The glow of morning’s light peeks through my window and my precious Sweetie Drops gets ready for a day of work at Sugar Cube Corner. She moves around, her actions precarious, taking each step with care in our room. I know that she tries to avoid waking me and even now, I am barely aware of what’s around me. My body feels tied down by bags of sand and my eyes are locked shutters. Even if they weren’t, I would rather not get up and make her feel bad for waking me. She shouldn’t have that on her mind as she works for the Cakes. Ah, the Cakes. I get asked sometimes if I feel awkward having my Sweetie work for another place that makes desserts. I tell them that I don’t and it’s true. I’m not very close to the Cakes but I feel that they’re my friends and that our businesses don’t really overlap anyway so it’s okay for Sweetie to work there. It’s her who has a strong connection with the two of them. She’s known them longer than she’s known me. When she was a foal and I was in diapers, Mrs. Cake, who was once a much slimmer mare, taught her the basics of sweets making. In a way, it sort of makes her my teacher as well since…if it wasn’t for her and all...
Sweetie practically lived with the Cakes for years. The two were her spiritual parents in a way since Sweetie and they got along like no others could. Sweetie was seen as one of their own, a pony to confide in and take on vacations to sweets shops in Canterlot. As a foal, Sweetie could count on them to attend her childhood plays when she dressed up as a bee or a flower. Sweetie never really bonded closely enough with her own parents. They don’t know the sweetness of life like we do. I wouldn’t deny her the wonderful relationship she has made with these special friends of hers. It is truly a good thing that I hope she’ll never take for granted.
As much as I am happy for her, I do feel a bit jealous of Sweetie these days. I don’t do much but lounge around the house. It’s late summer and I still don’t have a job to speak of. I hate having nothing to do. It’s the worst thing for a creative pony like me to not be able to express it. I can’t even make my own candy and pretend to serve it to ponies because we don’t have enough sugar on hoof until our next shipment in fall. At least Sweetie gets to make things all day. It’s a great job for her. The voice in my head tells her that I love her as she closes the bedroom door. See you later. It’s still bedtime for me.
Sweetie Drops goes down Mane Street. Her saddlebags bounce as she walks to work. The place that looks like a gingerbread house with a pink layered cake tower in the middle. It’s so popular that the town has a picture of it in their brochures for visitors from out of town. She knows the place like the back of her hoof. Every nook and cranny, every weird secret. She only started working there this summer she’s always been welcome in the home that she practically spent her childhood in. She opens the door. She expects that everything about this place is just like it always is: the familiar cool draft from the walk-in freezer, a row of coloring pages that they give to foals who only manage to scribble profusely on, and the many sweets on display. But just one glance tells her that not a single thing around here is anything close to normal.
She gasps and tries to not step in a pile of flour on the ground. Flour laden hoof prints mark lines on the floor, the counter…and the ceiling? She gazes at all of it in shock. The place is filled with laughter. Suddenly, from the back room, Pinkie Pie jumps from the counter into the shop area. Her body slides into a fast spin on the floor, getting herself even more coated in flour. Her mane looks partially hardened by wet flour. It reminds Sweetie of cement.
“Whoa!” she shouts as she spins around. She is tightly gripping a neon green water soaker toy. Behind, where she came from, two young foals enter as if in pursuit. Pound and Pumpkin Cake, the Cakes’ twins and perennial hazard to their work and sanity. The two of them, a light golden Pegasus and a yellow Unicorn, sneak up as if they are hunters. They also clutch water pistols and are just as filthy. They shoot at Pinkie a few times and grin.
Pinkie cuts between light shrieks and laughter. “Ah…I surrender…I surrender!” she says, waving her hooves like a defeated soldier. They all then laugh afterwards while Sweetie can only stand completely still, watching another scene of silliness fold out in front of her in Sugar Cube Corner. She can never get used to it in all her years since she’s known the Cakes. By the time they had their foals, she was already on her own and was teaching the filly that would someday be her fillyfriend.
Mrs. Cake comes down into the room. She sighs and grimaces. Sweetie has seen that face plenty of times around here. Pinkie gets to her hooves.
“Oh, sorry Mrs. Cake for the mess.” Her face is powdered white. “We’ll totally get it cleaned up, right guys?” Pinkie assures her in her squeaky voice. She zooms beside the two of them and they all beam in unison.
Mrs. Cake is wearing a pretty deep purple dress and she clutches the golden pearls that hang around her neck. Her mane is gleaming and her hooves polished. The only thing that doesn’t match her pretty ensemble is the expression on her face at the moment. She doesn’t look where she’s going and almost steps into wet dough on the ground.
“Pinkie! I can’t believe this! Of all days for you to pull something like this and to rope the foals into it no less!” She’s frustrated at Pinkie today. Usually that’s not saying much but today, it’s way more than usual.
“Well, duh! How else can I play Cakes and Robbers without the Cakes?!” she asks as if she’s trying to get Mrs. Cake to understand something important.
“Well, march them up to the tub. They need to be cleaned right away! My parents wants the family to come for their 40th anniversary and those two are going to be as shiny as a new coin. Understood?” She almost has to pant after saying that in one exhausted and irritated breath.
Pinkie salutes her. “Okie-doke Lokie!” She scoops the two foals in her arms and bolts up the steps in a pink blur. Mrs. Cake turns to Sweetie Drops.
“I am very sorry for me to ask since I know you technically have ten minutes before you start but is there any way you can perhaps deal with this mess for me. I am in no condition to do it myself,” she requests worryingly. She glances at the clock on the wall as seconds tick away.
“It’s no problem, Mrs. Cake. I got it handled,” Sweetie says confidently. The mare thanks her and goes upstairs.
Sweetie puts on her apron and white puffy hat early after putting her things in her cubicle. Her personal apron has her name on it. She grabs a long mop and brush with hard prickly bristles. She tidies up the floor first, sweeping the dust into a pail and going after the mushy stuff with the mop. It’s tough work that makes her sweat but in Sugar Cube Corner, she is used to it. Having to clean up messes is just part of life in the food industry and doubly so for making bread or confectionery.
The stuff is everywhere. Sometimes Sweetie is just overwhelmed by how easy it is for the combined whirlwind of Earth pony, Unicorn and Pegasus to leave traces of their messes on every surface. She is just one pony and she can’t fly or use magic. She can only break her proverbial back to get rid of every last crumb before customers come in. She has to; the shop can’t be known as that place where the owners don’t care about cleanliness. Who would trust the food from a place like that?
At last, the shop front is done. Sweetie has five minutes to spare to get the bucket and tools into the kitchen. She notices how the mess had originated near the counter. She thinks of how much flour was wasted. She doesn’t have enough time to clean it up but at least it can’t be seen from the front. She reads from a list by the ovens as to which goods are ready to be displayed. Sweetie returns to the front and goes to the right into the freezer. She rolls out the table with fresh desserts and opens the glass case from the back to place the cakes in one by one. She turns them so the tags with the price and name can be shown easily. She leaves special orders on the tray so ponies can pick them up throughout the day. The list is kept with her so she can check them off. Lastly, she goes and turns the sign around at the door to show ponies that they’re finally open.
