A Thoughtful Gift For a Troubled Family
In the centre of Ponyville sat a large white house with walls made from wood and a thatched roof. The exterior of the house was covered from top to bottom in Hearth’s Warming decorations that glistened slightly from the fine layer of snow that coated them. Within the house was a sizeable bedroom with simple white walls and sparse furnishing. Littering the floor were random pieces of metal and arcane materials. Within that room sat a pale cyan alicorn with a sky blue mane. Pixel Wavelength smiled as the device before her was enveloped in an otherworldly blue glow, matching that of her own magic. It was a strange looking thing: The main unit was formed from a dull grey metal and was vaguely box like, apart from the strange rods that jutted out at odd angles; connected to the front was a flat panel that was made from a plate of shiny silver material not unlike that of a mirror. The flat panel on the front of the device burst into a dazzling array of colour, before settling and forming the faces of five other ponies into a grid on the screen. Nova Blast, Wordplay, Viridian Meadows, Buffy and Viola all greeted Pixel with smiles and waves. Pixel’s smile grew further as the sounds of her friends’ breathing resonated throughout the room, proving the audio function of her invention worked correctly. “Hey guys! Can you hear me?” she asked with a quiver that betrayed her excitement. The alicorn’s voice was like a melody that flowed like water and immediately brought a smile to the face of anybody who heard it.
“Yes Pixel,” said Viola “we can hear you dear”
Pixel’s smile was a full on grin now as her body brimmed with euphoria and self-pride. “Great, now we can get started with the test” she said with no small amount of excitement. “As you know, we will be testing my new invention’s capabilities by playing a Hearth’s Warming themed game of D&D, which was Wordplay’s idea of course. I will be playing the role of Clover the Clever, Buffy will be Chancellor Puddinghead, Viola will be Smart Cookie, Nova will be Commander Hurricane and Viridian will be Private Pansy. We will be taking the perilous journey back to the lands we left behind to teach them about friendship and defeat the remaining windigoes with Wordplay as our Dungeon Master.”
Several hours later, the heroes of Equestria had slain many foes and sustained many wounds, but were still going strong. The party was engaged in a fierce fight between a group of griffon bandits that had taken up residence in the abandoned unicorn castle when a loud bang roughly brought the six players out of their fictional world. The sound had originated from Wordplay’s door as it was viciously slammed into the cabinet beside it by his mother. The earth pony mare was clearly drunk, her eyes were unable to focus on any one place and it was a miracle she was still on her hooves. Upon entering the room, she immediately lunged at Wordplay and shouted in a heavily slurred voice “WORDPLAY! “ she shouted in a slurred voice as her hooves locked around his neck “I’VE TOLD YOU ABOUT LEAVING THAT DOOR CLOSED!” Wordplay had been slammed against the wall by the momentum of his mother’s body and was unable to draw breath due to her grip.
The other ponies were stunned by the horrifying event that was unfolding on the other side of their screens. Luckily, some were quicker to react than others. Viola galloped to the nearest window to shout for the town guard. Pixel was also quick to react, using her wings to navigate her house and to propel her through the frigid air toward Wordplay’s home. Upon reaching the front door, she lit her horn and flung it back on its hinges. She rocketed her way past Wordplay’s father, who had come to see what the commotion was, and up the stairs to his room. Upon entering, she used her magic once more to violently rip the mare away from her son and fling her into the opposite wall. Gone was the benevolent, kind mare that most ponies knew and loved. Here was the side of Pixel Wavelength that most never saw or even knew existed. As the drunken mare struggled to recover from the blow, Pixel planted herself between her and Wordplay, her body shimmering with barely restrained magical energy.
Mere seconds after the exchange, a pair of unicorn guards galloped into the room with spears raised and looked with shocked expressions at the well known and respected alicorn, who was currently engaged in a form of psychological warfare with the drunken mare on the floor, while waves of arcane energy pulsed around her body like a river around a rock.
“Guards,” said Pixel in a voice that was calm, but demanded authority “arrest this mare and get her out of my sight NOW!”
