Cake for Two

by Ditz

First published

Mr. Cake talks to Pinkie about his early life.

While Mrs. Cake leaves to drop an important order, Pinkie and Mr. Cake stay behind to clean.

Mr. Cake takes this time to tell Pinkie about his life.

Cover edited from image by EllisArts
Changed from original title: How to make a cake

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“Come on everyone, we need to finish this order!”

The small kitchen saw two ponies frantically running, their faces dripping with sweat as they haphazardly attempted to place numerous pieces of sweet bread in boxes. The yellow one did his best to place everything in place, while the pudgy blue mare wrote down what was being placed.

“Oh, and this one goes here!”

Meanwhile, an unseen pink colored baker who did the same task, sang to herself as she balanced a few trays with a single hoof, tapping them and making the pastries land in neat files inside her own assigned boxes.

“Stop playing around Pinkie, we are going to be late!” the blue baker said with a shrill voice, giving Pinkie a disapproving glance.

“Sorry Mrs. Cake! I’ll get right to it!” she promptly apologized, speeding up the process, and putting away the rest of her work into the boxes and easily finishing up. “Done!”

“Done!” the other two said as well mere seconds later, looking at each other with exhausted, goofy grins.

“Don’t give me that look, Carrot, I have to go!” Mrs. Cake laughed, carefully piling up the boxes in her saddlebags. “You two can handle the kitchen while I‘m gone, right?” she said, looking over the mess they left behind with a grimace.

“You got it, Mrs. C!” Pinkie exclaimed, popping up from behind a counter, a spoon with cookie dough stuck in her hair, which she then grabbed and put in her mouth, licking it clean. “Hmm!”

“Of course! But pumpkin,” Carrot paused, mulling to himself. “I just realized, you never told me who our client for this order was, you just sort of came in and told us that we had a big order.”

“Oh!” Mrs. Cake gulped. “D-did I now, dear?” she asked, turning to look at Carrot who stared back worriedly. “Sorry! Anyway, got to fly!”

“H-hold on a minute,” Carrot stopped her, eyeing her suspiciously. “Is this order for Filthy?”

Mrs. Cake stopped on her tracks, turning to look at Carrot one more time before running and placing a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll see you later, love you! Clean well!”

“Cupcake!” he yelped, feeling momentarily lost by the kiss. “W-wait!”

“Bye Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie waved her leg unassumingly, watching her slam the door shut on her way out.

“Every time,” Carrot huffed, shaking his head in disappointment. “How do I fall for it every time?”

“Why do you find this rare?” Pinkie asked curiously. “This happens with every order to Mr. Rich!”

“Wait, you actually noticed this, Pinkie?” he asked incredulously. “Strange, I don’t think you ever helped with any of those orders when they happened.”

“I have my ways to get information,” she replied suspiciously. “Which usually involves going through the store records!” she pointed out, taking out a stack of papers from out of nowhere. “You also said ‘every time’ which led me to put two, three, and four together!”

“How did you read them so fa-” Mr. Cake stopped himself, remembering who he was conversing with. “A-anyway, yes, it’s true, it’s happened before and I’ve fallen for it. I’m just too trusting of my wife.”

“But I don’t get it, why don‘t you like Mr. Rich?” Pinkie asked with a curious glance, picking up a broom with her tail and sweeping the floor as she spoke.

Mr. Cake sighed, grinning to himself as he stared out the window longingly. “Well Pinkie, it’s funny that you ask, it’s kind of a weird reason involving Mrs. Cake, an-”

Pinkie gasped audibly in her surprise. “Ooh, I smell a story!”

“I don’t know, I’m not a very good storyteller, Pinkie,” he sighed. “Not to mention I might ramble a bit.”

“Pleaseeee!” she pleaded, getting on her knees.

“Oh, alright!” he quickly gave in. “But we have to clean up while I do it, alright?”

