The Problem

Chapter 4:  The Problem

The dinner had gone well enough.  Cup Cake told Carrot Cake and Pinkie Pie about a belligerent customer she’d had who was very picky about what kind of cupcakes he wanted, and the three of them laughed about it for a little while.  Carrot Cake spent most of the dinner avoiding glancing at Pinkie Pie, which Pinkie Pie had not failed to notice.  But, all in all, the three ponies had a genuinely good time, and they were so content after the dinner that they vowed to do this kind of thing more often.

Still, there was something too strange about Carrot Cake, Pinkie Pie had convinced herself last night.  Carrot Cake never talked to her about his marriage like that, even if he only let one little detail slip.  He was usually a private pony, friendly enough, but one who very much kept his personal life to himself.  So why had he suddenly started talking about how unhappy he was in his marriage?  And why tell me? she thought.

She needed to talk to somepony about it.  One of her friends, most likely, only Pinkie Pie couldn’t decide which one.  Who would take her concerns seriously?  Rarity would probably tell her she was fretting over nothing, or worse, she’d want to hear the gossip concerning the Cakes’ marriage, and Pinkie Pie wasn’t one to spread around gossip.  Rainbow Dash didn’t seem the type to care that much, and even if she did, it was impossible to visit her at the cloud she lived in, and Pinkie Pie would have rather not talked about this in the open.  Fluttershy and Applejack might understand, but Applejack was always too busy on the farm to talk, and Fluttershy usually had her hooves full taking care of the animals on the border of the Everfree Forest.

So Pinkie Pie had reluctantly decided on Twilight, although she couldn’t imagine how Twilight would help her.  This left her puzzled for quite some time until she decided that Twilight was a smart pony, and if she couldn’t help her, then Pinkie Pie knew nopony else who could.

She slept uneasily that night, fretting about Carrot Cake suddenly opening up to her, and then reproaching herself for worrying about it too much.  The normally hyperactive pony had usually expended all of her energy at the end of each day, but now she seemed to have energy to spare.  She half-considered sneaking out of Sugarcube Corner and visiting Twilight right now, but she knew that would be impolite.  At least, she had learned it the last time she had barged into the library while Twilight was sleeping.

But that was important.  Those stray parasprites broke into the kitchen!  And Twilight was the only one who had a pan flute.  Pinkie Pie had never considered what Twilight needed a pan flute for, but she snapped herself out of her tangential thought before she pondered about it any further.

So it was the case that Pinkie Pie was quite exhausted when the dawn came.  Now all she had left to do was to ask the Cakes for the morning off.  The babies usually slept through the morning, so Carrot Cake could handle the kitchen while Cup Cake took care of the customers.  Pinkie Pie crawled out of bed and walked over to the Cakes’ room, hoping that they were already awake.

At that precise moment, Carrot Cake came out of the room, intending to check on the babies.  He was surprised to see Pinkie Pie wandering the hall, and he flushed with embarrassment.

“Good morning, Pinkie Pie,” Carrot Cake said.

“Morning,” Pinkie Pie replied with a big yawn.  Carrot Cake was concerned; usually the pink pony had more energy than that.

“Did you sleep well?” Carrot Cake asked.

“I slept fine,” Pinkie Pie lied, not wanting to betray that it was Carrot Cake who had kept her up all night.

“So what’s up?” Carrot Cake asked.

“Actually, I was hoping I could have the morning off…” Pinkie Pie said.  “Would that be okay?”

“No problem,” Carrot Cake said, eager to give the pink pony what she wanted.

“Thank you!” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing cheerily.  She bounced back into her room to get ready for the day.  Carrot Cake watched her as she did so, and then cursed himself for gawking again.

“I need a shower…” he said, but before he took that he went to check on the twins.

***

Twilight was bored out of her skull.  It must have been a sign of the times that nopony wanted to read anymore, because it was the middle of summer and the library was deserted.  She had seen maybe two ponies stop by all morning, and she and Spike had had to busy themselves dusting the shelves.

“What’s the point of us even running this library if nopony shows up to check anything out?” Spike asked Twilight from atop a tall ladder.

“I don’t know, Spike,” Twilight said, “but at least it gives me plenty of time to read.”

“You’ve probably read every book in this place,” Spike remarked snidely.

“Not every book,” Twilight said with a smirk.

“You know what I mean,” Spike said.

“You’re right.  I do.”

“Hello!” Pinkie Pie cried, suddenly barging into the library.  Spike lost his balance and fell off the ladder, bruising his back.

“Warn me next time you’re going to do that,” he muttered.  Twilight ignored him.

“Aren’t you usually working at Sugarcube Corner on Fridays?” Twilight asked.

“Well, yes, but I really needed to talk to you so I asked for time off,” Pinkie Pie said.

“You wanted to talk to me?” The two of them, despite being friends, didn’t have that much in common, so it was hard to imagine Pinkie Pie wanting to confide in her.  “What about?”

“Um…I kind of want it to just be between us…” Pinkie Pie said hesitantly.  Spike rolled his eyes, finally lifting himself off of the floor.

“What are you going to do, propose to her?” Spike asked.

“Spike!” Twilight scolded.

“I know, I know,” Spike said.  “Sorry…”  Without another word of protest, he left the room.

“So what seems to be the problem?” Twilight asked.

“Well…” Pinkie Pie started, but nerves suddenly froze her and she didn’t know what to say.  Twilight looked at her confusedly, trying to discern what was bothering her.

“Is it serious?” Twilight asked, moving closer to her friend.

“I don’t know why it’s bothering me so much…” Pinkie Pie said.

