Sherry Merry exited the dance studio with her head held low. She angrily dragged a heavy gym bag with her as she plodded along the streets of Manehattan. It was only a short walk to her apartment from here, but the trip felt like an eternity, each step feeling longer than the last. She scowled angrily at the bag she dragged with her. The very bag that prohibited her from simply flying. The very bag that forced her into this walk of shame.
She paid no mind to everything that surrounded her until her building came into view. She stopped dragging her bag briefly to open the door and continued to drag it through the halls. She thanked the stars that her apartment was on the first floor, she didn’t think she’d survive dragging the bag up any stairs. Stopping at her apartment door, she dropped the bag and began to rummage through it for her keys. Finally finding her prize, she unlocked the door and threw the bag inside, not caring where it landed.
Sherry then headed straight towards the sofa and flopped onto it. Almost immediately she ripped the ponytail holder out of her fluffy orange mane, freeing it from its elastic prison. With her mane free she felt comfortable enough to bury her face into a nearby pillow and groan as loud as she could. “Yet another failure.” She thought. “I’m hopeless.”
Before she could moan to herself any longer, her mother, Air Balloon, walked into the room, having heard her daughter arrive. “Sherry,” she started. “Your home early.”
Sherry looked up slowly to meet her mother’s gaze. She looked similar to her daughter, with the same mane color, though Balloon wore hers in a ponytail, and the same bright, lime green eyes. Her coat, in contrast to her daughter’s dark purple, almost black color, was a sky blue. Just like her daughter, she was also a pegasus. “Yeah. I was asked to leave” Sherry responded.
“Why’s that?” her mother asked, apparent sympathy in her voice.
“Because I suck at dancing,” Sherry bluntly responded.
Her mother looked at her with disbelief. “That can’t be true”
“Well my flank is still blank so I think it is,” Sherry pointed to her flank which was indeed blank.
“I guess dancing just isn't for you then. Don’t worry, we’ll think of something new” Balloon offered her daughter an encouraging smile. Sherry sighed and looked away. It was the same every time.
I guess stunt flying isn’t for you
I guess acting isn’t for you
I guess singing isn’t for you
She was sick of it. She was sick of being sent to camp after camp, only to be sent back in disappointment. None of her mother’s ideas have ever worked and she was starting to think that they never would. She would just have to live with being a blank flank forever. Everypony else she knew had one, she was in high school after all. It wasn’t fair. She groaned and buried her face into the pillow again. “Cheer up sweetie,” she heard her mother say. “You’ll get your mark in no time”
Sherry felt the sofa shift and a warm wing wrap around her body. Despite her best efforts to resist, Sherry felt herself snuggle into the hug. Sherry felt her mother kiss her head before Balloon said “I’m gonna go make dinner now, okay. Why don’t you go wash up?” Sherry nodded as she felt her mother leave.
**************
Sherry woke herself up and walked out of her room, mentally preparing herself for breakfast. She already knew the talk she was going to get. As she sat down at the table she smelled the familiar scent of pancakes and awaited her plate. After a few moments of waiting it was delivered and she dug straight in, silently hoping that if she ate fast enough she wouldn’t get the talk.
Unfortunately for her, Balloon was quicker. “Good news Sherry...” she started. “Here it comes,'' thought Sherry. She tuned her mother out as she finished up her pancakes. She already knew what she was saying . About how she found another great opportunity in the city for Sherry. How she was sure she’d get her mark this time. It was always the same. “Sherry. Sherry!”
“Huh?” Sherry blinked rapidly and shook her head as she was knocked out of her thoughts.
“Didn’t you hear what I said?” Balloon asked.
“Um...sure,” Sherry said, looking away from her mother.
Balloon shook her head before saying, “I said things will be a bit different this time.”
Sherry cocked her head to the side. “What do you mean?”
Her mother smiled. “You're not going to a camp in the city.”
“Really!?” Sherry exclaimed excitedly.
“Nope.”
Sherry sprang up from her seat and hugged her mother tightly. “Thank you thank you thank you!”
Her mother giggled. “Nope, you're not going to camp. You’re going to a farm.”