“You got it!” Pinkie saluted, picking the broom with her hooves and holding it firmly. “Ready when you are!”

Mr. Cake smiled weakly, thinking of how to begin. “Well, you see, it began many years ago, when I was but a foal…”

~~~~~

I used to be a rather timid one, believe or not, I always tried to focus on my work so I never had to talk to most ponies, and I was always on top of things.

“Carrot!”

“Ah!” the foal yelped, looking around frantically until he noticed the unicorn in front of him giving him a stern look. “O-oh, yes?”

“How many times have I told you to keep attention in class?” she said disapprovingly. “You can do your things after school, Mr. Carrot.”

“S-s-sorry Ms. Galaxy!” he apologized with drooped ears, putting away the notebook and turning his attention to the front. “I-I’ll focus.”

“Good, because we have someone new coming in, and I don’t want to give them the impression that this class isn’t focused!” she nodded, returning to the front of the class. “Now class, turn your books to page…”

“Ouch, she got you there, Carrot,” a voice laughed behind him.

The pony who graciously laughed then was none other than the ever so popular Filthy Rich, he was always at the top of the class, and he always knew what to say to get to me. I guess a business pony had to know what to say to do what he does today.

“Shut up, Filthy,” Carrot groaned, sticking his tongue out to him. “Or you don’t get cake later!”

“Ugh, I can’t play with you once because you always pull the ’Filthy’ card. Just call me Rich!” he complained, slumping down on his seat and sticking his tongue out in return. “This is why you are only getting forty percent of the cut!”

“Boys!“ Ms. Galaxy called, keeping an eye on them. “Book! Read!“

“Yes Ms. Galaxy!” they replied in unison, turning to look at each other momentarily and bursting into quiet giggling.

As you possibly gather, we used to be friends -- we werelongtime friends for that matter. At the time, he had just recently gotten his cutie mark, so he had grown focused on his goals, he realized he was a pony for business. But I was a blank flank who enjoyed the art of baking, and he saw my potential, so we became partners in what might be our future bakery business.

But we had school, so we had to wait a few decades for that, ha, ha… er, I’ll continue.

“Alright everypony, today we have a new classmate, let’s welcome her with open hooves!” Ms. Galaxy said cheerfully, heading for the door. “Come on in, sweetie.”

“Great, we have a new ‘smart’ gal,” Rich laughed. “Right?” he said, pushing Carrot playfully.

“Y-yeah,” Carrot replied, turning his head just in time to notice the pony entering the room. "Funny?"

“Class! This is Cupcake, she moved to Ponyville a few days ago, and she will be learning with us from now on. How about you introduce yourself, dear?” she invited her, allowing her to stand in front.

She walked forward, being watched by the other ponies there, she looked the class over with a vacant look before speaking. “So, I’m Cupcake, an- wow, I‘m already bored,” the rest of the kids could only look at each other with confused stares, not knowing how to respond.

“Alright then… you can sit on the seat in front of Filthy there!” Ms. Galaxy pointed out nervously.

“It’s Rich!” he growled, looking annoyed.

“Well, at least I won‘t have a problem finding my seat every time,” Cupcake said with a smirk, taking the empty spot while ignoring Rich‘s glare, instead looking over to Carrot who gave her a weak wave. “Hey, guess I’m stuck with you as a neighbor.”

If it wasn’t obvious, she was a total jerk. A pony who didn’t give no cares for the rules.

“H-hi!” Carrot greeted in a high-pitched voice.

“Well, aren’t you a timid one,” she said rolling her eyes, pushing a strand of her mane that had fallen over her eyes.

And right there and then, I found out I had hopelessly fallen for her.

~~~~~

“That’s sooooo adorable! It must have been love at first sight for the both of you! Huh? Huh? Huuuuh?” Pinkie gushed, pushing herself against Carrot, who while awkwardly staring, slipped out of her grip.

