//------------------------------//
// Episode 13: Serious Levity 
// Story: Elements of Heroism: Season 2 
// by Bahamut0 
//------------------------------//

A young man sat crossed-legged atop the roof of a buidling in Ponyville. The sun shined down on him nearly illuminating his light tan skin, and making his crimson hair seem to glow in the light as it and his crimson scarf seemed to blow gently as a breeze passed by. He took in a deep breath. I don't know why everyone I met on the way here said this place was crazy. The young man then looked from his view point. He could see the whole town, and yet he himself was out of sight. His ninja garb certainly made his occupation clear. It looks so peaceful. He then noticed Pinkie Pie merrily bouncing along her way. He couldn't help but smile. Well, everyone does seem happy here. That girl especially. The young man then was confused when Pinkie gasped as a lock of her hair seemed to form a radar. What's got her freaking out? She seemed so cheerful earlier. He then saw Pinkie following what he assumed was a trail. This girl's certainly an interesting one. Soon, Pinkie vanished from his field of vision. "Where did she disappear to?" The young man scratched his head. Unaware that Pinkie was a few feet away from him on the rooftop. A big smile on her face. Pinkie zipped up to him, and shattered the silence.

"HI!" Pinkie greeted loudly! The young man nearly jumped five feet in the air before coming back down to the rooftop! He then clutched his heart in an effort to calm its rapid beating! "I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?"

The young man's heart finally settled back to its normal beat. How did she get up here so fast? I haven't met a person alive who's gotten the drop on me so easily! "I am called Akage. Akage Strider. Pleased to meet you Pinkie Pie. But...how did you find me?"

Pinkie giggled. "My Pinkie-Sense silly! It tells me when something's gonna happen! Like when there's a new person I haven't met in Ponyville!" Pinkie beamed with pride as she stated her most exceptional ability. “So are staying here? Huh? Huh?”

Akage stared dumbfounded at the Pinkie. Seems her name matches her color. Full of energy. “I am new here, yes. But the fact remains, I have no place of dwelling.” Akage was further surprised by the bonecrushing hug Pinkie wrapped him in!

“I know exactly where you can stay!” Pinkie dragged Akage along to Sugar Cuber Corner and asked if Akage could stay with her. The Cakes couldn’t say no to her face, but Akage insisted that he at least work so he wasn’t a free-loader.

“It’s no trouble. Plus, I have experience.” Akage said with a small smile. Akage fondly remembered the baking he’d practiced in his freetime. “Also, I’d hate to let your kindness go unpaid.” The Cakes accepted the conditions, and Akage soon settled in. Akage was about to set out his sleeping bag when Pinkie pointed to the top bunk of her bed. Akage couldn’t help but notice that Pinkie looked familiar. “Pardon me asking, but are you one of the Elements of Harmony?”

Pinkie nodded happily. “Yep! Element of Laughter at your service! But me and the girls aren’t the only set of elements! I’ve got plenty of guy friends now too! I’ll introduce you to everyone tomorrow!” Pinkie then hugged Akage tightly once again. “Well, back to work! C’mon!”

Akage smiled as he saw Pinkie go off to her work as he slipped on an apron. She certainly knows how to make people smile. He then noted her usual outfit: A light pink top with three balloons on the front, pink sneakers, and blue jeans. She’s pretty cute too. Akage soon got to work helping out in the bakery area. He then noticed Mr. Cake having some trouble cutting through a very thick cake. “Excuse me? Might I be of some help?”

“I certainly hope so.” Mr, Cake said. “This cake’s been giving me trouble ever since it came out of the oven!”

Akage pulled out the sword he usually carried on his back, and tossed the cake into the air! In a series of lightning fast slashes, the cake now stood cut into eight pieces. “Much better, don’t you think?” Akage said with a smile before heading back to work. “Let me know if there’s any other difficulties you need me to cut down.” Mr. Cake just stared dumbfounded at how easily Akage cleaved through the monster of a cake! Akage in the meantime was helping out Pinkie at the register and taking care of the various orders customers had placed. Never a slow day here. Plus, it’s pretty fun working here. Akage then looked at Pinkie. She’s really well-suited for this job. Work soon ended for the day, and Akage removed his apron with a content sigh and saw Pinkie approach him. “So how was my trial run?”

