//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Pony's Island // by No One and Nobody //------------------------------// Chapter 1: A Storm, a Ship, and a Plot-hole Portal The waves crashed over the bow of the S.S. Minnow, making the ship sway. Gilligan had just made sure the passengers were comfortable and safe below deck. He stepped onto the deck and dashed to aid the Skipper, who was desperately trying to control the wheel. As Gilligan flew across the deck he caught his foot in a bucket. Thump… Clank… Thump… Clank reverberated across the S.S. Minnow. The Skipper was clinging to the ship’s wheel attempting the impossible, to save the S.S. Minnow from the imminent danger. “Skipper, don’t worry, I’m here to help.” Gilligan said as he tripped over the awkward bucket. Glaring at the unwanted burden on his foot, Gilligan started tugging at the bucket, trying to loosen it. “Oh, never mind that Gilligan, you’ll just foul up whatever orders I give you, like turning the ship port instead of starboard. If you knew the difference, we’d be back in Honolulu, safe, instead of out in this storm.” The Skipper bellowed, red in the face. He was barely audible over the roar of the storm. Gilligan frowned. He tried all he could to help the Skipper but he would just mess it up. He looked at the Skipper sheepishly. “I’m sorry Skipper. Could you just give me one more chance? I promise won’t mess up again this time. What do you say?” Gilligan pleaded. As a huge wave hit the side of the Minnow the Skipper looked at him, a vein pumping in his forehead and hollered in a hoarse voice, “If I give you one more chance I’ll be dead!” Gilligan wilted like a flower in Death Valley and then jumped as a massive lightning bolt split the sky. The Skipper peered desperately into the darkness ahead as the light from the lightning bolt faded and his face turned pale. He said in a low, frightened voice, “Gilligan, do you see what I see?” Gilligan looked at him and said, “Skipper! And you think I’m silly? This is no time for Christmas carols!” Skipper turned to him, face red and said, “A reef Gilligan! If we don’t turn about we’ll wreck the ship! Throw the anchor out!” Gilligan bent over and huffed and puffed as he heaved the anchor up. He collapsed and the anchor pinned him down. The Skipper hunched over Gilligan and lifted the anchor off of him. Then Gilligan threw the heavy weight off the side of the ship. The Skipper grabbed his first mate’s arm and said, “Gilligan, now throw out the other anchor… with the rope attached this time!” Gilligan hoisted the other anchor up onto his shoulder. The Skipper looked back at Gilligan, even more pale this time. Gilligan looked forward, turned as white as a sheet, dropped the anchor onto the Skipper’s foot, (causing the Skipper to well, act like the Skipper) and leaped into the Skipper’s arms. The S.S. Minnow was headed straight for a gigantic, white wall. The Skipper and Gilligan screamed as the S.S. Minnow entered the blank expanse of nothingness. All of a sudden, gravity seemed to become nonexistent. The anchor floated by Gilligan’s head. Gilligan looked at Skipper and said, “To bad we couldn’t do that when we were trying to throw the anchor overboard.” As they glanced side to side they could see what looked like windows to other worlds. Gilligan looked to his left to see someone writing on a strange, flat typewriter. The title of the document she was writing said Pony Island. Strange, Gilligan thought, why would someone write a story about islands and ponies? The Skipper glanced to the left and saw a teenage boy fighting someone with a strange, black mask, dressed all in black and holding a glowing, red sword. The masked being sounded like a scuba diver when he breathed. The boy was holding a green sword and they seemed to be dueling. The two looked as if they were fighting in a factory. Gilligan looked somewhere else and saw a man with a whip and a fedora fleeing from a gigantic boulder. The Skipper looked to his right and saw a big, red tomato singing while a cucumber played a tuba. With a whoosh and an intermittent scraping sound a police public call box went flying across the bow of the ship. They heard whistling and looked up to see a large, black and white mouse with huge ears piloting a upside-down steamboat past them above their head, spinning the wheel in time to the rhythm of the tune. Lastly a strange man wearing a dark suit cartwheeled through the air towards the boat, arms crossed in front of him saying, "Consider if you will the case of one Skipper and Gilligan. Innocent sailors trying to make their way in the world. Little did that know that one fateful day they would take a three hour tour into..." He disappeared below the boat before they could make out the rest of what he was saying. They both looked forward and saw a sight that made them shake. Apple Bloom exhaled as she passed the last basket of apples to Big Macintosh who loaded it into the family cart, which would be taken to market in ponyville. “Thanks Apple Bloom. I’m goin into Ponyville to sell some apples. Yer friends are here by the way.” Apple Jack said. Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo trotted up. Apple Bloom smiled and said, in an excited voice, “So Cutie Mark Crusaders, what'r we gonna try today? How about Hang-glidin? Waterskiin? Softball? Oh how about deep sea fishin?” Apple Jack looked at them and smiled. She remembered how much she had wanted a cutie mark when she was a filly. Now her sister was going through the same thing. She turned to Sweetie Bell and said, in a joking voice, “Well Sweetie Bell, if you want a cutie mark in magic maybe you could drum up some clouds? Them Pegasi left us high and dry this month and some of the trees are lookin mighty thirsty.” Sweetie Bell jumped up and squeaked excitedly, “Really? Do you think I could get a cutie mark in rainmaking? Twilight has been teaching me some spells and I guess I could try, as long as you think I could do it.” Apple Jack cut in, trying to explain that it had been a joke but Scootaloo interrupted her with, “Yeah Sweetie Bell, you should totally try it. I bet you would be amazing at magic! Go on and try, you’ll probably end up with a cutie mark just like Twilight’s!” Sweetie Bell beamed at her friends but Apple Jack cleared her throat and brought them all back to Equestria for a moment. She didn’t mean to dash Sweetie Bell’s dream, she just knew that she couldn’t do that complicated of a spell. “No offense girls,” Apple Jack said. “But Twi is one of the most talented Unicorns… well Alicorns I know, I mean she is a princess, but I think that would be a tall order even fer her.” Sweetie Bell wilted. Apple Jack felt guilty for depressing her, but she would have been depressed even if she had tried. Luckily for Sweetie Bell’s self-esteem, Scootaloo said, “Hey Sweetie Bell, maybe that just means you could be better at magic than Twilight! Why you could be the next Equestrian Princess!” Sweetie Bell’s eyes lit up at the sound of the words “Equestrian Princess”. She smiled at Scootaloo and said, “I never thought of that. That would be so cool! Okay, here goes.” Apple Jack rolled her eyes and thought, Sure. What could it hurt to try? I mean it’s not like it will do any harm right? They’ll get the idea and call it off right? Sweetie Bell closed her eyes and concentrated on the magic, willing it to do what she wished. Her horn started glowing as the others held their breath. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo shot her confident smiles. Sweetie Bell strained but the magic was too tiring and she was exhausted. The glow faded as she exhaled and frowned. Sweetie Bell turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Jack and Big Mac and said, “Well, that didn’t wor-” Suddenly, with a terrific roar a wall of water burst out of nowhere bringing along with it fish, seaweed and oddly enough, a small boat. Sweet Apple Acres was engulfed by the huge wave, drenching everypony. “Pfffft…” Sweetie Bell blew a soggy strand of mane out of her face and said nonchalantly, “Do you think I overdid it?” “Eyup.” Big Mac said as he shook the water off and started picking up apples. “Oh doggon’ it! Look at this place!” Apple Jack said, angrily. “This saltwater is gonna ruin the whole apple orchard… wait, ‘smack, smack’ why is this saltwater, and where the hay did it come from? And why in tarnation is there a boat it the middle of the farm?” The ponies got up and went over to check it out . Two strange looking heads popped up over the side. They were unlike any heads that anypony in Ponyville had ever seen. Sweetie Bell screamed. Twilight Sparkle was walking down the street with Spike buying supplies when Rainbow Dash sped down from the clouds, leaving a rainbow-colored trail in her wake. She flew right up and said, “Twilight, I just saw the weirdest thing up at Sweet Apple Acres. It’s almost like a huge wave of water appeared out of nowhere. We better go check and see if Apple Jack and the rest of the Apple family are okay.” Spike dropped the list and supplies he was carrying and jumped onto Twilight’s back. After scolding Spike, she picked up the supplies and placed them into her saddlebags. With that, Twilight ran after Rainbow Dash towards Sweet Apple Acres. As they passed Pinkie Pie floating along through