Shots for the Mare Without Meaning

by GigglesOCM

Rating: teen
Tags: Cheerilee, Slice of Life, Berry Punch, Sad, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Romance
Length: 8014

the struggles of a single mother out to keep from losing her daughter to ponies who feel she is an unfitting parent, but when foal services sends an agent to gather information, berry learns that not everypony is her enemy.

Berry Punch struggles with foal-services leaves Berry with some very simple choices, either get her act together or give up your foal for life, and when Berry finds herself in need of a job, she is going to have to stay off the sauce if she wants to keep providing for her darling Pinchy. However, foal-services doesn't end their pursuit in gaining custody of her child and sends an agent to gather information on her, only to find out she is a kind caring mother.
Now if only everypony else could see that...
on a side note; it's a drama story, there is no tag for that but that's what it is.

Published 2013-06-04 19:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-07-29 02:23:45 UTC

Ch1: Prologue

Chapter I- Prologue

It’s was a wonderful dawn to a beautiful day in New Fillydelphia when a healthy baby filly was born, Mr. and Mrs. Vines are proud and so they rejoice to their now complete family. After 6 years of trying, they have finally succeeded in giving birth to a healthy foal. To be absolutely honest, the new found parents expected a miscarriage, so this was truly a joyful occasion. They felt as though the clouds of Olympus themselves moved out of the way to shine heavenly light upon their ever so grim lives, and the light was a new born filly, and so they celebrated with wine from Mr. Grape Vines winery. “Only the best…” he declared and so continued, “…only the best for such a beautiful child of mine…” of course the child did not partake in any drinking except from her mother’s breasts.

As is Equestrian tradition, the foal must be named within one year if not on the foals first birthday. But right there the mother knew and named her filly Berry Vines. Later on, Berry started preschool. She began that year rather shy and withdrawn from the class, unsure how to interact with the other foals in the classroom, she would normally stand by the teacher’s side and tell when one of the other students hit or said bad things. Half way through the year, Berry was subjected to bullying; she had no friends and was alienated from a lot of the group activities by the other foals, she tried so hard to get along with the others, really she did, but the other students would taunt her and repeat things their parents had said about her father, whenever she tried saying something back she would always get in trouble with the teacher. Nearing the end of the school year, she was suspended for fighting with another student, only for 5 day though and when she returned a week later, she was teased with a hurtful and cruel nickname, “Berry Punch”, she never wanted to hurt anypony. Afterwards, Berry was home schooled until she turned 10, where Berry was sent to Fillydelphia high school. Around this time Berry’s mother, Green Vines began seeing doctors for her heart palpitations.

Because of all the bullying, Berry had become very unsure and timid with herself and her decisions and Berry’s mother became her only outlet for her feelings because her father, Grape Vines, was usually out at his winery running the business and providing for the family. The bond Berry shared with her mother is indescribable yet all too natural.

Berry was 13 when it happened, late December, she was excited for the hearth warming eve celebration going on later that night. She had come a long way since preschool. Berry had many new friends and received great education at fillydelphia high. of course though, there was no school on that day, the day of the pageant. In fact, Berry was out all day with her friends doing some hearth warming eve shopping, and Grape Vines was needed at the winery for celebration preparations, leaving Green alone in the house all day.

Berry had met up with her father in Fillydelphia central; in reality they were planning a surprise party for Green. Green’s condition was getting increasingly worse as the days progressed, and Berry couldn’t stand seeing her mother so unhappy, so Berry set out to make her mother as happy as Berry was having such a wonderful mother…

Ah, memories of ode, Green was a gentle and caring mother, gave twice as much as she received. When berry was younger, Green would trot past her room sometimes in the middle of the night to find her crying under her sheets, and like any mother she set out to comfort her child, singing her soothing lullabies and reading her stories like “Tara, the strong”, and “mare in the moon”, all great bed time stories, but Sometimes none of this would help, in that case she would hold her and let her cry until she fell asleep and then Green would fall asleep herself. “Sometimes you’re emotions need to be free, Don’t be afraid to show your feelings.” She would say to berry

…While Berry was relishing in sweet memories, Grape sent Berry to retrieve her mother; she gleefully complies and raced home for her…

Another time berry had gone to the Equestria Games with her mother and got terribly lost. Eventually a security pony found her and brought her back to her mother. When Green found her daughter, she broke down into tears, crying and kissing her and holding her close, she said to her “I’m never going to leave you ever again, not as long as the skies are blue!”

…Back to reality. Berry was home, sweet home. So excited, so very, very excited. Another memory plays back…

It was late in the afternoon, Berry looked dazzling in her dress, and she was all ready for her first dance, the winter ball. She sat in the living room waiting for her date. Her mother glances over and saw that she was nervous and walked towards her “what’s the matter my little Dionysus?” (Dionysus being a term of endearment for ‘fun loving’ and ‘joyful company’ for the ponies)

Berry told her that she was unsure of herself, what if her date didn’t like her dress or what if he stands her up, Green understands her worries and tells her “then it’s his loss. You’re a beautiful pony, whether you know it or not. And I can’t imagine any pony who wouldn’t want to take you to the winter ball.” “thanks, mom” berry hugs her mother tender wiping a tear from her eye, just then There is a knock at the door, “well, don’t keep him waiting dear.” teased Green.

