Tales of Another Ponyville

by Paradise Oasis

Rating: teen
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other
Length: 51338

Stoybelle tells tales of the ponies of a very Different Ponyville....

Storybelle, Ponyville's resident librarian and storyteller, is always on hand to read stories and tales to the visitors who come from all over Equestria to her story loft. Listen now, as she weaves the tales of the interesting ponies who call a very special town called Ponyville home- a very different Ponyville from the one you know...

Art by Lore-Lei

Published 2015-11-03 18:20:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-04-18 05:01:15 UTC

Think Pink!

You know, I think this is going to be one of those extra special good days that comes along on an extra special rare occasion! See, I was just helping Twinkle Twirl and her dancers set up over in the town square for the Spring Promenade tomorrow, and they've got a really neat routine put together that involves dancing between the parade floats, and-

Oh, sorry about that! I'm always thinking one step ahead of what I'm doing! My name's Pinkie Pie, and I'm the mayor of Ponyville! Yep, it my job to make sure everything in this town runs smoothly around here. And believe me, in a crazy town of ponies like this, that's an awfully hard job to do! But my friends always manage to pull things through, no matter how goofy it gets around here.

Like... take the other day, when I decided to bake some cookies. I had just gotten a bunch of dough and other ingredients from Sweetberry's sweet shop, and was on my way home to make some yummy chocolate chip for my friends and I, when a familiar green pony came galloping up to me.

"Hya Pinkie, whacha doin'?" The green pony asked me, nearly bouncing up and down in excitement. "Ohh, you've got baking stuff there! Are you gonna make some cookies?"

"Oh, hi Minty." I greeted her, a smile on my face. "Yeah, I was just going to go back to the house, and bake a few dozen chocolate chip cookies. Wanna come and help me?"

"Sure!" Minty exclaimed, bouncing along after me. "I love to help you make mint cookies!"

"I said chocolate chip, Minty." I sigh, trying to ignore her enthusiasm. I'm used to overly excited ponies like Minty, I grew up with a house full of them. Jumping around, breaking stuff, acting all hyper and talking to people who weren't there. I'm surprised Mama Pie didn't go insane dealing with all my sisters. She told me I used to be like that too... until I caught a cold when I was real little, and got really really sick.

The doctor said it affected my brain, and he told mama pie I wouldn't be the same- he didn't mention it would also make me sane. I stopped acting wacky like my sisters, and started acting like a normal girl. That when my voice got all stuffy from the damage the cold did to my sinuses, and I turned into the extra-super serious pony you know now- well, extra super serious for a Pinkie Pie.

Anyway, the two of us trotted back to the balloon house- it's a really big house shaped like a hot air balloon, it's where I live- and Mints dashed in ahead of me, eager to start baking.

"Ohhh, let me measure out the ingredients Pinkie, pleeeaasssse?" Minty begged me, hopping up and down as I unpacked my grocery bags. "I'll make sure I get all the ingredients just right!"

"I dunno Minty, maybe you should-" But before I could even get another word out, she had already tore open the bags, and dumping flour, baking soda, and other ingredients into the mixing bowl. "Minty, no! We need to measure those out just right!"

After I had cleaned up her first little oopsie, I started to measure out the proper ingredients- a teaspoon of this, a cup of that- and carefully monitored Minty as she poured each into the mix.  It all seemed to be going well, but what I didn't know was that little trouble making was 'fixing' my recipe every time I turned my back, pouring in this or that at random.  I really should of realized this when Minty got real nervous when I wanted to taste the batter.

"Here, why don't you just let me lick the spoon?" She asked nervously, her eyes darting around nervously. "You don't want to taste that icky old stuff, now do you?"

"Minty, we followed the direction to the letter, this stuff shouldn't be icky!" I pointed out, starting to get suspicious.

"Welll, you don't want to spoil the surprise of how good they'll taste, now do you?" She grinned, moving between me and the bowl of batter. "Let's just hurry up and get these things into the oven, so we can enjoy all that chocolate-y goodness!"

So, putting my suspicions aside, I poured the batter into the cookie tray, and put the cookies into the oven. So imagine my surprise when the chocolate chip cookies I was supposed to be baking suddenly turned green.

"Ohhhh, Minty!" I growled, trying to suppress my anger. "What did you do to my cookies!?"

"Just... added a little mint flavoring... " My friend whimpered, backing into a corner as I stared her down. "...and maybe a little green food coloring, maybe."

It was just then, that the oven behind us began to shake, rattle, and roll.

"MINTY!" I yelled, scowling angrily at the oven that was now hoping around. "What else did you put in?!"

"Well, maybe a bit to much baking soda and yeast..."

BOOM!

The oven, well... it blew up. The explosion sent green goo and batter flying everywhere- all over the walls, all over my furniture... it coated everything, All my favorite paintings were ruined, and all the pages in my favorite books are all stuck together. Rainbow Dash later told me all the ponies in town saw a minty goopy-green mess was pouring out the windows, and they all came running to help.

As for Minty and I, we were plastered up against the wall of my house, trapped by all this icky gunk.

"Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten us into." I groaned, rolling my eyes as I was hanging upside down. "Oh Minty Minty Minty... when will you ever learn?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...!" Minty cried, as the other ponies came galloping in to pry us free. "...Oh ,Pinkie, why do I keep messing everything up?!"

*Sigh* It took us four hours to clean all that nasty goo up, and we both missed our dates with stallions that night. I'm not angry at her though- she is my friend, after all. It's just Minty being Minty.

The Denim Blue Yonder

Howdy there, everybody! The name’s Denim Blue, and I’m Ponyland’s resident cowpoke! I’ve been out in the badlands, rustlin’ up outlaws, and now I’m finally back to good ol’ Ponyville!

Seems like not much has changed ‘round here. There’s Scootaloo, ah hope she doesn’t run me over with that crazy scooter. There’s Fiesta Flair, seems she’s already started plannin’ a welcome back party. She’s always been so organized, but not as organized as-

Ah, darlin’ Rainbow Dash. That elegant mare always puts a smile on mah face. She’s always got somethin’ kind to say to everyone, even the ponies that ain’t always nice. Plus, she’s really pretty, an’ smart, an’ amazing, an’- oh no, did ah say that out loud? Ah hope she didn’t hear that…

Anyway, ah’ve been out in the badlands fer the past year. It’s pretty crazy out there, but I can take it. That’s what a’hve been born to do, after all; this here mark on mah flank- a denim patch with a thorny rose on it- symbolizes mah talent for bein’ one o’ the roughest, toughest cowponies in the west!

Ah suppose ah should tell you about some of mah adventures in the wild west! After all, what’s a cowpony with some interestin’ stories to share!

A couple o’ days ago, me an’ mah fellow cowponies were huntin’ down an infamous pony outlaw called October Calendula, but she’s better known as the Yellow Blitz. She’s the fastest draw in the west, and she’s got the looks to show for it- that mare distracts ya with that yellow flower on her flank, and then yer out before ya know what hit ya!

Anyway, me an’ the others were in the local cider bar, havin’ a generally good time, when that nasty mare comes in all friendly-like. She goes up to the bartender, a shy lil’ stallion by the name o’ Sunrise Ocean, an’ asks for some cider like any normal pony would. O’ course, Sunrise is blushin’ an’ splutterin’ like a fool, and I don’t blame him for it. He might not know it, but ah’ve known about his crush on her ever since her wanted poster appeared on the bar wall that fateful day. Ah think he has it hung up on his bedroom wall!

Anyway, she comes an’ sits down next to a pony, a tall blue feller with a teal an’ yellow mane; the sheriff o’ this little town, Sheriff Countryside to be particular. Ah knew right away what she wanted, and it wasn’t purty; she wanted him dead. And she was good at doing it.

Ah got up and walked over to their table ta see exactly what was goin’ on. Sheriff Countryside says that they’re jus’ talking, but I can see that he’s got a bit of unease in his eyes. October Canlendula is wearin’ a flowy orange gown with some strangely puffy sleeves. Strangely puffy sleeves that were just the perfect size fer holding a gun. Sunrise is still starin’ as her, practically fallin’ over the edge of the bar. It’s quiet fer a few moments (although it felt like an eternity), and then October spoke.

“So, how long’ve ya been in this town, Sheriff?” she asks in a seemingly casual manner, her back hooves positioned in such a way that her flank was in mah face. It was disgustin’, and ah saw Sunrise blushin’ again outta the corner of mah eye.

“ ‘Bout 5 years or so,” the sheriff answered, taking a sip of his cider, “ever since that ol’ sheriff Braeburn died, ah’ve been the peacekeeper ‘round here. Though, ah’ve gotta give credit where it’s due: now that Denim Blue over there’s come ‘round, he’s been a better sheriff ‘n I have!” He gave a lil’ chuckle at that last remark.

“Izzat so?” she asked slyly, turnin’ towards me. “You’re the main peacekeepah ‘round these parts?”

“Yeah.” Ah reply nonchalantly, tryin’ not to let anythin’ on. “Ah’ve been around here for a few months.”

“Well, ah’m not sure ya should stay!” she says, pullin’ a lil’ shotgun from her sleeves. Ah knew it! Ah thought as ah pulled mah own gun from the holster on mah saddlebag. She fires right away, and I jumped up on the bar, dodgin’ it. Sunrise Ocean’s cowerin’ again, shakin’ and shiverin’. Ah feel real bad for him sometimes; the mos’ jittery guy in town workin’ at the cider bar of all places.  Maybe ah can get ‘im to talk more often someday, but ah think he’s perfectly OK to stay behind the cider bar counter.

Anyway, ah fired at ‘er, and it was a big bunch o’ firin'. Kinda hard to tell ya it clearly, since gunfights are usually pretty fast and crazy, but she got away b’fore we could catch ‘er. It was still pretty shaken up in there, an’ ah want over to comfort Sunrise.

“Y’alright?” ah ask, trotting over to the nerve-wracked stallion, who slowly gits up an’ nods nervously. He ain’t much of a talker, so ah don’t push ‘im to talk, but ah know that as a witness he might have to talk more than he’d like. It was a pretty normal day fer the both of us, and now ah’m back here!

Yeah, believe it ‘r not, I actually live here, in good ol’ Ponyville! Ah do visit Appleloosa more everyday, but ah’d never leave mah home. Especially if ah couldn’t see Rainbow Dash again!

What? No, ah don’t know anypony named Applejack. Ah mean, ah’ve heard of her; she’s apparently th’ one who organizes the picnics in Ponyville, but ah’ve never really talked to ‘er. Why do y’all humans always associate us country folk with ponies named Applejack? Eh, ah guess it makes sense, since we do mostly come from Appleoosa. Shore is interestin’ how you human readers work, but ah’m not judgin’.

Anyway, ah should probably go an’ greet everypony! It’s nice to be back in this sweet little town after bein’ in the rough an’ tumble west fer a while. Maybe sometime ah can get Sunrise Ocean to talk to y’all someday, but ah’m not gonna bet on it. See y’all!

guest chapter by Thefanficpony, many thanks!

El Atrevimiento

El Atrevimiento

¡Hola, poni! ¿Cómo estás? ¡Muy bien, gracias! Me llamo Fiesta Flair, mi tengo—

Oh, tú no hablas Maretonian, eh? ¡Qué pena¡ ¡Qué pena! Anyway, hi dere! My name's Fiesta Flair, an I'm de super cool party planner for all of Ponyville! No, Pinkie Pie is not de town's party planner, why does everybody tink dat?! It's me, de yellow mare with de red mane and maracas cutie mark! Anyway, mi famila came from Maretonia to Ponyville a long time ago, an' I still have de language. So I kinda sound mucho different from all of mi good friends here in Ponyville!

Tomorrow is de big day, 'cause I am planning de quinceañera for de Scootaloo, 'cause it gonna be her fifteenth birthday, and dat a mucho big cause to celebrate! (No, not de cutie-ceañera, we ponies are born with de cutie marks nowadays.) So I gotta hurry up, an get everything ready just in time for de party! It not something I should be rushing, let me tell you! I gotta whole lotta stuff to organize, so it is mucho work. And oh boy, I kinda procrastinated so long, it gonna be real hard to catch up now!

So dere I am, standing outside mi red-tiled roof hacienda, reading off all de things on mi party checklist as de delivery ponies bring dem in from de outside. Looking through all de boxes, I made sure I had everything dat was listed on mi clipboard.

"Birthday cake ingredients-check! Pinata parts-check! plates and hats-check! Looks like everything is coming in!" I say aloud with a grin, going down de list an' checking tings off with de hoof pen as I go. "'Dis gonna be de best birthday ever!"

When I was a little filly, I discovered dat mi talent was in putting together de Fiesta. I first learned dis, when mi mama was unable to put together a good birthday party for mi brother, and I had to jump in and save it from being a disaster. Mi madre was a wonderful baker- dat was her special talent, after all- but she couldn't plan a fiesta to save her life! So I been planning de parties ever since! I really good at it too, making any kind celebration mucho spectacular!

"Oh, hi Fiesta! I see you're working on Scootaloo's birthday party already!" An annoying voice call out from behin' me. "Yes yes yes, good to see you're staying on the ball this time."

"Oh, buneas noches to you, good Razaroo." I call back, trying to keep my attention on de list, and ignoring her usual childish taunts. "So,vas is new with you, señorita?"

"Bonus nachos to you too, Fiesta." She growled at me, giving me de evil eye like I had just kicked her puppy or someting. "Just seeing if I could help the amateur party planner with her work. And yes yes yes, you do look like you could really really use my help!"

Ohhhhh, dat Razz! She always start de fight over de hosting de birthday parties!  Our special talents kina overlap on dat subject, though mine cover all kinds of parties. We are always competin' to host de birthday parties here in Ponyville, and usually we end up split right down de middle on who gets dem. She also still mad at me for taking her boyfriend Frisco away from her, an' marrying de stallion she loved on her very own birthday!

"Pinatas, burritos, sombreros... huh, looks like it's you're standard Fiesta party here, yes yes yes." Dat little la diabla sneers at me, looking around at the boxes of delivered party supplies in disdain. "You know, Fiesta dear, ponies can get awfully tired of every party having the same cultural style over and over again. You really should try something new, don't you think?"

"De Ponyville ponies, dey love mi fiestas!" I snap back, stamping mi hoof on de ground. "At least it mucho more fun dan dat stupid birthday book of yours, Razz!"

"I've had just about enough of your mouth, you Maretonian taco slurper!" Dat old nag snorts, her nose flarin' up like de radiator in mi hacienda. "Want to put your money where your mouth is?! Yes yes yes, I bet you I can put together a better birthday party than you can!"

"You're on, chica!" I shout without thinking, ready to pounce on dis snake on a mare. "We both put together de birthday party for señorita Scootaloo! And de one she likes best is de winner!"

"And the loser has to give up birthday party planning in Ponyville altogether, yes yes yes! I have you running back to maretonia with your tail between your flank!" Razzaroo sneers, turning away as she trot back to her house. "Good luck señorita Fiesta, you're going to need it!"

By the blessed virgin mare, that gringo make me so mad, I want to trample her into a pancake! My hooves are still shaking in rage when Frisco comes home. He stares at me in utter confusion, not knowing what had just happened.

"Fiesta, is something wrong?" My good husband, he ask me. "You look like you're about ready to explode!"

"Oh esa vieja bruja, ella me hace querer desgarrar mi pelo!" I roar, trotting by Frisco angrily. "Voy a vencer a su bien!"

"Well, that was certainly weird." She say aloud, after he thought I was out of hearing range. "Okay, what did I miss here?"

If it's a fight dat little blue hussy with de pink and white mane wants, it gonna be a fight she gonna get! I'm not gonna lose my position as Ponyville's mucha party planner!

A true Rarity

~Note from Guest Author: I wrote this in my own format so it will not be the same as Paradise's writing style. Also, I am not as familiar with Generation Three as Paradise Oasis, so there might be a few mistakes. This contains references from the Runaway Rainbow and Come Back, Lily Lightly. I hope you enjoy my chapter!~

Okay... I am almost done... Just need more sparkles... Glitter... A lot of glit- Oh, hello there! I didn't hear you walk in. I guess that I was pretty focused on this toy- I mean, important...royal thing... To pay attention to anything else. Huh? What do you mean? Of course I can be here, in this room, inside this castle! That's because it's my here, in my room, in my castle. Why

Well, I'm royalty!

Hey... How'd you get in! Oh, the purple unicorn let you come? Hmm.. I'm guessing you mean "Cheerilee". Anyways, yes- I am royalty.

I see exactly what you're thinking of. Just because I have fun with glitter doesn't mean I can't be a princess. Hmm... Let me introduce myself. Maybe then you can get to know me better. Besides, Cheerilee says it is good conduct to do so.

