Sugarcube Corner: Now Delivering to Tartarus!
Ponyville- Sugarcube Corner- Mrs. Cake
I always enjoyed this time of year: the snow, the hot chocolate, cuddling up with my husband by the fire, and taking care of our twins. This year was no different. The snow covered the ground around Ponyville like a powdered doughnut. On every door hung a wreath of evergreen tied with red or white bows, candy cane poles lined each street, and the magic of the season filled the air. Even in our humble bakery, in the far corner we’d placed an evergreen tree covered in silver and gold ornaments, and homemade candy canes in half a dozen flavors.
Yet, even with all the glamor and the scent of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and banana bread, the shop was quieter than usual. Ponies would trickle in here and there but then the shop would be silent for hours. “Where is everypony this year?” I wondered aloud.
“Well Twilight went to visit her brother in the Crystal Empire,” Pinkie said as she bounced over to me and rattled off a list she pulled from her mane. “Rarity is checking on her shop in Canterlot, Applejack is visiting family in Manehatten, Fluttershy is bundled up in her cottage away from the cold, and Rainbow is taking a vacation in Las Pegasus!” She chirped.
“It is quiet without them here,” my darling husband sighed, as he took a tray of blueberry muffins from the oven and set it on the counter. “We haven’t had any monsters or life threatening events in quite some time either.”
I looked up as the bell rang above the front door and Lyra and Bonbon trotted inside. “Why hello girls,” I grinned. “What can we get you today?”
Lyra took a deep breath and licked her lips, her eyes falling on the fresh muffins. “I’ll take one of those!”
“Make that two,” Bonbon chuckled. “Two raspberry white hot chocolates as well.”
“Coming right up,” I said as I stepped around the counter to prepare their drinks.
“So are you two an official couple now?” Pinkie beamed and pronked over to them. “I mean I know you’ve been secretly dating for soooo long, but then I heard Rose say she sold you a bouquet of red roses, and everyone knows red roses are for looove-“
“Yes, Pinkie,” Bonbon smirked and put a hoof to Pinkie’s muzzle and made her giggle.
“Sure is quiet around here lately,” Lyra sighed.
“We were just talking about that,” I nodded, added two muffins to a tray. I placed the drinks beside them, then placed them on the mare’s table. “If things don’t pick up, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
“Could always expand your services?” Bonbon suggested as she bit into her muffin. “Mmm, I’m sure there are plenty of places around Equestria that would love some of these!”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea!” I rubbed a hoof against my chin and stared out the window. Where would be a good spot, that wasn’t already overloaded with bakeries?
“OH! I know! I know!” Pinkie yelled and bounced up and down in place.
Ah Pinkie, always full of bright ideas. Sure, some might be considered weird, but her heart was always in the right place. “Yes, Pinkie?”
“Tartarus!”
The room fell silent at her words, everypony staring at her. “W-what was that, Pinkie?” I stammered, sure I heard her wrong.
“Tartarus. Even big old meanie, weanie villain’s love sugary, wonderful, scrumpdillyicious treats!” She sighed and let her tongue hang out.
She did have a good point there, and I doubted any other bakery was delivering to them. Would it hurt to try? Of course we would need to get Princess Celestia’s permission, but that probably wouldn’t be a problem. She was always saying ‘friendship was magic’ after all.
“Er- I don’t know, Pinkie,” Carrot frowned.
“Let’s do it!” I beamed. “We can try at least.”
“Oooo, ooooh, I better get to baking then!” Pinkie beamed, then raced into the kitchen.
“Good luck with that,” Bonbon said and tipped the last of her hot chocolate down her throat. “Let us know if you need any help?”
“Of course dears,” I nodded as the two mares stood and headed toward the door. “Happy Hearth’s Warming!”
Ponyville-Sugarcube Corner- Mrs. Cake- Two days before Hearth’s Warming
Order for: One(1) Tirek Centaur
One (1) dozen cupcakes, Red Velvet
Location: Tartarus
“Well that was fast.” I looked down at the order form the mailmare had brought us. Princess Celestia had only just approved our request this morning and already we had one order. I didn’t know how many were actually imprisoned in Tartarus at the moment, but one order in just a few hours wasn’t bad!
“I’m still not sure we should do this honey,” Carrot murmured and nuzzled against my cheek. “The creatures are there for a reason.”
“Everypony needs a little friendship for Hearth’s Warming!” Pinkie chirped, as she hopped into the room with Pound and Pumpkin on her back. They giggled and held on tight as she twirled around. “I can deliver them! All that big-old meanie Tirek needs is a friend!”
