//------------------------------// // Homebound // Story: Stay // by Wintergreen Diaries //------------------------------// Supper at the Pie household wasn’t often anything of note. Rock farming brought in enough to support a family and keep everypony warm and cared for, though what they lacked in extravagance, they made up for with thankfulness and a mastery over the mundane. Merry would likely have gratefully eaten even the blandest of gruel had it been served, and he was more than thankful just to have a chance to sit down as he sank into the chair that had been set out for him opposite of Pinkie. He was pleasantly surprised shortly after to find that even amidst the desolate, rocky wastes, there was plenty to please his palate. Cloudy Quartz had worked cost effective, wholesome meals down to a science, and it required every ounce of his self control not to lick his plate clean before asking for seconds. It wasn’t until the second that his enthusiasm got the better of him, and he didn’t realize what he was doing until his tongue reached the rim of the plate and he looked up to find Pinkie snickering fit to burst. “Eheh, sorry, I was just, um… yeeeah…” Somehow, his sheepish chuckles couldn’t seem to drown out the overwhelming sound of his ears burning with an embarrassment he wasn’t used to experiencing. It was rare that he made any effort to alter his habits for any reason or anypony, but there was something about the mare grinning back at him that was making him experience a perplexing level of self-consciousness. He watched with curiosity as the mare made motion towards her snout, pondered what she could possibly be trying to sign, and then felt a faint heat flush through his cheeks as he discreetly wiped a hoof across his snout and came away with some leftovers for his troubles. “Hehe! Merry sure seems to enjoy your cooking, mother!” Pinkie chortled happily, herself having finished eating just behind the stallion and ahead of her family. He nodded, feeling awkward at having any more attention directed towards him. Cloudy had been generally cordial with him and Igneous was just being Igneous, as would be expected. Marble, however, hadn’t made a sound since he had hobbled over to the table with Pinkie’s help, and Limestone kept glancing at him like he didn’t belong. “I’m glad that you enjoyed it,” Cloudy said politely, regarding Merry with vague amusement. “You must have been hungry.” “Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a contrite nod. “It was reeeally good! Thank you for the meal.” His table manners may not have been as on par as he would have liked, but his father had trained him to always pay mares their proper respect, and double if they were his elders. “You’re quite welcome,” she returned, wiping her mouth with a napkin and standing as her other daughters finished up. “Marble, Limestone, would you help me with the dishes?” Marble nodded quietly and began clearing her place, while Limestone adopted a rather sour expression and stayed put. “Is Pinkie not going to help?” Limestone asked, rather pointedly. “Pinkie has a guest to attend to,” came Cloudy’s dismissive reply. “Listen to your mother,” Igneous followed up, flicking his head towards the kitchen. “Go on, now.” The already awkward tension forming was only worsened by the grating sound of chair legs screeching across the floor as Limestone wordlessly rose and stalked towards the kitchen in a huff, leaving Igneous to massage the space between his eyes where stress seemed to gather. “I just can’t win,” he muttered with a sigh before leveling his gaze at his quest, who appeared to be doing a rather thorough inspection of the tablecloth. “Don’t you worry about her none, Merry, Limestone’s just in one of her moods. Luna only knows why...” The stallion glanced up briefly before dropping eye contact and nodding. “Do you think you can make it home?” “I, u-um…” Merry stammered, looking at the floor with dread. He knew the answer, but he didn’t want to give it. Igneous had already allowed him, a complete stranger, to come into his home, speak to his daughter, and had given him a meal; it didn’t seem right to ask for anything more. All he had to do was apply even the slightest pressure to any of his hooves to know that there was only one honest answer, and lying was never an option in Merry’s mind. “I… I don’t think so… sir.” “Good colt.” Baffled by the remark, Merry turned towards Igneous as he stood and blinked. “I’ve worked these fields most of my life, Merry,” Igneous began to explain, trotting over. “I’ve strained every muscle in my body thrice over, and being hard-headed about injuries will only make things worse. Rest here a bit. I’ll get the cart ready and give you a ride home.” The stallion looked positively thunderstruck, and it was almost enough to make Igneous laugh as he left the room. “You must have really impressed my father.” The welcoming knell of Pinkie’s encouraging tones drew Merry’s attention, and he turned to find her standing beside him looking pleased as punch. “He doesn’t normally take to strangers well. I guess he’s not exactly what you’d call a social pony, but he always means well.” “Yeeeah, he didn’t seem too thrilled when I first showed up,” Merry admitted with