Chapter 35: Making a Meal of It
At the Brighthouse, Sparky is setting up a heart shaped Wreath that is based on the fall season on the Brighthouse door, and then Pipp suddenly opens the door in a quick pace that Sparky was knocked off balance and into a bush next to him.
“Alright, ponies!” Pipp called out in a panic as she came into the Brighthouse. “Mom’s gonna be here for Harvest & Hugs Day any minute.” She pointed out, Harvest & Hugs Day is a Equestria version of Thanksgiving, and that Queen Haven is coming over to celebrate that holiday with her daughters and their friends. “We all set?” Pipp asked as she looked at her paper clipboard as she gave a serious look. “Izzy! Tea!” She called out.
Izzy set up her tea set on a flower stack with the tea pots stacked on top and the tea cups on the bottom in a great way. “Check!” Izzy said with a smile.
“Carrot Cake!” Pipp called out the next thing on the board.
“Check!” Both Sunset and Sunny called out as Sunny is holding the carrot cake while Sunset is covered in frosting while the two ponies are smiling and each wearing a pink apron.
“Check…” Zipp said in a tired and dull tone while holding a spoon and a pink apron as well while Sunset and Sunny smiled at her.
“Ceremonial red carpet?” Pipp called out again.
Hitch is setting the carpet in the right place with his eye-zoom-in modical to make sure he puts it at the perfect spot as he finishes. “Check!” Hitch answered with a smile.
“Totes emote harvest music?” Pipp asked as she brought out her phone as it played harvest music. “Check!” She said to herself with a smile as she got in front of Sparky, who got out of the bush as he got the dirt off him. “And Sparky, you have the honor of blowing this when Mom arrives.” She said to Sparky as she gave him a trumpet.
Sparky smiled as he inhaled and blares at the trumpet, but his face got a little red as he flopped to the floor, out of breath from blowing too hard.
Pipp then turned to the others as she was starting to panic even more as her mane was a little frazzled as she gave a panicked smile..“So just make sure everything's perfect, times it by a million, and then make it even more perfect than that! Okay, great!” She said nervously as she starts to sweat and having a breakdown as she is biting on her hooves.
“Pipp, why are you so nervous?” Sunny asked in concern as she placed the carrot cake on the counter.
“Yeah. You’re acting more nervous than Twilight when she doesn’t get things done in time. No offense Twilight.” Sunset said, while looking at the necklace.
Twilight appeared once the necklace was opened as she gave a chuckle. “Non taken, Sunset. I even admit how nervous I get when I can’t get things done or complete them. Hehehe. Ahh. My friends called my breakdown ‘Twilighting’. Even though I didn’t like it at first, it still summarizes my breakdowns on who I am. Even though I find myself panicking half the time.” She said with a smile, remembering her breakdowns, ‘Twilighting’, when something so worrying and nervous happens, she still do even if she’s a spirit in a necklace, like not sending a report to Celestia in time, not setting things up like a party, a festival, and answering the right questions or preparing for a quiz, even though those are not her proudest moments, it is who she is.
All three ponies, Sunny, Sunset and Twilight, chuckled at that, Sunset knowing Twilight well to have those breakdowns and Sunny had learned of that through her father’s notes as Sunny spoke. “Yeah. It's just Queen Haven. She's been here a bunch of times.” Sunny said while reminding them of the other times Queen Haven came and visited them.
Zipp then gets in front of Sunny and Sunset, Twilight is next to them while the necklace is open, as Zipp gives a nervous look while sweating, though her breakdown is a little more stable than her sister. “Harvest and Hugs Day is, like, a weirdly big deal in Zephyr Heights, especially for Mom.” She explained to the ponies as she remembered way too well when her Mom goes overboard when celebrating Harvest & Hugs Day.
Flashback.
Years ago, Filly Pipp was sleeping on her bed while sucking on her hoof, and then a shadowy figure came over her, which stirs her awake. “Huh? Aah!” She screamed in startled once she saw who was over her.
