Bon Bon sniffed the air and sighed with pleasure. The sweet smell of delicious gingerbread, topped with the vanilla icing, sweet gumdrops, swirly candies, and little colored candies on top. A perfect gingerbread house, made with the accompaniment of a mini gingerbread family.
Near the finished artwork was some chocolate chip cookies covered in red and green sprinkles (tying in to the spirit of the holiday), some little bon bon candies which had finished being prepped, and some Christmas tree shaped cookies with green, white, and red icing on top.
"Pinkie. Status on the cupcakes!" Bon Bon shouted like a drill sergeant.
"Only 2 minutes remaining!" Pinkie saluted, playing along.
"Excellent. Sonata, how are the brownie mixtures coming?"
"Almost completed!"
"Great!" Bon Bon smiled, dropping the military act. For about two seconds. "Okay now! Bakers, stand up straight!"
Sonata and Pinkie stood straight, giving salutes as if they were being drilled at..
"Now listen up. We only have a limited amount of time given to get all of these sweets sold for the Homeless Awareness Charity drive at the mall. We gotta get there fast, and we need to get there to have enough time to sell everything!"
"Uh, how much time did you manage to reserve?"
"Three to five, why?"
"Because it's almost three o'clock!" Pinkie panicked. "Give me that timer, woman!"
"What!? Scrap! Okay, everyone, get these sweets wrapped up, we gotta go, now!"
Pinkie Pie in a few seconds got everything out of the oven, all placed into plastic trays and containers for them to be distributed, and got all of them thrown in the car.
"Done!"
Bon Bon and Sonata barely got up and yet Pinkie had all of this done in a few minutes.
"Well... okay then. Let's get going, we gotta race, fast! Snow gear, now!"
Everyone dashed to the front door and quickly put on some coats, gloves, some hats, earmuffs, everything. Now they just had to hit the road. Pinkie grabbed the keys and threw herself into the driver seat. Bon Bon took the shotgun, and Sonata moved to the backseat, making sure the sweets were strapped.
The car's engine began to purr with life, and Pinkie put her foot on the pedal, pulling the car out of Bon Bon's home. The crew had hit the road, and they had to get to the mall fast.
"Okay, we gotta move fast, now I know we--"
And Pinkie slammed on the brakes. In front of them was a giant traffic pile up, as emphasized by the sounds of angry drivers honking and yelling.
"Seriously!?" Bon Bon threw her hands up.
"I'm sure it won't take long."
It took half an hour for the traffic to clear.
"Oh finally!" Bon Bon said, feeling exasperated. "Floor it, Pinkie."
"You got it!"
"Wait, maybe we should--"
And Pinkie's car began to race on the road, grinding against the snow and ice.
"Slow down!"
To say it was hard to drive on a road covered in ice was a huge understatement. It was a challenge. Just trying to keep the car straight and not ram into anyone was a challenge all on it's own. Luckily no one had gotten hit in the time it took to try and figure out how to drive on the ice.
"Why. Why. Why. Why. WHY!?" Bon Bon ranted. "Of all the times of the year we have to get icy roads, it's this one."
"It is winter after all!" Pinkie said, unfazed by her anger.
Sonata just clung to the walls of the car like a spider, quaking in fear. "Are we going to die!?"
"When we get off the ice, speed it up! We've only got a short amount of time to set up and sell these sweets, and I want to get this done, now!"
The car kept sliding across the ice but eventually they were able to slowly slide their way into a parking spot.
"Alright, now come on, move, move, move!" Bon Bon ushered as she and Pinkie got out of the car.
Sonata was still shaking. "I think I'll walk home..."
"Sonata, come on!"
The girls all grabbed the containers and trays, but now they had a new problem. Ice... on the sidewalks.
"Seriously? Does no one salt sidewalks anymore!?" Bon Bon screamed.
"Come on Bonnie! We can just skate our way through!" Pinkie squeaked, skating like a figure skater. Somehow she was able to hold a few trays up with just her hair and a single arm as she danced and spun around. Bon Bon and Sonata were just slowly shimmying their feet, trying their hardest not to fall flat on their faces.
Just a few more steps and they'd be out of the clear.
"Whew, finally! Sonata, come on! The faster we get over there, the faster we raise money for the charity drive!"
"It's already past four! We've barely got any time anymore!"
"Not with that attitude, come on!"
Sonata still followed, albeit afraid more than ever.
The girls finally made it to the mall, but the minute the walked through the doors--
"Aw come on!" Pinkie screamed.
Both Pinkie and Sonata were so shocked they didn't notice they accidentally let the door slam in Bon Bon's face. The entire mall at least as far as what they saw, was crowded with hoards of people. Thousands of them, going from store to store, food courts, everywhere!
"The one thing I'm always afraid of around Christmas. Malls..." Sonata shivered. "I still remember the Black Fridays of 67 and 86."
Bon Bon's head was in flames, but she didn't plan on stopping. "Come on!"
The trio fought, pushed, and shoved their way through the crowds, resulting in them getting trampled by a few customers along the way. But at last, they made it to the second floor where the charity drive was being held.
"Finally, we made it! Alright here's the plan, we've only got," Bon Bon checked the time. "Half an hour, okay, it's fine. We can still get all of these sold in time. We can--," and at that moment she turned around, "--are you kidding me right now." Bon Bon froze.
