"Done!"
And done it was. Bon Bon, Royal Confectioner, stared proudly at the double layered, milk chocolate and whipped cream cake she had been working on for seven hours. Buttercream and pink frosting formed ribbons around the edge, and in the middle a stylized cutie mark loomed, made out of even more buttercream and blueberries.
Carefully, Bon Bon retreated from her masterpiece. She picked up the little card next to it with quivering hooves and nervously checked the writing again for any mistakes.
"Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, Princess Cadance." was written in flowing cursive. It had taken her weeks to get it just right. A card befitting the prettiest princess, in Bon Bon’s opinion.
"Ooh, fancy! Lemme have a bite."
Without looking, Bon Bon flicked her head and with it, catapulted the chef's hat right in the face of the looming desecrator of cakes.
"Touch this cake and die, Lyra!"
Muttering curses under her breath, her friend shook of the hat and crudely moved it back on Bon Bon's head with her magic.
"So, when d'you wanna give this to the Princess, Bon? I'm sure she'll be plenty busy today, bein' kinda the patron princess of Hearts and Hooves," she asked, moving her sights now on to the bowl of leftover frosting. “Buuuut… Maybe she’ll visit you later? I hear you two have been talking a lot lately.”
"I..." Bon Bon felt the excitement from work leave her in a huff. She had not really thought that far. Even leaving the occasion aside... Cadance was the princess of love! She would know right away that this was not meant as a gift cementing the friendship they had formed. And what would a princess think about the silly affection of a glorified baker?
"Gotta do it in court, Bon," Lyra continued, lifting her muzzle out of the bowl between licks. "Right in front of all the other princesses and nobles.That's the most romantic way, AND she knows you are serious. How could she say no to that?"
"From what I heard from last year, polite rejection is not really a problem for Princess Cadance," Bon Bon muttered dejectedly. “What if she never wants to speak to me again? What if she banished me for embarrassing her in public?” She took a deep breath to calm herself, trying to keep the negative thoughts from spiraling out of control.
“Bon, you’re being silly. You two have been getting along like crazy! She doesn’t come talk to ME every day!”
"That’s probably because no one knows what you actually do…” Bon Bon sighed. “I guess I could send it to her anonymously and just resign myself to the fact that she'll never..."
"Hello?"
Bon Bon froze in place as she heard the voice near the entrance of the main kitchen. SHE was here!
Hurriedly, she pulled Lyra down to the floor with her. "It's Princess Cadance! What do we do?" she whispered frantically. The cake was still setting, moving it now would risk ruining the decoration. She'd have to find some sort of scaffolding and a canvas to cover the cake without touching it.
Lyra sourly wormed her way out of Bon Bon's hooves. ""We" will call Princess Cadance and present her with a nice congratulatory cake, I'd say." She peered over the table and spotted Cadance absent-mindedly fixing her mane while making her way through the kitchen. She smirked. “That’s a good sign if I ever saw one.”
"Lyra, I swear to Celestia..."
"Miss Bon Bon? We have a break in the ceremony, and I was wondering if I could liberate some sweets." Cadance's voice was closer now.
Bon Bon scrambled to her hooves and looked around feverishly. There had to be something to hide her pathetic crush…
“We are here, Princess! There’s a mmpfh mmpfh…” Lyra found herself silenced by the desperate strength of a lovesick earth pony. But her goal had been achieved.
"Oh. Oh my."
As Bon Bon looked up, she felt her face grow warm at the sight of Princess Cadance looking at her, awestruck. Celestia, she was beautiful. She wore her ceremonial garments and manestyle, and Bon Bon had always thought how nicely they accentuated her beautiful eyes...
A sharp hoof-jab from Lyra unfroze her and wiped the dopey smile right off her face. Quickly, they bowed before Cadance.
She had to think quick. "Oh, hello, Princess. This is just some..."
"Wow. Is that... Is that for me?"
Bon Bon cursed herself for forgetting the card. “Uh, yes,” she babbled. “There was a delivery, and, uh, they thought we could put it in storage here before giving it to you so we…”
Cadance shook her head softly. “Did you make this, Bon Bon?”
"Y-yes. I'm so sorry, Princess," she muttered.
Cadance closed in, silently examining the masterpiece of confectionery. She kept a bit of distance, as if scared that it would explode. But she probably did not want to get close to it for other reasons.
"My cutie mark," she marveled, turning her head to look at her flank.
"Blueberries and buttercream," Bon Bon said quietly, fighting the attempt to follow the princess's' gaze. "I'm so sorry, Princess. I just… I fell in..."
"I'm sorry, Bon Bon," Cadance interrupted her. She sounded... thoughtful. "This is… unexpected, and I am afraid..."
Bon Bon felt tears rising. She had expected this, and she had thought she was prepared. Wrongly, as it turned out.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Lyra moving to half-stand between them. "Princess, she's..."
"I’m afraid I still have the ceremony ahead of me," Cadance continued loudly. “As a princess, it is my duty to attend, and any other potential activities have to be delayed, no matter how… welcome they may be.”
Bon Bon's head snapped up. Did she...
"But after that," Cadance said, and Bon Bon could swear a little blush barely hidden on the pink muzzle, "I’d… love to share this with you. At eight, on the east balcony?"
And as hope bloomed in her chest and her heart hammered in joyful excitement, as she felt happiness flood her body and threatened to make her dizzy, Bon Bon smiled so bright as she had never done before.
"I'd love to, Princess!"
