The Fourth Wall

Blueberry Muffins

The five stallions made their way to Sugarcube Corner with Bubble taking the lead. Dopey Hooves passed overhead carrying a mail sack and a small colt called Twerpy Hooves. He waved at the group, and the five stallions waved back. They trotted merrily down the road passing stands of different products. The pink colt was wondering how he would introduce Pinkie to the guys.

"Hey, Pinkie these are my nice friends. Would you like to meet them?" Bubble thought to himself.

"No,no,no. Too formal" Bubble said shaking his head. "Oh hey Pinkie, I brought my friends along, wanna say hi?"

No! Too casual!" Bubble thought as he shook his head  "Arrgh!" He yelled out loud. Thinking was so hard, how did Dusk do this all the time?

"Uh, haystack? yall' alright?" Applejack asked. The other four stallions were all staring at Bubble. It was obvious that he was thinking about Pinkie. He's been badly love-struck. Really, really, really, badly love-struck. But Bubble was completely oblivious to his actions right now. He really wanted to introduce his friends to his lover.

"I'm fine Applejack, why'd you ask?" Bubble asked, looking a bit confused.

"Uh, yah' seem out of it," Applejack said with an awkward smile.

The other four stallions nodded in unison.

They trotted towards Sugarcube Corner talking about trivial matters. New books, Blitz often mentioning Dashing Dare, apples, animals, all sorts of things. Bubble mentioning Pinkie one or two times. Or three. Or four. Okay, probably more then ten times in five minutes. He couldn't help it. She was astonishing, she was beautiful, she was energetic. She was everything he wanted in a mare. Although she was him, he couldn't help it. Love was love. Sometimes it could be a curse, sometimes, it could be a miracle.

And then a thought came to Bubble.

"Hey Butterscotch, where is Elusive?" Bubble asked the yellow stallion.

"Oh, he went to Sugarcube Corner to get cake for some sort of meeting he was having with some other ponies" Butterscotch replied.

"How long ago was that?" Bubble asked.

"Oh, about an hour or two" Butterscotch replied seeing the confused face of Bubble. "Oh, did I say something wrong...?" he cowered.

Dusk realized what Bubble was going on about. "What Bubble means is that Elusive should have come home a long time ago because Bubble is here and not at Sugarcube Corner," Dusk explained to the other ponies.

"Maybe something happened to him!" Blitz suggested.

"But Pinkie might have opened the shop" Bubble proposed.

"Ah' can't think of a reason tha' Elusive would stay so long" Applejack replied.

"We better hurry! Something could have happened!" Dusk said with alarm.

