Despite having grown up on her Auntie Twily's stories about the many adventures and exciting experiences she had been a part of, Flurry Heart was only now getting a chance to officially take in the sights and sounds of the town of Ponyville for herself. She only vaguely recalled having visited the town a few times as a foal, but those memories were so faint that she barely remembered most of those visits. Seeing Ponyville with her own eyes filled her with wonder and amazement! Despite all the time that had passed, the town hadn't lost its charm. There was still the magnificent crystal tree her Auntie Twily had once called home, and the School of Friendship that her Auntie Twily had established only a year or two before she'd taken the throne.
Much as Flurry wished she could take in the sights and sounds of all that Ponyville had to offer, however, she knew she couldn't. She had to remind herself why she had come to the self-proclaimed friendship capital of Equestria. "Business before pleasure," She thought, recalling the many royal etiquette lessons that had been drilled into her over and over again from the time she had been old enough to attend school. Oh how simple life had seemed back then, before she'd taken over ruling the Crystal Empire from her parents.
Now, the full grown crystal princess had temporarily left the empire she'd grown up in, but only because she was attending an important royal summit that was being held here in Ponyville. With any luck, said summit would give her the chance to reunite with her Auntie Twily.
However, the young mare with a pinkish-white coat found that she had arrived for the summit much earlier than anticipated. She was "fashionably early" so to speak. That made her giggle, it seemed like all her royal advisors and related subjects continued to fail to account for the fact that she was an alicorn and was fully capable of traveling under her own power. So what if they said it was a security risk? She could handle herself. After all, her father had once been captain of the royal guard. And despite some objections from his wife, he'd been more than happy to teach Flurry the ins and outs of combat and self-defense.
Besides, in a place as friendly as Ponyville, who could possibly be lurking in the shadows with a plan to do Flurry harm?
With all of that in mind, the alicorn princess decided that she had just enough time to make a slight detour from her schedule. Something sweet and savory was wafting through the air, tempting her taste buds. "There's nothing wrong with a princess stopping for a little snack," She said to herself with a cheeky grin. "Who says a princess can't have a sweet tooth?" And licking her lips, she followed her nose as it led her to the sweet smell's source. It soon brought her before a building that almost looked like a living gingerbread house. Above the front door was a large sign that read "Sugarcube Corner" in bold detail.
Upon reading those words, something began to stir deep inside the crystal princess. Where had she heard those words before?
Well, Flurry Heart knew that if she dwelled too long on such thoughts, her window of opportunity would pass her by. So she pushed those nagging thoughts to the back of her mind and trotted inside, a jingling bell above the door announcing her presence.
Once inside the bakery proper, Flurry almost couldn't believe her eyes! Sugarcube Corner was bustling with activity! There were already several customers waiting in line to get up to the counter and place an order, and several other ponies were seated at tables throughout the building: Some were munching on donuts and cupcakes, and others were drinking down milkshakes as fast as their straws would let them, but most seemed to be waiting for whatever they had ordered.
Yet amidst the noise and the bustle of the crowds, it was possible to see a pegasus stallion and a unicorn mare who both looked to be only slightly bigger (and older) than Flurry Heart herself. They were alternating back and forth between ringing up orders at the counter, disappearing into the kitchen, and coming out to deliver trays full of goodies to various earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, and even a few non-ponies here and there. All the while, the line at the counter was steadily shrinking. The two ponies behind it seemed to be having no trouble keeping up with the crowds and their demands.
The alicorn princess blinked. The stallion and mare seemed very familiar to her. A memory long since passed was slowly creeping its way back to the forefront of her mind. "Can it be? Is it really them?" She thought to herself, afraid of saying it out loud and thus drawing unwanted attention to herself.
"Who's next?" The voice of the pegasus stallion called out, interrupting the crystal princess' thoughts. "And what can I get for you?" But upon seeing who it was that approached the counter, the stallion's dark grayish-brown eyes went wide! A gasp escaped his lips! "Oh my Celestia!" He exclaimed at the top of his lungs! He hurriedly spun around and called out to the kitchen! "Hey sis, you're never gonna believe who's here!"
"Who is it, brother?" The unicorn mare from before called, poking her head from the kitchen doors. And when she saw what the pegasus stallion was seeing, she too gasped and went wide eyed! After using her magic to set a tray of baked goods carefully aside, she rushed up to the counter and locked eyes with the alicorn, asking quickly! "Is it really you?!"
