> Muffin Problems
>  by ChocolateFan25
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> You don't need talent just to bake muffins, right?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With a last stretch of her foreleg, Night Glider taped the poster on her wall. A wide smile spread on her face, when she flew back and looked around in her room. 

Now, with Starlight Glimmer gone, and her Cutie Mark back where it belonged, she was finally able to express herself in her bedroom. She had to part from a lot of things she loved, before she moved into the town, so it wasn't much yet. But to her, the little things made a huge difference. The blue bedclothes. The potted plant. And now the oversized poster of the Wonderbolts, hanging on her wall next to her dresser. 

"It looks a lot better now. Well, everything looks better than before." she muttered and landed on the ground again. "That's what I would call my home." With a slight frown, she remembered how things were, until a week ago. In order to keep the equalization, every house and every room looked the same. There were even strict rules on what furniture was allowed, and what not. Her room always felt like a hotel room to her. Cold and distant. 

Seeing, how much better it was now, her smile reappeared and she trotted around, whistling. A knock on the door caught her attention. "The door is open." Night Glider called and stopped. 

With a push, the door opened and Party Favor entered her room. "Hey, Night Glider!" he said with a grin and looked around. "Looks nice." 

Night Glider rubbed her head and laughed quietly. "I thought, it would be time for a few changes." 

Party Favor pulled an envelope out of his saddle bags, and gave it to her. 

"What is it?" she asked with curiosity in her voice, and took it with her mouth. 

"An invitation." Party Favor's grin stretched across his face. "We'll throw a party at Double Diamond's house." 

"But we had a party recently." Night Glider said and cocked her head. 

Back then, when she lived with her parents, they would only throw parties at birthdays, which made them quite rare. But Party Favor seemed to plan one at least every three days. The stallion just laughed. "You can never have too many parties. Also, we had our 'We-got-our-Cutie-Marks-back-party' last week. This time, it's the 'We-get-to-know-each-other-and-become-friends-party'! It's also written in the card." He winked at her. 

Night Glider took the card between her hooves and opened it. To her surprise, it shot confetti at her. "Whoa!" she said and laughed. "I guess, you're right. It sounds like fun, and we can always need some." She put the invitation down and looked at him. "I'll be there." "It would be great to find some friends." she thought and rubbed her chin. 

"Great!" Party Favor said, a relieved smile on his face. She could see in his eyes his happiness. "So, it'll start in two hours. Do you want to bring something?" he asked and pulled with his magic a clipboard out of his bags. 

Night Glider cocked her head again, a few of her mane streaks hung down. "Bring something?" 

"Yeah. All the others bring something. Beverages, cake and stuff like that. But you don't have to bring something." 

Deep in thoughts, she scratched her head with her hoof. "I, well, I could..." she muttered and looked around. Her gaze fell on her bed and her eyes widened, when an idea struck her. 

She smiled and looked at the unicorn. "I could bring some muffins!" she said and lifted her head into the air. Her smile wavered, when something came to her mind. "Wait a second. Why is the party at Double Diamond's house, and not here?" She raised an eyebrow. 

"You're silly. Double Diamond's house is bigger, so it's better for parties." 

"But all houses are exactly the same." 

He just smiled at her, as if he had not heard her. With a sigh, she gave up. 

"We'll see us later! I look forward to your muffins!" he said and trotted out again, jumping with each step and closing the door behind him. 

Night Glider had something more important on her mind. She laid down before her bed, and crawled under it. It was dusty, with spider webs everywhere. She blew the dust away and coughed. Finally, she found the spot she was looking for. With her hoof, she pushed on the floor, and with her other hoof she pulled at the deal board. It went off without a problem, and unveiled a small, hidden space. 

"It has to be here..." Night Glider said to herself and poked her tongue out, while searching blindly with her hoof. A rustling made her ears perk up, and she pulled a fading sheet of paper out of the floor. "I still got it!", she yelled, and put the deal board back on its place. 

Slowly, she crawled from the bed away again and noticed, that her mane turned completely gray. With a shake, the dust fell out of it. "Eww." she said. "Remember - don't sweep everything under your bed." she thought and put the paper on her bed. It was an old recipe, which her mother gave her, before she left her home. 

Her eyelids lowered, when she sat down on her bed, and a wave of memories flooded her mind. Even as a foal, she loved the chocolate muffins her mother baked. Sometimes, she was allowed to get her the ingredients from the shelves. She loved to do it, so she could help her and also show her, how good she became at flying. 

A smile appeared on her face. "I always begged Mom to let me eat the rest of the dough. She told me, I would get stomach ache, if I would do it. Once, I did it anyways. My stomach never hurt that much." All those memories made her sigh. 

