All Natural Ingredients
Chapter One
By: Banger Brony
Being that they owned the only bakery in all of Ponyville, Mr. and Mrs. Cake always had and probably always would have their hooves full with all their was to do around the shop attached to their home. On any given day, it was typically not uncommon to see one of them whipping up whatever that week's special was, while countless quantities of cupcakes, scones, loaves of bread, and, of course muffins(!) rose to perfection in one of the shop's ovens. Then, around town, the other half would be pulling a cart making sure that a wedding cake arrived in time, wherever a ceremony might be taking place, or just being courteous whenever a certain purple pegasus needed more of their chocolate blueberry muffins than usual.
At the time of writing this, Mr. and Mrs. Cake have been in business for just over fifteen years, or at least their proper shop in Ponyville had been open for that long. Many long time citizens of Ponyville could recall either Mr. or now Mrs. Cake whipping up all sorts of goodies for them, however, bringing over scratch-made muffins, cookies and the such to parties, or being commissioned to make cakes before they had the funds to open their own shop, thus expanding their reach. When this finally did happen, though, the shop was welcomed to Ponyville's downtown district with open hooves, and not just because word got around of how fantastic their creations really were.
There are very few ponies, for instance, who got married in Ponyville, whose reception didn't include a three or four-tiered cake baked from scratch by The Cakes. During the weekly farmer's markets held in Downtown Ponyville, their muffins and other delicious baked goods were one of the few non-produce items that consistently one of the biggest hits, by far, among every pony that regularly went down for whatever it was they needed or wanted. And whenever there was a cooking competition anywhere in Equestria that The Cakes could get to by train within reason, they often found themselves there and had the trophies and prizes to emphasize how it was they had been in business so long, and would keep being so for a very, very long time.
The prize money and the shelves of trophies and awards to show for in their home were all good and well. But when these things translated into recognition and huge jumps in customer flow and (especially) huge spikes in orders of all sizes, many of them coming in from places very far away from Ponyville. Just starting out, and for several years, the work load was busy but was still not too much (most of the time) for the husband and wife to handle. But after not just a couple more wins, one of which was tied to Equestrian royalty, but also the birth of their brand new filly and colt, Carrot Cake and Pound Cake, the stubborn, prideful couple had absolutely no choice but to succumb to the fact that they were in need of an extra set of hooves around the shop kitchen.
It was a well-known fact to every pony in Ponyville (and many in several other parts of Equestria, for that matter), that Pinkie Pie was the one to go to when the party any pony was having just had to be perfect. Armed with endless supplies of balloons, music, costumes, and cannons shooting off confetti by the pound, she (except for when Cheese Sandwich was in town) was, quite possibly, the sole one keeping Ponyville's party supply store not only in business but constantly turning a profit.
Pinkie Pie, a lifelong resident of Ponyville, had known Mr. and Mrs. Cake for as long as she could talk and bounce around. Shortly after she graduated school, Pinkie Pie began hosting parties all over the place, earning the money that she needed to help with supporting her family, making a name for herself as soon as each one she'd thrown for someone had concluded. It wasn't until the Cakes hired her for their bakery's five-year anniversary party, however, that Pinkie Pie would learn of another talent that, even if she had cooked for her sister, Maud, and the other members of her family before, she never knew was anywhere near good enough to think about doing as something to keep her bank account bouncing.
The night before the day-long festivities, which included all sorts of free baked goodies, live music outside of the shop by bands of all sorts from Ponyville, and an all around happy time, Mr. and Mrs. Cake had already spent a solid two days baking not only tons of their products for freebies, but then also more yet in anticipation for some deals and specials that their very loyal customers could take home at deeply discounted prices. Crunch time was looming, but with plenty of coffee between them, the now long-married couple were making good headway, staying somewhat on schedule, and very confident that all of this hard work would make this celebration, with everything else having been organized by Pinkie Pie, was going to be a hoof-stomping great time. That was, until something completely unthinkable blew into view.
