With a light step, Princess Celestia strode into Sugarcube Corner and made her way past the showroom and kitchen and on to the living area, careful to keep her gaze away from all of the beautifully frosted confections. She could hear a door close softly upstairs, and seconds later, Pumpkin and Pound appeared at the top of the staircase, engaged in hushed conversation. They had gotten halfway down before they noticed her, went rigid, and attempted to bow on the uneven footing.

“Rise, my little ponies,” Celestia said and beckoned them down.

“Princess,” Pound and Pumpkin both murmured through forced smiles as they kept their eyes rooted to the floor and came the rest of the way downstairs.

“How is she?” asked Luna as she joined her sister in the hallway and held up her hoof to forestall yet another bow.

Pound’s ears drooped. “Not well.” When he finally looked up, he cocked his head at Celestia’s smile.

“Then I think we have come just in time. Is she awake?”

Pumpkin nodded, stood aside, and extended a hoof toward the stairs, and the princesses trotted up to Pinkie’s door. Knocking softly but getting no answer, Celestia swung the door open.

Bundled under several blankets, Pinkie lay with a sweet smile on her face, her chest rising and falling in steady rhythm. Celestia continued into the room, around the bed, and sat down beside it, Luna taking the other side. After gazing down at her peaceful expression for a moment, Celestia brushed a hoof across Pinkie’s cheek. “How are you feeling?”

Pinkie didn’t open her eyes, but she did laugh. And not anything polite or forced—her shoulders bobbed as she gave a warm smile with a thousand private jokes tucked behind it. But just as quickly, it faded, and she winced, holding a hoof to her side. “In the pink, as usual! Hehe!” Pinkie finally opened her eyes at the sound of chuckling next to her, then gaped when she saw Princess Luna as well.

“Have you seen everypony you wished to see, Pinkie?” Celestia asked as she stroked Pinkie’s gray-streaked mane.

Pinkie drew her eyebrows together and shook her head. “Not yet. But... I can’t, really.”

A tinkling wind chime of laughter escaped Celestia lips. “All in good time, Pinkie. I think you’ll rather like what we have planned for you.”

“Ooh, a surprise?” Pinkie’s ears pricked forward. “I love surprises!”

“Well, only good surprises, I’d hope,” Luna replied with a raised eyebrow.

“I always think they will be. You have to have faith. The best is yet to come, right?” Her eyes closing again, Pinkie let an enormous grin wash across her face.

Luna chuckled, picking at a few out-of-place strands of Pinkie’s mane and smoothing them back down. “If you’re ready, then...”

Pinkie nodded as Celestia lay down beside the bed, and a soft glow from Luna’s horn grew to envelop all three of them. Celestia’s eyelids instantly sagged, and she let her head sink to the mattress. As the blackness overtook her vision, she could see Luna holding a hoof over Pinkie’s eyes and whispering something in her ear. The last thing she sensed was Pumpkin’s voice from downstairs: “Could I get either of you...?”

---

When Celestia opened her eyes again, she was standing by herself in a grassy field with a stream running through it. A gentle breeze swept across the meadow and rippled the scattered wildflowers, the butterflies resettling on a different bloom with each gust. Swirling in eddies as it babbled among the rocks, the water laughed on its way to whatever faraway destination awaited it. It actually laughed.

Celestia rolled her eyes upward and chortled along with it, spreading her wings to soak up the warm late-spring sun and shaking them out. She knelt in the grass and stretched her head back to each wing in turn, smoothing her feathers back, running her lips over them to dislodge any debris, and plucking any that were badly askew. Giving her wings one last rustle, Celestia then folded them back against her sides and breathed in the glade’s earthy scent. That was enough indulgence. The brook was laughing for a reason, after all.

Celestia took off at a gallop, following the stream’s course through the field, into the forest, and on until it grew to a roaring laughter as it spilled off a cliff face to the pool far below. She launched from the precipice and snapped her wings out, gliding in circles down to the bottom of the waterfall, where Pinkie, every wrinkle and trace of gray erased, frolicked in the water with Gummi.