…After snapping out of yet another wonderful thought from her past, Berry called out for her mother as she entered the house. The whole house was dark and lifeless in expression. Berry continued up the stairs and called out once more, before recalling another memory…

“mommy, I’m scared” Screams a small filly clenched to her mother “It’s alright, sweetie, watch… Wee!” Green began to swing the Ferris wheel cart back and forth slightly to show her that it was fun. Berry was not convinced and grappled onto her for protection. Green sees this and stops “It’s okay really, Berry. Mama’s got you.” Green holds Berry close “Nothing can hurt you when you’re with mama…”

Loud shrieks of terror fill the hallways of the household… the skies were awfully dark that day…

A decade later on one of Luna’s more dark and yet illuminating nights, late November, two earth pony mares staggers out of a bar after another night of drinking. The mare stand at 4’3”, an average height for a filly her age and weighs that of an average mare would as well. Her fur is pink with a tint of purple which appears as a dull purple in the dim moonlight, and her red-ish purple mane (which, just as her fur, appears darker) is messy and rather puffy as though she had just gotten out bed, her tail mimicking her mane with puffy cowlicks. Her nose is big and puffy, which indicates that she is a heavy drinker. Deeply blushing from the alcohol, she walks along, her dark purple eyes sort of cross as she hics and giggles, yet they shine from the moons barrowed light. Upon her flank is, of course, her cutiemark, a single strawberry nestled in front of a purple grape vine.

The other mare however, is of much more ominous proportions; she stands roughly a bit taller than Celestia herself. The mare’s mane and tail is big, poofy, messy, and it sort of reminds Berry of the pink earth pony from the bakery with the exception of her frontlock which leans forward and curves in a crescent shape unlike the baker’s, and her mane is a crystal clear blue that sparkles in the moonlight (and would seem to sparkle regardless of what light shines through her locks) as where her fur is a bright yellow with a slight, almost unnoticeable, orange hue and a couple of little pink freckles across her face. Her legs are long and sleek and from the back of each leg she has her hair grown out, each lock is long and flowing like a small bonfire as her orange hue becomes more noticeable the longer her fur gets.

Another thing that makes this mare stand out would be the glowing disk floating above her head, one can only think a odd fashion statement, but just as interesting is her cutie mark, or brand really, it’s a peculiar looking smiley, but considering what we know about this mare, it should be considered normal for her. The smiley face has two long horizontal oval for eyes kind of like a normal smiley face does, but what makes this smiley so different is the smile itself. Its smile pans across its face curving upward to give it that happy sensation literally stretched out ear to ear (given if it had ears) and has three jagged teeth symmetrically placed into the smilies wide open mouth.

Rather weird place for a brand like that, but, other than that… she’s normal.

The two stagger, intoxicated, across the street when the tall strange mare looks up into the night’s sky directly at the North Star, which is known to be the faintest star in the sky. almost unnoticeable, but sure enough there it is. As she stares at it, walking along with her shorter drunken companion, it starts to flicker in and out. She stops and takes the thick glowing ring from above her head and looks close at it like you would a stop watch that has no numbers on it, just those little tick mark things.

She looks up, then back down, and then up again, now the star is gone, it takes her a minute to notice. Soon she realizes and goes to inform her companion of something, who is on the other side of the street slouching on a light pole (the companion that is). The tall mare dashes towards her like in an old Saturday morning cartoon, most literally in fact, probably intentionally. Unsurprisingly enough, she runs into the light pole, knocking the other mare on her butt.

Her head vibrates like a ringing bell, all zany like, and in response to this she puts both hooves on her head, trying to stop the shaking. Once she is still again she turns to her friend who is heaving her body back and forth incoherently, staring at a blank wall with a poster of Vinyl Scratch and Neon Lights, a concert advertisement.

Approaching her and speaking with a drunken lisp “Listen, um… Burr-ray, I-I… I… me… I g-gotta go… ya’know, I gots things to-ta-to do, you know that…” she leans towards her ear and whispers “… ya’know, dat demogerd sturf.”

Berry sits there for a moment thinking, not quite sure what of, but she eventually realizes something. she replies “OH! O-okay granny p-pi-pee…” she giggles to herself and continues, “Good luck wift that burby sturf, ya’know I’z has a bebeh too? She so pretty…jurst likes her mommsy…”

Granny Pie, the only name I could presume this characters name to be, rests her hoof on Berry’s shoulder “burr-ber-ray, you-your drunk… you needs to goes home before be-before… before the…” ???

