My Little Pony: Pinkie Pie and the Cupcake Calamity

by Arden Hayes

  “Don’t worry about a thing,” Pinkie Pie went on. “There’s no way I’ll let anything happen to Sugarcube Corner.”

  Mrs. Cake gave Pinkie Pie the biggest, warmest hug, and then she and Mr. Cake both went back to the counter. It wasn’t until they were out of earshot that Twilight Sparkle turned to Pinkie. “So… what’s the plan?” she whispered.

  Pinkie Pie looked around the empty café. She had so many good memories at Sugarcube Corner. Mr. and Mrs. Cake had given Pinkie her first job. Over the years she’d had birthday parties and Valentine’s Day parties here. It was the place she and her friends always went to after dances or Blitzball games. She couldn’t imagine this space being anything other than what it was.

  “I don’t know…” Pinkie admitted. “But I will never give up, no matter what. I owe Mr. and Mrs. Cake that much.”

  “We’re here to help,” Twilight Sparkle added.

  “I’ll eat as much cake and pie as I can.” Applejack shoveled another bite into her mouth. “Just doin’ my part.”

  Pinkie Pie was happy to have her friends’ help—she was. But first she had to come up with some spectacular ideas… and fast. She didn’t have much time.

  “Come in, come in!” Pinkie Pie said as she rushed from one customer to the next. “Find a seat next to the cake of your choice. Write out a name tag so you can make new friends! We’ll begin shortly!”

  Rarity and Twilight Sparkle brought out a few more cakes from the back, while Fluttershy and Applejack put down bowls of frosting, piping bags, and different decorating tools. Each table was covered with a plastic cloth so customers could get as messy as they wanted. Rarity had even made little plastic smocks for everyone. Sugarcube Corner was written on the front of each.

  In the corner, Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer were on their guitars. They were supposed to be playing relaxing, quiet tunes, but Pinkie Pie could tell it was hard for them to control themselves. They both kept wanting to rock out and really show off their talents. Every now and then, the volume would spike and Pinkie Pie had to ask them to turn it down.

  “Good work, Pinkie Pie!” Mrs. Cake said excitedly. She glanced around the packed room. Almost every seat was full. Each customer had a plain small cake in front of them, along with some tools and frosting. “I haven’t seen the café this full in… well, ever.”

  “Let’s hope it stays that way,” Pinkie said. “If even half this crowd starts coming back, we should be okay. I want everyone to know what a fun, happy place Sugarcube Corner is, if they don’t already.”

  “Well, they’re going to have a lot of fun today. That’s for sure!” Mrs. Cake laughed. She went over to greet two women she recognized from her knitting group. Pinkie Pie had come up with the plan to sell tickets to a cake decorating party, so Sugarcube Corner was making money and winning new customers, too.

  “Ready?” Rarity asked. She signaled for Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer to cut the music. “It’s your time to shine.…” She nudged Pinkie Pie up in front of the counter, where everyone could see her.

  “Thank you all for coming to Sugarcube Corner’s first annual cake decorating party!” Pinkie said loudly. “Decorating cakes and cupcakes is one of my favorite things to do. It’s fun and relaxing, and you get to use your creativity. Plus—there’s so much sugar you can use! Today we’re going to teach you a few easy tricks of the trade so you can make your very own dream cake. Just sit back, enjoy the music, and we’ll be here to answer all your cake decorating questions! Wahoo!”

  Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer started the music again, and this time they really got into the groove. They played loudly but not too loudly, and soon people were bopping their heads and swaying in their seats as they frosted their cakes.

  Rarity and Pinkie Pie went around to all the guests and showed them how to smoothly apply the frosting so crumbs didn’t get stuck in it. Pinkie Pie gave the best directions she could to a woman named Root Beer, who was wearing a yellow polka-dotted dress. But Root Beer kept stabbing at the cake.

  “What am I doing wrong?” Root Beer asked as a giant chunk of cake got mashed up in her frosting. “This is a mess.”

  Pinkie tried to fix it for her, but the cake still had a gaping hole in it.

  “Maybe you can cover it with some flowers,” Pinkie tried. She took the piping bag and made a few petals. “You do one petal at a time, like this. Just go around in a circle, squeezing out the same amount of frosting each time.”

