Soon the night had passed, and the sun slowly rose into the sky. It was now a lovely Monday morning in Multimedia, since yesterday was Sunday. At no later than seven, Pippi opened his eyes as he awoke. As he sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes, each of his four friends slowly woke up, too. Once they felt like they were ready for the day, the group of animals made their way down the bed and headed out of the bedroom.
Soon they were at the washroom, and they took turns brushing their teeth and washing their faces. Once all of them had completed these easy tasks, the 5BFF made their way to the kitchen, with Pippi leading the way. They bid Luigi a good morning once they'd gotten there, and soon they were all having breakfast together. Luigi had made himself some golden brown waffles with a hint of maple syrup, while Pippi and his friends each had a bowl of cereal with some cool milk.
"I was thinking today we could look for a job in town," Pippi said to Luigi.
"That's a good idea," Luigi replied.
"Where do you think we should start?" Annika wanted to know.
"This town must be pretty big, so there's probably lots and lots of places to work at," Tommy said.
Luigi thought for a moment as he tried to come up with a potential job site for his five animal friends. He knew this town did have a lot of different places to apply for jobs, so at first he didn't know where to start. Soon, however, an idea came to him.
"There's a bakery close to where a couple of my friends work, and I saw a Looking for Work sign the last time I was there," said Luigi. "Why don't you apply there?"
"Hey, that's a great idea!" Willie said. The smiles on Pippi, Tommy, Annika and Anna's faces implied that they agreed. "We'll see what we can do."
When everyone had finished their breakfasts, the 5BFF headed out of the mansion, saying goodbye to Luigi as they did. They headed straight into town, letting nothing distract them along the way. Luckily, by the time they'd arrived at their destination, the bakery had just opened for the day.
Pippi pushed the door open and let his friends follow him into the building. At the cashier stood a little furry creature that was mostly brown in color, as brown as peanut butter. That being said, its neck and the tip of its tail was a much lighter brown in color - so light brown, in fact, that it looked more like a vanilla yellow - and it had shining blue eyes. Close to the bottom of one of its ears was a brown bow, one with an equally brown chocolate chip cookie bead in the middle. (She was an Eevee, a Pokemon, but neither Pippi nor his friends knew that; they only assumed it was an animal that was similar to both a cat and a dog.)
"Why, hello there!" The creature greeted them in a friendly female voice. "Welcome to the Multimedia bakery. How can I help you?"
"Well, my name is Pippi, and these are my friends: Tommy, Annika, Anna and Willie," Pippi introduced himself as well as his friends. "We were wondering if you were looking for work."
"As a matter of fact, I am," said the creature. "My name is Eve Eevee, but you can call me Eve. I'm the owner of this bakery, and I could use some extra bakers, plus some folks who can decorate our delicious cookies and cupcakes before someone buys them. I just ask that you work here from Monday to Friday every week, from nine AM until five PM."
"That sounds like just the job for us!" Tommy said.
"I'm glad you're interested," Eve said. "We're currently selling cookies for thirty-five cents each, muffins for forty cents each, and cupcakes for fifty cents each. Sometimes we get orders for larger cakes, but those are commissioned, and the prices for those are decided by the person placing the order. But in bulk, we sell groups of three cookies for 99 cents each, or groups of four cupcakes for a dollar and 75 cents, or groups of ten cookies for three dollars. Those are just the minimum prices, by the way."
"That sounds good to me," Willie said with a nod of understanding.
"And how much would you pay us if we did a good job?" asked Anna.
"For every dollar you make, no matter what you sell, you'll each earn six cents from that dollar," Eve answered. "I'll keep the remaining 70 cents, but I'll pay all of you at the end of the day depending on how much money you've made. And whenever someone comes in and asks for an order, I'll let you know what they want so you can begin baking. Oh, and don't worry about washing the dishes; I have a working dishwasher, so all the plates that we serve our treats on can be washed and dried there, and in less than ten minutes, too. So would you like to get started today?"
"Sure!" said Pippi.
"Oh, excellent!" Eve said with a smile. "Thank you so much!"