“Not really, Pinkie Pie,” he replied as he substituted himself with a broomstick on the spot where he had been. “If anything, I think she hated me the moment we met.”

Pinkie‘s jaw dropped agape with disbelief. “What!? But, you are so nice, and you are yellow! You compliment each other so well!”

“Did Rarity tell you that?”

“I plead the fifth!”

“In any case, it wasn’t the most pleasant of, um, ‘relationships’ and the three of us simply sat next to each other for weeks on end while I wrote and drew things down, and such other details and life simply continued.”

~~~~~

At least until she finally caught me on one of my daily routines before Filthy arrived and class started. And as it turns out, Cupcake arrived early that day.

“Whatchu got there?” Cupcake asked, trying to look over to Carrot’s notebook. “Are you drawing something?”

“H-huh? O-f course not!” he yelped, surprised that she had turned to talk to him so suddenly. “I-it’s nothing at all! Hahahaha! Why would you say that?”

“I don’t know, you should ask the spider on your head what it thinks.”

“Ah! Get off!” Carrot yelped, reaching for his mane and quickly noting nothing was there. “Huh? There is nothing th- Huh?” he cut himself short, realizing his notebook was nowhere to be seen. “Wait, what?”

“Well, this is interesting,” Cupcake said from the side, turning pages on his notebook.

“No!” Carrot yelped, desperately trying to take it away from her, but failing as Cupcake easily pushed him away with her hoof.

“Whoa, easy there Daring Doo, I’m just looking at it,” she chuckled, closing the notebook.

Carrot looked at her teary eyed, turning to his seat and hiding his face from her. “Great, now you must think I’m a huge loser! Ugh! I should’ve waited! I’m never doing it again!”

At that moment, I had really planned to simply give up my dream, the embarrassment of letting my crush see what I put in there was far too much. And I actually would have given it up for real if it hadn’t been for what happened next.

“Eh, I don’t think you are a loser.”

“Huh?” Carrot looked up, noticing a blushing Cupcake, looking to the side with a scowl.

“You aren’t a loser for doing something you enjoy, that's what I think,” she said, placing the book back on his desk. “Besides, I really liked the design for those cakes you had, and I saw some recipes… Did you create those yourself?”

Carrot sniffed loudly, passing his hoof over his eyes to clear whatever tears had leaked out. “W-well, some are well known things, but I wanted to give them my own touch. The cakes are just designs for the sort of things I’d like to make professionally, I mean, I’m not the best at designing them yet, but I would love to do it.”

“That’s… cool,” she said, giving him a small smile.

“I-it‘s nothing, really!” he said embarrassed.

“To me it is! I mean, I can’t bake. Like, at all,” she admitted.

Feeling his heartbeat’s increased speed, he swallowed and let out the question that had just entered his mind. “Um, I could… Never mind,” he stopped suddenly, backing out right at the end.

“What? Don’t you dare leave me hanging, I hate that sort of thing,” she complained. “You’d be a loser in my book for that alone. Say what you have to say.”

“Oh, um, well…”

“Spit it out!”

“I could teach you how to bake!” he let out, glowing red as he realized what he said. “Oh gosh, what did I just say…”

Cupcake stared blankly, and shaking her head, she pulled a hoof over Carrot. “What the heck, why not? I’ve always wanted to make my own cookies and stuff.”

“I can teach you how to make cookies and other stuff, yes!” Carrot said excitedly, relishing on the close contact with a content grin.

From that day, Cupcake and I began hanging out at my place. We spend our time baking for the most part, and to my surprise, she got the hang of it really quickly. We really bonded during those early times.

We continued this for a few months, and then, one day of especially throughout cooking, something great happened.

“Carrot! Carrot!” Cupcake shouted excitedly. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!”

“W-what is it, Cupcake? What’s wrong?” Carrot asked looking at her worriedly.

“Look!” with a quick turn, she presented her flank, showing off a brand new cutie mark composed of three similar looking cupcakes still glowing brightly.

“Wow! Congratulations!” he said with a happy, awkward smile. “That’s awesome!”

“Whoa, Carrot!” Cupcake gasped, shaking her head in disbelief. “Look! Your flank!”

“Huh?” he tilted his head back, noticing a disappearing glow that left behind three cake slices that made up a cutie mark on his own flank. “W-what? I got mine too? How!?”

“Congrats!” she jumped on him, placing her legs around him in a hug. “We got them at the same time!”

I'll never forget that hug. She was downright embarrassed by it, pushing me away with a flustered look, and th-

