The Cakes' Special Treats

"Well, that was awkward…”

Pinkie went into her closet and laid on her makeshift bed, thinking.

'I don't get her. How can she be sad about one pony dying then kill somepony else without batting an eye?'

She trotted upstairs to the trapdoor and pulled the note out of her mane. It went next to the hidden door, clearly visible for anypony to see. When it opened, Pinkie went down.

She climbed down until she heard mumbles. It sounded like Cupcake was still crying and Carrot Cake was comforting her, but Pinkie couldn't make out what either was saying.

When Carrot confronted Pinkie about the knife, she was worried, of course, about the possibility of getting in trouble, but also of having it taken away, which would have made her plan harder. Since she got to keep it, though, she could start.

She pulled the knife out of her mane, lowered herself to be next to the floor, then slammed it through the wall. The noise startled Pinkie so much that she almost fell off the ladder. It wasn't supposed to be that loud.

The mumbles stopped.

Pinkie ripped out the knife and hid it back in her mane. She hoped nopony would notice it.

The hole made the voices on the other side much clearer.

"Was that Pinkie?" Mrs. Cake said, her sadness seemingly forgotten.

"Did she just stab the drywall?" Mr. Cake asked.

Somepony knocked on the wall.

"Pinkie, are you in there?" Carrot said.

After a minute of silence, Pinkie said, "Hi."

Cupcake spoke next. "Why did you...?" she paused. "If you wanted one, you could have asked for a window into the store. You're lucky nopony was near the wall."

"You'd do that? Thank you! You two are the best foalnappers ever! But are you okay? I heard you crying."

She responded with a sigh. "Yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking of some friends that died a year ago today. I feel better now. You were an excellent distraction."

Pinkie smiled through the wall but kept her tone innocently intrigued. "Oh, did you kill them? Why are you sad about it?"

Mrs. Cake let out another sigh. "No, they went into the Everfree one day and were killed by the monsters in it. We had nothing to do with it."

"Oh," Pinkie said, grinning widely, "I'm sorry. That must have been hard for you."

"Thank you." Mrs. Cake said.

"I'm sure you would have much preferred to kill them yourself. I'd much rather kill Maud myself than have her die in a rockslide or something. Don’t worry, I get it."

"I didn't want them to die at all!" Cupcake yelled through the wall.

Pinkie calmly spoke back, "Why should I care about what you want? You didn't care about anything I wanted. I didn't want to be foalnapped, but that's alright because I take part in the foalnapping of others. You didn't care that I didn't want to eat meat, but that's okay because I love it now. Same for murder. But what makes you think I'd care about what you want when you've so blatantly disregarded what I want?"

"What do you want, Pinkie?" Mr. Cake said, strangely calm. She could hear Cupcake quietly sobbing.

"I want friends!" Pinkie shouted, breaking composure, she collected herself and then continued. "I want to throw parties and do what I planned to do when I left my family. Instead, I spent a year in a basement with no real friends and no parties."

"We'll talk tomorrow. You should go to your room, please." He said.

She climbed silently up. Exited the trapdoor, shoved the note in her mane, and laid down on her curtain bed. With nothing else to do, she slept.

There was a knock at her closet door.

Pinkie stretched, then opened it.

The room was still very dark as it was so early, probably around four in the morning, but she could vaguely make out the shapes of her mattress and personal items placed around the room. They left everything possibly incriminating down, so no cutie mark blanket, plushie, wings, or horns. They were probably still in the basement. Carrot Cake was standing in a corner, watching her.

"Hi!" Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing towards him. "Thank you! Sleeping on the curtains kind of sucked."

He smiled. "You remember yesterday when you said you wanted friends? Well, we were running low on meat anyway... so we foalnapped someone. She's in the basement if you want to see her."

Pinkie froze in place mid-jump. "Really? I've gotta see her right away!"

Gravity finally affected her after she finished her sentence.

She looked down. "I have no clue how I did that." She then looked up at Mr. Cake. "How are we gonna do this? Am I gonna stay in the basement all day, because I'm fine with that if I have a friend and the guarantee that I'll get out after the store closes.”

Mr. Cake walked out, and Pinkie followed. "That's what we were thinking. I'll let you go down there, give you breakfast and let you stay until dinner, where you'll be let out. You can ring the bell if you need anything."

"Cool!"

They went through the hall, down the terrifying stairs, into the kitchen, and then descended to the basement. Mr. Cake gave Pinkie a simple salad filled with greens. No meat, unfortunately. Then closed the door, trapping her once again. That was okay, though, because she had a friend.

Pinkie skipped to the unconscious earth mare. She had a curly dark green mane and light blue-gray coat, and a cutie mark that looked like a winding plant climbing up a stick.

"Oh, that's pretty," Pinkie said. "I'll definitely try to do a good job with that one."

She bounced around the rest of the basement, looking for her blanket and harvested skin, but couldn't find them. There wasn't anything in the cabinets or closet. She didn't even find her collection of horns and wings.

"Did they throw them out? Why?"

The mare behind her groaned. She was awake! It was time to play!