Whatever she just said was illegible most likely to be gibberish, but Berry has seemed to have understood it and the two parted ways. Before the other mare could get too far, Berry turns back to see her walking with some dark figure carrying a large pointy stick… Berry settles on the fact that she is indeed drunk and continues home. Wow… crazy night.

Home, sweet home. Berry makes an attempt to be as quite as possible as she enters her cluttered home, but fails from lack of dependable motor control and stumbling on all the junk laying about, making plenty of noise on her way to the fridge. She stubbles into the kitchen and opens the fridge with the intent to make a PB and J sandwich (that’s peanut butter and jell-o).

The kitchen itself is a mess. Dirty dishes are stacked to the ceiling which block the window right behind the sink letting in little moon light, the floors are sticky with old food and week old garbage, and the whole place reeks faintly of burnt popcorn and moldy milk. There is hardly any food in the cabinets, its mostly just empty boxes, and the fridge is no different. The table is covered in papers and letters from foal services, warnings mostly, some are threats, all meaningless, foal services can’t come near her without going to court. Berry shoves the papers off to make room for her divine cuisine, also pushing some plates and cups off, hitting the floor shattering with large crashes. Berry leans over the pile of shattered glass “ssssssssh! Ponies are trying to sleep.” Berry then leans back up and returns to her sandwich.

While Berry dines on her clever culinary creation, a little pink unicorn trots into the kitchen but Berry doesn’t notice her until she speaks “Mommy?”

Berry looks behind her, her PB and J stuffed in her mouth, to see her daughter, Pinchy Punch, was up out of bed wrapped up in a cozy blanket. Pinchy is a little under half Berry’s size and has pink fur and a slightly darker pink mane, and her eyes are olive green shimmering from disrupted sleep. Upon her flank is no cutiemark.

Most girls her age normally had their cutiemarks, and Pinchy is indeed a very gifted filly, why she could cook fine cuisines fit for royalty, and has great talent for arts and crafts and a keen eye for colors and decorations (unlike myself, whom can’t tell hot pink magenta from salmon, apparently). She is such a gifted child, and yet, has nothing to show for it.

Berry is not fully aware of Pinchy’s presence just yet, even though she is standing right in front of her. It takes her a few seconds to finally recognize her and speak, of coarse, with the food in her mouth Pinchy can’t make out what her mother is trying to say. Berry swallows her food “he~y… shouldn’th youz be in bed’th? Ith an stool night youz know?” her words spill out with the sickening aroma of warm alcohol. “It’s Saturday, mommy…” Pinchy replies back before Berry’s breathe smacks into her nostrils like a wet towel on bare skin “augh!” Pinchy disgustedly exclaims, covering her nose with the blanket “Mommy, have you been drinking that stinky water again?”

Berry leans against the table, trying to fib her way out of the situation when suddenly the table slides away on the linoleum floor causing her to tumble to the ground, opposite to the shattered glass, where she finally emits to a few drinks “I swear it was only three drinks. Ten, tops!”

Pinchy shakes her head in disappointment before trotting over to help her mother up onto her hooves. She loves her mother despite what everypony else thinks about Berry, and why shouldn’t she? Berry has only looked out for her and protected her like any good mother would, but who is going to protect Berry? Even she can tell her mother has a problem. Just the night before Berry promised no more drinking, because her mother was afraid of losing Pinchy. Pinchy is oblivious to the threats and demands made by foal services, but she is well aware of the fear of losing her mother, just the thought of it brings her to tears, in an attempt to hold herself together, she pushes those kinds of thoughts out of her mind.

Pinchy loves her mother, as much as any filly could love their own moms, but Berry told her that bad ponies wanted to take her away from Berry. Pinchy doesn’t want that to happen, she doesn’t want to leave her mother all alone.

The two of them have traveled to the couch when Pinchy tells her mom to gets some rest, Berry didn’t object, beside, crafting creamy confections of sheer culinary genius is tiring work, and so Berry lays down on the lumpy sofa for some much needed rest. Pinchy takes the blanket she had wrapped around herself and covers Berry with it, hugs and kisses her mother goodnight, then turns to head back to bed.

“Pinchy…” Berry calls out faintly, grabbing Pinchy’s attention, she turns back around to face her “yes, mommy?”
“…you know mommy loves you, right?”
“…yeah, mommy, I love you too… goodnight…”
“…goodnight, my little…” Berry snoozes off before finishing her sentence. So Pinchy takes her leave and heads straight for bed, she has a big day of cleaning ahead of her.

“…Dionysus…”

CH2: Splitting Headaches & New Arrivals

Chapter two;
Splitting headaches & new arrivals.

