//------------------------------// // A New Case // Story: Cinematic Adventures: Ace Ventura Pet Detective // by extremeenigma02 //------------------------------// The next morning, the girls and Spike awoke to find themselves still in the car of Ace Ventura. The day before had already been quite the experience for them, ending with aiding Ace in rescuing a puppy from his abusive owner. All hell had broken loose in the expanse of only a half hour into this journey and they just knew there was already more still to come. Gazing out the car window, they noticed Ace walking out of a grocery store with a few bags in his hands. He quickly hurled the bags in his trunk and got right back into the driver’s seat. “Okay man, what’s the deal here?” Rainbow asked impatiently. “You told us you’d take us to the police so we could ask for their help. And so far, all we’ve done is sleep in this car all night while you get your freak on and go grocery shopping!” “All part of the job!” Ace responded. “Some people show their gratitude in different ways. As for the groceries, well… I’m low on stock.” Spike took a quick peek inside the grocery bags. Most of what Ace had picked up turned out to be mainly… animal food? “It just looks like you’ve mostly picked up a bunch of pet food,” He pointed out. “Exactly!” Ace smirked. This caused everyone to sigh and shake their heads. “That’s great and all Ace, but we really should get underway!” Twilight spoke up. “If we’re going to have any hope of finding our friend, we probably should get to it.” “Alrighty then!” Ace replied. “We just need to stop back at my place quickly to drop all my stuff and we’ll be off!” “Seriously?” Applejack groaned. “Yes-siree!” Ace nodded. Ace put the pedal to the metal and the car zoomed off down the road. They rode on for a good while till Ace finally pulled into the parking lot of a U-shaped looking apartment building. A rather crappy looking joint, but the place he calls ‘home’ all the same. Ace, the girls, and Spike hopped out of the car and Ace quickly grabbed the groceries from the trunk. Inside an open apartment along the ground floor, the landlord. Mr. Shikadance, sat back watching T.V., stuffing his face with cheese doodles. Ace grabbed a nearby brush and snuck past the door with the others following close behind. “Is that really necessary darling?” Rarity asked. “You betcha,” Ace nodded quickly. “I owe Mr. Shikadance rent, but don’t have any money until I complete a case. As you may recall, I took my payment for the last case in… another form.” “Yeah, we know,” Rainbow acknowledged. “We were sitting in the car most of the night while you collected said ‘reward’.” They finally made it up to Ace’s apartment and the man himself was just putting the key in the door. Just then, the landlord stepped up behind them. Ace was startled by the dreaded ‘Shickadance Rasp’… Not unlike Linda Blair in ‘The Exorcist’. Oh, that is BULL****!!! “Venturaaaaa?” The girls and Spike nearly jumped out of their skin at the sound of low raspy voice. Ace straightened up but didn’t turn around. “Yes, Satan?” Now Ace turned around in mock surprise. “Oh, I’m sorry, sir,” He apologized. “You sounded like someone else.” “Never mind the wisecracks Venturaaa!” Mr. Shikadance growled. “You owe me rent!” “Mr. Shickadance… I told you, you’re my first priority!” Ace assured him. “Check this out!” Ace then procured a poster from his pocket, of which showed a missing pigeon. “That’s a real albino pigeon,” Ace informed him. “Some rich guy lost it and he’s offering a $25,000 reward for it. As soon as I find the white pigeon, you’re paid!” Mr. Shikadance squinted his eyes at Ace for a moment before turning his gaze to Spike and the girls, who all just waved awkwardly at him. “Who are these kids, Ventura? You know as well as I that only one resident can live up in an apartment here.” “Oh no need to worry another then sir,” Ace assured. “They’re just a few business associates of mine. They’re just here to help me with work and they’ll be heading out.” Shikadance turned back toward the girls and Spike, who simultaneously nodded over Ace’s words. “That’s right Mr. Shikadance, sir,” Twilight nodded. “Just helping Ace locate that lost pigeon.” “I’m very good at tracking lost animals,” Fluttershy added. “I take care of many little critters back home.” “She practically runs her own sanctuary you could say,” Pinkie pointed out. “Had to ask one