• Published 6th Jan 2014
  • 24,263 Views, 960 Comments

Rise of Sunbutt the Awesome - BobAlcove



Princess Celestia is the paragon of everything good and pure. And currently not available. Hi my name is Frank, the new guy in charge of this body and I'm here to fulfill all your princess needs. At least until I find something better to do.

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There's a fine line...

Sugarcube Corner at the same time...

Luna loved cake.

Ponies always thought that Celestia was the one with the unhealthy obsession for sugary treats, but they hadn’t seen Luna when she got one of her cravings. Whenever she felt stressed, sad or otherwise negative, Luna couldn’t resist digging in to the next sweet thing available.

Cake, muffins, cupcakes, ice cream, bonbons or chocolate. The main point was that it had sugar and tasted good.

And Sugarcube Corner was the perfect place to get what she wanted. Sitting on a table she’d happily started munching down on everything the place had to offer, to occupy and distract herself from the thoughts she was having all day.

Once a plate was empty and the taste vanished from her mouth though, her mind instantly went to her sister again and the predicament she was in.

So she ordered another plate.

And another one.

And one after that…-

Seven plates in, Luna noticed how much she already had consumed and felt unattractive and fat, which depressed her and brought along yet more eating.

“Maybe I can eat myself out of this mess, making myself undesirable for my sister?” thought Luna, before a pang struck her heart.

The notion that her sister would find her ugly bothered her greatly for some reason, and she threw self-conscious glances at her flank before she stopped eating and pushed the tray of sweets away.

She suddenly heard giggles and the feeling of someone tugging at her legs, which made her look under the table. The next thing she felt was something very wet and very cold shoved in her left eye.

Out of the good right eye she saw a pegasus and unicorn foal under the table smiling and laughing at her. The unicorn was holding an empty ice cream cone with her magic. That solved the mystery of the substance in her eye.

“Pumpkin Cake, Pound Cake!” yelled Mrs. Cake and hurried to Luna’s table with a tray on her head, “I’m so sorry your Highness, please don’t be upset with them!”

Luna wiped the melted ice cream from her face and looked at her reflection in a window to see if she got it off completely.

“Don’t worry my little pony, I love children and could never be mad at one,” said Luna, levitating the two giggling fillies on her table and giving them both a cupcake from her tray.

Mrs. Cake smiled while balancing the tray on her head. “That’s good to hear, many customers don’t like to be bothered by them. Pinkie Pie usually looks after the twins, but sadly she’s otherwise occupied at the moment.”

“Who would be bothered by you two little sunshines?” said Luna and got closer with her face to the two fillies.

She jerked when Pumpkin Cake threw her muffin and hit her square on the nose.

Mrs. Cake couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh my, these two are quite a hoofful.”

She glanced at the stack of used trays and then at the surprised princess who was busy rubbing her nose. “Trouble in paradise?”

“How do you know?” asked a perplexed Luna as she took the hoof from her nose.

A smug grin appeared on Mrs. Cake’s face. “I’ve had a lot of customers over the years and can tell when someone tries to drown their sorrow in chocolate. May I be so bold to ask what is bothering you, your Highness?”

Hesitant at first, Luna wasn’t sure if she should share her thoughts with somepony. The two foals looking at her with tilted heads and the warm smile from Mrs. Cake finally convinced her to tell them the truth.

At least some of it.

“There’s this mare…” said Luna, while fiddling nervously with her hooves.

Mrs. Cake eyes widened in realization and she put down the tray of pastries, taking a seat at the table. “And you like her?”

Luna blushed for a moment and avoided eye contact. Slowly and barely noticeable, she nodded and blushed even harder before hiding her face with her hooves. The sight of the overly embarrassed princess, behaving like a little school filly with a crush warmed Mrs. Cake’s heart.

“Does she like you?”

Thinking back at the bathtub incident, Luna gulped as her mouth run dry. “I’m almost certain there’s at least affection for me.”

“Then what’s the problem?” asked Mrs. Cake frowning in confusion.

Luna thought about it. Any possible scenario where she and her sister became a couple ended in a disaster. There were so many things that could go wrong, not to speak from the moral aspect of having a relationship with your sister.

