Chocolate Chips
Pinkie Pie lay on her side with a frown on her face and her forelegs wrapped tight around a tiny, sobbing Pegasus. That wasn’t really new, or anything – it had been happening more and more and really that was the problem because if it was happening more that meant it wasn’t happening less and that meant that Pound was still having nightmares and that meant that she hadn’t been able to make them go away. And that didn’t make sense. She’d always been good at getting rid of nightmares – she’d been giggling at ghosties and sending them running with their tails between their legs, or maybe not their tails because not all ghosties had tails and it was kinda mean to just pretend they did but they all had something like tails or stingers or claws or pumpkins, but most of them had tails and not pumpkins so – she was getting distracted. That was bad – not always, but right now there were super duper important things to think about and she had to focus.
The point was that she’d been chasing ghosties away just about every single night for her whole entire life, and she’d only met a handful she couldn’t beat. But she’d tried everything she knew how, and none of it was helping poor Pound. She’d sung and danced and told stories and laughed and sung some more. She’d even tried telling him that ghosties weren’t real and couldn’t hurt him, even though she’d felt guilty for days after – she’d always promised herself that she wouldn’t lie to the twins no matter what, and then she had. And it hadn’t even helped! Pound had just looked at her like she was crazy – like she would’ve looked at anypony who’d tried to tell her cupcakes weren’t real! He was a smart cookie. Or maybe a smart Pegasus, since she was pretty sure he wasn’t actually a cookie at all. If he was, he’d probably have been chocolate chip – all sweet and tough and filled with the delicious, chocolatey chips of terror.
And she couldn’t even pick out the chips. Not that anypony would ever want to pick the chips out of chocolate chip cookies – they were totally the best part, and that meant cookies were a terrible metaphor for ponies, which she’d kind of known but never known why and now she did and she was getting distracted again. Probably because she was tired. Or maybe it was just how she was, and all the ponies who’d told her she was too weird or too dumb to look after kids had been right. But thinking like that wouldn’t get her anywhere – except maybe down to Applejack’s for some cider, and as tempting as that was it wouldn’t help Pound. And helping Pound was more important than cider. She just wished she knew how to do it. But all she could really do was hug the little guy tighter – and when she did that, he lifted his head from her chest and peered up at her with big sad puppy dog eyes. Kinda like Rainbow Dash when the weather was really super duper bad and Pinkie asked her not to go out in case she died, except with less wheedling. Rainbow Dash was a really good wheedler.
“Pinkie?” Pound sobbed loudly, in what Pinkie assumed was intended to be a whisper, “How come you can be so happy all the time? Don’t you miss them?”
Pinkie’s first thought was of her own parents, and she had to shake the thought away – it was selfish, and selfish ponies didn’t get smiles. They got frowns. And sad friends. And fewer parties. Besides, Pound had never met her parents – but he had met his own, and he still missed them very much. Maybe that was why he had nightmares? She didn’t know – it wasn’t like his nightmares were about his parents, they were about being lost or alone or being eaten by big scary monsters or once about fire but now he was kind of used to fire and that was good because every baker had to be prepared for fires at all times! But Twilight had said something about bad dreams having a root cause, like a tree but a really mean tree that grew bad dreams and sent them off after ponies, and had roots made of bad memories. So really not like a tree at all. The point was that if she tried talking to Pound and didn;t mess it up this time, maybe it would really help. So she smiled, and rested one hoof on the kid’s head.
“Of course I miss ‘em – I miss them every day, and sometimes it hurts a whole lot, but being sad all the time won’t bring them back. And they wouldn’t want me to be sad – whenever I was sad, or you were sad, or Pumpkin was sad, they used to drop everything just to make it better! They wanted ponies to be happy, and they made my life a whole lot better – they’d want me to smile. And they’d want me to try and make you smile, too. But only if you mean it.”
“But how do you mean it? How can you keep going knowing you’ll never see them again?”
Pinkie paused before she answered. She wasn’t good with words, and she was even worse at voicing her thoughts.
“I always kinda thought life was like a story. Or a song. Maybe both? It doesn’t really matter which – songs are just stories with music anyways. And all stories have an ending – and the ending’s important, but it’s not what makes the story great. That’s what happens in between. All the adventures you have and the friends you make and the stuff you learn; it’s all part of your story, and you just gotta keep going and hope it’ll be a happy one. But the thing with stories is that sometimes they don’t go quite the way you want. Sometimes they get really sad, and things don’t get better. And sometimes they end sooner than you want them to, like your mum and dad’s did. But that doesn’t make the story less beautiful – and it doesn’t mean you can’t be glad you got to share in it.”
“Oh.” Pound was quiet for a long time, and Pinkie couldn’t help worrying that she had said the wrong thing again. Then, quiet as a mouse, he whispered, “Will you maybe tell me their story, sometime?”
Pinkie smiled wider and nodded her head before kissing the little Pegasus on the forehead. “Of course! But not tonight, okay? You need to get some rest. And I think your sister might want to hear this too.”
Pound beamed back at her for a moment before burying his face in her fur again. Soon, his snores echoed through the room, and, as Pinkie began to drift off to sleep, she couldn’t help but feel just a little bit proud of both of them.
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Besides, Smart Cookie was an earth pony, not a pegasus!
Wait... Did you just rip Doctor Who off wholesale?
