“You’re lucky I’m even offering you a room!”
Trixie shrank under the inn-keeper’s glare. She knew that some of the Ponyvillians would still be a little upset, but she didn’t expect they would stoop to price gouging to get their revenge.
“But, a hundred and twenty bits a night is highway robbery!” Trixie protested.
The older mare behind the counter smply pursed her lips. neered at her. “You’d know a thing or two about that wouldn’t you, Miss Great and Powerful? One hundred and twenty bits, or no room.”
Trixie bit her lip and considered her options. Stealing a glance out the window, she spied an ominous grouping of dark clouds hanging in the sky. The last thing she wanted was to spend the night outdoors during a rainstorm. With a sigh of resignation, she levitated her pouch over the counter and tipped out the bits. “Trixie... concedes to your terms.”
The older mare's eyes lit up at the pile of money. Spinning around, she grabbed a key off the board behind her and tossed it across the counter.
“It’s the first room down the hall and to the right. Would you like a wake up call, Miss Great and Powerful?” she asked with a sneer.
The unicorn shook her head. “No thanks. Trixie will wake on her own,” she replied, leaving the counter. The inn itself wasn't exactly spacious. It wasn’t the smallest place she had ever stayed, but it would certainly sit somewhere in the top ten.
Using the key, she opened the door, hoping the room had at least been cleaned properly since the last guest. A sizable bed took up most of the space in the room. The decor was minimal to say the least. It consisted of a few rustic pieces of art hanging on the wall, mostly just poorly defined paintings of various outdoors scenes. She shut the door behind her and peered into the bathroom. Everything from the shower to the sink seemed to shine in the artifical lighting.
At least they seem to clean often.
Satisfied with the state of the room, she plopped down on the bed without even bothering to remove her saddlebags.
Her hooves ached, letting her know she had gone too long without a break. Her horn sparked to life, engulfing her front hooves in magical energy. She worked them over, trying to ease the pain so she could at least properly relax for the night. Trixie’s ears perked up at the pattering of rain on the inn’s roof.
It may have cost more than I would have liked, but staying here probably saved me a lot of trouble...
Looking out the window, she saw a white pony in an expensive looking outfit dashing to the safety of a nearby building.
…and some dry cleaning, too.
The unicorn laid in bed, wondering what the other ponies would think of her return. Of course, she was hoping she wouldn’t see very many of them during her brief stay. There was only one in particular she came to see, but Trixie knew that small towns talked fast, and word of her arrival would spread quickly. Her eyelids drooped as the rain played a lullaby, seemingly conspiring to set the unicorn to sleep.
I just hope this wasn’t a wasted trip.
“So that’s three dozen vanilla milla cookies, four mega-sized chocolate alicorn cupcakes, and one dozen chewy chocolate brownie bars?” Pinkie asked, rattling off the lengthy order.
“That’s everything. Oh, and they’ll need to be ready for pick up at noon tomorrow for the Ponyville Town Hall Committee,” Mayor Mare instructed.
“Sure thing, Mayor Mare... Mare Mayor... oh my gosh, I’ve only just realized how fun your name is to say!” the pink mare enthused. “Mayor Mare? Mare Mare? Mayor Mayor?”
The older pony smiled, apparently taking Pinkie’s excitement in stride. “Thanks, Pinkie Pie. I shall be by tomorrow then.”
“Bye, Mayor Mare!” Pinkie said, waving her off enthusiastically. She took the note with the hastily scribbled order into the kitchen and placed it on the corkboard with a push pin.
“Order tomorrow for the mayor!” Pinkie called out.
Mrs. Cake’s eyes flew up from a batch of pralines she was working with. “Tomorrow? What time?”
“Noon.”
“Oh, good!” the motherly pony replied. “We have that order of cookies for the weather team tomorrow evening, and the Ponyville Housing Authority in the morning. Shouldn’t be too hard to squeeze that in as well.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Cake, I learned my lesson on overbooking,” Pinkie said. Her mind returned to that horrible day when she carelessly took on three triple digit orders in the same one hour window. She shuddered just thinking about the angry mob in the sweet shop’s lobby.
Pinkie’s ears perked up at the sound of the door chime. “Oooh! Another customer! Be right back!”
Pinkie dashed through the double doors and launched into her spiel. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, where—Ahhhhh!”
Pinkie shrieked at the familiar unicorn staring back from the other side of the counter. “Trixie! What do you want?” Pinkie demanded. She glared at the pony on the other side of the counter, her reign of tyranny still vivid in the pink mare's mind.
“Tri... I mean, I just want to place an order!” Trixie objected as she shrank beneath the earth pony's glare.
Pinkie leaned across the counter. “An order, huh? You wouldn’t be looking for an order of revenge, now would you?”
