The Distraction

Chapter 3:  The Distraction

Working in the kitchen with Pinkie Pie, away from his wife’s eye, made Carrot Cake uncomfortable, to say the least.  While the two of them were mostly facing away from each other, Carrot Cake kept taking chances to look back at the young pink mare.  He would quickly turn around afterward, berating himself for his crude mind.

At one point, he turned around just as Pinkie Pie turned to get flour from out of the cabinet.

“Whatcha looking at?” she asked happily.

“Nothing,” Carrot Cake said, turning so as to conceal his blush.

“Whatever you say, Mr. Cake!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed.  Carrot Cake chuckled nervously.

Occasionally Cup Cake would come in to check on the two of them, when there was no line of customers.  This made Carrot Cake feel even more awkward, because what if she discovered what he was thinking about that vivacious pink mare?  He still hadn’t forgotten the vivid images of his dream, and he had a horrible feeling that tonight he would be reliving his base fantasies.

“How’s everything with you two?” Cup Cake asked.

“Fine, honey,” Carrot Cake said without looking at his wife.

“Everything’s fantastic!” Pinkie Pie chirped.  Cup Cake smiled and left the room.

“So how’s life, Mr. Cake?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“Huh?” Carrot Cake said dumbly.

“Well, we get so busy, I never get the chance to ask you stuff like that.  I don’t even know what you do in your spare time!  I usually spend it hanging around with my friends, unless they’re busy, and then I have to find ways to entertain myself, and trust me, it’s not easy to entertain yourself.”

An image flashed in Carrot Cake’s mind of Pinkie Pie rubbing her clitoris with her hoof, sweating and squeaking as she did so.

“I guess it isn’t,” Carrot Cake agreed.  “Well, I don’t really get very much spare time because I have to run the shop and help take care of the babies.  When I was younger I used to hang out with my buddies, but when I got married and we opened Sugarcube Corner I kind of lost touch with them.”

“That’s so sad!” Pinkie Pie cried.  “I hope that when I get married, I don’t lose touch with my friends.  You know, before I made any friends, I used to get really lonely and start missing home.  Can you believe it, me missing that place?”

“I really can’t,” Carrot Cake said, remembering the time where Pinkie Pie had described living on a rock farm with her strict family.  It hadn’t sounded pleasant.

“Well, I can’t either, but believe me, I did.  I wanted to go home and see my mommy and daddy and my sisters, but then I remembered how sad they were all the time, and that they made me sad, so I stayed here in Ponyville.  And then I met Rainbow Dash!”

“Uh huh,” Carrot Cake said, beginning to lose focus and imagining Pinkie Pie in lascivious positions on her bed.  He quickly snapped himself out of it and returned to roll dough with the rolling pin.

“Yeah, she had just moved into Ponyville.  I knew that because if I hadn’t ever seen somepony in Ponyville before, they must have just moved in, because I know everypony in Ponyville.  So when I met Rainbow Dash I wanted to throw her a party, of course!  But Rainbow Dash said she didn’t want a party.  She was kind of shy when she first moved in because she didn’t know anypony.  But I offered to hang out with her, and at first she wasn’t sure, but then she said yes and we had so much fun pulling pranks on the other ponies in town that she started to open up and become her awesome self again.  The other ponies in Ponyville didn’t quite appreciate our pranks, though, so we stopped that after a while.”

“Yeah,” Carrot Cake said, starting to knead the dough and shape it into loaves.

“Are you listening?” Pinkie Pie asked, turning towards him.  “You’ve hardly said anything during my story.”  She was frowning and looked rather crestfallen.

“Of course I’ve been listening.  I’m just not talking because I’m in the middle of baking.  I’m not a very good multitasker.”

“Oh, okay!” Pinkie Pie said, perking right back up again.

How does she do that? Carrot Cake asked himself.

“So anyway, one of the ponies we pranked was the owner of the Carousel Boutique, Rarity, and she hated it the first time we did it.  She had no sense of humor at all.  But when she got to know us she gradually caught on to our sense of humor and she would laugh when we pulled a prank on her.  Then we got to talking and learned a lot about her and sometimes I’m still so incredibly amazed at her talents!”

