Chapter 1

“Hurry up! We’re gonna miss it!”

“Alright, alright,” I shouted over the loud popping of the popcorn on the stove. I moved the pan a bit, making a bit of noise and causing the flames to flicker blue. Once the popping had finished, I reached for a large bowl and dumped the popcorn in.

“Marie, get in here!” I shouted, reaching for the salt and the butter.

I heard my bedroom door open from down the hall. My best friend Marie stepped out and made her way into the kitchen to help me prepare the popcorn.

Marie and I had a lot in common, yet she was practically my opposite in every sense of the word. She had a clear face; I looked a bit like a pizza with eyeballs. Her hair was short, curly, and soft; mine was long, straight, and felt like a bundle of greasy straw. Physical differences aside, though, we were inseparable.

Marie pulled the spice cabinet door open, a look of deep concentration on her face.

“What’re you looking for?” I asked.

“Onion powder,” she replied nonchalantly, as if it were some normal popcorn seasoning.

I made a face in disgust. Marie then returned the favor by sticking her tongue out.

That’s another thing Marie and I don’t have in common. She likes weird food combinations and I prefer to stick with the more “normal” fares. Ever tried salt-and-vinegar chips with ketchup? Visit Marie's place, and she’ll eat those all day, washing them down with a tall bottle of Faygo. I had my exceptions for taste, but onion powder on popcorn just threw me for a loop.

“Nah, let’s just have regular popcorn. I don’t get that weird way you eat your foods,” I told her, putting a tiny bit of butter in the bowl. She just shrugged but began instinctively helping me shake the salt across the bowl.

“I am so excited for the premiere,” Marie squealed.

I nodded in agreement. “I’ve been waiting fifty years for this.”

“But…you’re fourteen.”

“I’ve still been waiting! Yearning, even! The off-season for this show is enough to drive me mad.” I put the bowl down on the table and reached into the fridge, where I grabbed a can of soda for myself and a glass of iced tea for Marie. With drinks and popcorn in tow, we headed back into my bedroom and dimmed the lights.

“You know, while you were taking a century and a half to make the popcorn, I decided to watch some of the new episode,” Marie said casually.

“You what?!”

Marie shrugged and repositioned herself in the bed. “Do you want to hear what happened?” And then without even getting an answer from me, she continued by giving me a bit of a synopsis of the new episode.

“Hush!” I shouted, throwing my hands over her mouth in retaliation. She giggled, slowly licking my palm. I threw my hand back in disgust, which only made her laugh harder.

“I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t hear anything!!” I shouted, throwing my hands over my ears. I curled myself into the fetal position and rolled off the bed.

Marie continued to laugh, near maniacally at this point. “But Twilight Sparkle - “

With expert speed, I jumped up and covered her mouth again. Then, remembering the horrible fate my action had brought before, I pulled my hands away.

That was another thing. While Marie and I may have our differences (and quite a few at that), we both love this TV show that’s really big on the Internet right now. It was around when we were kids, and we both showed interest in it then. But now, since we’re teens, it’s brought on new meaning to us. Can you guess what show it is?

It’s called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Alright, laugh all you want, but I am absolutely, 120% serious. (Ha- get the reference?) It’s pretty awesome, but sometimes it makes me wish I was gone from this world. No, I’m not depressed or anything, but being a human is a slight bit, uh… obnoxious. The fictional land of Equestria, however, seems still and tranquil, the perfect place for me.

I looked down at my watch dramatically. “Oh, oh, oh, Ivy, oh…”

“What is it?”

“I think it’s tiiiiiime,” I said dramatically, slowly reaching out to grab the TV remote. “Tiiiime… for… ponies!”

Just as Marie and I began to cheer, the doors to my bedroom closet flung open, making a loud banging sound as they hit the wall. We both gasped, and I dropped the remote in shock. Marie was convinced that her house was haunted, and I was beginning to wonder if, perhaps, these spirits she believed in had taken a little road trip.

I stood up and walked towards the closet, getting a closer look. Instead of my usual clothes hanging in color order, there stood a portal.

“Don’t go in there!” Marie shouted, as if she were watching a horror movie.

I shifted closer to the closet, jokingly trying to throw myself inside.

“Don’t!” she repeated.

And then the portal sucked me in like a vacuum.

Marie’s shouts grew softer and softer as I fell further and further to what appeared to be my doom.

Chapter 2

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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.