~~~~~

“You got married!” Pinkie interrupted excitedly “Oh, I’m so happy!”

“Pinkie Pie, we were eleven, we couldn‘t do that” Carrot deadpanned, groaning to himself when he had noticed Pinkie’s side hadn’t even been touched by the broom she still held.

“Sure you could! Maud and I used to do that a lot!”

Doing a quick take, Carrot attempted to say something, but decided against it. “I’m going to have to talk to you about how wrong that really sounds, but for now, I should continue with the bit I skipped!"

“What? But you two ended up happily ever after, right?” she noted, recalling only small bits of the story.

“Filthy still existed in this story Pinkie, in fact, he was there when Cupcake and I started hanging out, and well… It didn’t go particularly well…"

~~~~~

Filthy didn’t take kindly to me hanging out with Cupcake, he had been distant every since we started hanging out, but that day was different.

“Hey Carrot, are we hanging out today? I have something really cool to tell you!” he began excitedly. “Dad said that if we were to hurry, we could go visit Canterlot with him!”

“S-sorry Rich, I have something to do after school today, and all that,” Carrot replied meekly. “Maybe another time?”

“Oh, let me guess, you have to hang out with your new best friend, don’t you?” he huffed, slumping down on the seat with crossed legs. “It’s been a month and you keep saying that! When are you going to stop?”

“Sorry... But Rich, we are still friends. It’s just that I’m teaching her how to bake, you know? We can hang out some other time, right?” he laughed awkwardly.

Rich glared back, shaking his head. “Yeah, sure buddy...”

We stopped hanging out from that day forward.

It kept getting worse as we became more distant, in fact, he began missing school, until one day, he was just gone. According to the teacher, he had moved to Canterlot, but of course, that wouldn’t be the last time I saw him.

But life continued.

Cupcake and I graduated from school a few years later. By then, she had mellowed out immensely, and we grew together alongside our friendly bond. And our friendship was to grow even more, as I made sure one day eating out.

“Hey, Cupcake?” Carrot broke the silence, awkwardly stirring the spoon in the coffee he had ordered.

“What is it? You are looking more jittery than usual,” she laughed. “Are you sick again, you doof?”

“N-no, it’s just that, well…” he looked down at his cup, noticing the terrified expression on his face. Scowling at his reflection, he returned his attention to Cupcake, who watched him with amused eyes. “Cupcake!”

“Whoa, somepony is serious today,” she giggled, raising a surprised brow.

“Don’t laugh! T-this is important!” he demanded flustered, catching her off guard.

“A-alright?” she stuttered, looking at him confused. “Go on?”

“W-w-will,” he began with a stutter. Looking back at his coffee, he grabbed the cup, and chugged down the entirety of its contents in one big gulp. “Aaah! Would you go out on a date with me, Carrot!” he cried out, lowering his head over the table, his tongue momentarily losing any feeling as it dealt with the pain he was in.

“Carrot…” Cupcake chuckled in a low voice, then let it all out in full blown laughter. “Sweet Celestia, what are you doing!”

“I-I…” I was heartbroken. I remained facedown, nearly bursting into tears like I did once all those years ago, but I should have known just then whom it was I was talking to.

Lifting his head to reveal his face, Cupcake arched forward, placing a kiss on his forehead. “Oh Carrot, you sure took your sweet time, didn’t you?”

From that day forward, we became a couple. Cupcake still had a mouth, but she wasn’t as overly rude as she used to be, and I was still shy, but not to the point I was when I was little. Turns out we balanced each other, and our love for baking was what helped us stay together, among other things.

