Mary Poppins Pony Parody

by CartsBeforeHorses

Rating: everyone
Tags: Cake Twins, Mrs. Cake, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Cadance, Comedy, Pinkie Pie, Crossover, Mr. Cake
Length: 4784

Pound and Pumpkin Cake get a magical, singing nanny.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who are busy starting a second bakery franchise in Hoofington, need someone to watch their twins and make sure the troublesome duo behaves while they are gone. Thankfully, they get a mysterious and magical applicant for the position, known only as Mary Cloppins. Now, Mary Cloppins will watch Pound and Pumpkin Cake, and hope that the two of them aren't too much of a hooffull, even for her magic to handle.

The plot, cover image, and song parodies are inspired by Mary Poppins. Cover image by Paper-pony. This story is part of One-shotober. 100% approved by Twilight's Library!

Published 2013-09-23 21:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-23 21:30:02 UTC

Supercoltifillyisticexponalidocious

Eight years after the episode "Baby Cakes"

The sky was a dim shade of orange and purple as the sun set on Hoofington, a small town about twenty miles from Ponyville. Mr. Cake, Mrs. Cake, and Pinkie Pie walked out the front door of a wooden building. They were covered from head to hoof in sawdust, flour, and sweat. They carried various tools in saddlebags on their backs.

"Wow, who knew that starting up a whole new business was such hard work!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"I could've told you that," Mr. Cake chuckled.

"Why do we need to start a second bakery, again?" asked Pinkie.

"Because, we're trying to franchise Sugarcube Corner," Mrs. Cake answered. "Part of franchising is having more than one business."

"Soon, there will be Sugarcube Corners all over Equestria!" Mr. Cake exclaimed.

The three ponies walked off towards the train station near the edge of town. As the train whistle blew, they gave their tickets to the conductor and got on the train to begin their commute back to Ponyville. They sat in their seats as the train chugged along.

"I wonder how Pound and Pumpkin are doing home without us?" asked Pinkie.

"Oh, I'm sure they're doing fine, dearie," Mrs. Cake reassured.

"They're both eight years old. That's old enough to be left home alone, right?" Mr. Cake added.

"I think so," Pinkie said.

"I mean, though they have misbehaved before, I gave them a stern talking to, so they should be little angels this time." Mr. Cake smiled.

They continued on the train for another half hour until they were at their destination. They walked back home towards Sugarcube Corner.

"I'm sure that they'll be already in bed. After all, it's nearly 7:00," Mr. Cake naively predicted as he opened the front door, looking back towards Pinkie and Mrs. Cake.

His wife and Pinkie merely looked forward in shock. Seeing their expressions, he turned to see what they were looking at, and his jaw dropped.

All around the house, frosting and flour covered everything. Wooden blocks, plastic blocks, action figures, dolls, and other toys lay strewn about the floor. Tables and chairs were tipped over. It looked like an F5 tornado had hit, if the tornado had swung by Santa Hooves' workshop on the way over.

"The Pound Kingdom will never surrender! You're just chicken!" the adult ponies heard Pound Cake shout from upstairs.

"The Pumpkin Confederacy laughs at your kingdom, foals!" Pumpkin Cake responded, just as loud.

"Ooh, they're playing war! I wanna join!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, dashing off before Mrs. Cake grabbed her tail in her mouth, stopping her.

"Carrot, what should we do?" Mrs. Cake asked her husband.

He had a deer in headlights look on his face, and he remained silent.

"Uh... Mr. Cake? Mrs. Cake just asked you a question. Are you deaf? 'Cause I know a really good ear doctor who can—"

Pinkie's words were cut off as Mr. Cake slowly ascended the steps, his blank facial expression never changing. He walked down the hallway towards the door to the twins' bedroom, the mares following him.

"Look, don't be too hard on them..." Mrs. Cake urged.

Pound Cake, not seeing them, said, "Oh yeah, well I launch my tanks and missiles at your doll plantation!"

"No, because it's guarded by magic," Pumpkin said, enveloping the dollhouse in a cyan magic glow.

"Uh, sis..." said Pound. Pumpkin glanced up as she saw her father standing in the doorway.

He still remained silent.

"Oh... hi, daddy, we were just having a little Cake civil war here..." Pumpkin started.

"We were gonna clean up our mess after the war!" said Pound.

"Reconstruction!" Pumpkin exclaimed.

