> Pinkamena and Diane Pies' Turn on Earth
>  by A_Mormon Brony
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> Introduction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

You may call me Mormon, for it is as much a label for my religious beliefs as it is my name.  And, my name isn’t the only thing that reflects those beliefs.  You may also note that my religious beliefs are reflected in the title I’ve given this story.

Since my mission, I was able to build a house of my own, something of an underground dwelling for myself.  And, if it hadn’t been for Pinkie Pie, I wouldn’t have had the incentive to build a main level onto the basement house I’ve been living in.  There is so much I could tell you about her, I couldn’t cover all of it in just one chapter.  Just as I’ve written the books on Success and Failure, so now I write the book on my experiences with the pink party pony.

Now that I’ve completed the first two playthroughs of my video game, “Hey Batter!”, I’m sure there are many out there wondering how I came to learn so much about Pinkie Pie.  And, noting the end of the conclusion to my successful playthrough of that game, when I managed to help her video game version transform into what I'm calling an angel pony, she’s given me permission, in fact has ordered me, to tell you the story about how I came to know her so well.

Actually, considering I’m right now preparing an expansion for my game, and will be adding it to my game and playing the expanded game as soon as I’m finished telling this story; I wonder if, assuming I take it in the right direction, it'll have the same ending that I originally planned on.  Based on what I have planned for the game, I expect it to end when the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic series ends, and I will guide the video game version of Pinkie Pie as much as possible, using my character.  For that matter, I’ll be influencing other characters in the game that way as well.

Now, before I get into how I know Pinkie Pie as well as I do, I think it’d be a good idea to tell you my theory about what lead Pinkie Pie to want to come to the human world in the first place.  So, with that in mind, I’m starting off with a chapter, which I call chapter 0, to write my theory, my head cannon, about why I think she wanted to come to the human world.  This will be based on what I’ve heard from the telling of the My Little Dashie fan fiction, as well as what I’ve learned about Pinkie Pie’s character.  After that, I’ll get into the story of how I first found the pink party pony, how she influenced my life, how I influenced her, the letter we received that let me know she was going to stay longer with me, and finally the day she returned to her home and friends in Equestria.

During the process of this story, I plan to demonstrate how I used the fan fiction My Little Dashie, as well as scriptures, to influence how I raised a filly Pinkie Pie to adulthood, and prepared her to return to Equestria.  So, without further delay, let’s begin the story.

You know, all things considered, I still wonder how I was able to get the episodes and story I needed to help me in raising Pinkie Pie from a foal.  After all, she came to me before the turn of the century, the turn of the millennium.  I did have, at my disposal, the scriptures; and you that read this may be surprised at how helpful they were in raising the pink earth filly.  And, it wasn’t just because she was similar in so many ways to me.  But, before I get into that, I think I should let you know what I think happened that lead to Pinkie Pie ending up in my care, based on what I learned from the episodes I watched with Pinkie Pie, and what I read from the My Little Dashie story, not to mention what I learned about Pinkie Pie herself from the two of us living together.
> Chapter 0: Head Cannon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, please take into consideration that what follows is just my theory about what happened from the time that Rainbow Dash returned to Equestria until the time Pinkie Pie left there and came to live with me.  I don’t know exactly what happened, this is just my best educated guess.  For those who might ask, no, they never volunteered any information, and I hadn’t thought to ask.

Considering the time I spent with Pinkie Pie, and all that I learned about her during that time, in addition to what I’ve read and heard about the fan fiction My Little Dashie (which, considering my own personal experience, I’m completely willing to take as fact), my guess is that Rainbow Dash returning to Equestria after the time she spent with her human must’ve been a period of major adjustment for her.  I’m guessing that efforts to remove her memories of her life in the human world, assuming they were attempted, must’ve proven unsuccessful.

Now, the ten years I spent with Pinkie Pie have shown me that she really cares about her friends, and especially about Rainbow Dash.  And, seeing her blue pegasa friend struggling to fit in after being raised in isolation by a human from foal-hood must’ve been especially hard on Pinkie Pie.  So, knowing what she’s like, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to find out that’s exactly what happened, and that’s why she decided to ask Twilight Sparkle to use on her the spell that the purple unicorn (alicorn?) had used on Rainbow Dash.

Naturally, such a request coming from any of the element bearers, especially considering the effect it had already had on Rainbow Dash, would not be something Twilight Sparkle would’ve wanted to deal with.  It was no doubt enough that the bearer of the element of loyalty was struggling with the aftermath of the spell, and her life with her human.  Twilight Sparkle wouldn’t have wanted to deal with the effects the spell would have on the bearer of the element of laughter, or, for that matter, any of the other element bearers.

Knowing what I know about Pinkie Pie, I'm guessing she would’ve been very insistent on being the object of the spell, so she could know exactly what her pegasa friend had gone through, and would have the best chance of helping her.

I have to wonder if Twilight took the matter up with Princess Celestia, as she most likely wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle the matter on her own.  If she did, then she’d most likely write it in a letter, that or take a train to Canterlot to bring the matter to the daytime princess personally.  I’d imagine there was a council held among all the alicorns at the time, whether Twilight Sparkle was one of them or not.  And, Pinkie Pie must have been part of that council, considering she was the one with the proposal in the first place.

Who knows how much time would’ve been spent arguing, negotiating, and trying to dissuade the pink party pony from following what they no doubt saw was a very dangerous course?  But, eventually it was agreed that Pinkie Pie be allowed to go to the human world, on a quest to experience all that her blue pegasa friend had experienced, and to find a way to help her readjust to life in Equestria.

Please note that the part about experiencing all that Rainbow Dash experienced is theory on my part, based on how Pinkie Pie reacted when she found out her experiences were different from those of her friend.

From what I’ve read in letters from the princesses, letters which arrived in my bedroom where I'd originally found the pink party pony, I’m guessing that it was agreed that, as long as circumstances allowed, Pinkie Pie would be granted seven Equestrian days in the human world, and learn what she’d need to do in order to help Rainbow Dash.  And, considering a fit she’d thrown when she realized that her experiences had been not exactly like those of her rainbow-haired pegasa friend, I’m guessing she wanted to have the exact same experiences that Rainbow Dash’d had.  And, you know, while she did go through many of the same things Rainbow Dash went through, and the outcomes were very much the same, I want to make it clear, in fact I will make it clear, that I treated Pinkie Pie very differently from how Rainbow Dash’s human had treated her.

Another thing.  Considering all that’s happened, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if it was designed that I receive the bearer of the element of laughter.  I have had experiences, and I’m sure I’ll continue to have them, when I got what I needed exactly when and where I needed them.  And, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Pinkie Pie had that same sort of blessing.  Were these events governed or otherwise influenced by the God I serve?  Was it all Celestia’s doing?  Or, perhaps they joined forces on the decision.  Whatever the case was, I received the pink party pony, I’d say not even a year old, on Christmas Eve, about twenty years ago.
> Chapter 1: Some Pony's Sleeping in My Bed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Christmas night, and my parents had joined me on my walk home.  After we talked for a while, I decided it was time to retire for the night.  Considering the sun was setting while we were walking, and considering we’d been talking in the dining room for hours, I offered my parents a room for the night; and they accepted.

All things considered, it was probably not that surprising that I had so much on my mind, I didn’t notice another presence in my room as I entered and circled around my bed to get ready and go to sleep.  It wasn’t until I turned around to peel the blanket from my side of the bed when I first saw a strange pink object there on top of it, on the side opposite of where I sleep.  I moved around my bed again, focused on the immobile, yet clearly living, pink mass on my bed.  And, I think it was when I was at the foot of my bed that I saw a rolled-up piece of paper, or something like that, not far from the strange object.

At the other side of the bed from where I'd been about to get in, I noticed that the pink mass had a face, and I could already tell from my circling around it that it had a hairy tail, as well as long hair on its head and neck.  The hair on the creature’s head, neck and tail were a darker shade of pink than that of the rest of it.  And, now that I was getting a better look at it from it’s opposite side, I could see it’s pink face, with a strangely short snout that made me think it might be some sort of dog.

But, the most unusual thing I noticed about this dog(?) was the hair on its head, neck and tail. It’d curl for maybe a second, then remain curly for perhaps another second, then uncurl for another second, then remain straight for one more second.  And, while the hair was straight, the hair on the head and neck only ever fell to the one side of the strange creature’s face, momentarily hiding it from me.

I reached for and grabbed the rolled-up paper, removed the ribbon, and unrolled the paper, which felt surprisingly leathery.  To myself I read,

“Dear Mormon Iarere Andreassen,

“You’ve been given charge for the present time over this, the bearer of the element of laughter, Pinkamena Diane Pie.  She prefers to be called Pinkie Pie.

“She has come to the human world to find the experience she needs to help a friend of hers.  And, she has been given seven days, as they are measured in our world of Equestria, to find it; and we understand that one day here is equal to one year in your world.  When her time is up, her friends and I will come back for her to bring her back home.

“Rulers of Equestria,

“Princess Celestia Princess Luna.”

Well, from that letter I learned that the creature in my bed was a female, and the bearer of the element of laughter.  I had to wonder if that was why her hair seemed to be so oddly out-of-control.  Did all Equestrian creatures like her have that kind of hair?  But, she was also here to get experience so she could help a friend, whatever that meant.  And, wherever she came from, one day in her home world was equal to a year here.  And, she had seven of their days to find what she was looking for.  And, when her time was up, her friends would come for her, along with this Princess Celestia Princess Luna.  Whoever this character was, she knew me by my full name.

I looked at this Pinkamena Diane Pie, who would prefer to be called Pinkie Pie, Pinkie probably being the shorter version of her first name, and I noticed something else next to her, which, to this day, I’m sure hadn’t been there before: a stack of thin plastic containers.  I reached out and picked up the whole stack, then looked through them to see that each of the six containers contained a small disc.  The first five were marked DVDs, and labeled “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic,” with the word “season” followed by a number, in order from one to five.  The last one was marked a CD, and evidently contained, according to the label, files labeled “My Little Dashy” and “Cupcakes.”  None of the discs had pictures, meaning that I’d have to watch the videos on the discs to get a better idea of what these "little" ponies looked like.

You know, I think it was then that I realized I was familiar with the show, “My Little Pony.”  Of course, it’s target audience was little girls, and those ponies looked different from the creature still asleep in my bed.

More out of curiosity than anything else, I said, “Pinkie Pie?”

The pink creature responded to me speaking its name by opening its eyes, her eyes, and looking up at me; and I wondered what I should do next.  Then, after a few seconds, she got up and whinnied at me.

At that point, I knew the creature I was looking at wasn’t a dog, but it was some kind of equine, some kind of horse-like creature.  But, what kind of genetic mutation could cause a horse to look like … that?  Facially it still looked more like a dog than anything related to a horse.  And, there was still the question about it’s mane and tail.  Noting that I hadn’t heard anything from the hallway, I could only guess that my parents were still in the kitchen; and I needed advice on what to do next with this pink … pony?

I set the discs, still in their cases, and the letter on the bed far enough away from Pinkie Pie that I figured I could pick her up without intrusion from them, when she immediately started getting up on all fours.  I instinctively tried to catch her as she stumbled a bit, but she managed to catch herself and get to her hooves.  And, yes, I did see hooves at the end of her legs.  And, her mane and tail curled and uncurled in that four-second rhythm.

I sat down next to her and scooped her up in one arm.

She struggled a little until I put my other hand on her back.  Then she did something I didn’t expect: she nuzzled my chin and once again whinnied.

What a surprising rush.  At that point, as she snuggled into my arms, I had the feeling that I should do as the letter from Princess Celestia Princess Luna had told me to do, and help this pink pony, this Pinkamena Diane Pie, this Pinkie Pie.  The only question on my mind at that point was, how was I going to do that?  I needed advice, and the closest source of advice available to me was my parents.  And, fortunately, they were still there, hopefully in the dining room.

If the rush from being nuzzled by the pink pony was a surprise, it was equally, if not more, surprising that I had the presence of mind to grab the letter from Princess Celestia Princess Luna before I stood up.  Then, as I walked to the door with this unusual Christmas present, the thought occurred to me that “Princess Celestia Princess Luna” might be two separate names.  After all, it did say “Rulers of Equestria,” not “Ruler of Equestria.”  And, the name “Princess Celestia” did, as I remember, seem to have a different style of writing from the name “Princess Luna.”  I would have to look into the letter further; but I’m pretty sure, based on what I saw of the writing, that the letter was written by “Princess Celestia.”

A few seconds later, I was opening the door to my dining room, evidently to the surprise of my parents, who, as I expected, were still there.  Keeping my back to the door to help keep from hitting Pinkie Pie’s head against the doorway, I said, “You’re not going to believe what I found in my bed just now.”  Then I turned around to show them the pink foal in my arms.

If I could put a label on the expressions on my parents’ faces, it would indeed be incredulity, if not confusion.  As I let the door close behind me, I just stood there; and my parents just sat there at the table; and for maybe a minute we were motionless.  That is, except for Pinkie Pie, who, her mane still curling and uncurling, looked at each of my parents.

Then, my dad asked, “What is that?”

At the question Pinkie Pie emitted an alarmed whinny, then buried her face in my closest arm.

I answered, “I think it’s supposed to be some kind of pony.  But, I’ve never seen one that looks like this.”  And, at that point, I started walking toward the table.

Then, my mom asked, “Where did it come from?”

I put Pinkie Pie on the table on her hooves before unrolling the letter again and saying, “According to this, some place called Equestria.”  After that, I let the letter roll up again before handing it to mom.

Mom laughed in disbelief before unrolling the letter and looking at the writing inside.  Then, after reading the letter, she grunted in confusion before letting it roll up again and handing it to dad.

Dad’s response was similar before he handed the letter back to me, except his grunt was more an incredulous snort.  As I accepted the letter back, he asked, pointing to the pink filly, “So, what do you plan to do with this Pinkamena Diane Pie?”

I heard the filly start to whinny, which sounded more like a whimper.  So, I started stroking her back as I answered, “Well, according to the letter, I need to help her find the experience she needs to help a friend of hers, whatever that means.  At any rate, it seems that these rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, want me to take care of her while she’s searching.  And, I see no reason why I shouldn’t do what the letter says.  I just need help taking care of her.”

Then, mom said, “Well, it seems to me the first thing we need to do is get her checked out at the vet.  Once we know what’s making her mane and tail curl and uncurl like that, we should have a better idea of how we, you know, can take care of her.”

I opened my mouth to agree with mom, but then dad asked, “Is that letter all that came with Pinkamena?”

At that point, the whinny that came from the pink filly went from whimpering to growling.

I quickly switched mental gears and said, “According to the letter, she prefers to be called Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie indeed seemed to prefer that name, as I heard her stop growling, then emit a whinny that sounded like she was grunting in affirmation.

I continued, “And, to answer your question, yes, I did get more than just the letter.  I also got some DVDs and one CD.  The DVDs, five in total, seem to each contain a season of a show called ‘My Little Pony Friendship is Magic’ on them, and the CD has two files, I guess, on them, called ‘My Little Dashy’ and ‘Cupcakes.’  I don’t know how, but I’m guessing those files are gonna be useful to me.”

Mom asked, “Do you think the ‘Cupcakes’ file is gonna be a recipe or something?”

I answered, “Honestly, I don’t know.  I haven’t had a close enough look at any of those discs yet.  I’m hoping at least one of those files will have information I can use to help me raise Pinkie Pie.”  Then, I backed away from Pinkie Pie as I asked, “Should I go get those discs so you can have a look at ‘em?”

My dad, then my mom, answered affirmatively.

At that point, I used the hand I’d been stroking the pink filly with to point to each of my parents.  I said, “Now, Pinkie Pie, this is my mom, and this is my dad.  I trust them, and I’m gonna leave you with them while I go get the discs.  But, I promise you, I won’t be gone for very long.”  And, with that, I stroked Pinkie’s back one more time before heading for the door.

I must admit, I was a bit surprised when, as I reached the kitchen door, I heard Pinkie Pie whinny loudly; and it sounded like she was calling out, “Dad!”

I turned to her and said, “I promise I’ll be back in a few seconds.”  And, as I turned and closed the door behind me, I can’t deny that I felt another rush at the thought of the pink pony calling me “dad.”  It was a label I’d never had applied to me before; and, I must admit, it felt good to me.

As quickly as I could, I walked to my bedroom, got the discs, and returned to the kitchen so that I could get back to the pink pony as soon as possible.  Then when I got back into the kitchen, I found mom holding Pinkie Pie in her arms on the opposite end of the table from me.  I asked, “Is everything alright?”

Mom answered, “Apparently Pinkie Pie trusts you more than she trusts us.”

As I approached the table, I said, “Just set Pinkie Pie on the table again, and I’ll hand you the discs so you can have a look at ‘em.”

Mom didn’t say anything more, just set Pinkie Pie on her hooves on the table; and I approached her, that is mom, and handed the discs to her.

After that, I stroked Pinkie Pie’s back as I asked, “Are you alright?”  Of course, I didn’t have to ask.  I could feel the pink filly trembling under my hand.  But, there was another thing I noticed: Pinkie Pie’s mane remained curly.

She looked up at me and, as far as I could tell, whimpered at me.  Then, she jumped into my arms and started whinnying loudly.  I wouldn’t be surprised if she was crying.

In the mean time, as mom looked at the discs, she read the label aloud, “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic.”

Holding Pinkie Pie the way I would a child, I said, “I’ve heard of the the My Little Pony cartoon show, but not Friendship is Magic.  As far as I know, it doesn’t exist.”

At this point, dad restated, “So, you’ve got a pony with a face that looks more like that of a human or a dog, and discs to a show that doesn’t exist.”

I answered, “That sounds about right.  Any advice?”

Dad chuckled once, then said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t have any experience with this.  The best advice I can give you is raise her like a horse, and solve problems as they arise.  But, considering how small she is now, unless she grows fast, keeping her in the house may not be that much of a problem.”

I replied, “Alright, then.  So, what can I feed her?”

At this point, mom said, “Well, if you have any apples or carrots, that may be a good thing to start with.”

By this time, Pinkie Pie had calmed down.

Still, I carried her into the kitchen to the refrigerator to see if there were any apples or carrots.  Unfortunately, in my search through all the things I had available, I couldn't find any of those.  So, still carrying the pink pony in my arms, I went back into the dining area of the kitchen and told my parents what I found, or didn’t find, in the fridge.

Now, mom asked, “Do you have any milk?”

I answered, “Just two percent.”

Mom stated, “Well, if that’s what you have available, then that’ll have to do.  Tomorrow we’ll take you and Pinkie Pie to the vet to get her checked out.  In the mean time, hopefully she’ll be able to handle the milk.”

Taking mom’s advice, and still carrying Pinkie Pie, I went into the kitchen, got a small bowl, put it on the floor, then put Pinkie Pie next to the bowl.  After that, I took the half-gallon bottle of milk out of the fridge and poured some of it into the bowl and watched Pinkie Pie sniff at it.  As I put the rest of the milk back in the fridge, I said, “That’s all I have available right now.  I hope it's alright.  Tomorrow, after we visit the vet, we’ll go to the store and see what we can get for you.”

In response, Pinkie Pie inhaled deeply and exhaled fast, then started licking at the milk.  I can only guess it appealed to her, because she drank the rest of it as though it was her first meal in years.  And, for all I know, it may have been the first meal of her life.  When she was finished, she looked up at me and licked some milk off of her nose.

I asked, “How was that?”

I think she opened her mouth to whinny again, but what came out instead was a belch.  And, I think I saw some milk come out as well.  And, she then covered her mouth with a forelimb.

As I watched her cover her mouth with a front hoof, the right one I think, I asked, “Are you alright?”

As I knelt down to reach out and touch her, she belched again; and this time a lot of milk came out of her mouth.  I can only guess that whatever she was intended to drink, milk, at least from a cow, wasn’t it.

I grabbed a role of paper towels and went to work cleaning up the milk that Pinkie Pie was evidently not able to hold in, off of the floor, off of her forelimb, and off of her mouth.  Remembering how much milk I’d given her, and how much she’d vomited up again, I’m guessing that it was just the amount of milk that was the problem, and perhaps not the milk itself.

My next job after that was evidently to comfort the frightened pink filly and let her know things were going to be alright.  Then, when she wasn't so scared anymore, I picked her up again and carried her into the dining room again, where mom and dad were still waiting for us.

I let them know what had happened, and that Pinkie Pie seemed to be fine now.  Then, as mom and dad went to one of the other bedrooms to sleep, I headed for my room and set Pinkie Pie on the side of the bed next to where I’d be sleeping, on the pillow, then went around to the other side of the bed to sleep where I normally slept.
> Chapter 2: The Quest for Identity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, as my alarm clock was singing to Pinkie Pie and me, sometime around nine in the morning, I got up and turned on the lights, then went back to my side of the bed to let the song play through before turning off my alarm clock.  But, as I was listening to the song, I heard an unexpected, light tapping sound coming from the other side of the bed.  I turned around to see Pinkie Pie looking at me while her tail was arched a little higher than usual.

I got up to have a look, but the tapping sound stopped before I could see for sure if it was Pinkie Pie urinating off the bed.  When I circled the bed to see for sure, I did see a wet spot on the carpet between the bed and the wall, directly behind the little pink filly.

One thing I’ll say about Pinkie Pie.  She was at least polite enough to aim her urine stream off the bed.  But, that was just the beginning.

I saw that her tail was still arched, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at the emergence of feces that came next.  Again it didn’t touch the bed; and, considering how much had come back up out of her mouth that last night, it wasn't surprising that very little was leaving her bowels.  But, when it was all over, I still had a mess to clean up.

In the mean time, she’d distracted me along enough that my alarm clock had finished the first song it was playing, and had moved on to the next one.

I walked quickly to the alarm clock and pushed a button to reset it, then went into the kitchen for some paper towels to clean up the mess that Pinkie Pie had made.

I suppose it was a good thing that my parents hadn’t woken up yet, or at least I didn’t hear anything from the room they’d chosen as I got the paper towels.

When I got back to my room, I saw Pinkie Pie between the bed and the wall, all-fours position, in the middle of the mess she'd made.

As the pink filly looked up at me, I can only guess she could sense my anger, as she lowered her head and her ears folded backwards.  I can only guess she was expecting some kind of punishment for the mess she'd made, or that she was now in it, or something similar.

I must admit, seeing her the way she was, I wasn’t the happiest I could’ve been.  But, seeing her on all fours in her own urine, awaiting whatever punishment I might have in store for her, I found I couldn't bring myself to do anything to carry it out.  After all, this was her first day on Earth, her first day in a new world.  She didn’t know about the rules of the house, she wasn't familiar with any rules.  How could I enforce rules on a creature that most likely wouldn't understand?  But, there was one thing I could do.

