Chapter 4: Remembering the Other Past

"So you're pregnant even though that other Pinkie never really existed?" Applejack asked, wanting to get some more details about the origins of the foal. If what Pinkie's told them so far is to be believed, the Pinkie Pie that had Applejack's cutie mark ended up marrying Big McIntosh, and just a few days before Twilight "fixed" everything, she got pregnant. This would mean that without a doubt, Big Mac was the father, this timeline or not. It would also mean that the foal would be an Apple, through and through, linking Pinkie Pie to the Apple family forever. How they were to explain to Big Mac, let alone Applebloom, seemed like an impossible task, but it had to be done.

"Well, technically, she did exist, I just pulled the two timelines together, and in the process Pinkie Pie became pregnant, despite having no memory of it," Twilight explained, but Pinkie had to correct her on one thing.

"I... um... remember doing it with him," Pinkie said sheepishly, getting some sharp looks from everypony before Rainbow burst out into a laughing fit. Rarity quickly pulled Rainbow aside and gave her a piece of her mind while the others just stared at Pinkie in disbelief. Twilight's face scrunched up as she tried to think of what to do now that she knew Pinkie had remembered way more than she ever let on. The original plan was to have her and Big Mac start to like each other again so the foal would have both of it's parents there for it, but Pinkie remembering makes things a lot more complicated than they needed to be.

"Pinkie, how much else do you remember from the other timeline?" Twilight asked, hoping to shed some light on the subject.

"Well..." Pinkie started as she began to look up at a random spot on the ceiling to help her remember everything, but Applejack quickly stepped in.

"Wait, wait, don't start Pinkie, I don't quite feel like being here for a long time," Applejack said, her eyes shifting to Pinkie's cutie mark, "And I'd like to know how you'd have gotten an apple cutie mark in the first place" Twilight had been giving Applejack an angry glare before she realized that she had a good point. How did Pinkie end up with a cutie mark exactly like Applejack's? Pinkie seemed to freeze for a moment before she smiled as if a light bulb had popped in over her head.

"Well, when I was a little filly..."

Pinkamena Diane Pie, the newest pony to move to Ponyville, was wandering through the middle of the town when she saw a large bakery that looked like a ginger bread house. Heading inside of the bakery Pinkie was greeted by a young orange colt who was wearing a small baker's hat.

"Hi, welcome to Sugar Cube Corner, what can I get you this fine day?" the colt asked, his voice cracking the tiniest bit. Pinkamena was taken aback by his overpowering personality and quickly slid passed him, ending up in the kitchen somehow. Inside she saw two old ponies, a stallion and a mare, working away on some baked goods. While she watched them Pinkamena was pulled away by the colt from before, an annoyed look on his face.

"Sorry miss, but no pony is allowed back there but me and my parents" the colt said, his voice sounding just like Pinkamena's fathers. He was always strict and serious, he rarely gave her a break from the work on the farm. The only reason Pinkamena was allowed to visit Ponyville was because she had slipped into a depression and wasn't doing anything at all, so Granny Pie suggested sending her here for a vacation. Now that the colt reminded her of her father Pinkamena wanted to leave the bakery immediately, so she did, and then made her way towards the hotel she was set to stay at. Making her way into the room she saw that it had everything she needed to fend for himself. A fully stocked kitchen and a full bed and bath.

Looking at the clock Pinkamena saw that it was almost two in the afternoon, and seeing the bakery made her want to bake herself some pie. Opening the fridge she found everything she would have needed, but the only kind of pie she could make was going to be apples, since the fridge had plenty of those. She didn't mind it, she liked eating apples, so the chance to make an apple pie for free was a pleasant for surprise. Getting all the materials together was easy, but waiting for it to cook was so boring! After what must have been a minute Pinkamena ran outside to play while the pie baked, accidentally running head first into a red colt that had been walking past.

"Oh, I'm so sorry mister, I didn't mean to run into you like that!" Pinkamena said quickly, her face turning a deep shade of red because of how embarrassed she was that she had run into somepony on her first day. When she looked at the colt's face she felt a weird, fuzzy, feeling in her stomach, but it was probably just her intuition trying to warn her. A moment later Pinkamena heard her kitchen timer go off, meaning she had to run upstairs. I could have sworn it was set to half an hour!, Pinkamena thought as she looked at the clock, seeing that it had been half an hour since she left.

"You okay ma'am, you were out for quite a while there..." the colt said as he tentatively poked his head through the door, his nostrils filling with the scent of a fresh apple pie, "Is that an apple pie?"

"Uh... yes!" Pinkamena said, worried about who was behind her until she realized it was the colt she had run into. Looking between him and the pie she began to think, and after a little bit of critical thinking Pinkamena decided to share the pie with him as an apology for running into his head. Cutting the pie in half she put both halves onto plates and offered him one of them.

"For me?" he asked, surprised that somepony would offer him pie after they smashed into each other's head. Pinkamena nodded quickly, hoping that he would take the apology pie and they could be friends while she was in town. He slowly reached out and took it, but then he headed outside, sitting down where him and Pinkamena had collided so he could eat it.

"How come you came out here?" Pinkamena asked curiously, not quite understanding what somepony would go outside to eat a fresh pie rather than sit down at a table. The colt couldn't say anything because his mouth was full, but his nod forwards showed Pinkie why. In front of him was a broken apple cart, which had been broken when it fell off of the colt's back.

