We’re Sisters and We’re Gonna Have Fun, Got It? We’re Family. Your Family Matters
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Tiara glares up at me after I pop into existence in her bedroom, floating just out of reach.
“What do you want?” she snarls.
Another popping sound is accompanied by a sheet of paper dropping down onto Tiara’s face.
She rips it away, before looking down at it, reading what’s on it and looking up at with a mixture of a confused and annoyed frown. “What is this?”
The paper she holds up is a flyer for the Sister Hooves Social, happening tomorrow.
I smirk. “A flyer for the Sister Hooves Social.”
She narrows her eyes, tossing it at me, though it turns into a puff of smoke and brushes off me. “I know that! Why are you showing it to me?!”
“I thought that would be obvious,” I say, floating down until I’m standing on her bed, facing her. “We’re sisters, so I thought we should take part.”
She snorts. “You expect me to join those commoners and Blank Flanks in something so stupid? Not a chance.”
I sigh dramatically, putting a hoof to my forehead. “And here I thought I’d found something with which we could try to mend the broken bond of sisterhood we were never able to experience due to our mother leaving me in the hospital all those years and never telling you about me.”
She rolls her eyes. “What, are you taking drama lessons from that dressmaker?”
I let the expression of woe fall and smirk. “Come on, Tiara. I’d have thought you’d jump at an opportunity like this.”
She snorts. “Why? Do you think I’d like to roll around in the mud like a pig?”
I shake my head, shrug and give a dramatic sigh as I turn around to leave. “And here I thought you’d like a chance to win one over on those Blank Flanks you hate so much. Guess I was wrong.”
I’ve barely taken a few steps before her voice calls out. “Wait. What do you mean?”
I glance over my shoulder, smirking. “Well, it just so happens that Sweetie Belle will be competing. I just thought, considering your history with her and her friends, you’d have wanted to take another chance at humiliating her with defeat. Guess I was assuming too much, wasn’t I? It’s not like our mother would be happy if you beat a pony she looks down on.”
I turn away again and push open the door.
“Alright, fine!”
I pause, glancing over my shoulder. “Hmm?”
She growls, looking away and mutters, “I’ll... compete with you in the Sister Hooves Social, okay? But, I’m not doing it for fun or anything, you got that? I’m only doing this so I can beat that Blank Flank!”
I turn around, grinning. “Sure, whatever. Thanks, sis.” Then my expression hardens. “But, we’ve gotta go over some rules.”
She flinches and her ears splay against her head. She gulps. “L-like what?”
I teleport onto her bed, right in front of her, our faces almost touching. “You’re not allowed, in any way, to rub this in Sweetie Belle’s or any of the CMC’s faces after we win, nor are you allowed in any way, shape or form to sabotage the other competitors, got it?”
She whimpers, nodding.
I return to my goofy smile and nod. “Good. Okay, well, we’ll be competing tomorrow. You’d better study up on what the courses will be.” As I finish speaking a book containing all the information on the Sister Hooves Social rules and games appears before and drops onto her bed.
She grumbles and I turn and walk out, smirking. That was even easier than I thought it would be. Sure, I know that somepony beat Sweetie Belle and Rarity... or will. UGH! Time context is so annoying. How does Discord handle it? Seriously.
Well, I’m making sure Diamond and I win. Sure it gives Tiara more of a feeling of one-upmen-ship on a member of the CMC, but I think I should do it. It’ll make the pay of for when she reforms all the better.
Plus, I wanna see if we can at least be a bit more like siblings before her redemption.
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“I still can not believe you talked me into this,” Diamond grumbles as we take our places at the starting line between Dinky and Carrot Top. Diamond and I are both wearing brown neckerchiefs to mark us as a team.
As we stand waiting for the signal for the race to start, Diamond looks around at the other teams competing in the race and frowns in confusion as she looks to the far end.
“Wait. Why’re that Blank Flank and farmer racing together? I thought you said this was a competition for sisters?”
I lazily glance at Sweetie Belle and Applejack standing at the far end, both wearing neckerchiefs of their own, theirs green. “Don’t worry, Diamond. Applejack won’t actually be competing in the race.”
She looks to me, frowning in bemusement. “Um, care to explain just how that works?”
I just smirk. “You’ll find out. Now, focus on winning. Mother wouldn’t exactly be pleased if you lost to a Blank Flank, would she?”
Spoiled, for making causality work so that I have to say these things, you are so going to pay.
Diamond wilts a little, before determination forms in her expression and she faces ahead.
Granny Smith gives the word and the race starts. Diamond and I move fast, Diamond motivated to make sure Spoiled doesn’t get angry at her for losing.
I can’t help being impressed as she plows through the mud pit, and keeps going, not even worried about the mud on her. Guess I gave her more motivation than I thought.
Hearing Applejack’s voice, I glance over my shoulder and see Rarity pop out of the mud, so covered nopony aside from myself, AJ and Apple Bloom know the difference.
With a quick smirk, I speed up and join Diamond as we barrel through the barrels (no pun intended). When we get to the crates, I leap over them no problem, but Diamond struggles, seeing as athletics are not really her strong suit, so I help her up with a hoof.
