Welcome to Ponyville
Fanfic by Englishwitch
Chapter 1
GOODBYE PINKIE!
The banner was brightly coloured, matching the multitude of streamers, balloons and confetti, all standing out brightly against the dull landscape of the rock farm.
Even if she said so herself, this was the bestist, most fantabulously amazing party Pinkie had ever put on; her own farewell party. It was certainly the biggest, so surely that made it the best.
As well as mom, dad and the sisters there was, what seemed like, the entire population of Hollow Shades; the town the family rock farm sat just outside of, on the edge of the Foal Mountains.
Fourteen years old, the energetic teenage Pinkie bounced around the dance area, dodging between all her friends. She was friends with everypony in Hollow Shades, she’d thrown parties for all of them, many times. And not just for birthdays either, there didn’t have to be a reason for a party; it was a party, that was reason enough.
“Hi Crescent Moon.” She waved to the brown stallion. He smiled and waved back. Just last week she had thrown him a Got Well party. When he had a cold she’d thrown him a Get Well party and once he’d gotten over the virus of course that was a reason to celebrate.
“Hi Shimmy Shake,” she bounced past a pale tan mare, “ooh, I saw your roses this morning, they were looking super. We’ll have to have-” she stopped herself talking and bouncing at the same time. She was going to say we’ll have to have a party for that! But of course, she was leaving today, there would be no more Pinkie Pie Parties in Hollow Shades.
Shimmy seemed to know just what Pinkie had meant to say, she laughed and gave the filly a gentle hug. “We will Pinkie. When you find a place to live we’ll send you pictures too.”
Pinkie’s smile widened to almost impossible proportions. “Aww, thanks so much.” She hugged Shimmy tightly.
For the last ten years, ever since she’d earned her cutie mark, Pinkie had been the number one party pony in Hollow Shades. She’d turned the whole town from a dark, gloomy, sad and lonely place into a lively, funny, welcoming, exciting and all around super-dooper wonderiffic, awesome place. It was still dark; it didn’t have the name Shades for nothing, but it wasn’t gloomy anymore. She’d learned many different things about throwing parties and the ponies of Hollow Shades had learned from her. They even took to throwing their own parties sometimes, with Pinkie to consult of course.
That was why she’d made the difficult decision to leave; she’d brought joy and laughter to Hollow Shades and they knew how to be happy and throw parties without her. She wasn’t needed at home anymore —she hardly ever worked the rock farm— so now she wanted to go somewhere new, somewhere ponies didn’t know how to smile, and bring them the joy of parties.
“Pinkie!” a familiar mare’s voice called out.
Pinkie broke out of her hug with Shimmy and zoomed as a pink blur into the arms of a young mare with a grey coat, black mane, and a cutie mark of a treble clef. “INKIE!” she hugged her elder sister so tightly her eyes bulged. Inky tapped Pinkie on the shoulder rapidly. “I’m SO happy you could make it.” the pink filly was oblivious to the fact Inkie’s face was turning purple.
“Pinkie....air!” she gasped.
Pinkie let her go and stepped back, smiling sheepishly. “Ooops, sorry. I’m just so happy to see you again Inkie.” She vibrated on the spot, wanting to hug her again.
Inkie smiled. “You’re the only one who still calls me that,” she laughed. “you know I go by Octavia now.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes and giggled. “Yeah, I know. You needed some fancy name to fit in with the snooty Canterlot orchestra ponies because nopony would take you seriously when you were Inkie from the Rock Farm.” she shook her head. “You’ll always be big sister Inkie to me.”
Octavia/Inky rolled her own eyes and held out her hooves. Pinkie squeed and jumped into her sisters arms for another hug. “It’s good to see you again.” Inkie said softly to Pinkie. “Where’s mother, father and Blinkie?”
“Mom and Dad are over there.” Pinkie pointed across the yard to where their parents were dancing to the lively music. “I...don’t know where Blinkie is.” Pinkie’s smile faltered. She avoided her sister’s gaze, Inkie knew she wasn’t telling the truth. Not lying, Pinkie didn’t lie, but she saying the entire truth. Maybe she didn’t know for sure where Blinkie was, but she suspected. There was only one place Blinkie went when she wanted to be alone.
“Come on, let’s go see her.” Inkie smiled warmly and Pinkie found herself following without protest.
They walked away from the party toward the north field, a few hundred yards away from the house. There was a large work shed there, about the size of a small barn, plain brown and made of untreated wood. The door of the shed was ajar and a light glowed within.
Blinkie was sitting on a small cushion, staring up at a large piece of grey limestone. On a low table to her side was a collection of several different sized mallets, and a large array of chisels, some straight, others rounded and more than a few with little teeth. Pinkie didn’t know what they were all for but Blinkie knew them well enough.
Blinkie was plain looking mare, a grey coat, light grey mane and tail, very large brown eyes and a cutie mark of a hammer hitting a large grey rock, which had a diamond in the middle.
Inkie cleared her throat. “Sister.”
