Sugarcube Corner is the number one snack spot in Ponyville.  Owned by Mr and Mrs Cake, this colorful sweets store supplies everypony with their sugar fix anytime they need one.  The shop regularly holds social events for the town as well, such as parties, tea luncheons, and other celebrations.  Both the Cake Family and local party pony, Pinkie Pie (who works as an assistant), live in the upper floors of the store.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:35, Sat 14 Apr 2012.

[Arrval from Town Square]

Blue Shield was on the scene as soon as possible, looking for an apple cart, or at least some clue that it had been in the area. He'd taken to the sky, relying on a strong sense of sight to catch clues, and spot the area where Lyra claimed to have found the spilled apples. The police officer was pretty easy to spot, at least for anypony looking up.

Sugarcube Corner was a favorite spot in Ponyville for many of its residents.  There were plenty of candy and sweets shops in town, but none quite so enticing as that one.  The Cakes were famous for their wondrous treats and held the well-deserved standing of being the best confectioners this side of Manehatten.  The place was normally bustling with lots of ponies looking to make orders, but thankfully it was still early in the morning and crowds had yet to form since the shop wasn't officially open just yet.  There was a short line along the outer wall of ponies milling about, chatting or waiting patiently for the store to let them in for purchases.

There were few traces of anypony coming around that time of morning, but a clue did make itself known.  A stream of water ran itself across the street from a nearby rain gutter -- though rapidly disappearing due to the warm morning sun, there were distinct tracks of pony hooves and a two-wheeled cart having passed through the water and dragged some of it along.  The trail led directly toward Sugarcube Corner.  Based on the spacing of the hoof prints, Blue Shield's keen instincts would tell him that it was a female pony... which limited the potential suspects down to about 75% of the population of Ponyville...

Aside from that, there weren't any other clues within immediate sight.  Sugarcube Corner seemed to be active though -- the top portion of their door was open to allow a breeze in and the rich, sweet scent of bubbling caramel, baking sweet breads, and the earthy aroma of crushed nuts drifted out into the streets.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:29, Tue 17 Apr 2012.

Detective Keen Eyes was on the scene, though not for the same reason as the police officer.  For Keen Eyes was on his morning walk.  Carrying along with him via the use of the horn on his head, a Ponyville newspaper.  Keen Eyes didn't really find Ponyvilles newspaper quite as intriguing as Canterlots, but it would do.  As he carried the newspaper in front of him it seemed to almost completely obscure his field of view.

For now, Keen Eyes relied on his other senses to avoid walking into any other ponies.  That and the occasional shifting of the paper so he could get a quick glance of his surroundings.  There hadn't been many ponies on his route this early in the morning though.

As Keen Eyes shifted his paper once more, somepony flying above his location caught his eyes, and his walk was cut short.  As he watched the Pegasus it quickly became apparent the one flying was a police officer.  Keen Eyes' curiosity was slightly piqued and he only moved a few more feet in the direction he had been heading before coming to a complete stop.  For the moment, Keen Eyes kept his newspaper raised, though, not quite as much as before; he allowed himself an easy view of the officer.  For the moment, the detective wasn't quite certain what was going on.  It could have been nothing, though, the detective had his doubts, simply based on the actions of the Pegasus.  It looked as though he was looking for something.

_{Arriving from Town Square}

Trotting fairly steadily along from the square, Applejack caught a whiff of the delicious baked goods.  It did remind her she would want to pick up something for lunch, and she did have a couple of bits on her now. Still, it was a bit early for lunch-buying, so she put that off for now, and instead slowed down as she approached, beneath Blue Shield. Following his gaze to the water, she raised a hoof. "Hmmm.. Those are spaced about right fer mah cart's wheels." she said. And they went straight to the Sugarcube Corner. Maybe she should check here...

With the line in place by the door, Applejack settled into a spot. Maybe she'd buy herself something while she was here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:27, Tue 17 Apr 2012.

Blue Shield dropped from the sky at the sight of the cart tracks being driven forward by the gutter water. Applejack confirmed that the cart tracks were at least akin to those on her cart and it was leading right towards Sugarcube. There was no indication of where the apples had fallen yet, but the search was still young. Producing a notepad and pen from one of his uniform pockets, he made sure to jot down everything he could gather from what trail was there. It made him wish he'd done K-9 training, but the academy had advised against it due to dogs being unable to fly.

"All right..." Blue was happy to get the first clue, but he wanted to make sure he didn't celebrate too early. What he'd been able to gather so far didn't eliminate too many ponies from the equation. "We got hoofprints, which is always good." From the wet spots on the ground, he gave a rough estimation of their width and height, using the edges of the notepad as a makeshift ruler. "Perp is most likely female, since the tracks are narrowly spaced. Obviously not a filly, as I'm guessing the cart was pretty heavy. You don't look the type to take a light load."

When they got to the line, Applejack had been considerate of the others enough to get in the back of the line. But Blue Shield wouldn't have to do such a thing. After all, there was a line of ponies waiting outside the door, who all could be perfectly good witnesses depending on how long they'd been waiting.

With a small cough to clear his throat, Blue Shield spoke loudly enough to get the line's attention, trying to not sound too stern. Nopony here was to blame, at least not likely. "Attention, everypony!" Once he got the attention he needed, Blue continued on. "There's been a report of a missing apple cart passing through this area, so I'd like to know if anypony here has happened to see it while waiting so patiently. Any information you have would be greatly appreciated."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 19:02, Tue 17 Apr 2012.

Applejack felt a bit of a blush coming on. She could ask about this her own way, right? But Blue Shield was  making an open announcement. The only pony in town with an apple cart was her, for the most part, and...  It was a bit shameful, and she felt her pride stinging as the situation was made outright public.  She scuffed the dirt with a hoof, and glanced up past the rim of her hat to watch and see if anypony volunteered information. And she hoped nopony would turn to look at her.

<-- Enter from Town Square

Twilight had taken consideration for the slower pace of their newest add-on, Strawberry Toast.  As such the other two ponies would arrive a bit after Blue Shield and Applejack had already gotten to the sweets shop and she hung back a bit when she saw the spectacle the officer was making.  Well... it was understandable, at least.  They were looking at a possible grand theft apple cart and he was taking the most direct route to getting answers.  Goodness knew Twilight herself had a habit of making public displays, but she'd learned from them enough to recognize the sheepishness from AJ's wounded pride.

"Maybe we should've kept this a little more under wraps..." the unicorn muttered.

Entrance from Town Square

Strawberry was glad that Twilight had taken the consideration of slowing her pace a little, the chubbier pony wasn't used to exerting herself for long periods of time. All she could think as she arrived was that she should probably work on her fitness a little more in the future, all of that bread snacking was not doing her any good. Meanwhile horses like Applejack were at the top of their game, something that Strawberry admired greatly.

The officer was making a bit of a scene, rallying up everyone to give information where it was needed. Strawberry herself wasn't much for finding out secrets or deriving information from scenery but she could tell when someone was feeling down. Usually she'd go over to talk to Applejack about how she was feeling but she was sure that the pony didn't want to draw any more attention to herself so Strawberry resolved to give her some space for a bit.

She instead turned her attention to the officer. "Um, excuse me. Are you able to tell what direction the cart went and how long ago it might have passed through here? If so we might be able to get an idea of where it might be going."

There was plenty of chatter that came from the line of ponies as Blue Shield made his announcements.  Given the way gossip spread around Ponyville, there was no doubt that the entire town was going to have heard about the event within the hour.  It took a few moments of noise from the lot of them before anyone spoke up with any sort of coherent information.  The ponies at the end of the line were new to the location and hadn't been around long enough to see anything unusual.  The front of the line was another matter entirely though.

"Well, yeah, there was a cart that came by here earlier.  I didn't see who was pulling it, but there's no mistaking the smell of Sweet Apple Acres apples." was the explanation from an Earth Pony seated at the front of the line.  He'd been there most of the morning awaiting an order he'd made, but had a newspaper laid out before him that had apparently been the focus of his attention prior.

"I think it went around to the back of the store.  That was a couple minutes ago, I guess." added a Pegasus mare a few spaces down.  She gestured with a wing to the side of Sugarcube Corner -- round back was the rear entrance of the shop and other streets that led further into the Business District.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:04, Tue 17 Apr 2012.

Answers came quickly, which was fantastic. Perhaps it was a bold statement that he'd made, and he still didn't know he'd gone and embarrassed poor Applejack, but only being minutes behind the cart, it was good to get going quickly. Cart pulling wasn't exactly the fastest way to travel, so they had a chance of catching up. "Thank you both. Sorry for the intrusion. Hope you all have a good day." Blue gave the two a nod of thanks before trotting away from the scene, bound for the direction so kindly pointed out by the Pegasus. Since he wasn't technically supposed to have civilians tagging along during an investigation, , Blue didn't particularly wait for the other ponies who were hot on the trail, but he was on land this time.

All the noise outside the shop had caught the attention of the owners.  No sooner had Blue Shield vanished away around the corner of the store did Mr. Cake poke his head out from the front door and curiously peer around.  His coat and mane were spattered with traces of caramel, chocolate drizzle, and he had a fresh, shiny Candied Apple clenched between his teeth by the stick.

"Eh?  Sommin' goin' on ow' 'ere?" he asked in confusion, careful to keep his teeth clenched tightly so as not to drop his Candied Apple.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:18, Tue 17 Apr 2012.

Keen Eyes kept a safe distance from the other ponies.  Still, he kept within earshot and he didn't have to wait around long before the police officer announced to everyone that a cart had been stolen.  By this point, the detective's curiosity had gotten the better of him.  He folded up the newspaper and nonchalantly trotted towards the evidence the others had been gathered around before moving on.  Keen Eyes took a quick moment to look over the scene.  It didn't take him too long to draw the same conclusion that the others had.  The suspect was likely female.  Keen Eyes finished up and began to approach the line of ponies, just in time to catch the bit of information that sent the police pony on his way.  Instinctively Keen Eyes followed after the pegasus, not even sparing a moment introduce himself to any of the other ponies involved.  He hadn't even been hired, but it was just like him to stick his muzzle into other ponies business...

Up the lane came a familiar looking Earth Pony, her coat a light tan and her mane a bright lilac.  Why, it was Pansy, the garden shop pony!  She had a basket on her back full of brightly colored blooms, including her namesake, as she approached Sugarcube Corner.

"Good morning, Mr. Cake.  I brought those flowers you wanted for garnishing," she said softly as she approached the door.  She didn't want to anypony to think she was cutting in line.  Not that she wouldn't have loved a bit of pastry.  She was just here to make a delivery.

Of course, just after she arrived, she noticed Blue Shield and Keen Eyes race off after...something.  "Oh!  Is something going on?"  Everypony knew Blue Shield was the local policeman.  Something must have happened.

Applejack managed to make out 'Back of the Store' while overhearing the discussion, but was relieved that few ponies seemed to be staring right at her. Shuffling her way out of line and  back toward Twilight, Applejack noted where the officer  trotted off, and lightly stamped the ground in front of her - it was a pensive clutter of hooves, not an angry one, but Twilight could see her a little bit unsettled. She took a deep breath all on her own, though. "C'mon. We should get caught up.  The sooner we figure this out, the sooner ah can...." she scuffed the groups, and sighed.  "Let's just go see..."

She tried to slink off behind the lace without being scene, but she wasn't exactly inconspicuous. She was stuck between trying to solve the problem and feeling awful about everyone knowing how badly she had bumbled this morning... Just having the help of officers who were diving headfirst into the case was bugging her. She  depended on herself, and her friends, and she could accept help, but she felt more like they were trying to do it for her, and  that stung her pride as much as the inadvertent public humiliation.

Applejack let out a breath as she rounded the corner. She would be fine, she told herself.

Twilight was left a bit bewildered and behind.  The case was moving on quickly now that Blue Shield had apparently decided to take the reigns, leaving the rest of them suddenly just following his trail.  She gave Applejack a truly sympathetic look -- it was obvious how much the poor pony's gears were being ground by the whole event.

"I guess we should follow them too.  C'mon Toast."  the unicorn sighed a bit as she canted her head in a beckoning gesture.  She didn't want to just drag the other pony along on a wild goose chase, especially since it had suddenly become the rest of them being drug along too... but so long as they could hopefully find Applejack's cart, it would be worth it.  Right?

Mr. Cake just looked even more confused as a few very familiar ponies headed off out of sight, leaving him scratching his head.  Pansy's approach brought his attention back around with a smile though.

"Y'guess is as gud as... gah, hod on." Mr Cake seemed annoyed by his inability to articulate with the treat he had clenched in his teeth.  He gave a flick of his head and tossed the caramel-coated apple skyward, flipping stick-over-stem above the Earth Pony at the front of the line.  "Hey you!  Free sample!"

Said Earth Pony deftly caught the apple in his jaws on the way down, giving a muffled but appreciative cheer at his good fortune.  While he was content to chow down on a free treat, Mr. Cake was finally able to speak correctly again.  "There, that's better.  Good morning, Pansy dear.  Thanks so much for coming over so early -- we've got a ton of back orders to take care of and a breakfast rush to boot.  C'mon in."

The tall confectioner pulled open the door to let Pansy follow along inside and closed it quickly after her.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:45, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

"That officer is going full tilt, maybe I shouldn't have eaten that fourth loaf this morning." Strawberry let out a breath, normally she wouldn't be so out of it, even if she was a little pudgy she could still run with the regular ponies. Or at least that was what she liked to believe. Poor Applejack though was just along for the ride at this point, it was painfully obvious that she wasn't feeling very good about this whole situation. Which made the otherwise empathetic Toast a little glum that one of the ponies was feeling down. She continued to resolve though that anything she could do would just make the situation worse.

"I'm right behind you..." Strawberry followed after the unicorn, at this point she was just trying not to be in anyone's way. Which was probably the best thing to do in an investigation like this. She just wished that she could be a little more use to someone, right now she felt like a seventh wheel.

Sugarcube Corner was a standalone building and didn't have any nearby structures to form alleys or narrow pathways within the immediate vicinity.  That was because the shop was often used to host events and gatherings, so having as much floor space both in and outside the building was very important.  Around the back of the shop was its rear entrance -- a larger set of doors than the front for the purpose of transferring particularly sizable packages, supplies, and equipment.  It led straight into the main kitchen and the aroma of fresh baked goods flowed powerfully from it with enough tempting deliciousness to make anypony's stomach rumble with desire.

The cobblestones at the rear entrance were dusted with spilled flour, presumably swept out that way during the usual cleaning of the kitchen.  There were obvious hoof prints still in the flour as well -- a small, close grouping of somepony coming out of and going back into the kitchen (likely Mrs. Cake, given the size) and a single set of hoof prints set extremely close together as if whomever made them had all four limbs pinned in one spot.  Strangely, those were the only tracks of that sort... just a single point in the dust.  Of course, anyone who was at all familiar with the resident party pony would recognize her prints any day -- Pinkie Pie never walked when she could bounce and that was no doubt the remnant of one of her cheerful leaps leaving the shop.

Most importantly, however, there were tracks of the thief!  Those trailed hoof prints and the tread of the cart were in the flour and led away from the shop, swinging along down the way toward what must have been the open market in the Business District.  Also worthy of notice was a bucket set outside the back door -- it was marked as property of Sugarcube Corner and full of plucked apple leaves and stems!

<--- From Rainbow Dash's Home

Rainbow Dash cruised down and landed in front of Sugarcube Corner. She decided she felt like something sweet for her brunch, and the Cakes' wares could more than provide that for her. She was surprised to find it such a hub of activity at this hour. Normally, it was busy first thing in the morning as ponies got treats for the coming day, and busy in the evening as ponies were heading home. She grumbled as she entered, hoping not to have to wait for her order. She was again surprised to see what was going on inside. She spotted Applejack and trotted over, hoping to get what all the commotion was about from her.

"Uh, hey, Applejack. What the hay is going on? I mean, Sugarcube Corner is great and all, but normally not crazy enough to need security." she motioned with her head to Blue Shield as he trotted past.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:24, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

Flour dusted the back entrance of the corner, leaving a rather obvious trail. The perp wasn't exactly trying to be stealthy it seemed. After all, they went right around back through such a place. Just to be sure, he quickly compared the hoofprints between the cart wheels with the measurements on his notepad. Sure enough, the match was pretty much obvious.

Maybe it wasn't theft. Would it be possible that one of the Apple family had come in and taken the duty up without telling Applejack?

But there was another big clue. The discarded bucket of apple parts. So maybe the perp was trying to make a profit off the apples, lending more credence to the Apple Family theory. After all, long-time residents like the Cakes would know the cart was Sweet Apple property, and would react appropriately if the one with the cart wasn't part of the family.

Blue Shield knocked on the back door loudly, knowing the store itself could get loud and a lesser knock might be missed. He needed to ask at least one question in light of knowing that the Cakes now had apples as well.

There were a lot of angry shouts and objections when Rainbow Dash went zipping into the shop ahead of the line, but they were silenced when she went zipping right back out again all the same.

Meanwhile, at the back, the rear door swung open after a few moments.  Mrs. Cake looked out to see who had knocked and ended up having to look up... and up... and up a little bit more to get a bead on the tall police pony looking for information.  Mrs. Cake was obviously in the midst of working -- she was just as spattered with confections as her husband was and frankly looked a little stressed.

"Oh!  Good morning officer.  Girls?"  Mrs. Cake glanced past Blue Shield to see all the other ponies following in his wake.  Confusion was plain as day on her soft features.  "Is something the matter?  It's not Pinkie Pie again, is it?  What did she do this time?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:48, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

Keen Eyes was the next pony on the scene, having followed after Blue Shield as he took off.  At this point instinct had completely kicked in and the detective had pulled a magnifying glass out.  As it floated in front of him, he used it to analyze the tracks left behind.  Keen Eyes was still a bit behind the police pony, after all, Blue Shield had gotten a head start.  But it wasn't long before the detective had matched one set of tracks with the previous clue.  The pony moved on to the next clue left behind, the bucket of apple cores and scraps.  He didn't feel the need to use his magnifying glass for this and quickly put it away.

Keen Eyes had not lived in Ponyville very long and did not quite know all of its residents.  There was some information he didn't quite have that Blue Shield on the other hand might have.  This left the detective pondering.  He didn't even know who the apple cart belonged to.  Keen Eyes needed more information, so he approached Blue Shield and Mrs Cake.  "Ma'am, have you seen an apple cart?" Keen Eyes asked, not wasting any time and not waiting for the officer to say anything first.

Blue Shield could swear everytime somepony looked at them, they started at the knees and had to work their way up. Made a stallion want to stoop down to give their necks a break. "Terribly sorry-" He paused, seeing that there was concern for Pinkie Pie, and that he was being followed. By a whole entourage by now. "It's not her... As far as I know... Anywho, Mrs. Cake, I need to know who it was that came by back here with the apples. I've been tying to track them down. I noticed the bucket of apple bits left out here, and seeing as how the cart came through back here... I feel it's safe to assume you know who came by to sell you your apples this morning."

He turned his head to the one who'd come up beside him to ask Mrs. Cake about the same thing. "Wait... Just who are you? You're not involved in this case. Please refrain from interfering in this investigation."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:56, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

Pansy stepped into the shop, and was enveloped in the smell of sugar.  It was almost as comforting as the smell of her garden shop.  She set the basket gently down on one of the tables, almost spilling it as she was startled by ponies flying in and out, and knocking at the door.  It was a whole herd of ponies.

"Wow.  Is there a party I didn't know about?"  No, that couldn't be right.  Blue Shield was here.  And now he, and another pony she didn't know were asking questions.  What was going on?  Wait, an apple cart?

Keen Eyes momentarily shifted his attention to Blue Shield.  With the use of his horn, his detectives ID floated forward for Blue Shield to see.  "Detective Keen Eyes." the detective said, giving a short little introduction.  He wasn't entirely sure how this would go.  In Canterlot he was a bit more known by the police force.  Of course he had to work his way to that point.  Here, things were different.

Applejack moved along to Mrs Cake, watching the investigation. A glance over the flour-marks  were enough to indicate it was not her springy, perky friend. "Ah don't think this was Pinkie. Mah Apple cart's gone missin', and... well.." she rubbed her head with a hoof. "Sorry t' trouble you, I mean, with the mess of the investigation." It had become a big deal, and the last thing Applejack wanted was for a fiasco like his to be a public issue, because of her.

"Ah just know it couldn't have been Pinkie, though, ah mean, her tracks are those in the middle there." she indicated the clumped, bouncing marks.

Mrs. Cake was at a loss over what to do.  She was in the midst of working on a very large order and really didn't have any time to waste, let alone allowing it to be whittled away in such a confusing moment.  She looked back and forth between the two investigators agape, then over to the girls, hoping for some sort of explanation.  Applejack's apology to the whole matter just seemed to baffle the woman even more since she didn't know how to react at that point.

"No, I don't think so Pansy.  Excuse me a second." Mr. Cake trotted along ahead to his wife's side.  He gave her a gentle nudge on the shoulder and nodded over to their gardener guest.  The diminutive mare was glad for the save and quickly scurried away to Pansy's side while her husband took over.  Mr. Cake drew himself up to his full height and set a stern visage on the two stallions giving each other the stink eye at his hearth.

"Alright you three, what's going on here?  I'll have you know we're very busy right now and don't have time for a bunch of shenanigans." Mr. Cake said squarely.  While he was an upstanding citizen, he wasn't going to let anypony make his wife fret in their own home, even an officer of the law, a detective, or a friendly neighbor like Applejack.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:33, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

"You're not a detective, you're a private investigator. Civilian. Again, please step aside and stop interfering with the investigation." Blue Shield took a much sterner tone with the pony claiming to be a detective. No matter how good he was, Blue had to maintain order and proper procedure. Having PI's muck about in his business was bad.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Cake. But I only need to ask a few questions, and this should only take a small moment." He gave a sidelong glance at Keen Eyes to keep him quiet before he could open his mouth. "I recieved a report of a missing apple cart. It has passed through here. And seeing as how you've had a delivery of apples recently, I need to know who was pulling the cart."

Relieved to have Rainbow turn up, Applejack gave her a vexed look. "Mah Cart went missing, and Twilight was helpin' me look fer it..." she pause,d and glanced wistfully over at the officer. "An' then everypony started makin' a bit of a big deal over it." she said, quietly.  After hearing the frustration the Cakes were in, she decided... maybe it'd be best to just get out of the way and let...

She sighed, mentally. This was her problem, and now she felt like she wasn't gonna' be allowed to solve it herself! She glanced to Rainbow. "Could ya' have a fly around that way an see if ya can't spot mah cart?" she prompted, pointing a hoof along toward the direction of the tracks, further into the business district. Rainbow was the best flier around, and she could have a view and then some in  a flash, Applejack was sure.  "Jus.. ah.. don't make a big scene about it.. well, ah mean, bigger."

"Same thing, it's still a detect-" Keen Eyes began to argue, but was abruptly cut off by Mr. Cake.  The detective was surprised by the attitude of Mr. Cake.  Shenanigans?  They were trying to resolve some shenanigans, not cause it.  Before Keen Eyes could get a word out, Blue Shield had already started speaking and sent a glance his way.  He knew this wouldn't be easy, but the detective was already starting to get a bit agitated.  Keen Eyes remained quiet though; the officer had already basically asked what he wanted to ask and there was no point in asking the same exact thing.  Although it was obvious the police pony didn't want Keen Eyes interfering with his investigation, the detective refused to move an inch; sticking close by to hear what Mr. Cake had to say.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:03, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Cake.  Got distracted by all the hub-bub.  These are the flowers you asked for, for garnishing right?  They're all organically grown, so they should be safe to use as is."  Pansy pulled a few of the prettier ones out to demonstrate, a pink rose petal and a purple pansy.

"You know, since Pinkie Pie doesn't seem to be around, could I stay and help a little?  I'm not much of a baker, but I don't mind getting my hooves a little messy."  The purple-maned pony had noted Mrs. Cake's worry, and wanted to help.  Besides, her plants had already been watered, and she could open her own shop a little later.

Mr. Cake took in the information with a raised brow, but otherwise his expression didn't change.  His eyes drifted over the bashful looking Applejack in a moment of consideration.  Well, that would explain why she was there... but what about the rest of the peanut gallery?  Twilight Sparkle, Strawberry Toast, and now Rainbow Dash?  Ugh... just the usual array of chaos that seemed to surround that bunch of friends.

"I don't know about any apple cart.  We got a shipment in just this morning, but Pinkie Pie handled it.  The missus and I have been in the kitchen since before dawn trying to get these orders taken care of.  Orders that you're delaying." Mr. Cake highlighted the edge in his tone with a firm stomp of his hoof.  He stepped aside just enough to give view into the kitchen beyond him -- sure enough there were lots of apples stacked up, freshly plucked, washed, and in the midst of being turned into dipped Candied Apples.  It was most certainly not an invitation to come in though and Mr. Cake stepped forward once more to strike as imposing a figure as his gaunt frame could make.