We reach the pies and she looks uncertainly at me. I smirk and, with a little magic, make them bite-sized and wink. Hey, it’s not cheating. The rules only say we have to eat the pie completely. There’re no rules about using Chaos Magic to compress them. Though Tiara’s gonna feel pretty bloated when the one she ate returns to full size in an hour or so.
Pushing the hay bale is no effort at all for me. Diamond does her best, but, being more in tune with my Earth Pony strength than she is, I’m the one who pushes it. Since I do that fair and square, we lose a bit of ground to Dinky and Sparkler, who get to the barrels and grapes first.
But, it’s no problem. I wink at Diamond and use my magic to toss all the grapes into our barrel and jump in (using my magic to clean my hooves first, of course) and start stomping like a mademare, til our jar is full and we take it over to the stool, just as “Applejack” and Sweetie Belle head off towards the planks with the apples and barrel to catch them in.
I follow “Applejack’s” example and just plop my ass down on the board, sending our apples flying.
However, this is where Diamond’s training under Spoiled comes in handy, it having giving her a perfect sense of balance, keeping the bushel on her head in place and collect the apples.
We manage to get to the chicken coup just after Sweetie and “Applejack” and have to wait for them to go in before we can. And we get through no problem, thanks to Diamond’s perfect sense of balance helping her to carry her egg.
Once we’ve both put an egg in the basket, we shoot off, flashing passed “Applejack” and Sweetie, who are just ahead of Berry Punch and Berry Pinch.
Our trio of teams race neck and neck, until we jump over the ribbon in front of the finish line, causing a storm of dust as we all impact the ground. When it clears, Diamond and I are just a little ahead of the Berries, despite both our teams being over the finish line.
Diamond looks shocked as we’re presented the first place ribbon. The crowd come out and lift us up, cheering.
Diamond smirks, basking in the victory, before I tap her shoulder. “Didn’t you want to understand how Applejack didn’t compete?”
I teleport us back to the finish line, where Sweetie, “Applejack” and Apple Bloom are gather, the yellow crusader saying how the race was so close.
Then, as Sweetie hugs “Applejack”, her Stetson falls off, revealing a white unicorn horn.
“Wait. What?!” Diamond’s mouth drops. “Since when did that farmer have a white unicorn horn?”
Sweetie Belle brushes some of the mud off, revealing a white flank with a trio of diamonds for a Cutie Mark. “Rarity?!” she gasps, said mare then shaking off more of the mud, revealing herself.
“Huh?!” Diamond’s jaw somehow drops further.
“Wait. Where’s Applejack?” Sweetie Belle asks.
A gasp from the starting line draws all our attention over to the mud pit, where the real Applejack, covered in mud, comes out.
Diamond just gapes as Applejack comes over, before turning to me. “Did you have something to do with that?”
I roll my eyes. “Ponies do weird things without needing Chaos Magic, sis. They switched places at the very first mud hole. Told you AJ wouldn’t be competing.”
“I... but... and she doesn’t... and then they... gah?” she just looks from me to the others, speechless.
As Rarity and Sweetie cuddle, Rarity says, “See? We are apple pie!”
“Huh?”
This manages to pull Diamond out of her stupor (you have to be a fun-wrecker sometimes, don’t you Rarity?) and turns to me, an eyebrow raised.
I shake my head. “I’ll explain some other time. It’s sort of a personal in joke between the two older sisters.”
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“I don’t condone being involved in that... ridiculous sporting event,” Spoiled says, waving a hoof dismissively, causing Diamond to wilt and look down sadly at the floor. “However, seeing as you at least won, I can overlook it this time, Diamond.”
A small, half-hearted smile forms on Diamond, which she hides by turning away to head to her room.
When Diamond enters her room, I make myself visible, having watched the whole thing.
“At least I won,” she mumbles, giving a slightly forlorn glance to the First Place ribbon, which she’s set on her cabinet, next to a photo of us that was taken for having been the winners.
“We won, Diamond,” I say, coming over and putting a hoof on her shoulder. “And we had fun, didn’t we?”
Diamond looks down, giving a small chuckle. “Yeah. Yeah, it... it was kinda fun, I guess.”
“Maybe we’ll enter next year?” I ask, tilting my head.
She looks away. “I... no. No, I... I don’t think so.”
I wait for a moment, before sighing. “Okay. Later then.”
“Thanks... sis.”
I stop just before going out the door and glance over my shoulder, blinking. “Um... what... what was that?” Surely I misheard her.
She looks over to me with a weak smile. “Thanks. Today was... fun. Later, little sister.”
The room goes silent for a moment, with us looking at each other, before I break eye contact. “S-sure, Diamond. Any... anytime... big... sister.”
She warms up at that, then turns away and looks at the ribbon.
I watch her for several moments, then teleport away.
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Applejack sighed in relief as she wiped her brow of sweat. After the Sister Hooves Social had ended, she’d helped with the clean up, before returning to her applebucking. It had taken a few hours, it was late afternoon now, but she had pretty much finished.