Night Glider looked down at the paper between her hooves. It was no special recipe, just some chocolate muffins. She remembered, how she left her home. "I wanted to do something. To be somepony." Her gaze wandered to the window, and into the wide, blue sky. "She gave me the recipe, so I could always remember my home. I never thought my life would become that adventurous." 

Night Glider got up and stretched her wings. "I should visit my family sometime soon. It has been years." 

She shook her head and stomped with her hoof on the floor. "What am I doing here, I don't have time for sappy memories. There are muffins, waiting to be made!" 

She pushed her wings and flew to the door. "I'll just ask Sugar Bell if--" She stopped while opening the door, and groaned. Night Glider had forgotten, that Sugar Belle was out of town to do some shopping. "Well, looks like I'll do it alone." she said and lifted her head, the recipe between her teeth. "Baking is not my talent, but... it can't be that hard, right?"


***


"What do I even need?" Night Glider asked herself, while entering the kitchen. It was rather big and clean, just like Sugar Belle always liked it. Night Glider put the paper on the counter and started opening the cupboards. Everything had its place in a small, transparent container, with some labeling on it, to tell what was inside of it. Night Glider frowned. Sugar Belles writing looked fancy and in her opinion, better than her own. 

Without wasting too much time, Night Glider put all the ingredients on the counter. "Flour, baking powder, sugar..." she muttered and grasped a box with cacao. There was barely enough to cover the floor of the box. "Should be enough." 

Some time later, everything was on the counter including a bowl. "Then let's start." she said and looked determined. 

The pegasus started reading the recipe again and rubbed her head. "I have to melt the butter? Why?" she wondered and looked at the yellow mass. She rubbed her chin, and took a pot from a shelf. 

"It's not like something could go wrong." She put the pot on the burner, setting the heat as high as possible. With a knife, she put the butter in the pot. "I have more important things to do." she said, and left the pot. 

She filled the bowl with the other ingredients, just like the recipe told her to do. She cocked an eyebrow and checked the paper again. "Just one spoonful of baking powder?" To her, it looked just like normal flour. Without the labels, she would have confused both of them. "That's surely not enough, right? What's baking powder even doing?" She looked at the paper for answers, but she found nothing. "I'll just use a bit more, can't be bad." With a small spoon, she lifted the white powder out of the container and into the bowl. Sometimes, the powder would fall of the spoon and dapple the counter. When she had the feeling, that it was enough, she put the container away. 

A look on the paper made her frown in confusion. "I have to put milk and eggs in a different bowl? Why not in the same bowl?" The thought of cleaning up even more made her shiver. A sound caught her attention. The butter had melted in the pot into a gurgling liquid. She hurried to the burner, and pulled the pot away with her hoof. The butter inside had turned brown. "I'm sure, nopony will notice it." she thought and filled it into the bowl with the powdery mixture. The butter dissolved slowly into the mixture, and gave off a strange smell. 

After this, Night Glider filled the milk in the bowl and took one of the eggs. "I have to crack them at the edge of the bowl, right?" Night Glider thought and pursed her lips in thought. She tried to remember how her mother did it back then. After all, she decided to knock it against the bowl. She put too much force into it, and the eggshell broke in many little pieces, which flowed with the content of the egg into the bowl. She quickly dipped her hoof into the mixture and tried her best to get the eggshell pieces out. Defeated, she groaned and her voice sounded strained. "I hope, nopony will notice it either." 

After putting everything into the bowl, she took the wooden spoon in her mouth. The taste of the wood made her wrinkle her muzzle. "Just stir everything, can't get worse." she thought and started moving the spoon in circles. The mixture turned into liquid dough, which became easier to stir. 

Despite this, Night Glider became bored after a minute. "There has to be a faster method." she muttered and started to think. An idea popped into her mind. She lifted her body, so she would stand on her hind legs, leaned over the counter and grasped the wooden spoon and the bowl in her hooves. With a lot of force and her tongue hanging out of her mouth, she spun the dough in circles. In her clumsiness, it didn't stayed in the bowl and soon, the counter and her coat were splattered with dough. 

"Well, I guess that's enough." She wiped some of the brown, sticky dough off her forehead. "I always wondered, why Sugar Belle wears an apron while baking. Now I know." she muttered and put a baking tray and a few muffin paper cups out of the cupboard. She filled the paper cups, even though she lacked the dough to fill all of them to the brink, and put them on the baking tray. 

The pegasus threw another look toward the recipe to know, how long they'll have to stay in the oven. "Twenty minutes?" she said, groaning. Her eyes widened, as another idea struck her. "If I'll make the oven hotter... the muffins will be done quicker!" she said, as if it would be the best idea she ever had. The baking tray went into the oven, and with a quick movement, she turned the heat of the oven as high as possible. 