Soon Pippi and his friends were in the kitchen of the bakery. All of them had put on some aprons and some small chef's hats; Pippi, Tommy and Willie wore pale blue aprons, while Annika and Anna wore pale pink aprons. All of them had baked before - Pippi's friends, in particular, had once made Pippi a delicious vanilla cake for his birthday - so they were hoping this wouldn't be too hard.
Their first order was to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies, since Eve had sold her last few of that kind of cookie prior to the 5BFF's arrival. Tommy and Anna added the right amount of each ingredient to two separate mixing bowls, and then Pippi and Annika stirred the mixtures until they had become batter. Then Willie brought out a tray that had been layered with a baking sheet, and the five took turns scooping a mound of batter onto the tray. They repeated this until the last of the batter had been added - at that point there were sixteen cookies on the tray - and they made sure not to place the mounds too close together so they wouldn't get stuck to one another.
That was when Pippi put on some oven mitts and placed the tray into the preheated oven (there were two of them in the kitchen of this bakery). He then set a timer for thirty minutes, and from there the 5BFF waited for the cookies to bake.
"So there's sixteen cookies that are baking in the oven right now," Pippi said, in case any of his friends had forgotten.
"Since the cookies are thirty-five cents each, how much will we make if we sell all of them?" Tommy wanted to know.
Willie thought for a moment before he'd come up with the answer. "I'd say about five dollars and sixty cents. And if we sell them all, we'll each earn thirty cents if we don't count what Eve takes from us."
"Cool!" Anna's eyes lit up as she smiled.
"That's only if all of them are sold, though," Annika pointed out. "It could be a while before anyone buys one of them, let alone sixteen of them."
Anna's smile disappeared, but she was only mildly disappointed at worst. "Okay, not as cool, but still cool." That was when they heard the voice of their boss again.
"Could you guys make a batch of nine muffins next?" Eve asked. "We still haven't gotten our first customer, but I just remembered we need some more cinnamon muffins, too."
"Okay!" Pippi and Annika said with a nod of understanding.
From there, Pippi and his friends went through the baking process again, adding the ingredients, applying two teaspoons of cinnamon, and stirring until the batter was formed. That was when Anna pulled out a muffin-baking tin, one that had enough for nine muffins, and each section had a muffin wrapper inside of it. Each of the 5BFF took turns adding the batter to the tin, being as careful as possible and making sure each section had the same amount. Then this tin was placed in the second oven, and Pippi set a second timer for twenty-five minutes.
As the gang was waiting for the muffins to cook, the timer that they'd set for the cookies went off. Pippi put on some oven mitts and brought the tray out of the oven. A sweet baked aroma filled the air as each one of the cookies were placed upon a cooling rack.
"It's too bad we're not supposed to eat these. I bet they taste as good as they smell!" Tommy said, and his friends laughed in agreement.
Eve came into the room to check on their work, and a smile was quick to appear on her face.
"You five are doing an excellent job," said Eve. "How are the muffins coming along?"
"We set a timer for them a few minutes ago," said Pippi. "They won't be ready for another twenty minutes."
"But we did get the cookies out of the oven," Willie added.
"You know, it's funny you say that," said Eve. "Just before I came in here, I saw three little girls come in here. They wanted to eat here, and they made an order for nine cookies in bulk!"
"Oh, goody!" Annika was filled with joy that they'd finally gotten some customers.
"I'll go serve the cookies to them," Pippi decided. He turned to his friends, "Would you guys keep an eye on the timer while I'm busy?"
"Of course, Pippi!" Annika said with a nod, and Tommy, Anna and Willie nodded in agreement.
Pippi brought out a clean plate and a spatula, the latter of which he used to place nine of the cookies onto the plate. Once all of them were on it, he picked up the plate and brought it out of the kitchen.
Out in the dining room of the bakery were three human girls. The first girl had light skin and brown hair in three pigtails, and wore a pink jumper, blue pants and light blue sneakers. The second girl had darker skin and black hair, and wore a light blue dress that was covered with dark blue dots, along with blue pants and blue slip-on shoes without socks. And the third girl, taller than the other two but no older, had blonde hair with little red barrettes, and wore a blue top, an orange skirt with red leggings, green socks, and black and yellow sneakers. They were all waiting at a table together, and Pippi made his way over to them before putting the plate of cookies down in front of them.
