Chapters Sherry Merry exited the dance studio with her head held low. She angrily dragged a heavy gym bag with her as she plodded along the streets of Manehattan. It was only a short walk to her apartment from here, but the trip felt like an eternity, each step feeling longer than the last. She scowled angrily at the bag she dragged with her. The very bag that prohibited her from simply flying. The very bag that forced her into this walk of shame.
She paid no mind to everything that surrounded her until her building came into view. She stopped dragging her bag briefly to open the door and continued to drag it through the halls. She thanked the stars that her apartment was on the first floor, she didn’t think she’d survive dragging the bag up any stairs. Stopping at her apartment door, she dropped the bag and began to rummage through it for her keys. Finally finding her prize, she unlocked the door and threw the bag inside, not caring where it landed.
Sherry then headed straight towards the sofa and flopped onto it. Almost immediately she ripped the ponytail holder out of her fluffy orange mane, freeing it from its elastic prison. With her mane free she felt comfortable enough to bury her face into a nearby pillow and groan as loud as she could. “Yet another failure.” She thought. “I’m hopeless.”
Before she could moan to herself any longer, her mother, Air Balloon, walked into the room, having heard her daughter arrive. “Sherry,” she started. “Your home early.”
Sherry looked up slowly to meet her mother’s gaze. She looked similar to her daughter, with the same mane color, though Balloon wore hers in a ponytail, and the same bright, lime green eyes. Her coat, in contrast to her daughter’s dark purple, almost black color, was a sky blue. Just like her daughter, she was also a pegasus. “Yeah. I was asked to leave” Sherry responded.
“Why’s that?” her mother asked, apparent sympathy in her voice.
“Because I suck at dancing,” Sherry bluntly responded.
Her mother looked at her with disbelief. “That can’t be true”
“Well my flank is still blank so I think it is,” Sherry pointed to her flank which was indeed blank.
“I guess dancing just isn't for you then. Don’t worry, we’ll think of something new” Balloon offered her daughter an encouraging smile. Sherry sighed and looked away. It was the same every time.
I guess stunt flying isn’t for you
I guess acting isn’t for you
I guess singing isn’t for you
She was sick of it. She was sick of being sent to camp after camp, only to be sent back in disappointment. None of her mother’s ideas have ever worked and she was starting to think that they never would. She would just have to live with being a blank flank forever. Everypony else she knew had one, she was in high school after all. It wasn’t fair. She groaned and buried her face into the pillow again. “Cheer up sweetie,” she heard her mother say. “You’ll get your mark in no time”
Sherry felt the sofa shift and a warm wing wrap around her body. Despite her best efforts to resist, Sherry felt herself snuggle into the hug. Sherry felt her mother kiss her head before Balloon said “I’m gonna go make dinner now, okay. Why don’t you go wash up?” Sherry nodded as she felt her mother leave.
**************
Sherry woke herself up and walked out of her room, mentally preparing herself for breakfast. She already knew the talk she was going to get. As she sat down at the table she smelled the familiar scent of pancakes and awaited her plate. After a few moments of waiting it was delivered and she dug straight in, silently hoping that if she ate fast enough she wouldn’t get the talk.
Unfortunately for her, Balloon was quicker. “Good news Sherry...” she started. “Here it comes,'' thought Sherry. She tuned her mother out as she finished up her pancakes. She already knew what she was saying . About how she found another great opportunity in the city for Sherry. How she was sure she’d get her mark this time. It was always the same. “Sherry. Sherry!”
“Huh?” Sherry blinked rapidly and shook her head as she was knocked out of her thoughts.
“Didn’t you hear what I said?” Balloon asked.
“Um...sure,” Sherry said, looking away from her mother.
Balloon shook her head before saying, “I said things will be a bit different this time.”
Sherry cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
Her mother smiled. “You're not going to a camp in the city.”
“Really!?” Sherry exclaimed excitedly.
“Nope.”
Sherry sprang up from her seat and hugged her mother tightly. “Thank you thank you thank you!”
Her mother giggled. “Nope, you're not going to camp. You’re going to a farm.”
Sherry immediately let go and glared at her mother. She couldn’t have heard what she just heard. It had to be a trick. Some kind of cruel joke. “What!?” she practically shouted into Balloon’s face.
Balloon’s expression dropped upon hearing her daughter’s tone “You’re going to a farm. A cherry farm specifically.”
“I don’t care what kind of farm it is, I don't want to go!” Sherry protested. She was tired of all this cutie mark hunting. She thought that after yesterday, her mother was finally beginning to understand her.
“I know and I don’t like this either but I have no choice. Nothing in the city seems to fit you. The only options left are outside the city.” Balloon’s tone was soft as she tried to console her daughter. She even reached out a hoof in an attempt to hold her. Sherry quickly smacked the offending hoof away before it could even come that close.
“But a farm!” She shouting, stomping her hooves into the floor, tears beginning to form in her eyes. This was so unfair. Not only did her mom ignore her frustrations and continue this pointless search, now she was sending her away, like she was embarrassed of her. “How long will I be gone?”
Her mother’s expression dropped even further and she looked away, speaking barely above a whisper, “Three months”.
“Three months! All those camps I went to were a week, two weeks tops. You can’t send me away for that long!” Sherry felt the tears start to fall as her volume increased.
“I know sweetie, but it's the only choice I have left” her mother replied, a sad, guilty look on her face.
“No, it's not. You can just not send me away!” Sherry said, her volume rising more. How could her mom do this to her? Did she really mean that little to her that she could send her away like she’s nothing?
“No, I can’t.” Balloon said tonelessly. “The trip has already been paid for and everything. I can’t just back out now.” She sighed. “You should go pack your things”
Sherry wanted to yell at her mother, tell her how wrong all of this was, but no words came out. She just huffed and stormed off to her room, flopped onto her bed, and let all of her tears flow. Her stuff wouldn't get packed until late that evening.
**************
Sherry woke up but refused to get out of bed. She didn’t want to leave home. Even if that meant never getting her mark. She didn’t care. She wasn’t going to any smelly, grimy farm. Too bad it wasn’t her choice. Before she knew it she was being dragged out her home, down the streets, and into the train station, all while carrying a heavy bag of luggage.
She grumbled to herself while kicking at the ground while waiting for the train to arrive. “This is stupid” she thought. “I probably won't get my mark there either and this will all be just a waste of time and money and sanity.”
Sherry continued to huff and pout until her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a train whistle. While her mother walked towards the train she tried to hightail it back home. Back to safety. Unfortunately, her mother caught her tail and stopped her in her tracks. Balloon gave her a disapproving look before hurrying her onto the train. There they took their seats and sat in tense silence. Neither of them were particularly inclined to break it, though. Unfortunately, Balloon tried to anyway.
“Try and cheer up sweetie. This is a great opportunity for you” she said, offering her best smile. Sherry dramatically turned away to look out the window. The landscape outside was beautiful, full of valleys and vast forests, even a large waterfall at one point. But to Sherry it was bleak and sad, a reminder of her forced departure from home. “Could you at least look at me?” she heard her mother say. Sherry kept her gaze firmly out the window. Balloon sighed and let the silence overtake the two again.
This silence continued until the conductor announced the next stop. “Next stop, Flutter Valley station”. By this point the day had already begun to fade away as the sun sank into the horizon.
