Update on my upcoming second 5th-year anniversary story & appetizer

Uh...I'm gonna eventually run out of excuses reasons for when I plan to have a story out, then end up being a day or longer late.

However, this exc--uh, reason is a little different the usual, I think. I initially thought anniversary story #2 was going to be a one-shot of no more than 5,000 words. But as I wrote more and more of it, the story kinda took on a life of its own and ended up becoming longer than expected. I'm still working on the story and can't yet give an exact estimate, but it could come close to or even slightly surpass 10,000 words.

So since that little twist happened, there's gonna be a change of plans. First, instead of it being a one-shot it's going to be either a 3 or 4-chapter story, and the new date its first chapter (should) be out is on good old Christmas. The other 2 or 3 chapters will come out individually at 3 or 4-day intervals. Don't think I'm stressing though; I've been waiting over a year to finally write a Pinkie Pie & Eric Reed story but no good ideas using those two characters could come to me, but a request using them for a 5-year anniversary story was made. For this reason, I'm particularly excited about this story, even though I have no idea how well it will do, but I'm expecting it to get no more than an average amount of attention. Or at least "average" as far as my stories go.

So to give those who were waiting for the second story to be revealed, this is the beginning of the first chapter as an appetizer. As is usually the case when I give sneak peeks for an unreleased story, it's not fully edited, and the final version of Pinkie & Eric's Bonding Jungle Trip will likely look at least a little different, and have any errors fixed after I do more polishing. However, it's edited enough for a sneak peek.

Enjoy!

Welp, attempt #10 was a bust. What was I doing wrong?! No matter what or how much of a particular ingredient I threw in, it didn’t hold a candle to my mom’s lasagna!

Sure, up till now I had never tried to bake lasagna. I didn’t even know the exact recipe for Mom’s lasagna and only had a general ballpark of it. The only consolation was that attempt #10 far surpassed attempt #2. How bad was attempt #2? Let’s just say Starlight had a good laugh watching me run to the bathroom.

“Hiya!!”

“Whoa!” I jumped almost half a foot in the air. Heart needed a moment to stop running haywire. Only one pony had that loud and shrill of a scream. I swung around and two big, blue eyes met me.

Yep, it had to be Pinkie Pie’s eyes. I pushed her back and yelled, “Pinkie! I told you to never do that again!”

“You did?”

“Yeah! It was after you gave me a ‘surprise greeting’ two weeks ago when I got off work from the Ponyville Spa.”

“Oh, that, but you told me to never scream ‘Hi!’ behind you when you’re leaving the Spa. You never said I couldn’t scream ‘Hiya!’ behind you when you’re cooking in Twilight’s kitchen.”

“But…I…you…” I hate it when Pinkie uses a technicality to shut me down. “Fine, then unless it’s to warn me about something serious, promise to never yell any kind of greeting to me if you’re not in my line of sight.”

“Okay, I promise.” Pinkie hopped to my newest lasagna AKA attempt #10. “Ooh, this smells good! I didn’t know you cooked lasagna.”

“I’m trying to replicate my mom’s lasagna, but it keeps ending in busts. This is the tenth one I baked, but it doesn’t come close to hers.”

Pinkie cut a piece of lasagna and gulped it down in one bite. It was meatless, so she had no qualms about trying a piece. “Even so, this is pretty good. You even made it by yourself without a recipe, right? It reminds me of when I baked my first cake and had no recipe.”

“Maybe, and you can have some more of it later, but my mom’s lasagna would blow this out of the water.” I blew a long, heavy sigh. My fists tightened. I try not to let it get to me and have adapted to Equestria, but sometimes it still doesn’t quite feel like home despite thinking and even feeling that it would eventfully. “Man, Pinkie, I miss her cooking. Even if Twi could figure out how to get me back to my old world safely, well…let’s just say I still wouldn’t be able to eat my mom’s lasagna again or even ask her for the recipe. One way or another, I’d be missing her cooking and her anyway.”

Pinkie gently laid a hoof on my back. “Aww, Eric, please don’t feel–wait, I have an idea. I’ve heard of a spice that is said to make any kind of meal tastier. If you had some, it just might make your lasagna more like your mom’s if hers really is that good.”

My fists loosened from their tight, hope-losing ball. Was that new hope I heard?! Yes please! “At this point, I’ll try anything for even a slight chance to finally eat lasagna like my mom’s again. What is this spice called so I can buy it?

“I don’t remember what it’s called, but stores don’t sell it.”

“Why?”

“Its taste is also said to only last up to three days after the fruit it comes from is plucked. You’d have to find its fruit that’s still growing on its bush, then take it and make the spice from it before its taste goes bye-bye, bye-bye-bye, and bye.”

“Oh. Really”

“And even worse, the fruit is extremely rare, just like one of Maud’s favorite rocks to study. You have no idea how long it took me to find one of those rocks for her birthday four–”

I slapped my hand over Pinkie’s mouth, or else she could have kept yapping for a while. ”Uh, you can tell me about that later. Go back to that spice and its fruit you were talking about.”

Pinkie pointed to her mouth. Right–my hand was still clamped over it.

“Sorry.” I moved my hand off her mouth. “Okay, let’s try this again. If I can’t get that spice or its fruit, why did you even tell me about it?”

“Because I know where it’s supposed to grow, so I could go find it for you. If it’s out there, I will find it, or my name’s not Pinkamena Diane Pie.”

“Is that so? Well, Pinkamena Diane Pie, that’s a game changer.” I picked up my lasagna and set it in the refrigerator. Spike liked even attempt #2, so he’d surely chow down on some of attempt #10. “I can’t let you fetch it for me, though. I’ll track it down myself.”

“Uh…sorry, but I can’t let you look for it alone.”

“Why not? All you have to tell me is where it is and how it looks.”

“But its fruit is said to grow reallllly deep in a huuuuge jungle outside Ponyville and it could take hours to find one, if not a whole day. I’ve been in that jungle before and know how to get through it, but you could get lost forever, even with a map.”

“But–”

She groaned and stared at me. Her look and feel of her eyes shook me up a little  This was the usually goofy and airheaded Pinkie Pie in serious mode, which always steals my full attention on the spot. “Eric, listen to me. You have been one of my good friends ever since we met, and I don’t want to see you sad. So let me find that fruit for you and your lasagna.” A vastly more fitting - for her – giggle eeked from her mouth and she patted my head. “Haven’t you learned that helping your friends is what friends do, Silly-Eric, or should I make you a student in my next class?” She ended with a friendly, playful wink.

“Heh, didn’t expect to hear a friendship speech from you today, Teach. I’ll pass on being student for a day and tell you what: if it means that much to you, then how about we fruit-hunt together?”

“That works for me! Whee!” The cute pink one grinned and did her signature, and admittedly adorable, hopping. Upbeat music suddenly started playing, and when music plays out of nowhere, it only meant one thing: a song was coming on! "♪ It’s just you and me. We’re going in a jungle, we’re going in a jun– ♪“ She stopped hopping. Wow, believe it or not, the music died. “Ooh, I’ll sing a make-up song or something later. I just realized we’ve never gone on a trip with just us before!”

“Oh…right. I would be all alone in a jungle with you for hours, if not the whole day."