Timely Baking

by Nevina

Rating: everyone
Tags: Original Character, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 1799

Time Crescent battles her greatest foe: Baking. Overcoming this hurdle involves many interventions.

Time Crescent adores cookies, but this librarian has no skill at baking. In an attempt to improve her skill without revealing this particular flaw, she attempts to sneak into the kitchen to practice. As with all things baking related, said things don't go according to plan.

Published 2012-03-20 10:34:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-20 10:34:02 UTC

Timely Baking

Curling orange tendrils weaved across the sky as the sun began its ritualistic rise, birds all over Equestria bursting out in a ravenous melody to greet the day. Time Crescent, however, had begun her day long before the sun had decided to grace the land with its presence. The blue mare had, in fact, already packed her saddlebags and snuck out of her small, cozy place of dwelling. After having leaped from one shortening shadow to another, she made her way to the Royal Canterlot Library without notice.

Victorious with her silent entry, Time Crescent found herself in the kitchen. It was admittedly uncommon for a library to have its own kitchen, but when the library consisted of 8 levels of varying depth and danger, one would consider a kitchen to be a practical tool for day to day survival. It was certainly more suitable to work in than her own home kitchen which was plagued by a loving feline who loved to help a little too much. She didn't have the heart to push all that fur out of the way.

A gentle glow of energy emitted from the unicorn's horn, and the simple leather saddlebags lifted away from her flank and swiftly deposited its contents onto the counters. She studiously looked over her collection of sugars and flours with a critical eye before turning to her newly acquired cook book, the pages sweeping backwards until she found the recipe she desired. It was a simple enough task to do. Mix a bit here and there, put in the oven, and viola. Or so it goes in theory.

Time Crescent's powerful love of cookies was unrivaled to all except for her natural penchant of being a terrible cook. Today, however, the pony was determined to bake one batch of cookies if it was the last thing she did. Her plan was perfect: Follow everything by the book, no interruptions, no letting her mind wander, and most certainly no reading. Except for the recipe. That didn't count. Or did it? It was technically still reading, afterall, and-- No, she huffed at herself--focus.

With her tawny colored mane pulled neatly back and her hooves freshly washed, Time Crescent began. Bowl, butter, sugar, stir.. so far so good..

"Why hello, Time!" The kitchen door should have fallen right off its hinges for all the noise it made when it opened, she was certain, but the dark purple pony who trotted through had closed the door neatly behind her without further consequence, "You're at work rather early. Going to get a head start on that index?"

"R-Rose Quill, how lovely to see you so, uh, early." Time Crescent gave a nervous laugh, standing as casually as she could to block the view of her early stages of mixing, "I actually am off today, just stopped by to er, pick up something I had forgotten."

"Oh?" The other mare quirked a brow. Her coworker hadn't become a librarian because she was an idiot. "And that something involves butter?"

One mental head-desk later, Time Crescent took a deep breath and puffed her chest, trotting casually around Rose Quill and towards the door, "Yes, but I'm sure you're quite busy and I wouldn't want to keep you so-"

"Oh it's no problem, I still have time before I clock in to my shift so I can help you." Rose Quill waved her hoof with a casual bend of the knee, "Lets check out this recipe.."

Time Crescent winced and fell back in place at the side of the counter, her hopes of steering the other pony out the door thwarted. Rose Quill scanned over the recipe, frowning and shaking her head slowly, "Oh you can't follow these recipes by the letter, they're never any good like that. Like.." The purple pony trotted along the cabinets, her own horn glowing as the cupboard doors opened and closed again, "Ah ha, how about a bit of mint flavoring? Or some dragoberries, these are delicious and add a snap to any food. Oh oh, and the evil thorns are great too! Don't let the name scare you."

Time Crescent watched as each ingredient was added to her batter, conflicted as to whether she should be horrified at the break from the recipe or at how apparently ignorant she was about cooking. She decided to take Rose Quill's word and obvious expertise, however, and simply nodded in mock understanding.

"Oh dear, look at the time, I must get to work. Those books don't organize themselves." At that, the purple pony gave an encouraging grin before gracefully walking right back out the door.

Time Crescent looked back at the recipe, unsure of where to begin. Might as well go with the eggs next then. Magic gingerly enveloped the egg, holding it over the bowl just so and--

"Why Time Crescent, you're not scheduled to work today, is everything alright?" There stood Dewbook in the doorway, the head librarian of the Royal Canterlot Library sporting her ever spiky gray mane.

"I'm fine, just practicing a recipe." She had given up trying to cover up her actions.

