//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Pinkie's Suprise // by vincent5000x //------------------------------// “This is kind of boring…” Surprise grumbled as she hoofed over another small rool of cloth to Rarity. “Well, Sweetie Belle enjoys helping me with all the time,” Rarity replied with as she continued to work on one of her orders. Surprise sighed heavily as she took a seat, watching as Rarity worked on a dress. After Sweetie Belle and her friends left for school, Surprise was stuck helping Rarity make dresses. “How much longer until school is over, I’m so bored,” Surprise complained as she flopped down on her back. “Just a few more hours dear, then you can spend the rest of the day destro… I mean, having fun throughout Ponyville,” Rarity replied, quickly catching herself before she said the wrong thing. “Besides its not that boring.” “Yes it is,” Surprise grumbled, getting back on her hooves. “What we should do is…” “Have a party,” Rarity replied instinctively, not fully realizing what she was saying and who she was talking to before it was too late. “No!” Surprise snapped, clearly agitated by Rarity’s response. “I was going to say is that we should is go to the pond.” “Oh, I’m sorry,” Rarity almost stuttered as she turned to look at Surprise with a worrisome expression. “I didn’t mean to make assumptions.” “Its okay,” Surprise sighed as she trotted towards a set of manikins. For several minutes she continued to stare at the manikins, sometimes imagining them wearing silly outfits or moving around and playing jokes on one another. But all of it ended in a moment as a deafening screech and hiss echoed through the shop as a white and green blur tore past the manikins, knocking several over. “Opalescence, whatever is the matter?!” Rarity yelled over the hissing, lighting her horn. A few moments later, the fashionista’s cat floated in front of her, hissing and flailing as it tried to detach a small green alligator from her back. “Gummy?!” Both Surprise and Rarity exclaimed as the small alligator finally detached itself from Opalescence, rushing towards the young pegasus. “What is… how did… You know what, I’m not even going to bother thinking about it,” Rarity sighed as she placed her cat back down on the ground and continued with her work. “Why is Gummy here?” Surprise asked while staring down at the little green thing. Like normal, Gummy simple stared blankly at Surprise. “Maybe he’s just here to see you,” Rarity replied as she floated a half-finished silk dress in front of herself. But even as she said this, a clear image of Gummy attaching himself to her face and the growl he made caused her to shiver slightly. “I don’t know why, he’s really weird,” Surprise replied as she walked past gummy. As she walked closer towards Rarity, Gummy was sure to follow close behind. “How did Pinkie Pie even get him?” “I… I think Fluttershy gave him to her,” Rarity replied, taking a moment to look at the small alligator. “I’m actually not all that sure.” “Oh,” Surprise replied with a shrug as she sat back down. “So, when does school get out?” “Two more hours dear,” Rarity replied, ignoring the loud groan that followed. * * * “So, how was the day with, Surprise?” Applejack asked her friend as they walked down the street. “What one would expect,” Rarity replied. “The only weird thing that happened was that, Gummy showed up.” “Really now,” Applejack inquired with a raised brow, “And you just let the little guy stay after clamping on your face last nigh’?” Rarity just shrugged as she walked up to Sugar Cub Corners front door. “Its not like it was the first time he’s done it, and he was simply looking out for, Pinkie Pie’s wellbeing. I’m kind of jealous actually; Opalescence would never do that… at least, I don’t think she would.” “There you two are,” Rainbow Dash’s voice suddenly cut in. “Hurry it up, we’ve been waiting for you two.” “Ever so sorry dear, had to make sure the shop was all locked up before I could leave,” Rarity replied as she and Applejack walked inside, finding all but her pink friend inside waiting. “Hello, Applejack, Rarity,” Cup Cake greeted the two new arrivels. “Howdy Mrs. Cake, how’s, Pinkie been doin?” Applejack asked with concern. “She’s actually doing a lot better then you’d think,” Cup