Vignette spun into the Sugarcube Corner, and stopped at the corner, where Pinkie Pie watched her as she now sported a uniform similar to hers, and saluted:
"Private Vignette, ready for action, ma'am!"
Pinkie Pie, true to herself, laughed out loud. "Vignette, we're a bakery, not the army. Chill out."
Vignette loosened, blushing while twiddling her fingers. "Sorry."
"It's okay." Pinkie Pie opened the counter. "Follow me, I'll take you to the kitchen."
Vignette followed, the counter loudly closing itself as soon as she was on the other side.
Slightly startled, Vignette shrugged it off and continued on her way, eventually reaching the kitchen.
"Okay, this is what we're gonna do;" Pinkie Pie wrapped her arm around Vignette's shoulder and pulled her towards her. "I'm gonna bake the cupcakes, and you're going to decorate them. I need you to give each batch an unique look, think you can do it?"
Vignette wrapped her arm in Pinkie Pie's shoulder in return, startling the pink girl. "Y.C.C.O.M."
"Great! I mean, I don't speak acronym, but I'll assume what you said was a good thing!"
And so, the duo got to work.
"Oh, and by the way, about the talk about the Elements-"
"We're kinda, you know, working right now, Pinkie Pie," Vignette replied. "We don't need to talk about that right now if you don't want to."
"Nah, it's okay, it gets boring here when it gets too quiet," Pinkie Pie shrugged as she took out a batch of cupcakes. "Anyway, my Element is Laughter!"
"Laughter?" Vignette repeated. "So Applejack's Honesty, and Rarity's Generosity, and while I get how those two relate to Harmony, how does Laughter help at all?"
"We're, it's more like a catch-all term: Think of it more as the Element of Joy, or Fun, or Happiness!"
"Oh, now it makes sense."
"Yeah, everything in life needs joy, but not just any joy: genuine joy."
Vignette hummed, then got an idea as Pinkie Pie continued:
"If you're not really happy, but are forcing yourself to look like it, you'll end up making yourself feel worse! And if you feel truly happy, you can even spread it to everyone around you! And when everybody's happy, you get the wonderful sight of a smile on their face!"
"Like this?"
Pinkie Pie turned to Vignette, and saw she had drawn a smiley face with frosting, adorning each cupcake with the same joyful smile.
"Yeah, that's it!" Pinkie Pie chirped. "Go put that batch at the counter, I'll keep making the cupcakes!"
Vignette nodded and walked back to the counter, and as she placed the cupcakes there, a group of children approached them and looked at them, flashing amazed smiles.
And a smile soon formed on Vignette's face as well... until the kids tried to steal the cupcakes.
"Hey! Don't steal the merchandise!"