Welcome to Ponyville

by englishwitch


Chapter 1

Welcome to Ponyville
Fanfic by Englishwitch

Chapter 1

GOODBYE PINKIE!

The banner was brightly coloured, matching the multitude of streamers, balloons and confetti, all standing out brightly against the dull landscape of the rock farm.

Even if she said so herself, this was the bestist, most fantabulously amazing party Pinkie had ever put on; her own farewell party. It was certainly the biggest, so surely that made it the best.

As well as mom, dad and the sisters there was, what seemed like, the entire population of Hollow Shades; the town the family rock farm sat just outside of, on the edge of the Foal Mountains.

Fourteen years old, the energetic teenage Pinkie bounced around the dance area, dodging between all her friends. She was friends with everypony in Hollow Shades, she’d thrown parties for all of them, many times. And not just for birthdays either, there didn’t have to be a reason for a party; it was a party, that was reason enough.

“Hi Crescent Moon.” She waved to the brown stallion. He smiled and waved back. Just last week she had thrown him a Got Well party. When he had a cold she’d thrown him a Get Well party and once he’d gotten over the virus of course that was a reason to celebrate.

“Hi Shimmy Shake,” she bounced past a pale tan mare, “ooh, I saw your roses this morning, they were looking super. We’ll have to have-” she stopped herself talking and bouncing at the same time. She was going to say we’ll have to have a party for that! But of course, she was leaving today, there would be no more Pinkie Pie Parties in Hollow Shades.

Shimmy seemed to know just what Pinkie had meant to say, she laughed and gave the filly a gentle hug. “We will Pinkie. When you find a place to live we’ll send you pictures too.”

Pinkie’s smile widened to almost impossible proportions. “Aww, thanks so much.” She hugged Shimmy tightly.

For the last ten years, ever since she’d earned her cutie mark, Pinkie had been the number one party pony in Hollow Shades. She’d turned the whole town from a dark, gloomy, sad and lonely place into a lively, funny, welcoming, exciting and all around super-dooper wonderiffic, awesome place. It was still dark; it didn’t have the name Shades for nothing, but it wasn’t gloomy anymore. She’d learned many different things about throwing parties and the ponies of Hollow Shades had learned from her. They even took to throwing their own parties sometimes, with Pinkie to consult of course.

That was why she’d made the difficult decision to leave; she’d brought joy and laughter to Hollow Shades and they knew how to be happy and throw parties without her. She wasn’t needed at home anymore —she hardly ever worked the rock farm— so now she wanted to go somewhere new, somewhere ponies didn’t know how to smile, and bring them the joy of parties.

“Pinkie!” a familiar mare’s voice called out.

Pinkie broke out of her hug with Shimmy and zoomed as a pink blur into the arms of a young mare with a grey coat, black mane, and a cutie mark of a treble clef. “INKIE!” she hugged her elder sister so tightly her eyes bulged. Inky tapped Pinkie on the shoulder rapidly. “I’m SO happy you could make it.” the pink filly was oblivious to the fact Inkie’s face was turning purple.

“Pinkie....air!” she gasped.

Pinkie let her go and stepped back, smiling sheepishly. “Ooops, sorry. I’m just so happy to see you again Inkie.” She vibrated on the spot, wanting to hug her again.

Inkie smiled. “You’re the only one who still calls me that,” she laughed. “you know I go by Octavia now.”

Pinkie rolled her eyes and giggled. “Yeah, I know. You needed some fancy name to fit in with the snooty Canterlot orchestra ponies because nopony would take you seriously when you were Inkie from the Rock Farm.” she shook her head. “You’ll always be big sister Inkie to me.”

Octavia/Inky rolled her own eyes and held out her hooves. Pinkie squeed and jumped into her sisters arms for another hug. “It’s good to see you again.” Inkie said softly to Pinkie. “Where’s mother, father and Blinkie?”

“Mom and Dad are over there.” Pinkie pointed across the yard to where their parents were dancing to the lively music. “I...don’t know where Blinkie is.” Pinkie’s smile faltered. She avoided her sister’s gaze, Inkie knew she wasn’t telling the truth. Not lying, Pinkie didn’t lie, but she saying the entire truth. Maybe she didn’t know for sure where Blinkie was, but she suspected. There was only one place Blinkie went when she wanted to be alone.