Splashing to a landing next to the alligator, who was trying to snap at the leaping rainbow trout, Celestia pounced on a pink salmon and clutched it between her hooves. “This one is more your color, I think,” Celestia said as she tossed the fish to Pinkie. She juggled it in her forelegs as it wriggled about, and she finally fell backwards, cackling, into the water.

“Sister!” Luna shouted. “I was afraid that we would have to come looking for you.”

“I found my own way. I just had to follow the sound, really.” Celestia cast a glance back toward Pinkie, who was bouncing through the water like a giant frog.

With her last leap, Pinkie landed right on Gummi’s back and wrapped him in a hug. “It’s soooooo good to see you again!” He slipped out of her grasp, scrambled onto her back, and clamped his jaws onto her mane, squeezing out all the water and making it run down her face.

“Here, chew on this,” Pinkie said, pulling a balloon from her cutie mark and puffing it up as big as her head. Gummi immediately latched onto it and went floating around as Pinkie chased, headbutting it to keep him airborne. Trotting along with her, Celestia swatted it back with a wing whenever Gummi got out of Pinkie’s reach.

Luna lay down by the stream bank and watched, her eyes sparkling. Finally, one of Gummi’s bounces carried him farther than Celestia or Pinkie could follow in time, and he rolled over beside Luna.

Pinkie ran up to her, giggling in spurts while she caught her breath. Bouncing in place, she beamed at Luna. “Thank you! This means a lot. Do you do this for everypony?”

“Not all,” Luna answered, shaking her head. “That would be impossible. But for as many as we can, yes.” Once Celestia had joined them, Luna wrapped a wing around each, covering their eyes.

“So soon?” Celestia asked, her mouth bent into a frown.

“We already had quite a bit of fun before you arrived,” Luna answered, a playful glint in her eye. “It’s not our fault you were late to the party.”

“Time to go back?” Pinkie asked through her sigh.

“We are not finished. As you said, dear Pinkie, the best is yet to come.” Luna bent her head down and whispered into Pinkie’s ear once more.

---

Celestia stood on the straw-covered floor of a barn. Bunting hung on all the walls, streamers swooped down from the rafters, clusters of balloons bobbed from any convenient anchoring point, and a giant four-tier cake sat on a table in the center of the room. Overhead, the hayloft doors had been flung wide open, letting bright sunlight flood the normally dark interior. Celestia couldn’t help but smile. Her sister had such a knack for scenery, but that was no surprise—certainly a barn was nothing compared with millions of pinpricks of light.

“Turn around,” Luna said as she tapped a gaping Pinkie on the shoulder.

Pinkie turned toward the open doorway to see a party cannon, fully loaded, primed, and ready to go. “Hehe!” she shouted as she pounced on it, sending a blast of confetti all over the room. When she faced Luna again, her parents stood there, marveling at the decorations. She immediately leaped at them and tackled them in a hug. “I’m so glad you could come! I didn’t get your RSVP, but it doesn’t matter. This’ll be the bestest, most funnest party you’ve ever seen!”

A loud scratching noise sounded over the loudspeaker as Celestia started up the phonograph and set the needle on the record. Soon, a lively polka tune was blaring throughout the barn.

“C’mon!” Sue said, breaking into a wide grin. Clyde turned toward her and gestured to the open area behind the cake. She smiled, nodded, and led him to the dance floor.

They stepped side-by-side with the beat, leaning into each other, then he twirled and spun her, sending her mane flowing out behind her. When the tempo picked up, their hooves flashed in complex sequence, stepping out a rapid pattern on the dusty floorboards. At the end, they both took a minute to catch their breath, then Clyde gave Sue a tight-lipped smile and kissed her on the cheek.

Pinkie clapped her hooves together and bounded out to join them for the next song. Wedging herself between them, she hooked a foreleg around each one’s shoulder and started a line dance. They shuffled back and forth, occasionally kicking out or separating to do a turn.