"Here are your cookies. That'll be $2.97, please," said Pippi. With appreciative smiles on their faces, each of the girls reached behind their backs, pulled out a dollar and handed it to Pippi, who thanked them. "Thank you!"
As the girls began to eat, Pippi headed back over to the register where Eve was. He handed her the money, and she smiled as she put the dollars in the register. Pippi returned to the kitchen just as the other timer went off, and Anna put on the oven mitts before taking the muffins out of the oven.
"If we sell all of these muffins, too, we'll make around three dollars and sixty cents," Willie said. "That's about an extra eighteen cents for each of us."
Anna could smell the sweet scent of the muffins as she carefully took each one out of the tin, taking care not to burn her fingertips.
"Hey, kids?" Eve called, "someone asked for a chocolate chip cookie and a cinnamon muffin. Could one of you bring them to him?"
"I'll do it!" Annika said, raising her hand.
She placed one of the seven remaining cookies on a plate along with a muffin, and then she picked up the plate and brought it with her out of the kitchen. As the rabbit went to the dining room, she could see the customer, a light blue cat who wore a yellow top and slightly darker blue pants, waiting at one of the tables.
"Here's your food," Annika said as she placed the plate on his table. "Seventy five cents, please."
"Okay, thanks." The cat reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar. "Keep the change."
"Thank you very much," Annika replied with a smile.
As the cat tucked into his cookie and his muffin, Annika could see that the three girls who had requested their cookies earlier had left. But she didn't really acknowledge that; she just brought her dollar over to Eve, and she placed it in the register for later. Then Annika went back into the kitchen, where she saw Pippi, Willie, Anna and Tommy mixing another bowl of batter.
"Whatcha doing?" Annika asked, although she could tell what they were doing.
"Eve asked us to make some vanilla cupcakes next," said Tommy.
"Why don't you decorate them once they're done baking?" Willie asked.
Annika's eyes lit up. "Hey, that's a great idea! I love decorating cupcakes."
"So do we," Pippi replied in agreement. "And maybe we can take turns while we're at it."
It was clear that Annika thought that was a good idea, too. When her friends were done mixing the batter, she helped pour it into a cupcake tin. Unlike the muffin tin, this one had room for sixteen cupcakes rather than nine, though there was still a colorful cupcake wrapper in each one. Then she handed the tray to Willie, who placed them in the oven as Tommy set a timer for thirty minutes.
"Oh, kids~!" Eve sang a bit, and the 5BFF turned their heads to look at her. "Three little ponies have ordered six chocolate chip cookies in bulk!"
"Looks like we'll have to make some more cookies after that," Anna acknowledged, but then she chuckled.
Willie brought out three plates and placed two cookies on each one. Then he handed one plate to Pippi, one to Annika and one to Tommy. As they headed out of the kitchen, Willie and Anna stayed behind to watch the cupcakes bake.
Indeed, the dog, the duck and the rabbit could see the three ponies who must have been around six years old in human years, sitting at one of the tables as they headed into the dining room. There was a yellow pony with a red mane and tail who wore a dark pink bow on her head, as well as an orange Pegasus pony with wings as orange as her coat and a purple mane and tail. Between them was a white unicorn who had a purple and pink mane and tail.
Pippi, Tommy and Annika brought their plates to those ponies, with Pippi setting his plate down in front of the yellow pony, Annika setting hers down in front of the unicorn, and Tommy setting his plate down in front of the orange pony.
"That'll be about… $1.98, I think?" said Tommy.
"Thank you!" the ponies thanked them in unison and made their payments.
The white and orange ponies each handed them a dollar, while the yellow pony handed them a quarter instead, most likely as a tip, though he wasn't quite sure. What mattered, however, was that they were able to pay for what they'd asked for, so Pippi collected the two dollars and the quarter to save his two friends the trouble. As Tommy and Annika returned to the kitchen, the puppy gave the payment to Eve to put in the register. The light blue cat from earlier was no longer there; he'd finished his cookie and muffin a few minutes ago and had now left.
"Timer's still ticking," Willie said, checking the timer. "And we've still got eight cinnamon muffins left over."