“Come on, let’s go see her.” Inkie smiled warmly and Pinkie found herself following without protest.

They walked away from the party toward the north field, a few hundred yards away from the house. There was a large work shed there, about the size of a small barn, plain brown and made of untreated wood. The door of the shed was ajar and a light glowed within.

Blinkie was sitting on a small cushion, staring up at a large piece of grey limestone. On a low table to her side was a collection of several different sized mallets, and a large array of chisels, some straight, others rounded and more than a few with little teeth. Pinkie didn’t know what they were all for but Blinkie knew them well enough.

Blinkie was plain looking mare, a grey coat, light grey mane and tail, very large brown eyes and a cutie mark of a hammer hitting a large grey rock, which had a diamond in the middle.

Inkie cleared her throat. “Sister.”

Blinkie turned and stared at them, she always stared. Her large eyes were always wide, as though the whole world was a constant surprise to her. She smiled at Inkie, but the smile faltered slightly at Pinkie. She trotted over to them and they walked over to her, meeting in the middle. She smiled again at Inkie and her ears twitched.

Inkie nodded her head and hugged her youngest sister. “It’s good to see you too.”

When they pulled out of the hug Blinkie glanced down, then back up at her sister, then bit her lip on the left side.

“Yes, I got all your letters. Thank you for them, they really helped when I felt homesick.”

Blinkie didn’t talk. Whether it was a case of couldn’t talk or just wouldn’t talk Pinkie didn’t know. She’d never bothered to ask. She had grown up with the mute sister and hadn’t known her be any other way. If she had lost her voice suddenly one day that might have been different but as far as Pinkie was concerned it was just how her sister was. It was just Blinkie being Blinkie.

Blinkie had never let her silence hold her back though, she had ways of expressing herself through hoof signals, facial expressions and body language. Every pony in Hollow Shades knew most of the signs and signals, meaning she was perfectly capable of holding conversations.

Pinkie wondered if her silence was the reason for her sister’s special talent. Unable to express herself in a usual way she expressed herself through art; specifically sculpture. With just a hammer and a chisel Blinkie could create truly wonderful pieces out of even the dullest and roughest rocks. The work shed was full of finished, half finished and just started projects, along with a large collection of rocks waiting to be worked upon. Everypony in Hollow Shades owned at least on Blinkie Pie work. Even though she was only 13 the filly was rapidly gaining a reputation as quite an artist.

Blinkie’s ears twitched and her back left leg scratched at the dirt. Inkie and Pinkie looked surprised.
“No, no, no.” Inkie reassured her. “of course I missed you. I’ve just been busy at school.”

Seventeen years old, Inkie, or Octavia as she was known in Canterlot, was attending the Canterlot Academy of Music and Dance — her talent lying on the musical side of things— she had earned her place through the school’s scholarship program. Practise, Practise, Practise was literally the school’s motto and that’s what Inkie did, every day she practised her musical skills to try and stand out and not just be another piece of noise in the orchestra.

Blinkie’s ears twitched and her right back leg scratched the dirt, followed by her biting her lip on the right side. Pinkie felt the stings of tears trying to rise in her eyes. “Of course I’m gonna miss you.” she put a reassuring hoof on her sisters shoulder. “I’m gonna miss everypony, but I’m really gonna miss you, mom and dad.”

Blink, blink, look down to the left and back up.

Pinkie nodded, “The farm is always gonna be my home, just like you’re always gonna be my sister. Nothing’s ever gonna change that.”

Look left, right ear twitch three times.

“Of course I’m gonna come visit silly filly.” Pinkie giggled and hugged her sister. “And I’ll write every day.”

Blinkie looked down at the floor. Left ear twitch, right ear twitch, tail shake, lift left hoof, hold three seconds, put down again, right eye wink.

Inkie put a hoof to her mouth to hide the quiet sob in her throat. There was no hiding the tears in her eyes though. “Oh, Blinkie. No.”

Pinkie nodded to agree with Inkie. “We’re not abandoning you. We’d never abandon you. We’ll always be there if you need us.” she put on a brave smile. “one little letter and we’ll be there before you can say, ear twitch, tail shake, tap left hoof three times.”

Blinkie giggled, the first genuine smile Pinkie had seen from her today.

