//------------------------------// // Somepony's in the Kitchen with Disaster // Story: Cutie Mark Crusaders: The Next Generation // by Bluecatcinema //------------------------------// The newly-formed Cutie Mark Crusaders entered Sugarcube Corner. "Hi, mom!" Pound and Pumpkin chorused. "Hey, dad!" "Hello, darlings!" Mrs. Cake smiled. "Who's your friend?" Mr. Cake asked, taking note of Cream Puff. "This is Cream Puff." Pound told him. "Hi." Cream Puff waved her hoof. "Nice to meet you, dearie." Mrs. Cake said warmly. Just then, Pinkie Pie bounced into the room. "Hi guys!" She greeted the twins. "Hey, aunt Pinkie." Pumpkin smiled. "This is-" "Hi, Cream Puff!" Pinkie yelped. "You know each other?" Pound asked. "She knows my mom." Cream Puff shrugged. "Yeah, Millie's a ton of fun!" Pinkie cheered. "Love to stay and chat guys, but I promised the Cakes I'd handle deliveries today!" "And we have to run to the market and fetch some new supplies." Mr. Cake added. "Will you kids be okay by yourselves for a while?" "Of course we will." Pound said indignantly. "We're not foals anymore, you know!" "You'll always be my little foals." Mrs Cake crooned as she hugged her offspring. "Mom!" Protested Pumpkin. "Not in front of Cream Puff!" Cream Puff barely suppressed a chuckle. "Okay, okay." Mrs. Cake smirked. "You be good now!" Mrs. and Mrs. Cake departed from Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie following behind, towing a cart full of confectionaries. "Bye, guys!" She called exuberately. "Okay." Pound rubbed his hooves together. "How about that Cutie Mark planning session? Any ideas?" There was a long moment of silence. "The only idea I have involves making a sandwich." Pumpkin shrugged finally. "Hey, how about that?" Cream Puff chipped in. "What, making a sandwich?" Pumpkin tilted her quizically. "No, making something else." Cream Puff smiled. "This is a bakery, and your parents are bakers. Haven't you ever made anything here?" "A couple times." Pound admitted. "It was fun, but not too fun." "We're okay at it, I guess." Pumpkin shrugged. "Wouldn't really call it our 'special talent', though." "Well, it just might be my special talent." Cream Puff smiled. "With your help, I might be able to whip up something worthy of a Cutie Mark." "And maybe, just maybe, if we really put our backs into it, we just might get our Marks, too." Pumpkin suggested. "What do you say, bro?" "Sure, why not?" Pound sighed. "It's not like we have anything better to work with..." "Then it's settled." Cream Puff grinned. "Either of you know where your parents keep the cook books?" A few moments later, all three were clad in aprons and chef's hats, an open cook book at their hooves. "If we want to get our Cutie Marks, we'll have to do one of the biggest recipes in this book." Pound declared. "And I know just the one." Pound turned the page to an elaborate-looking confection. "The triple-decker cupcake bonanza!" He boomed. "Layers of whipped cream, chocolate, and fudge, on top of a ton of fluffy, delicious batter!" "This was the recipe mom and dad first worked together on." Pumpkin said fondly. "They told us they fell in love while working on it." "Awww, that's so sweet!" Cream Puff cooed. "Yeah, yeah, warm fuzzies all round." Pound grumbled impatiently. "Let's get to work already!" Supplies in the larder were scarse, hence the senior Cakes' run to market, but the young ponies were able to scrounge together enough to accomodate the recipe's requirements. They piled up the ingredients in the largest cupcake tray in the kitchen, then placed them in the oven. "According to the book, it'll take twenty-five minutes at three hundred and fifty degrees to bake them fully." Cream Puff read. "That long?" Pumpkin groaned. "But I want my Cutie Mark now!" "Relax, sis." Pound smiled. "If it takes twenty-five minutes at three hundred and fifty degrees, then it should only take about five minutes at one thousand degrees!" "That sounds about right." Pumpkin nodded. "Let's do it!" After closing the over door, Pound twisted the temperature control knob to the desired temperature. "And now, we wait!" Pound declared triumphantly. "Shouldn't we clean up a little while we're waiting?" Cream Puff asked. "Good idea." Pumpkin agreed. "Mom and dad won't take kindly to there being a big mess here." The young ponies quickly cleaned up. After they were done, Cream Puff peeked into the oven window, where she noticed the batter bubbling out of the cupcake tray. "Is it supposed to be doing that?" She asked. "Doing what?" Pumpkin asked back. She and Pound joined Cream Puff at the oven, just in time to see the batter bubbling up the oven's interior like lava in volcano. "Take cover!" Pound yelled. All three leapt inside one of the kitchen's cupboards, moments before the oven was wrenched open, showerning the entire room with boiling batter. A moment of silence later, the Crusaders peeked their heads out, finding the kitchen to be a yellow-tinged rendition of a winter wonderland. "Whoops." Pumpkin said simply. "Aw, geez." Pound groaned. "Mom and dad are gonna kill us!" "Not if we clean this up before they-" Cream Puff started, before the sound of Mrs. Cake screaming cut her off. "Too late." "What in Equestria happened here?" Mr. Cake gasped. "Hey, why didn't anypony tell me the place was being redecorated?" Pinkie asked, having returned from her deliveries. Opening her jaw impossibly wide, she scooted across the floor, scraping the batter into her mouth. "And such a yummy design, too!" "Pound, Pumpkin, what happened?" Mrs. Cake demanded. "It was an accident!" Pound declared. "We were just trying to get our Cutie Marks!" Pumpkin blurted. "You two know better then to try to bake on your own." Mr. Cake said disappointedly. "We're sorry." The twins chorused. "It was my fault, really." Cream Puff admitted. "Baking was my idea." "It's very good of you to admit that, dearie." Mrs. Cake smiled briefly, before becoming stern again. "All three of you will have to clean this up, understand?" "Yes." The trio sighed. "And Pinkie? No helping." Mr. Cake declared. Pinkie stopped ploughing through the batter-strewn floor, her cheeks stuffed. "Mmmmokay." The pink mare mumbled, before swallowing the contents of her cheeks. As the three young ponies began their clean-up, Pound attempted to lighten the mood. "What do you think the chances are that cleaning up batter is our special talent?" He joked half-heartenedly. As he expected, nopony laughed.