Balloon nudged her daughter, who had begun to nod off. “That’s us,” she whispered. Sherry rolled her eyes at her. Eventually the train slowed down and the pair got off the train, though Sherry had to be practically shoved off. The train station was not busy seeing as they were stopping in a pretty small town, but Sherry couldn’t have cared less, she hated this town either way. "Sherry, you should look at this,” she heard her mother say, her voice laced with awe.
She didn’t want to look up. She didn't want to get to know this town. She didn't want to be here at all. She just wanted to be home. But she could feel her mother growing sad beside without even looking. She didn’t really want to hurt her any more, despite how she had been acting on the train.
So begrudgingly, for the first time in their trip, Sherry looked up from the ground and what greeted her was an odd sight. It was a town populated by only pegasi. Most were flying through the air while only a few walked on the ground, usually to enter a shop of some kind. The houses are what caught Sherry’s eyes the most, however. All of the houses only had doors on the second floor, while a shop, empty or otherwise, lay on the bottom. And from what she could tell from looking into windows as they roamed the cobblestone streets, there were no stairs on the inside. It made her wonder how any non-pegasus tourists were supposed to get up.
Her thoughts were disrupted once again by her mother nudging her, though this time she was the bearer of the worst news imaginable. “We’re here, Cherry Berry Orchards” Balloon said, gesturing her hoof towards the sign that bore the name of the place, once again offering her daughter an encouraging smile. And once again the smile was met with a roll of the eyes. “Come along now,” her mother said. “Mustn’t keep our hosts waiting”
Balloon nudged her daughter down the long, winding dirt road leading the farm’s main house. It was a simple two story building, painted a plain but inviting brown, and, unlike the houses in the city, it had a door on the ground floor. Surrounding the house was a vast orchard of cherry trees. They lie in organized rows on all sides of the house, making for a view of green and red as far as the eye could see. It was an impressive sight indeed, but Sherry hated it. She hated these infernal trees that dared rip her away from her home.
Sherry kept her eyes down on the path to avoid gazing at those blasted trees, so she was caught off guard when a wing suddenly stopped her in her tracks. She looked up to find herself face to face with an entire family of four. The family was entirely made up of earth ponies. “That explains the door.” thought Sherry dryly.
“Welcome to Cherry Berry Orchards,” said one of them, the head she presumed. He spoke softly and with a noticeable country accent. His coat was a banana yellow, complemented by a pale yellow mane that hung over the right side of his face. The look was completed by the dark brown stetson that rested on his head. He had a red barn as his cutie mark. He looked at the duo warmly with his pale blue eyes.
“It’s mighty nice to meet you folks and we’re glad you decided you want to help us for a little while. Ah believe it’s proper to start with introductions. My name is Banana Split” he said pointing a hoof to his chest. “This here,” he continued, pointing his hoof to a mare next to him on the right “is my wife Cherry Pit.” The mare in question had a red coat, a short, chocolate brown mane, and deep green eyes. She had what appeared to be a cherry tree as her cutie mark.
“It's a pleasure,” she said, smiling fondly and bowing her head slightly. She also spoke with a country accent, though hers was far less pronounced.
“This fine mare next to her is Cherry Orchard, our resident oldy,” he said with a chuckle, pointing his hoof to an older mare with an identical red coat to Cherry Pit, brown eyes, and a gray mane pulled up into a bun. She also wore narrow framed glasses that rested on her muzzle and a green bandana that tied around her neck. She, for her part, had a single raindrop for a cutie mark
“Ah told ya ta stop introducin’ me like, Nanner” she said with a frown, though her voice failed to hide her amusement.
“An’ Ah told you ta stop callin’ me Nanner” he replied and the two shared a laugh. Sherry just wished that he would stop talking. “Anyway,” he continued. “Moving right along this is my daughter, Top Soil” Banana pointed his hoof off to the left towards a mare with a fluffy mane, the same pale yellow as his and a brown coat, the same color as her mother’s mane. Her eyes matched her mother’s green ones as well. She had a banana and a cherry bunched together as her cutie mark. Top Soil simply nodded at the duo, her face lacking an expression.
“It's very nice to meet all of you.” Balloon began. “I hope…”
“Waaaaaaaaaait!” Balloon was cut off by a loud shout coming from the farm house. Looking towards the direction it was coming from, she made out the shape of a colt, around Sherry’s age, running towards them. He seemed to have something balanced on his back.
Banana chuckled, shaking his head at the colt. “There you are,” he chided. “Thought you weren’t gonna show.”
“Ah didn't miss anything, did Ah?” the colt asked, slightly out of breath. Looking at the colt, Sherry noticed he looked a bit off. He had a powder blue coat and a messy dough colored mane. His tail, in contrast, was styled and curled in a fashion that looked like it would take hours to attain. He had dark chocolate colored eyes and he wore a red, white trimmed bandana around his neck. Although the thing that stood out about him the most were the beautiful wings on his sides.
Sherry couldn’t keep her eyes off of him, even as he rambled on, his accent just as thick as his dad’s, maybe even thicker. “Sorry for almost being late, y'all. Ah was just so excited that we were getting new guests, that Ah thought Ah should do something nice for them. Ah was thinkin’ an’ thinkin’ and then it hit me. Ah should make them a pie. Ah was thinkin’ about what flavor an’, then Ah thought that Ah should just make cherry, you know cause were a cherry farm an’ all an’...”
“Woah there boy,” Banana said, placing a hoof over the pegasus’s mouth. “Slow down, don’t wanna overload our guests, now do ya?”
“Shoot, did Ah go ramblin’ again. Sorry Ah’m just a little excited.” he said awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his hoof. “Anyway what Ah was tryin’ to say was Ah baked you a pie, hope y’all enjoy.” He then turned his head and carefully grabbed the box he was carrying with his teeth. Glancing at it, Sherry could see that he had indeed baked a pie.
“Come along inside and Ah’ll cut some up for you.” he said, placing the box on his back and turning around to walk towards the farm house. He then abruptly stopped and turned to face the group again. He had an embarrassed expression on his face “Oh, he he, almost forgot, my name is Pastry Dough. It's a pleasure to meet you both.” With that he turned back around and skipped along the dirt path. The others smiled and followed after the colt.
**************
“Mmm. That was the best pie I’ve ever had” Balloon said with a wide smile on her face. “Wouldn’t you agree?” she continued nudging her daughter. Sherry nodded. It was a really good pie, but she hated that it was cherry. Cherries. The fruit of evil.
“Thank you kindly ma’am.” Pastry said, blushing bashfully.
“I really mean it. You must make pies often. This recipe is perfect.” Balloon continued to praise the pegasus.
“Well it is my special talent, baking that is” he replied, pointing a hoof towards his flank. Sherry followed his hoof and saw that there was a pie on his flank. She quickly growled and looked away. “Even this country hick has his cutie mark before me. I really am hopeless.” she thought to herself.
“Isn’t that nice” Balloon continued, completely oblivious to her daughter’s reaction. “Maybe you can teach Sherry a thing or two.”
“Ah’d love to. Always more fun to bake with a buddy.” Pastry replied, his happy smile still plastered on his face.
Balloon then lifted herself from the table. “This has been nice, but I have to go now.” she said. She turned towards her daughter, speaking to her in a stern tone. “You be good to these folks, you hear. They’re nice enough to take you in, don’t make them regret it.” Her tone then shifted, becoming much gentler. “I love you Sherry. Never forget that. I’ll see you in three months” Balloon then nuzzled her daughter before heading out the door. Sherry refused to watch her leave. She felt tears start to well up in her eyes, but before she could let them out, she heard a voice speak to her.
