A Cupcake Crisis...one of MANY flavors
A pony with a sweet (?) tooth
Pinkie hummed happily to herself as she hopped around the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner with flour on her hooves. She pranced over to the oven and, using her favorite pink over mitts, pulled a fresh tray of cupcakes out of the oven. The edges were perfectly golden brown and the center was springy to the touch. The sweet scent of vanilla wafted through the happily decorated kitchen and all throughout the store as Pinkie placed the tray on the counter. Still humming, Pinkie grabbed some butter and sugar and milk from the closet and fridge and began churning the butter in the mixer. She popped open a bright blue eye and looked at the butter with satisfaction. Then, she took the bag of sugar and added it to the mixing bowl. As it churned, she hopped over to the cupcakes and put them on the windowsill to cool.
Then, she returned to the frosting mix and added a dash of milk and some lime juice. Then, just for good measure, she spooned in some pink coloring and watched with satisfaction as it blended into the mix. Once the cupcakes were cooled, she frosted them delicately and showered them generously with glitter and topped each one with a vanilla flower. Perfect. Filmroll cinema would love these. The theatre pony had stopped by yesterday looking a little downtrodden. Luckily, Pinkie kept tabs of everyone in Ponyville's favorite dessert so she had told him to stop by the next day to pick something up. Little did he know, he would be receiving his favorite vanilla bean limarina cupcakes. Pinkie carefully took each cupcake and put them in a white cardboard box that she sealed with a Sugarcube Corner Special Order seal. Just then, a blueberry colored pony with frosting-like pink hair trotted in.
"My Pinkie it does smell wonderful in here!" Ms.Cake exclaimed.
"Well, thanky-doodle Ms.Cake." Pinkie replied with a satisfied smile. As Ms.Cake surveyed the kitchen, she began to speak to the chipper pink mare.
"Well now Pinkie, I have to skedaddle off to go to a playdate for the twins with some pony I know with a little filly and Mr.Cake will be here but in the kitchen. Do you think you could mare the register honey?" Ms.cake asked as she grabbed a purse from a hook on the wall.
"Well of course-a doodle Ms.Cake! It's as good as done!" With that, the frosting maned pony trotted out of the shop with two toddling little fillies in a frilly pink carriage.
"Thank you so much Ms.Pie!" Filmroll Cinema said with a pleasured smile as he downed another of his cupcakes.
"No problemo senoro Cinema." Pinkie replied as she dove behind the counter to grab some baby-blue napkins.
"Somehow, my dear Pinkie, you know how to make someone feel good even better than some of us old-timers do."
"Aw shucks," Pinkie said with a blush. "I know everyone in Ponyville's favorite treat!" She exclaimed. Filmroll was clearly impressed.
"Is there anyone you don't know?" He asked.
"Nope! Except..." She trailed off. "except the mail pony."
"The mail pony?"
"THE MAIL PONY!" Pinkie suddenly realized what this meant. There was someone in Ponyville whose favorite treat she didn't know! Suddenly, she began to breathe hard and fast as she tried to calm down.
"I'll be going now..." Filmroll said with a sheepish smile.
Pinkie turned her head towards the clock, the mail pony would come in exactly an hour and a half. Until then, she had to come up with a cupcake that would become a treat he remembered for a lifetime.
After 15 minutes of brainstorming, Pinkie was still empty hoofed. How could she maintain her reputation as best party pony in all of Equestria if she couldn't come up with a dashing flavor combination for the mail pony's cupcake? She was about to give up as she trotted over to the fridge until she saw strawberries. They were perfect little blossoms of red sweetness. And they gave her an idea. As she looked up at the clock, she double-timed it to the cupboards. The mail pony's name was alliteration with S's. Stewert Sender. So, with strawberries in hoof, she dashed around the kitchen pulling out cupcake ingredients and some new add-ins. Cilantro and cinnamon.
Pinkie started out by making a strawberry cake and added some sprinkles of cinnamon and some chopped up cilantro to the batter as it churned into a strangely greenish-pink color. She studied it for a second and added a little more milk to thin the batter out a bit. Then, she pulled out some pink cupcake wrappers and, quick as a blink, pulled out a cupcake pan and lined it. Just as she put the cakes in the oven, a yellow stallion with faint orange stubble and a white baker's cap trotted in.
"Pinkie-"
"Not now Mr.Cake! I need you to man the register!" Pinkie screeched as she found the butter and sugar for her icing.
"But Pinkie-"
"Please Mr.Cake?" Pinkie paused for a precious moment and put on her "please please please" face.
"Fine," Mr.Cake said with a sigh "but what are you making in here?"
"Strawberry cilantro cinnamon cupcakes! Care to sample the batter?" Mr.Cake looked taken aback and scurried back to the register.
Pinkie giggled and returned to her work. She made her standard buttercream but made two batches. This way, she could swirl some cinnamon frosting with some cilantro frosting. As they were mixing, she pulled the boggy colored, but perfectly cooked, cupcakes out of the oven and left them to cool. They filled the room with a scent so strange that Pinkie had to pull out her "Super Party Scented" air freshener to cheer up the kitchen, not to mention herself.
Eventually, the cupcakes were cooled. Then, she masterfully swirled the two frostings together on top of the cupcake and topped it with a nice plump strawberry and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Pinkie glanced at the clock and breathed a sigh of relief. She had ten extra minutes to clean the kitchen. When the kitchen was finally sparkling clean and sparkling scented, thanks to some "Sparkle Scented" air freshener form Pinkie's collection, she grabbed a plate of five cupcakes and decided to sample one. It was bad. The combination of flavors had clearly not worked out. The strawberry's sweetness was but a whisper under the spicy of the cinnamon and the bitter aftertaste of cilantro. Neither flavor was really present yet they all were very present. The gulped it down and the gargled some pineapple juice to get the taste out. This was not good. The mail pony would be here in five minutes and this was the treat she was going to give him. She sighed. She had no other choice. Besides, some pony's taste buds were different right?
Well, maybe not when it came to strawberry cinnamon and cilantro all in one cupcake. The mail pony had downed the cupcake in one gulp, only t find that it was not quite delicious. His face turned a bit green and his knees started to quake. His eyes bugged out and he finally just fell to the ground. Pinkie sighed as she leaned a pink hoof to pull up his now green one.
"I'm sorry Sender." Pinkie said to the ground.
"It's-ah- okayish" Stewart replied with a gag.
"I just wanted to have every pony's favorite treat. Clearly, I don't know yours."
"It's alright Pinkie. Why didn't you just ask me though."
"Ponies like surprises. Sometimes."
"Well, mine is a vanilla ice cream with caramel drizzle, chopped walnuts, all on one of those funny chocolate dipped waffle cones."
Pinkie smiled. "Okay. I'm sorry about all this."
"Yeah." Sender replied. "I'm going to be late to my last stop now." Pinkie then had a thought.
"How 'bout this Sender, I can deliver the last letter and you can stay here and get your favorite treat. As an apology!" Pinkie grinned. "Also because you might pass out if you try to get all the way to Rarity."
Stewart Sender smiled gratefully as he handed her a fancy envelope with the Canterlot seal on it. Then, she produced some tape and attached it to the bottom of the cupcake plate and bounced along to the boutique. Who knew, maybe Rarity would like a strawberry cinnamon cilantro cupcake.
