“Looking good Big Mac!” Yelled Applejack. “Just a little bit more!”
The red-furred stallion slowly let the rope slide through his teeth, lowering the barrel of apples onto the cart. The Winter Wrap-up Record Festival was going to be so enormous that the Apple family didn’t have enough apples in the trees to use for their food stand. Luckily they had about two-dozen barrels of apples stored away in the attic of the barn. The transporting of them was difficult though. It took from 8 to 11 in the morning to finally get all the barrels out.
As the last of the cargo was placed in the cart, Applejack tied them down.
“With everypony being there,“ she said, “we’ll sell more apples t’night then we did all last year!”
“Eeyup,” replied Big Macintosh.
Applejack made a small frown. Though she loved her big brother, his lack of excitement and vocabulary on the subject annoyed her a little. The sound of the house door slamming and little hoofs galloping closer brought her out of sulking.
“Can I help with the stand Applejack?” squeaked Applebloom.
“Well…. alright,” Applejack said hesitantly, “But not till all your day chores are done. That means feeding the chickens too.”
“Yes!!” the little filly exclaimed
Applejack smiled as her little sister ran off. Applebloom loved the festivals in Ponyville and always wanted to help with the Apple’s food stand, even if she made a lot of mistakes. But she had shown a lot of responsibility with her chores lately.
“ She might just be a help this time.” Applejack said to her self.
“Eeyup,” replied Big Macintosh.
The orange pony glared at her older brother.
“Can you say anything other then ‘Eeyup’, Big Macintosh?” she demanded.
He stared back at her with the bored expression he always wore.
“Nope,” replied Big Macintosh
And he walked away. Applejack could have sworn she saw the smallest trace of a smile before he had turned around. Grumbling, she turned her attention back to the cart to double check they had every thing to bring down to their food stand. With everything in place, she went to the front of the cart, strapped on the harness, and made her way to the town square.
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“I think it needs a little more marzipan peaches over here Honey bunch,” suggested Mrs. Cup Cake.
“I’m on it, sweet-ums. And I think there needs to be more meringue in the 2nd tier,” replied Mr. Carrot Cake.
The Cakes were just adding the finishing touches on the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness, a cake they had worked on since yesterday afternoon to insure that it would be available for the festival tonight. Normally this would have been impossible with their two children, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. Luckily their go-to baby-sitter was able and willing to tuck in the two foals while they worked on the cake. Now 11am, the cake was nearly finished. Pinkie pie was just done feeding the twins when she saw for the second time the wonderful MMMM. She couldn’t help but marvel the tall and beautifully decorated cake. Just looking at it made her mouth water and her instincts to completely devour the cake kicked in. but she restrained the urge. This was a cake made for one of the biggest party to be in Ponyville. There was no way she would ruin it by chowing away the long desired desert.
After burping Pound Cake and cleaning the face of Pumpkin Cake, she took them upstairs and put them to bed for their morning nap. Coming back downstairs, she heard Mr. Cake sigh with relief.
“Finally!” He said, falling into the nearest chair. “Its finished!”
“It took a lot of work, but it came out perfect Dear,” said his wife, relaxing beside him.
Pinkie pie walked over to inspect the cake her self. It looked even more delicious then the last one!
“Its amazing Mr. and Mrs. Cake!!” she exclaimed. “ It’s the most marzipaniest, marcarponiest, meringueiest cake ever!!!!”
The pink pony was pretty sure that the words she used weren’t really words. And yet they worked so perfectly! She was bouncing with excitement. Soon everypony in Ponyville will have a piece of the MMMM!!! They would all be so happy!!
The Cakes smiled at her compliment and her excitement.
“Thank you Pinkie Pie,” said Mr. Cake. “It was a lot of work, wasn’t it sweet’ums?”
“Yes it was,” Mrs. Cake replied. “And thank you again Pinkie, for watching Pumpkin and Pound cake. With out you, we wouldn’t have made it in time!”
“Aw it was nothing,” the bouncing pony exclaimed. “Those cuties were no trouble at all.”
