Pinkie was in the bakery of Sugar Cube Corner, mixing various ingredients for a batch of cupcakes she had planned to bring over to Rarity's sleepover. The entire eatery smelled of cake, cupcakes and all sorts of tasty treats. While she was busy pouring in the last of the cupcake mix, she heard Mr. Cake clattering around in the pantry, knocking over all sorts of pans and dishes. Pinkie laughed to herself as she finished her work, when Mr. Cake came out with a frying pan on his head and a big pot stuck to his right foot. Looking at his employee, then down at his foot, he sighed.

“Pinkie,” he started, not noticing his wife coming up behind him, “can you help me get this confounded pot off my foot?”

“Dear, why do you have a pot stuck to your foot?” Mrs. Cake asked with an amused look on her cheerful face.

Grinning, Mr. Cake turned around, scraping the pot on the brick floor of the cafe as he looked at his wife. Before he could say anything to her, though, he heard Pinkie laughing, causing him to turn around again.

“Now, Pinkie, I know you might think this is funny, and in a way, I guess it is, but this pot is,” Mr. Cake huffed slightly, trying to pry the pot off his foot, using his other foot as a lever, “really uncomfortable for me to be walking around in.”

Mrs. Cake walked out into the dining room of the cafe, returning a few moments later with a chair in her hands. She set the chair down in front of her husband, then motioned for him to sit. Once she got him comfortable, she knelt down, and took a hold of the pot with both hands, while Pinkie placed her cupcakes into a nearby oven and set the timer. Pinkie looked over to the two as they both struggled to get the pot off of Mr. Cake's foot, smiling widely at the spectacle of Mrs. Cake twisting her husband's foot to the near-breaking point, her husband howling up a storm from the pain. Mrs. Cake looked up at her employee, exclaiming, “Don’t just sit there, Pinkie. Help me get the pot off my husband's foot!”

Pinkie walked over to Mr. Cake, took hold of the pot, twisted it to the left, then pulled downwards, pulling both the pot and his shoe off his foot. Mr. Cake stood up, a bit in pain but nevertheless grateful to be out of the predicament he had found himself in. Pinkie set the pot down on a nearby table and happily skipped away into the kitchen.

Cluttering around in the kitchen, she let out a loud yelp when a book fell off a shelf, hitting the fluffy-haired girl in the head. Rubbing her head and looking at the book, she noticed right away that the book belonged to Sunset. With a slightly confused expression on her face, Pinkie picked up the book and brought it out for the Cakes to look at.

“Uh, Mr. Cake, why do you have Sunny's math book in your kitchen?”

“Oh, so that's where she left it.” Mr. Cake looked at the book, then back at Pinkie, who smiled at him. “I spent half the night looking for her math book so I could help her with--”

Mr. Cake stopped in mid-sentence when he saw a look of realization come over Pinkie's face. Remembering her conversation with Ms. Cheerilee from earlier in the week, she looked from Mr. Cake, then to his wife, who simply offered her a weak but happy smile.
“You know, don’t you, Pinkie?” Mrs. Cake began. “You know that Sunset was out on the streets.”

Pinkie's hair deflated almost instantly when she heard Mrs. Cake confirm that her best friend had been living on the streets. Mr. Cake saw the look of sadness on Pinkie's face. Letting out a soft sigh, he got up and offered the chair he had been sitting on to Pinkie. Pinkie took the chair and looked at the Cakes with confusion in her eyes.

“I think we need to explain to her where her friend has been staying for the past two years, my dear,” Mr. Cake said, looking at his wife.

“I think you're right, Carrot. We should start by showing her where we found Sunset.”

Looking back to Pinkie, Mrs. Cake held out her hand to the pink-haired girl. Pinkie took her hand, and Mr. and Mrs. Cake led the seventeen-year-old out the back of the cafe. In the alleyway leading down to another street, Pinkie saw what looked like a really poorly-built shelter and a small pile of burnt wood. Looking from Mr. Cake to his wife and back to the shelter, Pinkie said as she choked back a sob at how her friend had been living, “I don’t understand. Are you saying this is where she went after she left Ms. Cheerilee's house?”

“Yes, Pinkie. This is where we found her living. She was digging through our dumpster trying to find anything she could use for both warmth and food. To say it was a bad idea to do something like that is an understatement,” Mr. Cake replied, wiping away a small fragment of a tear that threatened to seep out of his eye.

“You see, dear, your friend didn’t trust us and wouldn’t let us help her. Not at first. It took several hours of coaxing just to get her inside. And another three hours to get her to go upstairs for a hot bath and plate of warm food.”

“Wait, I thought the upstairs was just a storage area and used for holding all the food that needed to be trucked out of here.”

“No, Pinkie, it’s actually a small living area that we have upstairs. We would normally rent it out to college students during most of the school year, but your friend needed a safe and warm place to live, so Mrs. Cake and I talked it over and gave the room to Sunset. She may come and go as she sees fit as long as she lets us know where she is. We have no problems with her bringing people over here to sleep over or hang out.”