I winced and tried to hide a nervous smile. “I don’t think that would be a good idea Pinkie. It hasn’t been that long since you and your friends defeated him.”
“Oh, right,” she sighed and her hair deflated slightly. It bounced right back up a moment later though when Pound booped her on the nose. “Oh Pound, you always know how to make me smile!” She giggled. “Then when you go, will you give him this too?” Pinkie asked and pulled a small box out of her mane.
I took it from her and placed it next to Tirek’s cupcake order. “Sure Pinkie,” I nodded. That filly sure had a heart of gold. “Well, that is it then. Let’s get to baking, then I’ll be off.”
“You sure−”
I kissed my husband on his muzzle and smiled. “I’ll be fine, and back with plenty of time to see the twins open their Hearth’s Warming Eve gifts.”
He sighed, but nodded. “Stay safe.”
“Always, my dear Carrot,” I crooned and hugged him close.
Just Outside of Tartarus- Mrs. Cake
With Tirek’s box of cupcakes and Pinkie’s gift strapped to my back, I took a deep breath and trotted into the cave that housed the nearest entrance to Tartarus. It felt wonderful to get out of the wind and snow, but the cave was still just as cold. Before me stood a huge iron door, at least three Princesses tall. To either side of it stood a golden armored unicorn guard.
“Halt!” The right guard commanded, as he struck the haft of his spear against the cave floor.
“Are you a, Mrs. Cake?” The left guard asked, a scroll levitated in front of him.
“Sure a doodle am,” I grinned. “I’m here to deliver these delicious cupcakes to Mr. Tirek.”
“Yes, Princess Celestia did mention your new ‘delivery service’,” the first guard murmured. “You may go in. Call us if you need anything.”
“He’s well restrained though, so there shouldn’t be a problem,” the second grinned. “Take two lefts and a right, then follow the path right up to his containment cell.”
“Thank you dears,” I nodded and took a step back as they opened the doors. A chill breeze rushed by me from inside, followed by a spine chilling chorus of howls.
“Don’t worry about Cerberus,” the first guard reassured. “Long as you have no ill intent, he will leave you alone.”
“Right, right,” I responded while smiling nervously. I stepped inside and jumped as the doors closed behind me. “Okay, everything is fine,” I said, before I trotted down the path the guards had instructed. “Just deliver the goods, make sure the customer is satisfied, then I can go home.”
My ears twitched nervously as I passed smaller cells, dark shadows of other prisoners behind the steel bars. Red and blue rock covered the walls, and somepony coughed as I trotted by. As I turned the last corner I yelped, jumping a few steps back when I spotted Cerberus standing in front of me. “Good doggy,” I whispered. “I’m just here to deliver some treats.”
The three heads turned to look at me, ears perked and eyes narrowed. The middle one grinned, followed by the right head then left, their tail wagged and they stepped aside.
I breathed a sigh of relief and trotted forward. My spine tingled as the left head bent down and sniffed at me, but then let me by as I started my ascent up a set of uneven stone stairs. “Cinnamon sugar on toast is this place nerve-wracking,” I laughed softly a little later.
“Tell me about it,” a gruff voice grumbled.
I looked ahead to see Tirek watching me as I reached the top of the steps. He looked far different than the last time I had seen him, as he was tearing up the woods near Ponyville. The centaur was only a little taller than me now, his arms thin as twigs and legs not much better. His beard and tail were unkempt, tangled, and full of snarls. The bars of his own prison glowed blue and gold with protective magic.
The poor soul, doesn’t look like he is taking to imprisonment well. “Hello there dearie,” I said and smiled at him.
“Hello pony,” he huffed and folded his arms in front of his skinny chest. “So, you are the one who wanted to give us prisoners ‘treat’s’ are you?”
“Yes indeedy,” I nodded and stopped a few feet from the glowing bars.
“Foolish pony,” he shook his head. “Why would you want to be down here, when you could be with others of your own kind?”
“Well as a good friend of mine said, ‘everypony needs a little friendship for Hearth’s Warming’.” I removed the box of cupcakes and Pinkie’s gift from my back and held them out to him.
“I don’t need friends,” he growled but took the offered box and gift and pulled it into his cage. (Thankfully the protective magic didn’t seem to mind a good pastry.) “What’s this?” he asked as he held out Pinkie’s package.
“That is a Hearth’s Warming gift from Pinkie.”
“Pinkie?” He hissed. “Isn’t she one of the ones that did this to me?” He gestured to the cave around him.
