//------------------------------// // Party Planning // Story: Apples and Cherry Blossoms // by Archangel2401 //------------------------------// It wasn't iron, but steel and chrome would cook to his needs just as well. He found himself thanking his stars it wasn't cast iron, but the steel appliance still wasn't exactly feather light. It didn't matter. There was a fire of determination behind his viridian eyes, lit from the embers of good fortune at having found the most important item the upcoming evening would require. The spirits were most certainly smiling on him, just not enough to make the appliance any easier to move. The pace was slow and blistering, steadying his breath and exhaling sharply every time he gave the steel construct a shove. Its feet dug into the ground, leaving a trail of upturned earth behind him as he shoved the appliance through the streets of Ponyville, earning more than his fair share of confused and curious stares from other ponies. Hiroki kept his focus on the task at hoof, gritting his teeth as he pushed the steel grill and before he knew it he was standing outside of Sugarcube Corner. He stood up straight and wiped his brow with one hoof, having worked up a sweat from pushing the heavy appliance. On the one hoof, this was giving him brief respite from the daunting task of getting this hunk of steel back to his own shop. On the other hoof, this was a rather large jump outside of his comfort zone. He could say with great pride he felt no fear in battle, even if he would have to give his life. But this wasn't a battlefield... it was just a sweet shop. So why was he so unnerved? It was that seemingly limitless energy Pinkie Pie exuded... He must have been standing there for the better part of five minutes, staring at the front door to the bakery without realizing it. A few ponies had already come and go, giving him strange looks and exchanging hushed queries. "What do you think he's doing?" "I don't know... maybe it's normal to do that where he comes from?" Hiroki felt his eyelid twitch in annoyance, though not at those ponies trying to keep their voices down. At himself for causing a spectacle. He let out quiet sigh and shook his head. It had to be done. With his resolve re-strengthened he stepped forward and pushed the door open, the bell overhead ringing as the samurai set hoof over the threshold. "Good morning!" He was met with warm reception from Mrs. Cake as he approached the counter and bowed his head politely. "Oh, Mr. Hiroki, what a lovely surprise! What can I do for you? How about some fresh banana bread? Just came out of the oven!" She waved a hoof to the counter just behind her, a plump loaf of steaming bread ready to be carved and sold by the delectable slice. "Ah... no, thank you..." He gave a quick shake of his head before bowing deeply once again. "I need to speak with... Miss Pinkie Pie. Am I correct in understanding she... works here?" "So polite. She most certainly does, wait right here a moment..." This earned a soft chuckle from Mrs. Cake and she nodded in affirmation, turning to stick her head through the kitchen door. "Pinkie dear, you've got a visitor!" There was an awful din that came from the kitchen immediately after as if a mountain of pans had just been knocked over, followed up with a high pitched excitable squeal. Smoke suddenly billowed through the doorway and Pinkie Pie appeared through it, spattered with flour and cake batter. She was bearing a tray of six pale orange and yellow swirled cupcakes, sporting an ivory cream icing and dusted with something red. Hiroki looked momentarily concerned at this development. His eyebrows rose high until he looked to Mrs. Cake who was just smiling and rolling her eyes, knowing this to be business as usual. "Success!" Pinkie hopped up and down happily on all four hooves, somehow keeping the tray balanced atop her head. She froze mid-air, defying the very laws of gravity that bound them to the world when her blue eyes fell upon the samurai and let out another gleeful squeal. "Hiroki! You're just in time! This is so exciting!!!" Still keeping the tray steady she threw her forelegs up and gave Hiroki and abrupt hug, his hat sliding forward on his head to hide his face as he gave a small, uncomfortable squirm. This didn't phase her in the least, but she released him soon after and brought her head down so that the fresh cupcakes were wafting their fragrance up under the rim of his hat. Whatever they consisted of, the samurai looked far from thrilled at the prospect of eating one. "Ah... Pinkie, dear? What exactly did you put in these... ?" Mrs. Cake now looked mildly