S2 E13: Baby Cakes (What If?)
Winter had just given way to spring in Equestria, and for Ponyville that meant only the second time it had managed to get winter wrapped up on time thanks to Twilight. Now a new development had drawn the attention of six mares. Mrs. Cake had given birth!
The six friends eagerly gathered at Ponyville General Hospital that had been renovated and upgraded not too long ago. A new wing had been set aside specifically for newborn ponies, and it was expected that Mrs. Cake's baby would soon be joining them.
"Can y'all believe the new baby's finally here?" Applejack spoke to her friends as they stared through a glass window.
"Cup Cake and Carrot Cake must be so proud!" Twilight smiled, and then turned to Pinkie Pie. "And just think, that makes you a big sister. Or maybe even an aunt. You're so lucky!"
Pinkie couldn't stop smiling. "I know! This is the best news in the history of ever!" She proceeded to press her face up to the glass. "Where's the new foal?! I wanna see the new baby pony! I can't wait to meet him, or her!"
Just then, Mr. Cake arrived. He looked like he'd been to war given how rugged and un-kept his mane and tail were compared to their usual state of appearance. He then strolled through the ward on the other side of the glass, stopping in front of two cribs: One on his left and one on his right. "Meet our son, Pound Cake," He smiled as he pulled the blanket off the crib on the left, revealing a pegasus foal. "And our daughter, Pumpkin Cake." He then pulled the blanket off the crib on the right, revealing a unicorn foal.
A series of "Awws" filled the room as Pinkie excitedly squealed in realization! "Oh my gosh, twins! That's two times as many foals for me to play with and be a big sister to! I know all about twins because I was a twin sister. Ooh, we must do something to celebrate this occasion!" She rushed into the room where all the foals were kept with a party hat and a party blower. "Come on, babies! It's time to celebrate your birthday, 'cause you were just born today!"
Nurse Redheart, however, immediately ushered Pinkie out while shushing her. "Pinkie, the babies are trying to sleep. And this is a sterilized environment, authorized personal only. Got it?"
Pinkie reluctantly obeyed. "Yes ma'am, sorry." But she still began to make a plan to celebrate the birth of the twins as soon as she would be allowed.
Meanwhile, Applejack was pondering. "Now just how in the hay is it that one of them twins is a pegasus and the other a unicorn?" By now it was clear to everyone what the twins looked like: Pound Cake had a light goldish gray coat, dark grayish-brown eyes and a brown mane and tail. And Pumpkin Cake had a light yellow coat, brilliant blue eyes and a light orange mane and tail.
Mr. Cake chuckled. "I had the same reaction you did when I first found out about the twins," And then he replied. "But Cup Cake and I did some research into our family tree. It turns out my great grandfather on my mom's side was a unicorn, while Cup Cake's great aunt on her dad's side was a pegasus."
"Oh boy!" Rainbow Dash excitedly declared. "Just watch! Once little Pound Cake is a bit older and those wings of his have grown a bit, he'll be having flying bouts all the time! You might wanna look into a way to keep him grounded so he doesn't get hoof prints on the ceiling."
"And be careful around Pumpkin Cake." Twilight cautioned.
Rarity added. "I can speak from experience when I say that baby unicorns get strange magical surges that come and go. And all the magic build up inside can give them frequent headaches."
Mr. Cake nodded. "I'll be sure to keep all of that in mind. Cup Cake and I will have to make some adjustments to Sugarcube Corner, but nothing too major."
"And just wait until they see how much of an amazing big sister I can be to them! They're gonna love playing with me!" Pinkie insisted. "And for every birthday and big milestone, I'm gonna be sure to throw them lots and lots of parties!" But she was soon going to learn her excitement about the twins was going to be a problem. There was going to be more than just playing with them and throwing parties. And the surges her friends were warning about now were going to become a real problem.
Exactly one month after the twins had been born, the Cakes were still moving the last of their supplies to the new nursery upstairs. Pinkie Pie, meanwhile, had her own celebration planned for this milestone. She came bouncing over with a small cake and started singing:
Happy monthaversary to you and you today!
I can't believe you're already a month old!
Gosh it feels like you're twice as old!
Seems like only yesterday you were born!
But now you're a month old today, hey!
When the song finished Pinkie burst out of the cake, letting the twins blow on their party blowers while wearing their complimentary party hats. Then she took them onto her back, letting both Pond and Pumpkin parade around on her back for a bit.
Mr. and Mrs. Cake watched the whole scene unfold from the kitchen with smiles on their faces. They were glad to see Pinkie taking to her role of "big sister" so well, at least on the play side of things. Any worries they might have had about Pinkie becoming jealous of all the attention the foals would get had left them.