“Sure,” Carrot Cake said, starting to place the loaves of bread into the oven.

“And then one time I was hungry, and somepony suggested trying Sweet Apple Acres—”

“Pardon me for interrupting,” Carrot Cake said, “but I thought you were interested in how my life was going.”  Carrot Cake surprised himself with his own interjection.  Here he was, listening to Pinkie Pie babble about her friends, and he felt hurt because she wasn’t taking an interest in his life.  The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized that he didn’t talk about his life to anypony anymore, especially not his wife.  They were either talking about their work at the shop or getting intimate, but Carrot Cake missed that other type of intimacy, one where you could get to know somepony and share your life with them.  Was he really hoping that Pinkie Pie would be the one to share his life with?  Why not his own wife?  The thought bothered Carrot Cake.

“Oh,” Pinkie Pie said, looking awkward and staring at the ground.  “I’m sorry for talking so much.  It’s just…sometimes when I’m working here I get awfully lonely, and it’s nice to just talk to somepony for a change.”

“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad,” Carrot Cake said, and he was debating whether he should give Pinkie Pie a hug.  She sure looked like she needed one.  But he didn’t trust himself to touch her without thinking lewd thoughts about it, so he held back.  “It’s just…I get lonely, too, and I usually need somepony to talk to as well.”

“But you’re married,” Pinkie Pie said.  “Don’t you talk to Mrs. Cake about all that stuff?”

“Not as much as we used to,” Carrot Cake said.

“What about me?” Cup Cake asked as she entered the kitchen.

“Nothing, honey!” Carrot Cake protested a little too loudly, then turned away to check on the bread in the oven.  It was starting to brown quite nicely, so he knew he would have to take it out soon.

“Pinkie Pie,” Cup Cake asked, “were you two talking about me?”

“We were just saying how nice you were,” Pinkie Pie said, “and that we miss you when you’re up at the counter.”  Carrot Cake resisted the temptation to face her.  Why was Pinkie Pie lying about what they had been saying?  Not that he wasn’t thankful for it right now, but he didn’t understand the pink mare’s intentions.

“Oh, well that’s very sweet of you two,” Cup Cake said.  “I’ve got to go, there’s nopony around and I’m sure the twins need their diapers changed.  Maybe the three of us can go out to eat tonight and take time to catch up.”

“That sounds great, Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie Pie cheered.  Carrot Cake hesitated before saying that he liked the idea as well.

“Sounds like a plan to me, then,” Cup Cake said.  “You two don’t have too much fun without me.”

“We won’t, honey,” Carrot Cake said a little more forcefully than he had intended, but Cup Cake didn’t notice.  Once she left the kitchen, Carrot Cake rounded on Pinkie Pie.

“Why did you cover for me like that?” he asked.  Pinkie Pie shrank back a bit.

“Um, I just thought what you were saying was kind of personal and I shouldn’t be the one to bring it up.  You know how I am with secrets, and this sounded like something you didn’t want to tell her before you were ready.”  Carrot Cake sighed and relaxed his face, which calmed Pinkie Pie as well.

“Well, thank you, Pinkie Pie.  I really appreciate that.”  Carrot Cake turned suddenly and went to open the oven.  Hopefully he hadn’t remembered the bread too late.  To his relief, it came out looking perfect.”

“Ooh, that looks really good,” Pinkie Pie said.  “I almost want a bite.”

“Now now, Pinkie Pie, you know you can’t eat what we’re trying to sell,” Carrot Cake said.

“I know,” Pinkie Pie said, looking like a child who had just been denied a scrumptious treat.  Carrot Cake smiled.

“Maybe we’ll bake something just for us sometime,” Carrot Cake said.

“Just the two of us?” Pinkie Pie asked, confused.

“Um…no, no, all three of us,” Carrot Cake said, realizing what his words had sounded like.  Pinkie Pie smiled, and Carrot Cake felt an excitement that had been lying dormant start to make his stomach flutter.  He tried his best to ignore it.

