Pinkie’s age: 8 years old
5 years until Sonic Rainboom
“Inkemina, pull a bit more on your side. Blinkemina, make sure you tighten that knot properly and Pinkemina... where’s she gone?” asked the brown aged earth pony instructing his daughters on the basics of using a pulley system. It had been a long day on the Pie family rock farm resulting in the excavation of a few gemstones and the discovery of an underground cave system. Clyde Pie was an aged earth pony with a copper pelt and sports a black tie with a similarly coloured fedora. He had dark grey sideburns, his mane and tail colour was the same as his sideburns with a lighter shade down the middle. His cutie mark was of a pickaxe hitting a rock. He was instructing his youngest daughters and twin sisters: Inkemina and Blinkemina Pie on operating the various machines on the farm. “Pinkemina Diane Pie come over here this instant and help out!” he shouted.
“Alright, alright I’m coming keep your hat on” shouted a slightly high pitched voice that came from a very irritated pink filly from the farmhouse. One thing you should know about Inkemina, Blinkemina and Pinkemina, is that they all have the same manestyle; long, wavy and completely boring. The only differences would be that Pinkemina is older than her sisters and they are different colours to each other. Pinkemina, as her name suggests, is effectively pink all over: Pink mane, pink tail and pink pelt, she was all pink apart from her eyes which had blue irises. Blinkemina had a mane and tail colour of light grey, her pelt colour was a mix between light blue and light purple. She had an iris colour of yellow. Inkemina’s pelt colour was a darker shade of grey than Blinkemina’s mane and tail. Inkemina’s mane and tail was an even darker shade of grey and she had purple irises. “Okay I’m here what do you want?” asked Pinkemina still irritated from being disrupted from her very riveting game of ‘count the rocks’.
“I thought you wanted to know how to use the mine once your sisters were old enough to move rocks?” Clyde reminded her sternly.
“Fine I do want to learn, but how’s working the pulley gonna help us to mine” she said. ‘Not like I have any choice’ was what she was thinking as Clyde told her what to do.
“All in due time my dear Pinkemina, now get over there, you’re going to manoeuvre the rocks, which Inkemina is lifting, onto that platform there,” he said as he pointed to the wooden board next to the pulley. “Blinkemina make sure you tie that knot properly, we don’t want the rock to slip and fall. Once you have done that, help Pinkemina in moving the rock to the platform” he told them.
“Yes dad,” they said in unison. Just like the Cutie Mark Crusaders who will appear in 13 years’ time, (not that they know that) the Pie sisters have an uncanny ability to say things at the same time. After 10 minutes of pulling and manoeuvring, they managed to get the rock out of the hole and on to the wooden platform. The rock itself was about as big as Clyde and as wide as the three sisters if they were to stand side by side.
“Alright then, Sue! Sue! Do you have my chisel and hammer?” he shouted in the direction of the farmhouse.
“I think you put them next to the pulley. If it’s not there then it’s probably somewhere here” called an aged feminine voice from the farmhouse. “Oh wait, here it is” she said and proceeded to head out to where Clyde was. Sue Pie’s pelt colour was the same as Blinkemina’s mane colour, her mane and tail colour were a dark turquoise; the same as the rocks on her cutie mark, and her mane was done up in a bun. She wore gold-rimmed glasses which rested on her muzzle and wore a gold necklace with a bright green gem hidden behind her black collar. She carried the chisel and hammer in one of her saddlebags and after getting a quick peck on the cheek from Clyde, and groans of disgust from the fillies, dropped the tools on the ground.
“Why do we need that?” asked Inkemina. Clyde didn’t say anything and just went to the rock that they had just pulled up. He placed the chisel on the exact centre of the rock and with the hammer, handed it to Sue who walked up to the rock and smashed the chisel down sending it further into the rock. They did the same thing three more times before the rock began to split down the middle and cracked open to reveal its treasures to the three sisters. What they saw left their jaws hanging wide open. Inside the rock was the biggest assortment of gems that they ever saw.
***
“GEMS!?” both Spike and Rarity called out to ask about the gemstones and to give Spike a break from writing.
“Yepparoony! There was around 50 gems. There were fire rubies, sapphires, some diamonds and I think there was some quartz in there as well” Pinkie explained leaving Spike drooling and Rarity with stars in her eyes.
“Well, can we get back to the story please?” asked Twilight. “Spike, stop drooling and get back to writing.”
“Huh-wha? Oh sorry Twilight, I just can’t stop thinking about those gems” Spike said holding the quill and getting ready to write again.
Pinkie got back to where she left off. “Well we just found a large assortment of gems.”
***
“Wow! That’s a lot of gemstones.” Inkemina said, awestruck at the sight before her.
Clyde let out a soft chuckle before he spoke. “It sure is. Now come on, it’s getting late and we should hide these gems somewhere safe.” Clyde walked back to the farmhouse and retrieved a large cart just big enough to carry all the gems plus two passengers. Sue already went ahead to start cooking dinner and prep the storage area. “Alright help me load up the gems, and then Pinkemina and I will hook up while you two can sit on the cart and make sure no gems fall off. Everypony know what they’re doing?”
“Yes dad” they replied in unison again.
They loaded all fifty gemstones up on to the cart and hooked themselves up. Before they set off however, Clyde froze and looked behind him.
“Dad, what are you looking at?” asked Pinkemina who was also looking around her.
