“Pinkie? Are you in there?” Twilight asked. After a few seconds of no answer, she knocked again on Pinkie’s bedroom door. “You’ve been in there since yesterday, and we’re kind of worried that you’re taking this harder than you should be. Can I come in?”

Twilight listened carefully for any noise coming from the other side of the door. Hearing nothing, she sighed and looked back at Fluttershy, who was biting her lower lip. Slowly, Twilight tried the door handle and found it unlocked. She paused briefly, handle halfway down, then took a breath, opened the door, and stepped inside. “Pinkie? I’m sorry, but we’re coming in. We—oh...”

Pinkie sat on her bed with her head hung low. She sniffed and looked up, her eyes puffy and red.

“Pinkie, yesterday—” Twilight shut her mouth and shook her head, rethinking her words. “Pinkie, you don’t have to do this to yourself. It wasn’t that big a deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Pinkie asked weakly. “Twilight, I broke a Pinkie Promise. Me!”

“Accidentally! And Fluttershy has already forgiven you. Haven’t you, Fluttershy?”

Twilight stepped aside to allow Fluttershy to follow her into the room. However, before Fluttershy could speak, Pinkie had dashed forward, pulled Fluttershy into a hug, and was blubbering another apology.

Fluttershy hesitantly raised a hoof, then patted Pinkie’s back. “There, there. It’s, um, it’s okay.”

“Oh, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said, drawing back. Her lips slowly rose into a quivering smile. “You’re being so brave, but I can see it in your eyes. The scars. The pain. The fear. And it’s all m-my f-f-f—” She broke down and pulled Fluttershy into a tighter hug.

Twilight rolled her eyes and used her magic to pull the two apart. “Alright, enough,” she said flatly. “It was a water balloon, Pinkie. A simple prank. Rainbow Dash thought it was hilarious that you were able to launch so many so accurately from a catapult, and she was the one that got hit by most of them. Fluttershy only got splashed a little.” Twilight held a hoof to her forehead and took a steadying breath before continuing. “I know you made a promise that pranking Fluttershy is off limits, but this was an accident and she forgave you.”

“I was dry after a few minutes,” Fluttershy added.

“Exactly,” Twilight said. “So, let’s all forget about the past and do something fun to cheer up. Okay?”

Pinkie gasped. “That’s it! Twilight, you’re a genius!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say suggesting we have fun really—“

“No, no, not that part,” Pinkie said. “All I need to do to fix this is go back to the past and stop myself from doing the prank.”

Twilight stomped her hoof. “Whoa, Pinkie, stop. I hope you’re not suggesting I cast that time travel spell on you, because I won’t. You know what trouble it can cause, and besides, it can’t actually change the past.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Twilight, I know. You told me the same thing last time, after your library burned down. That’s why I built my own time machine.”

“You built a—” Twilight blinked. “Wait, what? My library never burned down.”

“Exactly! Now, you girls wait here. I’ll have this fixed in a jiff.”

Twilight and Fluttershy watched Pinkie bounce out the door, then looked at each other.

“Well…” Fluttershy said. “She seems happier. Do you think we should follow her?”

“I…” Twilight sighed and sat down. “I say we give her a minute and then make sure she isn’t attaching clocks to a cardboard box.”

Fluttershy barely had time to sit down before the sound of hooves frantically running came from the hallway followed by Pinkie rushing into the room.

“Twilight? Fluttershy?” Pinkie said between pants. “Is it you?”

Twilight stood up. “Pinkie? What—“

Pinkie held up a hoof. “Hold on. Before you say anything, are the Cakes bakers, did we defeat Nightmare Moon, is Princess Celestia fat, is Rarity a unicorn, are the trees taking over, and, finally, did I accidentally splash Fluttershy in a prank gone wrong yesterday?”

“Uh… yes, yes, no, yes, I hope not, and yes.”

Pinkie held a hoof to her chest and let out a long sigh. “Then everything is back to normal. Twilight, you were right. If my adventure today has taught me anything, it’s that I shouldn’t get so worked up over a broken promise. Especially after I was already forgiven. Can we go have some fun now?”

Twilight and Fluttershy smiled.