But Family's What Binds Us
Sweet Apple Acres had a special kind of beauty in the pristine snowfall of Hearth's Warming Eve. It was the one time of year where there were no chores to be had at all. The maintenance work of winter could wait until the festivities died down, especially now that the Ponyville Apples had two new ponies with whom they could share the holiday, two new ponies who could share their own stories.
"That's..." Sugar Belle wiped at her eyes with a fetlock. "That's the saddest, most beautiful thing I've ever heard."
"I'll agree with you on the sad part." Grand Pear sighed. "I wasn't here for the beauty."
"Aw, hush, you dried-up prune," said Granny Smith, toting a fresh round of mulled cider into the family room.
Grand Pear scowled at her, though a smile crinkled his eyes. "I thought we agreed not to drag the Plums into this."
"Point is, it's Hearth's Warmin' Eve. If we're gonna think about Bright Mac an' Buttercup tonight, we're gonna think about the good times."
"An' we're gonna to do it together!" added Apple Bloom. "As a family!"
Big Macintosh grabbed one of the cider tankards and raised it in a toast to the idea. "Eeyup!"
A knock at the front door interrupted the scramble to imitate the toast. "I got it!" said Applejack, already most of the way to the door and thankful for her traditional Hearth's Warming sweater as she opened i—
"Su-Pies!"
"Waa!" Applejack stumbled back, falling on her rear and letting Pinkie Pie bounce into the homestead.
"Do you get it? Because it's a surprise and it's also Pies, except it's not my great-granny or the Wonderbolt who Rainbow Dash swears is my clone and we can't touch because the universe already almost collapsed a couple weeks ago and Twilight says we need to—"
"Pinkamena Diane Pie!"
Pinkie's jaw snapped shut as her ears flattened. She shuffled aside, softly saying, "Sorry, Ma."
Cloudy Quartz gave a sharp nod as she wiped her hooves on the doormat. "'Tis the season for joyful tidings, Pinkamena, but even thou must keep such things moderate and within reason."
Granny Smith gave a whistle. "Ain't seen nopony shut down Pinkie like that. How you been, Big Mama Q?"
"Quite well, Granny. It is good to be with you for the festival."
Marble Pie nodded as she entered the house. "Mmhmm."
Apple Bloom looked outside. No others Pies were in view. She turned around and said, "Where's Maud? An' Limestone? An' Mister Pie?"
"Limey and Pa are still at the rock farm," said Pinkie, a mug of cider already in one hoof. "I'm not saying they're a pair of grumpuses, but only because the proper plural is 'grumpi.'"
"'Tis a delicate time for the mica harvest. Somepony needs must watch over it." Cloudy glared over her glasses. "As thou knowest well, Pinkamena."
Pinkie sighed. "Yeah, that too..."
"I-I'm sorry," said Sugar Belle, who had retreated nearly to the kitchen, "who are all these ponies?"
"Oh, right!" Pinkie zipped behind her immediate family, pointing to each in turn. "Sugar Belle, this is Cloudy Quartz, the best mom I ever had, and Marble Pie, the bestest little sister by a few minutes that anypony could ever ask for!"
"Mmhmm."
Sugar looked back and forth between Pinkie and Marble. "Wait, you're a twin?"
"'Twas a harrowing birth. There was much squirming and swearing vengeance upon my dear Igneous," Cloudy said, utterly straight-faced. "And who art thou?"
"Oh, uh—"
"This is Sugar Belle!" said Pinkie, now hanging from the kitchen ceiling. "She's from a village that my friend Starlight used to run! You know, the one where she brainwashed everypony into rejecting cutie marks and we exposed the hypocrisy in the system and she tore my balloons off and locked me in a room for a day?" Pinkie's gaze went distant for a moment before she perked back up. "Sugar Belle threw a snow pie at her!"
Sugar Belle hazarded a nod. "Um, yeah."
"She's Big Mac's—" Pinkie gasped and slapped her forehooves over her mouth, retreating from view.
Marble just turned to a nondescript spot in the living room. The others followed her and found Pinkie there. "Hmm?" hummed Marble, her gaze intense.
Still, it had nothing on her mother's. "She is Big Macintosh's what, precisely, Pinkamena?"
Big Macintosh stepped forward. "She's my special somepony. Fell for her hard." He bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Marble."
Marble teared up and ran for the stairs. Pinkie looked back and forth between the second floor and Big Mac for a few moments before following her. "Marble! Wait! I'm sorry!"
Big Mac sighed.
"You never mentioned her."
He stiffened and turned to a glowering Sugar Belle. "Uh, well..."
"If you'll excuse me." Sugar turned her nose up and marched into the kitchen.
Mac could only watch her go. "Uh..."
"Well," said Cloudy. "This shall be interesting."
