The Cakes' Special Treats

The dish pile slowly shrunk as Pinkie worked. She listened to the Cakes discuss their plans for the day. They just finished decorating a dessert for a filly’s second birthday. It was cookie cake with white buttercream icing and pink and purple sprinkles. A storm was scheduled this afternoon, and Pinkie couldn't wait to see it. Since there were only a few pegasi at home, they created storms in Cloudsdale and delayed them until they were directly above Rockville. Most of the rain was gone after it reached the smaller villages and the Rock Farm, but they survived. In Ponyville, there were apparently enough pegasi that they could make it rain whenever they needed.

“Hey Pinkie, head up about now. The store opens in 20 minutes,” Mr. Cake said.

She finished washing a pot, then walked to the base of the stairs.

“I did a gazillion dishes, so i’ll be easier on you two today.”

Cupcake smiled. “That’ll help a lot, thank you. Here,” she said as she gave Pinkie two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, “An extra snack for helping us.”

Pinkie grinned back, “Thank you!” She shoved the sandwiches in her mane and gave the plate back. To which neither of them blinked.

She was halfway up the stairs when Cupcake said, “If you go down the emergency ladder, you’ll see a surprise.” She left to the front, so Pinkie was stuck thinking of what she meant.

Pinkie skipped upstairs and went to the window.. The sky was still clear and according to the Cakes, the pegasi wouldn’t start setting up the clouds until the early afternoon.

There were venders setting up their stands in the market, but no customers yet. She stared for a few minutes, then trekked up to her room.

Once there, she located the button to the hatch and hopped down.

The entrance was the same, so she climbed to where the first floor would be.

She could clearly hear the Cakes taking through a small hole in the wall. Smaller than her hoof and covered in a yellow fabric, it didn’t let her view much, but it let her hear everything.

“She helped a lot,” Pinkie heard Carrot say. “Do you think she’d like that?”

Cupcake responded, “I think so, we should ask her. Doing the same thing everyday can get boring, but it’s Pinkie, so who knows?”

There were hoof steps.

“It’s a few minutes early, but I’m going to flip the sign,” Cupcake said.

“I’m putting the cookie cake in the fridge,” Mr. Cake said. “Cookie said she’ll be here at 3, right?”

There was a pause.

“Do you think she’s listening to us?” Carrot asked.

“Oh definitely, she’s gonna spend all day listening to all the ponies in the shop.”

Pinkie paused mid-raspberry at a jingle of a bell.

There were multiple sets of hooves walking closer to Pinkie’s hiding spot. One more set stopped right in front of her.

'Where in the store am I? Who’s hooves are those?'

“Hi Mr. Cake, could I have three muffins and a small coffee?” A mare’s voice said.

“Of course, Junebug. You’re up really early today, any reason?” Carrot said, right in front of Pinkie.

“We need to catch the train for Canterlot. We’re going on a date for our anniversary.”

“Oh, well congratulations! How long has it been?”

“Four years,” another mare said.

“Well, I hope you two have fun.” there was a pause. “That’ll be eleven bits please,” another pause. “Thank you.”

The bell rang again, and their hoofsteps faded away.

Pinkie rapidly climbed the ladder to see the ponies who had left. One was a mare with an orange mane with a pale stripe and a pale olive coat. The other mare had a gray and blue mane and a light gray coat. They looked cute together.

Carrot greeted her with a laugh as she came down the ladder. It was more a chuckle, but she’d never heard him sound so sadistic.

There was another ring from the bell.

“Hi, how can we help you?” Carrot said, back to his usual demeanor.

After two hours of hanging off the ladder, Pinkie's limbs felt like jelly. She struggled to the top and flopped on the floor of her room. She stared at her ceiling and thought.

'Their social skills are so much better than mine. They make acting like normal ponies seem so easy.'

"I might be too messed up," she giggled, "but I can pretend with our victims."

She frowned. “I always end up slipping, though. I couldn’t comfort a pony because their relative died, especially if I was the one to kill them.”

'I should ask how they do it. Maybe they can help me practice.'

Pinkie got back on her hooves and trotted to her bed. She pulled out her notebook and continued to sketch her room’s decorations. The more she drew, the better she got, leading her to constantly redo her work. Half of her notebook had decoration ideas, streamers, balloons, an entire fireplace. That probably wouldn’t be possible, but who knows?

She stayed in her room for an hour, waiting for her limbs to feel better. They felt sore. Why did they feel sore? Her body healed everything else. She could stab herself and not feel anything, but hanging off a ladder made her muscles scream? Pinkie wasn’t complaining. The pain felt good, but it made her think.

What other bad sensations could she still feel?

She set out to test it. Pinkie hopped upstairs to a secluded corner. She paused, sighed, then pulled out some food she had been saving. It was an ice cream cone, with three scoops of peanut butter chocolate. Pinkie took another deep breath and dropped it. She flinched as it hit the floor. But what’s done is done.

Pinkie turned and headed to the secret entrance, to the ponies, and to her friends.