Pinkie walked down the streets of Pony Ville back from Zechora’s hut carrying a bag of strange herbs and ingredients of some sort.. She passed by the old orphanage which was now rotting away from the harsh years ,but stopped to observe the old building. The place was in desperate need of somepony putting it out of its misery; the once brightly red brick covered in crusted mold, the once clean green cut grass growing overwhelmingly knee high, and the boarded up windows with shards of broken glass sticking out from the frames.
Pinkie reminisced in the memories of attending the run down complex.
Pinkie was forced to be shipped off to an orphanage shortly after the fire for she had no other relatives to turn to. Even Pinkie's oldest sister, Maud, who wasn't present the night of the fire, was reluctant to take her in after the great loss of their family, for she had other certain complications.
She remembered playing and dancing with young orphans like her-self. They’d play tag and hide and seek for hours each day. Those were Pinkie’s favorite games. She’d always be the fun filly around that developed a reputation for being able to make other children laugh, no-matter what the case was. She had long lost all connections with her friends. When the time came for the max age limit at the orphanage everyone moved out to lead lives of their own, including Pinkie. Yes, she did have good times here as a younger child ,but she still felt disturbed for the reason she was there in the first place.
As Pinkie peered up on the third floor into the window of the room where she used to sleep. Tears fell from her eyes and rolled down her cheek. “I miss you.” she whispered to no one in particular, “But I’ll see you all soon.” And with that she left and practically skipped all the way back to Sugar Cube Corner.
She opened the door and went straight back behind the counter and to the kitchen. There was no business today for it was a Sunday where the majority of the shops around Pony Ville were closed and everypony was busy enjoying their personal time locked away in their homes. Pinkie Pie lay out all of her ingredients she got from Zechora in a neat fashion and waited... She looked up at the clock as it ticked away by the minute, “Alright.” She said to herself, “Apple Bloom should be coming right about…now.”
She turned to the door and as you would know it Apple Bloom came bolting through the door as excited as could be, “I’m here Pinkie Pie!” Apple Bloom exclaimed in her little country accent.
“Hey!” greeted Pinkie Pie happily, “Thank goodness you’re not late. Five minutes early in fact than I was expecting you.”
“Late?” Apple Bloom questioned, “Apple Jack always taught me that if ya right on time; you’re late and if you're early, you're on time. Especially for something as fun as baking with you!” Apple Bloom rushed over and gave Pinkie a big hug, “Thank ya so much for having me over by the way. I can’t wait to get started!”
“No problemo.” responded Pinkie with a big grin on her face, “It’s been a big day actually for baking. Rainbow Dash was here earlier helping me make some cupcakes.”
“Oh man. You’re not too tired already are ya?” asked Apple Bloom disheartened.
“Are you kidding me?” Pinkie Pie snapped back, “Knowing me, like you should, when am I ever too tired for anything? It’s always fun! Or else I wouldn’t have invited you in the first place.”
“Oh right!” agreed Apple Bloom, “I’ve been waiting all day for this then. What are we gonna bake? Cupcakes? Muffins? A Birthday Cake? What!” Apple Bloom rushed over to one side of the kitchen and grabbed a chef’s hat, “I’m ready!”
Pinkie giggled and said, “Well Apple Bloom, I didn’t technically mean that we’d be baking actual pastries and such.”
“Oh.” said Apple Bloom a little upset but confused, “What do you mean though? Ain’t that why I’m here?”
Pinkie giggled again, “Yes ,but it isn’t that sort of baking that I need your help with. Although we will be using some of the same things, It's something really special.”
“Well I gotta say I’m a little confused Pinkie.” said Apple Bloom, “What sort of other baking is there?”
“Well,” said Pinkie, “Let me show ya.” Pinkie disappeared into a closet at the far end of the room and came out pulling a big black metal cauldron large enough for a Pony to fit inside.
“Woah.” said Apple Bloom, “That pot’s huge! What kind of cooking can you do with that?”
“You’d be surprised.” said Pinkie leaning against it, “Had it for a while just waiting to be used.”
“What are we gonna make?” asked Apple Bloom anxiously. Pinkie giggled to herself, “Oh you’ll see. It’s a surprise. But now let’s get started!” Pinkie Pie winked, “This is gonna be our mixing bowl.” “Awesome!” jeered Apple Bloom
The two went over to the counter where all the ingredients were neatly set out. “So what am I gonna do?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Okay well help me dump all this flour into the cauldron.” Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloomed laughed and giggled as they hauled a huge bag of flour over the cauldron and let it all pour out Lots of it spilling and powdering them both.
