An Autumn Romance

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took another little while to do. Exams are almost over. Two things to quickly mention about the story. One, this is more or less a filler chapter. I know how it feels, and it is supposed to be like that. Big drama next time, I promise you. Secondly, I will not have the Cake babies in. Sorry for anyone who wanted to see them. Once again, thanks to Therizzen for editing and to Jos0511 for moral support at school. Yes, I said I would put you in somehow. Finally, thanks to all of you readers and enjoy the chapter! (Side note, I am going back and re-editing chapters 1-6. Nothing big, just format and punctuation errors. Thanks again!)

Chapter 8: Hard Work & Baked Goods

The rising smoke from the bakery had attracted most of the town. As Rainbow and Twilight arrived, they found Pinkie talking to the large crowd. “Hay, everypony! Don't worry, everything is just fine! I just burned some cookies. Well...all of the cookies...but that's not the point! The point is that there is nothing to see here!” Her futile attempts made the pair laugh, as Applejack walked over to where Pinkie was standing.

“Want me to handle things here, sugarcube?” she asked politely.

“Oh, please do!” Pinkie slumped down to the ground. “It's as if nopony takes me seriously...”

“NOW Y'ALL LISTEN HERE!” AJ's voice boomed across the crowd, causing everything to fall silent. “There, much better. Now, Pinkie here just burned some cookies. It ain't nothing to worry about. If y'all can mosey on your way, that would be much appreciated.”

The crowd murmured a bit, and began to disperse. Seeing their chance, the pair walked up to the two earth ponies by the store. “Wow AJ, you really can handle a large group well!” Twilight was quite impressed.

“After living on a farm ya get used to dealin’ with some thick ponies, if ya know what ah mean.” Applejack glanced over to Pinkie, who was still deflated on the ground.

“Hay now, come on Pinkie. So ya burned some cookies, it happens to the best of us. Say, don't you have a song for somethin' like this?”

“No....” Pinkie was slow to respond. “I've never had a problem with baking. It was my second talent, and I'm almost as good at it as I am at throwing parties...” She remained slouched, sulking. Her mane had deflated, leaving it straight and giving her a serious look. A look only Rainbow had seen before.

“Cheer up!” Rainbow hoped her enthusiasm would help cheer the party pony up. “Everypony has a bad day. Remember when I couldn't do the Sonic Rainboom, and you kept encouraging me? You kept me going, so I'll be here to help you. Get up, you're a great baker. Now lets go fix this.”

Pinkie's mane popped back into place, and she got to her hooves. “You're right, Dash! I can do this! I'm the best baker in this town, aside from the Cakes!” She bounced back inside the shop, and soon mixers could be heard.

Rarity, with Fluttershy in tow, finally appeared out of what remained of the crowd. “And where have you two been?” Applejack asked, with mock anger in her voice.

“If you must know, we were at the spa. We go to Aloe and Lotus' place every week for makeovers.” Rarity replied, holding her muzzle high in the air. “It gives us a chance to relax and talk.”

“It's mostly Rarity talking. I just nod and smile...” Fluttershy seemed apprehensive to speak, probably because of everypony else around them.

AJ, Rainbow, and Twilight all leaned in towards the white unicorn. “And just what do you talk about?” Twilight asked, interested in what she would say.

“Oh, you know. Idle gossip. What's happening in the town, what filly is going out with what colt, etc.”

Dash immediately tensed up. What if there's a rumor about Twilight and myself?! She thought. What if the whole town already knows, and I just missed it? What if Twilight told her...

“Soooo, what's the latest going on in town?” Dash tried to sound calm, the panic rising withing her stomach.

“Nothing much, really. Other than Berry Punch proposing to Golden Harvest, it's been a slow week.” Rarity mocked an expression of sadness.

Dash breathed a sigh of relief, while the rest of the mares began to talk over the newly proposed couple. Rarity and Fluttershy seem to be OK with a mare-mare relationship...maybe I could just tell them. She glanced over to the group trying to gain some courage. They seemed excited, but these were ponies they didn't know all too well. They saw Rainbow and Twilight almost every day. It still didn't feel like a good idea to her.

“What do you think?” Twilight was poking Rainbow, trying to get her attention. “Hello? Are you there?”

“Sorry, I kind of blanked out...” Rainbow said, looking down in embarrassment. “What were you saying?”

“What do you think about the two of them being together?” Twilight was clearly trying to get the pegasus to admit her feelings to Rarity and Fluttershy.

“I think that they should do whatever they feel like they want to do, and that others should just be supportive.” She hoped her message wasn't too obvious to the group.

Twilight's smile dimmed a bit, but was soon back at full force. “I agree completely. We should all be happy for them, whatever choice they make.

Rainbow glanced over to AJ, who gave a small cough. It was obvious that she knew what was going on.

Fluttershy finally decided to speak again. “Why don't we go check on Pinkie. You said she was making fresh cookies, and I'd love to have one...”

The group all nodded in agreement, as Rainbow went and held the door for the group to enter.

• ~ -

The store itself looked fine, aside from a slight haze from remaining smoke. The party pony could be heard taking some trays out of the ovens in the back.

