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Chapter 1: Where There's a Will, There's a Way
Chapter 1: Where There's a Will, There's a Way
Pinkie slowly trotted with the two twins on her back, both of them completely oblivious to what was going on. As far as they knew they were heading to the park, or to the doctors. In reality they were heading to the funeral home, which was close to the hospital. It had only been a few days, but the Cakes had already been buried after...
"Pinkie, you okay?" Twilight asked as she put her hoof on Pinkie's chest, stopping her from walking into a light that was along the road. Her friends were going with her to make sure she would be okay, knowing that she saw the Cakes as secondary parents, and with what happened to them. From what they had told Pinkie there was an explosion after one of the Cakes left the oven on, allowing the natural gas to spread throughout the kitchen, and when they went to put a batch of cupcakes in it was set off. According to the hospital they died painlessly, but the explosion caused at least half the bakery to get destroyed.
"Huh, oh yeah, I'm fine" Pinkie said quietly, not sounding like she normally did. Her voice sounded sad, tired, and had the smallest hint of agony in it. It hurt all of them to see Pinkie like this, but there wasn't anything they could do for her. Her and the twins had been playing in the park when they heard the explosion, but they didn't pay any attention to it, for all they knew it could have been Rainbow performing a sonic rainboom nearby. When they finally heard the news it brought Pinkie to her knees, followed by the twins attempting to cheer her up. All of her friends offered her and them a place to stay, but it wasn't until she had been told to stay with Twilight that she finally moved from her spot.
As they entered the funeral home they were greeted by an older pony that had long since gone bald, only a few stray white hairs remaining on his frail old head. Without saying anything he lead them into a backroom, where a younger Unicorn was waiting for them.
"Are any of you Pinkie Pie?" he asked, not bothering to give his name first. Pinkie raised her hoof slowly, followed by everypony else pushing her forwards. She looked at the Unicorn in confusion, wondering why he had called her out of the group.
"I would just like you to know what the Cakes have put in their will" he said with a sweet smile, making Pinkie even more confused, "They have left you the bakery, the twins, and all of their worldly possessions"
"WHAT?!" everypony shouted at the same time, surprising the twins and causing them to start crying. Fluttershy and Applejack quickly tried to calm them down, to no avail as Pinkie soon started to wail herself. She wasn't sad that they left everything to her, but she was completely terrified of what it meant for her. Pinkie alone would run the bakery, raise the twins, AND she still had to keep up her normal life while doing so. It seemed impossible, even for a pony like Pinkie, who seemed to be able to be in several places at once.
"Pinkie?" Rainbow asked as she walked up beside Pinkie, putting her hoof on her shoulder. She jumped when Rainbow's hoof made contact, causing Rainbow to instinctively pull her hoof back. Rainbow looked over at the other girls for help, but all of them were preoccupied with the twins crying, which had only gotten louder. With a loud sigh Rainbow broke into the group, pulling Twilight out of the mess so she could help talk to Pinkie.
"Rainbow what are you-" Twilight protested as she was yanked towards Pinkie, "Oh"
"She's become depressed and antisocial because of this, and I don't know what to do about it" Rainbow admitted, making Twilight raise an eyebrow. It was unlike her to admit she couldn't do something, but in this case, it made sense. Pinkie was completely depressed, there was no way Rainbow could cheer her up all by herself.
"I'm not depressed" Pinkie said quietly, just loud enough for the two of them to hear it. They turned to look at her, both of them confused at what she said. If she wasn't confused then what was she?
"I'm scared" Pinkie said, silence falling in the room as though the twins heard her, and understood, "I'm scared that I won't do them right" Everypony looked at Pinkie with a sad look on their faces, all of them understanding why she was so scared. In such a short while she had all the responsibility of running the bakery and raising the twins from where Mr and Mrs Cake had left off just a few days ago.
"Here Pinkie, let us help you with this" Twilight offered, putting her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder to show how sincere she was about it. Everypony else joined in and put their hooves on her shoulder as well, to show her that they were all there to support her and hold her up when she would fall.
"Thanks you guys" Pinkie said with a sad smile on her face, just as the twins came up to sit in front of her, both of them grabbing her two front legs in a tiny hug, "Thank all of you" The eight of them quickly joined in a big group hug, which managed to make Pinkie smile like she had used to all the time. Once they had heard the rest of the will, which dictated what was to happen when the twins asked about their parents, the group left together, all heading towards Twilight's house so they could figure out the living arrangements.
