Homer came along with me as I began to sneak through the city, only to find it was too dang crowded! There were people everywhere. And I don't mean 'everywhere' like I usually meant, oh no! Just about every foot had two humans standing in it, or so it felt. I pushed through with my clothes drawn up and everyone was so busy trying to get where they wanted to go, none of them paid me even slight attention. Even the ones that bumped into me just went on by. They didn't even say sorry! I would have been more miffed if I wasn't thankful they were leaving me alone.

I popped free of the crowd and Homer emerged a few tense moments later. He looked up at me with a happy sort of grin and his adorable little tail wagging away. What a good boy! Was he a boy? Shoot, I guess I should have checked that. He didn't argue being called a boy so far. Either way, we had a destination! I led Homer through the darker alleys, hoping to avoid the crowd and move more directly for the goal through the back ways. Besides, little things like fences and walls didn't stop me for long as I pronked up walls with Homer on my back. Was I pronking better that day? It felt like it.

I landed on top of a wall and bounced back down to hear a surprised noise. A human that had been sleeping under some of the junk in the alleyway and sat up, looking at me oddly, which is when I noticed my trenchcoat was out of place from the jump and was exposing good bits of my pink and furry legs.

"Are you a spirit?" he asked as he sat up and looked at me with huge eyes, surprised, but not running. "Did you come to save me, or take me away?"

I put a hoof to my chin. "I hadn't really planned on either of those... Want a cupcake?" I offered my last cupcake, which I had let Homer eat half of. He took it anyway and said little funny things as he devoured the cupcake. I moved to slip past him on my way and he put a hand on my shoulder.

"Wait, please." I looked at him quizzically. "Please, won't you stay a little while?"

I smiled gently. Aw, he just wanted company. I can't blame a fella for that. I jumped at him and wrapped him up in a big hug. "Aren't you the sweetest thing! But Pinkie has somewhere to be and I really should be going. Maybe we'll meet again, alright?"

As we left, Homer whispered softly. "He made me nervous. I was going to bite him."

I shook a hoof at him. "No! Don't bite humans. We're not animals, and that's not nice at all.

Homer shrunk a little. "You gave him the last treat..."

I gently pet over his head. "We'll get more, promise, but that's no reason to be rude."

With hoofs stuffed away into my pockets, I guided Homer back into a crowded street and resumed pressing our way through the city. The roadsigns were all written in that funny little intricate way that they did around here, but I could understand it. I was going the right way! I saw a sign over a store. They purchased gold? I wandered up with a smile with ideas in my head.

I pushed open the door to reveal a tiny little store with a woman seated behind a counter. She looked up at me. "Hello, welcome. What can I do for you today?" She was speaking the other language! I thought they all talked, um, Japanese. What was that other one? Nevermind.

"Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie, this is Homer."

Her eyes fell to Homer. "He is very well behaved. Most dogs would have wandered around and got into things. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Pie. Did you just arrive?"

I was amazed. "How could you tell? Oh, uh, you buy gold, right? I have gold and need money they use around here."

She waved me closer. "Show it to me. I warn, a lot of people think they have gold, but it's just plated or fake."

I walked up to her and she looked down at my concealed hooves. She could hear the clip-clop. Oh, I had to give her the coins, and I didn't have the gloves at all. "So, uh, this is going to look a little odd, but I assure you it's entirely normal!" She raised a fine brow at me. Ah well, best to just get it over with and book it if I had to. I pulled out a hoof with bits and set it on the counter.

She flinched at seeing my hoof. "This is some kind of prank? You ask a lot of an old lady." She snatched up one of the bits and tossed it up and down a few times. "Good weight." She bit into it, then turned it around, looking it over. "I don't recognize the pattern at all, but it's gold. Are you here to sell, or just to play a joke on me with your gloves?"

Oh! She thought my hooves were the gloves. Well, no reason to correct that, I supposed. "I'd really like to sell those. Um, I kinda lost a bet with some friends, so I have to keep these on." True enough, at least the part about having to keep my hooves. "The joke's not for you, promise. How much is each worth?"

"I have to weigh what you have, but we're offering a special, three thousand yen per gram." She took the bits and put them on a scale. "Is this all that you have?"