The stallions looked at each other and broke into a run with Blitz and Fluttershy flying ahead.

~~~

Pinkie was putting the dough inside the oven and she set it to fifteen minutes. She watched it bake with excitement. Every time she baked cupcakes, she would feel a rush. Some sort of feeling that would make her sing.

Elusive had decided to stay and help with decorating the cupcakes. He didn't know how it happened. It started with Pinkie saying:

"Hey! Wanna try my new cupcake recipe?" and escalated from there.

Elusive was good at decorating the cupcakes, his precision with the icing was perfect. Every little detail was considered. A sprinkle of hundreds and thousands. Some sweets placed delicately placed. It wasn't hard compared to making suits, but in a way it was just fun. The different combination of colours. He also had to consider another thing that he normally didn't think of while making suits. The taste. His first attempt at a cupcake was absolutely beautiful but the first bite had sent him into a spasm.

"Silly, whats wrong with you?" Pinkie said as she took a bite. She started gasping for water.

"W-w-wat...er!" Pinkie gasped.

She ran to the sink, turned it on to full power and started gulping.

After about five minutes of non-stop drinking, Pinkie finally stopped. She turned to Elusive and gave a weird smile.

"Don't worry, although I don't know how it turned spicy, i'm sure that everypony would have made the same mistake, whatever it was,"

"Have you ever made a spicy cupcake?" Elusive asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Um, well no." Pinkie replied, scratching the back of her head.

"How about another try! I'm sure you'll get it sooner or later!" the pink mare said enthusiastically.

Elusive was determined to make this one perfect. He went into the front room where he had left some icing when Bubble, Dusk, Applejack and Blitz smashed through the door and fell in a heap on to the floor, followed meekly by Butterscotch.

"Umm... is everypony alright?" He whispered.

"We're okay haystack. Just ah' little tangled up, is all," Applejack said with a groan.

Elusive's eyebrows had skyrocketed. Then he sighed. "Something's gonna happen, I can feel it" he thought as he started untangling them with his magic, Dusk was too tired to use his magic after twenty minutes of solid running. It was amazing he could keep up with them. He spent too much time in books and not enough exercising. Now that they were all standing and seemed okay, Elusive had come up with some questions.

"What in the hay happened!?" Elusive blurted.

Bubble was first to speak.

"Elusive! We were so worried! We though something had happened to you because you weren't back at Carousel Boutique and I saw Butterscotch and I told him something and it turned ou- Uh... nevermind..." Bubble had stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the pink mare look into the room. A blush had made his way to his face.

"Uhh... nevermind..." Bubble said quickly.

Elusive's mouth dropped again and so did the others. Bubble stopping mid-sentence? You've got to be joking! This day was getting weirder and weirder.

Elusive looked back at the kitchen to see if Pinkie had come out. He just saw her head whiz around the corner before anypony else could spot her.

"I'll be right back everypony," Elusive said as he walked back into the kitchen. Everypony else was too focused on Bubble too notice him. He walked into the kitchen and saw Pinkie. She was just standing there.

"Hey Pinkie, Bubble's back, aren't you going to greet him?" Elusive asked the pink mare. She was working at Sugarcube Corner so she must know him.

"Oh, Uh... sure, i'll say hi in a sec!" Pinkie said, trying to sound preoccupied. She was mixing some eggs, but there was more on the floor than in the bowl. She was clearly nervous for some reason. Elusive summoned a blue mist that surrounded a nearby mop and it started wiping the floor around Pinkie.

"Are you okay?" Elusive asked. She seemed like a train wreck. It showed in her cupcakes. They were usually, perfectly round, brown around the edges, but becoming lighter towards the middle and seemed weightless. The batch she had just baked could have come out of a horror movie. They were lumpy, black like coal and had a strange smell that Elusive couldn't identify. There was no way he could work with that. It was like suits. If the fabric was terrible, it was hard to make anything good.

"I'm fine! Why'd you ask?" Pinkie said with a nervous smile. "Calm down Pinkie! He isn't in the room! Just calm down!" Pinkie thought to herself. She was slowly returning to normal. She had just noticed the cupcakes in the tray that she was carrying.

"Did I bake these?" Pinkie asked.

Elusive nodded.

"I might have been acting a little strange" Pinkie said, as if it was news.

"A little?" Elusive said as he looked at Pinkie with a strange look. "But, why?" He finally asked.

She looked around. She took a quick peek into the front room. The five stallions stood in a circle surrounding Bubble. They were shooting questions his way and he found it hard to answer them.

"Promise me you won't tell anyone." Pinkie Pie pleaded. "Pinkie promise?" she asked.

Elusive sighed and knew she meant the Bubble promise. "These relatives are so alike" Elusive thought to himself as he did the silly ritual.

She leaned closer and Elusive did the same. Her lips were nearly touching the white stallion's ear when she whispered:

"I think I'm in love with Bubble..." she whispered.

Elusive gasped. He had known that she was in love. That much was apparent. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Dusk, even Butterscotch! That was fine, but to be in love with a blood relative, that was weird.

"But... you...Bubble...love..." Elusive found it hard to speak.

"I know it seems weird, but whenever I look at him, I get this feeling in my stomach. It sort of feels like when you're eating a cake but it that always tastes good and never makes you feel sick." Pinkie explained.

Elusive understood where she was coming from, but it just seemed wrong. But love was a cruel mistress. It could strike anypony at any given time. Elusive had experience in that department. And who was he to decide who a mare loves?

Elusive took a deep breath.

He put a hoof on the mare and said in a calm, reassuring voice "Pinkie, I've only know you for what? A couple of hours? And already I can tell that you're a beautiful, caring, optimistic, energetic pony. With a lovely singing voice if I may say so myself. Although I do not understand, I wholeheartedly think you should confess to Bubble. If you love him that much, then I'm sure he'll return your feelings."

As he finished, he smiled warmly at Pinkie.

"Shall I get Bubble now?" Elusive asked.

Pinkie felt a rush of confidence come over her. "Yes, please," Was her reply.

Elusive nodded and walked into the front room while Pinkie was mentally preparing herself.

"Calm down Pinkie, you can do this"

She could hear sounds from the front room and after ten minutes, Bubble walked into the kitchen after some persuasion from the five stallions. Blitz had told Elusive about Bubble's crush on some mare called 'Pinkie Pie'. Elusive was surprised at this and was about to tell them about Pinkie when he remembered the promise. He knew it was ridiculous, but a promise was a promise, and besides, it would be better if one of them confessed instead of Elusive telling them.

Elusive escorted Bubble into the kitchen and the five stallions were told to wait outside the confectionery shop. Something might happen and Elusive was picked because he was the only one that actually met Pinkie, aside from Bubble. He trotted gingerly into the kitchen with Elusive close behind, giving the occasional nudge.

They walked up to each other and looked deep into their eyes.

"Thank you so much Solaris!" Bubble thought to himself.

Pinkie was the first one to speak.

"Um...I...I...I" she started, breaking eye contact.

"You can do it Pinkie! I believe in you!" Elusive thought.

"I-I don't know how to make blueberry muffins!" Was what came out.

Elusive face-hoofed. This was going to be harder than he thought.