Celestia’s sun ushered in another beautiful day, and the ponies of Ponyville were finishing up their morning tasks. At Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie was humming a song to herself as she opened up the store. She couldn’t wait to meet the new ponies this day would bring. Yesterday had been a really odd day, but she was sure that today would be different. Besides, the sooner she was able to open the store and meet new ponies, the sooner she could put yesterday behind her.
Pinkie was wiping down the front counter when she heard the store’s front door jingle open. She was quick to recognize the green unicorn who entered the store.
“Lyra!” Pinkie smiled. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you today?”
“I’ll just have a chocolate milkshake, please?” Lyra smiled back.
“Sure thing. I’ll have that out in just a minute.” Pinkie made her way over to the milkshake station and began to prepare Lyra’s order. “So how’s life treating you, lately?” she asked while she prepared the drink.
Lyra shrugged. “Pretty good, to be honest. Octavia’s planning a new concert in Las Pegasus and she wants me to join her.”
“Sounds like a great opportunity!”
“How are things with you, Pinkie?”
Pinkie chuckled. “Well, yesterday was a bit of a doozy. You see…”
At that moment, a yellow earth pony mare with a black mane entered the store in a rush. She went up to the counter and cut in front of Lyra, shoving the startled unicorn aside.
“Can I have a cherry cupcake, please? I’m in a hurry.” the customer asked.
“Hey! Wait your turn, lady!” Lyra frowned.
“It’s ok. I'll be a quick second. I won’t take long,” the customer smiled to the furious green unicorn.
Pinkie shook her head. The last time she had to deal with somepony cutting in line at the store, Fluttershy became so mad she chased away the entire line. Ever since then she tried her best to dissuade ponies from cutting in line, even if they were in a hurry. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re going to have to wait until I’m done with this customer before I can help you out.” Pinkie replied to the customer.
“But I just want one cupcake! Can’t you check me out quick?” The customer argued, ignoring the persistent death glare Lyra was giving her.
“I can’t help you out right now because I’m not finished helping out this customer," Pinkie explained again. "If you just give me a quick moment to finish up here, I'll ring up your cupcakes next.”
“Well, SOME stores let you check out quickly like that…” the customer pointed out.
Pinkie calmed her nerves and tried to explain it further. “Ma’am, I can’t cancel an ongoing order. It’s not fair to this customer. She was here before you, and I already started her order when you walked up.”
The customer scratched the back of her head. “So what you’re telling me is that if I had gotten here before her, you would have rang me up first?”
“Yes, ma’am," Lyra answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "It’s called ‘standing in line’. You should try it sometime.”
As much as the customer wanted to reply, she couldn't. With a deep frown, she decided to cooperate under protest. She took her place in line behind Lyra. "I can't believe this," she grumbled. "What kind of place makes you wait for one stinking cupcake?"
"Well, I have to wait for my milkshake to get ready!" Lyra pointed out.
The customer blinked in surprise. "Wait.... this place sells milkshakes, too?"
Lyra looked at the customer in disbelief. "Yes, they do," she answered slowly. "That's what I ordered. Didn't you notice Pinkie making it while you were here?"
The customer turned back to Pinkie in alarm. "I change my mind! Cancel my cupcake. I'll have a milkshake, instead."
"Okie dokie loki," Pinkie replied carefully. "I'll get started as soon as I'm done with this first order."
"That's ok, I'll wait," the customer smiled.
"OH COME ON!!!" Lyra shouted in frustration.
~~~~~
“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?” Pinkie shouted. She quickly noticed the customer was an indigo unicorn stallion with a sandy colored mane. She recognized this pony from a few days ago. He had placed a special strawberry cake order for his daughter’s Cute-cenera.
“Oh! Mr. Saturn Star! Welcome back!” Pinkie smiled.
“Thanks. I’m here to pick up my order.”
“No problem!” Pinkie smiled. “Give me just a moment to get it out.” Pinkie went to the back of the store in search of the order. A few seconds later, she came back to the front counter, holding a pink cake box with the Strawberry Surprise cake inside.
“Here you go! Your cake is ready!” Pinkie smiled.
Pinkie put the cake on the counter. The customer took a few moments to inspect the cake inside. His face fell into confusion as he looked over his order “Wait a second. This is not my cake!” he frowned.
Pinkie cringed. “Uh oh. I’m sorry about that,” Pinkie told him. “Let me see what went wrong. Do you have your copy of your order sheet?”
After a few seconds of searching, he took out the order sheet and placed it onto the counter top. The piece of paper even included a sample picture of the cake that was ordered. He pointed out the picture to Pinkie. “Look! The cake is supposed to look like this! That cake looks nothing like it!”
“So the cake is a lie, then?” Pinkie smiled innocently.
The customer’s frown grew deeper in response.