Blinkie turned and stared at them, she always stared. Her large eyes were always wide, as though the whole world was a constant surprise to her. She smiled at Inkie, but the smile faltered slightly at Pinkie. She trotted over to them and they walked over to her, meeting in the middle. She smiled again at Inkie and her ears twitched.
Inkie nodded her head and hugged her youngest sister. “It’s good to see you too.”
When they pulled out of the hug Blinkie glanced down, then back up at her sister, then bit her lip on the left side.
“Yes, I got all your letters. Thank you for them, they really helped when I felt homesick.”
Blinkie didn’t talk. Whether it was a case of couldn’t talk or just wouldn’t talk Pinkie didn’t know. She’d never bothered to ask. She had grown up with the mute sister and hadn’t known her be any other way. If she had lost her voice suddenly one day that might have been different but as far as Pinkie was concerned it was just how her sister was. It was just Blinkie being Blinkie.
Blinkie had never let her silence hold her back though, she had ways of expressing herself through hoof signals, facial expressions and body language. Every pony in Hollow Shades knew most of the signs and signals, meaning she was perfectly capable of holding conversations.
Pinkie wondered if her silence was the reason for her sister’s special talent. Unable to express herself in a usual way she expressed herself through art; specifically sculpture. With just a hammer and a chisel Blinkie could create truly wonderful pieces out of even the dullest and roughest rocks. The work shed was full of finished, half finished and just started projects, along with a large collection of rocks waiting to be worked upon. Everypony in Hollow Shades owned at least on Blinkie Pie work. Even though she was only 13 the filly was rapidly gaining a reputation as quite an artist.
Blinkie’s ears twitched and her back left leg scratched at the dirt. Inkie and Pinkie looked surprised.
“No, no, no.” Inkie reassured her. “of course I missed you. I’ve just been busy at school.”
Seventeen years old, Inkie, or Octavia as she was known in Canterlot, was attending the Canterlot Academy of Music and Dance — her talent lying on the musical side of things— she had earned her place through the school’s scholarship program. Practise, Practise, Practise was literally the school’s motto and that’s what Inkie did, every day she practised her musical skills to try and stand out and not just be another piece of noise in the orchestra.
Blinkie’s ears twitched and her right back leg scratched the dirt, followed by her biting her lip on the right side. Pinkie felt the stings of tears trying to rise in her eyes. “Of course I’m gonna miss you.” she put a reassuring hoof on her sisters shoulder. “I’m gonna miss everypony, but I’m really gonna miss you, mom and dad.”
Blink, blink, look down to the left and back up.
Pinkie nodded, “The farm is always gonna be my home, just like you’re always gonna be my sister. Nothing’s ever gonna change that.”
Look left, right ear twitch three times.
“Of course I’m gonna come visit silly filly.” Pinkie giggled and hugged her sister. “And I’ll write every day.”
Blinkie looked down at the floor. Left ear twitch, right ear twitch, tail shake, lift left hoof, hold three seconds, put down again, right eye wink.
Inkie put a hoof to her mouth to hide the quiet sob in her throat. There was no hiding the tears in her eyes though. “Oh, Blinkie. No.”
Pinkie nodded to agree with Inkie. “We’re not abandoning you. We’d never abandon you. We’ll always be there if you need us.” she put on a brave smile. “one little letter and we’ll be there before you can say, ear twitch, tail shake, tap left hoof three times.”
Blinkie giggled, the first genuine smile Pinkie had seen from her today.
Inkie placed her hoof on Blinkie’s shoulder. “Remember what Granny Pie used to say? Life is a long journey, it can be a dangerous business, just going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your hooves, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to. Our journey here is over, and we’ve gotta take the next step and see where it takes us. You’ll take that step too, one day.”
Blinkie looked doubtful. Pinkie nuzzled her cheek affectionately. “and until then it’s your job to make sure mom, dad and all the ponies in Hollow Shades are always smiling. Okay?”
Blinkie smiled and nodded her head.
“Great.” Pinkie bounced on the spot. “Now c’mon, you’re missing a great party.”
...***...
Just like air density, there were currents of natural magical energy that flowed through the air, with constantly changing concentrations and patterns. Unlike the weather, currents of magic were almost uncontrollable. They could be predicted and even used to a ponies advantage, if the pony knew how.
Rock farms concentrated on the growth of metals and minerals in ore. Some farms mined their own ore, others —like Pinkie’s family— struck a deal with the local mine. The ore was broken up and stacked in piles around the farm. This maximised their exposure to the magical currents. The fields were rotated regularly as well to match the currents.
The raw magical energy caused the metals and gems within the ore to expand, maximising the amount of metal or mineral that could be extracted but also minimising the impact of mining on the environment because less ore was mined from the ground.
After the ore reached its maximum potential; meaning its metal or gem had become as big as it could possibly get, the rocks were harvested and sold to specialists who would process it, extracting the metal or the minerals and selling the leftover rock as gravel or other building materials. Pinkie’s parents; Clyde and Sue, would receive a commission on the profits and the whole thing would begin again with more rocks.