For a while, the two ponies didn’t talk very much.  Once again, Carrot Cake tried and failed to resist taking peeks at Pinkie Pie, although thankfully this time she didn’t notice.  One time was reasonable enough to explain; once it started repeating itself, then it would have looked suspicious.

Before he knew it, all of the baked goods they had needed to restock the shop were done, and Carrot Cake and Pinkie Pie decided to take lunch.  Cup Cake still had to wait at the counter, but it would be Carrot Cake’s turn this afternoon to man the counter.  Carrot Cake looked forward to that, because then he wouldn’t be in the vicinity of Pinkie Pie, with thoughts of her clouding his mind.  But, he had to admit to himself, those thoughts would probably come anyway.

The two of them went upstairs to their personal kitchen and made some sandwiches before sitting down and starting to eat.  Carrot Cake tried hard not to stare as Pinkie Pie chewed on her sandwich.  There was something so cute about the way she ate, almost as if she was starving and had to chomp down on as much food as possible.  Nopony else he knew ate quite like Pinkie Pie, and it was just one of many unique characteristics about her.  But why was he thinking about that now?

Pinkie Pie looked at Carrot Cake and laughed.  While half of her sandwich was gone, Carrot Cake had only taken a few bites of his.

“You eat really slowly, you know that?” Pinkie Pie asked with a giggle.

“Are you sure it’s just me,” Carrot Cake responded, “or is it that you eat too quickly?”

“I’m always starving whenever meal time comes around,” Pinkie Pie said.  “I don’t know why.”

“Yes, you do have quite the appetite,” Carrot Cake said, remembering a time when Pinkie Pie had consumed an entire cake in one bite that had been intended for Princess Celestia.  He still had a hard time believing how that had been possible.

“You know,” Pinkie Pie said through a mouthful of food, “you should really talk to your wife more.”

“That’s not really any of your business,” Carrot Cake said, annoyed that Pinkie Pie was trying to tell him how to conduct his marriage.

“Then why were you talking to me about it?” Pinkie Pie asked, swallowing her food and looking quizzically at him.

“I…well…” Carrot Cake stammered, “I don’t really know.  But maybe it’s best if I just keep those kinds of things to myself.”

“I’m not stupid,” Pinkie Pie said.  “I know how tense it’s been between you two lately.  I know recently it was mostly because the deep fryer and then the oven broke down, but I’ve noticed it even before that.  I didn’t want to say anything because I thought it would be awkward.  Then you told me you barely talk to your wife about yourself anymore, and it just reminded me of all that, and I felt really sad for you.”

“I don’t need your pity,” Carrot Cake said, though he was touched that Pinkie Pie had it.

“I know,” Pinkie Pie said, “and I’m really starting to butt in so I should just stop.”

“It’s all right, Pinkie Pie,” Carrot Cake said, warming up at the sight of her looking gloomy.  “I know you’re only trying to help.  You’re a really kind pony.”

“I am?  Some ponies think I’m just annoying.”

“Well, I don’t think that,” Carrot Cake said, and for one crazy moment he thought about kissing the pink mare, but he pushed that thought out of his mind.  “Maybe I did at first, but when you came in looking for a job I realized you were more than just that bouncy, energetic mare.  I saw something really different about you:  your willingness to help, your positive outlook on life, your ability to make ponies laugh.  I don’t regret taking you in and giving you a job, and I’m sure my wife doesn’t either.”

“That’s really nice of you to say,” Pinkie Pie said, eyes shimmering as she made a small smile.  The mood was broken when Carrot Cake looked at the time.

“I’d better relieve my wife now.  No doubt she’ll want some time with the babies.”

“Okay!” Pinkie Pie said.  “See you later, alligator!”  Carrot Cake almost said “in a while, crocodile,” but he decided not to.

As he left Pinkie Pie in the kitchen, he groaned and buried his head in his hooves.  Why was he thinking about her like that?  Why was he talking to her about his unhappiness in his marriage?  He had never been that personal with Pinkie Pie before, and he didn’t know why he was becoming so intimate with her now.  He just hoped that the two of them didn’t start exploring the other side of intimacy.  Carrot Cake regrettably admitted that he wanted to, he really did.