//------------------------------// // Day Four // Story: One Of Those Days // by AstroStar //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie opened Sugarcube Corner with an extra bounce in her step. She was proud of the emergency party she threw together in under one hour yesterday, saving both a young colt’s birthday and also saving a stallion from the wrath of an angry wife. For all the weirdness that had been going on this week, yesterday was a welcome change of pace. She was putting a tray of pastries in the display counter when a familiar purple alicorn and baby dragon entered the store. “Twilight! Spike! Good morning!” Pinkie smiled. “Morning Pinkie!” Spike waved. “Two rocky road ice creams, please?” Pinkie giggled. “I didn’t know you ate ice cream this early, Twilight.” Twilight shook her head. “Actually, both ice creams are for Spike.” “Yup! Twilight said I earned it after helping out with the party yesterday!” Spike said proudly. His work with the party favors turned out to be a huge asset to yesterday’s party. “I’ll just have my usual poppy seed bagel and orange juice,” Twilight said, placing a few bits on the counter. After finishing the sale, Pinkie gathered the order and handed it over to Twilight. “One poppy seed bagel and orange juice for you, and two ice creams for Spike. By the way, thanks a bunch for helping out with that party yesterday.” “We were just happy to help,” Twilight smiled. “How’s everypony doing, today?” Pinkie asked. “Everyone’s fine,” Twilight reported, taking a bite out of her breakfast. “By the way, Fluttershy wanted me to let you know that she has a date today.” Pinkie gasped in shock. “I didn’t even know she was going out!” “She wasn’t, and it’s not really a date, so to speak." Twilight shrugged. "She met this stallion at the party yesterday and they decided to get together for lunch!” “Wow! I hope things go well for her!” Spike rolled his eyes. even though he was happy for the shy pony, he didn’t care about Fluttershy’s social life enough to join in on the conversation so he continued eating his ice cream while Twilight and Pinkie continued to chat. The baby dragon was the only one to notice a red Earth pony mare with a light pink mane enter the store. “Pinkie?” Spike spoke out, “You’ve got a customer at the door!” Pinkie and Twilight looked up and saw the customer approaching the counter. “Oh! I’m sorry, ma’am!” Pinkie apologized. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. Sorry I missed you. I was just talking with my friend.” “It’s all right,” the customer smiled. “I’ll wait until you two are done.” Twilight shook her head and stepped aside. “Go right ahead. Pinkie and I can continue later.” “In that case, how may I help you, ma’am?” Pinkie asked the customer. The customer sighed and placed a photo of a sad filly on the counter. “I’m planning a party for Peppermint Petal.” “A party for Peppermint Petal?” Pinkie asked. “What’s the purpose?” “She’s been feeling pessimistic lately.” Pinkie gasped. “Peppermint Petal is pessimistic?” “Pray tell, what’s the problem?” Twilight inquired. “She’s learning to play the piano,” the customer explained. “She’s pressing to be perfect, but her progress is rather plain.” “Try saying that ten times fast!” Spike laughed. “Spike! Stop playing around. This is positively serious!” Twilight frowned. She immediately turned back to address the customer. “So Peppermint Petal is pessimistic over her plain piano playing not being pitch perfect?” “Precisely!” the customer nodded. Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “If I may pose a particular premise for you to ponder; Perhaps Peppermint Petal is just panicking to be perfect at the piano and just needs to practice patience.” The customer sighed. “I’ve pleaded that point, but it’s positively pointless. It’s part of Peppermint Petal’s personality to panic over particular practices she’s passionate about.” “It’s always a prodigious problem when a pony pressures herself to be perfect that it pushes her into pessimism,” Twilight pondered out loud. “I’m personally praying that Peppermint Petal will be pleased with the party. I’m prepared to pay anything!” the customer pleaded. Pinkie Pie gave the customer a reassuring nod. “Don't worry. Pinkie Pie will personally plan the perfect party to perk Peppermint Petal to polish her plain piano playing permanently! And that is a Pinkie Promise that anypony can proudly post on their pantry. Period!” The conversation was too much for Spike to handle. He had to shake the dizzying string of words he just heard out of his mind and step away for a moment. “Anypony got a letter Q?” he asked. ~~~~~ “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?” Pinkie greeted her next customer in line, a snobbish looking older grey stallion. “May I have a lettuce and tomato sandwich, please?” the customer asked in a snobbish voice. “‘Course you can!” Pinkie smiled. The customer shook his head and scoffed. “I cannot believe you just said that. As a language teacher, I believe I should tell your grammar is simply unacceptable.” Pinkie was taken by surprise by the customer’s correction. “Uh… Sorry?” she shrugged innocently. “There you go again!” the customer groaned. “Those are fragments, not complete sentences! How in Equestria did they let someone with such poor command on grammar work here? Any other teacher who come in here would be