Pinkie Pie just heard a big secret. Not the ordinary, run-of-the-mill, everyday type of secret, either, like Applejack’s preference of peach cobbler to apple pie or Mayor Mare’s debilitating dragon allergy. No, this was a juicy, ultra-important, weapons-grade secret! Two guards had told Pinkie the secret. Well, actually, that wasn’t exactly accurate. They had been conducting their rounds, quietly gossiping amongst themselves, and Pinkie eavesdropped in on their conversation. Then she heard it: “Princess Celestia is very ticklish behind her right foreleg.” For years Pinkie had carefully compiled the most ticklish areas of every mare and stallion in Equestria she met, but the most elusive tickle-spot of them all belonged to none other than Princess Celestia herself. After dozens of failed attempts of trying to secretly catalog Princess Celestia’s most ticklish spot through exceedingly subtle slight-of-hand and "accidental" brushing, Pinkie finally caught the big fish, the big kahuna, the tickle to end all tickles! This would be her seminal breakthrough in the world of tickleology, the sort of tickling that tickle experts would cite in their own magnum opuses and tickle historians would chronicle for decades to come. Naturally, Pinkie just had to pay Celestia a visit upon hearing that. After all, the information needed to be empirically verified before submitted to the annals of history. Otherwise it was just a rumor. Through an elaborate series of half-truths, posturing, and sheer insistence, Pinkie Pie managed to worm her way into getting an audience with the Princess, alone, in the throne room. “What brings you here today, Pinkie?” Celestia asked from her throne, an implacable wall of serene authority, just waiting to be knocked down. They stood at opposite ends of the room, the distance between Pinkie and Celestia too great for an outright tickle attack. Celestia would see it coming a mile away and swiftly parry. For Pinkie’s plan to succeed, she would have to get tactical. “Ah, Princess! I just came here today to tell you something ultra-super-special-amazing"—she continued adding enthusiastic adjectives while gradually bridging the gap between her and Celestia, a single bead of sweat dripping down her forehead—“spectacular-awesome-stunning—" The space between the two shrank and shrank as Pinkie Pie quoted every word for “cool” she remembered reading from Twilight’s thesaurus. “—astounding-dazzling-fabulous-magnificent-wondrous—" Celestia didn’t seem to notice, staring at the spectacle in puzzled bemusement. “—stupendous-astonishing-breathtaking—” she panted, falling to the floor in a wheezing exhaustion. She lay on her back, catching her breath. “Are you all right, Pinkie?” Celestia asked, rising from her throne to check on her. The moment Celestia strode towards her, Pinkie sprung her trap. “Gotcha!” Pinkie jolted from the floor with lightning precision to slip underneath Celestia’s torso, angle her hoof behind Celestia’s foreleg, and gently tickle. “Pinkie, what are you—!” Celestia couldn’t even finish the question before being swallowed by a torrent of giggles. “P-P-haha-P-Pinkie…” She lost her balance and tumbled gracefully to the floor. Pinkie took advantage of this to increase tickle intensity to maximum, tantalizing the undersides of both Celestia’s forelegs with her hooves with all her expert tickle gumption. No pony could resist the masterful precision of Pinkie’s perfected tickling technique. “I-I’m serious!” Celestia managed to gasp out between labored laughing. A small beam of sunlight shot out of her nose between the giggles. “S-stop! I can't control—” A rainbow flew out of her mouth. But Pinkie could not let up. Not after that display. Now it was Pinkie that couldn't stop laughing. Pinkie had gone beyond the point of tickle madness and submerged herself in tickle ecstasy, becoming a ceaseless tickle machine. “Stop now!” Celestia radiated a cascade of chromatic magical aura. "Never!" Pinkie retorted. Celestia's irises and pupils became lost in sea of pure magic energy, turning her eyes completely white. The normally stagnant air of the palace blasted gale force winds that shook the stained glass windows in their paneling, and the castle itself seemed to shake with the force of Celestia’s might. “Okay okay! I’ll stop!” Pinkie reluctantly stepped back after a moment to give Celestia some breathing room. But it was too late. The magical overload from Celestia surged throughout the room, ripping the roof from the throne chamber and engulfing the pair and all of Equestria in a beam of pure white energy that spanned for miles and extended into the heavens. And that’s how Pinkie Pie destroyed Equestria.