Celestia gently tilted the teapot, a waterfall pouring out of the spout. It landed in the white teacup, nearly filling it to the brim. Steam danced away from the tea, flying away to join the clouds and make friends. I tapped my chin with my hoofsie. Something was missing.

“Is something missing, Pinkie?”

I added ‘mind reading’ to my mental list of ‘Things Princess Celestia can do because she’s Princess Celestia’. I also added it to my paper list, which I stuffed in my mane once I was done with it. “Sugar!” I announced. “Do you have any sugar?”

Celestia smiled. “Of course.” She levitated a small packet of sugar cubes. Not the business, or the ponies Applejack likes, but the cube. “How many would you like?”

Hm. A tricky question. Too much sugar and you were basically giving yourself some sort of condition. At least that’s what Twilight said. But too little and you were basically drinking weaksauce. “Three,” I said, after a little bit of thinking time. “‘Cause three’s a magic number.”

“And seven is a lucky one, so they say,” Celestia said. Three sugar cubes divebombed their way into the teacup swimming pool, making little splashes.

“Thanks!” I cheerfully chirped, blowing on the tea before taking a sip. My body instantly felt renewed, reenerigzed and re-heated. And the taste of sugar on my tongue made my tastebuds go wild. It’s a shame, but I really don’t appreciate tea as much as I should. Maybe I should try it more. Maybe I should brew all sorts of exciting teas! And then I could have a Tea Tea Party!

“No, thank you for accepting my invitation, Pinkie,” Celestia replied, that smile still on her face. A pony’s smile said many things about them. Celestia’s was mysterious, though. A nice smile, one of the warmest I’ve ever seen, but it was hard to read.

“How could I not accept? You’re my friend—of course I’d come and drink tea with you!” I scratched my cheek and looked around. Celestia’s bedroom was really homey, like it had been this way for years. Both of us were sat on her bed, which really was nothing more than a soft mattress on the floor, with a big golden pillow at one end. Next to us, a fire was roaring, but quietly as to not interrupt the peace. It sparkled and crackled but was shackled in the hearth.

I had another question, so I asked away. “Why couldn’t my other friends come with me?”

“You recall our last meeting in Ponyville?” I nodded. How could I forget? I never forget anything about my friends. “I seem to remember you stealing my cupcake.”

“Just acting as a royal taste tester, your Highness,” I said sternly, giving her a firm salute. I held that for about two seconds. Then I just burst into a fit of giggles. Me eating her cupcake was just a silly joke. Since she wasn’t wearing a frowny face, I knew she had understood. “But yeah, I remember. The party was great, even if you left early, but then I got to see Philomena being awesome!”

Phoenixes are beautiful creatures, until they got old; then they just look funny! It’s okay though, ‘cause they always get reborn. I thought Philomena was the perfect friend for Celestia, since they must have both been really really old, but both didn’t have wrinkles of any sort. I wonder what cream they use…

“Yes, those were a rather interesting series of events.” Celestia smirked, then took a moment to sip her own tea. “Unfortunately, I don’t think I got much of an opportunity to get to know you and your friends, Pinkie. I decided that one on one occasions like this were the perfect chance to do so. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all!” I felt like having more tea, so I took a split second sip, then continued with, “I love being with my friends!”

“I am glad to hear that, I never would have thought otherwise.” She set down her cup, still smiling. “It is good to hear that you consider me a friend. Thank you.”

“No need to thank me, silly. You’re just so kind and friendly, how could I not be your friend?!” I blinked as soon as I said that. Something in Celestia’s smile must have changed, ‘cause I was beginning to read more into it. It was a beautiful smile. All of her was, inside and out. Although looking into her inside was a bit tricky… her smile was more of a poker smile. Genuine, yeah, but still hiding so many things.

I guess I’d find out those things later. Even if Celestia was my friend, I didn’t know a whole lot of things about her. Now was the time to start asking. “So, what does a Princess like you even do? Apart from raising the sun, which must be amazing.” Just imagine: every day, bringing light onto a new day, hearing the birds all start singing, which would of course make me wanna sing. Celestia really is a very lucky pony.

“I’m afraid it’s not very eventful.” I looked up at her with pleading eyes. Her typical day was something I wanted to know badly, ‘cause then I could plan surprises for her and all sorts of things. After a short pause, she went on to explain. I’ll spare you the details, since it was a looooooooooong explanation, but I paid attention to every bit of it, my ears twitching anticipation for her next sentence.

“... and then Luna raises the moon, while I go to bed,” she finished. I was exactly how I was when she started: ears perked, twitching, and my back straight. That seemed to have surprised her or something, but her eyes widened veeeery slightly for only a moment. I dunno why she was shocked. Maybe she thought I was gonna get bored or something? Silly Celestia. Everything my friends have to say is super important to me!

“Wow, that sounds like a super busy day! It’s not something I could do—I’m more into baking and throwing parties—but you can do all that stuff ‘cause you’re you!” Maybe she could all those royal things because she was so old; you gain more experience each time you level up. “How old are you anyways?”

