//------------------------------// // Ticket #4 // Story: Pure Imagination // by SYNTH4 //------------------------------// Chapter 7: Ticket #4 On the west coast of Equestria sat a very large city. It wasn’t bigger than Canterlot or Manehattan, but it still made its claim as the third largest city in the nation. The name of the great city was Fillydelphia. The city was home to many museums that told about the history of Equestria. Ponies came from all over the land to see the artifacts and take pictures. In fact, the city had almost as many visitors as Canterlot and Manehattan. But today, focus wasn’t on the museums or history. Instead, all news outlets and reporters had converged on a small home in the neighborhoods outside the main city. News vans filled all unoccupied spaces along the street, while a crowd of ponies had gathered around the small house. Reporters were squeezed into the house’s living room, which only half of them occupied. The rest of the space was taken up by a large television and couch. The reporters were busy taking photographs and staring at the three ponies that occupied the other side of the room. An adult mare with a tan pelt, light brown mane, and a heart with a baby bottle cutie mark stood to the side of the couch. She smiled nervously at the reporters, occasionally giving the ponies on the couch a quick look. The pony on the far end held a guitar in his hoof, using his other hoof to adjust the strings. He had a dark brown pelt, a brown mane with a few red streaks in it, and a guitar cutie mark. He gave a reporters a quick disinterred look, then went back to adjusting his instrument. The final pony on the couch was a little colt. He had a brown coat, two-tone orange mane and tail, a game console cutie mark, and a colorful beanie sitting on his head. A game controler was held in his hooves, and he was completely focused on the game he was currently playing. One of the reporters cleared his throat. “So Button Mash, how does it feel to be the fourth golden ticket finder?” he asked, holding his microphone out. Button was still focused on his game, and not really paying attention to the ponies around him. “Uh, yeah….sure.” The reporter looked at the others, questionably. The older mare’s smile grew more nervous as she looked over at the colt. “Button, these ponies have come all this way to interview you. Don’t you think it would be polite to answer some of their questions?” she asked. But Button was still so focused on the game that he didn’t give her a response. The colt at the other end of the couch looked up at the mare. “You want me to take care of this mom?” The mare rubbed her leg nervously, keeping her eyes away from the reporters. “If you could Gibson, that would be great.” Gibson nodded, then put up his guitar and walked over to the game console by the tv. He grabbed the outlet cord and gave it a good yank. The cord flew out of the socket, and the TV screen went blank. Button’s eyes grew wide, almost as if they’d just realized there was a real world around them. “HEY! I was playing that!” Gibson threw the cord onto the ground. “And now you’re not. So why don’t you start answering some questions?” he said before sitting back down on the couch and grabbing his guitar. Button huffed angrily and turned towards the group of reporters, who were now all smiling at him. “So, what do you want to know?” One of the reporters stepped forward. “So Button, as asked before, how does it feel to have found the fourth golden ticket?” Button shrugged “I don’t know; okay I guess. Nothing’s really changed from before I got it. Except maybe a few interruptions to my games.” He gave his brother a stern look, but Gibson wasn’t paying attention to him. “Button, how did you come about finding the ticket,” asked another reporter. “Oh, well a bunch of my friends were buying them, and they kept saying that I should buy one to. So I went to the store, bought one bar, and I found the ticket,” said Button, though his tone suggested that he really didn’t care. One of the reporters squeezed to the front, clutching a notepad with his magic. He turned to look at the mare. “So Ms. Love Tap, how do you feel about your son’s amazing accomplishment?” Tap smiled sweetly at the reporter, which caused a few more cameras to go off. “I still can’t believe that my little Button found something that ponies have been searching weeks for. I used to enjoy Pinkie’s candy when I was young, and now my son gets to go tour her factory. How happier could a mom be?” “So Button,” said another reporter “the next question the whole world wants to know is; how did that ticket winning chocolate bar taste?” Once again, Button shrugged his shoulders. *** “I don’t