I set the paper towels aside, reached out and picked up the pink filly, then took her to the bathroom to give her, and my hands, a rinse.  After that, I went back to the bedroom and did my best to clean up the mess she’d made between the bed and the wall, including some of the urine which had ended up on the wall itself.  Whatever was left I’d have to deal with later.  At the moment, I had a bunch of paper towels to throw away, then a meal to prepare, at least for me and my parents.

By the time I returned to the kitchen, my parents were there, talking about what to do about the “new addition to the family.”  As soon as they saw me, with my hands full of dirty paper towels, my dad asked, “Is everything alright?”

I answered, “Yeah, everything’s fine.  Pinkie Pie just made her first mess, that’s all.”  I suppose, technically, it was her second mess.  On the other hand, it was her first mess of her second day.

Mom asked, “Is she alright?  What happened?”

Then, from my right, I heard the familiar whinny of the pink filly, and looked down to see her next to me in the doorway.

I answered, “As you can see, she’s fine.  She had to relieve herself, and decided to do so off of the bed.  I’ll give her that much, she didn’t mess the bed, just the floor between it and the wall.”

I didn’t realize until I looked behind her that I’d forgotten to dry her after rinsing her off.  Behind her was a trail of wet hoof-prints leading from my bedroom.

Mom said, “If you’re going to keep a pet in the house, you’re gonna have to train her.”

It was something I knew already, but I guess it didn’t hurt to hear it again.  I said, “That’ll have to wait until after I find out more about her.  Until then, let’s take her to the vet.  There must be some reason why her mane and tail keep curling and uncurling.”

Neither mom nor dad argued that point.  I think they were as puzzled over the behavior of her mane and tail as I was.  But, first thing came first.

I went into the kitchen, followed by my parents and Pinkie Pie, and my parents and I prepared a breakfast for the three of us, and I provided another bowl of milk for Pinkie Pie, this time less than before.  I didn’t want a repeat of last night’s spill.

After fixing and having breakfast, we went outside, dressed for winter; and I kept Pinkie Pie in my coat, since I wasn’t sure how well she’d tolerate the cold.

One observation I’ll make right now.  Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail remained straight, and her mane to one side of her head and neck, for the time she seemed to feel she was in trouble.  And, it was only her posture that suggested she sensed any trouble.  Now that she was safe in my coat, her mane went back to curling and uncurling as it had been doing before.

We walked to my parents’ house, which wasn’t more than a block away, got into the van; and my parents drove to the veterinary clinic in town, after which we entered the clinic, with me still holding the pink foal in my coat.

And, here’s another interesting thing.  Pinkie Pie’s mane remained curly the whole time we were in the van.  I had to wonder if that meant that she was enjoying the ride.  Little was I to realize that I’d be right, just not for the reason I thought it was.

I had a rather interesting time explaining to the people there how I’d gotten this pink foal, and why I was bringing her in.  Clearly a checkup was in order.  Perhaps that would help solve the mystery of why Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail kept curling and uncurling.

The doctor who gave the checkup to Pinkie Pie didn’t have too much of a problem studying her.  That is, until he took out a pair of scissors and attempted to cut off a hair from her tail.

At that point, Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail went straight, her mane fell to one side of her head and neck, and she started growling at the veterinarian.  She kept her face to the vet, not allowing him anywhere near her tail.

At this point, I leaned in close to her and said, “Now, the doctor just wants a sample of your hair.”

To my surprise, I clearly heard her say, “No.”  It wasn’t a whinny that sounded like the word, it was that word.

I asked, “What’s wrong?  Couldn’t he just have just one hair?”

Pinkie Pie answered, “No.  No cut hair.”

Whatever the pink pony’s origins were, they clearly gave her the ability to learn very rapidly, at least how to speak.  I began to wonder if this ability to learn expanded to other areas.  But, now wasn’t the time for such curiosity.

Standing up straight again, I asked the doctor, “Is there some way you could study her hair without cutting it?”

The veterinarian set the scissors on a nearby table, then, taking a moment to think it over, said, “I suppose I could bring in the microscope, or you could bring this foal into the lab where the microscope is, and I could just study a sample of her mane or tail without cutting it.”

I turned to Pinkie Pie and asked, “Is that alright with you?”

Pinkie Pie calmed down and answered, “Study.  No cut.”

I turned back to the doctor and said, “I guess that’s a yes.”

The veterinarian took a step backwards toward the door he’d entered through and said, “I’ll be right back.”  And, with that, he was gone to get the microscope.

Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail remained straight, and her mane remained on the one side of her head, as she eyed the scissors suspiciously.

I tried calming her down further by stroking her on her opposite side from me and saying, “It’s alright, Pinkie.  The veterinarian’s just going to get the microscope, and he’ll study your hair then.  You don’t need to worry about the scissors anymore.”

I could feel her vibrating as she said, “No scissors.  No cut hair.”

At this point, I knelt down so I was eye-level with the pink filly and, gently using a finger to direct her attention to my face, I said, “It’s alright, Pinkie.  I won’t let anyone hurt you.”  And, for reassurance, I hugged her.

That seemed to work.  She relaxed somewhat, although, when I backed away, she still stared at the scissors on the table.

To this day I still don’t know why she was so scared of those scissors.

Not long after I stopped hugging Pinkie Pie the veterinarian came in with the microscope, then put it next to Pinkie Pie.

The pink foal just kept staring suspiciously at the scissors.

I asked the doctor, “Do you think you could put those scissors somewhere else?  They’re really scaring Pinkie.”

The doctor didn’t answer vocally, just walked over to the table where the scissors were, opened a drawer under the nearby counter, picked up the scissors and put them into the drawer, then closed it.  He then turned to me and asked, “How’s that?”

I looked down at Pinkie Pie and noticed that her mane and tail immediately started curling again.  I turned back to the veterinarian and said, “Much better.”

In the mean time, Pinkie Pie started sniffing at the microscope.

Then, the doctor walked over and turned a light on under the microscope, startling the pink pony.  He then produced a thin glass and a spray bottle.  After spraying the glass, he moved behind Pinkie Pie, separated one strand of hair from her tail, put it lengthwise on the glass, then set it under the microscope.

Pinkie Pie was as curious as I was to see what the doctor would discover about her hair, at least on her tail.

After a few minutes, the vet backed away form the microscope and, gesturing for me to have a look inside, said, “Whatever’s causing her hair to move around the way it does, I can’t find it.  I expected to see muscle fibers or something that’d make her tail hair curl and uncurl the way it does, but I just can't find any.”

I had a look into the microscope, but I couldn’t see anything in the hair either.

When Pinkie Pie tried to get a look into the microscope, she pulled the hair free and was unable to get a good look at it.

The doctor tried the same thing with a hair of Pinkie Pie’s mane, but couldn’t find anything there either.  Whatever was causing Pinkie Pie’s mane and tail to continually curl and uncurl, except when she sensed danger or was enjoying something, it had nothing to do with the hair itself.  And, the rest of her body fur didn’t curl or uncurl.  It was just her mane and tail.

The checkup cost some one hundred fifty dollars, which I paid.

After that, I carried Pinkie Pie as my parents and I started for the front door.

Just then, the bishop of our ward, Bishop Morris, walked in and, seeing the pink foal in my coat, said, “I see you’ve got a new pet.”

I answered, “Her name is Pinkie Pie.  My parents and I just brought her in to figure out why her hair’s always curling and uncurling.”

Presently Bishop Morris said, “You do realize what you have there are conjoined twin ponies.”

All I could do, at that moment, was grunt in curious confusion.

The bishop elaborated, “Pinkie Pie is actually two identical ponies.  They’ve been conjoined so completely that they’re essentially two pony spirits in one pony body.”  He then asked, “What’s her full name?”

I answered, “Pinkamena Diane Pie.”

Before I could ask why he wanted to know, he said, “Those first two names aren’t just the first and middle names of one pony.  One of the twins is Pinkamena.  The other one is Diane.  You’ll be able to tell the difference.”  He then held the door open for my parents and me to leave.

As I passed Bishop Morris, all I could think to say was “Thanks.”

The bishop answered, “You’ll know which one’s which, as you’ve seen that one of the twins has curly mane and tail, and the other one has straight mane and tail.  You’ll know which name to give which pony.  And, after that, just ask for the pony by name, and she’ll let you know she’s listening.  Or, you can just call her Pinkie.”

After that, mom, dad and I went back into the van; and we headed back for my parents’ home.

On the way there, noticing that Pinkie Pie’s mane was remaining curly, I decided to give it a try; so, I asked, “Pinkamena?”

She responded by turning to me and whinnying in curiosity.  I dare say the whinny sounded like she was asking, “Huh?”

At this point, I thought aloud, “So, your sister is Diane?”

Pinkie, no, Pinkamena, whinnied, “Uh huh,” then turned back to the window.

Honestly, I hadn’t thought of that possibility.  Pinkie Pie’s hair curls when Pinkamena is in control; then her hair straightens out, and her mane falls to one side of her head and neck, when Diane is in control.  What else was I going to learn about this pink pony?  Most certainly those DVDs and the CD would have information that was going to prove useful to me, hopefully information on Pinkie Pie’s background.

When we got back to my parents’  house, I, still keeping Pinkie Pie in my coat, said goodbye to them and headed back home again.

Once there, I let Pinkie Pie out of my coat, then put it away, then turned to the pink pony and said, “Well, it’s just been one day, and you’ve already taught me quite a lot about you.”  I then knelt down and stroked her mane and said, “I enjoy a good learning experience, and I can see that living with you is gonna give me a whole lot of them.  Maybe together we can get a better idea about what your background is from those discs, and I can learn better how to take care of you.  So, what do you say?  Are you ready to get started?”

I wasn’t expecting it, but Pinkie Pie crouched, then leaped into my chest, causing me to close my arms around her to keep her from falling backwards away from me again.  She then nuzzled and licked my chin, then whinnied, “Daddy!”

Again that thrill.  Whatever else I was going to do, it was going to be with Pinkie Pie at my side; and I was going to be at her side.  Then I realized something: in all the activity, I’d forgotten that I needed to use the bathroom.  Then I also realized that it was the perfect opportunity to teach Pinkie Pie how to use the toilet.  And, if there was one thing good that came out of this morning’s event, it was knowing how Pinkie Pie expels waste.

Under normal conditions, when I saw a creature, real or fake, watching me, I wouldn’t be able to urinate or defecate.  But, for some reason, I didn’t have that problem around Pinkie Pie.

I didn’t immediately undress in front of her, I just opened the lid of the toilet and told her, “Now, the next time you need to urinate or defecate, I want you to come in here and aim it into this basin here.  But, open the lid first.”

The way her head was tilted, she was making it clear she didn’t understand what I was saying, or at least didn’t understand the words “urinate” and “defecate.”

I had a foot stool nearby under the sink, so I pulled that out and tapped it, inviting Pinkie Pie to jump up on it.  I then said, "I’ll now demonstrate urinating for you.”  And, yes, I undid my pants, opened up and proceeded to urinate into the toilet in front of Pinkie Pie.

When I was finished, Pinkie Pie proceeded to turn around, point her tail up in the air, and squirt a fountain of urine into the toilet, not unlike what I had done.  Except, she got more on the toilet seat, or onto the floor, than she got into the toilet.

When she stopped and turned around and saw all she’d done, she looked up at me and frowned, even whinnied sorrowfully.

I reached out and stroked her mane as I said, “It’s alright.  Human males, like myself, urinate standing up.  Human females urinate sitting down.  How human females urinate’ll probably work best for you.”  Then, as I pulled my pants and underwear down, I continued, “Now, I’ll demonstrate defecating for you.” I found it surprisingly easy, while more or less sitting above the toilet seat, to have a bowel movement in front of the curious pink pony.

Again when I was finished and stood up, Pinkie Pie turned around again and pointed her backside over the toilet; but this time she proceeded to empty her bowels.  Unfortunately, since her colon was already empty, she had nothing to empty into the toilet from there.  But, on the other hand, as much as one might expect such a creature as small as Pinkie Pie was to fall into the toilet, surprisingly enough, she didn’t.

When the pink filly was finished trying, she turned to me, panting, and groaned in disappointment.

But, her disappointment turned into happiness when I said, “It's alright.  When you need to, I'm sure you'll do it,” and gave her a thumbs-up gesture.  After that, I said, “Now, us humans like to clean ourselves after we’ve defecated.  If you think you need to clean your own backside, you can stay here and do so.  If you think you need to, just stay; and I’ll get you some toilet paper.  Otherwise, you can just go on and wait for me in my bedroom.  But, I’m gonna stay here and get cleaned up, then clean up the bathroom as well.  Then, I think we’ll get something to eat, and watch one of those videos on one of those DVDs.  Does that sound good to you?”

Pinkie Pie just stared at me as though I was crazy.

Seeing that she wasn’t leaving, I took some toilet paper, folded it, and handed it to her.  I then got some for myself and proceeded to use it.

I couldn’t help watch as Pinkie Pie observed my example, then look at the toilet paper I’d given her, then proceed to turn away from it and trot out of the bathroom.

When I was finished I pulled up my underwear and pants, then proceeded to use the paper I’d offered to Pinkie Pie to clean up the mess she’d made on the floor and the toilet seat.  After that, I went and got a snack for myself, some popcorn, then proceeded to my study room, parallel to the hallway; then, with Pinkie Pie following close behind me, set up a folding chair for her and took the swiveling chair for myself.  I then turned on my computer, took the disc marked “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic season 1,” and put it into my computer’s DVD player, then waited for the media player to turn on, acknowledge the disc, and offer a list of the files on the list for me to choose to watch.  After a few seconds of reading the twenty-six file names, I chose the first episode, which was entitled “Friendship is Magic Part 1,” and sat back to watch the episode with the pink filly.

I had expected it to be informative, and perhaps part of me expected to get information on Pinkie Pie’s friends as well as her.  I guess a part of me just expected it to surround Pinkie Pie.  Instead, when the story actually started, it was about a purple horned pony, a unicorn, called Twilight.  I was later to learn that her full name was Twilight Sparkle.  She was a librarian of sorts, or that’s what I gathered from her presence in a library setting when I saw her during the progress of the episode.  And she had a dragon helping her, purple-colored, named Spike.  Also, this Twilight Sparkle didn’t originally live in Ponyville, but in a place called Canterlot.

I began to get the feeling that these names were perhaps variations of places I’d heard of.  Canterlot, for instance, sounded a lot like Camelot.  I began to wonder, what other places would remind me of places I’d heard of?  This place, Ponyville, didn’t remind me of anyplace I’d particularly heard of, except perhaps Orangeville?  But, that seemed unlikely to me.

In the mean time, Pinkie Pie seemed just as fascinated by the video that was playing as I was.  The introductory song was similar to the theme song from the original “My Little Pony” series, except, after the title was quoted twice, the theme changed dramatically.  As the tempo became more upbeat, the title “My Little Pony” was repeated, but in the background; while, in the foreground, lyrics I wasn’t familiar with were sung to a different tune that went along with the background theme, evidently following the theme of the rest of the title, “Friendship is Magic.”

At any rate, I shared my popcorn with Pinkie Pie as we watched the story unfold, of this Twilight Sparkle being assigned to move to Ponyville to make friends with other ponies there.  Pinkie Pie was the first she met, and I think the reaction of the Pinkie Pie in the video was as surprising to the Pinkie Pie sitting next to me as it was funny to me.  Later on, she’d explain why she reacted the way she did; but in the mean time Twilight had other ponies to meet:  a yellow winged pony, or pegasus, named Fluttershy, a blue pegasus named Rainbow Dash, no doubt because of the rainbow-colored mane; an orange pony named Applejack, and a white unicorn named Rarity.  And, it still seems to me that Rarity was very appropriately named.

In fact, all the ponies were, as far as I could tell, appropriately named.  And, all the ponies were female.  So, considering the word “pegasus” was given a Latin theme, it seemed to me then, and it still does now, more appropriate to call Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash “pegasae,” and, in singular, “pegasa.” But, let’s get back to the story.

The reason for her mission to Ponyville, to make friends with five other ponies, was to help her to deal with a menace known as Nightmare Moon, which was scheduled to appear during the approaching Summer Sun Festival, evidently an event celebrating another pony known as Princess Celestia, who was scheduled to appear in the town hall.  When she failed to appear on schedule, she was replaced by the previously mentioned Nightmare Moon.

The appearance of Nightmare Moon was interesting to me, although terrifying to Pinkie Pie, who grabbed hold of my closest arm and wouldn’t let go until the black, winged-and-horned, evidently carnivorous horse disappeared from the screen.  And even then, as I stroked the side of her neck opposite me, I could still feel her vibrating.  If I didn’t calm her down, I had a feeling I was going to have one sleepless night.

The episode ended, I must admit, leaving me to wonder what was going to happen next.  And, considering the whimpering little filly that was seated next to me, I figured I needed to do something at the very least for her sake.  So, after the closing credits, I clicked on the picture of the second episode, which was titled “Friendship is Magic Part 2,” to see how this two-part episode was going to end.

After a review of the highlights of the first episode, and the opening theme and credits, Nightmare Moon disappeared after a while; and the scene shifted to a view of Spike sleeping, evidently having a nightmare about what he’d seen.  Considering the dragon’s evidently traumatic experience, I still have to wonder why Twilight left him alone to go search for the elements of harmony, which she’d describe to her friends soon after covering the little dragon.

The young Pinkie Pie was fascinated to see her cartoon self first find a book for Twilight, then help the group laugh their way out of a forest scene where they were surrounded by trees with ghostly faces.  I’d already had a look at Pinkie Pie’s more unusual physical attributes, watching her mane curl and uncurl, then found out that what I was seeing was evidence that the pink filly was actually two ponies in one.  Now, the two (three?) of us were getting an understanding of Pinkie Pie’s character in the show.  We would later learn that what we’d seen was proof that Pinkie Pie was the bearer of one of the elements, specifically the element of laughter.

There was a cliff scene which, according to the end of the episode, was supposed to demonstrate that Applejack, the orange pony, was intended to hold the element of honesty.  Another scene, involving a wailing taniwha in a river, was supposed to show that the white unicorn Rarity would bear the element of generosity, because she’d chopped off her tail to use as the taniwha’s missing facial hair.  One scene involving a broken bridge over a chasm was intended to show that the blue pegasa with the six-colored mane and tail, Rainbow Dash, was going to bear the element of loyalty.  Then, one of the earliest scenes involving a manticore, evidently a lion with a scorpion’s tail and bat wings, was supposed to prove the yellow pegasa, Fluttershy, was going to bear the element of kindness.  But, it was the last scene, when the group of six ponies dealt with Nightmare Moon, that Twilight would realize she would bear the element of magic.  Which, considering the show was called “Friendship is Magic,” makes a lot of sense, I suppose.

I think, when Pinkie Pie saw Nightmare Moon, with the help of the rainbow that came from the jewelry that the six ponies wore, turned into Princess Luna, the apparently long-lost sister of Princess Celestia, a white horse with wings and a horn, the little pink foal seemed ashamed of having been scared of the black horse with the bat's wings and the horn.  But, after all, who could blame her for being so scared?

I didn’t find the creature that scary because, after all, I knew it was a cartoon; and wouldn’t be able to harm me.  But, Pinkie Pie, as young as she was, wouldn’t have known that.

The good news is the show would indeed help me learn about Pinkie Pie, especially while she watched it with me.  The bad news?  Well, that’ll come later.  For now, it’s sufficient for me to say that I didn’t have such a sleepless night after all.  In fact, as much as one might not expect it, that was one of the more restful nights I ever had.
> Chapter 3: Rhinitis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was either from this Friendship is Magic or the original My Little Pony series that I learned that Pinkie Pie was of the race of ponies known in Equestria as earth ponies.  Whichever it was, one of my more memorable experiences with Pinkie Pie was her first experience with the common cold, perhaps a week after she’d arrived.

I remember it felt like an hour or so after I’d gone to sleep that I was awakened by something poking me in the back.

By this time, Pinkie Pie’s vocabulary had grown quite a lot; and, while she still whinnied when she talked, she was still surprisingly understandable.

At any rate, I rolled over toward the pink pony and asked, “Yeah, Pinkie, what’s wrong?”

I recognized the emotionless voice of Diane as she said, “Pwease, I deed heop.”

Well, just hearing her voice and how she was talking, I knew something was wrong.  So, I sat up on the edge of the bed, turned on the light, then turned to Pinkie Pie.  And, I couldn’t help but laugh at what I saw.

I had no party favors in my house at all, but it seemed that somehow Pinkie Pie had gotten the end of two spiral-rolled lines of streamers stuck in each of her nostrils.  The streamer in her right nostril was yellow, while the one in her left was blue.  She looked like she had a long, skinny handlebar mustache of two different colors under her nose.  And, Diane’s straight hair didn’t help matters any.

I pulled the streamers out of Pinkie Pie’s nose, and I noticed that the ends that’d been in her nose seemed somehow digested, or something like that.

Then she sneezed, and confetti flew all over, accompanied by a quiet, high-pitched whistling sound.

I think it was then that I realized that the streamers were probably not streamers at all, but perhaps the pink earth pony’s mucus.  I looked at her side of the bed, and saw it covered with blue and yellow confetti and shorter streamers.  I felt her forehead, and it was unusually warm.  Whatever was happening to her, it stopped being funny at that point.

Still, when I stopped laughing, Diane said to me, “Pinkabeda thakes you fo waughig.  We deed mo heop.”

I threw the long streamers in the nearest garbage container, then began to remember something in the scriptures about a grain that would be good for horses.  I went to my study room, found my scriptures, and checked in the Doctrine and Covenants, searching for the verse in section eighty-nine that mentioned it.  And, sure enough, there it was, in verse seventeen:  “... and oats for the horse.”

I would later find out, from the Magic is Friendship series, as well as from Pinkie Pie herself, that Equestrian ponies didn’t like being referred to as horses.  But, at this moment, it didn’t matter to me.  Modern scriptures had given me the information I needed to help Pinkie Pie return to good health.  But, it’d also been my observation that horses like eating apples.  So, I went to the kitchen to see if I could find some oatmeal and apples.  The bad news was I’d run out of oatmeal.  The good news was, since I’d last gone shopping, a couple days ago, I did still have some apples in the fridge.

When I returned to my room, I found Pinkie Pie, still being controlled by Diane, trembling where I’d left her when I went in search of some information on how I could help her.  I knelt on her side of the bed and, stroking her back, I asked, “Are you alright?”