Pinkie’s grin grew the entire time, and it was enough for Celestia just to watch. But when that song too ended, she strode in from the entrance. “Pinkie, do not forget about the cake!”

“Oh oh oh! How could I?” Pinkie knocked herself on the head with a hoof. “Imagine that! Me! Forgetting cake,” she said through her giggling. She bounced over to the table, grabbed the knife in her teeth, and slashed madly.

Celestia winced, primarily to keep any of the flying frosting from hitting her in the face, but the prospect of Pinkie wielding cutlery was none too settling, either.

Five huge slabs of cake lay on individual plates, and Pinkie doled them out, finally eating her own piece in a single bite. She plopped down next to her parents as they ate, her mother pausing to ask, “So, how have you been, Pinkie?”

“Good.” She held a hoof up to her chin. “Let’s see—what wouldn’t you already know? Oh! Oh! I got married!”

Sue’s fork clattered down to her plate and her eyes shot wide open. “Really?”

“Yeah! To Orange Sherbet,” she answered, nodding vigorously. “He’s so sweet. Hehe! You’ve got two grandchildren! Puff Pastry runs a shop in Fillydelphia, and Lemon Meringue works at the bakery with me. He’s got a little one on the way, too. My first grandchild!” She’d saved her biggest smile yet for that revelation and couldn’t sit still.

“Oh! Do you have pictures?”

“Yeah! Right here—” Pinkie looked down at her sides and frowned. “Oh. I’m not wearing my saddlebags today. But it’s okay!” Her smile resumed as she giggled and waved a hoof. “I’ll show you next time I see you!”

As Clyde leaned around her, Sue put a hoof on her hip and attempted a glower at the lack of photographic evidence, but she couldn’t wipe her grin away. “Well, at least tell me about them!”

“Hm. I met Sherbet at a trade convention in Fillydelphia. I had the booth next to his, and he kept staring at me. On the last day, we were packing up, and he kept making lame come-ons, like how great ice cream and pie go together. Can you imagine?”

Sue snorted and shook her head. “Just the curse of being a gorgeous mare in the Pie family, dear.”

“Hehe! He was sooooo cute, and I just had to give him credit for trying. So I agreed on a date.” She rolled her eyes upward and sighed. “He’s a little on the shy side, but he’s really sweet. Pastry Puff is just like him. When she grew up, she moved near Sherbet’s side of the family to help with their business, and she runs the main shop there now. And Lemon Meringue is all Pie. Hehe! He’s a stubborn thing, but he’s an assistant manager at Sugarcube Corner. He’s got good business sense, but—” she leaned in toward her mother’s ear “—he’s a bit on the serious side.”

A hoof held up to stifle her laugh, Sue glanced back toward Clyde, but he showed no reaction, as usual.

“Of course, he married one of the Apples,” Pinkie added with a half-lidded stare. The flat line of her mouth soon broke into a grin, though. “He and Honeycrisp have a little one due in a couple of weeks.”

Tears danced in Sue’s eyes, and Pinkie leaned in for a hug. She glanced up at her father, too, but his expressionless face afforded only a brief nod. “Don’t mind him,” Sue replied, following Pinkie’s gaze. “He’s proud of you, and you know it.”

Leaning across her mother, Pinkie flung her hooves around Clyde’s neck. His eyes shot wide open, but he soon broke into a slight smile. “I love you too, Dad. I’m glad I got another chance to see you both. But don’t you fret! I’ll stop by again and talk to you later.”

Princess Luna set aside her half-eaten cake and walked up to Pinkie’s side. “Are you sure? Take all the time you need.” Pinkie closed her eyes and nodded. “Sister?”

“One moment,” Celestia replied through another mouthful, her eyes laughing for her otherwise-engaged mouth.

“That cake is not real, you know,” Luna said, an amused smile on her lips.

Rolling her eyes, Celestia levitated her plate over to the table and stood to join her sister. Luna once more hid their eyes with her wingtips and softly spoke into Pinkie’s ear.

