“Oh, good morning Pinkie.” Mister Cake said when he saw Pinkie coming down
the stairs from her rooms upstairs. “Slept well I hope? We have a lot to do today.”
“Not too good, actually.. weird dreams.... I need sugar...” Pinkie answered,
and yawned.
“Well, there’s some leftover cake from yesterday, how about that and some tea?”
“Sounds perfect!” Pinkie smiled widely and sat down at one of the tables.
Mister Cake served her the cake and a cup of extra sweet tea.
While Pinkie ate and drank, she asked Mister Cake about the upcoming day.
“Say, Pinkie... excuse my bluntness, but you do seam a bit.. calmer than usual.
Normally you come bouncing down the stairs, sometimes even singing.”
“Like I said, didn’t sleep well.. still tired. But I’ll be back to normal as soon
as I get some sugar in me!” Pinkie smiled.
“So what’s on todays schedule? You said we have lots to do?”
“Hm, yes, you see.. Just before I closed the bakery yesterday, we got a last-minute order
for some things that needs to be baked today and delivered in the afternoon.
The Society of Music and Art is having a small tea party get-together,
and they wanted some cookies. And a cake. mostly pretty basic and plain stuff,
but they specifically requested fresh-baked, so we can’t take the ones we already have.
And both me and the missus has to take care of the regular business and the twins,
so I’ll need you to handle the baking. Then, I’ll deliver personally during my
afternoon break.”
Pinkie nodded and mumbled with her mouth full, something that sounded like “ok, I’ll
handle it”. She took the last sip of tea and washed down the cake, and continued.
“So, what exactly did they want? Any specific cookies and cake?”
“Well, the cake they wanted a simple strawberry cake, with whipped cream.
A few cherries on top. As for cookies, just make a batch of chocolate chip,
and a batch of vanilla cookies. That should satisfy them.”
“Okey dokey, I’ll fix that!”
After having a second piece of the cake, and a second teacup, with even more sugar than
the previous one, Pinkie started feeling like herself again, her energy returning.
She bounced a few times on the spot, and then went behind the desk into the kitchen,
half-walking and half-dancing while humming on some old TV-show intros from
various cartoons she’d been watching recently.
As she entered the kitchen she found Mr. Cake glazing some donuts.
“I see you feel better now, Pinkie.” HE said with a busy smile while he kept working.
“Much better!” Pinkie said and jumped over Mr. Cake to get to her work table.
She gathered the ingredients for the chocolate chip cookies and began mixing.
While mixing butter, white sugar and brown sugar, she asked Mr. Cake,
“Would you mind setting the oven to 175 degrees?”.
“Sure.” He answered shortly, and set the oven while Pinkie started mixing in the eggs in her batter.
While mixing in some vanilla extract, she also took a teaspoon of baking soda,
dissolving it in a cup of hot water. She then took the baking-soda-water and poured
it into the mix, along with flour, chocolate chips, and some fine-grounded nuts.
Then, she found an ungreased pan and put it on the table while also grabbing a regular spoon,
which she used to take the batter and put it on the pan in large spoon-fulls,
laying each spoonful so that it shaped a vague circle.
She put them in the oven, and let them bake for ten minutes, while sitting right in front
of it and watching them bake. after the ten minutes had passed, she took them out.
“Perfect!” She exclaimed with a wide smile.
“How much did you make?” Mr. Cake asked.
“About four dozen, I used the four-dozen measures for all ingredients.” She replied.
“Oh, and did you go with or without the nuts? I need to know in case somepony asks.”
“Teaspoon of vanilla, chocolate, and fine-ground hazelnut.” Pinkie said and bounced
a few times on the spot. “Oh, and they’re almost cooled down enough for taste testing!”
“Good work. We need a few more batches though, we also need them for the café.
“Okey dokey, I’ll get right on tha...” She stopped mid-sentence, as she looked over at the
table with the ingredients. She gasped in shock.
“What’s wrong, Pinkie?” Mr. Cake asked.
“WE’RE ALMOST OUT OF CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!!” Pinkie almost shouted.
“Oh, just go to Bon Bons shop and get more then.”
