//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Half-Baked // by Half-Baked //------------------------------// “WHERE IS THIS BLASTED BAKERY?!!” Half Baked roared, falling back onto his haunches and shaking his front hooves in the air whilst looking into the afternoon sky, silently cursing to himself. “Why oh why didn’t I ask for directions?” He asked himself, trying to think of a reason why he didn’t think of doing so. Half hung his head and lightly swiped at the floor with a hoof to take out a little frustration. “Uhmm.. Is everything ok?” A soft, feminine voice called out to Half. “No.. Yes.. Oh I don’t even know, I just want to find …. Oh I’m USELESS!” Wailed Half throwing his legs up in the air before slumping down on the floor, hooves over his head in a foal-like attempt to block out the outside world. “There there.. Surely it can’t be that bad.. What is it you’re looking for?” The voice said, the pony sat down beside Half and started rubbing the back of his head soothingly, like a mother would to a child who’d scraped their knee. Half sniffled a little, the calming and motherly reassurance coming from the pony beside him working its magic. Half slowly removed his legs from above his head and came out of his protective shell. Turning his head slightly to look at the mare beside him he could see that they had a light, purple coat. “*sniffle* I can’t remember the name of the place..” Said Half who was now sitting up, turning his head back so that the purple mare was out of his peripheral view. “Oh.. Well do you know what sort of place it was?” The mare asked Half who had now stopped comforting Half. “A bakery..” Half said without looking up. “Oh! You must mean Sugar Cube Corner. It’s literally just a street or two away” The mare said cheerfully. Inside of Half a little part of him died upon hearing this, he’d spent a good three quarters of an hour roaming the streets of Ponyville looking for, how he’d put it, ‘That accursed bakery’ “I could take you there if you’d like?” “That’d be lovely.. thanks” Half said. With that Half got up off the floor and wiped his eyes, before turning his head to see the kind mare who’d taken her time to help him. The mare had deep, purple eyes and an even deeper purple hair that bore 2 stripes throughout the length of her mane and tail; She bore a look of concern and happiness on her face as she looked at Half. “Ok, you good to go?” She asked Half who was quickly adjusting the position of his saddlebags. “I think so” He replied giving his eyes one quick wipe before they both set off for Sugar Cube Corner. For a minute or two they walked in silence, the purple mare occasionally glancing over to Half who was keeping pace with her and constantly looking left then right at the houses and shops along the sides of the streets. “So.. I’ve never seen you around before..” She finally asked, breaking the silence. “Mhm...” Half replied “Ah..” The mare said dejectedly in response. With that they continued walking in silence for the rest of the way up to Sugar Cube Corner. “Here we are” The mare said to Half as they approached the building. Half was mildly taken aback at the sight of it, he’d seen some rather unique buildings in his time but this took the biscuit. Everything about the building screamed “SUGAR”; from the roof that looked like it was made of gingerbread and icing to the windows that looked, and probably were, pink sugar glass. Half thought that whoever designed the building obviously took the original design and gave it to a foal with a box full of crayons and a love of candy and that this was the result. “How in the name of Luna could I not find THIS?!” Half thought to himself, mentally kicking himself. “Thanks... Um, sorry, I don’t even know your name” Half said to the Mare standing next to him who was also staring at the crazy building. “Oh, sorry, I’m Twilight Sparkle but Twilight will do just fine” She said with a friendly smile to Half. “Half Baked, but Half is just fine thanks” He replied “Um.. Thanks for that back there, I overreacted a little I suppose” “Oh it’s no problem at all, I tend to do the same sometimes, it happens” Twilight said with a laugh as she rubbed the back of her head with one of her hooves; obviously mentally recounting those times. “I guess.. How about I buy you a coffee or something.. you know.. as a bit of a thanks for that” Half asked Twilight, trying to be friendly towards her. “Well... I HAVE got a few minutes I could spare... and I DO like their coffee... Oh go on then” Twilight said with a laugh. With that they walked up to the door of the bakery and, being the gentlecolt that Half was, let Twilight in first. Unfortunately neither of them knew the chaos that lie within those walls... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “POUND CAKE!! YOU GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!!” Mrs. Cake shouted at Pound who was proceeding to fly around the front of house laughing to himself. Closing the door behind them, Twilight and Half stood there in the doorway of Sugar Cube Corner, both standing there in mild shock at the scene in front of them. The room was coated in a very fine layer of white powder, either flour or sugar, neither of them could tell right away, almost every surface had a fair coating of it. "Look out!" Twilight said, forcing Half duck down with her, both of them narrowly avoiding Pound Cake as he zoomed overhead. Pound Cake was whizzing around the store, grasping a large bag of confectioners sugar in his little hooves, giggling and laughing at his mothers futile attempts to stop him. A small hole in the bag slowly spewing out the contents of the bag as Pound flew around. “What in the name of Celestia is going on in here??” Twilight said out-loud, baffled by what was happening. Half too was thinking the same, he’d assumed it would be a nice, peaceful place where he’d be able to get a nice snack and a good cup of coffee. How wrong he was currently. “PUMPKINNNNN!!” Mr Cake shouted as he pursued Pumpkin into the room, Pumpkin coated in sugar that Half and Twilight both assumed to be the same that Pound was holding. Twilight carefully made her way across the room, avoiding the sugar trail on the floor and twice having to dodge Pumpkin and Pound along with their pursuers, meanwhile Half just stood by the door watching the commotion. Mrs Cake stopped next to Half briefly to catch her