How to tell Reality from an Illusion ( Unedited)
" Thank you and have a nice day! " Pink Cupcake said as she placed a brownie in a bag and handed it to the stallion in the other side of the counter. She smiled as she looked around her calm bakery with ponies chatting, laughing, smiling, enjoying themselves. It's her ideal place to be. Her bakery is where she spends the most time. She casually walks to the back of her kitchen and starts on a few dishes, looking out her window and people watches, something she does every day. She grins and continues to scrub a pan when something flashes and catches her eye. Pink Cupcake, suprised and curious, looks up and glances out her window again to find a stallion performing outside her shop. " Not in front of my store!" She grumbles as she starts to make her way outside to give this gentleman a peice of her mind. As she walks outside she slows and suddenly grows chary. Pink Cupcake finally musters up the nerve to talk to him. " Um, Excuse me? Excuse me! Um sir? Uh, I was wondering if you could move your performance somewhere else. I don't wish to loose any of my customers"
He paused and looked at her, standing there, fragile as glass. " I could, but I think that would be bad for the both of us." He said with a smile and continued his act.
" well may I ask why you say that?" She asked in a similar tone as before, although this time a little more assertive.
Again, he pauses his show and smiles before saying, " Well, after I showed up, not only have more ponies come to your bakery, they have come out to enjoy my act as well."
Pink looks around, and now that she's paying attention, she is noticing an increase of customers than usual. " Alright, I see your point, but do you mind telling me what it is that you do exactly?" She said as she gestured toward a light gray duffle bag filled to the brim with supplies sitting on the corner of the block.
" I'm a magic comedian." The stallion answers. " And I'm guessing by the frosting on your muzzle your a baker here."
" The only baker here, right." Pink said. " And is your show fillie friendly? I really don't want any reason for any of my customers getting angry with me."
" Well, I guess I could tone down my act a little bit..." The pony responded as he starts to scratch the back of his head and looked away a little.
" Yes, thank you. I can get rather particular about these kind of things." Pink said as she starts to pace in a small circle around his performance space and starts rambling questions about his act.
He smirks before holding his hoof out to stop her. " Well first I need to know your name." He laughs.
" Hiw rude of me!" She gasped. " Pink Cupcake, and if I'm going to tolerate you on my corner, I need to know yours."
" Spectacle Illusion, but most call me Spec." Spec said as he grinned.
" Ok then, Spec." Pink said as she holds her hoof out for a hoof shake.
As he takes it, he says, " It's a pleasure." And his smile grows a little.
While on the other hand, Pink Cupcakes smile quickly flipped into a frown as she lifts her nose up to smell the air. Something was burning. " OH SWEET CELESTIA! Don't cause to much trouble as I go handle this!" Pink shreaked as she made a mad dash inside and to her oven.
Spec leers as he slowly starts his act again.
~~~
Once inside her kitchen, Pink snatches her oven mitts and holds her breath as she opens the oven, prepared for the worst. The carrot cake she was making was burnt to a crisp, pitch black all around. " What a * caugh* mess!" She complained as she took the cake to the dumpster out back and brought the pan, with burned on cake pieces, to the sink. " I'm gonna need to put some real elbow grease into this to get it off" she sighed as she started work again.
She reached for the sprung and watched Spec. The way he made ponies smile, the way he laughed with his audience, the bright lime green color of his eyes. She slowly came to a stop with her work and stared at him for a few minutes. " NO! You can't like him! He's causing a riot out there just look at him! This us supposed to be a calming ship, not some rodeo!" She lectured herself, shaking her head and returned to work at her what seemed like a hopeless chore. But her attention didn't hold out because she found herself staring again at the navy blue stallion. " No, no, NO! You DON'T like him! He's NOT cute, he's NOT attractive, he's NOT supposed to be here! He's wild, bad, attention hogging, good with kids, nice, loves to make ponies smile like you do... NOT REAL NOT REAL! He's off limits and you know better!"
She shakes her head and finished the job in uninterrupted, if you don't count all of the thoughts racing through her head a mile a minut about Spec. She quickly starts another cake and finds her self hurrying back outside with Spec.
Once outside again, she smiles and waves to him and walks up to him. " Well, I just lost a carrot cake." Pink said smiling with crumbs on her mane and ashes on her muzzle from the aftermath cleaning.
" And I thought the cute ones could bake." Spec said as he picked a few crumbs out if Pink Cupcakes deep magenta mane and tossed them aside.
Pink Cupcake, shocked by this statement, blushes and turned away a little. " Well, you better get going, shop closes in twenty minutes." She said as she looked back into his eyes before double checking her watch.
" oh alright." Spec replied as he starts to pack his things into his duffle.
" Will I uh... Will you be hanging around often?" Pink Cupcake said sheepishly as she started to slowly walk towards the bakery's front door.
Spec smiled at that statement. " If you want me around I can."
Pinks face grew a brighter shade of red than the cherries she uses to make her cherry pie. She paused and silently debated with herself weather or not she should say what she felt or what she should. After a little while she shook her head and said, " Ya. I kinda do." With a smile on her face, proud of herself for speaking her heart over her mind.
" Ok then, I'll be back tomorrow." Spec said as he hoisted his duffle into his back and used his horn to teleport out of sight.
Frazzled by the pace of events, Pink Cupcake shook her head before saying goodbye to the place where the stallion used to be. She walked back inside and closed up shop, climbed the stairs in the back to her small apartment. That night she could hardly get any sleep because of her excitement of seeing the colt again.
