//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: The Journals of Magical Rocket: Remastered // by aricaitlyn //------------------------------// If you think running on two legs is hard, you should really consider doubling up. By that, I mean using four legs, like a pony. You've got to figure out how to divide your weight as evenly as possible, or you’re doomed to fall down over and over again. Relearning how to walk was one thing, but running was another. Needless to say, I was getting pretty exhausted. My sky-high pegasus friends sure were lucky, though. Gamer Strike and Viney Art blasted through the sky gracefully. I focused on Viney Art, the faster of the two, as she soared through the sky, leaving what looked like graphite pencil streaks. I heard a clap of thunder in the distance, stopping in my tracks and heading back towards the bakery. Not even a minute later, rain began to fall. Viney and Gamer swooped down behind me, their fun having been suddenly dashed by the rapid weather change. I trotted to the door and opened it for them, their heads hanging low as if this was the worst inconvenience they’d ever experienced. “That was sudden,” Gamer Strike sighed. “And I had just caught up to you, too!” Viney Art scoffed. “In your dreams, dude. You’ll never get there.” He rolled his eyes as she laughed. I couldn’t help but be entertained by their friendly rivalry. Yet the weather was still on my mind. “What do you think caused that?” I asked. “The weather, I mean? Has it ever changed this suddenly before?” Gamer Strike shook his head, a look of confusion growing on his face. “Nah, it’s usually, like, it gets all cloudy and gray beforehand since the pegasus ponies have to plan all the storms. I didn’t see a single cloud in the sky earlier.” “And the rain sounds pretty heavy, too,” Viney noted, peering past the somehow still-intact curtains. “It could be like this for awhile.” “That sucks,” Gamer groaned. “I’m not really in the mood to fly home tonight in this weather.” “Me neither...but...” Viney’s eyes darted towards mine, a wicked grin suddenly growing on her face. I looked at her blankly. “Are you… trying to signal something to me here?” “Magical Rocket, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked devilishly. “We let Gamer Strike stay here for the evening?” That seemed like the obvious answer, but what did I know? “SLEEPOVER!” she announced, reaching for my hoof. “C’mon. High five.” I stifled a laugh and pressed my hoof to hers. “Sleepover,” I repeated, my enthusiasm barely matching hers just out of sheer confusion. Gamer scoffed loudly. “Are you two girls done?” “Huh?” we both asked. “Count me out for whatever girly spa stuff you’ve got all planned for tonight,” he continued. “Because I hate girly stuff.” Viney Art actually burst out laughing at that remark. “Oh, Gamer Strike, I highly doubt that.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Remember when we were fillies and we had those little human dolls and y-” Gamer Strike groaned. “We were fillies. Don’t hold that over my head like that. Can’t a man change?” “What happened?” I asked. “Wait, did you say high-five?” Viney smirked. “A man can change, but you sure haven’t.” Gamer only growled at that remark, causing Viney to let up. “You’re right, man, I’m sorry,” she responded. “I will leave you out of whatever fun we have, per your request. But you will have a sad and lonely evening without us.” “As it should be,” Gamer said. The night flew by as Viney Art and I did all kinds of traditional sleepover festivities. We did face masks, some makeup, and even baked two batches of brownies. Meanwhile, poor Gamer had bored himself to sleep, blissfully unaware of the fact that his eyelids now had glitter on them. Viney Art passed out on the floor shortly after, probably coming down from her sugar high. While she slept, she kicked her hind legs out like she was running. Gamer Strike also snored, each exhale growing louder than the last.  I didn’t want to sleep on the cold floor, so I trotted upstairs, where there thankfully was a couch. It wasn’t ideal, but it was an improvement. While it took forever to get to sleep, I knew I had made the right decision. 7 am struck after a difficult night’s sleep. The storm had let up, and the others were presumably still asleep, so I decided to trot downstairs to make them a nice breakfast. They’d wake up to something delicious. Now, if I could only figure out cooking magic.. I heard Viney Art shuffling awake, startling me as I tried to grab a frying pan with my magic. The pan clattered to the floor, further making me wince. That was strange. I hadn’t broken my concentration, yet the spell stopped suddenly like I had. “Good morning?” I asked awkwardly, picking up the handle of the pan with my teeth instead. Yuck. The taste of rust immediately hit my throat. She looked up at me plainly, then slunk back into the floor, presumably to go back to sleep. “Wake me up when it’s food.” I sighed, beginning to scavenge the kitchen for ingredients to make something, anything. I wasn’t quite sure what was left over after we baked last night, and my attempts to find ingredients came up short. I was content with just eating fresh fruit from the market, but I wasn’t sure if the others were. Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream from somewhere else in the bakery stopped my train of thought. It was the kind of scream that could shatter glass. I heard Viney Art immediately wake up, whispering for Gamer Strike to wake up, too. Following the sound led us to the basement. We were so confused - who else was even staying here besides us? A chill ran down my spine as we made it further down into the dark basement. The culprit was none other than Snoodle Guy, who sat in the dark, shaking. "Snoodle Guy, are you alr-" I looked at him and screamed. "Y-you're an earth pony!" "I know!" he screamed back. Then he pointed to my forehead, screamed once more, and began running upstairs in a hurry.  I was even more confused. What could he possibly be gesturing at? We followed him back upstairs, where I faced him and asked him to tell me what was wrong. “Horn… not there anymore,” he finally said, his body still shaking. “Yours… too.” I blinked, not really processing what he said. “My horn is gone?” I asked. Snoodle just nodded. “I was trying to do my usual spell to draw, and the concentration just broke! So I found a mirror and - “ “Wait, did you just say your concentration broke in the middle of a spell?!” I asked, beginning to panic. “That’s exactly what happened to me!!” “So what do you think explains this?” Viney Art suddenly cut in. “I mean, that’s pretty unusual, right?” “Of course it’s unusual!” I replied, maybe a bit too aggressively.  I had no basis of knowledge about pony anatomy, having never, well, experienced a life quite like this before. The closest thing that came to mind was some lesson from my biology class about how certain environmental changes can lead to trouble and mutations in the human body. But how applicable was that to a pony?!