No Trouble on the Storefront
Most days, the Bread and Butter Bakery was very busy. They had some of the best breads in town. If there was somepony eating bread around here, it was probably from Bread and Butter.
It was, well, the bakery's bread and butter.
The selection they had was impressive. They had white, they had brown, they had whole wheat. There were the crisp and flaky baguettes, there were the dense and sweet brioches. There was the lovely pumpernickel, and there was the delightfully salty pretzel. And who could forget the humble bagel, cornerstone of many a morning sandwich? Some of the breads were braided, some of the breads were shaped, some were baked in pans. And even though it wasn't technically bread, there was quite the assortment of muffins.
Golden Brown was the owner's name, but most ponies called him Mr. Brown. He, along with his wife, Buckwheat, did most of the day-to-day operation of the store. Mr. Brown did the baking, while Buckwheat minded the store. Of course even the two of them couldn't manage alone, especially not with a baby on the way. That's why they had three employees.
One of them was named Radiant Star, originally from Cloudsdale. He was good at flying, so when he was working he did most of the deliveries. The colt who helped with the baking was a shy fella called Cereal. Never said very much, but he was darn good at baking. That just meant somepony else got to watch the storefront.
That somepony was Pennyfarthing. She was good at working with money, but not at keeping it for herself. You could pay with any amount of coins and she'd give you back perfect change before you'd even put your wallet away. That's why her cutie mark was a loose collection of coins in different sizes. Such as pennies and farthings.
"Hey, Penny? I'm off to make those deliveries." said Radiant Star as he trotted into the storefront from the back. His over-large saddlebags were stuffed full of bread.
"Kay." Pennyfarthing said from behind the counter.
Cling-cling!
Radiant Star left through the front door, and took to the skies in a single leap. He knew his way around town like Pennyfarthing knew her way around money.
This left Pennyfarthing alone in the bakery. Cereal was off somewhere buying whatever it was you baked with; Pennyfarthing didn't really pay much attention to the stuff in the back, only the stuff that came out to the front. Mr. Brown and Buckwheat were enjoying a well-deserved day off, and besides that were in the midst of getting their home ready for imminent baby arrival. While she didn't quite get all the fuss about something that pooped and slobbered for several years before growing into an actual pony, Pennyfarthing did appreciate the fact that they trusted the three employees enough to watch the store while they were doing their thing.
The storefront looked pretty much like you'd expect a bakery to look like. Shelves, racks, and displays for all of the breads and bread-like things they made. By the big window, though, there was a nice table with a few chairs scattered around it. While the bakery itself didn't offer much in the way of refreshment, the table was open for whoever wanted to sit for a bit, there was a nice little cafe just across the way that offered all sorts of drinks. They'd even partnered with the bakery to sell some of their sweeter goods.
On busy days it was common for a few ponies to get their drinks, then come over to the bakery to sit and chat over a plate of scones. Some days there was even a writer who would sit for hours on end with a single croissant and a cup of room-temperature coffee, never to eat or drink either until he got up to leave.
But today? Nopony had come by yet. That was normal for some days, but not days like this. It was beautiful, the sky was a vibrant blue, the sun was shining brightly, ponies should have been lined up down the block for bread. But today, there was nobody, not even a peep from the nice little cafe just across the way. Anypony who absolutely needed bread on a regular basis got it delivered, which was what Radiant Star had just gone off to do.
It puzzled Pennyfarthing. Where was everypony? Was there something going on? Did the bakery miss a memo?
Penny sat at the counter and waited.
And watched.
And mulled.
Nothing.
It felt like time had stopped. Surely it was close to closing time? No, it was only half past noon, the storefront closed for walk-ins at 5 PM. On busy days, it seemed like the customers never stopped coming. There would be so many that Penny was on her hooves from lunch 'til closing. Not that she had much trouble with it, mind you.
Now Pennyfarthing wasn't one to sleep on the job, but the past few days had been long, and even though she always slept well she couldn't help but feel a little bit tired. There wasn't anypony coming by, and she'd been working hard all week. A little nap wouldn't hurt anyone, right? Her eyelids seemed to get a little heavier with every passing minute.
She tried, but failed, to fight off sleep as she rested her head on the counter...
Cling-cling!
Penny's head shot up in alarm. She'd fallen asleep! And a customer had just come in!
"Hello and welcome to-- Oh, hi Dee Dee. The usual?" Penny asked with a sigh of relief. It was only one of their regular customers, Derpy Ditzy "Muffins" Bubbles Doo Hooves, sometimes jokingly referred to as the Mare of Many Names. She and Penny were good friends, so she usually called her Dee Dee for short.
"Hey, Penny. The usual!" smiled the wall-eyed pegasus.
Penny nodded and grabbed a paper bag. "Two and a half dozen assorted muffins, mostly blueberry, but some with bran too. That'll be 28 bits."
"Here ya go!" said Derpy, dropping 8 coins on the counter.
"Whaddaya know, perfect change as always." Penny commented.
"I really like muffins." the grey pegasus replied. The paperbag was rolled shut and sealed with a sticker that had the bakery's logo on it.
"Muffins are pretty good, aren't they?" agreed Penny as Derpy picked up her muffins. "Have a nice day, Dee Dee!"
Cling-cling!
