Now the Everfree Forest was full of most wonders, but none was more beautiful than a tiny stream roaming right through the forest. This particular stream had a pretty long way to travel, and by time it reached the edge of the forest, it just grew up, and it was almost river. 'Being blown up', it said to itself; 'We shouldn't be in any hurry, because we'll eventually get there someday. Now crossing the river, at it's most peaceful spot, was an old wooden bridge. It was a familiar spot to Apple the Bloom, for he would often wonder there, doing nothing in particular, and thinking nothing in particular; but on the most recent of these oscurtions, something took her mind off nothing.

"Ow!" Bloom yelled, as a pinecone fell on her head, and knocked over on the ground. She takes a look at the cone, and picks it up. "Hm, this is a very good fur cone, and something off to rhyme to it. Think, think, think." she started walking to the bridge, holding the cone on one of her hooves. "Now cones often belong in trees, up high with the buzzing bees; but this one I found, down on the ground; free by a gentle bree-WHOA!" Bloom then trips over a tree branch and starts losing her balance. She starts rolling down the hilled area, and lands on the edge of the wooden bridge, with the cone on her nose, the cone topples over into the water. "Oh bother." she said sadly. "Ah suppose ah'll have to find another one." Bloom had every intention on finding another fur cone, but the river was flowing so peacefully beneath her, and that she began to slip away with it. Just as Bloom was looking down at the water, he saw the cone floating across the river. "That's funny, I dropped it on the other side, and it came out on this side! Hmm, I wonder if it could do it again." she thought to herself. So Bloom found a bunch of fur cones inside the forest, and carried them to the bridge, but she kept dropping them all, and she was only carrying two in her hooves. She decided to just go with it, and drop them both into the water on one side of the bridge. Apple Bloom walked to the other side and said; "I wonder which one would come out first?" Well, the big one came in first, and the little one came in last, which is what Bloom wanted. "Ah did?" she asked. You did, Bloom, and it was the beginning of a great new game known as Bloom Sticks. "Which ah invented!" Now one day, Bloom, Fluttershy, Angel, and Spike were all playing Bloom Sticks together. "But why call it Bloom Sticks? Ah thought ah started with fur cones?" You did, Bloom! But sticks are much easier to hunt. "Oh yes! Now ah remember!" Now, as I was saying.... one day, Bloom, Fluttershy, Angel, and Spike were all playing Bloom Sticks together.

"Ok, now the first stick that'll go through all the way under the bridge wins!" Angel explained. "Now, on your marks... get set.... Spike?!" Spike was hanging at the edge of the bridge, leaning down, hanging on his tail, and Angel grabbed him and brought him back up. "We all start together! Oh dear, now where was I? Oh yes! On your mark.... get set..... GO!" So the four of them all threw their sticks into the water, and ran over to the other side to see who's stick would come out first.

"I can see mine!" Spike said excitedly. "I win! I win! In your faces!" But while the stick was going by, to their surprise, the stick was actually a dragonfly and it flew out of the water.

"Can you see your's, Bloom?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, ah expect mah stick's stuck." Bloom said.

"Ehh, they always take longer than you think." Angel said.

"Ooo! I can see your's Fluttershy!" Bloom pointed out.

"B-but mine was the sh-sh-sh-shorter grayish one." Flutters explained.

"Yes, that's what ah can see!" Bloom said. "It's coming over to mah side!"

"C'mon sticks! Stick! Stick!" Spike yelled as he lost his balance and fell off the bridge, but luckily, Angel caught him just in time.

"Are you sure it's mine?" Flutters asked.

"It's a big gray one! Here it comes!" Spike yelled. "A very big gray!"

"No, no, no!" Angel said. "It's... it's...."

"Cranky!" they all said at the same time, as Cranky was floating by the river, not saying a thing, with an empty look on his face.

"Don't ever pay attention to me. Nopony ever does." Cranky said sadly.

"Cranky? What are you doing down there?" Angel asked.

"Give ya three guesses." Cranky said.

"Fishing?" Bloom guessed.

"Wrong." Cranky said.

"Going for a sail?" Spike guessed.

"Wrong again." Cranky said.

"Well, errr... waiting for somepony to help you out of the river?" Angel guessed.

"Yeah, give you the time, Angel will give you the answer." Cranky said, still sounding miseriable.

"He's going round and round!" Spike pointed out.

"If I decide to practice my slide moment from right to left, or left to right, it's nopony's business but my own." Cranky said.

"Cranky, how c-c-could we- err I mean, how sh-sh-sh-should w-w-we shoud... ugh, you think if we, we..." Flutters stuttered.

"Yeah one of those things would-" Cranky dumps his head under the water, and pops it back up. "-Do just the thing. Thank you, Fluttershy."

"Ah have an idea, b-but ah don't suppose it is a very good one." Bloom said.

