//------------------------------// // A Few Months Later // Story: What Could Have Been: Sugar Hoof Farms // by Furenstein //------------------------------// Along the cliffside of Griffonstone, all that could be heard beyond the wind was the heavy hoofsteps of an earth pony making their way down. The trail was steep, but he was both determined and seemingly lucky, as where an average pony would trip or stumble, this earth pony seemed to just glide along the dirt like water. This earth pony didn't talk to anyone beyond a friendly greeting if he passed someone, and more often than not, he avoided passing people. His name was Honey Bun, a tourist, if you asked him. He would travel around, see the sights, maybe visit a few libraries or shops, and then disappear without much of a trace that he was ever there. Sliding down to the bottom of a vast gorge, Honey Bun pulled out his lantern and began making his way north. With how dark it was at the bottom, he couldn't even see his nose thanks to his dark brown fur. He was wearing a long cloak that covered him from his neck to his hooves, purely to stay warm when venturing in cold climates, he'd offer if asked. Underneath his cloak, sat a collection of six saddlebags, carrying various items, a tent, canteens, firewood, a cooking pot, potions with varying effects, an axe for cutting wood, a pickaxe, and a few other travelling necessities. He was going to be attacked, he could feel canine paws pointed towards him, diamond dogs were aware of his presence. From what he could feel, there were only four of them, three male, one female. Judging from the pressure he could feel on the dirt from them standing, they weren't hungry, so they'd likely rather imprison and enslave him. Honey Bun had a better idea, that idea, was bribery. The diamond dogs watched as Honey Bun began walking slower and were prepared to jump him from behind, but suddenly felt the ground move from under them as piles of gemstones consumed the four hounds. Sounds of awe and surprise were heard, and with their new found boon, none of them noticed Honey bun sink underground. Now that Honey Bun was underground, he could loosen up his disguise a bit. He ran through the underground caves, inching closer to his destination and his prize. Whenever he came across a dead end, he could easily cut out the stone enough for him to slip through and then return the stone to it's original place to cover his tracks. For you see, Honey Bun was not simply an earth pony. Despite how he looked, he was an alicorn. He could hide his horn with a simple spell, and his cloak did a good job of hiding his wings since he didn't know of a spell to hide things quite so large. He was once called 'Sugar Hoof' due to his short escapade as a sugar merchant, a name he has now since buried. Honey Bun is a far nice name in his opinion. Sugar Hoof was powerful, murderous, a vessel for shadow magic. Honey Bun however, is quiet, more pacifistic, and thanks to the 'Green Desert Incident' as it was coined by the masses, has no shadow magic to speak of. Oddly enough, his necromancy magic was left in tact... maybe because it was the magic he was weakest with? He didn't know. Honey Bun learned to slow himself down a bit after he woke up in the newly refilled caverns. But now, he needed to keep a low profile, if he left bodies in his wake, he'd be easy to track. He was unaware earlier, but after doing some independent research around Equestria, he learned that murder, was practically unheard of, there hasn't been a murdered in over a thousand years in fact. Back home, he was more likely to find a murderer than not. The tunnels grew colder as he drew closer to his destination, a magical artifact he had wanted for a while, the Idol of Boreas. While he was no longer a Prince of Equestria, or leader of the desert, he still relished his magical studies. Before he had even come to Equestria, he was a wizard, and a good one at that. One of the best theurgists in history, some would say. One of the greats, at least. The Dapper Skeleton, revered for his ability to bring himself back to life, years after death, with no mental or magical decay. The Guild Master, a fiendish woman who used her skill in theurgy to build a crime network all around the globe, all you had to do was mention her name and law enforcement wouldn't dare interfere with you. And The Defiler, Honey Bun, who devised a solution to raise the dead back to life completely, as if they had never even died. Sure, the skeleton did something similar, but his body had wasted to naught but bone in his attempts, Honey Bun could resurrect the dead good as new. Of course, he used shadow magic, which is illegal, hence why he was quickly expelled from the university. Eventually, the caves gave way back to the open air of the