//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Many Philosophical Musings of Gummy the Alligator // by Ironskull //------------------------------// There exists a forest near the town of Ponyville. This forest is aptly known as the Everfree. There is strange and poorly understood magic that blanket over the forest that has made it quite dangerous and eerie. Indeed, the Everfree is very active and vigorous... but in a somewhat unwholesome way. The strange magic only extends so far, however, and it does not expand to every tree in the forest. At the point where it ends, the Everfree stops and what is known as Whitetail Woods begins. Without the strange magic present, Whitetail woods is beautiful and peaceful. At approximately the point where the Everfree changes to the Whitetail Woods, there can be found a curious little cottage, just beyond the treeline. Although technically the architecture is similar to pony homes found in the nearby town, the roof of the home is entirely made up of living grass. The home is surrounded on all sides by smaller dwellings clearly intended for smaller creatures. There are birdhouses aplenty, both attached to the side of the cottage itself and placed upon a few small trees nearby. A keen eye would spot many burrows. Curiously, there is even a burrow underneath a small earthen bridge that crosses over stream, with a tiny pier extending from it and into the stream. And of course, there is scarcely a moment of daylight when one wouldn't see these homes big and small swarmed with birds and furry little critters. This is the sight that awaited a certain pink mare as she bounced down the path to the cottage most gleefully. “Oooh, I've never seen so many creatures in one place!” she exclaimed. “Hello everycreature! My name is Pinkie Pie!” Conveniently, the mare has identified herself, although for the record, her actual name is Pinkamena Diane Pie. Although, lets be honest. You probably knew these things already. The animals all stopped place to stare at Pinkie Pie in confusion. Not only had she cried out to all of them specifically, but she had yet to stop bouncing up and down as high as she was tall, never spending an entire second on the ground. This was highly unusual. For, you see, these creatures had never seen this mare before. And for that mater, neither had the owner of the cottage, at least not at this point in time. Pinkie Pie approached the door to the cottage and finally stopped her jumping once she was directly in front of it. She lifted up her front right hoof and knocked on the door politely. There was a quiet commotion from inside the cottage, of an animalistic nature. The squeaks of small rodents, from the sound of it. The animals outside continued to watch in curiosity. The door did not open right away, but open it finally did, if only a tad. A light yellow pony face appeared in the crack of the door. “Hello?” She said, almost in a whisper. “Hello there!” said Pinkie Pie as though nothing was amiss. “I'm Pinkie Pie! I live in Ponyville, although I only moved in recently! I'm working at Sugar Cube Corner!” The other pony stared through the crack in the door wordlessly. “So you see,” continued Pinkie, “I have so many new friends here in Ponyville that its the greatest thing ever, but I sorta kinda have a teensy little problem that I didn't foresee because my Pinkie-sense doesn't foretell this kind of problem. You see, back on the farm, whenever we were all done for the day, everypony would go back in the house and we could hang out until bedtime, but now I'm living inside of sugarcube corner, and even though Mister and Missus Cake live there too, those are my bosses by the way, they want to have the rest of the day after work all to themselves. They said something about only being able to take so much of me in a day. So I don't really have anyone to talk to there when I'm not working. I mean, I can go out and find friends in Ponyville, but sometimes I have to stay in my room, like the times when I'm supposed to be going to sleep but I can't because I'm on a sugar rush. And I can't get another pony as a roommate because the bakery is just not that big and Mister and Missus cake don't actually need any more help anyway. And then I thought to myself, 'Pinkie Pie, do you know what would be just perfect in this situation? A pet!' So I asked around town and I was directed here! So, will you help me acquire my newest bestest friend?” There was a moment of silence as the other pony scrunched her face up while trying to parse that load of information from the fast speaking mare. But then her eyes lit up and she opened the door completely. “You really want a pet?” she asked. “That's wonderful! Um, I'm sorry, my name is Fluttershy. Glad to meet you, Pinkie Pie.” “I'm super excited to meet you, Fluttershy! And I can't wait to meet my next new friend!” Pinkie whirled around and looked at all of the creatures in the yard. “Wow, it sure is going to be tricky picking one out from this crowd!” “Actually, there are more,” said Fluttershy. “Inside the cottage. You can come in and meet them, but please be considerate. A few of them don't care for... ah, loud noises.” “Not a problem at all, Fluttershy! Lead on!” Fluttershy turned around and walked back into her home and Pinkie trotted in after her. “Whoa!” she cried, somewhat restrained. “That's a lot of animals. Is that a bear?” “Don't worry, Harry is very friendly. He wouldn't hurt a fly.” “Oh me, oh my, how can I possibly choose? Should I get a squirrel, a bunny, a chipmunk? An otter? A seal? A hummingbird? A chickadee? A falcon? A Blue-Billed Puma-Panna Bird?” “A what?” “A Blue-Billed Puma-Panna Bird!” “I'm not sure that I've ever heard of such a thing.” “Oh. Well, they are rare. Very rare.” “Really?” “Yeah. Oh