"Night Glider, you're a genius." she said with a proud grin, and ate some of the leftover chocolate. She closed her eyes, tasting every bit of the sweetness. "I should tell Sugar Belle about the heat, so she doesn't have to wait so long for her pastries." she thought. 

After a while of thinking and planning in her mind, she noticed, that something was wrong. She wrinkled her muzzle at the smell in the air, and her eyes started to burn. With an lowered eyebrow, she looked around to find the source, and turned to the oven. 

Her eyes widened in shock and she gulped the last piece of chocolate down, before she rushed toward the oven. Black fume left the oven, and she could hear something hissing from inside. "No!" she yelled and opened the oven. A black cloud came out and took her sight for a second. Her eyes burned more, even though she clenched them, and she started to feel for the window. 

When she reached the handle, she opened the window and took a long breath. The smoke left through the open window, and Night Glider coughed heavily. When she could breath and see again, she noticed a few worried looking ponies on the street. It wasn't helping, that the window of the kitchen lead to the busy, and only, street of the town. 

"Is something on fire?" asked a short mare. From her side, a brown stallion appeared. He carried a bucket in his mouth, filled to the brink with water. 

Night Glider felt her cheeks blushing. "N-no, everything is fine. I just had... problems with the oven." She put a smile on her face, but her eyes told everypony how embarrassed she felt. 

The mare sighed in relief and smiled again. "I was worried for a second." 

Slowly, Night Glider stepped back from the window and put her hoof in front of her face. "Yes, Night Glider, you are definitely a genius..." she joked about herself. Then, she took Sugar Belle's pink oven mitt, and took the baking tray out of the oven. 

Instead of delicious, brown muffins, there were overgrown, black lumps. "That's a disaster." she muttered, her ears fell flat. "I don't even need to eat one to know, that they taste bad." Her gaze wandered across the kitchen, which looked like a mess thanks to the dough splatters and traces of flour everywhere. Night Glider sighed, her eyes hanging low, until she heard somepony opening and closing the front-door. 

"I'm back!" Sugar Belle yelled and entered the room with two shopping bags, both being lifted beside her with her magic. She gasped, when she saw the state of her kitchen, and dropped the bags. "What has happened?" she asked, her eyes filled with worry, and looked around. 

Night Glider rubbed her head, and felt something stick to her hoof. She lowered her hoof to her face and saw even more dough. "Well, I can explain it." she said, searching for the right words. 

Sugar Belle noticed the baking tray with the black muffins. "Oh, you wanted to bake something?" she asked and her frown changed into a soft smile. 

"Yes. But I'm sure, they don't taste good." Night Glider said and looked past her with a defeated sigh. 

Sugar Belle looked at her, sympathetically, and said "Don't worry, I'm sure they turned great." 

With her magic, she lifted one of the muffins in front of her face. She looked at it from all angles and took a bite. Night Glider could hear the crunching and cracking, while the unicorn chewed on the muffin. Sugar Belle kept a straight face, but Night Glider could tell from the twitching of her eyes, that Sugar Belle had problems swallowing the muffin piece. 

After a while, she did it and cleared her throat. "Well, they are... interesting." she said and showed a wavering smile. "They remind me of my muffins. When my Cutie Mark was still sitting in the vault..." 

Night Glider's ears fell even more, and she rested her head on the counter. "But they were horrible." she said and remembered the desperate attempts of the pony, trying to get her muffins right again. 

Sugar Belle put the muffin away and turned to Night Glider. "Why did you wanted to bake muffins?" she asked and cocked her head. 

The pegasus lifted her head again, scratching the floor with her hoof. "Party Favor wants to throw this party at Double Diamond's house and he asked me, if I want to bring something. I... really want to find friends in this town. But I don't know how anymore. And then, I saw how everypony likes you for baking really delicious stuff. So I thought, I could give it a try." 

With watery eyes, she looked at the burned muffins. "But I just can't do it. Now I will never have friends..." She whispered the last words, part of her too ashamed to let Sugar Belle know of her feelings. 

Sugar Belle put a hoof in front of her mouth and a suppressed chuckle came over her lips. Night Glider snorted quietly and looked away from her. "That's not nice." she said, sulking. 

"No, no. I don't laugh at you." Sugar Belle said and put a hoof around the blue pony. "You really thought, you would only get friends if you bake good muffins?" 

"It's... it's not just baking. I mean, you are really good at baking. Party Favor throws the best parties, and Double Diamond knows, how to do awesome looking flips in the snow. I love flying, without a doubt. But... it just doesn't help me getting friends." 

"I think your stunts are impressive." Sugar Belle said and looked into Night Glider's eyes. "But that doesn't matter right now. You don't need to learn how to bake, if you want to find friends. Just be there, talk to others, and help out. And before you'll notice, you'll have a lot of friends." She smiled, making Night Glider feel comfortable. "Friends... like me." 