My name is Rarity! I'm the littlest princess of Unicornia, but that doesn't mean that I can't be a good princess. I like adventure, and I absolutely love having fun! And no, don't even ask if I am related to a white-furred unicorn with purple hair. I have never met her... Every single tourist asks that! Look at me... Pink fur, red, orange, and yellow mane, my tail is green, blue, purple... How are we even associated?

Back to me. If I do say so myself, I'm quite the adventurous princess.

Hmm? What's my royal duties? Pfffffffft, I just learn stuff from Cheerilee! Who exactly is Cheerilee? Wow, you ponies-I mean, people... Don't know anything here, do you? Well... Cheerilee is my friend and mentor.

Lots of older princesses did a bunch of boring stuff: like attend meetings about complicated laws, eat tiny sandwiches and unfrosted yellow cakes and sip warm tea, (yuck! Chocolate milk is much better) and even wear fancy dresses with itchy material and tight shoes that squeeze hooves!

They just don't know what fun is. They need to take a break from all of that! I'll make sure that we don't have to attend boring meetings, that I can eat what I want, and even wear what I want! That's why, as the newest princess, I'll make sure that everything changes! Hmm, what's that? Ok, fine... I do need to do more stuff that's royal-like. That's where I'm at now.

This, is my magic wand. What do you mean... Oh... No, us unicorns do have magical horns. Then why the wand? *Sigh* Because, wands are fun! Who doesn't like to have lotsa fun, after all?

What?! *Eyes widen* You don't know my kind of fun? Y-You aren't sure what I mean? Oh, then today you will be my student! Here, take a seat on that pink cushion, right there. Good! Hehe, I feel like Cheerilee! Now you get to be the one learning. Now you'll learn to have real fun, Unicornia style!

What do you mean, you do have fun? Well, not the way you should! Look at those princesses- they think tiny sandwiches and sitting straight all day is fun. You might be mistaken too!

Hmm... How do I teach you how to have fun? To be completely honest... This is a teeny bit harder than I thought... Oh, I know. I'll show you some tricks with my wand!

*Cheerilee walks in* "Rarrrrrity!"

Hello, Cherril-

"What are you doing with your wand?! I told you not to touch that!"

Oh... Um...

"And- oh, good day! Please ignore the little... Conversation... Rarity and I are having."

Like I was about to say... I was showing our guests my wand. It's to teach them about fun!

"You're not old enough. You might be a princess, but you are still a young filly with lots to learn!"

Aww, please Cheerilee? I learned my lesson last time! Remember when Rainbow Dash, Spike and the rest brought me back from Ponyville? And what about when I went looking for Lily Lightly when she ran off to the forest after being embarrassed?

"You were mature when you went after her. But not when at Ponyville! I was dead worried about y-"

That was the first time! It was super fun though. *Giggle* I remember that on the way home, I followed a butterfly... The next thing I knew I was floating down a river!

"What?! You never told me that!"

Heh... It was fun though.

"Ugh! Rarity!"

Okay, okay. That was in the past. But hey, a more recent adventure was when I went to help find Lily.

"You were a lot better during then. Hmm... I'll let you show your new friends your wand if you can tell me the lesson she learned when she returned."

Uhm... Something about not being embarrassed about her talents?

*Sigh* "Close enough."

Yay! Ok, look here, person! *Waves wand around*

"Rarity... Be careful. Know which spell you are doing!"

I am! Twirl... Twirl...! *Throws it into the air* O-oops! Wrong spell!

"What do you mean?!"