---

Celestia found herself standing in Ponyville’s spa next to her sister. Pinkie was reclining in the hot tub with Rainbow Dash and Rarity, each engrossed in a book. In seconds, Aloe and Lotus had run up to the tub, dumped in a bowl full of dried herbs, and laid out robes and warm towels. When they noticed the princesses, they blushed and bowed.

“So sorry—we didn’t see you there, Princesses,” Aloe said through her grimace.

“Think nothing of it,” replied Celestia. “We are here for Pinkie Pie. But... a nice rub-down does sound good...”

The twins nodded and wrapped Celestia and Luna in robes before leading them to a pair of massage tables. Celestia climbed on and let her wings droop over the table’s edge, then pricked her ears toward Pinkie’s conversation.

“Whatcha reading there, Rarity?” Pinkie asked, leaning toward her.

“Oh, a divine murder mystery!” she answered, a hoof drawn to her chest. “A dashing young starlet about town discovers her beau poisoned, and she finds herself wrongfully accused.” As her smile grew, Rarity tossed her mane. “She must descend into the city’s seedy underbelly and cast her lot with some rather”—she flicked a hoof toward Pinkie—“unsavory characters. I’m getting close to where the perpetrator will be revealed, and our heroine can resume her rightful place in the limelight.”

Pinkie raised an eyebrow and rubbed a hoof at her chin. “Sounds, um... good?”

Her eyes sparkling, Rarity took a deep breath and gazed up at the skylight. “I don’t know what it is about this book that’s so... enticing, but it certainly speaks to me.” She grabbed an errant strand of mane with her magic and weaved it back into her curls. “There! How about you?”

“I’m reading a super-cool second-person adventure!” Pinkie chattered. “I’m up to the point where I break two eggs and stir them into the flour and baking powder. I wonder what I’ll do next?”

Rarity arched an eyebrow and stared back for a minute. “You do know that’s a cookbook, right?”

“Of course, silly filly!” Pinkie replied through her fit of giggles. “But I like it to be exciting. You have to make the little things fun, too. What do you think this will be when it’s done?” she asked, pointing at the page and gasping. “Oh! Maybe the next chapter will be about cinnamon!”

Her disbelieving stare finally cracking, Rarity shook with laughter. “I suppose that makes... some manner of sense, dear.”

Pinkie peered across the tub and through the steam. “Dashie?”

“Hm?” Rainbow turned her head toward Pinkie but kept her eyes on her book. Finally, she flipped the page and looked up at Pinkie.

“What’s your book? Another Daring Do adventure?”

“Heh. No.” Rainbow stuck her tongue out at Pinkie. “It’s a reference book about bath herbs. I was curious what they all do, as long as I agreed to be here. This blend is supposed to help relax you. I wonder if it’s working.”

Pinkie’s eyebrows scrunched together into one as as her eyes searched her friend over. “For real?”

“Duh.” Rainbow rolled her eyes and held her book up so Pinkie could see the cover. “Daring Do and the Tasmaneian Devil. Just came out yesterday. It’s awesome!” she shouted as she gave her wings a flap, sending a splash of water at Pinkie.

“Water fight!” Pinkie screamed, leaping across the tub and doing a belly flop that soaked both Rainbow and Rarity.

Her lower lip trembling as she patted a hoof at her waterlogged mane, Rarity let a sly smile creep across her face. “Oh, you are going to rue the day—” She charged her horn and sent a wave crashing over Rainbow and Pinkie, spilling over the tub’s edge, and catching Aloe, Lotus, and the princesses in the spray.

Rarity stood up on her hind legs, tried to figure out how to bow while in a tub, and raised a hoof to her gaping mouth. “I-I’m sorry, Princesses! I didn’t think—”

Celestia’s mouth wrinkled into the kind of grin usually reserved for foals that have misbehaved, but in the cutest possible fashion. She gave a dismissive wave. “No need for formalities, Rarity. We are not here in any official capacity. This is Pinkie Pie’s moment.”

