The Unnoticed

There was silence in the bakery. No one spoke, no one moved, they just stared. Finally, Rarity broke the silence.

“Umm, Pinkie, dear, where did you get those?” Rarity asked motioning to the book and photo album. Pinkie giggled.

“Well, I went to visit Locke but we I got there he was totally drunk. So I just took a look around and found these. When I asked if I could borrow them he said yes. “Pinkie stated matter-of-factly

“I see,” Rarity replied “well, we can’t look at these…” Applejack nodded and was about to voice her agreement went Rarity said “At least not without snacks.” Applejacks’ jaw dropped while everyone else murmured their agreement. Pinkie squealed and ran off to get snacks. Applejack sighed and plopped herself down in a chair with the rest of her friends.

Shortly later Pinkie returned balancing cookies, cupcakes, chips, and soda in a frighteningly swaying tower. Once it was all situated they came to the hardest question they had at the moment. Which do they look at first? There was a minor argument as Rainbow and Twilight wanted to look at the book first, Rarity and Pinkie wanted to look in the photo album, Fluttershy was silent, and Applejack refused to participate. The two groups glared before deciding Fluttershy would be the decider. This didn’t go over well as she squeaked and hide under the table when all the attention was turned on her. It ended as a coin toss. The photo album won.

After a few moments sulking on Rainbows part, they opened to the first page of the photo album. The first picture in the album showed a young man with longish brown hair and glasses smiling while he sat at a table with a group of other young people. It took the six friends a minute to realize that the young man was Locke. For one thing Locke didn’t wear glasses and his hair was cropped much shorter. Plus, they hadn’t seen Locke smile…ever. They flipped to the next page. There was Locke again looking like he did in the picture before. He stood in between two other young men. The one on the left had long golden hair and a goofy grin while the one on the right was bulky and had white hair. The tips of his hair were bright red and his eyes were surrounded by a similar red. It reminded the six of someone else.

“Hey Rainbow,” Pinkie said. “Those marks kinda look like…”

“Gilda.” Rainbow finished “Yeah must be from the same place.”

They continued through the album most of the pictures showed Lock and the other two. Toward the end however they began to see Locke and a young woman with fire orange hair. She looked familiar but they couldn’t place her. They were shown walking by a lake, climbing up a mountain trail, and sitting together on a blanket in a clearing.

“Awww, “Fluttershy sighed “They look so happy.” They did too. The girls hadn’t seen Locke smile before but in these pictures he looked like he was in heaven. One of the pictures was obviously taken on in older camera as it had a thickness the others didn’t. It was one of the few that had any sort of label. It said that it was taken about three years ago and read “L + S” followed by a heart. Even Rainbow was a little touched by the happy scene in the photos. The next photo, however, surprised them. It was Locke as he looked now standing with the two young men from before. Their hair was cropped short and they wore army fatigues and dog tags. Pinkie and the others were shocked.

“He was in the military?!”Applejack breathed. They looked to each other as if searching for confirmation of what they were seeing. Satisfied they weren’t seeing things they turned the page. Locke and the other two were still there but they were joined by another young man, a young woman that hadn’t been shown before, and a middle aged man all in similar outfits.  The photo was labeled “EEC squad Echo 3, The Jungle Miners.” The friends, intrigued, were about to turn the page when the door burst open.

A couple minutes earlier Locke was starting to stir from his drunken state. Heaving himself off the couch he stumbled toward the kitchen with the intention of getting more beer. As he walked he passed an open box. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned back toward the box. His eyes widened when he saw which box it was. He fell upon the box desperate to find what was taken. He noticed his photo album was gone but what really chilled his blood was the lack of one of his journals. Not any journal, but THAT journal. He sobered immediately as he tried to figure out where it had gone. Then he remembered….. “PINKIE!!!” Locke shouted as he ran toward his door. He all but ripped his door off its hinges as he rushed outside. Everyone outside all the time stared as he went tearing through the streets with a look of pure rage on his face. As the bakery came in to view he managed to run even faster. He hit the door running and it burst open startling the six girls inside. There they were standing shame faced and red handed with his photo album on the table they stood around. He was still breathing heavily when Pinkie tried to talk.

“Uh heh heh, h-hey Locke…” Pinkie said

“How dare you steal my photo album and journal?” Locke interrupted through gritted teeth. The other five girls gasped.

“W-well, I didn’t you said I could borrow t-them.”Pinkie stammered

“No, I said you could borrow a couple of my books.” Locke said twitching

“They are books.”Pinkie countered.

“YOU’RE SPLITTING HAIRS AND YOU KNOW IT!!” Locke roared in anger. Pinkie and her friends retreated in fear as Locke stalked up to the table and snatched up the books. He then stared each of them in the face one by one. Twilight and Rarity looked away, Rainbow sank down a bit, and Fluttershy all but fainted in fear. When his gaze fell on Applejack she blurted out

“Ah had nuthin’ tah do wit this.” Locke shook his head and looked Pinkie right in the eye. She swallowed nervously and lowered her head without breaking eye contact, preparing to take a verbal lashing. Locke sighed after looking at the sorry sight of the cringing girls and walked out of the bakery. There was a moment of silence before the other five turned angry gazes at Pinkie.

“You said he let you borrow them.”Twilight said accusation hinting in her voice.

“He did! I guess he just didn’t realize what books I meant.” Pinkie exclaimed in defense. Applejack sighed.

“Ah knew nothin’ good would come from this.” Applejack mumbled as she walked out the door followed by the others. Pinkie stood alone in the bakery once again as her hair slowly lost its poofyness. Fluttershy poked her head back in and motioned Pinkie to follow.

“Come on Pinkie, we have to go apologize.” Fluttershy whispered. Pinkie sighed sadly and followed knowing she had made a major mistake.