//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: What went wrong? // by Frostbyite //------------------------------// The shopping trip was rather uneventful. Spike and I picked up the things that we needed for our home. By the time we had finished our errands in the market it was almost noon. By that time the town was bustling with ponies of different colors and species. I had seen a few of my friends during our time out shopping. Rarity was out getting cat food for Opal but couldn’t chat because she had work to do back at her boutique. Applejack had a stand set up selling apples and gave us a few for free since the orchard had a bumper crop this year and there was no way she was going to be able to sell them all. I saw Rainbow Dash standing on a cloud just outside the market giving orders to her weather team. She flew off before I had the chance to call out to her. I didn’t see Fluttershy, so I just assumed that she was at home taking care of her animals like she usually was, I didn’t see Pinkie either. By the time lunch rolled around Spike and I were ready to eat. Taking a different route than the original one we took in the morning we dropped off our groceries at home and made our way to Sugar Cube Corner. “So Spike how much do we have left to do?” I asked him. “Well…” he began as he unrolled the scroll and looked down the list. “We’re almost done. Up next is lunch at Sugar Cube. Then after lunch Cherilee had invited you to come to the school for a special presentation. After that you have the rest of the day off.” “Did Cherilee ever tell you what she wanted me there for Spike. I hope she knows that I need to plan these things if she wants me to teach a class. I need a lesson plan. What should I do? I could teach them some magic… no wait there are pegasus and earth ponies in that class aren’t there? Well maybe I could teach them how to- *OOF*” I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t even notice the line of ponies in front of me and I fell backwards when I bumped into someone. The one I bumped into turned around and looked at me; I looked up and recognized the blue mare in front of me as Colgate, the town dentist. “I’m so sorry Colgate I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” I said as I got back on my hooves. “It’s alright Twilight.” Colgate said to me. I looked around and saw that the line that was in front of me went down the street and around the corner. “Whoa, what’s going on?” I asked Colgate. “Is there some kind of sale or something going on?” Spike asked beside me. “Actually this is the line to get into Sugar Cube Corner.” Colgate said. “It is?” I asked shocked. “I know it’s the lunch rush but this is ridiculous. It’s never been this bad.” Colgate said looking towards the front of the line, her neck straining to see if the line was even moving. “I had heard that Pinkie wasn’t there this morning getting the early baking done so the Cakes are overwhelmed.” “That explains why we didn’t smell anything this morning Twilight.” Spike said to me. “Well I guess that explains that. I guess we’ll have to wait in line like everypony else.” It took 30 minutes in the slow moving line for us to reach the door, in which I was able to schedule in appointments with Colgate for both me and Spike. She had even had time to map out the inside of Spike’s mouth. It wasn’t like she just had diagrams of dragon teeth lying around her office. It was a completely different story once we were inside. There were ponies everywhere screaming out orders. The concept of a line completely eluded them and they just pushed and their way to the counter, wanting their order to be next. The counter looked a mess and the Cakes weren’t faring much better. I could hear Pound and Pumpkin crying from the kitchen and Mr. Cake was rushing back and forth from the kitchen to the counter trying to deliver orders and take care of the twins at the same time. His body covered in a mixture of frosting, flour, and baby food. Mrs. Cake looked tired, her hair was frazzled and her eyes bloodshot. When she saw me, her eyes brightened and she reached over the counter and grabbed me. “Oh, Twilight dearie, I’m so glad you came by!” she said practically shouting in my face with a crazed look in her eyes. “Y-you are?” I asked somewhat scared. “Yes of course! I need you to do me a big favor. Please!” Wanting her to let go of me I agreed to do whatever she wanted. “I need for you to go upstairs and get Pinkie, she hasn’t come down and she was supposed to be here hours ago.” she said. “We can’t keep this up on our own we need help NOW!” Mr. Cake said as he came galloping out of the kitchen with boxes of cupcakes on his back. He practically threw them at the outstretched hooves coming from behind me. “Ok I’ll go get her.” I said. “But first you need help. Spike! Where are you?” I scanned the crowd and found the dragon being bumped around by the mass of ponies and grabbed him with my magic and pulled him to the counter. “Spike stay here and help the Cakes while I get Pinkie.” “Got it.” He said, and I turned and squeezed through the mob of ponies in the bakery. When I finally made it to the stairs I ran straight up to where Pinkie’s room was and knocked on her door. “Pinkie are you in there?” I called out. When she didn’t answer I tried opening, it wasn’t locked so it opened with ease and I went in. However I wasn’t prepared for what I saw inside.