It's an epidemic! A cataclysm! An enigma! More big words! A spell has befallen the noble citzens of Ponyville, and it's up to one lone hero to save them all: Pinkie Pie!
Pinkie Pie's entire day revolves around getting every pony she meets to feel happy. She's a master of it all, from practical jokes to slapstick comedy. Sure, she's had a few tough nuts to crack, but in the end those nuts always crack a smile!
...Except for today. A strange spell has infected Pinkie's home, somehow leaving only her immune to the effects. Clearly there is only one solution: an epic adventure to return the smiles back to Ponyville! With her trusty sidekick Gummy at her side, there will be no stopping her quest!
Pinkie Pie merrily skipped through the town of Ponyville on her way to the marketplace for some ingredients. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were running low on a few baking supplies, and a very large order came in earlier that day. Pinkie was supposed to have the day off from work, but she didn't mind doing a favor for her employers. Besides, she loved getting to see some of her favorite ponies running the shops and stands, and it was such a beautiful day to do so; there was only one single cloud in the sky.
Pinkie's first stop was at a stall managed by a familiar (but hey, in this town, who wasn't) orange-maned pony. "Good morning, Golden!" Pinkie Pie said to her. "How's the carrot selling business today?"
Golden Harvest sighed and responded without looking at the party pony. "Good morning, Pinkie. Not too many ponies shopping today, actually." The olive-colored mare rearranged a few boxes full of long, orange vegetables. "I'm not expecting a huge profit before sundown."
"Really?" inquired Pinkie Pie. She scooped up a bushel of carrots and inspected them carefully. "Because what I'm looking at here is at least—" Pinkie shoved the roots into Golden's face. "—Ten carats!"
Golden Harvest looked blankly at the produce in Pinkie's hoof, and then back to the pink mare.
"...Get it?" said Pinkie Pie as she withdrew her hoof from Golden's muzzle. "Because they're... carrots..."
The salespony sighed again. "Pinkie, I'm sorry, but I'm not really in the mood for jokes today," Golden admitted. She turned around to adjust some of her wares. "If you want those carrots I can take twelve bits for the lot, but otherwise I don't really have time for a chat."
"But I thought you said—" Pinkie Pie shook her head. "Never mind. Okay, twelve bits then." The party pony dipped her muzzle into a saddlebag and withdrew the coins in her teeth. As she dropped them on Golden's counter, an idea came to her. Pinkie grabbed two carrots and shoved them up into her mouth. "Golden, look!" Golden Harvest turned back around to see Pinkie Pie miming have two overly large teeth, complete with crude sound effects.
Golden looked cross. "My carrots are not toys, Pinkie Pie," she scolded. Golden then noticed the bits on the counter. "I suppose you can do what you want with them," she said, "but I hope you don't plan on feeding them to other ponies now, for their sake."
Pinkie Pie's grin drooped and the vegetables in her mouth plopped back onto the counter. "I was just trying to get you to smile," Pinkie said, abashed.
The carrot vendor shook her head. "Don't you have other things to do today?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm in no rush!" said Pinkie with a wide smile. Golden Harvest glared at her. Pinkie swallowed before continuing, "But I guess I can go ahead and move to the next item on the Cake's list." She finished with a timid laugh. Golden's expression didn't change.
"Okay," Pinkie said with a sigh. She somberly placed her produce into her saddlebag, and the vendor turned her back yet again. "Hope the rest of the day goes better, Carrot Top."
Golden Harvest gave a small nod, but otherwise gave no sign of hearing Pinkie's farewell, or her playful nickname.
"She's just having a rough day," Pinkie said to herself as she trotted over to the next stall. "I'm sure she has a lot on her mind trying to sell carrots all the time. I'll have to come back later with my socks puppets. Those always cheer her up."
The next vendor Pinkie approached had sacks full of Equestria's best sugar, meaning that the stallion running the stand was no stranger to the pink mare. They even developed their own little game, and playing was one of Pinkie Pie's favorite moments in a shopping trip.
"Hiya, Moe!" she called to a strong-looking stallion handling some crates. She then dipped over backwards onto his counter and cooed, "Lay some sugar on me."
The sugar vendor snorted and turned to address his customer. "Pinkie Pie," Moe Lasses started with a gruff voice, "do you always have to inject puns into every conversation we have?"
Pinkie flipped herself back over and sat on her haunches, hurt. "I have been leaning on them a bit today," she admitted. "I thought you liked our game though?"
The stallion inflated and scowled, but upon looking at her innocent face, he lost his steam and scratched his neck. "I'm sorry, Pinkie. Yes, most days I do enjoy our chats, but today... today I'm just not feeling it." He sighed and apologized a second time. Moe shook his head before regaining his composure. "Anyways... what can I do you for?"
Pinkie hesitantly re-approached the counter. "Um... I need three of your large bags today, Moe."
"Three?" Moe asked. "You usually get by on one a month. Must be some order the Cakes got."
"You could say that, yeah," Pinkie Pie told him. She began fiddling in her pouch. "Is it still ten bits a bag?"
"Ordinarily, but I feel bad about getting riled up at you like that," Moe told her. He sighed before adding, "Hows-about today I charge you nine a bag as an apology?"
"Gee, thanks, Moe!" Pinkie Pie tossed a few bits back into her bag and the rest onto the counter between them. "I was really hoping so save some bits today! I want to try to find something extra special for the Cakes!"
"Yeah." Moe slid the coins into a pouch that he kept under the counter. "Yeah..."
The stallion turned back around to his crates without saying a word to Pinkie Pie. She craned her neck to try to see what he was doing, but, as far as she could tell, it wasn't anything special. "Okay then," she called to him slowly, "I guess I'll see you around...?"
Moe gave her one last 'yeah'. Pinkie opened her mouth to ask if something was bothering him, but then she caught sight of another pony across the way. That stallion also looked glum. So did the flower pony. And the gardener. And the mayor and the mailmare and the barber. In fact, there wasn't a single smiling pony in sight anywhere.
"What's going on?" said Pinkie Pie to no one. "Why is everypony so gloomy today?"
"You wouldn't happen to have any... books on the subject, would you, dear?"
"Rarity... it's a library."
"I know, Twilight, but I—"
The non-chaotic conversation taking place between Twilight Sparkle and Rarity came to a halt due to a large amount of chaos in the form of their friend Pinkie Pie. The crazed mare — complete with crazed mane — burst into Twilight's library as though the fate of the world depended on it. Or, at the very least, Pinkie Pie's world.
"Twilight!" the pink mare shouted as she rushed to her studious friend and grabbed her by the cheeks, "Have you been outside today?!"
"Um..." Twilight looked between the friend holding her face hostage and Rarity, who could only return a nonplussed shrug. "Yes?"
"And what did you see?!" demanded Pinkie.
"Uh..."
"TRICK QUESTION!" Pinkie Pie dropped her purple friend onto the library floor. "It's what you didn't see!"
"Pinkie Pie," began Rarity with a few tentative steps forward, "what on earth are you—"
"The smiles, Rarity!" said Pinkie in response to the interrupted question. "Not a single pony is smiling today!"
Rarity and Twilight looked to one another before Twilight carefully chose her response. "Pinkie, it's not exactly alarming that no pony in town—"
"It is extremely alarming, Twilight!" Pinkie yelled. This time she grabbed Rarity's cheeks and pressed the fashionista's deep blue eyes into her own much lighter ones. "Look into my eyes!" shouted Pinkie, perhaps redundantly. "ALAAAAAAAAARMED!"