I know I said that what was happening wasn’t funny anymore.  Well, it wasn’t funny for the time she had none of those streamers hanging from her nose.  But more streamers had developed, and the scene was just as funny as the first pair of streamers had been.

Diane answered, “C-c-code.”  And, she started coughing, expelling more confetti and streamers.

After telling her to stay put, I went into the bathroom and got some bath towels, which I brought to her; and I wrapped her up in them.  Then, when she at least wasn’t trembling as much, I called my parents on the phone and told them that Pinkie Pie was sick.  Yes, I did laugh over the phone, which I’m sure made it sound like I wasn’t taking the matter seriously.  I asked them if they had any oatmeal, and they said they’d come with the oatmeal as soon as possible.  I’m also sure I said something about them having to see Pinkie Pie for themselves to understand why I was laughing.  Who wouldn’t, after seeing the little pink pony with streamers hanging out of her nostrils?

I assured Diane that I’d take good care of both her and Pinkamena, and I would get her through her cold.

Not long afterwards, I heard a knock at the door; so I left Pinkie Pie and went through the hallway up the stairs, and to the front door to meet my parents as they came in.  I led them to the dining room where they produced a container of oatmeal, and I went into the kitchen to get a bowl.  After that, I went back into the dining room and scooped some of the oatmeal into the bowl, then went back into the kitchen and added some water to it, then put it in the microwave for a few minutes while I took an apple from the fridge, brought it to a nearby counter, and, after producing a knife, cut up the apple while the oatmeal was cooking in the microwave.  By the time the oatmeal was done, so were the apple slices, ready to go into the oatmeal.  After that, I dumped the apple slices into the oatmeal, mixed them in with the spoon I'd used for mixing the oatmeal, then took the oatmeal and apple slice mixture, spoon and all, and, with my parents, went into my bedroom to feed the mixture to Pinkie Pie.

By the time I’d gotten back to the pink pony, she’d stopped trembling, and was evidently sleeping.

I gently nudged her with a hand to wake her up, at which point she stretched and looked at me, eyeing the bowl of much I was holding.

I said, “I made this for you.  It’s oatmeal and apple slices.”

Evidently not even mom or dad could deny the absurdity of the pink pony having streamers hanging from her nostrils.

Then, as Diane looked from the bowl of oatmeal and apple slices back up to me, she said, “You bwess, den I eat.”

One daily habit I’d gotten into, especially in the presence of Pinkie Pie, was offering a blessing on the food I'd prepare for each meal before eating it.  She’d even recognized the sacredness of the action by putting her front hooves together and closing her eyes during the prayer.  Now, she was asking me to bless this mixture of oatmeal and apple slices.  I figured, why not?

So, as all of us in the room closed our eyes and bowed our heads, or so I assume, I prayed over the mixture, asking Heavenly Father to bless it so it’d help Pinkie Pie recover her health.  Then, after that, I used the spoon in the mixture to scoop small amounts of it and serve to the pink pony.

Evidently Diane had full confidence in my prayer over the food, as she readily accepted the spoonfuls of oatmeal-covered apple.  Then, after chewing and swallowing a few spoonfuls, she pushed the hand I’d been holding the spoon with away with a hoof and said, “Weabe bow he-o.  I sweep now, eat mo waita.”

Deciding Diane probably had the right idea, I put the spoon back in the bowl, set the bowl on an end table next to the bed where Pinkie could reach it, then turned to my parents; and we made our way out of the room.  Of course, before I left the pink filly alone, I pulled out those streamers that had formed in her nostrils.

Mom and dad lead the way to the kitchen, where, once we were settled down, after I’d thrown the streamers away, we talked about various things, including why Pinkie Pie had streamers hanging from her nostrils.  We must’ve talked for hours, until the kitchen door opened, and Pinkie Pie, now being controlled by Pinkamena, entered the room and put the empty bowl she was carrying on the ground in front of her.  Looking up at me with a sad look on her face, she asked, “You forgive Pinkamena?  I scared.  I not want feel pain.  Not want die.”

Again that rush.

I turned to her and picked up the bowl and placed it on the table.  Then, I bent down and picked up Pinkie Pie under her forelimbs and placed her on my lap.  With the little pink filly in that position, I said, “It’s alright.  Getting sick for the first time is a scary experience.  But, Diane had the right idea turning to me.  It’s because of her that you’re still alive, and back in good health.”

I seem to remember it was mom that said we should take Pinkie Pie to the veterinary clinic as soon as possible to have her checked out and make sure she was fully recovered from her cold.  And, after I cleaned the bowl Pinkie had used and put it in the drying tray, that’s what we did.

There at the clinic we got confirmation that Pinkie Pie had recovered surprisingly quickly from a cold.  They just couldn’t explain the streamers.  Oh, well.  I could only theorize that, in Equestria, where Pinkie Pie had come from, ponies sick with a cold probably expelled mucus in what would look like streamers to us humans.  And, since Pinkie Pie provided me with my only experience with sick Equestrian ponies, that remains my theory to this day.

When we got back home, it was morning; and mom and dad just dropped me and Pinkie Pie off at our house and headed to their own home.

In the mean time, I took the opportunity to remove the top cover from the bed and put it in the washing machine, then put a clean one in its place.

As Pinkie Pie went back to sleeping on her side of my bed, I, finding myself no longer tired, decided to have a look at the My Little Dashie story from that CD.

I have to say, I was surprised.  As it turns out, it seems that Rainbow Dash had also caught a cold in the care of her human.  But, the thing that especially surprised me was how he treated it.  He actually gave chicken soup to an equine, a herbivore.  I mean, who, in their right mind, feeds a herbivore meat?  Carrots, sure.  Apples, no problem.  Grains, especially oats, of course.  But, chicken?  Or, for that matter, any kind of meat?  It’s no wonder Rainbow Dash threw it back up again.  I can only guess that all she knew was she was being fed something disgusting along with the vegetables drowned in water.

Of course, on the other hand, maybe Rainbow Dash’s human had no idea, had no reference, on how to take care of a sick equine.  Judging by the human-like features and behaviors of the ponies in the Friendship is Magic cartoon series, it wouldn’t be all that difficult to consider the idea that they might be omnivorous.  But, as a monkey dressed in silk is still a monkey; in that same way a pony with human features is still a pony, and thus, still a herbivore.

At the time, I had considered reading the story of the azure pegasa’s experiences to Pinkie Pie.  But, I wasn’t sure she was ready for it yet.  I wasn’t sure how much of it she’d be able to understand.  And, besides, this was the first chance I’d taken to read the story.  I figured I should read it all the way first, then maybe I’d have a better idea of what I was reading to Pinkie Pie.

While I did get around to reading the story with Pinkie Pie, it wasn’t until maybe a year or so after her first experience with getting sick.  But, I’ll get to that later.  In the mean time, I’ll tell you this much.  Whenever Pinkie Pie got sick, except for the last time, it was always Diane that took control.  I’ve had to wonder if the reason was because Pinkamena was always afraid of dying, or if she was also afraid of me giving her bad-tasting or painful medicine.  Or, perhaps it was just that Diane was always better equipped to handle the lack of control that went along with being sick.  Whatever the reason, that’s how it always worked out.  And, Diane always turned to me to help her through Pinkie’s sicknesses.

That’s not to say, though, that sickness was the only reason Diane took control of Pinkie Pie.  Until Pinkamena and Diane developed the code between them that in Equestria was evidently known as the Pinkie sense, Diane would take control of Pinkie Pie when she sensed some kind of danger, and needed to get her out of it as quickly as possible.  And the episode, “Feeling Pinkie Keen,” was a great guide for the three of us in figuring out how to communicate the dangers Diane would notice, and would have to inform Pinkamena about, dangers that she, that is Pinkamena, might not notice.  And, I was honored to become a part of the team that kept Pinkie Pie safe from harm.
> Chapter 4: First Bath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There comes a time in the life of every creature that lives outside the water, I suppose, when they must experience their first bath.  And, in the case of Pinkie Pie, it was a day or two after she’d had her first cold.

I seriously doubt it was because of her cold, but she was starting to smell a bit ripe that particular day.  So, I went to the store, leaving her with my parents, to get some pet care supplies; and I came back with a brush and some shampoo.  I figured I could easily enough bathe the little, though growing, Pinkie Pie in the sink either in any of the bathrooms or in the kitchen.  I decided on the sink in the master bath, which was the only bathroom attached to my bedroom.

I figured bathing a small foal like Pinkie Pie wouldn’t be too much different from bathing a puppy, except for the fact that Pinkie Pie would likely not be able to claw me.  And, at least I was right about Pinkie not clawing me.

I guess I wasn’t quite prepared for Pinkie Pie splashing water all over the bathroom.  I wear glasses, and water on glasses makes it difficult to see.  But, it was either that, or take them off and be even less able to see what I was doing.  So, in spite of Pinkie Pie preferring to have fun splashing around than allowing me to bathe her, I did the best I could to soak her first, then scrub in the shampoo, which was, according to the picture, meant for dogs and not horses, into the pink earth filly’s fur and hair, then rinse it out again.

But, Pinkie Pie drew the line when it came to me cleaning her behind and between her legs.  She made it clear she knew what I was getting ready to do; and, instead of letting me scrub her in that area, took a wash cloth and did her own cleaning.

I had no problem with that.  If she wanted to clean herself there, I figured, why not let her?  And besides, since I’d started with her torso and, except for that part of her, worked my way from there to her head, limbs and tail, that was the last part of her that needed cleaning.  I then gave her a good rinsing, and took her out of the sink and set her on the floor.

As it turns out, the bath ended all too soon for Pinkie Pie, who, when I took her out of the sink, cried for me to let her stay in the water for a little while longer.

Well, after allowing the water to drain out, what was I to do?  And, letting her know that I'd drained the water already just upset her all the more.

I grabbed a towel I’d provided for her to dry her off and, again in spite of her complaining, dried her off the best I could.  Then, when that was done, I kept the towel wrapped around her while I placed her on her side of my bed, then went back into the bathroom to clean up the mess that she’d made splashing around.

This, of course, would not be my only experience bathing Pinkie Pie, although there would come a time when she would choose to bathe herself, and in the shower instead of the sink.  And, it was always Pinkamena who was in control during that time.

I also learned, from the My Little Dashie stories, that my experience with bathing an Equestrian pony wasn’t unique.  Rainbow Dash also preferred to clean her behind and between her legs, while allowing her human to clean the rest of her.  And, I couldn’t complain too much about that.  If Pinkie Pie wanted to clean that part of her by herself, like I said, why not let her?  She could probably do a better job of it than I could.

And, from the episodes I saw, particularly after that, the only time we’d get to see an Equestrian pony bathe or be bathed would be in episodes Feeling Pinkie Keen and Baby Cakes.

In a small town such as the one where I live, it wasn’t difficult to find a safe route to walk along so that Pinkie Pie could get her exercise.  And, the route I chose was as helpful to me as it was to her in keeping in shape.

The route I chose lead from my house up to the grade school I used to attend, then to the high school, along a highway to another long street back into town, and eventually back to my house.  And, one of the benefits to that route was the beautiful scenery we’d both see along the way.

There were a lot of open fields along that route, where there’d be horses and ponies every now and then.

And, that’s another thing.

The first time Pinkie Pie saw the kind of pony I’m used to seeing, she wasn’t sure what to make of it.  That is, not until I identified it, for her.  Then, before I could stop her, she galloped to the pony and, bouncing in front of her (I remember that first pony being a female), greeted her and started asking questions, carrying on a very rapid, one-sided conversation.

Not expecting a creature to approach her and behave with so much energy, or so I’m guessing, the other pony reared up on her hind legs and whinnied, then turned and galloped away from Pinkie Pie.

In the mean time, Pinkie, seeing the pony mare rear up on her hind legs, stopped talking and slowly backed away, evidently scared.  Then, when the mare galloped off, Pinkie’s fear turned to sadness.  Then, she turned and ambled back to me, and asked why that other pony had been so scared of her.

I answered that she was most likely not expecting to see a pony gallop up to her and start bouncing around.  I then informed her that she needed to keep her energy and enthusiasm in check when approaching ponies native to my world.

It was a lesson she readily took to heart.  The next time she approached a pony native to the world I call home, she calmly strolled up to him (I do remember that one being a stallion), and calmly said hello to him.  I don’t know if she ever got used to ponies in my home town not speaking, just vocalizing in whinnies, snorts, and other equine vocalizations; but she did learn the correct way to approach ponies and other equines native to my home world.  And, from what I could tell, she did learn to make friends among those equines as well as among humans.
> Chapter 5: Education
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

To this day I’ll probably never know if I was that good of a teacher, or if Pinkie Pie was that good of a student.  Maybe it was both.  All I know is that Pinkie Pie was always eager to learn.  And, what she wouldn’t or couldn’t learn from me she’d learn from other sources, like the Sunday School teachers when I took her with me to church.

I taught her to speak, read, and write.  I also taught her various disciplines of math and science as well as other things she asked about.  Of course, speech was no problem for her, as she’d modify her whinny into words she’d hear me and others say.  Also, it always amazed me how she could move her lips to form words.  I’d never seen real horses, that is horses native to my home world, do that.

The closest I’d seen was the result of people, from what I’d understand later, sticking peanut butter in a place in a horse’s mouth that was difficult for the horse to get to, so it’d only look like the horse was talking; and a human would act as the horse’s voice.  Considering my experience with Pinkie Pie, I had to wonder if the peanut butter approach was torturous for the horse.

But, at any rate, Pinkie Pie had a great memory for shapes and names of shapes, which made learning how to read especially easy for her.  Writing, on the other hand, was a whole other problem to conquer.  The good news was, seeing how ponies in the My Little Pony series, other than unicorns and alicorns, wrote using their lips, I had a frame of reference for helping Pinkie Pie learn how to write. And, it was both amazing and funny to me to see her wiggling a pen or pencil in her mouth to write things down.  It was funny to see her moving her lips to make the writing end of the pencil do what she wanted, and it was amazing to see how clearly she’d write.

Then, there was math.

I had no problems teaching Pinkie Pie that the basis of arithmetic and related mathematical disciplines is addition, and once she understood that, subtraction, multiplication, division, and other branches of arithmetic wouldn’t be that difficult to grasp.

In fact, she grasped the concepts of arithmetic so quickly that within months I was teaching her algebra, which she enjoyed.  I guess it didn’t hurt that I also enjoy math.  But, in teaching Pinkie Pie the various mathematical disciplines I was familiar with, she managed to teach me things about those disciplines I didn’t already know, or perhaps I’d forgotten about.

Another thing I had fun teaching her was different languages I’d learned in school as well as in New Zealand where I’d served as a missionary for two years.  At first she had trouble grasping the concepts of different cultures having different labels for the same idea.  When I presented Pinkie Pie with an object she was familiar with and it’s label in a different language, Pinkie Pie would, more often than not, correct me and give me the English, or American, label for it.  But, eventually, as we took walks around my home town and she was exposed to how different people expressed the same ideas, especially hearing people who would speak Spanish and French, she became more accepting of the idea of different languages.  She quickly picked up Spanish and various Polynesian languages I’d learned from me, French from my sisters, and Norwegian from my father, who’d been a missionary in Norway.  And, to my surprise, she picked up other languages from programs she’d watch on television, including German and Japanese.  After three years, she was quite the linguist.

Of all the things she learned, though, it seems that the most fun for her to learn were the various sciences I’d learned in my days of schooling.

I’d eventually learn about Pinkie’s sister, Maud, from the episode known as “Maud Pie,” as well as the rest of her family from the episode “Hearthbreakers,” that Pinkie Pie and her family would actually eat rocks.  And, to this day, I can only assume that was the source of Pinkie Pie’s interest in geology.  It was that, or because she saw me enjoying my own studies of it as much as I did.  Whichever the case was, she had all sorts of fun learning about the different types of rocks, how they were formed, and also different rock-related discoveries, including prehistoric creatures, which had fascinated me since the first time I’d heard of them.

It really didn’t surprise me that much, however, that Pinkie Pie’s interest was specifically in the different varieties of prehistoric equines.  When she found information on a variety of horse that apparently had feet instead of hooves, she found that extremely difficult to believe.  To quote her, “If it didn’t have hooves, it wasn’t even close to being a pony.”

Another thing that didn’t surprise me, especially after seeing her in the Friendship is Magic series, was that she took an interest in cooking.  And, like other subjects, she went to as many sources as possible to learn as much as she could about it.

I must admit, I have a very limited repertoire of foods that i know how to cook, and I frequently have meals that require the least amount of preparation.

On the other hand, whenever my parents came over, Pinkie Pie always asked my mom or my dad to teach her how to make something she’d never made before.  And, after a few visits when the pink earth pony would ask these questions, my parents ran out of things to teach her; and she seemed to have a real talent in particular for making pastries.  Her cakes and loaves of bread became really popular around town.

Now, on to the subject of religious studies.

Being a Latter-Day Saint, and having only had brief encounters with people of a few other religions, at least outside of my mission, I was really Pinkie Pie’s main source of information on religion, particularly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  But, I wasn’t the only source the pink earth pony turned to for that.

When she wasn’t begging my parents to teach her how to bake something new, she was trying to start a religious discussion with my dad.  And, she was one of the better students, from what I heard, in Sunday School.  When I took her to church, afterwards I’d get reports about how Pinkie Pie was always asking questions on what had been taught that day.  And, I must admit, I was never disappointed in Pinkie Pie’s interest in the subjects presented.  Even better, she was applying what she learned at home.

When I read about Rainbow Dash and how her human treated her, I had to wonder how bad conditions were then and there that it’d require her human to keep her locked away the way he did.  I wouldn’t learn until years after Pinkie Pie had returned to Equestria what a clopper is.  Learning that clopping was, rather than just the sound of a hoof hitting a solid surface, something probably closely related to bestiality, I can only guess that if such behavior was going to become as commonplace as Rainbow Dash’s human was suggesting it was going to become, then it’s probably best that Pinkie Pie came and spent her life with me at a time before the Friendship is Magic show had even been thought of.  What better way to defend a filly Pinkie Pie from such behavior, such people, than to send her back to before the turn of the millennium when that incarnation of the show wasn’t even heard of?  Whatever this alicorn Princess Celestia and her sister Luna knew about what my world would become, a living, loving Heavenly Father knew more about it, and would know exactly what to do.
> Chapter 6: Extended Stay
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It can be considered funny or sad, based on how one chooses to look at it, how a minor detail can be blown out of proportion.  For instance, in the mid nineteen-nineties there was a growing interest in a supposed glitch in the computers’ chronometric function.  Such interest was being fed by the media until it turned into fear, which was rising to panic level as the year nineteen ninety-nine was concluding, and the year two thousand was coming.

Such panic over a computer function had, since I first heard about it, seemed like foolishness to me, considering that computers really didn’t care, and still don’t unless they’re programmed to, what millennium, century, decade, year, or whatever, they were in; they were going to work no matter what.  And, I took to making fun of this so-called Y2K bug.  And, as it turns out, I wasn’t the only one.  I would learn, when the year two thousand had come and gone, that others had poked fun at the supposed bug and the panic that it generated.

It was while this kind of nonsense was going on in the rest of the world, and so many sources were drawing so much unnecessary attention to it, that, round about the second Christmas that Pinkie Pie was living with me, I found a letter in the spot where Pinkie Pie had first appeared.  Actually, I think it was Pinkie who found it there.

I unrolled the letter and read, “To Mormon Iarere Andreassen:

“We will be delayed in picking Pinkie Pie up from your care.  Her sister, Maud, has sent us a letter that she’s coming as soon as possible to be part of the group that brings her back to Equestria.  Unfortunately, this means that we won’t be able to arrive until three days, or in your time, three years, later than planned.

“Please let Pinkie Pie know that we’re sorry for the delay.  But, her sister was insistent on coming with us.  In fact, she is on her way here by boat, and then by train.

“Signed, Princess Celestia Princess Luna.”

Based on the tone of the letter, my guess is the information inside was supposed to be bad news.  But, neither Pinkie Pie nor I took it that way.

Pinkie Pie took the news from the letter to mean that she was going to stay longer with me, and I took it to mean that I might just get information on some of Pinkie Pie’s mannerisms from what I was guessing would be the only relative of hers that was coming.

Whatever the case was, Pinkie Pie and I were going to get not seven, but a total of ten years together.  And, by that point, Pinkie Pie was pretty much an adult anyway.

Now, back to the Y2K bug scare, which to this day I believe must’ve been a hoax, both Pinkie and I, on New Year’s Eve of nineteen ninety-nine, stayed awake to watch the news and get people’s responses to how the supposed glitch had proven to be nothing to worry about after all.  Well, as it turns out, the worst damage done was some slot machines in Kentucky, or some place like that, had broken down; and it might not have even been related to the supposed glitch.  But, even if it was, it seems to me that it was more of a benefit than a serious threat.

Even nowadays, there are evidently still people who think the Y2K bug was something to be worried about.  On the other hand, to this day, I personally think the computers would’ve continued working no matter what time and place they were in, or thought they were in.  Like I said before, it didn’t matter to those chunks of metal.

In fact, I think what was really scaring people, and the Y2K bug was just a convenient excuse, was the idea that someday, perhaps soon, computers were going to start taking over the world.  And, whether it originated with the media, or the media was just a reflection of that fear, it’s something I’ve seen for years in movies and television.  And, I have yet to see a solid foundation for it.

At any rate, whether it was because of my attitude toward the scare or something else, Pinkie Pie didn’t pay any attention to the scare either.  She was always just content to learn whatever she could from family and friends, and have fun.
> Chapter 7: First Party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the scare over the hoax that was the supposed Y2K bug had subsided, one thing that was always in the back of my mind was Pinkie Pie and her evident talent for throwing parties, as was frequently demonstrated on the show.  I had frequently had the thought in the back of my mind that I should do something to help Pinkie Pie earn her cutie mark, that picture that was always on a pony’s hips.

And, the opportunity came when, one day after church, as we started heading home, Pinkie Pie mentioned something about a classmate in the primary who was going to have a birthday soon.  I didn’t get the name of the classmate, but I did hear Pinkie Pie tell me that she, that is Pinkie Pie, wanted to throw the party for her classmate.

Now, the thought came to me that this party was the perfect time to help the pink earth pony earn her cutie mark.  But, first I had to know for sure if Pinkie Pie had gotten permission from her classmate and the classmate's parents to plan and throw her a party.

As it turns out, that part of it hadn’t occurred to Pinkie Pie.  With my encouragement, she galloped back into church to find her classmate and her classmate's parents and ask them if she could plan the party for the little girl.  And, when she came back out, she said she’d gotten permission from the little girl’s parents to plan and throw the birthday party.

