In hindsight, Amethyst really should have checked to see if the tray she used was oven-safe. To be fair, she never really used the oven for anything other than baking pastries on a rare occasion. She didn't intend to not have any baking sheets, but that was just a testament to how infrequently she baked. Needless to say, she had messed everything up.
"You didn't mess everything up."
Sometimes that breezie could just read her mind. More than just sometimes, to be honest. Maybe just because the mess today was similar to last Hearthswarming, but she really preferred not to think about that. The recipe said to cook until the cranberries burst, so how was she supposed to know that looked like?
Twirly unintentionally mimicked one Amethyst's nervous habits by biting her lip as the unicorn buried her head in her hooves. The kitchen windows were open, with smoke still spilling out into the air. Amethyst wouldn't let Twirly go anywhere near the smoke, but she had really wanted to make some shapes using it. But seeing Amethyst so upset made her feel upset, which caused a cycle of upset-ness as Amethyst got more upset.
"Can we have peanut butter waffles and bananas?" Twirly nuzzled Amethyst's cheek. "You're great at making those!"
Amethyst sighed and looked over at Twirly. "We don't have any bananas. I got pears last time I went shopping."
"Then we can have peanut butter waffles with pears!" Twirly smiled broadly. "And for dessert we can have cupcakes!"
"We don't have any frosting. There is a thing of cake mix in the cupboard, though." She took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I can go see if the Cakes have some extra frosting. Why don't you zip over to Fluttershy's to grab some sprinkles?"
Twirly gave a squeal of delight and jumped into the air. "Yes, yes, yes! I'll be really fast, and we'll be back to cooking in no time!"
The breezie spiraled off towards Fluttershy's house, and Amethyst sighed once again. Fluttershy probably wasn't even home. She was likely off in Cloudsdale with her family, like everypony else. Even if she wasn't home, Twirly was going to get sprinkles no matter what. She always managed to uncover a way into places she wasn't supposed to be.
Amethyst got to her hooves and glanced back at the library. There was still smoke coming out of the window, so she didn't even bother trying to go back in to grab a scarf. It wasn't very cold out, anyways. She set off at a trot towards Sugarcube Corner, ignoring the whispers of the few ponies that were out and about. Plenty of weird stuff had happened at the library, so something as simple as burning food would scarcely be remembered by tomorrow.
It wasn't cold enough to see one's breath yet, but it was still rather chilly. The grass beneath her hooves was yellowed with some areas being more brown. The leaves scattered across the ground were yellow, orange, red, and brown, with plenty of shades in between. Most had already been stepped on by eager foals, so very few crunched as she stepped on them. Late autumn was a funny time in Ponyville, as the season began to conflict with the upcoming winter.
Hopefully when Winter Wrap-Up came up, it wouldn't be another disaster. Mayor Mare said that her leading was far better than previous years, so she didn't even want to think how bad those times were. If nearly flooding the whole town was considered "better", she never wanted to know what qualified as "worse".
She shook her head. It was still autumn. The first snow wasn't even scheduled until next week. It was barely time to start thinking about Hearthswarming, let alone Winter Wrap-Up. The though of having to get more than just three presents was slightly concerning, but she could always make something by hoof.
Sugarcube Corner was closed today. Of course it was. It was a holiday, so nearly every place was closed. But this wouldn't be the first time she had bothered the Cakes. Nor, she regretfully assumed, would it be the last. The small family was very kind to her, even though she gave them nothing in return.
Amethyst opened the door and stepped inside, delicious smells wafting about. Her stomach growled, but she ignored it. Mr. Cake peeked out from the kitchen, smiling once he saw her.
"Why, hello there, Amethyst!" he said brightly. "We didn't expect to see you today!"
"Hello, Mr. Cake," she replied politely, walking up to the counter. "I just need some frosting. Twirly wants to make cupcakes."
"Frosting? I'll go see if we have any left."
He zipped back into the kitchen, leaving Amethyst alone. She sighed internally, but perked up as two sets of eyes peeked out over the counter. It was the twins, Pumpkin and Pound, who giggled with glee at seeing her.
"Hello, Pumpkin!" She gently patted the unicorn's head. "Hello, Pound!" She did the same for him. "You two behaving?"
Pumpkin's horn sparkled, and Pound buzzed his wings. Babies had very unstable magic, often times exceeding that of full-grown mares and stallions. But their magic would soon reach a nice balance, and they would have to work on properly funneling it.
"I'm sorry, Amethyst," said Mr. Cake, stepping back out of the kitchen. "We only made as much as we needed. There isn't any extra."
She choked down her frustrations. "Oh. Yeah, that's fine. We can just have them as muffins or something." She forced a smile. "Sorry to be a bother."
"No, no! It's always a pleasure to see you!" He smiled. "We'll be sure to ask you first if the twins need a babysitter any time soon!"
Ten bits an hour, since she refused to be paid any more. At least twenty bits next week. That was good. "Thank you." She hesitated for a moment. "Well, I need to get going. Twirly went to grab something, so I'd like to get home before her. Bye!"
"Baaiiiiiii!" cried Pumpkin and Pound gleefully as she exited.