"We've got a ledger for all the purchases the shop makes and Pinkie Pie handled the order itself.  If you want any more information, you'll have to go find her.  She took our foals off to the playground at the school house so that we'd have enough peace to work." the baker put his hoof down once more.  "Now we've still got several dozen apples to dip and box before we can even start on the rest of the morning orders, and there are hungry ponies lining up outside.  If you'll kindly excuse me."

With that, Mr. Cake stepped back and shut the door soundly in place.  Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to go riling up businessponies while they had work to attend to.  Even if it was in the interest of handling an investigation...

Meanwhile, Pansy's offer to help was met with a grateful sigh from Mrs. Cake.  She clasped her hooves onto the taller pony's shoulders and looked about ready to cry in relief.  "Oh, thank Celestia, you darling you!  Please, come on inside and get an apron on.  We can use all the help we can get candying up these apples.  It's easy -- just grab 'em by the stick, dip in the caramel, give 'em a twirl to keep them coated smoothly, and then roll them in the basin of crushed chocolate and nuts.  Once they're done they go on the trays to firm up."

From a slight distance aside, Twilight Sparkle could take in the whole scenario and get a feel for how it was going.  In short, not well.  While it was helpful to have someone like Officer Shield assisting, he'd taken charge and put Applejack in an awkward position.  Now this Keen Eye fellow was jumping in as well?  Mr. Cake letting his temper show was just the last of it, really.  Everything was really getting out of hand.

Thus, Twilight did what came natural to her and stepped up to try and mitigate the situation with a bit of damage control.  She cantered up between Blue Shield and Keen Eye with a slightly apologetic smile on her face.  "Ah, look, both of you... we appreciate you trying to help, but this really isn't something that needs all this attention.  We don't know for certain the cart was actually stolen, especially if it made a delivery here after going missing."

Twilight cast a look over her shoulder to where Applejack was talking with Rainbow Dash, then returned her gaze back up at the two stallions.  Her friend's pride was battered enough as it was without all this heaping onto it.  They'd always been of the habit of solving their own problems.  "It might be best if we just handled this ourselves.  It's not something that needs the police or a detective.  I'm sure you both have more important things you could be doing, right?"

Sensing that she and everypony else was distinctly in the Cake's way, Applejack motioned Rainbow  aside with her, away from the building, but still in sight, while she awaited an answer. She's trot off after the tracks  once Twilight got back to her...

She really was lucky, with such good friends.

Pansy nodded, and went to go put on an apron and wash her hooves.  Didn't want to accidentally put garden dirt in the food, now did she?  The Cakes had already set up a little assembly line, so it was easy for her to get started.  And that way Mrs. Cake could focus more on the things that only she could do.  Dip, swirl, roll, and place.  Dip, swirl, roll, and place.

Now it was Blue Shield's turn to lose a shot of pride. Cases just didn't happen often in Ponyville. As it was, the Elements of Harmony were usually on any case that did show up, because in some way or another, it did wind up involving them somehow. So really, no, he didn't have anything better to do that to track down a missing apple cart and figure out if it was theft or not. This was about as big as cased got in such a small place. Everyone looked out for each other, and help was always just right next door. It was a kick in the flank to the purpose of a police officer.

"I... See..." Blue hid a small sigh as he backed away from the door and the other ponies. Outwardly, he didn't want to show that he felt unnecessary despite things like this being his job. "Well then... If you can't find it by tomorrow, find me on patrol. I'm at the same locations every day so it shouldn't be too hard to track me down. We'll file a missing property report, and I'll do my best to track things down from there. Sorry for being a bother." About this time, he'd be entering the business district, so at least he wasn't far off route.

"Good luck finding your cart." He added over his shoulder as he headed back towards the business district.

[Exit to: Business District]
This message was last edited by the player at 18:04, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

Rainbow Dash chuckled at Applejack's uncomfortableness in having this much attention over her missing cart. "A missing cart is all this is about? Sheesh, talk about overkill." She teased her Earth pony friend, then got serious about it. "Just relax, AJ, I'll fly around town and see what I can find. I'll go all the way to Manehattan if it comes to it... but hopefully it won't... cause that's kinda far. Be back soon!" With a quick flap of her wings, she took off to search for the cart.

To Town Square --->

With Rainbow departing, Applejack approached Twilight and Blue Shield, and scuffed the dirt with a hoof. "Aw... don't worry none about it. Ah know you were just doin' your job..." she said, and managed a smile. "Ah'm sure nopony did this intentionally." she said, and glanced at Twilight. Well, that was bad wording. The cart had been hitched  up and wheeled off. That was intentional... "Ah mean... ah don't think anypony would try t'steal from me."

Blue Shield wasn't alone in those feelings.  There wasn't much Keen Eyes could say; he hadn't exactly been hired.  The unicorn had simply stuck his muzzle into their business.  Still, being asked to back off by those who were involved made his heart sink.  Mysteries were his forte after all.  The detective didn't really have anything better to do either.  "Yes, I suppose I do," Keen Eyes said, giving the newspaper that was still floating beside him a glance.  With his attention now on Twilight and her friend, Applejack, what appeared to be a couple business cards floated their way.  "Here's my cards, if you ponies happen to change your minds.."

As much as the detective hated leaving a case unsolved he began on his way once more.  Continuing the morning walk that had been interrupted.  Mysteries were his bread and butter, and at this rate the pony was going to have to take up a second job.  What did he expect though; Ponyville was nothing like the busy streets of Canterlot.  Where there always seemed to be somepony in need of his help.

As the two stallions started going off in a dejected manner, Twilight was left to grimace where she stood.  Geeze... she really felt like she'd stuck her hoof in her mouth.  Were all boys so sensitive?

"Wait a second, you two!  I'm sorry -- things just got a little out of control there." the unicorn quickly tried to gather the two men before they could get off too far.  "This might be better if we coordinate with each other a bit rather than just running around from place to place.  The investigation would be more efficient that way, right?"

She looked back to Applejack with a hopeful expression -- she knew her friend's wounded pride was still stinging, but if they could rope in the situation a bit, then that would make things better for all of them.  Blue Shield and Keen Eyes wouldn't have to feel like they'd been dismissed and Applejack could get control of her own problem again.

"Yer right, Twilight." Applejack said, and nodded. "Awright, someone's gotta go get Rainbow Dash and point her the right way. Then we can all search after the tracks." she turned, and pointed a hoof in the direction they went. "Everypony wants  to figure this out, and... ah could use the help, ah think..."  Applejack was proud... but time and again she'd learned she had people she could turn to. So this time... it would be alright, too.

"Precisely.  The tracks lead further into the Business District and it's a pretty straight shot from here.  It doesn't seem like whomever took the cart has been trying to hide, so they probably took Stirrup Street."  Twilight reasoned.  "Pinkie Pie may know something, but she's not going to be easy to track down even if we know where she is.  We'll need a few extra hooves to cover more ground around the Schoolhouse to find her."

The unicorn looked back and forth among the gathered ponies.  They had some pretty clear goals once they actually paused a moment to discuss it -- retrieve Rainbow Dash, then have one portion of the group track the cart while the other tried to find Pinkie Pie for information.  "Volunteers?"

When it seemed Twilight had a change of heart, Keen Eyes was pretty quick to come trotting back.  The detective had not expected the change of mind, especially this quickly.  Folding up the floating newspaper once more, he approached the group again.  "Solid idea," Keen Eyes said as the ponies decided it would be best to split up.  "Sure, I'll go track down this, Pinkie Pie." Keen Eyes answered.  She seemed like a solid enough lead than any to the detective.  "Er, what does she look like?" the detective suddenly asked, realizing he hadn't exactly met her.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:46, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

Twilight Sparkle was actually left briefly agape when Keen Eyes asked about Pinkie's appearance.  He hadn't already been jumped when he first came to town?  Pinkie must have been slacking off lately... but then again, there had been a lot of new residents coming to town.  Presumably even she could get overwhelmed.

"Pinkie's an Earth Pony about this tall, a little on the plump side, and has three balloons for a Cutie Mark.  She's all pink and her hair looks like cotton candy." Twilight explained.  "Mr. Cake said she was watching their foals, so that means she'll have a baby Pegasus and Unicorn with her too.  Just be careful, okay?  Pinkie Pie is sort of excitable like lava is 'sort of warm'."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:46, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

Mr. Cake, satisfied with having driven off the distractions, turned back into the kitchen and marched back to work with his head held high.  Mrs. Cake, meanwhile, tittered fondly as she looked up from working with their newest assistant.

"Ooh, Carrot... I love it when you get assertive~." the older mare cooed.  That playful remark seemed to catch her husband off guard and he deflated a bit, blushing behind his freckles and chuckling bashfully.

"Ah... w-well... Oh, Pansy's lending a hoof too?" Mr. Cake swiftly diverted the topic while his wife just grinned.  "That's awfully nice of you.  Though if you could stick around a while longer and help us with the breakfast crowd, we'd be glad to feed you for your work.  You wouldn't have to bake anything -- just help out handling the line?"

Regardless of whether or not Pansy extended further help, Mr. Cake would dive back into the task at hand.  With an extra pony working they got a good clip going -- all three moving in synchronicity kept the apples rolling along, getting dipped, and prettied up into even sweeter treats than they already were smoothly.  Her presence to assist was obviously a relief for the over-taxed couple and they were able to relax a bit while they worked thanks to the other pony's aid.

"Sure thing, Mr. Cake," Pansy replied with a smile.  The candy store was a great change of pace from her little garden shop.  The Earth pony briefly wondered if this is what Pinkie Pie got to do most of the time.  No ponies lined up at the garden shop.  Then again, would she even have any plants after a rush like this?  Plants, unlike cake, were meant to be consumed slowly.

Luckily, the Cakes did not name their confections in completely obtuse ways.  A fruit tart was a fruit tart, and a cinnamon roll was a cinnamon roll.  After finding the boxes and bags that were used to pack up the treats, and making herself familiar with the display case, she was ready to handle the line.  "Sorry for the delay, everypony," Pansy said as she unlocked the door to the shop at opening time.  "What can I get you?"  She asked, as the first pony in line came in, with his newspaper, and they both walked toward the counter.

Pansy's assistance was just what The Cakes needed right then.  They were able to make up for lost time and keep on track until all the Candied Apples were packed up and ready to go.  There would be somepony coming later on to pick those up, so for now they could be set aside and ignored while the other orders got filled.

The Cakes remained in the back baking and preparing fresh goods while Pansy covered the register.  Every now and then one of them would come hustling out to place a tray of wonderful-smelling sweets or buns in the display or up on a shelf somewhere.  Meanwhile the customers began filing into the shop.  Thankfully they were all regulars and thus remained orderly -- they kept in a straight line and nopony was shoving about or bickering.

"Wow, finally... I thought my flanks were gonna go numb sitting out there all morning.  Did you see all that noise with the police officer?" the first customer made chit-chat with Pansy while he peered over the open displays.  "I'll take three crullers and a grapefruit tart.  In a bag, please -- I've still gotta go get coffee for the office too."

"Only a little.  Must have been exciting though, whatever it was."  Pansy found the goodies quickly and packaged them up, wrapped in paper in the white bag.  "Here you go!"  Thankfully, they were all regulars, so hopefully they wouldn't stiff her, since she didn't know the prices.

Thankfully for Pansy, the cash register was easy to operate.  Like so much of visual information in Equestria, it worked with pictographs -- each of the large buttons were labeled with a picture of the various products the shop offered.  Since The Cakes had a consistent menu and only deviated on special occasions the register was uniform as a result.  With a little doing Pansy could click out the orders and it would pop up a total along with a cheery little ring of its bell.

The Earth Pony paid his bits and hustled off, giving a muffled thanks around his mouthful on the way out.  The next pony in light trotted right up, flexing her wings about as she smiled brightly from her side of the counter.  From there the orders came and went smoothly enough -- there weren't any real problems aside from having to ask someone to wait a while as other baked goods were brought out, or having their order packaged to go in some particular manner.  Most of them were present for breakfast and were already devouring their treats before they even got back out the door again.

A small sort of problem did pop up though as the line wore along.  One of the customers -- a cute blue Unicorn colt with a few bits hovering over his head -- shouldn't have been there.  It was already high time for the local kids to be in school, yet here this one was playing hooky and looking to buy himself some candy.

Like usual Strawberry was just sort of standing on the sidelines, looking a bit out of sorts as she tried to figure out what exactly she could do. Finally Twilight brought up that they would need some volunteers to see if they could find Pinkie Pie at which Strawberry jumped at the oppurtunity raising a hoof.

"Oh! I'll help!" She hastily volunteered.

"Alright then.  Detective?  You, Toast, and I will go look for Pinkie Pie.  Applejack; you keep tracking the cart.  Officer Blue Shield; take to the sky and find Rainbow Dash, then join up with Applejack afterward." Twilight was always at her best when she was planning and scheduling, plus now it felt like there was more direction to their search.  That apple cart was as good as found~!  "Any questions?"

"Heheh.. Sorta, Twilight?" she grinned a bit. "Can ya' pop over ta get Rainbow on the right track? Ah'll gowith Blue Shield to follow the tracks." Applejack suggested, then trotted over to the Poicepony.  "Err... thanks for... helpin'. Let's get to looking, huh?" she offered a hoof, then turned to trot off after the tracks directly.

Chasing the Tracks to... Business District, Right?

It seemed things were starting to move; and with this Pinkie Pie's description Keen Eyes was ready to depart.  "Alright, let's get to it then, ladies." Keen Eyes said and began at a trot towards the school house.  At this point, Keen Eyes didn't know if the other two ponies were following yet.  He tried not to move too fast so that it'd be easy for them to catch up and keep pace if that were the case.

<To Ponyville Schoolhouse>

Hmm, well, that was unusual.  Pansy debated for a moment whether or not to get Mr. or Mrs. Cake out here to deal with the colt, but decided she could probably handle it on her own.  The Cakes were already super-busy as it was.

When the young unicorn made it to front of the line, she paused before taking his order.  "Hey, shouldn't you be in school today?  What are you doing here, buying treats?"  She delayed getting his food right away.  There might be a reasonable explanation, and he was still a customer.  But she doubted it.

"No questions from me, lets go!" Toast hopped once.

With that she followed off after Keen Eyes, trying to outpace the detective however before she even made it too him she decided that the pace was just a bit too brisque for her blood. So she instead decided on just keeping the pace with the other pony.

To Ponyville Schoolhouse
This message was last edited by the player at 03:29, Thu 19 Apr 2012.

A more savvy pony would have had a cover story for getting out of suspicion, but it was obvious the young colt hadn't thought that far ahead.  He froze with eyes wide as he was called into question, stammering as he tried to formulate some excuse for himself.

"I thought so.  Now, if I let you buy the snack you want, do you promise to go straight to school?"  The kid probably hadn't had a chance to get breakfast, and the shop had been a little late opening.  Pansy was going to try and cut him some slack.

The colt brightened up at that deal.  "Really?  Y-yeah, I will!  Thanks lady!"  he chirped eagerly.  Honestly, he'd been expecting to get held there until his parents could be called on him, so getting the chance to not only get his treats but also slip by unpunished was more than he'd hoped for.  He floated his bits up onto the countertop and ordered two creampuffs... obviously to go.

"Now, wait just a minute," Pansy cautioned.  She wasn't born yesterday, and she remembered when she was a young filly.  She turned to call back to the back room.  "Mrs. Cake?  The line seems to have died down a bit.  I'm going to get going, ok?"  The gardening pony took off her apron, got the young unicorn's order, and headed for the door.  "C'mon, I'll walk you to school."  Today was certainly turning out to be a little strange.

And just like that, the colt's face fell once again.  He hadn't been able to figure out a good excuse for him to be there in the first place, so he sure as all else wasn't able to weasel his way out of Pansy's attention either.  Her call to Mrs. Cake summoned the squat mare from the kitchen -- she stuck her head out with a nod and a wave of her hoof.

"Okay sweetie~!  Thank you so much for all the help!  Be sure to come back later and we'll have something scrumptious whipped up for you." Mrs. Cake insisted with a grateful smile.  Pansy really had been a life saver for them.

Meanwhile, the colt was left dejectedly following behind the responsible adult he'd unfortunately run into during his little misadventure.  He wore a sour pout as he trotted meekly in her wake, dragging his hooves and obviously contemplating if he'd be able to make a break for it.

Pansy nodded and waved to Mrs. Cake as she left the sweets shop with the colt.  A rumble in her tummy indicated that she'd be back soon, but she couldn't just let a kid run around with nobody watching him.  As they walked toward the school, she had to slow down to make sure she wouldn't lose him.

"Here, have a creampuff.  It'll make you feel better," Pansy offered, trying to cheer the unicorn up.  She wondered why he was playing hooky.  She'd always loved school.  "Why weren't you in school this morning? Don't you like it?"

While the colt did seem appreciative of being allowed to have his sweets, it didn't do much to cheer him up.  He just continued to pout even as he chomped on a mouthful of delicious puff pastry -- an impressive feat considering since The Cakes' sweets were enough to make anypony smile.

"School is just stupid.  I wanted to go to Magic School, but Dad says it's too expensive.  I'm a Unicorn -- what am I supposed to learn at dumb old normal classes anyway?" the colt grumbled.

"Well school's not just about what you learn from the teachers.  It's also about making friends, and learning to interact with all sorts of different ponies.  If you went to magic school, you'd only get to hang out with other unicorns.  Who knows?  You might end up best friends with a pegasus, or an earth pony, or a dragon.  But if you don't go to school, you won't know how to act when you meet new people."

"I've got friends, lady." the colt rolled his eyes despite Pansy's sage advice.  "But what I wanna do is learn magic~!  What if my Cutie Mark has to do with spells or something cool like that?  Normal school can't teach me anything important."

While there was obviously a huge amount of short-sightedness in the colt's point of view, there was a kernel of truth as well.  But surely there were other options available for him to learn magic without needing to play hooky.

"That's not true.  Normal school can teach you lots of important things.  But you're right, they can't teach you magic.  Have you thought about asking some of the other unicorns in town if they could teach you magic?  Twilight Sparkle might be willing to give lessons, since she's so knowledgeable.  And she's Princess Celestia's pupil.  You couldn't ask for a much better teacher than that.  There's options other than deciding it's magic school or nothing."  Pansy tried to have a little sympathy.  She was a simple Earth pony, and didn't have any magic herself.  Maybe it was a bit frustrating to not be able to learn something that is a defining factor of who you are.  Like a pegasus not knowing how to fly.  Not that she would know that either.

"I can't ask somepony like her!  She's way too important to waste time with me.  I might as well ask the Princess." there was a bit of excitement in the boy's tone regardless of his negativity.  Some hero worship, perhaps?  Many kids in town looked up to those six heroic ponies who'd saved the day so many times before, after all.  He was willing to listen to reason though; Pansy had his attention and curiosity.  "So... what other kinda options?"

"Well, there's lots of other unicorns in town.  You could ask your dad.  I'm sure he'd love to teach you.  Or you could try helping out around town.  After school, of course.  Magic is a doing thing, from what I understand.  The more you use it, the better you get at it.  I wouldn't mind a little magic around my shop to help out."  Pansy laughed at the last part.  Hauling heavy bags of soil and pottery would probably be a lot easier if she had magic to do it.

"Aww... Dad stinks at magic.  All he knows how to do is levitate stuff and make glass.  I can already do the first part just fine." the boy grumbled morosely.  That gave Pansy an idea of who his parents were, at least -- there was only one window maker in town; a Unicorn by the name of Dormer.  The colt perked a bit at Pansy's comment of having help around her shop though.  "Hey... you're not trying to trick me into doing your job for you, are you?"

"Haha.  No, no I'm not," Pansy replied with a smile.  "But think about it.  What would you like to learn to do with your magic?  Find someone who does that, and learn from them.  They don't have to be a unicorn.  I could teach you all about growing plants, or Mr. Cake could teach you about baking.  Then you could just practice using your magic to help you do those things."

"You can do that?  I thought you were supposed to learn from scrolls and books and stuff." the little colt was genuinely surprised by the potential to re-learn mundane tasks with magical means.  It obviously had never occurred to him.

By that time the two of them had traversed far enough from the Business District to hit Stirrup Street, which later branched away to lead down toward the School House in the east.  The kid paused as they approached that street since it was pretty much the point of no return.  "I'm gonna get in trouble, aren't I?" he asked meekly, though it sounded like he'd resigned himself to fate rather than pondering escape routes at least.

Twilight felt rather proud of herself as she got the situation under control in record time.  No hurt feelings, no misunderstandings, and now back on track!  She was already formulating her upcoming letter to Princess Celestia in her head when she looked around and noticed that she'd been left behind.

"Ah!  H-hey, wait for me!" the bookish mare yelped as she hurried off after her portion of the search team.

--> Exit to Schoolhouse

"I doubt everyone likes books as much as Twilight Sparkle," Pansy said with a grin.  She seriously doubted most unicorns read that much, then again, how many unicorns were as powerful as Twilight Sparkle?

"You'll have to get in at least a little trouble.  You weren't at school when you were supposed to be.  Now here, eat your last creampuff and think about what I said."  The gardener pony handed off the other treat, and waited for him to eat it.  She wasn't going to let him out of sight until she was sure he was heading for the schoolhouse.

The colt did as he was told -- he sat on the spot and gobbled up the other creampuff, though at a bit of a slower pace than the first.  He wasn't stalling, but rather just contemplating things while he ate.  Once he was done he stood and scampered along down the path without Pansy.

The boy got along far enough that he reached a small crossroads.  Ahead of him was the school house in the distance, but to the left were the orchards from Sweet Apple Acres.  He could dash in there and go unfound for hours.  As Pansy watched, she could see him taking in the possibility... but to his merit, the colt looked back to her, waved a hoof, and made the right choice by trotting off for the school instead.

-exeunt-

"Well, there's my good deed for the day."  As if on cue, Pansy's stomach grumbled audibly.  "Hm...maybe it's time for that snack."  She wandered back down the lane back to Sugarcube Corner.  It was on her way back to her shop anyway.

Pansy wouldn't be bothered on the way back to Sugarcube Corner.  The most eventful thing that would occur would be a few ponies hurrying past her chatting loudly -- something about a princess?  There seemed to be a gathering going on in the Town Square.  From where she was Pansy could see what looked to be a dark-bodied Alicorn with a few guards and a white Unicorn companion holding conversation with someponies up on the balcony of Town Hall.

Whether or not she investigated was up to how demanding her stomach was.  Either way, she'd find Sugarcube Corner had quieted down when she eventually got back to it.  Mrs. Cake had taken up her spot at the register and was just saying her goodbyes to a googly-eyed Pegasus carefully balancing a box of muffins atop her head.

Pansy stepped out of the pegasus's way.  That box didn't look too stable.  It would be a shame if those muffins got spilled.  "Hello again, Mrs. Cake.  I thought I'd pick up that goodie now if you didn't mind.  Do you know what's going on in the town square?  There seemed to be a bit of a crowd, and some talk about a Princess?"  Pansy was very curious.  She'd probably go check it out after her snack.  The only Princess she really knew of was Princess Celestia, but she was a brilliant white Alicorn.

"Town Square?  Oh yes, somepony came in while you were gone chattering up a storm.  Apparently Princess Luna has come back to town unannounced~!  There's going to be a moon-raising tonight.  Isn't that exciting?"  Mrs. Cake chattered as she stepped away from the counter and ducked below a nearby display case.  A moment later she returned with a tray clenched between her teeth.

Upon the tray was an absolutely delectable looking sweet tart -- a thick, fresh-baked almond graham crust filled with smooth, silky custard.  The whole thing was heaped high with a carefully arranged spiral of crisp apple slices, a liberal bounty of glistening raspberries, and just the right amount of cold, sweet whipped cream dabbed about to mellow out the fruit's tangy flavor.  As an added touch, the delicious tart was set on an attractive laced holder and garnished with one of the beautiful flowers Pansy had brought in earlier, complimenting both the color and shape of the snack.

"Here you are dearie~!  I hope you like it." the mare chirped as she set the tray down on the counter top.  "I can't tell you what an amazing help you were this morning.  You really pulled our tails out of the fire."

"Ooh, a moon-raising!  That is exciting."  How could Pansy have forgotten about Princess Luna?  That had been big news, after Nightmare Night.  But it did take some getting used to, having two Princesses.  And she was here in Ponyville?

"Wow, you didn't have to go to all this trouble, Mrs. Cake," the gardening pony exclaimed in surprise.  "I would have taken just a donut.  Thank you!"  The tart looked amazingly delicious.  She couldn't resist having one slice now and then boxing up the rest to go.  "It was no problem, really!"  Her stomach rumbled again, to make her look like a liar.  Well, maybe two slices now.

Mrs. Cake just gave a soft 'pssh' through her teeth as she moved to take up a spatula knife with her mouth.  "Please, we're happy to do it~!  I'm not sure we would've been able to keep up with everything this morning without your help, so it's the least we can do as a thank you."

Mrs. Cake started to cut a slice out of the tart for Pansy but paused when the pony's stomach rumbled loudly.  Giggling to herself, she adjusted her cut and pulled out a larger slice instead to offer over.  "Do you want something to drink as well?  Some milk or coffee?  I know what we have isn't as good as Merriweather's down the road, but you're free to take what you like."