a weak chuckle. “He seems nice enough, though, and I’m reeeally grateful that he’s giving me a ride home.” “...Aren’t you special.” Confounded by the flagrant and entirely unprovoked hostility, both Pinkie and Merry found themselves speechless as Limestone swept past the two of them and disappeared up the steps. Marble followed in her sister’s wake, though with considerably less rancor, paying them both the briefest of glances before disappearing from sight. Perhaps the only pony seemingly unfazed was Cloudy Quartz. “Your sister seems to be upset,” she said calmly, breaking the silence. “Pinkie, you may want to give Limestone some space for tonight.” “Okie dokie,” Pinkie agreed quietly. She couldn’t even begin to fathom how washing an extra plate or two would be grounds for being so rude, and to her newest friend, even. “Well, my father probably has the cart ready,” she continued, shaking off the shock as she turned towards Merry. “Let’s get you home.” Somehow, his muscles had managed to grow even more stiff and sore in the time between his sitting down to eat and his standing up again. Had Pinkie not been standing by, Merry would have simply crumpled to the ground upon sliding from his chair. He did his best to mask just how much agony was coming with each step, though to little effect. His breathing had grown haggard just from the walk to the porch, and the dizziness had returned with a vengeance as he collapsed in the bed of the cart, panting for breath and pretty much ready to call it quits on the whole staying conscious thing. Merry caught some snippets of something about Igneous returning inside for something, though he didn’t pay it much heed, as it wasn’t any of his business. He cracked open an eye at the telltale whump of another pony hopping into the cart, and found himself peering back at Pinkie as she settled in on the other side. “You’re… coming?” he asked, forcing himself to regulate his breaths. “Well, yeah! I… is that okay?” she replied, sounding unsure for the first time since her mane had curled. “Of course!” he assured her. “I just… I feel bad.” “Like, icky gonna-throw-up bad?” she sought to clarify, looking concerned “No, it’s just… I’m not normally this out of it,” Merry explained wearily. His hooves were already growing heavy, and he wasn’t even sure that he would stay awake through the ride home. “I’ll probably be really boring.” Despite his best efforts, there were some days where Merry woke feeling as though coaxing a smile from his own muzzle would be the most daunting task he would face, and he typically did what he could to keep from being the dampening drizzle on everyone else’s sunny day. While he was genuinely uncomfortable with being seen in such a weakened position for fear that he might cause another some kind of distress, there was something more to his self-consciousness right then. To his surprise, however, Pinkie’s response was not one of melancholy, but of giggles. “Oooh, I get it!” she declared as she flopped down onto her side to match how Merry was laying. “You could have just said it was a worried-about-something-super-silly bad, you know.” Her grin grew a little rueful. “I get those all the time. Don’t you worry, though!” she went on, snuggling her back up against the wall behind her. “We can be boring together.” “You’re sure you don’t mind?” “Yeppers! After all, I wasn’t exactly the most fun pony when you found me,” she remembered, looking apologetic. “You stuck around even though I didn’t give you a reason, and I’d still be lost if you hadn’t found me. You’re worth being bored! But you know the best part?” She leaned a little bit closer, grinning widely as she whispered, “I don’t think I’ll be bored.” “...What’re you two doing?” There was only one right answer, and fortunately for Merry’s continued well being, Pinkie gave the correct response. “Being boring!” she snickered, popping her head up and beaming back at her scowling father. He seemed to consider her words for a moment before relenting with a sigh. He couldn’t be upset with Pinkie, not when he was so grateful to see her smiling again. “...Good. Keep it that way,” Igneous muttered, affixing the reigns to his collar. “Y’all keep your hooves to yourselves, you hear?” “‘Kay!” Pinkie agreed, laying back down and tucking her hooves to her chest. “Yes, sir,” came Merry’s subdued reply, simultaneously embarrassed by the implications and not entirely sure they were unfounded. He had always been a very hooves-on pony, and Pinkie was doing a tremendous job being adorable as she muffled her laughter with her hooves. While he had been quite taken with Pinkie when he had first seen her, he couldn’t help but notice how wonderfully playful her mane had become. It really seemed to suit her much better, and coupled with her bubbly laugh and sparkling eyes, Merry found himself unconsciously tucking his own hooves to his chest as a precautionary measure: the urge to poke her mane was real. “Steady, Merry, steady,” he thought to himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “Don’t think about how fluffy her mane looks. Don’t think about how great her smile is, or how swell she smells, or even how she bounces around when she’s happy. Don’t think about it, ‘cause then