It wasn’t until the morning afterward that we started planning everything out.

After being informed that the classmate wanted the party to be in the church's recreational area, I used a modeling and animation program on my laptop computer to model the room for the event; and, with Pinkie Pie’s help, I placed objects that would represent where the items for the party should be set up.

This was one of those times when a 3D modeling program really came in handy.  I could place objects representing presents, tables, decorations, refreshments, and games for the pink earth pony, and it required minimal effort to move an object to a new location where Pinkie Pie, or for that matter the birthday girl, thought it’d be better.

Then, that afternoon, the little girl and her parents came to get a look at the preparations Pinkie Pie and I had made.  And, that’s when things started falling apart for Pinkie Pie.

About the only thing the little girl liked about the plans was that there was a place set aside for her guests to play.  Other than that, the little girl wanted ribbons instead of streamers, flowers instead of balloons, no confetti, she wanted to bring her own games, and the tables were on the wrong side of the room from where she thought they should be.

I guess one thing I hadn’t taken into consideration was Pinkie Pie’s pride in the work she and I had put into the setup.  Everything the little girl said was wrong the pink earth pony took personally, until she finally galloped out of the room crying.

We were stationed in the kitchen at the time, and I offered apologies to my guests before following Pinkie Pie to my bedroom.

Once there, Pinkie cried, “Oh, d-daddy, d-did I d-do anything r-right?”

Interesting, isn’t it, that no matter how many times I heard Pinkie Pie call me that, there was always that unexpected rush that followed?  I stroked the earth pony’s back as I said, “That’s what my computer plans were for.  That way, I, we, could make any changes to the plans that needed be made.”

Pinkie Pie, who was facing away from me at the time, turned to me and said, “B-but, she h-hated everything about m-my p-plans.”

I continued stroking her back as I said, “That’s not true.  Yes, she wanted to change a bunch of stuff, but that doesn’t mean she hated your plans.  It just means she had different ideas from you.”  At this point, I picked her up and hugged her as I continued, “Now, let’s go back and make those changes, and we can make sure the party is just the way the little girl wants it to be.”

It took a minute or two before Pinkie Pie decided she was ready to go back, and it was with me carrying her in my arms.

When we got back, the parents of the little girl apologized for their daughter’s behavior and making Pinkie Pie cry.

I waved away their concerns, telling them that it was just a misunderstanding on Pinkie Pie’s part, and she was ready to get back to making the necessary changes to the little girl’s birthday party plans.

Well, with five minds working together, me moving objects around to where the little girl wanted them, her parents discussing the placement of the tables and the party in general, and Pinkie Pie showing a little more patience towards the little girl’s demands, we finally had the plans to the little girl’s satisfaction; and I think Pinkie Pie learned that just because someone else has a different opinion on what the plans should be doesn’t mean that someone else hates the plans that were made.

When the day of the party arrived, Pinkie Pie and I were busy that morning, along with volunteers from the ward, setting up tables and chairs, ribbons and flowers, and other decorations, in the church recreational area in preparation for the little girl’s birthday party.  With the help of all the volunteers, I’d say the preparation took maybe about an hour.  And, then it was back home to wait for the time when the party would begin.

Actually, with my encouragement, we got there an hour early to make sure the preparations were the way the little birthday girl wanted.

For all I know, the little girl might’ve just had a bad day at school.  Whatever the case was, she threw a tantrum right there in the gym, something about everything being wrong.

But, it was too late to do anything about it, as guests started entering from the door opposite the kitchen.

Well, as it turns out, for the duration of the party, everyone had fun.  Even the birthday girl calmed down and took part in the games and the refreshments.

Pinkie Pie offered rides to the party-goers; and the only problem, it seems, occurred when one of the guests, another little girl, wet herself on Pinkie’s back.

The good news is the little girl was wearing a diaper at the time, and no one got hurt.  The bad news was the sudden warmth of the diaper startled Pinkie, who reared up on her hind legs, causing the little girl’s father, who was holding her in place, to pull her away as fast as he could, while I proceeded to calm the pink earth pony down.

Beyond that, Pinkie Pie was frequently asked questions about why she didn’t look exactly like the ponies from the My Little Pony cartoon show, or any real ponies.

I was the one that answered the questions as best I could, saying that Pinkie Pie was just a prototype or a mutation, an explanation that seemed to satisfy the guests that asked the questions.

As the party drew to a close, and I heard a little girl innocently ask, “Pinkie Pie, what’s that on your butt?”

Another little girl said, “I’ve seen ponies on My Little Pony with pictures like that.  It’s called a cutie mark.”

And, my attention was immediately drawn to the pink earth pony, who was trying to get a look at what the little girls were talking about.  My conversation with the parents of the birthday girl had to end immediately as I got up and walked over to Pinkie Pie to get a look at what had drawn the attention of the little girls.  And, sure enough, as soon as I got a look at it, I knew Pinkie Pie had earned her cutie mark: three balloons, two blue ones on the outside, and one yellow one above and between the blue ones.  And, sure enough, there was that rush again.  I had helped the pink party pony earn her cutie mark.

I had to wait until after the party, which wasn’t that far off, to explain to Pinkie Pie just what had happened to her, and why it wasn’t going to happen to a human.  But, it seems my explanation easily satisfied her, and she was as happy as I was about her defining mark.  At that point, evidently more than any other, it was clear to her that the party she’d planned and thrown was more of a success than she could’ve expected.

I could only wonder what this would mean for the future, although I continued to encourage the pink earth pony to make friends and learn as much as she could.  But, Pinkie Pie earning her cutie mark was something that was celebrated within the family, our own little cuteseniera.
> Chapter 8: Jury Duty
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I remember, it was during Pinkie Pie’s second year with me that I was called in for jury duty.  It seems that a man had been brought in to stand trial for allegedly murdering his daughter.  And, the one accusing him was his wife.

I remember the man’s defense being that he’d forgotten to drop off his daughter at the school on his way to work, and didn't realize that she was still in his car until he got home.  Actually, it wasn’t then, but when he went to the school to pick up his daughter and realized she wasn’t there.  At any rate, I also remember it being during the summer time, and it being particularly hot outside that first day.

One statement I remember clearly, an interpretation of the man’s intentions, was, “You interrupt my schedule, and I’ll kill you.”  Now, this was before I was married, and for all intents and purposes, I was Pinkie Pie’s father for the time she was in my care; and being in that kind of position, although without a vehicle or even a driver's license of my own, and also being human, I felt I had some kind of understanding of what was going on.  And, there was something about that man, beyond what I felt I had in common with him, that gave me the sense that he was innocent.  And, it wasn’t just that interpretation of his motives either, as creepy and distasteful as it was to me.  Although, that statement was the catalyst for my vote.

Now, before I continue with the story, let me just state that, yes, it is part of my nature that, when I’m pushed, I hold firm to my position.

Now, back to the story, when it was time for all the jurors to vote, I voted the man innocent, which displeased the rest of the jury, to say the least.  Everyone else had voted him guilty.

I admitted having voted that the man was innocent, and I explained my decision the best I could.

One of the other jurors asked me, “How can you think he’s innocent?  Didn’t you hear the accusations?”

I answered, “I’m not arguing that his daughter died in his care.  I just have trouble believing it was deliberate.  And, all the accusations in the world are meaningless without evidence to back them up.  Besides, isn’t he supposed to be innocent until he’s proven guilty?”

That juror then asked me, “What, you wanna see the evidence?  The little girl was dead in the back seat of her father’s car.  What more do you need?”

I asked the man, “Were there any stab wounds on the body?  Was there a weapon found with the blood of the little girl and the fingerprints of her father?”  I didn’t wait for an answer before I continued, “She was behind the driver’s seat, for all intents and purposes in his blind spot.  And, from what the man said, he was used to just going straight to work.  I’m sure if he’d been able to see his daughter the whole time, he would’ve remembered he’d have to stop off at the school, and then head to work.  What, you’ve never been so locked into a habit or a routine that you couldn’t easily break free from it?”

The juror answered, “It’s just like his wife said about him, ‘You interrupt my schedule, and I’ll kill you.’”

I have to admit, I was losing patience with that juror’s attitude.  I told him, “You know what, it’s people like you that make me glad I never got, never even qualified for, a driver’s license.  That way, I never have to face the situation this man’s facing.”  Of course, I was referring to the man that was being accused of murdering his daughter.  I continued, “And, what bothers me the most is the possibility of that kind of bully’s justice attitude going along with having a driver’s license!  If you’ve never been so stuck in a routine that you just followed it without even thinking, then congratulations.  But, just because it hasn’t happened to you yet doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”  And, to the rest of the jurors, I added, “To any of you.”  Then, I continued, focusing on the juror I’d been talking to, “I, for one, have been in that kind of cruise control; and, let me tell you, it’s not easy to get out of it.  So, until you can show me proof beyond any doubt that this man murdered his daughter, I’ll continue to vote him innocent.”

And, I stuck to that.  I remember the trial going on for at least a week after that, with me maintaining my belief in the man’s innocence, and thus voting.

As it turned out, there was no conclusive evidence to convince me of the man’s guilt, and I was the only one that voted him not guilty.  I seem to remember it was a couple weeks into the trial that I was voted off of the jury for disagreeing with everyone else, and doing it for money.  And, with me out of the way, the man was declared guilty of murder, and sentenced to the appropriate time, if such it could be called, in prison.

To this day, I still believe the man didn’t kill his daughter.  Especially after finding out maybe a year later that the juror who had argued with me over my vote ended up in what I figure must've been a nearly identical situation, except it was his youngest son who had died in a summer-heated car.  I can only guess my history with that previous case was the reason why I wasn’t selected for that particular jury.

From what I hear, when that former juror was found guilty and sentenced for the same amount of time, indeed a year after the man I’d fought for the year before, he was even sentenced to the same prison.  I hear the two even shared the same cell.  And, from what I heard, that first man held nothing against that member of his jury, talking about how he knew how his cell mate felt.

As for the rest of the jury I was a part of, I don’t know what happened to them.  For all I know, they may have ended up in situations of their own like the man they’d sentenced to prison for a crime he hadn’t committed.  All I know is, after being released from jury duty, I went back to caring for Pinkie Pie, who, while I’d been on jury duty, was being cared for by my parents.  And, while I was happy to be reunited with her, I was upset at not being able to defend that man.  People are unfair.

Finally, from what I hear, the man was released early from his sentence due to good behavior.  I think he’s divorced from the wife that accused him of murdering his daughter, and married to another woman.  By now, he may have started a new family with a new wife.  But, I doubt he’s gone back to the job that, no doubt from his perspective, cost him his daughter, as well as his first wife.  And, who could blame him?  I wonder if he even drives anymore.

Well, anyway, one thing I’ll always be grateful for is that Pinkie Pie was there to help me get past that case.  Who knows where I’d be without her there to help me?
> Chapter 9: Party House
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The party that earned Pinkie Pie her cutie mark was just the first of many she’d plan and throw in the ten years she was with me.  And, after a few more parties, which were either at the individuals’ homes or in the gymnasium of a church in town, I figured it’d be a good idea if Pinkie Pie had her own building where she could plan and throw whatever parties she wanted or needed to.  And, she was a big help in the planning and construction of the building.

As I remember, it was her idea to have a row of bathrooms for males on one side of the building, and a row of bathrooms for females on the other side, ten each.  And, the main party room would be surrounded by an upholstered hallway, with double doors in the middle of the sides that didn’t have bathrooms.  The main room would also have double doors, of solid wood, midway on the walls facing the bathrooms.

The men’s rooms, or stallions’ rooms as Pinkie Pie called them, would have urinals, which was the main difference between them and the women’s rooms, or, again as Pinkie Pie called them, mares’ rooms, other than the labeling and appropriate pictures.  The standard for each bathroom would be one toilet, one sink, and one shower.  I wasn’t sure that Pinkie Pie’s party house would need even one shower, but she insisted.  So, I agreed.  I was to learn later that the showers were a good idea after all.  But, in the mean time, the toilets were designed so that they could accommodate equines and humans, which, as I remember, required some mechanical mobility on the part of the toilet bowl.

The front and back doors would be metal, with two windows each, while the doors to the main room, as I said before, would be solid wood.  Which is to say, the doors to the party room had no windows.

I didn’t realize until the party house was nearing completion, but the hallways made me feel like I was in some kind of theater, particularly one for movies.  And, while the structure was pretty much square in shape from the ground up, the bathrooms and the hallway surrounding the main party room made that room more rectangular shaped.  I wouldn’t be surprised if basket ball hoops could be brought in and set up, and such games could be played in there; although, we never tested out that idea.  As far as I know, that theory remains untested.

The walls for the outside of the party house would be brick for the bottom half, and cobblestone for the top half, with windows appropriate to the rooms that’d line them.

At any rate, the floor of the party room was tiled-over cement, with heating elements in the cement to provide heating for winter time.  The walls were generally wood with cushioning and carpeting to keep them from getting damaged.  The color of the walls themselves was white, while the carpeting was pink-colored.

Pinkie Pie decided it’d be a good idea to avoid incandescent lighting for her party house, and I agreed with that.  But, having seen separators at the church, she liked the idea; and wanted separating walls for her party house in case there would need to be more than one party, and the parties would need to be kept separate.

Pinkie Pie also chose the folding chairs for her party house, as well as folding tables.  And, for most of her time with me, she collected all sorts of games that she thought those who’d have parties in her house would want to play, including board and video.  And, on the subject of videos, she also collected a lot of movies for those who preferred them to video or board games.  At any rate, while she understood that sand boxes would be somewhat difficult to set up, those were among the things she requested, and sand to go with them.  Those were simplified by putting them on wheels so they didn’t have to be emptied out, just wheeled in and out.

As expensive as the project turned out to be, somehow, it took no more than a year to complete it once it was started.  And, the major help was Pinkie Pie setting up a business planning and/or throwing parties.  And, she turned out to be really good at keeping records of those who came to her for that purpose.  Which is to say, some people only came to the pink party pony to plan out a party, and help get it set up; and they threw the party themselves.

When the party house was completed, early in Pinkie Pie’s third year with me, I gave her full control over it, letting her know that, for all intents and purposes, the party house was her territory.  And, from what I could tell, she took the best care of it she could, in spite of the problems she faced.  From the time that she received the party house until the time she left and returned to Equestria, all the parties she planned and was allowed to throw were in that house.

That isn’t to say, though, that she didn’t need my help with keeping it up, or preparing it for the parties she’d throw.  And, I was always happy to help her.

She would face all sorts of difficulties when it came to maintaining her party house, but she always had me to turn to for help with her problems.  And, when I got married and had children of my own, who adopted Pinkie as their big sister, when the children were able to, they and my wife also helped her with party preparations, as well as helping her through her problems.

While the party house was built over my basement house, it was never disruptive to me, or the rest of the family that lived there.  And, as for the problems the pink party pony would face, well, that’s for a later chapter.  Suffice it to say, when it came to planning parties, she worked closely with her clients.  She had rules that she’d enforce to her best abilities.  And, when she felt inadequate, she had her human family to turn to for help.
> Chapter 10: MLP History
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a previous chapter, I talked about what Pinkie Pie learned from me and others.  In this chapter, I’ll talk about what Pinkie Pie taught me about herself and about myself.

As I mentioned before, Pinkie and I watched the cartoon “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” together.  And, I have already mentioned how some of those episodes affected the two of us.  But, there are also other episodes that affected us, and in different ways.

Pretty much from the first day, the pink party pony and I watched episodes of the show.  And, it was interesting to see how the show affected Pinkie Pie.  For instance, when she saw herself on the show doing things that should’ve been impossible in reality, she tried doing those things.  Of course, she found out the hard way that bending reality in reality was more difficult than it looked.  She tried walking through a wall, only to end up getting hurt, or at least hitting her head hard enough on the wall that she had a headache for maybe an hour afterwards.

As it turns out, she could bend reality the way she saw herself doing in the cartoon, but only when a camera was aimed at her.  The only problem with that was situations like that were extremely rare, which meant she had little chance of doing the things she saw her cartoon self doing.

When she did have a camera aimed at her, most of the time she could only affect the camera.  Whatever camera shaking she did, for instance, was strictly her physically shaking the camera.  And, the only way she could keep a closing hole open was, once again, by influencing the camera; in that case, keeping the lens aperture open.

But, that wasn’t the only effect the show had on her, as several episodes taught both of us about her and how the other ponies in the show saw her behavior.

For instance, from watching the episode “Feeling Pinkie Keen,” Diane learned of different ways she could communicate to Pinkamena about impending dangers and wonders around her.  From several episodes, both of us learned that a talent represented by a cutie mark becomes so important to a pony that it pretty much occupies his or her whole life.  Living with Pinkie Pie taught me that Equestrian ponies, at least, aren’t that different from humans.  But, the episode “Ponyville Confidential” made it especially clear that when it came to concepts that ponies and humans would consider slanderous, we really aren’t all that different.

There were other effects that watching certain episodes of the show had on the two of us.

For instance, as we watched the episode, “Party of One,” I suppose I shouldn’t have been all that surprised to see how it emotionally affected Pinkie Pie, seeing herself go through what she did in that episode.  I remember seeing her in tears as she watched herself being hit so hard by the alleged news that her friends didn’t want to be her friends anymore, and didn’t like her parties.

I remember asking her, "Pinkie, are you alright?"

She sniffled and whimpered, "You're so lucky.  You don't know, you'll never know, what it's like to have only one talent.  Because you have so many talents, if one of 'em stops working, you can always work with another one until the one that failed starts working again.  Me, I just have one talent.  If it fails me, well, you saw for yourself what happened to me."

I asked her, "Isn't that kinda pessimistic?"

Pinkie answered by asking, "Tell me, if you'd been there, not in my place, but if you'd been there, what would you have done?"

I remember answering, "Well, I'd want to help, of course.  I'd want to let you know that you're not alone."

Pinkie leaped into my arms, hugged me, and said, "Thanks, Daddy."

After that, it seemed that the episode "Party of One" was never quite so traumatizing to her.

When we watched the episode “Sonic Rainboom” together, seeing Rarity lose her butterfly wings and fall, then Rainbow Dash rescue her, Pinkie Pie turned to me and asked what I would’ve done in that situation.  After getting clarification that she meant what if I’d been part of the audience watching, I answered that I’d call out to Rainbow Dash and let her know as soon as possible that Rarity needed her help.  For all intents and purposes, I’d support Rainbow Dash as much as possible through her problems.  And, as often as I could before the incident, I’d remind Rarity to keep a humble attitude, that being humble would help her keep her wings longer.

When we watched the episode “Baby Cakes,” Pinkie Pie asked me if I’d help her if I’d been there, and I answered that I would.  And, I had the same answer for her similar question about helping her defend that MMMM cake in the episode “MMMystery on the Friendship Express.”

And, of course, questions of that type rested on the premise that, by the time I was in those situations, I’d already watched the episodes and would know what to do in those situations.

Such was the case when we were watching the episode, “Too Many Pinkie Pies,” and saw the number of copies of the pink earth pony increase due to the mirror pool she’d apparently found in the Everfree forest near Ponyville.

When we watched the episode “Magical Mystery Cure,” Pinkie Pie became particularly upset when she saw what looked like Twilight Sparkle being vaporized by beams that shot out from the element jewels on the neck braces of the bearers, including her own.  I had to hold and comfort her until she saw that Twilight hadn’t been killed by them after all, that she'd spend time with Princess Celestia and come back later with a pair of wings.

By the time we got to watching the episode “Pinkie Pride,” the pink earth pony already knew that if I were there, it’d be to support her.  She just wanted to know what plan of action I’d have for her.  Her main question was would I agree to the goof-off until Rainbow Dash got hurt, or would I have a different plan to follow?  My idea for a solution was for her and Cheese Sandwich to make a list of the different components of the party that they could agree on, then show Rainbow Dash how each of them would demonstrate each component, and give her, that is Rainbow Dash, the choice of which pony had the best demonstration of each component.  Hopefully, the two party ponies could join forces to provide her rainbow-haired friend with the kind of party she’d want.  As I remember, Pinkie Pie liked that idea.

When we watched the episode “Party Pooped,” I think I might’ve offended Pinkie Pie when I talked about the behavior of the yaks.  I remember saying something to the effect that someone, some pony, should’ve drawn the line, and let the yaks know what is and isn’t acceptable behavior in Equestria; that if aggression was all the yaks understood, someone should’ve communicated directly with one of them on that level, perhaps specifically with Prince Rutherford.  That idea didn’t appeal too much to Pinkie Pie.  It was fortunate, in the episode, that such an approach eventually proved unnecessary.  I still have to wonder, though, if it had become necessary, would Twilight have been willing to use that kind of approach?

When we watched the episode “Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?”, Pinkie Pie brought up the point that people might think that the solution to the problem came too quickly.  And, personally, I’ve thought about that for quite a long time.  It may be just the same way in this time as in the time when this episode is made that people either don’t have an experience where they keep simple problems in themselves until they threaten their destruction, as Princess Luna was portrayed doing in the episode.  And, even when the problem is shouted from the rooftops, sort of speak, it is hopeful that people will listen and run to assist the one with the problem.  How fortunate is it for people if they find themselves in the kind of situation where they do have friends to come to their assistance.  But, for most of us humans, we’re stubborn.  And, when someone shouts, unless we’re looking and listening, we don’t hear.  And, evidently, Equestrian ponies are the same way, or at least very similar.  But, when the problem is finally identified, and a solution found, more often than not the implementation of the solution is simpler, and takes a lot less time, than we could have imagined; and we can end up feeling foolish for having kept the problem hidden away for so long.  I think I said as much to Pinkie Pie.  Whether she understood at the time or not I may never know, but I think she grew to understand as she watched humans around her.

When we watched the episode “The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows,” Pinkie seemed disappointed in herself that she’d forgotten so quickly the lesson she’d taught Twilight in the episode “Green Isn’t Your Color.”  She was happy to see herself keeping her promises, especially her Pinkie promises; but she was unhappy with herself for forgetting that one lesson about keeping a secret.  Still, she knew that if I’d been there, I would’ve helped her.

These are just a few examples of the questions Pinkie Pie had for me as we watched episodes of “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” together, at least those of the first five seasons, the only ones we had, for the first time.

