Surprise couldn’t help but smile as the early morning light slowly woke her from her dreamless sleep. It had been the first night in well over a week where she hadn’t woken up continually, plagued by nightmares. It also helped her as she realized she hadn’t even wet the bed.
But as she opened her eyes, Surprise heart sank. Her still partially asleep mind quickly began to fill with worry at the unfamiliar surroundings. The room’s bright and cheerful colors only seemed to confuse and worry her more.
Only when she looked back at the frame of the bed she was in, did Surprise remember what happened the other day. Surprise couldn’t help but scowl as she stared at the balloon shaped engravings. Only to quickly shift to confusion.
“Didn’t I fall asleep in the other bed?” Surprise questioned as she began to get out of the large pink bed. But a sudden movement next to the filly, caused her to stumble the rest of the way off.
A few moments later, a small green head with big purple eyes made its way out from under the blankets, blinking once as he stared at Surprise.
“Don’t do that!” Surprise huffed.
Gummy just stared back blankly at Surprise, not moving a single inch.
“You’re really weird…” Surprise said, looking around the room for her saddlebags. Seeing them next to the guest bed, the filly quickly checked to make sure everything she needed was still in them before she slipped them onto her back.
Once she was finished with that, Surprise made her way out of the room and into the bathroom. Pushing a small stool up to the sink, Surprise looked herself over in the mirror. As expected, her hair still lay flat and lifeless, covering a good portion of her face.
Her coat was still slightly dirty from walking the unfamiliar dirt streets the day before. She contemplated taking a bath, but decided to take one later.
Looking down at the sink, Surprise was caught slightly off guard as she found a new, unopened toothbrush and a tube of foal toothpaste that was supposed to taste like cotton candy. Not caring that she hadn’t even eaten yet, Surprise went ahead and cleaned her face and brushed her teeth.
Once she was finished, Surprised noticed Gummy standing just outside the bathroom door, staring blankly.
“Like I said, you’re really weird,” Surprise reiterated, staring at Gummy with a confused look. Like always, Gummy just stared back blankly as the filly made her way out of the room and down the stairs.
Even though it was still really early, the bakery already held a multitude of ponies. All of them either eating their recent purchase at a table, or waiting in line to be served. The only exception being Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who were busy taking and filling orders.
“Good morning, Surprise,” Cup Cake smiled as she placed several Jammie Dodgers in a paper bag and handed it to a brown coated stallion. “Breakfast is waiting for you in the kitchen if you’re hungry.”
“Thank you,” Surprise replied as she wormed her way through the crowed. Ponies quickly moved to allow the filly through, giving their own ‘good morning’ in the process.
Once she entered the kitchen, all the sounds from the other room quickly began to dim down. On one side of the room, Surprise could see Pumpkin and Pound Cake throwing more food at each other than they actually ate from their highchairs. On the other side, Pinkie Pie worked diligently as she removed and replaced trays of sweets from ovens, decorated several kinds of cakes and hummed a catchy tune; all at once.
“Good morning, Surprise!” Pinkie Pie chirped with one of her signature smiles. Putting down several trays she had stacked on her back, Pinkie rushed over to the filly. “Are you hungry?”
For a few moments, Surprise couldn’t help but feel slightly confused and concerned as the pink mare in front of her seemed to bounce with a energy that hadn’t been there the day before.
“I guess…” Surprise stuttered. She couldn’t help but think that the older mare was up to something. But if she had to admit it, Pinkie Pie’s smile did make her fell a little better.
“Just give me one sec,” Pinkie Pie replied with an energetic smile. While Pinkie rushed back to the other side of the room, Surprise hopped into a nearby chair, settling herself at the table.
Doing the impossible, Pinkie not only went back to doing what she had bee, but also preparing Surprise’s breakfast. After a few minutes, Pinkie placed a large plate in front of the filly. Instantly, Surprise recognized her favorite breakfast.
Blueberry pancakes with a light toping of strawberry syrup took up most of the plate. On one side sat two pieces of cinnamon sugar toast, on the other was a single boiled egg. Pinkie Pie also set down a cup of orange and a small morning salad.
“If you need anything else, don’t be afraid to ask,” pinkie Pie said before returning to her baking.
“She’s up to something, I know it,” Surprise quietly mumbled to herself. Steeling herself, the filly took her first bite and instantly drew back. It wasn’t that she thought it tasted bad, infact, she thought the opposite.
Surprise quickly returned to eating her food as she savored everything. She had already finished eating most of it when she finally decided to look up.
Gummy stood right in front of her, a small bowl filled with a strange red substance sat in front of him.
“What’s that?” Surprise asked, pointing a hoof at the bowl.
“Gummy’s food,” Pinkie Pie simple stated from the other side of the room.
“But what is it?” Surprise asked once more, becoming slightly annoyed.
“Its Gummy’s food you silly filly, what else would it be?” Pinkie Pie giggled, closing the last stove.
“Never mind,” Surprise grumbled, returning to her food. Soon enough, she and the twins were finished and Pinkie Pie began to clean up.
“So,” Pinkie began, wiping the twins clean with a cloth. “Do you wanna come with me today while I run some errands?”
