Friendship, Love, and Harmony

by LovelyFlowerBloom

More Berry Pie!

Blossom Night places the bouquet on the counter, making sure not to be too rough in order to maintain the integrity of the flowers. Hazel Bloom looks down in concern at the flowers on the counter, “Has it really been 10 years?”

Blossom Night nods, “Yeah. But it feels like it’s been longer.” Blossom Night places 3 bits on the counter.

Hazel Bloom curves a little smile, “It’s on the house, Blossom.” Hazel pushes the bits forward.

Blossom Night grabs her flowers and looks Hazel in the eyes, “No, it’s not.” Blossom turns around and walks out of the shop, placing her flowers in her saddlebag. She gives a quiet sigh as she walks through Ponyville. As Blossom Night turns a corner, she comes face to face with….Pinkie Pie.

“Hi, Blossom Night!” Pinkie Pie says, smiling wide.

Blossom flinches before she sighs and continues on her way, “Hey Pinkie.”

Pinkie looks at Blossom with concern, “Hmmmmm, you look like you could use a smile.” Pinkie perks up as she follows next to Blossom, “But don’t worry! Your ol’ pal Pinkie is here to-”

Blossom Night sighs, “Not today, Pinkie.”

“Huh?” Pinkie stops.

“I know I usually am moody. But today is different.” Blossom says as she continues to walk forward.

“Oh…well what’s wrong?” Pinkie asks, having a normal tone.

“You have eyes. You can see.” Blossom Night says.

Pinkie raises an eyebrow, “ Well technically…so does Ruby Frost. But she can’t see.”

Blossom Night places a hoof on her mouth as she chuckles, “I mean, you can see where I’m going.”

Pinkie looks forward. The two are heading towards a large arch reading: Ponyville Cemetery. Pinkie Pie’s eyes go wide before her head goes down, “Oh…”

“Yeah, not exactly a day for fun.” Blossom says, turning to Pinkie.

Blossom Night makes it to a set of 3 graves. Marked Lingonberry, Sweet Jam, and Raspberry Twist. Pinkie looks at them, realizing they’re probably relatives of Blossom Night, “Are these your…”

“...family members, yeah.” Blossom Night says, finishing Pinkie Pie’s sentence, “It’s been 10 years since they’ve been gone.”

“10 years? You were a Filly?” Pinkie Pie asks, turning to Blossom.

Blossom Night nods as she uses magic from her horn to take the flowers out of her saddlebag and spreads the flowers evenly across the 3 graves.

Pinkie turns to Blossom Night, realizing her unseen sorrow in the moment. She looks at the ground and speaks in a mellow voice, “Blossom Night, would you like to come over to Sugar Cube Corner and bake with me?”

Blossom Night turns to Pinkie Pie with an expressionless face.

Pinkie smiles, “I hear from Applejack that you’re really good at baking.”

Blossom Night looks at the ground for a moment, seeming to ponder an answer. She prepares to say no before her eye catches sight of the 3 graves containing her family. Blossom gives a small smile before turning back to Pinkie Pie, “Yeah, I’d love to.”

Pinkie’s face shines bright with a large smile as she hears this. She throws her front hoof over Blossom’s shoulders, “Then let’s get going!”

Blossom night followed as Pinkie Pie led her to Sugarcube Corner and into the kitchen. Pinkie Pie quickly begins pulling out the supplies required for baking, “Whenever I’m feeling down, I bake something. It always makes me feel better!”

“You mean THE Pinkie Pie actually feels down? Yeah right.” Blossom says.

“Of course, everypony feels down. But Pinkie will always be there to make them feel better!” Pinkie Pie says, quickly pausing the process of setting up.

“And who’s there when Pinkie feels down?” Blossom asks.

Pinkie pauses before looking down with a small frown before curving a small smile, “Well, I have the smiles of my friends. That’s all I need.”

Blossom Night walks forward and uses her magic to sort the items that Pinkie had taken out, “But nopony for you to talk to when you’re down.”

Pinkie looks down, confirming to Blossom what she suspected, “Well, I can't let anypony see me sad.”

Blossom Night looks down at the counter in front of her, “You try not to be vulnerable.”

Pinkie turns to Blossom with a surprised expression.

“You don’t want to show anypony your vulnerability, because it’ll ruin the expression you’re trying to put on for them, huh?” Blossom Night says.