There were a couple episodes that appealed to me, in particular because of a certain gray pegasa with yellow hair: “The Last Roundup,” and “Slice of Life.”  Having disabilities of my own, disabilities that kept me from really fitting into society, I felt something of a kinship with that pony, who, in that first episode, was called Derpy, and, in the second one, Muffins.  I wouldn’t trade Pinkie Pie for the gray pegasa, nor the experiences I had with the pink earth pony for those I might have with Derpy, or Muffins, or whatever you wanna call her.  After all, I wonder how well Pinkie would’ve fit in if all the other ponies had known what I'd learned about her.

Pinkie Pie found a way to fit in by filling a niche that was evidently unoccupied by any other ponies in Ponyville.  Did this Derpy, this Muffins, also have a niche to fill?  Apparently she did make at least one friend.  And, another way I found respect for Pinkie Pie was that she wasn’t jealous of the gray, yellow-haired mare.  While she did have a small part at the beginning of my “Hey, Batter!” game, Pinkie Pie had the greater role.  I’m considering giving the gray pegasa more of a role in the expansion.
> Chapter 11: The Slumber Party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie made use of the party house since the day I gave it to her.  And, one of her first parties, in fact her very first party, in that house was when a little girl she’d made friends with in Primary was going to have a third birthday, and Pinkie wanted to throw a party for her.

The little girl gave the planning of the party to Pinkie Pie, while she made a list of friends and others she’d invite.

Pinkie was really excited to be able to throw a party in the new building we'd made for her for that purpose.  She carefully made plans on what events would happen when and where the tables and chairs and other items would be placed.  And, one thing the little girl specified was that it was going to be a pony slumber party.  The only problem, it turns out, was the little girl didn’t explain what a pony slumber party is, leaving neither Pinkie nor I any idea of what to expect.  We made the assumption that it would have something to do with the original My Little Pony cartoon, the one that was being produced at the time, and that the definition would be revealed when the birthday girl arrived with her friends.  And, we would learn, on the night of the party, that we would be at least partly right in our assumptions.

In the mean time, Pinkie had planned for dinner to be served first, with spaghetti for the main course, cake and ice cream for dessert, and various kinds of fruit drinks for beverages.  She had the tables placed on one side of the main party room so the children could eat there, while the other side of the room was designated for the opening of presents, with the area in between being designated for games.  She even decorated the room with streamers, balloons, and other decorations she thought would be appropriate for a birthday party.  Everything was ready for when the birthday girl and her guests arrived.

On the day of the party, the birthday girl and the guests she’d invited arrived; and I left Pinkie Pie alone to greet them, although she had a phone to use in case she needed to contact me for any reason.

As I remember, it was about the time that I started preparing food for the rest of the family that I got a phone call from Pinkie Pie.

As soon as I answered, I heard the pink earth pony whisper, “D-daddy, I think I’m in t-trouble.”

I asked, “Pinkie, what’s wrong?”

Pinkie answered, “I j-just found out wh-what a p-pony slumber p-party is.”

I began to get concerned for the pink earth pony when I asked, “And?”

As I remember, Pinkie started crying when she continued, “D-d-daddy, th-th-they’re t-t-taking their c-c-clothes o-o-off.”

I admit I couldn’t hide my confusion when I asked, “Huh?”

Pinkie continued, “She said that for tonight they wanted to be like me.  I don’t wear clothes, so they decided they didn’t want to wear clothes either.”  After sobbing once, Pinkie continued, “Daddy, I’m scared.  What if one of them wets herself, or messes herself, or worse?  What’ll I do?”

I paused for a moment before answering, “The party house is yours, Pinkie.  And, being your house, whatever rules you make for it are for you to enforce.  And, if they want to be a pony like you for the night, then you have to set the example.  If you’re afraid of them urinating or defecating on the floor, then give them a tour of your party house with emphasis on the bathrooms.  You wanted all of them on opposite sides of the party room, remember?  Ten for mares and ten for stallions?  And, since this is a group of little girls, you can take them into one of the bathrooms for mares, and even demonstrate how you use the toilet.  Let them know that when they need to urinate or defecate, they should go to one of those rooms and use the toilet there.”

After hearing my advice, Pinkie Pie swallowed hard, or at least noisily, then sighed, then said, “Alright, Daddy.  I hope this works.”  And, she hung up.  And, I didn’t hear anymore about it until the next morning.

In the mean time, naturally, a recent friend and I were worried about her.  But, like I’d said to her, the party house was her territory, for all intents and purposes, and it was up to her to make and enforce the rules for it.  And, I had to at least demonstrate confidence that Pinkie Pie would know to do the right thing in this situation.

And, so it was when we had dinner there in the kitchen, and I dismissed my friend before heading to bed.

In the morning, I heard the front door slam open, the sound of galloping from there to Pinkie’s bedroom, then her door open and slam closed again.  I’d expected to get a report on how the party went, and, based on her heading straight to her room, my guess was things didn’t go well.  Still, I was surprised that Pinkie went straight to her room instead of coming to me first.  So, I headed to the pink party pony’s room to get the report from her.

When I got to her door, I heard her bawling on the other side.  Further evidence that things hadn’t gone quite the way Pinkie had planned.  I knocked on the door and asked, “Pinkie, is everything alright?”  When she didn’t answer after a few seconds, I asked, “May I come in?”  I did get a response to that, if nothing more than her stammering about the door.  So, taking it as an affirmative response, I opened the door and entered her room, then closed the door behind me.  I took a seat on the bed next to her and asked, “So, what happened?”

Pinkie Pie had buried her face in her pillow.  And, considering she was crying, I wasn’t surprised when she turned to me, and I saw that her eyes were red and she had tear lines down her cheeks.  She answered, “W-well, I d-did what you s-said I should do, a-and I sh-showed them the m-mares’ bathrooms.  I even sh-showed them h-how I use one of the t-toilets.”

Encouraging her, I asked, “And, what happened?”

Pinkie looked down and sighed, then looked up at me again and continued, “W-well, I thought they understood.  Th-they acted like they did, anyway.  W-we, the girls and I, had a lot of fun at the party.  Then, when it was time for sleep, well, … there was this one girl who was older than the others.  And, she volunteered to watch over the others so I could get some rest.  Well, I was tired, so I figured, why not?  So, I went into the hallway, just outside the door, and I fell asleep.  I figured that, if the girls needed to use one of the mares’ rooms, they’d let me know.”  At this point, she put up a short battle with her emotions before turning away from me and burying her face in her pillow again and sobbing.

Well, I reached out with my closest hand and stroked her back and said, “I’m guessing things weren’t as under control or as perfect as you thought they’d be?”

Pinkie continued, “I woke up after a few hours, and the doors hadn’t moved.  I-I entered the main party room, … and … I s-s-smelled … I s-s-sme-e-elled …”

I asked, “What, Pinkie?  What did you smell?”

Through her sobs, Pinkie continued, “Th-the birthday g-girl h-had gotten a s-stable for one of her p-presents, and … and she and th-the other g-girls had b-built it so they c-could sleep inside.  W-well, I d-didn’t like what I was s-smelling from there, s-so, I g-galloped to their s-stable and looked inside, a-and, and I saw … p-pee-pee … and … p-poo-poo … all over in there!”  She sobbed again before continuing, “I d-don’t know why th-they didn’t j-just use the m-mares’ rooms l-like I sh-showed them.  Th-they just w-went wherever they w-wanted, I g-guess.”

I asked, “Well, you did get it cleaned up, didn’t you?”

Pinkie nodded as she answered, “I w-woke the g-girls up and m-made ‘em … c-clean up th-their their own messes.  And, they did.  They g-got their p-pee-pee and p-poo-poo cleaned up … and got dressed b-before their parents got there to p-pick them up.  Th-the b-birthday girl even t-took her s-stable down and p-put it back in its b-box.  B-but, my p-party h-house still smells like a p-potty h-house.”

I stated, “It sounds to me like it just needs to be aired out.”

Pinkie hugged me around my rib cage as she said, “I h-hope that’s all it n-needs.”

At that point, I picked her up and held her and said, “Let’s go and see how things are in there.”

Immediately, Pinkie pushed away from me and said, “N-no.  Y-you c-can’t go in th-there.”

I started to stand up as I said, “You said you had the mess cleaned up, and it just smells bad now.”

At this point, Pinkie Pie shook her head before saying, “N-no.  Y-you don’t understand.  It was my first p-party in my p-party h-house, and it was a d-d-disaster.”

By now, while I was still holding Pinkie in my arms, I was also standing.  I said, “I built the party house for you so you could use it more than just once.  Whatever mess is still in there I’m sure can be cleaned up.  And, if it just needs to be aired out, then that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Pinkie argued, “B-but, I f-failed those g-girls.  I thought they understood, and they didn’t.  I thought I could trust th-that older g-girl, and I couldn’t.”

I proceeded to carry the pink earth pony out of her room and through the hallway as I said, “This was the first time you used your party house the way it was designed, and it sounds to me like you did a good job with it.  You set the rules, and you showed those girls how you use the toilet.  Now, maybe their parents haven’t properly trained them yet.  I can’t blame you for that.  And, as for the older girl, and you being tired, well, maybe she wasn't as trustworthy as you thought she was.  If you don't think you can trust her, if you feel like she betrayed your trust, then you shouldn't let her into your party house again.  And, if you need our help enforcing the rules you set, then don’t be afraid to ask us.  That’s why we’re here.”

Pinkie Pie just kept pleading with me after that not to go into her party house, but I just headed to and out the front door, closing it behind me, then proceeded to and into her party house.

Well, when I took my first step in there, if there was any smell, it was so faint that I couldn’t really detect it.  That is, not until I walked into the main party room.  And, sure enough, there was that lingering smell of urine and feces.  The good news is the stable, likely a play house, the girls had put up and taken down must’ve come with its own floor.  Well, I took Pinkie Pie out of the main room and put her down, then opened the doors to the party room and the entrance doorways to her party house so it could air out.  And, it took only a few hours before I decided that there wasn’t enough of the smell to require leaving the doors open anymore, and I closed them again.

Suffice it to say this wasn't an isolated incident.  And, every precaution Pinkie tried to take didn't seem to make any difference.  There were just some children that were determined to either enter unclothed or take their clothes off once they got inside, then relieve themselves wherever and whenever they needed or wanted to.  Some rules, like a diaper rule, that Pinkie tried to enforce only ended up with bigger messes being made.  And, when Pinkie tried to enforce a "wear clothing" rule, the rule was so vague that children would come in wearing just a shirt or just a sock, just the minimum to say they were wearing something.  When Pinkie tried to set the example of what clothing she wanted the children to wear, even that caused the children make up their own ideas of what the pink party pony meant, or the children poking fun at how odd it looked for a horse, even of Pinkie's size, to wear clothes.

An adult presence only helped, it seems, as long as that adult could see what was going to happen and could react quickly enough; as children would gather their friends around them to defend them as they relieved themselves.  Some even just messed or wet themselves in their clothes, thinking their clothes would hide or contain the mess, or wouldn't reveal it immediately and/or in conspicuous amounts.

When Pinkie Pie eventually, and sadly, outlawed pony slumber parties, not even that stopped the incidents from happening.

If there was one thing that helped more than anything else, it was when Pinkie Pie earned her wings, and later her horn.  The ability to fly meant that she could see the children from above and see if any of them were acting like they were urinating or defecating, or preparing to do so.  And, while she was able to cut back on the incidents, she couldn't stop them completely.

Of course, when she got her horn, she used her magic to sense the bladder and bowels of each of the children, and detect when a child would need to urinate or defecate.  This use of her magic was uncomfortable and exhausting for her; but, it was the most effective in keeping the children from wetting or messing themselves, whether they were wearing clothes or not.  She still didn't allow pony slumber parties, which I figured was all for the best.  Also, she needed to be in the room with the children to be most effective.

In some cases, it also helped to have one of my own children, when I had at least one and they he or she was old enough, to demonstrate how they could let Pinkie know when they needed to use the bathroom, usually covering their crotch when they needed to urinate or their behind when they needed to defecate.  And, from there, if it was a boy, I or my son (During the time I was caring for Pinkie, I had two sons; but only one of them would grow old enough to help her.) would take him to one of the "stallions'" rooms; or, if it was a girl, then my wife or my daughter would take her to one of the "mares'" rooms.

Still, there was that rare child that refused to leave the party room unless the party was officially over.  And, because that child would come in wearing single-piece clothes, such as coveralls, overalls, or a dress, Pinkie was suspicious of such children; and would make sure they were wearing underwear before she would let them in.

Incidents with these children seemed to persist as long as Pinkie Pie ran the party house.  After she returned to Equestria, one of her human siblings took over running the party house the way she did, as a business.  But, after it was clear that the pink party pony was no longer living with me, the incidents with the children stopped, leading to us wonder if someone in town had something against Pinkie Pie, and was trying to drive her away.  And, while there did seem to be one father or mother, while the party pony was here, that insisted, in spite of the evidence against him, that their "perfect son" wouldn't abandon his clothing to urinate and defecate all over the floor, those families disappeared after Pinkie returned to her home, and I haven't heard from them since.  And, the rules Pinkie made for her party house were strictly for her party house, and never made into laws outside those walls.  But, while they've been modified somewhat, they're still enforced.
> Chapter 12: Pinkie's Human Mother
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wouldn’t be told about this until years later, I think after Pinkie Pie returned to Equestria in fact; but, as it turns out, the woman that became my wife was one of the sisters of that man I’d tried to defend in that case where I was one of the jurors.  I don’t know if she heard me talk to Pinkie Pie at some point about how I tried to defend him, or if it was something unrelated; I never asked, never found any reason to ask.  All I know is not long after that court case she and I met, we dated for a few months, fell in love, and eventually got married.

I seem to remember, the first time I brought her home to meet Pinkie Pie, the little pink earth pony was suspicious of her, and wondered why she was entering my life.

I had felt that Pinkie Pie needed a mother figure in her life, and that the ponies native to Earth would likely be nothing more than friends to her.  But, I also figured that a relationship built strictly on building a family around a creature that would return to her home in seven or eight years wasn’t going to last very long afterwards, if even up to that point.  So, when this woman entered my life, introducing herself to me as I was doing some shopping, I took it as being polite, and responded as I figured was appropriate, saluting her just as politely.  Then, as time passed and she got to know me better, and I got to know her better, I began to see something in the relationship between us beyond that politeness.  And, I did begin to appreciate her presence.

When I first brought her home to meet Pinkie Pie, maybe a week after our first meeting, well, like I said, the little pink earth pony was suspicious about her.  Like I had been at that first meeting in the grocery store, Pinkie Pie was polite toward her, and asked questions and allowed her to answer.  Then, when the lady left, Pinkie Pie brought up her concern about what was to become of her if that lady, who she learned was named Sansana Maria Roberts, and I were to get married.  I let her know that nothing was going to change the place she has in the family, and that, if I did end up marrying her, Sansana was going to be her mother.  That seemed to answer all of Pinkie’s questions.

Sansana became closer to Pinkie Pie and myself, and we became closer to her.  And, even before we were married, Sansana quickly became part of the family.  And, when we did marry, Pinkie Pie was the ring bearer.

Another thing I think I can bring up at this point is one discovery I made about the pink earth pony. One day, while I was out harvesting strawberries with my father, Pinkie Pie decided she wanted to join us.  So, once she had trotted out among the berry bushes, I proceeded to show her how to find the berries hidden among the plants, and to identify which ones were ripe, when I noticed that Pinkie was starting to wheeze, then she suddenly collapsed.

With my parents’ help, we got her to the veterinary clinic as quickly as possible, to discover that she’d had an allergic reaction to the strawberries.  Apparently she’d picked one and tried to eat it, and that’s what triggered the reaction.

Well, with the veterinarians’ help, we got her on her way to recovery.  But, when we got her back home, the pink earth pony was sad that she couldn’t help me pick strawberries, and couldn’t enjoy them with me.

It wasn’t long after that when we were watching an episode from the fifth season, the episode called “Canterlot Boutique,” that I got an idea that I hoped would help Pinkie Pie enjoy strawberries with me.  In the episode, Pinkie Pie mentions, even shows, cupcakes made with strawberries, cinnamon, and cilantro.  I wasn’t sure about the cupcake part, considering that, when Pinkie Pie in the show ate some, it seemed to have an adverse effect on her.  But, I thought it was worth the experiment at least to clean off a strawberry, cover it with cinnamon and cilantro, and offer it to Pinkie to see if she could eat it that way.

I don’t know if everyone would like the smell of the berry combined with the two spices, but I found the odor somehow appealing.

I then brought the experimental treat in to Pinkie Pie for her trial and approval; and, sure enough, she was able to eat the spice-covered fruit without any problems.  Then, she got the idea to put strawberries, cinnamon, and cilantro into cupcake batter and bake it and see if it’d work that way.

I admit, I was left wondering if Pinkie Pie had been paying attention to the episode.  Would the fruit-and-spice combination in a cupcake have the same effect on this Pinkie Pie that it did on the one in the episode we’d just watched?  Well, my worries were affirmed when, after Pinkie prepared the treats, she took one bite of one of them and ended up vomiting it back up again just seconds later.  A strawberry covered in cinnamon and cilantro was perfectly fine for her to eat, just so long as it wasn’t in cupcake form.

Well, after that, she decided that eating strawberries at all, whether in cupcakes or not, with cinnamon and cilantro or on their own, was a bad idea for her.  And, although saddened that she wouldn’t be able to enjoy the red fruit with me, or the pink-colored milkshake made with the fruit, still she wasn’t willing to put herself at risk after the cupcake incident.

That was actually after my jury duty experience and before my first meeting with Sansana.  It was actually a few weeks after I married Sansana that, having learned to work side-by-side with a human female to prepare, throw, and clean up after a party, Pinkie Pie grew a pair of wings as the three of us were eating dinner after the party.

The party hadn’t been without the usual problems, but it had still been a success.  And, the three of us were in the midst of discussing it being successful when it happened.

I don’t remember it being painful for Pinkie Pie; watching her, it seemed like just a strange, unexpected event.  All my wife and I could do was watch as two pink, skin-covered twigs grew out from Pinkie’s back, broke into three joints, then sprouted feathers that grew at a right angle to the twigs.

In the mean time, Pinkie Pie just sat there with a surprised look on her face.  And, who could blame her?  It’s not everyday that someone, some pony in this case, sprouts wings, especially in front of an audience.  And, when she was done and folded her new wings at her side, she looked to each side of her and asked what had just happened.

I was the one that explained to her that she’d just sprouted a pair of wings.

At first she was puzzled, looking to each side of her to see the new appendages.

I think Sansana and I were just as puzzled as Pinkie was at this new development.  No pony, no creature, in the “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” series, had been shown getting the avian-type wings that Pinkie now had, except for Twilight Sparkle in the episode “Magical Mystery Cure.”  And, even then, it showed Twilight being consumed in a sphere of energy, spending time with Princess Celestia in what looked to me anyway like a hall of suspended moving pictures, then appearing in front of her friends with the new set of wings.  I still wonder if it's just a normal part of an Equestrian pony’s growth process.

Yes, in the video game, I have Pinkie Pie getting Pinkamena’s horn if she doesn't learn to buck apples, and Diane’s wings if she does.  And, yes, I did teach the video game Pinkie Pie to buck apples.  And, now you know why I taught her that skill.  Because, those were the first things I saw her get, after her cutie mark.  I’m also convinced that an Equestrian earth pony needs his or her cutie mark before he or she can earn his or her wings and/or horn.  And, while I’m still open to the possibility, I’m still not entirely convinced that a unicorn just needs to earn wings, and a pegasus a horn, to become an alicorn, based on what I’ve observed watching the show.  If all an Equestrian pony needs to become an alicorn is a pair of wings and a horn, and if the earth pony is furthest away from that, wouldn't that mean that the earth pony has the greatest potential to become an alicorn?  And, wouldn't an alicorn that started out as an earth pony be more powerful after having achieved that status?

At any rate, Pinkie did prove to me that the wings belonged to Diane and not to Pinkamena.  And, Diane did learn to fly with her new wings.  And, she got really good at it, too.  While she never flew fast enough to make sonic booms, especially sonic rainbooms, like Rainbow Dash could in the show, she still did very well with her wings.

One thing I might as well mention here is that Pinkie and I learned to appreciate each other's sense of humor.

For instance, there was a certain time when I was occupying the master bathroom, and Pinkie either wanted or needed to get in for some reason.

After hearing her knock a couple times, I decided to have some fun; and I called out, "Who's there?"

The pink pony answered, "Pinkie!"

I called out, "PInkie, who?"

Pinkie knocked a bit more as she whined, "Please, Daddy, I need to get in there!"

I paused for a few seconds before saying, "You know, you really need to work on your knock-knock jokes.  That one was terrible."

Now, the little pink pony tapped on the door again as she whined, "Please, Daddy, just open the door and let me in!"

This reminded me of a certain fairy tale.  So, I answered, "Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin."

I think I heard Pinkie giggle a bit from the other side of the door before she said, "No, just use one or both of your hands.  Besides, we both know you're not fat."

I was pretty much finished in the bathroom by then anyway.  I laughed at Pinkie's first statement; then, after the second one, I said, "Well, thanks, PInkie."  When I'm finished using the bathroom, I turn off the light, which I did this time.

And, as I was in the process of doing this, PInkie asked me, "Oh, and could you ... leave ... the ... light ...?"

As I opened the door and walked out, Pinkie took a step back to let me pass.  I asked, "What was that?"

Irritated, the pink pony answered, "Never mind."  And, she entered as soon as I gave her enough room to get past me.

She reciprocated a few days later when she was using the toilet in the master bathroom, I think, and I needed to get in there to take a shower.  I forget the knock-knock joke I used, but the Three Little Pigs theme repeated itself, with me as the big bad wolf this time.  And, because I remembered having started it, I laughed about it with Pinkie.
> Chapter 13: Not Like Dashy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I seem to remember it wasn’t long after Sansana and I got married that she convinced me to share the “My Little Dashy” story with Pinkie Pie.  She had a good argument, or she made it sound good, that my fears about sharing the story with the pink pony might not be all that well founded.  She did make it sound like a good idea to share the story with Pinkie Pie.

Actually, I really shouldn’t complain against her.  After all, as you’ll see, she did come through in the end, bringing all four of us closer together.

You see, for the time I’d been taking care of Pinkie Pie up to that point, I’d been watching the “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” cartoon show with her; and she’d never really acted badly to it.  Of course, she’d never had a reason to.  While there had been episodes that focused on a particular pony or small group of ponies, there was no evidence or sense of complete separation from Equestria or Ponyville society.  On the other hand, in the story “My Little Dashy,” Rainbow Dash had been separated from Equestria altogether for fifteen years, although, back in Equestria, it was just fifteen days.