"Hey you guys!" Pinkie told the twins as she pulled them close. "Are you ready for your favorite game in the whole wide world of Equestria?" She took the babbles and coos she got from the two as a sign of encouragement. "Great, stay right there!" She zipped into the kitchen, hiding herself behind the door. "Where's Pinkie Pie?" She called before poking out from the door. "Here I am!" And she repeated the process several times over to the delight of the twins.
Mrs. Cake then called out. "Everything going okay in there, Pinkie?"
"Yup. Not to worry, they're totally fine," Pinkie gave a salute. "Right guys?" But when she turned back to inspect them she immediately had her un-prepared nostrils assaulted by a powerful yet familiar stench. "Ugh. Okay, maybe not totally fine."
Mr. Cake immediately came trotting out with changing supplies and a pair of new diapers. "Don't worry, Pinkie. I've got it!"
"Mr. Cake, I can totally change their diapers. It can't be that hard." The pink party pony insisted.
"Maybe next time, Pinkie. But you have to make sure you get the process just right," Mr. Cake replied as he placed the twins on a mat and used his hooves to undo their old diapers, tossing them into the trash with practiced precision and perfect aim. After a bit of wiping he took a bottle of foal powder and sprinkled it all over his son and his daughter's rumps, before strapping them up in a pair of new diapers. Then he washed his hooves in a nearby sink as he asked. "Is anypony hungry?"
Thinking that it was just her being asked, the pink party pony answered. "Nah, I already had a big breakfast. But thanks for asking."
Mrs. Cake, however, came trotting out with baby bottles full of milk. "It's okay, I've got it. Just heated up the bottles a minute ago." She declared, placing the bottles in the twins' mouths.
Pinkie waited impatiently for several minutes for the twins to finish their bottles. Then she noticed them making all sorts of strange motions. "Wait, wait! I think I remember this!" She insisted while mimicking the motions she was seeing. "Oh, shoot! What was it?! I swear I remember! It's not them practicing their funny faces, I think."
Mr. Cake simply explained as he took the twins into his hooves. "It's simple, Pinkie. The twins need to be burped. It's alright, you haven't been around babies for a long time. Of course you don't remember much from when you were a baby, nopony does." Once he heard his children let out burps, he carefully set them down on the floor once again.
"Anything else you wanna take care of for them?" Pinkie asked while impatiently tapping a hoof. "Come on, let's get back to playtime!"
But the twins seemed less interested in what Pinkie wanted to do with them and more interested in exploring various objects with their hooves and mouths. Pound used his hooves to knock down some alphabet blocks in his path, only for his mom to pick him up and scold him. "Ah ah ah, Pound Cake. No pounding things."
And when Pumpkin starting gumming on an empty bottle of foal powder, her dad took it away and scolded her. "Ah ah ah, we don't chew on things, Pumpkin Cake."
"Except for food of course." Pinkie pointed out.
At that both earth pony bakers let out a gasp as Mrs. Cake exclaimed in horror! "Oh my gosh, I completely forgot!"
"No you didn't, silly. You just fed them bottles." The pink party pony giggled.
Mr. Cake only shook his head. "Not the twins, Pinkie. The extremely large and extremely important catering order we're supposed to deliver across town!"
The plump baker exclaimed anew! "With the new babies, we've been so distracted! Oh, how could we forget?!"
After placing both his children into a special foal carrier strapped to his wife's shoulders, Mr. Cake frantically declared. "Quick, we need to find somepony to watch the twins while we take care of this! Somepony responsible!"
"I wanna do it! Pick me! The twins love playing with me!" Pinkie Pie insisted and was quite surprised when she was not immediately given the honor.
The first stop for the earth pony parents was Fluttershy's cottage, knowing that she not only had a quality track record with baby animals but had also looked after young ponies with little trouble.
They were quite dismayed when Fluttershy answered. "I'd love to. But I can't today, sorry. I promised Angel we'd go on a picnic. I can't go back on a promise I made to him."
Mr. and Mrs. Cake left the cottage without saying a word, prompting Fluttershy to call out. "You're not mad, are you? Oh, please don't be mad. Any other day I'd gladly do it."
Meanwhile, Pinkie held Angel and rocked him back and forth while declaring. "I'll do it! Pick me!" But her request wasn't acknowledged. Mr. and Mrs. Cake instead went to the Golden Oak Library to see if their second choice would be available.