Inkie placed her hoof on Blinkie’s shoulder. “Remember what Granny Pie used to say? Life is a long journey, it can be a dangerous business, just going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your hooves, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to. Our journey here is over, and we’ve gotta take the next step and see where it takes us. You’ll take that step too, one day.”

Blinkie looked doubtful. Pinkie nuzzled her cheek affectionately. “and until then it’s your job to make sure mom, dad and all the ponies in Hollow Shades are always smiling. Okay?”

Blinkie smiled and nodded her head.

“Great.” Pinkie bounced on the spot. “Now c’mon, you’re missing a great party.”

...***...

Just like air density, there were currents of natural magical energy that flowed through the air, with constantly changing concentrations and patterns. Unlike the weather, currents of magic were almost uncontrollable. They could be predicted and even used to a ponies advantage, if the pony knew how.

Rock farms concentrated on the growth of metals and minerals in ore. Some farms mined their own ore, others —like Pinkie’s family— struck a deal with the local mine. The ore was broken up and stacked in piles around the farm. This maximised their exposure to the magical currents. The fields were rotated regularly as well to match the currents.

The raw magical energy caused the metals and gems within the ore to expand, maximising the amount of metal or mineral that could be extracted but also minimising the impact of mining on the environment because less ore was mined from the ground.

After the ore reached its maximum potential; meaning its metal or gem had become as big as it could possibly get, the rocks were harvested and sold to specialists who would process it, extracting the metal or the minerals and selling the leftover rock as gravel or other building materials. Pinkie’s parents; Clyde and Sue, would receive a commission on the profits and the whole thing would begin again with more rocks.

Sure, gems could be found in most mountainous places in Equestria, Clyde Dale called them Wild Gems, but a pony would need a real special talent to know where to look for them, otherwise they would just be digging random holes all over the place in the hope they ran into a seam of good gems. There was also no guarantee that the gems that pony found would be of a good quality. Just left to grow in the randomness of the magical currents gems could pick up lots of impurities and become as worthless and as brittle as coloured glass. In all his days as a rock farmer Clyde Dale had never heard of any pony who had the talent to locate high quality wild gems. It was far easier and cheaper to buy them from rock farmers.

Rock farming was all Clyde Dale knew, it was his calling in life. From a young age he’d learned how to predict the magical cycles, to feel them with the often ignored magic earth ponies possessed. He was a natural born rock farmer. His father had been a rock farmer, his mother hadn’t. Cherry Pie had been the best cook in all of Hollow Shades though. He had hoped his children would follow in his hoofsteps and become rock farmers too but from the day Pinkie got her cutie mark; the first of his three daughters to do so, he knew it was not meant to be. Inspired by their sister Inkie and Blinkie had begun trying all kinds of new and fun things to see if their special talent lay in areas other than rocks.

Inkie had become a musical prodigy, Pinkie had been....well, Pinkie and Blinkie was showing great artistic talent. He was proud his daughters had found things that made them so happy. He was also proud of Pinkie, who spent all her time selflessly making others happy. He wouldn’t trade any one of them, not for a whole house full of rock farming ponies.

He told her so as he hugged her tightly on the train platform. Pinkie hugged him back and sobbed her thanks. The tears of joy hadn’t stopped all the way to the Hollow Shades train station.
“I’m gonna miss you daddy.”

She broke the hug with one parent and fell into a hug with the other. “I’m gonna miss you too mom.”

Her mother held Pinkie tightly, patting her back. “I’ll miss you too Pinkie. Write to us soon, okay?”

Pinkie nodded as she pulled out of the embrace. “I will. As soon as I arrive, wherever I’m going.”

Blinkie smiled, then giggled lightly. Tap right hoof three times, left ear twitch twice, blink three times, cock head to the right.

Pinkie giggled back. “Nope. I just asked the guard to get me a ticket to anywhere. He’ll tell me when to get off the train.” She hugged her sister. “I’m gonna miss you most of all, and don’t worry, I’ll be writing and visiting before you know it. Maybe I’ll even do some writing while I’m visiting,” she giggled at the image in her mind. “Dear Blinkie, thank you so much for breakfast this morning, it was lovely. Love, Pinkie.”

The sisters shared a laugh that was only interrupted when the guard blew his whistle.