“Whoo boy, that’s a lot of white!” said Apple Bloom excitedly.
“Haha yeah I know, and now for the eggs!” said Pinkie.
“Yay!” cheered Apple Bloom.
“Yup! Now I want you to crack all twelve dozen of these eggs into there while I cut up some of these herbs that I got from my friend Zechora.”
“Oh I’ve heard about her.” said Apple Bloom. Pinkie put on an old kitchen apron and took out a large knife and began to chop. While Pinkie minced up all the herbs Apple Bloom was busy at work of carefully cracking away at the eggs. Cautiously making sure no egg shells fell in.
When Apple Bloom was done she walked over behind Pinkie, “That’s a lot of eggs and flour for that big cauldron.” She said, “What is it that we’re making that looks big enough to feed all of Pony Ville?”
“Again I told ya it’s a surprise.” Pinkie said.
“Ugh okay.” gave in Apple Bloom.
Apple Bloom looked at all the herbs and other plants Pinkie was cutting away at. “Pinkie.” said Apple Bloom snooping around, “Where did you exactly get all of these things? I’ve never seen these types of crops around the farm.”
There were groups of colored flowers and plants that took different shapes and forms, some with thorns and strange looking buds. In some small enclosed bags there seemed to be some other strange unidentifiable objects. There were also many liquids set out in different sized bottles.
Pinkie nodded, “Well it’s because these types of things aren’t found around these parts.”
“Oh.” said Apple Bloom, “Then how did ya get them? Like these plants here.”
“Zechora got them for me.” said Pinkie.
“Well I guess that’s nice of her, but are all these things really needed for this?”
“Oh yes!” snapped Pinkie, “One thing a good baker must always know,” raising up her hoof into a pledge, “is that when baking, cooking, or anything in the kitchen, whatever the recipe calls for, each ingredient is important for the final master piece."
“Oh okay, well um… Is there anything else you need me to do?”
“Mhm.” said Pinkie, “I need you to start pouring all the milk into the mix then start stirring until it gets really doughy.”
“All the milk?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Yup every drop.” assured Pinkie. Apple Bloom went into the fridge and pulled out three cartons of milk and poured each one into the cauldron and began mixing with a large wooden spoon Pinkie gave her. After a while Apple Bloom finally let out a big huff of breath. She was exhausted.
“Well I’m done Pinkie.” said Apple Bloom gloomily.
“Awesome!” said Pinkie, “And so am I!” Pinkie gathered all her freshly chopped herbs and plants and dumped it into the cauldron.
Apple Bloom gave an uneasy look into the big pot and then spoke up, “Pinkie are you sure we need that stuff?”
“Absolutely!” snapped Pinkie, “Always use what the recipe calls for. Remember that!.”
“Oh okay.” said Apple Bloom a bit uneasy. Pinkie began pouring a bunch of strange liquids into the cauldron and put a lot of other strange objects into the cauldron that did not look familiar.
“There we go!” exclaimed Pinkie ,proudly.
“Are we done? Is that it?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Of course not.” said Pinkie Pie, “We still need to cook this up.” Pinkie directed Apple Bloom towards a closet across the kitchen, “Go start bringing some fire wood.” Apple Bloom stopped, “What fire wood? You have fire wood in here?”
“Yes.” rushed Pinkie, “Now make haste! Go get some out of that closet and put as many pieces as you can around the cauldron.”
Apple Bloom went to an old looking closet and just as Pinky said, there was a big pile of wood stacked inside. As neatly as she could she grabbed it bit by bit and placed them around the cauldron.
Apple Bloom began to question all of this and developed an uneasy feeling inside her. “Well I’m done.” stated Apple Bloom tiredly.
“Awesome!” Pinkie cheered, but then Pinkie noticed Apple Bloom’s sour looking attitude.
“Apple Bloom?" asked Pinkie, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing why?” answered Apple Bloom.
Pinkie shook her head, “C’mon Bloomy you’re looking gloomy.” Pinkie giggled to herself, “What’s wrong?” Pinkie nudged her.
Apple Bloom sighed, “Well Pinkie, It’s just that I’m tired and this all just seems a little weird. Not really what I was expecting.” Pinkie listened. “I mean I thought we’d be having some messy fun making cupcakes or brownies or something. But this doesn’t feel right Pinkie. It just feels odd…It’s just not really your type…”
Pinkie nodded, “I see Bloom.” Pinkie winked, “I know it’s been a little slower than usual but you gotta get down to business when making a time spell.”
