//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Gingerbread House of Cards // by clppy605 //------------------------------// The first rays of Celestia’s morning sun beamed across Ponyville, the alleviating coolness of night fleeing across the horizon. Townsfolk shuffled out of their homes to reluctantly greet the coming summer warmth, many rushing to complete whatever errands they had before the tidal wave of humidity struck. One creature, who was not in a hurry, was Spike, still snuggling and clinging to his bedding. A stray beam of sunlight seeped through the curtains covering his bedroom window, striking a conveniently placed mirror and reflected straight to his still closed eyes. The dragon’s nose twitched, tickled by the light. His body awoke while his mind was dragged, kicking and screaming, to consciousness. He threw his blanket over his head, pleading for sleep to return. It didn’t. He groaned, edging on a growl that only a dragon could make, and cast the warm, inviting fabric of his blanket to the floor. Spike would deal with making his bed later. Right now, he just wanted to wake up. And little else could wake him quicker than food.  Spike rubbed at his eyes as he shambled out of his bedroom, the lingering vestiges of sleep refusing to come free. As much as he wished he could embrace the tiredness weighing him down, the dragon knew he needed to begin his day. Twilight surely stayed up for far too long last night, and her schedule would be in absolute disarray as a result. As usual, it fell on Spike to clean up his adoptive sister’s mess. Unless Starlight was able to talk Twilight out of her funk last night. Yeah, right. Spike passed through a T-like junction in the hallway before pausing and changing direction down the third path. He may as well check on Twilight while he was here. The dragon tip-toed up the door and pressed an ear against it, quietly waiting for any signs of life on the other side. After a brief moment, Twilight’s loud snores kicked in like a chainsaw roaring to life. That answered that then; Twilight only snored like that when she passed out during long study sessions. Very long study sessions. It wasn’t worth it to wake his sister up right now, not without being more awake himself. Spike left Twilight alone and resumed his trek through the castle. A faint aroma wafted through the air, something bitter, burnt, and wholly unpleasant. It was a familiar scent that he could not quite place and only grew more intense with each passing step. He rounded down two sets of stairs to reach the first floor, meeting the main foyer that branched off to the other wings of the Castle of Friendship.  An abrupt clanging of pots and ceramic plates from the doorway built under the stairs startled Spike, nearly tripping down the last few steps in surprise. He wasn’t expecting anypony else to be awake already, let alone somepony digging around in the castle’s kitchen. If it wasn’t Twilight, then it had to be Starlight. Even if he had no clue why she would be up already. Spurred on by curiosity, Spike hastily barged into the kitchen, the door swinging against the wall with a bang. Spike had to cover his nose as the bitter smell in the air grew ten-fold, the source of it became clear. A boxy machine on the counter churned and bubbled, letting a dark concoction drip into a mug underneath. Coffee. They didn’t have much of it in the castle – Twilight preferred to rely on tea – but they did keep a few bags around. At least that explained the stench. That didn’t, however, explain what Starlight was doing. Dozens of pots, pans, plates, and nearly every cooking utensil the castle had was levitating in the air, seized by Starlight’s magic. On the other end of the kitchen from the floating kitchenware, Starlight had her nose in a cabinet, looking way into the back and using her horn to light the cubby-hole. She never even reacted to the door slamming against the wall. “Starlight?” Spike nasally asked, still blocking the overwhelming scent of coffee from reaching his nose. “What are you doing?” “Su–” Starlight began, her voice croaking and breaking. She grunted and cleared her throat before trying again, “Sugar. I’m looking for sugar.” “In the cabinet where we keep our skillets?” Spike slowly asked, ensuring Starlight heard each word. Whatever this was about could not be a good thing. He was already exhausted from helping with Twilight’s Pinkie Pie problem the night before. A problem that, Spike bitterly recalled, didn’t need to be solved. Not that his objections had a chance at stopping Twilight from trying anyway. Spike wasn’t sure he could handle even more nonsense on top. Starlight paused and pulled her head out of the cabinet to look behind her, staring at the floating metal instruments with befuddlement. Spike’s eyebrow shot up when he caught a glimpse of her. Strands of her mane were sticking out, curling in weird places, and overall having a wild frizz to it. Redness colored around Starlight’s glossy eyes as they struggled against her eyelids. In a word, Starlight looked like a mess. “I didn’t even realize that’s what was in there,” Starlight answered, her speech slowed and a touch slurred. Her eyes fluttered rapidly, bravely fighting to stay open. The pots and pans came together, creaking and clanging as they were collectively shoved into the cabinet in one unsuccessful push. Stubbornly, Starlight pulled them out and tried again. Despite her repeated efforts, the cabinet door refused to shut and remained propped open by several panhandles. After another