Crackle the dragon had a mission in life that had burdened him for many, many years. As a dragon that had lived through more migrations than most anyone in Equestria could remember, he was regarded as forgotten by time. He was mute, old, weary, and always seemed to be cranky. As a young dragon, his mission in life had become so cumbersome he didn’t dare share the weight with anyone else. Now, as a worn out geezer, he needed someone to aid him in carrying his emotional bundle. He was sick of everyone feeling sorry for him. Crackle was exhausted of waking every morning in need of help; he was 904 years old for Celestia’s sake! He required help now with everything: getting to his feet with his legs, which had been weakened from little use but to scratch; getting from his bed to his special rocking rock chair at the volcano’s surface, where he watched the young dragons dive into the boiling lava pits; the cranky old dragon couldn’t even go… well, you know. Crackle reflected on each passing day how much of a task it must pose on the other dragons to take care of him. He thought, waited, and hoped. He hoped for someone to come along that could genuinely help him. Not assist him like the other dragons, but help him complete his mission, have his story told, and be finished waiting. None of the other dragons understood him, and they probably never would. Now, more than ever, he was tired of that the most; waiting for the sleep he so greatly longed for.
Ponyville was experiencing its first truly warm spring day. It was three weeks after Winter-Wrap-Up, and the grass had grown in lush and green. Small flowers were sprouting and the trees were just beginning to grow their leaves. Birds had returned to their nests, patient for their children to hatch from the eggs they currently inhabited. Rabbits and squirrels foraged for food to take home to their new families. Ponykind all around were enjoying the sunshine, happy to be finished with the cold weather.
Inside the Cake’s bakery, Pinkie Pie looked up from the game of silly faces she had been playing with Pound and Pumpkin. Her nose was still slightly twisted in an obtuse fashion, so she shook her head to right her face and took a deep breath in. The smell of sweet carrots and ginger filled the whole confection shop. Carrot cake was one of Pinkie’s favorites and she savored the smell with every breath. Suddenly, Pinkie’s ears perked. She knew that Mrs. Cake would need her helper’s assistance. The elder pony wouldn’t want to leave the carrot cupcakes for the Ponyville School’s Spring Social in the oven. The treats were almost finished and would have to be pulled out at precisely the correct time. Pinkie would gladly have taken them out to witness their baked decadence and smell the delicious aroma, but there was an errand to be done. Pinkie gave the little foals their toys to keep them occupied and pushed herself to her feet. In one bound, she was in the kitchen.
“Oh, I hope Pinkie can go get the apples for me… ” Mrs. Cake’s thoughts were projected into the room, but only Pinkie could hear them. Her gift of foresight, given to her as a small child, allowed her to hear the thoughts of anypony in need of Pinkie’s help.
“Can I help you with something, Mrs. Cake?” Pinkie Pie asked her superior, surprising Mrs. Cake so much that a cloud of flour spilled out of the mixing bowl that held another sweet creation being stirred by Mrs. Cake.
“Pinkie! Yes, you can! I was just thinking about asking you to go visit Sweet Apple Acres to pick up my bushel of apples for Diamond Tiara’s garden party. I just can’t possibly leave this batch of carrot cupcakes since they’re almost ready. If you could go see Applejack in my place, I would be ever so appreciative. I’ll be able to watch the babies for a short time while you’re gone.”
Pinkie looked inside the oven at the treats baking to a golden brown. She longed to pop one in her mouth, even without icing. The children at the school would be so happy to have these at their social the next night.
“I’ll let you have one of the extra cupcakes from this batch when you get back to thank you for your help. I know how much you love carrot cake!” Mrs. Cake told Pinkie to sweeten the deal. She needn’t have offered, but Pinkie was tremendously thankful and couldn’t wait to get back, now.
“Sure thing, Mrs. Cake,” replied Pinkie. “I’ll be back in a jiffy!” and with a hop, skip, and a jump, the pink pony was off on her errand.
As Pinkie came to the crossroads between the Everfree Forest and Sweet Apple Acres, she heard a most peculiar sound that seemed very out of place from the everyday noises of outdoors, a murmur like soft air. She stopped in the middle of the lane and listened through the sounds of the forest. Over the chirping of the birds and farm noise from the nearby orchard, she heard the hum a second time. The noise was a breathy sigh, melancholy and full of uncertainty, she thought. “Well, that’s weird!” Pinkie exclaimed. “It couldn’t have been the wind, there’s no breeze! I wonder where it could’ve come from. Maybe someone is there. Hello? Is anypony out there? My name is Pinkie Pie, are you lost?”
