For Pinkie Pie it was just another typical, beautiful day in Ponyville. The perfect kind of day where she had nothing else on her schedule and thus could afford to pay her favorite sister in the history of ever a visit. Maud had only moved to Ponyville adjacent a few months prior, not that it mattered to Pinkie. Sisters were sisters and home was home, no matter where you went or where you lived.
But as it was a bit of a jog to get to Maud's house (or rather her cave that she decorated like a house), Pinkie ended up bumping into one of her friends enroute to said house. In this case, Applejack, who was carrying around a stack of flyers.
Applejack wasn't bothered in the slightest by her friend's sudden greeting, by now she and most of Ponyville were more than used to it. "Howdy, Pinkie Pie. Nice day, isn't it?"
Pinkie smiled and nodded in her usual, cheerful tone. "You bet it is, Applejack! Sorry I can't stay and talk more but I'm on my way to see Maud again! Can you believe it's already been over half a year since she moved to Ponyville adjacent?!"
Applejack just chuckled at her friend's enthusiasm. "I know, time sure does fly don't it?"
But then Pinkie's wandering eyes got sight of the flyers her friend was carrying. "Hey, whatcha got there?! You holding some kind of contest or something?! Is it like when Rarity was looking for judges for a fashion show, and she picked you to be one?!"
Rather than dwell on the unfortunate memories brought up by that event, Applejack just changed the subject. "These are flyers tellin' everypony about the Sisterhooves Social. You know, the big race we have every year at Sweet Apple Acres? Anypony with a sister or anythin' that counts as a sister can qualify," A chuckle escaped the farm pony's lips. "Did I ever tell you about last social and what Big Mac ended up doin' for Apple Bloom? I know he probably doesn't like me talkin' about it, but it's just so dang funny."
The pink party pony wasn't listening, she had tuned out Applejack upon hearing the mentioning of the phrase sister. The gears in her mind began to turn and an idea came to her. "Maud and I could totally do that... whatever it is!" She thought to herself. "After all, we Pies are the bestest sisters in the history of bestest sisters! And when's the last time we ever did something like this together? Never, that's when!" So she took to asking. "When's the social? Can I still join?"
Having long since finished her tale about the social from the year prior, Applejack was more than ready to answer her friend's questions. "Social ain't for at least another day, still. Gotta give us time to get everythin' all set up. And as long as you can find a pony you share a deep bond with that fits the social's loose policy for a sister, you can join."
"Great! See you later, then! And get ready to watch the bestest of bestest sisters smoke the competition!" Pinkie declared as she took to bouncing away with more of a spring in her step than usual. Now she really wanted to visit Maud, because boy did she have the most exciting idea in mind for her favorite sister!
Undeterred, Applejack just trotted away with the flyers on her back. They weren't going to hang themselves up. And only once she had done that would she be able to think of participating in the social with Apple Bloom. Hopefully, this time there wouldn't be any last minute sibling quarrels or map missions that would have to lure her away.
Maud Pie was resting on her bed, wearing only her green tunic and a pair of slippers. Her trusty pet Boulder was nearby on her nightstand.
The peace and quiet of her surroundings was suddenly interrupted, however, when Maud's sister Pinkie Pie came trotting in. The telltale bouncing noises giving away her approach. "Maud!" She happily greeted.
"Hello, Pinkie Pie," Maud greeted in her usual, stotic tone of voice. "It's great to see you again. Why have you come to visit me today? Is it Boulder's birthday?"
Pinkie shook her head. "Nu-uh, silly, that's not for another week still. You should know that better than anypony," She proceeded to pull out a flyer that had been part of the stack Applejack had been carrying (she had taken one without Applejack noticing). "I just had the greatest idea in the history of ever! You and I are gonna take part in the Sisterhooves Social!" The pink party pony immediately stuck the flyer in Maud's face.
Maud took the flyer and examined it carefully. Her expression did not change in the slightest. "So?" She commented with a blink of her eyes.