Granny looked to Grand Pear. "You've been sittin' there nursin' that cider this whole time. Ain't you gonna say somethin'?"
He grinned. "Why? This is some of the best entertainment I've had since I moved back to Ponyville!"
She scowled at him. "Go an' help yer grandson, darn it. I'm gonna go make sure Sugar Belle don't burn down the kitchen. Celestia knows I've come close when I've been that angry." Granny rose, cracking a few joints in the process, and made good on her word.
Grand Pear turned to Cloudy. "Mrs. Quartz? A bit of privacy, if you don't mind?"
She nodded. "Of course. Applejack, Apple Bloom, perhaps you could help me determine an alternative to Pinkamena's plan for our lodgings. She has a tendency to overestimate many things, including the size of her bed."
Applejack's eyes darted about the scene before she gulped and said, "Uh, sure. C'mon, Apple Bloom."
Once the stallions were alone, Grand Pear said, "I won't sugarcoat it, boy. You messed up."
Big Mac rolled his eyes. "Eeyup."
"I know, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, but it's not like I've dealt with this myself. Usually beautiful mares threw themselves at me one at a time."
Big Mac snorted and rolled his eyes.
Grand Pear smirked. "You may not believe me, but your Grandma D'Anjou had her work cut out for her." His expression grew serious. "Now, what's the story with this Marble filly? You known her long?"
"Only met her last Hearth's Warmin', but we hit it off right quick. Wrote letters for a while."
"And who sent the last one?"
The silence stretched for a few seconds. "She did."
"Around the time you met Sugar Belle?"
Big Mac winced. "Eeyup."
Grand Pear nodded. "I think you know what you need to do."
"Apologize?"
"To the both of them, and that's just to begin with." Grand Pear looked to the heavens. "While you're at it, hope to Celestia that the others can get them to a state where they'll accept those apologies before next Hearth's Warming."
Pinkie gulped. "Now, Marble, I know this looks kind of bad—"
"Mmhmm," Marble grunted, pacing about Apple Bloom's room with an expression more fitting Limestone.
"Okay, it looks real bad."
"Mmhmm." Each step made every item in the room shake. Including Pinkie.
"In my defense, you never asked."
Marble gave Pinkie a glare hard enough to scratch diamond before turning away with a "Hmmph."
Pinkie sighed, ears flat. "Yeah, that sounded better in my head. Most things I say do."
"Mm."
"Hey!" Pinkie tried for a frown of her own, though it came out as more of a pout. "I know you're angry—"
"Mmhmm."
Pinkie blinked. "Seriously?"
"Mmhmm," Marble said with a sharp nod.
"Okay, I'd just chalk that up to you not getting off the farm very often, but I know you've met a unicorn before. Remember Trixie?"
Marble slowly relaxed as she thought. "Mmhmm."
"Exactly. They don't all actually have freaky glowy thought control powers. Limestone just said they did because it made for awesome spooky stories when we were little. Besides, you did hear the part about how Sugar Belle was in the creepy equal village, right? Even if she could mind-whammy Big Mac, if anypony's going to keep her hooves off of other ponies' minds, it's her."
Marble said nothing, barely even moving beyond chewing her lip in thought.
Pinkie edged closer. "Marble?"
Marble drew herself up. "I'm going to talk to her."
"Oh." Pinkie retracted her dropped jaw. "Uh, sure! Let's—"
"I'm going to talk to her, Pinkie. Please stay here."
"Uh... Well, if you're sure."
"Mmhmm."
"Sure. Okay then. Just, uh, let me know when you're through?" Pinkie watched the door close in front of her. "Okay! Good talk."
Sugar Belle paced about the kitchen, hooves stomping and horn sparking. "That no-good, inconsiderate son of... of a burnt turnover!"
From behind her came a creaky voice. "Now my daughter-in-law was a lot o' things, but she weren't no burnt turnover."
Sugar started, then turned around. "I'm sorry, Granny Smith. But that..." She shook her head. "Ugh. I usually bake when I'm angry, but the oven's taken."
Granny nodded. "I'm the same way." She leaned in, eyes narrowed. "You didn't open th' oven, did you?"
"No."
"Good. Hearth's Warmin' casserole's near as finicky as zap apple jam."
"Uh huh," said Sugar Belle, having resumed her pacing. "How can a stallion who grew up surrounded by mares be so clueless?"
"Well, family's one thing, but romance is quite another. Big Mac knows how t' deal with sisters an' grannies, sure, but the closest he ever came to a special somepony before you came 'round was Miss Cheerilee."
Sugar came to a stop. "He told me about that. And the love poison."
Granny nodded. "He's always been a looker, but after that, he wasn't lookin'. Think he got scared off for a while. First time I saw him interested again was Marble, come t' think of it."