“Nothing, I just thought I heard some scratching. Probably just a few rats” he said before they set off back towards the farmhouse. Unknown to all four of them a pair of slitted eyes were watching them from the hole where they dug up the rock from. Watching... and planning before it sunk back down into the darkness below.
***
The next ten days carried on like that; the girls would go out and get taught many of the mining techniques Clyde used and trying them out themselves. Clyde suddenly heard more scratching, like the scuttling of paws from a mouse trying to scamper back into its hiding place, but these paws sounded much bigger and a lot closer too. Inkemina, Pinkemina and Blinkemina were just about to cut a rock in half when four creatures, wearing rags and looking similarly like dogs jumped out from one of the holes and started to run towards the three fillies.
“Agh!” the three fillies were screaming at the top of their lungs which alerted Clyde about the trespassers and quickly motioned the girls to get behind him.
“Who or what are you and why are you here!?” he questioned defiantly.
The smallest of the group of dogs raised his right appendage up to signal to the others that he wishes to speak and be left alone. The other dogs picked up the rock beside them and scampered back into the hole. The leader spoke in a gruff voice which sounded a bit like he was gargling gravel. “I am Growler, leader of this group of Diamond Dogs and we only wish for you to return what you have stolen from us!” he said as he pumped his right hand, now curled into a ball high in the air and lightning appeared from nowhere illuminating the gloomy sky.
***
“Whoa hold on thar suga’cube. Are ya’ll telling us that you faced Diamond Dogs, and didn’t bother to tell us on how to beat ‘em when Rarity got taken?” Applejack asked.
“Well I was going to tell you, but we were busy digging the holes and when we got there Rarity was fine so I didn’t think we needed information.” Pinkie explained.
“You could have at least told us darling. Also was it the same ruffians that took me?” Rarity asked.
“Girls, can we get back to the story?” whined Rainbow Dash.
“Hmm, where was I? Oh yeah, well after the leader said that my dad got all protective” Pinkie started.
***
“We never stole anything from you.” Clyde said.
“Yes you did, the rocks with gems that you keep digging up are in Diamond Dog territory” Growler explained.
“Well I’m truly sorry for stealing from you but we didn’t know you were here at the time” Clyde said. “Perhaps we can come to a compromise” he reasoned.
“Hmm, I’m listening, what do you have in mind?” Growler asked as he folded his arms across his chest.
“Well how about we give you half of the gems that we find in, exchange you supply us with the rocks?” Clyde said who forgot he still had his daughters behind him.
“Hmm” Growler was deep in thought over this proposition. “Okay then, you can crack the rocks that we can’t break and then we get half of the gems in the rock” he spat on his right paw and held it out. “Deal?” he said.
Clyde did the same and then he and Growler shook on it. “Deal!” after that, Growler turned and shouted in the direction of the hole.
“Sentinel, Rumbler, Banshee, Bring that rock back here!”
Out from the hole popped up three Dogs and the rock which Clyde recognised as the same three who appeared with Growler. Clyde instantly picked up on what they wanted, took his hammer and chisel and walked over to the rock which the Dogs set down in front of him. Inkemina, Blinkemina and Pinkemina were curious and walked over next to their dad. Clyde positioned the chisel on the middle of the rock and had Pinkemina whack it with the hammer. It took a lot longer since she wasn’t as strong as Sue who had some experience in whacking rocks, but eventually the rock broke and out came more gemstones around the same amount as the rock found ten days ago. The Diamond Dogs pinked up half of the rock and dived back into the hole with their loot.
“That, girls, is how you deal with trespassers: see if they want something and if you can help them, then do. If they want something from you then see if you can strike a compromise with them” Clyde explained as if he has dealt with this before.
“What’s a compromise?” Pinkemina asked.
“It’s like giving them a deal where both groups will benefit from the deal” ‘Well, that and I can’t really fight them since this isn’t rated teen’ he thought. “Now come on, I think your mother is cooking dinner now” Clyde said as he looked at the setting sun over the horizon. As they walked back the three fillies fell into a conversation.
“Well that was eventful” Pinkemina stated.
“Do you think we’re gonna do that again?” asked Blinkemina.
“Well mum says that we might be going to Manehattan soon to exchange valuable goods” replied Inkemina.
“Hopefully it will be as eventful as today was” said Pinkemina.
“Girls! Hurry up and get over here!” ordered Clyde from the doorway. This disrupted the girl’s train of thought and they sped back to the farmhouse. After dinner, they went upstairs and went to sleep in their bedrooms. Once the dishes were cleared up; Clyde and Sue went upstairs and went to sleep. None of them were aware of what would await them at Manehattan.
***
“Wow!” Rarity exclaimed awestruck at the story that was just told. “Does that mean that you know the names of all the gems in Equestria?” she asked.
“Yeppers!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“What are you gonna talk about now? How about what happened in Manehattan?” Twilight asked, curious as she is.
Pinkie’s mane started to deflate at this question and she developed a frown instead of her trademark smile. ‘I don’t want to remember that’ [color] a part of her mind thought.
‘But maybe I can trust them with this secret and I really need to get this off my chest’ the other part of her mind reasoned.
‘Hmmm Nah. Find another memory’ the first part retorted.
“Girls” she started. “How about I tell you the time Granny Pie visited the farm!” she instantly perked up at the memory.
“Eh sure why not” Rainbow mumbled; wishing that the story will get more exciting.
“Okay then, Spike get ready” Twilight motioned for her number one assistant to continue writing while the others nodded in agreement.
Pinkie thought for a moment before finally speaking. “Okay, lemme start two days before she came to the farm... ”