Mr. Cake's blank expression turned into a scowl as he stepped into the room. The Cake twins gulped as he opened his mouth wide. They cowered in the corner, shaking and holding each other tight. Mr. Cake raised his hoof...

...and sang a musical number, reminiscent of "The Life I Lead" from Mary Poppins.

"I feel a sense of deep disappointment.
I look around and see this horrid mess.
When we return from Hoofington, into our home,
I must say that I'm quite distressed.

We bust our flanks to earn a meager living.
Exhausted, we trudge through the door.
I come and see the scattered toys, hear all the noise.
It's making me feel quite distressed."

He finished by speaking, "I trusted you two to be home alone while we were in Hoofington getting our second business off the ground. I guess my trust was misplaced. Your mother and I are out there trying to make more money so that we can send you kids to college someday. But you keep misbehaving. What am I supposed to do now?"

"Well, dearie, we could always hire a foalsitter," Mrs. Cake suggested.

"Ooh, ooh! I'll do it!" Pinkie Pie volunteered.

"That's quite kind of you, Pinkie, but we need you to help us work on the new Sugarcube Corner franchise. We'll have to hire somepony who will restore order to this house. I'll go ahead and put an ad in tomorrow's paper."

The three adult ponies left the room. Pound and Pumpkin Cake glanced at each other. Whoever their new nanny would be, they wanted to make sure that she wasn't strict on them and would still let them have their fun.

***

"Foalsitter required for two young children. Must be able to impose order and keep them from destroying the house. Compensation is reasonable. No benefits. Inquire within Sugarcube Corner, 17 Stirrup Street, Ponyville." Mr. Cake said, glancing at the advertisement he had just finished writing.

"Honey, can you proofread this for me?"

He gave the piece of paper to Mrs. Cake. She glanced at it for about a minute before saying, "I can't even read your hoofwriting, dearie. You can't send this ad to them; they won't be able to read it, and they won't know what to print."

Earth ponies were at a slight disadvantage when it came to penmanship, due to having to write by holding pens in their mouths. Also, Mr. Cake had the added disadvantage of being male, so his hoofwriting would've been illegible regardless.

"Here, let me write it," Mrs. Cake said. She took the pen in her mouth and wrote a copy of the advertisement. But this time, it was Mr. Cake who couldn't read it.

"Well, how are we supposed to get an ad now?" Mrs. Cake asked.

"Oh, we can write an ad for you!"

Mr. and Mrs. Cake glanced up from the desk as they saw Pound and Pumpkin Cake approach. Pumpkin levitated a sheet of paper in her magic. She cleared her throat and began to sing a song which is a parody of "A Perfect Nanny" from Mary Poppins.

"If you'd like to be our nanny,
promise not to be a granny.
No grey hair, no walker.
Also, please don't be a stalker.

You must love us just like mommy;
promise that you're not a zombie.
Do our homework, give us candy,
then we'll both be fine and dandy.

You must be a unicorn
and do neat tricks with your horn.
You must be a pegasus
and teach Pound some cool flight tricks.

Let us stay up past our bedtime,
and then we won't give you a hard time.
We won't put a bomb in your carriage
to blow you to smithereens,
put bees in your mane,
or spike your drink with LSD.
Hurry, nanny!
Many thanks.

Sincerely,
Pound and Pumpkin Cake."

Pumpkin finished her singing, and the twins both smiled adorably at their parents.

"Kids, you know that's kind of unrealistic to ask for," said Mrs. Cake.

"I'll say," said Mr. Cake. "You can't ask for both a unicorn and a pegasus. A pony can only be one or the other. Actually, I think that it breaks employment discrimination laws to even ask! Also, she can't let you stay up past your bedtime, or you both will be tired the next morning. And if you eat too many sweets, you'll get a tummy ache."

"Well, did you see the ad?" asked Pumpkin Cake. She floated the ad over to her parents, and they gazed at her flawless unicorn hornwriting.

"Well... um..." Mrs. Cake stammered.

"Why can't you be this neat around the house?" asked Mr. Cake.

"Where's the fun in that?" Pumpkin asked.

Mrs. Cake turned to her husband. "Well, dearie, her ad is actually legible, unlike ours. Maybe we can send it in? If a nanny sees it, maybe she'll think it's cute and she'll want to foalsit the kids because of it."

"That's a good idea."

So, with that, Mr. Cake placed the ad in an envelope and addressed it to the Ponyville Times.

