Oh, Bother

by Daemon McRae

First published

Adventures can be had anywhere, really. From the wide, wide world of Equestria, to the Hundred Acre Wood. Who says they can't happen in both?

This could be the story of any small boy and his friends. But it just so happens, that this is the story of the friends of one particular small boy: Christopher Robin.

And the happy pink pony who blusters into the Hundred Acre Woods one particularly windsome Windesday.

Join Tigger, Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh, and the rest of the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood as they meet new friends and explore a new, colorful land called Equestria, and help their new friend get home.

If they can ever find it, that is. Not that they're in any great hurry.

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Much thanks to my prereader, Belligerent Sock.

A Very Blustery Day

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“Oh, Bother”

Chapter 1: A Very Blustery Day

This could be the room of any small boy. But it just so happens to belong to a boy named...

Christopher Robin.

Now, Christopher Robin, like many small boys, has a very big and active imagination. He has many toys he likes to play with. His favorite among them, however, are his stuffed animals. Together, they go on many grand adventures, exploring and doing big things and small things, every day in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Today was a little different, however. You see, today was a Windesday. And as such, it was very blustery out.

All of the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood had all closed themselves up tightly in their homes, waiting for the wind to pass so they could go outside and do much less windsome things like collecting honey, or planting carrots, or… or… whatever it was Tigger was doing. Tigger… what are you doing?

“Well, I’m not bouncin’, for sure,” Tigger grumbled. Well, yes, Tigger, I can see that. But what are you doing?

Tigger seemed to be crawling all over his room like some kind of very large, orange, stripey bug. “I’m lookin’ for somethin’ to do, ya know? It ain’t no good to keep a Tigger cooped up like this.”

No, of course not, Tigger. But of course, being as windy as it tends to be on a Windesday, it is rather inadvisable to go bouncing outside. One might catch cold.

“Aw, shucks. Tiggers do not like Windesdays. Hmm, there’s gotta be something to do around here...” he said, prowling about his room like a... well, like a Tigger. He prowled here and there, near and far. Or, as far as one could in their own home. Eventually, he found himself digging through his closet. “Hmmm, you don’t say, yeah. Ooh, interesting. Well, would you look at tha—”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Tigger paused his pawing through his things, and looked up. “Who is it?” There was no answer. Tigger’s head tilted left and right as he stared at the door. Then, there was another knock. “Hellooooooo~” he called out. Again, no answer. So he stepped out of the large pile of toys and things in the bottom of his closet, shaking a rather clingy tennis racket with no netting off of his foot. He hopped—

“Excuuuuuse me. Tiggers. Don’t. Hop. They bounce,” said Tigger.

Hee hee, yes. Quite right, Tigger. Tigger bounced all the way to the door. He leaned in close, and called out again, “Helloooooo~.”

And, like before, there was no answer.

Tigger grumbled to himself, “Why, if it was any closer to Winter I’d think it was one’a’dem phony Sandy Clawses.” He looked at the door. Then the door hinges. Finally, he gave the doorknob a good long stare. “Rooooowwwwrrrrr,” he purred, staring intently at the doorknob as if it where ready to pounce. Or rather, like he was getting ready to pounce on it. Then, as Tiggers are wont to do, he threw the door open anyway, just to see who was outside. “Hey, who’s out—”

He was about to say “there”, but was cut short by a large ball of pink something tumbling into him. Tigger and the pink something rolled across the floor, until eventually they came to a stop: Tigger on his back, and the pink something standing on his belly.

The new, pink something was... well, it was something. It looked kind of like an Eeyore, except not. It was much too cheerful and—pink—for that. It had a bushy mane and tail, a smooth, pink coat, and big, blue eyes. “Hi there! I’m Pinkie Pie!”

Well hello, Pinkie Pie.

“Hi, mister narrator!” Pinkie Pie said joyfully. She looked down at her bounce-y, and smiled again. “And hi there, Tigger!” she greeted. Bouncing off of his belly, and hopping about the room, she smiled at everything she saw. Sometimes, she “ooed”. Other times, she “ahhhed”. But mostly, she just smiled.