"Pinkie Pie, darling," Rarity said, sterner than when she last spoke. She placed a hoof between them and gave herself some space. "If a pony doesn't feel the need to smile, then she has every right to—"
Pinkie Pie groaned and rolled onto her back. "You're not getting it!" she exclaimed to her friends. She rolled back up, her mane now twice as frenzied after coming into contact with the ground. "I make ponies smile! It's what I do! And all day I haven't been able to do that once!"
Rarity shot Twilight a worried expression, but this time instead of meeting the look, Twilight sighed and placed a hoof on her face. "Pinkie Pie... No pony is trying to rain on your parade. Sometimes a pony is sad—"
Twilight had no time to prepare for how quickly Pinkie Pie made herself inches from her face. "Say that again," the party mare whispered.
"'Sometimes a pony is sad'?" Twilight offered, confused.
"I meant the other thing," said Pinkie, waving the first statement out of the air.
"'No pony is trying to rain on your parade'?"
"YES!"
Pinkie Pie stepped back before proceeding to zoom around the library, books falling off of shelves in her wake.
Rarity turned to Twilight and asked, "Is she... alright?"
"I'm better than alright!" cried Pinkie as she slammed an older book onto a nearby table, causing both Twilight and Rarity to jump. Curious, the two mares cautiously stepped over to their pink friend to see what she found.
"Pinkie... that's a book on fairy tales," Twilight noted.
"Yup!" confirmed Pinkie as she flipped through the book's pages. "You talking about rain gave me an idea!" When she stopped on the page she wanted, Pinkie twisted her book around to show it to her friends. "The whole town's had a spell cast on it!"
"A spell?" Twilight asked incredulously. "Pinkie, I told you, this is a book on fairy tales, not one about magic."
"Well, technically it's more like the opposite of a spell, I guess," Pinkie admitted. "And I'm not looking to cast a spell. I want to reverse one!"
"Pinkie Pie," Rarity began, looking up from the book, "there is no spell on the town."
"Opposite of a spell," Pinkie insisted. "A... a... an oppospell!"
"Pinkie," Twilight said, her tone getting more severe.
"You're not even reading it!" chastised Pinkie Pie. She flipped the book back around to face her. "It's a story my Nana Pinkie once told me." She peered down onto the book's pages. "'The Legend of the Joyflower'," she read.
"Pinkie Pie, you cannot be serious right now," chided Twilight.
Two pink hooves pounded on the library table. "Why does no pony think I can be serious?" Pinkie asked earnestly. She took a deep breath and removed her hooves from the table's surface. Twilight and Rarity were silent. Pinkie Pie sighed before saying, "Look, in the story there is a raincloud. One day the raincloud takes all of a town's happiness away, because it's the only thing he can use to water his friend, the Joyflower. The Joyflower grows at the top of the highest mountain, where other rainclouds can't get to."
Twilight looked angry and Rarity worried, but neither one interrupted the story.
Pinkie continued, "One young colt in the town notices how unhappy all of his friends and family had become, so he goes to find the raincloud and try to get their happiness back. He goes on a very long and very dangerous journey, but he eventually reaches the top of the mountain where the raincloud has already watered the Joyflower."
Pinkie Pie stopped reading in order to turn the book around yet again, and pointed to the story's lone illustration: a small stallion standing next to an incredibly ornate blossom. "When the colt explains what happened to his home town," Pinkie told her friends, "the flower feels bad for being the reason no pony there is happy anymore. He tells the colt to dig him up, and promises that if he is taken back to the town, then all of the townsfolk will be happy again."
The pink mare put her front hooves on the table once more and leaned into her two friends. "And you know what?" she asked them. "It works."
Twilight sighed and rubbed a temple. "Pinkie, it's just a story. What proof do you even have that this flower exists?"
Pinkie glared at Twilight and said nothing. Instead, she flipped a single page in the voluminous text. The story right before the one on the Joyflower was titled 'The Legend of the Mirror Pool'.
Rarity gulped and looked to her purple friend. "Twilight, I don't think there's going to be any convincing her that the flower doesn't exist."
Twilight did not break her eye contact with Pinkie, matching the pink mare's intense stare with her own. "Pinkie," Twilight said with heated breath, "the flower isn't real. I know what you're thinking, but you can't leave town to try to find this thing."
"I can so!" retorted Pinkie Pie. She broke her staring contest with Twilight to close the book and return it to its shelf. "The book says that no pony in the colt's town wanted to do anything anymore! The Cakes don't want to go shopping, Carrot Top doesn't want to talk," Pinkie Pie stopped while looking at the book on its shelf. After a beat, she picked it up again and placed it just before the volume that used to be on its left. "Moe Lasses doesn't want to play our game... And neither of you want to join me on this quest."
"Pinkie Pie," Twilight began slowly, "neither of us are trying to be pessimistic here, but—"
"Well that's FINE!" shrieked Pinkie, taking her friends aback. She started pacing across the room. "The colt went on his journey alone, and I can do the same!"
Rarity chimed in, "Pinkie, darling, you don't even know where you're going!"
Pinkie Pie stopped pacing in front of a map of Equestria. "Oh yes I do," she replied. She smacked a hoof on a region to the extreme north. "Mount Neverquest. Equestria's tallest mountain. Just like in the story."
Twilight shook her head. "That mountain is impossible to climb!" she yelled. "Pinkie, you can't go!"
"That attitude is exactly why I'm the one who's going!" Pinkie snapped. She marched to the library's front door and opened it. "And I don't need you or your FOUL LANGUAGE!" With that, the library door slammed shut behind her, leaving Twilight and Rarity alone with what they just witnessed.
Twilight's expression was a mixture of anger, hurt, and confusion. "Foul...?"
"'Pessimistic', darling," Rarity answered for her. "I think—" she sighed and looked to the front door. "I do hope she'll be alright..."
Through endless fields and underneath a behemoth of packed bags, a lone pink mare skipped. Well, lone, save for one small, toothless alligator.
"I know I told Twilight and Rarity that I could do this alone, Gummy," said Pinkie Pie to her pet, "but I am glad that you insisted on coming. Having company will make this so much more fun, and it will be a great bonding experience for the two of us!"
Gummy gave a low, raspy sound in response. He readjusted himself in Pinkie's mane for a better grip.
"I know we could have taken the train north, silly," Pinkie replied, "but a big part of an epic adventure is the journey! That's how the colt in the story was able to save the day!"
Gummy gave no audible response.
The duo continued through fields of wheat that stretched as far as the eye could see. Pinkie Pie hummed a happy tune while observing it all, but it wasn't long before the sea of yellow stalks became tiresome. Good thing she was accompanied by such a conversationalist.
"You know, Gummy, I've been thinking a lot about the raincloud," Pinkie said. She readjusted a few of her bags in stride. "The one from the story. I don't think it meant to make the ponies in Ponyville feel sad. Who makes ponies sad on purpose?"
Gummy wagged his tail.
"And besides, the story says that he did it for the Joyflower, who's his friend. Who wouldn't want to do something nice for their friend?" Pinkie Pie carefully stepped around a mud puddle, mentally noting how fun it would be to utilize without heavy gear weighing her down. "I mean, that's why I'm going on this trip! To make my friends happy again!"
