//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Ponies through the Portal // by Zoom Star //------------------------------// The light of the sun shone through the window, refracting against the glass and igniting the entire room with light. The walls shined blue from the beams that were coming from the window. I awoke from my deep slumber, rubbing my eyes with my hooves and lifting the covers off of me so I could get out of bed. The room around me was a deep blue in color. The sun was up in the sky now, emitting a cheerful glow and lighting up all of Ponyville. As I looked out the window, I saw the bustling town of ponies already whirring into action and selling their goods in the town square. It took me some time to stop admiring my view and realise the time. I had overslept. I rushed to the mirror, grabbing a brush and setting my mane and tail properly. I had really bad bed hair, which made it even longer to do. After I had finished doing that, I quickly burst through my door, expecting to see empty rooms in front of me. And as I looked towards the other's rooms, I saw empty beds. The closest room was a pleasant cream colour, which went well with the rest of the room. The sun had obviously entered this room, as it shone brighter than my room, much brighter. The one next to this was purple, deep purple, and the light was having a similar effect as it did on my room's walls. I rushed downstairs, hearing people talking. Two mares were downstairs, chatting up a storm, and from the tones in their voices they seemed concerned and worried. I slowly made my way down the stairs so as to not make a noise, but it wasn't until when I appeared in the doorway that I heard what they were saying. "I don't know! It's frustrating to say the least" said Ginger Snap. Ginger Bread frowned, and then finally responded. "We have to find some way, or who knows what will happen!" she shouted, causing Ginger Snap to jolt. "Well, maybe Twilight can help us? She knows how to use magic she can- Zoom Star!" They both smiled as they realised that I was there, and fully awake, especially after the jolt I got from Ginger Bread shouting. I smiled back, trotting over and taking a seat next to them. "Hey guys. So, what is this you guys were talking about?" I asked, hesitant at first. Ginger Bread looked at Ginger Snap, and they both nodded. "Ginger Snap and I have decided that we should find a way back home, because our family is probably missing us heaps" said Ginger Bread. It had not occurred to me that we were away from our actual homes. I suppose I just felt like I belonged here, with the ponies. It was that moment I realised that we needed to get back home, to our real home. "Well, I still think Twilight can help us, so maybe we should visit her, see if her books can find something to help us" said Ginger Snap. Ginger Bread and I nodded in agreement. We packed a few books into our saddle bags and a few coins as well, and walked out the door. We closed the door behind us, and began walking towards Ponyville. The sun shone like a large orb of happiness, smiling down on the town. The lake glittered and shined from the reflection of the sun on it's calm waters. I smiled, looking down at the calm lake and regretting more and more the decision to leave. But as much as my heart told me to stay, my brain became insistent on telling it to keep quiet. As we approached the edge of the town, the greetings and smiles began following us through the town. We smiled and waved back, greeting everyone with simple hellos, until three small fillies bounded toward us. They stopped in front of us, now easily recognisable as Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "We would like to say thank you to you for saving us, Ginger Bread and Ginger Snap" they recited together, beaming with enthusiasm at meeting their saviors once again. The two mares looked down at them and smiled, simply saying together "You’re welcome". The three fillies then bounded away, with a skip in their step. We had just reached the fountain when we were interrupted once again by a familiar cyan pony flying toward us. Her rainbow mane and tail fluttered in the wind as she landed in front of me. She smiled at me, almost jumping on the spot from excitement. When she calmed down, all she could say was, "You were epic yesterday! Can you teach me to fly like that?". I smiled back, simply nodding. When the bump in my leg, Ginger Bread pretending not to be interested, told me otherwise, my smile turned upside-down. "Sorry Rainbow, but I can't teach you now, perhaps another time? I'm kind of busy at the moment" I said, giving her my best artificial smile I could. She simply smiled and nodded. As she trotted off in the opposite direction, we began making our way to the large tree that was the library. I casually knocked on the door three times, and waited for an answer. None came. I knocked again, but again no-one answered. It was only after my third, very hard knock that I heard a noise like tumbling down stairs on the other side of the door. When the door opened, the purple unicorn we saw two days ago was completely different. Her mane and tail were all over the place, her horn no longer visible from all the hair covering it. Her fur was ruffled, poking out in odd places. Her eyes were baggy and red. Immediately I realised, we had just woken Twilight Sparkle up. "Sorry for my state, I was sleeping in. Please come in, I'll just fix myself up" she said, opening the door wider so as to let us through. We smiled at her, casually walking in at sitting down on some nearby cushions. Twilight closed the door and then rushed upstairs, no doubt addressing her case of bad bed hair. After a while I decided I’d look