Berry Punch yawned as she walked downstairs, and entered her kitchen. Today was her day off, but she had forgotten to deactivate her alarm clock last night, so she still ended up waking up early. And, since she didn’t think she would be getting back to sleep any time soon, she decided to just go downstairs and have some breakfast.
“Morning, mum. You’re up early today.”
Berry Punch looked at her daughter with almost fully-shut eyes. “Mornin’,” she mumbled, her voice raspy from her dry throat. She picked up an empty glass from a nearby cupboard, and walked over to the sink. “You’re up early, too. You’ve even finished your breakfast. What’s up?”
Berry Pinch picked up her empty bowl and headed over to the dishwasher behind her. “I couldn’t sleep well last night.”
“Thinking about Rumble?” Berry Punch teased, before downing a glass of water in one go.
“T-That’s not it! … Well, it is, but not in that sense!”
“What sense?” Berry Punch asked in an innocent tone. “I just asked if you were thinking about him. I never said in what way.”
Berry Pinch let out an annoyed groan. “… Are you sure we can trust him?”
“Are you saying that you don’t?”
Berry Pinch shook her head. “I just… don’t want to have to leave my friends…”
Berry Punch didn’t respond right away. Instead, she put down her empty glass, and walked over to her daughter, pulling her into a light, tender hug. “You won’t have to. You can trust me on that, Pinchy.”
“Mommy…” Berry Pinch eased into the hug, before being startled by the sound of the doorbell. “W-What?”
“Hm? I wonder who that could be?” Berry Punch looked over to the clock. She was expecting company, but at a later time. “… Pinchy dear, shouldn’t you be leaving soon?”
Berry Pinch looked over at the same clock, and gasped. “Oh, no. You’re right!” The filly grabbed her bag from the kitchen table, and rushed over to the door. “See ya!” she shouted as she swung the door open and rushed out quickly, taking only a second to register the pink mare on the other side, before completely forgetting about her as she rushed to school.
Berry Punch walked over to the door to see who her guest was, but stopped and widened her eyes at what she saw. “Y-You’re-”
“It’s been so long, Berry dear!” The pink-coated, yellow-maned Earth Pony mare ran into the house, and threw her forelegs around the stunned Berry Punch. “That must have been my granddaughter I just saw leave the house? And how’s my useless son-in-law doing? Did ya finally ditch him and find yourself a real man?”
Berry Punch’s face turned red as she grew angry, and she shoved the other mare off of herself. “Listen, Crunch Berry, I didn’t dump my husband! He died, a few years ago!”
“Oh, my,” Crunch Berry said, a sad look on her face. “All this time, and little… what’s her name?”
“Berry Pinch.”
“Cute. Anywho, all this time, and little Pinchy hasn’t had anyone to call her father? Oh, that just simply won’t do!”
“She doesn’t need a father. I certainly didn’t need one.”
“Oh, please,” Crunch Berry scoffed. “If you had a father, you wouldn’t have become such a hopeless alcoholic dropout. And you certainly wouldn’t have married that loser of a changeling you called your husband.”
Berry Punch’s glare did not soften one bit. “Crunch, what are you doing here? And how did you find us, for that matter?”
Crunch Berry laughed. “Oh, please, Berry dear. Call me ‘mother’, or even just ‘mum’.” Berry Punch spat on the floor. “As for why I’m here, why, it’s to see my darling little girl, and her daughter, who I haven’t seen since the day she was born!”
“Anyone else would’ve taken the hint that they’re not welcome.”
“Oh, Berry! You say the darndest things sometimes! And as for how I found you… well, it’s a mother’s job to be able to find her lost child! I’ve known your whereabouts ever since the day that you left.”
Berry Punch’s face twisted in fear. “Relax,” Crunch Berry said. “I haven’t told a single soul about where you live. Your secret is safe with me, my daughter.”
Berry Punch sighed, and rubbed a forehoof against her head. She felt like she needed a drink, more so than usual. “And? When do you plan on leaving?”
“Hmmm… After I see that my granddaughter is living a happy life, here in…”
“Ponyville.”
“Right, right! Here in Ponyville!”
“Right, well, as you just saw moments earlier, she’s quite happy! So, if you could just leave now-”
Crunch Berry laughed and shook her head. “Oh, no, Berry dear. All I’ve seen so far is that little Pinchy is rather energetic, and that she is indeed attending school, like a child her age should do.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you should just leave anyway! Before your very presence turns her into a ‘hopeless alcoholic dropout’.”
Crunch Berry put a hoof to her chin, and then shook her head again. “Nah! I think I’m just going to go and check things out for myself!” Crunch Berry’s sides glowed green, and soon, a pair of pink wings shot out of her side. “My bags are outside. Be a dear and bring those in for me, will you? Thanks ever so much.”
Before Berry Punch could respond, the pink mare was already on her way, soaring into the skies without a care in the world. Berry Punch contemplated going after her, but knew she would stand no chance. She instead just looked over at the mountain of bags that her mother had brought along, and sighed. “She wants me to carry her stuff in? Fat chance.”
Berry Punch looked around to make sure that nopony was watching, and then transformed into a green Unicorn stallion, and began to lift all of the suitcases with her magic, floating them over a small mud hole nearby.
Rumble stirred in his bed, images of changelings surrounding him and tying him up as she sang their creepy chants running through his brain. “No… No, stop… I-I won’t taste good, really. I…” The sound of his alarm clock awoke the Pegasus from his not-so-peaceful sleep. He climbed out of his bed, panting and covered in sweat, and shut off his clock.
“What’s that smell?” Rumble asked himself as she he left his room. “… Pancakes? Isn’t today supposed to be Thunderlane’s day off? … THUNDERLANE!”
Suddenly remembering the events of yesterday, Rumble hurried downstairs and entered the kitchen. “Thunderlane, are you okay?!”