Twilight's credit as a foalsitter wasn't as immediately provable compared to Fluttershy's, but having hatched and raised Spike (though to what extent on her own nopony knew) she clearly knew what children needed. Alas, Twilight also declined the offer. "Sorry, but I'm updating my records. That means writing a report to Princess Celestia summarizing all the other reports I've sent to her."
"Trust me, it's gonna be a while," Spike pointed out. "And uh, I don't really do well with babies. The last one I met tried to swallow my tail, it drove me crazy!"
The Cakes departed, completely ignoring Pinkie as she cradled a book in a diaper and again pleaded. "Pick me! I can handle it!"
The third choice was Rarity since it was a known fact she'd basically raised her little sister more often than their actual parents. And perhaps it was because of that the fashionista rejected in no uncertain terms. "Moi? Babysit? Oh no no no! I've little interest in having to tend to noisy and smelly little ones again," Though she added. "I am honored you would think of me, though."
And so it went on and on for a good several more minutes, with the Cakes asking everypony they could think of who might be qualified to serve as a foalsitter on such short notice. But everywhere they went and everypony they asked all resulted in the same answer of "No" to varying degrees.
When the Cakes had exhausted all other options, they turned to a Pinkie Pie whose grin was growing wider with each passing second. After exchanging reluctant glances with one another, they seemed to resign themselves to the inevitable. "Um, Pinkie? Would you be interested in foalsitting the twins for us?" Mr. Cake reluctantly asked.
"I thought you'd never ask!" Pinkie smiled in a boastful tone, before adding. "I mean, I don't know. I'll have to check my schedule. But I'm sure I could find room."
So it was that Pinkie was given the job of foalsitting the twins. And understandably, because of that the Cakes were quite hesitant to leave. Mr. Cake was even nervously prancing as he asked. "Now Pinkie, are you absolutely sure you're up to the task? It's a very big job, you understand! Probably the most important job Cup Cake and I have ever given you!"
The pink coated earth pony nodded and firmly saluted. "Yes, I know. You have nothing to worry about. Pound and Pumpkin Cake are in good hooves with me, I swear it!"
A frantic Mrs. Cake then brought up. "But this time you have to actually 'take care' of the twins, you can't just play with them. You have to feed them, change them, you name it!"
"I know that too, Mrs. Cake," Pinkie commented as she tried to get the plump baker to relax. "I can handle it."
"Well, just be to safe," Mrs. Cake replied as she took a huge scroll off a nearby storage cabinet and tossed it down, unfurling it before the foalsitter. "All your responsibilities are on this list. Just follow them to the letter and you'll be fine."
Pinkie eyed the list and nearly gulped at how long it was. "That's a lot of responsibilities!" She commented aloud, before quickly replied with a salute. "I mean, consider it done, Mrs. Cake!"
Mr. Cake then called to his wife as he wheeled a huge cake out of the front door of Sugarcube Corner. "We'll frost it when we get there! Come on, sugar plum! Tick tick! Time is money!"
But Mrs. Cake ended up needing to be pushed out the door by Pinkie as the plump baker pleaded. "Oh, please watch over our little angels and keep them safe. I hope they won't give you too much of a hard time."
"Don't you worry your pretty little head. You go fill that big catering order!" The pink party pony reassured the panic stricken parents as she watched them depart. Then she turned back to the twins. "I got this. Right, guys? You're not gonna give your Auntie Pinkie Pie a lot of trouble, are you?"
But after only a second of silence the twins started to tear up! This was their first time ever being separated from their parents and they didn't like it.
"Uh-oh," Pinkie commented to herself as the gravity of the situation began to sink in. "This is a problem."
Desperate to keep her young charges from getting any further upset, Pinkie immediately tried to get their attention. "No no no! Don't cry, guys!" She tried to plead with them. "Come on, let's play your favorite game!" She then disappeared behind the kitchen doors. "Where's Pinkie Pie? Where's Pinkie Pie?"
But the twins wouldn't cooperate even after Pinkie poked her head out. "Don't cry. I'm right here! I'll take care of you. You like me? Remember?" And she made a funny face while shaking her head.
That seemed to briefly do the trick, the twins ceased their crying for a moment. But they were still uneasy and it was clear that they were going to start crying again if their pink coated foalsitter didn't do something fast to catch their attention.
"Hold on, you two! I have an idea!" Pinkie told the twins as she turned off the lights and placed them before a small make-shift stage she'd set up, a small spotlight shining down on the stage's center. "Thank you, thank you all so much!" She declared, speaking into a broom like it was a microphone. "You're all a wonderful crowd here tonight. Where you all from?"