Now that it’s done, Sweetie goes into the back to at least start cleaning up what Pinkie and the foals did. If she’s needed in front, the door will ring as ponies enter. Sweetie refills the bucket with soapy water and yawns wearily. She knows that this will be an especially long day with the Cakes going to see the grandparents on their anniversary. Still, that means that she will be in charge of baking too and she has fun with it. For some reason, ponies are a bit more tolerant with errors when it comes to cakes than candies. She guesses that they’re more of a fun dessert, being offered at birthdays and parties for the most part. She likes writing out names in gel and putting numbers in the center for young foals’ birthdays. They are always grateful rather than demanding.
As she swirls grayish mush into her mop, she hears yelling from above. It almost sounds as if somepony hurt themselves. It forces her to stop moving. She hears more yelling and she thinks it’s Mrs. Cake doing it. Sweetie shakes her head out of empathy. She can only imagine what it’s like to be having to juggle not only the most popular shop in town but also two rampaging foals too.
She continues to clean up the place but the noise above bothers her. She wishes they would just go already. They’re loud enough for her to hear through the walls as if they were made of baking paper and Sweetie thinks that they’ll drive away customers. The situation must be pretty bad up there. Sweetie hears a commotion by the stairs. She goes over to the shop to see Pinkie Pie being stared down by Mrs. Cake.
“Pinkie Pie! What did you do!?” she shouts. Pinkie Pie is doing the opposite of a grin, the edges of mouth pulled down. She almost trots in place out of anxiety.
“I’m sorry….I couldn’t help it!” she says. She sounds like she’s trying to entreat some mercy from Mrs. Cake but Sweetie is unsure what reason it is for. She sweats and there are tears forming at the edges of her eyes. “You know I do that all the time!”
“C’mon! I thought even you would at least restrain yourself just once.” Mrs. Cake’s eyes bulge in anger. Even Mr. Cake is hard as a week old dinner roll, either in solidarity with his wife or because he is really just as pissed off. Whatever Pinkie did must have been rather serious.
“C’mon guys, she just played with the foals. It’s not something that I can’t clean up,” Sweetie says in an attempt to calm things down. They stare at her in disbelief.
“You don’t know what happened,” Mrs. Cake says. “Pinkie ate the special cake that I made for my mom on her anniversary. I won’t be able to make another one in time!”
From what Sweetie recalls, the Cakes were preparing the anniversary of Mrs. Cake’s parents for some time. They wanted everything to be perfect for how it was going to go including making a very expensive cake to celebrate the day with. There’s nothing Sweetie can say to defend Pinkie Pie. She’s made a serious mistake this time.
Mr. Cake isn’t subdued in his emotions today. He is visibly angry like his wife and frowning deeply. He hasn’t even finished getting his golden buttons done on the collar on his black suit.
“Pinkie, there is just no way that we can have you come along with us like we planned. You are going to stay home and think about what you did. When we come back, we’re going to talk about it more and discuss what’s going to happen as far as punishment is concerned.”
Pinkie nods slowly. They turn away, visibly disgusted at her and walk out of the shop with the foals in tow. After they leave, Pinkie is silent as she walks up the steps. She is probably going upstairs to her room.
There is nothing that Sweetie could have done. She may have a long history with them but she can’t interfere in their relationship for better or worse. She can only go back to work and tend to customers while the Cakes go to the anniversary party sans their cake and Pinkie stews up in her room. Everything in the shop goes as normal though. Sweetie passes out special orders, makes new ones and sells cupcakes to foals wanting something sweet to eat in the afternoon.
Poor Sweetie! I wish I could have been there. But I wasn’t. I am not somepony to really understand what goes on in the Cake household. They are certainly something else, I must say. Pinkie Pie herself is an odd mare. She’s about as old as my Sweetie Drops but her mental age is anything other than an adult. Who would flip a cake in the air and eat it all without even thinking about whom it’s for? I would say she is a young foal in a mare’s body if that didn’t sound totally mean. I don’t hang out with her because she is way too random for me. I prefer somepony more predictable like the Flower Fillies who all enjoy their tea at the same time. Still, what’s interesting is her relationship with the Cakes and their foals. It’s definitely positive and everypony I know sees it as such. It’s allowed even a pony like Pinkie to grow up in her own way over the years and those twins have helped her to become a better and more mature pony. The twins call her their ‘Auntie’ Pinkie Pie. It’s a cute title, I must admit, and I suppose it’s part of what makes their relationship so strong. She’s always been a part of their lives ever since they were born. Playing with them, taking care of them, loving them. Time sure flies by though. I don’t know how many missteps they can take. They must have more patience than anypony else, save for Pinkie’s parents?
Time passes until it is afternoon. Sweetie throws several cakes in the oven and dresses a few in frosting and candies. She doesn’t see Pinkie so much as step a hoof downstairs at all. She wonders if the pink pony is sleeping or just lying in her bed, all depressed from being scolded so harshly by Mrs. Cake. It’s hard to believe that though. She’s never known Pinkie to stay sad for long. She always bounces back from anything. She’s like a spring, always able to recover, no matter what.
Sweetie is cleaning the counter and preparing the last things before closing time as the Cakes appear in the main window. Sweetie smiles as they enter. The parents look exhausted but the foals still look as upbeat as ever. They chase each other around until Mr. Cake orders them to their room to play in there.
“Hey, guys. How was the event?” Sweetie asks with a smile.
“Nerve wracking,” Mrs. Cake says. She leans her weight against the counter. “I was worried the whole time about what my parents were thinking that we didn’t bring a cake with us. It was surprisingly okay though. I think they were just satisfied by how everything else went. We had their favorite band play for them and the snacks and champagne were great, right dear?”
“The best that our money can buy, darling,” the stallion agrees. Sweetie can see that he’s emotionally drained just by being around his frazzled wife.
“We’ll be back after we get out of these clothes,” Mrs. Cake says. Sweetie nods and the two of them go upstairs.
Sweetie waits at the cash register as ponies come in for the evening sweets rush. It’s a bit of a swell since it’s after many ponies get off of work and come to collect dessert or a cake for some future celebration. She recognizes lots of familiar faces. She talks to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, who are hanging out together. When they return, the Cakes help out briefly in the back. Sweetie goes in there to retrieve a cake that’s done. Mrs. Cake gives the box to her.
“You were a great help today,” she says appreciatively. “I know that things were difficult and we want to say that we’re thinking of giving you something like a raise.”
Sweetie chuckles. “Oh, thanks but I was just doing all I can to help out.”
“I know which is why we totally insist on doing it! We also know that you prefer to be making our products, don’t you?”
“I sure do. It’s relaxing.”
“Excellent. You’re our most dependable friend. I am going to leave you to create a new design starting tomorrow,” Mrs. Cake chirps. She puts a folded paper in Sweetie’s apron pocket. “Here’s the design. Don’t get it damaged. You’ll need it.”
“Why not start today?” Sweetie asks.
“We’re going to go to my supplier and ask for a few items we need early. When we get it then you can start in the morning,” she replies.
“That sounds great, Mrs. Cake. I can’t wait to start,” Sweetie says. She goes and finishes the transaction with the pony who wanted the cake. As she’s counting the bits, she waves at the Cakes, who are heading outside. She wears a smile for most of the evening until closing time. She turns the blinds shut, flips the door sign around and puts her work uniform away.
