Wait a second.

How did it become tradition for Yak cakes to contain vanilla extract in the first place when vanilla beans only grow in the tropics? Very suspicious if you ask me...

Comments

[PaulAsaran]

Oh, that's from back in the days when Yaks ruled the entire planet, before the ponies drove the armies and people of mighty Republic of Smash on a death march to the Frozen North and stole their rightful heritage.

[Herald of Opera]

How sure are we that the production of vanilla extract involves any actual vanilla beans, though? It's been a damned long time that was true in our world, and Equestria's chemical industry is pretty much the only part of its technology to reach the level of our modern day.

[Trick Question]

YAKS TRADE! YAKS BEST AT TRADE.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Blame Discord. He probably laced then-traditional yak cuisine with all kinds of exotic (and thus imperfect) flavors until, chaos being chaos, he accidentally provided them with one they liked.

Fortunately, the resulting stampede-crusade for vanilla beans provided plentiful havoc and upheaval. Discord still considers it one of the best mistakes he ever made.

[Thought Prism]

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I was not expecting this many plausible explanations, haha. The answer, it seems, is still up in the air.