Several Years Ago
Mrs. Cake took a careful bite out of a freshly finished cupcake, judging its quality with every chew. A young pink filly watched in anticipation, hoping that this time it had gone well. The older mare chewed a few more times, letting out an audible hum as she evaluated the treat, before swallowing with a smile.
“Much better than your last batch Pinkie.” Mrs. Cake nodded with a smile. “You still used a tad too much sugar and a tad too much vanilla, and if you had mixed the batch together for a little longer they would have baked more evenly. However, they get a passing score.”
“Yay!” Pinkie cheered, bouncing in place. “Learning to bake is so much fun! I have to get better faster so I can REALLY help out in the store rather than just helping with deliveries and waiting on hungry ponies!”
“You're almost there dearie! Very soon you’ll be baking as well as me.” Mrs. Cake winked at the happy filly, Pinkie smiling brightly back.
“Hunny Bun, mails here!” Mr. Cake's voice spoke up as he came in through the back door, holding up several envelopes.
“Oh, thank you Sugar Muffin!” Mrs. Cake smiled warmly as she walked over to her husband and kissed him on the cheek, eliciting a happy blush from the older stallion.
“Oh, oh! Anything for me?” The happy filly bounced over to the couple, looking up with an expectant smile. It was pretty rare for her to get mail, but she loved getting mail so much that she asked every day anyway.
“Actually, today you do Pinkie!” Mr Cake said happily, holding up a gray envelope. “If I'm reading the names right, it's from your parents.”
“My parents?!” Pinkie gasped in excitement as she bounced up and grabbed the letter with her mouth. She then bounded to the nearby table and sat down at it, wanting to open it the right way. She placed her hoof carefully underneath the unsealed part of the letter, then slid it along under the flap so only the sticky residue holding it shut came undone. With precision, she now had another perfectly preserved envelop for storing her precious letters in for later.
With the important task of preserving her super special letters complete, she pulled out the perfectly folded paper inside and opened it up. It was a letter from her parents alright, she'd recognize that hoof writing anywhere.
To our dearest daughter Pinkamena,
It is with great delight that we have wonderful news to share with you today. It has been two years since you and Inkantessa have left the farm, and it has been quiet around here without you two. However, we have managed quite well, though we can't deny that we miss the opportunity to raise you two with our own hooves. From your letters it's obvious the two of you are happy out in the world, making a new path for yourselves. We couldn't ever ask you two to return home more than you already do.
It is with that in mind that we decided that it was time for us to expand our family, and fill the house that had grown quiet in your absence. And it is with joy in our heart that we introduce you to the newest member of our family, Maudlin Sue Pie, your new baby sister. We have included a picture of her.
While there is no rush, we hope that you will come and see her in person and will keep her in mind when you come to visit or write your letters in the future. We hope to hear from you soon!
With love, Your Mother and Father
Pinkie then noticed that there was a photo attached to the back of the note with a paperclip. She carefully removed it, gasping in surprise at the sight. In the picture was her mother, laying in a bed and tired, holding in her hooves a small purple maned and gray coated foal wrapped in white blankets.
“Oh my GOODNESS!” Pinkie burst out, jumping up and down. “I'm a big sister! I'm a big sister!” Pinkie vibrated intensely as the joy began to overwhelm her. Her excitement consumed her and she took off like a rocket, bouncing all over Sugarcube Corner. “I HAVE A BABY SISTER THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! I have to plan to go see her right away! Oh we're going to have so much fun together! We'll play games and share stories and she can look up to her big sister and!” She gasped loudly, “I can teach her the baking the Cakes have been teaching me! Oh this is the best thing to ever happen to me!”
“Oh! Oh, Pinkie dear, please, calm down!” Mrs. Cake called out, running up to a counter Pinkie had bumped into and kept the bowls of mixed goods on top from spilling over. “Look, Pinkie, why don't you go upstairs and pack for your trip to see your parents?” She offered with a nervous grin, wanting to get her out of the kitchen while this excited.
“YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!” Pinkie gasped in shock as she came to a screeching halt. “I've got so much planning to do! What am I doing down here?!” With that Pinkie vanished as she raced up the stairs to the room the Cake's had given her.
The Cakes let out a sigh, just grateful they had managed to avoid having their kitchen destroyed by another one of Pinkie's hyperactive outbursts.
O O
O
“MOM! DAD! I'm home!” Pinkie declared as she barged through the small rock farm's front door. The teen filly couldn't contain her excitement the entire trip, she had rocked the entire train car she had been riding in the whole trip, much to the dismay of the other occupants.
“Ah, Pinkamena,” Her father's voice came as he walked around the corner with a smile, “Welcome home.” Pinkie smiled brightly and bounded up to her father, throwing her hooves around him and giving him a big hug. He returned the hug gratefully, though with noticeably less energy.
“I came as soon as I got your letter!” Pinkie pulled back from the hug. “A baby sister! I'm so excited to meet her!”
“I'm sure she's excited to meet you too, though she's napping at the moment so just be quiet when you approach her, okay?” Her father had a bit of a tired drone to his voice, but nothing could take away the pride his voice reflected.
“Okie dokie!” Pinkie whispered loudly, winking at her father. Her returned with a smile, before turning and leading his daughter deeper into the house. In the living room Pinkie spotted her mother sitting in a rocking chair, gently rocking back and forth. In her forearms was a small bundle of blankets with a young foal inside.
Excitement filled Pinkie's heart, but she reminded herself to stay quiet for the baby as she rushed over as quietly as she could. Her mother looked up at her with a smile and placed a hoof against her lips, silently reminding Pinkie to be quiet before looking down at the new foal with a smile.
Maudlin was so tiny in her Mother's hooves, just the tiniest pony Pinkie had ever seen in her life. A perfect little ball of purple and gray that made her heart swell. She wanted to squeal in excitement, feeling it about to leave her throat before she shoved her hooves against her mouth and just let it out as a delighted muffle instead. She had never seen anything so precious.
“Would you like to hold her?” Her mother asked in a quiet voice. Pinkie's eyes widened as she looked up at her mother in surprise, before nodding her head vigorously with a broad smile. “Just be gentle with her, and make sure to support her head.”
Pinkie held out her hooves as her mother carefully handed the small bundle over to her. Pinkie made sure to gently support Maudlin's head before wrapping her other hoof under her tiny body, fully supporting the baby. Pinkie's smile quivered with joy as she looked down at the sleeping baby. She had to hold back tears as her mouth quivered in joy, she was just so happy at seeing her baby sister.
Pinkie gently rocked the baby back and forth in her hooves, just enjoying her time with her new sister. Pinkie froze in surprise when her baby sister suddenly yawned, opening her tiny mouth wide as she drew in air. When she finished yawning, her eyes opened with a half-lidded stare, showing Pinkie her beautiful green eyes.
“Hey Maudlin.” Pinkie spoke quietly, a big happy grin on her face. “I'm your big sister Pinkie Pie! It's so nice to meet you.” If the baby understood her, it didn't seem to react to Pinkie's words. The baby just quietly blinked, before letting out another tired yawn. “Oooooooh, you're just so CUTE!” Pinkie quietly squealed, leaning in and nuzzling her tiny sister.
Though Maudlin's face didn't change, the little foal did let out a single coo in response to Pinkie's affections. That was enough for Pinkie.
O O
O
“Is the cake ready yet?” Pinkie bounced into the kitchen with a big grin on her face, smelling the baking pastry in the oven.
“Not quite Pinkamena, just a few more minutes.” Her mother gently chuckled as she filled a vase full of water.
“Ooooh, I can't wait for Maud to taste it! I just know she's going to love it!” Pinkie eagerly circled around her mother, before looking up at her excitedly.
“I wouldn't get too excited, she's barely a month old Pinkie. She's too tiny to be eating cake.” Her mother gave her a smile before grabbing a pile of flowers next to the sink and started placing them into the vase. “Also, Maud?”
