The Way The Cookies Crumble
It was a regular Tuesday. Celestia's Sun shone brightly in the sky as ponies all over Equestria attended to their daily tasks.
Twilight Sparkle and her brother Shining Armour were at school, while their father Night Light was at work studying diagrams of space.
Their mother, Twilight Velvet, was busy making her regular baked goods. It was cookies today.
Baking had always been a regular hobby of hers, even as a small filly. In fact, she was quite surprised when she found her true talent to be astronomy. She had wanted to be a famous baker, much like Mr and Mrs Cake turned out to be.
But as Twilight Velvet pressed the cookie cutter into the dough, she realized that if she had become a great baker, she wouldn't have met her husband and started such a wonderful family.
However, thinking about her family also made her think about something that had been going on a while now.
Every time she made baked goods, such as cookies, she would always wake up the next morning to find most of them mysteriously gone. Just that morning she found that most of her vanilla cupcakes had vanished, only leaving behind a small splodge of frosting.
Whoever was taking the treats was completely unknown at this point, but Twilight Velvet was getting more aggravated about it as time went on.
This time, Twilight Velvet was sure that she would prevent them from getting these cookies once and for all.
Twilight Velvet's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as a pair of familiar foals dashed into the house, making her jump and almost drop the cookie cutter.
Twilight Velvet quickly blinked at the clock.
15.46PM
'Well that went quickly,' she thought.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Twilight Sparkle raced into the kitchen and swung her arms around her mother's waist. Twilight Velvet smiled and hugged the small lavender filly back.
"Hello darling. Did you have a good day at school?" Twilight Velvet asked, rubbing her daughter's soft mane.
Twilight Sparkle just looked up and nodded. Twilight Velvet knew that she was having trouble fitting in at her school, the only foal taking care of her being her brother.
She had asked Twilight Sparkle if she wanted her to go and talk to her teacher, but her daughter kept insisting that everything was 'just fine'.
Twilight Velvet knew that this was not true, but she wasn't going to do something Twilight Sparkle was so desperately trying to prevent.
Shining Armour dumped his schoolbag in the hallway and walked into the kitchen.
"Hi mom. What are you baking today?" Shining Armour asked, stretching up as far as he could to see the work-in-progress baked goods.
"Cookies, dear," Twilight Velvet replied, walking over to her son and lifting him up with her magic. He stared at the soon to be cookies and smiled.
"Cool, they're shaped like moons!"
Twilight Velvet gave a small laugh and lowered her son down, taking notice of how excited he was just because of what shape they were.
Suddenly, the mare felt something literally pulling her leg. She looked down.
"Mom, can I help you cut the cookies out?" Twilight Sparkle asked, tugging on her mom's leg.
"Hmm, I'm not sure, because I always see you rolling the dough into little balls and eating it uncooked!" Twilight Velvet laughed.
"What? No I don't!" Twilight Sparkle replied, but everypony knew that she was lying.
Despite this, Twilight Velvet sighed and levitated Twilight onto the counter.
"Fine. You can help me."
"I wanna' help too!" Shining Armour yelled.
Twilight Velvet rolled her eyes and levitated her son onto the counter as well.
The next few minutes were spent cutting out moon-shaped cookies and Twilight Sparkle secretly stuffing some balls of dough into her mouth. At least she thought it was secret, but really she stuck out like a sore hoof doing it.
After that, Twilight Velvet levitated the tray of cookies into the oven.
"Thanks you two. Now do you have any homework?"
The two foals gulped, Twilight Sparkle swallowing her final ball of dough.
"Nope! No homework!" Shining Armour quickly stated.
Twilight Velvet rolled her eyes for the second time that hour.
"Really? Then let me check your bags!"
The two foals sighed, realizing that this war couldn't be beaten. They jumped off the counter, got out their homework and sat at the dining room table, groaning once in a while at the puzzling algebra questions.
Twilight Velvet sat down in the living room and sighed with relief, glad to be getting some rest at last. She had spent a whole day cleaning the house from attic to basement, filling out forms and doing some important paperwork. It was nice to finally relax after all that.
She slowly laid down flat on the sofa and felt her eyes closing, until finally, she drifted off into a quiet sleep.
"Mommy mommy! Daddy's back!" Twilight Sparkle yelled, jumping up and down by the sofa.
Twilight Velvet jolted up, shocked to be awoken so unexpectedly. She rubbed her eyes and heaved herself off the sofa, feeling quite refreshed after her nap.
"Ok, dear, I'm on it."
Twilight Velvet walked to the front door where a familiar stallion was awaiting her to open it. She quickly levitated the door keys into the lock and twisted them.
