Stomping, crashing and, up to this point rather sporadic, yelling had ceased. It wasn't clear what the situation outside was but Mrs. Cake didn't like taking chances with those monsters, especially not ones of such size. She had only caught a glimpse of it before, right as she was suppose to turn the sign from 'Closed' to 'Open'. 'So much for business today...' she thought to herself. The point was, whatever trouble was happening earlier, seemed to be over. The silence wasn't that much better though.

Walking back to the counter, Mrs. Cake hugged her husband before taking over his duty to watch their foals, "Remember honey, no opening the windows, got it?" she had to make sure.

"Of course, sugar, fuuuuuull alert" he gave his beautiful wife a salute.

The mare smiled, her off-spring cuddled closely to her belly. To think such an incident would happen right after their princess's coronation, how horrible! Speaking of her majesty, that was all that was left to do, right? Wait for her or the other Elements to arrive and make quick work of the monstrosity that plagued their lovely town. It was reassuring to share a living space with one of those important ponies. Pinkie's presence certainly made her feel safe, and her foals happy.

"No worries, Mrs. Cake! I'm not moving an inch from any one of you!" the pink pony in question chuckled, bouncing past her and her foals straight into the kitchen, "You're my second family and I wouldn't want it any other way!"

Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake's heads flew towards Pinkie's voice, happy cheers escaping their young vocal cords. Their mother, however, did not share the same immediate reaction as her heart skipped a few beats at the Element's unannounced appearance.

"Pinkie, my dear, what did I tell you about popping out of nowhere during stressful monster attacks, busy rush hours and when I'm on my way to the bathroom past midnight, hm?"

"To always give you a proper heads-up!" the pony replied bashfully, "Sorry, Mrs. Cake! It's just an emergency, no time to waste!"

"It's alright, dear, but um, what emergency exactly?"

"Rox is pretty hungry, I could tell from how greedily he snatched up every food cart and stall from the main square! So I rushed here to prepare for his yet-to-be-expressed desire to eat something REAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY tasty!" she explained, giving various gestures like she usually does.

"Rox? Who in their right mind would come over to Sugarcube Corner when there's a monster attack going on?" Mrs. Cake questioned.

"No, silly! That's no monster, that's Rox!" Pinkie chuckled, carrying many bowls onto the kitchen table.

"WHAT?!" the older mare got straight back up, making her children look up at her in confusion, "That THING is coming here?!"

Just as her yelling ended, fate itself gave her an answer in the form of a thundering voice echoing through the air itself.

"Food of Equestria, hear my voice! I, Rox D. Struction, will devour you whole!"

"You heard him yourself, Mrs. Cake!" Pinkie giggled, "I'm going to make him something he won't soon forget!"

"Oh... dear..." the mare uttered, sitting down onto her rump and staring blankly at the floor.

Rox's chuckling was loud and hard to ignore, making all the ponies already in hiding stay right where they were. Fortunately for the three Element bearers, Twilight managed to poof a pair of earplugs for each of them. With her ears now secure and ready, Rainbow flew up once again to face the giant, although this time not with her hooves but with her words. She circled around his helmet for a while, waiting for his laughter to die down.

"So HOW exactly are you going to wager war against food? Are those restaurants making like, alive food, food-monsters or what?" she asked, images of Applejack's farm being taken over by hordes of sentient apples playing in her head.

Rox focused his gaze at her, scoffing, "No, you equine. I'm going to become what's known as a food critic for the time being"

"I know what a food critic is, dude" Rainbow gave him an unimpressed stare, "That still doesn't sound much like war though"

"Yes, you're right... and that's why I'll be burning the settlements that fail to meet my standards!"

"Now that's more like it! Rad!" she pumped her hoof before a realization hit her, "Wait, no! That's horrible!"

"No, it's inevitable!"

"You can't just DO that!" Twilight butted in, flying up to their level.

"Why not?" Rox asked, crossing his arms.

"H-how is that even a question?!" Twilight was almost out of words at his attitude.

"Your previous princesses couldn't stop me at their prime, and you match half their height!" he measured Twilight's form with the tips of his claw-like gauntlets, "No way you can do anything about me either..."

"First off, my height has nothing to do with how capable I am, hmph!" she squeezed out of his grip, "And second, Celestia and Luna DID defeat you. How else would you end up in stone?"