"No, this is great, thanks!"  Though Pansy tried to be polite about eating the piece of tart, it was so good and so pretty it was soon reduced to crumbs.  It was the perfect combination of juicy and creamy, tart and sweet.  The Cakes didn't have their good reputation for nothing.

"That was just what I needed.  Sorry to eat and run, but I probably should get back to my shop, and I wanted to see if I could catch a glimpse of the Princess."  Pansy said with a smile.

"Go right ahead.  But be sure to come back whenever you like -- I promise we won't work you next time."  Mrs. Cake replied cheerfully.  She was quick to pack up the rest of the tart in a neat little box and tie it with string so that Pansy would have no trouble carrying it.  She wished the pony a friendly farewell and Mr. Cake even poked out of the kitchen long enough to wave goodbye too.  "Thanks again!"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:29, Fri 20 Apr 2012.

Pansy set the box gently on her back, waved goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and headed on her way.

--->To the Town Square

<<< FROM: Ponyville Town Square

"Careful, careful, watch ~ OW! ~ the leg," Widget blustered as Pinkie continued to carry him inside the bakery cafe, still toting one broken wing behind them by magic, and the other less bent one still attached to his back, though it flapped uselessly with Pinkie's trotting. "Hello, Mrs. Cake!" he greeted as he was carried inside.

--> Entering from Town Square with a kidnapped Widget

A pink streak of motion was actually a rather common sight going to and from Sugarcube Corner, so nopony even batted an eye as it blazed past, ruffling manes and sending hats skyward.  Before Widget would have time to get his eyes to stop whirling, he'd find himself in the sweet-smelling confectionery sliding across the floor to come to a smooth halt against the counter.  Pinkie Pie was still bouncing about, practically ricocheting off the walls as colorful streamers, balloons, and party favors seemed to blink into existence wherever she paused for a split second.

By the time Fung Shui would catch up and come inside the shop, he'd find it all decked out for some kind of celebration.  But, from what one could see, it was for no reason other than the fact that the two of them were there for something to eat.  "Irasshai~!  Nani o tabetai desu ka?" the pink party pony popped up right in his face once again with a loud, but friendly greeting.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:55, Fri 27 Apr 2012.

Mrs. Cake hadn't been startled at all by Pinkie's appearance and swift decoration of the shop.  That was a several-time-a-day occurrence, after all.  What did get her attention was the 'rider' Pinkie Pie had brought with her and the older mare quickly scurried over to Widget, looking suitably concerned.

"Oh my~!  You had another crash again, didn't you?  Come along dearie, have a seat and let me take a look at you."  Mrs. Cake's motherly attitude applied to anypony who needed a bit of care and she doted on their guest with concern.

Enter from Ponyville Town Square-->

Fung glided into Sugarcube corner quite easily, carried on a light breeze.  He was a bit surprised by the decorations, and wondered if he and the other two had stumbled into a party of some kind.  Just as he was looking for a place to put the flowers in his mouth down, Pinkie was back in his face again.  His left eye actually twitched in iritation, and he was about to ask her to back off, until he heard her talk.  The basket with the flowers hit the floor shortly before his jaw did.
"Anata ga neihongo o hanasu!?"*

*You speak Neighponese!?

"Watashi wa kentōgatsukanai~!  Naze desu ka?" she immediately replied as she quickly caught the basket before it could land and plunked it up onto Fung's head where it would be safe.  She closed his jaw for him too, though it made an odd creaking noise as she did so.

"Onaka ga suite imasu ka?  Nodo ga kawaite imasu ka?  Kaachan~!  Menyū o onegaishimasu~!"


*I have no idea~!  Why?
*Are you thirsty?  Are you hungry?  Mommy~! (referring to Mrs. Cake)  Bring a menu please~!

Now, that was probably the wrong thing to say to poor Fung.  After taking so much time to get used to living with ponies who didn't speak his language, it was a bit of a shock for the first pony to actually speak it to not know she was.  That was just crazy.  Almost as crazy as Fung continuing to talk with the basket on his head and not making a move to take it down.  But that's what he was doing.  Yelling at a pink pony in a foreign language with a potted plant on his head.
"Ore ga shira nai nani o imi shi masu ka!?  Ore ha ima, nihongo hanashi te iru!  Sore ha, neitibu no you na anata no kuchi kara de te ki te iru"

*What do you mean you don't know?
You're speaking it right now!  It is coming out of your mouth like a native!

"Yes, yes, another crash," said Widget in an embarrassed tone, leaning down slightly as he sat on a chair and extending his injured leg outward so that Mrs. Cake could see to it. "They did work, though. Sort of. I just need to recalculate velocity of the jet packs before I can try again. The wings work, though, for casual flight," he added in a pleased tone. He looked down, watching Mrs. Cake as she looked over his injured leg.

Mrs. Cake looked up when Pinkie seemed to call for her attention and just gave the pony a baffled shrug.  She had no idea what the pony was saying, after all.  Instead she focused on Widget as she poked and prodded at his bum leg.

"Hmm... looks like you tweaked a muscle.  Rest there while I get some wraps." she doted along behind the counter for the first aid kit.  Ever since they had new foals, there were medical supplies everywhere for little bumps and bruises.  She'd tend to Widget with far more care than Pinkie Pie had given in dragging him there.

Meanwhile, Pinkie just offered Fung Shui a helpless shrug.  "I'unno.  Sorta comes and goes." she explained carelessly.

"You-...I-...Bu-...Ger..."
Fung seemed to be having actual physical difficulties making sense of what Pinkie Pie was saying, if his rapidly changing body color and reddening eyes were any indication.  Just when he seemed like he was going to explode into a big messy ball of "What is this I don't even", Fung grabbed the potted plant on his head, removed it from it's basket, and placed it gently on a nearby table.  With the basket empty, he promptly jammed it on top of his head, and vented.
"BAAAAAAAAAAAKAA!"

Having returned to his natural blue color, Fung removed the basket from his head and returned the potted plant, sitting at the table in it's place.  He looked over at Mrs. Cake and Widget.
"When you have a moment ma'am, I would like a menu please."

Widget seemed to be with Mrs. Cake on this one, raising his eyebrow as Pinkie inexplicably started, and then stopped, speaking Neighponese. If there was one thing that Widget had learned since moving to Ponyville, other than to aim for the softest fruit stands he could in case of emergency, it was to just accept that Pinkie was Pinkie, andPinkie was nothing if not completely random. It saved a lot of headaches and useless frustration in the long run. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Cake," he said graciously as she wrapped up his sore muscle. He smirked knowingly at Fung Shui - he didn't have to speak Neighponese to know get the jist of that outburst. "Same with me, please, Mrs. Cake. I think I'm hungrier than I thought."

As Fung went about bordering on a conniption fit, Pinkie just reared back with gleeful laughter and bounced around him in a circle, accenting his scream with her own chirpy cries.  "Yay~!  Baka baka bakaaaaa~!"  But soon enough relative peace was restored and she went bounding right over the counter and out of sight... which was odd since there shouldn't have been anywhere else she could have gone from that spot.

Mrs. Cake, meanwhile, finished padding and binding Widget's leg for him.  "There you go, sweetie.  You're good to walk, but do try and keep pressure off it." she advised.  When asked for menus though, the older mare just chuckled.  "Oh, we don't have any menus.  What you see on the shelves is what we've got, and it you've got a special order, Mr. Cake and I can whip up anything you can think of~!"

She waved Fung over to sit at the small table with Widget in an inviting manner.  "Have a seat and I'll get you boys some nice chamomile tea."

Having entered from Ava's Treehouse

Ava stepped into Sugarcube Corner - she had a little time before she needed to be at work. She and Poppy hadn't had a chance to pick up any teabags yet, and she was craving a cup of tea. And maybe a scone or muffin... "Good morning," she grinned, stepping up to the counter. "Could I please have a cup of raspberry tea and an oat muffin?" she asked, fishing the requisite bits from her saddlebag.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:56, Fri 27 Apr 2012.

"Oh, of course sweetie.  Just a moment."  Mrs. Cake paused to give the newly arrived mare a smile.  "Pinkie Pie~!  Can you help out the customer?"

No sooner had Mrs. Cake made that request and vanished into the kitchen than the summoned pony appeared.  She came swinging down from the ceiling with her hind legs tethered up in some banners, hanging upside-down right in front of Ava's face.

"HI~!  You wanted at oat muffin, right?  Want any cream cheese on that?  Or how about butter?  Do you want it warmed up?  Oooh~~ they're so gooooo~d warmed up~!  Or with clotted cream~!" the hyperactive pony rambled.  How had she even gotten up there?

Ava was slightly startled by the pink pony's profferings, but not upset in the least. "A warmed up oat muffin with cream cheese would be perfect, thanks," she laughed. "I'm Ava -what's your name?" She paused. "And how in Equestria did you get up there?" she giggled.

"Get up where?" Pinkie blinked.  A moment later the banner she was hanging from snapped under her weight and she went crashing to the floor head-first.  "Oh~!  You mean up there!  Who cares?  We've got muffins to think about!" she piped as she immediately bounced back to her hooves no worse for wear.

♪♪♪
When you're feeling beat
with a grumbly in your middle,
stop on by and have a treat,
a nosh, or just a nibble~!

Muffins, cakes, and candy~!
Aren't they all just great?
They make everypony happy~!
Ooh, I just can't wait!
♪♪♪

Huh... it wasn't every day somepony just burst out into random song for no good reason, but at least it kept Pinkie Pie busy as she quickly bounced around preparing Ava's order for her.  By the time she finished her little ditty she had the requested muffin, warm and smeared with rich cream cheese fresh and waiting on a platter balanced atop her head.  Mrs. Cake had come back along in the meantime as well and daintily placed a fine cup of sweet-smelling raspberry tea up on the tray as well.

"Thank you, Pinkie Pie." she said as she continued along, bringing over a pot of chamomile for the two stallions as well.


*sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy
This message was last edited by the player at 19:22, Fri 27 Apr 2012.

Widget was careful on his leg, sure that it would be good as new within an hour or few. He glanced over the shelves while he waited for his chamomile tea, stroking his chin with his hoof. "So, Fung Shui," he said, still looking at the shelves, "what have you been up to lately? We haven't sat down and talked for a while. As a matter of fact, we have never sat down and talked." He smiled at him, obviously having decided what he wanted and waiting patiently for Mrs. Cake.

"No, I suppose not."
That wasn't odd in itself; while ponies in ponyville were all somewhat familiar with each other, it was rare for a pony to know everypony.  Not that it didn't happen.  Fung glanced over at Pinkie for a moment as that thought passed through his head.  She was an oddball, that pony.

"Well, I've been keeping busy with my dance studio.  Never a shortage of students seeking guidance.  It isn't quite the same as back in Neighpon, but dancing on the ground has it's own appeal.  I took a little time today to prepare for the Moon raising later.  I never did formally introduce myself to either of the Princesses when I arrived in Equestria, so I thought a floral arrangement might make a good offering of friendship to Princess Luna."
He motioned casually at the potted flower arrangement he had been carrying.
"And you, Widget?  I can't help but notice you've been crashing just as much as usual."

"Mrs. Cake, I'd like a bumbleberry muffin, please," he said before she walked away, raising the teapot and pouring both himself and Fung Shui a cup of it. "I've met Princess Celestia, but I left Canterlot before Princess Luna was rescued," Widget replied, stirring sugar and milk into his tea magically. "I really look forward to meeting her, if she can spare the time. I want to show her my Daedelus Device. If I can fix it by then, of course," he said with a sad little smile. "I was hoping to have my Booster Jets ready, but no luck there. Still a lot of work to do on those before they're ready for proper showing."

Fung accepted the tea by itself for now, waiting to see how it tasted and what struck his fancy.  At the mention of this so-called Daedalus Device, he perked up.  That was the reason he followed along with these two anyway.
"Booster jets?  I assume those are meant as some kind of...propulsion?  Why would you need jets if you have working wings?"
The questions all kind of spilled out before Fung could sensor himself.  He withdrew for a second, collected himself, and asked again.
"Exactly how are these wings meant to work?  Like a pegasus?"

In true professional fashion, Mrs. Cake kept herself out of the way while the two chatted.  Widget would hardly notice when a warm blueberry muffin with a side of jam and butter was slid onto the table before him until its sweet aroma hit his nose.

"Thanks... Pinkie Pie, was it?" Ava laughed. She sipped her tea and sighed in contentment. "Mmmm... I needed that," she smiled.

"Well, they do work as wings, as in they flap up and down and can hold my weight. But have you ever seen Pegasus like Rainbow Dash take off? So fast and so incredible! I was trying to simulate that experience, quick take off and flight that evens out later. But I miscalculated the effect of the velocity on a pony not used to flying; I started too big. I need to start slower and work my way up." He nodded sagely. He glanced down at the blueberry muffin with slight disappointment, then went about buttering it anyway. He was far too hungry to argue or send it back.

"They work by a unicorn concentrating magic into a rhythm to make them flap without moving extra body parts, to simulate the concentrated needed to fly properly. Hopefully, with time and practice, it will become like second nature, such as magic is to unicorns and flying is to pegasi."

Something about how Widget was explaining his device didn't sound quite right.  He was describing it like a pegasus only used their wings to fly.
"Well, you don't need extra propulsion for quick take-offs, you just need strong leg muscles.  A pegasus doesn't just use their wings when taking off.  They can, I'm sure, but a quick kick-off or running start can give a flyer a substantial boost once they're in the air."
He took a small sip of his tea as he continued thinking.
"The more I think about it, the more I think your boosters are the problem.  All that displaced air will alter the currents that keep you aloft.  Do you experience any turbulence before the wings fail?"

Widget looked frankly surprised at Fung's suggestion that it was not magical proportion, but leg power that made a Pegasus' take off so quick. He sipped his tea with a fascinated expression, the cup supported between his hooves. "I never thought of that," he admitted. "I thought it was wing propulsion that artificial wings couldn't simulate without aid. Doing my studies in Canterlot, it seems, has caused me to not consider the physical element. Fascinating!" He didn't seem upset, more intrigued and excited. A new line of study!

"Well, truth be told, that was my first test run of the booster. Without them, they usually fail because a bolt falls out or I lose my concentration and the seize up." He smiled a little sheepishly.

The kirin had to smile at Widget's passion for his science project.  Fung would never have thought of trying to create a way for non-winged ponies to fly, but then he could fly without wings anyway, in a sense.  No doubt Widget's desire to fly was quite strong.
"While I'm no expert on flight with wings, my old profession imparted quite a bit of knowledge on air currents.  We kirin are able to walk on wind via in-born magic, but utilizing wind isn't the same as navigating it like a Pegasus does.  I imagine your artificial wings are put under all sorts of stress from attempting to support our weight while cutting through the wind."

Fung must have forgotten about his recent episode from dealing with Pinkie, because now he was looking about for her.
"That Pinkie Pie mare had the blueprints didn't she?"

"Well, I will have to ask a Pegasus, then. Maybe Rainbow Dash, when she has time to spare. After all, she is often regarded, by others than herself, as one of the best flyers in Equestria." He nodded with a determined expression.

However, at the mention of Pinkie Pie having blueprints, his enthusiasm faded slightly, and he looked at Fung Shui with an expression that was clearly both amused, and what could only be incredulity. "I'm very sure that Pinkie Pie has blueprints for something," he said in a mild tone. "I very much doubt they are to my Daedelus Device. Or to anything particularly useful. Fun, I have no doubt. But not useful." He snickered slightly and sipped his tea.

Fung nodded veeery slowly at Widget's explanation of Pinkie's blueprints.
"You seem to know her a good bit better than I.  Tell me, is she always so..."
Unable to find words that weren't slanderous or insulting, Fung gestured vaguely with his hooves, shrugging at the same time.
"I've just never met a pony who acts so strangely.  It's as if she has no decorum.  Just look at her bouncing about like some kind of frog!"
As if to make his point, he looked over his shoulder at her while she tended to another customer.  It was a subtle look though; he had barely escaped with his sanity the last time she had focused on him.

Widget chuckled and nodded as he ate his blueberry muffin and listened to Fung try to, as delicately as possible, explain the unexplainable pink bubble that was Pinkiamina Diane Pie. "Yes, she is always so... random," he said with a laugh. "She has always been like that. She is a sweet girl, very kind and generous and always ready to make someone feel better about any situation. But she has always been the way she is, as long as I have known her anyway. You get used to it after a while."

He took another bite of blueberry muffin, pondering his next words. "She is boundless energy and fun. She always makes time for a pony in need. She is everyone's friend, whether they know it or not. She's just..." He smiled, and shrugged. "She's just Pinkie."

As Ava sat nibbling her muffin and sipping her tea, her furrowed brow bore the distinct look of somepony who had a lot on her mind. "Hope Poppy's first day is going well... she sighed to herself. So many things to worry about - how had Mom and Dad ever managed to stay on top of it all? But for Poppy's sake she had to find a way to do it - she couldn't afford to buck up.

Pinkie Pie didn't seem to notice the chit-chat going on about her.  But she did notice the mention of blueprints.  As soon as that had come up, she popped out from underneath the men's table... but when had she gotten down there?!

"Oh yeah~!  I almost forgot about those!  Here y'go~!" she chimed as she produced two rolls of blueprint sheets.  "This first one worked great~!  I got about four-hundred feet up before I got knocked out of the sky by a meany-head Gryphon named Gilda~!  And there's this one, but I haven't gotten the chance to try it yet.  I drew it up the first time I saw you testing one of your wing packs, Widgey~!"





In the meantime, Mrs. Cake had come back out again from the kitchen, though this time with a cooing filly riding on her back.  The little unicorn giggled about as her mother trotted along with a little bounce in her step up to the register.  "Thanks for waiting Miss.  Did you want anything else or were you ready to... oh... are you alright?" the older mare asked Ava as she noticed a bit of dismay on her face.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:35, Mon 30 Apr 2012.

"I'm... as okay as I'm gonna be," Ava said, looking up with a small smile. "It's been a... difficult few weeks." The giggling foal elicited a few giggles from the moody unicorn, and Ava seemed to brighten a little bit. "Well, hello cutie," she cooed, waving a hoof.

Mrs. Cake gave an understanding nod, though she perked as her foal got all chirpy and giggling at the sight of Ava.  The little unicorn's horn spurted and lit up, which soon caused Ava's glasses to come floating off her face and onto the foal's, making her bright eyes look huge through the lenses.

"Now Pumpkin, behave yourself." Mrs. Cake scolded the baby gently, though she couldn't help but snicker at the silly sight herself.

Without her glasses, Ava went cross-eyed, but she didn't seem to mind - indeed, was giggling like crazy. "Aww - she's so cute," she giggled.

She sighed - she typically kept her troubles to herself, but something about the slightly older mare made her feel comfortable talking. "My parents died a few weeks ago in a traffic accident in Canterlot - now I'm raising my little sister, and trying to give her some sense of normalcy. There's so many things that need to be taken care of. It's a lot of responsibility, and I'm not sure I'm ready for it - but for Poppy's sake, I have to be. She needs me right now - and I need her, too."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:42, Mon 30 Apr 2012.

Ava was new to town and Mrs. Cake wasn't at all familiar with her to such a personal level, but it was obvious when somepony really needed to get something off their chest.  The older mare offered a sympathetic ear and gasped softly when the admission of Ava and her sister being orphaned came to light.

"My stars, you poor thing... I'm so sorry." was all she could offer at first, looking at a loss for words.  "You two only just moved to town, right?  How are you ever handling everything?"

Ava nodded - she hadn't realized how badly she'd needed to talk. "We're settling in pretty well, all things considered. We had some help from a couple of my college friends getting everything moved into our new place - I don't think I would have made it through the last couple of weeks without Atom and Beaker. I'm likely going to have to go back into Canterlot for a day or two from time to time over the next couple of months dealing with all of the logistical red tape, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, it's all one day at a time - today's success criteria are Poppy having a good first day in school, me getting my office to some sense of order, and getting the week's grocery shopping done."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:22, Mon 30 Apr 2012.

"Well, if you ever need a good foalsitter for your little sister, I happen to know a great one who works for peanuts.  Or gumdrops.  Whichever you happen to have on hoof." Mrs. Cake nodded over at Pinkie Pie chatting with the stallions across the shop.  "I'll tell you what -- you two can come in here for something to eat whenever you like, okay?  No charge."

"Peanuts and gumdrops - check," Ava laughed. "It'll be much easier for everypony concerned if I don't have to pull Poppy out of school everytime I'm needed in Canterlot." She blushed slightly at the offer for free food - she could certainly use the help; she'd just started a new job, and getting her parents' accounts transferred to her name was taking time. "Thank you, Mrs. Cake - that's so nice of you."

Mrs. Cake just shook her head and leaned over to nip the glasses off Pumpkin's face before she could go as cross-eyed as Ava was, then slid them across the counter to their proper owner.  "Don't think a thing of it, sweetie.  It breaks my heart to think of you girls having a hard time of it after that sort of loss."

"I think being out of Canterlot will be good for both of us," Ava nodded, levitating her glasses back on. Her eyes instantly un-crossed. "Poppy seems to finally be coming back out of her shell just a little bit."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:42, Tue 01 May 2012.

When Pinkie passed Widget the plans a bit unexpectedly, his brow furrowing as he unrolled them, his magic keeping his blueberry muffin held aloft by magic near his mouth. "Oh, my! Pinkie, these are wonderful! So much detail!" He lapsed into silence as he examined the plans, completely engrossed in them. Fung might as well have melted into the floor. That was just Widget, though... He got involved and just disappeared into his work.

Fung may not have melted into the floor, but his brain was certainly trying to melt through his neck.  He knew next to nothing about this sort of thing, but even an untrained eye could look at these blueprints and see they were extremely complex.  All he could do was stare in incredulity.
"You made these?  Aren't you a baker here?  Or an assistant of some kind?  How do you have this kind of technical knowledge?"

"Of course sweetie.  If there's ever anything the husband and I can do to help, don't be afraid to ask, understand?  Here in Ponyville, we take care of each other." Mrs. Cake assured Ava.  It was a sentiment that the residents reliably echoed in agreement.  "I'm sure Poppy will make friends with the other foals at school.  They're a good bunch."

Meanwhile, over at the planning table, Pinkie seemed very proud of herself as the gentlemen gawked over her plans.  She pointed along to the wind mechanism and traced the brace form down the pony figure.  "I like this part especially.  I saw how tired you kept getting from using magic to run your machine, so I got rid of it entirely.  Plus, y'know, I can't use magic either 'cause I'm not a Unicorn.  See how the latch mechanisms fix here around the shoulders and hocks?  When you gallop, it runs the link chain through this part here, which winds a solid coil spring inside of here.  It's like winding a clock~!  So once it's set, you release by drawing your legs up and it flaps the wings for you.  So y'gotta run run run run run and JUMP~! to start it off." Pinkie Pie demonstrated that as she dashed around the two of them and table in a tight circle, nearly kicking up a tornado in doing so, then sprang over their heads to land back in her original place.  "And if you need to rewind it mid-air, all y'gotta do is lock the wings in a glide position and make like you're running, just like Pegasus do when they're cloud-hopping~!  I thought about using a gas-compression system to add some extra boosting power to the hydraulic output, but that was just silly~nilly~!  That sort of thing would take an entire secondary core manifold and then you'd overbalance and you'd have to start adding additional boost methods, and then you're just running in circles~!"

Pinkie Pie was a curious sort of pony indeed.  One look at her would make anyone believe her to be nothing more than a fluffy-brained ditz... and they wouldn't be far from the truth, really.  But apparently there was more behind those cheery blue eyes than she let on.  That, or she was just really good at engineering for no apparent reason.

"Well, sure I made 'em~!" the party pony giggled over Fung Shui's disbelief.  "I make all sorts of stuff.  I built my welcome wagon and my party canon too.  It kinda snowballs, y'know?  First you're just doing some reading trying to figure out a better way to make a souffle rise, and next thing y'know, you're laying out baseline equations to define propulsion/flow currents.  Happens to everypony, right?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:33, Tue 01 May 2012.

Ava nodded. "Actually, the funny part is, when we were small, I was the shy one who never left Mama and Daddy's side, and usually hid behind one of them whenever anypony noticed me. She was the one who would go running up to say hi to anypony and everypony - gave Mama and Daddy quite the scare more than once when she was too fast for them and they lost sight of her for a moment. Now I'm meeting with lawyers and bankers, because I have to, and she's only in the last few days getting to the point of voluntarily speaking to anypony besides me, Aunt Pearianne, Atom, or Beaker." Ava was rambling a bit - she'd been internalizing everything these last few weeks, and now the pot was bubbling over. "But we'll make it through - Daddy always said that if there was one word that could be used to describe M^cMaresly mares, it's stubborn," she giggled.

Let it never be said otherwise; Mrs. Cake was dearly sympathetic to Ava's situation.  But the young mare had essentially walked up to a random shopkeep and begun spouting her tale of woe with no provocation -- it put the poor baker off balance.  She wasn't quite sure how to react aside from offering abject empathy.

