Manec Depression

by Apple John

Chapter Two: All In The Family

Before sun had returned over the horizon, Carrot was awake and ready for the day. After fixing his peppermint-themed bowtie, he put on his red and white cap to match as he began to head down the stairs. But when he descended, he stood petrified as he witnessed the tiny lake that encompassed the wooden plank floor!

“How’d this happen?” he breathed. He remembered reading about the scheduled storm last night, but the establishment had two floors: the idea of a leaky roof defied all logic! Puzzled, he headed towards the utility closet to grab a mop, but along the way, he noticed the presence of a water-damaged luggage pack by the door. It seemed oddly familiar, yet he didn’t know for sure if he’d seen the bag before.

Curiosity drove him towards the case, treading cautiously to keep his hooves dry, if at all possible in the swamp of a parlor. He took the bag, setting it on its side as he zipped it open just enough to take a peek inside.

“Rocks?” he stated quizzically as he drew his head back, unzipping the rest of the suitcase to reveal the rest of its contents. Among the rocks laid an old phonogram, a bag of flour, a bucket full of turnips, and what looked like a collection of dryer lint. Lying below the miscellaneous items sat party hats and a pack of balloons; the two items that seemed normal in comparison, but were baffling all the same.

Hearing a drawn-out, melodramatic gasp coming from the stairs, he jumped back, hesitating to snoop any further. At first, he believed it was his wife, but turning around, the source revealed itself to be the pink filly from the night before. She watched with mild embarrassment as her belongings were exposed to the light. The filly leapt down the stairs and began to gallop through the water and towards the opened bag, knocking over the stallion. He gave a yelp as his rump splashed into the puddle.

“Why are you going through my things, hmm?!” she accused harshly, zipping her bag back up. Carrot was still trying to comprehend what all had happened when he heard the clops of his wife, climbing down the stairs in response to all the noise.

“Carry dear, I heard you an-“ she paused. She forgot about all the water she and Pinkie Pie brought in the night before, and was extremely embarrassed to have left the mess after her husband had so generously offered to work double-time on this morning. The filly broke the silence once more:

“Hiya Mrs. Cake!” she called out enthusiastically, as if she had already forgotten about the conflict with Carrot. This morning was getting weirder and weirder in the stallion’s mind. Was it a dream?

“Good morning, Pinkie Pie!” she answered the filly sweetly, then turned to her husband. “And Carry? Why are you sitting in a puddle?”

The speed of the situation caused him to forget about the water he wallowed in. He pushed himself up onto four legs, his backside saturated in wetness, and stomped towards his wife.

“May I have a word with you in the kitchen?” he hardly tried to hide his frustration as he led his wife through the swinging doors. The two made sure they were out of earshot before they began fussing, but Carrot didn’t really know where to start his inquisition. Cup opened up first:

“Carry dear, let me explain,”

“Go right ahead,” he insisted dryly, his voice still fluster.

She began to unveil to him the series of events from the night before, starting with when he had charged upstairs and left the mare alone with the filly customer. Carrot’s face turned a bright orange when he remembered that he had let his childish fit keep him away from his duty the night before. But the stallion continued to listen as his wife told him more: she mentioned how upset the filly was, and how hard it was to please her and make her smile. But then the mare instructed the filly something about returning home to her family, and she messed everything up.

At that moment, Cup realized the gravity of what she had said.

“So after one bad customer experience, you turned our bakery into a boarding house?!” Carrot lashed at her meditative pause. His cutting outburst broke Cup’s trance.

“I’m not finished!” she declared, tears of sympathy for the girl were running down her cheeks. Carrot held his tongue as his wife continued to tell her story, picking up from after Carrot fell asleep and she had moved downstairs to watch the nighttime storm that had rolled in.

“… and when I saw the poor dear outside, it nearly broke my heart. I had to offer her the guestroom for the night!” she concluded, then started to ponder again, this time uninterrupted by her husband, “But now, I feel like the sweet girl should stay with us a bit longer, just until she gets her hooves back on the ground.” The words caused Carrot to snap:

“What?! Are you even listening to yourself, Cup?! We’re running a business here, not a homeless shelter!”

“Carrot, listen: this filly has no one else to turn to. She needs us!”

