I thought I'd begin a series of one-shots featuring ponies that there are limited fan materials for. I'm just throwing some more pony fan stories out there. I admit that a majority of these stories will be rather sad, so if you don't care for emotional strain, this might not be the best set of stories for you. However, there will be the sporadic joke in here, I suppose, but I want to focus on some of the conflicts background ponies probably suffer from as well. I hope those who do read this enjoy the material.
Story 1: A Forgotten Father
The streets were bustling in Ponyville as per the usual day, with market stalls open and friends chatting and gossiping as they went on with their days. However, heads turned sharply as a strange sight for the various ponies appeared. The streets began clearing with great speed as frightened ponies ducked into their houses and stayed silent beneath benches.
A single stallion walked along the road as quiet as the night. The air around the stern stallion seemed to just plummet in temperature. From the wide-brimmed hat perched neatly on his head to his pickax cutie mark, this single equine was infamous for his austerity. His stone-cold frown and austere gaze could scare a dragon. This local rock farmer was sharper and colder than any stone he overturned. At least rocks grew warm in sunlight. His austerity was so intense that it was rumored that it was his ancestor, and not Princesses Celestia and Luna, who froze Discord in stone.
Unlike Zeocra, who was mysterious to the populace of Ponyville, or stampedes which meant immediate harm, everypony knew this stallion of dull gold pelt. He was perhaps the only pony who rivaled Filthy Rich in wealth, owning half the local property and charging folks rent for the real estate. He still seemed to grow richer even from that, but he never spent a bit as far as anyone knew. It was as though he grew gold at that rock farm of his. His notoriety as a skinflint and a miser inspired many songs. Unlike his daughter who lived in town, however, everypony sung at him rather than with him.
The words were even starting as Derpy Hooves began to shiver, looking at her longtime friend with her wall eyes. She uttered quietly to acknowledge the presence of the wandering stallion, "When you feel a cold wind chill you, it chills you to the bone."
Golden Harvest nodded in response to Derpy as she looked on at the passing Stallion. Being a farmer as well, she was even more frightened by the visitor. "But there's nothing in nature that freezes your heart like years farming stone."
The nearby Lyra Heartstrings heard the other ponies as the classic chorus started. She was hiding behind the doors of a shop, peeking out at the grim figure. "It paints you with indifference, like a fence is painted white," she agreed with Golden Harvest.
"But the worst of the worst," Bon Bon continued, looking up at Lyra from her peeking out of the lower half the door. "The most hated and cursed!"
The four in-town friends combined their singing voices as the figure finally passed their block, "is the one that we call Clyde!"
Ponies from every window and door watched the trotting stallion as the song grew louder, hooves pointing at the austere creature as he walked along. "Unkind as any, with the wrath of many, there goes Grayson Pembroke Clyde! Oh, there goes Mr. Humbug! There goes Mr. Grim! If there gave a prize for being cold, the winner would be him."
"Old Clyde, he loves his rocks, because he thinks they'll last forever," the children in the schoolyard looked up from amongst the bushes and heavy playground equipment, all nodding and shuddering in fear as they tried to avoid the imposing pony's gaze. "If he had colts or fillies, you can bet they'd have friends never." Little did they know that he did have fillies, and one of them was their greatest friends.
Cheerilee grimaced at the foals' remarks. "Even the children don't like him…" She also lowered her head at fear of the austere stallion's gaze, should it be cast at her.
All fell silent as the dull gold stallion left the schoolyard behind and a collective gasp was heard as he looked up at the doors of Sugar Cube Corner. He looked back, causing any there to flee in fear. He probably was going to tax them on some long overdue payment or punish them for some other reason. Whatever his intent, it was probably not good.
"Humbug," Clyde cursed, before opening the door that entered Sugar Cube Corner. The bell over the door ringed, and the shop was immediately empty but the owning family. Clyde walked up to the counter.
"Oh, um, oh dear." Mrs. Cup Cake, the blue-pelted and pink-maned female owner of the pastry shop stepped awkwardly in place as she looked at the entering customer. "Oh, Mr. Clyde, we weren't expecting you today."
The piece of straw twitched in Clyde's mouth as he looked at Mrs. Cake. He reached for his saddle bag and pulled out a large pouch of gold bits and threw it on the counter. "Here you are, eighty bits. I hope this is enough for Pinkamena's room and board."
Mrs. Cake blushed. "Oh, good heavens, no." She bit her lip and corrected herself, "I mean yes. It's more than enough." She twiddled her forehooves together. "You know you really don't have to do this."
"I know I only charge forty bits rent on a full-sized house, but I realize my daughter could easily eat even a place like this out of house and home." Clyde sighed. "It's the least I could do, since you guys took her in so gracefully."
"Now, Mr. Clyde, it's really been a pleasure having Pinkie live with us." Mr. Cake popped up from the kitchen. "I mean, she helps watch the kids, she helps bake, and she's always ready to tell us what's good or not."
"You two know that filly wouldn't know the difference between a gourmet cake and a pile of burnt scones, if it has sugar in it." Clyde sighed. "It's why I'm awful thankful that you took her in at a young age. I don't even know if she remembers me and the farm anymore."
Mr. and Mrs. Cake grimaced as they gave each other a look. Mrs. Cake placed her hooves on the counter. "Look, Clyde, you're not blaming Pinkie over what happened, are you?"
"Of course not!" Clyde stomped his front hooves on the floor so hard that the whole of Sugar Cube Corner rattled. "It's not Pinkamena's fault that Sue was diabetic and that we didn't know until after she threw that party so long ago."