“Of course I am,” Thunderlane said as he turned to face his little brother, a big smile on his face. “Take a seat, little bro. Breakfast is almost ready.”
“I-It is?” Rumble asked as he nervously approached his brother. “But… isn’t today your day off?”
“It’s my way of apologising for the way I’ve been acting recently.” Thunderlane placed a place of pancakes onto the kitchen table, and pulled the chair back for his little brother. “I know it’s difficult to adjust to a new town. I should have been more sensitive to your feelings. I’m sorry, Rumble.”
Rumble was caught completely off guard by this apology, and shook his head as he sat down. “N-No. It was me who’s been acting out of hoof recently. I know the move was unavoidable. I was just being selfish.”
Thunderlane surprised Rumble even further, by kneeling down and pulling the young colt into a strong hug. “Even so, that’s no excuse for the way I’ve been treating you lately! I love you, little bro, and I shouldn’t have been so hard on you.”
Rumble wasn’t quite sure how to react, other than squirming and trying to get free. ‘W-What the? Is this what Miss Berry Punch was talking about before? Berry Pinch injected some ‘love’ into him, and now he’s acting all mushy and stuff?’ A thought crossed his mind, and he frowned. ‘Oh, no. Blossomforth is coming over today… I’d better find somewhere to hang out after school for a while.’
“Anyway,” Thunderlane said as he released his brother, “You’d better eat up, before your pancakes get cold. And after your finished, I’ll walk you to school.”
Rumble quickly shook his head. “T-That’s fine! Really! I can walk there myself!” He couldn’t let the other foals see his brother like this. That would just be way too embarrassing.
Thunderlane frowned. “Are you sure? It’s important for brothers to bond, you know.” Rumble nodded his head vigorously. “Well, if you really insist… Then, how about if I help you with your homework later?”
Rumble thought about this. “Well, I don’t have any that needs doing right now, but if I get some today, then, sure.” Thunderlane seemed a little too excited about the idea. “But, what about Blossomforth?”
Thunderlane waved his hoof dismissively. “I can send her home early. Family is more important than friends, after all.”
Rumble’s eyes widened in disbelief. Thunderlane never put anypony before Blossomforth! Wasn’t his love supposed to have grown? Or, was it only towards a specific individual? ‘Could the love her gained have been directed towards whoever he hated at the time Berry Pinch fed off of him? In that case, that means that the one he hated was…’ Rumble gulped, and turned away from his brother, lifting the fork that was on the table and starting to dig into the pancakes.
‘I-I knew he was mad, but to think that he hated me…’ Rumble suddenly lost his appetite halfway through his first pancake, but he didn’t want to upset his brother, who had gone through the trouble of preparing this breakfast for him. And so, he forced himself to eat as much as he could, until the clock saved him. “Thunderlane, I should really be going to school now. You can have the rest of these, if you want.”
“You sure?” Thunderlane asked.
Rumble nodded. “I’m sure. And, I might be coming back late tonight, just so you know.”
“Oh. I see…” Rumble left the house without another word, and Thunderlane let out a deep sigh. “Well, I guess I’ll finish these off, and then go shopping… I wonder what happened yesterday that stopped me?”
At lunchtime, Rumble decided to sit alone in the cafeteria as he ate, since he still hadn’t really become friends with anypony yet. It’s not that he didn’t like the ponies at his new school, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about his old friends back in Cloudsdale.
Berry Pinch entered the cafeteria with Archer, and noticed Rumble sitting all on his own. Archer asked Berry Pinch to find some seats for them, whilst she grabbed some food from the lunch line. Berry Pinch nodded, and walked over to where Rumble was sitting. “Mind if I sit here?” she asked, receiving only a simple nod in return.
“… I’ve been keeping your secret,” he said, trying to break the awkward silence in the air.
“Oh. Uh… thank you.”
More awkward silence followed, and Berry Pinch began nervously eating her lunch with slow bites. “Thunderlane’s been acting weird.”
“Your brother?” Berry Pinch asked, receiving confirmation from Rumble. “S-Sorry… I really didn’t mean any harm by it.”
“It’s fine… I think…”
“Ooh, what’s this?” Archer asked as she took the seat next to Berry Pinch. “You two are getting along quite well, huh?”
Both of the foals’ faces turned red. “W-We were just talking!” Berry Pinch shouted.
“Oh? What about?”
Berry Pinch flinched. “Er, it was about… um…”
Archer grinned wryly at the flustered filly. “Something you can’t speak to me about?”
“She was just answering some questions I had about the school,” Rumble said, receiving a thankful smile from Berry Pinch.
“Don’t believe you,” Archer responded. “C’mon, you can level with me. I won’t tell anypony, honest.”
“I said, it’s not like that,” Berry Pinch insisted. “We’re just friends, that’s all!”
“And when did that happen?” Archer asked. “‘Cause last I saw, you two weren’t exactly on speaking terms, for whatever reason.”
“W-Well, that’s because…”
“We’re just friends,” Rumble said, seeing that Berry Pinch was starting to get really panicked. “So just drop it, okay?”
“Alright, alright,” Archer said, holding her hooves up in submission. “Sheesh, ya don’t have ta get so defensive about it. I was only teasin’ ya.”
“Yeah, well, she clearly didn’t like it.”
“She’ll be fine!” Archer said, wrapping a foreleg around Berry Pinch. “Pinch and I, we’ve been friends for years now! It’ll take more than a little teasing to break this filly, trust me.”
Outside the cafeteria window, a pink Pegasus mare with a yellow mane grinned as she listened in on the conversation between the three foals. ‘Seems like my granddaughter has some good friends… But, I’m curious about this colt, in particular. It seems that little Pinchy has taken… quite a shine to him.’