From the Outside In

by DarkParable


Chapter ten: Sugarcoating Somepony

Red floated on a peaceful cloud of dreams, a faint smile on his face as his mind sent him dancing amongst the clear skys of his dreamscape. His dream was shattered by a sudden, and very real, weight on his chest. He snapped awake with a loud "Oomph!" to which his attacker let out a giggle. "Mornin'!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, who, in Red's opinion, was up way too early for a day off. It was Saturday, and according to the weather schedule it was a clear day, meaning he didn't have to work today. He was fine with that as long as he got to sleep in... No such luck apparently.

"Ugh.. Pinkie its too early... Its not even noon yet." he groused, blinking up at her. She giggled, bouncing excitably in a way that made him more than a bit uncomfortable. "Aww come on, get up sleepy head, roll on outa bed. Day's a wastin' with the pace that you're a settin'." she said in a singsong voice. Red could only groan softly in response Sighing he gently pushed her off and rolled himself out of bed, staggering off to his bathroom. Pinkie had enough sense to wait in his kitchen, busying herself making breakfast for them both. Some time later Red emerged looking less grumpy and more hungry. Somehow, in the span of the ten minutes or so he'd spent in there, Pinkie had thrown together a four course meal of breakfast foods. His jaw dropped at the sight of his small kitchen table piled up with biscuits, toast, cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, and several other things.

"Umm... Pinkie, how in... Where did... Know what... Thank you for cooking for us." he said, shaking his head and just accepting it. He'd often theorized that Pinkie Pie was some sort of pony goddess of madness and random shenanigans when he was human. Faced with her now he sort of felt his theory was fairly sound, after all how else could someone explain the fact that she was currently arguing with an egg that it had come second... And was actually winning the argument.

The two of them sat down to eat, and Red moaned softly in appreciation of the taste. "Hehehe, glad you like the food." said Pinkie, still mostly wrapped up in arguing with that egg. Eventually she gave it up and joined him in the destruction of the spread before them both. Some time later, when the dishes had been done and the left overs put away Pinkie grabbed hold of Red and went bounding off with him in tow.

Red was slightly perturbed at the pace at which things were moving. Pounced on, fed, and now dragged off to do who knew what with a mare as wild as her mane. Yeah... Definitely time to slow down just a little bit. "Pinkie, chill for a sec please. Mind telling me just what it is you've got planned for today?" he asked, skidding to a halt. "Weeeellllllll... I was gonna go show you some really neat stuff I found, but SOMEPONY," she looked up at the sky with a bit of an exasperated look with those words. "Said I'd better take things slow. SO! You and I are going to spend the day baking for the cakes. Won't that be fun?" Red wasn't quite sure who Pinkie was referring to with the "somepony" comment, but he chalked that up to another of her many eccentricities. With a shrug that caused his wings to flutter slightly he motioned her on ahead. A day of baking with the queen of party treats sounded good to him.

Traveling amount of space behind Pinkie Pie was an interesting experience to say the least. When she didn't have any set time to be some place or somepony else to follow she seemed rather prone to rambling off the beaten path. In this case however she darted from interesting thing to interesting thing, and Red could only chuckle at her antics. "More time you dally Pinkie, less time we have to bake you know." he called after her, watching as she ambushed some poor pony and gave him a cupcake she'd produced from nowhere... How was it still fresh anyways? All in all the trip between his home and Sugarcube Corner was both short and eventful. He didn't think he'd ever seen something move that fast when it came to doing something random to get a laugh.

When they did get there Pinkie immediately ushered Red into the kitchen, plopped a chef hat onto his head, tied and apron round him and stood him up against a wall on his hind legs holding a spatula. He was blinded by a camera flash, whisked off to another section of the kitchen and handed a mixing bowl. "Couldn't resist!" said Pinkie by way of explanation. Red just shrugged and awaited some instructions. "So what is it we're baking? I can do biscuits, but that's all I ever really made on my own baking wise..." he said, cocking his head slightly at the look Pinkie gave him. He couldn't quite decide if it was one of those "omgwhyareyousayingsomethingthatweird?!" looks or a "I swear I'm going to pound (cake) some knowledge into your head if it kills me" kind of look. He hoped it wasn't either one though.

