The Last Sight

by NoMane

Lies and No Pies

Disclaimer: I do not own Friendship is Magic, copyrighted material is not my own and I seek and receive nothing through my production of this work. Support the Official Release.

The Last Sight

Chapter 1: Lies and No Pies

A little yellow unicorn stared up at the night sky above, with blue eyes full of wonder. Her long orange mane hung down, barely brushed out of her face. She could hear her brother snoring from across the room, but the white pegasus's horrid breathing couldn't break her from her evening with the stars. His unruly brown mane wasn't any more in order after his bath!

There were so many, she knew, and she knew that the few she could see were marvelous even without all of their brothers and sisters.

She glanced back at her brother. If only she could have a brother as good as one of the stars...

Mommy had always said that there was a star in the sky for every cupcake eaten by every pony. Then again, Mommy lied sometimes. Mommy thought she couldn't be caught lying, but she wasn't as smart as she thought she was.

Pumpkin Cake frowned up at the stars, wondering if any pony really knew.

They didn't answer that silent query or any of the other thousand questions that kept her from simply laying down and going back to sleep, but she almost felt at ease.

The stars never said anything or made her do anything she didn't like. The stars understood that her life harder than everypony else knew. A little yawn slipped past her lips as she stared on. At last, she gave the stars a little promise that she'd look again tomorrow night. Slipping under her sheets and curling up, Pumpkin let the world vanish into darkness...

The sun brought her back to the waking world, even as she tried to cover herself. If she laid there long enough, she could forget the dawn.

“Rise and shine, Pumpkin!” Came a sing-songy voice.

She tried to roll over to face the wall. “G'way, Mommy.”

“What's wrong, sugar cookie?” Mommy rubbed her withers. “You love morning baking.”

“Nuhhh.” She tried to bury her snout in the pillow for a moment, but she knew that she couldn't turn away from morning baking.

At least, down in the kitchen, she'd be away from the sun's hateful glare...

Mommy smiled from under her pink, wet mane. Mommy's smile was small, but she was a big blue hug machine!

Pumpkin threw her forelegs around the big mare, unable to stay mad at her for yesterday's lies. “Morning, Mommy.”

“Good morning, Pumpkin.” Mommy held her tight for a moment, setting her down on the floor.

“It's cookies today. Do you remember what to get out?”

“Butter, sugar, flour,” she slowed her pace down the steps. “Nilla...”

“Vanilla, darling.”

“Vanilla...” she sounded it out, stopping at the bottom of the steps and pursing her lips. “Salt, uh...”

“That's a good bit of the recipe, but you're forgetting a few more things,” she answered with a smile.

She rolled her eyes, but followed. If she had had just a little more time to think, she'd have worked it out.

Mommy got out all the ingredients, one by one.

Pumpkin just washed her hooves as Mommy got ready. It was fun to bake with Mommy. Today, though, she couldn't keep her mind off of those horrid things that stood on the horizon.

Six terrible words fell all too soon. “Time to get ready for school.”

“Mommy, do I have to?”

Mommy's smile fell away all too quickly. Her gentle voice took on a harder edge. “Yes, darling.”

“But I hate school!”

“We all have to do things we don't want to, dearie.”

“You don't! You get to stay here and bake all day!”

“Honey, there's more to this whole wide world than just baking, and I want you to be able to experience all of it.” Even now, Mommy started heading toward the stairs. “And you'll only be able to do that with an education.”

Pumpkin fumed at the lies told to her. Maybe those worked when she was a little pony, but she was big now!

Glaring at Mommy's flank, she followed her up the steps, but she dragged out every step. Daddy fixed her mane into two pigtails, with pretty blue bows, and made sure everything was ready with a smile. Pound was waiting for her when she was done, but only because nopony bothered to fix his ugly mane.

With that, they were sent off to school. Sugarcube Corner was practically right around the corner from the schoolhouse. Pound always walked fast with his head held high, and he always complained if she fell behind.

So, she didn't. She let herself be led all the way to the schoolyard.

“Heya Pound!” Came a loud scratchy cry.

Pumpkin rolled her eyes as a white pelted pegasus with a gold and pink mane fluttered down from the tree above.

Pound hoof-bumped with the filly. “Inferna!”

“H-hey, Pumpkin,” a little brown pelted filly with a long, hanging orange mane greeted her as the two pegasi grinned and talked.