“Oh.” Pinkie sighed. “I gotta go.” She grabbed her saddlebags and disappeared onto the train. She reappeared a second later, leaning out of a window of a carriage. She waved her hoof manically to her family as the train started to pull away. “Bye mom, bye dad, by sisters.”

She continued leaning out of the window and waving until the train rounded a corner and her family fell out of sight.

...***...

“Ponyville. This stop is Ponyville.” the guard tapped Pinkie on the shoulder. “Miss Pie, this is your stop.”

Pinkie stared out of the window as the town came into view. It was so bright and beautiful in the late afternoon sun, not like Hollow Shades at all, which always sat in the shadow of the surrounding forest. It looked beautiful, like something from a painting. There were flowers everywhere, picturesque cottages and homes. There was even signs of a thriving and exciting marketplace.
“It’s perfect.” she beamed.

She bounced off the train, into the town that could, potentially, become her new home. She looked around, taking in all the details. Almost every house had window boxes full of flowers, the air was fragrant with the perfume.

Smiling broadly she made her way to the bustling marketplace. Even more ponies, were wandering by the many stalls. Stalls selling so many delicious looking treats, flowers and goods. Pinkie looked at the ponies more than the market stalls, they looked so interesting, she was looking forward to getting to know them.

She suddenly stopped bouncing and continued to look around at the faces of the ponies around her. They were going about their business, they were being pleasant and polite, were chatting warmly, exchanging small talk. All in all they were being perfectly normal ponies of a small community. But...none of them were smiling.

Everypony in Hollow Shades smiled. If somepony wasn’t smiling one of their friends would do their best to cheer them up and make them smile. If all else failed Pinkie threw a party, that was guaranteed to put a grin on their face.

Pinkie continued looking around, walking slowly this time instead of bouncing. She kept her enthusiastic smile on her face. Smiles were contagious and this place needed an epidemic. She glanced at a group of fillies and colts playing hoofball, okay, they were smiling. So were the parents watching them. So ponies did smile in Ponyville, they just didn’t do it all the time.

Pinkie put a determined look on her smiling face, “Well, I need to fix that.”

“Y’all talkin’ to me sugar-cube?”

Pinkie looked around to the source of the voice. A smiling orange coated earth pony mare, wearing a stetson hat, was standing by a stall selling apples and apple treats, from fritters to tiny cupcakes with green icing. The mare looked a couple of years older than she was, eighteen or nineteen maybe twenty at the very most.

Pinkie giggled. This was the first pony she’d seen with, what looked like, a permanent smile on her face. “No, sorry. I’m new in town and -” she was cut off when the strong earth pony grabbed her hoof and started shaking it so vigorously Pinkie’s whole body bounced several inches off the ground.

“Well howdy-doo, a pleasure makin’ yer acquaintance. Name’s Applejack, you’ll find we ponies in Ponyville jus’ love makin’ new friends.”

Pinkie was bouncing so violently she was moving slowly away from Applejack, the farm pony didn’t notice until Pinkie’s hoof finally slid out of her own. “thhhhaaaaaattttt’ssss ggggrrrreeeessssattttt.” Pinkie with a grin. “hheeeyyy... ttthhhiiiisss mmmaaakkkkeeesss mmyyy vvvooiiccce sssoouundd fffuny...” she finally stopped shaking, almost six feet away from Applejack. She returned to the staring ponies side with a single jump. “I’m Pinkie Pie.” She almost held out her hoof to shake again, but thought better of it.

Applejack stared for a few more seconds before snapping back to reality. This Pinkie was an odd little pony. “Nice to meetcha Pinkie.” She tipped her stetson quickly. “So, y’all thinkin’ of movin’ to Ponyville? Or is this just a flyin’ visit?”

Pinkie giggled. “I can’t fly.” she turned to show her side to Applejack. “See, I’m an earth pony. No wings.” She giggled a little more. “You’re silly Applejack. Why would you think I could fly? OOH! But that would be so cool, if I were a pegasus pony I could hide inside clouds and sneak up on ponies and be all, like, SURPRISE and they’dhavenoideaIwasthereandsothey’dbeall-”

“WHOA!” Applejack backed away as Pinkie’s excited rant reached high speed. “okay,” she muttered to herself. “Ah ain’t sellin you no sweet treats, sounds like y’all had enough sugar already.”