"Well..." began Pinkie, accompanied by a sudden burst of music. Red just tuned her out as she sang that one song about cupcakes and how to make them. Even so when she'd finished he found himself watching a tray full of the little beasties that had made his morning yesterday so... Uncomfortable. How did... When... Ugh I swear I'll never understand Pinkie or her strange random bursts of neigh on godly powers. I don't even remember making these... Red thought to himself, frowning a bit at the fact that he was covered in flower and as far as he knew he hadn't been baking. Pinkie on the other hoof was pristine as could be and smiling that cutely manic grin of her's. "See, baking treats is such a cinch." Red just groaned, he felt another musical number coming on.

He was glad he was wrong though, because aside from the fact that Pinkie had somehow gotten him to not only make, but eat a few cupcakes, the day was going rather well. He found this sort of thing pleasant, making the dough for cookies and breads, kneading and rolling it out. Heck, beat home ec any day of the week. Especially Mondays. What he didn't like however was when he went to say good by for the evening. Pinkie apparently had a nice little parting gift for him...

"SURPRISE!" shrieked out a myriad of voices that whisked him up to the ceiling once again. Why did everypony insist on startling him so badly? Either way he found himself on the receiving end of another one of Pinkie's parties, this time around it was simply a "Thanks for baking with me!" party, or so the banners proclaimed. It took some coaxing and an assurance that nopony wanted to beat the ever living shit out of him (again) to get Red down from his perch on one of the rafters, but down he did get and was immediately devoured by the party. Cake, punch, games, ponies, good lord he felt kind of crowded and a bit uncomfortable to be under so much attention when covered in flower and such, but it was still quite nice to once again find himself welcomed with open arms into a loving community like this. To top the evening off he finally got to make the acquaintance of the other three of Pinkie's best friends. "Ah, so you must be the new flyer that Rainbow has drolled on about ad nauseum. I must say, you don't look at all as goofy as she said you could be. Such a wonderful coloration too, and those eyes... You simply must let me make something for you to wear, I rarely get the chance to design for stallions after all." said Rarity, some how making those compliments a bit backhanded, or was that back-hoofed? The white unicorn smiled charmingly at him, batting her eyelashes in a way that made Red feel guilty for even considering saying no. "A-alright... No harm in it after all. Is tomorrow alright?" he asked, to which he received a resounding yes and a promise of something that would bring out his blue eye.

Fluttershy, being who she was, was far to shy to say hello herself. She did however catch Red's attention when she tried her best to hide behind the punch bowl, making her face seem a few times bigger when seen through the glass. "Hello... Why're you hiding?" Red asked her, pausing as he passed her a small glass of the rather delicious pu- Oh good grief there's an alligator int he bowl! The punch forgone in favor of something non-reptile flavored he mannaged to get a few squeaks in answer out of Flutters, and nearly melted on the spot from the concentrated cuteness that was the yellow pegasus. Letting her alone so as not to make her any more uncomfortable and to avoid a rather unmanly squee he felt coming on he turned away to bump face first into Twilight Sparkle.

"Sorry." he said, rubbing a hoof over his muzzle slowly. His nose rather hurt from that, and he was pretty sure from the blush spreading over her cheeks they'd just accidentally kissed or something similar. "Umm... I... You... Its fine." stammered the lavender mare, fidgeting slightly as she tried to find her words. My first kiss was an accident! she lamented internally. She was a highly logical mind to be sure, not much given to emotional outbursts or thought, but she'd always thought that her first kiss would have been shared with her special somepony, not thrust upon her because she hadn't been watching where she was going and had bumped lip to lip with somepony she didn't even know directly. Red's mind was running along a similar track, though his was wondering if he was going to get smacked, or turned into an orange.

Neither of these things happened however, Twi merely stammered out her own apology and left him be, trotting off to go find some place to figure out if what had just happened mattered at all. Red took the opportunity to slip away into the night and head home for a shower and bed.

Twilight, meanwhile, had found her corner and sat down, licking at her suddenly dry lips and coming up with the taste of sugar.