What if it doesn’t work out? How could she stay in a good terms with her after a possible breakup? What would the ponies think once she openly showed more than sisterly love in public? And there was still the possibility that she horribly misinterpreted her sister’s intentions. It was a small possibility, but it was there nonetheless.

She hung her head and sighed heavily. “The situation is complicated. I fear the consequences if something goes wrong and many ponies wouldn’t approve or react to it with disdain.”

Mrs. Cake gave Luna an understanding look and glanced at Mr. Cake at the counter, who gave her a bright smile.

“I did a lot of things ponies didn’t agree with, including marrying my husband.”

Luna also glanced at Mr. Cake and the stallion got nervous about that, wondering why he was suddenly the center of their attention. His wife reassuringly shook her head and he relaxed before walking back in the kitchen.

“He was a simple pony back then, barely talented at baking despite his Cutie Mark. I gave him his first and last job as baker at Sugarcube Corner and he was so thankful that he worked harder than anypony I’ve ever seen.”

Mrs. Cake waved Luna closer and she whispered over the table. “Don’t tell him that I said this, but nowadays I think he’s actually better than me in the bakery.”

Rolling her eyes, Luna waited for the rest of the story with a smirk. It lessened when she saw that Mrs. Cake suddenly deadpanned.

“Of course once we started going out, ponies started to talk. Was that the reason he got the job? Employment for a little something, something?”

“That’s a horrible thing to say!” said Luna, outraged of the prospect that somepony would insinuate something like that.

Mrs. Cake got a warm and fuzzy feeling in her belly. The fact that the princess was so affected by it showed her goodheartedness. The same goodheartedness she found in many ponies in Ponyville.

There had been others though...

“Many ponies also said to me back in the day that it was a mistake to employ Pinkie Pie in the bakery,” said Mrs. Cake thinking about the day the party pony stepped over her doorstep as a little filly.

Pinkie had been a nightmare to deal with at the beginning, causing trouble and mayhem all over the bakery. Mrs. Cake chuckled at the thought of how many bags of flour and baskets of eggs they wasted. Nopony would have judged them if they’d kicked her out. But Mr. and Mrs. Cake had seen something in that little filly that eventually turned her into a great baker.

The urge to make ponies happy with her creations.

“They thought Pinkie was mentally unstable and too hyperactive, some even called her creepy back then.”

“Aunty Pie, honk!” said Pumpkin Cake and touched her brother on the nose.

Luna watched the two foals at the table as they started to bop each other on the nose and giggled. All the more reason, why the next statement from Mrs. Cake filled her with dread.

“And don’t get me started on the talking behind my back once Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake were born. An earth pony couple with a unicorn and pegasus foal? The slander and gossip practically created itself.”

That scared Luna. Even in something so wonderful like those two healthy and beautiful foals, ponies found something vile and hurtful to say. She shuddered, thinking what they would say about her if she made her feelings known.

Mrs. Cake sighed heavily, but then put on a content smile.

“I could have focused on all those negative things that happened in my life because of the decisions I made, but I’d rather be thankful for the things I’ve got. A wonderful and caring husband, the sweetest employee and aunt, and finally two beautiful and healthy foals that I can pamper with my love.”

She affectionately stroked her foals heads and they both looked up to her mother.

“I learned early that no matter what you decide in life you shouldn’t doubt yourself because of others. If something or someone makes you happy and it doesn’t hurt somebody else, why should you care about what the ponies say?”

“What if it doesn’t work out?” asked Luna silently and almost in a whisper.

Mrs. Cake put her hoof on Luna’s and looked her deep in the eyes to make clear that the next part was important. “There’s a fine line between something that was worth it and what was a waste of your time, but unless you try you won’t ever know.”


After the Hoofball game...



Diamond Tiara sat there by herself in an empty dressing room with a towel over her head and contemplated what had happened. No matter how you look at it, the whole matter boiled down to one single fact.

She had lost.

Again.

The Detrot Busters had given it their all, but against the raw muscle power of a team full of minotaurs it simply wasn’t enough. They got a few points in and gave the audience the illusion of a close game.

After the game they immediately bailed and left her alone.

