The Corruption of The Ponyville Baker

It was a bright and sunny day in the Ponyville town square. It was in the middle of summer; the children were out frolicking in the grass and doing other miscellaneous activities. A lot of the young mares were wearing rather revealing pieces of clothing, catching the eye of many a stallion.

Pegasi could be seen flying overhead, dutifully performing their jobs at keeping the weather the way it was; kicking and punching any thunder clouds that had strayed a little too far from the Everfree Forest that threatened to ruin the beautiful day.

The sounds of many ponies shouting together in an attempt to advertise their wares could be heard in the bustling square, making a cacophony of noise that could be heard at least a half a mile away.

A lone baker trudged wearily through the throngs of pony bodies, his trademark cap bouncing slightly atop his bright orange mane, bumping and gently pushing ponies aside, muttering apologies along the way.

Carrot Cake had volunteered to do the weekly grocery shopping today, leaving Pinkie Pie and his wife to hold down the fort back home. Contrary to popular belief, The Cakes’ do not rely on sugary confectioneries as their only source of food, and that they strongly believe in having a more balanced diet. Maybe with a slight exception of Pinkie Pie though. She’d devour any number of sugary treats and could somehow maintain that plump little figure of hers.

Carrot shook himself out of any distracting thoughts, his cap nearly dislodging from its perch atop his head, and turned his attention to the shopping list that he had brought along with him. He scanned the item that was at the top of the list, and embarked on his quest. “First up, tomatoes…” the stallion muttered to himself.

~

The day had gone by without a cinch, and Carrot found himself still carrying a fair amount of coins. He was overjoyed that he was able to barter his way into purchasing items a lot cheaper than they actually were. He looked up to check the position of the sun in the sky. It barely moved!

Smiling to himself and whistling a merry tune, he began making his way back home with a little spring in his step. Maybe I should do ALL the shopping from now on. We could save a tonne of money! he mused.

Suddenly, he paused mid stride as he caught sight of a stall that he had never seen before. Most of the ponies that were peddling their wares were locals and he knew almost everyone of them and what they’d usually sell, though seeing someone from out of town was not entirely unheard of.

With his curiosity peaked, and deciding that he had the time, he made his way to the stall.

One of the reasons why the stallion had decided to check out said stall, was because of how it stood out from the others. A table was set out in front of a rather flashy star spangled tent, and on said table was an assortment of many odd looking trinkets.

As he advanced towards the tent, he could make out a shape of a pony emerging from the entrance of the tent. The presence of the pony gave him pause, and his gait faltered a little. The pony was covered in a robe, completely covering her form (Carrot had came to a conclusion that she was indeed, a female, due to the size and shape of her body), and a hood drooped over her face, covering it completely, though the protrusion on her head gave away that she was a unicorn.

His nerves began acting up a little, but still he pushed on, until he arrived at his destination, his arms full with paper bags stuffed to the brim with organic foods amongst other things.

“Greetings, stranger, and welcome to the Great and Powerful Tri-! *cough* I- I mean, welcome to my Great and Powerful Shop. Please feel free to peruse my wares, and tell me if anything catches your eye.”

In an instant, one of the stallion’s eyebrows shot up in suspicion, but he chose to keep his mouth shut. Instead, he replied with a simple, “Will do.”

He looked through the various assortments of little trinkets and bebops, wondering what the use of any of this was. His roaming eyes eventually landed on a peculiar pocket watch. It was made out of wood, and it was also old and dusty. Its hands were a dazzling midnight blue, and it had blue ring around the edges of its face. To top it all off, its numbers were in roman numerals instead of the usual modern numbers.

“That looks interesting.” The stallion said from behind the paper bags.

“Ah, I see you have quite the eye, to spot something so valuable,” she said in a startlingly deep tone, chilling the stallion. “This, my yellow friend, is The Clock of The Abyss!” she said in an awe-inspiring tone.

The stallion’s brows instantly dropped into a deadpan, clearly unimpressed. “That sounds corny.” Said the stallion in flat tone.

