4.The Derby
It was about eight o'clock at night, the air was filled with the aroma of lady's perfume and men's Gin and Tonic. Lauren Faust's dress was nothing special just something simple, Rainbow Dash didn't have anything on but what do you expect? She's a toon. Henry made sure that his iPhone's audio recording function was on before he had left earlier that night before meeting with Faust and Dash. He could feel the weight in his shirt pocket knowing how awkward it feels to have thing that weighs more than 5 ounces pulling at your shirt.
The waiter guided them to a half circle booth along the far side of the the restaurant underneath all the autographed pictures of famous celebrity's. As they sat down, Lauren said "My friend Sarah told me you wanted to see if the rumors are true, whether I was going to be re-issuing another Friendship is Magic series, am I correct?"
The waiter asked the trio what they would like to drink, Henry ordered a Coke, Rainbow Dash and Lauren ordered a water. After the waiter left to carry on his job the conversation started back up again. Henry took off his glasses and rubbed the sides of his nose, "Yes, you are." How did she know? He thought to himself that same question over and over, blaming Sarah for spilling the beans, but he just let it go. "So tell me Mrs. Faust, we'll you be renewing the show?" even though she already asked his question for him, he still needed to ask it.
"I'm not, well, I mean I can't." Answered Lauren. But there was something about her voice that made it sound as if she was hiding something.
"What do you mean 'you can't'?" Henry wanted to press further into this, all information is valuable for a detective, even if it's useless to what's at hand.
"Hasbro doesn't have the resources necessary to pay for more episodes, or new tv shows." Lauren adjusted her seat and dress. It wasn't long until after the waiter came with their drinks and asked what they would like to eat. The conversation continued as if it had never been interrupted.
"So I assume you will be purchasing back the rights for your show, right?" Henry noticed how interesting this has started to become.
"I don't have the money to do that, I only had enough to purchase the other 5 except Pinkie-"
"Can't get Pinkie?" Rainbow interrupted with ferocity "But we're the Elements of Harmony! Without all six of us, how will we be able to protect Equestria?" Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty, always stand by her friends side but can be a little hot headed at times.
" I'm sorry to disappoint you Rainbow, but I just font have the money. If I did, I would buy her back, but that will take a while, and even if I did she may already be purchased by another studio." Lauren reached across Rainbow's shoulder, comforting her like a mother would a child, tears came down Rainbow's face. No one deserves to loose a friend.
"So let me get this straight, the rumors are false about you developing another MLP show. You don't have the funds needed to buy back Pinky, why did DHX send a Detective to ask you this instead of sending in Sarah or Jayson?" Henry stepped off his soap box to let Lauren answer.
"I don't know, why did they send you?" This question threw him off guard.
"I don't know, but I do know someone will have to break the news to pinky." Said Henry nonchalantly. Lauren shot a fierce look at Henry, it gave him the chills.
"Don't tell Pinky, if she gets too sad, she'll turn into Pinkamena, her insane and depressed alter ego."
---------------------
It was about 12:00 am at the DHX Studio, the with Lauren Faust and Rainbow Dash, something that would make Henry the envy of Bronies everywhere, went well after he finished asking the questions. Henry was in Sarah Wall's, the producer of My Little Pony, office with Pinky Pie going over the sound recording of his Q and A.
Pinky was slamming her head on Sarah's desk crying out repeatedly "Why, Why, Why?!" While the tears coming out of her eyes made it look like Noah's second flood.
"Take comfort, Pinky, you're not the first cartoon who's creator as lost the rights to, take Oswald the Lucky Rabbit for example. Walt lost him to universal until 2006." Said Sarah, handing Pinky a Kleenex.
"But that's different!" Sobbed Pinky "Disney is determined to keep their characters, even ones they lost the rights to. But to have Lauren unable to purchase the rights to me? I can't believe it, I won't believe it, I shan't believe it!" Pinky pounded her hoof on the table like a judge pounding a gavel and with the face to match.
"Believe it kid, I took the recording my self, she can't afford you." Henry gave the phone to Pinky who played the line where Lauren says "I don't have the money to do that, I only had enough to purchase the other 5 except Pinkie-" over and over again.
"Buts impossible, she created me, it's absolutely impossible. Lauren is the light of my life, the cupcake of my eye, the cream in my coffee!" Pinkie was practically squeezing the life out of the phone the way she was clutching it in her hands, hoping to find a a ray of hope.
"Then you better star drinking it black." Said Henry.
"Lauren has been my friend for years, I never expected her to be unable to afford the rights to one of her own creations." Sarah took a bottle of scotch off the book shelf from behind her desk and gave Pinkie a shot, "Here, drink this, it'll make you feel better."
Pinkie drank the entire shot of alcohol in one gulp, but then weird stuff started to happen. Her tail began to twitch, she changed colors and crossed her hooves, she stretched her body horizontal and vertical, then her head turned into a whistle and she shot up in the air making the dreaded high pitched noise. Everything that was fragile or glass in the room shattered into pieces. Sarah and Henry both covered their ears, Henry had a more difficult time, he was holding a bottle of whiskey.
After her performance she fell back down to the chair to rejoin her brethren "Thanks, I needed that." She said, then her head slammed back down on the desk.
Henry walked over to Sarah cautiously, not wanting to wake pinkie incase she did an encore of her last performance. "I think, if it's all the same to you, I'll have that extra karate now." Sarah nodded her head and gave him a check of $50,000.
"Don't worry Pinkie, even though Lauren can't afforded you doesn't mean you don't have any value." Sarah said trying to console Pinkie.
"Yeah," agreed Henry, "with a reputation like yours, all the producers in Hollywood will be breaking your door down." That made Pinkie snap.
"Producers? What producers? Lauren's the only one for me, you'll see! We'll get our selves out of this Picca…picedil…" Pinkie had a thing about unable to say tongue twisters "out of this pickle! And one way or another, we will be happy, capital H-A-P-P-I!" she then zoomed out, breaking through the window blinds and pane forming a perfect silhouette of her body.
"I think that went rather well." Said Henry. Sarah attempted to pull up the blinds, but it's comedic timing kicked in and fell instead.
.................
Across the street from the studio lies an abandoned warehouse, it's still in use, but Acme Factory looks like it's abandoned even though the lights on the sign still light up every night. The light from the sign reflected off of the wet pavement of the street, suggesting it had rained earlier. The light then bounced off of a new visiter to the factory, a pink pony.
After Pinkie Pie stormed, maybe not stormed, she more or less broke out of the office. She trudged and sobbed her way over to the nearest place to sit that as far away from DHX as possible, which happened to be here. Pinkie sat down on a crate left for trash pick up and formed a wallet from her back, it doesn't make sense, but she's Pinkie Pie. The wallet held photos of her most memorial moments she had spent with Lauren and the rest of the Mane 6. The time they all met each other, the first episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, their first BronyCon, all of them happy moments.
But she realized how sudden it all came to an end. She thought this fun would always last forever, but time flies. "Please tell me this isn't so," she sobbed looking up into the sky "P-p-p-please." Pinkie formed a Kleenex and blew her nose.
.............