of our fellow po—polite neighbors to take over her shift while she’s here.” Shikadance then turned his attention toward Ace. “I heard animals in there Ventura! I heard ‘em again this morning, scratchin’ around.” “I never bring my work home with me, sir.” The landlord took notice of the bags of kibble in his hands. “Oh, yeah? What’s all this pet food for?” “… Fiber,” Ace answered. “Doctor’s orders,” Spike emphasized. The look Mr. Shikadance gave Ace told him that this landlord certainly wasn’t buying any of their rubbish. “You wanna take a look for yourself?” Ace asked. “Go ahead.” Ace rattled his keys in the door, then swung it open and turned on the light. The whole apartment seemed clear enough, aside from being a slight messy. Ace walked in as the landlord stood there snooping about and sniffing the air. “Well… are you satisfied?” It was pretty clear Mr. Shikadance was still rather suspicious of his rather cooky tenet. But ultimately, he seemed satisfied… for now. “Yeah, but don’t ever let me catch you with an animal in there, that’s all!” He warned. “Okay then!” Ace grinned. “Take care now. ‘Bye ‘bye!” Ace slammed the door right in the landlord’s face, to which the whole group cringed from the action. “LLOOSER!” Ace spoke quietly. “Wow, and I thought Cranky Doodle was a grumpy pants!” Pinkie frowned. “No kidding!” Spike nodded. “Thanks for covering for us Ace,” Twilight thanked. “How can we ever repay you?” “No problem,” Ace responded. “And pay no attention to Shikadance, you can stay here until you find your missing friend if you’d like.” “Thank you very much darling, that’s very kind of you,” Rarity thanked. Course, her expression changed as she cringed over the sight of the rather messy complex. “Though I say your home could stand a bit of tidying up.” “Yeah well had I known I’d expect to have company today, I probably would’ve cleaned up a bit,” Ace responded. “Probably would’ve had time to bake a cake.” “Ah take it from what yer landlord done said, y’all live here by yerself?” Applejack asked. “… Not precisely,” Ace grinned again. He then turned toward the room and gave a shrill whistle. At that very moment, animals of all shapes and size literally burst out from every direction. Lizards crawled from drawers, the birds took to the air, and every single one gravitated toward Ace. Among numerous other animals, the entire group consisted mainly of dogs, cats, birds, raccoons, and surprisingly even penguins. “Come to me jungle friends!” Ace commanded his flock. All the animals gathered around Ace, as the Mane Six and Spike watched in both absolute shock and amazement. More so than any of them, Fluttershy couldn’t help but admire the sight. “Oh… my… Faust!” She smiled. “Pretty cool huh?” Ace asked her. Fluttershy merely nodded and knelt down alongside him. Soon enough, many of the animals gathered around her as well. “Hello little friends,” She greeted them all. “Oh, this reminds me so much of my cottage back home in Equestria.” The name caused Ace to face her with a trace of confusion. “Equestria?” He asked. “Never heard of such a place before. Is it European?” Fluttershy turned back toward her friends and they all looked back and forth toward one another before confirming with a set of nods. If they meant to stay with Ace and work with him to help recover one of their missing friends, a friend of which they barely knew, they may as well be completely honest with him. They all turned back toward him, ready to reveal a startling truth. “Mr. Ventura…” Twilight began. “Please… Mr. Ventura was my father’s name,” Ace smirked. “Call me ‘Ace’.” “… Ace, there’s something you need to know about us,” Twilight told him. “Now, this might shock you a bit, so we need you to promise not to freak out.” “I can do that,” Ace nodded. “Oh no, no, no, no, no mister,” Pinkie shook her head. “You must do the ‘Pinkie Promise’. Now… do exactly as I do.” Pinkie began the process of her signature promise. Soon as she finished, Ace mimicked the steps exactly as he saw them. “’Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye’,” He recited. The girls and Spike then lined up and joined hands as a bright light encased them all. When the light faded, they once more assumed their pony and dragon forms. As they opened their eyes, they noticed Ace staring at them with huge bug eyes. “Well… I certainly didn’t expect that to happen today,” Ace spoke, in shock. “Guess it’s not