Brown Sugar sat at the window and sighed. It was morning and she was up for a whole hour already, but she had spent it with nothing else than sitting at the window in her room and observing what she could see outside. Which was not much, but Brown Sugar did not care, as her mind was somewhere else.
The little, brown filly with the ice cream mane (at least, that's what her friends always said) looked up to the sun. A cloud crossed over it and she followed it with her eyes. Pictures appeared in her mind; of a soft, cloudy paradise and of herself, playing in this paradise together with all of her friends. A part of her suddenly wished to be far away, in this cloud paradise or anywhere else.
As the cloud left her sight, her cheerful vision ended abruptly and Brown Sugar realized again where she was. She detracted her eyes from the window and glanced across her bedroom to a calendar that stood on a shelf behind her bed. Today's date was marked with a thick, red pencil. Brown Sugar sighed again, then looked back out of the window. Today was her sixth birthday. It was a day on which she was supposed to be happy. But instead, all Brown Sugar felt was emptiness.
It hadn't always been like this, she realized, thinking back on past birthday celebrations. Her first four birthdays, at least as far as she could remember, had been wonderful. There had been cakes, there had been presents and there had been long parties. Her heart felt bittersweet as she thought on how her daddy had come into her room at morning and how she awoke to the sight of him standing at her bed and smiling, already the first present of the day in his hooves.
Her fifth birthday had none of this.
Everything became different when the divorce happened. Brown Sugar still couldn't spell this word right, but her daddy had explained her what it meant: That he and mommy couldn't live together anymore. And, much worse than that, it turned out that it also meant that she and her daddy couldn't live together anymore! For a reason Brown Sugar did not understand, she was expected to live with mommy alone since then. And what she understood even less was, that she was not allowed to see her daddy more than twice a month anymore.
Since Daddy had moved out, Brown Sugar felt almost constantly lonely in the huge mansion. Daddy used to give her piggyback rides, he was listening to what she and her friends had been up to every evening after he had returned from work and he had tucked her in and told her a bedtime story every night. He had even created own stories for her! But since the divorce, nothing of this did happen anymore.....
Mommy wasn't doing any of these things for her. She was hardly at home even. Mommy did not work, because she still had a lot of daddy's money, but she was spending most nights in Canterlot, at the fancy restaurants or at one of the many balls that happened there. She came home when Brown Sugar had been long in bed already and, sometimes, was already out of the house again once Brown Sugar woke up the next morning. And her fifth birthday had not been an exception. She hadn't seen mommy the whole day, even though she had waited for her at the kitchen table until bedtime. It was a depressing birthday and Brown Sugar did not expect that today would be any less depressing.
At least, she was not going to wait this year. No, this year, she would go outside and meet her friends, to at least have as much fun as she could if there wasn't going to be a party for her. That's something she had decided when going to bed yesterday. But following this plan was easier said than done, Brown Sugar had to discover, as she was simply lacking the energy to step away from the window and leave the house.
She could have stayed like this for another hour or two, just gazing out the window and watching the streets and the clouds in the sky, if it weren't for the fact that she was hungry. She didn't have any breakfast yet and had neither felt like eating anything, so far, despite the growl in her stomach. Now, however, the pain started to feel unbearable. With another sigh emanating from her mouth, Brown Sugar hesitantly detracted her eyes from the window once more and slipped down from the chair she had been sitting on this whole time. Only now she noticed that her flank had started to feel numb. She rubbed over it with a frown to get the feeling to go away, which proved useless, then she set herself clumsily into motion and left her room.
Outside, Brown Sugar was greeted by a brightly lit corridor. She looked up a wall and found all the lamps being turned on. Just to confirm this wasn't necessary and just a waste of energy, she turned her head to one of the windows, which was, just as she had expected, not covered. The thick, red curtain hung at its side, held together by the golden cord that was tidily wrapped around it. Brown Sugar looked at it for a few seconds with a deep frown, the meaning of all of this flooding her mind like a splash of hot water. She turned away and breathed a painful sigh. Even more hesitation in her steps than before, she trotted through the corridor towards the door on the right, which was just a tiny bit open, barely enough to see the color of the floor through the crack.
Brown Sugar nudged the door open with her head, feeling too drained to lift a hoof to do it. As soon as the door was open, a pungent smell entered Brown Sugar's nostrils. Instinctively, she scrunched up her nose.
Inside the room, in a few meters distance, a mare with a brown coat was draped over a large queen-size bed. Head placed on a big, fluffy pillow, she was facing the other side of the room, revealing a mane that was bearing a strong resemblance to ice cream, just like Brown Sugar's. It appeared to be messy, but an attentive observer could have noticed that it had been very elegant and proper a few hours ago. The mare was lying on top of the blanket, instead of under it, giving sight to a red gown she was still wearing. Everything in the bedroom indicated that she had been collapsing on her bed right after entering.
“Mommy?” Brown Sugar asked in a whispering volume, more because of a certain weakness she felt, rather than out of a desire to be considerate by not making loud noise.
While she faithfully waited for an answer, the pungent smell that was still invading her nose got accompanied by another, much stronger smell. Brown Sugar was a lot more familiar with this smell. Unlike the first one, which was rather rarely present, she noticed this smell somewhere in the mansion nearly every day. She was old enough to understand that it was alcohol, something adults were drinking at parties to get into a good mood. At the same time, she failed to understand how something that smelled so bad was supposed to make a pony feel better.
Brown Sugar scrunched up her nose again as the pungent smell, that was even more awful, gained dominance again. She held a hoof over her mouth, suppressing a retch. “Mommy!” she reached out a second time, louder and demanding now, as the urge to vomit was gone.
Nothing. The mare in the bed did not respond. All Brown Sugar got as reply was a snort and some slight stirring, then everything was the same again.
Brown Sugar dropped her ears instantly. Her eyes started to burn as a horribly strong feeling of frustration washed over her. She took a step into the direction of the bed, then stopped mid-movement before doing a second one, right hoof still in the air. For a second, she stared at her mommy, then she hung her head, turned around and trotted out of the room, not bothering to close the door again.
Dejected, Brown Sugar kept her head low as she trudged through the corridor again. At the end of it, she reared up and put her forehooves on the wall, absentmindedly. She stretched her short body to reach for the light switch. After a few seconds of struggling, the tip of her hoof finally touched it and the lamps went out, leaving the task of lighting the corridor to the natural light of the sun again. Hooves back on the floor, Brown Sugar returned to her former posture and left the corridor for the staircase, unable to feel pride for the difficult task she had just accomplished.
Down the staircase and all the way to the kitchen, Brown Sugar kept eyeing the floor. Only as she entered the kitchen, she hesitantly looked up again to see what was in front of her. Her heart did a jump as her eyes fell on the kitchen table. A piece of cardboard stood on its surface. A birthday card!
Her heart leaping again, Brown Sugar rushed over to the kitchen table. At least that was something her mommy had thought on! She snatched the card with both hooves and started to inspect it, bright joy radiating from her now widely opened eyes. As she began reading the text printed on the front of it, though, her mouth turned to a frown and her ears dropped again.
Getting Old and Staying Young is the Greatest Good
Following a sudden, dreadful idea, Brown Sugar opened the card with trembling hooves to check the text inside. “Dear dad, I wish you all the best to your 70th birthday. Stay as healthy and jolly as you are now! Best wishes, Peanut Pastry” she read, then let the card sink in her hooves.
Tears began to form in Brown Sugar's eyes. She sniffed. One time, two times, three times, each sniff louder than the last one. Then she started to sob. The little filly filled the air around her with heartbreaking sounds of crying. Tears dropped down from her face and began soaking the treacherous birthday card she was staring down at.
After one or two minutes she had spent crying like this, Brown Sugar slowly lifted a hoof and, still holding the card, rubbed it over her now puffy and red eyes. In a distraught fashion, she tossed the card into the trash and left the kitchen again. Suddenly, she didn't feel hungry anymore. Still crying and sobbing, Brown Sugar went back into the entrance hall of the massive, almost empty mansion, pulled the front door open and trotted outside onto the streets.
Seemingly aimless, but with a clear destination on her mind, Brown Sugar trotted through Ponyville. She hadn't stopped crying after leaving her home, but slowly, she felt the exercise and the fresh air calming her agitated mind. The longer she was trotting, the quieter her cries became. As she arrived at the park at the edge of town, she was only sniffing anymore.
In the distance was a playground that was part of the park and Brown Sugar's eyes locked themselves onto it. Now fully recovered, Brown Sugar sat herself into motion again and trotted towards the playground.
As she came closer, a filly with a dark-pink coat and a fluffy, blue mane perched on top of a cube-shaped climbing frame looked over, having spotted her. She waved, then climbed down the frame in swift agility. On the ground, she cantered into her direction, a happy smile on her lips.
“Hey, Brown Sugar!” she chirped, a pair of tiny wings unfolded, and stretched out a hoof.
Brown Sugar returned the smile in kind. “Good Morning, Plumberry!” She bumped the hoof of her friend. Then she looked behind the other filly, scrutinizing the playground. In quick succession, her eyes went over the climbing frame, the swings, the slides, the small carousel and a few other playground structures. As she found all of them empty, she looked back at Plumberry. “Where are Titania and the rest?” she asked, feeling a bit of worry raising in her chest.
“They will be late,” Plumberry answered. “Titania mentioned something about an apple cart on the loose and a broken shop window and that their parents and some other adults will detain them now.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“De.....tain them?” Brown Sugar asked, furrowing her brow. “What does that mean?”
Plumberry shrugged again. “Probably means they're going to get house arrest for the whole day, but I bet they're going to sneak out with Titania later anyway, you know them.” She turned around. “Anyway, Lightning Flare said you need to see something at the sandpit. Come.” She beckoned her over, then trotted away, not checking to see if Brown Sugar would follow.