Sure, gems could be found in most mountainous places in Equestria, Clyde Dale called them Wild Gems, but a pony would need a real special talent to know where to look for them, otherwise they would just be digging random holes all over the place in the hope they ran into a seam of good gems. There was also no guarantee that the gems that pony found would be of a good quality. Just left to grow in the randomness of the magical currents gems could pick up lots of impurities and become as worthless and as brittle as coloured glass. In all his days as a rock farmer Clyde Dale had never heard of any pony who had the talent to locate high quality wild gems. It was far easier and cheaper to buy them from rock farmers.
Rock farming was all Clyde Dale knew, it was his calling in life. From a young age he’d learned how to predict the magical cycles, to feel them with the often ignored magic earth ponies possessed. He was a natural born rock farmer. His father had been a rock farmer, his mother hadn’t. Cherry Pie had been the best cook in all of Hollow Shades though. He had hoped his children would follow in his hoofsteps and become rock farmers too but from the day Pinkie got her cutie mark; the first of his three daughters to do so, he knew it was not meant to be. Inspired by their sister Inkie and Blinkie had begun trying all kinds of new and fun things to see if their special talent lay in areas other than rocks.
Inkie had become a musical prodigy, Pinkie had been....well, Pinkie and Blinkie was showing great artistic talent. He was proud his daughters had found things that made them so happy. He was also proud of Pinkie, who spent all her time selflessly making others happy. He wouldn’t trade any one of them, not for a whole house full of rock farming ponies.
He told her so as he hugged her tightly on the train platform. Pinkie hugged him back and sobbed her thanks. The tears of joy hadn’t stopped all the way to the Hollow Shades train station.
“I’m gonna miss you daddy.”
She broke the hug with one parent and fell into a hug with the other. “I’m gonna miss you too mom.”
Her mother held Pinkie tightly, patting her back. “I’ll miss you too Pinkie. Write to us soon, okay?”
Pinkie nodded as she pulled out of the embrace. “I will. As soon as I arrive, wherever I’m going.”
Blinkie smiled, then giggled lightly. Tap right hoof three times, left ear twitch twice, blink three times, cock head to the right.
Pinkie giggled back. “Nope. I just asked the guard to get me a ticket to anywhere. He’ll tell me when to get off the train.” She hugged her sister. “I’m gonna miss you most of all, and don’t worry, I’ll be writing and visiting before you know it. Maybe I’ll even do some writing while I’m visiting,” she giggled at the image in her mind. “Dear Blinkie, thank you so much for breakfast this morning, it was lovely. Love, Pinkie.”
The sisters shared a laugh that was only interrupted when the guard blew his whistle.
“Oh.” Pinkie sighed. “I gotta go.” She grabbed her saddlebags and disappeared onto the train. She reappeared a second later, leaning out of a window of a carriage. She waved her hoof manically to her family as the train started to pull away. “Bye mom, bye dad, by sisters.”
She continued leaning out of the window and waving until the train rounded a corner and her family fell out of sight.
...***...
“Ponyville. This stop is Ponyville.” the guard tapped Pinkie on the shoulder. “Miss Pie, this is your stop.”
Pinkie stared out of the window as the town came into view. It was so bright and beautiful in the late afternoon sun, not like Hollow Shades at all, which always sat in the shadow of the surrounding forest. It looked beautiful, like something from a painting. There were flowers everywhere, picturesque cottages and homes. There was even signs of a thriving and exciting marketplace.
“It’s perfect.” she beamed.
She bounced off the train, into the town that could, potentially, become her new home. She looked around, taking in all the details. Almost every house had window boxes full of flowers, the air was fragrant with the perfume.
Smiling broadly she made her way to the bustling marketplace. Even more ponies, were wandering by the many stalls. Stalls selling so many delicious looking treats, flowers and goods. Pinkie looked at the ponies more than the market stalls, they looked so interesting, she was looking forward to getting to know them.
She suddenly stopped bouncing and continued to look around at the faces of the ponies around her. They were going about their business, they were being pleasant and polite, were chatting warmly, exchanging small talk. All in all they were being perfectly normal ponies of a small community. But...none of them were smiling.
Everypony in Hollow Shades smiled. If somepony wasn’t smiling one of their friends would do their best to cheer them up and make them smile. If all else failed Pinkie threw a party, that was guaranteed to put a grin on their face.
Pinkie continued looking around, walking slowly this time instead of bouncing. She kept her enthusiastic smile on her face. Smiles were contagious and this place needed an epidemic. She glanced at a group of fillies and colts playing hoofball, okay, they were smiling. So were the parents watching them. So ponies did smile in Ponyville, they just didn’t do it all the time.
Pinkie put a determined look on her smiling face, “Well, I need to fix that.”
“Y’all talkin’ to me sugar-cube?”
Pinkie looked around to the source of the voice. A smiling orange coated earth pony mare, wearing a stetson hat, was standing by a stall selling apples and apple treats, from fritters to tiny cupcakes with green icing. The mare looked a couple of years older than she was, eighteen or nineteen maybe twenty at the very most.
