//------------------------------// // Chapter 59; CAKE // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// The day continued to pass and soon it was noon. When Star Shine saw the time he hopped off the couch and grabbed the brace, putting it into his saddlebags. He sighed as he headed out of Rainbow Dash’s house and towards the library. He was not particularly looking forward to the conversation he was about to have. Part of him knew Rainbow Dash would have to learn eventually but with how long they had been friends and her still not knowing, the rest of him had been hopeful she would never know. She had gone all that time without even knowing about the brace, let alone the workings and origins of it. He took his time and landed outside the library around half past twelve. When he had gone to Cloudsdale to look for Rainbow Dash before the ponies at the weather factory had told him that she had her lunch at half twelve and he expected if she had kept track of time she would make an appearance at any second, having spent the time before her shift ended around where she needed to be. He looked up into the sky and saw a familiar blue blur was headed towards him and confirming his suspicions. Rainbow dash landed next to him a few seconds later. “Hey Shine, you been waiting long?” Rainbow Dash asked casually. Her eyes were darting around and gave away how nervous she was feeling. “Not really, I just got here. Your team told me when you go on lunch.” Star Shine replied with a smile. “You okay?” he asked with concern when he saw her behaviour. “Yeah I’m fine. Good day at work so far. Cleared some clouds, made some clouds, made it rain, even made a rainbow today. How about that? Rainbow Dash made a rainbow. I make lots of rainbows actually. You ever look at a rainbow?” Rainbow Dash rambled, talking so fast that Star Shine could barely make out anything she said. “I’m looking at a rainbow right now.” Star Shine teased. “And she sure looks nervous. Don’t worry, Scootaloo is going to be just fine.” he reassured Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash sighed out her pent up anxiety. “I know, I know. I’ve just got a bad feeling I can’t shake is all.” Rainbow Dash replied. “Anyway, let’s get this over with.” she added quickly, moving towards the library door. Star Shine followed behind her. “I just don’t know what to do Twiley. Every time I try to find him he’s gone already. I’ve tried to welcome him loads of times and he’s never there for long enough.” the pair of Pegasi heard a slightly high pitched voice say as Rainbow Dash opened the door. As soon as she heard the voice Rainbow Dash stopped opening the door. She recognised that voice. Thankfully neither Twilight or her guest heard the door open. Star Shine went to ask Rainbow Dash what was wrong but she planted a hoof over his mouth before he could speak. “I know, but I don’t think you should go to her house like that.” Twilight replied. “However he’s actually coming here today. He’s due any time now if you want to wait.” she added. “Oh this is going to be good…” Rainbow Dash said quietly to herself as she heard a squeal of laughter from inside the library. “This is going to be so good..” she added, rubbing her hooves together maniacally. “What’s going to be good? What’s going on?” Star Shine asked. There was worry in his voice and he was right to be worried. Worry was soon replaced by fear when he saw the wide eyed grin Rainbow Dash gave him when she turned to look at him. “Hey Star, remember those times you threw Scootaloo? And how I said you’d pay?” Rainbow Dash asked gleefully. Star Shine gulped and nodded slowly. “Consider this payback!” Rainbow Dash declared. She didn’t care if the occupants of the library heard her anymore. She jumped behind Star Shine and pushed him into the library. He fell through the door, tumbled over and came to a rest on his back. When he opened his eyes he saw a pair of bright blue eyes staring right back down at him. His assailant was so close that he couldn’t see anything other than their eyes. The pony on top of him moved her head back and Star Shine saw the rest of her face. She had a bright pink coat, bright blue eyes, a bright pink and frizzy mane and, most unsettling of all, a very very bright and wide grin. It was the one pony an introvert like himself would prefer to avoid at all costs; Pinkie Pie. “HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII” Pinkie Pie trilled, still smiling widely. “I’ve been dying, not literally of course, to welcome you since you got here. How come I’ve not done it yet? I’ll tell you why; it’s because you keep moving. Every time I hear you’re someplace you’ve gone by the time I get there. You’re avoiding me aren’t you? Well that doesn’t matter now because YOU’RE HERE and I can welcome you.” Pinkie Pie said enthusiastically and so quickly she didn’t take a breath or even blink. Star Shine was practically terrified and begging the Princess’s to forgive his sins. “So tell me why do we keep missing eachother?” Pinkie Pie asked him, leaning in disturbingly close again. The pair were practically eye to eye. “...because I’m lucky?” Star Shine replied nervously. “Or was.” he added bitterly, looking across at Rainbow Dash who was on the floor laughing. “Hey...hey Pinkie.” Rainbow Dash stammered out between laughter. Pinkie looked across at her, bemused. “Oh hey Dashie. You come here with him?” Pinkie Pie said “Yeah but that’s not what I want.” Rainbow Dash replied, nodding. She managed to bring her laughter under control. “He’s been here for over a week and you haven’t welcomed him yet, so make sure you give him a special welcome, alright?” Rainbow Dash said. Pinkie Pie nodded, smiled, and dashed out of the library so quickly it took Star Shine a few seconds to realise her weight wasn’t on him anymore. Unfortunately for him by the time he realised this Pinkie Pie’s