One pebble after another, row after row of careful, thorough, meticulous effort. Such was the way to perfection. Oh, Sumac could no doubt glue on whole bunches of little pebbles at a time, but then there might be gaps, flaws, clusters of tiny pebbles that were all the same colour. This was an instance where patience would be rewarded.
“So much hinges on one good deed,” Octavia said, sounding distracted while she stared off in Tarnish’s general direction. She was quite enjoying watching him play with Megara and Boomer.
“What do you mean?” Pebble asked while Sumac affixed yet another tiny stone to the birdhouse.
“Pebble darling, every bit of happiness you have all exists because of one good deed.” Octavia turned and gave Pebble a smile, then focused her attention on the hardworking colt striving for perfection. “Once upon a time, there was a young colt that was on the verge of adulthood. He made a few mistakes, as colts tend to do. Yes… mistakes were made… anyhow, something truly awful happened to this colt, but what happened isn’t so important.”
Octavia paused, drew in a deep breath, and continued, “What is important is that a very nice mare saved this colt. She was just a bit older, a bit wiser, a bit more wary to the ways of the world. When she saved him, some might say she saved herself. She found a happiness she might not have known otherwise. She took him home so he could get himself all fixed up.”
When Octavia paused for a moment, Pebble looked over at her father. The birdhouse he was working on with Megara and Boomer was finished. The filly blinked once, twice, and with her third blink, she returned her attention to Octavia, who was just about to start speaking again. Pebble sighed, a somehow happy sound, and Sumac continued his meticulous labour.
“In fertile soil, this colt bloomed and became himself, the colt he was meant to be. With some right and proper role models, this colt was turned around and he grew strong in the ways of goodness. After some adventures, quite a number of them in fact, he saved a wayward mare. Now, this by itself doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it is, you see. He saved that wayward mare, ensuring that she lived, and because of one selfless good deed, that mare was able to perform her own good deed. She rescued and took in a curious little colt.”
Sumac paused in his efforts to look up at Octavia.
“Saving that little colt wasn’t enough, and this wayward mare realised that she had to save herself. So she did, or she tried to. She made a valiant effort, and with time and effort, she did a rather remarkable good job.” Octavia smiled, reached out, and booped Pebble on the nose. “And this is how good deeds can compound good deeds. Because Maud did the right thing; because she was a good pony; you exist, Pebble, and even more so, Sumac exists. So much hinges on one good deed, and every great thing that the two of you do together, it all goes back to that moment when Maud decided to do what was right as a pony.”
“I never thought about it that way,” Pebble admitted while Sumac returned to his task.
“Because Maud did what was right, because she did what was moral, Vinyl and I know a happiness that I did not imagine possible.” Octavia’s smile vanished and she sat there, shaking her head. “The four of us have done some good deeds together, and as for Tarnish and Vinyl, the two of them together…” her words trailed off and she became quite somber.
“Mum?” Pebble’s single syllable was soft, and she sounded a bit out of place when she uttered it.
“I’m sorry, I need a moment.” Octavia swallowed and she began rubbing her front hooves together, looking fretful and in pain. “I was just thinking back to the day when Maud and I received the news that Vinyl and Tarnish had died. It was winter, like it is now, and you were very little, Pebble. You had just been born a short time before, as a matter of fact. Princess Celestia came out to the rock farm with a whole contingent of soldiers. She was grief-stricken.” Reaching up, Octavia wiped her eyes, then, lowering her foreleg, she returned to rubbing her front hooves together.
Pebble, in silence, looked at her father for a moment, then looked over at Sumac.
“You never quite realise what you have until such a time that you are without,” Octavia continued. “For a time, it appeared as though Maud and I were going to have to make a go at it alone, with only each other. It was then I knew that we had to remain together, no matter what. Again, it all goes back to that one moment of kindness, just one good deed. So much hinges on just one good deed.”
The birdhouses were all finished and standing in a row. Sumac, staring at them, could not help but think one of these things was not like the other. To his surprise, his favourite was not his own, but that of Pinkie Pie and Trixie. Pinkie Pie wanted a gingerbread house, and Trixie wanted a birdhouse that looked like a vardo, a gypsy wagon. Compromise had produced amazing results. Wooden spools had been cut in half to make wagon wheels, and the wood had been reshaped a bit to give it a more wagon-like appearance. Pinkie had painted it to look as if it was of gingerbread construction, making it very lifelike and real.
The stone cottage he had made with Pebble and Octavia seemed fine, he reckoned. For Sumac, the experience he had gained from its construction was more important than the birdhouse. He was happy with what he had accomplished, because he felt it was perfect.
Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts made their birdhouse look very much like the houses of Ponyville, and had even ‘borrowed’ the idea to turn rope strands into thatch. It wasn’t fancy, but it was cosy looking, and the two mares seemed happy with their efforts to make a home together. They had spent less time building and more time chatting with one another while drinking tea. For them, this had been a social exercise.
Maud and Vinyl’s house wasn’t so much a house as it was a tiny castle, complete with towers, fortifications, and crenelations. Wooden blocks had been added, painted, and had contributed to the overall appearance of a mighty fortress home. Sumac realised it was the natural outcome of the interests of the two mares. Vinyl was an engineer, and Maud loved stone. It was a compromise that appealed to both.
But then, there was the one that was not like the others. Megara’s birdhouse was… scary. Tarnish had shaped it to make it look more like his daughter’s head, and then it had been painted to make it look as much like Megara as possible. The opening for the birdhouse was Megara’s maw, complete with painted on teeth, and her painted on eyes were crossed so that she might watch as the birds entered. It was the birdhouse of nightmares, and Sumac felt terrible for any birds that might make that a home come spring.
