//------------------------------// // Day Three // Story: One Of Those Days // by AstroStar //------------------------------// It was another beautiful Ponyville morning, and its citizens were starting to trickle into the streets to begin their day. At Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie finished up the task of opening the store with a sense of trepidation. The last two days had been rather… odd. While there had been the usual mix of new and familiar faces at the store, there had also been a very interesting mix of rude, weird, or just flat out confused ponies. As she unlocked the front door and took her place behind the counter, she wondered what kind of ponies she would meet today. Minutes after the store was officially opened, a light brown pegasus mare with a pink mane entered the store. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?” Pinkie smiled. “I’ll have a hot chocolate, extra hot please?” “No problem! That’ll be two bits!” After the sale was made, Pinkie went over to the hot chocolate machine and prepared the customer’s drink. She left the cup in the machine a few seconds longer than normal in order to get the requested temperature of the drink just right. Satisfied, she carefully placed the cup on the front counter, making sure she didn’t spill the hot contents on her foreleg. “Here you are, ma’am. One hot chocolate!” Pinkie chirped happily. The customer took hold of the cup. A deep frown formed on her face as she held it. “Hey! I ordered extra hot! This is not extra hot!” Pinkie took a deep breath to calm herself. First customer of the day and things had already gone south. She put her feelings aside and addressed the customer. “I promise you, ma’am. It's extra hot, just like you asked for. I can’t make it any hotter.” “It doesn’t even feel hot!” the customer insisted. “That’s because the cup is made so that you don’t burn yourself when you hold it,” Pinkie explained. “I don’t care. I want it extra hot. Make it again!” Pinkie sighed in annoyance. “Ma’am, you won’t know for sure if it’s extra hot or not if you haven’t even drank it yet. Go ahead and give it a taste. Be careful though, it’s very hot.” The customer gave Pinkie an annoyed frown and put the cup to her lips, giving the drink a small taste test. The liquid barely crept into her mouth when her eyes shot open in alarm. She shrieked out loudly and immediately put the cup down on the counter. “Too... hot…” the customer panted. “I tried to warn you, ma’am,” Pinkie shrugged. “Why didn’t you tell me?!?” the customer shouted angrily. “I did. You ordered an extra hot chocolate, remember?” “Yes, I did. But I was... I mean, you were… That wasn’t what… I didn’t mean…. UGH!!!” The customer shouted out in frustration. She grabbed her drink and huffed out of the store. “I hate Mondays!” she exclaimed as she exited. “It’s Wednesday,” Pinkie remarked to herself. ~~~~~ The morning hours came and went without much further fanfare, much to Pinkie’s relief. Business had been steady, but not too busy. For a work day, it was about as ideal as it could get. She was in the middle of putting away the breakfast displays for the day when Mrs. Cake came from the kitchen. “Pinkie?” Mrs. Cake asked, “Did our strawberry delivery come in yet?” “Not yet. Is something wrong?” Mrs. Cake nodded. “We just ran out of strawberries.” Pinkie groaned. “That’s convenient! And just before the lunch rush too.” “I know. Just shout out when the strawberry delivery comes in.” Mrs. Cake went back to her duties in the back of the store. Pinkie, meanwhile, started to look for a blank sheet of paper so she could make a sign telling customers that there were out of strawberries. Just as she began to make the sign, a familiar red maned pale Earth pony entered the store. “Roseluck! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you today?” “I’ll have a scoop of strawberry ice cream, please?” Roseluck smiled. Pinkie couldn’t help but to cringe. “Sorry, we’re out of strawberries right now.” Roseluck blinked in confusion. “What?!?” “Yeah.” Pinkie mounted her handwritten sign that read ‘Out of Strawberries. Sorry :-(' on the counter to emphasis her point. “Darn! I really wanted strawberries today, too!” Roseluck sighed. “I guess I’ll take vanilla then.” “All right! One vanilla ice cream. Anything else?” “I’ll have a milk shake for Daisy.” “What flavor?” “Strawberry.” Pinkie nervously pointed to the small sign she just mounted a few seconds ago. Roseluck chuckled in embarrassment. “Oh, right! Sorry! Um… I think she’ll take chocolate.” “One chocolate milk shake. Is that all?” “One more thing. I definitely can’t forget about Lily’s strawberry sundae. She’d never forgive me if I forgot!” Pinkie groaned and pointed to the sign one more time. Roseluck blinked in realization. “Although, I think Lily will be fine with butter pecan instead,” she smiled innocently. ~~~~~ All things considered, there were hardly any complaints over the lack of strawberries at the store, and Pinkie definitely appreciated that. It also helped that most of the customers today were regulars at Sugarcube Corner. One such regular was the grey, wall-eyed pegasus who had just entered the store. “Derpy! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How are you doing today?” “I’m fine,” Derpy smiled. “What’s today’s muffin special?” Pinkie pointed to the sign display that listed the store’s specials for the day and smiled. “Today’s special is the blueberry muffin.” “Woohoo!” Derpy cheered. “I’ll take three.” “Twelve bits, please?” Derpy placed the bits on the counter. After ringing up the sale, Pinkie went to the muffin case to fetch the muffins. A short moment later, she placed the muffins on the counter. “Here you go! Three blueberry muffins,” Pinkie smiled. “Woohoo!” Derpy cheered. Pinkie giggled at Derpy's cheerfulness. “I should have known you would have liked blueberries.” “Woohoo!” Derpy cheered. Now Pinkie paused in confusion. Why was Derpy cheering like this? What was provoking it? She circled back to what she said to garner such a reaction. “Sooo… Enjoy your muffins!” Pinkie smiled. Derpy said nothing. Her face turned stone serious. “Enjoy your three muffins!” Pinkie corrected. Still nothing from Derpy. “Enjoy your blueberry muffins?” “Woohoo!” Derpy cheered. Her smile was back in full force. Pinkie blinked in surprise to the sudden cheer. “….Blueberry?” she tried again. “Woohoo!” Derpy cheered again. “Blueberry.” “Woohoo!” “Blue.” “Woo!” “Berry.” “Hoo!” “Blueberry.” “Woohoo!” "BluuuuuuuuuueBerrrrrrrrry." "Woooooooooohooooooooo!" “…..Berryblue!” “Hoowoo!” Pinkie put a hoof on her chin. A sly smirk appeared on her chin. “Yrrebeulb!” Pinkie quickly shouted out. “Ooohoow!” Derpy cheered back without missing a beat. That was the last straw. Pinkie did the only thing she could do at that point. She gave Derpy a slow clap of appreciation. “You win this round, but I’ll get you next time!” she winked. “I’ll be looking forward to it!” Derpy winked back. “By the way, what’s tomorrow’s muffin special?” “Banana Nut,” Pinkie replied. “Do do do-do do!” Derpy sang. ~~~~~ “Hello! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?” Pinkie greeted her next set of customers, a married unicorn couple. “Yes, I’d like two strawberry milkshakes please?” the auburn-maned yellow unicorn mare asked. “Oh, sorry,” Pinkie cringed. “We’re out of strawberries at the moment.” “What?!?” the female customer shouted in disbelief. “Oh well,” the blonde navy blue unicorn stallion shrugged. “That’s just our bad luck then, huh?” “No, it’s not!” the female customer told her husband. She turned to Pinkie, her face twisted in rage. “How can a place like this run out of strawberries? You don’t simply just run out of strawberries!” Pinkie sighed. The lack of strawberry drama today was too good to be true. She tried to talk the wife down. “Our shipment of strawberries hasn’t come in yet. Believe me, we’re just as frustrated as you are. I know it sounds crazy but we do run out of things here from time to time.” The wife slammed her hooves down on the counter. “That’s no excuse!” she growled. “Now I want my two strawberry milkshakes right now, or so help me I’ll…..” The wife trailed off into silence. Her face fell from rage to abstract horror. Her face turned sheet white as she looked at her own hooves. “Ma’am? Are you all right?” Pinkie asked, also stunned by the sudden change of expression. “….I’m sorry. I have to go.” The wife turned to leave the store, trotting to the door in a zombie-like trance. “Honey?” the husband called out. “Is something wrong?” The wife nodded very slowly. “I have become the very thing that I hate.” With that, the wife left Sugarcube Corner, leaving her stunned husband behind. A few moments later, he turned to Pinkie. “I’ll take two cherry milkshakes. And could you add a chocolate cupcake? I think my wife may need one.” “Take two cupcakes if you want!” Pinkie offered. “I think she may need all the help she can get.” ~~~~~ “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?” Pinkie greeted her next customer, a nervous dark green, orange-maned pegasus stallion. “I’d like to order a three-tiered cake for my son’s birthday party,” the customer smiled weakly. “Sure, no problem,” Pinkie smiled. She reached for a thick book on the counter and opened it to the customer. “We have a large variety of designs to choose from.” “Okay. How long would it take you to make the cake?” the customer asked. He was starting to feel more anxious by the second. “Well it depends,” Pinkie shrugged. “If you get a simple design, you might be able to pick it up by tomorrow afternoon. But if you get a more complicated design, it might take three to four days.” His nervous expression got tighter as he heard the time frame of the order. “Oh no. That’s not gonna work for me.” He looked behind him as if somepony was out to get him. “Why? What’s the problem?” Pinkie asked. At that moment, a young orange-maned pegasus colt ran into the store. “Dad, come on! The