Gummy hopped from Pinkie Pie's head onto one of her packs to get a better look at the agriculture around them.
Pinkie Pie looked behind her, but after discovering nothing new, she sighed and continued her trek. She wondered just how much wheat one plot of land needed to grow.
"I know!" Pinkie cried suddenly, "Let's play a game!" She gave her rump a small jolt, and the baby alligator returned to her scalp. "I'll go first! I spy with my little eye... something..." Pinkie's eyes darted to and fro, but they never found a proper mark. She sighed again. "Yeah, you're right, Gummy. It was wheat."
Gummy burped with glee.
The two walked several paces more in agonizing silence.
"Do you think this trip is boring, Gummy?" Pinkie asked. The alligator gnawed at a patch of her mane. "Me neither," Pinkie replied. "It's actually kind of refreshing to wind down a bit, don't you think?"
Gummy happily scratched at one of Pinkie's ears.
"Want to play a different game?" the party pony said to her pet. She sat down to her haunches and rolled the bags from her back. "We've been walking for a while, and I don't want to wear you out."
Gummy leaped from Pinkie's mane and gracefully landed on his back.
"I'll start!" Pinkie said with enthusiasm. She etched two lines in the dirt path, then two more intersecting them. In the square made in the very middle, she drew an X.
"Okay, your turn!" she decreed to Gummy. The alligator sauntered over and past the makeshift board, a rock on the other side catching his interest. His tail brushed one of the outlined squares. Pinkie considered it for a moment, then replaced the tail line with a circle. She then pondered the mark, scratching her chin as she observed it. "Oh, you are good," she conceded.
This pattern continued for several hours until the dirt path was littered with crisscrossed lines, most of the games on their surface only showing five or six marks.
After the twenty-eighth game played since losing track of how many games they played, Pinkie licked her lips and loaded her satchels onto her back. She gently wrapped a hoof around Gummy and placed him on her head.
"We really should get going," she told him. "I know how much you love games, but getting that flower is really important right now."
Gummy licked his owner's ear. Pinkie took a deep breath and marched forward.
As the pink mare continued to make tracks in the dirt at her hooves, the afternoon sun beat down on her. Sweat formed on Pinkie's back and brow, and wherever she looked, there was only more yellow to remind her of the glowing orb above. She licked her lips again.
"Are you getting thirsty, Gummy?" Pinkie asked the mound of scales in her mane. He replied by licking her ear again. "This is probably the longest you've gone without a bath, huh?"
As Pinkie continued forward, her neck and mane drooped. Her gaze drifted across her surroundings, but still couldn't find anything unique to focus on. She licked some sweat from her cheek and gulped.
"We've really got to find you some water, Gummy," Pinkie said. Her mind started turning a few gears. "This is a farm, right?" Gummy gave no response. "Well, somepony is growing this stuff... And either they have water, or maybe we can find what they use to water the plants..."
Pinkie Pie's nose hovered at the ground. Her tongue would have been lolling about if she didn't dislike the taste of earth so much. She tried to think of something, anything, to distract her from how badly Gummy needed water, but the smell of dirt was boring, the endless yellow stalks were boring, the weight on her back was boring, even that white noise was boring.
Wait... what was that noise?
"Do you hear that, Gummy?" Pinkie asked. She raised her head and perked her ears forward. "Why does that sound familiar?"
The further she walked, the louder the noise got. Whatever it was, it was constant. It danced through her head, flowing, streaming...
Stream.
"WATER!"
Pinkie Pie went into a full gallop. The motion jolted Gummy from a nap, and he clamped onto a clump of mane for dear life. He flapped all about as Pinkie dashed forward as fast as four hooves could take a pony.
The first new thing in hours greeted their eyes as a narrow river swam into view at the end of the road. A number of pipes dipped into it. As soon as it was within reach, Pinkie Pie dunked her whole head in, taking Gummy with her.
For almost a minute, the only movement and sound was that of wind blowing through wheat. The tranquility was broken when Pinkie resurfaced, gasping. She took several deep breaths before a sleepy smile crossed her lips. "Oh, that's the stuff," she croaked.
"Ey! Wattoo doin' mah rivuh?"
"Huh?" Pinkie whipped her head around to greet the first voice she'd heard in what felt like a year. Did she already forget what language sounded like, or was the elderly mare speaking with a mouth full of rocks?
"Daggum rivuh fer the crop, anoo got yer 'ed innit!"
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Pinkie Pie said to her. "I didn't know this water was for all the wheat! Gummy and I were just so thirsty, and—"
As Pinkie motioned to the mentioned companion, the elderly mare went into a frenzy of unintelligible words at the sight of an alligator lazing about in her water. Pinkie Pie sheepishly used her teeth to grab Gummy by the neck and remove him from the stream.
"Daggum critter frashin' ra merrit tranna fer iggit—!"
"I'm sorry!" Pinkie Pie said again, placing her pet at her hooves. "We're just a pair of travelers! We're on our way to Mount Neverquest, and—"
"Trav'lers?" the old mare repeated. "Yoo trav'lin wit all dat riff-raff on yer back?"
"'Riff-raff'?!" Pinkie said, offended. She motioned to her bags and said, "These happen to be my most essential, can't-live-without items!"
The elderly mare chose to abandon speech and instead simply raise an eyebrow. Pinkie Pie folded her forelegs. The mare scratched her chin while sizing up the luggage. "All dat gear an' no watuh bottuh?" she asked.
"A water bottle?" Pinkie Pie unhooked one of the bags and started rifling through it. "No, but I've got four different wigs, a pair of water wings, two and a half decks of cards, Rarity's favorite rug (don't tell her), three horseshoes, and THIS!" She pulled out a long tube of snacks and waved it under the mare's nose. The aged pony squinted at Pinkie with one eye, then removed the tube's lid. It instantly showered her in paper snakes. Pinkie Pie wore a huge grin, but the mare's unsmiling expression never changed.
"Yoo kids 'n yer confounded..." The mare grabbed the tube in her mouth and continued giving muffled mutters and she hobbled over to the riverbed.
"Hey!" Pinkie called after her, "What are you doing?"
The mare stooped over and filled the tube with water. She kept her neck craned sideways as she walked back to Pinkie, careful not to spill a drop. After Pinkie reclaimed the tube, the elderly mare took a few attempts to right her head again.
"Yoo trav'lin, yoo need watuh." The mare poked Pinkie in the chest. "Yoo 'member dat. Watuh is life."
"Water is life." Pinkie Pie gave the mare a salute. "Got it." She replaced the lid on the tube and stuffed it back in her bag.
The elderly pony grunted and, without another difficult to decipher word, turned back down another dirt path, a few spring-loaded serpents bobbing in her mane as she went.
"Thank you!" Pinkie called to the mare with a wave, even though she couldn't see it. "And you can keep the snakes!"
Pinkie waved to the mare until she disappeared from sight. She never once looked back.
"Don't worry, Gummy," Pinkie said while patting the reptile, "I have plenty more of those snakes at home. For right now though, it's important that you have water in case you get thirsty again."
The pink mare placed her pet onto her head once more, and as she did so, she spotted a bridge over the stream just a few paces away. She happily made her way towards it, mentally applauding herself at how well she'd handled her journey so far.
Pinkie Pie and her scaly friend continued to make their way north, the path in front of them now a smoky haze as a swamp gurgled and burped around them.