Confused, Brown Sugar sat herself into motion. “Does it have to do with the apple cart and the window?” she asked from behind.
“No idea,” Plumberry responded without turning around. “It's something weird..... But he said it's really important for you to see it.”
Brown Sugar looked over Plumberry's shoulder to see what was ahead of them. The sand pit came already into her view. It was the most gigantous sand pit of all of the Ponyville playgrounds, of a size that thirty foals could have easily played in there and built their sand castles without nudging each other. It made Brown Sugar gasp nearly every time she saw it. This time, though, she was more busy with scanning the huge area. The sandpit had no boundary, it was one vast and wide field of sand, and it took Brown Sugar a few moments to check for anything remarkable or unusual that Plumberry could have talked about. But there was nothing. Not even a forgotten toy was sticking out of the grainy surface.
As Brown Sugar wanted to express her confusion over this and ask Plumberry what this was all about, they had already reached the mass of sand and Plumberry turned around at her. She was wearing a deeply satisfied expression, one that looked almost smug. It lasted for merely a second, then it turned to a big grin, the pearly-white teeth forming a pleasant contrast to the darker coat of the filly.
Brown Sugar cocked her head. “Plumberry? There's nothing here..... What are we doing?”
Plumberry did not respond. She just kept grinning, not forming a single word with her mouth. Then she lifted a hoof up into the air and let it come down again with a thud. Suddenly, a loud bang cut through the air behind her and a good amount of the sand got blown up skyward. The two fillies were showered in grains of sand first, then a rainbow cascade of colorful streamers and confetti rained down on them. Before Brown Sugar, now staring blankly in a mix of shock, awe and even more confusion, could say anything, a pink blur zipped into her direction and came to a standstill only inches away from her nose.
“SURPRISE!” Pinkie Pie yelled into her face, then swiftly proceeded with strapping a pink party hat onto her head.
At this command, a bush to Brown Sugar's right stirred, then four foals popped their heads out of it. “Happy Birthday!” they shouted, their combined voices not any less loud than the one of the party mare.
Brown Sugar said nothing, she just stared at the foal heads sticking out of the leafage. Slowly, but steady, tiny wells of tears got built up in her eyes and her bottom lip started to quiver.
“A-All of you?” she squeaked, then the tears of joy started to flow.
The foals came out of the bush, revealing the rest of their bodies. The first one, a filly with a two-toned, purple mane and a white coat that had a small tinge of blue, approached Brown Sugar and draped her hooves around her for a hug. “Happy sixth birthday, Brown Sugar!”
Brown Sugar squeezed the filly. “Titania.....” she whispered. “T-Thank you.” She wiped over her eyes with one hoof and nuzzled her friend's head a bit, then they let go of each other.
Having trotted behind Brown Sugar, Titania frowned at Plumberry. “An apple cart on the loose and a broken window? This is all you could come up with, Plumberry? How boring.....” She yawned demonstratively.
Around her, the other foals nodded.
“Yeah, you could have thought of something better as an explanation for why we're not here yet than the most basic and simple thing, Plumberry!” a filly with a dull, grey coat and a contrasting, dark-purple mane voiced the sentiment of the group, bluntly. Her white glasses shifted a bit as she gave Brown Sugar a hug, as well.
“Plum Star!” a voice called out to her from behind. “Did you already forget what I said yesterday?” A black colt with a mane that resembled a dancing, blue flame gave her a stern look as he came closer.
Plum Star let go of Brown Sugar and crouched a little. “No..... But I just said the truth, you heard Titania!” She frowned back at him, then left Brown Sugar and trotted to the other filly behind her.
“But not like this.” The colt hung his head and sighed. “We really need to work on this.....” He hugged Brown Sugar, then joined the other two.
A filly with a pale yellow coat approached Brown Sugar next. Her eyes, that were as mint-colored as her mane and her tail, showed a nervous expression and she looked over to the party cannon in the sand, slightly shivering. She bit her lip. Seeing the reaction, Brown Sugar did a step back. She only accepted the hug hesitantly, then sighed in relief as the filly had passed her.
Lastly, Plumberry squeezed her friend tightly. Returning the gesture, although a little bit less tight than she did with Titania, Brown Sugar asked “Was this your idea, Plumberry?” She dropped a few more tears into Plumberry's blue mane.
“Yep!” Plumberry answered with a smile. She pulled away. “I already thought your mom wouldn't do anything for your birthday again, so I called Pinkie Pie and then all of us planned a party together!” She grinned.
“A party?” Brown Sugar asked, beaming. “A whole party?” She gasped. “A real, big and awesome party, just for me?!” She looked over at Pinkie Pie, who stood at the side of her now empty party cannon.
“Yeeeeeeees!” Pinkie Pie confirmed her words. The pink mare pushed the party cannon off the sand and let it roll into the bush. Back in the sandpit, she reached with both hooves into the sand and pulled a long table out of it. It was decked with a white tablecloth and flowers. The centerpiece was a large chocolate cake on a silver platter, a big “6” in the middle of it. It was surrounded by smaller plates with cupcakes, ice cream and other deliciously unhealthy treats on them. Miraculously, none of the treats had the slightest trace of sand grains on them.
As the table stood where it was supposed to, Pinkie Pie reached into the sand again and this time, pulled out three stallions wearing red and white outfits and large straw hats. Immediately, they started playing their guitars. Just as the food, they were free of any sand grains, as well.
Brown Sugar's eyes got big as plates. “MARIACHIS!” she yelled. Then she squinted one eye and cocked her head. “But how could they be under the sand the whole time?”
Collectively, the other foals shrugged, their faces as clueless as hers. Owning her the answer, they trotted to the huge table, drawn to it by the tasty food assortment. Plumberry put a hoof around Brown Sugar's shoulder and pulled her close. “Let's go!” she shouted and dragged her friend with her.
The party was a smashing success. The foals buried their mouths into the delicious food Pinkie had organized, the mariachis took care of the best musical atmosphere Brown Sugar could wish for and everypony had a great time. The highlight for all of them were the various, crazy party games Pinkie had come up with, from a cupcake eating tournament to a treasure hunt all over the park to deep sand diving, the birthday girl and the rest of the foals all enjoyed the activities tremendously.
As all of them had returned to the table, exhausted from playing and more than willing to fill their little bellies with more party food to regain strength, it only took Brown Sugar three cupcakes to reach for another big piece of the, now not quite as towering, cake. To her left and right, Titania and Plumberry raised their eyebrows almost simultaneously.
“Are you sure you want to eat this? You already had five pieces, how is your belly not exploding yet?” Titania questioned the appetite of her friend.
“Um-hmm.” The four other foals nodded together, not seeming to notice that all of them were stuffing themselves, as well.
Brown Sugar did not falter in conquering her sixth piece of delicious, chocolatey goodness, her only reaction a cheeky smile that got formed by her lips. As the piece had landed on her plate, Brown Sugar licked her lips, a small drop of drool trickling out of her mouth. She brought the cake piece up to her face, watched by Plum Star, who sat further to her right.
“Titania is right, she should really stop now,” the filly with the glasses said.
Unimpressed, Brown Sugar began to open her mouth, getting ready to take a huge bite.
“But I understand why she is stuffing herself so much today, cause tomorrow, all she will get from her mom are cornflakes again.”
Like Plum Star had just given a signal, all the other foals at the table, and even Pinkie Pie, stopped eating and cast a shocked glance at Brown Sugar.
Brown Sugar let the cake sink, just a split-second before her tongue could have touched it. She eyed it with a sad expression, tears gradually forming. The formerly so happy birthday girl dropped her favourite treat and got up from her seat, accompanying the movement with a sob. She crawled behind the tablecloth and under the table. As she came out at the other side, she galloped away immediately, only leaving sobs and cries in her wake.
“Hey, Brown Sugar, wait!” Lightning Flare's voice rang into her ears from behind, but Brown Sugar did not turn around.
As she arrived at the mansion, Brown Sugar did waste no time to reach her bedroom. Her surroundings a blur, she cantered up the stairs, through the corridor and into the room, where she threw herself on the bed. She laid there for a few seconds, burying her nose into the bedsheets and wetting them with snots, before she awkwardly shifted to her pillow. After sinking her head down on it, the distraught filly turned on her left side and pulled her hindlegs closer to her belly. One foreleg placed in front of her and the other one draped over the pillow behind her head, she stayed in this position and continued her now incessant weeping and crying. Brown Sugar had her eyes closed, but despite that, her face was one big expression of grief and heartache.
After more minutes of crying than Brown Sugar would have cared to count in even a less distraught state, she perked her ears as she heard sounds coming from downstairs. Brown Sugar opened her eyes, which were red and puffy again now, with tiny, red veins outlining themselves against the white of her eyeballs. She moved herself up from her lying position, choking up a few times in the process, and sat down at the edge of her bed. For a few seconds, Brown Sugar did not move, then she rubbed her right forehoof over her eyes and reached behind her, grabbing the calendar down from its shelf. Then she got down onto the floor. On shaking hooves, she went to the still open door of her bedroom and trotted outside. Her destination was, like it had been this morning, the kitchen, which was where the sounds came from.
As Brown Sugar entered it, she saw the pony she had both expected and hoped to meet there. Other than in the morning, her mother was not wearing the red gown anymore. Undressed, she sat at the kitchen table, a large, steaming cup of coffee in front of her. Her red eyes bore a strong resemblance to her own, but Brown Sugar knew exactly what the difference was.
Hesitantly, her mind conflicted between dread and hope, she sat down on the stool at the opposite side of the round table, casually putting the calendar in front of her. From her position, she could glance into the trash from the corner of her eyes. Doing so confirmed to her that the card was still inside. She gave it a slight snort, then directed her eyes at her mother. “Good afternoon,” she said. Despite the cute smile she had cast at her mother to support her greeting, there was a tiny snark in her voice.
