Getting Muddy is Fun
Playing in the Park
Admiral Biscuit
“Off you go, Noi.” Golden Harvest gave the filly a gentle push in the rump.
“Can we just sit on the bench together?”
Golden Harvest gave her little sister a stern look. “When you're tired. Mom and Dad wanted you to run around and burn off some energy.”
“But I did on my way here.”
“I carried you halfway,” the older mare reminded her.
“You walk too fast.”
“We'll go to Aunt Cake's after, and you can have a treat.” Golden Harvest looked her in the eye. “But nothing sweet. Mom and Dad are making a good dinner, and you can't spoil your appetite.”
Noi gave her sister a long-suffering look, then began trudging across the park as if she'd been hobbled. Golden Harvest watched her go, a small grin playing on her face. Was I that stubborn when I was her age?
Her petulance only lasted as long as it took for her to think she was out of Golden Harvest's sight, and then she began kicking around pine cones with her hooves, galloping after them as they tumbled across the grass. She watched in bemusement as Noi punted one high in the air, and bounced it off her muzzle, then scampered off after it.
“Hey, Goldie!” Before she even had a chance to turn around, her forelegs were caught in a tight vice. She looked down at Berry Pinch's smiling face. “Is Noi with you?”
Golden Harvest nodded, and angled her chin in the direction her little sister had run.
Pinch galloped off after Noi, turning back and shouting a quick 'Thanks!' as she went.
“I didn't see you at the market today,” Golden said without turning.
“I didn't go.” Berry Punch walked next to her friend and gave her a soft nuzzle on the barrel. “But for the best reason—I was sold out of everything. Remember that weird stallion with the dumb glasses who was in town yesterday? Came through on a train? He bought my last bottles of wine, and didn't even haggle over the price.”
“Why can't I get lucky like that?” Golden Harvest sighed. “Nopony wants more than a bunch or two of carrots, ever.”
“Don't give me that sob story. You hardly ever take any back home with you.”
“'Cause I barter some of them for other staples, and Carrot comes and takes the rest for the bakery. Yeesh, I even gave you some last week, remember?”
“And now I owe you a bottle of wine, don't I?”
“I'll collect later.” Golden Harvest glanced back at the park, getting a bead on her little sister, who was happily splashing in a mud puddle with Berry Pinch. “You'd almost think they secretly like baths.”
“Pinchy doesn't mind. I got her a little floating duck for the tub, and she's strong enough to push it around with her field. She still wants me to help her scrub her mane, though—but I've seen her use the washcloth when she doesn't think I'm watching.”
Golden Harvest went over to one of the benches and stretched out on it, leaving enough room for Berry to climb beside her. “Have you got anypony helping her with the magic? Or is she figuring it out on her own?”
“She's a smart filly,” Berry said. “I'm sure I could send her to Dad's, and he'd help out. I'm not really ready to, though.”
“Not ready for her to grow up, are you?”
“Nope.”
• • •
“Okay.” Noi climbed out of the mud puddle and shook her coat off. “You be the buffalo, and I'll be the Appleoosan settler.”
“How come I've gotta be the buffalo?”
“'Cause it was my idea. And 'cause I came up with the game.”
“Fine.” Pinch splashed rebelliously in the puddle a few more times, then hopped out and rolled on her back in the grass while Noi watched in confusion. “Buffalos like to be all dirty and stuff. They have brown coats.” She streaked some mud across her cheeks with her fetlocks. “And they have stampeding paint. I saw a picture in one of Mommy's books.”
“You can't even see it through all the mud!”
“Well, what's your idea?” Pinch flicked a hoof and splattered Noi. “We could have a pine cone fight instead.”
“Nuh-uh. You can throw them with your field.”
“I bet I can throw them further with my field than you can with your hoof.”
Noi's eyes sparkled. “Oh! We can be pegasus archers!”
“Yeah!” Pinch looked around at the scattered pine cones and sticks. “Or grinders!”
“Grenadiers,” Noi corrected.
“We need somepony to throw them at.”
Both fillies looked over at the bench where Golden Harvest and Berry Punch were talking. Pinch grabbed the first pine cone, lobbing it with her field. It fell yards short, bouncing across the short grass harmlessly.