"So, who's going to take them in first?" Twilight asked as the got to the front of the library, which had been under Spike's watch all morning.
"Well, since we're here why don't you just take her in for the first little while?" Rainbow asked, looking over at the library, which was extremely large for a town of Ponyville's size, "I mean, don't you have like four empty rooms or something?"
"Yeah..." Twilight said quietly, not wanting to admit that each of those rooms was currently filled with books, "Well, it's up for Pinkie to decide" Everypony quickly looked over at Pinkie, who had the twins happily playing on her back. She looked over at the girls before looking at the twins, who seemed drawn towards the library after they saw Spike poke his head out the window so he could get a breath of fresh air after his afternoon nap.
"I guess we can stay here, if you're okay with it" Pinkie said, giving Twilight a happy smile before she was pulled into a hug by the lavender Unicorn.
"Well, let's get you settled in" Twilight said as she led Pinkie and the twins inside, waving goodbye to the rest of the girls before shutting the door.
Chapter 2: Talking is Helpful
Chapter 2: Talking is Helpful
It's been a few days since Pinkie moved in with Twilight, taking the two Cake twins with her. Things have mostly settled down, but Twilight could swear shes heard Pinkie crying at night when she trotted past her door. Everypony knew how hard it was for her, going straight from grieving to having to be strong for the twins. It wasn't easy, especially for her. She had seen the Cakes as parents for the longest time, and with them gone all of a sudden, forcing her to take up their roles, it made her feel like a phony. Their dying wishes were to have Pinkie replace them in every single way, and she just couldn't do it. One night Twilight heard Pinkie crying, so she decided to step into her room.
"Pinkie, are you feeling okay?" Twilight asked quietly as she slipped her head in through the doorway, an ominous light coming into the room from the hallway. When she looked for Pinkie in the dim light she saw her huddled up in a ball on the bed, shaking slightly. She stirred slightly when she heard Twilight's voice, but other than that there was no reaction at all.
"Pinkie?" Twilight asked again as she trotted up to Pinkie's bedside, getting more of a reaction from her this time around. Pinkie turned over on the bed so she could look at Twilight, wet streaks trailing down her face. She gave Twilight a small smile before curling up even tighter, looking like a wounded puppy. Twilight saw that as a sign to leave her be, slowly trotting out of the room and shutting the door behind her, making a mental note to talk to Pinkie about what happened tomorrow morning.
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The next morning Twilight woke up the the sound of somepony cooking a delicious breakfast in the kitchen. When she got downstairs she saw Pinkie running around the kitchen while humming happily, which made Twilight stop for a moment. Last she had seen of Pinkie she was a complete wreck, being pretty much unable to do anything but mope and cry, but now, there she was, hopping around in a cheerful mood.
"Pinkie, is something going on?" Twilight asked, getting a confused look from Pinkie as she stood still for just a moment. Pinkie seemed to think about it for a moment before happily shaking her head, which made Twilight start to worry. No pony, not even Pinkie Pie, should be able to act so differently after being so depressed that she didn't want to talk to anypony. Her now and her last night were like night and day, it just didn't make any sense to Twilight.
"Pinkie, about last night..." Twilight said slowly, the words making Pinkie stop on the spot.
"Let me finish breakfast first" Pinkie said in a flat tone, he drastic change in emotion scaring Twilight a little bit. As she headed off towards the table she could hear Pinkie slowly returning to her original ways, as the sound of her hoofsteps bouncing around the kitchen as she began to hum once again.
"There is something going on with that pony..." Twilight said quietly to herself as she sat down, now noticing that Spike was nowhere to be seen, "SPIKE!"
"In here!" Spike cried as he stumbled out of the twins' temporary room, nearly smashing his head on the door nob because of the twins being wrapped tightly around his legs, "Help me!" Twilight giggled quietly to herself as Spike managed to pull himself free, only for Pumpkin to grab him with her magic and pull him back down to her and her brother. Spike was soon overwhelmed by the two foals as they started to crawl all over him, slobbery on his fingers and toes as they tried to figure out what they were.
"Help, they're going to eat me!" Spike wailed as Pound and Pumpkin started to shove his spines into their mouths. Spike struggled to get up, but Pumpkin's magic appeared to be too good for him to fight through, so he ended up giving up and laying straight along the floor, accepting his slobbery wet death.
