Taking a deep, preparatory breath, prior to the oncoming wave of sound and excitement that she was sure would be waiting for her, Starlight Glimmer slowly pushed open the door to Sugarcube Corner.
It was 6:45am - all the sane ponies were still in bed, the sun had only been up a couple of hours, and inside Ponyville's most popular eatery all hell appeared to have broken loose.
Taking in the scene, Starlight was rather concerned at how untidy the establishment was, with tables and chairs strewn willy-nilly across the floor, the unforgettable sounds of breaking crockery audible somewhere close at hand, and various assorted food-stuffs lying on tables, the stairs, the banister, chairs and even the floor, some with and some without plates. Even the potted plants seemed to be given up the ghost; as Starlight watched a tall, drooping herb of some description fell with a clatter from the windowsill to the ground. She nearly jumped out of her skin as Pinkie Pie, as was her wont, manifested suddenly behind her. "Hey Glimmy!" she cried, "How ya doing?"
Rather overwhelmed, was the unicorn's first reaction, though she didn't say so out loud. Instead, she raised her voice over the continuing racket, saying, "I'm very well, thanks Pinkie! How are you? And what's going on here?!"
The party pony grinned in an almost alarming manner. "Everything's just great, Glimmy! I'm just having a little tidying-up session before Mr and Mrs Cake come down for breakfast. Pound and Pumpkin sort of 'let themselves in' this morning, and it's all got rather out of hand. . ."
Staring round the dishevelled dining room, Starlight couldn't help but agree. There was only one thing to be done - and she had the advantage of unicorn magic to do it. "Right then," she announced. "How can I help?"
After expressing suitable gratitude for her friend's timely arrival, Pinkie Pie waved a vague hoof, taking in the whole of the ground floor of the building in a single arc. "Everything, really!" she giggled. "I've sat the twins down in a corner with an almost empty jar of honey, so they won't be a problem anymore!"
Starlight smiled at the earth-pony's infectious good humour, feeling a weight lifting off her shoulders already. The past few days had been. . . subpar, and she had been feeling rather low - not quite as sad as she had before confessing about her depression to her friends, but still considerably worse than she had felt for some weeks. It seemed that a day with Pinkie Pie would be just what the doctor would order, were he around to order it. "Let's do this!" she agreed.
For the next half an hour or so, the two ponies were as industrious as beavers, working nineteen to the dozen to ensure the whole eating area and kitchen were as clean as a new pin before the first customers arrived - and almost as importantly, before the Cakes came downstairs. Pinkie Pie had informed Starlight that Pumpkin and Pound's parents tended to get up at around half seven, before coming down to begin baking, which left them around three quarters of an hour to get everything spick and span.
Eventually, with minutes to spare, and just as the two Cake twins finished their attempt to scrape out the inside of a honey jar with their hooves - and endeavour which, though doomed to fail from the off, nevertheless seemed to be capable of holding them captivated for far longer then Starlight would ever have reasonably imagined - Pinkie Pie and Starlight realised that their work was done.
The kitchen was sparkling, shiny as the day it was installed - in fact, probably considerably shinier, given the amount of dust there must surely have been filling the air immediately following its installation. All the pots and pans which had been turfed out of the cupboards by the eager little bakers had been returned to their rightful homes, as had all the chairs and tables in the main dining room. All the foodstuffs which had been left on the floor had been given a new home - whether that was the bin or Pinkie's ever-hungry stomach - and the carpeted stairs carefully cleansed of all remaining greasy trifle residue.
As the last spoon was dumped unceremoniously in the cutlery draw, Pinkie let out a satisfied sigh. "Whew! That was a lot of work!" She grinned at Starlight, saying, "Thanks for your help, Glimmy. I don't think I could've got it all done in time without you!"
"Oh, that's alright," replied the unicorn, "I'm glad I could help!"
As the tots reluctantly put down their nearly-empty jar and began teetering unsteadily across the floor towards the saucepan cupboard, the resident baker hastily forestalled them. "Whoa there, guys!" she cried, giggling at their attempts to reach the apparent safety of hiding beneath the kitchen table before she caught them. "Are you two all ready to go and wake mummy and daddy?"
The twins nodded eagerly, and Pinkie scooped them up and plomped them down on her back. "We'll be right back," she winked at Starlight, who smiled and nodded in return.
With the excitable trio departed, the unicorn was able to take a breather. Blimey, she thought to herself, I don't know where Pinkie Pie finds the energy!
She thought back to the calm, relaxing weekend she had spent with Fluttershy - after the initial onslaught of animals, fresh from awaking after their long winter hibernations - of the cosy fireside chats she had shared with Rarity (her startling revelation notwithstanding), and of the enjoyable week she had spent camping in the hills with Applejack, and compared all three with the experience of tidying a kitchen with Pinkie Pie. We're all so very different, she thought, and yet we all get on so well. Why is that, I wonder?
As these thoughts put her mind of less happy times, when she had been the authoritarian dictator of her own private cult, the sole aim of which was to suppress such differences between ponies and friends, she hastily tried to shift her mind onto something else, and was relieved to hear her pink friend clomping loudly down the stairs. If Mr and Mrs Cake hadn't been awoken by the frenetic noise of a kitchen in turmoil, they would most certainly be awake now.
