Fifth Lesson- A Fair Holiday
"Woooaaaaaahhh!" The pink Pegasus cried out, trying to keep herself flying straight. "This is so freaky!"
Pulled along through the rainbow by an unseen force, Firefly was surrounded by strobing light and flashing colors. Momentarily disoriented, the pony found herself zooming along a multicolored tunnel of light, that seemed to go on forever. Finally, she saw a wall of white light ahead, that the surprised Pegasus found herself racing towards.
"Aieeeeeeee!" Firefly cried out, instinctively throwing her hooves up in front of her face. A flash of light quickly filled her vision... and the pink filly suddenly found herself tumbling face-first into the soft green grass.
"Wow, what a trip." Firefly mumbled, pulling herself up on her wobbly hooves. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna lose my lunch."
Her blurry vision slowly adjusting, Firefly saw an endless green meadow stretching out before her in every direction. The yellow sun shone down from a blue sky, and a gentle breeze blew through the filly's mane. It greatly resembled the place she had come from, but there was an oddly different quality to everything. Something that told her that she had journeyed to another world.
"Blimey, there you are." North Star exclaimed, as Firefly spun around to face her. "I didn't know if you'd even follow us through the rainbow."
"Yeahit'ssocoolyou'rehere!" Whizzer exclaimed, zipping around over their heads. "Welcometoearth,Firefly!"
"So this is what you wanted me ta see, huh? Seems like an interesting place." Firefly suddenly started to cough and gag. "Ack! What is up with this air?"
"That's pollution, I'm afraid. A side effect of their modern society." North Star replied. "Don't worry, you'll find that your lungs will adjust rather quickly."
"Yeahsowhatarewewaitingfor?" Whizzer asked excitedly, zipping away. "Let'sgohavealookaround!"
Looking off to her left, Firefly noticed several large barns and a silo nearby. "Huh, we must be on a human farm." Flapping her way over to the corral, she noticed several horses trotting around inside the fence.
"Woah, what's up with these guys?" The pink Pegasus asked, as she and one of the larger equines stared at each other. "Their eyes are on the sides of their heads, and how can they talk with those weird mouths and freaky shaped faces?"
"Those are earth horses, Firefly; as in earth, the planet." North Star answered. "They're not intelligent, and humans use them for beasts of burden."
"These things are our primordial ancestors? Yeesh, we look more like humans than we do these weirdoes." She sneered at one of the stallions. "Hey buddy, why the long face? Always wanted ta say that!"
"Firefly, stop picking on these primitives." North Star chided her. "If our forebears hadn't come over the rainbow bridge to our world long ago, you'd probably be in his position right now."
"Aww, ya don't be such a spoilsport." Firefly snorted. "Geez you two are no fun."
"Heywe'dbettergetouttaherebeforethefarmergetsback!" Whizzer panicked, seeing a red truck coming up the gravel trail from the nearby road. "Idon'twannaendupinahumanlabratory!"
Nodding, the three Pegasus took off, heading towards in the direction of the western sky.
...
As they soared over the endless checkerboard of farms and fields, Firefly couldn't help but notice how different everything looked. Oh she had seen humans visiting Fort Rainbow Dash, and vehicles in Bright Valley, so there wasn't much that was new to her. But the lack of talking ponies, of innate magic; the pink Pegasus could feel the stale deadness of the air around her.
"Say, shouldn't we worry about some human seeing us or something?" Firefly asked worriedly. "We really don't want ta get caught by them, ya know!"
"Oh, don't worry about that, my dear!" North Star reassured her. "A pony's inherit magic, makes us undetectable by any means over here. Unless we're seen directly by human eyes up close, of course."
"But ponies have been seen over here before, right?" Firefly asked skeptically. "I mean, they couldn't possibly avoid humans all the time."
"Blimey, where do you think all those myths an' legends about Pegasus an' unicorns came from in the first place?" North Star laughed. "Now come on, we want to show you something."
Whizzer and North Star dove towards a large open area, with colorful lights and sounds coming from it, There were many large, colorful machines whirling and spinning around, and a large white striped tent with humans going in and out of it, looks of joy and laughter on their faces.
"Is-is that a circus?" Firefly asked, staring down at the sight in awe. "Those humans look like they're having an awesome time!"
"Thehumanscallitacountyfair." Whizzer replied, zipping downs towards the fairgrounds. "Comonletsgoinforacloserlook!"
"Wait, is that really a good idea? " Firefly asked worriedly. "I mean, if we get close enough to somebody-"
"Don't worry about it, old girl!" North Star snorted. "Whizzer and I have been over here dozens of times! We're masters at staying out of sight!"
"Andiftheyseeus,welljustpretendtobefakeamatronicponiesforthefair!" Whizzer added.
"Okay then." Firefly nodded. "I'll follow you guys’ lead, then."