Sherry immediately let go and glared at her mother. She couldn’t have heard what she just heard. It had to be a trick. Some kind of cruel joke. “What!?” she practically shouted into Balloon’s face.
Balloon’s expression dropped upon hearing her daughter’s tone “You’re going to a farm. A cherry farm specifically.”
“I don’t care what kind of farm it is, I don't want to go!” Sherry protested. She was tired of all this cutie mark hunting. She thought that after yesterday, her mother was finally beginning to understand her.
“I know and I don’t like this either but I have no choice. Nothing in the city seems to fit you. The only options left are outside the city.” Balloon’s tone was soft as she tried to console her daughter. She even reached out a hoof in an attempt to hold her. Sherry quickly smacked the offending hoof away before it could even come that close.
“But a farm!” She shouting, stomping her hooves into the floor, tears beginning to form in her eyes. This was so unfair. Not only did her mom ignore her frustrations and continue this pointless search, now she was sending her away, like she was embarrassed of her. “How long will I be gone?”
Her mother’s expression dropped even further and she looked away, speaking barely above a whisper, “Three months”.
“Three months! All those camps I went to were a week, two weeks tops. You can’t send me away for that long!” Sherry felt the tears start to fall as her volume increased.
“I know sweetie, but it's the only choice I have left” her mother replied, a sad, guilty look on her face.
“No, it's not. You can just not send me away!” Sherry said, her volume rising more. How could her mom do this to her? Did she really mean that little to her that she could send her away like she’s nothing?
“No, I can’t.” Balloon said tonelessly. “The trip has already been paid for and everything. I can’t just back out now.” She sighed. “You should go pack your things”
Sherry wanted to yell at her mother, tell her how wrong all of this was, but no words came out. She just huffed and stormed off to her room, flopped onto her bed, and let all of her tears flow. Her stuff wouldn't get packed until late that evening.
**************
Sherry woke up but refused to get out of bed. She didn’t want to leave home. Even if that meant never getting her mark. She didn’t care. She wasn’t going to any smelly, grimy farm. Too bad it wasn’t her choice. Before she knew it she was being dragged out her home, down the streets, and into the train station, all while carrying a heavy bag of luggage.
She grumbled to herself while kicking at the ground while waiting for the train to arrive. “This is stupid” she thought. “I probably won't get my mark there either and this will all be just a waste of time and money and sanity.”
Sherry continued to huff and pout until her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a train whistle. While her mother walked towards the train she tried to hightail it back home. Back to safety. Unfortunately, her mother caught her tail and stopped her in her tracks. Balloon gave her a disapproving look before hurrying her onto the train. There they took their seats and sat in tense silence. Neither of them were particularly inclined to break it, though. Unfortunately, Balloon tried to anyway.
“Try and cheer up sweetie. This is a great opportunity for you” she said, offering her best smile. Sherry dramatically turned away to look out the window. The landscape outside was beautiful, full of valleys and vast forests, even a large waterfall at one point. But to Sherry it was bleak and sad, a reminder of her forced departure from home. “Could you at least look at me?” she heard her mother say. Sherry kept her gaze firmly out the window. Balloon sighed and let the silence overtake the two again.
This silence continued until the conductor announced the next stop. “Next stop, Flutter Valley station”. By this point the day had already begun to fade away as the sun sank into the horizon.
Balloon nudged her daughter, who had begun to nod off. “That’s us,” she whispered. Sherry rolled her eyes at her. Eventually the train slowed down and the pair got off the train, though Sherry had to be practically shoved off. The train station was not busy seeing as they were stopping in a pretty small town, but Sherry couldn’t have cared less, she hated this town either way. "Sherry, you should look at this,” she heard her mother say, her voice laced with awe.
She didn’t want to look up. She didn't want to get to know this town. She didn't want to be here at all. She just wanted to be home. But she could feel her mother growing sad beside without even looking. She didn’t really want to hurt her any more, despite how she had been acting on the train.
So begrudgingly, for the first time in their trip, Sherry looked up from the ground and what greeted her was an odd sight. It was a town populated by only pegasi. Most were flying through the air while only a few walked on the ground, usually to enter a shop of some kind. The houses are what caught Sherry’s eyes the most, however. All of the houses only had doors on the second floor, while a shop, empty or otherwise, lay on the bottom. And from what she could tell from looking into windows as they roamed the cobblestone streets, there were no stairs on the inside. It made her wonder how any non-pegasus tourists were supposed to get up.
