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A Stubborn Apple2,860 words
Four Slices of Pie3,794 words

Four Slices of Pie

You enjoyed quietly the silent company of your book after a good dinner. The sun was already hiding and you could hear how the ponies shared goodbyes. This was the time for you to prepare to go to work, but today was one of those days where work will come to you. Idea that doesn’t excite you because some foals, especially unicorns, could wreak havoc on your house in matter of seconds.

Luckily, today you had to take care of four fillies a bit older than your regular cast; all earth ponies. They were the Pie sisters, daughters of Cloudy Quartz and Igneous Rock. From older to younger they were: Maud Pie, Limestone Pie, Pinkamena Pie and Marble Pie. And you’ll have to take care of all of them until their parents come back from a meeting of the old members of the Rock University of Equestria.

Just when you passed a page of your book, you felt the sound of hooves against your wooden door. You put the marker on the page and went to open the door with a smile.

“Greetings, Human, I am Igneous Rock,” said the father as he held his hat against his chest. He proceeded to introduce you to his family.

His wife greeted you with a cordial nod. Maud, a gray filly with Cutie Mark – a rock – stared at you as if she read your soul. Limestone’s lime eyes were narrowed at you all the time, except when a strand of her white mane covered them. Pinkamena… well… she smiled… a lot; she too had a Cutie Mark, three balloons, two blue and one yellow. And the little Marble, who looked at you with the mixture of fear and curiosity you were used to deal with.

Just when you were going to talk, Pinkamena exploded. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! Who are you? What are you? What’s your name? What’s your favorite color, dessert, princess, painting, flower, book, cloud? Do you like parties?”

“Pinkamena, show respect,” said her mother, but the smile on the pink ball’s face never disappeared. “Go with your fillysitter, all of you.”

The fillies came into the house in a perfect line. Instead of walking, Pinkie was bouncing. His parents paid you in advance and left your home. You thanked them for trusting you and you turned around to find four pairs of eyes fixed on you. It was eight o’clock, so you just had to entertain them for an hour before sending them to bed.

“Are they gone?” Limestone asked.

“Yes, they just–”

“Party!” Pinkie took a cannon out of her tail and fired a cloud of confetti that turned your living room into a multicolored ocean. Streamers hung from all the walls. There was a horde of balloons flying around your living room. Your house looked like circus, lion included, who found your sofa very comfortable.

“What!? Girls! Come here,” you shouted as you walked towards them.

Like the ninety-five percent of the foals, after hearing these words, each one ran away in a different direction. Maud, however, walked calmly to the kitchen, where she stopped to contemplate the beautiful mosaic of Celestia sitting on her throne that was next to your fridge.

You knelt next to her to contemplate it from her perspective. “Do you like the mosaic, Maud?”

“Mosaics are my favorite art form after comedy, especially those made with calcareous rocks like this one.”

“I didn’t know it was made out of that. I guess you learn something new every day.”

The filly’s face remained expressionless. But there was something in you that told you she was on your side. Thank goodness, because you will need all the help you could get to face her sisters.

“Do you want to hear a joke?” Maud asked.

The noise of something expensive breaking made a chill ran down your back. But you stayed firm in your place. “S-sure,” you said before your eye twitched.

“What did a rock say to another rock?”

“I don’t know. What did a rock say to another rock?”

“...”

“Oh, I understand rocks don’t speak,” you said as you avoided eye contact with her. By doing your best, you managed to fake a good laugh. “Ha, ha, ha! Whoa, that was… very funny, yes. It… it sure was…”

“I knew you will love rock jokes. Pinkie likes them too.”

You took Maud in your arms and stood up. She stared at the floor with total blankness.

“This is how you see the world? You are too far from the ground to enjoy the rocks on the road.”

“It doesn’t matter how tall you are; the rocks will always be there for you.” Your words managed to make Maud smile. Or maybe was just the lighting… You weren’t sure.

When you left the kitchen, you found yourself trapped in what appeared to be a giant ball pit, only that, instead of balls, it was full of giant balloons. With Maud pressed against your chest, you entered the jungle of helium. The first thing you found was your couch, where the lion looked at you with a “well hello there, lunch” face. Your eyes interconnected with the lion’s as you walked backward. Luckily, a balloon hid you, moment you ran away as fast as you could.

The race took you to the other side of the room, right where Marble was. She was smiling at the sight of her pink sister wearing a miniature ringmaster costume with a hat of the size of her head.

