//------------------------------// // A Therapeutic Tale for Those Traumatized Today - Romance, Comedy // Story: Krizak's Compendium of Concise Chronicles // by Krizak //------------------------------// “YouhavetohelpmeTwilightohIlookedeverywhereinthebathtubinthekitcheninthebaby’sroomandthebasement— MMMPH!” It wasn’t exactly the sort of lesson that Twilight would be writing to the Princess about, but one of the first things she’d learned about being friends with Pinkie Pie was that sometimes, the only way to calm her down was to be forceful. With a patient sigh, the scholarly unicorn looked into the eyes of the pony who had just interrupted her evening’s studies with her mile-a-minute madness. “Okay, Pinkie, take a deep breath. Calm down, and tell me what has happened.” Pinkie responded with a roll of her eyes, a muffled protest, and a gesture to the purple hoof still in her mouth. “Oh, oops,” Twilight said with a embarrassed chuckle, removing her hoof from Pinkie’s jaw. “This is no time to calm down, Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed the moment she could speak again, grabbing Twilight’s shoulders in both hooves and shaking her friend violently. “Gummy’s gone and gotten himself missing! We need to organize a search party! Raise the alarm! No pony shall sleep until my precious little alligator is safe and warm under his heat lamp!” “Come on, Pinkie, he couldn’t have gotten that far. He only moves at like a hoof a minute.” Twilight saw that her attempt at humour was lost on Pinkie’s dire expression, and she sighed. “Fine, I’ll help you look for him first. If we don’t find him as quickly as I think we will, I’ll call up the other girls, alright?” “Thanks, Twilight, you’re the best!” Pinkie’s grip on Twilight’s shoulders turned into a hug, the pink mare’s immense relief turning into a bone-crushing embrace. Just as Twilight thought she might need to magic Pinkie off of her to breathe again, Pinkie let go of her and abruptly turned to the library door. “Let’s go find that alligator!” Twilight just shook her head and chuckled, moving to follow after the bouncing pony, but a “who” caught her attention. She turned to see her number-two assistant hovering beside her. “Oh, hey, Owloysius. I was just about to head out to help Pinkie, but feel free-“ “Who.” “You want to help find Gummy?” “Who.” “Well, thanks! Pinkie will really appreciate the help, and an aerial view is sure to make things a lot easier!” “Who.” “Argh, where could that silly alligator be?!” Twilight was frustrated, to say the least. After a thorough search of Sugarcube Corner, the two friends had split up to circle the bakery in an ever expanding pattern, a plan that Twilight had been certain would soon turn up the reluctant reptile. That had been an hour ago. “How could he have gotten so far?” Twilight continued ranting, not worried about Pinkie hearing her; her friend’s pattern would have her halfway across Ponyville from her at this point. “This is ridiculous!” “Who?” “Gummy, that’s wh-oh.” Suppressing her embarrassment at falling into the common pattern some ponies experienced with Owloysius, Twilight acknowledged her pet as he descended to hover near her. “Owloysius, have you found any sign of Gummy yet?” “Who,” the owl replied with an incline of his head, flying away from Twilight at a slow enough speed for his master to follow. Twilight quickly took pursuit, her eagerness for this whole affair to be over with spurring her on. “Oh my gosh, Twilight, you found him, you found him!” Pinkie didn’t question that Gummy was suspended in a purple aura of magic; Twilight hadn’t felt like getting chomped, even by an alligator with no teeth. She released the levitation as soon as Pinkie had her hooves around Gummy, and watched as the pink pony smothered Gummy with equal parts kisses and admonishments. After a few minutes of impromptu reunion, Pinkie placed Gummy down on the ground under the watchful eye of Owloysius, turning to face Twilight. “Oh, thank you, Twilight! Poor Gummy could have been lost forever if you hadn’t found him, and that’s a long time to be lost!” Twilight rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Oh, it was what any friend would have done… Besides, it was Owloysius who found him, not me.” “But you’re the one who dropped everything you had planned this evening to help me,” Pinkie replied in a quieter voice. “You deserve this thanks. Don’t turn it away.” And the way Pinkie said it made Twilight think that Pinkie just might have been talking about something something else… a feeling confirmed a moment later as the earth pony stepped forward to nuzzle her friend. As Twilight closed her eyes and returned the nuzzle, she didn’t notice as Owloysius lowered his wing to receive a slap from Gummy’s tail, the owl nodding in seeming satisfaction. And in Gummy’s eyes, the tiniest shred of emotion was visible for just a second.