//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Plan // Story: Number One // by Whirring Gears //------------------------------// You groan as you open your eyes. You feel a sharp aching pain in your side, rolling over to reveal that you had slept on your pocket full of bits all night. You slowly sit up and take your jacket off. The scars feel warm exposed to the air. You turn off the bed, landing on your hooves before stumbling out of the room. Your mouth feels incredibly dry. Going to the kitchen, you look at the sink when a realization hits you. You did not actually pack any dishes or silverware. With cups out of the question, you turn back down the hall and wander into the bathroom. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror. Messy mane, check. Sleepy bags under eyes, oh yeah. Mark where you slept on your bits, of course. You step into the shower not bothering with the curtain and randomly turn the two knobs. You flick the switch on the faucet redirecting the water and a wave of cold liquid washes over you. It’s unpleasant, but at least you’re more awake now. It gradually gets warmer and warmer before it becomes uncomfortable, then you turn the H knob a little to the left. With no sort of shower products, you just let the water run down your body. You shake your head as it goes through your mane and are sure to let every part of you get a quick rinse. Then you stare up into the shower head with an open mouth, letting water fall in as you gulp it down. It tastes slightly metallic, but it could be worse. Swishing a little more in your mouth, you spit it down the drain as you turn off the knobs. Stepping out, you’re faced with another dilemma. No towels. With a sigh, you just shake yourself out a bit, getting water everywhere in the room. Another reason to pick some up, you think. You’re still a bit moist, but you figure you can walk around in your own house while you air dry. As long as nopony bothers you, you can wait, get dressed, and then go into town to pick up- *knock knock knock* “Yeah...” you sigh to yourself. “Of course.” You shake yourself off again as much as you can, making your mane somehow more of a mess than when you woke up. More water gets thrown around, but you’re still not quite dry. Feeling that it’ll have to do, you grab a new jacket from your bag in the bedroom and put it on, covering your scars again. The fliers you left around town include specific times to drop off and pick up items, neither of which were now. You actually got this a lot back in Clopton for ponies that need rush jobs, but that just means you can charge them more. *knock knock knock* “Hold on!” you yell down at the door. “Patience of some ponies, I swear...” you mumble as you zip up the jacket and make your way towards the entrance, faithful chair still diligently preventing intruders. As you pull the chair out of the way, you wonder how the last of your uninvited guests got out last night. You look up at an open window before shrugging, setting the chair aside, and answering the door. It's Rainbow Dash, holding one of your fliers in her mouth. She looks at you the same way she did after everypony left your house. A shiver goes down your spine similar to yesterday, but you can’t help but feel annoyed that she’d come back for whatever reason. After you see what she has, she sets it down. “Do you really...” she starts. “Really think that ponies will come to you after last night?” “Do you have anything that needs fixing?” you ask. “No, but-” SLAM You turn away and walk back to your bedroom. Hearing the door open again, as you expect, you ignore the colorful pegasus and continue on your way. She’s talking about something or other, but you tune her out. She’s stated herself that she has no business with you. You look into your saddlebag and take out the bag of cookies. They’ll make more than an acceptable breakfast before you go into town. You look through the other items you had acquired the previous day. The paper, the ink, the quills, and the apples given to you by that dealer. Deciding to leave it all, you close it up before pulling it onto your back. You also grab the bits from your old jacket and put them in your new pocket. “Are you even listening to me?” you hear behind you. “Nope,” you say, pulling out a couple cookies. You walk past Rainbow Dash munching when she flies in front of your face, staring you down. “I said you owe my friends an apology,” she states flatly. You chew the cookie and swallow. “For?” “For yelling at them last night! Kicking out everypony who only wanted to welcome you!” “Well, where’s my apology?” you ask before popping the rest of the cookie in your mouth. “For what?” she asks, clearly annoyed. “For breaking into my house, twice in your case, and leaving a mess.” You point a hoof to the general area of the living room, the folding table and streamers still present. “Still,” she begins, less angry than before. “I don’t think anypony is going to come to you if they think you act like that.” You are not too worried. Sure, you may not make the bits off regular customers, but being avoided by general public makes you perfect for those not wanting to be noticed. It will take less time to get familiar with the crowd of clients you were used to. However, that is for later and now you had an angry mare that you want out of your house. “So what should I do?” you ask. “Apologizing to everypony in Ponyville would be a good start.” “Why would I want to do that?” You turn and walk out the door, Rainbow Dash still following you. “Are you serious?” she asks. “You can’t let ponies try to do something nice?” You remember what doing something nice for somepony means back in the city. “Ponies can do anything they want, as long as it’s away from me.” She flies in front of you again. “Really?” You just nod. “You don’t do well around others, do you?” You shake your head. She sighs. “Pinkie Pie puts a lot of work into her parties,” she says. “Pinkie Pie... Pinkie Pie...” you mumble to yourself. “Oh, that crazy bakery pony?” “Yep. And she was crushed when you threw out her guests.” You give a snort in reply. You notice her mouth begins to form a smirk. “So I guess you don’t want anything from the Sugarcube Corner Bakery, then.” You stop. “What?” you ask. “Yeah, she keeps saying that you’re a big meanie and that she’ll never do anything nice for you again.” “Well, there’s still Mrs. Cake. I can go when she’s running the store.” “Mr. and Mrs. Cake really care for Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow Dash says. “She’s like a daughter to them. If you think that they’ll sell you anything before you say sorry, you’ve got another thing coming.” You pause to think about this. As you remember the bakery you can almost smell the sweet treats again, warm and fresh from