Peanut Pastry noticed neither of it, indicated by the dull expression in her eyes and the still sleepy voice. “Morning,” she responded, barely detracting her eyes from the hot, brown liquid in front of her.
It was the most basic of answers and any other filly would have been worried that something was wrong now. Not Brown Sugar. At the back of her mind, countless memories of “mornings” like this flashed up; of mommy sitting in front of her with that dull expression, barely acknowledging her presence. Somewhere in the midst of those memories, a slightly more pleasant one fought its way through.
“Adults call it a 'hangover',” Titania's voice sounded in her head. There couldn't have been a better word to describe it, her mommy was literally hanging over the table, one hoof supporting her head like she was afraid it could fall off any moment. “Hangover” was, however, not the word Brown Sugar used for this condition.
“Hangover?” she heard her own voice now, as the memory continued playing like a movie in her mind. “I will just call it a 'hangdowner'.....”
“A 'hangdowner'?” she heard Titania asking.
“Because I'm always down when mommy is like this,” she heard her own voice once again, giving an explanation in a sad, dejected tone. Then this memory stopped playing and got replaced by more memories of the same kind of scene that happened right now.
Brown Sugar shifted her flank a little, then she lowered her head and propped it on her right hoof. Doing her best to appear as bored as possible, she randomly flipped through the pages of the calendar. After a few pages, she shot her mother a tiny, unsuspecting glance without moving her head. Then she continued flipping the pages. Over the next few minutes, she developed a pattern; flipping through the pages, looking at her mother, then more flipping. As her mother's expression did not change and she did not show the slightest reaction, Brown Sugar moved back into a more upright position.
Now the page with the current month was at the top again; the thick, red marking sticking out of it. Brown Sugar leaned over it, just far enough to not cover the marked date. Feigning huge interest, she lowered her eyebrows and scrutinized the page, occasionally moving a hoof over it, then stopping at a date and scrunching her face like she was in deep thought. It was a very convincing impression of a filly trying to find the right date for some activity.
Finally, her mother stirred. Noticing the movement, Brown Sugar looked up at her and flashed her another cute smile.
Peanut Pastry grunted. “Now.....” she began as she moved herself into an upright posture.
“..... what are you so busy with all the time? Come, let mommy see!” Brown Sugar faithfully finished the sentence in her head.
But her mommy got up from her stool, lifting her now empty cup with her magic and hovering it behind her as she turned towards the luxurious kitchen unit. Brown Sugar's ears dropped and the smile vanished from her face. She watched her mommy as she dropped the cup into the sink with a thud, the sound making her twitch. Then her mommy turned around at her, stoically.
“I'm going out again tonight, for another gala in Canterlot.” She pointed with the hoof to one of the lower cupboards near the floor. “Cornflakes and milk are in there.” She grunted again. “Which you know anyway.” Then she sat herself into motion and out of the kitchen, without addressing her daugher any more, her thoughts already up in the bathroom where she would bring her body back into pristine condition.
All of a sudden, Brown Sugar felt like falling. Like the stool and the floor and the ground had suddenly been pulled out from under her by a powerful, invisible force that wanted to let her plunge into a dark abyss. Dejected, she looked down at the table. While the sounds of her mommy's hoofsteps were disappearing on the second floor, new tears were appearing in her eyes. She slumped on her stool, breathing out a deep sigh at first, then started crying. Painfully, she realized that it was the third time she was crying on this day. A birthday full of tears.
Questions flooded her mind while she sat there, sniffing and whimpering in the empty kitchen. Why did this have to happen today of all days? Why did mommy have to go to a gala today? Why couldn't it be her gala today?
Brown Sugar's tears continued to flow and wetted the table's surface as she pondered over these questions, desperately trying to find answers where there weren't any. Eventually, her crying became weaker, as her thoughts wandered to the subject of getting her mommy's attention again and her tears stopped leaking out of her eyes as said thoughts entered a darker territory.
Brown Sugar sniffed a last time and wiped over her eyes, then she stared at the air in front of her with an expression that was both determined and grim.
“Maybe..... Maybe I just have to do much more.” Her thoughts continued wandering and she saw a certain structure on the playground popping up in front of her mind's eye. “Maybe, if mommy has to visit me in the hospital tomorrow, she will finally talk with me.....” The heartbroken filly sniffed again. “Yeah.....” she then whispered in a low voice. “She will talk with me then.”
Having made a decision, Brown Sugar slipped down the stool and trotted out of the kitchen. As she came past the bathroom, the sounds from inside that indicated where her mother would spend her time this evening did not bother Brown Sugar. She even cast a confident look at the door, already enacting her plan in her head.....
On the next day, Brown Sugar was sporting a smile on her lips as she arrived at the playground. It didn't take long for her friends to notice her. Worry and concern gracing their faces, they galloped over to her, Lightning Flare at the top. The colt with the blue mane reached a hoof out to Brown Sugar, giving her an apologetic smile.
“I'm sorry for Plum Star's words yesterday,” he said, in a surprisingly formal tone for a colt his age. “Are you feeling better today?”
Brown Sugar nodded, still the same smile on her face. “Um-hm. I'm okay..... You don't have to say sorry for what Plum Star said, Lightning Flare.”
Behind them, Plum Star looked to the side and huffed. “I still just said the truth.....” she whispered, making clear that Brown Sugar's assurance wasn't correct.
It was still loud enough for Lightning Flare to hear it, though. Angry, he shot the stubborn filly a glare.
“I'm fine, really,” Brown Sugar interferred. “Let's go and play now!” She gave the colt a pat on the blue mane and stuck out her tongue. “Tag, you're it!” Then she ran away, giggling.
Lightning Flare frowned for a moment longer, then he followed Brown Sugar's sentiment and started chasing after her.
Half an hour later, the group of foals sat in the sandpit together. Each of them having their own space, they quietly worked on sand ponies and massive sand fortresses, fully concentrated on their creations. Brown Sugar was sitting next to Plumberry. Slowly, she shoveled sand into a small, blue bucket in front of her, occasionally peeking over to her friend and the others. As the bucket was full, she turned it around and put it down on the sand again. Carefully, she pulled the bucket up into the air. The tiny sand structure in the bucket's shape that appeared from under it lasted only for a moment, then it collapsed on itself.
“Not again!” Brown Sugar moaned, making sure that it was extra loud so her friends would hear it. “That was the fifth time! The sand is really bad here, I go and try it over there!” She turned around and pointed to the far left of the sandpit.
The response of the other foals was in her favor. “Uh-huh,” a few of them just said, not even looking at her. Even Plumberry was just nodding, tongue sticking out as she fiercely worked on her sand tower.
Smiling, Brown Sugar got up and trotted away from her own working space. Nopony noticed that she wasn't taking any of the sand toys with her. Instead of shifting to a different spot to build something, Brown Sugar left the sandpit, putting her hooves down quietly to not make any suspicious sounds. In the distance, she could see the cube-shaped climbing frame Plumberry had greeted her from on the day before coming closer. Her eyes showed a grim expression as she locked them on the structure, but at the same time, Brown Sugar was wearing a grin. It looked eerie and slightly disturbing.
Arrived at the climbing frame, Brown Sugar wasted no time to grab the lowest bar and to swing herself up. In a swift and eager speed, she ascended higher on the structure. It took her about ten seconds to stand on top of the frame. Moving her head from left to right, then turning around and back dangerously fast, Brown Sugar checked her surroundings to see if anypony was coming or looking into her direction. As she had confirmed that she wasn't watched, Brown Sugar did a last, testing glance to her friends in the sandpit. With none of them looking up, Brown Sugar focused her eyes on the ground underneath her. Her eyes spotted a small rock, about half the size of one of her hindlegs and with the edge pointing upwards. She narrowed her eyes, then leaped off the climbing frame, not leaving the rock out of her vision.
A warm sensation came over her as she fell towards the ground and as the wind her fall caused caressed her skin through her short coat hairs. Then she felt the impact. Accompanied by a thud, a sharp pain flashed through her right hindleg, from her hoof all the way up to her waist. It wasn't half as bad as she had imagined. A bit dizzy from the impact, Brown Sugar groaned as she lifted her upper body from the ground. Curious, she glanced over her right shoulder. Not getting a satisfying look at her now dull-feeling hindleg, Brown Sugar turned around on her back. She noticed that moving up her right hindleg was harder than usual, it felt heavy and thick, which was a confirmation for it that her leap had worked as she intended, so Brown Sugar smiled.
Finally lying on her back, the filly stemmed her forehooves into the ground and lifted her upper body once more, to take a thorough look at the result of her action. The inner side of her leg, just above her hoof, was now blemished with a long and wide cut. Seeing the blood trickling out of it and making her coat darker, Brown Sugar held her breath for a second. Around the wound, where the blood didn't cover it, she could see that her skin had taken on a purple color, which was where the dull feeling came from, Brown Sugar realized. It had started to throb slightly now.
The feeling of sensation Brown Sugar had felt since jumping off the climbing frame faded, now that she saw that the first part of her plan was a success. A smile played around the filly's mouth. It worked! With this wound, she had to get brought into the hospital. And it wasn't even hurting as much as she thought it would! Now all she needed to do was screaming and faking some whimpers and then she would have her mommy's attention in no time!
But before she could start her performance, a searing pain suddenly emerged from her wound, much stronger than the flash of pain she had felt at the impact. Brown Sugar flinched. She squeezed one of her eyes shut and bit her lip. As she couldn't take it anymore, she closed her eyes completely and a loud wailing rang out from her now widely opened mouth. In a matter of seconds, her face turned a dark red, her cheeks became puffy and thick tears started to leak out of her eyes. Her wailing was loud enough to sound across the playground and find its ways into the ears of her friends.
