It was an older house, nestled in between two other buildings that stood tall and proud in the middle of Manehatten. It had taken a long time to afford it, but with Pinkie getting that job at the bakery in the middle of the city, there was no way she was going to complain. It provided her easy access to work with just a walk of a mile, and it was super cute besides! It looked a little out of place, and there had been plans to try and tear it down to replace it with something newer, but Pinkie Pie thought it had a lot of character, and there wasn’t any complaint coming from her about it! So, she had taken the key to the place from the real estate agent, bounced up to the front door, and opened it for the first time all on her own!
It opened with the same creak that she remembered when she had come to look at it the first time. She’d brought Applejack to give her a rundown on what would need to be repaired when she finally moved in, and although it seemed like a lot, she was more than happy to make the effort! A big job in a big city making big orders of big cupcakes that would give big smiles to ponies all around the city? She was all for it!
She pranced on inside the house, took a deep whiff of the air—then burst into a coughing fit. There was dust everywhere! That was the first thing that would need to go! The house hadn’t been cleaned for years! Decades maybe! She’d be putting a lot of bugs out of a home, but they could find someplace else! They were small enough that buying a home wasn’t a necessity!
 
She slapped her first suitcase down on the floor, clicked it open with a flourish, then whipped a full-sized broom out of it. She gave it a quick spin in a hoof, kicked her left rear hoof out behind her and posed, then began sweeping.
She opened up the windows as she raced through the house, one room at a time. Dust billowed out of the windows and off into the street, accompanied by the balls of cobweb, piles of lint, and the occasional leaf that somehow sneaked inside. When she was done, she wiped sweat off her brow, fixed the cowlick that always hung in front of her face, then brought her suitcase upstairs to unpack. She pulled the sheets off the furniture that had been left behind by the previous owner, looking over the old but quaint furniture.
A lot of it looked out of place to her. She was used to fun-looking stuff. With springs that bounced and cushions that tried to devour you, but this stuff was old and looked like it woke up on the wrong side of the bed. If she had to put an emotion to furniture; this furniture was grumpy. The buttons on the back even looked like they were scowling.
“Cheer up, grumpy old thing!” she said, trying to squish the cushion into a smile. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough spare cushion to squish, and it just made it look like it was furrowing its brow. “Gee, tough crowd.”
She tossed her suitcase onto the bed, leaping on after it, then bounced, making the thing creak ominously. She flopped down to test it for sleeping, tossing and turning on the huge four-poster thing.
“Hmmm… three out of five stars. Needs more bounce, blanket, and maybe some patterns on these gloomy curtains. Who puts curtains on a bed, anyway?”
 
She bounded out of the room and examined the rest of the house. Looking inside nooks and crannies, testing out cupboards and shelves. Looking for whatever else had been left behind in the building.
It was during this search she found the pullstring dangling from the ceiling. The realtor had shown it to her before, explaining that the string was used to access the attic. It would pull down into a set of stairs she could take to get up there.
It hadn’t meant much to her at the time, but Pinkie grinned a wide grin and yanked. The stairs descended from the ceiling, and she giggled and pranced in a small circle.
“Ohhh, that’s so much fun! I need to have friends over so I can show them this! This is amazing!” Pinkie crowed.
She hopped up the steps, bounding up them on all fours, shaking dust from the ceiling, until she entered the attic. It wasn’t too dark. The sun was still setting, and it shone enough light into the attic window to let her see what was all around. She saw boxes, old furniture, and more boxes.
Her mane frizzed up in excitement as she clapped her hooves together. “There’s going to be so much cool stuff in here! It’s like a treasure trove of old memories and toys!”
She walked through them, passing by unlabeled box after box, until she came to some that were piled high, covering what looked like a bright red chest underneath them.
“Ooooo, what’s this thing?” she said as she pulled the boxes off of it.
When it was revealed, she saw written on top of it, a name in bright silver letters, curved and whorled to look as fancy as possible: Provie.
“Provie? Is that a pony’s name? It’s an okay name, because it starts with a ‘P’, like Pinkie!”
 