“Don’t look so glum. Ah’m sure you’ll get yer mark in no time. Maybe, you’ll get it so fast, you’ll have to call yer Ma ta come pick you up early. Wouldn’t that be somethin’” Pastry gave her an award winning smile, but it did nothing to lift her spirits. Pastry didn’t seem to really notice. “Come along now. Let's get you to yer room. Follow me!”
He sprang up from the table with much enthusiasm. Sherry refused to budge. No way was she going to take orders from this hyperactive mess. Instead of just leaving her be, she felt Pastry grab onto her hoof and start dragging her towards the stairs. She groaned and freed herself from his grip halfway there and begrudgingly followed him the rest of the way.
When they were at the top of the stairs, he took a left turn and led her to the last room on the right. “This here will be yer room” He opened the door to reveal a mostly empty room. There was a window on the far back wall and a bed in the back left corner. Across from the bed was a decently sized chest. Other than that, the room was barren. Sherry found it fitting.
“Sorry it isn’t much.” he started. “But we figured you’d feel more at home if you got to decorate it yerself.”
Sherry ignored him and set the luggage she’d been carrying with her by bed. She then flopped herself onto the bed and buried her face into her pillow. Pastry seemed to finally take a hint. “Ah’ll just leave for now,” he said. “My room’s right across the hall if ya need anything. You’ll start workin’ tomorrow.” He started to leave but stopped and added, “Goodnight”
With that he shut the door and wandered off to somewhere else in the house. When she was sure he was gone, Sherry let out all of her tears into the pillow. She continued crying until she fell asleep that night.
Sherry was woken up that morning by the most irritating sound she’d ever heard: rapid, unrelenting tapping on her door. She tried to ignore it but whoever was knocking was not letting up. Eventually she groaned and rolled out of bed. Taking in her surroundings she noticed that the sun hadn't even fully risen yet. With another, louder groan she stomped to the door. When she opened it she came face to face with the annoying colt from yesterday, his smile just as wide as before.
“Mornin’ Sherry. Hope ya slept well. Just came to wake ya up fer breakfast since you didn’t wanna wake up yerself. I mean why would ya. Yer a city pony. Not used to the country schedule and all that,” he excitedly chattered. Taking in her unamused expression, he nervously rubbed the back of his neck and continued. “Anywho we’d better hurry downstairs, before the good stuffs gone.”
Sherry trudged behind him as he led the way to the kitchen. About half way there he decided that she was going too slow and started dragging her along. As soon as they entered the kitchen, the smell of fresh pancakes hit Sherry’s nose. She looked around and saw a huge stack of pancakes on the center of the table, surrounded by six plates by six chairs.
Taking one of the chairs she tried to reach for the stack of pancakes but her hoof was swatted away by a red one. Turning to face its origin, she saw Cherry Pit smiling at her. “We can’t eat until everypony has arrived and taken their seats,” she said.
Sherry pouted and grumbled. First she was woken up earlier than the sun, rudely at that, and now she couldn’t eat breakfast. And her problems kept coming. She had to deal with Pastry Dough getting in her personal space. “Don’t look so glum. These pancakes are worth the wait. They’ll cheer ya up for sure. And if they don’t then cherries ain’t red no more” he said, his face far too close to hers.
She knew he was trying to cheer her up but it didn’t make him any less annoying. She huffed and pushed him away, turning her head away from him. She turned away fast enough to miss his frown.
After what seemed like centuries, the table was filled and she was allowed to eat. The pancakes were actually pretty good but she couldn’t enjoy them. She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be home, eating with her mother.
After she was finished eating she tried to put her plate in the sink but it was snatched away from her before she could. The perpetrator ended up being Top Soil. Sherry wanted to ask her why but her question died in her throat. Something about Top Soil’s barren expression sent chills down her spine.
Before she could dwell on the dishes any longer, she was approached by Pastry again. She rolled her eyes, knowing that she was going to get an earful.
“Did ya enjoy breakfast. I know Ah did. Ah sure do love pancakes.” he started to zone out but shook himself back to reality. “Anyway, it's time to start workin’”
Sherry gave him a disgusted expression. “Work?” she asked. She was so tired she could barely get herself down the stairs and now they expected her to work. Just how insane were these ponies.
“Mm hm. Don’t ya remember? Ah told ya last night. Ya know, that you’ll work tomorrow and all that.” he said, chipper as ever.
“Ugh. Right.” she replied. How could she have forgotten that? It’s the whole reason she was sent to this wretched place.
“Well. Let’s get goin’ then. The faster we get done, the more time ya have to relax”. He started to run off, expecting her to follow. She didn’t budge.
“We?” she asked, her question laced with disgust.
“Sure,” he started, seemingly ignoring her tone of voice. “Yer unfamiliar with how the farm works and need somepony to guide you. Well, Ah’m that pony.”
He puffed his chest out with pride but she ignored him. She was too focused on the emanate doom in front of her, having to spend a whole day with Pastry. She felt like hiding and never coming out. Or better yet opening her eyes to find herself back at home, this whole thing having been some strange nightmare.
Unfortunately for her, neither of those two things happened as she found herself being dragged along once again by the bubbly blue pegasus. She was getting tired of being dragged around all the time and yanked her hoof free. Pastry didn't seem to mind and continued to skip along to the front door. Sherry followed him, albeit at a much slower pace.
Once outside he guided her to the barn. It was there that Sherry asked what she should've before they had even left the house. “What are we even doing?”
“We’re gonna place baskets under the trees. For harvesting purposes seeing as it's harvesting season here on the farm,” he explained, tilting his head “Didn’t yer Ma tell you that?”
“No.” she simply said. Then it hit her. They were going to put baskets under the trees, All of them. Looking around her she began to feel a growing dread. There were trees for miles. Doing half of the orchard would take a week with just the two of them. And they wanted it all done in just one day!
She began to hyperventilate but stopped when she felt a hoof on her back. “What’s with all the fussin’? We ain’t doin’ all the trees, if that’s what yer thinkin’. Heck no. Unless ya think three ponies can buck an entire orchard in one day,” he said with a chuckle. “We’re only doin’ the east fields. And even then, we’re only doin’ half of it”
Sherry felt herself deflate as she let out the massive amount of breath she’d been holding. But it came right back again when she realized how big just the east field was. Half the field would still take them all day. For the second time she felt like running away. But she was prevented from doing so when she felt something getting placed on her back.
Turning around she saw that it was a basket. Pastry had put it there when she wasn’t looking. The weight on her back grew. Another one had been placed. And then another. And another. It was so heavy that she could barely stand.
She expected to see Pastry struggling as well but what she saw was the opposite. He seemed just fine holding even more baskets then her on his back. Because of the strain of holding the baskets, Sherry was able to get a good view of his muscles at work. For a pegasus, she noticed, he was fairly well built. Almost like an earth pony and a pegasus fused together to make him. She found herself almost entranced by the sight. He almost looked…pretty.
The moment was broken, however, when Pastry noticed her staring. “See something you like, Sherry?” he said with a silly grin on his face. She blushed and looked away. She had to remind herself that this was Pastry. No matter how pretty he might look in certain situations, he was still insufferable.
