Apples. There was nothing else around you than an infinity juicy apples reflecting the moonlight. But what would you expect from a place called Sweet Apple Acres? Even the family that runs the farm was named Apple, and if there’s one thing you’ve learned well since you came to Equestria it’s that, for ponies, names are much more than a label.
At the end of the dirt road you walked, stood a red house that had seen better days. You took your workbook out of your pocket and made sure it was the right address. You climbed up the creaky staircase at the entrance and knocked the wooden door.
Knock! Knock!
In five seconds a strong, red-maned stallion opened the door to greet you. But when he saw you, he stood staring at you agape. This has happened to you so many times that you were used to it already.
“Hi, you must be Mr. Apple, I’m here to take care of the little… Applejack, right?” you said.
“Y-yes… Just wait here a moment.”
The stallion came back into the house bearing a face that looked like he had seen a bugbear. A second later, you heard a mare yell.
“And’s still outside!?”
You could hear the sound of a set of hooves running towards you. Through the door came a light-brown pony with fluffy, caramel mane and tail with some simple jewels decorating her complexion. “Please, ‘scuse my husband… What was yer name again, dear?”
“Everypony here just call me Human,” you answered with a smile.
“I beg you to apologize my husband. He ain’t used seein’ any other creature than a pony. I’m Mrs. Apple. Please, come in.”
She invited you to sit in the couch. The fire in the fireplace warmed the house with a gentle, family warmth. Although the walls needed a coat of paint, the house was in a good shape; decorated with some sunflowers.
“Are we rally leaving our Applejack with…?” said Mr. Apple as his wife passed by his side.
“You have nothing to worry about. I’m highly qualified to take care of your little one, but if you need it, here I have a seal of fidelity from Princess Celestia.” You showed Mr. Apple a golden badge shaped like Princess Celestia’s Cutie Mark.
“All my friends have told me Human was the best fillysitter in all of Equestria.” Mrs. Apple came out of the kitchen with a glass of apple juice that you couldn’t refuse. “We’ll be back in a few hours with Mac and your mother, stop worryin’.”
“I promise that Applejack will be in perfect company,” you said professionally.
“The problem is,” said Mrs. Apple, “Applejack’s a little bit of a cold, so she shouldn’t be out of her bed.”
“I will not take my eyes off her.”
You drank the last of the juice and climbed the stairs accompanied by Mrs. Apple. She opened the door of Applejack’s bedroom, letting you see a tiny, orange filly with a messy blonde mane. She was standing on her bed trying to catch an apple with a lasso. Her eyes got caught in you, trying to find what you were. Her face, decorated with a few freckles, was a bit reddened by the fever.
Her mother took her lasso out of her mouth and put her in bed. “Applejack, you’re sick. You have to rest.” The little filly struggled against her mother trying to escape, claiming that she was healed already, but her mother didn’t stop until Applejack was wrapped up in her bed with a dozen pillows around her. “To make sure nothin’ happens to you, I hired the best fillysitter of Equestria to take care of you.”
“This tall one?” A smile decorated her face. “Howdy, I’m Applejack. Who are you?”
“I’m the one who will take care of you until your parents return.” You approached the filly and put your hand on her forehead to feel her temperature. There was nothing to worry about.
“This is how yer kind says ‘hi’?” asked Applejack.
You couldn’t avoid to giggle. “Something like that.”
Mrs. Apple took you downstairs as she explained you where to find anything you could need in the house and what to do in case of vampire fruit bat emergency. Her husband was waiting for her next to the taxi that had come to get them. When driver was about to start trotting, Mrs. Apple jumped down her sit and went to give Applejack a kiss. She came back, and just when she jumped on the taxi, she jumped down again and went to see if Applejack was well wrapped. You saw her coming and going eight more times as you waited in front of the door. When she finally decided to leave, she woke up her husband, who had fallen asleep in the taxi, and they set off.
At the moment you closed the house’s door, you heard the howling of a wolf, then you realized how close you were to the dreadful Everfree Forest. Quick as a Wonderbolt, you locked every single door and every single window in the house, even the one in the attic. No wolf would eat you during your working hours. Speaking of work, it was time to take a look at the little cowgirl. You went to the kitchen for a glass of water for Applejack and went up the stairs to her bedroom. You came in and almost dropped the glass of water.
It was empty.
