First we pull it then we dust it
Twilight sighed as she looked out the window of the Canterlot-Ponyville train, on her way back to the town after a brief visit there, mostly for a series of Equestria Public Radio lectures but seeing her parents before they went up north to the Crystal Empire was lovely also. From the trains position on the mountain she was able to see that the denizens of Ponyville had finished putting up the Hearths Warming Decorations, something that they were in the process of doing when she left a week ago.
Once more sighing to herself she fishes out her weekly/monthly planner to look at the upcoming commitments over the next few days 'Dentist appointment, then Mayor Mare wants to review some of the upcoming budget with me, then Ohh' she perks up when she reads 'Scheduled Friendship Time: Pinkie Pie' on the agenda, marked for later that evening. The thought of the pink mare soon made the memory of her rough week in Canterlot feel a bit more distant now. Closing her planner then putting back away, Twilight looks out the frosty window on the train again, this time a bit more jolly than before.
Once the train arrives at Ponyville station Twilight makes a beeline to her castle, as while she's looking forward to time with Pinkie Pie, there are still some things on the roster that need attending to prior with the bulk of them being daily chores, and with Spike being up north in the Crystal Empire for the time being, she was on her lonesome. Once inside she hangs up her coat, scarf and hat on the foyer hat and coat rack. Rolling her head around her shoulders, which gives a good crack, she looks once more at her to do list and roster' Alrighty, let's get to work' she thinks to herself.
Twilight sighs to herself in mild exhaustion as she makes her way to Sugarcube Corner, thinking to herself she might need to consider giving Spike a raise or at least a large holiday bonus after getting a refresher in how taxing her daily stuff is without his assistance. However the aches from her previous labors seemed to fade once the sight of the door to Sugarcube Corner was nearby, as with other buildings in the 'downtown' core of Ponyville it was decked out with Hearths Warming Decorations.
Crossing the threshold to the interior of the bakery she's greeted by both the smell of the multitude of baked goods and the warmth emulating from the bakery oven further in the shop. “Well hello there your Highness” Carrot Cake says as he spots Twilight enter the shop. She rolls her eyes but gives a playful sigh” Mr Cake I've told you before you can just call me Twilight or Ms Sparkle if you must be semi formal” she tells him. “Eh you slack off decorum with one princess you risk doing that with all of them.” Mr Cake brushes her comment off. “Perhaps but I doubt any of them would mind that from you or Mrs Cake, particularly Cadance or Celestia”. Twilight responds.
“ Oh I don't doubt you, it's just not them who might take umbrage with decorum slacking. Anyway what can I do for you, we've plenty of items if your pantry needs a bit of stocking and there are still some gingerbread ponies if you want” He tells her. Twilight shakes her head” Perhaps later, I'm just here to see Pinkie Pie” she smiles.
“Oh, okie dokie, you'll find her in the auxiliary kitchen, she seems eager to try out some new recipes she's come across.” Mr Cake tells her pointing her towards one of the doors. Twilight nods to him” Thank you Mr Cake.” She says before walking past him toward the pointed out door.
Once past the door and down the hall a bit Twilight reaches the auxiliary kitchen, which from inside he can already hear Pinkie Pie buzzing about. A small smile on her face she opens the door and walks in. The room looks somewhat as she expected, a mild tempest of organized chaos with various things that she recognizes and some things that she doesn't, among which is either a large tub or small foals pool filled with a soft looking white powder. “Twilight” she hears being said as the near perpetually perky pink pony patissier pops into her field of vision. “What brings you here?” Pinkie asks enthusiastically, her coat speckled with splotches of what she presumes is the white powder.
Twilight just gives her a warm smile” I'm here for our scheduled friendship time.” Pinkie's eyes seem to sink into her head a bit before she looks at the clock on the nearby wall and then at a wrist watch she uncovers pulling back her coat on her wrist” Ah, I knew I needed to get that clock to Time Turner's for maintenance, and that does explain some of my senses just now.” Pinkie goes. Twilight tilts her head a bit” Senses, like your Pinkie Sense?” she asks. Pinkie nods” Yepperonie, itchy hoof and twitchy eyebrow means a friend is coming by unexpectedly” she then smiles” And now you're here”.
“But this is part of the new friendship time scheduling we've been doing” Twilight counters. Pinkie nods” Yes but I got a bit absorbed in what I was doing so then you coming by now was unexpected” she smiles. Twilight chuckles” Of course...say what are you doing here?” she asks looking about the kitchen and the various things Pinkie set up. “I'm glad you asked Twilight” she smiles” I've been trying out a new confection recipe I got from Maize Glow” she tells her. “ Maize Glow?” Twilight asks” Oh right, you meet a lot of folks around the world” Pinkie goes before clearing her throat” She is a half cousin of Autumn Blaze and a baker/candy maker of their village, Autumn introduced me to her while visiting some time ago.”
