The Reception's Back On

by sister_mike

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Pinkie Pie

"What's a party cannon, Pinkie?" Inkie asked, as she, Pinkie, Rarity and Titan Wings walked through the streets towards Sugarcube Corner.

"It's a cannon that's ready to decorate any room for a party in 2 seconds flat!" Pinkie said, "I always make sure I have it with me when moving to a further away location where I can't easily access my party supplies. Maybe one day I can bring it to the farm and decorate the silo again! We can have a post-being-in-cocoon-party with Ma and Pa!"

"They might not want to party... not after hearing what happened to Blinkie," Inkie said. Her eyes swelled with tears again. Pinkie sighed and lowered her head again. So much for trying to cheer Inkie up. But it was understandable.

Blinkie was still on Pinkie's mind too—how could she not be!? She was her younger sister, one who had just given her life in sacrifice to save them. But Pinkie just kept thinking about all of the things she had missed out on in Blinkie's life and all of the things she was going to miss out on now. So much for trying to learn her body-language.

"Blinkie; she was a sister of yours?" Titan Wings asked. Inkie nodded.

"Yes. She's the one who made all of the explosives we're carrying. She-she just sacrificed her life for us not even an hour ago," Inkie said, breaking down. Rarity put her foreleg across Inkie's shoulders.

"I-I'm sorry," Inkie said, wiping her nose, "I know that now is not the time to mourn; it hasn't even really fully set in yet. We have a task to do."

"Said like a true warrior," Titan Wings said, nodding his head.

"We're not soldiers," Rarity snapped. She continued to pat Inkie on the shoulder as they walked.

Pinkie stopped outside of Sugarcube Corner. It looked so eerie, so empty. Some of the windows were broken and there was a steady stream of green coming from the roof.

"I-I'm not sure if I can handle seeing the Cakes in pods," Pinkie whispered, suddenly terrified.

"...It won't be any different than seeing Ma and Pa," Inkie said quietly. Pinkie took a deep breath. Inkie was right. They were essentially her other parents.

Pinkie pushed on the door. It didn't open. She tried again, but it wouldn't budge.

"Let's try the back," she said, leading them around the back.

The door in the back was open. It barely hung on its hinges, creaking in the slight breeze. Pinkie shivered. Titan Wings stepped inside first. After he "secured the area", Pinkie and the girls stepped inside.

Everything was a mess. There was months old rotten cakes on the floor, an upturned table and some chairs. She saw why the door wouldn't budge; the Cakes had pushed up furniture against it, trying to stop the changelings from entering, just as Inkie and Blinkie had done back at the house—only they had forgotten about the back door.

"I keep the cannon in a storage room on the main floor; it's too much to drag up and down from my room," Pinkie explained. She bit her lower lip. "I-I want to check out the rest of the shop and house before we get it and leave."

"That's not part of the mission; Twilight Sparkle said to—" Titan Wings began.

"I know, but I want to at least make sure they're ok. That they're in pods, and not... not in a more worse condition," Pinkie said. Rarity put her hoof on Pinkie's shoulder.

"Are you sure Pinkie? Do you want me to look for you?" Rarity asked. Pinkie shook her head.

"No... but I want you to come with me. Inkie, Titan Wings; the cannon will be in a storage room beside the pantry in the kitchen. It shouldn't be locked. Why don't you two get it out, and Rarity and I will meet you back down here in a few minutes," Pinkie said.

Titan Wings reluctantly agreed and headed into the kitchen with Inkie. Pinkie then grabbed Rarity's hoof and dragged her up the stairs.

"Why such the rush Pinkie?" Rarity asked.

"I need you to help," Pinkie whispered. Rarity wrenched her hoof away.

"What are you talking about?" Rarity asked. Pinkie turned to Rarity, a look of desperation in her eyes.

"I have an ulterior motive ok? I honestly do want to make sure that Mr. and Mrs. Cake are ok and safely in pods; but as soon as Twilight mentioned going to Sugarcube Corner, it just made me think of the foals, the twins. We need to make sure they're still alive—and we need to free them out of the pods," Pinkie said.

"But—"

"Yes, I know, it isn't part of the plan, and we're just supposed to get the cannon and leave, and we'll free all the ponies later. But they're just foals Rarity, just babies. They can't have a lot of energy to harvest, it just can't be healthy for them. Sure, I mean it's not healthy for anypony, and it's terribly selfish to ask since Twilight didn't let you save Sweetie Belle, but they're just babies Rarity, babies. We can't just leave them. I need you to free them. We'll take them to Zecora's and they can stay there until after this whole mess is sorted out," Pinkie said, pleading.