"So what? We're going to compete, silly!" Pinkie happily replied and booped Maud's snout. "Come on, you know we could totally win first place! Nopony's got a better sister bond than the two of us! When it comes to sisterhood, we Pies have them all beat."
The usually stotic, rock loving mare blinked and her expression shifted ever so slightly. "Pinkie, didn't our parents tell us that it isn't wise to seek out competition like this? We don't have to prove anything."
Pinkie just waved a hoof. "You're way overthinking this, Maud. I was thinking it could be something fun for us to do! And winning would just be the cherry on top of this fun sundae!"
"But we've never competed in anything before, not even when we were fillies on the rock farm." Maud protested as her concern now became noticeable.
The pink party pony groaned a bit. "Come on, Maud, quit being so stubborn! Did I mention that it's being hosted by the Apples, the same Apples who are our fourth cousins twice removed? It'd be like a family reunion, sort of like the one we had at the rock farm for Hearth's Warming."
"We could just visit them any day of the week when they're not hosting this," Maud insisted with a shake of her head. "If you really want to do this then why not ask Marble or Limestone? I'm sure they'd say yes, you know how to convince ponies."
"Not as well as you do, Maud," Pinkie insisted as she then began to plead. "Please, Maud? We haven't really done anything fun together since you went off to get your rocktorate. Well, aside from the PSSSD in Manehattan but that was before you moved here. Even now that you're in Ponyville adjacent, it seems like you're always busy with something. I really want to do something fun, just between the two of us. Something that only we can share. Think of it as my long overdue apology for almost making you move to Ghastly Gorge instead."
The mentioning of those words seemed to tug at something deep inside Maud. She knew Pinkie had had good intentions during that time, her moving to Ghastly Gorge had been a rash decision made before she had time to really think about her options. There were plenty of safer places to study rocks if she didn't want to move to Ponyville, but she'd gone to that gorge anyway and made her sister worry. And wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? Wasn't Pinkie Pie supposed to be the one that made Maud worry?
A quick glance to Boulder told Maud that she had to do this. If Pinkie said it was fun then it probably would be. "Well, if you really want to do with me so badly then I guess we can take part," She spoke as she finally made up her mind. "I did have other plans for tonight and the next day, but they can wait." If one had been watching closing they might have seen a smile on Maud's face ever so briefly.
Pinkie beamed with delight! "Yes! Oh thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, Maud! You won't regret this, I promise! Don't worry, I'll be here bright and early tomorrow so you don't get lost. All the other racers won't know what hit them!"
"We'll totally rock their world." Maud flatly declared. And so it was set. The proverbial gauntlet had been thrown down.
The next day dawned quite quickly for both sisters, Pinkie barely able to contain her excitement as she and Maud approached Sweet Apple Acres and came upon the track where the big race was to take place.
A whole bunch of sister teams had already assembled, and both Pies quickly spotted Applejack and Apple Bloom as well as Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were there too, which Maud found the slightest bit odd. "You two aren't really sisters, how can you compete?"
"Hey, as long as you have a close bond with another pony, it counts!" Rainbow protested. "Scootaloo and I have been honorary sisters for a long time. And I'll have you know we won the social last year."
Scootaloo cheered. "Yeah, and it was awesome! I can't wait to win again and tell my parents all about it. They sure sounded impressed with my last blue ribbon."
Sweetie Belle, for her part, couldn't stop prancing excitedly about! "I get to race in the social with Rarity from start to finish! This is gonna be so much fun! And this time it's my turn to win."
Rarity just gestured a hoof. "Now, now, Sweetie Belle, no need to get ahead of yourself. Remember, I haven't done this for over a year now. I may be a bit rusty."
Apple Bloom just grinned. "You can try, but you'll never be able to beat Applejack and I. This time there's nothin' keepin' us apart."