The party pony wiped a few beads of sweat from her brow before continuing. "I agree, Gummy, it is a bit stuffy in here, but not to worry: we've got a water bottle! We're officially adventure experts at this point!"
Gummy laid belly-side up on one of Pinkie's packs, scratching at the thick air.
"Yes, I know it's a little hard to see right now," Pinkie conceded, "but I'm confident if we just keep moving forward, we'll be out of here and on to the next place in no time!"
Walking forward proved to be a bit problematic, however, as several trees, hills, and foul-smelling puddles frequently interrupted their path. A full day of walking was also causing her legs to pinch up.
"What is that smell?" pondered Pinkie as she passed by another bubbling pool of liquid. She observed as some gas or another broke the puddle's surface over and over again. "Have you ever smelled anything like it, Gummy?"
The alligator made a guttural sound in response.
"It's making my nose itch too," Pinkie agreed. "I wonder if it's—"
A column of fire erupted at Pinkie's side, the flames coming from one of the pools of what couldn't possibly be water. Pinkie reared in shock, almost losing her balance due to the packs on her back. She stabilized herself just before Gummy slid off into what would have been a terrible fall.
"WHOA!" screamed Pinkie, "That could have been bad!"
Pinkie Pie carefully set the rest of her hooves back onto the ground as she eyed the flame geyser warily.
"We need to be more careful, Gummy," the pink mare told her pet. She looked around herself a few times before pulling a map from one of her packs. "A few more mishaps like that, and we could get lost! Or hurt!"
After settling on one particular spot on the parchment in her hoof, Pinkie resumed her pace, eyes glued to the map's surface. Without warning, her head flipped around to address her passenger.
"What do you mean I'd be the one to get us lost or hurt?" she asked her alligator. "Gummy, that's such a mean thing to say!"
Gummy wagged his tail twice.
"Yes, I know I'm the one driving, but you know that I would never do anything to hurt you, right?"
Pinkie waited for a response. Gummy didn't move.
"You're still wound up from almost falling," she told him motherly. "I understand. Apology accepted."
Pinkie Pie continued her walk as a few geysers spewed flames at a safe distance.
"No, we're not there yet, Gummy," Pinkie said through the swamp's mist. "I'm pretty sure the mountain isn't in a swamp. You'll know when we get there."
A few more steps and Pinkie's stomach began making sounds similar to those of the bubbling puddles.
"I'm hungry too, Gummy, but we ate all of our snacks before we entered this swamp," Pinkie reminded her companion. Then, in a chastising tone, "Someone your size shouldn't have been able to eat that much to begin with, you know."
A few birds cawed overhead.
Pinkie started to scowl. "Yes, Gummy, for the last time, I am sure we're going in the right direction." Her scowl grew. "Yes, Gummy, I am sure that I'm reading this map right!" Over the course of a few seconds, Pinkie's expression intensified, and a growl emanated from her throat. In an instant, she flung her head around to berate her pet. "HEY!" she shouted, "WHY DON'T WE GET ON YOUR BACK AND YOU CAN TAKE US THE REST OF THE WAY, HUH?!"
Like a flash, fire erupted in front of Pinkie's outstretch hoof, incinerating the map guiding her. She yelped and stumbled backwards a few paces, only to launch herself in another direction as a second plume fired just behind her. Only a few hard steps were made before yet another flash startled her out of her trajectory. She changed directions several times in a matter of seconds, never going five steps without another column of flame impeding her path. Pinkie eventually lost balance and fell into a sitting position, the left half of her supplies dipping into one of the swamp's puddles. Before she could react, it also ignited. In a panic, Pinkie wrenched herself from her numerous packs, pulled her gear away from the geyser, and stamped out the quickly burning material carrying her belongings. After the flames were extinguished, she looked around herself for any other signs of danger. When it became apparent that the current resting spot was (relatively) safe, she instead turned to her alligator, a few paces away after falling from Pinkie's back during the ruckus.
"You!" Pinkie accused. She took several heavy steps toward Gummy. "This is all your fault!" Pinkie's breathing was heavy, and her eyes narrow. "Because of you, we lost our only map and half our stuff!"
Gummy blinked. Pinkie Pie threw up her forelegs in frustration.
"Oh, don't you play dumb with me!" she shouted. "If you hadn't been questioning my every decision, we'd probably be out of this mess right now!"
Gummy sniffed the ground.
"You are the worst travel buddy EVER!" shrieked Pinkie, turning around to avoid looking at his innocent eyes. "You've been complaining the whole time!" She went into a terrible impression of the alligator. "I'm booored, how much longerrrrr, I'm hungryyyy..." Pinkie whirled back around, heaving. "This trip would have been so much easier if you hadn't insisted on coming! I knew I should have gone alone! Now half our stuff is gone, we're lost, we have no food, and it's ALL! YOUR! FAULT!"
With her rant's last breath, Pinkie gave the ground a heavy stomp. The action frightened the young alligator, causing his legs to wind up and spin him in a random direction. He didn't get far before a column of fire blocked him from Pinkie's view. Her insides turned to ice.
"GUMMY!"
Pinkie rushed over as fast as hooves could carry her. On the other side of the geyser, she found a curled ball of scales. She picked her friend up gingerly and held him close.
"You're okay, it's okay," she cooed, making as many calming noises as she could think of. Gummy struggled a bit in her grasp, but gave up fighting before long. When Pinkie dared to, she unfurled her forelegs just a bit to get a better look at him. Although Gummy looked mostly fine, the flame geyser had singed his tail. Pinkie cradled him back to their equipment.
"You're okay," she said again. "You're going to be just fine. The water wasn't in the packs that burned. We'll just cool that burn off, okay?"
Pinkie Pie squatted with one foreleg holding her pet while the other fished through her belongings. She pulled out a long tube and popped the cap off of it. She peered into it and sighed with disappointment.
"We don't have much left," Pinkie said to Gummy. The mare looked down to her trembling friend. She licked her lips as she weighed her options. Gently, she unrolled the alligator's tail and dipped it into the tube. "You need this more," she told him.
Pinkie Pie sighed and reclined into her gear while holding her pet. She had no idea how long it would take for her friend to feel better, but she knew she couldn't move him, and even if she did, where would they go?
"This is all that ugly raincloud's fault," said Pinkie. "It never should have taken my friends' happiness away. I mean, how could he possibly think that it was okay to do that?" Pinkie Pie stared up at the sky, hoping to see a cloud that she could glare at. "Even if he did it for a friend, he's hurting lots of ponies just to save one flower. One stupid, stinking flower. How selfish can you get?"
Gummy offered no response.
"If he's on top of that mountain when we get there, I am going to make sure he apologizes to you, Gummy."
Gummy nibbled at Pinkie's belly.
Pinkie Pie sighed and lightly beat her head against her luggage a few times. She couldn't believe that they were lost in such a scary, dangerous place. All she really wanted to do was scold Gummy more for their predicament, but knew that it wasn't fair to treat him that way. There had to be a way out of the swamp. She didn't even care about going to right way anymore; even if they just wound up at where they started, she'd rather find a way around the swamp than try to make it through a second time. Then again, if she did that, how much longer would that leave her friends smile-less?
"What are we going to do?" whispered Pinkie.
"'Alo?"
Pinkie sat bolt upright, almost losing her grip on Gummy in the process. She knew she heard a voice, but as she looked about her, she couldn't determine where it came from.