"I wonder who's going to want them," said Pippi.
"Alright, kids," Eve called, as if on cue, "your next order is for two cinnamon muffins for two little girls!"
Pippi smiled. "Looks like I didn't have to ask twice," he said with a laugh.
"And could you four make a batch of sugar cookies while you're at it?" Eve then asked the 4BFF, and they all nodded.
"Could you guys take care of that for me? I'd really like to decorate the cupcakes when they're ready," Annika said.
"Sure, Annika," Willie said. "But remember, Pippi said we could take turns."
"I understand," said Annika with a nod.
So Willie and Anna began to add the ingredients to a mixing bowl. As they did, Pippi placed two cinnamon muffins on a plate that he then brought out of the kitchen. As he headed into the dining room, he could see two little girls waiting at the table. One girl had brown hair with a small ponytail on the side of her head and wore a light green dress, while the other girl had short, brownish-blonde hair and wore a private school uniform.
"That'll be 80 cents, please," Pippi said, putting the plate down on the table.
"Thank you so much!" the girl in the green dress said with a smile. The girl in the school uniform handed Pippi a dollar, smiling to thank him, and the puppy brought it over to Eve. The two girls each picked up a muffin and began to eat, one small bite and about ten chews at a time.
Just as Pippi came back into the kitchen, the timer went off, signaling that the cupcakes were ready to be taken out of the oven.
"Goody!" Annika quickly put on some oven mitts and took the cupcake tin out of the oven. Then she set them on the table to cool, just as Willie brought a tray that held twenty mounds of cream-colored batter to the oven. He set that inside, then set the timer for thirty minutes. By that point, the two little girls whom they'd served their muffins were gone.
Annika could see there were a variety of decorating materials, all of which were edible, that she could use to decorate these cupcakes. With a pastry bag that was filled with a pastel pink buttercream icing, she squeezed a big swirl of delicious icing onto one of the cupcakes, then onto another. Pippi walked over to her, deciding to help her as he picked up a pastry bag that had a blue icing rather than pink icing. The two applied the sweet stuff to the cupcakes together, humming a couple of cheerful tunes to themselves, and once all of them had been iced, they put down the pastry bags and looked over at the sprinkles.
Annika added some little red, white and pink heart sprinkles to some of the cupcakes, regardless of whether it had pink or blue frosting. Likewise, Pippi added some little yellow star sprinkles to the ones she'd missed. However, at one point they found they'd accidentally applied heart and star sprinkles to the same cupcake - but they just laughed over their little mistake and applied some heart and star sprinkles to a couple of other cupcakes as well.
Just as Pippi and Annika had finished decorating all sixteen of the cupcakes, Eve announced that four new customers had requested four cinnamon muffins, meaning that only two of the muffins the 5BFF had baked would be left over. Willie placed the four muffins on a large plate, and then Anna picked it up and brought it out of the kitchen. The four customers were two rabbits, one blue and one pink, and two blue kittens who were about the same shade of blue as the blue rabbit. Anna placed the plate down in front of them, and they each smiled and handed her a dollar as they thanked her one after the other.
As Anna walked away from the table, she held her four dollars in her hands, a big smile on her face. If only Eve could let her and her friends keep these dollars, their yearly earnings in their joint savings account could be increased by four cents… The more money they could earn per year, the better, she thought.
But Anna did the right thing and handed the dollars to Eve, and she placed them in the register as well. By the time the orange raccoon had returned to the kitchen, Tommy had taken the sugar cookies out of the oven, making sure to wear some oven mitts as he did.
"These cookies sure smell yummy," Annika acknowledged, and Tommy nodded in agreement. The rabbit began to apply some vanilla buttercream icing to each of the cookies, while the duck added some rainbow confetti sprinkles to the cookies once the icing was there.
"Hey, kids!" Eve called. "We've got an order for four cupcakes for four people."
"Allow me," Willie said, raising his hand.