the air, carried by some balloons, she let go of them, letting them sail off into the distance and hopped after them in her typical fashion. About one hundred yards up Main Street Rarity stopped the threesome saying, “Excuse me Darlings, but where are you running to?” “I don’t know,” said Pinkie Pie smiling as she hopped in place, “But who cares? I just like running.” Twilight turned to Rarity and explained about what Rainbow had seen, to which Rarity answered, “Well what are we waiting for Darling? Let’s go help Apple Jack!” The ponies resumed their running and finally reached the outskirts of Ponyville. As they ran past Fluttershy’s cabin, Rainbow Dash went to grab Fluttershy. They finally arrived at Apple Jack’s farm. The farm was soaked. As they came over the side of the hill, they saw a small boat sitting in the middle of the field and Apple Jack approaching the boat, as Big Mac gathered up the apples and the Cutie Mark Crusaders attempted to revive a fainted Sweetie Bell. “Darling! Stay away from that thing until you know what it’s doing here!” Rarity screamed. “Yeah, or at least, wait for me!” Pinkie Pie said as she hopped one last time and then zoomed over to the boat in a pink blur which caused the trees to bend and snap back into position. She skipped past Apple Jack and jumped onto the boat. Two strange looking creatures stared back at her, frightened. Coming up from below deck was a creature just like the two cowering in a corner. This creature carried a journal and was wearing a white shirt and beige pants. Then the creature spoke, “Good grief! Where are we and what is that thing?” He said, indicating Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie smiled and said, “I’m not a thing. I’m a Pie!” The man opened his journal and wrote in it, speaking aloud as he wrote, “We appear to have been transported to an alternative universe with a multi-colored female equine capable of intelligible communication that believes it is a baked good. Interesting…” Gilligan looked at the Professor and said, “I agree completely. What did he say?” “It’s a talking, pink pony.” The professor explained with a sigh. Twilight Sparkle thought, These creatures look almost exactly like my friends at Canterlot High except their skins are all the same color. They also have rather dull looking hair colors. I wonder where they are from. She spoke aloud, addressing the creature with the journal, “I don’t know where you came from but you are in the land of Equestria now. Where did you come from and how did you get here?” The man looked at her and said, “I’m the Professor and this is the Skipper and Gilligan. The others are all below deck. We set out from Honolulu, Hawaii but how we got here is beyond me. Gilligan, Skipper do you know how we got here? I knew we were in a storm but this is ludicrous!” Pinkie Pie walked up to the Skipper and looked him right in the face. The Skipper leaned back and asked, “What is she doing?” Pinkie Pie closed her eyes, nodded with a pleased smile on her face, and sat down on the deck saying, “I like you. You seem nice. What’s your real name? Hmmm, Unless your name really is Skipper.” The Skipper looked at her and said, “My real name is Jonas Grumby. But everyone calls me the Skipper.” Pinkie Pie opened her mouth and eyes in shock and said, “GASP! Your name is Jonas Grumpy? Well okay Mr. Grumpy or can I just call you Grumpy?” The Skipper blinked and said, “No, I’m not Grumpy-” Gilligan cut in, “Are you sure Skipper? Because sometimes-” “Gilligan cut that out,” said Skipper whacking Gilligan over the head with his hat, “I’m not Grumpy.” Pinkie frowned and said, “You sure look grumpy.” “I’m not Grumpy!” said the Skipper in an agitated voice. “You sure sound grumpy,” said Gilligan covering his ears. “I’m. Not. GRUMPY!” said the Skipper in a loud voice. “Then why are you yelling?” asked Pinkie in a puzzled voice. “I’M NOT YELLING!” bellowed the Skipper. “Um, Skipper could you lower your voice I’m trying to write here,” said the Professor, scribbling furiously in his journal. “Ep, sorry Professor,” said the Skipper in a chagrined tone. Twilight looked at her friends and said, “Well you can’t stay here. We’ll figure out how you got here and how to get you home later but for now why don’t you come down from there.” Gilligan ran down below deck and brought up everyone. “This is Mary Anne, and Ginger and Mr. and Mrs. Howell, and I’m Gilligan and that’s the Skipper,” said Gilligan. “Gilligan they already met me,” Said the Skipper. “Oh, and this is the Professor.” Gilligan said. The Professor glanced up from his journal and said, “Oh, hello.” With that, he returned to his scribbling. Twilight