By Colt.45
Rainbow Dash dodged the rogue mixing bowl, and it crashed loudly into the wall behind her. She stared at the splattered mess, realizing just how close she’d come to being hit. But as she turned back to face the mixer itself, a large glob of the batter slapped across her eyes. The irony was palpable, and Rainbow sighed from its sting on her face, but then, its sting started to become a burn. Suddenly, her eyes were burning from the excessive amount of salt she had added into her mixture. She let out a terrible scream and began lightly cursing in her frustration. She could feel more of the slop peppering her flanks, but she was blind and could do nothing to stop the mess.
Finally, she found a bottle of liquid and immediately undid the cap, pouring it liberally over her face. It was strangely thick, but it did the job well enough. Just as she regained her vision, the mixer shook itself off the counter top and exploded onto the tiles. Plastic chunks jabbed into her skin and the spinning beaters lunged forward and into her hair. They wound up tightly and held. Smoke billowed from the worn out gears of the mixer, but finally everything was still. She looked about her destroyed kitchen and sighed, dipping her hoof in a pile of her uncooked batter.
“Yep…that tastes awful…”
She was suddenly very tired, and as much as she wanted to make this cake, she decided to come back to it another time. Right now, all she wanted to do was clean herself up and go out to eat—maybe have a bite with someone who could actually cook. So she wiped away the soggy mix and slowly untangled the beaters, and was soon on her way over to Sugar-cube Corner.
“I know you’re party pony Pinkie Pie, but how did you ever learn to cook such awesome desserts?” Rainbow Dash asked as she crammed down another cupcake.
Pinkie Pie giggled, woofing down five cupcakes herself, and spoke as sprinkled rained down from her chin.
“Desserts are maybe, probably, definitely the best part of a party! Ha, well, aside from the dancing, and the people, and the music and the streamers.” She was bound to continue down the list, but stopped when she noticed Rainbow Dash looking on the last cupcake in interest.
“Is something wrong with the cupcake?” Pinkie Pie asked as she leaped onto the tabletop. She harshly examined the cupcake from all sides before scooping it up and downing it in a flash.
“Silly-filly, there’s nothing wrong with this cupcake; it’s delicious!”
Rainbow Dash chuckled but stared off as if still bothered by something. Pinkie Pie might not be the most focused in Ponyville, but she could always tell when a friend was troubled by something. “I know!” She exclaimed excitedly. “I’ll help you out, Rainbow Dash!” She hopped up and down in elation, nearly knocking and the table and herself to the floor. But she could see she was right, because Rainbow Dash looked up at her in surprise.
“What? Did I guess that something was wrong? Was I right? Huh?” She jumped down from the table and got right in Rainbow Dash’s face.
“I’m right, aren’t I?”
Rainbow Dash hesitated, obviously embarrassed by whatever Pinkie Pie was talking about, and it made her even happier.
“Trust me Dash! I can help you; I know I don’t know what ever you’re thinking about, but I think I can help!”
“Ok! Ok, Pinkie Pie! Slow down.” Rainbow Dash said. “But you can’t tell anybody.”
“AAAH!” Pinkie Pie gasped. She dove forward and came nose to nose with Rainbow Dash, and whispered so quietly that Rainbow Dash almost didn’t hear her. “…A secret?”
“Yeah, a secret, but only because I’m kind of embarrassed about it.” She added.
Pinkie Pie squealed and leapt over Rainbow Dash. Just as she tried to turn around, Pinkie Pie had grabbed her by her tail and yanked her across the room. Before she was aware of what was happening, she looked up to see that they were in Pinkie Pie’s room upstairs. Of course, everything was pink, but Rainbow Dash was thoroughly surprised by how clean everything was. All of her things were in simple order, and even her bed was made. She was just about to comment on this, when suddenly the lights went out. The curtains were drawn, and so she sat in utter darkness.
“Um, Pinkie Pie, what’re you-”
“BOO!”
Rainbow Dash yelped and leapt back, while Pinkie Pie giggled loudly in the dark.
“Sorry, *giggle* but I couldn’t resist. So, not that no can hear us, what did you want to tell me?”
“Wait, why do we need the lights off?”
“Because then it’s more secretive.” She said casually.
Rainbow Dashed shook her head with a smile and began, not sure if she was facing Pinkie Pie or not.
“Well, the thing is…I was baking…er, well, trying to bake a cake, but as it turns out, I’m no good at cooking.”
She waited for a response from Pinkie Pie, but all she could here were the sounds of something rummaging.
“Anyway, I was kind of hoping you could help me make it. Or, at least teach me how so I could do it myself.”
Again, her words were met with relative silence, but as she ventured to call Pinkie Pie, the lights suddenly came back on and revealed a terrible, gnarly-toothed beast standing right before Rainbow Dash. She screamed, jumping all the way to the ceiling where she clung to the ceiling fan. As she came back around, she saw Pinkie Pie rolling about in triumphant delight.
