~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.