I was thinking of my last visit to Ponyville... And the spell that got me there! I didn't mean to, but I think I did the telepor- *POOF*

~~~

*BLOP* Arrrrgh... My head always hurts when I do that... Oh, good! You came too! *Gasp* Hey! I know what! That was your very first lesson in having FUN! Good job, student!

Hmm... We seem to be super close to Ponyville! C'mon, I bet you want to go back and meet the rest of the ponies there. Besides, I don't think you want to come back... Cheerilee is probably super mad now! She needs a lesson in fun, too. *Giggle*

It was great meeting you! Without your visit, I couldn't have come here- I'd be back in boring Unicornia.

Why don't you venture off to Ponyville? I might be a little filly, but I sure do know my fun! And those ponies are the nicest, funnest... Or as Cheerilee says, "more fun", and well... Most amazing ponies you'll ever meet! I'll miss you, new friend! *Waves*

A Royal Pain!

"Alright, you two!" Spike tells the two ponies, tapping his foot impatiently as he looked over the paper with today's royal itinerary. "Please approach the throne and state your cases!"

Bubblecup and Waterfire trot forward, both bowing towards my throne. I nod MY head in return, and listens intently to what they have to say.

"Princess Wysteria, I have come here to protest Bubblecup's incursion onto my work!" Waterfire protests, glaring over at the other mare in annoyance. "She was down in the sewers, and messing with my gauges and dials! That Persnickety plumber pony messed up the town's water pressure so bad, I had a pipe explode in my face!"

"Well you started it, you stinky sewer mare!" Bubblecup shot back, getting up in Waterfire's face. "If you hadn't turned down the water pressure to each house in Ponyville, I never would have had to go down there- now would I?"

The two mares start a shouting match, and my ears begin to ring from their yelling until Pinkie Pie and Spike step in and try to work things out. As usual, I simply sit and smile from my throne, while it's up to the pink pony and the dragon to settle a dispute. Once again, my only use as a princess is simply to smile and wave. Pinkie soon does her Pinkie squink and provides the answers both ponies need, and my royal court is dismissed for the day,

Oh, I'm so sorry! That no way for a pony to introduce herself! My name is Wysteria, and I'm one of the ponies who live here in Ponyville! I really really love flowers, but I'm really no good at taking care of them- that's okay though,  the breezies do most of the gardening and weeding here in town, anyway.  But what I am really good at is organizing and putting things together for the town, like putting together our town's parades and festival. That's what I used to do all the time, until Spike made me the town's Princess.

Huh? No, I didn't just become Princess by touching a flower that was attached to Spike's tail he was sleeping. The ponies in this town are not stupid enough to just make a pony their ruler for touching a flower on a dragon's word. After Spike woke up and made his little claim that I was the princess of Ponyville, Storybelle and Kimono did a search through the genealogy records in the castle archives, and discovered I was one of the descendants of the princess of friendship. The ponies of town were so excited about getting a princess to rule over them, that I was made ruler without even getting much of a say in it.

I will admit that it kind of made sense to make me the princess; I was the one who was always helping ponies with their problems, settling disputes between ponies in this town when they'd arise. When I was little, my mother, mayor Flitter Flutter, was the mayor of Ponyville. I learned from an early age to take charge of ponies who need direction, organizing events at my school, and telling ponies how to carry out complex plans. After mom was gone, I took over organizing special events in town myself. Ironically, I was already acting as a leader of Ponyville, before this crown was put on my head.

"Well, that was a very excellent day of holding court today, if I do say so myself." Spike says to me, looking at his pocket watch, and twirling it around on it's chain. "Once again, you were the perfect picture of a graceful and elegant princess."

"Why thank you, Spike! And you were a big help, too!" I compliment him, smiling politely. "Say, why don't we head out to the gardens, and celebrate our success today by smelling all of those lovely flowers!"

"Princess, princess, princess! How many times have I told you?" Master Heathspike tells me, shaking her head. "Princesses do not sniff the flowers!"

"Ummm, Spike? Remember, what we talked about!" Pinkie stepped up, stopping Kengrowth from his usual 'princess' tirade. "Go ahead, Wysteria... you've earned your walk in the castle gardens."

"Thanks, Pinkie." I tell her with a sigh. "If anyone needs me, I'll be just outside."

I trot away from my two 'handlers', moving out into the gardens and submersing myself in an endless sea of flowers. Daffodils and roses, tulips and marigolds... there is noting it this world that calms me down and makes me happy like flowers, flowers, FLOWERS! I love flowers sooo much because they don't need aid or assistance in growing; they just give you love and beauty and ask nothing in return (yes they need water and love, but the breezies provide it for us).

I walk from flower to flower, sniffing their sweet fragrance. And then, it hits me; I've been reduced to what these flowers are. A pretty little doll that is simply there to look nice, while Pinkie and Spike do all the work of ruling Ponyville. I was actually more of a leader before I became a princess than I am now! True, Master Heathspike is letting me be me again, but I can't make any royal decisions with him helping me. I still need to be free to be me, but it seems there's no escape from being a pony in a gilded cage.

I need to get away.

I need to be free.

As I looked up at Celebration Castle, wondering if there is any possible way I could get away from all these ponies, my eyes come across the hot air balloon docked in the castle's tower turret. It's the really old one that was supposed to have belonged to the Princess of friendship. Suddenly, an idea forms in my head; scatter my regalia through the castle, and distract a certain detective pony who might discover my plans, while I  gather my belongings and make preparations. That balloon will be taking flight this very night....

... and this mare will finally get the little vacation she has so long desired.

Magical Mystery Trip

Oh hi, Minty here... no it's not my story yet, but thought I'd speak up. You know, as bad of a klutz I am, and as much as this town's ponies like to avoid me, there are ponies that are even more disliked than I am around here. I had an experience with two of em recently, and It's something I really wish I could forget about. Because thanks to these two ponies, I ended up taking a really, really bad trip.

It was last Thursday, and I had gotten kicked of the Cotton Candy Cafe for knocking a table over and smashing all the teacups, when I saw this old beat up van, painted up in these wild splashes of color, with a peace sign on the van's door. There was smoke puffing out of the little smokestack on the back of the van, and sitar music was blaring out through the vehicle's loudspeakers.

"Hey, Minty, is that you? Far out!" A voice called out from the misty wall of smoke. "I thought I sensed your aura out here. Like, how's it going, mare?"

Now, every pony in town knows that this is a van that should be avoided at all costs, but I didn't see it in time to avoid it. It belongs to the weirdest pair of ponies to ever live in this town, and they've been known to cause if more disaster than I'm capable of causing.

"Oh, hi Port O' Bella." The greet the white mare with the mushroom cutie mark, as she steps out of the smoky haze. "Oh, I'm just heading home after hanging out with some friends, and I really need to get home to rearrange my sock drawer, and-"

"Wow, it's so totally rad to see you again!" She grabbed me by the hoof, and pulled me towards the door of the van. "You so totally need to stop by and commune with us for awhile!"

Oh dear, Bella is the last mare you want to commune with, or do anything else, for that matter. Actually she and I used to be best buds, and she helped keep me out of trouble back when we were younger. But one day I found a strange field of mushrooms outside of town, and Bella insisted on trying one first, to make sure it wouldn't hurt me. But those strange mushrooms changed her, and now my dear childhood friend is nothing but a burned out hippie pony!

"Like, your aura feels way too tense, girl!" Bella told me with a laugh, as she pulled me through the strings of beads hanging at the door, and inside the funkadelic van. "You totally need to peace out with us for a while, until you go all mellow!"

I was now in a confined space, with lot of wispy clouds, and shag carpeting covering every surface. A shiny disco ball was hanging from the ceiling, and reflecting what little bit of light was in the van. I coughed and gagged at all the stale air in there, and my head started to hurt from all the toxic fumes.

"Minty, it's so cool to see you again! Are your pure cosmic energies in tune with the universe?" A purple stallion with an ice cream cutie mark jumped up from the driver's seat, trotting over to greet me. "So good for you to join us while we harmonize our karma with all living things!"

Banana Split, oh dear... he was a colt I had a crush on when we were younger, he used to work at the ice cream parlor here in Ponyville. He used to serve me the sweetest green mint sundaes for free right before our dates, until that mushroom-huffing burnout turned him into a hippie. Ugh, I still can't believe I lost such a cute colt to a fallen former friend!

"Minty, girl. you look kind of stressed." Port o' Bella told me, shoving a mushroom into my mouth, and pushing my head back so I swallowed it. "Here, one of my magic shrooms will make you feel allll better!"

Ugh, these stupid magical mushrooms she grows in the van's window box- I can't believe she made me eat one! Some of these mushrooms can heal a sick pony I've heard... but I've also heard she grows some no-so-very nice mushrooms that do not-so-very nice things! I try to spit the fungus up after she stumbles away... but to no avail.

What, happened next.. is still kinda fuzzy in my mind. I remember lots of lights, sound, and colors. The van's floor gave way beneath us, and suddenly we were flying through the air, like we were Pegasai with no wings. The three of us soared over a pretty field of daffodils, and when I reached down with my hoof to touch them, they turned into a swarm of butterflies that flew away!

"That's it, embrace the warmth and love of the cosmic all!" Bella shouted flying next to me. "Let the positive energy of Aquarius flow through you, as we enter a new age of peace and happiness!"

I then saw Bella and Banana fly us far off into space, swimming through the endless sea of stars together as we flew hoof-in-hoof. Then all the stars changed into green birds, that flew away into a green sky! Then, the tree of us were all floating in a green boat on a green sea of lime punch, with green cracker goldfish swimming through it, while we sipped green mint tea from green cups. Ohhh, it was such a wonderful time, I almost wished it would never have ended!

I don't know how long it was before I stumbled out of that van, and trotted shakily down the street, wandering around town with swirly eyes, and muttering to myself. I woke up in Daisyjo's garden the next morning, talking to the daises about how pathetic my love life is. My head is still ringing from that whole mess, and I'm laying here on my bed with a cold compress on my forehead ever as I write this with my hooves! She got me so funked out with her weird mushrooms, I'm using big words I don't normally use, and I don't' even know what they mean!

A word to the wiser ponies in Ponyville; avoid this psychedelic mare at all costs. Who knows what kind of mushroom she'd give you to 'mellow out your aura'! Because if you're not careful around Miss Port O' Bella, she may send you on a trip that you'll never come back from!

Love of a Beautiful Melody

We're the ladybugs!

We're the ladybugs!

Here's our ladybug song!

Rat tat tatat doo doo doo

We love to play for you!

The Ladybug jamboree are a wonderful backup band, playing their instruments as I sing! Pinkie and her band are always amazing when they join me in song, making the performance much better than if it were just me singing. Pinkie has been a great influence on me though, helping me to get over my shyness so I can sing for everybody. I always have the jamboree play for me during my concerts in Ponyville!

"Totally awesome singing, Starsong!" Sunny Daze called out, stamping her hooves and cheering " You were even cooler than before!"

"We love you, Starsong!" Sparkleworks called out, whistling and clapping. "You're the best singer in all of Ponyville!"

"Thank you, thank you all!" I declare bowing to the other ponies as I flew off the stage. "I just love performing for you all!"

My name is Starsong Melody, Ponyville's resident Pegasus singer. They all love my singing, though I can't really understand why. See, I'm a Pegasus pony; the only one who actually lives in Ponyville with all the earth Ponies. I used to live on butterfly island as a filly, but I never really liked being there, because my singing sounded horrible.

Yes, you heard me right. The other Pegasus ponies thought my singing sounded like a car ran over my voice box. That's because all Pegasus ponies are really wonderful singers, and my voice really wasn't that good. Now, normally being a really lousy singer wouldn't be enough to get me to leave the beautiful island I grew up on, but I have another little problem... singing is my special talent, it's the thing I love to do the most.

Yep, I'm really lousy at my special talent. How's that for a cruel trick of fate?

As I trot away from the stage and the admiring crowd, I hear the sound of musical bells playing. Hearing my tummy rumbling, I immediately zoomed through the air towards the jingling sound, and came to land in front of a white and pink ice cream truck, with a big plastic cone on top. The Ice Cream Dream Supreme, Ponyville's musical sweet treat vehicle on wheels. As I trot up to the side, the blue driver pony with the rainbow mane moves to the back to greet me.

"Heya Starsong! Good to see ya again!" Rainbow Swirl greeted me, pulling out his scoop, and opening the cooler. "What'll it be today?"

"Gimmie one scoop of every flavor!" I cry happily, as the surprised pony prepares a giant cone with twenty scoops stacked on top of it. The giant ice cream is barely in my hooves before I begin to greedily devour it. "Om nom nom nom nom nom nom!"

"Wow, you sure have a big appetite, Star!" The stallion chuckles, putting his scoop away. "I've never seen a pony gobble a sundae like you Pegasai do!"

"Mph-mph mph- soooo good!" I squeal in delight, finishing the last ice cream scoop before crunching the cone in one bite. "Yep, and the best thing of all is we don't get brain freeze!"

Pegasus ponies are addicted to ice cream; Spring Fever tells me she thinks it's because we burn the sugar and calories at such a high rate through our flying, making us crave the stuff like a bee or a breezie craves pollen. All I know is this stuff tastes great, and I would feel half as alive as I do when I eat it! And Rainbow Swirl always gives me lots of this stuff, without asking anything in return!

"How'd your concert with the Ladybug Jamboree go today? I bet you were amazing!" Swirl smiled at me, giving me a funny look I didn't quite understand. "I really wanted to go, but Sweetberry stuck me on ice cream truck duty this morning!"

"That's a real shame, Swirl. You missed a really great concert!" I told him excitedly flying around in a circle over the truck. "I was so awesome, I really had em' stamping their hooves along to the music with me!"

"Wow, you're the only Pegasus pony I've ever heard sing, Star."  Rainbow Swirl complimented me, wiping off the counter and closing up the cooler. "If the others Pegasus ponies are half as good as you, I'm gonna drop everything here in Ponyville, and move to butterfly Island!"

I only respond with a shallow laugh, trying to hide my own nervousness. If the other ponies in this town knew how well the other Pegasai sang, I'd be forgotten and ignored just like I had been at home. Having a special talent that every other Pegasus pony is good at kind of leads you to not being very happy, despite the fact they treated me like a friend there. But when I moved to Ponyville, I was shocked at how well the earth ponies took to my singing, once Pinkie Pie tricked me into singing in public. I became a star because of my 'wonderful' singing voice.

The truth is they love me because I sing better than any earth Pony can. I may be a poor singer by Butterfly island standards, but here that singing voice is as beautiful as tinkling chimes to the harsher voiced earth ponies. Seeing how happy I am living here, Queen Starcatcher has commanded the other Pegasus not to sing for the other pony tribes, so I that I have a place to be happy... and I don't look bad to the others by comparison.

"You know Starsong, the only thing I love more than making and serving ice cream, is beautiful music." Rainbow Swirl said with a sigh, staring at me with that weird grin again. "If you were around me all of the time, I could praise your music and give you free ice cream whenever you wanted."

I suddenly looked back at him in shock, and I finally understood why he longingly gazes at me all the time. He's in love with me and my music, and is offering me ice cream and praise for my special talent in exchange for my companionship and returned love. Isn't this what I wanted, to feed my special talent and get attention? He's offering me quite a lot in exchange for dating him....

"I'd be happy to hang out with you for awhile, Swirl!" I exclaim, flapping over and sitting in the passenger seat of the ice cream truck as he got ready to drive off again. "Say, did I ever tell you about the time a cranky flutter pony came to Ponyville, and tied me up and impersonated me? It was really the craziest thing...."

After a lifetime of being ignored, sometimes it's just nice to be appreciated and be loved.

Motormouthed Mare

Ohmygosh! A new customer! Wow, I've never seen you around Ponyville before, and I so totally know every Pony here in Ponyville so that means you have to be new! So, what's your name? Where are you from, Butterfly island or Unicornia? Do you like to play hopscotch, or chocolate chip checkers? Have any hobbies? What's your favorite color? What's your favorite food? What's your favorite sport?  Do you like bike rides or boating? Do you have a boyfriend, or are you a single mare? Cause if you're single, I've got some connections here in town, and I can hook you up with a real nice-

Oops, I'm sorry! I can tell by that look on your face that I kinda overwhelmed you with my questions there. My name's Cotton Candy, and this is my Cotton Candy Cafe. I run Ponyville's number one hangout spot, and serve up all the yummy dishes and sweet treats every pony here in Ponyville could possibly want! Huh, compete with Sweetberry's bakery? Nah, Sweetberry's cool! She runs a shop where you buy treats and take 'em home, my cafe you sit down and eat stuff right here! Besides, she comes over and helps me bake stuff here a lot for Ponyville's big parties and festivals!

So what'll it be? A cup of hot coca? Or maybe a doughnut and a ham sandwich? Yeah, we eat ham here, not like the rest of Equestria; gotta keep that protein up, ya know! Ohhhh, maybe you'd like a slice of cake? My boyfriend Golden Delicious always stops in for a slice of cake before he goes to work in Applejack's apple orchard. Oh, you might have met him, he's the white stallion with the blonde mane and green apple cutie mark. Really nice and quiet guy, all he usually says is 'uh-huh' all the time, though. The stallion is such a goofball, though; one time he lost a bet with his sister Apple Spice, and she made him walk all over butterfly island in her sundress! Ohh, Apple Spice! Boy that mare could-

D'oh! I'm so sorry! I did it again! I just have a habit of running my mouth all the time; that's why they have me as the announcer and DJ for most Ponyville events, don't you know? I've never actually been very good at cooking things or making stuff- that's why Sweet berry and Triple Treat make most of the goodies and food here at my cafe, I just reheat em' or serve them up. But I'm really good at talking to the ponies who come in here, and I can really perk em' up when I'm listening to their troubles- well, when I'm not busy chattering myself, that is! I've been really good at talking and talking and talking to ponies, every since I first learned how to talk as a little filly!

Hmm, ya know, that might explain why mom and dad tossed me out on my can when I turned eighteen... I couldn't keep my trap shut. Not that it's a good thing I talk so much, but I really can't help but say what's on my mind all the time! Ohhh, did you hear about King Hidden Treasure, the ruler of the Pegasus ponies on Butterfly island? I heard he has a bad habit of stuffing other pony's things away and hiding them, then making the other ponies go on a hunt to find them! Or what About Midnight Dream, the stallion who is supposed to go into the Dreams of all the ponies in Ponyville, Butterfly island, and Unicornia and make sure to keep all the bad nightmares out. I bet he'd had some really interesting stories to tell... if he didn't automatically forget everything he did in dreams the night before, that is.

Hey did you hear about Sew and Sew? I hear she's too shy to actually sell her dresses herself, and has Rainbow Dash do all the talking for her! One time, I went into the dress shop to pick up a gown, and Rainbow was all like 'Dahling' this and 'Dahling' that- I mean, what is with that pony, doesn't she ever know when to shut up!?- Anyway, I got tired of listening to Rainbow yammer, so I trotted to the back and found Sew and Sew! I was all like 'hey, how ya doing?" and she was all like 'um-uh-ah', and so I started to tell her about the kind of dress I wanted and how awesome her shop was and how much everybody in town just loved her dresses and asked her how her boyfriend Autumn Skye was and what was she planning for her new fall line!