“Well, yes,” I mumbled. “She has a good heart though dearie. Why don’t you open it?”
He huffed, but did so. As the box fell to the floor it revealed a cookie shaped like a wreath, decorated in pink frosting with red curlicue hoofwriting on the front that said I’m Sorry, with a little sad faced Pinkie Pie to the side.
Tirek blinked, looking down on the cookie with surprise written on his face. He sat down and stared at the cookie. His ears drooped and he seemed lost in thought.
“Everything okay?” I asked and took a step closer.
“Yes, I’m fine,” he huffed and sat the cookie to the side. He picked up the box of cupcakes, opened it, picked one out, and took a bite. “Tasty.”.
“Why thank you!” I beamed. He still looked troubled though as he tore off the cupcake wrapper and stuffed the rest of the cupcake into his mouth. “You want to talk about it dearie?”
“There is nothing to talk about,” he growled around a mouthful of cupcake. A single tear rolled down his cheek as he grabbed another and took a bite.
“I can tell you’re lying dearie,” I said. “A baker knows the signs of somepony needing to get something off their chest.” I plopped down near as I dared to him on the other side of his cage. “You can tell me, I won’t tell anypony and won’t think you any less tough for sharing your feelings.”
He swallowed what was in his mouth, and took another small bite as he looked away from me. I waited. He would speak when he was ready, I was sure. “It’s the cupcakes,” he mumbled.
“Are they not to your liking?”
He shook his head. “They are good, too good,” he let out a sigh. “Mother used to make the same type for Hearth’s Warming when I was a colt.”
I gasped and put a hoof to my muzzle. “Oh dear.” Is that why he had ordered that flavor? “Is that a… Good thing?”
“I have few ill feelings toward my mother,” he grunted. “It is my brother and father who betrayed me,” he snarled.
I nodded. “Go on. What did they do?”
“Father never felt me a ‘proper’ prince,” he hissed as he finished off the second cupcake and started on a third. “He never appreciated my strengths in magic and the power I could bring our kingdom. He felt me ‘dangerously ambitious’, that I would one day kill him for the throne.” He leaned back against the cage and paused as he took a bite from his treat. “Then one day a hermit I apprenticed under, Sendak, brought a captured unicorn back to our homelands.”
“What?” I gasped. “Why did he capture it?”
“To study your magic,” he shrugged. “There is no one we have found that has stronger magic than you ponies.”
“Oh,” well I had heard that plenty of times. After all, with our princesses and the magic Twilight and her friends had, many creatures had tried to steal it from us. Thankfully none succeeded.
“I can admit now I was more curious about him than I should have,” he continued. “My own magic wasn’t under the control I thought I had. Thanks to me, Sendak was sent away to never see the sun again, and my father had to publicly apologize to Celestia for one of his subjects stealing one of hers.”
“That must have been hard, losing your friend,” I sighed and put a hoof to his arm.
“He wasn’t my friend,” he growled and pulled away. “Merely a teacher. It was not long after that, when my father returned, that he betrayed me.” Tirek looked down the winding stairs to Cerberus below and popped the rest of his third cupcake into his mouth. “He decided enough was enough and I needed to start acting like a ‘real prince’. So he hired new teachers for me that cared nothing for my wellbeing, only to make my father happy.” He tore into a fourth cupcake and brushed crumbs from his beard.
“I’m sure your father just wanted to help,” I grinned. “Sometimes a parent just doesn’t know the right way. My little Pumpkin might still be a foal, but she can get into such mischief. The other day she was playing with her brother in the kitchen while Carrot baked a pie. I was just coming down the stairs after a relaxing bath when she dropped a bag of flour over her brother’s head, coating them both head to toe,” I chuckled. “Now I don’t condone them wasting flour so I gave her a good scolding and sent her to her room with a smack to her flank. It wasn’t until later that I realized that was the first time I used violence to punish them, which is never a good answer.”
“What does that have to do with my situation?”
“Oh, just that nopony is perfect Tirek. I’m sure your father was just doing what he thought was best.”
“Was my brother thinking the same, when he gave away my intentions to your precious princesses?” He growled. “Or when father punished me? When Scorpan annoyed me to no end by making things up to father? Or how he always followed me around like a weak little puppy?”
“Well yes, I would suppose so,” I nodded. I grinned sheepishly as he glared over at me. “I’m sure your brother loves you, Tirek,” I assured. “Younger siblings can be annoying at times and get under your fur, but they are family. One should always be able to count on their family.”
