//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Ponies through the Portal // by Zoom Star //------------------------------// I awoke to the sound of birds chirpping just outside the small window nearby. I yawned loudly, jumped off my small bed, and walked over to the window. The sun had risen fairly high, and there was a bird on a small perch just outside the window chirping loudly. I walked back and studied the room as the daylight poured in. The room was small, with just a single bed in the centre and a few bit and bobs around it. There was a small bedside table with an intricate flashy lamp standing atop it, which I promptly switched off when I noticed it was still on. I smiled at the beautiful light from the window, then I made my way to the nearby mirror. The mirror showed an average sized pony, dashing dark blue coat, black mane and tail, with white streaks through the middle, and dazzling wings which were spread up above the pony's head. That pony was me. Zoom Star. And I knew exactly what today would bring. Adventure, excitement. And more importantly, a place to rest my head that wasn't inside a library. I exited the room, seeing stacks upon stacks of books. I realised how much time I had, so I began to look through the various titles on the shelves. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't read any this morning, seeing as I was going to take Ginger Snap and Ginger Bread house shopping. Perhaps I could borrow one for late night reading. But which one to pick? So many to choose from, and yet- BAM! I crashed, a head-on collision. When I came to, I was looking up into the worried face of a purple unicorn. "Wha... WHat happened?" I asked, still in a slight daze as I pulled myself up. "You were so focused on the books that you crashed into me!" said Twilight, giggling a little. I smiled, my vision becoming less blurry. "I'm sorry Twilight. I'll help you clean this mess up" I said, picking up books and putting them back on the shelf. Twilight smiled, then took a few books to get back to her reading. I shook myself off, then said my farewells, placed my saddle-bag over my back (lent to me for the day by Twilight), and left the Library. The town had already began to spring into life. The market stalls were up again, the foals were prancing around the fountain, splashing each other in the water. I decided to look through my bags, and found a small pouch inside. In the pouch as a small sum of coins, which were clearly not there when I left the Library. Oh well, I needed it anyway. My first stops were to Fluttershy's place to find Ginger Bread, and then Sugarcube Corner for Ginger Snap. I flapped my wings twice to get myself in the air, and began to fly towards Fluttershy's. The wind flew past me, and I felt a rush as I flew towards the small cottage. It was an amazing feeling, and I just didn't want to stop. But all good things must come to an end, so I landed with a thud in front of Fluttershy's door. I walked briskly upto the door and knocked three times. After a few moments wait, the door swang open, and Ginger Bread was smiling at me. "Hi Zoom Star! I was wondering when you'd show up!" she said. I explained my idea of house shopping, and she agreed. We began our walk back to the village, saying goodbye to Fluttershy as we left. The walk to Sugarcube Corner was brief. I couldn't seem to figure out a conversation starter, so we just walked in silence. We said hello occasionally to passers by, and there may have been a few times where I pointed out something that was worth noting. But it was a mostly peaceful quiet walk. We walked in, looking around at the cakes and treats stacked all over the shelves. Ginger Bread rang the bell on the counter, and Pinkie Pie bounced down the stairs to the counter. As soon as she saw us, her face erupted into a massive smile. "Hey guys! Ginger Snap was so excited for today!" she said, enthusiasticly bouncing on the spot. Shortly after, GInger Snap followed Pinkie down to the shop, greeting us in a similar manner. As we conversed the plan of house-shopping to her, she nodded in agreement and we set off. As we reached the door, we waved goodbye to Pinkie, who waved back, then dissapeared into the kitchen. We began looking around, trying to see if we could see any 'For Sale' signs in the corner of our eyes. We began looking around the outskirts of town, seeing if any houses were available. After hunting and hunting, we found a small cottage near the river that was for sale. The cottage was nice, and had all the necessary rooms for living, but the cost was very expensive. We couldn't afford it. We continued our search for another hour, with no luck. We sat down at the fountain, feeling defeated, when a familiar face appeared. Applebloom was walking by, and noticed us sitting down, seeing our depressed expressions. She walked over to them, a smile on her face. "Well, howdy ponies! Whats got you so down?" she asked. We explained our house shopping dilema. She just jumped into the air with a big smile on her face. "I know the perfect place!" she said, loud enough to make us all jump. "Come on, follow me!" and she sprinted off. We looked each other quickly, then ran after her, starting a wild goose chase. It felt like an eternity of chasing, turning every corner imaginable. Right, left, left, right, left, right, right. It was a maze, one that played on the weak minded. Eventually I decided to focus on keeping up with Applebloom, rather than where we were going. After ages on end, we