As Twilight ran to Sugarcube Corner, she went over her mental checklist of the things in her saddlebag.
Several cookbooks specifically about cupcakes, five to be exact... Check. A disposable apron if an explosion happens like last time... Check. Oven mitt for a horn... Check. And... Twilight's cheeks grew slightly rosy. My... my letter to Pinkie.
That morning, she had decided she'd had enough. She, Twilight Sparkle, was going to tell the pony she loved her feelings. It was stupid of her to be scared about being turned down. In the past few months they'd faced off way more scarier things then rejection! Nightmare Moon? Check! Discord? Check! Hydra? Check! And even the Changeling Queen for pony's sake! And besides, she was a big girl. If Pinkie did reject her, she could suck it up.
Skidding to a halt, her nose lightly bumped the gingerbread door of Sugarcube Corner. You can do this Twilight Silently she chanted to herself. You can do it. Just bake the cupcakes, give her the letter, and... It was astonishing. She, the most organized pony in Ponyville, didn't know what to do after she got Pinkie's reaction. Scolding herself, and having second thoughts, she began to turn around.
"Hiya, Twi!"
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All the ingredients were on the counter. Flour, eggs, chocolate, milk, vanilla extract. Oh, and... Pinkie giggled lightly to herself. Sugar, spice, and everything nice! Funny how something like that would go into those slightly naughty looking cupcakes... Sitting herself on the ground, hoof to chin, she pondered why. Pinkie maybe didn't seem like it, but she could be very zen at times. Oh, and slightly organized too!
Bump Pinkie giggled, a light, sweet noise. "Oh, silly Twilight! She must have run into the door again." Again she laughed. "She needs to keep her head out of the clouds! Oh, I hope it doesn't hurt having your head in clouds..." She trotted over to the door, a slightly worried expression on her face that disappeared when she opened the door.
"Hiya Twi!"
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She stifled another laugh, as she saw it amusing how she was addressing Twilight's backside. "Silly filly, why are you leaving? The fun hasn't even started yet! Come on in!" Quickly she grabbed hold of Twilight's tail and zoomed her inside with herself. "These cupcakes aren't gonna bake themselves!"
"Oh, Pinkie, I brought some books we could pick our cupcakes from." Magenta magick levitated several cookbooks, five to be exact, out of her purple saddlebags. "I was hoping for something simple, you know what happened last time we tried something complicated. That was a complete fias-" Pinkie's look stopped her sentence.
Her hair was flat, and- well, her hair wasn't exactly flat, but it was less poofy then usual. She was wearing her puppy dog eyes, and was mustering up the most adorable puppy whimpers she could. "I-I was hopwing we couwld make dees." Apparently she was trying to talk adorable too, like a 2-year old foal, or the like. "Da-da ones on page fwiftween." Her hoof pointed to the picture.
As Twilight trotted over to the counter, she saw the cupcakes Pinkie was pointing at. They were red and white, with different chocolate emotes on top. The theme seemed romantic, the colors naughty. But... but even Pinkie couldn't be naive enough to ignore the obvious! Could... could she... No. Twilight was firm. She wasn't going to give herself false hope. She just had to wait it out until the perfect time.
She sighed. "Oh, alright, Pinks. If you really want." She shook her head, amazed at how easily she was complying.
Pinkie's mane frizzed back to life. "Yayyayyayyayyayyayyayyay!!!! Oh, and I like the new nickname! It's different. Pinks." Pinkie liked the way it sounded.
Twilight stood shocked. Had she really called Pinkie her private pet name... out loud? She shook her head and laughed. "Let's get these cupcakes started, eh, Pinks?" Inwardly she cursed for saying it again.
"Okey-dokey-lokie! So take that flour and the measuring cup. No, the one furthest right. Mhmm, that one! Okey, now fill it to the brim, and dump it in the bowl." This went on for quite a while, Pinkie instructing, Twilight doing. "Okey, now, put 'em in the oven!" In preparation, Twilight put on her horn oven mitt, causing Pinkie to roll about laughing.
"What? What's so funny? I'm just being safe!" Twilight always got a little cross when ponies laughed at her when she was being cautious.
