Cream awoke to the sound of hoofsteps trudging through the hallway outside her door. Feeling groggy, she stretched her forelegs wide over her head as she sat up, looking over to the wall clock. It which read 6:34 in the morning. Cream sat up slowly, her brain slowly winding up, remembering where she was. She looked down and rubbed the matress longingly, grateful for a good night's sleep for the first time in months. She let out a long, silent yawn and stood up off of the bed, checking her mane in the small mirror the Cakes had placed above the room's dresser. The mare let out a half-satisfied sigh and trotted out of her room, trying not to wake anypony who might still be asleep. The only door open was the Cakes', and Cream noticed that only the blue mare was still in bed. Cream walked slowly to the stairs at the end of the hall and took extra care not to let them creak. She saw Carrot Cake sitting at the counter downstairs, reading a newspaper and sipping a small mug of coffee.

"Good morning, Mr. Cake."

He looked up slowly, the coffee not quite in effect.

"Hello, Cream. Did you sleep well?" he asked quietly, managing something of a smile.

Cream nodded. "To be honest, it was the best sleep I've had in a long time. Thank you, again, Mr. Cake."

The stallion beamed for a moment. "Please, just call me Carrot."

"I prefer to stick with formalities, if you'll let me," Cream said, blushing slightly as Carrot Cake smirked at her.

"Alright, then, Cream Grass. 'Mr. Cake' it is." he chuckled, returning to his paper. "You can head into the kitchen if you'd like something to eat. I have some bagels ready just for us."

Licking her lips, Cream started towards the kitchen, but froze when she heard a sound behind her. It sounded like hoofsteps at first, but quickened to what sounded like a full sprint. She could hear it barreling down the stairs, and turned around just in time to see a pink blur rush into her face. It toppled over her, and Cream fell onto her back, her head colliding with the floor in a resounding *thunk*. She tried opening her eyes, but was met with a strange, pink fuzz in her face. Slowly, it lifted itself off of her, and soon her cheeks flushed bright red as she saw the large, pink rump just over her head.

"Sorry! I kinda came down the stairs too fast..." a voice said nervously below her head.

"You're ALWAYS coming down the stairs too fast, Pinkie Pie." Carrot remarked dully.

Cream Grass remained still, forming soundless words in her mouth as she tried to figure out the situation. The pony above her was obviously a mare; were it not for the exposed vulva just over her snout, Cream would have figured it out from the pony's cheery, almost shrill voice. For some reason, though, she seemed oddly familiar to Cream. The pink mare lifted herself up off of Cream, and turned around to look at her, confused.

"What's with that look on your face? Oh no, did I hurt you?" Pinkie Pie asked, concerned. Regaining her focus, Cream shook her head quickly and stood up.

"No, no, I-I'm fine. Just a bit startled. And who are yo-!" she choked mid-sentence, now getting a full view of the mare in front of her. It was the beautiful mare from the night before, the one Cream had caught herself staring at.

"Me? Oh, I'm Pinkie Pie," the pink pony said excitedly, answering Cream's incomplete question while bouncing in place. "I work here for the Cakes! Are you the pony they told me would be coming?"

Carrot Cake broke in. "Yes, Pinkie, she is. She's going to be helping you out here while Cup and I head to Canterlot for the next few weeks."

Cream opened her mouth to speak, but recoiled when Pinkie Pie turned from Carrot Cake back to her in an instant. "Oooh, this'll be so much fun!"

The pink mare's mouth almost appeared to be a blur as she spoke, endlessly assaulting Cream's ears with words, phrases, and quips that made no sense to her. Is this really the mare I saw last night? Cream thought in disbelief.

"...And so THEN I told him, 'Oatmeal? Are you CRAZY?!'-" Cream lightly put her hoof on Pinkie Pie's mouth, half-afraid that she might take offense. The pink mare stopped moving, and laid her eyes directly on Cream silently.

"That's all really nice, but, um..." Cream stammered, unprepared to have made the entire room's attention on herself. She counted herself lucky as Carrot Cake stepped in-between them, having finished his coffee.

"Pinkie Pie, I want you to show Cream here the ropes, today. She's going to help you bake all the treats the shop will put out for the next couple weeks, and we're expecting some big party orders to be picked up during that time. Do you think you can help her out?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Cake!" Pinkie chirped, nodding.