The only response came from Pumpkin Cake, who tried to put the other end of the broom in her mouth. Pinkie wouldn't let her. Pound Cake was not amused for even a second.
Still, Pinkie pressed on with her pretend comedy routine. "Did you know I used to have an ant farm?" Without waiting for a reply she added. "Well, I had to get rid of it... because I couldn't find tractors that small. Get it? 'Tractors that small'?" An accompanying rim shot was heard, but no other sounds were made.
"Yesterday, I accidentally spilled spot remover on my dog, and now I can't find him!" Pinkie spoke up again and then moved over to make the rim shot sound. Again, her response was silence. "Whoa, tough crowd," She remarked before looking over to the stage and saying to herself. "Tell me about it. For babies, they have pretty poor taste."
The twins seemed to react to that statement, because they began crying once again. "What?! Oh no no no! I didn't mean it that way, you guys!" Pinkie protested. "Please don't be upset, I hate it when you get like this," But her pleas were ignored, prompting her to sigh and declare. "Fine. I didn't want to have to do this. But you guys are asking for it. It's time to pull out the show stopper! I haven't even come up with a good song for it yet."
"The show stopper" as it turned out was just a fake pig snout, and Pinkie began bouncing up, down and all around. "Look at me!" She shouted to try and get the twins' attention, hoping it would cheer them up. But because she was so distracted she forgot to watch where she was going. The pink party pony bounced straight into a nearby cabinet, bumping her head in the process. The impact caused a sack of flour hanging above to fall down. It landed on top of her, coating her entire coat in the white, powdery substance.
That seemed to cheer the little ones up. They took one look at their foalsitter's state of appearance and burst out laughing and giggling.
"Oh, good," Pinkie sighed to herself before dramatically putting a hoof to her forehead. "Nothing this to this babysitting business." Though she silently thought. "I sure hope I don't have to do that again. We'll go through way too many flour sacks!"
After cleaning herself off, Pinkie decided to take a look at the list of her responsibilities while also keeping a close eye on the twins to make sure they weren't wandering off or getting into trouble somewhere. "Let's see: Snack time. That should be simple enough." She took out two trays of prepared foal food from the fridge, one in a blue colored bowl and another in a pink colored bowl. Then she placed the twins in their respective high chairs before placing the bowls in front of them.
"Go ahead, eat up," Pinkie encouraged only to get blank stares from both foals. "Like this." She made a series of pretend eating motions with her face, hoping the twins would catch on.
But Pumpkin seemed much more interested in the table cloth. She shoved her bowl of food aside and grabbed an edge of the aforementioned cloth, placing it into her mouth to start slobbering on.
"Ah ah, Pumpkin Cake. We eat food, not table clothes." Pinkie protested, yanking the cloth away. This caused Pumpkin to start crying again.
Pound, meanwhile, banged his hooves on the bar of his highchair. This caused his bowl of food to launch itself up and land on top of him, causing him to become upset.
Quickly sizing up the situation, the pink earth pony dashed over to retrieve another sack of flour. She proceeded to dump the whole thing on top of herself, once again making her entire coat a ghostly white in color, and she even sneezed.
The twins laughed once again at the display, which annoyed Pinkie. "Yeah, I think I can see where this is going." She snorted and sighed.
When snack time ended a short time later, Pinkie decided it would be necessary to give the twins a bath. So she brought them into the bathroom and prepared the tub, making sure the water wasn't too hot or too cold. Once it had filled up enough she turned off the tap. "Okay, now how about we..." But she turned to find that the twins had fled, obviously not wanting to take a bath.
After a bit of searching about the bathroom, the twins were discovered in the cabinet above the sink. But they fled once again, prompting Pinkie to give chase.
Pumpkin Cake took advantage of the opportunity to grab a towel and start slobbering on it, even after Pinkie protested and pleaded. "Towels are not food, Pumpkin Cake! Drop it right now!"
It was not for several more minutes that Pinkie was able to gain control over the twins and place them in the tub, albeit only by stumbling into it herself. She then climbed back out. "I'm not the one who needs a bath!" She protested. "You two are gonna be cleaned whether you want to or not! I'm not pouring another sack of flour on my head. You know what happens when you mix flour with water, don't you? Let me tell you, it's not a pretty picture."
Fortunately, the twins didn't put up too much of a fight during the bath, largely thanks to being distracted by the bubbles and the floating bath toys Pinkie had given them. Drying them off was another story though, and it frustrated their foalsitter to no end before she finally accomplished the task.
