Chapters Berry Punch
I sighed as I leaned on the bar, sliding a drink down the wooden surface to the waiting stallion. This job didn’t pay well but I had a filly so I did what I had to do.
I tugged a bit on my work shirt and winced a bit. At least they provided a shirt that covered up my bruises my coltfriend gives out whenever he’s mad. At least he never hit our daughter because he would end up dead.
“Hey Berry,” my boss Moonlight slid up on the bar next to me. “Busy shift?” I forced a smile and shrugged.
“Oh you know it!” I chuckled and accepted some bits, putting them in the register and waving goodbye to a randomly stallion. I always tried to be friendly to our customers, might get promoted to manager and make more money. “Hearts and Hooves days is always busy. Especially for the single stallions and mares.”
“Got that right,” Moonlight laughed as he poured him a glass of whiskey and drank it in one go. “Listen, why don’t you head on home? Star Shine is coming in shortly. We’re giving out holiday pay, so you got some extra bits coming your way.”
I smiled at the thought of being able to hopefully buy my daughter some more school supplies, maybe some actual toys that weren’t donated or tossed on the street. Maybe some actual saddlebags so she didn’t have to carry everything on her back.
“Thanks boss,” I nodded and trotted my way to the double doors, pushing them open. I winced at the bright light and covered my eyes at the bright sun.
Baltimare was a, not surprisingly, a busy town. I originally came out here to get away from my strict parents and to find fame and fortune. Instead, I got a daughter that I love, no fame or fortune and an abusive partner.
If it wasn’t for Ruby, I’d have left him years ago. He’s good to our daughter, just not to me. Apparently it’s all my fault his acting career died. I don’t have the heart to tell him his acting sucks.
I trotted down the strip and inhaled, taking in the smells of the city before taking a quick glance at the street signs. As bad a rep this city gets, it’s actually pretty good.
I pushed some doors of a rundown apart building and trotted in. I sighed and stared up at the staircase as I pushed open the doors to them.
My forelegs and hindquarters burned by the time I reached the top. I read off the apartment numbers as I reached my apartment, fumbling for the key before it slid in and I opened the door.
A mulberry blur that matched my coat attached itself to my foreleg and I smiled down warmly.
“Hi mom!” Ruby exclaimed happily as she squeezed my leg harder. I rubbed her mane with my other hoof and sighed.
“Hey love. Have a good day at school?” I asked as I started trotting with her attached to my leg.
“Yeah! We learned about the various weather patterns today.”
“Is that so?” I snickered as she finally let go and I leaned down to nuzzle her. “What did ya learn?”
“About cumo-cumula-” Ruby grumbled as she rubbed her chin in frustration.
“Cumulonimbus?” I suggested as we worked our way to kitchen and I sighed. Looks like asparagus and potatoes again because Golden didn’t get groceries again.
“Yeah that!”
“Okay. What’s a cumulonimbus then?” I asked curiously as I got down a pot.
“Cloud forming a towering mass with a flat base at fairly low altitude and often a flat top as in thunderstorms,” Ruby recited as I filled the pot with water and tossed the asparagus in it.
“Good work!” I stomped a hoof down approvingly.
“What’s all that racket?” Golden demanded and I groaned internally.
“Ruby go to your room,” I instructed and pointed a hoof. Room was being kind. It was just our closet with the door taken off. “Now.”
Ruby nodded nervously and galloped off up the stairs and hopefully went to her room. Golden stumbled into the room and I instinctively stepped back as I smelled alcohol on his coat. We both may have a drinking problem, his a bit worse than mine.
“Hello,” I forced a smile. “How was work?”
“Shit.”
“I’m sorry,” I said and inched forward the stove.
“Your daughter is hungry by the way. We had a good day. Went to the park, watched the fish.”
“Our daughter,” I corrected with a frown as I stirred the asparagus. “You forgot to get groceries by the way. We agreed that we switch weekly who does it.” I gasped as a hoof slammed into my back, wincing.
