“It was such a good night to scoobity dooby doo la!” Pinkie sang as she shuffled around the bakery kitchen. She opened the oven expertly with her mouth, pulled out a fresh batch of muffins, and swiftly bumped it shut with her flank as she sat the muffins on the counter. As she always did with every order she took one of the muffins and tossed it on the floor in the small violet bowl she kept by the fridge. Gummy adored muffins and sucking out the raisins was a favorite pastime of his besides blinking and hiding.
She pulled a large yellow box out of a nearby cabinet and placed in each muffin carefully making sure to leave enough space between each so they wouldn’t smash together and crumble when carried by a particularly clumsy pegasus. The gray bow on top finished the order and she carried it to the front to be placed in the hooves of a little gray filly.
“Thank you Miss Pinkie Pie. I know mommy will love them.” Dinky Doo said smiling as she sat down the box to place a bag of bits on the counter.
“No problem at all Dinky. I know these will make a great Mother’s day present. Tell her I said hello when you bring her these.”
“Of course I will. Have a good day Miss Pie!” The little filly took the box in her mouth and trotted happily out the door, the box bouncing as she went.
“I think I'm forgetting something…” Pinkie muttered to herself as she wandered back into the kitchen. Gummy was now happily seated next to his bowl, his mouth wrapped around the muffin and his tail wagging.
“Do you know what it is Gummy?” She asked. The little green alligator just blinked in reply and mouthed his snack harder. She paced in front of him, her head down thinking as hard as she could.
“I sent my mom a turnip pie and told her I’d be visiting the farm soon. I bought Mrs. Cake a swirly cupcake hair ornament from Rarity. I sent out Mother’s day cards to every other mom in Ponyville to thank them for just being a mom. And I sent a card to every non mom in Ponyville to tell her she should have a baby soon because I love babies… what am I forgetting?”
The alligator squished the muffin between his gums and stared at her silently.
“Oh Gummy goo what am I missing?” She said picking him up and staring into his eyes. He dropped the muffin and stared back at her, his usually complacent expression unchanged. But somehow Pinkie understood what he meant. She gasped at the revelation and pounced into the air. “YOU! I forgot we need to go to Froggy Bottom bog and visit YOUR mommy! Your Gummy Mummy!”
A small nod was the only reply she needed from the creature to spring into action.
* * * *
“Oh thank you for inviting me along Pinkie Pie. I love going to the bog and visiting new creatures.” Fluttershy smiled as she and Pinkie traversed the swampland. “I didn’t get to see any alligators when I brought all those frogs here.”
“The other gators are all just as quiet as Gummy is, so it takes me a while to be able to find them. I hope his mommy isn’t mad it’s been so long though.”
Froggy Bottom bog was a dark dank place like the Everfree forest, but with much more open area between trees. The deep greens and browns were less than impressive to see for anypony. Though the moist bed of the swamp was home to hundreds of creatures, the musty smell and almost sickening thickness of the air kept ponies without important business at bay. Eyes constantly peeked from bare trees and under rocks curious about the new visitors. Fluttershy backed away from a blinking tree, gulping a bit. She didn’t have to go far when she dropped off her froggy friends, this was a slightly longer visit.
Fluttershy glanced at the little gator riding on the pink pony. He seemed quite content to be in the dreary swamp, his expression almost approaching….well an expression. His lips were curled into a half smile and every few steps he would blink excitedly at some new yet familiar sight.
“Pinkie… Iv’e been wondering.” Fluttershy began slowly “Just how did you get Gummy?”
“I really didn’t tell you yet? I can’t believe I didn’t think to mention it.” The pink pony giggled. “Well actually when you really think about it, it’s more like Gummy got me.”
“You see one day I was in the bakery minding the shop while the cakes were gone. I was feeling super duper lonely all by myself and I spent the whole day wishing I had someone to talk to. After a while Ditzy Doo ran in and asked if she could use the bathroom. My Pinkie sense started tingling while she was in there but I couldn't quite understand why until I heard her screaming.”
Fluttershy winced, already anticipating what was coming next.