“Come along now. If we hurry, we’ll be done by lunch, ‘specially with you helpin’” he said, nodding his head in the direction of the fields, seemingly ignoring what just happened. Sherry chose to do the same for all eternity. She trudged along behind him at an agonizing pace as she made her way towards the trees. The baskets were so heavy she could barely walk faster than snail’s pace and every part of her legs ached. How in Equestria could these ponies stand doing this every year?
They stopped once they reached the first tree. “See when you place the baskets under the tree,” he started to explain. “you place them on the complete opposite side, two a tree. You got that?”
Sherry nodded trying to get the baskets off of her back. Once off, she let out a hefty breath and picked up two off of the stack, placing them under the tree as instructed.
Pastry beamed at her. “You got it! Now all you gotta do is do that for all the trees in this field, with my help of course”
She groaned loudly. How was she going to survive this? It took all her strength just to transport four baskets to the first tree.
“Don’t gimme that huff Sherry,” she heard Pastry say beside her. “Ah’m still here to help you know.”
Sherry sighed. This was going to be a long day.
****************
Sherry felt like her legs were going to snap at any minute. Even with Pastry helping, the baskets she had to carry didn’t weigh any less. At about the halfway mark Sherry felt like she wasn’t going to make it to tomorrow.
It didn’t help that the entire time, Pastry was talking. Either cracking jokes, which Sherry admittedly found somewhat enjoyable, or, more often than not, rambling on about nothing. No matter what he said though, Sherry stayed silent. That is, until she couldn’t take the unfairness any longer.
“How come,'' she wheezed. “How come Top Soil only had to do dishes?”
He laughed and Sherry had to admit it was a nice sound. If only he wasn’t laughing at her concerns. “That's not her only job, silly. It was just her turn to do the dishes. See we have a schedule around here and,” he shook his head. “Nevermind. Point is she had to do dishes and now she’s gotta harvest.”
“She’s doing it by herself?” she asked, more than a little curious.
“Goodness no.” he chuckled. “Ma and Pa are helpin’ her. Granny would too but the years have been catchin’ up to her recently”
Sherry nodded. Though she was left with another question. “Why aren't you helping?”
“I’m a pegasus, that's why. We ain’t made for buckin’ trees. Just ain’t strong enough. So Ah do other chores around the house, like settin’ up baskets and cleanin’. Ah do my share too, even if it don’t seem like it.” he said thoughtfully.
Sherry was about to pry further but her words failed when she tripped and she found herself face first in the dirt. She heard Pastry laughing beside her and was about to yell at him until she felt herself get picked up off the ground. For somepony who just called themselves weak, he sure was strong.
“Come on now. Trippin’ to get outta work” he teased. “You should know better.” Any sort of respect she had gained for him when he picked her up flew out the window. She grumbled and continued working, but not after hearing him giggle beside her. She couldn’t help but smile briefly at the sound. It really was nice.
**************
Sherry felt such a sweet relief when they finished putting all of the baskets in place. She was so relieved in fact that she flopped down on the spot, not caring about the dirt that stuck to her coat.
“Don’t get too comfy now. Lunch is a waitin’” Pastry called. “Come on, I’ll race ya”
Sherry gave him a tired look. He chuckled. “Not a foot race. A flyin’ race. I know yer wings ain’t tuckered out. Ya never even used them. So come on.”
Maybe it was because of how tired she was or how much she really wanted that lunch, but his enthusiasm was starting to wear off on her. So much so that she was willing to go along with this silly race. They lined up at the last row of trees. They spread their wings and readied for flight.
And they were off. Soaring through the air as fast as they could. Pumping her wings as fast as they could go, Sherry blew past Pastry, easily beating him to the house. She huffed and wheezed when she landed. She had never gone that fast before. Her face lit up. Maybe this was her special talent. Afterall, she never had enough room to race like that back in Manehattan, the skies were too crowded. She looked at her flank in anticipation.
It was still blank. All of her enthusiasm drained from her face. Of course it was still blank. If she were really a gifted flier, she wouldn’t have flunked out of that flight camp, just like how she flunked everything else. She was so caught up in her past failures, she didn’t notice Pastry land beside her.
“Hoo wee, that sure was some fast flyin’. Never woulda thought you were so fast. The only other pony I’ve seen fly that fast is…” he paused when he saw her, immediately taking a step closer. “Hey, what’s wrong”
“Nothing,” she said blankly. "Let’s go get lunch.”
“You know that you’ll get yer mark eventually right? There are so many possibilities.” he said quietly, quieter than Sherry had ever heard him speak, his eyes lighting with some odd fire she couldn’t identify.
“I know,” she said. Although she knew it was a lie she just didn’t want to see him sad, not right now. Even she had to admit, the work was a little less agonizing whenever he’d crack a joke or simply flash her a smile. And the race was kind of fun too. “You ready for lunch now?” she asked.
He nodded, his smile bright. “Yeah.”
The past week has been more of the same for Sherry. Wake up after some annoying knocking. Eat breakfast. Go set up baskets with Pastry. Everyday it was the same thing. And the job became no less tough with each passing day. Well, physically that is.
Much as she hated to admit it, she was actually beginning to warm up to the irritating blue colt. Sure he never knew when to stop talking, but he meant well. He always tried to put a smile on her face, no matter how many times he failed. It was kind of admirable in a way.
And his laughter. No matter what she was doing or how she was feeling, his laughter always made her smile, even if just briefly. Something about the sound of it just warmed her, inside and out. It was also contagious. More than once she stifled her own giggle, though she knew Pastry heard it anyway.
She also began to learn a little more about him. Like that he was homeschooled and that he was the same age as her. Though he always seemed to know when she was going to ask about his family. Every time she tried to ask he started rambling on about something else. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it really got on her nerves. Today was no different.
“Your family is a really nice bunch, aren’t they?” she asked
“They sure are. One time Ah was feeling pretty sick. Don’t know what kind of sickness. Probably just a cold but it coulda been somethin’ else. Coulda been the flu you know. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference. You know, since symptoms vary and all that. Also coulda been hay fever but Ah doubt that. Or maybe it was…”
There he goes again. Sherry bitterly thought to herself. Last time was about what flavor the first pie he baked was. And the time before that it was about whether cherries or bananas are better. She was sick of it. She was just about to snap at him for wasting her time when she looked at him. He had such a pleasant smile on his face. She didn’t really feel like squashing it. So she swallowed her anger and kept working.
It was while she was working that she got an idea. Why bother asking Pastry about his family when she could just ask them directly. It was such a simple solution that she mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it earlier. Sure she’d have to convince Pastry to swap partners but that wouldn’t be too hard.
She spoke too soon.
“Why? Is it because Ah’ve been doin’ a bad job? Ah’ll do better Ah promise. Just tell me what Ah’m doin’ wrong, okay?” Pastry said, his smile gone from his face. They were currently standing in the family barn.
“Look. It’s not that you’ve been a bad teacher or anything. I just think I need a change of scenery. Clearly I’m not getting my cutie mark in basket setting,” Sherry replied, trying to keep her tone as neutral as possible.
“Then Ah can show some of the other chores that Ah do. There’s no need to bother my folks,” He quickly shot back.
“But you have to set up baskets,” she said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. He was persistent, she’d give him that. “You can’t just skimp on a job as important as that.”
“Ah can show you after Ah’m done,” he responded instantly.