around at the books. I walked around, reading the titles to find anything worth reading. I continued to look through the titles not noticing that Twilight had emerged from upstairs. The others called over to me, but my mind had gone into a trance of finding anything. As I read the title of ‘Elements of Harmony’ I felt a bump on my back. I turned so fast I hit the shelf with my flank. Nopony had seen me hit the shelves, so I replaced all the books onto the shelf and walked over to the others, not noticing the empty spot in the shelf where ‘Elements of Harmony’ once rested. I closed my saddlebag and placed beside me before sitting next to Ginger Bread on a cushion. Twilight looked normal now, her hair straight and her mane set with no more tufts in awkward places. “Now” Twilight started. “What can I do for you?” she asked, smiling curiously at us. Ginger Snap got up. “We need to inform you of something, something that you may not understand” she said, frowning. Twilight tilted her head to show her misunderstanding. It was my turn to get up now. “We aren’t actually ponies. We came from another world, from a different race” I said. Twilight was frozen on the spot, until her mouth opened to form a perfect ‘O’ shape. She gasped, placing her hoof on her mouth and looking from me, to Ginger Bread and then Ginger Snap. Ginger Bread stood up now, ready for her contribution. “And now we have to get back, but, we don’t know how to. We got here when we found a strange rock and it created a portal that took us here” she said, rubbing her head. Twilight frowned, looking at us all with sadness in her eyes. She seemed to be struggling with the idea that not only were some of her new friends not actually from here, but they were planning to leave. She swerved a bit, seemingly paler than normal. We looked at each other, the same worried faces replicated like a mirror over our heads. “I… I will look” Twilight finally said, eventually gaining back her colour. She trotted forward toward the shelves and began throwing them off and into a large pile. Spike stood in the background, an angry smirk on his face as he saw all the cleaning he would have to do. She continued through a cycle, picking up a book, looking at the title, then throwing it over her shoulder. Sometimes she would take one off the shelf and read over a few pages, which struck smiles in our face, thinking she had found something. But alas, she found nothing every time, simply adding the book to the pile. I had even started sorting the pile into different neater piles so it would be easier to clean later, making sure to catch the books that would have endangered the clean mountains of literature. Finally, with a sad frown, she slumped into an uncomfortable sitting position on the floor. Every book in the library had been taken off the shelf and put into the piles. She looked at us, and then said “Nothing! I couldn’t find anything!” She got back up onto her four hooves and walked back to us. “Well, we’re going to have to find another way soon. I’m starting t miss my striped hair already” I said. Suddenly, Twilight sprung up, a grin on her face. “That’s it! Stripes!” she shouted, cantering back to us before we reached the door. “If I can’t help you, I know who can! Zecora!” she shouted, bouncing around with glee. We looked at each other, our spirits lifted. “Let’s go then” we said unison to Twilight. She smiled, showing us out the door and into the busy town. We made our first stop at Sugarcube Corner and knocked on the door. A pink blur burst through the door, tackling Ginger Snap onto the ground. When the dust cleared, the two mares were giggling next to each other. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy emerged as well, smiling at us. We explained the situation, telling them we need help getting into the Everfree Forest. “What do you mean your not ponies?” asked Rainbow, looking at us in curiosity. I smiled at her, walking along beside her as we headed to Carousel Boutique. Pinkie Pie and Ginger Snap were giggling at each other in front of us, and Fluttershy and Ginger Bread were conversing in whispers behind us. Twilight decided to listen to my answer to Rainbow’s question, and trotted up to my other side. “Well, we are actually humans” I said. I quickly regained my sentence at the sight of their confused looks. “We’re about 3 times taller, and we walk and two legs, not four. We have arms as well, and instead of hooves we have hands and feet” After my brief explanation, the two mares looked at each other, then back at me. They simply said “Wow!” We arrived at Carousel Boutique, hearing the sounds of tape being stretched and fabric being cut and shaped. Pinkie and Ginger Snap knocked three times, and a cheery voice from the other side shouted “Just a minute!” We heard the scramble of hooves on hardwood floor, and then various noises on the opposite side of the door. It opened, Rarity standing in its frame. We explained all of the details to her, and she reluctantly nodded. “Why is everything troublesome always in the Everfree Forest!” she said. She opened the door wider, revealing Applejack, who was taking her newly fitted dress off of her body. She smiled, nodding at us and cantering out the door to follow us. With everyone here, we made our way to the edge of the Everfree Forest. The forest seemed darker than usual, but it was probably just the spookiness of it. It seemed to emanate a vibe of fear, and I could see that Ginger Snap and Ginger Bread were shaking on the spot. I nodded to them, mouthing “We can do this”. They nodded back, smiling as we began walking forward into the forest. Pinkie Pie had her eyes closed and was bouncing along the path in front of us. The further