And so the three ponies set about having some fun. Waiting until the carnival barkers were on break, North Star knocked down the glass bottles at the ball toss game, while Whizzer deftly pitched horseshoes onto the poles, getting a perfect score. Firefly slammed her hoof down on the strength testing game so hard, she sent the weight flying straight to the top and knocked the bell clean off! Three angry carnival employees came running back, never knowing their games had been messed with by three pastel colored ponies. And the three visitors found other ways to have fun, as well.
"Look, mommy!" A young girl on the carousel called to her parent. "I'm riding on a real Pegasus!"
"That’s nice, dear!" The mother yelled back, looking at the pony her daughter was riding on. Though I've got to admit, those ponies do look very life like! She thought to herself.
As three children laughed and giggle on the backs of the only three Pegasus on the merry go round, no one bothered to question why three of the carousel ponies felt soft and real, rather than being carved of wood like the others. And no one questioned it when those same three ponies vanished before the next wave of children got on.
At the roller coaster, the operator ran a test on the cars to make sure they were running properly. As the coaster roared around the track, the operator swore he could hear the sounds of screaming and laughter coming from the cars, even though he didn't see anybody there.
"Wow, I never knew this world could be so much fun! I mean sure, we have amusement parks in ponyland, but hiding from the humans at the same time is sooo much fun!" Firefly giggled, as the three took a rest on top of a circus tent. "I dunno why more Pegasus don't come over the rainbow ta this awesome place."
"Earth humans are a mixed breed, luv. Not all of em' are like our friends in Manehatten, or the ones at this carnival." North Star warned. "It could be bad for ponies if this world found out we were real!"
"Aww, we know humans back home, and they're totally cool!" Firefly chuckled, waving a hoof dismissively. " I mean, sure, they act a little goofy sometimes and eat meat, but so do you Dream Valley ponies, right? How bad could the humans in this world possibly be?"
"Firefly, listen to me, Under no circumstances, must you ever allow these silly creatures to see you!" North Star's voice turned serious, as she turned to face the pony flying beside her. "These humans are capable of great evil, and who knows what they'd do if they found out about our kind. This is a matter of loyalty to your race, do you understand me?"
"But, but I -" She sighed. "All right, I understand. I swear I won't reveal myself to them."
"Heyletsnotworryaboutityoutwo!" Whizzer whinnied, pointing her hoof at the striped tent below them. "Iwannagoinandseethecircus!"
"You two go on ahead." Firefly sighed, looking up at now reddening sky. "I think I wanna stay out here, and watch the sunset."
The other two ponies nodded, and flew inside the back flap of the tent unnoticed. The remaining Pegasus leaned back, and stared up at a passing cloud.
Wow, I've never been this cautious before... guess it's being in a new world. Firefly thought to herself. Gosh, I wish I could show Twilight and the others this place, they'd love it! Closing her eyes, the pink filly frowned. And this is a nice break and all, but I’m still worried about that test the Princess Ponies are gonna put me through. How the heck are they gonna test my loyalty?
Opening her eyes again, Firefly’s gaze drifted over to the hot air balloon tied near the tent. It was then, that she noticed two human children climbing into the balloon's basket.
"C'mon Jerry! We shouldn't be in here!" The girl told him in a worried tone. "The balloon guy's gone home for the night!"
"Aw, chill out, Janet!" The boy complained, tugging at the ropes. "This is the last day of the fair, and I wanna go up! Or are ya scared?"
What do those two think they're doing? It was at that point, that Jerry pulled the last rope out, and the baloon rose into the sky. Oh no, those stupid kids!
"Yeah, were finally flying!" Jerry exclaimed, as several people in the fair below pointed yelled, and ran towards the still-rising balloon
"No, we can't control where the balloon’s going!" The girl panicked. "Somebody help us!"
Firefly instantly flew up towards the children, but then froze in place in the middle of the sky.
I can't let those kids see me! But I just can't let them fly away, either!" The Pink Pegasus’s mind raced. What am I gonna do?
For an instant, Firefly weighed the loyalty to keeping her race a secret in her mind, against leaving these two children to float away to their doom.
It only took an instant.
"Hang on you two, I'm coming!" Firefly flew up towards the balloon, grabbing on of the ropes in her teeth.
"Look, a flying pony!" Jerry exclaimed, pointing at the pink Pegasus.
"A flying, talking pony!" Janet yelled in amazement.
Pulling down on the basket with her teeth, Firefly brought the hot air balloon down just beyond the fairgrounds, tying the rope down and zipping away, just before several humans came running up.
"I don't think any of the adults saw me," Firefly wheezed out, catching her breath as she landed on the tent again. "well, at least the kids are going to be safe."
"Wellthat'smorethancanbesaidforyou!" Whizzer snorted angrily, zipping up beside the other Pegasus.
"Oh Firefly," North Star whinnied sadly, staring down at the commotion on the grown nearby. "What have you done?"