Startled by the sudden commotion, her friends and the rest of the foals in the sandpit looked up simultaneously and into the direction the sound came from. Titania and Plumberry were the first ones who jumped up and dashed out of the sandpit, recognizing the cries immediately. The others followed them close behind. They quickened their pace as they could spot Brown Sugar sitting in front of the climbing frame, now able to directly identify the source of the wailing sounds.
As they had reached her, Titania and Plumberry gasped, their eyes fixated on the wound and the blood that trickled down into the grass. Shock was written all over the faces of the others as well as they arrived at the scene and trotted past the two fillies in front of them.
Lightning Flare found his speech first. “Brown Sugar! Did she fell down the climbing frame?!” he asked, bewildered. “W-What should we do?” The face of the colt looked nervous and sweat trickled down from it. He looked around between his friends.
Titania bit her lip at the sight of her injured friend, then she turned around to the others. “W-We bring her to the hospital!” she ordered. “Plumberry, you are the strongest of us, you carry her! And you” – she turned to face Lightning Flare, Plum Star and Mint Flower – “collect some leaves from the bushes so we can press them on the wound!”
The colt and the two fillies nodded with stern faces, then rushed away to do what Titania had told them. Titania trotted at Brown Sugar's side, who was still wailing in the same volume and didn't seem to notice her presence, and waved Plumberry along with her. Not needing further instructions, Plumberry lowered herself onto the ground to Brown Sugar's right. As Titania started to gently pull at Brown Sugar with the goal to drape her over Plumberry's back, the bush to the left of the three fillies suddenly started to rustle. The leaves moved and out between them came Pinkie Pie, carrying a huge ice cream cone in her left hoof and an exuberant smile on her face.
“Hey, guys, what's up? I was just about to eat this super-duper delicious vanilla-mustard-jalapeño ice cream as I suddenly heard–” As she had come closer and could see what was going on, Pinkie Pie stopped speaking abruptly. Her mouth gaping wide and her ice cream suddenly dropping out of its cone, she stared. “What happened?!” she shrieked a second later.
“An emergency,” Titania said taught, still busy trying to heave Brown Sugar on Plumberry's back.
“An emergency?!” Pinkie responded, still shrieking. “This isn't an emergency, this is a mega, giganterrific, triple emergency!”
Alarmed, but slightly calmer now, she rushed at Brown Sugar's side and shoved Titania away in the process. Moving quickly, she grabbed the wailing filly at the sides and put it on her back. In the same moment, Lightning Flare, Plum Star and Mint Flower returned, each of them holding a bunch of leaves in their hooves.
“I take Brown Sugar to the hospital!” Pinkie Pie announced to the foals, showing a serious expression that could rarely be seen in her face and having an equally rare, stern tone in her voice.
“Plumberry and I will come with you!” Titania replied, worried eyes fixated on her friend, whose painful wailing had by now become a familiar sound in her ears.
“No time for that!” Pinkie Pie shot her down. Titania's face turned into a scowl and she opened her mouth, but before she had a chance to say anything, Pinkie Pie continued. “You two are slower than me, silly. I can't wait until you have caught up with me, there is no time to lose here!” Having spoken these words, Pinkie Pie did not wait for another response from the filly, instead, she turned around and galloped away at full speed, leaving behind the worried and startled group of foals.
Brown Sugar's wailing stopped abruptly as she felt something soft and wet getting pressed on the wound on her hindleg. She gasped and opened her eyes, then closed them again almost immediately and erupted into a series of high-pitched whimpers. To the left of the green table she sat on, Dr. Stable was busy rubbing antiseptic on her cut. It was not bleeding anymore, but the wound was severe enough for him to furrow his brows.
To Brown Sugar's right, Pinkie Pie watched everything with a similar frown on her face, one hoof placed on the shoulder of the little patient.
As Dr. Stable had finished disinfecting the cut, the ocher-colored stallion with the brown mane looked up at Pinkie Pie, sternfaced. “Please hold her now,” he said, while levitating needle and thread wrapped in his blue aura in front of him. “The painkiller I gave her should have its effect now, but she will probably still feel the stitches.”
“Stitches?!” All of a sudden, Brown Sugar stopped her whimpering and shot her head up. “No! Please, not!” she pleaded. “Please no stitches, mister!” Brown Sugar looked at him with tear-filled eyes.
Dr. Stable chuckled. “Now, young lady, you won't suddenly stop being brave, will you?” He ignited his horn again and levitated a big, red plush monkey into the lap of his little patient. Instinctively, Brown Sugar wrapped her tiny hooves around it and pulled it close to her chest. Closing her eyes, she buried her face into the softness of the stuffed animal.
Dr. Stable smiled, then looked up again. “Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie Pie nodded. She stepped forward and put one arm over the red monkey and Brown Sugar's forehooves and the other one over her back, holding the filly in a gentle, but tight, grip.
As Dr. Stable was sure that Pinkie Pie had everything under control, he unpacked the thread and readied his needle, then he got to work. Brown Sugar whimpered again as the needle pierced through her skin for the first time. Trying to suppress the pain, she gripped the monkey harder.
A series of whimpers later, one for each stitch, Dr. Stable was finally finished, after what seemed like an eternity to Brown Sugar. He cut off the remaining thread and smiled. “And now we're done!” he said triumphantly. “Now this wasn't so bad, was it?”
Brown Sugar slowly opened her eyes. The tears in their corners made clear that she was not in agreement with this.
Dr. Stable gave her an uplifting smile, then he took a reel of bandages and began to wrap it around the wound and Brown Sugar's entire hoof. It was a tight wrap and it hurt a little, but not nearly as much as her little “accident” or the stitching had hurt. While Brown Sugar sat there quietly and watched the doctor finishing his job, Pinkie Pie still holding her, she started to calm down and this was when the plan she had made resurfaced in her mind. For the first time since the pain became unbearable, Brown Sugar smiled. “Once mommy finds out what happened”, she thought, “she will start to care about me.”
Dr. Stable noticed the smile, just as he was finished with bandaging Brown Sugar's hoof. “Now this is more like it! A smile fits a little filly like you much better!” he commended her.
Suddenly feeling caught, Brown Sugar froze. She stopped smiling and put on a simulated frown. “Ouch!” she said, in a not very convincing way.
It caused the doctor to give her a hearty laugh. “Now, can I have your monkey back or do you still need it?” he asked in a gentle tone.
Brown Sugar shook her head and smiled again, now having a safe reason for a smile. She loosened the grip around the stuffed animal and hoofed it back to the doc, who in turn took it into his aura again and levitated it back to where it had been before. Then he turned to Pinkie Pie, who had by now stopped hugging Brown Sugar and turned her attention at him, as well.
“I have done what I could,” he said. “Luckily, the injury wasn't too severe and you brought her very quickly, so she did not lose much blood. But she will need to stay in bed for about a week until the sprayed leg has healed. Make sure that she does not put the hoof under any kind of pressure, it could loosen the stitches and would delay the healing process.”
The words made Pinkie Pie confused and she gave the doctor a puzzled look. “Why? Can't you keep her here in the hospital?”
Dr. Stable lowered his eyes a bit and sighed. “Unfortunately not. This week has seen an unexpectedly large outbreak of the feather flu. All beds we have are occupied with sick pegasi. We even have a few from Cloudsdale here because the local hospital there filled up even faster.”
“Alright, then I'll just bring her home, doc,” Pinkie Pie responded, her face showing a much more relaxed expression now than she had as she entered the hospital with Brown Sugar on her back.
He nodded. “Make sure to keep her hoof cooled, change the bandages every three days and come back in five days to get the stitches pulled.”
Pinkie nodded in return, then both her and Dr. Stable turned back at Brown Sugar. Her face was still a little red, but the smile that was plastered on it showed that she was over the worst. She giggled as she felt getting wrapped into the doctor's aura and was carefully placed on Pinkie's back. The doctor opened a huge glass with colorful lollipops behind him and let one of them glide into Brown Sugar's hooves, who squealed in delight before sticking it into her mouth. “A little reward for our brave patient!” he said playfully and ruffled through Brown Sugar's mane with a hoof.
Pinkie Pie looked over her shoulder and gave the filly on her back a grin. Then she faced forward again. “Thanks, doc!” she said. “I'm so relieved you could help her out so quickly!”
“Just my job,” Dr. Stable replied nonchalantly. “But now, I have to ask you to leave. I still have to check in on many pegasi before my afternoon shift is over.”
Pinkie Pie nodded. “Okay, bye, doc!” she said, her voice now as cheerful as everypony was used to.
“Goodbye, Pinkie Pie, have a nice day!” he called after the pink mare as she was leaving the treatment room.
“Yeesh..... That was something,” Pinkie Pie commented on the situation as they were outside the hospital. She looked back at Brown Sugar again. “Hey, how did this happen?” she asked.
Brown Sugar lowered her head and her ears dropped. “It was an accident..... I just wanted to climb all the way to the top for once. But then I slipped when I was almost there.....” She gave Pinkie Pie a sad, distraught look.
“Well, good that the doc could fix you up then! Could have been much worse!” she chimed as she continued to trot away from the hospital. Then she lowered her eyes and leaned in on Brown Sugar more, giving her a stern look. She started to whisper creepily. “But you need to be more careful the next time you're climbing up there. This could have ended ten times as worse and you could be dead now.”
Brown Sugar gulped. “I-I will. I will be more careful from now on, Pinkie.”
“Promise?”
“Promise!” Brown Sugar nodded.
Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes at the filly even more. “Piiiiiiiinkie Promise?”
“Pinkie Promise! Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Brown Sugar covered one eye with a hoof and gave the mare a nervous grin.
