The Book of Friendship

Making her way into town, it seemed to Withania that the sun was set just a little lower in the sky than usual. She could feel the warmth on her face, a constant presence. It might just be her imagination though.

Maybe.

Withania wasn’t entirely sure how she was going to go about this little project. Well, the general plan had taken root in her head now, but the specifics were probably going to be improvised. Sometimes you just had to put hoof to road and see what happened.

As it turned out, while her head had been distracted by thinking of how this was all going to pan out, those green hooves had led Withania nearly to the centre of Ponyville, right across from Sugarcube Corner. The same Sugarcube Corner where a certain pink party pony worked. It was still early morning; the mid-afternoon rush for sugary pick-me-ups would not start for a few hours. Withania stared at the building for a moment or so. It was as good a place to start as any. Shrugging, the mare trotted over and went inside, the door closing gently shut behind her.

There were actually one or two ponies in the bakery, but it was still quieter than usual inside. One of them - a stranger as far as Withania can tell - did a double-take when he sees her and then looks away. Maybe she was getting more well-known than previously thought. Would Pinkie know her? Well, Pinkie was one of those ponies who seemed to know every other pony, so it was a moot point. Withania made her way over to the counter, the smell of freshly-baked sugar-filled goodness filling her nostrils. She tried to scan the counter quickly, to have an order ready for when-

“Hey hey! Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!” So entered target number one. Withania actually jumped a little at the sudden greeting before composing herself. There she was: Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter, those glittering baby-blue eyes freely showing the sheer depth of her joie de vie. “What can I get you? Chocolate orange cakes?” A sample tray was held up for viewing.

“Well, I-”

“Banana Berry Split?” Another tray appeared, a delectable ice-cream treat on top.

“That looks great, but-”

“Cinnamon Tornado Swirl?” The Pink Pony continued to offer treats with a third tray.

“Actually,” countered Withania, raising her voice just a little bit. “I was wondering if… how are you even holding all those trays?”

“Hehe, practice!” The tempting offers were placed back behind the counter, with Pinkie putting her forelegs on the counter and resting her squishy face on her hooves. “So, what can I get you, if you really don’t want any of that cool stuff?”

“Could I maybe talk to you somewhere private? If that’s OK?” the plant mare asked, furtively looking around. The other couple of bakery-goers seemed like they were minding their own business well enough, but this was something that needed to be done away from any eyes, prying or otherwise.

“Ooooo, mysterious. Sure, what’s the worst that could happen? Follow me!” Pinkie, ever trusting and welcoming, did not hesitate to usher Withania in towards the kitchen area of the bakery. “It’s kinda quiet right now anyway, I’m sure this won’t take long.”

“I hope so too… oh, have I introduced myself before?”

“I don’t think so, Withania, but it’s grrrreat to meet you!” Pinkie shook the green pony’s hoof while walking, impressively. “Ooo, you feel nice.”

“It’s, er, nice to meet you too then, Pinkie Pie.”

The kitchen was, shockingly, quite tidy. Withania had maybe been expecting a mess of flour on surfaces, sugarbags spilling their contents on to the floor and so on. There was no such thing though. It wasn’t just Pinkie who cooked here after all, and it was a business, so a certain standard of order and professionalism had to be met. It was small and homely and warm looking, and best of all, it left Withania alone with her target.

Said target shut the door behind them and bounced into the main cooking area, as though by force of habit if nothing else. “Soooooo, what do you wanna talk about?” she asked. Withania was scanning the kitchen, spotting a rolling pin lying innocuously near the sink, just to her right.

“Well, you seem a pretty open mare, so let me just cut to the chase. I’ve been sent on an important mission by Princess Celestia.” Withania saw Pinkie’s eyes light up, and decided to keep talking, lest the conversation get derailed. “And it involves you, and all of your friends, getting together again. Does that sound fun?” The pink pony nodded vigorously. “Excellent. Now what I really need you to do is just look behind you.”

“Can do!” Saluting the plant mare, Pinkie spun around and attentively studied a nearby clock, as Withania herself turned to grab hold of the rolling pin. Stealing herself, she spun around, only to see Pinkie looking right at her.

“Wah!” The green mare nearly dropped the pin where he stood. “Weren’t you meant to be looking behind you?”

“I was! And then I looked behind me twice!” explained Pinkie, her eyes trailing up to look at the pin raised above Withania’s head. “Oooo, whatcha up to? Gonna roll me up like a lump of pastry?”