Sherry struggled to come up with an excuse for that one. She thought hard and hastily said, “I learn better first thing in the morning”
Pastry cocked his head in confusion. “Ah thought you hated the morin’, seein’ as yer always uppity with me when Ah come an’ wake ya.”
“I just don’t like that way you wake me up,” she said, her facade starting to crack as sweat gathered on her face. She couldn’t keep this up for much longer.
“Ah can just wake you up differently then. All gentle like. Would that be better?”
“Um...um…” Sherry fumbled. There was nothing she could say that wouldn’t hurt his feelings. She shook her head. Why did she care about not hurting his feelings? He’s annoying, right? She should want to. But she didn’t. She shook head again. She could worry about that later. Right now he needed an answer.
She sighed. She had to tell him the truth. “You caught me alright,” He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. “It’s not because of chores that I want to switch. It's because I want to get to know your family.”
She expected some kind of anger but that’s not what she got. What she got instead was laughter. Strong, hearty laughter. She felt herself flush at the sound. In embarrassment of course. At least that’s what she told herself.
“Is that it?” he asked after he calmed down enough to speak. “Why didn’t you just say so?”
She thought for a moment. Why didn’t she just say so? It would hurt his feelings. Her thoughts told her. She shook her head for the third time that day. There’s no way that was the explanation.
“‘Cause you’d laugh at me, like you just did,” she said in an annoyed tone.
Pastry’s smile fell. “Hey now. Ah wasn’t laughing at yer request itself, just the silly way you tried to avoid sayin’ it an’ all that.”
“Likely story,” she spat, turning away from him.
Pastry walked over to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Ah’m serious,” he said, his usual smile returning “Ah didn’t mean to laugh. Really. You were just acting too darn silly.”
Sherry relaxed a little. Of course he would say that. He’s a nice colt after all. It’s not like him to hurt ponies on purpose, at least from what she’s seen. “Plus,” he continued. “Ah thought my laughter might make you laugh too. It’s a pretty sound you know.”
Despite every thought in her head telling her otherwise, Sherry couldn’t stop herself from smiling. It was such a sweet sentiment. Sweeter than most of the things she’s been told. Never before has anypony told her that her laugh is pretty. She felt her face begin to flush again. At that moment she was glad her coat was so dark.
“Anyway,” he said, removing his hoof. For a brief moment, she wished it was still there. She quickly stomped out that wish. “Ah’ll make sure that you get to spend time with my folks the next few days. One on one too. That sound good?”
She nodded. He smiled brightly in return. “Alrighty then. Glad that’s outta the way.” Pastry walked towards the exit. “Come on, we still got work to do.” Sherry sighed and followed. She really hated setting up baskets.
Sherry was soundly asleep in her bed. She dreamed of being in a world of candy. It wasn’t an original dream but she enjoyed herself nonetheless. Everywhere she looked a new treat awaited her. Chocolates, gummies, and baked sweets as far as the eye could see. Her mother was even there with her. There was nothing in the world that could ruin this for her.
Sherry
She heard somepony calling her name. She turned to face the sound but there was nothing. She smiled. Must have been the wind. She ran to catch up with Balloon who had just found a chocolate river to drink from.
Sherry
The voice was louder this time. And along with the voice came an earthquake that shook her dreamland. Much as she didn’t want it to, it began to fade away. “No. Don’t leave!” she cried. But it had no effect.
Her dream was ripped away from her.
She woke up with a start in her bed. Looking around she was met with sight powder blue. She screamed and bucked the shape in front of her.
“Ow,” said the shape. “Didn’t have ta kick me like that.”
She recognized that voice. “Pastry!” she said angrily. “What are you doing?”
“What do you mean what am Ah doin’? Ah thought you said that you wanted to be woken up gently,” he replied, a confused look on his face.
“Not like that!” she said, exasperated. She rolled her eyes and sighed. “You know what I said yesterday?”
He thought for a second. “No. What?”
She walked over to him on the floor. “I said I was avoiding telling you the truth. That means my ‘your too rough’ comment was fake too.” She glared directly into his eyes, poking him roughly in the chest with her hoof. “Never wake me up like that again.”
“Ah’m sorry.” he said, looking like a kicked puppy. “Ah just thought Ah was being nice, you know.”
She sighed again. He had a point. “Whatever,” she said. She started to walk out the room before turning to him and saying, “Sorry for bucking you.”
That brought a smile back to his face. Seeing that smile on his face brought a small blush to hers. Though that blush only soured her mood. She shouldn’t feel this way about making that annoying colt happy.
**************
Breakfast was as uneventful as it usually was. After finishing up what she was given, Sherry got up to walk outside. She groaned at the thought of setting up more baskets. Before she could get very far though, she was stopped by a blue hoof on her shoulder. “Where you goin’?” its owner asked.
“Outside,” she responded. “Where else?”
“Don’t ya remember? Yer not going outside today.”
That’s right. She recalled. She said she wanted to work with his family today. “Then where am I going?” she questioned.
“Right here,” a different voice answered. She turned and was met with Cherry Pit. She had a warm, motherly smile on her face, one that reminded Sherry of her own. A sadness crept into her at the thought, but she quickly shook it off.
“Why the kitchen?” Sherry asked. “Don’t you harvest the cherries or something?”
“Usually,” Pit answered. “But today I’m makin’ pies. Gotta set up the stand soon. Ain’t gonna get business with nothin’ to sell.”
Sherry nodded. But that still left her with one question. “I thought Pastry made the pies?”
Pit giggled. “Oh, he does. He’s gonna help us today.”
Sherry spun her head towards Pastry. “I thought you said these would be ‘one on one.’”
He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. His cheeks were dusted with pink.“They were and will be from now on but, aw shucks. Ah just couldn’t resist being yer bakin’ buddy. Ah promised yer ma Ah would too. A-and Ah thought ya might get lonely. All by yerself an’ what-not”
Sherry giggled without thinking. Seeing him flustered like this was an odd sight. And a cute one, her thoughts butted in. She felt her own cheeks pinken at the thought.
“Alrighty then,” Pit said, causing the two to stop looking at the floor and instead at her. “Wash up you two. I’ll go get some cherries from the barn.”
They nodded and headed over to the sink, thoroughly washing each hoof. Sherry started to dry them when she felt something wet hit the back of her head.
“Sorry,” Pastry said behind her. “Just dryin’ off my hooves. Musta flicked ‘em too hard.”
She said nothing in return. “Sherry? You ok?” Pastry asked nervously. Still she said nothing.
“Sherry?” He got closer. She still gave him no reaction. She felt him place a hoof on her which caused her to spin around and splash his face with water.
The pure confusion and dumbfoundedness on his face caused her to laugh. Hard. So hard in fact that she started to snort. Her laughter proved to be infectious as Pastry began to laugh as well.
“You really got me, didn’t you?” he said, still laughing.
Sherry struggled to reply through her laughter. And as loath as she was to admit it, it felt good. “I guess so.”
“Well,” he started, reaching over to the sink. “I won't let you have one over me!” He then splashed her with the soapy water. She shook her head and for the first time, she found herself smirking broadly.
“So that's how you want to play?” she asked deviously. She splashed him again. And again. And he returned again and again until they had a full on splash war, soaking each other. It only stopped when Pit walked into the room.
“What’s going on in here?” she asked, only to receive a splash to the face. She was not amused. “Enough!” she shouted. The pair stopped their duel immediately.
