Pound and Pumpkin Tales 2

by Never2muchpinkie

4-6: Comforting

Leaving their room they went upstairs. Pinkie’s door was wide open, probably because she just didn’t feel the energy to close it.

They saw her on her belly on her bed. Even as they watched she let out a big sigh.

Pound knocked on the door. “Hey, Auntie Pinkie,” he said quietly.

“Can we talk to you?” said Pumpkin.

As they approached Pinkie turned onto her side. “I thought I hinted strong enough that I don’t want to talk about it.”

“That’s okay, Auntie Pinkie. You don’t have to.“

“We just didn’t want to leave you all alone up here,” said Pound.

“I just want to go to sleep,” said Pinkie.

Pound got an awkward look on his face, a slight tinge coming to his cheeks. “You don’t have to go to sleep sad. Would a laugh at our expense help? We had a bad time of it ourselves.”

Pumpkin turned to him. “Oh, Pound. You aren’t really going to tell her about that, are you?”

“Why not? I mean, if it was anyone else I wouldn’t want to, but Auntie Pinkie really needs some cheering up.”

Pumpkin crossed her hooves, blushing herself now. “I guess so."

Pinkie showed a little interest. “I guess I missed something big.”

Pound climbed up on her bed, pulling Pinkie to a sitting position before plopping himself on her lap. Pumpkin quickly followed.

Before they got to storytelling they each gave her a big hug. “I love you, Auntie Pinkie!” the pair said in unison.

A tear came down Pinkie’s face. Just that little bit made her feel a little sunnier. “I love you too.”

Taking a deep breath they began to talk about how their day had gone.

As Pumpkin began to talk about her jealous feelings towards Skyla she hesitated to continue. “Auntie Pinkie, can you promise not to tell anyone else what we’re about to tell you?”

Pinkie moved her hooves. “Pinkie Promise.”

Pumpkin blushed again, then told Pinkie about Pound putting a diaper on her.

Pinkie snorted hard, covering her mouth with her hoof. “Really, Pound?”

Pound chuckled. “Oh, she got me back for that. When I told her I wanted to play she threw my words back at me and put me in one too.”

Pinkie closed her eyes, shaking her head. “You kids are crazy!” She continued to snicker as she tried to imagine that.

The two of them were glad Pinkie was looking less stressed.

They talked about waking Skyla and how they had managed to calm her down, then about how they had utterly exhausted themselves trying to keep her in a good mood, ending with Skyla treating them like babies just as their parents returned home.

“So wait,” said Pinkie, barely suppressing her mirth, “in walked Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and there you were, wearing diapers, sucking on a pacifier and drinking from a bottle as Skyla was trying to rock you to sleep?”

Pound let out a little huff. “Yep.”

Pumpkin nodded, an awkward smile on her face.

Pinkie burst out into hysterical laughter, flopping onto the bed. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!”

If it had been anyone else they might have been bothered at that, but they knew Auntie Pinkie wasn’t laughing at them so much as she just found the concept hilarious.

It took a while for her to get herself under control. Every so often she’d stop for a few moments before losing herself again.

When she finally got all the giggles out she wiped the tears from her eyes and caught her breath. “Whew.” She sat up, looking down tenderly at the two of them. “Thanks, you guys. I… I really needed that.”

They both grinned at her.

Her smile faded. “I know…” She stopped, looking away. “I know I’m usually the happiest, joyful, fun-loving pony around, and I don’t really let stuff get to me, but every so often I just feel… sad.” Tears hovered in her eyes.

The twins began to tear up at seeing her doing it. They thought that she was fine now but it seemed she still needed more cheering up.

“Me and my friends have been given a big responsibility, traveling around the world to help ponies desperately in need of our guidance.

“Sometimes the pressure just gets to me, and I get scared that I’m going to fail. I feel scared that I’m not enough, and because of that fear I made things so much worse. If I had only listened to Fluttershy things could have been resolved so much faster, but I kept pushing when I should have held back, and it hurt to see how my actions wound up causing even more pain.