Pinkie’s mouth opens slightly, shocked from what Blossom is saying. She turns away and gives a discreet nod.

Blossom’s eyes widen a bit before she looks at the baking supplies, thinking deeply. Blossom curves a smile and gives a small chuckle, “Guess we’re not too different after all.”

Pinkie turns to Blossom Night as she approaches closer to her.

“Now, about that baking? We should have started by now.” Blossom says with a smile.

Pinkie’s sad frown immediately dissipates as she gives a wide smile, hearing that Blossom is ready to begin baking.

The two ponies quickly finished setting up to start baking a cake. Blossom looks at the ingredients nervously, “I don’t know, Pinkie. I’m more of a pie pony.”

Pinkie giggles, “Me too! It’s part of my name!”

Blossom chuckles, “I mean uh…I’ve never baked a cake before.”

“Don’t worry! It’s easy!” Pinkie says, as she picks up a bag of flour, “Just take some flour!” Pinkie pours some flour in one of the bowls, “Pour it in!” Pinkie quickly grabs ingredients and places them in faster than Blossom can keep up with, “Egg, Butter, Sugar, Salt, Milk, aaaaaaaaand Baking Soda!”

Blossom looks at the filled bowl and turns to Pinkie with a blank face, “Okay, first, how much Flour? Second, how much Egg. Third, How much Butter? Fourth, how much sugar? Fifth, how much salt? Sixth, how much milk? Aaaaaaaaaaand Seventh, how much baking soda?”

“Ooohhhhhhh, guess I have such a talent for baking cakes that I don’t really remember the exact measurements. I kinda just feel it!” Pinkie says.

Blossom stares at Pinkie with a jaded expression, “You just….feel it?”

Pinkie nods, “Mhm! Now you try!”

Blossom inhales and exhales, she then rolls her eyes, “Okay then.”

Blossom looks upon the ingredients. She grabs the flour and pours a couple of ounces in the bowl, she turns to Pinkie for assurance. Pinkie simply continues staring at Blossom with a blank smile. Blossom turns back to her bowl and pours a little more before turning back to Pinkie for assurance. Pinkie, just like before, stares at Blossom with a blank smile. Blossom’s eyebrows curve as she darts her eyes back to the bowl, keeping her head turned to Pinkie. She pours a bunch more of the flour in the bowl before darting her eyes back to Pinkie for assurance. Pinkie continues staring with the same expression. Blossom simply stares back at Pinkie with a jaded look before she drops the entire bag of flour in the bowl. “Great!” Pinkie says, “Now for the rest of the ingredients.”

Blossom looks at the rest of the stuff, “Right…” Blossom Night quickly finishes putting all the ingredients, with no guidance from Pinkie Pie whatsoever.

“Alrighty! Now we mix it and put it in the oven.” Pinkie Pie says as she begins mixing her own bowl abnormally fast.

Blossom looks down at the devastated bowl of cake mix, “Yeah…”

Blossom Night finally finishes her cake and pulls it out of the oven, placing it on the table. Blossom drops the mitten as she looks upon her creation with disgust. The ‘cake’ is more akin to a bucket of swamp water rather than a cake. The green goop seeps out of the bowl. Pinkie looks closely at the cake with wide eyes, “WOW. I didn’t even know you could bake a cake to be green.”

Blossom Night rolls her eyes, “I told you, my profession is Pies.” Blossom curves a little smile, “But uh….this was fun nonetheless. Even if I created an abomination of baking. Thanks, Pinkie.”

Pinkie smiles and hugs Blossom Night, “Any time!”

Blossom smiles, “But…I think I’ll bake a Pie this time.”

Pinkie ends the hug, “Pie time!”

Blossom looks down with a frown, “Just wish my family could see how much I’ve learned about making pies.”

The smile on Pinkie’s face fades as she looks to Blossom with concern, “Um…I hope it’s not rude to ask. I don’t mean to pry but…what happened?”

Blossom looks up at Pinkie with surprise. Having not expected Pinkie to care. Blossom hesitates for a moment, not sure if she wants to relive the memory of her family’s passing. “When I was a Filly…”

“My family and I lived in a Berry Farm just East of the White Tail Woods. Right on the edge of it, actually.” Blossom Night narrates.

