“But I don’t wannaaaaaa!” Pinkie Pie wailed, hanging onto the edge of the crib that was wedged against the door to her parents’ room. Igneous Pie was currently in the process of trying to pull her off of it, to little success.
“Pinkamena Diane Pie!” her father snapped, pulling harder. “We have discussed this! The baby needs the crib now!”
“I’m a baby!”
“You’re three years old next month, you are more than old enough to sleep in a proper bed now!”
“But I don’t want a bed, I want my crib!” Pinkie cried harder and continued to hang onto the wooden bars.
“Dear, please make her stop,” Cloudy Quartz’s voice came from the hall.
Igneous let Pinkie go; the filly swung down and bumped the bottom of the crib, the impact dislodging her to fall back on the ground. Igneous looked down at her, shaking his head in disapproval. “You will sleep in a proper bed, we’ve already set it up in your sister Maudileena’s room. Now, please come along nicely, your mother does not appreciate this noise.”
Pinkie pursed her lip, tears still in her eyes. “What if I don’t like it?”
“What if you do?” Igneous replied. “Try it for one night.”
“If I don’t like it, can I sleep in the crib tomorrow?”
“We’ll see.”
“That means no. I’m old enough to get that, now.”
“You’re correct.”
In the depths of the night, Pinkie shivered in her new bed and pulled the blankets over her head.
“Maud!” She hissed. “Maud!”
After a second or two of silence, she heard her sister.
“Yes?”
“Are you awake?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t sleep!”
“I noticed.”
“There’s a monster at the foot of my bed.”
“No there isn’t.”
“Yes there is, I can feel it!”
“I have my eyes open and there’s nothing there.”
Pinkie shook her head under the blanket. “Maybe you can’t see it, but I can feel it! It’s a chimera!”
“A chimera?”
“Yes! It’s a really nasty monster, it’s half-tiger, half-goat, and half-snake!”
“Pinkie, that’s three halves.”
“And that’s why it’s so nasty!”
“There’s nothing there. Here.”
Pinkie heard Maud climb out of bed and walk to the foot of her bed. She then felt her sister’s hooves press on the mattress. “See? Nothing here.”
“Maybe it saw you coming and moved so you wouldn’t bump into it!”
Pinkie heard Maud sigh. “What if I stay here and make sure it doesn’t get you?”
“What if it comes from the sides?”
After a moment or two, Pinkie heard Maud walk up to the side of her bed. A pause, then she heard her hooves go back to the foot of the bed and back to the other side.
“See? I’ll patrol to keep your bed safe.”
Pinkie smiled and slowly lowered the blanket to smile. “Thank you, Maud.” She closed her eyes and snuggled into her pillow.
The steady beat of Maud’s hooves on the floor circling her bed soon lulled her to sleep.
“Time for chores!” Igneous rapped on the door of the bedroom and pushed it open, morning sun streaming through the window. “Maudileena, wake up your—” He paused. “Maudileena?”
Maud walked down the side of Pinkie’s bed, around the foot, and back up the other side. “Yes?”
Igneous tilted his head. “May I ask what you’re doing?”
Maud looked down at the sleeping filly in the bed, her mouth hanging open with a small trickle of drool running down her pillow.
“Being a sister.”