Sometime later, while in the nursery and checking over the scroll to see what else needed to be done, the pink party pony turned foalsitter became aware of all too familiar odor as she sniffed the air. Hoping against hope it wasn't what she thought it was, she turned her attention to the twins as they were currently occupied playing with some blocks. But it was soon clear that the smell was indeed coming from them, which meant only one thing.
"Smells like somepony needs me to changie wangie their diaper wiaper right now awow." Pinkie declared while plugging her nose. She'd hoped it wouldn't have to come to this as this was any foalsitter's least desirable part of their duties. But alas it had to be done. So the earth pony not so secretly retrieved some new diapers in preparation for her upcoming task.
Neither Pound or Pumpkin seemed to be aware of the smell coming from them, or what Pinkie Pie was about to do. They just kept playing, perfectly content with the way they were now.
Unfortunately, Pinkie Pie ended up giving herself away as she stood near the cribs, diapers in hoof. And it was just her luck that the twins decided they weren't done playing, so they gave chase. They even giggled in delight at the prospect of giving her the slip. But their celebration was premature as Pinkie cornered them behind the changing table. "You're not getting away this time!" She warned them and proceeded with the diaper change.
Just changing the twins' diapers proved to be almost impossible, they fought their foalsitter every step of the way and tried numerous times to get away. And each time Pinkie would pull them back in. "Get back here!" She would always yell as the scuffle created a lot of noise. At last though she declared. "Stand still, I'm almost done!"
Yet when the dust had settled not only did the twins not have new diapers on despite having been cleaned, but Pinkie Pie now had one of the diapers meant for the twins stuck on her head and the other had somehow ended up on her rump. Both foals laughed themselves silly at such a display before running off to play again.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" The pink party pony whined to herself as she looked at her rump and up at her head. "Everypony makes it look so easy! Where did I go wrong?!"
Just then there came the sound of the doorbell ringing, which filled Pinkie with joy. "Oh, thank goodness they're home already. This was a terrible idea!" She said to herself, before shaking the diaper on her rump off completely and kicking it into the nearby wastebasket. Looking across to her young charges she decided. "You guys should be fine without diapers for a few minutes. I just changed you, and it's not like you're going anywhere, right?"
The twins seemed to acknowledge this as they babbled and cooed in some way.
Satisfied with that answer, Pinkie made her way downstairs and opened the door. To her surprise it wasn't the Cakes who were there to great her, but Applejack. "Howdy, Pinkie. My family and I finally got our worm problem under control, so I'd thought I'd swing by and see if you needed any help." The farm mare greeted.
Pinkie Pie immediately pulled her fellow earth pony inside. "Oh, you have no idea!" She pleaded. "These babies are out of control, they won't listen to a word I say. And don't even get me started on their taste in stand-up comedy. I'm running out of flour sacks!"
"Oh, so they gave you a hard time, huh sugarcube?" Applejack said with what appeared to be a smirk. "Is that why you're still wearin' that diaper on your head, or is that just the latest fashion statement?"
"Oh, I knew I was forgetting something!" The pink party pony proclaimed as she pulled the diaper off. "Still, I guess maybe you could help a little. Cleaning up this place is gonna be a nightmare."
Applejack chuckled and grinned. "I can tell. I kind of had a feelin' you'd end up in over your head. But I never expected things to be this bad."
"Excuse me?!" Pinkie exclaimed with narrowed eyes.
"No offense, sugarcube, but foals are a very big responsibility," Applejack explained as she cleaned up the loose foal supplies and toys that lay scattered across the floor. "And someponies learn the hard way that they ain't quite cut out for it. Unfortunately, it seems you're one of 'em."
The pink party pony spun around. "What?! Of all the nerve! I only asked for a little bit of your help, not a lecture!"
At that Applejack realized that she had probably come across as more arrogant than she'd intended. So she tried her best to defuse the tensions. "Sorry, sugarcube. I didn't mean to imply you couldn't ever handle it. It's just," She gulped hard. "You're remindin' me an awful lot of myself durin' the whole 'Applebuck Season' incident. I don't wanna see another one of my friends make the same mistakes."
But Pinkie just pushed Applejack out the door again. "Well I'm not making the same mistakes! I'm not trying to juggle so many things on top of foalsitting. I don't have an entire orchard to harvest all on my own, I just need to keep two little foals occupied for a few hours. And despite some 'hiccups' everything is totally under control! So on second thought, I don't need your help. Good day to you!" And with that she slammed the door in her friend's face.
The farm mare just sighed, shook her head and trotted away. "Probably should've gotten Twilight or Fluttershy involved. They're much better at this whole 'confrontation' thing. I always say the wrong thing at the wrong time." She thought to herself.
