“What baking adventures have you got planned for today?”

Goliath peeked over the towering stack of canned pumpkin that covered his table. That was Marrow’s voice. The manticore was staring at the pile of cans, his tail flicking in amusement.

“That would make a lot of pumpkin pie.”

“Pumpkin bread.” Goliath said. “I’ve got to feed an entire herd of unicorns. Their leader stopped by yesterday and placed an order.”

He turned to the huge jars of sugar on the opposite table, running through the checklist of ingredients.

“Sugar, flour, baking soda…” he muttered.

He tapped each item as he went down the list. He opened the fridge. The middle shelf was completely full of eggs. Cartons stacked on top of each other left little room for anything else.

This was reminiscent of the time he’d made a ton of cheesecake for Dusk’s birthday, and had a cream cheese avalanche when he opened the fridge.

“Do you have enough?” Marrow asked wryly.

“If I did my math correctly. But I am atrocious at math. If each loaf requires two eggs…” he murmured, counting them for the hundredth time.

He certainly had more than enough. He swung the door shut and cracked his knuckles.

“All right. Are you ready to witness my most ambitious baking achievement yet?”

“Do you have plenty of pans for all this?” was Marrow’s only response.

~

Yes, he did have enough pans, much to Marrow’s utter shock. Marrow’s face grew more concerned the more plans Goliath pulled out of the cabinet.

Some of them had not seen the light of day in years.

Of course, he never imagined he’d be using all of them at once. And he was not looking forward to washing the dishes and cleaning up the mess later, but he would not worry about that now.

Now was the perfect excuse to practice making pumpkin bread. He brandished a wooden spoon like a weapon.

“No time like the present.”

“Where did you get all these?” Marrow asked as Goliath started mixing sugar and melted butter together.

“Oh, I’ve accumulated them over the years. I gave lots of them away because I ran out of room.”

“Shocking.” Marrow snickered.

“And it’s not like I was using them anyway.”

When you live as long as a dragon, you tend to end up with lots of stuff, much of which he couldn’t remember where it came from.

“I can’t believe you ran out of room. Considering your kitchen is bigger than my entire house.” Marrow commented, eyeing the tower of cans like he wanted to knock it over.

Goliath hoped his cat instincts wouldn’t encourage him to do so.

~

“Twenty loaves!” Marrow yelled, slamming his paw on the table in triumph.

His fur was dusted with flour, despite the fact that he hadn’t been the one mixing batter. He had helped open the cans and take the loaves out of the oven. The most recent ones sat on cooling racks, the rest had been tucked away, ready for unicorn guests. They filled the kitchen with the aroma of cinnamon and nutmeg.

“It’s a good thing you have a dragon-sized oven. Otherwise this would have taken all day.”

Marrow attempted to lick a paw and swipe it over his mane, but he cringed and stuck out his tongue.

“Bleh. I’ve got flour in my fur.”

Goliath loved his oven. It could fit multiple loaves at a time, a blessing when each loaf took an hour to cook.

“Now for my favorite part of cooking. Washing the dishes.” He said.

Marrow scoffed.

“You’ve got pumpkin in your mane too, by the way.” Goliath added.

“Huh?!”

~

The mess wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Goliath liked to keep the process as easy-going as possible and keep the mess to a minimum as he baked.

Marrow scrubbed the tabletop clean. (after getting the pumpkin out of his fur)

“Hm. Now it smells like cinnamon.” He said, fluffing up his mane. “So when are these unicorns getting their food?”

“I was asked to inform them when it was ready at my earliest convenience.”

“So that means “as soon as possible.” Got it.” Marrow answered, finally content with grooming his fur.

Goliath laughed.

“Yes, they just live in the valley below this mountain.”

“Wha- the ones that almost trampled us?”

“So they’re a little overzealous.”

~

Goliath and Marrow rested for a while before telling the unicorns to come and get their pumpkin bread. Now he had twenty unicorns milling about around the entrance to his abode.

One leaned down to nibble some grass.

“Don’t spoil your appetite.” Chided another.

Their leader, Briar, approached, her hooves tromping heavily and flattening the grass. She was the largest unicorn, and surprisingly intimidating.

Lean muscles were clearly defined under her snow-white coat. Her mane was long and perfectly windswept, and a purple so pale it could have been mistaken for white as well. Her horn looked incredibly sharp at the tip.

“That was fast.” She said, clearly surprised. “I hope you didn’t go through too much trouble.”

“I was feeling ambitious. And I had unexpected help.” Goliath answered.

“He wouldn’t let me leave until everything was done.” Marrow said.

Briar huffed, amused.

~

Those unicorns must have been hungry, because they devoured all the bread.

“What a lovely treat for my family.” Briar voiced her approval. “My compliments to the chef. And his helper.”

Marrow beamed, his chest puffed up with pride.

After the unicorns said their thank-yous and goodbyes, Goliath patted him on the back.

“A job well done. Excellent work Marrow, thank you.”

Marrow purred.

“That was fun, wasn’t it? Exhausting, but fun. I think I need another nap, though.”

“We can make something else. I still have eggs.”

“You bought too many!”