"Why don't you sit down and rest for a bit?  It sounds like you've got a lot on your mind." she offered, gesturing to one of the many tables the shop had to offer for guests.  There weren't any other customers that Pinkie Pie couldn't handle herself, which gave the bakery matron some time on her hooves.  "I'll get us some more tea."

"Thanks, Mrs. Cake," Ava nodded. She sighed. "I feel a little foalish - I don't know why I'm rambling on like this..."

Mrs. Cake had stepped aside long enough to poke back into the kitchen and call to her husband.  Her words were muffled behind the doors but soon enough she came back along and joined Ava at a table to sit.

"You've been through a lot, so it's only natural.  My father passed on years ago and it left me in quite a state... I don't know how I would've gotten along without my honeybun around to help me work through it." Mrs. Cake confided as she settled opposite of her guest.  A few moments later said 'honeybun', namely her husband Mr. Cake, came trotting out with a tray clenched in his teeth sporting more tea and some sugar cookies as well.  Their other foal, a rambunctious Pegasus busily drumming on his dad with his hooves, sat balanced upon his back.

"Here you go, ladies." he smiled gently before immediately turning to head back to the kitchen.

Ava smiled - she had always loved the little ones. "Oh, your little foals are so adorable - how old are they?"

Pound Cake was back off with his dad into the kitchen, but Pumpkin was still around in Mrs. Cake's care.  She smiled and gently reached to cradle her unicorn foal in her forearms, cuddling her sweetly to her cheek.  "My little Pumpkin and Pound Cake.  They're just under a year old now, but they're growing so fast.  Would you like to hold her?"

If there was anything that could put a smile on somepony's face, it was a cute little foal.  Especially when said foal was being particularly darling as she keenly flailed to try and get a sugar cookie from the plate.

"I'd love to,!" Ava exclaimed, brightening.

Mrs. Cake just laughed gently and scooted over so that she could pass Pumpkin over to the eager mare.  One the little unicorn was safe in a new set of arms, she'd blink those wide, bright eyes up at Ava... and then immediately stuff the thick braid of Ava's multicolored mane into her little mouth to chew and drool on.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:26, Tue 01 May 2012.

"Well aren't you just adorable, you silly filly," Ava laughed as the little foal began chewing her braid. Having been in her office rather than the lab all morning, there was no worry of chemical contaminants, and she had had MUCH worse things in her mane over the years than foal-drool. A quick shower before the moon-raising, and she'd be all set. "Say, have you heard anything about the moon-raising tonight?" she asked as she tousled Pumpkin's mane with one hoof.

"Hmm?" Mrs. Cake asked around a mouthful.  She'd taken the tea kettle between her teeth to pour the both of them cups of hot, sweet tea.  "Oh, yes.  News travels pretty fast around here.  There's been ponies coming in and out all morning long talking about it.  I was pretty surprised to find out though.  Are you and your sister going to attend?"

"Definitely," Ava nodded. "I'm sure Poppy will be begging me to go as soon as I see her after school, assuming the news made it to the schoolhouse," she laughed. "I didn't hear about it until I got to work this morning."

Fung just stared blankly at Pinkie as she gave her explanation.  His response was deadpan, like he was some kind of zombie.
"No.  No it does not.  I have never set out to do one thing and found myself doing something entirely different."
The moment those words left his mouth, Fung was struck with the sudden realization that that was exactly what was happening right now.  This entire day had blossomed from a simple morning run, somehow mutating into this bizarre conversation involving a pony flying machine, a Pink reality bending monster, and an innocent flower arrangement.  Fung's mouth just barely missed falling to the floor again.
"By Celestia's shining golden hooves."

"It must be an inventor thing," laughed Widget as he glanced up at Fung at last. "Or maybe just a hanging-out-with-Pinkie-Pie thing. That happens to me all the time." Beaming brightly, he looked up at Pinkie. "Do you mind if I take these blueprints for the wing machine, Pinkie? I would love very much to build it. Do you have a name for it? I would call it, the Clockwork Pegasus machine." He looked back down at the layout, almost hungrily. "Clockwork... powered by inertia... windup... amazing... fantabulous..."

"Well, knowing Ponyville, I'm sure everypony will hear about it one way or another before the event."  Mrs. Cake served up some tea and pushed the saucer over to Ava.  Pumpkin, meanwhile, had apparently tired of the pony's braid and instead began chewing on her ear with cute, if somewhat messy, 'om nom nom~!' sounds.

Over across the shop at the sight of Fung Shui's gradual psychological breakdown, Pinkie Pie was seemingly unaware of the mental fatigue she was causing the poor Kirin.  Learning how to cope with somepony like her took time in the best of cases.  He would have much in common with Twilight Sparkle -- another straight-laced sort who initially had a near-allergic reaction to Pinkie's antics.

"A name?  No... not yet.  It's just a drawing, after all.  Now if I ever built it, that'd be a whole other matter~!  But sure, go ahead and take 'em~!  If I need them for anything, I can just make more." she piped cheerfully.  Given that Widget knew exactly how much time went into carefully plotting and constructing even theoretical blue print designs, it was perhaps a little perturbing that Pinkie could supposedly 'just make more' whenever she liked.  Or that she'd developed the intricate clockwork mechanisms for the flying pack just from watching one of his test-flights and figuring that 'magic was tiring'.  She was certainly an outside the box thinker...

"OOH~!  RHUBARB!" Pinkie suddenly squealed and vanished in a puff of pink smoke that roared through the kitchen doors.

...very, very far outside the box...

"You're just adorable, Pumpkin," Ava cooed, laughing at the little foal. "Yes you are. And probably quite the hooffull for your mama and daddy," she giggled. A little foal-therapy, it seemed, had been just what she had needed - it was hard to be morose around Pumpkin.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:58, Fri 04 May 2012.

<--From Schoolhouse

The door to the shop opened, and a little blue filly came in. A distinct similarity in facial structure might suggest to Mrs. Cake that this was Ava's little sister. Of course, the fact that said filly was excitedly going "Ava! Ava! Ava!" was also a definite clue. Poppy had taken her skates off outside the door, but was still wearing her helmet.

"You're here too?" Poppy asked, surprised to find her sister here, let alone cuddling a tiny little foal. Actually, that part was less surprising, she'd always loved foals. "You get off early for the moon-raising too, Sis?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:48, Fri 04 May 2012.

"Sure did," Ava laughed. "Did you take your skates off?" she asked, not turning to look as Pumpkin was still chewing on her ear.

"Yes, Ava - I took my skates off. Well, are we going? Are we?"

"Yes, Poppy, we're going," Ava laughed. "Mrs. Cake, this is my little sister, Poppy. Poppy, this is Mrs. Cake."

Poppy nodded, finally seeming to slow down. "'Ts very nice t'meet you, Mrs. Cake," she said, managing to remember her manners, though she seemed a a bit shy.

Mrs. Cake giggled over the antics of her daughter but then perked up as Poppy came scrambling into the shop.  She sat by passively while the two sisters chattered with each other; her expression was a mix of bemusement and, at the edges, deep sadness.  She hid it well when the little filly's eyes turned on her and gave a fond smile.

"It's lovely to meet you too, Poppy.  Your sister and I were just having a chat." the older pony said kindly.  "Why don't you pull a seat up and join us?  We've got raspberry tea, sugar cookies--"

"RHUBARB~!"

That joyous cry echoed through the shop, gently rattling the teacups on the tables.  Pinkie Pie had reappeared in her usual giddy blur, pinging along in rapid bounces -- she had a platter balanced atop her fluffy head that remained firmly in place despite her bouncing and no visible means of adherence.  Atop it was a fresh, still-steaming pie with a crisp, perfectly browned criss-cross crust.  Without further adieu the pony bounded along to place a slice of the pie in front of both Widget and Fung Shui despite the fact they didn't order any.  It was indeed rhubarb.  Pinkie served up a choice slice of sticky strawberry-and-rhubarb pie; the treat was still warm from the oven, giving of a sweet yet tangy aroma mellowed only slightly by a healthy dollop of smooth whipped cream hoisted atop the flaky crust.

Mrs. Cake, Ava, and Poppy ended up getting a serving too, but Pinkie Pie stopped halfway through setting down the plates to blink at the sight of the two unfamiliar girls.  Her bright blue eyes got bigger than they already were and sparkled with delight -- the smile on her face was so enthusiastic that one would think she'd just found her own long-lost siblings.

"OHMIGOSH~!  New ponies!  HI~!  MynameisPinkiePieandI'msooooo~happytoseeyouwelcometoPonyvillehaveyoubeenherelongIcan'tbelievehowmanynewponiesareintownasoflateisn'titexciting--" she railed off a mile a minute, literally vibrating in glee.

"Pinkie Pie!" Mrs. Cake interrupted.  Pinkie immediately looked to her, silenced for the moment.  "Breathe."

At that command, Pinkie Pie inhaled sharply and fresh color returned to her cheeks.  She'd been going a bit red in the face since she'd begun talking non-stop and forgot to continue breathing at some point during her tangent.  Pumpkin was apparently quite amused over her foalsitter's mannerisms and was squealing with laughter.

"Ava, Poppy, this is Pinkie Pie." the mare introduced the three with a gesture.

"Charmed." Pinkie added in a passive way, strikingly opposite to her previous glee, but still grinning as broadly as ever.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:08, Sat 05 May 2012.

Fung wasn't overly familiar with the kind of creative tunnel vision Widget was talking about, but he recognized it in the way the Unicorn stared at those blueprints.  It was easier to focus on than thinking about Pinkie Pie's hairbrainedness.  Wait, was that even a word?  Even his narrated thoughts were getting all wibbledy wobbledy!

He risked interrupting Widget's little trance to keep his mind off the earth pony.
"So, Widget, how long have you been at this sort of thing?  Is it your job?"
Fung had been curious since this whole ordeal started.  Could his skill at invention be turned towards a trade?  The idea of creating a way for normal ponies to fly seemed quite novel, but a little impractical.

"Ooh - I love sugar cookies. Thank you, Mrs. Cake!" Poppy pulled up a chair as Ava's horn glowed, pouring her sister some tea.

Both sisters were slightly startled, but clearly nonetheless amused at Pinkie Pie's dramatic entrance and presentation of pie.

"We just moved into town a couple of days ago," Ava nodded to Pinkie as Poppy, unencumbered by adorable little foal, reached over to shake hooves.

Pinkie Pie happily leaned over the table and its contents to shake hooves with Poppy, having no concern for how bad her manners were in doing so.  Manners came second to greetings, after all~!  Well, as far as she was concerned.

"Welcome to town~!  Ooh, this is go great!  There's been so many new ponies moving to town lately... too many, actually.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I love that there's so many new faces around.  But it's getting hard to keep up with them all... but trying is half the fun~!" she explained at length even though nopony asked.

"Well, there's the Moon Raising event tonight.  I'm sure everypony will be there, so you can make the rounds then, sweetie."  Mrs. Cake mentioned as she dished up some cookies to go along with Poppy's pie.  Unfortunately, in doing so she had her attention off Pinkie and missed the slow yet increasingly broad expression of gleeful scheming that formed across the party pony's face.

Poppy grinned. She had clearly decided that she liked Pinkie Pie. A lot. Well, that certainly boded well for Ava's hope for foalsitter when she had to be in Canterlot. "Yeah," she said, agreeing with Mrs. Cake. "You'll probably be able to see EVERYPONY at the moon-raising tonight!" She dug into her pie, making sure to remember her table manners. "Mmmmm..."

"Your pie is amazing, Pinkie," Ava agreed.

"Ava... do you think we can get some rhubarb to plant in the garden with the vegetables?" Poppy asked hopefully.

"If the garden shop in town carries it, I don't see any reason why not," Ava nodded. "How many kinds does that make, now?" she laughed.

"Let's see... Corn, Carrots, Zucchini, Asparagus, Peas, Beans, Radishes, Strawberries, Watermelons, and Rhubarb," Poppy said, counting. "So, ten - not counting the marigolds to keep the bugs away."

Ava just laughed. "It's a good thing you've got this all planned out, Poppers, because I can scarcely keep a potted petunia alive."

"Yeah, but remember what happened when you let me play with your old foal's chemistry set?" Poppy giggled. "That was a huge mess!"

"You're not even supposed to be able to do that with the foal's sets," Ava giggled. "Point taken."

Poppy paused, with something else on her mind - like many foals, she could switch topics nearly as fast as Pinkie Pie. "Ava... do you think I could dress up for the moon-raising tonight?"

Ava smiled. "Sure - I'm pretty sure I know what box that stuff is in, and it needs unpacking anyways." Just then, Pumpkin started fussing. "Aww, Pumpkin - are you ready to go back to your mama?" Ava cooed, passing the little foal back to Mrs. Cake. "Thanks for letting me hold her, Mrs. Cake - she is a sweetie."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:30, Sat 05 May 2012.

It seemed, however, that Widget was still paying attention to Fung as well, for he answered instantly, without looking up from the plans. "Yes, quite perceptive of you, my friend," he said as he flipped over the plans to consider the copter machine for a moment, before going back to the wing device, which he was clearly far more interested in. "I am an inventor of clockwork and mechanical devices and tools that help make pony life easier or more convenient. And obviously, more fun, too." He smirked, finally looking up at Fung over his square rimmed spectacles.

"My mother was an inventor in Canterlot. She helped build the modern train engine that runs all through Equestria before I was born. I was helping her and learning about invention from the time I was just a bit older than Pumpkin there." He nodded to the infant foal that was currently squealing with laughter at Pinkie's antics. "Ever since I was old enough to tell a wrench from a screwdriver." He looked back at Fung. A bit of sadness had crept into his eyes, despite his smile. "With invention comes mechanical prowess. For a living, I fix things in town. Whenever anything mechanical needs repairing that magic can't do, and that's usually anything with small parts or gears, I'm on the job. This sort of thing, though, I suppose you could call more of a hobby. I can fix anything, from musical instruments to farm equipment, from ovens to automatic juicers." He grinned slightly. "So, I guess you could say, I repair to live, but I live to invent."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:35, Sat 05 May 2012.

[Enter from... The Equestrian Express]

As far as the first stops went for a young dragon, Sugarcube Corner seemed like a good first place to go. It was pretty hard to ignore a building so bright and colourful, after all and, as the small dragon pushed the door just open enough that he could slip inside, the smell of so many sugary things confirmed to Quill that this almost certainly qualified a good idea.

"Wow," he whispered to himself, taking in the sights.

Pinkie Pie sat among the girls and looked back and forth as they chatted, her head swaying from side to side like she was watching a tennis match.  She seemed content in the fact that everypony was having a good time... if a mellow one, at least.  Mrs. Cake took back Pumpkin and cooed to calm the foal, then mashed up a bit of her pie to offer on the edge of her hoof.  That brightened Pumpkin right up and she gleefully nommed away at the tangy treat.

The ringing of the bell over the front door signaled a new entrance, to which Mrs. Cake leaned over and smiled cheerily.  "Oh, hello there Spike~!  Come on in and... ah... huh?"  the mare greeted initially without thought, but paused for reconsideration after she took a second look at the reptile in the doorway.  "D-Dragon?!"

"DRAGON IN A TIE!" Pinkie squealed in delight, showing none of the surprise the other mare had.  In less time than it took for Quill to blink, Pinkie Pie had seemingly teleported across the shop and was right up in his personal space, grinning broadly.  "Oh my gosh, another Dragon~!  Hi!  Did you just come to town?  Where'd you get that tie?  You look really super-duper-dapper~!  Do you like rhubarb pie?" the party pony tittered out in her usual quick manner and ended by immediately holding up the tin of pie she'd been serving to the rest, offering him a slice.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:32, Mon 07 May 2012.

Already somewhat overwhelmed by just the contents of the shop, the sudden exclamation of Mrs Cake followed by Pinkie Pie's incredible ability to say so much, so quickly, Quill just stared at the offered slice of pie for a moment before taking it.

"T-t-thank you," he stammered out, clutching on the slice of pie like it's somehow going to protect him while offering a startled smile, "and, um, the is... a... did I say thank you for the pie? Thank you for the pie."

Ava at last stood up - there were quite a few things she needed to get done before tonight, and she was rapidly running out of afternoon. "Mrs. Cake?" she smiled. "Thank you. For everything."

"Ava..." Poppy began as the two sisters made their way out of the shop. "Do you think I have time to plant my mystery seeds from Aunt Pearianne before the moon-raising?"

"I think so," Ava nodded. "Just make sure you leave yourself time to get cleaned up - I realize that dirt is your favorite accessory, but I don't think it's what you want to wear tonight," she giggled.

"Right," Poppy agreed. "Plant first, wash face and hooves second..."

-->Exit to Town Square

Widget had finished his muffin and was feeling a little better already. He had pulled the wing that Pinkie had accidentally pulled off the brace on his back, and began to tinker with it, trying to at least put the pieces back together, even if the gears wouldn't properly work. The commotion about the dragon, however, drew his attention away from both Fung and his contraption, and he looked up, a surprised expression drawing over his face. The young dragon did look a bit like spike, but his color was off, as were his mannerisms. Speaking of manners, Widget supposed he shouldn't stare, but goodness, how often did a dragon waltz into town?!

"Excuse me, Fung, I think somepony needs a little help," he said, noting how startled and unsettled he looked by Pinkie's abundant friendliness. He rolled up the blueprints with magic, and tucked it behind one of the stiff metal wings. "I'll see you later, yeah? Tonight at the moonrising, I hope." His mechanical wing back on his body, Widget put enough bits on the table to pay for both his and Fung's tea and muffins, before trotting lightly over to the poor dragon.

"Pinkie, you've startled him," he laughed, smiling more kindly at the young dragon. "You look a bit out of sorts, if I may say; even before Pinkie's friendly and abrupt greeting." He leaned down, still grinning. "It happens a lot around here." He gave a small wink and leaned back. "You'll have to excuse everypony's surprise," he offered in a kind tone, nodding slightly to Mrs. Cake as an example. "We don't get to see many dragons besides our resident dragon, Spike, around here, as you likely imagined. I'm Widget Whatsits. This is Pinkie Pie. And you are?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:03, Mon 07 May 2012.

Quill looked a little more relaxed after the quiet comment about Pinkie Pie, feeling slightly more at ease having discovered that her behaviour was in fact normal. Still, he clutched on the slice of pie while the battle between nervousness and hunger continued to be fought between his head and his stomach.

"Widget, Pinkie," he repeated to himself, "it's nice to meet you both, um, I'm Quill. I.. well, I'm sorry about the surprise. I thought about wearing a disguise, but I think, um, my things are half way to Trottingham by now."

Quill cast his eyes down to the slice of pie and, finally, crammed the whole slice in to his mouth.

"Well I couldn't have startled him that bad.  The building isn't on fire~!" Pinkie defended her position in the affair as she promptly refilled Quill's claws with another slice of pie as soon as he'd finished the first one.  "Are you from Canterlot too, Quill?  Do you know Spike?  OHMIGOSH are you his long-lost brother?!  'Cause that would be awesome!  A while ago Spikey got all mopey about his origins and where he belonged in the world and all sorts of really heavy introspective stuff that's really a huge downer and then he went on an adventure that sorta solved his problems but he still doesn't know anything about his past and I kinda forgot where I was going with this and don't know if I actually had a point I was trying to make but oh well that's okay and hmmbpb--!"

Pinkie Pie's tangent was thankfully silenced as Mrs. Cake joined the bunch and suitably stuffed a sugar cookie into the pony's mouth.  Pinkie instead switched gears to devour the treat without hesitation, giving everyone's ears a rest from her chatter.

"Yes, seeing another Dragon was a bit of a surprise.  Sorry if I was rude, dearie.  Would you like to come in for some tea?  You must be tired." Mrs. Cake was far more sensible in her greeting as she gestured for Quill to come in and get comfortable if he liked.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:05, Mon 07 May 2012.

At first, Quill opened his mouth to try and reply to Pinkie Pie's questions, but there was seemingly no end to her loquaciousness, at least until the cookie was introduced. While he thought it might be a bit rude to thank Mrs Cake for the cookie based intervention, he tried to make his relief shown with a smile and a nod.

"Tea would be fantastic! Although," he looked up at Mrs Cake, then at the slice of pie he was holding, "I... well, I've already eaten more pie than I can afford. Oh, and.."

Glancing down at his second slice of pie, he reached up to put it back in the pie tray, smiling at Pinkie.

"...I just got off the train from Canterlot, and, I know about him, and," he nodded his head, trying to work through the questions that she had asked him, mentally checking each off one as he went, "and the tie was a gift, and, no, I'm not his long-lost brother, and.. yes! I do like rhubarb!"

Pinkie Pie finally swallowed her mouthful of cookie with a satisfied gulp, licking her lips to clear them of any stray traces of sugar.  "Don't worry about it~!  I baked the pie myself, so you can have as much as you like!" she reassured Quill with a giggle.

"Think nothing of it.  Besides, it seems like today is a special day in any case, so I don't see any harm in hoofing over a free cup of tea and some snacks here and there." Mrs. Cake gave a careless wave of her hoof, which her daughter playfully mimicked from where she sat atop her back.  "Do you like gemstone powder mixed with a brew?  Spike's the only one in town who can handle that sort of thing, so it's not like I could sell it even if I wanted to."

Widget glanced between the pie, Pinkie, and the little dragon, taking in everything was said, his metal wings twitching up and down slightly with a gentle creak of metal and gears. His expression had slightly softened, a thoughtful look coming over his face as he watched Pinkie serve the dragon more pie and Mrs. Cake offered him tea. "Am I to understand then, Quill, that you have inadvertently come to Ponyville with nothing?" He reached up and adjusted his glasses, looking all the more thoughtful. "I don't mean to sound forward, but may I ask why you came to Ponyville in the first place? What exactly do you do?"

Smiling brightly, he took the slice of pie he placed in the tray back and, just as he was about to try and cram it into his mouth, he stopped.

"Thank you very much for the free pie, and.. tea, tea would be really nice as well, especially with the powder, that'd be," finally, the pie found it's way in to his mouth, and within a matter of moments, only crumbs remained, "it's... wait, as much as I like?"

His attention was momentarily interrupted as, turning to look up at Widget, he caught sight of the mechanical contraption on his back. A moment later, his attention turned to some errant pie crumbs that were still on his claws, which he picked off and ate.

"Well, I didn't mean to come with nothing, it.. there was a.. well, I didn't expect the train to leave so quickly. I guess I sort of came out here because," he cleared his throat a little, speaking with a deeper voice, presumably in imitation of somebody, "it's not right for a young dragon to stay in the archives all day, and.. what if he sets fire to the books? and.." Quill coughed.

"But I like working with books, and numbers, I.. guess that's what I used to do. Did you know there are six hundred and twenty seven table legs in the Royal Archive?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:39, Mon 07 May 2012.

"I didn't know that, no," he replied Widget, obviously interested. However, he shook his head slightly -- this was not the time to be concerned with how many legs there were or how many tables those legs held up. "Well, do you plan to stay in Ponyville then? Even if your things are recovered? Or will you be on your way to Trottingham, or some other big city?"

"What happened to the last table leg?"  Pinkie asked idly as she pulled a slice of pie from the tin and stuffed it into her own mouth, chewing noisily and with much obvious enjoyment of the treat.  There were still a few slices left and, true to form, she offered the tin to Quill just as she'd said.  Mrs. Cake, meanwhile, just trotted off to go clean the tea set left behind by Ava and then head into the kitchen to get some gem-infused drinks brewing.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:21, Mon 07 May 2012.

Accepting the tray with a smile, he sat it down on the floor in front of him before sitting down himself, looking as happy as a dragon with pie. Which is to say, very happy.

"Oh, no, I... I was probably going to stay here, I just need to find a place to stay, and that means having a proper job. I'm, um, well, this.. it's my first time really outside of the Royal Archive, so, I don't think I'm ready for a big-city-life yet."

Quill looked a little bit surprised by Pinkie Pie asking about what happened to the missing table leg, as perhaps unkindly, he had assumed she wouldn't even have noticed it was one leg shy of a full set. Carefully, he split the remaining slices of pie in to two, pushing half of them around so they were closer to Pinkie Pie.

"Sneezing accident," Quill stated matter-of-factly.

"I see, I see," said Widget thoughtfully. "Well, Quill, if you've worked in the archives of Canterlot for so long, perhaps you have heard of my mother. Gadget Whatsits? She invented the train you came in on, before I was even born. She invented a lot of things." He didn't care to mention that the most famous thing she was for, was getting killed... "Well, I'm an inventor as well. At least trying to be." He leaned back his head slightly. "It may not be ideal, but would you be interested in being an assistant? I know Twilight Sparkle keeps busier than I do with her research, and she would be lost without Spike, her assistant. I've tried to build one of my own, but I'm afraid Tik-Tok is only fit to tell me the time... Which leaves me, still in need of somepony, or some dragon, to help."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:50, Mon 07 May 2012.

