The Journals of Magical Rocket: Remastered

by aricaitlyn

Chapter 2

I flew through the portal for what felt like hours, its glowing and sparkling aura engulfing my body. I felt so weightless, so free, yet being pulled by another force. Was this the end for me? Was this a new beginning? It was anyone's guess at this point, but all I knew was that I wished I hadn't gone in.

I finally hit the ground, the impact knocking me unconscious. When I woke, I realized that the ground I had fallen on was a patch of grass, sweet-smelling and soft. I pulled myself up, my head still feeling heavy, and began to walk, trying to familiarize myself with my surroundings.

Something about where I was seemed vaguely familiar, but I just couldn’t put my finger on it. To one side of the patch of grass was a paved pathway. The pathway led to…

“Canterlot Castle!” I shouted, nearly leaping out of my skin. Seeing it in real life was so unexpected, but for some strange reason I didn’t question it.

I began running down the path as quickly as I could. When I reached the castle, I knocked on the door, then pressed my ear to it to listen to the royals talk.

"Celestia, dear sister, could you please answer the door?"

"Luna, I'm a little busy. Why can't you get it?"

Luna cleared her throat, probably indicating that she was already busy with something. I heard Celestia sigh in an annoyed way. "This is why we have guards." She sighed again, then hollered for them to open the door.

I heard the deep voice of a man. "I've got it."

The door swung open quickly with an aura of gold, sparking magic. The guard began to examine me closely, then cocked a black eyebrow, like the ponies in the show would do when they're skeptical. "Princesses, there is a monkey at the front door! Should we let it in?"

I heard Celestia laugh from inside. "Sure, let me see."

The guard led me through the door, making sure that I was following him. I know monkeys may not be the most intelligent creatures, but it just felt so strange. "Come on," he cooed, trotting backwards as he led me down the hall.

I simply rolled my eyes and followed him into the castle's living room. Luna was playing a game console and wearing a wireless headset. She turned her attention to me and waved slightly, controller in mid-air with her magic. I shyly waved back to the princess as the guard ushered me into a seat.

"Um...hello?" I said, remembering I could speak.

The ponies in the room gasped in unison. "It....talks?!" Celestia exclaimed.

"Yes, your Majesty," I replied. "I talk. I'm not a monkey, I am what is known as a 'human'." I began explaining what had happened. If possible, everypony's jaw would have hit the floor as I explained every little thing to them.

"So, I'm from this place called 'Earth'. Earth is inhabited by creatures like me, and, of course, the animals and plants you have here. And.."

I gulped, my voice cracking. Who knows what could happen when I broke this news to them?

"You guys...are...on television."

Another gasp. I heard Luna drop her controller, then mutter a few swears under her breath as she picked it up. Celestia was the only one excited about this. "Oh, gosh! I'm on television!"

"Guys, calm down. It's not a big deal, really," I said to them. "But..."

Everypony looked at me, expecting terrible news. I just expected them to gasp obnoxiously again.

"...you're on a show for little girls, and grown adults enjoy it."

Another over-dramatic gasp came from all of the ponies in the room.

Luna looked at me, her video game paused. "Sorry, but we were not expecting such news. Please, continue, so we may figure out why a 'human' is among us."

"Anyway, I am a fan of your show, but I'm a girl. The show was, in fact, made for girls," I continued.

“But you’re not a little girl,” Luna remarked, not even turning from her game.

I groaned. “Yes, I do realize that.”

Celestia stood up, her height immediately intimidating to me. Without saying a word, she began to cast a spell on me, her horn glowing. I screamed, expecting to be suddenly transported elsewhere again.

Her golden magic rays, which had created a dust, began to clear. The floor seemed a lot closer to me now, and it was all I saw when I looked down as opposed to my feet (and that was disappointing, I was wearing my favorite boots today).

I gasped. “What am I?”

Celestia smiled. “You’re a pony. You’ve got to be one of us if you’re planning on living in Equestria.”

“But… what if I don't want to be a pony?”

Celestia’s smile grew wider, but there was an air of confusion behind it. “Why not?”

I didn’t have an answer. I looked down again, getting a feel for my new body.

“It’s just… not what I’m used to,” I finally admitted. “I feel so strange.”

“And it’s okay to feel strange,” Celestia said softly, looking down on me. Her flowing mane illuminated one side of her face. “But I’m sure you’ll adjust pretty well to your new surroundings.”

“Are you sure?”

She laughed a bit at that, a haughty regal laugh that seemed so… right. “I’ve never been more positive of anything in my life. Now get out there and make some friends!”