  Pinkie made a tiny flower with pink frosting, and then she handed the bag to Root Beer. Root Beer grabbed it with both hands and shot a giant glob of frosting across the table. It hit her friend Holly Branch right in the nose.

  “Gross,” Holly Branch said, wiping at it before sneakily licking the frosting off her fingers.

  Then Root Beer went right back to frosting the cake. She shot glob after giant glob of pink frosting onto it, until Pinkie couldn’t even tell what was under it. Frosting dripped down the sides of the plate and onto the floor.

  “This really doesn’t look right,” Root Beer kept saying.

  Pinkie Pie glanced around the room. Rarity was helping a girl who’d given up on using the tools and had just started swirling the frosting with her finger. Another group of Canterlot High girls had started decorating one another’s cakes. They drew silly faces and wrote their initials in messy script.

  “This isn’t going quite the way we planned,” Rarity whispered as she passed Pinkie Pie. Their friends ran around cleaning up stray splatters of frosting that had landed on the wall. Fluttershy circled the room with paper towels, trying to keep the guests clean. Applejack was mopping up a particularly big pile of frosting, but the mop got so sticky it was making everything worse.

  “It is a little… messy.…” Pinkie let out a small laugh. She tried to stay positive for the rest of the party, but it seemed as if each creation was worse than the last. There were only two girls from Canterlot High who’d put any effort into their decorating, carefully making different designs on the tops of their cakes.

  When it was time to go, the guests each picked up their plates. Some were still dripping. Pinkie Pie and Rarity had planned on putting each cake in a gorgeous bakery box, but they were so messy it seemed impossible now. Root Beer’s cake was starting to fall apart.

  “Thanks for everything!” Pinkie Pie called out as Root Beer and Holly Branch started up the street. “See you soon!”

  Pinkie Pie watched them through the window. A group of people were coming down the street with shopping bags. They paused on the sidewalk, staring at the cakes in horror. A man with purple glasses asked them something Pinkie couldn’t hear.

  “We got them at Sugarcube Corner!” Holly Branch said cheerfully, pointing inside. Pinkie Pie’s eyes went wide. She was so happy their customers were proud of their cakes! But this wasn’t exactly great advertising for the bakery. Then Root Beer and Holly Branch walked away, leaving the crowd behind.

  “Oh no! That’s definitely not the reputation we want,” Pinkie Pie said after she and Rarity had helped the other guests out.

  “Maybe it didn’t go precisely the way you planned,” Rarity tried. “But the karaoke party will be better.”

  “I cannot wait!” Rainbow Dash had stopped playing and was packing up her guitar. “Next Saturday, right?”

  “That’s right,” Pinkie Pie said proudly. “Karaoke Saturdays. A new Sugarcube Corner tradition!”

  She glanced around the café, which looked as if a giant barrel of frosting had exploded in it. Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle were picking bits of sugar out of each other’s hair. Pinkie tried hard not to look at Mrs. Cake. Her face was frozen in a fake smile as she chipped away at some icing on the glass case.

  Next week would be better. Pinkie Pie was sure of it.

  It had to be!

  The Sonic Rainbooms set up in the corner of the café, leaving room for a singer to move around and perform. Pinkie Pie took her place at the drums, Rarity was on the keytar, Fluttershy was on t
he tambourine, and Applejack was on the bass. Rainbow Dash was playing the guitar, but Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer had decided not to join so they could help the Cakes serve refreshments. The karaoke-ing hadn’t even started yet, and they’d already sold out of cookies.

  Pinkie Pie hit the hi-hats with her sticks, just to loosen up. Then she riffed a little on the snare drum. Rarity played some notes on her keytar as Rainbow Dash reached into the hat to draw out the first name. They’d passed it around before the show, to get volunteers to sing. Each name was written on a folded piece of paper, along with the song they wanted to perform.

  “Thank you all for coming out tonight for Sugarcube Corner’s first-ever karaoke night,” Rainbow Dash said into the mic. “We’re the Sonic Rainbooms, and we’re going to be giving you live music for all your soulful serenading.”

  The audience clapped and cheered. Staring out into the dimly lit café, surrounded by her friends, Pinkie Pie felt her spirits lift. For the first time since the cake decorating party, she really felt they’d be okay. Sugarcube Corner and Mr. and Mrs. Cake would make it; she really wanted to believe that.