two failed attempts, Starlight sighed and gave up. All Spike could do was watch the display in confusion and concern. He was right; this was most certainly not a good thing. “There whazhn’t–” Starlight stopped and shook her head. “There wasn’t any in the pantry. Sugar. There wasn’t any sugar.” She breathed in relief at getting through the basic sentence. Starlight walked from one end of the kitchen to the other, noticeably leaning against the counter to do so. She took the coffee mug out from under the coffee machine and took a probing sip. The moment the drink touched her tongue, she grimaced and cringed away from the steaming cup in her magical grasp. “Black coffee is terrible, Spike. Never drink it, if you can.” Spike aimed to take that to heart, that’s for sure. He never tried coffee before and never planned to either. It smelled horrid and hearing ponies talk about the bitterness or acidity made him want to stay as far away from the stuff as possible. How Starlight could stomach it, especially considering how she looked right now, Spike had no idea. "You okay, Starlight?" he asked, privately hoping he was wrong to worry. "Tired." As if on cue, Starlight yawned. Her whole body wobbled from side to side as her head rolled back, the kitchen counter the only thing preventing her from collapsing to the floor. Tired was right; she looked dead on her hooves. "I'll be fine soon. Coffee will help." "How much sleep did you get last night? I've never seen you so exhausted," Spike inquired while keeping a wary eye locked on the mare he was sharing the kitchen with. As much as he wanted to start working on breakfast, Starlight’s current condition was more pressing at the moment. Again, Starlight yawned, tears leaking from the edges of her eyes. “I didn’t,” she said when she regained control of her body, taking another small swig of the coffee. She reacted to the strong taste instantly, eyebrows raising for a moment before dropping back into place. Starlight shook her head and grumbled unintelligible complaints. "Well, that'll do it." It was Spike’s turn to shake his head, running his claws along the sides of his face in annoyance. Twilight and Starlight were spending way too much time together; the two of them were picking up habits from each other. And never any of the good ones, too. If Spike was blindfolded and had to listen to both of them voice their worries, one after the other, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.  However, there was something that Starlight said that interested Spike. Beside the kitchen door was a step-stool, and he dragged it with him as he strode up to a tall double-doored cabinet that sat on the corner of the kitchen. "If you're looking for sugar –" Spike opened the pantry and stood atop his stool "– it's right… here?" Much to Spike’s confusion, the bag of sugar he was reaching for was gone. He blinked a few times, just to confirm it wasn’t a trick of his still-waking eyes. Just as meticulously as he maintained the library shelves, Spike organized the pantry. As the castle’s resident chef, he knew what they had in storage. He and Twilight had gone shopping only a few days ago, and a bag of sugar was on that list.  He turned around, eyeing the countertops. He wanted to make sure Starlight didn't fish the bag out and forget about it. Sleep deprivation could turn an average pony's attention span into one of a newborn foal. Starlight already displayed that. Fortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case; the countertops were clean, save for the coffee maker. Unfortunately, that meant there was a wild bag of sugar on the loose. Chef Spike couldn't afford such an oversight and vowed to find it and return it to its rightful place in the pantry. Or, they could just buy a replacement. It's just a bag of sugar, after all. A series of rapid knocks coming from the front door pulled Spike back to the present. Both Starlight and Spike looked at each other, silently asking each other the same unspoken question. Who in Equestria was here at this hour? Starlight sighed and motioned for Spike to stay. "I'll get it," she murmured. Starlight dragged her hooves across the floor as she shuffled out of the kitchen, her still-steaming mug following just behind her. Spike had no issue with that plan; dealing with whoever was at the door would, hopefully, help her wake up. He had a breakfast to start anyway. Spike returned his attention to the pantry and scanned the shelves as he considered his breakfast options. It was a shame they were out of sugar; Spike was craving pancakes this morning and was ready to bust out his homemade mix. Without any sugar, it just wasn’t possible. A shame, but it wasn’t worth fussing over; he had plenty of other ideas. He hopped off his platform and shoved it aside to scan the bottom-most shelf, his eyes finding the bag he was looking for; rolled oats. Oatmeal wasn’t his ideal breakfast of choice, but he always relished the opportunity to prepare a warm meal. Twilight theorized he was naturally attracted to the heat of a kitchen. It made some sense; other dragons bathed in literal pools of lava. Dragons like heat and kitchens could produce a lot of it. But Spike didn’t care about that; for him, he just liked to cook. Repositioning his step stool, he hopped back atop it. His eyes immediately looked into the small alcove built on the next shelf up, a cubby meant for all their seasonings. He had just the idea to make this breakfast pop. Oatmeal was fine on its own, but why not add something else to make the flavor