“You two,” Pit started. “Go dry off, properly, then clean up this kitchen.”
“Yes ma’am,” they both said simultaneously and hurried off.
Sherry felt ashamed of herself as she dried off. How could she let the situation get so bad? She was never this way at home. She should have just yelled at him. She shouldn’t have played along. She shouldn’t have had any kind of fun with him. And she certainly shouldn’t have laughed like that.
But it was so nice hearing him laugh, her thoughts told her. And it was even nicer laughing with him for once . She growled at them before finishing up and heading back to the kitchen. There was nothing nice about this place. Certainly not him.
While cleaning up the water, she ended up glancing at Pastry. That glance turned into a stare. Not because she liked him, no definitely not that. It was because of his expression. He was smiling. Smiling happier than she had ever seen. And he had just gotten them both in trouble too! What a weird colt, so happy for me to be unhappy, she thought, continuing her work without looking at him again.
**************
After finishing up, they were each given an apron to wear. Pastry put his on just fine, but Sherry struggled with hers. He offered to help but thought of him so close made her blush. And besides, she was still mad at him for earlier. She had Pit help her instead.
“Are you two ready?” Pit asked.
“Sure thing!” Pastry replied excitedly. Sherry merely nodded, avoiding his gaze.
“Good. Let’s get baking!” Pit said, a warm smile in her face
“Yeah!” Pastry added rushing over to the counter. Sherry followed him. Looking at the counter she saw that it was covered in various cooking utensils. There were two large bowls, two food processors, and two rolling pins. There were also ingredients that included butter, salt, sugar, and water.
“This’ll be so much fun, you’ll see!” He gave her the brightest smile he could muster. She quickly turned her head away. She didn’t want to look at him. He got her in trouble after all.
“Come on, Sherry. Don’t be that way,” She could hear the sadness in his voice. A week ago she would’ve been happy to hear it. But now she wasn’t really sure. It certainly didn’t make her feel good, that’s for sure. She groaned internally. She told herself once again to get back to these thoughts later.
Sighing, she turned her head back towards Pastry. She made it a point to give the most sour face she could. He gave a sad, almost defeated look in return. That face definitely stung a little. She softened her expression a little bit, so little that it was barely noticeable. It made him look less sad at least.
“That’s…better?” He said. He shook his head to clear his expression and gave her a quick smile. “Anyway, let's start on these pies. Now the first thing we ought to do is make the crust. And that step starts with a heapin’ helpin’ of flour. About two and a half cups’ll do”
He heaved a big bag of flour on the countertop along with various measuring cups. She watched him as he perfectly scooped the right amount in his cup and dumped it into one of the bowls. He did this twice more, once with the one cup and once with the half cup.
“Now it's your turn,” he said to her. She lightly pushed him out of the way to get to the flour. Grabbing it, she tried to pour it into her measuring cup. “Wait!” she heard Pastry shout. She scoffed and ignored him, continuing to pour.
She smugly looked to find that her cup was filled. She tried to move the bag but found it too heavy. It continued to pour. And pour. Panicking, she tried to remove the bag again, this time more forcefully. But she lifted too hard and ended up falling backwards, the bag landing on top of her, sending a cloud of white through the air.
She coughed as she rose from the floor. Looking around she noticed that everything around her was coated with flour, including Pastry. His expression was unreadable, but she suspected he was mad. She flinched back, expecting an outburst. What she got instead was laughter, lots and lots of laughter.
She groaned. She really should have seen that coming. But still, it felt nice to know he wasn’t mad and his laugh sounded as good as ever. “You know,” he started. “I think white might be a good look for you.”
She quickly looked over herself to find that he was right. She was completely coated. She blushed slightly, but it was obscured by the flour. “Well, at least I look good. You look like a half baked muffin,” she shot back.
Glancing over himself, he giggled “Yer right,” he said. “Sure looks weird bein’ only half covered”.
“It was supposed to be an insult,” she said while rolling her eyes. That colt sure was dense.
“Ah know. Just feels better to laugh. After all, what's the fun in feelin’ sad.” For what felt like the millionth time, he gave her a smile. And for once she smiled back. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by a shriek.
“Pastry!” Pit yelled. “What did you do to the kitchen!” She put a hoof to her forehead to calm down a little. “You just cleaned it too,” she remarked quietly.
“And Ah’ll clean it again too,” he said “Just give us a minute. Come on Sherry.” He grabbed her hoof and dragged her to the closet to get some brooms. Today was going to be a long one, she could just tell.
**************
Sherry sighed. It had taken longer than she thought to clean up all of the flour she spilled. But now that it was done they could get back to baking. Pastry told her that she has to scoop the flour out with the measuring cup to avoid mishaps like they just had. Now he tells her. Although she was still huffy, she managed to get it perfect the second time.
With the flour measuring out they moved on to the salt and sugar, each a teaspoon. The next step was to get eight tablespoons of ice water and the two sticks of butter out of the fridge. With the prep work done, they moved on to making the dough.
“Now,” Pastry started. “The first thing we need to do is mix the dry ingredients. Follow my lead.” He poured the flour, sugar, and salt into one of the food processors and pulsed it several times.
Sherry moved to do the same but was stopped. “Oh. Sherry,” he said.
“What?” she groaned back.
“Be sure to put the lid on. Don’t want another blizzard.” he smiled and chuckled at his own joke. Sherry responded with an eye roll.
“Ha ha. Very funny. I’m not that incompetent,” She then copied what he had done before. “What’s next?”
“The butter. Add half, pulse a few times. Add the other half and the pulse a few more times. Should be done when the butter looks like yellow peas,” As he spoke he did what he was describing.
Sherry also followed what he was doing. And while his butter looked like perfect peas, hers looked like teeny tiny lumps. She looked down at her unfinished dough with disappointment.
Pastry also looked at her dough. He smiled. “Looks good!” he said. “Moving on to step three…”
Sherry cut him off. “Good. It looks nothing like it is supposed to,” she said, completely exacerbated.
He shrugged. “It don’t have ta be perfect, long as it's made with care,” he replied gently.
“But it won't be flakey. It’ll look wrong!’ she exclaimed.
“Then it’ll have personality,” he said simply.
Sherry tried to find the words to prove him wrong but found none. “‘Sides,” he continued, rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof. “Doesn’t really matter what yer butter looks like. It’ll cook just the same”
She rolled her eyes yet again. “Whatever. Let’s just move on, okay?”
“Okie dokie,” he replied. “This part is real important, okay, so watch me carefully. We’re gonna add just a bit of the water. Pulse, then repeat till the water’s gone. Got it?”
She scoffed at him. She can mix water into dough. She’s not totally hopeless. Still, she did the task meticulously. She didn’t need to make a foal of herself any more than she already had.
She looked over to find Pastry staring at her. For what felt like the millionth time that day, Sherry’s cheeks flushed. Ignoring the intrusive blush, she waved a hoof in his face and said, “Hey! Anypony home?”
When that failed to get a response she tapped him on the nose. He blinked rapidly and shook his head, his cheeks becoming redder than the cherries he helped grow. He looked away and rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof.
“Heh,” he nervously started. “Sorry. Ah was just, uh, watchin’ yer technique and was, uh, staring at the dough.”
She knew that she should just accept his lie and move on. But she felt some kind of warmth within her at the thought that he was actually staring at her. Maybe, just maybe, she wanted to hear him say it. That she was pretty.
