Cracking the Elements of Harmony

“Here you go dearie,” Mrs. Cake said as she handed Fluttershy the basketful of crackers and cookies still warm from the oven. They were covered with an ornate napkin to keep them fresh for the road ahead and the whole basket was prepared with the love and expertise that only the Cakes could provide.

“Thank you!”

Fluttershy pulled a bag of bits from her saddlebags and gently placed it on the counter. She had ordered the pastries in advance and had prepared the exact amount of bits so as not to waste Mrs. Cake’s time by fumbling around for bits. The last thing she wanted was to be a bother to any other ponies that may have come in after her. They would have been forced to wait, which would have taken away their precious time and might have made them angry at her.

Mrs. Cake picked up the bag of bits and dropped them in an open drawer with her eyes closed, content at having a happy customer leave her store. She opened her eyes again after the coins made the familiar sound of hitting the bottom of the drawer and crashing against each other, only to see Fluttershy still standing there, looking at her with wide eyes and a nervous look.

“What’s the matter dearie?”

“Well, it’s… uhm…” Fluttershy didn’t want to sound rude. She lowered her voice to a barely audible level, turned her head to the side and whispered, “The bits… you didn’t…”

“Oh, I’m sorry, my dear,” Mrs. Cake responded upon seeing the timid Pegasus lowering her head to the ground, “I thought you gave me the exact change! I’ll go and take a-”

“No, no, it’s not that,” Fluttershy intervened before the cyan mare had a chance to reach for the bag.

Mrs. Cake was left temporarily frozen in place. “Then what is it?”

“You… you didn’t count them.”

Mrs. Cake let out a deep breath before visibly relaxing. A wide smile grew on her face and she swiped the forehead with her hoof, as if taking off sweat that wasn’t there. She turned to Fluttershy and looked at her as if she was one of her foals.

“Oh my. You had me-“ she cut herself off when she realized how much worry she would cause by finishing that sentence. Instead, she corrected herself with a white lie. “Of course I know how many bits you gave me, I can tell just by the weight; that’s how long I’ve been doing this.”

Fluttershy’s cheeks flushed. She took a step back, scraped one hoof against the other and meekly said, with a gentle smile on her face, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think about that.” She gave a wide smile with her head turned down.

Mrs. Cake, still slightly unsettled by the whole exchange, rushed from behind the counter, “It’s all right, my dear!” She placed a complimentary chocolate upcake in Fluttershy’s basket, much to the Pegasus’ surprise, put a hoof on her shoulder and sent her on the way. “That’s for me not telling you that sooner. Now go on, have fun at the party with the rest of the girls!”

Fluttershy stood up, embarrassment still visible in her every move, but now much more relaxed.

“Oh, I’m not going to a party with the girls. It’s Angel’s birthday and I’m going to treat him and his friends. I can’t believe how delicious these look; if I didn’t know they weren’t meant for ponies, I would have dug right in!” Mrs. Cake’s eye twitched, but she quickly regained composure as Fluttershy continued. “Thank you so much for everything – I’m sorry – goodbye!”

With that, Fluttershy took the basket into her mouth and trotted away. Mrs. Cake was left standing near the open door from where she followed Fluttershy with her eyes as the pegasus left the shop, but lost her out of sight as soon as Fluttershy turned to the cottage and disappeared behind the corner. Yet Mrs. Cake still looked, unmoving, into the brightness of the day outside, with eyes ever so slightly slanted and head held high.

“With your pets, you say.” She murmured under her breath. Hearing the familiar hoofsteps of Mr. Cake, she finished what she had wanted to say in her thoughts. No, my dear Fluttershy. That won’t do at all.

“Cuppy, are you down there?” came a whisper from above.

Mrs. Cake shivered for a moment and caught her balance by leaning against the counter. She looked up and saw Carrot poking his head down from the top of the stairs, looking intently at her.

“Of course I am,” she said with a smile, “Where else would I be?”

Mr. Cake slowly closed the door that isolated the above floor from the noise downstairs. With careful steps, he descended the staircase and stopped in front of his wife.

“I think they’re finally asleep. Although after a wild night like that,” he shook his head as glimpses of the two foals running around in the middle of the night appeared in his mind, “I guess they have to sleep sometime.” He looked deep into Mrs. Cake’s eyes and said, “Are we expecting any customers?”

Mrs. Cake looked around, then turned her head sideways and returned the look.

“I think it’ll be quiet for – oh, at least twenty minutes.”