“Yeah, Maud! I thought it was a cute nickname for her, like how I'm Pinkie, or Inkantessa is Octavia! I was trying to decide between Maud or Sue, since both work really well, but we don't really call Inkantessa Inkie anymore, and it didn't feel right unless it was Pinkie, Inkie, and Sue in a row. So Pinkie, Octavia, and Maud made more sense!” Pinkie giggled happily at her explanation, before she stood up on her hind hooves, hanging on to the counter to see what her mother was doing. “Oh, are those flowers for Maud?”
“Oh, no dear, these ones are for Bellamena. I thought it'd be nice to get her some fresh flowers in celebration of her baby sister.” Her mother said somberly as she gently organized the bouquet to look neat.
“Oh.” Was all Pinkie said, blinking at her mother's statement. “Who?” Pinkie tilted her head in confusion.
Cloudy Quartz froze at Pinkie's question, turning her head to stare in disbelief at her daughter. Pinkie just merely blinked back at her, still confused as to who the flowers were for.
“Pinkemena... They're for Bellamena... You're other sister?” Her mother's voice slightly quivered, unable to believe what her daughter had just said.
“My other sister? But Octavia isn't here.” Pinkie furrowed her brow in confusion, not understanding her mother.
“No, not Octavia, Bellamena. Your other younger sister.” Cloudy emphasized her words again as she stared at her daughter, hoping that Pinkie hadn’t genuinely forgotten about her younger sister. Pinkie's held tilted again, as if trying to process her mother's words. After a few moments, Pinkie's eyes opened wide in realization.
“Ooooooh, Bellamena!” Pinkie spoke up, a smile on her face. “Right, right, silly me.” The pink pony giggled as she got back down on all four hooves. “Well tell Bellamena I said Hi when you see her then! I'm gonna go play with Maud till the cake is done.” Pinkie grinned brightly before turning around and walking back out into the living room where her father was currently watching over the young one.
Cloudy stared at her daughter as she left the kitchen, unsure of what had just happened. She was worried about how her daughter had reacted to hearing Bellamena's name, but at the same time she felt like it would be a bad idea to push her daughter about the issue as well.
She decided that it was best to leave it the problem alone for now. She was sure it was an issue her daughter would face in the future, but for now she just wanted her daughter to be happy. And playing with her new younger sister was a good place to start.
Present Day
“Make a wish, it's your birthday party! Let's celebrate your birthday party, Yay!” Pinkie's song finished with a loud cheer, confetti raining down as she tossed it in the air. A now teenage Maud sat with a party hat slightly askew on her head, her face looking ever the same despite the cheerful song. The somber pony took a deep breath, before blowing outwards and extinguishing all the candles of her cake.
Her family clapped their hooves in applause, celebrating the youngest sibling's birthday together. Maud blinked her eyes, the only indication that she was slightly embarrassed by the formalities, but enjoying them none the less.
“That was a splendid song Pinkie, a joy as ever.” Octavia smiled her compliment before turning to Maud, “Was your wish a good one Maud?”
“It was.” The youngest sibling simply said.
“Any birthday wish is a good birthday wish!” Pinkie cheered as she shoved a box in front of her youngest sister, “But I just simply can't wait for you to see what I got you! I know you're going to be so excited!” Pinkie was vibrating on the spot in joy.
Maud reached up to the box and pulled the bow away before ripping the top of the wrapping paper off. She pressed a hoof against the lid and opened the box up. Inside was a large selection of rocks, and to a normal pony that's all they would see.
But not Maud.
“I've been collecting them from around Ponyville for the last year now!” Pinkie said pointing to the one on top. “That one's the newest one I got! I found it when I went gem hunting with Rarity and I noticed the calcification had appeared in a really unique pattern! Or this one, I found it near Twilight's library and saw that the tree-roots had caused a unique pattern of sediments to harden together!”
