30 Days/ 30 Stories

by Fenton


One Little Mistake

“Pinkie?”

Pinkie Pie turned her head from the baking cakes she was watching. “Yes, Mrs Cake?”

“I don’t want to sound like I don’t trust you or anything — Celestia knows how organised you can be — but would there be a teeny tiny little chance you’d got sugar and salt mixed up when you refilled the pots?”

Pinkie scratched her chin, deep in thought.

“Because, you see,” added Mrs Cake, “There is a small possibility all the cakes we’ve baked today have been made with salt.”

“For realsies?”

“Yes, Pinkie, I’m afraid so. Every pot I checked was filled with salt, not sugar. Do you know anything about that?”

“Well, when the delivery came this morning, I’ve tasted a sample from both the bags — because you know, quality and freshness — and they were so goooood! Oh, and correctly labelled. Then, I went to give his bath to Gummy — he can become grouchy if I miss his bath time. When I came back, I took the bags and refilled the pots.”

“Nothing amiss?”

“Hmm, now that you mention it, I was surprised to see Pound and Pumpkin were already up and —” Pinkie glanced at the twins playing in a corner of the room. “You little rascals,” she said while coming closer to them. “You’ve decided to play a little prank on us, haven’t you?”

The two babies babbled with joy, and Pinkie grabbed each one with a leg.

“I know you want to mimic your auntie Pinkie,” she said, nuzzling them. “But you still have a lot to learn, my apprentices. First, a good prank has to never be mean spirited. Second, you —”

“Pinkie?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think we should warn our customers about the salt?”

Pinkie gasped. “And ruin your children’s first prank? We can’t do that! Besides, it’s not like if anything could go seriously wrong. At worst, ponies will just spit it out.”


Not so far away, inside the Castle of Friendship, a loud flashing metallic sound echoed through the rooms. A glowing portal appeared above the cutie map, delivering a light purple unicorn and a darker purple alicorn.

“Thanks Celestia, it’s over,” said Twilight.

Starlight nodded. “I still can’t believe the size of these Xmrphtlarg — or Xmrphtralg, I don’t quite remember their name.”

“I was more concerned when we met the Zorglubs. They had such long teeth! Who would have known it was only an organ for communication!”

“Anyway, now that we have finally fixed everything,” she added. “What would you say we celebrate with muffins I bought this morning? Well the morning in this timeline, obviously.”

“Sounds great to me,” said Starlight.

Twilight grabbed the box of cupcakes with her magic, and gave one to Starlight. They had both barely taken a bite they instantly spat it out.

“Oh no! This is bad news!” exclaimed Twilight.

“What is it?” asked a surprised Starlight.

“The cakes here are salty! We haven’t fixed anything! We need to go back!”