With that, Mr. Cake gently took her in his hooves and kissed her. The door of the bakery slammed shut not long after that, with Mrs. Cake looking around the street carefully for any potential pastry-desiring ponies – or Pinkie Pie - coming her way before closing them with a rarely seen sign that said: “Back soon!”

Fluttershy walked to her cottage with a bright smile on her face. She was so happy that she nearly released her grip on the handle every time one of her hooves sank in a small hole in the ground or was pushed up by a rock. She had received a free muffin that she was now going to share with all of her feathery, scaly, furry and shelled friends. She was already busy imagining how finely she was going to have to cut it to get enough pieces for everyone, but the more she did that, the more she realized that the only thing that will remain of the muffin following the extensive cutting would be muffin dust.

She came to a sudden stop, put the basket on the ground and thought about it. Ponies moved all around her, occasionally glancing at her, but she remained in place, hoof to face, thinking. Any way she imagined the outcome wasn’t good. If she were to give everyone there a small slice, they wouldn’t be getting anything at all and might start thinking she didn’t care for them enough to get them all muffins. But getting everyone muffins was far more expensive than she’d planned to spend on Angel’s birthday. The thoughts were slowly swarming her, until it hit her. Literally. Somepony bumped into her, nearly knocking her off her hooves.

“I’m sorry,” a gentle, worried voice said with a hint of sorrow, “I didn’t mean to - are you OK?”

Fluttershy turned to the pony making the unmistakable sound and saw Derpy Hooves hovering inches above the ground behind her. She was dressed in her mailmare uniform, holding one of her saddlebags to the side. A few letters were scattered on the ground.

“It’s okay.” Fluttershy slowly said, smiling at the mailmare. “I know you didn’t mean to.”

Derpy apologetically smiled and started collecting the mail that was thrown from her saddlebag by the impact. Fluttershy joined in and, as she picked up the first two letters closest to her, suddenly remembered an important fact. She couldn’t give the muffin to Angel at all, seeing as how he was a rabbit. And rabbits shouldn’t eat chocolate in the first place – it’s not good for them. It was the same reason why she had had to specially order the treats in her basket; yet in the slight breeze coming from Derpy’s wings, Fluttershy’s dilemma had successfully solved itself. She placed the letters back into Derpy’s saddlebag and, after sighing both in relief and wonder that she hadn’t thought of that before, suddenly knew there was someone whose day she could make brighter with that muffin, in the same way that her day had been made brighter by the unexpected treat.

“Derpy?” She reached into the basket and brought the muffin out with her hoof. “I have something for you.”

“For me?” Derpy’s face transformed into one of pure joy. “Really?”

“Yes.” She handed her the muffin. “I know how much you love them.”

As Derpy dug in to the muffin as it was the most hated and adored thing in Equestria, bystanders be damned, Fluttershy smiled and walked away. The day was turning out perfectly and she arrived at the cottage with a wide smile adorning her shy face. Before crossing the small wooden bridge, she stopped and took in the view. Her home was almost sparkling in the sun. It had been some time since it was quite as clean as it was this day. Not that she would ever allow it to fall into a state of disrepair – that was never an option, especially with countless animals, small and large, aiding her in the upkeep and cleaning – but this was a special day. Before she departed for the baked goods, she had spent the morning tidying up the cottage and every room in it. She would not allow Angel’s birthday to be anything less than perfect!

“I’m back,” she quietly announced when she opened the door.

Inside, the woodland creatures were busy putting up streamers and balloons on the walls and furniture. Ferrets ran about, elegantly jumping from tabletop to chair, mice scurried along the floor, birds flew in perfect synchrony and a lone raccoon was overlooking the whole operation, silently pointing out where the ornaments were needed. Occasionally, he glanced at the giant bear that was gingerly moving about, trying not to make too much noise as it would awake the still-sleeping rabbit whose day it was. When they heard her, the animals stopped in their tracks, looked at her and smiled, and carried on with their work. Fluttershy carried the basket of goodies to the table, removed the napkin, and signaled to the birds for assistance. They swooped down from every direction and perched themselves on the edge of the basket. Then, just as they were trained, the picked up the cookies and flew them, one by one, onto a tray waiting on the table, making a bunny-shaped work of art from the pastry.

“There, now all we need is…”

She looked around for her favorite pet and saw him sleeping on the small couch bed near the corner of her living room. She wasn’t all that surprised that Angel was able to sleep through the entire morning, but she still felt proud at the other animals for decorating in such silence.

