Sour Drop Shop

Ponyville doesn't have many places to shop for anything fancy. There is the market for food, a shop that sell quills and sofas is doing fine, Sugar Cube Corner for pastries and cakes, and our little candy shop. The influx of tourists has increased because of her majesty; Twilight, had made it difficult because she is friends with Pinkie Pie. That bond brings attention to the shop. I feel bad for the owners, I heard they have two foals, have to deal with Pinkie eating half of everything they make, and the new waves of customers. I can't imagine how expensive, exhausting, or stressful it would be to have that happen in this shop. Our plan is too have a steady flow of ponies before hiring anypony to add to the pay we have to dish out.

My sister is thinking about flyers, banners, and sales, but I'm going to wait until we have more profit. One day I think of something; I'm going to spy on the competition. I go over what I need; note pad, quills, ink, a watch, a knife, and a box. I aquire my sisters writing supplies and a larger cardboard box that had been used as shipment. I have everything set, my plan is foolproof, and I'm ready. First I get into the box and my sister seals it for me to use. She sets me on the curb with the address for Sugar Cube Corner.

It took a while, the mail mare had to get another mail pony to get me to my target. It went dark for about half an hour until I heard the faint voices of my rival and the mailpony. "Errr, Miss Pie?", the mailpony said.

"That's me!", chimed Pinke.

"This here is a shipment of sugar and it's address to this establishment."

"Hmmm, I don't remember ordering any, maybe the Cakes did."

"Well, sign here to for it, it's heavy, and I'm allowed to take into the establishment for you."

There was silence until she spoke, "Okie dookie lookie! Bring 'er in!"

I heard then back open up, and I was whisked away and into the shop. I tried everything to keep quiet, I didn't put on any spells in case the princess was there and could sense them, or any other unicorn. From the small hole I could see, he was following Pinke through the shop and me in tow, until we got into the storage room. "Where would you like it to put?", said the mailpony.

"Hmmm, over in the corner will do."

I felt the box fly over and be set down and the aura faded from then slit. I heard them go off and close the door. I looked at ,t watch and waited until until midnight to make my move. In the mean time I wrote down what I could and doodled the inside. After plenty of waiting, I cut the bottom of the box, and shook until I got out of the space I was in. The box fell forward and the bottom opened up and I fell back. The sweet relife of being able to stand again was amazing, I stretched and got back into the box, and moved to the door. On the way, I felt something wet on my hooves, must be damp back here. I reached out with my magic, opened the door, and moved into the next room. Started a one way see through spell on the box, and now I could see everything around me, without anypony looking in.

I looked at my surroundings, and noticed I was in the kitchen. I resumed my travel, and took notes on everything that could be used to either, improve our business, the decor to attract ponies, or improve the quality of homemade candy. I managed to get to the main room where the pony can purchase the pastries or hang out. I was making my way around and heard faint voices from upstairs. They were all feminine, each had a different accent, pitch, and loudness. I would have thought there were five but one was so quiet, they could only be heard when none spoke but them. I resumed my spying, and it went fine. I filled out two whole pages of notes. I made my way through and just about I was going to go back into hiding, one of my flaps caught a trash can, and mocked it down. The noise was loud, and seemed to echo. I picked up my pace when I heard the ponies start galloping over head. I parked my box into a small section that seemed nature and deactivated my magic. The lights soon flicked on and flooded my slit with light, I could barely see, but they could. There was a gasp from a few of the ponies, and one spoke. "What happened down here, why is the floor covered in hoof prints?", the voice came from Twilight herself, she was here. I am dead if she finds me.

"I don't know, I cleaned up after the Cakes left on vacation to meet their cousins.", Pinkie said in a panic.

"Well, I hate to say it, but we got another pony in this room, and I intended to find them before they get away.", said a pony clearly from Appleplaosa.

"We better start looking for clues, we have the evidence, not the pony behind it. Pinkie, do you know any pony that would want to do this to you or the Cakes?", said Twilight.

"No, everypony is friends with me, and never hurt anypony on purpose."

"Ok, heres the plan, girls, you start looking for the pony, I'll try to figure out why they were here."

"Okay!", they said in unison, and thus began their search, for me.