Upper Crust

Despite being one of the first ponies generally to get to the paper filly and pick up the morning paper before he started work, today Pinny was surprised to find there was but a few copies left when he took one.

As he started to have a quick look through on the way back to the bakery he could see why. It was a special edition outlining the entirety of the Princess’s visit. The entire first half of it was devoted to not just a rough plan (as best the reporters could guess to her movements) of her visit but also other articles explaining facts about her life and all her accomplishments. As Pinny had already said to Cookie he was never much of a royalist. His eyes glanced over the articles of her almost fantastical achievements which from what he could tell, boiled down to saving the world several times over. With a small roll of his eyes he placed the paper in a saddle bag and carried on back to the store, there was only really one thing from it he needed to tell Cookie.

“It’s today.” he said, putting the paper on the counter top as she immediately grabbed it up and started to read through, quickly getting to where he had found the article with that bit of information. It was a few paragraphs into where they suspected she’d be visiting.

“Oh yes, they think she’s been in the city for a few days already but shall be visiting the Bronclyn district today.” Cookie read, somewhat repeating what Pinny had already stated but just in more detail.

“Mmm, well I suspect all the customers will do is talk about it.” Pinny replied, getting the final things ready for morning opening. “Where is?- Ah.”

He was just about to ask where Doughy was when the young stallion trotted through the door, huffing as he was clearly out of breath.

“Sorry I’m late!” was the first thing he blurted out. “But the streets are rammed! What with the expectation of a visit by the Princess I struggled to get through the crowds lining the streets.” he said, quickly trotting to his spot in the bakery and getting ready as quickly as he could.

“Understandable, this is a once in well, probably every few years occurrence.” Cookie thought. They did get visited either by Princess Twilight or one of the other royal ponies every so often. What with Manehattan being a large city they were often here on business. “He’s here now, don’t make a fuss.” Cookie whispered to Pinny, who just nodded and went to flip the sign from closed to open, with Doughy opening the hatch for the Guzzle And Go at the same time. It was odd, on such a busy day with so many ponies out and about so early, the only customer waiting patiently at her usual spot was Clipsy. As no ponies decided to come into the store, Cookie thought she’d go out and talk to her.

“Morning.” Cookie said. It was always amusing to see just how big Clipsy had gotten since last time. Cookie hardly saw her these days what with her now using the hatch all the time. It seemed she was now starting to give up on clothes due to her size, this morning not wearing anything at all. Cookie was starting to wonder how many more bags of treats it would take for her to hit immobility. She’d get her answer once she stopped being able to visit.

“Oh, Cookie!” Clipsy happily replied, giving her a big hug and smooshing her fat body against her in the process. “Seems I’m your only customer! Not surprising since practically everypony is on the lookout for the Princess! I ever took the day off work!” she exclaimed.

“I see, she’s that much of a big deal?” Cookie asked. She was a little more interested in their rulers than Pinny was, but didn’t realise just how much people apparently wanted to see the Princess.

“Of course! Even just to be able to glimpse that purple coat would be something!” Clipsy happily replied, taking a bite of a cookie. “Anyway, gotta run...er, waddle! I’ve got an inside tip of one of the best places to see her, I hope my spots not taken!” Clipsy said, jiggling away as fast as her fat stubby legs would carry her. Doughy just shrugged at the window, with Cookie smiling back and heading back inside.

As lunchtime rolled around Pinny sighed. “This must be our worst day of trading yet. We’ve had three customers come in all morning. How many at the window Doughy?” he asked.

“Just two. Clipsy being one of them.” he said back.

“I think the city is just gripped with Princess fever. Don’t worry about it, we’ll be back to normal once she’s left the district.” Cookie replied. “Hopefully we can catch up.”

As the two were talking, they hardly noticed the robed pony enter. Pinny looked up from what he was doing to see a taller than normal, he assumed mare by the slender body shape, looking down at the goodies under the counter behind the glass. He couldn’t even see her face with the robe covering most of her head and the fact she was looking down.

“Can I help you er...miss?” he asked.

“Oh yes, can I please have a small selection of your yummiest cookies? I’ve had rather a busy morning and I’m quite famished.” came the reply.

“Of course, one moment.” Pinny replied, leaning down so he could pick out some choice treats from under the counter. As he did so, he swore through the glass he observed a flash of the hidden ponies skin colour. A purple? He wasn’t sure, whoever she was, the mare was going through great lengths not to be identified.

“Here’s your order. Would you like a bag?” he asked.

“Please.” was the reply.

At this point Cookie had stopped what she was doing, as had Doughy. Both were, with some caution, trying to identify whoever it was hidden under the robe. Cookie could only make out that it was a Unicorn from the horn pointing the head material up somewhat but it was a struggle to see if there was any wings. Her back was quite well hidden under the cloth.

Dutifully, Pinny bagged up the goods and went to pass them over, but found that they were magically grabbed by a purple glow. Forthcoming from somewhere within the robe was a selection of bits which were levitated onto the counter. It was double what the goods would have cost.

“Ah miss, this is far too much. You’ll want some cha-” Pinny started to say, but before he could finish his sentence he heard the door to the bakery shut and the mare was gone.

“Well, that was odd.” Cookie said.

“I know, I couldn’t even see her. Do you think it was a criminal not wanting to be noticed?” Pinny asked.

“Oh come on dear, what kind of criminal after a crime spree thinks ‘Oh I know, I’ll stop for some really tasty cookies on the way back to my hideout.’” Cookie sarcastically replied. “Did you even make out any of her features?”

“Well, just that the magic was purple and I think her coat was as well.” Pinny said. “But it was all hidden under that robe, it was hard to tell.”

“Wait...purple!?” Cookie exclaimed. She quickly grabbed the paper and flipped to the only colour image that had been printed on the cover page. Before them was a large image of Princess Twilight.

“Purple.” Pinny said. “Well, she did look a little taller than most ponies.” Pinny said, a little shocked. “You think it was her?”

“Of course it was her! It makes perfect sense!” Cookie excitedly clapped her hooves together. “She just wanted some alone time to eat! She can hardly go anywhere without getting mobbed by fans after all can she? And to think! We served THE PRINCESS our cookies!” the mare happily exclaimed.

“Uh, well that’s the thing dear.” Pinny started to say. “We served her the normal cookies. You know? She was so well hidden I thought she was just a regular customer.” he explained with a slight wobble of his lip. He saw Cookie’s joy almost immediately turn to concern.

“Oh...dear.” was all she said.

“What’s wrong with normal cookies?” Doughy asked.

“Oh uh! Those ones were a little old! We had some special ones prepared for her is all!” Cookie hastily replied, her mind already racing as to the consequences of what they’d done. “I’m just worried she didn’t get the best!”

“She might like that, being treated normally for once.” Doughy replied, turning away as he had a customer at the hatch to serve.

“What are we going to do - this is a disaster!” Cookie whispered to Pinny, who was already calming her down.

“Absolutely nothing! Like I said before, so she gains a little weight - she’s not going to blame it on us!” he hissed back. “We can talk about it more tonight, but for now let’s just get through today and if there’s any blow back, we can figure it out then.”

A few streets away, in a secluded spot, the robed mare had already finished half the cookies. She had only meant to eat one and then take some home for her friends to enjoy. But they were so good! She had to have more. Hopefully, she could slip in again before she had to head home.