The cake
A soft noise catched Twilight Sparkle's attention. The girl turned around and saw that her girlfriend Applejack had just returned home, closing the door and taking off her cowgirl hat. Their doggie Spike jumped on her to greet his other owner wagging his tail glad to see her.
“Hi there, sugarcube!” Applejack said to her love.
“Hello, honey” Twilight answered smiling from the kitchen. “It's just 6pm, why are you back home so soon today?”
“Oh, there wasn't much to be done at the farm today... Big Mac did most of my work too, I really have a great brother...” she explained approaching her. Only then she noticed what her girlfriend was doing; she first squinted at Twilight, then at what she was holding, then at her again with an expression between scared and bemused… and a little desperate too. It couldn't be that Twilight was trying that again. “Twilight... Honey... What exactly are you doin’?”
Said girl glared at her. “What does it look like to you? I'm baking.”
Applejack's face darkened further. “You're bakin’... a pie?”
“Yeah, a pie. So what? I know I'm not cut out for baking cakes, but I can still improve,” Twilight answered defiantly.
“Ehm, yeah sure, you can. Uh, of course” babbled Applejack “So, while you're busy, ehm, bakin’, I'm gonna take a shower... See you later!” she answered leaving quickly the kitchen as if the baking tin was radioactive.
Even though Twilight Sparkle was able to learn new things amazingly fast (she learned how to read when she was just four years old) and remained the cleverest girl Applejack knew, baking was one of her weaknesses, especially baking pies. She could manage better with other dishes, but with pies there was no hope. She had already tried twice to bake pastries and even an apricot pie, but they just had gone right into the trash in the end. Although she followed the recipe with the same carefulness she used in everything else she did, successful results had never been achieved. That's why everytime she got too close to the recipe book Applejack prayed that she wouldn't peek into the dessert chapter. But the damage was already done; Twilight was putting her creation into the oven and Applejack could only wish that it wouldn't be that bad.
Spike also understood that everytime his dear, book lover owner decided to do some cooking it was time to tuck his tail between his legs. He was smart enough to sense it from Applejack's nervousness anytime Twilight opened the oven - even just to clean it. When such events occurred in the kitchen, Spike looked for shelter under their bed and there he stayed hidden until the burnt smell faded away or Twilight's frustrated cries stopped, once again desperate for her impressing lack of culinary skills. Luckily, when this happened, it was not up to Spike to comfort Twilight and Applejack was always ready to make her smile again. Although the blond girl wasn't very good with words, she was always able to steal a smile from her girlfriend telling her that it would be better next time, that a burned dish wasn’t a big deal, that there were worse things in life and Twilight eventually agreed with her. Besides, Spike was aware how much those two cared for each other, and they never had a serious argument despite Applejack’s doubts about Twilight’s cooking skills.
After she got out of the shower and put her pijamas on, Applejack came back into the kitchen to find Twilight all focused on one of Daring Do's novels. She approached her, hoping that she was not mad at her for her scarce enthusiasm about her culinary attempts. She gave her a kiss on the forehead and Twilight put down the book on the table to wrap her arms around her love.
“You're afraid the pie will be uneatable like the last time, aren't you?” she asked leaning her head on the other's shoulder.
Applejack didn't want to hurt her feelings, but honesty was her best virtue and she couldn't tell her lies “Well, all I want to say is that you shouldn't begin such adventures with the oven all by yourself... You know you ain’t exactly the best cook in the world.”
Twilight sighed. “Yeah, I just wanted to try... I did my best this time, I'm sure it will be good. It's an apple pie, you know... your favourite.”
Applejack's lips curved in a tender smile and she gave her another kiss on the head. That extraordinary girl deserved trust after all. “Yeah, my favourite. I bet it'll be good this time.”
They cuddled each other until the oven timer went off.
“Well. Let's taste it, shall we?” Twilight said happily and placed the apple pie on the table.
Applejack cooked dinner and they ate all before trying dessert. Twilight was extremely eager while the other girl looked extremely dubious. Twilight cut a slice for her girlfriend and one for herself, and put them on their plates. It really looked good after all and Twilight plunged the fork in it, took the little piece to her lips and... bolted to the garbage bin to spit it out, immediately followed by Applejack.
After cleaning her mouth, Twilight looked sadly at her girlfriend. “Applejack, how is it possible that I can do complicated math problems and I can't even make a pie?!?”
She was about to weep and Applejack hugged her to offer comfort. She hated so much to see her sad…
“C'mon, calm down. It ain’t that bad, sugarcube. There are worse things in life than not being able to make a pie!”.
After few seconds she had an idea. “Hey, I can teach you how to make a delicious cake tomorrow, if you like. Maybe if you watch someone showin’ you how to make one, you can learn much more easily.”
Twilight raised her head and smiled with her eyes still wet. “Thanks, honey. I love you.”
“Don't mention it, sugarcube. I'll do anything for you... I love you too.” She covered her lips with hers, transmitting all the love she felt. Then she gently scooped her into her arms to take her to bed. Luckily there were other things she could do much better than baking.