Cake replied with a smile. But it fell quickly after. “But all that does is worry me more. I really wish I knew what that mare was thinking sometimes.” “Don’t worry Mrs. Cake,” Twilight began, leading the way toward the upper levels. “We’ll talk to her and try our best to help, right girls?” “Of course,” Rainbow Dash replied for everypony. “No way are we going to leave things the way they are now.” “Alright then,” Cup Cake said with a smile and nod. “If you need anything don’t be afraid to ask.” With final nods, everypony made their way up the stairs and towards Pinkie Pie’s loft. As they all got closer, each began to worry as the silence continued. They half expected to hear Pinkie Pie working on some random contraption or party favor. They also expected to at least hear sniffling, but as they stood outside her room, silence was all that greeted them. “Is she even here?” Fluttershy asked meekly. “Mrs. Cake said she hasn’t left all day,” Rainbow Dash replied as she firmly knocked on the door. Moments later, it opened onto a very unexpected sight. “Oh good, you're all here,” Pinkie Pie chirped with a smile, her hair tied into a bun and a pair of black rim glasses sitting on her snout. “Uh, Pinkie, why are you wearing glasses?” Twilight asked as they all filed into the room. “Because, this is my serious face,” Pinkie Pie replied with a serious look. “Yes it is, so why the glasses and bun?” Rainbow Dash asked with a blank stare. “Well,” Pinkie Pie began, scratching under her chin. “Whenever my mom had to talk to ponies about something important, she would put her hair in a bun and wear glasses.” “Oh, okay,” Twilight replied with a slightly confused look. But she quickly changed it to a more caring expression, hoping to calmly begin what she and her friends had come to do. “So, are you ready to talk yet?” “Well duh!” Pinkie Pie replied, leading her friends to several chairs. “Like I said… Serious.” “All right then,” Rarity said, taking a seat. “So why don’t we start off with, where it all began.” “Well you see,” Pinkie began, standing in front of her friends, a long pointer popping out of her mane and landing in her outstretched hoof. “Before this universe was created, there was this concept that eve—“ “Not that beginning!” Rainbow Dash snapped looking slightly uncomfortable. “You know… how did you end up having a filly.” “Ooh!” Pinkie Pie said with a wave of her hoof. "I can’t tell you that silly.” “And why in Equestria can’t you?” Applejack asked. “Because, Applejack,” Pinkie Pie began, moving in close to whisper. “It’s too adult for this story.” A deafening silence filled the room as everypony tried to process what Pinkie Pie had just said. “I’m gonna pretend I understood what you mean by that,” Applejack mumbled blandly. “So what can you tell us then?” “That I did something stupid and ended up pregnant as the result,” Pinkie Pie replied with a smile, causing everypony to become slightly worried. “So you’re not going to tell us how you ended up pregnant?” Rainbow Dash asked, becoming slightly agitated. “Nope.” “How about who, Surprise’s father is?” Twilight inquired, with a slightly hopeful look. “Nada.” “Pinkie, how are we supposed to help if we don’t even know what the problem is in the first place,” Twilight replied in a slight huff. “Because that stuff isn’t the problem,” Pinkie Pie sighed, sagging slightly. “I-I just want, Surprise to like me.” “Then how bout ya tell us why you gave your own filly up for adoption?” Applejack asked a little stubbornly. “Right!” Pinkie Pie chirped as she rushed over towards a small chest. Throwing it open, she quickly pulled out a small binder and a few loose papers. “What are these Pinkie?” Twilight asked as her friend gave her the items. “Well, those loose papers are some incident reports, and the binder is our farms safety precautions,” Pinkie pie sighed. “Did somepony really have their leg crushed?” Rainbow Dash asked as she looked over one of the papers. Each paper had a different incident on it and out of the eight that were there, six had all occurred within the same year. “Wow, working on a rock farm sure is dangerous,” Fluttershy said as she looked over the binder. “Imagine living on it,” Pinkie Pie huffed. “Okay, so you put her up for adoption because… the farm was