Pinkie continued to smile. “I didn’t have that much sugar today, well, no more than usual anyway. It was my big Goodbye party at home and we had lots and lots of yummy things, but I was spending time with my sisters so I didn’t get chance to eat too much, only a slice of cake and three cupcakes, and two candy-canes, and a slice of apple pie, and some cheesecake, and lots of chocolate. But really that wasn’t all that much. This one time, at Mr, Black Stone’s birthday party I ate an entire three tier chocolate, cherry, fudge cake all to myself.” she licked her lips. “hmmmm, my tummy sure was all achy afterwards but it had been SO worth it. All that creamy fudge and the rich chocolate, complimented by the tartness of the cherries just called out to me. Pinkie...try me Pinkie...I’m all for you Pinkie.

Applejack’s stomach growled loudly. She barely noticed, she was too busy trying not to drool on herself. The way Pinkie had described the cake had not only woken up her appetite like an angry dragon, it had made the fantastic apple treats she was selling seem dull and bland by comparison. For the first time in her life AJ didn’t feel like a couple of apple fritters were going to be enough, she needed something really sweet.

AJ grabbed a sign from a small shelf hidden under the cart and placed it among the centre of her stock for all to see.

BACK IN 5 MINUTES

“You feel like an afternoon snack sugar-cube?” she looked to Pinkie, who nodded enthusiastically. Applejack didn’t fully understand why she’d just invited the disturbingly hyper pony to join her. There was just something about this Pinkie Pie that a pony couldn’t help but like.

Pinkie gave the cart a long glance as they moved away. “Aren’t you worried about your stock?”

Applejack shook her head. “Naw, ponies here are honest, they won’t steal nothin’. If anypony does take somethin’ they’ll pay for it.”

The winding route through Ponyville allowed Pinkie to see many things, she saw a beautiful tall, round building Applejack called the Carousel Boutique, then she saw a flower shop and even a funny shaped building which AJ told her was a spa. “I don’t go in there mahself, some sight I’d look on th’ farm, buckin’ trees with a fancy hooficure and snooty styled mane.” She laughed lightly. “Here we are, th’ best bakery in Ponyville; Sugarcube Corner.”

The building looked more or less like any other building in Ponyville, except it had much larger windows to display a mouth-watering array of pastries, cakes, cupcakes and muffins and above the front door was a large wooden sign with a picture of a frosting covered cupcake above it.

“It’s pretty much th’ only bakery in Ponyville,” Applejack admitted, “but that wouldn’t stop it being th’ worst, so it sure don’t stop it bein’ th’ best.”

A bell above the door rang as they stepped inside. Pinkie’s already big grin widened as the smell of freshly baked good rolled over her. The warm, sweet, savoury, tangy.....it was impossible to describe the smell as anything other than Delicious: The delicious smell made her feel happy....happier anyway.

The shop floor was a large open space, at the far end of the room was a cordoned off area, separated from the rest of the store by a several long tables, which had trays of freshly baked muffins and pies cooling upon them, behind the tables was the doorway to the kitchen; where the sounds of much activity could be heard. To the left was a long glass display counter, behind which was a wall to wall shelves displaying yet more cakes and pastries. To the right was a second cordoned off area where there were stairs leading up to the first floor of the building.

Behind the glass counter, standing by a cash register, was a cyan coloured earth pony mare, not much more than ten years older than Applejack, she had a mane striped with two shades of pink and a cutie mark of three cupcakes.

“Howdy Mrs Cake,” Applejack said warmly, “can we get two cupcakes, and two of those nice lookin’ doughnuts y’all got there.”

“Hello Applejack.” Cup Cake greeted the pony. She began to collect her order, only to be distracted by the pink mare. Pinkie was rushing around the store, taking in all the details, smelling the freshly baked muffins on the cooling tables, muttering to herself and even wandering behind the counter to get a better look at the goods on the shelves.

Mrs Cake cocked her head. “So....who’s your friend?”

Pinkie picked up an eclaire and pulled it apart, scrutinising the pastry and cream. Applejack smiled sheepishly, “Mrs Cake, this here’s Pinkie Pie. She’s thinkin’ of movin’ to Ponyville.”

