//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 - First Impressions 
// Story: A Gizmonk in Ponyville 
// by Moheart7 
//------------------------------//

When morning finally came, and Celestia began to raise the sun over the horizon, it took a great deal of effort to force her eyes open, when she did, Fluttershy found the strange monkey missing from the sofa. Not wanting to leave the poor creature alone on its first night here, Fluttershy set herself a small sleeping are next to her sofa so that she may help the monkey should it wake up during the previous night. However she fell asleep a couple of hours of watching the poor creature and has only just now woken up, suddenly she heard something smash from the kitchen. Instantly rushing to her hooves, she made her way to the kitchen and was met with an unusual sight, sitting on the kitchen counter was the creature Apple Bloom brought yesterday, sipping a cup of tea and looking like he was in a mild state of panic.

“Um… hello?” Fluttershy said quietly.

But the monkey obviously didn’t hear her, he simply just kept his focus on his tea at the broken shards of the saucer he had dropped onto the floor, so Fluttershy tried again.

“Excuse me?” she said, slightly louder this time.

However the monkey STILL didn’t hear her, now Fluttershy was getting annoyed. Never before had she encountered an animal that was so rude. Now it was time to start raising the bar a little.

“EXCUSE ME SIR!!!” She yelled, though still not as loud as a regular pony would.

That was when the creature turned his head towards the Pegasus upon finally hearing her, the moment his eyes met hers he dropped his jaw and dropped his teacup in fear. With a high pitched screech he instantly dashed across the kitchen counter, trying to keep off his damaged foot, and dove into the open cupboard, slamming the door shut behind him.

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy exclaimed, realising that she had frightened the poor monkey. “Oh dear, I am so sorry. Won’t you please come out?”

As Fluttershy hovered a little closer to the cupboard she was hoping that the sound of her gentle voice would coax out the scared creature like it would any other animal she tried to help, however when the door opened up again all that Fluttershy was met with was a blast of flour in her face and the sound of high-pitched laughter as the monkey slammed the door shut again, as it turns out the particular cupboard the creature hid in was where Fluttershy kept the dry food. After several minutes of trying to get the monkey to come out and getting pelted with more dry food, Fluttershy eventually sighed in defeat and backed away from the cupboard.

“Alright then,” she said. “You don’t have to come out now, I’ll just um… wait till you’re ready.”

“Fluttershy couldn’t help but feel flabbergasted at what just happened, never before had she encountered an animal that didn’t take to her straight away. Still this was a new animal that she had never seen before so maybe he wasn’t as used to ponies as the others were. Suddenly her train of thought was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Just a minute!” she said as she walked towards the door, opening it with her usual sense of caution. “Apple Bloom?”

“Hey Fluttershy,” the young filly said as Fluttershy let her into the cottage. “AJ managed to calm down after ah told her I was at yer place so ah just came by to… what the hay happened to you?”

Only now Fluttershy realise what a mess she was in, the monkey has thrown so much food at her she almost looked like the result of a bad cake decoration.

“Oh, our new, um… guest isn’t as calm as I hoped he’d be.” She said as she wiped some flour off her face.

“Oh, so he’s awake?” Apple Bloom responded, her ears perking up at the news.

“Yes he is, and I have to say even with a twisted foot he still has a bit of spring in his step.” 

“So where is he now?”

At those words Fluttershy cringed nervously and pointed toward the kitchen.

“In there,”

As Fluttershy led Apple Bloom toward the messy kitchen, the secondary result of the monkey’s food throwing, Apple Bloom couldn’t help but wonder what kind of creature this monkey was, after all Fluttershy was able to tame a Cockatrice with her famous stare, however after discovering that the monkey had hid himself away in the kitchen cupboard she began to understand Fluttershy predicament, after all even Fluttershy couldn’t use her stare through solid wood.

“Why is he….?” Apple Bloom began.

“I think might have startled him after he woke up,” Fluttershy proceeded to explain as she wiped her face clean using a nearby dish cloth. “When he saw me after I found him in the kitchen, he rushed into the cupboard and now he refuses to come out. Every time I try to convince him to leave he just throws food at me.”

Apple Bloom frowned at that, when she came by Fluttershy’s cottage this morning she hope that she would be able to see the monkey settling in but now she was met with this situation. Suddenly an idea popped into her head.