finally stopped, in front of a very large house. It was a tower of some sorts, two stories high. The walls were built with stone bricks, making it seem more and more like a tower that had fallen off a castle. "Come on! You need to see inside!" shouted Applebloom, rushing through the door. As we approached, we smelled the warm waft of strawberries and cream from the open window. I thought to myself, how is this a house? We followed the small pony into the tower, and my question was immediately answered. The bottom floor was bright and colourful, the wall covered in bright yellow wallpaper. The living room took up most of this floor, with two sofas in the centre of the room. The stairs leading to the top floor were at the back of the room. Hanging from the roof just above the sofas was a glamourous chandelier. The floor was warm from the firelight of the firplace in front of the two sofas, warming the entire room. Against all the walls were a number of old dusty books and tomes. They weren't sorted like the library though. They were placed under themes and topics, such as Adventure, containing the entire series of Daring Doo, Romance, with various novels with glamourous ponies on the front cover, and much much more. I was stumped... amazed even. It was perfect, no, better than perfect. I was so entranced I hadn't noticed that the girls had went up the stairs already. I was brought back down from dreamland when I heard a loud squeal from upstairs. I ran upstairs, and in front of me was three doors, each of them open. Behind each door was an identical bedroom, one with blue wallpaper, one with purple, and the third had red. Ginger Snap was bouncing up and down on the bed in the purple room, and Ginger Bread was rolling around on the floor in the red room, a giant smile on her face. It was obvious who made the squeal. Applebloom was standing in the centre of the three rooms, a bigger smile than GInger Bread's on her small face. "Applebloom," I said as she turned to face me. "I think you've found us a miracle. Thank you so much!" She just smiled, her face practically saying 'Your welcome'. I gave Applebloom a small pouch of gold to take to the real-estate agent, and she placed it in her saddle-bag and dashed off. I smiled as GInger Snap and Ginger Bread left their rooms, grinning from ear-to-ear. We stood there smiling at each other for some time, until Ginger Snap spoke. "This is going to be so fun!" she said, practically jumping. We nodded excitedly in agreement. We decided to try some activities in town, so we left the tower and began walking back to the centre of town, all of the market stalls bustling even more. We began our stroll through the market, taking note of what each one was selling. I saw the Library, wondering what Twilight and Spike were currently up to in there. As we approached the edge of town, I saw Applejack running around an obstacle course. I pointed it out to the others, and they watched in awe as she jumped hurdles and performed tricks. As she soared over another jump, It reminded me of flying. Flying. Wings! I wanted to practice flying today. I told the others, and they said they would gladly watch me. I told them they didn't have to if they didn't want to, but they insisted. I smiled as I stretched my wings out and jumped into the air. Flapping my wings, I began soaring in circles around the two ponies below. They smiled, watching me go round and round. After I got used to my wings, I span around in a circle, making sure not to clip my wings back in. It was tough, and I began to tumble back to the ground. Just before I crashed, I snapped my wings out, backflipping before I could hit the ground. After hearing the cheers from below, I regained my normal flight pattern. I looked out of the corner of my down below and saw a lot more than two ponies. A lot of ponies were now cheering, clapping and making as much noise as possible. I smiled, soaring down a bit, then snapping my wings up and pushing down, causing me to do a front flip. I misjudged the outcome, however, and began flying sideways. I used this to my advantage, spinning around in a barrel roll and skidding, speeding off into the sky. A tumultuous applause followed this. It felt good. I floated down to the ground, and saw that most of Ponyville was now standing before me cheering me on. I could see Twilight, with an excited Spike on her back, next to her I could see Rainbow was so happy, smiling from ear-to-ear. I decided to finish with the finale. I began running around the larg clump of people, collecting as much speed as I could. The group saw what I was doing, and began forming more of a circle. I smiled, running as fast as I could. My feet were burning from the immense speed, hitting the gravel repeatedly. When I got enough speed, I jumped straight up into the air. The feeling was amazing, the wind flying past me as my speed rose faster and faster. I climbed higher and higher, soaring past the clouds, and out of the sight of the ponies below. I continued to climb, my wings working as hard as they could. The cold air began fighting back now, and I could feel my body ache, wanting me to stop. I slowed to a halt, leaving my wings at a casual flutter as I hovered, amongst a starry night. The stars seemed to wink at me, as if telling me it would be okay. I smiled, winking back. I looked back down, seeing nothing but the clouds in the sky. Then, my body seemed to think for itself, as if something inside me just wanted to go back down. And before I knew