ashamed.” The customer felt a polite tapping on his back from the pony behind him in line. He turned around and saw that it was Ponyville Schoolhouse’s teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, who called his attention, and she did not seem amused one bit. “Well, I'm speaking in my capacity as a teacher. Trust me, we don’t care.” Cheerilee frowned. ~~~~~ “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I help you?” Pinkie greeted her next customer, a sky blue unicorn mare with a short black mane. “I’ll just have the croissant special and a banana smoothie, please? And you don’t need to bag it up. I’ll just enjoy it here.” the customer smiled. Pinkie rang up her order. “Seven bits, please!” The customer handed the bits over to Pinkie and received her order. She quietly made her way to one of the window-side tables and took out a book from her saddlebag. She placed the food on the counter, sat down, and began to read her book in peace. Meanwhile, Pinkie went back to the task of minding the store. Traffic had slowed considerably at the moment, and the customer was enjoying her book by the window, so the store was fairly quiet overall. Pinkie started to reorganize the store’s new candy jar when she saw a pair of older colts enter the store. The both had scarves over their muzzles and looked as if they were hiding something behind their backs. “All right! Everypony freeze! This is a stick up!” the older of the two colts shouted, pulling a pistol from his back and pointing it at Pinkie. “Yeah! Give us all your money, you cow!” the younger colt shouted, pulling out a pistol of his own. For a split second, Pinkie was paralyzed in absolute fear. She held her hooves up in compliance to the two young robbers. Her mind was racing at light speed. Why her? Why now? Why here? Why them? Was this it? Was she really going to die like this? She then was able to take a closer look at the two pistols the colts were carrying. The pistols seemed to have gone through a really bad paint job to make them look black. The rushed paint job didn’t hide the pistol’s real neon plastic casing, or the clear liquid that was sloshing inside of them. Moreover, Pinkie recognized these particular pistols. She even had some on standby in her room for her summer parties. Pinkie took a deep breath, lowered her hooves back down, and gave the two colts a very annoyed look. “Nice try, but those are just water pistols.” The two colts stood confused for a few moments. The younger colt leaned into the older colt’s ear. “Dude, she’s not buying it!” Pinkie heard him whispered. “Don’t panic! Stick to the plan!” the older colt whispered loudly back. He then turned Pinkie, trying very hard to maintain a menacing tone. “Of course this is real!” he shouted. “Now give us all your money!” “And what if I don’t?” Pinkie challenged. “Don’t mess with us!” the younger colt yelled. “You’ll be sorry!” From the window-side table, Pinkie saw the customer at the window notice the standoff from her spot by the window. Her first reaction was deep shock over witnessing a crime happen right in front of her. To Pinkie’s surprise, the customer did not flee or panic in any way. Instead, her face began to twist into a deep-seething anger. The customer slammed her book from the table and marched towards the young robbers, tapping the older one on his shoulder. The older colt turned around. “Don’t you dare touch me! You….” He trailed off as he instantly recognized the furious customer. The younger colt also turned around to see who was behind him and he also froze. The color from the two robbers drained from their faces. “MOM?!?” the two colts shouted in unison. “What. Are. You. Two. DOING?!?” she growled at her sons. “I… I… We… I…” the older colt stammered, unable to explain what he was up to. Tears were starting to fall from the younger colt’s eyes. “Apologize to this lady!” the mother ordered. With a heavy mix of embarrassment, guilt and shame, the two colts turned back to Pinkie. The younger colt was weeping hard. “We’re sorry,” they said together. Before Pinkie could accept their apology, the mother grabbed her two sons by their ears and dragged them out of the store. “Come along, you two. You want to act tough? We’ll see how tough you are when you tell your father what you just tried to pull.” Both colts’ eyes widened in fear. “No! Please! Not that! I promise I’ll never do it again! I’ll be good I swear!” The older colt pleaded. “I don’t want to be grounded for life!” the younger colt cried loudly. Pinkie watched as the mother dragged the two colts out of the store and onto the Ponyville streets. She could only imagine the scene that awaited the two troublemakers when they got home. ~~~~~ Later on that afternoon, a purple unicorn stallion with a black mane and a large mustache entered the store. What struck this pony odd to Pinkie was that he was wearing a black velvet cape that would make the Great and Powerful Trixie herself jealous. At any rate, Pinkie greeted this strange pony. “Hi! Welcome to…” “…Sugarcube Corner?” the customer interrupted. “My name is…” “…Pinkie Pie?” he interrupted again. “How may I…” “…Help you?” he interrupted a third time. Pinkie blinked in confusion a few times. She tried to speak again. “Why are you…” “…finishing your sentences?” “Don’t you know, that’s…” “…kinda annoying?” “Ok, check that. It’s…” “REALLY annoying!” “Are