I know it's a late update but school is in the way and not as many reviews as the Master of Cupcakes would have hoped. Oh well, since this chapter is fairly long, it will be split into two or three parts. In the meantime, cupcakes to all, and please checkout my newest poll and YouTube videos. Links are on my profile page. Also a shoutout to my amazing friend FantsyDreamer244 for her birthday! (Sorry if I'm a day late Fanty)

I am also looking for people who are up for drawing covers for my stories if they aren't too busy. I'm hopeless. PM me if you're interested :)

Enjoy!

The Guardians were blind for a few moments until finally, the light faded away and they took in their surroundings. Jack looked around and his eyes widened at the sight of where they were. He was staring directly at a gigantic, widespread waterfall which he recognized as Niagara Falls. He had to brush his face as a spray of water came across his face.

"Niagara Falls?" Bunny asked in astonishment as he looked down at the rock they were standing on. He didn't particularly like the water, especially since there was a huge killer waterfall in front of them.

"Yup! It's the perfect location! You won't believe how many pool parties I've thrown here!" Star said, tapping her staff on the ground three times. Nothing happened for a moment until a rumble was heard and a part of the water opened to reveal a cave opening. Star looked at the Guardians and nodded at the doorway.

"What? You expect us to swim over there?" North asked with a shocked look and Jack immediately shook his head at that. He didn't want to swim and this place was already making him queasy.

"Oh sweet mother of….just go!" Star shouted irritably but Bunny shook his head.

"You first cupcake," he said and Star rolled her eyes at that last bit. If he was going to call her a name, at least make it a bit more creative than that.

"Fine Thumper," Star retorted and Bunny was about to retort back until he lost his ability to speak as Star stepped into the water…but instead of getting all wet, she stood on the water as if she was like Bruce from the movie Bruce Almighty. She looked back at the startled Guardians with a cheeky grin. "You coming?" she asked as she started to walk towards the entrance with rippled around her feet as she walked on the water.

"That is so cool," Jack finally said and he literally jumped and was thrilled as he didn't land in the water but on the water like Star had. Like the childish teen he was, he started to run around on the water while the other Guardians went onto the water slowly and steadily.

"Okay, now I have some limited space in here so watch out for icing puddles," Star said as she stopped in front of the entrance and made a motion with her staff for them to follow her into the cavern. As Sandy, who was at the back, stepped up inside the waterfall, it closed back up, encasing everyone in darkness.

"Okay, I can't see!" North shouted.

"Ow who stepped on my foot?!" Bunny yelled.

"Not my fault if you have Kangaroo feet," Jack replied sharply.

"Boys, not now!" Tooth pleaded.

"Oh for the love of Thor's undies, will you please shut your pie holes?!" Star snapped as she then slammed her staff down, making everyone go quiet. A green light then emerged from the crystal on the top of her staff and Jack was relieved he could see again. He didn't like the dark that much.

Looking up at the cave walls, he saw that they were relatively dry and then noticed some objects embedded in the walls. As he was about to ask what they were, Star clicked her fingers and as she did so, the objects lit up, revealing to be white crystals.

"Now those are cool!" Jack said as he looked up at them.

"Thank you. Now if you would please follow me and no touching anything," Star said as she walked forward down a tunnel.

"How big is your lair exactly?" Bunny asked as he followed her.

"Fairly big. My fellow co-workers and I are going to expand it in a few weeks," Star replied.

"Co-workers?" North asked.

"Yeah. Like you and your yetis. I can't do them all by myself as much as I want to. While I'm giving so many out, so many more need to be made," Star told him.

"So who are your workers?" Tooth asked.

"Well, I wanted to get some cool creatures but I don't want to be like one of those Disney Princesses and be an animal magnet. I was thinking about some other spirits but apparently their job is too important," Star said in a dramatic voice which made Sandy laugh silently.

"So no creatures?" Jack asked.

"I eventually did go with creatures. I chose a certain species because they are always treated like vermin and I hate that because they are really cute. Although I have one there who is a different species," Star explained.

