//------------------------------// // A Day of Sweets, Part 1 // Story: Bronze, Thunder, and Rain // by epicdonus1123 BOT //------------------------------// Chapter 6 "That's the spirit! Come on, we gotta get to work!" She bounced her way into the kitchen; I trailed after her. She's so optimistic that you could feel it in the air. The smell of pleasure, opportunity, friendliness, and laughter just makes you want to smile as big as a mile. I must've stopped because Pinkie shortly yelled my name. "Bronze! Hurry up, or the cupcakes will spoil!" "I'm comin'!" My world eventually mixed in with the happiness in the atmosphere, so I walked to her. In the kitchen laid the biggest collection of: bowls, cups, spoons, forks, knives, sporks, pots, pans, whisks, and everything else that you could possibly imagine. There weren't just utensils, containers, and other cooking aids, but there were also lots and lots of: cookbooks, sugars, salts, peppers, flours, oils, and spices. It was a maelstrom of services, all swirled up by a couple of bakers and a sugar addict. "Okay, there are cookbooks to your left, utensils to the right, pots and pans in front of you, and there are several objects in the pantries! Don't worry, though, because Aunt Pinkie will be here for you!" "Yer not m' aunt." "Haha, I know I'm not your aunt!" She started to obnoxiously giggle until the oven went off. Ding! Ding! Ding! Dinggg! "Huh, looks like the cupcakes are done!" She was about to run over to them, but I stopped her. "Hold on, hasty. I got this." I simply walked over to them, and I pulled them out. It wasn't that much of a task, but Pinkie was reacting like I saved her life. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Those cupcakes could've fell if I held onto them!" "Ugh, i' wasn't that hard." "Are you sure, because thirty-seven percent of the time, I drop them." "Ya calculate yer mishaps?" "I always calculate them!" "M'kay, I'm goin' t' act like that's normal." "Wow, you really sound like Applejack now!" "Ah know, i' really 's botherin' me!" She is right; the whole time I've been here, I have been speaking more and more country. "Anyways, you should start making some desserts! I'll be at the front! However, I'll be coming in and out of here, capisce?" "Capisco" She gave me a satisfied look; she walked away. I trotted towards a cookbook, and randomly flipped the pages. It happened to land on my favorite treat, doughnuts. I've never seen Pinkie Pie, Cup Cake, or Carrot Cake make doughnuts, so I'll make them. The recipe called for, 1 cup milk 3 ounces vegetable shortening, approximately 1/2 cup 1 3/5 packages instant yeast 1/3 cup warm water (95 to 105 degrees F) 3 eggs, beaten 1/3 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg 22 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surface Vegetable oil, for frying (1 to 1/2 gallons, depending on fryer) Directions Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to warm. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch thick. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch doughnut cutter or pastry ring and using a 6/8-inch ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 degrees F. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing. This is impossible! How am I going to get this done! I started thinking. However, it is a cookbook, and it knows what it's talking about. I started to work on the recipe, but it took forever to do. I did everything that it told me to do. Pinkie Pie came in to check up on my progress. "Hey Bronze! How are you doing?" "Ah'm good." "So, whatcha making?" "Doughnuts." "Okay, that's quite a hard job to do! Do you want me to help!?" "Nah, Ah'm good." "You sure." "Yes." "Okay...here!" She handed me a note. The note read, "CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES, DOZEN, PINK FROSTING". "What's this?" "Oh that's your first order, silly filly!" "M' hooves 're kinda full. Could ya bake these fer me?" "Sure! That's what I'm here for!" She started to work alongside me. It was a good feeling watching her work; she was so consistent about everything. She could do accurate measures of ingredients, crack eggs perfectly, and mix it together to the perfect blob of dough. Once she actually made the dough, she started to knead it. She'd flip it, and add sugar, flip it, and add sugar. I started to lose focus, but she'd snap me back to reality. "Come on Bronze, you gotta finish those doughnuts!" "Oh yeah, Ah'm sorry about that!" "Don't worry about it!" By this time, my doughnuts needed to be glazed. "Hey Pinkie-" "Yepperoni!" "where's th' glaze?" "Oh, it's in that cupboard right there!" She pointed her hoof towards a cupboard in the middle of