//------------------------------// // Chapter 12 // Story: Mastering the elements: the Earth pony chronicles // by Eriku719 //------------------------------// Chapter 12 The morning sun came into view as Erick got up from his bed. He brushed his teeth, washed his hooves, and got ready for the morning. “This is it then, today I learn about laughter. A seemly easy element to obtain.” He said to himself as he walked into town. As he walked into town, he found Mrs. Cake with a twin stroller and a grocery bag walking by. “Oh hello Erick, what brings you into town?” said Mrs. Cake “Oh nothing really; In fact I wanted to talk to you and your husband about miss pie. You see I want to learn about the element of laughter.” said Erick “Well if you want, if you help the with the kids and shopping, we can talk.” Said Mrs. Cake. After the shopping they went back to sugarcube corner where they left the twins in pinkie’s care while Erick explained the situation to Mr. Cake “Well I don’t see how we can say no to a hero honey. We’ll help you immeditatly.” Said Mr. Cake. “How?” asked Erick “Well me and the misses are having trouble keeping the business up and taking care of little pound and pumpkin cake. So as of today, you’ll be our newest employee” said Mr. Cake “Thank you sir and you don’t even need to pay me boss.” Said Erick “then you start immediately Erick.” He then turned to pinkie. “Hey pinkie we have a new helper today. You met Erick before.” Said Mr. Cake as Erick waved hi to her. Pinkie jumped in glee, “Hooray! My newest friend is now my newest partner in cakes. This is going to be so great. I can teach you all the tricks into making sweet cupcakes. Maybe even my special pinkie cakes.” And pinkie went on and on and Erick thought to himself “This is going to be a rough one.” Erick started off as a supply colt, buying, checking inventory, menial labors, etc. he then was promoted to assistant baker/ babysitter. Where he help bake and babysat their kids with pinkie. Laughter seems easy at first, but as he continued working, pinkie started doing pranks on him and do something she calls “Breaking the fourth wall” which really confused him. He keeps thinking to himself “Why do I have to put up with this!?” Eventually came a day he would dread. “Me and the Mrs. are going on our second honeymoon so until then I trust you two in taking care the shop and the foals.” said Mr. Cake Erick accepted the task given to him, but with dread. “An entire week with…… her?” He and the pinkie and the foals waved goodbye to the cakes as they went on a train to Baltimare and as he went back to the bakery, Erick had to lay down some laws. “O.k since you’re our most experienced baker, you do the baking meanwhile I watch over the foals. Call me if you need help o.k pinkie?” said Erick “No problem.” Said Pinkie “Good…. Now what did I just say?” asked Erick “ummm….” Pinkie then smiled sheepishly Erick looked down in disappointment. “This is going to be a long week” he said to himself. The first day went by easy. The second day was more tiring for Erick because pinkie kept calling him to help out, what was most confusing was that he knew that pinkie knew this stuff. When the working day was over and the kids we tucked in for their nap, pinkie kept on bugging him to go out with her to enjoy the outside. Day three was disturbing to say the least. They both decide to close the shop early to have some time with the foals and go out to the park. Pinkie was playing with the foals while Erick set up the picnic clothe and the food and joined them after he was done. When it was time for lunch both pinkie and Erick fed the foals their bottles while eating. Others ponies passed by them as started whispering things to each other’s ears. It wasn’t until Granny Smith who was walking by, went up to them and told asked them how their day was going. “We’re doing fine Miss Smith.” said Erick “Well that’s good. You know with them two babies in your hooves, ponies mistake yal for being their ma and pa.” said Granny Smith. “Wait!? Ponies think that-” “Yep. They think you two are ma and pa. heck even husband and wife.” said Granny Smith Pinkie would be lying to herself if that thought of being with Erick hadn’t crossed her mind. He’s good with the foals, a great baker, and even a fun pony to around with when he’s not mad at one of her pranks. “Me and Erick….. Husband and wife….. wow.” Pinkie started to smile at the vision she was starting to have in her mind. What she didn’t know was that he thought bubble was being seen by others. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The sun was about to set down and the door was being knocked on until a familiar Alicorn opened the door and put away this hat and jacket. “Honey I’m home. I gotta say work was harder than usual today.” Said Erick He was they tackle down by both pound and carrot cake. “Oh how are my two favorite kids doing today? Did you two give mommy a good time while I was gone?” said Erick ‘Oh don’t worry about them honey, we had lots of fun today didn’t we? Now come on my two little ponies time for dinner.” said Pinkie as the both started heading towards the kitchen. “So then are you going to eat first or take a shower to relax from work?” asked Pinkie to her husband. “How about before I do any of that, you give me a welcome home kiss?” said Erick and both He and Pinkie puckered their lips. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Erick found a pointy object to pop her thought bubble and wake her up. “What a…….. vivid imagination you have Pinkie Pie.” Granny Smith laughed a little before walking away. “Ah young love.” The rest of the day went by smoothly. Day was a little more complicated. “We need to our minds together. What is the next big thing to sell?” Said Erick “Well you’ve been thinking for too long. Maybe it’s time for a break. Come on we can go make some more of your favorite cup-WAGH” Pinkie has just fallen with a bag of flour and the flour completely covers her and Erick and she laughs about her accident. “I don’t see how this is funny pinkie. We just wasted a bag of flour.” Said Erick “Oh come on Erick chin up. Maybe now I can bake you up and see how you taste.” Said Pinkie as she got closer to him and making munching sound. “Pinkie stop it…. I will admit, this accident did have its moment of chuckle but that’s over now. Also what you said does seem interesting. To eat a pony or yourself…..” A light bulb appeared above his head, “THAT’S IT!” He immediately started baking and in just fifteen minutes, he idea was brought out. “You know Pinkie I always thought you were cute.” Said Erick Pinkie was lost when he heard those words. “You…you mean that!?” “Yes I do miss pie. In fact you’re so cute….” Erick then showed a cupcake version on Pinkie Pie to her. The bread was pink, with a smiling face, and the frosting was made to look like her mane. “You’re cute enough to eat.” Pinkie smiled and took it “Pony cakes. Erick that’s genius. I’m so proud of you” Pinkie wrapped her hooves around him and hugged him tightly. “O.K. Pinkie Pie settle down….. can’t….. Breathe” as soon as she let go the started by advertising the pony cakes to the public which caught their attention and they started buying it. Eventually they had to close because they ran out of ingredients to bake more, but with the profit they made, they were able to restock and have a little left over to themselves. He then took his pay and made his way home. Day five would prove how good of a baker Erick really is and how much he cares for her. “I think I got a fever. Aa-choo.” Said Pinkie “Let me check.” He then got up close to pinkie to put one hoof on her forehead and one on his. “Yeah you do feel hotter than usual.” Being this close to Erick made Pinkie nervous. “It feels like it’s getting worse. You need to stay in bed. I’ll take care of work today.” As he continued working, he would check in on the foals and pinkie. He gave the foals there bottles and changes, and made some vegetable soup to help pinkie feel better. Meanwhile whenever Erick wasn’t taking care of her, she was setting up a prank on him. The work day was over, which left Erick to care for his patient. “O.k pinkie you feel any better?” the moment Erick stepped in her room a bucket of water fell on him and was stuck on his head. He tried to get it off, but it wouldn’t budge. He fell down onto a bag of flour left waiting for him, He became wet and sticky and finally, pinkie hits him with a feather pillow. “Got you.” Said Pinkie Instead of laughter, Erick was infuriated and yelled at her. “What the hay Pinkie! You shouldn’t be up because of your feaver!” Pinkie’s smile left and was replaced with violent coughing and her face turning red. “I’m sorry Erick I just…. Wanted to make you laugh.” Pinkie suddenly fell ill and collapsed on the floor. “Ha ha very funny; Get up pinkie I know your trying to prank me again….. I said get up…. Pinkie….. Pink?” Erick immediately took the foals to their parent’s wagon and went to pick up pinkie and placed her in it. “Now foals don’t worry, Pinkie’s going to be alright.” He said to them. He then attached the wagon to himself and starting galloping as fast as he can. He ran all the way to the hospital to take her in to see a doctor. While waiting outside her room, The foals fell asleep and was place next to Erick. The doctors called him in to tell him that she would be fine as long as she stays at the hospital. Erick asked for some time alone with her. “Pinkie… if you can hear me, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for yelling at you. I hope you get better soon. You’re a good friend.” He left and returned the foals back home. Two days later was Pinkie’s release day. Erick ran with the foals on him to Pinkie’s room and saw no pony there but a doctor. “Doctor where’s Miss Pie?” asked Erick. “Oh she’s around.” Said the doctor “Well it’s just that I wanted to give her this present. The doctor turned around to reveal herself to be pinkie in disguise. “A present for me!? You should ha-“ just as pinkie opened the box and spring with a sack of flour went towards her and hit her cover her in flour. Both Erick and the foals fell down from laughing too hard. “We got you good Pinkie.” Said Erick Pinkie then joined in the laughter. “Wow. There nothing better than a prank to boost up my spirits.” At that moment Erick’s cutie mark glowed and another petal changed color. It became a pink petal and inside was a blue balloon. Pinkie gasped in excitement. “What’s wrong pinkie?” asked Erick “Your cutie mark. It changed.” Said Pinkie “Well what do you know? I guess I learned the value of laughter. Thank you Pinkie.” Later that day, pinkie threw a party for Erick’s element of harmony accomplishment. The party went great and Mr. and Mrs. Cake made in back to ponyville to celebrate. When the party was starting to die, the cakes put their foals to beds, Every pony went home, and was left was Pinkie and Erick. “I must say pinkie, you throw good parties.” Said Erick “Thanks, that means a lot coming from you.” Said Pinkie “Yeah well I enjoyed our time together, but I must keep learning about the other elements. I will cherish the memories we had.” Said Erick “……… I like you Erick” said Pinkie. “I like you too pinkie.” Said Erick “No what I mean is…… I like like you.” said Pinkie pie as she got closer to him. “Wha!?” this took some time for him to process. “Well pinkie I’m flattered, but maybe we should just stay the way we are. Until this ordeal is over with.” He felt bad about denying her himself, but he made things better by hugging her. “Bye Pinkie.” Pinkie was left with a smile on her face. “Just you wait Erick. I pinkie promise to myself that you will be mine.” Meanwhile in the badlands, where all the evil things, dragons, and others unmentioned. Underground waits an owl with three chains wrapped around him, but recently one chain grew weak and broke. “Ah. Finally, some room. It looks like the boy made progress. Then this would be the perfect time to test him.” He took a feather off him and sent it to the outside world, the feather flew straight towards Canterlot castle in a matter of weeks and as it got closers, it changed shape into a helmet and land right below Luna’s bedroom. At the time Luna wasn’t paying attention because she just sent Erick a message through his dreams about an upcoming event. Back at Erick’s home, he woke up with tickets in his hand. “The ticket invites you to the grand galloping gala next week. Don’t be late. Signed by Princess luna.” End of Ch.12