Pinkie & Eric's Bonding Jungle Trip

by ThePinkedWonder

Chapter 3: Filling a big, sad, dumb hole

What. Did. I. Hear? The sheer ludicrousness of Pinkie’s newest airheaded blunder froze me. Despite the heat swirling about, mud on my pants and shirt, and sweat from ‘da heat, my eyes could only focus on one thing: the partly mud-covered, fully painfully oblivious-prone earth pony standing before me.

“What?! WHAT?!”

“‘What?’ What?” Pinkie asked. She wasn’t the only one confused right now!

“You mean to tell me that I walked through this stupid jungle for hours for a fruit you don’t even know exists?! Don’t you think that was important information?!”

“Ohh…so I did forget to tell you.”

“You think?! It’s bad enough you got my hopes up, but I nearly got killed by bears, sweated enough to fill a bath tub, put up with your yapping for–”

“Hey!” She scowled and shoved a hoof in my chest. “I didn’t ‘yap’ that much, and I didn’t complain about you getting tired every hour or two, and even let you ride on my back! I wasn’t the one who called out the bears that chased us either!”

I pushed her hoof off me. Then shoved a finger into her chest. “Yeah, and all for a fruit that might not exist! You just said it was extremely rare!”

Pinkie smacked my hand away. “But I did say that everything the fruit does was said to be true–”

“Oh no, don’t try to pull that exact words stuff again, Pinkie Pie! I trusted you, and this is what I get for it?! How can I trust you again?! What do you have to say for yourself?!”

Her scowl wilted away. Her ears drooped–she should feel bad! “I…I…”

“Well, out with it! It better be good! If you can make me laugh, this would be a good time to do it!”

“I didn’t want you to feel sad, okay?!”

Okay, that was a good reason. It dunked water over my flames of rage to not even a shimmer. The tears starting to flow from Pinkie’s eyes cut a hole in my chest. Think I went too far.

“Oh.”

“It breaks my heart to see my friends sad, and I didn’t forget how even my best party barely cheered you up after Twilight told you she couldn’t get you back to your world! I get it; I’m a bad friend you can’t trust and can’t make you happy! You don’t have to be a big meanie and rub it in!” Pinkie bolted off down a dirt trail, weeping and wailing the whole time. Yep, definitely went too far with the mare.

“W-wait, Pinkie, don’t go! I’m sorry I yelled at you! Just come back!”

My pleas only sped up her running. She jumped through some bushes and out of sight.

Wonderful. Me and my very big mouth. If there was anything good about this, it was that she poured so many tears, she left a tear trail on the ground to go along with her hoofprints. That’d make it that much easier to find her and try the apology thing again.

So much for this being Pinkie and Eric’s “bonding” jungle trip.

---

*Sniff, whimper, sob*

Took a couple of minutes, but I finally found Pinkie under a tree, sitting on her haunches with her head hanging down. Could see her bag lying beside her, but couldn’t see her eyes. Her tears raining from her face sure weren’t hard to see, but were hard to watch.

“There you are. Pinkie–”

“Leave me alone,” she said in a low, woeful, heart-cracking tone. “I’m a bad friend you can’t trust. You’re better off without me as a friend.”

“Pinkie, I’m sorry. I was too mad to think straight, but I didn’t mean that you’re not trustworthy, and you do make me happy. Now that I think of it, this was all just a misunderstanding. It wasn’t like you just lied to me about that fruit; I just misread what you meant. That wasn’t your fault and doesn’t make you a bad friend.”

Her head hung down further in silence.

“Pinkie, please, just talk to me.”

Not even a whimper. She turned away, and her unanswering back “faced” me. I blew a big, long sigh. So be it. “Fine. If you really want me to, I won’t be your friend anymore and will leave you alone. I’ll find a way out of this jungle by myself, so you don’t have to play guide. Just be careful leaving, okay? At least do that for me for our former friendship.”