Penny sighed in relief again. If it had been any other day, she'd not have had enough time to fall asleep. How long had it been since she shut her eyes, anyway? She was shocked to check the clock and see that she'd fallen asleep for an entire hour. Sweet Celestia, she was more tired than she'd thought.
So, to try and pass the time and keep herself from falling asleep, Penny did her best to keep busy. She took stock of the breads up on their shelves, in the displays, on the racks. She inspected the cracks and corners for dust, crumbs, and spiders. She walked around the storefront and made sure all the windows were dust free, and that they opened without fuss.
In short, it worked. Moving around and doing something made her less tired, and she didn't feel like falling asleep anymore.
But now she had the opposite problem.
She was getting antsy.
Where was Cereal? He should have been back by now, right? How hard was it to find a bag of flour? And what about Radiant Star? What was taking him so long? Usually he'd have been in and out of the store several times by now.
And then she started thinking about Mr Brown and Buckwheat. Were they doing fine at home? Was the baby on its way yet? Penny didn't know that much about babies, come to think about it. She did know enough, however, to know that she wanted nothing to do with them. She'd rather skip the messy parts and go right to the fun parts. Maybe that's why her brother kept saying "she'd make such a great aunt".
After a while, there wasn't much else to keep her busy. The clock had just reached 2 PM, but what was she going to do for the last three hours of her work day?
If one of her co-workers were here, they could chat for a while. Well, if Radiant were here they could chat. Cereal didn't talk much, but he could sure bake pretty dang good. Some days Penny appreciated his quiet nature. He didn't complain nearly as much as Radiant did. Not that Radiant liked to complain, he was just liked to talk. Proportionally, he complained about the same as anypony would, but because he talked so much it seemed like there was always something to complain about.
The waiting was getting to be unbearable. Penny found herself pacing back and forth, from one end of the counter to the other.
Maybe Cereal was already back. The back door to the kitchen only opened by key, and Cereal had been trusted with a copy. And if he had come in, he wasn't the sort to announce himself without a reason. That meant Cereal could have been in kitchen this entire time.
So Penny looked into the kitchen.
The kitchen was dark, just like it was when nopony was in it. To satisfy her curiosity, she turned on the lights.
She just about jumped out of her skin at what she saw. A stark white pony in the centre of the kitchen, rolling out dough on the counter.
The pony looked at her and said "I got some flour."
"Cereal?" Penny asked confusedly.
Cereal nodded. "I spilled some." he said, referring to the fine white powder that coated him as well as his immediate vicinity.
"Oh, you looked like a ghost." Penny sighed in relief. "Why were you working in the dark?"
Cereal shrugged. He was hard at work kneading and rolling and knotting the bread dough. Working quickly and with precision, he split it into three strands and deftly braided the three together like a circle of schoolyard fillies. He placed it onto a breadpan and sprinkled salt on the loaf before moving on to prepare another loaf.
"I guess it's not important. How long ago did you get back?"
Cereal shrugged. There were now three pans worth of bread. He was also moving on from the braided bread, to the heavier loaves with bits of grains mixed in. "Radiant's back." he finally said.
Cling-cling!
"Hey Penny, I'm back!" shouted Radiant.
"So he is." Penny agreed. She went out to the storefront to meet him.
"You wouldn't believe all the trouble I went through to do those deliveries." Radiant said when he saw Penny.
"Trouble? What kind?" Penny asked curiously.
Radiant groaned and let himself fall into one of the chairs by the big window. "Oh it was a big mess, that's what it was. Wouldn't you believe it, nopony was at home anywhere? I went looking around, everywhere was closed up. Only place that was open was the nice little cafe across the way, and us."
"Really? Where was everypony?"
"Well, I had to double check town to be sure, but that's when I noticed that it was getting kinda cold and cloudy. And then it started snowing a bit. It's the middle of the freaking summer, no Weather Pony worth their salt would let it snow in summer! It felt pretty weird, until I noticed this massive rainbow shoot up from a big field between here and Canterlot. A few moments later, the clouds just up and disappeared."
Penny frowned. "That's odd. Why didn't I notice it?"
"Heck if I know, but here's the kicker," Radiant paused, letting the moment sink in. "Literally everypony from town was over in that field! And everypony from not just Canterlot, but Cloudsdale too! And a bunch of Griffons, Dragons, Yaks, Hippogriffs, and even a whole load of Changelings."
"Likely story. You just spent all your time napping on a cloud somewhere, and the rest of town was off doing some sort of musical number." Penny rolled her eyes.
"Hey, you heard it right from the horse's mouth. Ask literally anypony else, they'll tell you the same thing." Radiant replied.
Penny chuckled. "Well, it would explain why we only had one customer today. Dee Dee came by, for the usual."
"Oh, Dee Dee and her muffins. She and I went to flight school together, you know." Radiant began.
Penny just smiled. She'd heard Radiant talk all about how he knew Dee Dee, and how he knew all the famous ponies who'd come out of Cloudsdale in the last few years.
Now that her two co-workers were back at the bakery, the rest of Penny's workday went by quite quickly. Radiant with his endless words, and Cereal with his steadfast presence put her at ease. When the three of them closed up for the evening and went their separate ways for the night, Penny hoped to herself that she wouldn't have another day like this one anytime soon.