"Ah."  Pinkie nodded in complete understanding.  She waited until the last portion of Quill's serving of pie had been taken, then stomped her hoof down on the rim of the pie tin to send it flipping airborne.  The pony tilted her head back and caught the last pieces of pie in her mouth, chewing away gleefully even as the tin smacked down atop her head with a sound like a cymbal crash.

"I can be that somedragon," Quill quickly stood himself back up, offering a pie-crumb-coated-claw up towards Widget, happy that he can tick "find a job" off his list of things to do so quickly, "although I might not be so good at the inventing bits, like the wing-thing and the Tik-Tok thingamajig, I can at least make sure you... well, I can help. Just tell me where to begin!"

"...well, um, if you could just tell me where to begin once the tea is taken care of, and then I'll be ready."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:06, Mon 07 May 2012.

"Don't worry about the inventing part. That's for me to worry about. I need somepony to help me get, and stay, organized. Lots of parts and bits, papers and blue prints, orders and bills. That's what I need. I'm awful at that sort of thing and forget a lot." He chuckled as he got his tea brought to him. "No rush. Whenever you've had your fill, we'll get started right away. I need to go to the library right after, so I can make some adjustments to my back ups before the moon-rising tonight."

There were a lot of questions that Quill wanted to ask, about inventing, about the number of parts, about how many bills there to sort out, about when orders were due and... the list went on and on but, finally, he settled on a few questions. The rest could wait.

"Moon-raising? Oh, and, the library. The tea can wait! I mean, when I've got the job, I can pay for the tea, and then I can update my account-papers, so I know how much I have left over, and then after paying for somewhere to stay and the tea, think what can be done with what's left over! Think of all the books we cou... oh, yes, we should visit the library, I think that's a good idea."

Quill looked up to Pinkie Pie, with the pie tin upon her head; the young dragon was obviously quite excited.

"Thank you for sharing the pie with me! I'll pay you back when I can!"

"Don't worry about it, silly-Quilly~!  It got you to smile, so that's enough for me." Pinkie chirped in a rather generous manner given that she'd given him a whole quarter pie without a second thought.  She turned and bellowed over her shoulder: "HEY MRS. CAKE!  MAKE THE TEA TO GO~!" then looked back to Quill and Widget, smiling and blinking in her usual ditzy manner.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 21:47, Mon 07 May 2012.

He laughed softly. "Don't worry about all that, Quill. At least not today. You've had a very stressful day so far. Just relax, and know that what you need's all taken care of for now." He waited patiently for Quill to get his tea and pie in order, obviously not in a rush. "I have a spare bedroom at my place you can use if you would like. I've been using it as a study, but you're welcome to it."

"It's not been stressful, it's not, I'm fine," he punctuated his sentence with a yawn, then clapped his claws over his mouth, frowning for a moment, "but, you're right, maybe the book-keeping can wait until tomorrow, but we'll really need to make a list of all the parts you've got, and then check what parts need ordering, and..."

Another yawn escaped.

"...I'll probably not take up much space in the study, though, um, could you invent some kind of bed too? No hurry. Maybe after the moon raising. Or the library."

Another yawn.

"Maybe, um, before, boss."

"There's a folding bed that should suffice for tonight. Just needs a clean set of sheets. I'll see about more permanent sleeping arrangements tomorrow," he assured his new assistant. "We'll be going to the shop after the library."

Quill rubbed his eyes a little before adjusting his neck-tie and, while he looked a little bit tired, the smile on his face had yet to subside.

"I'll go and fetch my tea, then we can head out to the library! Wait right here, chief.. boss, um, Widget."

As quickly as he could, he started to head off towards what he hoped was the kitchen, calling out as he went.

"Um, Mrs.. Mrs..." he thought about what he heard Pinkie PIe call the kind pony with the offer of tea, "Mrs Cake! Mrs Cake! Can I get my tea and please, please can I have extra sugar?"

No sooner had Quill neared the kitchen doors than did they swing open, revealing the summoned Mrs. Cake now foal-less.  Her unseen husband had taken Pumpkin off her hooves so that she could tend to their patrons unbothered.  The mare had a small basket clenched in her teeth -- in it was a capped mug of steaming liquid, a little sachet of sugar cubes, and a few frosted cookies.  What was likely most catching about those sweets was the fact that they had a shiny sliver of emerald embedded amid their fluffy cream coating!

"Nnb... here you go, sweetie.  Hot herb tea mixed with sapphire dust and some cookies for the road.  And don't you even think about trying to give me any Bits for them either."  Mrs. Cake said as she passed the basket over to the dragon.  "It's our way of saying welcome to town."

Dragons in pony communities were very rare indeed, but it seemed that Quill had chosen a good town to try and settle into.  Because Spike already lived there, places like Sugarcube Corner already knew how to accommodate his unique appetites.  Even if things got off to a rough start for him, at least Quill could rest safe in the knowledge that he wasn't going to go hungry~!
This message was last edited by the player at 01:35, Tue 08 May 2012.

"No bits? Are you su-" Quill was about to protest until he spotted the cookies, "-cookies! Thank you, and, thank you for the welcome, Mrs Cake! I will be sure to come back as soon as I have Bits to spend!"

Carrying the basket with both hands, he more or less ran straight back towards Whatsit.

"Boss! Boss," Quill almost bumps in to Whatsit's legs before coming to a stop, "did you see these? I got some extra sugar, six cubes to be precise, and cookies, three of them, with... did you see that frosting? You think they'll mind if I eat in the library? Fancy a cookie?"

"I did see! That was very kind, wasn't it? Thanks, Mrs. Cake, and Pinkie Pie, for your hospitality to both of us. Hope to see you at the moon-rising, Mrs. Cake." He looked to Pinkie Pie now, and smiled at her brightly. "Pinkie Pie, as usual, your company was wonderful and surprisingly helpful. Thanks for bringing me here, and for the plans. I hope I'll have a working prototype soon enough. Once I get them to work, you'll be the first to try them out. See you tonight."

With that, Widget looked back to make sure his assistant (it was so weird to think he had an actual assistant!) was following, and made his way out of the shop. "Thank you, Quill, but I don't think the emeralds would be good for pony digestive tracks," he chuckled. "They shouldn't mind, so long as you keep crumbs off the pages. Let's get going. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can get back to the shop."

He pulled up the metal wings to keep them out of the way, he moved out into the square, and for the library.

>>> TO: Branches and Books Library

Mrs. Cake and Pinkie Pie both waved goodbye to the parting persons, soon leaving only themselves and Fung Shui still in the shop proper.  Mrs. Cake went about tidying up the various tea sets and dishes around.

"Take your time sweetie." she assured Fung Shui as she gathered Widget's left over dishes.  Mr. Cake appeared from the kitchen long enough to take the plates from his wife and head back inside, leaving her to trot back to the counter and look over the stock ledger.

"Eeee~!  It's so great that there's so many new ponies and dragons and all sorts of folk coming to town~!  I'm gonna have so many new friends~!"  Pinkie Pie was all giddy as she bounced along in a circle, springy and sproingy as ever.

"I certainly hope so.  Pinkie?  Could you try extra hard to be friends with Ava and Poppy?  I think those ponies need a smiling face more than most these days."  the older mare asked softly.  Pinkie didn't need to be asked twice and simply nodded, still giggling gleefully all the while.

"Maybe you could make an invention that lets you eat them," Quill followed along behind Widget, shifting the basket across to hold it one claw, which conveniently freed up another claw to let him wave goodbye, "like a set of mechanical teeth, that'd crunch them up..."

Quill continued to comment on the possibilities of this mechanical eating assiting thingy all the way to the library.

[Exit to... Branches and Books Library]
This message was lightly edited by the player at 07:08, Tue 08 May 2012.

As the day started to leave afternoon behind and move ever closer toward the evening, a small groan could be heard from a tree in the business district near the edge of the road.  With a rustle of leaves and a small clack of hooves on the pavement below, a handsome young stallion landed to the ground fluttering his wings once to make sure he made it there steadily.  Raising his head to glance at the sky with one open eye, he grimaced.  Why did the sun always have to be so bright when he woke up?  Tree canopies were always so nice.  Nice and shaded.  Dark.  Away from the sun that was burning into his brain.  Letting his head fall for a moment, he shook his head to free it from the remnants of slumber.

Taking a few unsteady steps at first, his hooves shortly became more solid.  Rogue Heart, as he was called, was a handsome stallion.  With his deep midnight blue coat, shock of violet hair, and emerald green eyes, he was every filly and mare's dream of tall, dark, and handsome.  The only odd thing about him was the lack of a Cutie Mark on his flank that would have identified him.  Most of the townsponies were used to it by now, but someone new to the area might stop and stare.  Even though most of the older ponies warned others against him, there were still some fillies and mares who couldn't help themselves.  Even here in the business district Rogue Heart could hear voices.

"Omigosh, did you see him?"

"Isn't that him?  Does he always look that good?  He just woke up out of a tree!" 

"Who else do you think that could be?  Of course it is!  Do you think he has a date?"

At that point Rogue Heart's mind tuned out their voices as they continued talking about him.  There was another voice he heard that was quite a bit more important to him at that moment--his stomach.  Its rumbling was enough to divert his attention quite effectively.  Well, it was quite late in the day to have not eaten anything, after all.  Glancing around, the young stallion began to consider his options.  He was getting to be close to broken once again.

"One of these days I really need to find a steady job," he sighed.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:22, Wed 09 May 2012.

<<< FROM: Widget Whatsits' Wondrous Works

Making his way through the crowd, Widget popped into Sugarcube Corner at last. He saw Rogue Heart ahead of him and gave him a bright expression, setting the basket down on the open counter. "Well, hello there, Rogue," he said, grinning as he looked over his bed-head. "Just wake up?" he laughed. "One day, you're going to have to get a real job. You can't make money being handsome, unless Photo Finish finds you."

He turned his head, still grinning. "Mrs. Cake, I'll take two blueberry muffins, two chocolate chip muffins, and two vanilla confetti cupcakes, please."

A slightly bleary-eyed gaze was turned to the professor as he trotted into the shop.  "Hey, Widget," the dark-coated young stallion began before planting his face flat on the counter.  "Yeah, thought about that.  Her hours and mine just don't agree with each other.  And could you imagine Rarity's face if I managed to get recognized officially by Photo Finish?  She'd probably go catatonic at the thought that a pony like me would become a fashion idol."  Raising his head enough for his face to come off the counter, he continued.  "Now that I think about it, that might be a good enough reason..."

The orders in pairs caused Rogue Heart to pause for a moment.  Something wasn't adding up.  And when something didn't add up, it always caught in his brain.  Lifting himself up fully, he actually took in the inventor fully.  Dressed better than usual, ordering two of several different dishes, not just one.  Without batting an eyelash, he asked a question that seemingly came out of nowhere but was fully connected in his mind's quick analysis.  "So, who's the lucky mare, Widget?"

Mrs. Cake was a bit surprised to see Widget back in the shop so soon after having left, especially looking all cleaned up as he was.  She seemed to have the same sort of idea in mind that Rogue Heart did, but didn't make a comment beyond smiling wryly.

"Sure sweetie, just a second." she said as she took his basket and trotted off into the kitchen.

"WIDGY~!  Ooh~!  And Rogue too~!  Hi~!"  Pinkie Pie was her usual bundle of energy as she bounced up to the two stallions, placing herself in between them to catch them both in a fond squeeze with her forelegs.  "Did you get a date, Widgy?  C'mon, spill~!  Details!  Inquiring ponies wanna know~!"

Widget felt a hot blush come up over his cheeks. He supposed if anypony would have been able to tell he was getting ready to go on a date, it would be Rogue Heart, who had been on more than every other pony Widget knew combined, and he figured Pinkie Pie was just intuitive, like usual. He was quite unaware of how obvious it was to everypony else. He smiled and adjusted his glasses shyly, looking sideways at both Pinkie and Rogue. "Hi, Pinkie Pie... Well, alright, I'll tell you two, but do me a favor and don't tell anypony else," he said. He wasn't usually the type to 'spill', as it were, but considering it wasn't exactly a secret (there had been others at the library when he had asked, after all), and Rogue Heart was one of his closest friends, and Pinkie was one of Twilight's closest friends, he couldn't see much harm in just telling them.

He spoke in a quiet tone so only the two of them could hear him, which wasn't difficult in the busy shop full of ponies preparing for the moonrising. "I finally got up the courage to ask Twilight Sparkle. She said yes. We're watching the moonrise from her balcony." His blush grew heavier and he began to dance on the tips of his hooves in nervousness, his body tense under Pinkie's hoof. "Well, the truth of it is, I chickened out the first attempt to ask her. Then she's the one who suggested I come back to the library to watch. I found my courage again and asked her if we could spend the evening just the two of us, and she agreed. So, I guess we asked each other out, in a round about way."

Pinkie Pie gave a loud peal of laughter, rocking back on her haunches and holding her tummy like her sides were about to split.  Her giggle-snorting ways kept going until she peeked open one eye at Widget, realized he was being sincere, and instantly sobered in a snap.

"Holy buck, you're serious?" she blinked, instantly as earnest as he'd ever seen her become.  It was rare that Pinkie's bubbly demeanor would waver for even a second, but it did happen from time to time.  "Wowie, I didn't think Twilight even knew what dating was!  You fox~!  Er... pony~!  Pony-fox...thing?"

Rogue had not managed to spot Pinkie Pie before he was suddenly swept up into her squeeze.  The dark stallion found his cheek pressed up against hers with a death lock on his neck.  "Pinkie...!  Air!" he managed finally, tapping on her hoof with one of his.  Once released, he gasped a little bit to get air back in his lungs.  He never was quite steady with Pinkie Pie around.  She was always so spontaneous that it was hard to get a read on her.  If he ever managed to understand her it would be the day that a meteor would come crashing down on his head.

And knowing Pinkie Pie, she would be riding it into Ponyville.

Listening to Widget's story, Rogue was quiet for a few moments, putting a hoof to his chin in thought.  Twilight Sparkle?  And Widget managed to ask her out?  Something wasn't adding up here.  Knowing how much things she didn't understand could unbalance her and make her freak out, something like romance which was so out of her league wouldn't have left Widget looking so calm.  Maybe he shouldn't ask, but he couldn't help himself.

"Did she hesitate at all when she responded to you asking her to spend time alone together?" he began, setting his hoof back down with an inquisitive glance.  "And was there anypony else there?"

Widget tried not to glower at Pinkie Pie as she laughed at him, still looking highly nervous, and let out a small snort when she acted so shocked that he was serious. However, the latter part of her comment about him 'being a fox' got him to blush sharply again, and drew a smile at the corners of his mouth. Rogue's comments, however, were a bit more confusing. He honestly didn't understand why those details would mean anything...

"Um... No, she didn't hesitate at all when I suggested we spend time alone tonight," he said. "And no, we weren't alone. Applejack, my new assistant Quill, Spike, Rainbow Dash, and this little pony I haven't seen before, what was her name... Xing, I think. They were all there." Rogue knew a lot more about mares than he did, and he watched the darker colt with an anxious expression.

Pinkie sat back and shared a knowing sort of look with Rogue Heart, obviously thinking the same thing he was.  She wasn't sure if she should really say anything though, especially since she didn't know what Twilight's angle in all this was...

Tilting his head downward, Rogue Heart put a hoof to his face.  "The sad part is, Pinkie Pie isn't far from the truth at all," he stated with a sigh.  Putting his hoof back down, the dark stallion gave Widget a wry smile.  The poor pony had no clue what he was getting into.  It was no surprise either--if Rogue himself had been in the inventor's position years ago he probably would have been similarly up the creek.  He needed to phrase this gently.  After all, who knew how Widget would react if he came down a little from the cloud of elation he was on?  The only way to do it he could think of was to appeal to his friend's strength: Logic.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Twilight had no idea that this is a date, Widget," Rogue began, tilting his head to the side.  "Though, from what you've told me, I can infer that she probably does now.  I'm pretty sure she's never been on a date before.  Usually, there's some hesitation when accepting an offer like that.  Especially if it would leave the two of you alone.  It doesn't matter if one is receptive to the idea or not.  The hesitation is always there while they think about it.  The fact that she didn't hesitate at all means she probably didn't think you were asking her on a date."  Putting a hoof to his forehead once more, he shook his head.  "Twilight can be brilliant in some ways, but in ones that ponies might find most mundane she flounders.  I wouldn't put this one past her."

Setting his hoof back down, Rogue trotted closer to face his friend, putting a hoof to his friend's shoulder reassuringly.  "Though, don't fret too much.  I'll help you out.  I want to see your night be a success."  Mind whirling, he knew that if Twilight freaked out as she was bound to do once something she didn't understand occurred without warning, she would need a stable pony to be with her.  Out of the list of ponies that Widget had listed only Applejack fit the bill.  At least Rogue knew how she worked and what she might do.

At least, he did before.

Suppressing the twinge of emotion that threatened to surface, he gritted his teeth and moved on.  That time was over.  Even if he regretted it.  Now, he needed to focus on Widget's problem.  Giving the inventor a reassuring smile, Rogue nodded to him.  "I have a feeling we can do just that."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:33, Thu 10 May 2012.

It was rather a depressing sight, watching the lovely pink color drain out of Widget's expectant and happy face, his smile curl into a confused, alarmed frown, his ears drop back, and his entire body fall until he was sitting on the ground. He was quiet for a long time as he thought about what Rogue had said... He thought he had been quite clear in his intent, obvious (embarrassingly so) in what he was asking of her. He'd thought she was just pleased and that was why she had accepted so quickly. But the more he thought about it, the more depressed he felt. Rogue was very right. Twilight hadn't had any idea what he had asked.

"What... What should I do?" he asked in a weak tone, looking up at Rogue and Pinkie with something like panic bubbling in his eyes. "I didn't mean to mislead her... What if she didn't want to go at all...? Should I ask if she wants to cancel?" He looked even more depressed at having to call it off. He made a face when Rogue said he wanted to see the night a success. He couldn't help but feel jealousy bubble up into him; what did Rogue know about being awkward, about being inexperienced? He had always been good looking, always gotten dates with fillies, ever since he was young. However, that jealousy was quickly swallowed. Widget's inability to communicate with mares was hardly Rogue's fault...

"What... what should I do?" he asked again, calmer than before, but a little emptier somehow.

Using his nose, Rogue pushed his friend back up onto his hooves.  "Hay, didn't I say I'd help you, Widget?  Stop panicking," he said with an encouraging tone.  "You're still in a position where you can work things out.  The moment you panic is the moment you'll lose out.  So, calm down."

Thinking over the information he had gleaned from their conversation once more, the charming young stallion considered some possible scenarios once more before speaking once again, giving the inventor some time to calm himself.  "So, I'm pretty sure Twilight knows what you were intending by now.  I have a feeling Applejack probably told her.  Or even Rainbow Dash.  Both of them can be pretty blunt sometimes.  But, I would bet ten bits that Applejack is with her right now.  If they haven't sent word to cancel things, I'm pretty sure Twilight may ride it out and see where it goes."  Giving Widget a broad grin, he continued.  "So, why would you cancel if they haven't already?  It means she's giving you a chance.  I don't think you're one to throw that kind of thing away, right?  After all, it means that Twilight is at least open to the possibility of dating you."

Rogue was about to further elaborate from there, but he was interrupted by the rumbling of his own stomach.  In his curiosity and desire to help Widget, he had forgotten about his own predicament.  With a sheepish grin, he chuckled at the inventor.  "I'll tell you more, but would you mind helping me out?  I'm starving and haven't had a chance to eat all day."

Pinkie Pie sat back idly as the two stallions chatted, looking suitably sympathetic for poor Widget when he practically deflated on the spot.  She wouldn't have phrased it quite like that for the sake of his feelings.  But Rogue's continued advice made her perk a brow curiously.  The mare reached up inside her fluffy mane and dug around for a moment before producing a bound stack of papers...

"Wow, that's a lot of deduction, Rogue.  Did you peek at the script?" she asked as she flipped through the pages for a moment, then shrugged and tucked it away back in her mane again.  She opened her mouth to speak again, paused curiously as if she'd forgotten something, and then quickly dug out the manuscript a second time.  She mouthed over a few lines for a moment and then tucked it back out of sight.

"Ahem." the pony cleared her throat, then shifted back into her bubbly tone.  "Relax Widgy, I know Twilight~!  She's my most bestest-best smarty-smart friend in the whole wide worldy-world~!" she assured him as she threw an arm around his shoulders.  "Even if Twilight's kinda socially inept, she'd a good pony~!  And so are you~!  Any mare would be lucky to have a guy like you ask them out, so make the best of it!  Maybe we're totally wrong too and she really was aware you were asking her out.  I mean, you were gonna sweep her off her hooves anyway, so what difference does it make one way or another now?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:47, Thu 10 May 2012.

Through his crushed hopes for the evening and the bubbling panic just under the surface, Widget milled what Rogue said through his mind. Yes, he had asked her in front of several witnesses, the bluntest of Twilight's friends among them, and her assistant dragon who knew a surprisingly lot about about what asking fillies, or one filly in his case, and likely would not have missed it as easily as Twilight would have.

"I guess you're right," he mumbled thoughtfully, his ears slowly beginning to come up. "She would have asked to cancel by now if she wanted to... It's been a little while, she's had time, and it's not like I'm hard to find..." He chewed on his bottom lip and shifted his weight slightly back and forth. "Heh... No, I definitely don't want to throw any chance away, no matter how small it is," he said softly, smiling and letting the bit of shy blush come back to his cheeks. "I want this chance. ... I guess I want it even more now than I did before. I don't want to ruin it."

Pinkie, as usual, made him chuckle as she threw an arm around him, and he couldn't help but to lean into her. "Thanks, Pinkie Pie... You really do know how to make a pony feel better. I hope you're right... and I plan to do my best."

He chuckled at the sound of his gurgling stomach, and shook his head softly. Some things never changed... "Yes, yes. But let's get you a sandwich and tea, something sweet won't do on an empty stomach if you haven't eaten anything all day, and seeing as you just woke up, I'm going to assume you haven't. It'll give you a headache. I'm going to the Summer Song Cafe after this to get a few daisy sandwiches and lemongrass tea. I have to hurry, too; It wouldn't do to be late." He hadn't been paying attention to his basket, and he reached over to see if Mrs. Cake had indeed put the things he had requested inside while he had been worrying. "Coming, then?"

"Don't worry about it, Widgy~!  And hey, if things don't work out between you and Twilight, you can always give me a call."  she chirped and fluttered her eyes in a surprisingly sultry manner.  "We can play checkers~!"

At some point during their distracting conversation, Mrs. Cake had returned but had kept herself unobtrusive.  When Widget looked back, his basket was there with the requested sweets bundled up inside, plus a bright bow tied to the top of the handle and a single small fruit tart added in to boot... which was meant to be shared, obviously.  The mare herself was nowhere to be seen either, which likely insinuated that the treats were on the house tonight.

All Rogue could do at Pinkie Pie was stare at her with a quirked eyebrow.

"Ooooh...kay."

Sometimes that mare made his mind want to curl up into a little ball and cry.

What was important now was that he latch onto what she had been saying that worked with him and elaborate from it.  "Pinkie's right, though.  Any mare would be lucky to have a stallion like you ask them out.  You need to believe that yourself.  Having confidence is important, Widget," Rogue stated, nodding his head.

It turned into a wry grin as his friend gave him dietary advice.  "Look at you making sure I eat well.  I may just steal you for myself.  You're so good to me," the dark stallion joked good-naturedly.  Trotting to the store entrance, he said his goodbyes to Pinkie Pie and the Cakes.  Glancing over his shoulder to Widget with a grin, he proclaimed, "Those sandwiches will get you Rogue Heart's On Call Service for the night, Widget.  Let's get going!  Rule number one is to never leave a mare waiting!"  With that, he trotted out the door.

Sauntering off to Summer Song Cafe in good spirits at the prospect of getting fed--->
This message was lightly edited by the player at 03:42, Thu 10 May 2012.

Looking into his basket at the things Mrs. Cake had placed there, and the obvious unspoken message that they were on the house, made Widget smile with appreciation. "Thank you, Mrs. Cake!" he called, not knowing where she was but knowing she would hear his thanks wherever she was in the shop. Now that he had someone to talk to, he magicked the basket up rather than carry it in his mouth, bringing it along after him in a soft blue glow just behind his mechanical wings.

Pinkie's surprisingly sultry batting of eyes made him slightly stammer, but also made him grin. In a lot of ways, he wished he could be more like Pinkie and not be troubled by the simple things in life like the rules of time, space, and gravity. He'd be able to be a lot more creative, that was for sure. "Sure, Pinkie. Or maybe I could teach you how to play chess. I'm pretty good at it. I'd even let you be the white pieces." With a grin at her, he followed Rogue out of the shop and toward the cafe to get what else was needed.

"Oh, ha ha. Thanks, Rogue," he snickered, following his friend into the busy street. "Hopefully, I won't need it tonight..."

>>> TO: The Summer Song Cafe

Pinkie Pie waved to the two as they went off.  Soon after they left both of The Cakes poked their heads out from the kitchen, looking from each other to Pinkie Pie.

