Twilight entered Sugar Cube Corner to find it in a state of controlled chaos. The Cakes were racing between the front and back rooms, hurriedly assembling an order from the looks of the trays and boxes. Through the back door she could see their cart half-loaded. The foals watched their parents from high chairs, tracking the adult ponies with wide-eyed interest. They caught sight of Pinkie and burst into delighted squeals. Smiling, Twilight trotted over to the twins and gave each one a nuzzle in greeting.
"Good morning, Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake said as she dashed by, a tray of cookies balanced on her back.
"Sleep well?" Mr. Cake asked as he ran by, headed for the oven.
"Yes! I ended up sleeping over at Twilight's."
Mrs. Cake stopped boxing the pastries for the order and gave Twilight a look of motherly concern. "Are you sure you're feeling well dear? You seem a bit tired."
Twilight mentally face-hoofed. She'd already forgotten to be more like Pinkie. She smiled and perked up. "I'm just fine Mrs. Cake!" Since Mrs. Cake didn't look convinced, Twilight decided to deflect her attention. "You guys sure look busy. How can I help?" She bounced in place. That seemed to do the trick as Mrs. Cake's attention returned to the order.
"The foals are going to want breakfast any moment," Mrs. Cake said as she wrapped string around the pastry box with dexterity Twilight hoped she wouldn't have to match without more practice.
As if on cue, the twins began to fuss, Pound Cake banging his hooves on the tray of his high chair, his sister's lower lip trembled, eyes brimming with imminent tears.
"I'm on it, Mrs. Cake! Don't you worry," Twilight said as she cantered over to the pantry.
She'd seen Pinkie prepare the Twin's breakfast before and had even helped a few times. The Cakes had already started mixing the twins breakfast formula. All Twilight had to do was make sure it wasn't too hot or too cold, then feed them. It would have been an easy task if she were still a unicorn, but manipulating everything without her magic slowed the process down a little. The foals fussing grew louder as Twilight fumbled with the bottles. Okay, so it slowed the process down a lot.
"Everything okay in there Pinkie?" Mrs. Cake called back from the front of the shop.
"-ees!" Twilight mumbled around the pot handle between her teeth. She finished pouring. "I mean, Yes!" Twilight said after setting the pot back on the stove. She screwed the lids on the bottles and hurried over to the twins. She held her breath as the foals began to eat.
Pumpkin made a face, her bottle ignored for the moment. Twilight took a step forward in concern. Was the bottle too hot? Too cold? Incorrect? Pumpkin's cute little nose twisted, her eyes scrunching closed. Twilight took another step closer and the little filly promptly let out a roof-shaking burp.
Twilight fell back in surprise, tripping over her own hooves and landing on her rump. Pumpkin sighed, picked up her bottle, and resumed her breakfast. Twilight shook herself all over as she stood up, laughing.
"I think I have to give that one a solid eight," she joked, giving the foal a nuzzle. The little filly smiled at Twilight around the bottle, but otherwise was focused on breakfast.
"Everything all right, Pinkie?" Mr. Cake asked as he trotted by with a stack of bakery boxes. He began to expertly fold them into shape.
"Just fine." Twilight said. "Could I help you with those boxes, Mr. Cake?"
"I'd appreciate it!"
Twilight picked the first box off the stack and began to fold it with her hooves. She'd tried her hoof at paper-folding once after a visiting teacher from Neighpon had given her class a lesson. The precise creases and folds had challenged her budding skills at telekinesis. This much simpler shape was somehow harder. Eventually she wrestled the box into the proper shape.
"Ha!"
"Er- Is everything alright, Pinkie?" Mr. Cake asked.
"Oh, Uh. Yes! I guess I'm just a bit of a fumble-hooves this morning," Twilight chuckled. She assembled a second box much more quickly and stacked it on top of the first, turning to grin at Mr. Cake who'd managed to assemble half a dozen in the same time span it had taken her to do one. Mr. Cake eyed her for a heart stopping moment then shrugged.
"I'll go check on the twins," Twilight said. As she trotted back over to the foals she had the strangest sensation in the base of her tail. It was a sort of... Twitchy sensation. Twilight looked back and saw that Pinkie's fluffy tail was indeed twitching. Huh, so this was Pinkie sense. Twilight looked around, wondering what this particular gesture meant.
"Oh!" Mrs. Cake exclaimed. She pointed a hoof at the fluffy pink tail then raced into the other room. "It's going to fall!"
"What's going to- Woah!" Mr. Cake's reply was cut off as there was a clatter of boxes and hooves in the other room.