“I don’t care! You were on the way home from work. You should have stopped and got stuff!”
“I didn’t know!” I shouted angrily at him. “You really wanna do this again? Our daughter is upstairs, our neighbors can hear this. Do you really want the police ponies here again?”
“Your daughter! I never wanted her!” Golden snapped as he glared at me and I glared back.
“You helped make her last I checked. It takes two of us. You were so excited to have her years ago, what the hell happened to you?” I demanded as I turned the stove off.
“She ruined my acting career! If I knew having a foal would have ruined that, I would never have had her!” Golden shouted as I growled. It didn’t really help that we were both earth ponies. We were naturally stronger than the other tribes.
“Your acting sucks!” I screamed as he raised a hoof and Ruby jumped in front of me. “Ruby, back to your room.”
“Leave mom alone. Can’t you two get along?” Ruby asked as she hugged my leg. Golden shoved her aside and faced her with a hoof raised as my eyes widened. Ruby stepped back nervously as I inhaled and tackled him.
“You can hit me all you want but you won’t dare hit my daughter in front of me or ever hit her,” I snarled as I pressed a hoof against his throat. “Am I clear? I will kill you if you do.”
He weakly nodded as I released him and he stumbled to his hooves, staggering to the living room and I heard the sound of him falling on our old couch.
“Ruby go pack your bags. Quietly. When he is asleep, I’ll come get you. Deal?”
“Deal. Are we going on a vacation?”
I chuckled and rubbed her mane.
“You could say that. Now get a move on my little filly.”
Ruby nodded as she bounced up the stairs quietly. I had my own bags to pack but first, I needed a drink.
Author's Note
Jumping right into the action, fuck it lol. Hopefully you guys (and girls) enjoy. I have a lot planned here.
Berry Punch
I paused at the living room entrance, listening to the steady breathing of my ex partner and nodded at Ruby.
“Let’s go,” I said and flicked my tail a bit to playfully smack her flank as she jumped into the saddlebags I had one. Benefits of her being small still. I quietly trotted to the door and pushed it open before galloping down the stairs.
“Where we going?” Ruby asked curiously as she poked her head out of the saddlebags. I nudged the door that leads to the street open and glanced at the sun. Eight fifty isn’t a bad time. I could make it to Ponyville in a few days or so.
“Ponyville,” I said immediately as I started trotting in that direction. Benefits of knowing the way home by heart.
“Can we take the train? I’ve never been on a train before.”
“I wish but we don’t have the bits. You go to sleep and we will be there before you know it. Maybe one day you will get a train ride.”
“That sounds nice,” Ruby yawned as I shifted the saddlebags on me a bit. Mainly just full of Ruby’s belongings, all our bits and a few of my belongings.
“Just go to sleep. It’s late and way past your bed time.”
I closed the flap of the saddlebag she was in and continued my slow, lopsided trot. I may have gotten a bit drunk before leaving. I yawned myself and listened to Ruby’s even breathing and faint snoring come my left bag.
“Wish I could be asleep like that,” I muttered as I climbed up a hill. “And I’m talking to myself.”
I never really expected to go back home. Ponyville was okay I guess. At least mom and dad are dead so I don’t have deal with them. I know that sounds dark but I never had a decent relationship with my mom or dad. Cheerilee and Cherry Berry always were the favorites.
They could never do any wrong apparently. I remember Cheerilee stealing as a filly and Cherry Berry sneaking out multiple times to get drunk and go to the town strip club to get lucky. If only mom and dad knew that.
I don’t even know if the strip club is still there. It’s been five, six years since I’ve been in that town. I hear the Summer Sun Celebration is going to be there this year. I don’t know how they pick the towns for this and I quite frankly don’t care.
I yawned again as I stumbled against a tree. I sat down and folded my legs under me as I nosed the saddlebag open and gently pulled Ruby out, wrapping my tail around her as I closed my eyes to sleep.
“Mom wake up!” Ruby shouted as I felt her hooves shaking me. I groaned and blinked a few times as I sat up.