Silver Spoon also had left, knowing Diamond Tiara long enough to not bother her when she was in this state of mind. She would talk to her tomorrow about their further plans.

A small chuckle escaped her lips and it echoed in the empty dressing room. Sometimes she got the feeling that some kind of higher power was plotting against her. This time it was literally a higher power who was spitting in her cornflakes.

Diamond Tiara never would have thought that the princess would help the Cutie Mark Crusaders in such a way.

That effectively eliminated the power and influence advantage she had over them, turning her into the underdog. Apple Bloom was the sister of an Element of Harmony and had the favour of at least two princesses. Not to mention, the fact that the Apple Family was one of the oldest and most liked families in town.

“I couldn’t get any more handicaps, If I tried!” thought Diamond Tiara as she pulled the towel from her head.

The door to the dressing room opened and in came last pony she wanted to see right now.

Her father.

“Hello my little sweetheart, I just wanted to check on you after your big game.”

Filthy Rich wore his usual fancy suit and styled mane, looking like he came right from a business meeting. It wouldn’t surprise Diamond Tiara if he had one during her game. Some of those stallions around him had been pretty indifferent to the game and only talked to him.

He looked around the dressing room and frowned. “Are you all alone in here? Where are the other players?”

“They left daddy.”

His frown deepened and he sighed. “You would think after all the sponsorship and money I gave them that they would stay around longer.”

“I’m sorry daddy.”

Filthy Rich waved it off. “Oh I don’t blame you Diamond. I didn’t think you could win after they pulled the stunt with the minotaurs.”

“Yeah, I noticed once you stopped cheering…” thought Diamond Tiara.

Pulling out a envelope, her father opened it and looked through the documents. Those were contracts with ink so fresh that he had to be careful not to smudge them. Now she definitely knew what he was doing on his seat during her game.

“The publicity for my store was good regardless, I mean ponies will talk about this game for months!”

She rolled with her eyes. Her father always knew how to find something positive in a situation, and most of the time also a bucketload of money. That he had to make money out of her loss irked her somewhat, but it was the clever thing to do.

“Talking about publicity, did you have to headbutt the daughter of the Apple family? The game was already over.”

Diamond Tiara had a big grin on her face, but looked down so that her father wouldn’t notice. That had been the only good moment in this game. Granted, Diamond Tiara was almost certain that she had hurt herself more than Apple Bloom and her stone-hard head.

The look on her face when she hit the ground had been priceless though.

“Sorry daddy, I got caught up in the excitement and didn’t hear the whistle. It won’t happen again.”

Filthy Rich gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. “That’s my little girl. Now while you get changed I’ll go and find some ice for that bump on your head.”

On the doorstep he turned around and looked at his little girl. Diamond Tiara had her usual serious expression, that she wore when she thought that he wasn’t looking.

“And don’t worry about that little loss Diamond, you’re destined for great things. Even your cutie mark says so,” said Filthy Rich and walked out the door.

Alone again in the dressing room she looked at her flank and then at the ceiling deep in thought.

“Yeah, I guess it does…”


Outside the Hoofball field…



Applejack stood there barely able to contain her anger, with her friends a good portion away from her and looking awkwardly around not wanting to get involved.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hid under Frank, each of them clamping down on a leg from him.

At first Applejack had focused her tirade on those two, telling them how disappointed she was and how this would have serious consequences. The target of her ire and shouting changed immediately to Frank once it was clear that he had made it possible.

He made it as obvious as possible that he was very unimpressed by it.

“Who the hay do you think you are putting your nose into family matters?”

Frank pointed at his crown. “You mean besides that? I’m just doing my job.”

Applejack paused and twitched with her left eye. She had no idea what that meant and waited for Frank to elaborate.

He did, but she wouldn’t be satisfied with it. “Apple Bloom is one of my subjects and she came to me asking for help, and I did so what’s the problem here?”

“What’s the…?” said Applejack and turned to Twilight for help, “say something Twilight!”

Twilight looked from Frank to Applejack and raised her hooves. “I’m staying out of this, regardless of what I do I lose. What’s the point?”

“Way to take a hardline stance on things Twilight. I hope your plot doesn’t get cold, being caught between two stools,” thought Frank with a deadpan look before turning back to Applejack.

