Persona EG LTE | Mythril Moth Creations

Today's Horoscope (Virgo): Eye-opening experiences are in store for you today.

Early Morning

I'm up at four and dressed and ready to go by four-thirty. The girls are taking a little more time, but all of us are gathered in the lounge just after five.

"Alright," Pinkie says seriously. "We open at seven. It gets busy really fast. We're going to have to eat breakfast while we're getting the store ready to open, which means we're pretty much eating whatever's left from Friday. Sorry, but that's the way it is. Don't worry, though, I put everything in the fridge, so it'll still be good."

The walk to Sugar Cube Corner takes nearly twenty minutes. As soon as we arrive, Pinkie brings out a tray of assorted refrigerated muffins and pastries, which we pounce on like starving wolves. By a quarter of five, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack are busy at work in the kitchen, while Rarity is getting in some practice with the coffee machines, having appointed herself as our de facto barista. Twilight and I spend some time cleaning the shop and getting it ready for customers, then I spend some time familiarizing myself with the register and the price list.

At a quarter of seven, the girls in the kitchen come out with trays of pastries, which they begin placing in the display cases under Pinkie's direction. It amazes me how organized and in control Pinkie is, since she's usually so...random and free-spirited.

At exactly five minutes to seven, Pinkie takes a deep breath and unlocks the front doors, turning on the "Open" sign.

All hell breaks loose.

Daytime

We're managing to keep Sugar Cube Corner running...but just barely.

Some of the customers can be quite...demanding. I had no idea there were so many coffee snobs in Canterlot, but apparently they're out in force on Sundays, and Rarity clearly has no idea what she's doing, because her orders are piling up, and she's growing increasingly twitchy. A lot of the customers are snappish, angry, and rude, and Rarity's gone from being apologetic to pitching a fit every time somebody complains at her.

Applejack is intimidating some of the customers, trying to push apple crunch muffins on them. Fluttershy runs whimpering into the kitchen several times whenever a customer with a complaint tries to catch her attention. Twilight is trying to be calm and reasonable in dealing with the customers, but her composure is severely fraying.

The worst part is that a lot of kids from Canterlot High are here, and if their smirks, laughter, and the phones being aimed at us are any indication, we're all going to suffer for this for some time to come.

By noon, it's gotten so bad that Rarity's hair is in complete disarray, Twilight has developed a twitch, and Fluttershy won't even leave the kitchen. With a dozen customers pressed against the counter, trying to scream over each other, Pinkie storms out of the back with an airhorn, which she blows for a good fifteen seconds.

In the ensuing silence, she says, "Everybody listen! I know there are problems today, and I'm sorry about that, okay? But the owners—you all know Mr. and Mrs. Cake, right? I know a lot of you are regulars—they just had twins yesterday. The shop wouldn't even be open today if we hadn't agreed to take care of it for them. We're all a little new at this, so...go easy on us, okay?"

This seems to calm everybody down a bit. A lot of the customers become far more understanding. The Canterlot High kids look at each other guiltily and put their phones away. There are a couple of people who decide they're still going to be jerks despite all that, but for the most part, everything settles down.

For about thirty minutes. Then a new wave of customers comes in, and things get crazy and tense again.

The only bright spot is that every Canterlot High student who comes in for the rest of the day is very patient and understanding. Some of the kids who were here at noon must've put the word out over Canterbook. Still, even when things quiet down in the middle of the afternoon, the stress of the day has everybody on edge.

Pinkie decides to close the shop at six in the evening. We're all relieved; once the last customer is served and ushered out the door, we clean the store and lock everything up in silence.

Evening

By the time we return to the dorm, we're all exhausted, stressed out, and if the dirty looks the others are shooting Pinkie from time to time are any indication, she's on everybody's shit list.

"You all did a really good job today!" Pinkie says cheerfully. "Okay, sure, there were some slip-ups...Rarity...and Applejack, maaaaaybe you could've been a little less aggressive in pushing the apple crunch muffins, but...I think today went okay considering none of you had any idea whatsoever what you were doing!" Pinkie smiles. "I think tomorrow will go a lot better!"

"Screw tomorrow," Twilight groans. "I quit."

"The shortcomings of the pedestrian patrons are hardly my fault," Rarity complains. She's been complaining all day.

"Oh come on, guys!" Pinkie says. "It's for the Cakes! Think about little Pound and Pumpkin! Think about how sad they'll be if they don't get to go to college because we abandoned our posts!"

Rarity glares at Pinkie. "You are being ridiculous," she says.

"Am I, Rarity? Am I really?" Pinkie looks at a point just above and behind Rarity's head. "Oh look. I see something. It's...Pumpkin Cake's college fund! It's flying away! She's going to have to live on the streets, selling her body for money to feed her five illegitimate crack babies. And her own brother is her pimp!" She grabs Rarity by the shoulders and shakes her. "Her own brother, Rarity!"

Twilight facepalms. "Pinkie, just...just stop."

Pinkie pulls out the most powerful weapon in her arsenal...the sad, pleading eyes. "Pleeeeease, you guys? It's just one more day..."

Everybody sighs. "Fine," Rarity says. "But if you ever try to rope us into anything like this ever again..."

"Come on, everybody," Twilight says. "Let's just...eat some dinner, watch a little TV to unwind, think about how to make Pinkie's life a living hell for the next week or two, then go to bed."

"Sounds good to me," I say.

"I like that last part. Before the going to bed part, I mean," Fluttershy says.

Rainbow is watching us bemusedly from the sofa in the lounge. "Wow. You guys are really whiny."

Cadance, sitting in the recliner, arches an eyebrow. "Just so you know, murder is prohibited in the dorms."

"Oh, none of us want to kill Pinkie," Fluttershy says.

"Whew," Pinkie sighs, wiping her forehead.

"Dead people can't suffer," Fluttershy adds lightly before wandering off to the kitchen.

Pinkie decides to go straight to her room, and doesn't come back down. The rest of us go to bed about an hour after we eat dinner.

If tomorrow's anything like today was, Pinkie may have to build herself a doghouse to move into.