Scootaloo is Bored

"So, what's the plan?" Scootaloo asked wearily.

“I’m glad you asked,” Pinkie Pie proclaimed with a wink, a wink that sent chills down Scootaloo’s spine. “You see, it’s Friday, and Friday nights at Sugarcube Corner mean business!”

Scootaloo cocked her head. “Isn’t everyday business?”

With a giggle and an abrupt snort, Pinkie explained herself. “Of course not, silly filly! Working at Sugarcube Corner means working with sugary, fun-filled sweets! How could fun be considered work?”

“Then how does that make tonight business?” Scootaloo asked, her eyes and ears twitching.

Pinkie Pie leaned dangerously close to Scootaloo, patting the filly’s silly little head. “It’s just like Grammy Pie used to say, ‘Do what you like, and you’ll never work a day in your life’! But, work is business, and business means business.” She proudly stood back, leaving Scootaloo in a state of confusion.

“But you just said that you loved your… and fun means… business is…” Scootaloo trailed off. “Nevermind. What’re we doing?”

"Well," pinkie pie began, "maybe you can help me bake some sweets! The customers should be pouring in soon."

Scootaloo grimaced. "You trust me to cook with you?"

"Of course I do, silly filly! I trust everypony in ponyville. That's just how ya gotta get by in life!" Pinkie pie cooed.

Scootaloo nodded unsurely. "That's good to hear, but the thing is-- uh, what's that?"

Pinkie pie was in the middle of devouring a swirly half eaten lollipop that seemed to have a few hairs stuck to it. "Just a snack break! I put this in my mane earlier today to save for later, and I figured, hey, it's later!"

Scootaloo took a painfully deep breath before continuing. "Anyway, I'm not exactly the best baker around. This one time, me and Apple Bloom tried to bake a surprise apple pie for Granny Smith and nearly burned down Sweet Apple Acres, and Applejack--"

Pinkie Pie swiftly interrupted. "Sounds like you've got enough experience to me! I used to burn down kitchens all the time as a filly!"

"Really?!" Scootaloo asked, dumbfounded.

"Well... No, not really," Pinkie Pie said, sheepishly grinning. "I just wanted to lighten the mood is all! Besides, you don’t even need an oven to bake.”

Scootaloo smacked her tiny hoof to her face. “What could you possibly mean this time? Of course you need an oven to bake!”

“You don’t when you’ve got Auntie Pinkie Pie as the wind beneath your wings!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. Scootaloo sighed at the mention of wings as Rainbow Dash crossed her mind.

Collecting her thoughts, Scootaloo looked toward pinkie. "Alright, I’ll give it a shot. What do we do first?”

Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves in glee. "First, we preheat the oven!”

Scootaloo stared at the party mare in disbelief. I could be knitting with my aunt right now, she thought, following Pinkie to the kitchen.

Pinkie Pie jabbed and poked and the oven, causing various lights and noises to go off. “There we go. Time to gather some ingredients!”

“Alright, what do we…” Scootaloo began to speak, but when she looked up, Pinkie Pie was gone. “Huh? Where’d you go, Pinkie?!” She anxiously looked around searching for the crazed mare.

Wait… Pinkie Pie gone? This was her chance to skedaddle.

As Scootaloo quickly spun around to make a break for the door, she crashed into Pinkie Pie head on. “What? Where did… How… When did you…” The only response she gained was the heavy weight of cupcake ingredients in her forehooves.

“Let’s get started!” Pinkie proclaimed.

“Ugh…” Scootaloo struggled her weak legs over to the counter, dropping the ingredients. “How does this work?” she asked, panting.

Suddenly, a sweet tune broke out. “Oh… oh no, Apple Bloom warned me about this!” Pinkie Pie skipped toward a cabinet, grabbing a turquoise bowl.

Before Scootaloo could escape the inevitable, Pinkie Pie began to sing. "All you have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix…" She reached for a bag of flour.

Scootaloo cupped her ears. “It’s okay, you can just tell me! Urgh, you guys know I hate songs…”

Pinkie Pie danced over to the bowl, adding in various ingredients as she sang. “Now just take a little something sweet, not sour. A bit of salt, just a pinch!”

