//------------------------------// // Prologue: Welcome to the Party Islands! // Story: FlameStar and The Party Islands // by FlameStar05 //------------------------------// On a starry lit night, illuminated further by the moon's light, a group of little ponies gazed up into the beautiful sky. The skies were clear and the stars twinkled softly. Even Luna and Celestia would approve of such a breathtaking view. These ponies was actually FlameStar and his friends, Midnight Animes, Jayhawk Windrise, Lumber Earth, Lumine Amythest and FlameStar's pet Phoenix, Pyra. The friends enjoyed each other and loved the sight of the stars. Truly remarkable. Suddenly, out of the corner of the sky, a vortex appeared out of nowhere. Everyone stared at the mysterious celestial body swirling in the sky. "What is that?" FlameStar asked. "Some kind of... portal?" Lumine answered. Just before the ponies could ponder some more on what the vortex was, the vortex suddenly went in reverse and began to suck up the landscape and even a few ponies! "RUN!!" The ponies quickly galloped away from the fields and ran from the inhaling threat. Then a tree flew by and knocked Lumber off his hooves. "FlameStar! Help!" "Lumber!" FlameStar grabbed Lumber just in time and held onto him for dear life. Then Midnight flew across the air after he was hit by oncoming debris. Lumber was able to catch her and pull her in. Soon all the ponies and Pyra were hanging on as they couldn't outrun the vortex. FlameStar did everything his could to keep his friends safe. Then a large branch flew at FlameStar and knocked him off the ground, sending all the ponies into the sky and into the vortex! Then... it all goes black... "Hey... hey kid wake up..." ... "Wake up..." Zzzzzz..... "Oh come on... WAKE UP!!" FlameStar woke up from his daze. "Oh... what in Equestria? Where am i?" FlameStar asked... then he came face to face with a old looking pony. "You're in the Party Islands! The most fun-tastic, entertaining group of islands ever to be found in Equestria!!" "I can't stay here. I need to find my friends and get back to Ponyville. How do I leave these islands? "You can't leave by a boat; the waves will chastise you before you can make it a quarter of the way." "So how do I leave?" "It won't be easy, kid, but there's a group of gems you need to find. They're called..." Just before the pony could explain, a shadowy hand grabbed him and he disappeared in an instant! FlameStar was alone again and now he was lost... "Ok... this island is weird... I need to get out of here and find my friends." FlameStar had to stop and think for a moment... then he heard something out toward the trees nearby. "Somepony! Help!" FlameStar rushed over to the scene and saw a Phoenix in the trees surrounded by monsters. "Pyra?! I'll get you down!" Flaring up his power, FlameStar's cutie mark animated and FlameStar burned off the monsters surrounding the tree. Then FlameStar cut the branch and caught Pyra in his hooves. "You ok, Pyra?" "Thanks, FlameStar..." Pyra said. FlameStar was so alarmed, he dropped Pyra on the ground and backed up. "Y-you... Pyra! You just spoke..." "Well. Yeah. I always speak." Pyra said. "No! Like... You're speaking words and I can understand you... how are you doing that?!" "I don't know. All I remember was getting sucked into that vortex. Now we've been separated from our friends..." "Apparently we're somewhere called the Party Islands... I'm not sure how to leave this place... we can't just use a boat; we won't make it..." "Well... let's look around the island. Surely someone can help us off the land." After walking for a little while, FlameStar and Pyra come across a village of ponies. These ponies look like they were native to the islands. However, looking at the ponies, they didn't seem like ponies who could help them escape the island... "Hmm... This is a quaint village, but we still need to find our friends and escape the islands..." FlameStar said. "Let's try talking to some of the villagers... maybe someone has seen something." Pyra said. FlameStar went up to one of the villagers. "Excuse me. Have you seen this Unicorn, Pegasus and Earth Pony?" The villager shook his head. So FlameStar tried another one. And another one and another one. Eventually, FlameStar and Pyra gave up. None of the ponies knew where their friends were... The pair just decided to walk around for any clues they can find themselves. That was when they found a map of the Party Islands. Some points on different islands were marked. Seemed like there was something important in those spots. "Looks to me like these points might hold our ticket of here." "Hold on a moment. This looks like the town's map. We'd better copy this down." Pyra said. FlameStar took some paper nearby and used a spell to copy the map. "Ok. Now that we have a map. Let's get to exploring the islands!" "Yeah!" With that resolve, FlameStar and Pyra set off to explore the Party Islands. However, the two of them didn't notice dark figures watching them from the dim light...