“Ho ho! You say that, but you know not of its magical properties! When the wielder clicks this button,” she lifted a finger to point at a non descript place on the side of the pocket watch, “and whichever pony that was unfortunate enough to gaze onto its face will be rendered utterly dazed, and would have no choice but to obey the wielder’s every command!” she emphasized her point by ending her sentence with a graceful flourish of her cloak, and Carrot caught a glance of a shade of blue and a cocky smirk underneath the multiple folds of her robe.

It was obvious that she was trying to con him and to sell the watch at an exorbitant price, but the stallion was feeling lucky today so he decided to try his luck.

~

An hour had passed as the stallion tried haggling the persistent mare to lower her price. 200 bits for a gosh darned pocket watch! Carrot internally fumed. The little negotiation that had happened had sparked a competitive side to the stallion, and he had pursued doggedly to get what he wanted. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the mare had begrudgingly lowered the price to a mere 100 bits.

It was still a high amount to pay for a simple pocket watch, but the stallion felt a sense of pride as he walked away from the square. His arms were beginning to get sore from carrying all these bags, but he didn’t care as he walked the distance to his modest home/workplace.

~

Carrot Cake was greeted with a soft, but merry jingle of the bell as he entered his modest home. The familiar smells of confectioneries greeted his nostrils, and he set about putting the groceries away.

He clumsily made his way into the kitchen, stumbling and bumping into things along the way, nearly falling over on multiple occasions. By some small miracle, he had managed to arrive at his destination without incident. Wiping the sweat off of his brow and letting out a small sigh of relief, he set about sorting and putting the groceries away into the family fridge.

His ears perked up as he heard the telltale sounds of bouncing. A warm smile etched itself onto his face as he turned around to greet his faithful and long time employee. “Hello, Pinkie.”

“Hi Mr. Cake!” she greeted him with a cheerful tone and her ever present bubbly personality. Just her presence alone could brighten up the entire room and anyone in it would have no choice but to smile along with her. Mr. Cake was pretty sure that her presence alone was a big attribute to the success of their modest bakery, making her irreplaceable. Not that he would ever replace Pinkie Pie, heavens forbid!

She bounced into the room, catching Mr. Cake off guard as she wrapped him in a tight hug. Her arms constricted around him, giving him almost no room to breathe, but he was used to her little antics from living under the same roof for years.

He just kept a smile on his face as he waited for her to release him. His eyes wandered around, and it eventually fell onto Pinkie’s cleavage that was only partially covered. Now Mr. Cake has always been loyal to his wife, but he was still just a stallion. Try as he might, he just couldn’t pull his eyes away from the perky breasts that were pressed right up against him. He could feel his cheeks light up, and he could feel his blood starting to rush down south.

Mr. Cake cleared his throat, and Pinkie released him immediately, with him landing rather painfully on his flank on the tiled floor. She had a sheepish grin on her face as she offered a hand to pull him back up.

While doing so, she had bent the upper half of her body, giving the stallion another unintentional peek of her breasts from her low cut blouse. The stallion stared for a little longer, before accepting the proffered hand before the situation could get awkward.

“I’m really sorry about that Mr. Cake.” Pinkie said in a small voice and an equally small smile. Mr. Cake blinked, and noted that she was dressed in a yellow blouse and a pink miniskirt. Mr Cake also noted that it was a really short miniskirt.

“No harm done, Pinkie.” He replied in a fatherly tone. He smiled at her, letting her know that he was perfectly fine. Pinkie could be rambunctious and overbearing at times, but she had always meant well, and Mr. Cake could never stay angry at her for long.

“Are you suuuure?” she asked, looking at him in mild concern.

“Yes, Pinkie. I’m sure.” Replied Carrot with a smile.

“Okay!” and with that, her usual bubbly demeanor returned, and she bounced around the stallion to where the ovens were located.

“Sorry about earlier, Mr. Cake! I just wanted to let you know how much you mean to me!”

“I know, Pinkie. I know.” Replied Mr. Cake has he resumed his duty of putting away the groceries.

She opened one of the ovens, no doubt checking on the baked goods that were inside if they were ready to be taken out or not.

The heavenly aroma that seeped out of the oven reached Carrot Cake’s nose, and he stopped what he was doing to ask what Pinkie was baking. That mare sure loved to experiment, and he was always looking to put something new on the menu to boost their sales.

What he saw made his eyes widen, his pupils shrunk into pinpricks and his jaw dropped.

