Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): You may find you don't have as much free time over the next few days as you thought you did.

Early Morning

Applejack is just serving breakfast when Twilight comes downstairs, dressed in jeans and a royal purple T-shirt. She stretches and yawns. "Good morning, everybody!"

"Twilight! You're feeling better?"

"Yep!" Twilight smiles at me. "But you already knew that, right?"

"Of course," I say. "I just...was worried."

"Aww." Twilight kisses me on the cheek. "You're so sweet." She sits down at the table. "So what's for breakfast? I'm starving!"

Applejack chuckles. "Everybody eat up now. Ah even made some stuff that ain't got apples in it this mornin'!"

Rarity gasps theatrically. "Why, Applejack! Are you ill?"

Pinkie looks up from her phone. "Mrs. Cake is still in labor," she says. "Ohh, I'm so nervous. And excited! I'm nervoucited!"

Rarity frowns. "Still? Oh dear."

"Is...is that normal?" I ask.

"Labor can last a long time," Twilight says. She looks at Pinkie. "How long's it been?"

Pinkie fiddles with her phone, brow furrowing. "About...fourteen hours?"

"Gaaaah," Rarity says.

"Yyyyeah, remind me NEVER to have kids," Rainbow says, shuddering.

Pinkie's phone suddenly rings. She gasps. "It's Mr. Cake!" she answers. "Is it over? It is? They are!" She lets out a loud squeal. "Congratulations! I'm on my way—huh? Oh. Okay. Yeah. I can come like, this afternoon though, right? Okay! I can't wait to see them! Okay. Bye!" She hangs up and looks up at all of us. "The twins are born!"

"We kinda figured that out," Rainbow says.

"I'm gonna go down to the hospital this afternoon to see the new babies," Pinkie says. "Who wants to come with?"

"Oooh, I will!" Rarity says. "I simply must see the new babies!"

"Sure, I'll go," Twilight says, smiling.

"I'm going too, then," I say.

"I'll go," Rainbow says.

"Uhh...aren't you still...?" Applejack asks.

Rainbow blows on her bangs. "That's just for school. Besides, I'm goin' back to school on Tuesday. I'll be fine walkin' around the hospital on crutches. Heck, or a wheelchair." She shrugs. "Besides, I kinda gotta get outta here, y'know?"

"I'll definitely come along," Fluttershy says. "I'm sure the critters won't be too upset if I miss one Saturday playdate. And babies are sooo adorable."

"Well then Ah guess we're all goin'," Applejack says, grinning.

Afternoon

Once again, we're all piled into Cadance's SUV. Pinkie is practically vibrating with excitement. She's been texting Mr. Cake all day long; the poor guy must be positively sick of her by now, but he's apparently been answering, because we already know that the twins are a boy and a girl, and their names are Pound and Pumpkin, respectively.

We arrive at the hospital and head for the maternity wing. A smoking hot nurse with long, honey-colored hair takes note of us as we arrive; she looks a bit nonplussed at the presence of a small army of teenagers.

"Hello, Love Tap," Cadance says pleasantly. "We're here to visit the Cakes."

Nurse Love Tap smiles warmly. "Right this way," she says. "So, one of you must be Pinkie Pie?"

"Ooh! Me! I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie says excitedly.

Nurse Love Tap gives her a slight frown. "Would you keep your voice down, please? We have babies and very tired mothers here."

"Oops...sorry," Pinkie says more quietly.

The nurse stops in front of a room and knocks on the door. Mr. Cake peeks out. "You have some visitors," Nurse Love Tap says quietly.

Mr. Cake looks past her at us and smiles. "One sec," he says. He retreats back into the room; a moment later, he comes out. "Pinkie Pie said she was bringing a couple of her friends to see the babies. I didn't expect her to bring a whole crowd!" He chuckles.

"We simply had to come, Mr. Cake," Rarity says. "After all, Sugar Cube Corner is the finest little coffee shop in Canterlot, and we all simply adore you and your wife." With a smile, she adds, "And, well...babies! Who can resist adorable little babies?"

Mr. Cake laughs. "Well, alright then...let's go to the nursery."

We follow Nurse Love Tap and Mr. Cake to the nursery, which has a large bay window. A few people are peering in at the babies being kept there. Inside, we can see a nurse moving about, writing things on a clipboard. We gather at the window.

I've seen hospital nurseries on television, but I guess those must just be sets designed to approximate a hospital nursery, because what I'm looking at right now is nothing like what I was expecting. The one thing this has in common with television is that there are tiny little waist-high enclosed hospital cribs arranged in rows. About a dozen of them are occupied.

"Oh my, are those them?" Fluttershy asks. She's looking at a pair of cribs near the front.

"Yes, that's Pound and Pumpkin," Mr. Cake says fondly.

"Ooooh, they're so cuuuuuute!" Pinkie says. "Can we go in and—"

"Sorry, no," the nurse says. "Hospital policy." She smiles. "You'll have to wait until the Cakes bring them home for a closer look."

"Awww!" Pinkie whines.

Mr. Cake chuckles. "Don't worry, it won't be long."

