I groaned, irritated, kneading my throbbing head. I hated algebra. Scratch that, I thoroughly despised it. The end of my pencil was already chewed up and mangled with hours of rubbing out useless answers and failed calculations. Homework sucked. Instead of trying helplessly to complete my worksheets, I could be catching up with the My Little Pony episodes I had missed! I was so stupid, forgetting about my homework and letting it lay, crumpled, in the bottom of my bag. A thought bounced around in the back of my head, oh yeah; I had to take out the rubbish. With a heavy sigh I jogged downstairs, picked the bin-bag up from the kitchen floor and threw it carelessly into the bin in the back garden, then began walking back to the house, dreading the books of math awaiting me. The air was pleasantly cool and refreshing out there compared to the stuffiness of my room. A breeze blew from the forest behind our house; I could hear the trees rustling lazily, enticing me to come closer. I figured I could take a break from burning my brain down to a smoking stump and decided to have a stroll in the woods to take my mind off of the homework I had piling up.
I knew every little twist and turn of the forest from years of exploring every nook and cranny. It wasn't too big, but when I was younger I had got lost countless numbers of times, even if for only five minutes. Shadows stretched across the bracken, leaves drifted downwards to meet the ground. I took in peacefulness. It was a calming change. As I ventured further into the woods, I felt like it was a little bigger than before, but perhaps that was just my usual paranoia. Ugh, I needed to lay off the creepypastas. By a clump of trees I noticed a gentle movement and a few leaves leaping into the air. Whatever it was, it was relatively large. Not quite big enough to be an adult human, but maybe it was a lost child? Or a dog, perhaps? I took a few cautious steps towards whatever it was. Then I realized: it was a pony, an honest to Celestia pony! I gasped; heart feeling like it was lodged in my throat. I was instantly convinced I was just having one of my insanely weird fangirl dreams, after reading too many fanfics. That and eating too many sugar-loaded cookies, one of my greatest weaknesses.
Her glacier blue eyes met mine, startled. “I-I’m sorry, is this your forest? I’ll be on my way in a moment, but could you tell me if you know the way to Ponyville?” she murmured softly, shaking leaves off of her white coat and vibrant mane.
“N-no, it’s no trouble at all,” I stuttered, trembling and blinking rapidly, trying to wake up. The unicorn gave me a strange and bemused look.
“I’m Cell,” she introduced herself, stepping forward shyly. She almost reminded me of Flutter Shy.
“My name’s Beatrix. And…well…how did you get here?” I asked, having accepted the fact that this wasn't a dream.
“Pinkie Pie was messing around with portals, like she does, and one happened to work. I was only picking up some cupcakes, but I got transported here. I don’t remember much after that.
“I woke up a few minutes ago. Twilight told me of beings who look like you. You’re a human, right?” I nodded. “Do you think there’s any way to get to Equestria again?” Cell sighed, pacing anxiously, a look of panic on her face.
“Well…my friend is attempting to make a portal to Equestria. I don’t know if it will work though.” When my friend had told me he was going to make a portal to Equestria, I had, admittedly, laughed in his face and excitement, but now that I saw a unicorn standing before me I was prepared to believe anything. Maybe even that Justin Bieber might make a decent song, or Miley Cyrus might stop obnoxiously sticking her tongue out. Maybe not that though.
“He’s only a short drive away, hop in the car and I’ll take you to his,” I said, motioning towards the driveway. Cell squinted, brow furrowed.
“Car...? Drive…?” she uttered. Oh right, they don’t have cars in Equestria, I thought, mentally face-palming.
“I promise it’ll be fine,” I assured her, as soothingly as possible without sounding like a weirdo. I then noticed her cutie-mark, a blue triangle, a red circle and a green square. Cell saw me staring and explained.
“I make paintings from shapes and such. Also, I can create them in the air, it’s an unusual magic to say the least.” Her face screwed up in intense concentration and her horn began fizzing with a pink-red energy. Three shapes, a circle, a square and a triangle appeared, pulsing with bright neon colours. It resembled her cutie-mark. As quickly as they came, the shapes faded out. If I closed my eyes, I could still see their after-images in the blackness. Cell flopped to the floor, tired. After awkwardly helping her up, which isn't as easy as you’d think it would be, we got into the car and began to drive. The belt had been difficult to get around Cell, but somehow, we’d managed in the end.
I was still getting used to driving around, so the journey was bumpy and uncertain. Until suddenly… “STOP!” Cell screeched from behind me. I slammed my foot against the breaks, heart pounding. I was lucky it was a Sunday, there wasn't anyone around to see the pony bounding out of the car and kneeling down beside a pink lump on the road. “Pinkie Pie!” Cell cried, nudging the motionless pony with her muzzle, her head just shy of the bonnet of the car.
“What?” Pinkie muttered, the energy drained from her voice.
“Oh, thank Celestia you’re ok!” Cell and I simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh, hey guys! I didn't think my portal would work, but oh my Gosh, it did, and Cell, I’m super-duper uper sorry for taking you here too. It was my bad!” Pinkie’s voice was once again hyper and cheery, which was good, but it was already making my head hurt.
“I’m Beatrix,” I said with a smile, glad Pinkie was alright.
“That’s a cool name! Y’know, I've never heard of that name before, but maybe it’s just a human name? Do you know any Pinkie’s? ‘Cause if you did it’d be totally awesome!” Pinkie babbled like a brook, scarcely drawing breath.
“I…don’t. But I imagine you want to get back to Equestria, right?” I tried to keep my eyes on Pinkie, who was springing up and down uncontrollably.
“Yeah, I miss Twi, Applejack, Dashie, Rarity and Shy soooo much!” she gabbled, scrambling into the back of the car and buckling up with surprising ease. There were a lot of unanswered questions about Pinkie Pie, and this was one of them.
“Well come on, slowpokes!” she giggled bobbing up and down crazily. Absent-mindedly, I wondered what would happen if someone gave her a can of energy-drink. I was grateful for the nearly completely empty streets today. I did a quick thank-you to whatever was causing all of these convenient coincidences. Hastily, I got into the car and lurched off down the road, just as the sky decided to begin spitting rain and clouds swarmed together in menacing grey clumps. Thank-you oh so much, coincidences.