“When I ran in to help her, there was an alligator popping out of the drain in the tub! I tried to help him out, but instead he latched onto my face! I ran around screaming and screaming!” Pinkie mimed, racing through the bog while the little gator held onto her hair. “But no matter what he wouldn’t get off….until he saw Ditzy’s box of muffins that is. He jumped into them and tried to eat them, but the little guy didn’t have any teeth so he just sucked on them. I ended up having to give Ditzy a refund for the gatory muffins, but I found a new friend that would always listen to me and I wanted to have him by my side forever.”
“Wow, so Gummy ended up in the pipes somehow? I wonder how on earth he could have gotten in there. The poor dear must have been so lonely.”
“I bet he was. That was a bit over a year ago. I use the day we met as his birthday since he’s so young. I took him to the bog a couple days after I found him but I couldn't find any other alligators around. I’ve only seen them twice since then and I didn’t have Gummy with me either time so…”
“So this could be the first time he’s seen his mother since he got lost.”
“Exactly!” Pinkie smiled. “I wish I could throw them some kind of party but I don’t think throwing one in a swamp would be easy. And since grown up alligators have teeth I can’t exactly bring them to Ponyville.”
“Oh dear.” Fluttershy frowned. “I hadn’t even thought of visiting Angel’s family. I wonder if that’s where he wanders off to sometimes when he puts on a suit and leaves for a week.
“You never know, maybe Angel has a wife and baby bunnies to take care of.”
“B…b…babies!?!?” She gasped blushing. “Why my sweet little Angel would never… oh dear!”
“Hey a bunny has gotta get busy sometime. Oh I think this is it!”
Pinkie stopped looking around the area they were in. It was a large pond with fallen trees creating a small circle. Several pairs of eyes looked up from beneath the water, the bodies they were attached to still completely submerged. As they approached one of the pairs of eyes began to ascend, a large round alligator approaching from the bog. She was a lot like Gummy, green with large saucer like violet eyes that didn’t quite seem to be looking at anything in particular. She walked to the edge of the circle and blinked first at Fluttershy, then at Pinkie. Gummy hopped from his pink pony perch and plodded through the muck towards his mother.
“Oh…umm Pinkie, do you think we should?” Pinkie held up a hoof to stop the nervous Pegasus.
“Just look!”
Gummy and his mother were standing face to face, on the edge of the bog. Gummy blinked. Then his mother blinked. Then he blinked again. This went on for several minutes, the two placidly batting their eyes, with their expressions unchanging. Pinkie and Fluttershy were on their fourth game of “Is that a log or an alligator” before either of the two reptiles noticeably moved. As Pinkie squinted, struggling to tell if a branch was a tail, the larger alligator suddenly scooped up Gummy in her claws and held him close snuggling him.
“Oh my gosh!”
“Did the branch move?” Fluttershy replied wearily, half asleep.
“No! Look! Look!!!”
The two turned and smiled, watching gummy and his mother embrace. The large alligator’s expression something that could almost be pride, if you could really tell the difference that is. A moment later Gummy pecked her on the check and flopped down from her arms, waddling back to the two waiting ponies. They looked at each other in confusion for a moment, before Gummy nodded signaling the time to leave.
“Goodbye Mrs. Gummy’s mom! It was nice to meet you! I think!? Happy Mother’s day!” Pinkie shouted.
“Oh…umm yes. Happy Mother’s day Miss Alligator!” Fluttershy agreed, bowing politely at the creature before they turned to leave. “Pinkie Pie?”
“Yeah Shy?”
“Just… what do you think happened back there?” She whimpered, still a bit confused about the whole excursion.
“Oh, it’s just alligator stuff. Believe me, it went well.” She said winking at her friend.
“If you say so Pinkie. I guess no one will ever know how alligators think.”
* * * *
“Tilly, I hear something above the surface.” Gertrude yawned, her eyes poking above the water to investigate.
“Don't be silly Gertie, you’re always hearing things.”
“No…no it is something! It’s your boy! And he’s with two ponies! Do you think he ran off and got hitched to a horse?”