Pinkie’s innocent smile turned into a nervous chuckle. “Sorry about that, sir. Just thought I’d try to lighten the mood.”
“Look,” the customer groaned. “Cut the comedy. Just fix my order!”
“Ok, let me just look over the order sheet.” Pinkie took a good look at the sheet of paper, and the cake in question. The order numbers, names, and cake variety on both matched. Pinkie also noticed that the cake also matched the sample picture. In order to get a final confirmation, she also took out Sugarcube Corner’s master cake book that customers choose their orders from in the first place. Everything seemed to point to the same conclusion.
“I don't see a problem here. Everything seems in order.”
The customer’s face fell in disbelief. “Are you kidding me?!?”
“I have an idea. Let's break things down to see where things might have gone wrong. Do you remember what the cake you ordered look like?”
He leafed through the cake book. “Here! It looks like this cake in the book. That other cake looks like crap!”
Pinkie looked at the cake in the book. It was the Strawberry Surprise, just like what was written down on his order sheet. She then took another look at the cake itself. It was indeed the Strawberry Surprise. Pinkie finally sighed in exasperation. “Sir, that’s the same cake.”
“No, it’s not! What do I look like, an idiot? Just wait until my wife hears about this. She’ll tear this store down with her own bare hooves!”
Pinkie gulped. The last thing she wanted to deal with was an even angrier customer. “Sir? Everything we have here tells me this order is correct.”
The customer shook his head. "I know for a fact that my wife will have your neck when she finds out that you ruined our daughter's Cute-cenera!"
Just then, a dark orange unicorn mare with a blue mane entered the store.
“Sweetie?” The mare called out. “Is everything all right in here?”
The customer gave Pinkie a menacing smirk. He then turned back to his wife. “Take a look at this cake, honey! What do you think of it?”
The mare approached the counter with some uncertainty and laid her eyes on the cake.
“Oh! It’s beautiful! This looks amazing!” she smiled excitedly.
The customer’s face fell in confusion. “It does?”
“Yes! This was the cake we ordered, was it not?” she asked.
The husband started to turn a deep shade of red. "Yeah, I guess it was."
Pinkie gave the wife a warm smile. “Well, I sure am glad that everything worked out! That’ll be 25 bits.”
The wife gave Pinkie the money, took the cake off the counter, and waved happily as she left the store. The husband simply watched the exchange take place in shock.
“Thanks for shopping with us!” Pinkie waved to the wife.
The wife smiled back. “It was our pleasure! And may Celestia’s sun bless you on this fine day.”
The wife left the store, leaving the stunned husband behind.
“Sooo… what was that about your wife getting angry?” Pinkie asked innocently, trying to hide her urge to smirk at the stallion.
“Well… when she does get angry, it’s not a pretty sight!” he insisted.
~~~~~
“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?” Pinkie greeted her next customer, a young dark yellow pegasus mare with a blond mane.
The customer looked around confused. “So, um, like… do you have iced coffee here?”
“We do have a small selection of iced coffee here,” Pinkie told her.
“Ok, so can you… you know… give me an iced coffee? But could you… like… warm it up?”
“…… What?”
“You know, the iced coffee? Can you make it hot?”
“Well…” Pinkie began to point out. “We can make you a regular cup of coffee.”
The customer blinked in realization. She sunk behind the counter in embarrassment. “…Oh…”
Pinkie did her best to stifle a laugh. “One hot coffee, coming up!” she smiled.
~~~~~
The mid-afternoon hours were the busiest times for Sugarcube Corner, thanks to the rush of ponies coming home from work and foals coming home from school. It was during this time that Sugarcube Corner ran their special milkshake happy hour special, where all the milkshakes were five for 20 bits as advertised by the giant banner inside the store. Of course, if ponies didn't want the full five milkshakes, they were still able to get a milkshake at four bits each. The line stretched out the door of ponies ready to take advantage of the special sale. Usually, the line moved rather efficiently, but today the line had stalled out as a brown pegasus stallion with and orange mane was stuck in the middle of an argument with Pinkie Pie. Behind the customer, Rainbow Dash continued waiting, her patience running dangerously thin as she looked on.
“Look,” the customer angrily shouted. “Let me tell you this one more freaking time. I don’t want the full five milkshakes for 20 bits. I only want two at the sale price!”
Pinkie, fully worn out by the argument, nodded. “I know sir, and I keep telling you that it comes out to eight bits.”
“That’s too much! I want the sale price!”
“Eight bits is the sale price.”
“No, it’s not! I’m not moving until I get the sale price!”
Enough was enough. Rainbow Dash stepped in to set the record straight. “What is wrong with you?!?” she shouted to the customer. “It’s four bits per milkshakes! That’s what you’re paying”
“And how do you figure that?” the customer asked back.