“I love it.” Maud blankly said, using a hoof to shift through the rocks. “I can tell each rock has a history just from looking at them. I'll be looking through each of them for quite some time. Thank you Pinkie.”
“Oh, I knew you'd love it!” Pinkie hopped in her spot with a large grin. “It was the only gift I could think of that was perfect my littlest sis!”
“Well that's certainly a hard gift to follow.” Octavia chuckled as she handed her own gift to Maud. “But I did put a lot of care into picking it out for you, so I hope you like it.”
Maud opened Octavia's gift with the same care she gave Pinkie's, before pulling out a small jewelry box from it. Opening it, she saw a unique silver necklace with four gems place in a row for display. From left to right they were colored black, pink, grayish-blue, and gray.
“I wanted to get you something that let you know that your sisters were always with you. I hope you like it.” Octavia explained, with a slight worried look on her face.
“Thank you Octavia.” Maud said simply, placing the necklace around her neck and letting it fall against her chest. She seemed quite pleased with it.
“Wow Octi, you really know how to get the perfect gifts!” Pinkie smiled at her older sister, genuinely impressed at how good she was at getting gifts.
“Oh no, you've always been the best gift giver Pinkie, I've only ever tried to match up.” Octavia smiled, trying to push the praise back towards the pink mare.
“They were both perfect gifts, I couldn't ask for anything more.” Maud spoke up, looking at each of her sisters in turn.
“Only the best for our baby sister!” Pinkie smiled brightly, squeezing Maud in a tight hug. “Now let's have some cake! I made it extra special for you this year!” Her smile beamed brightly as she turned to serving the cake to everyone.
The rest of Maud's party was the usual Pinkie Pie birthday party flair. Games, dancing, music, the works. Though Maud preferred smaller celebrations with just her family, that didn't stop Pinkie from going all out and making sure her baby sister had the best possible time.
A few hours into the party Pinkie was enjoying a delectable cupcake she had made when she noticed that she hadn't seen Maud in a little while. A quick search of the house showed she wasn't in one of her usual rooms, so she checked outside. She instantly spotted Maud outside the house, sitting in front of a familiar statue of a certain filly. Pinkie blinked in surprise, but somberly smiled as she walked over and sat next to Maud, looking over Bellamena's grave.
Pinkie reached behind her and pulled out a party hat, gently pulling on the string to stretch it to the right size, before placing on the head of the filly's statue. She smiled as she pulled back, thinking the hat looked cute on her younger sister.
“What was she like?” Maud asked quietly, not looking away from the statue.
“What was Bellamena like?” Pinkie asked for clarity, Maud simply nodding at the question. “I can't remember everything about her because we were so young back then, but I do still have a good image of her. She wasn't a very energetic filly, but she was always happy to spend time with me or Octavia. She looked up to the two of us as role models, wanting to be a part of what we were doing or learning to help us with what we were up to. She loved sitting down and listening to Octavia ramble about her studies, or joining me for a party as I learned how to properly throw them.” Pinkie chuckled at the happy memories.
“You would've loved her Maud, she was a wonderful sister. We were blessed to have her in our life.” Pinkie leaned against Maud, resting against her as she reminisced about their lost sister.
“I never got a chance to meet her. Before I was even born she was gone.” Maud said quietly, her voice unchanging. “Whenever I asked Mom and Dad about how she died, they just tell me she died of a disease. But they never specify what disease or how she got it. There's just a sad look in their eyes and they refuse to tell me.”
Pinkie blinked in surprise, tilting her head to look up at Maud who was still staring at the statue. “Maud?”
“Can you tell me how she really died? I know at least that it wasn't a disease, but I don't know what else it was.” Maud turned to look at Pinkie. Pinkie could tell that her sister was serious about the question. She stared at her younger sister for a moment, before letting out a small sigh and lifting herself off of Maud and gave her a sad smile.
“If that's what you really want Maud... Are you sure you're ready to hear the story?” Pinkie hesitated, but didn't want to lie to her baby sister.