“I also want to point out that she came to me and not to you, her sister. Think about that.”

Frank heard the sound of grinding teeth and feared for Applejack’s dental health at this point.

“You little…” said Applejack and bit on her own tongue to stop herself.

Frank pressed his face against hers. “What? Little what? Come on tell me what you have to say! Vent your aggression on somepony other than a little filly for a change!”

At this moment, an orange hoof smacked him right in the face. Frank tumbled backwards and rubbed his nose, looking at the horrified Applejack who still had her hoof stretched out after the blow.

Everyone went dead silent, holding their breath and waiting for Frank’s reaction.

Applejack started sweating when Frank spit out a small amount of blood and licked his teeth. She had assaulted royalty, something they could throw her in jail for. Who would look after the farm? Who would buy something from a family with a pony sentenced for attacking a princess?

And most importantly, why did Applejack get goosebumps from the look she was getting from Princess Celestia?

“From the look on your face I can tell that you know what you just did. Hence I’ll save you the whole nonsense where I dance around the issue and come directly to the point.”

Frank had enough of this. This was the second time in the span of two days that he was violently decked in the face from a talking pony, and quite frankly was losing his patience.

Applejack wants to play rough? Okay let’s play rough!

“Let’s make deal shall we? You let those little fillies off the hook and un-ground them, and I’ll overlook the fact that you pretty much committed treason right now.”

He let his words sink in and waited for a reaction. The meaning soon became evident to the rest and they gasped in shock, but Frank decided to go a step further.

“Alternatively you can decide to be stubborn and we both find out where this goes. It’s your call.”

Frank felt a tugging at his left front leg and looked down in the worried face of Apple Bloom. He winked at her when nobody was watching and her face relaxed.

Applejack though, was far from being relaxed. “That… That’s blackmail and a blatant abuse of your authority!”

“Yeah, it kinda is, isn’t it?” said Frank innocently as if he was talking about the weather, before reaching out with his right front leg, “do we have an agreement?”

Again the sound of grinding teeth, before Applejack grabbed his hoof and shook it hard enough to almost dislocate his shoulder.

Frank grinned. “I knew you would see it my way, Applejack. You always were the rational one of the bunch. My offer still stands by the way, if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask away!”

“I don’t want anything from you, princess,” said Applejack, emphasizing the princess part with pure unadulterated scorn in her voice, “let’s go home Apple Bloom, Granny Smith should have finished making supper by now!”

“Oh snap! One more for the ‘I hate Frank list’ to write down,” thought Frank, then shook his numb hoof to get feeling into it again.

Applejack and Applebloom left, with only Apple Bloom stopping briefly to wave Frank goodbye. The rest of them stood there in awkward silence and were not sure how to go from here.

Rainbow Dash was the first to break the ice. “So... Scootaloo you were awesome back there, I can’t believe how fast you were running!”

Scootaloo really had been the star of the game. While the minotaurs and Apple Bloom did mostly just block or made a clear path, Scootaloo was the one scoring all the points.

Blazing over the field like a bullet, nobody was able to catch her. Never slowing down with her seemingly endless pool of stamina, she soon ran circles around the tired Detrot Busters. Scootaloo couldn’t remember a time when she had ever felt so good.

The cheers, the smell of the grass under her hooves, the feeling when she had passed and evaded yet another player, everything had been so mind-boggling awesome. She was almost sad that the game ended and wished she could have played some more.

Some of the players from the Detrot Busters even came to her after the game and asked if she was interested in playing junior league in Detrot. She had achieved much today and Scootaloo’s chest swelled with pride.

Rainbow Dash patted her on the head. “Learn to fly as fast as that and maybe you can get close to my level of awesome.”

And just like that she deflated again.

“Even now she finds a way to make it about herself,” thought Scootaloo with a deadpan look.

Out of her eyes she saw some of the players from the Detrot Busters giving autographs and making photos with fans. She shoved Rainbow’s hoof from her head and the prismatic pegasus almost fell over from the sudden movement.

“Sure, whatever. Excuse me, I’ve got to be somewhere,” said Scootaloo and joined the crowd of fans around the Detrot Busters.