~~~~~

“And then you got married, right?” Pinkie guessed, shoving her hoof into a bag of popcorn and tossing it into her mouth. “Pleaseeee!”

“Of course not, Pinkie,” he laughed uneasily, looking out the window as he watched the dishes. “We simply focused in our new relationship, and well, we didn’t bother much with the future those days.”

“So no wedding?” she pouted.

“Well, there WAS a wedding, actual- Ah!” he yelped, as Pinkie hanged over him.

“Whose wedding!” she whispered. “Tell me…”

“Um, well, if you get off me, I-I’ll tell you, ha-ha…”

~~~~~

“I now pronounce you Mare and Colt. Mr. Rich, you may kiss the bride.”

As it turned out, Filthy had returned to his hometown to stay after having been in Canterlot all those years, but he didn’t come back alone. He did so with a mare he had met there and they married here in town. The wedding itself was held at his newly build mansion on the upper parts of Ponyville.

And to my surprise, I was actually invited.

“Well, well, hello there old friend,” Carrot heard a voice, noticing Rich approaching him. “Long time no see.”

“H-hello Rich, likewise! It’s good to see you again!” he replied, looking down awkwardly. “W-wow, look at you, wearing a tuxedo and looking all fancy!”

Rich smiled, hugging the unsuspecting Carrot. “It comes with the Canterlot territory, I’m afraid,” he laughed. “But come on, we have to catch up! If your lovely wife isn’t against it, I mean.”

“We are not married!” they both replied awkwardly, bringing a surprised laugh from Rich.

“Well then, may I take your colt friend for a bit then?” he asked again, smiling amusedly.

“Making a lot of assumptions here, Rich,” Cupcake said with a grin. “What makes you think we are dating?”

“Then I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I were to introduce him to some mares? I think he wou-”

“Okay, you got me Filthy, you can borrow him for a bit, but if you dirty him, I’m gonna have a word with you,” she chuckled, taking a drink from her glass.

“Ugh, right…” Rich groaned, clearing his throat. “Ahem, well, come on Carrot, I have loads to tell you!”

And he really did. It had been nearly ten years since we saw each other last, and he had been up to lots of things since then, having gone through further education and the struggles of dealing with the harsh business world, of course, being such a simple pony I didn’t understand much, but I did get the gist of his effort.

“And then I met Silver Tongue, whom I’d been with for a few years now, she is a pillar to me, Carrot,” he said proudly, looking over the table where his newly wedded wife sat, sending him a wave in return. “But enough about me! How have you been faring all of these years? How is your dream of baking going?”

“Oh, well, I haven’t really been making huge strides towards it. Cupcake and I have been living by making small business in some restaurants, but nothing particularly big like the business we planned back then,” he explained.

“I see,” Rich hummed nodding. “Carrot, can I talk to you in private?”

:”Aren’t we already?”

“As in private-private,” he explained. "Nothing personal, Cupcake."

"Go for it, I'm busy drinking anyway," Cupcake laughed.

Carrot shrugged. "Well! If that's the case, lead on, Rich!"

They moved through the crowds of numerous partygoers, reaching a giant door, which Rich opened by inserting a key. Waiting for Carrot to go inside, he entered the room, and locked the door.

“So, I hope you had your fun, Carrot,” Rich began, heading for the desk nearby and sitting on the chair behind it. “You had a few years to think about this.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Carrot asked, feeling suddenly nervous. “If you mean me having ignored you before you left, I’m sorry. I’ve felt guilty about it since then, and I wish it could’ve been different.”

“Carrot,” he sighed, turning his chair the other way. “I appreciate the apology, but we were kids, it's alright. We all make mistakes."

“If that's not it, then what is?“

"While I was gone, I didn’t only manage to further my studies, I took over the family business. Heck, I was even able to reestablish our deal with the Apple clans to market zap apple products!”

“Oh, well, congratulations? I don’t understand what that has to do with me.” Carrot noted uneasy. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that I’ve managed to make something out of myself, I even got married! But you?” he turned back around suddenly, slamming his hooves on the desk. “You were left behind, but you have a gift, and I can help you properly use it.”

“Wait a minute, are you making a business proposition on the day of your own wedding?” Carrot said shocked, shaking his head confused.. “I don’t understand, I thought you hated me all these years, and yet, you invited me to your wedding, and now you are making a business proposition! What gives?”

Rich sighed, getting on his hooves and walking to Carrot, placing a hoof on his shoulder. “Leaving all those years ago the way I did has been a regret of mine for a long time, and I want to make up for that by helping you on those years you wasted with that mare.”

Carrot glared back, shaking Rich’s hoof off him. “Excuse me?”

“As I said before, we were kids, and we made mistakes,” he continued while laughing. “You and I had a thing going, we had our minds on the future, and then she showed up, and ended what we had going. All you have to do is leave h-”

“Stop!“ Carrot shook his head, mouth agape in disbelief. “I think we are done here, Rich,” he said, barely controlling his voice..

“Carrot, I’m just thinking about yo-”

“Mr. Filthy! We are done,” he interrupted with a growl..

Rich’s eyes widened for a second, and with a sigh, he pointed to the door. “That’s a shame.”

And without another word, Cupcake and I left his home. I of course never told her about it, and… I just realized I just told you about it. Oh dear…