Queen Haven is over her sleeping filly daughter as she is smiling at her while holding a carrot cake in her hoof. “Who wants carrot cake?!” She asked her daughter excitedly as she presented about 10 three big stacks of carrot cakes all around Pipp’s room with Fall decorations all over the room with leaves falling down as well as Filly Pipp looked around in shock, wondering why Mom made so many.
End of Flashback.
After Zipp explained, Sunny, Sunset and Twilight looked in surprise and shock that Queen Haven loved Harvest & Hugs Day that much.
“She’s that excited about it?!” Sunset asked in shock as Zipp nodded her head ‘yes’ in response. “And I thought you went overboard at times, Twilight.” She said to her.
“Yeah. I’m just as surprised as myself.” Twilight said in surprise.
“Kinda reminds me of celebrating with Applejack’s tradition during the Apple Harvest season.” Sunset added, remembering her and the Rainbooms dressing up for Applejack’s family traditions, which even Applejack should’ve explained more since she told them they didn’t have to dress up, which ended up them being laughing stocks of CHS for a while, but they got payback by getting Applejack to dress up from getting laughed at by the school.
Pipp then got in front of the three ponies as she gave a very panicked smile as she was at her breaking point, which scared the three ponies from the look Pipp was giving them. “So it's got. To. Be. Perfect! Got it?!” She asked them in, really starting to break before Sunset slapped her in the face to snap her out of it. “Ow!” She said as she rubbed her cheek.
“Get a hold of yourself, Pipp! We get it, no need to get up and personal to us!” Sunset called out, snapping Pipp out of her panic state.
Pipp took a deep breath as she calmed down. “Thanks. I needed that.” She said to Sunset, thanking her for snapping her out of it.
Sparky blares the trumpet again, but then he accidently blows one of his dragon fires out through the trumpet.
Sparky’s dragon fire hit the red carpet, which caused it to burn up as the Mane 6 watched in shock as the fire then went to the other end of the carpet and into the fall decorations that hang from the ceiling with one end at the floor as the fire came into contact with. The Mane 6 still watches in shock as the fire spreads to the rest of the decorations as it burns them away, with a little piece of the fire falling on the stove, burning it up and breaking it. Another piece of the fire fell on the carrot cake, which burned it into dust.
The Mane 6 looked at the carrot cake in shock and worried as Sunset spoke. “In hindsight, asking a fire-breathing baby dragon to blow a horn before he fully mastered said fire breath was almost certainly a VERY bad idea - especially one as surprisingly powerful for his age as Sparky is." Sunset pointed out in shock as Pipp facehoof herself, seeing that her idea to let Sparky to use the trumpet was a bad idea, wondering how she didn’t remember Sparky’s dragon fire.
“Uh... don't worry.” Izzy spoke with a sheepish smile to try and ease the tension as her friends looked at her. “At least we still got the tea…” She said as she pointed at her stacks of tea sets, which fell off and spilled and a little crack as the tea pots were too heavy, with the top pot to tilted and spilled some tea out as Izzy looked on in shock, which the rest of her friends looking on with panic expression with wide eyes, with Pipp left eye twitching. Izzy then spoke again with a nervous smile. “Well, at least Queen Haven hasn't arrived yet. There's still time to—” She tried to say, but then the doorbell rings, which means Queen Haven is here as Izzy turned to he door while the others still looked on in panic as Izzy just smiled. “Okay, I've got nothin'.” She said, out of ideas.
“Why does this kind of thing keep happening to us?” Sunset said with a facehoof, trying to think why luck is not on their side when they planned for something.
Pipp then smiled calmly as she spoke. “Well, we're just gonna have to... PANIC!” She cried out in panic as she went into the living room while hyperventilating.
Sunny and Sunset came to Pipp as Sunny spoke. “Pipp? Pipp! Just breathe!” She said as Pipp brought out a paper bag and hyperventilation in it.
“Panicking won’t help! We just need some time to fix things!” Sunset added.