“What’s up?” I asked groggily as I rubbed my eyes with my hooves. Ruby sat in front of me and pushed some carrots my way.
“Breakfast. I also got blueberries and some strawberries.”
I blinked again and stared at the berries and random vegetables in front of me before looking back at Ruby.
“Did you already eat?” I asked with a hoof on the carrot. Ruby shook her head as I slammed a hoof on the carrots to break them in half and I pushed an equal amount her way. “Eat.”
Ruby nodded as she bit into a carrot as I watched the sun rise before picking up a carrot myself and crunching on it.
“What’s up doc?” Ruby snickered as I glanced at her with a carrot half out her mouth and I smirked.
“While that’s adorable, don’t play with your food. Eat it,” I chided and Ruby shrugged. I wrapped my tail around her as the sun finished rising.
“Do you have any family?” Ruby asked suddenly and I sighed, tracing a circle in the dirt.
“I have two sisters. They live in Ponyville. You met them but you were still inside my stomach at the time. They didn’t know I was pregnant with you at the time.”
They still didn’t to be honest. I quit sending them letters years ago. They quit sending them first so it’s only fair. Karma and all that shit.
“They don’t know me?”
“I never got along with my family other than you. Hopefully they moved away so I don’t have see them or listen to lectures. I don’t know what I’d do to be completely honest.”
Cheerilee was always the one who lectured me the most. It sucked being the youngest. You don’t see her lecturing Cherry Berry ever. At least she stopped when I told her to shut the fuck up one day. The quiet was nice.
Ruby nuzzled me as I sighed, smirking at the blueberries staining her muzzle.
“You have blueberries on your muzzle,” I yawned as she rested against my barrel. “We will find a stream or a river to clean you up. Can’t have you being all messy now can we?”
“Nope! What are your sisters names?” Ruby asked as she rubbed her muzzle with a hoof. I gave a shrug. This information couldn’t hurt her so I don’t see a problem with telling her.
“Cheerilee and Cherry Berry. Cheerilee always wanted to be a teacher and Cherry Berry wanted to be a pilot. Last I checked, they achieved their dreams,” I answered as I started cleaning up the small mess we had made. “At least two out of the three did.”
“Maybe one day you will achieve your dreams,” Ruby said casually as I slipped my saddlebags on. For a five year old, she could be scarily smart. She already was ahead of her class in reading. I just needed to find somepony to teach her magic.
“Maybe one day. You want to ride in the bags again or ride me?” I asked and tried to keep a straight face so I didn’t laugh at how dirty that sounded.
“You. Riding you is fun!” Ruby chirped and I burst out laughed as she gave me a confused look. “What’s funny?”
“Nothing. I’ll tell you when your older, okay?”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” I said as I helped her climb up on my back as she wrapped her forelegs around my neck. “Let’s get a move on, we got a few days of walking to do.”
Ruby nodded as I started trotting forward. First, I needed to find a stream to clean her face up. And maybe mine too.
Berry Punch
"Are we there yet?" Ruby asked and I groaned. She had been asking that for the past few hours. When she hasn't been sleeping that is. "Mommy?"
"For the last ten times it was no," I answered as her face fell. "This time actually it's yes!"
Ruby gave a faint cheer mixed with a yawn as Ponyville came into view. We had been walking and sleeping outside for the past four days now. I spent all day walking and half the night to make decent time.
I took a step as the the saddlebag with Ruby in broke and she went rolling down the hill.
"Ruby, holy shit!" I shouted as she screamed. "Hold on!"
I galloped down the hill past her and laid down on my stomach with my forelegs and hind legs stretched out as she bounced into me.
"Well that was terrifying," I muttered as I hugged my shaking daughter. "You okay?"
"Scared," Ruby admitted as I felt her horn poking my mane.
"I'm scared too. That was Celestia awful right there," I admitted as I looked at the moon with Nightmare Moon in it starting to lower to make way for the sun. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"I don't think so. So are we going to your sisters?" Ruby asked curiously as I pushed her up on my back and started to pick up a few items that fell out of the broken bag. At least the other side had stayed locked.