"'Alo?" the voice called again.
"Hello?" Pinkie said in response. "I somepony there?"
"Who ez out zere?" the voice asked. It sounded like it was getting closer.
Pinkie Pie grumbled a bit to herself. She didn't want to deal with more funny-talking ponies at the moment, but she didn't really see a choice. "My name is Pinkie Pie!" she told the voice. "Where are you?"
A lantern appeared in the swamp's mist, followed by the mare holding it. Her green coat made a stark contrast to the reddish surroundings.
"My name iz Bebelle," the mare said. "Were you de one yelling earlier, cher?"
"Yelling?" Pinkie Pie looked from Bebelle to Gummy and back. "I was... yelling?"
Bebelle chuckled. "Loudly, from what I could tell."
Pinkie Pie gave a deep sigh. "I guess I was pretty mad." She gingerly bounced the alligator in her forelegs to draw attention to him. "Gummy and I are travelers, and we got lost. Do you live nearby?"
Bebelle nodded happily. "I am collecting fire peppers for my gumbo. I could grow zem at home, but ze swamp gives zem a certain je ne se quais."
Pinkie Pie's stomach gurgled. "Ooh, gumbo does sound pretty good right now."
Bebelle smiled. "Would you like to join me? I always make more zan I need, and I love cooking for new friends."
Pinkie Pie grew her first grin since entering the swamp. "Free gumbo? Now there's an offer we can't refuse!"
After a shared laugh, Pinkie Pie followed her savior through the fire swamp and on to a small village hidden on its other side. The locals greeted her like family, and joked about how there was no way an outsider could handle the spice of Bebelle's gumbo. Pinkie surprised them all when she downed her first bowl in a single gulp. Bebelle also proved quite knowledgeable about burns from the swamp geysers, and rubbed a homemade anointment on Gummy's tail. Bebelle offered Pinkie and Gummy a place to stay for the night as well, but Pinkie refused, insisting that their mission could not wait. However, a long day and a full belly interrupted her plans.
"Tomorrow, Gummy," Pinkie Pie yawned in a cabin's guest room. "Tomorrow will be the day."
"Throw in another fire pepper, and you've got yourself a deal!"
"You got it, mister!"
Although the map drawn for her by the friendly swamp ponies was a very generous gift, Pinkie needed one a bit more detailed for her to complete her quest. Lucky for her, she came across a cartographer with an affinity for swamp pony culture, and was willing to part with one of his charts for a few relics from a settlement that's difficult for most ponies to get to. Pinkie had been saving her fire peppers for a midday snack, but after getting lost once already, she knew the importance of being able to find her way to her destination — and her way home.
Pinkie Pie hoofed her new furled parchment to Gummy, who promptly found a place for it in one of her packs.
The pair hit quite the fortune when their path intersected with Rainbow Falls and its once-a-year Traders Exchange. Stalls and booths with all sorts of goods available for trade were lined up from one side of the village to the other. After half of their supplies disintegrated in the fires of the swamp, a place to restock and refuel was exactly what Pinkie and her companion needed.
"Wow, look at it all, Gummy!" marveled Pinkie. "I don't think I ever noticed just how much stuff there was at these things!"
Pinkie skipped back and forth between stalls, and although she started by looking for things that would be useful on their journey, it soon turned into a form of window shopping. While a dealer showed her the inner mechanisms of his own party cannon, Pinkie reached for her water tube, only to find an unfortunate surprise.
"Huh?"
She pulled the tube where should could see it better. It felt damp in her hoof, and pulling the lid off the top showed that there wasn't a drop of water inside of it. As she tried to put the lid back on, the cardboard crumpled from the pressure.
"I don't think this tube was meant to carry water for long, Gummy," said Pinkie as she replaced the item in a pack. "Paper snakes aren't wet after all."
Gummy gnawed at a strand of Pinkie's mane.
"You're right, Gummy," Pinkie conceded, "I have been distracted since we got here. Maybe we can see if a pony is selling a bottle that we can use."
Pinkie walked around the exchange for several minutes, but to her surprise, not one was selling food or water. Or rather, trading food or water. Was it because ponies didn't want something that would only last a few days?
The adventuring duo eventually came across an exotic animal booth, and, to Pinkie's relief, they had a bottle prominently on display. She rushed over to it only to be disappointed; at the bottom of the container hopped a strangely-colored cricket.
"Can only be found in the Badlands!" the dealer told her. "Very hard to come by, but make excellent pets for richer ponies with less time to take care of a more maintenance-heavy animal."
Pinkie put on a hesitant smile. "Um... well, we're only really interested in the bottle. Would you trade something for it?"
The stallion shook his head. "I don't have anything else to hold the critter, and I'm not about to let this one hop away. Almost lost my eyebrows to a dragon for it, I did."
Pinkie sighed. "Thanks anyway," she told him before slumping away from the stand. She only walked a few paces before perking up. "Wait!" She pulled Gummy from her back to speak to him directly. "Gummy, wouldn't that make a great gift for Fluttershy?"
Gummy blinked.
"A really rare animal! I bet she would love it!" Pinkie turned around to talk to the animal dealer again when a familiar blue and yellow outfit caught her eye.
"Ooh!" Pinkie trotted over to another stand. "That's an actual Wonderbolt uniform from before I was even born! Can you imagine how happy Rainbow Dash would be if we brought this to her?"
Pinkie Pie hopped as ideas came flooding to her. "We could get gifts for all of our friends, Gummy!" Pinkie bolted between various stands. "We could get this sleep aid pillow for Twilight and her stress-y nights!" At another booth: "And this antique sewing kit for Rarity! Gummy, can you imagine how happy they'd all be?" Pinkie Pie went into a full gallop with her head on a swivel. "If we can find something for Applejack too, then—"
The pink mare skidded to a halt. She shook her head and caught her breath. "That won't work, Gummy," Pinkie explained. "I can't just give my friends gifts to make them happy again. And even if it did work, I'd have to get gifts for the whole town! No way we have enough to trade for something like that."
Pinkie Pie sighed and resumed a slow walk. Her mind reeled as she tried to think something that could work. Her thoughts rolled back onto the raincloud.
"What if we just asked the cloud to return my friends' happiness?" asked Pinkie. "Surely he would understand."
Gummy nibbled on his tail. Pinkie nodded. "You're right, Gummy, but what if he does still have the town's happiness?" She then passed by a florist with several colorful arrangements.
"What if we got a flower?" she pitched to Gummy. "Not for the whole town, obviously, but what if we gave the raincloud a new flower to be his friend? Do you think he'd give us the Joyflower?" Pinkie walked several paces, waiting for Gummy to end his silence. "You're right, Gummy," replied Pinkie, "if a pony tried to give me another alligator so they could have you, I wouldn't do it either."
They walked past two mischievous colts using feathers to pester an older patron.
"What if we got the cloud something else he could use?" pondered Pinkie. "If he can take happiness away, maybe we could convince him to take sadness instead. Would the Joyflower like sadness?"
Gummy sneezed.
"Okay, but what about water? Don't all plants need water?"
Gummy gurgled.
Pinkie Pie sighed. "You're right, Gummy. We can't even find water for ourselves right now."
A flash of light blinded Pinkie for a moment. She rubbed her eye, then turned to see where the light came from. A gruff-looking crystal stallion stood at a counter, and in the tent behind him sat ropes, hooks, winter clothes, lanterns, and a plethora of other survival and adventuring goods.