"Twilight, can you give me a hoof in here?" Pinkie called from the kitchen, snapping Twilight's focus away from her assistant and the twins playing around on the floor. After she left Owlowiscious flew over and began to peck Spike on the forehead, making him grunt in frustration. Twilight gave him one last look to see the foals attempting to eat his feet whole, which gave her a good laugh.
"So, what did you need help with Pinkie?" Twilight asked calmly as she walked into the kitchen, only to find Pinkie standing with her face in the corner, "Pinkie?" Pinkie slowly turned around to show Twilight the saddest face she had ever seen, the sudden smell of burnt pancakes filling her nostrils. She stepped towards Twilight and showed her the failed attempt at making gourmet pancakes.
"I couldn't even make pancakes" Pinkie said sadly as she put the plate on the counter, "There's no way I can run an entire bakery all by myself" Twilight stepped forwards and gave Pinkie a hug, rubbing her back so she could attempt to comfort her, but it didn't seem to work. Pinkie slowly started to sob, just quiet enough that Spike nor the twins could hear it in the next room over.
"Pinkie, its okay, I'm here for you, and so is everypony else" Twilight said as she continued to rub Pinkie's back slowly, "Do you want to talk about stuff, I'm all ears" Pinkie pushed Twilight away to end the hug as she slowly trotted off towards the sink, using it's reflective surface to judge herself in silence for a few moments. Once Pinkie had finished thinking about it she turned around and gave Twilight a short hug before leading her towards the small table that sat at the end of the table.
"I think I'll take you up on that offer" Pinkie said quietly as she sat down, her sad eyes having a glimmer of hope deep down inside of them. Twilight put her hooves in her lap as she prepared to listen to everything Pinkie was about to say so she could give her helpful advice about what was bothering her. In the other room Spike and the twins were still playing, completely oblivious to what was going on in the kitchen.
Chapter 3: In Sickness and Health
Chapter 3: In Sickness and Health
As had become common Twilight woke up early in the morning to the sound of somepony making breakfast in the kitchen, but when she got downstairs she was surprised by who she saw.
"Spike?" Twilight asked as she saw her assistant in a fruity apron, "Where's Pinkie Pie?" Spike didn't seem to hear her as he continued humming a tune. Twilight almost expected a pair of hummingbirds to come in and help him cook, but the only pony that could do that was Fluttershy. Peewee was bobbing back and forth on the counter to the tune Spike was humming, which distracted Twilight long enough for her to forget why she was worried that Pinkie wasn't there.
"Oh, hi Twilight" Spike said when he turned around to use the other counter, seeing her in the process, "Do you need help with something?"
"Oh, I was just, uh..." Twilight thought for a moment to remember why she had gone in there in the first place, "I was wondering where Pinkie was" Spike tapped his chin with one of his fingers before shrugging. He obviously didn't know where Pinkie was, so he was probably cooking because he was hungry or bored. Ever since Pinkie and the twins came to the library his time was spent being a living toy for the twins while Pinkie did all the things he normally would. He was vocal about how much he didn't like it, but he didn't have any other choice than to accept it. As Twilight headed towards the table she heard somepony hurling in the bathroom, and with Spike in the kitchen the only pony it could be was Pinkie.
"Pinkie, are you feeling okay?" Twilight asked as she knocked on the door. She got a response, but it didn't make any sense. It was like some sort of monkey eating a chicken and a squirrel. Twilight waited a few minutes before knocking again, hoping that she would get more of a response this time around.
"Hi Twilight" Pinkie said weakly, showing just how draining the vomiting was for her. Knowing that she would need some help Twilight cracked the door open, carefully poking her head inside to see Pinkie's mane completely flat, like it was when she was extremely depressed. Looking around Twilight found a spare towel and used it to wipe the sweat off of Pinkie's forehead, and once that was done she began to wonder why this was happening. After carefully observing everything that Twilight could see about Pinkie she began to ask questions.
"Pinkie, were you feeling sick last night?" Twilight asked.
"No" Pinkie coughed out in between hurls.
"Did you eat anything funny in the last few days?"
"No"
"Have you had intercourse with anyone recently?" Twilight asked, at the last question she could possibly think of. This was the one question Twilight really hoped Pinkie would say no to, but she actually started to think about it.
"Well, about two weeks ago I did throw a party that got pretty wild..." Pinkie said slowly as she tried to remember it as she somehow forced herself to stop vomiting, "I might have gotten drunk, and I might have... sorta... gone home with some stallion I don't know" Twilight facehoofed harder than she ever had before, and ended up hurting her face because of it.