Pinkie Pie scrutinized her for a moment longer, but then her face suddenly relaxed and she gave her companion a grin. “Okey, dokey, lokey! Now everything's okay!”
Brown Sugar smiled, but then suddenly, her ears dropped again and her lips curled downward.
“Hey, what's wrong?” Pinkie Pie asked, her face expressing concern. “Does it hurt again? Should we get back to the doc?”
“Um-umm.” Brown Sugar shook her head. “I'm sorry, Pinkie..... I was a nuisance, wasn't I?” Even though she had lied to Pinkie Pie and everything that happened was part of a big plan that she kept a secret, she felt a bit of guilt stinging in her little heart.
“Weeeeeeeeell,” Pinkie Pie started to answer, rolling her eyes and looking up into the air above them. “Technically, you owe me a cone of super-duper delicious vanilla-mustard-jalapeño ice cream that I dropped when I got shocked as I saw you lying there bleeding and all because that was a mega, giganterrific, triple emergency..... Buuuuuut, it's fine, I know where I can always get plenty more of it!” She grinned and a squeak emerged from her throat.
Brown Sugar's ears went back up and she nodded happily. “Okay!” she said.
“So, I guess now it's time to get you home!” Pinkie announced then, looking forward again.
“Do you know where?” Brown Sugar asked, eagerness to explain the route already ringing in her voice.
“D'uh!” it came as response. “I know where everypony in Ponyville lives! How else would I throw completely unexpected surprise parties in their houses then?”
Brown Sugar giggled, then she clasped her hooves tightly around Pinkie Pie's neck.
Pinkie Pie's hoof came down on the door of the mansion Brown Sugar lived in; one, two, three times. She held her ear at the thick wooden door to listen for any hoofsteps approaching from inside, but it was completely quiet. She retreated from the door and looked back at Brown Sugar. “Still nothing,” she said, her surprise reflected in her voice.
Brown Sugar's face showed a significant amount of unhappiness over this. “Mommy left for a party in Canterlot yesterday. She is probably still there.” Her ears flattened like they had earlier. “Or again..... Mommy goes to a lot of parties.” Brown Sugar let her head hang and sighed.
“Huh, really?” Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “Weird, she never asked me to throw a party for her.” She looked back to face the door and cocked her head. “Guess there's no use anymore in trying it today..... I'll just bring you to my place then!” With a skip in her movement, Pinkie Pie turned away from the door and began making her way towards Sugarcube Corner.
Now it was Brown Sugar who cocked her head. “You bring me to your house? I can stay there?”
“Sure! Can't just let you sit out here in front of the door all alone, silly!” Pinkie responded, having noticed the tone in Brown Sugar's voice.
“I never stayed in somepony else's house.....” Brown Sugar said in a low voice, lowering her head. “Where should I sleep?”
“Well, technically, it's not a house, it's just one room above Sugarcube Corner that the Cakes rent out to me, but it's great and comfy in there! And you can sleep in my bed, of course!”
“Of course?” Brown Sugar repeated, disbelief in her face.
“Yeppers!” Pinkie Pie answered the question simply.
Once more, Brown Sugar cocked her head, but stayed silent this time. She kept her head low and silently pondered over Pinkie Pie's words all the way to Sugarcube Corner.
It was when they had arrived at their destination, in Pinkie Pie's room, that Brown Sugar got her speech back. She looked around in the room; to Pinkie's bed, to the wardrobe, to the window at the other end of it. “This is your room?” she asked, eyes big.
“Yep!” another simple response came from Pinkie Pie. “It's where I live ever since I came to Ponyville after I got my cutie mark!” She trotted towards the bed.
“It's..... really small.” Brown Sugar scrunched her face a bit.
“It is?” Pinkie Pie asked, now standing in front of the bed. She folded back the blanket that was on top of it, then reached behind and carefully picked up Brown Sugar and placed her in the bed.
Brown Sugar looked up at Pinkie Pie and nodded. “Um-hmm. My bedroom is three times as big.” Her voice was quiet and, all of a sudden, a yawn escaped her. Brown Sugar lifted a hoof and rubbed it over her left eye, looking sleepily at Pinkie with the other one.
“Wow, I didn't notice you're so tired!” Pinkie Pie commented on the reaction of her guest. “But I guess it's no surprise; you fell from a climbing frame, hurt yourself, cried, had to go the hospital and you got a really nasty wound stitched! Can't think of a young filly who wouldn't be tired after all of this!” She took the blanket into her mouth and pulled it over Brown Sugar, until all of her body was covered by it.
Drowsily, Brown Sugar nodded, then another yawn escaped her.
“It's best if you rest your sleepy head for a while!” Pinkie said as she had finished her task. “I'm downstairs to help out in the bakery, if you wake up, just call my name and I'll come back right away!”
Brown Sugar, however, did not even hear this sentence anymore. Seeing her closed eyes and her steady breath, Pinkie Pie realized that her young guest had fallen asleep. Grinning, she retreated quietly from the bed and tiphoofed down the stairs.
The next thing Brown Sugar knew, was a delicious smell of something warm and baked drifting into her nostrils. She scrunched her nose and sniffed, stirred a little and then slowly opened her eyes. First, she only saw a pink and a brown blur, then her vision improved and she identified the pink blur as Pinkie Pie and the brown blur as pancakes with syrup. They were sitting on a plate, which Pinkie Pie was holding with her mouth. Her eyes seemed to express a smile where her mouth couldn't, but Brown Sugar gave her a smile instead, head tilting to the left. “Good Morning,” she said, sleepily.
Pinkie Pie leaned her head forward and carefully put the plate down on Brown Sugar's lap.
Feeling a gentle heat warming up her legs through the blanket, Brown Sugar sat up and pulled the plate closer. She grabbed the fork and knife on it and began to eat away at the breakfast, almost faster than Pinkie Pie could follow her movements.
“Wow, can't believe you let those pancakes disappear so fast!” Pinkie acknowledged her eating speed with a stunned expression. “Guess after everything that happened yesterday and after you didn't even have dinner, you must be hungry like a horse by now!”
Instead of cutting off another piece of the pancakes, Brown Sugar suddenly stopped. Cheeks full, she gave Pinkie Pie a glance, her pupils small. She was silent, not attempting to say a single word.
Pinkie Pie chuckled nervously. “Hehe, yeah, that wasn't a very good joke.....”
Brown Sugar continued to chew in response, then all of a sudden, her lips curled upwards, she dropped the fork and the knife and broke out into high-pitched giggling.
Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow. “Wait, you found that funny? Seriously?”
Brown Sugar nodded. Then her giggling turned into full-blown laughter. Delightfully, she wrapped her hooves around her belly.
Pinkie Pie did nothing to hide her surprise. “Gee, you must be starving for jokes!” she chimed. “You should come and see my sister Maud doing stand-up comedy, this is going to make you roll on the floor from laughing!” She grinned now.
As abruptly as she had started, Brown Sugar stopped her laughing fit and looked at Pinkie Pie with big eyes and a smile around her lips. “Really?! Can we go now?!”
Pinkie Pie shook her head. “Well, no, not right away, the Comedy Cave isn't open at morning and Maud's only scheduled for another routine next week.”
“Oh.....” Brown Sugar lowered her eyes and eyed the plate, a sudden sadness coming over her. For a few seconds she said nothing, then she gave Pinkie Pie a furtive glance. “But can you take me there one day? Mommy never takes me anywhere.....”
“Of course!” Pinkie answered.
Brown Sugar's head shot back up and her eyes glistened as she looked into Pinkie's face. “Really?!” she chirped.
“Absolutely! But now, you better eat up because we need to head outside for your house and check if your mommy's back!”
“Oh, right!” the filly shouted, the realization of where she was only fully kicking in now. Hastily, she took back the fork and the knife into her hooves and ate up the rest of her breakfast. Unbeknownst to her, Pinkie had dashed down into the kitchen to get a glass of orange juice and was giving it to Brown Sugar now. With a gulp, she emptied the glass and hoofed it back to Pinkie. Her pupils shrunk as, unexpectedly, Pinkie Pie let the glass disappear inside her mane.
“Okie, dokie!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Now it's time! How do you feel? Does your leg hurt?”
Wordlessly, Brown Sugar shook her head and, to confirm it, she pushed the blanket away and began to move toward Pinkie to climb on her back, an ice bag that she only noticed now sliding down from it.
Pinkie Pie, though, stopped her with one hoof. “Hey, hold your horses there! You are injured and your leg still needs rest, so I will take care of this!” She reached out with both hooves and picked Brown Sugar, who was now giggling again, up and sat her on her back. She looked back at the filly. “Ready?” she asked.
“Um-hm!” Brown Sugar nodded, then she leaned forward and nestled her head against Pinkie's mane.
“Alright, then lets carry you back home!” She reared up a little and imitated a loud whinny, then zipped down the stairs and out of the house.
The way to her home went by like a blur for Brown Sugar as Pinkie Pie galloped through the streets in a speed that would have made even Rainbow Dash jealous if she would have been there to see it, the little filly on her back squealing from joy during all of the ride.
Only a few minutes later, they stood in front of the mansion and Pinkie Pie raised her hoof to knock. She waited a few seconds, then scrunched her face as no answer came.
“Try it again!” Brown Sugar poked the back of her head with one of her forehooves. If Pinkie Pie would have turned around, she could have seen that the face of Brown Sugar showed slight desperation now.
She followed the command and knocked again, only to receive yet another “nothing” as response. She looked over her shoulder. “Is your mom at another party?”
“Maybe.....” Brown Sugar said dejectedly. “Or sleeping.....” She hung her head. Seconds later, tears entered her eyes and she began to whimper.
“Hey, what's wrong?” Pinkie Pie asked alarmed. “Is it your leg? Should we go back to the hospital?”