"Really," Sugar ground out.
"Aw, don't get like that. The two o' them're so shy, they'd probably wait for the other to make the first move 'til the sun burnt out. An' that's before them bein' cousins, more or less." Granny smiled. "But she got him lookin' again, an' then he found you."
Sugar rolled her eyes. "So, what, you're saying I should thank her?"
"Nope. I'm sayin' you should remember that that darn fool grandson o' mine ain't got no idea what he's doin' when it comes to romance, but his heart's as big as the rest o' him. This ain't gonna be the first time he'll stick his hoof in his mouth, but he'll never mean t' hurt you."
"He still did."
"An' he'll apologize," Granny said with the certainty of established fact, "or I'll break my best rollin' pin over his fool head."
"Ahem."
Both mares turned to the kitchen entrance, where Marble Pie stood straighter than either had seen. "Granny Smith," she said, her volume not much above a whisper but her tone firm, "could you give us a minute alone?"
Granny looked back and forth between the two young mares. "Y'all best not fight in here. Head outside first."
"I don't want to fight. I just want to talk to Sugar Belle. Alone."
Granny snorted. "Yeah, sure. I remember some o' the talks I had when I was your age. The rest're dents in somepony else's skull. Just don't break anything."
Sugar and Marble stared at one another for several ticks of the kitchen clock, like Mild West pieslingers sizing each other up before the draw. Neither so much as twitched a tail or shifted an ear.
Finally, Marble broke the stalemate. "Do you love him?"
Sugar Belle looked down, scraping a hoof against the floorboards. "At first, I wasn't sure. I thought he just saw me as a prize. Maybe even just something he only wanted because somepony else did. The crazy stunts he pulled—"
"Do you love him?"
"For a while after Starlight, I wasn't sure what love even was." Sugar looked up at Marble, barely able to meet the other mare's eyes. "You can't imagine what it's like to be separated from what makes you you for so long. It took time for me to think of anything beyond all the recipes I could make properly now, and by that time—"
Marble closed the gap between them, her forehead nearly grazing Sugar Belle's horn. "One word. Yes or no. Do. You. Love. Him?"
"Yes." Sugar blinked after the word slipped out. It took her a moment to realize she'd even said it.
Marble nodded as she backed away. "That's what matters."
"Do you not?"
A small smile crept across Marble's muzzle. "It's complicated."
Sugar's eyes narrowed, but she couldn't keep a small smile off her lips. "Hypocrite."
"I'm not the one he loves. I'm not sure if I ever was. Maybe a little crush, but... well, we are cousins." Marble shrugged. "Maybe. Very distantly."
"So does that mean we can just focus on Hearth's Warmin' and not who Big Mac's cuddlin' up to?"
Both mares looked to the doorway to the family room. The open, entirely unobstructed doorway to the family room, and the ponies congregated around it.
"Aww, Apple Bloom, you ruined it," said Pinkie. "I thought they were going to hug."
Marble sighed. "Really?"
"What kind of older sister would I be if I didn't watch out for you?"
She turned to one of the other spectators. "Mother?"
"I am only equine, Marblessa," Cloudy said, not a hint of shame in her expression. "And it is a rare treat to hear thee speak for thyself when Pinkamena is present."
Sugar just looked back and forth among the onlookers. "Uh..."
"Aw, don't feel ashamed," said Applejack, walking and drawing her into a one-legged hug. "With a family as big as the Apples, we got whole branches who ain't talkin' to each other save for the reunion."
"Yeah!" added Apple Bloom. "This was nothin' compared to Aunt Pomegranate Seed an' Aunt Beach Apple."
"Why don't we all sit by the fire and we can catch each other up on one another," said Grand Pear. "It seems I'm late to a very interesting party."
As everypony did that, Sugar and Marble registered the one notable absence from the spectators sitting on the couch. "Big Mac?" said Marble.
"You weren't listening?" added Sugar.
"Nnope," he said, staring at the fire. "Wasn't my business."
Marble and Sugar looked at each other and saw matching soft smiles. Marble dipped her head. Sugar Belle walked to the couch and cozied up at Big Mac's side. The two looked lovingly into one another's eyes, the rest of the ponies in the house fading from their awareness.
A knock at the door broke them out of it. It opened to reveal Maud Pie, wearing at least six inches of snow on top of her usual frock. "Sorry I'm late," she droned.
"Maud!" Pinkie cried, pronking up to her big sister.
Cloudy followed, looking Maud over. "Art thou well, Maudalina?"
"It turns out there are some disadvantages to living in a cave. Especially during winter."
Sugar looked back at Mac and giggled. "Well, I guess it wouldn't be Ponyville without some insanity."
He just chuckled and held her closer.