“Applejack!?” you called immediately. Nopony answered. “Are you in the bathroom?” You ran to the bathroom and knocked the door. “Are you there? Applejack!”
Again, no answer.
Drops of sweat formed on your forehead. Then, you heard a noise outside. You looked out the window to see the little Applejack pulling a wagon six times her size to the trees. Your heart went to your throat. The filly was outside, sick, at night, and near the Everfree Forest! In less than a blink, you descended the stairs and rushed toward her.
“Applejack! What in Equestria are you doing!?”
You caught Applejack out of guard and she jumped out of fright into a bucket next to a tree. She poked her head out and frowned at you. “What in tarnation is wrong with you scarin’ me like that!?”
You put your hands on your waist. “No, what’s wrong with you? You are sick! You’re supposed to be sleeping in your room.”
“I can’t leave until I’ve filled mah fee.”
“Fee? What fee?”
Applejack went to the wagon and picked up a paper. It had a drawing of four ponies that looked like she, her parents and a red colt. Below them was a sort of graph of days and apples. “See now? We have ta meet the fee to generate apple profit.”
“Apple profit?” you asked. No matter how much you looked at her doodles, you couldn’t find any sense. There wasn’t any pattern or anything that could help you decipher it.
Applejack picked up a crayon from the wagon and drew an apple underneath the doodle that looked like her. She showed it to you again. “One apple, see? One apple from a group of eight apples sold at two bits equals profit if the apple is juicy. Focus on the profit, that’s the important here. And I haven’t picked any apple since last week, which means that if I don’t go to work, there will be no profit. And without profit, we can’t fix the barn!”
You gave the graph another confused look. “Aren’t you too young to be involved in finances?”
“No, I ‘m not.” Applejack sat and showed you her front hooves. “I’m these years old, ya know? And now I have to go back to work.”
“I see…” you said with an eyebrow up. “You want some help with those apples.”
Applejack looked at you like if you had broken her favorite toy. She snatched her graph from your hands. “Help!? I don’t need any help, now shoo!”
After shooing you, Applejack came back to the tree.
You watched how she bucked the trees with her tiny hooves. Around five apples fell with each buck, which was amazing compared to a human. But you couldn’t just leave her outside with hungry wolves around. You could try to force her to go to sleep, but when you saw her face, you realized that she wouldn’t leave without fulfilling her fee. And something you learned well since you came to Equestria was that the ponies can be as stubborn as a mule. No offense to the mule community, of course.
Against such stubbornness, you couldn’t do more than join her cause. You came back to the house for a glass of water and offered it to Applejack to keep her hydrated.
“Water? I don’t need no water, I’m fine.” She bucked a tree so strong that she left it without apples.
You gulped when you noticed how destructive those hooves were.
“Very well then, don’t drink it, but I’ll be back again every ten seconds to offer you water until you drink it. But I’m sure that a finance genius like you will know how much valuable time would be wasted if you didn’t drink it already.”
Applejack rubbed her chin as she stared at you. “I reckon you have a point there.”
She drank all the water in three sips and went back to work.
You took the glass back to the kitchen with a smile on your face: the bond was born. When you returned to Applejack’s side, you sat next to a tree to watch her work. No matter how many times you asked, she never accepted your help.
How would you explain her parents how those apples were in the barn? You could be honest, or maybe sprinkle a little the true, after all, they sure know their daughter’s temperament.
The howl of a wolf triggered your alarms. You looked around, but everything was fine. Just in case, you took the lamp and came closer to Applejack with the excuse that she would see better.
The wagon was filled with baskets of apples and it was time to take them to the barn. To prevent the little one from making so much effort, you offered to do it. Applejack answered with a smile. “Fine, I’ll take care of the rest.” She ran to other tree. You could notice her panting and sweating.
With all the strength of your soul, you grabbed the wagon and started to pull it. Your face turned red and the damn wagon barely moved five inches. The road to the barn seemed eternal as you did your best to avoid tripping in the dark. At last, after what felt like a hour of torture, you put the wagon in the barn, and when you were about to take a leap of happiness, you remembered what was coming now: unload the apples.
Four, five, six, you lost the account of how many times you jumped down the wagon with a basket of apples in your arms. Once the wagon was empty, you came back with Applejack, who was sitting on the floor, panting. The poor thing must be tired. “Here’s the wagon ready for more, pardner,” you said as you walked toward her, trying to copy her accent.
