Everypony departed from Sugar Cube Corner, save Pinkie Pie and Bubble Berry, with their new found friends. Both Pinkie and Bubble Berry stood at the door and waved goodbye to their friends, and then went back inside. Bubble Berry closed the door as Pinkie bounded to her place behind the cash register. Bubble Berry galloped over to the opposite side of the counter and started dusting off the display cases with his tail.
“So...whatcha want to do?” asked Pinkie as she opened the cash register and counted the coins inside.
“Well, I’ll clean up more, out here, if you want,” replied Bubble Berry calmly as he finished dusting and walked back to Pinkie.
“Nah, seems boring,” Pinkie said, closing the register. She then had a spectacular idea and hopped over the counter to Bubble Berry’s side. “I got it! You can help me bake my last order of muffins!” she exclaimed, enthusiastically.
“Sure, I’ve helped out Ms. Cup Cake in the kitchen lots of times,” he said with a smile.
Pinkie hugged him with joy, “Yea! More pairs of hooves in the kitchen means more goodies!” She let go of Bubble Berry and bounced to the kitchen. Bubble Berry slowly panted and then smiled.
“This will be fun,” he said, to himself, as he trotted to the kitchen.
When Bubble Berry entered the kitchen, he saw Ms. Cup Cake and Mr. Carrot Cake leaving through the back door, prompting him to ask Pinkie what was going on.
He walked over to Pinkie, who was carrying a bag of flour in her mouth. “Pinkie, what’s going on?”
She dropped the bag next to the counter, “Mr. and Ms. Cake needed to go out for some ingredients for a cake Bon Bon wants this afternoon, leaving us to work on the muffins.” She got straight to work on mixing the batter for the muffins, and Bubble Berry helped on his own station next to her.
He was delighted to see Pinkie working and dancing a little, wondering if that’s how he looked when he was baking.
She started humming a song as she worked and danced, and Bubble Berry got into the groove too. Pinkie noticed him dancing, and smiled, then kept on mixing her batter. She finished up with the batter and poured it into the muffin molds she had on the back table, and Bubble Berry helped out a little by taking the filled molds to the oven and putting them in to bake. They repeated their system for sometime, getting their coats covered in flour in the process. “We’re finally finished!” Pinkie exclaimed and hugged Bubble Berry again. Bubble Berry hugged her back, but then Pinkie Pie walked back to the finished muffins on the counter.
“Who are those for?” asked Bubble Berry.
Pinkie put the muffins on a platter, one by one, “their for Twilight of course,” she said with her giddy humor. Suddenly, the doorbell rang to announce a costumer. “Must be Spike, he’s always coming to pick up Twi’s orders,” she picked up the platter of muffins in her mouth and walked out of the kitchen to meet Spike who was standing by the cash register.
“Hi Pinkie,” Spike said as he stood up from his leaning position.
Pinkie put down the muffins on the counter, “Howdy Spike, one order for Twi right here,” she said as she slid the tray of muffins towards Spike. Spike put a small sack of coins on the counter, and then he picked up the platter.
“Twelve bits cover it?”
“Yep,” Pinkie replied as she opened the cash register to put the moneybag inside. She then closed the cash register and looked back at the kitchen.
“What were you doing before I got here?” asked Spike, curiously, as he noticed her gaze.
Still gazing at the kitchen, “Oh, me and Bubble Berry were in the kitchen making some last minute muffins,” she said jubilantly. Then, as if a distant thought had crossed her mind, she mumbled, “he’s actually pretty sweet...”
“You...and whom?” asked the little dragon as he picked up the muffin platter.
Pinkie shook herself back to reality, and then replied, “Bubble Berry of course! You know...Twilight’s got Dusk Shine, Dashie’s got Blitz, and... Yeah!” Pinkie gave Spike a convivial grin.
“Wait...there’s more colts running around that look like you girls?”
“Well, duh silly,” Pinkie exclaimed as she poked Spike in the belly, playfully.
“That explains something...well, thanks for the muffins Pinkie,” Spike replied as he took the platter of muffins and headed for the door. Ere he could reach the door, Derpy walked in. Noticing the little dragon, she politely held the door open for Spike, “Thanks Derpy.”
“No problem,” she answered as she let go of the door after Spike had left. She walked to the counter where Pinkie was standing, already with her saddlebags in her mouth. “Those today’s deliveries?” Derpy asked as she approached.
Pinkie nodded as she placed her saddlebags on the counter with a “clank”. Derpy diligently opened them, procuring from them four neatly stacked trays of muffins which had already been wrapped. “Ya know who each one’s for, right?” Pinkie asked with a smile.
“Of course, I’m the one that delivers the mail,” Derpy said sternly. She then put the muffins in her own saddlebags and left. When she was out the door, Pinkie let out a sigh of relief as she trotted back to the kitchen.
As Pinkie was giving out orders in the front, Bubble Berry was delightfully cleaning up the kitchen. He was melodically humming to himself as he did so, but now and again the thought came into his mind, “Pinkie’s actually kind of cute.” Bubble did his best to clean up everything, but he didn’t notice that he had missed a patch of flour on the floor. As he finished cleaning, conveniently, Pinkie walked back into the kitchen. She smiled when she saw him, then started her way towards him. “Hiay Bubble Be...Ahhh!” Pinkie didn’t notice the flour on the floor, stepped in it in her haste, and started sliding across the floor towards Bubble Berry. Pinkie, in her panic, stood up on her hind legs as she slid. Bubble Berry swiftly jumped up on his own hind legs before she throttled into him.
Thankfully, Bubble Berry had his back to the counter, hampering their trajectory. Pinkie had wrapped her forelegs around her unlikely savior as she struck his stomach. Out of her fright of the recent event, she held onto Bubble Berry and started to shudder. Bubble Berry kindly embraced Pinkie and rubbed his nose against her cheek, trying to calm her. His kind gesture must have worked, for Pinkie stopped shaking and rested her head on Bubble Berry’s chest. Bubble Berry was bewildered by the sudden mood swing, but he calmly patted her back with right fore-hoof. Pinkie, realizing who saved her, looked up at Bubble Berry with a soft gaze. Bubble Berry, leaning against the counter to keep himself on his hind-legs, gently returned the gaze. Pinkie and Bubble held that gaze for some time, making their tails wag. Pinkie pushed herself up and rubbed her nose against Bubble Berry’s, which Bubble Berry replicated. Pinkie then dropped down on all hooves and walked over to the island in the center of the kitchen. Bubble Berry, in his astonished, and mesmerized state, dropped down on all his hooves and followed Pinkie. “Whatcha going to do now?” he asked as he got to her side.
Pinkie bumped flanks with him, “We’re, going to start baking for the party.”
“What party?” Bubble Berry asked as he started to get some bowls, which he put on the counter.
“The party for you and your friends silly,” she elucidated as she rubbed her cheek against his. Bubble Berry started turning red in the face a little.
“Why’s that?” he asked flustered.
“Well, you guys are new here...you would do the same, wouldn’t ya?” Pinkie raised an ear in question, in her giddy way.
Bubble Berry looked at the bowl on the counter, then at Pinkie. “I would definitely!”
Pinkie hopped in place and let out some happy laughter. “Then let’s get to work,” she said as he started getting the ingredients, while Bubbles got the oven ready.