well. What do you think I should go with, Fluttershy?” “Well, perhaps if you are looking for something with a lot of energy, you could go with a cute widdle bunny!” she answered, her voice adopting an adoring tone at the end. “Hmm... Maybe... Maybe... They are very cute. But I think I want something that speaks to me. You know?” “How about an otter?” suggested Fluttershy. “They are quite playful.” “Tempting...” And then, Pinkie's Pinkie-sense, a strange sixth sense that allows her to sense things that no other pony can, suddenly went off. She didn't like what it was telling her. Not one little bit. It was telling her that something nearby was really, really sad. She turned and looked straight into the eyes of a wide eyed reptile. It was sitting on a counter, watching her. “Is that a baby alligator?” she asked. “Oh dear,” said Fluttershy in a troubled tone. “Um, yes it is. I don't think he is the one for you.” “Why is he so sad?” asked Pinkie in concern. Fluttershy looked at her in surprise. “How did you figure that out so quickly?” she asked in amazement. “My special talent helps me understand animal what animals are saying and it took me a couple of weeks to figure that out that he is upset. Mostly because he doesn't actually seem to do anything. He just stares.” “I don't really know how I know, but I can tell,” said Pinkie with conviction. “So, why is he sad then?” Fluttershy let out a sigh. “The poor guy hasn't had a nice start in life. He was born without any teeth, which is not normal for an alligator. His kind are carnivorous, but without teeth, his parents can't take proper care of him. They brought him to me because they hoped I could care for him, and I have been able to care for him, but... well, his parents had to give him away, and if he never does grow teeth then he won't ever be able to live out on his own.” “Gosh, no wonder he's so sad!” Pinkie crept closer to the alligator and put on a smile. Hey little guy! I know life for you has been rough so far, but you can perk up now that I'm here because that's what I do!” The gator continued to stare for a few seconds, and then slowly began to blink his eyes. And inside his head, these thoughts made themselves manifest. I want nothing more than to be happy, but I am quite sure that nothing that you can do will grant me happiness. A gator is supposed to be a fearsome predator, and that can never be me. Therefore, I have no purpose. How can I possibly know happiness when I have nothing to look forward to other than the end of my own existence? Pinkie looked at Fluttershy uneasily. “Was it just me, or did you get a creepy feeling just from watching him do that?” “It's not just you. He's not talking as such, but his emotions seem to come through in his expressions anyway. I've rarely ever met a more miserable creature. It is so very sad!” “Hey, listen here, mister gator,” said Pinkie gently. “I know you have reasons to be sad, but you have reasons to be happy too! I used to be sad too. I never smiled. But then I saw something beautiful that made me realize that I can be however happy I want to!” The gator blinked some more. Is that an option? Pinkie sensed a slight change in the young reptile. A positive change. This was a good sign. “See, happiness is all inside your head anyway, right? So that means that everything that happens outside of your head doesn't have to affect your happiness if you don't want it to. And I'm pretty sure you want to be happy. I know I do. I want to be happy all the time, so I choose to just be happy all the time, unless I have a really good reason to, like somepony saying something mean to me, or if I get sick or something. But for the most part, happy all the time!” My understanding was that happiness is a reflection of how positive one's life is. But are you proposing that one can disconnect the association of happiness with one's life simply by deciding that it should be so? “Huh,” said Fluttershy. “I've never seen him like this before. All of my attempts to cheer him up ended in failure. I don't think you cheered him up exactly, but you seem to have interrupted his misery.” “I bet you think that you're not even a proper gator, don't you?” said Pinkie to the gator. “But that's silly. A gator's job isn't to be a gator, no more than it's a pony's job to be a pony. It's a ponies job to do whatever they want to do, whether they are like other ponies or not, and I don't see any reason why that shouldn't apply to you too. And besides, you're just a baby. You've got all kinds of time to figure out what you want to do.” You pose that a gator's purpose is not to be a gator? But if my purpose is to do whatever I please, then I have a very strange purpose because my own desires are often illogical. For an entire group of creatures to have a purpose of their own design... Surely that can only lead to a massive division in society that prevents creatures from working together because they want different things! And even if you are right, what then? If I cannot be a gator, then I do not know what I can be, for I do not know how to be anything else. However, you say that this is of no concern because I can determine this at a later time after discovering my options. “Hey, Fluttershy?” asked Pinkie. “Does he have a name?” “Animals don't really work the same way that ponies do. They don't have language in the same way that we do, so no, his parents never gave him a name. At least, not what we would call a name. I do give names to my animals, but to be honest with you, it doesn't feel right to name this little guy while he is so sad. It would be like a reminder of what he used to be like for his whole life!” “How old is this little guy anyway?” “Only a few months old,” she answered. “I was told his birthday was exactly