Gone.

It was all gone.

Every leaf, every seed, every fruit. Everything was gone.

Clyde Pie went back inside, closing the door, hoping that by some miracle or by some twist of fate, when he looked outside everything would return to normal.

Of course it wouldn't. Eventually, he would have to turn around, go outside, and cope with reality. He let out a deep sigh, gathering up all his courage, and reopened the door.

Everything looked so barren, cleansed of all life. The strawberry bushes had been picked as a whole, leaving no part of the plant behind. Even the nearby trees where stripped of all their leaves. Clyde thought about scanning the whole field to find some seeds or some other plant parts that could be regrown, but he decided it would be a futile effort. It was evident he couldn't regrow the farm from what little there might have been left.

Clyde simply went back inside and woke up his wife: “Martha. Martha, honey. We need to talk. Something terrible has happened.”

*  *  *

“What are we going to do?” Martha wailed.

Clyde tried to reassure his wife: “First of all we need to calm down. Everything is going to be okay. But we have to think of a way to tell the kids. We mustn't let them worry too.”

Martha suddenly started to scream: “How can you say that? Nothing is okay. We literally lost everything we had.”

“Honey please, if you would relax we could...”

“Don't you tell me to relax!”

*  *  *

Pinkie Pie woke up from all the commotion downstairs. Still sleepy-eyed, she went to the kitchen to find out what the fuss was about. She saw her parents in a heated argument.

“What's going on?” asked Pinkie.

Both parents turned to her daughter with a big, forced smile. “Hey sweety, did we wake you up? I'm sorry,” Martha tried to console. “Why don't you go back to bed. We'll wake you when breakfast is ready.”

“Okay,” Pinkie agreed, as she rubbed her eyes.

She slowly climbed the stairs before a sudden realization awoke her instantly. “Brownie! Where is Brownie?” She shot up the stairs, her parents trailing right behind.

Her father looked at her with utmost confusion. “We didn't have brownies in weeks. Why would you look for one?”

“Not a brownie, Brownie! My fuzzyfly!” All the uproar had now woken up Inkie and Blinkie as well.

Clyde caught on. “Oh you mean that pet you found. Wait a minute! What do you mean by “my”? You're supposed to share with your sisters!”

“But father,” Pinkie explained as she frantically searched the room for her pet, “when we got back to our room we actually found three of them. So we decided to take one each.”

As the other two sisters realized what was going on, they began searching too. “Blueie and Redie are missing too,” Blinkie cried.

Clyde thought to himself: “Could this be a coincidence? Unlikely! But what could three tiny creatures possibly have done to a farm as big as ours? Darn it, I should have found out what they are before allowing our girls to keep 'em.”

Meanwhile Martha was comforting the wailing children: “Now, don't cry girls! I'm sure they're still around here somewhere. They couldn't have gone far. I'm sure we'll find them eventually. But we shouldn't go looking on an empty stomach. Let's have breakfast first.”

*  *  *

The atmosphere at the breakfast table was considerably more tense than it had been the evening before. Luckily, Pinkie Pie's natural talent for cheering up ponies soon helped to bring at least a little smile on the face of the three fillies. Pinkie Pie kept telling her sisters they would find the little creatures with so much hope in her voice, that Clyde almost believed it himself.

Once the breakfast was finished all three sisters immediately went for the front door. Without a moment of hesitation, Clyde jumped up to block their path. He again put on a big forced smile before announcing: “Girls, there's something I need to tell you.”

“What is it father?”

He took a moment to think what he was going to say next. “You see, something happened to the farm. Last night, after you went to sleep, some pony came over and bought all the strawberries, including the plants. And since we don't have any more plants to take care of, your mother and I decided we should... start a... rock farm! Yes, sales on rocks are skyrocketing these days.” The more he talked, the wider and faker his grin grew.

“A rock farm?!” all three of his daughters asked in disbelief.

“Yes, a rock farm. And we have a lot of work cut out for us, in order to get this farm going. We should immediately start. You have time until noon to search for your pets. Meanwhile I will go to town to get some supplies. After that I will probably need your help on the rock fields.”

The three fillies had a suspicious look on their faces. But in the end they all nodded – after all, they did want to find their pets as fast as possible. The three of them rushed out the door.

Martha and Clyde remained behind in the doorway. “Really Clyde? A rock farm? You know the kids aren't stupid. They've probably figured out it's a lie already.”

“Please Martha, just stick with it. Keep 'em occupied while I go to town. I just need a little time. First I'll return all the farm supplies I've bought yesterday. Then I'll go to Golden Toe. He has to help me. I'm sure he will, after all we have been business partners for years. I'll earn a couple of bits in some job until the wost is over. By then I'll have something figured out.”