Night Glider's ears shot up. She felt her heart flutter, and she just gaped at the unicorn. "R-really?" 

Sugar Belle nodded, her mane moving along with her head. "Yeah, really." She turned around and took a cleaning cloth out of a shelf. "We should clean up first." 

Night Glider blushed and rubbed her head. "Sorry, for turning your kitchen into a mess." 

Sugar Belle chuckled and started wiping the dough away. Suddenly, she noticed the recipe on the counter. She knew the recipe, it was nothing special. A quick look on the containers told her, that they still had enough ingredients. "Night?" she asked, her voice sounding happy. "How about baking those muffins together?"


***


A few ponies greeted them, on their short way to Double Diamond's house. On her back, Night Glider carried a plate with chocolate muffins. This time, they looked much better and even had the chocolate chunks, she forgot at her first try. With her outstretched wings, she balanced the plate on the right spot, and she took each step cautiously, to prevent the muffins from falling down. 

"But... if the oven is hotter, your pastries will be done faster, right?" Night Glider asked and lifted an eyebrow. 

Sugar Belle laughed loudly, which made Night Glider twinge in surprise. "No, they'll burn faster." she said, whipping a tear out of her eye. 

Night Glider sighed. "Baking is much more difficult, than I thought." she said and lowered her head. 

"But you are really good at something else." Sugar Belle said. 

Her smile made the pegasus feel better. "Thanks." she said and smiled back. 

She then looked past Sugar Belle to the plate, which she carried with her magic. "What are those?" Night Glider asked, and had barely noticed Sugar Belle baking something else, while she was busy stirring the new dough. 

"Vanilla cupcakes. I thought they would match the chocolate muffins."

Night Glider looked at the cupcakes again. They seemed to be perfect with their color, their even shape and the white cream on top of them. She sniffed the air, and liked the smell of chocolate and vanilla, mixing with each other. The smell made her nearly drool. 

The front-door of Double Diamond's house was already opened and a few ponies went through the door. They went inside with their pastries, and were greeted by Party Favor's bright decorations. Festoons and balloons hang everywhere and the ponies seemed to enjoy everything. 

"You arrived!" they heard somepony yelling. Night Glider turned around and saw Party Favor, jumping toward them, beaming with joy. 

"Of course. Your parties are the best." Sugar Belle said, and put her plate on the table with the party snacks. 

"I'm glad to hear that." the blue unicorn said, grinning wide. It made Night Glider chuckle. "We're gonna play 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'. Want to try it?" he asked. 

Sugar Belle squealed. "Oh, I love that game!"

"I'll join you later." Night Glider said, and pointed toward the muffins on her back. 

"Muffins? Did you made them?" he asked and looked past her night blue wings. 

Night Glider looked at Sugar Belle, a grateful smile on her lips. "No, we did them together." she said. 

"They smell great. I'll take one later." he said, before he and Sugar Belle left. 

Night Glider trotted to the snack table, and found a free spot between the crisps and the bottles with apple juice. Suddenly, somepony stepped to her side. "They look good." 

Surprised and with lifted eyebrows, Night Glider turned around and saw the mare and the stallion, who had asked her a bit earlier, if her house would be on fire. "Oh, thanks." she said. "But I didn't made them alone. Sugar Belle helped me." 

The green mare smiled. "Oh, Sugar Belle is a great baker." 

Night Glider nodded. "Yeah. Without her, I would be screwed. You should have seen my first muffins. You could have mistaken them for lumps of coal." 

The mare put a hoof in front of her mouth and chuckled. "I know, what you mean. When I was a foal, I tried to bake cookies for the birthday of my sister. They melted together into a big... something. My sister thought, it was a frisbee." 

The thought of throwing around a cookie made Night Glider laugh. "That sounds funny." she said. 

"Anyway, do you want to join us later? We're waiting for our turn at the tail game." the mare said. 

Night Glider nodded vigorously. "Sure." 

She took one of the muffins, while the two ponies left, searching for somepony else. Night Glider looked around, and saw Sugar Belle playing the game with Party Favor and Double Diamond. She pulled the blindfold away and saw, that she had pinned the tail on the muzzle of the pony. It made Double Diamond rocking with laughter, saying that it would be the best mustache he has ever seen. 

"I can't bake. But Sugar Belle is right. I don't have be a good baker to find friends." Her gaze fell down to the moon, surrounded by two feathers. "And if I think about it, I don't want to give my talent away for anything in this world. Well, at least not again." 

Night Glider took a bite of her muffin. For everypony else, they tasted like chocolate. But for her, they had the taste of friendship.