you’ll wanna play, and she’ll wanna play, and playing isn’t boring, and I need to be boring.” Merry cracked open an eye and found himself confronted with a most wonderful, terribly mischievous grin. “Whatcha thinkin’ about?” “...Nooothing?” he answered hesitantly. She was making it really difficult to be boring. Pinkie narrowed her gaze. “What kind of ‘nothing?’” she asked slyly. “Is it the empty, bottomless-void-of-infinite nothingness kind of nothing? Or is it the thinking-of-everything-about-anything-that’s-a-thing type of nothing?” “It’s definitely one of the more something-filled nothings, that’s for sure,” Merry admitted, chuckling. There was something disarming about being read like a book, and if he couldn’t reach out with his hooves, then his words would have to do. “Your mane just looks really nice when it’s curly is all. It fits you well, and it’s, you know… it’s… winsome.” “Woohoo, I win, I win!” she cheered, the meaning completely going over her head. “Wait, what did I win?” “... Being pretty?” The words slipped out before he could even think twice, and they left both ponies momentarily speechless. He had already started to suspect that Pinkie might become a fast friend, but the fact that he had raised her appearance so shortly after meeting one another worried him, not because of seeming potentially shallow, but because he meant it. With a familiar heat rising in his cheeks and a fuzzy feeling in his cheeks, Merry reluctantly acknowledge the fast growing desire to get to know Pinkie better could only mean one thing: he was smitten. Wonderfully, terribly smitten. “Are you sure you’re talking to the right pony?” Pinkie asked after a while, sounding more baffled than anything else. “Well… yeah!” Merry replied, himself a little confused. “I can’t be the only stallion that’s told you so, right?” “Actually, you kind of are. Nowait!” she exclaimed, bringing a hoof to her chin and adopting a contemplative look. “... No, yeah, just you.” She dropped her gaze. “It makes me feel funny.” Pinkie glanced up to find Merry shifting himself a little closer, grinning broadly. “Is it a makes-me-wanna-giggle kind of funny, or a my-stomach-is-full-of-fireflies type of funny?” “Hehe! Now it’s both!” Pinkie chortled, matching his smile with her own as she snickered. “Alright, enough of that, time for serious stuffs! I wanna know more about you.” For the next while, the two ponies bantered back and forth about anything and everything that came to mind, from favorite colors to preferred time of day. Pinkie listened intently as Merry rambled on about life with his sister and her obsessive adoration of tea, the family business they ran together, and his daily routine of helping with the tea stand in the morning, and then roaming town spreading cheer in the afternoon. It reminded her quite a bit of her own life back in Ponyville, which she eagerly shared when it was her turn to talk. Merry seemed content to listen as Pinkie grabbed hold of the conversation and bounded away, recounting a few of the misadventures she had shared with her friends. The time passed quickly, and before they knew it, they had arrived at Merry’s house in what felt like no time at all. “Merry, is this the place?” Igneous called over his shoulder, slowing to a stop. Sharing a rueful smile with Pinkie as her story was cut short, Merry muscled himself upright and looked out with mounting dismay at the carnage that the sandstorm had left in its wake. The cobblestone pathway was barely visible under the sand, and just as his sister had said in her letter, there was hardly anything left in the garden. While he couldn’t be sure, he could only assume that the dilapidated pile of timber next to the shed was what remained of their tea cart. Guilt churned in his stomach at the thought of his sister being left to deal with the devastation of their livelihood on her own, but the hoof that came to a rest on his shoulder reminded him that he had left with a cause, and his journey hadn’t been unfruitful. “It’s… pretty bad, isn’t it?” Pinkie asked rhetorically, taking in the scene. “Come on, let’s get you inside.” Nodding quietly, Merry grimaced as he eased himself out of the cart. Murmuring his thanks to Igneous, who was also taken aback by the state of the yard, Merry staggered over to the door with Pinkie’s help. “Are you going to be alright?” Pinkie could hardly stand to see Merry so dejected, but she knew that it was no time for balloons, and she felt helpless as he gave a feeble nod. “I spring back pretty quickly,” Merry attested with a flimsy chuckle. “I just need some rest.” “I meant both of you, silly,” Pinkie clarified in a soft tone. They both looked out at the garden that looked more like a dune. “We’ll find a way to get by,” he said, though his lack of confidence was anything but reassuring. “We’ve hit bumps in the road before.” “This is a whole lot more than just a bump,” she countered, looking back at Merry as his head sank towards the ground. “...Yeah, it reeeally is.” His admission did little to assuage Pinkie’s worry. She knew it wasn’t technically any of her business, but Merry had been through a lot for her, and she desperately wanted to help. “But what can I do?” she wondered, pawing at the porch. “I’m