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// Baking Cupcakes 
// Story: Cupcakes and Toothpaste 
// by JourneyCatMLP 
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"Okay, first off, we need flour!" Pinkie ordered.

Colgate looked around.  Applebloom cleaned up the jelly from the floor and walls while Colgate levitated a bag of flour from a nearby counter.  Pinkie made sure to explain to Colgate that it was important to have all the ingredients before beginning to mix and bake.  Each time Pinkie Pie called out another ingredient, Colgate would get it as quickly as possible.  Both mares had agreed to make special peppermint flavored cupcakes so Colgate could still enjoy the cooling taste of mint she got from toothpaste when she ate them.  Pinkie also explained mixing the dry ingredients first was the best idea.  You add the wet ingredients after mixing the dry.  Pinkie hummed the Smile Song as Colgate whisked together everything until the cupcake batter appeared smooth and thin.  Pinkie told Colgate to boil water for the batter, and then added that it was normal for the batter to appear more like liquid.

The job got done faster with Colgate being a unicorn.  She eventually levitated a cupcake pan over to Pinkie with twenty holes.  A new recipe in Sugar Cube Corner could only make twenty to see if it was any good.  As the cupcakes baked, the smell of mint wafted through the entire bakery.  Pinkie even opened some windows so ponies outside would also smell it.  The sweet smell attracted ponies from all over.  They stood outside, excited for what new recipe was brewing inside their favorite bakery in Equestria.

Applebloom was in charge of making sure the cupcakes didn't burn in the oven.  Every few minutes she would open the oven door and poke a wooden stick in a cupcake and checked to see if it came out clean.  Pinkie Pie and Colgate made the icing.  They used red food coloring and no food coloring in different bags of icing for a peppermint color.

Twenty minutes later, the cupcakes were done.  Colgate's stomach growled and she licked her lips.  Pinkie carefully squeezed out the red and white icings onto each cupcake.  For an added touch, Applebloom stuck some mint candies on each cupcake.

"This looks like something everypony will really enjoy.  Thanks for taking a chance and stopping by, Colgate." Pinkie Pie thanked.

Colgate smiled as she bit a cupcake.  She swallowed and wiped her muzzle with a napkin.

"My pleasure, and I'm also glad I came in.  I guess I was kind of a picky eater before," she said.

"Ya know Colgate, clean teeth is important, but tryin' somethin' new is great, also," Applebloom said.

Now Colgate understood.

Everypony else highly enjoyed the peppermint cupcakes.  Pinkie decided them a keeper.  Twist heard, and she was more than happy to make some candy canes to produce the mint.  Rainbow Dash even said them to better than cider.  When Colgate went home, she invented a new flavor of toothpaste: mint cupcake.

But then a terrible thing happened.  Colgate's top front tooth began to hurt, so she went to the dentist even though she herself was a dentist.  She ended up with a cavity.