A 'Villainous' Friend

Chapter Two

Deviro patiently waits in his seat for the pink pony by the name of Pinkie Pie to inform him of when she can lead him to the one called Twilight. He sits with his joints stiff and muscles tense as he can feel all the pairs of eyes glancing at him from their seats. He tries to keep his mind off of them by digging his fork into his slice of cake and forcefully swallowing it down. He sees Pinkie Pie approaching his table, and as soon as he feels that the time has finally come as he starts to get up from his seat she passes right by him.

“Just a couple more minutes! I need to go sweep up the floor in the back room!” She says cheerfully trotting to the back of the store.

Just a couple more minutes she says, and soon he will be out of this brightly colored prison. He accepts the fact that she just merely has one chore to do, and so he sits himself back down. What he thought was going to be just two minutes turns into what feels like an hour, and the only thing keeping him collected is the sweet aroma of the shop. Soon after, the pink mare hops out from the back room and once again towards his table. Getting himself ready to leave the mare again blissfully passes by his table.

“Just a little bit longer! Mr. Cake went on his break, so I just gotta take care of these last few customers!” She says hopping like a jackrabbit over the counter.

Deviro is first struck by her next thing to do, but he notices that the line is relatively short. He just keeps telling himself to be patient for just a few more moments, and soon it’ll all be over. He slinks back in his chair and watches Pinkie Pie take the orders of the ponies in line.

“Hello! What would you like to order today?!” Pinkie asks cheerfully.

“Could I have a dozen mini chocolate cupcakes to go?” Asks the mare in line.

“Sure thing!” Pinkie says as she sprints around into the kitchen and quickly retrieves the mare’s order. “Here you go!”

“Why thank you!”

Deviro is shocked at how quick she able to move to grab the pony’s order. He assumes that in no time at all this line will most definitely be diminished. Pinkie plows through the next few ponies’ orders as they range from donuts to mini cakes. As she goes down the line the shops begins to empty as the previous customers have finished their pastry treats and are leaving the store. Deviro begins to feel more relaxed and his muscles loosen with the lack of ponies around him. Pinkie is now about to take the order of the last customer, and he feels that now his wait is just about over.

“Good day! How can I help you today?!” Pinkie asks with a great big smile.

“Hello yes . . . I’d like a umm . . .” The stallion ordering then pauses in thought. “A three layer cake with chocolate ice cream cake at the bottom, vanilla and chocolate checkerboard cake in the middle as evenly checkered as possible and vanilla sponge cake on the top. Also. . .” Pinkie then draws a little notepad from behind her along with a pencil and begins to scribble on it as he continues his order. “I’d like vanilla frosting to separate the layers of cake, evenly spread of course, and if you could I’d like some fresh strawberries chopped up and sprinkled into the frosting. Also I’d like vanilla frosting to coat the outer layer of the cake and to spray something on it that will make it reflect like a mirror.”

Deviro’s eyes widen and jaw drops just by how long his order is, and the completely absurd amount of detail he needs fulfilled, as well as the odd request of wanting to see his reflection in the cake itself.

“And for the top of the cake . . .” The stallion painfully continues. “I’d like it to be covered with whipped cream and fruit on the top of the cream. The fruit should consist of watermelon pieces cut precisely like cubes with dimensions of two inches width and two inches height placed around the outermost edges as well as other random assortments of melons, I repeat, melons. However they must be cut up like triangles. Then an assortment of nineteen strawberries and twenty blueberries to build up the middle like a little hill of fruit, and finally I’d like a blue rose to decorate the top of the cake. . . And I’d also like a coffee with cream and sugar.”

“Aaaalrighty then! I’ll get started on this right away!”

Deviro can feel his patience slipping. He feels like bucking his hind legs right into the stallion’s stomach as hard as he can, but he can’t even look the stallion’s way. He keeps his eyes fixed on the surface of his table and lays his head down as he can feel himself beginning to tire. So much time goes by that by now the sun is almost completely hidden by the horizon, and the roads have quieted. Just before he begins to dose off he hears the doors to the kitchen flare open, and so he jolts his head up excitedly at the noise. Pinkie Pie comes out from the kitchen desperately trying to keep her balance holding the wide and tall cake as she makes her way back to the counter.

“Order up!” She says.

Deviro watches as he can feel the horror that is about to take place. She can barely see what lies ahead of her with the cake in the way, and not to mention she is already having trouble keeping herself steady. He can imagine seeing her trip as he dreadfully watches the complex cake fall to the ground and splatter over the wood. He watches as the suspense builds inside of him, and his heart pounds crazily.