Pinkie took a big bite out of a banana and nut muffin. “Mmmm,” she grinned. “Tasty, but could use a dash of nutmeg.” she turned her attention to Mrs Cake for the first time. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie. You got a fantastic bakery. It must be so wonderful to be live above a bakery, to eat all the delicious treats you could ever want.”

Mrs Cake managed a smile for the odd filly. “Well, it is nice, but we don’t really eat all that much of our stock ourselves,” she glanced around the shelves, “I suppose baking and selling the cakes all day we don’t really have much of an appetite for them by supper time. Sometimes we’ll have a few cakes but not until they’re a few days old; too old to sell but not too stale to eat. Most of the time though our stale stock has to be thrown away.”

Pinkie looked surprised. “Really? I bake lots and lots of stuff before, Granny Pie taught me how, but I’ve never not wanted to eat something, no matter how many of them I’ve made or eaten before. This one time I-”

“What was that you said about nutmeg?” Applejack interrupted before Pinkie could fly into another hyper-speed story telling rant.

“huh?” Pinkie glanced at Applejack, an eyebrow raised. Then she remembered. “Oh yeah,” she held up the muffin with the large bite out of it. “The banana-nut muffin is delicious but with a dash of nutmeg it’ll be even better. The nutmeg compliments the creamy banana, and enhances the flavour of the toasted nuts.”

Mrs Cake nodded along politely. She took mental notes of Pinkie’s suggestions but didn’t think she’d use them. She was an experienced baker, as was her husband, they knew a thing or two about flavours and didn’t just take on board every suggestion given to them by a member of the public. She didn’t know this Pinkie, she didn’t know if she was a good baker or not. She would test the idea later on one muffin, if it worked then she’d make it part of her recipe. If it didn’t, at least she wouldn’t be stuck with wasted stock she couldn’t move.

“Oh yeah,” Pinkie reached a hoof into her mane and pulled out a small coin purse. “sorry for eating before I paid, it’s just everything looked so super-yummyriffic I couldn’t resist.” She placed a small collection of bits onto the counter then returned the coin purse to the hidden recesses of her mane.

“Sounds like someone likes my baking.” came a male voice from the kitchen. The young Mr Cake came out, a tray of freshly iced cupcakes was clenched in his jaws. He was a tall and thin earth pony with a bright amber coat, an orange mane and a cutie mark of three slices of carrot cake. He wore a paper hat on his head and an apron on his front.

Carrot Cake placed the muffins down on a table and walked around them to greet Pinkie. “You know about baking then?”

Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically, her poofy hair flopping around in all directions until she stopped. “Yep. I learned all about baking from my Granny Pie, so I could make some extra-special, yummy, wondiferous treats for all the parties I throw for every pony. I love throwing parties. Ponies say I throw the best parties in Hollow Shades. I love making ponies smile and the best way to make a pony smile is to give them a party full of big colourful balloons and streamers and awesome music and lots and lots and lots of tasty treats. And maybe a piñata You can’t go wrong with a piñata”

Applejack, Carrot and Cup Cake stared. Pinkie spoken —all in one breath— at such an amazing speed when she got excited it took a few seconds for the brain to rewind and play it back at normal speed.

“I...guess not.” Mr Cake agreed.

Pinkie glanced down at her bare hoof. “Ooh, look at the time. I would just love, love, love to stay here and talk more about baking and parties, but I gotta find a place to stay. Are there any hotels around here?” she shook her head from left to right and the sound of jingling coins rang out from her mane. “preferably a nice cheap one?”

Carrot and Cup shared a look. Pinkie was a nice pony, if a little odd, and she loved the smell of baking, she even knew a few tricks, apparently. Cup nodded to her husband who turned to Pinkie. “Actually, Pinkie, if you like, we do have a spare room you can rent, if you want.”

Pinkie’s eyes and smile widened to the point they should surely be bigger than her skull. Her whole body started to shudder violently. “YYEEEEEEESSSSSS!” she screamed and bounced off the floor, ricocheted off the ceiling, the walls, the floor again, then the ceiling again before landing in the exact same spot she’d launched herself from. “hehehe....I mean, Yes, thank you.”

Cup and Carrot Cake looked at each other again, both were wondering the same thing, what had they just gotten themselves into?