“I quite liked that movie,” Tarnish said to whomever might be listening as they exited the theatre together. “The Parasprite Effect. I can identify with it. One little event leading to other events.”
“Like burning away poison joke, which leads to a volcano exploding.” Maud stepped out into the dark night, brushed up against Tarnish, and then found herself being assailed by her sister Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie, who had climbed up onto Maud’s back, had grabbed the corners of Maud’s mouth and pulled upwards. “Smile, Maud. You look and sound a little gloomy. Sure, something awful happened, but there is no need to be a grump. Things worked out okay in the end and everything is fine.”
“Seemed a little far fetched to me,” Igneous said, grumbling as he turned towards the train station. “One parasprite eating a flower, which in turn leads to a worldwide famine.”
“It’s allegory… little events that seem inconsequential can have repercussions, which in turn cause even more stuff to happen, which leads to even more stuff. Daddy, the movie is supposed to make you think about how what you do affects everypony and everything else.” Limestone nudged her father and smiled. “You and Mama both had me and Marble. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but look at how the world has changed. I bet you’re going to end up with Sonneur as a son in law. Or Maud… something you did changed the whole world and made another pony very, very happy.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty happy alright,” Pinny said.
“Mom…” Tarnish gave his mother a glance as Igneous let out a chuckle.
“Everything we do leads to a string of consequences, consequences both good and bad. The Parasprite Effect was just trying to show us that we do have the power to have an impact upon the world, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant we are,” Limestone continued.
“Rainbow Dash’s rainboom changed a whole bunch of ponies’ lives,” Pinkie Pie said, still sitting on Maud’s back, her hooves still hooked into the corners of her sister’s mouth, causing Maud to have a ridiculous rictus. “This is why I try to be nice to ponies, I try to remember their birthdays, I try to remember what makes them special… sometimes, a pony can have a real bad day, or feel like nopony cares, and then everything just sort of spirals out of control in a bad way. But just one pony showing that they care, remembering a birthday, or saying that they care can change everything. I wonder how many villains turned out to be villains just because nopony remembered their birthday.”
“I could have ended up a villain,” Tarnish said in a low voice as they all walked together down the street. Hearing Pinkie Pie laugh, Tarnish lifted his head to look up at her. “Sure, you laugh, but I found myself in a pretty dark place. I got banished. I was lonely. I didn’t think anypony cared. Isn’t that how villains are made?”
“Huh.” Pinkie tugged on Maud’s face a bit more, forcing her sister to make silly faces and expressions. “That makes me kinda sad to think about it. Me and my friends might’ve had to come and fight you, or deal with you somehow. Now I feel really sad, because I like you.”
“You were always nice to me, Pinkie… even when everypony else seemed to hate me.” Tarnish, walking beside Maud, lowered his gaze and stared down at his front hooves as he walked. Staring down, he looked at his amulet, which was still blue, but not a nice light blue like he liked. “And if Maud hadn’t found me…”
“Maybe a single parasprite can cause worldwide famine,” Igneous said as he walked with his family, his old face wizened with concentration. “Just like one pony can make a difference.”
“We can’t go home,” Cloudy said as she came to an abrupt stop, the train station just a few dozen yards away. “We can’t go home.”
“Sod it, Cloudy, don’t act like a silly filly… we’re going home,” Igneous said to his wife of many years. He came to a stop as well, staring at his wife, his stern face contorting with annoyance. “Why can’t we go home?”
“The surprise,” Cloudy replied, being cryptic. “It’s dark. They’ll see it, but they won’t be able to see it very well. It will ruin everything. We need daylight.”
Chewing on his lip, Igneous did not reply. He stood there, his tail swishing, and he turned to look at both Maud, Pinkie Pie and Tarnish. Pinkie Pie was still on Maud’s back, making Maud make funny faces.
“We take them home, when we get close to home, we blindfold them, lead them the rest of the way, lock them in Maud’s room for the night since the window faces the other way, and then in the morning, bright and early, we drag them out of bed and show them the surprise.” Limestone nudged her mother as her sister Marble nodded to show support for the idea.
“Blindfolding Maud and I before locking us into a room together… I like this plan.” Tarnish turned to look at the brightly lit train station and then turned his head once more to look at the Pie family. Igneous was glaring back, looking less than amused. It had been a long day for the old stallion. Tarnish looked away and gulped.
“Well, come on then, let’s go home,” Cloudy said.
The train, almost empty, rocked back and forth on the tracks. Tarnish, sitting by the window, stared out at the starry sky, almost half asleep. It would be about midnight when they reached Rock Haven and then there would be the long walk home, some of which would be blindfolded.
“Tarnish?”