Rainbow Dash watched as the players recognized her in the crowd and pulled her closer for a conversation. Somewhere in her gut this made her feel all gooey and she swallowed hard.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden outcry from Twilight.

“Where the hell is Pinkie?”


A few streets away...



Pinkie Pie had so much to do before the end of the day and the start of her night shift.

The raging incompetence of her staff forced Pinkie to work night and day to prevent blunders. Nobody had her vision, so she delegated only the most menial of tasks and even those she supervised as often as possible.

Being dragged away by their friends had put a huge damper on that and she had to make up for lost time.

“First I supervise the delegation of the booth layout… or was it to delegate the supervision?... ah screw it, I do both!” thought Pinkie juggling her time schedule around in her head.

She had run herself ragged the last few days making sure that this was the best celebration in written history. But regardless of how hard she worked, Pinkie always found something she wasn’t satisfied with. A banner hung up too low, a booth standing slightly off the planned place, events not starting at the right time, in general wrong colors on everything, wrong flavours of foods and the list went on and on and on.

And Pinkie would have none of that! It had to be perfect, because she most likely wouldn’t get a chance like this again in her lifetime. The pressure and expectations from others, but mostly from herself were monstrous and she was having trouble to keep up.

A loud grumble came from her stomach. When was the last time she’d eaten something?

Pinkie pressed her head on a cold glass window. “Those goddamn headaches, they drive me insane!”

“I never thought that I would see the day when Pinkie Pie had a grumpy face.”

Pinkie spun her head around to the voice and recognized the donkey it belonged to. There stood Cranky the donkey with his blonde toupee and old tuxedo, smiling at Pinkie.

“Cranky, so nice to see you! Do you enjoy yourself? Please tell me you enjoy yourself!” said Pinkie happily, but stopped suddenly and rubbed her head.

Cranky instantly saw that Pinke wasn’t looking so good. He remembered her usual antics and silliness, but now she just looked tired and desperate.

“Yes kid, it’s wonderful. Mathilda and I had a splendid time at the costume party.”

Pinkie’s mane deflated a little. “That wasn’t my idea...”

Seeing a sad Pinkie was an uncomfortable experience for Cranky and he quickly changed the subject. “Are you participating in the eating contest; putting that big mouth of yours to good use?”

“No Cranky, I’ve got no time to play games. The celebration doesn’t run itself you know?” said Pinkie as she sat down on her haunches, feeling a bit woozy.

Now Cranky was really getting freaked out. That wasn’t something Pinkie would say, but more like what he would’ve said way back in his grumpy days.

“Everything alright kid? You look pretty pale.”

Pinkie rummaged through her mane and pulled out a cupcake. “Don’t worry that’s normal. Sometimes I’m so busy with work or having so much fun that I forget to eat properly. It’s just low sugar and nothing a cupcake wouldn’t fix.”

Pinkie took a bite and immediately spat it out. Frowning at the half eaten cupcake, she put it away and pulled out another one to eat.

This one she also spat out in frustration. “What’s up with those cupcakes? They taste like copper and I smell strawberries, but these are without a doubt double chocolate. I know for sure, I made them after all!”

Pinkie glanced at Cranky, who had a look of concern on his face. As he got closer it turned to panic. “Why are you looking at me like that Croykey? Is there something on my face?”

Pinkie paused for a second. What did she just call him? That wasn’t his name...

“Try to smile Pinkie!” shouted Cranky and shook her violently.

She looked at her reflection in a nearby window and tried, but the left part of her face wasn’t moving. Pinkie wanted to touch it with her left hoof. It didn’t move up to her head, staying firmly rooted on the ground. “Wow that looks funny, I could get… goom… go on… wow, words are getting difficult!”

Pinkie was suddenly slung on Cranky’s back and he ran as fast as he could down the street. He passed several ponies he recognized, but didn’t have time to stop or the right frame of mind to make sure.

The big white one could have been the princess though.

“Where are we going, Cron… Crink… Croinky?” asked Pinkie, watching the houses and ponies they passed getting more blurry and undefined every second.

Cranky increased his speed, as he threw glances at the dazed Pinkie on his back.

“To the hospital kid, you’re having a stroke!”

Author's Note:

This chapter was proofread by Asop.