"Wait, what's happening?" Pinkie asked.
Pinkie and Sonata poked their heads out, and their eyes were wide. There was a massive line of people near the charity booths. But it was longer than ever, longer than it should have been. But why? They hadn't even set up shop! Was someone else already there with baked goods?
Well upon further look, right there they could see Amethyst Star, sitting behind one of the booths sorting the money in the charity box, and keeping a constant look out on the time. Simultaneously she was sipping out of a milkshake and watching two people in particular; one was a random kid, and the other was CHS's newest addition; Countess Coloratura, AKA Rara.
Rara and the child, whoever he was, looked like they were having a pretty nice conversation. Some nice smiles, some chuckles here and there. But why?
"Oh, Rara! Time's almost up!" Amethyst called.
"Oh, well, uh, thank you anyway," the boy said. "But before I leave, can you sign my album?"
"Of course, I'd be happy to," Rara smiled.
The boy handed her the album and Rara pulled out a marker, and making sure it was visibly there and permanent, she wrote the fan's name, and finished with 'from Rara'.
"Thank you," he smiled, before walked away.
"Merry Christmas, Betamax!" She waved.
Bon Bon's head burst into flames yet again. "We're going to be here all day."
More time passed, it felt like they were barely moving. Bon Bon just wanted to get up front to set up her booth, but thanks to the constant crowds and the people in line, they were going to call her out and claim she was cutting in line despite the fact she volunteered for the job. So she had no choice but to just stay with the rest of the people; frustrated, tired, she was close to just giving up and wanting to go home.
As if God had finally heard her, the line finally moved a little faster, and she finally showed up; even though she was one of the last few people within the line. And she was greeted with a nice, warm, friendly smile from a dear friend.
"Oh, Bon Bon, hi!" Amethyst smiled.
"Hey Amy. Sorry we're late."
"Hey, it's okay, no worry. I get it, the malls are hectic this time of the year, and well, the icy roads, I completely understand," she said with sympathy.
"Soooo... what's all this?"
Amethyst giggled. "Well, since Rara's really famous and a lot of people in this town really love her, I talked with her about opening up a booth here for the Homelessness Awareness program. For 10$ for five minutes, you can meet Countess Coloratura! Talk, sing, dance, however you choose!" She said dramatically as if she was an announcer from the 30s/40s.
"That's... that's actually pretty smart. Well, uh, you just keep going. And now that we've finally got here, we can help you out and--"
"Alright folks, time to close up booths for today," the manager announced. "But come back tomorrow, Santa's gonna be comin' to town!"
Bon Bon's eye twitched. "... What."
The crowds groaned at the announcement, having spent all that time just standing there, waiting.
"Don't worry, you folks can come back tomorrow."
Bon Bon's shoulders slumped, and her fiery head slowly was put out, thanks to Pinkie grabbing a rag and swatting at the flames. How they got there, she didn't understand.
"So how much did we make?" Rara asked, leaning over on the desk.
"Okay, in the few hours we were here, we made... 4... 5... Holy-- Over $500!" Amethyst said in shock.
"Wait, what? Five hundred?" Sonata scrammed over and looked at their amount. "Five... how!?"
"I think it's pretty obvious," Amethyst winked at Rara.
"It is obvious! People would rather sing or dance than have a delicious cookie," Sonata pouted.
"But singing and dancing's fun!" Pinkie squeed.
"... No. That's not what I'm saying," Amethyst shook her head.
"Well, what?"
Amethyst nudged her head over at Rara yet again. Sonata still didn't get it.
"Rara's a famous singer."
"I... Ohhhhhh..." Sonata said, finally catching on. "Celebrity endorsement!"
"Mmmhmm. And since Rara has so many fans here in Canterlot, and since I told her if she came we would be making tons of cash for charity... well I think I made my point," Amethyst smirked.
"Yeah," Rara blushed.
But the amount of brain cells and glass shattering in Bon Bon's head was enough for them to look back at the poor baker. She had been filled with so much anger that afternoon that she just grew tired and more disappointed in how late they were.
"I... just wanted to get one cookie sold," Bon Bon frowned. Her lips quivered and she slumped in the chair. "Just... one..."
Amethyst and Rara frowned. The two shared a glance, but Rara was the one who stepped up.
"Can I have a cookie?"
Bon Bon's ears twitched from the sound and she looked up at Rara who stood there with an innocent smile.
"I'm sorry?"
"I'd like to buy a cookie. Please."
Bon Bon softly smiled. "Five dollars for a container, which would you like?"
"Gingerbread men please."
Rara instantly paid Bon Bon and she slipped the cash into the metal box meant to hold the charity donations. Opening up the container, she took a bite of a cookie, and her eyes lit up when she finished a single bite.
"Oh my gosh... this is amazing, this is the best cookie I've ever tasted! You made these?"
Bon Bon nodded but didn't reply.
"This... this is amazing. Next chance I get on social media, I am going to let people know my favorite kind of cookie," she smiled with a little boop on her nose, making her giggle.
Amethyst smiled, and then a light bulb flickered over her head. "You know, there is another charity drive happening tomorrow at the homeless shelter. Maybe we can sell them together?" Amethyst asked.
Bon Bon slowly smiled. "I'd like that."
"Me too!"
"Count me in."
"... Can we bring Rara with us?"