Flurry Heart, for her part, struggled to process this sudden development. "I... I remember now!" She exclaimed as she put her hooves to her face "You're Pound and Pumpkin Cake, the twins I met when Auntie Twily was foalsitting me that one time!"
"So you must be Flurry Heart!" Pound Cake commented in amazement, then quickly corrected himself as he and his sister bowed to the princess. "Excuse me: Princess Flurry Heart! We are humbled by your presence, your majesty. And are we honored you've chosen to grace our humble bakery with your presence."
Flurry giggled in spite of herself, putting a hoof to her chin as she tried in vain to suppress the chuckles. "Oh come now, you two. There's no need to be so formal. I'm just a pony, like everypony else. This isn't a royal visit."
Pumpkin Cake shook her head from side to side. "But it's still a very big deal! It's not every day a princess chooses to visit your bakery, and the place you call home. Even Princess Twilight doesn't visit us very often."
Pound then questioned. "What brings you here, Princess Flurry Heart? You just here to grab a bite to eat?"
"Sort of," The alicorn admitted. "I had some spare time before the royal summit, and I just had to find the source of that incredible smell I smelled," She sniffed the air again, licking her lips. "What is it that you two make that smells so good?"
The pegasus stallion proudly proclaimed. "Oh, that would probably be our signature pound and pumpkin cake double cake," He proudly pointed to his and his sister's flanks. "It's similar to the dish we made when we got our cutie marks. You should've been there: Mom, Dad, and Auntie Pinkie Pie were all so proud of us!"
And the unicorn mare added. "After that, Mom and Dad taught us everything they knew about baking. And Auntie Pinkie Pie helped too. Once my brother and I took over the bakery from our parents, we decided to add our culinary creation to the menu. It's sold like hot cakes!"
Flurry Heart nodded her head. "Then I guess I'll take one of those: To go if you don't mind." And she promptly plopped down almost an entire purse worth of bits.
Pumpkin was more than happy to ring up the purchase, scooping up the bits before pushing about half of them towards the crystal princess. "It doesn't cost that much. Besides, royalty gets a discount."
Flurry protested by pushing the bits back. "No no no. You keep the change, I insist." She really didn't want to make a scene with so many eyes watching her. She got enough of that as it was just going about her day to day business in the Crystal Empire.
"Oh, very well," Pumpkin reluctantly agreed as she scooped all the bits up and placed them in the register. "We'll get your order ready for you shortly."
"And we hope you'll come back and visit us again soon," Pound added with a bow. "There's so much my sister and I would like to ask you."
The crystal princess nodded. "I'll see if I can find the time. I wouldn't want to keep you two from your very important responsibilities."
Indeed, even after getting her order and trying out the delicious pound and pumpkin cake, Flurry Heart found that she couldn't keep her mind off of the twins. The last time she'd seen them, she'd still been in diapers. And the memory she could now recall of her first encounter with them was far from a pleasant one. She'd only been trying to help them, yet in doing so she'd made things worse.
Yet if the twins remembered that encounter, they hadn't acknowledged it. Is it possible they had forgotten because so much time had passed? Well, there was only one way to find out.
When the royal summit came and went without fanfare, Flurry immediately decided to postpone her planned return to the Crystal Empire. Her subjects could manage without her, and if worse came to worse she could always just teleport back to the empire in the blink of an eye. For right now, she had to see the Cake twins again. There were a lot of things she wanted to ask them.
The crystal princess was greatly relieved to discover that Sugarcube Corner had closed up shop for the day by the time she found her way back to it. That meant she wouldn't be interrupting the twins or preventing them from tending to customers. So after looking all around just to make sure she wasn't being watched or followed, Flurry lit up her horn. Its bright yellow glow surrounded the front door of the bakery that doubled as a living space and gently pushed it open.
Pound and Pumpkin Cake didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest by Flurry's sudden return. In fact, it seemed almost as if they had been waiting for her to show up. "H-hello again, you two," The alicorn greeted with a wave and a nervous smile. "Sorry to drop by unannounced again, even if you did tell me to come back again soon."
Pound smiled as he and his sister approached their guest and ushered her inside. "Don't be silly, Princess Flurry Heart. We always have time for a friend. And everypony who comes to see us is a friend."