Her thoughts were disrupted once again by her mother nudging her, though this time she was the bearer of the worst news imaginable. “We’re here, Cherry Berry Orchards” Balloon said, gesturing her hoof towards the sign that bore the name of the place, once again offering her daughter an encouraging smile. And once again the smile was met with a roll of the eyes. “Come along now,” her mother said. “Mustn’t keep our hosts waiting”
Balloon nudged her daughter down the long, winding dirt road leading the farm’s main house. It was a simple two story building, painted a plain but inviting brown, and, unlike the houses in the city, it had a door on the ground floor. Surrounding the house was a vast orchard of cherry trees. They lie in organized rows on all sides of the house, making for a view of green and red as far as the eye could see. It was an impressive sight indeed, but Sherry hated it. She hated these infernal trees that dared rip her away from her home.
Sherry kept her eyes down on the path to avoid gazing at those blasted trees, so she was caught off guard when a wing suddenly stopped her in her tracks. She looked up to find herself face to face with an entire family of four. The family was entirely made up of earth ponies. “That explains the door.” thought Sherry dryly.
“Welcome to Cherry Berry Orchards,” said one of them, the head she presumed. He spoke softly and with a noticeable country accent. His coat was a banana yellow, complemented by a pale yellow mane that hung over the right side of his face. The look was completed by the dark brown stetson that rested on his head. He had a red barn as his cutie mark. He looked at the duo warmly with his pale blue eyes.
“It’s mighty nice to meet you folks and we’re glad you decided you want to help us for a little while. Ah believe it’s proper to start with introductions. My name is Banana Split” he said pointing a hoof to his chest. “This here,” he continued, pointing his hoof to a mare next to him on the right “is my wife Cherry Pit.” The mare in question had a red coat, a short, chocolate brown mane, and deep green eyes. She had what appeared to be a cherry tree as her cutie mark.
“It's a pleasure,” she said, smiling fondly and bowing her head slightly. She also spoke with a country accent, though hers was far less pronounced.
“This fine mare next to her is Cherry Orchard, our resident oldy,” he said with a chuckle, pointing his hoof to an older mare with an identical red coat to Cherry Pit, brown eyes, and a gray mane pulled up into a bun. She also wore narrow framed glasses that rested on her muzzle and a green bandana that tied around her neck. She, for her part, had a single raindrop for a cutie mark
“Ah told ya ta stop introducin’ me like, Nanner” she said with a frown, though her voice failed to hide her amusement.
“An’ Ah told you ta stop callin’ me Nanner” he replied and the two shared a laugh. Sherry just wished that he would stop talking. “Anyway,” he continued. “Moving right along this is my daughter, Top Soil” Banana pointed his hoof off to the left towards a mare with a fluffy mane, the same pale yellow as his and a brown coat, the same color as her mother’s mane. Her eyes matched her mother’s green ones as well. She had a banana and a cherry bunched together as her cutie mark. Top Soil simply nodded at the duo, her face lacking an expression.
“It's very nice to meet all of you.” Balloon began. “I hope…”
“Waaaaaaaaaait!” Balloon was cut off by a loud shout coming from the farm house. Looking towards the direction it was coming from, she made out the shape of a colt, around Sherry’s age, running towards them. He seemed to have something balanced on his back.
Banana chuckled, shaking his head at the colt. “There you are,” he chided. “Thought you weren’t gonna show.”
“Ah didn't miss anything, did Ah?” the colt asked, slightly out of breath. Looking at the colt, Sherry noticed he looked a bit off. He had a powder blue coat and a messy dough colored mane. His tail, in contrast, was styled and curled in a fashion that looked like it would take hours to attain. He had dark chocolate colored eyes and he wore a red, white trimmed bandana around his neck. Although the thing that stood out about him the most were the beautiful wings on his sides.