"Maybe he has some stuff we can use, Gummy!"
Pinkie trotted over to the crystal pony, making mental notes on how each of the items behind him could benefit her journey.
"Hello, my good sir!" greeted Pinkie Pie, "I am in the market for some adventuring stuff, and you look like the pony to talk to!"
The crystal stallion chortled. His voice matched his gruff exterior, but couldn't hide a soft heart. "Indeed I am adventurer, small pink one. What goods catch interest?"
Pinkie Pie pulled out the soggy tube from her pack. "We need a new water bottle," she told the stallion. "Do you have anything like that?"
"Water bottle?" the stallion repeated. "Bottle is too soft for adventure." He pulled a shiny silver flask from under the counter top. "You want solid steel canteen. Will not leak, will not break. Is what you need, yeah?"
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie chimed. "Is there water in it right now?"
"No, ponies usually ask for goods empty," the crystal pony told her. "Fountain is north of here. Canteen can be filled there."
Pinkie Pie grinned and pulled the canteen closer to get a better look. When it stopped catching her interest, she peered behind the vendor at some of the other wares. "What about that stuff?" she asked. "That coat looks really warm."
"Like large animal's insides," the stallion told her. Pinkie flinched. "Is much warmer than what most pony need though. Where do you travel, small one?"
"We're going to Mount Neverquest!" exclaimed Pinkie. She got out her new map to help illustrate her path. "It's way up past the Crystal Empire, right in the—"
The stallion put a hoof over the map. "Am familiar," he said, unsmilingly. "This mountain... is not safe. Why must you go there?"
Pinkie Pie pulled the map from under the stallion's hoof and chose her words carefully while she rolled it back up. "My friends are sick," she explained, "and I think the only thing that can make them better is on the mountain."
"Is suicide mission," the stallion uttered. "Should go be with friends, not chasing fantasy."
Pinkie Pie lowered her eyebrows. "It's not fantasy." She placed Gummy at her hooves, then pulled the packs from her back and dumped their contents onto the counter between her and the vendor. Streamers littered the grass, bouncing balls went every which way, a kitchen-sized oven left a sizable dent in the counter's surface, and several others things that only Pinkie Pie would think to take on a journey piled up around them. "I will trade you all of this for all of that," Pinkie said, pointing behind the stallion. Her tone was uncharacteristically severe.
The stallion looked at her vast assortment in shock, then sighed. "I have no need for these things," he told her. His voice sounded more regretful than anything. "And this does not change that you should not go to this mountain."
Pinkie Pie glared. She packed a home's worth of belongings faster than what most ponies would think possible. "I'm going," she insisted, "and if you won't trade with me, then maybe another pony will. Come on, Gummy." Pinkie scooped up her scaly companion and turned away from the booth.
"Wait!" Pinkie stopped and shot an ugly look over her shoulder. The stallion clopped two of his crystal hooves together while he thought. "You are..." He gulped. "You are going to mountain, even without gear, no?"
Pinkie Pie turned to face him completely. "Yes."
The stallion sighed. He looked at the ground for several seconds before speaking. "I will trade with you."
"REALLY?" Pinkie made sure that no matter how fast the stallion raised his head, her grin would be the first thing he saw. It was, but the sight caused him to back up a few paces. He collected himself and nodded.
"Oh, THANK YOU!" Pinkie firmly grasped one of the vendor's hooves and shook it vigorously. When she stopped, she asked him, "What made you change your mind?"
The stallion attempted to regain feeling in his foreleg while he spoke. "You have strong spirit," he told her. "I respect strong spirit. I do not think you should go, but you will be safer with equipment, and there are no other traders here. I do not want you unprepared." After testing some weight on his hoof, he re-approached the counter. He leaned in and motioned for Pinkie to do the same. When she did, he said in a low tone, "Also, my travels mean I am not home often. My kids... they do not see me much. Your goods may make them happy. Happier than if I came with just me."
Pinkie Pie leaned back and smiled. She stuck out her hoof, and the stallion hesitated before taking it a second time. The second shake was much gentler than the first. "Making ponies happy is what I do," Pinkie told him.
The stallion showed a sad smile. "Then these tools are yours. I teach you to use them, yes?"
Pinkie Pie nodded with gusto.
A few quick tutorials later, Pinkie Pie left the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange with considerably different gear than when she entered it. As she walked, a long mountain range loomed in the distance.
"You know," Pinkie said to Gummy contemplatively, "if he really isn't home all that often, then I bet he doesn't need to bring his kids gifts. I bet they'll be happy just to see him."
Pinkie Pie tried to perk her ear to hear a response from Gummy, but the wool cap she was wearing made the motion difficult, and even with the cap she was having a hard time feeling either of her ears.
"M-m-me n-n-neither."
Thickly covered hooves stomped through several inches of snow as Pinkie and Gummy tackled the mountain's incline. Snowflakes swirled around them, but couldn't mask the view of the mountain's peak from Pinkie Pie's sight. Even with pounds upon pounds of weight on her back, the thought of a goal so near complete kept Pinkie Pie going. If only the mountain's weather could be more cooperative.
"W-w-when the s-s-story said that a flower g-g-grew on the mountaintop, I thought it would be w-w-warmer!"
Whatever the temperature, Pinkie Pie pressed on. The trees around her grew sparser the higher she went, and before long she was out in the open with nothing to stop the mountain's harsh winds from biting through all the layers she was buried under. Piles of snow duped her into stepping on what looked like safe terrain, only for her to slip and fall on more than one occasion. One trip even twisted her fetlock. She proceeded to walk a bit more gingerly on it, and it soon recovered. Another like it though and she wouldn't be able to walk much further.
"We have to be more c-c-careful, Gummy!" yelled Pinkie over the wind. The alligator gave no response.
"G-G-Gummy?"
Pinkie reached back and felt the side of one of her packs. Something curled up inside of it was shivering even harder than she was.
"D-d-don't worry, Gummy," Pinkie assured the mass, "we're almost t-t-there."
Pinkie looked back up the path in front of her. The mountain's peak didn't seem any closer than when they started. Pinkie Pie sighed and forced herself back into motion.
"N-n-now I know why they call it M-M-Mount N-N-Neverquest," she muttered.
As Pinkie marched, the wind and snow around her grew worse. Every step she took felt more like she was further from finding the flower rather than closer, and the peak looked as distant as ever. Her muscles screaming at her, she tried to take one more step, only for the three hooves still on the ground to give up and cause her to fall to her knees and hocks.
"I..." Pinkie Pie gulped. "I don't think I... Gummy?"
Pinkie Pie reached back again to check on her friend. The curled mass had stopped shivering.
"Gummy?" Pinkie Pie gave the pack a nudge. "GUMMY!"
The ball of scales twitched a little, and gave a weak shudder. Pinkie Pie sighed with relief. Still worried, she looked around her and saw a large pile of snow with a darkness coming from its center. Pinkie squinted at it; it almost looked hollow.
"Hang on, Gummy," Pinkie said as she struggled to stand. "I think I see a c-c-cave."
The steps in between a blur to her, Pinkie Pie collapsed on a cold stone floor, grateful for a place where winter winds could not find her. After a few deep breaths, she rolled herself into a seated position and unhooked her packs from her back. A smaller one she pulled towards her, and she opened it to check on her pet alligator. Gummy wore a thermal suit tailored for small dogs; the crystal stallion made it work. Gummy continued to make small motions.
