It was a new day and still quite a few days before Nightmare Night, the mystery of Scootaloo was still running fresh in Twilight’s mind as she sat down to breakfast. Why would Celestia want to prevent the filly from flying, it was hardly noticeable that they were in fact clipped and quite expertly at that. She didn’t want her friends to draw any attention to the fact that they knew why she couldn’t fly.
They didn’t want to draw attention to the clipped wings quite yet or at all. One reason would be because Scootaloo would get mad when she learned of the reason why she couldn’t fly and might do something drastic. The filly could end up hurting herself or spiral into a depressed state. Who knew what the celestial guards, much less Celestia herself, would do if it brought too much attention to itself publically. Then there were possibly unknown parties that would probably take advantage of the information.
“Huh, if the parties are unknown how am I supposed to throw them then?” Pinkie said wonderingly as she stuck her tongue out the side of her mouth, she giggled when Twilight face hoofed.
“Pinkie how many times do we have to tell you? You can’t read minds!” Though Twilight acknowledged that Pinkie was good at guessing what one was thinking in an eerie fashion. Twilight saw her Pinkie Sense as a viable super power aside from her odd physiology that runs on ninety percent unleaded raw sugar.
“But I can read stories, a lot of them end up with me doing a lot of strange things with Dashie though. Still don’t understand what they mean by the horizontal monster mash when it comes to being stuffed into a sandwich between Rainbow and Applejack while smothered in melted cheese. Some writers are just weird like that.” Pinkie wondered why it seemed like Twilight was ignoring her. Maybe it was because she got past all those really tough defensive enchantments on the house? The unicorn might also be upset that she can circumnavigate the universe by dividing by herself. Shrugging Pinkie started eating the meal that was supposed to be for Tress, it was yummy and her Pinkie Sense said it was okay to eat it.
“Barb, where’s Tress?” Twilight took notice of the absence of one of her favorite manes and in its place was one that was almost impossible to fix without magic, which was the cotton candy styled mop on Pinkie’s head.
“She went to the library to read up on something, I think it had to do with being familiar or something. Anyway what are you doing today mom? I was going to go over to Sweet Apple Acres to play with Apple Bloom, maybe swing by Rarity’s boutique and play with Sweetie Belle some too.” Barb finished her sapphire encrusted pancakes before she continued. “At least you’ll know where I am in case of an emergency and those happen to you more often than it does to me.”
“Reminds me of the time you got a bucket stuck on your head, in true Sparkle fashion no less. You do your family proud Barb.” Twilight ruffled her daughter’s mane innocently while trying to think of what she was going to do today. “I guess I’m going to take a walk around Ponyville, maybe see if Lyra is causing an incident by helping Bonbon make candy. Did you need anything Pinkie?”
“Well, I did want to have you taste test some of my new products I’m going to try and sell at Sugar Cube Corner.” Pinkie looked up at the ceiling with a smile.
“Sounds good to me, but no hot sauce related cupcakes as I already know what liquid rainbow tastes like after an incident with a cherry filled burrito. So don’t put any stuff like that on something or I’m not eating it, I swear your sense of taste is weird.” Twilight didn’t have a taste for the spicier south of the border fare; she heard that ponies have just started building Appleloosa from Applejack and it sounded like they were further southwest then Dodge Junction was.
“That’s why I need your help Twilight. I also don’t know what liquid rainbow tastes like, but you do certainly make it sound super spicy! Gee, I guess this means a no on the volcano mouth cupcakes though.” Smiling brightly Pinkie bounced around in a little circle before hopping for the front door, all the while humming a merry tune.
“So do you have any costume ideas for Nightmare Night Barb? I just want to know what my little girl is going as, it was hard enough to convince Fluttershy to chaperone all those fillies and colts given she doesn’t like the holiday.” Twilight knew Fluttershy tended to stay indoors on Nightmare Night, at least her dad kept her friend company on those nights the shy pony lived with her family.
“You used Scootaloo going around town alone as an excuse to get her to chaperone didn’t you? Anyway I’m going as a shield maiden and was wondering if you could braid my hair for it, Rarity already promised she’d make my costume.” Receiving an interesting smile from her mother, Barb wondered why it made her so happy. Oh right… she forgot her mother would immediately jump on the chance to play with her hair and she just offered. She was swept into a hug and cuddled for a few moments by her squealing mother.
“So I may have used Scootaloo to get Fluttershy out and about on Nightmare Night. Just be mindful of her and make sure she doesn’t have a breakdown as you’ll be going along with her group.” Twilight soon set out with Pinkie Pie to do some taste testing.
It wasn’t hard for ponies of Ponyville to find Twilight nowadays, especially in the case of an emergency. It wasn’t unusual for the townsfolk to try and keep track of her because she was always getting into more trouble than even Ponyville could stir up on its own.
Sugar Cube Corner was a nice pastry shop and a very social snack factory. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were busy with many other ponies when they walked in. Twilight had always thought Mrs. Cake’s hair looked like a dollop of frosting and these two ponies were master bakers to be able to keep up with so many orders.
“Wouldn't it be weird if the Cakes were masters at fishing because then they’d be…” Pinkie immediately received a hoof in her mouth before she could get the punch line off. Being glared at by Twilight was no fun, after a moment she released Pinkie’s mouth. “At least I’ll know whether or not if Berry getting off occurs because Colgate will have a big belly after a few months.”
“Pinkie Pie, I have no idea what you’re talking about and I really don’t want to know. Can we just get this over with?” Watching the pink pony zip off Twilight wondered what was going on. Soon Pinkie came back with a large sign with the words ‘The End of Twilight’s Mane Passion’ written on it and held it up. It was not held at her, but the ceiling. “Pinkie the sign isn’t even grammatically correct. It’s supposed to be M A I N, not M A N E and why would my passion for helping others end?”