"Okay, now calm down, folks. I understand you're really worried, but I am sure that we can come up with a reasonable solution for all of this," Mr. Cake, now with the color completely gone from his face, suggested a few times, even though he knew that, as much as was telling them, there would be no easy way out, especially with their client getting more belligerent, louder, and more vulgar by the minute.
"Honey, what's going on?" Mrs. Cake came in, hoping to comfort her husband who, by now, had just about slipped into full-on panic mode. "What's so bad that happened that I can hear them screaming and cursing all the way over here in the other room of the shop?"
"You know that cake that we just made that was phoned in two months back?"
"Do you mean that ridiculously rich couple from Fillydelphia who said that they just had to have us do the cake for their wedding after they tasted our muffins and cupcakes at that really swanky party that had all those snooty ponies that all seemed to be friends with Rarity?"
"Yes...and wow, that was exactly the bride that called, and I knew it was her right away. How did you know?"
"I had a hunch that it was either her or the groom, especially since they have been a royal pain in the flanks since the day after they asked us if we also do wedding cakes and whether or not we could 'handle' a totally custom order. I was so glad when we got that one onto the train on the way to them, and the check from them arrived the next morning. What could she have possibly wanted, especially this late at night?"
"The cake was destroyed to the point of being unsalvageable. Now they have nothing, and they're getting married sixteen hours from now."
Now the color drained out of Mrs. Cake's face, but she had some other ideas and alternatives that she thought would be the most feasible way to rectify the situation that had gone down several hours away; unfortunately, nothing would satisfy the already cantankerous bride who they knew could be caused a lot of trouble if they didn't give this bride, who had a particularly high place in Equestrian Society, anything and everything, no matter how bizarre, that she demanded.
Still, that didn't stop Mrs. Cake from making the long-distance call in an attempt to find any kind of substitute for the humongous white cake, which took countless hours to create, let alone get it to its final destination, that would remotely suffice. But also running through any possibility, including giving them their money back; making a smaller cake and overnight shipping it there by Pegasus Express, and even getting enough cupcakes there for everyone to enjoy a couple, the bride not only refused to budge, but even threatened to smear the Cakes' name around every corner of Equestria. And with that in mind, Mr. and Mrs. Cake realized that they had no choice but to spend the entirety of the small hours of the morning, re-baking a cake for immediate rush delivery to Fillydelphia.
"Hey, guys I..." in came Pinkie Pie as soon as the sun came up; still the worst possible time that she could do so. "Whoa, what happened here. You guys didn't get really hungry and eat all of the cupcakes and muffins, did you? Not that there's anything wrong with that, because they are delicious, and you've got a super duper yummy butter crèam frosting, and it's possible that you may just get hungry while you're making every pony else muffins and-"
"PINKIE!" exclaimed Mrs. Cake, now visibly with hooves shaking, probably on the brink of a very bad panic attack. "I'm sorry, darlin', but all of the cupcakes, muffins, and everything else that we were supposed to be making had to take a back seat about ten o'clock last night. And now because of it, we're gonna have to cancel the party, because there's absolutely no way that we would have enough treats for every pony that's gonna show up, and...OH I JUST WANTED THIS ALL TO BE PERFECT AND NOW IT'S ALL RUINED AND-"
"Honey, please calm down," Mr. Cake stepped in, pouring himself another cup of Manehattan's Best coffee while, in the back of his mind, knew that he really could go for a couple of Pinto Blue Circles. Still, he needed to stay productive, and he knew that drinking the wrong thing could really stunt their progress and, worst case scenario, throw he and his wife's livelihood into a tailspin. "You may not think this right now, but we will think this through, and we will get the cake out to that awful bride in time...even if we have to get it there minutes before the reception starts. We've got this; we've been through a lot more stressful situations in the past, so we've got this in the palm of our hoo-"
"BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PARTY? WE HAVE BEEN PLANNING THIS PARTY FOR A VERY VERY LONG TIME. EVERYONE IN PONYVILLE HAS BEEN EXCITED ABOUT THIS FOR MONTHS, AND NOW ONE PONY THAT WANTS SOMETHING THAT WE CAN'T POSSIBLY DELIVER ON HAS THREATENED TO MAKE US LOSE EVERYTHING, AND ALL BECAUSE WE WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS KEPT OUR DREAM ALIVE FOR THIS LONG! OH, MY WORD I'M GOING TO SCREAM!"