“M-Mommy's not here.....” Brown Sugar responded between her whimpers.
A lightbulb went on above Pinkie's head. “Ooooh! Don't worry.....” She leaned in and gave the crying filly a nuzzle. “Your mommy is probably just at a party that lasts really, really long!” Pinkie looked down and held a hoof to her chin, a pondering expression on her face. “Hmm, can't even blame her for that..... Parties are a lot of fun,” she mumbled before looking at Brown Sugar again. “Anyway, I bet she will come home soon!” Knowing that there was no point in waiting anymore, she turned around and trotted back to where they had come from.
Brown Sugar sniffed and looked up. She brushed a hoof over her nose, which let the freshly-nuzzled feeling stop. “Maybe, but she doesn't know what happened and that I didn't even come home yesterday.....” Brown Sugar sniffed again, then continued crying quietly. “Mommy doesn't care.....”
“Huh?” Pinkie Pie looked back at her again. “Why?” she asked, sincere surprise plastered all over her face.
“B-Because of the p-parties.....” Brown Sugar sobbed.
“Oh, silly!” Pinkie Pie waved a hoof nonchalantly. “Parties are fun! They make ponies happy, I don't think she would stop caring about you because of parties of all things!” She looked back in front of her and began humming a happy tune.
Brown Sugar did not respond.
Sitting in Pinkie's bed again, Brown Sugar pulled the blanket up close to her chin, where she gripped it tightly. She gave Pinkie a heart-wrenching, pleading look. There were still a few tears in her eyes. “Do you really have to go?” she whispered.
Pinkie's ears flattened. “I'm sorry, but I do..... The Cakes really need my help, pie season has just started and we get orders from so many ponies..... We need every hoof we can get.”
Brown Sugar's face cleared up a little. “My hooves, too?” she asked, her voice even more pleading.
Pinkie Pie presented her with a calming smile. “No, because your hoof needs to heal. I would be really happy to let you help, baking with foals is amazing. Even though it always ends in a batter battle somehow and leaves the kitchen in a huge mess..... Which just makes it more fun! But you heard what the doc said, no pressure on the hoof!”
Brown Sugar's face faltered even more and her lip quivered.
“Hey, now, don't worry.....” She patted Brown Sugar's head. “It's only going to be for a few hours and then we can play something together! Here, I even give you some of my old toys from the rockfarm until I'm back!” She zipped to the wardrobe, pulled out a few toys and zipped back. A little, red ball, a coloring book, a few very short, but still functionable, pencils and a doll that was entirely made of rocks, but surprisingly flexible, landed in Brown Sugar's lap. “Here, this will keep you busy until I'm back!”
Frowning, Brown Sugar took the little ball into her hooves and let it fall over the edge of the bed. It hit the floor and bounced back up at her, the filly catching it before it would leave her sight again. Then she sighed and looked up at Pinkie, still sadness in her eyes.
Pinkie Pie reached out and ruffled through her mane. “I'll be back as fast as I can! Promise!”
“Pinkie Promise?” Brown Sugar asked.
“D'uh!” Pinkie moved a hoof at her chest. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” Having ended the short verse, Pinkie Pie did just that, with a cupcake that had mysteriously appeared in her hooves. She squeaked, then licked the frosting off her eye and let the cupcake disappear in her mouth.
Brown Sugar giggled, once again delighted over Pinkie's crazy demeanor. Chewing away at the cupcake, Pinkie Pie gave Brown Sugar a wave, then she turned around and cantered out of the room and down the stairs.
Brown Sugar waved after her, then she looked down at the toys. For a second longer she smiled, then her lips curled downwards again and a displeased moan left her mouth.
The few hours Pinkie had spoken about quickly turned into lots of hours. As Brown Sugar finally saw her return, the ball lying unreachable in a corner of the room and the remaining empty pages of the coloring book now fillled in all colors of the rainbow, the sun already had an orange glow and started to move towards the horizon.
“Phew!” Pinkie Pie sat down in her bed at Brown Sugar's side and wiped some sweat off her forehead. “Nothing like pie season to show how much ponies love apple pies.....”
Brown Sugar looked at her, a deep, angry frown on her face. “You left me alone for eight hours,” she said, deadpan.
Pinkie Pie met her glance. “Hey, why the frowny face? I said I will come back as fast as I can! I kept my Pinkie Promise!”
The defense did nothing to let Brown Sugar's frown disappear, though. Not knowing how to respond, Pinkie Pie decided for a distraction. “Hey, what's up with your hooves?” She pointed at them.
As Brown Sugar looked down begrudgingly, she saw them covered in smeary remnants of the colored pencils she had used. Even the blanket was covered in colorful stains.
“Gee, you know, the colored pencils are meant to color in the book, not on your hooves!” Pinkie teased the filly, sticking out her tongue.
Brown Sugar's frown transformed, from angry to embarrassed. “I'm sorry, Pinkie.....” she whispered apologetically.
“Nah, it's fine!” Pinkie's voice rang through the air as she waved off the issue. “They're cleaned up in no time! Now come!”
She picked Brown Sugar out from under the blanket and put her on her back, then headed towards the bathroom. Inside, she sat her down on a small drawer right next to the lavatory. She took out a blue washcloth, turned on the faucet and held it under the wet stream. The washcloth soaked, she began to clean the filly.
Quietly, Brown Sugar sat on the drawer and watched how the mare in front of her was cleaning her hooves. It tickled sometimes, making her flinch, but eventually, a smile formed on Brown Sugar's lips. She closed her eyes and groaned comfortably over the feeling of the warm washcloth treating her forehooves.
“And that's it, we're all done here!” Pinkie Pie's voice suddenly chirped into her ears and Brown Sugar opened her eyes again.
She found herself staring right into Pinkie's broad grin. With a cute smile on her face, Brown Sugar reached out, clasping her tiny hooves around the mare's head for a tight hug.
Pinkie Pie chuckled, the situation feeling all too familiar to her. She kept owing her little guest the answer on her question about what she had meant with “At least you didn't try to hug my eyeballs!” after she had carried her out of the bathroom and back into the bed.
Pinkie Pie pulled at the blanket, covering Brown Sugar's hindlegs. Noticing how the filly still gave her an adorable smile, she patted her head.
“I bet you're hungry, so I get us some dinner!” Like a bolt, Pinkie Pie rushed down the stairs as she had barely finished her sentence and came back almost instantly, in a speed only she could explain, carrying two plates with a hayburger and fries on each of them in her mouth. She placed one plate on Brown Sugar's lap, the other one at the opposite side of the bed. Then she put two big glasses full of orange juice on the nightstand next to Brown Sugar that had been hidden behind her head. The meal prepared, she trotted around the bed, grabbed her own plate and sat down at Brown Sugar's side, careful to not touch her injured leg in the single bed.
Their dinner went by quietly, the mouth of the hungy filly being too busy with stuffing herself. Except for a request for another hayburger and more fries, which Pinkie Pie readily fulfilled, the mare and the filly didn't speak with each other. Despite the lack of conversation, Brown Sugar always only had one eye on her food, the other one didn't leave Pinkie out of sight and occasionally, a smile flashed up on Brown Sugar's lips between her bites.
As both of them had finished eating, Pinkie Pie collected the plates and the glasses and returned them back to the kitchen on the first floor. As she returned, Brown Sugar's eyes were already fixated on the first tread of the stairs. They seemed to start glowing once Pinkie Pie entered the room again and a broad smile began to build on Brown Sugar's face.
Pinkie Pie approached the bed and smiled back at her. “So, when's your bedtime, Brown Sugar? I would have asked yesterday, but you passed out before I could!”
“At nine!” Brown Sugar shouted, then she gave the mare a flashy grin.
Pinkie Pie did not seem to notice the obvious lie. “So, one hour more until you have to sleep..... What should we do until then?” She looked up and began tapping her chin.
“A book!” Brown Sugar answered swiftly. “Read me a bedtime story, Pinkie!” To underline her demand, she reached out and pulled Pinkie's face closer. “Pleeeeeeeease!” she begged then, her lip quivering slightly and her eyes radiating a sad look.
“Okay!” Pinkie Pie shouted, not at all hesitant to do what she was asked for. She gave Brown Sugar a smile, which looked awkward with the tiny hooves tugging away at her face in eager anticipation.
Knowing that she would get what she wanted, Brown Sugar let her victim go. Pinkie Pie rubbed over her face for a few seconds, “Wow, didn't know you love reading so much! Normally I only expect Twilight to act like that when it's about books.”
Pinkie Pie turned around and proceeded with trotting to a bookshelf at the far end of the room, right next to the window. She scrutinized it with a frown, which got deeper by the second.
“I don't really have a good book to read right now..... I always go to Twilight and borrow a book from her library if I want to read a good story, but I haven't been there in a while. I have only party-planning books and pie recipes here, nothing young ponies like you will be interested in.....”
Behind her, Brown Sugar's happy expression fell apart with a sad pout. Seeing this, Pinkie Pie decided for a quick dash to the library, but before she had even reached the stairs, a cultured voice was interrupting her and she stopped.
“May I try to help?” the voice asked, then Discord suddenly popped out of thin air in the middle of the room, right next to Brown Sugar. He was holding a rather thick book in his paw and his claw. “I think I have just the right book for young ponies here!” he said, then flashed a mischievous grin and dropped the book into Pinkie's hooves.
Pinkie looked at the cover, scrunching her face. “What's a 'Hobbit'?” she asked.
“Ohoho, don't worry,” Discord continued, still grinning, but with reassurance in his voice. “You are going to find out. Tolkien, that old storytelling scoundrel, has done an excellent job at explaining everything in detail!” Not awaiting an answer, the draconequus disappeared as sudden as he had shown up, only leaving his laughter sounding through the room for a few seconds.