Chapter 3

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I pulled my head up, viewing my surroundings. Instead of the cartoon version of Ponyville, with street vendors and novelty shops this way and that, there were old, decaying buildings; small cottages; and dirty roads. What was once bright and pink and inviting now had a creepy feeling of abandonment to it. Windows and doors boarded up, with cobwebs draping across exteriors. Broken windows, rotting wood, and faded bricks. There were barely any trees, and the grass even felt dead and dry beneath my hooves.

I began walking around, trying to find something, anything familiar. I had just been abandoned by who I believed to be my new friends, which just seemed unrealistic and disrespectful to me.

Finally, a building caught my eye – something I recognized from the cartoon. The town’s bakery, Sugarcube Corner, was a large cupcake-shaped building. Despite maintaining its shape, it now looked grungy and empty and mundane. The familiar pink of the exterior had faded, and the "cupcake" was missing a few tiers. I pushed the door open lightly. It creaked open, then fell to the floor with a bang.

"Hello? Anypony home?" I asked, feeling my way through the darkness. Corners of the walls were dark and coated in spiderwebs. Spiders, among other creatures, crawled along the floor. The once-shiny pots and pans in the kitchen were coated in a thick layer of carrot-orange rust. The paint chipped, and the wallpaper peeled. It was absolutely horrifying seeing the fate of a beautiful place I once recognized.

Despite all of this, though, the sweet smell of cupcakes wafted through the air. Following my nose led me to the basement, which grew colder the further down I trotted. Why I felt the urge to follow a scent into a supposedly abandoned business’ basement, I’ll never know, but something told me I should. Plus, they smelled so delicious.

I used my new-found unicorn magic to flicker a light as I trotted down the stairs. The basement was in much worse condition than the top floor of the building. A table sat in the center of the room with a tray of cupcakes placed on top. I turned my attention to a note taped to the plate, written in purple glitter ink.

Dear Magical Rocket, these cupcakes are for you. I sure hope you like strawberry frosting! From Viney Art.

Something about this situation was very...dejâ-vu. I shrugged it off and took a bite out of one of the cupcakes. The cake was scrumptious and moist; the frosting was thick and melted in my mouth, but there was something familiar about these cupcakes.

Then I remembered.

I had strawberry-frosted chocolate cupcakes for my twelfth birthday, when I was still a human. I remembered having Marie and a few other friends share them with me. Surprisingly, these memories were strong and vivid, almost like they had just happened yesterday. The feeling of dejâ-vu suddenly doubled, with more memories of what had just happened today floating to the surface. Haven't I seen this exact scenario before, in this world, on another pony?

As if on cue, the tray of cupcakes toppled to the floor. Viney Art's head appeared through a hole in the table, a big grin on her face.

I screamed and dropped my half-eaten cupcake onto the nasty floor. Wordlessly, Viney flew out from under the table and pulled a blindfold onto my face.

"Viney, what are you doing?" I protested.

She probably grinned even wider at that. Even though I couldn’t see her face, the enthusiasm was all in her voice. "It's a surprise! Follow me!" She lifted me under the arms and began to fly.

Viney Art finally got me upstairs. I wanted to trot or teleport, but no, she stuck to dragging me up the stairs, which was a slow and painful procedure. I heard her straining.

Once I got up into the bedroom on the top floor, I was greeted by a loud surprise from everypony I had just met. Viney put me on the ground, or rather, dropped me. I landed on my back, where I felt my mane grow weirdly… sticky. I used my magic to remove the blindfold and discovered that I was glued to the floor, and Viney Art had glued herself to the ceiling.

I didn’t see anyone else. What the heck was going on?!

"Why are you upside down?" I asked her.

She giggled. "I'm not upside down. You are!"

I used my magic to clean up the gluey mess on my body, and found that everypony was glued to the floor.

I groaned at Viney. "What was that?! You do realize that was a dangerous and stupid thing to do, right?"

“Oh, sorry.” She smiled and brushed it off like nothing. "It was a papier-mâché party! That's why Snoodle's in a banana costume-"

She gestured to Snoodle Guy, who was indeed wearing a banana costume made from sticky newspapers and cardboard.

"-and why we were all glued to the floor!" she finished with her classic wide grin.

"Well, why?"

She did a flip in mid-air, then flew closer to me. Our muzzles were almost touching. “For you! To welcome you to Ponyville!"