Sweetie looks at the recipe for a moment. It’s night and dark inside except for the kitchen light. She has a hard time going through the recipe steps in her head. It is way different than how the Cakes usually do things: different ingredients are called for, strange steps needed and odd measurements. She thinks that maybe it’s all a test. They want to see what she is really capable of and if she does good enough then they’ll let her do more work on her own. They are rather short staffed and they sure do have so much to do with the foals and their school projects or recitals or other foal things.
Pinkie goes downstairs. She walks towards Sweetie. “Hey, are you going home?” she says.
“I sure am. It’s been a long day.” Sweetie puts the paper in her saddlebag.
Pinkie looks at it curiously. Her mouth forms a circle. “What’s that?”
“Just a recipe I need to make tomorrow.” Sweetie walks towards the door to leave.
“Where are the Cakes? Shouldn’t they be here?” Sweetie catches a hint of worry in her voice.
“I think they’re out getting some ingredients or something.”
Pinkie’s head tilts awkwardly, lowers an eyebrow and sticks her tongue out. “What? In the middle of the night? What’s up with that?”
Sweetie shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know Pinkie but I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night.”
“Uh, good night to you too.”
Sweetie shuts the door behind her and walks down the street towards her house. Her body is bathed in the yellow glow of the street lamps.
Looking back, I was definitely in anything but a good mood that evening. I missed her at dinner and I wasn’t really happy about how long she had worked that night for the Cakes. I get lonely all by myself. But she insisted that the Cakes need her so I felt like giving her the cold shoulder even as we went to bed. I turned in bed until I was facing away and clicked the lamp off after saying good night. I think I deserve her more than anypony else. I just want this summer to be over so we can be together and make candies together again. It won’t be long so I just have to be patient as difficult as that may be.
Sweetie goes to work the following day like normal. The place is quieter without some major event coming to disrupt the peace. When she goes into the kitchen and turns on the light. Near her cubby, she finds a note waiting for her. It was written by Mrs. Cake. She puts her work stuff on and reads it. It tells her where to find the ingredients. She looks in the walk in pantry. On the top shelf are bags she doesn’t recognize. They are full of assorted candies, their colors easily visible through the clear plastic. She uses a stepping stool to reach up and to take the special items over to the counter.
She sorts out the candies and other special things, measuring out how much the recipe calls for. The batter is made and she turns on the oven. Once she pours the batter into the pan and throws it in to be baked, she starts with the frosting. She whips the pink mixture up until it’s light and airy. She licks the end of her hoof to get a taste. It is overwhelmingly sweet, even in just a dab. She has to flick her tongue out as if it’s bitter and smack her mouth a few times.
Sweetie makes a few trays of cookies and cupcakes while the new cake is still rising. Time is precious and she can’t waste any when she can be making more stuff that the shop can sell during the day. Its most common items are easiest to make. She hasn’t seen the Cakes yet but she assumes that one of them is manning the counter since she is busy in the back. By the time she is pulling out the pan with pink oven mitts and setting it down on the counter, Pinkie Pie strolls in through the kitchen doors. It’s about nine-thirty.
“Hey, Sweetie Drops. I didn’t see you come in at all,” she says delightfully. “I was wondering if you hadn’t come to work.”
She comes to the counter and stares down at the golden brown cake sitting in the pan, its heat still radiating from it.
“Yeah, I know I wasn’t around. I was needed back here for something. What’s up with you?” Sweetie says.
“Mrs. Cake told me that I needed to be cashier this morning. I guess a mare’s got to do what a mare’s got to do. Usually it’s not as fun and it wasn’t that fun today but it was kind of interesting though. Some foals came for coffee and stuff. I thought I needed to get more pastries so I came in here and you’re here so you can maybe help me with inventory?”
Sweetie chuckles amusingly at Pinkie’s peppy retelling of her morning as she carefully uses a spatula to lift the cake and transfer it over in one piece to a sheet of wax paper. She lets herself breathe again after it’s done. She relaxes and sets the pan aside to be washed later.
“Well, we do have lots of new inventory about ready to be used,” Sweetie says while gesturing to the ovens. “You’re not really almost out of food?”
Pinkie shakes her head quickly, throwing strands of her pink hair about. “I guess not.” She looks at the candies that are contained in metal measuring cups. “So what’s this you’re making? A cake for somepony? It must be really fancy. These candies are so super hard to come by that you don’t even know…” Sweetie feels like interjecting and telling her that she knows how rare some of these candies are but doesn’t. It’s not really worth the effort.
Sweetie starts to frost the outside of the cake. Her skills allow her to get the frosting pretty much even and it’s not that hard. It’s easy for her to decorate even a hot cake. She’s a skilled baker. She layers it on twice to make it thick enough as the recipe calls for. She can already tell that this is going to be a super sweet cake. She wonders what kind of pony would even like it.
Pinkie sniffs the frosting.
“That’s yummy…and just the right color,” she says. She then turns quiet for a moment and squints her eyes rather suspiciously.
“Are you alright?” Sweetie says.
Pinkie pulls out a magnifying glass and looks at the glassy candy that Sweetie is beginning to arrange on the top surface of the cake in a spiral pattern. She is arranging them carefully. They are supposed to resemble a colored lollipop like the kind they sell at carnivals. Pinkie suddenly releases a long gasp and drops the magnifying glass on the ground.
She runs around the island so fast that Sweetie’s eyes can barely catch up. “Oh, no! Oh, no, no, no!” she sputters in a frenzy.
“Pinkie, stop it!” Sweetie demands. She thinks that Pinkie might spill the candy by accident or push the cake off the counter.
Pinkie stops on a dime and pants heavily. “That’s my cake!” She pushes up to Sweetie and gets muzzle to muzzle. Sweetie can only look into Pinkie’s angled eyes. “My cake!”
Sweetie backs off, her own eyes widened. She has no idea what Pinkie’s going on about. “The cakes told me to make that. It’s their newest recipe.”
Pinkie huffs indignantly. “Well then how do you explain this!?” She grabs the bag of candy.
“Hey, stop it!” Sweetie protests. “I’m going to get Mrs. Cake!”
“Go ahead!” Sweetie can’t go. She won’t have enough time. Pinkie’s arms move like a machine and soon, the cake’s complex looking design is complete with whipped cream dollops at the edges and ribbons of light pink frosting forming waves around the perfectly decorated lollipop candy. There are steaks of frosting on her face but her tongue licks it off in an instant.
“How did you do that?”
Pinkie pulls out a recipe book, opens it, and turns it towards Sweetie. She is smiling smugly. “Because it’s right in here. It’s one of my newer designs.” She shuts the book. “Why don’t you show me that paper of yours?” Sweetie feels reluctant and doesn’t like where this is going but lets her take it anyway.
Pinkie scans it and gasps again. “Aha! So you’re a thief! You must have copied my recipe when I was too busy with the foals to notice! You must have also snuck past Gummy somehow or he would have stopped you!”
“You mean your alligator pet thing? C’mon, Pinkie! I didn’t steal anything!”
They both hear the door ring. Ponies have come into the shop.
“Pinkie, go help them,” Sweetie tells her, mostly just to get her out of the kitchen.
“No!” she replies rather petulantly. “You go do it! I am not going to let you sell my cake to anypony else!”
“Be that way.” Sweetie steps towards the door but as she reaches it, Pinkie stomps her front hooves down.