“You think sending me to rot in this cell is love?” He snarled. “How could I ‘count’ on him when he did this to me?”
“Isn’t it better than what could have happened?” I asked. “He must have felt the power of friendship and was sad you couldn’t feel it too. I’m sure he was just trying to help.”
“He traded me for the friendship of you ponies,” he spat. “We who had been through so much together. After I defeated my father and took the throne. I even let mother live for his benefit. He’d have led beside me. We would have had the world AT OUR FINGERTIPS!” He yelled and slammed a fist against the bars, wincing as the magic fizzed around his hand. “But no, he had to fall for your lies of love and tolerance.”
I sighed. How could he think so? Had life been so bad he couldn’t believe somepony could care? “If they were lies,” I said and pointed a hoof to Pinkie’s cookie. “Would Pinkie have made that for you?”
He looked down at the cookie, stared at it for a moment, and then sighed. “A mere cookie changes nothing.”
“Tirek,” I sighed, then stood. “It is nearly Hearth’s Warming, when families come together and celebrate love and friendship. How many years has it been since all this happened? Since you last saw your brother?”
“Quite a few,” he grumbled. “What does that matter?”
I gestured back down to the cookie again. “Perhaps it is time then, to let a little love into your heart, and forgive him. If a pony can forgive you for trying to destroy us all, would it be so hard to forgive your brother for trying to help you?”
He picked the cookie up again and looked at it, his fingers trembled as he did so and a few tears trickled down his face. “You are a smart pony,” he grumbled. “Fine, I will try to forgive him.”
“That is all I ask,” I smiled. “Anything else you would like to talk about?”
He shook his head. “You’ve… given me much to think about.” His gaze rose from the cookie and over to me. “Is this delivery service of yours only for the holidays?”
I shook my head. “If you want more sweets we’d be glad to deliver more,” I said. “Also, if you need somepony to talk to. I think you just need a good friend to help you out.”
A small grin formed on his lips. “Perhaps I will take you up on that.”
“Well, I must be going,” I said and took a few steps toward the stairs. “Happy Hearth’s Warming!”
“H-Happy Hearth’s Warming,” he nodded. I could feel his gaze follow me as I trotted away.
“Everything go okay?” The guard on the right asked as they opened the doors for me.
“Even better,” I grinned. “I’ll probably see you both again.”
“Went that well, eh?” The left guard huffed.
“Yes indeed,” I nodded. “Happy Hearth’s Warming!”
“Happy Hearth’s Warming,” the two chorused as I trotted toward the cave entrance.
I shivered as I stepped back out into the wind and snow. Time for a long walk home.
As I turned a corner toward Ponyville, I ran into somepony tall and warm. “Oh dear, I’m sorry I−” I gasped when I took a step back to see it wasn’t a pony at all.
I didn’t recognize the creature before me that stood nearly double my height. He stood on two clawed feet and was a warm brown color. Upon his head were two bull-like horns and a mane of darker brown fur around his head. “Hello,” he smiled and two bat-like wings flapped behind him, while a long thin tail whipped back and forth behind.
“H-hello,” I stuttered.
“Sorry to startle you,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I was last in Equestria. I doubt anyone remembers me.”
I shook my head. “You don’t look familiar.”
He chuckled. “No, you would be too young to have met me,” he said as he held a hand out to me. “I’m Scorpan, and I mean you no harm.”
“Well that is good to know,” I giggled and held a hoof out for him to shake. “Mrs. Cake. Wait, Scorpan… You wouldn’t be… Tirek’s brother?”
“One and the same,” he nodded. “I got word he broke out of Tartarus a while ago and came soon as I could. Seems you were able to stop him from his plans again.”
“Yes, he is back in Tartarus.”
He rubbed a hand against his arm and looked at me nervously. “Probably still hates me, doesn’t he? “
“Actually, I think you should try to talk to him.”
“Really?” He grinned. “You think he’ll listen?”
“It’s nearly Hearth’s Warming,” I told him. “I don’t know of a better time to try.”
“I’ll do that then. Thank you, Mrs. Cake.” He patted my shoulder and continued back the way I had come.
“Happy Hearth’s Warming Tirek,” I whispered. “I hope you and your brother will have a good reunion.” With that, I hurried along to join in my own celebrations.
Author's Note
Ahhhh am I the only one with a toothache from the sweetness? 
Hope you all enjoyed! Comment, Critique, Favorite, Like, and have a Happy Hearth's Warming wherever you may be. ^.^