"I-" Cranky dumps his head in the water again. "Don't suppose it is." he starts spitting water out of his mouth like a fountain.

"Well go on, Bloom! Let's have it!" Angel requested.

"Well, if we throw stones and stuff down in the river, the stones will make waves, and the waves will wash him to the other side." Bloom explained.

"Ooo, that is a very good idea!" Angel said. "I'm glad you thought of, Bloom! Bloom?" Just before Angel finished the conversation, Bloom was already gone. Once she came back, she started rolling a big stone onto the bridge, they all notice, and Angel moves Fluttershy out of the way.

"Ooo, Flutters! Give Bloom more room." he said, as Bloom carried the stone onto the bridge railing, and Angel started giving her direction. "Alright, roll it towards Spike. Um, now to the left. No, to the right!"

"Cranky, can y'all stop turning round for a moment? Because it muggle me rather?" Bloom asked.

"I like turning, especially round." Cranky said, as he continued.

"Now, Bloom, when I say now, you drop it." Angel said. "Now Cranky, when I say now, Bloom will drop the stone. Are you ready?"

"Ready." Bloom said.

"1... oh let's see, uhh.... 2..... NOW!" Angel yelled, as Bloom pushes the stone off the bridge, and the stones falls right onto Cranky's stomach, and he sinks into the water, and Bloom felt pretty bad.

"Oh bother, ah guess it wasn't such a good idea after all." she said.

"There he is!" Spike pointed out, as Cranky starts walking to shore sadly, and the others all run out of the bridge, and caught up with him.

"Oh, Cranky! You're a-a-a-a-a-all w-w-wet!" Flutters said, as Cranky shook his body around to get himself dry.

"That's what happens when you been in a river a long time." Cranky said, as Fluttershy was moving her wet mane from her eyes after Cranky shook the water on her.

"How did you fall in, Cranky?" Angel asked.

"I was bounced." Cranky said.

"Did somepony push you?" Spike asked.

"Somepony bounced me." Cranky said. "I was thinking down by the side of the river, minding my own business, when I recieved a loud bounce."

"But who did it?" Bloom asked.

"I expect it was.... Pinkie." Flutters said.

"Cranky, was it-" but just before Angel could finish, Pinkie pops out of nowhere and bounces on Angel. "Pinkie?"

Pinkie giggles and says; "Hello Angel!"

"Pinkie, what happened just now?" Angel asked, glaring at her.

"Just when?" Pinkie asked.

"When you bounced Cranky into the river?" Angel mentioned.

"Wh-wh-what?!" Pinkie asked shockingly. "I didn't bounce him!"

"He bounced me." Cranky said.

"Oh I didn't, really! Wh-what I just had a cough you see; and I happened to be behind Cranky, and then I tend to-" Pinkie starts coughing and choking wildly, and then yells; "Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!"

Fluttershy was holding her head frightingly, but Bloom was able to comfort her. "It's alright, Fluttershy!" she said.

"That's what I call bouncing." Cranky said.

"I didn't bounce! I coughed!" Pinkie corrected him.

"Bouncing or coughing. It's all the same." Cranky said.

"Oooh no it's not!" Pinkie said.

"You can bounce me, Pinkie!" Spike said.

"But all I did was cough!" Pinkie said again.

"You bounced." Cranky said.

"COUGHED!" Pinkie argued with him.

"Bounced."

"COUGH!" Excuse me, perhaps I can help.

"Who said that?" Angel asked.

"It's the narr-A-tour!" Pinkie said. In order to find out what really happened, we can obviously return to the spot when Cranky was thinking about the side of the river.

"There's Cranky!" Spike yelled.

"Shhh!" Angel shushed him. When Cranky was hanging on the side of the river in the flashback, Pinkie peeks out of the bushes, and then just pops out of nowhere and bounces him inside, but Pinkie was surprised because she didn't expect him to fall inside, so she bounced away.

"So she DID bounce him!" Angel said as he glared at Pinkie.

"W-well, it was just a joke!" Pinkie said embarrassedly. Everypony just glared at her. "Ugh! Some ponies just don't have a sense of humor." she said as she bounces away.

"Pinkie is so thoughtless with her bouncing!" Angel said angrily.

"Why should Pinkie think of me? Nopony else does." Cranky said sadly as he started walking away.

"Why do ya say that, Cranky?" Bloom asked. Cranky just looks back at them, sighs, and then walks away. Without question, something was troubling Cranky, and while his friends were puzzled by the unusual behavior, Cranky was following the stream, up to his gloomy spot, which became even gloomier than usual.

"Pathetic." Cranky said, looking at himself in the water. Cranky moves to look into the stream another way. "Just as I thought. No better at this spot. Nopony minds. Nopony cares. Pathetic."

Author's Notes:

Finally back here finishing where I left off! This story was really separate from the rest of the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh story anyway. Time to finish it up!