She shook her head rapidly. No, no, no. That couldn’t be right … could it? She froze as her thoughts jumbled together, simultaneously telling her that the bubbly feeling in her belly was her annoyance boiling over. It also told her that he looked oh so cute when he was flustered.
Before she could try to detangle her thoughts, a cough took her back to the present. “Anyway,” Pastry said. “Let’s get back to bakin’, alright?”
Sherry lamely nodded at him.
**************
It took all day, but they had managed to bake more than enough pies to sell in town. Most of the ones that Sherry made turned out to be more than a little misshapen, but anytime she tried to be upset about it, Pastry would tell her that they were made with feeling, and that’s all that matters.
Eventually though she got the hang of it and she thought that, maybe, against all probability, she would get her cutie mark.
She wasn’t the least bit surprised when she didn’t. Even so, Pastry comforted as though she were devastated, even going so far as to hug her ever so lightly.
It was that hug that kept replaying in Sherry’s mind as she lay in bed that night. She could remember it vividly.
How gentle his smile was when he approached. How tenderly he wrapped his arm around her and told her everything was okay. How soft his fur was against her own. How when they were so close he smelled of fresh baked dough. And how warm she felt all over, even if he only held her head.
Every time she thought about it, the bubbly feeling would come back, stronger than last time.
She tried so hard to shove it down and pretend she was angry. She was just annoyed that he hugged without permission.
But every time she repeated it, the less true it sounded. Every time she tried to say that it wasn’t, his smile popped into her mind. Every time she tried to say that he was nothing but a nuisance, she heard the sweet sound of his laughter and smiled.
That left only one possibility. Only one thing that could explain that warm, bubbly feeling and those ever present blushes. She groaned and buried her face in her pillow. As much as she hated to say it and as much as she never wanted it to happen, it happened.
She had a crush on Pastry Dough.
Sherry woke up that morning more annoyed and confused than she had been during this entire trip. She had just admitted the previous night that she could be developing feelings for her hyperactive farm partner. And she was sure that it didn’t make any sense whatsoever. She wasn’t even sure if they were friends, much less if she could have feelings for him.
She really just wanted time to sort all of this out alone, without Pastry there to constantly confuse her. But of course she could never have that because he was the first thing she saw every morning.
When she saw him at her bedroom door, she wanted to be mad at him. She wanted to curse him for making her question herself and for making her feel so weird. But one look at his smile and all that anger disappeared, which only made her more frustrated. How could this be happening to her?
At least today, she would finally have some time away from him, she thought while she ate her breakfast. Pastry had promised yesterday that, starting today, she would get to interact with his family one-on-one. She was actually looking forward to the day for once.
So of course the universe had to spit in her plans.
“What!?” she shouted. She couldn’t possibly fathom what she just heard.
“Ah said,” Granny Orchard replied. “Yer coming grocery shoppin’ with me today. Is that really such a wild concept to you city folk? Ah mean, Ah know that things work differently here but Ah would’ve thought that shoppin’ wasn’t one of them.”
“No, no. I understand that part,” Sherry growled. “I just don’t understand why he is coming with us.” She roughly pointed a hoof at Pastry, who wilted away from her fury.
Granny Orchard shook her head and gave them a weak smile. “Ah just thought that since the two of ya were such good friends, ya wouldn’t mind going shoppin’ together.”
Friends? She really thought that the two of them were friends? Sherry wanted to call out that that wasn’t true. That they weren’t friends and that she didn’t want to spend time with him, but she couldn’t. She knew deep down that it wasn’t true. She wasn’t sure why, but she did. So she simply sighed and agreed, saying she would love to go. At least it made Pastry happy, she thought, burying the tiny smile that threatened to show at the thought..
****************
For the first time since this whole ordeal started, Sherry finally got to see what the town market was like. Sure she walked through it on her way to the farm, but she never really looked at it until now. The market was a bustling hub. Everypony in town seemed to be here, either shopping for essentials or trying to get ponies to buy their wares. Everywhere she looked, somepony was doing something. But she didn’t care about any of them, at least subconsciously, because she only ever found herself looking at one of them.
Pastry Dough.
She just found herself transfixed with him and the way he interacted with the world around him, even while doing something as simple as shopping. He always had a smile on his face, finding the positives, no matter what was happening. Just bought something overpriced? The folks who sold it could use the money. Somepony just trip you rushing to who knows where? At least Ah’m not in the way anymore.
That was something about him that made her heart feel so conflicted. She found it so oddly refreshing to hear him being so happy no matter what the world threw at him. Nopony in the city was like that. Everypony was just looking out for themselves. But not Pastry. And that made her smile. But it also hurt to see him being pushed around so much because of his kind nature. She just wanted to go up to them and knock them out for daring to hurt that precious smile of his.
That was another thing about him that made her feel so funny inside. His smile. It was just so pure. It was the type of smile that not only makes one feel good inside, but also makes them feel like everything is going to be okay, like nothing can go wrong now. Over the course of the week she’d been there, it certainly did that to her. Anytime she wanted to be mad, she would just see that smile, and everything would feel just a little less hopeless.
She blushed and looked towards the ground. Yes, it seemed, every time she was down, Pastry was there for her. Even if she pushed him away, he was still quietly comforting her by giving her the space she needed.
And, as a bonus, he was quite the cute individual. Maybe it wasn’t so unbelievable that she could have feelings for him. Afterall, he seemed to be a perfect gentlecolt in every way.
Sherry smiled at the thought and shook her head. She really should get back to shopping. She had just being staring a Pastry and was starting to get in the way. Maybe everypony else around her was angry, but she felt just that little bit better.
******************
The walk back home was an uneventful journey. Even though Sherry was forced to carry the majority of the groceries, she couldn’t care less. In fact, she felt better than she ever had before during this trip. She was sure that going shopping with those two was going to confuse her more, but she ended up figuring things out just watching Pastry being himself.
Maybe things were going to start picking up around here , she thought as she put the groceries away and headed to her room. It was then when she spotted what looked like a piece of paper on her bed. Picking it up, she realized it was a note that read:
Meet me in the east orchard tomorrow at dinner.
There was no name attached to it, but Sherry had a feeling she knew who it was from. What they wanted from her, she didn’t know, but she did know that everything was probably going to be alright. Afterall, it wouldn’t be the first time she spent time alone with Pastry Dough.
Sherry had butterflies in her stomach as she looked at the note and back at the orchard that surrounded her. This is where he told her to meet him, so where was he? If this was a prank then she swore that he was going to get such a smack for this.
She had been standing here for the past twenty minutes waiting for him to show up. At first she worried that she was going to be late and look like a fool. Curse her for spending so much time on her mane. It wasn’t that important anyway, so why did she care?
She had just about enough of this and was about to head back to her room when she spotted something beige out of the corner of her eye.
“Finally!” she groaned. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting? And I thought you said you were a gentlecolt. I have half a mind to…”
The rest of what she was about to say died on her lips as she turned to face her partner. Instead of a warm smile on a soft blue face she was met with a cold stare on a brown muzzle. The green eyes on that face seemed to want to burn a hole through her skin so they could analyze every part of her soul. And they could only belong to one pony.
Top Soil.
