The Caper of the Sad Pony
"Is she alright?"
Ms. Cake shook her head. "She hasn't come out of her room for three days." She sighed and looked out the window. "Some ponies just don't know how to be nice, even though she's different."
Mr. Cake sighed too, and followed her gaze. "But she has friends. Surely they must be worried about her?" He asked his wife.
Ms. Cake shrugged. "I guess not. I mean, I thought she had a nice couple of friends that showed up to her birthday party earlier this week, but when I called them up yesterday, they said they were all busy."
"She needs to find a friend. She needs someone she can talk to all the time, when she gets down like this for no apparent reason." Mr. Cake said, turning back into the shop.
Ms. Cake thought for a moment. 'Someone she can talk to... maybe...' "How about a pet?"
Mr. Cake turned to her just as he opened one of their many ovens. "A pet?"
"Well, yes! I had a darling little puppy when I was a child, and he taught me all sorts of things, ad always listened when I needed him too!"
Mr. Cake pulled out the three trays of cupcakes with his mouth before he spat out the hot plate mit and spoke again. "That would be a wonderful idea, but I'm allergic to dogs. And even then, I don't want anything with fur running around the shop, or even just in Pinkie Pies room. We work hard to keep from getting hair into the food, a pet would make that almost impossible, they shed like mad."
Ms. Cake thought again. "Then what about a fish? It would stay in her room all day, in it's own water tank."
Mr. Cake thought for a moment on that, considering the possibility. "Well, I don't see a problem with it. Except that the pet store in town recently ran out of fish."
"Then why don't we send Pinkie Pie down to the river nearby? There are all sorts of fish in there, and a few turtles too! She can pick out one on her own!" Ms. Cake smiled.
"We'd have to make sure at least one of us is here to tend to the shop." Mr. Cake said, begining to mix another batch of cupcakes.
"Not a problem! We'll let her do it on her own. She needs some time outside, maybe some time to gather her own thoughts." She smiled, clopping her hooves together.
"I suppose it's alright. But it's your job to get her out of there. I have to fill this order for Mayor Mare's family gathering she's having tomorrow evening, and I have quite a few more batches of red velvet cupcakes to make." He said, turning on the electric mixer.
"Okay!" Ms. Cake smiled. She pulled her apron off, and hung it on the wall before heading toward the door.
"Hey, where are you going? She's upstairs." He said, watching the mixture and her carefully.
"I'm going to go get her a net and a fish tank that will fit in her saddlebag so she can go catch a new friend!" She smiled to her husbund, before she grabbed her small purse and left Sugarcube Corner.
KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK
"Pinkie Pie~! Can I come in?"
The pink pony lightly tossed the pillow that had been, until this point, lying on top of her face. Her bright blue eyes looked over to the door, just as Ms. Cake walked in with a flat, circular, glass fishtank, and a finely woven net on a wooden pole.
"Pinkie? Mr. Cake and I have been thinking that maybe you should get out of the house, just for a little while at least."
Pinkie Pie only blinked as she looked at her through half open eyes.
"I went out and got you some fishing supplies, why don't you go out to the river and find a fish? Then you can put it in the bowl and take it back here to keep! What do you say? It'll just be you and the water." She smiled, trying to get her to leave the house.
Pinkie Pie looked up at the ceiling for a moment, and Ms. Cake thought she saw a flash of thought go through Pinkies eyes. "Okay." The first thing she said since she'd hidden herself in her room. "Let me get my bag." Pinkie Pie rolled off her bed, and walked over to the closet. She put it on and Ms. Cake slid the fishbowl in one side and the net in the other. "When do you want me back?" Still no excitement though to anything she said.
Ms. Cake smiled. "Whenever you'd like. You can even go out tomorrow if you don't catch anything today."
Pinkie Pie nodded wordlessly, and trotted slowly out of Sugarcube corner.
"She doesn't look to excited about it." Mr. Cake said, putting in three pans of cupcake batter.
Ms. Cake walked over to where she'd hung her apron, grabbed it then put it on. "Maybe not, but at least she's doing something."
Pinkie Pie walked wordlessly through the bight afternoon. Her face was blank and vacant, as if thinking about something else besides fishing. But she wasn't thinking of anything. Nothing at all, just watching her pink hooves move one after the other on the dirt path she now walked on that led to the river.