Pinkie giggled. This was the first pony she’d seen with, what looked like, a permanent smile on her face. “No, sorry. I’m new in town and -” she was cut off when the strong earth pony grabbed her hoof and started shaking it so vigorously Pinkie’s whole body bounced several inches off the ground.
“Well howdy-doo, a pleasure makin’ yer acquaintance. Name’s Applejack, you’ll find we ponies in Ponyville jus’ love makin’ new friends.”
Pinkie was bouncing so violently she was moving slowly away from Applejack, the farm pony didn’t notice until Pinkie’s hoof finally slid out of her own. “thhhhaaaaaattttt’ssss ggggrrrreeeessssattttt.” Pinkie with a grin. “hheeeyyy... ttthhhiiiisss mmmaaakkkkeeesss mmyyy vvvooiiccce sssoouundd fffuny...” she finally stopped shaking, almost six feet away from Applejack. She returned to the staring ponies side with a single jump. “I’m Pinkie Pie.” She almost held out her hoof to shake again, but thought better of it.
Applejack stared for a few more seconds before snapping back to reality. This Pinkie was an odd little pony. “Nice to meetcha Pinkie.” She tipped her stetson quickly. “So, y’all thinkin’ of movin’ to Ponyville? Or is this just a flyin’ visit?”
Pinkie giggled. “I can’t fly.” she turned to show her side to Applejack. “See, I’m an earth pony. No wings.” She giggled a little more. “You’re silly Applejack. Why would you think I could fly? OOH! But that would be so cool, if I were a pegasus pony I could hide inside clouds and sneak up on ponies and be all, like, SURPRISE and they’dhavenoideaIwasthereandsothey’dbeall-”
“WHOA!” Applejack backed away as Pinkie’s excited rant reached high speed. “okay,” she muttered to herself. “Ah ain’t sellin you no sweet treats, sounds like y’all had enough sugar already.”
Pinkie continued to smile. “I didn’t have that much sugar today, well, no more than usual anyway. It was my big Goodbye party at home and we had lots and lots of yummy things, but I was spending time with my sisters so I didn’t get chance to eat too much, only a slice of cake and three cupcakes, and two candy-canes, and a slice of apple pie, and some cheesecake, and lots of chocolate. But really that wasn’t all that much. This one time, at Mr, Black Stone’s birthday party I ate an entire three tier chocolate, cherry, fudge cake all to myself.” she licked her lips. “hmmmm, my tummy sure was all achy afterwards but it had been SO worth it. All that creamy fudge and the rich chocolate, complimented by the tartness of the cherries just called out to me. Pinkie...try me Pinkie...I’m all for you Pinkie.”
Applejack’s stomach growled loudly. She barely noticed, she was too busy trying not to drool on herself. The way Pinkie had described the cake had not only woken up her appetite like an angry dragon, it had made the fantastic apple treats she was selling seem dull and bland by comparison. For the first time in her life AJ didn’t feel like a couple of apple fritters were going to be enough, she needed something really sweet.
AJ grabbed a sign from a small shelf hidden under the cart and placed it among the centre of her stock for all to see.
BACK IN 5 MINUTES
“You feel like an afternoon snack sugar-cube?” she looked to Pinkie, who nodded enthusiastically. Applejack didn’t fully understand why she’d just invited the disturbingly hyper pony to join her. There was just something about this Pinkie Pie that a pony couldn’t help but like.
Pinkie gave the cart a long glance as they moved away. “Aren’t you worried about your stock?”
Applejack shook her head. “Naw, ponies here are honest, they won’t steal nothin’. If anypony does take somethin’ they’ll pay for it.”
The winding route through Ponyville allowed Pinkie to see many things, she saw a beautiful tall, round building Applejack called the Carousel Boutique, then she saw a flower shop and even a funny shaped building which AJ told her was a spa. “I don’t go in there mahself, some sight I’d look on th’ farm, buckin’ trees with a fancy hooficure and snooty styled mane.” She laughed lightly. “Here we are, th’ best bakery in Ponyville; Sugarcube Corner.”
The building looked more or less like any other building in Ponyville, except it had much larger windows to display a mouth-watering array of pastries, cakes, cupcakes and muffins and above the front door was a large wooden sign with a picture of a frosting covered cupcake above it.
“It’s pretty much th’ only bakery in Ponyville,” Applejack admitted, “but that wouldn’t stop it being th’ worst, so it sure don’t stop it bein’ th’ best.”
A bell above the door rang as they stepped inside. Pinkie’s already big grin widened as the smell of freshly baked good rolled over her. The warm, sweet, savoury, tangy.....it was impossible to describe the smell as anything other than Delicious: The delicious smell made her feel happy....happier anyway.
The shop floor was a large open space, at the far end of the room was a cordoned off area, separated from the rest of the store by a several long tables, which had trays of freshly baked muffins and pies cooling upon them, behind the tables was the doorway to the kitchen; where the sounds of much activity could be heard. To the left was a long glass display counter, behind which was a wall to wall shelves displaying yet more cakes and pastries. To the right was a second cordoned off area where there were stairs leading up to the first floor of the building.