“In trying to help I caused a big accident, and everyone got mad at me for a while, and the fighting grew harsher.” She sniffed, her tears starting to flow freely. “I was heartbroken. My life’s goal is to make others happy, but I wound up making everyone even more miserable.

“I almost gave up. I felt like I didn’t have any place there anymore. But Fluttershy…” She closed her eyes. “Well, do I even have to say it?”

They shook their heads. “Us and Mayhem and Masky,” said Pound. “Fluttershy is really good at helping ponies with their mistakes and cheering them up.”

Pinkie nodded, her eyes opening again. “Her encouragement made me get back on my hooves and try again.” She stared at the ground for a little while. “Everything did work out in the end. We solved the problem and got to go home, but I still feel bad for how majorly I screwed up.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry you have to see me like this.”

The two immediately hugged her again. “Don’t be silly, Auntie Pinkie!” said Pound. “Everyone gets sad sometimes.”

“And we screw up really badly,” continued Pumpkin.

“But, as we said in the Friendship Journal, making mistakes doesn’t make you a bad pony. You feel guilty about what you did, so we know for sure you’re still a good pony.”

“And hey!” Pumpkin said brightly. “The Map wouldn’t have chosen you if it didn’t know you were the best pony for the job. So forget your dumb mistake. You made up for it and fixed everything in the end.”

Pinkie’s lip quivered, letting out a little sob as she held them tight. After letting out a few breaths she said, “I know I’ve said this a hundred times before, and I’ll say it hundreds and hundreds times more, but I love the both of you so much. You’re always there to lift me up when I’m feeling down. Your love is like a bright light, pulling me out of the darkness.”

“And that light will never go out!”

“That’s right!” Pound said strongly, squeezing harder. “We’ll always be there to brighten your day.”

Pinkie’s body grew more relaxed. “I love all of my friends, but I really feel the two of you helped make me the mare I am more than any other. Watching you two grow, wanting to be the best caretaker I could be, it made me become more responsible. I know I wasn’t as stern as your parents, but as I watched you grow from little babies to the mature foals you are today… I just feel a sense of joy and pride that I was able to play a role in that.

“I’m not a mother, but the two of you are as close to my heart as any child could be to their parents.” She kissed each of them on the forehead. “Thank you, truly, for being an irreplaceable part of my life. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

They looked up at her, their eyes shimmering, as they each kissed her on the cheek. “The same to you, Auntie Pinkie,” Pound said blissfully. “We’d be lost without you.”

“And we hope that you stay in our lives until the day we die,” said Pumpkin.

The three snuggled against each other. No more words needed to be said.

Comments

[badninja]

This was a nice chapter.

[KingJoltik]

Awww...that was so sweet. Gotta love the twins with Pinkie. Such a great *sniff* family. So *sniff* awesome.

Hey, who put these cut onions here?! Stop making me cry!

[Stuff]

Who's who in the picture?

[Never2muchpinkie]

9195379
What picture? Are you referring to the cover art? If that's the case you already know who Pound, Pumpkin, and Flurry are.

The OC's are Masquerade Ball(Masky), top left. Peppermint Swirl, the middle. And Tree Leaf, bottom right.

[Stuff]

9196524
And who's the Draconequus?

[Never2muchpinkie]

9197342 Did you start on part 2? It seem like you should know the characters if you'd read part 1. I mean, that's fine, but most of their characters and backstories were all in part 1.

Anyway, that's Mayhem. All of them appeared sometime after the midway point of part 1, once the story moved from just self-contained stories to the twins going to school.

Tree Leaf is a headstrong colt like Pound, and they had a rough time when he threw sand in Pumpkin's eyes.

Peppermint came next, because Pumpkin needed a unique friend.

Masky was a transfer student that Pumpkin developed a crush on.

Mayhem is a bit complicated. He's not technically real. If you've seen the episode with Luna and the Tantabus then Mayhem is essentially the same thing. He's magic that has it's own personality. Discord can release him out into the real world, but if he uses up all the magic that was put into him then he vanishes and returns to Discord.