Tigger was rather confused. It wasn’t often he was the one being bounced. However, being the fan of bouncing that he was, he smiled and looked up at the newcomer. “Why, hello there! My name’s Tigger! Tee Eye Double-guh Er! That spells Tigger! And that’s me!” he looked at the exploring pink newcomer curiously. “ Saaayyyy, I never heard of no Pinkie Pies in the Hundred Acre Woodses. Are you sure you’re not a hephalump or sumthin’?”

Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing, and gave Tigger a curious look, as well. “Don’t you mean an elephant?”

“Yeah, a hephalump. That’s what I said,” Tigger explained. He walked in circles around the Pinkie Pie, until he walked behind her. He disappeared for a moment, dipping out of view behind the pink... whatever-it-was, and reappeared as—

“Tigger! Private Ear!” he called out. He wore a funny-looking hat, a checkered cloak, and carried around a big shiny bubble pipe. “This thing smells like a mythtery to me. And who better to solve the unsolvabible? To sleuth the unsleuthable! Why, it’s that master detective! The champeen of the undercooked! Tigger, Private Ear!” he re-introduced himself. He took out a magnifying glass and began closely inspecting the Pinkie Pie.

“Pffft heeheehee. No, silly. I’m not ‘a’ Pinkie Pie. I’m Pinkie Pie! I’m ‘a’ pony!” she explained.

Tigger gave a very curious look. “A pony? Oh, well why didn’t you say so!” he laughed, throwing all of his Private Ear-ing stuff to the side. “I always wanted a pony!”

“And I always wanted a... what are you, again?” Pinkie Pie asked, tilting her head.

Tigger smiled off to the side, hiding his words behind his paw. “I love it when they ask me that,” he said wistfully to no one in particular.

In response, he hiked up one leg, pulled his arms up to his chest, and sang:

“Thhheeeee wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers are wonderful things! Their tops are made outta rubba, their bottoms are made outta springs! They’re bouncy trouncy pouncy flouncy fun fun fun fun fun! And the most wonderful things about Tiggers iiiiiisssss.... I’m the only one! Hoo hoo hoo hoo!” he sang as he danced in a circle around the room, demonstrating his bounciness and his pounciness to the new pink pony, who sat on her hind end and clapped her hooves and laughed.

“Ooh, so that’s a Tigger! I mean, you’re a Tigger! And this place is… this place is… I have no idea! It was just getting really windy outside, and I had to go to Sugarcube Corner to pick up some cakes! Then, before I knew it, I was whooooaaaoaoaoaoaoaing it all the way here, and my cakes are gone! ...Say, where is here, anyway?” she asked, looking out the window.

What she saw made her eyes go wide. Acre upon acre of bright green trees, blowing in the blustery wind. Creeks and rivers, wide open fields, and the occasional rock or two. “Wow-ee! This place is huge!”

Tigger looked outside, where the blustering wind was, as a matter of fact, becoming much less windsome, and a bit more winsome. In fact, while they had talked, the wind seemed to have let up enough to go outside. “Yeah,” he laughed. “It’s pretty terrific all right. That out there’s the Hundred Acre Woodses! Hey, now that the winds’ all calm and breezy-like, you wanna go bouncing with me?”

Pinkie thought about this for a moment. “Well, I should probably be getting home to Ponyville. I mean, they are expecting me to bring some cakes back, after all. Is there any place where we can find cakes here? I don’t wanna go home empty-hooved.”

Tigger also stopped to think. “Well… I don’t know where this Sugarcane Corner place is, but… Say, we gots a Pooh Corner! Maybe we can find some cakes there! Then you can take ‘em back home!”

Pinkie Pie smiled again, saying, “Ooh, ok! And we can bounce on the way there!”

“Hey, yeah!” Tigger cheered, bouncing on his tail and springing over to the door. He then held it open for Pinkie Pie. “After you, madam,” he said politely.

Pinkie Pie bounced on all four hooves right out the door. “Okie-dokie-lokie!”

Tigger chuckled to himself. “O-okie dokie l-loki-hee-hee-hee,” he laughed as he, too, bounced out of his home, and proceeded to show Pinkie Pie the way to Pooh Corner.

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Well, as it turns out, there was a house at Pooh Corner. And an Eeyore.

“Thanks for noticin’.”

“Hiya, donkey boy!” came a loud, Tiggery voice from over the hill. Eeyore looked slowly to his left as he saw not one bouncing figure, but two: one orange and striped, the other... pink. So very, very pink.

Eeyore didn’t have a great deal of time to look at the new pink creature, however, as Tigger bounced him not soon after. “Hyonk!” cried Eeyore as the two tumbled over the grass. The disturbance of being bounced was so great, that Eeyore heard his small house—a pile of sticks lined up against each other—tumble to the ground.

“Hello, Tigger. What brings you here?” Eeyore said slowly.

“Hey, uh, Eeyore, ya got any cake?” Tigger asked.

“No,” said the donkey, pulling himself to his feet, “I can’t say that I do.”

“Awww, shucks,” grumbled Tigger, who sat down and frowned.

Pinkie Pie bounced up to the two of them, and introduced herself to Eeyore. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?”

“‘Lo. My name’s Eeyore. Don’t worry if you don’t remember it,” said Eeyore.

Pinkie Pie tilted her head again. “Why are you so sad?” she asked in a sad voice.

Eeyore looked over at his house, and then looked back to Pinkie Pie. “Well, I gotta rebuild my house. ‘Side from that, no reason.”

Pinkie looked at the house with great interest, while Tigger grumbled to himself about finding cake. She looked and looked, and when she wasn’t looking, she observed. Finally, she smiled that big happy smile of hers, and said, “Well, that’s easy enough!” Then, she started stacking the sticks together. Balancing two against each other, with a middle for support, she made a triangle with another two, and put the middle stick on top. Then she had what looked like the shell of a house just right for a donkey. Until, that is, it fell down.

“Oh, fiddlesticks!” she said, picking up said sticks and fiddling with them again, till they stood up like before. And, like before, they fell down.

Just then, Eeyore walked over. “Don’t worry about it. I have a specific way I like to build it. Keeps me occupied,” he explained. He himself then went to work at putting the house together, balancing the sticks with little more than his teeth. Even though it looked like both of Pinkie Pie’s attempts, it seemed to stay up just fine. In fact, it even held up while the donkey started to put more sticks on it.

That seemed to be good enough for Pinkie Pie, who stepped back and let Eeyore work. “Say, do you know where we can find some cake?” she asked.

Tigger looked up. “Huh? Oh yeah! Askin’! Well, donkey boy, do ya? Huh, huh, do ya?”

Eeyore thought about it a little bit, as he laid another stick on his now halfway-done house. “Well, Kanga’s a mother, and mothers like to bake cakes. Maybe you should go ask her.”

“He-hey, yeah! Great idea donkey-boy!” Tigger said joyfully, as he slapped Eeyore on the back as a thank you. And, of course, the motion sent the pile of sticks to the ground, as Tigger hopped away. “TTFN! Tata for now!”

Pinkie started to hop after Tigger, but looked back at Eeyore, who sighed and started working on his house again. She zipped over to just behind him, and gave him a big hug. “Have fun, Eeyore!” she said happily, and bounced away.

Eeyore looked behind him as the two disappeared into the distance, and went back to building his house, with just a hint of a smile on his face.

And so it was that Tigger and Pinkie Pie went to Kanga’s house, looking for cake.

In Which Pinkie Pie Meets New Friends

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Chapter 2: In Which Pinkie Pie Meets New Friends

Now, Tigger knew very well where Kanga’s house was, having visited there many times before. His very good friend, Roo, lived there after all. They also spent quite a bit of time bouncing together.

However, in his excitement at having a new friend to bounce with, who seemed oh so very good at it, he had somehow gotten himself, and by association, Pinkie Pie, very well lost. Or, at least, rather far from where they had originally set off to be. For, after bouncing, and pouncing, for quite some time, they came across a rather large and well-tended farm.

Tigger came to a halt at the bridge in front of Rabbit’s house. “Oh, well, that’s not right. This doesn’t look anything like Kanga’s house. Unless Bunny-boy’s done moved his farm clear across the forest, which I doubt, then we musta got twisty-turned arounded,” he reasoned. He looked to Pinkie Pie. “Well, while we’re here, mind if I say ‘hi’ to old long-ears?”

Pinkie Pie stopped and thought about this for a moment. But only a moment. “Okie Dokie! Say, what’s a ‘Long-Ears’?”

As if to answer her question, Tigger smiled a great big smile, and crept up behind a patch of cabbages. Peering over them, he saw Rabbit lovingly tending to his rows of carrots with a gardening hoe. Pinkie Pie watched curiously as Tigger stalked the strange-looking (at least to her) rabbit doing his chores. Then, all of a sudden, he pounced.

Jumping over the vegetables, Tigger flew into Rabbit, and the two tumbled over and over, making a great big mess of things and generally getting dirt and carrots everywhere. Eventually, they came to a stop, and, as was often the case, Rabbit found himself looking up with a Tigger on his stomach. “Oof, Tigger! Look at all the work you just undid!”

“Hoo hoo hoo, nice to see you too, Bunny-Boy. Say, lemme introduce you to my friend here,” he said, helping Rabbit to his feet. He waved a very big wave at Pinkie Pie, who hopped carefully through the rows of carrots, cabbages, and tomatoes. “Say hello to... uh, to... Pinkie Pie! Yeah, that’s it!”

The bright pink pony came to a stop, or rather, stopped moving forward, in front of Rabbit. She still bounced up and down as she introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! So you’re a ‘Long-ears’! Nice to meet you! Say, you look a lot like a rabbit, except you’re really tall for a rabbit, aren’t you? You’re even taller than me! Like, those ears are huuuuuuge wheredyaget’em?” she asked excitedly. In fact, she said all of this rather quickly, and Rabbit was soon very confused.

“I... uh, well, that is to say... my name’s not ‘Long Ears’,” he said grumpily. He gave Tigger a disapproving look, who seemed to disregard it with a smile and a bounce in place. “My name is Rabbit. It’s nice to meet you... Pinkie Pie?” he asked, rather confused. Which was to be expected, as he had never seen anything quite like the pink pony before in his life. Christopher Robin’s friends usually weren’t so... colorful.

“Yup, that’s me! I’m from Ponyville! I just blew in here on a reaaaaalllly strong wind, and flew right into Tigger’s house! I even lost my cake on the way! So we’re going over to Kanga’s house to get some new cakes! Cause I can’t go home without cakes, cause I’m supposd to be bringing cake back from the Cakes’, but I figured if I’m here I might as well get some cakes to bring back!” Again, she spoke so quickly and with such enthusiasm that both Tigger and Rabbit looked at each other, both expecting the other to have an answer.

Rabbit sighed, and leaned his gardening hoe on his shoulder. “Well, Pinkie Pie, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not Kanga and I don’t have any cakes. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a great deal of work to do. All of that wind earlier made a great big mess of my garden,” again, he stared disapprovingly at Tigger, “and being bounced while I’m working hasn’t been of any help.” Without another word, he went back to work, taking his hoe to the dirt and straightening the lines between the carrots, picking them up as he went along.

Pinkie Pie was about to say something when Tigger gave her a friendly smack on the back. “Ah, don’t worry about ol’ bunny-boy. He always gets like that when he’s a-workin’. Come on! Kanga’s house isn’t that far away from here!”

Pinkie looked back and forth between Tigger, currently bouncing away, and Rabbit, hard at work. She considered going back to help Rabbit out, when she caught wind of the hard-working bunny talking to his carrots. “It’s ok, little ones. Daddy will take care of you. There, there,” Rabbit said encouragingly. He then replanted the stray carrot, and went back to work, smiling as he did so. Pinkie Pie smiled to herself, and turned to follow Tigger.

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They bounced past a great many trees, rivers, and quite beautiful scenery. Pinkie Pie “oohed” and “ahhhed” at all of it, looking everywhere except where she was going. Tigger wasn’t any better, pointing out all the places of interest he thought Pinkie Pie would find interesting. “And over that-a-way is Owl’s house. Ol’ fluffbrains always got a story to tell. And over there is where I first met Piglet! And somewhere around here is Gopher’s house. Gotta watch out for that, though. Folks’re always dropping in unexpected-like.”

Pinkie Pie looked at Tigger, and then looked behind Tigger. “You mean like that?” she asked, pointing a hoof behind him mid-bounce.

“Like whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-oof,” Tigger said, as he disappeared down Gopher’s front door.

Pinkie Pie stopped at the edge of the hole, and looked down. Moments later, Tigger flew out of the hole, and landed on his belly on the ground. Followed shortly by what Pinkie Pie assumed to be “Gopher”. “Mmmnnn, what’sss the big idea, sonny? Don’t you know I got lotssss of work to do?” His s’s came out in long whistles as he spoke, something Pinkie Pie found very funny.


“Heeheehee*snort*heeheehee,” she giggled. “You’re funny!” said Pinkie Pie.

Gopher looked at the pink pony curiously. “Ssssayyy, what do we got here? Haven’t ssseen you around thessse partss before.”

“Well, she just blew into town,” Tigger exclaimed, with a big laugh. Pinkie, getting the joke, followed suit and giggled and snorted.

Gopher looked back and forth between the two, confused. “Well, while you two are lolly-gaggin’ around, I got work to do! Gotta rebuild a whole bunch of tunnels that got filled in durin’ the storm! There’ssss a lot of work to be done,” he said slyly. Gopher then slapped on his hard hat and went back to digging, disappearing beneath the dirt.

Pinkie Pie watched with a smile as the busy animal burrowed away, amused by the trail of upturned dirt he left behind. “Heehee, I like him!”

Tigger chuckled. “Haha, yeah. Gopher’s always like that. Nobody better for diggin’ holes, tho’! Now come on, we’re almost there!” he said cheerfully, bouncing away on his tail.

The pink pony smiled and bounced after him, eager to see what other new friends she would make while she was here.

A Pooh Day Afternoon

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Chapter 3: A Pooh Day Afternoon

The house that they came upon next was much like the house that Pinkie Pie had seen in the background when she had met Rabbit. It was carved out of a tree, and had a balcony, a front door, and a mailbox. Really, it looked like the house of a very dear friend of hers. If a bit smaller.

The character standing in front of the house, however, looked nothing like any of her friends. She was tall with brown fur and a small nose. Pinkie wasn’t sure exactly what to make of her. As she and Tigger approached, however, she looked up from the doormat she was sweeping, and gave a gentle wave and smile.

Tigger stopped at the mailbox, and bowed politely. “Good afternoon, Miss Kanga, ma’am!” he called.

Kanga, as Pinkie Pie now knew her, kept smiling as she said, “Well hello Tigger dear.” She had a very motherly tone and demeanor, very much like another of Pinkie’s friends.

Tigger chuckled embarrassingly. “She called me dear,” he said almost shyly, smiling to himself.

Kanga then looked at Pinkie Pie, and asked, “And who might you be?”

Pinkie Pie walked calmly up to Kanga, and offered a hoof, “Hiya! My name’s Pinkie Pie!”

Being the polite and gentle person that she was, she took Pinkie’s hoof in her paw and shook it gently. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. What brings you to the Hundred Acre Wood? Are you a friend of Christopher Robin’s?”

Pinkie Pie titled her head curiously. “Who’s Christopher Robin?”

Tigger let out a large gasp. “Who’s Christopher Robin?! Why, he’s only the bestest friend in the whole wide world! Why, I never met anybody who didn’t know Christopher Robin!”

Pinkie Pie was a little confused. Obviously this Christopher Robin was a very important person. Even Kanga nodded along as Tigger rambled on about him. “Well, if I haven’t met him, and you haven’t met anyone who hasn’t met him, then maybe I should meet him!” she concluded.

Tigger stopped mid-sentence to think about this. “Why, that’s a splendiferous idea!” Tigger agreed.

He looked ready to bounce away when Kanga asked him, “Oh, Tigger, was there something you needed?”

Pinkie Pie remembered before Tigger did. “Yeessss! We need cakes! You see, I was walking around in Ponyville when all of a sudden this big ol’ wind comes outta nowhere and-”

And Kanga listened politely and attentively as Pinkie Pie described everything that had gone on before and since she had been blown into the Hundred Acre Wood by a rather blustery wind. “Oh, my. Well, I don’t have any cake right now, but I can certainly help you make one,” she offered. “Why, we could even have a cake-baking party,” she mused.

Pinkie Pie seemed rather excited. “A party?!” she yelled. “I love parties! Why, we could make cakes and have games and-” and she went on to list all of the things they could do at a party. Tigger, also liking the idea, joined in, and soon the three began planning their cake-baking party.