“And now,” announced Pinkie, “let’s enjoy with the harmonic meows of the amazing, singing cats!” Pinkie took out a blowpipe from her hat and shot the balloons, revealing six cats on your bookshelf. Marble stomped her excited hooves.

“How much do you have to pay to see the show?” you asked Pinkie.

“Nothing if you are family. The others, a big smile.”

“A smile like this?” you said, showing Pinkie your best smile. Maud, on the other hand, stood the same.

Your smile was soon reflected in Pinkie’s shining teeth. “Take a seat next to my dearest little sister.”

As the ringmaster commanded, you sat next to Marble and put Maud by her side.

Pinkie jumped aside and the music started. Each cat meowed at his own pace. Soon, you could find a pattern in the meows. A Persian cat, that looked like a hedgehog due to the static of the balloons, marked the rhythm as if he was a drummer while a pair of Siamese cats were meowing very quickly, as if they were two crazy guitarists. One of the cats was on its hind legs meowing loud and clear as if it was a pianist. And the last two cats made all the melody of the song.

You heard something behind you, so you turned to see. There, on the sofa, was the lion headbanging. Unsure of what you saw, you rubbed your eyes, and when you opened them again, you saw him making the windmill with his long mane. To protect your mental health, weakened inch by inch since the day you came to Equestria, you decided to look at the cats and at nothing more than the cats.

That’s when you heard a dog bark.

All the cats ran away in different directions at such speed that the only way to follow them was to listen to the chain of exploding balloons. They escaped through the windows. Silence flooded the room for a few seconds until you decided to eradicate it with a slow clap. Applause with which you won a thumb up from the lion.

“All the kittens left?” Marble asked you with her damp eyes fixed at you.

“No, I think there’s one that’s still here, wait a minute,” you said with a smile. Dodging the few remaining balloons, you went up to the stairs to your guest room, room that you had prepared for when a foal has to stay in your house. You opened the chest with toys in front of the bed and grabbed a stuffed kitty.

“Look, Marble, this is Fluffy and he wants to play with you.”

Marble took the stuffed animal and gave it a big hug as you mentally celebrated another victory. Two more to go.

You left the oldest and youngest sisters playing with Fluffy and went in search of the other two. Walking between the mountains of confetti and streamers, you came to the dining room, where you found Limestone staring with interest at the ceiling. There was Pinkie, swinging from your chandelier at the same she juggled the plates with her hind legs.

“Behold the amazing wonders of Pinkie’s Traveling Circus,” said Pinkie with a smile that didn’t fit on her little face.

“Pinkie, get off that chandelier right now!” you said with a raised tone and a rushed heart.

Pinkie dropped the plates and they stayed suspended in the air. Yes, they did. She stepped out of the chandelier. Your heart shrink as you saw her doing pirouettes in the air. She landed on a big apple jelly that had just appeared on the table. She bounced and, in the air, she kicked all the plates straight to their places on the table. Her poofy tail got tangled in the chandelier as she opened her hooves with energy.

“Super somersault jump with return and table-set included! Ta-daaaa!”

Limestone stomped the floor with her hooves so fast that she looked like a bumblebee. You too clapped at the pink filly who was beaming upside down. The smile on her face didn’t fade away until you stepped on a chair and caught her. With one hand you adjusted her hat and put her on the ground, next to her sister.

“All right, little ones, I think it’s been too much emotion for a day. Don’t you think?”

“Of course not!” Pinkie yelled with a smile. “This is nothing compared to Faust’s Traveling Circus! We need more excitement; we need a grand finale.”

“Oh, and what have you planned?” you asked.

Pinkie pulled a baton from her mane and marched off to the living room while you and Limestone followed her between mountains of streamers. You didn’t know how those foals could sail so well between so much confetti. Pinkie stopped right in front of the lion and called all her sisters. You joined the foals, sitting next to Limestone.

“Fillies and… you!” said Pinkie pointed her baton at you. “We have a special guest with us tonight. I would like to welcome a pony who bears danger for Cutie Mark. Stomp those hooves for Brave, the lion tamer, Brave the fire eater, Brave–!”

The lion tapped Pinkie’s shoulder, when she turned around, the lion gave her a piece of paper. Pinkie’s face darkened as she read it.

“Brave the patient in intensive care…” All of Pinkie’s happiness vanished at the same time her hair deflated like a balloon. Her funny hat fell to the ground.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” you asked with a gentle tone.

She shook her head as she tried to control her shaking lips, but by doing this, she couldn’t stop a tear that slid down her face. All her sisters exchanged looks between you and her.