Luna shook some of the wetness from her mane and opened her mouth to speak, but as Aloe dabbed some fragrant lotion onto her forelegs and began rubbing it in, the princess let her shoulders slump into the table’s softness, her eyes drooping shut.

A few moments later, Rarity’s eyes finally shrunk back to their normal size as she settled into the water again. “So, what do you want to talk about, Pinkie? There’s no reason we have to sit around reading.”

“Hm?” commented Rainbow without looking up.

Rarity directed a knowing grin at Rainbow and shook her head. “Princess Celestia is right, Pinkie. This is your moment.”

“Weeeeelllll... okay!” Pinkie splashed her way between them and locked them both in a hug.

Almost losing her grip on her book, Rainbow set it down on the ledge behind her. “Heh. Yeah... nice to see you too, Pinkie.”

“So, what would you like to talk about?” Rarity asked, smiling and cocking her head.

“I... I don’t know really. I hadn’t thought about it. I just want to be with you!” A small giggle bubbled up in her throat, and soon it had grown to full-blown laughing, infectious enough that Rainbow and Rarity couldn’t help joining in.

Wiping a tear from her eye, Rainbow was the first to regain her composure. “So, tell me about your day, Pinkie. What’d you do?”

“Well, I got to play with Gummi, then I had a party with my parents. It was odd.” The smile faded from her face as she stared out the window. “It was so I could say good-bye to them... but also hello. I mean—this is the last stop, right? I’m just going off with them, so we have all the time in the world to catch up,” Pinkie asked as she glanced over at Princess Celestia. “And I’ll see my parents and Gummi and everypony else anyway.”

Exchanging a smile with her sister, Celestia shook her head.

Pinkie frowned and let her ears droop. With a quick look toward her, Rarity said, “But Princess...”

“Remember, Pinkie,” Celestia said, breaking into a large grin, “the best is yet to come. That is always true. Whenever you are ready...” Pinkie hung her mouth open and looked back and forth between Rainbow and Rarity. “Oh, do not worry, Pinkie. We will return you to your friends. All in good time. But first, we have something special planned.”

“Even more special?” Pinkie asked as her eyes widened. “Super-extra-special?” She squealed and bounced out of the water, rushing to Celestia’s side.

“Yes, but do not let us rush you. Take your time. I think Luna is rather enjoying herself, so we are in no hurry.” Luna levitated the cucumber off one eye and raised her eyebrow, making Celestia chuckle.

“It’s okay!” Pinkie shouted as she danced around Celestia. “Where are we going? Huh? Huh?”

Luna stood, shrugged off her robe, and walked up to Pinkie’s side. “Somewhere from my memory,” she said, tapping a hoof on Pinkie’s nose before she reached her wingtips around Celestia’s and Pinkie’s faces again.

---

Celestia knelt on the edge of a rich, royal-purple carpet. Above her, Luna reclined on the throne. The grey stone walls receded into the shadows, and only a single torch near Celestia cut into the darkness; without any backlighting, the palatial stained glass windows shimmered faintly, black and glossy like oil in the flickering light. No guards stood at any of the posts. In fact, there were none of the usual noises echoing through the corridors and passages.

Pinkie stood just a few steps from Celestia. She drew a deep breath, rose to her hooves, and walked to Pinkie’s side, speaking quietly. “You see, Pinkie, the Elements of Harmony were originally the stones themselves. They contained all of the power and only required somepony with the knowledge and magical ability to activate them.” Briefly, Celestia glanced toward the throne behind her. “We were able to wield them together against Discord. But later, things changed. When we... When I...”

Swallowing against the lump in her throat, Celestia let her gaze drop to the floor, then wander off into the shadows. She blinked hard a few times and opened her mouth to speak again, but the words caught in her throat. Soft hoofsteps descended from the throne, and Luna appeared beside her.

“When I was foolish enough to force my sister into using the Elements against me,” she finished as she wrapped a wing over Celestia’s back.

Celestia’s eyes opened wide as she managed a timid smile and faced her sister. She returned the gesture with her own wing. “It was not your fault...”