“Well you wanted to get this over with didn’t you?” Pinkie just didn’t understand Twilight, did she want the story to end before any of the other future stuff happened in it or not?
“I wanted us to get started with the taste testing.” Twilight spoke blandly in a flat and even tone. Pinkie smiled sheepishly at the air, this confused Twilight as the pink pony quickly threw the sign into the abyss that was known as off the side of the screen.
“Wow, you’re being so flip floppy today. Fine, I’ll get to shaking and baking. Please wait here, I’ll be right back with the snacks, I hope you’re still somewhat hungry.” Pinkie just shook her head and went to go make the new sellable snacks she wanted Twilight to test.
“I’ll never understand that hyperactive mare completely.” Twilight mumbled as she watched other ponies gather into groups at tables and talked about how things were going and their plans for the day. Even Derpy was here talking with Carrot top about a refrigerator while eating a muffin.
“Okay first taste test, can you tell me what this tastes like?” Pinkie plopped down what looked like a blob of caramel.
Twilight inspected the blob from all sides by levitating it in front of her and then she bit into it and hummed quietly.
“Taste like a Neigh Day, except much chewier and a bit nuttier. It’s a bit too chewy and tough.” Twilight continued to chew the chunk still in her mouth; it took her a minute to even swallow it.
“Its candy corn clusters, caramel melted around peanuts and candy corn. No pony in Ponyville is allergic to nuts so I’ll think it’ll be a hit on Nightmare Night, that is if I can get it to be a softer and with less nuts. Reminds me of how Mr. Cake keeps asking Mrs. Cake to play with his nuts, they’re assorted by the way with plenty of filberts, pistachio and cashews. They really must like making art with nuts as a hobby. Now try this.” Once again Pinkie tended to ignore the things she was saying as having any other meaning then what it sounded like.
Twilight took up the provided spoon and scooped up what looked to be cheese cake and popped it into her mouth, it most certainly wasn’t cheesecake at all. It had a lemony zest to it and was savory while being quite soft like a pudding and a bit creamy.
“It tastes good, not to sweet and I have no idea what I’m eating here.” Twilight continued to eat it regardless as it was tasty.
“It’s a lemon flan. It’s a soft cake that has the slight resemblance of cheesecake; its filling is what really makes it special. It’s always something I wanted to try making. Just one last thing I wanted you to try then you can go do whatever.” Pinkie Pie was happy that two out of three so far were generally well received, now for the third one. She’d work on her homemade candy recipe for Nightmare Night. She would figure it out by then or else she was going to disappoint so many little colts and fillies. She went off once again to get the last item, when she brought it back she knew Twilight would like this one.
“Pinkie it’s a cupcake. You always make cupcakes; in fact you make hundreds in a given day. I already know what they taste like.” Twilight was skeptical of the cupcake sitting before her.
“Well that’s what it may seem like to you, but it’s no ordinary cupcake!” Declaring it with enthusiasm Pinkie crouched down next to her good friend and watched as Twilight just stared at it. After a moment the unicorn finally shrugged lifted it up and bit it in half, chewing slightly and having some of her face covered in a small amount of grape and blueberry filling.
“Wow, Pinkie what do you call this? It’s delicious.” Twilight immediately took to the other half with fervor. “What’s in it?”
“It’s my fruit blaster cupcake, the party that’s in your mouth. The butter cream frosting on top has some pureed raspberry and strawberry in the mix. The cupcake itself has some blueberry and grape jam inside of it and the cupcake dough was mixed with pure apple juice.” Pinkie was happy that this new cupcake was such a hit with Twilight as she pulled out her own and bit into it; it had blackberry and date jam instead. “They’re very modifiable too; you just have to ask for what you want on it and in it as long as supplies last. Thanks for helping me taste test stuff Twilight, I’m sure to make some extra money for the Cakes. They are planning on having foals and I want them to have plenty of money to take care of the bundles of joy the stork will bring.”
“No problem Pinkie and that’s really sweet of you, pun somewhat intended. Now I’ve got to go see if Lyra is as bad a cook as me and Sweetie Belle.” Twilight hastily left Sugar Cube Corner; she did not want to be the one to have 'the talk' with Pinkie… ever. She trotted down the street and into Bonbon’s candy shop. Bonbon had to have been busy as Nightmare Night was a large increase in sales for candy shop owners.
“Oh hey it’s Twilight, maybe she can clear this up. Tell me, does this gingerbread human really look so odd to you?” Lyra magically lifted a gingerbread cookie for her friend to take a look at it.
“A little, but I’m not the expert on humans here. So have you had any huge problems cooking anything?” Twilight just might start a support group for unicorns that had problems with cooking.
“Nope, though we did have a small problem with making some chocolate. I’m a pretty decent cook otherwise except for that small problem.” Lyra looked thoughtful for a moment and Bonbon nudged her roughly. “Okay I’ll ask since she’s here, How do you go about getting rid of an animated blob of living liquid chocolate that keeps calling itself The Foodge? It was getting chocolate everywhere until we stuffed it into a pot.”
“Ask Pinkie to deal with it when she gets off work. Bonbon don’t ever let Lyra help you with making chocolate anymore. Unicorns have a problem where they can’t cook a lot of things or can only cook certain things, it doesn’t seem to be too prevalent in Lyra but I think we’ve just found out that she can’t work with chocolate. It’s a thing that’s been going on with unicorns long since even before the Hearths Warming Eve tale of how the three tribes came together.” Twilight decided to order some candy for Smart to hoof out while she was here.