Behind the glass counter, standing by a cash register, was a cyan coloured earth pony mare, not much more than ten years older than Applejack, she had a mane striped with two shades of pink and a cutie mark of three cupcakes.
“Howdy Mrs Cake,” Applejack said warmly, “can we get two cupcakes, and two of those nice lookin’ doughnuts y’all got there.”
“Hello Applejack.” Cup Cake greeted the pony. She began to collect her order, only to be distracted by the pink mare. Pinkie was rushing around the store, taking in all the details, smelling the freshly baked muffins on the cooling tables, muttering to herself and even wandering behind the counter to get a better look at the goods on the shelves.
Mrs Cake cocked her head. “So....who’s your friend?”
Pinkie picked up an eclaire and pulled it apart, scrutinising the pastry and cream. Applejack smiled sheepishly, “Mrs Cake, this here’s Pinkie Pie. She’s thinkin’ of movin’ to Ponyville.”
Pinkie took a big bite out of a banana and nut muffin. “Mmmm,” she grinned. “Tasty, but could use a dash of nutmeg.” she turned her attention to Mrs Cake for the first time. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie. You got a fantastic bakery. It must be so wonderful to be live above a bakery, to eat all the delicious treats you could ever want.”
Mrs Cake managed a smile for the odd filly. “Well, it is nice, but we don’t really eat all that much of our stock ourselves,” she glanced around the shelves, “I suppose baking and selling the cakes all day we don’t really have much of an appetite for them by supper time. Sometimes we’ll have a few cakes but not until they’re a few days old; too old to sell but not too stale to eat. Most of the time though our stale stock has to be thrown away.”
Pinkie looked surprised. “Really? I bake lots and lots of stuff before, Granny Pie taught me how, but I’ve never not wanted to eat something, no matter how many of them I’ve made or eaten before. This one time I-”
“What was that you said about nutmeg?” Applejack interrupted before Pinkie could fly into another hyper-speed story telling rant.
“huh?” Pinkie glanced at Applejack, an eyebrow raised. Then she remembered. “Oh yeah,” she held up the muffin with the large bite out of it. “The banana-nut muffin is delicious but with a dash of nutmeg it’ll be even better. The nutmeg compliments the creamy banana, and enhances the flavour of the toasted nuts.”
Mrs Cake nodded along politely. She took mental notes of Pinkie’s suggestions but didn’t think she’d use them. She was an experienced baker, as was her husband, they knew a thing or two about flavours and didn’t just take on board every suggestion given to them by a member of the public. She didn’t know this Pinkie, she didn’t know if she was a good baker or not. She would test the idea later on one muffin, if it worked then she’d make it part of her recipe. If it didn’t, at least she wouldn’t be stuck with wasted stock she couldn’t move.
“Oh yeah,” Pinkie reached a hoof into her mane and pulled out a small coin purse. “sorry for eating before I paid, it’s just everything looked so super-yummyriffic I couldn’t resist.” She placed a small collection of bits onto the counter then returned the coin purse to the hidden recesses of her mane.
“Sounds like someone likes my baking.” came a male voice from the kitchen. The young Mr Cake came out, a tray of freshly iced cupcakes was clenched in his jaws. He was a tall and thin earth pony with a bright amber coat, an orange mane and a cutie mark of three slices of carrot cake. He wore a paper hat on his head and an apron on his front.
Carrot Cake placed the muffins down on a table and walked around them to greet Pinkie. “You know about baking then?”
Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically, her poofy hair flopping around in all directions until she stopped. “Yep. I learned all about baking from my Granny Pie, so I could make some extra-special, yummy, wondiferous treats for all the parties I throw for every pony. I love throwing parties. Ponies say I throw the best parties in Hollow Shades. I love making ponies smile and the best way to make a pony smile is to give them a party full of big colourful balloons and streamers and awesome music and lots and lots and lots of tasty treats. And maybe a piñata You can’t go wrong with a piñata”
Applejack, Carrot and Cup Cake stared. Pinkie spoken —all in one breath— at such an amazing speed when she got excited it took a few seconds for the brain to rewind and play it back at normal speed.
“I...guess not.” Mr Cake agreed.
Pinkie glanced down at her bare hoof. “Ooh, look at the time. I would just love, love, love to stay here and talk more about baking and parties, but I gotta find a place to stay. Are there any hotels around here?” she shook her head from left to right and the sound of jingling coins rang out from her mane. “preferably a nice cheap one?”
Carrot and Cup shared a look. Pinkie was a nice pony, if a little odd, and she loved the smell of baking, she even knew a few tricks, apparently. Cup nodded to her husband who turned to Pinkie. “Actually, Pinkie, if you like, we do have a spare room you can rent, if you want.”
Pinkie’s eyes and smile widened to the point they should surely be bigger than her skull. Her whole body started to shudder violently. “YYEEEEEEESSSSSS!” she screamed and bounced off the floor, ricocheted off the ceiling, the walls, the floor again, then the ceiling again before landing in the exact same spot she’d launched herself from. “hehehe....I mean, Yes, thank you.”