you actually going to…” “…Order something?” “Or are you just going to…” “…Stand here and be a nuisance?” Pinkie rubbed her forehead. This was giving her a headache. “You know, you have got to be the… “…Most irritating pony in Equestria.” “I mean, I’m not trying to…” “…Sound mean or anything.” “But I guess anypony who met you would…” “…shove bushels of Poison Joke flowers down my throat.” Pinkie gasped. “Did somepony actually…” “…Do that to me?” “My gosh! That’s…” “…Absolutely horrible!” “How would Poison Joke even…” “…Effect somepony like me?” “Did it just…” “…Glue my mouth shut so I couldn’t speak?” “Or did it just…” “…Turn me into a parrot?” Pinkie gasped again. “Did the poison joke…” “…Really turn me into a parrot?” “That must have been…” “…Really weird!” “How did you…” “…Turn back into a pony, anyway?” “Did Zecora just…” “…Give me the Poison Joke remedy out of the goodness of her heart?” “Or did you just…” “…Annoy her by pecking on her head until she snapped.” “Wow! That was a…” “…Really dumb idea!” “You don’t want to…” “…Make a zebra like Zecora mad.” “Or else she’ll…” “…Make me clean out her latrine with my tongue?” “Yuck! I can’t believe she…” “…Made me do that!” “Although to be fair, you were…” “…Kinda asking for it?” A sudden thought suddenly formed in the customer’s head. “You know something?” he told Pinkie, “I think you…” “…Might have a point there?” Pinkie finished. “I think it’s clear that I have a…” “Slightly major personality issue?” “If you don’t mind, I’ll just order a….” “…Triple scoop ice cream sundae with extra chocolate syrup that you’ll eat alone in the corner and wonder exactly where your life went wrong?” “Bingo!” the customer smiled. “That’ll be four bits,” Pinkie smiled politely. ~~~~~ "Welcome to Suguarcube Corner! How may I help you?" Pinkie greeted her next customer in line, an orange pegasus mare with a blue mane. “Are your muffins fresh?” the customer asked. “Yes, they are!” Pinkie nodded. "How fresh are they?" "They just came out of the oven a few minutes ago, so they're pretty fresh." The customer took a look at the muffins in the display case. "They don't look fresh to me," the customer frowned. "I personally placed these muffins here from the oven less than five minutes ago. Trust me, they're fresh." The customer shook her head. "No, they're not. Look! That muffin looks fresher than that other muffin." Pinkie took a closer look at the muffins. The muffins on the tray looked all the same to her, and she was a pony with years of experience with baked goods of all kinds. "They all look fresh to me, ma'am," Pinkie told her. “Well this one looks fresher than that one," the customer insisted. "Can I see how fresh it is? Because I only want it if it’s fresh.” Pinkie did her best to hide her groan from the customer. “As I said, ma’am, it’s perfectly fresh.” “Can you get me the muffin that’s the most fresh? This one looks the most fresh. Definitely more fresh than that one. Can you get me the freshest one?” “Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie nodded. She grabbed the muffin that the customer was pointing to. And placed it in front of the customer. “This is the freshest muffin, right? More fresh than the other ones? Because I only want it if it’s fresh.” the customer asked. “I can assure you that I’ve been as fresh with you as I can get away with, ma’am,” Pinkie said through a tight grin. "Thank you!" the customer smiled. "I hope you understand that I just wanted to be fresh." Pinkie had to bite her tongue from saying something she would have really regretted later. ~~~~~ It was getting late in the day and Pinkie was beginning to put away some of the store's empty treys when she saw a familiar yellow pegasus enter the store. “Fluttershy!” Pinkie shouted excitedly. “How are you doing?” She was eager to find out how her lunch went with the stallion she had met yesterday. However, she noticed that Fluttershy seemed a bit more nervous and embarrassed than usual. “Is something wrong, Fluttershy?” Pinkie asked in concern. Fluttershy sighed. “Pinkie? I’m about to do something that I’m absolutely ashamed of. So please, whatever happens, just know that I’m very, very sorry. If you don’t want to be here, I’ll understand. You don’t deserve this at all. But…. I just need to do this.” There was a moment of uncertainty on Pinkie’s part. She didn’t know what to expect, but it seemed like her friend needed this task, whatever it was. “It’s Ok, Fluttershy. I understand. Go right ahead.” "Promise you won't get mad at me?" Fluttershy pleaded. "I Pinkie Promise!" Pinkie reassured her friend. “Thank you,” Fluttershy sighed again. The yellow pegasus took a slow deep breath. Suddenly, without warning, she angrily grabbed Pinkie by her neck. “GIVE ME THE UNHEALTHIEST [beep] THING ON THE [honk] MENU RIGHT [chirp] NOW OR ELSE I’LL SHOVE YOUR [crash] UP YOUR [bzzzt] SO HARD YOU’LL [meow] EVERYTIME YOU [cuckoo]!!! AND YOU BETTER NOT MESS WITH ME RIGHT NOW, YOU [Buy some apples!] SON OF A [woof woof]!!!” Fluttershy huffed as she finished spending every last ounce of anger into her tirade which left Pinkie in a state of shock. Realizing that she was still holding onto Pinkie by her neck, she let her go and blushed in embarrassment. “Um… that is…. If you don’t mind…” Fluttershy squeaked quietly. Pinkie made a mental note to herself not to ask Fluttershy anything about her lunch date.