Applejack opted to clear her throat. "Alright, y'all, that's enough of the trash talk. It ain't about the blue ribbon or about winnin' first place. Takin' part is what the social is really all about, it's just fun."
Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yeah, but winning's fun too. And who doesn't love a good grudge match from time to time?"
Before Applejack had a chance to reply, Granny Smith's voice rang out from the megaphone. "Racers to the startin' line. Racers to the startin' line," All the sister groups obeyed, each group was soon gathered at the starting line for the obstacle course. It seemed like quite a stretch.
"On your marks! Get set! Go!" Granny Smith declared, and the racers took off! The Sisterhooves Social was now officially underway!
Most teams had little trouble navigating past the first obstacle, the mud pit, whether they leaped over it or just dashed through it. But Maud seemed to take her time going through it, much to Pinkie's frustration. It wouldn't be much fun if she and Maud were left far behind while everypony else was way out in front (the idea of pacing themselves never came to Pinkie's mind).
At last, however, Maud was out of the mud pit and she and Pinkie were rushing to make up for lost time! Slowly but surely they passed by many slower teams, and with their natural combined strength they had little trouble moving the hay bale across the line. But at least three other teams were still ahead of them by the time they reached the grape squish: Applejack and Apple Bloom (who held the lead), Rarity and Sweetie Belle, and Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. And all three teams had already made substantial progress on the grape squish before Pinkie and Maud could even begin their attempt.
"Hurry up, Maud!" Pinkie shouted at her sister! "You're better at crushing things, so squish those grapes like you're turning rocks into gravel!" She promptly chucked all the grapes into the huge bucket.
It took a moment for Maud to get her bearings inside the bucket and realize what she needed to do. "Grapes are a lot softer than rocks. I guess that makes them easier to squish or crush." She thought to herself and the mare quickly settled into a slow but steady rhythm that to her worked wonders.
But it was too slow for Pinkie, so she leaped up and joined Maud in the bucket to squish the grapes down faster. Maud didn't mind, though. "Nice of you to join me, Pinkie." She commented in a flat tone.
With the two sisters working together they were able to complete the grape squish just after the other teams ahead of them had done the same. They took off in hot pursuit, Pinkie especially determined to close the gap!
"Hoo-wee! I have never seen a social like this!" Granny Smith declared as she watched the whole thing unfold. "It really could be anypony's game, it's still up for grabs! I see four teams neck and neck for first, we could be headin' for our first ever tie in Sisterhooves Social history!"
The four teams competing side by side for first reached the pie eating part of the social at what appeared to be the same time. But when Pinkie quickly scarfed down her pie in the blink of an eye, it seemed like the team of her and Maud was poised to take sole possession of the lead.
At least that would've been the case, if Maud didn't seem to be eating rather slowly. Each bite seemed to take forever, giving the other teams ample time to catch up.
"Maud, hurry it up!" Pinkie protested. "Or I'm gonna eat that pie for you!"
Maud shook her head while she continued eating. "That would be cheating, Pinkie. I'll be done shortly. You know Mom and Dad taught us to eat neatly."
But although Maud did finish her pie relatively quickly, it was still slower than all the leading teams except for Rarity and Sweetie Belle (as Rarity was eating just as slowly).
There was only one challenge left before the big dash to the finish line, the challenge that often tripped up many contestants. The notorious hen house/egg carrying challenge. It was the one part of the race where precision and careful movements were encouraged above all else.
The race had tightened considerably, there was still a constantly changing lead for first place but many other teams were not far behind and were catching up quick. One of them could potentially take the lead away from the front runners at any point.
As a result the hen house became a flurry of activity! Several teams tried to obtain an egg by whatever means necessary, which frightened the hens and caused feathers to fly everywhere!
Pinkie and Maud emerged from the hen house first, an egg balanced delicately between their nostrils with Maud traveling while facing backwards and Pinkie traveling while facing forwards.
