Chapter Six
Pinkie sprinkled some chocolate-sprinkles on a cupcake with chocolate frosting and made of chocolate-chip chocolate cake. The doors were pushed open, and Fluttershy entered. She waved, and Pinkie excitedly waved back. Pinkie sniffed the air, as there was something out of place. She craned her neck around Fluttershy to see behind her, and let out a gasp. “Someone new! Oooh! Hiya, my name’s Pinkie! What’s yours?”
Friend stepped back. "H- Hi. I'm Friend. It’s nice to meet you, Pinkie."
"And it's nice to meet you too!" Pinkie exclaimed. She held out a hoof for Friend to shake. He looked at it, reaching forward and doing a soft hoof bump. Pinkie smiled, bouncing and clapping her hooves. After her moment of celebration, she settled back onto her hooves. "So, what can I get ya?" she asked.
"Oh, um, yes. I would like a vanilla cupcake with strawberry frosting. And Friend would like anything chocolate," Fluttershy said. Pinkie looked at Friend, then at the cupcake she had just finished making.
"Huh. What a coinkidonk." She grabbed the cupcake and leaned over the counter to offer it to Friend. "Hereya go! I call it, 'The Chocolatae Pile!" Friend looked surprised for a moment, and then took the cupcake. After a moment, he gave a soft smile, like Fluttershy when she realizes something is safe and friendly. He went to a seat and sat down, slowly eating his cupcake.
Pinkie hummed as she grabbed a cupcake for Fluttershy, and she thought about her new friend, Friend. He didn't have the scent of this universe, a scent that Pinkie had learned after watching Discord open so many rifts so many times. Pinkie popped back up with a cupcake, giving it to Fluttershy. Fluttershy gave four bits, and Pinkie pushed two back. "Half off today, silly," Pinkie giggled.
"Oh. Oops. Um, sorry," Fluttershy muttered, heading towards the table that Friend was sitting at. Pinkie just gave a giggle-snort at Fluttershy’s behavior. She then turned her focus back onto Friend. He seemed young, but young was different depending on the species. Griffins were young until eighteen, while ponies had to wait until thirty, or thirty-five for brain development to max out.
Friend finished with his cupcake. He gave a smile of content. His eyes widened in surprise as he noticed Pinkie staring at him.
“Oh, sorry! I’m just trying to place what world you might be from,” Pinkie said, waving a hoof in a motion of reassurance.
“Huh? My world? Oh, um, I don’t think my world has a name. It’s just been the islands for as long as we can remember. Maybe the Sun and Clouds know.” He looked down. “I miss home. I miss my kings.”
Pinkie quickly got out another chocolate cupcake, frosting it and applying sprinkles. She zipped over to Friend, thought for a moment, and added a drizzle of hot fudge before placing it in front of him. “Cheer up, Friend! Twilight and us will be able to help you!”
Friend looked at Pinkie, at the Cupcake, then back to Pinkie. He gave a soft smile, causing Pinkie and Fluttershy to giggle. “Thank you,” he said softly.
Pinkie smiled, before zipping over to the register. She dropped four bits inside, two to finish paying for the first two cupcakes, and two for the third. She turned her head, looking around the shop. "Huh, there's hardly anypony here. Oh, well. Guess it's just not a busy day!"
Friend laughed. "You're funny, Misses Pinkie."
Pinkie waved her hoof in a disregarding manner. "Oh, I'm just a Miss."
Friend gave another laugh. "Yes, Miss Pinkie," he said, a larger smile on his face.
"Pshaw, you don't need to call me Miss Pinkie! You can just call me Pinkie, or Pinkie Pie, or Pinkamena Diana Pie, if you're the sort to do full names. Or you can even call me Pink Pony, my yak name. Or, if you want to say my name in Yakish, 'Yuak Yakik Yuk!' That, or it's 'Yak Yuk Yak.' Isn't that silly? I forgot my own name! Hey, What about you, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy looked up in surprise. "Er, what about me?" she asked. She had just a teensy bit of frosting on the front of her muzzle.
"Got a nickname?" Pinkie answered.
Fluttershy moved in surprise, as if she hadn't had much thought to it. "Oh, um . . . Flutters, I guess."
"Anything else?" Pinkie asked. Friend looked between the two, the curiosity on his face clear to Pinkie's eyes.
"Um, no, not really. Um, Gilda called me Dweeb once. I've been called a 'Suit Case'? Or maybe it was Basket Case. Um, Discord sometimes calls me Shutterfly, and occasionally he calls me 'Rainbow Crash'. I think that's it," Fluttershy ended.
"Noice . . . Well, except for Gilda's, and whoever called you a basket case.’Rainbow Crash' may or may not count, since that's one of Dashie's nicknames. Hey, how about you, Friend?"
He looked at Pinkie. "Oh, nicknames for me? Well, I've been called Big Cube, Cube, and Bluey. And sometimes, Conflicted. Or Cubic. Or. . ." He looked down. "Monster," he whispered. An oddly shaped pink tear fell from his right eye, staining the floor.
Pinkie tilted her head in confusion. "Monster? But you're such a nice guy. And your aura feels about as passive as Fluttershy's," she added.
Another pink tear fell to the ground. "Exactly why Fiend becomes so powerful. To corrupt someone so harmless makes them into a monster. Plus, I was infected by a Tainted Triangle, so it was even worse." Fluttershy pulled him close, hugging him.
Pinkie could see the moment of panic passing across his face, then see his attempts to stop his tears. They work, but his eye became pink until the drop faded back into him. Pinkie looked at the stains on the ground. Were it not for what Friend just did, she would have thought that they were harmless, but looking at it, the stain was expanding.
Friend rubbed a hind hoof against the floor, getting rid of the pink. After a few minutes, he nodded. "I'm okay," he said. Fluttershy nodded back, still holding him.
Pinkie rubbed her chin. She thought about how she had the cake from a party that was cancelled. She quietly put some of her bits into the register, although Friend noticed. "Hey, I have an idea!" Pinkie said, acting like she just came up with an idea. "I have some surplus cake! Who wants some?"
Fluttershy giggled. "Certainly, Pinkie."
Friend looked confused as he answered. "I would. But, what do you mean surplus? You just paid for it."
"Nah. Those were the bits for Fluttershy's and yours cupcakes," Pinkie lied. She got so many extra bits as tips from all the ponies in town despite her constant insistence against it that she didn't know what to do with them. So, she started paying for customer's food, but everypony felt bad that she was doing that, since she helped the town so much already. She honestly didn't have anything to do with the bits, unless she was experimenting with a recipe. So, she made fake sales on the food, paying the rest when nopony was looking.
Friend gave a look of concern. "Alright? I guess I would like some cake as well."
Pinkie beamed as she got the cake from the case. That was a close one.