A Lesson in Baking

Chapters

A Reunion for the ages
Friendly Competition
New Friends

A Reunion for the ages

It was a hot summer day, and Bab was glad to see Ponyville train station not far off in the distance. Not only did it mean that she would see her cousin once more, but she would be able to get off this giant oven that was slowly cooking her alive. Babs was all for a nice summer day which could be spent by the pool side but this was ridiculous. She was certain she lost half of her brain cells whilst on the 2-hour train ride.

As Bab got closer to the train station, she realized there were more than just her cousins on the train platform. Next to her cousin Applejack stood a purple alicorn who Bab knew as Princess Twilight Sparkle, a close friend of Applejack's. All of Bab's friends had been very jealous when they found out Bab's cousins were best friends with an alicorn princess. Standing next to Princess Twilight was a bright-pink coloured pony who Bab could only assume was Pinkie Pie, the element of laughter. Babs had briefly met her as she was leaving Ponyville last time. Pinkie Pie was bouncing in circles around the other ponies standing on the platform. There were two Pegasi, one had a butter-yellow coat and a long light-pink mane and the other bore a bright blue coat with a rainbow coloured mane. Babs had seen her flying around a few times during her last visit, but never properly met her. Then there was another mare. An earth pony, with a light-grey coat and a long light-pink mane similar to the yellow mare's.

As the train approached the platform Bab got up from her seat and walked towards the closest door, ready to get off and enter her new life in Ponyville.

"Aww, Sugarcube! You've grown so much!" was the first thing Bab heard after she walked onto the platform, said by her cousin, Applejack. "Heh he, thanks cous', I gotta say I wasn't expectin' this many ponies to be here", replied Bab. "Oh, shucks, sorry about that. Well, I suppose you'd like an introduction to everyone? Well, as I'm sure you know this is Princess Twilight, and this is Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. And that's Pinkie's half sister, Candy-stone Pie" Applejack finished. There were a lot of ponies there, all except the one Bab wanted to see the most.

"Hey, um, nice to meet ya and all, but where is Applebloom?" asked Bab, upset that her own cousin hadn't showed up to greet her. "Aw, don't worry Sugarcube", said Applejack, noticing the filly's face was not as joyous as it had been 30 seconds ago. "She's just back at the farm, said something about wanting to set up a welcome party". Bab's face was a bit happier now, knowing that her cousin hadn't ignored her like she thought.

"Ooh, if there's gonna be a party, then there HAS to be some of Applebloom's famous apple and blueberry cupcakes, those things are de-lish!" squealed Pinkie Pie, her voice just as shrill as Bab remembered. "Oh yeah, those things were pretty good", said Rainbow Dash," but I can only have a few since I have Wonderbolt training tomorrow". After that they all started talking about how good Applebloom's apple and blueberry cupcakes were. Bab couldn't really understand much of it since they were all talking over each other, they slowly started walking towards Sweet Apple Acres. The only ones not talking were the yellow Pegasus who Bab assumed was Fluttershy, and Pinkie's half-sister, Candy-stone.

As they reached the farm Bab would now be calling home, Bab saw a rather large banner reading WELCOME BACK, BABS hanging from the barn door. Bab excitedly ran towards it, and heard the others follow suit. Now it was a race, a race that Bab intended to win. As they were nearing the barn, Bab heard some-pony catching up to her. Bab expected it to be Rainbow Dash or Applejack, who she knew were quite competitive, but to her surprise it wasn't either of them. It was Candy-stone. She wasn't much older than Bab and Applebloom, but she clearly had a lot more endurance. Candy-stone's dull orange eyes seemed to light up with fire, but not the warm welcoming kind, the aggressive killing kind. Every time her hooves came in contact with the ground, she seemed to be punching it as if the dirt had done her wrong. Babs, though rather frightened, decided to focus on winning the race. Although, it was too late. Candy-stone had already won.

Every-pony was shocked. They had never seen this side of Candy-stone. She had run with anger and hatred, something they never would of expected in a mare like her. But as soon as it had appeared, it disappeared. She returned to her shy state, though she seemed a bit more comfortable around everyone.