It took Surprise a moment to realize that she was being talked to, mostly because she was taking her morning pills. But when she did, she couldn’t help but scowl slightly at the idea.
“Why should I?!” Surprise snapped, only to regret it after. She was beginning to think that she was being too mean.
“Well, I have to go to the hospital and set up a few appointments, stop by the pharmacy and make sure they carry your prescriptions, drop a box of goodies off at the Hooves house, and…”
“Pass,” Surprise interrupted. The prospect of going anywhere with Pinkie Pie was the last thing on Surprise’s to do list, let alone to all those boring places.
“Oh,” Pinkie Pie sighed, sounding slightly disappointed. “Well, its Sunday, so if you want, you can go play with the crusaders.
“So you can follow us around again? No thanks,” Surprise huffed.
“I’m sorry I did that, Surprise; but I just wanted to make sure nothing bad happened,” Pinkie apologized. “But I promise to not do it without you permission again. You just have to promise me one teensy little thing.”
“And what’s that?” Surprised huffed, already dreading what was going to be said.
“You gotta take Gummy with you,” Pinkie Pie replied, holding the alligator in her hooves while smiling hopefully.
“What?!” Surprise snapped. She already thought he was weird and couldn’t help but think that it would only get worse.
“Because he wants to spend time with you,” Pinkie Pie giggled, holding Gummy out towards ths filly. He blinked once before Pinkie continued. “See, he likes you!”
Surprise decided to consider it for a moment, almost instantly relizing that she’d rather take the alligator instead of Pinkie Pie. But the one thing that really caused her to hesitate, was that she didn’t even know if Pinkie Pie would keep her promise.
“How do I even know if you’ll keep your promise?” Surprise asked.
“I ‘Pinkie Promise’,” Pinkie replied before going through the motions.
“How is that any different from a normal promise?” Surprise questioned, confused even more.
“Because nopony breaks a ‘Pinkie Promise’,” Pinkie Pie replied, her expression turning serious. “Breaking a ‘Pinkie Promise’ is the first way to lose a friend.”
“So is that what I am to you?” Surprise mumbled so quietly, only she could hear it. Looking back up, Surprise watched as Pinkie Pie continued to hold Gummy towards her, a giant smile plastered on her face.
“Fine…” Surprise finally relented. “But if I find out you lied and…”
“I won’t, I promise,” Pinkie Pie interrupted, releasing Gummy from her grip.
The moment the alligator hit the ground, he hopped up and rushed towards Surprise. Before she could stop him, Gummy lunched himself at the filly’s left saddlebag, climbing in.
“Hey!” Surprise yelled, hopping out of her seat. She was mad that Gummy had decided to just hop into her bag of his own accord, but was slightly relived that he had chosen the one that didn’t hold anything important.
A moment later, Gummy’s head popped out from under the bags flap.
“Oh, come on!” Surprise whined, hoping that Gummy would move somewhere else. But he just continued to stare blankly from his position.
“Sorry, he usually likes to ride in something,” Pinkie Pie said as she took the Twins’ out of their highchairs and placing them on her back. “Come on, I’ll walk you to Applejack’s. The crusaders should be there already.”
“Fine…” Surprise groaned, following Pinkie Pie out of the kitchen.
* * *
“… and this is the Cutie Mark Crusader clubhouse,” Apple Bloom proclaimed as she and Surprise walked up the wooden ramp.
“Wow…” Surprise gawked as she looked at the clubhouse. Even though it was obvious that the small clubhouse had seen better days, it still looked really cool to her. She couldn’t wait to see the inside.
“There you guys are,” Scootaloo’s voice came as the clubhouse’s front door opened, revealing the orange filly. “We’ve been waiting forever!”
“We’ve only been waiting for five minutes,” Sweetie Belle interjected, coming into view. Surprise barely held back her giggle as she noticed what the unicorn was wearing.
She had a bright orange life jacket on. She also wore water wings on her front two legs and a swimming cape held most of her mane, allowing only her horn and lower back portion of mane free.
“But it’s felt like forever!” Scootaloo complained, making her way back into the clubhouse, the others following close behind.
The inside was even better then Surprise suspected. All kinds of posters hung on the walls, from motivational, to hoof drawn maps of the town. On one side of the room a large chest and table sat. On the other, there was a bookcase, a smaller table, and a pile of random supplies. There was even a large podium placed in one of the corners.
“Cool, huh?” Scootaloo asked with a confident grin. Surprise could only nod as she continued to look around the room.
“Hey, you brought Gummy!” Sweetie Belle just about cheered, pulling the alligator out of Surprise’s bag.
“Yeah, Pinkie Pie promised not to follow us if I brought him with me,” Surprise sighed, still not fully believing Pinkie’s promise.
“You got her to ‘Pinkie Promise’, right?” Scootaloo asked as she quickly glanced around the room.
“Well, yeah, but I don’t see how…”
“Good!” Scootaloo interrupted with a smile, “because we don’t need anypony worrying about what we’re doing this morning.”
“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Surprise almost stuttered as she looked towards the other two crusaders. She also noticed Gummy gurgle, but nopony else seemed to.
