Canning Cherries
by Lucen Aurora
It was a beautiful midsummer day, the sun was high in the sky, warming the coats and hearts of Ponyvilles myriad denizens. They flitted back and forth on their various errands, some where heading towards the market to pick fresh fruit and vegetables from the long rows of stalls. Some of them where heading to Sugarcube corner, Carousel Boutique or one of the other numerous shops that dotted the town in no particular pattern. Others where simply out for a stroll that perhaps ended in the park or next to the lake outside of town. And at the end of the main thoroughfare, in large building with neatly painted sign that read “Stumble In Inn” outside it, two fillies, a pegasus with red mane and a spotted red and white coat and a unicorn with a blond mane and a light lavender coat where busy at work in the inns kitchen.
Ponies rushed back and forth behind them, some of them bringing in baskets of cherries, others balancing canning jars or crates of liquor stamped by with a picture of grapes and strawberries.
The two fillies were sitting side by side on high stools in front of a sink. The pegasus filly sighed as she gently took a cherry in her hoof, pulled the stem out with her teeth, rinsed it and tossed it carelessly into a colander The unicorn filly had levitated up a large bunch of them and was whimsically pulling out stems one at a time, murmuring 'He loves me, he loves me not', rinsing the batch when she was done and gently putting them in the colander.
“You know, Dinky, I almost get the feeling you are enjoying this,” the pegasus filly grumbled as she looked over at her friend.
“Oh, yes! I've never canned cherries before, this is sooooo exciting!” she murmured happily.
“Ugh, yeah, exciting, we've only done this every years since FOREVER,” the pegasus filly moaned.
The pegasus filly yelped as a yellow maned, red coated mare cuffed her upside the head.
“Behave, Kool Aid, and we haven't been doing this forever, only for the last six years now.” the mare replied
“Mooooom! Why didja hit me!? I didn't so anything,” Kool Aid pouted.
“That was for nothing kiddo. Just think what I will do if you DO something,” the mare replied, swapping the fillies full colander for a empty one.
“I know what you will do if I do something. I got grounded for a month for breaking into the bar. That ended yesterday, so why am I here!?” Kool Aid whined.
“Because hard work builds character, and you, my silly little filly, need all the character you can get.” the mare replied.
“Sometimes when mommy and I are playing, we get into character and act out stuff from plays, Miss Juicy Fruit,” Dinky remarked a she examined a rather unripe looking cherry.
Kool Aid and Juicy Fruit turned for a moment to eye the unicorn filly as she levitated another batch of cherries out of her basket and begin to pluck the stems with her magic, then turned back to each other.
“ANYWAY,” Juicy Fruit said with a slight cough, “We are also a bit shorthanded. We have Captain Mountain hauling around wagons of booze and cherries and he's none too happy about that. YOU, little filly, will do your part around her or you don't get any allowance this week.”
“What if I just skip the allowance this week,” the filly grumbled.
“My mommy says the head postal mare makes allowances for her,” Dinky calmly interjected.
Juicy Fruit looked over at the unicorn and rolled her eyes.
“That's, uh, umm.” Kool Aid began.
“You try to leave, and not only will I drag you back, you won't get allowance for month, now keep working.” Juicy replied with a scowl.
Kool Aid groaned and turned back to shucking the stems from her pile of cherries.
“Where's my muffin?” as cheerful voice called out from outside.
“Mommy!” Dinky squealed and fell off her stool in the rush to get to her mother.
“Muffin!” Derpy squealed as she tripped over a basket of cherries while rushing into the room, landing squarely on her muzzle and skidding a couple of feet.
“Derpy!” Juicy Fruit groaned as she surveyed the mess Derpy had made on the floor.
Derpy sat up, blinking, and looking around at the cherries scattered on the floor as her daughter leaned up against her, nuzzling her chest.
“I just don't know what went wrong...” Derpy muttered as she hung her head.
Juicy Fruit rolled her eyes and shook her head. How Kool Aid has become friends with Dinky was anyponies guess, but as spacey as the filly was, at least she wasn't clumsy.
“What brings you here, Derpy?” asked Juicy Fruit as she led the walleyed pegasus away from the mess so that her staff could clean it up.
“Oh! I brought Muffins!” she replied, perking up and turning to dig around In one her saddlebags. She produced four huge muffins from within.
“Oooh! Muffins!” Dinky exclaimed excitedly
“Yeah! I love your muffins Missus D!” Kool Aid said, hopping down from her stool and rapidly flapping her winds to cushion the fall.
“I know! That's why I made four, one for me, one for Dinky, one for you and one for Mrs. Juicy Fruit!” Derpy said proudly.
“Beats cherries for sure! If I see another cherry after today, I'm gonna barf.” Kool Aid replied, eagerly taking the offered muffin.
“Yum! Blueberry!” Dinky cried.
“Oooh, Banana,” Kool Aid complimented.
“Umm, is this Bran?” Juicy Fruit asked.
