Hearth's Warming Eve morning in Equestria was peaceful and serene. The town of Ponyville held freshly fallen snow from the soft flurries that took place last night. The citizens of Ponyville were trotting and galloping about the now snow-covered dirt roads. The joy and holiday spirit had dominated everypony as they went about with scarves and hats with the occasional pedestrian carrying a cup of hot chocolate.

Every roof was completely covered with a blanket of millions of snowflakes. Fillies and foals frolicked and played in the snow, making snow-ponies and creating snowball fights with any foal within reach.

Laughter and singing filled the streets, and SugarCube Corner was busy at work, concocting a new Hearth's Warming Eve treat. Mr. Carrot Cake and Mrs. Cup Cake were frantically galloping back and forth across SugarCube Corner's kitchen. While in the apartment room upstairs, Pinkie Pie was keeping the Cakes' twins, Pound and Pumpkin Cake, occupied with a series of activities.

"Honey, have you got the frosting?" Mr. Cake called.

"Yes, dear!" Mrs. Cake replied.

Pinkie had just put the twin foals to sleep in their cribs as her ears perked up to Mr. Cake's anxious voice.

"How many more pans left until they're all baked?" Mr. Cake asked.

"Oh dear. About, a few dozen more!" Mrs. Cake called back.

"Are you sure you we can get this all done in a few hours, sugar plum?" Mr. Cake asked, his voice shaking with anxiety.

Mrs. Cake just put a pan in the oven and stopped to catch her breath.

"Oh, we better. The party is going to start in a few hours, and we can't afford to have another bakery disaster like last year!" Mrs. Cake said.

Pinkie suddenly grew a bit curious and slowly started to climb down the steps to the bakery area.

"What happened last year?" Pinkie asked, her icy blue eyes stuck to Mrs. Cakes popsicle pink ones.

Pinkie Pie and her friends were in the reinactment of the founding of Equestria play in Canterlot, so she missed last year's Hearth's Warming Eve party.

Mrs. Cake just sighed. "Well..." she started.

"Welcome to the party, Bonbon! So glad you could make it!" Mrs. Cake exclaimed, greeting guests as they entered SugarCube Corner.

The large fir tree was standing tall, decorated with candy canes, lollipops, and ornaments of all colors. Everypony was just chatting amongst one another, until Lyra, an aqua green unicorn, approached a stand full of mini-cakes.

She licked her lips excitedly, levitating the mini-cake with her horn. Mrs. Cake saw this and approached Lyra with a genuine smile.

"Trying our new Holly Berry Cakes?" Mrs. Cake asked.

Lyra guided the cake into her mouth and simply nodded, her cheeks full and a wide grin on her face.

Lyra's satisfying grin was abruptly replaced with a puckered face, as if she had just tasted a lemon. She suddenly spewed the cake out on the newly waxed floor and rushed to the counter where Mr. Cake was, asking for a regular vanilla milkshake.

Mrs. Cake's expression was that of a confused one, and also a look of surprise. How come she spit it out? I've worked on that recipe for a while now. Mrs. Cake thought, curiously.

She slowly trotted to the front counter, confronting Mr. Cake.

"Carrot, did anything happen to the cake that may have caused anypony to dislike it?" Mrs. Cake asked suspiciously, eyeing him down.

Mr. Cake just raised an eyebrow at Mrs. Cake, his forest green eyes displaying a look of confusion.

"Not that I've known of." he informed her.

Mrs. Cake just stood there, her hoof tapping on her chin and her eyes staring into space. After a minute or so, she finally spoke.

"How long did you bake each batch?" she asked.

"About thirty five minutes." Mr. Cake replied.

Mrs. Cakes pupil's dilated as her mouth gaped at him, astonished. Mr. Cake just looked at her blankly.

"What?" asked Mr. Cake

"You were supposed to bake them for only twenty minutes! The cakes are so small, they only need a small amount of time to be ready! The frosting is covering up the burnt parts!" Mrs. Cake shouted.

Mr. Cake flinched and everypony stared at the couple. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cake turned beet red.

"Um.. carry on everypony." Mr. Cake said, addressing the staring crowd.

Mrs. Cake put on a plastic smile for the crowd, which was slowly fading into the wave of chatter it once was.