I started fishing out the rest of it. The bits wouldn't help me at all! She accepted them and added it to the pile on the scale before whistling softly. "You have quite a bit. Would you prefer a prepaid card, or cash?"

"Cash please." I suddenly remembered something and smiled. "Just three thousand? I'm pretty sure I saw a place offering a little more than that just down the road."

She stiffened. "Did you now? Well..." She narrowed her eyes at me, and I looked back at her. Just stay calm, let her crack. "Fine, three thousand and four hundred. Highest I can go."

I could probably have argued better if I had any idea how good of a deal that was, so I just took it. She pulled out a big wad of bills that she promised was real money and gave them to me by counting it out. Six hundred and eighty thousand yen. That sounded like a lot! At the least I could get a ride through the city. I thanked her with a big smile that she couldn't really see behind the mask.

"This better not be stolen," she replied. She didn't really sound that worried. I think she was sullen about my haggling with her. Ah well! That's the name of the game. I slipped from the store with Homer and gently pat him on the head. "Things are looking up!"

Homer glanced back at the store then back at me. "The paper does something?"

I decided to leave my hooves out of my pocket. Them being gloves seemed as good an excuse as any, and hardly anypony seemed to pay attention anyway. "I'll show you. I saw some people using it." We walked back to the nearest major street and I waved down a taxi, only for it to pass on by. The second one was nicer and its door opened without pulling to the curb. We rushed out and hopped in. "Hey! Can you get us to this address?" I gave him the paper I wrote on, and he passed it back.

"Tourist? We'll get you there, no problem! Dog is trained? Make mess, cost extra." He was speaking Emma's language, but disjointedly. Maybe it wasn't his first language?

I gently pulled Homer close. "He'll be good." I replied in Japanese, and the taxi man relaxed.

That was assurance enough, and he began driving through the city. He looked at us through the little mirror. "So, do you mind if I ask about your costume?"

I waved a hoof at him. "This old thing? I've had it around for as long as I can remember. Like it?"

"Oh yes, it's made very well. Most hooves are just cartoonish, but yours looks realistic. It must have been expensive."

I nodded a little. "I have to take good care of it every day, but it's worth it. Thank you."

He was a nice enough guy, and once he heard I was a tourist, he started pointing out interesting places to check out later. I could see a funny thing in the front, counting upwards to something. "What is that?"

He looked confused a moment. "That's the fare meter. It says how much you have to pay. You do have money, right?"

"Yep!" I pulled out the wad I'd just earned and his eyes widened.

"You shouldn't just wave that much money around. Most people are good, it's still a bad idea." Still, I had money, and that was proven, so he didn't ask again until we pulled up in front of an apartment building and came to a smooth halt. "Here we are." He hiked a thumb at the meter, which showed around six thousand yen. I quickly counted it up and offered it to him and he gave back change in some coins. How did I go from coins to paper and back to coins again? This world was funny. I hopped out and Homer was just a step behind me. "Good luck." And off he went, zooming off.

I gently pet Homer around the ears. "We made it! Emma should be here, and her friend. No more running around for us, unless we want to." We walked up to the gate of the place, but it was locked. There was a funny panel beside it that had a lot of names on it and I quickly found the name of Emma's friend, Aiko. There was a number beside her name, and a bunch of numbers on the panel. It was a puzzle, and I think I had the answer. I pushed the numbers in order... and nothing happened.

"Aw shoot..." There was a handle, so I picked it up and shook it around a bit. It was attached to the panel by a thick cord. Leaning in to examine the panel more closely, my ears jumped at a sound. It was coming from the handle. It was buzzing? I tried putting it back where it came from, and the buzzing stopped. I picked up the handle again and the buzzing returned. Hmm... I pushed the numbers again. With each press, it made a loud noise, then a new softer sound.

"Hello?" The handle was talking to me! And it sounded like a nice girl's voice.

"Hi! This is Pinkie Pie. Is Emma or Aiko there?" I shouted at the handle, hoping it worked both ways.

"Miss Pinkie? One moment." I heard an excited voice in the background. Was that Emma?

"Pinkie! Is that really you?" It was Emma!

"I made it!" I shouted into the handle. "I told you I could do it. I even got a friend along the way."

Things were looking up!

Author's Notes:

Usage of google allowed me to get the price of gold per gram, fudge it for such a store, and get taxi fares. This is as realistic as can be, typos excluded.