Pinkie beamed. “Congrats! You’re on full-time now!” 

Akage winced a little as Pinkie hugged him. The hugs are tight. But at least they’re warm. “So, I guess I’m meeting all your friends now?”

“Uh huh!” Pinkie said with an excited nod. “I’ve gotta show them my new friend too!”

Akage was confused. “New friend?”

“You silly!” Pinkie said with a giggle. And with that, she zipped off dragging Akage along! The rest of the Main 6 and the Elements of Heroism were discussing getting in more weapons training when Pinkie showed up with Akage in tow. “Hi everyone!” Pinkie then presented Akage to everyone. “This is Akage! He’s new in Ponyville and he’s staying with me at Sugar Cube Corner!” Pinkie said ecstatically before pointing to each of her friends. “This is Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Burst, Inferno, Steel, Ty, Ace, Shadow, Ice, Venus, and Fang!”

“Hi.” Akage said with a simple wave.

“Hm. I’m impressed.” Twilight said with a nod. “I didn’t think there was anyone who could adapt to Pinkie’s randomness so quickly.”

Akage’s mind flashed back to his training. Part of being a ninja, in addition to stealth, was learning to adapt to ever-changing situations. “Let’s just say I have experience with the unexpected.” Akage said with a small smile before bowing. “I must say. It’s an honor to meet you all. The stories of The Elements of Harmony and The Elements of Heroism have travelled far and wide.”

“Nice to know we’re popular.” Burst joked. Steel was the next to speak.

“So you got a blade to match the ninja garb?” Steel asked with a grin.

Akage looked over his garb and blinked at the group. “You’re...not surprised by me being a ninja?”

Inferno chuckled. “Dude. We’ve faced nightmare creatures and a spirit of chaos. Trust us. Having a ninja walking around Ponyville is pretty normal by comparison.” The group then paused when they heard Pinkie gasp.

“I just remembered something! Gotta go!” Pinkie zipped off, and Akage just shrugged.

“You know? I’m surprised with how quickly you’ve adjusted to Pinkie.” Twilight said as she looked at Akage. “Heck, I nearly went half crazy trying to figure out her Pinkie sense.”

Akage smiled. “Sometimes the most wonderful things are the ones that need no explanation.” Akage looked in the direction Pinkie zipped off to. “They just...are. But I do wonder why she went off in the first place.”

Burst smiled. “Oh, I’d say we can find out right about now. C’mon.” The group led Akage to Sugarcube Corner. As soon as Akage opened the door, he was greeted with a faceful of confetti and streamers!

“SURPRISE!” Pinkie shouted! “WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!”

Akage blinked before smiling. “I’d hate to tell you this, but I was expecting you’d pull something like this.”

Pinkie gasped in surprise. “What?! How did you guess?”

“You’re a surprise yourself.” Akage said with a chuckle. “Quite a pleasant one I might add. But this is probably the only time anyone will guess right when trying to predict you.” Akage then felt himself get tackled to the floor in a hug as Pinkie nuzzled against his face. 

“Awww~!” Pinkie said sweetly. “Thanks Akage! Now come on! It’s party time!” And from there, the party went into full-swing. Akage found himself becoming close friends with Steel. The two got into a pretty good conversation about swords and other melee weapons.

“I must say. Your Duelist Arms sound like quite the weapons.” Akage said with a nod. “Especially if they’re durable enough to tank hits from the Spirit of Chaos.”

Steel nodded proudly. “Yep! Arms of Honor were built to last. Heck, Burst’s sword, Bahamut Edge, clashed againt Nightmare Moon! Even fought her to a draw!”

“You forgot to mention that I slugged Discord in the face.” Burst said with a chuckle. “But weapons will only do so much for a person. They depend on their user.”

Akage nodded knowingly. “Indeed. Though I’d say your Duelist Arms are in the hands of ideal users. And that the users are in good hands with each other as well. In truth, your two teams of elements seem to work quite well together.”

“You and Pinkie DO make a cute couple.” Burst said with a chuckle.

Akage did his best to conceal the fiery blush that came from Burst’s observation. “Well a girl like her is easy to like. She was kind enough to share her room with me. I figured I might as well put myself to good use around the place.” Akage said with a small smile. “She’s seems to make everyone laugh and smile. No wonder she’s the Element of Laughter. Though in addition to her, I didn’t expect to make close friends already.”

