Hat
Ponyville wasn't acting incredibly out of the ordinary. The sun shone brightly, Celestia's light smothering the land in joviality. The clouds, positioned meticulously by pegasi, cast shade over just the right places. The day was tranquil, cool, and simple -- just as most ponies liked.
Pinkie liked all the days in Ponyville, though. She had always been happy, wherever she went, and everywhere she would go. Pinkie liked to think of all kinds of things, but most of all, she loved to think of nothing. Not to say that Pinkie was dumb, or thoughtless, but that she had found that it was easier for her to be cheerful when she didn't think about it. And, when she was happy, other ponies were happier, and when other ponies were happy it made Pinkie happy. That was why Pinkie didn't think too much of where she was going as she bounced all over Ponyville, making the lives of others brighter wherever she went.
Of course, not paying attention to where one is going has certain downsides. Pinkie realized this, and always made certain to apologize whenever she bounced into anything.
"Oops! Sorry Applejack! Silly me, I should really watch where I'm going one of these days!"
Pinkie looked about her, observing her immediate surroundings quickly. She was on the bridge, and Applejack was hitched to her apple cart. She must have been about to set up for the market! Pinkie loved the market, it was always so, so much fun! Pinkie also saw that Applejack was saying something. She love love loved Applejack, just like all of her friends, so she made sure to listen.
"--Mah hat! Pinkie Pie, quick, grab mah hat!"
Oh no! She must have knocked off Applejack's hat! Quickly looking up, she saw the hat, caught by the wind, slowly wafting above the Ponyville river. The Ponyville river wasn't very wide -- a fast flowing river that was only half a meter deep could sweep a small pony away, though. That was more than enough to sweep a hat away! Pinkie Pie would have to jump to get the hat, now!
"I'msorryApplejackI'llgetit!"
Pinkie Pie knew a lot of things, and one of those things was that while not thinking was great, thinking quickly could help ponies, and ponies that you help are even happier than ones who see you happy! Not to mention, Pinkie knew that Applejack's hat was special to her, so Pinkie leaped at it. Her little pink legs curled like miniature pink springs, and she jumped as high as she could to grab the Stetson in her teeth.
Even as she cleared the ground, however, she realized that she should have thought faster. If she caught Applejack's hat, she'd just end up dragging it into the river, and that would ruin it! Pinkie's mind clocked to overdrive, whirring almost audibly as she searched for a solution. As she reached the hat, she realized that grabbing the hat was the best that she could do. If she didn't, it's fall in the river anyways, but if she snagged it then she would at least have it with her. Clenching it in her jaws, she was suddenly overcome with a sensory overload.
As a baker, Pinkie's sense of taste was very well developed. Being Pinkie certainly helped, too. This hat tasted like lots of things. She tasted layer upon layer of dirt, applied with care over the years, as this hat weathered them all. Like the rings of a tree, she tasted every year of dirt, intermingled with the sticky taste of the apples that the hat's owners had knocked off the countless trees for generations. She tasted kind ponies and harsh ponies, smart ponies and dull ponies, strong ponies and weak ponies... But most of all, she tasted the years beyond count, a hat with age unfathomable. And she tasted Apples. She tasted Apples, the Apples, all of the Apples all together. Pinkie Pie realized something; this hat was not Applejack's. It was the Apple Family's, and was a hat that would never belong to anypony -- it belonged to itself.
And as Pinkie neared the river, she realized something else. The Ponyville river was a meter deep, and she was a small pony.
A crash jolted through the air as Pinkie and the Hat landed in the water. Fighting the current, Pinkie fought to keep the Hat above the water. As the light blue water drove Pinkie into a rock, she gasped, the air nearly knocked out of her. She wasn't going to give up her struggle, though. Rolling in the water, Pinkie pushed down hard on the offending rock. Pinkie tumbled forward in the water, the Hat repeatedly dunked in the unforgiving liquid.