“Wait…you know what? I will go help those ponies after all!” She zooms past Sweetie and into the shop. Sweetie peeks inside to see her at the counter. The Flower Fillies are standing there.
“Let’s go! Hurry up! What do you all want?” She looks annoyed and jittery as the three of them place their orders rather than say anything to bother Pinkie. The pink pony grabs their stuff and shoves it toward them and doesn’t even bother putting the bits into the register. Afterwards, she leads them to the door. “It’s going to have to be ‘to go’ today. Sorry for the inconvenience!” She turns the sign around and locks the door.
“Let’s see now…oh yeah.” Pinkie whistles sharply upstairs. “This ought to get their attention.” Immediately, the two Cakes enter the room.
“What in Equestria has taken a hold of you this time, Pinkie?” Mrs. Cake says.
“A hold of me? What is…holding you? These are my recipes! Not yours.”
Mrs. Cake sighs. “Pinkie, calm down. I did take them but I believed that they would help our shop since the things you make are always best sellers.”
“But it’s mean! You didn’t ask for permission or anything!”
Mrs. Cake glares back. Sweetie hopes that she better not lose it too.
“Well, just like you ate the cake I made for my parents?” Sweetie makes sure to step back in case they start fighting. But that’s the worst case scenario.
“Hey, I said that was an accident.”
“One time is an accident. Just once. Many times is something else,” she clarifies in what Sweetie could only call bitterness.
“Well, maybe I should leave so I won’t be an accident to you anymore,” she says, her voice trembling. She doesn’t wait for a reply and storms out, leaving through the door and down the street.
The Cakes are stunned by Pinkie’s angry departure but they don’t have time to reflect on what just happened. They ask Sweetie to keep up with the recipe while they handle the register. They were doing taxes but that will just have to wait until later. Sweetie goes in the back and looks at the completed cake. It’s rather beautiful. She almost thinks it’s a pity that it’s something meant for ponies to cut into pieces and chew in their mouths. She has to make ten more of them too for their test run to see how it sells. But that’s not on Sweetie’s mind as much as she wants it to be. When will Pinkie come back? Does she truly see her as a thief too? Sweetie hopes not because they’ve known each other for so long. Their friendship shouldn’t be as fragile as glass candy.
Pinkie was gone by the following day. Sweetie would go up to her room several times just to look around at how empty it is. It’s such a big hoofprint left behind that few others could fill and without it, the room feels so bare and empty. Sweetie told me that the Cakes don’t seem to care a whole lot about the fact that she’s gone. Mr. Cake doesn’t protest his wife enough. In their house, she knows best so it’s really the wife that’s the more troubling of the two of them. She doesn’t say much except that it was a long time coming. I don’t know what it’s like to lose a friend. I hate to ponder such things. I mean, somepony that was just a friend and not originally something else like a teacher. It’s hard to believe it can even happen. That two ponies just can’t reconcile. And what about the ponies in the middle? Are they like a boat surrounded by a hurricane? Do they just worry about all the negativity that a broken friendship brings? And as with a storm, can the period in the middle be a time of reflection or fear?
Today is Sweetie’s day off from work. About time, I say. She hasn’t had one in two weeks and this is supposed to be a light job, for pony’s sake. I was almost to my breaking point with her and this job. I don’t want to deal with it today so I insisted that we go out and do something fun on this late summer day. But as we leave, the first thing we see is Pinkie Pie, seemingly loitering on our street.
Sweetie walks up to the mare, which seems focused on this shop front that has been empty for months. It used to be a bookstore.
“Pinkie, are you alright?” Sweetie says. Pinkie does an about face. Gummy is attached to her back. “I’ve missed you. How’ve you been?”
Pinkie smiles wide. “Great, thanks. Isn’t this a really awesome and totally professional place a pony can sell stuff at?” She points at the nondescript shop front.
Sweetie looks at Twist, who looks at Pinkie in confusion. “What are you talking about, Pinkie?” Sweetie asks hesitantly.
Pinkie giggles loudly. “Obviously, it’s my new shop! I am leasing it and it’s going to be all mine!” She looks at it greedily.
“It’s got to be really expensive. How can you afford that on your salary?” Sweetie says incredulously.
“I’ve saved a lot of money. Yeah, I know…hard to believe, right? Well, it’s true!” Pinkie uses her hooves to make a frame close to her eyes as she looks at the roof. “The sign will be above the door so ponies will know that this is the best cake shop in town! And they’ll get to see what I’m selling in the window!”
“Pinkie, this all sounds great but what will the Cakes think?” Twist mentions. Part of her is worried about how another sweets shop will affect her business more than anything else. She wonders if that makes her selfish or not.
“I don’t want to hear their names!” Pinkie suddenly screams, holding her hooves to her ears. She glares at nothing in particular. “Mr. and Mrs. You-know-who aren’t welcome to my shop because they are mean and unfair…and recipe thieves!” She opens her shop door but turns around to face them and grins excitedly. “Oh…you guys should come for my grand opening party next week! See you then!” The door slams behind her.
“Wow…the Cakes and Pinkie have really split up for good?” Sweetie says.
“I’m sorry you have to see this all happen,” Twist tells her. She puts a sympathetic hoof on her shoulder.
“Thanks, Twist.” She kisses her check and they continue on our way to see a movie.
We went to Pinkie’s grand opening like she asked us to. She called it “Pinkie’s Pastry Palace”. I never thought that alliteration suited a shop name but I guess it works for her. When we walked inside, there were ponies setting up the new logo outside just where Pinkie said it would be. Pink letters surrounded by balloons. The place was packed with ponies. Her whole family was there and all her friends. Even the princess came but I avoided her like she was diseased. As Pinkie set up karaoke, me and Sweetie looked at cakes on a table that were there to show off what was to come in the future. I admired a rich white wedding style cake and we both gazed at it with the thought ever present at having it at our ceremony.
Sweetie’s time back at work the next day was pretty stressful. She thinks it was like walking on glass. The Cakes were quick to upset as their chores piled up. Even one day without Pinkie and Sweetie was just overwhelming. I don’t think I’ll wait up for her at dinner. Not with her working more hours at it is. Now I’m starting to feel bad for my earlier jealousy. It’s a lot harder in the kitchen these days than I realized.
Mrs. Cake bursts into the kitchen. Her usually controlled mane is frazzled and unkempt and from the smell, she’s even forgotten to shower.
“How are those cakes coming along?” she asks quickly. She’s like a parent worrying about a foal that’s being born. It’s really that important to her.
“They’re still not done. These things take time,” Sweetie says.
“Yes, I am aware,” Mrs. Cake replies bluntly. “If you’re still waiting, please go upstairs and check on the foals? I get worried when there’s nopony around to supervise them.”
“Sure thing.” Mrs. Cake hurries back into the shop. She’s cashier today. She has to since the schedule for everything has been shifted so badly. They are falling behind on orders which doesn’t happen usually. It forces Sweetie to work overtime. And when the Cakes were working their flanks off yesterday, they forgot to take out the trash and now Mr. Cake has to personally haul a load of it all the way to the landfill. If the stink of trash emanating into the kitchen wasn’t bad enough, Mrs. Cake’s body odor isn’t exactly fresh either.