The bright blue river was wide, but went off into the distance as far as the eye could see. The shores of the river were lined with lush green grass, which was higher in some places than in others.
Looking down into the depths, one would see fish of many different colors, swimming happily and in the most carefree manner.
Pinkie Pie reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the fish tank, and filled it with water from the river. She set it down on the riverbank as she sat, then pulled the net from her bag, and set it down in front of her, then looked back at the water.
That was when something caught her eye. Something almost completely out of her range of vision, but still there. At the bottom of the river sat a small, glimmering object. Pinkie couldn't make out what it was. She grabbed her net and trotted into the river, enough to see what the object was. It was a stone about the size of a baseball, perfectly rounded by the water that had been rushing around it for some time.
But when Pinkie Pie touched it with her hoof, she found it was somewhat soft. Pinkie blinked and watched the soft stone closely, only to see it move. At first she thought it was the water moving, then she saw it move. It moved out of where it was previously settled, and began to float slowly downriver. Pinkie Pie quickly grabbed it in the net, and pulled it out of the water. She walked back up on land, watching the object still move and writhe. Placing it in the fishbowl, she tossed the net aside and watched as the object continued to move, like something was inside it.
"An egg?" Pinkie Pie asked nothing as it continued to move.
POP
The soft noise radiated through the small amount of water, as a green scaled, clawed limb busted through the "shell".
"It is an egg!" Pinkie Pie felt her spirits lift for the first time in days as another green limb clawed its way through the soft shell. The two limbs that were out began to scratch at the rest of the shell, and tore enough off for two more limbs to come through, as well as a tail. Pinkie Pie watched in awe, waiting for the head of the little creature, she'd never seen anything like this! The limbs on the top, the arms, clawed at the top of the egg, and allowed a big enough hole for a small green snout to poke through, followed by the rest of the head. The eyes were shut, as was the jaw, and Pinkie Pie could hear it making some odd noises.
"What's wrong? Common, just open your eyes!" Pinkie Pie watched as one eye cracked open, then slammed shut and the creature made a small whimper. Pinkie Pie tilted her head, then realized something. 'The water is hurting it!' Pinkie Pie quickly tipped over the fish tank, and all the water spilled out, but the little creature stayed inside. She immediately regretted it, seeing the small creature on its back. "Oh no!" Pinkie Pie immediately panicked, but it was unneeded. As she continued to watch, she saw the tail of the little animal move about wildly, until it had put itself on all fours. That was when it opened it's eyes.
Its eyes were bright purple, just as bright as the purple frosting they used to frost cakes back at the shop! Its pupils were small black slits,with several darker purple lines spoking out from them to the outer edge of the eye. Pinkie Pie found it mesmerizing. The creature walked out, a bit unsteadily and using its tail mostly for balance, then it looked up at Pinkie Pie, shell still around most of its body.
"Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie! Whats yours?" Pinkie Pie smiled, sitting down in front of the creature.
The little creature blinked one eye, then the other. Then it blinked again, but blinked both eyes at the same time. It made no sound.
"Okay, well how about I take the rest of your shell off?" Pinkie Pie bent down carefully, and easily pulled off the soft wet shell off the small creature. At that, Pinkie Pie saw that along its back were rows of soft spikes, running the length of the little animal.
"Maybe you're hungry! I know sometimes babies don't cry when they're hungry. Or, maybe I have it wrong, maybe they do cry... I know! Why don't you just tell me your hungry?"
The small green animal lifted its left front foot, then switched its tail twice.
"Okay, okay! Common, lets take you to the pet shop! I'll bet the owner will know just what you are!" She gently picked up the scaly creature in her mouth, and placed it in her saddlebag, where it proceeded to stick its head and arms out from under the flap. "You're so cute!" Pinkie Pie then ran off to town.
Pinkie Pie galloped until she reached a shop with a wooden sign painted with a white dog bone that read "Pet Shoppe" above the doorway.
