Chapter 1 - The Note
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Sakura Blossom sat by a sushi dish that she prepared, eating every piece of it. A flash appeared in front of her. Then a letter flew down from the same spot. It said.....
Dear Sakura,
I'm Princess Bubbledust! I rule over the islands known as the Four Nations. We are having a celebration this week. I need a gardener for the royal parade float, that goes through all of the islands! I would like you to do it and we can have a float just for you if you want. You can bring your friends which are welcomed on the float. So?
Yours Truly,
Princess Bubbledust
She put the letter down and got up. She started to put her snack away. After that she grabbed a bag and flung it over her back. Sakura headed out the door, bringing the letter with her. She started to run to her friend, Scarlet, but then after a mile and a half, she began to walk.
Scarlet Jewel is a pegasus and a crystal pony. Sakura didn’t live far from the Crystal Empire. And another friend named, Pingwinka lived on the outskirts of Fillydelphia. She ran to her street and stopped by her house first to bring her along.
“Ping! Pingwinka! Look what showed up through my window!” Pingwinka was startled to see Sakura running to her.
“What, Sakura? What’s going on?” As she was panting, Sakura pulled out the letter from her bag and gave it to her.
“Read this! Read this!”
“Ok! ok! Don’t rush me!” Pingwinka has a really thick Polish accent. Somehow Sakura loves to hear her talk. As Pingwinka reads every sentence, her eyes would open wider. She started to jump. “OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!” She yelled at the top of her lungs. Everypony in town could hear it. Sakura blocked her mouth to quiet her down. “Shh,” she told her. “I know it’s exciting, but this is an invite. I don’t know if the princess wants me to bring one friend or more than one.” Sakura whispered.
“But the note says FRIENDS!” yelled Pingwinka.
“Fine...” she moaned. “But we also gotta let our friends know. I’m pretty sure they want to be part of this as well.”
“YES!” Pingwinka said grabbing her. “Let’s go get em!”
After a long trip of being pulled through the Crystal Grasses and the Crystal Gate, Sakura had finally pried Pingwinka off of her.
“Now lets go find Scarlet,” she said. The two friends walked up and down the streets looking for Scarlet. Above them was a breeze that pushed them over.
“There’s Scarlet,” screamed Pingwinka. Scarlet was seen in her front yard conversing with a stallion. Sakura stopped and grabbed Pingwinka’s hand as they were running. “Wait,” she called. “I don’t want to disrupt her.”
“She needs to know about the news, Sakura!” Pingwinka yelled as she pulled her forward. “Now come on!” Scarlet noticed the two mares fighting to either move forward or step back. “Um, could you excuse me? I noticed my friends are here. Nice talking to you.”
“Anytime, Ms. Jewel,” said the resident. As he left her house, Scarlet ran straight to the fighting girls and broke them up. “What are you girls trying to do? Make a scene?” The ponies stopped and hugged her. “Oh, Scarlet! We have great news,” Sakura squealed. “You are not gonna believe this,” Pingwinka added. Sakura handed the letter from the princess to her. Scarlet read over it quietly, skimming the letter at first, then reread the note over to herself. “The-the PRINCESS!” gulped Scarlet. She jumped over to Sakura, tackling her, then hugging her to death.
“OW! Stop, you're hurting me...”she told her.
“Sorry...” Scarlet responded. Sakura took in a few deep breaths and laid her head down. “Goodness, Scarlet. You know I need to breathe and have my gardening hooves and horn.”
“I’m so sorry, but this is exciting! Is anyone else coming?” Pingwinka opened her eyes. “What do you have in mind,” asked Sakura. “I have a couple of friends in Ponyville. Citra Sweet and Treble Streak. Citra harvests citrus fruit. Her family owns a farm. They share a business with AppleJack and her family. They are great business partners. Treble Streak is an artist and a musical prodigy. She can help design the float and she can also write the music for the float as well. She plays 16 instruments. I know. It’s amazing.”
“Well, we’d like to meet them, Ping,” Scarlet said. “Oh, I’ve known both of them for a long time,” Sakura added. “They’re amazing girls. I’m sure they’ll love to meet you and come to the palace.”
