For Your Birthday
by Tinyweasels
"Thanks for helping me move all this stuff, Twilight," Pinkie Pie said, looking over the boxes Twilight levitated out of the attic and into her bedroom.
"You're welcome, Pinkie. What is all this?" Twilight asked. She looked from one box to the next, some filled with toys, others with old flattened balloons and party favors and one with what appeared to be old long stale baked goods.
"My childhood! I've saved loads of stuff and I brought it all with me when I moved here to Sugarcube Corner. Ooh, lookie!" She held up a rock from a box Twilight was levitating.
The box seemed to collapse under its own weight; rocks and papers and various items fell to the floor.
"That was the first pile of rocks I ever moved!" she said with delight, gathering them up and placing them in an orderly pile.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Pinkie, seriously, you saved a pile of rocks?"
"Of course, he's like an old friend!"
"He?" Twilight asked, both eyebrows going up.
A gold bit rolled across the floor over to Twilight and when it touched her hoof it fell over. She levitated it in the air and Pinkie Pie noticed Twilight looking at the coin, very perplexed.
"Pinkie, where did you get this coin?"
Pinkie walked over and looked at it. She smiled widely. "Granny Pie gave that to me when I was just an itty bitty Pie!"
Twilight's brow furrowed as she studied the coin, while Pinkie merrily bounded around the room, humming a tune while she dusted off her treasures to display them.
"What's wrong, Twilight?"
Twilight cleared her throat and assumed a scholarly tone. "I'm familiar with the magic the princess uses to prevent counterfeiting, and only someone of her power could ensure the validity of an entire nation's currency system. She has complete control over the looks of the coins to also ensure size and weight. Every coin in Equestria is exactly the same and has been for centuries—her profile on one side with her sun mark on the back. And believe me, I know the Equestrian monetary system. I did a research paper on the history of coinage back to the age of the barter system."
Pinkie Pie stopped her bounding and tilted her head, looking at the coin, trying to see what was so strange. "So?"
Twilight held the coin up. "This coin bears Celestia's royal consistency magic and no unicorn in the world could imitate it; so why does this coin show Luna on the front and Celestia weeping on the back? And look, under her are the words 'In Memory of Luna. Let her legacy in life be remembered rather than what she became at her death.' Pinkie Pie, there has never been a coin minted in Equestria that looked like this."
Pinkie sat down and gestured for Twilight to do the same. "Oooh, a funny story about that. Well, maybe not funny, but interesting and ultimately maybe actually kinda funny. A long, long, long time ago, in a place just like this—also called Ponyville—there was born a little filly named Pinkamena Diane Pie..."
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Every year the children of Equestria made a birthday card for Princess Celestia and Pinkie Pie was determined to make a super duper one. A pink blur ran through the Pie house, grabbing ribbons, candy, sparkles--anything she could think of to make the special card.
Pinkie Pie sat at the old oak table in the rustic farmhouse kitchen, staring at the clock on the wall as the minutes ticked by, she looked at the blank piece of paper and rolled her crayons along the table with her hoof, awaiting inspiration.
"What should I write in my card, Granny Pie?" Pinkie Pie asked, picking up a crayon and beginning to draw the princess. She tried several times, but each time there was something not quite right about image of Celestia. Then it dawned on her. In her pictures Celestia was smiling. As she thought about it, she couldn't ever remember seeing an image of the princess with a smile.
"Just wish the Princess a happy birthday," Granny Pie said, looking up from her baking.
"That's all? Will it make her happy? Princess Celestia's never seems to smile."
Granny Pie sighed as she made a rock cake. "That's because she can never forget Princess Luna,"
"Who's she?"
"She was the sister of Princess Celestia. They lived together a thousand years ago in a castle in the Everfree Forest."
"Was?"
Granny Pie reached into her shawl and produced a gold coin that she showed to Pinkie Pie. The pink pony's eyes sparkled with the coin's shine and followed it hypnotically.