“And we could have pin the tail on the donkey and... uh... huh... say, where’s Roo boy?” Tigger asked, just now noticing the absence of his very good friend.

“Oh, he’s out with Pooh bear, getting some honey. Now that I think of it, we could even make some honey cakes. I’m sure Pooh would love to help,” Kanga thought out loud.

“Yeah, if he doesn’t eat all the honey first,” Tigger said. The way he said it led Pinkie Pie to believe that this was indeed a possibility.

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As it turned out, Pooh and Roo, whom Tigger and Pinkie Pie were sent by Miss Kanga to collect, were less collecting honey, and more... running from it. Or, more accurately, the honey-makers. The bouncing duo had come across a clearing in the middle of the woods where, Tigger had explained, Pooh liked to look for honey. There was always a beehive in a tree in this area, so if one could not find Pooh at Pooh’s house, he was usually here.

Or, at least nearby. Tigger and Pinkie Pie reached the clearing just in time to see, and hear, Pooh and Roo run past them, being chased by a group of rather angry honeybees. “Yaaaaaaaahhhhh!” yelled Pooh as they zipped past. Pinkie watched as they dived into a hollow log to escape, and the large cloud of bees bounced noisily off the bark.

Either sensing that they had successfully chased off the intruders, or having lost track of them in the makeshift hidey-hole, the bees turned around and flew back into their hive.

Tigger walked calmly over to the log, seemingly very amused by the situation. He poked his head into the log, up to his neck, and asked the hiding duo, “You, uh, um... havin’ fun there, fluffboy?”

Pinkie giggled to herself as Pooh and Roo climbe out of the log. Roo hopped on top of it, and cheerfully exclaimed, “Tigger!”

Tigger laughed, and gave his best friend a hug. “Haha hiya Roo-boy! Say, what’re you guys doin’ out here gettin’ chased by bees? I thought you was gettin’ some honey!”

Winnie the Pooh pulled himself out of the log, having a bit of trouble getting his leg free. Tigger offered a hand, and tugged, until finally the stubborn limb popped out of the log. “Well, you see... we were trying to bounce Roo up to the bee hive, hoping that he’d bounce back down, uh... before the bees noticed there was any honey missing.”

Roo held up a honey jar that he’d been using to collect honey. At least, that was the plan. “Yeah, it turns out bees really don’t like it when you try and fit the entire hive into the pot. And... hey, whozzat?!” Roo asked excitedly, noticing Pinkie Pie for the first time.

Tigger looked back at his new friend, seemingly having forgotten she was there. “Huh? Oh, yeah! This here’s Pinkie Pie! She’s from... um... uh, where did you say it was, exactacally?”

“Why, I’m from Ponyville!” she exclaimed. She then went into great detail, explaining to Pooh and Roo the entire situation up to that point. However, she talked so quickly, and with such enthusiasm, that Pooh was very quickly lost.

“I... uh... can you repeat that part again about the... cake?” he said finally.

“Oh sure!” said Pinkie Pie happily. “Miss Kanga’s gonna help us make some cakes so I can take some back to Ponyville! We’re having a cake party!” she yelled, bouncing into the air. She seemed to hover there for a moment before coming back down, she was so excited.

“Oh! Well that’s good,” Pooh chuckled. “I always liked a party. So, um, what kind of cake will we be having? Will there be... honey cake?”

“Yessiree!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Yeah, we just gotta get the honey for it first!” Tigger added.

Roo and Pooh looked at each other, then at the honey tree some ways in the distance.

“Oh bother,” Pooh said.

Think, Think, Think

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Chapter 4: Think, Think, Think

Pinkie Pie looked up at the very tall tree holding a very high-up hive. “Is that the thing we’re trying to get?” she asked.

Pooh walked up next to her, carefully considering the hive, and the honey within. “Yyyes. Where there’s a hive, there’s bees. And where there’s bees,” he added, with a giggle and a rub of his tummy, “there’s… *slurp* honey. The only problem is, we don’t really know how to get all the way up there.”

Tigger, who was busy prowling around the base of the tree, said, “Yeah… this tree’s all tall and skinny-like. Too tall for a Tigger to bounce,” he said, then caught himself. “Well, almost.”

