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With Christmas coming soon, the school was at their peak of charitable giving. They need funds to come in, and the best time was during the holidays when people were really feeling the Christmas spirit.

One of the fundraising ideas was to host a bake sale. It made sense, with all the bakers and food phonies in the town that some delicatable treats could be donated to help. That was how Torchwood got rangled in. He came from a long (well not that long) line of bakers and candy makers. Half his family was gifted in that area. The other side of his family was more.. dark and gloomy weather predictors. Torchwood was neither, yet the fundraising was thrust upon him.

It was for charity right? The little unicorn could deal with it for a day. His booth was set up on a small folding table, most of the table had beautiful, lovely things that his family made for the day. Their were chocolate deer, candy flowers, a pieces of lemon cake, delicious slabs of peppermint bark (white chocolate with broken candy cane bits) and the saddest sugar cookies ever.

Torchwood attempted to bake the cookies himself, but they were burnt in the oven. He set a timer, but made the oven too hot and pulled them out when he smelled smoke. Trying to mask the burnt taste, he sloppily decorated them with green and red icing. The cookies were obviously the cheapest item on the table.

The colt was watching all the phonies pass by, some stopped and quickly purchased, others merely looking. However, his next customer caught his attention. It was Labyrinth, one of fillies who told ghost stories in the summer around a fire with him. Brightening up at the familiar face, he beamed with pride as the offerings he had.

"My dad made the deer, flower candies and the peppermint bark. He can make anything out of chocolates. My grandmother made the cake. Sweet of her to do something for me, when she's got so many kids of her own to bake for too." He smiled, knowing that Sweet Bread was probably drowning in requests from his aunts and uncles to make them treats for the sale too. As Labyrinth pointed out what she wanted, he started to box them up for her.

Then his eyes darted to his sad, ugly cookies. He was relatively sure that they were edible, though he had not bothered to taste them. "I.. made these." He pointed to the cookies, plain circles with burned edged and haphazard icing. Baking was REALLY not his talent at all.

"Did you forget your money?"

Ah, there she was being all sweet. Torchwood felt bad for her. Odds are it was going to be a popular day for treats, and he couldn't guarantee anything would be spared.

"Well, they're not the best looking, but if you wanted to take one of those, I'm sure it won't be the end of the world. " The colt nudged the plate of cookies at the filly, offering her one. They were the least expensive treat, and it was no trouble for him to donate something small like that, he'd cover the cost if he had to.

He looked pleased at first, as she 'mmm'ed and ate the whole cookie. "Is it really good?" Maybe he could be talented in that area, after all, if it tasted good, looks didn't matter at all.

"Something?" A curious expression crossed his face. That wasn't really a compliment, and when she was finished, Labyrinth didn't look too pleased. "If their good, you should take another one. Nobody else has been interested. Maybe I'll try one too."

Taking a red cookie, Torchwood plopped the whole thing into his mouth and started to chew.. as best he could. But the things were hard, and tasted like sugar coated ash. He promptly spat it out.

Torchwood graciously took the napkin from Lab and wiped his mouth. Then he took the plate of cookies away, agreeing with her that they were not fit for any phony and probably a bio-hazard. "I guess we can't all be culinary geniuses. That's probably for the best. " He smiled at her attempts to sooth his ego. "I can definitely scratch that off the list, those HORRIBLE. UGH. I can still taste it."

The bab laughed, but he really wasn't kidding. Their was an unpleasant taste that lingered his mouth. If he could still taste it he was sure that Labyrinth could too. Digging into his saddle bag on the side, the unicorn fished out a bundle of bits; he dropped them into the coin box that kept the funds for the bake sale. After he paid, he grabbed a slice of peppermint bark for each of them. "Here, this'll cleanse your palette, it's mint. I promise I didn't make it either."

Happily, he ate the bark and felt the chocolate melt in his mouth. It soothed the bitter taste of his cookies. With a mouthful, he replied "No, pro'em, it's the 'est I cou'd do." He swallowed the delightful treat. "Least I could do for almost poisoning you, and probably.. everybody who was brave enough to buy one."