Pinkie Pie sailed across the room, popping up and down from Celestia knows where. “No!” Scootaloo cried, ducking down to the floor.

Instead of singing the next verse, Pinkie Pie began to speak, her voice sympathetic to Scootaloo. “But why not? Making these treats is such a cinch…” She reached passed the filly, grabbing a jar of vanilla. “Ya gotta add a teaspoon of vanilla!” Pinkie winked expectantly.

Scootaloo frowned, sighing as she gave in. “Add a little more, and you count to four…” she mumbled.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Pinkie asked.

“Ugh! Add a little more, and you count to four!” Scootaloo sang half-heartedly.

“And then what?!” Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing in excitement.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “And you never get your fill of--”

“CUPCAKES!” Pinkie Pie rang out, cutting Scootaloo off. “So sweet and tasty, Cupcakes! Don’t be too hasty--”

“Found it!” Scootaloo shouted, unplugging the stereo that was so cleverly hidden behind the toaster.

“Oh, that was my favorite part!” Pinkie briefly lowered her head in dismay. “Oh well! Looks like the oven’s all ready!” Scootaloo faced the oven, which radiated intense heat. "Would you be a dear and pour the batter into this tray?" Pinkie pie fluttered her eyelashes.

"Sure thing," Scootaloo replied with an eye roll. She held the bowl, examining its contents. "Huh, that's weird, I thought there was more in here."

Pinkie grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, heh heh,  weird..."

After giving the mare a strange look, Scootaloo shrugged and began to fill the tray. Just as she began to fill the last space of the tray, Scootaloo felt a ticklish sensation in her nose. “Ehh… Ahh… Achoo!” She sneezed.

The batter flew from the bowl, over filling a few spaces. “Uhmm… Pinkie? I think I may have messed something up--”

Before Scootaloo could even point out her mistake, Pinkie Pie jumped in. “Looks great to me! Let’s get baking!” She grabbed the tray, practically tossing it in the oven, then closed it in a frenzy of glee. “Now, we wait!”

Pinkie Pie dramatically sat back on her haunches, steadily eyeing the oven. Scootaloo gave her a confused glance. She carefully took a spot next to the mare, imitating her actions.

After about ten seconds of this, Scootaloo spoke up. “So… now what?”

Pinkie immediately broke her pose, beaming at the young filly. “Let’s play a game of pattycake! Whenever I used to bake with my Grammy Pie, we’d take breaks all the time! And Pound and Pumpkin Cake are too young to know how to respond to my hooves. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Uhhherr, sure, why not?” Scootaloo grinned, holding her forehooves out. Pinkie leaned into her, poised her hooves to strike. “So how do we-- Gah!” Pinkie Pie began hoof-bumping the feathers off of the poor filly. Just as it seemed like the strikes would stop, Pinkie would strike again, and again, surely inducing bruises on Scootaloo’s fragile hooves. “Okay… Okay, okay! OKAY!”

“Woops, sorry!” Pinkie apologized, pulling her hooves back. “Grammy Pie used to go pretty crazy. Some ponies would call her ‘loco in the coco’! Can you believe it?”

Scootaloo shrunk back, narrowing her eyes. “Oh, yeah…” She stole a glance at the oven. “So how much longer is this?”

“About fifteen more minutes,” Pinkie replied, checking an imaginary watch on her fluffy little wrist. “Oh, I know, I’ll go set up the register. Customers will be arriving soon!” Pinkie fled the scene, leaving Scootaloo by herself.

As Scootaloo eyed the oven, panic mode kicked in. “W-wait, Pinkie? What if the oven just… stops?!” She leaned in closer, straining to see through the opaque glass. “Hmm… Interesting.”

Scootaloo felt her eyelids growing heavier as her boredom grew. The only sound keeping her in touch with consciousness was the incessant ticking of the clock located above the sink. “Ugh, how long is this gonna take?”

She approached the oven, puzzled by the various knobs and buttons. "Hmmm... If it takes twenty minutes to bake at 350... I just need to turn it up!" She traced for the temperature control, shooting the oven up a couple hundred degrees.