"Mmmm, this is great!" the colt said as he swallowed his mouth full, his eyes suddenly darting to a small light that was emanating from Pinkamena's flank, "Look, you got your cutie mark!" Pinkamena quickly looked down to see three red apples on her flank, meaning that her special talent involved apples somehow. Looking over at the stallion she knew it was because he enjoyed her pie that she got it, so she felt obliged to thank him.

"Thanks for helping me get my cutie mark..." Pinkie trailed off, hoping to get a name out of the colt.

"Big McIntosh," the colt said as he stood up, offering a hoof to Pinkamena for her to shake, "Everyone calls me Big Mac for short"

"I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie," Pinkamena said, putting her hoof in his, "But you can call me... Pinkie!"

"Okay, Pinkie, it's a pleasure to meet you" Big Mac said as he smiled and sat back down, happy that he could eat a delicious apple pie with a new friend. Pinkamena, or as she was now called, Pinkie, felt the same way, so she plopped herself down next to Big Mac and the two of them finished their pie before he had to go home and explain to Granny Smith why the apple cart was broken...

"...and that was how me and Big Mac started to love each other!" Pinkie finished, a happy smile and a blush adorning her face. Everypony in the room except for her were utterly and completely lost. The way that her and Big Mac had supposedly met seemed too far fetched and insane that they didn't want to believe it, but it wasn't like they had anyone else they could ask about this but Pinkie.

"So you got your cutie mark by making an apple pie for my brother?" Applejack asked, wanting to get clarification on that bit.

"Yup" Pinkie answered honestly, still smiling as the happy memory continued to replay itself in her head.

"And that's what started your love for each other?" Rarity asked, finding it hard to believe that the two of them would fall in love over a simple apple pie that Pinkie made.

"Yup," Pinkie said before she started to think about it, "Well, I think it did, I never asked him..." Pinkie slowly looked down at the floor as he tried to remember if Big Mac had ever said why he loved her. While she thought about it the other girls shared a worried look, all of them afraid of what would happen if she remembered everything tonight. Would she turn back into Apple Pie? Would her mind shatter from the strain of remembering two lives? How would she be able to differentiate between her life, and the other?

"Pinkie, are you able to remember anything else?" Twilight asked, hoping that there wouldn't be an issue of it tonight. Pinkie's face scrunched up as she tried even harder to remember something else. After a little while she gave up and shrugged.

"I can't think of anything else right now" Pinkie said calmly, "Why?"

"We were just asking dear, nothing else" Rarity said, covering for Twilight as she knew that Twilight wanted to know everything that Pinkie did, hoping that it would help things make more sense. The girls all looked at each other for a short while before all of their eyes focused on Twilight, silently waiting for her to tell them what they should do next.

"Well, I guess we should all head home for the night, I think we all have a lot to think about..." Twilight said as she tried to wrap her mind around how Pinkie had such a vivid memory despite it not being the real thing. It was as if she had seen it recently, and Twilight, nor anypony else, understood how. As Twilight headed upstairs the girls started to leave, each of them heading to their respective homes for the night so each of them could think about what they were going to do now, except for Pinkie, she had far different plans for the night.

Arriving back at the bakery Pinkie was trapped by the scent of amazing treats that were sitting on the front counter. As she walked up to them she saw a small card with her name on it sitting in the middle of a bunch of brownies. For you Pinkie, love Mr and Mrs Cake, Pinkie read on the card, making a giant smile spread across her face. Within a few minutes the entire collection of treats were in Pinkie's stomach, causing her to feel sleepy from eating so much. As she started to feel extremely tired Pinkie made her way upstairs and climbed into her bed. In no time at all she was fast asleep, a dream already formulating itself in her mind.

"Are you ready?" Clyde asked as he came into the room that Pinkie was getting ready in.

"Just about, I'm just finishing up my hair" Pinkie replied, turning towards her father, "Are you ready father?" Clyde nodded with a smile on his face, happy to know that his odd daughter was going to get married. When she left for Ponville and never returned Clyde wasn't sure how to feel, but almost a year ago she sent him and his wife a letter, letting them know what happened to her. The entire family back on the rock farm was ecstatic about it, and within three months they got a letter saying that Pinkie and Big Mac needed them to come to Ponyville.

"Okay, I'm ready to go" Pinkie said cheerfully, a happy smile across her face as she moved towards the door. When they got outside Pinkie wrapped her hoof with her Clyde's as they trotted towards town hall. The closer they got to town hall the more they could hear orchestral music, sounding like a wedding march. As Pinkie and Clyde got to the hall they heard a loud cheer from everypony in town. Opening the doors to the hall the two of them were met by a large gathering of Earth ponies, all of them being either Apples, or Pies.

Just ahead of the two of them Applebloom and Sweetie Belle happily bounced along, dropping flowers down to line the path. At the other end of the path stood Big Mac, who was wearing his father's old suit. As Pinkie and her father trotted towards him the room got quiet, the only sound being the wedding march coming from the organ in the back of the room. When Pinkie got to the altar she heard the mayor begin to speak...

"Ah!" Pinkie gasped as she woke up, a cold sweat running down her body. Looking around she saw that she was in her room at Sugar Cube Corner, and not in the town hall standing in front of everypony in the town. Once her heart slowed down and the cold sweat went away Pinkie laid back down, hoping to get back to sleep.