As soon as the door closed behind her, she let out a single repressed sob. It was fine. Just waffles and muffins today. Just like most days. She was fine with that. Saffron was always sharing food with their friends, so that was always there for her.
She took in a deep breath. No different than any other day, everything was okay. She wasn't going to cry. No, she definitely wasn't going to cry. Her eyes weren't tearing up. That was the just the wind stinging them. Everything was perfectly fine.
"Sparkler?"
She jumped and whipped around to face Limestone. The Earth pony had a small blue cart hitched to her, which was covered by a pale yellow sheet. There were different emblems on each side, one being three balloons and the other a music note, which she assumed to be cutie marks.
"Oh, hey, Limestone!" She smiled and ignored the tears in her eyes. "What's that cart for?"
"It's Pinkie's. I offered to pull it for her, then she and Vinyl sprinted off." She stepped over to Amethyst. "Are you okay? You look like you're about to cry."
"What? Oh, no, no, no! The wind was just blowing in my eyes." Limestone gave her a deadpan stare, and Amethyst sighed. It was near impossible to lie to her. "I'm just a bit upset. It's not important. Just something silly."
"Sparkler, you don't need to hide things from me. We're friends, and friends look out for each other." She gently tugged Amethyst forward. "Come on. Walk with me and tell me what's wrong."
Amethyst somewhat reluctantly walked beside her friend. Being taller than her, Limestone walked a bit faster, so she increased her pace to keep up. Amethyst was average by unicorn standards, being 127 centimeters tall. Limestone, on the other hoof, was tall, even by Earth pony standards. She was 143 centimeters tall, with her muscles only making her seem larger.
Thinking back on first meeting her, Amethyst hadn't noticed the height difference. It was probably just because she was used to everypony being taller than her. Ponyville was mostly an Earth pony town, and even the pegasi were unusually tall.
"What are you making for dinner?" asked Limestone casually. "We always have rock soup. It tastes better than it sounds."
"Well, I was trying to cook some vegetables in the oven, but it didn't really work out." A waste of those potatoes, parsnips, and carrots she had bought. She'd have to buy more hay than usual. "So we're just going to have waffles instead."
"Waffles? But what about the rest of your family? They made stuff, right?"
"Twirly's not the best cook. She's only really good at pancakes, but she does have trouble lifting them sometimes."
Limestone looked over at Amethyst in concern. "I meant besides Twirly. Don't you go over to your parents' or siblings' to eat?"
The dreaded question about her parents. "Me and my parents... don't really talk anymore."
"Then what about siblings? I know you have a sister."
"My sister is... complicated." She bit her lip again. "I... don't like to talk about it."
Limestone didn't argue with her. "That's fine. You don't need to." Amethyst's stomach growled softly. "Did you eat this morning?"
"No, I slept in and then had to prep the food." Something simple and completely true.
"What did you eat yesterday? For dinner, I mean."
Amethyst stopped walking. She couldn't tell Limestone the truth. She didn't even tell Twirly the truth about that. "I..." What was she supposed to say? "I need to go."
She turned around and quickly began walking towards the library. She could hear Limestone quickly unhitch the cart, and hurry after her. "Sparkler!" Amethyst didn't respond. "Sparkler, I'm worried about you!"
"I'm fine!" A blatant lie. You didn't even need to see the tears sliding down her cheeks.
"You are not fine!" Of course she set off Limestone's temper. Way to be a terrible friend. "Sparkler, we're all worried about you!"
"It doesn't matter!" She increased her pace. "Everything is fine and I-"
"Sparkler!"
Limestone slammed her hoof into the ground, and a slab of rock jutted out of the ground in front of Amethyst. The unicorn stepped back in shock, and turned around to face her friend. "How-?"
She slowly lifted her hoof out of the small crater made, and the rock slab slid into the ground. "Can't you trust me?" she asked softly.
More tears spilled down her cheeks, as Amethyst bolted forward and sobbed into Limestone's shoulder. "I'm s-sorry!"
Limestone wrapped her hooves around Amethyst in a hug. "Hey, it's okay. You're not alone. We're all here for you." She ran a hoof through Amethyst's mane to flatten it down. "Flitter said you were gazing the other day," she said softly.
Gazing was not a healthy means of getting food. It had very few nutrients and a high chance of food poisoning. "I had to," she whispered. "I've had to before."
"Hey." She gently brushed away Amethyst's tears. "It'll be okay." Amethyst's breathing steadied as she stopped crying. "I don't want to press while you're upset. Just... we're eating around 3:30. You don't have to bring anything."
"I can't do that to you. It would be-"
"If Pinkie can invite her girlfriend, I can invite my friend. My parents won't mind." Limestone smiled. "Just go light on the magic, okay? My family likes to be simple about things."
Amethyst smiled in return. "Okay. I'll be over early."
She was about to start back towards the library, when Limestone stopped her one last time. "By the way," Amethyst turned around; "it's called geomancy. My family is all geomancers expect for Pinkie."
"I've never heard of geomancy."
"Of course you haven't. It's a secret." A rock poked Amethyst's hoof. "How do you think I didn't fall of the cliff?"
Amethyst's eyes widened. She nodded in understanding, and continued back to the library. She needed something for Twirly to put the sprinkles on, frosting or not. Hopefully the smoke was gone by now.