Filly Blossom Night walks into the house as the sun finally sets enough to where it’s astronomical twilight. “I finished with the bushes, dad.”

“You put the bag in the shed, right?” Lingonberry yells from the dining room.

“Yeah.” Blossom says as she wipes her hooves on the rug and proceeds to the dining room.

As Blossom enters the room, Lingonberry smiles at his daughter, “I’m proud of your work, Blossom Night. I might even let you come with me for the delivery to Ponyville.”

Blossom goes wide-eyed with excitement as she sits at the table, “YOU’RE SERIOUS?!”

“Depends on how well behaved you are until then.” Lingonberry says.

“I-I can be well behaved!” Blossom says, leaning on the table, closer to her father.

“Deliveries are a lot of work, sis. It ain’t just a fun trip to Ponyville. It’s also a lot of loading. And I’m not quite sure you got the horse power.” Raspberry Twist says.

Blossom Night stands up in her chair on her hind legs and flexes her front legs, “I got the horse power!”

Sweet Jam walks into the room with a tray of fried carrots, placing it on the table and smiling at Blossom, “It’s alright, Blossom Night. You’re gonna help your father tomorrow.” She squints at Lingonberry, “I made him promise.”

Lingonberry shrugs, “Oh alright. But you better be up early. I don’t wanna have to drag you out of bed. Your sister is enough of a handful as it is.”

“What?! Hey!” Raspberry Twist says, offended.

Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door and the room goes silent. The four ponies turn to the door in confusion. “That’s strange, who could be knocking at this hour?” Lingonberry ponders as he gets up to answer the door. He opens the door to see 3 Stallions standing there, “Hello? Can I help you-”

A wack sound is heard as the 3 ponies in the dining room look on with confusion. “Honey? Is everything okay?” Sweet Jam asks.

One of the Stallions walks into the room, holding a bloodied stick in his right hoof. Sweet Jam gasps as she sees this. “Let’s not make a scene. Don’t wanna make this harder than it needs to be.” The stallion says.

“Back then, there was a surge in crimes against unicorns. Ponies in the black market were using their horns to enchant objects. Like many other unicorn families, they tied us up and began cutting our horns off.” Blossom Night narrates.

Blossom Night, Lingonberry, Sweet Jam, and Raspberry Twist lay tied up in the corner of the room, their mouths covered by a cloth. “Reckon we start with the father. The struggle from him might make it difficult.” one of the stallions says.

The largest stallion walks over to Lingonberry and grabs him with his mouth, dragging him to the center of the room. The ponies had cleared the dining room for a makeshift operating room. The strong stallion throws Lingonberry onto the dining table. “Start before they wake up this time.”

A more lanky stallion steps forward as he pulls a serrated knife out of a saddlebag he’s wearing with his mouth, “Just strap him down.”

The large and normal stallions take out some rope and quickly wrap them around Lingonberry’s limbs, tying him to the table. The lanky stallion leaned forward, lining up the blade at the base of the horn on Lingonberry’s head. The lanky stallion squints as he proceeds to saw through the horn with the serrated knife. Lingonberry immediately wakes up with a painful scream as he quickly shakes around. The lanky stallion quickly pulls the knife away and scowls at the other two stallions, “Hold him down, you imbeciles!”

The other two stallions quickly jump forward and hold Lingonberry’s head down. “It’ll be alright, Mister Lingonberry. The beginning is always the hardest part.” The lanky stallion says as he lines up his knife back to the horn. Just as before, he begins sawing through the horn. The muffled screams of Sweet Jam, Raspberry Twist, and Blossom Night are heard as the stallion performs the amputation. The lanky stallion pauses sawing as he scowls, “I can’t focus when those mares are screaming like that! Shut them up!”

The large stallion legs go of Lingonberry’s head and walks over to the mares, “Be quiet! Your turn will come soon!” He proceeds to quickly stomp at each mare’s head until all are knocked unconscious.

“I soon awoke to find that they had just finished cutting off my mother’s horn. They had finished my father and killed him. My mother soon followed him.” Blossom Night narrates, “They proceeded to start with my sister. As I watched my sister, I knew that I would soon be next. I had to think of some way to get out.”