Boomer seemed proud of what she had contributed.
“That was really fun, Tarnish, thank you.” Twinkleshine gave her host an appreciative nod, then glanced over at Lemon Hearts. “Thank you for making a home with me, Lemon.” With this, both mares began to titter while sharing adoring glances with one another.
“Hey, don’t mention it.” Tarnish had a tiny tree dragon perched on his horn and a mighty manticore spawn clinging to his long neck. Boomer was snoozing and Megara looked as though she might nod off at many moment. “So, what are we going to do for lunch?”
“Eat pie,” Maud deadpanned, and this caused quite a few snickers.
“Ooh, that’s a good idea,” Pinkie squealed as she began bouncing in place. “I made some quiches for breakfast and I could make some pies for lunch and... oh wait, YOU DID IT TO ME AGAIN!” Turning a much darker shade of pink, Pinkie Pie turned to glare at her sister. “Welp, I feel stupid.” Ears drooping, Pinkie Pie let out a nervous, embarrassed giggle.
Sitting in a comfy chair, Trixie was blinking and one ear twitched, locked in time with her eyes opening and closing. Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were still tittering from their own little joke, and this was even funnier. Sumac didn’t quite know what was going on, but he knew that something was funny. Octavia and Vinyl were staring at one another, Vinyl was waggling her eyebrows, and Octavia was blushing.
“I wouldn’t mind eating a little pie,” Sumac said, innocent of the hidden meaning of his words and not knowing that he was striking a match in a room overflowing with dynamite. The poor colt played right into Maud’s wicked scheme without realising it, and the reactions to his words were immediate.
Not to mention devastating, as a room full of dynamite tended to be.
With a powerful snort, Pinkie Pie jammed her hoof into her mouth and she bit down upon it while her whole body shook. Maud’s eyes widened just a bit, but the effect was so minuscule that most ponies would have trouble noticing it. Blushing, Lemon Hearts turned orange, becoming another type of citrus entirely, and she clutched at Twinkleshine while fighting back laughter, which instead came out in the form of tears. Lemon Hearts, now Orange Hearts, was leaking her precious juice from her eyes, and was clearly a citrus in need of squeezing.
“It’s the dinner incident all over again,” Maud deadpanned while her husband pitched over to the floor and Megara yowled while her father howled. “I need to be more careful with what I say. I could have been the Element of Laughter…”
Pebble, her eyes flashing, shook her head. “It’s funny because it is a double entendre, right?” She had turned a very dark shade of brown, and was getting darker by the second, much like an over roasted coffee bean. Then, Pebble broke; she let out a squeal, covered her face with her forelegs, and curled into a fetal position on the floor, all the while squealing like an overexcited tea kettle, a trait she surely had inherited from her father, a Teapot.
With one foreleg, Pinkie Pie clutched her sister while gnawing on her hoof, trying to keep her laughter contained. Tears were streaming from her eyes, and she appeared to be having some trouble breathing. Trixie had a distant look in her eyes and the corners of her mouth kept twitching, tugging upwards while her ear continued to bob up and down.
“I like eating Pebble’s pies,” Sumac said, not knowing what was so funny. “She does a lot of hard work to make her pie presentable. Her pie is always picture perfect and I always feel a little bad for ruining it and making her pie messy.” Blinking, Sumac blushed, not understanding why, and he continued, “One time, Pebble’s pie was soggy and a little gross, but I ate it anyway, because she was still getting the hang of it and I didn’t want her to feel ashamed of serving me a soggy, sloppy pie. Lemon Hearts told me to never leave a filly feeling ashamed.”
With a shuddering gasp, Pinkie lost her battle to breathe and she fell to the floor, howling with laughter, clutching her stomach with her hooves, one of them slobbery. She whooped and coughed between brays of laughter, and Maud stared down at her writhing, almost-choking sister with seeming indifference.
Without warning, Trixie exploded. “HAHAHAHAH, the Great and Powerful Trixie is experiencing awkward laughter and enjoying it far too much!” Trixie’s booming voice completely drowned out Pebble’s high pitched squeal. “Later, the Great and Powerful Trixie will regret this, but for now, HAHAHAHAHAH!”
“I’m going to have an accident!” Octavia shouted, breathless, as she clutched her sides. “Stupid pregnancy!”
Vinyl’s horn flashed—then, she and Octavia were gone, no doubt they had vanished to the bathroom. Sumac surveyed the chaos around him, blinking, shaking his head, and wondering why the adults were all so weird. With no warning, Lemon Hearts winked out of existence, and Sumac wondered if she had left to find a bathroom as well.
While her father rolled on the floor, Megara batted at his tail with her broad paw, but she kept her retractable razors to herself. Boomer, annoyed that her perch was unstable, scurried away over the floor, ran up the table leg, over the table, and dove inside the castle birdhouse so she could nap in peace.
With a cry, Pebble was up on her hooves and she ran out of the room, giggling, crying, and her tail streaming out behind her. Sumac wondered if she too, was fleeing to find a bathroom. He still wasn’t sure what was so funny, and he didn’t know what to think about how Maud was now staring at him.
“What’s so funny?” Sumac asked, and when he spoke, Maud’s nostrils flared.
Maud’s sides were rising and falling in a most peculiar way, causing her smock to rumple a bit. “One day, Sumac, when you’re older, you are going to look back on this day… and laugh.”