It was also true that, except for the story of “My Little Dashy,” I hadn’t kept any of those stories from the little pink pony.  Before meeting Sansana, I’d even shared the “Cupcakes” story with Pinkie, which, more than anything, frightened her.  My main concern, at that point, was that Pinkie Pie would look at her life with me, then Rainbow Dash’s life with her human, and take it especially negatively that she’d had very different experiences with me from those Rainbow Dash’d had with her human.  But, there was only one way to find out for sure.  And, Sansana said she’d help me and Pinkie Pie get through whatever happened.  So, that evening, Pinkie, Sansana, and I prepared to watch the video.  And, I was the one that opened the appropriate folder and clicked on the video file.

I must admit, while we watched the video, I payed more attention to Pinkie Pie than the video.  I had watched it a few times before, even read that story on which it was based.

As the story progressed, I watched as Pinkie Pie’s ears and mane seemed to melt while still remaining attached to her head, and what I could see of her smile melted into a frown.  Then, when we got to the stories about other experiences Rainbow Dash and her human had together, Pinkie Pie, who had been in a canine-style sitting position, slumped down into a sphinx-style.  When I asked her what was wrong, she didn’t look at me, just said something about not being able to help Rainbow Dash.

It took me asking her what she meant for her to glare up at me and say, “I came here to help Rainbow Dash!  Now I can’t because I don’t know exactly what she went through!  How can I help Dashy if I don’t have the exact same experiences she had?”  And, she looked away from me again, and I heard her whimper and sniffle.

By habit or instinct, I started stroking her back as I said, “Now, just because the two of you didn’t have the exact same experiences doesn’t mean you can’t help her.  You have had similar experiences, after all.  Rainbow Dash got sick in the care of her human, and you got sick in my care.  And, don’t forget that both of you earned your cutie marks with the help of a human.”

When Pinkie looked up at me again, she had tears rolling down her face from her eyes as she retorted, “B-but, Dashy’s human never had videos like these to help the two of them out.  She was found in a box in the middle of nowhere!  And, her human always kept her locked away!  And you?  You found me in your bed, you watched these videos with me, and, and, you never locked me away!”

I responded, “Well, as for the videos, it’s pretty clear, I think, that Rainbow Dash’s human did have episodes of ‘My Little Pony Friendship is Magic’ to watch with her, he just never took advantage of them.  As for where you were found compared to Rainbow Dash, well, the fact of the matter is both of you found your way into the care of a human, although yours was just a shorter route than that of Rainbow Dash.  And, as for locking you away, well, …”

Before I could address her last concern, Pinkie turned away from me, waved her closest hoof in my direction dismissively, and said, resignedly, “”Just, … just, … no more.”  She then rose up to all fours before jumping off of the chair, then ambled in a circle in front of me and toward the door of my study room, where we’d been watching the videos, and said, “I … just … need … to be alone … for a while.”  She opened the door with the curl in her forehead, then continued to amble through it.

My best guess is she was headed for her bedroom.

I turned to Sansana and started to stand up, but she put her closest hand on mine and said it was alright, that she’d go and talk to her.

I decided to allow it, thinking it might help Pinkie Pie to have another female to talk to.  But, after Sansana closed the door after leaving my study room, I decided to get up and follow her, at least until she entered Pinkie’s room.

All in all, my concern seemed fully justified.  The first time I shared those “My Little Dashy” stories with Pinkie Pie, she reacted as though I’d betrayed her.  I think she knew, deep down, that, if I had, I hadn’t intended to.  And, perhaps Sansana would help her understand that.  Or, maybe she’d find some other way to calm Pinkie Pie down.

Well, it took a few minutes, probably around ten or so, before Sansana came out of the pink pony’s room, without her.

When I asked her if Pinkie was alright, she answered that she’d need a few more minutes alone to collect her thoughts, but would come to me when she was ready.

At that point it was getting time for lunch, so Sansana and I went into the kitchen and started preparing something for the three of us to eat.

And, it wasn’t until lunch was nearly ready before we heard the dining room door open and close, hoof steps toward the kitchen door, then we turned to see the kitchen door open.  And, there, in the doorway, was Pinkie Pie, head lowered submissively.  She slowly looked up at me and said, “Look at me.  I couldn’t even run away the way Dashy did.”

I couldn’t help laughing a little at her statement.

She looked up at me and smiled at my laughter.  When I calmed down again, she continued, “It’s just that, well, how am I going to help Dashy now that I’ve had such different experiences from her?  What can I do?”

I knelt down on one knee and, opening my arms to her, answered, “Just because you had different experiences from Rainbow Dash doesn’t mean you won’t be able to help her.  No two creatures are going to have the exact same experiences, whether they’re of the same species or not.”  When she accepted my invitation and ran and jumped into my arms, I stood up, holding her, and continued, “From what I’ve seen of the videos and read in the story, it seems to me that what Rainbow Dash needs most is someone, some pony, with a connection to both her past in Equestria and her past in the human world.  It shouldn’t matter so much if your experiences are a perfect match or not, just so long as the two of you have something you can talk about together.  Shouldn’t that be enough?”

This time, when she looked up at me, she seemed to have the beginnings of a smile.

I continued, “Here’s another way that you can look at those ‘My Little Dashy’ videos, that they showed me an example of how I should not raise you.  When Rainbow Dash was sick, her human fed her chicken soup, which has a kind of meat in it.  It didn’t surprise me that Rainbow Dash got sick from it, and I wasn’t about to do the same thing to you.  And, those stories weren’t the only things I had available to help me raise you.  I also had scriptures to help with that.

“Now, when your time with me is over, you’ll have plenty of experiences to share with your friend, even if they aren’t exactly like hers.  But, maybe that’s all she needs, is someone like you who’s also been cared for by a human.  And, if that’s the case, then you already have that commonality.  All you need now is to learn how to use it to the best benefit of both of you.  And, I may be just the one to help you with that.  So, what do you say?”

She made it clear that it meant a lot to her to hear me say those words.  She buried her face in one of my shoulders, called me “Daddy” again, and said she was sorry for what she’d thought about me, and promised, Pinkie promised, through her sobs, that she’d always believe the best about my efforts toward her.

I’ll show you in the last chapter that, when Pinkie’s friends came back for her, she did recognize them.  But, at that point, the question was, when those friends of Pinkie did come back, would they recognize her?  And, the answer to that question wouldn’t come for seven or eight more years.  One thing was for sure, though.  In all the time I’d taken care of her, at least up to that point, I’d never given her a reason to run away.  And, as long as I could help it, I never would give her such a reason.

Now, on the subject of how her cutie mark was affected by her earning her wings, as it turns out, it was the balloon to the right of the yellow one that grew a pair of small wings, which identified it as the balloon that represented Diane.  And, when Pinkamena earned her horn, it was the balloon on the left that also grew a horn.  That yellow balloon in the middle never did change.

Now, on to the subject about how Pinkie got her own room.  Well, the fact of the matter is there really isn’t that much to tell.  She decided, after her first year with me, that she was old enough to have her own room.  So, I decided it was only fair that she take one of the extra bedrooms, of which she chose the one closest to the master bedroom.  Of course, since the house was built, that master bedroom had been mine, at least until I married Sansana.
> Chapter 14: The Power of Friendship
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the years we spent with Pinkie Pie (me, my parents, Sansana, and other members of my family), one thing I didn’t hide from her was my interest in video games.  The fact of the matter is I don’t think I could’ve hidden it from her if I’d wanted to.  And, that, combined with my interest in and appreciation for the “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” cartoon series, which grew thanks in large part to raising one of the element bearers, as well as my interest and enjoyment in working with computer programming languages, especially the Basic language, lead to a discussion between the two of us about designing a game based on the cartoon series, one that showed where Pinkie had lived before coming to me and where she’d be going back to when it was time for her to return.

I remember Pinkie being honored and grateful when I suggested making her the main character of a video game, although she wanted some version of me to be in the game as well.  Then, when I suggested her character in the game could be the main character that could be influenced, and a human-type character could be the one that could be controlled, she seemed to like that idea the best.

When I’d shared the “Cupcakes” story with Pinkie, she was frightened; and I figured she didn’t like the story.  So, I was very much surprised when she suggested that there be two main stories, based on if the gamer influenced the video game Pinkie Pie toward doing good or bad, and a variation of the “Cupcakes” story would be the result of the gamer influencing her toward doing bad from the beginning of the story.  While it did make sense to me, I just didn’t expect to hear Pinkie Pie suggest it.

In the process of designing the game, or at least getting the process started, Pinkie helped me write code that would interpret text documents into three-dimensional movement, as well as a program that would help in producing text documents for that purpose.  She surprised me further by modeling a version of herself using software I already had on my computer.  And, I must say, her model of herself was really impressive.  She even made documents that produced a walk cycle, a run (or gallop) cycle, and several other animations that were adaptable under all sorts of circumstances.  Instead of just numbers, she had mathematical formulas that the computer could use to tell where a limb should be and where it should be pointing.

I left the pink earth pegasa (She hadn't yet earned her horn at the time, and we had never really decided on names for the mixtures of races.  Alicorn for a pony with earth pony powers, pegasus wings, and a unicorn horn was already known based on information from the series.) in charge of modeling, while I did the main coding.  And, while she made only a few models, including hair that could be styled, models representing the races and genders of Equestrian ponies, and basic house structures; they were surprisingly adaptable, and would shape themselves to the character or characters in question.

The main trick was to write scripts that the characters could follow, while remaining just flexible enough to allow for the gamer to freely explore the world Pinkie and I were designing, if he or she so chose.  And, fortunately, that proved to be a simple problem to solve.  The programming language I was using was flexible enough to allow for such a thing.

I seem to remember it was the beginning of Pinkie Pie’s fifth year with me that she made the suggestions and assisted me with the project.  And, she did this during her time away from planning and throwing parties.  How she made such time I may never figure out; but, thanks to her, my completion of the video game came much more quickly than it could’ve without her.  Indeed, without her help, it probably would’ve taken me several decades to complete the video game project.  I didn’t get it done before Pinkie’s ten years were up, but she was definitely the major contributor to getting it done.

And, helping me design a video game became one of the things she did along with planning and throwing parties, learning from any source she could about anything she could to help her pegasa friend, and helping other members of the family.  My experience is that there seems to be an inherent energy that goes along with helping others.  And, perhaps Pinkie had tapped into that energy.  It'd likely explain how she remained so energetic while doing so many things.

I still remember that night when Pinkie earned her horn, the night of that successful party she'd thrown.  As I'd mentioned, she, Sansana and I were talking about how well it had turned out, when the pink pony suddenly stopped; and the horn sprouted from her head.

I suppose I wouldn't be alone in thinking that, seeing how the horn sprung up from Pinkie's head, it was not unlike how I'd imagine Jack's beanstalk sprouted from the ground, except that there were no leaves, and the horn didn't wind around itself.  Instead, the threads of the horn just pointed straight up, not turning in either direction.

Once again, Pinkie didn't seem to be in any pain while her horn sprouted, just uncertainty as to what was going on.

The horn reached, I'd say, maybe half a foot before it stopped growing.  And, when it was done, the pink pony looked at me and asked, "Daddy, did I just grow a horn?"

I answered, "I believe you did."  Then, I asked, "Do you know if it's yours, or Diane's?"

Pinkie tapped her chin with a front hoof in thought for a while, then said, "Well, I don't want to hurt you or Mommy.  If you could bring something in here and put it on the table, maybe I can see if I'll be able to move it with my magic."

What Pinkie was proposing sounded like a good idea to me, so I got up and went to the kitchen.  Not wanting the pink pony to hurt herself or anyone else, I decided to choose an apple from a nearby bowl, which I brought in (the apple, not the bowl), and set in front of Pinkie.

While I was sitting down, Pinkie thanked me for the apple.  Then, while we watched, she closed her eyes and looked down; and her horn started to glow and sparkle.

Now, before I continue, let me just way that, after having seen how this seemed to work in the "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic" series, my wife and I were surprised at how well it seemed to work for Pinkie.  The apple got the same pink glow as what was coming from Pinkie's horn, and started to rattle on the table.  I suppose, if an outsider had walked in on the demonstration, whoever it was might think the apple was possessed or something.  And, I suppose, in a way, it was.  With Pinkie's magic.

The pink pony opened her eyes when she heard the rattling, not expecting any sound to come from the fruit.

And, as soon as she did, her horn and the apple stopped glowing; and the apple stopped vibrating.

Pinkie looked at me, and I said, "It's alright.  You were making the apple move.  It's a good start."

Encouraged by my statement, Pinkie tried again, looking down and closing her eyes; and her horn started to glow pink again and sparkle, and the apple also started to glow pink.  And, this time, the apple did manage to rise maybe an inch off of the table.

It might've been my laughter, or maybe it was Sansana's shout of excitement, that broke Pinkie's concentration.  Whatever it was, the pink alicorn looked up again and opened her eyes, just in time to see the apple drop back onto the table.

When she looked at me with a sad expression, I said, "No, it's alright.  You did it.  It was up off the table for a few seconds, but you did it.  Now you just need to learn to control it.  But, beyond that, Pinkamena, we know that the horn belongs to you, and not your sister.  The two of you together are an alicorn."

After hearing what I said, PInkie started to smile again as she jumped over the table and into my arms and, hugging me, said, "Thank you, Daddy.  Thank you."

I seem to remember Sansana joining in the hug.

As I’ve already mentioned, Pinkamena’s horn allowed Pinkie to prevent unexpected expulsions during the parties she'd throw for children, particularly between three and eight years old.  And, not only that, but the design of her horn also made it into the game the two of us made.

In fact, there are three designs for unicorn horns in the "Hey, Batter!" game: one with the threads pointing straight up as they do on Pinkie's horn, one with the threads spiraling to the right, and one with the threads spiraling to the left.  I'm not entirely sure how the direction of the threads affects how a pony uses magic, but I know that the more common unicorn horn seems to be the left-spiraling one.

At any rate, to wrap it all up, while it was years after Pinkie left before I completed the game, I would probably have never even thought of designing such a game without the influence of the pink party pony.

There were other ways that Pinkie proved her friendship to me, but the video game was the main one.  And, my main way of proving myself a good friend to her was when she came to me for advice on any subject she needed help with.  But, I’m sure I’ve already demonstrated that.  Of course, I’ll show that it wasn’t just the first five years where I proved myself a good friend to the pink party pony.

Perhaps the greatest demonstration of friendship was between the two conjoined twins, which, as far as I could tell, went further than them simply being conjoined twins.  Diane always looked out for Pinkamena, warning her of potential problems or pointing her to things that would make her happy.  And, the two, especially after Diane earned her wings and Pinkamena earned her horn, were really an unstoppable force when predicting and preventing potential accidents during the parties Pinkie would throw.  I dare say that Diane proved to be the best friend and guide that Pinkamena could ever have, and I don’t remember it being anything but a pleasure to raise Pinkie Pie.  They had their share of difficulties; but, sometimes with the help of family, including me, sometimes without it, the two pony spirits in the body of Pinkie Pie always managed to get through them.
> Chapter 15: Human Siblings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without going into details, let me just say that Pinkie Pie did get a couple human siblings while she was in my care, and they were both the biological children of me and Sansana.

The two of us each gave a name to the boy and the girl that we had.  I gave the boy his first name, Russel; and Sansana gave him his middle name, Avinoam.  As for the girl, Sansana gave her her first name, Ariela; and I gave her her middle name, Hanna.

I found it interesting that, in spite of her being equine, although maybe because she was raised by humans, Pinkie Pie frequently acted like a human around her human brother and sister.  But, there were some traits that she had that didn’t exactly surprise me that she demonstrated.  You know that episode in the second season when the Cakes had their twins and Pinkie Pie, it seems, couldn’t keep out of the room where the babies were being displayed?  She was the same way with her human brother and sister.  Both times.  And, the human infants around her each time were less tolerant than the foals in the episode.  And, both times, I ended up having to remove her from the hospital altogether, just as my character in the video game ended up doing.

Pinkie’s treatment of her human siblings was really no different from her treatment of her sisters in the episodes where they appeared.  Neither Russel nor Ariela had the personalities of Limestone, Marble, or Maud; theirs were very much different.

Russel, after his third year, was very defensive of both Ariela and Pinkie Pie, while Ariela was as extroverted as Pinkie Pie was.  And, because of experience with other people’s children, Sansana, Pinkie and I potty trained the two children each in their second year so that hopefully they’d be better examples to children their age when they were at the parties Pinkie Pie would throw in her party house.  And, sure enough, they were, probably because they were worried about being punished if they did what they saw the children around them doing.

Ariela seemed to look at Pinkie Pie as something of a heroine.  She always joined the pink party pony in cooking, throwing parties, and cleaning up after them.

On the other hand, Russel seemed more interested in building things.  We’d give him Lego and erector sets for his birthdays and Christmas, and he’d build all sorts of things with them.  Apparently by combining the two types of sets, he was able to make a play house of his own with two or three floors.

Video games were not as interesting to Russel or Ariela as they were to me, but I wasn’t bothered by that.  In fact, I found it rather encouraging that they each had their own pursuits.

And, I did raise them with the understanding that Pinkie Pie would be going back to her home land, Equestria, some day; so that, when it came time for the pink party pony to return, they’d be ready for it.  And, in the mean time, Pinkie Pie proved to be, perhaps, the best big sister Russel and Ariela could ask for.  She taught them as much of what she learned as she could while still planning and throwing parties or helping me with our video game.

If anything, Russel and Ariela helped me maintain my interest in the “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” cartoon by pointing out things I hadn’t noticed in various episodes, or asking questions that Pinkie Pie never asked me.  They might not have been around when Diane earned her wings, or when Pinkamena earned her horn; but they, like their parents, learned to understand their big pony sister, and appreciate what I had learned about her from about that first day when she’d shown up on my bed.

And, by the way, before Sansana and I were married, in fact before I brought her home, I did explain to her what I’d learned about Pinkie Pie, that she was, for all intents and purposes, two ponies in one.  And, I’d had to explain to Pinkie Pie that I’d explained her condition to Sansana.

When it came to teaching Russel and Ariela about their big pony sister being two pony spirits in one pony body, it seems that they tried to do a bit of probing, which Pinkie Pie resisted.  She didn’t harm either of her siblings, she just avoided their probing fingers, going so far as to jump up on the couch and sit sphinx-style with her behind to the back of the couch and her tail under her to avoid the intrusions.  And, while eventually they learned not to poke at Pinkie’s hind parts, it took maybe a day or two, and a growl from Pinkie Pie, before they decided not to explore her that way any further.

As for their learning from Pinkie Pie, it wasn’t really all that different from how Pinkie Pie learned from me and everyone else around her, except that Pinkie was the teacher, for the most part.

As I remember, there was one incident after Russel attended his first day in school, and he came home with a friend that used a word that wasn’t used by any of the rest of the family, one of those four-letter words.  It happened while they, Pinkie Pie, and I were playing a video game, a racing game as I remember, and the little boy said he'd heard his big brother use it and didn't see what was wrong with it..

Later on, that night, the entire family, along with Russel's friend, went outside.

It was a clear night, and the moon was full.

I pointed to the moon and asked Russel's friend, “What do you see when you look up at the moon?”

It took a few seconds, but he shrugged and answered, "Why?  What does it matter what I see when I look at the moon?"

I continued, “Around here, we're generally trained to see the face of a man when we look up at the moon.  But, in New Zealand, the Maori see something different from what we see.  What we see as a man’s eyes they see as two calabashes, containers for holding liquids and other things.  I think it’s what we see as a man’s mouth that they see as a tree native to New Zealand, a ngaio.  And, what we see as a man’s nose they see as a woman.

“My guess is there was an actual woman among the Maori that was known for not being able to keep a civil tongue in her head, a woman who had been married and had two sons.  I guess she must’ve disappeared somehow, and maybe her husband and children saw what they thought was her image on the moon, and figured she must’ve said something offensive to the moon, and the moon punished here by carrying her up there.  And, taking into consideration that every fictional work has a basis in reality, that some part of the story must've had some truth to it, I wouldn't be surprised if the woman’s name was actually Rona.

“According to the story, one day, while her husband and sons were out fishing, she was left back at their home to prepare dinner for when they returned.

“Now, the Maori have what they call a hangi, which, literally interpreted, means ‘earth oven.’  They'd dig a hole in the ground, heat up rocks and place them in the hole, then wrap their food in edible leaves, cloth, and anything else they could use to keep the food from getting burned, before burying it.  And, after giving the food enough time to cook, they'd dig it out again and eat it.  I’ve had at least one hangi before, and I can tell you, the one I had was really good.

“At any rate, this was the kind of meal Rona was preparing for her husband and sons for when they returned.  And, in the process of the cooking, according to the story, the ground around the food was getting dry; and she needed to get some water to keep the food from dehydrating.  The only problem was there was a treacherous barrier of rocks between her and the nearest source of fresh water.

“Well, on her way there, she had the moon to light her way.  But, when she was coming back with the water, clouds hid the moon from her as she was crossing those rocks; and she slipped and fell on them and scraped her shins.  Well, to say the least, she wasn’t happy with that.  When the clouds revealed the moon again, she looked up at it, shook her fist, and called out, 'Pokokohua!' which basically meant she was calling the moon a boiled pig’s head.  One of the meanest labels, if not the meanest label, in the Maori language.

“Well, the moon wasn’t very happy with that.  According to the story, it came down, grabbed Rona, and proceeded to haul her up with it.

“Needless to say, Rona wasn’t going to go willingly.  So, she grabbed the nearest thing she could, a ngaio tree, to keep from being hauled up into the sky with the moon.

“Well, Rona’s grip on the tree was stronger than the tree’s grip on the ground; and she, the tree, and her calabashes were hauled up into the sky with the moon.  And, they remain there to this day.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Maori families take their children out, as I have done with you, point Rona out to them, tell them the story I told you, and warn them, ‘Kia mahara ki te he o Rona,’ or ‘Remember Rona’s mistake.’”

Whether it was the lesson he’d honestly learned from the story, or it was just a joke, I had to laugh when Russel asked, “Don’t call the moon a boiled pig's head?”

At least he’d gotten something from the lesson.  I explained that there were just some words that should not be used, that it was always a good idea for him to keep his temper in check; and that the word his friend had used earlier, a disrespectful synonym for rape, was one of the words he shouldn’t use.

All of them learned the lesson, especially Russel and his friend.  After that, Russel came to me whenever he heard a word he hadn’t heard me or Sansana use before, to find out if it was a good word to use or not.