Looking at both of the cakes with a confused look on her face, Pinkie was about to say something, when Mr. Cake added, “Let me explain. Although we have not had a chance to actually talk to Sunset about this yet, both Mrs. Cake and I would like to adopt her as our daughter and let her stay with us permanently.”

“You both really mean that? You mean to tell me that Sunny wouldn’t have to live on the streets anymore and that she would have a family?” Pinkie squealed happily, nearly bouncing up and down with joy.

Mr. Cake looked at Pinkie with a pleasant smile on his face. He said to her while she shot back a big happy grin of her own, “Yes, we both very much mean that. The only problem is approaching Sunset with this news. We know she has some...issues. We want you to know that we are more than willing to work with her on her issues if it means she will actually let us adopt her.”

Just then, Pinkie heard the buzzer go off in the kitchen and happily bounced out of her chair. Getting to her cupcakes a few moments later, Mrs. Cake came in after her and said to her while handing her a pair of oven mitts, “Pinkie, dear, it's important to Mr. Cake and myself that you don’t tell Sunset about our plans to adopt her. We want it to be a surprise for her for Christmas.”

“Okie--Wait, you what? I don’t like keeping things from Sunny, Mrs. Cake,” Pinkie replied, her hair losing a bit of luster.

“I know, dear, but this time, you really need to keep this to yourself, okay?”

Taking the cupcakes out and setting them down on the counter top nearby, Pinkie looked from the cupcakes to her two friends and employers. She picked up a pouch of pink icing and slowly started to frost the cupcakes as she said to both Mr. and Mrs. Cake, “I really don’t want to, but I will if it means that Sunny will be happy.” Finishing the last cupcake, she looked up at Mrs. Cake, who smiled back warmly to her.

“Do you know why Sunny left Ms. Cheerilee's house only six days after she moved in?”

Mr. Cake swallowed hard as he looked at his wife, who looked back to him with worry in her eyes. Looking at Pinkie, then to her husband for support, Mrs. Cake said softly, “I understand fully that you want to know what happened between those two, Pinkie, but Mr. Cake and I made a solemn Pinkie Pie promise to her not to say anything. You understand, don’t you, dear?”

“You know about the secret Pinkie Promise?” Pinkie exclaimed, her eyes going as wide as possible.

“Yes, we both know of it,” the Cakes replied in unison.

“But how did Sunny know about it when I still haven't taught her the words?”

“That's something you might want to talk to her about,” Mr. Cake replied.

Pinkie stood in the kitchen, pondering the Cakes' words to her while she waited for her cupcakes to cool. She took out her phone and called Rarity. When Rarity answered, Pinkie said, “Hi, Rarity. I just wanted to let you know that I'll be a little late to our sleepover at your place. I should be able to get there in an hour or so, depending on traffic.”

Hanging up a few moments later, Mrs. Cake smile warmly to Pinkie, saying to her softly, “Pinkie, if you're going to be late to your sleepover, then I'll drive you there. You don't need to worry about missing a fun time with your friend.”

“Really? You'd do that for me?” Pinkie's hair inflated to three times its normal size. “Thank you both so much!”

“It's not a problem, dear. Now, why don’t you get ready for your sleepover, and I'll meet you outside in the car, okay?”

Pinkie bounced upstairs to get ready to go. As her foot came down on the second-to-last step, she heard a soft click. With her balance thrown off slightly, she stumbled and fell to her hands and knees. Getting back up and turning around, Pinkie looked at what she had tripped over. To her surprise, she saw the second-to-last step was sticking out, revealing a hollow, secret hole.

Looking inside the hole, she saw a black box with intricate runes carved on it. Picking up the box, she looked at it carefully before setting it down next to herself. The box was made of dark Cocobolo wood. It was a small but well-made box.

Opening the box, Pinkie saw a heart-shaped crystal inside, wrapped in silver metal made to look like thorns. The crystal seemed to be wrapped in such a way that there was a sharp, needle-looking part at the bottom of it. Wanting a closer look at it, Pinkie set the box down on her lap. Reaching a very tentative hand towards it, she stopped when she heard Mrs. Cake. “Pinkie, I'm ready to go if you are. I’ll see you outside at the car,” Mrs. Cake called out to her, shutting the door behind her.

Pinkie looked up, then back down at the crystal in front of her. While looking at it, she noticed that the crystal seemed to be pulsing like a heart. Not wanting to be further late to the sleepover, Pinkie put the box back where she found it, covering the hole back with the step. She made a mental note to herself to talk to the Cakes about what she had found.

Heading back downstairs, she went outside, got into Mrs. Cake's car, and the two of them were soon driving towards Rarity's house and to her sleepover with her five friends.

While on the way over, Pinkie’s thoughts kept dwelling on what she had found. She kept thinking to herself, “What was that strange crystal that I found? Why does Sunset have it, and do the Cakes know that Sunny has it?”

Next Chapter: At Rarity's (Edited by Iccreammac) Estimated time remaining: 21 Hours, 5 Minutes