“What’s bothering you?” Twilight asked, now concerned for her friend.

“Maybe I’m just being silly…” Pinkie Pie said, more to herself than to Twilight.

“Pinkie Pie, if you came here and it’s important, then it’s not silly,” Twilight said, realizing how obvious it sounded after she said it.  But it seemed to help Pinkie Pie shake away her nerves.  Literally, she shook in place trying to clear them from her body.

“It’s about Mr. Cake!” she blurted out finally before it could agonize her any longer.

“Mr. Cake?” Twilight asked, now confused again.  “I thought you two got along great.”

“Well, I guess we’re still getting along.  He did say I could take the morning off,” Pinkie Pie commented.  “But now I think we’re getting along in a different way.”

“Oh?” Twilight asked.  “What do you mean?”

“Yesterday, he started talking to me about some marital issues,” Pinkie Pie said, whispering the last couple of words as if she was afraid of being overheard.

“What kind of issues?” Twilight asked.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you,” Pinkie Pie said.  “It didn’t sound too serious, except he’s usually very private.  I’ve lived under his roof for years and I barely know anything about him.  It’s super weird.”

“Weird that you don’t know anything about him?” Twilight asked, hoping for clarity.

“No, weird as in he’s suddenly opening up to me kind of weird.”

“Maybe he trusts you,” Twilight said.  “You have been their tenant for a few years now.”

“I don’t think so, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie said, bouncing around nervously, glancing back and forth.  It made Twilight feel uncomfortable; Pinkie Pie was never nervous for anything.  “Do you have any idea why he’d tell me all this?”

“I might if I knew what he told you,” Twilight said.  She wasn’t trying to pry details out of Pinkie Pie; she was simply trying to understand what Pinkie Pie was dealing with.

“All right, I’ll tell you.  I didn’t make a Pinkie Promise not to, so I guess it’s okay.”  Pinkie Pie took a breath.  “He said he was having a difficult time talking to his wife about how he felt.”  Pinkie Pie stopped talking and looked nervously at Twilight.

“And?” Twilight asked.

“Actually, I think that was it.  Then I got stupid and told him he should talk to his wife more, and he got kind of angry and said it wasn’t my business.  Then I asked him why he told me there were problems in the first place.  He didn’t really have an answer for that one.”

“Well, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight said after processing everything she had just been told, “I think he’s right in saying it isn’t your business, and if he only let one little thing slip, I think you might be overreacting a bit.”

“Great,” Pinkie Pie said stingingly.  “I thought I was going to get helpful Twilight, not ‘you’re only mad at Gilda because you’re jealous’ Twilight.”

“Hey, I already apologized to you about that!” Twilight said.

“I thought you would take me seriously!  Don’t you realize how private a pony Carrot Cake is?  Maybe he’s been too private, even with his own wife, but why is he telling me about it?  I don’t know how to help him.  What should I do?”

“Pinkie Pie, I think it’s best if you do nothing,” Twilight said.

“Huh?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“You’re definitely overthinking this, so I would just take a deep breath and tell yourself that nothing bad is happening.  Carrot Cake said one thing to you, and he quickly realized he was getting too personal, so it’s not likely that he’ll do it again.  Can’t you be okay with that?”

“But…” Pinkie Pie said.  “Well, I guess so…”

“That’s better.  You should try to relax before you have to go back to work.  It’ll do you some good.”

“I guess I can try that,” Pinkie Pie said.  “Thanks anyway, Twilight.”

“You’re welcome,” Twilight said, and Pinkie Pie left the library less abruptly than when she had entered.  Without being called back, Spike returned to the room.

“How did you know we were done talking?” Twilight asked.

“Um…” Spike said.  “I stopped hearing noises, so I assume since Pinkie Pie is usually talking nonstop, that must mean she had left.”  Spike glanced at Twilight hopefully while she stared him down.

“You shouldn’t be eavesdropping on private conversations,” Twilight said.

“I was not!” Spike protested.

“Spike…” Twilight said menacingly.  Spike gulped.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Spike said, “but curiosity got the better of me.”

“Well, thankfully it wasn’t anything personal,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, it was just Pinkie being Pinkie, huh?” Spike asked.

“Yes it was,” Twilight said.

“She is right about Carrot Cake, though,” Spike commented as he started climbing the ladder again.  “I’m always at Sugarcube Corner, and I know like nothing about the guy.”

“Yes, it is strange that all of a sudden he’s telling Pinkie Pie about his marriage,” Twilight said.

“But you told Pinkie Pie not to worry about it,” Spike said.

“I did, but it was a bit odd,” Twilight said.  “I don’t think it was odd enough to be a big concern, but it was still odd…”  Owlowiscious hooted from the bedroom.

“He’s probably hungry,” Twilight said.  “Do you mind feeding him?”

“I just climbed this ladder!” Spike complained.  “Now you want me to come back down?”

“Please?” Twilight asked, giving him her best puppy-dog eyes.

“All right,” Spike grumbled, making his way back down the ladder.  Now by herself, Twilight’s mind started to ponder the strange visit from Pinkie Pie.  Was this whole thing with Carrot Cake really a problem?  Twilight was almost sure it wasn’t, but if he was unhappy with his marriage, then it might become a problem down the road.  But what did Pinkie Pie have to do with all this?  If the Cakes’ marriage imploded (and here Twilight was going on a wild tangent), what would that mean for Pinkie Pie?

You’re overthinking things again, Twilight, she told herself.  She returned to dusting the shelves and refused to give the matter any more thought, despite its numerous attempts to invade her mind.