The Cakes' Special Treats

The mare looked around, tired, but it looked like she thought nothing was wrong until she attempted to move her hoof.

Pinkie bounced into view. "Hi, my name's Pinkie Pie! What's yours?"

The mare continued to struggle, but she spoke to Pinkie, "C-could you help me?"

"Huh?" Pinkie said, putting up a facade of innocence. "I'll try, but you're chained to the table. I don't know how to remove them." She tried to remove the shackles from the mare, but the Cakes took the keys so she couldn't unlock them. "I can't."

"Okay. That's okay. We’ll find a way out. How did you end up here?"

“I was walking alone, heading home, and I felt something bad… I guess, then I woke up here.” Pinkie replied, "You?"

"That happened to me, too. Why aren't you tied up?"

Pinkie hopped to her old room. Only the sink and toilet were left. "I've been here for a while. This is kinda like my room."

The mare's eyes widened. "Do you know who foalnapped us?"

"What's your name?"

The mare blinked. "No, that's not important. Do you know who they are?"

"Yeah, I know who they are," Pinkie responded. "What's your name?"

The mare repeated herself, voice low, almost a growl. "Who are they?"

Pinkie took a step back and stuttered, "They, um, they told me their names are Carnival and Wild Berry."

After several seconds of tense silence, the mare said, "Sorry for scaring you. I'm just freaked out."

Pinkie barked out a laugh. "Wow, I didn't notice."

The mare smiled, but it looked like a grimace. "My name's Ivy Vine. Do they ever come down? Like to feed you?"

Pinkie nodded. "They come down around 7. We have time to make a plan. We’ll have to do it fast, though. I know for a fact, they'll kill you after they come down."

Ivy paled, and her struggling increased tenfold. "Have they done it to others? How many?"

"Too many." Pinkie said, her body sagging, but her mood soared. "I've watched so many ponies die. But I have an idea." She skipped around the cabinets and pulled out a butcher knife and a hot plate, which Pinkie used while trapped for cooking food. "It's going to hurt a lot, but if we remove your hooves, you might slip your legs out of the restraints. I'll put the hot plate to your wounds to sear them."

Ivy's blue-gray coat looked white. "What? No, we'll find another way! Could you break the chains or table with the knife?"

"I don't know, but every second we spend brainstorming is another second closer to your death. I've seen too many ponies die, and you'll be next if we don't hurry!" Pinkie bawled. She turned away to hide her smile. "We need to think quickly."

Ivy stopped struggling and just glared at Pinkie. "I know you're panicking, but we have hours until Carnival and Wild Berry come. We'll come up with something that doesn't involve hurting me."

Nopony spoke for a few seconds. Pinkie was stuck thinking of a way to get Ivy to agree to hurt herself. She looked deep in thought as well. Pinkie looked around the rest of the basement for her crafts and trophies. After looking through each nook and cranny around the basement, Pinkie failed to find anything made of ponies. Though she noticed everything looked much neater. There was no dust anywhere. The weapons were sharpened, and they restocked the supplies. It looked better than it had in the entire year Pinkie had been trapped. The Cakes must have been busy.

"Do they get any sleep at all?" Pinkie said out loud. "They spend all day at the bakery, like 4 in the morning to 7 in the afternoon, then they clean the house to make it look way too perfect, and sometimes go out to foalnap ponies, and now this? No wonder they keep murdering ponies. I mean, it was the stress of being in here that made me snap, so I bet they feel tons of stress, too."

Ivy cut off Pinkie's musing. "The only bakers in town are Carrot and Cupcake, so unless we're no longer there, that's the real names of Carnival and Wild Berry. but what do you mean by... snapped?"

Pinkie let out a genuinely nervous giggle, "Well, I've seen more violence in a year than most ponies see in a lifetime, and I would have gone completely insane if I rejected their attempts at friendship, so I've become so desensitized to it that being friends with murders isn't that bad. It's like, logically, I know murder is bad, but I've gotten so used to it, it's normal." Pinkie paused while she came up with a comparison. "It's like Princess Celestia. I'm sure she logically knows her lifestyle is super extravagant and not normal, but it is to her. If she suddenly moved to Ponyville in a regular house, she'd feel everything that's pretty standard would be weird. Ponies can get used to anything. And I've lost it when I viewed murder as my normal."

Ivy shook her head. "That's awful. This is all awful, and I realized this. Even if I get down, we wouldn't be able to escape this room, or else you would have done it already."

There went Pinkie's plans to get Ivy Vine to torture herself to escape. Why'd The Cakes have to foalnap someone smart? "You're right. I guess I'm sorry, but you're going to die."

Ivy started crying. "Yeah. I figured. I'm sorry you have had to live through all this."

She cried for the next half hour while she reminisced about her life and regrets. Pinkie tried to comfort her. "They usually kill their victims pretty quickly, so you won't be in too much pain," she said, then continued, "and I'm sure Fairy Dust won't be upset at you after you turn up missing. Nopony will have anything bad to say about you. They'll all be so sad nopony will remember anything bad you did." That only made Ivy cry harder. Finally, Pinkie shut up and listened.

Eventually, Ivy stopped sobbing, her face was covered in tears and mucus, so Pinkie cleaned it with a wet napkin. Once finished, Ivy asked a question. "What's the worst thing you've had to do?"

"Umm," Pinkie started, trying to think of a way to tell the story. "The Cakes? That's what you called them, right? Well, they're trying to mold me to be their perfect little helper, and I get punished if I don't obey. So I've had to help," she choked out a sob, "help them kill. I didn't want... I want to go home." She bawled.

It was now Ivy's turn to fail to comfort Pinkie. "Hey, it's okay. You've done nothing wrong. You didn't have a choice. The Cakes forced you to do this. You're not a bad pony." she said to Pinkie, who was now hugging her.

A loud rumbling interrupted Pinkie's tears and caused her to break character. "Oh, are you hungry?"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but yes, and thirsty."

"Alright!" Pinkie grabbed a cup, filled it up with water from the sink, then placed it in Ivy Vine's mouth so she could drink. She finished it quickly, though some spilled on her coat. Pinkie then left to get some food from a cupboard.

"I'm glad my stomach distracted you. Are you feeling better?" Ivy asked from the table.

Pinkie didn't reply, she instead hummed a song as she picked up a container filled with her favorite food. She shoved a hoof-full into her mouth. Then put it inside her mane.

"Close your eyes, please," Pinkie said as she bounced to Ivy.

"Why?" Ivy asked.

"This food is kinda gross looking, but it tastes amazing, and it's kept me alive this long. You might not want to eat it if you see what it looks like, but just know it is great. Also, don't worry, it's not poisoned. If I wanted you dead, I would do it in a… more direct method."

Ivy chuckled nervously, but she still closed her eyes. "I wasn't worried about that, but now I kind of am. Is it like an awful smoothie or somthin-"

Pinkie open the container and grabbed some food while Ivy was talking. Then she shoved it in her open mouth.

Ivy's eyes snapped open, but Pinkie hid the container back in her mane before Ivy could see what the food was.

She finished chewing and then said, "That was amazing. What was that? It's like nothing I've ever had before."

"Close your eyes again. I'll give you some more. Try to guess." Pinkie responded.

Ivy made it through two more hoof-fulls before she said, "Alright I've got to know, what is that? It's literally the best thing I've ever had. If I wasn't about to be murdered, I'd say this experience was worth it just to try that."

"Oh, yeah?" Pinkie said, resisting the urge to smirk. "It's pony meat!"