it I was soaring downwards, speed and gravity entwining as my body began to heat up. I could feel the heat surround me, as if I was on fire. But the cold air was gone, changing immediately into searing heat. As I burst through the clouds, my eyes seemed to close on me, and I drifted into a small sleep. When I awoke, I saw many blurry faces in front of me. I blinked a couple of times, shaking my head to get rid of the diziness. When I regained my clear vision, there were many worried faces in front of me. I looked over my body, seeing no change. I looked at them quizzically, then simply said, "I'm fine." Immediately, the faces went from worried to amazed. The cheers were deafening as everyone lifted me up, clapping and whistling. I looked at them as though they were completely mad. As they lifted me back down, Ginger Snap and Ginger Bread walked over to me, their mouths agape. "What is all this? What did I do?" I asked. Ginger Bread spoke first. "You dissapeared through the clouds, and we stared waiting for you to come back. We had almost given up and began walking home, when a loud noise like a crack mixed in with a pop came from above!" she imitated a wacked up sound of a lightning bolt and a bottle opening mixed into a single note. "And then, a massive shooting star burst through the cloud, and it landed with an almighty BOOM!" shouted Ginger Snap. "And then you emerged from the wreckage. You were the shooting st-- You have a cutie mark!" The sudden change in topic took me by surprise. I followed her gaze to the mark on my flank. There, in all its glory, was a glistening mark on my flank. I saw what seemed like a shooting star, bright yellow in color. The cutie mark was shining brightly, the sun's light reflecting of the shiny surface. After having a thorough look at the mark, I looked back up at Ginger Snap and Ginger Bread, and returned their smiles excitedly. As we ventured around town, we heard many ponies whispering and murmuring. They kept smiling at us, pointing at my flank a few times. Some ponies even said hello to me, which was unexpected. We simply replied with a hello back, and the pony in question normally ran back to their friend to whisper and talk about there small conversation they just had. My mind was off in the distant blue summer sky, when a blue blur zoomed past us. I quickly lookd in the direction it went, and saw a familiar group of girls, Scootaloo on her scooter, with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle in the small tray it was dragging along. Scootaloo saw us as she went past, taking one of her hooves off the handlebar to wave. Unfortunately, the scooter began to swerve, and Scootaloo lost control. The three fillies dissapeared around the corner, the distant screams snapping the bitter silence. WIthout a moments hesitation, Ginger Snap and Ginger Bread bolted towards the place they had dissapeared. I followed suit, but ran out of breath from the exhaustion of the flight show I had just performed. I stood, breathing heavily as I watched the two of them running after the out of control scooter. As I watched, I was amazed when Ginger Bread flew up into the air, and hovering behind Ginger Snap. Ginger Snap leapt into the air and did a backflip, stretching her back legs upwards, allowing GInger Bread to grab them, holding her upside down. Then, they soared towards the Crusaders as they veered all over the place. They got closer and closer, GInger Snap reaching her front hooves out and Ginger Bread getting her as close as possible, lowering and speeding up to keep up with the crazy blue scooter. In a single moment, it was all over. Ginger Snap managed to hoist all three girls off the scooter as it plummeted into and abandoned stall. Ginger Bread slowly let them all down to the ground, where she and Ginger Snap were met with a massive applause. The three fillies, now smiling up at their rescuers, hugged them as thanks for saving them. They rescued the scooter out of the broken stall, and gave it back to Scootaloo. She smiled, saying "Thank you!" before running off to get it fixed. Once again the crowds erupted into applause, and Ginger Bread and Ginger Snap barely escaped them, running over to me as I stood there panting. We stood there smiling at each other, and that is when I noticed the marks on their flanks, shining brightly. I pointed to them, excited as they were as they turned to admire their newly decorated flanks. They looked at each other, smiled from ear-to-ear, and showed each other their cutie mark. Ginger Snap had a small imprint of a ninja star, a deep black color. Just like mine, it glistened in the sun's rays as they hit the mark. Ginger Bread's cutie mark was a pair of deep brown nunchuks, which obviously meant that they were being acknowledged for their acrobatic, ninja like talents. After saying hello to a few more ponies, and shaking peoples hands, we went back to our new home, the tower. Ginger Snap and Ginger Bread were exhausted from the rescue mission, and went to bed early, so I picked up a book of the shelf and began to read. I usually dont look at covers, because it brings about too much judgement on my part. I simply opened to the first page, and began reading. It was a delightful read, and I would mak sure I found the title before I put it down. I read as I sat down on the couch in front of the fireplace, the warm embers flicking as the heat slowly engulfed my body. It wasn't long, therefore, that I had fell asleep, the book covered over my head as I dozed off.