Letting out a sigh, Luna closed her eyes and nuzzled Celestia before angling her head toward Pinkie, who sat stock-still. “Oh! I... apologize, Pinkie. This is supposed to be your day, and I do believe I promised you more than to be burdened with my own troubles.”

“Aw, that’s okay!” Pinkie chimed, tilting her head and grinning. “All that baddy-waddy-saddy stuff is looong gone!” she added as she joined in their hug.

Nodding, Celestia took another breath and continued. “After... Now, the Elements are ponies. The stones still exist, but they are merely focusing devices for the power that the Elements themselves possess. That you possess.”

Pinkie’s eyes sparkled as she beamed at the princesses. “Then... it’s not just giving my stone to somepony else. That means...”

“Yes, Pinkie. That power will go on. You will be the first pony to pass it down.” Celestia placed her hooves on Pinkie’s shoulders and looked her in the eye. “It is an exciting time!”

Pinkie held a hoof to her mouth and gasped, but her smile soon turned to a frown. “What about Rainbow Dash... and Rarity... Are their Elements...?”

Shaking her head, Celestia patted Pinkie on the head. “No, Pinkie. Rarity had passed before Luna and I devised this little ritual. And of course, we were not present when Rainbow Dash was taken from us unexpectedly.”

“Ohhhh! Yeah, I remember...” Pinkie pursed her lips and looked down at the carpet.

“So neither was afforded this opportunity,” Celestia continued as she raised Pinkie’s chin back up with a hoof, “but their Elements will still live on. The transition was just a little more... impersonal.”

“Impersonal?” Pinkie’s eyes danced and her ears pricked forward. “I-I get to do it m-myself?”

“Yes, Pinkie.” Celestia’s own smile grew along with Pinkie’s, and Luna’s wings squeezed them both a little tighter.

“This is so super-duper spectacular!” Pinkie shouted as she broke free and bounced in a circle around the princesses. “When can I start? When can I start?”

Finally relaxing her rigid posture, Celestia couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Right away, if you like.”

Pinkie nodded so hard that she almost fell over. “Where are we going? Where are we going?”

“Somewhere new. In many senses of the word,” Luna replied as she attempted to nuzzle a moving target.

After looking up at Luna expectantly for a moment, Pinkie squinted. “You’re not going to describe it to me this time? No hints?”

“No. You have never been anywhere quite like this. At least not that you would remember.” Luna smiled as her wings obscured their vision one last time. “And this place is real.”

---

Celestia blinked into the endless blackness around her. A soft light glowed nearby, but did little to penetrate the gloom; if not for its glint off Luna’s crown, she might not have been able to see her sister beside her at all. In the middle of the faint luminescence sat Pinkie, the wrinkle of her forehead increasing as she waited for something to happen. For just a moment, muffled voices could be heard, as if through cotton-stuffed ears.

“...Feel that kick?”

“...Not long...”

Quiet footsteps echoed from the shadows and grew steadily louder. Pinkie moved to shy away from the sound, but Celestia’s smile kept her in place. Finally, a perfect double of Pinkie Pie emerged into the light and sat directly in front of her, its eyes searching her face.

“She... looks just like me!” Pinkie said, her brow knit. She reached a hoof toward the new arrival but drew back as it continued staring at her.

“She has never seen a pony before,” Celestia explained, her smile growing by the minute. “You are the first, so it is not surprising that she would assume she should look like you. In time, she will learn. In time, she will learn a lot of things.”

Pinkie took a hesitant step forward, then wrapped her double in a hug. The copy squealed and cooed.

“She does not know laughter yet, either. She will need somepony to teach her.” Both princesses joined the two Pinkies, and Celestia bowed her head down to whisper in the new arrival’s ear.

“You are the new day, little one.”

“Day?” Luna asked, her mouth formed into a mock pout.

Celestia smirked. “Does the day not begin at midnight?” Turning back to Pinkie, she continued, “Pinkie, do you know how much we love you? You, and her, and every last one of you? You are all a part of us.”