I turned and took slow, reluctant, lonely steps away. Really blew it this time and lost a good friend because I blew my top. Still, there was no time to mope or kick myself; there was still a massive jungle I somehow had to escape from, alone. If I went in one direction long enough, it should eventually take me out of it. Where to go from there was something I’d have to figure out when I reached that road.

“Wait.”

Not often did I spin to face the opposite way so fast. Pinkie was back on her hooves and walking toward me. She was still frowning, but her eyes had finally stopped leaking tears.

“I take back what I said. I don’t want you to leave me alone or to stop being my friend. Even if I did, I couldn’t let you leave on your own and risk getting lost here forever. It’s just…I…”

“What?”

“I hate how you can’t go back to your old world and I can’t even try to do anything about it. I’m scared to even imagine how I would feel if I were trapped in another world and separated from my family and friends.” Pinkie sat on her haunches again. She mixed in circling a hoof on the ground as she added, “The closest I have to unicorn magic is my Pinkie Sense, but it can’t help. It can only predict some things such as something falling from the sky or beautiful rainbows.”

“Oh...wow. I knew Starlight, Sunset, and especially Twilight felt bad that none of them could figure out a safe way to get me back, but I didn’t know you were hurting too. Do Spike, Rarity, or any of our other friends feel like this?”

“Knowing them, probably.” She pawed the ground. Her eyes wilted even further. “I don’t think about it often, but when I do think about how I can't do anything for you, it feels like there is a big, sad, dumb hole in my chest. I didn’t want you to feel worse by worrying about me, so I never told you.”

“Hmm. I think I get it now. Did that have anything to do with how you wanted to find that fruit for me so bad? You were awfully willing to come out here on your own.”

She nodded. “You looked so sad that you couldn’t get your lasagna to be like your mom’s and missed her cooking, so I thought one of those fruits for your spice could help and make you smile. I’ll do anything to see my friends smile, laugh, and be happy.”

I wrapped an arm around her back. “Then that already proves you’re not a bad friend. And another thing, even if you did tell me right away that fruit might not exist, I still would have wanted to look for it. I chewed you out for something I would have done anyway, so I was a, uh, big meanie to treat you like that.” After a groan, I thought, ‘I’m an idiot.’

“But even if we would have come anyway, I still feel bad that I forgot to tell you earlier it might not exist, so you wouldn’t be sad or disappointed if it didn’t.” She gently wrapped her forelegs around me; one of her less common normal strength hugs. “I’m so sorry I let you down.”

I returned the hug. I admit her fur made our hug a bit cuddly, even if we both had a little dry mud on us from the great ledge jump earlier. “No, you didn’t let me down, especially now that I know your true feelings. I’m sorry for being out of line and making you cry. Plus, if you really want to help how I can’t go back to my old world, just being a friend who makes me smile will be enough. I do miss my mom’s lasagna, but I can still be happy if I never eat lasagna like hers again, especially if I have a friend and something of a big sister like you.”

When I said “big sister”, Pinkie’s grip around me tightened just a tad. “You mean that?”

“Yep! You said it wasn’t a big deal, but you still pushed me out of that big Bear of the Year's charge in that cave and then used your body as a cushion to save us from the running of the bears. So, thanks…big sis.”

“Hehe, I said it was a ‘no brainer, little bro, but you saved me from being bear food. You’re fun to hung out with, and you’re not as uptight as Twilight and Applejack are about my, as they or even you might put it, ‘Pinkieness’.”

“Heh heh, yeah. Twilight might have rubbed off on me a little, but not that much.”

We let each other go. Prime opportunity for a surprise bloop! Of course I was gonna take it: I “blooped” her muzzle, and got an even cuter and happier giggle than usual out of her. But once we got back to Ponyville, I planned to look for Spike, Rarity, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Applejack. Just in case any of them were hiding any hidden “big, sad, dumb holes” in their chests too that needed filling.

”But one thing that I admire about her is that the Princess of Determination doesn’t give up easily, so let’s follow her example. We could search for that fruit a little while longer before Celestia lowers the sun to search a little longer. That is, if you want to and aren’t hungry.”

