Through Another's Eyes

“Are you sure about this?” Pinkie Pie asked the cyan unicorn in front of her

“Sure I’m sure!” Lyra replied, nodding her head for emphasis “Now you just go and have fun, okay?”

“Okie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie Pie replied, bouncing away towards the front door of the confectionery

Lyra sighed again, looking at her surroundings. She started to wonder, just how she got herself caught in this situation.

“Hiya, Lyra!” Pinkie screamed, making the cyan unicorn fall down from the park bench “Wat’cha doin’?”

“Nothing, just waiting for Bon Bon” Lyra muttered as she rubbed her head “What do you want?”

“Oh, it’s just that I have to go out for the day and Mr. and Mrs. Cake are going to this cake convention too so nopony’s gonna be at Sugarcube Corner! I was just wondering if maybe you could take care of the shop for a while” Pinkie said with an excited expression, typical for her.

“What about Twilight, isn’t she your best friend or something?” Lyra asked, sitting back on the park bench in a very awkward manner.

Most ponies wonder just why she sat differently. It looked as if she was trying to copy a monkey at times. Lyra couldn’t answer them, she just liked it. Sometimes, she even had dreams of having these ‘hands’ instead of hooves, each with five fingers. Bon Bon just laughed at the dream when Lyra tried to tell her about it.

“She said she’s gonna go see Zecora, had something to do with tea” Pinkie Pie shrugged and bounced skyward, landing onto an invisible bench next to Lyra.

This was Pinkie Pie’s specialty. She could just appear out of thin air, take things out of some random dimension and sometimes talk to ‘things’ only she could see. The pink pony even stated that Lyra sat like a human, whatever that was.
Ponies still commented on Lyra’s strange sitting behaviour more than Pinkie’s even stranger personality. That fact still confused Lyra to no end until this day.

“Fluttershy? Rarity?” Lyra continued on, hoping that she could escape the situation

“Fluttershy’s taking care of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Rarity’s got these really important dresses to make, so they’re out of the picture. Applejack’s busy with Sweet Apple Acres, if you’re wondering”

“Rainbow-”Lyra was just about to say when she was cut off by Pinkie Pie once again

“She kept on saying something about me dragging her into the basement and turning her into a cupcake” Pinkie shrugged “Whatever gave her that idea”

Lyra sighed; hanging out with Bon Bon could wait. Of course, this is Sugarcube Corner they were talking about. Maybe she could get some free pastries for working there! That thought quickly made Lyra more optimistic

“Sure” the unicorn finally agreed “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Ooh, I wouldn’t have said that if I were you~” Pinkie said, getting up from the imaginary bench and bounced away, singing to herself.

Lyra stared blankly at the party pony. What’s so bad about saying that? It couldn’t be curse or anything… right?

Lyra made a smug look as she stood up on two hooves, rubbing her front hooves together. This is gonna be easy! Plus, nopony’s come into the store; maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. All the pastries were here except for a few which the confectionery must have run out of.

“Lyra Heartstrings” the unicorn said to herself, her back against the wall of the store “You are one lucky pony”

The sudden ringing of the doorbell made Lyra jump a bit, making her fall face first onto the floor. She was not expecting any customers to come in yet. Getting up, she saw a grey coated pegasus pony with a yellow mane, golden eyes and seven bubbles for a Cutie Mark trot in. The mare might look perfectly normal, except for her eyes. Her eyes were crossed, or in other words, derped. That was how Ditzy Doo got her nickname in the first place.

“Derpy, what’s up?!” Lyra said joyfully, trying to get back up “Want something?”

“Miss Heartstrings?” the mailmare said although her eyes were looking at different locations “Where’s Pinkie?”

“Look, Derpy” Lyra sighed “Our ages aren’t that different! You don’t need to call me Miss Heartstrings”

“Umm kay” Ditzy said, her right eye looking at some cakes on the left shelf while her left eye was staring at the floor “So, where’s Pinkie?”

“She’s out, so I’m taking care of the shop!” Lyra said proudly, standing back up on two hooves and pumping her chest. After a while, she put a hoof on the counter “So, what do you want?”

“A muffin!” Ditzy said happily “Well, two actually. Dinky wanted one too”

“What about Sparkler?” Lyra asked, noting her of the elder daughter “Doesn’t she want one?”

“Nah, she says she’s full” Ditzy said kindly “So, where are they? I don’t see any muffins here”

“Wait, how did you-” Lyra started but finally gave up “Oh, never mind. I’ll go check out back. Maybe there’s some left”

The unicorn stood on all four hooves again and trotted off into the kitchen. She made a quick search through the entire area but found no muffins at all. With a grunt, she pulled everything out with her magic, making quite a loud mess. After a while, Ditzy’s head appeared through the doors

“Do you have a problem?” she asked “Need some help?”

“Nope, I’m perfectly fine!” Lyra lied as she opened a cabinet, making several pots and pans fall onto the floor “Oh, Celestia!”

“Looks like you’re out of muffins” Ditzy finally said after watching the mare ruin the kitchen “You know, I could go a day without-”

“NO!” Lyra yelled “You asked for some muffins, and I am going to make sure you GET those muffins!”

This was her first customer; she’s not going to mess up this order. After several fruitless minutes of searching, she gave up and took out several ingredients. If she couldn’t find any muffins, she’ll make them.