As you approached her, you saw how dull her green eyes were. Her face was very red and she couldn’t stop panting. Your hand went to her forehead like if it had life of its own. She was boiling! Her little face was covered in hot sweat while her heart seemed like it was going to escape from her chest.
“Applejack, you have a high fever!” You picked her up and she started struggling.
“Forget about the fever. I’m just at five baskets to finish.” Applejack exhausted what little strength she had left struggling with you and surrendered in your arms.
You ran as fast as your feet let you to her room and put her in her bed. You went to the kitchen and returned with a bucket with cold water and a washcloth.
“Ah! It’s cold.”
“What’s wrong, you can harvest more than a thousand apples but can’t stand a little cold?”
Applejack giggled a little and stood still. When the washcloth warmed up, you cooled it again and put it on her forehead, gently. Applejack’s breathing calmed. Around ten minutes, the filly fell asleep. Her fever had already gone. You made sure her window was closed and you left the room with care not to wake her up.
Poor thing, working herself to fatigue and still wasn’t able to finish. You looked at the clock and saw that you have some time left... As the best of the fillysitters it was your job to make sure everypony you care was happy. It was time to do some manual work.
You left the house lamp, in hand, and went to the half-harvested trees that Applejack was unable to finish. “Five baskets...” you said to yourself before gulping.
You approached the tree and kicked it with all your strength, but the tree didn’t even flinch, in fact, if it could, it would have laughed. You had no choice but to use the ladder you saw inside the barn to harvest the apples.
You came back to take revenge on the tree with the ladder in your hands. Since it was a pony-sized ladder, you didn’t reach the top of the tree, but you could grab the apples without problem. You grabbed the bigger apple you could spot in the tree and threw it to the basket.
As you grabbed the apples, you started thinking about how different this night was being from the one you have imagined it would be, but that’s the beauty of your work here in Equestria: the foals of Equestria are adventures on four-legs.
With the last apple of the fourteenth tree, you filled the fifth basket. You went down the ladder and spotted a big and juicy apple. The light of the moon reflected on its red-and-orange peel. You stomach begged you to give it to it, but you decided that there was somepony who would enjoy it more than you. After the titanic task of taking the wagon to the barn and unloading the baskets, you made sure to close the barn properly and returned to the house, crawling all the way. You collapsed on the coach to recover strength to climb up the stairs.
After twenty minutes of well earned rest, you went to Applejack’s room to find her sound asleep — her temperature was normal. You didn’t have the courage to wake her up, because it escaped from your mouth just when you went d’aaaaw after seeing her asleep. You took your workbook out of your pocket and pulled out a page.
Get well!
You put the apple and the note on the bedside table and left the room. You came back to the couch to wait for the Apples. After half an hour, you heard a cart slow down in front of the house. Applejack’s parents came into the house accompanied by a green, elder pony, and a red colt that looked like Mr. Apple about twenty years younger.
As a professional, you told them everything that had happened, not without mentioning that if there was something they should be proud of, it was their little daughter.
Mrs. Apple almost fainted as she heard you story, but she was just as worried about you as she was about Applejack; she didn’t think you had what it takes to hold Applejack’s horses. Although, you had the feeling that if she’d not been sick, you would have had to survive a night of rodeo.
The family paid you for a job well done. You said goodbye to them and left the house, taking a last breath of the apple’s sweet scent.
The image of yourself between the sheets of your bed was the only thing in your fainted mind. Your walk back home through the dark streets of Ponyville was accompanied by the multicolored smiles of the villagers. Once in the peace of your home, you went straight to bed without even going through the bathroom. There will be time in the morning. The only thing you were going to do was sleep with the idea that you had helped a filly to achieve her fee.
At the next morning, neither the rooster singing nor the impetuous conversations of the ponies were able to get you out of bed. It was your stomach, however, who force you out with a roar that sounded like an opera in its prime.
After a good breakfast and a bath, you put the comfy bathrobe Princess Celestia gave you and went to pick up the newspaper. When you opened the door, you found that there was no newspaper, but a big and juicy apple in which you could see yourself reflected. You grabbed it and felt something slip between your fingers. A note written with an orange crayon fell to the ground.
Thank you!
You enjoyed quietly the silent company of your book after a good dinner. The sun was already hiding and you could hear how the ponies shared goodbyes. This was the time for you to prepare to go to work, but today was one of those days where work will come to you. Idea that doesn’t excite you because some foals, especially unicorns, could wreak havoc on your house in matter of seconds.