No! Pinkie thought. This hat needs to get back to Applejack! She needs this hat to be her! It's the Apple Hat! Kicking out her legs to seek purchase, she found the ground. Turning forward so that she presented less surface area to the current, she held steady in the river. Then, turning quickly, she bounded out of the center of the river, towards shallower waters. Rolling under the sudden current once more, she dug into the ground and charged at the shore. Finding purchase, she stumbled out of the current onto the bank.
"Pinkie Pie! Pinkie Pie, are you alright?" Applejack shouted, expediently pulling her cart down the other end of the bridge, spilling apples right and left as the two-wheeled, rickety cart bounced up and down. "Pinkie Pie?" Applejack repeated her question, voice as drenched in concern as Pinkie was with water.
Pinkie just lay on the ground, sobbing. Finally responding to her friend's repeated calls, she mumbled something.
As Applejack saw Pinkie speak, she sighed in relief. "Pinkie, you down-right scared me! I was worried about you! Can yah stand up, are you alright? Yah can move, can't yah?"
Pinkie let out with a bawl, tears streaming from her eyes as she sobbed.
"Pinkie!" Applejack shouted, voice cracking in fear. "Don't worry, I'll go get somepony to help, the hospital's nearby!"
"I'm s-s-soooo sorry!" Pinkie broke out, sniffling terribly. "I k-killed it! It's broken!"
"What's killed? What's broken? Did you break a bone? Don't worry, I'll be--" Applejack cut herself off as she finally saw her Stetson, laying out in front of Pinkie. It might have been able to survive one soaking, but when Pinkie had tumbled with the rocks, a big tear had formed on the top of the hat, where Pinkie had been holding it. The following combination of movement and water immersion had spread the wear on the already damaged hat, tearing it clean in half. Smiling gently at Pinkie, Applejack unhitched herself from her cart, walked over to her sobbing friend, and sat down beside the prone pink pony.
"I'm s-sorry, Applejack." Pinkie whispered. "I'm sorry, it's ruined. I'd understand if you n-n-never wanted to b-be my friend again."
"Sugarcube, Ah'm just glad you're alright." Applejack said. "Ah was worried that you were ruined." she chuckled. "Ah'd never forgive you if you hurt yourself gettin' mah hat for me."
Pinkie Pie looked up, pouting. "You w-wouldn't?"
"Course Ah would!" Applejack wrestled her friend into a hug. "Ah'd just never forgive mahself, that's all."
Pinkie giggled for a second, and then remembered the circumstances. Then, she lodged a stammered, sniffley protest.
"But-- I-- your hat! I broke your hat, I broke the Hat, it's completely unfixable! It was an Apple Family heirloom! Aren't you mad at me?"
Applejack pulled Pinkie off the ground. "How'd you know that it was an Apple Family heirloom? I got it from mah Pa, who got it from Granny Smith, who got it from... darned if I know." Applejack reminisced.
"It t-tasted funny."
Applejack opened her mouth as if to argue for a second, but then shook her head. "You really are a mystery, aren't you Pinkie? Come on, let's get you somewhere to dry off, before you get a cold. Y're already sniffling, an' Ah don't want you getting sick on account of a hat."
"I'm a mystery? What about you? I just destroyed a family relic, and you're not even upset!"
"Pinkie." Applejack said flatly, turning to look at the baker. "It was just a hat. That's all it is, in the end. All it would be. A hat. Now c'mon, I'm sure Twi has a fire going, and if she doesn't Spike can light one up for you."
Following her friend, Pinkie watched as Applejack hitched herself to the cart, and began to trudge towards the library -- away from the market. Stopping herself before she said anything, Pinkie Pie shook her head. It was just Applejack, being Applejack.
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m pretty sure I saw a few errors that need patching. I thoroughly enjoyed the read.
I thought that was really sweet! I think you captured Pinkie and AJ perfectly.i.imgur.com/EYLpq.png i.imgur.com/oa0BJ.png
I love AJ! This is a nice little vignette.
I hope you don't mind, but I liked this fic so much I have put together an audio version on YouTube.