Twilight Sparkle realized this would be a good time to practice her magic and she wrapped an aura around the door handle. She wasn't too good at magic yet but she was determined to learn.
She closed her eyes and tried hard to open the door, but Twilight Velvet realized she wasn't getting anywhere. She used her magic to pull down the handle, her aura binding with her daughter's.
Night Light stepped into the house as Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes and beamed.
"Dad!" Twilight Sparkle jumped into her dad's embrace, "I opened the door dad! I did it I did it!"
"Wow, really?" Night Light asked, rubbing his little fillys forehead.
"Yeah! Did you see mom? Did you see what I did?" Twilight Sparkle asked, obviously feeling extremely proud.
Twilight Velvet didn't want to ruin her daughter's good mood so she smiled and nodded.
"Yes, hun! I saw you do it all by yourself! I'm proud of you!"
Twilight Sparkle grinned.
'A little white lie never hurt anyone,' Twilight Velvet thought, smiling back at her daughter as she ran off, beaming with pride.
Night Light stared at his lover.
"Hi Velvet."
"Hi honey."
Night Light walked up to Twilight Velvet and the two began kissing, not aware of the small spectator standing right by them. He pretended to puke as the two finished their kiss. They laughed.
"What's wrong son?" Night Light asked.
"Its disgusting! Why do you do that all the time?" He asked.
"Well, you might be doing it to your lover when you grow up!" Twilight Velvet answered, chuckling.
"Me? A lover? Eww! No way! Not in a million moons!" Shining Armour stated. He trotted off shuddering.
The two grown ponies just let out another chuckle.
That night, Twilight Sparkle and her mother were out in the garden, Twilight Velvet looking through a big telescope.
Twilight Sparkle looked up at the pitch black sky, stars twinkling before her eyes.
"Mom?"
Twilight Velvet removed her sight from the telescope to her small 5-year-old filly.
"Yes honey?"
"Why do stars disappear at day?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
Twilight Velvet smiled. For a five year old Twilight Sparkle had a lot of logical questions about the universe, inside and out.
Twilight Velvet sat down by her daughter.
"Well, they don't actually disappear."
Twilight Sparkle eyed her mother curiously.
"Really?"
"Really! They're still there, but our Sun is so bright you just can't see them," Twilight Velvet explained.
Twilight Sparkle looked up again and spotted the moon. She always found the fact that there seemed to be a mare on it interesting.
"Do you know why it looks as if there's a mare in the moon?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
Twilight Velvet did know, but her daughter was so curious she would be up all night asking questions, so Twilight Velvet made up a story.
"Well, there's a tale that the mare in the moon is the one that gives us good dreams. Legend has it that as long as she's there, she'll bare you a safe night's sleep."
Twilight Sparkle smiled up at the moon and yawned, signalling to her mom that it was time to go back inside.
Twilight Velvet levitated Twilight Sparkle onto her back and she trotted inside the house.
Night Light was sitting in the kitchen with Shining Armour, the two of them having discussions about royal guards. It was Shining Armour's favourite subject.
"Do the royal guards get loads of bits?" Shining Armour asked.
"I'd think so," Night Light replied.
"Then I wanna' be a guard for sure!" Shining Armour announced. His parents just laughed.
"Come on honey, it's time for bed."
"Aww, but mama! I wanna' stay up! Twilight's way younger than me so why do I have to go to bed as early as her?"
"I think by 'way older' you only mean 2 years older, and big boys need their sleep too! Now come on, let's get you to bed," Twilight Velvet stated.
Shining Armour shook his head and tried to dash off, but Twilight Velvet caught him with her magic and carried him upstairs to his displeasure.
"Goodnight dad!" he shouted, trying to break the aura that surrounded him with no such luck.
Night Light laughed.
"Goodnight Shining."
12.00AM.
Night Light and Twilight Velvet were getting ready for bed. Twilight Velvet walked into the kitchen and quickly placed the cookies in one of the high-up cabinets.
'Whoever's stealing them won't be able to reach so high in the dark,' Twilight Velvet thought.
"Honey, are you coming?" Night Light asked, trotting upstairs in his navy blue pyjamas.
"Yes, dear." Twilight Velvet followed in her violet nightgown.
The two walked upstairs and got comfortable in their double bed.
"Goodnight Velvet," Night Light spoke.
"Goodnight Lighty," Twilight Velvet replied.
The two closed their eyes and it wasn't long before they drifted off to sleep.
"MOM! IT'S TIME FOR SCHOOL! MOM!"
Twilight Velvet and her husband were awoken by the shrilling voice of Twilight Sparkle. It also wasn't long before they were greeted to Shining Armour bouncing on the bed and crushing their legs.