Cup and Carrot Cake looked at each other again, both were wondering the same thing, what had they just gotten themselves into?
Author's Note
So several things to address.
Firstly I know Octavia isn't Pinkie's sister, there are too many differences for them to be the same pony. When I caught onto that little corner of the fandom though I liked it and decided to put it in here. It makes a fanuniverse I can reference and use in other fanfics in the future.
Only once have I heard it mentioned in fannon that Blinkie doesn't talk. It was such an oddity that I had to use it. If only to show Pinkie isn't the only odd one in her family, she's just the oddest. I did always have the idea of her having certain signs and signals to communicate with family and friends but I also toyed with the thought of her having certain signals only Pinkie could read, like a single ear twitch meaning a whole sentence. I don't remember why I dropped it but it did make it more fun, and slightly easier to write her interaction with Inkie.
Why write the long explanation of a rock farm when it won't feature in the rest of the story? Partly because trying to figure out what a rock farm was for used to bug me until I was on deviantart and found the information I wrote above; I wrote it down to share what I think it the only explanation for a rock farm that makes any kind of sense.
That image can be found here.
Mostly I wrote that thing about rock farms to add to a fandom universe I can call on in other stories.
Finally, any brony could obviously tell the Sugarcube Corner I described is different from the one in the show. The building doesn't look like an iced cake with a candy cane motif and it doesn't have a garret tower. That's done for a reason which you'll all see later on.
Welcome to Ponyville
Fanfic by Englishwitch
Chapter 2
Fourteen year old, Pinkie rose with a smile on her face. This was customary for the party pony but today is wasn’t just her general-everyday smile, it was her waking-up-to-the-smell-of-delicious-things-cooking smile. She hadn’t had the chance to use that one in some time. At home she was usually the one baking the delicious things so, of course, she wouldn’t be waking up to them. She would usually be wearing her I’m-baking-delicious-things smile.
Her bed was simple but comfortable. The guest room of Sugar Cube Corner was basic, with a musty- unused- smell in the air. Simple blue walls and slightly dirty windows added to the room’s unused atmosphere. It seemed the Cake’s also used the room for storage, there were boxes piled in one corner which Pinkie had found to contain small ornaments, photo albums, winter clothes and large folders full of boring paperwork.
Pinkie threw back the blanket and stretched, her back cricking as she bent into seemingly unnatural angles. Something pink was obscuring her vision; some of her mane had flopped down overnight. With a violent shake of the head, which left her eyeballs vibrating in her skull, she managed to throw the mass of pink curls back upwards, where they stayed, big and poofy. There was no need for a brush. She hadn’t brushed her hair for years.
Jumping out of the bed Pinkie dove into her saddlebags. Rooting around for a few minutes she located her toothbrush. Always start the day by brushing your teeth, Granny Pie had always said, it left your teeth protected against all the sweet treats you could eat that day.
...***...
Carrot Cake carried a fresh batch of his namesake out into the store. In the kitchen his wife, Cup Cake, was humming to herself as she began continued to mix up a new batch of gingerbread ponies.
Mr Cake had just placed the tray of carrot-cake slices into the glass counter display case when a pink blur shot down the stairs. Startled he jumped back, the tray fell from his mouth and the good fell toward the floor.
The blur skidded along the floor and grabbed the tray, the cakes landed on top of it, piling up into a pyramid shape. Pinkie smiled up at the still shocked Mr Cake. “Morning Mr Cake.” she said with her usual cheery enthusiasm. “You should really be more careful, you cake sell stuff that’s been all over the floor.”
Carrot Cake nodded and tried to get his heart to slow down to normal speed. “Thank you, Pinkie,” he took the tray from her and quickly put it into the display case before anything else happened. Pinkie still lay on the floor, smiling up at him, Mr Cake did not smile back. “I wouldn’t have dropped them if you hadn’t startled me. From now on, could you please just walk down the stairs?”
Pinkie’s smile faltered slightly, but she kept it on her face, “Oh, of course Mr Cake. I’ll be super-dooper, extra careful walking down the stairs from now on.” she nodded her head with every word she spoke, from somewhere within the depths of her mane, came the sound of a small jingling bell. “While I’m a guest in your house I’ll be on my best behaviour and follow all your rules.”
Mr Cake nodded before turning his back for a second to grab hold of a small notebook that was on a lower shelf, “Yes, well, about that, I suppose we should talk about your rent. How does-” he stopped, his jaw left wide open. Pinkie had helped herself to one of the carrot-cakes, along with a gingerbread pony, a lemon-surprise muffin and a chocolate éclair. She had the goods stacked on a plate, which she had produced from nowhere while his back had been turned.
Pinkie tossed the whole slice of carrot cake into her mouth, “Mmmmm, it’s good.” she said with a full mouth, “but could use a pinch more nutmeg and some fresh orange zest in the icing will really enhance the flavour.” she took the gingerbread pony but Mr Cake snatched it and the éclair away from her.
He frowned at her “Pinkie!”