no good at farming or fixing anything, and streamers sure aren’t going to help… not even balloons! Ugh, feeling useless is just the worst.” “Hey, Pinkie?” “Y-Yeah?” she stammered, turning her attention back towards Merry. “I’m preeetty tired, so I’m going to get myself to bed,” he began, coughing a little. “I really enjoyed getting to spend time with you today, and… I hope that we can see each other again soon.” “Of course we can,” Pinkie confirmed with a quiet laugh. “Thank you again for the surprise. It was exactly what I needed.” “Would it be weird if I told you that I felt like I should be thanking you?” “Super duper weird,” Pinkie attested, grinning broadly. “You should say it.” “Alright then,” Merry followed up with a chuckle. “Thank you, Pinkie. Your smile made it worth the journey.” Some might say that it would be difficult to make a pink pony blush, but the fireflies were doing a pretty good job of setting up shop in Pinkie’s cheeks as she bashfully glanced away. “Y-you’re, yanno, welcome and… and everything,” came her warm reply. Though she was loathe to take her leave, she knew that her father was probably waiting to head back home, and so it was that she reluctantly took her leave. “See ya later, Merry!” “See ya.” Merry barely had the strength to return her wave as she left. The strain of standing upright unsupported was making his head spin, and with a groan he dragged himself towards the bedroom, noting that the house was almost as bad inside as it was outside. Tea cups were scattered everywhere in various stages of fullness, and an empty box of tissues made it painfully evident that Chai wasn’t holding up well. The gifts that had been left in his hospital room lay scattered about, likely not having been touched since their arrival, and using the walls as support, he made his way into the room he shared with his sister as quickly as he was able. She lay curled under the covers, apparently asleep, and he gently eased himself under the blankets beside her before reaching around and enfolding her within his hooves. Though she stirred at the movement, Chai said nothing for a long while, instead burying her muzzle into her brother’s chest as she began to quake, overwhelmed by the task that lay before them. She knew that, if anything, she should be holding him, after what he had been through. Despite being the older sibling, however, it was almost the other way around, and so it was that she quietly wept within her brother’s loving embrace. “Shhh, it’s gonna be okay, sis. It’s gonna be okay,” he soothed, stroking her mane. It hurt to move, but his sister was dear to him. She had been there for him just as much as he had for her. Nodding shakily, Chai calmed within a few minutes, though it was longer before she spoke. The question she asked was one that carried no anger for what he had done, nor blame for leaving her alone, but one that carried an understanding of Merry that only Chai had come to know. “Was it… was it worth it?” The hooves around her tightened, not for her, but for his own reassurance as a shiver raced through her brother’s body. “It was,” Merry whispered. “It was worth the pain.” “I’m glad,” Chai murmured, resting a hoof over her brother’s heart. It was beating faster than it should. “Would you like me to make you some tea?” “No, just… stay here.” Chai couldn’t have left then, even had she wanted to. There was no mistaking the fright in her brother’s trembling voice. “Please…” “Shhh, I’ll stay,” she assured him, nestling in under his chin. “I’ll stay, Minty. It’s okay.” The shaking didn’t stop until shortly before he fell asleep, and it left Chai to wonder if the sandstorm was merely a precursor to rougher things to come; there weren’t many things that could make her brother cower. Unwilling to ponder the ramifications and in desperate need of rest herself, Chai closed her eyes and let her worries drift away. If nothing else, her brother was home, and that was reason enough to be thankful. Pinkie had expected that she might be in for an earful from her father the moment that she clambered back into the cart, but to her surprise he didn’t say much at all. He made a few comments about how unfortunate it was that they had been hit so hard by the storm, even called Merry a “good colt,” and while it did Pinkie well to know that her newest friend was on good terms with her father, that wasn’t at the forefront of her mind as they re-entered the city limits of Dodge. She had been fired up at the thought of making things right with her friends at first, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that making reparations might be one of the hardest things she had ever done. “Talk to me, ‘Mena.” Pinkie popped her head up at the sound of her father’s voice. “You’ve been awfully quiet back there. Are you still thinking about that colt?” “Actually, I’ve mostly been thinking about what we talked about earlier,” she explained, bounding out of the cart and trotting up alongside her father. “I went about dealing with my friends all wrong, running off the way I did, and to make matters worse I even yelled at some of them! I’ve been really rotten, lately.” Her ears drooped as she acknowledged inwardly the truth of her words. It was one thing to think