“Yup! I remember you said you can't taste or smell all that well, and I only had enough fruit to make two big muffins, so I made you a Bran one,” Derpy replied
“What kind is yours?” Juicy Fruit asked as she looked over at Derpy
“Oh, I filled mine with Bilberry Jam!” Derpy replied happily as she took a big bite out of it.
“Uh, yeah. Sure, anyway Derpy, try to be a bit more careful, cherries ain't cheap.”
“Mommy says ain't isn't a word.” corrected Dinky around a mouthful of muffin.
Derpy quickly swallowed the rest of her muffin, “That's right, and don't talk with your mouth full, Muffin.”
Dinky swallowed her bite of muffin, “Sorry mommy.”
“That's okay; do you need any help?” Derpy asked, turning to Juicy Fruit
“Er, don't you have, mail or something to deliver?” Juicy Fruit asked nervously.
“Oh, no, it's alternate Tuesdays, I don't deliver mail on alternate Tuesdays.” Derpy replied as her wandering eye roved the room.
“What about Ferdinand Fridays?” Dinky asked as she climbed up onto her stool.
“Those only happen every three and one quarter years when the moon is covered by clouds,” Derpy replied.
“Oh,” Dinky murmured as she went back to her game of plucking cherries to “He loves me, he loves me not!”
“Ferdinand Fridays?” Kool Aid whispered a she leaned towards her mother.
Juicy Fruit met her daughters gaze and shrugged.
“Ooooooh, shucking cherries, can I help?” Derpy asked has she got her front hooves up onto the counter and took a good long whiff Kool Aids collinder.
“Well, er, how about your sit out of the way, over here with me and supervise?” Juicy suggested as she gestured to a nearby table with papers scattered about it.
“Supervise?” Derpy replied, furrowing her brow.
“Yeah, you make sure the ponies working under you are doing what they should be doing.” Juicy replied.
“Oh, I know what it means...” Derpy replied, scanning the room, “But it looks like everypony already is doing what they should be.”
“Well, then how about some, uh, Juice! Yes, Juice, what kind of Juice do you like, Derpy?” Juicy asked.
“I'm sorry. You want me to go away. I will.” Derpy moped, hanging her head, tucking her tail and slowly walking for the door.
“No! Not at all, ah, It's just.” a thought came to Juicy, “It's like you said, everypony else is already doing something, I just wanted some company! Yeah!”
“Really?” Derpy asked, her ears perking up as she turned to look at the other mare.
“Really. Come on, sit down.” Juicy Fruit replied as she fought to maintain her strained grin.
“Okay then!” Derpy replied as she whirled around and bounded over to the table, “And I like all kinds of Juice. Just, whatever.”
Juicy Fruit smiled at the other mare and weaved her way through the kitchen staff over to one of the huge fridges and pulled out a jug of carrot juice for Derpy. For herself she had a piping hot jug of her favorite coffee from a percolator conspicuously kept apart from the row of other percolators. Grabbing a mug and a glass from nearby racks, Juicy brought the drinks back to the table, then poured and offered a tall glass of Juicy to Derpy, whom promptly slugged the whole thing back in three huge gulps, put the glass down with a daintiness that belied her wandering eye, and then ruined the whole effect by letting out a loud belch.
“Excuse you!” Dinky called
“Excuse me!” Derpy replied
Juicy sipped her coffee, looking uncomfortably over the cup at the blond maned pegasus. She just never knew what to say to Derpy; the eyes always threw her.
“I bought some cherries canned in Brandy from Richs Barnyard Bargains once, They where really, really, tasty. But I woke up the next morning in bed with Twilight Sparkle and we both had a huuuuuuge hangover.” Derpy said, somehow training both of her eyes on Juicy.
“What? Wow. I bet that's a good story.” Juicy Fruit replied, somewhat surprised to hear the normally shy mail-mare volunteer such information.
“Yeah, I couldn't remember anything. Neither could Twilight. Did you know Twilight always sleeps with silk stockings on? I didn't know that.” Derpy gossiped.
“Okay, now you're just making stuff up,” Juicy grunted as she reached over with a wing to get another cup of coffee, “That nerd? In stockings? Yeesh, if she wasn't Princess Celestias little brown nose, she probably would have had her tail stuffed in her nose years ago.”
“It's true, I swear! She even has a whole drawer full of them. I saw them. Uh, even though... Ooooops. I wasn't supposed to tell anypony about the stockings.” Derpy muttered, huddling down into her seat.
“Oh, don't worry about it,” Juicy replied as she sat down with a pitcher this time to go along with her cup. “Ever have coffee Derpy?”
“Oh, I like Starschmucks coffee. I used to drink It every morning when I lived in Cloudsdale.”
“Ugh. Yuppie, frou, frou, crap.” Juicy Replied, “Wait, you lived in Cloudsdale? I thought you where from Ponyville?”
“Oh, I am, I just went there to train to be a Mailmare!” Derpy replied proudly.
“Huh? The more you know, right?” Juicy replied.
“Sure?” Derpy replied, confused by the turn of phrase.
A low growl and a squeal of surprise had both of the mares twisting their heads around towards the exit. The massive head and neck of The Mountain was thrust through the door of the kitchen, his lips curled in a snarl. Kool Aid was cowering on the floor in front of him; the rest of the employees in the kitchen had stopped what they where doing and where huddled together against the wall furthest from the door.