Meanwhile, Pinkie was pondering her own problems. "That Applejack! Who does she think she is telling me I'm becoming just like her during that one applebuck season?! She thinks I can't handle things on my own," She then realized. "Perhaps because I haven't been doing a very good job of that. Things obviously haven't gone exactly how I hoped they would," Then she resolved to herself. "But I can handle this! I've had a few setbacks, but now the kid gloves are coming off! I'll show everypony how serious I can be!"
With her newfound determination and sense of "seriousness", Pinkie made her way back up to the nursery. She wasn't going to let the twins do whatever they wanted with her and ignore her.
Pushing open the door to the nursery, Pinkie found Pound Cake jumping up and down in his crib while using his tiny wings to give himself a little bit of extra airtime. And Pumpkin Cake was trying to bite into a rubber chicken, using her horn to float over different parts to slobber on. Fortunately, it seemed nothing else was amiss. The nursery was otherwise the way it had been when the party pony had left it last.
"Alright, you two, play time's over!" Pinkie sternly declared as she marched over to Pound Cake first, growling at him. "Pound Cake! This is a crib. It is only to be used for napping, sleeping, and on occasion with permission as an old timey-western fort. It is NOT a trampoline! So stop your jumping this instant young mister." Her stern words and harsh glare seemed to do the trick, Pound ceased his jumping instantly.
Pumpkin Cake was next as Pinkie approached the little unicorn. "And you, little filly. We do no put anything in our mouths that we cannot safely and properly digest. So stop slobbering on that toy right now." Like her brother, Pumpkin Cake seemed to obey when she saw how serious Pinkie seemed to be about enforcing these new rules.
After quickly putting diapers back on both twins, Pinkie carefully deposited the two into the same crib Pound Cake had jumping up and down in just a short time ago. "Now then, we've all had a very exciting afternoon and now it is time for all good little foals to take their naps. So fall asleep, now!" Pinkie commanded.
The twins didn't seem to hesitate for even a second. They immediately closed their eyes and began to snore. Satisfied with this display, Pinkie pulled a blanket up to the twins' necks and kissed them softly on the forehead. "Sleep tight." She softly whispered to them.
Pinkie then went about cleaning up the nursery a little, before turning off the light and making her way to the nursery door. "Now that's what I call handling things!" She thought to herself. "Still think I can't manage on my own, Applejack?"
Yet when the earth pony turned foalsitter checked again before leaving the nursery, a horrible sight greeted her eyes! The crib was empty, the twins were nowhere to be seen! "Oh no no no! Not good! Definitely not good!" She exclaimed as fear swiftly took hold of her. She could've sworn she'd only taken their eyes off them for a minute or so, they couldn't possibly have vanished so quickly, could they?!
"Pound? Pumpkin?" Pinkie desperately called out to the darkness, hoping for any sort of reply. "Where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are. Please, this isn't funny!"
Suddenly, the familiar sound of a squeaking rubber chicken reached the party pony's ears. She trotted toward the sound's source, opening the closet door to reveal Pumpkin Cake with that rubber chicken from before in her mouth once again. "Whoa! How did you get all the way over there?!" Pinkie asked the baby unicorn, but received no reply. "Never mind. I have to find your brother and make sure he hasn't gotten into any trouble."
Pumpkin Cake was picked up and placed back in the crib as Pinkie pleaded with her now. "You be a good little girl now, Pumpkin-wumpkin, and stay in your crib for your old pal Pinkie-winkie! Okay?" The only response from Pumpkin was the continued squeaking of the rubber chicken as she kept slobbering and chewing on it.
After being convinced that Pumpkin wasn't going anywhere, Pinkie resumed her search for Pound. She wasn't sure where he might be or if he was still in the nursery. She briefly stepped out into the hallway which now seemed much darker and more frightening than it had been before. Beads of sweat were starting to make their way down the panic stricken party pony's face. "Pound Cake?" She called out to the darkness once again. "Here, Pound Cake. Come to Pinkie."
Thinking she heard a ghostly voice call her name, Pinkie spun around but saw nothing. She trotted back into the nursery, and now she could hear the sound of giggles that seemed to be coming from above. She looked up and nearly dropped dead at the sight that greeted her blue eyes! Pound Cake was on the ceiling. And that could only mean one thing. "You can fly?!" Pinkie gasped in shock and dismay. "Oh, why'd the surges have to kick in now?!"
Pound just giggled as he remained on his ceiling perch, looking down at his foalsitter.