A woman in a pink blazer comes along. "Mr. Cake?" she asks. "Just need you to come with me for a minute to take care of some paperwork..."

"Yes, of course." Mr. Cake smiles at us. "Thank you all for coming," he says before walking away.

We all look at the babies.

"So..." Rainbow Dash says quietly, "why are they so...freaky-lookin'?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy whispers harshly.

"Well they are!"

I have to agree with Rainbow Dash. The Cake twins, who are swaddled in pink and blue blankets, look red, wrinkly, and deformed. There's nothing at all cute about them. They're also, for some reason, baking under heat lamps.

Nurse Love Tap laughs. "Let me guess...first time seeing a real newborn?" She shakes her head. "I hear it all the time. Usually from new parents who freak out when their baby comes out looking like that."

"You mean all babies...?" Rainbow asks.

"Yep," Nurse Love Tap says. "Thing is, people expect babies to look like they do on television and in the movies, where they're all clean and cute and perfect right out of the womb. That's just not how it works. The 'newborns' you see on TV are actually several months old already. Partly because it's not safe or ethical for real newborns to be on a studio set, but mostly because real newborns are...well..."

"Ugly as sin?" Applejack says.

"Less appealing than babies that've had a few months to finish cooking," Nurse Love Tap says.

We spend a few more minutes watching the babies sleep. Nurse Love Tap wanders off to do her job. Mr. Cake returns after a few more minutes.

"Hey, guys?" Pinkie says suddenly. "I'm gonna go chat with Mr. and Mrs. Cake for a minute. Why don't you all go get a snack or something?"

Pinkie follows Mr. Cake back to Mrs. Cake's room. The rest of us head to the hospital lobby, which has drink and snack vending machines.

"So, you kids have Monday off from school," Cadance says. "Any plans?"

"Aww, shoot!" Applejack says. "Ah plumb forgot Monday was a holiday! Ah shoulda gone out t' th' farm again! Dang it all..."

We discuss various things we can do with a day off from school as we sit around munching on stuff out of the vending machines. A little while later, Pinkie bounds into the lobby, full of enthusiasm. "Good news, everyone!" she says.

"What is it, Pinkie?" Twilight asks.

"We're gonna run Sugar Cube Corner tomorrow and Monday!" Pinkie says cheerfully.

"Wait, what?" Twilight says.

"Well, all of us except Cadance and Rainbow Dash," Pinkie says.

"Uhh...wanna rewind an' try this again?" Applejack asks.

"Well, Mrs. Cake and the twins won't be going home until Tuesday, and Mr. Cake wants to spend time with his family, obviously, but they can't really afford to close the shop for three whole days, I mean today alone they lost like, a whole lot of business even though it couldn't be helped, so..." Pinkie takes a breath. "I volunteered all of us to run the shop for the next two days!"

"Uhh...Pinkie," Twilight says. "Don't you think...maybe you could've asked first?"

Pinkie gives us all a wide-eyed, innocent stare. "What? It's not like you have anything better to do." She smiles brightly at us. "And you're gonna get paid, of course!"

"Oh my...I don't know the first thing about running a coffee shop!" Fluttershy says.

"It's easy!" Pinkie says. "You, me, and AJ will work in the kitchen. Flash, Twilight, and Rarity will work out front! I know how everything's supposed to go, I can have you all up to speed in a couple of hours..."

Rarity coughs delicately. "Still...there is the matter of you, well...not asking us if we wanted to do this."

Pinkie wilts slightly.

"Your heart's in the right place," Cadance says. "But you really should've discussed this with everyone first."

Pinkie's whole face droops into a pout.

Rarity sighs. "Oh well. We can't very well disappoint the Cakes by saying no now, can we? Even if we were put on the spot."

Twilight shrugs. "I guess it's alright with me."

"Heck, Ah'd have said yes anyhoo," Applejack says.

Pinkie brightens.

"I...I'll try to help," Fluttershy says, playing with her hair.

"If all I have to do is work the register, I think I can handle that," I say.

Pinkie explosively returns to her normal, cheerful self. "Oh, thank you thank you THANK YOU!"

"But next time, Pinkie darling? Ask first," Rarity says.

Pinkie laughs weakly. "Okay."

Cadance smiles. "Why don't I take you all over there before we head home?" she suggests. "Pinkie can give you a little crash course in running Sugar Cube Corner while the shop's still closed."

"Hey, that's a good idea!" Pinkie says. "It'll be a lot easier to teach you how things are supposed to go when the place isn't busy." She frowns. "And yeah, Sunday mornings are the worst."

"You have the keys, right?" Cadance asks.

"Yep!"

"Then let's go."

Evening

We spend a little over an hour at Sugar Cube Corner, where Pinkie gives us a crash course in running one of the most popular little coffee shops in Canterlot. After we're done, we all go out for pizza, then head back to the dorm.

We all turn in early, because we're going to have to be up before dawn. I'm nervous about trying to run Sugar Cube Corner, and I really wish Pinkie hadn't roped us all into this, but...

At least the next two days won't be boring.