The alicorn princess with a whitish-pink coat felt her cheeks grow ever so faintly warm as she slowly trotted over to a table the twins had prepared for her. Why was this casual visit making her feel so awkward? "Really? I'm your... friend?" The words left her lips slowly and hesitantly.
Pumpkin nodded as she and her brother sat down to either side of the princess. "Of course you are. We always hoped we'd get to see you again. We only got to see you once, when you were just a little foal, even younger than we were."
"Yeah," Pound chimed in. "It's not every day you get to say you met future royalty. Back then, we had no idea you were a princess too. Now we can see we knew two princesses growing up: You, and Princess Twilight."
Flurry Heart struggled to keep her blush from growing brighter. "So, you remember everything from the first time we met? Because," She hung her head in shame. "I got you two into trouble, because of me."
Pound Cake chuckled and his sister did the same before he replied. "Oh come on, we've long since forgiven you. You were just trying to help us. That wasn't even our favorite toy."
Pumpkin Cake added. "It was our fault for fighting and not wanting to share. Mom, Dad, and Auntie Pinkie Pie always told us that sharing was important. But on that day, we didn't listen. If we'd have shared that toy, you wouldn't have broken it trying to help us."
"Besides," Pound said with a snicker. "It was lots more chasing you around and throwing cupcakes at you! So what if we made a mess? It was just cupcakes. Like you never made a mess of the walls with something growing up?"
Flurry sheepishly replied. "They say I used to do that all the time whenever somepony tried to feed me Mashed Peas. I really wish I could issue a decree that forbids the use of such foul tasting stuff." She briefly stuck out her tongue to emphasize that point.
The unicorn mare then smiled. "You were lucky growing up as part of a royal family. You had a whole empire all to yourself. Plus, your mom and dad were super amazing!"
"Of course, they have nothing on our Auntie Pinkie Pie," The pegasus stallion proudly proclaimed! "We're so lucky to have her living with us. She's always ready to lend us a helping hoof, even without us needing to ask her. It's like she just knows when we need her help the most," He beamed. "That's just what we like about her. And from what Mom and Dad told us, it's part of what makes our Auntie Pinkie Pie so special."
Flurry Heart nodded quite firmly. "So I've heard from my Auntie Twily's many stories," She proceeded to sigh. "But if anything, you two are the lucky ones. Growing up as royalty meant I had so many ponies fussing over me day and night, or following every little thing I said or did no matter how insignificant it was. My mom and dad could only do so much to try to stop it. And knowing that I was expected to succeed them, to follow in their horseshoes," Her lips quivered ever so faintly. "Let's just say there were times I thought about running away from it all: Giving up my royal crown and horseshoes and going to the farthest reaches of Equestria, just to be able to live some semblance of a normal life."
Pound Cake then spoke up, clearing his throat. "My sis and I kind of felt the same way when we were growing up. Even before we got out of diapers, it wasn't hard to notice how everypony kept talking about how we'd have to take over from Mom and Dad someday. It felt almost like our lives were already planned out for us."
Pumpkin Cake nodded, and added. "We did eventually talk to Mom and Dad about that, and they encouraged us to live our lives the way we wanted to. But the more we thought about it, the more we realized that we liked baking and all the things that came with having a bakery. It didn't mean we couldn't still do other things. But when Auntie Pinkie Pie gets called away, or just goes off to do her own thing, somepony has to keep the lights on at Sugarcube Corner."
Flurry began to smile as she felt her overall mood start to brighten. "You know, talking to you two has made me realize something: Even if we come from ponies with important lives, our own lives don't have to be defined by that. We can create our own destinies and blaze our own paths. That's something I don't think I've been trying nearly hard enough to do."
Pound smiled back, looking to his sister. "We're glad we could help you, princess. It was nice getting to catch up with you after all these years."
Pumpkin then suggested. "You know, since you are an alicorn, maybe you could cast a spell on us to turn us all back into foals? Just for a day?"
The crystal princess burst out into hysterical laughter as a result of the suggestion. "Let's not get crazy!" She decided it best to humor the twins that way rather than reveal to them that she didn't know how to cast age spells.
Author's Note
I had originally planned to do this earlier in the year, before someone made the suggestion of having Flurry Heart visit with Spike, and so I pushed this idea back to now.
And if you're wondering about Cheese Sandwich and 'Lil Cheese, they haven't come into the picture just yet for Pinkie.
