Standing alone in the middle of Fluttershy's cottage with this thing, the first order of business was to get it back to Sugarcube Corner. As much as Pinkie wanted nothing to do with it, Fluttershy was counting on her, but so were the Cake's. She was going to have to compromise.
Pinkie managed to bring around a small wagon that Fluttershy often used for carrying animals, and picked up the small covered cage, placing it on the wagon.. She put several rocks on top of the cloth, as she didn't want to have to look at the spider, nor so much as be reminded it was there. With that accomplished, it was a simple task to pull the wagon back to the bakery. The cage fit in the wagon, so there was absolutely no chance of it tipping over.
After a significant amount of work, the cage made it to the lower level of Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie then went about her work, trying not to give the spider another thought. Icing cupcakes, finishing orders, and baking bread, a reasonable number of hours had passed before she finally gave in.
"Alright... enough's enough..." she said to herself. "Fluttershy is counting on me."
"Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake called from the other room. "We're closing for the day, make sure you lock up when you leave, alright?"
"I know!" Pinkie called. "Don't worry, I'm just going to finish this order and I'll be all done!"
"Such a good worker," Mrs. Cake sounded pleased. "Thank you, Pinkie." And shortly after was the jingle of the front door opening and closing. Then quiet.
Pinkie sighed and put away the last of the decorating kits, before making her way to the storage room where she'd placed the cage. It remained exactly where she'd left it, the cover still over top of it.
"Just a spider... nothing to be afraid of..." Pinkie said, gradually removing the cover. With the rocks removed, she took a deep breath and whipped off the covering.
And stared at an empty cage.
"I... I don't... understand..." Pinkie was horrified. "I put weights on the lid..." She inspected the cage further, which she probably should have done in the first place, and realized that the lid was, in fact a door on the side of the cage. The weights over top had been completely useless.
"The spider is missing..." she hissed. "The spider... is missing... spider... missing... spider... missing..." With this horrific realization, her hair began to fall flat. Her bouncy curls gone, her hair had fallen straight across her face, and her pupils dilated.
"Gotta find... spider..." she hissed, and flipped over a nearby bucket. "Nope." She turned the bucket back upside down again, and waited a moment or two before flipping it over again. "Still nope..."
From there, the search was on. Pinkie flipped over all sorts of items, no matter how small or unlikely, racing around Sugarcube Corner like a tornado in an attempt to find the missing arachnid.
A table was overturned. No spider.
A carpet was pulled up. No spider.
A cabinet was completely emptied. No spider.
Pinkie was beside herself, and the more she thought about it, the worse the situation became. By the time she had finished with the unfortunate bakery, it looked as if a hurricane had ripped through every corner of every room. The Cakes were not going to like this.
"Okay, Pinkie, calm down, calm down..." She muttered to herself, her eye twitching. "It's just a spider. A spider that doesn't belong to you. A spider that eats other living things..." she muttered. "Well, if that crawling arachnid is coming after me, it's my job to come after her first." She smiled. "Yes, yes, Fluttershy will understand. It's an act of self defense. She said herself that spider has to feed, and if it has a right to feed, then I have to deny its feeding." She cackled with laughter.
"But how to do it? Its small, and easily escapes most traps... I'll have to plan this carefully." She looked about the kitchen for inspiration for any source of spider killer, and her eyes eventually fell upon the regulation fire extinguisher above the oven. "Of course..." A wide grin spread across Pinkie's face as she was hit with the inspiration she was looking for. "That'll work."
Taking the fire extinguisher, she began to smash it wildly against various items, the idea being that she would destroy the spider before it could destroy her. But even that lasted only a few minutes before the extinguisher exploded following a particularly harsh smack, and sent her reeling backwards.
"Kill you..." Pinkie muttered. "Kill... kill... kill... kill...die... die... die! She cracked another devious smile. "Pinkie into battle go!" and took a lighter from the counter, the reflection of the flames dancing in her eyes. There so many flammable things around, so many deliciously flammable things.
"It's go time, spider..." She whispered. "Let's do this."