A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 17 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 17
Chapter 17: Thrice Upon a Mattress
The gingerbread house was complete and sat carefully enclosed inside of its box awaiting delivery.
The Cakes stood in the showcase room, listening to Pinkie Pie as she seemed to be both rehearsing her lines for the Hearth's Warming pageant and speaking about everything that she wished to do and see in Canterlot.
She would not be with them until late tomorrow. The young mare instead would be returning for most of the day to the rock farm where her parents awaited their daughters and the joy that came with their presence.
Carrot lifted his face and turned back towards the doorway. The holiday cards all hun
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 16 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 16
Chapter 16: Vignettes
The grey mailmare greeted Cup Cake, the eyes of the pegasus wobbling around as she passed her the letter.
As the pegasus pony winged away, Cup Cake let her gaze fall across an unfamiliar name that sat in the return address.
She opened it gingerly and laid it before her on the floor in the sunlight. As she sat and began to read, the words became large in her perception.
"Dear Mrs. Cake," it read, "I am writing to console you on the passing of your father, Quarry, these ten months ago. I am sorry to reach you on this matter so late after his death, but it has taken me so long to come to terms with it myself."
Cup Cake
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chapter 15 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Names, Stairs, Arrivals, and Songs
The construction of the gingerbread house neared its completion.
Together they wordlessly studied it, looked it over, and made mental checklists of what needed to be accomplished before they could consider the work to be truly finished.
As they circled the table, they made little adjustments, pieced back together some loose bits of trim, straightened the gingerbread ponies, and placed a few more candies to even out the visual balance.
As they went, they were suddenly aware of the sound of hooves overhead, ringing out softly across the ceiling above.
Pinkie had been out late last night, rehea
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chapter 14 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chapter 14
Chapter 14: The New Girl
Cup Cake had lost track of the number of times that they had worked together to make a gingerbread house. Basic math would say that they had been married for more than ten years, and that should be just about the same number as houses that they had made.
But if the truth were known, there had been more than that. Sometimes they had made several in a year. Some years they had worked late into the night and early into the next morning in their efforts to meet deadlines.
Sometimes they had finished their work and collapsed right there in the morning sunlight that came in through the big picture window. They had let it
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 13 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 13
Chapter 13: Twice Upon a Mattress
The gingerbread house was coming together. Only a few major elements remained to place in play, the shingles, the sidewalks, the wintry trees bestrewn with candy that spoke of decorations.
And, of course, gingerbread ponies as well.
Carrot looked up and awaited her return with the decorated denizens of the project. He tilted his head as he saw her standing over them. At once a small sound reached him, one that made him sigh.
Carrot trotted the length of the kitchen to where she stood beneath the window. There a countertop arrayed with all that a properly dressed gingerbread pony could desire sat awaiting
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 12 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 12
Chapter 12: Sugar Cubes
Suffice it to say, there was a wedding.
Suffice it to say that there were months of planning, that there were serious questions about appetizers and the colors of tablecloths.
Suffice it to say that there was a dress, one made by the studious old dressmaker and her young unicorn apprentice whose detailing was as exacting and as precise as each of the three diamonds of her cutie mark implied.
Suffice it to say that there was a ceremony. Suffice it to say that there was a tearful reunion of Cupcake's sister with her father, the big stallion even wrapping her marefriend in a mammoth hug.
Suffice it to say that there
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 11 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 11
Chapter 11: Take a Letter
When constructing a gingerbread house, most proficient bakery artisans like our Cakes suggest the following piece of advice.
"Remember that how you decorate the exterior of the house is as important as how well you build the interior."
It seems like an extraordinary thing to say. It seems to contradict all that we have learned in our lives about valuing what is within more than the superficial things on top.
That however makes the assumption that the decorations upon a gingerbread house are merely paltry additions. That assumes that they do not truly matter.
That is incorrect.
The decorations upon a gingerbread
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 10 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 10
Chapter 10: The Stand
As the broken foundation of the gingerbread house stood before them, Cup Cake and Carrot Cake faced any number of decisions.
The broken foundation sat on the clear, white countertop while the forlorn gingerbread house itself stood on its stanchion, an upturned baking rack pressed into a new function. Both awaited their choice.
There were many possible of ways of going about the repair, but one must be chosen. One course of action must be called upon, or the whole project could soon be reduced to rubble.
The two ponies looked at one another. In an instant, Cup Cake was going through various cupboards. Carrot saw her g
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 9 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chpt. 9
Chapter 9: Once Upon a Mattress
It felt good to stand there in the sun.
As Cupcake stood in the sunlight that streamed in through the large picture window at the end of the upstairs hallway, she felt the heat across her face, back, and flank.
Winter Wrap-Up had taken a day and a half. Not especially good, but not bad either.
After the muddy family had returned home, she had helped wash up her nieces and nephew and then had helped lay them to their naps.
Soon each of the grown ponies had wiped away the mud and had washed themselves in the warm waters.
She had been last, and as she had come out of the bathroom to the sound of soft breaths
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chapter 8 by TheDescendantofKehAn, literature
Literature
A Sweet Taste of Cake, Chapter 8
Chapter 8: You Think You Know a Guy
Shafts of light broke through the large timbered house. As they did, the early morning sounds of Ponyville began to sound out along the road at the foot of the path.
Cupcake's father was the first to awake, as he always had been. Even the challenge presented by the presence of his grandchildren in the house had not wrested dominion of these small morning hours from him.
Light was becoming more evident every morning. As he breathed a morning Invoke, he stood in that light and took it as a promise that Celestia was raising the sun earlier each day, that spring was indeed coming.
As he put the kettle on, t