Almost immediately after Pound and his parents left for the doctor's office, Pumpkin started to panic! "Oh no! No, no, no! Dis is bad! Dis is bad! Dis is so bad!" she said to herself, desperately wishing for this all to be a horrible dream that she'd wake up from at any moment. It wasn't, it was real!
"Pumpkin, please calm down!" Pinkie pleaded with the unicorn toddler. "Pound's going to be okay."
But Pumpkin was too absorbed in panicking to listen. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She said to herself. "I shouwd have known dis was going to happen! Someting awways goes wong whenevew my bwother gets one of his ideas."
"Reminds me of the time Marble and I were play wrestling, and she accidentally hit me on the nose when we were foals," Pinkie thought to herself. "It hurt a little, but poor Marble got hurt even worse. Because of that incident, she became scared of our natural super strength and started becoming the pony she is now. I wish I remembered what my parents did to help Marble feel better about everything and start talking to me again, because I'll bet the same thing would work for Pumpkin. Speaking of Marble, I should probably see about introducing the twins to their uncle, aunt, and nieces in Ponypalooza."
Pumpkin, meanwhile, continued to panic! Because that was all she could do! "If Pound is huwt at aww, I suwe to be in big twouble! Why did I have to twy and attack him with Smawty Pants when he onwy had a tuwtle?! Tat was unfair and I knew it!"
"Pumpkin, you couldn't have known what would happen," Pinkie told the toddler. "Ponies hurt themselves by accident all the time, but often they never get hurt. Remember all the times I've jabbed myself in the eye while reciting a 'Pinkie Promise'?"
"Uh-huh." Pumpkin nodded, taking a brief break from her panicking.
"You ever see any long term damage to my eye as a result?" Pinkie asked.
"Nu-uh." Pumpkin shook her head, but still unable to see Pinkie's point.
"So, Pound's injury is probably the same thing," Pinkie explained, trying to calm Pumpkin down. "Sure, it hurts a lot, but only for a little bit. Then the pain goes away."
"Wike a shot?" Pumpkin asked Pinkie.
"Something like that." Pinkie said with a wink.
"Do you tink he'ww fowgive me?" Pumpkin asked with concern, worried she might have made her brother hate her (if she did, she didn't blame him).
"Oh, I'm sure he will. After all, hasn't your brother done stuff to you by accident that you've forgiven him for?" Pinkie replied, giving Pumpkin a knowing wink.
Pumpkin thought back to some of the moments that most stood out to her, in regards to when Pound hadn't intended to hurt her but had done so anyway. When he had snatched her potty, and again when he'd accidentally flushed her, he'd ultimately regretted and apologized for his actions. But while having her potty snatched had been upsetting, and getting flushed quite frightening, the experiences hadn't resulted in any long term effects. Whereas what had just happened with Pound had the potential to leave a mark, a wound that couldn't be healed.
"I guess, maybe," Pumpkin nervously responded, then added. "Bu what if he dun fowgive me, even if I say I sowwy?"
Pinkie paused upon being asked that, she didn't know how to respond to such a question. After a moment or two to reflect on the answer, she finally told Pumpkin. "Well... there isn't much you can do then. You have to try and give him time to accept your apology, and see that you're truly sorry. Like with Starlight, the apology is important, but there are times when that alone isn't enough. You get what I'm saying?"
Pumpkin shook her head, but then she almost always found it hard to truly understand what her big sister was really saying, so this wasn't a surprise.
"Just don't worry about whether or not he accepts your apology," Pinkie explained. "The apology itself is what counts. You have to sound like you mean it, if you want ponies to accept it. Think you can do that when Pound comes back from the doctor?"
"I guess." Pumpkin nervously replied, but she rather hoped that wouldn't be for a while.
But as luck would have it, Pound and his parents came back from the doctor a short time later. Nothing seemed to be wrong with Pound, and he'd since stopped crying.
"So, how was it?" Pinkie asked The Cakes.
"Nothing serious, it's not even enough to cause a black eye," Mr. Cake explained. "Doctor Horse said there may be a slight mark above the pupil for a few days, but otherwise Pound will be just fine."
"Told you you were getting worked up over nothing, honey bun." Mrs. Cake teased her husband, as she carefully set Pound back into the playpen.
"Good," Pinkie smiled. "Because there's somepony who wants to apologize to all of you."
Pumpkin immediately burst into tears, levitating herself out of the playpen and burying herself in her mother's chest. In between sobs she added. "I so so so so SO vewy sowwy, Mommy and Daddy! I no mean to huwt Pound! I undewstand if you dun wove me anymowe because of dis, I did a bad ting!"
Mr. and Mrs. Cake tried their hardest to keep serious expressions, as Mrs. Cake told Pumpkin. "Pumpkin, don't be silly. We could never hate you for something as insignificant as a random accident. Sure, you played a bit rough, but nopony got hurt badly or anything. Pound will be just fine."
"So, you not mad at me?" Pumpkin asked, sniffling a bit.
Mr. Cake smiled. "Of course not, it could've happened to anypony. But I hope now you know, there's a reason why we tell you and your brother to play nice. It's so accidents like that don't happen."
"And besides that, everypony sometimes gets boo-boos when they play," Mrs. Cake explained in a motherly tone. "It's a natural part of playing. But you know your Mommy and Daddy will always be there to kiss the boo-boos, and make them go away."
"And befowe you ask, sis, I alweady fowgive you," Pound spoke up. "My eye dun huwt anymowe. Just dun do that again, give a wawning when you sic Smawty Pants on me. She may be an egghead wike Pwincess Twiwight, but she suwe can hit hawd." That prompted Pound, Pumpkin, their parents, and Pinkie Pie to all laugh. Indeed it was true, Smarty Pants may have only been a stuffed animal but it was clear she packed quite a punch in the hooves of Pumpkin Cake.