The pink party pony struggled to keep her nose from twitching or her body from shaking while the egg balanced partially on her snout. She didn't want to be responsible for causing it to drop, but she hadn't had to concentrate this hard since that test to prove she was the real Pinkie and not a clone.
Maud seemed to sense the trouble her sister was having, as she instructed to said sister. "Take it slow, Pinkie. We can do it together if we don't rush this."
"Oh, you make it look so easy, Maud!" Pinkie complained. "It's so hard to go slow when there's so much riding on this one egg. We're so close, I can feel it!"
"Just focus on the task at hoof, take it step by step. That's how I always approach things," Maud instructed again. "If you try to rush at a big boulder headfirst, you'll only tire yourself and won't make much progress. If you take it step by step and chip away at the foundation slowly, you'll break it down into manageable tasks." To demonstrate, she took a series of deep breaths.
Pinkie tried her best to emulate them, processing what her sister had told her. For a moment nothing else mattered, not even the race.
The two Pie sisters deposited their egg gently into the basket just seconds before the other teams could do so. The finish line lay ahead, just beyond a series of hurdles that seemed destined to trip up unaware participants.
Maud looked across to Pinkie as a rare smile crept onto her face. "Shall we?" She suggested to her sister.
Pinkie grinned in reply as she took Maud's hoof. "It's time to show them the might of the Pies! Let's do it, Maud! First place, here we come!" And the two dashed off as fast as they could!
Applejack and Apple Bloom, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, and Rarity and Sweetie Belle all did the same as did the rest of the teams! But the front runners soon pulled away, leaving it between the four of them to determine who would get first place and the blue ribbon.
The finish line drew ever closer yard by yard! The lead kept changing, one team would pull ahead one moment and then another team would pull ahead the next!
Twenty yards, fifteen yards, ten yards, five yards! The finish line was almost in site! This was it, it was all or nothing! As the last hurdle came into view and the finish line lay just beyond it, all four teams battling for the lead waited for long as possible before they made a desperate leap! Each hoping that it would be enough to give them the lead and thus the victory.
A thick cloud of dust obscured the finish line, rendering the result impossible to tell for several seconds. Even Granny Smith couldn't make out who had crossed the line first.
But at last the dust settled, a clear winner could be seen. "And by a hair, the winners are:" The pulse pounding announcement soon echoed throughout the orchard. "Applejack and Apple Bloom! And for the first time in the history of the Sisterhooves Social, we have a three way tie for second!"
Pinkie and Maud looked around: They were in the same positions as Rarity and Sweetie Belle and Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, just shy of the finish line. Heck, Applejack was just shy too. But some of Apple Bloom's mane had managed to stick out over the line, thus giving her and Applejack the victory.
"Yeehaw!" Applejack cheered as she and Apple Bloom stood up and embraced each other in a hug! "We did it, Apple Bloom!"
Apple Bloom, for her part, could hardly contain her excitement! "Yeah! We Apples are the best! Though, I gotta say, that was the closest race I think we've ever had."
Applejack nodded. "Yup, reckon it was. For a while there I thought for sure we'd lost this one and came up just short," She looked to the other teams, particularly those that had come the closest to besting her. "Thanks for a great match. I like a close race, helps keep me motivated."
"You got lucky, Applejack," Rainbow Dash playfully ribbed. "Next time you won't be so lucky. Right, Scootaloo?"
An exhausted Scootaloo just replied. "Yeah... next time."
"And Maud, for your first ever social you did great," Applejack encouraged. "I can see why you and Pinkie Pie are so close. Don't think I've ever had a sister team be as challengin' as you two."
"It was just fun to compete with my sister," Maud declared. "I don't know if I'll do it again next year."
Pinkie just hugged Maud tightly. "Aw but Maud, we had so much fun together! I don't even care that we lost! Well, I kind of do, but we had so much fun that I really don't care! Besides, I know if we work really we can win again next time!"
Maud simply replied. "We'll see, Pinkie. For now though, I really want to get back to my home and check on Boulder. You know how lonely he gets."