//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Right Where the Journey Begins // Story: My Little Pony: The Great Defenders of Friendship // by specialhoof2022 //------------------------------// The very next morning after I had breakfast, my parents walked to work, which gave me lots of time to go to the Crystal Brighthouse. I grabbed my backpack and emptied out my school supplies, I packed some snacks, drinks, a sleeping bag, a flashlight, sunscreen, bug spray, a pillow, an inflatable mattress, sunglasses, and my own cell phone. I feared my parents would be mad at me for sneaking away from home (my house), so I wrote them a note to let them I was going to be gone for a few days. I grabbed my stuff, left my house, and started my walk to the Crystal Brighthouse. It took a few minutes to get to the Brighthouse, it was located on a cliff in Maretime Bay. When I arrived, I could see how beautiful it was, the design is intended to present elements from Maretime Bay, Bridlewood, and Zephyr Heights. It was used to be a lighthouse for Sunny Starscout and her late father, Argyle Starshine. But since Sunny and her friends were trying to get magic back by puzzling the Unity Crystals, Sprout Cloverleaf wrecked the lighthouse down to stop them. After everypony was reunited in friendship, Sunny and her friends rebuilt the lighthouse into the Crystal Brighthouse. It was now Sunny's home, for Izzy Moonbow, Pipp Petals, and Zipp Storm. I'd knock the front door to let anypony inside know I've arrived. The door opened, revealing Sunny Starscout herself. Sunny was an earth pony with orange fur, primrose colored mane with rainbow streaks, and her cutie mark was a shooting star. Sunny can transform into an alicorn whenever she needed to. "Oh hello." Sunny said when she saw me. "Are you Special Hoof?" "Yes I am." I say. "And, you must be Sunny Starscout." "Of course. Princess Twilight told me you would come." She let me inside the Brighthouse. I met mote ponies inside: Sunny's friends, and more foals Twilight told me about. Let me tell you about Sunny's friends. Izzy Moonbow was a female energetic unicorn. Her fur was purple, her mane was blue, long and curly, and her cutie mark was a blue heart with a button in the center and three pins on the side. She loves to make arts and crafts, and she could even do some unicycling. Hitch Trailblazer was a male earth pony. His fur was yellow, has mane was turquoise, and his cutie mark was a shield with a blue horseshoe on it. He's the sheriff of Maretime Bay, he's good at keeping the town safe and sound. And, one thing about Hitch is that animals are attracted to him, he became friends with them. Pipp Petals was a beautiful pegasus. Her fur was pink, her mane was stylishly purple with a tiara, and her cutie mark was a musical note with a crown. She was the princess of Zephyr Heights. She was also the manager and stylist of her own salon, Mane Melody. Pipp was a very popular pony, she was a singer, dancer, and media influencer. Everypony loves her all around Equestria. Zephyrina Strom, or Zipp Storm, was a cool looking pegasus, and Pipp's elder sister. Her fur was white, her mane was pink, scarlet red, and light blue streaks, and her cutie mark was a red and blue lightning bolt with a crown on top. Zipp was also a princess of Zephyr Heightsm and the heir to the throne. She was a teacher of flying to teach the pegasi how to fly better. Zipp was also Maretime Bay's detective, she checked around town for anything suspicious and solve mysteries. "Hey kid. How are you doing today?" Hitch asked when he walked up towards me. "Really well." I answered to Hitch. "It's great to see you sheriff." Hitch's animal friends showed up right by his sides. A bunny came to me and jumped onto my head. "It looks like your animal friends like me." I chuckled as the bunny was tickling me. "Okay Hopps, off of him, please." Hitch told the bunny. Then, I met Izzy Moonbow next. "Hi little friend, my name's Izzy." she introduced herself to me. "Hi Izzy. I'm Special." I introduced myself to Izzy. "Do you mean you have a special name?" "No, I mean, Special is literally my first name." "On, okay." "What do you do?" "Well, I love to make art, and I also love to unicycle some things to make them new." "I can't wait to see what you would make." Then, Pipp Petals was next to meet, and I was excited to meet Equestria's pop star. "Princess Pipp Petals!" I say excitingly. "Hello Special Hoof. You look really cute." Pipp said to me. "I listened to some of your songs, sang