weight was back on him and she was dressed in her full one pony band outfit with a myriad of instruments strapped to her body. “Welcome, welcome, welcome!” Pinkie chorused, stepping off of Star Shine to dance around him and fill the library with a cacophony of sound. She continued to dance around him in a circle he couldn’t possibly escape from while singing the rest of her welcome song. Twilight tried to stop it but Rainbow Dash stopped her. “I assure you he deserves this.” Rainbow Dash explained after tapping Twilight on the horn when she saw it glow as Twilight prepared to use some magic. “Maybe he does but I don’t.” Twilight replied, raising her voice to be heard over Pinkie Pie who had now transitioned into a second rendition of her Welcome Song. Star Shine was cowering on the ground and whispering prayers that his torment would soon be at an end. Pinkie Pie disappeared again and Star Shine breathed a sigh of relief but his relief was not to last as she appeared once again in a matter of seconds and this time she had her Welcome Wagon with her. She pointed the front of it in Star Shine’s general direction and hit a button. Star Shine barely had time to react but even if he did he would never have been able to dodge the cake that flew out at him as confetti streamed out of the top of the wagon. Pinkie Pie was considerate enough to take the fireworks out if she was going to set it off in a library. Fireworks and books wouldn’t mix very well. The cake that hit Star Shine in the face was mixed together very well and even though it hurt a little when it hit him in the face it did taste quite nice when he licked it off. He was willing to endure hardship if it ended with cake and judged the overall experience to not be too bad given the finish. “Oops. Sorry about that. The cake wasn’t supposed to fly out. I guess some of the fireworks were still in there and blew up. At least they didn’t come out the top.” Pinkie Pie said as she looked over the Welcome Wagon to see what could have gone wrong. “That would have been...messy.” she added quietly, surveying the damage that her welcome had done to the library. The floor, the tables, and almost every shelf was covered in confetti. There were pieces of cake strewn about and when she looked across at them Pinkie saw that Twilight and Rainbow Dash were also covered in confetti. Rainbow Dash was still laughing but Twilight was looking pretty stern. Pinkie’s antics had grown on her and she was happy to get into a good party but a library was still a library and her library was now a very messy library. “Hey this is really good!” Star Shine exclaimed as he continued to eat the cake from around his muzzle. He also found some pieces that were safe to eat on the tables. He unwittingly broke any kind of tension between Twilight and Pinkie as both of them looked across and laughed at him all covered in cake. “Pinkie Pie is quite the baker.” Twilight explained as her horn glowed. She began to clean up some of the mess and Pinkie helped by putting books back where they belonged. The clean ones anyway. “Do you think you could show me how you made it?” Star Shine asked as Twilight pulled all the cake off of him and deposited it back into the oven in the Welcome Wagon. She couldn’t think of anywhere else to put other than where it had come from. Pinkie Pie smiled brightly and jumped on Star Shine again. He braced himself this time and managed to stay upright but Pinkie Pie was still definitely too close for his tastes. She never was one for personal space. “Oh sure! Just come to Sugarcube Corner sometime and I’ll show you how to make it! We’ll have a party! Ooooh, a cake making party! I don’t think I’ve ever done that before...We can make cakes, and cupcakes, and sponge cakes, and birthday cakes! Oooh, when’s your birthday?! I’ll throw you a super spectacular birthday party!” Pinkie Pie replied hurriedly as her brain was awash with ideas for parties and cakes, and parties about cakes. “My birthday? It’s not for a while yet. I’ll tell you when we’re a little closer but this cake making party sounds like fun. How about we do it in a few weeks? I’d like to do it sooner but I’m a very busy colt as you’ve no doubt found out by trying to find me.” Star Shine replied. “I don’t really get to go to many parties.” he added for good measure. “No parties? Well we’ll have to change that! I have parties all the time. You’ll come won’t you? Won’t you? Won’t you?” Pinkie Pie replied, getting even closer every time she did. “He’ll come to one of your parties Pinkie Pie, I promise. But for now we have to talk to Twilight about something okay?” Rainbow Dash said. Pinkie Pie looked across at her and Star Shine mouthed a silent thanks when Pinkie wasn’t looking at him. Pinkie climbed down from Star Shine and walked towards the door, dragging her Welcome Wagon with her. “Well thank you for the welcome Miss Pinkie Pie, and I’m sure I’ll see you soon.” Star Shine said, waving goodbye to her. “Remember, Sugarcube Corner. Come by any time you want and we’ll make cakes, play games, talk, whatever you want.” Pinkie Pie said. “I will, I promise.” Star Shine replied. “Pinkie Pie Promise?” Pinkie replied. Rainbow Dash hopped over to Star Shine and whispered something in his ear. He looked at her nervously and she nodded at him. “It’s the only way to get her to go, but you have to mean this. If you say this to her then you HAVE to go visit her sometime.” Rainbow Dash whispered in Star Shine’s ear. Pinkie Pie was still staring at him expectantly. Star Shine sighed and sat on his haunches so he could freely move his foreleg. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Star Shine said, doing the motions that Rainbow Dash had just taught him. It was good enough for Pinkie who smiled at him before taking her leave at last while singing a random song about finding a new friend and making cakes.