The Results

Chapter 11:  The Results

            For the next couple of weeks, Carrot Cake made it a point to stay at the front of the shop so that he could get the mail as soon as the mailpony delivered it.  Cup Cake noticed and asked him about it one day.

            “You seem to be working up front a lot.  I thought you didn’t like it.”

            “Well,” Carrot Cake said, “I’m getting used to it.  It’s nice to see my customers and chat with them.  It makes me feel connected.”

            “Whatever you say, dear.  And I appreciate you getting the mail for me, too.  That’s one less thing I have to worry about.”

            “Don’t mention it.”

            So Carrot Cake had assuaged his wife’s suspicions and kept himself in the clear.

            Well, it just so happened that the day finally came when the test results arrived.  They were in the form of a manila folder and the return address was the doctor’s office, so Carrot Cake knew immediately what it was.  With no customers in the shop, he rushed upstairs and hid the results under his bed, vowing to check them over the lunch break.

            As he stood at the front of the shop, he was a nervous wreck.  His mind kept wandering to the space beneath the bed, and he kept questioning whether or not he was the father.  Having the answers at his hooves and still not knowing was driving him berserk, and he had half a mind to rush upstairs and check the results now.  But he knew he couldn’t leave the front of the store for more than a couple of seconds, and so he waited.

            When lunch time finally came, Cup Cake and Pinkie Pie went out to get some sandwiches.  They asked Carrot Cake to accompany them, but he told them he was perfectly content with making lunch here.  The two mares left without questioning it, and once they left Carrot Cake bolted upstairs to look at those results.

            His hooves fumbled trying to open the tab on the folder, so he used his mouth to rip open the top of the folder.  The results slid out onto the bed.  Carrot Cake snatched them and glanced them over, but they were complicated, using a lot of medical jargon that made little sense to him.  Finally, he took a deep breath and looked at them more meticulously, only to find in black ink on the bottom that he was not the father.

            Carrot Cake dropped the papers in shock, and it seemed like his brain shut down.  Everything he thought he knew about his wife had been a lie.  She had slept with at least one other stallion.  She had become intimate with someone other than himself, letting him fill her with his semen, probably having an orgasm that he hadn’t been able to give her for so long.

I’m not the father of my foals…  The thought haunted him.  So upset was he that he completely forgot to eat his lunch, and the sound of the bell ringing reminded him that it was time to go back to work.

            Carrot Cake saw Cup Cake and Pinkie Pie heading to the kitchen.  When his eyes caught sight of his wife, he had half a mind to scream at her, because now his shock had subsided and he was boiling up in anger.  He tried to contain it and maintain a friendly rapport with his customers, but he ran into trouble when a particularly impatient Earth pony demanded where his scones were.

            “I’m starving,” he said.  “Do you know how long those scones are going to take?”

            “I’m sure they’ll be out soon,” Carrot Cake said.

            “They better be.  I expect fast service here; at least, that’s what I’ve always gotten in the past.”  There was silence as the pony continued to wait for his order.

            “Seriously,” he said, “I’m starting to get annoyed.  What’s taking them so long?”

            “Listen, you little punk.  You’ll get your damned scones when you get them, do you understand me?”

            “Wow…unbelievable.  I’ll be taking my business elsewhere.”  And the pony left just as Pinkie Pie was bringing out the scones.

            “Oh,” she said, “did he change his mind?”

            “Something like that,” Carrot Cake griped.  “Give me one of those.”  Having not eaten lunch, he was starving, so the extra food was a blessing in disguise.  Sure, they lost some valuable business, but at least Carrot Cake wouldn’t have that gnawing hunger in his stomach.  The only thing gnawing at him now was the terrible betrayal he was feeling.

            As the afternoon dragged on, Carrot Cake’s anger subsided to bitterness, but then he thought about all the good times he’d had with Cup Cake back when their love was still passionate.  When he remembered the summer evenings on the hill, the romantic dinners at the bistro, and the little gifts they’d get each other for Hearts and Hooves Day, he realized just what he had lost and an overwhelming feeling of sorrow overcame him.  The pain started leaking out of his eyes without warning, and this started to happen right in front of a customer.

            The mare waiting for a muffin looked away awkwardly as Carrot Cake tried to hold back his tears.  When he started sobbing, she finally took pity on him.

            “What’s wrong?” she asked.  Carrot Cake took a deep breath as tears streamed down his face.

            “It’s a personal matter,” Carrot Cake said.  “Don’t worry about it.”  At that moment, Cup Cake brought out the muffin.

            “Here you go,” she said, and the mare thanked her and left.  Cup Cake turned to look at her husband and saw his tear-stained face.

            “You’ve been crying,” she said.  “What’s going on?”

            “We need to talk after we close up shop,” he said.

            “But can’t you at least tell me why you’re upset?”

            “I don’t want to bring it up while we’re still open.”

            “All right, we’ll talk later.”  Cup Cake returned to the kitchen worried for her husband.

            The hours seemed to drag on as the prospect of confronting Cup Cake about her infidelity loomed nearer.  Carrot Cake had never been more anxious in his life, not even before the twins were born.  The twins that aren’t mine, he reminded himself.  Just thinking it made him sick to his stomach.  Who was that damned stallion that had dared to touch his wife?  What sick man would take advantage of a married mare?  But then Carrot Cake remembered that it took two ponies to make an affair, and at some level Cup Cake had wanted it, too.