unsafe?” Rarity asked, placing a more detailed report down. “Well, that’s one of the reasons,” Pinkie Pie replied as she pulled two more binders out of nowhere. “Are those more incident reports?” Fluttershy asked timidly. “No, no,” Pinkie Pie giggled. “These are photo albums.” One was as traditional as you would expect; dark gray with the words ‘Rock Family’, embroidered on the front and packed to the brim with photos. The second one was white and covered in different colored balloons; it was also a lot smaller than the ‘Rock Family’ one. Placing the more colorful binder down, Pinkie opened the ‘Rock Family’ album to a certain page, holding it out for her friends to see. “This is the, Rock family.” The photo seemed to be over a decade old by how young most of the ponies were.There were seven different ponies in the photo. Six of which everypony recognized as Pinkie Pie’s sisters and parents. But the seventh was one they had never seen before. “Who’s that, Pinkie?” Twilight asked as she pointed to the seventh pony. She looked about as old as Granny Smith but looked a lot like Pinkie Pie since both of them had pink fur and mane’s. But while Pinkie Pie had light pink fur and a dark pink mane and tail, the older mare had the opposite. “That’s Granny Pie, silly,” Pinkie Pie giggled with a wave of her hoof. “Wait, so she’s real?” Rainbow Dash questioned, looking at the picture herself. “I just thought you were joking around.” Pinkie Pie gasped as she took a small step back, Rainbow Dash’s comment sounding like an insult to her. “I would never joke about, Granny Pie. After I got my cutie mark, she was the one who taught me all I know about parties,” Pinkie Pie replied in a slight huff. “Sorry, Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash apologized. “Its just that, you don’t have any pictures of her, so I kind of thought you were just being yourself whenever you talked about her.” “That’s okay,” Pinkie Pie sighed. “That’s actually the only picture we could ever get her to take; something about losing your soul or whatnot. “So this is your whole family?” Applejack asked. “Well, no…” Pinkie Pie said as she scratched her chin. “My dad has a cousin, so there’s him.” “And is that it?” Rarity asked. “Well, there’s the Apple family too,” Pinkie Pie replied with a giant grin, only for it too fall a few moments later. “But I only recently found out about that.” “Okay, so what does Granny Pie have to do with putting, Surprise up for adoption?” Twilight asked. “Well, because of how dangerous the farm is, me and my sisters technically weren’t allowed on it until we were five,” Pinkie sighed. “So, we would be watched by Granny Pie until we were old enough in a small cabin away from the farm. After that, we would be put to work.” “So your grandmother took care of you?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What about your mom?” “Well, she was in charge of all the paperwork and business stuff on the farm, so she never really had much time to watch us,” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “It’s not like she wasn’t there, it’s just how it was.” “Your parents actually had you work at such a dangerous place?” Fluttershy questioned. “It’s not that dangerous!” Pinkie Pie groaned. “Some ponies get hurt and suddenly important ponies start saying its an unsafe environment…” “Wait, is that why you put, Surprise up for adopting?” Fluttershy asked. “If that were the case, why didn’t you have Granny Pie watch her like she did you and your sisters?” Twilight asked. “She… she passed away a year before the whole thing happened,” Pinkie Pie heavy sighed, but quickly changed it to a smile. “But it was still fun when she was around.” “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t meant t—“ Twilight began before Pinkie Pie interrupted her. “Its okay, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie replied with a caring smile. “So because she wasn’t around, no pony could watch your foal or you couldn’t because of… my head hurts,” Rainbow Dash mumbled as she started rubbing the sides of her head. “Kind of,” Pinkie Pie mumbled. “Pinkie, stop giving us these cockamamie excuses,” Applejack grumbled. “Just tell us why you would put your own blood up for adoption and allow somepony else to raise