every day you see a bunch of colorful, talking ponies huh?” Rainbow asked. “Same could be said for everyone we’ve met on our other adventures,” Pinkie giggled. “Granted most of them nearly screamed, fainted, almost ran away… or all of the above.” It took a moment before Ace could finally find any words to speak. “So you’re all from another world right?” He asked curiously. “Ya got that right partner!” Applejack nodded. “And you’re here to find this missing friend, that somehow ended up here… by accident?” “Indeed!” Rarity nodded. “I understand if this is all too much for you to take in right now,” Twilight assured calmly. “Oh not at all!” Ace smiled. “Matter of fact, it makes perfect sense.” This caused everyone to look at him in such utter confusion. “Seriously?” They asked in unison. “Not really no, but probably just easier to go with it,” Ace responded. “Though, that does explain why you all smelled like cake frosting and… pony sparkle.” “… Fair enough,” Twilight nodded. “At least your taking this better than everyone else we’ve met.” “Well, I don’t know if you really noticed but… I’m not like everyone else,” Ace said, gesturing all the animals around him. “My whole world is a zoo.” “Yeah… we figured that out ourselves,” Spike chuckled. <> Meanwhile, at the Miami Dolphin Stadium, tensions were running at an all-time high. As a matter of fact, things were certainly going crazy. In the very imposing office of Bobby Riddle, owner of the Miami Dolphins, he was currently yelling at Roger Podacter, an ex-linebacker in his early sixties, and Melissa Robinson, Podacter’s attractive assistant. “Roger let me ask you one thing!” Mr. Riddle yelled. “How the hell do you lose a 500 pound fish?!” Melissa looked as though she were about to speak but hesitated to do so. Unfortunately, Mr. Riddle had taken quick notice. “What?” “It’s not a fish, sir,” Melissa spoke quietly. “It’s a mammal.” “Oh, thank you very much, Mrs. Jacque Cousteau!” Riddle responded sarcastically. “Bob, she didn’t mean anything by it,” Roger spoke for her. After a moment, Riddle calmed down enough t speak in a much more ‘hushed’ tone. “Listen, personally, I don’t give a good god damn about a fish,” He spoke. “Fry it and fast food it for all I care. All I care about is winning this Super Bowl! I want the players’ heads in the right place.” He then looked directly at Roger. “Shit, Roger, you’ve been in this game long enough, you know how superstitious players are. Our quarterback’s been putting his socks on backwards since high school. And I got a lineman who hasn’t washed his jock in two years because he thinks flies are lucky!” While he spoke, Roger quietly and swiftly hid his lucky rabbit’s foot chain away. Melissa notied this and couldn’t help but smirk. “I want that god damn fish on the field Super Bowl Sunday!” Riddle said loudly. “FIND THE FISH OR FIND NEW JOBS!!!” After the meeting ended, the two officials emerged out of the office. It was plain to see they were clearly stressed out over the whole ordeal. “Why did it have to happen now?” Roger asked. “I got three stinking years left till retirement.” “I’ve got forty,” Melissa retorted. “I’ll tell you who did it!” Roger pointed out. “It was those goddamn animal rights nuts! Always out there with their goddamn signs, ‘ANIMALS WERE BORN FREE, STOP TORTURING SNOWFLAKE!’ That goddanm fish lives better than they do!” They stopped outside Melissa’s office by her secretary’s desk. “The police are checking into the animal rights people,” Melissa assured, before addressing her secretary. “Martha, have the police called back about the dolphin yet?” “No, but I wanted to tell you,” Martha replied. “When I lost my Cuddles, I hired a pet detective.” “A what?” Roger asked confused. “A ‘pet detective’,” Martha reiterated. “Thanks Martha, but we’d better leave this to professionals,” Melissa responded. “Well actually, he was quite good,” Martha told her. “Pet detection is a very involved, highly scientific process.” <> Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity stood together by the side of the apartment building, once again in their human forms. All eyes were gazing toward the roof. “ACE, ARE YOU SURE THIS IS SUCH A GOOD IDEA?!” Twilight shouted. “I AGREE ACE, DEAR!” Rarity shouted as well. “THIS REALLY DOESN’T SEEM SAFE…” But Ace was barely listening to them. For you see, he and Fluttershy were currently conversing with the rare albino