"Ok, ok! I'm on it!"
Twilight Velvet jolted up, her foals laughing at her messed up hair. She rolled her eyes.
It was a rush getting the foals to school. Twilight Velvet got them fed, washed, dressed and they set out towards their school. It wasn't long before Night Light went off to work, leaving Twilight Velvet all alone as usual.
Her stomach growled, demanding food.
She figured it would be best to finish off those cookies she baked yesterday.
Besides, she'd put them in one of the highest cabinets. There was absolutely no way anypony could-
Twilight Velvet gasped.
She'd just opened the cabinet where the cookies were located. However, much to her surprise, every single one was gone, leaving an empty plate and a few lonely little crumbs.
She fumed, her face going from a light grey to a fierce red.
'The Tasty Treat Thief', as Twilight Velvet called it, had struck again.
"I'm never going to stop this from happening! What do I have to do? Booby trap the kitchen?" Twilight Velvet yelled angrily.
But that outburst gave her an idea.
She grinned.
It had been a regular day, much like yesterdays. Twilight Velvet finished her household chores following on with some baking. Strawberry cupcakes today.
She never had a set time to when she would make any particular recipe, she just cooked up whatever she felt like baking.
She got dressed in her violet nightgown, but before going off to bed, she got her plan ready for action.
She placed a bucket of water on top of the door, being careful not to set it off by herself.
After that, she attached a thin rope behind the door so the culprit would trip up, giving her time to catch them when she heard the bucket of water drop.
She placed the cupcakes on the table, so the culprit would hopefully see them, go for them and fall right into the traps.
She nodded at her work, feeling quite proud of herself.
Tonight, she was going to catch 'The Tasty Treat Thief'. That, she was certain of.
Twilight Velvet carefully exited the kitchen and followed Night Light upstairs as usual.
Twilight Velvet lay wide awake in bed, listening for any movement outside the bedroom.
Silence.
After a while, she sighed.
'This is hopeless. I'm never going to-'
Creaaaak.
Twilight Velvet jolted up. She didn't worry about waking up Night Light. Once he was asleep, he stayed asleep the entire night.
Twilight Velvet tiptoed over to the door and put her ear close.
She heard little hoofsteps and somepony going downstairs.
'Ahh, it must be either Twilight or Shining.'
Twilight Velvet slowly walked into the hallway, listening to the hoofsteps slowly padding downstairs.
Clip, clop-
Splash.
"EEEEEK!" Came the voice of... two little foals from downstairs.
Twilight Velvet trotted downstairs. Indeed, both Shining Armour and Twilight Sparkle were in the kitchen, soaking wet and tripped up, their rumps high in the air.
Twilight Velvet walked up to them. They looked and gasped.
Busted.
"Well, well, well. It seems like 'The Tasty Treat Thief' turned out to be 'The Tasty Treat Thieves'."
Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armour quickly got to their hooves.
"Well, you two, can you explain this? Why you've been stealing my treats every night and not leaving any for us?"
Twilight and Shining tried to dash back upstairs, but Twilight Velvet caught them in her magic, the two foals trying to escape the auras that imprisoned them.
Twilight Velvet floated the two back over.
In the end, they sighed. Twilight Velvet released them and they hung their heads down low.
"We're sorry mom."
Shining Armour and Twilight Sparkle's ears drooped down.
"We just really like your treats! You make them so tasty and we can't wait until morning so we work together to take them... and *sniff* we're so sorry!"
The two soaking foals began to cry in shame. Twilight Velvet crouched down and hugged them close to her chest, not minding the wet patches growing on her fur.
She hushed her young foals, trying to stop their wailing.
"It's ok, sweeties. I'm just a bit angry, that's all. I'm not going to hold a grudge. I just had to stop you, that's all! I don't think this is the best time to be eating treats. But It's ok, I'm not going to punish you."
Twilight Sparkle wiped her eyes.
"R-really?"
Twilight Velvet nodded. Getting soaked with freezing cold water was punishment enough in her eyes.
"As long as you don't go snooping around taking the cakes and biscuits every night!"
The three shared a small giggle at that.
"We promise," Shining Armour announced.
Twilight Velvet got the two foals dried up and back into bed. She slowly snuggled back into her own bedsheets, feelng relieved and triumphant.
She'd finally caught it.
The Tasty Treat Thief.
Author's Note
Hello everyone! 
Pff, so the premise may be a little weird. I don't think anyone's related Twilight Velvet to baking before. 
But this idea was actually given to me by a friend, and it's also the first story I've done in a while. I apologize for the absence! 
So this was just a story I made for a little fun. 
But still, I hope you enjoyed this story, any constructive criticism is appreciated, and stay cool! 