Luckily, today you had to take care of four fillies a bit older than your regular cast; all earth ponies. They were the Pie sisters, daughters of Cloudy Quartz and Igneous Rock. From older to younger they were: Maud Pie, Limestone Pie, Pinkamena Pie and Marble Pie. And you’ll have to take care of all of them until their parents come back from a meeting of the old members of the Rock University of Equestria.
Just when you passed a page of your book, you felt the sound of hooves against your wooden door. You put the marker on the page and went to open the door with a smile.
“Greetings, Human, I am Igneous Rock,” said the father as he held his hat against his chest. He proceeded to introduce you to his family.
His wife greeted you with a cordial nod. Maud, a gray filly with Cutie Mark – a rock – stared at you as if she read your soul. Limestone’s lime eyes were narrowed at you all the time, except when a strand of her white mane covered them. Pinkamena… well… she smiled… a lot; she too had a Cutie Mark, three balloons, two blue and one yellow. And the little Marble, who looked at you with the mixture of fear and curiosity you were used to deal with.
Just when you were going to talk, Pinkamena exploded. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! Who are you? What are you? What’s your name? What’s your favorite color, dessert, princess, painting, flower, book, cloud? Do you like parties?”
“Pinkamena, show respect,” said her mother, but the smile on the pink ball’s face never disappeared. “Go with your fillysitter, all of you.”
The fillies came into the house in a perfect line. Instead of walking, Pinkie was bouncing. His parents paid you in advance and left your home. You thanked them for trusting you and you turned around to find four pairs of eyes fixed on you. It was eight o’clock, so you just had to entertain them for an hour before sending them to bed.
“Are they gone?” Limestone asked.
“Yes, they just–”
“Party!” Pinkie took a cannon out of her tail and fired a cloud of confetti that turned your living room into a multicolored ocean. Streamers hung from all the walls. There was a horde of balloons flying around your living room. Your house looked like circus, lion included, who found your sofa very comfortable.
“What!? Girls! Come here,” you shouted as you walked towards them.
Like the ninety-five percent of the foals, after hearing these words, each one ran away in a different direction. Maud, however, walked calmly to the kitchen, where she stopped to contemplate the beautiful mosaic of Celestia sitting on her throne that was next to your fridge.
You knelt next to her to contemplate it from her perspective. “Do you like the mosaic, Maud?”
“Mosaics are my favorite art form after comedy, especially those made with calcareous rocks like this one.”
“I didn’t know it was made out of that. I guess you learn something new every day.”
The filly’s face remained expressionless. But there was something in you that told you she was on your side. Thank goodness, because you will need all the help you could get to face her sisters.
“Do you want to hear a joke?” Maud asked.
The noise of something expensive breaking made a chill ran down your back. But you stayed firm in your place. “S-sure,” you said before your eye twitched.
“What did a rock say to another rock?”
“I don’t know. What did a rock say to another rock?”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“Oh, I understand rocks don’t speak,” you said as you avoided eye contact with her. By doing your best, you managed to fake a good laugh. “Ha, ha, ha! Whoa, that was… very funny, yes. It… it sure was…”
“I knew you will love rock jokes. Pinkie likes them too.”
You took Maud in your arms and stood up. She stared at the floor with total blankness.
“This is how you see the world? You are too far from the ground to enjoy the rocks on the road.”
“It doesn’t matter how tall you are; the rocks will always be there for you.” Your words managed to make Maud smile. Or maybe was just the lighting… You weren’t sure.
When you left the kitchen, you found yourself trapped in what appeared to be a giant ball pit, only that, instead of balls, it was full of giant balloons. With Maud pressed against your chest, you entered the jungle of helium. The first thing you found was your couch, where the lion looked at you with a “well hello there, lunch” face. Your eyes interconnected with the lion’s as you walked backward. Luckily, a balloon hid you, moment you ran away as fast as you could.
The race took you to the other side of the room, right where Marble was. She was smiling at the sight of her pink sister wearing a miniature ringmaster costume with a hat of the size of her head.
“And now,” announced Pinkie, “let’s enjoy with the harmonic meows of the amazing, singing cats!” Pinkie took out a blowpipe from her hat and shot the balloons, revealing six cats on your bookshelf. Marble stomped her excited hooves.
“How much do you have to pay to see the show?” you asked Pinkie.