“Are we ready?”

The animals nodded and moved to the sides of the living room, encircling the table with enough room to spare for Fluttershy to pass by it to Angel. She leaned in close to the small white body that was pulsing with every breath, until her muzzle nearly touched the long ears and sang in whisper.

“Happy birthday to you…”

Waking up as if he hadn’t slept for days, Angel opened his eyes and rubbed them with his paws, then turned to the source of the gentle sound. At first, the only thing he saw was Fluttershy’s face dominating his field of view, but she slowly moved back and revealed the other animals standing by, party hats on and ready to party. He smiled and excitedly jumped into Fluttershy’s embrace.

“Happy birthday Angel Bunny,” she held him close before putting him on her back and walking to the table, “I know how much you love grass crème cookies, so I went and got you… this!” she removed the napkin from the tray and let out a loud squee.

Angel jumped from her back onto the table and rushed to the tray as Fluttershy observed him expectantly, her head held high and her wings half-extended from anticipation. She couldn’t wait to see the look of happiness that would appear on his face at the first taste of those delicious-looking cookies and crackers. But instead of digging in as she had expected, Angel suddenly stopped at the edge of the tray and sniffed at the pastry. With every moment that he wasn’t stuffing himself with treats, Fluttershy became more and more worried, her wings slowly folding and distress replacing her look of joy. Before she could ask him what’s wrong, Angel turned and looked at her quizzically and gave a gentle shrug, clearly showing her that all was not well with the treats in front of him.

“What’s the matter?”

Fluttershy approached the table and Angel pointed at the pastries before shrugging again. She lowered her head to the tray and carefully took in the warm smell of the pastries. Then jerked her head back.

“Oh my. These aren’t cookies for bunnies, they’re cookies for ponies.”

Angel grew a frown and changed his pose to that of angry disappointment. He was now resting on his hind legs, one of them tapping impatiently at the table, his back straight, with his forelegs crossed over. It was the last sight Fluttershy wanted to see. She gasped and lifted herself clean off the ground with her wings.

“I’m so sorry Angel! I’ll take these right back and explain to Mrs. Cake that there was a mix-up and I’m-”

She noticed Angel staring at her, not expecting an explanation, but rather action.

“Of course, I’ll get right on it!”

She grabbed the tray and quickly dumped the contents into back into the basket before picking it up and carrying it out, but a strange thing happened as soon she closed the door behind her. Instead of galloping back to town, she was overcome by the smell of freshly baked goods in the basket. She hadn’t even noticed it on the way home, but now it overwhelmed any other action she wanted to take. Unexpected thoughts rushed into her head. These smell delicious. And they do look good. I could take one, that wouldn’t hurt anypony… And I did pay for them, so they are mine. I will have one. Just a taste before I take them back.

She put the basket down and looked around to see if Angel was watching, but there was nothing around her but the cool spring air that further increased her appetite. The animals were all in the house and there wasn’t anypony that she could see or hear, so she carefully reached down into the basket and took out a square shaped cookie. She raised it up, keeping it in her teeth then gently nudged her head to allow it to fall into her mouth. Even if she was eating in secret, there was no reason not to be civil. But as she was preparing to take the first bite, the smell of the dissolving treat filled her with an urgent desire to swallow it whole, and she did. She stumbled for a moment and closed her eyes from discomfort as the whole cookie awkwardly slid down her throat. Once she regained composure, she looked at the basket in front of her with pupils nearly as wide as her eyes. Have to. Eat. MORE!

She threw her head into the basket; civility lost to the insatiable desire for more of that smell, of the taste and soon even the feeling of strangely shaped pieces scrubbing against her throat. She didn’t care what she bit at, but she felt the random shapes leaving different traces on the way to the stomach. There were cylindrical and flat, curvy and straight, as if the Mrs. Cake had far too much time on her hooves and had decided to experiment with every shape imaginable. Before long, and gasping for more, Fluttershy found herself half-lying on the ground, her hind legs starched out to the sides and her hooves encircling the empty basket. She was looking at it, her irises now as small as bits. Only crumbs remained. She was physically exhausted, as if she had just flown to Cloudsdale and back. Between the heavy panting, she could only utter one thing.

“Oh, no.”

The awakening was accompanied by shame. It wasn’t like her at all to lose control over her actions; a few temporary moments of anger induced rage notwithstanding. Yet there she was, lying on the floor much like Berry Punch at the opening of cider season. Or after Winter Wrap Up. Or on Hearts Warming Eve. Or on Nightmare Night. Or on any other holiday and event in Equestria. For the first time in a while she was afraid. Not of any outside threats – there were plenty of times when she was afraid of those – but of herself. Something had snapped inside of her and took control of her actions.