“Um… yes, actually. I’ll level with you, that is my exact intention.” Withania laughed nervously, feeling a little awkward. “Hope that’s OK?” she asked, more of a joke than anything else, as she prepared to proceed with or without the pony’s consent. As it turned out, however, Pinkie simply nodded.

“I did hear you were a fun mare, Withania,” she said, before hopping backwards and landing casually on the counter. “Pinkie hears these kinds of things from ponies, you know! But you don’t roll dough on a floor, silly!”

Still clutching the pin in her hooves, Withania trotted over. She had been expecting more of a struggle over this. “Were you expecting more of a struggle over this?” asked Pinkie.

“Yes, I was expecting more of a struggle over this.”

“I can wiggle about more if you want. Or scream!” Pinkie went to open her mouth, only for With to quickly cover it with the pin, putting it right inside like a gag.

“No, that’s quite alright thank you. I’m sure at least one of your friends will scratch that itch later on. For now though…” Withania took hold of the rolling pin’s handles and pressed down hard as she rolled upwards. As she did so, everything upwards of Pinkie’s lower jaw began to slowly squish downwards, spreading out on the table. Those blue eyes went wide, although this was probably as a result of being flattened more than surprise - in fact she was taking this all relatively calmly. ‘Relative’ being an important word, as the earth mare made a series of excitable squeaking sounds and such, both sets of legs and poofy tail twitching with anticipation.

Withania started to roll the pin downwards, flattening the rest of Pinkie’s head. Now, while her body remained perfectly normal looking, her head was only a few inches thick at most. The plant pony let herself feel the newly flat head, enjoying the compact and yet oddly squishy texture. The expression on Pinkie’s face was typically cartoonish - even more so now. “Feeling OK?” she asked, stroking a hoof down those flattened features. There wasn’t a single bump on the surface, her hoof travelling perfectly smoothly over the eyes and muzzle. Her soon-to-be-captive wiggled in what could only be a nod, giving her permission to continue.

Thinking it over, Withania changed positions now, standing behind Pinkie’s head so that she could really push the rolling pin over the rest of her body. She was a strong pony, but this was a manual labour job, as Pinkie was a curvy pone. Planting her hindlegs onto the kitchen tiles, Withania grunted a little as she really put her back into the job. The rolling pin went over the floofy pink chest a few times, settling into a rhythm, before moving on to the belly area below. Back and forth, back and forth, the pin ending up lower with every stroke. In a way it was actually quite relaxing,like baking probably was to some ponies.

Time passed - it was maybe a ten to fifteen minute process. After a while, Withania found herself having to wander around the counter, as Pinkie got herself spread out thin and therefore taking up more and more space. The limbs were easy to do at least, especially now that she had found her rhythm. Each one was rolled thin before being folded up twice and then placed over Pinkie’s chest. When finished, Withania put the rolling pin down and wiped her brow. “Phew. That would have been way harder if you had put up a fight. Thanks for that, at least…” She stood over the end product of her labour and examined it.

Pinkie had been rendered entirely flat and immobile by the process, her limbs folded neatly onto herself in a way that made her look like a big pink rectangle. Her face still had a goofy-looking big smile on it, as the disc-like eyes looked in Withania’s direction.

“This feels pretty good actually,” she said. “You know who would love this, even if she wouldn’t admit it? Rarity. Oooh, no, wait - Fluttershy would definitely love this.”

“Well, they can tell you all about how much they loved it when I’m finished collecting you all,” replied Withania with a little grin, “but thanks for the information. I’m going to have to fold you up now though, so…”

“Okey Dokey!” While this may have been a subtle cue that Pinkie would soon not be able to talk, it did not deter her from speaking at all, as the flat mare’s head was peeled off the table by two green hooves. “You know this is giving me so many neat ideas - oooh, I can feel myself flapping - and then next time I get to mmmf mfmmf mmmfmf-”. Her words were muffled when Withania began to roll Pinkie Pie up like a rug, starting from the head and rolling her way downwards. In no time at all, she was left holding a thick, warm and soft pink tube. The ends flopped down around her sides as it was placed on her back, looking for all the world like just some sort of furry material.

“One done. Five to go.” Withania said to herself - but first she needed to get Pinkie back home, and so Withania trotted off. Ponies around town would have seen the red-maned earth mare smiling happily on her way, and maybe given that pink tube on her back a moment’s thought at most - even if, had they gotten closer, they may have heard a muffled squeaky voice...