“Oh, okay” Twilight nods” So what recipe did she share with you, and why does it need a big tub of powdered sugar for it.” She asks” Cornstarch” Pinkie goes” I'm sorry?” Twilight then asks” That's cornstarch, not powdered sugar, trust me I tried using some powdered sugar for this but it” Pinkie sighs” It didn't work out, nope, got to use some form of starch for this.” She goes a bit exasperated.
Twilight hmms” Um ok, but what is this recipe then?” “Oh right I'm getting a bit off topic aren't I” Pinkie chuckles” Well anyway the treat I've been trying out today is something Maize said was a traditional Kirin confection dating back centuries” Pinkie smiles before zipping off to one corner of the kitchen, retrieving a pinned up letter on a cabinet then zipping back to Twilight before holding it out for her. Twilight gently takes the letter and speedily reads through it” Alicorn's Beard?” she goes confused.
Pinkie nods” Yup, at least that's what the Kirin's call it, in doing some research at your library about this I've found it has a few variations around the world and thus a few names, the Yak's call this treat 'Nana's Hair' “ Pinkie chuckles. Twilight nods and reads through the letter more” Huh, so it's a pulled sugar treat that's then wrapped around a nut paste mixture then served fresh?” she asks. Pinkie nods” Indeedie, isn't it cool?”
Twilight shrugs” I don't know, I've not heard of it before now.” “Well that's likely because here in Central Equestria spun sugar treats like cotton candy are more easily mass produced than this, not to rag on cotton candy at all but when often mass production and ease of crafting takes a backseat to artistry” Pinkie sighs” much to everyone's eventual detriment that the commodification of cultural aspects industry leads ponies.” Pinkie goes.
Twilight blinks a bit” Uh, Pinkie?” Pinkie looks at her” What? Oh sorry, I was being a negative nancy there wasn't I?” she chuckles awkwardly.” Tiny bit” Twilight comments. “Well it's just I've have Equestria public radio on as background while I do various work like this.” She explains
. Twilight blinks again” Really?” she ask the pink pony. Pinkie nods” Yup yup yup, I especially enjoyed your series of talks on EPR the past week, I dare say it was some of your best stuff Twilight” Pinkie smiles. Twilight's eyes widen” Really? The producers there thought I was a bit dry and that the ratings weren't all that good.” She goes. Pinkie snorts” Oh please, if they said that it's because they felt your style of speaking didn't fit well with the subject matters you were discussing on there were a bit more erudite and against the status quo than they're used to, as for ratings well this time of year most ponies keep their radios tuned to their more local stations for the near nonstop Hearts Warming music that's airing and or ponies are tuning in to the radio broadcast of the Canterlot production of 'A Hearth's Warming Tale' that the royal theater does every year” Pinkie goes.
Twilight hmms, hoof on her chin” We did always used to listen to that when I was a filly at home for Hearth's Warming growing up”. Pinkie nods” Indeed, don't worry too much about those EPR lectures, g once the listeners hear your words and thoughts on those subjects and have some time for them to sink in, EPR will likely want you back for more discussions of the various topics you want to talk about.” Pinkie smiles. Twilight smiles” Thanks Pinkie, that makes me feel better.”
“It's what friends are for, and besides, you've got a fan of your erudite and thought provoking lectures right here” Pinkie points to herself.” Thanks again Pinkie” Twilight about tears up.” It was nothing, now, do you want to help me make some candy or what?” she asks her. Twilight looks at the setup around them before nodding” You know what I would like to, this 'Alicorn's beard' sounds interesting” she tells Pinkie. Pinkie pumps her hoof in triumph” Yes” she goes before zipping away for a moment, coming back with a spare apron for Twilight” This is likely to get a bit messy”. Twilight chuckles” Well you do have a large tub of cornstarch out in the open, feels kind of like an invitation for a mess to happen.” Twilight goes.
Pinkie chuckles” Eh all we need to do to clean up is get the pressure washer in here, lock the doors and hose everything down, is no sweat” she comments. “Really?” Twilight asks. Pinkie nods” Yup, that's why the ceiling, walls and floors are all tile Twi” she comments. Twilight looks around a bit and sees that indeed those surfaces are all tile” Oh yeah, huh, they don't look like it from a far” she comments.
“Well plain tile everywhere is a bit harsh on the mind and eyes, so while a bit trickier to set up these are both good on the eyes and easy peasy to clean if a big mess happens.” Pinkie tells her. “Does that happen here often?” Twilight asks as Pinkie guides her to some of the stoves. “Well enough to warrant the whole tiled sinterior, plus here the Cake and I both test new recipes and teach Pound and Pumpkin the basic's of baking.” Pinkie smiles.
