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// Chapter 5 -- Promises 
// Story: The Earth Ponies 
// by RomanCandle 
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Sugarcube corner bounced like it usually did at noon on a Saturday. Ponies bounced around, little and big alike. The sun was warm and the smell of baked goods floated on chilled air from the freezers as colts and fillies enjoyed the weekend. Halfnote, Firelock, and Tornado, though, were sitting in an open yet distant corner, looking dejectedly across the crowded interior.

Firelock was the only one who was still scanning the floor for the notorious pink pony. Tornado was buzzing her wings, eager to enjoy the sunny skies outside--it was one of those late spring days where the sunshine tasted of summer but the wind still brought a taste of winter. Half Note was playing with the straw in her fizzy drink, regretting not getting a milkshake. The little orange unicorn, however, was determined to see this through. She had a point to prove to her friend, and by Celestia, she was going to.

"I thought she was always at SugarCube Corner. Do you think she's out saving the world with the rest of them again or something?"

Tornado turned her head, hovering now. "If I say yes, does that mean we get to go outside?"

Firelock rolled her eyes. "C'mon guys, we've got everything planned. We told our parents we were going on our "end-of the year trip" today. We have to find her. And soon," she added. "Or else we'll have to start hiding from all the other ponies, and there's no way we'll be able to avoid them all--we'll get caught." She tapped her hoof on the table in frustration. Neither of her friends seemed interested in their quest at the moment. It frustrated her to think that they'd gone through so much trouble to be stopped by boredom. She groaned and buried her head in her arms. "I guess we can say the trip got canceled..."

"Awww, that's soooooo sad! Where were you going?"

"Not like it matters, anyway. Pinkie Pie...Wait!" Her head shot up. Bright blue eyes stared back at hers with a sincere, sad look. They were framed by a bright pink face framed by a brighter pink mane. "Pinkie Pie! There you are! We've been looking all over for you!"

"What do you mean? I've been all over, but I've only seen you three here!" The older pony bounced, tilting her head and wearing a smile. Two of the three fillies were speechless. One of them, though, had a motor mouth to rival the mare, and the little unicorn was going to put it to use.

"Never mind that. Pinkie Pie, you're friends with everypony, right?"

"Right! You're Firelock and you're Half Note and you're Tornado Bolt and you got your cutiemark when you realized that it was okay to like to race and fly and also to read stories because they were both adventurous in different ways like the winds that make up a tornado--"

"And friends keep each other's secrets, right? Because not keeping secrets betrays a friends trust and losing a friends trust is the fastest way to lose a friend, right?"

"You got that right! Ya know, not everypony can learn as fast as you how important that is--"

"And friends also try to make each other happy, right? Cuz it's nice to see friends smile, right? Well, you saw how sad we were about not being able to go? What if I told you that we need you to keep a secret, and that if you did we'd be able to go on our trip and be happy?"

The pink pony blinked, then squinted. "What kiiiind of secret?" She leaned in conspiratorially. "I don't make a Pinkie Promise I can't keep, you know. Nopony should. Ever."

Firelock blinked back, confused. "Uh, just where we're going. I can't tell you more unless you promise to keep it secret. So will you? Pleeeeaase?" She implored with big, green eyes. "It's reaaaaally important."

Pinkie Pie tilted her head back, furrowed her forehead in thought, then nodded. "Okay. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, I won't tell a soul where you're going."

"Okay--We're heading south, towards the dragon wastes--" Firelock was interrupted by a sharp gasp, and looked up to Pinkie Pie covering her mouth with her hooves, her eyes wide and cheeks bulging from the repressed outburst. Firelock smiled and rolled her eyes as she continued. "Anyway, we should be fine, but because it's a really long way away, other ponies might get worried while we're gone. We needed to make sure somepony knew, so that if everypony started to worry and get scared for us, they'd know where to go looking. I mean, we're pretty sure we'll be fine--" She looked to her friends, who took a moment to register the cue, but nodded all the same. "--but I mean, just in case. We don't wanna be lost or have everypony go nuts because they think we are lost. When we're not. Because we won't be. We have a map.

Pinkie Pie had lowered her hooves and tilted her head again. "Sooooooo..."

Firelock sighed. "So you can tell ponies where we've gone if, but only if they get really, really worried or we've been gone too long. You know, like, longer than Spike was gone."

The mare nodded solemnly, then smiled and silently went through the motions of her promise once more, finishing with a wink towards the trio. Remaining uncharacteristically silent, she turned away from the table and bounced off, lost into the crowd. Firelock turned a triumphant smirk towards her friends.

"I told you! You guys packed everything, right?" Half Note nodded and turned to her bag.

"Yeah, I've got the map and a notebook right WAHAGHHHH!" The pink filly found a pinker mare sticking her head out of her knapsack and flailed backwards.

"By the way, why is it so important?" Pinkie's head inquired. "I'll keep that secret, too--promise." 

Half Note stuttered, eyes wide. "We...we just wanted to learn about...about Earth Pony magic. We found a story that said something about an Earth Spirit down by the dragons, so we uh...we wanted to look there." She gulped. "Can...can you get out of my saddlebag now? I have stuff I need in there."

Pinkie blinked. "What? Oh! Oh, right. Sorry!" She sucked her head back into the bag, which flapped closed. Half Note looked to her friends warily before opening it up again, and finding the contents undisturbed. She emptied it and searched the bottom for any secret magical devices, and found nothing but the dust from an old sandwich. She turned to her friends and shrugged. The gathered their things and walked out of the bakery, checking Tornado's compass, and starting down the south road.

Tornado swallowed. "Maybe we should ask Pinkie Pie about Earth Pony magic. Ya know, when we get back."