It’s late in the morning, but not late enough for a yawn to escape the lips of one purple alicorn, echoing through the library. This lavender mare stands at an average height of 4’6” and her wings take up a wingspan of two and a half yard, but for the time being, are folded in. amusingly enough, it would go without exaggeration to say that her whole mane and tail was just one big haphazard cowlick. Sticking out from her crazy mane is her horn which is long and excessively pointy, come to think of it, it’s been long due for a trim. She just can’t find time for self grooming anymore, she’s just so busy. Her eyes, just like the rest of her body, are purple and she is wearing a pair of little red glasses to help her read, she loves to read, but honestly the glasses just makes her feel sophisticated. And finally her cutiemark, her cutiemark consists of two large six-point stars, a purple one over lapping a white one, and five little white ones surrounding them.

By now you could have already guessed the librarians identity, Princess Sparkle, but unfortunately this isn’t a Hasbro board game so there was no point in trying figure it out in the first place, moving on!

Princess Sparkle, or as her friends call her, twilight was busy putting books back where they belong, in the right category, under the right author, and all in alphabetical order which is standard. Twilight sometimes wonder why she doesn’t sort the books by chronological order, finding the right book for herself would be trivial under such organization rather to the current sorting system, but other ponies might find it to be more of a labyrinth then a stroll through the park. Just like twilight to put other’s before herself, a bit of a perfectionist though, but don’t we all have our own flaws?

As she is sorting away her books, a little pink unicorn enters the library, but twilight is too tired to notice her, “Excuse me, Ms. Sparkle?” Twilight looks down to find one of her many good friends, Pinchy, who was wearing large scarf around her neck “are you okay?”

Twilight rubs an itch out of her eye and yawns again before replying “mmhm, I just had a long night is all. Mrs. Fluttershy had her baby last night, it was so exciting!”

Pinchy eyes go wide with excitement as a rapid flow of question fallow “REALLY?! was it a boy or a girl? Did it have long or short hair? Was it cute? I bet it was cute, wasn’t it? Did it say anything? Can it say anything? Can I meet him? Her? IT?!”

Twilight was assaulted by a barrage of inquiries which seemed to be endless as more and more questions stacked on top of the previous ones. It takes Twilight a bit of patience to finally calm Pinchy down and answer “Well, let’s see, where to begin… it’s a girl, of that I’m sure and she has short hair like most new born foals do and yes she was very adorable. As to whether she spoke, no, babies can’t speak, it be something if they could… oh! And you can go see her if you like, she’s still getting treatment at the hospital.”

“Really?!” shouted Pinchy, unable to contain her excitement, she shrinks down and blushes from embarrassment after hearing the clear sound of her echo, having it repeat several times before she apologies “sorry, Ms. Sparkle…”

Twilight just smiles at her, knowing that children can be very excitable, and accepts her apologia with a nod “… anyway, Fluttershy’s filly is the cream colored Pegasus with the red mane, there should be a clipboard with the number forty-two hanging on the side of her bed.”

“Does she have a name yet?” another question to add to the mountain.

“No, not yet, she wants to wait a little while. You know, there is no need to rush these things…” Twilight yawns again before changing the subject “So, Pinchy, what brings you here?”

Pinchy focuses really hard on levitating a book out of her saddle bag, passing it over to twilight, who takes it by using her own magic and inspects the cover. It is a copy of summer time fun snacks for kids, “Oh my, Pinchy. This is three months overdue, wha-.”

Pinchy panicked “I know it is and I’m really sorry about that, but I would of brought it back sooner if I knew where it was, I am so, so, so sorry, Ms. Sparkle!”

“It’s okay, Pinchy, I just want to know what happened to it, is all.”

Pinchy took in a deep breath “well, a while ago, me and mommy were hiking up the hill right next to Mrs. Fluttershy’s cottage, and we camped out there, but when we went home the next day, I didn’t see the book in my bag and so I went back to the spot with my mommy to look for it and we couldn’t so we gave up and thought it was somewhere in the house. We were looking for it for like a week, but never found it, we eventually forgot about it, but yesterday I found it in the pantry where we keep the spices… you’re not made are you?” Pinchy looks up at Twilight, afraid of what Twilight might do to her for potentially losing one of her books and not telling her about it.

It would be a lie to say that Twilight wasn’t the least bit upset about it, I mean Pinchy didn’t mention a word of this until just now, but she was Princess after all and must act accordingly and Pinchy was absolutely honest about her actions. She gives a subtle sigh and says “No, Pinchy, I’m not mad at you, but could you be honest with me from the very beginning next time?” Pinchy just nods her head and smiles, “good!” Twilight starts to walk off to another book shelf pulling a book cart along with her, Pinchy fallows “let’s talk about something else, how about your mom, how is she doing?”

“She is okay, but she was drinking that yucky water again and she made a mess in the kitchen, but it is okay now I cleaned it up. Hey, Ms. Sparkle, do you have a book on making Bloody Maries?”

That was like a rotten cherry on the sweet ice cream mountain of questions, Twilight throws two books she was holding with levitation out through the window from pure mental shock, shattering the glass. Pinchy mumbles to herself “oh Great… more glass…”

Twilight turns to Pinchy and asks real panicky like “why in the name of Celestia’s beard do you want to learn how make a Bloody Maries?”