concerned as well, but she smiled encouragingly as she eyed the red powder sprinkled over the creamy icing. "A new recipe! I just finished them... are you ready?" Pinkie paused for dramatic effect, lowering her voice and shifting her eyes left to right as if she were about to reveal the most closely guarded of secrets. "...wait for it... Mango CHILI cupcakes! I took mango and baked it in with the cake, then topped it with a nice cream cheese frosting and then- BLAMMO! Dusted with the chili powder!" "Ohhhh, yes. I see that. How... nice? I'll just have to... try one later!" All too familiar with Pinkie's experimental baking, Mrs. Cake disguised her reluctance easily from years of practice and busied herself with the register. Pinkie Pie looked to Hiroki and gave him a cheerful grin, wiggling the tray in front of him. A bead of nervous sweat had formed at the end of his brow, slowly falling down the side of his face. He silently convinced himself it was from physical exertion and not concern over the prospect of being poisoned. Pinkie peered up at him eagerly and noting his reluctance, changed her tactics by giving him enormous, pleading, puppy dog eyes. Now between a rock and a hard place and not wanting to hurt her feelings, the samurai lightly touched the beads wrapped around his foreleg and uttered a quick prayer to his ancestors, accepting whatever fate the spirits had in store for him. He leaned in boldly and took a whole 'mango chili cupcake' in one generous bite. The experience was... otherworldly. Hiroki's viridian eyes glassed over, gaining the expression that soldiers dubbed the 'thousand yard stare'. The myriad of clashing flavors were like an opposing army forcing open the gates of the castle that was his mouth. His tongue as the daimyo became surrounded and stood no chance of fighting his way through these brutal attackers. He was promptly slain in combat against the overpowering chili flavor. Hiroki slowly came back into focus, his cheeks bulging and his jaw rolling from side to side as he chewed at a painfully slow rate. With visible effort the samurai would tilt his head back and forced himself to swallow, one eye twitching irritably. He shut his eyes while this confectionary grenade travelled down his chest and fell into his stomach, waiting for an explosion that would claim his life. He always thought he would die by the sword... Thankfully no such explosion occurred. "So? Whaddya think?!" Pinkie grinned cheekily at first, but her expression sank quickly at the uncomfortable look on Hiroki's face and the shake of his head. She sampled one for herself, engulfing an entire cupcake in an equally generous bite. Chewing thoughtfully, she looked pleased at first, but it soon ended on a sour note and a nod of agreement before she put the tray aside. "Oh, you're totally right. Waaaaaay too much chili powder." Despite this proclamation she reached back and took another, biting into it with renewed vigor. "Hm. Or more mango. Or less chili powder AND more mango. So! What can I do for you? Do you need some cake? Pies?! Cookies?!?! Or did you just come for a smile?" She put emphasis on this by beaming at him. "Ah... no. Thank you..." After eating one of her experimental treats, sweets and smiles were not to be had. The lingering flavor of chili powder on his tongue made it feel heavy, sluggish and it was affecting his ability to speak. "Dinner... you." "Dinner? Me? No I'm not having dinner. It's not even lunch time. So I can't have dinner yet, now can I? Unless you count these cupcakes as lunch... then maybe I could have dinner at lunch time..." Pinkie Pie kept going, her words like a continuous volley of arrows that shot rapid fire one after another. Hiroki gave a confused glance to Mrs. Cake, who smiled warmly and waved a hoof as if to say Best to just wait it out. He turned to focus on Pinkie again who was coming back around from her tangent about meal times. "...but dinner is supposed to be the biggest meal of the day, so wouldn't that mean dinner is breakfast, since breakfast is supposed be the most important meal of the day? Unless you're saying you want me for dinner. You can't have ME for dinner, that's just silly! And rude. I wonder if I taste like cotton candy... or maybe cupcakes?" Pinkie suddenly let out a gasp and leaned in uncomfortably close to the samurai. "Unless you want me OVER for dinner!" "Hai..." Hiroki leaned back subtly in a vain attempt to keep some measure of personal space, still rolling his tongue back and forth in his mouth to loosen it from the fiery assault of chili powder. "Hi! Are you inviting me over for dinner? Hiroki, you