Satisfied, Carrot Cake made his way up the stairs and left the two mares alone in the shop's main floor. Cream wordlessly turned and entered the kitchen, observing the various shelves and cabinets around it. Pinkie Pie followed her in, more intrigued by the pleasant smell eminating from a nearby counter. Physics did a double-take as Pinkie hovered into the room, smiling giddily and snatching a still-hot bagel from the plate on the counter. She moaned in bliss, earning a strange stare from Cream as she watched the pink pony slowly float down to the floor. Fully convinced that the disturbance had disappeared, physics resumed its earlier business, hoping to avoid another scare. Pinkie Pie spoke up as she practically inhaled the last of her bagel.

"So, where are you from, uh...?"

"Cream. My name is Cream Grass." Cream said bitterly, briefly looking down to the floor. "If you don't mind, I-I'd rather not talk about where I'm from."

"Oh? Well, okay then. If you change your mind, tell me though, Cream!" Pinkie chirped, making the dark thoughts in Cream's head suddenly disappeared. "I guess we should start cooking, then, if you're gonna learn how to make Sugarcube Corner's awesome treats!"

Out of the blue, Pinkie Pie began singing and bouncing around the room, going on about the ingredients of cupcakes. Cream had made them before, but couldn't take her eyes off of Pinkie Pie as the song continued. She only noticed then that she had been smiling wide the entire she had been in the kitchen. Was Pinkie's attitude that infectious? she wondered. She jumped as Pinkie Pie laid a hoof on her shoulder and pulled her close.

"Didja' get all of that?" Pinkie asked, showing no signs of fatigue after her number.

"I... think so." Cream said apprehensively.

"Good! Now repeat it back to me." Pinkie ordered, her sudden look of seriousness broken by her poorly restrained giggles.

"Wait, what? What do you mean, repeat it?" Cream cried in surprise.

"I mean, I want you to sing it back to me!"

"I can't do all that! I..."

Pinkie Pie and Cream argued for the next hour while the Cake's began to set up the front. Cream was dumbfounded by how Pinkie overcomplicated the simplest cooking techniques, while Pinkie was too busy having fun with her new guest to notice Cream's utter confusion. The kitchen had become a mess, with various cooking ingredients and utensils scattered about the room.

"...And that's how you finish icing a triple-layered blueberry-blitz cake!" Pinkie said, almost yelling in excitement and knocking over the treat on the counter. She had several splotches of bright blue icing covering her mane, tail, and coat, but was as happy as could be. Cream, on the other hand, while equally coated in icing, was hastily going over some notes she had written on a scrap piece of paper.

"But where does the wine corkscrew come in? And you completely skipped step 5, right after you put the blueberries in the blender," she complained. "I don't get it!" Pinkie only giggled cutely, making Cream look up from her pad. "What's so funny?"

Pinkie giggled again, plopping her rear onto the floor and covering her mouth with a hoof. "You look so funny with that icing all over you!"

Cream scrunched her nose up and glared at the pink mare. "You have icing on you too, you know! More than me, even!"

In an instant, Pinkie jumped up and began running around in circles after her tail. "Where, where?!" she chanted frantically. She ran over to Cream quickly, who leaned back slightly as Pinkie bent over and flung her tail over Cream's head, exposing herself to the beige mare for the second time that morning.

"Did I sit in any?" she asked, covering her head with her hooves on the floor. Cream felt the burning in her cheeks return as she stared right into Pinkie's rump. Indeed, the pink mare had plopped herself onto a cupcake made earlier, its light yellow frosting lining her plot and complimenting her coat color. Cream's mind screamed for her to look away, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the round, plump cheeks. After a few moments of silence, Pinkie looked behind herself and studied the conflicted expression on Cream's face. She instantly drew her tail down over Cream's eyes, making the beige mare gasp in surprise.

"Staring at me like that doesn't help!" Pinkie teased, tsking at Cream in mock-disappointment and narrowing her eyes. "I wonder what you were thinking, looking at me without saying anything!"

Cream's mind instantly lurched into gear, and a volley of words tumbled out of her mouth. "I didn't- I mean, I didn't want- Uh...!" She swiped the fuzzy tail off of her face and looking Pinkie in the eyes embarrassedly. Pinkie lowered her rear out of Cream's face and moved towards the kitchen exit while returning Cream's stare.

"I just realized that I did accidentally sit in something. I'll go get some towels for us, and I'll clean myself up in the bathroom. Don't need you getting all flustered at me cleaning myself, now do we?" Pinkie said coyly, grinning as she left Cream to simmer down in her own head.

"What just happened?"

Author's Note

Be sure to follow me on FIMFiction to get updates on Baker's Delight and my other stories!
Hope you all enjoy!
/)