“No! I mean... of course not! I just want some cupcakes; a custom order, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Pinkie eyed the unicorn suspiciously. She knew from her last encounter that Trixie couldn’t be trusted, but everypony should be given a fair chance at cupcakes. Pinkie grabbed the pencil off the counter. “Well, Miss Great and Powerful, why don’t you tell me what you want, and maybe we’ll see about cooking it.”
Trixie nodded. “I would like one dozen chocolate cupcakes, but when you pour the batter in the pan, I’d like you to place one of these mini candy bars in each of the cups,” the unicorn explained, dropping several candy bars on the counter.
Pinkie smiled. It wasn’t every day a pony came in and knew more about baking than just throwing some batter in the oven.
“And if you have edible rice paper, I’d like the cupcakes to be cooked with that,” Trixie explained.
Pinkie finished writing and cleared her throat. “That’s one dozen candy-filled cupcakes with rice paper. That’ll be twenty bits.”
Trixie seemed to be shocked by this. “Only twenty?”
Pinkie pointed at the menu where it listed prices for cupcakes. “See? Twenty bits for a one dozen custom cupcake order.”
“Oh, right. Of course.”
“And when do you need them?”
“As soon as you can bake them,” Trixie said.
Pinkie scoffed. “Well, it’s going to take a while to make them. I hope you weren’t expecting me to magic them up or something, Miss Magic Pants.”
Trixie shook her head. “No no! Of course not! I’ll just wait here in the lobby until they’re ready."
Pinkie glared, her eyes boring holes through the unicorn.
"Please, listen for a moment," Trixie pleaded. "I know it may not mean much, but I’m sorry for what I did last time I was here.”
Pinkie continued her stare, her blue eyes never leaving Trixie's apologetic face. Not sure what to think about the unicorn’s odd behavior, she quickly regained her composure and swept the candy bars off the counter into a bag to bring with her into the kitchen.
“It’ll be about twenty minutes, take a seat and somepony will call you up when they’re done,” Pinkie instructed.
Trixie only gave a slight nod in response before retreating to one of the numerous tables in the lobby.
Pinkie pushed through the double doors into the kitchen and dropped the bag of candies on the counter. She grabbed a cupcake pan and set about collecting the ingredients she would need for the order.
“Pinkie, dear. I think we have enough cupcakes for display,” Mrs. Cake called out to her.
“They’re not for display, they’re for a walk-in,” Pinkie replied.
“A custom order? For who?”
“For Trixie…”
Mrs. Cake looked blank for a moment. “Trixie? As in ‘enslave all of Ponyville’ Trixie? Why in Equestria is she here?”
“I... I don’t know... but she seems different.”
“Be careful with that one,” Mrs Cake warned. “She preys upon innocent ponies like you for a living.”
“Yes, Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie answered as she set about her duty.
Using expert care and precision, Pinkie put the final swirl of frosting on the freshly baked cupcakes.
“Whew, all done! Now to find you guys a home.”
Pinkie reached under the counter for a box and unfolded it. Many questions bounced around the pink pony's head while she tended to her work, not the least of which being Trixie’s purpose for coming back to Ponyville in the first place. She let her mind wander on the possibilities while boxing up the cupcakes.
Maybe she forgot something last time she was here.
She grabbed one of the big blue ribbons from the cabinet and tied it around the box in one smooth motion.
Maybe she’s trying to get her money back for the Alicorn Amulet. It must have been crazy expensive!
Neatly packaged and ready to go, Pinkie carried the box out into the lobby. She scanned the shop for the unicorn and finally spotted her. She sat in the very far corner away from the window by herself at the table Pinkie called ‘the dark spot.’ She called it ‘the dark spot’ because it was usually the first place sad or lonely ponies sat in Sugarcube Corner, mostly because the light fixture above the table was on the fritz.
“Order for Trixie!”
All eyes in the lobby flew first to Pinkie behind the counter, and then immediately to the unicorn seated at the far table. Some glared, while others looked on in shock. Pinkie almost felt sorry for her as she made her way to the counter beneath the eyes of a roomful of angry ponies. Pinkie slid the box of cupcakes across to the waiting unicorn.
“Here are your cupcakes,” Pinkie said, casting her suspicious gaze at the unicorn.
Trixie wasted no time in grabbing the box off the counter, and turning to leave. Suddenly the mare stopped and turned back to Pinkie.
“I don’t blame you or your friends for hating me for what I did. I just hope one day you’ll see how truly sorry I am.”
With those words, Trixie turned away and walked to the door. Pinkie stood behind the counter, watching as the unicorn stepped out. The words Trixie spoke rattled around inside her head, echoing louder and louder in that same sad voice. Pinkie’s shoulders slumped as she recalled them, word by word.
“But... I don’t hate anypony…”