A short reference is one thing. A pivotal speech the entire chapter revolves around is another.
2484167 I've never watched an episode of Doctor Who, actually.
What'd I do?
2484192
Never mind, I jumbled a couple sources together in my head. Dr. Who had a bit about us all being stories in the end but it's not similar to this speech and I'm sure I heard the "it's the middle that counts" bit somewhere but it must have been a different speech since I'm not seeing it in episode transcripts of that one.
EDIT: Yes, the middle that counts seems to be from a different movie, so it bears some superficial similarities to two things, but that's probably accidental.
The slow reveal of why Pound was crying broke my heart. And Pinkie's outlook is inspiring, a little bit frightening, and incredibly powerful. Now you've got me wishing for Pinkie's story, and I have a bad case of the best shivers.Wow.
Once again a scene from Pinkie taking care of the twins and I love it. That is a full story just dying to be told in full. I have seen a couple stories start down this path and were interesting but they stopped and often started piling on more stuff that just seemed ridiculous. There is enough drama in just Pinkie taking care of the twins (and of course those doubting she can do it) and getting through life without the cakes.
Stories taking a chance with Pinkie are often so much fun and are under utilized, You will often see a Rainbow Dash or Twilight dealing with major issues or love but sadly Pinkie Pie gets left behind in many stories. That is part of the fun in these series of stories even if they are small scenes and one shots.
That was very heartwarming and bitter sweet.
Brilliantly written.
Well! Pinkie does have hidden depths, doesn't she?
2483947 Ha! Wish I'd thought of that - I like it.
2484515 I'm glad you liked it. Pinkie's outlook on life is actually more or less my own, which probably isn't good writing - but it seemed fitting for her, so eh. I'm pleased Pound's sadness was effective; I'm a fan of slow reveals and details, so I'm always glad when my own work.
2484629 I think part of the reason I tend to use Pinkie for things like this is because I think she's the most interesting to explore in these situations. It's easy to say - at least for me - how Twi would react to most things, and Dash is much the same. Rarity and AJ are similarly straightforward. Fluttershy and Pinkie strike me as the least consistent of the bunch - not necessarily the least suited, but the ones that are likely to take the story places I never expected it to go and require me to really think. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
2484720 Thanks.
2485157 Indeed she does.
It is also interesting because Pinkie is a difficult character to get right. Comedy is hard and especially comedic characters not used in their own element however like in this case when it is done well it is fantastic.
I personally find Rarity actually difficult as well. She is a deeper character than most which makes her hard because you must learn to balance her contrary aspects. For example you need to balance her greed/generosity, popularity,devotion to friends, or her desire to stay out of the muck/her surprising frequency she gets her hooves dirty (figuratively of course such as kicking the manticore).
Pinkie is a deep character as well and most have trouble balancing her comedic aspects (such as her random crazy antics) with her positive aspects (such as her caring for others and her rather surprising thoughtfulness at times).
2489439 That's interesting, because I think Pinkie is probably the character I have the easiest time writing - I didn't always, and I used to really struggle with it, but then one day it just... became easy. I think it's because I can tell right away what feels right for her (to me) and what doesn't, so I know if I'm getting anywhere before I've written all that much. My problem back when was that I tended to mentally separate Pinkie the serious character from Pinkie the silly character, and I suspect - though I have no proof - that other people do it too. I'm glad you think I did it well here.
As for Rarity, I agree she's not easy - she can be very difficult to write, because she's deep and conflicting enough that there are a great many interpretations of her that are all just as Rarity as each other. I personally find her more predictable than Pinkie or 'Shy - they tend to get away from me mid story and take me somewhere I never intended to go - but capturing her voice is probably hardest for me out of the characters I think I do sort of okay with. (Those being Pinkie, Dash, 'Shy and Rarity.)
2489721 I find this really funny, because this particular trend is exactly what happened with me and Rarity. I totally didn't get her for the longest time, until I realized that she is an artist, and that all her flaws and strengths and problems stem from that at some level. Once I realized that, writing Rarity started looking a lot more like writing myself, like you and Pinkie or something.
And I wouldn't say it's bad writing at all. I'd say it's true writing, which is why I love it so much, I guess. Bringing your own truth into the mix makes it that much easier for a reader to relate to and feel from your work. And you, sir, do an excellent job of just that, regardless of who you choose to write for. And I'd say that's about as far away from bad writing as you can get.
I love when you write Pinkie POV, because you do it so well. Also nice to see another fic set in the 'verse where Pinkie Pie becomes the twins' guardian. They're always so bittersweet.
2490297 Heh, thanks - I appreciate the kind words. It is funny - and yeah, that's pretty much what happened with me with Pinkie. It's the same thing that happened to me and 'Shy way back when, finding the common thread and just running with it. It's awesome when it happens, n' I'm glad it happened for you with Rarity.
And yeah, you have a point regarding truth in writing - nothing will ever feel believable unless there's something of the person writing it in it, I think. Well said.
2491733 Hehe, thanks. I like writing Pinkie. It's very different to how I usually write, and it doesn't leave me tired like writing usually does - generally quite the opposite.
And aye - I like this set of stories quite a bit, do it's always fun to revisit it. Also, knowing me, we're probably lucky that it's bittersweet and not just constant, unending angst. 
2510871
Maybe some of them got sealed away somewhere, too? Though that wouldn't explain their lack in the pilot.