Sherrif Hitch in "The Smoothie Day Disaster"
“If there is ever one thing that you should always keep close to your heart, it’s that Maretime Bay is our home, and as sheriff it is my duty to protect it. Once upon a time it was to protect it from any threat of Unicorn or Pegasus attacks. But now, that’s not the case. Ever since the day that Sunny reunited the Unity Crystals, and I cannot wait for the day I can tell you that little tale, I was finally able to take a step back and focus on Maretime Bay itself. But that came with a cost. For once, I was able to truly see how dirty our home was. Filth lined the very streets that I trotted on for years, and I never noticed it. It was there that I knew that it was my duty to clean it up. I knew I had to put all my efforts into ridding this city of the litter that was now plaguing my once clean city.
Now, I will say that one thing I learned on patrol is that you have to keep a watchful eye on everypony. No matter if they are stallion, mare, or even filly. Everypony is equally capable in the crime of littering and should be treated as such. Sure, most days everypony is trotting about, disposing of the smoothie cups from Sunny’s booth in the correct bins, but at any moment a litterer could strike. And it is my job to be there when the smoothie cup hits the streets and ask them to Pick. It. Up.
You are probably wondering why I am telling you this. Well, I wanted to tell you about a day that put those beliefs to the test, and I hope that you learn something from my experience. This was the day that we all have since dubbed, the “Smoothie Day Disaster”.
Smoothy Day was already something that I dreaded dealing with back in the day. Almost everyone that lived in Maretime would go to Sunny’s booth, and the lines would stay long until the afternoon. If we weren’t there to keep ponies from tossing their trash wherever they wanted to, Maretime would have been drowning in smoothie cups, and puddles of sticky, leftover melted smoothie. But at least back then I had Sprout as deputy to keep things organized.
But now there were two things I had to worry about with how things were now. The first being, no deputy, so there goes half of my workforce. The second being the possibility of more ponies coming down to Maretime for Smoothy Day.
The morning of Smoothy Day I tried to get down there early enough to possibly get ahead of the herd, but by the time I had arrived in the town square, what awaited me was worse than I could have ever imagined. Ponies of all ages and races were lined up in front of Sunny’s booth; the lines stretching beyond what I could even see. It seemed everypony and their Grandmare’s were there.
Behind the booth I could see Zipp and Izzy running around preparing ingredients and blending the perfect frosty concoctions, while Sunny stood at the front taking and handing out the orders.
At first glance I would have had to say that the operation appeared to be running pretty…smoothy…
Up above I could see what had to be the cause of such a massive line and increase of smoothie-seekers. Pipp was elegantly swooping above the crowd, doing small swirls while a series of flashes radiated from the dot that I had to assume was her phone. If I had to guess she was streaming the event to her “Pippsqueaks”.
I glanced around the square at all the ponies who were already sipping away at their smoothies. I could see a group of foals sitting near the rotunda talking about schoolwork, while a group of Unicorns levitated a stack of empty cups into a nearby trash can. Things at the moment seemed to be at peace, and I was starting to think that all my worrying was for nothing.
But I couldn’t help but shake the fear that I felt whenever I would look at the sight of that line. So many ponies were already sipping away at their drinks, but the line never seemed to get any smaller, and it didn't seem like any ponies were leaving either. There was no way I could even know where the line ended or how crowded things would become.
I mean, Smoothie Day was always a popular day when Sunny first started it. It became a hit with the townsfolk almost instantly. Not to mention it was the one time she got to get paid to tell others about her views on how the Earth Ponies should befriend the Unicorns and Pegasi. I always wondered how she managed to keep up with the demand by herself at the time. Even now with help I wondered how they were keeping up with such a line this far along into the day.
So, I attempted to make my way through the ever growing crowd, finally managing to take a closer look at the mares behind the counter. Izzy was clearly over her head, she had bits and pieces of fruit in her frizzled mane, and as if on cue down she went, probably slipping on a banana peel knowing her luck.
As Izzy went down, the smoothie she had been levitating with her horn went shot upward. As it tumbled down it managed to land smack dab on Zipp causing her to tumble forward. She must’ve accidently hit the start button on the blender without the lid secured, because even from a distance I could see the blades start up, sending spatters of fruit juice all over the booth coating all three mares and a majority of the booth in splatterings of bright orange.
Sunny could only stand there, her mouth hanging open with horror and a face that read “I will never be able to serve all these ponies at this rate”.
The menace known as litter was indeed an evil force that had to be stopped. But my friends needed help more. At this moment, I knew I would have to make a choice. At that moment I had to throw away my vow to help my friends. And so, I sprang into action. Making my way further through the crowd of ponies I diligently made my way towards the smoothie booth. All along the way attempting to ignore the hideous acts of littering I noticed around me. Pipp must have looked up from her phone long enough to see the commotion because she got there a second after I did.
Pipp looked around at the disaster unfolding before her and said something on the lines of “If I would have known this many ponies would have shown up, I would have never promoted it so much on all my socials.”
Izzy and Zipp were also both apologetic for what happened, and were obviously feeling about as defeated as they looked.
Sunny simply looked at the three mares and flashed a big smile at her friends and assured them that it wasn’t any of their faults, she just didn't anticipate so many ponies to show up, but even she had to admit that with how things were going she wasn’t sure how she was going to make it through the day.
Pipp and I simply looked at each other and nodded as we got to work cleaning the booth and restocking the supplies. We weren’t going to let Smoothy Day fail so easily, not when Sunny, Izzy, and Zipp had already put so much effort into it.
And so, with the five of us all working together, we formed a well-oiled machine of smoothie making fury the likes of which had never been witnessed in Equestria. Working far after the sun had already gone down we managed to serve every single pony in that line.
After sending out the final smoothie, Sunny slammed the closed sign down on the counter and with a triumphant cry the five of us celebrated our hard earned victory. Every customer got what they wanted, and there wasn't a single issue that happened once we all put our hooves to work.
My celebration was cut short once I looked out in the now empty square. My jaw dropped as the sea of discarded smoothie cups seemed to stretch out endlessly through the square. I could see all the overfilled trash cans and puddles of spilt smoothie that I knew would leave the brick sticky to the touch. I could feel my heart sink into the very pits of my stomach. I couldn’t even think of where to start with the abomination that I could see before me.
It was only when Sunny placed a gentle hoof on my shoulder that I managed to bring myself back to reality. I whipped my head around to see Sunny there, dawning a big bright smile while Izzy, Pipp, and Zipp stood behind her already holding brooms, mops, and other various cleaning supplies.
Together we worked into the morning, frantically trying hard to clean the entire square back to its original state. By the time the sun started to rise over the horizon, our combined efforts managed to get everything back to normal.
My friends didn’t have to help, I would have been perfectly happy cleaning up by myself, just as I am sure Sunny would have said that I didn’t have to help with the Smoothie Booth. But I saw a friend in need of help, and to me, that was more important than any nasty litter could ever be.”
As I ended my story I glanced over at Sparky as he laid in his bed. His eyes were now half closed, and he was looking at me with only the blankest of expressions. I couldn’t help but wonder if he could even understand me or these stories that I tell him at night. I can only continue to do so, and hope that he remembers these lessons as he grows up. I don’t know much about Dragons, but I know that they live long lives. I also know that means I won’t be there forever to teach him these things. So even though he just seems to lay there, silently listening to my voice, I will continue to tell him these things. In hopes he grows up to be the best dragon that I know my Sparky can be.