Chapter Two: Errands with Dinky
5:00 A.M. The same morning, Soluna Plantation
Dinky collided with the Professor's legs as he stepped out of the bathroom, having just taken a shower to cure his gnarly bed-head. "Hi, Professor!" Dinky said, bright as Celestia's sun. "Where's Momma?" she asked, looking around the blue Pegasus's legs.
"Good morning to you, Dinky." Enoch said with a smile, crouching so he would be face-level with the filly. "Your mother is asleep. She spent the whole morning preparing for our trip to Canterlot today. She was very tired, so I helped her pack and put her to bed, so she could have some sleep before we left." he explained.
"But then, who's walkin' me to school?" She asked.
"I am, if you're alright with that?" Enoch asked.
"Sure! But it's kinda early to go school, Doc."
"That's why I wanted to ask you if you would mind coming with me to run a couple errands this morning before I take you to school? If not, I can take you directly over to Fluttershy's house, or you could stay here. Or I could take you to the school now? Though, as you said, it is too early for school." Enoch rambled, unsure of how to act in front of foals. "Yeah! Are we going to eat before we leave?" Dinky asked, wondering what errands the stallion would be doing.
"...How about Sugarcube Corner? Or I could make you something? What would you like?"
"Yeah, Sugarcube Corner would be great. When will we leave?" Dinky asked, anxious to eat.
"I'll meet you at the front door as soon as you get your schoolthings, my dear." Enoch said with a smile. That did it; Dinky took off like a bottle rocket, careening around the corner of the hallway to her room. She met the stallion at the front door in less than five minutes.
"Ready?" Enoch asked, amused by the filly's seemingly-boundless energy. "Ready as ever!" She replied, practically bouncing in place.
"Let us depart!"
5:15 A.M. the same morning, Sugarcube Corner Bakery, Ponyville
"A full lemon cake, please, Mrs. Cake. And two pints of milk." Enoch said.
"Sure dear! That will cost you thirteen bits." Said Mrs. Cake cheerily.
"Thirteen bits? Not twenty-five?" Enoch asked.
"No dear. Thirteen bits only! We have an early-bird special today, fifty percent off all orders made before nine o'clock!" said the baker.
"...But thirteen isn't one-half of twenty-five." the Pegasus insisted.
"Thirteen bits please, dear." Mrs. Cake said patiently.
"Yes ma'am." Enoch counted out the money and laid it in Mrs. Cake's hoof. Not fifteen seconds later did Pinkie Pie prance out carrying the ordered items.
"Here you go, mister!" she said brightly. Enoch accepted the items with a small bow. "Thank you, Miss Pie, Mrs. Cake. Have a nice day!"
"You too, mister!" Pinkie exclaimed.
The Pegasus trotted over to the table where Dinky was waiting for him and deposited the foodstuffs in fornt of the hungry filly. "Dig in, my dear." he said. She needed no encouragement whatsoever; she had eaten half the cake and drained a pint of milk in six minutes flat. And it was a BIG cake, weighing at least five pounds at barest possible minimum. When she came up for air, Enoch asked, "Are you really going to eat the entire cake?" The filly shook her head. "I seriously doubt it, Professor... It probably weighs as much as I do." Enoch laughed. "I'll eat my half then. Excellent. One of Miss Pie's lemon cakes are, for lack of a better term, edible perfection." He scooped a piece onto a fork, popped it in his mouth, and an enormous smile illuminated his face the second it touched his tongue. "Hm...mmm... hah..." He spent twenty-five full minutes savoring the absolutely phenomenal flavor of the world-class cake, closing his eyes to better absorb it. When he was finished, about one-eighth of the cake remained. "Professor? Are you gonna finish that?" Enoch opened his eyes to see Dinky staring at the last piece. Wordlessly, he turned the plate so that the piece faced the filly. She ate it in four big bites. (Just think of the sound a wood chipper makes; it seems suitable.) The stallion spied the remaining pint of milk, and, overcome with a big thirst brought on by the cake, seized it and drained it, leaving some for Dinky to quench the her own inevitable cake-thirst. Enoch took a pen out of his pocket, picked up a compliment/suggestion card, and filled it out very quickly, writing naught but compliments. "Okay Doc, where to next?" Dinky asked, looking up at him. "The Doctor's place, I think. He was making something for me, a component for my latest project." "What are you working on anyway?" Dinky asked. But the Pegasus only shook his head.
