Honeycombs and Royal Affairs

by CookieGirl122

Third

“Two pieces of your most tasty orange gempies and two mugs of caramel milk, please”

Time flew quite rapidly as the freshly met due made their way to Prince Pinto’s favourite café in the heart of the capital. It was a tiny place with cozy, wooden texture inside it. Thick, wooden benches acted as chairs with similar tables, all of their surface smoothed with the finest material. Checkered, red-white blankets decorated the tables with beautiful flowers in colorful vases. The place wasn’t full, just the usual amount of ponies hung out there, chatting and chilling beside delicious, homemade treats. The bartender pony, Buttergem, a young adult unicorn mare was also the owner of the cozy café – also, one of the best friends of the royal prince. They come from the same orphanage.

Thanks to that, the service arrived quick to them, by Buttergem herself. Notebook and pen floating with lightbrown unicorn magic, she was ready to take her friend’s order.

“Aye aye, Prince” the delighted mare greeted her friend with a wide smile. Her coat was cream-colored, mane and tail dark oak colored. Her cutie mark, a piece of buttercake with a gem-marked fork introduced her job perfectly. “What can I do for you and your friend?”

“Buttergem, great to see you” Pinto seemed as joyful as his good friend, which also made a wide smile creep up onto Honeybuzz’s lips. It was astonishing how commonly the prince acted. It made the golden mare somehow calm down from her previous, jumpy state. She had enough, new experiences to think about instead of the worrying thoughts. “Two pieces of your most tasty orange gempies and two mugs of caramel milk, please”

“Your wish is my command” the joyful unicorn replied while quickly noting the order. “Anything else?”

Pinto turned his attention toward Honey. “Would like anything else?”

“No, thank you” stated the golden mare with a small smile.

“Alrighty” ended the conversation Butter. “One second and your order will be fresh and ready”

And with that, she disappeared behind the wide and fully packed counter, the clicking sound of cuttlery noticing that she immediately began making the ordered delicacies. The prince kept looking his silly childhood friend for some more moments, delighted smile shining on his mouth. “At least I have her as my only childhood memory”

Honeybuzz had to shake her head to recollect herself from aweing at probably every tiny corner of the small, cozy café. It was such and adorable place that the golden mare couldn’t help but gaze its every details whenever she just could. Even a plan of trip had formed in her head to visit this place again with her goddaughter and her older sister, along with the other famous and astonishing attractions of the Crystal Empire. “From which age do you have memories of your childhood?”

The stallion let out an elongated, painful sigh. He didn’t really have full scenes of his colthood, only blurry soots of memories. However, most of these were unhappy: when the guards had brought him to the oroahange after the accident, where his parents stuck under the broken tree. His wounded, all-over scarred coat with his broken wings. How he feared to accept his new position... Thankfully, there were two ponies in his life, which turned the never-ending nightmare into something exciting and joyful: Queen Flurry Heart and his silly colthood friend, Buttergem. He just couldn’t thank enough for their caring, their unselfish love. The playful afternoon with Butter. The motherly love of a pretty young Queen, who loved him as her own blood. These were the actions, which made Pinto go on and on with the capital-lettered „life”.

“Maybe when I was just a colt, around the age of starting nursery” replied the prince after long consideration, putting a low-key smile on his lips. Trying to keep his swirling sea of thoughts busy, the stallion began examining the facial features of his feshly-met friend. Her ocean blue, always curious and mysteriously adorable gaze. Her curly and colorful, honey-and-orange colored mops of hair – it reminded Pinto of his mom’s favourite aunt, Pinkie Pie. Not to mention that somewhat Honeybuzz had a pretty similar personality deep inside, what she only let to be seen rarely. He deemed her as an interesting mare. “My two main reasons for not giving up this entire prince-stuff is her and my Mom. I don’t know what would I have done wirhout them”

“I see” stated the golden mare, working up all the infos she has received from the royal stallion so far. She didn’t know what to reply immediately, so she brought up some V.I.P. informations about herself. After all, the prince only knows her name and her job. “Same with my sister, actually. She was the one who gave me support while I had a eough period with my dad in the Beefarm”

The sudden-came mention of similarity took Pinto by surprise. His eyebrows ran up a bit, his caramel gaze shrinking. He almost choked on his split. “Really? What could cause such stress between you and your dad?”

