Martha & Skits's Adventure in Ponyville

by Zenitram Nadroj

Love for an Owner

Martha goes through an obstacle course with ease. Martha and the pets walk onto the stand with their owners. The judge approaches the dogs and scratches his chin. He then raises the golden ribbon and walks forward. All of the owners are biting their nails for the ribbon and the dogs close their eyes. The judge then lowers and puts the ribbon on the winner. The owners look and are surprised. The dogs open their eyes and are surprised as well. Martha opens her eyes last and looks down. It is she who has won the ribbon and everyone applauds. She then walks to the microphone and gives out her acceptance speech.

“Thank you all for giving me this very meaningful award.”, she says. “When I was just a simple dog I would never have been a very successful canine with a very loving family.”

The audience applauds to the dog. Helen then approaches her dog and gives her a big hug.

“Martha, I'm so glad you've won the ribbon.”, Helen says. “I don't know what I would have done without you.”

They exit the building and the people of Wagstaff City gather around her and applaud and give her all kinds of meat. Suddenly, the applauding and she notices. All of the citizens are frozen like statues.

“Hey, what happened to everyone?”, Martha asks.

She looks down and sees her ribbon is gone. She then turns to Helen.

“Helen, what happened?”

She sees her own collapsing and groaning in agony.

“Helen, are you OK?”, she asks frantically.

All of the citizens then blow away and everything disappears. She sees everything is gone and sees her owner starting to turn. The dog's eyes widen as she watches her owner grow big and get very hairy. She then rises in front of her and opens her eyes which are now red. She has transformed into the monster that took all of the pets and animals and roars. Martha then runs in terror and the monster chases her. She keeps running away until she stops and notices there's no more road. She then falls and drops in a pool of soapy water. The monster then approaches the dog.

“Well, well, well. It seems I've gotten a lucky break for myself.”, the monster says. “Time to turn you into my slave.”

She then pounces.

“No!”, she shouts.

She then wakes up in her bed and screams in horror. She screams so loudly it wakes up Skits. Skits then barks to her.

“Sorry, Skits. I had a nightmare.”

Skits barks again.

“About a monster.”, she replies.

“Martha, are you all right?”, Fluttershy asks as she enters the room.

“Yeah. I'm OK. I just had a nightmare.”

“What about?”, the pegasus asks.

“About some monster.”, the dog replies.

“Oh, my. Well, don't worry. You're safe here.”

“Gee, Fluttershy. You sound so much like Hele-”, she says before she remembers that her owner is gone.

Flutters then notices what she said.

“What was that, girl?”

Martha then sighs and repeats herself.

“You sound so much like Helen.”, he says depressingly.

“Who's Helen?”

“Me and Skits's owner.”, the dogs answers.

“Oh, yeah. You told me about your owner when you and Skits were taken by those dream monsters.”

“Well, I don't want to waste your time by telling you about my dream. I mean it's very late.”, Martha says.

“It's OK, Martha.”, says Fluttershy. “Sometimes I have to stay up all night to help some animals get to sleep, Tell me about this 'Helen'.”

Martha takes a deep breath and tells her everything.

“Helen is a very loving and caring owner to me and Skits. And she means everything to us. It all started years ago when I was a puppy. I was trying to show all of the humans who have no pets that I'm a good pet to own.”

“What are 'humans'?”, Flutters interrupts.

“Oh, right. This is a world of animals. I'll explain later.”, Martha says. “Anyway, just when it seems that I would never find a good home, I then saw a little girl looking around for a cat when she noticed me. That little girl was my owner to be, 'Helen'.”

“Oh, that's sweet.”, Shy says.

“Yeah. But one day I was adopted. But instead of Helen, I was adopted by a criminal woman and her clumsy butler.”

“Oh, my. That's terrible.”, Flutters says.

“It is.”, the dog says. “Helen really wanted me so badly, that I was all she ever thought about. I managed to escape those two crooks and got back to the shelter. And not a minute too soon, because two parents came to the shelter and took me to my true owner.”

“Helen?”

“Yes. And we've been together ever since.”, Martha says. “And years later, Skits came into our lives.”

Skits barks.

“When Skits first came in, Helen seems to be more interested in him than me. So I tried to be more like a puppy so she'd love me again.”

“Oh, so you were jealous?”, the pegasus asks.

“No, I just wanted to be loved like Skits did.”, Martha says.

“That's what 'jealous' means. It means you want what another has.”

“Oh. Well I was feeling jealous, but then Helen told me that she loves me and Skits equally. And she actually felt the same way when her little brother, Jake, was born.”

“She must have really loved you two.”, Shy says.

“Yeah. She is always there for us whenever we go on great journeys together. I was always there to cheer her up when she felt sad, we would always sing together, and she'd nurse me back to health when I got sick, and she'd give me the best hugs ever.”, Martha says as she starts feeling sad. “I really miss Helen.”

Martha then starts weeping and whimpering as well as Skits. Fluttershy then starts shedding tears herself and hugs the dogs.

“Shh. It's OK.”, she says. “We'll find a way to take you two back to your own world.”

“Promise?”, Martha asks.

“Promise.”, Fluttershy says.

She then yawns.

“Well, it's been a long night. I better go back to bed.”

Skits and Martha then yawn as well.

“Yeah. We better get back to bed, too.”, the dog says.

“Goodnight, Martha. Goodnight, Skits.”, the pegasus says.

“Goodnight, Fluttershy.”

Skits barks goodnight. She then turns off the light and leaves the room. Skits then turns to Martha and barks quietly.

“Of course, Skits. If she said she'll get us back home then I'm sure she'll get us back home.”, Martha whispers. “We just need to have hope.”

Skits moans.

“Oh. 'Hope' is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. If we just have hope, I'm certain we'll be back with our family again.”

Skits barks reassured and falls asleep. Martha then falls asleep. Three of Keretomatus's minions are still at the window and one of them hold a ball of magic with memories. The minions then fly out and head back to their leader.