//------------------------------// // Enforcing The Law // Story: My Little Caboose: Blue is Magic! // by DarkWing //------------------------------// Mayor Mare was conversing with three mares, having a great time interacting with the ponies that respected her so highly. Gary watched dubiously, wondering how one could so willingly treat others as equals when they are of a higher authority. But it was that authority that he needed to be present. "Mayor Mare, I apologize for interrupting, but I am afraid I need your assistance with something." Gary said loudly as he walked next to Mayor Mare interrupting one of the mares who was talking to her. "What is it?" Mayor Mare asked with a nervous smile. "Well, it seems to me that one of your citizens has broken a law, and I require you to help sort it out." "Very well." Mayor Mare nodded to the trio of mares. "We will continue are conversation once this had been dealt with." With that, he turned back to Gary and smiled. "Where is the pony involved?" "In the kitchen." Gary smiled back as he began walking away. "The kitchen? What are they doing in there?" Mayor Mare asked, quickly catching up to Gary. Gary didn't answer, but instead focused on the destination. "Who is it?" "The one hosting this party." Gary said as he pushed the door open, revealing Pinkie rummaging through the cupboards. "Oh, hey guys!" Pinkie laughed without looking. "Give me a second, I'm still looking for the chocolate syrup." "The chocolate syrup can wait." Gary said, slowly closing the door. "Of course it can, it's an inanimate object!" Pinkie giggled, hopping to her hooves. "So what can I do for you? Did they run out of drinks in there?" "No, no, there are enough drinks in there. But it is related to them." Gary cleared his throat. "It's about the party." "The party? What's wrong with the party?" Pinkie asked, tilting her head. "Is it not loud enough?" "No, it is loud enough." Gary groaned. She knows what I'm doing, she's just stalling! Gary's eyes shifted to Mayor Mare, then back to Pinkie. "Did you ask the Mayor before you threw it?" Gary asked, making both Mayor Mare's and Pinkie's ears to perk up. "Well..." Pinkie said, rubbing her cheek. "No. I usually do, it's just that there was such short notice since you-" "Are you aware that you effectively stomped on the law with your hoof?" "I did?" Pinkie asked, checking her hoof. "I don't see any law on it." "What a shame." Gary chuckled, holding the open book to Mayor Mare. "Mayor Mare, may you please read subsection B for public gatherings?" "Alright." Mayor Mare said hesitantly, before reading the page out loud. "Parties held in public places and or businesses must be approved by the Mayor of Ponyville. If they have not been approved, any authoritative figure may shut it down with no appeal." "And it is to my understanding that Pinkie is an... upstanding citizen, correct?" Gary said, pretending to sigh sadly. "It is a shame though." "I don't fully understand, you want to shut down her party?" Mayor Mare asked, looking at Gary with a curious eye. "Well, I love the party, but the law is more important than the wants of the few. The law is the law, and as much as I appreciate the thought of a party held in my honor, I simply do not believe that that's a good enough reason for you to disobey the law." Gary said, trying his hardest not to smirk, even though he knew he had her. Mayor Mare looked up from the pages and smiled lopsidedly at Pinkie, not wanting to tell her she couldn't have the party. "But... I love parties..." Pinkie said, looking at Mayor Mare with almost pleading eyes. "I know you do, but he is right." Mayor Mare said, nodding dimly at Pinkie, before giving the book back to Gary. "But I always throw parties..." Pinkie trailed off, looking at the ground "I know, but you or the Cakes would have had to run it by me first." Mayor Mare said, patting Pinkie on the back to make her feel better. "Yeah. Hey Mayor Mare, do you mind if I throw a party for Ga- I mean Neighoming?" Pinkie asked, snapping back to her bubbly personality like a rubber band. "I don't see why not." Mayor Mare laughed, giving Pinkie a much brighter nod. "Yay!" Pinkie whooped, cart wheeling out of the room. "Thank you for bringing that to my attention." Mayor Mare said, walking past Gary, back into the main room. "A few hours on the job, and you're already at it. Well done." Gary's eye twitched once again. He had to make Pinkie pay. It would just take more effort than he expected to