“Do you even know how to bake muffins?” Ditzy asked, worried at where this situation was heading

“Nope, but how hard could it be?” Lyra said proudly as she pondered for a bit “Now do you know how to make muffins?”

“Nuh uh, I only eat them” Ditzy replied casually

Lyra searched around the kitchen again until she finally found what she wanted, a cook book. Using her magic, she skimmed through the pages until she stopped at a certain page: Cupcakes.

“Hey, how about a cupcake instead?” Lyra asked desperately “There’s nothing in here about muffins”

“Okay, that sounds fun! Can I help you?”

“Sure, sure. Whatever”

Lyra looked at the instructions carefully but couldn’t make heads or tails of it. It seemed like the book was more of a riddle than a guide. In fact, the instructions for cupcakes read:

All you have to do is take a cup of flour,
Add it to the mix.
Now just take a little something sweet, not sour,
A bit of salt, just a pinch.

Baking these treats is such a cinch,
Add a teaspoon of vanilla,
Add a little more, and you count to four
And you never get your fill of…

Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty.
Cupcakes, don't be too hasty.
Cupcakes...cupcakes, cupcakes, CUPCAKES!

“What in the hay?!” Lyra screamed, throwing the book at Derpy “This doesn’t make any sense!”

“It’s the song that Pinkie Pie sings when she bakes cupcakes” Ditzy said, taking the book off of her face and set it on the floor

“Okay, easy” Lyra said, rubbing her shoulders in order to prepare to cook “You sing and I’ll cook”

“All you have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix” Ditzy Doo sang

Lyra scanned through the items. Flowers? Who knew you had to use flowers to make cupcakes? After a moment, she saw a bouquet of flowers on the window sill. With great joy, she picked up the flowers and threw them into the bowl.

“Done, next?” Lyra said, wiping sweat off of her head, who knew baking was hard work?

“Now just take a little something sweet, not sour, a bit of salt, just a pinch.” continued Ditzy, reading off of the book

Sweet… candy is sweet! Lyra took a plate full of sweets and threw them into the bowl. After a moment, she took a few candy canes and threw those in too. Done, sweet not sour!

Now for some salt. Lyra picked up the salt and gently poured some into the mix. She was just about to congratulate herself on a job well done when a box full of cookies fell behind her, surprising her. In her shocked state, she accidentally dropped the entire cup of salt into the bowl. Oh well, maybe she’ll get extra marks for putting more salt?

“Well, that was simple!” Lyra said joyfully, although sweat started trickling down her face “Anything else?”

“Baking these treats is such a cinch, add a teaspoon of vanilla,” Ditzy sang again

Lyra sighed again. Ice cream in a cupcake? Well, maybe that’s why they were creamy at the top… right? She looked into the freezer and picked up the vanilla ice cream, dropping the entire packet into the bowl. Well, this is a strange recipe.

“Add a little more, and you count to four, and you never get your fill of…” Ditzy finished singing, throwing the book away as she did “I guess we cook it now!”

Lyra looked at the mix. If she wasn’t mistaken, baking involved the mix to look like batter, not a pile of random food inside a bowl. Maybe she should put them in a blender for a few minutes.

Without thinking, Lyra dropped the entire mix into a blender and turned it on. All the while, Ditzy Doo looked with a surprised expression. Surely Lyra knew what she was doing, right?

When the blending process was complete, Lyra put the batter into the oven and set it to 2 minutes at 150°C, thinking that it might be the perfect combination. The sudden ringing of the doorbell made the mare jump once again.

“I’ll get it. You take care of the cupcakes, Derpy” Lyra said, trotting back to the counter.

She was surprised to see Bon Bon in front of the counter, a wide smile on her face. Bon Bon was Lyra’s best friend ever since preschool. Wherever Lyra went, Bon Bon was sure to be close by. Their close friendship started sparking rumors about a relationship between the two which the two ponies shrugged off.

“Bon Bon! What brings you here?” Lyra piped up

“Well, everypony said that you were taking care of Sugarcube Corner for the day, so I thought-”

BOOM

A sudden explosion could be heard from the kitchen, surprising the two friends. Lyra ran back through the doors, followed closely behind by Bon Bon. What she saw did not amuse her.

The oven was on fire, typically. Ditzy Doo was close by, eyes crossed and face hidden behind her hooves. She was probably hiding from the explosion, a natural defensive reflex anypony would have done.

“Derpy!” Lyra screamed ‘I asked you to take care of the cupcakes!”

“Sorry, Lyra!” Ditzy Doo muttered as she shook her head “They just… BLEW UP!”

Bon Bon looked at the mess and identified several ingredients inside what was supposedly the batter. She took a lick but quickly pulled back as her face turned green. She barfed out some green puke and glared at Lyra, making the mare look taken aback.

“Cupcakes?” Bon Bon asked rather loudly “You call these cupcakes?!”

“Well, we followed what was in the instructions…” Lyra blushed, she was gonna be dead.

“Ugh, you do not put candy canes into cupcakes!” Bon Bon screamed “Here, let me make them, you two clean up”

“Why don’t you just make some muffins” Lyra blushed so hard her face started to look like a tomato “You know, since that’s what Derpy here wants anyway”

“Fine…” Bon Bon muttered, earning a joyful squeal from Ditzy Doo “Just… clean up. Better hurry up, I think I see the Cakes coming back!”