gorge and he came face to face with the bones of a large beast with decorated horns. "Finally." Honey Bun whispered, approaching the bones. Getting back into his disguise phase, he put a small and slightly dumb smile back on his face. His reasoning, his everyone thought he was dumb, hopefully, they'd leave him alone. He rummaged through the bones until he reached the skull, where his prize waited for him. A golden statue, slightly dirty from the ever billowing wind, but still enchanted. the statue was shaped like a wing, with a talon holding up an orange orb. Honey Bun picked up the idol and wrapped it up tightly in a grey cloth before sticking it down into his saddlebags. "Right where you belong." He said, before he pulled out his climbing gear and hitched it to the gorge's wall. He had claimed his prize and could not wait to study it's magical effects, but for now, it was a long road back to Ponyville. Far to the north, around the borders of Equestria and Yakyakistan, the only thing that broke the perfect layer of snow over the planet, was the four odd trails that nobody would ever see. The first trail was comprised of large round holes, that looked similar to a tree trunk that keeps moving. The second trail, badger paws. The third trail, a very faint line of green fairy dust, and the fourth, four timber wolf paws. The trail would never be seen, the falling snow would cover them soon enough, just as the leader of this four thrall team planned. Birch, the treant led his subordinates north to the mountains. His leafy head and shoulders was covered in snow, but he never stopped moving. He was using the staff of sacanas as a walking stick while he held a few other magical artifacts against his wooden torso. Behind him, was Sir Bedivere, the badger knight, looking as determined as ever. He kept his paw on his sword, ready for a fight. In accordance with the Knight's Code, he had kept his sword sharp and his armor in good condition, and was itching for a fight. A fight would give him the opportunity to prove himself to his fellow thralls, a chance to prove that despite his failure to protect Sugar Hoof, he was still worthy of being called a knight. "Come on, you two, quit playing back there!" Birch called behind him in the direction of the last two members of their team. "Would love to Birch, but I'm a bit busy with Spot!" Sarah, the fairy said as she wrestled with the timber puppy to get him to follow Birch. Sarah resented the Birch and Bedivere for not helping her, fairies are the weakest form of life thrall, and yet they leave wrestling a dog to her. She hadn't had a decent night's sleep since Sugar Hoof's death and she certainly looked it. She had bags under her bloodshot eyes, her once bright orange hair had dulled from dirt and was now knotted, she had lost one of her shoes, and her orange dress was torn in some places and covered in muck. "Could one of you give me a hand!" She shouted. "I can't let my guard down in case we're attacked." Bedivere explained. "Could be bandits nearby!" "Bedivere, there are not bandits this far north! There's nothing for them to even steal!" Sarah shouted, as Spot finally got away from the fairy and began running to the south east. Spot was by far, the happiest thrall of the group, he loved everything, he loved his family, and was always having a great time. He was similar to Birch in that his body was made of wood, but unlike Birch, who was conjured from an ironwood tree, Spot was expertly carved by Sugar Hoof himself. He had lovingly carved and painted every wooden limb of Spot's body, from his beautifully colored and structured tail, to his wonderfully made ears. While he loved his family, he kept feeling something in the back of his head, a source of life magic, a dim one, but one that's there. He could swear it was just over the next hill. "Alright, if I've gotta carry you, I'll carry you." Birch said as he picked Spot up and began carrying him. Sarah let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Birch. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with him." Bedivere added, "If Spot prefers leaving, why do we keep him here? He's been trying to get away from us for a while now." "He is the master's dog. When the master reveals himself, he will expect all four of us, and his artifacts back." Birch said, continuing north. "Birch, master is dead." Sarah said. "No." "You saw the cloud, everyone in the world did, he's g—" "NO!" Birch screamed, turning back to the fairy. Birch was hit the hardest after the events of the 'Green Desert Incident', from the explosion alone, he knew that the master was likely dead, and likely died in agony. His very purpose in life was to safeguard his master, and he failed, Sugar Hoof was gone, his army was gone, his home was gone, everything! "The