“What’s going on out there?” Mrs Cake appeared at the kitchen door. She had spots of flour on her coat, tiredness in her eyes and only a thin smile on her face. “Pinkie, good morning, sleep well?” she sounded pleasant enough, using the calm and patient tone of a person who was busy but also making an effort to be nice to someone.
“Oh yes,” Pinkie nodded, her mane rang again, “that bed was really comfy and the bedroom is so cosy, thank you.”
Mr Cake cleared his throat, “Pinkie,” he drew her attention back to himself, “you can’t just go helping yourself to our stock whenever you feel like it.”
Pinkie’s smiled shrank slightly, “I’m sorry Mr Cake. I didn’t know.”
Mrs Cake looked at her disapprovingly, “Pinkie, you should have known. This is a business, we need to sell everything we bake to make a profit.”
Pinkie nodded her head slowly, this time her hair didn’t ring. Her smile was smaller than before, “I’m sorry. I promise, I’ll pay for anything I eat before I eat it in future.” she crossed her hoof over her chest, “cross my heart. Hope to die.”
The Cake couple shared a look with each other. Pinkie was, supposedly, old enough to leave home and live by herself, but she still acted a lot like a filly. She was a strange pony.
“Well,” Mr Cake sighed, “okay, just don’t let it happen again.”
Pinkie’s smile increased in size, just slightly, “Okie Dokie.” then she brightened up completely, “Ohh, if you want I can help in the kitchen, I learned how to make extra-special super delicious caked from my Granny Pie. I was just saying to Mr Cake, if you added orange zest to the-”
Mr Cake interrupted her, “Thank you Pinkie, but we know how to bake,” he glanced at his wife, “We’ve been doing it since we could crawl.” He was trying to be calm with her but his patience was wearing thin. The energy, enthusiasm and immaturity he could just about tolerate, but he didn’t like somepony he’d only just met telling his how to improve his life’s passion.
Pinkie looked back apologetically, “I was only-”
Mrs Cake stepped in, “Pinkie, it’s all right. Why don’t you go out, explore the town a little and get to know the ponies. If you’re going to live here, you should get to know everypony.”
Pinkie perked up immediately, “Oh, yeah, great idea. Thanks Mrs Cake. See ya’ later.” She trotted backwards, waving one of her hooves at the both of them. Despite not looking there she was going she found the door and walked out without bumping into anything.
Mr and Mrs Cake both breathed a sigh of relief when she was gone.
“Telling us how to bake.” Carrot muttered under his breath.
His wife stepped up and nuzzled his cheek. “Oh, she’s just trying to help. She’s enthusiastic.”
Carrot-cake cocked an eyebrow, staring a the open door Pinkie had vanished through, “She’s something all right.” he wasn’t sure what it was, but Pinkie Pie was it.
...***...
Pinkie trotted down the main street, heading toward the marketplace, taking in all the details of the town around her. She saw the ponies and it made her a little sad to see that almost none of them were smiling. Most ponies wore neutral, even disinterested looks on their faces. Those with smiles were just wearing thin, fake, grins. You could tell by how the smile didn’t reach their eyes. “I have a lot of work to do here.” she said out loud to herself. Still, she felt she was up to the challenge. Hollow Shades had been a place with no smiling and no parties and she had made everypony there smile. Ponyville wasn’t nearly so gloomy so surely cheering everyone up here would be a piece of cake.
She licked her lips at the thought of cake. Dripping with lots of frosting. And maybe decorated with marzipan flowers.
She shook her head, “Focus Pinkie.” she grinned, “friends first, then cake.”
There was a flower shop, flowers were cheery. Two ponies were watering their stock, two mares, older than Pinkie but they looked a little younger than Mr and Mrs Cake. Both had pink coats, one had a pale lime green mane and two daisies for a cutie mark while the other had a light gold mane and three lilies for a cutie mark.
She bounced up to them, wearing her biggest let’s-be-friends smile. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie.”
The two mares stopped their watering and looked at her, they put on professional smiles. “Hello,” said the green maned mare, “I’m Daisy, this is my sister Lilly,” she indicated the golden haired mare.
Lilly bowed her head slightly, “are you new in town?”
Pinkie nodded enthusiastically, “Yepp, just moved in yesterday. I’m from Hollow Shades originally but I’m living in Sugar Cube Corner right now. I might try to move into my own place when I get enough money but I don’t know if I will because living above a bakery is just the bestest of the best place I could ever dream of living with all the sweet and delicious smells that drift up all day, like today they were making carrot cakes and gingerbread and those just smelled so super that they made my tummy rumble like a-”
Lilly glanced at her sister, “when is she going to come up for air?” she mouthed.
Daisy had to yell to be heard over Pinkie’s endless chat, “That sounds great!” As Pinkie stopped talking the mares both breathed a sigh of relief. “Is there anything we can get for you Miss Pinkie?” she indicated her stock, “our roses are fresh and have grown beautiful this year.”
Pinkie looked at the assortment of red, white and yellow roses. “They do look amazing,” she inhaled the scent deeply, “and they smell lovely.”
