//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: When Is a Door Not a Door? 
// Story: Echo and the Mango Curse 
// by Matthais Unidostres 
//------------------------------//

Echo turned a corner and stepped into the living room. She turned her head to look around the room, but then her head seemed to snap towards the low coffee table. Resting on the table was a large clear jar with a ripe mango inside.

A bit of drool dripped from Echo's mouth as it hung open as she stared at the mango with wide, hungry looking eyes. The bat pony quickly looked around the room, then turned to look behind her. Seeing that no one else was around, she smiled and trotted over to the table.

Echo sat down at the low table, still smiling eagerly at the jarred mango. She put her right forehoof to the lip of the jar, and then she wrapped her left foreleg around the jar. Echo pushed up on the edge of the lid with the tip of her right forehoof. She strained a bit, narrowing her eyes as she focused on prying off the lid. Inevitably, her hoof slipped out from beneath the lid, and she winced in pain and blew on it a few times before refocusing her attention on the jar. As she peered at it closely, she noticed that the lid was screwed on all the way.

Echo picked up the jar with her forehooves and scowled at it. Then she opened her mouth wide and put the top of the jar into her mouth, biting on the lid and trying to twist it off with her fangs. Echo flapped her wings and took flight, hovering in mid air as she spun and flipped while trying to unscrew the lid.

Suddenly, Echo's forehooves lost their grip on the jar, and it popped out of her mouth. Echo franticly scrambled to get a hold of the jar again, fumbling it with her forehooves until she finally had it back between her hooves.

Echo breathed a sigh of relief as she softly landed back on the floor and put the jar back on the table. She looked longingly at the mango in the jar for a moment, only for a sudden realization to strike her out of nowhere.

Echo averted her eyes from the jar, turning her body slightly away from it. Then, with a look of childlike innocence, she extended her wings suddenly, and her left wing knocked the jar off the table.

Echo smiled gleefully and turned to look, only for her excitement to fizzle when she saw that the jar was still in one piece, with the mango still inside.

Echo tilted her head in confusion as she approached the jar. She tapped it a few times with her right forehoof, then she smirked at it before picking it up with her mouth and heading into the kitchen.

Echo placed the jar on the edge of the kitchen counter, and rested her right forehoof next to it. She looked around nonchalantly, as if she had forgotten the jar was there. Then, she moved her forehoof so it nudged the jar and sent it falling down to the kitchen floor.

Once again, Echo smiled gleefully and turned to look, and also once again, her excitement fizzled when she saw that the jar still hadn't broken. 

The bat pony huffed and swiftly picked up the jar. She then flew upwards until her head touched the ceiling, and dropped the jar. Once again, the jar didn't break when it hit the floor.

Echo scowled at the jar and landed in front of it. She then raised her right forehoof and began stomping on it. Then she reared up on her hind legs and brought both forehooves down hard onto the jar. When she did this, the jar rolled right out from under her forehooves, causing her to fall forward and faceplant hard.

Now utterly furious, Echo jumped back up to her hooves and stomped over to where the jar had stopped rolling. She then turned around and bucked the jar with all her might. This sent the jar flying into a wall and it ricocheted off of it and struck Echo right in the back of the head. Echo's eyes went crooked as she took one wobbly step forward before loosing consciousness and falling down face flat.

When Echo regained consciousness, the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the jarred mango resting on its side about three inches from her face. Echo immediately snarled at it and immediately stood up and galloped out of the kitchen. She soon returned, hovering in mid-air while holding a 30 pound weight in her forelegs.

Echo's teeth were clenched and she was flapping her wings as hard as she could while focusing on holding up the heavy weight. Soon, she was right above the jar, and she grunted with exertion as she lifted the weight over her head. Then, she heaved the weight downward right onto the jar.

At the sound of the shattering of glass, Echo's ears and smile perked up. She even laughed out loud as she touched her read hooves on the floor and danced happily a bit. However, Echo's celebrating was brought to an immediate halt when she finally noticed the results of her handiwork. The 30 pound weight had shattered the jar, but had also smashed the mango and smooshed bits of broken glass into the remains.

Echo fell back down to all four hooves,, a dejected look on her face. Then she groaned loudly as she turned to the kitchen counter and banged her forehead against it once before simply resting it there as she stood there in deep thought.