Viney then landed on the ground gracefully, preening her wings proudly. A dab of glue was on her flank, as well as in her mane, on her glasses, and everywhere else.

“Well, it was awfully sweet, I guess," I finally admitted. "Here, let me help you get cleaned up.”

I attempted to cast a spell to clean up the glue she’d been covered in, beginning with her glasses and ending with her flank. “You know, I’m not someone who really enjoys surprises, but this was, well, something else.”

Something else? I thought to myself. It was a big, unnecessary mess. But she wanted to really impress you, so you can’t fault her for that.

“Well, I wanted to do something big for my new friend,” Viney replied, looking up from her preening. She sounded unusually... shy. I immediately felt guilty for how I had talked to her. “Sorry if it’s too messy.”

I let out a sigh. “It’s fine, but-“

"But what?" she asked.

I gasped and stopped my magic. “Look at your flank!”

“Huh?” She turned around cluelessly, then gasped even louder, nearly jumping at the sight. “It’s my cutie mark!”

Chapter 4

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"I still can't believe my special talent is art!" Viney babbled as we walked through the town square a few days later. She had invited me to stay with her in her cottage, and while we did grow closer, most of her conversations related around her cutie mark, her special talent, and how her special talent caused her cutie mark to appear. It was getting a bit repetitive.

Viney Art told me it was a market day, where vendors would take to the street, selling all kinds of goods from produce to jewelry to clothing. For once, Ponyville seemed as if it were bustling, city folks coming and going. I was grateful to see this sort of liveliness from someone besides my new friends.

"I mean, I knew I was good at art, but I never thought it would end up being my special talent!” she continued. “And here it is, my cutie mark!"

She turned her flank to where I could see the mark. I only sighed, feeling like I'd seen it a million times already. Of course I was proud of her, but as for me, it was getting sort of obnoxious hearing her mention it over and over.

"I still can't believe it, either," I said flatly. "Now, keep an eye out for someone selling fruit.”

A loud noise interrupted my train of thought. I looked up in the sky and saw a beautiful blast of color. The sun was beginning to set, leaving an orange and red backdrop for gorgeous fireworks. I was in awe.

"Do you like fireworks?" Viney Art asked me.

"Is it not obvious?" I shouted happily. “Let’s go figure out where this fireworks stall is!”

We made our way over to the stall, where a stallion lit fireworks to demonstrate to customers just how gorgeous and bombastic they were. I was no doubt impressed by his presentation.

“Impressive, huh?” he asked me, glancing up at the sky proudly, then back at me. He was a soft gray earth pony with a short black mane and a cutie mark of two green firecrackers. “That one was probably the most fun to develop. I used colored powder and mixed it with the usual components to really make it pop. Are you into pyrotechnics?”

“Pyro - what now?” I asked.

He smirked. “Fireworks. Would you like to light one?”

“M-me?” I glanced back at Viney Art, who only offered a big grin in response. “I mean, I’m kinda just looking for the fruit stall, but-”

“Nonsense!” He handed me a large yellow-and-red rocket-shaped firework. “You’re at an advantage though, unicorn.”

I gulped, beginning to light the fuse with my magic. “I-if you say so.”

“And I’ll stick with the traditional way,” he muttered, using the match that was in his mouth to light a similar firework with strings and tassels attached to the bottom.

Admiring my handiwork, I took a clumsy step back, feeling something tighten around the base of my hoof. But before I could look down and see what it was, I was on my way up into the sky, attached to the firework he had just lit! Without thinking, I began to kick my legs up in a frenzy, almost like I was swimming. (I was no good at swimming.)

I finally gave up my idiotic flailing, feeling like I was rising forever and ever. Kicking and screaming would get me nowhere except maybe my death. I wrapped my entire body around the base of the firework, afraid to get caught in the explosion yet embracing the growing warmth of the firecracker. I began writing out my final will in my head. I'm leaving Viney Art in charge of the bakery, Snoodle Guy could have my sketchbook...

Viney Art began flying over to me as fast as she could. Despite getting higher and higher up into the sky, I could just faintly make out the sound of her voice. "I'm coming!"

As the firework continued to crackle, I gulped, then released my grip. It exploded, a sea of pink and blue glittering across the night sky. The silvery tassels, having formerly trapped me, now flew freely with me.

"Good job!" Viney Art exclaimed from the sky, catching me in midair. This time, she didn’t lose her grip and we eventually made it back to the ground.

The stallion who had been lighting fireworks trotted over to me in a panic. "Are you okay?"

