Rainbow Dash knew she had a couple boxes of Happy Crunch in her own pantry up in the clouds. It was the most popular cereal in all of Equestria, after all. She flew at breakneck speeds until she reached her amazing home in the sky, and burst into the kitchen.
“Come on, where is it?!” Rainbow Dash asked herself as she tore box after box off of her cereal shelf. At last, an unopened box of Happy Crunch emerged, and the pegasus quickly took to tearing it open. She stuffed her hoof into the box and fished through the contents furiously. “Ah ha!” she exclaimed as her hoof brushed against something solid beneath the flakes.
She pulled a Celestia bobble head to the surface and it nodded at her. Rainbow quickly turned the box over, and with dismay saw it was a default prize she held in her hoof. Before the bobble head even hit the cloud, Rainbow Dash was off in search of more boxes. She knew Pinkie had likely bought out every store in Ponyville by now, so it was off to Cloudsdale.
“I will win that prize!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she streaked toward the pegasus capitol. Her shout echoed over the crowded Cloudsdale streets, and the citizens glanced upward to see the mare performing advanced maneuvers to avoid obstacles.
When Rainbow Dash arrived at the grocery store, who other than Pinkie Pie would be floating out? The pink pony hung from brightly colored helium balloons, and had half a dozen shopping bags of Happy Crunch tethering her down.
“Pinkie?!” Rainbow Dash asked in shock.
“Oh hi Rainbow!” Pinkie said cheerfully, as she always did.
“How-wh-what are you doing here in Cloudsdale?” Rainbow Dash stammered. “You didn’t buy all the Happy Crunch? Did you?”
“I did! None of the sixty-two boxes I bought in Ponyville had the mystery prize in it, so I came here!” Pinkie replied, waving her shopping bags around. “Did you come to buy some? Because you can come over and have some, BUT HOOVES OFF MY MYSTERY PRIZE!”
Without another word, Pinkie Pie untied several of her balloons and dropped beneath the clouds. Rainbow Dash began to panic; that mystery prize could still be out there somewhere, and no way was she going to let Pinkie Pie beat her to it.
Back in Ponyville, Mrs. Cake saw a pink blur enter the shop and disappear up the stairs. She knew better than to question Pinkie at this point, but when the sound of cereal bouncing down the stairs made it to her ears, she had to investigate. The door at the top of the stairs was closed, and sugar coated flakes of cereal were flooding out from under it.
“Pinkie dear!” Mrs. Cake shouted. Suddenly, the sound of rustling cereal ceased. She sat there and listened, and a low moaning noise started coming from the door. Before she could do anything, the door snapped off its hinges and a tidal wave of Happy Crunch washed Mrs. Cake down the stairs.
The pastry shop was now flooded half way to the ceiling with cereal, and Mrs. Cake burst to the top for air. A low E followed by an F natural played slowly through the store. The sound of rustling cereal behind Mrs. Cake caused her to turn around in time to see a pink tuft of mane sink beneath the flakes. Again, the unseen piano played its sinister two notes.
Mrs. Cake looked out over the ocean of cereal, trying to keep her head above the flakes. Pinkie Pie’s wild pink mane bobbed above the surface and sunk back below. Still the piano played, faster now. Mrs. Cake began to swim for the counter, and the sound of rustling flakes grew louder behind her.
Pinkie Pie emerged from the flakes with her mouth wide open, swallowing thousands of flakes of cereal as she traveled. She crunched down and disappeared beneath the surface once more.
The piano now added in an E flat, and an entire brass and string ensemble joined in. Mrs. Cake felt something attach to her leg, and let out a scream as she was dragged beneath the surface. The music that had previously been deafening stopped dramatically as Mrs. Cake went under. After a pause, a geyser of individually wrapped prizes erupted from the flakes.
Both Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie poked their heads above the flakes and looked at the prizes. Pinkie grabbed them and tossed them over her shoulder after a brief inspection.
The cereal level lowered as the shop door opened, and Mr. Cake looked at the mess in his beloved shop. “Pinkie! What is all this?”
The stallion had two shopping bags in his mouth, and “Happy Crunch” was visible through the thin plastic. Pinkie Pie jumped up, sending a spray of flakes as she sprinted towards the confused shop owner. He had time to backpedal before the enthusiastic pink pony came crashing down in front of him. She landed with a loud crunch, and sank slowly into the flakes.
“She’s been like this all day,” Mrs. Cake said, shuffling towards her husband. He took two steps into the flakes, and Pinkie’s hooves pulled him down.
“Help me!” Mr. Cake shouted, grasping onto his wife’s apron. The flakes started rising up around his neck as he was slowly dragged under. Once again, the orchestra started up, only to be interrupted by the sound of a needle being dragged across a vinyl record. Mrs. Cake had reached down and pulled Pinkie Pie to the surface; suspending her above the cereal ocean.
“Gimmie gimmie gimmie gimmie!” Pinkie Pie repeated, stretching her hooves out for the shopping bags that Mr. Cake still held. “I’ve gotta win that mystery prize!”
“Mystery prize?” Mr. and Mrs. Cake asked in unison.
“Yeah the mystery prize!” Pinkie shouted back. “It’s in one of these boxes and I’m gonna find it if it’s the last thing I do!”
With a tremendous effort, Pinkie broke from Mrs. Cake’s clutches, and grabbed the bag from Mr. Cake. She held the box of Happy Crunch above her head victoriously, and dumped the contents onto her face. A pair of fake earrings landed on her nose, and she crossed her eyes to look at them.
She went to bolt off, likely to the next store she was going to raid, but Mr. Cake slammed the door shut. She smashed into it and immediately began clawing at it like a dog wanting to go out.
“Pinkie!” Mr. Cake shouted. “You’re not to bring another box home until you finish all of this!”
He pointed to the ocean of cereal covering his shop, and Pinkie Pie gulped nervously.
“All of it?” she asked. A bowl and a spoon were dropped beside her as the answer to her question. A door slammed behind her, and she turned to see the Cakes had left her alone. Alone with about a hundred boxes worth of cereal to eat.