Her eyes brimming with tears, Pinkie answered, “I’m starting to.” She hunched up her shoulders and closed her eyes. “It feels so... heavy. And light. At the same time. Like when I was just a silly filly and would lie on the rug in my room, in the sunbeam, during winter. So warm and still and just blending into the softness.”

Celestia stifled a laugh as she nodded. “Yes, Pinkie. I think you have it.”

Taking her double in her hooves, Pinkie picked her up and squeezed her a little tighter. “Now, you listen to Pinkie Pie. Where do I even start? There’s your basic giggle. Hehe! Then a snicker, a chuckle, a great big belly laugh... Oh yeah! And a guffaw! Those are fun! And chortling. How could I forget that? Oh, and then there are the advanced ones! Hybrids, like a snuffaw... double takes... Ooh! Ooh! Spit takes! And the whole milk-out-the-nose thing! Hehe!”

The double cocked her head and wrinkled her brow, a thin stream of drool running down her chin.

“We’ll get there, little laugher. But you’re right. We should start at the beginning.”

After exchanging warm glances, the princesses faced into the darkness. “Perhaps it is time to go,” Luna said.

“Not yet!” Pinkie shouted. “I didn’t get a chance to thank you yet.”

“Not at all, Pinkie,” Celestia replied, bowing her head. “In fact, thank you. This has worked out wonderfully.”

“I know, but you don’t know what this means to me.” Pinkie’s throat worked to keep up with her mind, and she finally let it all spill out. “I’ve always heard that ‘she who laughs last laughs best.’ But the best is yet to come. Don’t you see? There will never be a last laugh, and I get to make it happen! You gave me that. How can I ever repay you?”

Celestia glanced back over her shoulder, her own musical laughter echoing in the quiet. “Pinkie, you have brought more joy into the world than any pony I have ever known. You owe us nothing.”

As she wiped a few tears from her cheeks, Pinkie couldn’t help bouncing a few times, but she soon became still again. “After this—that’s it, isn’t it?” Celestia nodded. “What’s it like?”

Celestia faced Pinkie fully once more and grinned broadly. “Pinkie, it’s wonderful. The best is yet to come.”

Nodding sharply, Pinkie smiled, hesitated a moment, then asked one last question. “This isn’t good-bye... is it?”

“No, Pinkie. With my sister’s help, I visit.”

Turning her full attention back on her double, Pinkie set her down. “Okay now. We’ll work on the ‘why’ later, so first is the ‘how.’ Lesson number one. Repeat after me: ha!”

The copy merely stared back, open-mouthed, and drooled some more.

“Like this!” Pinkie reached a foreleg around her gave a little squeeze.

“Uh!” the double grunted as a little air was forced out of her lungs. Her eyes popped wide open. “Uh!” she repeated on her own, followed with a squeal.

Pinkie stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth and crossed her eyes. “Hehe! You’re getting it!”

Touching a wingtip to her sister, Celestia exchanged a knowing glance. They both walked silently into the darkness.

---

“...A cup of tea?” Pumpkin finished calling from downstairs.

Celestia jerked her head up and off the mattress, her eyes snapping open. Across the bed, Luna smiled and nodded back at her. Celestia slowly got to her hooves, then leaned over Pinkie and kissed her on the forehead. “We love you, Pinkie. But as I promised, this is not good-bye.”

Luna stood as well, and they both left the room and descended the staircase.

“But... you just arrived!” Pumpkin said as she glanced back down the hall toward an old clock.

“Yes, it must seem that way.” Celestia walked up to her and hugged her. “Is Lemon Meringue home?”

“No, he and Honeycrisp are at her checkup. It’s almost time for little Candy Apple to be due.” Her frown growing, Pumpkin fixed her gaze on the kitchen doorway, where Pound had poked his head out.

“Ah,” Celestia replied. “You two have an important duty. Make sure Candy Apple knows what a special mare her grandmother Pinkie was.”

“Is-is she...?”

Celestia shook her head. “Not yet. Keep her comfortable. But she will not wake again.”