sweet talker you! I don't know what to say. It's all so sudden!" Pinkie Pie giggled and gave her eyebrows a suggestive wiggle, reaching over to poke him in the chest teasingly with one hoof. "And here I thought you might have eyes for some other pony..." "Err... yes?" The samurai furrowed his brow, his head canting to one side in confusion. She'd lost him... what was he saying yes to at this point? It was further exacerbated with Pinkie Pie let out another shocked and overly dramatic, drawn out gasp. "You do?!? I mean of course you do! She's one of the bestest, most loyalist of friends a pony could ask for! She's pretty and hard working and the most dependable of ponies! Oooh! And she makes the sweetest, most delicious, mouth watering cider..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes were distant, smiling wistfully and salivating at the thought of Applejack's cooking. "But what are you doing here inviting ME to dinner you silly billy? You should high-tail it right over to Sweet Apple Acres and-" Pinkie grew silent when Hiroki brought up one hoof, gesturing her to be quiet. Mrs. Cake dropped the bits she was about to deposit in the register. She and the other patrons all turned with wide eyes and jaws dropped with shock as Pinkie was uncharacteristically still. "Yes... you are invited to dinner... and Twilight-hime, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dashu, and Applejack." Hiroki finally managed to get hold of his words, but he sounded no less flustered than before. He lowered his voice so that only Pinkie would hear the following. "Princesses Celestia and Luna will be in the party also-" "You mean... a dinner... party?!" He'd said the magic word and Pinkie gasped her longest gasp yet, her eyes going wide and brimming with excitement. She was just about to say something at the top of her lungs with her mouth was suddenly full of another mango chili cupcake, the samurai using it to great effect to keep her quiet and momentarily distracted. She chewed thoughtfully, maybe the third time was the charm? Eugh, nope. New recipe definitely needed. "Hai... ah.. yes.. it is... like a dinner... party." Her energy was indomitable, admirable even, but it would still take some getting used to. If nothing else this would be the best way to get her to focus. "I need... party favors..." Hiroki spent several minutes trying to explain to Pinkie Pie that what he meant by party favors didn't include anything that made noise or shot confetti. In fact they were merely decorative pieces. Though true enough the prospect of being privy to party planning, even if she wasn't planning the party herself, was enough to keep her on topic. "So you need a special kind of lantern? Made out of paper?" "Hai." Hiroki nodded. "Hi! You don't need to keep saying that! We've been talking this whole time silly!" Pinkie giggled jovially and rolled her eyes in a full circle, twisting her head so she could meet Hiroki's eyes under his hat. He gave her a slight frown as he corrected himself once again. "I mean yes. Bonbori are a kind of lamp where I come from... they can be round, square, or other shapes." "Ohhh... well I think I can manage to make something in time. It'll be fun!!" Pinkie nodded with great enthusiasm, skipping up and down around the samurai. He gave a slow sigh of relief, nodding again and stopped Pinkie by placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Dōmo. Thank you very much." Hiroki countered Pinkie's exuberance with stoicism as he bowed his head deeply. Pinkie further countered his counter be giggling and reaching over to pat his cheek with one hoof in a reassuring manner. "Don't you worry one bit! I'll get started right away! Well, almost right away! I have to go clean up the kitchen first. See you tonight!" She skipped back into the kitchen, taking the remnants of her experimental mango chili cupcakes with her. Hiroki wiped his brow on his foreleg, suddenly feeling rather tired. Was it aftershock of that confectionary bomb he'd consumed, or was Pinkie Pie secretly leeching energy from those around her in order to stay so buoyant? He'd be willing to bet on either at this point. The samurai gave a polite bow to Mrs. Cake, who smiled and waved at him while the further sounds of crashing pans could be heard from the kitchen. He showed himself back out the door and into the morning sun, thankful that his wide hat was providing his head with shade as he moved to stand behind the steel appliance he still had to get back to his own establishment. Two errands complete, two errands remained. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -