//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Explanations // Story: A Gizmonk in Ponyville // by Moheart7 //------------------------------// It may have taken another hour, but eventually Apple Bloom had managed to calm everyone down. Although it didn’t help that Winona, the family dog, decided to join in the chase and caused Goggles to start climbing the bookshelf, by the time every pony had stopped chasing Goggles, the house was a mess and Goggles had found himself clinging to the hanging lamp in the living room. Before long, Apple Bloom had explained the situation to the family, who looked down at the strange monkey, now sitting on the sofa with Apple Bloom. “So let me get this straight Apple Bloom,” Applejack said as she passed in front of the two. “You’re telling us that this is the critter you brought back from the Everfree Forest, gave to Fluttershy be healed up and now you bring him back here cause he’s taken a liking to ya?” “That pretty much sums it up yeah,” Apple Bloom answered sheepishly. Goggles merely shrugged, wondering what the problem was. “Apple Bloom, you can’t just bring some random animal into the house without our consent,” Applejack said, placing her hoof on her forehead. “For all we know that critter could be dangerous!” “It’ll be like them Parasprites that invaded the town,” Granny Smith added. “Eeyup,” Big Mac stated. Apple Bloom merely rolled her eyes at those remarks, she may have loved her family very much but this was one of those times where their paranoia would drive her up the wall. “Goggles ain’t dangerous AJ,” she said. “Y’all just had a bad first impression that’s all. Besides his leg is all busted up, how dangerous could he be? Goggles nodded in agreement with Apple Bloom, at he knew SHE was on his side in this situation. “Be that as it may you should have told us sooner,” Applejack repeated. “I didn’t know how to tell ya,” Apple Bloom argued. “Besides you and Big Mac were busy in the orchard and Granny was sleeping when I got back from Fluttershy’s, so I couldn’t tell ya until you came back anyway.” Applejack merely sighed at that. “PLEASE can Goggles stay Applejack?” Apple Bloom pleaded. “He’s actually quite nice once you get used to him.” “You only known the critter for less than a day!” Applejack argued. “You knew TWILIGHT for a day when you first met!” Apple Bloom retorted. “And she’s one of your best friends!” “That’s different Apple Bloom! It’s not like this critter is smart enough to talk to.” “But he IS smart AJ! VERY smart aren’t you Goggles? Goggles?” But once again Goggles had disappeared, most likely snuck off while the Apple family were arguing. Suddenly a noise came from the kitchen. “Dagnabbit! That critter’s pilfering food again!” Granny Smith cried out as she hurried out to the kitchen, closely followed by the rest of the family. But instead of finding a wild animal making a mess and stealing food from the kitchen, what the Apple family found instead was an intelligent creature boiling the kettle of the stove and setting out five cups for tea. Needless to say the whole family apart from Apple Bloom was surprised at this. “He likes tea,” Apple Bloom said plainly as she received confused looked from the rest of her family. “Looks like he likes sharing tea too,” Granny Smith said in response. “Eeyup,” Big Macintosh added. Soon enough, Goggles had brewed five cups of tea and offered each one to the Apple family with an extra one for himself. He then limped over across the kitchen counter, picked up a piece of paper and pencil, and proceeded to write something down, after which he passed it to Applejack who proceeded to read it aloud. “Ah’m sorry for the trouble ah’ve caused, ah’ll help clean up the mess. Please let me stay. G.” she read. Applejack then looked up at the blue monkey sitting on the counter, sipping his cup of tea, he may have been a little mischievous upon first impression but he certainly was polite, not only that but he was also smart. Applejack narrowed her eyes and scanned the creature with her determined gaze, normally she would try to see the best in ponies but she had to be careful with what she said next, after all it wouldn’t be the first time that something that seemed harmless at first turned out to be dangerous afterward, “Ah suppose we could let him stay for a trial basis,” She said, tapping her chin. “What do you think Granny?” “As long as he DOES clean up the mess he made, then that’s fine with me,” Granny answered taking a sip of the tea Goggle made her. “Besides, it would be rude to refuse him now that he’s at least trying to make an effort.” “Eeyup,” Big Mac added. Apple Bloom and Goggles smiled at that. “Alright then it’s settled,” Applejack said with a slight smile. “He can stay, but only as long as don’t make any more trouble. “YAY!!!” Apple Bloom cheered, Goggles squeaking happily in unison with her # Meanwhile, somewhere else in Ponyville, Fluttershy