Twilight raced back into the room and saw Mr. Cake on his back legs, stretched up to an impressive, gangly height as he held a stack of boxes upright. Mrs. Cake was carefully unstacking the topmost boxes while trying to keep her own balance on the counter. Twilight reached with magic she didn't have for a moment then raced over to help take boxes from Mrs. Cake and set them to the side. After a few frantic moments the stack of cupcakes was no longer threatening to topple over. Twilight set the last box down and sighed in relief.
"You know, Pinkie dear, maybe you should take it easy. You don't seem yourself."
"I don't?" Twilight asked, ears dropping.
"Well... You don't seem to have the same... pep," Mr. Cake said. He and Mrs. Cake exchanged a look.
"Well," Twilight hedged, "It was kind of a late night, but don't you worry about me!"
The Cakes exchanged another look and Mr. Cake shrugged and began to move the remaining boxes outside to the delivery cart. Mrs. Cake came over to Twilight and gave her a fond nuzzle.
"We worry about you sometimes, dear. You're like the little sister I never had. I don't want you to run yourself ragged and make yourself sick."
"Aww," Twilight gushed, returning the gesture. "Thanks Mrs. Cake, but-" Twilight paused a second to think what Pinkie would say, "I'm fine, really. And it means so much you and Mr. Cake care."
"Okay, Pinkie."
Twilight sighed as Mrs. Cake let the topic drop. Twilight did her best to feed the twins and stay out of the way of the two earth ponies. Soon the Cake's cart was loaded and the two hauling it down the road as Twilight waved to them.
"Okay!" Twilight said addressing the twins as she turned back into the shop. "What should we do... first." She blinked. Both high chairs were now empty. "So we've reached the escape artist stage of foalhood development." She checked to see that the twins hadn't scurried outside then kicked the door closed with a decisive movement. "Time for some hide and seek."
Twilight looked the room, recalling what Cadence had done when a much younger Twilight Sparkle had escaped her foalsitter's watchful eyes.
"Hmm," she mused in a loud stage whisper. "I wonder where the twins could be?" She waited, listening for foalish giggles and was not disappointed when they came from underneath one of the large shelf units.
"Could they be.... under the sink?" she dramatically looked for them under the kitchen's sink. "Nope! Not there," she said as the giggles grew louder. "Could they be.... In the cabinet? Not there either." Twilight slowly stalked around the kitchen in an exaggerated stalking stance. No wonder Cadence had done this with her, the foal's giggles were infectious and it felt good to amuse them.
"In the oven? In the drawer? In the pantry?" She dramatically opened each in turn, very quickly, ignoring the foals. The pantry turned out to be harder to open without magic than Twilight had expected and she needed to tug on it harder. "In the pantry?" she repeated, voice showing some of the strain of opening the door. The door popped open and her grip slipped, sending her sprawling onto the floor and sliding across the room. She hit the rack on the opposite side and a few pots and pans clattered to the ground around her.
There was silence after the last pot finally rattled to a halt on the floor and the echoes stopped ringing off the walls. Twilight had covered her head with her forelegs to avoid injury. She lifted one leg and saw both twins had come out from under the shelves across the room and were staring at her with huge eyes. Were they afraid? Had the loud noises been too much? Did they think she was hurt and that was upsetting to them? Twilight began to tell them she was fine, and that everything was okay, but was cut off. Huge belly laughs, surprising for their intensity as much as their volume, came from both little foals.
"Huh. Guess you're not traumatized," Twilight said aloud as she got to her feet. "Come here you two!" she pounced on them both for a hug and nuzzle. The foals, happy with this newest game from their favorite sitter, seemed to have no problem with this and were happy to return the affection.
"Okay you two," she said, "We're going to get you settled in your playpen while Auntie Twi- Pinkie Pie cleans up, okay?"
The foals giggled and gurgled at her.
"I will take that as a yes," she said, scooping them up with her head and letting them slide down her neck and mane onto her back for the short trip to the playpen. She hadn't done that since Spike was a very little dragon but still too large for a much-younger Twilight to pick up with magical levitation. It was much easier as an earth pony without a horn to poke at tender bellies.
With the twins settled, at least for now, Twilight began to clean up the mess she'd made in the kitchen. It took longer than it would have if she'd had magic, but she was able to finish fairly quickly, recalling her early years helping to stack clean plates after dinner when she'd been too little to use magic. She looked over her shoulder at the twins in their playpen and smiled. They were playing with some brightly colored blocks and didn't look like they'd be attempting their newly acquired escaping talents. Twilight eyed the kitchen. Pinkie did have some cookies to bake and Twilight hadn't yet experienced baking as an earth pony.