The door lands closed.
She instantly flattens herself against it, hyperventilating as she searches the room. The well-lit room, with nothing in it.
Then she relaxes, and even laughs at herself. She’s been living hear an entire week and she’s still afraid her welcome party will crop up someplace.
Big Mac’s new hammer was an amazing hit. She’d delivered it herself, still inside the packaging; the Crusaders didn’t know their address for a normal delivery.
Big Mac had taken one look at the yellow package and raised his eyebrow. Granny Smith had taken one glance and started mumbling something she hadn’t caught.
Then Applebloom had made it into the room and, ahead of her sister, had raced to the package and shredded it open in midair.
That had been… messy. Good thing she’d still had the package held in her magic, though- the shredded fragments were, by necessity, still encased in her magic, making cleanup easy.
Then the hammer had fallen out. Applebloom had splintered open its inner package during her blaze, so it was just the hammer, no extra tags, plastic, or anything, head-first.
The hammer had hit the floor with a solid thud and fallen over, the handle bouncing slightly on the hardwood floor. She’d raised the packaging in her magic, scowling down at Applebloom. “You know, there’s a cleaner, safer way to do that,” she’d stated.
Applebloom had accepted the berating calmly, even as Big Mac walked over to look at the hammer. He had then picked it up, and tested it.
“ ‘S good,” he’d said, before heading out to give it a trial run.
That had been Friday. Now, it’s Monday, and the Apple family has a new barn. Two of them.
And according to Applejack when she came by half an hour ago, he’s practically gushing about how nice a hammer it is. She’d placed an order of her own; some of the buckets she uses for her Applebucking are starting to break apart. She’d specified dimensions and, a quick search later, they’re on their way.
Of course, that had only been after she’d noticed the packaged fridge on her front porch, helped her unpack it, and even helped get it into place. Something about being friends with Rarity long enough… So she’d zeroed her markup on Applejack’s order in thanks. She hadn’t told her; the mare had refused payment for helping with the fridge when she’d offered.
Now, of course, the Element of Generosity herself just left her humble abode.
She’s rather surprised there hadn’t been any panic attacks nor mention of new dresses for her. Though, in light of the two-day delivery on a twenty-but-aught-to-be-hundreds-of-bits hammer, she’d been interested to know what that kind of thing might do for her boutique.
Two sewing machines, eighteen packages of needles, an entire wall worth of thread, and enough fabric to build a bridge to Canterlot.
That’d been her order. All very specific; very few items had a quantity over five. She’d been amazed by the low prices; apparently, Equestrian prices- especially for textiles, since those are apparently hard to make- are ridiculously high by comparison. The entire order, she’d stated, cost her about as much as a single Equestrian sewing machine… or just thirty bolts of cotton cloth.
Yet, with that same, single order, she’d single-hoofedly paid off the loan she’d taken out to get this house… and most of her credit card. And she’d only marked it up by one percent, and was only keeping half her profits for herself- no, the Crusaders got to enjoy the other half, as thanks for their ongoing advertising efforts. She’d had to have Amazon pull directly from her checking account for that order; the total was several times the size of the credit limit on her card.
She can only hope the Ponyville Party Planning Pony doesn’t come looking for a new party cannon; she’s pretty sure Amazon doesn’t carry things like that. She shakes herself, unleashing a chuckle- Amazon has everything, why wouldn’t they have a magical device that doesn’t exist in their home dimension? She trots over to her laptop, and punches in a search.
And facehooves. Of course Amazon has it. For only nine ninety-nine, ninety-nine, to boot.
Some banging sounds on her door. She glances over and heads over to open it.
FzzzzPOW!
The confetti-layered party pony outside looks down at her party cannon, whose tip just burst outwards in a spectacular failure. A spectacular failure that completely failed to get any confetti into her house, though.
Pinkie sighs, brushing the confetti out of her mane and hiding the failed cannon in the pile of it. “Sorry! I thought I missed your Welcome to Ponyville party, but then you’re not really in ponyville, but then Big Mac has this new hammer and he said you’re making a business out of it, so I thought I’d throw a launch party, then…” She trails off for a second, looking at the pile next to her, before she looks back forwards. “Do you sell party cannons, by any chance?”
She glances back towards her study. “Uh, yes, actually… A thousand and ten bits apiece, two day shipping.” She looks down at the pile. “How about we plan to have that party Wednesday evening, at Sugarcube Corner?”
After all, it’s not the party she doesn’t want- it’s the surprise party.
“Yepperoni!” Pinkie promptly hoofs over some bits.
“Is that…?”
“Two thousand, twenty bits? Absolutely! My backup went kablooey last week, and it takes a year for me to make each one! So, two party cannons, please! Oh, and, here’s my address.” She pulls a note out of her mane, offering it.
She accepts it alongside the bits, and salutes. “Roger that!”
Half an hour later, the party cannons are on their way when her doorbell rings again.
It’s the Element of Loyalty. “Hey, I hear you’re doing some kind of sale thing here?”
Nod. “Yes… Did you need something?”
“Uh, yes. Do you happen to have the latest Daring Do book? It’s due for publication tomorrow, but even Twilight can’t get a copy for two weeks…”
She scowls. “Hmm… Lemme check. You know what it’s called?” She leads the pegasus in, to her laptop.
Of course, Amazon carries it. It’s on pre-order, though, like any other not-yet-published book. She places the order- apparently, it cost around half as much as Twilight is paying for the book alone, not counting shipping- with Rainbow’s cloud mansion address and finally confirms. “Ahh… Looks like you can expect it to show on Thursday, but we can’t be certain just yet.” She smiles at Rainbow. “It hasn’t arrived in the warehouse just yet.”
Nod, and she leaves.
Not five minutes pass before a dainty little knock comes from her door. She opens it gently; had Rarity come back, or is this somepony gentle?
As it turns out, it’s the latter. Fluttershy flinches backwards. “Hi…” She squeaks.
She smiles. “Hello, Fluttershy. Did you need something?”
A faint nod.
“No problemo! Do you know what it is?”
Another nod.
“Uh…”
A tiny smile breaks across her muzzle before she opens her mouth again, barely squeaking out the names of the items she needs.
It takes almost twenty minutes to process that order. She’s looking for a good bed for a few of her animals, a good flea solution for some of her pets (seems ponies don’t get fleas, interesting), and at a few other items related to her animal friends’ care. Like brushes. The hard part was that Fluttershy refused to come in… Well, not-so-hard part. Her laptop’s four-hour battery life came in handy.
Finally, the door closes, and she returns the laptop to the desk- and charger… before returning to the entryway to sit on the floor. Her little business is turning out amazingly… and, unless she misses her guess, she only needs one more pony to complete the Elements of Harmony: Princess Twilight Sparkle… Though, she didn’t see the Castle of Friendship, so she supposes she might not be a princess yet, either.
The door doesn’t move.
Until dinner time, but that’s because she’d like to get something from in town someplace; she’s getting tired of the instant meals she’s been having.