master's alive." Birch said, roughly. "Birch." "IF HE WERE DEAD, WE'D BE DEAD TOO! A THRALL DOES NOT OUTLIVE IT'S MASTER!" Birch screamed, forcing Sarah to shrink back from him. The four remained silent, Birch glared at Sarah who looked like she wanted to avoid his gaze, but couldn't muster up the courage too. Bedivere looked into Birch's eyes with sadness in his own. Birch was the oldest of the four, and got to know Sugar Hoof far more than the other three did. Birch returned his focus to his work, and turned around with Spot and the artifacts in claw, and continued moving north. Sarah couldn't help but land on the snow, she didn't care that it was cold, the stress of these last few months weighed heavily on her. Her sisters were all dead, she knew that all of them had lost family, but that knowledge didn't lessen her pain any. She got into the fetal position and sat in the snow as she remembered her sister's faces. Though she didn't have long to remember them. Bedivere knelt down and scooped up the snow she was sitting on as gently as he could, slightly startling the fairy before she realized exactly what was happening. As Bedivere brought her up to his face, Sarah looked up into his dark green eyes and could see the sorrow written on them. Neither of them spoke, he just carried her until she was ready to fly again. "Where are we going, Birch?" Bedivere called, trudging after the treant. "The Yakyakistan mountains, nobody would ever look for us there." Ponyville was nearing the end of winter, but despite this, the air felt no warmer. Six mares, the elements of harmony, decided to meet up by a frozen lake and enjoy one of the final days of winter together. "What a simply marvelous day for ice-skating." Rarity said with a smile as she slipped her beautiful yet comically large scarf further around her neck. Pinkie Pie phased into existence behind a tree with numerous sets of ice skates in her mane, all colored to match who they were intended for. She also carried a large red box on her back that was held shut by a white bow. "Hey Pinks, what's in the box?" Rainbow Dash asked as he arrived at the frozen lake with her friends. "It's a surpriiiiiiiiiiise." She said before smiling so big that her face squeaked as it was stretched unnaturally. Twilight Sparkle arrived next, carrying a few books in her saddlebags, as usual. "Ok, so I did some reading about ice-skating—" Twilight started. "Of course you did." Rainbow teased. "—and despite having never done this before, I should be able to figure out the rest myself." She offered with a smile. Fluttershy looked out on the frozen lake, "Oh, I hope we don't disturb anyone while we're out here." "Oh please darling, nopony lives out this way." Rarity said, while Pinkie Pie pulled the ice skates out of her mane. "Hey, where's Applejack?" Twilight asked, looking around for their farm pony friend. "She said she wouldn't be able to make it." Fluttershy answered sheepishly. "Is she still worried about that Honey Bun stallion stealing her business?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash flew over to Twilight in the blink of an eye and said, "I don't see why she's so worried, Honey Bun Farms and Sweet Apple Acres don't share any produce." "Don't share any..." Fluttershy half asked. "I tried to explain this to Applejack the other day, The only raw produce he makes is grapes, Applejack doesn't even grow grapes." "What about the milk, they both have cows." Twilight offered. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Alright, so ONE thing they both share, they both sell milk." Applejack finally arrived, sweat caking her body, she had clearly been doing double time at the farm. She wasn't doing as bad as the time she bet her brother, Big Macintosh, that she could harvest all the apples in the orchard a few months prior, but still, everypony could tell she wasn't doing good. "Darling, you appear to have a few... twigs... in your mane." Rarity said as she began trying to fix the disaster that was Applejack's mane. "Ah'm sorry ah'm late. We've just been awful busy back on the farm." Applejack said, grateful she could catch her breathe. "Oh my." Fluttershy said, holding her hoof up to her face. "Because of Honey Bun?" Twilight asked. Applejack snorted, "Yes, Twilight, because of Honey Bun." She didn't like even saying his name. "What ever for, you both sell very different things." Rarity said. "Have any a' ya'll ever even seen Honey Bun?" Applejack asked with a gleam in her eye. Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight all thought about it, and realized that no, none of them had ever actually seen Honey Bun. Twilight around and asked, "Pinkie, you've seen Honey Bun before, right?" "Nope, I think he's playing hide and seek with me and it just so happens he's really, really, REALLY good at hiding." The pink mare said while ice skating. "But what about your Pinkie Sense, you usually know exactly when somepony new arrives in town?" Rarity asked. "Sure I know where he is, but any time I actually go where my pinkie sense is pointing me too, he's not there." She shrugs. "Maybe he's a unicorn and is just teleporting away." Rarity offered. "A unicorn, runnin' a farm? That's plum ridiculous." Applejack laughed. Rarity and Twilight glared at Applejack for a minute before remembering that an earth pony's magic is intertwined with nature. While pegasi and unicorns could technically grow food, Earth ponies could just do it better, faster, and easier. "So nopony's even seen Honey Bun, really?" Rainbow asked in shock. "I think Spike has." Twilight said. Pinkie Pie shot out of her ice skates and got in Twilight's face. "Tell me his secrets!" Twilight shot back with a yelp. "I don't even know if he actually has or not, Spike just gets some groceries from Honey Bun's Farm a lot." "Spike buys from Honey Bun, instead of Sweet Apple Acres?" Applejack said, the hurt clear in her voice. "Actually, he doesn't buy the stuff." Twilight said. "Surely, you don't mean he's stealing? Spike doesn't seem like the thieving type." Rarity said. "Oh, no, when I asked Spike about it, he told me that Honey Bun just gave him the stuff for free." "Well, that was very nice of him." Fluttershy said with a smile. "He jus' gives away his produce for free?" Applejack asked, shocked. "Spike's a pretty big fan of the grape juice Honey Bun makes." Twilight explains. Applejack groaned in frustration before turning towards Ponyville, "Well, why don't we just go ask Spike, then?" "Aww, but nopony's even seen what I brought yet." Pinkie Pie said as she slid over to the group, still on the ice. "What is it?" Fluttershy asked softly. Pinkie took the box and opened it up, revealing a large and beautifully decorated red velvet cake. The slightly yellow cream cheese icing was thickly layered and sprinkled with red velvet crumbs, little cream colored roses dotted the cake's top. The pleasing aroma alone was enough to make the mares salivate. Even Applejack turned around and gawked once the smell hit her nostrils. "Oh my, is that... steam coming off of it?" Fluttershy asked. Pinkie put her hoof onto the icing gently enough as to not damage the beautifully smoothed out icing and felt an involuntary shiver crawl from her hoof into her spine. "It's like it just came out of the oven, but I bought this yesterday." "You bought it?" Twilight said, still looking at the cake. "Yep, for just two bits." Pinkie said, procuring a knife from the aether that was her mane. "From Honey Bun?" Applejack asked, hoping that wasn't the case. Pinkie laughed awkwardly, giving Applejack her answer without even saying it. "How can he afford to give away cakes that size, with that much care put into it, for only two bits?" She asked, not waiting around for the answer, She needed to talk to Spike. The Golden Oaks Library was clean at last, the books put back in their proper place, the floor swept, the windows washed, and it was all thanks to Spike. The young dragon wiped the sweat from his bow as he put his broom back where it belonged by the front door. "I think I deserve a reward..." Spike said to himself as he entered the clean and tidy kitchen. Like he was in a trance, the Spike popped open the cupboard, and on the bottom shelf, was a bundle of three purple glass bottles labelled, 'Honey Bun Farms Grape Juice.' A short thrill of excitement hit him when he grabbed one, there was just something about Honey Bun's grape juice that Spike loved. Nopony else understood, since Honey Bun didn't really sell his merchandise openly, but Spike loved it, and was surprised that he didn't even have to pay for it. As soon as Spike opened the bottle, the sweet smell of grapes left the bottle, begging for Spike to drink the contents, which he happily obliged. He turned the bottle up and drank the grape juice as if he hadn't drank anything in days, in just a few gulps, the glass bottle was empty. "Even better than gems..." He whispered blissfully. After he was done though, he immediately wanted another. "No, Honey Bun's out of town, I need to make this last." He fought himself for a few seconds, but the juice called him. Drink us, Spike... Drink us... In a flash, he opened the cupboard again and drank another bottle. Before he could drink the last bottle though, he shut his eyes to steel his nerves and left the kitchen. "I'll save the last bottle for later." He said to himself as the door shot open, and Applejack entered the library. "Woah, what's the emergency?" "Spike, why do ya'll prefer Honey Buns food?" Applejack asked. "What, who said I did?" Spike asked. "Twilight told me you'd