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Chapter 1: Start Thinking With Portals1,175 words
Chapter 2: Towards the Future!1,486 words
Chapter 3: Welcome to Equestrian Science!1,824 words

Chapter 2: Towards the Future!

CHAPTER 2: TOWARDS THE FUTURE!

Or, The Part Wherein a Fourth Joins the Party

Also, possibly, The Train Ride

Rainbow Dash looked out the window of the Friendship Express. She watched as the landscape of Equestria raced buy, hardly giving her enough time to look at anything. The constant roar of the wheels beneath the train built a small headache. She directed her view upwards, slowly, watching some clouds pass by, along with a few large birds...wait, those were just pegasi. Still, she watched them pass by, wings beating quickly. She followed them closely with her reddish-purple eyes.

She sighed, just wishing that the ride would be a little faster. How long would it take for Equestria to develop some sort of flying vehicle? It would be so much more efficient than a train! "How long is this going to take?" she asked, with a bored tone of voice, turning to Twilight, who had her head in a magically levitated book, "Art of the Sandwich, Vol. 2." Seriously? Who writes a book on sandwiches? Somepony with waaaay to much time on his hands, that's who. Twilight didn't respond to her question. Rainbow followed Twilight's eyes for a bit, watching as the moved quickly from line to line. She hardly noticed Dash calling her, much less staring intently at her. Dash's glare slowly intensified to the point where it may have rivaled Fluttershy's. "Twilight! Twilight! Hey! Are you even listening to me?"

"Huh?" Twilight asked, halfheartedly, glancing up from her book. She flipped a page, seemingly rushed. She must have been in a hurry to finish that book.

"She asked when we're gettin' there," Applejack said, turning towards the window. She watched a few pegasi fly by...wait, those were birds. Large ones, at that. Her eyes followed their movements across the sky.

"Oh, uh, not much longer," Twilight said, turning up from the book. She placed a marker on her page and closed the book slowly and carefully, not wanting to damage it. "Like I said, its just outside Canterlot." She put the book down on a small table next to her. "And look!" She pointed a hoof out a window excitedly. "There's Canterlot! We're almost there. You guys will have a great time!" AJ and Dash trotted over to Twilight and looked out the window, smiling as the huge city came into view.

"It looks more beautiful every time!" Applejack exclaimed. A wide grin formed on her face. Looking out at the city, she became filled with excitement.

Rainbow smiled, as well. But not at Canterlot. She smiled immensely wider than orange pony's grin, giggling with joy. She pointed at the sky high above the city at a trio of flying blue objects, barely visible against the sky that matched their costume colors. "THE WONDERBOLTS!" she yelled. A few ponies on the train turned and looked at her, brows raised at her fan-mare outbreak. "Omigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigodomigod!" She was practically bouncing with joy, a tiny squee escaping in her fit of joy.

"Calm down, Rainbow!" Twilight said. "You've seen them before. "Hay, you've saved their lives!" She rolled her eyes a little, but just enough for Dash to notice she was annoyed.

"Yeah, I guess. But still!" She continued to hop with joy. "Oh...one of them is flying away. I wonder where to...?" Rainbow looked up at the one peeling away, making sure not to loose its trail. The remaining two Wonderbolts were waving to their leaving comrade. "I think that's Spitfire. Hey...She's going in the same direction of the train!"

"Well, she's flyin' off pretty darn fast, Rainbow. Doubt that ya'll be able to watch 'er." Applejack said, pointing. She glanced over at Rainbow quickly.

"Cow poop..." Dash said, sadly. She crossed her front hooves and pouted a bit.

Looking out at Canterlot again, Applejack felt a little uncomfortable. Was it just her, or did something horrible happen every time they went to Canterlot? There was the Gala, the wedding...Well, those were pretty much the only times they even went there. But she couldn't help but feel in her gut that something bad was coming. Call it instinct, or just a bad feeling, but it was there. She felt it, for sure. Something bad was brewing.

"May I ask where you three mares are heading?" A nearby pony asked, slowly trotting over to the group. She (or he?) was wearing a black cloak and hood, covering herself almost completely. The only parts of her that sowed was a blue horn peeking out through the hood, as well as a bit of her snout. She (as it was now apparent, as her voice was distinctly feminine) levitated a large glass of what appeared to be fruit juice up to her face, gently taking a sip.