them, and danced to them, too. I would definitely like make up my own songs someday, and even make music with some instruments." "That would be great, it's just gonna be a while for you to make a band to play songs." "Hey, can you sign my picture of you?" "Of course." Pipp said as took out her pen and signed her signature on my picture. And then, I last met Zipp Storm. "Hey, kid." Zipp said to me. "Hello, Princess Zephyrina Storm. It's great meet you too, and you really are cool looking." I say to Zipp. "Thank you, but please just call me Zipp." "Alright Zipp." "Are you able to fly like me?" "Yes I am. In fact, I got some cool flying stunts I'd like to show you later." Can't wait to see." After I met Sunny and her friends, I'd started meeting the foals. There were 23 foals around me. There were even some of the same foals I became friends with at school: Amber Lake, Joydan Gallop, Tangerine Twist, Cloudy Carla, Constellation, Daytime Darwin, Frosty Flavor, Bubble Burst, Violet Rosey, Astro Alex, and even Ellagant Glare was there too. There were also more foals I haven't met yet. Let's start with the earth ponies. The first one was a colt; he had purple fur, his mane and tail were blue, and his cutie mark was a scared face. His name was Fearful Moe. There was another colt, his fur was brownish white, his mane and tail were dark brown and copper streaks, and his cutie mark was a log with tools on top. His name was Carver Crafty. Next was another colt; his fur was copper colored, his mane was light brown, and his cutie mark was a brown feather. His name Bronze Feather. And last, but not least, the last earth pony was a colt as well. His fur was gray, his mane was white and black streaks like a zebra, and his cutie mark was a soccer ball. His name was Soccer Score. Now, let's go with the unicorns. The first unicorn was a filly; her fur was sage colored, her mane and tail were green and chartreuse streaks, and her cutie mark was a disgusting looking face, Her name was Disgusted Lex. The next one was a colt; he had white fur, his mane and tail were brownish orange, and his cutie mark was two horseshoes. His name was Horseshoe Henry. The next one was a filly; her fur was amethyst colored, her mane was magenta and honey colored streaks, and her cutie mark was a big pink ruby. Her name was Sharpy Gem. The last one was also a filly; her fur was ballet slipper pink, her mane was bubblegum pink and hot pink streaks, and her cutie mark was a roll a streamer. Her name was Streamer Smooth. Now, for the pegasi. One of them was a filly; her fur was in a shade of fuscia, her mane was raspberry color, rose color, and coral color in streaks, and her cutie mark was a bunch of fruit. Her name was Fruity Tooty. The other pegasus was a colt; his fur was raspberry colored, his mane and tail were marigold, and his cutie mark was a green stitch with two needles. His name was Needle Stitch. The next one was a filly; her fur was orchid colored, her mane and tail were orange, green, and purple like a rainbow, and her cutie mark was a palette with different colored paints. Her name was Color Carol. And the last pegasus was also a filly; her fur was orange, her mane was light yellow and baby blue streaks, and her cutie mark was roller blades. Her name was Rollette Skate. Princess Twilight was right, I wouldn't be going on this quest alone. Sunny and her friends were coming along to be my guide, and the foals were also called by Twilight to come along. "Hey, ponies." I said to the foals from school. "Special!" my friends shouted when they turned around and noticed me. "You're here, too!" Cloudy Carla replied. "Well, I can't be doing anything on my own." I say. "Do you think we can ever do something more heroic on our big quest?" Astro Alex asked me. "I'm sure whatever lies ahead, we'll face it together." I told everypony. "I'm gonna meet the other foals." As I was meeting the foals I'd haven't met, let me tell you about their talents and personalities. Fruity Tooty loves to make some food that only involves fruit like smoothies, juices, punches, and her favorite food, fruit salad. She was born on a farm full of fruit trees. She was working really hard to help her family with farm chores. Disgusted Lex was a little shallow, stuck up, and sarcastic. She has high expectations for everyone around her and sometimes isn't very patient. She always has the best intentions and refuses to lower her standards. Fearful Moe was a very sensitive earth pony, meaning he was super scaredy. He's afraid of almost