blasé attitude toward death was off-putting enough for her to need a few seconds to recover and move on with her questioning. "Have you ever asked anyone to help you escape your time loop?"

"Like, duh," Pinkie Pie replied, with a roll of her eyes, before shifting her head to the top of the book stack and bringing her shoulders into view. Raising her left hoof up to chin level, she rolled it outward and said, "I've asked everyone notable that you know," she repeated the gesture with her right hoof, "and I've asked the ones you don't know." She dropped both hooves before continuing. "Heck, I've asked somepony you know really well but haven't met yet." An idea seemed to occur to her, eliciting a mischievous grin as she folded her forelegs on the book stack, leaned forward and locked eyes with Twilight Sparkle. "I've even asked you for help, when you're a lot more experienced and more powerful than anyone else — aside from myself, that is."

Twilight Sparkle felt uneasy in response to that last statement, due to the idea of having that kind of power, in addition to surpassing Princess Celestia in that regard. Not wanting to get sidetracked, by that or the other things that piqued her curiosity, it took a lot of effort for her to stay the course. "Final question: exactly how did you create your time loop?"

Pinkie Pie's grin faded, replaced by a contemplative expression as she settled her chin on a raised fetlock. "I guess it won't matter if I tell you this time as well," she eventually decided, the lack of enthusiasm in her voice conveying that it would be a waste of her time. After shifting to an upright position, with her hooves resting on the book stack, she said, "See, for my," she made air quotes with her hooves, "'evil', manipulative purposes, I normally tell everyone that I got my cutie mark after throwing my family a party. In reality, I got it right when I saw the sonic rainboom, while wanting to share the joy I was feeling with everyone."

"I know why you asked that," she went on, her gaze level with Twilight Sparkle's. "And I did try to fulfill my desire, once I finally realized that it might be my ticket to ending the time loop." She leaned back and stared up at the ceiling, a faraway look in her eyes. "At first, I spread joy to everyone I knew. When that didn't work, I spread it to everyone I met. Then, when the entirety of Equestria didn't seem to be enough, I spread it to the whole world."

With a sigh, she straightened up and regarded Twilight Sparkle once more. "It didn't matter if I did it one creature at a time or every creature at once, or if the joy they felt was brief or sustained for a hundred years." At Twilight Sparkle's doubtful but concerned expression, in response to the last part, she returned it with a look that said she was better off not knowing the specifics before continuing. "But, no matter what I did, or how I did it, nothing worked." She shook her head, more for show than with any real emotion. "I did like the basic idea, though, so I've been inspiring another pony to spread joy around Equestria while I pursue another solution."

"I see..." Was all that Twilight Sparkle could say, her eyes downcast while she was busy going over all the new information.

Pinkie Pie smiled warmly at the sight. Knowing that she was no longer needed, she plucked a cupcake out of her mane and tossed it to Twilight Sparkle, saying, "Don't think on an empty stomach!"

Twilight Sparkle looked up just in time to see the cupcake inches away from hitting the floor, and had enough time to feel a spike of panic before it landed, right-side up, with nary a bounce and completely undisturbed. She stared at it dumbly for a few seconds, wondering how it could be perfectly fine, before looking toward the stack of books and finding out that Pinkie Pie had vanished.

Looking back down at the cupcake, her stomach chose that time to complain. Feeling a little sheepish, which would have happened even if she hadn't been aware of the possibility of Pinkie Pie hearing it, she considered whether it would be a good idea to eat it or not. It wasn't as if she couldn't make something herself. Plus, it wasn't like she actually needed to eat anything, since each loop started shortly after breakfast.

...It did smell really good, though. She couldn't place what kind of cupcake it was, by either look or smell, so maybe one bite wouldn't hurt, for the sake of solving the mystery. Surely it would be alright to have it in her mouth long enough to taste it, before spitting it out, right?

Realizing what she was doing, she released a frustrated sigh before grasping the cupcake with her magic and muttering, "Might as well test her trustworthiness while I'm at it..."

She brought the enticing cupcake to her mouth and took a bite. Her eyes immediately flew open, then drew closed as she cupped her cheeks, hummed her delight and chewed. It didn't taste like anything she'd ever had before, despite all the food she had access to as both a student of the princess and a resident of Equestria's capital. However, while her tastes were pretty basic and unrefined, she also had enough experience with high-class dining to be pretty sure that what she had in her mouth wasn't a common commodity. Of course, at this point, she wouldn't be surprised if Pinkie Pie had given her something that only someone like Princess Celestia would normally have access to.

Her eyes went wide, and her body stiffened, after she swallowed the contents of her mouth, since that hadn't been a part of the plan. Between the delicious flavor and her occupied thoughts, she had been distracted enough for reflex to take over. Eventually, she breathed out a sigh of defeat before taking another bite out of the cupcake, figuring that she might as well get some benefit out of her mistake and eat the rest. Hopefully she had nothing to worry about, and that she could trust Pinkie Pie a little bit after this.

When she finished eating her new number one treat, she was surprised to feel completely satiated and full of energy. Unable to remain idle, she rose to her hooves and decided to walk over to the windows and continue her ruminations there. Oddly enough, she'd hardly begun before she figured out her course of action: she would try to free Pinkie Pie from her time loop.

Why? Because Pinkie Pie was aware of what she was doing, and if she was as powerful as she seemed then she could prevent her from discovering if she were actually bad or not, as well as stop her from attaining the ability to deal with her. So, instead of wasting who knows how much time and effort in that pursuit, or in becoming stronger than Pinkie Pie and finding out she was innocent all along, she would try to free her. If Pinkie Pie was telling the truth about the circumstances of her time loop's creation, and what she did to fulfill her desire, along with everything else she'd been told, she had a good idea as to what she needed to do. And if her solution didn't work, that would probably mean that she had been lied to and Pinkie Pie would remain trapped in a time loop — perhaps as she deserved.

It was surprising how easy it was to figure out. She supposed that all she had needed was more information.

Author's Note:

Sorry for another long delay. Hopefully it won't take too long for me to write the few chapters remaining.

Comments

[Opponent]

...So what is her solution? Really not obvious, but I suppose time will tell.

[Yoshifan30]

Wow Whoever thought that Pinkie Pie was stock in the time loop for a very long time in Twilight was curious about why was she was there in the first place but apparently just like in that episode The Cutie Mark Chronicle and the flashback she really wanted to spread her happiness around the Equestria and once they get out of the time Loop she really wants to go out there we still don't know what was her to attention so she needs to be careful and what kind of solution is Twilight doing I guess we'll find out next time

[Venerable Ro]

So, Pinkie was already looping and Twilight started, or Twilight started looping and has now intersected a Pinkie who was also looping in her own circumstance?

[Crescent Pulsar]

10991120
Twilight Sparkle is only in a time loop because of something Pinkie Pie did in the past that altered her reaction to Celestia's letter down the line.