"Pinkie, do you know where I've put the dress is?" The pink-haired girl smiled, seeing it behind the older woman on the counter. She held it out to Chalice. "Oh, thank you dear. Today just has me in a fizzle, trying to get the babies ready for our first family portrait."
"I know, Mrs. Cake." Pinkie grinned at her. "The photographer is going to be here in two hours. "Garrot is getting Pound ready."
Chalice sighed. "I really wish you wouldn't call him that, Heather."
Pinkie crossed her arms and scowled. "Mrs. Cake," she whined. "Heather is so boring. Pinkie is much better. And so is Pound. It is a type of cake, and we live in a bakery…"
Smiling, Chalice patted Pinkie on the cheek. "Be it thirteen or nineteen, you are always going to be the same, aren't you?"
"Yeppidoodles! Oh, cupcakes are done!" Pinkie moved over to the oven and slipped on the mit just as the timer started going off.
She heard Chalice walk through the kitchen door, no doubt in search of the one-year old she needed to prepare for the photo. The smile slowly slipped from her face and she sighed. Sliding the cupcakes onto the stove-top to cool, she slumped against the counter.
She knew it was stupid to feel this way. While Mr. and Mrs. Cake may have felt like her parents after allowing her to live in the attic above their shop and giving her a job, they really weren't. Pinkie knew that, of course. Her 'real' parents were still working on the rock farm where she grew up. That didn't stop her from feeling like the Cakes were her parents. She had lived with them since she was thirteen.
Squeezing her eyes together, she shook her head. It didn't matter. They were still good people who took care of her. Sighing, she picked up the icing for the cupcakes and began decorating. The bakery was still open, after all.
Pinkie tended to the customers that came in. Faint noises could be heard from above occasionally. "I never thought this little rascal would put his clothes on," Garrot said, holding the one-year old boy in his arms.
"I guess it's time to close the store for the day." Chalice flipped the sign over and sat in a chair. "We have about half an hour before the photographer shows up. "
Pinkie rocked back and forth on her feet. She knew if she stayed, the Cakes would see that she was upset. "I'm going to go out for a minute; I'll be back in a bit. Okay?"
Chalice gave the young girl a curious look, but Garrot nodded. "Of course. We're closed for the rest of the day anyway. I think Chalice and I can clean up."
"Thanks!" Pinkie replied as perkily as she could. She was out the door in an instant, the bell above signaling her departure. She wondered aimlessly for a while, not sure what to do.
She wanted to take her mind off feeling sorry for herself. She knew she was being stupid. So what if she wasn't in the family picture. She wasn't exactly family, was she? She was just…
She sighed and put her hands over her face. She couldn't do it. She needed a distraction. And she knew just the person.
"Twily…oh Twily," she sang as she walked into the library. She knew her studious friend would be awake by now. "Twily?"
"Up here," came the faint reply. Pinkie climbed the stairs to Twilight's personal quarters. She found the dark-skinned girl in the middle of what looked to be spring cleaning.
"Whatcha doin'?"
Twilight sighed. "Spike hid my book from me. I know it's here somewhere."
Pinkie scrunched her nose up and tilted her head to the side. "Why did he take your book?"
"He said I needed to get out more," she grumbled.
"Oh." Pinkie sat on the floor next to Twilight, pulling her legs up to her knees. "I just wanted to get out, so that's why I'm here. Maybe we could get out together?"
Twilight turned to face her friend, giggling. "Yeah, maybe we could. Just let me…" Twilight waved her hand as everything she had pulled out of the closet found its way back in.
Moments later the two girls were walking down Ponyville's main street. "What do you wanna do? Oh, we could go to the park. Or go skating." A rumbling noise was heard, and Pinkie giggled. "Or get you some lunch."
Twilight blushed and nodded. "Lunch sounds good. Why don't we go to Sugar Cube Corner?"
Pinkie slowed her pace. "Umm…can we go somewhere else?"
That question alarmed Twilight, who stopped and turned to her friend. "Is something wrong? You always want to eat there."
"I just…don't today." Pinkie looked away from her friend and shrugged.
"Pinkie. What's wrong?"
The pink-haired girl took a deep breath. "The Cakes are having a family photo taken. And I just—I—" Looking up at the mage, she shook her head.
The purple haired girl's expression changed from worried to understanding. "Oh. I thought the Cakes wanted you in it?"
Pinkie shook her head. "I'm not family, Twily."
"Well, we'll have to go right by there to get to anywhere else to eat. Wanna go back to the Library?"
Pinkie shook her head. "Na, that's okay." With that, she started walking toward Sugar Cube Corner again. "I think the photo should be almost done. They were scheduled from two to two-fifteen.
"It's two-ten now. So yes, they should be."
They walked in silence for a while, until the sweet shop came into view. "Pinkie!" Chalice called out, hurrying over to the pair. "Where have you been?"
"With Twilight," she said.
Chalice gave the girl an exasperated look. "You nearly missed it. Now come on."
"Miss…what?"
Chalice laughed. "The photo, Pinkie. It can't be a family photo if part of the family isn't there." Pinkie felt her eyes widen and her mouth drop. "Now come on. Gossamer is getting impatient."
"But…" Pinkie said, even as she chaced after the Chalice. "I'm not family."
Chalice snorted. "Oh, don't be silly dear. Of course you are." She wrapped her arm around the Pinkie.
The moment was interupped by someone nearby clearing her throat. "Can we get on with this, please?"
"Yes, yes, we found her now."
The photographer rolled her eyes. "Next time keep your daughter close by. Time is money, lady."
They tried a few arrangements, and by the time the photographer was finished, the twins were out of their clothes. "One more," she said. "Just a random shot. Get together however."
A few weeks later, the pictures came in the mail. Pinkie called to Chalice and Garrot, who where in the kitchen. "They're here!"
She bounced in, grinning. They opened the pictures and looked through them all. They were all very good. Then they made it to the last one the photographer had taken. "Can I have this one?" Pinkie asked as she held it in her slightly trembling hands.
"Sure." Chalice said.
Pinkie grinned and was about to take the picture to her room, when Calice called out to her.
"Pinkie, why were you so late that day?"
She giggled. "It's kinda silly. I just didn't think you wanted me too. I mean, I'm not really family, you know?"
Chalice walked over to Pinkie and wrapped her in a hug. "Pinkie, you are as much family as anyone. We love you, dear."
Pinkie blinked back tears and hugged Chalice back.
"I love you, too."