You took Pinkie into a warm hug. She tried to escape for a second, but she gave up and nuzzled your chest. She squeezed you tightly as if you were a giant plush. You could feel how her sour tears dampened your clothes. Her sisters looked at you as if you were going to solve the problem at any time. And you won’t fail them.

“Hey, look at me, Pinkie.”

She didn’t move.

That’s it! It was time to use your fillysitter super powers. You gave a little caress to her cotton candy mane and scratched the back of her ear. Her sobs of sadness turned into chuckles. You could hear her laugh as she kicked one of her legs.

“That tickles!” she said with a smile.

You passed your thumb through her face to catch a little tear. “See? It isn’t that bad.”

“But…” She looked to her sisters worried gazes. “Like our dads won’t take us to the circus, I just wanted to make my own circus party so we all could have fun, but…”

“But what? You totally did it; you made us all laugh with the juggles, the cats and this… charismatic lion.” The lion nodded with your words.

“That’s true, we had a lot of fun,” said Limestone.

“But–”

“No buts, Pinkie” said Maud with her calm voice, “remember the old saying: the show must go on. If plan A goes wrong, just jump to plan B. Everything will be fine as long as you don’t give up.”

“Yeah!” Limestone yelled. “What do you need, a pony who puts his head in the lion’s mouth? Well, I’ll do it for you, little sis.”

Pinkie’s face lit up, but something inside of you exploded. “Of course none of you is going to stick your head in there! I’ll do it.” When you wanted to realize the stupidity you had said, you were face to face with the lion and with four spectators looking at you with sparkling eyes.

“Open big and wide, Joe,” said Pinkie.

The lion’s mouth was so open that your head and the four fillies fit there. Cold sweats ran down your the back of your neck. Slowly, you approached the lion. A voice in your head told you to run away from there, but you didn’t listen to it. You knew that if you ran away you wouldn’t just disappoint them; one of them will end up substituting you. So you did what had to be done.

You tilted your head slowly to avoid brushing those sharp and shiny fangs at all costs. An unpleasant smell of rancid flesh invaded your nose. You held your breath and kept stretching your neck inside the beast. As much as you wanted to open your eyes, they refused to cooperate. The moment you felt his tongue against your temple, you almost let out a scream, but for nothing in the world would you do something that could bother the lion. Your heart was beating so fast that you thought it was going to explode, and it wasn’t until your nerves made it miss a beat that you yanked your head out of the mouth.

“Stomp those hooves for our fillysitter!” Pinkie shouted, wearing her costume with joy one more time.

The foals stomped for you as you cleaned the puddle of lion saliva on your face. She gave two bits to Joe and he left your house with elegance. Before closing the door, he hit his chest twice and gave you a V with his claws.

“That was amazing!” Limestone said as she ran toward you. You took her in your arms to stroke her mane, trying to relieve yourself of the trauma you had been through.

Pinkie appeared from the kitchen, pushing some kind of vacuum cleaner with a face painted with crayon. She turned it on and, in less than a blink, there was no confetti nor streamers nor any other party material in your house. “Here ends another great show of Pinkie’s Traveling Circus! Souvenirs at the exit.”

Maud’s expressionless face looked at the clock on the wall. “Time to sleep.”

It was just eight and a half o’clock, but the chain of yawns around you warned you that they were close to their limits. Just when you got off the couch, it was your turn to yawn. Now that the house was clean, it was easy to guide the fillies to their room. They followed you in a perfect line.

It was a wonderful: each one following her older sister without question. They lined up in front of the bathroom, and when each one left after using it, the other entered. One by one they all ended up in bed. Marble, who was the last one to leave the bathroom, asked you if she could sleep with Fluffy. You smiled at her as you passed a hand over her silky, soft mane.

“Of course you can.”

After putting them in bed, you sat next to them with one of your night stories books.

“Have you ever been in a circus?” asked Pinkie with that smile that none of her sisters could copy.

“Been? Please, I once had a circus,” you said as you let the book aside.

All the fillies raised their ears when you said that. A mixture of incredibility and emotion painted their faces, except Maud’s… she… at least was looking at you.

“Yes, you heard right, and now I’m going to tell you something that happened to me. One day, I was helping the clowns with their jokes when Bubbles, a big and pink hippo, asked me to let her try a different act. Do any of you know which one she wanted to try?”

“Eat fire!” said Limestone.

“Nope.”

“Juggling?” asked Marble.

“No.”