"Oh, please!" the shining red dots Rox had for eyes did a roll, as if they were repeating his comment, "The Elements of Sharmony did that, not them"

"Harmony" Twilight corrected him, "Elements of Harmony"

"Harmony-sharmony, big deal!" he shoved both Twilight and Rainbow out of his way, nearly crushing AJ as he began walking, "Point is, you can't stop me on your own"

"But I'm not on my own! I have my friends with whom I collectively represent the Element's core values! We have defeated many villains thanks to their power and- HEY!" she yelled, seeing Rox getting further and further away, "Are you even listening?!"

"Afraid not, your majesty!" he laughed wholeheartedly.

"Why you little-!" Rainbow was about ready to crash into his helmet again before Twilight's hoof stopped her wind up.

"No, that got you nowhere before" she tried to calm her friend's nerves.

"But then what ARE we suppose to do?" Rainbow asked as she grew more desperate for an answer.

"Yeah Twilight, what's the plan?" Applejack joined in, equally desperate and worried.

"Simply! By the looks of it, Rox is heading towards Sugarcube Corner" Twilight narrowed her eyes, "We'll just have to make sure that whatever gets put on his plate is good enough!"

Applejack nodded, taking the simple plan to heart and began galloping behind the giant. Before Twilight could join in, Rainbow Dash voiced her concerns, "I don't know... couldn't we just... trap him in stone again?"

"As easy at that would be, I am the Princess of Friendship, I do want to give this... guy... a chance" the alicorn looked between Rox and Rainbow before giving her a nod, "But you can go gather Fluttershy and Rarity! Oh, and maybe bring Starlight too"

"Alright, alright... you got it, princess!" RD gave a quick salute and her body soon became nothing but a blur, fading into the distance at super sonic-speeds. With the back-up request on its way to fulfillment, Twilight returned her attention to the walking iron fortress and hurried after it.

"Pinkie, dear, do you perhaps think that you... overdid it a bit?" Mrs. Cake asked hesitantly. Her gaze was fixed on a massive curtain that shielded something from the public eye, just outside of Sugarcube Corner. How massive, you ask? Why, about the size of the bakery itself, of course! Various tools could be heard smashing, drilling and cutting behind the giant piece of red cloth, making the mare wonder what recipe actually requires the use of a drill (that will probably be left unanswered just like many things related to Pinkie...).

The Element of laughter stuck her head out from a small gap in the blinds, only darkness visible beyond her, "Nonsense! Rox is a BIG colt and big colts require big sweets!" she said, diving right back into her work just outside of her employer's view.

"If you say so..." Mrs. Cake looked worried to no end, slowly pacing back and forth. She told her husband to take the kids and seek shelter while she stayed behind, ensuring Pinkie's safety. Why did she feel the need to defend an Element of all ponies? She just couldn't bring herself to abandon her. They lived together for so long that Pinkie came around to calling the Cakes her second honorary family.

With a heavy sigh, the older mare came to a stop and held her head in her hooves, "Oh this is going to be a-"

"Aaaaaaaaaaand here's our first stop!" Rox's voice filled the surrounding area, shaking the fundaments of the settlement itself, "My, it smells positively delicious~!"

"-disaster..." the mare gulped, looking up at their approaching doom, "O-oh goodness me..."

The walking mass of iron walked right up to the building, eyeing the mystery clotch-covered object, whatever it was, standing right next to it. With an intrigued scoff, he looked back at the older baker pony who was busy having an internal panic attack, "So, this is your establishment? Quite the decor, I'll give you that..."

"R-right, thank y-you" the older mare was wobbling like a poorly placed Jenga tower, "Y-you can call m-me Mrs. Cake, d-dear- Uh, I mean Rox! Y-yes, Rox, right?"

"Correct, pony... Rox, Rox D. Striction!" his attention went back to the bakery itself, "I'm here to test your goods, Ms. Bake."

She could only chuckle nervously in response to the mispronunciation of her name, fearing what would happen if she tried to correct him, "M-my goods, you say? My, t-that is quite an honor, haha..."

"Yes, yes... And it's only fair that your bakery will cease to exist if said goods aren't good enough"

"I see... Dear, could you repeat the last part?"

"Cease to exist" he crossed his arms and began counting on his fingers, "You know, like burned, smashed, blown away, struck by a beam, eaten by termites and such. In short, gone"

"Mhm, so I've heard right!" she smiled at him, "Now pardon me for a good minute..."
Mrs. Cake took a deep breath, analyzed the whole exchange and added a quick 'yep' before fainting accordingly.