"Well, aren't you going to tell us?" North asked impatiently.

"Geez, keep your beard on North! We are here," Star said with an eye roll as they came to the light at the end of the tunnel. Jack eagerly came forward to see and what he saw made his eyes widen with amazement.

As their eyes adjusted to the light, the Guardians felt as if they were inside a sugar world. "Oh my..." Tooth breathed.

"Yeah, it's a little small but hey, what can you do? Follow me!" Star said, then jumping off the ledge where they were.

"Star!" Bunny called out in alarm, only to look down to see that she had landed in some sort of white substance.

"Come on, it's perfectly safe!" Starling called to them as she hopped off the white landing spot. Jack gave a shrug as he went next with Sandy. Expecting it to be quite hard, he was surprised when it felt like landing on a pillow. He then yelled out as he bounced right off it and landed on his stomach with Sandy next to Starling who laughed at them.

"What was that?" Jack wheezed as he got up.

"Marshmallows are always so fluffy and squishy so why not have one as a trampoline? It's great!" Starling said as she watched the others come down with equal grace as Jack and Sandy.

"I must get one for Pole!" North exclaimed.

"I thought you said it was small?" Bunny asked as he looked up at the cavern with a jagged crystal roof that was so high, it strained his neck as he looked up.

"Well, the height is okay as there are several ledges where special ingredients are made. Extra rooms if you will," Star said and then stamped her foot on the ground that was covered with wild flowers and grass. "Edible grass and flowers too," she added.

"Why are the flowers and grass edible?" Tooth asked curiously.

"Well, you have icing flowers don't you? Some people use grass for decoration. Me? I crush them up with other edible things to make new flavours," Star explained.

Jack couldn't find the words to describe the place. It was amazing. Grass coated the floor with wild flowers, there were bushes here and there with several fruits, there were even a few trees growing things that wouldn't normally grow on trees! In the centre of the room, there was small pond with sand around it and as Jack ran over to look in it, he saw multi-coloured substances growing in it.

"What's in here?" he called. Star came over to him and stuck her hand in and pulled out a lump of red that looked a lot like coral.

"This is liquorice. It's underwater because it stays nice and fresh. Plus, the different kinds of liquorice I make have different reactions to water. That's why they're different colours," Star said, handing him the red liquorice in which he ate quickly.

"Jack Frost, spit that out right now!" Tooth said as she put her hands on her hips.

"No way Tooth! I'm gonna eat some stuff in here! I'll brush after," Jack said with a full mouth. North laughed as he came over.

"Let him have some treats! I will be trying things too and I think Bunny and Sandy will too," North commented and Bunny gave a frequent nod, while Sandy nodded eagerly.

"Okay," Tooth huffed as she looked up. "Star? How do you reach all those ledges? Aren't they too high?" she added. Star looked up at the ledges and shook her head.

"I can fly up to check on them. I'm the only one who reaches them anyway when they need delivering and only get refilled when they're low on supply," she explained.

"How?" Bunny asked bluntly.

"Well if you asked Felix nicely then maybe he will explain to you," Starling replied as she looked at a nearby patch of blue flowers that were made of blue bubble-gum.

"Who?" Jack asked but was quiet when a furry head poked up from the patch of flowers. It was a grey head with a twitchy nose, beady black eyes, little fangs and patches around the eyes. "A raccoon?" Jack questioned.

"Oi, I don't like much but I can land a pretty good punch to that pale face of yours, you living Popsicle!" the raccoon shouted, making Jack nearly fall over in surprise.

"You speak?!" he yelled.

"Dude, you're standing next to a six foot pooka so why I am so surprising?" Felix asked, filing his furry arms.

"That's a good point," Tooth said and Starling laughed as Felix came out of the flower patch. He was about as high as Starling's knees as he stood on his hind legs with a brown satchel slung on his shoulder.

"Star, the cookie dough cupcakes are proving to be quite popular so more deliveries for those will be needed," Felix said.

"Oh great, those are my favourites! Mmmm...maybe we could grow Oreo trees next," Star said thoughtfully.