“Scoot Kilt told me it would help with my mom’s headaches”

Twilight mumbles a few curses under her breath, the Irish bastard, Pinchy is too young to even know what that is, let alone that it even exists “Listen, a Bloody Mary is the last thing your mother needs! In fact, I’ve got something even better!” Twilight’s horn starts glowing, which means she is using magic, but Pinchy didn’t see anything happening. Then suddenly some sounds came from upstairs, a drawer opening and some sort of shuffling sound like somepony was looking for something in a crowded trinket box, the drawer closes and a pair of purple sunglasses comes floating down the stairs and into the room and is rested on Pinchy’s head “there, those should do much more good than any smelly drink!”

Pinchy puts the sunglasses over her eyes “wow, are they enchanted?”

“Nope, they just keep the sun out of your eyes, which will help with your mom’s headaches. Oh! And speaking of sun…” Twilight turns to the window she broke earlier and uses her magic to fix it.

“Wait, what about the books?” Pinchy asked.
“What about them?”
“Well, you grabbed the sunglasses with your magic, what about the books you threw?”

Twilight chuckles to herself “Well you see, I knew where the sunglasses where, but I have no clue where the books flew off to.”
“Good thing I’m not the only one losing books.”
“Perhaps I should check the spice cabinet before looking outside?”

Pinchy Giggles before saying goodbye and heading for the front door, but Twilight calls to her “Wait! Pinchy I got something for you…” Twilight pulls a book from the book cart “here, you’re always checking out cooking and art books so I thought you might like this…” Twilight hands Pinchy a copy of Fun and Easy Decorative Holiday Treats “… you know, a fun activity you can eat with your mom, think of it as an early Hearth Warming gift from me.”

“Thanks, Ms. Sparkle, I love it! Is there anything you want for Hearth Warming Eve?”

Twilight fidgets with her hair a bit “Well, a brush would be nice.”

Pinchy giggles “sure thing!” while storing her new gift in her saddle bag, she head out the door and straight for home.

Meanwhile, back at home, Berry was just waking up. Her head pounding and vision all hazy, she attempts to get up from the couch only to just roll over onto the ground with a loud thud, Berry gets chills all over her body “brr! Cold floor… really need carpets…” she slugs herself up slowly onto her hooves before making her way to the kitchen. As she enters the dining area, a bold ray of sun light hits her face unexpectingly.

Berry jerks her head back as though she were trying to dodge an arrow which causes her to tumble backwards and land her back on the cold hard wood floor, giving her a second wave of chills down her spine. She stumbles back onto hooves when and tries to walk, but a sudden sense of projectile vomiting over comes her, jump starting a full on blind bolt to the trash can where she had a second chance to enjoy yesterdays midnight snack.

After she is finished expelling the contents of her stomach, Berry looks into the bag to see that the sludge that was once a delicious sandwich is sinking to the bottom of the bag and what surfaces is a pile of sharp glass shards sticking out.

She can’t remember much of last night, just a strange pony and a loud crashing sou- OH GOODNESS! WHAT IF PINCHY WAS HURT?! HAD SHE STRUCK HER LOVELY CHILD WITH AN EMPTY BEER BOTTLE?! OR WAS THERE A ROBBERY, DID SOMEPONY KIDNAP HER BELOVED DAUGHTER!? Without a second thought, Berry look all around the house for her little girl. As she look she thought to herself –if that loud crashing sound came from the house, who cleaned the glass up? Did I do it? Did Pinchy? Oh my, I hope she didn’t cut herself! - Just as she frantically searches the house, the front door opens, Berry instinctively runs to the door to find Pinchy wiping her hooves on the door. Berry lunges toward Pinchy and Grabs her in a tight hug “Oh, Pinchy, don’t even do that ever again!”

“Wipe my hooves? Um… oooh kay? Hey, mommy, I brought you something!” Pinchy levitates the sunglasses from her face to her mother’s “Ms. Sparkle said it would help with your headaches!”

With the adrenaline she was feeling just a second ago, Berry completely forgot about her hangover and a big pulse of pain just rushes into her head, but the sunglasses does help a little bit, regardless the light provokes her headache “Gee, thanks honey. You tell Twilight I said thank you next time you see her, kay?”

“Okay… mommy?”
“Yes, baby?”
“Can you let go of me now? Your kinda hurting me.”

Berry releases her child, letting Pinchy breath normally again, the two then go back inside the house. But still, Berry had no idea where Pinchy was, and that right there is enough to send anypony into over-protective-mother mode “what exactly were you doing over at the library, sweetie?”

“Returning the book we lost over the summer!” Pinchy replies with a much deserved sense of accomplishment, however her mother just stares at her blankly out of confusion, but soon realizes what she is talking about.
“Oh yeah, the s’mores book with all the marshmallow recipes. Where did you find it? You didn’t go back to the hill all by yourself did you?”

