Chapter 1: Where There's a Will, There's a Way

Pinkie slowly trotted with the two twins on her back, both of them completely oblivious to what was going on. As far as they knew they were heading to the park, or to the doctors. In reality they were heading to the funeral home, which was close to the hospital. It had only been a few days, but the Cakes had already been buried after...

"Pinkie, you okay?" Twilight asked as she put her hoof on Pinkie's chest, stopping her from walking into a light that was along the road. Her friends were going with her to make sure she would be okay, knowing that she saw the Cakes as secondary parents, and with what happened to them. From what they had told Pinkie there was an explosion after one of the Cakes left the oven on, allowing the natural gas to spread throughout the kitchen, and when they went to put a batch of cupcakes in it was set off. According to the hospital they died painlessly, but the explosion caused at least half the bakery to get destroyed.

"Huh, oh yeah, I'm fine" Pinkie said quietly, not sounding like she normally did. Her voice sounded sad, tired, and had the smallest hint of agony in it. It hurt all of them to see Pinkie like this, but there wasn't anything they could do for her. Her and the twins had been playing in the park when they heard the explosion, but they didn't pay any attention to it, for all they knew it could have been Rainbow performing a sonic rainboom nearby. When they finally heard the news it brought Pinkie to her knees, followed by the twins attempting to cheer her up. All of her friends offered her and them a place to stay, but it wasn't until she had been told to stay with Twilight that she finally moved from her spot.

As they entered the funeral home they were greeted by an older pony that had long since gone bald, only a few stray white hairs remaining on his frail old head. Without saying anything he lead them into a backroom, where  a younger Unicorn was waiting for them.

"Are any of you Pinkie Pie?" he asked, not bothering to give his name first. Pinkie raised her hoof slowly, followed by everypony else pushing her forwards. She looked at the Unicorn in confusion, wondering why he had called her out of the group.

"I would just like you to know what the Cakes have put in their will" he said with a sweet smile, making Pinkie even more confused, "They have left you the bakery, the twins, and all of their worldly possessions"

"WHAT?!" everypony shouted at the same time, surprising the twins and causing them to start crying. Fluttershy and Applejack quickly tried to calm them down, to no avail as Pinkie soon started to wail herself. She wasn't sad that they left everything to her, but she was completely terrified of what it meant for her. Pinkie alone would run the bakery, raise the twins, AND she still had to keep up her normal life while doing so. It seemed impossible, even for a pony like Pinkie, who seemed to be able to be in several places at once.

"Pinkie?" Rainbow asked as she walked up beside Pinkie, putting her hoof on her shoulder. She jumped when Rainbow's hoof made contact, causing Rainbow to instinctively pull her hoof back. Rainbow looked over at the other girls for help, but all of them were preoccupied with the twins crying, which had only gotten louder. With a loud sigh Rainbow broke into the group, pulling Twilight out of the mess so she could help talk to Pinkie.

"Rainbow what are you-" Twilight protested as she was yanked towards Pinkie, "Oh"

"She's become depressed and antisocial because of this, and I don't know what to do about it" Rainbow admitted, making Twilight raise an eyebrow. It was unlike her to admit she couldn't do something, but in this case, it made sense. Pinkie was completely depressed, there was no way Rainbow could cheer her up all by herself.

"I'm not depressed" Pinkie said quietly, just loud enough for the two of them to hear it. They turned to look at her, both of them confused at what she said. If she wasn't confused then what was she?

"I'm scared" Pinkie said, silence falling in the room as though the twins heard her, and understood, "I'm scared that I won't do them right" Everypony looked at Pinkie with a sad look on their faces, all of them understanding why she was so scared. In such a short while she had all the responsibility of running the bakery and raising the twins from where Mr and Mrs Cake had left off just a few days ago.

"Here Pinkie, let us help you with this" Twilight offered, putting her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder to show how sincere she was about it. Everypony else joined in and put their hooves on her shoulder as well, to show her that they were all there to support her and hold her up when she would fall.

"Thanks you guys" Pinkie said with a sad smile on her face, just as the twins came up to sit in front of her, both of them grabbing her two front legs in a tiny hug, "Thank all of you" The eight of them quickly joined in a big group hug, which managed to make Pinkie smile like she had used to all the time. Once they had heard the rest of the will, which dictated what was to happen when the twins asked about their parents, the group left together, all heading towards Twilight's house so they could figure out the living arrangements.

"So, who's going to take them in first?" Twilight asked as the got to the front of the library, which had been under Spike's watch all morning.

"Well, since we're here why don't you just take her in for the first little while?" Rainbow asked, looking over at the library, which was extremely large for a town of Ponyville's size, "I mean, don't you have like four empty rooms or something?"

"Yeah..." Twilight said quietly, not wanting to admit that each of those rooms was currently filled with books, "Well, it's up for Pinkie to decide" Everypony quickly looked over at Pinkie, who had the twins happily playing on her back. She looked over at the girls before looking at the twins, who seemed drawn towards the library after they saw Spike poke his head out the window so he could get a breath of fresh air after his afternoon nap.

"I guess we can stay here, if you're okay with it" Pinkie said, giving Twilight a happy smile before she was pulled into a hug by the lavender Unicorn.

"Well, let's get you settled in" Twilight said as she led Pinkie and the twins inside, waving goodbye to the rest of the girls before shutting the door.