“Y’all want me to try?” she said with a smile. “Ah’m quite good with critters myself, maybe ah can get him to come out.”

“Oh I’m not sure about that Apple Bloom,” Fluttershy replied. “I have tried coaxing him out for a little while now.”

“Well maybe he just needs a little more incentive,” Apple Bloom said, still keeping her smile. “Besides he’s gotta run out of ammo sooner or later.”

It may not have been an ideal solution but in this case it wasn’t like Fluttershy had much of a choice. With one gentle nod of approval from the Pegasus, Apple Bloom stepped up towards the cupboard and took out an apple from her saddlebag, she thought that the monkey would appreciate some fresh fruit so she brought some from home.

“Come on out little feller,” she said as she waved the piece of fruit by the cupboard door. “We ain’t gonna hurt ya. Look what I’ve got for ya, a nice juicy apple, freshly picked.”

At first there was no response, for a moment Fluttershy thought that the por creature was going to start throwing food again, however she was mistaken. After a minute of silence, there was movement from the cupboard, soon enough the monkey slowly began to open up the cupboard door and poked his little head out from behind it, it was then Apple Bloom saw the curious look in the monkey’s sapphire blue eyes as he eyed the juicy looking apple in her hoof.

“It’s okay,” she said gently. “You hungry?”

The monkey then pushed the door away from him to open up the cupboard wide, revealing his entire form sitting on one of the shelves. Obviously the creature looked a little nervous but upcoming seeing the gentle look in the young Earth Pony’s face seemed to calm him down a bit. With one quick motion he jumped out of the cupboard, snatched the apple from Apple Bloom and proceeded to chomp it down, it was obvious to tell how hungry the little guy was. As she watched the monkey eat, Fluttershy was astounded by how quickly he took to Apple Bloom while she didn’t have ANY luck with him earlier, however despite this setback she decided to try her luck again.

“Um excuse me sir?” she whispered, though this time getting the monkey’s attention. “I’m really sorry about startling you earlier, I didn’t mean it.”

The monkey only responded with a slight shrug and continued to eat his apple, Fluttershy sighed at that. 

“Please, won’t you let us help make amends,” Fluttershy continued. “Perhaps there’s something we can do to make you more comfortable?”

The monkey then froze mid-chew and looked up at the Pegasus, he was weary obviously but he could definitely tell that the pony was being sincere with her words, as he looked back between her and Apple Bloom bloom the monkey scratched his chin as though he were deep in thought. Suddenly a small smile appeared on his face and the orb at the end of his tail lit up for a few moments, almost appearing like it was a light bulb setting off as though he had an idea. Quickly chomping down and finishing the apple core in his paws, the monkey quickly limped towards the kitchen counter and jumped up onto it, using his tail like a spring. Before Fluttershy and Apple Bloom’s eyes, the monkey proceeded to but the kettle to boil on the stove, set up three teacups he had brought out of another cupboard and began putting tea leaves into each of them.

“Is he makin… tea?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It would appear that way,” Fluttershy answered, mesmerised by the monkey’s obvious intelligence. “I DID see him having a cup before he hid himself in the cupboard.”

“Smart critter,” Apple Bloom remarked as the monkey proceed to poor the boiling water into each teacup.

By the time a few minutes passed, the monkey had created three cups of Camomile Tea, with a cup each for Apple Bloom and Fluttershy, and once for himself. Not wanting to be rude, both ponies took their respective cups and proceeded to drink, it was surprisingly well-brewed.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy exclaimed, taking another appreciated sip from her cup. “But you didn’t have to do this.

The monkey raised a finger in response to that and pointed towards the splint in his twisted leg, this WAS smart, so smart that he was able to figure out why his leg was covered in bandages.

“Oh, you’re welcome,” Fluttershy said with a gentle smile. “But I can’t all the credit, it was Apple Bloom here who brought you here after she found you in the Everfree Forest.”

The monkey then turned towards Apple Bloom you smiled sheepishly.

“Weren’t nothing really,” she said. “Any pony else would of done the same.”

But the Monkey simply giggled at the young filly’s modesty and raised his cup in approval, it was almost as though they were talking to another pony, only difference was the fact that he didn’t talk back, plus he was a strange looking monkey.