“No need to worry, Surprise,” Apple Bloom replied as she walked over to the large chest and opening it, “we aint doin nothing dangerous.”
Surprises watched as Apple Bloom continued to pull out three life jackets and a small toolbox.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle said as she returned Gummy to the saddlebag. “We’re going sailing!”
“There’s a small river in the west fields that Applejack said we could play in,” Apple Bloom continued, giving Surprise and Scootaloo life jackets.
“Why?” Surprise asked as she slipped the jacket on under her bags.
“Because we’re going to be pirates!” Scootaloo proclaimed, slipping a eye patch over her right eye.
“Cool,” Surprise replied in wonder.
“Yep,” the crusaders replied together.
“Is everypony ready?” Apple Bloom asked, receiving a confirming nod from the other fillies. “Then lets go!”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PIRATES, YAY!”
* * *
“I’ll be sure to have ample stock of those prescriptions, Pinkie,” the pharmaceutical pony told Pinkie with a smile.
“Oh, thank you so much!” Pinkie Pie replied with an even greater smile. With incredible speed, Pinkie placed a cupcake on the counter and rushed out the pharmacies front door.
“Why hello, Pinkie Pie,” a familiar voice called once Pinkie was outside.
“Good morning, Rarity,” Pinkie Pie replied, turning to face her friend. “Whatcha doin?”
“Just a bit of a morning walk to streach my legs,” Rarity replied with a flick of her mane as she walked up beside her friend. “But I must say,I am ever so happy to see you as your spry and energetic self once again. You had all of us dreadfully worried with how you were acting yesterday.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Pinkie Pie replied with a chuckle while leading Rarity down a nearby street. “I had a lot of things on my mind and I let it mess with me too much.”
“May I ask what those things were?” Rarity asked, trying to keep up with Pinkie Pie, who had started bouncing.
“Oh, a little bit of this, that, and cake,” Pinkie Pie replied with a giggle.
“Okay…” Rarity trailed off, obviously still concerned for her pink friend. “What about, Surprise? She is enjoying Ponyville, is she not?”
“I think she is,” Pinkie Pie said as the two walked up to a small house. “She hasn’t really talked to me, but she is with the crusader’s.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rarity asked, remembering just the kind of trouble her sister and her friends usually got into.
“It’s ok, Gummy’s watching her,” Pinkie Pie replied, knocking on the house's front door.
“Okay then…” Rarity said with some hesitation. She was a little skeptical on Pinkie’s choice, but had learned a long time ago to never bother questioning her.
Just then, the houses front door opened as two unicorns stepped out. One was a small periwinkle filly with a yellow mane and tail. The other was a young mare with a pink coat and purple mane and tail.
“Hi Dinky, hi Sparkler, I got a delivery your mom ordered this morning,” Pinkie Pie said as she magically pulled a large box out of her mane.
“Yay!” the young filly cheered as her sister took the box in her magic.
“Thank you Miss Pie,” Sparkler simple replied, turning a walking back into the house.
“Allons-y!” Dinky called as she rushed back into the house as well, the door closing behind her.
“I will never understand that family,” Rarity shrugged as she and Pinkie made their way back to the street.
“I think they’re a nice family,” Pinkie Pie replied. “I mean, Derpy just about raises them both on her own.”
“Well, if the rumors I’ve heard are true,” Rarity began, leading the two of them towards her boutique. “The Doctor has been making frequent trips the jewelry store.”
“Does that mean what I think it means?” Pinkie Pie asked, barely containing her excitement.
“Let’s just wait until we’re sure this time. We don’t want a repeat of last time, now do we?” Rarity replied with a small smile.
“I told them I was sorry,” Pinkie Pie said with a smile. “Besides, they forgave me after he did ask.”
“Well, I guess that’s ok,” Rarity sighed with a chuckle. Soon, the two stood outside Rarity’s store.
“So what do you have planned for today, Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked as she followed Rarity into the shop.
“I have a few orders I have to fill,” Rarity replied, flipping her ‘closed’ sign to ‘open’. “Why, did you need help with something?”
“No, I was just wondering,” Pinkie Pie said as she began a staring contest with one of the manikins. After a few minutes, Rarity couldn’t help but become concerned.
“Pinkie dear, are you sure there isn’t anything I could help you with?” Rarity asked as she worked.
“I’m sure,” Pinkie Pie said as she pulled her gaze from the manikin. “Anyways, I gotta head back to work, so have a good day.”
“Okay, Pinkie dear,” Rarity replied a little hesitantly. “But if you need somepony to talk to, I’m always willing to talk.”
“I know,” Pinkie Pie chuckled, making her way towards the shop’s front door. “Bye, Rarity!”
Rarity watched as Pinkie Pie left, keeping an eye on her through the window. Even she knew something was wrong with her pink friend.
“Maybe I should talk to Twilight about it the next chance I get,” Rarity quietly told herself, trying to continue her work. But even then, she couldn’t as her own concerns with her friend prevented her from continuing. With a reluctant sigh, Rarity closed the shop once again and wandered back down the street towards the library.