Cup was now kneeling on the ground as a bawling mess, and Carrot well knew that now his wife would be more than willing to defend the pink pony to the death. She was the kindest Earth Pony he had ever met, and this was one of the reasons why he had fallen in love with her: her compassion for everything else above herself. She was always a trusting friend, even to strangers, and always saw the best in everypony. It was why she usually ran the front of the store while her husband worked back in the kitchen. She was the face of Sugarcube Corner while he was the workhorse. Carrot was also considerate, but when compared to his wife, his kindness didn’t come close to rivaling. He was the brains of the operation, and usually had a better idea of how to run the bakery than his wife. She respected him greatly for it, even if he did slip up every once in a while, but Cup still had her own opinions. And right now, the two’s ideas were at a stalemate.

Carrot sighed in regret at watching his wife’s reaction. He knew where she was coming from, and being so harsh with his last statement panged him emotionally. But that didn’t change the fact that he protested, although, he didn’t want to simply leave the argument in terms of agreeing to disagree.

“Look, all I’m saying is that,” he paused as he carefully chose his words, “we can’t support a filly on our own welfare. We don’t have the time or money for it, and we’re not in the position to provide for a third pony under our roof. Do you see what I’m saying?”

She took his words into account. He spoke the truth to the extent that they were always occupied in their work. However, he left a hole in his argument:

“If we don’t have the time or the money,” she retorted slowly, as if to control each word as she climbed back to her hooves, “why are you so persistent on having a baby?”

Carrot paused. He didn’t prepare for that kind of an accusation, but it led him to think about his own words: was he right earlier when he said that between the two of them, they don’t have the time or the money to support somepony else, not even a pony that could do her part in society and hold her own weight? If this was true, then how could they expect to support a foal of their own when they couldn’t even host a young mare like Pinkie?

No: he decided that he was wrong. He was wrong in many respects about his own family. It was true that they had little spare time, but it was false to think they couldn’t make time for what was important, and while there was still an issue with money, there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do without. The strength of a family, he decided, wasn’t determined by the problems it encounters, but rather by the resilience in which it overcomes danger. So as long as the two loved each other, there was nothing they could not conquer; especially the accepting of another to their family.

This thought brought warmth to Carrot’s soul as a proud smile began to sweep across his face. While Cup couldn’t read what was going on inside his head, she felt the gladness in his heart and was compelled to grin in response. He took her hoof in his two front ones, as he gazed into her lovely violet eyes.

“Excuse for a second, honey bun, but there’s something I need to say to the girl,” he spoke. The stallion had an idea, a compromise that had both of their interests in mind. As his wife began to get the kitchen ready for the morning, Carrot proceeded to the front to find the filly.

. . .

As Carrot headed through the swinging doors, he halted suddenly at the sight of the parlor. The puddles were gone, but that was just the beginning of it! Everything was ready for the day ahead, which was a relief for Carrot, as he feared that the argument between him and his wife would have put the two farther behind in chores than usual!

He was reanimated from his admiration when the rebound of the door whacked him from behind. As he stumbled towards the center of the room, he became less focused on the being of the shop and more so on finding Pinkie Pie.

“Hi Mr. Cake!” Pinkie Pie called out from behind the front counter.

“Pinkie Pie, did… did you do all of this?” Mr. Cake felt the weight of guilt; a few minutes ago, he wanted nothing more than to run her out of the shop! Carrot felt ashamed of himself for the thought.

“Yessiree bob, Mr. Cake!” she began to bounce around him, “Since you were so extra super nice to let me stay here last night, I decided to help out around here a bit! So I wondered to myself, “what can I do right now?” and I figured, while you two went in there, it’d be the perfect Pinkie Pie place for me to get some of your chores done! Like I dried the floor, got the tables cleaned, washed the windows, dusted the cabinets, polished the disp-“

“Thank y-“

“Oh, and I got your newspaper!” she pulled a newspaper out from behind the counter and set it on its surface.

“Umm yes, thank you Pinkie, I truly do appreciate it,” he tried to calm her down. The exuberant amount of energy in the filly was a bit overwhelming for him. The pink pony reduced her movements to short hops in place, and then to a halting stance.

“Now Pinkie, if you have a moment, I’d like to have a word with you.”

“Okay, what’s up?” she quickly replied.