pigeon he was trying to catch. Ace was making little cooing noises while Fluttershy spoke with the little creature. “Just please stay right there, Mr. Frost,” Fluttershy spoke gently. “We will get you back to your owner in no—” But just as she and Ace were a mere 12 inches away, Ace suddenly leapt forward trying to grab the bird… but he succeeded in scaring it and Mr. Frost flew out of the way. “ACE! NO!” Fluttershy shouted. As for Ace, he slid down the roof screaming until he fell off the roof and landed ‘luckily’ in a pile of trash. “OH, DEAR FAUST!” Spike yelled. “That looked fun!” Pinkie cheered, clapping. “Can I try it?!” “NO!!!” The group said in unison. Fluttershy quickly came down the fire escape to join her friends. Much to her relief, Ace was okay… barely. “Dude, are you okay?” Rainbow asked worriedly. “That was a mighty nasty fall yah took thar,” Applejack added. “Believe it or not… I’ve been worse…” Ace groaned. Suddenly, a beeping sound drew everyone’s attention. Ace reached for his pager to check and see who messaged him. “What’s that?” Spike asked. “What’s it say?” Ace slowly got back up as he looked down at his pager then to them. “Guys… we got a new case…” <> “PINKIE PIE, WOULD YOU PLEASE GET DOWN FROM THERE AND GET BACK IN THE CAR?!” Rarity shouted. “Um… Ace?” Twilight spoke anxiously. “Are you sure this is okay?” “Of course, Princess!” Ace replied unconcerned. “What could possibly go wrong?” “Where do I begin?” Spike muttered. “How you doing up there, Pinkster?!” Ace called, looking up the roof. While Ace was driving the car and everyone else were buckled tightly inside, Pinkie Pie currently stood on her hind legs on the roof of the car. Apparently, she’s been pretending that she was riding a surfboard! “WHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!” Pinkie cheered. “LIVIN’ THE DREAM, ACE! I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO TRY HIGHWAY SURFING! LOOKED LIKE SO MUCH FUN WHEN SAM AND MAX DID IT!!!” “Who?!” Rainbow asked, confused. “Ooop… this is our destination!” Ace called out. He soon placed a hand onto his mouth as though he were speaking through a walkie-talkie. “Dear passengers, we are making our descent to Joe Robbie Stadium.” The Equestrians looked at each other heavily confused. “Please put your seat belts back on as we are about to begin our landing,” Ace instructed. “Thank you and have a nice day.” “Ah well, guess I should return to my seat,” Pinkie declared. And just like that, she slunk through the window like a slippery snake and sat back down… on Rarity’s lap. “Come here often?” Pinkie smiled, jokingly. Rolling her eyes, Rarity used her own magic to casually position Pinkie into her own empty seat and set her seatbelt around her waist. While doing so, Ace’s clunker entered the parking lot passing by some real nice cars. Every employee was practically staring at the car, while Pinkie Pie casually smiled and waved at all the befuddled workers. “YeeeeeeeOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEEEEAAAAALOOOOAAAAA….” Ace sang. “rrrrrrrrrrrllllllllllllllllCOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLAAAAAA!!!!” Pinkie sung back. The car soon swerved and waved its way through the parking lot until Ace spotted an open spot next to, and by, a nearby tree. He turned the wheel so greatly that the car suddenly performed a 180 degree bootleg turn till it skid to a stop and parked right against the concrete bar next to the patched spot of land surrounding the tree. The Equestrians, minus Pinkie Pie, looked very disheveled and were clawing anything they could after Ace’s parking job… Like Neal and Del from Planes, Trains, and Automobiles are going through and in-between two semi-trucks. … We really should consider covering that movie. I haven’t made a full commitment on that yet… “LLLLLLLLLike a glove!” Ace smiled victoriously. As Ace got out of the car and strolled toward the stadium, the girls and Spike finally snapped out of their shock and eventually piled out of the car one at a time. “… If that had been on purpose, that would’ve been totally cool…” Rainbow strained. “I think Ace needs to get that power steering fixed,” Twilight groaned. “Tell me about it,” Spike groaned. “My part of the seat’s so jammed all the way to the front, my entire left side’s asleep.” “Ooh, I know how to fix that!” Pinkie raised a hand. Quickly reaching into her hair, Pinkie Pie pulled out a mallet and angled it right by Spike’s left foot. “Pinkie, I really don’t think that’s a good—” *BAM!!!