them.” “Applejack!” everypony besides Pinkie Pie exclaimed in shock. “I just want some strait answers is all,” Applejack replied. “Ah’m not trying to be mean or nothing, Ah just can’t wrap my head around this.” “Because I couldn’t do it…” Pinkie Pie sighed as she took a seat. “What do you mean by that?” Fluttershy asked. “That I personally couldn’t handle it,” Pinkie Pie sighed as she sat on her flank. “I’m way to childish to be a mommy…” “Pinkie, you're not…” Twilight began before she was cut off by Pinkie Pie. “Yes I am…” Pinkie sighed. “I don’t know if any of you know this, but I don’t tend to act my age all the time.” “Now, I wouldn’t say that…” Twilight replied nervously as she shared a glance with her friends. “But its true!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, taking the photo album and flipping forward a few pages. “See, this was a fancy dinner my mom took me to when I was twelve,” Pinkie Pie said as she showed a picture of herself surrounded by several serious looking ponies as she danced on top of a food table, her bland dress covered in jellies and other small colorful snacks. “You were twelve, there’s nothing wrong with that,” Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle. “I did the same thing for the next three years in a row…” Pinkie Pie grumbled, flipping through the binder, showing several like images. “I keep trying to act my age, but I can’t change who I am… and that’s why I couldn’t be a mommy.” “But what about the rest of your family?” Rarity asked. “What did your sisters and parents have to say about it?” “Inkie and Blinkie didn’t really understand what was going on, and Maud told me to do what was right,” Pinkie Pie sighed. “And your parents?” Fluttershy asked. “They pushed towards adoption,” Pinkie Pie sighed more heavily. “At first, they talked about figuring out a way for it to work, but in the end… well, she was adopted.” Everypony sat in silence while they tried their best to understand what Pinkie Pie meant. “Nope!” Applejack suddenly snapped, getting to her hooves. “I am not going to accept that as an answer.” “What?” Pinkie Pie inquired raising a brow. “But that is the actual answer, Applejack. I was too young and there was no way I could raise a filly, so I put her up for adoption and—“ “No!” Applejack interrupted. “Ah know you, Pinkie; ah know you so well, that ah know somepony like you would never ever, think of doin somthin like that without a real good reason, and frankly, none of those seem like it.” “But… but, my parents… I mean…” Pinkie Pie began to stutter. Her own thoughts were getting jumbled up beyond what was normal and she was trying to focus. “Do you regret having her?” Applejack asked, drawing gasped from her other friends. “What?! No, I love her,” Pinkie Pie quickly responded as the bun in her mane began to undo itself. “Then why Pinkie?” Applejack asked as she walked closer to her friend, a concerned look on her face. “Why did you do it?” “Be-because…” Pinkie Pie began, facing the ground and allowing her glasses to fall to the ground. “E-every time I thought about her… I saw his face…” “You mean, Surprise’s father?” Fluttershy asked. “Yes,” Pinkie Pie replied, her eyes still locked on the ground. “He hurt me and I was just so angry at him… I was afraid I would be angry at, Surprise too… So, I put her up for adoption a month before she was born.” “Now I highly dou—“ Applejack began, falling silent as Pinkie Pie interrupted her with a stern glare. “No, I hated him more than I have ever hated anything in my entire life!” Pinkie Pie snapped, a never before seen fury in her eyes. “and I didn’t want to feel that same anger towards, Surprise… that’s why I put her up for adoption. Is that a better answer, Applejack?!” “Uh…” Applejack replied timidly, moving back slowly. “I just… wanted a straight answer.” “It was all a strait answer,” Pinkie Pie scoffed, her expression softening slightly. “Everything else added to the decision… all I want now is for, Surprise to know that I love her.” “Does she know that that’s the reason she was adopted?” Twilight asked, feeling that it was alright to talk again. Pinkie Pie remained silent for a moment, deciding how best to answer before finally shrugging. “I don’t know, Twilight. I wish I did, but I just don’t know.”