He placed four of the sixteen cupcakes - two with pink frosting and two with blue frosting - on a plate, and then handed the plate to Pippi. He brought it with him out of the kitchen and into the dining room. There he could see four customers - a light blue moose with two light yellow antlers, one of which was upside down while the other was right side up; a yellow sponge with eyes as blue as the moose next to him; a male plumber who must have been Luigi's brother Mario that he'd told the 5BFF about the day before, and a girl with black hair in two pigtails and purple and blue glasses.
"Here are your cupcakes. That'll be $1.75, please," said Pippi.
With appreciative smiles upon their faces, each of the customers thanked him one after the other, and then they reached into their pockets to pay him. Only the moose and the plumber pulled out a dollar, however; the sponge and girl pulled out a quarter instead. Regardless, Pippi thanked them and took the dollars and quarters with him as he walked away from the table. He gave the money to Eve and headed back into the kitchen.
"They must have been really happy to try our cupcakes if they paid us extra, even with the bulk deals this place provides," Pippi said, and Annika and Tommy nodded in agreement.
That was when Pippi realized something, however; he'd had an opportunity to greet Luigi's brother and he'd missed it. Pippi put his hand to his forehead in dismay.
"Dog darn it!" he said to himself, but all four of his friends heard and turned to look at him in concern.
"What's the matter, Pippi?" Annika wanted to know.
"I think I saw Luigi's brother, and I had the perfect chance to say hi to him. But I didn't say hi to him!" said Pippi.
"Excuse me, Pippi?" Eve called, and Pippi turned to look at her. "One of our customers wanted to speak with you real quick."
"Really?" Pippi asked.
Eve stepped aside, and the plumber Pippi had just served walked over to him. He looked very similar to Luigi, wearing a hat, a shirt, some overalls, some boots and having a mustache as well as blue eyes. Unlike Luigi, however, his mustache looked a bit different, and his hat and shirt were red rather than green.
"Excuse me, are you Pippi?" And as he spoke, he also had an Italian accent, though it was one that was much higher in pitch than Luigi's.
"Yeah, that's me," Pippi said with a nod. "It's really nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you, too, Pippi. My name's Mario," the plumber replied. As he said that, Pippi could feel a smile of wonder appearing on his face. "My brother Luigi called me last night and told me about you."
"H-he did?" Pippi couldn't believe it.
"I just wanted to say, I'm glad I got the chance to meet you. You seem like a really nice puppy, and your friends seem really nice, too."
"Gee, thanks. And believe me, they are," replied Pippi. "Did you like the cupcakes?"
"Oh, yeah," said Mario, "they were absolutely delicious!"
The 5BFF smiled widely. In spite of all of the treats they'd served just today, this was the first time one of their customers had genuinely complimented them.
"Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed them!" said Pippi. "And thanks for coming to our bakery."
"Of course, little guys," Mario replied. "I hope you all have a good day."
"We hope you have a good day, too," Pippi replied.
With that, Mario made his way out of the bakery, and the 5BFF waved goodbye to him as they watched him go. They could see that the three friends he'd brought had already left, but they didn't mind. At least they could meet them another day.
"I'm so glad we got to meet him after all, Pippi," said Annika.
"Me too," Pippi replied, breathing a sigh of relief. "Maybe later we can get to know more of the people who live in this town." He could tell that his friends were agreeing with his idea.
That was when Eve announced another order: a family of four had requested the last two cinnamon muffins, as well as two cupcakes. With that, Tommy placed the remaining muffins and two of the twelve cupcakes on a plate, and then Pippi picked up the plate and carried it out of the kitchen. He headed over to the table where the family was sitting and placed the plate on their table. The family consisted of a yellow-skinned girl with a ponytail, an orange-skinned boy with blue hair that covered his eyes, and their yellow-skinned mother and father.
"That'll be $1.80, please," said Pippi.
"Oh, thank you so much," the mother said with a grateful smile.
She handed him two dollars, and Pippi brought them to the register so he could hand those dollars to Eve. As he watched her open the register to place the two dollars inside, however, he heard the father's voice call him.
"Excuse me, sir?"
With that, Pippi turned back around and headed back to the table. "Is something wrong?"
"No, we just wanted to say that these are simply delicious," the father said.
"Yeah, this cupcake tastes really good," the daughter replied in agreement.
"Thanks, I'm glad you like them," Pippi said with a smile. "Me and my friends made them ourselves."