Really? It was going to happen that quickly, huh, I thought to myself. Yet I felt no hesitation to go and explore this new world when she booked a train ride to Ponyville for me. I wished her well, thinking positive thoughts as the train chugged down the tracks.

The train stopped at the Ponyville train station, a building all done up in soft pinks and blues. While I was excited to make friends, I wished that maybe, somehow, I would’ve pulled Marie into that portal, too, so I wouldn't be going in alone. I was nervous about making new friends back home; they all just sort of appeared out of sheer luck and common interests.

But this wasn’t home, I reassured myself. Things would be different here. I would be outspoken and optimistic and-

A purple blur dashed straight into me, shaking me from my thoughts. I tumbled to the ground and the pony in question was on top of me.

"I‘m sorry about that." The purple pony pulled herself up and shook off, a smirk on her face as she did so. "Practicing a new trick. You know how it goes."

I took a closer look at her. She wore glasses, just like me. Her coat was purple, and her mane was black, short, and crazy-curly. She didn't have her cutie mark, but she looked a little too old to be a blank flank. She seemed strangely familiar to me.

"You're new here," she said to me, holding out her hoof for a friendly hoof-shake. "I've never seen you around. I sure hope we can be friends! What's your name?"

"I'm, uh, Magical Rocket,” I said, pulling a pony name out of thin air. “What's your name?"

"I'm...VINEY ART!" she exclaimed, a cartoony smile stretching across her face. "But you can just call me Viney."

I grinned at her and shook her hoof politely, my curiosity confirmed by how she identified herself. From head to toe – err, hoof? – this was definitely Marie as a pony. But how?

Suddenly, a piece of paper was thrust in my face. It looked to me like a drawing of a bubble with a face and hair. The shading was amazing, and the artist was able to blend crayon so beautifully. Such a childish art form had never seemed great to me, until now, of course. I was speechless.

"Look at it!" a voice shouted from behind. While he caught me off guard, I was more confused than scared.

"Oh, hey, Snoodle Guy!" Ivy Art said happily.

Snoodle Guy put his paper down. Behind the drawing was the cutest face I had ever seen on a colt. "Hi."

I blushed nervously and waved to him.

"I draw bubbles," he replied, sounding proud of his artistic achievements.

I smiled at him, trying (unsuccessfully!) to hide my feelings for him. I hadn't even been in this world for five minutes, and already a guy has caught my attention. "Cool. I d-draw ponies."

He looked at me oddly. "What? You do portraits?" He smiled and threw his front hooves into a crazy pose. "Could you draw me someday?"

I blushed again, a smile growing across my face. “Y-yes, of course!”

He seemed familiar, too. This was getting strange.

And then I felt something on the back of my neck, like teeth biting me. I screamed and turned around, trying to apprehend whoever was trying to mess with me. A blue pegasus pony with wavy auburn hair was holding me by his teeth. I instinctively hit him with my hoof. What did he think was he doing?

Immediately, he let go of me, a tear running down his cheek. "Wh-why did you do that?!" he said softly.

"Hi, Gamer Strike!" Viney exclaimed, unaffected by this experience.

"Hey," he responded, snapping out of his sadness as if it were nothing. I looked at him. He looked like a nice guy, strong yet sensitive (and kinda mood-swingy), and his cutie mark was a video game controller, sort of like the one Princess Luna was holding earlier.

Viney Art introduced me. "Gamer, this is..." She paused and looked at me. "What's your name?"

"Magical Rocket," I said flatly. I figured she would have remembered it by now. Maybe I should buy some name tags.

From there, I met a soft blue mare named Serenity, who, once again, asked for my name. Steam was practically coming out of my ears at that point. Serenity only looked at me in shock, then turned her glance to a table of cupcakes that had come out of, well, nowhere. There was a note attached to it, the writing done in purple glitter ink.

She read it aloud. "To Serenity. Here are some cupcakes. From Viney. Well, okay, I guess I'll try one." She reached for a cupcake, only to be interrupted by Viney's head popping out of the table and toppling over the cupcake tray.

"Hi, Serenity!" Viney shouted happily.

"Wait a minute, weren't you just next to me?"

Viney popped up behind Serenity, who jumped. I wanted to laugh, but all that I felt was confusion. This sort of thing wouldn’t have been out of place in a cartoon. As much as this felt like reality to me – my perception didn’t seem to mislead me – I also had every reason to believe I was in a cartoon. And while it was nice, things only seemed to get stranger.

I was so caught up in my own thoughts, just standing around with a perplexed look on my face, so I don't recall what exactly happened after that. Viney must have signaled something, and everypony trotted off in different directions. I looked up, and unsurprisingly enough the town square was now empty.