//------------------------------// // It's a Piece of Cake to Bake a Pretty Cake // Story: Friendship Camp // by theworstwriter //------------------------------// The trumpet call hammered home an important lesson. It was stupid of me—of all of us—to stay up as late as we did. I groaned and flopped toward the edge of the bed, forgetting I’d snagged a top bunk and thunking into the floor. I’d taken plenty of harsher landings, but not usually so early in the morning. I winced and sucked some air through my teeth, grabbing hold of the leg I’d bonked against the wood. Rumble rolled over, mumbling incoherently. He was cute when he was sleeping, but I had no idea how he was able to ignore the blaring noise outside. Cabin twelve had, as I suspect all the cabins did, three rooms with two beds each. Cabin twelve happened to have three mares and three stallions. Rumble and I drew the short straws and refused to make eye contact afterward, but he looked so peaceful there that I started to think I didn’t mind. The trumpet repeated its call, and this time his eyes creaked open, catching me staring at him. A blink crept across one eye, then the other, as his brain came back online and I stood perfectly still until he noticed me. Then I had the good sense to look away and stammer out my best approximation of a good morning before trotting out of the room. I went over the day’s schedule in my head a few times, just to give myself something else to think about. First, everypony would disperse to have breakfast with their Element. Then, we would group back up by cabin number and Pinkie Pie would take the lead to… do something laughter related. What exactly the activities here were remained a closely guarded secret, I guessed to make sure nopony can plan ahead or cheat or whatever. After Pinkie was done with us was lunch, again by cabin; breakfast was the only time on the first day that we weren’t with our groups. Once we finished eating, Fluttershy would… again, do something relating to Kindness. Then dinner, then whatever we wanted until lights out. Or in our case, until we decided we were done. I guess my body was on autopilot for a while, because after mentally cycling to the end of the day for the third or fourth time, I found myself halfway to breakfast. While I would have to interact with Rumble again sooner or later, I was glad for the chance to run away and gather my thoughts. It was a stupid little crush from years and years ago; it shouldn’t have shut my brain down so quickly. It wasn’t like I was the first pony to get stupid around another pony, but still... Maybe I could ask Rainbow Dash for advice. Or maybe it was better if I didn’t chance opening up old wounds. I shrugged to myself and took a good look around. Sun shining, leaves crunching noisily nearby and rustling softly from afar, birds singing, and delicious smells wafting… later could come later. There was enough to enjoy now, so I did. I took a deep breath of the crisp morning air and strolled onward. A splotch of colors in the distance resolved into the same gathering of ponies I’d been sorted into the day before. Rainbow Dash sat at the far end of an oversized picnic table, shoveling oats into her mouth, and most of the others had started doing the same. It felt a tad surreal seeing so many ponies behaving so similarly, but that was exactly the point of it. The shape of Loyalty was set in stone long before any of us came along to paint some details on it. Our loyalties to our cabins were already established enough that everypony wanted to get back to their group. Or they were all just really hungry. Either way, rather than rebel, I joined in. Flank to seat, oats to mouth. Once I’d had my fill, I stretched and yawned, then took another look around. Some quiet smalltalk drifted around, but everypony radiated eagerness to get on with the day. Every last pony here was not only willing, but happy to do their part. I kept my mouth shut and smiled; Harmony would prevail, in the end. Whatever else worried me, I didn’t doubt that. Our fifth cake crumbled to dust, and Wishing Well started hyperventilating. “Stay calm, everypony,” Shimmer said. “We still have time for two more batches, and if we really squeeze we can probably fit more in the oven.” Pocket Watch threw a spatula off into the woods. “Why should we stay calm? Everything’s ruined! Everything!” Large sacks of dry ingredients and several dozen eggs mocked us from the table, but I managed not to smash anything in anger. “I’m with Pocket. It’s like she gave us a bad recipe or something, because I swear all three of those were perfect.” “They were,” Wishing Well grumbled. “I quadruple checked every step of the way. I made a checklist!” she shouted, waving a piece of paper in the air. Cherry Pie and Rumble remained silent, Cherry staring into the distance and Rumble furiously beating a glob of batter in a bowl. My brow furrowed. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel it. “Well something’s wrong, and if it’s not us it’s the directions we’re following. Maybe that’s part of the test? To figure out what’s wrong and fix it?” Shimmer shook her head. “I don’t know about that. It doesn’t sound like the kind of test Pinkie Pie would set up.” “Doesn’t fit,” Cherry mumbled. “Yeah. It doesn’t.” Pocket scowled. “I bet all the others are done by now, being congratulated by Pinkie and enjoying their cake and… and… and laughing at us!” Cherry’s head snapped in his direction, and without a word, she trotted to the table and grabbed an egg. She held it in front of herself and turned it over a few times before stepping in front of Pocket Watch and holding it out in front of him with the most vacant expression on her face I’d ever seen. “Yes, Cherry, it’s an egg. Good job. You win the prize.” She stood still for a while, then maneuvered the egg to an inch above his head and cracked the shell in half. With a rich “plop” sound, the contents of the egg settled neatly atop his mane, somehow clinging in place rather than dripping or drooping down to the earth. He blinked. Five seconds passed, and he blinked again. Then she pulled out another egg she’d apparently been holding. The air crackled and the wind howled. She held the egg in front of him and slowly started lifting it over his head again, but this time he blocked her hoof with his. “Cherry, far be it from me to question you on the test of your element, but WHAT IN BLAZES ARE YOU DOING?” Cherry smiled. “That’s the whole point. The others are all laughing.” She whirled around and threw the egg at my face, then dove for the rest of the ingredients and started up her own personal hurricane. I scrambled for cover, pulling Rumble and Shimmer with me. Pocket Watch and Wishing Well disappeared into the storm, and my cowering compatriots trembled. Before I could remember to be embarrassed for huddling next to Rumble, I was hit. First with a mushy clump of moist flour, and then with another egg. I tried to shout out something to stop or slow the madness, but my pleas went unheard. I decided. If we weren’t going to bake those cakes, and these were the tracks this train was on, I might as well have my revenge. I rolled out from behind the bush and ran for the remains of the fifth cake. Ducking beneath an egg, I skidded to a stop and scooped up a hoofful. My best impersonation of a professional shot put thrower was pretty good, and that cake was a surprisingly effective paint. Cherry snorted and fell to the ground, rocking back and forth. Rumble’s head poked out and his mouth opened, but before he could make a sound a wad of what I can only assume was the first cake flew down his throat. At that, I joined Cherry on the ground, caught in strange, spasmic convulsions that made it hard to breathe. I was laughing. Laughing at the absurdity of a group of relatively mature ponies forgoing their responsibilities and starting a food fight. At the sheer dumb luck of Rumble’s uninvited meal. Pocket Watch might have been right. Everything might have been ruined. But I couldn’t bring myself to be upset. After a few minutes, when I managed to stand upright again, I noticed we were all filthy and out of breath as we reconvened. I took a good, deep breath of my own to fix that and saw that we were all smiling. Me personally so much so that my face hurt, and Cherry so much so I wondered how her face stayed intact. We all succumbed to the same fit of laughter, somehow finding our trainwreck funny. Cherry flipped the table over and smiled at the rest of us. I smiled back. “Well, now what? Cookies?” A giggle fell out of a nearby tree, followed by Pinkie Pie. Before we could do much more than blink, she wrapped all of us in a great big sloppy hug. “I am super-duper happy that you guys made it! Every year two or three groups can’t do it and for a little while I was worried, but then Cherry here picked up the egg and… well, you all know the rest!” Wish and Pocket simultaneously blurted “...What?” I almost joined them, but I understood in the nick of time and managed to only feel like an idiot instead of proving it. Pinkie Pie bounced away into the distance, and Cherry giggled. “I’m glad, too. At first I was worried Pocket would get mad at me.” Failing to suppress a guffaw, Pocket Watch shook his head. “I did. I’m going to have to take a very thorough shower to get all of this gunk out of my mane and coat, and I still don’t have a clue why you felt the need to start a food fight.” The perplexed look washed off of Wishing Well’s face. “Oh! That’s… I didn’t realize Pinkie Pie was so brilliant!” “Still lost, here!” “We already went over that, didn’t we?” Shimmer asked. “She gave us a bad recipe.” Pocket frowned. “That doesn’t really answer much, does it?” “Are you kidding? It answers everything!” Cherry twirled around, forehooves thrown up into the air. “Why would a test of Laughter have anything to do with baking a cake?” Pocket’s frown deepened. “That’s what—” “It wouldn’t!” Cherry interrupted, booping him on the nose. “Everything we do here is a bonding exercise, but each of the Elements of Harmony tries to put some of their own spin on it, to help show us how and why their element is important. And this was a pretty easy one!” Pocket started to open his mouth again, but Wishing Well stopped him. “What’s one of the most important things to do in the face of adversity?” “Do I get to guess this time?” he asked. “If you want, I suppose.” He sighed. “No.” “Aww, cheer up. You already proved you have what it takes.” Cherry beamed at him. “Staying positive,” Wishing Well said. “Understand?” “Maybe?” He glanced down at himself. “Do we have time to shower before lunch?” I turned toward the trail back to our cabin. “Definitely, but I’m going first,” I said as I took off down the path. “Second!” he screamed, nearly tripping over himself at the start of a very sudden gallop. “Third!” Wishing Well shouted. “ Thir—” Rumble started, just a moment too late. I didn’t hear the rest, but I did get that first shower, and I didn’t stop smiling. “Do they all have to be so inscrutable?” Wishing Well moaned, turning and pointing the light of her horn down a path with a little bit less dripping moisture than the others. “I think they kinda do,” Rumble said. “If they just told us exactly what to do, it wouldn’t really be much of a test. My brother was super careful to keep as much hidden from me as he could. I mean, I did get a few things out of him, but nothing that would really