Man, you could tell that mare was really shy, the way her face turned beat red, and she dove in between the clothes racks to get away from me! Pinkie Pie tells me it's because the sound of my voice is like a hoof screeching on chalkboard, but that so totally can't be right! I mean everybody loves listening to be talk when I DJ or tell stories, why would they find me annoying just talking to them? I mean, it's not like I'm a walking disaster like Minty or anything, and I've always got lots and lots and lots and lots of nice things to say to every pony in town- I mean it's not like you're finding me annoying right now, huh? It's not like I'm totally grating on your nerves right now, and making you want to run outside, and throw yourself into the Ponyville lake just to get away from me, right?

Hey, where'd you go? You haven't even ordered yet! And why is one of the boats tied to my dock outside the back of the cafe missing? Oh well, I guess she had to be somewhere in a gosh-awful-darn-hurry! Hey ,she even left a really big tip for me! And what's this note she left here? Hey, it says. "PLEASE SHUT UP!" Oh, well she couldn't have possibly meant me, right? Oh dear, listen to me now, I'm talking to myself again! Huh, maybe I should close up for the day, and try to go out to Breezie Blossom and try to enjoy the flowers and the warm weather.  I wonder why the Breezies always have to go help Wysteria in the royal gardens whenever I decide to stop by, it's really, really strange....

Mommy issues, Dahlings!

Hello there, Dahlings! Rainbow Dash here, the fabulous pony of ponies whose always on the cutting edge of fashion, and always dresses in style! My lovely blue coat is the shiniest in all of Ponyville, and my luscious rainbow main reflects the thing which I love more than any other- and that is rainbows, Dahling, rainbows! My keen sense of fashion can decide the dress and style that is best for any mare, Dahling! And that's why I am the salespony at Sew and Sew's Sweet Reflections Dress Shop. I'm always really talented at making our customers happy, and our current visitor is certainly no exception!

"Oh, hello there, Goodie Darling!" I greeted the lovely mare who came trotting through the door of our shop. "What brings you by our shop today? Looking for a new frock to match the season?"

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, you know me all too well!" My dear friend smiled, blowing a hair from her disheveled mane out of place. "I'm sure you can pick out something for me that matches my unique fashion sense!"

"Oh, but of course, darling!" I replied nodding my head in agreement. But already my brain was hard at work, sketching out this ponies details in my mind's eye.

Let's see now... blue coat, blonde and white mane, mirror cutie mark. Very high haunch, even shoulders and flanks. Goodie Goodie is a pony always on the go, always busy to the point she even forgets to take care of her mane or her looks. A simple blue flower print miniskirt would really accentuate her features, and compliment her personality.

"Here you go, dahling!" I exclaimed, pulling a flouncy little skirt off the rack for her. "This little number is SO you!"

"Oh wow, I can't believe it! This skirt is so wonderful!" Goodie slipped the ensemble on, and admired herself in the mirror. "Rainbow, you've done it again! How do you always know just what a pony should wear?"

"Oh, you know... I just have a knack for knowing what the customer wants, dahling!" I tell her, turning to help her look through another rack. "Now, let's see if we can find you a dahling little scarf over here..."

The truth is, I have been good at discerning what pony fashion would look good on a mare ever since I was a little filly, dahling. I come from a family of more sporty and athletic ponies; tomboys, who had little time for fashion or feminine things. My own sweet grandmother was the pride of the Ponyville track team. And it was expected that I would be the next rough and tumble mare to enjoy getting herself dirty while competing on the field. But my heart was never in such barbaric activities, dahling... I love fashion and dressmaking more than what my family is famous for.

"Thanks again for your help, Rainbow!" Goodie thanked me, before totting out of the shop. "I'll be back again soon to get that new pair of shoes for my hooves!"

"Farewell, Goodie dahling!" I waved to her. "See you again next week!"

I went back to hanging a bunch of dresses different ponies had tried on back on the racks, when I heard the sound of the door to the shop opening again. Turning around, I smiled at what I thought was another customer.

"Hello there, dahling! And welcome to Sweet Reflections-"

"Well, I should've known you'd be here, wasting your time and talent with all these stupid dresses!" An angry yet familiar voice growled at me. "Instead of running races or exercising, you're too busy being all fru-fru!"

The rough and muddy pink coat, the extremely long and unkempt pink mane, and the rainbow and cloud cutie mark. I knew at once that this was the one and only Ponyville mare known as Rainbow Flash!

"Oh... hello, mother." I replied glumly, returning to my work and trying to ignore her. "What brings you around my shop?"

"I thought I'd try to get you away from all this girly nonsense, and get you to do something actually important." Rainbow Flash snapped at me, pushing her wild and tangled locks back so they wouldn't get in her eyes. "I have an important job for you, and it requires you to leave this shop that looks like pink threw up all over it for five minutes."

"It's not girly nonsense, mother dahling! It's my life!" I protested, spinning around angrily to face her. "Just because I don't want to go out root around in the mud like a pig the way you and daddy do, doesn't mean that my special talent isn't important, too!"

"I just don't know where I went wrong, Dashie. I kept dolls away from you, wouldn't let you wear dresses or pretend you were a princess. I even stopped you from having tea parties with your silly filly friends in the neighborhood." My mother told me with a sigh. "I just don't know where your father and I went wrong."

"Mother, you and Scootaloo are the only two mares in this town who don't like girly things, and the rest of us think you two are crazy!" I snort. "So you if have nothing better to do than insult me and my chosen career, I suggest you trot your way back out that door!"

"Have it your way, Dashie. I won't be bothering you again!" Rainbow Flash growled at me, before heading back out the door. "I just thought you might like to know that your little friend Princess Wysteria is missing, along with the Celebration Castle's royal balloon!"

It only took a few minutes for what my mother had said to sink in, before I galloped out the door after her. Looking up at the castle's tower, I noticed the hot air balloon that was usually docked there was absent from it's normal spot.

"Oh no, Wysteria dahling!" I moaned sadly, shaking my head. "What have you gotten yourself into this time!?"

Galloping out to find Pinkie and the others, I realized just how wrong about me Rainbow Flash actually was. I may not have turned out to be the daughter she wanted, but I'm enough of a mare of action to take care of my friends when they are in danger!

"Hold on, Wysteria dahling!" I said to myself. "I am on my way!"

Really big mistake, Yes Yes Yes!

Today was going to be an extra special day, oh yes yes yes! Until I messed it up, big time. Yes yes yes. This little purple earth mare with a white and pink mane has messed up big time...

This place is so quiet, the one place where the laughter of my fellow Ponyville ponies doesn't reach. Maybe that because it's the one place in Ponyville that is actually sad... and we ponies don't like to think about sad things. But that also makes it the perfect place to hold the meeting I need to hold today. Yes yes yes, nobody is going to bother us out here while we talk!

It doesn't take long before I see a pony with a green mane and a ladybug cutie mark trotting towards me, and with a smile I knew my super-secret message had reached unicornia!

"Wow, Razaroo, you sure can pick the creepiest places to talk."  Mish Mash Mee shuddered, looking around at the eerie decor all around us. "I mean, Ponyville cemetery is the last place I would think about planning a pony's birthday party!"

"I needed someplace where other ponies wouldn't see the neat tricks I wanted you to do for Scotaloo's party, yes yes yes!" I told him, looking around at the growing shadows of evening. "I wanted this to be a surprise, and an orange unicorn doing magic right in the middle of Ponyville might draw some attention, yes yes yes?"

"Yeah, I suppose it might." He replied, looking at the tombstones all around us, and shivering. "But I don't understand what's with this need to show up Fiesta Flair on this whole birthday party thing. Couldn't the two of you just work together, and-"

"I'll never work with Maretonian taco slurper! No! No! No!" I snapped back, glaring at him angrily. "Not after she stole Frisco from me!"

Mish Mash just looks at me in surprise, and I think about how crazy I must sound. I don't really hate Fiesta, oh no no. It's just that hosting birthday parties has always been my thing here in Ponyville. When I was a little filly, we were making little scrapbooks in arts and crafts class. One of my friends had a birthday that weekend, and I surprised her with a gift, and took a photograph of it. Everyone loved it so much, that I started saving the pictures showing my friends getting birthday surprises in the scrapbook, and I actually began to plan the parties myself. Yes yes yes, I became the town's birthday party planner, and the scrapbook became my birthday book!

But all that was before Fiesta Flair discovered her special talent was putting together all kinds of parties, when I asked her to help me put together a pinata  for Tink a Too's birthday. She discovered she enjoyed making wonderful fiestas for ponies to celebrate, and started competing with me in the party business. Yes yes yes, we could have gotten along just fine, her taking the town's other parties and festivals, and leaving me the birthdays. But no no no, she had to have it all!  I had to sneak birthday parties in under her radar, using my book to stay one step ahead of her on the Ponyville birthday calendar. But then she found a way to personally strike at me, in a way that tore my heart in two.

His name was Frisco, and he was the sweetest stallion I had ever met. Yes yes yes, I met that wonderful pony at Tink-a-too's birthday party, he was bobbing for apples that Applejack had provided. He was a bridge builder here in Ponyville, and worked very hard to keep the roads and sidewalks repaired and safe. He loved hanging around my parties and celebrations, and I could always count on him to show up and keep me company... even if he didn't know the ponies the party was for! He was my favorite party pal at all of the birthdays I ever threw.... until that little latina pony stole him away from me!

"So, what do you want me to do for Scootaloo's birthday?" Mish Mash asked me, cocking his head to the side. "It must be really big if you want me to use my magic."

"Fireworks! Yes yes yes!" I exclaim, waving my hooves in the air. "I want a big display of exploding fireworks, that'll impress every pony in the land!"

"Fireworks? But you don't need magic for that!" He exclaimed in protest. "You should talk to Sparkleworks, those are her department!"

"But these have to be bigger and louder than normal fireworks, so that they'll be bigger and louder than anything Fiesta could produce!" I reply, pointing up at the nighttime sky. "Yes yes yes, fill the heavens with bright and colorful BOOMS!"

"Are you sure, Razz? You know how mixed up my magic is, compared to other unicorns!" Mish Mash Me warned me. "Who knows what would happen if I tried to magically generate a fireworks display."

"Please, Mish Mash, just do it." I reassure him, putting a hoof on his shoulder. "Yes yes yes, I'll take any responsibility for what happens!"

"Okay," He sighed, his horn lighting up. "but don't say I didn't warn you!"

A light from his horn shot up into the clouds, and a massive series of explosions lit up the sky above. it didn't occur to me that the ponies in town would see such a large display from here, but I was so excited about the display, that I really didn't care. I was so caught up in my triumph, that I didn't see the magic affect the cemetery around me, or the strange sounds coming from the old part of the cemetary? Oh, how was I supposed to know what was going to happen next? I was such a foolish, foolish little pony... yes yes yes....

Extra Special Wish

Written by Violet CLM, who has my eternal thanks!

Hi, I’m Skywishes! I’m pink and I have pink and purple hair, and my cutie mark is about a kite! You’ve probably heard of me, or maybe you haven’t, but you used to have, because I used to be pretty famous, and… oh, you know what I mean!

Wow, I’m not introducing myself very well! Let me start at the beginning… no, the middle! For a long time I wasn’t sure if I was special enough to contribute anything to Storybelle’s special book, even though Coconut Grove kept telling me I should. But I just had the most wonderful experience on Butterfly Island, and I think it’s important that every pony knows all about it.

Once upon a time every pony in Ponyville used to come to me whenever they needed one of my extra special wishes, and I was so happy that I could be so helpful to so many of my friends! I wished that Fizzy Pop would get over her hiccups, and she did! I wished that Kimono would find a book that would prove Wysteria was really our princess, and she did! I wished Sweetberry would find her oven mitts after Puzzlemint didn’t want to take her case, and she did! I even wished an extra special wish for Fiesta Flair once, but… oh no, Storybelle, I don’t think that bit should be in the book, oh dear, you know what I mean?

Oh, but the very most amazing day of my whole life was when I wished I could help Twinkle Twirl help all her students with her “dance in the clouds.” Do you know Twinkle Twirl? She’s the dance teacher at the Twinkle Twirl Dance Studio, and as a dance teacher she’s such a wonderful dancer, but… well. Her students were all having problems, and I went up to the most magical place in all of Equestria to make my wish, and that’s where I met the most magical pony in all of Equestria.

Her name is Queen Starcatcher, and she rules over Butterfly Island with King Hidden Treasure. She’s white from head to toe, but for the blue and pink parts of her mane and tail, and she has these amazing mystical runes all over her body. Island Delight once told me that if you could read Starcatcher’s runes, you could read the complete history of Equestria written there… but only one pony knows how to read them.

You see, it was Starcatcher and her Pegasus pony friends who’d been granting all my wishes all along, in secret! And eventually all her Pegasus friends and all my earth pony friends finally got to meet each other and now all of us are all of our friends and… oh, you know what I mean! And suddenly no ponies were coming to me for wishes anymore because they could ask the Pegasus ponies directly. But do you know, I didn’t mind! Now that I’m not running around after kites all the time I’m able to find out what else I really love doing, so I’ve been learning the ukulele, and also I’m taking hula dancing lessons from Baby Honolu-Loo! She’s the littlest Pegasus pony of them all, but she’s also the most amazing hula dancer you’ve ever seen, and of course she loves ice cream.

Today was one of my hula lessons, so I got in one of Ponyville’s hot air balloons and flew to Butterfly Island. I guess I could have asked Starcatcher if I could borrow some of her butterflies to give me a ride, but I didn’t want to bother her just for a little thing like a hula lesson. (And you know, I think I saw another hot air balloon flying around, and it looked just like the one that we keep up in Celebration Castle! Isn’t that strange?) Anyway, I arrived early for my lesson, and Baby Honolu-Loo was crying because she’d dropped her ball in a hole in the ground and her baby hooves weren’t long enough to reach it.

I hid behind a candy cane bush and watched to see which of my many extra special friends would come along and help her. I’ve already talked about Queen Starcatcher, of course, but there’s also Coconut Grove, her captain of the pony guard! Coconut Grove tells beautiful stories about faraway places to help the Pegasus ponies with their shyness, and she’s so good with her hooves, she could probably use a coconut leaf to pry the ball out. Or there’s Island Delight, who guards the secrets of Butterfly Island… when she’s not busy surfing! And of course I can’t forget Thistle Whistle! Thistle Whistle is a great whistler, but he’s afraid of everything, but he’s also the bravest pony I know, or maybe the bravest coward… oh, you know what I mean!

But as I sat there thinking about all those wonderful Pegasus ponies, and so many others, and of course lots of my Ponyville friends too who might have happened to have been visiting, none of them actually showed up! And suddenly I realized that the pony who could help Baby Honolu-Loo… was me! My legs are much longer than hers, so I reached into the hole and got her ball out. Then I washed off in the ocean and then we had our hula dancing lesson, and Baby Honolu-Loo, who’s such a terrific dancer for her age and such a good ice cream eater, was impressed by me… me! Just because I had longer legs!

So what I realized is when we think about how extra special all our pony friends are, the things we’re noticing may be things that they hardly even think about doing at all, because that’s just who they are. We’re all amazing in our own ways. So even though Twinkle Twirl gave me the extra special Best Friend Ever award that one time, maybe what I should really do is give one of those awards to every pony in Ponyville… and in Butterfly Island too, and maybe even Unicornia, and who knows where else?! Wysteria got away with it!

When I told Storybelle about all this, though, she laughed at me! She told me Baby Honolu-Loo wasn’t impressed by my long legs, but by my kind heart! “Listen to yourself, Skywishes,” she said. “I’ve never met a pony who cares so much about all her friends like you do. That’s why ponies think you’re their Best Friend Ever.”

Me? Wow, but I was only trying to help, so they could do all their amazing things without making mistakes, and…

“Didn’t you ever wonder why Queen Starcatcher and the others helped you with all your wishes? Well, I think it was because they were impressed by how selfless you were!”

Well, you know, I don’t know what I know anymore. But I don’t wish I did, because I know that I will someday, because I have so many wonderful ponies all around me to help me get there. Maybe I should host a Seaside Celebration and invite my friends to come laugh and dance and play together! Maybe I should go talk to Princess Wysteria and ask if she thinks that would be a good idea. And we can talk about how great it is to have friends, and how much we look forward to making new ones too! Every day!

Know what I mean?

Oh, Sparklesnap!

"Hey, Sparklesnap! Hurry up and get that string of lights working!" Her voice yelled out in annoyance. "We got seven more strings to put up on the next three streets, you know!"

Okay, gotta get bulbs two and seventeen screwed into the light string. And I gotta watch bulb twenty-three, if that one burns out, the whole string is going to go kablooey. Stringing these lights up all over Ponyville is a major pain in the flank, to say nothing of all the other electrical work we have to do before the night's out.

"Hold on, Sparkleworks! I need to make a few more adjustments over here." I call out to my sister with a sigh. "Just let me make sure this light string is pulled tightly around this pole, and-"

"Awww, you're taking to long!" She yelled angrily, climbing up the ladder on the other side of the pole, and grabbing the light string with her hooves. "Here, let me help you, then we'll get done faster!"

"No Sparkle, wait!" I call out to her in vain, raising a hoof towards the other side of the pole. "You can't just-"

Bzzzapt! Sparks showered out everywhere, as my idiot of a sister pulled a half's hours worth of work with that damned light string down off the pole... and knocked out three strings of lights going down the block.

"Ooops, guess I shouldn't have pulled on that light string so hard!" Sparkleworks said with a giggle. "Here, why don't you get these light working again, sis, while I go and get the light for the next street up?"

"Yeah, sure... you go do that, Sparkleworks." I grumble at her through clenched teeth. "I'll take care of things here, don't worry about it."

"You got it, Snap!" She called back, already off of the ladder, and galloping up the street. "See you in an hour or so!"

Yeah, that's right, Sparkleworks. Make a giant mess with your careless stupidity, and leave the yellow mare with the pink and white mane to clean up your mess. I've been cleaning up after you for most of my life, and it seems I'm doomed to mend your screw-ups until the day I'm headed for the glue factory.

It's nothing new for me, of course. I've been picking up after little miss over-achiever since we were fillies, all the while living in the shadow of her 'glorious greatness'. I'd make a nice little sculpture in arts and crafts class in first grade, and she'd bring home a whole set of sculptures she made in kindergarten... hogging all of our parent's praise and attention, while I sat in the corner and sulked. I'd come in second place in the Ponyville junior high spelling bee, and she'd get all the attention for her volcano she made for the science fair that exploded. And the day of my prom, when I was wearing my new blue tiara and mane ribbons? Guess who all the colts paid attention to in her sultry little dress?