Juicy Fruit rolled her eyes, got down off her chair and calmly walked over to where he trembling daughter hid her face in her hooves.
“Thank you Captain Mountain, I will take it from here.” Juicy said, glowering down at her daughter.
The old stallion grunted and pulled his head out of the doorway, a collective breath was let out by the kitchen staff who went back to work.
“What did I tell you about trying to sneak off?!” Juicy yelled.
“I, I wasn't.” Kool Aid stammered.
Juicy hauled the filly to her hooves by gripping the fillies mane in her teeth and then gently boxed Kool Aids ears with her wings.
“Get back to shucking, young filly, and be glad The Mountain caught you and not me or you really would have been out your allowance.” Juicy growled as Kool Aid slunk back off to her stool.
Shaking her head, the mare walked back to the table where Derpy had been quietly watching the scene.
“That filly is going to be the DEATH of me one of these days.”
“You shouldn't yell, or hit.” Derpy quietly stated as Juicy climbed back onto her chair.
Juicy sighed, and looked over at her companion. Derpy was contemplating her empty glass with one good eye, while the other was watching the two fillies shuck cherries.
“Look,” Juicy began, “I appreciate the advice, but my daughter ain't your daughter, Derpy.”
“I know,” Derpy quietly replied.
“She misbehaves all the time, just the other day she bit that old biddy, Sour Cheese. I mean, just up and bit her ankles.” Juicy griped.
“She told me she always likes coming to my house,” Derpy replied.
“Yeah?” Juicy asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Because I tell her she's a good filly. She says you never tell her that.” Derpy replied.
Juicy stopped mid sip, and set her coffee down. She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.
“You know,” Juicy said at length, “When I was her age? I was just like that. Wild, didn't care about any other Pony. Got into tons of trouble, and my parents? They just laughed it off, said I was just, a filly being a filly. I thought nopony mattered but me, and first chance I got, I joined the Solar Guard. That's what it took to straighten me out, Derpy.”
Juicy sighed and leaned forward, resting her head on the table.
“I don't want Kool Aid to grow up like that. I don't want her to be a spoiled little brat that has everything given to her like I did. I had to loose EVERYTHING, even her father to finally learn that other ponies mattered. I know I'm hard on my daughter, but I do love her.”
Neither mare said anything for several minutes, Derpy looking down at her glass, Juicy laying with her head on the table, eyes closed.'
“I love you too, Mom.” Kool Aid whispered in and kissed her mothers ear.
Juicy fruit opened her eyes just fast enough to see a blur of red and white dots bound off the table and hear little hooves hit the floor. Juicy looked up and saw her daughter scramble up onto her stool and start to shuck cherries with gusto.
“See?” Derpy said, looking at the other mare a cracking a little smile, “You just have to say that more often.”
Juicy snorted, “I'm just not that nice.”
“You gave me juice.” Derpy stated.
“I SELL juice every day at twice the price we buy it from Richs Barnyard Bargains” Juicy replied.
“But you GAVE me juice at one hundred percent less that what your paid. And you are trying very hard make me comfortable and not to just send me away just like most ponies do, even though I make you uncomfortable.” Derpy replied.
Juicy gawked at the other mare.
“Dinky doesn't have a lot of friends, so I'm glad Kool Aid is her friend. And I know about the trouble Kool Aid gets in. Miss Sour Cheese is on my mail route and she told me my Dinky would be going to Pony Hell if she kept playing with Kool Aid.” Derpy said.
“There is a big surprise,” growled Juicy.
“I told her, Kool Aid is a good filly. She just doesn't always know it.” Derpy went on, “And Juicy Fruit is a good mare too, even is she's grouchy sometimes.”
“Derpy, I've made a lot of mistakes in my life.” Juicy sighed.
“But you've don't a lot of good things too. You kept your parents inn going. You buy all these cherries from Cherries Jubilee every year.”
“And Can them in liquor and resell them for twelves times what I paid for them.” Juicy countered
“And buy all that liquor from Berry Punch even though everypony says she's a drunk, and an unfit mother behind her back.” Derpy went on.
“Berry IS a drunk, it's her Cuitemark talent.” Juicy replied in an exasperated tone.
“Your cutiemark is a candy, isn't it?” Derpy asked.
“Yeah, so?” Juicy replied.
“Two candies, Juicy Fruit, the same as your name. One sour and one tart but both fundamentally sweet.” the other mare concluded.
Juicy threw up her hooves in exasperation, “I just can't win with you, can I Derpy?”
Derpy nuzzled the side of Juicies neck, causing her to pull back in surprise.
“When did you...!?” Juicy gasped.
“Your a good pony. I'm glad your my friend.” Derpy replied with a smile.
“A good pony, huh?” Juicy replied, settling back down on her haunches
Derpy nodded and smiled. There was a splash and a squeal, the two mares looked back over at their daughters whom where laughing and splashing each other in the rinse sink.
Juicy fruit sighed, and turned back to her coffee.