“Nothing if you are family. The others, a big smile.”
“A smile like this?” you said, showing Pinkie your best smile. Maud, on the other hand, stood the same.
Your smile was soon reflected in Pinkie’s shining teeth. “Take a seat next to my dearest little sister.”
As the ringmaster commanded, you sat next to Marble and put Maud by her side.
Pinkie jumped aside and the music started. Each cat meowed at his own pace. Soon, you could find a pattern in the meows. A Persian cat, that looked like a hedgehog due to the static of the balloons, marked the rhythm as if he was a drummer while a pair of Siamese cats were meowing very quickly, as if they were two crazy guitarists. One of the cats was on its hind legs meowing loud and clear as if it was a pianist. And the last two cats made all the melody of the song.
You heard something behind you, so you turned to see. There, on the sofa, was the lion headbanging. Unsure of what you saw, you rubbed your eyes, and when you opened them again, you saw him making the windmill with his long mane. To protect your mental health, weakened inch by inch since the day you came to Equestria, you decided to look at the cats and at nothing more than the cats.
That’s when you heard a dog bark.
All the cats ran away in different directions at such speed that the only way to follow them was to listen to the chain of exploding balloons. They escaped through the windows. Silence flooded the room for a few seconds until you decided to eradicate it with a slow clap. Applause with which you won a thumb up from the lion.
“All the kittens left?” Marble asked you with her damp eyes fixed at you.
“No, I think there’s one that’s still here, wait a minute,” you said with a smile. Dodging the few remaining balloons, you went up to the stairs to your guest room, room that you had prepared for when a foal has to stay in your house. You opened the chest with toys in front of the bed and grabbed a stuffed kitty.
“Look, Marble, this is Fluffy and he wants to play with you.”
Marble took the stuffed animal and gave it a big hug as you mentally celebrated another victory. Two more to go.
You left the oldest and youngest sisters playing with Fluffy and went in search of the other two. Walking between the mountains of confetti and streamers, you came to the dining room, where you found Limestone staring with interest at the ceiling. There was Pinkie, swinging from your chandelier at the same she juggled the plates with her hind legs.
“Behold the amazing wonders of Pinkie’s Traveling Circus,” said Pinkie with a smile that didn’t fit on her little face.
“Pinkie, get off that chandelier right now!” you said with a raised tone and a rushed heart.
Pinkie dropped the plates and they stayed suspended in the air. Yes, they did. She stepped out of the chandelier. Your heart shrink as you saw her doing pirouettes in the air. She landed on a big apple jelly that had just appeared on the table. She bounced and, in the air, she kicked all the plates straight to their places on the table. Her poofy tail got tangled in the chandelier as she opened her hooves with energy.
“Super somersault jump with return and table-set included! Ta-daaaa!”
Limestone stomped the floor with her hooves so fast that she looked like a bumblebee. You too clapped at the pink filly who was beaming upside down. The smile on her face didn’t fade away until you stepped on a chair and caught her. With one hand you adjusted her hat and put her on the ground, next to her sister.
“All right, little ones, I think it’s been too much emotion for a day. Don’t you think?”
“Of course not!” Pinkie yelled with a smile. “This is nothing compared to Faust’s Traveling Circus! We need more excitement; we need a grand finale.”
“Oh, and what have you planned?” you asked.
Pinkie pulled a baton from her mane and marched off to the living room while you and Limestone followed her between mountains of streamers. You didn’t know how those foals could sail so well between so much confetti. Pinkie stopped right in front of the lion and called all her sisters. You joined the foals, sitting next to Limestone.
“Fillies and… you!” said Pinkie pointed her baton at you. “We have a special guest with us tonight. I would like to welcome a pony who bears danger for Cutie Mark. Stomp those hooves for Brave, the lion tamer, Brave the fire eater, Brave–!”
The lion tapped Pinkie’s shoulder, when she turned around, the lion gave her a piece of paper. Pinkie’s face darkened as she read it.
“Brave the patient in intensive care…” All of Pinkie’s happiness vanished at the same time her hair deflated like a balloon. Her funny hat fell to the ground.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” you asked with a gentle tone.
She shook her head as she tried to control her shaking lips, but by doing this, she couldn’t stop a tear that slid down her face. All her sisters exchanged looks between you and her.
You took Pinkie into a warm hug. She tried to escape for a second, but she gave up and nuzzled your chest. She squeezed you tightly as if you were a giant plush. You could feel how her sour tears dampened your clothes. Her sisters looked at you as if you were going to solve the problem at any time. And you won’t fail them.