“Umm Miss Pie!” Deviro calls as he leaps from his seat. “Here, why don’t you allow me to bring this dessert to the customer?” He asks.

“Huh? Oh don’t be silly, I’ve got this! I can and I will bring this extremely heavy cake to the customer myself!” Says Pinkie Pie wobbling past Deviro.

Confused and a bit saddened he turns back and drearily sits back down in his chair.

“Woah, woah!”

Pinkie Pie’s legs start to tremble as her body begins to tip, but just when Deviro covers his eyes fearfully with his hooves he ears are not met with the sounds of the cake splashing onto the wood. Peeking out from between his hooves he sees that she is still standing, but just barely. He exhales with relief as she sets the cake down onto the counter as the customer’s expression is one of joy. Pinkie Pie recites the stallion’s order pointing out each and every detail about the cake that he had demanded.

“Also I coated the cake in our special sugar gloss which makes it extra shiny! So shiny that I’m sure you can see your reflection in it!” Pinkie Pie finishes.

“Wonderful! Thank you oh so much Miss Pie, you always get my order just right.”

“Anytime!”

“You know Miss Pie, couldn’t I just ask for the usual instead of having to say my whole order next time?”

“. . . Oh yeah! I guess that would make things a bit easier.”

Realizing that this stallion has made this order here before causes Deviro to painfully slam his head down onto the table. He wonders just why would Pinkie Pie even bother to write down his order and even recite it to him in the end if he’s ordered this many times before. He feels the need to tear out his own mane at the sheer frustration he is experiencing. The stallion takes his cake and waves Pinkie Pie goodbye as he leaves the shop. At least that was the last order, and now he can finally be led to the one named Twilight.

“Ooookay!” Pinkie says gleefully as she hops towards his table. “I think that everything is just about done! So let’s get a move on—”

“Pinkie!” A voice shouts from the kitchen.

“Yes Mr. Cake!”

“Are you going somewhere?!”

“I’m just going outside with my new strange friend to go to Twilight’s house!”

“Oh . . . okay. Well before you go can you wipe the tables and organize the cakes in the glass case?!”

“Okay!” She then turns to Deviro. “Let me just finish these last couple things, and then we’ll be on our way! Don’t worry, I’ll get them done super-duper quick!”

Deviro had expected another distraction to appear the last moment, so unsurprised he leans his elbow onto the table and his head against his hoof. He watches Pinkie Pie trot into the back room and retrieve a spray bottle of cleaning fluid and a little white towel. He wants to speed up the process by offering his assistance, but he feels she just might turn him down again. She walks over to the very first table, prepares her towel by spraying its surface with the cleaning spray, and gets ready to wipe the table’s surface. She sets it against the edge, and slowly she pushes the cloth across the table. Deviro watches in disbelief and pain as she moves from table to table carefully wiping the tables clean.

He doesn’t understand why she would decide to clean these table as slow as possible. He feels she must be doing this on purpose; she must be trying to drive him to insanity. He can feel anger building up inside him with each table she slowly cleans, but he tries to suppress it. ‘It won’t be much longer now,’ he tells himself. Then suddenly Pinkie Pie stops while in the middle of cleaning a table.

“Oooh what’s this?” She asks peering down at the table’s surface. “A speck! Well, I’ll have this taken care of in no time.”

She tries to simply scrub the stain away, but as she finds that her attempts continue to fail she begins to scrub furiously at it. However, no matter how hard she tries, the stain still proves unsurmountable. Deviro watches as his anger turns to fright as Pinkie Pie herself takes on anger at the spec’s existence.

“You have definitely proven yourself to be a worthy adversary Sir Speck! But can you handle the might of. . !”

Pinkie Pie dashes into the back room as Deviro listens to her rummage through what sounds like piles of tools and boxes. Once she comes back out she is hiding what she brought out behind her back with a devilish grin as she stares down at the speck of gunk.

“The all-powerful . . . power of General Drill Scrubber!”

Pinkie Pie raises up a large piece of cleaning equipment. A large drill shaped machine equipped with a circular brush that is spinning at high speeds as the electricity pulses through it.

“Prepare to be smitten Sir Speck!”