When Pinkie Pie entered, a bell above the door rang, alerting the owner to her arrival. The pony, an older colt with a light blue coat and grey mane with a dog bone for a cutie mark, approached her. "Why, hello Pinkie Pie! Ms. Cake was in here not too long ago getting some things for you. She told me you weren't doing so well, but you look just fine now!" He smiled.
"Oh yes, I found this little guy by the river!" Pinkie Pie grabbed the small green animal by the back of its neck, and held it out.
"Bring it over here, to the table." The colt pointed with his hoof to a small table at the back of the shop. Pinkie Pie trotted over and set it down, where the old colt looked at it carefully.
"What kinda animal is it, Mr. Barkley?" Pinkie Pie asked, not taking her eyes off the little creature.
"It looks to be an alligator." He looked it over a bit more. "A male one at that. I have never seen an alligator around Ponyville before, where did you find him?"
"Oh, I was going fishing, but then I saw a shiny rock in the water, then I looked closer at it, then it moved! So I pulled it out with the net, and this little guy poped out!"
"Where did you go? To the river?" Pinkie nodded. "Hm, yes alligators don't do well in river water like the river you found him in." Mr. Barkley explained, watching as he blinked slowly.
"Why's that?" Pinkie asked.
"That river runs through the Everfree forest, and the soil of the Everfree forest is livid with sodium, or salt. Alligators are mostly found in freshwater, where the salt content is at a minimum." He paused. "In fact, the closest freshwater source is about thirty miles south of here, because of the Everfree forests high salt content in the water."
"So what does that mean?" Pinkie asked.
"It means that you saved this little guys life."
Pinkie Pie blinked in surprise and looked at the little alligator. Then he did something she hadn't seen him do before. He smiled. But he had no teeth, only pink gums.
"Hm, that's odd, he has no teeth. But the river has nothing to do with that..." Mr. Barkley shrugged. "He'll need a different diet then." Mr. Barkley walked over to a bookshelf and pulled a book from it.
"Different diet?" Pinkie Pie turned.
"Yes, Pinkie Pie. You see, alligators normally eat meat. Since this one has no teeth, you'll need to feed him soft food." He looked at her over his shoulder. "That is, if you intend to keep him. You did save him, after all."
Pinkie Pie looked at the small green lizard, who offered another toothless smile. "Ms. Cake did say I was supposed to get a pet..." She murmured. "Yes, I'm keeping him!"
Mr. Barkley smiled, and brought over a book. "This book has all kinds of facts on alligators, though it doesn't say anything about what to feed him in there. I would say anything soft, so he doesn't hurt his gums." He paused. "You're also going to want to name him, too."
Pinkie Pie thought for a moment, but was interrupted when the little creature had jumped on top of her head. "Hmm, what do I call you?" the little alligator sniffed one of her ears, then bit it. Pinkie didn't feel a thing, in fact it tickled a bit. "That's it! I'll call you Gummy!"
Mr. Barkley smiled. "A fitting name. I'll let you take the book for free, just remember to bring me an extra cupcake next time you're out and we'll call it even." He smiled.
"Okie-dokie-loki! Thanks a lot Mr. Barkley! She grabbed the book from the table and put it in her saddlebag. "Common Gummy! Lets go say hi to Mr. and Ms. Cake!"
"Ms. Cake! I'm back!" She boasted, entering the shop. Nopony was in here, mainly because the place was usually a mess when they had to make big orders.
"Oh, Pinkie Pie! You look a lot better! So did you find a fish?" She asked, approaching the pink pony.
"No, I found something better." She turned and showed her Gummy, who was still biting her ear.
"Oh my! Doesn't that hurt?"
Pinkie Pie giggled. "No, he has no teeth!" She smiled. "This is Gummy! Gummy is an alligator! Can I keep him?"
Ms. Cake looked at it, then to Mr. Cake who was just exiting the kitchen. "Well, it doesn't have fur, and with no teeth hes about as harmless as a butterfly. I don't see why not!" He smiled.
Pinkie Pie jumped up and down, Gummy waving behind her as he held onto her ear. "Oh boy! We're gonna have so much fun baking cakes, and throwing parties and..."
Pinkie Pie's voice trailed off in Gummys ears. Through his hard grip on the pony's ear, a small smile tugged at the corners of his snout. He had a home, and a new best friend.
END.