Filly Blossom Night took her eyes off her screaming sister and looked around the room with haste, trying to see if there was any way she could escape. She looked down at the ropes that held her four legs together. Her eyes widened as she came up with a plan. Blossom’s horn began glowing a dim green as she focused it on the ropes. She was unable to untie the ropes, as her telekinesis is far too weak. But her healing magic can heal the dead manila hemp, causing the rope to fall apart. Blossom quickly follows through with this plan as she loosens the rope. She quickly crawls out of the rope and turns to the 3 stallions. They’re all focused on holding Raspberry Twist down and cutting her horn.

Blossom Night turned to her right, seeing that she could easily make a break for the exit and escape. But as she heard the ear piercing screams of her older sister, that would mean leaving her to die. She turned back to the aggressors. Even if she tried to attack them, she would have no way of fighting them off. That’s when she realized something. Her eyes darted up, looking to her horn. The whole reason they were there in the first place. She could use her horn as a weapon. She remembered reading a book on Pony Evolution that hypothesized that the horns of Unicorns used to be used for offensive attacking before they evolved to channel magical energy.

The little filly watched as her sister went through more pain by the second. She scowled as she brought herself to a charging position. This was all or nothing. She had to save her sister. The filly scraped her front hoof on the wooden floor as she prepared to charge. The lanky stallion took his eyes off cutting Raspberry Twist’s horn as he turned to Blossom Night. Blossom quickly began charging, galloping towards the stallion as quickly as her little legs could carry her. The stallion barely had any time to react before the filly plunged her horn into his heart.

The other two stallions went wide-eyed as they watched their partner collapse to the ground. Blossom Night’s heart was racing, she was barely able to comprehend what just happened. As the adrenaline kicked in, she turned to the other two stallions. The smaller one galloped to grab his stick. The large stallion rushed towards Blossom with a scowl, “You Foal! How did you get free?!”

The stallion reared, raising his two front hooves in order to stomp on the little filly, but Blossom quickly dashed under his large body, piercing him through the heart with her horn. The stallion quickly fell to his side as he clenched his hooves against his heart in pain, screaming at the top of his lungs.

The other stallion quickly rushes in with a large stick in his mouth. He swings it at the filly, hitting her in the head before she had time to react. Blossom collapses to the floor and looks up as her assaulter. The stallion scowls intensely at the filly, “Dang it! Look what you did you little foal!” He quickly raises his head in order to swing again at the filly, but Blossom quickly rushes up at the Stallion, stabbing him through the jugular. The two ponies stand, frozen, as the stallion drops his stick and falls over.

Blossom Night breathes heavily as her work is finished, barely able to believe she got out of that alive. She turns to her sister, who’s still alive, albeit in extreme pain. She dashes towards her, hopping on the table to see her sister, “Raspberry Twist? A-Are you okay?”

Raspberry Twist’s breathing slows as she turns to Blossom, “L-Little sis…”

Blossom looks at her older sister’s horn, seeing that it’s completely cut off.

“I tried to heal her. But my magic wasn’t advanced enough to heal a pony. Much less the loss of a horn. I watched as my sister slowly bled out in front of me. I held her close to me until help finally arrived, saving me from that nightmare.” Blossom Night narrates.

Pinkie Pie looks at Blossom Night with wide eyes, unsure of how to react, “I’m…sorry.”

Blossom looks down, “That’s the reason I’m never usually happy. Everypony knows Equestria as a happy land with no worries. But there’s a lot of bad in this land.”

Pinkie Pie looks at the counter, “I don't think that’s true.”

“Huh?” Blossom Night turns to Pinkie Pie with wide eyes.

“I think everypony does know about the bad in Equestria. But they all just choose to focus on the good. After all, what good is wallowing in the bad stuff, when you can be happy focusing on the good stuff?” Pinkie Pie says with a smile as she turns to Blossom Night.

Blossom Night is taken aback by this, realizing that Pinkie Pie may be right. She turns to the counter as her eyebrows curve, “I guess I…never really thought of it like that.” Blossom stares for a moment longer before smiling and turning to Pinkie Pie. She slowly walks up to her and gives her a hug.

Pinkie Pie smiles brightly as she throws her two front legs around Blossom, hugging her tightly.

Blossom ends the hug as she backs up, “Okay, what do you say we make some Pies. After all, THAT’S what I’m good at.”

Pinkie Pie pulls out a whisk, “Race you?”

Blossom Night smirks, “Oh, you’re on!”