"Cool!" said the son.
"Anyway, we wanted to reward you with a tip," the father went on. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a dollar and a quarter, which he handed to Pippi. "Here you are."
"Wow, thank you!" Pippi said, happily accepting the dollar and quarter. "That's very thoughtful of you. I've got to tell Eve about this!" With that, he brought the tip over to Eve, and he held it for her to see. "Eve, what should we do if we receive a tip from our customers?"
"Oh, you earned a tip?" Eve asked, and Pippi nodded. "Wonderful! I'll keep all the tips for you and distribute them with you and your friends by the end of the day."
"Great!" With that, Pippi handed his dollar and quarter to her, and Eve put them in the register. That was when Pippi made his way back into the kitchen. "Hey, guys, guess what?"
"What?" the remaining 4BFF asked.
"As it turns out, Eve told us that we can receive tips from our customer," Pippi said. "And we get to keep every cent from our tips!"
"Wow!" Annika and Willie said in unison.
"Cool!" Anna and Tommy said, also in unison.
They didn't have much time to celebrate that, however; Eve came into the kitchen with a couple more orders.
"Hey, guys? You've got two more orders. A family of five otters just asked for ten sugar cookies, two for each one, and a family of four raccoons asked for four cupcakes."
"Oh, okay," said Pippi. He turned to look at his friends. "Why don't I serve the otters, and one of you can serve the raccoons?"
"I'll do it," Annika said, raising her hand.
With that, Willie used a spatula to place ten sugar cookies on a large plate, and then Pippi carried it into the dining room. As they did, Anna placed four cupcakes on another plate, taking care only to touch the sides of each cupcake to prevent any of the frosting from getting on her fingers. Once all four of them were there, Annika picked up the plate and carried that into the dining room as well. Indeed, there was a family of five otters - a mother, a father, a son and two daughters, one of which was a toddler while the other one was closer in age to the son - and a family of four raccoons - a mother, a father, a son and a daughter - waiting at two different tables. They headed over to them, with Pippi placing his plate of cookies on the otters' table and Annika placing her plate of cupcakes on the raccoons' table.
"That'll be three dollars, please," Pippi said to the otters; the mother and one of the daughters were purple in color, while the father was blue, the son was red, and the toddler daughter was yellow.
"$1.75, please," Annika said to the light blue raccoons. The daughter of them had a pink bow on her head, while the son of them had fur that looked more gray than blue.
The three otter children, including the toddler, each handed Pippi a dollar, while each of the raccoon children handed Annika a dollar. It was these five dollars that the puppy and the bunny brought to Eve so she could put them in the register. Then they headed back into the kitchen.
As they got there, Pippi checked the time. About four-forty-five in the afternoon. They were already less than half an hour away from the end of their shift, but there was just enough time for one more order.
"Hey, kids!" Eve called. "Six ponies just asked for six cupcakes, and four more customers asked for eight sugar cookies."
"Come to think of it, that's the last of our cupcakes AND the last of our cookies!" Pippi acknowledged. "But at least we'll be able to make more tomorrow."
Tommy placed the remaining six cupcakes on a plate, taking care not to get any of the frosting on his wingtips, and Anna picked up the plate and brought it into the dining room. Meanwhile, Pippi used the spatula to place the remaining eight sugar cookies on another plate, and then Willie picked up the plate and brought it into the dining room as well.
The family of otters and the family of raccoons had departed. Anna went over to the table where the six ponies were sitting. They were a purple winged unicorn with purple and pink hair; a blue Pegasus with rainbow hair; a light pink pony with pink hair like cotton candy; a white unicorn with purple hair; an orange pony with yellow hair and a brown cowboy hat; and a light yellow Pegasus with pink hair. At the same time, Willie went over to the table where the four customers were sitting. They consisted of an anthropomorphic car that was light purple in color, the blue moose from earlier today, and two elderly blue moose that must have been the moose's parents.
"That'll be three dollars, please," Anna said to the ponies.
"Two dollars and 80 cents, please," Willie said to the three moose as well as the car.