ten weeks ago.” “Really?” asked Pinkie excitedly. “That was the day before my birthday! What a coincidence!” My mind is insisting to me that your theory of self-perpetuating happiness is impossible. If one decides what is truth based on one's own desires rather than based on facts, one should not truly have found truth, and yet it appears that the truth is that you are happy, which means that this theory that you have that one can decide to be happy appears to be true, considering that you are inexplicably happy even right now when there is nothing to be happy about. What strange logic is this, that the facts of reality are bound to the will of the creatures of the world rather than to the law of the world itself? This wonderful way of reasoning! Pinkie gave the gator an encouraging smile. “There you go! See? I knew you could do it!” Can one truly spawn happiness from nothing? The possibilities of success are filling me with satisfaction before I have actually achieved success! Which means again I have achieved happiness from doing nothing! How curious! It appears that I have achieved a success merely by desiring success! However.... this happiness is small and fleeting. My troubles refuse to go away so easily. But the fact that it worked at all is proof that these new thoughts can work, and they can give me happiness. But there is a problem. Is pursuing happiness truly the wisest course of action? Is happiness for myself an inherently selfish goal? Pinkie continued smiling at the gator for a little while longer, but then finally dropped her smile. “Oh, you poor gator. You must have something horrible haunting you if even I can't make you smile for longer than a few moments. If I can't make you happy, maybe I can do something else for you?” Which brings up another question. Is it okay to be selfish, at least a little? After all, too much selflessness will lead to self-neglect, and that leads to an individual being less able give to others. It appears that this means that the best way to be selfless is to apply a little bit of selfishness. Perhaps if I expand deeper into this new way of thinking that Pinkie has proposed and apply it to all things in the world, I can achieve ultimate satisfaction by discovering the best ways of thinking about all things, but it is also possible that I would immerse myself so deep into revelry that I would lose the desire or ability to think with wisdom. Is that what you are, Pinkie Pie? A mare too busy having fun to stop and ask 'why'? It would be foolish of me to assume anything about somepony I only just met you, but if that is the case, then is that okay? The idea is frightening to me, but you are not me, and you have your own destiny, one which does not appear to actually require you to understand your own destiny. ... Come to think of it, why are so many creatures that I have ever met so obsessed with their own destiny? It is not something I was taught to do, so I must have been born with it. Perhaps it is because some of us do need to understand our own destiny in order to fulfill it, even while others do not. But perhaps I am worrying about where my own destiny will lead me needlessly. Maybe I am too busy trying to see my future to actually take the actions that lead to the future. Perhaps if I continue to apply wisdom to life, I will discover a way in which I can achieve fulfillment. Until then, I can take heart in the hope that I will succeed in this goal, because I must. “Umm...” said Fluttershy slowly. “I'm not really sure you're getting through to him. Although, he doesn't seem to be quite so sad anymore? Maybe? It's hard to tell. Maybe something about what you said really spoke to him.” The gator turned to look vaguely in Pinkie's direction. Pinkie. I have determined that my purpose at this time is to find new meaning in all things until a new purpose reveals itself to me, but I am still a broken gator and I cannot explore many of the things in life myself. Although happiness is not my goal, you have made me more pleased than any other creature before. Not only that, but you are different than me, and different is good because it reveals more avenues of thought that I would never come to on my own. You could provide insight that I cannot find myself. I wish to learn what I can from you by observing you. “You'd like for me to adopt you?” cried Pinkie. “That's wonderful!” “That does seem to be the general spirit of what I got from him just now...” said Fluttershy. “But how did you understand it?” Pinkie put a hoof to her chin in thought, but only briefly, and then she shrugged. “I dunno!” she answered cheerfully. “I suppose it might be a good idea. He seems at least a little bit happy with you around.” “Good! I've made up my mind, this is the creature I want to adopt!” “Well, it is wonderful that you get along with him so well, but you should be aware that taking care of him is quite different from taking care of any of these other pets. For one thing, he, er, is not... herbivorous.” Pinkie hesitated. “What have you been feeding him up until now then?” “Well, baby gators will eat flying insects for a little while. I've also been feeding him fish.” “Fish? But where do you get that? And how?” Fluttershy gestured at an eagle on a perch. “Some of my friends have a natural instinct for hunting fish. There are several creatures around here who need fish but have a harder time hunting them, so they bring me enough for everyone.” “Hmm. Well, I'm not going to turn Gummy away just because he needs fish. He can't help what he is." “Gummy?” “That's what I think I'll name the little guy! Anyway, I can't get fish myself though. Can I buy from you?” “Of course.” “Then it is settled! I can't wait for everyone in Ponyville to meet my newest friend, Gummy the gator!”