She grinned and set off her signature string of hops. “Abso-lutely-tooly! That is, not about being too hungry, but abso-lutely-tooly to keep fruit-hunting.”

"Then let’s check places we haven’t been yet but could be growing one of those fruits! We have about another hour before it becomes too late.”

Pinkie ran back to grab her backpack, then we went on our final fruit hunt.

---

Yes! Just had to hope it wasn’t some jungle mirage from the heat.

Before Pinkie and I was a thick green bush growing a cache of smooth, thin, and beautiful red fruits.

I pointed to our elusive targets. "Are those the fruits you were talking about? I’m going to be the happiest human ever if you say 'yes'."

She pulled out her fruit book from her mane and skimmed through it. She grinned, which made my own grin bigger. “Then prepare to be the happiest human ever, because these are it! They exist after all!”

We both jumped up and down while cheering. Best jungle bonding trip ever! I nearly forgot to pick off and toss a couple of my prized fruits in my backpack. If they are only good for a few days after being picked, it wouldn’t make much sense to take more than a couple.

A gasp from my new favorite earth pony (sorry Applejack) cut the cheering and hopping. She turned to face away from me and said in a chilling serious voice, “Eric? Don’t look back. Just get on the Pinkie Pie Express, now.”

“Huh? Why?”

Curiosity overrode Pinkie’s order and I looked behind me. My mouth dropped. No! Not that!

Not a cragadile! The trees and vines partly obscured it, but I knew it was a cragadile! I'd recognize those bone-crushing jaws and teeth anywhere! My heart leapt into my throat and my stomach turned and filled with nausea. I jumped right on the Pinkie Pie Express. How I didn’t scream was a mini-miracle.

“Run, hop, roll, whatever! Just get us out of here, ASAP!”

Pinkie sprinted off and I closed my eyes. Just in case another of my nightmares might have been ahead or simply nearby, I just could not risk looking as long as we were in this jungle.

---

“Okay, Eric, we’re out of the jungle. You can open your eyes now.”

I cracked open my eyes–wasn’t the time to wonder how she knew they were closed. Yep, we were standing on a dirt road and just outside the “entrance” to that jungle. Better still, no cragadiles in sight!

But those teeth from that cragadile in the jungle, and the idea that one was close again…oh man. Even if it didn’t seem to see me, it still fired off flashbacks in my noggin about being in that first cragadile’s sights in the Everfree Forest. The playback scene was too clear: that humongous monster moved in closer and closer, close enough to feel its breathing at its closest. Throwing in how it had intentions of tearing apart Sunset and me, crushing us inside its mouth, and finally eating us as prey…yeah, my stomach suffered a panic attack. If it wasn’t for Sunset using a desperation super-effective flash attack and me later pitching fastballs with rocks into its eyes to make it change its dinner plans, we would have been dead.

And it was a good thing I got off Pinkie’s back before what food I had eaten earlier made a premature return.

“You’re okay, Eric,” Pinkie cooed while she rubbed my back while I was busy heaving. “There aren’t any cragadiles nearby that can hurt you again.”

---

*Buzzer ringing*

Time’s up. With gloves over my hands, I opened the oven and pulled out my latest batch of lasagna AKA attempt #11.

The sauce, cheese, strings of parsley, and bits of the new spice all waved a cascade of aromas seeping into the ‘ol nose. It didn’t smell just good, but nostalgic. Then again, that would have been a bit too convenient, so I bet it was just wishful thinking making the smell seem nostalgic.

“So, is it ready, chef?” Pinkie asked with a puzzled frown. She wore a chef’s hat to match the one I wore in place of my usual hat ‘o' Cutie Marks. “Wouldn’t it be easier to cut a piece once your pan is on the table?”

“Uh, sorry, Pinkie. I was in thoughts.” I carried the pan with attempt #11 to and on the kitchen table. “After we let it cool off a little, it’ll be the moment of truth.”