“Oh. Well, I did not know that,” Scarlet said. “I would love to meet them. Here, I’ll give you girls a ride.” She walked them to her driveway where there’s a blue and white crystal carriage and when she whistled, two chauffeurs ran out of the house and buckled themselves in the front. The rest of the girls stared in awe. “Man,” Sakura commented. “You like it,” Scarlet asked. They all nodded. “Well, hop on. I insist.” The ponies all climbed in the carriage. “Boys. Bring us to Ponyville.” The stallions simultaneously said, “Yes, Ms. Jewel,” and started to walk.
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The mares were all amazed of the view. “This is relaxing, Scarlet,” said Pingwinka. She was laying down with her arms crossed behind her head. “You really like the ride, huh? I didn’t want to tire ourselves when we have a carriage.”
“This is really gorgeous,” Sakura said. “How could you afford this?”
“Owning a nice 5 Star Crystal restaurant got me going. I save a lot of money. I don’t spend it all right away. I have way more class than that. I purchase what I needed most: transportation, a home, clothes, and food. What an everyday pony would need.”
“Smart thinking,” said Pingwinka. “Now arriving in Ponyville,” said one of the stallions. “Oh, how I miss living there,” said Sakura. “I used to cater sushi for private parties all the time until I moved to Fillydelphia last year.”
“Why did you decide to move,” asked Scarlet. “Business,” Sakura answered. “Instead of just catering for one place at a time, I moved to Fillydelphia, where there were more public places and I had the opportunity to make enough for my own home. I couldn’t afford it in Ponyville.” Scarlet nodded and looked forward, a bit eager to stop the trip.
It took them a few minutes to arrive at Treble Streak’s house. Treble Streak stepped outside her front door with an open expression. “Hello,” she asked. She had an apron on covered in paint and her straight, baby blue mane was messed up from the wind. “Hey, Treble,” said Pingwinka. “Hi, Ping! Is this carriage yours?”
“No, it’s mine.” Scarlet poked her head out so Treble can see her. “Scarlet Jewel? Oh my God! I’ve been to your restaurant many times. The food is delicious, and the building’s amazing. Wait. Sakura Blossom, is that you?”
“Hello, Treble Streak. Long time no see,” Sakura responded. Before Treble could answer, Pingwinka pulled the note out of Sakura’s bag and gave it to her. She finally took the time to respond, “Ya, what's this,” she asked. She was reading the note, looking back, reading over and over again, and her eyes widened, with her mouth gaping. “Are you serious?” She was trying to act calm but they all can see the excitement being held back.
“Yes,” Scarlet said. As the ponies turned around to leave to the castle, they noticed that the stallions had disappeared along with the carriage.
“Where’s the cart!” yelled Pingwinka.
“Ya! How are we going to get to the palace,” screamed everypony else.
“The train...” Scarlet said. “I don’t understand what’s the big deal. I told them to go. They’ll be fine. They know their way home. Besides, I don’t want to tire them for the round trip.” Everyone let a big breath. She was confused, because the Four Nations were islands, how was a cart getting them there? The train did go under water, however. It was the best train in all the world!
“Ok, now that we have you, Treble, all we need is Citra,” Sakura told them. As she said that, a sudden noise was heard.
A yell came from behind them. “SAAAKUURRAAA!” The sound grew louder and came closer every second till BOOM! Citra Sweet was there, two feet in front of her!
“Hi! Did you not hear me call your name,” asked Citra. Everyone was amazed at her appearance. “I just ate a whole sugar cane. I’m so pumped!” They all looked confused. Sakura asked, “What did that have to do with anything?”
“Well, I put the cane in a lemonade glass had a sip and it was so good, I POURED THE WHOLE THING IN MY MOUTH” yipped Citra.
“So, it just exploded and teleported you here,” Pingwinka asked. “No. I was here the whole time. You just didn’t look for me hard enough. But that was such a rush!” Everybody gave her a bug eyed look. “Anyway,” Sakura started. “We have something to show you. But first, Ping and I would like to introduce you to Scarlet Jewel.” Scarlet came forward and bowed her head. Citra did the same back. “It’s nice meeting a Crystal pony,” Citra said. “Well, nice meeting you too,” Scarlet replied. Treble Streak came over and gave Citra a big hug. “Oh my gosh, I haven’t seen you in forever, since we were fillies!”
