Sugar Belle is a baker by trade, and she treasures her creations dearly. When she loses her special talent for the second time, she fears she'll never be able to bake again. It takes some reassurance from Pinkie to learn that all she needs to do is bake another batch.
This story was written for Decaf as part of Hearthswriting 2021.
Original Prompt:
one about Pinkie that is bittersweet
Thanks to applejackofalltrades, Bicyclette, Dewdrops on the Grass, Sunlight Rays, & The Sleepless Beholder for pre-reading!
Special thanks to applejackofalltrades for also making the amazing cover art!
Chapters (1)
Nicely done!
Focusing the story around having Pinkie help Sugar Belle learn to bake was a great idea. Everything really tied together thematically. The message about moving past hard times landed beautifully.
The characterizations were strong. Prose wise, my favorite part was the dialogue. I think you captured their voices.
This is exactly the kind of story that I hoped for when I requested this prompt! You did a great job, thank you so much!
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Light hearted and sweet, I liked it. Definitely interesting of an Idea and I think you did quite well although it felt kind of lacking during possibly the uplifting part? Like it was just adding ingredients but nothing kind of poetic to it in contrast when Sugar Belle was about to cry.
Still really good though!
Simple and sweet, but effective and leaves a good taste. Just like muffins!
In all seriousness, though, I really liked this piece. And the cover art is great, too.
Another heartwarming story with an uplifting tone! You did a great job capturing characters' emotions, especially Pinkie. This is exactly what she would do when cheering somepony up. And the lesson here is about overcoming the fear of failure. I guess you drew the inspiration from RL events?
Anyway, this cute little story made my day. (For some unknown reason I experienced ups and downs a lot recently)
Again, thank you sooooo much for the story!
A review for YOU.
aww yeah, that must have been a very, very long day for all these ponies!
hehe, the names of Pinkie-related confections really are out there!
hahaha so true!
oof, not the kind of thing you want to see right after having won them back from a[s[n evil misunderstood and precious tyrant
aww, the purple blur is Twilight@
aww so true
aww, poor Sugar!
PInkie Pie is definitely not the Element of Honesty!
hehe that is just so Pinkie, to cite a code that may or may not exist outside of her own head
ahaha, exasperated by the statement in two ways!
wait, the Cakes do pay her, right?
oof, almost feels like it's safer to develop skills unrelated to your cutie mark, if damaging or losing it causes this to happen
hehe, very fun Pinkie phrase
big oof
haha gottem
aww but she's so enthusiastic!
ooh this def brings to mind my remark earlier! so i guess the cutie mark can provide "unearned" skill that depends on its magic, but said skills could also be built up separately, which i guess would be something like Rarity's
sewing or Maud's standup. fascinating!
aww! a great way to end it, echoing the "Try, try again" earlier, and how this is a skill to build by repetition, and how this is just what a baker does.
this story feels slice-of-life in a sense because the stakes are about a very everyday thing that doesn't seem very epic or consequential (baking), and it's heartwarming overall, but it's definitely a drama, structurally! Sugar Belle losing a cutie mark for the second time, her fear and despair for the future, and her learning to see her relationship with baking were all ingredients for a solid little character arc, and Pinkie was a great deuteragonist to provide motivation and unexpected wisdom, not to mention her voice and attitude really livening up the piece with how Pinkie they were. and the resolution being just trying again with a little improvement is just so great thematically. good stuff!