“Yeah! We can fix this!” Sunny said in agreement. “Y-You and Zipp get the door.” She added as she brought Zipp to them, who raised an eyebrow at her sister’s panicking, which she and Pipp saw before from Hitch when Sunny, Sunset and Izzy went missing. “We'll take care of everything else.” She said as Zipp walked to her sister.
Pipp however is still in a panic state as Zipp gave her a bored expression. “It's fine! Cakes are supposed to catch fire, right?!” She asked her friends in panic with a panicked smile before Zipp grabbed her sister as she dragged her to the door. “I'm pretty sure that's trending right now!” She added as she started to whimper as she looked at her sister. “Does my mane smell like burnt carrot?” She asked her sister as she started to tear up.
Zipp opened the doors as Queen Haven appeared with her royal guards behind her as Queen Have smiled at her daughters. “Darlings! Happy Harvest and Hugs Day!” She cheered for her daughters happily.
Zipp and Pipp looked on as the two sisters closed the doors behind them as they smiled nervously at their mother while sweating nervously. “Welcome, Heen Quaven! Uh, I-I mean, Queen Ha— uh, Mom!” She spattered nervously as Zipp facehoof at her sister’s attempt, Queen Haven looked on in confusion as Pipp came next to her. “Um, lovely weather we're having.” She said nervously.
“Am I being filmed? Is this going on ClipTrot?” Queen Haven asked, wanting to know why Pipp is being like this as Pipp begins to grow even more panicking as she sweats some more.
Zipp grew nervous, seeing that Pipp was failing at this. “Pssst!” Zipp heard something as she turned and saw Sunny waving at them through the window, telling them they are good to come in.
Zipp then came to her mother with a sheepish smile, while Pipp was still panicking while biting her hoof. “Uh, right this way!” She said to her mother as they entered the Brighthouse.
“Wow. What a... unique spread.” Queen Haven said, not what she expected as she saw the Brighthouse with red paper to replace the carpet while there are drawings of pumpkins, leaves and the decorations, apparently this is the best they can do since they don’t have any spares or have enough time to set them up quickly.
Izzy kept pouring the tea in a cup on the table with a nervous smile as it overflowed, dripping off on the table.
Sunny was stirring the cake mix with a paper of the carrot cake in front of the bowl with Sunset next to her as they smiled nervously at Queen Haven.
Sparky holds up the trumpet as he inhales to play it again, but Hitch panicky snatched the trumpet from Sparky as he tossed it away as the trumpet whined from the toss, not wanting Sparky to do that if he used his dragon fire again.
Queen Haven then walked to the throne that Pipp brought down to one end of the table as Hitch came to her with a smile. “Your Royal Hoofness!” He said as he presented the throne to Queen Haven.
“Oh. Thank you.” Queen Haven thanked Hitch with a smile as she sat on the throne.
“Now, we have an exquisite array of classic Harvest and Hugs Day tea blends freshly prepared by our master teasmith Izzy.” Hitch said as he brought Izzy next to him, who was smiling nervously along with Hitch.
Queen Haven then gasped happily. “Do you have elderberry bushel blast?! It's a Zephyr Heights classic!” She said with her hooves on her cheeks.
“Well, we certainly didn't destroy it all in a fire before you got here!” Hitch said as he gave a nervous laugh, before a peanut hit him on the head. “Ah!” He called out as he turned to Sunset, who is holding a stack of nuts while shaking her head, understanding that they are nervous, she is too, but Hitch really needs to work on his acting.
Izzy gave a nervous laugh as well before she spoke. “Elderberry bushel blast comin' up!” She said as she zipped away to the kitchen. Izzy goes to a pot in front of her as she starts muttering and places some stuff in the pot, not knowing what elderberry bushel blasts are made of so she just has to improvise. “Little of this... Little bit of this... Um, okay, that'll work…” She muttered nervously as she began to stir.
Queen Haven saw Izzy as she gave a confused look. “Is that a... new recipe?” She asked, not sure what Izzy is doing.
“No new recipes.” Sunny called out nervously as she was shredding some carrots while Sunset was still stirring.