Suddenly, Pinkie’s ears perked, her spine tingled, and her tail twitched! “Ooh! A combo! I wonder what that might mean!” Pinkie thought aloud, wide-eyed. The distraction in the forest and her Pinkie Sense combo had distracted this pony on a mission. “What was I doing again…? Oh! I have to get the apples for Mrs. Cake! I better hurry; she’ll get worried if I’m gone too long.” Pinkie bounced along down the path toward her friend’s farm, the smell of fresh apples tingling her nose, and forgetting all about the strange noise.
Crackle sighed once more and wished someone out there could hear him. He thought, yet again, of his long-gone family. He remembered his mother and father who had passed away long ago. He considered his brothers and sisters, all seventeen of them. Crackle even remembered the eggs that were never hatched, or that had been taken to Canterlot to be assistants to magic students training under Princess Celestia. Crackle wished he could have known those lost brothers and sisters. He had even heard a rumor about a dragon that had shown up after the last migration, claiming to have been a pony’s assistant from Canterlot, but nothing had come of it.
Crackle remembered his youth so vividly, it seemed like he could step right into his own memories. He smelled the fresh dirt from his first nest home with his mother and father. It was wet and warm, like the first summer rainstorm. He remembered being introduced to all his peers at the school for dragons, and being so nervous his first day of school that he got fire-hiccups. He still tasted the sooty ash of his first home away from his parents, the volcano he resided at now, deep in the jungles of Equestria. Most of all, he remembered his glory days of being Equestria’s finest doctor. Crackle thought back far into the deep recesses of his past and pulled back memories from practicing pony medicine in Fillydelphia. Long, long ago, Crackle had been the first dragon to be a doctor to ponies. His research in the field of pony fevers had saved millions, but no one even knew of it.
“Is there anything you need, Mr. Crackle?” the voice of Ruby, Crackle’s latest dragon nurse, brought him out of his trance. “Do you need any water or something to eat? You look awfully hungry.” It was true, he hadn’t eaten all day. He longed to enjoy the diamonds and gold as he had in his youth, but even his favorite gems turned to ash once they touched his tongue. Crackle just looked at Ruby and hoped she would understand; at this point, there wasn’t much she could do for him. She seemed to get the picture, he noticed, since she dropped her head and slowly walked away. Crackle returned to his memories of the past, causing him to sigh even more.
“Well how-dee, Pinkie! What brings you here to the farm?” Applejack asked, as Pinkie Pie approached. “We got a bunch of apples fresh picked today.” the reliable pony added. The big barn was open to allow the farm workers and customers, who were full of energy and excitement about this year's crop, to come in for the orchard’s dealings. Inside the building smelled like fresh hay, sawdust, and hard farm work. Above the cacophony of scents, Pinkie Pie could smell sweet, warm apples; Granny Smith must have been making an apple pie. Pinkie licked her lips at the thought of the delicious, cinnamon-y, perfectly baked, fruit pastry. What a treat that would be! Then she remembered her carrot cupcake waiting for her at home, which reminded her of the purpose of being there.
“I’m here for Mrs. Cake’s bushel of apples for Diamond Tiara’s garden party cake. Its apple flavored with apple filling with apple butter cream!” said Pinkie Pie, mouth watering. She couldn’t wait to help Mrs. Cake create this dazzling dessert.
As the two friends loaded up the apples on a small cart for Pinkie Pie to haul back to town, Pinkie’s ears perked again when she heard the same sound as earlier near the forest. This time it was different, it had grown louder and sounded as if someone was just on the cusp of tears.
“Hey Applejack, you wouldn’t happen to have been hearing weird noises from the forest, would you?” Pinkie asked her friend.
“I sure haven’t, sugarcube. All I’ve been hearing lately is about how Granny Smith’s joints keep telling her it’s gonna rain. If some noise does make its way here from the forest, I’ll be sure to tell you.” Applejack told Pinkie as they loaded the last of the apples onto the buggy.
