The stale tale of Cake, the dumbass!

Both of the fillies stared at each other in panic as they raced back and forth from the kitchen, the stoves, and the counter, placing and making as many apple omelets as they could. They had barely made five by the time the first wave of cadets came into the mess hall. Before Cake could finish stuffing the one in front of her the five trays had already been taken as cadets and seniors began to wait impatiently for more to be made. The blonde pegasus who she had been roped in was going around turning on all the stoves and burners she could while throwing eggs shells and apple skins behind her. Cake was preparing as many apple slices as she could while desperately trying to keep her own stove in order.

“What's taking so long!” said one of the earth pony seniors from behind the counter.

“Uh, nothing sir! We will have more trays out in just a second!” Cake pleaded.

“Not good enough,” the orange coated senior said as he turned over to the four other cadets who had just finished their food and were sitting at their tables, silently waiting to be dismissed. “Go help the mares!”

“Yes, sir!” they all said in a chorus as they quickly rushed into the kitchen like robots. Even without horns or wings, a single earth pony seemed to be more efficient at preparing and cooking than the two fillies were together. In a few minutes omelets were going out just as fast as they were being taken and soon the cadets, along with the help, had left as both fillies used the small window of time to keep up with the next wave.

Sadly, even with the extra prep time, the pair were falling behind as the wait for each cadet got a bit longer. Cake was covered in apple juice and eggs shells at this point, as her horn glowed like a flare, trying to keep up with two full ovens and preparing omelets to replace cooked ones on the skillets, without any butter or oil. Nearly all the skillets were covered in burnt egg, that only charred and blackened as time went on. The kitchen went from a clean, nearly chemical smell to one of burning food and ash as a thin layer of smoke began to form.

“This is… fine...” Diamond began to repeat to herself. She was in a very similar spot to Cake, without the assistance of magic to help her.

“Honestly everything is under control,” Cake said, her eyes wide like pilot lights, while the other foals stared at her from behind the counter, waiting for their breakfast in disbelief of the mess they were watching happen before their eyes. The group took longer than the last one but by the time they were out Cake looked over her shoulder to see Diamond staring at a blackened mass smoking on a stainless steel pan.

“Uhhh… we might have a problem over here!” the pegasus said as she watched small flames begin to rise.

“Shit! Why are you just standing there!” Cake yelled as she rushed over to the sink and filled a glass with water.

“Uhhh! W- what do I do?” Diamond stuttered as she backed away.

Cake got in close to the stove as she tilted her head and poured in water, her horn unable to do so from exhaustion from handling her own stove. The situation went from bad to horrible as the water made contact with the grease and shot flames over the filly, covering her mane and face in an instant. Her eyebrows and eyelashes were vaporized along with the left side of her mane as she jumped back from the incendiary explosion, screaming. Then Yellow Diamond was screaming. Then the final wave of cadets were screaming.

In seconds the unicorn seniors jumped over the counter and contained the fire in their magic along with the embers in Cake’s mane. Before she could pick herself up some other senior beat her to it and placed her on their back, then galloped to the med bay.

[ed]

The under qualified nurse ran around the room, pulling bottles from the cabinets along with pills and magical scrolls while the medium rare unicorn moaned in pain on the bed. Her mind was in a constant scream as her flesh tried to reshape with the help of the elixirs she was downing left and right. Before long she chugged something she wasn't supposed to and fell into a daze, before going limp and falling back onto her pillow as the world around her became a distant memory.

Her mind was restless as it threw her through short dreams trying to explain her pain to her consciousness, most being something along the effect of getting hit with a mane strainer or being left to cook under the Appleloosa sun. when she awoke some hours later, her eyes felt glazed and her head throbbed only a little less than it did before. When she finally regained her focus she was surprised to see Yellow Diamond’s head laying on the bed watching her, with large sad eyes which had clearly seen tears along with a deep, mournful frown.

“I’m so sorry!” the pegasus blurted out.

Cake scanned the room as she realized where she was. “What the hell happened?”

“They said you threw water onto a grease fire, basically does the exact opposite of putting it out,” Diamond said as she scratched her mane and looked over at Cake’s.

“Can you get me some water… and a mirror, please?” Cake mumbled.

Yellow pulled a small golden heart from her mane and opened the clasp for Cake. Inside was a photo of an older mare, similar in appearance to Yellow Diamond but with a unicorn's horn and grey hairs through her mane. On the other side of the heart was a small mirror, just big enough for Cake to see her face in. After some adjusting, Cake looked herself over. The left side of her mane was gone. Her skin, luckly, looked without any serious burns and would heal up just fine.

“Ugh, I look like an emo!” said Cake as she messed around with her mane, trying to see if she could pull her old traditional style back with what little of it she had left.

“Nah, you look punk! I think it looks cooler than it used too… honest!” Yellow said as she tapped her front hooves together.

“Maybe there is something for manes in one of the cabinets in the washroom for helping it grow back faster…” Cake said as she raised a hoof and signaled for the pegasus to go check.

After a quick nod, the filly trotted away and returned with three bottles. Cake was still in a haze and bothered not to read them as she rose from the bed and went into the bathroom. Shutting the door behind her she opened all three bottles and proceeded to rub the slime contents all over the cooked remains of her mane, almost crying as it made contact with her sensitive, pink scalp. After five minutes of scrubbing, she dried her mane off on a towel and was very surprised to see green, purple, and blue stripes left on it. Then she turned over to the mirror and saw herself.

“I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!” shouted Cake as she chased Yellow Diamond around the room, squirting the three tubes of paint at her.

“Please stop! I didn't mean to! I really thought it was medicine- or- something!” Yellow pleaded as she flew around the roof, dodging attacks.

“YOU’RE GONNA BE SORRY!” Cake threatened.

Just as the unicorn trapped the pegasus into a corner, the sound of the door banging against the wall stopped them in their tracks as in stepped Silver Mane. She surveyed the scene for a second as she stared at the two, who stared at her in turn.

“Ah, childhood. Glad to see you are up and moving about, Cake,” the old mare said as she smiled warmly at the pair. “And Diamond, I'm sorry to say your squad's senior had to take some administrative leave after the… Leaving-two-fillies-unsupervised-in-a-kitchen incident. You will be integrating in with Hard Tack’s squad since you already have acquainted yourself with two of its members…”

Cake turned around and looked at Diamond as a malicious grin began to cover her face, while the other filly's eyes went back and forth from Silver Mane to Cake.

“Fine… come with me, let's get you back to your room.” Silver gestured at her with a hoof to follow.

Cake would have her revenge for this. She had, after all, an entire library of spells she could learn made for revenge in some way, shape, or form.