Sherry couldn’t keep her eyes off of him, even as he rambled on, his accent just as thick as his dad’s, maybe even thicker. “Sorry for almost being late, y'all. Ah was just so excited that we were getting new guests, that Ah thought Ah should do something nice for them. Ah was thinkin’ an’ thinkin’ and then it hit me. Ah should make them a pie. Ah was thinkin’ about what flavor an’, then Ah thought that Ah should just make cherry, you know cause were a cherry farm an’ all an’...”
“Woah there boy,” Banana said, placing a hoof over the pegasus’s mouth. “Slow down, don’t wanna overload our guests, now do ya?”
“Shoot, did Ah go ramblin’ again. Sorry Ah’m just a little excited.” he said awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his hoof. “Anyway what Ah was tryin’ to say was Ah baked you a pie, hope y’all enjoy.” He then turned his head and carefully grabbed the box he was carrying with his teeth. Glancing at it, Sherry could see that he had indeed baked a pie.
“Come along inside and Ah’ll cut some up for you.” he said, placing the box on his back and turning around to walk towards the farm house. He then abruptly stopped and turned to face the group again. He had an embarrassed expression on his face “Oh, he he, almost forgot, my name is Pastry Dough. It's a pleasure to meet you both.” With that he turned back around and skipped along the dirt path. The others smiled and followed after the colt.
**************
“Mmm. That was the best pie I’ve ever had” Balloon said with a wide smile on her face. “Wouldn’t you agree?” she continued nudging her daughter. Sherry nodded. It was a really good pie, but she hated that it was cherry. Cherries. The fruit of evil.
“Thank you kindly ma’am.” Pastry said, blushing bashfully.
“I really mean it. You must make pies often. This recipe is perfect.” Balloon continued to praise the pegasus.
“Well it is my special talent, baking that is” he replied, pointing a hoof towards his flank. Sherry followed his hoof and saw that there was a pie on his flank. She quickly growled and looked away. “Even this country hick has his cutie mark before me. I really am hopeless.” she thought to herself.
“Isn’t that nice” Balloon continued, completely oblivious to her daughter’s reaction. “Maybe you can teach Sherry a thing or two.”
“Ah’d love to. Always more fun to bake with a buddy.” Pastry replied, his happy smile still plastered on his face.
Balloon then lifted herself from the table. “This has been nice, but I have to go now.” she said. She turned towards her daughter, speaking to her in a stern tone. “You be good to these folks, you hear. They’re nice enough to take you in, don’t make them regret it.” Her tone then shifted, becoming much gentler. “I love you Sherry. Never forget that. I’ll see you in three months” Balloon then nuzzled her daughter before heading out the door. Sherry refused to watch her leave. She felt tears start to well up in her eyes, but before she could let them out, she heard a voice speak to her.
“Don’t look so glum. Ah’m sure you’ll get yer mark in no time. Maybe, you’ll get it so fast, you’ll have to call yer Ma ta come pick you up early. Wouldn’t that be somethin’” Pastry gave her an award winning smile, but it did nothing to lift her spirits. Pastry didn’t seem to really notice. “Come along now. Let's get you to yer room. Follow me!”
He sprang up from the table with much enthusiasm. Sherry refused to budge. No way was she going to take orders from this hyperactive mess. Instead of just leaving her be, she felt Pastry grab onto her hoof and start dragging her towards the stairs. She groaned and freed herself from his grip halfway there and begrudgingly followed him the rest of the way.
When they were at the top of the stairs, he took a left turn and led her to the last room on the right. “This here will be yer room” He opened the door to reveal a mostly empty room. There was a window on the far back wall and a bed in the back left corner. Across from the bed was a decently sized chest. Other than that, the room was barren. Sherry found it fitting.
“Sorry it isn’t much.” he started. “But we figured you’d feel more at home if you got to decorate it yerself.”
Sherry ignored him and set the luggage she’d been carrying with her by bed. She then flopped herself onto the bed and buried her face into her pillow. Pastry seemed to finally take a hint. “Ah’ll just leave for now,” he said. “My room’s right across the hall if ya need anything. You’ll start workin’ tomorrow.” He started to leave but stopped and added, “Goodnight”
With that he shut the door and wandered off to somewhere else in the house. When she was sure he was gone, Sherry let out all of her tears into the pillow. She continued crying until she fell asleep that night.