Not wanting to be seen by anyone she rose as fast as she could, only to get yet another unpleasant side-effect of having eaten such a large amount of pastry. Her stomach reminded her of its existence with a sharp pain, just as her legs straightened out and she instinctively wrapped one hoof around it and closed her eyes. Her stomach seemed to grow heavier with every moment, but she knew that lying down would only worsen the situation. What have I done? was the only thing going through her head.

The sharp pain only grew with every second she stood there and she started controlling her breathing to ease it. One deep breath in, wait a few seconds, and out - to slow the blood flow and ease the lungs against the stomach itself. The same approach had worked for her every time that she had eaten food that didn’t entirely agree with her. With her abdomen calmer, she looked at the crumbs in the basket, her eyes going wide once more. She wanted to reach for them; to lick the bottom of the basket clean, but at the last minute pulled away.

No, no! She shook her head and forced herself not to think of the crumbs or their delicious taste. A cold chill went down her spine as she realized that the crumbs were drawing her in, their smell trying to gain control over some part of her brain, or shut it down. She didn’t know which, but she suddenly knew why she had stuffed herself full. The crumbs just didn’t have enough of the smell to enchant her again. Without a second’s thought she swiped her hoof across the ground, sending soil and dust flying at the basket to trap the smell. There was only one course of action, to rush to Twilight in the hopes that she would know what to make of the deceptive cookies. With slow movements, she picked up the basket, all the time keeping vary of any warning signs that the smell was escaping, then raised her head back up and-

The feeling of heaviness returned, as did the pain, only in amplified form. Either it was the sheer quantity of them that she had eaten or something was very wrong with those cookies. The jolt held her in her tracks for a second, but she forced herself to move, one leg at a time. With slow steps she crossed the bridge and made her way to the road for the newly-spawned castle in Ponyville. Again, she controlled her breathing, but this time the effect was minimal. With every step the weight in her stomach grew and she felt the individual cookies and crackers rolling around, pressing themselves against the walls with their sharp edges. Twilight will know what to do. Twilight-

On an empty path, in the middle of a small forest between her cottage and Ponyville, Fluttershy froze in place, tears forming in her eyes and shaking with dread. The small pieces of pastry inside her had suddenly changed into something very different. The movement had stirred the pastries around and had forced her stomach to contract, effectively squeezing them. Where she merely felt their presence before, she could feel them now, cutting into her stomach with razor like pain. All it took was a single electrifying surge of pain shooting through her body for her to know that taking another step forward would cause unimaginable pain. So she stood still, cold sweat slowly gathering at the top of her forehead.

She looked around as much as she could, fearing to even move her head, and whimpered through the handle of the basket still in her mouth. This was no longer a tummy ache from overeating, it was a deliberate act of food poisoning. Somepony will come by, somepony has to come by! she shouted in her mind as the pain slowly grew, despite her best efforts to curb it. Every second spent forcing her body into an unnatural tension was like a minute to her. The fact that she had stopped mid-walk was a constant reminder in the form of a dull pain growing unevenly at each of her legs. It wouldn’t take long before a cramp would form. Even the basket was beginning to press down on her jaw, and she felt the pressure of her teeth against the gum. But the dirt road ahead was empty, no sounds coming from anywhere.

A few agonizing minutes later, she realized a fact that would have made her happy on a normal day. Nopony’s going to come by. She had chosen the cottage for the very reason that was now standing between her and the other ponies; it gave her solitude by being far enough from the town to ensure that nopony walked by it unless they wanted to see her or ventured out into the Everfree forest, and nopony but herself and her friends ever did that. A single spark of a thought appeared, but quickly vanished. My friends - no. She had told them about Angel’s birthday party and that he would probably prefer the company of other animals during the day. It was only at night that anypony would show up to congratulate him.

Maybe I can- dozens of blades scraped and tore into her stomach as she tried to move and she let out a short scream, cut short by the gasp for air that immediately followed, releasing the basket to the ground. She stood frozen once again, her eyes closed and head held as high as possible, as if the tension in her neck could somehow reduce the stress on her abdomen. But the cuts were now irritated by the acids in the stomach, leaving Fluttershy gritting her teeth in silence, trying to escape to the sanctuary of her thoughts.