It got even worse when we grew up, and both discovered our special talents were electrical and repair work. You think it would be fun, working on projects with your sister, right? Well, how would you like it if you were the one doing all the work, and your sibling was the one getting all the credit and praise? With Sparkleworks, it always either go big, or go home. And everything I do always looks feeble by comparison next to her stupid spectacles!  I fix the gears on the Ferris wheel, and Ponyville is too busy fawning over her repairing the merry go round and making it go faster to pay attention. I install electricity and heat into Kimono's cave, and everybody but Kimono is too busy celebrating the strobe lights she installed in Celebration Castle's ballroom to notice.

"Hey, Sparklesnap! How's it going?" A friendly voice called out to me from the ground. "What're you doing up there, putting up this year's holiday lights?"

"Oh, hello Skywishes." I mutter, trying to keep my attention on putting the light string back up. "Yeah, I'm just trying to fix the decorations my sister so carelessly knocked down."

Skywishes, the mare whose wishes always seem to mysteriously come true. She's one of the few sickeningly friendly ponies in this town who doesn't get on my nerves, so I can at least get along with her reasonably well. Although she comes off as totally nice and sweet, don't let that facade fool you. This clever little pony uses her wishing ability to get everything she wants; from the best service at all of Ponyville's stores, to having that boyfriend of hers, Bee Bop, wrapped around her hoof by granting his every little wish.  I admire this devious little mare's cunning, pretending to be all sweet and naive to fool the town into thinking she doesn't realize the power her wish-granting ability gives her.

Or maybe, that just my own bitterness and paranoia making a lot of assumptions.

"Oh dear, Spaklesnap! You sound really unhappy!" She tells me, a look of concern on her face, as she looks up the ladder towards me. "Hey, I know! I could wish an extra special wish for you!"

"That's very sweet of you, Skywishes. But the only wish I would ask for would seem selfish and cruel." I shake my head sadly. "I would love, just for once, to show that snooty sister of mine up. To make all of Ponyville see me for what I can do, rather than always being stuck in my dear little sister's shadow!"

"That's not a very selfish wish at all, Sparklesnap. And I really hope you can make your wish to be noticed come true." Skywishes said sadly. "But I've gotta be going now, I'm supposed to meet Bee Bop so we can... so we can... oh, you know what I mean!"

"I do, Skywishes." Oh, I know what they're going to do, all right -thabunk thabunk thabunk-! Wish my boyfirend was that energetic. "You better get going, and I'll finish up things here!"

As Skywishes trotted away. I came down the ladder, and plugged all of the lights I had put back up into the light pole. But when I flipped the switch on the light string to turn them on, I discover my sister's rough handling of the light strings had a bad side effect.

POP! KRISH! POP! KRISH! POP! KRISH! POP! KRISH! POP! KRISH! POP! KRISH! The light bulbs exploded one by one, going right down the chain.

"Damn you, Sparkleworks! Do you have to flank everything up!?" I scream to the heavens in despair. "Ohhh, Sparklesnap! Now I have to do this all over again!"

Bubblehead Bubblecup

Written by the awesome Fanficpony, an awesome guest writer! :twilightsmile:

Urgh, stubbed my hoof again! Stupid metal pipe. Why am I always so klutzy- oof!

Oh, didn’t see you there! Sorry for, um, bumping into you. I have a bit of a habit of doing that. My name’s Bubblecup, and I’m Ponyville’s resident plumber! I don’t exactly know what my cutie mark is for, because I got it when I was really little, and I can’t remember stuff very well. After all, what could a few bubbles in a spotlight mean anyway? But I’m great at fixing ponies’ plumbing, so that’s what I do, even if it doesn’t always turn out so great…

Yeah, my ‘talent’ with plumbing is sometimes more harmful than helpful, but most ponies don’t seem to mind it when I help them. They just stare at me when I work; I think it’s because I’m so clumsy, but sometimes the stallions hoot and holler at me.

Speaking of stallions, I don’t see very many of them around, but when I do, they seem to look at me a lot. I’ve never heard of an attractive plumber before, and I don’t think that I’m really that good looking. I mean, sometimes I’ve helped model for Rainbow Dash, and she always says, “Oh Bubblecup, darling, you look so beautiful in this!” or “Bubblecup, you should really wear dresses more often!” She’s really nice, but I don’t really think I can be as pretty or ladylike as her. She’s even got a husband, Denim Blue! He’s a cowpony, but he’s not around all of the time. Most of the time, he’s out catching bandits in the wild west, and I’m sure he’s probably already told you about it.

Rainbow Dash is my closest friend, and I’m usually the one that helps her model (even when I trip over my hooves a lot). She also loves to talk to me about girly stuff, like my huge stallion problem, and she’s always so helpful! I don’t know what I’d do without her.

Rainbow’s usually the one who helps control all the stallions that seem to throw themselves at me, and usually they get distracted by her! I’m glad to have her around, because otherwise I’d be like some Mare-y Sue that has all the stallions! And that wouldn’t go over too well…

Anyway, the first date she set me up on was with Anchors Away, a sailor stallion who loves nothing more than to brag about, well, whatever he can. I spent most of the date trying to stay awake, listening to him prattle on about sailory stuff. Then I found out he already had a girlfriend, and needless to say, that didn’t go over well.

Oh, I should probably mention my one stallion friend that’s NOT throwing himself all over me. His name is Trolley, and he likes to build cute little model trains! I love how they even puff out little bubbles as they go around the little track! Anyway, he’s really nice to me and lets me babysit his little sister, Tripsy Daisy, when he’s out at train conventions. One time, he took me to one, and there were so many big trains! He really loved it there, and he always shows me all of the ones he knows. Sometimes there are humans there too, because it’s not in pony territory, but they don’t seem to mind.

Well, except for that one time where little Tripsy tripped over some train tracks and got hurt- and also bent the train tracks over on each other! She and Trolley are descended from this super-strong pony from the past named Lilly Longsocks, so it’s no wonder that Tripsy is so strong! He’s got a HUGE family, with a brother and another sister, named Frisco and Love Wishes! Frisco’s married to Fiesta Flair, and she’s the number one Ponyville party planner! Love Wishes is a mailpony, and she like to deliver love letters most of all!

I also have a sister, and her name is Waterfire. She does most of the underground work for plumbing, while I work up above ground! We don’t always get along, though...

Oh, why do I always complain so much? I figure you’re tired of hearing me babble about stallions and stuff, and I’ve got some important stuff to do. See ya later!

News Flash!

Great, and I thought this was going to be a slow news day!

There I was, sitting at my desk, and going over a stack of papers, when my assistant suddenly came running into my office.

"Boss, you're not gonna believe this!" She gasped out, trying to catch her breath. "Oh, you wanted a news story Savannah, well you've got one now!"

"Slow down Merriweather. What happened this time?" I ask nonchalantly, reaching for my journal and hoof pen. "Pinkie Pie burn the cookies? Rainbow Dash create a fashion disaster?"

As you can tell, I'm used to paltry little stories like those. My name's Savannah Sage; pink body, white mane, ribbon and heart cutie mark- the type of thing you expect from a technicolor pony in a hyper-feminine society such as ours. My line of work is the newspaper business, and I run the Ponyville free press out of the giant building on the edge of town, that looks like a typewriter. We only have Merriweather (my assistant and our weather correspondent, obviously.) and a few breezies on staff, because nothing ever really happens in this town.

Yep, you heard that right; wacky and crazy old Ponyville never has anything exciting happen within her city limits. It's been that way ever since I was a filly, and took over this paper from the retiring stallion who was as bored as I am now. I always had a muzzle for news; sniffing out who took who's lunch money on the playground as a foal, and writing expose's  for the school newspaper on pony's forgetting to do their homework. That's the problem with a town like Ponyville- everyone here is too nice for any disasters to happen in this town, leaving The Ponyville express as little more than a weekly newsletter.

"Princess Wysteria has gone missing!" The excited yellow mare with the purple mane and umbrella cutie mark told me. "The whole town's erupted into chaos, Spike and Pinkie Pie are about to make an announcement at the castle!"

"The princess has-?" My eyes go wide, and I look over to our three breezie assistants. "Honeydew Hum, Azalea Moon, Meadow Moon... you three get the presses and the ink ready, we're putting out a special edition today!"

"Got it, boss!" The trio of Breezies declare, saluting me in unison.

"Merriweather, you and I are heading over to the castle, we gotta get the scoop on our vanished Wysteria!" I race to grab my pink trench coat and fedora covered in  flowers and hearts. "Oh, and stop by our houses, and tell your hubby and my hubby that neither of us will be home for supper-they'll just have to stick it in the fridge after they feed the kids."

"Great... and he's already upset with me for not spending enough time at home with my family." Merriweather grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Oh well, at least I don't have to listen to him grumble about doing the housework for awhile!"

The two of us galloped over towards celebration castle, where a dozen or so mares were already gathered, with Spike trying to calm all of them down. The whole crowd was talking and chattering, not listening to a word the poor flustered dragon was saying as wild gossip flew all over the place. All through the crowd, I head the soft *click, whirrrrr* of a camera shutter, and I knew our dear shutterbug Fluttershy sneaking through the crowd, and snapping every photo she thought looked interesting. (Flutters doesn't directly work for our paper, but is our freelance photographer who provides us with all of our pictures).

"Excuse me? May I have your attention please?" Pinkie Pie announced, trotting out of the castle across the drawbridge. "If you'll all just try to quiet down for a minute, I'll try to explain what's going on!"

"So what's the scoop, Pinks? I heard Wysteria has flown the coop!" Merriweather and I force our way to the front of the crowd, waving my pen and notebook around in my hooves. "So where did she go? Will she be coming back! My readers want to know!"

"We think she may have run away, Savannah. Or was taken against her will." Pinkie announced, eliciting shocked gasps from the crowd. "We found the Twinkle Balloon was missing from the top of the castle, and we think she might have taken it for a flight."

"Huh, how come we didn't notice that thing was missing?" Merriweather asked, voicing what I was already thinking. "Reporters are supposed to have a keen eye, we really should've picked up on that detail."

"So who's gonna run Ponyville until she's found?" I ask, quickly jotting things down in my notebook with my flexible hooves. "We need a leader in these troubled times, don't we?"

"Until our dear Princess Wysteria can be found, her daughter Princess Pinksparkle will be taking over the reigns of government." A little pink filly with a yellow and pink mane stepped out across the drawbridge nervously, staring at the crowd with sad eyes. "Pinkie and I will be her to help guide the little filly, as she runs things in her mother's stead."

"Pinksparkle? That poor little filly is so shy, I don't think I've ever seen her away from her Wysteria's hooves when they're outside the castle." Merriweather chimed in sympathetically. "How could she possibly run the whole town on her own, especially while missing and worrying about her mother?"

"Not our place to worry about it or question it, Merri." I sigh, secretly holding the same concerns for the poor child, but not vocalizing them. "Our job is to get back and publish this special edition, to reassure the ponies of Ponyville that everything is well in hoof!"

Merriweather nodded, and the two of us galloped back towards the paper. But as we passed by Sweetie Bell's gumball house, I could've sworn I saw the strangest sight. I thought I saw a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane fly overhead. She looked very sickly, and had this faraway look in her eyes that was really creepy. I turned my head to say something to Merriweather, but when I looked back, the pony was gone.

Oh well, I must be seeing things. Back to the newspaper to get our next edition out!

Classroom Craziness

"Ow! Miss A! Miss A! He's shooting spitwads at me!" Hokey Pokey cried out. "Please make him stop!"

"Okay class! Let's all try to get settled in here now!" I exclaim enthusiastically, trotting into the room with a big smile plastered on my face. "Romperooni, please stop trying to shoot that spitwad into Hokey Pokey's mane!"

"Aww, but she was annoying me, Miss A!" The colt with the purple coat and orange and white mane pouted, crossing his hooves. "Shucks, girls can get away with anything around here!"

"Serves you right, ya big dookie head!"  The pink filly with the purple mane exclaimed, sticking her tongue out at the offending colt. "Thanks for telling him off, Miss A!"

Hello there, my name's Alphabittle! I'm the yellow mare with a rainbow mane, with a bowl of alphabet soup for a cutie mark! I'm the teacher here at the teapot palace school! Oh yes, that wonderful little pink building that looks like a teapot, right behind Storybelle's library. I teach a great many things here during the week; cooking classes on Monday evening, singing lessons on Tuesday evening. But every day during the week, I teach the little colts and fillies here in town their three R's. I just love educating these wonderful little angels, there's nothing in the world that's quite like the joy of teaching.

Yeah... nothing in the world....

"Now class, if you would please open your books math books, and turn to page-" The crinkling of folded paper made me stop mid-sentence, and look up. "Sparkleberry Swirl, please stop making paper airplanes out of the pages of your textbook!"

"But Miss A, I'm getting some really good airtime with these paper airplanes!" The pink filly with the yellow mane pleaded. "It's teaching me about aerodynamics, and the law of gravity!"

"Swirl, I'm going to assume the only reason you know what those words mean is you're Storybelle's daughter." I groaned, rolling my eyes. "I wonder how your mother would react if she knew you were destroying a book."

The other two also have an interesting parentage; Hokey Pokey is the daughter of Fluttershy and Piccolo, and Romperooni is the offspring of Rainbow Dash and Denim Blue. But these two are not very much like their mothers, and are much better at getting on my nerves.

The class continues on, and there are more problems as we went. Snack time turned out to be a total disaster, as well. I passed out the little snacks to all of the ponies present, but many of the foals had ideas of their own.

"Penny Candy, would you please stop stealing other students cookies and juice?" I groaned, trotting over and swiping back the treats the hadn't shoved into her mouth yet. "Honestly, I can't believe you 're Pinkie Pie's daughter, as greedy and childish as you are!"

"Mmmph mmmph mmph!" The filly protested, crumbs falling out of her mouth. "Mmmmmph mmph!"

"You are wasting your time trying to reason with the greedy one, Alphabittle-sensei." A colt with a heart-shaped charm cutie mark advised me. "Any effort to reach through her greed is like a wave lapping against the sand."

"Stop making such mean remarks about your fellow student, Charm Bracelet." I groaned, rubbing my temples with my hooves. "Or would you prefer if I discussed your behavior with Kimono?"

At the mention of his mother's name, the colt fell silent.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to bring my temper back under control. I-I'm the Ponyville teacher, educating ponies is my special talent! I teach adults different skills in the evening, I can teach these children here in the daytime. I have been teaching my fellow ponies since I was a little girl, helping my friends with their homework, and tutoring other students. I have the patience to deal with these foals, I'm not going to have a nervous breakdown! Doctor Spring fever said this job was stressing me out to the point of a stroke, but I CAN DO THIS!

*sigh* Oh well, at least Minty's daughter is home-schooled, otherwise I'd probably have a stroke from all this stress.

"Hey, Romperooni-san? Could I have that marker back you borrowed from me last week?" Charm Bracelet asked the other colt. "I kinda need it back to work on my art project!"

"What, no way!" Romperooni snapped back, glaring at his friend. "You gave me that marker, and I ain't giving it back!"

The two colts immediately jumped at each other, bucking and kicking and biting and snorting and yelling. Like all males, they fell into their gender's typical method of settling problems... by beating each other senseless!

"Miss A! Miss A.!" Penny called out, pointing a hoof at the two frenzied foals. "The boys are fighting again!"

"Ohh, look! A right hoof, and a left!" Hokey Pokey exclaimed, cheering the two combatants on. "Knock him good on the head, Romp! Give him a bite on the hind leg, Charm!"

"Hey, just whose side are you on, Hokey?" Sparkleberry asked, looking over at her friend. "I thought you had a crush on Romperooni!"

"I'll have a crush on whichever one wins this, Swirl!" She told her friend. "I only want the strongest for my special someone!"

As for me, I couldn't take it any more. With a twitch of the eye, I just curl up in a ball, and put my hooves over my head. Happy place, happy place, no little hellions there... hee hee..

These brats had finally gotten to me, and I really, really need a day off!

Storybelle's note; Oh dear, we've been waaay too lenient with those kids! Alphabittle's right about destroying that book, though... Sparkleberry, you're grounded!

Just One Of The Guys

"Hey hey HEY, listeners out there in radioland! This is Bee Bop, the happening, jive-talkin', most far-out hep cat ever to ever hit the Equestrain airwaves! I'm here ta entertain y'all from dawn ta dusk, so just sit back in yer chair right there, and enjoy listenin' ta a one-pony band! Yeah, you heard right! I can play ten o' these instruments at once, just you watch me, and see!"

This is the usual spiel I give before my performances, when Cotton Candy isn't there to announce me. That's me, the blue stallion with the white mane that everybody loves to watch on stage. My special talent in playing any instrument that is put before me- in fact, I'm so talented I can play ten instruments at once! But my favorite is the harp- it's the instrument on my cutie mark. I'd love to sit and play my harp all day, but they all wanna see and hear the wonder pony perform.

"Wow, Bee Bop, that was amazing!" Minty hollers after me, as I trot past her out of the radio station. "You sounded like a whole orchestra by yourself!"

"I sure wish I could do that, Bee Bop!" Pinkie Pie calls out admiringly. "How can you play that many instruments at once?!"

I wish you were the one who could play ten instruments at once Pinkie, and I was just left with my humble little harp. But I'm not so lucky to have a small and humble special talent, but rather quite a large one.

As a foal, my mother was a band leader here in Ponyville, and my father repaired instruments. My family comes from a long line of musicians, going all the way back to the famous Equestrian singer, Rah Rah Coloratura. I turned out to be very musically inclined since I was a child, and was able to take any instrument my dad was working on and play it. My parents were astounded by my talent, and I was soon filling in on an instrument whenever someone in my mom's band got sick. And my talent only seemed to grow from there.

"You were wonderful out there tonight, old chum!" Spike congratulated me, giving a slap on the back as I trotted by. "Really good show!"

"Hey Spike! Really awesome to see you!" I trot after the small blue dragon, eager to just spend some time with one of the guys. "Hey, wanna go grab a root beer and hang out?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry Bee Bop, but I've got to get back to the castle, and help Princess Pinksparkle with some royal documents." The little dragon slithers away. "Well, see you at your next concerto, ta ta!"

"Yeah... ta ta..." I tell him, my ears drooping as he left.

Of course he doesn't have the time... no one does. Don't get me wrong, I love my special talent. I love the gift that destiny has given me, and there is nothing I love more than sharing that talent with all of the ponies of Ponyville. But I really wish the other stallions would see that I'm still a dude that just would love to hang out, and grab a pizza and talk for awhile. I see all of the other stallions having a good time, and I long to be there right beside them. I just want to be friends, guys... would it really hurt you to just have dinner with me at the end of the day?