It took her a lil’ while to answer that one, so I drank more tea while I waited. “Hm… funnily enough, I’ve forgotten.”

I immediately leapt off the floor and let out a huge gasp, hovering in the air. She had forgotten?! I zoomed right up to her face so our muzzles touched. “Does that mean you’ve forgotten your own birthday?! Please tell me you haven’t!”

Her horn glowed, while I got wrapped up in magic and got lowered to the ground. It felt tingly, but also warm and fuzzy. “I’m afraid so, Pinkie.”

I frowned a determined frowny frown. “Well this won’t do at all.” I pulled out my calendar and diary from my mane. The pink ones with the colorful balloons on them. The calendar had pictures of my friends for every month. “We gotta make a birthday date for you so I can plan your party every year!”

“Oh…” Celestia’s eyes trailed upward, her brow creased as she thought thinkingly. “I don’t see the harm in doing that. How about the Summer Solstice?” she asked, smiling. It had a mischievous edge to it, and looking at my calendar, I could see why.

“But that means you’re birthday will be on a different day each year!” I looked up at her. Her face hadn’t changed. I smirked and nudged her side. “Ooooh you wanna play it that way, huh? ‘Cause I’m totally down for that!” She chuckled, while I noted down the first birthday. For the others, I’d need future calendars.

“That sounds lovely, Pinkie. Thank you,” Celestia said.

“No problemo!” I chirped. Then another question popped into my head. I was getting a lot of them, but that was okay, since I was trying to learn as much as I could about my friend. “You’ve had birthdays before, right?” It just seemed a little odd to me how she could forget her own birthday! Okay, I did once, but that was because I was super busy focusing on Gummy! Plus, my friends had remembered for me.

Oh. Oh wow. Didn’t Celestia’s friends even remember her birthday? What about her sister? Just… that’s a lot to wrap my head around. How can anypony forget when a pony close to them was born?! That’s, like, the most important event of a pony’s life because it’s the first event of their life, and it always leads to more events!

“Hmm…” Celestia sipped her tea, thinking. “A very long time ago, yes. But as time went by, my responsibilities increased, and birthdays no longer seemed as important—”

“Hold everything, sister!” I did a front flip over the teacups, landing right in front of Celestia. She was a bit too tall for our eyes to be level, so I had to stretch my neck to pull that off. “Birthdays are the most important thing ever! Why don’t your friends even remember?!”

The corners of her mouth relaxed a little. Just a little, but enough for me to see that her smile had faded. I was beginning to get concerned, which was obviously showing, because Celestia put a gentle hoof on my shoulder. She wasn’t wearing her shoes either, so I could feel her skin, warm to the touch. I felt a weird kinda calmness in me that I’ve never felt before. I was still worried, but not as worried, if you get what I mean. Like… it felt okay to be worried.

Or maybe that was Celestia’s perfume. I’m not sure.

“I have friends, Pinkie,” she told me. I blinked. How did she do that?! She looked up, getting distant for some reason. “Many friends. But I could never tell them my birthday because I hadn’t remembered by the time I knew them.”

I wrapped my forelegs around her and squeezed. I had to hug her, I just had to. Hugs make everypony feel better. It’s even a scientific fact! Celestia didn’t seem upset, and that was good, but I’d be sad if I had many friends.

Then she hugged me back, and that felt really nice! Really warm, actually. Not the sweaty warm, the toasty warm. And not the toasty burnt warm either, but the toasty comfy warm.

“I’ll remember your birthday, always and always! Pinkie Promise.” Now it was certain that Celestia’s birthday would always be remembered! Even after I passed away, I’d make sure that her birthday date would be in my will, and remembered for all time.

The Pinkie Promise was more like a Pinkie Pact, ‘cause if I ever broke one, then I wouldn’t be Pinkie anymore, would I? I’d be a real Meanie instead. Luckily, that’d never happen.

“Thank you, Pinkie. That’s very kind of you.” Her wings wrapped around me. They felt very firm, but in a reassuring way. Like a rock. Yeah, Celestia has rock wings.

We could’ve hugged forever, but eventually we pulled away and I went back to my cup. I stared at her before taking a drink. She was smiling, her eyes bright and looking at me. She looked happy. Really really happy. So I started grinning too! Smiles: life’s good disease.

I think I was finally starting to understand her. Celestia was old. Super old. She makes Granny Smith look like a baby. And that meant she had loads of memories. But they’re just that: memories. Memories can be good or bad, but they’re a reminder of what you’ve lost. And if Celestia had a lot of memories…

But I felt a very strong presence when I hugged her. She could handle having a lot of memories, ‘cause she was still making new ones! She had lost, yeah, but every day she was gaining. And with her sister around, they can do that together!

My tongue touched my tea and flinched. It was cold all of a sudden and my tongue didn't like that one bit. I wretched, ‘cause cold tea is really ew-worthy. But seconds later, the cup warmed right up again. I smirked at my friend opposite me. She smirked right back.

I’ve always held Celestia up in high regard. Not because she’s older than Granny Pie, not because she can raise the sun every day, and not because she’s royalty.

She’s my friend.

Why complicate things, right?