Mr. Cake did everything he could to not just diffuse the situation, and not just because their party planner was watching his wife buckle down into a total melt down. Eventually, Mrs. Cake was made to be relatively coherent and, while it wasn't the most popular of options, she was now somewhat on board with the idea of getting out the cake to Fillydelphia in order to save their shop's reputation. But just as soon as he had just cleared that hurdle, another (what he thought was a better) idea crossed his mind that he was now bracing himself for the reaction on as he said it.
"Hey, Pinkie Pie, how much baking have you ever done?"
"Baking? Like making a tray of muffins for my sister, Maud? Maud loves my muffins? Especially my apple cinnamon ones, which is kinda funny because she won't put cinnamon into anything else she eats. I mean, I would think that she would like raspberry muffins because, come on, what pony doesn't like raspberries? Or chocolate? Chocolate is something that every pony this side of Equestria likes, like-"
"Okay, Pinkie, we get it. So you can bake. Is there any chance that you could help us bake a little bit while we finish making this cake to go to Fillydelphia? This way, we're still gonna need to postpone the anniversary party, but at least if we've got an extra set of hooves, we can shave off how many days we've gotta push it back."
Mrs. Cake wasn't exactly on board, especially when she responded with, "Honey, do you really think that we can expect Pinkie Pie to take this mammoth task on? Besides the fact that she probably never really has baked before, except for a little bit for her sister or her family, she's already busy; even if we're postponing the party because of our unfortunate situation, Pinkie's still gotta set up EVERYTHING else, and has so many things to worry about in delivering the best possible party for us."
Midst the heated discussion, it was obvious to Pinkie Pie that the couple were completely divided on the issue. No, Pinkie Pie had done very little baking in her life. And yes, she had a huge party, which was probably going to be attended by the vast majority of the City of Ponyville, and even some from neighboring cities. But somehow, some way, she thought she would be letting not just Mr. and Mrs. Cake down if she didn't at least make up a1 few pans of cupcakes, but also herself because she wouldn't be challenging herself to try something new.
"Mr. Cake, actually, I don't have that much left to do to get this place ready for the big party. And if it would help, I think I would be able to help you with making some muffins if it means you may be able to have the party even a few days sooner than you thought you would."
"That would help quite a bit...even if it's not just muffins. We need tons of muffins; and cupcakes; and cakes; and eclairs; and...you know, Pinkie, disregard everything that I said. We have WAAAY too much work to expect anyone else to undertake. We can't do that to you, since we're already counting on you to put on this whole party...whenever that might be."
"What are you talking about? I don't have that much left to do to get the party all set up. And my next party I'm throwing isn't for another two days. So, I might not be able to do a ton, but I would be glad to lend a hoof doing muffins...or whatever else you might need...even if I've never done it before."
As she was committing, Pinkie Pie got a glance at the list of the items and quantities of each that Mr. and Mrs. Cake needed in total, how many they had baked already, and how many left they would have had ready to go, had things not had come crashing down...literally.
Working as if the huge party was happening that day, Pinkie Pie wasted no time getting to work putting up streamers, decorations and, of course, setting up confetti cannons in the most random places that, certainly, no one would expect would result in them being blasted and covered in sparkly paper bits. A couple of hours later, she checked in with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, confirmed that, yes, she still wanted to undertake what they thought she couldn't handle, and got to work finishing making several dozen of each muffin, the smallest quantity remaining on the list.
"Honey, what's going to cost us more in the long run? Paying the ridiculous fee for Pegasus Express to go faster than overnight to get the cake there in a few hours, or having some evil filly trapped in an adult pony's body make sure that we are run out of business because of all of this?"