It wasn’t a lesson that Pinkie Pie had needed to learn, but it was one of those lessons that she never forgot.  In fact, I don’t think she ever forgot any lesson she’d learned.
> Chapter 16: Coming to an End
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since she knew she’d be returning to Equestria before the end of the year, in 2008, Pinkie Pie was very careful not to plan any parties after December 18th.  And, it seemed as though the whole town was fine with that, as they rented Pinkie’s party house on that day to throw her a returning-home party.

As has already been indicated, Pinkie Pie’s life with me was not without difficulties and problems.  With her example, she  defined various problems that the Pinkie Pie in the video game faced, including the effect diabetes would have on her, as well as fasting.  Indeed, she showed me, by her example, how she’d cope with all sorts of problems, or at least how I could help her cope with them.

Besides the problems she had with human children at the parties she’d host at her party house, she had been attacked once, in her sixth or seventh year with me as I remember, when one child’s parents, after she, that is Pinkie Pie, had decided to stop the child from entering the party room, recognizing him as one of those that’d come in unclothed and eliminate in front of an audience.  The father, I suspect, had decided to go pony hunting after seeing her in town.  At least, when Pinkie Pie came home in a panic that day, she told me someone was shooting at her.  It was days before she’d go into town again, and she refused to go alone, which was just fine, as I wasn’t about to let her.  Still, considering she’d come home without any injuries that day, I have to wonder if she hadn’t had some kind of divine protection with her already.  That, or the guy was a lousy shot or was only aiming to scare her.  If that last part was true, he'd succeeded.

Later that day, I got a phone call from a man who threatened to kill Pinkie Pie if she didn’t allow his son to attend her next party.  I asked Pinkie if she’d refused to let a little boy attend her last party, and she mentioned one child that she’d turned away because he was always coming in naked, and, as she put it, “peed and pooped in the party room every time.”  She even gave me the name of the child.

I just had to do a little research to find the names of the boy’s parents, after which I called them.  And, as it turned out, I recognized the voice of the man who had called earlier as he answered the phone.  When I asked if he was the father of a boy that Pinkie had refused entrance to her party house, he said that he was.

If you'll remember how I mentioned earlier about the father or mother of a child talking about their "perfect child," this is the most extreme example.  During our conversation, I talked about how Pinkie was within her rights to refuse to allow anyone who was not following her rules, and he responded that his son would never break any rules.

I had Pinkie Pie talk to him on the phone and explain what the man’s son had been doing at those parties, and he kept expressing his disbelief, stating that his son would never break any reasonable rules, and that Pinkie Pie should ease up on him.

I can’t remember if it was me or Pinkie Pie who suggested that the man come to the next party with his son, but I promised that I’d attend the party as well.  The man agreed; and, when the time for the party came, I made sure he didn’t have any weapons on him before I let him near Pinkie Pie.

Well, with his father there to watch him, the little boy entered the party room fully clothed; and, when he needed to urinate or defecate, he excused himself and went to one of the stallions’ rooms to do whatever he needed to, then returned.

In fact, all the children were on their best behavior: all came in fully clothed, and all excused themselves to use one of the appropriate bathrooms when they needed to, then returned to the play room.  Evidently, for the children to behave well, at least one child's parent had to be there, which wasn’t that much of a surprise to me.  As the old saying goes, “A watched pot never boils.”

At any rate, as for the father, thinking that Pinkie was being irrational about his son, he decided that his “perfect child” shouldn’t attend parties at Pinkie Pie’s party house from then on, and started throwing competitive parties at his own house that would be at the same time as the ones Pinkie Pie threw.  I don’t know how successful he was, based on attendance at Pinkie Pie’s parties, but at least there was one less literal party pooper.

I believe what Pinkie said, about children attending her parties with what seemed to be no other purpose in mind than to defy her rules and eliminate in the party room, especially in front of an audience.  Still, I had to wonder if she wasn’t battling the symptoms without getting to the real problem.  Since the problem had been going on before I’d gotten married to Sansana, I doubted that she, that is Sansana, could be its source.  But, still, I had to wonder if there wasn’t a relative of one of the children that attended Pinkie’s parties that wasn’t the cause of the problem the pink party pony so frequently faced.  These years after she returned to Equestria, my daughter, Ariela, kept her party house going; but there’s never been a recurrence of the problem that Pinkie Pie so often faced.  Children attend the parties thrown there by Ariela, but they always enter fully clothed, and always excuse themselves to use one of the appropriate bathrooms, then return when they’re done.  As I mentioned before, I can only guess that one of the children, or maybe a relative of that child, just had something against Pinkie Pie.

At any rate, as I said, at the beginning of that last year, Pinkie Pie marked December 19th on the calendar as the first day she’d have no parties, that she’d give herself a week to prepare to return to Equestria.  And, up to that day, when she wasn’t helping me with my video game, planning or throwing or cleaning up after parties, or teaching her human siblings, she was watching episodes of “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic,” making a careful study of the environment she’d be returning to, including the behavior of her friends and family there.  Frequently, I’d find her sleeping in my study room, mumbling something about one of her friends back in Equestria.  Seeing her like that, I hoped she wouldn’t kill herself before she could return to her original home.

That was Pinkamena's activity.  Diane was a different story, as I noticed I was seeing less and less of Pinkamena's twin sister as time went on.  And, I must admit, it worried me.

There was one time in November of that last year when Pinkie caught her last cold, and Diane withdrew altogether, leaving Pinkamena to face the ordeal.  It gave Pinkamena experience in facing sickness, her first experience, really; and her only experience of that sort living with me.  But, it made me really worry about the straight-haired pony that had always faced sicknesses before.  Fortunately, with my help, Pinkie survived the ordeal.

In the mean time, Sansana, Russel, and Ariela, as well as my parents, asked if they could be there to meet Pinkie Pie’s friends and sister when they came for her.  It seemed like a good idea to me, although I also had to agree with the pink party pony that six humans and nine ponies in one building, even if the ponies were as small as Pinkie Pie had been before she got her wings and horn, might be cramped.  As nice as it might be for six humans to meet the eight ponies that’d be coming to meet Pinkie Pie and take her back to Equestria, arrangements for that purpose might be difficult to make.  Still, we all hoped that there might be some way of making such an arrangement work.

Then, there was the matter of the family remaining unified after Pinkie Pie was gone, which, in spite of my reassurances, was still a major concern for the pink alicorn.  Sansana and I have had a few more children after Pinkie Pie returned to Equestria, and they’ve gotten to know their big pony sister through their older siblings and the episodes of “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic,” which I’m sure pleased Pinkie Pie to hear about that time she called me.  But, at that time, she proved that the joined forces of Pinkamena and Diane didn’t know everything.

Also, Pinkie had more than just human friends.  She had made friends with horses and ponies that were owned by humans in and around town.  And, when December came around, Pinkie made a point of visiting each of those horses and ponies and saying her farewells to each of them.  I don’t doubt, based on their behavior, that they understood the pink party pony.  And, I’m sure it was more than just them being equines.

The last party was attended by humans of all ages, all there to celebrate the time Pinkie Pie had spent with them and the impact she’d had on their lives, and to bid the pink pony farewell.  I seem to remember the party lasting for most of the day, and consisting of people entering, spending enough time there to salute Pinkie, then leaving a few minutes later.  Generally, those always in attendance were me, my parents, and my wife and Russel and Ariela.

After the party and the cleanup, Pinkie Pie turned over the party house keys to Ariela; and the seven of us, which consisted of Pinkie Pie, Sansana, Russel, Ariela, my parents and me, spent the last week at my house.  You know, as I remember, on Christmas Eve, we all walked back to my parents’ house before leaving them there, as the rest of us five returned to my house to await the arrival of Pinkie’s friends and sister.  I seem to remember them saying something about it being better to leave room for the visitors I was going to get than to meet Pinkie Pie's friends personally.
> Chapter 17: Time to Go Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leave it to Pinkie Pie to take the most poignant of moments and leave the door wide open for comic relief.

The evening of our last Christmas together, Pinkie Pie, Sansana, Russel, Ariela and I were in the living room when we heard a knock at the front door.  As I got up to answer the door, I wasn’t the only one among us wondering if perhaps my parents had decided to come over to visit, perhaps to meet Pinkie Pie’s Equestrian friends.  If it was Pinkie’s friends knocking at the door, I had a sneaking suspicion that the experience of Rainbow Dash and her human was going to be unique to them.

Russel and Ariela kept Pinkie Pie occupied as I left the living room and headed through the hallway to the front door.  And, when I opened it, I wasn’t surprised to see eight equines there.  Having watched all the episodes of the show, those on the discs anyway, I recognized alicorn princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle, as well as Rarity the unicorn, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy the pegasae, and Applejack and Maud Pie the earth ponies.

Before I could invite the group in, I saw Maud Pie sniff at a pebble, and heard her say, “Hmm, sedimentary.”  Having watched the two episodes with her in them, I wasn’t surprised to see and hear her do and say that.

As I gestured for the group to enter, I said, “Specifically, shale.”

Maud was the first to enter, and she lingered for a bit as she looked up at me and said, “You know about rocks.”

As I led the way into the house, down the stairs, I answered, “I studied geology for a while, and I did enjoy it.  After all, geology rocks.”

Having become familiar with the episode “Maud Pie,” as well as Diane and her personality, which, I was learning, was very much similar to Maud, and thus developing an understanding of Pinkie’s logic in becoming so attached to her oldest sister, I wasn’t at all surprised when she said, in an almost bored tone, “Geology is the study of rocks.”

I stated, “That’s true.  But, nowadays, the meanings of various words have gone through some modifications.  To say that something ‘rocks,’ for instance, is to say that it’s a lot of fun.”

You know, it was all I could do to keep from laughing when I heard Maud, in her near monotone, answer, “Oh.  You are correct.  Geology is a lot of fun.”

I can’t be sure, but I think it was Princess Luna who closed the door behind her.  I know, as I guided the group of ponies through the hallway, that the nighttime princess was the last to enter.  And, it's usually the last to enter that closes the door.

Whatever the case was, I lead the group through the hallway as I heard Rainbow Dash ask, “So, I’m guessing Pinkie Pie is still living with you?”

I answered, “That’s right.  And, she’s been doing pretty well, if I do say so myself.”

I then heard Rainbow Dash grumble, “She’d better be.  Because, she and I have some things to discuss.”

I occupied the outside center of the hallway while I said, “Now, if it’s alright, I have some questions for Maud, if she doesn’t mind answering them.”

In a flat tone, Maud said, “I thought you might.  I will answer your questions.”

As Maud joined me in the corner, I pointed to a door and said, “Now, Pinkie Pie’s waiting down the second door on your left, along with my wife Sansana, my son Russel, and my daughter Ariela.  But, I feel I should warn you: she had a cold recently, so she’s gonna be a little hoarse.”

There were gasps around the group, until Rainbow Dash said, “Wait a minute.  From a human’s perspective, we’re all little horses.”

I’m still not sure whether Rainbow Dash, or the other ponies in the group, got my joke or not.  Considering I didn’t hear any laughter, I’m guessing they probably didn’t.

At any rate, I’m guessing it was Princess Celestia who opened the door to the living room.  Whoever it was, I watched Rainbow Dash hover in the doorway, and heard her ask, “Pinkie Pie, are you in here?”

Then, I heard Pinkie Pie call out, “Dashie!  Come on in!”

As I watched the ponies filter into the living room, I heard Rainbow Dash say, “Pinkie Pie, we need to talk.  But, first of all, why do you have wings and a horn?”

Finally having enough room to move around, I made my way, with the gray earth pony following me, to and into the kitchen.  I waited for Maud to enter, then closed the door behind her; then, she waited for me to pass before she started following me again, and we went to the table, where we each took a seat on opposite sides of the table from each other.

I’m not quite sure how she managed to pull the chair out, although I think she grabbed the closest leg with her teeth before pulling.

At any rate, when she was comfortably seated human-style, with her forelimbs on the table, I said, “Now, when Pinkie Pie first arrived, I noticed her mane and tail would curl and uncurl, and when her mane uncurled it’d always fall to the one side of her head.”

I’m guessing the gray earth pony with light purple hair was anticipating my question when she said, “Her mane and tail did that when she was born.  Father thought she was possessed, and mother thought she was two ponies in one, and they were just trying to get noticed in turn.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Maud continued, “I studied this, and among ponies it’s known as pony compoundism.  Nopony knows what causes it, and cases of it are extremely rare.  Based on cases I've studied, it's even more unusual for them to survive to adulthood.  Perhaps mother is right, and my little sister is one of those rare compound ponies.  What it means beyond that, not even the Princesses know.”

I waited for Maud to continue speaking; then, when she didn’t, I stated, “Your mother was right.”  I looked for an indication of understanding about what I said, some emotional response, but I couldn't see any.  After a few seconds, I continued, “The morning after she arrived, my parents and I took her to a vet just outside of town and got her checked out.  The checkup didn'y yield  any answers, and Pinkie Pie wouldn’t allow her mane or tail to be cut; so we had to study some of her hair while she was still attached to it.

“The only source that gave me and my parents information on what was happening to Pinkie Pie was the bishop of our ward at the time, and he told us that Pinkie Pie was actually two physically identical ponies, conjoined so completely that they were essentially two pony spirits in one pony body.  And, he was apparently a walk-in then.”

I watched as Maud Pie only moved her mouth when she said, “So, mother was right all along.”  She stared at me for a few seconds before continuing, “Father always preferred the Pinkie Pie with straight mane and tail, something about her looking better with her mane to one side of her head.

“Mother, on the other hoof, had her own pet names, it seemed like, for the two different Pinkies.  She always named the curly-haired Pinkie Pie Pinkamena, and the straight-haired Pinkie Pie Diane.

“I think Pinkie Pie always liked being around mother because of that, because she was always free to be either Pinkamena or Diane around her.”  She then focused on me and asked, “Have you noticed anything about Pinkamena or Diane?”

It seemed only reasonable to me that, if I was going to ask Maud some questions, Maud should feel free to ask me some questions as well.  I answered, “It’s been my observation that Pinkamena is the more happy-go-lucky of the two, the more adventurous.  I don’t think either Pinkamena or Diane is bad, but I have noticed that Diane is the more goodly of the two, if that makes any sense.”

Maud said, “Have you noticed anything specifically about Diane?”

I answered, “Well, Diane is the more serious of the two.  She doesn’t demonstrate emotion, at least not the way I’ve seen Pinkamena demonstrate it.  She defends Pinkie, that is Pinkamena, from dangers that Pinkamena isn’t aware of, and Pinkamena has shown that she's perfectly happy with that arrangement.  The two have developed a code between them; and, while Pinkamena goes about her day, I’ve noticed the code work effectively for both of them; and it's also involved me.  For instance, I've been nearby to see Pinkie Pie’s tail twitch, and it’d be up to me to defend her against anything that might fall and hurt her, or someone else, or anyone who might fall and hurt Pinkie Pie or themselves.  When Pinkie Pie got a pinchy feeling in her knee, again she’d look to me to defend her against anything that might threaten her.”

At this point, Maud said, “Yes, the Pinkie sense.  I’m fully aware of it.”  Then, she asked, “So, I’m guessing Diane and you have been faithfully defending Pinkamena against all sorts of dangers that could come along?”

I answer, “We have.  But, that’s not all.  Diane has also been there to let Pinkie know about anything that might potentially make her happy.  The two have developed quite a form of communication that allowed Diane to let Pinkamena know, for instance, if there was going to be a rainbow, or if I was going to surprise her with a present, or if I was just going to say something nice or funny to her that she’d want or need to hear.  For that matter, the nice thing said didn’t have to come from me.”

Maud looked down at the table and said, “So, Diane has been taking really good care of Pinkamena.  And, she doesn’t demonstrate emotion the way Pinkamena does.”

You know, I guess I had expected these similarities.  But, actually having Pinkie Pie's oldest sister there, and being able to observe her behavior, I had confirmation that Maud and Diane indeed had similar personalities.  And, I remember saying as much to Maud, at least about Diane’s personality being like Maud’s.

At that point, Maud looked up at me and said, “That explains why Pinkie Pie liked me more than her other sisters, Limestone and Marble.  If Diane demonstrates emotions as I do, and she is, in fact, a pony spirit so closely attached to Pinkie, to Pinkamena, then it is only logical that she would form such an attachment to me, if she sees in me the goodly sister that’s her other part.”  Then, I’m sure I saw her tilt her head just a fraction of a degree as she said, “Now, when Rainbow Dash entered your living room, she said something about Pinkie Pie having wings and a horn.”

Now, it was my turn to anticipate Maud’s question, as I answered, “Yes, she got those while I was caring for her, as well as her cutie mark.  And, I’ll say this much for sure.  The cutie mark I was expecting.  The wings and horn, not so much.  About all I know about that is it came with the things I and others taught her.  And, that’s another thing.  Did you know about Pinkie Pie’s eagerness to learn?”

Maud, who had been looking up at me while I spoke, looked down at the table and answered, “That was one of the things father stopped as soon as he could.”  Looking back up at me, she added, “Father never did like being asked questions.  And, it was always Pinkie Pie who asked them.  I wonder what he would think if he knew a human had allowed, even encouraged, her curiosity, and that the allowance for her curiosity enabled her to become an alicorn.”

I thought about that for a moment, then said, “You know, when you go back with Pinkie Pie, it may be a good idea to go back to the rock farm with her so she can be with you and the rest of her family again.”

Maud immediately focused on me and answered, “I disagree.  If mother and father see Pinkie Pie as an alicorn, well, it could cause more problems than any of us can handle.  Mother would accept her, but father would not.

“Father always believed that Pinkie Pie was something evil, and he was happy to see her leave after the first party she threw, the party that earned her her cutie mark.  Or, that’s what I got from the letter mother sent me after Pinkie had left.

“But, you confirmed what mother always believed, that Pinkie was, is, a compound pony; and, while neither of the two spirits in her is evil, one of them, the one mother called Diane, is just better than the other, the one mother called Pinkamena.

“If Pinkie were to come back to the rock farm as an alicorn, father wouldn’t be able to accept it.  He’d demand that either Pinkie get rid of her horn and wings, or he would divorce mother.  And, he’d demand it happen immediately.  I … I seriously doubt he'd return if he ever left, … or, … or that he’d let mother return if she ever left.”

You know, I think that was the first time I saw Maud demonstrate emotion, as I saw tears roll down the sides of her face.  Evidently she didn’t just care about Pinkie, she cared for her whole family.

I wasn’t sure what to do at that point, except ask, “So, what do you think should be done?”

Now, I’m sure I heard Maud’s voice shake just a little as she said, “I can think of nothing except to keep Pinkie away from the rock farm from now on.”

I could only guess Maud must be right, based on what she said, as well as her demonstration of emotions.  We sat there for a few seconds in silence, before I finally spoke up and said, “Well, I can’t think of anything more to talk about.  So, unless you have any more questions for me, I think it’s time for us to go to the living room so you can meet with Pinkie again.”

Maud didn’t answer vocally, just shook herself out, then nodded.

As I got up and headed to the door, Maud said, “Mormon, I have questions for Pinkie, questions I think only she should hear and answer.  When we’re in your living room, will you dismiss Pinkie’s friends to come here, to your kitchen, so Pinkie and I may have privacy while we talk?”

I paused for a moment before answering, “You know, maybe it’d be a better idea if I had her come in here and talk to you.  The reason I chose the dining room was because, since the rest of the family is in the living room, I figured this room’d provide some privacy for us.  I’m sure it’ll work the same way for you and Pinkie.  Is that alright with you?”

Maud looked down at the table again, inhaled deeply, then let the breath out slowly.  When she looked up at me again, she answered, “I suppose that would be the best.”

Getting her confirmation, I rose from the table, pushing back the chair under me with my legs.  When I reached the door, I turned to Maud and said, “Pinkie’ll be here in a minute.”  I then exited through the door and proceeded to the living room.  As I entered, I turned to pink party pony, who turned to me as well; and I said, “Pinkie, Maud wants to talk to you in the dining room.”  Then, as she agreed, I backed away from the door and allowed her to pass.  When she was on her way to the dining room, I entered the living room and chose the place approximately where I saw she’d been seated.

Once I was comfortable, I was surprised when I turned around, to find myself nose-to-nose with Rainbow Dash, who was glaring at me.

Presently, she asked, “Why does Pinkie Pie have a horn and wings now?”

It took me a few moments to regain my composure, after which I answered, “That’s something I helped her with.  I watched those DVDs with the ‘My Little Pony Friendship is Magic’ show on them with her, which is why she recognized all of you when you came.”

Sansana added, “Mormon helped her earn her wings, but I also helped her earn her horn.”

I couldn’t see Sansana, Rainbow Dash wasn't allowing me to see anyone else.  While my wife spoke, she closed her eyes and tapped in between them with one of her front hooves.  When Sansana was finished talking, the blue pegasa opened her eyes again, turned to and pointed at Sansana, and said, “This is between me and Mormon.  You keep out of this.”

I didn’t see Fluttershy, but I did hear her from behind the blue pegasa say, “Now, please, Rainbow Dash, calm down.”

Rainbow Dash, when she turned a hundred eighty degrees in her place, slapped me in the face with her tail, which I didn’t mind that much.  After all, her tail was evidently clean; and she didn’t spin anywhere near fast enough to cause any pain or damage.

In the mean time, I heard Rainbow Dash say, after a second or two, and more calmly, “You’re probably right, Fluttershy.  I shouldn’t have been angry at Mormon’s wife.  He’s the one I should be angry with, not her.”  I think, at that moment, something of what I’d said occurred to the rainbow-haired pegasa, as she spun to look at me again, once again slapping me in the face with her tail.

I have to admit, on the second strike, it was all I could do to keep from laughing.  I just couldn’t hide the smile, though.

I just had to laugh, though, when Rainbow Dash asked, “And, just what is so funny?”

I answered, “Oh, nothing.  It’s just your tail.”

I can’t say for sure if it was because of the glare she was giving me, or in spite of it.  All I can say is I couldn’t stop laughing when she asked me, “And, what is so funny about my tail?”

I answered, “It’s just that you hit me in the face with it twice, and it was the softest attack I’ve ever felt.”

I seem to remember, at that point, that at least one of the princesses also started laughing.

But, it was clear to me, at least Rainbow Dash made it clear with her expression, that something I’d said offended her.  But, she calmed down after a few seconds before asking, “Well, as I was about to ask, you watched ‘My Little Pony Friendship is Magic’ with Pinkie Pie?”

I answered, “That’s right.”

As far as I know, I never got the name of Rainbow Dash’s human, although I seem to remember her naming him.  Most likely because she used a profanity before saying it.  She was pretty angry at the time.  But, I do remember that she asked him why he didn’t watch the show with her.  At any rate, she flew backwards away from me and asked, “And, she never resented seeing herself as a cartoon character?”