“Nah, we don’t have to wait. I got this!” Pinkie pulled out a fan from her mane and let it blow over attempt #11.

Well, that’s one way to cool off hot food.

“Heh, okay so the moment of truth is now. Here we go. At the very least, you said attempt #10 was good, so I can make at least decent lasagna even without that 'short-lived' spice.”

“That’s right!” Pinkie cheerfully patted me on the back. “That last lasagna you made was really good and I’m sure this will be even better. So even if this lasagna isn’t close to your mom’s, then make this your own recipe. I think she’d be happy to see you make lasagna like hers, but she would want you to make them your way. It was how she created her lasagna’s recipe, right?”

“I think so. She was proud of how well she fine-tuned her lasagna, and I think it was why she made it her signature meal by keeping its full recipe a secret. But, I will do something different; no matter how great any of my food becomes, their recipes will not be kept secret, especially not from my friends. But enough of that; it’s taste time.”

I sliced through the noodles, cheese, and parsley with a knife and cut out a small, square piece. Nerves forced my hands to shake a bit as I lifted the piece onto a plate beside the pan.

I glanced at Pinkie, who wore a supportive smile. That smile emitted a deep, soothing feeling that hugged my nerves and calmed my hands. Of the small piece of lasagna I had cut out, I sliced off a smaller still piece and, slowly, raised it to my lips. Couldn’t keep dragging this out, so I bit into the piece to get it over with.

Not bad. The smooth texture of the noodles and molten cheese surrendering its flavor as I chewed…yes, it got the taste buds dancing. The tomato sauce and parsley joined the flavor dance. But while it was my best lasagna yet, it still failed to be like Mom’s–

Wait. Another flavor, maybe from the spice, shot through my mouth. Weird, it didn’t seem to have its own flavor, but it did excite the flavor of everything else – the cheese, sauce, parsley – and mixed it all into almost a single, cheese/sauce/parsley flavor explosion. That dancing of my taste buds roared into a dance party. As I kept chewing and finally swallowed, tears ran down my face.

Oh, and a big smile joined the fun as well. This. This! While it wasn’t quite 100% like Mom’s, this was how her lasagna tasted! NO idea how that spice did the trick, but it did!

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Pinkie cheered while she bore a big ‘ol smile of her own. “That’s the smile I wanted to–”

I snatched Pinkie into my arms. I leaned down a little to get a good grip, then picked her up by her torso and swung her around in circles! Despite being around my height, most Equestrian mares are surprisingly light and weigh about as much as an average-sized woman, who I was more than strong enough to lift. Especially when I was this happy!

“Yes, we did it! This is just like my Mom’s lasagna! I couldn’t have done this without you! Thank you so much, Pinkie Pie! I love you!”

“I love you too, but can you put me down now? I didn’t prepare myself to spin, so I’m getting sick!”

I set her down on the spot. Her eyes were literally spinning. “Oops, s-sorry.”

She shook her head to calm her eyes, then smirked. What was she up to this time? “You should be s-sorry, because while your spinning was good, your hug on me was waaaaay too weak.” She spread out her forelegs, wide. "This is how you hug me!”

“Wait, no no, don’t–”

Two pink, crushing forelegs swallowed and squeezed down on my poor back, sucking a breath from my lungs. Arms were pinned in ‘em forelegs too, so moving sure wasn’t an option. “See? When you hug a Pinkie Pie, you hug her TIGHTLY!”

“Okay, lesson learned! Let me go! Your forelegs are stronger than a Cragadile's jaws!”

“Not yet, Silly Eric! To make sure you learn your lesson, I’m going to hug you a little longer.”

“Then tell you what: if you end your lesson early, I’ll finally try to sing as a thank you for helping me. Not joking this time.”

*Deep inhale of shock*

Never before had forelegs – or anything for that matter – unwrapped themselves off me so fast.

Author's Note:

Prepare for plates to break from Eric's singing.