“Hey, Ponder!”
 
“What?!” Ponderosa Pine nearly jumped out of his skin when when the sound of his bedroom door slamming against the wall ripped him out of his concentrated stupor. His sister, Juniper Jewel barged into his room like a bull stomping into a saloon looking for trouble. Luckily Ponderosa managed to keep his skin but didn’t manage to not tumble off the bed.
 
“Uh, oh dear,” Juniper’s urgency staggered. “Sorry bout that.”
 
“Ugh…if you were sorry…” Ponderosa took time to properly right himself into a sitting position against the bed, being mindful of the pins he’d stuck into his vest. Not the wisest decision in hind sight. “ then you’d stop chargin into my room like you’re tryin to save me from a dern house fire.”
 
At that moment he realized just what a state his little sister was in.
 
“Holy cow pies, Juniper what in tarnation happened to you?”
 
Juniper looked like she had been run over by a plow hitch, mane wild, make up smeared, and her dress in tatters.
 
“Did you get into a fight?” Ponderosa sighed. “Again?”
 
“One name!” Juniper raised an accusatory finger as her face flushed with anger. “Sunstride!”
 
Ponderosa slowly nodded, understanding swelling his mind.
 
“I need a favor of ya.” Juniper pulled the torn dress from over her head. Ponderosa almost protested until he realized she was fully clothed underneath, mostly clean untorn vest and jeans. “Can you fix this dress for me? Mom wanted me to go into town with her lookin all nice but I can’t let her see what happened to this dress she made for me.”
 
“I’m busy.”
 
“Please, Ponderosa! I promise I’ll pay you back,” Juniper started to prance in place nervously. “I’ll do all your chores for a week.”
 
“Nu uh.” Experience was a cruel teacher. “Two weeks.”
 
“Deal.” Juniper groaned. “Just don’t let ma know.” She probably threw it harder than she intended but the next thing Ponderosa knew, he was pulling the torn dress away from his face, just in time to catch the tail of his sister whipping around the corner. “Thanks an apple bunch!”
 
“Uh huh, yeah…right.” Ponderosa Pine collected the doll he had been sewing together and placed it back on his bed before examining the dress and grimaced. It was going to take some work.
 

 
“Oh Ponderosa~.”
 
Only twenty minutes had past when the lilting voice of his mother reached his ear.
 
“Ponderosa are you in there?”
 
Panicked, he stuffed the dress under his pillow. “Yeah mama, I’m in here.”
 
Much unlike his sister, their mother Rarity glided into the room, mane beautifully curled and her dress lacking even a wrinkle. She smiled at him warmly.
 
“Ponderosa, my sweet, have you seen your dear sister around?”
 
“I saw her this morning.” His brain scrambled as he talked, trying to figure out how much truth he could mix into a lie which would sound believable. “But not lately…”
 
“Hm I see.” Rarity paced the room, a dainty finger tapping against her chin. “That’s strange. I know I told Juniper that we were going to spend the evening at the park art gallery but I can’t find her anywhere…” Suddenly Rarity’s ears pinned back as she shrewdly scanned the room. Ponderosa’s stomach flipped. This wasn’t the first time his or his sister’s room became the subject of the low-key yet detailed ‘mom search’.
 
“Mm-hm. Well my dear son, I must ask, If you haven’t seen your sister at all today then how did you come into possession of this?” By the time Ponderosa saw the flickering of Rarity’s magic he knew it was too late. The dress slipped from under the pillow and hung in the air like the remains of a flag after a storm. His mother’s eyes were hard with simmering anger. Some time ago her reaction would have been shrill and comical but those days steadily came to an end, as Juniper’s complete disregard toward their mother’s attempts to dress her nicely became more apparent.
 
Rarity quirked a brow in his direction, forcing him to grin nervously as he watched his mother rub her temple.
 
“Did Juniper ruin another one of my dresses?” she asked tersely. Ponderosa struggled to dredge up another lie.
 
“That’s my fault actually.” Rarity raised her arms in a dramatic arch ”Oh really now? I find that very hard to believe, Ponderosa. Please, tell the truth, how did this dress end up in such a sad state? Did your sister get you to lie for her?”
 
Yes.
 
“Nope.” While sweating bullets on the inside, Ponderosa managed to keep a straight face, but it didn’t seem to be enough. Rarity crossed her arms and leaned forward, eyeing him sternly.
 
“Ponderosa Peridot Pine are you telling me a lie? For your sister’s sake?”
 
“I swear it was my mistake.” He hated lying, especially to his mom. “I was asking her to show me that dress making spell you taught her once but I think she got it mixed up with the campfire spell Miss Twilight Sparkle showed her a week ago.” He pointed up at the sad dress. “And that’s what happened. I was tryin to fix it before you got back.”
 
“Oh!” Rarity raised a hand to her mouth. “Juniper tried to use magic?” She seemed to see the tattered fabric in a new light. “Well…I can’t say this is a mark of progress. But at least she’s trying.” Rarity’s eyes widened once she noticed the yellow toy, she gasped with unrestricted delight. “What is this?” She rotated the strange animal looking doll in her magic, forgetting the dress completely. “Another one of your darling little gifts?” She examined the doll closely. “I must say, your stitch work has improved so much since the last one. And I don’t say that just because you’re my son.”
 
“Y-yeah!” Ponderosa blushed. “Citrine told me that Potato Chip really liked the one I made for her so I thought it would be nice to make another.” This earned him a hug that enveloped his entire head. “I am positively thrilled to hear it!”
 
And Ponderosa was quite pleased.
 

 
Oh look a background! You don’t get those much from me. But I really want to break out of that comfort zone and challenge myself.  
I actually ended up changing the story up a bit so it doesn’t fully reflect the picture but the main idea is there. Ponderosa takes more after his mother Rarity than his sister does, who in most ways emulates Applejack. Rarity taught Ponderosa how to sew and he spends a good chunk of his free time practicing and making things. Eventually he starts a line of clothes and boots for stallions.  
This also sets up this weird idea I had to shove in another beloved childhood franchise of mine, the popples. They start off as toys Ponderosa made for his friends as gifts, brought to live in one way or another, and will most likely bring with them chaos.
 
On a somewhat unrelated note, I decided to change Hickory Smoke’s name to Sunstride, since out of all of AJ’s and Soarin’s kids, they don’t have any with a pegasus-ish sounding names. I will probably give the name ‘Hickory Smoke’ to another character. (or one of their pets.)