Upper Crust

The train slowly pulled into Ponyville station, the two had been dreading this moment the entire ride, which had mostly passed in silent worry.

‘There’s a guard on the platform.’ Pinny observed.

‘Well, he might just be posted there. That’s not so unusual.’ Cookie replied. She grabbed her small travel bag and placed it over her back, the two exciting the train. As they did so, the guard took a few steps towards them, looking at a piece of paper he had in hoof before speaking.

‘You are Cookie Crumble and Rolling Pin?’ he asked the pair of them.

‘Uhm, yes. We weren’t expecting a reception.’ Pinny replied.

‘I was posted here to observe arriving trains so you could be brought to the castle immediately. Follow me.’ he said, a rather gruff tone in his voice as he started to head into town. Cookie and Pinny followed suit, whispering under their breaths as the guard walked in front of them.

‘This is either a good thing or a bad thing, I am going to choose it is a good thing.’ Pinny said to Cookie.

‘A guard escort? That is hardly good.’ Cookie replied.

‘Well, at least we know we’ll make it to the castle without issue. This is a rather pleasant town, quite different from the city…’ Pinny said.

It was true, the two were noticing the quieter surroundings, the more slow and subdued way of life the ponies around them seemed to move with as they went about their day. Nobody rushed like in the city, everything moved slowly. Even the guard walked at a rather relaxed trot. When they reached the castle however, which was a rather impressive sight, the guard came to an abrupt stop.

‘Wait here.’ he instructed, opening the front door and vanishing inside. He returned a moment later with a pink pony following him.

‘Ah the bakers. Thank you for coming on such short notice. I am Starlight Glimmer, pupil of Twilight Sparkle. This way please.’ Starlight said. ‘I trust your journey here was okay?’

She seemed to be making small talk to ease the pairs obvious nervousness, so Cookie decided to speak up. ‘Yes, fine thank you. We’re obviously concerned, we just had another matter to deal with first.’

‘I was aware yes, how was the visit?’ Starlight asked.

‘Stressful.’ Pinny replied.

‘Well, I can’t promise you any less stress unfortunately. Please come in.’ Starlight carried on, she had led the pair to a large room with a number of other ponies in. Neither of them were much for the upper echelons of society but they did somewhat recognise the ponies and dragon occupying the room. At this point the guard left them as Starlight dismissed him with a hoof wave. ‘This is Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Spike. Everyone, this is Cookie Crumble and Rolling Pin.’

There was a general smattering of greetings from all, except Pinkie Pie who sidled herself over to Cookie. ‘You must be an amazing baker to get Twilight so addicted to all your goodies! You’ll have to share your secret!’ she enthusiastically exclaimed.

‘Actually, that’s what we’ve come here to do and try to make amends.’ Cookie replied, suddenly she realised she had the attention of the entire room on her. ‘We already told The Mayor of the city, so there is no harm telling all of you. The sugar in our baking is not only highly addicted but highly fattening, your letter mentioned that part.’ Cookie said, looking over at Starlight.

‘Yes, the change in Twilight is more than noticeable, come with me.’ she said, the whole lot of them leaving the room. They made their way through the castle, eventually coming to a door that looked similar to the rest. Starlight opened it. There was a silent murmuring as they all stared at the large purple blob within.

‘By Celestia she’s even larger than when we were last here, I feel like we should have been keeping tabs…’ Rarity said.

‘We agreed not to remember? In case she became suspicious.’ Applejack said.

Starlight shut the door again, leaving Twilight to her continued studies. ‘She has about two days worth of goodies left by my guess, your last package arrived a day ago. You can see our dilemma.’ Starlight said, looking at the two of them.

‘Indeed...she’s about on par for size as one of our largest customers, impressive since she’s not been eating it anywhere near as long, although she is eating a lot more…’ Pinny said.

‘You mean there are other ponies in Manehattan as big or bigger than her?’ Rainbow Dash asked. ‘That’s crazy.’

‘Well, yes. It was what caused the visit from The Mayor.’ Cookie replied. ‘Can we talk about this away from the door? Just in case she hears us.’

‘Of course, we’ll head back to the room you were brought to.’ Starlight said. Once they returned, they settled in for a small discussion.

‘We...have a plan.’ Cookie started to say.

‘Oh? Well, do explain.’ Starlight said, curious.

‘We discussed it on the train, assuming we’d see her at a large size. The problem is, she’s addicted. Going cold turkey on the treats will likely not only make her extremely upset and angry, but she’d just notice immediately.’ Cookie explained. ‘This may sound slightly crazy but...what if we could supply the entire of Ponyville with treats? Set up another bakery here. We’ve been thinking of expanding the business.’

Starlight blinked, not quite sure what she had just heard. ‘I’m sorry, did you just suggest that rather than fix the problem with one pony, we instead make it a problem for the entire town? Do you know how absurd that is?’ she almost spat the final words with venom. ‘You cannot be serious.’

‘Actually, I am quite serious. You’d agree she seems more content yes? She’s also focused on her work?’ Cookie asked.

‘Well the latter yes, but that might just be because due to her size, she can’t leave.’ Starlight replied.

‘Well then surely it’s a good thing? I know the size is an issue but that being an issue would pass, especially if the town enjoys our baking too. Since we’re staying a little while, could we make you some treats? Perhaps try to convince you? At least before you outright dismiss the idea.’ Cookie carried on.

‘I suppose it would not be completely mad to just try some baking...but this doesn’t fix the issue.’ Starlight said.

‘If everypony is content, I’d say it’s fixed.’ Pinny said. ‘We’re only missing the sugar. Miss Pie, do you know where to procure some Chit Chat cane sugar? Extra refined?’

‘Ohhhhhh, the good stuff. Sure do!’ the mare said, happily bouncing on the spot. ‘Should be able to get a bag tomorrow!’

‘Pinkie how come you’ve never mentioned this sugar before?’ Rainbow Dash asked.

‘Well when was the last time you asked me about my ingredients?’ Pinkie replied.

‘Touché…’ was all Rainbow said, sinking into the sofa, feeling a little defeated.

‘We just want you to see what the baking is like with it, perhaps then you’ll understand why Twilight keeps ordering it from us.’ Cookie explained.

‘Very well...tomorrow you can make use of the castle kitchen. For now, I’ll show you both to your room.’ Starlight said. From her body language the pair could tell she was not exactly happy about their solution, stiff, thoughtful struts dominating her movements. She simply said ‘Goodnight.’ and left the two to the room.

‘Is this crazy?’ Cookie asked.

‘A little, but we can’t make her go cold turkey as we said. She’d notice immediately.’ Pinny replied.

‘Yes, but we’re talking about addicting an entire town.’ Cookie said.

‘Much less ponies than a whole city.’ Pinny responded.

‘It still doesn’t feel right, but I honestly can’t think of what else to do. I wasn’t particularly going for addicting somewhere else to the sugar but well...maybe, if we can swing them around the town might follow? Then who knows, all of Equestria…’ Cookie pondered.

‘I think we might be getting in over our heads with that many. I never had world domination on my agenda.’ Pinny chuckled, Cookie just frowned.

‘Me either. One hoof at a time though, tomorrow we bake.’

The two settled in, the stop in Ponyville was looking like it might take longer than first planned.