“What?” Tilly blinked, cautiously peering over the surface of the water, the moment her eyes focused to the light she saw him. There he was, her youngest son, sitting on a pink pony at the edge of the water with a shy yellow pony shivering beside them. Now that she was right about something once, she was sure Gertrude would never stop bringing it up. She’d have to move to Shady Shamble Swamp just to have some peace.
She slid from the water, finding a steady foothold along the rocks at the bottom before she could fully emerge. It had been over a year since she’s last seen her boy, taking him to the edge of the swamp near Manehattan to find worms, he’d wandered into a strange silver pipe and never returned. She had almost begun to think…. well it didn’t matter what she thought. He was here alive and well. She stood at the edge of the swamp unsure of what to say. He’d grown so big.
He slid from the pony he was riding and plodded towards her looking quite ashamed of himself. As he should be for running off.
“Hello Gummington.” She blinked, nonchalantly addressing the wayward reptile.
“Hey mom…it’s uh… it’s been a while hasn’t it?” Gummy blinked in reply, trying not to make direct eye contact.
“A while? You call abandoning your one and only mother for two years, a while?!”
He winced and stared down at his claws. “I'm sorry mom. I didn’t mean to leave but I knew somehow beyond that pipe was a place I needed to see. It was like someone was calling to me. Like someone needed me. I wandered in and got completely lost. And then once I got there … I found a new friend and I got kinda carried away with my new life.”
“And you couldn't let me know you were ok?”
“I flushed a bunch of notes down the toilet for you but I suppose that isn’t the best way to communicate.” He mumbled, clawing a circle in the muck.
She blinked down at him and sighed, her shoulders finally relaxing a bit. “Well at least you tried I suppose. It’s more than your deadbeat brother did, running off to live it up in a zoo.” She smiled noticing his still bare mouth. “How have they been treating you dear?”
He perked up, blinking excitedly “Fantastic! This pink one is Pinkie Pie, she’s been taking good care of me, we go on walks, and she throws me birthday parties, and I get to gum any foods I want! Its… it’s a lot of fun with her. And the yellow one is a doctor I think, Fluttershy, anytime an animal is sick she takes care of us.”
The older alligator chuckled “Yes, I’ve heard about her. The frogs won’t stop going on about how wonderful she is.”
“I can understand why. Its magical living in Ponyville with them. Everything is bright and exciting. I really love living with ponies! Every day is a new adventure and I have so many friends, but... but I miss you mom.”
“I know sweetie” She blinked sadly, “But think about your life here. With no teeth you just can’t survive in the swamp. I love you more than anything in the world and I’m glad you found a new home. A safer home than this place, where you have all the food you could ever gum.”
He glanced back at the ponies. They were on their third try, attempting to differentiate logs from alligators and seemed to be getting weary. “I think it may almost be time for me to go.”
“So soon?”
“Yeah, if I know Pinkie she’s probably having a party later. She lets me swim in the punch bowl when no one is looking.”
“It sounds like you really did find a place you belong. You always were a bit more colorful than the rest of us somehow.”
“I love you mom.”
“I love you too Gummington.” She blinked, scooping him up into her arms. “Promise me you’ll visit again.”
“I will. Every single year.” He smiled, giving her a swift peck on the cheek. He slid from her legs and began on his way towards his companions. “Hey mom?”
“Yes dear?”
“Happy Mother’s day.” He winked, before nodding to his friends.
Gertie crouched on the rocks behind Matilda watching the exchange between the two. “Mother’s day? What in Equestria is that?”
The two ponies each yelled out “Happy Mother’s day” before they began their way back through the bog.
“I think.” Tilly began, thinking about what just happened. “I think maybe it’s just a pony thing.”
Gertrude snorted and slid back into the swamp grumbling to herself as Tilly watched her son fade from view.
“A whole day telling their mother they love them?” She thought, the countless clutches of eggs she’d laid, loved, and lost never to be seen again. And of the few that ever came back to the swamp, let alone to tell her they care. “If that’s the kind of crazy thing pony’s do,” She smiled, wading back into the grimy water. “I’ll have to put more alligators in the sewer.”