Pinkie pulled on the lid. It didn’t open immediately, so she checked it for a latch she might have missed but couldn’t find one. Confused, she pushed the boxes surrounding it away, then circled it, thinking she might have been trying to open the wrong side. Much to her further confusion, there was still no latch, but the hinges were on the opposite side she had been trying to open, so she went back to the front.
She leaned down in front of it and peered at the crack on the lid. “Helloooooo? What’s in there that’s so secret, huh? Auntie Pinkie won’t scare you, I promise!” She rapped at the side of the chest. She put her ear to it, tapping along as she moved down the front of the chest.
It sounded like it was full of something, but when she went to pull at the top again, it still didn’t budge. She banged, poked, and prodded, but couldn’t get it to even move. She finally sat down next to it and huffed.
“Come ooooon! Please open? I can’t handle secrets very well!”  she pleaded. “I don’t wanna break you to get insiiiiide!” She knocked on the lid.
She was surprised when a knock came back from inside the chest!
Pinkie smiled wide. “Hello! My name’s Pinkie Pie, are you Provie? Is the chest named Provie? Are you inside the chest and named Provie? It’s not exactly obvious, and I don’t want to offend either one of you!”
A voice came from inside the chest. “Hello? Is somepony there? It’s been ever so lonely for so very long, yes it has.”
“Helloooooo! My name is Pinkie Pie! Have you lived here long? How do I get you out? Can you breathe in there? Are you Provie?”
 
There was a rattling sound from inside the chest. “I am Provie, yes I am. I do not need to breath, so it has been fine, yes it has. You can help me from this box by knocking twice on the lid, and saying: ‘Provie, come out, come out, please do!’ And I will jump right out of the box, yes I shall!”
Pinkie giggled and rolled off the top of the box. She knocked at the top twice, and leaned back, pretending to be solemn. “Provie, come out, come out, please do!” She giggled at the end and looked at the top expectantly.
“Ready or not, here I come! Yes indeed!” The top burst open, and a pony was flung up and out, flopping onto the side of the chest, it’s skinny limbs splayed all over.
Pinkie shrieked in surprise, but it quickly changed to laughter as she realized it was just a puppet. It had its hair in pigtails, with two little bows at the end of each one. It was wearing a simple black dress, and its limbs, while skinny, were segmented in places to allow movement. The puppet’s eyes could close, and one was halfway closed. Its mouth could move, and was gaping open where it had landed, its head hanging off the side of the chest.
“Hello there, Provie! That was quite a surprise! Like a welcoming party in a box!” Pinkie picked up the puppet from where it lay, holding her head up and looking her over. She appeared to be made of wood. “You’re not looking bad, Provie.”
The doll didn’t move, but spoke just the same. “Thank you, Pinkie Pie, very much. I was kept in that chest for just that purpose, yes indeed! To keep me clean and tidy no matter what may come, yes, of course!”
 
“That makes good sense! You wouldn’t want to get wet or messy, would you?”
“No, I would not, no indeed.”
“Well, we can’t leave you up here where things are messy and nasty. Let’s take you downstairs and you can help me unpack!”
“I would like that. Yes, I would!”
“Then come on, Provie! We’re gonna be roomies from here on out!”
Pinkie tossed Provie onto her back. The puppet landed and sprawled out across her back, bouncing and rattling as Pinkie hopped back down the stairs to the house proper.
“Oh! The house has changed! Yes, it has! I do not remember so much of it, no, I don’t!”
“Well, I don’t know much of it either, so we’ll get used to it together. Do you like baked goods?”
“I do not know. No, I don’t. I do not think I have ever eaten anything. I have not.”
“Ohhh, yeah! Cause you’re a puppet! Well, at least you might be able to smell ‘em! Let’s christen this house with a bit of cooking!”
Pinkie bounded downstairs to the kitchen, pulling open the box she had left there. It was filled with cooking utensils, pots, pans, and some ingredients. Not as many as she was used to using, but enough for now. She’d collect more as time went on and she figured out how the bakery here worked. She pulled out enough for her favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and began mixing.
Provie stayed on Pinkie’s back as she zipped around the kitchen. “You’re very good at this, Pinkie Pie! Yes, you are!”
Pinkie giggled. “I have been working at this my whole life! Ever since I got my cutie mark. That’s a story I should tell you sometime.”
“I should like that. Yes, I should. But tell me what you are making, if you please.”