“Well I really think I should…wait.” Apple Bloom paused, “What did you say?”
Pinkie giggled “A time spell!” Pinkie explained, “Zechora taught me how to make one!”
Apple Bloom became nervous, “Pinkie I don’t understand. Why In Equestria would you need a time spell?”
“Well. It’s kind of a long story. Look at it this way...” Pinkie began jumping around the store singing loudly, "Ohhh, When you're rife with devastation there's a simple explanation. You're a toy maker's creation trapped inside a crystal ball." Apple Bloom began to feel a little unnerved, "And which ever way he tilts it, know that we must stay resilient. We won't let them break our spirits as I sing this silly song." Apple Bloom was dumbfounded, "When I was a little filly a galloping blaze over took my city. They shipped me off to the Orphanage!” “Oh Pinkie…” said Apple Bloom, “They said “Ditch those roots if you wanna fit in.” So I dug one thousand holes and cut a rug with orphan foals, now memories are slurred and faces obscured but I still know the words to this song!” Pinkie began out of nowhere tying a gypsy bandana around her head and put on large gold earrings. “Pinkie what are you doing?” asked Apple Bloom with a little strain in her voice. But Pinkie continued in the lively song, “Oh when you’ve bungled all your bangles and your loved ones have been mangled ,listen to the jingle jangle of my gypsy tambourine!” Suddenly Pinkie made an old gypsy tambourine ,that looked several years old ,appear out of nowhere and she started shaking it violently. Pinkie continued on, "As these sounds are hypnotizing now all the dead are harmonizing, so Bloom please stop your crying and just go along with me!" Then she thrust the tambourine towards the wood under the cauldron and struck the wood. Several sparks fire shot up and the wood began burning.
“How-how did you do that Pinkie!” Apple Bloom squealed trembling, “I don’t think the Cakes would want that to be there.”
“Oh psh, don’t worry about them. They’re off with the kids on vacation for the week. They even took Gummy for the kids to play with. I’ve got the whole place to myself!”
“But-but…” stammered Apple Bloom.
Pinkie looked at Apple Bloom with dead on serious eyes. “Apple Bloom I’m so happy that you’re here today.” She began approaching her. Her voice getting deeper, “I’m gonna share some things with you that…” Pinkie broke into a whisper, “That I haven’t even shared with my best friends.”
Apple Bloom began to cower, “Li-like what?” Pinkie just giggled and replied, “Well as you heard in my awesome song, my city burned in a raging fire when I was a young filly like you and…So did my family along with it. But after years of loneliness in that stupid orphanage ,I decided to do something extraordinary! I did some family research and apparently dating way back to the early days of Equestria I come from gypsies! Would you imagine that? And you know all about gypsies don’t you?”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Good. Well I figured out that with my gypsy blood I have magic that can be done without needing a Unicorn. With this new bit of information I talked to Zechora and she agreed to help me come up with a time spell to go back so I can change what happened. Amazing isn’t it! See? She even gave me a little book on how to do it.” Pinkie flashed a little black book proudly.
“So they were right." spoke Apple Bloom, "My sister always talks about how she and all her friends make fun of you claiming to have gypsy magic, but Pinkie, I never thought it was true.” Apple Bloom said and then began to protest, “That sort of magic is forbidden! It’s evil!”
“Well not the way I see it.” stated Pinkie, “This book’s got a lot of interesting things in it. But you ever think Twilight or Rarity would ever help me with something like this? No! I’ve learned that if you want something done you have to do it yourself! I got myself out of that orphanage and on my feet just like I’m going get myself to save my family!”
This whole situation got very dark. This was a side of Pinkie Apple Bloom had never thought to see in her life and she was scared...
“Pinkie I- I think I better go home. Apple Jack may need some help at the farm. Maybe we could do this some other time.” Apple Bloom headed for the door but before she could leave it suddenly locked itself. “W-Wha?” Apple Bloom yanked and pulled and pushed but it didn’t budge.
“Leaving so soon Apple Bloom?” Pinkie asked in a cheery but cryptic way, “The fun’s only just beginning.”
“Pinkie please I don’t want any part of this!” pleaded Apple Bloom backing up against the jammed door.
“Oh, but you know too much.” said Pinkie “Pinkie please I swear I won’t tell anypony! Just let me leave.”
Pinkie returned back to a happy sound, “But Apple Bloom how silly of me would it be for me to do that if I need you the most? You’re actually a big helper for this part.” “Pinkie please!” suddenly Pinkie clapped her hooves and everything went black. Absolutely black....