***

The next day was a Sunday, so Mr. and Mrs. Cake were at home. They sat in the living room as they heard a knock on the front door.

"Did we forget to put up the closed sign or something?" Mr. Cake asked as he got up and answered the door.

He opened the door to see a red-coated alicorn mare towering in the doorway. A hat sat atop her black mane, and she carried an umbrella under her wing. Mr. Cake blinked several times, and didn't speak.

"I'm here about the nanny position," the alicorn said. Mr. Cake still did not speak. The alicorn added, "Is there a problem?"

"Uh, no," Mr. Cake answered. "I just didn't expect you to be an alicorn. Aren't alicorns supposed to be princesses, or great sorcerers, or CEOs, or—"

"Well, sometimes, we can be just plain old nannies, too," she interrupted, chuckling. "Your ad did ask for a pony with both wings and a horn, after all. Who else were you expecting?"

"Oh." Mr. Cake said. "Well... Okay, then! Please, come in, and tell us a little about yourself!"

She walked in and extended a hoof towards Mr. Cake, and then towards Mrs Cake.

She spoke, "My name is Mary Susan Cloppins. You can call me Mary, Mary Cloppins, or Ms. Cloppins, if you prefer. I am practically perfect in every way."

"Well, Miss Cloppins, how are you with children?" asked Mrs. Cake.

"I will be loving towards your children and treat them as if they were my own, and we'll have a lot of fun together, but I will also make sure they don't get out of hoof. If they require discipline, I won't hesitate to be firm. I'll also make sure that your house stays clean."

"That sounds good to me," said Mr. Cake.

"Me as well," Mrs. Cake added.

"You're hired!" they both said, shaking her hoof.

***

The next day was Monday, and the Cake twins were playing in their room as Mr. and Mrs. Cake left for Hoofington. The Cake twins were engaged in another toy war as Mary Cloppins walked in the room.

"Hello, I'm Mary Cloppins, and I'm your new foalsitter," she said, walking in.

"Oh, you're an alicorn?" asked Pound.

"Yes, I am."

"Cool!" the twins both shouted.

"I'm Pound Cake."

"I'm Pumpkin Cake."

"Nice to meet both of you. Now, the first order of business is to clean up this bedroom and this house."

"Aw, really? But the house is a battlefield!" Pound complained.

"And cleaning is hard work," said Pumpkin. "How are we supposed to pick up all these toys anyway? There's over infinity million of them!"

Mary Cloppins chuckled. "Well, you have to remember one simple thing, Pumpkin Cake. You have a horn, right?"

"Uh, yeah..." Pumpkin said.

"Then you have no excuse to be messy!" she said. "You can pick up dozens of things at once if you put your mind and magic to it. Watch and learn a little trick I taught another unicorn filly I foalsat."

Mary Cloppins powered up her horn as dozens of toys floated off the floor, a cyan glow surrounding them. She floated them all into the toy box at once. She started singing, in a tune reminiscent of A Spoonful of Sugar.

"And when you see your room's a sty
Just look it in the eye.
Horn on! Pick up! And clean up all your stuff.

Just a horn full of magic picks the things up off your floor.
You won't be very messy or dirty anymore.
A horn full of magic picks the things up off the floor.
It's just the unicorn way."

Pumpkin levitated several toys off the floor at once and into the toy box, grinning at how efficient she was being. Mary Cloppins floated all the dolls back into the dollhouse, arranging them around the doll table. She even put all the tiny teacups back onto the dolls' table. Pound just kinda stood there watching.

Cloppins continued,

"You'll soon be organized and neat.
The feeling simply can't be beat
when everything is in its proper place.
If you end up with OCD,
then please don't pin the blame on me.
It is... you'll see... theee ooonly waaay to beee.

A horn full of magic picks the things up off the floor.
It's just the unicorn way."

Pumpkin Cake and Mary Cloppins, having finished up the twins' room, continued downstairs, Pound flying after them. As they walked, a whirlwind of cleanliness followed them, as books floated back onto shelves, dishes floated into the dishwasher, and toys floated back upstairs to the toy box, and Pound just stood there watching.

"A horn full of magic picks the things up off the floor.
The things up off the floor, the things up of the floor.
A horn full of magic picks the things up off the floor.
It's just the unicorn way.

"And... done!" exclaimed Mary Cloppins as she placed one last book on the shelf. "See, Pumpkin Cake, isn't that so much better than being messy?"

"Yeah, it is!" she exclaimed.