“Comedy?” asked Maud.

“Na-ah.”

“All the above?” asked Pinkie.

“None of those. Bubbles told me she wanted to be a trapeze artist.”

All the girls looked at you with raised eyebrows. You answered them with a smile.

“I know, I know. Everypony in the circus said no to her, even I thought it was crazy. But she didn’t listen to any of us and, in the middle of the show, she climbed to the top of the tent and jumped to the trapeze. There she began to leap through the air between the applause of the audience, giving us the best performance I had ever seen in my life.”

“That’s amazing! You have to show us your show one day,” Pinkie said as she tried to shake off the blanket, but you tucked her back in before she spread her emotion and revolutionized her sisters.

“She is not real, Pinkie. This was just a metaphorical story to encourage us to never stop chasing our dreams despite what others say about us,” said Maud.

However, your smile never disappeared. “Who knows, Maud? Who knows?” You turned off the lamp and left the room.

You went back to your couch to continue your journey between the pages of your book. When you sat down, you felt something on your back, so you shook your clothes. A piece of confetti slid to the floor. This sketched a smile on your lips.

After writing some good words with a phoenix feather on the parchment, you grabbed the magic lighter that the non-unicorn, royal counselors use. Green flames consumed the letter and it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Your alarm clock rang at five in the morning, an hour before the parents of the fillies came for them. After finishing using the bathroom and putting on comfortable clothes, you opened the door to see how the girls were doing. The four of them slept calmly between hugs, until you heard Pinkie say something about the queen of the hippos. You tried not to d’aaaaw until you left the room so you won’t wake them up.

Just at the promised time, Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz came for their daughters. When you told them they were sleeping upstairs, they accepted your invitation to breakfast before waking up the girls.

“I hope they did not bother you very much,” said Igneous after sipping his coffee.

“Everything was fine. Except for a crazy circus party that Pinkie throw, all good.”

The faces of the parents became as pale as snow. Igneous got up from the chair and put his hat against his chest. “By Celestia! We’re sorry that you had to go through that.”

“We knew that Pinkie would do something like this, which is why we came to you in the first place,” Cloudy said sadly. “That girl has something inside. We even hired the services of an exorcist, but nothing works.”

You stared at the parents for a while, pupils totally shrunken. The filly did have something inside: excess of energy, sugar and poofiness. But none of that required an exorcist. She just needed something, and you knew exactly what.

“I’m afraid that won’t work, Mrs. Quartz. If you want her to be quiet, you just have to discharge her first.” You took the envelope your dear friend sent you last night and gave it to Igneous. He opened it to find six entries for Faust’s Traveling Circus. “This is the medicine she needs, word of fillysitter.” The gesture illuminated the faces of the parents, although they apologized for the behavior of Pinkie about three more times.

The girls woke up to the tender gesture of a kiss from their mother. They had breakfast with you and their parents and when they finished eating, they said goodbye to you with a smile and a hug.

“You’ll take care of us again the next time we’re alone, right? Please say yes,” Pinkie said with those puppy eyes you had to fight every day; and always defeated you.

“Of course, Pinkie. But if you only want to play with me, why don’t we do it tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?”

You chuckled. “You’ll see.”

The show was about to start. The foals ran to their seats, dropping popcorn all over the tent. You drank quietly your favorite drink as you stared at the six empty seats beside you. Your peace faded away when you saw the owners of the seats appear.

A ball of pink hair ran to you and hugged you so hard that you almost spilled your drink

“You’re here! I missed you so much.” She gasped. “Now I have to throw a we-are-friends-for-a-day party. I have to start filing these things.”

You giggled. “Maybe in a secret cave.”

She rubbed her chin. “That may work…”

Her parents greeted you as Marble and Limestone jumped next to Pinkie on your lap. As soon as your eyes and Maud’s crossed, you saw her lips turn around in a smile, smile you returned to her.

The lights went out, leaving only a light that illuminated the shining hat of the ringmaster mare.

“Fillies and gentlecolts! Welcome Faust Traveling Circus!” As the shouts of excitement from the audience died down, the director continued, “I am proud to start today’s show with the act of Bubbles, the incredible trapezist hippo!”

“WHAT!” shouted Marble, Pinkie and Limestone in disbelief.

You let out a relaxed sigh as you crossed your legs and put your hands behind your head. “Dreams, what are they but the engines that move our lives. What do you think, Maud?”

The little filly looked at you with a lighted face and give you the slowest, strangest wink you had ever seen in your life.

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