“Hey, look at me, Pinkie.”
She didn’t move.
That’s it! It was time to use your fillysitter super powers. You gave a little caress to her cotton candy mane and scratched the back of her ear. Her sobs of sadness turned into chuckles. You could hear her laugh as she kicked one of her legs.
“That tickles!” she said with a smile.
You passed your thumb through her face to catch a little tear. “See? It isn’t that bad.”
“But…” She looked to her sisters worried gazes. “Like our dads won’t take us to the circus, I just wanted to make my own circus party so we all could have fun, but…”
“But what? You totally did it; you made us all laugh with the juggles, the cats and this… charismatic lion.” The lion nodded with your words.
“That’s true, we had a lot of fun,” said Limestone.
“But–”
“No buts, Pinkie” said Maud with her calm voice, “remember the old saying: the show must go on. If plan A goes wrong, just jump to plan B. Everything will be fine as long as you don’t give up.”
“Yeah!” Limestone yelled. “What do you need, a pony who puts his head in the lion’s mouth? Well, I’ll do it for you, little sis.”
Pinkie’s face lit up, but something inside of you exploded. “Of course none of you is going to stick your head in there! I’ll do it.” When you wanted to realize the stupidity you had said, you were face to face with the lion and with four spectators looking at you with sparkling eyes.
“Open big and wide, Joe,” said Pinkie.
The lion’s mouth was so open that your head and the four fillies fit there. Cold sweats ran down your the back of your neck. Slowly, you approached the lion. A voice in your head told you to run away from there, but you didn’t listen to it. You knew that if you ran away you wouldn’t just disappoint them; one of them will end up substituting you. So you did what had to be done.
You tilted your head slowly to avoid brushing those sharp and shiny fangs at all costs. An unpleasant smell of rancid flesh invaded your nose. You held your breath and kept stretching your neck inside the beast. As much as you wanted to open your eyes, they refused to cooperate. The moment you felt his tongue against your temple, you almost let out a scream, but for nothing in the world would you do something that could bother the lion. Your heart was beating so fast that you thought it was going to explode, and it wasn’t until your nerves made it miss a beat that you yanked your head out of the mouth.
“Stomp those hooves for our fillysitter!” Pinkie shouted, wearing her costume with joy one more time.
The foals stomped for you as you cleaned the puddle of lion saliva on your face. She gave two bits to Joe and he left your house with elegance. Before closing the door, he hit his chest twice and gave you a V with his claws.
“That was amazing!” Limestone said as she ran toward you. You took her in your arms to stroke her mane, trying to relieve yourself of the trauma you had been through.
Pinkie appeared from the kitchen, pushing some kind of vacuum cleaner with a face painted with crayon. She turned it on and, in less than a blink, there was no confetti nor streamers nor any other party material in your house. “Here ends another great show of Pinkie’s Traveling Circus! Souvenirs at the exit.”
Maud’s expressionless face looked at the clock on the wall. “Time to sleep.”
It was just eight and a half o’clock, but the chain of yawns around you warned you that they were close to their limits. Just when you got off the couch, it was your turn to yawn. Now that the house was clean, it was easy to guide the fillies to their room. They followed you in a perfect line.
It was a wonderful: each one following her older sister without question. They lined up in front of the bathroom, and when each one left after using it, the other entered. One by one they all ended up in bed. Marble, who was the last one to leave the bathroom, asked you if she could sleep with Fluffy. You smiled at her as you passed a hand over her silky, soft mane.
“Of course you can.”
After putting them in bed, you sat next to them with one of your night stories books.
“Have you ever been in a circus?” asked Pinkie with that smile that none of her sisters could copy.
“Been? Please, I once had a circus,” you said as you let the book aside.
All the fillies raised their ears when you said that. A mixture of incredibility and emotion painted their faces, except Maud’s… she… at least was looking at you.
“Yes, you heard right, and now I’m going to tell you something that happened to me. One day, I was helping the clowns with their jokes when Bubbles, a big and pink hippo, asked me to let her try a different act. Do any of you know which one she wanted to try?”
“Eat fire!” said Limestone.
“Nope.”
“Juggling?” asked Marble.
“No.”
“Comedy?” asked Maud.
“Na-ah.”
“All the above?” asked Pinkie.