"And it took all of, what, ten minutes?"

"Less than that," Pumpkin said.

"Now that we've cleaned up the house, we can go for a walk in the park," said Cloppins. The three ponies left the house and walked towards Ponyville park.

As they walked, they saw an old brown-coated, grey-maned earth pony who wore a yellow wool hat on his head. A piece of hay stuck out from between his lips.

"Why, if it ain't Mary Cloppins!" he exclaimed, running over to her.

"Mr. Greenhooves, you old codger!" she said, giving him a hug.

"What brings you 'round these parts?" he asked.

"I'm the new nanny for these children."

"Oh, look at 'ow cute they are!" Greenhooves said, giving Pound Cake a noogie with his hoof.

"So, come an' look at me chalk drawings!" he said, running over to the sidewalk. The Cake twins and Cloppins followed him, expecting to see just a bunch of scribbles. Instead, they saw a veritable masterpiece of artistic expression. Each varied scene burst forth from the pavement with clarity, whether the scene was a crowded city street, a bustling factory assembly line, a luscious green jungle, or an erupting volcano.

"They're very pretty," said Pumpkin Cake.

"Wow! How in Equestria did you even do that? It's so awesome!" Pound exclaimed.

"You know," said Mary Cloppins, "it's almost as if you're really there..."

Cloppins took a hop onto the sidewalk and appeared inside the drawing.

"Well, whatcha waitin' for?" Greenhooves said, looking at the twins and hopping into the drawing.

Pound and Pumpkin Cake glanced at each other, nodded, and jumped, joining the two adults inside the drawing.

"Wow, everything looks so real here!" said Pound Cake. He looked around and saw that the scenery looked incredibly real, realer than anything in Equestria. The normally cartoony pastel colors were replaced by steely greys, organic browns, drab olives, faded taupes, or jet blacks.

"Now, let's 'ave a gander, shall we?" said Greenhooves. He pointed to a tall skyscraper. "Over 'ere is the Pony Plaza. That there's the Pony Promenade. And 'ere's the Equestrian Interchange." They walked out across a busy street.

Pound and Pumpkin looked around in awe at the dirty city streets and urban sprawl around them. They walked down the sidewalk, seeing many ponies passing around them. Except they were not quite ponies; they actually looked like real horses, and were considerably large in size. Rather than pastel pinks or purples, they were all brown, black, or white. Some of them wore trench coats to protect themselves from the cold.

"Now, all this growth an' progress comes wit' a price, of course: no color, no connections. It ain't like Ponyville where all the cottages are kitsch an' folksy, an' everypony knows each other. Here, there are millions of ponies, but you're just that much more alone. But 'ey, at least there's technology like automobiles an' wireless radios. That'll fill the void in yer life!"

"You're quite creative, Greenhooves," said Mary Cloppins.

"It's a style I like to call 'steampunk.' An' I drew it all for you, Mary!"

He began to sing as they walked along, in a tune reminiscent of It's a Jolly Holiday With Mary.

"Ain't it a drab and dreary day?
Everything is dull an' grey; I feel like I'm about to die.
Ain't you ever seen the streets so mean?
Or a greyer sky?
Oh, it's an urban sprawling place 'ere, Mary.
Here you never see the light.
When your day is colorful an' merry
This city sucks out all your life!
Oh, garbage trucks are spewin' all around 'ere.
Somepony in an alley just got mugged.
When you come to this town, you start to frown
'Cause all you see are greys an' blacks an' browns.
Oh, it's an urban sprawling place 'ere, Mary.
No wonder all the ponies 'ere do drugs!"

Pound and Pumpkin Cake glanced at each other, confused.

Mary Cloppins turned to the twins and said, "Now, you may wonder why I've brought you both here. I could have taken you to a lush, green meadow or a beach, but I figured I'd teach you a valuable lesson. Life isn't always sunshine and roses like it is in Ponyville. Never take anything for granted. Always look on the bright side of life. Or, wait, is that the right lesson? Maybe it's that cities take away the charm in life. I forget. Anyways, time to go have some fun."

"Fun? In a place like this?" asked Pound Cake.

"Sure! There's always fun to be had. Even when everything seems dull—oh, right! THAT was my lesson!" Cloppins laughed.

Greenhooves chuckled at her. The four ponies continued to walk down the street until they reached a building with a barrel hanging from the awning which said "bar" on it.