Pinkie repeatedly bounced up to try and grab Pound, but he was always just out of her reach. And she became steadily more frustrated as a result. "Oh... you get down here... this instant... young... stallion!" Eventually she had to stop to catch her breath. "Why are you making this so difficult? I'm supposed to be responsible for you." She groaned. Fortunately, once she had a moment to think, the party pony was able to come up with a solution. Using a series of little plungers tied to her hooves, she made her way up the side of the nursery wall and onto the ceiling proper. This allowed her to grab Pound by the mouth and carry the little pegasus down.
Unfortunately, just as Pinkie took off the plungers and set Pound down, she saw to her horror and dismay that Pumpkin's horn was starting to spark. It soon produced a faint blue glow that the little filly used to levitate over several stuffed animals. And she proceeded to put each one into her mouth.
"No no no, Pumpkin." Pinkie scolded as she pulled a stuffed butterfly out of Pumpkin's mouth.
Pumpkin just replied by stuffing a stuffed turtle into her mouth and chewing on it instead. That caused Pinkie to pull it out. "No no."
Still undeterred, Pumpkin stuffed a stuffed monkey into her mouth to chew on. And a frustrated Pinkie scolded. "No," She then took all the stuffed toys and put them in a toy box that she locked shut. "I'm the responsible one, and I said no. And no means no."
Pound Cake, meanwhile, just giggled as he began to flap his wings and start flying all about the nursery. "That goes for you too, Pound Cake," Pinkie scolded. "No flying is allowed in the house, mister! Because I'm responsible for you that means you have to do what I say. Or do you want to end up in time out?"
Pound didn't reply, he just kept on flying. So Pinkie leaped up and grabbed hold of him. "Gotcha!" She shouted, only to suddenly find herself being lifted off the ground. "I think?"
Pinkie proceeded to cling to Pound Cake for dear life as he was able to somehow drag her out of the nursery, through the hallway and down a flight of stairs to the kitchen. Several pies on a counter splattered onto her face, causing her to lick the mess away with her tongue. "Mm, razzleberry," She said while licking her chops, all the way continuing to maintain her grip as Pound flew her back and forth in and out of the kitchen several times. "I'm not letting go! I'm responsible!" She roared even as she was pulled back up the stairs, through the hallway and back into the nursery.
Once in the nursery, Pumpkin Cake managed with a great deal of straining to levitate herself completely out of the crib. Now she could fly alongside her brother.
Pinkie Pie was shocked beyond belief, her mouth dropping wide open! "Oh, not you too, Pumpkin Cake! Why oh why are you making this so difficult?!" Believing that there was only one thing to do, the party pony judged her moment carefully and then leaped up to grab both foals! She proceeded to place a clothes basket over them and then tie it firmly to the ground with several large rolls of tape. "There! Now who's the responsible one?!"
Yet as much effort as Pinkie had put into her seemingly foalproof trap, Pumpkin Cake easily phased through it with her magic. And Pound Cake was able to make the tapes snap by flapping his wings hard enough, freeing himself from the clothes basket.
The twins were now running free and out of control! Pound was flying all about, enjoying his new found freedom. And Pumpkin was able to break the lock on the toy box, surrounding herself with every single stuffed animal in a small pile as she then placed the rubber chicken in her mouth to chew on.
A distraught, frazzled and utterly exhausted Pinkie watched the whole thing unfold before her very eyes. Try as she might she couldn't contain her composure any longer. The twins had broken her completely. As a result, she was unable to stop herself and burst into tears while wailing loudly.
The crying soon caused the twins to stop what they'd been doing. Looking at their foalsitter they now seemed to realize that they'd taken their antics a little too far. And remembering how said foalsitter had been cheering them up throughout the day, they decided there was only one thing to do. They approached Pinkie slowly, making sure she could see them.
Pinkie ceased her crying as she saw the twins dump an entire sack of flour onto themselves, causing both their coats to become a ghostly white. Wiping away her tears, the pink party pony giggled. "You know, you're right. That is pretty funny," She giggled as she brought the twins close. "Oh, I can't stay mad at you, you little demons. You're just too cute," Then she asked them. "Does this mean you're not gonna drive me crazy again?"
The twins appeared to nod, which was all the proof Pinkie needed. "Okay, good," She sighed. "Now come on, let's get you cleaned up and back to bed."
After quickly washing the flour off of the twins, diapering them again and then placing them back into the same crib as earlier to nap, Pinkie left the nursery. But there were still messes in other parts of Sugarcube Corner that needed to be cleaned up, and reluctantly the party pony realized that she would have to do it all on her own.