Steel patted Akage on the back. “Anytime you wanna spar ninja boy, I’ll be waiting to cross blades!” Akage smiled, and went to the karaoke machine. In which he and the guys belted out as many Power Rangers themes as possible.

A month came and went, and Akage found Pinkie fawning over the Cakes’ babies. A Magi girl named Pumpkin and a Skyborn boy named Pound. Akage couldn’t help but smile as Pinkie played with them. “So I take it you’ve been left to care for these two for the night?”

Pinkie nodded ecstatically. “Uh huh! Mr. and Mrs. Cake let me take care of them! It’s gonna be super fun!”

Akage frowned slightly. “I don’t know Pinkie. Taking care of little ones can be a difficult task.” Akage eyes Pound and Pumpkin cautiously. “I’d suggest keeping a close eye on them.” Akage was then surprised when Pound crawled over, and tugged on his leg. Akage couldn’t help but smile at the baby as he lifted him up. “Then again, I guess we all drove our parents crazy when we were born.” Akage chuckled as Pound tugged at his hair and soon set him down. “This is a pretty big responsibility. Have you ever babysat before?”

Pinkie giggled. “Oh, relax Akage! It shouldn’t be that hard!” She had no idea how wrong she was. As soon as the Cakes left, Pound and Pumpkin started crying! “Uh-oh. Don’t cry little friends! Look! Look!” Pinkie did a nother game of Where’s Pinkie Pie, but that didn’t seem to have much of an effect. Akage decided now would be a good time to step in. He scooped up the twins, and gently rocked them. Pinkie was shocked. “What?! But! How?!”

Akage smiled. “Sometimes excitement’s not always the answer.” He then looked down at the twins who were now giggling happily. “There we go. Now let’s look at that list the Cakes left us.” The next item on the list was snack time. However, that didn’t go as smoothly as Pinkie or Akage had hoped. Pumpkin tried to chew on the tablecloth, and Pound threw his own food bowl onto his head! Pinkie resorted to pouring a whole bag of flower onto herself and sneezing just to get the twins giggling again. She quickly dusted herself off and moved to the bathroom to give the twins a bath. The twins then promptly started crawling all over the place and avoiding Pinkie’s reach. Both Pinkie and Akage had to almost drag them into the tub! To keep them pacified, they filled the tub with floating objects. However, the twins soon started crying again and Pound knocked loose one of the pipes! Sending a jet of water right at Pinkie and Akage! The two were so caught off-guard that they were sent crashing through the door! Pinkie sighed as she grabbed another bag of flour and threw it on herself. But because she was soaked from the water, it wound up becoming dough on her. Soon enough, the time came for the twins’ diapers to be changed. Akage handed Pinkie his scarf. “It’ll make a good breathing mask if you wrap it around tightly.” Akage pulled out his mouth mask from under his garb, and used it to filter out the stench. 

“Here goes nothing...” Pinkie snuck atop one of the cribs, but the twins spotted her and ran off! 

“Here we go again.” Akage said with a sigh as he and Pinkie began scouring the room for the twins. They soon found them, and struggled to get the fresh diapers on the squirming infants! Pound Cake even bopped Akage in the cheek! “Well. He certainly lives up to his name.” Akage stated. 

“Stay still! Almost-!” Pinkie cried as she tried to restrain Pumpkin! However, the struggle ended with the fesh diapers Pinkie had being hung over her head. She then heard the bell ring, and saw Twilight! “You have no idea what our day’s been like!” She then looked to Akage running after the twins.

“I...think I have a pretty good idea.” Twilight said as she watched Akage struggle to get the diapers onto Pound and Pumpkin. “That’s why I stopped by. I figured you could use some help. Babies are a big responsibility, and not everyone’s cut-out for it.”

Pinkie frowned. “Oh yeah? Well Akage and I are quite busy with our responsibilities. Sorry Twilight. But I’ve got no time to visit!” Pinkie then slammed the door shut as soon as Twilight was outside. “Even together, the twins are a handful!” Pinkie said with an exhausted sigh.

“Tell me about it.” Akage said with a groan. He had successfully gotten the twins into their fresh diapers. However, Pumpkin was now trying to chew on his hair. “Well, at least we can say we know how parents feel.”

