Business is Boomin
Chapter 3: Investments
Previous Chapter Next ChapterTwilight knocked on the door of the Sugarcube Corner. 'I wonder why Pinkie put the closed sign up,' she wondered as she waited, 'Pinkie never closes, especially not on Fridays when everypony wants some delicious treats.'
As Twilight sat there waiting for her friend to answer the door, a voice suddenly yelled in her ear, "Gotcha now!" Twilight shrieked and began to turn but was suddenly whipped off of the ground as a rope tightened around her feet, quickly pulling her up to be level with the top of the roof.
"PINKIE!" yelled Twilight, "Why in the name of Celestia did you set a snare on our front porch?" Twilight's face darkened as she slowly began rotating due to her frantic movements during her assent. She continued to glare as she revolved to once again face the Pink mare sitting on the roof, now swaying a bit due to the breeze.
"Oh," giggled Pinkie, "sorry Twilight." As Pinkie spoke she jumped onto Twilight and began climbing down her friend like a tree. As she approached Twilight's head she turned upside-down to look into her eyes. Leaning in uncomfortably close Pinkie whispered, "I was expecting somepony else." Looking around to see if anyone was watching, Pinkie continued, "it's a good thing you didn't try the back door. That's where Gummi is guarding and he takes his job very seriously."
Thinking about the toothless alligator made Twilight shudder. She liked Pinkie and could appreciate her taste in pets, but sometimes that toothless lizard just creeped her out.
Twilight was suddenly aware of the fact that Pinkie's tail was twitching. Beginning to turn herself back around Pinkie giggled and said, "well that can't be good." A flash of green darted across the roof.
Angling her head showed Twilight that Gummi was now standing near a pile of bricks holding up the rope she was tied to. As Pinkie righted herself, her tail continued twitching, now hitting Twilight in the face. Growing extremely frustrated, Twilight thought, 'speak of the devil.'
With a sudden flick of his tongue, Gummi caught the rope in his mouth and began pulling the two mares up a little higher. This put a little more slack into the rope allowing Gummi to begin digging his claws into the gaps in the bricks and start pulling them away.
"P-pinkie," Twilight stammered, "what is he doing" Gummi began quickly clawing away at the pile of bricks causing the rope to shake violently and small chunks of hardened clay to rain down on the tied pony and her passenger. "PINKIE!" Twilight shrieked, "we're four stories in the air above paved streets! Make him quit!"
"Quiet silly-filly," laughed Pinkie, her voice vibrating with her, "this is the best part! Even you sound funny right now!" After a few seconds of this, Gummi tore away the last of the bricks and the rope was left supported only by Gummi's freakish jaw strength.
"Have him put us down!" Twilight yelled, completely terrified at this point.
"Well you're not going to be much fun today are you then?" Pinkie asked, her hair seeming to darken a shade. "Fine, Gummi!" she called. Gummi stared, his eyes occasionally blinking several seconds apart in his usual way. "Mommy says stop now Gummi." He seemed to nod in agreement before suddenly snapping his mouth open leaving the two mares to fall dozens of feet to the streets below.
Somewhere in the back of Twilight's mind she thought as she fell, screaming, 'of course Pinkie will laugh the whole way down.'
When they hit the ground there was a loud snapping noise, as if a small apple tree had been bucked too hard and split down the middle. "Oh no," moaned Twilight, my horn is almost completely shattered." Trying to pull her horn out of the ground she continued, "I can't use magic like this, but I can't fix it unless I use magic."
Pinkie came over and twisted Twilight slightly, causing her horn to slide out of the broken cobblestones. "You'll just have to come inside then and have a snack while we see what we can do about it." As they approached the door, Twilight moved slowly, trying to keep the shattered pieces of horn from completely breaking apart while she moved. Pinkie hopped up to the door and, rather than slowing down and turning the handle, she continued at full speed and jumped through the door. Twilight was about to question this weird behavior until, exasperated, she remembered a rule she had learned at a painful cost long before: don't question Pinkie or you may end up running from a hydra in a swamp.
As Twilight picked her way carefully through the large pieces of door she thought, 'amazing how even like that the hole she made still is a perfect outline of her'. Pinkie suddenly stopped Twilight and told her to close her eyes.
"Why," Twilight asked, though now slightly dizzy from the pain coming from her forehead.
"Because I told you to, duh," Pinkie said, seeming to become angry. Quickly softening up she said, "I made a new secret recipe and I want you to try it and tell me what you think without anything giving you hints to it."
"Okay," Twilight said, too dazed to come up with a reasonable argument as to why she shouldn't try the latest in a long line of fantastic recipes by her pastel friend. She closed her eyes and allowed a small piece of cupcake to be pushed into her mouth. It seemed sweeter than usual and tasted like the smell of morning dew and clovers. As she chewed, she smelled the cupcake and it seemed very familiar. 'Where do I know this from?' she thought as she chewed, savoring the sweet morsel. Suddenly it hit her, the smell, it made her think of something form the rainbow factory in Cloudsdale as well as the slightly ozone-y smell you get from teleporting. The cupcake smelled like Rainbow Dash.