was walking along the road towards the Golden Oaks Library. Ever since Apple Bloom brought that strange monkey to her cottage yesterday, the only thing on her mid was what kind of animal he really was, and since she had never heard of anything like Goggles before she thought it would be better if she asked her friend Twilight about it. As soon as she reached the front door of the library, she lifted a hoof and gently knocked. “I‘ll get it!” came a voice from the other side of the door. In a matter of moments the door opened and Fluttershy was greeted by the gentle face of a small purple dragon. “Hey Fluttershy.” he greeted with a wave of his claw. “Hello Spike. Is Twilight home?” Fluttershy asked peering around Spike to see if she was. As if right on cue, the clopping of hooves met Fluttershy’s ears and the lavender Alicorn, known as Twilight Sparkle, came to the door. “Hi Fluttershy!” she said happily, inviting Fluttershy inside. “It’s great to see you.” “You too Twilight,” Fluttershy said with a smile. “I hope I’m not disturbing anything.” “Not at all,” Twilight reassured her. “We were just reorganising a few books when you knocked.” “What can we do for you Fluttershy?” Spike asked. At first Fluttershy didn’t say anything, feeling a little nervous about asking since she remembered the last time she brought a new animal into every pony’s lives, however she then picked up her courage and asked. “I was wondering if you could help me get more information on an animal for me,” she explained. That is, if you don’t mind…” Of course the Alicorn simply smiled at the very idea of something new to study and enthusiastically nodded her head. “Of course Fluttershy, it wouldn’t be any trouble at all!” she said as she began scanning one of the nearby bookshelves “So, what kind of animal is it?” “Well you see, that’s the thing,” Fluttershy answered. “I don’t really know, I’ve never seen anything like it before.” “Really?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow, surprised that there was an animal Fluttershy didn’t know about. “What did it look like?” “Well if I remember right…” Fluttershy began, taping her chin as she tried to recollect what Goggles looked like. “From first glance it looks like a monkey, but with light blue fur and a strange orb at the end of its tail that lights up every now and then. It also has a patch of red hair on its head, and is also very smart, smart enough to write at least. Oh, and he also has a taste for Camomile tea.” When Fluttershy finished her sentence, Twilight nodded and proceeded to take several books of the shelf one by one with her magic, and skim through each of them trying to find any similarities to the animal Fluttershy had just described. As she peered over each page, a look of excited determination etched across her face, no matter what it took she was going to find what Fluttershy she was looking for. After scanning half a dozen books, Twilight spotted something of interest. “Found it!” she announced as she used her magic to levitate the book towards Fluttershy, presenting her with an illustrated page. “What we’re dealing with here is… a Gizmonk.” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow at that. “A Gizmonk?” she said, “What’s that?” “According to this book, a Gizmonk is a very rare breed of monkey that originates from the Far East,” Twilight proceeded to explain. “Not much is known about them aside from their documented displays of high intelligence. Apart from that there’s nothing, the only other knowledge about them is what they look like.” Fluttershy couldn’t help but smile at this, now she was getting closer to being able to understand the new animal better. “Well... We have a name now at least,” she said. “Now we just have to figure out how he got all the way to Ponyville. He was in such a bad state when he arrived, I had to put a splint on his leg.” “I have to admit it's not usual for an animal to travel from that far away,” Twilight said, putting her hoof to her chin. “Come to think of it I never even heard of a Gizmonk before now. According to the book, they’re so rare that some believe them to be extinct.” Of course Twilight would instantly regret saying that last part when she noticed the wide-eyed look of shock on Fluttershy’s face. “Ex-extinct!?!” she whimpered. “B…but he’s so cute and polite, who would ever harm an adorable animal like him? Twilight could see that her deep compassion for animals has definitely caused Fluttershy to take the news that the news animal being almost extinct extremely hard, so much so that tears began to well up in her eyes. And things were only made worse when Spike decided to say his piece. “Hey, it may not be anything like that Fluttershy,” he said. “Believe it or not I heard that some animals die out of natural causes.” But that only made Fluttershy break down in tears and Twilight give him her usual glare of disapproval. “SPIKE!” she