Pinkie statue

“I want to give this to you as a gift,” Homage said with a soft smile and a warm but insistent voice as she floated out the brightly pink statuette of a very familiar pony. I had never seen Pinkie Pie look so young and so alive. I half-expected the statuette to jump up, animated by the sheer energy in her expression, and start bouncing around the room. This, I realized, was the real Pinkie Pie… Twilight’s Pinkie Pie. In comparison, the mare I had seen in the memory seemed like a shadow.

“It was a gift given to me from the previous DJ Pon3, who got it from the one before him. I’m told it was given to the original DJ Pon3, Vinyl Scratch, by the Mare of the Ministry of Morale herself.” The figurine gave off such an aura of unbridled happiness that I couldn’t imagine anypony’s morale sagging around her. “It has served me well. And now, I want to give it to you.”

I looked at Homage, feeling a startled reluctance. I couldn’t! This was an heirloom! It was…

“I know what you’ve been through. And I know that she went through it too. You… you beat it. She didn’t. I want you to have this as a reminder; as something to look at any time you feel the urge to bite down on another Mint-al.”

I swallowed hard. And nodded solemnly, understanding the gravity of this gift. I reached out with my magic, wrapping the little Pinkie Pie in a telekinetic sheath, and immediately felt a jolt. Everything became clearer. My body became more alive. It was more than a little like biting into a Mint-al, but it tasted like candy apples and cupcake frosting. (“What did?” part of my mind insisted. It wasn’t like I had just put anything in my mouth.) Between the Twilight Statuette and Pinkie Pie, I felt almost like I was on Mint-Als without them. Only cleaner. Better. More… wholesome.

I turned the statuette around to read the base. It didn’t match the others. Of course it wouldn’t match the others.

“Awareness! It was under ‘E’!”