“Is that so?” Twilight asks. Pinkie nods” It's a better environment for young ones to learn when an accidental mess isn't as big a deal as it is in the main kitchen, less stress for both student and teacher” Pinkie smiles. Twilight nods hearing that” That is a perfectly sound argument Pinkie, maybe you ought to try and give an EPR lecture” she suggests.
Pinkie shrugs” Eh maybe, I'd first need something to talk about.” “You could talk about baking and it's various aspects” Twilight suggests. Pinkie hmms” Maybe I will, but before that, let's make this candy” she enthusiastically goes, picking up a pan of melted sugar. Twilight nods” Yes lets”.
After pouring the sugar out of the pan, letting it cool and forming a blob” So according to the recipes you've read we make this into ring, pulling it as we go, then folding them over so we can pull again and repeat until the loops are the required thickness?” Twilight asks Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie nods” Basically, but perhaps it'd be a bit easier to demonstrate to you first?” “Please do” Twilight requests. Pinkie nods” Okie dokie lokie, well first like we said we make a hole in out mass of cooling sugar” she says pushing the end of a wooden spoon through the blob so it makes a hole” there we go, then we dust it in the cornstarch like so” she then dips the sugar puck into the cornstarch, making sure it's coated all around. “We'll be doing that step quite a few times as we make this” Pinkie tells her, Twilight nods in response. “Alright then we stretch out the ring like so” Pinkie stretches the mass out, so it' becoming more ring like than a puck with a hole in it”Dust again” she puts the loop of sugar into the cornstarch again” There we go and now we do the fold” Pinkie says, twisting the loop in one hoof” Then we put that side into our other hoof” she does so” and voila” she shows Twilight the now looped rings on her hoof.
Twilight goes “Ohh okay I see, doesn't seem like a fold, more a coiling around the hoof”. Pinkie nods” I can see where your getting at, but different folks write recipes as they can describe the process. Anyway now we continue to pull the candy and make more loops”. Twilight nods” Ok well how many times?” she asks. “Well until the strands become hair thin and are roughly 65,536 loops in total” Pinkie tells her.
” I'm sorry what?” Twilight goes. Pinkie just chuckles” Silly Twilight, we are not going to be making one loop at a time, we're going to be doubling it up with each fold or twist.” Twilight frowns “ But how” she says looking at her own puck but then she does some math in her head before it clicks” Oh ok, so each time it'll double, ah that makes since” she then chuckles a bit” Ok then what?” she asks.
“Well once we get it to the desired thinness we portion parts of the loops out, sprinkle some nut mixture in the center of that then wrap it up and eat, easy peasy lemon squeezy” Pinkie smiles. Twilight nods some more” Right right, well I suppose lets get to work then.” she goes. “Yup, I've got a lot of nuts to use up and more cornstarch if needed, let's do this” Pinkie goes somewhat seriously.
Twlight chucles again” I suppose we should” she says before she goes about pulling the sugar blob like Pinkie Pie had shown her earlier, though not with as much finesse as her, well not yet, she smiles to herself, 'we've just got started' Twilight thinks to herself, along with whom all might like some samples of this 'alicorn's hair' the two of them were making together. Soon enough Twilight gets into a rhythm where she's counting out the number of strands being made with each fold “ 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32” dusting the bunch into the cornstarch after each pull.
After a couple hours, some mistakes here and there and now a seemingly uncountable number of wee cornstarch dusted sugar strands wrapped around what Twilight is sure is a couple hundred nutty centers, the two ponies then take a break and look at the fruits of their labors” Wow, we really got into making these huh?” Pinkie remarks. Twilight nods” Indeed we did.” Pinkie smiles” You even tried using your magic there once or twice” she remarks. “Eh just with the pulling and looping part” Twilight replies. “Still though this is a marked improvement from the last time you and I made some candy together” Pinkie tells her. “Well I've been learning a good bit as well as reading more about baking and candy making?” Twilight explains. “I guess that's why a number of those books are in your library then.” Pinkie says. “Well not all my tomes are on metaphysics, magical theory or the history of such subjects.” Twilight says.
Pinkie nods” Makes sense I guess” she says before getting one of the batches they made” Shall we have some then?” Pinkie asks her. “Well I've a dentist appointment later but eh what the hay” Twilight goes before levitating one of the treats into her mouth. She gives it a couple chews before going mmm in delight. “That good huh?” Pinkie asks. Twilight merely nods” They're delightful” she says before popping another one into her mouth. Pinkie smiles and has a couple herself, the two just sitting together for a moment while enjoying the fruits of their labor together.
Happy Hearth's Warming and Happy Holidays to everyone
Author's Note
Written for Zaid ValRoa for Jinglemas 2023
I hope you enjoy it at least as much I as I liked writing it.