Far quicker than should have be logically possible, Pinkie Pie appeared in the doorway, a laugh bubbling within her. "Oh Starlight," she giggled, "You should've seen the Cakes' faces when Pound and Pumpkin went in to wake them up!"
Though she didn't then go on to explain exactly what the Cakes' expression may have been like, Starlight was able to make a fairly accurate guess. Though Pinkie Pie herself seemed to neither know nor to care just how loud the noise of the frantic kitchen scrubbing had been, Starlight herself was acutely aware, and thought it unlikely that the Cakes had slept in much past seven o'clock. And she knew that she, for one, would be less than pleased to be awoken at such an hour by such disturbing noises.
It was sign of how well the Cakes trusted their resident head-cook, therefore, that neither of them had thought it necessary to come downstairs to check if everything was alright!
And now the energetic earth-pony was on the go again - never seeming to stand still for more than a couple of seconds, she was now busily preparing pancakes for breakfast, whipping them up with such speed that Starlight found it almost incredible. Trotting over to offer her assistance, Pinkie forestalled her. "Could you get me some more flour, Glimmy? It lives on top of the shelves over there."
Motioning in the appropriate direction with a toss of her head, the pink pony went back to flipping pancakes, seeming to move in a blur, and somehow keeping four pancakes going, in four separate pans, all at once. Shaking her head in utmost confusion, Starlight turned away, and used her magic to levitate down a large sack of flour for Pinkie Pie to use.
"Here you go, Pinkie," she said, placing the sack gently on the floor.
"Thanks Glimmy! Do you think you could start squeezing some lemons for me?"
"Sure." Starlight cast around for the lemons, and soon found them sitting in a large earthenware jar on a shelf in the larder. It was quite cold in the larder - for obvious reasons - and Starlight was glad to re-emerge back into the warmth of the kitchen.
"Here's a lemon squeezer, Glimmers!" So saying, Pinkie Pie fairly threw the implement at Starlight's head, who caught it mere fractions of a second before it hit her. "Oops, sorry!" Pinkie apologised.
Soon, the kitchen was home to a highly pleasing aroma of freshly baked pancakes, various chopped fruits, and the ever-present scent of lemon, and Starlight breathed in deeply through her muzzle. "Hmm, that smells good. . ."
Smiling, Pinkie replied, "Yup! It sure does, Starry! That's one of the reasons I love working here so much!" Whilst saying this, she continued to flip pancakes, chop apples, prepare hayburgers, whip some fresh cream, knead and mould a loaf of wholemeal bread, remove thirty-six cupcakes from the oven the second they reached cooked perfection, drink four cups of strong black tea, clean all the work surfaces, save Gummy from falling into a pot of uncooked rice pudding, sweep the floors, and still find time to carry on the conversation with Starlight.
Her friend couldn't help but smile in awe at the level of energy Pinkie seemed capable to maintaining, and all without making a single mistake to the orders, which were now coming in thick and fast. Mr and Mrs Cake were downstairs now as well, and were acting as waiter and waitress, supplying the customers with their food and Pinkie Pie with the orders.
Throughout it all, Starlight had tried to lend a hoof, but had quickly realised that the three residents of Sugarcube Corner were a well-oiled machine, preparing and delivering every dish in record time. After an hour or so, and with the time now nearing nine o'clock, the café started to calm down again, as fewer and fewer ponies came in for their breakfasts. Eventually, at about quarter past nine, all the tables were empty and, after zipping round the dining room collecting plates, dishes, glasses, mugs and cutlery and dumping them all unceremoniously in the two large Belfast sinks, Pinkie Pie let out a sigh of relief. "Whew! That was even busier than usual!"
Starlight laughed in amazement. "You're a wonder, Pinkie!" she exclaimed. "Where in Equestria do you get all your energy from?"
Her excitable friend giggled in reply. "I don't know," she chortled, "But it sure does come in handy!"
Nodding in reply, Starlight leant back against the side, and sipped a cup of tea thoughtfully. "So then," she asked, turning to assist her friend with the washing up, "What happens now?"
"Now?" her friend repeated, "Now, we have a few minutes to rest. Then we get to do it all over again for lunchtime!"
At that juncture, Mr and Mrs Cake came back into the kitchen, each carrying one of their young foals, and sat down together in the ancient wooden chairs at the comfortable kitchen table, joined after a moment by both Pinkie Pie and Starlight, who between them had completed the washing up. "So then," Mrs Cake asked, "How have you found your first mealtime at Sugarcube Corner?"
"It was fun, but rather overwhelming at times!" she admitted.
"Well, I hope you cope alright with lunch," Mr Cake warned her; "It's about four times busier than breakfast!"
Laughing again, this time in a not unenjoyable mixture of weariness and excitement at the frantic activity ahead, Starlight sighed happily. Being so busy all morning had quite taken her out of herself, so to speak, and she felt far better than she had yesterday already. How lucky I am, she thought, to have someone like Pinkie for a friend!
Author's Note
(This story is a prequel to Cyan.)