Rainbow Dash didn’t bother to mask her annoyance with the stallion as she explained. “Five milkshakes at four bits each is 20 bits. That makes each milkshake four bits each. So if each milkshake is four bits each, than two milkshakes is eight bits total.”
The customer face twisted in anger. “No!!! That's too much!!! What do you think I am? Stupid?”
“Eeyup!” Big Macintosh angrily answered from his spot in line behind Rainbow Dash.
The customer tried to say something else, but quickly noticed the angry stares pointed his way from a score of impatient customers. Recognizing that he was about to fight a losing battle, he gave up. He paid the eight bits, took his milkshakes and left in a huff.
“Finally!” Rainbow Dash said as she reached the front counter. “What the hay was his problem?”
Pinkie smiled. "Let's just say that there's plenty more where he came from!”
~~~~~
The mid-afternoon rush came and went without any further incidents, and things had finally slowed down at Sugarcube Corner as the sun started to get low in the sky. Pinkie was restocking the candy jars when the store's front door jingled open. A magenta earth pony mare with a bun-styled blue mane entered the store.
“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?” Pinkie greeted the customer.
“I’d like two cinnamon buns,” the customer ordered.
“Sure thing. That’ll be nine bits.”
The customer smiled smugly. “Actually, I’m the owner’s wife. I always get free stuff here.”
Pinkie blinked in confusion. “Excuse me?”
The customer’s smug expression persisted. “Yes. My husband owns this place. But you probably didn’t know that since it looks like you’re new here. It’s ok, though. I’ll keep it a secret between us. My husband doesn’t need to know.”
Pinkie stared in disbelief. Was this lady seriously trying to pull this off? Pinkie simply shook her head. “I’m sorry ma’am, but I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
The customer’s expression fell quickly into anger. She grabbed one of the candy jars on the counter and smashed it on the ground. Shards of glass and broken lollipops scattered across the floor. Pinkie shrieked in horror at the sudden escalation of violence.
“LISTEN, YOU GLUESTICK!” the customer shouted. “GIVE ME MY FOOD, OR ELSE!!!”
Normally, Pinkie would try to reason with an uncooperative customer. However, she was very confident that this customer was trying to scam her into giving her some free food. Between that, her insulting tone, and the now broken candy jar, Pinkie became very angry.
“NO, I WON’T GIVE YOU FREE FOOD!” Pinkie shouted back. “YOU ARE NOT THE OWNER’S WIFE AND YOU DESTROYED STORE PROPERTY!”
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY WITH THIS!"
"YOU STARTED IT!"
The shouting got to the point where Mr. and Mrs. Cake had to emerge from the back of the store.
“What’s going on out here?” Mrs. Cake asked.
Mr. Cake had to watch his step as he noticed the broken jar. "What happened to the candy jar?"
The customer approached the Cakes. “Are you the manager?”
“Well…” Mr. Cake started to explain. He was however cut off by the ranting customer.
“You need to fire that gluestick at the register right now. She threw this jar at me!”
“I did WHAT?!?” Pinkie shouted in disbelief.
"Pinkie would never do that!" Mrs. Cake gasped.
Mr. Cake turned to the customer. Even though he was confident Pinkie was not responsible for the jar, he still needed to get both sides of the story. "What happened out here, ma'am?"
“I tried to order my food, but that gluestick was rude and completely unfriendly to me!"
Mrs. Cake cringed at the customer's continued use of the slur. "Ma'am? I don't think that word is very appropriate..."
"You better get rid of her right now!" the customer continued. "My husband owns this place. I don’t want to tell him what happened to me!”
The Cakes both stood frozen in stunned shock for a few seconds.
“I'm sorry. Did you say your husband owns this store?” Mrs. Cake asked in disbelief.
“Yes he does!” The customer nodded defiantly.
It was a sight that not many ponies ever saw, and some ponies thought that it wasn’t even possible. For the first time as far as many can remember, Mr. and Mrs. Cake became outright furious.
Mr. Cake slowly stepped forward, looking straight at the customer through unblinking eyes. “Ma’am? My name is Carrot Cake and this is my wife Cup Cake. We own and operate Sugarcube Corner!”
The customer’s face fell in horror. Mrs. Cake got into the customer’s face. “And that gluestick that you referred to over there is like a daughter to us. And we, as well as the entire town of Ponyville, trust her with our lives!”
The customer looked at the angry faces of Mr. and Mrs. Cake, then to Pinkie who was also steaming mad. She tried to think on her hooves for a way out of the problem she created.
“Uh…. Hey cousin!!!” She hugged Pinkie playfully. “How have you been? I was just playing a prank back there. No biggie, right?” She forced an innocent smile.
Nopony smiled back.
The customer sighed in defeat. “I’m not getting my cinnamon bun, aren’t I?”