“Yeah. Tea can be made in many ways, just add what you know.” Sunset added as she kept stirring.
“Yeah. Just good old-fashioned, age-tested tradition.” Sunny added, but in her haste, she accidentally tossed what’s left of the carrot she was shredding as it flew into the air, which made Sunny and Sunset worried about this.
Hitch is carrying the tea Izzy made as the carrot piece Sunny tossed fell in front of him as he slipped on it from one of his hooves. “Aah! Whoa!” He cried out, but as he tried to gain balance, the contents of the tea Izzy made spilled out of the pot as it splattered all over the kitchen. Izzy screamed as she ducked for cover of the incoming contents, Queen Have ducked when some came close to her when it hit the throne seat. Hitch kept screaming as he slipped and flopped to the table with the tea Izzy made spilled out from it as Queen Haven cringed at it. “Just how you like it! Right?” He asked nervously.
At the kitchen, Sunny, Sunset, and Zipp smiled as Sunny held up the carrot cake batter. “Carrot cake 2.0 ready to go into the... broken oven. Ugh!” She groaned, having forgotten that Sparky’s fire broke the oven so they can’t use that. “How are we gonna bake a cake without an oven?” She asked the others.
“I don’t know. If I have fire abilities, I would bake it in an instant but that will burn it to a crisp faster.” Sunset said, while having no fire abilities at all, she is having flashbacks when her demon-half was firebase, so even if she does have fire abilities, it will not be helpful.
Zipp gives a nervous look as she groans, knowing she has something that might work, but it was something she wished to not show the others. “Hold on tight. I might have something.” She said embarrassedly to the others.
A little bit later, Zipp returned with a small pink oven as she gave an embarrassed look to Sunny and Sunset.
“You have a Bakey-Boo Oven?!” Sunny asked in a cute tone as she smiled cutely with sparkles in her eyes, remembering she had one as well when she was a filly.
Sunset chuckled at Zipp for having it, never knowing Zipp even had this as she found this cute as well, if Twilight was out of the necklace, she would giggle at this as well. “That’s something we never knew about you, Zipp. Didn’t take you for a baker pretender.” She said with a smirk and chuckle.
“I used to make Harvest and Hugs Day fairy cakes, okay?” Zipp explained quickly in embarrassment to the two, while Sunset still gives off a smirk at Zipp while Sunny is still smiling cutely with sparkles in her eyes. “I was a filly. I'm not proud of it.” She added with a raised eyebrow as she placed her old filly oven on the counter next to them.
“Awww, I think it's sweet!” Sunny said in a cute tone while Sunset kept smirking, Zipp still feels embarrassed knowing that her friends won’t forget this. “All right, let's do this!” Sunny declared as she now got serious.
Zipp opened her old oven as Sunny placed it inside as she closed it and set it on ‘5:0’ as it began to bake.
“We might actually pull this one off.” Sunset said with a smile, seeing that this might be where they pull this off.
“Mmmm!” Queen Haven’s voice is heard, which startled the trio as they turned and saw Queen Haven behind them. “That carrot cake smells divine!” She said with a smile, with Pipp behind her, while biting her hooves again in panic.
Sunny, Sunset and Zipp tried to block her view of the oven to make sure she doesn’t see the unfinished cake. “Well, Zipp taught us the family recipe, so it should be... delicious?” Sunny said nervously as she, Sunset and Zipp looked on nervously as they began to sweat.
Pipp kept biting her hooves nervously at this as she then zip off and grab her giant music speaker as she placed it next to Sparky. Pipp then brought out her phone as she place a bluegrass music, but she didn’t realizes once she start playing it, it is so loud that she didn’t know the volume was up, which startled Pipp as she jumped, it even startled Sparky from the loud sound as he tries to cover his ears.
Sunset, Sunny, Zipp and Queen Haven turned and saw this as Pipp landed on Sparky’s tail, which made the baby dragon scream in pain as he released one of his dragon fires in the process as Pipp gave an apology look at Sparky for stepping on his tail.
