//------------------------------// // A Special Gift // Story: The Muffin Mishap // by ilikefrenchfries1010 //------------------------------// "Oh boy! Derpy's gonna love this!" Pinkie screamed, unable to contain her excitement. "Hey Pinkie!" shouted a sleepy stallion from the upstairs bedroom, "Could you please be a little more quiet?" "Whoops! Sorry Mr. Cake!" Pinkie stirred the batter extra slowly, taking care not to create any loud racket as she continued to work on her masterpiece. She didn't want the Cakes to be miserable and grumpy later during the day anyway. She made sure to wake up extra early so she would have sufficient time to work on her latest creation. "Hmm... would Derpy rather the hot sauce sprinkles or the banana sprinkles?" Pinkie pondered. After spending five minutes weighing the pros and cons of each choice, she came upon a suitable decision. "I'll just add both!" Do you know the muffin mare, the muffin mare the muffin mare, Do you know the muffin mare who lives in Ponyvi— *Click* Derpy let out a very loud yawn as she slowly rose out of bed, her alarm clock having effectively woken her up. She was usually a bit sluggish in the mornings. Not this morning, however, as she knew that Pinkie Pie had a special surprise for her later. With haste, she completed her morning rituals of brushing her teeth, having a quick shower and eating breakfast before heading off for Sugarcube Corner. As she flew, she pondered what exactly Pinkie had in store for her. She knew that it would most likely be a muffin. However, a certain question remained. "I wonder what kind of muffin it will be." She thought about all of her favorite muffins. "Blueberry, banana, chocolate chip, strawberry, cinnamon, triple ultra mega super dup—" Flying straight into your neighbor's bedroom window was a common side effect of not paying attention while flying. That and the fact that Derpy was... well... Derpy. "Derpy!? What are you doing here!? Get out!" cried Lyra and Bon Bon. "My bad!" replied Derpy. CRASH "My flower pot!" "Whoopsie!" TWANG "Hey! I just fixed that yesterday!" "Sorry!" apologized Derpy, right before she tumbled head over hooves back out the window. The remainder of Derpy's flight was uneventful, she managed to make it to Sugarcube Corner without severely injuring or disturbing somepony else. It was still quite early when she finally arrived at the store. Derpy proceeded to enter the store, but was prevented from doing so when a certain pink mare materialized behind her and shoved her in quickly. "Get in quick, Derpy! It's almost time!" squealed an excited Pinkie Pie as she pushed Derpy in. Pinkie then proceeded to close and barricade every window, door, or opening which could be found in the bakery. "Pinkie is everything—" Derpy began before being silenced by a hoof in her mouth. "Shh.... this is a very secret surprise I'm going to show you. Not just anypony can witness this sacred moment," replied Pinkie. After removing her hoof from Derpy's mouth, Pinkie Pie proceeded to lead Derpy into the basement. Derpy had several more questions but decided against asking them. Having a hoof shoved in your mouth was not a very pleasant experience, even if said hoof tasted like candy. The basement was pitch black. Derpy couldn't see her hooves or Pinkie Pie as they stumbled around. Were it not for Pinkie's inane chattering, she would have been lost by now. "So, where are we going?" "..." Pinkie stopped talking. Pinkie never stopped talking. Something was obviously wrong. Derpy broke into a cold sweat as her mind conjured fearsome images. Suddenly a certain pink mare appeared behind Derpy and proceeded to wrap her in a vicious hug. In that instant, several spotlights which were strategically placed along the ceiling came to life and lit up a single spot in the center of the room. "Surprise!" screamed Pinkie. Surprisingly, Derpy didn't even flinch. No, her derpy eyes were fixated on one object and one object only. That magnificent baked good which was being illuminated by the dazzling array of spotlights. "Muffin!" yelled Derpy. Derpy grabbed the muffin in a very Daring Doo like manner. She then examined its every detail. It was the size of a watermelon. Its fluffy texture was quite pleasant to the touch. It was delicately smothered in vanilla and chocolate frosting. Derpy could see traces of blueberry, banana, chocolate chip, strawberry, cinnamon, and even triple ultra mega super duper— "Hey!" Pinkie interrupted Derpy's examination, "Be careful with that muffin! You