* “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Meanwhile, a stern guard is admitting people into the stadium. He scanned each one with a security detection wand. “Art Wheeler, sporting supplies,” One man introduced himself. The guard scanned him and off he went. “Tom Anderson, concessions,” The next man said. The guard scanned him next, and off he went. “Ace Ventura, Pet Detective!” Ace smiled. “And guests!” The guard stared at Ace, accusingly. But he left him through all the same. Behind him, the Equestrians in their human disguises followed the Pet Detective… while a muttering Spike limped steadily as his left foot seemed to pulse… from an unmentionable attempt to wake it. <> Inside Melissa’s office, Martha soon entered. “Ah… Mr. Venture to see you,” Melissa informed. “Okay, send him in,” Melissa acknowledged. And as soon as Martha departed, Ace and company soon entered the office. “Hi, I’m Melissa Robinson,” Melissa introduced. “Did you have any trouble getting in?” “No, the guy with the rubber glove was surprisingly gentle,” Ace replied casually. “Yeah… perhaps a little too gentle,” Rarity added uncomfortably. “Super Bowl week,” Melissa spoke apologetically. “Security’s tight.” “Ooh… Super Bowl,” The Equestrians nodded understandingly. But it was plain to see the group could barely hide the confusion. “I beg your pardon, Melissa was it,” Twilight spoke up. “We’re strangers in this area, and don’t know the sports around here. What precisely ‘is’ a Super Bowl?” “It’s the annual playoff championship game of the National Football League,” Melissa explained. “It’s the final game for every NFL season since 1966. The winning teams are awarded the Vince Lombardi Trophy, in honor of the coach who won the first two Super Bowls. We won at least twice back in the seventies.” “Now that sounds like a game I’d love to see while we’re here!” Rainbow smirked. “But enough with the history lesson, I’ll get right to the point…” Melissa continued. She casually slipped a tape in the VCR and gestured for Ace and company to sit. Soon footage of the subject in question was before their eyes. While the footage itself mainly showed empty stands, there was plenty of action happening on the field. The Miami Dolphins were practicing. Dan Marino, their star quarterback, was in top form, hitting pass after pass. “Our mascot was stolen from his tank last night,” Melissa explained. “Are you familiar with ‘Snowflake’?” The tape showed additional footage, where behind one of the goal posts, the team’s mascot, a rare dolphin (Snowflake), wearing #4, was practicing his routine. The trainer, dressed like a quarterback, shouted signals. “Blue! 42! Blue! 42! Hut! Hut!” Snowflake swum over, snatching a small football out of the trainer’s hand, then swam the length of the pool, performed the endzone dance on his tail, and then returned the ball to the trainer. “We’re not quite familiar with this sport or the mascot,” Applejack replied honestly. “But that there’s one mighty fine fish!” “Mammal, actually…” Fluttershy corrected. “It’s a common mistake.” “Just don’t ever let Mr. Finn Tastic hear you make that mistake,” Pinkie remarked. “Or, we’ll never hear the end of it.” “Anyways… we got Snowflake from the Miami Seaquarium,” Melissa explained off-screen. “He’s a rare bottlenose Dolphin. That’s the new trick he was going to do during the half-time show.” The trainer now set the ball on the dolphin’s tail and Snowflake ‘kicked’ a perfect field goal. The trainer blew a whistle and raised both arms. While Ace studied the tape, he chewed sunflower seeds in a bird-like fashion, placing the shells in a neat little pile on her desk. “Would you like an ashtray?” Melissa offered. “No, I don’t smoke,” Ash replied, adding more shells to the pile. “Very bad for your health,” Pinkie added, blowing bubbles out of a pipe. “… Gee I wish I was told that ‘years’ ago,” Spike remarked, in annoyance. Poor Melissa was already wondering if she made a mistake hiring this group. The ‘Detective’ was clearly a lunatic, and his associates were more… stranger than appearances perceived. “To be honest, Mr. Ventura. I’m pretty skeptical. Before today, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a pet detective.” “That makes ‘two’ of us darling,” Rarity replied. “Well, now that you do, you’ll know who to call if your