A smile is all it takes

 Chapter 4

"Oh God, what was I thinking?" Mike said under his breath.

He didn't even arrive at his work yet, and already began to worry about what Pinkie was going to inflict upon his house.

"I should've just made myself coffee, at least I wouldn't have left her home like that"

Mike was waiting for the traffic-lights to turn green.

"What if she DOES let the dog out? No, she Pinkie Pie swore she wouldn't."

He continued to plague himself with worst case scenarios.

"Hey! Some people are trying to get to work here!"

A large bald man yelled at Mike from his scooter.

Mike snapped out of his thoughts.

"Right! Sorry." He uttered, clumsily climbing back on his bike.

 "Damn kids and their drugs.." The man mumbled angrily.

"Well, this day is starting off great already!" Mike thought to himself sarcastically as he crossed the road.

He finally arrived at the supermarket.

This was it, the final day of work at this place.

Mike walked in with his backpack hanging over one of his shoulders.

He was late, but he tried to play it off nonchalantly.

He walked over to the staff room; He had to get his supermarket outfit on.

“Bro! Late as always!” A gawky looking guy called out.

“ ‘Sup Kevin?” Mike responded, giving Kevin a bro-fist.

“Nothing much man. So, watched the latest episode of ‘you know what’ this morning?”

Kevin asked, prodding Mike with his elbow.

"Nah, I slept through it. It got kinda late last night." Mike said as he put on his working clothes.

Kevin sat down, put his feet on the table and took a sip out of the coffee mug that was standing there.

"Confound these ponies, they drive me to insomnia." He teasingly said to Mike as he brought the mug down from his mouth.

Mike buttoned up his shirt, put on his clip-on tie and turned around to face Kevin.

“I guess you could say that.”

                                                     * * *

“..It's a good thi-“

“Today's top story; strange weather phenomena have been observed ar-“

“-ow did they get here? Aliens.”

Pinkie Pie sat on the couch as she zapped through the channels, intently staring at each different channel for no more than a second or two.

“Ah! Animal Planet?” Pinkie Pie asked.

"The lion found its prey, this is the part where absolute stealth is required."

"Prey?" She tilted her head.

"One of the younger zebras notices the predator and alerts the herd."

"Uh oh." She  brought out with a soft voice.

"The lion decides that the waiting game is over and makes a run for the zebra-foal."

"Oh no! Is that family of Zecora? Is this where she comes from?" Pinkie yelled out, Covering one of her eyes with her hoof.

"..the foal just wasn't fast enough, and the lion has gotten himself a nice lunch."

Pinkie quickly turned off the TV and sighed in relief.

She jumped off the couch.

"I wonder if there is anything tasty to drink." Pinkie thought out loud.

She walked over to the liquor cabinet.

*Sniff* "Hmm, sweet!" Pinkie yelled out.

She grabbed one of the handles of the closet doors with her teeth. She opened it up.

"Ooh! Bottles! Let's see..." Pinkie curiously said.

The pink pony read one of the labels.

"Cherry liquor?” She tapped the underside of her muzzle with her hoof. “I LOVE CHERRIES!".

* * *

“Dude, want to go gaming at my place after work?”

Kevin asked as he awkwardly tried to lift a crate of milk-cartons into the dairy-racks.

“Let me help you with that”

Mike said. He pulled up his sleeves.

Kevin looked at Mike approaching him.

“Thanks, I nearly dropped th- Wow, man, how did you get that bite mark?”

Mike quickly supported the crate as Kevin nearly lost hold of it.

“Nothing, just my dog. I startled it.” He quickly lied.

He forgot to put some gauze on it.

“Isn’t that dangerous? Like, couldn’t you get that disease? Tite.. Tatin..Tet--“

“--Tetanus?” Mike cut in. “I’m not worrying too much abou-“

“--When did you get the bite? It looks pretty deep.”

Kevin interrupted as he glanced over to the wound.

“This morning, but really, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Mike finally said, slightly annoyed as he pushed the crate in the rack.

“He’s got a point though, it might get infected.”

Kevin picked up another crate, this time with a firmer hold.

"So do you want to go gaming at my place later on, or not?"

He said as he shoved the crate onto the rack.

"I've got some stuff to do at home man, I don't think I’ll be able to." Mike said; He had promised to go play video games with her, and He wasn't quite sure about Kevin meeting Pinkie. At least, not yet.

Kevin nodded understandingly, looking a little disappointed.

"Ah! Mike Finley." A low voice sounded from around the corner of the isle.

It was Mike's boss, Mr Thompson; A rather plump man in his late 50's. Mike always felt that this man had a good aura around him.

"Your contract expires today, and as a formal standard I must say my goodbyes and thanks." Mr Thompson chuckled.

