The Cakes' Special Treats

Carrot Cake somehow convinced Cupcake to leave Pinkie alone, 'so she could have some time to think.' Before Cupcake did, she told Pinkie one final predictable message.

"Don't forget what I said about telling anypony. If you tell anypony, we'll make sure you never get to see your family."

With that, Mr. and Mrs. Cake left Pinkie alone. So she could explore her new surroundings and think. She tried the doorknob, but found it locked.

She ran to the balcony but found it was also locked. Of course, it would be too easy for her to jump out and escape. The Cakes were smarter than that. But she oh so dearly wanted to feel the wind in her mane and the fresh spring air.

'I want to break the door so bad, but that wouldn't be good, and then they'll lock me back up. I can wait... for a few days.'

She explored the rest of her new room. The most exciting thing was something her Pinkie Sense pointed out. It was painfully familiar, the floppy ear, achy knee combo. Her Pinkie Sense hadn't popped up in so long, and she wasn't sure why, but it may have been because nothing unpredictable happened in the basement. In this room, anything could happen.

After a few minutes of searching, she found a button hidden identically from the button to the basement. There was no hesitation when she pressed this one.

It opened a narrow hatch with a ladder going down. She climbed down the long ladder, which led to a tunnel that went somewhere unknown. Pinkie looked in the tunnel before heading back up. The ladder seemed endless. It must have had to go from the second floor to the basement level.

'No more scary passageways for me. Did they realize their secret escape tunnel was in this room?'

After exploring the rest of the bare room, Pinkie did the only thing she could do. Which was sleep. There wasn't anything for her to sleep on, so she took all the curtains off the windows and made a nest. After removing one of the few decorations in the room, it felt... scary.

There wasn't much that scared her anymore. She had seen too much, but she wasn't used to change. Pinkie didn't like it, but she thought she would spend the rest of her life in the basement. Pinkie wasn't prepared for this. The room was too big; the basement was big too, but it felt small. She needed to go somewhere smaller.

Pulling the curtains behind her, Pinkie found a closet. She went inside and closed the door behind her. The curtains were not comfortable, but they were better than sleeping on the floor.

She tried to fall asleep, but she couldn't from excitement and fear. There wasn’t a way to tell the time in the pitch-black room, but she could guesstimate the time adequately well, a skill she gained after being left in a dark room for a year. She guessed it was about 4 or 5 because of the noises coming from downstairs. The Cakes must be up baking their desserts for the day.

There were hoofsteps outside of the room. The door opened and somepony walked around. They got more frantic the more they walked, they eventually ran down. Soon a second pony’s hoofsteps joined them. She could hear more running all around the room. Nopony checked the closet, so Pinkie just sat.

The Cakes started talking to each other. "The curtains are gone. Did she use them like a rope and escape? The doors and windows are still locked and intact." Carrot Cake said. Hoofsteps accompanied his words, telling Pinkie he was pacing. She could imagine it now, Mr. Cake sweating, pacing, and imagining the worst.

The hoofsteps stopped, and Mrs. Cake said, "Come on Carrot, it's okay. Lets... just keep looking. I'm sure she'll be here somewhere."

"Pinkie Pie, are you here?" Mr. Cake finally said.

'Took them long enough,' she thought, "I'm in here!"

The closet door opened, and the room's lights temporarily blinded Pinkie. This would be a fun opportunity to avoid getting into trouble. She let out an enormous yawn and stretched before stepping out.

"What's up?" she asked as she rubbed pretend sleep from her eyes.

Cupcake looked furious. "Why were you hiding? Did you not hear either of us looking for you? We thought..."

After another yawn, Pinkie answered, "I only woke up after I heard my name. I couldn’t hear you two because I was asleep." She paused for a second, then forced her eyes to water. "Am I in trouble? I don't want to go back down. I'm sorry."

"No, you're not in trouble, just... try to listen next time."

Pinkie nodded.

Nopony spoke for a few seconds, so Pinkie used the silence as an opportunity to ask a question. “What's gonna happen now? Am I trapped in here like how I was in the basement? Do I have free rein in the house? I need to know, so I don't get in trouble.”

The Cakes looked at each other, then Carrot Cake spoke. "You can be anywhere in the house aside from the first floor, and you'll be locked in your room at night."

After hearing that, Pinkie cautiously approached the open door leading to the rest of the house. She took a single step into the hallway and glanced back at the Cakes. Both were looking at her. Carrot Cake was biting his lip and broke eye contact as soon as they made it, while Cupcake just stared.

Pinkie fully entered the hallway and walked around. Carrot Cake followed her, but Cupcake stayed back. She looked in each room. Most were empty or suspiciously perfect. There was a bedroom that had slightly more life than everywhere else. Carrot Cake said it was theirs. She found a living room and sat down on a large, comfy white couch. The room looked just as perfect as the rest of the house. Maybe Pinkie could change that.

"Am I gonna be able to decorate my room? And the entire house? This space is way too perfect. You obviously have something to hide."

"Would that make you happier here?" Carrot Cake asked.

That was a weird question. "Well, maybe not happier, but it'll make us all less likely to be caught, which is definitely a good thing," she said with a thumbs up. At least she would have if she had any fingers. Instead, she just held her hoof up, looking dumb.

"I really want fingers," she said, much to Mr. Cake's confusion.

Pinkie gestured around. "This place is weird. The only place that looked slightly lived in was your room, and even that was uncanny. How many hours a day do you spend cleaning this place? You already wake up at four to bake, then you run the shop, you must be exhausted. You should let the house mess up so you can get a break. It'll make it seem more normal because a mess is normal, but perfection is not."

Cupcake came out of Pinkie's room a few minutes later. Pinkie laid her head on the top of the couch and looked at Cupcake upside down. "How am I gonna decorate my room? I can't exactly go to Quills and Sofas and buy furniture."

"I was thinking this, we go to Quills and Sofas, take some pictures of what they have there and let you decide based on those."

Pinkie spun right side up, "Wait, Quills and Sofas is an actual place? I just made it up..." she said, then added under her breath, "Why is Ponyville so weird? It's called Ponyville when it's pretty big. Everypony lives next to the most dangerous place in Equestria, and they have stores called Quills and Sofas."