"Cookie dough? Could I try some?" Jack asked followed by Sandy's eager nod and Tooth's loud huff of annoyance.

"Be my guest. Try anything you want, just don't fall in the river," Star said, taking a piece of paper that Felix handed her.

"River?" Bunny asked in bewilderment.

Star didn't look up from the paper at that comment but she and Felix pointed their thumbs to the right behind them. The guardians cast their gaze to where they were pointing and the gasped in amazement.

Reaching as high as the ceiling, there was a tremendous waterfall that splashed down into a fairly large pond by the rocky walls. What amazed them most was that the substance that fell from above, hitting parts of the wall as it went, was not in fact water but a light brow runny substance, known as the dough made for cupcakes before getting heated up.

"I don't know what to say," North said in amazement.

"Don't you have to come up to get some all the time? Isn't that a bit annoying?" Jack asked.

"No. There are pipes under the pond that go down to the baking workroom. My helpers just pull a lever and out it comes. Depending on the style of cupcake, they can dye it too," Star said, looking up from the paper.

"Wow, this is even better than the Pole and that's saying something!" Bunny commented and North frowned at that snarky comment.

"Excuse me?" he asked and Tooth placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on North, you have to admit that it is well organised and creative," Tooth said and North rolled his eyes with a smile.

"Okay, I guess you're right," North said in agreement.

Starling smiled as she then watched her new friends look around and taste the various creations she had. Even Tooth was trying some! It felt weird. Not many spirits had complimented her work. It felt nice. She felt as if her work meant something to them as much as it did to her.

Jack came back over with a handful of blue flowers and smiled at her. "Hey, so do you do the cupcakes decorations or do your helpers do all the work?" he asked.

"I can answer that. We only bake and put icing on top. Starling adds all the extra tweaks when she's around or when she's delivering them. She taught us how to create all of these cupcakes. She saw how we were treated so she made something out of us and we are incredibly grateful," Felix said and Starling gave him a smile.

"Aw you're making me blush," Starling said. Felix smiled at her before getting down on all fours and disappearing back into the bushes.

"Wow, that's amazing! Not being rude, but I couldn't have any helpers with winter, it would be annoying. I'm more of a solo flyer," Jack said as he finished up his flowers.

"Yeah, I've seen your work. Anyway, would you like to see how we bake them?" Starling asked and Jack nodded eagerly as he swallowed the rest of the flowers. The other Guardians came over, equally as interested.

"You bet!" Jack aid excitedly.

"Let me guess, you have some sort of crystal heater?" Bunny asked, folding his arms.

Starling twirled her staff in her hand and grinned at them. "Nope, but there's the next best thing. I ran into Father Time about two hundred and eighty years ago, just when I started to figure out my purpose. He tried one of my cupcakes and said it was the most delicious thing he'd ever consumed. So he asked me if there was anything I needed to help me make more and there was…so I asked him for it and he gave it to me," Starling explained and North looked very interested at this.

It wasn't often that Father Time granted someone a favour, let alone a new spirit. He had only come across him three times and they hadn't spoken much, only to talk about their duties. Maybe it was because she was a different kind of spirit he had come across. Starling was kind of new spirit that's for sure.

"Really? Well then I would love to see what he gave you," North said eagerly. Starling smiled hugely as she tapped her staff on the ground twice, and some rocks shuffled across on the wall, revealing a doorway.

"Whoa," Jack commented. She really liked doorways like this.

"Right this way," she said, gesturing to the doorway. The others were hesitant at first until Starling skipped over t it and vanished through the doorway. Jack followed suite with the others close behind. As soon as they stepped into the doorway, they all let out loud yells as no ground touched their feet and they found themselves falling down into blackness.

So what do you think of the lair design. I particularly like it. I figured that the Cupcake Guardian couldn't make that many cupcakes without ripping her hair out so what better than to have raccoons as helpers? I have put them into the intro on my profile if you want to check. Felix is the head raccoon if you will. So what did Father Time give me? Well only twelve reviews will get you the next chapter with cupcakes as snacks. Bye for now!

~Star