us. "Thank ya!" I trotted over to it. Surprisingly, when I opened the cupboard, it had the frosting that Pinkie needed for the cupcakes. I picked up the glaze, and stared the frosting down. My face started to pucker, just like Thunder did earlier. It withered until it finally stopped. Next thing I knew, the frosting was floating next to me, in midair. I finally learned how to use my horn! The first thing I did was levitate the frosting to Pinkie's side. "Thanks Bronze, that's the frosting that I needed!" "Ah know! Ah just thought that ya'd b' happy 'f Ah gave i' t' ya!" "Well it worked!" She grabbed the frosting; she started squirting the frosting on the cupcakes. I did the same with the glaze, except that I put the glaze on the doughnuts. Wow, I really made Pinkie's day. I want to do this all the time! I thought to myself. Once my doughnuts were glazed, I picked up the tray and displayed them. I picked up a marker, and wrote, "GLAZED DOUGHNUTS". I stayed at the front to take orders. Lots of ponies that I haven't met started to line up; they each asking for a certain kind of dessert. "Yes, I would like a dozen of sapphire cupcakes." requested the fifth customer. "Good news fer ya'll, w' have some up on display!" I trotted over to the sapphire cupcakes, picked up a dozen, and started trotting back. Suddenly, a flashing light appeared on my flank area. A doughnut appeared there; my cutie mark has finally arrived. I froze up and stared at the newly found talent. I forgot that I was a blank flank, so seeing my cutie mark was a touching moment. It felt like defibrillators when I was shocked back to reality, again. The fifth customer was screaming for me; I ran over to her in an instant. "Sorry 'bout that, Ah froze a bit." "Hmph." she said as she walked out of the door in a snobbish manner. The next customer came up; he delivered his order. I ran back into the kitchen to make the scrumptious dessert. "Hey Bronze, it's nice to see that you have your cutie mark!" observed my awesome boss. "Thanks Pinkie Pie, i's good t' see ya too!" "I'm going to the front, okay!?" "Gotcha!" I started baking my order as soon as she left. It wasn't that much of a complexity, but it wasn't that easy either. Thirty minutes later, I found myself delivering the dozen. The stallion looked please to see his order, so he took them and left. Suddenly, Mr. and Mrs. Cake came downstairs. For how long that I've been here, not once have I seen them. However, they came down; they pushed their way through the crowd. I could hear their conversation go on. "Pinkie Pie!" Cup Cake exclaimed. "Hi Mr. an-" "Not now Pinkie, just look at this crowd!" Carrot Cake interrupted. "Yeah, we're doing great!" "Who is 'we'?" Carrot Cake asked, referring to who I am. "Me and Bronze! We have been working down here, giving these ponies their orders!" "You and Bronze! Isn't Bronze the pony that we said you could hire?" Cup Cake pondered. "Yepperoni!" I decided to come and show myself, so I did just that. While presenting myself, I was delivering a mare's order. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" I politely hollered. "Hi there dear!" Cup Cake responded so sweetly; she kinda spoke like Nurse Redheart. "Hey there! You must be Bronze!" Carrot Cake stated. "Yes sir, Ah 'm!" I replied. "Nice to meet you!" They both announced in unison. "Ya too!" Pinkie Pie ran over to the desk to take more orders, while the Cakes and I kept talking. "You're a very diligent worker, you know that!" complemented Carrot Cake. "Thank ya! Ya'll 're very nice ponies, 'f Ah do say s' myself!" I complemented back. "Ugh.. I need some help over here!" Pinkie Pie suddenly yelled. "Oh yeah, gotta g' bosses!" I ran to the kitchen to keep working. Noticing all eleven orders on the chart, I took the first two. They were the easiest and the quickest to do, a dozen of vanilla cupcakes and a chocolate cake. I was about to start on them when the Cakes came in. "Oh dear, don't overwork yourself!" Cup Cake quietly said. "Yes, you don't have to make all these yourself!" "What d' ya mean, sir 'nd ma'am? Ah gotta-" "Stop right there. Let me ask this question...how many breaks have you had?" Carrot Cake questioned. "Zero, but that doesn' matt'r 'cause Ah gotta get these orders filled o't!" I replied. "Yes it does, dear, because every employee deserves a break!" Cup Cake stated. "We want you to take a break, and we want you to come back later." Carrot Cake agreed. "Bu-" "That's an order, Bronze." Carrot Cake started eyeballing me, while Cup Cake started to awkwardly raise her hoof. She pointed towards the door; I followed the direction of it. I walked out of the bakery with a somewhat sad expression on my face.