“Tolkien? Who's that?” Pinkie Pie asked into the empty air, but did not receive an answer. After waiting for a few seconds, she shrugged. “Well, that was weird, but at least there's a book now, so we might as well read it!”
Pinkie trotted around the bed and climbed into it, making herself comfortable at Brown Sugar's side. Excited, the little filly inched closer and nestled into Pinkie Pie, resting her head on the mare's chest. A satisfied groan left her mouth as she felt the chest fluff caressing the back of her head. She smiled, eyes eagerly fixated on the book cover. It showed a large and long dragon resting on top of a gigantic pile of gold.
“I don't think we can read all of it in just one hour,” Pinkie Pie said, realizing that it was a very thick book by the weight alone. Then she opened it, let her eyes fly over the first page for a few seconds, then randomly flipped to different pages and did the same. As she was done, she smiled. “I was worried for a moment because it was Discord who brought us this book from wherever, but this sounds like a really fun story!”
She flipped back to the first page, placed the book on her lap and looked down at the words. “The Hobbit,” she began reading. “Chapter 1: An Unexpected Party”.
She cleared her throat. “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” She slightly raised her voice at the last word, making it sound as cozy as she could. Brown Sugar giggled happily and nestled a little closer.
Pinkie Pie continued. “It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats - the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill - The Hill, as all the people for many miles round called it - and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another.”
Brown Sugar silently listened as Pinkie proceeded with describing the hole of the hobbit. Her mind already enthralled by the story, she did not move an inch and just stared at the book, with lips puckered from excitement.
“This hobbit was a very well-to-do hobbit, and his name was Baggins. The Bagginses had lived in the neighbourhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected: You could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him. This is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure, found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected. He may have lost the neighbours' respect, but he gained” Pinkie stopped for a moment and looked down at Brown Sugar. “Well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end.” She playfully booped her nose, Brown Sugar flinching a little and closing her eyes, then giggling.
“The mother of our particular hobbit... what is a hobbit?” Pinkie stopped once more, looking up and tapping her chin. “I suppose hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of the Big People, as they call us.” She winked down at Brown Sugar, then brought her attention back on the book.
“They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded Dwarves.”
Brown Sugar gasped and suddenly looked up to Pinkie, interrupting her just after one sentence. “Even smaller than me?!” she chirped out, voice full of curiosity and a hunch of disbelief.
Pinkie answered her glance. “Hmm, just as small as you I would say!” She smiled down at the filly, whose eyes grew bigger at those words.
“Wooooooow!” Brown Sugar voiced her astonishment, then looked back down and at the book, still nestling a bit closer. “Continue, Pinkie, I wanna see how this goes!”
Pinkie Pie chuckled and she obliged. Her eyes flying over the pages, she described the looks of Hobbits, detailed the Hobbit's heritage (whose name was Bilbo, as Brown Sugar found out) and how some of Bilbo's ancestors had a thing for adventures. She read about Gandalf, the old wizard with the long, grey beard, how he was on the search for an adventurer and how Bilbo was anything but fond of it how the old wizard interrupted his peaceful and lazy life.
Brown Sugar gasped loudly as a bunch of rude dwarves forced themselves into Bilbo's home and ate up all the contents of his pantry and she shivered in reverence as the story started to be about menacing, fire breathing dragons, treasure chambers filled with mountains of gold and mysterious, ancient magic. As her bedtime was almost reached, the little filly's mind had been entered the epic, fictional world of the book completely and she had stopped noticing her surroundings, Pinkie's voice being the only thing that still found its way through to her.
“That's how they all came to start, jogging off from the inn one fine morning just before May, on laden ponies–” Mid-sentence, Pinkie stopped and looked in front of her, weirdness creeping over her face as the words she had just read settled in. Then a trace of epiphany got added to her expression. “Discord.....” she whispered. The mare shook her head and continued reading, slightly out of the loop.
“Bilbo was wearing a dark-green hood (a little weather-stained) and a dark-green cloak borrowed from Dwalin. They were too large for him, and he looked rather comic. What his father Bungo would have thought of him, I daren't think. His only comfort was he couldn't be mistaken for a dwarf, as he had no beard.”
Under her chin, Brown Sugar gave a little yawn, a subtle reminder for Pinkie to look at the clock on the nightstand.
“They had not been riding very long when up came Gandalf very splendid on a white horse. He had brought a lot of pocket-handkerchiefs, and Bilbo's pipe and tobacco. So after that the party went along very merrily, and they told stories or sang songs as they rode forward all day, except of course when they stopped for meals. These didn't come quite as often as Bilbo would have liked them, but still he began to feel that adventures were not so bad after all. At first they had passed through hobbit-lands, a wild respectable country inhabited by decent folk, with good roads, an inn or two, and now and then a dwarf or a farmer ambling by on business.”
Another look at the clock followed, then Pinkie shut the book, not without folding over the corner of the site she was at right now. “Well, that's it for tonight. Your bedtime's here!” She reached over and placed the book on the nightstand.
Suddenly feeling thrown back into the real world, Brown Sugar emanated a squeal of dissatisfaction. “Why now?! Bilbo just started his adventure, I need to know what happens next!” the filly complained, eyes slightly watery.
“I know,” Pinkie responded. “But you need some sleep, you can't stay awake for the whole night.”
“But I did it before!” Brown Sugar protested and gave Pinkie the biggest frown she was capable of.
“Sorry, but not tonight. What would your mommy say if I would allow you to stay up all night to read a book?”
“She wouldn't care!” Brown Sugar continued her protest. Another yawn fought its way out of her mouth, but she closed it quickly to hide it.
Pinkie noticed, though. “See? You are tired.” Ignoring further protest, she gently placed the filly's body flat on the mattress and her head on the pillow, then spread the blanket over her. During all of this, Brown Sugar's scowl was drilling into her skull.
“Geez, don't give me a look that's worse than that one time my sister Limestone found out I carved a tiny face into Holder's Boulder.....” Her face showed no amusement. “You will find out how everything continues tomorrow! I have off tomorrow, so we can read the whole day if you want to!” In a split-second, Pinkie's face appeared funny and delightful again.
It only calmed Brown Sugar's scowl slightly. “Promise?” she asked.
“Yes, another Pinkie Promise!” Stiffling a yawn herself, Pinkie quickly enacted the movements she memorized, then slipped out of bed.
Surprised, Brown Sugar looked after her. “You are not going to sleep in your bed?”
“Nope!” Pinkie responded. “It does have enough space, I slept in here with my other sister, Maud, when she visited me a while ago, but your hoof needs to heal so I'm sleeping on the floor while you're here!”
Only now, Brown Sugar noticed a green sleeping bag and a pillow lying on the carpet at the other side of the bed. Apparently, it dawned on her, Pinkie had already slept there during the last night. She opened her mouth to say something, but then suddenly frowned, and closed it again. A slight shimmer of red shining through the coat of her face, Brown Sugar quickly turned her head to the other side. “Alright.....” she said in a low voice. “Goodnight, Pinkie.”
“Goodnight!” Pinkie chirped back, then she slipped into the sleeping bag and placed her head on her own pillow. Only a few minutes passed, then both the mare and the filly had fallen asleep.
It was already later into the morning, the sun rather high up in the sky, as Brown Sugar and Pinkie Pie got woken up by loud knocks on Pinkie's apartment door.
“Pinkie?” a muffled, but familiar, voice sounded through the wood. “Are you awake? You have another visitor!”
It was, unmistakenly, the voice of Mr. Cake, so Pinkie peeled herself out of her sleeping bag and trotted down the stairs, still slightly groggy. The tiny yawns behind her signaled that her little guest felt the same.
Yawning, Pinkie put a hoof on the doorknob and turned it around, then pulled open the door slowly. Mr. Cake stood in front of her and, right next to him, a slightly obese unicorn mare, with a pink-blue mane and a brown coat, that looked all too familiar to Pinkie.
“Peanut Pastry!” Together with the smile that appeared on her face, Pinkie's messy mane sprung back into its usual, pristine, poofy condition all by itself. “I'm so glad to see you, I was looking for you twice, yesterday and the day before yesterday, because Brown Sugar is here and she–”
“I know.” Peanut Pastry shoved her right forehoof onto Pinkie's face and interrupted the torrent of words. “Where is my daughter?”
“Well, right here,” Pinkie pointed behind herself, slightly taken aback by the rude gesture. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Mr. Cake giving her an awkward smile. She shrugged, then waved the mare after her as she trotted back inside.
The two of them had barely reached the top of the stairs and entered the room, as Brown Sugar's voice sounded shrill into their ears. “Mommy!” the little filly beamed at her mother, all the happiness she felt over it that her plan finally came into motion concentrated in her face.
Peanut Pastry grunted as she heaved her body up the last few of the stair treads and, finally on the top, spent a few seconds with catching her breath.
Pinkie Pie looked at Brown Sugar and into her cheerful face, smiling as well, but there was also worry in her own. Of course she had done a good deed, but Brown Sugar's mother seemed slightly upset when she looked into her face earlier. What if she was anything but happy about it that she had accommodated her daughter for one and a half days? Pinkie braced herself for possible criticism, for angry rants, even for legal threats, if the situation should escalate.
But when Brown Sugar's mother had finally recovered, nothing of this happened. Peanut Pastry approached her daughter in the bed, scowling. “I heard about your accident and had to search half of the town before one of your friends told me what happened and in whose company you are. Get out of bed and let's go home,” she said stoically, with a tiny trace of impatience in her voice.