"Ooh, you know I used to collect recipe books back in the day." Dewbook beamed and peered over at the book, "What is it you're making? Ah, chocolate chip cookies, a classic! That recipe is rather simple though. You know what, how about I let you borrow one of mine." The pony plodded out of the kitchen, long moments of silence passing before the door creaked open once more, "Here you are."

It was a leather bound book, the smell of dust betraying it's obviously-just-now-wiped-clean look. "It's a bit of an antique, but you know how the classics go. This cookie recipe is wonderful. Good luck with it. These things really are a sort of science you know."

With the new (or rather, old) book in Time Crescent's care, Dewbook slipped back out of the kitchen. The blue mare cautiously opened the recipe book, afraid that the spine might snap off with its stiffness. When the pages proved that they could hold together, she flipped over to the cookie recipe and blinked. What sort of ingredients were these? Cocoableu.. maize powder.. Did such things exist? She added some of the strange names that she found in the kitchen, but others she had no clue what to look for.

The pony felt herself at a loss, swimming in the vast sea of ineptitude. It wasn't in her nature to give up, however, and curiosity pulled her back to her mission. She was a librarian, and if there was one thing she knew how to do, it was how to find information.

With renewed determination, Time Crescent examined what facts she had. Cooking was a science, Dewbook had said. Then as any good librarian would do, she would seek out a reliable source of information. It was time to visit the laboratories.

With her ingredients and haphazardly wrapped bowl packed, Time Crescent galloped along the cobblestone streets of Canterlot, the morning still young but with more ponies going about their business. The science labs weren't too far away. Being of an academic nature, the labs were fairly close to the library for ease of access in research material for the scientists.

Obtaining a guest pass was simple enough with the wave of an ID and a quick signature. Time Crescent had visited the science department several times before to admire the planetarium and fanpony over how much information was available to be found, indexed, and cataloged. And, of course, to seek out more well informed opinions. Specifically that of one pony in particular.

"Glowball, already at work?" Time Crescent beamed at the grey unicorn who was squinting into a microscope.

"I dyed the sample and you can really observe all the cells at work, you've got to see this!" Glowball buzzed without skipping a beat, looking up only when Time Crescent sidled over to the microscope.

The blue mare peered through the lens and gave an impressed breath, "It looks like an underwater artwork."

"Pretty much. You should see how much energy these cells can handle. Amazing huh?" Glowball grinned, peering through her thick protective goggles, "And what brings you here at this timely time of day, Time?"

With her own quest suddenly back on priority, Time Crescent pulled her bags open with her magic, laying everything out upon an unused work station, "Well, I was trying to bake cookies, but apparently it's more scientific than I had thought. I'm starting to think you need a degree to bake."

Glowball peered into the mush of ingredients, snorting a laugh, "I think that has a life of its own."

"I should just start over with the original recipe." Time Crescent moaned from under her hooves, which she had folded up over her head when she planted her face to the table.

"No reason to waste your effort. Lets see what it turns out to be. Nothing says you have to be conventional." Glowball encouraged with another one of her grins, pulling out a metal sheet and turning on one of the portable convection ovens, "Lets try a sample, shall we?"

Two mounts of dough were dropped on the metal sheet, then slid into the warmed oven. Time Crescent flipped over the miniature hourglass which consisted of enough sand to pass by five minutes. Two turns of the glass later, the blue pony pulled the hot sheet out, setting it gingerly on the table to cool. The strange mass of green-orange-blue-brown cookies admittedly looked a bit.. suspicious.

"Looks delicious." Glowball pronounced, and Time Crescent could sense that she hadn't meant this sarcastically.

With each pony floating a cookie in front of them, they did a quick toast with a cookie-bump, "Here goes," and took a bite.

They chewed in silence. Swallowed. Then the duo looked at one another and broke out in laughter, "That was the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted!" Time Crescent cried out.

"What the heck did you put in this?" Glowball managed to speak between gasping for air from her own laughing.

"Oh gosh, there really is something to be said about the original chocolate chip cookie. And this isn't it." Time Crescent wiped her eyes, shaking her mane to help rid herself of the giggles.

"How about we meet after work today and we can go over the recipe together." Glowball's shoulders had finally stopped shaking, normal breathing returning gradually.

Time Crescent nodded, "I'd love to. In the meantime, I'll take care of the rest of the batter. I know just what to do with it."

A dozen freshly baked cookies later sat conspicuously in the break room at the library, where curious minds wouldn't be able to resist a taste.