“My wife and I are two busy ponies-”

“Uh huh”

“And we run this bakery by ourselves-“

“Right”

“And as you can imagine-“

“Of course,”

“Between the two of us, we have a very busy-“

“Gotcha,”

“Will you please stop interrupt-“

“I’m sorry,” Pinkie Pie’s shining grin grew more concerned as the stallion glared at her, but it soon resurfaced. “I’m done!”

“So like I was saying, my wife and I are always extremely busy doing things, both here in the shop and around town, with little to no help,” her stare grew brighter, her teal-blue eyes started to sparkle at the possibilities of what was to follow. “So my wife and I were talking about it, and we agreed that we’d like to take you up as an apprentice to Sugarcube Corner, if you’d like.”

Pinkie Pie froze in place. She couldn’t believe what had just happened! She was going to be working in a bakery, and not just any bakery, but what she thought was the happiest place in all of Equestria! Her hopping returned, followed by the spastic bounding across the room between gleeful cheers and ecstatic cries of joy! Cup had heard the outbursts and peeked her head inside the parlor to see what had happened.

“Pinkie Pie!” she called out. She was just as giddy as the filly! Pinkie Pie stopped her endless jumping and skipped towards the mare as they hugged each other warmly.

“I’m sooooo so super extra excited, Mrs. Cake! and we’re gonna have so much fun baking together! It’ll be like a party every day!” Pinkie Pie practically screamed the words to Cup, who wasn’t quite sure what had happened, but savored thrilled all the same! His husband shot her a wink as she started to put the pieces together: when she finally put the puzzle together, she squealed with delight!

“Oh Pinkie Pie, you get to be my little assistant!”

“I know! This is the best day ever!”

As the two continued their jubilant banter, Carrot tried to sneak back into the kitchen before his wife called him out to do something for her. His plan didn’t work, and his wife caught him just as he was pushing through the door to the door to the kitchen:

“Oh, and Carry, will you be a dear and move Pinkie Pie’s bags to her room? I have a lot of things to tell my star pupil!” Cup’s ringing voice hadn’t sounded so excited since the couple first opened the bakery, Carrot thought. Gratified with making his wife happy, he willingly trotted towards the bags, following her orders as he hauled them upstairs.

. . .

It was just after the lunch rush, and Pinkie Pie had already learned much about the bakery. Mrs. Cake was impressed at her student’s retention, even if they were only covering the basics of the kitchen, like the appliance names, their uses, and other simple matters. Regardless, the filly was getting nothing less than antsy to start baking!

“I’ll help you with baking later, dearie. We have enough baked goods in stock for now, so we don’t need any more at the moment.” Pinkie Pie shrugged in contempt. She had really hoped she could put her lessons to use, and Mrs. Cake could see her disappointment. The mare started to look for new ways to keep her feeling involved. “I know! How would you like to run the front for a bit until Mr. Cake gets back with the groceries?” She had confidence in the filly, knowing that Pinkie Pie had watched intuitively as she dealt with so many customers during lunch. Knowing she had provided a strong model, she was comforted as she headed off into the kitchen. And besides, she didn’t expect many more ponies to come in, seeing that midday was usually their biggest crowd.

Just as Mrs. Cake had walked out, a gray Pegasus with a flowing blonde mane passed through the door. The filly, of about Pinkie’s age, had golden eyes which pointed in different directions as she began to scan the room, as if looking for somepony.

“Hello? Anypony home?” she called out, as if she expected to hear an echo in return. To answer, Pinkie Pie nearly landed on top of her as she sprang into action:

“Hi! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!” she said with a bright smile, as Mrs. Cake had done, “My name’s Pinkie Pie! How can I help you today?”

“Oh umm, I’m not a customer,” she remarked shyly, motioning to her brown saddlebag baring the postal service insignia, “My name’s Derpy Hooves, and I’m the local mailmare. I’ve got some mail here for Mrs. Cake.”

“Okie dokie lokie!” she replied. Before the gray pony could respond, Pinkie had already dashed through the swinging doors to retrieve Mrs. Cake. It wasn’t before long until she made her appearance in the parlor, standing at just about where the pink pony stood earlier.

“Oh Derpy, it’s so good to see you, dearie!” she gave the girl a hug, as the filly responded by awkwardly wrapping a foreleg around her back, “How are you? Can I get you a muffin?” The filly broke the embrace as she returned to her professional persona:

“No thanks, Mrs. Cake, I just had a sandwich. But thanks!” she looked to her bag again, reaching for some parcels. “I have some things for you today… one, two, three, and a magazine subscription!”

