Author's Note
Here's a fun little story that I wrote today, featuring a cute pair of original characters. Enjoy!
A Cascade of Comeuppance
Now that Zesty Gourmand’s reviews were no longer taken seriously by the ponies of Canterlot, smaller food businesses were able to flourish. One such business was Cascade Confectionery, a bakery founded not too long ago by two twin unicorn mares. The twins had always dreamed of running their own business together, and had finally gotten enough bits to set up a permanent brick-and-mortar bakery. They were friendly to everypony, and were popular among the community. They both had the same manestyle, but could be distinguished by their colors. Vanilla Cascade had a white coat and a yellow mane, while Strawberry Cascade had a pink coat and a red mane.
One sunny afternoon, Vanilla and Strawberry were taking a walk through the city together, greeting all their familiar friends as they passed by. “This is the life, isn’t it, Strawberry?” Vanilla said to her sister.
“Quite so!” Strawberry agreed. “It’s such a nice day to be out.”
As they turned a street corner, they came across Donut Joe with his delivery cart. Although Vanilla and Strawberry got along well with most other ponies, the same could not be said for Joe. As their bakery was on the same street as his, Joe viewed them as competition, and rarely missed an opportunity to take a dig at them.
“Where are your carts?” Joe asked when he saw the twins.
“They’re back at the bakery.” Vanilla replied. “It’s our day off.”
Joe laughed. “Day off? How will your business ever grow if you shut it down every few days? Even when my shop isn’t open, I’m still out here delivering donuts to hungry ponies. That’s why I’m so popular. Ponies can count on me every day of the week.”
“Maybe that’s why your donuts always look so flat and sad!” Strawberry joked. “They’re just sitting on your cart all the time!”
“Besides, what’s the appeal of donuts anyway?” Vanilla added. “Who would eat one of those old chewy things when they could get a fresh fluffy cupcake from us?”
“Donuts are an art form.” Joe retorted. “Your cupcakes are so sweet, they could give somepony diabetes. Besides, I deliver much faster than either of you.”
Strawberry raised an eyebrow. “What makes you so sure of that?”
“It’s simple.” Joe replied. “We both start our morning deliveries at the same time, but when I finish and come back to my shop, I still see one of you out on the street.”
“We must be more popular, which means we have more deliveries to make.” said Vanilla. “That’s why. Besides, there’s two of us and only one of you. We can serve twice as many pastries to twice as many ponies.”
“Whatever.” said Joe. “Two isn’t always better than one. I’m a big strong stallion who does just fine with no help at all.” And he walked away to continue his deliveries.
Strawberry rolled her eyes as Joe left. “That pony is so arrogant.” she remarked. “I wish there was some way to take him down a peg or two.”
Vanilla chuckled. “Don’t pay attention to what he says. Anyone who’s that full of himself is bound to get his comeuppance eventually.”
The twins’ chance came sooner than expected. The next morning, it was Strawberry’s turn to do the morning deliveries while Vanilla stayed at the bakery to run the counter. As usual, Strawberry collected all the cupcakes and cookies that were due to be delivered that morning, and carefully loaded them into one of the two small carts sitting outside the bakery. The pink cart was hers, while the white cart was Vanilla’s. She strapped the pink cart to her back and began trotting down the street.
As Strawberry passed by Joe’s donut shop, which Joe lived above, she noticed that the sign on the front door still read “CLOSED”, and that there was nopony inside. “I guess he left earlier than usual this morning.” Strawberry said to herself. “But why should I care?” She shrugged and continued on her way.
In actuality, Joe hadn’t left yet. He’d slept through his alarm that morning, and would be in for a surprise when he woke up.
Strawberry soon arrived at her first delivery. She unstrapped herself from the cart, and went up to knock on Minuette’s door. Minuette answered almost immediately. “Hey, Strawberry!” she giggled. “So good to see you!”
Strawberry smiled. “Good to see you too, Minuette!” She looked back to her cart and levitated the first box over to Minuette. “I brought the cupcakes you ordered!”
Minuette grinned as she took the box of cupcakes. “Thanks so much! You’re the best! I used to get donuts at Joe’s place all the time, but then my friends and I found out about you and Vanilla!”
“I’m glad you like our bakery.” Strawberry said modestly. “It means a lot to us. Anyway, I’m afraid I still have more deliveries to make. I’ll see you later!”
“You too!” Minuette giggled. She waved goodbye to Strawberry, then went inside to enjoy her cupcakes.
Strawberry made her way around the whole city, making many more deliveries to many happy ponies. Eventually, she only had one box of cookies left, and decided to take a shortcut through an alleyway that led back to her own street. The alleyway had a one-way sign next to it, because it was too narrow to even fit two ponies across.
At that moment, Joe woke up. He looked at the clock and realized that he’d overslept by about an hour. “Oh, horseapples!” he exclaimed. “I’m late for my morning deliveries!” He jumped out of bed and ran downstairs to find his cart. He was lucky that he’d loaded it up the night before. He hastily strapped the cart to his back and ran out of the shop.
Joe galloped down the street, desperately searching for the location of his first delivery. Eventually, he realized that it was on the next street over, and quickly turned down a narrow alleyway. He didn’t notice the wrong way sign right next to it.
Joe sped through the alleyway, which was barely wide enough to fit his cart. He was so preoccupied with getting to his first delivery that he didn’t see Strawberry coming in the opposite direction.
Strawberry freaked out, but there was nothing she could do. Joe slammed into her and everything went flying. Strawberry fell flat on her stomach but managed to catch the box of cookies. Her cart, however, landed on the ground and smashed into pieces. As Joe was sent sprawling, his cart flipped over and landed on top of him, burying him in his own donuts. It was an awful mess.
Back at the bakery, Vanilla glanced up at the clock. It had been over an hour, and Strawberry had not returned. Worried about her sister, Vanilla decided to go out and look for her. Since there was no one in the bakery but her, she flipped the “OPEN” sign to “CLOSED”, and headed out.
It didn’t take her long to find Strawberry. When she passed by the first alleyway, she saw her twin sister standing among the splintered remains of her cart. “Oh my gosh, Strawberry!” Vanilla cried as she ran over. “Are you okay?”
Strawberry had several scratches on her face and legs, but was otherwise uninjured. “I’m fine.” she replied. “Joe, on the other hand...”
Vanilla looked at the pile of donuts. “Oh dear. What happened?”
Joe coughed and looked up at the twins. “I was in a rush to get to my first delivery, and I went the wrong way.”
“Your first delivery? This late in the morning?” Vanilla laughed. “Ha! So much for you being faster than us! So much for ponies being able to count on you every day of the week!”
“Oh, stop it!” Joe groaned. “I made a mistake. It might happen to anypony.”
“Well, your mistake wrecked your cart and ruined all your donuts.” said Vanilla.
“And my cart too!” added Strawberry. “You owe us eighty bits!”
“And you know what else?” Vanilla went on. “Two is better than one! Because even though Strawberry’s cart got smashed up, my cart is still in perfect shape! I’ll go get it.” She trotted back to the bakery and returned with the white cart. She levitated the last box of cookies and placed it in the cart. Then she and Strawberry headed off to make their last delivery of the morning.
Joe, meanwhile, was left to lay in the remains of broken carts and splattered donuts. Needless to say, he wouldn’t be making any more deliveries for a while.