help here.” He poked his face and his lantern around the corner for a second. “All we can do is find our way out, which I think might be this way.” There were more small rocks and pebbles in that direction, which seemed good. There had been more closer to the entrance, as well. “I’d rather not risk messing it up,” I said. “I’m sure we can figure out what the real test is if we just think about it. What might happen in a cave that would require kindness?” Pocket Watch cleared his throat. “Are we even sure it’s that simple? They have to do more than just tell us to be the elements over and over.” Before I could respond, a deep rumbling shook the walls around us. All but the largest rocks rattled around and a stalactite looked dangerously close to breaking off and falling. “Everypony okay?” I asked. “Whatever the test is supposed to be is gonna have to wait.” Cherry opened her mouth, let out a low squeal, then tried again. “W-what was that?” Rumbled took a deep breath. “That could have been any number of things. An earthquake, an accident with one of the other groups, or maybe something meant to scare us. It doesn’t matter, though. Scootaloo’s right.” He put a hoof on my shoulder. “They told us right at the start that safety overrides everything else here, so I agree that we need to get to safety.” The cave trembled again, this time punctuated with a loud roar. Everypony’s eyes went wide. Pocket Watch blinked. “A dragon? Here?” “Maybe,” Shimmer said. “They have an awful long flight range.” “No way,” Wishing Well said, “we’re well clear of the border.” “...Ponyville was well clear of the border,” Shimmer mumbled. In a blink, I had her pinned and whimpering against the wall. “Whoa, whoa, back up,” Pocket said, physically pulling me back, despite my thrashing. “What’d she do, huh?” “You do not bring up what happened to Ponyville to make a point,” I snarled. Rumble stepped up next to me. “It’s okay, Scootaloo. She didn’t mean anything other than we should be careful. And we should, like you said.” “I’m not sure it is okay, Rumble! Shimmer here doesn’t seem to understand just how much we lost. How many ponies died, and the countless more that still haven’t healed.” A few beads of sweat dripped off of my chin. I’d probably pushed her harder than I meant to. “It’s alright. Just set it aside for now. I’m not even telling you to forget about it, just to worry later when we know we’re all safe.” He fixed a soft but steady gaze at me. “Okay?” I exhaled. “Okay.” Pocket let me go. Shimmer rubbed a hoof at her back and winced. “I’m sorry. I just… I’m from Ponyville, and… and… usually I’m okay. Usually I just remember the good times, but...” I thought I felt tears welling up, but nothing came. “I’m sorry,” Shimmer said as she hugged me. “If you want, we can talk about it later.” “But right now, we need to leave,” Wishing Well finished. Everypony nodded. “We’re deep enough into the cave that it’s worth following this path for a little longer and hoping it leads out. Even assuming we don’t get lost, going back the way we came would take too long to be our first choice.” I wiped at my eyes, finding them still dry, and steadied my breathing. “I can go scout ahead pretty quick.” Wishing Well nodded again. “Please do.” “Come back if you don’t find anything in the next five minutes,” Cherry said. “Being alone too long isn’t a good idea.” “Sure.” As fast as I could, I tore down the tunnel. The rocks got more, then less numerous. There wasn’t any hint of outside light. As I moved forward, I thought I heard the echoes of breathing. With some time to spare and a lot more curiosity than could be healthy, I decided to press on against my uneasiness and see who it was. Maybe they knew the way out, or maybe they were in need of as much help as we were. But instead of finding somepony, I just found the breathing getting louder and louder, and then the cave shook again. Two stalactites broke off, and one of them tried to impale me, but I managed to roll to the side as it shattered against the ground. The quaking settled down, along with the breathing, only for another roar to rip through the air. I turned around and dashed back toward the group, almost slamming into Pocket Watch when they showed up much closer than I’d left them. He was sweating. “We have a problem. The tunnel behind us collapsed.” “Make that two problems,” I replied. “This is definitely not a direction we want to go.” “Why?” Rumble asked. Another roar answered him. “Trapped between a rock and a dragon,” Cherry said. No smile. We all sat, still and silent, for a very long couple of seconds. And then we heard the breathing. Shimmer looked like she was about to break down sobbing. Pocket and Cherry quivered a little. Wishing Well looked like she was about to throw up. “What do we do now?” Rumble asked. Wishing Well closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath. “I can… try to teleport us out of here. I’m not… I’m not very good at it, and I’ve only ever done two ponies at once.” She grimaced. “Worse, I’ve only teleported along a line of sight.” I winced. “Anypony else got any ideas?” I looked around the group and waited. “No?” “Um, maybe?” Shimmer squeaked. All eyes turned to her. “We could… talk… to… it?” she offered with a badly forced smile. “I can see where you get that. Fluttershy had been known to talk down a lot of creatures, and that sounds like the kind of test for her element I could understand.” Wishing Well shook her head. “But this isn’t a manticore, or a cockatrice, or anything else sensible. Maybe before, but not now. Not after all they’ve done. Dragons don’t negotiate anymore.” As if to emphasize that statement, the tell-tale dance of firelight shone in the distance behind me.