Pinkie Pie and The Quest for Missing Smiles

by Venates


The Mountain

"D-d-d-did you know it would be this c-c-cold?"
Pinkie Pie tried to perk her ear to hear a response from Gummy, but the wool cap she was wearing made the motion difficult, and even with the cap she was having a hard time feeling either of her ears.
"M-m-me n-n-neither."
Thickly covered hooves stomped through several inches of snow as Pinkie and Gummy tackled the mountain's incline. Snowflakes swirled around them, but couldn't mask the view of the mountain's peak from Pinkie Pie's sight. Even with pounds upon pounds of weight on her back, the thought of a goal so near complete kept Pinkie Pie going. If only the mountain's weather could be more cooperative.
"W-w-when the s-s-story said that a flower g-g-grew on the mountaintop, I thought it would be w-w-warmer!"
Whatever the temperature, Pinkie Pie pressed on. The trees around her grew sparser the higher she went, and before long she was out in the open with nothing to stop the mountain's harsh winds from biting through all the layers she was buried under. Piles of snow duped her into stepping on what looked like safe terrain, only for her to slip and fall on more than one occasion. One trip even twisted her fetlock. She proceeded to walk a bit more gingerly on it, and it soon recovered. Another like it though and she wouldn't be able to walk much further.
"We have to be more c-c-careful, Gummy!" yelled Pinkie over the wind. The alligator gave no response.
"G-G-Gummy?"
Pinkie reached back and felt the side of one of her packs. Something curled up inside of it was shivering even harder than she was.
"D-d-don't worry, Gummy," Pinkie assured the mass, "we're almost t-t-there."
Pinkie looked back up the path in front of her. The mountain's peak didn't seem any closer than when they started. Pinkie Pie sighed and forced herself back into motion.
"N-n-now I know why they call it M-M-Mount N-N-Neverquest," she muttered.
As Pinkie marched, the wind and snow around her grew worse. Every step she took felt more like she was further from finding the flower rather than closer, and the peak looked as distant as ever. Her muscles screaming at her, she tried to take one more step, only for the three hooves still on the ground to give up and cause her to fall to her knees and hocks.
"I..." Pinkie Pie gulped. "I don't think I... Gummy?"
Pinkie Pie reached back again to check on her friend. The curled mass had stopped shivering.
"Gummy?" Pinkie Pie gave the pack a nudge. "GUMMY!"
The ball of scales twitched a little, and gave a weak shudder. Pinkie Pie sighed with relief. Still worried, she looked around her and saw a large pile of snow with a darkness coming from its center. Pinkie squinted at it; it almost looked hollow.
"Hang on, Gummy," Pinkie said as she struggled to stand. "I think I see a c-c-cave."
The steps in between a blur to her, Pinkie Pie collapsed on a cold stone floor, grateful for a place where winter winds could not find her. After a few deep breaths, she rolled herself into a seated position and unhooked her packs from her back. A smaller one she pulled towards her, and she opened it to check on her pet alligator. Gummy wore a thermal suit tailored for small dogs; the crystal stallion made it work. Gummy continued to make small motions.
"Don't worry, Gummy," Pinkie Pie said in a muffled breath. She took off some of the gear from around her face and extracted a small box from Gummy's pack. She found a few rocks on the cave floor, and clumped them around in a circle. She placed a bundle of sticks and a wooly substance from the box at the center of the rocks, then pulled out another stone from the box with a strange metal object. "The crystal stallion showed me how to make a fire, remember? That'll warm us up."
Pinkie Pie took the dealer's rock in one hoof, the metal piece in another, and struck them together on top of the bundle of sticks. Nothing happened. She tried again, but still, no sparks. She did this several more times, each strike increasing in speed and ferocity, but still the sticks remained as they were. This continued until Pinkie Pie screamed and threw her tools across the cave into some unknown corner. She picked Gummy up and took him as far from the cave's entrance as she could and pressed him against her belly, hoping her body heat could suffice. He weakly clawed at her stomach.
The pink pony looked up from her pet towards the cave entrance. The winds outside were howling worse than they were when they entered. A single tear formed and fell from Pinkie's eyes.
"It's no use," Pinkie whispered to her mostly still friend. "I can't do it. I... I can't..."
Pinkie Pie shuddered and pulled Gummy closer as more tears dripped around him.
"I'm not an adventurer," managed Pinkie. Her voice grew louder with her conviction. "This whole time... We've only made it this far because of other ponies, Gummy. The old mare, Bebelle, the crystal stallion at the Exchange..." Pinkie Pie sniffled and looked back out into the snow. "Ponies don't come to this mountain, Gummy. No pony is going to save us this time..."
Pinkie buried both her face and Gummy into her forelegs.
"He won, Gummy." Pinkie Pie gulped and wiped her nose. "The raincloud won..."
As Pinkie Pie wallowed, her mind drifted across how foolish her mission was, and the friends who she tried so hard to save.