Rarity opened and closed her mouth several times, clearly trying to think of how to respond. Finally she took a deep breath.

"Ok. I'll do it," Rarity said.

Pinkie led Rarity into the foals' bedroom. Just as she had suspected, all four of the Cakes were inside. They all hung in a row on the ceiling, Mr. and Mrs. Cake sandwiching the twins.

"You free them; I'll pack a few of their things," Pinkie said.

Rarity set to work on freeing Pumpkin Cake first. Pinkie gathered a few of her toys, some blankets, diapers and bottles from around the room, hastily shoving them into the empty bag she had brought with her for just this purpose.

While Rarity still carefully freed Pumpkin, Pinkie moved the now full bag onto Rarity's back and brought out a foal carrier from the closet. She fastened it to herself and waited.

Rarity carefully placed Pumpkin Cake into one side of the carrier.

"Is she ok?" Pinkie asked. Rarity nodded. Pinkie still made sure that Pumpkin was breathing.

"She's just sleeping," Rarity whispered, "Twilight taught me a simple sleep spell, that should work for the time that we walk back to Zecora's; I figure it'll be better if they don't see their parents like this."

"Good idea," Pinkie whispered back.

Once Pound Cake was safely in the other side of the carrier, Pinkie and Rarity headed back down the stairs.

Inkie was standing in front of the back door.

"Oh good, you're done. I was starting to get worried," she said. She looked outside and then back to Rarity and Pinkie, "Titan Wings has already strapped the cannon to a small wagon he found outside; it's not the best wagon, but it'll do—who are they?"

"They're the Cakes's twins," Pinkie said quietly. "I couldn't leave them behind in those pods."

Inkie nodded. The three girls headed outside.

"What are those babies doing there? That's not part of the objective," Titan Wings said.

"Quiet! You'll wake them," Rarity hissed.

"We're not leaving these babies behind," Inkie said. Titan Wings stared at Inkie. Inkie stared back. A weird look flashed across Titan Wings' face and then he slowly nodded.

"Alright," he said, "We should move quickly. The reason all of the changelings disappeared is because they were all called back to capture Princess Luna; it won't be long before they return now."

With the babies safely secured to her back, and the party-cannon strapped to Titan Wings, Pinkie led the way back to the Everfree Forest.

Comments

[Sunset_Shimmer83]

oh thank goodness. when i realized that they were at sugarcube corner my thoughts went immediately to the twins. i'm so glad they are okay.

[Perteks]

Titan should be changeling hohoho

[mbpony 512]

AWWW, that was cute and honest of Pinkie to do, it's one thing leaving the grown ups like this, but it's a whole new situation when it comes to kids and babies.

I must say I too agree with Pinkie's methods. Lets just hope that Twilight and the others will agree with her.

Please do keep up the good work upon such a great storyline like this one.

[sister_mike]

[ctzmsc3]

"party cannon, Pinkie?"
'he "secured the area", Pinkie' - comma-quote placement may or may not be an error, depending on whether you prefer American style or British style punctuation.
"There was months old rotten cakes on the floor, upturned table and chairs." - use "were" because plural things follow, and you need either an article before "upturned" or to pluralize "table". (I probably don't have to explain everything--you would have caught both if I had just pointed out that the sentence was wrong, right?)

[ctzmsc3]

1463220
But now they're going back to Zecora's to drop off the babies. And they were planning to meet back at Zecora's in an hour at the end of Chapter 2 anyway. So unless the Elements are capable of remote action, it would have been safer to leave them with Zecora so that there would be no chance of them getting stolen, assuming the ponies at Zecora's are trustworthy (and nopony said that they couldn't trust Zecora to keep the Elements safe).

[sister_mike]

1470324

You're assuming Zecora's not coming with them to battle it out at Canterlot?

Thanks again for the typos; I eventually notice them way later on, and always wonder why nopony pointed it out to me

[ctzmsc3]

1470510
No, they're going back to Zecora's before heading to Canterlot, right?

In chapter 2:
"Alright everypony, let's fan out. Let's meet back here in an hour maximum. Then we'll regroup, distribute supplies, and head for Canterlot."

So they could leave the Elements at Zecora's while they do the supply-getting, return there, get the Elements, distribute supplies, and then go to Canterlot.

[sister_mike]

1470542

Oh I see what you mean. Yeah, they could have done that, but they didn't.
I thought you meant leaving them behind when they go to Canterlot.

[ctzmsc3]

1470940
So why didn't they?

[sister_mike]

1471085

What does it matter? I guess it didn't occur to them.

[ctzmsc3]

1472029
It doesn't matter too much I guess. I just found their decision strange.

[sister_mike]

1472053

Fair enough. They'll all be together again soon. For a while that is.