The two walk into the living room where Berry had awoken, “Nope, I found it in the spice cabinet while I was cleaning the kitchen.” Berry looks into the kitchen, and thanks to the ever so fashionably purple sunglasses, she was actually able to see it. The kitchen was neat and tidy, all the dishes from last night were all washed and put away and the garbage that covered the table and filled the pantries and fridge was all thrown out. Yup, everything was tucked away accordingly, but there was a noticeably slim layer of filth covering the counters and the dining table. As she walks into the kitchen further examine it all, she notices that the floor is sticky in some places but then a revolting smell hits her nostrils.

“Oh, sweet Celestia, what is that smell?!” shrieks Berry as she staggers backwards, the smell soon reaches Pinchy which makes her gag. Berry finds the source of the stench which came from the trashcan. She quickly ties up the bag and pulls it out of the can, opening the window right above the sink where a leaning stack of dirty plates and bowls once towered, and proceeds to chuck the bag out the window fallowed by a loud splat. It was just too disgusting to get rid of any other “rational” way. Lucky for Berry the kitchen window led to the backyard, and nopony ever goes into Berry’s backyard, so she could go and clean that up later without worry. With the bag out the window, the horrible smell began to slowly fade. Leaving the window open, Berry and Pinchy retreated to the living room, coughing and gagging.

Berry has not forgotten about her worries, the glass in the bag that lays in the backyard covered in her puke, Berry doesn’t remember any broken glass in there before. She turns her head to Pinchy and asks “sweetie, what did mommy do when she got home?” if you know berry, you know she isn’t a violent drunk, rather the opposite, she is a ‘happy-go-lucky, skip-through-the-daisy, have a pint and forget all your worries’ kind of drunk, you could tell Berry this but she would believe a word of it, she can’t remember a damn thing when she is buzzed, so compared to the gossip and her own bar buddies, she wouldn’t know who to believe.

Pinchy, taking in a deep breath of fresh air, tells her mother “you came in, made a sandwich and fell asleep, what was that awful smell?”

Berry blushed, embarrassed of her actions earlier that led to that nostril burning smell. Berry doubted, though, that she just made a sandwich and went to bed “Nevermind about that, what about the shattered glass?”

“Oh, don’t worry mommy, I cleaned it up already.” She chimes with another sense of self accomplishment, but that fact only makes Berry feel a bit guilty.
“But how did the glass break?”
“Oh! You dropped them.”
“Are you sure that dropped them and didn’t… throw them at anypony?” It is quite obvious that Berry has little to no faith in herself, but takes a little bit of satisfaction when Pinchy nods her head cheerfully and says to her “Pretty sure!” Berry takes a deep breath after hearing this as a sigh of relief, If she is so afraid of hurting ponies when she is drunk then why does she keep doing it?

“Did you hurt yourself on the glass?”
“Huh? Nope, I used my magic! I’m getting real good at it too!”

Hearing this makes Berry even more relieved, but there hasn’t been any broken glass in her house for a long, long time “Pinchy, listen to mommy, you are not allowed to be anywhere near broken glass ever again, okay?”
“Okay, did… did I do something wrong?”
Berry chuckles to herself and leans in to hug her baby “no, I just don’t want anything happening to you is all.”

If you are still reading this, congratulations, for butt-fuck-nothing. You have probably notice a lack of conflict, their life seems pretty normal despite its slight quirks. The reality is that Berry can only manage to get by in life by doing odd jobs around Ponyville, most of which are degrading and humiliating. Berry barely has enough for the bare essential, But she tries to get Pinchy everything she wants, everything she deserves, and Berry knows her baby deserves much than this. Pinchy had told her mother that she wanted a puppy for Hearth Warming Eve, how is she suppose to afford a dog let alone pay to take care of it.

The two talk for a bit, mainly about things Pinchy heard around town, when Berry decided it was time for her to take a walk herself. It was time she got a job, a real job, if Pinchy wants a puppy for Hearth Warming Eve then by Celestia that’s what she is going to get. She knew just the place to get the Bits she needed, Berry grabs her scarf and heads out.

Berry trots to the Quickest-stop groceries, when she knew a Unicorn with a goatee by the name of Danny Clerk (Pronounced Don-Nee, like Dante Hicks, it’s all for you Kevin Smith!) Berry enters the shop to see him stocking shelves, berry trots up behind him and bluntly says without any warning “Hey, Danny, give me a job!” which startles him making him drop two cans he was putting away.

“D-don’t do that, Berry!”
“Okay, then don’t pretend like you didn’t hear me come into the store, the door makes a dinging sound for lunar sake!”

Danny picks the two cans back up and continues through the aisle “Well, yeah, but I didn’t know you were right behind me…” he says restocking a few more shelves “… and I can’t give you a job.”
“What? Why not?”
“Because we are not hiring, and beside I have all the help I need with those two new employees.”