“You'd never protect Canterlot,” Noi decided, as she picked up her own missile. “I can buck this all the way over the bench.”
“Here comes Commander Hurricane!”
The two fillies turned around just in time to see Derpy glide low, Dinky held securely in her hooves. She came up just short of them, dropping Dinky lightly to the ground between the pair. While Pinch went to nuzzle the new arrival, Noi narrowed her eyes and tossed the pine cone in the air, bucking with all her might . . . and missed completely.
She gave the offending pine cone a withering glare, before trotting over to Dinky and giving the filly a good nuzzle. “We're playing settlers and buffalo. Do you want to be a buffalo?”
“I'll be a buffalo,” Derpy said. She dragged her hooves through the mud, rubbed it on her cheeks, and spun back around to face the trio of fillies. “Run—run or I'll stampede you.”
She waited for them to shriek and begin galloping off before giving chase, darting across the park, around trees and bushes, in a futile pursuit that wasn't quite fast enough to catch the elusive fillies. Golden Harvest and Berry Punch watched from the bench.
“Remember when you had that much energy?”
“Nope.”
“Me, neither.” Berry Punch sighed.
“Derpy's got the right idea. Maybe if you're playing, you never get old.”
“You can join her. Get some mud on your coat.”
Golden Harvest stuck out her tongue. “No thanks. I'd rather stay here and relax. Just watching Noi is tiring me out.”
• • •
“Thanks for the cookie, Auntie Cake!” Noi gave her a kiss on the cheek, leaving behind a muddy streak, and then turned to face her husband. “Bye, 'Mister' Cake!” She giggled as she said it, but he gave her a friendly wave anyway.
By the time they'd rounded the corner, the cookie was nothing but a distant memory. Noi happily trotted through the streets of Ponyville, her older sister following at a more sedate pace, waiting out the brief sugar rush. Sure enough, by the time the filly had passed Mr. Breezy's shop, she was flagging, and she barely made it to the bridge before she slowed to a walk. Golden Harvest had caught up by the time they were passing Sweet Apple Acres, and took the lead on the road up to their house, occasionally looking back for her little sister, slowing and waiting for Noi to catch up as they reached the final stretch to the front door.
“I can't wait to have dinner,” Noi said.
“Not before you have a bath.” Golden Harvest motioned at her mud-covered coat. “No way are you going in the house looking like that.”
Noi turned and looked at herself, before making sad eyes at Golden Harvest. “I don't wanna.”
“Too bad. You should have thought of that before you played in a mud puddle.”
“Are you going to take a bath too?”
“I'm still clean. I can wait until after dinner.” Golden Harvest gave her little sister a wicked smile. “It's going to be so good . . . I'll think of you, I promise, when I'm eating Mom's casserole.”
“She made casserole? That's not fair!”
“Yesterday I traded a bunch of carrots to Roma for some tomatoes, and Mom bought fresh daisies. I told you before we went to the park.”
Noi hung her head. “I didn't remember. We were playing settlers and Buffalo.”
“You can play in the park without getting all dirty, if you want to.” Golden Harvest ruffled her mane with a hoof. “Me and Berry did.” She didn't mention Derpy, who'd left the park as mud-covered as the fillies.
“You just did boring adult stuff. You didn't have any fun.” She fixed her sister with a glare. “I bet you talked about stallions.”
“We did not. Well, maybe a little.”
“Fine, whatever.” Noi stomped around the house. “Stallions are icky.” She reached a hoof up and fumbled with the knob.
Keep thinking that until you're thirty. Golden Harvest watched her shove the door open.
“Will you come with me?” Noi triumphantly pushed the door open, then turned to face her sister.
“I can smell dinner now.”
Noi turned her head towards the kitchen, then back at Golden Harvest, a look of desperation in her eyes.
“Dirty ponies don't get to eat until they're clean.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Noi picked up a mud-covered forehoof and looked at it thoughtfully. “Can I take a bath after dinner?”
Golden Harvest shook her head.
“Will you take a bath with me?”
“I'm not dirty.”
Noi darted forward like a viper, trailing her hoof across Golden Harvest’s barrel. “You are now.”