Pinkie Pie slams the spinning brush onto the surface of the table as the very power of the machine causes her body to gyrate uncontrollably. The chairs and other tables begin to shake, and the sounds of the machine struggling to defeat the gunk fills Deviro’s ears. He can even feel the vibrations being sent through the floor from the machine as he watches in terror and even he himself starts to shake. The machine shuts down, and the ground calms. Pinkie Pie begins to catch her breath, and once she finds that she can now gaze at her own reflection on the table’s surface without the interference of the small speck, she smiles and winks at her own reflection.

“Righty ho then! Just one last thing!”

Pinkie Pie joyfully trots along over to the glass casing that holds all of the cakes and pastries as Deviro quivers in his seat still in shock from the violent act that had just taken place. She opens the case and starts to refill the empty spaces with fresh new cakes while adjusting the others to be sitting perfectly in place. However, there appears to be just one little cake she just can’t get into the right spot. Deviro watches her constantly move and turn the cake around as her eyes are heavily focused on it. He can feel the frustration building inside of him as she continues to adjust the cake, but barely moving it at all. She even pulls out a small ruler to measure the spacing between it and the neighboring pastries which only drives him higher up this seemingly never-ending wall of annoyance.

Deviro continuously slams his head against the table with a tornado of emotions rolling through his mind. With one final slam he leaves his face planted against the table. Pinkie Pie leaves the counter with a smile, happily content with the position of the cake and hops over to Deviro’s table.

“Well, now that that’s out of the way, we can finally be on our way! But while I was doing all those different chores I began to realize . . . your name totally rhymes with ‘iced coffee’! I mean if you think about it the vowels and syllables—”

“Stop! Just stop!” Deviro snaps. “I thought that we were going to vacate this establishment once you had finished!”

“. . . W-Well.” Pinkie Pie mutters as her eyes begin to tear. “I-I didn’t know that you were such a big meanie pants! Well forget it, you can just see your way out! Good-bye!” She says crossing her hooves and turning her back towards him.

Deviro’s jaw might as well drop from its hinges as it hangs open from his speechlessness. He was completely unprepared for the sudden change of her demeanor. He needs to fix this quickly, or else his suffering will have been all for not.

“Wait! You don’t understand, we must go!”

“With an attitude like that then I don’t think so!”

“No wait uh . . . I didn’t mean to come across as malicious in my vernacular.”

“Hmph!”

“Oh please, just what precisely do you want me to do?”

“Well, what do you do when you do something wrong?”

“. . . Offer a blood sacrifice?”

“A what?”

“N-Never mind. . . Well, then what?”

“It’s a magic word that everypony uses when they hurt somepony’s feelings.”

“Curses, I knew I should have brought my spell book.”

“It’s not in a spell book! Look, you’re supposed to apologize!”

“Apologize. . ? Just how would you define that word?”

“When you feel bad for something you did and you want to make the pony understand you didn’t mean it! That’s what an apology is.”

“. . . So, how do I apology?”

“It’s apolo-gize, and I told you all you have to do is say the magic word.”

“W-What word are you speaking of?”

“You know what, forget it then. If you’re going to pretend like you don’t even know how to apologize then you might as well just leave!” She says trotting off.

“Stop! Wait!” Deviro pleads. “Okay, I’ll . . . apolo-gize.”

Pinkie stops and turns with her hooves crossed waiting for his apology, but he stands unsure of what exactly to do. He is unsure of how to use this ‘apology’ correctly. The last thing he wants to do is send her stomping away. This will be his only chance for redemption. Deviro raises one hoof and stands himself straight up.

“I Deviro, hereby initiate my apology to you Miss Pie,” he says, taking a bow.

The room suddenly falls silent, and Deviro is growing tense as he holds his bowed position waiting for her response. He looks up at her, and she appears to be pondering to herself about his apology as if deciding if it is indeed acceptable.

“Wow! That was like the ‘coolest’ apology ever! Oh! Oh! Hold on let me try!” Pinkie says ecstatically clearing her throat. “And I, Pinkamena Diane Pie, hereby accept your apology Sir Deviro!” She says joyfully with a curtsy.

“So . . . have I succeeded in the apology?”

Pinkie Pie then throws herself into him in a dash and wraps her forelegs around him so tight that he can barely take in a breath of air.

“Of course silly! Okay, now let’s go to Twilight’s! I’m sure she’d love to meet the new pony in town!”

Deviro is then overcome with the feeling of success. Now that he has mastered the art of the apology, he feels that he can accomplish what ever other situations he may be tossed into. Finally, the time has come. He has come too far to let this fall through his hooves. He is prepared to meet the once called Twilight, and to tip the first domino of his plan.