Crack.
A hairline fracture had appeared in the outside of the final egg lining the nest belonging to a pair of proud parents. Seven eggs had been laid in all, and all the other ones had hatched several days ago. The two adults had almost given up hope that this one was ever going to hatch. But they were relieved that the egg was not... well...
A small green claw burst forth from the egg, followed soon after by a second one. The creature inside wriggled desperately, trying to escape the prison, and lashed out with a thick tail. Alligator egg hatchings were very rarely a fun experience, it was just get out when you can, however you can.
With the parents supervising, within ten minutes or so the newly hatched alligator had almost completely managed to escape the egg, but could not shake the last bit off his head. The parents exchanged a glance. Not very bright, this one. Something seemed wrong with him. Perhaps a side effect of being in the egg for so long. The young alligator shook the final remnant of shell off his head, and looked up into the light.
"Aw, look, he's got your eyes," the male said fondly. He said nothing regarding the feeling that something wasn't quite right.
The female agreed. "He's completely adorable, completely-" She, however, noticed it first. And wasn't about to let her opinion remain silent.
The hatchling grinned, displaying a complete lack of teeth.
"-useless..." The mother finished in disgust. It wasn't that she didn't love the new hatchling, quite the opposite. She loved all her eggs very much. But they were carnivores, and a carnivore without teeth was of no use to any of them. What sort of life was that?
"...Gummy, darling, why don't you go down to the swamp and see if you can't catch a fish or two?" The mother asked sweetly. A ruse, most likely just to get rid of him.
"...Gummy?" The father asked in a low voice. He didn't hold back on his surprise or disapproval.
"You have a better name?" The mother hissed back.
Gummy, eager to please and oblivious of his condition, made his way down the embankment. Like most alligators, the nest he'd hatched from had been located near a wetland, a swamp in this case. He lost his footing on the way down the hill and slid right into the muck, annoyed at first, but quickly that finding he liked it. He dove underwater, if you could even call it that, large eyes blinking in the murky abyss, trying to find something to eat.
This went on for some time, and he found nothing.
Annoyed, Gummy pulled himself back onto land, and immediately found himself confronted with the strangest creature he'd ever seen. Completely drenched and dripping with an infinite supply of mucus, the beast towered over him, making horrible gurgling noises.
"Graaaaaaaaaahhhhhh..." It growled.
Gummy, who wasn't having any of this, burst between the creatures legs, and bolted back up the hill. The monster followed him, slow and wobbly. It didn't appear to have any eyes, which just made it all the more frightening. In fact, it didn't appear to have anything except slime. Gummy ran for his life, terrified but not showing it. In fact he hardly showed any emotion at all, save for the occasional frantic blinking.
The monster was relentless, and Gummy tried to lose it by diving into a hollow log. He was breathing heavily, and not sure why this creature was pursuing him. But at least he was safe here.
Safe until the log was lifted up on its side, and he went rolling out onto the ground again. Once more he was on the run, little legs moving as fast as they could. His parents didn't seem to have any desire of helping him, but that was nature sometimes.
He was on his own.
Poor gummy raced deeper into the swamp, past a few bubbling hot pools. Steam rose up out of them, indicating that if he was to fall in, he likely wasn't getting back out. He found himself at a dead end, and still the monster approached. There was nowhere to run now, and Gummy covered his large eyes in preparation for the inevitable.
But nothing happened.
Gummy opened his eyes, and found something quite surprising. The monster had solidified. The heat and steam surrounding them in the hot springs had hardened the mucus that made up the monster, resulting in a statue effect. Gummy breathed a sigh of relief, and jumped upon the statues head in an effort to get back home.
Crack.
The young alligator could only watch in fear as a large crack deepened down the side of the monster, and the hardened slime burst into a million pieces as a bright pink fireball rocketed out of it.
"Whee!"
Gummy was very confused, and hung onto the things head for dear life.
"I can't believe it!" She was saying. "I just came out here to see if I could find a new type of rock for my sisters and Twilight told me not to come out here or I'd fall in the swamp, and I said don't a silly filly Twilight, of course I'm not going to fall in the swamp! And so I came out here anyway and wouldn't you know it, I fell in the swamp! And I couldn't get all this stuff off of me and I was like "Grr!" and you were like "..." and I was like "Grr!" And you were like "..." And why is there an alligator on my head?!"
Gummy felt very confused, and his head was starting to hurt.
"But I guess I owe you for getting me out of that, do you wanna come home and have a super duper big party with me?" She was was asking.
Gummy didn't know what home was, but he blinked in agreement.
Home sounded fun.