While she worked relentlessly to get the whole place cleaned up, Pinkie began thinking about a letter she was going to send to Princess Celestia later on. A letter that was going to go something along the lines of this:
Dear Princess Celestia,
I've always had fun playing with little kids, and I thought babysitting meant more playtime and a few other things. Boy was I wrong!
Being a caregiver is way more responsibility than just being a playmate. It's a huge undertaking. And today, I learned that sometimes our desire for responsibility can outrun our actual ability to handle it.
It can be difficult to realize when that's happened or that we need help. But it's important to realize that and be willing to listen when others say we're not up to the job. Because if we don't we're likely to have a lot of messes to clean up after.
At very long last the cleaning work was done, and an exhausted Pinkie Pie could finally rest and wait for the Cakes to come home.
It was dark when Mr. and Mrs. Cake finally returned from filling the catering order. "Oh, why did it have to take so long?!" Mrs. Cake complained. "I hope the twins weren't too much for Pinkie to handle. We really should've just brought Pound and Pumpkin with us."
Mr. Cake tried to reassure his wife. "There's no way we could've kept an eye on the twins and filled out the catering order the way the customers wanted it. From now on we'll just have to be careful with our commitments, and do a better job of keeping a schedule so things like this don't sneak up on us unexpectedly."
The baking couple then re-entered Sugarcube Corner to the sound of the ringing bell above the door. "Pinkie Pie, we're back, finally!" Mr. Cake called out.
"How did everything go with the twins?" Mrs. Cake asked, fearing the worst as she and her husband entered.
But to the amazement of both ponies, Sugarcube Corner was spotless! Everything seemed to be just the way it was when they'd left, if not better. They had to blink and rub their eyes to be sure they weren't seeing things. Mr. Cake even wondered aloud. "Are we in the right place?"
Just then, Pinkie Pie appeared from the top of the steps. "Oh, thank goodness you're finally home," She whispered to them. "The foals are asleep. In fact, I just put them to bed for the night."
Mr. and Mrs. Cake proceeded to follow Pinkie upstairs to the nursery. Sure enough, the twins were sound asleep and the nursery looked spotless as well. Neither parent could believe what they were seeing.
"P-Pinkie. This is just... just..." Mrs. Cake began but trailed off, unable to find the words she wanted to use.
"Amazing is what it is!" Mr. Cake finished for his wife. "We had no idea you could be so responsible."
The pink party pony tried to be modest. "Well, it wasn't easy. Really. I thought for sure I was gonna lose my marbles, and I don't even play marbles."
"Oh, I'm sure they didn't mean to give you a hard time, Pinkie. The twins probably just loved messing with you because they thought it'd be funny," Mrs. Cake reassured Pinkie. "Besides, it looks like you did a great job despite that."
Mr. Cake then proposed. "So, would you be interested in being our go-to foalsitter on a permanent basis? It would save Cup Cake and I a lot of hassle in the future. And the twins seem to really like you, more than they do any of your friends."
However, the pink party pony blinked and stepped back in uncertainty. "Uh, I don't know... Let me check my schedule real quick!" She insisted with a nervous smile as she pulled out a clipboard, scanning over it really quickly before adding. "Ah, yeah, let's see! I should be available a week from... never!"
Just then, however, the silence in the nursery was broken as the twins said their first words. "Pinkie." Pound whispered in his sleep.
"Pie." Pumpkin whispered in her sleep.
The heart warming scene melted Pinkie's heart. Any will she might have had to say no to the Cakes' offer had completely faded away. "You know what? I think I might have some free time next Tuesday." She told them. With any luck, the twins' surges would fade away as quickly as they had come and they would give her no further trouble.
Few would ever believe that Pinkie Pie all of ponies would mature enough to become a permanent foalsitter for the Cake Twins. But all who were around to witness her skills for themselves came away impressed. She truly was like a big sister to Pound and Pumpkin, one that the twins knew better than to try any tricks on. They behaved even better for her than they did their own parents, which was quite a surprise to a lot of ponies.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
1,037 users online
2,244,332 hits today, 2,454,720 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
REALLY good work on this re-write. Again, the exchanges, characterizations, general wrap-up and future chapter/episode set-up are all quite well done. Yeah, the explanation of Missus Cake doing the family history check definitely makes the hoof-wave make a lot more sense (besides, the only other rational explanation that would fly on an Everyone rated show would be some extremely small residual stuff from Discord's then-recent return). As well as substituting Twilight for Applejack and the nods to Applebuck Season.
All in all, quite well done and I'll definitely be reading the next chapter right now.
The hospital’s been around how long and it didn’t have a maternity ward until now?