As Pinkie waved good-bye to Applejack from the bottom of the hill, she couldn’t shake the dark feeling she had about the Everfree Forest. Pinkie walked slowly up the road to put off getting to the fork between the forest and town. Once she got to the crossing, Pinkie stopped to listen; maybe that strange sound would occur once more. She peered down the ominous trail into the shadowy woods to get a good look at what was going on inside. All at once, her ears perked, her spine tingled, and her tail twitched.
“Not again,” she whispered to herself. “I’ve just gotta figure out what this combo means. Maybe I should leaf through the forest… get it? Leaf through!” Pinkie laughed at her own joke as she edged closer to the tree line down the quickly narrowing pathway. Her ears strained to hear all the sounds of the wooded area. She heard the twittering birds, the buzzing bugs, and the occasional rustling of leaves from a frigid wind or a larger animal skulking around. She glanced behind herself at the gleaming apples in the sturdy, wooden, loaner cart. They glistened at her in the afternoon sunlight, practically begging to be crafted into a luscious cake. Pinkie decided to wait until the garden party cake was finished to investigate the woods. She turned the cart around and headed back toward town, bouncing the whole way. She entertained her thoughts with the delectable apple confection she knew would be the Cake’s next masterpiece.
“I have to remember not to eat so much filling this time that someone notices…” Pinkie thought. The whole way home she made sure none of the glossy apples fell off the cart. Sweet-loving Pinkie knew it would be worth it to be so very careful. She wanted to make sure there would definitely be enough filling for Diamond Tiara’s cake and plenty to for her to enjoy for later.
It was time, Crackle realized, to let everyone know what had happened to him so many years ago. There was no way any dragon would ever understand his incoherent noise and screeches. After Ruby put him to bed that night, he decided he would begin. He would try to write it down, but he had no idea where to begin. How do you fit over 100 years of memoirs into a small enough explanation for a young dragon or pony to understand? There were no excuses, Crackle thought, it had to be done. He tried to lift himself out of his warm, stony bed near the center of the volcano. His bones creaked as he put one feeble leg on the ground, then another. He lifted his weight onto his small legs, but with a sickening crunch, they buckled. He fell towards the ground in front of him, seemingly in slow motion. He didn’t dare try to catch himself with his delicate arms, for Crackle knew they would suffer the same fate of his pitiful legs. He turned to his side as he fell, attempting to break his fall with a weathered shoulder. It was painful, but not as threatening as breaking an arm. The ancient dragon collapsed with a mighty thud and a screech of pain. Quick footsteps were heard coming towards him. How stupid he was to try to do this alone. As Ruby rushed to her patient’s side, Crackle knew he was defeated. He remained stone faced while his nurse checked him over, back in bed.
“Nothing broken, thank goodness. You’ll have a nasty bruise on that shoulder where you landed. I can only imagine what might have happened if you’d fallen after I’d gone to sleep. If you needed something, you could have called me. You must be more careful, Mr. Crackle.” Ruby had a tendency to talk at him rather than to him, Crackle noted. She meant well, but she was just like the others. Crackle appreciated her caring for him. Ruby had been by his side for nearly a decade, much longer than the last few nurses he had. He was ashamed, now, that he would worry her and deprive her of sleep for such a silly idea. Now, there was no way he would be able to carry out his plan.
After his nurse left the room again, Crackle cried out, not in pain, but in anger and defeat. He knew that he’d never be able to explain himself to everyone who needed to know of his work. He knew all of dragon- and pony-kind would never hear the true story of Crackle the Dragon and he would never receive the justice he deserved. He had waited too late for his chance that he knew would never materialize. Crackle wept for his future, which was now ever so bleak.
Pinkie Pie awoke with a start. She had been dreaming of prancing through meadows full of gigantic carrot cupcakes, lollipops, and delicious apple pies when her sweet dream had been broken by sounds of sobbing. Pinkie climbed out of bed, quickly, and checked on Pound and Pumpkin. The mischievous babies slept soundly and showed no signs of being in distress; although the diaper can smelled pretty distressful. Pinkie wrinkled her nose and went back to her room. She sat under her covers and contemplated the strange new developments in her life. Where were these sounds coming from? There must be somepony in serious distress. Pinkie Pie knew that if one of her friends needed her help, she would have to find out who, and take action soon. Her least favorite thing in the whole, wide world was to see one of her friends unhappy.
Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and relaxed into a state of pure bliss inside her mind. Colors flashed vividly as she began the journey between two worlds. Amidst the darkness, lines of bright cerulean, deep purples and jade, and golds and oranges reminiscent of the sun zoomed past the pink pony. Sounds from all over Equestria swirled in Pinkie’s ears, their sources unknown to her. Ponies’ dreams flashed around her and she made sure not to watch, so as not to disturb the privacy of her fellow pony kind. She uncurled her legs from their relaxed position and bounced through the tunnel of colors and dreams. Travelling down this path wasn’t as easy as walking to town, for she had no idea what her destination would be. Pinkie bounded along, all of her senses at the ready.
Pinkie listened very carefully for any signs of what direction she needed to go. She heard snores of ponies asleep in their beds, the soothing voices of mothers singing their children back to sleep after a midnight feeding, and Pinkie noticed the soft whispers of her friend Twilight Sparkle, who was likely studying and had no time for sleeping. As Pinkie Pie watched the colors and listened to the sounds swell to a climax around her, she caught it: the sad crying of her new connection. Pinkie locked onto the resonance through the echoes of other ponies; it was a man, but she didn’t quite recognize it as anypony she knew. She swiftly moved her conscience toward the sound. At first, it was quiet, soft as the wisps of feather on a dandelion seed. As she moved through the mingling of dreams, the sobbing grew louder and more pronounced. All of a sudden, she felt a warm, stony floor under her feet. Pinkie Pie opened her eyes and she saw her new surroundings for the first time. It was dark, all but a glowing candle next to a bed. The room was dank and musty, like it hadn’t been dusted in many years. Before her was an old dragon, probably 1000 years old. She recognized him from somewhere but she couldn’t place where from. His eyes were glistening with tears, she could tell, and behind them were years and years of sadness. His dragon skin was wrinkled and ashen from years of living in the heart of volcanoes all over Equestria. The crying had stopped.
“A pony in my room! Who is she? What in Equestria is she doing here?” Pinkie heard a deep, booming voice say to no one in particular.
Crackle was astonished. A pink pony in his room. She was so young and her eyes full of energy. He wondered how she must have gotten into the volcano, and how she was standing the heat. Her mane was sproingy and looked like cotton candy, she smelled like the sugar floss, too. Crackle was baffled as anyone would be to see a marshmallow pony materialize in front of them.
“My name is Pinkie Pie! I came to help the person who was crying. Am I in the wrong place?” the cotton candy pony instinctively replied to the loud voice that surrounded her. She hoped she hadn’t intruded at the wrong time, and was worried that this dragon was so surprised, he might gobble her up. After a few moments of just looking at each other, Pinkie heard the disembodied voice again.
“Pinkie Pie, huh? She’s found the right place, alright. Maybe if I just holler for Ruby, she’ll escort this pony out. Poor girl doesn’t even know I can’t talk.” The voice thundered. Crackle was beyond his shock and had moved into curiosity. Sadly, he knew this pony could not stay here. What would she want with a dragon who couldn’t talk? He felt sorry for her having made the journey to him; however it was she got here. The heat of this place would kill her, he knew, or melt her candy fluff mane. He kept staring at it, he noticed, he really liked her mane. The thought of it made Crackle’s face morph into the first smile he’d experienced in over 500 years.
Pinkie pie watched the dragon and noticed, indeed, he wasn’t talking, exactly. His sudden change in demeanor gave her hope, though. The dragon who couldn’t talk could still smile. “But I can hear you, sir! I’m a semi-telepathic pony! I can hear the thoughts of people who really need my help. It’s a special gift of mine that was given to me as a child.” Pinkie Pie told the confused dragon. His smile giving her a renewed hope changed all of her fears to joy at the beginning processes of helping someone new.
As she told him of her powers, she realized, this dragon looked just like the disguise that her friends Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity had made to rescue Spike when he’d gone off and migrated with the other dragons. Pinkie laughed aloud at the thought but quickly quieted herself when she remembered the dragon was still watching her.
Crackle’s eyes were alight with hope and terror all at once. His thoughts vibrated the room once more. “Telepathic? How can she hear me? Have my wishes come true? Tell me, girl, and quickly; if you really can hear me, how did you get here?!”
Pinkie Pie looked at the dragon and smiled a beaming, genuine smile.
“I broke the fourth wall, silly!”