"So what happened to her, Granny Pie?"
Granny Pie put her cake in the oven and leaned against the counter and smiled at her granddaughter. "About a thousand years ago, Luna ruled the night. She was jealous of Celestia's day and turned into the evil Nightmare Moon. Celestia tried to save her, but Luna was too far gone. Celestia had to destroy Luna to save the world. That's why all the little fillies and colts send her cards, to help make Celestia feel better."
Granny Pie wiped the tears from Pinkie Pie's eyes and then from her own.
"That's so sad, Granny Pie!" Pinkie Pie said. "Now I know why the princess is always sad."
"Yes, it's a terrible burden she bears, little one."
Pinkie looked down at her card, suddenly wishing it was ten times bigger. "And no one can make her feel better?"
"Nothing can take away her pain, child," Granny Pie said, sitting down next to her. "She will bear that burden the rest of her life and that will be a very, very long time."
She pressed the coin into Pinkie's hooves. "Keep that with you, little Pinkie Pie, so you always have something to remember Luna by."
"Thank you, Granny Pie!" Pinkie Pie said, hugging her grandmother tightly.
"You are welcome, dear. Now, its getting late. Time for little ponies to get to bed."
Granny Pie helped her get the girls tucked in, then Pinkie Pie snuggled down and clutched her plush Princess Celestia doll tightly as she watched the sun going down; she began giggling, recalling the no-fear song her grandmother had taught her.
Granny Pie sat on the edge of Pinkie's bed and ran a hoof over her granddaughter's puffy mane.
"I wish I could be brave like my sisters," Pinkie Pie said. "The night still scares me. Why can't I be more like them?"
"Well, dear, you're... different than the other fillies. You have a special gift, even more special than you or anyone else realizes. You bring joy to people's lives and lift their spirits."
Pinkie Pie looked up at her with eyes full of pleading. "But what good is that gift if there's nothing I can do to make the princess feel happy?"
Granny Pie smiled down and patted her worried head. "It's sweet of you to be so concerned about her, dear, but no one can help her. The events that caused all this happened long before we were born."
Pinkie Pie nodded and looked her stuffed Celestia in the eye. "I'll think of something, princess. I promise you'll be happy again." It was too easy to just make a regular promise, she really meant this. "Cross my heart. Hope to Fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye!" she said, then began humming the song her grandmother had taught her. She giggled as she drifted off to sleep.
Pinkie Pie always looked forward to her dreams—ever since she had gotten her cutie mark, her dreams had gone from fun to extraordinary. A giant party of all her dreamland friends welcomed her—Madame LaFlour, Rocky, Mr. Turnip and Sir Lints-a-lot, along with Pinkie Pies of all shapes and sizes from all over the universe.
The party guests could see right away she was troubled, but no amount of hugs or cake could lighten her mood.
"What's wrong?" the bucket of turnips asked.
"Well, Mr. Turnip, I want to do something special for the princess," Pinkie Pie said. "It's a sad day for her and I want to make her happy but Granny Pie told me nothing can make her happy."
"What can we do to help your princess?" Sir-Lints-a-lot said.
"Yes, surely there must be something we can do to help her!" Madam LaFlour shouted.
Pinkie Pie's voice became small and discouraged. "We can't do anything. She had to make her sister go away forever and she's sad about it, but it happened a long time ago.
"We must speak to the Big Brain!" Sir Lints-a-lot said sagely.
"Oooh, the Big Brain!" Pinkie Pie brightened up but then the frown returned. "She doesn't like to be disturbed though."
"Its for your princess, Pinkie!" Mr. Turnip exclaimed.
"Yes, you're right. For the princess! Come on, to the Big Brain!" she shouted, holding up her Celestia doll. All the other Pinkie Pies and her other friends marched forward; Madam LaFlour walked on her stubby corner knot legs; Mr. Turnip shook several turnips out of his bucket and hopped on top of them, using them as makeshift wheels; Sir Lints-a-lot hopped on Pinkie Pie's back; Rocky tried to move, but toppled over.