"He's going on a date with Twilight Sparkle?" Mr. Cake asked incredulously.

"I know, right?!" Pinkie tossed her hooves up in the air.

Fung had had just about as much as he could take from these Ponies, so he spent the remainder of his afternoon in quiet contemplation.  It was almost magical the way he seemed oblivious to all the new customers, particularly how he ignored Pinkie's meandering and blabbering.  He even failed to notice when Widget returned with news about his date with Twilight Sparkle.  Well, it's not that he didn't notice, he simply didn't get worked over it like everyone else.  It was just a courtship, the first night in fact.  They acted like they were getting married.

Once things had died down, and Fung had finally finished his tea, he looked out the Window and saw how low the sun had gotten.  The festival would start soon.  Gathering up the gift for Luna, Fung headed for the door.
"Thank you very much for your hospitality.  I shall be sure to return when I have the free time."
With those parting words, and a bit of a skip, Fung was trotting off towards the location of the Festival.

-->Exit to Moon-Raising in Town Square

Start of Day 2

<--From Town Square

Stepping into Sugarcube Corner with Atom, Ava looked around for Pinkie Pie - if yesterday's antics were anything to go by, that mare ought to be hard to miss.

-Pinkie Pie begins Day 2~!-

Ava and Atom were greeted at the door of Sugarcube Corner by a cheery ring of the bell mounted overhead, chiming out as the door swung into it.  However, the shop was rather quiet.  No doubt the Cakes were still asleep given the late night before.  But as for Pinkie Pie, they'd come across the party pony herself soon enough.  She appeared up at the top of the stairs... and, well... she looked horrible.  The Earth Pony appeared as an absolute wreck -- eyes scrunched up and bearing heavy bags beneath them, her coat mussed and mane disheveled to the point of being gnarled.  She wobbled about unsteadily on her hooves and slowly tilted forward until she pitched down the stairs, slamming her face down onto the first step with a dull 'clunk!'.  From there her rear end swung over from the momentum, slowly arching her over backward to plop down on the next step rump-first with a 'whud!'  Then she pitched forward again, landing on her head on the third step down...

Clunk!

Whud!

Clunk!

Whud!

Clunk!Whud!Clunk!Whud!Clunk!Whud!CLUNK!

Well, she actually did a very good impression of a slinky.

One might have worried for Pinkie's health as she ended up slamming down on the floor face-down, her mane frizzled out all over and body limp like a rag doll.  But before any alarm could be raised, her hind legs shakily stiffened and got up, lifting her rear in the air as they began to walk, puttering her along slowly with her face dragging across the wooden floor with a sound like a squeegee being pulled over a window.  The mare vanished around behind the counter and remained out of sight for a long moment before one hoof slowly arched up, snagging itself on the edge.  It was followed by its twin and Pinkie slowly, achingly hoisted herself up to slump atop the counter itself, dangling off it weakly.  Even though her head remained flat down like before, her limbs moved seemingly of their own accord as she produced a blender from beneath the counter and a box labeled 'Hair of Dog'.  Without looking she began blindly taking items out of the box and pouring them into the blender cup -- either she had whatever she was concocting memorized by touch and reflex or was just randomly tossing junk in.

Coffee grounds, some suspicious looking leaves, peppermint twists, a whole egg shell and all, half a bottle of hot sauce, and about a dozen other ingredients were mixed into the batch.  She even pulled out a small metal flask and poured its contents in, showing that she had a serving of liquid rainbow stowed away.  With the cap set onto the blender and it whirring away on 'frappe', the whole mix turned into a gross-looking blend of smooth purple and green goo that reeked terribly.  Despite the noxious odor, Pinkie Pie drew the cup off the blender base and pitched it back, downing the whole thing in a string of loud, heavy gulps until it was completely emptied down her throat.  She plunked the empty blender cup down and belched noisily, smacked her lips, and promptly keeled back over onto the floor.  Pinkie was down for only a split-second though -- as soon as she hit the ground she literally bounced back up like she was made of rubber, suddenly all bright-eyed and bushy tailed as if she'd not spent the entire previous evening partying until everypony around her dropped.  She looked good as new... even her mane had somehow untangled itself!

"Good morning~!" Pinkie Pie chirped giddily, smiling a big toothy grin to Ava and Atom.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:15, Sat 26 May 2012.

Ava was slightly embarrassed - she hadn't expected to find the door unlocked if nopony was up yet. Then she remembered that this was Ponyville, where no acts of ill will would likely befall you if you didn't lock your door at night. And somepony had forgotten to flip the 'open' sign around last night - hardly surprising, under the circumstances.

"Oh, hi Pinkie - I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," she apologized.

Atom, meanwhile, had pulled a small notepad and pencil out of the pocket of his vest and was hastily writing down the ingredients to Pinkie's instant buck-in-the-flank - he would have to remember that one for the morning after exam-cramming. And maybe offer one to his students - Endotherm was always falling asleep in the middle of lecture.

"Don't be silly, silly~!  I never went to sleep!" Pinkie giggle-snorted.  She didn't seem to notice the way her left eye was twitching rather worryingly and stashed away her box of curatives back below the counter.  "So, did'ja two come in for breakfast?  You're kinda early, but I'll get the oven going for you no problemo~!  What can I get you?"

Ava laughed. "Actually, I just came in to ask a favor," she replied. "I've heard you enjoy foalsitting?"

"Oh, yeah~!  I love kids!  They're so much fun to be around and they always want to play, which is way better than being around grownups who only wanna play some of the time." Pinkie grinned brightly, bouncing on her hind legs against the counter happily.  "Just last night I spent the evening foalsitting a new filly in town named Xing Ming; she's soooo~ cute!  She's Chineighs~!  And she speaks it too, so she was all like 'Nǐ bùnéng chī nàxiē píngguǒ!', but I was like 'Xiāngxìn wǒ néng!' and she was all 'Yěxǔ, zhè shì bùshì yīgè hǎo zhǔyì', but it was okay 'cause I can fit, like five apples in my mouth no problem!"

Pinkie Pie stopped there, still all grins and giggles.  "I forgot what we were talking about." she had to admit after a moment.

"There's a conference in Manehatten that I'd like to be at - but I would need someone to watch my little sister. I was wondering if you'd be interested."

"Dāngrán!-- ah... I mean, sure~!  You can count on me~!" Pinkie Pie corrected herself when she got her gears stuck in the wrong language yet again.  She remembered Poppy from the other day and was more than happy to lend a hoof anywhere she could, especially after Mrs. Cake's request to aid the two sisters.  "When, where, and how long?"

"The conference starts in two days, and runs for three days," Atom filled in.

"As for where, here in town or out in our treehouse just outside of town - whichever works best for you," Ava grinned. "Is there anything you'd like me to bring you from Manehatten?"

"You live in a tree?!  That's awesome!" the party pony squealed at the very thought of it.  "But let's see... well, it should be okay for Poppy to hang around here at Sugarcube Corner if the Cakes need me to pull a shift, and I'm sure they wouldn't mind having her spend a few nights over up in my room..."

Pinkie Pie spent a few moments running over the details in her head.  Either way, Poppy would have somewhere to stay and there was plenty around town to keep her occupied for a few days without Ava, especially since she'd still have school to attend.  Normally she wouldn't sweat the small stuff, but since having gotten into a more responsible frame of mind where kids were involved, Pinkie had become quite good at making sure everything was under control when she was put in charge.

At the offer of a souvenir from Manehatten, she just smiled and shook her head.  "No, that's alright.  You don't have to get me anything, but thanks for offering anyway~!"

Ava fished a keyring from her pocket, with a model of a soccerball-looking molecule as a keychain. "Here's an extra key to our place if you need it - Poppy will likely want to come check on her garden; that foal LOVES flowers. And thanks, Pinkie - this really means a lot to me. If you ever need an extra hoof with anyting, please let me know."

"No problemo~!  I'm glad to help." Pinkie Pie assured the both of them as she took the key and tucked it away in her mane where it immediately vanished away amid a sea of pink fluff.  "You two sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"All right - two croissants, please," Atom grinned, seeing that they were alreaqdy available and wouldn't put Pinkie to any trouble. He levitated the requisite bits from his vest pocket.

The perky pink pony was quick to get the requested breads and tucked them into a little paper bag along with some pats of butter for good measure.  They were technically leftovers from the night before -- the Cakes had made the crescent-moon shaped bread rolls in honor of the event.  Still, they had been baked so far into the night that they were still quite fresh as they were only a few hours old by then.  "There y'go~!" she chirped as she took the Bits and rang up the register.  "I shouldn't be hard to find when you two leave for the thingy in Manehatten, so just send Poppy my way whenever~!  I'll introduce her to some of my gardener friends around town!"

"She would love that," Ava agreed. "I swear, that foal can make anything grow and flourish. Me, I struggle to keep a potted petunia alive for five minutes," she giggled.

"Well who could blame you?  Petunias are delicious~!  I barely keep 'em alive for five seconds!"  Pinkie licked her lips at the thought of some tasty flowers.  She needed to drop by and visit Roseluck again soon anyway, so it'd be a good excuse in bringing Poppy along.  Not like she really needed any reason though.  "So what's this conference thing you're going to anyway?  The only event I've heard about in Manehatten is this cooking thing coming up soon."

"Well, we might get a a dish or two into that as a side-event as well," Atom laughed. "But the annual Equestrian science conference is also being held in Manehatten this year, and we both have research to present."

"That sounds like fun~!  Well... actually, it sounds super boring, but it should be lots of fun for smarty-smart ponies like you two~!  Ooh!  And Twilight!  I wonder if she knows about it?" Pinkie Pie tapped her chin thoughtfully before she brightened up again and leaned over the counter belly-first with her tail wagging about like a dog.  "Oooh... by the way, did you two know Twilight and Widget went on a date last night?!"

Pinkie Pie had really learned nothing from the whole Gabby Gums incident and still gossiped plenty, especially since it made for good chatter around parties.  Though given that Ava had only just moved to Ponyville, it was unlikely she even knew or cared who Twilight Sparkle was or that she'd begun dating.  Still, she just had to tell someone!!

"Twilight is the librarian, right?" Ava grinned. "I need to go by there to look for a book this morning - I'll mention the conference to her. And no - I hadn't heard she was seeing anypony," she laughed.

"Yep~!  And Widget's the local repair pony.  Isn't that a cute pairing~~?!  It's, like, geeky love~!  I bet they cuddle up and whisper sweet algorithms in each other's ears~!" Pinkie giggled cheerily.  That wasn't even hyperbole either -- it sounded exactly like something those two would come up with in her opinion.  "I call it 'Twidget'!  I thought about 'Widlight' but that just sounded weird.  Or maybe 'Twitsits'?  No, that sounds even weirder and kinda wrong for some reason.  Whatsisparkle?  Sparksits?  WidgiTwi?  Whatkle?"

"Did somepony call me?" came the curious tone of a geriatric pony as he creaked on into the store.

"No Mister Waddle, I said 'Whatkle'." Pinkie corrected the old-timer gently.

"Whatkle?  What in the wide world of Equestria is a Whatkle?"

Pinkie shrugged and looked back to Ava and Atom.  "See?  Just doesn't flow right."

"I think Twidget is your best bet there," Atom agreed, idly wondering to himself what hybrid Pinkie would come up with for Atom and Avagadra.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:15, Wed 06 June 2012.

It was right about then that Pinkie Pie's head began to rattle around while chiming with the tone of a tin bell.  She quickly darted a hoof up into her mane and withdrew an old-fashioned alarm clock, which she turned off with a swift clunk of her hoof.

"Ooh~!  Sorry, but I need to go make breakfast for The Cakes.  They were both up really late last night, so I wanted to make sure they got enough sleep this morning." She waggled the alarm clock about demonstratively, having apparently stolen it from The Cakes' nightstand.  "Did you two need anything else?"

"Nope," Ava laughed. "Thanks, Pinkie."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:15, Wed 06 June 2012.

"No problem~!"

...

...

...

"...so leave already, will you?  I can't do a scene change with ponies watching!" Pinkie Pie frowned in annoyance and gestured to shoo the two ponies away.

--> Pinkie Pie later exits the scene
This message was last edited by the player at 01:28, Mon 11 June 2012.

Laughing, the pair of scientists waved and headed out into the square to decide which errand would be next on their list.

-->To Town Square

from Widget Whatsis' Wondrous Works

Spike entered the main parlor with Widget and Quill and tipped an imaginary hat to whichever confectioner was on duty at the moment. "Good morning! Three extra-large donuts, please!" He looked back at Widget and Quill. "Would you two like anything?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:43, Tue 12 June 2012.

<<< FROM: Widget Whatsits' Wondrous Works

Humming a tune to himself, Widget followed the two young dragons into the bakery and smiled at the pink pony behind the counter. "Good morning, Pinkie Pie," he greeted. He looked down at Spike and stifled a chortle with difficulty. He glanced down at Tik-Tok on his wrist, noting it was about a quarter to eleven. "Just a cup of coffee for me, please. Double cream and sugar. I don't want to eat anything too heavy before lunch."

Pinkie Pie was just on her way out of the shop when the rest came ambling on in.  She had a basket tied to her head that smelled wonderful, though she was apparently in a bit of a rush and couldn't stop for more than a cheerful hello before she skipped off on her own affairs that morning.  Widget and the dragons instead had Mrs. Cake to help them out -- from the noise coming from the kitchen, it sounded like her husband had his hooves full with the kids.

"Sure thing, boys.  How about you, Quill?" the plump mare nodded as she rang up the order so far.  "Ooh, and Widget?  How did it go last night?"

Widget bid farewell to a hurried Pinkie and turned instead to Mrs. Cake. He smiled a shy but rather silly sort of smile, his cheeks blushing slightly as he placed a small stack of bits on the counter, enough to cover everypony's donuts and his own coffee. "It went excellent," he confessed as his smile became something of a grin. "We have another date for today, actually. We're having lunch down at the Summer Song."

[From... Widget's Widget Whatsis' Wondrous Works]

Quill looked slightly shocked at Spike's order, especially after he asked if he'd like anything. It was only when Mrs Cake asked him what he want that he snapped out of wondering just how big the extra-large donuts were and whether or not there'd be enough space inside him to eat that many things.

"Just, um, could, I have..." his eyes glanced around the shop, trying to think of something, "...donuts, um, two donuts, with icing on?"

"I'm glad to hear it.  When I saw you the other night looking so nervous and excited, it reminded me of the first time my honeybun ever took me out on a date.  He was so antsy he just about chewed his own hooves off."  Mrs. Cake giggled like a filly at the memory.  Widget was almost as lanky as Mr. Cake too, which helped with the image.  "Just be careful with Twilight, okay?  She's sensitive."

Given the number of spontaneous combustions that had happened the night before, that seemed like a rather dramatic understatement.  Regardless of her chatter, Mrs. Cake slid over the Bits into the cash drawer and went about filling the order.  There were already fresh baked goods coming out of the kitchen as Mr. Cake juggled the kids and his job, keeping things moving surprisingly well.  It only took a few minutes before Spike and Quill each had their warm, sticky-sweet donuts laced with a silky sugar cream icing.  Plus, since they were her only Dragon customers, Mrs. Cake even applied a light dusting of 'sprinkles'; finely crushed gem powder that made the confections sparkle merrily.  Widget's order was thankfully free of any such additives, allowing him to enjoy a hot cup of coffee without worrying about having his throat wrecked by gem shards.

Deciding not to dwell too much on the idea of Mr Cake chewing his own hooves off, Quill instead looked over to Spike as the donuts were placed in front of them. His gaze did occasionally flicker down to the donuts, but for the moment at least, he managed to hold in check his desire to simply grab a donut and begin eating.

"I was going to try and find you last night, Spike, but it got really, really crowded, and, um," he slowly began to reach out for one of the donuts, "things happened, but, um, did you manage to see much last night? I mean, with the moon, and the Princess, and the music, it was all pretty exciting! You did get to see it, right?"

In one swift motion, Quill had snatched up one of the donuts and brought it up to his mouth, taking a huge bite out of the sweet, sugary treat. While he wanted to badger the other dragon with all kinds of questions regarding his time in Ponyville, he figured that line of inquiry could wait until after the donut situation was dealt with.

"Absolutely," Widget agreed with Mrs. Cake's sentiment to be careful with Twilight. He knew better than to blow a once in a life time golden opportunity when he had one. Sitting down at the nearest table, he magicked his cup of coffee to him and grasped it between his hooves, sipping softly at the strong bitter liquid. Ahh... more coffee always helped to brighten the day. "The crowd of the party didn't really appeal to either of us, so we just stayed on the library balcony and watched the stars and listened to the music and the likes. It was really very nice, and as it was she who asked me out this time, I think she had a fun too." He blushed but beamed, sipping his coffee again.

"Ooh... how romantic~!  I wish me and the mister could have quality time like that these days..." Mrs. Cake sighed wistfully.  With the business, their kids, and Pinkie Pie about it was a wonder The Cakes ever had any time to themselves at all.  "I think you two make an adorable couple though.  You seem to have so much in common~!  Plus it seems all her friends approve... goodness knows what Pinkie Pie would have put you through if she was against you."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:18, Wed 13 June 2012.

Spike smiles and looks away slyly, remembering the evening he had with Rarity but deciding not to bring it up right now. Sometimes things felt more special the less you talked about them. "Oh yes, it was quite a night! Everypony who was anypony was there, so it's no surprise that we couldn't find each other in the crowd. And I'm glad things worked out with you and Twilight, Widget. And don't be too careful with her. Twilight likes to worry and overreact to things, but then she gets over it quickly, and a week later she's completely forgotten about it and worrying about some new thing. So don't let it scare you off if she gets in a mood."

Spike bites hungrily into a donut half the size of his head and swallows. "Did you and Quill just meet each other recently? I'm curious to know more about where he came from."

Half way through chewing another bite of donut, Quill abruptly stopped as Spike appeared to ask Widget about where he came from. Even with a mouthful of donut, it was obvious that Quill was either quite shocked, quite upset or about to burp. Possibly a combination of all three. After that brief pause, the dragon set to chewing his food and swallowing it down as quickly as he could.

"Um, well, the.. we met y-yesterday, in here actually," he stammered out, flicking his gaze over towards the door, "so he p-p-probably, um, can't tell you much. Um, B-boss, I'm, um, thank you for the donuts, I'll, um, get back to work."

With all the speed he could muster - which, admittedly, wasn't very much - Quill was out the door, leaving behind him a trail of crumbs from the donut, with his second donut untouched upon the plate.

[Exit to... Ponyville Business District - Widget Whatsis' Wondrous Works]

The inventor felt his cheeks redden at Mrs. Cake's compliments about what a cute couple he and Twilight made, grinning into his coffee cup as he sipped it. "I'm glad, too. I'd hate to think what Pinkie would do to me if she didn't approve. That filly is certainly creative. But then again, if her friends didn't like me, I doubt I would have even had the chance to go out with her." He tried to tell himself that he would have worked to win her friends over if that had been the case, but if he was honest with himself, he likely would have just let it be. He was way too shy and passive to do anything of the sort, unwilling to stir up trouble, even for his heart's desire.

He couldn't help but to laugh at Spike's comment about how she liked to worry. "Thanks for the advice, Spike, I'll take it to heart when she starts to get worried about something else in the future," he chuckled, sipping again at his coffee. "Yes, Quill and I only just met--"

But his assistant had rather suddenly got up and left, looking exceptionally upset at the line of questions. Widget looked immediately concerned, and set down his coffee cup on the table. He certainly had not expected that... "Ah... Thank you, for the coffee and conversation, Mrs. Cake," he said quickly, standing up. "See you later, then. You, too, Spike." He wasn't sure if Spike was going to follow, but he didn't know if it would be a good idea or not for him to do so. There wasn't much time to worry about that right now, though, he had a visually upset baby dragon heading toward a lock wooden house and needed to intervene before he did something drastic.

>>> TO: Widget Whatsits's Wondrous Works

Mrs. Cake blinked in surprise as two of the party of three hustled on out of the shop like their tails were on fire.  She looked to Spike with raised brows.  "Oh my... what was that about?" she hoped she hadn't somehow done something to offend...

Spike held his donut in place, rather unsure what to make of their sudden disappearance. He was worrying the same thing as Mrs. Cake. "Oh dear. I'm not rally sure what that was about. Did I say anything out of line, Mrs. Cake? I only wanted to know how they met because I always wish I knew more about where I came from. Should I follow them?"

"I don't know, dearie.  I suppose it couldn't hurt... if anything, he left his donut behind." Mrs. Cake noted as she pointed to the abandoned pastry forgotten in Quill's rush to exit.  Was there anything worse than a treat gone uneaten?

Spike quickly took care of that abandoned donut, but it didn't help cheer him up much. "I hope I didn't do anything wrong there. Maybe it's something they don't like to talk about? Hay, maybe Pinkie Pie knows about them. She remembers everything about everypony."

"But Quill just moved to town yesterday.  I can't imagine she knows anything more about him than anypony else." the mare deadpanned a bit when Spike devoured the spare donut.  She'd meant that he should take it to Quill, but ah well... kids would be kids.  Given how intelligent he was, it was easy to forget he was just a tot.  "I don't think you should blame yourself for anything though, Spike.  If you did say something that struck a nerve, there was no way you could have known about it."

---> From Ponyville Square

Like a triumphant heroine, Oz barged in through the door to the confectionery. "Ha-ha!" she said enthusiastically. "I seek the finest in baked treats!" she added, for context.

---> From Town Square

Angel followed Oz in, shaking her head again. She was fond of her friend but that was a bit excessive. Then again, it occurred to her, Oz wasn't even the most boisterous in town, and that pony worked in this very shop, so it was probably totally unremarkable.

All the same, she gave Oz a sidelong glance, managing to convey her exasperation with a roll of the eyes.

~Day 8~

Angel Feather's assumption over the 'weirdness tolerance' of Sugar Cube Corner was well on the mark.  Oz's bold entrance into the sweets shop didn't so much as raise a brow of the stallion at the register.  Frankly, it was one of the more sedate announcements he'd seen in his time working there, after all.

"Well, you've come to the right place then.  Good morning, ladies.  How can I help you?" Mr. Cake smiled warmly from beyond the front counter.

"Zap apple jam," Oz revealed her cause seriously to Carrot Cake. "In three doughnuts. Glazed. And whatever Angel Feather wants." Her serious face was short-lived, as she excitably pranced in place, waiting for her friend to order. This was gonna be awesome!

Angel grinned at Oz's emphasis on her (correct) name, but resisted the urge to give her any grief for that. Instead, she turns a smile onto Mr. Cake and says, "I'll just take a couple of muffins. One apple cinnamon and one blueberry, please."

Mr. Cake chuckled over Oz's demeanor and nodded.  "Sure thing.  I'll be just a moment, so feel free to look around in the meantime." he said before he turned to head back into the kitchen.

It wouldn't take long at all for the order to be ready either.  The two would have enough time to idle about or chat shortly before the stallion soon returned with two paper bags with the store's branding printed on the sides.  "Three rainbow filled donuts with vanilla glaze--" he said as he set the first bag down.  "--and two fresh muffins.  I tossed in a few pats of butter on the side too.  That's four Bits for the muffins, and thirty Bits for the donuts; 34 total."

Oz winced, and her ears flattened back. It was a good thing these zap apple cravings didn't strike her very often; she could afford to indulge, even if the price was a touch on the steep side, but a daily treat, the donuts were not. She wondered how expensive they were in a place like Canterlot, filtered through the Rich family instead of Apple-direct.

She dug into her saddlebags. "Here we are," she said, setting three small burlap bags on the counter that jingled, and four wild bits. "Should be four-and-thirty."

Angel bowed her head to Mr Cake. "Thanks. I bet they'll be as tasty as ever!" Her horn became wrapped in a soft blue glow, a glow that also wrapped around both bags while Oz paid. She took the liberty of transporting them to an empty table, setting the two bags down on the center of the table and getting herself comfortable.

"Yeah, thanks!" With a grinning nod to Mister Cake, Oz followed Angel Feather to the table she'd chosen. She took the seat perpendicular to her friend; it was generally better than sitting across, and she got to be closer to her. Plus, she could see the store's entrance. "Ooh, I can't wait," she rubbed her hooves together, opening the bag cautiously. She'd been pranked by Pinkie Pie before regarding these containers, and it paid to be cautious.

Angel, on the other hoof, had no caution about opening her bag. Both muffins floated out and butter was quickly slathered on them before she began nibbling on the blueberry one. "Thanks for buying, Oz. Why the reaction for the donut price? I mean, you kind of did get probably the most luxury donut that exists. You got a good deal, too. Back home, that would've cost me, hmm... closer to fifty bits, I think. Had a classmate who loved 'em. Good thing her parents had a lot of bits, though."

"It's easy to forget how expensive they can be," Shenanigans said defensively. She bit into one of her purchases, savouring the electric tang of the jam-filled pastry. Her dark blue curls began frizzing, as often happened when she indulged in her favourite snack.