“Ah, ha ha ha! I’m sorry, but that was too funny!”
“Pinkie, what is that thing?” Rainbow Dash asked as she came around again.
“This? Zecora gave it to me; pretty weird huh?” She placed it over her face again, and her tongue stuck out from its mouth with a wiggle.
“Blah-la-la!”
Rainbow Dash placed her hoof onto her forehead and sighed, wondering if asking Pinkie Pie to help her would be such a good idea.
“Hm hm, wow! You really did a number on this place!” Pinkie Pie looked over the gooey mess that used to Rainbow Dash’s kitchen and smiled.
“Yeah, I know, I guess I should clean this up before we get started.”
“No, you don’t have to yet, we need to go outside and train.” With this, Pinkie Pie bounded back out the door and disappeared. Rainbow Dash looked out the door, and then back to her kitchen.
“But-”
“Well, come on, Dash! We need to teach you how to bake, and we certainly can’t do that in here!” She grabbed Rainbow Dash by her tail again and pulled her out the door. Soon they were out in Fruit-Filly Forest, where many of the town’s favorite fruits grew wild. Pinkie Pie leapt up and smelled the oranges of a tree. Upon landing, she took a nibble of one that had fallen. She stopped mid chew, spitting out the gushy remains and carried on.
“It’s rotten.” She added before turning to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s antics, and Pinkie Pie laughed too, even though she didn’t know why.
“Anyway, Pinkie Pie, what is it that we’re out here for?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Before we cook anything, we need something to cook! You want a cake, but what kind of cake?” She asked with an almost serious tone.
Rainbow Dash looked about all the different fruits, and thought back to the mix she had made at home. She recalled that she had been out of fruits, and thought that mixing in frosting might be a suitable substitute. But then, she didn’t have any frosting either. In the end, she realized that she didn’t know what she wanted in the cake. She shrugged her shoulders, and Pinkie Pie turned away to look around.
“Strawberries are your favorite, right?”
“Well, yeah, I guess.”
Again, Pinkie Pie gasped and leaped high into the air—higher than an earth pony should have been able to go. She dropped to the ground and took off. Before Rainbow Dash could start to follow, Pinkie Pie leaped out from the bushes with a basket of strawberries. She couldn’t even begin to imagine where the basket had come from when Pinkie Pie was hopping down the trail and back out of the forest. Rainbow Dash caught up, and was met by Pinkie Pie’s exuberant giggling.
“I’ve got the most spectacular idea ever! And it’s simple enough for you to learn! But you need to focus and keep up with me, because now things get hectic!”
Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped, but Pinkie Pie didn’t take any notice.
“Alright Dash! This is make or break time! Don’t forget the extract, it’ll just taste like eggs without them! WAIT! You didn’t preheat the oven!?”
Rainbow Dash threw something into the mixing bowl—though she wasn’t sure what—and kept stirring. When Pinkie Pie wasn’t shouting out orders, she was quietly humming to herself, adding in her own portions of the mixture. Soon, they had everything made right and poured it all into the baking pan. Pinkie Pie slid the cake in, and they cleaned the kitchen while they waited.
“Hey Pinkie Pie, I wanted to thank you for helping me make the cake. I’ve never really needed to bake anything, but I gotta say its kind of fun. Even with you barking orders in my ear.”
Pinkie Pie giggled, and with the cleaning finished, she sat patiently by the oven for the almost ready cake.
“I made the strawberry sauce while you were busy with the mixer, so as soon as this bad boy’s done, we can drizzle it on and you’ll have yourself a simple, home made dessert!”
The oven’s timer went off, and they pulled it out and added the finishing touches. Rainbow Dash looked over her creation and smiled, but did not eat. Pinkie Pie frowned, and pushed the cake closer to her.
“Hey, why don’t you eat it? You made it. I bet it tastes great!”
Rainbow Dash chuckled and nudged it back to Pinkie Pie.
“Actually, it’s yours.”
Pinkie Pie looked on the dessert in confusion.
“You see, I wanted to bake you a cake as a way of saying thanks.”
Pinkie Pie looked up with a surprise, but smiled.
“Thanks for what?”
“Well, you always bake things like this for me, and you always get me free cup cakes when I come to visit…and because I wanted to thank you for being such a cool friend.”
Pinkie Pie was quiet for a moment, but then burst into a high pitched squeal which threatened to deafen Rainbow Dash. She cried next, but then squealed again and hugged Rainbow Dash.
“Omygosh, that’s probably the sweetest thing you’ve ever done for me! Thank you so much!”
She and Rainbow Dash laughed and continued to hug for a moment. Pinkie Pie let go and cut the cake, giving Rainbow Dash half.
“Well, come on! Let’s dig in! This is gonna taste even better if we share it!” And with that, she ate her entire piece in one bite. Rainbow Dash laughed at Pinkie Pie, who looked as if she didn’t know what was so funny.
“Yeah, I’m sure it will. Thank you Pinkie Pie.”