The cake was absolutely delicious.
 
“Right. Um.” Princess Celestia, age fifteen, looked at the table. “This cake is terrible.”
 
Luna, age eight, beamed at her. “Is it?!” Heaven in her eyes. Ears perked up. Tail wagging. “[i]Is it?![/i]”
 
“Uh, yeah. I mean.” Another bite. Chocolate and filling—the one dark, the other creamy—mixed in Celestia’s mouth and taught her that life had meaning. It wasn’t ‘great’. ‘Great’ was just a word. The cake [i]transcended[/i] language. “Blegh.”
 
“So you don’t like it?!”
 
And look at that tail wagging. Luna was going to sprain it at this rate. So Celestia spoke. “No, no. Terrible cake.” Another bite. And another. And another. Oh, Stars, this was what bliss felt like, wasn’t it? This was love in culinary form. “Can’t stand it.”
 
“Hahah! Good!” Now Luna was jumping around. “Good! You don’t have to finish it, if you don’t like it!”
 
“No, no. I need to appreciate how terrible it is.” Another bite. Princess Celestia was an elegant mare; she had been raised as royalty, she did not speak in uncouth language. That said: [i]unf[/i]. “To. Uh. To understand the depths of its…” Pause to swallow. She tried not to moan. “Hnng.”
 
Luna cocked her head to the side. “Sister?”
 
“Its badness! To understand the depth of its badness.” Another bite. The last one. Pain, the poet had said, is pleasure—remembered. Remembering the cake, now, brought Celestia a lot of pain. But she’d do it all again in a heartbeat, just to know happiness a second time. “Yeah, wow, that was very very bad. I should, ahahah. Never bake again.”
 
“Hahah!” Luna, jumping again in glee. “You’re so bad! Okay! Mine now!”
 
“Right.”
 
Celestia looked down at the table again. Next to her empty plate was another—with a monstrosity on it. A mass of blackened crust, of spoiled milk and dirty flour. Uncooked, and burned, both.
 
Despair, made food.
 
Celestia swallowed, and then licked her lips. “Oh wow. This sure looks good.”
 
“I think it’s my best yet!”
 
“Certainly looks the part.” Celestia braced herself, grabbed the fork, and gave it a bite.
 
She winced.
 
She literally, physically, winced.
 
“Wow,” she said then, after swallowing. “This is delicious. Yummy yummy.”
 
“[i]Yeah![/i]”
 
“You are so good at this.” Celestia took another bite, and the only thing that made it remotely palatable was looking at Luna and focusing on her eyes. They still contained Heaven. “I think you’ve won this cook-off too. Congratulations. Fifth time in a row.”
 
Luna went on high gear after this. “Yes! Yes!” Jump, jump, bounce, bounce, wag, wag, where do kids get all that energy from anyway? A mystery for the ages, surely. “Can I try my cake too now?!”
 
“Nu-uh. You know the rules, Luna. Only the judge can taste.” Then, after another bite, and oh, Stars, why. Why would she do this to herself. “Maybe when you’re older, and, uh. More experienced.”
 
“[i]More[/i] experienced? I don’t know if I can get any better at cooking after this!”
 
“Right. Well.” Celestia looked at her plate. The cake seemed infinite in its foulness. “You can certainly try.”
 
 
[hr]
 
 
The cake looked terrible.
 
“Wow.” Princess Celestia, age one thousand and twelve, looked at the table. “This looks wonderful.”
 
Twilight, age eight, beamed at her. “Does it?!” Heaven in her eyes. Ears perked up. Tail wagging. “[i]Does it?![/i]”
 
And Celestia smiled at the little kid.
 
The weekly cook-offs hadn’t been meant to become routine, but they had anyway. Only this time—at night. Under the Moon and its watchful Mare, her eyes now empty. It was how Twilight and Celestia spent their Wednesday evenings.
 
Twilight loved the cook-offs. Celestia did not. To pick at an old would stings, but it’s worse than that. It’s unhealthy. It brings nothing but sorrow. 

It is [i]addictive.[/i]
 
So Celestia had allowed them to become routine, and so she picked the fork, and brought Twilight’s absolute abomination to her mouth, one bite at a time. One wince at a time, one sting at a time, one little needle in her heart at a time.
 
Because pain, the poet had said, is pleasure—remembered. Remembering, now, brought Celestia a lot of pain. But she’d do it all again in a heartbeat, just to know happiness a second time.

“Yes, Twilight,” she said. And she did not know if the smile on her face was real or not. “Truly, absolutely wonderful.”