“None of those. Bubbles told me she wanted to be a trapeze artist.”
All the girls looked at you with raised eyebrows. You answered them with a smile.
“I know, I know. Everypony in the circus said no to her, even I thought it was crazy. But she didn’t listen to any of us and, in the middle of the show, she climbed to the top of the tent and jumped to the trapeze. There she began to leap through the air between the applause of the audience, giving us the best performance I had ever seen in my life.”
“That’s amazing! You have to show us your show one day,” Pinkie said as she tried to shake off the blanket, but you tucked her back in before she spread her emotion and revolutionized her sisters.
“She is not real, Pinkie. This was just a metaphorical story to encourage us to never stop chasing our dreams despite what others say about us,” said Maud.
However, your smile never disappeared. “Who knows, Maud? Who knows?” You turned off the lamp and left the room.
You went back to your couch to continue your journey between the pages of your book. When you sat down, you felt something on your back, so you shook your clothes. A piece of confetti slid to the floor. This sketched a smile on your lips.
After writing some good words with a phoenix feather on the parchment, you grabbed the magic lighter that the non-unicorn, royal counselors use. Green flames consumed the letter and it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Your alarm clock rang at five in the morning, an hour before the parents of the fillies came for them. After finishing using the bathroom and putting on comfortable clothes, you opened the door to see how the girls were doing. The four of them slept calmly between hugs, until you heard Pinkie say something about the queen of the hippos. You tried not to d’aaaaw until you left the room so you won’t wake them up.
Just at the promised time, Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz came for their daughters. When you told them they were sleeping upstairs, they accepted your invitation to breakfast before waking up the girls.
“I hope they did not bother you very much,” said Igneous after sipping his coffee.
“Everything was fine. Except for a crazy circus party that Pinkie throw, all good.”
The faces of the parents became as pale as snow. Igneous got up from the chair and put his hat against his chest. “By Celestia! We’re sorry that you had to go through that.”
“We knew that Pinkie would do something like this, which is why we came to you in the first place,” Cloudy said sadly. “That girl has something inside. We even hired the services of an exorcist, but nothing works.”
You stared at the parents for a while, pupils totally shrunken. The filly did have something inside: excess of energy, sugar and poofiness. But none of that required an exorcist. She just needed something, and you knew exactly what.
“I’m afraid that won’t work, Mrs. Quartz. If you want her to be quiet, you just have to discharge her first.” You took the envelope your dear friend sent you last night and gave it to Igneous. He opened it to find six entries for Faust’s Traveling Circus. “This is the medicine she needs, word of fillysitter.” The gesture illuminated the faces of the parents, although they apologized for the behavior of Pinkie about three more times.
The girls woke up to the tender gesture of a kiss from their mother. They had breakfast with you and their parents and when they finished eating, they said goodbye to you with a smile and a hug.
“You’ll take care of us again the next time we’re alone, right? Please say yes,” Pinkie said with those puppy eyes you had to fight every day; and always defeated you.
“Of course, Pinkie. But if you only want to play with me, why don’t we do it tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?”
You chuckled. “You’ll see.”
The show was about to start. The foals ran to their seats, dropping popcorn all over the tent. You drank quietly your favorite drink as you stared at the six empty seats beside you. Your peace faded away when you saw the owners of the seats appear.
A ball of pink hair ran to you and hugged you so hard that you almost spilled your drink
“You’re here! I missed you so much.” She gasped. “Now I have to throw a we-are-friends-for-a-day party. I have to start filing these things.”
You giggled. “Maybe in a secret cave.”
She rubbed her chin. “That may work…”
Her parents greeted you as Marble and Limestone jumped next to Pinkie on your lap. As soon as your eyes and Maud’s crossed, you saw her lips turn around in a smile, smile you returned to her.
The lights went out, leaving only a light that illuminated the shining hat of the ringmaster mare.
“Fillies and gentlecolts! Welcome Faust Traveling Circus!” As the shouts of excitement from the audience died down, the director continued, “I am proud to start today’s show with the act of Bubbles, the incredible trapezist hippo!”
“WHAT!” shouted Marble, Pinkie and Limestone in disbelief.
You let out a relaxed sigh as you crossed your legs and put your hands behind your head. “Dreams, what are they but the engines that move our lives. What do you think, Maud?”
The little filly looked at you with a lighted face and give you the slowest, strangest wink you had ever seen in your life.