  “First up is…” Rainbow Dash turned back, looking to Pinkie for the drumroll. Pinkie gave her a long, drawn-out one. “Blue Reeds! He’ll be singing ‘Lonely Hearts.’”

  A tall, thin man with wild green hair stood up and came to the mic. Pinkie Pie suddenly got nervous. She felt as if he’d either be a really, really good singer or terrible. She’d been hoping they could at least begin the night with some great entertainment.

  Pinkie Pie started in on the bass drum, remembering the notes for “Lonely Hearts.” It was an old song, but she’d heard it a hundred times before. Blue Reeds took a deep breath, then belted out the most gorgeous line Pinkie Pie had ever heard.

  “Sweet lonely heart of miiiiine,” he sang. “Always longing for the day when you’ll be here with meeeeeeee.”

  The audience exploded into applause. Mr. and Mrs. Cake stopped serving pie and just watched Blue Reeds sing the rest of the lines. He closed his eyes and leaned back as he sang, letting out the most powerful notes. Pinkie Pie thought he had to be a professional.

  After he finished, Rainbow Dash called up a young girl named Melodies. Her name seemed like a good sign. But when they started the song “Clouds and Sunbeams,” she wailed the lyrics into the mic. It was so loud and screechy that Pinkie Pie winced with every word.

  They suffered through that song, and then the next one, which was sung by Feathers Grey. Pinkie really did consider him a friend, but Feathers couldn’t stay in tune if his life depended on it. His voice cracked as he sang, and at one point he was so off-key that a table in the front walked out.

  “Should we just play a few songs?” Applejack asked Pinkie Pie. “Give the crowd a break for a little bit? It seems like they could use some… on-key music.”

  “But the hat is full of names… people came because they want to sing.” Pinkie Pie pointed to the baseball cap. People kept coming up and dropping their names and requests into it. It was filled to the brim.

  Rainbow Dash was about to draw another name when Twilight Sparkle came over to the band. She was holding a tray of dirty dishes. She leaned down and whispered in Pinkie Pie’s ear. “I have some not-so-great news…” she said. “Butter’s Bakery is having their jazz night tonight. It’s kind of a big deal.”

  “Oh no…” Pinkie said. “No wonder we didn’t get as big of a crowd as we wanted.”

  The audience was only half full, but Pinkie Pie had tried to be optimistic about it. A half-full café was a much bigger crowd than they were used to lately. She’d hoped more would come in off the sidewalk. There were always people walking by on Saturday nights.

  “They have this whole jazz band there, and they turned on the fireplaces,” Twilight continued.

  “They have fireplaces?” Pinkie Pie asked as her heart started to sink. Out of all the things she’d heard about Butter’s Bakery, this was the thing that scared her the most.

  “I know, it’s bad,” Twilight said. “I just thought you should know… just so you didn’t take it personally if some customers leave. I heard two boys saying they’re going in a minute.…”

  “Right, yeah,” Pinkie Pie said. “This is still going to be okay!”

  Mr. and Mrs. Cake moved around the dimly lit café, dropping off mugs of coffee and hot chocolate. Mrs. Cake gave Pinkie a big smile as she served a table a whole apple pie. Pinkie knew this was a much better crowd than they’d gotten all week, but karaoke was supposed to be their biggest night yet. How was that going to happen if everyone left soon? How could Sugarcube Corner compete with a fancy jazz band and fireplaces?

  She nodded to Rainbow Dash, who plucked another name from the hat. The next person to sing, an older woman named Jamboree, was worse than the two others combined. As she shrieked and wailed, a dozen people left.

  Pinkie Pie just kept playing the drums. She played with all her might, hoping her enthusiasm would help the crowd. But one by one, the tables cleared out, leaving only a few singers behind.

  Come on, Pinkie, we need a plan, Pinkie thought as she listened to Feathers Grey perform a slow ballad about a missing cat. I’m sure there’s something else we can do.…

  “How’s that recipe coming?” Mrs. Cake asked, striding into the kitchen. Pinkie Pie was working away on her mocha cupcake, but it still wasn’t where it needed to be. It needed to be the Best. Cupcake. EVER.