"I failed them, Gummy," Pinkie muttered through another sob. "My whole life is about making my friends smile, and I can't do that anymore. I can't make them happy. I tried so hard, and I..." Pinkie wiped her nose again. The thick coat around her foreleg was beginning to get crusty. "If I can't make my friends happy anymore... Well, maybe it's okay if I don't go home..."
Gummy gave another shiver in Pinkie's lap. She peered down to him as though she was seeing him for the first time. Even though she had been talking to him, it almost felt like she forgot he was even there.
"I am so, so sorry, Gummy," Pinkie said to the alligator. "I never should have brought you on this trip." Pinkie Pie took a deep breath before continuing. "This whole time... You've been hungry, thirsty, yelled at, burned, and now you're freezing, and it's all my fault..."
Gummy, showing more energy than he had since Pinkie stepped hoof on the mountain, twisted and clamped down on the pink mare's muzzle. Pinkie blinked before gently unhooking the alligator from her face. She held him at length and studied him. She could remember finding his egg and keeping it warm until it hatched. She remembered how poorly his teething went, as with only rocks on her family's farm to munch on, he destroyed his teeth before they could grow. She remembered bathing him, playing with him, introducing him to friends... Doing all three at once with Twilight was one of her fondest memories. As Pinkie Pie stared into Gummy's blank eyes, she saw her own reflection peer back for the first time in what felt like a year. She saw something else there that felt like it had been even longer: a smile.
Her smile.
Pinkie Pie giggled and cuddled her pet. He gratefully curled back up against her chest, his body still not completely warmed up. Pinkie sighed and looked up contemplatively.
"All I want to do is make everypony happy," Pinkie said to Gummy. "I know some days it's not easy, but maybe... maybe other days it's just not possible, you know? And if I can't even get myself to smile, how am I supposed to get other ponies to smile too?"
Gummy twisted a bit against her coat, causing a strange crumpling sound. Curious, Pinkie reached into her pocket and pulled out the map she got from the Exchange.
"You know this is the third map we've used since we started?" she reminded Gummy. Pinkie looked over the parchment's surface. She began with their position on Mount Neverquest, then her gaze trickled down over Rainbow Falls, the fire swamp, and eventually back to Ponyville. The trip was over half the length of the map. "You know, Gummy, even if we didn't quite make it, we still made it really far. I think we can be proud of that, at least." As Pinkie looked over each moment on their journey's path, she thought about the new friends she made, and the old ones still at home. They brought her so much joy, big and small, and the memories each face brought back still made her smile.
"I just thought of something," Pinkie said. She pocketed the map again and looked down to Gummy. "I think... I think maybe it's okay to be sad."
Gummy readjusted his position in Pinkie's lap.
"I know, I know, that sounds like crazy talk," Pinkie admitted, "but I think it might be true. I mean, being happy is great! It's the most wonderful thing in the world! But... would we even know what happy is if we were never sad?"
Gummy blinked. More fond memories of Pinkie and her friends weighed heavy on her heart.
"I think..." Pinkie licked her lips. "I think sometimes we need to be sad, so that we know just how special it is to be happy."
Flashes of smiling faces brought warmth to Pinkie's stomach.
"And you know what, Gummy?" Pinkie asked her companion, "Things maybe don't look so good right now, and maybe I can't make my friends happy again, but... but I think there are still a lot of happy memories that I haven't made yet. And no matter how many sad moments are in our future, the happy ones will make it all worth it."
Gummy gave a gleeful, rasping sound. Pinkie nuzzled him and held him close.
"You always know just what to say."
As time passed around them, Pinkie continued to think more and more about the friends waiting for her back in Ponyville, and the new friends she made on her journey. She thought about Gummy in her lap.
Pinkie Pie gently set Gummy down on the cave floor, stood up, and walked over to where she threw the crystal stallion's tools. She found the strange rock and metal piece again, sat at the bundle of sticks, and focused on what he told her. A few strikes and puffs of air later, a fire crackled at the cave's center, and Pinkie and Gummy sat beside it. Pinkie once again looked at the storm outside.
"Looks like the sun isn't up anymore, Gummy," said Pinkie. She gave her pet a pat on the head. "We better stay here for tonight. We'll leave in the morning. Hopefully by then the storm won't be so bad, and we can get off this mountain."
Gummy took a few playful snaps at Pinkie's hoof.
"Yes, I know," Pinkie told him, "but I don't think there's any point in going further. Mount Neverquest is just too dangerous. And... and I think I'm ready to go home. Aren't you?"
Gummy successfully latched onto Pinkie's hoof and gurgled a bit. Pinkie giggled.
"Yes, we can take the train this time," she said with a smile. "Although, if it's okay with you, I think I'd like to make one quick stop before we get back to Ponyville."