rather drink grape juice than apple juice." Applejack accused. "What, no I didn't! I just said he likes Honey Bun's grape juice." Twilight said as she entered the library. "Well, Ah knew what ya meant." Stated the reasonable Applejack. "Spike, Darling, have you actually seen this Honey Bun fellow?" Rarity said as she entered the library. "Yeah, I've met him, he's just a bit shy." Spike explained. "Shy like Fluttershy shy, or just regular shy?" Rainbow asked, flying in. "Fluttershy shy, he does go into town sometimes, but he hides himself if anyone comes close to him." "Ah still don't undertstand why you'd rather drink grape juice than apple juice." Said Applejack. "I like both apple juice and grape juice, it's not a preference thing." Spike reasoned. Applejack sniffed, "Ah can smell grapes on your breathe right now, Spike." Suddenly, Pinkie Pie entered the library, still carrying the plate that the red velvet cake was once on, now having been licked clean by the five mares moments prior. "You guys had red velvet cake?" Spike asked before catching a whiff of something familiar, "You ate cake that Honey Bun made, and you didn't even save me a slice?" Spike didn't like being left out in general, but he felt betrayed that his friends didn't share cake that Honey Bun made. Ever since Spike met Honey Bun, never once was he stingy with the food he produced. Whenever Spike would come over, Honey Bun would bring food and drink out without even being asked, and more often than not, he brought out desserts, delicious, rich, sweet desserts. "It's fine, when Honey Bun gets back, I'll just buy my own cake, and share none of it with you." Spike threatened unthreateningly. "OH, that's what I was going to tell you!" Pinkie Pie shouted, remembering why she entered the library. "I felt my tail twitch, Honey Bun is back at his farm." "Let's go see him, then." Applejack stated with a stomp. "If he hides himself whenever anypony gets close to him, he'll probably hide when we get there." Twilight said. "He'll let Spike in though." Said Applejack, hatching a plan to finally meet the pony that threatened her own farm. The six mares stared at Spike, who was upset at being forced to meet with Honey Bun, but glad that he'd likely get more grape juice and a cake out of this exchange. "Fine, let's go." The dragon said, walking out of the library while the six mares followed. As they all exited the library and went towards the edge of Ponyville, towards the Everfree Forest, Spike called back, "Why are you mad at Honey Bun again?" "There hasn't been a farm in Ponyville besides us since the Pears left, and we were rivals for quite a few generations of apples. Last thing we need right now is another farm making it even harder for us to keep the farm." Applejack explained to the quizzical drake. "But you survived such a strain before, darling, like you said, the Pears." Reasoned Rarity. "That time was different, there were more ponies living at Sweet Apple Acres then than there are now. In truth, most of the farm work is done by me and Big Mac, I'm just worried is all." Spike called back with a smile, "I don't see why, Honey Bun produces what he refers to as, luxury goods. " "Luxury goods?" The six mares asked in unison. "Milk, cheese, jam, juice, wine, honey, flour, sugar, eggs, cocoa beans, vanilla, butter, that type of stuff." Answered the dragon, ever happy to be helpful. "That explains all the greenhouses he's got, cocoa beans, sugar, and vanilla can't grow in this climate." Applejack whispered to herself. Honey Bun was back on his farm, thankful to be home. While he wished he could've gone straight to work researching the Idol of Boreas, there was farm work to do, not much work, but still some that needed done. Ever since he bought a chunk of land in front of the Everfree Forest, he knew he'd have to keep his work load small so he could have plenty of time for his wizardry, so he started producing luxury goods, and thanks to his magic, it didn't take much effort on his part. Behind his small brick house, sat a wooden shed with hay, firewood, and a few tools inside. He looked to his surroundings, seeing if anyone was spying on him, and when he knew it was safe, he entered the shed and quickly closed the door. He let his disguise loosen and his horn became visible again as he lit it, and his heart and began casting numerous spells on the hay. The spell was quite advanced, but his magic had grown by leaps since his untimely death, lethargy runes, taste enhancing runes, milk production runes, and fullness runes worked together to form a vast spiral of tangled up magical nodes on the hay. The hay glowed a rainbow of hues while Honey Bun worked on hiding his horn back and going back to his simple farmer routine. "Alright girls, 's dinner time." He practiced to