"Wow Pinkie," Twilight said as she opened her eyes, now watering a bit from the sudden blast of memories of the cyan mare, "that was really good, but it seemed very familiar."
"Well it should," Pinkie said, "look." She held out a plate of cupcakes, one missing a small piece. They were all frosted with sky-blue frosting. Those in the middle had a layer of frosting added on to perfectly replicate Dash's cutie mark, a cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt coming out of it.
"Oh," said Twilight, both saddened by her friend's departure but also cheered by the site of Pinkie Pie finally seeming to show that she missed Dashie as much as everpony else, "you made Rainbow Dash cupcakes. That's really sweet of you Pinkie."
"How'd you know that?" Pinkie asked seeming frightened, angry and paranoid all at once.
"The smell mostly," Twilight explained, not noticing Pinkie's fright, "it smelled like Rainbow Dash when she got done flying and, while I've never tasted her, I'm sure that she would taste something like those do." Pinkie's eye's flashed with a red gleam at these words. Oblivious, Twilight continued on, "plus she's the only pony that I know who has coloring like that."
As Twilight spoke she began weaving from side to side and her vision began blurring. "Whoa," she exclaimed as she ran into the counter, "Pinkie, can I sit down for a minute, I think this horn thing might be worse than it looks."
"Go right ahead," Pinkie said, motioning to an odd but comfortable looking chair near the basement door, "you can sit riiiiiiight here. Would you like some more cupcakes?"
"Yes please," Twilight said as she collapsed into the chair, "and some tea as well if you could. I'm going to try and remember the medical charts I was looking at the other day and see if there was anything that could be seriously damaged by an injury like this."
"Ooh-ooh! I know, your horn!" Pinkie exclaimed, "What do I win?"
Twilight, her balance seeming to fade with every word, said, "other than that of course."
Pinkie came out of the kitchen with a small tray of blue cupcakes with small rainbow sprinkles and a teapot. "This is a special tea that I drink every time I get hurt, it will take away all the pain and help you feel better quickly," she said, pouring a cup of clear tea for Twilight.
Smelling it cleared Twilight's head a little and allowed her to place the smell, it made her think of poppy seed muffins. "Thank you so much Pinkie," she said as she gulped down the warm, but not scalding, tea. Taking a few cupcakes Twilight said, "I really think it's great that you made something like this for Rainbow Dash even after she left so suddenly like that."
"You know Twilight, you scared me for a bit earlier," Pinkie said, setting down the tray and sitting on a nearby footrest.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, her head becoming less and less clear as she drank Pinkie's special tea and ate the cupcakes, each mouthful seeming to make things blurrier.
"I thought maybe you knew about the cupcakes," Pinkie said, setting her head on her front hooves and staring at Twilight, "but you just thought I was making something to remember her by,"
"Wait, what do you mean?" Twilight asked, staring at the cupcake in her hoof. She was now in serious danger of falling over just by trying to sit up.
"No time," Pinkie sang, "you have to take a nap."
"What are-" Twilight began.
"Night-night" Pinkie giggled. As she said this Twilight's eyes closed and she fell forward out of the chair, hitting the floor and shattering her already devastated horn.
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Passersby saw Pinkie running frantically around locking windows and closing shutters. Applejack walked by, pulling her cart of apples to the market, as Pinkie was refitting the door in its frame and filling in a large pony-shaped hole with what appeared to be pieces of chairs. "Ah wonder what's gotten her all riled up," she said to herself, "this is weird even for Pinkie." Applejack just shrugged and continued on, "Ah'll see about dropping by tommorra afternoon and see if she's okay."
Minutes later, Rarity hurried towards the library on the other side of the bakery. Unwatched, Pinkie stared through a window with the curtains slightly drawn. Oblivious to her friend staring at her like a dragon at a plate of gems, Rarity hurried as fast as she could without disturbing her carefully styled mane. 'Whatever could Twilight want so badly?' Rarity thought as she trotted along. 'She usually comes to see moi rather than 'urgently requesting my presence'. Oh I do hope everything is all right.'
As she arrived at the library, Rarity knocked a hoof against the door, careful not to disturb her fine manicure. "Twilight, dear," she called, "it's me, Rarity, is everything all right?" Receiving no answer, she pushed the door open and peered around. "Twilight?" she asked, "are you here?"
She walked down the hallway growing strangely disturbed though she couldn't say why. Just as she was about to decide that Twilight wasn't here, a door slammed open nearby causing her to jump and scream in terror. She turned quickly to see what had happened, ready to run at the slightest bit of trouble.
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Awwwwwwwwwww, sad face. You guys don't get to see her find Spike yet. I think I may stop here for a few days and let it stew :) As I'm sure you can tell, the next chapter is almost guaranteed to have what I'm sure many are waiting for after seeing 'yes this is a cupcakes sequel' in the description. Stay tuned and enjoy. Remember: It won't be the same without out you so we hope that you say yes. So please oh please RSVP and come to be our guest!
Next Chapter: Preparations Estimated time remaining: 7 Hours, 48 Minutes