Needless to say, the guards were very quick to respond to that command, binding the earth pony’s hooves and lifting her in a field of levitation out of the room. Wordplay had been watching the event unfold as he attempted to control his breathing after he had been released by his friend. The young stallion regained the ability to use his voice as the swirling energy around Pixel dissipated into the air and leaving a regretful expression on her face. “P...Pixel?” he asked. The alicorn simply moved to walk out of the room with a mixture of anger and regret still present on her face. Wordplay responded by jumping up and wrapping his hooves around her, shocking the mare into stopping.
The feelings of shame at allowing her anger to get the better of her for the first time in years all but dissipated from her mind as she felt her friend’s hooves lock around her neck. Pixel had expected Wordplay to be angry or scared because of her violent outburst. She realised that even though she had made a mistake, she still helped a friend in a time of need, and that friend was grateful. Without further hesitation, she returned the hug with both forelegs and her wings, encompassing her friend in a feathery cocoon. Neither knew how long they were there, but neither wanted to move away either, so they both sat there long into the afternoon.
Pixel Wavelength sighed as she walked along the snow laden roads of Ponyville towards the oddly designed building that was Sugarcube Corner. Luna’s night covered the land like a blanket, causing the falling flakes of snow to glimmer in the lanterns that lined the dirt roads. Up above, the weather team were moving snow clouds into position to replace the ones that had been releasing the icy flakes all day. The team was lead by none other than Rainbow Dash herself, who was easily doing the work of three of her subordinates. On the main street was a group of foals singing carols for everybody to hear, lead by the local schoolteacher. The voices of the school fillies and colts flowed into Pixel’s ears and she had to resist the urge to sing along.
Loyalty binds us and makes us strong
Honesty shows that we belong
And kindness shared will unite us through each day
The lyrics began to force her mind into gear, and the beginnings of a plan started to form.
The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart
Pixel soon lost all thoughts of the carol as her idea began to take shape
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through
She soon walked past her own house and her eyes drifted to the empty plot of land on the opposite side of the street.
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we’ll be to the very end.
Pixel’s head shot up and she began galloping for Sugarcube Corner. Upon entering, she immediately felt the heat from the ovens seep through her coat and warm her body as the smell of baked goods penetrated her nose and filled her mind with a plethora of baked goods. Wordplay had been taken by the guards for questioning and a medical checkup after his assault. Pixel had been released earlier in the evening and had immediately called an emergency meeting of her friends to discuss a plan. As it was the first time she had been able to speak to them after the incident, and even though they had seen the event through their devices, her friends were naturally worried and were quick to show it.
“Pixel dear, we were so worried about you!” said Viola
“I’ve never seen you get angry like that before! AND IT LOOKED AWESOME!” exclaimed Buffy in a surprisingly cheerful voice, considering the circumstances
“How is Word doing?” Nova Blast asked as he looked up from his Neightendo
“Speaking of Word, where is he? I still need to get him back for sicking that group of timberwolves on me.” Viridian Meadows said with a mischievous smile
Pixel sighed “Wordplay will not be joining us just yet; Nurse Redheart insisted on giving him a medical checkup. Anyway, I have something to discuss with you all.”
“Does it involve this situation?” asked Nova
“Yes Nova, it does.” replied Pixel “According to Wordplay, this is not the first time something like this has happened: His mother has assaulted both him and his siblings before, verbally and physically. Obviously his brother managed to get away by attending that university in Manehattan, you know the one that DJ Pon-3 and her friend went to? Anyway, this is also not the first time she has been arrested for her actions, yet every time it has happened, her husband has bailed her out a few days later.”
The expressions of shock, anger and pain on her friends’ faces was all Pixel needed to stop for a moment and let them come to terms with that information
“Why…why did he never tell us this? Why would anypony ever keep this secret?” asked Buffy with tears running down her face
“But he always seemed so cheerful! How could this have happened right under our noses?” asked Viola, her voice dripping with anger
“I suppose it’s true then: ‘It’s often the people who smile the most who cry themselves to sleep at night’” recited Nova in a somber tone
The others all nodded in agreement
“Anyway, the point I wanted to make was that Word is now old enough to live by himself, and can take his twin sister with him. The only thing stopping him is that he has no place of his own to stay in. We should all give something to help him get out of that dreadful place and to somewhere safe. And before you all start throwing suggestions, I already have a plan. Opposite my home is an empty piece of land that would be perfect for building a small home.”