“And also...” Pinkie moved closer, leaning in near Mr. Cakes face.
“...I have an idea for a new version I’m going to try! But it’s a secret, so don’t tell
anypony!” She whispered in his ear.
“And... what might that version be?”
“CHOCOLATE CHIP MINT CRISP COOKIES!” Pinkie shouted.
From the family room next to the kitchen she heard one of the twins trying to imitate.
“chooolaa shii meen cri cooie!”
She smiled. “Aaaw, they’re growing up so fast! Soon, we can teach them how to
bake their own cookies!”
Mr. Cake scratched his neck. “Well, a few more years before that I think..
First they need to learn to walk, and talk and...”
Pinkie interrupted him. “Anyway, I’ll get going to Bon Bons now, Bye!”
She bounced out through the door, and turned left as she exited the Sugar Cube Corner.
“la la la la laaaa” She hummed to herself has she half-trotted, half-bounced toward the
candy shop down the street.
* * *
“Chocolate chips, and mint extract. Anything else while you’re at it?”
Bon Bon asked with a smile while packing the items in a bag.
Pinkie looked around the store thoughtfully.
“Hmm... I guess I COULD use some travel-candy for my train ride
tomorrow.. But you have so much here, It’s hard to decide...”
“Well, how long are you traveling?”
“Manehattan. So, a few hours. And the train candy is always more expensive!
Have you noticed that?! Is it some kind of candy price conspiracy to make ponies
eat less candy on train rides?! I’m sure it is, it has to be!” Pinkies eyes widened as she
spoke. Bon Bon giggled a little. “Yeah, right, I’m sure that’s it... It has nothing at all to do
with transport costs and storage.”
Pinkie looked at Bon Bon with a stern stare. “Nooo! Read my lips, Bonnie!
Con-spi-ra-cy! When I get home from Manehattan I’m going to investigate this!”
From nowhere, Pinkie suddenly had a Sherlock hat on her head and a bubble pipe in
her mouth, and a fake mustache on her upper lip.
Bon Bon laughed and facehoofed. “Sure, whatever you say, Pinks. Anyway, about
your travel candy. I’d go with a bag of rock candies, they last longer - even for you.
And also, I got these new flavors a few days ago.”
“New flavors? AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?!”
“I’m sorry, I was going to, but I’ve had a lot of work, I haven’t been able to leave
the shop at all until late, and I’ve had to come in early too. Must be high season
for candy or something. I simply couldn’t find time to visit you, and now you’re
here. So in the end, you found out anyway.”
“....Fine. Tell me! What new flavors?” Pinkie started bouncing and looking
excitedly at Bon Bon, who turned around and picked a bag from a shelf
behind her. “A tropical mixpack. Stuff like, banana, pineapple, dragonfruit,
passion fruit, mango, some berry I can’t pronounce, and so on.
Here, have a sample.” Bon Bon said and held up a dark red piece of candy.
“This one is dragon fruit. the pale yellow is banana. dark yellow is pineapple.
pale orange is mango. the green one is the berry. It tastes a bit like vanilla,
but also a vague hint of apple-y aftertaste.”
“Oooooh!” Pinkie said and took the red candy piece, slowly sucking on it
with a curious, thoughtful look on her face.
“So, you like it?” Bon Bon asked.
“MMhmm!” Pinkie said with the candy still in her mouth.
“One bag of those please! All flavors! All the others too!”
“So, A ‘complete collection’ pack of rock candies.”
“Yes!” Pinkie started bouncing again.
After she was done, Pinkie bounced out from the store, waving her hoof.
“Bye bye, Bonnie! See you in a couple of weeks, when I get home!”
“Bye Pinks, safe travels and all that.”
Pinkie Pie returned to the Sugar Cube Corner, and kept on baking cookies all day,
making batch after batch of various things, while Mrs. Cake took care of the kids
and Mr. Cake took care of customers. The day passed quickly, and after she was
done cleaning up the kitchen, Pinkie went to bed, but found it a bit harder
than usual to fall asleep. Eventually she managed, but her sleep was restless
and shallow, haunted by dark dreams. In her dreams, ghosts kept chanting three
words Pinkie did not know - “Hoc Est Somnium”.