Mr. Cake smiled embarrassedly as he remembered when he and his wife were the newest couple in Ponyville. They were just opening the new bakery of Sugar Cube Corner, when Clyde had brought a nine-year-old Pinkie Pie to the establishment. It turned out that Pinkie Pie's mother had actually gone into a diabetic coma after eating so much cake and sweets at the Pinkie Pie's first party. Clyde was able to convince his daughter that her mother was just sleeping because of how hard they partied. He hadn't Pinkie Pie. He wasn't trying to get rid of her, per se. He just knew that Pinkie Pie would blame herself, if she found out that Sue never woke up. He didn't want Pinkie to stop being happy, after seeing her smile. Eventually, he just became a shadow in her life. He tried seeing less and less of her, though he always cared from a distance.
The orange-maned cake maker smiled sympathetically. "That's not what she meant, Mr. Clyde. It was a slip of the tongue. It's just… well… we're not her parents. We can only guess how much stress you're under. If you want to take her home, I'm sure she'd be happy to."
"Pinkamena didn't smile a whole lot on the family farm…" Clyde clenched his teeth in regret. "I apologize for getting upset. It's just… I get sensitive about my family, you know." He twitched his straw piece, before continuing, "Speaking of which, has Pinkamena been seeing anyone? I know Inquelle and Blinkianne are both busy, what with Inquelle spending so much of her time making statues and other stone art to be shipped out. Since we got the marble seeds, she's really been hard at practice about that. Blinkianne's been trying to make gold in the wink of an eye. She says diamonds are too common much anymore. She seems to think we can make Ponyville a richer place than Canterlot, once she's perfected her machine. Truth be told, I want grandkids. I hope I can get Inquelle and Blinkianne looking, but I want to hear about Pinkamena."
"Well, she's doing well." Mrs. Cake smiled warmly. "She spends a lot of her time with her friends and just making all of Ponyville just a better place."
"But she hasn't been looking for a special somepony," Mr. Cake commented, before running into the kitchen to tend to a waiting oven.
"I was afraid of that." Clyde shrugged as he adjusted his hat. "Course, I reckon I can't do much to change her. I love her the way she is, hard worker or not. And that's why I couldn't be more thankful to you two for watching after her." Clyde turned away. "My regards. I hope she doesn't cause you two too much trouble."
"Wait, Clyde," Mrs. Cake moved from behind the counter, carrying a small bag in her hands. "Certainly you could do with a few muffins coming all the way out here. It's the least we could do."
"Thanks." Clyde took the bag which was roughly the size of the one with eighty bits and placed it in his saddlebag. "Give Pinkamena a hug for me, I guess. Course she'll probably give you a hug first." He tipped his hat as he left Sugar Cube Corner.
To the ponies outside, though, they saw a pony with heavy saddlebags and not so much as a smudge of icing on his face. There had never been a pony so stingy as not to have a single sweet during a Sugar Cube Corner visit. Nopony, except one.
"How could anypony be so stingy?" Minuette quipped to Dr. Whooves as they passed each other in the street, looking towards Clyde with contempt. "So stingy? So stingy? How can anypony be so stingy? He's the stingiest stallion in town!"
"Old Clyde is such a stingy stallion," Dr. Whooves remarked, "The tightest one since time began. He's so tight, so tight, I say, he wouldn't give a bride away."
As Clyde snubbed the market booths on his way home, Roma continued the new song, "It hurts him so to pay one bit. He wouldn't pay a compliment!"
"He uses lightning bugs at night," Crafty Crate gossiped, "to save the cash he'd pay for light."
The two glared after the austere Clyde as he left the marketplace without buying a thing. They gave each a sidelong look, before sneering, "How could anypony be so stingy? So stingy? So stingy? How could anypony be so stingy? He's the stingiest stallion in town!"
Now the entirety of town collected in on the singing as before Clyde had entered Sugar Cube Corner, though, through their ignorance of the stallion that rarely entered town. "And when his tomb is erected, nopony's going to be affected. But you can bet his ghost will roar, because he's paying for labor."
The entire town was practically roaring after Clyde as he reached the outskirts, ignoring them all. "And when it's time for him to go, his soul will travel where it's cold. And when he gets there, you will perceive, because the Wendigos will shriek, 'How could anypony be so stingy! So stingy! So stingy! How could anypony be so stingy?! He's the stingiest stallion in TOW-OWWW-OWWWWWN!"'
Clyde pulled his hat over his eyes, frowning as usual, but he couldn't care less about their songs. He'd still grow rocks. He'd still build homes. He'd still miss his wife. But most of all, he'd love all his daughters, even if he couldn't live with them all. It was just the way his life went as he continued back to the rock farm. "Humbug."
Back in town, though, Pinkie Pie popped up in the middle of the street, shouting, "Hey, who started a song without me? Now I'm going to have to start one! Oh, it's a great day of joy! It's a great day of fun! So come on everybody! It's time to have some fun~!" She hopped along the street as everyone joined her in her new song.
...
Well, for those who want to know, if someone is singing in my writing, the italics will be inside quotes. Italics outside of quotes will be someone thinking.
The songs referenced in this one-shot include "Scrooge" from Muppet's Christmas Carol and "The Stingiest Man in Town" from Rankin Bass's The Stingiest Man in Town, for those who want to know. There's something about Clyde's appearance which reminds me of Ebenezer Scrooge, so I thought that'd be the general town's perspective of him, and that few would realize he was Pinkie Pie's father. I also thought it'd seem a reasonable explanation for why Pinkie Pie ended up at the Cakes', even if death by hyperglycemic shock is a little dark for My Little Ponies.
Be prepared for another one-shot soon.