I dusted myself off, trying to catch my breath. I had ended up covered in soot and bits of tinsely paper from his fireworks. "I'm fine. And I'm sorry if I ruined this display of yours, sir."

"You've got to be more careful, miss. You could've gotten hurt." He put his hoof on my head.

"I know, and again, I'm really sorry.” I glanced up at him, feeling a smile grow on my face. “But I learned something during all of this.”

“And what would that be?”

“I like fireworks. A lot.”

He nodded and smiled, offering his hoof for a hoof bump. "You said it!”

The rest of the evening went fairly nicely. Despite nearly meeting my doom not even a week into this new life, we eventually found the fruit stall and stocked up on apples and pears for our cottage as well as miscellaneous odds and ends from other vendors.

As we trotted back, fruit and goodies in tow, we passed Sugarcube Corner, whose new ownership perplexed me. Did the original owners still own it? Were they even still alive? Or did Viney or Snoodle or someone else own it?

"Viney?" I asked.

“Yeah?” she replied.

"Do you know who owns Sugarcube Corner?”

Her eyes grew wider. “No, I don’t think anyone actually owns it now.”

“Oh?”

"And the original owners passed away years ago,” she continued. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake?”

I nodded, recognizing those names from having watched the cartoon.

“Yeah, my mom was good friends with those two. When I was a little filly, she'd bring home slices of pie and fresh-baked cupcakes for us to share. They had three kids staying with them, the oldest used to live upstairs in that top tier-”

I cut her off. "But what about Mr. and Mrs. Cake?"

She shot me a confused look. "What do you mean, what about them? They passed away.”

“Oh. Is that it?” I shouldn’t have been disappointed, but I really felt like there was going to be something interesting about this story. It seemed pretty straightforward and cyclical, though - owners pass away, building becomes decrepit and abandoned, and life finds a way somehow.

We stepped through the door of the cottage quietly, where I immediately trotted into the washroom and used my magic to clean up myself with a towel. There was some dirt on my flank, so I really scrubbed at it, and beneath that grime was something unrecognizable. It was a reddish mark of some sort. I considered poking at it, but if it was a wound, I probably should've taken care of it.

Viney banged on the door. "You done yet?" I hadn't realized she needed to clean up, too.

"Yeah." I opened the door nonchalantly.

Viney gasped and pointed at my flank. "You've got your cutie mark!"

I looked for myself, not believing what I was seeing. It was a red-and-yellow firecracker, just like the one I’d set off before, and just like the one that dragged me up into the sky.

Chapter 5

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If you think running on two legs is hard, you should really consider doubling up. By that, I mean using four legs, like a pony. You've got to figure out how to divide your weight as evenly as possible, or you’re doomed to fall down over and over again. Relearning how to walk was one thing, but running was another. Needless to say, I was getting pretty exhausted.

My sky-high pegasus friends sure were lucky, though. Gamer Strike and Viney Art blasted through the sky gracefully. I focused on Viney Art, the faster of the two, as she soared through the sky, leaving what looked like graphite pencil streaks.

I heard a clap of thunder in the distance, stopping in my tracks and heading back towards the bakery. Not even a minute later, rain began to fall. Viney and Gamer swooped down behind me, their fun having been suddenly dashed by the rapid weather change. I trotted to the door and opened it for them, their heads hanging low as if this was the worst inconvenience they’d ever experienced.

“That was sudden,” Gamer Strike sighed. “And I had just caught up to you, too!”

Viney Art scoffed. “In your dreams, dude. You’ll never get there.”

He rolled his eyes as she laughed. I couldn’t help but be entertained by their friendly rivalry. Yet the weather was still on my mind.

“What do you think caused that?” I asked. “The weather, I mean? Has it ever changed this suddenly before?”

Gamer Strike shook his head, a look of confusion growing on his face. “Nah, it’s usually, like, it gets all cloudy and gray beforehand since the pegasus ponies have to plan all the storms. I didn’t see a single cloud in the sky earlier.”

“And the rain sounds pretty heavy, too,” Viney noted, peering past the somehow still-intact curtains. “It could be like this for awhile.”

“That sucks,” Gamer groaned. “I’m not really in the mood to fly home tonight in this weather.”

“Me neither...but...” Viney’s eyes darted towards mine, a wicked grin suddenly growing on her face.

I looked at her blankly. “Are you… trying to signal something to me here?”