the firewood. He coughed and tried a deeper octave while he bundled up the hay and loaded it onto his back. "Ay girls, 's dinner time." Much better in his opinion, just a simple-minded, harmless farm pony, no master life wizards here, just a dumb and happy farmer. He peeked out of the shed, looking around again to ensure nobody was watching him, and galloped over to the wooden barn area. "Show time..." He whispered to himself as he opened the door. Inside the barn, ten cows were laying in their hammocks, with their faces near their troughs and their udders hanging low. Some of the cows were sleeping, some were only half asleep, and some half awake, clearly the enchanted hay had been working to keep them tired and pacified. "Hey, Honey Bun, you're back." One of the cows said sluggishly. Another cow snorted and woke up, "Honey Bun's back?" Another cow woke up, but didn't have the energy to move, Honey Bun was quick to silence the cows by offering a few words of comfort, "Shh, all ya'll jus' relax, 's dinner time." Another cow tried to talk, but slurred her words, Honey Bun trotted around the hanging cows as quietly as he could, giving each of them a large clump of hay. He never overfed them, he gave them just enough for them to be healthy, and made sure to cast healing spells on them whenever they showed any signs of discomfort. "No talkin' now, ya'll's mouths were meant for eatin', not speakin'." Soon the barn filled with the sound of hungry cows chewing happily as Honey Bun watched as the hay did their work, whatever meager energy the cows had mustered quickly drained away and they were soon left tired and unmotivated. He kept close sight on their eyes as they became duller and more tired. "Can ya'll hear me?!" He shouted, nobody replied, the few who still could comprehend existence were busy eating the delicious hay Honey had brought them. Perfect Honey Bun thought as he levitated multiple buckets underneath the udders of the cows and began milking each of them at the same time with his magic. None of the cows noticed the earth pony using magic, exactly as he planned, and his enchanted food made sure that they didn't wander off, or have enough energy or ambition to desire anything else. One bucket of milk per cow, turned into two buckets per cow, then four, eight, a dozen, they almost reached twenty buckets each, but Honey Bun learned the importance of keeping things small, and made sure that twenty buckets was a hard cap. "Wondeful, now I can make some more butter, cheese, and milk for storage." He said to himself as he poured the milk into large milk jugs, before putting the jugs into a wheelbarrow, for easier transporting. With the cows taken care of, he wheeled out the milk and brought them into his store room. The store room was dark, and unreasonably full, wine casks, jars of honey, jars of jam, butter, cheese wheels, milk jugs, bags of flour, sugar, and cocoa, and numerous bottles of grape juice and vanilla extract lined every inch of the wall and most of the floor. The room smelled like a bakery, and though dark, was pleasant to be in. Before Honey Bun could begin refining the first milk jug into more butter however, he could sense someone approaching the farm. Two feet, short, gives off a slight pyromancer feel... Spike is approaching. Spike reminded Honey Bun of himself when he was a child, before he became an impromptu field medic under the headmaster, and did enjoy speaking with the young drake. Honey Bun entered his house and began setting the table in his dining room. It wasn't as luxurious as the one he had back at his villa in the university, but it was functional. Walking over to his cupboard, he pulled out a dozen bottles of grape juice and a pie. It was polite to offer guests food and drink when they visit, but that was not the sole reason Honey Bun made sure to prepare a meal for Spike. Honey Bun was a master of life magic, one of the greatest in fact, and had spent many years of his life in dedicated research to that particular subject. With his years of research, came years of isolation, years of being alone. He wasn't sure how exactly friendship worked, so he tried his best to buy friendship with food. Honey heard a knock on the door and pretended he was deeper into his house by stomping in place, to give the effect that he was walking to the door, before actually approaching the door and opening it up. Hello?" He pretended he didn't know who was at the door, before looking down and meeting Spike's eyes, "Oh, Spike! Come on in." Honey moved to the side to let the drake enter his home, this was not the first time Honey had let Spike inside. "Mmmm... what's that smell?" The drake asked, a dreamy expression on his face. "Pie, I know pies don't usually call for grapes... it's a new recipe I've been working