I answered, “Not that I ever saw.  Of course, I started watching the show with her as soon after she arrived as possible.”

I was still focused on Rainbow Dash when I heard Princess Celestia say, “Mormon, Rainbow Dash isn’t the only one with questions.”

Presently, Rainbow Dash settled down on the ground to allow me to get a look at the white alicorn, at which point I turned to her and said, “I’m not surprised.  I have questions I'd like to ask.”

As Rainbow Dash galloped a step or two out of the way, Princess Celestia approached me; but, it was Twilight Sparkle who said, “Well, thanks to Rainbow Dash, I at least have an idea of why Pinkie Pie’s an alicorn now.”

Then, Princess Celestia nodded and added, “Yes, and you helped her with that, is that right?”

I nodded and answered, “That’s right.  Like Sansana said, her wings came first, and then her horn.”

I remember the daytime princess smiling as she asked, “And, how did she get them?”

I smiled back as I answered, “Well, while her wings came first and then her horn, they came for pretty much the same reason, as a result of a successfully thrown party.”  I then looked around at each of Pinkie Pie’s friends before saying, “I’m guessing it actually is unusual for a pony from Equestria to grow wings and a horn.”

Again it was Twilight Sparkle who responded, “That’s right.  While there are ponies that already have a horn, and ponies that already have wings, I’m one of the few, that I know of, to have one, and get the other.”  She then asked, “Was Pinkie Pie consumed in a ball of energy when she got her wings and horn?”

I shook my head and answered, “Acutally, no."  I stopped shaking my head as I continued, "Her wings sprouted from her back, and her horn sprouted from her head.  I was there to see each of the instances, and I found it really interesting to watch.”

At this point, I heard chuckling from Applejack.  I turned to see her smiling at Ariela, who had pulled off the orange earth mare’s hat and was wearing it herself.

In the mean time, Russel had evidently gotten Pinkie Pie’s brush, and was using it on Rarity, who was evidently enjoying the grooming.

Rainbow Dash then drew my attention back to her when she asked, “So, Mormon, you lived with Pinkie Pie for ten years.  Did you ever see her when she was, you know, crazy?”  And, she stuck her tongue out to the side, made her eyes spin in their sockets, and drew circles in the air with a front hoof over a spot on the side of her head.

I think it was as much the question as it was Rainbow Dash’s actions afterwards that Rarity took offense to, as I heard her say, in a tone of mixed surprise and anger, “Rainbow Dash!”

I had a sneaking suspicion I understood what Rainbow Dash was talking about.  In the episode “Party of One,” when Pinkamena had withdrawn and forced Diane to take over (at least that’s the way I choose to look at it), Diane had tried to pull her out of it with a party involving a dust bunny, a stack of rocks, a bag of flower, and a bucket of turnips.  The result was shown as Pinkie Pie losing touch with reality before Rainbow Dash had gotten to her and had to drag her to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres where all her friends had prepared a party that they were going to throw for her.

Having this idea in mind, I still thought it’d be a good idea to be sure; so, I asked, “I’m not sure I understand.  Could you explain?”

My question seemed to surprise Rarity.

After rubbing the back of her head and glaring at the white unicorn for a moment, the azure pegasa turned to me and said, “I mean, have you ever seen her when her mane and tail were straight?”

That question from Rainbow Dash gave me the information I needed.  I answered, “Yeah, I have seen her that way.  And, while she was different, personality-wise, I wouldn’t say she was crazy.”

Then, Luna, who had been sitting canine-style behind the television, rose and asked me, “Hath Pinkie Pie had the chance to meet ponies in your world?”

I turned to the nighttime alicorn and answered, “As a matter of fact, she has.  I’d take her on walks through the residential areas of town; and the two of us, on occasion, would have the chance to see horses and ponies in various fields and stables.”

As I remember, it was Rarity who asked, “And, how did she behave around them?”

I turned to the white unicorn and answered, “Well, the first time she met one, she just galloped up to him, bounced around, and repeated the word ‘hello’ as fast as she could; which scared that pony away.  I had to explain to her that ponies in my world, in this world, are different from Equestrian ponies; and she needed to approach them differently from the ones in Equestria.  After that, she calmed down; and she’s learned to curb her enthusiasm around ponies native to this Earth.”

I seem to remember, at that point, Rainbow Dash holding her front hooves out to me and asking, “Why couldn’t I have had you as my human?”

I turned to her and said, “Without a record of the experiences of you with your human, I would’ve had less of an idea of how to raise Pinkie Pie.  Your human's experiences were rarely an example of how I should treat Pinkie Pie, and more often examples of how I should not treat her.  But, they were helpful to me.”

Rainbow Dash glared at me and asked, “So, when Pinkie Pie was sick, you never fed her chicken soup?”

I answered, “Of course not!  She’s a herbivore!  I’d never feed her meat!”

Rainbow Dash seemed taken aback as she asked, “So, what did you feed her?”

I took a moment to calm down before answering, “Oatmeal and apples.”

Rainbow Dash looked down at the ground in front of her and said, “Now I’m really jealous.”

At that point, I decided to take action.  I moved off of the couch, sat in front of the blue pegasa, legs crossed under me, and started stroking her mane as I said, “It’s true that I treated Pinkie Pie very differently from how your human treated you.  And, I’m sure that as your other friends here meet their own humans in this world, their humans will treat them differently as well.”

Rainbow Dash continued to look at the ground in front of her, and I’m sure I saw tears leaking from the eye of hers that I could see.

I continued, “You had many tests of your element of loyalty with your human, and Pinkie Pie had many tests of her element of laughter with me.  Now, assuming your other friends get and take the opportunity to meet their own humans, I’m sure they’ll have many tests of their own elements.  Rarity will have her generosity tested with her human, and Applejack will have her honesty tested with her human.  Fluttershy will have her kindness tested with her human, and Twilight Sparkle will have her magic tested with her human.”

Whether it was intended as a distraction from seeing Rainbow Dash silently crying, or just a question of satisfy her curiosity, I can’t say for sure.  All I know is that I heard Applejack ask, “Now, wait a minute.  What kind of human do you s’pose Ah’ll git that could test my element?”

I looked at her and answered, “Knowing humans as well as I do, if I were to guess, I’d say your human would most likely be a politician.”

Then, Fluttershy asked, “And, what about me?  What kind of human do you think I’d get?”

I turned to the yellow pegasa, who was still behind Rainbow Dash, and answered, “I’d imagine the kind of human that’d be the best test of your element would be someone with a mental illness of some kind, one that acts out violently.”

At this point, I remember Celestia saying, “The more I hear about this, the less I like it.  I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a good idea to let anypony else find their human.”

Then, Rarity nervously asked, “A-and, what about m-me?”

At this point, I couldn’t help grinning as I answered, “Who knows?  Maybe you’ll end up with a soldier as your human.  Then, you’ll be able to tell your future offspring that their mother wore army boots.”  I stopped grinning in a few seconds when I realized that none of the ponies seemed to understand my joke.  Or, if any of them did, they didn't think it was funny.

In fact, Rarity seemed to take offense to what I’d said.  Considering her reaction, maybe the white unicorn did understand, and just didn't find it funny.

Before I could tell Rarity that I was sorry, Twilight asked, “And, what kind of human do you think I'd get?”

I think Twilight’s question frightened Celestia most of all.

I returned to sitting on the couch as I answered, “Yours is probably the most difficult question to answer for sure.  You could end up with a chemist, a magician, an atheist, or a hillbilly.  For all i know, you could even end up with a human that believes in Islam.”  At this point, I looked around the room at each of the element bearers and said, “Any one of you could end up with a human that could be a threat to your life, or your greatest defender.  Humans are frequently their own worst enemies, but they can also be their own best friends.  If you can show your humans their greatest strengths, and how to use them to the greatest benefit, then you can be their greatest allies.”

It was then that the door to the living room opened, and Pinkie Pie strolled in, followed by her sister Maud.

When the gray earth mare was clear of the door, I said, “Pinkie, if you haven’t already done so, you should get the things you want to take with you back to Equestria.”  You know, even now, looking back on the experience, considering how I was feeling at the time, I’m still surprised at how calm I sounded, at least to myself.  I watched Pinkie Pie turn around and head out the door, and head for her room to gather the things she wanted to take with her.

Between the time Pinkie left the living room again and the time she returned, about all I can remember being said was about it being time for her to return to Equestria.  And, based on the almost emotionless tone, I’m sure it came from Maud.

When Pinkie came back to the living room, she had, among other things, a few of her board and video games, and a copy of the Book of Mormon.  And, when she saw me sitting on the couch, she approached me and, nodding, said, “I guess this means it’s time for us to say goodbye, then.”  Then, as she jumped up on the couch next to me and settled down into a canine-style sitting position, except for her breathing, she stopped moving, as though she’d turned into a statue.  In fact, she sat like that for at least a minute.  Finally, she turned to me and said, “Mormon, I’m having trouble getting Diane to take command.  I need your help.”

Considering how aloof Diane had been this past month, I wasn't surprised; although, I was still wondering why she was behaving that way.  I nodded to PInkamena, then got up off of the couch and knelt on one knee in front of the pink party pony, looking into her eyes, my nose, I’m sure, just a few inches from that of Pinkie.  In that position, I stroked her left cheek with the back of my right hand and said, “Diane, come on out.  Please come out, Diane.  It’s time for us to say goodbye now.”  I waited to see if she’d respond.  When she didn’t, I continued, “Whether you talk to us this last time or not, you will be returning to Equestria with your sister, the princesses and the other element bearers.  But, your human siblings, your human mother and I would like to talk to you now, if for no other reason than just to say goodbye.”

At this point, Pinkie’s mane and tail straightened out; and her mane fell to one side of her head.  While I was happy to see that Diane was finally in control, I was also surprised to see the expression on her face when she was finally in control of Pinkie.  I’m used to seeing Diane with little or no expression on her face, and in general monotone, just like what I'd seen of Maud, including that last evening.  I’m also used to seeing Pinkamena showing a lot of emotion.  But, this is the first time I saw Diane really emote, in this case a mixture of sadness and terror; and, as I continued to stroke her face, I could feel her trembling.

I moved a short distance away from her, then asked, “Diane, are you alright?”

Aside from vibrating and leaking tears from her eyes, Diane gave no response.

I decided to move toward her again and give her a hug.

If Diane emoting fear and sadness wasn’t surprising enough to me, then, when I wrapped my arms around her, she started bawling.

For all I know, the other ponies in the room, aside from Rainbow Dash and Maud, might’ve been thinking that Pinkie Pie was being overly dramatic.  I can imagine Rarity probably thought that.

On the other hand, let me go on record that my theory is that Diane was probably not used to feeling emotion at all, much less the strong, profound emotions she was experiencing right then.  She and Pinkamena had spent the past ten years with me, and now she was going to leave, with her conjoined sister, and return to her first home.

When I tried to tell her that it was going to be alright, she pushed away from me and sobbed, “No, it will not be alright!  Don’t you understand what this means?  Pinkamena and I are leaving!  That means we’re dying!”

As I remember, it was Applejack that asked, “Wait, watcha mean, dyin’?  Pinkie, ya look jes fine.  How can ya be dyin’?”

I turned to the orange earth pony and said, “It’s alright.  I know what she means.”  I then turned back to Diane and said, “Yes, we are going to be separated.  But, who knows?  Maybe some day you’ll be able to come back and visit me.  You and Pinkamena.  Wouldn’t you like that?”

Diane continued to sob, but she nodded.

I continued, “I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again.  It’s been a great honor and pleasure raising and teaching you and your sister Pinkamena.  But, now it’s time for you two to go back to your home in Equestria.  Remember, the reason why the two of you came here was to find a way to help your friend Rainbow Dash.  Now, if nothing else, the three of you have one thing in common that you can share: both of you have spent at least a decade with a human.”

Diane stammered through her sobs, “B-but, R-rainbow Dash is, is r-right here.”

I added, “And, you’ll be going back to Equestria with her and the rest of your friends.  And, when you get there, you two can help each other readjust to life in Equestria, where you lived before you came here.  You and Pinkamena can share with Rainbow Dash stories of the experiences you had with me, and Rainbow Dash can share with you two stories of experiences she had with her human.  That on its own may help the three of you at least share each others burdens while you’re making the adjustments.”

It was approximately then that the thought occurred to me, and I added, “And, there’s one more thing.  Pinkamena is going to need you just as much as you’ll need her.  Remember, you share the same body, and you two can’t be separated and survive.  You’ve made that a strength before, an advantage; and I want you to continue to make it an advantage.  Keep being Pinkamena’s best friend, so she can keep being yours.  Do you understand?”

By the time I finished talking, Diane hadn’t completely stopped trembling; but she wasn’t vibrating nearly as much as she had before.  Still, she just nodded as she collapsed on my shoulder and sobbed a bit more, then rose again and said, “Yes, I understand.”

I hugged her a bit more, then set her back up on the couch before saying, “Now, your human brother, sister, and mother want to say goodbye to you as well.”  And, as I moved to one side, where I knew Russel, Ariela, and Sansana could reach her, they, in that order, approached and hugged her; and the situation was equally poignant for each of them.

Then, when Sansana backed away from the straight-haired, pink alicorn, Diane said, “I’ll let P-pinkamena h-have control again.”  And, with that, Pinkie’s hair once again curled, showing that Pinkamena had taken control again.

The curly-haired pink alicorn then said, “Oh, Diane.”  Then, she looked past me and asked, “Maud, are you alright?”

It took me a second or so to turn from Pinkie to Maud, during which time I heard, from the gray earth mare, a loud sniffle and a badly-controlled sob.  When I did focus on her, she was clearly battling strong emotions of her own.  I’m still really not surprised that Diane’s emotional outburst had such an affect on Maud.  After all, the two share one trait in common: they demonstrate emotions differently from most Equestrian ponies, at least from Pinkamena.

As I watched the normally stoic earth mare battle her emotions to at least a standstill, I heard Pinkie say, “I know how Diane feels.  I feel the same way.  Now, Mommy, Russel, Ariela, you come and give me a hug.”

Funny, isn’t it, how I remembered her saying that?  Especially when I was so focused on Maud for a few minutes that nothing and no one else seemed to exist.  That is, until I felt a hoof-tap on my shoulder and heard Pinkie say, “Daddy, it’s your turn now.”

I turned to the pink party pony and hugged her as I said, “Now, you take care of Diane and your friends, alright?”  Although I’m sure I sounded like it, I can’t say for sure how well I was keeping my emotions in check.

All I know is, occupied as she was, Pinkamena only vocally Pinkie promised to follow my instructions.  And, she added, “I just want you to know that I am so thank you—uh, I mean, thankful to you, for the things you taught me.”  You may find it interesting that the more emotional sister seemed to have an easier time keeping her emotions in check than the more stoic one.

I stroked her mane with my closest hand and said, “That’s alright, I understand.  I’m also thank you for the things you taught me.”

I seem to remember Pinkie Pie chuckled a little before sobbing into my shoulder some more.

Now, it seems to me that only someone devoid of emotion, or someone disconnected from their emotions, would be unable to share what Pinkie and her twin sister had expressed and were expressing at that time.  I was never one of those; and, as long as I can help it, I never will be.

When we finally separated, Pinkie said, “Well, I guess that’s it then.  Tell grandma and grandpa that I’m glad I could be part of this family, and I hope we can come back some day.”

I promised I would, and helped Pinkie with the belongings she’d decided to take with her.  That is, I would have, except that Twilight and Rarity took full control of them with their magic.  At any rate, I lead the group of ponies and humans out of the living room, through the hallway, and out the front door.

From there, Princess Celestia took the lead to a position not far from the doorway to my house.  Then, when Pinkie Pie took a position between Rainbow Dash and Rarity, and Rarity and Twilight set Pinkie’s belongings down in front of her; I took a few steps back away from the group, then turned and went back to the doorway, waiting for Sansana, Russel, and Ariela to enter ahead of me.

Before I could head down the stairs behind Ariela, though, I heard Rainbow Dash ask, “Wait a minute, did Pinkie Pie’s human just say he was thank you?”  And, I’m sure it was the flash of light that indicated that they’d left after that.

I have to tell you, Rainbow Dash’s question stuck in my mind.  In fact, it stuck so well that I couldn’t help laughing about it.  And, I wasn’t the only one.  Russel, Ariela, and Sansana also laughed about Rainbow Dash’s question.  I remember we made it back into the living room, and we must’ve been laughing for hours before my parents came and knocked on the door.

Based on that conversation that I’d had with Pinkie that day after completing my second playthrough of the game, it’s clear to me that her and Rainbow Dash’s experiences, Pinkie with me and Rainbow Dash with her human, set the example for the other four, who each got to find and live with their own human, or thus I got from what Pinkie had told me.  And, my guess is that Twilight Sparkle was the last to go.  I have yet to hear of them getting the human I predicted they’d get, but they did each, according to Pinkie Pie, at least get their own human.

We did have to adjust to life without the pink party pony, she’d made quite the impact on our lives.  Without her, I wouldn’t have married, I wouldn’t have had my own children.  But, as much as I had to adjust to Pinkie Pie no longer being a part of my life, I did still have those episodes on DVD to remind me of the times I’d had with her.  And, those memories I made with her will be a part of me for the rest of my life, if not longer.  Thank you, Pinkie Pie, and thank you to the people who made the “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” cartoon series.

And, thanks to the head start Pinkie Pie gave me with the video game, all of her ideas and suggestions, it was only a day before I went back to work on the communication video game that’d allow me to talk with the pink party pony once again.  And, thanks to the time I spent with her, I was able to make, I think, an excellent simulation of her in the game, “Hey, Batter!”  And, according to Pinkie Pie, I need to work on the simulated versions of her friends.  But, my first expansion of the game is complete now; so, I’ll have to work on the personalities of her friends in the next expansion.  I wonder now, how many people out there would be interested in this game?
> Conclusion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

And so, this is my history with Pinkie Pie.  I don’t know if the video game project we started together will ever really be completed, but I do know I’ve enjoyed working on it, especially playing it now that I’ve gotten it ready for playing.  And, at the time I'm writing this conclusion, I have the first expansion pack for it complete; and I just need to run it so it can add the new missions into the game.  I still plan on taking notes on the game play, but I’ll only publish them if there’s a request or demand for it.

In the mean time, there’s one thing I’ve heard about that has me particularly excited: a new input/output device that can be used on the computer as well as on an entertainment system.  The company that’s making the device normally makes and sells video games and systems for those games.  From what I’ve heard about this new device, it’s something of a full-body suit, complete with a helmet with a viewing screen inside it; and the whole suit looks like some kind of futuristic armor that can be connected to a computer by wires.  Right now, the title that’s being suggested for it is “Haptic Boy.”

From what I’ve read about it, it’ll be connected first to something of a podium with belts to hold the gamer in place, and a base of pillars that will each hold a small metal sphere to help control friction while the device is running.  The pillars and spheres will provide a surface that’ll give the gamer the sense of walking over various terrains that he or she will see in the game.  According to the article, the armor connects to the podium, which in turn connects to a computer or entertainment system, by a type of USB cable.  If I understand haptic input devices correctly, there are likely to be areas in the armor that, when a collision is detected, will contract or otherwise cause pressure within the suit, very likely even stop movement, allowing a gamer to feel objects he or she may hold or otherwise touch in the game.

It’s an ambitious project, but one that, with our technology, I’m sure could be done.  And, it could be the first, if not next, step toward a Star Trek style holographic deck or suite.  I may just decide to get one of those Haptic Boys and try it out for myself, assuming that I’ll be able to afford it, and that they’ll stick with that label.  If it turns out that I’m correct in what I think it’ll be, I might just be able to adapt it to my game, which will allow me to take more complete control of my character.

At any rate, I’ve even started working on another expansion pack, which will adapt the third season of “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic” for my game.  But, in the mean time, I’ve given a label to this first expansion, based on the fact that I helped the video game Pinkie Pie earn her wings in the game that I won of “Hey, Batter!”.  And, I do plan on the expansion being part of successfully maneuvering Pinkie Pie away from destruction.  No point in making the expansion for the main target character if she hasn’t survived.  At any rate, based on the fact that I’ve already mentioned, and the label I chose for a pony with both earth and pegasus powers, I’ve labeled the pack “Angel of Mirth.”  And, just to let you know, just because I’ve given the expansion pack that label doesn’t mean it’ll only work if Diane earns her wings first.  If, in the game, Pinkamena earns her horn first, the missions in this first expansion will still work.  They’ll just adapt to a terra-corn Pinkie Pie.  But, at any rate, since I’ve just gotten started on the second expansion, I haven’t decided what I’ll call that one just yet.  I’m sure I’ll have a label for it by the time I’ve finished with my playthrough of the game expanded through the second season.

In the mean time, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, because I had a living model of the pink party pony to work with, I’ve given the video game version of her as much of her personality as I could.  And, as I’ve demonstrated before, there are evidently still some bugs to work out of it.  As I, and others, play through the game, especially with the new expansion, I’m sure those bugs will reveal themselves, or be revealed; and I’ll deal with each of those bugs in their turn.  In the mean time, I look forward to getting back to playing “Hey, Batter!” and, in that way at least, associating with Pinkie Pie again.

As I’ve said before, I’m not the only one that’s been playing the “Hey, Batter!” game.  As it turns out, when Russel and Ariela haven’t been at school or doing their homework, they’ve also been playing.  And, Sansana and I have been making sure they were finished with their homework before they started playing "Hey, Batter!".  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Pinkie Pie has been helping with that as well.

I don’t know if they’ve failed first and then succeeded as I have done, but I do know they’ve informed me that they’ve had fun playing.  If I’m correctly interpreting what they’ve said about their experiences, my guess is they’ve proceeded on the success course without going on the failure course first.  And, that leads me to wonder if they won’t have difficulties when they get to the dream sequence that’s part of the game before Pinkie Pie’s first transformation.  I might just have to write in my notes, or just instruct them, about how they can best help Pinkie Pie if they have, in fact, chosen the success course before or entirely without the failure course.

You know, with that in mind, I suppose the best thing to do would be to discuss the situation with Pinkie about her Cupcakes version, and how the wings, horns, and cutie marks with which she’s dressed have no life in them, and there’s just no way for Pinkie to really become exactly like that evil vision of herself.  I hope I planned for such a situation.  I guess I’ll just have to wait and find out.

Well, that’s all I can think to write about right now.  I hope you’ll join me when I begin the playthrough of the success game from where I left off, on the day of Pinkie Pie’s first transformation.