Lilly nodded, “The best in Ponyville,” she said with pride, “how many would you like, we can do you an excellent deal on a dozen.”
Pinkie giggled, “Oh, I’m not buying, I don’t have a lot of money, so I have to save it for important things. Sorry.”
The professional smiles faded from the sister’s faces. “Then,” Daisy said unsurely, “why did you stop here?”
“Just to say ‘hello’ and introduce myself. Hello, I’m Pinkie Pie.” she waved her hoof at them, the two mares glanced at each other and back to Pinkie.
Lilly cocked her head, “well, okay.”
Daisy cocked her head in the other direction, “it was nice to meet you Miss Pie,”
“Call me Pinkie,” she giggled.
“Pinkie,” Daisy corrected, “but we have a lot of work to do. Sorry, but we can’t stop and chat.”
Pinkie continued to smile and stare at them.
The sisters began to shuffle on their hooves uncomfortably, Daisy cleared her throat, “So...we have to get to work....”
Pinkie nodded her head but didn’t move.
Lilly looked even more nervous, “So...we can’t just have....any pony just....hanging around.”
“uh-huh” Pinkie nodded.
The sisters glanced at each other again. “So,” Daisy tried again, “you see, paying customers only.”
Pinkie’s smile fell, “oh,” then returned as quickly as it had vanished, “Okay. See ya’ later.” she trotted off, humming a little tune to herself.
Both Lilly and Daisy watched her go. “That pony is weird.” Daisy whispered,
“Definitely,” Lilly agreed.
.*.
Pinkie trotted on down the street. The street opened up and she stared, mouth agape, at a huge tree, which had a door, windows and even a balcony on an upper level. Did somepony live in a tree? That was so cool.
Pinkie made a beeline for the tree house, she couldn’t wait to see what kind of interesting pony lived there.
She was disappointed to see a sign next to the door, declaring the building to be the Golden Oak Library. While a library built into a tree was still pretty cool, it wasn’t as interesting as the idea of someone living in a tree. She stepped inside anyway, eager to meet the ponies who were inside.
The interior was fascinating, from the shelves carved out of the wooden trunk of the tree, the flower to the sun fresco on the ceiling. There was a table in the middle of the room with two ponies sitting at opposite ends, reading in silence.
One was a grey coated, golden eyed pegasus mare with a pale yellow mane and tale and a cutie mark of bubbles.
The other was a younger unicorn mare, about Pinkie’s own age, with an aquamarine coat, yellow eyes, with a cyan and white striped mane with a Lyre cutie mark.
Both were absorbed in their reading but their choices in books were different. The pegasus was reading a thick but new-looking book, while the unicorn was concentrating on a thin but old tome. Its old cover was faded and cracked and Pinkie could see the yellowing on the pages even from the other side of the room.
“Hi!” Pinkie waved to them. “I’m-”
Both ponies looked up and shushed her.
Pinkie grinned sheepishly, “oops, library, right. Sorry.” she padded silently across the room toward the two mares. Turning her attention to the pegasus first she whispered, “I’m Pinkie Pie. Whatcha reading?”
The pegasus looked at Pinkie with one eye. The other stared off in a completely different direction.
“Wow!” Pinkie grinned, “that’s a cool trick. How do you do that with your eyes?”
The pegasus stared at her, mouth agape, then her face scrunched up and tears welled up in her eyes. She ran away from the someone table and out of the door. Pinkie heard the sound of sobbing fade into the distance.
Pinkie put her hooves to her mouth as she realised what she’d just done. “Oh no! Oh no nonononono!” It hadn’t been some trick the Pony was showing off. The poor mare had something wrong with her eyes and she was sensitive about it. And she, like an fool, had offended her.
“You jerk!” the unicorn snapped at her.
Pinkie looked at her, her eyes wide and frightened. “I’m so sosososo sorry. I didn’t mean to-”
The unicorn snorted and glared at her. “Well you did.” she slammed her book to a close with a burst of magic. “Derpy is sensitive about her eyes. How could you just waltz in here and say that to her?”
Pinkie’s mane started to become less poofy. It seemed to shrink in volume and started to straighten. “But....I...I...”
“You don’t know her!” the unicorn continued to yell. “Is that how you have fun? Making fun of strangers just because their different? You should be ashamed of yourself!” she didn’t wait for Pinkie to say anything else. She pushed past the confused and upset pink pony and stormed out of the library, slamming the door behind her.
Pinkie hung her head. Her mane was hanging in front of her eyes, a few waves and kinks were all that remained of her thick curls. “I’m sorry.” she sobbed to the silent library.
Author's Note
The chapter ended up being much darker than I originally intended, but this is the direction it went down.
Ponyville and Pinkie are meeting properly for the first time and both are unprepared for each other. Pinkie's enthusiasm and randomly impulsive nature is a little shocking for all who meet her the first time.
The serious Ponyville is just not ready for the chaos that is Pinkie.
Not even Mr and Mrs Cake are prepared for her. They may be a little irritated by her now, but wait until they get to know her better.
Things will work out in the end though, so do try and tolerate this little rough patch in her life.