"I call foul play!" said Rainbow, clearly upset she hadn't won. Everyone simply chuckled at her stubbornness, "Come on, Dashie, its okay you didn't win. Besides, my sis has always had a knack for running. She was the one who had to get the rocks from the mine and bring them up to us back at the rock farm" said Pinkie, giving her sister a bright and loving smile. Candy-stone returned it with a shy smile of her own, clearly glad to have her sister's support.

"Babs!!!!" cried out the unmistakable voice of Applebloom, "Ah'm so glad you're here!!". They all chuckled again,"Cous'!! I'm so glad I get to stay with you guys instead of that crummy apartment back in Manehatten" said Bab, a big smile upon her face. "Come into the barn and lets get this welcome party started!" said Applebloom, still smiling. They began to walk towards the barn and the celebration began. Babs would enjoy her new life in Ponyville, that was for sure. Though there was an unexpected lesson around the corner, and it was from some-pony you'd never except.

*End of Chapter 1*

Friendly Competition

It had been a week since Bab had started her new life in Ponyville and things were going great. She had just woke up from a great dream and was excited to start the day. It was a Saturday, so she didn't have to go to school but she still had plenty of chores to do. She and Applebloom had to buck the west orchard, feed the pigs, and on top of that they had to help Applejack practice for the upcoming rodeo. The west orchard along would take all morning, and helping Applejack would take all afternoon. Luckily, the pigs wouldn't take very long but the day was still packed.

Babs got out of bed, brushed her mane, and headed downstairs for breakfast. Her face brightened as she walked down the stairs and caught a whiff of the unmistakable smell of Apple Pancakes. That was Bab's favourite meal and she couldn't wait to have some. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she looked around. There were only 3 ponies in front of her, Granny Smith, Applejack, and Big Mac. Applejack was serving up the last of the apple pancakes whilst Granny Smith and Big Mac were eating theirs. "Yes!", Bab thought, glad to see her cousin was not down yet. That meant that she would be stuck with cleaning out the pig pen, which was a job no-pony wanted to do. Whichever pony woke up last was the one who got that responsibility, a rule Granny Smith had come up with when Applejack and Big Mac were young.

Bab sat herself down at the table and dug into her meal. Halfway through eating Applebloom came down the stairs, had a look at the chore list for today, then flopped down on the table. She looked exhausted. Whilst the other family members chuckled, Bab asked," Something wrong, cous'?". Bab had never seen her cousin like this before. "Yeah, Ah'm alright an' all, I just didn't get much sleep last night", replied Applebloom, though it was hard to hear since she hadn't bothered to lift her head. "Oh, well I'll be happy to start bucking the west orchard early so you can get some more rest", Bab offered. "No, Ah'll do my part but if you could feed the pigs by yourself that would allow me to get some shut-eye in", said Applebloom, lifting her head and giving a Bab a small smile. "Ok, well, I'm all finished so I'll get an early start on things, meet ya in the west orchard?" asked Babs, getting up from the table and walking towards the door. "Sure, be out in about 5 mins, k?" replied Applebloom, starting to eat her pancakes. Babs gave a small nod then walked out the door.

It was early afternoon and the youngest members of the Apple Family were walking towards an open spot of land that had been turned into a rodeo practice arena. They had finished the morning's chores and now were starting the afternoon's. That was, until they saw a bright pink pony bouncing towards them. The pair slowed their walking, to match the paces of Pinkie's when they saw a grey mare walking slowly behind her. The mare's long pink mane was just about avoiding dragging behind her in the dirt. Babs was glad to see Candy-stone was visiting them as well, since she never left Sugar Cube Corner without her sister, and rarely left anyways. Bab was quite fond of Pinkie's younger sister, she may have some inner rage but she's a nice pony once you get to know her.

As Pinkie got closer to the fillies Applejack saw her and came over to greet her. "Ah wonder what she wants?", said Applejack, a look of confusion was on her face, although she still seemed happy to see her friend. "Hey Applejack! Applebloom! Babs!" Pinkie squealed, in her usual high-pitched voice.