“Yes. I wouldn't ask if I wasn't ready. I just want to know the truth sis.” Maud turned to Pinkie, staring at her. Pinkie could tell that Maud was being serious and she couldn't deny her when she was being this serious. Pinkie took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Alright, I'll tell you. But... It's a rather sad story. One that even I only came to terms with about a year ago.” It took Pinkie a moment to prepare herself emotionally and figure out how she wanted to say it.
“It happened back when we were young, too young to really know better in the world. At the time, Octavia had gotten really heavy into her studying, so Bellamena and I were left to play on our own a lot.” Pinkie lifted a hoof and pointed off to the distance of the rock farm's border. “Near the edge of the farm, there used to be a rather large forest that stretched for miles, not unlike the Everfree Forest near Ponyville. It's been considerably cut down since then, on account of what happened.
“You see, in that forest used to live a pony. A stallion who had just barely become an adult himself. No one knew he lived in that forest though, so imagine my surprise when exploring near the edge of the farm one day, he comes out of the woods to meet me.” Maud sat quietly listening as Pinkie looked up towards the sky, a somber smile on her face. “What surprised me the most though, was that he had the same cutie mark as me. Three balloons, though his were dark red instead of my blue and yellow.
“He invited me to a party of course, it was his talent after all. I was so excited I didn't want to party alone. So I went back to the farm and I invited everyone to go!” Pinkie chuckled hollowly at that. “But Mom and Dad were busy with paperwork to keep the farm afloat, and Octavia was busy studying. So, that left only me and Bellamena to go to the party.
“He was quite happy with that, as you can imagine. He took us deep into the woods where his house was. A little wooden shack in the middle of the forest, to this day I don't know how it got there. We went inside and well, at first it was just a normal party. We played games, ate snacks, danced to music, and had a great time.” Pinkie lowered her head, her smile fading. “But of course, it didn't stay that way.
“At some point, we started playing Pin the Tail on the Pony, and I was blindfolded. Not knowing what was happening, he led me into a cage and locked me inside. With Bellamena on her own, he was easily able to subdue her and...” Pinkie's voice hitched, remembering the next part of the story. “...Long story short... Bellamena didn't come back alive...”
“Sis...” Maud spoke up quietly, Pinkie quietly shaking her head with a sad smile.
“I'm alright.” She assured her baby sister. “I got lucky. I don't know how long he had me captured at his house, but somehow the police managed to find us. They captured him and freed me. And well... That's what really happened.” Pinkie looked at Maud with a somber smile. “And that's the truth of what happened to Bellamena. We agreed not to tell you because we were worried you wouldn't be ready to know the truth... But since you asked...”
Pinkie blinked in surprise when she suddenly felt hooves wrapping around her. Maud quietly rested her head under the nape of Pinkie's chin. Pinkie smiled and wrapped her arms around Maud, returning the hug happily.
“I'm sorry that happened to you Pinkie.” Maud spoke quietly, comforting the older pony.
“It's okay. It happened a long time ago, and I've since come to terms with it.” Pinkie smiled, gently stroking Maud's hair as they hugged. “A few years later Mom and Dad had you. And I couldn't be happier to have you in my life Maud.”
The two of them stayed in their embrace for a few moments longer, before Maud pulled away and gave her older sister a rare smile. “Thank you for telling me sis. It means a lot to me.”
“You're my baby sister, I'd do anything for you.” Pinkie smiled, placing her hooves on Maud's shoulders before leaning in and kissing Maud's forehead.
“It also explains why Mom and Dad have been so protective around strangers with me.” Maud spoke with the faintest hint of humor in her voice. “I’d always wondered about, but it all makes sense now.”
“Yeah, I imagine Mom and Dad would just want the best for you after everything that happened.” Pinkie chuckled happily at that, before standing up. “Now come on, let's go back inside and enjoy the rest of the party. Bellamena would've wanted that.”
“Sure.” Maud nodded her head, and the two of them began to make their way back into the farm house.
A gently breeze blew through the rock farm, gently tilting the party hat that had rested on the statue of the long since passed sister.