the oven. They were, quite possibly, the best thing you had ever tasted. “Okay...” you say. “You’ll apologize to everypony?” Dash asks, half excited. “I’ll apologize to Pinkie Pie,” you state. Looking away, you see that you had actually made it into town in the time you were speaking with Dash. Dash remains silent to your response. She’s thinking, as if trying to solve a problem in her head. Finally, another confident smirk appears on her face. “I’ve gotta see this,” she says. You sigh as you approach the bakery. Dash lands and trots beside you as you reach the entrance. “Stay out here,” you tell her. “No way!” You shoot her a look of disapproval. She laughs and says, “What, you don’t want me to see the big, tough you admitting their mistake?” Instead of responding, your eyes drift to slightly past Dash. You seem to focus on something in the distance and squint to see it better. Out of the corner of your vision, you see Dash’s smile fade until she turns the see what you are looking at. After a moment of searching, she turns back to find that you are gone. She opens the door to the bakery and looks around inside. She goes back out and swings her head around, trying to find you. She takes off into the sky to try and get a bird’s eye view. While she does this, you sneak out from behind the trash cans around the corner and enter the bakery before she notices. As you walk in, new scents greet you. A different sweet, with a hint of chocolate is in the air, but just as intoxicating as the day before. Nopony is at the counter when you walk up. You tap the silver bell by the register twice. It gives a little DING DING and you hope somepony comes soon because you don’t know how long you have before Dash shows up. You’ve made sincere sounding apologies before for the sake of getting back on somepony’s good side, so that wouldn’t be a problem. However, you have a feeling that Dash will only try to make it harder. A certain pink pony bounces up to the counter with closed eyes and a big smile, humming to herself. With as good as spirits she seems to be in, it doesn’t look like saying sorry will be hard at all. “Hello-!” she cuts off when she opens her eyes and sees that it’s you. The change in her attitude is instant. Her eyes narrow at you and the smile turns into a pout as she crosses her forelegs, along with a little HMPH. “You’re the big meanie that kicked everypony out of your party!” she says. She points a hoof across the counter at you. “Meanie!” You sigh. “Yeah, about that-” “Meanie!” she says again, turning away from you and crossing her forelegs again. You’re a little put off that she interrupted you. “Look, I just wanted to-” “Meanie!” She turns her head towards you just long enough to say that word before facing away again. You see Mrs. and who you assume to be Mr. Cake standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking less than amused that you decided to show up after last night. You ignore them for now. “I realize that-” “Meanie!” “...last night wasn't-” “Meanie!” “A good moment for-” “Meanie!” “-me. And I-” “Meanie!” “-wanted to say-” “Meanie!” “I’M SORRY!” you raise your voice to make sure she hears you. You try to keep any anger out of your tone, but you are annoyed that she keeps interrupting you. However, as she turns around, she doesn’t look mad anymore. Mr. and Mrs. Cake look impressed as well. “I’m sorry I acted like that,” you say. “I didn’t expect that when I came home, and... I’m sorry.” The smile begins to form on her face again. She runs around the counter. “Oh, you’re not a big meanie!” she yells as she throws her hooves around you. Within the second, she finds herself leaning against your outstretched forelegs. Speaking of things you didn’t expect, crazy touchy-feely was on the list. “This is so wonderful! We have so much to do! So much to bake! So much to plan!” She says, bouncing in place. “I, what?” you ask. You begin to consider the sanity of this pony when a thought enters your mind. “Hey, wanna buy an apple?” “Ooh! We can have bobbing for apples and Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Pony and music and dancing!” You look over to see a smiling Mr. and Mrs. Cake. They both go back into the kitchen. Pinkie Pie is still bouncing, listing off things she apparently needs. “So what do you need all this for?” you ask. “For your new party!” she says. You can feel your train of thought screeching to a halt. “Whoa! Whoa whoa whoa, nopony said anything about-” “It’ll be great! Much better than the last one and I’ll invite EVERYPONY!” “I would rather-” Before you finish the statement with some colorful language, a certain thing about her last sentence catches your attention. “Everypony?” “That’s right! Everypony in Ponyville!” “And they’ll come?” “Uh-huh! Nopony would miss a Pinkie Pie Party! Except for that one time where my friends...” You aren’t listening anymore. Everypony is going to be there. You remember your conversation with Rainbow Dash that morning. If you could have everypony’s attention for just a moment, you can throw out another apology and then what would Dash be mad at you for? She’d leave you alone! You remember what gatherings were like back in Clopton. They start normal, but then there would be a disagreement, somepony would get a little too buzzed on whatever, put hooves where they didn’t belong; especially one placed in somepony’s nose with excessive force. Knives are pulled and police are called. That’s why you tend to avoid them. However, would this party be so bad? All you’d have to do is be there for the beginning, say sorry, grab some free bakery food, and then leave before the first punch was thrown. You could do that! “...but Twilight was busy writing something, so she didn’t play.” You snap your mind out of your thoughts and focus on Pinkie again. “But yeah! Everypony will be there and there will be chocolate cake, and chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate chip muffins, and what would you rather?” she suddenly asks. You remember the statement you didn’t finish. “I would rather...” you think fast. “...blueberry muffins?” She nods vigorously. “We can have blueberry AND chocolate chip! And banana nut, and cherry, and we can have hot sauce, too!” You pause to think over the last item she lists. “And I’ll have it all ready for your house tonight!” “Wait!” you raise a hoof. “Can it not be at my house?” Pinkie tilts her head to the side, curiously. “Like... at a park or something?” you suggest. She ponders for a while. “Okie dokie lokie!” she says finally. “We have to make sure your welcome party is perfect!” She wraps a foreleg around your shoulder, but you don’t shove her away immediately this time. “Yeah...” you say. Your mind goes back to the happy idea of getting that cyan pegasus off your back. “Perfect.”