Angel giggled. "Just be glad you live here and can get them fairly cheap." She took a bigger bite of her muffin, closing her eyes and mmming softly. "Nothing like a delicious fruity baked good to start a day."

"I'm sorry about the price, ladies, but zap apple jam is pricey in the first place and it only gets more so the further into the year we get.  Goodness knows it's hard enough to get any before Filthy Rich buys it all up." Mr. Cake chuckled from behind the cash register.  "Oh, though I heard that Merriweather has a pretty big stock of it saved up.  She's been developing some kind of glowing rainbow smoothie over at the Summer Song Cafe."

Oz mmmmed in agreement with Angel Feather, and nodded at Mr. Cake. "I know... well, not about the smoothie thing. But it's easy to forget." Just like it was easy to forget to take it slow and savour her breakfast treat; the second doughnut vanished much more quickly than the first.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:53, Tue 25 Sept 2012.

Glowing... rainbow... smoothie. Angel eyed Mr Cake warily as she considered those words in her mind, trying to decide if she believed him or not. After a second, she decided she did. "I do hope Merriweather is careful with that stuff, then. I don't know that anyone outside the Apples really understand zap apples fully - but the fact that they're pretty electrical is well-known... at least by anybody who's had a taste of them at one point or another."

"Well, I haven't heard any more explosions since a few days ago... either she got better with how it works, or she stopped trying." Mr. Cake shrugged.  "Poor Pinkie Pie's been beside herself since Merriweather won't let anyone taste test for her."

"I wonder how she's trying to keep the liquid zap apples stable? Or is she making smoothies out of jam?" Oz wondered, nibbing her last doughnut. "Zap Apples tend to vanish if they're not processed." She looked down into her bag of treats, now empty. "And even if they are." she sighed.

Angel looks slightly disturbed by Mr Cake's comment about explosions, but she doesn't follow up on it. After all, nopony'd shown up at her clinic for help... and she would have heard if somepony got seriously injured. "I... can't really blame Pinkie. I mean, if Merriweather managed it, it'd be an incredible creation, I'd think..." She gets distracted by Oz's musings, and she turns to look at her companion. "You'd probably have to ask her."

Angel suddenly realized she hadn't really been eating, while Oz had already finished off her donuts. With sudden determination, she starts munching on her blueberry muffin again.

"I imagine she got the stuff in jarred preserves like we all do."  Mr. Cake shrugged.  He'd not been able to get much information out of the mare himself on the matter... she was keeping the whole thing close to her chest.  "Apparently she let some Ponies taste test for her and they got sick, burping up lightning and such.  It'd be impressive if she could swing it, but I can't imagine how expensive that sort of thing must be..."

<<< FROM: Summer Song Cafe

With a spring in his step, Widget, as usual, ignored the strange stares he got every time he strapped a new contraption onto his back. He hardly even noticed them anymore, and to be fair, people he said hello to in the street hardly seemed to notice anything different, either. That was just Widget. So long as he wasn't crashing into something, they just let him be as eccentric as he wanted without comment.

Opening the half door into the sweet shop, he looked quickly around. It wasn't as busy here as the Summer Song was, but it seemed to be holding its own, especially for early in the morning. He imagined it was busier in the afternoon when ponies could better justify sweets. "Good morning, Mr. Cake," he said as he entered the shop, smiling greetings to the other ponies, even though he didn't know them. He certainly seemed in better spirits than he had a few days before, when Rogue had not so subtly informed him that Twilight didn't know she was going on a date. Best not to think about that...

Mr. Cake looked up from the chat as the door bell chimed out, announcing another customer to tend to.  He gave Widget a friendly grin on greeting.  "Good morning, Widget.  You look like you're in a fine mood today." he said conversationally.  Like many other Ponies around town, Mr. Cake didn't even bat an eye at the contraption the Unicorn had strapped to his back.  It was just normal for Widget... plus living with Pinkie Pie drastically raised one's tolerance for what counted as 'weird'.

"Good morning, Widget," Oz waved at the tinker-pony. Though they hadn't met per se, it was easy in Ponyville to have seen the gadget pony and inquired regarding his name. She turned her attention back to Angel Feather. "C'mon, Angel, let's go watch the explosions~!" she said, drawing out the last word like an excited filly asking to go to the fair.

Angel waved to Widget, too - she'd never really spoken with him, but she knew him by sight, at least, him and his... gadgets.

Oz's exclamation, however, drew a worried expression from the healer pony. "Explosions? Wait, what explosions? Where? Why? Ponies could get hurt..."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:27, Sat 29 Sept 2012.

Oz continued her pleading with Angel Feather. "At the Summer Song Café? If anypony does get hurt, they'll need you there anyway. C'mo~n, please? How often to you get to see zap apsplosions?"

Angel eyes Oz warily, knowing very well that her friend is trying to manipulate her. "I don't know... I mean... Wouldn't Merriweather have already had to get help for anypony hurt by all this?" She's silent for a second, then says, "You're dragging me along no matter what I say, aren't you?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:15, Sun 30 Sept 2012.

Shenanigans pondered Angel Feather's question. "Yeah, probably. It's what you get for not having plans." She grinned at her friend.

The medical pony groaned in response, shaking her head. "How did I know? You know, one of these days, you're going to drag me into trouble. I just know it." Her second muffin became wrapped in a light blue aura as she picked it up with her magic, then determinedly began to eat it - hoping a full stomach would fortify her for whatever trouble her friend did get her into.

"Aw, c'mon. Trouble can be fun! Have you heard some of Dashie's stories? They can't all be exaggerated." Oz insisted, waiting for her friend to finish her breakfast. "Speaking of, did you see that sign in the square? I think I'm gonna compete."

Angel looked up at her friend for a second, most of the way through her muffin already. She could eat quickly when the situation called for it, but she usually preferred a slightly more decorous speed. "They can't? You're talking about Rainbow Dash. She may be an amazing athlete, but that's a pony well known for her... excessive self-confidence." She snorts softly. "Have fun in the competition. I'll probably be on-hoof in case somepony pulls a leg or something."

Oz smirked. "Just try not to call us 'reckless fools' too loudly, hm? Try to have fun?"

Angel finished off the last of her muffin, now bearing a bit of a smirk. "Oh, I would never do that. Far be it for me to cast such judgments. I'll just be waiting. Watching."

"Judging."

Angel merely gives her friend a knowing smile, not denying it... nor, really, affirming it, but the medical pony clearly finds the idea at least somewhat amusing. She takes a second to clean the last crumbs away from her muzzle, then finally says, "Now, now... judging the competition will be done by somepony other than me, you know that."

"... Well played," Oz replied. "I wonder who will be? Dashie couldn't resist competing in those pet games where she got her tortoise, from what I hear."

Angel Feather shakes her head. "You know, I have no idea. I haven't been involved in any of the steps of planning this contest and although I know of the contest, I haven't read the sign myself."

"Are you done?" Oz asked, her excitement building for reasons totally unrelated to the Dash Competiton. "Let's go explosion-watching!" she suggested, hopping up and down on her back feet while the front ones remained on the table.

Angel watched her friend for a second, silently ondering - which was more hyper, Pinkie Pie or Oz? After a second, she decided Pinkie was probably the more hyper, but then, she didn't spend much time with the pink pony, unlike the crazy mare she was with now.

Finally, she sighed and nodded. "Yes, I'm done. We can go."

"Yay!" Oz said, hopping about a little. "Adventure, ho!"

Exit to Summer Song Café ----->

With a sense of foreboding, Angel walks after her friend.

To: Summer Song Cafe --->

Widget had been frankly mesmerized by the odd conversation between the two younger girls, especially since they were talking about explosions, which were something of his specialty. Zap apples, huh? Perhaps they could be utilized as an energy source of some kind... It hadn't occurred to him before. Well, it would certainly be eco-friendly, wouldn't it?

His train of thought was snapped as the girls left, and he turned back to Mr. Cake with a bit of a sheepish smile, but it was rather normal for Widget to go AWOL in thought, even in the middle of conversations. "I'm meeting Twilight in Whitetail Woods this afternoon for lunch. I need some snacks and sweets that will be sure to please. I'd like two blueberry muffins, two carrot muffins, and two strawberry vanilla cupcakes, please. And I was wondering if you ever made sugar coated flowers? I used to see them in sweet shops in Canterlot when I was a colt, but I haven't actively looked for them since, and I've heard that most girls like them."

Mr. Cake scratched his head over the antics of the odd couple of mares, but laughed it off all the same once they were on their way out.  He returned his attention to Widget and nodded at the order, going about behind the counter to gather the requested goods from their display spots.

"Candied flowers aren't really a regular request, but we can whip some up for you no problem if you don't mind waiting a few minutes." the older stallion nodded, talking around a pair of tongs he had gripped in his mouth.  Assuming he got a positive reply, he'd step along to poke his head into the kitchen and chat for a moment, apparently asking Mrs. Cake to make some for him.  He returned back to the front a moment later to continue bagging the sweets.  "You're really spoiling that girl, y'know.  Ah... you two remind me of before my honey-biscuit and I got together.  I just knew from the first time I tasted one of her bundt cakes that she'd be the mare I wanted to spend my life with..."

Mr. Cake never really seemed the nostalgic sort, but there were some fond memories worth holding on to and appreciating as the years went by.  Of course, the implications of his idle remarks might have been a little much for Widget just then.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:33, Mon 08 Oct 2012.

Widget had quickly nodded in the affirmative when Mr. Cake had said he would be able to whip up a few candied flowers for him. "I don't mind waiting. I'm a little bit early anyway," he said cheerfully as he watched Mr. Cake pop into the back to tell his wife, presumably, that there was an order for sugared flowers, and then come back to begin bagging his order.

"She deserves it," he said in a slightly dreamy tone and with a more than slightly goofy smile as he magicked his bit bag from his pocket, playing with it a bit in a fidgeting sort of way as he thought about Twilight. She really did deserve to be spoiled. She was amazing...

Mr. Cake's last comment, however, startled Widget out of his thought and caused his cheeks to darken significantly with the thought that struck him just then. As head over hooves as he was for Twilight, he was logical enough to know that it was far too early to even think about such a thing, but that didn't stop his more creative thoughts to utterly betray him at that moment and conjure up a mental image of Twilight wearing a white and silver dress, surrounded by a strange white mist, and smiling at him in such a way that she never had before. He was pretty sure that he had never seen anything so beautiful before.

The inventor swallowed hard, and laughed aloud, trying rather valiantly to brush off Mr. Cake's words as nothing but general conversation. "Who knows?" he said in a would-be airy fashion. "Twilight and I are both really new to this dating thing, after all, but it's a bit too soon for us to think about the rest of 'our' lives." In that moment, however, it was hard to hide his envy of Mr. Cake. He and Mrs. Cake just seemed to go so well together, as if they had never not been apart, never not been Mr. and Mrs. Cake. The older stallion sounded as if he had always been so sure of Mrs. Cake, and while Widget was quite firm in his feelings, he wished he knew for certain exactly how deep Twilight felt.

It didn't last, though, as Widget's more logical brain quickly caught up. He and Twilight had all the time in the world to explore the depths of their feelings. The last thing he wanted to do was rush and potentially ruin something great.

"Um... If I might ask... Aside from her cooking, what made you so sure that Mrs. Cake was... well, the Future Mrs. Cake?" Still, a little questioning of his more experienced elders in this regard might not be amiss...

"Well, it's a good idea to take your time.  You both are young, after all.  Enjoy it and don't think there's any need to go galloping into something you're not ready for."  Mr. Cake wisely tempered his nostalgia with some actual wisdom.

"Um... If I might ask... Aside from her cooking, what made you so sure that Mrs. Cake was... well, the Future Mrs. Cake?"

"Baking, son.  There's a difference." the stallion replied curtly, as if it were a matter of pride.  But all the same he relaxed and gave a fond chuckle over the memories.  "Honestly, not many Ponies ask that question.  Most just see the two of us and assume we were always together somehow, like we were made for one another.

I used to be in the military, believe it or not.  A lot of stallions in my generation signed up for at least one tour -- we all felt it was part of our national duty.  That opinion has faded over the years, but it was the thing to do back then.  I looked mighty sharp in uniform too, I might add... and Cup Cake thought so too." it was rare for him to refer to his wife by name, but given the context of the story, seemed proper all the same.  She hadn't been Mrs. Cake or his 'sugar strudel' yet, back then.  "I'm originally from Fillydelphia, you see, and our troop made a marching tour across a lot of Equestria.  I first met her when we made a stop-over in Ponyville for just one night on the way to Canterlot.  She, and a bunch of other mares, had all gotten together to make sure us troops were well-fed and taken care of before we had to march out again.  It was just a courtesy, but home cooking meant the world to a lot of us after being out on the marching routes for so long."

The lanky stallion looked over his shoulder through the viewing ports in the kitchen doors.  Through them, they could see Mrs. Cake bustling about at her work, though she had to pause every once in a while to peer over at where their kids were napping in their playpen.  She glanced up from her task and caught his gaze through the port, then gave him a warm smile before returning to work.  He sighed fondly and grinned as well -- the affection between the two was never in question, but it was rarely so apparent as just then.

"So that first time I tasted her baking, and she smiled at me, I felt like I'd just floated away on a cloud.  We were all off to Canterlot the very next day but I just couldn't get her out of my head, even though I knew she was way out of my league.  But every time there was a chance to go back to Ponyville, I made sure I was the first on the roster." he continued at length.  "Admittedly I wasn't the most dashing of stallions, and she was terribly shy herself, so it took us a long time to even really introduce ourselves properly.  For a while it would just be her serving me cake or pie or cookies at the diner she worked at.  Eventually I found out she'd even come in to work on days where she wasn't scheduled, just because she knew I'd be in town.  Over time we got to talking, bit by bit.  We realized how much we had in common, and how we had the same hopes and dreams... it just sort of fell into place.  We hardly even realized we'd started turning my visits into dates.  It just felt natural... like we were meant for one another.  The very day my tour ended, I grabbed the first train back to Ponyville and here I've stayed ever since."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:10, Mon 08 Oct 2012.

"Sorry," Widget mumbled quickly, recognizing Mr. Cake's pride in his wife's baking, but otherwise said nothing as Mr. Cake explained how he and his wife had met and eventually made the decision to spend their lives together. It was a sweet thing, to see how close the two of them really were, even after all their years together and the stresses of twins and running a business together. As his story progressed, Widget felt his smile becoming bigger and warmer, finding it truly touching how they had fallen in love.

When the story ended, Widget let out a small, warm sigh and nodded. "Well... perhaps you were made for each other," he said with a rather confident tone. Some ponies were just meant to be - he believed that heartily. Otherwise, he couldn't see how his own mother and father even met, much less got married and had him. "Thanks for sharing your story, Mr Cake. I enjoyed it," he added sincerely. He packed up the sweets Mr. Cake had brought to him in his basket while he waited for the candy flowers to be finished, and paid for the sweets with a small and neatly made stack of bits. "I'm trying to think of new ideas for dates for us to go on, too. Any suggestions for next time?" he inquired.

"Actually, thank you, Widget.  My wife and I are close, but sometimes it's good to sit back and remember what brought us together in the first place." Mr. Cake said with a pleasant glance over his shoulder.  Just then, Mrs. Cake emerged with a small tray clenched in her teeth that she set down on the counter top -- on it were an assortment of colorful flower buds and blossoms, laid out into an attractive arrangement.  The lot of them were lightly glazed and crystallized with a fine sugared coating that almost made them look like little gemstones.

"Here you go, sugar cookie." she said as she set down the tray and turned to hurry back to the kitchen all the same.

"Thanks snicker-doodle~!" the stallion called back.  His smile didn't seem to be going anywhere as he set about wrapping and boxing the edible bouquet for transport.  When Widget asked about future date ideas for himself and Twilight, Mr. Cake mulled quietly for a moment before replying.  "Hm... well, Twilight's really the bookish sort; I've seen her be perfectly happy just sitting in the park all day with her nose buried in some pages.  I imagine you two could always do something like that if you're absolutely strapped for ideas." he suggested.  "Though you might want to play at the intellectual angle anyway.  There are some great museums and art galleries in Canterlot and Manehatten."

The inventor couldn't help his smile when Mr. Cake thanked him, bowing his head softly as he accepted the thanks graciously and wordlessly. He looked over the beautiful jeweled flowers, ears perking sharply in pleasure at how well they had turned out. "They look fantastic! Not that I had any doubt," he commented happily as he watched the sunlight that streamed in through the windows glimmer on the glassy sugar coating.

His comment on what to do with Twilight brought a nod from the inventor. He hadn't thought much about art galleries, but maybe Twilight would like that sort of thing - he certainly did. "I bought tickets to go see Octavia in Canterlot Royal Gardens for a charity event later this month. I thought she'd like to go see that. I haven't been back to Canterlot since I moved away. That feels like a lifetime ago now, not just five years... It'll be nice to go back, I think." That wasn't entirely true for Widget, but no need to let anyone else know that. "Thank you, for the suggestions, Mr. Cake, and to Mrs. Cake for taking the time to make these for me. I appreciate it a lot."

"That sounds like something you'd both enjoy.  Just be sure to watch out for her older brother.  If you haven't met him yet, you're probably in for quite the interrogation." Mr. Cake was only half-joking on that matter.  Twilight's family lived in Canterlot, so the odds of her and Widget running into them one way or another were pretty high given the situation.  The yellow stallion nodded his head politely to Widget's gratitude and returned it with a smile.

"My pleasure, Widget.  Was there anything I could do for you?" he asked as he glanced up at the clock on the wall.  It was almost time for the lunch rush to start coming in, so best to get such a request out of the way quickly.

"I actually look forward to meeting her family, brother included. He may be protective, but the way Twilight talks about him, he sounds like a great stallion," he chuckled as he packed the box neatly away and magicked the basket back onto his back for safe travel. "I want to take an early train so we can meet them for lunch beforehand, but I'll have to discuss it with Twilight, of course. For now, though, that's everything. Thank you again, Mr. Cake. I'll see you soon." With that, he waved to Mrs. Cake in the back, smiled his farewell to them both, and left Sugarcube Corner to let them prepare for their lunch rush, and to make his way to Whitetail Woods before he was late.

>>> TO: Whitetail Woods

"Have fun~!" Mr. Cake called in Widget's wake as he left, then turned to head on into the kitchen a moment later.  His wife looked up from a batch of figs she was prepping to become a tasty filling at his approach, setting aside the spoon she had in her jaws for a second.

"Oh, good.  I need your help with these fruit pastrie~~eeemm!" the plump Earth Pony began, but she was quickly caught up in a twirl as her husband reached out and snagged her foreleg with his, spinning her about to him to dip her to the side and plant a firm, adoring kiss right on her lips.  Surprise was swiftly replaced by affectionate pleasure and, by the time he drew back, she was flushed and breathless.  "Oh my... Carrot, what's gotten into you...?"

The stallion chuckled over his wife's somewhat goofy smile and nuzzled her cheek with his.  "I just wanted to remind you that you're the most gorgeous mare around, and that you have made me the luckiest, happiest stallion in the kingdom." his praise was admittedly bias, but entirely sincere as well.  "How about we get a sitter for the foals tonight and go have an evening just to ourselves?"

"I love you, sugar cookie." Mrs. Cake cooed over both the affection and suggestion, thoroughly charmed off her hooves just then.

"I love you too, honey bun." Mr. Cake replied with a quick stolen kiss.  "Now then, what about those fruit pastries?  Let's get to work~!"

From Dash's Contest Event --->

"Closed? Closed?! How... but... they're never closed," Oz said, the affronted fire in her voice rapidly dwindling to just more of an awful day by the end of her brief monologue.

With an heavy sigh and an heavier heart, she turned around and decided to try to find a drink in the only place guaranteed to have one, day or night (And maybe chocolate, too).

To Summer Song Café --->
This message was last edited by the player at 04:41, Tue 01 Jan 2013.

---> Business District

"Good morning!" Rarity called cheerily, masking her slightly depressed attitude from a few moments ago, "Oh, the shop smells absolutely ravishing this morning!"

There was something about sweets that was able to turn Rarity right around! It was a shame she didn't enter the shop more often! Of course, if she did, her figure would be absolutely ruined. Chocolates, cupcakes, candy, it all went straight to her flank. She had a hard enough time keeping it off besides.

Rarity cantered up to the counter and smiles, inclining for Luna to follow her inside with a gesture of her head.

The regal mare joined Rarity smoothly and happily trotted up to the counter with Rarity, inhaling deeply. Oh, it really did. So many good and amazing flavors, all right here. Luna glanced eagerly at Rarity, and noticed her expression. Most striking wasn't that she seemed  a bit distracted - it was the opposite. She almost seemed too content and cheerful after how she'd been a moment ago.

"Good morning, everypony~" Luna chimed happily, and turned back to the delicious treats, though she was slightly less enthused as her thoughts turned to hoping Rarity was alright. She really did seem troubled - and she seemed keen to keep it to herself.

The front counter of Sugarcube Corner was manned by none other than Mr. Cake that morning, and the lanky stallion greeted the newest guests with a bright smile.  It said plenty that most Ponies had become so accustomed to Luna's presence that they didn't immediately set to groveling like they used to, be it out of fear or simply abject respect of authority.

"Good morning, ladies.  What can I do for the three of you?" he asked with a soft laugh.

Wait... three?

At some point totally beyond the notice of either Rarity or Luna, their coupling had been infiltrated!  A stealthy pink spy had slipped in silently as she was wont to do -- Pinkie Pie simply popped up in between the two elegant Ponies and tossed her arms about their shoulders to hug them both tightly.  "Hiya girls~!  You two haven't come around Sugarcube corner in, like, forever!  Or a couple days... but same diff!"  the Party Pony squeaked in her usual hyperactive manner as she hugged her two friends close enough to squish their cheeks against either of hers.

Three--?

Luna skittishly lifted her hooves as Pinkie's unexpected appearance between herself and Rarity - and the subsequent embrace - overcame her. Luna laughed and put her own hooves around both mares briefly, before straightening herself up with a smile. "Pinkie Pie. It's good to see you~" Luna chimed, and lifted her hoof toward Mr. Cake. "As things have turned out, my vacation's to be extended..." And she'd already made a bit of a showing here -  one of their best customares this week, even!

"So, of course, I was hoping to get some more sweets~" She smiled warmly, then glanced to Rarity. Rarity had been paying for everything, at this rate, and while Luna had given her quite a sum, she just hoped she wasn't overstaying her welcome. - Rarity would never admit to it, but ponies can and do grow tired of houseguests after a while.

Rarity was about to give her proper greeting to Mr. Cake when Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared between them, pulling them both into a very tight hug that nuzzled against the mare's very cheeks even! The fashionista was so used to her friend's antics by this point that it didn't faze her one bit, and she found herself nuzzling and hugging back. Of course, once the show of affection was done, she needed to readjust her mane a bit, but there really was nothing like a hug to improve ones mood.

"Ah, Pinkie Pie!" Rarity said happily, "I was hoping to run into you! It has been far too long since we have spent any real time together, darling."

Out of the six, Rarity and Pinkie Pie had never really been that close, at least until the Iron Will incident. Standing up for one another when Fluttershy unleashed her insults and crying together afterward really brought them together, not to mention their adventures with the other girls. Still, their one on one time had been rather lacking of late.

"Do you have anything special this morning, Mr. Cake?" Rarity asked, noticing Luna's look and giving her a wink.

"Of course!  We've got a fresh batch of raspberry donuts that should--" Mr. Cake began, though Pinkie Pie coughed softly and gave him a guilty look.

"Um... yeah, about those donuts..." she smiled sheepishly.

"Pinkie... again?  Alright, well, honeypie had a few trays of fresh fruit muffins that--"

"There's a funny story there..." Pinkie interrupted again as she dusted some incriminating crumbs off her lip.  Mr. Cake groaned and face-hoofed in response.

"The mint cream danishes?"

"You did a great job on them!"

"Is there anything you haven't eaten yet?!"  he groused.  An entirely justified complaint.  Pinkie Pie, bless her heart, had a habit of eating the place out of its stock.  She just couldn't help herself with so many delicious things being baked up first thing in the morning!  At least she always paid for them all... but still!

"Don't worry, I know just the thing!  Pretty Pony Pastries!"  the bouncy Earth Pony gave a happy cheer as she hugged her two friends close again.

"What?"

From seemingly out of nowhere, Pinkie produced something to shove down atop both Rarity and Luna's heads.  Fluffy, white chef's toques?  "Pastries made by Pretty Ponies!  'Cause these two are the prettiest ones I know!  And I know a lot of Ponies!" she laughed cheerfully.  "How about it you two?  Wanna help me whip up something yummy?  It'll be fun!"

Well... Rarity had said she wanted to spend more time together...

The princess blushed slightly at Pinkie's compliments, and as the chef's hat was stuck upon her head, she gave Rarity a sheepish glance. The white hat atop her otherwise dark mane and coat was kind of garish. Besides, Luna doubted how well she could actually cook. She'd never had to do it before. So her hesitation was, perhaps, quite natural.