have no idea how long it took me to get the correct ratio of muffin to frosting!" "Sorry Pinkie," replied a sad Derpy. "It's fine," Pinkie said dismissively, "do you like it?" To answer her question, Derpy proceeded to take a bite out of said muffin. Her face immediately contorted into a mixture of happiness and pleasure. The incredible flavor assaulted her taste buds with the power of a thousand of Celestia's suns. "Wow! This is incredible Pinkie," Derpy praised, smiling in her approval. "I'm glad you like it Derpy, anything for a friend of mine," replied Pinkie. "Come on now, I'll lead you back upstairs." "Mmmhmm." said Derpy with a mouthful of muffin. "Oh, by the way Derpy," said Pinkie Pie, "be very very careful with that muffin. It must not fall into the wrong hooves!" "Why? What's so bad about my muffin? Muffins are wonderful!" replied Derpy. "Oh, there is nothing wrong with that muffin Derpy," said Pinkie. "But my Pinkie sense has been giving me strange warnings. Why just this morning, I had an ear twitch followed by a tail wag and an itchy eyeball! Or maybe my eye was just itchy... oh well it doesn't matter! Just, try to avoid having too many people taste it. The consequences could be dire!" Derpy gave a sharp salute in return, but not without smacking herself in the forehead. Derpy could not keep her eyes off of the muffin during her flight home. She had decided that rather than eating it like a normal mare, she would put it up on a display table in her bedroom. It would be the perfect home decoration! Pinkie had really outdone herself this time. "I should probably ask Twilight to cast a preservation spell on it to keep it from going stale as well," thought Derpy, "Maybe even a voice activated magical barrier!" With a new destination in mind, Derpy set a course for the Ponyville Library. "Ahh... finally finished." sighed Twilight. Reshelving all of the books in the library by categorzing and alphabetizing was not an easy feat. She didn't even have Spike's assistance as he was busy running errands as usual. Nevertheless, she had finished. Pleased with herself, Twilight set some tea to boil and pulled up one of her new favorite books. *CRASH* Twilight jolted from her seat. That crash no doubt meant trouble for her precious books. She quickly ran to the source of the violent noise. "Rainbow Dash! You are in so much trouble when I get to you!" yelled Twilight. Upon arrival, Twilight was greeted not by a certain rainbow pegasus, but by Derpy. "Hiyah Twilight!" Derpy greeted with a wave. Twilight mentally shoved her frustration into the dark recesses of her mind. Rainbow Dash was careless when she decided to use the library as a crash landing spot, Derpy, however, couldn't help it. The fact that every single book in the llibrary was now scattered in a haphazard manner on the floor really wasn't helping Twilight control herself, friendship expert or not. "Hello Derpy, welcome to the library!" beamed Twilight through a facade of happiness and sunshine. "Wow, wait a minute, is Derpy actually here to try and read a book? Oh boy! I knew that she would eventually succumb to the wonders of literature, just like Rainbow Dash." The thought of a new pony joining the book bandwagon brightened Twilight's sour mood. "Did you come here to pick up a book? If you give me a few minutes I can have the library somewhat re shelved and then you can find something you like!" beamed Twilight. "Well actually, I'm not really here to pick up a book," Derpy replied. "Why am I not surprised." thought Twilight. "Well then, what can I do for you Derpy? "I was hoping you could cast some of your magical spells on my awesome new muffin." "Why would you need me to cast some spells on your muffin? Well, I guess I could cast a taste amplifying spell, but that would require quite a bit of preparation. Maybe if I could figure out some way to alter its physical structure I can apply Starswirl the Bearded's Spell of Cellular A-" "Twilight!" interrupted Derpy. "Oops! Sorry, I guess I got a bit carried away," Twilight blushed. "Anyway, what exactly do you want me to do with your muffin?" In response, Derpy reached into her saddlebag and pulled out Pinkie's muffin. Twilight's pupils slowly enlarged as she took in the awesomeness infront of her eyes. "I was hoping you could maybe cast a fancy preservation spell on it to keep it from going stale," said Derpy. "A muffin this amazing deserves to be put up on display." "Wouldn't you rather eat it like, well, anyone else would?" Twilight