give, but he wasn't going to let that stop him. He ran up to the counter and slammed the book of laws onto the counter, flipping to the index to look for anything he could use against her. Gary's scowl deepened, unable to find anything of use. He kicked the cupboard he was standing next to, not willing to admit defeat to a shisno. "Shh, he'll hear you!" A voice said from inside the cupboard. "Wha-" Gary yelped, jumping away from the cabinet. Slowly, he crawled up to the cabinet and opened it to see Caboose curled up into an uncomfortable looking ball, Gummy still clamping onto his head. "How long have you been under there?" "I think a few hours." Caboose muttered, staring off into the distance with wide, fearful eyes. "I have seen into time itself, uncovered it's secrets, learned things that no-" "I saw you outside less than five minutes ago." Gary said, standing back up to look around. "Time is irrelevant." Caboose disagreed as Gummy's tail wagged. "Quite." Gary said, before taking Gummy off of Caboose's head. "Now, what are you doing down there?" "Church said there were Lucky Charms in here, but they would only how up if I told him what you were doing." "Hmph." Gary grunted apathetically. His eyes darted to the alligator and he began to examine it. "Shisno, tell me, do you know of any laws that disallow psychic alligators?" "I don't think so." Caboose thought deeply. "Are there any laws disallowing Lucky Charms?" "I will look into it." Gary lied, setting the alligator loose onto the ground. "You may go tell Church that I enforced the law. That will surely show him that I am taking this seriously." "Do you want to come too?" Caboose asked as he fell out of the cupboard and onto his face. While he was on the floor, Gummy bit onto his head again. He jumped back to his hooves and laughed as he pet Gummy's back. "Thank you Gummy, my head was getting cold." Gary nodded and followed Caboose out of the kitchen. They soon arrived next to the group, who stared at him as if they were waiting for him to speak, but he simply smiled at the others. "What are you so happy about?" Tex asked finally, after a few minutes of awkward silence. "Oh, I think I'll let Caboose tell you that one." Gary chuckled, surprisingly throwing his right foreleg over Caboose's shoulders. "Gummy thinks communism is-" Caboose began. "Not that part." Gary said, closing Caboose's mouth with his hoof. "Tell them what I did." "You closed my mouth." Caboose stated. "In the kitchen." Gary said, using the last bit of his patience to be friendly. "Oh, right. Pinkie had this party without telling the Mayor, and that isn't allowed, so he told the Mayor and made it so Pinkie obeyed the law!" Gary's smile furthered when he saw the others jaws drop. "You enforced a law?" Sarge asked. "Well, yes." Gary replied quietly, acting shocked. "I told you I was taking this seriously." "You don't exactly have the best track record for being serious." Tex said. "What, you can change but I can't?" Gary laughed. 'You're admitting being a shisno?" Church asked. "No, I'm admitting I'm better than a shisno." Gary corrected him. "Shisnos can't change for the better." Then took a step back when a few of the others narrowed their eyes at him. "No offense, I'm just stating the facts. You told me to fit in, and I came out on top." "I guess that means you should go get Delta." Simmons said to Church. "He doesn't have his mark though." Sarge grunted. "He doesn't need it." Church said pensively, looking at the partygoers. None of them were pestering Gary. None were staring. They were just having a good time. "The ponies in this town don't seem to perturbed with the fact that some ponies don't have their marks, and since he seems to be fitting in, why should we wait?" "There we are! Trust!" Gary smiled at Church. "Besides, if Gary is up to anything we could use Delta's help figuring him out." Church added. "How rude. I've clearly shown my change, and still you don't trust me? What more do I have to do?" Gary asked, but interrupted Church when he began to speak. "I know you don't trust my word, so while I'd like to say I won't do anything, you won't believe me, so I won't bother with that. Go get Delta, try to prove me wrong, but it's clearly been shown that I'm alone anyways, so there is no point in trying to cause trouble when the odds are stacked in your favor." "Fine." Church nodded, looking at the door. "There, now that that's out of the way, how about I tell you all a joke?" "Shut up Gary."