  “I think I’ve finally made the perfect batter recipe,” she said, holding up the tiny cake she’d baked that afternoon. “But I haven’t quite figured out the cream stuffing. I’m starting to think it should have marshmallow cream inside, and I’ll do buttercream for the frosting. You know, really show the customer how much sweetness we can pack into one cupcake.”

  Mrs. Cake grabbed a few boxes of cookies from the top shelf and chuckled. “I want you to know, Pinkie Pie, that no matter what happens with Sugarcube Corner, Mr. Cake and I are so glad you came to work here. Having you in the café has always been so much fun. You’ve come up with some of our best recipes, and you’re always such a hard worker. You’re like family.”

  “Wait, now you’re talking as if we’re definitely closing,” Pinkie Pie said sadly. “I thought you were going to wait until the end of the month to see!”

  “The end of the month is coming up soon.…” Mrs. Cake shrugged. Then she stared off for a moment, a sad expression taking over her face.

  Just then Rarity strode into the back room with a stack of extra napkins. Since business had slowed down, Mrs. Cake put her in charge of organizing the napkin holders. It took her three times longer than it would have taken anyone else as she straightened every corner and smoothed every fold to perfection, but she’d finally finished. She dropped the extras into a box beside the pantry.

  “Maybe we could do something else, something bigger…” Pinkie tried.

  “I don’t know,” Mrs. Cake said. “I loved karaoke night, but I don’t think it’s enough to save us in the long run. Besides, I don’t know if my ears can handle that every week.…”

  “What about a big, super-fun party,” Pinkie Pie said. “Isn’t that worth a shot?”

  “I love the idea of a fabulous party,” Rarity chimed in.

  Mrs. Cake perked up a little. Pinkie Pie knew the Cakes didn’t want to close Sugarcube Corner. They all just had to keep trying until they found the thing that people were truly excited about. There had to be something they had that Butter’s Bakery didn’t.

  “We could make it a huge, special party for Canterlot High students,” Pinkie continued. “The Rainbooms can play, and we’ll have CHS cupcakes and cookies, and it’ll just be super-silly fun. We need them to see that this is still the place to be after school. This will always be their real hangout.”

  But Rarity shook her head. “If you’re going to have a party for Canterlot High students, it needs to be exclusive. Make it feel like the place to be, if the place to be is just out of reach. Guest
lists. Invitation only. Velvet ropes and hashtags and a whole step-and-repeat area.”

  “Step and repeat?” Mrs. Cake asked. “I don’t know what that is.…”

  “Me neither,” Pinkie Pie said, shrugging and scrunching her nose.

  “Pinkie Pie! Come on!” Rarity laughed. “It’s the photo backdrop area where you take pictures of people at events. They use these great, flattering flashes that make you look spectacular. Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it.”

  “Oh…” Pinkie Pie felt silly for not knowing. “It sounds familiar.”

  “Canterlot High students have come to expect greatness,” Rarity continued. “Lavishness and Glamour with a capital G! Especially if you’re trying to draw them away from Butter’s with all its fancy cocoa and fireplaces.”

  Mrs. Cake took a deep breath. Pinkie knew she had been excited by the idea of a party, but then Rarity had to go and start talking about hashtags and step and whatevers. Now Mrs. Cake seemed totally overwhelmed. Why did everything have to be fancy and capital-G Glamorous? Couldn’t they just throw a big party and have a ton of fun? Sugarcube Corner was a place for everyone.

  “I’ll think about it…” Mrs. Cake finally said before heading back into the café.

  Pinkie Pie grabbed a spatula and started mixing some marshmallow cream with vanilla extract. She was so worried that Rarity would try to do this party the wrong way. She didn’t understand the bakery, the Cakes, or the customers very well. Pinkie was sure that a super-fun party that was all about the good times—and not exclusivity—was the right way to go.

  “One word,” Rarity said as she flitted back out to the café. “Exclusive.”

  Pinkie gave the marshmallow cream another stir and frowned.

  Pinkie Pie set down the tray of hot chocolates in front of Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. They’d been coming in every day after school, even when most Canterlot High students were at Butter’s Bakery. Applejack had made it her personal mission to eat as many Sugarcube Corner cookies as she could.