snapped. “What?” Spike asked with a shrug. “It’s true.” Suddenly Fluttershy ran up to Twilight’s face, her own still stained with tears and gaining an expression of panic. “T… then we HAVE to find him quick!” she said. “If he gets hurt I'll... I...” But Fluttershy soon found herself silenced by a lavender hoof being shoved towards her mouth. “Fluttershy Calm down!” Twilight said, removing her hoof from Fluttershy’s mouth. “Look I know information like this can be upsetting, especially to you, but we can't do anything about it now. Besides, as long as that Gizmonk's here in Ponyville then he's being looked after right?” This got Fluttershy to calm down slightly, no matter how much she panicked at time, Twilight always had a way with words to put her at ease. After taking a few deep breaths, Fluttershy once again found her voice. “Y… you’re right Twilight,” she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “He's in good hooves.” “There you see, there's no...” Twilight began, only to stop in mid-sentence. “Wait, what do mean by find him? Isn't he at your cottage?” Fluttershy cringed at this, she knew telling Twilight would be easy but regardless her nerves always got the better of her whenever she was put on the spot. “Well the thing is that I don’t have him anymore,” she explained, her head slightly hanging. “Well then, where is he?” Twilight asked. # Back at Sweet Apple Acres things have finally managed to calm down, after Goggles made good on his promise to clean up most of the Apple family seemed to warm up to the strange monkey. Applejack however was still a little suspicious of the new house guest so she kept her eye on him most of the day, she even decide to take the rest of the day off from Apple bucking so that she could. At this moment in time, the entire family had finished eating Supper and was sitting in front of the fire place in the living room as Princess Celestia began to lower the sun and Princess Luna began to raise the moon, it was surprising how the day went by so quickly after everything that has happened. “So where exactly is this critter gonna sleep?” Granny Smith asked, lifting her head from the book she was reading. “Don’t really know how to house a monkey.” “Maybe he should sleep outside where wild critters belong,” Applejack mumbled to herself. Luckily Apple Bloom didn’t hear that, because if she did then Applejack would most certainly be getting a lecture from her little sister. “He can sleep in my room!” Apple Bloom chirped. “Ah’m sure he’d be comfortable up there.” “Well…” Granny Smith pondered. “As long he don’t make no mess I suppose that’s fine.” Apple Bloom smiled at that as she patted Goggles on the head. Suddenly the clock chimed and Applejack looked up at it. “Well ah suppose now’s as good a time as any to see how that arrangement works,” Applejack said with a shrug. “Y’all better head up to bed Apple Bloom, ya got school tomorrow.” “Alright AJ,” Apple Bloom said as she made her way towards the stairs. “Come on Goggles.” Goggles then limped towards the young filly and once again jumped on her back. “Goodnight Y’all” As the rest of the family wished her a goodnight in return, suddenly there was a knock at the door. “Ah’ll get it.” Applejack said, heading towards it. When Apple Bloom reached the top of the stairs, she could hear the faint sound of her sister talking to whoever was at the door. “Howdy Twi…” she heard. However Apple Bloom didn’t hear any more than that when she closed the bedroom door behind her. As she walked towards the foot of her bed Apple Bloom scratched her head with thought. “Now how are we gonna sort this?” she wondered. “Ah don’t exactly have a basket for ya and I don’t know whether y’all would…” Suddenly Apple Bloom stopped talking as soon as Goggle jumped off her back and started fiddling around with a spare set of Apple Bloom’s bed sheets from Apple Bloom’s draws. Before she even had a chance to blink, Apple Bloom’s new pet had manufactured a makeshift hammock and hung it between two of Apple Bloom’s bed posts. Satisfied with his work, Goggles climbed up the nearest bedpost and crawled into his little bed, letting out a small giggle of delight, Apple Bloom climbed into her own. “Goodnight Goggles.” Apple Bloom said as she dowsed the lamp, engulfing the room in darkness. Goggles responded with a happy squeak as he curled himself up and drifted into a gentle sleep. However Apple Bloom remained awake for a short while, her mind was too full of questions about this new creature that came into her life. How was he so smart? Did he really fix the broken wagon? He must have if he was able to make his hammock in the blink of an eye, not only that but he was smart enough to even write and communicate with ponies. What sort of animal is he? Little did Apple Bloom know, at that moment those answers were being given to her big sister downstairs as she began to drift off to sleep.