"Fine, I'm guilty! I wear false eyelashes!"
Rarity's shame was plainly evident as she whined, but she had to hesitate as she looked at the faces of the ponies around her. "Oh, and I took a bite of the cake." Perhaps that was the answer the others were looking for, seeing as Pinkie and Twilight had been conducting an extensive investigation into finding out who had eaten part of the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness that was meant to be entered into a contest tomorrow, but Rarity still believed the first thing was the bigger transgression.
"So did I," Fluttershy admitted, looking quite ashamed of herself.
"Aw nuts, so did I," Rainbow Dash added.
"You just made it sound so delectable!" Rarity offered, her mouth practically watering just from recalling the taste.
"So tasty," Fluttershy agreed, visions of the delicious cake dancing in her head.
"And boy, was it!" Rainbow exclaimed, tongue licking at her teeth in hopes that a bit of the flavor still remained somewhere on them.
"I only meant to take a little, lady-like bite," Rarity said, her awkward smile trying and failing to mask her guilt.
"And it was so good," Fluttershy said, staring at the rest of the cake with an intense sense of longing.
"Yeah, I just dove right in!" Rainbow chimed in.
"But I'm really really sorry," Fluttershy said, ears drooping in embarrassment.
"Terribly sorry," Rarity agreed.
"Sorry, Pinkie," Rainbow said. It was often difficult to get a sorry out of Rainbow Dash, but there it was.
Pinkie's eyes darted between each of her friends as they offered their rapid-fire justifications for what they had done. The entire situation was endlessly frustrating, but in the end, these ponies were her friends. As much of a problem as their behavior had caused, it wasn't nearly enough for her to stay mad at them.
"That's okay," Pinkie said. "At least this mystery is finally solved."
"Yeah, it's really not."
Pinkie's head whipped in the direction of the nearby door, where a familiar pigtailed pony stood.
"Sugarcoat?" Pinkie asked. "When did you get here?"
"Why does everypony always ask me that?" Sugarcoat asked. "I'm a person, not a clock."
"That's true," Pinkie said. "You don't even have any hands!"
"I used to," Sugarcoat said coldly.
"Huh?" Pinkie asked. Then she shook her head. "Never mind that for now! You were probably right. This mystery isn't solved yet! We still have to-"
"That's not what I meant," Sugarcoat replied. "I meant that what the others did isn't okay."
"What?" Twilight asked. "I mean, they did something wrong, but they apologized. Are you saying Pinkie shouldn't forgive them?"
"Of course not," Sugarcoat said, pointing away from Pinkie and Twilight and to the others. "But are you really going to let them get away with a simple apology? The Cakes trusted you to bring this cake thing to this competition and are hoping it wins a prize, and those four can't hold onto their hunger for long enough to not ruin everything?"
"Hey!" Applejack exclaimed. "I didn't eat any of it!"
"Hm," Sugarcoat said. "Okay, fair enough. I'm sorry."
Applejack stared in shock. Seeing Sugarcoat admit to being wrong about something was surprising in itself. Getting an apology was even more so.
"Don't act so shocked," Sugarcoat said with a frown. "Unlike your friends here, it doesn't take a giant investigation for me to admit when I was in the wrong."
"But we apologized!" Rainbow said, starting to get frustrated.
"Don't you listen?" Sugarcoat groaned. "Do you even realize how important this cake is? The Cakes are trying to win a contest with it, but that's not even all. This is about trust. The Cakes trusted Pinkie to get it there safely and she trusted her best friends in the world to not ruin that for her. You broke that trust, and you're risking making Pinkie's employers think she can't be trusted with important jobs. All because you were hungry and the cake sounded tasty."
Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash looked utterly deflated as the magnitude of what they had done was thrust upon them. Fluttershy looked about ready to burst into tears, and Rarity wasn't far behind.
"Oookay..." Pinkie said, walking over to the three and looking at Sugarcoat. "Ummm...I'm really glad you're defending me and stuff, but maybe that was a little harsh?" She put a foreleg around Fluttershy to comfort her.
"The truth can be harsh sometimes," Sugarcoat said with a shrug. She watched as a tear fell from Fluttershy's eye, then sighed. She walked over to the group and patted Fluttershy on the back. "It's not the end of the world."
"Yeah!" Pinkie said, smiling. "I wouldn't want to live in a world that ended because somepony ate cake! I'd be ending the world every afternoon!" She gave Fluttershy a nudge and a smile, and Fluttershy managed to smile back.
"Have you ever heard of diabetes?" Sugarcoat asked.
"Sure!" Pinkie replied. "Ponies use that word whenever I do something really cute!"
Sugarcoat just sighed and departed the train car.