1 - Welcome to Ponyville!
Maud drew her sister close, hugging her tightly. No words were spoken. None were needed. She couldn't find any besides. She just held Pinkie tightly. "Bye," she spoke in her monotone.
Pinkie could, in a way only sisters could, feel the pain in the plainly said word. "I'll be back, promise. Super duper promise." She took a step back and nodded to the rest of her family. "I'll be okay, and I'll visit." She forced a smile. "Then we can have a big family reunion party." The party didn't sound as fun as it should have, but it wasn't a fun time, not then.
She turned away from them all and began her walk. Her little hooves carried her across the barren reaches of the rock farm. Well, barren to other eyes. Pinkie knew the rocks that grew there were plentiful and wondrous in their own way, but she needed more...
The train ride felt like it took forever, but it was only a few hours in reality. The conductor stopped beside Pinkie, who was staring out a window. "Miss, is this your stop?"
Pinkie looked over to the moustached stallion. "I'm not sure, where are we?"
He cocked his head faintly at the filly. "We just arrived in Ponyville. Are you lost?"
She slid down to her hooves. "Yep, but this feels like a good spot." She trotted right past the adult, headed for the exit.
Pinkie had no proof that Ponyville was a better spot than any other, but she had learned to trust in her hunches, and little twitches told her to stop there, so she did. She saw ponies all around, frowns on many faces, blank expressions on others. It seemed a dour town overall from her hike along its main street.
She sat down beside a post and considered her course of action. "I only had enough for one ticket..." she murmured to nopony in particular.
"One ticket for what?" asked a thin stallion, brown of color with orange fuzzy mane that reminded Pinkie a little of her own mane, especially his tail. "Oh, pardon me. I should introduce myself before asking questions of a little filly. I'm Carrot Cake, nice to meet you..."
"Who are you talking to?" A mare emerged from the same building he had come from. She was a little more rounded, a blue color with pink banded hair that looked like someone had served ice cream instead of hair. "Oh, hello there, little one."
Pinkie saw the mare had three delicious cupcakes on her rump, and the stallion had 3 tasty baked treats she quickly figured were carrot cakes. What a sweet couple! "Hiya! I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie." Even as she said the name, she could see their expressions changing. "Or maybe that's too long? Let's go with Pinkie! I'm Pinkie, nice to meet you!"
The mare nodded at Pinkie. "Nice to meet you, Miss Pie. I'm Cup Cake." She gestured at Carrot. "We're married, and it seems my husband forgot we're in the middle of things."
"Oh, it's alright," he insisted. "Never too busy to say hello."
Pinkie liked the sound of that. "Yeah, always time for that, um, what are you doing?"
She gave a dramatic sigh. "We need to get these supplies for a birthday party across town, and we're already behind schedule."
"I'm right with you hon." He moved to trot inside the sweet-looking building, but paused to give her a nuzzle that she returned. As tense as both were, they were moving as a team, and even little Pinkie could see the love. She liked it.
"Say, can I help?" She bounced to her hooves.
Misses Cake perked an ear at the filly. "Shouldn't you be at school, or home?"
"Nuh-uh." Pinkie shook her head. "I'm all by myself, so I have plenty of time. I wanted to find a place to bring smiles to more ponies, and Ponyville looks like it could use more smiles. Can I help, please?" She bounced towards Misses Cake. "I'll be good, promise!"
Mister Cake came out, pulling a cart of pastries behind him. "Let her take a few things, it shouldn't hurt."
Misses Cake gave a little sigh, but a smile was on her face. "If you have your little heart set on it, who am I to turn you away?" She vanished into the building only to return with her own cart, and holding a tray in her teeth. She set the tray on Pinkie's head. "Be careful with it and don't let it tip."
Pinkie tried so very hard to see the food that was on her head, but trying to peek too hard made it start tilting one way or the other. She gave up and went stiff. She walked slowly and evenly beside the two adults. "I'll be super ultra careful!"
Mister Cake nodded. "I can see you are. What a responsible filly you are."
"Pinkie, that was your name, right?"
"Mmmhmm."
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"Nuh-uh."
The Cakes shared a glance as they walked towards their job. Mister Cake cleared his throat. "Well, as it turns out, we were looking for an assistant. Do you like cooking by chance?"
"Oh yeah!" Pinkie gave the smallest bounce and had to stop a moment to get her tray re-balanced. "Cooking is fun mostly because of how happy ponies get when they eat something tasty."
Mister Cake laughed in a good humored way as they approached a tall building. "That's exactly how I feel when I'm working. The smiles on ponies' faces when they bite into something good..."
Misses Cake moved to the fore and nudged the door open. From inside, a chorus of cheers erupted. Many fillies and colts came rushing out at the first sign that the food had arrived and all three of them were swarmed by hungry little mouths and questing hooves.
The party was quite a bit of work, keeping the table stocked, utensils ready, and keeping curious little foals away from the actual carts.
One pony asked of Pinkie, "why aren't you playing in the party?"
Pinkie shrugged a little. "I am. Running a party is as much fun as being in it. You need both to have a super best party."
It was a fine time to introduce herself, so Pinkie swapped names with all the other colts and fillies there. It would be far from the last friends she would make, but tending to their party felt right. When it was all done, Mister and Misses Cake strapped their carts back on and got to walking back towards the store they had come from. Pinkie walked alongside them, her original tray long since emptied and sitting on one of the carts. She flashed a big smile at them. "I can't wait to do that again!"
Misses Cake reached to run a hoof through Pinkie's messy mane. "We didn't say there would be a next time." Pinkie's little face fell. "But that's just because we should settle that."
Mister Cake nodded in agreement. "Pinkamena Diane Pie. We have a vacancy open for a position of assistant baker."
Pinkie's frown turned upside down, literally as she spun her head around just for the rest of her to catch up. "Yes! Wait... You don't want a homeless pony working for you..."
The two exchanged looks before they leaned down as one. Mister Cake on the left, Misses on the right. "How would you--" started Mister Cake.
"--like to stay with us?" ended Misses Cake. "Baking has to start very early in the day. It would be... convenient if you could start early in the morning." That was not the only reason they made the offer, not by far.
It didn't matter. Pinkie began bouncing around with joy between them, accepting their offer with all the happiness she held in her little heart. Both of the adults smiled at her. They didn't have a foal of their own. Perhaps they had felt something in Pinkie, a filly-shaped hole in their hearts. She would help, and fill that vacancy in more than one way.
Ponyville grew that day.