"Huh... So... Who's going to serve me?" he looked around, seeing only the princess-farmer duo desperately trying to catch up to him in the distance, "It's not like I will feel bad for blowing this place up without seeing their service, but still, I wanted to be fair for once... Oh well!", he reached for the double-sided mace resting on his back, pulling it out, swirling it and preparing for a swing like a professional baseball player.

"Nuh uh!" Pinkie Pie's voice sounded from within his helmet and, sure enough, the pink mare jumped out from one of the holes on its front, "You still haven't tried what I prepared for you!"

"And you are?" The giant asked, not phased by how the equine got inside his helmet.

"Sugarcube Corner's representative, dummy!" Pinkie placed Mrs. Cake's head on a pillow before dashing off and reappearing near the bottom of the curtain, giant rope in hoof.

"Hope you're ready for a stomachache tomorrow!" with an overexaggerated pull, the red clothes parted, ready to present a stage play. The main star of the play was a big, over-the-top, 3-story-high ice-cream cake with its three layers representing the true and undefeated classics of tastes. Vanilla, Strawberry and pure sugary chocolate! Not only that, but the whole creation was glazed by caramel and covered in sprinkles and powder. Try drawing said cake on a piece of paper. Looks rather plain or outright bad? Well, not with Pinkie's touch!

"Ta-ta-da!" the pink mare sang, party cannons blasting Rox with confetti, "I present to you, the Frosty Stomach Buster!"
Pinkie winked at the iron giant, appearing on his shoulder to whisper, "I totally made that name up on a fly, hihi!"

She didn't have to wait long for Rox to take the invitation, as with one smooth step, the iron being stood eye to eye (do cakes have eyes?) with the mountains of sugar. A low chuckle signaled the beginning of his feast as a cloud of black smoke spilled out from underneath his helmet, enveloping and partially digesting all three layers at the same time. Disgusting squelching and dripping could be heard from within his armor, a series of 'hmphs' and 'hmms' accompanying them.

"Pinkie!" Applejack and Twilight shouted almost at the same time, both finally catching up with Rox's big steps.

"Oh, hi girls!"

"Pinkie" Twilight now held the mare's head in her hooves, "You didn't even let us commence a taste test before handing it over to him! What if he burns the bakery down?!" the alicorn spoke in full panic.

"Pfft, silly Princess Twilight!" she giggled, sliding out of her embrace, "It's Rox's cake, he gets the honorary taste!"

"That's not-" but before Twilight could counter with logic, a deafening swallow echoed from above them.

"Hmm... This Buster-thingy as you called it..." Rox began giving his judgement, "It could easily put an adult dragon in a coma from how much sugar it's packing. That being said..."

Applejack already placed Mrs. Cake's body on her back and was ready to run away from the soon-to-be-gone bakery while Twilight began casting a large magic shield in hopes of preventing the disaster. Pinkie though? She had her hooves pressed to her cheeks, sparkles in her eyes as she awaited his critique of her finest work.

"It is... magnificent!"

"What?" questioned Applejack.

"What?!" shouted Twilight.

"Yupi!" cheered Pinkie

"Mhm! You ponies might be inferior, but you-!" Rox pointed a Pinkie, "I could feel it, your passion and essence being baked into this creation! Truly, a marvelous feast!" Rox praised, giving a congratulatory shake to Pinkie.

"Phew... So, I guess Sugarcube Corner is off the demolition schedule?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"Yeah... now, onto the next one!" the giant turned on his heel.

"What next one?!" the alicorn shouted, utterly baffled, "You're not done?!"

"As if, your majesty!" the engravings around his armor began glowing in a faded purple light, making Rox smile at the sudden development, "This cake... I must aquire more goods, more pastries and meals made with equal amounts of passion!" he laughed maniacally, "I'm beginning to feel like my old self again...!"

Unnatural clouds began forming above the town, their presence black in color and grim in atmosphere. Soon, a vortex formed in the middle of the gathered clouds, a part of it descending towards Rox. With a cackle, his own form began turning into a black puff of smoke that quickly joined the cluster that stretched high above their heads. The newly formed storm began moving away from the small village. Applejack and Twilight looked on in silence, looking beyond done despite this being only the beginning of their struggles.

"What a funny guy!" Pinkie giggled.

Author's Note

This chapter's author's note will focus on the aspect of errors! More specifically, both a question and a request.

Starting with the request, if you notice any errors, point them out as they go, I would love to fix and provide the best reading experience for you guys!

As for the question, I'm not sure if I should capitalize the word "princess" each time it is used or only when it's paired with Twilight's name. Any suggestions?

As always, thanks for reading and see you (hopefully) soon!