Berry looks around the store, but they are the only two in the store “and these two new employees are where?” fallowing Danny to the back room.
“I think they’re on their break.” He says as he opens the back room door to see his two new employees lying of the floor. One is a tall scrawny gryphon in a beanie and long hair and the other is a large earth pony in a baseball cap and a trench coat, they both are wearing the Quickest-stop vest uniforms and smoking one really fat dooby.
“… if she didn’t want it in that hole she should of said so in the first place, I’m mean, don’t waste my time with three hours of foreplay just to get no anal out of it, you know what I mean, Lunch Box?” Silent Bulk (that’s the large earth pony’s name) nods his head in emotionless approval while taking a deep huff of the blunt, then passes it to Blue Jay (the Gryphon. Pretty clever right? Right? Yeah, I know it’s clever, I don’t need your praise.)
“Aw, yeah that’s what I’m talking about!” Jay says as he takes the blunt from his hoof only to notice his employer hovering above, Bulk sees this too, “hey! Yo man, you’re letting the smoke out, close that door!”

Danny just sighs at this and shoots Berry a look, the kind of look that said ‘I should be surprised, but I’m not, I knew exactly what I was getting into when I hired them.’
“You know what, Berry? I think a slot just opened up.” Danny says to Berry with the slight sensation of dread, knowing that he might just be trading one mess for another.
“You don’t say? Well what is my first job, boss?” Berry asks with confidence.
“Just, please, get these two out of my store…” a long devilish grin sprawls across Berry’s face. Berry had never liked these two, they bum around all over the place and the gryphon curses way too much, bad role models for Pinchy, so she takes a little pleasure in kicking them out of the store.

Meanwhile… at the train station, the evening express comes rolling in, thick steam fills the station and warms the chilly November air as it slowly fades, the whistle screeches loudly through the white fog as the train comes to a slow halt. After the train has come to a complete stop the passenger cars open, lowering down ramps to the platform, allowing the riders to exit the cabooses.

Out of all the ponies, Gryphons, and even mules, we focus on one Pegasus. His name is Calloping Care. He is a pretty tall gentlecolt with soft friendly blue eyes, like blueberries. His emerald hair is long and messy, bangs are swept to the right and his coat is a deep purple. Calloping Care cutiemark is three smiley faces huddled together, nothing like the smiley from chapter one. He is wearing a thick jacket and on his back he carries a big saddle pack containing paperwork, his wallet, a spare jacket just in case and his tooth brush (dental hygiene FTW.)

Calloping steps down onto the station platform and walks towards another Pegasus in a station uniform, this Pegasus is orange with a curly indigo blue mane and thick beard with a grayish hue, and however he takes note of his cutiemark which is a glass mug with a bagpipe shoved in it. Regardless, Calloping Care calls to the Pegasus “Hey there! Excuse me, sir?” he takes notice and turns to confront Calloping, looking towards him with his old baggy blue eyes.
“Aye, lad, I see you. Now, what is it ye’ be wanting?” he replies with a heavy Skyish accent (Scottish but more pony) in a friendly tone of voice.

Calloping is a little surprised to see a Skyish Pegasus so far away from Skyland before, they are usually so proud of the heritage. “um, hi, I’m Calloping Care and I was-“ he is cut off by a very rude pony in a long raggedy cloak who asks for directions to the bathroom.
“Tis right of the ticket booth over there ma’am.” The Skyish points her into the direction of the restroom.
“Thanks, Scoot, I really need to go before I leave on the train, better now than later, you know.”
“Aye, Miss Cup, I completely understand, I’d wish you’d stay wit us a wee bit longer.”
“Yeah, I know, but you know me, I go with the flow. And speaking of flow…” the unusually tall mare rushes to the bathroom, leaving the two be.

“I’m sorry about dat, sir, what was it you said your name was again?” Scoot asks returning the conversation back to Calloping Care.
“Calloping Care, but you can call me Cal.”
“Well, Cal, my name is Scoot Kilt, now how may I help you?”

That name sounds familiar to Cal, but he can’t quite put his hoof on it “I couldn’t help but notice your accent, you wouldn’t happen to be from Skyland would you?”
“Yes in deedy, lad, taint no place better to suite me! why ye’ ask?”
“I was just wondering what a Skyish Pegasus was doing so far away from his homeland.”

Scoot reels back his head and looks away for a split seconded “things, ahem, weren’t working out so well over, now is there anything else I could help you with, sir?”

Cal could feel there was something Scoot was hiding, but decided it wasn’t any of his business, he had more important matters to attend to “actually yes, I need some directions. Could you help me find a ‘Miss Berry punch’s’ house?”

------------------------------------- Several, or so, Hours Later---------------------------------

It is late in the afternoon and there is nothing to do but stand around and wait for something to happen, something like an explosion (and if Michael Bay were directing this, that would totally happen too) or something. Berry just stands there behind the cash register, bored and emotionless, as though the job had already sucked the life out of her on her first day, Danny (again, for reference sake, it is pronounced Donny, like Donny Darko) is still stocking shelves. Barely any business, Berry began to wonder if Danny was really restocking shelves, which implied that somepony bought a product from that shelf, or just replacing the rotten food that was just sitting there with something they could legally sell.