know, okay I guess. I really don’t care for chocolate.” The four Apple Family members sat around the small radio that stood above their fireplace. Ever since the announcement of the fourth ticket had been found, they had been doing nothing but listen to the news reports. Granny Smith huffed at Button’s comment. “Well it’s a good thing you’re going to a chocolate factory. You ungrateful little….” Applejack quickly rushed over and put her hooves over Apple Bloom’s ears. The young filly watched as Granny kept shouting words she wasn’t able to hear. But suddenly, Applejack started wincing, and then Big Mac came over and put his hooves over her ears! “That Bad?” she thought to herself. When Granny finally stopped shouting, the three dislodged themselves from each other just as the news reporter finished the story. “Now all of Equestria can only ask one question. And that question is; who will be the winner of the last Golden Ticket?” Applejack walked up to the radio and turned it off. Sighing sadly, she looked back at her family. “Well I guess this means this thing is almost over. Hopefully life’ll be back to normal soon.” Apple Bloom looked sadly at the floor. “Yeah….almost over.” She hadn’t expected to be able to find a Golden Ticket, or even be part of the competition. She’d only opened one bar, and unlike Button Mash, she hadn’t found anything. But the thought that, after all this time there was only one shot left….it ate her up inside. Applejack walked over and gently rubbed her sister’s mane. “Hey, perk up their sugarcube. I’m sure this whole ticket thing is way more over exaggerated than it should be. Maybe it’s just a normal factory on the inside, and the ponies that go in will just end up bored.” “Uh huh,” said Apple Bloom, still sounding upset. Big Mac came over and motioned for Applejack to follow him. So the two ponies walked towards the kitchen, leaving Apple Bloom and Granny alone. Granny walked over to Apple Bloom, trying her best to smile. “So, why the long face all of a sudden dearie? It’s not because of my vocabulary is it?” Apple Bloom sighed. “No, it’s not that. It’s just, well, everypony else has been able to open so many bars trying to find a ticket. They all had a better shot at getting it than I ever did. Now, it just bums me out that I still don’t have a chance of winning.” Granny Smith looked at the sad face her Granddaughter was wearing. She never liked it when she wore it, and now was no exception. So, Granny put a hoot into her mane and began to ruffle around it. Apple Bloom looked up at her questionably, but was surprised when Granny pulled out a shiny golden bit. “Here dearie,” said Granny as she gave Apple Bloom the bit. “You’re going to have one more fling at finding that last ticket. Run into town and buy the first Pinkie Bar you see. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that the eyes have it.” Apple Bloom looked down at the bit, then back up at Granny. “Are you sure Granny?” “Course I’m sure,” said the old mare, smiling as though the best joke ever had been told. “Now go on and find that ticket!” Apple Bloom nodded, changing her face to a determined stare. She ran to the door, grabbed her scarf, and ran off into the snowy lane beyond. Granny sat back on her chair smiling at the sight of the filly. “Such a good dear,” she said, starting to close her eyes “such a good dear.” And soon, Granny’s eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep. *** “GRANNY!” Granny Smith’s eyes flew open at the sound of her name being shouted. She looked towards the ground and saw Apple Bloom looking up at her from her spot on the floor. A normal looking Pinkie Bar sat in the space in between them. “Oh, you got it. But why didn’t you open it?” she asked the filly. Apple Bloom smiled sweetly. “I wanted us to open it together. After all, you were the one who gave me the money to buy it.” Granny smiled back at the filly. She had been right; Apple Bloom was a good filly. Thinking of others, and wanting to share her feelings with others. Apple Bloom picked up one end of the bar in her hoof, while Granny grabbed onto the other end. “On the count of three,” she said. “One….Two….Three!” The two mares pulled hard, causing the wrapping paper to be pulled apart. They watched at the chocolate bar inside fell to the ground and shattered. The two looked over the remains, but didn’t yield any gold. They examined the wrapper, but that didn’t have anything in it either. Apple Bloom looked up at Granny Smith, her expression unreadable. “Do you ever think that, even with their great taste, the Golden Tickets make the chocolate taste terrible?” The two mares sat their staring at the shattered bar and themselves for a long time.