"I guess your right. Go ahead and give them a call. But hey, now that that's all done, we can go and get back to making stuff for the big party."
"Yeah, and maybe if we're lucky, we'll be able to throw it by the beginning of next week or maybe the week after if someone else demands we make a wedding cake in a fraction of the time."
"Oh, so optimistic, now aren't we? Now we—WHOA! PINKIE PIE!"
Instead of the complete and utter chaos that they were fully expecting to walk into, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were greeted by Pinkie Pie alright, but surrounded by stacks upon stacks of cakes, boxes of muffins, donuts, eclairs, and pies of all sorts. Not only were they shocked, but rather, dumbfounded by what they were seeing.
"Pinkie, do we even want to ask exactly how it was that you got this all done in such a short amount of time? We've only been baking and building the big cake for the last several hours, and you've got all this done in such a short period of time! This is amazing!"
"Well, you told me it was a lot more than muffins that you needed, and all of the banners say that the party is going on tonight, so I didn't want you to have to change that, because changed banners are totally bad luck, so I worked as fast as a Pinkie tornado to get all the stuff mixed, in pans and baked (catches breath)...I got it all baked at the same time, used all the ovens you guys have got here, and cooked everything at the same time in the places where things use the same temperatures. I mean, this definitely means that you're not gonna have to delay the party now, doesn't it?"
To say that Mr. and Mrs. Cake were speechless was a horse-sized understatement. Now, a crisis had not only been alleviated, but the one thing that they knew was impossible was now completely possible, and all thanks to a pink little pony that had only ever baked muffins here and there for her family.
"So, Pinkie Pie, can we talk to you for a moment back in the bakery?" Mr. Cake, standing with his wife, asked the one with the balloon cutie mark as she was in the midst of enjoying the fruits of their labor. While she knew that everything turned out fantastic, worked out so much better than any pony had ever expected, something in the back of Pinkie's mind told her to be concerned and scared that maybe something went wrong; were there not enough balloons around the place? Were the streamers not bright enough? Did the random confetti cannons cover some pony in too much confetti? And furthermore, was that even possible?
Once in private, a visibly shaking and panicky Pinkie Pie just about lost it, really afraid that all of her confidence was for nothing. But when the husband began to speak, then the wife, the tension quickly went away. Apparently the Cakes had had ponies throwing them several parties before, be they birthday parties or when they were celebrating one full year in business. But even if none of them had any major disasters, no one had come anywhere near close to the level of fabulous that Pinkie had brought to the table; and they needed to make sure that she not only knew that, but that she knew just how serious they were about how much her hard work and dedication were appreciated. Oh yeah, and despite not having one lesson, her work in making pretty much all the rest of the goodies to pass out and sell at the party were well beyond wonderful.
"With all of that in mind, Pinkie Pie, we wanted to let you know that whenever we are putting on a little shindig or big party, we will always call you to throw it for us; you have our business for life," Mrs. Cake made sure to clarify. Pinkie Pie was elated to get the news for a lot of reasons; first because she loved The Cakes; more importantly, though, her dream, since she was a little filly, was to become a professional party planner and this was putting her on the road to being able to hopefully make that a reality. "There's something else, too, Pinkie Pie; we knew that you could put on the best parties this side of Ponyville, but we had no idea that you could give us a run for our money. So, because we know that you can't plan nearly enough parties to support yourself doing that, we would like to offer you a job helping us out full time in our bakery."
Pinkie's expressions and demeanor had just gone from completely petrified to sitting on top of Cloudsdale. Now she not only could continue to make a name for herself, but then also would be able to completely support herself, and help the other members of her family out if they needed it, by doing something that, up until that day, she had no idea she had the knack for and was passionate about. And now, after a couple of days to rest for everyone who prepared for the party, as well as those who had to squash the last minute crisis, Pinkie Pie would return for her first official day of work as an employee of The Cake Family, surely with plenty of cakes, cookies, and muffins to get into the ovens for their long list of regular customers.