Martha let out a deep sigh. “I trust you completely. If you say it will be all right, it will be. Please, before you go let me pack you a couple of sandwiches, just in case you don’t make it home by noon.”

*  *  *

Clyde Pie entered the store, dragging behind the supplies he had bought the previous day. The pony behind the counter, presumably the owner, was the same one he had met the day before.

“Good day to you sir!” the farmer pony began. “You see, I've been to your store yesterday and...”

“Yeah, I remember you,” the owner replied.

“You do? That's great. You see, I've come to return the farm supplies I bought yesterday.”

“Certainly. Do you have a receipt?” the owner responded with an evil grin.

Clyde looked at him with surprise. Surely there had to be a misunderstanding. “What do you mean by receipt?”

“Well, if you bought these at my store you should have a receipt.”

“I've thrown the receipt away as I exited the store. But you know I was here yesterday buying these things. You admitted that you remember me.”

“Yeah, you did buy this kind of supply from my store yesterday. But how should I know, that those are the same that you bought from my store. For all I know they could be cheap imitations and you're trying to rip me off.”

There was no obvious flaw in his twisted logic. And after all, Clyde couldn't rely on any guard ponies to resolve the situation, since he did indeed not have a receipt anymore.

“You must be joking! Look I really need my money returned for these supplies. You have to help me out.”

His smirk became even more menacing. “Tell you what: I'm a nice guy, so I will take all these back for a generous 80 bits.”

“But that's not even a third of what I paid!”

“That's my offer. Take it or leave it. The way you look, you should take it.”

Clyde considered his options. He did grow desperate. Despite the confidence he showed towards his wife, he knew there were tough times ahead. Times, when probably every bit would count. He should really take that offer. He really should...

No! He shouldn't! “I will not succumb to your dirty games! I would rather starve to death than fall for your shady blackmailing scheme. Farewell sir!”

And Clyde Pie left the store, leaving the owner completely flabbergasted.

*  *  *

Next Clyde would talk to Golden Toe. They had been business associates ever since the strawberry farm had started. The Pie family sold all their strawberries to Golden Toe, who consecutively would sell them in market stands all over town. Clyde was sure to find him in his downtown office and indeed he did.

“Hello Mr. Toe.”

Golden Toe welcomed him politely: “Greetings Mr. Pie. How are you? How is the family?”

“We're all fine, thank you.”

“Unfortunately I don't have much time to chat. So, what brings you here to my office.”

Clyde was starting to feel really awkward, as if what he was doing was a confession he had owed his business partner for quite some time. “Ummm, it's actually about the farm. When I woke up this morning, I noticed that all the strawberries were gone. We pretty much lost everything we had, and I was hoping you...”

Golden Toe interrupted him with a stern voice: “You're telling me you lost all your strawberries.”

“That is correct, sir.”

“So, you're telling me you won't deliver any strawberries to me this year?”

“Unfortunately yes, sir.”

“How dare you?!” the business pony suddenly started yelling at Clyde.

That caught him completely by surprise. “Excuse me, sir?”

Golden Toe continued the shouting: “How dare you lose those strawberries! Those were my strawberries! Do you have any idea how much money I will lose on this?”

“Sir, I don't think you fully understand what this means to me and my family.”

“Oh, I do! I understand, all right. You mess up big time and try to turn your problem into my problem. You owe me. You owe me everything. And I will take it back.” Golden Hoof looked out the window. “I think we will take your cart as your first payment.”

Clyde got completely furious. He wouldn't let anypony treat him that way. “I don't owe you anything! And I will certainly not allow you to take anything from me that is rightfully mine! I thought since we've been partners for so long you would care for me a little, maybe even consider yourself my friend, but if you treat my like that I will simply take my business elsewhere.”

His former business partner started to speak calmly again: “But I will take your cart. Perhaps you'd rather talk this over with my associates.” He called in two muscular ponies, who were his henchmen.

Clyde couldn't do anything about it. There was standing up to your principles, and then there was not waking up in a hospital with a dozen shattered bones. You never want to mess with two ponies that have a weightlifting and a boxing glove cutie mark.

Without uttering another word Clyde Pie left the building, without his cart.

*  *  *

The day kept getting worse and worse. Clyde was about to leave the town with even less than he had before. With his head and his ears held down low, he was practically scuffing the streets of Baltimare.

Suddenly an unfamiliar voice called out to him: “Hey you, looking for a job?” Next Chapter: Chapter 3: A hard day's night Estimated time remaining: 42 Minutes