Nopony was prepared for what would happen after losing Pinkie. Sweetie most of all. The cake design that had sparked the fuse didn’t even end up as anything but a flop. Most ponies didn’t like it except for foals; when they asked for it, they’re always overruled by their parents. The design had to be scrapped. The last cakes were just given away in the end. Sweetie now makes the standard issue product: cookies, pastries, and birthday cakes. It takes little to no effort to make them and they sell so fast that they’re sometimes still hot in a customer’s hooves. She waits for the Cakes to come up with a new line of wedding cakes since early fall is a prime period for weddings to happen. She knows that it’s going to be like watching paint dry.
Mrs. Cake gives Sweetie a list of things to do while she’s away. One of them is looking over her designs. She definitely wants a fresh set of eyes to look for flaws that she missed and Mr. Cake is no good at such things. Pinkie used to be the one to do it but she’s gone.
The last thing that Sweetie wants to do is to look at more cakes after work. Still, there’s no avoiding the other bakery on her street. In the evening, the sign for Pinkie’s shop lights up with a noticeable pink glow. The interior is really bright with white and red tiles and pictures of Pinkie, her family and of Ponyville hanging up. The quality is pretty good as if Photo Finish had done them. It’s hard to believe that Pinkie could afford such a talented photographer. Sweetie decides to walk in so she can at least say hello to her friend. It’s cold inside and instead of tables, there is just one looping counter like a horseshoe with tall red stools lined up next to it. A couple older foals are sitting at the end. A colt and a filly with one milkshake as if they’re on a date. Sweetie doesn’t look at them so she doesn’t embarrass them with attention and checks for Pinkie.
Sweetie goes to the front area where a simple chalkboard menu is hung. She sees that it’s not written by Pinkie but somepony else with nice penmanship. She rings a little bell and Pinkie bounces inside and lights up when she sees Sweetie.
“Oh, hey there! Long time, no see,” Pinkie says cheerfully.
“Hello, Pinkie. How’s the shop doing?”
“I’m having a great first week so far! You should see how many things I’ve sold. All my friends are buying lots of stuff and even my Maud Pie ate a cupcake. A cupcake! She never does that!” Pinkie bounces up and down ecstatically. “Everypony came to give me all the support they could give.”
“You mean you’re doing well on your own when it comes to making stuff? How are you managing that?”
“It’s certainly not easy.” Pinkie takes Sweetie into the kitchen. It’s pretty packed with a ton of dishes lying around: bowls stacked five or even ten high, boxes full of trays and utensils in piles like kindling. It’s obvious that Pinkie doesn’t take after the Cakes when it comes to their organization skills and just goes for the more laid back approach. Pinkie picks a book from a pile of them. She opens it. Inside are pictures of wedding cakes. Sweetie can’t believe it. Even Pinkie’s old recipe book didn’t really have pictures and if they had any, they were crude and childish at best. These she are seeing now are beautiful and colored designs like they are meant to be shown off. Sweetie thinks that they probably are. No mare just buys a wedding cake after all.
“They’re very beautiful,” Sweetie says in admiration. She eyes a three layer white cake with a beautiful lacy design. “But, I would still like to know how you’ve done all this.”
“Well, I went and asked my friends for some help. I told them that I was opening my own shop and that I really needed to get it up and running for the first week. My friend, Rarity, came and did a whole lot for me. She drew these pictures since she’s so great at drawing dresses and now I have stuff to show when a mare wants to buy a cake.”
Sweetie smiles and her ears perk up. “I’m impressed. I really am.”
“The wedding stuff is just the beginning,” Pinkie says with a grin. She brings out some sweets from the refrigerator and has Sweetie try samples. She tries a brownie, a sugar cookie, a mint candy cane, and a cupcake. By the time she’s tried them all, Sweetie is having a mild sugar rush. Even with her high tolerance of sugar, it can get to her on an empty stomach. But she can just taste Pinkie’s love for baking in every bite. She can’t deny that with this kind of skill, this shop can easily find its own niche in town and even turn a handsome profit in time. As much as Sweetie might hope deep down that Pinkie fails and can return to Sugar Cube, she’s still proud of Pinkie in a way. Maybe it’s just time for Pinkie to go out on her own just like she did years ago.
Sweetie goes back to her work. She tells Mrs. Cake about how Pinkie is doing. The mare shows very little interest in her former assistant though and pesters Sweetie about the shop itself. Upon hearing about her wedding line, Sweetie can just sense her being wound up. She knew about Rarity and her ability to draw designs but never thought of asking her before. She calls it an unfair advantage to rely on friends for help: Rarity’s designs, Applejack for cleaning, Fluttershy to keep out rats and other animals, and some money and exposure from the princess. She says that Sugar Cube Corner has to make some moves of its own to stay relevant. Such a cornerstone of her town can’t fall to Pinkie’s “sugar factory” as she calls it bitterly.
Sweetie tries halfheartedly to protest Mrs. Cake’s next move but there’s nothing she can do. The mare is adamant in getting the word out against Pinkie’s new shop. Sugar Cube runs a full page ad in the town paper which not only promotes the hard won popularity of their business but also makes note of “inferior bakeries” that can’t compete. Mrs. Cake is convinced that ramping up pressure in ads and pumping out coupons for 5% off wedding cakes will do the trick. Sweetie isn’t so sure that it will work even as she looks at the paper and her large ad with thick black font. Sweetie doesn’t see any reduction in the number of ponies hanging in or around the shop. She thinks that even Mrs. Cake doesn’t really underestimate the “flavor of the month” and knows that going against it is like trying to row upstream. But its purpose has been done. It’s Sugar Cube’s first broadside in the Cake Wars.
Not about to be outdone, Pinkie Pie fires back, engaging with the ponies in her own brand of cheerfulness. Sweetie is sweeping the shop one day when she spies Pinkie not far off. The mare is waving, shaking hooves and passing out flyers. After about half an hour of that, Mrs. Cake orders Sweetie to find out what she’s doing. The two talk for a bit and Sweetie finds out that she’s been giving out her own coupons and also mentioning how her wedding cakes are going to be available up to two weeks before anything from Sugar Cube Corner. Sweetie felt a little embarrassed to stand next to somepony being so forceful about leading ponies away from her place of work but perhaps more so that everything she said was actually right. Part of that might be Pinkie’s claim to make custom designs rather than rely on premade sets that require too many ingredients. Sweetie does think that’s an interesting idea but when she mentions it to Mrs. Cake, she rejects it outright. She seems to despise anything that Pinkie comes up with.
The two shops continue this tit for tat rivalry for a while, neither showing any signs of relenting or slowing down. At Sugar Cube, the atmosphere gets more stressful day by day. The air is electric with this underlying worry. Sweetie can feel it when she hears the sound of Mrs. Cake’s hoof pressing the buttons on her tax calculator. She’s been crunching numbers almost as much as she has been going to work downstairs. A few times, Sweetie would be been working at the counter when the foals would come down and roughhouse. The two parents are nowhere to be seen and Sweetie would have to personally step in and take them back upstairs. They are far too noisy for a place of business.
