//------------------------------// // Confrontation // Story: Munching Rainbows // by Frozen //------------------------------// “Cupcakes! So sweet and tasty …” The pegasus stopped humming her gleeful song and her pupils widened in fear as the shopfitting pony took down the sign that used to adorn the Sugar Cube Corner. “Oh, No No No...” the pegasus whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. The earth pony climbed down the ladder and leaned the damaged sign against a pony-drawn caravan that was partly covered by a tarp. He noticed the mailmare that stood frozen in place, staring at the dirty outlines that were left in place of the old sign. The stallion approached Derpy, to find out what had left her so sad. “Is something wrong?” The stallion asked with a calm voice. “They’re closing the Sugar Cube Corner...” Derpy sobbed at the realisation that she might have had her last cupcake this morning and regretted that she had wolfed it down in a hurry, because she had overslept this morning. “Well at least until we get ‘er fixed up again, thats what I do.” The stallion gestured at his flank. He had a cutie mark consisting of a cash register crossed by a hacksaw. “That means no cupcakes today, right?” The pegasus lightened up a bit. The shopfitting pony trotted over to his chariot, opened up a red lunch box and pulled out a paper bag. As he returned to Derpy he set down the bag in front of her. Derpies eyes darted between the paper bag that showed the insignia of the Sugar Cube Corner and the stallions eyes, gratefully smiling at the gift and the earth pony. “I’m more of a hay ‘n’ cheese kind of pony... and these samples that crazy pink pony pushed on me as a template for the new sign would go stale, so why waste them?” The charitable crafts pony explained. “Hmm, pink pony...” Derpy pondered the description, remembering a reference to a pink pony on her delivery list. “Yes, she’s in there. I barely understood her name this morning, mainly because she talked so fast and kept on rambling on about the ‘mean meany pants’ that has caused all this damage. I won’t complain about business, though.” She thanked the stallion for the muffins and trotted towards the door. “Hey, let me put away that ladder for you first, it brings ill luck to walk under a ladder!” The superstitious stallion called after Derpy. She looked over her back towards the stallion, wondering what he meant as she passed beneath the ladder and ran into the locked front door. The force her collision exerted on the door made her head and a small bell that was fixed on the other side of the door jingle. Pinkie Pie unlocked the door and pulled Derpy inside, muffling her surprised shriek with a hoof. “Quiet, - My pinkie sense tells me that someone’s watching us.” The party pony glanced through the blinds of the door. “Are you playing hide and seek Pinkie Pie?” Derpy asked, wondering why muffling her screaming would protect Pinkie from being seen. Without waiting for an answer Derpy produced a package from her messenger bag and let it slide over the ground to Pinkie. The pink mare ducked away to cover herself beneath a table at what Derpy had just done. “Are you crazy?” She shouted at Derpy, carefully approaching the package and pointing at an array of warning stickers, ranging from ‘Fragile’ to ‘Explosive’. “Oh, sorry I mistook them for stamps of some kind...” Derpy fiddled a with the strap of the messenger bag, trying to hide her embarrassment. Pinkie Pie tore open the carton, revealing a wooden crate. “Is that a new kitchen appliance?” Derpy eyed the crate. “Not exactly - It’s just the missing part I needed for my rocket saddle, you know?” The pink pony casually explained. “That sounds fast...” Derpy gasped. “It does, right?” Pinkie giggled. “But on the other hoof I won’t misplace it again, like my hot air balloon, because it’s a lot smaller.” The pink pony scratched her mane as she glanced at the pictographic manual that had been attached to the crate. “Have fun with that... Err … I’m a little behind on my deliveries... See you Pinkie!” The messenger pegasus turned towards the door, not wanting to get involved in the potential outcome of pinkies contraption. Pinkie sighed as lifted her eyes off the manual to wave Derpy goodbye. She had given up on trying to decipher it since the diagrams weren’t really helpful. A purring noise and a set of big beady eyes that looked past Derpy’s mane, captured her attention. “HA!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed and pulled a gramophone out of a secret compartment in the wooden flooring beside her, quickly cranked it a few times as the music she had once used to lure away the parasprites, started up. “You didn’t expect me to hide these all over Ponyville, am I right? And now bow to my will!” The parasprite seemed unimpressed and buzzed towards the brass horn before consuming it in one big bite, muting the music instantly. Before taking off at a rainbow blazing speed, it hovered over towards Pinkie Pie and stared at her. “So... We meet again...” A shadow fell over her face, cast by the new shop sign that was lifted into place.