At first, not much changed. The ecstatic look on the filly's face faded into one of aggravation. "What the..." She began to protest, only to be interrupted by the e sudden sizzling sound emitting from the oven. "Hey, it's working!"

She leaned in close, her eyes shimmering at the opaque glass. The sparkle soon dissipated, her eyes widening in terror as the cupcakes caught fire. "Oh... Oh, oh no..."

She grimaced, looking around uncomfortably. She shot her head closer to the glass, panic beginning to set in. "What do I do, what do I do?!" She ran her hooves through her mane, beads of sweat racing down her face.

"Uh, Pinkie pie?" Scootaloo called for the older mare, to no avail. A pang of fear shot through her chest as smoke began to seep from the oven.

She fumbled her hooves onto the knob, twisting it this way and the other way. She yanked it hard, falling onto her plot. Looking down, she discovered the severed knob in her hoof. "Gyaaah!!!" She shouted, raising her other hoof to her head.

"Okay, okay, deep breaths, scoots," she reassured herself, trying to calm down. "Think, think..." She rubbed her temples furiously.

Her eyes shot open. "That's it! Cutie Mark Crusaders fire mares!" She stood up tall, chest puffed in pride. Darting to the cabinets, she selected a rather large bowl, bringing it to the sink. Once water had filled the bowl to the brim, Scootaloo approached the oven.

“Nyeh!” She splashed the oven, managing to reduce some of the smoke. Well, not really.

“Scootaloo, wanna help watch the counter?” Scootaloo heard Pinkie’s voice coming from the adjacent room.

“Uhh, coming!” Scootaloo scurried out of the smoking kitchen as fast as her tiny pegasus legs would take her. In an instant, she found herself before the party mare, whose face was adorned with a glimmering beam.

“I know you’ll just love this!” Pinkie Pie was as enthusiastic as ever. “It’s suuuuuuuper easy, all you’ve gotta do is wait for the customers to come in, and I’ll bring you their orders!”

Scootaloo shrugged. It did sound easy, and it would definitely kill some time. “Sure, I bet it’ll be fun.” she lied, sealing the deal with a smile.

With a hoof clap and a giddy squeal, Pinkie scooted away, leaving Scootaloo to man her station. “Let me know if you need anything! I’ll be out with some sweets soon.” As she skipped away, she didn’t notice the frightened expression on the small filly’s face.

Scootaloo waited frightfully for the enraged yelling of the party mare, but no sound was heard from the kitchen. Releasing the tension in her hunched shoulders, Scootaloo opened her eyes and sighed in relief. As if on cue, a small ding sounded at the door.

A smile broke out on Scootaloo’s face as she looked up, ready to greet her first customer. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, how may I… help you?” Her politeness faded when she opened her eyes to notice the lavender filly before her, accompanied by her silver sidekick.

“Look at this, Scootaloser finally found a meaning for her life!” Diamond Tiara cackled.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Don’t say that word, she thought. “Yeah, yeah. What do you want?”

“Hey now, is that any way to treat the customer?” Diamond Tiara snickered. “Daddy sent me here to buy myself a cupcake for my birthday. It must be so degrading to have to work on the day of my party.”

“You know I wasn’t even invited to that,” Scootaloo muttered. “Not that I’d even want to go. I’m having an awesome time here with Pinkie Pie.”

“Who, that crazy mare who bounces around Ponyville? I feel sorry for you!” Diamond Tiara remarked.

This actually made Scootaloo angry. “Don’t talk that way about her!” She defended Pinkie, though she wasn’t completely sure why.

Diamond Tiara blew a raspberry. “Yeah, whatever. Just give us those cupcakes.”

“Did somepony say ‘cupcakes’?” Pinkie Pie appeared out of thin air, holding a tray of freshly decorated cupcakes. “No birthday would be complete without some delicious cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner!”

Quickly exchanging her rowdy expression for an innocent one, Diamond Tiara smiled over enthusiastically. “Thanks so much! My daddy was smart to recommend shopping here!”