"But I've never... umm..."  Pinkie was far too energetic to merely refuse.  So eager was she with her hugging and hatting that Luna's little objections were lost. She gave Rarity a helpless look, but it was colored with an uncertain smile - even if she doubted her ability to help, being asked to help felt nice. So did being admired so. "If Rarity doesn't mind...? And the cakes?" she added the lqtter bit, glancing to Mr. Cake, behind the counter.

Day 9!

She'd eventually gone back to The Everfree Forest after Big Macintosh had led her to Sugarcube Corner. The imposing structure had scared her a bit in the night and did even more now than before. In the daytime it was a mash-up of shocking colors that didn't belong, at least not in such display.

She decided immediately that she would enter such a place. Instead she knocked on the door and stepped back quickly, as if expecting the building to reach out and devour her. This was NOT the setting you would expect to find a Camahueto in and it reflected that very much. She didn't feel comfortable after what had happened yesterday. She could feel the ill intent around her, aimed at her viciously by ponies who didn't even know her... She tried to keep it from getting to her. Nonetheless, Grass near the path wilted a touch as she stood on it, waiting for an answer.

How could Rarity refuse such an offer, coupled with a hug and a compliment? The hat was rustic, but seemed to match her coat rather nicely. It didn't work nearly as well for the Princess, but all things considered, it didn't matter much at all. Besides, it was rather cute to see a chef's hat on her friend rather than a crown. It was almost like she was one of them!

"Oh, I don't mind at all," Rarity said with a slight giggle that she hid with her hoof, "Though, I will require an apron."

In actuality, the fashionista was looking forward to a little unscheduled fun! Pinkie Pie was rather good for providing that on a whim, and maybe this was just the thing to bring her out of her momentary slump! Besides, if she really liked it, perhaps baking could become that new hobby she was searching for?

"Alright~!  C'mon you two, let's get to it!"  Pinkie Pie squealed as she went hopping along for the kitchens, bursting through the swinging doors with her usual rampant enthusiasm.  Mr. Cake just rolled his eyes a bit and gave Luna a reassuring smile.

"Go right ahead, Princess.  I know Pinkie can be a little much at times, but she really is a skilled baker." Mr. Cake reassured the hesitant Alicorn.  "There are spare aprons on the rack by the pantry shelves.  Just give a holler if you need anything, okay?"

Meanwhile, inside the kitchen, Pinkie Pie was already busy peering through a giant cook book full of all sorts of detailed recipes, wondering what they would be able to make.

"Thank you very much, Mr Cake," Rarity said politely as she started to follow after Pinkie Pie, a delightful little canter in her step, "Come along, Princess! This should be quite enjoyable."

Once inside, the fashionista went straight to work at getting squared away and ready for some impromptu baking. She wasn't the best chef in the world, once you got right down to it. Quiche, for some odd reason, was her specialty, and there were many wonders she could do with eggs, but beyond that, she needed some practice. Using her magic, she carefully set her loaded saddlebags by the door and made her way to the rack with the spare aprons. Selecting one that didn't seem too dirty, Rarity lifted it and tied it about herself with finesse before striking a pose, now done up in the traditional fashions of a chef!

Luna returned the awkward smile to Mr. Cake. "V-very well then. I shall try not to cause too much damage." The smile was confusing - combined with her tone, it was unclear whether she was kidding or genuinely worried.

Regardless, she followed the others to the back, and joined Rarity in donning an apron, though she set aside the chef's hat, and drew her long mane back, out of her way.

She smiled at the fashionable pony and her posing, though she didn't quite put on such a display, herself. Trotting steadily to the counter, Luna glanced at Pinkie. "So... what first, Pinkie? I...  really haven't cooked before."

"It's super easy!  ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫All y'gotta do is take a cup of flour, add it to...♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ uh... no, wait, I already sang that song once..." Pinkie Pie started bouncing in place to a rhythm, though she put a stop to it when she realized the redundancy.

"Heh... I guess we should figure out what we're gonna bake first?  C'mon over and have a look!  There's all sorts of treats in this book!" she beckoned the other two mares by her sides to peruse with her. "Hey... that rhymed!"

Pinkie Pie distracted herself at that point trying to figure out further baking related rhymes, apparently intent on getting a song out of the event somehow.  In the meantime, it left the other two classier mares free to look through The Cakes' amazingly comprehensive cook book.  That huge tome had hundreds of recipes in it of all sorts, spanning from the modest modest of sugar cookies to lavishly decadent tower cakes.

"So it did!" Rarity chimed in response to Pinkie's rhyme. As her friend tried her best to summon up more baking rhymes in puns, the fashionista took it upon herself to flip through the pages of the cookbook using her magic. It was incredible some of the recipes the couple had come up with over the years! Just the mere thought of some of these treats set her stomach to rumbling, though she kept it as quiet as she could. Pinkie had all of the luck, it seemed, living in a home where all of these things were made daily, the scent alone would be heavenly!

Flipping through the "M" section, spying the infamous, award-winning "Mmmm!" and remembering the incident on the train, Rarity finally spotted what she was going to make with the Princess that could not be any more suitable or perfect!

"Have you ever had a Moon Pie, Princess, darling?"

Luna looked at Rarity, then inched over to look at the book where she was pointing. "A... moon pie...?" Luna smiled in quite a pleasant manner, taking a look at the cook book over Rarity's shoulder. "Ooh... it looks good... Who created such a thing, and when?" she asked, curiously pleased. "I hope it is as good as it looks~"

"I wouldn't know the particulars of its origins, darling, though Twilight or the Cakes might!" Rarity commented, scanning the recipe before looking up to Luna with a bright smile, "If you ask me, however, I would guess that it was made in your honor, of course! Dark and mysterious on the outside, sweet on the inside! It matches. Not to mention the marshmallow filling inside. Did I ever mention how I adore marshmallows?"

A little discouraged, The Camahueto looked around at the other nearby Ponies. So many false homes around, all the structures... She knocked a little harder, looking into the windows. She prayed silently that Pinkie Pie was actually there. She didn't like it here...

"Mimi Natra Siki Mu." She sang low under her breath, shifting from side to side nervously, "Chika nusi kovey lu...." She looked around and gave a third set of rapping knocks.

At the mention of mulling over the origins of Moon Pies, Pinkie Pie's eyes widened and she quickly started making subtle 'No!  No!' gestures to Rarity to try and dissuade the topic.

"Did I ever mention how I adore marshmallows?" Rarity didn't seem to notice one bit, though Pinkie Pie leaped for the conversation shift.

"Well, you know what they say!  You are what you eat!" the party Pony chirped as she batted her hoof down on the recipe page.  "This'll be a good one to start with.  If you can bake cookies, you can make Moon Pies... and anypony can bake cookies!"

The recipe did seem simple enough that even someone inexperienced like Luna would have little trouble with it.  Beyond all the confusing measurements and a lot of italicized terms written in 'Fancy', the actual process seemed rather straight forward.  As Pinkie Pie bounced around gathering up utensils and trays and bowls and spoons, the clatter of items landing on the counter sounded oddly like little cymbal crashes...

♪ ♫ ♪ ♫
Let's try it out together!
Come and try something new.
It's a great adventure
seeing what you can do!

Give it a whirl and you'll see,
there's nothing stopping you!
Friends help friends along the way,
so let's see what you can do!
♪ ♫ ♪ ♫

"C'mon girls, let's get cooking!"

---

Out in the front, Mr. Cake just chuckled to himself over the merry noise coming out of the kitchen.  Odds were he'd have quite a mess to clean up later, but it was worth it if the girls had a bit of fun.  Luna always seemed so tense... even when she was encouraging others to relax, she never seemed to relax herself.  However, the stallion's musings came to an abrupt halt when he heard a soft tapping and looked over to the doorway curiously.  Was somepony there?

"Hello?" Mr. Cake asked aloud before he trotted over to poke his head out the open upper half of the swinging shop door.  He seemed surprised to see Natra there at first, but immediately recognized her from the night before.  "Oh!  Well good morning, Miss Condu.  You don't have to knock here - this is a shop.  Everypony is welcome to come on in." he hoped he wasn't losing anything in a lack of translation as he opened the door to invite her inside.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:43, Tue 26 Feb 2013.

The mottled Camahueto backed off a bit, still very much intimidated by the store... It was so... bright! Nature didn't do this... It wasn't like she didn't already hate going into normal buildings... this place just scared her beyond words. The door opened slowly and she hesitated, looking into it like this Pony was the bait and the door just a large cruel mouth, waiting for prey to step in.

She shook her head quickly, taking yet another step back at the banging and noise of the rooms further into the shop. "N-N-Natra... No..." She said simply, with a touch of worry in her voice. "Pinkie Pie?" She asked hopefully, leaning close to the ground, as though she needed to be ready to bolt at any instant.

Mr. Cake raised a curious brow over Natra's hesitation, but figured he knew just the thing to get one over their fears.  He quickly darted back inside the shop for a quick round-about the counter, then emerged once more with a small tray balanced on one hoof.  On it was a small round of fresh sweet bread, still warm and laced with plump strawberry slices, dripping under a shimmering sheen of aromatic honey.

"It's alright.  C'mon, Pinkie Pie is in the kitchen.  Have a snack and I'll let her know you're here." the stallion offered over the delicious treat with a friendly smile, holding it out fully at arm's length so that Natra wouldn't have to creep any closer than necessary to get at it if she chose.

The Jungle Pony hesitated. There were plants in the jungles that ate larger creatures by wriggling small, recognizable things that looked like food. To her this very much seemed like the same sort of plot. She stepped slowly forward, poked the bread briefly with a cloven hoof before leaping backward what had to be five feet at the very least in a snap of springy movement. She repeated this process twice more before snagging the bread in her hoof and then lifting it into the air with her magic.

It smelled divine as she stood outside the door, waving it curiously with her magic through the air. her tribe never had bread nor anything that could be equated as the standard Camahueto staple was fish and most forms of cooking were simply uncalled for in tribal society. It was warm and sticky with chunks of what was clearly fruit in it. She took a dainty bite to taste it, still not trusting it... then, after some chewing, she smiled and ate the rest, looking at the still very untrustworthy building that she was being beckoned into. She looked at The baker and then back at the towering picture of Sugarcube Corner, a chill running through her. She struggled to find the word.

"In...." She struggled. "In... Sof?" She pointed at the building before realizing that... probably wasn't quite right. She tried again. "Saf?" That sounded close enough. It would have to do.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:55, Mon 11 Mar 2013.

Mr. Cake simply stood aside and watched the Camahueto eagerly devour the snack cake once she had decided it was safe to do so.  It was always satisfying to see someone enjoy themselves.  "Yes, it's perfectly safe.  I promise, there's nothing but sweet scents and homemade confections inside."

Just as the stallion made such a claim, a small gaggle of laughing kids stampeded on past, weaving around Natra and Mr. Cake alike as they funneled their way into the shop excitedly.  He chuckled as he moved away from the door to let them on through, smiling warmly in their wake.  A little filly paused long enough to wish him a squeaky 'good morning!' before she hurried on inside to catch up with her friends, all of whom were clambered about the front case looking at all the fresh baked goods and sweets for sale.

"See?"  he asked again, beckoning Natra to follow as he turned about and headed on inside to see to the kids.

Luna watched as Pinkie started her food preparation, and then gave a little glance aside to Rarity. "Ah.. Miss Rarity... Did you happen to notice whether Pinkie washed her hooves or not? In fact, I think we ought to as well..." she murmured, quietly.

Somehow, flinging ingredients and  cookware through the air didn't seem in keeping with the directions. They were quite specific, after all. Luna stepped over to the sink to wash up her hooves, with a little cough.

The foreigner watched as all of the colts and fillies raced into the shop, shaking a bit in her place, worried that the baker's face would twist horribly and the door would swing closed, never to let them out again...

But, of course, this was simply not the case. Mr. Cake smiled at her and spoke up... most of the words she didn't understand.

Slowly, shakily, she put her hooves forward, finally the first cloven hoof sounding on the wooden floors with a "clop." Another hoof in the door and she looked around, hearing the noises, listening to children squeal over desserts. Another hoof in... She hesitated, looking at her rear left hoof, shaking, just at the brink. She looked at the four walls that surrounded her and it felt... Too small!

She forced her final hoof in the door and felt crushed, like an invisible presence was strangling her. She'd never known what four walls looked like around her. She'd never been inside of a build house. At most she'd visited a couple hollowed out tree homes but never this... never anything so angular and outlandish. She felt like she couldn't breath deep enough, very dizzying as well. She shuffled the rest of the way inside, toward the counter, head down; as though she didn't want the walls to notice her. "In..." She looked around scared, "P-Pinkie Pie?" She asked the baker, almost slumped all the way to the floor. She almost looked like a cat who felt extraordinarily uncomfortable with her sense of security.

♪ ♫ ♪ ♫
Something new, something fresh!
Put my skills to the test.
With-
♪ ♫ ♪ ♫

"...Oh, are we not...? Alright..."

Rarity blinked once as Luna murmured to her about whether or not Pinkie washed her hooves. She was all ready to throw herself into another musical number, belting out to her hearts content when the possibility that Pinkie's hooves weren't washed came over her. That would mean they'd have to clean all of the supplies Pinkie was flinging over to the counter!...

Best to assume she did!

The fashionitsa waited patiently for the Princess to finish washing her hooves before she went. As with any form of self beautification, preservation, and cleanliness, it had to be done properly and with great care. Of course, with the ability to do magic, clean hooves weren't as necessary as it would be for an Earth Pony like Pinkie Pie, but how could she pass up the opportunity! It took her a minute or two to properly wash her hooves before she returned to the others, checking the list, making sure everything Pinkie was flinging over was applicable and needed. Strangely enough, she was 100% accurate.

"Step one..."

<-- Discord, Fluttershy, and Fung Shui enter from The Summer Song Cafe

"Aww... are we not singing?  I'm gonna get a duet with you two one of these days!" Pinkie Pie pouted as the musical effort petered out before it could get a full head of steam.  Sure, she could vault off into a full number herself but was more interested in sharing a song with--

Any further thought was interrupted when Pinkie's tail suddenly poofed straight out stiff as a wire, her knees wobbled, eyes derped in their sockets, and she gave a mighty hiccup!  Rarity would be plenty familiar with those spasms... Pinkie Sense!  Once the combo finished, the Pony looked genuinely confused.  "Whoa... never had one like that before.  Not quite a doozy, but... that was really weird."

Over on the counter with all the heaped up ingredients, a bag of flour shuddered and promptly opened itself, allowing an enormous lion's paw coated in white powder to suddenly jab out into the air and grope around blindly for a few moments.  It curled over to grab onto the edge of the counter and give a hard yank, taking the leverage to haul the rest of its body on out -- a familiar mismatched cluster of various creatures that could only be Discord.  Not just him though -- as he clambered on out of the far-too-small-to-have-fit space, he had both Fluttershy and Fung Shui curled up in his serpentine tail, dragging them along for the ride and equally covered in flour.

"Discord!" Pinkie Pie shrieked... not out of fright, but out of glee.  She immediately vaulted over the others' heads to snag the Draconequis in a hug, making him catch her as well.  Of all the Ponies in town, Pinkie Pie had been the first to befriend Discord immediately after Fluttershy had successfully reformed him.

"Hello again, Pinkie Pie!  Just one of the Ponies I wanted to see... oh... hi there, Lulu.  What're you doing here?" Discord laughed, though he seemed confused to see Luna present.

---

Out in the front, Mr. Cake was doing his best to gently usher Natra along through the shop, though part of him was wondering if he shouldn't have just taken her around the back of the store and gone through the exterior kitchen entrance directly.  However, a loud clatter and a cry of "Discord!" from the nearby doors made him yelp in shock.

"D-Discord?!  Here?!"  he gawped in surprise.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:47, Mon 18 Mar 2013.

--> From: Ponyville Business District - Harmony Clinic

With perfect timing, Shai enters the bakery just in time to hear two ponies exclaim a certain name in two very different tones.  She could feel the potential chaos in the air, and it made her giddy.  She had always wanted to meet a force of nature, and here is her chance!

With a gentle smile, she walks up to Mr. Cake and says, "Hello, Mr. Cake.  I cannot help but ask... is Mister Discord truly here?"

If there was one thing Fung hadn't been expecting today, it was to be abducted by one of the most infamous walking catastrophes to ever exist.  Bound up as he was in Discord's tail, Fung couldn't do much to struggle, but his mouth certainly did plenty on his body's behalf.
"What is the meaning of this!?  Unhoof me, Abomination!  Unhoof-!"
Before he could complete his tirade of outrage, a sudden burp escaped Fung's mouth and he was forced to slap his hooves over his mouth in short order.  If it weren't for all the flour, Fung would probably look positively green.  His eyes went half-lidded as another uncontrollable burp escaped him.
"Oh...oh kami...UUURP!"
It seemed Teleportation via Discord didn't agree well with the Kirin.

As she slowly, cautiously entered the "Sugarcube Corner" Natra heard a slamming and protest. She raced ahead to the sound just in time to see the Alicorn from earlier, a dragon, pony... THING! and other Ponies. Two of them were wrapped up in it's tail! THIS WAS A TRAP!

A scream that was two octaves too high for comfort and around a hundred decibels too loud echoed from the Camahueto's mouth, a look of utmost horror and fear across her face. She saw Pinkie Pie but the THING was there! One of the ponies in it's grasp looked TERRIFIED! The other looked grim and unhealthy, like the energy was being sucked right out of it! She turned tail and ran, sliding unhelpfully for a moment on the hardwood floors while she tried to get away, crashing through the doorway as she squealed bloody murder through the streets, head up and eyes largely closed in fright.

Indoors bad! Outdoors good! She knew that there had been a reason for this.

------------>>> To Whitetail Woods

The Yellow mare was, as well, a little nauseated by the sudden change of surrounding, "rightside-upedness" and location. However, needless to say, she took it a bit better than poor Fung Shui was taking it. "Um...." her eyes whirled in her skull for half a moment. "M-Mabe a bit more... gently... next time..."

There was a scream that hurt her ears and she looked over just in time to see a queer looking sort of filly screaming at the top of her lungs before rampaging out. She hoped that the poor thing hadn't been too startled. Fluttershy, of all ponies, understood how Discord could be... Startling.

Luna gave Pinkie a gentle smile, but had no time for more when the sudden and unsettling display of  Pinkie's paranormal talents  manifested. The burp, in particularly, caused Luna to make a face. "Oh.... Pinkie, why don't you wash up, I'm sure that..." Almost as soon as the bag  had moved of it's own accord, Luna turned sharply toward it, and narrowed her eyes. Discord. She recognized the paw alone, and so the rest of his emergence - and the two Ponies he brought along, drew a suddenly stern glance. Just what was Celestia up to now?

She'd had her doubts about this plan with Discord, and Celestia still seemed to enjoy her secrets... Clearly, though, this was related to... whatever was afoot in Canterlot. One unfortunate side effect of  tearing open a bag of flour for such teleportation was that it was going to get all over everything - and Luna's immaculate midnight coat was no exception. Already the haze of flour in th air had begun to settle on and whiten her a bit.

Luna spared a glance to Rarity, and offered a reassuring little smile, before looking back to Discord- now trounced by Pinkie. "I'm here for Pinkie Pie's treats, of course. But it seems we shall have to do this some other time. You're here for Pinkie and Rarity, correct, Discord?"

Luna winced as the scream pierced the air, then spared a glance up to Fluttershy and the distressed Kirin. "Why, exactly, do you have the Neighponese Ambassador up there?" The scream could have been any pony as yet uninformed or uncomfortable with the idea of Discord being about openly.

Mr. Cake grimaced as Natra went charging out in terror, fleeing far more swiftly than he would have expected a Pony of her size to be able to.  Or... whatever she was.  He'd been doing so well too.  The Earth Pony could only sigh and rub the back of his head helplessly, looking back and forth amid Shai Ni and the other confused kids who frankly weren't bothered by the presence of a Chaos Spirit in the kitchen.

"Eh... good morning, Miss Shai Ni.  And I suppose he is, if all that ruckus counts for anything.  I just hope he doesn't wreck anything this time."  he muttered as he peered back through the port windows on the kitchen doors.  "Was there something I can do for you?"

---

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Discord was his usual unabashed self when it came to being scolded.  He didn't care one bit and totally ignored both Fung Shui's and Luna's admonishments -- he was too busy tilting his head aside and conking himself on the skull to clear puffs of flour out his ear.  Flour, feathers, an alarm clock...

"You're making baked treats?  Without moi?  I'm wounded." he feigned insult as he set Pinkie Pie back to the floor and released the others from his tail as well.  "But more to the point; I'm just doing what Celestia asked.  Go to Ponyville, deliver the message to the Element Bearers, blah blah blah.  I don't really care about the details.  Honestly, she really needs to unclench a little.  Do you think immortals can get ulcers?"

Though Fluttershy didn't know the nswer to Discord' question she had to assume that they did, if only the circumstances called for an ulcer. She put a hoof to her stomach as Discord set her and Fung Shui on the floor, staggering a half a trifle before shaking the uneasiness from her head. At the very least Fluttershy was marginally more experienced with being the unassuming victim of teleportation than the Kirin who had the misfortune of having the same fate. She listened to him for a second and nodded. She knew how little Discord liked details. Part of Fluttershy as well, after having seen Celestia's interactions with Discord once or twice before already, wondered if the Alicorn Princess had truly asked or demanded. They didn't get along the best, Discord and Princess Celestia.

Upon straightening herself out, of course, she gave Luna a regal bow that was deep and held for a good few seconds before rising, "Good morning, Princess Luna."

The princess smiled graciously to Fluttershy as she presented her bow, then paused to spare a glance to the other ponies. "Celestia's already let me know  she'd be summoning you girls - I had no idea it would be so soon, though. I wish you well, my little ponies. Pinkie, we'll have to sing and bake another time, hmm?"

Doing her best to contain her excitement, Shai forces herself to stop looking past Mr. Cake and address him directly.  It would be rude to do otherwise, after all!  "Oh, yes!  I was hoping to purchase a slice of cake.  Whatever you have available will do.  All of your goods are delicious, after all, and you seem rather busy, so I would not wish to impose," she says with an honest smile, fighting her curiosity tooth and hoof.

She really wants to go see what is going on in the kitchen.

Finally released from the nauseating binds of Discord's tail, Fung tumbled to the floor and landed flank first, falling forward onto his elbows with his hooves still covering his mouth.  At this point, his eyes were slightly off-kilter as his nausea progressed.  Nevertheless, he was in the presence of Royalty, again, and he had to at least try to retain his dignity.  He pulled himself up and forced his head high, taking a deep breath and doing an awkward bow.
"Greetings again, Princess LuURK!"
Ah, nope, didn't quite make it.  Before he could finish that bow, Fung had to dive for cover behind another bag of flour, broadcasting some terrible sounds.
"Urr...rgh...how...how do Unicorns do this...HHHURP!"

The yellow pony gave a nod to the Princess' Words. "Thank you princess Luna but... Um... Well I'm not exactly sure what's going on? What does Princess Celestia need of us?" She asked with demure curiosity.

Of course even Fluttershy couldn't help but to grimace when poor Fung Shui had to dive for cover so as to wretch from the unexpected teleportation. Poor Fung Shui... She Thought, I wish I could help him somehow... She really did feel bad for him. She supposed it was her fault that the poor Kirin got swept up in the first place. After all, Discord wanted her not necessarily Fung Shui. Probably he'd been pulled along due to Discord's unusual sense of humor. Harmless (Sans Lost Breakfast) but obnoxious and troublesome all the same.

....Maybe, after all of whatever this was was over and done with she could invite him to her home for some tea to make it up to him. He did seem awfully nice despite the airs that he seemed to be able to put on. And he's not all that bad to stand next to... She thought privately
This message was last edited by the player at 19:05, Fri 22 Mar 2013.

"Oh, you're already in on it?  Wonderful!  That means I don't have to be."  Discord gave a relieved sigh at Luna's remark and leaned down to fondly pat both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie atop their pink-maned heads.  "I'll leave it to the you lot and Lulu then.  If you need me, I'll be on the other side of the planet.  Au revoir!"

One never could quite count on someone like Discord to be entirely reliable, be it through his lack of consideration for others or simply a short attention span.  With a sharp snap of his claws he vanished away in a burst of light for regions unknown...

...or rather, just a few feet away since he popped up right in the front of the shop a moment later.  The sudden teleportation startled Mr. Cake, who stumbled back a few paces, though the kids were more delighted by the display.

"Before I go, how about a few crullers for the road?  I'm famished." the Draconequis grinned his lopsided smile to the baker Pony as he sat himself atop the counter.

"Uh... s-sure..." Mr. Cake muttered before he set to filling the order, though he genuinely doubted he was going to get paid for it.

---

Back in the kitchen, Pinkie Pie was busy bouncing about the place from shelf to fridge to cupboard to Kirin.  She made quick work of gathering some seltzer water, some antacids, and a glass for Fung Shui once he finished heavering.  "I guess we've gotta do more hero-ing stuff, huh?  Let's get going then!  The sooner we get to Canterlot, the sooner we can come back and make sweets!"