"Hey Pinkie, whaddya doin' here? Not that we don't want ya here or nothin', but we're kinda busy", said Applejack, making sure to smile at the end so as not to hurt pinkie's feelings. "Oh, well, do you remember that time my sisters visited? My older sisters, that is, not Candy-stone here." Pinkie said, putting a hoof around her sister's neck lovingly. Candy-stone gladly accepted the hug with a shy smile.

"Course I remember when your sisters visited. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't?" asked Applejack with a smirk, the younger fillies chuckled for a while before Pinkie Pie interrupted them. "Well, they've asked if its okay they stay with me a while and I said ok so were just on our way to pick them up from the train station!" finished Pinkie, as she grabbed a cannon out of nowhere that fired confetti onto the small group. "Oh, oh, sis please can I go?? I really wanna meet Pinkie's sisters and I'm sure Babs does too!" said Applebloom excitedly, giving Babs a small nudge as a hint that she should agree. Babs nodded vigorously, and it looked as though her head was about to fall off. "Fine fine, be back in time for dinner and if you go to Sugarcube Corner then don't eat too many treats" said Applejack, a stern look on her face. "Have fun!" she said as her cousin and sister ran towards the train station, closely followed by the Pie sisters, though Candy-stone was quickly overtaking them. And with that, Applejack walked towards the training area, a smile upon her face, happy the young fillies would be having a happy afternoon.

New Friends

Pinkie Pie, Candy-stone, Applebloom and Bab Seed had just arrived at Ponyville Train Station. The two younger fillies were leaning against a wall, catching their breath. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around, full of energy as if she hadn't just spent the last half hour running a race against 3 ponies who all really wanted to win. Candy-stone was standing still, observing her surroundings whilst humming a tune she seemed to be making up on the spot.

"Hey Pinkie, when are ya sisters gonna get here? I don't know if I can wait much longer to meet 'em" said Babs, who had recovered from the race just enough so that she could talk without wheezing. "Well, you don't have to wait any longer because they're here!!!!" said Pinkie, a little too loud for Bab's liking but since Pinkie was so excited Bab decided not to bring that up right now.

As the train slowly pulled up to the station the doors slid open with a small click and two mares walked out. One had a pale greenish-grey coat and a darker green-grey mane. Her hair was a similar length to Pinkie's when its deflated. Her flank bore a geode with purple crystals that matched her eyes perfectly. The other mare was taller than Pinkie but shorter than the greenish-grey mare. Her coat was a dull purplish-blue and her mane was a light grey. Her mane was a lot shorter than the other mare's but a bit longer than Bab's. The purplish-blue mare's cutie mark was a small rock with gold lines running through it which Babs assumed was a gold nugget.

The mares all ran to one another, with the taller hugging Pinkie and the other hugging Candy-stone. After a while Pinkie broke away from the hug and turned to Bab and Applebloom.

"Bab, Applebloom, these are my sisters Limestone and Marble Pie! Limestone and Marble, these are my friends Bab Seed and Applebloom!" squealed Pinkie, looking like a young filly in a sweet shop. Limestone looked rather angry. "Don't mind my sister" Marble said calmly, her voice was rather low but somehow comforted the two fillies knowing they had nothing to fear. "Pinkamena has told us quite a bit about you girls. We brought you some presents as we stopped for a while in Trottingham" said Marble, keeping a smile upon her face as she talked.

"Okie dokie lokie, now that you've met why don't we go back to Sugarcube Corner? I'll need extra help since I'm making a chocolate-caramel-fudge triple layer cake! The cakes are out of town on a delivery and Pound and Pumpkin are staying at a relative of theirs, so we have the bakery all to our selves" squealed Pinkie, who's smile was still growing slowly. "Come on then, lets go before we freeze to death out here", said Limestone, her voice gruff and rather raspy. She wasn't wrong though, it was the middle of winter and it was rather cold out. Candy-stone seemed to be using her long mane a shield from the cold wind. The 6 ponies began to walk away from the train station towards the bakery to begin the afternoon of baking and taste-testing, something Bab and Applebloom couldn't wait for.

*End of Chapter 3*