it, but another entirely to admit to it aloud. “I’m… I’m really scared to go back and face them after what I’ve done. What if they don’t accept my apology?” “Well, then they aren’t the sort of friends you need,” Igneous said firmly, though he could tell that wasn’t what his daughter wanted to hear. “You’re really torn up about this, aren’t you?” She nodded, staring at the ground. “You don’t have to worry, then.” “Don’t have to worry?” Pinkie questioned, shaking her head. “How can I not worry?” “Listen, Pinkamena, you’ve known these friends of yours for quite some time now,” Igneous reminded her, veering away from the main road. “You’ve been through things that I hadn’t imagined would be possible, even with magic, and through it all you’ve stuck together and carried one another through the high times and the low. Nearly every letter you’ve ever sent us made mention of some memory you had made with them, and I don’t think that they’ll just up and turn on you for trying to set things right,” he concluded with an encouraging smile. “You really think so?” “I do,” he said confidently. “Besides, letting things like this sit only makes them worse in the long run. You and I both know that you won’t feel like your old self until you’ve made amends.” “Yeah, you’re right,” Pinkie conceded, realizing that their destination had shifted as the train station came into view. “I guess it’s back to Ponyville for me, huh?” “That’s right,” Igneous replied with a nod. Together, they made their way over to the ticket counter. Igneous always kept some bits in the cart compartment, and it was early enough in the evening that there was still a train bound for Ponyville. After purchasing a ticket, they made their way over to the coach. “Pinkamena, listen,” her father began as she readied to board. “I know that Ponyville’s your home now, and that you’ve got some things that you need to take care of, but… come back and visit soon, would you?” “I will, daddy,” she agreed, giving him a loving squeeze. “Regardless of how things go in Ponyville, I think I’ve decided to spend some time with my family after everything settles down. I can’t say when, but I think I’ll be back soon.” “I’m glad to hear it,” Igneous said, pulling away with the faintest hint of a grin. “I’m sure that colt won’t mind.” “Daaad, stop,” Pinkie whined, turning away with a nervous laugh. “I hardly know him. I mean, he seems really nice, and I wouldn’t mind learning more about him, and… you know…” “I’m fairly sure I do,” he replied, chuckling fondly as he motioned towards the coach. “Work first, then play. There’ll be plenty of time for you to fraternize later.” Stealing one last hug, Pinkie waved her father off and boarded the train. It was too early for her to try and get some rest, and her mind was too active anyways, and so it was that she found her mind once again drifting back to Merry and his lamentable situation. “He’s done so much for me already, it just doesn’t feel right not to do my part to help out,” she thought with a sigh. “If I was good at farming, then I could at least help with the garden when I got back, but I don’t know the first thing about growing things. Huh, some earth pony I am.” Her chin fell with a thud on the window sill as she peered listlessly at the darkened landscape. “Actually, I don’t know a whole lot about much of anything except parties and baking,” she realized with a frown. “Growing up” had always been something that she thought applied to everypony but her, and she was starting to see the effects of her procrastination. She hadn’t really thought about what she would do with her life in the long run, what kind of a job she might have, where she would live, or any of the other big questions that seemed to all be crawling out of the recesses of her mind. Living each day as it came had become her mode of operation, and she had been happy with all of that for a time, but she wasn’t so sure she’d be able to go back to being the way she was. “I’m not even sure I want to,” she thought as the train slowly started down the tracks. “This whole mess could have been avoided if I hadn’t been so stubborn.” While the dread that she might be returning only to collide face first into a wall of rejection hadn’t gone away, the more she thought, the more she became certain that she had to go back. If nothing else, her friends deserved an explanation. Beyond that, she found herself hoping that maybe, just maybe, one or two of them might be willing to help her sort out the plethora of new worries that had risen to mind. She was apprehensive and nervous, but she was also ready to learn something new, and it was with that thought that the solutions to a lesser, though still prominent, question was answered, causing her to sit bolt upright. “Of course!” she exclaimed, garnering strange looks from the other ponies on board. “That’s how I can help Merry out. Gosh, that’s so simple! Why didn’t I think of that before?” If she couldn’t help out, then maybe one of her friends could, and she knew just who to ask. With the list of ponies she’d have to talk to growing alongside the rising sense of purpose, Pinkie set her eyes towards the horizon, eagerly waiting to see the twinkling lights of Ponyville calling her home.