The bells on the bakery door chimed again as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon entered, clearly intent on after-school snacks.
“Hmph. This is so tacky!” Diamond Tiara sniffed, unimpressed with the party decor. The two fillies strode up to the counter.
“We’ll have two fruit tarts!” she demanded. Mr. Cake finished adjusting a tablecloth before returning to his place at the counter.
“Such terrible service!” Silver Spoon complained. Mr. Cake pulled the pastries out from the case.
“That’ll be one bit, girls,” he said. Diamond Tiara sniffed again and threw the coin on the counter.
Silver Spoon had just taken a bite out of her tart when Derpy and Pinkie emerged from the kitchen,each carrying a steaming tray of blueberry muffins.
“Look! Look! I made muffins!” Derpy exclaimed, the tray bouncing in her mouth. Pinkie put her own tray of perfect muffins down on a table and smiled at her friends. Derpy followed her motion and placed her tray next to Pinkie’s. Her muffins were lopsided and slightly burned, but she didn’t seem to care.
“Oh, Derpy, those look... really nice,” Fluttershy said.
“Nice! Ha!” Diamond Tiara snorted, “Those are, like, the stupidest muffins I’ve ever seen!”
“Yeah! Those are muffins? I thought they were, like, trash!” Silver Spoon added.
“Of course they’re stupid,” Diamond sneered, “Bubble-brain here made them. Looks like she can’t do anything right.”
Derpy’s ears drooped.
“Well,” said a familiar voice, “that certainly isn’t any way for young ponies to behave.”
“Princess!” Twilight gasped. The ponies in the bakery knelt as Princess Celestia walked into the building, flanked by two of her pegasus guards. The fillies stared at her in shock.
“Diamond Tiara! Silver Spoon! Haven’t you learned anything about friendship? Little ponies should never tease others. Apologize at once!” Celestia ordered sternly. The two fillies, left with no other choice, muttered apologies to Derpy Hooves.
“I think you should be getting home now. Both of you.” It wasn’t a suggestion. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon slunk out of the bakery, leaving their treats behind.
Her tone gentle again, the Princess greeted each of the six friends and the Cakes by name. Then she turned to Derpy, who still looked sad.
“I think those are lovely muffins. May I have one?”
Derpy’s ears pricked up, and she smiled.
“Sure!” she exclaimed, skipping over to Celestia with the tray in her mouth. The Princess levitated one out of the tray and took a bite. She smiled.
“Oh, these are good!” she exclaimed. Derpy gave a big grin.
“Of course they’re good” she said, ‘they’re muffins!”
“Huh? But...” Rainbow Dash swooped down and snatched one up. “Wow!”, she said through a mouthful of muffin.
“You’re all so silly!” Pinkie Pie laughed, taking a muffin as well, “You think she’d ever make bad muffins?”
Derpy hovered around the room, offering muffins to everypony, even the guards. The two pegasi were initially unresponsive, but at Celestia’s prompting, they were soon enjoying the muffins along with the rest of the ponies. Rarity took a cup of tea as well, and Applejack finished Diamond Tiara’s untouched fruit tart.
“I do apologize for being late,” the Princess said, “You can’t imagine how difficult it was to convince the court at Canterlot to let me come here with only two guards. Arrow Point and Light Speed here are new additions to the guard,” She nodded at the pegasi, “They’re recruits from Cloudsdale. They were feeling a bit homesick, so I told them to go for a visit and pick up some treats. I decided to come along to visit my favorite student and her friends!”
Twilight beamed.
The Cakes emerged from the kitchen carrying boxes of neatly packed banana bread. The guards took these, nodding politely to the bakers. Princess Celestia levitated a pouch of bits to Mr. Cake, who caught it and put it in his saddlebags.
Derpy finished her own muffin and approached Celestia.
“Princess?”
“Yes, my little pony?”
“Thank you for coming here! Pinkie Pie really deserves it! She’s the best baker-party-maker-pony ever!”
The Princess laughed. “Yes, little one. And I gather you’ve all learned a valuable lesson about friendship.”
“What, ‘new friends make really good parties?’ ” Pinkie suggested, confused. “I already knew that!”
“Yes, Pinkie Pie. That’s an important lesson. But there’s one other.”
“I know! I know!” Derpy cheered, bouncing up and down, “friends make good muffins together!”
Everypony laughed at this.
“That too,” said Celestia, “but what else have you learned today?” She looked at Twilight.
“Maybe...” Twilight began, “Maybe it’s that everypony deserves to have a friend.”
“And that you should never exclude anypony who needs one,” Rainbow Dash continued, “even if they seem different or silly.”
“Yes, my little ponies,” Princess Celestia said.
Derpy chimed in with another lesson: “And having friends is really really fun!”