Pinkie was bent over, her short miniskirt currently not covering anything. Mr. Cake could clearly see her white and pink striped panties that hugged her voluptuous buttocks snuggly, and her cutie mark of three balloons were in plain view. His eyes devoured the sight; from her well groomed tail and to the small ripples her butt made when she’d bounce lightly on the spot. Guess he knew where all the extra fat went.

Pinkie started humming a tune to herself, snapping Carrot Cake out of his trance. He tore his gaze from the sight, and mentally berated himself for allowing himself to succumb to his lecherous thoughts. He was a married stallion, for Celestia’s sake!

Still, his wife has been putting on a bit of weight lately, and she hasn’t been putting out nearly as often as she used to… and being so close to such an attractive and young mare such as Pinkie... He shook his head again, this time more violently until he started feeling dizzy.

He really needed to get his head out of the gutter. After he’d finish with his menial chores, he resolved into taking a cold shower. He loved his wife. He has two loving and beautiful children. He was happy. He was content.

Wasn’t he…?

~

A couple of hours and a cold shower later, Carrot found himself sitting on his shared bed, staring at the unique pocket watch that he had recently purchased. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it, but ever since he had laid his eyes on the object, he had found himself drawn to it, beckoning him to obtain it for himself.

Carrot mulled this thought over for a moment, but brushed it off and convinced himself that he was merely being paranoid. He turned his attention towards the pocket watch once more, and the voice of the cloaked mare rang inside his head once more. He knew it wasn’t true, of course, because if it really did what the mare said it’d do, then she wouldn’t have sold it to him in the first place.

Still, his curiosity only grew, and he decided to see it for himself. He heard the door open, and he turned to see his wife, looking no worse for wear. “Hi sweetie.” She greeted him in a warm voice.

“Hey Honeybunch.” He greeted in a tone usually reserved for his wife and children. She smiled, and sidled up next to him, the worn bed creaking loudly as she sat down next to him.

“What’ve you got there?” she asked, her voice laced with curiosity.

“Oh, just a little trinket that I had gotten from the market today.” Replied Carrot. He had purposefully avoided telling her the price of said trinket, for fairly obvious reasons.

“It looks pretty. And thank you, by the way, for doing the groceries today.” She said, giving him a small peck on the cheek.

“It was nothing.” Carrot replied with a warm smile and a light blush.

He gave his wife a once over. She had definitely gained weight over the years, but that would seem almost unavoidable due to her profession. Still, it wasn’t nearly enough to be considered fat in anyway. Just a little… pudgy.

She was wearing a blue top, matching her sea blue fur and a pair of simple jeans. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot from all the long hours of work and taking care of their daughter. Their son had decided that he had wanted to spend the summer in a flight camp in cloudsdale, in order to better himself in the art of flying, while their 15 year old daughter had decided to stay with them and help the family business.

Carrot and the rest of the family had missed him dearly, but no one was more affected by this than his wife. She’d write almost everyday, and would have a panic attack if he didn’t reply within a week. Carrot wasn’t as worried though. He knew and trusts his son to be independent enough to look after himself.

Carrot once again turned his attention towards the small pocket watch in his hands, and then towards his wife. It’s worth a shot he decided.

“Wanna take a closer look?” he asked his wife suddenly, to which she replied with a nod of her head.

He brought it up to her face, and clicked on the button.

“Oh dear, it seems to be broken.” Said the blue mare. Mr. Cake sighed in disappointment. He’d already expected this, of course, but he was still a little bummed out nonetheless. The prospect of making ponies do whatever you wanted sounded pretty cool.

“Why don’t you take it to Time Turner? I’m sure he’d know what to do with this thing.” She continued.

Now there’s an idea. thought Mr. Cake. He looked out the window and saw that the day was starting to get late, so he’d resolved to go pay the quirky stallion a visit tomorrow. “I’ll do that.” He said.

He tucked the pocket watch into a drawer in his nightstand, and got up off the bed to wish his daughter good night.

~

As he laid in bed, his mind couldn’t stop wandering back to the pocket watch tucked into his nightstand. Again, he could feel something calling out to him, only this time, he wasn’t completely sure it was just his paranoia. He eventually drifted off into slumber, wondering what the following day would entail. He would have to wait, as only time, will tell.