“Magical Rocket, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked devilishly.

“We let Gamer Strike stay here for the evening?” That seemed like the obvious answer, but what did I know?

“SLEEPOVER!” she announced, reaching for my hoof. “C’mon. High five.”

I stifled a laugh and pressed my hoof to hers. “Sleepover,” I repeated, my enthusiasm barely matching hers just out of sheer confusion.

Gamer scoffed loudly. “Are you two girls done?”

“Huh?” we both asked.

“Count me out for whatever girly spa stuff you’ve got all planned for tonight,” he continued. “Because I hate girly stuff.”

Viney Art actually burst out laughing at that remark. “Oh, Gamer Strike, I highly doubt that.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“Remember when we were fillies and we had those little human dolls and y-”

Gamer Strike groaned. “We were fillies. Don’t hold that over my head like that. Can’t a man change?”

“What happened?” I asked. “Wait, did you say high-five?”

Viney smirked. “A man can change, but you sure haven’t.”

Gamer only growled at that remark, causing Viney to let up.

“You’re right, man, I’m sorry,” she responded. “I will leave you out of whatever fun we have, per your request. But you will have a sad and lonely evening without us.”

“As it should be,” Gamer said.

The night flew by as Viney Art and I did all kinds of traditional sleepover festivities. We did face masks, some makeup, and even baked two batches of brownies. Meanwhile, poor Gamer had bored himself to sleep, blissfully unaware of the fact that his eyelids now had glitter on them.

Viney Art passed out on the floor shortly after, probably coming down from her sugar high. While she slept, she kicked her hind legs out like she was running. Gamer Strike also snored, each exhale growing louder than the last.

I didn’t want to sleep on the cold floor, so I trotted upstairs, where there thankfully was a couch. It wasn’t ideal, but it was an improvement. While it took forever to get to sleep, I knew I had made the right decision.

7 am struck after a difficult night’s sleep. The storm had let up, and the others were presumably still asleep, so I decided to trot downstairs to make them a nice breakfast. They’d wake up to something delicious. Now, if I could only figure out cooking magic..

I heard Viney Art shuffling awake, startling me as I tried to grab a frying pan with my magic. The pan clattered to the floor, further making me wince. That was strange. I hadn’t broken my concentration, yet the spell stopped suddenly like I had.

“Good morning?” I asked awkwardly, picking up the handle of the pan with my teeth instead. Yuck. The taste of rust immediately hit my throat.

She looked up at me plainly, then slunk back into the floor, presumably to go back to sleep. “Wake me up when it’s food.”

I sighed, beginning to scavenge the kitchen for ingredients to make something, anything. I wasn’t quite sure what was left over after we baked last night, and my attempts to find ingredients came up short. I was content with just eating fresh fruit from the market, but I wasn’t sure if the others were.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream from somewhere else in the bakery stopped my train of thought. It was the kind of scream that could shatter glass. I heard Viney Art immediately wake up, whispering for Gamer Strike to wake up, too.

Following the sound led us to the basement. We were so confused - who else was even staying here besides us? A chill ran down my spine as we made it further down into the dark basement. The culprit was none other than Snoodle Guy, who sat in the dark, shaking.

"Snoodle Guy, are you alr-" I looked at him and screamed. "Y-you're an earth pony!"

"I know!" he screamed back. Then he pointed to my forehead, screamed once more, and began running upstairs in a hurry.

I was even more confused. What could he possibly be gesturing at? We followed him back upstairs, where I faced him and asked him to tell me what was wrong.

“Horn… not there anymore,” he finally said, his body still shaking. “Yours… too.”

I blinked, not really processing what he said. “My horn is gone?” I asked.

Snoodle just nodded. “I was trying to do my usual spell to draw, and the concentration just broke! So I found a mirror and - “

“Wait, did you just say your concentration broke in the middle of a spell?!” I asked, beginning to panic. “That’s exactly what happened to me!!”

“So what do you think explains this?” Viney Art suddenly cut in. “I mean, that’s pretty unusual, right?”

“Of course it’s unusual!” I replied, maybe a bit too aggressively.

I had no basis of knowledge about pony anatomy, having never, well, experienced a life quite like this before. The closest thing that came to mind was some lesson from my biology class about how certain environmental changes can lead to trouble and mutations in the human body. But how applicable was that to a pony?!

The Journals of Magical Rocket: Remastered

by aricaitlyn

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5