A sob escaped Pumpkin’s lips, and the wooden spoon Pound had in his mouth clattered to the floor.

“Do not despair,” Celestia said, wrapping her wings around Pumpkin. “She is so very happy now. If only you could share her joy...” Her eyes sparkled as she focused on a horizon only she could see.

A warm glow enveloping her horn, Luna approached and touched it to Pumpkin’s forehead. Through her tears, Pumpkin giggled, in random spurts at first, but growing into a continuous peal that left her breathless. Holding a hoof to her chest to still her heart, she sank to her haunches, breaking contact with Luna.

When she had finally caught her breath, Pumpkin wiped the tears from her cheeks and faced Pound. “It’s alright. It’s alright.” She inhaled deeply once more and grinned. “It’s alright.”

---

Pausing in the hospital’s hallway, Celestia and Luna peered through the crack in the slightly ajar door, but all they could see was an empty chair against the wall and the wispy ends of a green tail trailing off the end of the bed. From inside, they heard soft cooing and the harsh rasp of a rattle.

“Do you like that, Candy? Huh?” asked a masculine voice. The coos turned to squeals in reply.

Then a mare’s voice: “She’s reaching for that ball, Lemon. Could you get it for her?”

“Hehehehe!”

“Honeycrisp! Did you hear that?”

“Oh, it’s probably just gas.”

“No, I gave her the ball, and I swear she giggled!”

Luna’s mouth gaped open, and Celestia smiled broadly. “You were right,” Celestia whispered. “I believe this will turn out beautifully.” Luna closed her eyes and nuzzled her sister.

A hollow, ringing sound echoed through the room as a ball bounced across the floor, followed almost immediately by hoofsteps. First one way and then the other, a pale-yellow stallion with a white mane crossed the narrow strip of the princesses’ view.

“Honeycrisp, watch this. I’m going to hold it up to her again.”

“Hehehehehehe!”

“See? She’s laughing! Only two days old, and she’s already laughing!”

“Perhaps we should come back later,” Luna said, angling her head down the corridor. Celestia watched for a few more seconds, then nodded.

“You might be right. She’s got your mother’s eyes, too. Are you gonna be a silly filly like your Granny Pinkie was? Huh? Yes you are! Yes you are!”

The sisters made their way down the hall, each with a wing over the other’s back.

---

Another eventful day. Her morning court session having just concluded, Celestia sat on her throne and awaited the chime that would indicated that lunch was being served. In the silence, she let her eyes wander toward one of the large stained glass windows.

The original six Element Bearers stood arrayed around a central magic burst, and she stared hard at them, her eyes going out of focus. Soon, the leaded lines between them blurred, sharp corners rounded, colors slowly shifted. Rainbow Dash and Rarity began to move, just perceptibly at first, then more rapidly, more fluidly. Approaching each other, they nuzzled, then turned to the magic radiance above them, which shattered into millions of shards. Each piece took on its own shape, a unique hue, an individual color, a distinctive voice as they swirled around the pair, casting their own light over Rainbow’s and Rarity’s smiling faces.

So many ponies. So much affection. If Celestia closed her eyes, she could feel it. She pricked her ears forward and tuned out all of the palace’s little indigenous noises. She could hear every one of those tiny voices if she listened hard enough. Finally, one sound drew her attention: a faint sigh at a great distance, as if echoing through a ravine.

Celestia opened her eyes again and watched Pinkie’s image slowly stretch and yawn. “Sister,” Celestia thought as loudly as she could. Seconds later, Luna teleported to Celestia’s side, followed her gaze up to the window, and gasped. One of the guards also looked up, shifting bored eyes toward what must appear to him to be the same unchanging scene this view had always afforded him.

Glass Pinkie stood up, glanced around, and galloped over to Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and the multitude of other ponies. Closing her eyes again, Celestia concentrated on finding that particular voice once more and smiled once she’d located it.

“It’s Candy Apple, Rainbow Dash! It’s my own granddaughter! And I got to teach her, Rarity. Oh, I have to tell you all about it!”