Izzy ducked from Sparky’s dragon fire, but the tea she made was tossed into the air as it landed on Sunny’s face as she tries to get it off, but she tripped and opened Zipp’s oven, which caused the carrot cake it was baking to spit out and hit on Queen Haven’s face.
The Mane 6 looked in shock and panic while Pipp and Hitch screamed at this as well.
Pipp got next to her mother as she got the cake of Queen Haven’s face, who is giving wide eyes at what happened. “We're so sorry, Mom!” She cried out as let her tears go as Queen Haven looked at her daughter. “We had everything prepared, but then it caught fire, and the tea exploded, and the cake dissolved, and now we've ruined your favorite holiday! She cried out quickly.
Queen Haven gives her daughter a sympathetic look, not mad at all. “Pipp, my dear, calm down. You've not "ruined" anything.” She said to Pipp.
Pipp calmed down as she turned to her mother. “Well, you're wearing the traditional carrot cake as a face mask, so we're not exactly winning.” She pointed out the carrot cake content still on her mother’s face to prove her point.
Queen Haven then wiped the contents off her face as she looked at her daughter. “You think I like Harvest and Hugs Day just because of a cake?” She asked her daughter with a smile.
Pipp thought of what her mother just asked. “Um... kinda?” She answered unsure.
“Well, it is delicious, but no.” Queen Haven said with a smile, while admitting that the carrot cake is good but that’s not why she loved Harvest & Hugs Day as the Mane 6 gathered around as they listened to Queen Haven, wondering what she was saying. “Look, when I was growing up, Harvest and Hugs Day was one of the few days a year we managed to get all the family together.” She stated as she brought up an old picture of a Young Queen Haven who was sitting while her family gathered around her with their Harvest & Hugs Day feast on the table as Zipp came close to her mother and sister as she and Pipp smiled. “That's why I love it so much. Because we were always together.” She added as she hugged her daughters close to her.
Sunset smiled at Queen Haven’s words. “She’s right. It’s not the feast, decorations or all that for Harvest & Hugs Day, it's about spending time with your friends and family and enjoying each other's company. And I remember from what Applejack told me when she’s having her Apple Family reunion, that it’s not the traditions or food or games they used to do, it’s spending time with one another to the family and friends you spent time with.” She said with a smile, having learned from Princess Twilight of how Applejack had her family reunion and how human Applejack did something similar.
“Sunset is right on the nose, dears.” Queen Haven said to them with a smile. “We could be eating mud pie and worm stew for all I care.” She jokingly said with a smile.
“Now, that I can do!” Izzy cheered with a smirk while picking at the weird tea she made, thinking about what Queen Haven just said, seeing those as an upgrade compared to the tea she made.
“Don’t you even think about it, Izzy.” Sunset called out, not wanting Izzy to make those things.
“Come on, ponies.” Queen Haven called out to the others. “Let's get whatever food we can find, throw it on the table, and make some precious memories together.” She declared as the Mane 6 smiled at her idea.
Sometime later, Izzy set a bowl of pinecones on the table.
Pipp is passing the plates to her mother as they smile with each other.
Sunny and Zipp baked a loaf of bread on Zipp’s oven as they smiled at their accomplishment.
Sunset is making some apple pie that she learned from human Applejack for dessert as she sits it on the table once it’s finished.
Once the table is set, the Mane 6 are enjoying their meal while Queen Haven watches them with a smile, enjoying their moment with them.
Sparky came behind Queen Haven as he giggled at her with a smile.
Queen Haven smiled at the baby dragon next to her. “Sparky, could you do the honors and get this feast underway?” She asked the baby dragon as she gave him the trumpet.
Sparky smiled as he grabs the trumpet as he took a deep breath to begin to blow the trumpet.
The Mane 6 saw this, knowing what might happen when Sparky blows into the trumpet since Queen Haven doesn’t know of it. “No, no, no, nooooo!” The Mane 6 cried out in unison and panic as this is something Sparky shouldn’t do after his last attempt with the trumpet.
End of Chapter 35.