Hearing Marble’s whispered words, Tarnish lifted his head away from the window. Marble was sitting across from him, leaning against the window very much like he was, and Limestone pressed up against Marble, sleeping.
“I’m really glad that you’re okay. When we got the news, we were all pretty crushed.” Marble licked her lips, blinked a few times, and then looked Tarnish in the eye. “Thank you, Tarnished Teapot, for looking after my sister.”
“She looked after me first,” Tarnish replied. He glanced over at where Maud and Pinkie Pie were sitting together, and could hear the faint sounds of them talking.
“This hit Pinkie Pie pretty hard… she and Maud have always been real close. Real, real close. Pinkie was in a bad state of mind for a while. I hope you don’t mind sharing Maud with us, because we need her too.” Marble swallowed, still looking nervous. “You have all of us, Tarnish, so, if you do share Maud, one of us will be glad to keep you company.”
“Thank you, Marble,” Tarnish replied.
“Don’t mention it.” Marble’s gaze shifted and she looked at Pinny, who was leaning on Tarnish and sleeping. “How’d we get stuck as the pillow ponies anyhow? Ugh, Limestone weighs a ton, she’s been eating too much of Mama’s rock hard fudge.”
Marble, who had to work to inhale, did so, straining against Limestone’s weight. “So what was it like? The volcano I mean… but if you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.”
“It all happened so fast.” Tarnish closed his eyes and pressed his cheek against the cool glass. “We started running. Well, Maud ran and carried me. I would have never been able to keep up… I can’t run as fast as Maud I don’t think. She ran until her body gave out, and then it was up to me. I’m not as fast, but I’d like to think I did pretty good carrying Maud and what was left of our gear.” Blinking, his eyes opening, Tarnish looked at Marble. “The trees all turned to crystal. The magic made everything strange. Poison joke kept sprouting up from the ashes. It sort of looked like it had snowed, but everything was grey.”
Marble felt her whole body tremble as Tarnish spoke.
“I’m still putting everything together, I guess. I was so focused on surviving.” Tarnish lifted his head away from the glass, his body shifting, and his mother, still leaning on him, snorted as he moved. He watched her ears twitch as he spoke his soft words.
“Before the volcano even happened, we started seeing some strange stuff. Glowing crystals, new species of plants, everything was strange, Marble. They burned away the poison joke and the world around where it used to be went sour, like milk left out in the sun.”
“Like a parasprite eating a flower,” Marble said to Tarnish, her face solemn and subdued. “That movie… with everypony talking afterwards, I couldn’t seem to find a chance to say something, but that movie really made me think. It seemed pretty silly at first, but I get what the movie was trying to say. It’s like dropping rocks into a pond and watching the ripples.”
“Have you and Sonneur been dropping rocks into a pond together?” Tarnish asked.
Marble, blushing, let out a wordless stammer, then giggled, and then just stared at Tarnish, unable to reply. She tilted her head forwards and her mane fell in front of her face, hiding it.
“You like him, don’t you?” Tarnish asked.
“I think he’s the one,” Marble replied in an almost breathless whisper.
“Oh really?” Tarnish’s eyebrow raised and he listened as Marble continued to giggle. “Have there been a few exciting dates?”
“We like to sit and read together.” Marble took a deep breath, her face almost turning purple, and her breathing quickened. “Sometimes, I’ll look up from my book, and see that he’s staring at me. When he sees that I’m looking, he looks away, and he gets all embarrassed, and he makes this adorable face, and he’s the one, I think.”
“Well, that does sound exciting.”
“You know, Tarnish, if it was anypony else that said that, I’d think they were being sarcastic and mean… but I’ve seen how you are with Maud.” Marble took a deep breath and then beamed at Tarnish. “Thank you… it’s exciting for us.”
“And that’s all that matters.” Tarnish glanced over at Maud and saw that Maud was whispering something into Pinkie Pie’s ear. He smiled at her, and then looked back at Marble. “Maud and I dance… I find it exciting. We also do plenty of studying together. We have lots of quiet moments that I’d imagine other ponies might think are boring.” He heard Pinkie Pie giggling and when he turned to look, he saw that Pinkie was covering her mouth with her hoof.
“I’m gonna finish school, then I don’t know what I’ll do. I plan to go into business with Limestone… the bat guano mine is a good opportunity to learn and make a fair bit of money. Somewhere along the way, I’ll probably start leaving little notes in Sonneur’s books, dropping hints that I want to marry him. I’m looking forward to life.”
“I wish you the best of luck… I don’t know what’s going to happen next for Maud and I.” Tarnish saw Pinkie Pie hugging Maud’s neck as she whispered secret words into Maud’s ear.
Marble gave Tarnish a bashful smile. “Well, when we get home, the surprise might influence your plans a little bit.”