"Pinkie, why would you do something like that?" Twilight asked, her tone practically begging the question, "Why am I friends with you?!"
"Well, I had a lot of cider, and then things got really fun and I guess I wasn't thinking straight, so..." Pinkie babbled on, somehow recovering from her morning sickness. Pinkie got up from the toilet and headed towards the door, which made Twilight stare at her like she had just become some sort of monster. After a few seconds Twilight was kindly reminded by her brain that this was Pinkie she was looking at, so something like this wasn't all that strange for her. When Twilight trotted after Pinkie she saw her happily chowing down on the eggs that Spike had prepared for everypony.
"Looks like Pinkie is doing well" Spike said, giving an innocent smile to Twilight as he walked past so he could go and use the bathroom. Twilight sighed and sat down next to Pinkie, carefully watching as she ate what must have been an entire carton of eggs. Pinkie seemed to notice Twilight looking at her, which prompted her to look at the clock.
"Oh, I was almost late!" Pinkie shouted as she got up from the table, running out of the library as fast as she could. Twilight looked around in confusion for a moment before running after her, wanting to make sure Pinkie wasn't going to get herself hurt. When she finally caught up she found Pinkie standing in front of Sugar Cube Corner, which was still in the process of being rebuilt. Looking at the progress, it was coming along well, but it would still be at least a month before Pinkie and the twins could move back in, but it was enough to make Pinkie smile bigger than she had since the accident.
"Soon I'll be back in there, working to honor the Cakes" Pinkie said cheerfully, which confused Twilight.
"Pinkie, weren't you scared of letting them down just a few days ago?" Twilight asked, putting a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder to comfort her. Pinkie looked over at her innocently, seeming to not know why Twilight was asking that.
"I was, but after I told you I started to think about it, and I realized, that they trusted me to do this for them" Pinkie said, her voice adding a deeper meaning to her words. Twilight looked over at the bakery for a moment before an idea popped into her head. Looking around Twilight found exactly what she needed, a block of wood and a chisel. Using her magic she went to work, chiseling away at the pieces of wood until the only there was a pile of wood scraps at her hooves. Pinkie tried to look at what Twilight had created, and saw that she had carved the shapes of Mr and Mrs Cake's cutie marks into the wood. She quickly turned and plastered the pieces of wood onto the wall above the front door, so that everypony could see it.
"What are those for?" Pinkie asked as she looked at the two plagues.
"So everyone knows what you're working so hard for" Twilight said with a smile on her face. Pinkie didn't quite know what to say, so she opted to hug Twilight instead, crushing her in the process. Twilight patted Pinkie on the back so she would let go, and the two of them simply stared at the plagues together, both of them smiling at the sentiment behind them.
"Come on, let's go home, I'm sure Spike is begging for us to come home so we can save him from the twins by now" Twilight said as she turned around, being followed closely by Pinkie. Meanwhile at the library...
"WHERE ARE TWILIGHT AND PINKIE?!" Spike cried as he struggled to get off the wall, being held back by Pumpkin's magic while Pound threw his toys at Spike, attempting to stick them in the spaces between his limbs.
Chapter 4: Who Is The Father?
Chapter 4: Who Is The Father?
Pinkie was up bright and early in the morning, with the birds singing, the sun shining, and her face deep in the toilet bowl. For the fourth day this week she was woken up with morning sickness because of her surprise pregnancy, which everypony had attributed to the wild party Pinkie had thrown a little while ago. Twilight's been searching all over town for somepony who matched Pinkie's vague description, but no pony seemed to even come close to matching it. All of her friends asked how Pinkie managed to get with the hardest to find pony in the town. How were they supposed to find a chocolate color pony with dirty grey hair? Even though many ponies would imagine he would be easy to find, Twilight and the others were having an extremely hard time with it.
"Pinkie, you feeling sick again?" Twilight asked from the hallway, getting a gurgled yes as a response, "Okay, well come downstairs when you're feeling better, there'll be plenty of eggs for you to eat" Pinkie choked out a response to let Twilight know she heard her, and then started thinking about everything that had happened to her recently. First she lost her surrogate parents, and then learned that she would be taking their places by herself. Now she's staying with Twilight and all of her friends were on a hunt for the mystery stallion that impregnated her. It seemed like a lot of wasted effort, but Pinkie appreciated what they were doing for her, not many other ponies would go that far for a friend. By the time Pinkie was done thinking about the recent events she was feeling well again, so she decided to head downstairs.