Schnauzer ever runs away,” Ace replied optimistically. “How did you know I have a Schnauzer?” Ace pulled an invisible-to-the-naked-eye dog hair off her blouse and presented it to her. “He’s young, about five pounds, black coat, white speckles…” Ace observed, sniffing the hair. “… Likes to chase cars.” “Whoa…” The group gasped. “Very impressive,” Melissa nodded. “You should see what I can do with a good ‘stool’ sample.” Rarity’s face turned to horror imagining the thought, she held a hand over her mouth as if something inside was threatening to come out. Applejack leaned Rarity onto her shoulder, patting her gently. “Yeah… let’s ‘not’ find out,” Rainbow shook her head, gulping. “Look, we’ve got a problem,” Melissa informed. “Can you help me or not?” “Well, sea faring creatures aren’t really my expertise…” Ace replied coyly. “We’ll give you three thousand dollars on delivery. “THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!” The girls and Spike shouted. “With all that money, I could retire and never do a lick of work ever again!” Spike replied, nodding his head. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Spike,” Twilight smirked. Ace immediately became the narrator of a nature show “The dolphin is a social creature. Capable of complex communication. Traveling in large groups or schools…” “Mrs. Melissa, consider us on the case!” Twilight declared. <> A short time later… The Dolphin players are practicing out on the playing field. A crowd of reporters were interviewing their top quarterback, Mr. Dan Marino himself. (Grins widely) EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... Oh no… he’s been fanboying since meeting him at the ‘Dan Marino Foundation’ dinner with the Mayor… (Grins widely) EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE… “We just choked in 82,” Dan Marino informed. “We had a chance to win it and we didn’t. Nobody’s gonna choke this time, and if they do, I’ll kill ‘em.” Ace, the Equestrians, and Melissa made way for the snowflake’s tank. “The police were here this morning,” Melissa informed. “Apparently, the kidnappers used the back gate.” Ace bent down to look over some tire tracks on the field. “They said some kind of a—” “Four while drive fan…” Ace observed. “Loaded from the rear.” Ace proceeded to sniff the turf, while the Equestrians stood awkwardly not knowing what to make of his antics. Podacter entered nervously. “Oh, hi, Roger,” Melissa greeted. “How are you holding up?” “Well if it looks like I’m walking funny it’s because I have a bunch of reporters up my ass!” Podacter complained. “They’ve been asking me about Snowflake all day. Who’s this?” “Roger Podacter, meet Ace Ventura. Ace is our pet detective… and the kids are his crew.” “Sup!” Rainbow greeted. “Howdy!” Applejack tipped her hat. “Salutations!” Rarity curtseyed. Podacter proceeded to shake hands with each of the members. “Nice to meet you,” Podacter replied. “Martha Metz recommended you very highly.” “Martha Metz?” Ace spoke. “Martha Metz. Oh yeah, the bitch.” “What?” Podacter spoke aghast. “Ace?!” Twilight gasped. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Podacter. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it—” “Pekinese!” Ace continued. “Hyperactive. Lost in Highland Park area. She was half dead when I found her. Is that the tank?” The two followed Ace as he made a B-line for Snowflake’s tank, the rest of the Equestrians followed after. <> Moments later… They all stood before the now empty tank, formerly the home of one Snowflake the Dolphin. “Cops drain it?” Ace questioned. “Yes,” Melissa nodded. “This morning.” Ace soon hopped onto the ladder. “What on Earth are ya doin’ now?” Applejack asked. “If I’m not back in five minutes… call Lloyd Bridges!” Ace called out. “Hey wait for me!” Pinkie called out. “I want to do the Scooby Doo thing too!” Before any of the Equestrians could raise an objection, Pinkie Pie scurried into the tank following the eccentric ‘Pet Detective’ inside the tank. The rest of the group just stood there, completely flabbergasted. “If this is the process of finding a Dolphin, our friend is doomed…” Rainbow groaned. “Well, not unless…” Rarity pondered, then regretted it. “Yeah… he’s doomed…” <> Few more moments later… While eating sunflower seeds, Ace meticulously examined the tank while Pinkie sniffed around the bottom floor like a search dog. Then wearing some funny goggles, Pinkie zoomed the