"We need to get all these cakes out of here before anypony-" Mrs. Cake started whispering through gritted teeth.

"The cakes are burnt!" a pony shouted. All the ponies inside SuagrCube Corner eating or about to take one of the cakes violently threw them onto the creamy tan tiles. Sounds of gasps, screams, and hoofsteps filled the building and almost everypony was gone.

"-finds out." Mrs. Cake finished, obviously too late.

"Whoa. That sounds tough." Pinkie said.

"Yeah, we need to make sure everything is made just right. Ponyville's giving us a second chance because you're back." Mrs. Cake explained.

Pinkie felt all warm and fuzzy when she heard that.

"They're giving you a second chance, because I'm back?" she asked, grinning a mile wide.

"Yep. That's a perk about having Ponyville's favorite party pony as an employee." Mrs. Cake said, smiling in Pinkie's direction.

The kitchen timer went off and Pinkie covered her ears to block out the deafening ringing. The loud ringing continued as she gritted her teeth, the vibrations traveling through her veins.
Mrs. Cake trotted over to the timer to turn it off. Pinkie just sighed with relief and put both her forehooves back on the ground.

"Dear, the last pan is done! Did you already make the frosting?" Mrs. Cake asked.

Mr. Cake came out carrying a large bowl full of pure ivory pigmented cream, already whipped and fluffy. Pinkie's eyes grew bigger and bigger, until they were the size of dinner plates, letting the smallest bit of drool escape from her mouth.

"Pinkie? Pinkie Pie!" Mr. Cake shouted.

Pinkie shook her head back into reality, but kept staring at the frosting.

"Yeah?" she asked, cheerfully.

"Could you see if Pound and Pumpkin are awake? We've been causing so much of a ruckus that we can't even hear anything anymore!" Mr. Cake requested.

Pinkie saluted to him and said,
"No problem, Mr. Cake!", before she rushed up the stairs, her fluffy pink mane bouncing along to her every hoofstep.

"Quick, before Pinkie sees it!" Mrs. Cake quickly whispers.

Mr. Cake nods and quickly grabs the bowl of frosting and the both of them start to frost the cakes, rapidly.

Sure enough, the soft wails of Pound and Pumpkin Cake were heard outside their door. Pinkie decided to make a grand entrance. She grabbed her party cannon and burst through the door, with a huge grin.

"Come on guys! Let me see those white pearls!" Pinkie exclaimed, activating her party cannon.

Confetti and streamers burst from the opening, creating a cheerful happy setting. And since it was Hearth's Warming Eve, Pinkie put candy canes inside it especially for the occasion. The foals' wails suddenly turned into squeals of delight. Pinkie entertained the foals for a good hour or so before they went back to their sleepy state. Pinkie could hear Mrs. Cake's excited voice above the foals' soft snores.

"Finally done! Now, let's get these on the stands!"

"Right behind you!" exclaimed Mr. Cake.

Pinkie Pie came back down to see plates and plates of treats she couldn't take her eyes off of.

Each plate held a perfect square that was frosted with ivory and bright red frosting, no creases or smudges. Gumdrops of every color surrounded each one in a perfect circle. The middle was filled with cherry cream that spewed out from the inside of every cake. Each delicious cake creation just reflected off the sunlight, making all of them glow.

Pinkie's eyes were as wide as they would get, her pupils huge. She was now drooling pools on the ground just looking at it.

Mrs. Cake just looked at it in a peculiar way, as if she were in deep thought.

"I can't help but get a feeling that we're missing something." she said, tapping her hoof on her chin.

"Something like... holly bows, to top the cakes?" Mr. Cake suggested.

Mrs. Cake's eyes lit up, as if a lightbulb had exploded I'm her head.

"That's great! Oh, but we need to hurry to the market to get enough for every single cake..."

"Pinkie, would you be able to to look over things here while we're out?" asked Mr. Cake.

"Yes, sir!" Pinkie said, saluting Mr. Cake.

The two started to trot towards the door, but before they left Mrs. Cake hollered something back to Pinkie.

"And don't eat the Holiday Cakes! You can have them once the party starts later!"

"Don't worry Mrs. Cake! You can trust me!" Pinkie replied, with a smile.

Inside, she wasn't so sure.

She can trust me, right?