"Feeling better now?" Twilight asked over the morning paper when Pinkie entered the room.
"A little, still somewhat uneasy" Pinkie answered honestly as she sat down, looking at the pile of eggs that sat in the middle of the table. She quickly took at least half of the plate for herself, eating all of them at once. Spike seemed surprised and annoyed that she did that, but he shrugged it off and walked into the kitchen so he could get himself some gems for breakfast. Once Pinkie had finished off her mountain of eggs she turned to Twilight, who had gotten up and was waiting by the front door.
"What's up Twilight?" Pinkie asked, cocking her head to the side as she did. Twilight looked out the window before turning back to Pinkie, a small smile on her face.
"Oh, just looking to see if everypony is coming" Twilight answered, looking back outside the window as a knock came from the door. She moved to open it, with Applejack and Rainbow Dash standing on the other side. The three of them hugged before Twilight let them in, showing them to the table Pinkie was sitting at.
"Hi girls" Pinkie said with a smile, getting two big smiles in return.
"Hi Pinkie" the two of them said at the same time, both of them happy to see Pinkie in a good mood. The two of them sat down across from her while they waited for everypony else to arrive, which was going to take a while. After at least an hour of waiting Fluttershy and Rarity showed up, late because Rarity had an appointment to the spa and Fluttershy was too nice to make her leave early.
"Sorry for being late darling, we had an appointment at the spa, and I must have lost track of the time" Rarity said, as her fine done mane bounced as she stepped up to the table, her hooves shining in the light from the windows enough to blind Applejack. Applejack fell to the ground as she held her eyes, being quickly helped by Rainbow. Rarity looked at them like there were crazy, which made everypony, except Applejack, roll their eyes.
"Ok, now that everypony is here, there's something important I need to tell everypony" Twilight said as she trotted over to the table, looking at all them to make sure they were paying attention before she continued, "I've found who the father is" There was a chorus of excited "Ooh"s from everypony, who were anxiously awaiting the news. Twilight coughed to clear her throat before saying it, using it to give dramatic effect to what she was about to say.
"The father is..." Twilight gave them all a look to see if there were really ready for it, "Discord" Everypony just gawked at Twilight as if she had gone mad from all of the new books she had been reading lately since her princesshood, many of them being about insane spells that could probably rip the fabric of reality apart if used too much. Once their mouths were shut they all looked at each other, still trying to wrap their heads around how Discord was the father of Pinkie's child.
"Could you explain this to us dear?" Rarity asked, being the first of them to get their minds to work again. Twilight looked at them in confusion for a moment before blinking as she shook her head, remembering that they hadn't been studying the books she was.
"I was looking at one of my books last night and found a spell that Discord had used back before Celestia and Luna sealed him away the first time, "He was able to turn into a pony for twenty four hours, which was long enough for him to attend Pinkie's party, but what got me was this..." Twilight trailed off as she used her magic to retrieve the book from her bedroom.
"When in pony form Discord appeared as a chocolate stallion with dirty grey hair, his eyes a bright yellow that seemed to glow in the night " Twilight read out loud, making everypony look at each other in surprise. The first part of the description matched what Pinkie could remember, but the glowing eyes seemed a little odd considering they stood out enough that Pinkie shouldn't have missed it.
"Is that why he was taken back to Canterlot?" Applejack asked, remembering Pinkie's cries as her reliable source of chocolate milk was taken away for some unexplained reason that left everypony in confusion. Celestia had sent Twilight a letter asking for her to send Discord away, probably because of his altercation with the Mayor over his living conditions. Apparently, floating house spinning at dangerous speeds, was unacceptable in Ponyville.
"Not necessarily, there was no way Celestia should have known about it" Twilight answered, looking over to see Pinkie with a small smile on her face, "Pinkie, is everything okay?" Everypony's heads slowly turned to look at her, all of them now seeing the large smile that was on her face.
"Pinkie?" Applejack asked when Pinkie didn't respond. She slowly turned to face all of them at once, her smile growing to the point where it was the biggest feature on her face.
"I'm just so happy to be having Discord's foal!" Pinkie cheered happily, making everypony fall out of their chairs from the shock. The sudden thud made something click in Pinkie's head, signalling the return of her morning sickness, which would now be fueled by at least a dozen eggs. Once she was gone everypony else got up, looking at the door to the bathroom where Pinkie was hurling. They all shook their heads and then headed off, as they still had their jobs to do, except Twilight, who was going to be spending her day trying to figure all this out.
