With a final swirl of the icing, the cake was finished. Pinkie looked up quite proudly, cake frosting coating her face. She looked at the tall cake, and then back down at the book. She called all of her friends in to witness the masterpiece she had created.
Walking in, all of her friends wowed over the cake. The only time they had seen a more magnificent cake was at Princess Twilight’s coronation. Pinkie had always been good at baking, but this topped every single one of her creations. Rainbow Dash went to take a lick of the cider waterfalls on the side, but Pinkie pushed her back.
“This is for the Princesses, Rainbow Dash! You’ll get some in due time!”
Rainbow Dash started to whine in annoyance. “But...but...there’s cider on the cake! Cider season won’t start for another three months!”
Pinkie just shrugged it off, playfully nudging Rainbow Dash to the side. Twilight Sparkle stepped over to the book, looking at the perfect treat in front of it. Just as quickly, she drew a blank face, looking up. “There’s no cherry on the top.”
Pinkie Pie looked up from Rainbow Dash, gasping and pushing Twilight out of the way. She looked up and down, up and down, observing each one carefully. Finally, she came to the realization that Twilight was right. There was no cherry on this cake.
“Hold on, you guys! You can’t take another peek until I get this cherry!! Out out OUT!”
Nudging her friends out, she started to rush around frantically. She knew she had a cherry in the kitchen. She searched high and low, through all of the cabinets, coming to rest on the one place that she knew she hadn’t checked. The fridge. Opening it up, a bright light seemed to erupt from its recesses.
Right on the top shelf, glowing brightly to Pinkie’s eyes, was one large red cherry. She reached out to grab it, but her hoof fell short. It had run into an obstacle. She kept pressing towards the cherry, but the more she pushed, the further away it became. She quickly shoved both hooves inside of the fridge and grabbed it from both ends, bringing it out.
The cherry was trapped inside of a jar. Made of glass.
Pinkie shook the bottle a couple of times, watching the red topping bounce around inside. “This shouldn’t be a problem! It’s just a jar…”
Putting her mouth around the lid of the jar, she heaved her head to the side, twisting it until her teeth began to hurt. She tried once again, still failing to pop the cap open.
She didn’t know what to make of it. Was this a trick? Did somepony just shut the jar too tight last time they took a cherry? It made no sense to Pinkie.
She sighed, trying, with futile attempts, a few more times until she finally gave up. She ran to the front door, opening it up to her friends, who were still staring blankly at the door.
“Twilight! I need you to open this jar with your magic!”
Twilight looked, confused, at Pinkie. “Umm...sure thing, Pinkie…”
Twilight’s horn lit up, the jar floating beside her in the air. Twilight turned her head with a strain, imitating the opening of a jar. Her face broke out in a sweat, the lid of the jar making no leeway to her magic. After a few minutes of trying, her magic quit on her, the jar dropping to the dirt with a quiet thud.
“I’m sorry Pinkie,” Twilight panted, “but that jar isn’t going to open…”
For a moment, the other four friends stared at the jar like it was the devil. If a Princess of Equestria couldn’t open it, that jar was going to stay closed forever. Pinkie wasn’t going to settle for that, though.
“No! If Twilight can’t open this jar, there’s one pony who can open it! We need to get to Canterlot at once!”
All of her friends knew exactly who they were going to. The only pony with enough power to open this jar was the most powerful pony in Equestria. They were going to see Princess Celestia.
~~~
Walking into the throne room with a jar concealing a cherry, they all felt ridiculous. They were coming to Celestia, who probably had a million other things to do, to ask her to open a cherry jar.
“Hello, all of you. How are you doing today?”
Pinkie opened her mouth to speak, but found herself suddenly interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who flew up to Celestia. “Princess Celestia, Pinkie baked this amazing cake for the Summer Sun Celebration! It has apples and cider and frosting and everything! All it requires is one cherry on top, but Pinkie can’t open the jar!”
Trying to hide a chuckle, Celestia suggested the obvious. “H-have you tried asking Twilight to open it for you?”
Finally, Pinkie got her turn to speak. She stepped up towards Princess Celestia, opening her mouth once again. Unfortunately, the voice that came out was not hers.
“Yes, Princess, she did ask me to open it. Even my magic was not strong enough to open it. Can you please help us? This is very crucial to the success of this celebration.”
Princess Celestia just rolled her eyes, a smile on her face. “Yes, of course, Princess Twilight. Without this cherry, I don’t doubt that the Summer Sun Celebration would be a wreck.”
This time, Celestia’s horn flared up, the jar flicking into the air with a whoosh. Celestia, just as Twilight, turned her head, but with much more force. The jar failed to agree with any of her magic. Celestia gave an angry look, a new wave of magic sparking from her horn, her whole body beginning to float up into the air. This went on for a couple of minutes before she just dropped down. Using a simple levitation spell, Celestia threw the glass jar all the way across the room, hearing it shatter at the door.
“There, now it’s open. Please, never ask me to open a jar again. Now finish that cake. I don’t want any more issues…”
All the ponies failed to move, their eyes fixed on Princess Celestia. She had gotten angry! Did she seriously just fling a jar all the way across the room!? It was open, but the ponies standing before Celestia were too terrified to move.
And all the while, Princess Luna hid in the shadows, watching Pinkie Pie. Her laughs were barely audible. Teleporting back to Sugarcube Corner, she placed another jar, with a super-glued cap, into Pinkie’s fridge, waiting for the next time she would need a cherry for a recipe.