Ignoring that her mother had already heard what happened, Brown Sugar started babbling in excitement. “You won't guess what happened, mommy! I wanted to climb up the big climbing frame on the playground, but when I almost did it, I fell down and I landed with my hoof on this huge rock!” She held her forehooves together, then spread them to the sides to show just how huge it was. Then Brown Sugar reached out and folded back the blanket, revealing her bandaged hoof. “See? The doctor said it needed a million stitches to fix it!”
For a few moments she just looked at her mother, proudly grinning, only then she continued. “And it hurt so much, mommy, you can't imagine!” Like on command, her lips began to point downwards and she lowered her eyelids slightly, putting on a sad expression. She even managed to squeeze some tears out of her eyes and wiped with a hoof over one. “I was crying so much and it still hurts, mommy.” She sniffed and then broke out into convincing whimpers.
Peanut Pastry had silently stared at the display of her daughter, face still scowling like before, without one single muscle in her face moving. She narrowed her eyes at her daughter, who now pushed out her lower lip. She let it quiver to increase the effect.
“I don't have time for this,” the mare said, her voice now carrying a sharp tone. “I am already late, so get up and let us get out of here.”
“B-But mommy, I can't.....” Brown Sugar pointed at her hoof a second time, now a worried frown building on her forehead. “The doctor said I shouldn't walk.”
Pinkie Pie, who had watched the scene with growing scepticism, now came closer and joined mother and daughter.
“Brown Sugar is right,” she confirmed. “Dr. Stable told us to not put any pressure on her hoof for one week.”
Peanut Pastry grunted.
“Brown Sugar can't walk home,” Pinkie Pie continued, words that let a small smile creep on Brown Sugar's face as she figured what Pinkie was about to say. “You'll need to carry her home on your back.”
Something flashed up in Peanut Pastry's face. The expression was hard to read, but it seemed to have something amused to it. “Carrying my daughter home?” she asked. The mother looked back into the face of her daughter.
Brown Sugar nodded, smiling. “Uh-huh!” Her face was full of eager anticipation. Not wasting a second, she reached out with her tiny forehooves, expecting to get lifted up any moment.
Instead, her mother grunted a second time. She turned back to Pinkie Pie. “In that case, my daughter can stay here until everything is healed. Send her home once she can walk again.”
The answer washed over Pinkie Pie like a cold stream of mountain water. Unable to bring a word over her lips, she stared at the other mare, her mouth gaping.
Peanut Pastry didn't say more and neither did she regard her daughter, who now started to tear up, with another glance. Haste in her steps, she trotted past the speechless Pinkie Pie.
As she was behind her, Pinkie Pie finally managed to say something. “B-But..... How–”
“Don't worry about your expenses, I will cover them later,” Brown Sugar's mom replied, cutting her off. It didn't sound any less stoically than earlier and she spoke without stopping her trot or turning around. The last thing she let Pinkie and Brown Sugar hear was the bang of the door at the bottom of the stairs as she slammed it shut in her hurry.
An eerie, cold silence was suddenly in the room. Pinkie Pie could still not move and she could still not close her mouth, dumbfounded and in disbelief over the events of the last seconds. “W-What just happened?” she muttered.
The silence didn't last long. It took a mere second after Pinkie Pie's shocked question, that Brown Sugar broke out in tear-filled whimpers. Another second later, and her whimpers grew and became loud sobs, and then, uncontrolled, loud crying. Brown Sugar buried her face in her forehooves, muffling the sounds only slightly. “MOOOOOOMMYYYYYYY!” a high-pitched scream of despair rang out from her throat suddenly.
“B-But that's horrible..... How can she.....” Pinkie muttered some more. Then she cut herself off, her eyes falling on Brown Sugar's distraught shape in her bed. Her body was shaking under her desperate wails. Pinkie held a hoof at her mouth in shock, then she trotted at the bed's side, where she placed a gentle hoof on the shoulder of her crying guest. She looked at her for a second, her own eyes welling up with tears. Then she climbed inside, careful to not touch Brown Sugar's injured hoof, laid down and pulled the filly into an embrace.
Instinctively, Brown Sugar turned around and nestled into Pinkie Pie's chest, seeking comfort, her face still covered by her hooves.
Pinkie Pie put her left arm over the back of the agitated filly, cradling her, while she rested her chin on her mane, just above her horn. The mare closed her eyes. She fondly stroke Brown Sugar's back and then over her mane. She continued these movements for a few minutes, trying her best to calm Brown Sugar's mind. As she realized that it was to no avail, she got up, gently pulling the crying foal with her, and reached for the book on the nightstand. Once the book was securely in her hooves, she leaned herself sideways against the big, soft pillow, cradling Brown Sugar just as before. Pinkie Pie placed the book behind the young pony, opened it and browsed to the page she had last read from. Her eyes searched for the line where she left off last night.
“T-Then they came to lands where people spoke strangely, and sang songs Bilbo had never heard before,” she began to read in a halting voice.....
Brown Sugar looked expectantly down at her hoof, a slight fear in her eyes, as Pinkie Pie proceeded to take off the bandages. One turn, and another one, then her hoof was free. Pinkie crumpled the bandages and tossed them into the trash. Then she took a close look at the formerly injured hoof. She narrowed her eyes and stared for a few seconds.
Brown Sugar's teeth began to clatter.
“Hmm, there is a liiiiittle scar on it..... But it could be worse!” Pinkie finally chimed, calming her worries. She flashed Brown Sugar a grin.
Brown Sugar gulped. Hesitantly, she started moving her hoof. She twitched in expectation of pain, but as none came and her hoof moved exactly the way it was supposed to, she finally eased up and gave Pinkie Pie a grin in response. “It's all healed!” she chirped happily.
“Yep! Now come, walk a bit!” She beckoned Brown Sugar to climb out of bed and trot towards her.
Nodding, Brown Sugar did as told, placing her hooves on the floor. She swayed a little, the after-effects from lying in bed for a whole week, then did clumsy steps into Pinkie Pie's direction. They had become safer the moment she reached her and she trotted around the mare, then increased her tempo and galloped around the room, squealing from joy over her returned agility.
As she had exhausted herself, she returned to stand in front of Pinkie Pie, panting. She reached out and wrapped her hooves around Pinkie's neck. “Thank you, Pinkie!” Brown Sugar nuzzled the mare.
“D'aww, don't mention it! I couldn't just let a filly like you stay in such trouble when you needed help and I also enjoyed it that you were here!” She wrapped her hooves around the filly and made the snuggly embrace perfect.
As minutes had passed and Brown Sugar still hadn't moved, Pinkie Pie pulled away and looked into Brown Sugar's eyes. “But now,” she said “we better get you home.”
Instantly, Brown Sugar's happy expression turned into a sad one. “Do I have to?” she asked.
Pinkie's expression faltered a little, too. “Yes. I wouldn't mind if you stayed longer, but your mommy wouldn't allow it.”
“But mommy doesn't care if I return.....” Brown Sugar sniffed, the memory of what happened a few days ago still fresh on her mind.
Pinkie's face became a little darker. “I know..... And, to be honest, I don't get why she even wants you to return..... But if you don't, I'll get into trouble.”
Downcast, Brown Sugar nodded. She moved a hoof over one of her eyes, swiping away a tiny tear while forcing herself to a smile, then she gave Pinkie another hug. As they had pulled away from each other again, Pinkie Pie put a hoof over Brown Sugar's shoulders and they slowly trotted down the stairs and outside of Sugarcube Corner.
On the streets, they turned to look at each other. Neither the mare nor the filly could muster a smile, now that the moment of saying goodbye had come, but Pinkie Pie booped Brown Sugar's forehead gently. “Hey, chin up!” she said. “You can visit me if you want!”
Brown Sugar was choked up. She sniffed. “R-really? As often as I want?” Her voice was a tiny whisper.
“As often as you want!” Pinkie ruffled through Brown Sugar's mane.
Brown Sugar beamed up at her in gratitude. “Pinkie Promise?”
“Pinkie Promise!” Pinkie Pie began the swear, noticing in surprise how Brown Sugar was imitating her movements.
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!” the two of them shouted together, then broke out in laughter, each of them having one eye covered with a hoof.
As their laughing fits were over, Brown Sugar felt lighter. Driven by another surge of emotions, she wrapped Pinkie Pie into a final hug, then turned away from her and trotted further out into the streets. After a few steps, she turned back at Pinkie Pie and waved at her, smiling.
Smiling, too, Pinkie Pie returned the gesture. “Don't forget, you can always visit me!”
Brown Sugar nodded, then she looked on her path again and finally made herself on her way home.
Her heart felt heavy as she trotted through Ponyville's streets, yet, she also felt strangely relieved. As Brown Sugar saw her home coming closer in the distance, a flash of pain stung in her chest. She stopped and gulped, dread coming over her. But after a moment, she shook her head. Brown Sugar forced herself to a smile, then she continued to march on, until the door of the mansion fell shut behind her with a bang.
Brown Sugar looked around. The mansion still looked the same, which felt odd to her, but then she reminded herself that it had only been a week since she was here last. Slightly scolding herself for the weird thought, she trotted through the hall and up the stairs. Ignoring another pungent smell in the corridor, she aimed for her room. Brown Sugar slipped inside and closed the door behind her.
Sunbeams that shone through the big window she found herself sitting at so often bathed the room in a bright, golden light.
Brown Sugar observed the serene scenery for a moment, then she trotted to her bed and flopped down on her belly. Hindlegs stretched into the air, she reached into her mane and pulled out a piece of paper. Her eyes sparkled as she stared at a picture of her and Pinkie Pie huddled against each other in bed, the cover of “The Hobbit” pointing at the camera. Brown Sugar gave the picture a gentle squeeze at her chest, then she got up and placed it next to the calendar on the shelf behind her bed.
.
Author's Note
And this concludes the first story for Brown Sugar..... I hope you enjoyed reading it and please let me know your thoughts and feedback in the comments.^^
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