Right before Berry snooze off from lack of mental stimulation, just a fancy way of saying she is bored, the front door opens making really loud ringing sound that Danny still manages not to notice.

Berry sees a purple pony with green hair walk in with a poofy winter coat, which makes him look like a huge dork. the stallion takes notice of Danny and goes to confront. Berry tried to listen onto their conversion because, well let’s face it, she had really nothing better to do. She can barely understand what they were saying, but she could hear the colt ask for some cleaning supplies. Oh! So he is a neat freak, huh? Well Berry has lost all interest in that ease dropping experience and waits for the pony to come to the counter to make his purchase. But still, she was still a bit curious about this guy. She has never seen him around Ponyville before, or had she?

As the colt walks around the convenience store, bottles and bags of potato chips obscure Berry view of his face, the curiosity eats away at Berry’s brain as she tries to figure it out. She was about at her peak when she decided to hop over the counter to meet this stranger face to face, but to her surprise, she was suddenly face to face with him. Quite literally in fact.

Really the whole event was sort of awkward. The two stood there snout to snout for at least thirty seconds, but to Berry it felt so much more than that. In those thirty seconds Berry got a good look at him and by goodness he was handsome, she was so close to his lips too, why if she would just reach out a little further Berry could-
“Ahem, I don’t mean to spoil the moment but… would you mind ringing me up?” said the colt. He didn’t stutter, in fact he was quite kind and spoke in a tender tone, as though he could see exactly what she wanted and at the same time was completely oblivious.
“Huh? Oh, right, of course!”

Berry hopped back over the counter to ring him, but for some odd reason there was something familiar about this guy “so you from around her?” Berry asks.
“Naw, I’m here on Business.”
“Wow, that must be real boring.”
“Not really, actually it’s real exciting. I get to see new places and meet wonderful ponies.”
“Oh, so you travel a lot then?”
“Yeah. Almost too much. Once I’m done with one assignment I get stuck with another, It would be nice to slow down for a bit and just relax, but then I wouldn’t be doing my job.”
“Well you know, when you’re not working, you could stop by my place anytime and relax if you’d like?” i-is she flirting with him (and yes, I really am surprised about this! I’m a writer not a fucking fortune teller, I didn’t see this coming), was she really inviting this total stranger into her home, what would Pinchy think? Lucky for her, he declined Berry’s offer.

“Sorry, but, my work is very important to me. Thank you anyway.” He takes the bag of cleaning solution into his large pouch on his big poofy jacket, yes his still wearing that ridiculous thing. Right before her leaves through the door he bids berry goodnight “I’ll see you around, goodnight.” Then he leaves, and for some reason, Berry felt a little empty inside. She could not explain it. It is like she had lost something… again. Like finding a toy you had long forgot about and then loosing it the next day.

An hour later, Danny (yeah you know how to say that at this point, you’re not stupid) decides to close shop “alright, Berry, I want you here tomorrow at seven-thirty, you got that?”

“Pfft, do I got that? Of course I got it! You’ll see, you won’t be disappointed, Danny boy.” Berry’s voice chimes with confidence. She was determined to turn her life around, not for herself, but for her darling Pinchy. She dashed home, excited to tell her baby girl all about her long boring day as a convenience store clerk, but she is more excited about bigger pay she will be getting thanks to this Celestia awful job, and even more than that, she is especially excited for heath warming eve. Pinchy will finally get what every good little girl deserves.

Berry makes it home, she swings the front door open wide as she calls out to Pinchy in the most cheerful tone “Pinchy! Mommy’s home!”

“MOMMY!” Pinchy is so excited, her mother has been out all day and Pinchy had been preparing a little surprise for her. (Pinchy rolls and wins the initiative roll) Pinchy uses Hug Tackle! It’s a CRITICAL HIT knocking Berry onto her flank, but she didn’t mind. The two sat there and hugged, but unbeknownst to Berry, there was a special guest here with Pinchy…

“Oh… well this is awkward, but you did say I could stop by anytime’, he he.” Cal says trying to be cute and failing (he botched a protection spell, he is doomed!)

Author's Note

You've probably noticed the difference better chapter 1 and 2 as far as writing quality goes. yes, I have been getting better but I will not go back and rewrite chapter 1 because it is fine as it is. Chapter 1 brought me plenty on views and entertained plenty enough people, and as a writer, that's all I strive for, to entertain the masses. I will promise this though, as I continue to write, I will continue to improve my skills to further engross you (the reader) in the story, it's all I will every want.

soon I will be publishing a collection of one shot's under the title "the Equestrian Revelations series" and I would like to collaborate with some people about it, message me if your interested.

updated 9/18/13; “Aye, Miss Cup, I completely understand, I’d wish you’d stay wit us a wee bit longer.”