Honey sighed. She knew that after mentioning it, she must also give an explanation – even when the argument hasn’t come to an end yet. Her joyful and curious, blue eyes sparked with a bit of grief but after giving herself time to recollect the strength to share such thing, the golden mare opened her lips to speak.

However, before even giving out a sound, a snowwhite hoof gently pressed her lower lip back to her upper lip, making her halt back the explanation. The mare was so much staggered that she didn’t know how to react. The royal stallion was the one who didn’t let her explain herself. “Why... why didn’t you let me explain myself?”

“It’s clear that you haven’t put an end to this problem” replied Pinto Cloud with a small but warm, reassuring smile. The kindness made Honeybuzz’s racing heart calm down step by step, her trembling mouth stop. Pure calmness flooded the earth mare in the companion of the royal stallion. “I don’t intend to tear up unhealed wounds. If we’re friend in the future and you’re ready, you’ll explain it then. I’m a patient pony you know”

And just as he finished his little speech, making Honey now stare in disbelief of how generous her café-companion was, two fully packed plates landed right in front of them. There was barely any place beside the richly stuffed, homemade and incredibly fresh, delicious orange gempies and the custard, which came together with it. In the retro mugs they received swam creamy, tasteful caramel milk, its scent is tranquilizing, No doubt it became so many ponies’s favourite place with such service and delicacies.

“There ya go, your order is ready and steady” chuckled Buttergem joyfully, her mane jiggling from one direction to the other. It was astonishing how happy she was all the time. “Enjoy your meal! Oh and Pinto... make sure to visit me more. I’m getting used to not see you for weeks”

Honeybuzz smiled how kindly the prince was scolded, which made the stallion smile as well. “Sure, Butter. I’ll come more and eat you out of your resources”

“We’ll see, ma friend... no pony has come to Equestria yet, who could have eaten me out of my resources” chuckled the unicorn mare as she made a turn toward another table and trotted there to take her other customers’ order as well.

Honey couldn’t help but chuckle. “I understand why you like having a friend like her. She’s always so happy and daring, it’s unbelievable”

“Well, I’m lucky to have her for sure” Pinto smiled gracefully for having such support behind his back. He changed the topic as the sweet scent of the pie hit his nose, daringly looking at his companion. “Now fulfill your resolution and taste the pie. We’ll see if my or its tasty companion is the better one”

The golden earth mare couldn’t force back the badgering grin sneaking up onto her lips, forming a wide, daring smile. One of her thin eyebrows crept upwards, fork in hoof. Her blue gaze shone with adventourness. “Let’s do this, Princey”

With that, Honey stuck her cutlery into the tasty-looking cake. The fork sink into the stuffed, soft sponge-cake without problem, disappearing in the thick cream of freshly minced orange and edible gems. As the hard outside of the sponge-cake cracked, the sweet, interesting scent began floating outwards, right into Honey’s curious nostrils, making her gape in awe. She even began drooling, not to mention the satisfied moan as she tasted the best pie of her life.

Prince Pinto was viewing the scene with satisfied laughter, smiling at the hungry mare. The stallion knew well that this pie, especially the ones made by Butter were the most enjoyable food all over Equestria. They counted as rarities, just like the apple or honey from Ponyville. No doubt such a tured deliverer pony, especially a young mare who was hungry as a wolf enjoyed this pie so much. It was a funny scene how much Honeybuzz enjoyed munching on the tasty bites of the delicacy, tiny crumbs stuck around her mouth. The stallion was about the gently whip them off, however, something interrupted his gentle action.

Not just something, rather someone. A huge explosion, sending the entire café and its surroundings into the air and all around. Wooden furnitures cracked in half, glasses broke into barely visible pieces. Ponies cried out in agonizing fear, running away or helping the ones who got hurt. Buttergem was helping a small filly out from under a huge wooden plank when Pinto finally recollected himself. He was in the air, flapping his wings rapidly to get back his balance.

His mind immediately made him remember the sweet, golden mare, who he couldn’t see anywhere. The stallion’s heart began pounding with pure horror of the thought his new friend getting hurt or even... no. No! She was too strong to loose her life with such accident. She must be somewhere!

“Honeybuzz!” the prince echoed with afraid, trembling voice. His movements were fine and swift in midair, he flew from one position to the other, examining the ground below. His heart beat like the fastest train in Equestria, his caramel eyes darting rapidly. He was scared. Scared for real after so many years. “Honeybuzz, where are you?!“