pulled her friends into a huddle. “Ponies, I can’t keep all of them at my house. Can you girls help me?” Twilight asked her friends. “I can keep one of them at our place.” Said Apple Jack. “I would be glad to let one of them can stay with me.” Rarity said. “Um… I think I can take care of two of them.” Fluttershy said in her usual sheepish tone. “Can Gilligan and Grumpy stay with me? Cantheycantheycanthey?” Pinkie Pie begged in a loud voice. “Sure they can Pinkie, and thanks. You ponies are the best.” Twilight said. The ponies turned back to the humans standing on the deck. “Um… If you two would like to come stay at my house, I’ll get you settled.” Fluttershy said to Mr. and Mrs. Howell. Mr. Howell looked at his wife and said, “What do you think Lovey? I’d hate for people to find out we stayed with a Yale Mare?” “I don’t know Thurston; we don’t want people to know we socialize with the wrong sort of ponies. Ask her if she is royalty or rich.” Mrs. Howell replied to her husband. Twilight looked at Fluttershy and said, “Are you sure you can handle them? They can stay with me if you like.” Fluttershy gave her a sheepish grin and said, “Oh don’t worry. I’m sure that they will be no trouble at all.” With that she turned to the couple on the bow of the boat and said, “May I help you with your bags?” Mr. Howell smiled and said, “Of course you can. Don’t drop the bags though. I’d hate to get any dirt on them.” With that he motioned to Gilligan to start tossing bags off the side. They didn’t seem to end. Before Fluttershy was crushed by the onslaught of baggage, Rainbow swooped down to give her a hoof. The two set off for Fluttershy’s cabin, followed by the two Howells who were lamenting the lack of a limo. Apple Jack turned to Mary Anne and said, “Well, I’m lucky that I didn’t get stuck with them. Would you like to stay with me and my family? If you could help with the chores that sure would be appreciated.” Mary Anne beamed at Apple Jack and said, “Oh I’d love to stay with you and help with chores. I actually live on a farm back home.” Apple Jack and Mary Anne walked towards the barn, chatting about farming and the like. Rarity turned to Ginger and said, “Well Darling, if you’ll come with me I’ll take your measurements and make you a new gown.” Ginger smiled at her and said, “That sounds wonderful. A girl can never have too many dresses, I always say.” Rarity grinned and said, “Well I can tell we will get along splendidly. Come along then Darling.” Pinkie Pie smiled and exclaimed, “Or splediforously, or superwonderfulaliciously, or fantasmitastic-“ “Thank you, Darling,” Rarity said as she and Ginger walked down the road towards Ponyville Rarity pleased to have made a new friend, Ginger thrilled at the prospect of a new dress. Twilight turned to the Professor and told him, “Well, if you come back to the castle with Spike and I, we’ll try to figure out how you got here and how to get you back.” The Professor looked up from his journal and climbed off the boat and then stopped and asked, in shock, “Wait, did you say castle? What time period is this exactly?” Twilight told him she’d explain everything to him as they walked to the castle. Sweetie Bell followed them, telling them how she had brought them there using magic. Pinkie Pie turned to the Skipper and Gilligan and said, “That means you guys get to stay with me. Oh this will be fun. We can make cookies and cakes and rock candy and regular candy and cotton candy and we’ll eat whipped cream and ice cream and heavy cream and coconut cream pie!” The Skipper put his hand on his chest as if he was having a heart attack. “Are you okay Grumpy?” Pinkie asked. Skipper looked up at her, his face slightly green, and said, “I think I’ll pass on that.” Pinkie Pie laughed and said, “Yeah that’s probably a good idea, since you’re family sized.” The Skipper glared at Pinkie Pie. Gilligan raised his arms over his head and said, “I didn’t say it Skipper!” Pinkie laughed again and said, between giggles, “You guys are so funny! Why don’t we get your stuff and skedaddle?” The Skipper climbed off the boat and Pinkie Pie felt her tail twitch. “Grumpy, take a step to your right, or my left.” Pinkie Pie said. The Skipper looked at her funny, but stepped to the side, just as Gilligan threw a duffel bag overboard, right next to the Skipper. The Skipper looked up at Pinkie and said, “How did you do that?” Pinkie looked back at him, grinned and said, “It’s my Pinkie sense, when I get a twitchy tail, that means that something’s gonna fall.” The Skipper looked at Gilligan and said, “Oh, I like her.” With that the threesome headed down the road towards Sugar Cube corner.