The Cakes smiled. The only reason their foals behaved so well was because of Pinkie Pie. They loved her. The mere mention of her name made the babies squeal and giggle.
“And it’s a good thing we only have to make Big Mac move it to the town square!” said Pinkie, bringing them out of their thoughts.
“Oh yes!” Ms. Cake said with relief. “ I don’t think I could handle that stress again!”
He remember how he quite literally fainted last time the masterpiece was moved across Ponyville. But who could blame him? When he and Mrs. Cake planned and tested it for all those months, It was very frightening seeing it start to topple.
“Well how about I leave you guys to rest? You’ve earned it. I’ll go see how things are going outside. See if anypony needs my help.” Suggested Pinkie Pie.
They nodded gratefully. A good nap was just what they needed.
Pinkie Pie left the sweet shop and skipped along, heading for the town square. But she couldn’t help but talk and joke with every one else, telling every pony she met that the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness was going to be well worth the wait. By the time she got to her destination, it was already 3 a clock.
Pinkie looked at all of the stands and decorations that were being put up. She loved all of the bright colors and the cheerful chatter of all the ponies there. As she trotted through the crowd however, she over heard several conversations about the birds being gone. She was wondering what they meant, when remembering she didn’t see any birds either. Double-checking herself, she looked up at the sky.
“Nope, no birds,” she said. “Maybe they went off to have a party of their own.”
“I hope the birds being gone doesn’t ruin the festival tonight.” Said a small voice.
Pinkie Pie looked over at the source of the statement. It was a little light blue filly, one that had no cutie mark yet. Her small face had a frown, with big eyes giving away her disappointment that none of Ponyville’s feathered residents would be around for the festivities.
Pinkie Pie smiled at the young pony.
“Silly filly,” She said. “How could this night be ruined?”
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Deep in the Everfree Forest, a male manticore had just woken up from a wonderful catnap. He lived in a rocky valley close to the center of the huge mass of trees. He stretched and exited his cave. He decided it was a good time to go find some food. He knew a deer herd that often roamed close by, near a small lake to the east. They were pretty easy to sneak up on too. He might just get two of them this time. Jumping 15 feet to the ground, he set off.
As he entered the forest, he became aware that he didn’t see or hear any birds. He took a brief pause to listen intently. Not a single tweet. But he simple shrugged and moved on. Why should a proud manticore care about the birds? They kept warning other animals of his presence. Suddenly he stopped. There were no birds. That meant that the deer would be even easier to get close to. He might be able to grab three or four before they could get away! The manticore quickened his pace.
He was half way to his destination when he heard rustling in the bushes about 100 feet to his left. He froze. What ever it was, it was big and moving fast. The rustling was only 50 feet away now. The manticore tensed. Few things ran toward a manticore. But he was no coward. The only creature in the forest that scared him was the green dragon that lived in the side of a mountain to the north. And though the creature sounded large, it didn’t sound that large. He raised his hackles and left loose a growl that shock the gravel around his feet. Flexing his poisonous tail and extended his claws, he prepared to fight what ever came at him.
Suddenly a Timber wolf shot out of the brush. Surprised, The manticore flinched. But it quickly recovered, ready to swipe at the wooden canine. But the Timber wolf just kept running past him. Confused, the manticore watched as it disappeared into the ticket. Though he shouldn’t be too surprised. Not even a pack of Timber wolves were a match for a healthy male manticore, let alone just one of them. Still, why would it run toward him? He shook his head. He never did understand those dogs. Always barking and running after every little thing, not caring what it is till it bit them back. As the manticore was about to continue on, he heard the bushes rustling again. He turned around, thinking it was the rest of the pack.
For a split second, all he saw was an open mouth large enough to encase his entire head, mane and all. It was lined with knife-like teeth, each twice the length of his own fangs. Then he could just make out two dark purple eyes behind the gaping maw. They were devoid of thought, filled only with the blind blood lust. Then the huge jaws closed, and the manticore saw black.