"Oh! Thank goodness they're home!"
The sound of the doorbell was the most wonderful thing that Pinkie Pie could have possibly heard. She had been tasked with foalsitting the Cakes' one month old twins, and while she loved Pound and Pumpkin dearly, watching them all by her lonesome was a lot harder than she had expected. Nothing that she had done, save for dumping flour on herself, had managed to calm the foals down. Even changing their diapers had proven to be a major issue. She had no idea exactly how she had ended up in a diaper as well, but that was all in the past now that the Cakes were home. Not even caring about the diaper around her flanks nor the one on her head, she rushed to the door and threw it open.
"Hi!" Twilight Sparkle said cheerfully. "I finished up the work I had to do, so I thought I'd stop by and see if you needed any help. Whoa!" Twilight didn't normally make a habit of shouting "whoa" at the end of sentences, but she felt it appropriate this time as Pinkie yanked her into the house.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you for coming!" Pinkie exclaimed, shaking the foal garment from her hips. "I can't begin to tell you what my day has been like! I mean, these babies just won't listen to reason, and don't even get me started on their taste in stand-up comedy."
"It's okay, Pinkie," Twilight reassured her. "I figured you would need some help. That's why I stopped by." Twilight smiled warmly, but the gesture was not returned by her friend.
"Ex-cuse me?" Pinkie demanded, but Twilight remained undaunted.
"Babies take a lot of work, and some ponies are just not cut out to handle the responsibility," Twilight said simply, lighting her horn up and tidying up some toys that had been left out. Pinkie couldn't believe her ears. Did Twilight seriously think that little of her level of responsibility? This would not stand.
"Is that so?" Pinkie responded. Before Twilight knew what was going on, she was being pushed out the front door.
"Well, thanks for stopping by, Twilight," Pinkie said, giving her rump one more little push. "Sorry, I don't have time to visit. I'm very very busy with my responsibilities here."
"I'm happy to help!" Twilight offered. "It's no trouble–" Before she could finish her sentence, the door was closed in her face.
"Well of all the..." Pinkie grumbled once the door was closed. "She thinks I can't handle things on my own?"
"She's right," a voice spoke out.
Pinkie whirled around to look for the source of the voice. As expected, she found Sugarcoat standing at the counter.
"When did you get here?" Pinkie asked.
"Little while ago," Sugarcoat said. "A bit before Twilight came here and was completely oblivious to what she was saying to you. I'd have been proud of her if she was at all conscious of it."
"But she was..." Pinkie started.
"But nothing," Sugarcoat interrupted. "Come on, seriously? How are you at all fit to watch children? Taking care of kids is more than playing with them. You have to actually be responsible and take care of their needs, and you clearly don't understand what it is to be responsible."
"B-but I..." Pinkie tried to speak again.
"I'm surprised the Cakes didn't hire somepony to foalsit you," Sugarcoat continued. "I mean, you're about as responsible as their twins are. I understand that the Cakes only picked you as a last resort, but maybe they should have tried a bit harder. With all the ponies in this town, there were about a hundred better choices than you. But hey, you're the one who they chose, so maybe you could learn how to actually take care of foals instead of just being zany and silly at them and thinking that'll fix everything."
On another day, in another situation, Pinkie might have taken Sugarcoat's words differently. While she might have still been hurt by them, she would have likely found a way to respond to Sugarcoat like she and her friends often did, to tell her that she was right in her own blunt manner. However, the stress she'd gone through today was simply too much, and Sugarcoat's tirade seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Pinkie's lower lip began to tremble, her eyes beginning to brim with tears.
"...Hey, wait..." Sugarcoat said quietly, taking a step back. "No, hold on. You'd better not cry..." It was too late, however. The floodgates opened, and Pinkie began to sob. Loud wails filled the room, causing Sugarcoat's ears to fold back.
"Come on Pinkie...don't do this..." Sugarcoat said, nudging her with a hoof. Pinkie, however, was inconsolable. A strange feeling fell over Sugarcoat; one of remorse and regret. She let out a heavy sigh. She had a mess to clean up.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Pinkie Pie! We're back!"
Mr. Cake entered the house first, followed closely by Mrs. Cake. The two had just finished up a long day, and they were looking forward to seeing their children again. They had been a bit trepidatious about leaving the twins in the care of Pinkie Pie, but in the end, they'd really had no choice. Of their close, trusted friends, Pinkie was pretty much the only available one. Things couldn't have gone too terribly...