"We're off to Equestrian Laboratories!" Rainbow exclaimed, smiling. "We're off to test for them. I wanna try out a Portal Gun."

"It's Equestrian Science Innovations Laboratories!" Twilight shouted, a little upset at Rainbow's lack of memory. "Get the name right. And on the same subject, its the Hoof-Held Aperture Quantum Portal Device!"

Dash waved a hoof. "Whatever."

"Tri... Um, I see." The mare said, practically whispering. "Um...I am off to there, too. Tri... I mean, I was looking forward to testing a Gel Cannon." The mare said. "But of course, I also need the money. Badly."

The group of friends nodded together. Why is her voice so familiar? Twilight thought. I swear, I've heard it before. The voice sparked something in the back of her mind. Not a bad thing...It just sounded vaguely familiar. It also seemed like the mare's voice wasn't designed to be whispering. It sounded like the kind of voice that should be a loud one, up on a stage.

"I thought the Gel Cannon was pretty interesting, as well." Twilight said. "Can I look forward to testing with you, um...What was your name?"

The mare bit her lip. "I suppose you can. I look forward to testing with you."

"And you name?" Twilight asked, a brow raised.

"Um...Midsummer!" The mare said, a worried tone in her voice. "My name is Midsummer..."

"Well," Twilight started, "I look forward to testing with you, Miss Midsummer. Would you like to join us? Oh, I'm Twilight Sparkle, by the way." She bowed. "And this is Rainbow Dash and Applejack." she introduced her friends while pointing a hoof at each of them at the same time she said their names.

"Hey," Dash said, smiling at the mare.

"Howdy," AJ said, with a tip of her hat.

"Nice to see...uh, meet you three," the mare said with a nod, biting her lip a bit. She took another slow sip of her drink.

"So how 'bout joining us?" Twilight asked again. The mare seemed to avoid some questions. Was she hiding something?

"Uh...I guess...?" The mare said, a hint of uncertainty in her voice. She turned her head, looking out the window.

Twilight smiled. "Great!" She extended a hoof towards Midsummer, responded to by a gentle bump from the cloaked mare.

Behind the hood, Midsummer was smiling at the display of friendship. This could go well...for a while. She sat up on a chair next to Twilight, looking out towards Canterlot, now behind them. She smiled. She looked to Applejack and Rainbow Dash with a smile, who responded with the same gesture.

The train came to a slow stop at a station not to far from Canterlot. The brakes beneath the train made a grinding, ear-splitting screech, furthering Dash's headache. The doors beside the group opened slowly, and the four mares smiled. They raced out the door, Twilight and Rainbow in the lead. Applejack followed closely behind, and Midsummer crawled along slowly. "A lil' quicker, Midsummer? Ah've got a a feeling that at this rate, ya might get there long after us," Applejack said, turning her head back to their new friend. The cloaked mare nodded.

"Ok," she whispered, picking up the pace. AJ smiled, changing into a full gallop. Midsummer made another hidden smile, following AJ in a gallop as well.

In a few moments, AJ and Midsummer had caught up with Rainbow and Twilight. The two had already left the station, and Rainbow was staring at a building, dumbfounded. Midsummer and Applejack soon adopted the same look. Twilight, however, had seen this building before. In front of the group was a gigantic, pearly white building in a dome-like shape. In large black letters, the title "Equestrian Science Innovations Laboratories" was painted on the front.

"Lets go, girls." Twilight said, marching off towards it.

A/N: Chapter Two! Yeah! Still pretty short, but longer than the first. Most of the beginning chapters will be moderately short, but as we get further into the story, they'll get bigger. Or I could take, like, a week to write a really big chapter. By Chapter 3, Welcome to Equestria Labs! the chapters will probably get a bit longer.

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GuyInTheCorner

GuyInTheCorner #1 · Sep 6th, 2012 · · ·

This is Chapter 2. Duh. Big title card at the beginning. Might be on other chapters, might not. Chapter 3 will be up whenever I'm done with it. I'm not giving and estimates. They make things harder.

So tell me what you think!

P.S. Thanks to CookieMonstar for proofreading!

CookieMonstar

CookieMonstar #2 · Sep 6th, 2012 · · ·

My goodness, what a charmingly delightful story, with little to no errors in writing in this chapter! One must have a particularly talented- not to mention witty and handsome- editing team!

... Oh. Wait.

Circuit Blade