Getting the Recipe
My sister and I were on the train when the reality of how our lives are gonna change finally hit us. Pumpkin looked at me with excited confidence that was lacking in my thoughts. She looked at me, quickly reading me through my body language. Looking up at her, I tried to speak, but her words were faster than I could react. “You were the one who was overly excited this morning. What happened to that.”
“Well, doesn't it scare you even a little,” my hoof nervously taps the seat next to my back legs, “everything we know is gonna change. We're gonna run our own bakery in Canterlot; reputation is everything there. What if we screw up? Once is enough to stop ponies from coming through our doors.”
“Of course I am, but you can't let that stop you. If it did, we would have never shared our first kiss,” she leaned on me slightly, resting her head on my shoulder. “You can't say you regret that, can you?”
“No, I didn't, but remember mom's birthday cake? I regretted that.” I rubbed the back of my head as I think back on the 'flaming cake.’
“Look!” She points out the window with the excitement coming back into her voice. The beautiful city of Canterlot hung over the side of the mountain as the sunset behind the city. The great walls wrap around the collection of building with white brick that looks masterfully crafted. The pearl towers glisten in the falling sun as the night sky set in overhead; the two fronts mixing in a beautiful texture of colors painted the sky—the bottom half of the display enhanced by the great waterfalls coming from the city. The beautiful array of warm and cold hues dancing in the sky made me hopeful for the future.
We walk along the empty streets looking for the building that they would now call home; Not able to help but look up at the night sky resting overhead. Pumpkin gave a magical tug on my wing to pull my attention to the big building that sat on a street corner of a rather busy walkway. As we walked into the lower floor, we saw an empty store perfect for a bakery. There were more than enough displays for everything from bagels to multi-layer cakes. Both of our eyes glowed at seeing the store. We ventured behind the counter through a pair of twin doors that lead to the kitchen that would make any baker blush. To the back of the kitchen were stairs that lead to the upper floor. The upper floor looks like any other bigger one-story house. Pumpkin spoke in disbelief, “I can't believe you and mum found a place like this.”
“Believe it or not, this city has a lot of places like this. It's so that ponies don't have to commute to their work. It helps the city not be as busy.” I speak as I make my way to the main bedroom. Our bags were waiting in the room for us to unpack. My mind doesn't see them as my eyes lock onto the bed before my body falls like a plummeting tree. My body sinks into the bed before feeling a small bounce from the bed as Pumpkin landed next to me. I shift my body over to her so that she can pull me into a warm hug. I rest my head on her chest as I relax in her hoofs. As I rest, a question Creept into my mind as I thought about the life we left behind. “Pumpkin, you think we’ll ever be able to tell ponies about us?” My voice slightly softens as I spoke.
I feel her grip slightly tighten before her word spoke what I knew but didn't want to hear. “Sadly no, even rarity said that the repercussions could be disastrous,” her words were a lot more carefully picked than her normal word choice.
“I'm happy that the one pony that could keep secrets is the one who found us.” We both chuckled together. Looking up at her, our eyes locked. With little warning, she pushed her soft lips against mine. Catching me a little off guard, I give in to the kiss. With the wonderful passion of the kiss, the worries of my mind melted away; as for this moment, I felt safe. Nothing can touch me but the one I love.
My eyes slowly flutter open, looking around confused before I slowly remember where I was. I stretched out my body with a small pop in my joints. The corner of my eye catches a note from Pumpkin.
“Get yourself ready for the day. I went out to get us breakfast. I'm gonna get us the normal. If I don't get lost, I should be back In an hour. See you soon pound cake ~ ❤”
I chuckle to myself, and her notes were always cute to me. Doing as it said, I did all I needed to, and I felt ready for the day. Once she got home, we ate. The meals were way fancier than what we used to. It looked like a salad wrapped in some pastry. I ask pumpkin the name of it, but she said she didn't remember it. After our hesitant first bite, we enthusiastically ate our meals. After we cleaned up, we started on our day. We walked forward to the new town, ready to build our new life.
The bright sun overhead gave the safe aura of Celestia. The shining sky made the city of gems glows; it made the city look like a different one of the night that my sister and I saw as we first walked on these grounds. The city was a lot busier they the starlit version, but even with the controlled chaos, the city seems to have a unique calmness among the moving ponies. As we walk, looking among the stores, I can feel Pumpkin's warm magic holding my wing. We come across a paint store, ‘Above sky painting,’ painted on the building in smooth strokes with a royal font. Below that is an unbelievable mural of a light gray Pegasus painting stars into the night sky. It looked almost like a picture was placed there. “Hey, Pumpkin?” I say in a state of awe.