Roo, who was also prowling around the tree, if only because Tigger was, agreed. “Yeaaaah. It would be way easier if the hive was lower, wouldn’t it?’

Pinkie Pie seemed to consider this idea. And when she wasn’t considering, she was pondering. “Well, what do we do?” she said finally, staring sideways at the hive.

Pooh also stared sideways at the hive, because sometimes you just need a different point of view. “Well...” he said slowly. “It seems to me that if the hive is so very up, then maybe we should bring it… down?”

Tigger sat up straight and looked at his friend. “Why, that’s a great idea, Pooh-boy! We’ll knock the hive right outta the tree! Won’t have ‘ta climb or nothin!”

Pinkie Pie also seemed to like this idea, as she bounced in place with a wide smile. “Yay! Now we just gotta find something to knock it down with! Like… a really big stick or something!”

“Yeah!” Roo agreed. “There’s all kindsa sticks in the woods, on accounta they’re made of wood!”

“Let’s go get us a big stick!” Tigger exclaimed, waving his paw for his friends to follow. He bounced ahead, leading the way. The group of friends marched along, some bouncing, others hopping, and all having a very good time indeed.

It wasn’t long before they found a rather big stick. In fact, they found a whole bunch of very big sticks, all standing upright. In fact, they seemed to be… walking. Pooh held out a cautious paw, and whispered. “We should be careful. Let me talk to them.” Roo and Pinkie nodded carefully, and crouched down to be very quiet.

Tigger looked aside to no one in particular, and said behind his paw, “This oughta be good, a-hoo-hoo-hoo.”

Pooh, having not heard him, carefully approached the bundle of walking sticks, and said carefully. “Um… excuse me, Mr. … um, stick. We were wondering if we could borrow you for some honey?”

The sticks stopped walking, and in a very small voice, said, “Oh! I’m sorry, Pooh, I don’t have any honey right now.”

“Hmmm,” Pooh said thoughtfully. Then he took a step back and whispered to his friends in a rather un-whispery voice, “This pile of sticks sounds a lot like Piglet.”

“Well, that’s because I am Piglet, Pooh,” said the sticks. Just then, a very small head attached to a very small animal peeked out from behind the pile of walking sticks.

“Oh,” Pooh said with a chuckle. “Hello, Piglet. What… um, what are you doing, with all of those sticks?”

“I’m taking these sticks home so I can make a ladder to reach the top of my house! It’s getting rather dirty,” Piglet explained.

“Hi there!” Pinkie exclaimed, jumping up next to Pooh. “I’m Pinkie Pie!”

“YIPES!” Piglet cried, dropping his sticks altogether. He quickly whooshed behind Pooh Bear, his very small knees shaking very loudly. “Um… Pooh? Wha-wha-wha-what is that?”

“Oh don’t worry, Piglet,” Pooh said encouragingly. He patted his friend on the back and gently pushed him forward. “This is Pinkie Pie. She’s a… well she’s a...”

“A pony!” Pinkie exclaimed. “We’re trying to get honey to make honeycakes with Miss Kanga so I can bring some home to the Cakes!”

“Oh!” said Piglet, brushing off his shirt. “Well hello there! I’m Piglet. I, um… why did you need one of my sticks, Pooh?”

Pooh paused for a moment as his very little brain remembered. “What? Oh, yes! We’re gathering honey! Unfortunately, the honey is very high up, so we need something to bring it… down.”

Tigger nodded wisely. “Yeah, yeah. And those sticks you gathered all look really good for hive-gettin-downin’!”

“Well, but… I need those for my ladder,” Piglet said in a small voice.

Pinkie Pie then had a great idea. “Well hey! Why don’t we make a ladder here? Then we can use it to climb up to the hive! Then when we’re done we can just take it to Piglet’s house!”

“That’s a great idea, Pinkie!” cheered Roo. “But… um...” he paused, mid-bounce, as he himself had a thought. “I don’t know how to build a ladder.”

“Aww, don’t worry, Roo-boy!” Tigger cheered, rubbing his friend’s head. “Buildin’ ladders, is what Tiggers do the best!”

“I thought that was bouncing?” Pinkie asked, confused.

Pooh patted her head. “You shouldn’t think about it too much. I never do,” he said happily.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Tigger groaned.