"Now, let's go an' say 'ello to the ponies 'ere at the local pub," said Mr. Greenhooves. He walked inside, as the Cake twins and Mary Cloppins stood outside.

"Aw, come on in!" he said, sticking his head back out the door.

"What should we do, Mary?" asked Pumpkin.

"Follow him, I suppose," said Cloppins. "Though you two are far too young to drink."

They walked in to the dimly-lit, smoke-filled pub. Horses guzzled beers and took shots. Two horses were playing billiards in the back.

"Hey. if it isn't ol' Greenhooves!" they heard one of the horses say. "And he's brought his broad, Mary Cloppins! Still seein' Greenhooves, Cloppins?"

"It's complicated, Horsell," she said.

"Bartender! Give Greenhooves and Cloppins here two shots on me!" Horsell ordered.

The old Clydesdale horse obliged, pouring some whiskey into shot glasses. Greenhooves and Cloppins raised them into the air.

"A toast to our creator, and to his lovely mare!"

"Wait, what about the children?" asked Mary Cloppins.

The bartender reached behind the bar and grabbed two juice boxes, throwing them to the Cake twins.

Cloppins blinked a few times, raising an eyebrow upon seeing that such an establishment had juice boxes. Then, she said, "Okay, now we can toast. Cheers!" They all drank.

"How about a drinking song. Mary, sing us something, would ya?" Horsell asked.

"Oh, I don't know..." she said.

"For old time's sake?" he begged, fluttering his eyelids.

"Very well," she responded, and sang a song which sounded like "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins.

"Supercoltifillyisticexponalidocious
is something you might say when you're a bit too drunk to notice
that every word you say is garbled, mangled, and erron'yus.
Supercoltifillyisticexponalidocious!

The rest of the bar sang along, "Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay!"

Mr. Greenhooves sang,
"I was promoted at me job; we went down to the bar.
I thought we'd 'ave a couple shots an' maybe a cigar.
But then five hours later I was looking at me tab.
I said, 'Thish don't look right; I thought two shotsh was all I 'ad!'"

The patrons of the bar sang the chorus again.

Horsell sang,
"I swore I'd drink responsibly and never have too much.
I'd never suffer hangovers or drive while I was drunk.
But nowadays I ask myself, hey what's the fun in that?
Gettin' drunk's a real good time, so tip your glasses back!"

Cloppins looked back at Pound and Pumpkin Cake, who were both singing along. Cloppins then sang a different chorus.

"Supercoltifillyisticexponalidocious,
If you say the word too much, you'll end up with cirrhosis
And soon enough you'll be a drunken bum and also homeless
Supercoltifillyisticexponalidocious!

"If you want to drink responsibly,
of course then that's okay.
Just do not overdo it or you'll drink your life away.
Just look at all these sad sacks wasting hours at the bar.
If you ever end up like them, you'll know you've gone too far!"

Apparently unaware that they had just been insulted, the patrons of the bar continued to sing, "Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay!"

Mr. Greenhooves chuckled, and the four ponies exited the bar.

"Well, that was fun," said Pumpkin.

"I hope you kids have learned yet another valuable lesson," said Mary Cloppins. "It's okay to drink; just don't end up an alcoholic like those ponies."

"What's alcohol?" asked Pound.

Before she could explain, they heard a great rumbling. They sniffed the air and smelled smoke.

"What's that?" asked Pound.

"Hmm... The volcano must be eruptin' in the other drawing," said Mr. Greenhooves, "but the only way it'd bleed over into the city is if it was rainin' or something."

"Well, the Pegasi did schedule rain..." said Pound.

Suddenly, the four ponies found themselves back in Ponyville, staring at blurry images on the sidewalk. Rain pelted their coats as Mary Cloppins pulled out her umbrella and floated it over the children to shield them from the rain.

Suddenly, the four ponies began coughing and wheezing, and white dust spewed into the air.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, Mary Cloppins. If you drink something in the drawin', once you come out, it turns back into chalk," Mr. Greenhooves said in between coughing.

Mary wheezed, coughing up clouds of chalk dust. "You think you could've told us that—" she wheezed,"—before we went in there?"

Greenhooves shrugged. The kids continued to cough.

"Come, children," she coughed and sputtered. "Let's go home."

***

The Cake twins were fast asleep in their bed as Mr. and Mrs. Cake came home.

Mrs. Cake gasped, and Mr. Cake fainted.

"Look at this house! It's spotless!" Mrs. Cake said.