“Yeah?” She says, keeping her eyes locked onto the same point mine were.
“If we really want to go for that royal theme, I am more than sure they can do it, right?” I turn to ask her, but to my surprise, she was already walking in. I quickly followed behind, briefly stumbling over my hoofs as I went in.
I walked into our bakery kitchen as the sun outside lowering sunlight can be seen through our window. Pumpkin happily hopped into the kitchen wearing a similar apron to the one that she forced me into. “Do we have to bake? We aren't gonna open for a few weeks still.” With tiredness in my eyes from our day of working, I say very; clearly, I will rather be sleeping.
“Well, you're supposed to be the smart one,” she says with her smile, never leaving. Her hooves come up to the counter that had all we needed to bake. Her eyes glowing with the possibilities of what to be, “we need to practice; we don't wanna give our first customers subpar food.” Even though I heard her words, they made no impact on me since I was lost in the look in her eyes. That look was what made me love her, the look that makes every pony around her believe that she will conquer the world. A sudden puff of flour brought me to reality. She giggled as she teases me, “I know I'm great but, we got to get to work. I would like to have at least the cupcakes done before rarity gets here.” I gave a playful eye roll before I start helping with making the batter for the cupcakes. Even though I was resistant, once I started getting in the groove of making the batter, I started enjoying it. One part that got me really excited was the ability to use the new equipment. Our kitchen was fully stocked with all we would ever need to run our kitchen. As we worked in sync with the jobs, we set for ourselves with no spoken words. The rhythm of work was almost like a well-timed dance as we moved about the kitchen. Before we knew it, we had trays of cupcakes done. We were waiting for the last tray as we both were leaning against the counter with about four feet between us. I look at the counter that was covered with flowers. I smile as my wing comes out. Pumpkin's eyes follow my wing out of curiosity. Before she can react, it moves forward, sending a wave of flower at her. She was barely able to make an “eep!” I couldn't help but laugh as the moment help take me back to childlike innocence. I suddenly feel water cover my body. I open my eyes to see her putting down a glass. I chuckle, “that's all you got? Oh no, you made me clean!” I put my front hoofs to my cheeks to overplay the moment. Her eyes glance up then back to me, holding a smirk on her face. I looked up to see a floating bag of the flower above me. “Clever mare,” after my bad joke, I was covered from head to toe with mushy batter. She starts laughing as I move to her, trying to hug her. She tries to fight me off as she is laughing having some trouble. Her hoofs hold me off as we both laugh. “Come on, I just want a hug.” but shortly after that, we hear the front door open. We both freeze in a rather weird position as we wait for a voice.
“Pumpkin? Pound cake? I'm here, darlings!” The familiar eloquent voice could only belong to Rarity. We walked out with a slight embarrassment with the mess we were in. The blue-eyed pony was always a wonder to see, her white coat looking flawless being only greatly enhanced by the mare’s purple mane. “Well, I sure do hope you don't intend to bake your brother.” She said with a chuckle, bringing a smile to her face.
“No,” she giggles with a playful tone, “I let him go this time.” I give an eye roll to her comment. Funny enough, my first thought was that if only I get to bake me. That confused me after it left. “So rarity, how did the uniforms come out?” She said with an excited voice like a kid who was about to get a present.
“It came out great, darling. Everything worked wonderfully. For how complicated the patterns were, they gave me little trouble.” She floated a pink satchel with small gems lining the bag's edge to Pumpkin, which she put on the nearest counter, not wanting to get it dirty. “How is the store coming along?” She seemed interested in the store. Knowing how hard it is to get a store in this busy location.
“It's going great,” I speak up with an enthusiastic tone. My body gives a little excited bounce that only helped make me look like a small foal when I spoke. “We got ponies to repaint, remodel, as well as inspect the place to make sure it doesn't fall apart.” Realizing that I was so excited about what most would consider boring, I calmed myself down some with a nervous chuckle.