But that's not what the ponies want. They want to watch a stallion with a pair of drums, and a guitar and  a xylophone and a accordion and a triangle and a harmonica all piled on my back, all the while blowing into a trumpet, a clarinet, and a tuba sitting on a stand in front of me. Banging a hoof here on a percussion instrument here, blowing on an instrument there... it's really difficult moving that fast, but it just seems to come so naturally to me. The rhythm and beat, the mood and tempo... the music seems to run through my soul. And that's all that ponies expect from me, nothing more.

"Beep Bop! There you are!" A voice exclaims behind me, as a familiar mare comes rioting up. "I was looking for you... well, I mean I was was searching for you... oh, you know what I mean!"

"Yes, I do." I smile, nuzzling the mare. "Hello, Skywishes. How was your day of wishing?"

"Oh Bee, it was super-extra-spectacular!" She exclaimed excitedly, prancing around a circle. "I wished for Rainbow Dash do get an extra big rainbow across the sky, and it happened!"

Skywishes... sweet little, naive Skywishes. I met her one day in Ponyville Park, when she was wishing to meet somebody special. I saw her standing there, talking to the rainbow waterfall with her eyes closed, when them swarm of butterflies came out of nowhere, and pushed me up beside her! We started talking, and it wasn't long before we agreed to me for sodas at the Cotton Candy cafe. She's the one pony in my life who accepts me for who I am, and the one pony who enjoys spending time with Bee Bop, and not the pony who can play ten instruments at once.

(Though to be honest, she really can't stay in one place when she sleeps... I cannot tell you how many mornings I've woken up with a face full of flank with a flying kite cutie mark on it!)

"Oooh, look over there, Bee Bop! Someone's kite got loose!" She exclaims excitedly, galloping happily after the kite in her childlike innocence. "C'mon, bee! Catch a kite, and you catch a wish!"

As she runs on ahead of me, I can only smile. Thank you, destiny... thank you for giving me such a wonderful, innocent little mare. If I cannot have friends who will see me as I am, than at least I have her.

Hey... is that the hot air balloon from the castle... going under the rainbow waterfall?

Uh Oh, Kimono!

Guest chapter by the Syrenth Clan, many thanks! ^^

The afternoon air was crisp, but not exactly cold. Gentle breezes welcomed me as I left my home to take a walk in this garden of mine. I had the urge to un-pin my dark purple bun I just set up, but I resisted. I could still feel the wind against my mane, tail, and my orange-red dotted attire that covered my body. A dress of pure elegance it was, my favorite-

"Kimono!" a voice interrupted me. "I'm not bothering you or anything, right?"

Minty, our little towns resident, ehm, mint maker approached me. But alas, she was more well-known for making something else. Her steps were notably... casual this time. Usually she'd run, but now, she was just walking. That was not the problem. Problem was where she was walking.

"Minty, you're ruining my Zen garden. Use the path I made, will you?" I pointed it out, retaining a patient tone.

"Eh? Uh, whoops!" she replied, gazing at the fine gravel below, then behind her, followed by a huge jump to the cobblestone pavement by the side. The damage was done though, in the form of visible hoofprints.

"Minty..." I sighed, shutting my eyes for the moment. I guess I needed a new setup for the garden anyway.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't know that was your garden because it was all just sand and rocks, I mean I thought gardens are about flowers and bushes and such, how could I've guessed you can make one with rocks." she blabbered, followed by her signature awkward laughter.

"It's fine. Now tell me, can I help you with anything?" I asked, brushing off the incident as if it was nothing. By now  I’'ve learned that stressing myself over Minty’s mess-ups doesn'’t worth the trouble, if anything because of the sheer frequency of them.

"Well, uh, yeah. This is kinda what I actually wanted to talk to you about, heh." she answered. The way she avoided eye contact and scratched her legs already told me roughly what will happen. Yet, my sole answer remained a curious hum and a raised eyebrow.

"I just don't want to be ruining everything all the time anymore!" she whined "I want to be more than a walking disaster, Kimono. Please, you have to help me not being such a klutz."

My head recoiled in shock, but it was a pleasant surprise. A gentle smile grew across my face. Oh, Minty, Minty, Minty. Her heart has always been in the right place, despite her perceptions leaving much to be desired.

"And why do I get this honor?" I ask, slightly displeased by the fact that my quiet days are to be filled with her chaos. Curse me and my good will, I should have meditated on the topic beforehand. It was Minty who I was talking about, after all.

"Because you're always doing something and never make mistakes." Minty replied. Of course that was not true, I do make mistakes aplenty, they are just never witnessed by anyone. Still, I just took her praise without a word, just a pair shut eyes.

"Very well then." I replied afterwards. “I’'ll help you how to gain balance over your body, but first, you need to learn how to slow down and focus.” I explained.

Clumsiness is generally acquired by a lack of balance and focus, often made worse by rushed lifestyle. I thought it would be best for both her and I if we start resolving the smaller issue first, and I already had the solution right in front of me.

I went to the storage room of my little cavern, and brought out my rakes I had for this purpose. One of each sizes: large, medium and small, they were nothing out of ordinary, just a wooden handle with steel ends.

"Uh, what's that for?" Minty asked, confusion reflecting on her face.

"You're going to help me rebuild my Zen garden." I replied, giving her the smallest of my tools. Of course, I needed to break her in first and give her the basics.

"The purpose of a garden as such is to capture a moment's beauty of a waterscape." I explained, keeping it short and simple so even somepony like her would understand.

"Then why aren't you using water then? Just make a pool and fill it with rocks." Minty responded. It took her a second or two, as well as a stern look from me to get it.

"Oh, wait, nevermind, sorry." she mumbled right afterwards.

"Imagine the Ponyville lake on a rainy day. The droplets dancing on the water's uneven surface by the gentle winds." I laid out the plan, closing my eyes and visualizing the picture in front of myself as well.

"Mmhm." Minty hummed in a rather long, doubtful way. I should have used a bit more of a beige prose when communicating with her, to be honest. I’m not used to visitors and I always speak in this sorts of manner towards everyone and everything.

"Let me show you." I said, heading over to the nearest stone and picking it up "You know what happens when you drop something into water?"

"It makes those circle-thingies!" Minty shouted back right afterwards. I nodded, laying the stone down on the gravel, then using my medium-sized rake to draw said circles around it.

"Ooh, I get it, heh." Minty replied with awe "The stone is the raindrop and the ground is the lake."

"Exactly." I nodded with joy "We're going to make several of such circles."

Minty's face lit up with excitement. So much so it was alarming. I needed to remind her about why we were doing this for the sake of the rest of my garden.

"But Minty!" I shouted before she could begin "Focus!"

"Sure, don't worry Kimono, I can do this." she replied, her weird laughter following that somehow didn'’t make me any more relieved. I was pleased by her enthusiasm and passion, however. Moved even. Our little Minty trying her hardest to better herself so she can be a help for others. Her goodwill was a beacon for us all.

I should have seen it coming.

Minty took the first pebble her eyes landed on, and laid it down on a clear surface, focusing on making the most perfect circles with her tiny tool. At first, there weren't too many problems, until more and more motives were made. It started with a simple bump.

"Whoops." she said, her back bumping against mine by accident.

"It is alright." I replied, getting back to work. Not a moment later I realized where Minty was circling. She was stomping on my ripples, lost in trying to make hers look good and not realizing that she’s destroying mines.

"Minty, watch it!" I raised my volume, losing hold on my temper bit by bit.

"I'm sorry." she cried, noticing her mistake and trying to fix it herself. Her pace was increasing under the sheer anxiety, the desperate attempts chaining together into something even worse. Her hind right kicked into a stone behind her, sending it jumping and landing a couple inches away. It all happened so quickly, one could have blinked and missed the entire incident. Okay, not exactly, but you get my point.

"I- I'll get it!" she said, trying grab some control over the situation. Her sudden move to pick it up, however, made her bump her back into something again. Not just something, but my precious purple-gold vase by the side.

I gasped, no, shrieked at the sight. My mind gave up on all attempts at logical thinking. I just ran fast as I could, trampling over our handiwork like it was nothing, but it seemed too late. I had to jump for it, and my body acted before my mind could even think. I flew across the field, landing on the hard gravel and sending it scattering all over the place. I was glad I wore my kimono, otherwise I may have got some injuries with that act.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so really sorry." Minty apologized, on the verge of tears at that point. Poor girl must have felt so miserable for all this. I suppose the ‘slowing down’ part kind of slipped by her as things started to spin out of her control.

"Minty..." I sighed, standing up and dusting my favorite dress off. My hooves ran over many small rips and other anomalies, things that could not be restored. My poor kimono, it was my favorite kimono.

"I... I..." she stuttered, not knowing what else she could possibly say by that point.

"Mastery doesn't come in a day. We will try something else tomorrow." I replied, calm on the outside but angry within. I did not want to hurt her, but I felt I could without any sort of difficulty.

"A-are you sure? What if I actually break something? Or hurt you? Or something else?" she blabbered, worried sick by my choice.

"I'm willing to put up with your mistakes if it’s for the better. Those who brave the thorn may eat the fruit." I replied confidently. I was not to give this chance away so easily. If I could help Minty with her problem, I could help everyone with it as well on the long run, myself included.

"Yeah, sure, if you say so." she responded, baffled by my previous metaphor but that was not a surprise, "Tomorrow then." she added as turned back to leave, still upset about her failure but understanding that it’s part of the learning process. She stepped off the pavement into the gravel once more, only to withdraw her leg with a tiny ‘oopsie’ and choose to follow the cobblestone path this time.

It was not like it would have made a difference at that point, though. I gazed over my Zen garden, its strange mess of rake-made lines all around it, with hoofprints breaking the mold and an enormous crater by its side. What was to be a peaceful piece of an afternoon rain turned out to be a view into a battlefield. I grabbed my biggest of rakes, and started clearing up the mess with long, powerful pulls. Might as well the whole thing blank if Minty comes back tomorrow.

Storybreak

Huh, what's wrong, you seem so upset? Oh, I'm so sorry! I've been reading to you for hours and hours, and I didn't even stop to think of your comfort. I... tend to get carried away like that, when I'm reading... heh, sorry about that. Well, I guess I'd better get the two of us something to eat. Would you care for a club sandwich? Perhaps a soda? If you need to use the little pony's room, it's down the hall and to your left. Oh, and try not to make too much noise when trotting past the closet, Gossamer should be having his evening nap by now.

Ah, you're back! Here, I made each of us a sandwich. No no, don't worry about it... it's my pleasure to make you some supper, I did keep you here at the library after all. Huh? You're wondering how we have electricity in the Story Loft? Yeah, you didn't see any wires connected to the building. Yes, the pinwheel's spinning in the wind provides us with the library's power... that's pretty handy if the electricity get's knocked out, am I right?

I'm so glad you like the sandwich, did you want a salad with that? Oh good, most ponies don't like my cooking, heh... yeah, I'm a good reader, librarian and writer, buuuut... cooking isn't actually my best talent. I've been good at sorting and filing books since I was a foal, but whenever I try to use an oven, I've never able to cook a dish that is not lethal to those ponies who consume it. You don't want to know what happened when I tried to cook a souffle for the Ponyville potluck dinner last year.... I gave half the town a case of the trots. Oh dear, no wonder my boyfriend won't ever let me make him dinner.

Oh, well that's an interesting point of view. Yes, I am well aware of many of the... opinions of my Ponyville and the ponies that live there. *Sigh* I know that much of the rest of Equestria sees us as a bunch of simple-minded and childlike ponies, always happy with hearts in our eyes. There have even been those mean-spirited jer-er, stallions who scream 'kill it with fire!' or 'burn them before they breed!' right in front of my friends and I; basically, telling us Ponyvillers that they hate us, and we deserve to die. Gee, thanks ponies of Equestria!

In truth, we Ponyville ponies have our unhappy and sad moments, too... we just put on a happy face for our visitors and guests a lot. And besides, what so wrong with being happy and laughing all the time? Would Equestria prefer we were a bunch of whiny and sad ponies? Crying and screaming and getting angry all the time? How dare we live in a sugary pink world of happiness instead of being mopey and weepy all the time!

Actually, I would rather live in this little town of smiling ponies, rather than the rest of Equestria. I've read in my books that the kingdom beyond our town was once the nicest, most friendly places to live in all of the world... but no more. Since the passing of the Princess of Friendship, I've heard the rest of Equestria has become selfish, cruel and unkind. Ponies argue and fight over the most trivial of things, and hatred of anything different runs strong.

How do I know this, you ask? Well actually, some of the girls went out into the big, wide world to find our missing Princess. The reception they received was...well... not so nice. They said the ponies out there all seemed like... monsters to them. Big eyed, skinny bodied, freakish monsters with bad tempers that wouldn't accept any ponies that did not look or act just like them. They attacked my friends for being 'two-dimensional impostors of real ponies', and-

Oh dear, I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? So sorry. Would you like some chips with that sandwich? I have some tortillas, Fiesta Flair baked them. Oh, she always makes the best food for her parties... oh, except for that time she had that party war with Razaroo over Scootlaoo's birthday party. Speaking of which, that also happened about the time all those weird phantoms started popping up all over town, and Kimono and her friends had to-

Whoa boy, I'm doing it again, huh? Here I am, getting ahead of myself, and leaving you confused as to what the heck I'm talking about. Well, needless to say, all of these things are covered in the rest of the book I was reading to you. We can get back to that book, just as soon as I get these dishes cleaned up. Hey, what's wrong? Oh, my flexible hooves that can pick stuff up bothering you again, huh? Well, the truth is that we Ponyville Ponies have an inherited enchantment that magnetizes our hooves.

Ha ha! No silly, I don't mean we have actual magnets in our hooves! The spell allows objects to stick to our hooves, as if we were holding them! That's how I can hold the book and turn the pages with my hoof. Huh, someone just came in the door. Oh hi, Minty! What are you doing here? Did you want a book? I know you only get ones from the children's department. Wait, are you walking up the wall?! Minty, stop that! We're not supposed to use the magnets in our hooves to defy the laws of gravity! Minty, please stop walking across the ceiling!

*sigh* Okay, let me take care of little miss 'I've had too many sugar donuts and pixie sticks for supper', and then we'll get back to reading the book again. I'm sure you want to find out more about our sweet little town, and find out more about the happy Ponyville where nothing bad ever happens, and everyone is always happy, and nobody ever gets mad, and-

MINTY, STOP CHEWING ON THAT CEILING FAN THIS INSTANT! GRRRRRRRR!

Rev it Up!

"Woah, Sprite! Listen to that mean baby roar!" Scootaloo says with a great big grin, sticking her head down into the grease pit where I'm working. "You really got my machine purring like a kitten, babe! You're as awesome as always!"

The scream of a mean machine... the roar of a powerful engine, coupled with the smell oil and lubricant, grease and engine grime.  Brake fluid and sweat cover my purple coat and blue mane, and the sounds of the roaring engine of the iron beast I am working on fill my ears. She'll be so happy I upgraded the engine block on this baby, and now it'll run twice as fast as it used to, on half the juice it used to!

Oh, sorry man, I'm talking to myself again. Yo, the name's Scooter Sprite, and I'm the Stallion in charge of Scootaloo's pit crew that work on her scooter before each and every one of her shows. Yeah, you've probably seen me around town. I'm that guy who rides around town on his roller skates, performing tricks and knocking into other ponies and getting our manes all tangled up together, in a knotty mess. Yeah, I know I really look and sound like a mare. But what stallion here in Ponyville doesn't?

Anyway, it's really weird that a pony with a motor scooter cutie mark is always riding around on skates? Well, the answer is I don't ride on scooters, I'm actually really good at repairing them. Been really handy with my hooves ever since I was a colt, and managed to fix my old man's lawn mower in three minutes flat! I don't think there is an engine I can't fix in this town!

"You'll love what I've done with the acceleration, and she should give you a much smoother ride around the track." I tell her, wiping the grease off my hooves with a rag. "You should give her a test run, to see how she flies!"

"I think I will, babe!" She tells me, giving me a peck on the cheek. Putting her helmet on, she mounts the scooter, and revs up the engine with her hoof. "Let's see what this little purring beauty can do!"

Scootaloo and the scooter explode out of the grease pit and go racing around the muddy dirt track. Have you seen a goddess on wheels tearing past each of the flags on the raceway, her beautifully curved flank straddling the raging beast of a machine crafted by your own hooves? Her long pink and purple locks blowing wildly in the wind, as the mud thrown up by the treads of the scooter's tires splatter all over silky orange coat and butterfly cutie mark. The grime and filth only serves to enhance her raw and savage beauty.

Scoots and I have been together for a few years now. I first met this princess of the racetrack shortly after her nineteenth birthday, when her sister Cheerilee sent her over to my garage after she totaled her scooter in a race. I saw here standing there as I came out of my garage- hotter than hi-test gasoline, the perfect picture of a queen of the raceway. I was so enamored, that I had her bike fixed in five minutes, and she was so impressed with my work, that she invited me to come and be a part of her pit crew.

We've been winning races and scoring together ever since.

"Woohoo! This is awesome!" Scoots called out, leaping from a muddy dune, and waving at me as she raced by. "Ya did it again, babe! I'm so totally gonna kill em' in the show today!"

Of course you will, Scoots, you always knock em' dead, as Ponyville's extreme scooter sports mare. You excite crowds by jumping through burning rigs of fire on the back of those pink scooters I build for you, all of Ponyville cheers every time you do a new death defying stunt. Every little filly and mare dreams of being you, and every adolescent colt and stallion dreams of being with you. But only one male has had that dream come true. You're so popular, that Fiesta Flair and Razaroo are actually fighting over hosting your twenty-first birthday party next month!

I don't mind forever being in her shadow, being totally unnoticed slaving away in the grease pit while Scootaloo shows off in the limelight. But whenever I see her out there, risking her life... whenever she's jumping over a shark tank, or hopping her scooter over a bottomless pit, or riding that machine to the edge of certain doom... I can't help but feel a certain thrill go through me. Not the thrill of the audience at her death-defying stunts, but rather the same thrill she goes through performing.

Because even though she's the one going through the act out there, it is my machine, my handwork, my Special talent she's riding on. Which means that in a way, I'm right out there preforming beside her. And boy let me tell you, that is a really awesome feeling for a pony like me to have!

"Good job as always, babe!" She congratulates me, bringing the scooter to a complete stop back in the pit. "I love the improvements you made on this beauty!"

"Anything for you,doll!" I tell her, picking up my wrench and trotting back over towards the scooter. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to make some final adjustments to the bike, and-"

"Forget making some adjustments to the bike, babe." Scootaloo giggled, popping her helmet off, and lying down on the scooter with her back legs astride the rider's seat. "There's another test engine I want to take for a spin! You wanna come over here, and give me a hoof?"