"Don't worry, Gummy," Pinkie Pie said in a muffled breath. She took off some of the gear from around her face and extracted a small box from Gummy's pack. She found a few rocks on the cave floor, and clumped them around in a circle. She placed a bundle of sticks and a wooly substance from the box at the center of the rocks, then pulled out another stone from the box with a strange metal object. "The crystal stallion showed me how to make a fire, remember? That'll warm us up."
Pinkie Pie took the dealer's rock in one hoof, the metal piece in another, and struck them together on top of the bundle of sticks. Nothing happened. She tried again, but still, no sparks. She did this several more times, each strike increasing in speed and ferocity, but still the sticks remained as they were. This continued until Pinkie Pie screamed and threw her tools across the cave into some unknown corner. She picked Gummy up and took him as far from the cave's entrance as she could and pressed him against her belly, hoping her body heat could suffice. He weakly clawed at her stomach.
The pink pony looked up from her pet towards the cave entrance. The winds outside were howling worse than they were when they entered. A single tear formed and fell from Pinkie's eyes.
"It's no use," Pinkie whispered to her mostly still friend. "I can't do it. I... I can't..."
Pinkie Pie shuddered and pulled Gummy closer as more tears dripped around him.
"I'm not an adventurer," managed Pinkie. Her voice grew louder with her conviction. "This whole time... We've only made it this far because of other ponies, Gummy. The old mare, Bebelle, the crystal stallion at the Exchange..." Pinkie Pie sniffled and looked back out into the snow. "Ponies don't come to this mountain, Gummy. No pony is going to save us this time..."
Pinkie buried both her face and Gummy into her forelegs.
"He won, Gummy." Pinkie Pie gulped and wiped her nose. "The raincloud won..."
As Pinkie Pie wallowed, her mind drifted across how foolish her mission was, and the friends who she tried so hard to save.
"I failed them, Gummy," Pinkie muttered through another sob. "My whole life is about making my friends smile, and I can't do that anymore. I can't make them happy. I tried so hard, and I..." Pinkie wiped her nose again. The thick coat around her foreleg was beginning to get crusty. "If I can't make my friends happy anymore... Well, maybe it's okay if I don't go home..."
Gummy gave another shiver in Pinkie's lap. She peered down to him as though she was seeing him for the first time. Even though she had been talking to him, it almost felt like she forgot he was even there.
"I am so, so sorry, Gummy," Pinkie said to the alligator. "I never should have brought you on this trip." Pinkie Pie took a deep breath before continuing. "This whole time... You've been hungry, thirsty, yelled at, burned, and now you're freezing, and it's all my fault..."
Gummy, showing more energy than he had since Pinkie stepped hoof on the mountain, twisted and clamped down on the pink mare's muzzle. Pinkie blinked before gently unhooking the alligator from her face. She held him at length and studied him. She could remember finding his egg and keeping it warm until it hatched. She remembered how poorly his teething went, as with only rocks on her family's farm to munch on, he destroyed his teeth before they could grow. She remembered bathing him, playing with him, introducing him to friends... Doing all three at once with Twilight was one of her fondest memories. As Pinkie Pie stared into Gummy's blank eyes, she saw her own reflection peer back for the first time in what felt like a year. She saw something else there that felt like it had been even longer: a smile.
Her smile.
Pinkie Pie giggled and cuddled her pet. He gratefully curled back up against her chest, his body still not completely warmed up. Pinkie sighed and looked up contemplatively.
"All I want to do is make everypony happy," Pinkie said to Gummy. "I know some days it's not easy, but maybe... maybe other days it's just not possible, you know? And if I can't even get myself to smile, how am I supposed to get other ponies to smile too?"
Gummy twisted a bit against her coat, causing a strange crumpling sound. Curious, Pinkie reached into her pocket and pulled out the map she got from the Exchange.
"You know this is the third map we've used since we started?" she reminded Gummy. Pinkie looked over the parchment's surface. She began with their position on Mount Neverquest, then her gaze trickled down over Rainbow Falls, the fire swamp, and eventually back to Ponyville. The trip was over half the length of the map. "You know, Gummy, even if we didn't quite make it, we still made it really far. I think we can be proud of that, at least." As Pinkie looked over each moment on their journey's path, she thought about the new friends she made, and the old ones still at home. They brought her so much joy, big and small, and the memories each face brought back still made her smile.
"I just thought of something," Pinkie said. She pocketed the map again and looked down to Gummy. "I think... I think maybe it's okay to be sad."
Gummy readjusted his position in Pinkie's lap.
"I know, I know, that sounds like crazy talk," Pinkie admitted, "but I think it might be true. I mean, being happy is great! It's the most wonderful thing in the world! But... would we even know what happy is if we were never sad?"
Gummy blinked. More fond memories of Pinkie and her friends weighed heavy on her heart.
"I think..." Pinkie licked her lips. "I think sometimes we need to be sad, so that we know just how special it is to be happy."
Flashes of smiling faces brought warmth to Pinkie's stomach.
"And you know what, Gummy?" Pinkie asked her companion, "Things maybe don't look so good right now, and maybe I can't make my friends happy again, but... but I think there are still a lot of happy memories that I haven't made yet. And no matter how many sad moments are in our future, the happy ones will make it all worth it."
Gummy gave a gleeful, rasping sound. Pinkie nuzzled him and held him close.
"You always know just what to say."
As time passed around them, Pinkie continued to think more and more about the friends waiting for her back in Ponyville, and the new friends she made on her journey. She thought about Gummy in her lap.
Pinkie Pie gently set Gummy down on the cave floor, stood up, and walked over to where she threw the crystal stallion's tools. She found the strange rock and metal piece again, sat at the bundle of sticks, and focused on what he told her. A few strikes and puffs of air later, a fire crackled at the cave's center, and Pinkie and Gummy sat beside it. Pinkie once again looked at the storm outside.
"Looks like the sun isn't up anymore, Gummy," said Pinkie. She gave her pet a pat on the head. "We better stay here for tonight. We'll leave in the morning. Hopefully by then the storm won't be so bad, and we can get off this mountain."
Gummy took a few playful snaps at Pinkie's hoof.
"Yes, I know," Pinkie told him, "but I don't think there's any point in going further. Mount Neverquest is just too dangerous. And... and I think I'm ready to go home. Aren't you?"
Gummy successfully latched onto Pinkie's hoof and gurgled a bit. Pinkie giggled.
"Yes, we can take the train this time," she said with a smile. "Although, if it's okay with you, I think I'd like to make one quick stop before we get back to Ponyville."
A low sun hovered over the Apply family's barn. Sparse remains of food and drink were scattered across a few tables. Only a few ponies were inside, with some familiar market ponies waving as they left, leaving the elder Apple daughter with four of her closest friends.
Applejack closed the barn door behind Golden Harvest and Moe Lasses and gave a sigh. She walked to a few of the tables and started clearing messes off of them. Her friends watched from afar and, not sure what else to do, also picked up plates and glasses from the tables around them. While doing so, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity came within whispering distance.
"I still can't believe Pinkie didn't come," Rarity uttered under her breath.
Twilight gave her head a subtle shake. "Me neither," she replied. "I'm really starting to worry about her."