Sherry had purposefully avoided Top Soil the entire time she’d been here. Something about her made her fur stand on end and made her want to fly all the way back home. Maybe it was the way she never spoke. Maybe it was the way she never smiled. Or maybe it was just her soulless, green eyes. The same ones she was trying to avoid looking directly into.
Sherry wet the inside of her mouth, struggling to speak without stuttering. “W-what,” she started. “W-what are you d-doing here? Where’s Pastry?”
Top Soil didn’t respond. She simply scowled and dug her hoof into the dirt. Sherry thought she might have heard her mutter something under her breath, but she figured it must have been the wind.
Sherry continued to try and stare her down as Top Soil continued to stare into the deepest recesses of her being. The silence that fell over them was so thick they could have been swam through it.
After several moments of tense silence, Sherry once again tried to communicate with her. “W-well,” she stammered. “I’m w-waiting”. She tried to think of anything else to add but came up with nothing. Trying to talk with Top Soil was like trying to recite love poetry with a rock.
Top Soil responded much the same way as before, scowling and digging into the dirt, except this time Sherry knew she wasn’t hearing things. She could faintly pick up the sound of Top Soil speaking although it mostly amounted to, “What…brother…weird…fault.”
She had no idea what to make of that. Brother? Did she mean Pastry? He didn’t seem that weird to her, at least not anymore weird than he usually is. And what was that about fault? Whose fault?
She stomped her hoof onto the dirt, kicking up a small dust cloud. All of these questions were making her angry as all they did was make more questions. She needed answers and she was going to get them.
Mustering up her courage, Sherry puffed out her chest and raised her head high. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you. Speak up,” she said, a cocky smile on her face.
The two held each other's gazes in some kind of intense staring contest. Top Soil had just been challenged and neither were too keen on backing down from it.
Eventually, Top Soil spoke. She spoke in a voice that sucked away all the courage that Sherry had previously held in its deep, dark tone. “What have you done with my brother?” she demanded.
“What?” was all that Sherry could say in reply. What did that even mean? As far as she knew, she hadn’t done anything to him. In fact, she thought that they were getting along better lately. She blushed a little when she remembered why that was. She caught herself thinking about Pastry’s happy little smile and never ending optimism.
“You heard me.” Sherry snapped back to reality at the sound of Top Soil’s threatening voice. “What did you do to Pastry?”
This time, Sherry fought back. “What do you mean ‘what have I done to him’? I haven’t done anything. Unless making friends is a bad thing to you.”
“You know what you’ve done.” she snapped back. “Ever since you got here, Pastry’s been actin’ really weird.”
Sherry fought down the urge to scream. Once again Top Soil was being as vague as possible. Weird how? “What do you mean ‘acting weird’?” she questioned, trying to keep an even voice. “He seems pretty…” she waved her hoof through the air, trying to find the right word “nice, to me,” she eventually settled on.
Top Soil stomped both her hoofs into the ground, sending a dust cloud into Sherry’s face. “That’s the problem!” she shouted.
That was the final straw. Sherry had been trying to keep her temper in check this whole time. She thought that upsetting Pastry’s older sister would definitely hurt his feelings so she was trying to be nice. But this crossed the line. Nopony could ever say that Pastry’s kindness was a bad thing. Not even Top Soil.
Forgetting any kind of manners she may have been taught, Sherry walked right up to Top Soil and punched her as hard as she could in the face. The result saw Top Soil sprawled out in the dirt, a nasty bruise forming on her cheek, with Sherry standing over her.
“No,” she growled, looking down at the defeated earth pony with contempt. “You’re wrong. There is nothing wrong with Pastry, especially not his kindness. He is by far the most thoughtful, considerate, caring, optimistic, and beautiful ponies I’ve ever met.” She stomped her hoof into the dirt with each word, getting all the closer to Top Soil
“I probably wouldn’t even be here right now if it weren’t for him constantly trying to get me to see the good in everything. So don’t you dare say that him being his wonderful self is a bad thing,” She finished her threat by raising her hoof again as if to strike Top Soil.
Sherry stood there and waited for a response. She expected her to cry. To beg for forgiveness. To apologize for everything she has ever done or said against Pastry or even Sherry herself.
What she wasn’t expecting was for Top Soil to spring up from the dirt and roughly shove Sherry away. She definitely wasn’t expecting Top Soil to snap back at her. “That wasn’t what I meant!”
“Then what did you mean, huh!” Sherry roared back. “Tell me. Tell me right now. All you’ve been doing this whole time is dance around what you really want to say, so just say it!”
Top Soil started at the ground for a while, mumbling to herself, clearly mulling over her thoughts. The longer she went on, the more she seemed to deflate and the more her face softened. Sherry tapped her hoof rapidly on the ground as she watched.
Eventually, Top Soil spoke in a more subdued voice than what she had started with. “I’m worried,” she began. “I’m worried about Pastry. He’s…he’s always been a nice colt. Kind to everypony, helpin’ whenever he can.”
She looked to Sherry for a reaction, who just rolled her eyes and waved her hoof in a get on with it movement. “Anyway. He’s always been nice. But lately he’s been too nice. Too nice to you. Goin’ out of his way to help. Always wantin’ to be around you. Never stoppin’ talkin’ about you. It’s got me worried, you know?”
Sherry wanted to snap at her and tell her every reason why she thought that explanation was stupid. It didn’t sound like a problem to her. But she fought it. She could tell by the way Top Soil wouldn't meet her eyes anymore that this meant a lot to her and that she probably didn’t understand why she was worried either.
So instead of lashing out, Sherry instead reached out a hoof and gently touched her on the shoulder. “Why does it have you worried?” she asked.
Top Soil shook her head. “Don’t know. Just does.” she shook her head again more violently. “It just,” she sputtered. “It just feels like all he cares about is you. Like you’re his whole world and that’s scary. He’s never been like this before.” She looked up to Sherry with tears brimming her eyes. “You think it's scary?” she asked quietly.
Sherry had to think about it. Did she think it was scary? Her first thought was to say yes, it was scary. It was scary to think that her presence had warped the way he thought.
But the more she thought about it, the more it reminded her of herself. When she first came here, all she thought about was wanting to go home and how much she hated being here. But over the weeks she’s worked, her thoughts became more and more about Pastry.
They became about how much she liked the way he laughed and how much she just liked being around him. She began to look forward to the times they’d spend together, even trying to find ways to spend more time with him, like coming out here. And she now knew the reason why. She liked Pastry Dough. And if he was acting the same way, then maybe he liked her too.
And there was nothing scary about that.
What was scary was how she was going to explain that to Top Soil. She thought about lying but she knew that it would come and bite her in the end. She had to be honest.
“No,” she said. “I don’t think it's scary. You want to know what I think?” Top Soil nodded. “I think Pastry has a crush on me.”
Top Soil stared at her for a few seconds, then started giggling. “Of course,” she said through her giggles. “Why didn’t Ah think of that? Makes so much sense now. You like him too, don’t you. It’s why you came, isn't it?”
Sherry hesitated for a moment, and slowly and gently nodded her head. The two then broke into laughter, laughing with each other. Eventually the two calmed down enough to say their goodnights.
As Sherry got herself ready for bed, she felt relieved. She felt relieved that she was able to patch things up with Top Soil, maybe even making a new friend in the process. She also felt some level of relief having told somepony about her feelings.
Eyeing her desk, Sherry made a decision. Quickly penning up a note she flew down the hall to Pastry’s room and placed it on his door.
Tomorrow she would make her move.