I've been a mechanic on these things for a really long time, and wow... I learned there were a lot of tricks two ponies could do together on a motor scooter, that I didn't know about before...

Wishing a Wish to be Well

"I wish for more Socks!"

"I wish for a dashing new outfit, dahling!"

"I wish for, like, a totally new surfboard, dude!"

The wishes of the ponies of Ponyville... they reach my ears, from all the ponies who come to my well and toss a coin in. These ponies ask for everything their little hearts desire... a new pair of shoes, a new dress, a teddy bear for their friend. Mares, stallions, fillies and colts alike will come trotting up, and ask for anything and everything you can possibly think of. I am in no position to grant those wishes, though, all I can do is sit on the edge of my well, and listen. Not that the ponies who come to wish can see or hear me, anyway.

"I wish for a new notebook for school!"

"I wish I could win the next motor scooter race!"

My name is Princess Crystal Crown, and I was the youngest daughter of the Princess of Friendship- and her only earth pony child- back in the age of harmony centuries ago. Back then, I loved spending all of my time staring deep into this well, gazing down into the water, and making wishes of my own. But one of the things I wished for was the same stallion one of my older sisters also wished for, and a few well-paid pony thugs clubbed me over the head one day, and threw me into my beloved wishing well with a stone tied around my neck, and I sank deep into the waters. Nopony ever knew what became of me.

"I wish for a dolly for Christmas!"

"I wish I could learn a new dance step!"

Now, my spirit is bound to the well. Wishes made to it are wishes made to me. If a unicorn with magic sensitivity were to come by, she'd see me as I actually am; a blue earth mare with a white mane and tail, and a pink heart cutie mark with a crown in front of it. Nopony has seen or noticed me in centuries, they just come and talk into the well. I have no choice but to listen to my visitors, but at least it gives me something to do. I do find it amusing about some of the odd and downright bizarre things ponies wish for, no matter how odd or trivial.

"I wish they'd start publishing daring do books again, so I'd have something new to read!"

"I wish my friends Star Light and Heart bright could fly!"

"I wish I could visit unicornia!"

These requests feel the oddest to grant, even if I actually could. They seem like things that these ponies could achieve in regular life if they chose to really work to get what they wanted. I mean, why just sit around and wish for something, when you could just go out and get it? Other wishes come off as well meaning, but still seem like things that could be achieved with a little bit more effort. I mean sure, some of these things might be a bit more difficult, but certainly easier than getting your old life back when you're already dead, right?

"I wish I could win the spelling bee in Miss Teacher's class!"

"I wish I could have a cute little breezie for a pet, so I didn't feel so lonely!"

But there are some that are just heartbreaking, some I wish with all of my heart that I had the power to grant. Ones that hurt me to the very core as a pony, and I wish I had actually been there as a princess to stop these terrible things from happening. I just can't stand to see these poor ponies suffer, and I wish I could become solid again, just for a moment, so I could give them a hug and tell them everything will be all right!

"I wish mommy would stop hitting me so hard..."

"I wish I weren't such a sick filly all the time..."

"I wish daddy hadn't fallen off the house roof, he hasn't woken up since..."

Of course, it's been a really long time since anypony- or anyone, as modern ponies say these days- has come to my well to make a wish. A pony named Skywishes handles almost all the wishing in Ponyville now, and the only thing my well is used for these days is drawing water out with the bucket when they are thirsty. Still, I can hear conversations around the well when ponies are getting a drink, and I'm happy to hear things have improved here in Ponyville in more recent generations. My mother and her friends would be proud with how well these ponies have lived up to the ideals of friendship.

But recently, a few wishers have started coming by again.

"I wish I could show up Fiesta and get all the birthday parties back..."

"I wish the ghosts would stop scaring me..."

"I wish they would find my mommy, so I wouldn't have to be princess of Ponyville anymore..."

The last one finally caught my attention. You poor little child... I would be happy to take that burden off of your shoulders. But there is nothing left of me but this spirit of the wishing well, and all I can do is watch in sadness. But I sense something is terribly wrong in Ponyville, the shades of my time have begun to rise, and I have seen them floating around the town. I have tried to talk to these wraiths that resemble my mother and her friends, but they simply fly by and do not acknowledge me. These shades are not true spirits like myself, but are something far, far worse.

For the first time, I truly fear for Ponyville, and all of the ponies who call this town home.

The Secret of Butterfly Island

And now, another tale of the past... this time, from Butterfly Island!

"Your majesty, is something bothering you?" One of my younger filly subjects asks me, flapping around nervously at the entrance to my tent. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"What? No Cloud Climber." I tell her reassuringly, a pained smile crossing my face. "Everything is all right, now go on, and play with the other fillies."

But everything is not alright. I'm afraid for my tribe. My name is Morning Monarch, and I am the ruler of the Pegasus ponies of Butterfly island.  For as long as I can remember, this tropical paradise has been home to we flying ponies, and been our entire world. Beyond our borders is the great ocean, stretching out in every direction for miles and miles and miles around. We have always been safe here, away from all danger. But now, a new discovery has put fear into the heart of this purple stallion with a blue and white mane. A discovery that changes the very nature of everything we know... and could be the greatest danger my tribe has ever faced.

"Father, I've finished my chores for the day." A little white Pegasus tells me, trotting up behind me as I was lost in my own thoughts. "May I go and play with the other fillies?"

"Of course you can, my dear." I tell her, as she flies out of the royal hut at the top of the butterfly falls. "Just be careful down there on the beach!"

This island will be my daughter's to rule one day... just as it was my mother's to rule before me, and her father's before her. We have always watched over our tribe, all the way back to the time the princess of friendship's Pegasus daughter first led all winged ponies to this paradise. For generations we had lived here and played under tropical sun, content in our land of surf and sand, with that being the extent of our world. There was nothing out there beyond the endless blue, or at least nothing that concerned us Pegasus ponies.

But we did not count on a very curious, very adventurous mare who sought the world beyond the confines of our own island; Queen Royal Rose, my own beloved wife. She was always trying to find the hidden and secret things of this world, even back when we were foals. She convinced me to fly farther and farther out into the sea, until our muscles could carry us no further. It was that wandering spirit that first drew me to her, but I didn't see how far her adventures would take my sweet purple angel with the pink mane.

"There's something under that waterfall, Morning!" She told me excitedly, informing she was going to fly through. "I know it looks like solid rock, but I just feel there's more to it than meets the eye!"

And so, only a few months after our daughter was born, she decided to fly under the waterfall herself, and was gone for several minutes. I thought she had discovered some kind of secret cave under there, until she came back all excited and hyper.

"Morning, there's a whole other world over there!" She exclaimed, flying around over my head. "We need to put a scouting party together, and go over and explore that new place!"

But I was too afraid, worried about the concept of a new and unexplored world beyond our own. I tired to organize a luau, in order to distract Rose from this strange new place. But she would have none of it, and flew under the falls and disappeared while I was distracted.

"Royal rose?" I called out, exploring the area around the waterfall. "Royal, where are you?"

Fearing for her safety, I flew through the waterfall myself. Sure enough, I found her whole other world... a very strange place, with buildings of stone, and wingless ponies who couldn't fly. Staying out of the sight of these strange ponies, I searched high and low for my queen. But I could find no trace of Royal Rose, and had no choice but to return through the portal to Butterfly island before night fell.

I never gave up my search, however, and constantly sent the royal family's loyal swarm of trained butterflies, a gift from the Princess of Friendship's animal-loving Pegasus friend to our tribe long ago, though the portal to explore and find her. But despite all of their efforts, the swarm never managed to find any trace of my lost Queen. I had lost her forever, due to my own weak fear and hesitancy. I should have taken her desire to explore more seriously.

In the years since then, I've kept this hidden place a secret from the rest of the tribe. I need to protect my tribe from new and unexpected dangers, and who knows what evil it was out there in this new world that claimed the life of my lost and missing beloved? These ponies live in a peaceful and idyllic existence on this island, and anything out beyond it's borders could be a danger to them.  Just look at the poor orphan filly, Thistle Whistle. Her family flew out into a stormy sky filled with clouds one night, and only she returned, a horrific fear of the clouds instilled in her timid little heart.

No, I cannot expose my tribe to whatever horrors may lie out beyond Butterfly Island. Looking down at the foals at play on the sandy beach below, and the adults swimming in the lagoon and guzzling ice cream floats while resting beneath the palm trees, I know I must be extra cautious in keeping the other world a secret from them, for their own good. Already one little filly, Starsong Melody, has discovered the portal. I had no choice but to exile the tearful five-year-old foal to the wingless pony village beyond the portal, to prevent the secret from getting out among the other Pegasus ponies. After extracting a Pegasus promise from her not to reveal us to the wingless ones, of course.

But telling Starsong's teary-eyed parents that she was lost to them, caused a pain that was too much for me to bear. Should the portal again be accident, I cannot go through that again. This secret cannot be kept forever, and the day will come when the Butterfly Island ponies must be made to face the world beyond, for better or for worse. I shall pass the secret on to my own daughter, so that when the day she becomes queen, she may decide if the time is right to reveal the secret. Seeing her playing with the other little fillies, I decided it was time to let her know of a responsibility that shall be hers one day.

"Starcatcher, come here." I called out to my daughter, motioning her to come over to where I stood atop the waterfall, "There is something we need to discuss..."

Ring your bell

It's a beautiful day in morning, isn't it now?

Ponyville is always wonderful this time of day, the sun coming up over the horizon, ponies out playing games in the morning light. Perfect for a mare with a pink mane and white tail to enjoy from this high up. I can see everything on the ground below from my window on the town hall's second floor, observing everything going on on the ground below. Yeah, that's right... I live in Ponyville town hall, because my special talent has to do with being up here.

"Good morning, Ponyville!"  I call out from my room. "I hope you're all ready to get up this morning!"

Anyway,my name's Lulabelle, I'm Storybelle's sister, and the pony who takes care of town hall here when it's not in use. As you can tell from my two-bell cutie mark, my primary special talent is ringing and taking care of the town's large bronze bell. Whenever there is a town meeting, or every hour on the hour from sunrise to sunset, I pull on that rope, and send out a mighty ring from that massive bell, it's ringing spreading throughout the land.

That ringing has always been a melodious sound to my ears, ever since I was a filly I loved gazing up into that bell tower when those loud pearls of thunder came rolling out of that dark and mysterious tower high above. There was a power in that crashing and cacophonous noise, and I became obsessed with the idea of an instrument that could produce such a mighty noise. I wanted to experience that power for myself, and that obsession with bells and their noise led me down the path to my current place in life.

"Look out, everybody!" I cried out, climbing the ladder with my hooves, and leaping towards the thickly woven bell rope. "Here comes the thunder!"

BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! The sound of the bell tore out of the tower, ringing in my ears like a sweet song from a lover. The music of this four-ton monstrosity sends me into a sense of estacy. I never feel as alive as when I hear the sound of the great bell ringing in my ears, feel the vibrations of the great bronze beast shaking my little pony body to it's core. I've even had complaints from my boyfriend that he's tired of having to lie up here under the big bell as it rings whenever he, well... rings my bell.

"Whoo hoo! Here that baby ring out!" I scream, mind mind in a euphoric state as I rode the rope up and down. "Ohhh, there is no greater sound in the world to my ears! Ring out! Ring out, baby!"

There are some down sides to all of the bell's noise, though... even if I don't believe a word of it. Some ponies claim that all the loud ringing has damaged my ears. They claim I can't hear them when they call out to me, and other times I don't make out what they're saying. They also say isolating myself in this tower has affected my sanity quite a bit, and that I've gone totally loopy. But that's absolutely ridiculous, isn't it? I'm so totally not crazy, right?

Ohhhh bells... ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong ding dong! BONG....BONG....BONG....BONG!

Sorry, where was I?

It was then, that I noticed a large twinkling hot air balloon go floating by. Purple coat and mane, flower cutie mark. As I looked over the balloon and it's mysterious occupant, I suddenly realized, with a growing horror, that it was none other than our town's beloved princess!

"Princess Wysteria, is that you?!" I called out, as the balloon floated by. "What on earth are you doing out there in that balloon?"

"Oh, Lulabelle, I'm so happy to see you!" She called out from the hanging basket, extending her hooves in my direction. "Oh, I just wanted to go for a ride in this balloon to get away for awhile, and I lost control! Could you give me a hoof here, and get me out of this thing?!"

"Get you a pair of wings?! But you're an earth pony!" I called out, mishearing what she was saying due to my ears still ringing. "I don't know if the unicorns even have a spell for that!"

"Oh no, Lula! That's not what I said at all!" She called out in a panic, trying to steer the balloon towards the bell tower. "Here, when I get close to the tower, I'll jump for it, and you help me up with your hooves!"

"I'm sorry your highness, bit I still can't hear you!" I called out, backing up to get a running start. "Here, let me come over there, and then I can hear you!"

"Lula, don't!" She called out, as I took off into a running gallop. "You'll only make things worse!"

I jumped across the gap, flying through the air and landing in the balloon's basket. The whole balloon rocked backed and forth as I landed.

"Yes, your highness?" I asked her, doing a small bow to my princess. "What were you saying to me?"

"Oh no, Lulabelle! I wanted you to help me get out of here, not join me in the balloon!" She told me, burying her face in her hooves, as we floated on towards the Ponyville lake. "How are we going to get out of this mess now?"

"Oh, you didn't want me in here?  I'm so sorry, Wysteria!" I told her, thinking for a moment. "Here, I can fix that real quick!"

As we flew over Ponyville lake, I leapt out of the basket, and dove downward towards the water below. I landed in the water with a loud splash!

"Goodbye, your highness!" I called back up to her, waving my hoof as I floated in the water. "Have a good time on butterfly island!"

"I don't believe it, I have a Ponyville subject even dumber than Minty...." I could've sworn I heard her mutter, as she flew under the rainbow waterfall. But why would my own princess say something like that? But anyway, I'm so happy to have helped my princess like that! Now, it's back to my tower to ring that bell, see you all later!

Building Bridges

"That little over fired fajita! I'm gonna show her who de best party planner in Ponyville is!" I hear her yelling angrily, as she glues parts of her pinata together.  "Ain't nobody gonna steal Fiesta Flair's thunder!"

I watch her putting all of the finishing touches and final flourishes on the party favors; all very festive, bright and colorful. Fiesta always put her heart and soul into her party planning, and usually makes her friends very happy. But this recent mess with Razaroo has left her a bit angry, to say the least.

"Dearest, you've been at work on the stuff for Scootaloo's party for over five hours now." I tell her, putting a worried hoof on her shoulder. "Don't you think you should take a break for a little while?"

"No! I can't let that that little cucracha show me up." She snorted, not even looking away from her work. "Sorry Frisco, but dis gotta be de biggest fiesta Ponyville has ever seen!"

With a sigh, I shake my head and trot away. I wish she weren't so competitive, but then again that's the spark I saw in her that I fell in love with. I'm a more passive pony myself, and I always admired Fiesta's ability to go after what she wants with gusto. Me, I'm always a more passive pony, I suppose. Good old Frisco, he never loses his temper or gets mad.

Trotting my way across town, I head towards the new bridge we are putting together that spans the river in green green meadows. The old one collapsed in that nasty snow storm we had last year, and it was decided a new one should be constructed in it's place.

"Sparkleworks... Sparklesnap... how's the construction coming?" I call out to the two mares, craning my neck to looks down to where they both stood on the bridge's support beams. "You two get those bolts on the support braces tightened yet?"

"We're workin' on it, Frisco!" Sparkleworks calls back, winking at me as she tightens another bolt with her hoof wrench. "I'd say another hour or so, and this baby will be all ready for ponies to trot across!"

"It would go faster, if you'd get your flank down here and help us." Sparklesnap grumbled, looking up at me in annoyance. "Why do you get to design these bridges, but you don't have to help work on them?"

"Ohh, lay off of Frisco, sister! This is our job, not his." Sparkleworks retorted, adjusting her yellow construction hat with a pink flower design on it. "He's just a boy, you can't expect him to be able to do careful jobs that call for precision work."

With another sigh, I shake my head as the two siblings start bickering again. Sparkleworks is right though, it's not working buildings and bridges that is my special talent as Ponyville's architect. No, my job is to design the structures of this town, to design and plan the construction and repairs needed with diagrams and charts. Ever since I was a colt, I could look at any structure, and identify the weak spots in them. I could pinpoint where repairs were needed, where support beams needed replaced, and where walls needed strengthened.

I could also design a strong and sturdy structure on my own, but did not have the construction skills to build such places on my own. So, I have to leave the actual building of my work to ponies who are skilled at such things, such as the two mares below me. But right now, they are too busy arguing to actually get any work done on the new bridge I've designed for the town. So maybe it's time I speak up, and say something to get these ponies back to the task at hoof.

"Girls, please! Several ponies what to go for a picnic at Applejack's cottage across the river tomorrow, so this bridge needs to be finished by this evening!" I exclaim, looking between the two of them. "Sparklesnap, the reason I don't help the two of you is, I could never keep up with two such amazing construction mares. I'd only slow the two of you down!"

"He is right, sister, we are pretty awesome." Sparkleworks giggled. "Why don't we just hold off on the bickering, and get this job done first?"

"Okay... fine." The other sister grumbles reluctantly, as the two return to work.

Pony friendships, I find, are a lot like the bridges I build. They need to be carefully spanned and constructed between two ponies, meticulously maintained, and kept in good working condition lest they fall apart. I'm sometimes able to plan out a good repair job between two friends, as I am with repairing structures, but with Fiesta and Razaroo that doesn't seem to be the case.

And that's such a sad thing, too. They used to be such great friends, back when I was dating Razz.They would plan birthday parties together, and each bring their own special little touch to the festivities. But them this silly party rivalry started between them, and they've been at each others throats ever since. The two haven't really talked to each other as friends ever since I started dating Fiesta, and it turned even more sour when we got married.