"I'm more worried about Applejack," said Rarity. She looked over her shoulder to see if any of their other friends caught wind of their conversation. "Can you imagine?"
"I really can't," Twilight admitted. She levitated a few used napkins into a garbage bag. "To be honest, I really don't know what I would do if—"
"Um... Hi, girls."
The barn was already very quiet, but its silence doubled with all of its occupants suddenly coming to a halt. Five heads twisted to see a sixth pony standing in the barn's entrance. The usually energetic pink pony appeared exhausted and somber.
Twilight collected herself enough to use her gaping mouth to speak, but before she could, a blur of blue feathers rocketed towards Pinkie Pie.
"Where were you?!" demanded Rainbow Dash. She landed in a brutal fashion in front of Pinkie Pie, who flinched in turn. The pegasus continued, "You ran off days ago, and now you decide to come back?! Of all the lousy—!"
"Rainbow Dash!" A purple haze surrounded the blue pegasus and pulled her back a few paces, giving Pinkie Pie some breathing room. Pinkie look relieved, but didn't move or speak. Twilight walked around Rainbow's side and dropped her magic before continuing, "What's gotten into you? That is no way to behave!"
"What's gotten into me?!" Rainbow Dash roared. She pointed an accusatory hoof in Pinkie's direction. "What got into her?! The one time a pony really needs her friends, and she—"
A soft yellow hoof found itself on Rainbow Dash's outstretched one and lowered it gently. Rainbow whirled around to find another pony to yell at. She met Fluttershy's tearful gaze; the yellow pegasus could only shake her head.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" yelled Rainbow as she wrenched her hoof from Fluttershy's. "Pinkie Pie leaves for no good reason, and I'm the only one upset about it?!"
"We're all upset about it, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, stepping forward, "but Pinkie is our friend, and I'm sure she had a very good reason."
"Yeah, to get an imaginary flower!" Rainbow said incredulously. Her anger sent her airborne. "She goes running off after a fairy tale just because she doesn't want to admit—!"
"Rainbow."
The blue pegasus' expression dropped, and she lowered her body back to the ground. She and the others looked back to Applejack, who spoke for the first time since Pinkie's arrival. The orange mare approached her pink friend slowly, and their friends gave her path a wide berth. Applejack held her head low with her trademark hat covering her face, but when she came to a stop, she looked directly into Rainbow's eyes. The speedster snorted and folded her forelegs, but otherwise remained quiet. Applejack turned to Pinkie Pie; the orange mare's green eyes were dimmer than usual.
"Pinkie Pie," said Applejack simply.
Pinkie opened and closed her mouth multiple times, and each time she did so, the tears in her eyes increased. Eventually she managed to blurt out, "I am so, so sorry Applejack! I thought I could find the Joyflower, but I couldn't! It was too hard! And I tried so, so hard to get it! You and everypony else were just so sad, and I felt like there was nothing I could do, and I just didn't want to admit that I was sad, and that I couldn't do anything, and I—"
Pinkie's apology was interrupted by a deep hug from Applejack. Pinkie sat with a blank expression for a moment before returning the favor. The two mares held each other in silence. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, earning a scolding look from Twilight.
"How... how can..." Pinkie Pie unhooked herself from Applejack's embrace. "How can you just forgive me like that? For leaving like that?"
Applejack gave an earnest smile. "Pinkie Pie, when you left, all Ah could think about was how bad you musta been hurtin', and how lonely you musta felt. Right now, Ah think both of us just need our friends an' family, an' that's exactly who you are to me."
Pinkie Pie smiled back, but her eyes welled up even more. She rubbed them with a hoof before saying, "I did manage to bring something back, though." Pinkie reached into a saddlebag on her back and pulled out a small pouch from inside. She held it out for Applejack to take, who did so with hesitation. Applejack pulled the pouch's drawstring and peered inside.
"Pinkie Pie... these are apple seeds," Applejack said.
Pinkie nodded.
Applejack sighed. "Pinkie... look... it's nice an' all, but Ah own an apple farm, remember? Ah grow mah own seeds all the time."
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Pinkie Pie cut her off.
"They're from the Appleachians," Pinkie told her.
The other looks baffled, but Applejack's jaw dropped. "But... that's where..."
Pinkie Pie nodded and rubbed one of her forelegs. "I thought... I thought it might be nice, you know? To have something like that here?"
Applejack tried to answer, but struggled. She walked over to a nearby table and dropped the seed pouch onto it. She stared at it.
The others looked to Pinkie, but the party pony's gaze didn't waver from Applejack. Pinkie cautiously walked up behind her and cleared her throat.
"Um..." Pinkie swallowed. "Can... can I see her?"
Applejack spun around to meet Pinkie's gaze. Two pairs of eyes had a hard time meeting. Applejack instead looked over Pinkie's shoulder and caught sight of Twilight. The purple mare nodded and ushered their other friends from the barn. Rainbow Dash was still pouting, Rarity was looking at Pinkie with a worried expression, and Fluttershy was hiding behind her mane. When all four left, Applejack put a hoof on Pinkie Pie's shoulder.
"C'mon," the farm pony said, "she's on the hill up yonder."
Pinkie Pie followed Applejack quietly out into the orchard as the sun set on the horizon. Their path led to a bit of an incline, but not one nearly as bad as the mountain she and Gummy so recently left. At the hill's crest sat three headstones, one with fresh soil at its front. Pinkie sat and read the lettering on its surface, but said nothing. A crow cawed in the distance.
"It overlooks the whole west orchard," Applejack said, breaking the silence. When Pinkie didn't respond, she added, "It's got the best view of the whole farm."
Pinkie Pie wiped her nose with a hoof. "So she's still watching over it... in a way..."
Applejack nodded. "Her an' Ma an' Pa too."
Pinkie shivered. A cool breeze whipped a few leaves around them.
"I just can't believe she's gone," Pinkie managed.
Applejack sighed and took a seat next to her friend. "I think," the farm pony began. She licked her lips. "Ponies are never gone, Pinkie Pie. They're just around us in different ways."
Pinkie Pie gulped and nodded. She took a deep breath before saying, "I'm sorry, Applejack. I really should have been here for you, but I couldn't... I couldn't..."
Applejack put a hoof around Pinkie's shoulders. "It's okay, sugarcube. Ah know you care. Granny knows you care. We all just deal with it in different ways."
Pinkie wiped her nose again. "Rainbow Dash—"
"Is dealing with it in her way," Applejack said sternly. "Hey." She gently turned Pinkie's head so her friend could see the honesty in her eyes. "Ah'm not mad at you. To tell the truth, Ah do wish you hadn'ta left, but Ah'm still touched that you tried to do so much for me. For all of us." She tilted her head back towards the barn. "An' that little sack of seeds? From Granny Smith's birthplace? That is something really special, Pinkie Pie."
A smile struggled onto Pinkie's lips. She gave Applejack a second deep hug, which the orange mare did not hesitate to return. They shared a still moment in which no more words could be said as the sun continued to set in the distance. As fireflies began to make their presence known, Applejack finally parted the two of them.
"C'mon," Applejack said to her friend, "there's still some food leftover from the funeral. The Cakes really outdid themselves this time. Ah think we could both use something to eat and there's some things I want to write in that journal of ours."
Pinkie Pie tried to laugh, but it came out as more of a cough. "Yeah," she said, "I think I've got a story to tell too."