This story is a gem. It is absolutely brilliant (if not flawless, per se). I am going to make sure as many people know about it as I can.
> starting with the weather
ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)
Alright, stuffing down my irritation and reading anyway.
… This was good.
You know, there were a few places where I was all prepared to be disappointed — once you introduced the hat tasting like Apple Family, I was waiting for the story either to veer into comedy (Applejack suddenly no longer acting like herself) or absurd tragedy (the dunk in the river washing the hat's history away). It did neither. And just as I was about to write it off as a missed opportunity, you snuck up behind me and closed strong.
I didn't think playing it straight could work, but you made it work. Hats off. … So to speak.
Sent here by 3447942. What a great story, wonderful job of writing Pinkie.
Yeah, this is a great interplay between two characters who haven't had much interaction in the show... yet.
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Well I'll be. Some people who think my writing is sort of decent.
I'm very flattered, you all. I've been on quite the hiatus, and I'm slowly getting around to writing something new. Cheers! (Hopefully it will be better reading than this: I'm a Creative Writing class wiser this time.)
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I'm glad you're still around, anyway. :)
Wow. That was... that was actually perfectly executed. I'm not even kidding. I've seen amazing execution and good and decent execution, but this is perfect.
Mind, execution doesn't come to mind first with longer stories. I found myself wondering just after typing that whether my praise was valid, to compare a 1k short to Lolita or 1984 - but hey, the two are different beasts altogether. This was well-conceptualized, nicely voiced, and perfectly executed. I'd love to see if you have longform work which holds up as well. Seriously, good job, author.
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Thank you!
I've been looking for the time to write a new story, something somewhat longer, but I am still looking for an editor, and my progress and inspiration as so far have been running a little scant. So far, I only have a rough prologue chapter out of a planned 4-5 chapters. I'm still searching for a way to make it roll, and I've been thinking of abandoning it and looking for a new idea...
I'm looking for some people to at least preread my first chapter and a half to see if it has potential, or if I should scrap it for a new idea. Would you be interested?
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You've asked me at the best time possible. Sure, bounce 'em off me, and I'll see what I can do.
That last line. Brilliant.
One of the nicest shorts I've read on this site.
It was just Applejack being Applejack is a wonderful line.
A clever expansion on such an obvious (and very slightly gross) observational detail. Clever, and then finally, sweet.
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It is, isn't it?
3733369 3736880 3737891 Agreed. The last line is wonderful. The taste of the hat was brilliant, and AL resisted the temptation to overplay it.
I love how you captured Pinkie's mind.talking is a free action, all that.
Charming. I think this is a nice, emotionally-fueled demonstration of how much Pinkie cares, but also how she blows things out of proportion because she cares.
This was a really cute and fun story.
First thing is, I liked the way you portrayed Pinkie Pie. She's not some airhead, like other authors seem to portray her, she is actually very thoughtful and is a very deep character and I am so glad you portrayed that in the story. She is much smarter than anyone suspects and I loved that you captured that.
The situation was pretty basic, but it was still fun. It took something simple and for Pinkie Pie, that was a big thing. And it felt like something Pinkie Pie would do because that's who she is as a character. She would jump into a river to save something for somepony that somepony thought was no big deal. And that was captured so brilliantly in this story.
The whole being able to taste the Apple Family was weird to me. I know I probably shouldn't look into this that much, because it is Pinkie Pie, but... I still thought it was weird and it made me think of another fan fiction, that I really wish I hadn't read, but I'm getting off topic. A little thing, but still weird.
This story was very enjoyable. I enjoyed reading it. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of grammar errors that I found and a good proofreader and some time will fix that right up. Again, great story. I enjoyed it. I hope to see more from you in the future. Take care.
This was extremely sweet, charming and beautifully written. Well done.
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I absolutely loved this! Wonderful characterization of both characters. A job well done!
(although, to be honest, I think I spend too much time around shipfics...near the end, I was almost expecting them to kiss....)