jump out? A few tablespoons of cinnamon would surely do the trick. All he needed to do was find the shaker. “Garlic powder. Bagel seasoning. Basil. Crushed gems…” he rattled off spices based on their color as he moved them around. He really needed to reorganize the seasonings they had. It was a jumbled mess, but he knew what they had. Just not where they had everything. “...black pepper. Lemon pepper. Red pepper.” Spike flicked the last shaker to the side to reveal… nothing at all. That’s odd, Spike thought to himself as he drummed his claws against the shelf. Nopony else in the castle had much use for ground cinnamon beside him. He must have missed it the first time and dug through the seasonings he shoved off to the other side, this time taking his time and checking every label. As he investigated, Spike came across something unexpected. Not only was his ground cinnamon missing, but so were his containers of ground ginger and allspice. All his search did was provide more questions. First, their bag of sugar vanished, and now several of his seasonings were missing too. Somepony could have used up all his spices, but he would have known about that possibility long in advance. Spike knew they had everything that had gone missing; otherwise, he would have added these missing spices to the grocery list. “What?!” Starlight cried from the castle entrance, her ceramic mug thudding and shattering against the ground a moment later. Spike instantly jumped down from his mini-perch and ran out of the kitchen. The missing groceries could wait; something else far more important was going on. The sharp clicks of hooves pacing on the stone floors greeted him the moment he left the kitchen as did a new voice fill the halls. "Yeah! That's why I need Twilight down here, pronto." The new mare's voice was distinctly accented, very southern and familiar. Yet, the pony it belonged to sounded anything but friendly. Spike moved as quickly as his stubby prepubescent dragon legs would take him. Which, thankfully, wasn't very far. He rounded several corners and joined Starlight and their unexpected guest – Applejack. She paced back and forth with heavy steps that sounded like the floor was cracking beneath each one. Starlight was fixated on the other mare with eyes the width of a needle. She covered her mouth with a hoof in blatant shock. Spike rushed up beside Starlight, stepping around the pool of coffee and mug shards. "Applejack? What's going on?" his voice wavered as he asked. Whatever Applejack told Starlight had frozen her in place. Applejack’s gaze snapped to Spike. She snorted and glared at him before parroting the question, "'What's going on?'" Her tail flicked behind her, lacking the normal tie she kept in it. "What ain't going on is more like it! Somepony ransacked the farm last night!" It was Spike’s turn to cover his mouth. The idea of thieves in Ponyville was bad enough on its own. But stealing from the Apple family? That’s terrifying. If the local guard didn’t find the criminals first, Applejack and the rest of her family were stubborn enough to tear the whole town apart to track them down. "Is everypony at the farm alright?" Starlight asked, finally gathering herself to speak again. "We're fine," Applejack spat. "Everypony's a bit shook up, is all. Granny took it the hardest. Can’t say I’ve seen her so angry." She looked back out the still-open front door and took a shaky breath. Talking about her family’s safety helped calm her down a bit. "Told Mac to hold down the fort at home and keep Granny from running off on a wild hog chase." Knowing that the Apple family was safe took a weight off Spike’s shoulders. But he couldn't help but wonder about the final member of the Apple clan, "What about Apple Bloom? You didn’t mention her." "She and I went out to gather the rest of the girls," Applejack explained, her brow furrowed again. "We spent who-knows how long looking for Rainbow Dash before giving up and moving on to everypony else. We split up and planned to meet –" she tapped the floor "– right here. "Which is why," Applejack began as her fiery anger returned, "I need to go get Twilight and drag her down here!" The apple farmer stamped a hoof against the ground to emphasize her point. Spike flinched and took a step away. He’d never seen Applejack this enraged before, and it seemed she didn’t care who it was directed at. “Applejack,” Starlight said as she moved to her friend’s side, “relax. Alright? I know you’re mad, but stomping around like a manticore isn’t going to help anything.” She placed a foreleg around Applejack’s shoulders, pulling her into a sideways hug. “I ain’t got the time to relax!” Applejack pushed Starlight away and broke out of the embrace, snarling at her friend. “Somepony broke in and stole from Sweet Apple Acres – my home. I’m not about to let them off the hook!” Somehow, today is worse than yesterday, Spike thought as he wrung his claws. Applejack’s rage-filled gaze flipped to Spike, burning a hole through him. “You wanna tell me if Twilight’s awake,” she growled, her voice dropping to a teeth-clenched whisper, “or do I need to go up there and get her myself?” Applejack was a pony who wore her emotions on her chest like a badge; she wasn’t what one would call quiet. This time? This time she was quiet, and that put a fear in Spike that only Sombra had done. “Applejack, please,” Spike pleaded as he stepped back, pumping his claws in a calming motion. The enraged farmer matched each of his steps away with one of her own. The dragon tripped – tumbling to