The ponies thanked Anna, with the two unicorns levitating three dollar bills into her view with the magic from their glowing horns, and she thanked them as well as she took the dollars. The younger moose, on the other hand, pulled out three dollars from his wallet and handed them to Willie. With that, Willie and Anna took their money over to Eve so she could put them in the register.
That being said, Willie noticed something familiar about the moose. He thought he may have seen one of them before, but he couldn't put his finger on it. That being said, he and Anna headed back into the kitchen, and only a few minutes later, the clock reached five in the afternoon. An alarm sounded; the daily shift was over.
"Alright, kids, we're finished! You can take off those hats and aprons now!" Eve said, coming into the kitchen.
The 5BFF all breathed a sigh of relief and took off their chef's hats. These hats went on one of the racks, and then they untied their aprons and placed them on the rack as well.
"By the way, I have some great news for you."
"Kids, do you remember earlier when I said I would give you six cents for every dollar you made?" Eve asked.
"Yeah, I do," Pippi replied with a nod.
"Me too," said Annika.
"Well," Eve went on, "now I realized, I pretty much underestimated your work. In other words, I was only kidding. Starting today, you five won't be earning only six cents for every dollar you earn."
"We won't?" Tommy looked a bit confused.
"No. For every dollar you earn from selling our products, all of you will each be earning…" Eve paused a bit, probably for dramatic effect, before finally finishing, "Eight cents!"
"And since you've made 25 dollars including $1.25 in tips from selling our treats, today I'm going to pay you a total of…" Another pause. "Ten dollars, with two dollars for each of you!"
Pippi and each one of his friends smiled widely when they heard the news. That was when Eve produced ten one-dollar bills, handing two of those dollars to each of the five members of the group. As they kept their smiles, the 5BFF thanked her, promising to come back tomorrow, and with that, they placed their dollars in their pockets and made their way out of the bakery. By that point the six ponies as well as the three moose and the car had already left, so Eve could close the bakery for the day.
Along the way, the animals stopped at the Multimedia Bank, with Pippi greeting the bank-teller once they'd arrived. Although it was five in the afternoon, the bank wouldn't close for another half-hour, so each of the animals added to their savings. They each handed her a dollar from their pockets - first Pippi, then Tommy, then Annika, then Anna, and finally Willie - and kept their remaining dollar for themselves, leaving them safe in their pockets. The bank-teller took their five dollars and thanked them for their deposits, saying that they were now up to 105 dollars. Only 364 days until they would earn their annual percentage yield.
With that, the 5BFF made their way out of the bank and back to Luigi's mansion, all proud of themselves for earning as much money as they had. As soon as they'd arrived home, they told Luigi about their first day at the bakery, and it was clear Luigi was happy for them.
As a little reward for their hard work, Luigi prepared them a homemade pepperoni pizza for dinner. It was delicious, and although he'd cut the rather large pizza into twelve slices prior to serving it, each member of the 5BFF found themselves eating two slices. Pippi decided to let Luigi have the remaining two slices for himself, however, and he was happy to thank them.
After dinner, Tommy and Annika offered to clear the table, and since they had some extra time before they had to go to bed, Pippi, Willie and Anna washed the dishes. They hadn't really done much here compared to yesterday, anyway. They took their time applying soap to the plates and rubbing them with their sponges, before rinsing them off and watching the stains disappear.
By around eight, every one of the plates they'd cleaned were spotless, and some even sparkled or gleamed in the rays of the lights above. It was these dishes that Pippi put away in the cupboard, and then he and his friends washed their hands before drying them off. That being said, Pippi found himself yawning quietly into his hand, and he could see that Annika was rubbing her eyes as well. They'd had a long day, and it was time for them to get some rest so they could prepare for tomorrow's day of work.
With that, the 5BFF headed through the halls and into the spare bedroom, the same one they'd slept in the day before. Luigi came in to tuck them in, making sure they were warm and comfortable beneath the blankets.
"Good night, Pippi, and good night, kids," said Luigi.
"Good night, Luigi," Pippi and his friends replied in unison.
Luigi switched off the light, filling the room with darkness, and quietly made his way out of the bedroom. The 5BFF slowly drifted off into a peaceful sleep, with quite a few happy dreams running through their heads.