Sure glad Ah could help Rarity and Sweetie make up, she thought to herself as she bucked another tree, smirking. Sure didn’t expect t’ see Screwball an’ her sister there. Wonder how she managed to convince that prissy filly t’ compete.
She pulled back, ready to buck another tree, when she paused.
She lowered herself and stood up straight, closing her eyes, listening.
The orchard was pretty quiet, save the wind and a few birds. It was one of the advantages of living so far out of town. It was peaceful and quiet... at least when Apple Bloom didn’t have her friends over.
As she stood there, listening, Applejack picked up a sound on the wind. It was faint, but she was sure it sounded like... crying.
Concerned, Applejack stopped what she was doing and headed towards the direction the sound was coming from. It took a few minutes, but, she eventually found the source of the crying on a hill in one of the farthest fields, where the land was a bit more coarse, making it harder to grow apples properly due to being so far away from the river and lake.
She was very surprised by what she saw. Sitting on the top of the hill was a small Earth Pony filly with a pink coat and a purple and white mane and tail. Laying at her side was a small propeller beanie. This, plus the screw and baseball Cutie Mark told her who it was... but what she was seeing her doing was what gave Applejack pause.
Screwball was crying. The tears sliding down her face dripped off of her and slid down the hill, joining a stream that was forming. It took Applejack a second to realize Screwball was literally crying a river, albeit a small one.
Slowly she walked over and sat down next to the sobbing filly.
“Sugarcube?” she asked, reaching a foreleg out and wrapping it around the sad chaotic filly’s shoulders.
It was so bizarre. Since the first time they’d interacted, Screwball had always seemed happy, joking around all the time and just loving life, like Pinkie Pie.
She forcefully repressed a shudder at that last thought and it’s possible implications, and focused on the sobbing pony.
“Sugarcube, what... what’s wrong?” If Screwball was crying a river, it had to be something bad. Though, considering she knew Filthy Rich and how much had cared for both his daughters personally, she couldn’t understand what would have upset the usually enigmatic pink filly so much.
Screwball sniffled a few times, trying to catch her breath. “I... I m-miss my f-f-family.”
The whispered sob caused Applejack confusion. “Um... come again?”
“M-my other family,” the filly whimpered, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes with a hoof, though it proving fruitless. “F-from before.”
Applejack blinked, pausing as she tried to understand the chaotic filly’s words, before she remembered the day they’d all met her.
Screwball had, in her own unique and chaotically confusing way, explained how her body was Equestrian, but her essence, her mind and spirit, had been that of a creature from another world. She was talking about the family she’d been forced to leave behind in that world when Discord had unintentionally brought her to this one.
“I... I tried to forget them,” the younger pony continued, pulling Applejack from her reminiscing and realizations. “I... I used my powers to wipe my memories, thinking it would make things better, so I could just have fun in this world.” She sniffled, trying to wipe her eyes again. “But... it only makes it worse. I... I can’t even remember what my mother looked like, or her voice... or anything.”
Applejack pulled the filly into a hug as her sobs began anew, holding the young pony close to herself, much like whenever she needed to comfort her little sister.
“I... I wanted to forget to be happy,” Screwball continued, her voice slightly muffled by the older mare’s fur. “Things... weren’t going so good back home. My... my daddy had to move out so that my mommy would be happy and my brothers and sisters were alienating him. I was the only one of my siblings who wanted to stay in touch with him. I... I felt like I was being forced to choose between my family or my dad.”
Applejack wasn’t sure how to respond to that. How were you meant to respond to that?
“When... when I realized I was Screwball and... and what I could do, I removed my memories so that I wouldn’t feel sad... but also because I thought I could have a happier life here,” the distraught filly shuddered, whimpering. “I... I miss them all... but I can’t even remember them... and I can’t make myself remember. I... I...”
Applejack quietly hushed her, rubbing her hoof along the filly’s back in soothing motions. “What brought this on, all o’ a sudden?”
Screwball sniffled, before burying herself deeper into the farm mare’s fur. “Diamond... called me sister.”
“Hmm?” Applejack cocked an eyebrow.
She could feel Screwball giving a sad smile against her fur. “She... she thanked me for today at the social and... and called me sis. She... she sees me as her family... as her sibling and it... it made me remember—”
Her sobbing renewed and Applejack just held the trembling filly. She understood the pain Screwball was feeling in a way. Screwball had lost her family from her old life. They were still alive out there, but she’d never see them again.
The fact that a young filly her age, regardless of however old she’d been back where she came from, had to bear such a heavy weight was too much to put on one so young and expect her to cope.
As the sun began to set, Applejack pulled back to see if Screwball was alright now, only to find the young pony had fallen asleep against her coat.
The Apple mare couldn’t help but smile and gently lifted the slumbering filly up and onto her back, and took her home.
Filthy was surprised by Applejack’s arrival, but became concerned when he saw Screwball on her back. Diamond Tiara came out when she heard the ruckus and seemed just as worried for her sister as her father, which Applejack couldn’t help smiling at.
Leaving the filly with her father and sister, Applejack turned and headed back towards her farm.