party starts in an hour!” the colt yelled at the customer. The customer flinched as if he was caught red-hoofed. He turned to the colt and gave him a reassuring smile. “I’ll be right there son!” “Ok, but you better hurry! Mom's starting to ask questions!” the son told him as he went back outside. The customer turned back to Pinkie, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. “Yeah… I’m on a bit of a deadline. Emphasis on dead.” “Just out of curiosity, did you have anything planned for this party?” Pinkie asked. “Not really. I completely forgot to plan it,” the customer admitted. He sunk his head on the counter in despair. “Ugh, my wife is gonna kill me. What am I gonna do?” Pinkie gave the customer a reassuring pat on his shoulder. “Relax, sir. I got this.” “How? There’s no way I can get a party planned in an hour!” “Watch me,” Pinkie smirked. The customer watched her trot back to the back shelves behind the counter. She shoved some of the candies and pastries aside to reveal a wall-mounted button behind a glass cover. He saw a small sign above the assembly. “In case of party emergency, break glass?” he read. “That’s right!” Pinkie nodded. She had a determined look on her face. “We got ourselves a code blue!” Pinkie broke the glass cover and hit the button. Blue flashing lights and loud sirens immediately rang out and flashed throughout the store. Metal shutters fell in front of the store windows, blocking out the natural sunlight. The customer crouched down in fear, not knowing what the noise was. He looked back up to check if the coast was clear. What he saw left him even more confused. Pinkie was suddenly decked out in a military uniform, decorated with balloon-shaped medals of honor. Where she got it and how she put it on so fast, he couldn't even begin to guess. She stood on the counter on her two back hooves with a deep scowl on her face. “It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it,” Pinkie remarked to herself. After a few moments, Mr. and Mrs. Cake ran out from the back of the store. “What’s going on?” Mrs. Cake asked. “Did somepony pull the alarm?” Pinkie nodded. “We’ve got a party emergency! Code blue!” she shouted. Mrs. Cake jaw dropped. “Code blue?!?” “CODE BLUE!!!” Mr. Cake shouted. "Come on, dear! We have to move!" The two immediately scrambled back to the kitchen in alarm. Pinkie gave a small smile. The Cakes knew their job in this circumstance. She just needed to wait for the cavalry to show up. A few short moments later, Twilight Sparkle burst through the doors, surrounded by Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. “We heard the party alarm, Pinkie. What’s going on?” Twilight asked. “We’ve got a code blue, Twilight!” Pinkie shouted. “We need a level two reception in one hour! TEN-HUT!!!” The five newcomers stood at attention at the command. They stood side by side, their bodies stiff and their chins held high. Pinkie began to march in front of her friends as she started to doll out instruction. The customer looked on silently, in awe as much as in confusion. “All right, ladies! This is not a drill. We have a birthday party to plan and only one hour to plan it. Understand?” “Yes, ma’am!” the five ponies shouted in unison. Pinkie gave a small nod, satisfied at her troop’s enthusiasm. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake are on birthday cake detail in the kitchen. We need to handle the rest. Fluttershy. Applejack. You’re on refreshment detail.” “Yes, ma’am!” the two ponies nodded. “Rarity, you’ll be with me on the decorations!” “I will not let you down,” Rarity gave Pinkie a salute. “Twilight, you’re on the guest list. Rainbow Dash, you’re on invitation distribution. We need these things delivered in ten seconds flat.” "Consider it done!" Twilight shouted. "I was born ready!" Rainbow Dash licked her chops. “All right, ladies. There’s a colt’s birthday party riding on this. And he’ll have the bestest party ever. Because who throws the bestest parties in Equestria?” “We do, ma’am!” the five ponies shouted in unison. “I can’t hear you!!!” “WE DO, MA’AM!” Pinkie gave the five ponies a quick glare. “So, what are you ladies standing around for? We got a party to plan! CHARGE!!!” The five ponies scrambled around Sugarcube Corner to their positions. The customer watched as everypony in the store worked to get his son’s party ready. “Don’t worry, sir,” Pinkie told the customer. “Everything’s under control. In one hour, your son will have the greatest birthday party Equestria has ever seen.” “This… isn’t gonna cost extra, is it?” Pinkie shrugged “Just 895 bits for the military detail. That’s not including the party favors helicopter, of course.” The customer’s jaw dropped. “895 bits?!? That’s crazy!” “Do you want to tell your wife you forgot to plan the party at all?” Pinkie asked. The customer fell silent. The decision was painfully obvious. Anything would be better than to face his wife’s wrath. “Exactly how much more is the helicopter?” he asked Pinkie.