“So what are we going to call you?” Fluttershy pondered. “I really don’t feel right letting you do this for us and not give you a name, how about Melvin?”

But the monkey only shook his head with disapproval, clearly he didn’t like the name.

“How about Bananas?” Apple Bloom suggested, only to be met with the same response.

Suddenly the monkey limped across the counter, towards a pile of flour that spilled out after he threw it at Fluttershy, he then proceeded to move his finger through it to create words. Needless to say that both Fluttershy and Apple Bloom was surprised at this too, as they leaned in closer to see what the monkey was writing both couldn’t help but wonder how the monkey was so smart.

“My…. Name…. is Goggles?” Fluttershy said, reading the message aloud.

The monkey then pointed towards the pair of goggle on his head and proceeded to pull them down to his eyes to show off why he’s called that. Both Fluttershy and Apple Bloom couldn’t help but giggle with adoration at that, not only was the monkey smart but he was also quite cute when he tries to make his point.

“Alright then, Goggles it is,” Fluttershy chuckled. 

Goggles then gave a thumbs-up, though neither Fluttershy nor Apple Bloom knew what it meant since they lacked fingers, so they merely giggled again at the monkey’s cuteness.  During the next couple of hours, Fluttershy and Apple Bloom spent their time learning more about the strange creature they had saved, by the time it was 10AM they had discovered that this particular creature had a unique way of showing its intelligence, whenever the monkey had an idea in his head the orb at the end of its tail lit up for a few moments and went out again like a flashing light, this was displayed several time when the creature insisted on helping with cleaning up the mess he made earlier. Not only that, but the monkey also had an acquired taste for Camomile Tea, during the last couple of hours he had drunk at least 4 cups of the stuff, it was surprising that the little thing wasn’t higher from consuming all that caffeine. He also proved to have a mischievous side when he proceeded to throw a banana at Fluttershy’s pet rabbit, Angel, he of course got the receiving end of Fluttershy’s famous stare after that. Before long, Apple Bloom decided that he had better be heading back to Sweet Apple Acres before she got into any more trouble with Applejack.

“Ah better head back,” she said as she opened the door. “Ah’ll come by tomorrow with more fruit fer Goggles.”

“Oh I’m sure he’ll love that,” Fluttershy said as she looked over Goggles’ bandages.

However as Apple Bloom proceed to walk through the front door, Goggles jumped out of Fluttershy’s hooves, quickly limped across the floor and jumped onto Apple Bloom’s back like she were a riding horse, much to the surprise of both ponies, after several repeated attempts to set Goggles down only for him to jump up onto her back again, Apple Bloom looked back to Fluttershy, who had to had her smile behind one of her hooves.

“You know,” she giggled. “I think he wants to go home with you.”

“What!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, once again setting him down. “Ah can’t bring him back to the farm, we already got Winona and the rest of the farm animals I don’t think that… that…”

But that was when Apple Bloom looked down at the little monkey, who only looked back at her with large pleading eyes and a quivering lip. The desperate look on his face was too much for her to bear.

“Aw shoot! I can’t resist that little face!” she sighed in defeat. “But what about his leg, won’t he need you to take care of him?”

Fluttershy pondered at that.

“I can always come by now and then to see how he’s doing.” She replied. “Besides I think Goggles has made up his mind about it.

Goggles crossed his arms and gave a smug look at that remark.

“But what about Applejack?” Apple Bloom asked, scratching her head. “Ah don’t know if she’ll go for it.

“Oh I’m sure she won’t mind,” Fluttershy said reassuringly. “Besides he’s got to stay somewhere while his leg heals up, and he’s obviously taken a liking to you.”

Looking back down to the blue monkey at her hooves, Apple Bloom had to admit to herself that Fluttershy DID have a valid point. If Goggles had to heal himself somewhere, it might as well be somewhere where he was comfortable.

“Aw shucks,” Apple Bloom said with a smirk. “Alright, hop on.”

And with that, Goggles squeaked happily and once again jumped onto Apple Bloom’s back. As the two proceeded to walk down the path from Fluttershy’s cottage, Apple Bloom couldn’t help but get lost in thought.

“How in tarnation am ah going to explain this to Applejack?”