"It-It's just that-" Pinkie had to pause for breath. "It makes your horn look all limp, like... like a NOODLE!" She burst out laughing again.
"Hmmph. Let's get these in the oven shall we?" Using her magick, the tray of sweet, candy-filled sweets landed on a grill inside the oven. "There we go. Now-" As she was turning around to start the ganache, her tail tipped over a bag of flour.
Right onto Pinkie.
"Omigosh! I'm so sorry! It-it was an accident!" A wet rag started to wipe the flour off of Pinkie, but it just turned it all into a runny mixture.
"Twilight, you coulda just said you wanted a flour war. Those are really fun!"
"A WHAT?!"
"A flour war! You throw flour at the other pony, until one gives up! Or you run out of flour. That happened to me once. The cakes weren't very happy." She looked at the floor, a hoof snaking behind her back.
Slowly, a measuring cup full of flour was raised above Pinkie's head. With a sly grin, the contents were thrown at Twilight's face. Mouth open, Twilight stood in shock. Pinkie had a natural Pinkie response. She fell over and laughed.
"AHAHAHA. You should've seen the look on YOUR FACE!" She shouted gleefully. "I'm never going to stop laughing!" But, alas this statement was not true.
She whipped up. "Hey! I'm gonna get you back for that!" This was said because Twilight had accepted Pinkie's challenge of a flour war. "EPIC FLOUR WAR, GO!!!!"
Hoof-fulls and hoof-fulls of flour flew through the air, covering each from head to toe in a blanket of cream. Even after they both looked like two snowponies, they kept happily throwing, and ducking from, cups of flour.
"You'll never get me to surrender, Pinks!"
"Nor I, Twi! I'm the world champion! I can beat ALL YO ASSES!"
Ding!
The two pastel ponies froze, turned, and watched each other through slitted eyes.
"Truce, Pinks, if you want the cupcakes to come out alive!" Watching her carefully, Twilight stalkedd through the kitchen slowly, opened the oven door, levitated the cupcakes out, set them on top of the fridge and threw another cup of flour.
"Sneaky sneaky my little geeky!"
Numerous more bagfuls of flour was tossed and dumped on the floor, until both ponies fell down laughing from pure exhaustion. Both were panting, and in Twilight's case, who didn't exercise much, wheezing.
"L-let's finish those cupcakes." Heaving themselves up, they stole down the pan, and set it on the counter.
Pinkie was in the top left corner of the kitchen, stirring up some chocolate ganache to freeze into shapes to put on top of the cupcakes. While she was doing this, Twilight was in the opposite corner, whipping up red and white buttercream frosting. Looking back and forth, she licked the spoon she was stirring with.
"Mhmm. That smells good, silly filly! Where'd ya learn to make frosting that well?"
"Bahaha!" Twilight jumped back in fear. "How-how did you get over here so fast?!" It was a rhetorical question.
"So, how'd ya learn to make that frosting? You nearly destroyed the kitchen last time you were here!" Pinkie dipped her head to the side, a quizzical, yet playful expression on her face.
"Oh, I've been taking lessons from Spike. Oh, and it's finished now. Shall we frost?"
Both trotting over to the only counter not completely drenched in flour, they swirled the red and white frostings together, created a classic, elegant look. They weren't quite finished yet, though, as the chocolate still had toharden into the molds Pinkie had put them into.
"Hey, Pinks, would you mind if I used the filly's room while we wait for the chocolate?"
Pinkie nodded, and pointed down the hallway where it was. As Twilight passed the front door, her tail accidentally swung into her saddlebags, making them tip over, and spill their contents. In her rush, Twilight took no notice, and walked on. Pinkie, however, did. While she was scooping the contents back inside, she saw an envelope. An envelope addressed to... her. Lifted it gently out of the pile, she noticed it was definitely Twilight's hoofwriting. Sliding a hoof under the flap, she started to unseal it, but stopped herself. This was an intrusion of privacy! But, it couldn't be all bad, though, since it was addressed to her... Right? She finished opening the envelope, lifted out the letter, and started to read.