            Carrot Cake then started to question his performance as a husband.  Had he not been kind enough to her?  Was the relative lack of sex a factor?  Did he not love her enough?  Despite growing apart from his wife, he was still stricken by the pain of her betrayal and he wondered how he had failed to please her.  Maybe he would find out when he discussed it with her.  That’s if I don’t rip her head off first.

            Finally, closing time had come and past and the shop was spic and span.  There was nothing else left between Carrot Cake and his looming confrontation.  As he walked up the stairs with his wife, his nerves almost paralyzed him.  He had a dread filling his thoughts that this confrontation would not be pretty; in fact he was sure of it.  Nothing could have prepared him for what happened.

            When they got into the bedroom, Cup Cake noticed the document lying on the bed.  Carrot Cake said nothing as she walked over and looked at it.  After poring over it, she rounded on him.

            “You got a paternity test?”

            “You’re kidding, right?  You cheated on me and you’re the one who’s yelling at me?”

            “What made you even think to get one?  You didn’t trust me?”  Carrot Cake stepped closer, a wave of rage washing over Cup Cake like a bad aura.  She took a step back and ran into the bed.

            “Who was it?” Carrot Cake asked, his voice dangerously level.  “Who is the father of my foals?  Or I should say your foals, because they certainly aren’t mine now, are they?”

            “Don’t do this, honey—”

            “Don’t call me honey!” he yelled, making Cup Cake jump.  “How dare you betray me!  How dare you start seeing some other stallion!  Was I not good enough for you?”

            “It has nothing to do with that—”

            “Bullshit!” Carrot Cake shouted.  “We’ve been growing apart ever since those damned foals were born, and apparently even before that because you were off fucking some other colt.  Who was it?”

            “You weren’t there for me when I needed you,” Cup Cake retorted, tears starting to form in her eyes.  “I always tried to open up to you and you would barely listen to me.  I tried to get intimate with you and you pushed me away.  I loved you, and you didn’t have the heart to notice or even care.”

            “Why did you do it?  Why not just throw me on the streets and let your squeeze move in?”

            “Because I would feel guilty leaving you with no money.  Believe it or not, Carrot, I still care about you.”

            “Fuck you!  I can’t believe you have the gall to say that to me.  You obviously don’t care about me all that much or you wouldn’t have run off being a whore!”

            “Honey, please!  You’re hurting me.”

            “Well, you hurt me!  I know I haven’t been good to you, but that’s no reason to cheat on me.  We could have talked about it.  We could have worked it out.  Instead, you ran off to your little fuck buddy!”

            “He’s not just some fuck buddy.  He cares about me.  He takes time to listen to all of the torment you put me through.  And he can actually get me to cum!”

            “That’s disgusting!”

            “It’s true, and I hope it hurts, because you have no idea how much you’ve hurt me over the years!”

            “Don’t you care about how much I’m hurting now?  You saw me crying up in front of the shop today.  Doesn’t that show that I still care about you?  Or are you too insensitive to give a damn about me anymore?”

            “Of course I still care about you,” Cup Cake said, attempting to move closer and touch her husband, but he batted her hoof away.

            “I can’t believe you can even say that.  And how does he feel about not raising his own goddamned foals?”

            “Stop calling them that—”

            “Answer the damned question!  We’ve had these foals for almost a year now, and not once have I seen hide nor hair of this stallion.  If he cares about you so much, how come he won’t see his own foals?”

            “He never wanted kids.  We decided that it was best to let you think you were the father.”

            “And you thought I would never find out, right?” Carrot Cake asked.  “Did you think you could keep this a secret forever?  I can’t believe what an idiot I was for not figuring it out sooner.  I hope you’re happy!  You fucking fooled me!”

            “Don’t talk like that.”

            “Don’t tell me what to do you bitch!”

            “You call me a name again and I will throw you out of the shop,” Cup Cake warned him with a low voice.

            “It’s as much my shop as it is yours, and since you actually have somepony to run to, I suggest you get out.  Pinkie Pie and I can run the shop without you for a few days.  Go off and be with him for a while, and take the twins, too!  Celestia knows he should see his foals at least once in his life!”

            “You know what?” Cup Cake said in a high voice.  “Fine.  Just fine.  You see how long you can keep this shop running without me.  Don’t expect to ever see me again, either.”

            “I’ll see you in court.”

            “I…”  Cup Cake left the room, trying to hide her sobbing.  She gathered Pumpkin and Pound Cake in her satchel, and walked out of the shop, slamming the door on the way out.  The bell up front rang and then there was silence.

            Carrot Cake collapsed onto the bed and finally started to cry without restraint.  As far as he knew, his marriage was over, and that meant he’d have no money.  He had lost the love of his life, and for all he knew, he deserved it for the way he had treated her.  His sorrow was galvanized by intense anger for his wife, and he was in a state of rage when Pinkie Pie tentatively walked into the bedroom.

            “I heard shouting and saw Cup Cake leave the house with the babies,” she said.  “What happened?”

            “See for yourself.”  Pinkie Pie looked at the paternity test, which was now lying on the ground.  When she read it, she showed no visible reaction.  She just stared at the document lying on the floor.

            “I’m really sorry,” she said.  “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?”  Carrot Cake took a deep breath.  His anger started to subside.

            “Maybe we should just talk about it,” Carrot Cake said.  He sat up and gave Pinkie Pie a spot on the bed.

            “Where do I even start?” he asked.