“Wait a second,” Scootaloo interjected, “did you make a new batch of these?”

“Nope!” Pinkie replied simply. “They’re the ones we made a little while ago, just out of the oven!”

At first, Scootaloo nodded. Then it hit her, and panic took over. “Uh, wait a second, Pinkie! I don’t think that would be such a good idea…”

“Is somepony jealous that she’s not allowed to eat on the job? They look amazing, don’t they?” Diamond Tiara teased.

“They taste great, too!” Pinkie insisted, lifting one to her muzzle.

“Wait!” Scootaloo shouted, but she was too late.

After a few seconds of obnoxiously loud chewing, the cupcake was gone. But Pinkie was fine.

“Huh?” Scootaloo asked, too confused to relax.

Before Scootaloo could question anything, Pinkie Pie shoved the tray of cupcakes to the two school fillies. “Why don’t you girls try one?” Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon graciously sampled the treats, each slowly taking a bite. Suddenly, their eyes widened, and they started coughing and spitting out their cupcakes.

“How are they?” Pinkie Pie asked eagerly.

“Uhm… they’re great,” Silver spoon lied. “Really chewy…”

“Yeah,” Diamond Tiara quickly agreed. “Our friends would love these. Too bad we don’t have enough bits to buy them though, heh hehe…”

As the two turned to leave, Pinkie stopped them. “Hey, it’s your birthday, right? Take the rest, free of charge!”

The fillies exchanged nervous glasses, both afraid to refuse. “No, we couldn’t, really,” Diamond Tiara said.

But Pinkie forced the plate into Silver Spoon’s hooves. “Oh nonsense, silly fillies!” Pinkie insisted. “They’re on the house!”

“O-okay, thanks,” said Diamond Tiara, awkwardly grinning back. “I’ll be sure to come back another time,” she managed, heading for the door.

Once the two school fillies had left, Pinkie Pie turned to Scootaloo. “Nice girls! Are they friends of yours?” When she turned to Scootaloo, however, she noticed the awkwardly pent up expression on the filly’s face. “Scoots? Are you okay there--”

“PfftHAAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! That was great!” Scootaloo giggled maniacally.

“That’s the spirit!” Pinkie exclaimed, patting her assistant's head. “It’s always fun to pull a little prank, isn’t it?”

Scootaloo calmed down, wiping her tearing eyes. “Yeah… Wait a second,” She said, turning to Pinkie. “Prank? You mean… The cupcakes that I burned?”

“Burned?” Pinkie said, eyes widening in mock terror. “Whatever do you mean?”

A grin slowly began to form on Scootaloo’s face. “You knew the entire time, didn’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Pinkie insisted, winking at Scootaloo.

“But… why?” Scootaloo asked.

“Why what?”

Scootaloo turned away, guiltily. “I messed up the cupcakes and almost burned down your kitchen… And I was kind of rude earlier, too.”

Pinkie Pie extended her arm around the filly, pulling her close. “Don’t worry about all that! You needed help, and Pinkie Pie’s always around to help when somepony needs it!”

“Wow…” Scootaloo turned her face away. She wasn’t about to cry, but she had always struggled to show her emotions. “Thanks, Pinkie. I’m sorry about how I acted. I shouldn’t have assumed the worst about working here. Who knew a filly could have so much fun working behind a counter?”

“More than you think,” Pinkie replied. “Foals do, too! Kind of like Pound and Pumpkin Cake!”

Just after giving a nod of agreement, Scootaloo suddenly realized where this was going.

“Hey! Maybe you could help me babysit them this evening! Doesn’t that sound like tons of fun?” A pair of batting eyelashes fluttered before Scootaloo’s face.

Having come to terms with her trapped position, Scootaloo sighed. “Well… I guess I could help if you really want me to--”

Her sentence was cut off by a spine crushing hug. “Oh, this is going to be fantastic-errific! You’ll enjoy it so much. And the Cakes would really appreciate it, too!”

“Y-yeah, c-can’t wait, Pinkie,” Scootaloo stuttered, struggling to breathe. Pinkie released her grip, setting Scootaloo down. “What could possibly go wrong?”