specs upon some scratches where the hand banged against the wall when Snowflake was stolen. All the while, Ace sung a bastardized version of the ‘Flipper’ theme while Pinkie merrily hummed along. “… Wonderful Flipper… glorious Flipper… magnificent Flipper… the flippiest Flipper…” “Oh, I ‘know’ we’d have so much fun doing that movie…” Pinkie replied. “Who doesn’t love Elijah Wood when it comes to movies?” The Equestrians, Podacter, and Melissa watched from the rim, all looking at each other. “What have we gotten ourselves into?” Rainbow asked aloud. “Someone had to say it…” Just then Podactor spotted something. “Oh, great!” A hoard of reports were heading their way toward the tank, and the Equestrians’ friends were still in the tank. “Oh my… we can’t let them catch our friends like this!” Fluttershy spoke worriedly. “I’ll try to head them off!” Podacter continued. “Get out of the tank!” Melissa called out. “The paparazzi’s coming!” Rainbow hissed. “You want another Gabby Gums incident?!” “… Can’t here you Flipper, Flipper…” Ace kept singing. “Lookin’ for Flipper, gotta find Flipper…” “Look around your world, pretty baby is it everything you hoped it’d be?” Pinkie sung. “The wrong guy, the wrong situation, the right to roll to me…” “Pinkie Pie, please get out of the tank!” Twilight begged desperately. “… Now!” As the reporters drew closer, Podactor headed them off. “So where’s Snowflake?” One reporter asked. “Ah… Snowflake is just, ah, not available right now,” Podacter responded nervously. “Come on, I’m supposed to get a shot of his new trick for the evening news.” “What? Is he sick?” A second reporter asked. Soon other reporters chimed in, asking so many questions. ‘Did something happen to Snowflake?!’ and ‘What’re you hiding…?!’, among a million other questions. Melissa and Podacter clearly didn’t know what to say. Then, a strange voice was heard. “How cun I be getting zis vork dun mit all da shouting?!” Ace shouted, with a german accent. “Control de shouting!” Pinkie Pie spoke, in an accent. “Who the hell are they?” One report asked. “That? Those are us…” Melissa thought nervously. Then all of a sudden, Ace and Pinkie burst from the top of the tank. “Heinz Kissvelvet!” Ace introduced. “I am trainer of dolphins.” “Christina Gisela!” Pinkie spoke, wearing funny glasses. “Assistant to Heinz. You vant to talk to ze dolphin, you talk to us!” “What happened to the ‘regular’ trainer?” A reporter asked. “Vat happened to him? Vat happened to us?! Seven years we was wit Siegfried!” Ace held up only four fingers, which Pinkie helped by holding up three fingers. “Ve are making de dolphins disappear, und den Roy is coming wit de vite tiger and ze shtuffing in de pands und den I’m gone!” Ace continued. “Where is Snowflake?” The Reporter asked skeptically. “Vy do you care about Snowflake?” Pinkie asked suspiciously. “Do you know him? Does he call you at home? DO YOU HAVE A DORSAL FIN?!?!” “To train ze dolphin, you must zink like ze dolphin!” Ace explained. “You must be getting oonside ze dolphin’s head! Just yesterday, I’m asking Snowflake… ‘Akay!... Akay, Akay, Akay?’ und he said…” Ace proceeded to point to Pinkie Pie. “Akay! Akay!” Pinkie imitated the Dolphin. “Und he is up on ze tail…” Ace continued. “EEEEEEEEEE!!!” Ace and Pinkie squeaked, while up on their toes. “Und you can quote him!” Ace concluded, as he & Pinkie spit. … I don’t know if I should be ‘amused’… or ‘offended’. “Gentlemen, please,” Podacter jumped in. “Coach Shula’s press conference is just about to begin. Why don’t I take you over there and let, ah, Heinz…” “Und Gisella…” Pinkie raised a finger. “And Gisella… do their job,” Podacter concluded, ushering the press away. “Go to ze conference!” Ace shooed the reporters. “Go to it!” Pinkie waved her hands. “Shoo! Shoo!” “Are you finished, Heinz?” Melissa asked. “Not yet!” Ace replied. “BRB!” Pinkie smiled. Ace and Pinkie proceed to work toward the filter just outside the tank. Opening the tank, they proceeded to pour out its contents – mainly leaves and some small twigs and assortment of gunk. The Equestrians looked anxiously as Ace and Pinkie rooted through it. “Hey, look at this!” Pinkie pointed. Pinkie Pie soon noticed a very tiny amber stone. Picking it up with her fingers, she eyed it closely as it gleamed off her gaze. “Pretty…” Pinkie sighed, passing the stone to Ace. “Pinkie, my dear!” Ace smiled. “Saddle up your friends! We’re finished!”