"How did everything go?" Mrs. Cake called out. Then the two of them gasped, stopping in their tracks. Knowing Pinkie Pie, some manner of mess was to be expected, but the place seemed utterly spotless.
"Are we in the right place?" Mr. Cake asked his wife as the two headed upstairs towards the foals' room. Just before they could open the door to their room, it floated open.
"Shh," Sugarcoat said. "I just got them to sleep."
The Cakes looked at Sugarcoat, quite confused, before looking past her. The lights were shut in the foals' room. Both Pound and Pumpkin were fast asleep in Pound's crib. Across the room, tucked into Pumpkin's crib, was a sleeping Pinkie Pie.
"Wh...what's going on here?" Mrs. Cake asked, clearly baffled.
"She got worn out," Sugarcoat said. "She'll be fine next time. Maybe." Then she walked past the two, glancing back for just a moment. "Just check her in an hour. She might need a change."
Awesome Job, Twinkletail!
Lesson: Never let Pinkie babysit.
Poor Pinkie Pie!
While I regret Pinkie failing to learn the lesson on responsibility, the end result is hilarious.
Poor Pinkie. She was this close to learning her lesson for the episode, and then Sugarcoat happened.
On rare occasions, Sugarcoat does more harm than good.
Fun chapter though.
Author, I don't even know if it's intentional on your part, but the difference between Season 1 and Season 2 chapters here seems to be like the divide between Season 1 and 2 episodes. Season 2 chapters so far includes a lot of Sugarcoat getting homesick, having to face some of her own problems, and generally being a bit more outgoing in general.
6745452 One word...Discord.
This episode, I was hoping Sugarcoat would have shown up while the Cakes were actually looking for a sitter. Having a snarky remark at each instance...especially when they went to ask Rainbow Dash to foalsit. I'm just waiting for 'Putting Your Hooves Down'. I hope she does what I think she's going to do.
This was a good chapter. Not only did it have Sugarcoat being wonderfully blunt, but it also showed the ugly side of being blunt. Being blunt isn't the same thing as being honest; it's saying what you have to say on something without much regard for how others will feel about it. AJ, being the Element of Honesty, takes care in how she tells the truth to others, and that's one of the big reasons why Sugarcoat and her are so different. This chapter showed how being blunt can sometimes be a BAD thing. Learn when to speak up or shut up.
... So let's look at this chapter and the episode it was based on objectively instead of what it offers in a comedic fashion.
In the episode, Pinkie learns what responsibility really means and becomes a better mare for it.
In this chapter, Pinkie was nagged at, probably didn't learn a thing, and will possibly never attempt to be responsible for anything ever again...
Why am I favorited to this again?... Oh, right, because Sugarcoat is in it. Too bad that I didn't think that a mare whose only lines of dialogue consisted of blunt, obvious lines could be construed as someone who would go too far in their delivery, otherwise I probably wouldn't have given this a chance... but... I did it anyway, and while there are times when it's written subjectively instead of objectively, there are still moments when the converse is more than true. Besides, if Terran34 can hold my attention after performing an unfortunate move, why not you?
Back to the subjective: Heh, I guess the bit with Pinkie at the end was a little funny.
What made the chapter was the baby bottle add I got at the end.
6745438
Pinkie might well have learned something here...it's just that at the end of it all, with the extra sobbing at the beginning she keels over right after getting the Cake twins to sleep and Sugarcoat puts HER to bed.
I kinda thought Sugarcoat would show up, dope-slap Twilight in the middle of her obliviousness, point out Pinkie's feelings/ineptitude in one go, and send them on their way to go take care of the foals like a pair of responsible adults. If she fails to stop herself from falling into the wormhole the second time around, I wonder if there'd be a second Sugarcoat hovering over the first one's shoulder, there the whole time to point out each and every mistake she makes. Just for the cosmic justice of the thing.
Well, looks who's the Super Nanny and who's the Big Baby!
Poor Pinkie pie Sugarcoats bluntness is nice and all but that seemed a bit harsh. Pinkie would have learned her lesson later on like in the episode.
I liked Sugar's final remark. "Just check on her in an hour. She might need a change"
Oh well, fuck you too Sugarcoat.
I wanted to be mad, but then i recalled that Sugarcoat doesn't actually have foreknowledge. She saw the situation, and called it. By the end of the episode sure, Pinkie had learned how to babysit. But at the time, she kind of had a point. Hope she learned from watching Sugarcoat.