From one way or another, it’s not a nice place to be, the wrong side of a comparison, where everyone compares your finest to the nations favourite. Except that’s where I’m always found, sitting on the wrong side of the fence with a sphere while everyone else proffers the circle. Sure, they might look the same from an angle, but no-one cares about the details, no-one cares about the depth.
I’m sorry… I’d better introduce myself. I’m Sugar Sweet, I run a confectionery in the centre of Ponyville, a few doors down from Quills and Sofa’s and opposite Sugarcube corner.
That’s a name I don’t like to hear very often these days.
It’s all ponies talk about really, whenever they come into my store, I always make sure to greet them with a warm smile, waiting patiently for them to choose their desired candy until they approach the counter and I have a brief moments chat with them. It’s pretty predictable really:
‘Hi, welcome to Sweeter than Sugar’
‘Thanks, I’ll have a cupcake please’
‘Sure, what flavouring?’
‘Hmm… Oh right, do you have the flavouring that Sugarcube Corner offers, you know, the type that causes everypony everywhere to ignore your tiny and dim shop?’
I might have been exaggerating that last part.
It’s hard to stay optimistic when your whole business is at risk due to the fact that somewhere else is home to one of the bearers of harmony and said bearer of harmony seems to bring out new gimmicks every other day, all of which result in less and less sales for me.
Goody.
And then there’s Pinkie Pie herself, I really don’t know how to put this… well, I do, but I don’t know how to put this without sounding petty.
She’s just so… happy all the time; it grates on my nerves if I’m honest… how she can stay so upbeat and cheerful is beyond me, especially when it’s her business which is driving mine out. I guess some ponies would call it jealousy, which is all well and good, except I’m not.
Well…
Not what most people would call jealous anyway. I like what Sugarcube Corner makes, I’ve had my fair share of Monday muffins and Friday fritters, both of which have probably kept me going during some of the quieter hours of my business, namely most of them. I’m more what you might call… well, selectively jealous now that I think about it.
I’m jealous about their stupid amount of customers.
I’m jealous of how they poach my revenues.
I’m jealous of how they’re actually still in business, even with all the risks they take.
I’m so jealous of them that I don’t even register the sound of the door as it swings open, ringing the bell above the entrance and admitting the pony into the shop. I don’t actually realise who it is until she’s stood in front of me and is smiling her wide smile, almost from ear to ear across that pink mug, her mane as poofy as ever.
“Hiya” she said to me, breaking me from the reverie I’d become submerged in with a crash as my eyes widened and I cartwheeled backwards before hitting the shelves behind me and looking at the pony in front of me with barely concealed surprise.
“Huh- wha, the- wha?” came my well-thought-out replies as I fought to catch my breath, the pink pony I knew to be Pinkie Pie just started giggling, bobbing on the spot slightly as she watched me.
“Oooh, ooh, I know, how about ‘Bwuuuuh’?” Pinkie said, quirking her head and letting out a long noise of general confusion before un-cocking her head and staring straight at me with her smiling face again as I slowly extracted myself from the back wall.
“Yeah… good one.” I said, trying to keep my voice steady and not put across how shocked I still was. “What can I do for you?” I offered, getting straight to business as I reached the counter again.
“What can you do for me? Oh I know, you can help me bake a super-massive-rainbow-coloured cake for Rainbow Dash’s birthday party, then maybe you could help me take out the rubbish from Sugarcube Corner and then you could help me plan a party later, it’ll be so fun!”
I blinked, trying to catch up with what she’d just told me in seemingly one breath, bobbing up and down and up and down and up and down and up and- No… It took me a moment to realise what she’d said, and to which question she’d misheard.
“What is the reason for you to come into this shop and talk to me?” I asked, much slower than before, well-aware that this probably looked like the most demeaning thing I could do with a customer yet with no other avenues to actually get an answer.
“Huh? Oh yeah, I wanted to invite you over to this party we’re having over at Sugarcube Corner on Saturday, everypony’s going to be there, we’re celebrating Rainbow Dash’s twentieth birthday, it’s going to be amazing.” She said after a moment, resuming her bouncing.
“I’ll… see what I can do.” I replied grudgingly.
“Okie doki loki!” She said before turning and trotting over to the door, an almost-literal spring in her step. At the door though, she turned and said “Oh and it’s not nice to talk down to ponies mister Sweet, anyway, see you at the party.” she said, flashing me one last smile before slipping out the door and closing it behind her.
I stood there in silence for a few more moments before groaning and placing my head on the counter wearily. Like I said, I like what she does, jaded as I was, I would still probably go to the party and stand there awkwardly, not talking to anyone in all eventuality. They were still some of the most fun parties that a pony could go to around here.
But again, like I said…
It didn’t mean I wasn’t jealous.