Mrs. Cake wasn’t subscribed to any magazines. She unrolled the glossy periodical as she began to read the title aloud:

“Sofa’s Digest? Sweetie, I think this might be for Mr. Davenport at the Quills and Sofas shop down the street.”

“Oh gosh, I’m so sorry,” Derpy blushed. It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, and after every time, she promised herself it’d be the last. It made her the laughing stock of the office whenever they received feedback of her mishaps.

“Honey, don’t worry about it, it was just an accident,” she handed the magazine back, patting her on the shoulder, “here, just put it on Mr. Davenport’s front porch, okay?”

“Okay, I will. Thanks, Mrs. Cake,” a shy smile arose from her face. It was what she had planned to do anyways, but hearing it come from Mrs. Cake helped alleviate some of the embarrassment that she tried to hide. The mare always knew what to say in these types of situations, and Derpy was relieved that the mistake happened in the Sugarcube Corner of all places. She was beginning to turn towards the door as she heard her name being called once more:

“Oh, and Derpy, are you busy today, by chance?”

“Umm, let me think,” her eyes wandered separately as she began to search through her head, “No ma’am, this is my last house for today. After I take this magazine to Mr. Davenport, I’m off for the day! Why? You need something?”

“Well, I wanted to ask a favor of you,” Mrs. Cake began. Pinkie Pie, who was listening from the kitchen, perked up at the word ‘favor’ as she poked her head in from under the door, “I know this is unusual, but I need to ask you if you can deliver a cake to a birthday party tonight?”

“I’d be delighted to!” but before she and Mrs. Cake had the opportunity to discuss details, Pinkie Pie broke into the conversation, feeling slightly betrayed at the nature of the request.

“I can do it, Mrs. Cake! I’ll deliver the cake!” she defended herself, “But I thought you told me earlier that we don’t do deliveries?”

“We don’t, under normal circumstances, but this is a special case,” she explained to the filly. Though she would have been able to trust her with a simple assignment like this, Mrs. Cake couldn’t expect the newcomer to be able to find her way around Ponyville by herself! “and now that I’m thinking about it, sweetie, I think you should go with her; Derpy knows the town well, and she can show you around.” The pink filly shook her head in defiance:

“But Mrs. Cake, I don’t need-“

“No buts! That’s an order! You and Derpy will go to the party together. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” moaned the pink Earth Pony, turning to the grey Pegasus. She still didn’t like the idea, but she regretted trying to shut Derpy out, seeing that the two had ended up being partnered together for the job anyways.

“Alright, Mrs. Cake, whatever you say; I’ll be back here in about an hour. Tootles!” the Pegasus seemed to be more content with her partner, but not by much. She pulled the door ajar, leaping into the air as she took off, but forgot to close the door behind her. It wasn’t before long that she remembered, reappearing to finish the task.

“That silly little filly,” she chuckled to herself. She wasn’t quite sure how Derpy was such a screw-up at times, but it didn’t bother her: the young Pegasus was a sweetheart, and a very faithful friend to her. Mrs. Cake knew that the two fillies would warm up to each other in time.

“Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie Pie still protested, “Why do I need to go with her? You know you could trust me to do the job myself!”

“Sweetie, I do trust you, but I can’t expect you to know how to find Carousel Boutique! You’re new to Ponyville, after all,” Cake explained to her. The filly couldn’t argue with that, and nodded in affirmation. She began to head back to the kitchen before her mentor called her out once more: “And Pinkie Pie, do go upstairs and get ready for the party,” Pinkie Pie stared back in confusion.

“Wait, what? I thought me and Derpy were just delivering the cake and coming right back! I mean, I still have things to do here, right?”

“Derpy can do whatever she wants. As for you, young mare, you’re staying!” The order caused Pinkie Pie’s jaw to drop to the ground: she didn’t understand at all! “My husband and I will take care of the bakery while you’re gone. You still have a life to live, sweetie, and I can’t keep you away from that. Now go get ready! You’re going to make a lot of new friends tonight!”

Comments

[Autum Breeze]

I'll admit the switch from how pinkie was at first to know is a little odd, even thinking pinkie, but this is good so fare