Pony Persona

by Everace

6 - Pinkie's Apology Cake

"Gaahh!!!" Piv jolted awake, falling out of bed. He climbed unsteadily to his feet as his blanket floated down to settle gently over his head. He threw it off himself with an annoyed grumble, and rubbed his temples with his hooves. "I suppose it's too much to hope that was just a bad dream?" You're darn right.

He flinched a bit at the prompt response of The Voice. "Great..." With a sigh, he wandered into the main room of his little home. He was a bit peckish after the night of restless sleep, and so fetched the trail rations from the cupboard where he'd stashed them earlier. A single bite made him grimace, and he decided to save the tasteless biscuits for an emergency. Here in town he could surely rustle up something a little tastier at a local shop or stall.

He lit his horn, using the power of his magic to grab his discarded saddlebags and put them on. Now he just had to find a few bits stashed someplace around here, and he would be set. Money... now there was a potential long term problem. The original Pivotal Pledge probably had some sort of work related to fitness, given all the exercise equipment, but that really didn't appeal to the new Piv. What sort of work did he want for himself, he wondered?

A bit of rummaging revealed his stash of coins, tucked out of the way inside a little box, and he transferred a few to his bag. Perhaps he should visit Veil, and invite her to breakfast? He had to admit he felt a strong urge to spend time with her, despite having known her for so short a time. Still contemplating this, he opened his front door "PIV!!!" He fell back as Pinkie burst into his house, raining bits of confetti everywhere. "I'm so, so sorry! Rarity told me everything. I called you a rapscallion when really you're not, and that's just really, really bad! Oh please forgive me, please?"

"Well,"

"Stop!" She plugged his mouth with one of her hooves. "I knew it wouldn't be easy, so I brought backup!" She bounced back out the door and rolled an honest to goodness cannon into his home, positioning it to fire across the threshold of his doorway. "Introducing, the one and only super awesome farm pony, Applejack!" She set off the cannon, and more confetti burst out across the doorway as a new pony made her entrance. Orange, blonde mane, three apples for a cutie mark. Just like one of the ponies from his dream! Or more likely, his memory.

"Land sakes, Pinkie, I don't reckon I need such a fancy entrance." Turning to the somewhat stunned Piv she added, "Pinkie stopped by Sweet Apple Acres and mentioned you were back in town. Mentioned your memory problems, too. I sure was sorry to hear about your troubles, Piv, so I figured on dropping by with a few of our tastiest apple treats to help you along." Reaching behind her, she pulled a small cart into view. It was filled with an assortment apple pies, apple brown betties, apple tarts, and various other tasty looking apple goods. Including apples. "My guess was your cupboards'd need a mite bit of filling."

The party pony agreed, "Right, and I brought something, too!" She turned in place, and when she came back around she was holding an impressive multi-layer chocolate frosted cake with the word 'Sorry!' written in icing on the top. "Tada!"

"How did you...?" Piv broke off in confusion. She wasn't wearing saddlebags, and she certainly hadn't been holding a huge cake when she walked in. "Um, nevermind. It looks great! Actually I was going to go out since I hadn't anything nice for breakfast. Why don't I treat you as thanks?"

Applejack looked fairly horrified by the suggestion. "Nothin' doing! We brought this here food for eating, and that's just what we ought to do with it!" She started laying out a spread on the table, to which Pinkie enthusiastically added her cake. He felt a bit strange getting help from these ponies he had only fractured memories of, but it was pretty clear they weren't going to take no for an answer. Maybe he could pay them back later a bit more subtly.

"In that case," He began as he pulled out a chair, "Thank you very much! I'll see if I have something for us to drink." He did, as luck would have it, though it turned out to be water. He poured everyone a glass, put out some plates he found in a likely drawer, and they set upon the notably apple-based breakfast with gusto. Piv was a bit disappointed by the taste, though he kept that thought to himself since it was clear both Pinkie and Applejack both felt it was some of the finest food they'd ever tasted. Besides which, he had to admit it was significantly better than the bland biscuit he had bitten into earlier that morning.

As they finished up their apple pastries, Pinkie eagerly shifted her cake to the center of the table. "I knew I had to do something special after I said those awful things to you, so I made this apology cake!" She bounced over to a drawer and retrieved a cake knife. Ironically this meant she knew Piv's home better than he did himself, so clearly she had been here before. She sliced off a generous portion of cake for all three ponies and divvied them out. "One taste, and I just know you'll forgive me!" she said before vigorously attacking her own piece.

Piv was about to follow suit when he noticed a strange odor coming from his cake. What was that smell? He glanced over at Applejack as she took a big bite of her piece, and watched her face go instantly to shock, then regret as she continued to chew tenaciously. She swallowed with some effort, then exhaled heavily as though just finishing a strenuous task. The farm pony looked over at Pinkie with a queasy expression and asked, "Just what kind of cake is this?"

Pinkie beamed in response, apparently pleased to have a chance to explain her creation, "Well like I said, I'm apologizing for calling Piv a rapscallion, so this is chocolate frosted scallion cake!"

Applejack's face twisted, "Onion flavored cake?!"

The party pony bobbed her head happily, "Yup!"

AJ pushed back from the table, "Gotta go. Farm stuff." The urgency with which she dashed out the door made Piv very sure he didn't want to try the cake.

"I'm pretty full." He ventured, pushing the plate away from himself.

Pinkie's face fell, "You mean... you don't forgive me?" Her eyes took on a heartbreaking puppy dog quality as she gazed at him soulfully.

"Um..." He desperately tried to decide if it was worth certain intestinal distress to avoid hurting her feelings. His brain and stomach said no, but those eyes said yes! An idea came to him, "Actually, your cake is so wonderful that I forgave you the moment I saw it."

Her expression immediately cleared back into sunny enthusiasm, "Really!?"

"Really, really."

"Woohoo!" She shot forward and wrapped him up in an energetic hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now I just have to make one more cake for Veil!"

Piv chuckled, patting her on the back. "Another cake? Is it going to be, um, scallion flavored as well?"

"No, silly!" She released him and bounced backwards. "Veil is getting a 'Sorry I spilled the beans' cake, so the ingredient to use is leek!"

"Ah. Of course." Piv had to admit it made a strange kind of sense. Pinkie sense.

"I better get going." She told him as she fastened a pink helmet to her head (which he was certain she hadn't had with her until this very moment) "Cakes don't bake themselves! Wow, but wouldn't it be great if they could!?" And with that optimistic final thought, she hopped into her party cannon and shot herself out the door. An ultimately confusing action since she returned only a few moments later for the cannon itself, which she then wheeled away while humming happily to herself. Piv watched her go, an empathetic smile playing on his face.

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Was kinda wondering if he would taste their emotions on the food, but that's probably later.