Sweetie thinks about quitting a few times. She doesn’t know why she doesn’t bring it up except that Mrs. Cake never seems to be in the mood for that kind of talk. She’s called to her dimmed room sometimes and when she is, it’s always about having her do something to bolster the business. Sweetie knows that the mare gets headaches and maybe if she bothers her about her own problems then it just won’t help anypony. Yet, she may not be the only one that knows it can’t go on forever like this. She’s given a few new flyers and is ordered to post it on poles near Pinkie’s shop.
Sweetie doesn’t question her and goes out to take the flyers where they need to go. Along the way, she thinks about Sugar Cube. She never thought she would see a time when it wouldn’t exist but the way things are going, anything can happen. Anypony that sees what she sees would agree. Fewer ponies come to buy their food and not as many come for wedding cakes. The shop must be losing a lot of money and that kind of strain would weigh heavily on anypony. Maybe that’s why she hasn’t quit. It would be heart breaking to see their family lose their home and livelihood.
The flyers are stapled on wooden poles in sight of the new bakery. It’s afternoon and the ponies are leaving work and many are walking in the streets. She can see Pinkie and a few others inside, talking and laughing. Sweetie can only sigh. She finishes with the last one and prepares to turn back. She then notices an outraged colt approach her. His coat his red and his mane a shade of dark blonde.
“Are you serious?! What’s with this?” he says, yelling loud enough to grab other ponies’ attention. He points to the sign; it’s a picture of Pinkie’s head but her face is green and her tongue is sticking out like she’s sick. Words to the left say: “Pinkie Pie has a history of making ponies sick when baking on her own. Don’t trust your health to anypony other than the fine bakers at Sugar Cube Corner”.
Sweetie is too embarrassed to do anything but mumble and maybe try to duck out of there. She sees no place to go though and the red colt is still angry.
“You guys go too far to discredit my friend, Pinkie! Her cupcakes are amazing!”
Sweetie’s knees shake. She’s suddenly afraid that the crowd’s going to hurt her like that other crowd hurt Twist, all those months ago. She wants to run; anywhere will do. There is a touch on her shoulder and she looks to her right in fear to see Pinkie. She is smiling, strange as that is.
“Sweetie Drops, my good friend. Why are you just sitting in the street and not coming in to see me?” She takes Sweetie by the arm and leads her to the shop. There are a few ponies inside but they seem distracted from their milkshakes by the commotion outside. The red colt is taking a picture of the ad, likely showing it to his friends in his indignation.
Once inside, Sweetie feels safe again and her pulse returns to normal. They go inside the kitchen.
Sweetie is ashamed by what she allowed herself to do. She doesn’t even want to look at Pinkie in the face. How dare she go inside after taking part in such a mean act, even when she had no real choice in the matter?
Pinkie doesn’t seem to have lost a beat though. She bounces to the oven and takes out a tray of sugar cookies. She sniffs them and drools.
“Pinkie, I’m glad you helped me but you didn’t have to,” Sweetie says. Pinkie looks at her and snorts as if amused.
“Of course I did, silly. I know those ponies would get mad at you but it’s not your fault. Also, I almost forgot about the time I made those baked bads and boy, remembering it can make me laugh,” She giggles profusely.
Sweetie is able to join her, albeit faintly. The way Pinkie is so lax about everything makes her wish that the Cakes were a bit more lighthearted and not always so serious when it came to the shop. She looks around and notices that the kitchen is a total mess. There is a pile of dishes in the sink and materials are strewn about without order. She doesn’t understand. The place was disordered before but she could blame that on her shop being new. But she should be organized by now, right?
“Pinkie, are you taking the time to make sure the place is clean?” Sweetie whispers. It is a rather difficult subject in her opinion and she wants to approach it with tact. But there is a sound of scratching and she turns her head to see a small mouse scuttle amongst the sacks of flour and sugar. Sweetie yelps and jumps on the nearest stool. “Pinkie!”
Pinkie lowers her eyebrows. “What? That’s just a mouse that Fluttershy says is harmless.”
Sweetie doesn’t get down from the stool. She stares at the mouse, who returns her gaze. “But Pinkie,” she says seriously. “Harmless or not, it needs to go. It has no place in a kitchen of all places. Don’t you know this?”
Sweetie has personally never seen a mouse or a rat in any kitchen she’s ever owned. But they’re so thorough with their cleaning that none could ever find food to eat anyway. Its sight appalls her like nothing else. To her, it looks like a ball of sickness.
“Aww,” Pinkie says, groaning. “Who says?”
“The town health department, the mayor, and every food restaurant in town,” Sweetie replies, tapping her hooves together in a counting motion. What she doesn’t say is that she can’t believe Pinkie would even have to ask something like that.
“I didn’t know everypony would care that much?”
“I thought you said that Fluttershy dealt with pests?”
Pinkie picks up the mouse and it nuzzles her. “It’s not a pest but Fluttershy did used to take them someplace else. I guess she can’t since she went to visit the Breezies again.”
“What about the mess? I thought Applejack helped you with that?”
Pinkie shrugs her shoulders. “Well, it is nearly Zap Apple season again. They have to prepare for that.”
“It’s important that you get this place cleaned up.”
“Well…I so don’t have time for that,” Pinkie says dismissively. “All my time is spent making the wedding cakes. And that is really important work.” She puts the mouse outside and Sweetie finally gets down from the stool.
“Well, where are the cakes?”
“In the refrigerator. You can go see if you want. Anyway, the cakes are my most important thing. I want to get everypony to buy from me instead of from Sugar Cube Corner. And that means focusing on making the sweets.” Pinkie dons a green army helmet and walks up to a map of town. She grabs a paintbrush and dabs pink frosting on parts of it. “As you can see, I’m gaining business all over the place. Nopony is going to want to buy from those two anymore from now on. I think they’re on their way out like moldy bread.”
Sweetie is content with letting the mare play general. It’s not hurting anypony. While Pinkie continues to sweeten her territory, Sweetie browses in her wedding cake catalogue. All the recipes are incredibly complex and elaborate, calling for unique ingredients each time. It’s as if each cake is tailor suited for each pony that’s ordering it rather than just buying a template. Some call for gold foil and others for rare fruit, black salt and even diamond dust. Sweetie knows that if anypony can pull off these recipes, it’s Pinkie Pie; but she recognizes many of those materials aren’t easy to come by and are out of reach for most businesses. When she gets to an apple flavored cake covered in a crispy crunchy outer shell, she closes the binder.
“Pinkie, how are you able to afford this?”
Pinkie turns towards her and smiles. “Afford what?”
Sweetie picks up the binder. “I mean this. All these recipes demand a lot of things that cost a lot of money.”
“They do? I didn’t know that.” Pinkie shrugs. “I thought that Twilight would warn me if I couldn’t afford something.”
“Twilight Sparkle? Does she do your finances?” Sweetie probably doesn’t need to ask that question. Pinkie’s blank expression says enough. “Where are your books?”
“What books? This isn’t a library.”
“The ones with lots of numbers representing money,” Sweetie says slowly as if she’s taking to a foal. “Where is it?”
“I think it’s in a box.”
“Where?”
Pinkie scans the room quickly as if it is hiding from her. “Uh, probably in here. The last pony to have it was Twilight and she was using it at the counter.”
