Sneak Peek Of Divided Rainbow: Chapter 34 · 3:11am Dec 9th, 2014
The sun wasn’t even up when Pinkie Pie arose in her bed at Sweet Apple Acres, smiling. Vaguely, she remembered the dream she’d just woken up from: she’d been at a party. Somehow, this didn’t feel like the first time she’d had that dream.
Pinkie gave a quick look over at her clock. Soon enough, the sun would be shining and when that happened, the roosters would wake the others up with their crowing. She felt too well-rested to return to sleep. Why not give her family a wonderful breakfast to wake up to?
* * *
She found herself singing softly to herself as she prepared the food. The tune was something that just came to her out of nowhere…
“...Baking these treats is such a cinch,
Add a teaspoon of vanilla…”
“Granny! Big Macintosh! She’s done it again!” came the delighted squeal of Apple Bloom. Pinkie Pie peeked out through the kitchen door just long enough to see her little 'big' sister canter downstairs. The little filly must’ve just woken up; she hadn’t even put that pink bow she loved so much in her mane.
Apple Bloom approached the table, eyeing everything that sat upon it. “Whoa, Nelly…”
“There’s jest a little more left ta bring out, Bloomy,” Pinkie told her sister. “Wanna help me finish makin’ it?”
“That’d be swell!” Apple Bloom said, hurrying into the kitchen.
Before long, Big Macintosh also came down the stairs and Granny Smith had emerged from her own bedroom to find that the table was fully stocked.
“Jest look at this spread!” said Apple Bloom, immediately loading up her plate with pancakes and apple cinnamon buns, and an apple crumb muffin.
“Eeeyup!” agreed Big Mac, helping himself to some buttermilk biscuits and fried potatoes, pouring coffee for himself.
Pinkie served Granny her oatmeal, bran muffin, and apple juice before pouring her own cup of coffee. She took it with five creams and five servings of sugar; it amazed her how Macky or anypony for that matter could drink the stuff black. Before starting in on her breakfast, she held back to savor the lovely sight of her family eating, together and happy, then took her first bite of her ooey-gooey apple cinnamon bun, soft and moist and still hot from the oven.
“How’ve ya been doing with yer school stuff?” she asked Apple Bloom. There were times where the love Pinkie felt for the little filly was more maternal than sisterly. If she were to one day have a daughter who was like Apple Bloom, she’d count herself a blessed mare, (and how many girls could say such a thing about their sisters?)
“Gotta B+ on mah last homework project!” Apple Bloom told her.
“Atta girl, Bloomy!” Pinkie told her, and they hoof-bumped.
“Yer not gonna believe this, but last night, Ah dreamt Ah’d gotten mah cutie mark in being an astronaut!” Apple Bloom announced.
Pinkie Pie smiled as she thought about that: Apple Bloom in a rocketship! Well, who really knew? By the time Bloomy grew to her own age, maybe the technology would reach the point where they could actually send ponies into space!
“Ah dreamed Ah was back with Grampy Smith,” sighed Granny. “Ya youngins remember yer Grampy?”
“Eeeyup,” said Big Mac.
Pinkie didn’t want to admit that she barely remembered a thing about Grampy, so she swallowed more coffee and told her family, “Ah dreamt Ah was throwing a party.”
For some reason, Pinkie found herself looking at one of the apple crumb muffins, imagining it being topped with vanilla icing and sprinkles. Would that make it a cupcake, then…?
At that moment, a green cloud of smoke formed over the center of their table, turning into a letter. It briefly startled the family of earth ponies, before they realized it could only be from Spike.
“Seems a bit early in the day fer Spike to be sendin’ letters…” Pinkie thought aloud, looking over at the clock.
“Mebbe it’s a super-secret mission the Princess is sending ya on!” said Apple Bloom, eagerly pushing the letter over towards her sister.
She took the letter and read it. It wasn’t a mission from Princess Celestia. Horror filled Pinkie’s heart. “L… Lero…”
“What about Lero?” asked Apple Bloom.
Still stunned, Pinkie passed the letter over to Big Macintosh, so he could read what happened to his friend, dimly taking another bite of her cinnamon roll. It was still solid in her mouth, sliding down through her esophagus when she swallowed and filling her belly. But now the taste was of nothing.