“Darling, let me stop you right there. I love where this is going but how are we going to pay for something like that? It’s going to be awfully expensive.”
Pixel was prevented from replying by a small voice near the counter that was laced with sorrow. “Umm… I may have an idea”
The group were shocked to see that Pinkie Pie was the one who had spoken. The pink mare had rivers of tears streaming down her face and her hair had gone unusually flat. “I’ve known Wordplay’s family ever since they moved to Ponyville, and I always thought Subtle Perfection was a bit of a meanie-pants but I never thought she was this bad.” Pinkie halted as a loud sob let her mouth. “I can set up a humongous bake-sale to help pay for the house. We can bake the goods here and sell them tomorrow. Most of the townsfolk will probably help build it as well, if we asked nicely.”
Viola was the first to respond to the generous offer “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Pinkie.” she said “Many of the townsfolk absolutely adore Wordplay and his sister. I’m sure they’d be willing to help. We can help with the sale too if you want us”
Pinkie’s hair visibly inflated in front of the group and her tears seemed to mysteriously disappear from her face. “GREAT! I’ll get started right away, go and spread the word!” she said in rapidfire before dashing off in a blur towards the kitchens.
The next morning, the group met at Pixel’s home before trudging through the thick snow towards Sugarcube Corner. Clearly, word had gone round about the sale as there was a long line of drooling ponies waiting to sample the delicious treats within. The group went around the back entrance to the kitchen and knocked. The wooden door was opened by Mr. Cake who looked exhausted but greeted the group cheerfully nonetheless. “Hello everypony, we’ve been expecting you. Please, come in,” he said, before turning back into the kitchen and leaving the doorway clear for them to follow. The scene that greeted them could only be described as frightening. Pinkie Pie was nothing more than a streak of pink, occasionally checking an oven or mixing a bowl of cake mixture that somehow continued to mix itself even after she had left. Every once and awhile, Pinkie would deposit a collection of baked goods at a table in the centre of the room where Mrs. Cake would begin wrapping them and handing them to her husband, who would carry them out to be put on display. The spectacle before them began to grow from ‘uncomfortable’ to ‘downright painful’. Sensing the migraines beginning to form in the volunteers’ heads, Mrs. Cake quickly suggested they get ready for opening by heading through to the main shop and getting acquainted with the locations of different items. Needless to say, the group were quick to agree and move away from the gross defilement of the laws of physics and logic.
“Did you see the way she moved?” asked Viola in a horrified voice “How is that even possible?”
“I don’t think it was possible.” replied Nova with a mildly bemused expression on his face “This is Pinkie Pie we’re talking about here”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” said Buffy “Just thinking about it gives me a headache”
The rest of the day simply passed by in a blur, with hundreds of ponies purchasing items from the store. The group took the sales in hourly shifts while the Cakes and Pinkie rested after a full night of non-stop work. By nightfall, the tills had been emptied many times and the final ponies were being served by the exhausted group of friends. Once the last pony had left and the store had been closed, they all collapsed into a sweaty heap and simply lay there, basking in the comfort of each other’s bodies.
An hour later, the Cakes made their way downstairs to be greeted by an unresponsive pile of worn-out ponies. “You all look tired.” Mrs. Cake remarked with a light chuckle “Did we enjoy the day of shopkeeping?”
Viridian was the first pony capable of responding “ugh… how do you do this, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY?!!” she moaned “That was the most stressful thing I have ever done. Ever”
The groans of agreement from the other lifeless bodies were all that were required for the cakes to burst out into laughter “Well, why do you think we hired Pinkie” Mrs. Cake asked between chuckles
“Anyway,” said Mr. Cake “we should see how many bits we earned from this sale. Going by the state of you, I reckon we had lots of customers?
“If by a lot, you mean the entire town. Twice,” Nova responded before yelping as Viola stood in his hoof while attempting to drag herself up up.
