Upper Crust

“Are you sure you want to do it rather than close for a day?” Pinny asked, still a bit bleary eyed. It was midnight and he was fumbling around (magically) with the lock to the bakery door. Eventually it clicked and he let himself and Cookie in.

“Just think of it as an early start okay? Look, this means we can fulfil the order and still open today as normal.” Cookie replied, starting to clean down the kitchen so it was ready to be used.

“I know, but she’s paying us, whatever we want! We could probably double our normal price and she’d have no idea. We could take a day off.” Pinny retorted, helping Cookie clean before they started to bake.

“Or doing it this way means we can pay off our debts a little quicker. Then we can have all the days off we like...within reason.” Cookie said, getting out her ingredients. “Besides, I’m going to have some fun baking her the best. New treats as well well as our established favourites. You get on with the bread dear, I’ll start with what I have planned.”

“Okay, just say if you need me.” Pinny replied.

And so the two began to do as they always did, every day. Bake. It’s just that it usually wasn’t a midnight baking session. It had come to Cookie as they had wandered home that night and eventually with enough cajoling Pinny had finally agreed to it. He wasn’t happy about it of course, but Cookie had her ways. After being together for so long she knew what to say and what to offer when she really wanted him to do something for her.

She had the perfect plan too, a mixture of sweet and savoury. Cookie would do the sweet, Pinny would do the savoury. On Pinny’s list was mostly breads, but some of the nicest they could muster. He was making scones, rolls, pasties and a few loafs. Cookie herself was making cookies, cupcakes, macaroons and muffins. She had contemplated brownies, but hadn’t managed to come up with anything unique (bar adding even more of the special sugar) to make them extra tasty and although she was going to make sure to use plenty of the sugar, she was going to let her baking speak for itself.

They had arranged for a special night time pickup from the postal service. They had until four am, so four hours to get everything baked and packed. Time was against them.

“Do you think we should have asked Doughy to come in and help?” she asked, zipping around the kitchen and picking what she needed. Pinny never had this problem of course, he just levitated everything towards him. Of course though Cookie could always shout to him if he could levitate it over. He stood at his station, kneading the dough.

“I think asking him to come in at midnight might have been pushing it, he’s only been with us a short while. Don’t want to scare him off.” he replied.

“True…” Cookie responded. In any case, time was ticking on. It had taken her an hour just to get all the base ingredients mixed and then prepared so they could go in their large oven, which roared into life. Cookie placed her desserts inside, she had four separate timers on the side for each one as they all took different times to bake. All she could do now was wait. Pinny had finished too, so the two had a little time to discuss their new predicament in a long line of escapades.

“So are we going to do this every time she puts in an order?” Pinny asked.

“Oh right...I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose she will.” Cookie said, already assuming so. “Well, why not? The more orders she puts in the more we can make and the quicker we can pay everything off. This is a blessing really.”

“You know they’re going to link it back to us though, our customers are quickly becoming some of the fattest ponies in the city. Once Princess Twilight starts to put on weight, they’ll quickly find out she’s been ordering it from a particular bakery here. Our bakery. Do you really think we’re going to be treated well and accepted after Equestria discovers that it’s our doing Princess Twilight is the size of a house?” Pinny replied.

“The size of a house???” Cookie blurted out.

“Well, not that big, But look at Clipsy. I think if she keeps coming in a year she’ll easily be taking up most of the street, if she’s still mobile.” Pinny said, with his somewhat serious tone.

“Don’t scare me like that. But I see what you’re saying.” Cookie said.

“That’s not an answer though. We know what it is and exactly what’s doing it. If we cut back on the sugar like we planned all this won’t be an issue.” Pinny said.

“I know, but if we do cut back and lose customers, we’re going to be back selling out of a cart in the local park. I like what we have now, walls, somewhere that is ours. Not a temporary spot on a pavement.” Cookie sighed.

“But you heard Clipsy the other day, even with the reduced sugar she still was quite happy with her order.” Pinny tried to reassure her.

“But that was such a small amount taken out. I worry that if we kept reducing it they’d notice…” Cookie responded. “Can we keep going with it as we are, just for a little longer. Please?”

“Okay, but you know I’m not a fan of all this. Still, I suppose the quicker we can pay off our debt and be free of it the quicker this is all over.” Pinny said.

As he finished speaking, there was a ping! from one of the timers. Cookie opened the oven and pulled out the freshly baked batch of cookies. They smelt delightful, if only Princess Twilight could eat them slightly warm…

The rest of the evening the two worked to make sure that everything was baked to perfection. Despite being tired, the two gave it their all, with effort being put into their work like they never had before. This was for royalty. It didn’t get any better than this, there was no higher praise to be won than from one of the rulers of Equestria. The two were just packing up the box making sure everything was well packed as they heard some hooves trot up outside the door.

“Oh gosh, is that the time already?” Cookie asked. It had all passed swiftly, the two of them making it just in time for the pickup.

“Yeah, put the note in the box dear. I’ll go answer it.” Pinny replied.

Cookie pulled the small note from the counter. It was sealed and she placed it directly on top of the goodies before sealing the box. It was short and simple, the cost of the treats and what the box contained was the gist of it, with a little gushing from Cookie over how thrilled she was that Princess Twilight had wanted to order a box of their baked goods with Cookie almost urging her through her writing to order more should she want. She sealed the box up and Pinny reappeared from outside, with Stampy following him in.

“Oh good uh...morning, Stampy. Didn’t think it would be you picking up.” Cookie said.

“Part of my route but I do this as well, bit of extra money you know? Smells like you’ve been baking.” the stallion said, sniffing the air, picking up on the unmistakable scent of baked goods.

“Yes, that’s what we’re delivering. It’s to go to the Castle of Friendship in Ponyville. For Twilight Sparkle.” Pinny informed him, he didn’t see why he should try to disguise it, especially since the address was on the box.

“You’re sending cookies to The Princess? You two must be doing well. I’ll make sure it gets to the sorting office safe but after that it’s out of my hooves.” he replied, carefully picking up the small box but finding that it didn’t weigh much. “See you both later on my regular rounds.” Stampy said, trotting out the door and vanishing into the night air.

“Well, better clean up again. We need to start baking again in a couple of hours.” Pinny sighed, grabbing some cleaning materials and starting again. Cookie joined him.

“You think she’ll like it?” she asked.

“She’ll love it. Trust me.” Pinny replied, too tired to give her a detailed reply. The two carried on their work, with the first royal commission out of the way it was only a matter of time before there would be another.