~~~~~

“That’s terrible! Why would anypony do that!?” Pinkie asked horrified, stuffing what was left of popcorn into her mouth. ‘Why would Mr. Rich even say that!? He looked like such a nice pony!”

“Ponies change, Pinkie,” he sighed, giving the kitchen the finishing touches. “He says he was thinking about me, but I think he was thinking mostly of himself… Um, sorry for rambling on, I think I overdid it with the story, huh?”

“So that’s what happened.”

“Ah!” Carrot shrieked, noticing Cupcake standing by the entrance. “P-pumpkin! You are back! Um, I can explain!”

“No need to,” she shook her head. “Well, I didn’t think you’d ever tell that story with such detail, I finally found out why you didn’t like Rich.”

“Um, yeah,” Carrot said defeated. “I didn’t want you to feel bad.”

“Carrot! Have you even met me?” she laughed, nuzzling him affectionately. “Besides, now I understand why you always get angry when I go to him. Here I thought you had a very silly fight!"

“Wait, you are not mad?”

“No! But this helps me understand why Rich helped us fund Sugarcube Corner like he did.”

Pinkie and Carrot looked at each other momentarily, and then turn back to Carrot. "Huh!?"

Cupcake laughed. “Did you actually think I had the money to get Sugarcube Corner up and going?”

Carrot blinked momentarily, processing what she had said. “Why is this the first I hear of it!?”

“Ooh! I smell resolution!” Pinkie shrieked, grabbing another bag of popcorn.