* * *
As the human was not yet able to take visitors, Pinkie Pie had thrown herself into her farm work. What had happened to her friend hadn’t affected her anywhere as badly as the aftermath of the glufferflork attacking her brother. Yet, for all that time, everything her eyes fell upon would remind her of Lero.
She bucked apples off her trees, and remembered that day Lero and Twilight had come by her farm, before Lero had gotten his voice back… her leg muscles had felt so weak back then…
A few little weeds were springing along the roots of her trees. As Pinkie pulled them out deftly, she remembered hiring Lero to do weeding for her, back when he was first starting out in Ponyville.
She fed her chickens and cleaned out their coops, while recalling what it had been like chasing them in the rain with Lero.
She went to her tool shed and decided it could do with a touch of cleaning. It didn’t really take long, either; these days, it was a tool shed to be proud of! Polished tools were organized on their racks; the hay bales squarely stacked, and the jars of apple preserves already boxed up in their specially compartmentalized crates.
“POISON, Pinkie Pie!” echoed Macky’s voice in her head. “That’s the stuff of the Flim Flam brothers, not the Apple Family!”
How horribly messed up she’d been back then. Thank Celestia’s golden sun Lero had brought her to Big Macintosh for a talking-to.
She loaded her apple preserves onto one of the pull carts and went over to their stand in the marketplace, taking over for Big Macintosh, who gave her a brotherly nuzzle on the cheek before returning to the farm. As usual, several of her customers took a moment or two to share gossip.
“...Have you heard any new news about what’s happened to your human friend...?” asked Davenport.
“...We always knew Honeydew had it in for Lero, but this...!” said Rose.
“...And to think you’re always warned against the quiet ones…” said Noteworthy.
“...They say it happened at the old Boulder & Daughters quarry mill… one of my own mothers used to work there...” said Sandstorm.
“If this is a mob that’s involved, do you think there’s going to be some kind of retaliation?” asked Fuschia Fizz.
“...Heard Twilight did something weird to Honeydew’s cutie mark in a fit of rage…” said Bottlecap.
“I heard Lero’s already dead,” said Mayor Mare.
Pinkie didn’t remember eating dinner that night; she was only left with just a vague recollection that her family had been with her at the table. When she was done eating and the dishes were washed and put away, she went straight up to take a long shower, and thought about Lero some more.
Careful there, Pinkie… she thought to herself wryly, as the hot water spilled down her mane. Keep going at this rate, and you might as well start calling Rarity and Twilight and Rainbow Dash your herdsisters.
She laughed a little at the thought. Laughter and smiles came so naturally to her these days, (though, perhaps, she could be forgiven for not being as upbeat on this particular day.) No doubt Lero would need some of that cheerfulness, down in that hospital room they had him in. She’d stop by the hospital with Big Mac, Apple Bloom, even Granny, if she were feeling up to it, and pay her human friend a visit as early as Lero’s doctors and nurses would permit.
Having soaked herself thoroughly, Pinkie looked behind her in search of the soap, pausing to consider her own cutie mark. How wonderful they looked; those three red apples upon the pink of her pelt. How grateful she felt that Lero helped her remember what her cutie mark truly meant: that she was working hard not just for hard work’s sake, but FOR her family. It spelled the difference between the misery of wasted effort, and glad spirits in a happy, thriving home. No golden medal could have made Pinkie prouder than those three apples, for there was no finer family to be a part of than the Apples.
No, she wouldn’t trade this wonderful life of hers for any other out there.
She is fully settled in I see. How tragic.
So these thoughts Pinkie is having of Lero, she sees him as a good friend or perhaps a older sibling?
This next chapter's gonna be a bit of a feels stabber huh?
I look forward to it Mikey!
2641675
Yeah, for better or for worse, she is 'fully settled in.'
A mixture of both, really. Though, if anything, Pinkie Pie would see HERSELF as an 'elder sibling' to Lero.
2641704
The feels WILL get their share of stabbings.
I look forward to showing it to you!
2641745
Ok that's good. I was a little worried that she might have romantic feelings, cause that would truly screw things up more than they need to be.
2641838
Heh. On one hand, there's no question Pinkie Pie would make for a fascinating love interest for Lero… Swapped or otherwise. But I assure you, in Divided Rainbow, it's strictly platonic between the two of them.
Poor Lero is gonna take a while to recover from all of this.
I sense a buildup for Pinkie having trouble adjusting back to her old life when the cure is found.