Secret of the Pies

by Player 4

Chapter 2

The ever-so-predictable pattern continues to manifest.

"What?", Pinkie yelps out again.

They clearly were desperate for an explanation; the parents had to go for it. Igneous goes in for another big breath, and lets the full story be read.

"Yep. As much as it hurts so, so deeply to tell you this, yes, it is true. You were given to us.", he says.

"You were.", Cloudy continues the explanation with. "Unlike Limestone and Marble, you two were not born from us. Your biological mother delivered you to our doorstep in blanketed baskets, leaving a note saying she couldn't keep you. She never explained the reason for that, but we didn't think much of it. We also never saw your original mother, so we have no idea who she is. She just knocked on the door and left. By the time we could answer, she was long out of sight. We have also never seen your original father."

"The reason we didn't think much of it is because we were too caught up in the excitement of getting more children; we had already been trying to give Limestone and Marble siblings for a while.", Igneous says, "and that extended to telling you about this. We didn't want you treat you as outsiders, much less make you feel as such. We just wanted to roll with the gift and treat you like any other children. So we filled out all the adoption paperwork and stuff when you were still foals, and completely disregarded it from that point on."

Pinkie has her mouth hanging open and her lungs inhaling and exhaling heavily. This info that should be part of a comedy show, not applicable to her actual life. This info that rips away part of her identity. This stunning, sick-and-twisted bombshell.

"But... but, Mom and Dad, you raised us! You did everything for us! We developed such a close bond with you! And now... you're not really our parents?", Pinkie says, starting to have tears bubble up.

Hearing her daughter speak this clear representation of her betrayed state brought out the tears in Cloudy too.

Pinkie is right. We were wrong in this. We should have told them. Now they're adults and have known us as their parents for so long... all for it to be a lie.

Cloudy hangs her head down in shame, which Igneous replicates, in front of the dark-pink mane that is starting to grow in size a bit, in preparation for a potential appearance of the dreaded deflate.

Maud does not have a visible reaction, but that didn't mean her brain isn't reacting the same way as Pinkie's.

"I think you should have told us.", Maud says.

Both Cloudy and Igneous look at each other with two-fold shame; they can't help but agree fully with both daughters. Or, "daughters", as Pinkie now sees it. They hang their heads in sadness even further, with tears beginning to hit the ground.

Limestone and Marble, who had known about the adoption and went along with their parents in not telling Pinkie and Maud, hold the same agreement in regret.

Pinkie and Maud themselves... betrayal is the emotion in the drivers' seat.

The house falls silent for a moment, with everypony having to weather the meteor strike of this info that hit their world far too late.

And the silence of a room featuring all six of them ends up being something Pinkie requests they not do.

"Nopony's saying anything... because we don't want to say anything.", Pinkie says. "I think it might be best if we don't talk to each other right now. We need some time to cool down and think of what... we should do next."

"I agree. Let's not get things too heated.", Maud says.

A string of luck does roll out there. That "I agree" from Maud is the sentence typing itself in everypony else's mind, so this protocol will be used.

"Okay. Let's take a break for now.", Cloudy says.

Cloudy and Igneous, Limestone and Marble, and Pinkie and Maud walk in separate directions to split off to separate areas in those exact pairs.

---

Outside the front door, Pinkie Pie, beside her fellow adoptive sister, is laying down on the rock ground with the fall of tears set to "consistent flow."

"I just... I can't! My whole life is a lie, Maud! Mom and Dad aren't my real mom and dad! But... but, I want them to be my real mom and dad! They're who I love and know as my parents! But there's a disconnect! A disconnect that shouldn't be there!"

Maud, normally always there for Pinkie, is totally at a loss for words. Despite the lack of tears or change of facial expression in Maud, she feels unable to help Pinkie by virtue of having the exact same reactions.

My Mom and Dad... the ones who introduced me to rocks. The ones who supported that solo expedition I took when I was a teenager. The ones who helped get me into that college. Everything they've done for my life... was done under the cover-up of them not being my natural parents.

Maud sighs and says all that she can say at the moment.

"The best I feel we can do is take it from here. Let yourself feel your feelings, then we have another family talk, then we decide what to do tomorrow."

---

Further towards the southwest corner of the yard, Limestone and Marble, who had known about the adoption and had followed along with Cloudy and Igneous in keeping it a secret, harbor worries about the future.

"I don't know.", Marble says. "Will Pinkie and Maud still see us and this family the same way from here on out? I mean, of course they still love us and DNA doesn't determine your family, but the fact that we hid this from them all the way until their 20s, I know is a breeding ground for betrayal, and that did happen! Look at Pinkie over there."

Limestone responds in green thumbs-up agreement.

"I always grew up thinking what we were doing was right.", she says. "I thought that telling them they were different from us would ruin our bond. But... now I know it's worse to tell them in adulthood."

"Yep. We screwed up. And now, I feel that... our family might never be the same again.", Marble responds.

Limestone and Marble share falls of tears and a hug.

---

Needless to say, the happy Pie family activities planned for this should-have-been fun reunion day did not come, or, if they did come, were severely compromised.

The best that could be mustered up was a family dinner together with low-energy discussion. They wanted to talk more about this adoption situation in a cleared-out, no-hard-feelings way, but the lightning shock wouldn't allow that. It held way too much power to have subsided already.

"It seems like you understand why we decided not to tell you two, but... it's not us. That was wrong. We should have told you.", Limestone says to Pinkie and Maud.

"Yeah, I do understand, and I still love you all; I don't want to mad, but I just... I feel betrayed.", Pinkie says.

"You have every right to feel that way.", Cloudy says. "We did betray you, and we don't deserve kindness."

"But you do, Mom! You're not a bad pony!", Pinkie responds.

Yeah, this discussion didn't really go anywhere. The members of this family, feeling they have no way to properly communicate if all six of them are involved, let the three-pair split-up of before dinnertime return, and let it stand for the entire rest of this bad, sad day.

---

Pinkie, who chose to stay the night at Rockville despite the low-quality emotional environment this house was currently burning in, can't sleep. She doesn't feel it has anything to do with the environment, but sleep will not reach her.

My whole life... is a lie! A big lie!, she thinks to herself.

All that time I spent with them. All the "parent and child" activities we did together. How much time I was raised by them. How much time I knew them as my parents! And they're not my real parents!

Pinkie rolls on her stomach and cries into her pillow. The potential of waking her sisters up refused to gloss over her mind. All she could possibly think about tonight was how devastating this news was.

All three of the other sisters were continuing to be awake, but the crying wasn't audible enough to them, sadly preventing a potential comfort zone from happening. Had they heard, Pinkie could have received some affectionate support from her loved ones.

So she's left to deal with this tragedy on her own... at nighttime.

Bad piled on top of bad, Pinkie has no choice but to cry herself to sleep.