"In all seriousness though, I always felt like I could count on you with whatever task was at hand. I hate to see you go, you're a good kid." He said as he patted Mike on his shoulder.

 "Sir, I’m eighteen."

Mike responded, bearing an awkward smile.

"I know son, and you're a good kid."

Mr Thompson responded as he looked up.

"I remember when I was around your age, my father founded this supermarket, back then it was just a small store."

As he slowly looked down he noticed the bite-mark on Mike's arm.

"Good God, son! What is that on your arm?" Mr Thompson called out, a shocked look on his face.

"Told you it looked pretty serious, dude" Kevin said from behind Mike.

Mike glared at Kevin.

"Just a little wound, I got bitten by my dog."

He said, still looking at Kevin, slightly annoyed.

 "That could get infected, you know? I'll have to send you home, maybe you can get it checked out by a doctor." Mr Thompson said, still somewhat worried.

 "Sir, really, I’m fine." Mike said, rolling his sleeves back over his wrists.

"I'll make sure you'll get the salary for a full day of work, just go home and get it checked out. I don't want you to leave thinking that I’d let you work here despite having serious injuries." Mr Thompson insisted with a warm smile on his face.

"Well, okay then. Thanks."

Mike shook Mr Thompson's hand.

“Bye sir. See you around, Kevin.”

* * *

Mike walked out of the store after finally changing back to his regular clothing.

As he went to unlock his bike it started to drizzle.

“Ugh...It’s already cold as hell out here.”

He complained as he got onto his bike.

Just as sudden as the drizzle started, a clearance occurred.

“That’s more like it”

Mike thought to himself with a content look on his face.

As He went cycling on his way home, to check on Pinkie Pie, he noticed that the heavy overcast from just a few minutes earlier had nearly disappeared.

Mike shrugged it off and continued to head home.

After a 15 minute bike ride, Mike he got home. He noticed that the curtains where still closed. "Oh God I hope that she didn't mess up my house." Mike said as he pushed the key in the door-lock and twisted it.

 He stepped inside; all the lights were out.

Mike looked around. "Hello? Pinkie, I got home early."

No response.

Mike began to worry and quickened his walking pace to the living room

As he closed in on the door he heard muffled music.

He prepared for the worst and slowly opened the door.

The sight was pretty bad.

In the living room, in front of the stereo lay Pinkie Pie.

She had a half empty bottle of cherry liquor in her hoof,

And somehow her party cannon was standing next to her.

The room was littered with balloons and confetti.

And one way or another, she got a bunch of disco-lights,

Wildly shining different colored lights all over the living room.

"Why was I expecting this?" Mike said to himself as he turned on the lights.

He walked over to the drunk, sleeping pink pony and squatted down next to her.

"Pinkie?"

He poked Pinkie Pie a few times.

She stirred awake.

"Wha.. who..." She managed to bring out before falling asleep again.

 Mike prodded Pinkie again.

Her eyes opened this time, well, as much as you could call them open.

"Hey stranger, what brings you to my cupcake fort?" She slurred.

"Pinkie, it's me, Mike."

He said, squinting his eyes.

"Mike take a hike, Bwahahahaha!" She began to laugh out loud.

"Right, this is getting ridiculous. Just get up so we can get you sob--"

"--I am the Queen, of, of the cupcake fort and I decide what I will and will not do!"

Pinkie Pie interrupted him.

"Uhm.. Pinkie? This is my house. And you're wasted." Mike said somewhat amused.

The pink pony leaned forward a little. "I will not tolerate that kind of talk!" She took another chug of the liquor and fell on her back again. "Guard, get thish intruder out of here." She pointed a hoof at Mike.

"O-Kay… I'll just get you some honey. Pretty sure that worked the last time I was drunk."

As soon as he reached for the door handle he felt that something bit him in his calves.

Mike jumped up and quickly looked down to where he felt the bite.

A rather small, green reptile, with a pan on its head had clamped onto his leg.

Mike had a puzzled look on his face. "Gummy? How did he get here?"  He looked over to Pinkie Pie; she was asleep again, snoring loudly this time. Mike struggled to get Gummy off of his leg.

He was getting agitated.

Then suddenly he realized something.

He limped upstairs, Gummy still attached to his leg.

5 minutes later he came back down with an old fish-tank.

He limped over to the kitchen and filled the tank with water.

As soon as the water tank was filled, Mike put it on the kitchen floor and held his leg just above the tank, dipping Gummy’s tail in the water.

He finally let go of Mike’s leg.

“Well, that’s one problem solved”

Mike said to himself as he looked at the little alligator floating in the water.

He walked back to the living room and approached the pink pony that was still sleeping like a brick.

He carefully knelt down next to her and picked her up in his arms.

Having already done this before, he kind of got the hang of it already.