“Yes Pinkie, and I think you’ll be happy to know this story’s setting,” she admitted.

~~~~~

“I’m not nervous, I’m not nervous. I am NOT nerv-”

“Cupcake?”

“Aaah!” Cupcake yelped, caught off guard. She turned around quickly, noticing the mare standing by the door. “Cheerilee! Don’t scare me like that!”

“Nervous, I see?,” she asked with a smile. “I guess I would be too if I were getting married.”

“Not helping,” she replied through gritted teeth. “What is it? I said I wanted to be alone for now.”

“I know, but there is somepony right outside who wanted to see you,” she explained.

“Can’t they wait after the wedding?” she sighed annoyed. “I have enough nerves as it is.”

“That’s what I told him, but then he said he was an old friend of Carrot‘s,” she shrugged.

She blinked once and sighed. “… I’ll be right back.”

Going through the door, she went through the building’s hall, reaching an exit near the back. Opening the exit, she noticed a hooded pony standing nearby, frantically looking around, stopping once he was noticed.

“Hello,” the pony greeted her. “Cupcake, right?”

“Rich, you can cut the act,” Cupcake said quickly. “We don’t see you in five years and you come in such a getup?”

“Er, sorry ma’am,” he apologized, lowering the hood. "I wasn't trying to offend you."

“Why are you out here anyway? Shouldn’t you be at the reception?” she asked.

Rich shook his head. ”That’s the thing I’m confused about; why was I invited to the wedding?”

Confused, Cupcake arched her brows. “Huh? Rich, you are Carrot’s friend, you need to be here for his big day! Just like he was for yours,” she explained. “And please don’t call me ma’am, I’m still on my twenties!”

“So you don’t know then?”

“Know what?”

“Ah, I see. “Carrot and I had some differences, is all." he said vaguely. ”It’s something I don’t want to talk about, but it‘s something I realized very recently."

“Know what? I’m not going to ask, I really don’t want any more stress today,” she sighed smacking her forehead in frustration. “And I suppose me asking nice won’t make you come to the wedding, right?”

“I’m sorry,” he apologized once more. “But I didn’t come just to say I wasn't attending, I came to give you your wedding present,” reaching into his coat, he brought up a bag which he dropped at Cupcake’s hooves, causing a noisy jingling as it hit the floor.

“What is this?” she wondered, opening the bag and having her eyes widen in sheer surprise the moment she noticed hundreds of bit coins inside. “Rich! You can’t be serious!”

“Please, it’s the least I can do to help his dream, and now I suppose your dream as well,” he said with a smile. "You know? There is a restaurant that closed down lately, I'm sure you could afford with that."

“Rich, I just don’t know what to say,” Cupcake said, putting a hoof over her mouth, momentarily tearing up.. “Thank you!”

“All I ask is that you keep it secret from Carrot, please,” he grinned, donning the hood again. “I’d rather he didn’t know I was the one helping him.”

“Fine, but I’m going to get the truth out of Carrot, you’ll see!” and as you both know, I never did.

Rich smiled. “You should go back, your wedding looms closer,” he said, walking away.

“Rich!” she called after him. “I know you don’t want to tell me, but what made you do this?”

Rich stopped, tilting his head back. “Let’s just say that I have a three year old filly that needed some pampering and leave it at that,” he finished before suddenly running off.

“I see… Make sure you don’t overdo it!” she called, but Rich didn’t respond as he disappeared behind a building. “Oh well, I’m sure, he’ll do fine.”

~~~~~

“Well, we know how that turned out!” Pinkie shrugged, tossing the now empty bag of popcorn to the side.

“Wow…” Carrot said, sitting down. “So that’s why you continued doing business with him despite my wishes! And here I thought it was because of the pay!”

“Pst, don’t kid yourself, money was one of the factors,” she laughed. “Yet, I really owed him, so I could never say no to him whenever he asked me for favors. That’s why I let his daughter have her cuteceañera here, that’s why I still do business with him.”

“I suppose… But that doesn’t change what he said!” he groaned, shaking his head. “How can I forget that?”

“You don’t have to, but maybe you can try to forgive? I did,” she said, placing a short kiss.

“Well…” he smiled, kissing her back. “Maybe I can try.”

“You know, his daughter is having her birthday party today at his place,” she noted. “Isn’t that right Pi-” she looked over to her sitting spot, noticing her already gone. “Always ahead of us, I see."

“She is,” Carrot laughed. “Why don't we go after her?"

"Really?"

"Of course," he smiled satisfied. "Maybe I'll run into a certain Rich pony."