his back – but Applejack continued to close in on him until she towered over the cowering dragon. “I’ll go get Twilight!" he blurted as he began hyperventilating, hoping that was enough to soothe Applejack’s anger. "Okay? You’re scaring me, AJ. Please, just calm down!” Starlight had seen enough; she refused to let this go on any longer. Her magic enveloped her horn and Applejack’s tail as she yanked the earth pony away from Spike. The unexpected tug caused the earth pony to stumble onto her belly and expel all the air from her lungs. Her head swiveled to look over her shoulder, making eye contact with Starlight. "Applejack, can be as livid as you want," Starlight commanded her friend's attention with her furious tone, "but I won't let you threaten anypony – especially not our friends!" Being thrown to the ground and screamed at gave Applejack reason to pause. Spike took the opportunity to scramble to his feet and flee from the rampaging pony who was bearing down on him moments prior. Applejack’s ear twitched at the scraping sound of Spike’s claws against the floor. She returned her attention to her quarry, only to watch as the small dragon scurried behind Starlight. Applejack blinked multiple times, working out how the situation got her here on the ground. Her ears pinned back as she winced, cold realization washing over Applejack. She looked through Starlight at Spike, who peaked around the unicorn. Never before had he been so terrified of one of his friends. He had no clue as to what to think or how to act; all he could do was shiver behind Starlight.  "Spike," the humiliated farmer cooed, her voice just above a whisper. Spike cautiously poked his head out further. "I'm sorry – really sorry," sincerity laced her voice. "I just… No, I let… The farm –" Applejack sputtered, trying to put an explanation into words. She gave up with a sigh and dropped her head, resting her chin on the floor. "I'm sorry." An uncomfortable silence overtook the hallway, save for the sounds of nature drifting in through the still-open front door. Spike mulled over Applejack’s apology. He wanted to accept it and move on. Somepony breaking into the farm while she and her family were asleep was terrifying, and maybe she was being irrational because of it. But between her posture and her tone when she came in, Applejack didn’t come to the castle to ask for help. She threatened him. It wasn’t something that friends could just move on from at the drop of a hat. Spike let out the breath he hadn’t noticed he was holding in. One of Applejack’s ears flicked at the sound as she bit her bottom lip. She was waiting for him to answer, tense and nervous. “Applejack, it’s alright we’ll–” “No, it’s not, Spike,” Starlight cut in, glaring behind her at the dragon. “It’s not alright for a pony to push another around like that. As much as I'd like us to sort that out now, we’ve got more important things to worry about.” She turned her attention back to Applejack, who shrunk under her gaze and looked away. “We can talk about how you were acting later. For now, if a thief is running around Ponyville, we should get to the bottom of it and put a stop to them, first and foremost. What was stolen from the farm? It might give us a clue, and it’ll be something we can tell Twilight when we wake her up.” “Buncha random stuff from the kitchen, far as I can tell,” Applejack said. She slowly rose back to her hooves, finding it hard to look in the direction of Spike and Starlight for long. “I’m not sure of what it all was; Granny Smith knows what we keep in the kitchen better than I do.” “Kitchen?” Spike asked, practically cutting off Applejack in the process. The farmer nodded her head, finding herself able to meet the gaze of her friends for just a moment. “Yeah. Granny said our cupboards were a complete mess and out of order. Neither Mac or I could tell a difference, but she swears it was all wrong. I didn’t think anything of it ‘til I saw the tracks out the back." She craned an eyebrow at the dragon, "You got an idea, Spike?" "Well…" Spike trailed off as he tapped his chin. "It could be nothing, but our kitchen was missing some things too. Sugar, ginger, and cinnamon. Those ring any bells?" "Eeyup," Applejack unconsciously mimicked her brother and nodded. "Flour too, if I remember what Granny was naming off. What are you getting at here, Spike?" Truthfully, Spike wasn’t sure. It could have been sheer coincidence that the castle's kitchen was missing baking supplies the morning after somepony raided Sweet Apple Acres' kitchen. But, it could be connected, and that planted a tiny seed of fear in the back of Spike’s mind. Fear that somepony broke into the castle last night, too. He couldn't prove it, and the evidence he already knew was circumstantial at best. It didn’t matter. The thought was there, and Spike couldn't let it go.  "It – It’s probably nothing like I said," he managed to stammer out. The last thing Spike wanted to do was to give Starlight or Applejack reason to overreact, and at least Applejack was putting together the pieces he put out already. All Spike could do at this point was keep his fears to himself for the moment. "Applejack, help yourself to a cup of coffee if you want," Spike hastily said as he pointed down the hallway behind him, backpedaling in the same direction. "I'll go get Twilight, and we can work this out as a team. Sound good?" "Well, I guess –" "Great! Knew you'd agree, AJ!" He didn't wait for Applejack to finish. Spike turned on his heels and ran as quickly as he could to the staircase.