Sweetie has the two of them go on a hunt for her finance book in the kitchen and pantry. Sweetie pulls several boxes out of there and opens them. They’re mostly full of kitchen items and supplies. Pinkie is faster at moving things and searching but she doesn’t discriminate and ends up opening every last cookie jar and little box that ends up being full of spices. Sweetie is acutely aware that Mrs. Cake would throw a fit if she knew what she was doing but it doesn’t matter. She is caring less and less about who controls what in this town. The only thing that matters is helping out a friend in need.
She ends up finding the book amongst a pile of stationary, some pens and a simple calculator. She clears space on the counter and puts the book down.
“Let’s see what’s inside.” Sweetie opens the book and finds that somepony wrote in quick but neat writing on lined paper used for businesses to tally costs and such. She notices that the money accounted for starts out strong. Pinkie wasn’t lying. She has a lot of money saved up from her job. Thousands of bits in fact. But Sweetie knows it can’t be true now. The list of expenses cuts off abruptly only a few days after her grand opening. Twilight helped her account for the basic materials and her lease but very little else. No rare chocolate or diamond dust. A swirl of emotions come to Sweetie: annoyance at Pinkie’s obliviousness and worry for her sake.
“How is it? It’s looking good, right?” Pinkie says confidently.
As Sweetie looks at Pinkie, a part of her sees the pink mare as a foal and it makes the truth that much harder to tell. Because who knows how a pony like her might react but they tend to not keep their emotions bottled up. It might end badly. Nevertheless, she has to make things known. It would be wrong to do anything else.
“Um, things aren’t looking so good actually.”
The two of them sit down and go over the expenses that were unwritten. Pinkie has no idea how finances really work. She thought that she could deal with things after she sold her fancy wedding cakes. Such an out of the ordinary view could only stem from one with no experience running a business. Sweetie just can’t believe that Twilight would start to help and just stop. Pinkie says that she was called elsewhere for her royal duties but Sweetie shakes her head. She can hardly buy that as an excuse.
Sweetie does her best to explain things but it’s not easy. After a while, Pinkie complains that she needs to get back to work. Sweetie has to let her. But she doesn’t leave without urging Pinkie to wait on the wedding cakes until later. Even if it delays them, she can’t go on a spending spree just yet.
Sweetie thinks about how badly things have turned out. She walks down the street towards home, deep in reflection. The two of them, Pinkie and Mrs. Cake, are two sides of the same coin. Why does she feel that she has to be the one to catch it in midair, lest it fall and both of them fail? Mrs. Cake can’t compete with Pinkie. The latter is the better baker by far. And when the pressure’s on, the older mare doesn’t know how to charm the ponies of town. Then there’s Pinkie and her problems, only hers are in the future. Everything she can say to warn the perky mare is technically a prediction but she knows it is a certainty. Pinkie will go bankrupt if she tries to do everything in that binder. No wonder why the Cakes had quality control and did test runs. She also can’t do finances to save her flank.
Sweetie doesn’t know what to do. Her loyalty is to her friends and they’re both friends in the end. But how can she do it? Especially when they aren’t exactly clamoring for her help. She’s going to be thinking about it all night.
I can never conceive of me being on my own and working on my own. For that reason, I admire what Pinkie has done. She’s a hard worker even if she doesn’t always seem that way with her lighthearted antics. She’s confident and a great salespony, always getting me to buy more than I intended to at Sugar Cube Corner, and with a smile on her pink face. But I think she and Mrs. Cake are like me and Sweetie. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Me and Sweetie complete each other, are perfect for each other, and so are the Cakes and Pinkie. We teach each other, come to our aid and even lend a sympathetic hoof when it’s needed. When Sweetie came to me to help, I was prepared to do what I could to contribute. What’s happening is an ongoing shame. But whether things can be made whole again is still to be determined. I’m sure that both of those mares has seen what is wrong but are too prideful to admit it. Sweetie and I thought of a lot of ways to try and get those two into a position to reunite. Brainstorming it wasn’t easy but we’re going to do the best we can even if it’s hard. I’m sure that what we can up with is exactly what we need and more importantly, what they need.
In secret, the two of them whipped up their own battle plans. In essence, they were prepared to use the same things that started this whole mess in the first place. Really nice desserts, courtesy of Sugar Cube Corner’s pantry and its excess of sugar, flour and other confectionary. Sweetie snuck them away so they could use as much as needed. They both got to work. Twist was the chief designer of these treats and Sweetie the main baker. After a couple days, they are ready and not a moment too soon. Twist has been checking on Pinkie and all the constant work has been wearing her thin. Mrs. Cake has fared little better. Sweetie fears that all this will undermine the wedding cake business in town and drive some ponies away.
The next morning, the two split and head to their objectives. Twist goes to Pinkie’s shop down the street. She notices that the suggestion box is stuffed with paper as she pushes the door open and walks in. The air is sugary but not fresh. It is rather heavy. She goes when it’s early to avoid other ponies. She rings the bell and Pinkie enters with a mixing bowl under one arm.
“Hey, what’s up?” she says happily.
“Do you have a minute to talk, Pinkie?”
“Of course. I’m just mixing a little batter. Come in.” They both walk inside the kitchen. After a little small talk, Twist gives her a little gift. It’s a simple cupcake. It’s not much to speak of as far as its looks are concerned. The layer of white frosting is made of cream cheese rather than the normal sugary stuff. The cake itself is brown and bran like a muffin. Pinkie accepts it and throws it in the air, catching it with her tongue and gulping it down in an instant. Twist giggles and passes a napkin to Pinkie, who burps lightly.
“Oh, excuse me.”
Meanwhile, Sweetie passes by Mr. Cake and waves to him. It’s her day off but she says she’s there to get some information about Pinkie to his wife. He says she’s in her room. She’s in there alright, cradling a cup of tea in her hooves and blowing on it. She’s at her desk, staring at a picture of her two foals playing some sports game on a field.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” Sweetie says.
Mrs. Cake waves her hoof. “Not at all. I’m just thinking.”
Sweetie sits on a chair and puts her little box on the desk. “Thinking about what?”
“The foals mostly. They’ve spent their whole lives here. Not to mention mine. But don’t mind me. I just grow a little melancholy when times are hard.”
“When I’m feeling down, a little sweets always perks me right up,” Sweetie suggests. “I was thinking about you and I got this made so you can have it.” She takes a cupcake out of the box. It’s a tall one with rich frosting, and large multicolored sprinkles. The cake is white with chocolate chips inside.
“I obviously do love a good cupcake every now and again,” she says, amused.
“I bet it will go great with that tea,” Sweetie points out.
Mrs. Cake nods. “I’m sure it will.” She takes the cake in her hoof and sniffs it first before peeling the wax paper and taking a bite.
By noon, the first part of the plan has gone into motion. The spirits of both mares have definitely improved. Sweetie and Twist make sure that they are engaged in conversation away from the shops and the conflicts over costumers and cakes. They absolutely need them in a good mood when the second part comes into play.
When it is closing time, it’s time for everypony to go on an outing. Mrs. Cake is convinced to go to dinner with Sweetie after work. The two of them agree and they head out after the shop is locked up and a babysitter is called for the foals. Pinkie closes up early so Twist goes with her. She takes Pinkie to Fluttershy’s house and they have a tea party for a while until it’s night. Fluttershy has returned from her trip last week.
The two of them planned everything to unfold at Fluttershy’s cottage. They call it neutral territory, a place where neither of the two feuding mares has an advantage. Fluttershy may be Pinkie’s close friend but she never takes sides in an argument and if anything, will be a perfect element of calmness in case things don’t go so well.
