The two weeks seemed to go by very slowly, and the work seemed much more grueling this time around, despite it being the same old routine. Moving rocks, smashing rocks, smelling rocks, sorting rocks, and casually remaining indifferent to any mention of the carnival. Cheese settled back into the routine of telling his stories to Marble, Limestone, and Pinkamena, and he was happy that they now laughed at some of the parts that he found funny. He was glad to see that half of the Pie family smiled, especially after so many years after their grandmothers' deaths.
Of course, he was also dying of anticipation at the arrival of his brother, though there was still the possibility that something would come up that Tomato had to delay it. So, every chance he got, Cheese would rush to the post office to see if he got a reply. So far, each of his visits had turned up nothing, and he'd walk back to the rock farm in disappointment.
However, upon each of his returns, he would be greeted by the Pies. Being greeted by Pinkamena especially lifted his spirits, as her bright eyes and infectious smile would ignite a gentle warmth that made him feel like he was flying. With each passing day, it seemed like everything she did had that effect on him. He could watch her lifting rocks with ease for hours; stand awestruck at the fierce determination she held when shattering a boulder; the way she guzzled water suddenly seemed like the cutest thing in the world to him; and finally, her blue eyes sparkling with fascination as she listened to one of his tales. The rocks he lifted felt light as he thought of her, and he often felt like pulling her close and cuddling her like a teddy bear.
That he refrained from, since it would be a breach of her personal space, not to mention he didn't want Igneous to get the wrong idea. The more he wondered whether or not he was falling in love with her, the more he worried. He liked the warm feeling that she gave him, but he was certain the moment Igneous suspected him of breaking his promise, his employment was terminated and he was on the road again.
His hooves were getting a little itchy, and he was dreading the day he'd have to leave more and more. It wasn't just Pinkamena he was reluctant to leave; he was fond of the entire Pie family, being the stern and tough ponies they were. There was Marble and Limestone, those two having been the first to indulge their curiosity of him. He would surely miss Limestone's sass, Marble's more demure nature, and the wide eyes that had been a staple of both of them since he arrived.
He'd miss Cloudy, for being dry and tough-as-nails, yet fairly approachable. He'd miss Igneous, who despite his grumpy exterior was a stallion who loved and wanted to protect his family. He'd even miss Maud, even though they hadn't exactly been friends; more like simple acquaintances. Under that impassive face was a quiet strength ready to protect her sisters, something that he could understand, having had that exact same thing in youth.
Not that Tommy had needed protection; he was well-liked by the other foals. A little too well-liked. Cheese could remember those feelings of jealousy over his brother's popularity, and he inwardly groaned thinking of the comparisons between them that everypony they knew did, including their mother. Just why their mother thought that comparing them would spur Cheese to better grades was a mystery to him.
In a moment of reflection one night in his room, he realized that once he reconciled with his brother, he'd have to attempt to reconcile with their parents. From his letter, Tomato seemed more willing to accept what Cheese's special talent up as; his mother, on the other hand, would not be shy about letting him know that he was a failure, and his father hardly seemed to care.
He huffed and turned over in bed. Thinking of that moment when Pinkamena saw the rainbow and smiled, he could hardly call himself a failure. Helping the Pies learn to smile again was leaving him with a sense of accomplishment, and there was no doubt that he loved them all. He couldn't wait for Tomato to meet them.
Now, if only that darn colt would reply more quickly.
At the saloon, Riffraff and gang waited for their acquaintance to arrive.
Taking several licks of his salt lick, Riffraff glanced once again at the prepared letter. Shaking his head, he asked, "You sure it's bad enough? You could make it sleazier and keep painting the vegetable as a little pile of manure."
Scribbles glared at him. "First off, tomatoes are fruit. Second, overdoing it would get Cheese suspicious. After all, we want both him and Igneous fooled into believing that Tomato really did reply, although with a dirtier mind than expected."
"Does it matter? They haven't even seen each other for years!"
"And I want to keep the letter consistent with what I've read of Tomato's letters to Bluejinx."
Another one of them interjected. "Well, what if Pinhead gets a hold of the letter?"
"Psht, with the emotional turmoil that we hope to accomplish, they wouldn't even think of handing the letter off to him and asking, 'Read this, does it sound like Tomato?' They'd most likely tear it up before even thinking of that."
That's when Cortland walked in, casually indifferent to the stares that had come his way. He weaved through the tables until he got to the one where the gang sat. He sat down, and looked straight at Scribbles. "Is it ready now?"
Scribbles slid the letter over to him. "I hope this'll suffice. I've spent quite a few days crafting it."
Cortland took it, and read it. As he read, he recoiled, scratched his head, and then put his hoof on his chin, nodding. A small smile crept onto his face. He looked up at the other ponies.
"My, my, what a terrible letter. It oughta give them Pies a shock."
Pinkamena woke up earlier than usual, already feeling refreshed from the night before. She looked around the dim room, seeing her sisters still sleeping peacefully. She smiled at the sight of them, remembering the mornings where she'd wake up before them, and then hop from bed to bed to wake them up. The memory of the "rock town" came to her, as she pictured her and her sisters playing with little pebbles with smiley-faces drawn on them, imitating whatever they saw in trips to town. With a quiet giggle, she slid out of bed and walked to the mirror.
Her reflection boasted a tangled bedhead, which Pinkamena didn't hesitate to tame with the hairbrush. As she straightened her hair with each stroke, she couldn't help but feel that something wasn't right. She couldn't help but wonder what it was, since she had just woken up, and she wasn't feeling sick at all. The feeling was just there as she brushed her mane.
It hit her with the final stroke of the brush: she wasn't all that fond of her straight hair. She smoothed it down with her hoof, pouting at her reflection and the raspberry waterfall she called a mane. Tilting her head, she wondered why her straight hair was suddenly bothering her.
It's not that it isn't pretty, it just... doesn't feel right. She fanned it out and smoothed it down again, and then repeated the action. She took a part of her forelock, and twirled it around in her hoof. She pulled it out, and watched as the resulting ringlet slid back into it's straight form.
She remembered her Granny Pie having lovely blonde curls, making her mane and tail so soft that Pinkamena could fall asleep on the hair. Looking in the mirror again, she wondered how her mane would look like when curled.
"Well, why not?" she whispered. "It'd be a fitting tribute to her." She put her hoof to her chin. "Now where did the rags and curlers go?"
Not wanting to wake anypony up, she slipped out of the room and tiptoed down the hallway. She passed Cheese's room, and was tempted to kick the door open and jump on him to wake him up. She shook her head, reminding herself that she didn't want to wake anypony up, and that waking Cheese up like that was rude and would certainly annoy the stallion. Although, she had to admit, it'd be kind of cute to see him annoyed.
The more she thought about him, the happier she was that he had come. What she once considered a nuisance had now become a blessing that she couldn't imagine life without. She could listen to his voice for hours, she could stare at his smile for hours, and she would continue to be proud of how his strength had grown from when he first started working. Where before he could only pick up small rocks one at a time, he was now hoisting significantly larger rocks with little effort.
She felt light on her feet as she descended the stairs, thinking about how sweet and kind that he had been from day one. Willing to entertain her sisters, willing to listen to her troubles, respecting her parents, and not willing to let rumors in Nickerlite sway him. She wanted hug him again, and listen to his heartbeat as she lay her head against his chest. She wanted to nuzzle him, and let him know that she cared. And she wanted to kiss him, so every care would just evaporate and she'd be left with him, the one stallion outside her family that she'd move mountains for.
Those thoughts were bringing her a gentle warmth, and she started to hum blissfully. However, as she did so, one of her front legs stepped forward a little too far, and as a result she loudly stumbled down the rest of the way. Once she reached the bottom, she froze, and looked up the stairs. Her ears twitched, listening for the sound of someone getting up.
She relaxed after a few moments, and walked through the living room until she reached the cellar door. She took a lantern from the bookshelf, lit it, and then opened the cellar door. She descended down the stairs, and made her way to the old trunk by the bookshelf. She set down her lantern to look for the key to the trunk. After she rummaged through the books on the shelf, she managed to find the key, and proceeded to open the trunk.
A wistful sigh escaped her mouth. Inside the trunk, there was her mother's wedding dress, being a simple white dress with blue trimmings and buttons. Digging past that, she found a couple of old puppets that Nana Pinkie had used to entertain her grandchildren, some worn out tools from the past, a photo of a younger version of her father with his sister, a photo of her mother with her siblings, and some old jewelry before she finally found the bag of rags and curlers and dug it out of the trunk.
She opened the bag and stared at them for a moment before taking the biggest curler and wrapped a thick part of her forelock on it. She rolled it tightly until the curler was on her forehead, looking like a spool of raspberry-colored thread. She snapped it in place, and tapped it to make sure it stayed.
"Pinkamena? What are you doing?"
She whirled around to see her mother on the stairs, looking at her curiously. Pinkamena bit her lip, and then grinned sheepishly. "I, uh... wanted to try a new hairstyle, Ma."
"Really?" Cloudy walked down the rest of the stairs and approached her. "Why?"
"Um... I just woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and decided that I was tired of straight hair. Thought I'd try to curl it as a tribute to Granny Pie, you know?"
Cloudy Quartz just stared at her daughter, with a face that indicated more confusion than disapproval. Pinkamena sighed. "I know, it's not practical, I'd be all spruced up with no place to go, it'll get ruined anyway, yeah, Ma, there's really no good reason for me to curl my hair, but I--"
"Pinkamena," Cloudy interrupted gently. She approached her and put a hoof on her shoulder. She gave her a small smile. "It's fine if you want to remember Granny Pie. There's nothing wrong with your idea of a tribute--heck, I was looking at Cheese's mane the other day and wondering if I remembered how to curl hair. Darn that colt... what's he doing to us...?"
Pinkamena giggled. "So you don't mind?"
Cloudy picked up the bag. "Just as long as you're not planning to show off or anything. I suppose a little practice in case one of my sisters visit would do me a little good."
"I suppose so... say, Ma?"
"Hm?"
"Did you just smile?"
Cloudy felt her mouth. "I... I think I did." She tilted her head toward the staircase. "Let's get to it before the others wake up and we have to prepare breakfast."
Cheese could not stop staring at the net that covered Pinkamena's mane and tail. He could clearly see that she was curling it, as he could see the curlers, but couldn't put his hoof on why. He thought of asking her, but couldn't think of a way that didn't seem too forward and rude. He knew that Igneous asked Cloudy what was up with the hair, but whatever the answer was, the older stallion didn't say.
He ran his hoof through his own curls and looked away to get back to sorting rocks. With the carnival being that night, her hair-curling was rather suspicious--and very unlike Pinkamena. Why would she want to show off to the town like that? If anything, the only statement she wanted to make by going to the carnival was that she didn't give a flying feather about the rumors and the presence of Cortland.
Granted, she was also disobeying her father. And so were Marble and Limestone. And so was he.
He was nervous about sneaking out. While he had gotten away with sneaking out on the day he left home, he wasn't sure he could do it as a stallion, and with three other ponies. Not to mention that if they got caught, there would be an implication of them heading out for a certain activity that Igneous would never approve of. The mere thought of these things going horribly wrong was forming an awful pit in his stomach.
And then there was Maud. Not bringing her along was Pinkamena's only regret, but Maud had a tendency to go to bed early, and Pinkamena respected that. Cheese figured that Maud wasn't all that interested in the carnival anyway. Still, should she wake up and discover that her sisters were not in the room with her...
He had smelled a ripe rock, but accidentally put it in the unripe pile. Cursing himself for letting his mind wander, he located the rock and set it with the ore pile. He took a deep breath, and started sniffing and sorting the rocks once again. He figured that he should think of the progress he had made since getting this job. After all, he could now smell the differences between the rocks, he could lift large rocks easily, he got his employer's family to like him--and he was going to meet with his brother soon. Hopefully.
The lack of a reply was worrying him. It had been two weeks since he had sent the letter, and usually pegasus mail was speedy. He hoped that the mailpony hadn't dropped it someplace, where it would never be found. What if Cheese had written the wrong address? What if that first letter had been a fake and Tomato really did forget about him? What if it had been eaten by a stray dog? He gritted his teeth, frustrated that he had gone from one worry to another.
"Mail call!"
The sound of Limestone's voice rang out over the field, and he was dashing for her in an instant. He stopped short of her with an eager grin on his face.
"Any for me?"
Limestone blinked, and answered, "Actually, yeah. Looks like your brother replied." She gave him an envelope.
Cheese jumped for joy and kissed the letter. "Finally! He answers!"
The others turned to him and watched him dance his jig. Igneous shouted, "Read it later, we have work to do!"
Cheese nodded, and sped into the house to leave the letter in his room.
After the work was done and supper had been eaten, Cheese bounded into his room and laid on his belly on his bed to read the letter. He started out reading with a grin; but he was soon frowning.
Cheese gazed at the letter in shock and disappointment. If Tomato were certainly unable to come due to a busy schedule, Cheese would understand. After all, he figured that his little brother was in college, and there was no doubt that there was some difficult homework and things he had to do. If he had to study for some big test, that was understandable.
But this? What kind of crud was he reading?
He reread the letter, trying to understand just what was being said in the letter.
"Dear Cheese,
My, my, what a lovely family you are boarding with. I would certainly love to meet them; however, I am unable to come due to some things I have to do. I'm terribly sorry about that.
I'd especially love to meet the daughters of the family; please do tell me more. Are you close with any of them? The way you wrote about Pinkamena in that short sentence sounds like you have taken a fancy to her. I sure hope that you're not taking Igneous' warnings as a challenge, hm? Because any other stallion in your place would try to be sneaky and get away with having some fun with the mares, if you catch my drift. Of course, you always have been able to slip away with nopony noticing until it's too late, so I wouldn't be surprised, but I'm honored that you wanted to include me in this!
Are they all the same shade of gray, or should I expect different shades? What shade of pink is Pinkamena? What shade of brown is Igneous? Or do I have to wait until I have a timeslot to visit? Either way, I sure hope you stay at the rock farm long enough for me to have a chance to visit with you... and the ladies, of course. I've had my share of fun with Manehattan girls, can't wait to see what rock farmer girls are like.
And since you've traveled a lot, I cannot wait to hear stories about your exploits and adventures with all sorts of ponies. I just hope I'm not an uncle yet; that'd be kind of unsavory, don't you think?
Anyway, I await your reply.
Your brother, Tomato Sandwich"
Cheese snorted. "Is this some kind of joke? I tell him about the girls and just shows off a dirty mind? Come on..." He took the other letter from the nightstand, and glanced between them. The mouthwriting was the same, no doubt about it. He looked at the first letter's line of "I'm not quite the same colt you knew" and sighed. That much was definitely true.
"If there's anything that didn't change, it's that you have a problem thinking things through when talking to me," he grumbled. "If Igneous saw this..."
Still, he couldn't help but feel saddened. What was Tomato thinking? Did he not realize how rude it was to jump into that subject before even meeting the Pies? Was he somehow hanging out with some gross ponies behind Mom's back in some secret rebellion? Was he thinking that Cheese's drifter lifestyle meant he got around? So many questions that made him more and more uncomfortable by the minute. Now, Cheese just wondered if he could have been a good influence on Tommy had he stayed.
He heard a knock at the door, and he quickly shunted one letter under the bed and the other on the nightstand. "Come in."
The door was thrown open, and Limestone and Marble filed in with grins on their faces. They both gave him winks and tilts of the head to signal that their parents and Maud had gone to bed. He smiled nervously at him, nodding at their unspoken signal. He hopped off his bed, and briefly glanced at the space under it before asking, "So, uh, where's Pinkamena?"
"Getting the curlers out," Marble answered.
"Well, great, we wouldn't want our night out spoiled by her hair net, ehehehe..."
Limestone raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"
Cheese rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I... I am kinda nervous about sneaking out. I mean, so many things could go wrong..."
Limestone chuckled. "No worries. Ma, Pa, and Maud all sleep like rocks. We'll be out and back without them realizing it."
"I don't know," Marble said. "There are so many things that could go wrong..."
"Well, if you have a problem, take it up with Pinkamena--this was her idea. Say, Cheese, when is that brother of yours coming? I'm dying to meet him."
Cheese stared for a moment and bit his lip. He glanced under the bed again, and answered, "Well... he's unable to come because he's busy. Sorry, he won't be able to join us."
Both girls sagged. "Aww..."
Just then, Pinkamena came into the room, her mane and tail now net-free. With a big smile and shimmering eyes, she asked, "So, how do I look?"
Cheese's jaw dropped at the sight of her raspberry locks in curls. Her mane and tail were now fluffy and bouncy, and reminded him of cotton candy. He couldn't help but notice that she had a large forelock curl not unlike his own. Her entire body was bright, and there was just so much positive energy radiating from her, he couldn't help but crack a smile. The only thing that marred her appearance was the trio of rocks that made up her cutie mark, but there wasn't any way she could change that.
Marble covered her mouth with both hooves. "Oh, my goodness... you're so cute!"
"Your hair reminds me of Granny Pie's," Limestone said.
Pinkamena rolled her eyes, patted her hair, and giggled. "That was the intention... though it's only going to be like this for a few days." She looked at Cheese. "And your opinion is?"
Cheese still stared at her, and mumbled, "Cotton candy."
"Um... what?"
"Uh, it's like cotton candy. Sweet, fluffy, that kind of thing."
Pinkamena put a hoof to her mouth. "I've never tried that stuff..."
"Really? Well, I'm sure the carnival has some. Can't have a carnival without cotton candy."
"Is that so?" Pinkamena's smile turned into a wicked grin. "Well, then, let's climb out the window and head on over."
"Um, wait, what?"
"Pinkamena... we're on the second floor," Limestone deadpanned.
Pinkamena opened the window. "Oh, I maaay have moved a few rocks over here when nopony was looking to make our descent easier..." She stepped out, and stood there, seeming like she was standing on air. She giggled once again, and then smirked at the other three. "Yep, it's steady, let's go."
Limestone and Marble followed her, and Cheese took one last glance under his bed before climbing out the window and onto the boulder that had been placed there. As he climbed down, he thought, I'll take care of it tomorrow.