“Hey.” Talking to this little pony beat hearing about the Wonderbolts for the umpteenth time by a mile, even if she was barely worth looking at.

“S-so, uh...I mean...”

“What?”

“I'm sorry, I...should go.”

Pumpkin had never seen somepony move so fast. Even Pinkie Pie didn't move that fast when she vanished somewhere and reappeared somewhere else!

“What was that about?” Inferna was staring over at her.

“Dunno.” Pumpkin offered with a frown.

“She looked scared of her own shadow.”

“Yep.” Pound agreed.

“Wonder what she wanted...” Pumpkin's thoughts were interrupted by the school bell. “Oh great.”

She trailed behind the two pegasi. Nothing could be as boring as yesterday's lesson on hoof and horn writing...

Though she realized that she was wrong when she ran into Inferna's tail as she tried to slip into the classroom and to her seat in the back.

Pound and Inferna gasped loudly, and it didn't take Pumpkin more than a moment to see a whitish-blue pony in a blue uniform.

“Oh my gosh that's Soarin!” Cried Inferna in her stupid scratchy voice.

“A real live Wonderbolt in our class!” Pound added.

“He's the Captain!” Screeched another filly.

Miss Cheerilee waved for quiet, but ultimately started calling out over the noise. “Good morning, my little ponies, today's lesson is about the Wonderbolts!”

Pumpkin shook her head and made her way to her seat, setting her head down as Miss Cheerilee called for calm. Everypony began to murmur, even as Miss Cheerilee started giving the history of the Wonderbolts. Thankfully, it was easy enough to start sleeping through the talk of that. All became peace, far from the land of noise and bluster about stupid flying ponies...

A low giggling pierced her serenity, followed by a low voice. “Pumpkin.”

“Pumpkin Cake!” Her eyes opened in time to see Miss Cheerilee standing in front of her, green eyes glaring.

The magenta mare had never seemed so mad before. “Everypony, please go out to the yard. We will continue the presentation out there.”

That was when the giggling stopped, and everypony dispersed. Pumpkin stayed frozen under the teacher's gaze. “Stay here.”

The teacher turned away, fussing with her pink mane, gesturing for the blue uniformed stallion at the front of the room to step outside.

“I am so sorry, Mister Soarin,” she said as they stepped out the door.

“Oh, it's no trouble at all. I was like that when I was a kid. Not many kids look disappointed when a Wonderbolt comes to visit, but she isn't the first pony in a class to fall asleep before I start doing the flashy stuff.” He chuckled.

She glared at the wall. Those stupid adults thought she couldn't hear them!

“Could you do me a favor and go to Sugarcube Corner and tell Mr. and Mrs. Cake about this?”

“Sure, I wanted to order a couple things anyway.”

That was the last thing she heard before Miss Cheerilee's hooves were playing upon the wooden floor of the schoolhouse again.

She was waved up to the front of the room. Miss Cheerilee spoke softly now, “Pumpkin, what's causing this?”

Even if Miss Cheerilee was going to pretend to be nice, Pumpkin would not surrender to her. “What's causing what?”

“This misbehavior.”

“I was just sleeping.”

“You were sleeping during a presentation and disrespecting a stallion who was very nice to take time out of his day for us.” She maintained an even tone. “Are you having trouble sleeping?”

She knew Miss Cheerilee didn't care, no matter how many smiles or concerned looks she faked. “No, I just don't like boring pegasus stuff.”

“Pumpkin, you always seem to take issue with my lessons. Is there something I can do for you? Is there some way I can help you to enjoy school a little more?”

“No!”

“Pumpkin!” Came Mommy's voice.

Pumpkin shrank down in the chair and tried to vanish. Mommy's angry face was way scarier than Miss Cheerilee's, especially when she huffed and puffed with every step.

“Mrs. Cake, thank you for coming.”

She took a few steps into the room, fighting for every breath. “What happened?”

“Pumpkin was sleeping during a presentation, and I'm trying to understand why she's acting like this. I know she's not a bad filly, but could you shed some light on this?”

Mommy frowned. “Pumpkin, please tell Miss Cheerilee why you don't like school.”

Pumpkin winced away. “No.”

Those purple eyes fixed on the little filly. “If you don't tell her, I will.”

She buckled under that gaze, but her larger resolve remained. “I don't need school. I'm going to bake like Mommy and Daddy!”

Miss Cheerilee frowned. “Pumpkin, your mother went to school. So did your father.”