on." Honey Bun explained. "May I?" Spike asked, hopeful to get at least a slice. "Please, help yourself." Honey exclaimed, much to the dragon's delight as he sat at the table and scarfed down a slice. Honey Bun sat opposite to Spike and cut off a piece for himself, and another piece for Spike before serving them both. Spike quickly devoured the second slice and Honey pushed a bottle of grape juice over to him before putting a third slice on his plate. "So, what's been going on, Spike?" Honey asked, enjoying the company. "Hmm?" Spike grunted, his mouth full of grapes, "Oh, yeah," He swallowed, "Did Pinkie Pie order a cake from you?" She had indeed, instead of doing it in person, she just sent him a letter. A little back and forth, and they came to an agreement, one large red velvet cake, for two bits. "Yeah, I was glad that I didn't have to talk to anyone." Honey Bun said with a laugh. "You know, she didn't share a single slice with me, I didn't even know about the cake until they had already eaten it all." Spike was clearly upset. "Oh, I'm sorry Spike... would you like a cake?" Honey offered politely. Spike twiddled his claws and with a bashful smile said, "Could I?" "Of course, what are friends for, you wait here, and help yourself to another slice of pie while I fetch one from the freezer." Honey said, leaving the drake to grab multiple bottles of grape juice and down them like they're going out of style. The freezer room was on the opposite side of the living room, and was unfortunately small, but it was fine, there weren't any cakes back here anyway. Honey Bun locked the freezer door and lit his heart. Ever since his death, his power had only grown stronger, His eyes glowed a bright green, "If Spike wants a cake, he'll get a cake." Unnatural magic began to fashion itself in front of Honey Bun's horn, a red velvet cake was quickly enlarged and layered with thick icing, before being added by a second duplicate layer, then a third, then a smaller layer, and another. Heat escaped Honey Bun's nostrils as he imbued the cake with a magical heat that despite chill of the freezer, left the cake toasty warm, as if it was fresh from the oven. Little yellow roses lined the cake icing as it grew thicker and more slathered with cream cheese. Finally, Honey Bun relaxed his horn and hid it back, ready to bring the newly conjured cake back to Spike. Returning to the kitchen, Spike dropped his bottle of grape juice when he saw the cake Honey was carrying on his back. "I can feel how warm it is from here." The drake said, salivating. Honey slid the cake onto the table for Spike. Even though Spike really wanted to dig into the cake, he controlled himself and said "You should have the first slice, Honey Bun, since you worked so hard on it." Honey Bun cleared his throat and said, "Nah, I'm watching my figure." "But, your food doesn't have any calories in it..." Spike said, shocking Honey Bun. It was true of course, Honey Bun's food was enchanted to be healthy yet overwhelmingly delicious, it has no calories, whatever isn't used to provide energy to the body simply evaporates and is excreted through the eater's pores. He just couldn't remember telling Spike that. "Who told you that my food didn't have calories?" Honey asked while serving a large slice of cake to his draconian guest. "Twilight did, after she saw how much I liked your grape juice, she analyzed a sample she took from one of the bottles. You should've seen her face when she realized that despite how good the juice is, it only has one ingredient, grapes." Spike said, before digging in to his slice of cake. "Oh," His voice was muffled due to the cake. "The girls wanted me to come inside and ask you if they could meet you." Honey shot to his hooves, "What, they're outside? I didn't sens— I didn't know your friends were coming with you, I'm afraid I don't have enough food for everyone." He dashed over to the window and moved the curtains to look outside, Twilight and her friends weren't there. "They're a ways away, but... you could really use some more friends in your life, Honey Bun." Spike said with a smile. "I got a farm house this far from the town specifically so I could be away from everyone, Spike." "Woah, you really don't want to meet them, do you?" "I'd much rather not, it's getting late, and I really am not ready for a crowd." It was a lie, Honey Bun was afraid that the ponies would be able to tell who he was even with his disguise on. Spike looked concerned at his friend, before sighing, "Alright, but soon, you're going to have to make some friends." "I know... I know." Honey said, his ears fell for a minute, before he placed his hoof on the saddlebag where the Idol of Boreas was stored and his ears rose swiftly at the prospect of getting to study such an important artifact.