Rarity seemed excited with my excitement, but unlike me, she kept her composure. She was happier I was enjoying it. “That's great to hear; It sounds like everything is working out. Well, I'll be heading out; I gotta get up early tomorrow to finish-”
“Wait, rarity,” I say, cutting her off. I nervously put my front right hoof behind my head. “I wanted to ask you a question about Pumpkin and me,” I say, knowing that it wasn't an easy subject to any of us, but she was the only one we could talk to about.
Her ears go back for a brief second. She quickly recovered her calm composure in a way that an average pony would not have noticed. “Well, of course, darling, I got some time before the train gets here. What was it you wanted to ask dear?”
“Well,” I stopped. I was gonna ask the same thing that I always ask. I knew the answer already. So I asked a different question that she didn't expect. “Do you think we will be happy?”
“Oh,” it was clear that she was expecting a different question. After a short moment of thought, she spoke with a careful voice. “Well, no matter what ponies think about what you two have, I can say that it is true love. Pound cake, you shouldn't worry too much in the future. You and Pumpkin got a lot on your plate as it is in the now, dear. If you do that and keep your head on your shoulders, I'm sure you will have a lot of good in your future.”
I smiled. That's what I needed to hear, even though I could have gone without the flaws. “Thank you, Rarity.”
“Goodbye.” She waves to us both before leaving. I walk over to Pumpkin with no words and hug her. She hugs me back. Then I feel her remember that I was a complete mess, and she pulled back from the hug with a defeated chuckle.
“Well, did that make you feel better,” she asked as she tries to shake off the batter from her front hooves.
“It did. I'm just glad that we can talk about it to her,” he thinks back. “It could've gone a lot different if anyone else caught us.”
“Yep, but she did. Just because pinkie pie left the house early.” She was speaking so casually about the subject. Even with a little smirk that showed how she thinks of the moment.
“Well, the fact that she walks I-” I sniff the air. A weird smell was filling the air. “The cupcakes!” We both rush to the kitchen. I was having way more trouble because of the mess. Once I entered the kitchen, Pumpkin pulled out a tray of black smokey charcoal that used to be cupcakes. At that moment, I agreed with Pumpkin that we need to practice. That was just a small oversite, but we still got a little while before we have to be perfect. “...10 bits to the first to eat a whole burned one?” ...she won. After that horrible ordeal, we had a real meal that was great. It was a new meal to us that was this thing called fried tofu; it was such a unique flavor. I couldn't believe that there were so many different foods. After we finished, we cleaned up and got ready for bed. We snuggled close together; I pull Pumpkin's chest against my chest and hugged her, wrapping her in my wing. I spoke to her with a hopeful tone. “So this is our life now?”
“Looks like it, we go own the streets of Canterlot with our baked goods.” She says like she is speaking of an old legend.
“And all other bakeries wall fall at our feet,” I play along, “no matter the name, no matter the pastry!”
She starts chuckling after my words. “I'm glad that some pony beside us believes in us.” She says with a cheerful voice,
“but I can only assume it's gonna get harder from here on out. The biggest stress is more than likely the shop.” She held my hoof, “Imagine when it gets busy, will we even be able to handle it?”
“Weren't you the one that was telling me not to worry?” I slightly tighten my grip on her with my wing. “I'm sure now that no matter what comes our way, we will be fine.”
“Well, if you can suck it up, then it should be no problem for me.” She gives me a sweet smile as she looks up at me. I lean down and plant a kiss on her lips. They felt so soft. The natural passion in her kiss was intoxicating. We pulled back for air, but before I knew it, she pressed her lips back against mine. I felt her tongue press into my mouth before she broke the kiss. “Now go to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow.”
I smirk as she did this. She is such a tease. She snuggled close to me, getting into a comfortable position for her sleep. As she dozed off, I couldn't help but think of where we are now. We are in one of the most well-regarded cities running our own bakery. Suppose you told me that a few years ago, I wouldn't have believed you. That's why I didn't when exactly that happened.
Now that we are here, I couldn't be happier. The doubt was weak now with my dear sister in my arms. I knew that everything would be alright. Rarity being there for us will make the hard times a lot easier, though. Even with the great reputation she has, she is one of the best ponies I know.
I look out of the window to the cool night sky. The bright moon sat beautifully in the night sky. Each star looked masterfully crafted as I imagine how a Pegasus would paint such a masterpiece in the night sky. My eyes slowly close as I tried but failed to take in more detail.
Everything we know is gonna change.