Sprinkles on Top
Rapplejack
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"Extra sprinkles with those please!"
Pinkie Pie was visiting Canterlot with her five best friends to do a little Hearth's Warming Eve gift shopping for their friends back home. As the rest of the crew made their way towards the gift shops, Pinkie Pie decided to take a detour to a very famous sweet's shop in Canterlot: Joe's Doughtnut Shop. "And I would like 10.. No wait, make that 20... Wait... 100 of them!"
"Pinkie, don't you think that's a bit too much?" Donut Joe said with a concerned expression. Pinkie Pie gave no response, as she was out of the door to catch up with her friends almost immediately. "Better get started, I guess..." He mumbled to himself as he started making batches of doughnuts for the eccentric mare. Donut Joe was a relatively laid back and nice stallion. His doughnut shop was famous around Canterlot, attracting many tourist ponies from other places on Equestria. Although many ponies come through and out his doors every day, Pinkie Pie was always his number one customer. Every time she would visit Canterlot, it seemed like she would order 10 times what a normal pony would order. I wonder how she always seems to finish all of these doughnuts by herself... Joe thought, scratching the back of his head with his hoof. He cranked the stove to medium and let it sit there, baking 20 doughnuts at a time. Sitting down to wait for the doughnuts to bake, he looked out at the snow-filled sky. It was only the mid-afternoon, yet a very dark shade of blue took over the sky. As each snowflake fell, he felt as though something was missing. What could it have been? He was content with his job, the amount of bits that were coming in, and the friendly ponies that lived in Canterlot. Thinking hard about what could have been missing, a voice from the other room interrupted his thoughts.
"Excuse me, may I order some doughnuts?" He heard the voice say.
"Yes! Of course, I'll be there in a second!" Joe said, getting out of his seat to fulfill the needs of the hungry ponies outside.
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"I would like the Glazed Donut with Whipped Cream please!"
"I would like the Chocolate Filled Caramel Glazed Donut please!"
"I would like a Bagel with Strawberry Jelly!" Donut Joe started to scramble around as he tried to fulfill all the needy ponies' orders. It always got busy this time of year, but with one of his ovens reserved solely for Pinkie Pie's gargantuan order, more ponies had to wait impatiently for their donuts to be ready. He kept running to the kitchen and back out to the cashier to multitask as much as he could.
"A cup of hot coffee please!" A cold looking mare said, trying to push her way through the crowd of eager ponies.
"You got it!" Joe exclaimed, running to the coffee machine and started to add coffee beans into it. As he was doing so, he saw smoke coming out of one of the doughnut machines from the corner of his eye. "AHH!" Joe yelled, running to turn off the machine.
"Where's my doughnuts!"
"Where's my coffee, it's freezing out here!" All he could do was endure the complaints of the customers and simply apologize every two seconds.
"I'm sorry, it'll be up in a second!" Joe lied, not knowing if he could handle all of these ponies at once. It was exceptionally busy tonight; letting the cashier that usually worked here take the day off was a mistake that he was regretting. Oh Celestia, somepony help me! Joe pleaded as he fixed the machine. Like a hero from a children's book, Pinkie Pie jumped through the crowd and into the kitchen where Joe was having trouble keeping his balance.
"Did somepony call for help?" Pinkie Pie said with a smile, already operating the machinery. Joe stared blankly at Pinkie Pie as she worked as fast as lightning, operating 2 machines at the same time.
"How do you know how to operate the doughnut machines?" Joe questioned, taking a moment to catch his breath. He chose to ask questions like where she came from and what she was doing here later.
"I see you do it all the time, it's pretty easy if you ask me!" Pinkie Pie said as she continued to control the machines. "Shouldn't you be at the front taking orders? I got everything handled back here!"
"R-right!" Joe stuttered, making his way towards the growing crowd of cold ponies. "Make an orderly line so I can take your orders one at a time!" The ponies slowly formed a line, if you could call it one. Joe smiled as he got his shop under control again. He glanced back at Pinkie Pie who was working the machinery like she was born to do it. She never seemed like a reliable pony to him; seeing her work made Joe feel... What exactly did Joe feel? He couldn't think too hard about it, the pony in the front of the line began ordering immediately.
"I would like one hot coffee and the Vanilla Cream Doughnut with Strawberries." The stallion said, putting down the appropriate number of bits to pay for the meal. Joe gave a friendly nod, punching the order into the register and watching Pinkie Pie fulfill it in record time. The stallion took his ticket and went to the back of the shop to await his order. Joe smiled; with Pinkie Pie's help, he could definitely pull this off. A new found confidence emerged as Joe confidently said,
"Next!"
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After Joe finished the last of the orders, he immediately collapsed. "This day has just been crazy..." He mumbled, making his way towards the kitchen. Much to his surprise, Pinkie Pie was fast asleep on the floor.
"C-chocolate donut? Okay..." She yawned, still asleep. Joe smiled, it wasn't everyday you could see some pony like Pinkie Pie in such a tired, vulnerable state.
"Good work Pinkie," Joe began to say, lifting her up and taking her to his guest room upstairs, "You deserve a good night's rest." Joe made a mental note to thank her tomorrow for helping him on literally no notice at all. I should probably finish up on Pinkie's order now... Joe thought, tucking the sleeping pony to bed. Before he left, he took a moment to look at Pinkie Pie. Joe was surprised; usually he couldn't tell because she was bouncing everywhere while she was awake, but she was surprisingly beautiful. He had never seen her in this kind of light; as a mare that is actually beautiful. Before he could react, he felt his cheeks flush. Maybe... I could watch over her a few more minutes, then get started on her order... Joe wistfully thought. He just couldn't get his eyes off the pink mare for some reason.
"Extra Sp...rinkles..." Pinkie Pie said, turning over in her sleep. Joe sighed and gave her a weak smile.
"Alright, alright." Joe said, moving away from the bed. He turned off the lights and softly shut the door. He made his way downstairs and into the kitchen, where half of Pinkie Pie's order laid. "50 more to go, huh..." Joe whispered to himself, not able to wipe the smile off his face. Donut Joe wasn't dense, but he wasn't irrational either. He was the type of pony to know if he fell in love or not, so why was he being so indecisive? I'm not... Am I? He thought, trying to get Pinkie Pie off of his mind. I can't be in love with that crazy mare, can I? He turned on the oven and started baking a new batch of fresh doughnuts for Pinkie Pie. He looked out the window as the dough was baking in the oven. It was pitch black out; the only light source coming from the street lights. The snowflakes continued to fall softly onto the blanket of snow below. He noticed something as the snowflakes fell; there wasn't anything missing. The anxiety he felt earlier was totally gone, like a snowflake that melted before it could reach the rest of the snow on the ground. He decided that it was better not to think about it and let things go the way they were intended to. He started to decorate the naked doughnuts with icing and toppings. Pinkie Pie's fluffy mane and soft expression never left his mind the entire night.
"Extra Sprinkles, huh..."