Sugarcube Corner was bustling in the morning. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were extra busy, taking up slack that Pinkie had left. She did have a pretty good excuse for taking the day off. They wouldn’t want to keep her from seeing family.
It was highly relevant to their interests, then, when they spotted a rather stout creature that was two shades of green go lumbering by with an excited pink pony giggling on its back.
They both recognized Pinkie Pie, but had never before seen her steed. Pinkie showing them things they had never seen before was pretty much par for the course, however, and both of them went back to work.
Spike the Dragon was on his way to the bakery that morning to pick up some rolls for a dinner that his librarian/roommate/big sister/princess Twilight Sparkle was planning. She was not very good at cooking, and Spike was estimating in his head how many extra rolls he should get with the money she’d given him and still have enough left over to buy sweet things to ruin his appetite. However, his attention was distracted by Pinkie and an unusual beast coming towards him.
“Hi Spike!” Pinkie called. “This is my dad. It’s so cool that you can meet!”
“Uh, okay,” said Spike. Remembering some of the manners he had been taught, he extended a forelimb. “I’m Spike, Spike the Dragon.”
“Bulbasaur.” The creature extended a vine and shook Spike’s hand.
Spike frowned, unsure where the vine had come from or the strange sound effect that accompanied it. Bulbasaur seemed polite enough, if a little emotionless. Maybe it was just Pinkie’s over the top attitude that made it seem that way by comparison.
“I was just on my way to buy some rolls for dinner this evening,” Spike said.
“Oh, I’m off work today,” Pinkie said. “But I’ll be that there are lots of rolls just like there always are. Mr. and Mrs. Cake can help you. I took the day off to show dad around town.”
“Bulbasaur.”
“Okay,” said Spike. “See you later.”
They parted ways. None of them noticed a small shimmer in the air that whipped across the street behind them.
Spike entered the bakery and bought some rolls, along with a fair helping of cupcakes. He would have to eat them quickly and discreetly before returning home. Thanking the Cakes, he walked out of Sugarcube Corner. Glancing around furtively, he ducked behind the building to eat his sweets.
Raising a gloriously sugary cupcake out of the bag, Spike opened his mouth and bit into…nothing. Surprised, he looked around. No cupcake. Confused, but remembering other cupcakes in the bag, he lifted another one out and was just about to bite into it when it suddenly disappeared, literally from right under his nose.
There had been a sight whisper of movement as the pastry disappeared. Spike’s brow furrowed. He pulled out another cupcake and looked around. This time, he caught the faintest glimpse of movement before the third cupcake vanished.
Pausing for a moment to think, Spike pulled out his last cupcake. Just as quickly, he aimed it at his mouth.
This time, the cupcake didn’t disappear, but only because he was holding it so tightly. Instead, he found himself snout to snout with the strangest monster he had ever seen.
“AHHHH!” Spike jerked backwards, abandoning the cupcake and scrambling away. The monster, or whatever it was, disappeared as if into thin air.
Panting heavily, Spike ventured back and picked up the bag of rolls. He didn’t see the mysterious creature anywhere. Deciding not to wait around until it came back, he dashed for home.
In the meantime, Pinkie and her pop had arrived at Fluttershy’s house.
“See, I told you!” Pinkie said. “There’s nature all over this place. I knew you’d like it, dad.”
“Bulbasaur,” Bulbasaur muttered.
Fluttershy ventured out of her cottage when she saw that she had visitors. “Hello Pinkie. Oh my, who is this?”
“This is my father, Bulbasaur,” Pinkie replied.
He was undeniably in tune with nature, and oh so cute. Fluttershy had never before experienced the sensation of being attracted to a friend’s parent. She squeaked in embarrassment and hid her red face behind her mane.
“Anyway, we have to be going. I promised dad I’d get him a sample of the best apples around.”
Fluttershy managed to wave goodbye as Pinkie and Bulbasaur departed.
Their next stop was Sweet Apple Acres, where they found Applejack bucking trees in the orchard.
“Hey Applejack!” Pinkie called. “This is my dad!”
Bulbasaur said, “Bulbasaur.”
Applejack paused mid-buck. She set her hooves back on the ground and stared.
“Pinkie,” said Applejack. “I thought you had a father who was a rock farmer. And, uh, a pony.”
“Well I didn’t mean that literally,” said Pinkie.
“Mean which literally?”
Ignoring the question, Pinkie said, “Can I buy some apples? Just a few.”
Still frowning, Applejack said, “Nah, don’t worry about it. On the house.”
“Thanks!”
Bulbasaur picked a few of the apples from the very top branches with his vines. Giving one to Pinkie, he began to walk back towards town with Pinkie riding along. Applejack stared after them and shook her head.
In Ponyville, Spike slammed open the door and ran inside. “Rarity! I think I saw a monster!”
“This is usually the sort of thing that a big, strong dragon such as yourself would take care of himself, thereby saving a pretty mare a lot of effort on her part, correct?” Rarity didn’t look up from her sewing machine.
“Uh, yeah, sure, of course!” Spike slammed open the door and ran outside.
Spike slammed open the door and ran inside. “Twilight! I think I saw a monster!”
Twilight looked up from the book she was reading. “Oh my goodness! What did it look like?”
“Well, I only caught a glimpse, but it was kind of blotchy and boxy and looked kind of…” Spike gestured, looking for the right word, “…pixilated.”
“Pixilated,” Twilight repeated slowly.
Before Spike could explain further, the door burst open to reveal Pinkie and Bulbasaur. “Hey Spike! Nice to see you again. I bet you’re surprised, because when you said ‘See you later’ the last time I saw you I bet you didn’t expect me to take that literally and I really bet you didn't expect it would be now!”
“That’s right!” confirmed Pinkie.
“I didn’t know bulbasaurs could talk,” said Twilight.
“Actually, the strange part is how Bulbasaur is actually her father,” corrected Spike.
“No, I’m not,” said Bulbasuar. “I kept trying to tell you that I’m not ‘dad’ or ‘father’ or anything else. My name is Bulbasaur.”
“Pinkie, why did you tell Spike that Bulbasaur was your father?”
“Well, he’s come to visit and hung out with me more than my real dad ever did,” Pinkie huffed.
“Okay,” said Twilight, “daddy issues, got it.”
“What does your sister Maud think about this?” Spike asked.
“She’s dating a geodude.”
Spike and Twilight frowned, both wishing that they had come up with a joke that went like that.
Changing the subject, Pinkie said, “Oh yeah, we caught this thing in the tall grass outside.”
She pulled out a burlap bag that appeared to be fighting, opening the drawstring just enough to show a flash of the same creature Spike had encountered. Pinkie said, “It’s a wild missingno. It’s pretty hard to see from certain angles since it’s old school 2D.”
“Wow, that’s really rare,” said Twilight.
“What’s a missingno?” Spike asked.
“Don’t worry about it; you’re too young,” Twilight told him. She turned to Pinkie and the two of them began to talk excitedly about things they had collected and the good old days.
Feeling left out, Spike crossed his arms and sulked, but suddenly felt himself being lifted from the floor. Bulbasaur picked him up with vines and set Spike on his back. The two of them went out the door.
“They were probably going to be talking for a long time,” Spike commented. “I guess it’s good to get away from nerds once in a while. Thanks for the ride, bro.”
“Bulbasaur.”