Pipsqueak yawned as he stumbled out of his nice cosy bed, leaning against the mattress and rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his hooves. The little foal then sat up in a jolt, his mind recalling the events of the previous night completely. Oh please don’t let it be a dream. he thought out, dashing towards the kitchen. The smell of pancakes filled the spotted foal’s nose as he ran down the stairs of his parent’s two story house; he then skidded to a halt right in front of the doorway, as he spotted a large group of Diamond Dogs sitting in the living room.
“It was real!” Pip cried, jumping for joy until a strange voice called him into the kitchen.
“Oy! You, cabin boy! Get your scrawny rump in here and get some breakfast!” the earth pony with the large chef's hat from the night before shouted. Pip then dashes around and between the legs of his new crew, making his way to the counter across from the stove. The earth pony was working as fast as he could, flipping flapjacks and frying eggs so quick it would put a normal pony’s back out;however, being the cook for a whole crew of pirates must’ve given this particular pony some very impressive stamina. “What’ll ya be havin’ boyo?”
“I’ll have a short stack please, mister.” Pipsqueak replied, to which the sound of thunderous laughter erupted from the earth pony.
“Short stack he says!” the cook pony nearly fell to his knees he was laughing so hard, “Oh boy, yer a funny one boyo, you’ll be getting some special grub from ol’ Jack.”
“Jack?” the small foal asked, “Who’s Jack?”
The earth pony couldn’t help but laugh again, then he looked at the new crew member like his head had gotten chopped off. “Boy, are you stupid? Ah’m Jack, call me Hungry Jack. I’ll be bein’ your cook from now on... least till your parents get home.”
Pip frowned a bit, then looked at the back of Jack’s head as the chef went back to work, “They won’t be coming back anytime soon, they both work in Canterlot and leave me here for weeks on end.”
This made Jack stop, now Hungry Jack had been a pirate all his life, literally. He was born to a pirate captain and his wife, he worked on the ship, he even learned to cook on his father’s vessel. So, as you can probably infer, a foal not having his parents around greatly disturbed Jack. “Now, why would they be leavin’ a small lad like yerself behind?”
“Well, they do have a mare that’s supposed to come over and watch me,” Pip explained, “but I haven’t seen her all day.”
Jack then froze in his tracks, “Medium sized mare, brown curls, sandy coat?”
“Yes, um I mean aye.” replied Pip, remembering his pirat lingo, “Why?”
“Uh... No reason boyo, now eat your cakes.”
“You didn’t give me any.” Pipsqueak said, then a huge plate of the fluffiest pancake he had ever seen were pushed in front of him.
“Now if you be excusin’ me.” Hungry Jack said, “I best be... taking the trash out.” With that, the cook quickly exited the kitchen, the sound of his voice shouting for a shovel could be heard echoing all around Pip’s abode. When Pip would leave for school that day, he would notice a pile of stones dug in it a large mound off to the side of the house, but the foal would most likely think nothing of it. After all, pirates liked the bury treasure.
***
“Really?” Diamond Tiara said, her cold gaze settling on Pipsqueak, “You honestly expect us to believe that you have a pirate crew living with you?”
“Not just any pirate crew Tiara!” The excited foal said, “The crew of The Shadow Mare, one of the most notorious crews in Equestrian history!”
Diamond Tiara sighed and shook her head, “This is why you don’t have any friends Pipsqueak... You keep playing pirate, and that’s the only thing you’ll play. Its gotten so lame, that I can’t even make fun of you for it anymore.” Tiara turned, motioning for Silver Spoon to follow her, “Come on Spoony, let’s get away from this dumb little liar.” The two fillies then laughed at the poor spotted foal before heading into the school house, leaving Pip a single ship sailing in a sea of foals.
Pipsqueak couldn’t help but tear up, he felt that everything Diamond had said was true. After Nightmare Night, all the other foals and fillies kept talking to Pip. They were excited to meet the new student who had spoken to Princess Luna, but after a while they all just seemed to pretend he wasn’t there. Only Diamond Tiara and the Cutie Mark Crusaders ever seemed to say anything to him, and after what had happened yesterday Pip doubted that even Apple Bloom would want to talk to him. It’s just not fair! Pipsqueak thought, Why does everypony treat me this way? Like I’m just... In the background...
“It’s not gonna happen today.” the Trottingham foal told himself as he ran away from the school house, and back down the lane to the town itself. Meanwhile, from the window, Diamond Tiara sat at her desk and watched it all. She knew Pip was going to get in trouble for this, even if he had never been absent before. Soon Miss Cheerilee entered the large room, greeting her students as happily as she always did before taking attendance.
“Apple Bloom?” the dark pink mare called.
“Here!” the farm filly replied.
“Scootallo?”
“I’m here.” Scootallo answered, a pencil in her mouth as she drew her latest picture of her hero, Rainbow Dash.
“Sweetie Belle?”
“Present!” Sweetie said, her voice cracking a bit.
“Pipsqueak?” Cheerilee continued, but there was no answer. “Pipsqueak? … Mr. Pipsqueak, you had better not be reading that pirate book again.” Quickly, Diamond Tiara raised her hoof, something she rarely did. In fact, it happened so little that Cheerilee paused for a moment just to register what had happened. “Y-yes Diamond, what do you need?”
“Um...” Tiara chewed her lip as she thought up any excuse that would make sense for Pip leaving class, “Oh, Pipsqueak said he was sick, so he went home. He wanted me and Silver Spoon to tell you before class, but we couldn’t find you. Right Spoony?”
The grey filly yawned, still half asleep since it was quite early. “Huh? Oh, yeah, sick... He had a cold right?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s it Silver. A cold.” Diamond gave her most convincing ‘I-swear-I’m-not-lying’ smile, hoping it would be enough for the teacher. Thankfully it was, and Cheerilee said she hopped Pip would get better soon. Tiara sighed, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hoof as her gaze fell to the window once more. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hard on Pipsqueak, the pink filly thought, Maybe I should... No Tiara, Daddy would ground you for a month if he found out you played hookie. Especially after last time, how was I supposed to know that you couldn’t actually pin a tail on a live donkey?! Oh well, I’ll get Silver to come with me and see him. Maybe I do need to apologize.
***
The rest of the day went off as it usually did: math seemed to bore everypony, history was dull, and the CMC’s did something that made Cheerilee pin a note to each of their saddle bags asking for a conference with their parents. None of it mattered to Diamond Tiara as she trotted along the lane, Silver Spoon following quickly behind.
“So,” Silver began to say, panting between every other word, “you’re actually going to apologize to Pipsqueak, right?”
“For the hundredth time Spoon, yes!” Diamond yelled back at her best friend, “How is that so hard to believe? … Don’t answer that!” The tiara clad filly added, just as Silver spoon opened her mouth to explain why it was hard for her to picture Diamond Tiara, queen of the drama queens, apologizing... Let alone knowing how to say ‘sorry’.
“Do you even know which house is Pipsqueaks?” the glasses wearing pony asked, “For all we know we just passed it.” Suddenly, Diamond and Silver Spoon stopped as they turned the corner, their mouths dropping to the ground like two ripe apples. Across the block from where the two little ponies stood was a tall, wooden ship with a skull and crossbones on the flag.
“Silver...” Diamond Tiara said.
“Y...Yes Diamond?” Her friend answered.
“I think we found Pip’s house.”