"No we're getting a hotel. Hotels are cheaper here than in Baltimare. Then I'll get a job, then buy us a house. I'll sleep with a stallion if I have to get us a hotel room," I grumbled as I finally finished cleaning up. I had no issues with sleeping around. I have needs too you know.
"How would sleeping with somepony help us?" Ruby asked curiously as I started the trot into town.
"One day I'll tell you. You're a bit young at the moment to understand."
"Five is not young!" Ruby shouted angrily and I snickered. "I'm a big pony. That's what you always say."
"Totally not young dear," I chuckled as I looked around in awe. Ponyville hadn't really changed in the past five years. I shouldn't have been surprised, it's primarily an earth pony town. We don't really like changing things up unless we truly have to.
"Ponyville is smaller than Baltimare," Ruby commented as some early morning ponies were setting up some stands in the town center.
"It's a pretty small farm town. I was born here," I admitted as we came up to a hotel and I pushed the doors open. A earth pony mare sat at the desk with a cup of coffee next to her.
"Good morning!" The mare waved and I smiled internally. Small towns were always friendlier than bigger cities. "Room for two?"
"Room for one please," I corrected as I nosed through my bag.
"Okay. Ten bits a night, plus free breakfast every morning and free dinner every night," the mare said as mine and Ruby's eyes widened. Hadn't really expected that.
"Here you go," I plopped down ten bits and the mare nodded before handed me a key.
"Room thirty five. Enjoy your stay!" She called out as I started trotting down the hall.
"She was nice. What does she want?" Ruby asked curiously as I started counting the numbers on the door.
"Nothing dear."
"Wrong answer! She's trying to sell us something. You always told me that the only reason somepony is being nice is because they want my bits," Ruby said adamantly as we reached our room and I pushed the key in the slot, turning the key and stepping inside. I took the key out and shut the door behind us. "Just like how ponies only offer candy if they want to fillynap me."
"Well that's true but mainly big cities. Ponies here do like bits because they need them more here to survive. It's mainly a farmer town. And while you should always be careful, ponies here probably won't take you. It's a friendly little town. Everypony knows everypony," I reassured my daughter as we looked around.
"I hope so. I have magic, I'll kick some flank!" Ruby boasted as I gave her a smug grin.
"Is that so?" I taunted her. "Then kick mine."
"Why?" Ruby asked curiously as I tensed up in an attack position.
"You said you can kick anyponys flank. Prove it."
"Under one condition," Ruby said as she rubbed her chin with a hoof. I gave her a wary look as she smirked. I knew that voice practically by heart. That was her I'm up to something voice.
"What is it?" I asked cautiously as Ruby continued smirking.
"I get to have a bunch of syrup on my pancakes each morning if I win. With strawberries and whipped cream," Ruby announced as I pressed a hoof to my chin.
"Okay fine," I said as she pumped a hoof in the air. That could have been way worse.
"Oh and you tell me why we aren't at my aunts."
And there was the other horse shoe.
"Fine. I can tell you that now. I don't want their judging eyes or their lectures. I'm the only one who has a filly. They would probably act better than me. Cheerilee and Cherry Berry always did like their lectures. The only who didn't was Cherry Blossom."
"Who?"
"My other sister. Mom had her before she married dad I guess. We only met her at the funeral for the first time and it was well awkward to say the least. She's a professional wrestler or something."
"Fun!" Ruby chirped as she knelt down a bit and galloped at me. I grunted as she tackled me and I went rolling across the floor. "Like this?"
I gave a chuckle as she stood on my chest, peering down at me as my mane cushioned my head.
"Not quite but close."
Ruby grumbled as I flipped her over and stood over her with a smug grin. She kicked at me with her hooves and I yawned.
I stayed like this till she fell asleep and I fell over next to her with my tail wrapped around her.
Author's Note
So I kinda forgot Cheerilee has a sister in canon so I have to figure out how to add her to the eqg side of this universe.