Once everypony had recovered sufficiently, they all ventured to the kitchen, where the money was being stored. they were greeted by a huge pile of bits that made the table they were placed on creak and groan under the weight. “This should be more than enough for the land and materials.” said Pixel “I’ll head to Town Hall now and purchase the land so that we can start building tomorrow afternoon. All of the ponies who came here today know what’s happening and some of them can supply building materials, so I’ll head down to them tomorrow to get stuff delivered.” She then turned to the Cakes “Thank you both so much for doing this for us. And could you please tell Pinkie that as well? None of this would have been possible without her.”
The cakes both gave her warm smiles “Of course, dear. It was really no problem at all, we love helping with things like this”
Pixel returned their smiles before leaving the establishment and heading in the direction of Town Hall.
The next afternoon saw a gigantic collection of ponies gathered around the empty plot of land opposite Pixel’s home. Almost the entire town had turned up to assist with the construction, and materials had been provided by a construction company, whose overseer would be coordinating the build. Once the bell struck one, construction began on the wooden framework of the house. Unicorns with high levels of magic would lift heavy beams of wood and connect them together to form the basic frame of a cube while earth ponies would use an advanced pulley system and their own natural strength to lift the rest of the walls into the cube. Pixel smiled as she saw Twilight Sparkle hold a beam up while the Apple family lifted an entire side to attach it to.
An hour later and the house was beginning to take shape. Due to the sheer number of ponies helping, the outer walls had been finished and the team was just starting to fit the windows by levitating the two panes of glass into the frames and sealing them into place before magically removing the air between the two panes. to complete the frame, the outer doors were fitted by screwing the hinges together using mouth-held screwdrivers. By the time Celestia started to lower the sun to make way for the approaching night, the main house had been completed and the process of painting the interior was well underway. Later in the evening, owners of restaurants and cafés around town provided free meals for the workers to substitute for dinner. When the painting had been completed, the workers opened all of the building’s windows to allow the paint to dry and to prevent the smell of paint lingering. Once this had been done, the exhausted mass of ponies trudged off towards their homes to collapse into bed and prepare for the reveal the next morning.
Once the sun finally dragged itself above the horizon to light the ground and bring the temperature back to a bearable level, Pixel left the warm comfort of her home and struggled through the fresh layer of icy, white snow that had accumulated overnight towards Nova’s home.
After rounding up her friends, Pixel turned towards Wordplay’s home with her friends in tow. The house appeared quite sinister after the events that had transpired in only a few days. Nevertheless, Pixel walked up and knocked on the door with confidence. She was glad to see that it was opened by Fair Dice, Word’s twin sister, who smiled upon seeing the alicorn. “Hello Miss Pixel, I’m sorry but Dad wouldn’t be happy if I let you in after that incident the other day.
“That’s alright, Fair.” She replied with a smile of her own “Could you do me a favour and go fetch your brother? Also, go and get dressed up in something warm, I have something special to show the two of you”
“Okay Miss Pixel, I’ll be back in a sec”
Her smile grew as the mare charged up the stairs to find her brother “That young mare never fails to bring a smile to my face”
“I know what you mean, dear.” Replied Viola “She’s like a living bundle of cute”
Moments later, she reappeared in hastily donned clothing with her brother by her side “Hey guys.” he said “Fair said you had something to show us”
“Yeah, but only if you put these blindfolds on.” Said Viridian, holding up the articles
Word was hesitant at first, unlike his sister, who immediately fastened it around her eyes “This isn’t some sort of prank is it?” he asked
“No prank, I can promise that.” she replied, in the most sincere voice any of them had ever heard.
That sentence was all the confirmation the stallion needed, and they were soon leading the siblings slowly through town towards the new building.
As requested, everypony who had helped with the funding and construction of the building was gathered outside the house when the group arrived. Only once Wordplay and Fair Dice were in direct view of the house did Pixel speak once more. “Okay you two, you can take them off now”
The moment the blindfold left his eyes, Wordplay’s jaw hit the floor with awe at the sight before him. He was so awestruck by it, that he failed to notice his sister shaking with barely contained joy. Joy that soon burst with the force of a bomb. “OH MY GOSH!” she squealed “IS THIS ALL FOR US?!!!”
Viola merely chuckled and said. “Of course it is. After we saw what was happening, we couldn’t leave you or your brother in that awful place, so we built a new home for you. As you can see, pretty much the entire town helped.”
Seeing that Word’s jaw had somehow gone even lower at those words, Viridian stepped over and held it up with her hoof “Watch it Word” she said with a light chuckle “You might catch a few flies like that. Come on, let’s go and see the inside”
After a quick tour of the interior, the siblings were nearly in tears after the effort that other ponies had given to improve their lives finally sunk in, and upon returning to the doorstep, embraced their friends, attempting to pour all of their gratitude into the gesture.
“I..I don’t know how I could ever thank you all for…doing this” Word said through multiple sobs
“Don’t be silly,” replied Buffy, with sobs of her own “We wanted to do this”
Every pony in the crowd nodded in agreement at that statement.
“I love you all so much,” said Wordplay “You are all like family to me”
Pixel nuzzled the two siblings and whispered in their ears. “Happy Hearth’s Warming.”
Subtle Perfection growled under her breath as she stormed through the town towards Ponyville’s newest building. Her vision was slightly blurry due to the bottle of rum she had consumed earlier that morning...or was it last night? She really couldn’t remember. All she knew was that she would have to discipline her foals when they were back in their warm house, away from all the damned snow.
She had found out about the new house when that klutz of a mailmare had asked her what she thought about what she thought about the whole thing. Upon rounding the final corner to her destination, her anger multiplied when she saw the sheer amount of ponies that had betrayed her and tried to take her foals away. The red mist descended upon Subtle’s mind and combined with the alcohol to reduce any inhibitors to nothing. With the fury of a thousand storms, the mare stormed towards the centre of the group, where her children were being embraced by a smaller group of ponies. “WORDPLAY! FAIR DICE! GET OVER HERE THIS SECOND OR I’LL SMACK YOU INTO THE NEW YEAR!”
The reaction of the crowd was immediate. Every mare and stallion moved to stand in front of the group, and not one moved out of the furious mare’s way as she moved closer to the crowd. One particularly large red stallion spoke up in response “You will not lay a hoof on them, not while we have anything to say about it. You are a disgrace, come back when you’re sober and willing to be reasonable.” he said with righteous fury in his voice.
Subtle Perfection was too angry to give up, too angry to be intimidated by the stallion or the crowd that surrounded him. At this point she was almost too angry for any kind of rational response whatsoever. “Bu... HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME?!. I AM THEIR MOTHER YOU WALKING SACK OF HORSEAPPLES AND THEY ARE COMING WITH ME THIS INSTANT!”
Once again, the red stallion spoke. Only this time, he only needed one word to stop the mare in her tracks. “Nope”
Somehow, that one word carried enough force to act like a brick wall, stopping Subtle’s charge and giving the mare a small moment of clarity in which she decided to turn around and shout about ‘finding the mayor to sort this mess out’
Once she was out of earshot, several pairs of eyes looked at a light brown mare with silvery grey hair and a small pair of gold-rimmed glasses over her eyes. “Let her search.” said Mayor Mare with a small smirk “Hopefully she’ll have calmed by the time she realises where I am.”
Author's Note
As some of you might have guessed, this story is loosely based off the horrifying ordeal that the content creator, Keyframe has been through over the past few years. As I only found out about this recently I decided to write this story to show that our support for Keyframe should not end even though the situation has been mostly resolved. Ever since I became a member of this fandom, I began to feel like it was a second family to me, so it hurt to find out that someone had gone through this and I had been unable to help at the time. And Key? On the off chance that this finds its way to you, know that there will always be people willing to support you, even through the aftermath of a life-changing event like this. That goes for everybody else who feels like they need someone to support them in a time of need. Bronies are probably amongst the best people you could find.
Unfortunately, because I only found out about this event very recently, this story is too compressed for my liking. However it was necessary to get it completed on time. So, sorry about that.
