Chapter 1: Pinkie's Amazing Idea
"Thanks again for letting me use your kitchen for my cupcake bake-a-thon Applejack!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She couldn't wait to get started. Each year, Ponyville had a bake-a-thon where everypony baked a delicious dessert and turned it in to be judged by Mayor Mare herself. The winner would receive free desserts from Sugar Cube Corner for a whole year!
"Aw, it was no problem, sugarcube" Applejack replied. She was fine with lending Pinkie her kitchen for a few days and besides, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were having a sleepover in the barn, and she didn't want the silly fillies to run off into the Everfree Forest like they had when they were with Fluttershy. Applejack shivered a little at the memory.
"Well, I guess I'd better get started!" Pinkie Pie bounced over Applejack's head and proceeded to bounce all the way to the kitchen, where she started to lay out her ingredients. "Hmmm, let's see... Flour. Check. Sugar. Check. CHOCOLATE." Pinkie licked her lips in anticipation. "Double check."
After taking full inventory of her ingredients, Pinkie Pie tried to decide what recipe she should follow. "Vanilla cupcakes, strawberry, chocolate coconut swirl... Ugh. Too PLAIN. These sound like something Twilight would eat." She flipped through a few more cookbooks. "Pickle-raspberry with cotton candy frosting.... yummy, but not crazy enough. Cappuccino...." Pinkie's voice trailed off. There was nothing good in these books. If she wanted to win this bake-a-thon, then she had to be original, creative, unique... "Uniquely and creatively original" Pinkie giggled.
After minutes of anxiously pacing back and forth, Pinkie Pie thought that maybe she just wasn't meant to win this bake-a-thon after all. Her mane had flattened itself out Pinkamena-style, and her left eye was twitching. Twitch-a-twitch. Twitch-a-twitch. "My Pinkie-sense!"
Pinkie's mane fluffed up instantly. "Hmm, left eye, that's new. I think... Of course! If wanna win this thing, I need to create my own recipe!"
She started to brainstorm. "Salted Caramel Seaweed Delight, Jelly Bean Encrusted Mocha...." Pinkie's list stretched on and on, until finally she decided on a cupcake. "The Pinkie Pie Supreme!" She exclaimed. "Perfect." The Pinkie Pie Supreme consisted of a simple combination of ingredients. Cheddar cheese and chocolate filling, surrounded by a luxuriously fluffy and soft vanilla bean cupcake with shots of pure bubblegum-flavored cotton candy, topped with cotton candy-flavored bubblegum and juice caviar made from the Apple family's cider. Simple.
"Now", said Pinkie, "The only thing left to do is bake! She hurriedly mixed her ingredients together. By the time the cupcakes were baking in the oven, Pinkie had managed to cover the counters with melted cheese and flour, and there were two cracked eggs on the ceiling, dripping lazily onto the floor. Rarity would have fainted at the sight of it.
It was at that moment that Granny Smith strolled in. "Oh my!" She exclaimed. "What happened here?" "Yeah, about that", Pinkie started. "Do you have any more cider lying around here? I used what I had for my juice caviar, and I could REALLY use a refresher after my HOURS of baking." But Granny Smith wasn't listening. She had already scrubbed the counter while Pinkie was talking, and was currently perched on Big Mac's back while she cleaned the egg of the ceiling. "What was that, young'n?" She asked. "Never mind." Pinkie said. She then turned to Big Mac. "Hey, Big Mac, do you have any more cider?" "Yup." Big Mac replied, pushing Granny smith off his back as she groaned in protest. He trotted out the door only to return a moment later with a full-sized bottle of cider in his mouth. He gave it to Pinkie. "Thanks Big Mac" Pinkie Pie said. "Yup." Big Mac replied. Meanwhile, Granny Smith had finally cleaned up Pinkie's mess, and walked out of the kitchen with a triumphant grin plastered on her face. Big mac followed her.
Pinkie was just cracking open her bottle of cider when the oven chimed. "Ooo, my cupcakes are done!". She carefully opened the oven door and then set the cupcakes out to cool. "Oh, if only I had a giant fan that could cool everything off super fast." Pinkie lamented. "Oh wait, I do!" She pulled it out. The oversized glittery contraption had been a gift from Cheese Sandwich, along with Boneless the Chicken. "For cupcake emergencies." Cheese had joked.
Pinkie now turned the fan on HIGH, aiming it directly at the cupcakes. She sat perched on top of the fan like one of Fluttershy's birds, then waited.
The fan blew air eagerly onto the cupcakes, but the cupcakes seemed to create a shield around themselves, repelling the blast of air while shedding an eerie blue light onto the fan. The light hit Pinkie's hooves, and they started to tingle. "That's strange." Pinkie said. She tried to start the fan, but it didn't budge. "Oh well, my cupcakes were almost cool anyway.". Pinkie began to pour her pre-made fillings into piping bags, thinking nothing of the strange events that had just occurred.