everything. He knows that sometimes fear keeps him and everypony else safe. And sometimes, he knew there will be nothing to be afraid of. Horseshoe Henry loves to do some sketching. He always comes with his papers and pencils, even some colored pencils. Whenever he sees something very inspiring, he would take out his paper and sketch a picture. Sharpy Gem wants to be a jewelry maker when she grows up. She was really good at making something with jewels, crystals, gems, gemstones, and even with glitter. She could make earrings, bracelets, rings, necklaces, and even glass slippers. She was hoping she would get everypony to notice her work of art. Carver Crafty wants to be a wood carver when he grows up. He was really good at carving something out of wood. Whenever he sees anything inspiring, he would carve it down for more inspiration. And, he was also good at doing some D.I.Y. for anypony. Needle Stitch is clothes designer. He could write down some designs for any clothing, find the fabric material and color would fit the design, and start creating the clothes. He also designs costumes, dresses, and ball gowns for any occasion. He could make clothes for any other creature other than ponies. Streamer Smooth loves party decorations. Sometimes, when she was put in charge of decorating a party, she could tell what decorations would be the right ones for the party. She may be a super duper party pony when she grows up. Bronze Feather was feather collector. Whenever he sees a loose feather from a bird or even a pegasus, he would pick it up and add it to his collection. Also, Bronze can study birds around Maretime Bay and other places in Equestria. Color Carol wants to have her own paint shop and art school when she grows up. She loves to do all kinds of art like paintings, sculptures, clay pots, collages, montages, mosaics, origami, colorings, and many more. She would teach anypony how to do art the right way, that way everypony would enjoy some art. Rollette Skate loves roller skating, skateboarding, scootering, biking, and unicycling. She wants to have her own skate park full of ramps, handrails, ledges, and stairs. She liked to do it inside and/or outside, and day and/or night. And last off, Soccer Score loves to do sports. His favorite sport was soccer. He also plays acrobatics, gymnastics, archery, swimming, baseball, basketball, bowling, boxing, canoeing, dodgeball, fencing, football, frisbee, golf, hang gliding, hockey, skiing, kite surfing, parachuting, paragliding, polo, rafting, rock climbing, sandboarding, scuba diving, snowboarding, surfing, tennis, table tennis, track and field, trampolining, vollyball, weightlifting, wind surfing, and wrestling. He really works out a lot, he was really good at every sport. He would even be a sports coach someday. Now that you know about my new friends, let's get back to the story. After I met the foals, I started wondering about Ellagant Glare. She was in the kitchen, looking out the window. I walked up to her to check on her. "Hey, Ella." I said to Ella. "Oh, hi Special." she said back to me after she turned her head towards me, "Are you doing okay?" I asked. "Yes, yes I am." she answered. "I'm happy you're coming along on this trip." "Me too. Did you saw Princess Twilight last night?" "Oh yes. She appeared from the brightest star in the night sky. Then, she took me to a mysterious realm of stars and told me about a bad pony named Cozy Glow, who's about to conquer Equestria. She asked me to join you and the other foals to head to the Everfree Forest." "I'm sure everything will be okay." "Do you think I'm needed with my magic skills for this quest?" "110%." After a little while, Sunny Starscout appeared before me and the other foals to tell us some rules and advises about our trip. "Attention colts and fillies, may I have your attention?" said Sunny. "It's almost time to go on our quest to the Everfree Forest. What I want you all to know is that there may be some dangerous obstacles along the way, so we want you to stay close together so nopony gets hurt or lost." "It's gonna take like 3 to 5 days to get there, so we must be packed up and ready." Hitch said. "Princess Twilight is counting on us to keep Equestria safe and balanced with friendship and harmony. We can't let Cozy temp anypony to hate each other, otherwise our homeland will be a no show." said Zipp. Now that everypony was ready, we all grabbed our bags and suitcases, and we all left the Crystal Brighthouse. And, we were off on our very first quest to save Equestria.