Mike figured that since he had to clean the living room from all the confetti and cake, it was best to bring Pinkie upstairs.

As he walked over to the stairs, Pinkie cradled in his arms, he glanced over to the kitchen; Gummy was still in the fish-tank.

Mike began walking upstairs and noticed that Pinkie Pie's snores became even louder.

When he got upstairs he walked over to his room, opened the door, and carefully laid the pink pony on his bed.

"Pinkie, wake up. I got something that will reduce the drunkenness." Mike said as he tried to lightly shake the pink pony awake.

She was fast asleep.

"I'll just get her the honey later, right now I got cleaning to do." Mike thought as he walked out of his room and back downstairs.

When he got downstairs he walked over to the cupboard and grabbed the vacuum cleaner.

"This is gonna take while" Mike sighed as he opened the door to the living room.

Pinkie Pie slowly woke up; A large drool stain had formed on the pillow.

She groaned.

“Ugh.. My head hurts…”.

Pinkie said under her breath as she moved a hoof up to her throbbing temples.

“I need some sugar..”

She said as she pulled a face of disgust after discovering the taste in her mouth.

Pinkie Pie looked over to the nightstand.

"Ah, some honey would do good!" She exclaimed, suddenly sounding a lot better.

* * *

Mike had just finished cleaning all the confetti and balloons.

He looked at the party cannon.

"How... Just… How am I going to hide that thing" He wondered to himself.

He slowly and cautiously walked over to the cannon, afraid that it might suddenly go off.

Mike stopped just inches away from it.

He kept staring at the cannon.

He slowly moved his hand to the cannon and tapped it a few times; nothing happened.

Mike gave a sigh of relief. "I'll just stuff it in the shed."

As He rolled Pinkie Pie's party cannon over to the door leading to the backyard he heard several noises coming from upstairs. "Must be Pinkie, she probably just woke up." Mike told himself as he opened the door.

The backyard was a mess as always; it was littered with pieces of chopped wood, and gopher holes.

The old shed was located in one corner, surrounded by a couple of bushes.

As Mike dragged the cannon through all the pieces of wood he slowly took notice of the weight that the cannon possessed.

"How does Pinkie keep this with her all the time? Not to mention, where does she keep it?" Mike wondered as he began to struggle with its weight.

Luckily he began to close in on the shed.

After a few more tiresome drags, he made it.

He opened the shed, and immediately noticed that there was a big empty spot, right next to the lawnmower.

Satisfied with the fact that he didn't have to move a bunch of stuff again he rolled the party cannon inside and covered it with a big blanket.

Mike walked back into the house to check on Pinkie.

As he walked upstairs he heard more noises coming from his room.

"I hope she isn't feeling too sick" Mike thought to himself, still walking the stairs.

He opened the door and found just the opposite of a SICK pony.

Pinkie Pie was sitting on the bed, with a nearly empty jar of honey.

Half of which was spread across her face, her mane, and the bed sheets.

"I'm taking that you feel better?" Mike said with a monotone voice; now he had even more work to do.

"Mhm! I'm just a little sticky, that's all!" Pinkie said as she looked around. "Sorry about your bed!"

 "I'll just clean that." Mike sighed.

"Hey Pinkie, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, I guess. What is it?" Pinkie said, looking a little guilty.

 "Well, I'd rather not have other stuff covered in honey, so can you maybe clean yourself up a little?" Mike asked, a little unsure on how to formulate his question.

"Oh, I was already gonna do that! Can you imagine if I didn't? I'd be sticky all day!" Pinkie giggled as she jumped off the bed.

"Thanks." Mike called out to Pinkie as she walked out of the room.  "Oh, the towels are in the door next to m--"  "--Found them!" Pinkie chirped as she grabbed a towel.

 With a grin on his face Mike took the jar of honey and put it back on the nightstand.

He grabbed the honey covered sheets and took them to the washer downstairs.

 *  *  *

 Meanwhile in the bathroom, Pinkie turned on the hot water tap.

"Hmm, this is gonna take some time...". Pinkie Pie said as she inspected the size of the tub.  She began opening cabinets.

"There's got to be some shampoo here..."

 * * *

"...40 degrees Celsius and... Start."

Mike walked back to the kitchen; Gummy was hopefully still in the old fish tank.

Luckily, Gummy was indeed still in the fish tank. Mike sighed. He slowly and steadily picked up the fish tank, containing the little pet alligator and quite an amount of water.

"Ugh.". He awkwardly moved himself upstairs, clumsily holding the fish tank, but still having a good grip on it.

About 5 minutes of careful footing and balancing later he made it upstairs.

Mike took a couple more steps towards his bedroom and walked over to his desk, still holding the fish tank containing Gummy.

He put the fish tank behind the desk and gave a sigh of relief as he arched his back.

“That’s enough lifting for today.”