Mommy was quick to add. “Your father went to the Canterlot Culinary College.”

“You're both lying!”

Pumpkin learned a bit too late that it was far better to keep facts like that to herself.

Mommy and Miss Cheerilee didn't yell, but she could tell that they were biting back their true feelings. They lied so much that they couldn't even be honest when they were mad! They couldn't stand admitting that they hated when she told them the truth!

Instead of facing the obvious truth, they just stopped talking to her. “Mrs. Cake, I think it'd be best that we meet about this later in the week to better discuss this matter, and that you take Pumpkin home so that she can unwind in a less stressful environment. Normally, I wouldn't do this, but I just can't disrupt this whole event for her sake.”

“I understand.” Mommy nodded. “Come along, Pumpkin.”

“I'll be in touch,” Miss Cheerilee said with a forced smile.

Pumpkin felt a strange kind of relief mixing with the dread building in her gut. Sure, Mommy was going to be even more mad, but she was taking her away from school. She smiled and turned her nose high as she saw her brother looking at her with sad eyes.

If he was smart, like her, he would be getting out of this stupid class right now, and he'd be walking back into the best place in the world!

As they strode in the front door of the bakery, Mommy spoke without even looking her way, “Go to your room and think about what you've done.”

Pumpkin had a feeling that she wouldn't be going to the kitchen, but she couldn't help giving a smug look at Soarin as she walked up the stairs. He was a stupid pony in a stupid uniform, and she didn't have to waste her time with his stupid self!

The fact he frowned turned that look into a grin.

She knew she had won this battle. Now, she'd just have to figure out how to stay out of school forever!

Unfortunately, she had a lot of time to think about it. Even though she felt bad that she was stuck here, though, she still felt right.

It felt like an age and a half had passed before Daddy finally came in. “Pumpkin, can I talk to you?”

Pumpkin smiled. “Sure, Daddy.”

He smiled in that strange way he did when he was working way too hard, and sat down on the bed beside her.

“Honey, is something wrong?” He put a hoof on her withers.

“I'm stuck up here when I could be baking with you.”

He rubbed her withers softly. “You have some apologizing to do, honey. You can't just call ponies liars when they say things you don't like.”

Huffing, she pulled away from his hoof. “I can call anypony whatever I want.”

Daddy sighed. “Pumpkin, I love you, but you have to think about what you say to other ponies. Words like that hurt.”

“When ponies lie to me, it hurts me!” she cried.

“Think about what I said, okay, honey?”

Pumpkin didn't nod for him. She knew Daddy had been put up to this by Mommy. He wouldn't lie to her!

As he stepped out of the room, though, those words sounded like lies too no matter how many times she assured herself they were true...

The day passed in relative silence. She refused to talk to Mommy, and Daddy had nothing worth saying. Even when Pound came home, he cared more about talking about the Wonderbolts or how school was so cool than anything else. If he hadn't left to go play with Inferna, she probably would have kicked him out of their room.

The only time Pumpkin came down was to eat dinner, and Mommy told her to go right back up after she refused to apologize. She pretended to be asleep when she got called for her bedtime bath. Why should she bathe when that would just be another thing making it easier for her to go back to school?

She pulled the covers tight and held her eyes shut and hoped that no pony would check...

Pound's snoring woke her up.

Pound's stupid snoring!

She almost yelled at him before she saw the night sky through the other window. Turning toward her window, she looked up at the stars. They were still the same as the last night.

Pumpkin stared up at the stars for a while, before seeing a beautiful white streak across the sky.

“A shooting star!” She exclaimed, not thinking of her volume. This was a once in a life time opportunity!

Lowering her voice, she whispered to the stars. “I wish I never have to go back to that school.”

The shooting star faded from sight, and the stars twinkled a little bit. She waved up at them, yawning. “Thank you.”

Suddenly weary of sitting up, she slid under the covers, laid her head down, and let sleep take her into its warm embrace...

Notes: My first fic in a while. I hope I've improved a little, or have not fallen backwards. For you guys on FiM, it's the first you've seen of me. I hope to not disappoint.

Comments

[Flare Rider]

So far I like this fic! Not many people cover the topic of Pumpkin and Pound cake so a few moustches for originality!

[Cranberry Muffin]

I'm definitely interested to see where this goes! I work with a few children with this kind of attitude, so the story sort of hits home with me. Keep writing, please!

[Alpha Scorpii]

I'm interested by this. I'm curious to see what happens next.