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If you were expecting a shipfic, I'm thinking of doing a Pielight ship. One of the harder ships to do, in my opinion.
Amazing. Not many people are able to capture the inner mechanisms of Pinkie's mind, but you did it.
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Actually it might've been that it tasted old, used, something thats been around for quite sometime.
Odd as it sounds, but some antiques do have different 'smells' and tastes that can show age.
Also she just said it tasted funny, not that it tasted of apple family.
Well done.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Her stetson isn't an heirloom, she won it bobbing for apples (go to 0:48)
Came across this by pure chance!
Glad I did, it was pretty impressive for a small read.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Oops, almost forgot to do this...
Half thought it was in already, though...
24.media.tumblr.com/a257ad5165644b1f79354634dfdee284/tumblr_mqo61uYbwk1rj6vd5o1_400.png
~Skeeter The Lurker
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maybe it is a heirloom to the author.
besides, i haven't seen anyone who used that video.
4025904 Well, there's canon and head canon (which I don't like)
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You'll note that this fic is several months older than that video.
It would be impossible for me to use anything aside from head canon regarding the topic seeing as the canon did not exist at the time I wrote this.
4025342 Yes, because if a random video said it it must be true in every cannon.
4030250 canon not cannon
4030273 right, what you said.
Just saw your interview on the site's blog today. Your way of understanding Pinkie is really creative and makes a lot of sense. Always good to read character studies, no matter which pony, but Pinkie tends to be especially hard. This was also a really great way to put said understanding into action. Gonna have to read some of your other stuff, too.
I just now got around to reading this and the episode "Somepony to Watch Over Me" gave me something to think about. In that episode we see that the Apples have a full closet of nothing but bows and hats. So I thought up of a bit of headcanon:
"Shortly after THE Apple family hat came into possession of the Apple family the owner liked it so much he bought a replacement but never told anypony about it. The next pony who inherited the hat (unaware of the replacement) also bought a replacement and no other pony found out about it. This went on for several generations until one day the Apples noticed there were a lot of hats around.
The Apples decided to keep getting replacements whenever it was handed down as a tradition, since everypony knew it wouldn't last forever. Applejack won her replacement in an apple bobbing contest."
I usually try to leave a somewhat comprehensive analysis on fics I've read, but I think doing so with this one would just be a crime.
Really, the fic's so simple, but so good; the characters are as precise as they could be, and the narration compliments that perfectly. There's no overplaying things, or underplaying them – it achieves exactly what it sets out to, nothing more, nothing less. It's like drawing a perfectly straight line on a chalkboard in one motion.
That said, I do have two quibbles:
There's a bit of repetition of 'turning' and 'current' in the paragraph where Pinkie gets out of the river, and
missed one dot there.
But it's exceptional otherwise.
I did end up analyzing it anyway, right?
Short, but strangely effective. Your interpretation of Pinkie's thought processes intrigue me, and for that alone I really liked this.
enjoyed scribbler's reading of this. short and sweet. a wonderful little fic
They never did pick up that hat. Some say it still lies there to this day.
When I first read this story, I had a laugh and didn't think too much of it.
But I find myself back here again. I like this story. It's a good story: short, sweet and deep, with some great lines throughout it.
"Applejack, being Applejack"
Me: how come Pinkie break the fourth wall?? How can she do this? How can she do that? What she did just now doesn't make sense..
How come AJ played the guitar without any fingers? How come she's brave enough to send a ' I didn't learn anything' letter to Celestia?
Love, love, love it!!!
A nice little thing, this. Very simple premise (ie turning about the usual "Pinkie being Pinkie" perspective) but it does work. The narrative style does feel a bit old-fandom now, but there's nothing you could have done about that in 2012! Liked.
I reviewed this story as part of Recommend Story Reviews #19!
My review can be found here.
I’ve been skimming through Pinkie stories for weeks, to put into my personal folders and those of my Group, and finally got around to reading this one.
I’m truly sorry I waited so long, for this was brilliant!