Sweetie leads the Cakes up to the front door of the cottage.
“I thought we were going out to eat,” Mrs. Cake grumbles, looking around at the rural scenery around her.
“We are. It’s like a dinner party,” Sweetie says.
“Restaurant or somepony’s house, a night away from all that stress is plenty good for me,” Mr. Cake says.
After a couple knocks, Fluttershy answers.
“Welcome, friends,” she says kindly. “Come in. I was expecting you all.”
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Sweetie says.
The Cakes promptly sit on a nearby couch. They look around at the many animals which share this space with the pony of kindness.
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie enters the living room from upstairs.
“Wow, Fluttershy, your room is still as awesome as ever…” Pinkie giggles before cutting off and freezing still. The Cakes don’t move either and they stare at each other.
“Fluttershy, let’s get everypony to the table so we can start eating. I’m sure they are all very hungry,” Twist says, ignoring their shock.
Fluttershy nods. “Absolutely. C’mon, everypony. Let’s go while the food is still hot.” She goes and gently guides the stunned Cakes and Pinkie over to the table. They don’t speak a single word the whole time.
Dinner is roasted mushrooms and pine nuts with mugs full of apple cider to wash it down with. The Cakes pick at it like foals and stare down at the table. Pinkie is frowning but still is able to shovel food in her mouth regardless of the situation. There are plenty of glances when they think the other side isn’t looking. Absolutely none of those three starts a decent conversation and they appear as if they don’t want to.
“Let’s have a toast to our happy businesses,” Sweetie announces suddenly. She lifts her glass and looks around but only Twist and Fluttershy responds, the latter with a little saucer in the air. Sweetie looks at the others. “Um, anypony?”
Mrs. Cake sighs deeply and gazes at Sweetie. “I don’t think so. I can see that you’re trying to help but things are quite difficult.”
“Obviously. I am trying my best. I think you three are too but from what I can see, it’s not enough. Are you sure you don’t want to toast with us?”
A heavy pause passes but Mrs. Cake shakes her head. Now, Sweetie ends up sighing.
“Well, that is unfortunate. Well, since we all can’t do anything in the spirit of friendship today, then I must bring up something not so happy.” Twist looks at her in confusion, which elicits Sweetie patting her hoof silently under the table. “Mrs. Cake, I am sorry but I am afraid that I must resign from my job as Sugar Cube Corner’s baker. It’s certainly not a position I came to lightly but with the situation as it is and the fact that you’re all my friends, it has to be done.”
All the others, Twist among them, is utterly surprised at the out of the blue announcement. All of them feel it a bit differently. Fluttershy is concerned. Twist is worried for even she didn’t see it coming. The Cakes have just a bit of outrage mixed in. Pinkie scratches her head, perplexed as to why Sweetie would walk away from such a job as it were.
“But Sweetie Drops, you can’t possibly do this. We need you more than ever,” Mrs. Cake says. There is alarm in her voice now and her lips quiver. She sounds like a mother. “What would happen to us if you leave?”
“Pretty much the same that will happen if I stay,” Sweetie says flatly.
“What are you talking about?” Pinkie says.
“I mean to say that both of your business probably will fail eventually. You two are such good competitors that you have both taken at least half of your business away. But you both lack something essential to keep your business afloat. And I can’t work for either of you. If I’m on a sinking ship, I’m jumping off.”
“My shop is awesome and everypony loves it,” Pinkie says, missing the point as always. She is irritated.
Sweetie smirks. “They sure do love your cakes. Far too much in fact for you to keep up. Will they like you when your wait time is four months?” She clicks her tongue disagreeably. “I don’t think so.” She looks at Mrs. Cake. “You’ve been very quiet this evening when you’ve been oh so very talkative ever since Pinkie left us. Why is that?”
“Um, I don’t know,” she mumbles.
“I think you do know. I think you’ve been thinking about Pinkie. Maybe you don’t even know it but you were.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Mrs. Cake admits sullenly. “Things have gone out of control and I wish none of this had ever happened. Maybe you’re right to leave, Sweetie. After all, I’ve been making a lot of bad decisions lately and making you go along with them even though you’ve been unhappy. I’ve been thinking a lot about that these last few days.”
“Does that mean that you’re not working for anypony, Sweetie Drops?” Pinkie asks.
“I guess it does mean that.”
She smiles. “How about you come and work for me then? I totally need help getting the orders filled.”
The Cakes glance at Sweetie anxiously. Sweetie only takes a sip of her drink and then shakes her head.
“I’m afraid not. What would I use to make your fancy cakes? You’ll be running out of money soon, remember?”
Her eyes widen. “Oh, yeah,” she recalls.
“What do you mean?” Mrs. Cake asks Sweetie.
“About…Pinkie? Oh, she sucks at finances so she isn’t going to be able to afford to fill all her orders or maybe even finish out her lease. Who knows though? Either way, I’m not getting involved with that. It’s above my pay grade.” Sweetie knows she sounds rather nonchalant about all of this but she’s doing it on purpose. She doesn’t want to be a distraction, just a pony to help communication. She thinks it’s starting to work.
“If it wasn’t for this stupid conflict then you could have come to us for help,” Mr. Cake says.
“Or she wouldn’t have had to leave at all. She could be helping out like she’s been doing for years,” Mrs. Cake says. “Maybe it was our fault that things happened the way they did.”
“No, I’ve been thinking about stuff too and I know I’ve always acted crazy when I didn’t need to,” Pinkie says with a sad whine in her voice. She looks at Mrs. Cake. “I wish I could somehow take back what happened with your special dessert you were going to give to your parents. It wasn’t right of me not to think about what it meant to you when I ate it.”
“I think that taking others into consideration is always the right thing to do,” Fluttershy interjects.
“I agree. I may be the owner of my shop but I should respect the boundaries of my friends and not take without asking,” Mrs. Cake says.
“Perhaps this is what we should toast over,” Twist says. “Whether we make mistakes or succeed, we never do it alone. We ponies always have our friends beside us and with them, we’re always stronger for it.” The three of them raise their glasses slowly but soon tap them against their neighbor’s.
Me and Sweetie had such high hopes going into this but even we didn’t expect such a great result. We got Mrs. Cake and Pinkie talking and we knew our part was done when they were talking over the phone and Pinkie was smiling and laughing again with her. I know that those two will find lots to laugh over in time. When Pinkie tried to steal her customers or when those tacky posters were put up. All I know is that those two will be fine. The Cakes will have their Auntie Pinkie Pie back. They sure missed her and asked about her often or so Sweetie said. I sure do like Pinkie but I also like having her at arm’s length. So when she started her out of business sale, I helped by buying a few things from her. She’ll need the money when she moves. I couldn’t believe that Sweetie would actually quit her job at first. It reminds me of the kind of convictions that made me love her in the beginning. But it makes sense for the days of summer are over. The only baking we need to think about is what kind of cake we want for our wedding next year. Well, except for the recipes we came up with to help them out. It was brilliant. Making cupcakes to make them think about the other and the fond times they had. Pinkie was always the sweet and spontaneous one. Mrs. Cake, the slow and formal one. They need each other as surely as cake needs frosting.