//------------------------------//
// A Touch of Pinkie 
// Story: Gummy Tries to Get Warm 
// by Incredible_E 
//------------------------------//

"Not just the heat-death of a universe, but not even the heat-death of the multiverse can cure my illness!"

For the first time in eons, Gummy felt helpless and lost. Emotions never felt before, and he never got emotional beyond the brilliance of the seemingly endless boundaries of philosophy.

He recalled his time on Kintimparion 7, ⟟⎎ ⊬⍜⎍ ⎎⍜⎍⋏⎅ ⏁⊑⟟⌇, ☌⍜⍜⎅ ⟊⍜⏚, and Earth. Never had he dealt with this shivering before, nor had to face emotions. Something about Equestria had altered him for the worst: to act illogically and irrationally. Gummy had just destroyed hundreds of realities in a colossal cosmic heat-death way before its time.

"I must reset."

Gummy proceeded to take off the gauntlet, then devour his tail and consume himself out of this existence.

Immediately he loaded into an auto-save of where and when he had previously left, the oven.

He just lay there, shivering. Contemplating why every effort, no matter how grossly and exponentially intense they got, never worked. Recalling the last few hours, he proposed two conclusions for himself. That he is approaching death or the cold in cold-hearted is now becoming a physical reality more than a figurative one. The latter was more believable to him as he knew he was a cold, most often emotionless, and logically inclined philosopher.

For another half-hour, just like accepting the inevitability of the death of all things, he accepted that he might shiver for the rest of his life. Having tried every method possible to warm the self, it was truly inescapable. Perhaps it was the curse of every great being, to possess or develop some sort of unfortunate downfall.

Then, the front door swung open, and hopped in Pinkie, returning from her day out.

"I need to bake a day-after-a-fun-hang-out-day pie for Rainbow! I am sure she will love it tomorrow."

She walked to the oven to preheat it and found it was already on. Curiously, she opened the oven door and discovered Gummy.

"Gummy! What are you doing in there?"

Gummy blinked asynchronously at her and licked his left eye.

"Awwww, did you know today was going to be a blast and knew I was going to make a day-after-a-fun-hang-out-day pie? How sweet of you. You know me so well."

Pinkie nuzzled Gummy and set him down on the counter, then proceeded to gather the necessary ingredients.

Something had happened between hearing Pinkie return home and the recent nuzzling. The chill that lived deep within him, the constant shivering he had been enduring, began to dissipate. A warm feeling began in his chest, then radiated outward throughout the rest of his body. He felt. . . no, it couldn't be.

"What is this? All of a sudden my chilly plague is cured? It could not have conceivably been remaining in the oven for an extended duration of time."

He looked at Pinkie smile and hum to herself as she combined flour and sugar into a mixing bowl. The tune was definitely not from a show that lasted nine seasons and starred equine characters. Nonetheless, it filled him with, non-voidedness. Gummy did not know how to process it. Was this the warmth he was searching for all along? Warmth from... emotions? Gummy nearly got sick from the thought of becoming emotional. Though somehow, it was inevitable that Pinkie Pie made him feel. . . happy and comforted. Most importantly, and hesitant to admit, he felt loved and liked it.

Never had he considered that during most of this philosophical thinking and ethical pondering, he was in the presence of Pinkie. For all this time, he took this partnership with her for granted. Choosing her to live with due to her universe-breaking capabilities was the start. For it to evolve to this stage was unexpected.

Gummy remembered that he still had the ring with him. He made his usual soft gurgle-clicking noise to get Pinkie's attention.

When Pinkie looked over, Gummy stuck out his tongue with the ring resting around it, offering Pinkie the ring that represented his imperfection, as a symbol of renewal. Not to mention the ring that allowed him to easily accelerate the heat-death of the multiverse, but we don't talk about that anymore.

Pinkie squeaked, "Aw! Thank you Gummy! It's so precious! Come help me bake."

Gummy agreed and bit his way to cling to her tail. This is how he liked to share time with Pinkie, by her tail or ear.

Though the gesture of the ring was symbolic to him, to Pinkie, it was a sweet golden ring with special powers. The ring morphed to become bracelet sized to fit around her foreleg because now, Pinkie Pie has the One Ring, the One Ring to rule them all.





For days afterward, Gummy contemplated an alternative solution he could have taken while resting next to Pinkie.

"In retrospect, I wonder if a mere cup of hot cocoa would have remedied my internal shivers all the same. Never did I try something internal the entire time. I suppose it will never be known, but yet, will be known due to an alternative me likely already done or doing or will be doing so. Good luck to me where ever and whenever I am. I do, however, prefer this ending to a story."