asked. "Nope!" responded Derpy. "Well... I guess I have nothing else to do anyway," thought Twilight. "Tell you what Derpy, if you help me reshelve all of these tumbled up books, I'll be more than happy to help you with your... muffin issues." "Deal!" A few hours later, Derpy and Twilight were almost finished with re shelving the library. Things would have gone by much quicker if Derpy hadn't kept placing books in the wrong sections or knocking them over by mistake. Twilight, however, didn't mind much as she enjoyed the mare's company. "So Derpy, that muffin must be really special for you to want to display it rather than eat it," said Twilight in an effort to break the silence. "It is Twilight!" replied Derpy. "Pinkie gave it to me! It is also the most delicious muffin I've ever tasted in my life! And I've probably eaten at least... ten muffins in my lifetime!" Twilight rolled her eyes. She knew for a fact that the mare had eaten tens of thousands of muffins by now. She probably ate muffins for breakfast, lunch, dinner and as a quick snack. She couldn't help but glance at the muffin sitting on the table. Honestly, it was a really fantastic muffin, disregarding the fact that there was a small chunk bitten off already. "Hey, Derpy, do you think that I could maybe have a little bite?" Derpy did a slight double take. She loved to share and make other ponies happy. However, one does not simply ask Derpy for a bite of her muffin. Derpy mulled it over in her head. She would probably refuse if Lyra or Bon Bon had asked. Twilight, however, was a good friend. In the end, Derpy decided that Twilight could have a bite. Maybe just a nibble. Reluctantly, Derpy grabbed the muffin from the table and offered it to Twilight. "Here Twilight, you can have a little piece," said Derpy. "Thank you!" Twilight grabbed the muffin from Derpy's outstretched hoof. Ever so slowly, she brought the muffin closer and closer to her mouth. Twilight had to fight to keep from giggling as she watched Derpy's eyes trace the muffin as Opalescence would with a ball of yarn. After what seemed like a eternity to Derpy, Twilight finally took a tiny bite out of the muffin. "Is everything alright Twilight?" Derpy inquired. "What happened to your pupils? And why are you trembling so much? It isn't that cold." Twilight continued to stare at the muffin as if entranced by it. "Twilight, can I have my muffin back now?" No response. Derpy began to grow anxious as Twilight remained unresponsive. Suddenly, she gave a violent outburst. "Muffins!" cackled Twilight. Derpy found Twilight's laugh rather silly, she began to join in. "Muffins!" yelled Derpy. "Muffins!" yelled Twilight. "Muffins!" screamed Derpy. "Muffins!" screamed Twilight. Derpy was enjoying herself quite a bit, who knew Twilight was also a muffin fanatic? However all the fun stopped when Twilight slowly brought the muffin to her mouth once more. Time stopped as Derpy frantically launched herself at Twilight with speed to rival Rainbow Dash. "Noooooooo!" Derpy yelled as she deftly snatched the muffin from Twilight. Twilight came back to her senses once the muffin was out of her sight. "Oh, my head hurts," Twilight said, "What just happened?" "You almost ate my muffin!" Derpy whined. "I did?" thought Twilight, "What got over me?" "Sorry Derpy, I guess your muffin was just too good to resist." "It's alright Twilight. Just please don't threaten my muffin like that again." "She really does love her muffins." Twilight snickered. "Why did that muffin entrance me like that though? I sure hope Pinkie didn't add that "special" ingredient I warned her about a long time ago. Nah, Pinkie wouldn't be silly enough to do that. Or would she..." "Hey Twilight, would you mind enchanting my muffin now?" Derpy asked. "Oh of course!" After hoofing the muffin over, Derpy watched in amazement as Twilight's horn began to glow and give off wisps off smoke-like gas. The wisps swirled around the muffin in a beautiful dance until they finally became infused with it. "Well, that should prevent the muffin from going stale for about a year or so. It's still safe to eat in case you were wondering." "Thanks Twilight!" shouted Derpy. "You're awesome!" "Oh it was nothing. Now, I was wondering if you'd be interested in this book... Derpy?" Derpy was nowhere to be seen of course. She had quickly left the building the moment after she thanked Twilight, being eager to show her muffin around town. However, little did poor Derpy know that her muffin was soon to be in danger.