breath. “Oh I’m terribly sorry hun, we’ll only be a few minutes. POUND CAKE SO HELP ME, IF YOU DON’T GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!! It's probably safer for you in the kitchen then out here" “Agreed” Half said, watching as Pound Cake started pouring sugar onto the floor, Mrs. Cake watched in horror as her son basically dumped a good third of the bag onto the floor before pointing to the door that Pumpkin had came through, with that she continued her semi-futile effort to catch her son. Like Twilight had, he made his way carefully across the room to the kitchen, Twilight standing in the door frame observing the scene unfolding in the room before her. “Is this a regular thing?” Half asked her, hoping for the answer to be a no. “Depends if they’ve had sugar or not I think” Was her reply. Half just nodded silently to Twilight, semi-expecting an answer like that. Walking into the kitchen itself he could see big patches of spilled sugar scattered around the kitchen and working away by one of the ovens was a sugar coated, pink mare. "Oh no, please tell me that's not-" “Halfy!” Pinkie exclaimed not even turning to look at him; She opened the oven she stood by and took out a tray bearing a piping hot batch of cookies, laying the tray on a cooling rack. “It is.. Hello Pinkie..” Half said nervously, not knowing what the next move Pinkie would make. Pinkie’s ear twitched a little. “Twitchy ear... Halfy, can you get the brownies out?” Pinkie said pointing to the oven he was near to. “Uh.. ok” he replied, trying to be polite. This was his first time experiencing Pinkies sixth sense. Opening the oven Half was hit with a wave of heat and the saliva inducing smell of brownies. Picking up a cloth in his mouth Half pulled out the tray with his teeth and placed it rapidly on to the nearest cooling rack before closing the oven door. “Thank you” Pinkie called over as she began transferring cookies onto a different cooling rack. Looking at the tray Half had pulled out the brownies looked almost perfectly cooked, Half, being the baker that he was, was impressed a little. Getting brownies to the stage where they were cooked but still gooey in the center was something that took a lot of time to get perfect and he knew it. His parents had made certain that Half was taught how to get them just right whilst he was young and since then he’d never had a batch that wasn’t spot on. “Mm. Something smells good” Twilight said walking over to Half. “Twily! Oo you’ve met Half already?” Pinke said, bouncing over to them both. “Yup. No surprise you have already” Twilight laughed and Half forced a small laugh. “That reminds me” Pinkie said, and seemingly out of thin air she produced two pink envelopes which she handed to Half and Twilight who put them in their saddlebags. “Be here for around... 8 tonight” Scratchy nose.. “Half could you stand.. right there?” Pinkie said pointing to the doorway. “Sure but wh-” Half tried to say as he stood in the exact spot Pinkie had said. before he even had a chance to finish his sentence Pumpkin and Pound had ran/flew straight into him, producing a big cloud of fine sugar. “Oh my, are you ok dear?” Mrs. Cake asked trying to spot Half and her kids in the cloud of sugar. “Mhm” Spluttered Half, producing a puff of flour when he opened his mouth. Pumpkin and Pound sat there on top of Half, coated from head to hoof in sugar. They looked at each other and then to Half, then back to each other before spontaneously both bursting into tears. Half's face drained of colour, now he had 2 crying foals on top of him, luckily for Half he'd had to babysit a few foals before. "I hope this works" Half mentally said to himself. “Shh, it’s ok” Half said, sitting up a little before picking up a foal in each foreleg and bouncing them up and down in an attempt to comfort them. Mrs. Cake stood there in front of Half, a little nervous seeing a pony she hardly knew with her kids, watching him like a hawk. Pound and Pumpkin, bouncing up and down in Half's arms, slowly stopped crying after a couple of seconds. Pumpkin sniffled and looked at her brother who began to start giggling a little before she joined in and started laughing. “Aaww they like you” Twilight cooed. “Or it might be that they’re all covered in sugar..” Pinkie side commented and Twilight let out a very un-lady like snort/laugh. “Oh ha ha..” Half said looking at Pinkie and Twilight, passing the laughing twins over to a rather exhausted and slightly relieved Mrs. Cake. “Thanks dear, say I’ve never seen you around” Mrs. Cake said as she took a sugar coated Pound from Half. “No problem, it’s nice to be back in a kitchen like this, moved here from Canterlot today actually” Half said, taking a cloth Twilight passed him. “Don’t get too many Ponies moving here from Canterlot do we dear?” Mrs. Cake said to her husband who’d just walked into the kitchen. “Nope, not really. What do you mean a kitchen like this by the way?” Mr. Cake asked Half who was now wiping off some of the sugar coating. “Well back in Canterlot I used to live with my parents in their bakery, I used to help in the kitchen from time to time and eventually started working in there full time” Half answered. “Oh lovely, nice to meet a fellow baker for once” Mr. Cake proclaimed. “Heh, same to you. Anyhow, it’s getting on a bit and I’ve got a few things I need to take care of plus I’ll need a bath after this” Half said, giving his saddlebags a quick wipe down. “Oh ok, that’s fair enough. Have a cookie or something from behind the counter, free of charge” Mrs. Cake cheerfully said as they all walked into the front of house. “A cookie sounds nice, oh and I owe Twilight a coffee” Half said as Mrs. Cake picked out a cookie from behind the glass counter and passed it to Half. “Don’t worry about paying for the coffee dear, it’s on the house” Mrs. Cake added as she prepared Twilights’ coffee. “Is everybody this nice in Ponyville?” Chortled Half, placing the cookie into his saddlebag that now smelled of sugar. “Most of the time” Twilight laughed. “I could get used to that then” Half added as he walked to the door, “See you later everypony” “Bye” Everypony called back. “Bah bai” Pumpkin called out. “Bai Hafy” Pound called out too. Everypony in the room let out a "D'aww" at the twins goodbye. And as Half left Sugar Cube Corner he felt his heart warm and rise up in his chest. “I’m going to like it here”