Pinkie giggled at Akage’s view of the situation. “Good thing you know how to make the serious silly! Now to get these two little ones to bed.” Getting the twins into their cribs was easy. It was getting them to stay still that was the hard part. Pinkie scolded the twins, and that seemed to do the trick. Both she and Akage breathed a sigh of relief before pulling a blanket over the sleeping twins. “Sleep tight.”

“Not bad Pinkie. Not bad at all.” Akage said with an approving smile. The two left the twins alone to sleep. However, Akage noticed the twins had disappeared just before closing the door! Both of them scrambled all over the room in their search for the twins! They found Pumpkin in the closet, and got her back into the crib. However, Pound was still missing. “I’ll watch Pumpkin. You keep looking for Pound.” Akage stood watching Pumpkin repeatedly chew on a rubber chicken. “How did you even get out of the crib?” Pinkie’s search soon ended with her seeing Pound Cake using his wings to fly and crawl along the ceiling! Akage couldn’t  help but be impressed, and had a small smile on his face at witnessing Pound’s use of wings. “Took me two years to learn how to crawl on walls during training. And this little guy does it in seconds.” Pinkie was jumping to try and get Pound off the ceiling. 

“Get... down... here... this... instant!” Pinkie pleaded as she failed every attempt to catch Pound! Akage made use of his ninja skills, and walked along the wall up to the ceiling. Pound giggled and flew over to him. Akage leapt off the ceiling and landed on his feet before placing Pound in the other crib. Pinkie breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew! Crisis averted.” Akage smiled, but then noticed the light blue aura covering Pumpkin’s hands as she levitated over a stuffed animal!

“I...think I know how she got out of the crib.” Akage noted. He then saw her try chewing on the stuffed animals.

“No. No. No Pumpkin.” Pinkie scolded as she grabbed the stuffed animal Pumpkin was chewing on. Only for the little Magi baby to levitate another stuffed animal to her gums. Pinkie then grabbed all the stuffed animals and locked them in the nearby toy chest. However, she then had to deal with Pumpkin. She grabbed hold of him, but he took off dragging her through Sugarcube Corner! 

“Pinkie, hold on!” Akage sprinted after them and found Pound creating a mess as he dragged Pinkie! He was further impressed by Pinkie’s grip on the little Skyborn. Akage soon grabbed Pound by the front, and the combined weight of him and Pinkie seemed to slow him down. The two managed to get back to the twins’ room, but Pumpkin covered herself in the aura of her magic so she could fly too! 

“Not you too!” Pinkie cried. She then trapped the twins under a basket and taped it down! “Now who’s the responsible one?” 

Pumpkin’s hands then lit up with a magic aura again, and she phased through the basket while Pound broke free with his wings! “Scratch that. Now I know how BOTH of them got out of the crib!” Akage then noticed Pinkie was on the verge of tears, and he decided to take in the whole situation. “You know Pinkie? It’s funny. Here we are. Two grown-ups. And we’re getting our butts handed to us by two babies.”

Pinkie blinked before giggling. “Yeah. I guess me wanting to be so responsible showed how silly I was being!” Pound and Pumpkin then stopped running around and went over to Pinkie and Akage. Nuzzling against the two. “Way to make a serious moment silly.”

Akage smiled. “Well, the serious times...are when we need to laugh the most.” An orange aura surrounded Akage for a moment before fading. “...Okay. That’s new.”

Pinkie just beamed. “You’ve awakened as an Element of Heroism.” Pinkie then looked over Akage. “Hmmm. Given how you found a serious thing funny, I’d say Levity is your element!”

Akage smiled. “Well I’ve awoken. No it’s time for these two little ones to sleep.” Pinkie and Akage put Pound and Pumpkin to bed, and set to work cleaning up the mess that was made. Mr. and Mrs. Cake soon returned home, and were pretty happy with the job Pinkie and Akage had done. They even asked them to be their go-to babysitters. Akage bowed. “It would be our honor.”

The next day, Akage informed the guys about his awakening as an Element of Heroism. “So are there any more slots on the team?”

Steel grinned. “Akage. There’s always room for heroes. BTW, you bring your sword?”

Akage smiled as he unsheathed his blade. Steel summoned his sword from his Arms of honor. “Come at me bro!” And the two sword masters clashed