“I know, right? It’s been a long time since elementary school with Ms. C! So what’s with the big holdup?” Sakura pulled the letter from her bag and handed it to Citra. She read the note to herself and she started jumping. “You’re joking! Tell me this is not forged!” Sakura shook her head. “No, it’s actually from Princess Bubbledust, but we gotta hurry. She’s expecting us soon. I assume we only have a few days to create the float, and I need to garden as well. I would love to have you help.”
“Well, what are we waiting for,” Citra asked, being all excited from the news. “Let’s get a moveon!” Treble Streak didn’t live too far from the train station, so it was a ten minute walk.
It didn’t take very long for trains to arrive. Sometimes, trains come every ten minutes, some even five. Scarlet walked to the ticket booth, while the others took a seat in the lobby of the station. “Hello, five to the 12:15 train to Four Nations, please,” asked Scarlet. After she handed the money, the seller gave the tickets to her. She walked to the mares, handing the tickets to them. Then she sat down with the rest and waited.
Voices from the intercom say different destinations, the volume overpowering the conversations of many ponies. Some places include, Canterlot ,Las Pegasus , Manehattan, Baltimare, until, “12:15 train to the Four Nations is all aboard. I repeat, 12:15 to Four Nations is ready to board.”
“That’s us,” Scarlet said, and they walked to the train. They all showed the conductor their tickets and he let them inside. The interior of the passenger car is really beautiful. They all looked around in amazement, gawking at the tables, seats, windows, everything of the car. “This is so pretty,” Treble Streak complemented. “I should paint a picture of the interior. Good thing I brought my paints and portable easel. Scarlet, you’ve been on this train before. How’s the ride like?” Scarlet threw her arms and did a pirouette. “Oh, the ride is very smooth and calming. It’s never bumpy, so you are able to paint without worrying about messing up, if that’s what you’re asking for.”
“Exactly. Thank you.” She pulled out her easel, expanded it, and placed it on the floor. She took a 12”x18” canvas out of the bag and pressed it onto the easel. She grabbed her paints from the bag’s side pockets, grabbed water from a nearby bathroom faucet and started to paint.
The train went on for a while turning left and right. The intercom beeped on. “We will now be going under water, please buckle yourself in until further notice.”
“Hold on till we're on the ocean floor its will be very bumpy.” Scarlet warned them. CLICK! They are sat down and put their seatbelts on.
“ONE MORE SPOT!” Treble yelled. “And wait. Didn’t you say that the ride wouldn’t be-” The train rode a big bump and Treble spilled her paint over herself. “Wet,” she finished. The wet canvas flew over to Sakura’s lap.
“GROSS!” she yelled. “Treble,” she exclaimed. By now Treble Streak had fell on the floor and Scarlet jumped out of her seat and caught her. The train sped up. Scarlet and Treble got thrown back and banged on the door. The train slowed down after a few seconds.
“Look outside were under water!” Pingwinka yipped. The intercom confirmed that was a yes. “Now folks, the view of the sea will only take a few minutes, so enjoy while it lasts.” They all looked outside the train windows. A fat tube that had a line of train tracks surrounded the train. Outside the tube fish swam around. Many kinds of fish and sea plants of the reef were colorful and amazing! Scarlet and Treble got up from the floor, but only have a few seconds to look out. The train when up and up and up and up.... Everyone flung to the back.
“You may now take off your seat belts” the intercom screeched. “We arrived at the Four Nations, please exit the train on the left, thank you.” Everyone got out of the train they were a bit woozy from banging on the wall. A cheery unicorn came up to them.
“HI! I see you had a bit of a bumpy ride! You must be the guests the Princess invited! I’m Sunny Shores your tour guide! Now if I can just have your names, and we can get your stuff and GO!”she yipped.
“Wait, Sunny Shores. me and my friends as you can see have paint all over us. Can we get cleaned up?” Sakura asked.
“The Princess won't mind you guys like that! She will just let you use the royal *public* bathroom!!!” Sunny yelled. After that they all said their names and Sunny Shores whistle. A cart came down from the sky. “ The best way to travel is by sky cart! Off we go!” Sunny screamed. The ponies stepped inside the cart and the driver lifted up from the ground.