The group wandered back to find what looked like a war zone. Many baking sheets were thrown into a nearby garbage can, bits of burnt-on cookie still stuck to it. There were baking ingredients everywhere, and almost everything seemed to be coated in a fine dusting of flower. Pinkie saw the group as she put the last tray in the oven and walked over. If this was somepony's first time meeting her, they would have thought her coat was just as white as Raritiy's.

“I've just put a new batch in, and I bet they are gonna be super-duper-fantastically-awesome!” She bounced, causing a small cloud of flour to go flying into the air.

“I'm sure they will be, sugarcube, but right now it looks like yer clean up job will be quite a task.” Applejack said, poking the blackened remains of what used to be a cookie resting on the floor.

“We would be happy to help, dear. It does seem like quite the job.” Rarity spoke, as everypony gasped.

“But Rarity, we just came from the spa. Won't you get all messy?” Fluttershy asked, her mouth hanging open.

“I always have a bath every night, spa or not. Don't forget, I won't look messy, my coat is already white.”

“Wow, that's incredibly generous of you...” Dash said before she realized what she was saying. Stupid, she's the Element of Generosity!

“Well, Dash, I am the Element of Generosity,” she reminded the group. “Now, what do you need us to do?”

• ~ -

Clean up took considerably less time than anypony expected, with the group working surprisingly quick. In no time, they all were munching on the fresh batch of cookies Pinkie had made.

“What did I tell ya?” Dash said, mouth full of cookie. “This is one of the best cookies I've ever had! You can't let the little things get you down.”

“I guess you're right...” Pinkie looked over at Dash, who was hovering in the air and eating her cookie. The kind smiles of all her friends really helped her brighten up.

• ~ -

Once the cookies were finished, the friends remained around the counter in Sugar Cube corner. Pinkie was in the back room, starting on a batch of pies.

“I got a question for all y’all.” Applejack said, gathering their attention. “What's everypony doin’ for this year's Running of the Leaves?”

“Oooh! I'm doing the announcing! ” Pinkie poked her head out from the kitchen. “It's too bad that Spike doesn't wanna announce with me...”

“That may be because of how truly random you are.” Rainbow Dash said, a smile on her lips. “I know that I'm running it again this year, and so is Twilight.”

“Oh, I personally would never participate in something so, ugh, dirty. Rest assured that I will be cheering you all on from the sidelines.” Rarity smiled. “I have just the thing to wear for such an occasion.”

“I...um...might watch. I was never big into...competitions.” Fluttershy whispered, hiding behind her mane.

“Why don't you come with me, dear? We can make a day of it!” Rarity was trying so hard to get Fluttershy to come out of her proverbial shell.

“Um...well...Ok...”

“What about you, AJ? Will you be running too?” Twilight was curious.

“As much as ah want to, Big Mac needs some help on the farm that mornin’. If we don't get them last apples bucked off, they'll die on the trees during the first snow. I'll be sure to meet ya two at the end of the race, tho.”

“Looks like we'll be doing it alone, Dash” Twilight said, winking.

“Umm...uhh...yea. I guess so...” she stammered out.

Pinkie quickly popped out from the back room. The Cakes seemed to have arrived back home, as they followed out.

“Guyyys, the Cakes are baaack!” Pinkie sang as she bounced over to the counter.

“Wow, what a day!” Mr. Cake slowly trotted after the pink party pony. “We had to ice a cake as high as a house! After all that, I must say that you did an excellent job of keeping the place clean! We are quite impressed.”

“So...you...you trust me now..?” Pinkie said, trying to act shy. It didn't really work. “Do ya!? Do ya!? Won't you trust me now?!”

While Mr. Cake was reeling from the bouncing pink blob, Mrs. Cake came to defend him. “Now dearie, just because you did so well once doesn't mean you have our absolute faith. It's going in the right direction, but you still need to work at it.”

Pinkie deflated back to the way she had been earlier in the day. “But...but...” she managed to stutter without breaking into tears.

“Pinkie, it's not that we don't trust you, it's just that you have a history of being...well...you. We do trust you, but not entirely.”

Pinkie seemed satisfied with this answer, as she perked back up. Twilight noticed that the party pony was about to go off again, and quickly interrupted. “Ok fillies, today has been fun, but the sun is beginning to set and I really need to hit the hay. I'll see you tomorrow?”

Everypony nodded in agreement, but Dash spoke up. “You know, I should really get going too. Wanna be up early to train and everything...” she said, as she trotted to the door. She held it open for the purple unicorn as the good-byes of their friends echoed after them.

• ~ -

The pair stood outside, the wind blowing up around them. “Do you want to go for a run tomorrow morning, Twi? The race is only a couple days away...”

Twilight leaned onto the cyan pegasus, who graciously extended a wing around her. “That sounds wonderful. You know what, how about you come sleep over at my place tonight. We were just at yours recently.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way.” With that, the pair stepped off of the front steps of Sugar Cube corner, and headed over towards the library. “Might there be a chance that I might get lucky tonight?”

Twilight playfully pushed Dash away. “Well, well, well. I'm sure we could figure something out...”