"I'll just wait here till you get back," Rocky said, gathering himself back into a pile.
Far, far away in the Land of Smarts was the home of Big Brain. High in the Mashed Potato mountains far West-East of the Land of Parties, across the bridge spanning the treacherous Fissure of Rolando, after many brave and heroic adventures, and after mistakenly visiting the Big Brian, they finally arrived,
"Yo, maybe someone could carry me?" Rocky said from the other side of the brain.
"We've come too far to turn back, Rocky, forgive me," Pinkie Pie said, looking back at the pile of rocks at the table.
"I just need a bucket like Mr. Turnip," Rocky muttered.
"Rocky, ve can't abandon our noble quest!" Madam LaFlour said indignantly.
"Well, back to teaching myself to juggle." he sighed and began tossing parts of himself in the air.
Hesitantly the group approached the giant foreboding iron doors that led to the Hall of Brainy Stuff. They pushed open the doors and were immediately met by two dangerous looking thoughts.
"Who goes there?" one thought demanded.
"Pinkie pie!"
"A likely story!" the thought said dismissively.
"Prove it!" the other thought demanded.
"How?"
"You should've thought of that before you came to see the Big Brain."
From out of nowhere Pinkie Pie produced a crayon and paper and began scribbling away. She showed what she had drawn to the thoughts.
"I really am Pinkie Pie, I promise! See, I drew a picture of myself as proof."
The thoughts looked at the crudely drawn pink pony with barely readable crayon cursive that said "Me" and a crooked arrow pointing to the pony.
The thoughts stepped away and conferred in whispers and then returned a minute later.
"Okay, your paperwork checks out," the thought said. "The Big Brain will see you now."
The group of now brave heroes entered the impressive Hall of Brainy Stuff. As they walked along the red carpet that ran the length of the room, they could hear classical music playing and could see on marble pedestals there were math equations and word problems, busts of historical figures, beakers and jars filled with bubbling liquids and most prominent was the life-size model of Pinkius Piecus.
As they approached the end of the hall, they saw the Big Brain hovering over a golden throne.
Pinkie Pie strode boldly forward, the others too awestruck to continue.
"Why have you come to the Big Brain?" the Big Brain said in a deep imposing echoing voice, which was really Pinkie Pie's voice trying to sound deep and imposing and echo-like.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, Big Brain, but I need your help."
"What is your question?"
"Princess Celestia is sad," Pinkie Pie said, holding up her doll for emphasis. "The princess lost her sister a long time ago and she's really, really sad about it. How can we make her happy again?"
The Big Brain began to process this deep and complex issue. "This requires all my faculties. Thoughts, bring my raiment," Big Brain commanded and thoughts quickly put a giant pair of trousers and a hat on the brain.
Pinkie Pie struggled valiantly against the urge to laugh.
"What?" Big Brain demanded with irritation. "Sometimes I need my smarty pants and thinking cap!"
After a minute, the Big Brain spoke again. "You have two options: Bake her some cupcakes or travel back in time and change the past."
Pinkie Pie and the others gasped in awe at the brilliance of the Big Brain.
"Hmm, Granny Pie hasn't taught me to bake cupcakes yet," Pinkie Pie said. "So I'd better travel back in time. That sounds safer; Mom doesn't like it when I try to cook."
"Good," the Big Brain said. "Got your crayons? I'll show you how to build a time machine."
The Big Brain explained in great detail the particulars of building said time machine, the plans so complex it took almost the whole side of the sheet of paper.
Pinkie Pie looked over her time machine schematic then rolled it up and put it in the same magical place where she kept her paper and crayons. "Thank you, Big Brain! You're the best Big Brain I ever met!" She rushed forward and hugged the brain.
"You are welcome, Pinkie Pie. Good luck on your journey. Until we meet again," Big Brain said fondly and returned to her meditations.
"Now we can give the princess the best birthday ever!"