we went in, the spookier it became. The sounds of the trees swaying in the wind, and the branches creaking up and down would drive a lesser pony crazy with fear. But we persevered, and continued to walk through it. The others had no trouble at all, seeing as they had been inside the forest countless times before. Rarity seemed to still have a few tingles of disgust now and then. The path became treacherous now, rocks pointing out at weird angles and various stones tripping up anypony who didn’t watch their feet. This made it difficult to go anywhere, seeing as you had watch your head as well from low branches or dangerous animals that hung from them, such as snakes or bats. Well, bats or more scary then dangerous, but you get the picture. The trees began making faces, their clawed branches reaching through the shadows trying to pull us into a deep panic and moment of sheer peril. The clouds were moving on their own, with no help from the Pegasi. Even though we had these clouds normally on Earth, it still sent shivers down your spine when you looked up expecting to see a Pegasi and there is nopony there. As if to make matters worse, the rain began to pour in, drenching all of us in water. Rarity began panicking, trying to fix her mane as the rain began beating down upon it. Pinkie seemed to just avoid all of the terror, and kept bouncing along the path, her mane and tail unaffected by the rain and still puff up like cotton candy. The ground soon became muddy and wet, and we began to become more scared as our hooves slugged through the deep mud, the squelching noises reverberating, echoing throughout the forest. Even Pinkie started to get slower and more nervous than usual. She stopped bouncing, walking through the mud with everyone else. We had reached a more mountainous area, and because it wasn’t raining here, we decided to rest for a bit before heading off. Rarity immediately began sprucing up her mane, reshaping it to its former glory. Because the noises and echoes had died down, Pinkie seemed to have perked up once again, bouncing about with more energy than a teenager on Red Bull (Red Pegasus in Equestria). After we had been sufficiently rested, we began heading through the rocky mountains. The journey was very treacherous, the rocks spiking out in all directions. If you lost your footing for a second, you would be cut, bruised, or worse. The recent rain made the rocks slippery and hard to keep a footing, so it was even more dangerous. We eventually managed to reach the darker area of the forest; a few of us sustaining a small cut or bruise here and there. The trees were calmer here, but the spookiness still remained. The leaves were grown larger and further out in these trees, creating canopies that shielded it from the light of the sun. The wind was stronger here, so the trees and their branches made more creaking sounds than the ones before. We walked carefully, slowly making our way along the path. It was much dryer here due to the canopies shielding the forest floor from rain. Rarity had finally fixed her mane, keeping it from the low branches so it wouldn’t be damaged further. Pinkie was ahead of us again, bouncing away at the front of the group, a large smile on her face. After a long journey, and many setbacks, we finally found the small hut that belonged to Zecora, the zebra that lived in the deep parts of the Everfree Forest. Pinkie seemed to act on her own accord, knocking loudly on the door three times. From the other side, loud noises of things crashing and being dropped could be heard. “Who knocks on my door, it is half past four!” shouted a familiar voice. Twilight trotted up to the door where Pinkie was standing. “Zecora, we need your help urgently” she said. The door opened, and Zecora, moved to the side to let us in. As I walked in, I saw various strange objects along the shelves, such as masks and herbs. “Twilight Sparkle, you brought your friends, but before we talk, I must make amends” said Zecora, pointing her hoof at the source of the crashing sounds. She had dropped a small pot with a liquid in it, that had now spilled across the floor. She began scooping the mixture into a similar pot, and placed it onto the shelf. The remaining pieces of the first pot were thrown away. After she had cleaned everything, we began explaining our dilemma to the zebra. She simply stood and listened, seemingly unsurprised. We explained the rock we had found, and everything that happened to it when we held it under a light and made it into a portal. She simply nodded as if she knew what we were talking about. “This place called Earth, this world of yours, I have been there, of this I’m sure” she said, after we had finished telling her our story. We looked at her with astonishment, and became excited. “So how do we get from here to Earth? Do you know a way?” asked Ginger Bread. Zecora nodded pointing to a painting of a river, with a green aura around it. “If you wish to go, back to your home, this rivers path is your only hope” said Zecora. She twitched her hoof back, beckoning us to follow her. We left the hut, and followed a small path in single file. The trees here were surprisingly peaceful. The wind had stopped and the branches had been cut back. Zecora, kicked anything that had fallen onto the path into the surroudning forest to keep it clear. Eventually we reached a small clearing, where a river flowed slowly into a small basin like pond. In the deepest center of the pond was a hole, a large hole that could fit a pony. The water seemed to create a whirlpool around this hole, as if it was being continuously sucked through it out into the world. We smiled at each other, realising now more than ever, that we were almost home.