Mr. Cake woke up from his brief coma of shock and said, "How on earth did you get them to do it?"

"Oh, I just taught Pumpkin Cake a little magic trick I use to clean up."

"Well, it looks great. And I don't hear them being loud or noisy at all! Are they asleep?" Mrs. Cake asked.

"Yes, I took them out to the park for a walk. It tired them out, and now they're in bed."

Mr. Cake walked up to Mary Cloppins and hugged her. "Oh, promise us you'll stay forever, Ms. Cloppins!"

Cloppins chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her head with her hoof.

"Uh, actually..." she said, "I have to be going back to where I come from. Tomorrow, actually."

"What!?" Mr. and Mrs. Cake exclaimed.

"Yes, unfortunately. But you two have such good kids. All you need to do is spend time with them. I think all that they needed was just a bit of love and attention."

Mr. Cake got down on his knees, clasped his hooves together, and pleaded, "Come on, please stay! We have to start up a new bakery, and we don't have the time to do things with them!"

"Well, I have my own life, too," said Cloppins, "and besides... do you have to start a new bakery? Do you have to start it now? Why not wait a few years? These are the best years of your children's lives. Why not spend it with them? Surely that's worth more than any money you could make with your bakery franchise. You'll always be able to expand your business, but you won't always have your children. They'll grow up, and you'll probably wish you'd spent more time with them."

Mr. and Mrs. Cake blinked.

"So?" Cloppins asked.

"I guess we never thought about that," said Mrs. Cake.

"Yeah," said Mr. Cake. "We were so wrapped up in our project that we forgot who we were doing it for in the first place: our children. We can just let Pinkie take over the project, and we can stay here to spend more time with the kids."

"Alright. Well, your kids still get one day with me. I'll make sure I pass along the message."

***

The Cake twins and Mary Cloppins spent the next day playing games, singing songs, and doing other things. At about 3:00 in the afternoon, they were walking around Ponyville, and Mary Cloppins decided to tell them the bad news.

"Children, I'm afraid I have some bad news," she said.

"What is it?" they both asked in unison.

"I must be going back to my home this evening."

"Aww!" the Cake twins said. Tears formed in their eyes.

"But you're the best nanny ever!" said Pumpkin.

"You actually do stuff with us, and our parents are always too busy!" Pound said, sniffling.

"Now, now. Your parents will have a lot more time on their hooves from now on. They've agreed to turn over the new Sugarcube Corner in Hoofington to Pinkie. So now, they can spend more time with you!"

"But... but we'll still miss you," sobbed Pumpkin.

"Now, now. You can choose to focus on the fact that you won't see me again, or you can focus on the fun times we've had and appreciate them for what they were. And besides, why be sad when you can fly?"

Mary Cloppins flapped her wings and rose up into the air, singing a song which sounded like "Let's Go Fly a Kite" from guess what movie.

"It's hard to cry over things
When you have your very own wings.
You can get your hooves off the ground;
You can fly over town.
Come, Pumpkin and Pound,
and let's go fly around."

Pound Cake hovered in the air, grabbing his sister by the hooves and lifting her up as well, as they took off into the air above Ponyville. The three were soon airborne, and rising hundreds of meters off the ground.

"Wow, this is really fun!" said Pumpkin, grasping her brother's hooves, "It's kind of hard to feel sad when you're up so high."

"I never used flying to escape my sadness before, but it really works!" said Pound.

"That's the spirit!" said Mary Cloppins.

All three sang in unison,

"Let's go fly around.
Up, far above the ground.
Let's go fly around and leave our worries.
Forget all of your fears;
They look like ants from here.
Oh, let's go fly around!"

"Good bye, children!" said Mary Cloppins as she flew off into the distance.

"Bye, Mary Cloppins!" Pound and Pumpkin shouted.

***

Shining Armor sat in his bedroom, reading a book as a red and black alicorn walked in.

"Oh, hey Cadie! How'd it go?"

"Man, that flight back here killed my wings," she said. She removed her hat, got a towel, and wiped the red paint off of her coat, and her true pink showed through.

"How were the kids?" he asked.

"Well, I remember now why I don't foalsit anymore," Cadance chuckled. "Those kids will take the energy out of you. But, I did what I set out to do. They'll behave themselves now, and their parents will hopefully spend more time with them."

"That's good to hear. So hey, now that you're back, we should sing the 'I'm so glad to see you again' song!"

Cadance groaned loudly. "Please," she said, "no more songs."