I just can't help but wonder... did something I don't know about come between the two?

"Yay, we're done!" Spakleworks called up in excitement. "The last of the bolts are tightened!"

"Yes! All of our hard work has payed off!" Sparklesnap agreed, flashing me a rare smile, an unusual thing for that normally glum mare. "All of our hard work has finally payed off!"

But it was just at that moment, that a familiar green menace with a candy-swirled cutie mark came trotting up to the bridge.

"Oh wow, you guys finished the bridge!" The green mare giggled, looking over my finished pride and joy. "That's really super cool! Here, let me test it out for you!"

No, no, no, NO! Not the green terror! Not the walking disaster in pony form, who demolishes and destroys my construction simply by walking on them or over them! I have night-mares where she is a giant pony monster, stepping on and smashing my beautiful works of construction art! Please, fate! Get her off my bridge, before the whole thing comes crashing down around us!

"Minty, get off the Bridge!" Sparkleworks screams, waving her hooves frantically. "I found a screw I missed, and the bridge's gonna-"

But it's too late. She's already halfway across, when the bridge starts top creak and groan under her four hundred pound pony weight. Rivets pop and metal buckles under, and the whole bridge starts to crumble under us like cardboard. The four of us are able to jump clear, but my beautiful masterpiece goes tumbling into the river.

CLANG! BOOM! CRASH!

"All of our hard work!"

"Damn it Minty!"

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I can't do anything right! WHAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

And as I stare at the two angry mares, and the blubbering green monster crying tears all over her mane and coat, I wonder why I sometimes even bother to try...

A Christmas Thistle

A Christmas Thistle

-TWEEEEEEEEEEEET!-

Oh, hello there! -TWEET!- What brings a pony like you to -TWEET!- to Butterfly island? We don't -TWEET!- get many visitors here, so it's sure nice to meet you, yes indeedy! Oh, my name's -TWEET!- Thistle Whistle, and I'm -TWEET!- Starcatcher's loyal second in command. I provide a -TWEET!- more cautious voice to our -TWEET!- overly optimistic. Now, I'm not a -TWEET!- over the top negative Nancy, like some mares -TWEET!- are, but I do have a -TWEET!- little more grounded sense than most Pegasus, yes sirree!

I guess you see all the -TWEET!- Decorations all over the island, huh? Yeah, we're -TWEET!- getting ready to celebrate Christmas, and we're inviting all of our Ponyville friends to -TWEET!- join us for the holiday festivities. Several years ago, we went over to Ponyville to celebrate, and -TWEET!- wow whee, did that turn into a disaster! Minty crashed the one-of-a kind-here-comes-Christmas-candy-cane, and tried to go to the North Pole, and I followed her, and -TWEET!- let's just say it didn't end well! So we're just going to try to have a tropical Christmas here on Butterfly Island, even thought that means no snow for a -TWEET!- winter-y holiday.

"Thistle Whistle, do your Pegasus teams have the strands of garland up yet?" Starcatcher -TWEET!- came up to me, flying gracefully around in a -TWEET!- loop. "Our guests will be arriving here soon."

"We're working on it, -TWEET!- my queen!" I reply, bowing to the -TWEET!- ruler of Butterfly Island. "Aurora Mist! -TWEET!- Coconut Grove! Get that tree up so we can get those decorations on it!"

"We're on it!" The two reply in -TWEET!- unison. They both push the evergreen tree our stallion cut down in Ponyville up into it's stand, and the others start putting the decorations. Ornaments, tinsel, garlands -TWEET!- yes sirree, they did a good job on putting up a beautiful tree! "What do you think, Thistle?"

"It looks sweet, girls!  -TWEET!-  Really sweet!" I reply, grinning at the two of them.

Yes, I really really love this  -TWEET!-  lovely holiday the earth ponies brought us! Lights and trees, candy canes and Santa... it's a time of year that makes you think of all the family and friends who are important to you  -TWEET!-  including the ones you lost....

My mom and dad were always a little too adventurous. -TWEET!-  They pushed me out of the hut really early, and tried to get me to fly before I was ready. Pulling me out to swim when I was only three, -TWEET!- trying to get me to soar above the ocean when I was four. They decided to take me out during a storm, flying on either side of me as I wobbled along, telling me everything -TWEET!- was going to be alright.

And then that storm, that terrible, terrible storm.  -TWEET!-  Mama's reassuring smile, daddy's telling me everything was going to be okay. Clouds  -TWEET!-  I remember there were clouds everywhere, and there was lightning, and winds, and darkness that all came from those terrible, terrible clouds. Those clouds blew me away from mommy and daddy that day  -TWEET!-  I saw the one last time between the lightning flashes, as the wind carried me back to the island, and heard their screams on the wind as they  -TWEET!-  swirled away into the darkness.

The winds slammed me against the  -TWEET!-  Island's rocky shore, shattering my jaw and skull, and leaving me scared of those clouds that took mommy and daddy away from me, forever. My head did eventually get better, but the damage left me with my  -TWEET!-  unique speech problem. Whenever I think of this holiday, and see the other Pegasus with their own families, I can't help but remember how I lost the ponies I cared about the most.

"Hey mom, check this out!" I  -TWEET!-   hear from above me. Looking up, I see a teenage certain teenage Pegasus doing loop de loops, and  -TWEET!-  messing around recklessly with her friends. My wings reflexively shoot out in a panic, and  -TWEET!- I angrily yell at her in a panic.

"Mochanaut, you get down from there this instant, young lady!  -TWEET!-" I cry out, flapping around in a panicked frenzy. "There are clouds up there, and you could hurt yourself!"

"Awww, you worry to much!" She called back defiantly, rankling the feathers on my  -TWEET!-  wings.  "Look, I'm gonna fly out over the ocean!"

But then a strong wind came up, and I saw it start to pull her away from the island  -TWEET!-  she started to spin out of control, as she was blown father and farther out over the sea.

"Aieee, the winds are too strong!" She called out to me. "I can't stop! Somebody help me!"

Oh no oh no oh no!  -TWEET!-  Not my baby girl, not my little girl, too! Every muscle in my body tenses to jump after her, but Starcatcher is one hoof ahead of me.  -TWEET!-  Flying against the mighty winds with those powerful wings of hers, our Queen catches the rebellious teen in her hooves, and brings her back to ground.

"Oh, Mocha!  -TWEET!-  I'm so glad you're safe!" I cry out, embracing her in my hooves. But my relief  -TWEET!-  quickly turned to anger, and I exploded. "What were you thinking?!  -TWEET!-  You could've gotten yourself killed up there!"

"I-I'm sorry..." She sobbed. "I didn't mean to..."

"Thistle, don't be too hard on the child." Starcatcher advised me  -TWEET!-  in her ususal gentle. "It was simply a youthful mistake."

"No! She could have gotten herself killed!  -TWEET!- " I yell in a panic, not thinking with my head on straight. "Just wait until your father gets back, young lady,  -TWEET!-  Then you'll really be sorry!"

"THISTLE WHISTLE!" Starcatcher yelled angrily,  -TWEET!-  coming in between the two of us. "THAT IS ENOUGH!"

Now, I've seen a lot of scary things in my time -TWEET!- especially clouds, but I have never seen anything as terrifying as an angry Starcatcher. Like a wrathful goddess, burning with the rage of a hundred thousand bonfires. She's so scary, she literally frightened the Tweets out of me. I totally melted under her fiery gaze. As my little girl galloped away, tears flowing from her eyes.

Now, -TWEET!- I realize I may had acted a bit harsh, but I would have to calm down before I realized how stupid -TWEET!- I had been. But the worse had yet to come this holiday season -TWEET!- before it got better.

Mochanaut is Missing

"Hmph! Mom wants to be that way?" I howl in defiance to the wind "Fine! I don't need to stay on butterfly island! I don't need anyone!"

Stupid, selfish, overprotective mom! How dare she tell me what to do! I am so sick of her always telling me what I can and can't do! Ohhh, clouds! There's clouds up there! We're all gonna die!   Gee, Thistle Whistle! Maybe I shouldn't eat, because I might choke! Or maybe I shouldn't blink, cause I might hurt my eyelids! How could I possibly-

Oh, right... this is supposed to be where I explain who I am, and hat I'm about... right. Name's Mouchnaut, pink Pegasus with an blue and purple mane, and two coffee cups tattooed on her butt. I love making coffee and want to open up a coffee shop someday with my pal Tiara-mi-Su, and currently has no boyfriend because a certain overprotective mother won't even let me look at colts! There, that enough 'fleshing out of my character for your little journal entries you want each of us to write, Storybelle? I think your readers all probably sick of hearing a mini-biography from each and every one of us by now.

Anyway, I was flying around near the Butterfly beach, muttering to myself and plotting how I was going to get away from this stupid island, when I saw a hot air balloon come through the portal from Ponyville. Upon rubbing my eyes with my hooves and looking closer, I noticed the floating ball of hot air (the one thing the balloon had in common with my dear sweet mother) had a familiar occupant I recognized immediately.

"Wysteria, is that you?" I called out, flying up to the obviously out-of-control craft. "What the heck are you doing up here?"

"Oh dear, Mochanaut? Is that you?" Wysteria called out, looking with relief as I grabbed hold of the basket. "Please, you've got to get me out of here! I can't control this crazy thing!"

I immediately pull her out of the basket, and set her to the ground as the balloon slowly drifts it's way out to sea. I had heard the high and mighty princess of Ponyville had disappeared a few days ago, but I never thought she'd wash up here on our tropical shore. After she had shaken the dirt and sweat from her mane, I decided to see and could ask her and find out what was going on.

"Princess Wysteria, I am very pleased to have helped you." I tell her, bowing my head low before the pony I had just rescued. "But I was wondering why you have decided to grace our humble island with your presence?"

"Oh, you don't have to be so formal, silly." The princess replied with a giggle. "I just needed some time away from my royal duties, so I decided to take a break. But that balloon seemed to have a mind of it's own., and it brought me here, like it was magic or something."

"Well then, the balloon must have had some purpose in bringing you here." I tell Wysteria, motioning for her to follow me. "Perhaps there is something here on Butterfly Island that could assist with what's bothering you?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea." The Princess of Ponyville smiled, trotting her way up towards the Pegasai's village huts. "I can go and talk to Starcatcher, and maybe she could-"

"NO! No, our queen is way to busy to waste time on something puny like this!" I cry in a panic, looking around nervously at the thought of her going back to the very ponies I was trying to run away from. "Here, let me help you on your journey of self-discovery. I'm sure we can figure out how to make you feel like a better princess, if we put our heads together!"

"Hmmm, I guess we could do that." The princess replied thoughtfully. "Sure! I think that'd be a lot of fun. Why don't you lead the way, and we'll start looking for the answers together!"

And so the two of us trotted towards the island's small jungle, vanishing from sight into the thick rows of palm trees. I really didn't have any idea where this little trip was going to take me, nor did I care. The farther I am away from my fussy overbearing mother and the Pegasus tribe I really need a break from at the moment. And who knows? Maybe I'll actually learn something from this overly kind, down to earth earth pony that Ponyvillians seem to hold in such high regard.

"So, Wysteria..." I think for a moment, trying to remember the Princess's hobbies so I can start up a conversation. "...what can you tell me about the flowers that are in bloom this season?"

"Oh, do you like flowers?!" I saw her eyes light up, and I suddenly realized the monstrous can of worms I had just unknowingly opened. "Oh, there are so many wonderful kinds in bloom this time of year! But that's only the beginning..."

And so, the great princess proceeded to lecture me about spring and summer flowers, of daffodils and zinnias and petunias and morning glorys. I think I learned more about botany and growing plants in that one conversation, than I ever did from horticulturalists. I was able to get a few sentences about types of tea I liked to make and how I wanted to open a shop someday, but it was obvious that the princess was going to dominate the conversation during this journey.

And as we headed deeper into the woods, I wonder if I hadn't been a little to harsh on mom for wanting to protect me. Even if her nutty paranoia was the thing that started the whole mess to begin with.

A Ponyville Christmas

The snow is falling everywhere, decorations are on the trees, and the sights and sounds of the holiday are in the air. All I have to do is look out the window, and see the mares and stallions happily playing in this winter wonderland, and I know that my favorite time of year has once again arrived.

Christmas time has once again come to Ponyville.

It's a more recent holiday that came to ponydom, brought here by mysterious creatures who came here from the other world, and taught ponies the joy of the holiday. Generations ago we used to celebrate a similar holiday called hearth's warming day, back when ponies used to believe in alicorn princesses and other such nonsense. But now, we all follow this tradition in a new form, honoring the holiday and the warmth of each others friendship.

Christmas is a special time for me... for I am Candy Cane, the Ponyville Christmas pony. You may have seen me around the town- the white mare with the red mane and candy cane cutie mark. Most of the year I'm just another pony trotting about town, and going about my business. But this time of year... oh, this time of year is what I live for! The preparation work for this holiday takes nearly the whole previous year, you know. and that means I spend almost the entire year thinking, eating, sleeping and breathing Yuletide joy.

"Winter Wishes, are you done painting those ornaments yet?"  I call down the steps to the stallion with the pink coat and sleigh cutie mark. "I just finished my next batch of Christmas cookies, and I want to deliver them to Sweetberry's Shop and the Cotton candy cafe!"

"Just go ahead without me, my dear!"  My husband yells back up to me, looking up[ from his workshop in the basement. "I need to do some more work on the garland before I finish up down here!"

Dear, darling Winter Wishes; the only pony who is as obsessed with Christmas s I am. He and I make a good match, as we spend the whole year preparing for this glorious, glorious holiday! As I trot out the door of our Christmas tree-shaped house, I look about the streets, and admire all the Christmas work we've done so far. Every tree is wrapped in lights and covered with ornaments. Holly and ivy hangs from every lamp post, and there is a wreath on every door. Ponies wrapped in warm hats and scarves greet me as I pass them by, smiles on their cold faces, and steam coming off their breath.

"Hey Candy! Love the decorations in the square this year!" Pinkie Pie yells from across the street. "How do you do such pretty work every year?"

"Just doing my job, Pinkie!" I yell back with a smile, waving a hoof at her. "Have a merry Christmas!"

"Candy Darling! So glad to see you out and about!" Rainbow Dash greeted me, looking away from where she and Denim Blue were standing under the mistletoe. "Please, stop by the shop on your way home, Sew and Sew and I have a new dress for you for the holiday!"

"Thank you so much, Rainbow!" I call back to her, smiling gratefully. "And a happy holiday to you!"

It's so nice to see everybody so happy, and to know all my hard work means so much to so many ponies.  Every generation there is one or two Christmas ponies born in Ponyville, and it is our special talent to put this holiday together for the whole community, including the magical here-comes-Christmas candy cane that sits on the great tree in the very center of town. There was one year my husband and I couldn't do our Christmas preparation. Every mare pitched in to get the decorations up and the cookies baked that year... but it still didn't turn out well. Minty broke the here-comes-Christmas candy cane, and- well, I'd rather not talk about it.

After I make the Christmas cookie deliveries, I suddenly feel a packed ball of snow hit me in the back of the neck. Spinning around, I saw a giggling pair of mares, Sparkleworks and Sunny Daze, staring me down while they packed more snowballs together in their hooves.

"Hey, old lady! Think you're up for another snowball fight?" Sunny challenged me, a mischievous gleam in her eye. "You may have gotten the better of us last year, but we're gonna get you this time!"

"Ohm you think so?" I challenged her, squeezing a snowball together in my front hooves. "Young lady, I'll have you know I was the snowball throwing champion of my generation!"

The girls and I quickly had snow forts built, and we were soon pelting snowballs back and forth at each other from behind white snow-constructed walls. Other ponies soon began gathering to watch our snowball combat, and started to cheer for one side or the other.

Unfortunately, I had happened to leave my bag over by the frozen river, filled with the left over candy fragments from when I baked the here-comes-Christmas candy cane. Now, the one thing a pony should NEVER do is eat any of the candy from that candy cane; it's filled with a powerful magical dust, that if it mixed with the natural earth pony magic in our bodies... well, let's just say it wouldn't be very pretty!

And wouldn't you know it, but who else but Minty came over the hill on a sled, and came to a stop right in front of the bag.

"Oh, it looks like there's a snowball fight going on over there!" Minty exclaimed, jumping around excitedly at the sight of our snowy combat. "Go Sunny! Give that old granny what for!" Just then, she noticed the bag down by her hooves. "Hey, what's in here? Ohhh, candy cane bits! I love these things!"

"No Minty!" I exclaim, dropping my snowball, and galloping towards the goofy mare. "Don't eat that, it's-"

"Mmmmm, these things are good!" She exclaimed, happily munching on the last of the fragments. It only took a few moments, before a rumbling noise came from deep inside the green pony's belly. "Hey, what was that? What's going on?"

Suddenly, Minty's hooves lifted off the ground, and she was floating in midair. "Hey, look everybody, I'm flying!" She began to turn upside down in the air, before she shot straight upward into the sky, vanishing into the clouds. "This is fun! Wheeeeeeeeee!"

"Oh no, Minty!" Sunny Daze exclaimed, running up to where I stood. "What happened to her? Will she be all right?"

"Yes, she just ate a bunch of the leftover here-comes-Christmas candy cane fragments." I sigh, putting a hoof on my face. "She'll float around up there for a day or two, before the candy wears off, then she'll float back down to the surface. The magic in the candy will keep her nourished and hydrated, she'll be fine."

"Whew, that's a relief! I wouldn't want our Mints getting hurt." Sparkleworks sighed with relief. "Though It'll be a shame she's gonna miss Christmas."

"Wait, did you just say we're getting a holiday without Minty?!" Sunny Daze exclaimed in realization. "Do you know what this means?!"

"It's a Christmas miracle!" Sparkleworks exclaimed, dancing around the open town square. Soon, the two ponies in the square were dancing and singing, and all the rest of us Ponyville ponies were left standing there, staring at those two in horrified shock. "Hooray for a kluz-free Christmas!"

*Sigh* Those two have a poor taste in humor. Oh well, at least Pinkie Pie sent Starsong up to find Minty and bring her back down to earth. Anyway, I've got a lot of Christmas cards to get addressed and put in their envelopes. Merry Christmas, Everybody!

Northern Lights

The little lavender filly shivered, her tiny striped scarf whipping in the wind. It would have been odd, seeing such a young foal by herself in the cold. Surely somepony could have noticed, right?

But this was no normal filly. This filly had suddenly appeared one night, last night to be exact. The little earth pony seemed to have a light blue glow around her, despite not being a unicorn. She hoofed at the ground, trying to make a small bed for herself. As she looked up into the sky, she saw the snow gently falling, and- a bright flash of light?

“Wheeeeee!” The mint-colored blur screamed cheerfully, dashing around until it saw the filly, coming to a stop. “Hey there, kid!” The pony said, slowly descending towards the half frightened filly.

The pony was a mint green mare, with a pink mane and purple eyes that seemed to glitter with happiness. “What are you doing out here, little filly?” the mare chirped. “It’s Christmas Eve!”

“I don’t really know…” the filly stuttered, looking at the magical flying earth mare nervously. “I just kinda appeared out here… I don’t have a mummy or dad.”

“Oh.” the mint colored pony sighed, nodding grimly. “I’m Minty, by the way. I ate some magical candy cane stuff and now I can fly!”

“I’m…” the filly trailed off, realizing that she didn’t have a name. She looked up at the sky, remembering how Minty’s bright blur looked, and finally said, “I’m Northern Lights.”

“Cool!” Minty smiled. “Wanna come to Ponyville? Looks awfully cold out here…”

“Sure!” North smiled as Minty held out her hoof. Taking it, the two of them flew through the night sky, and towards Ponyville.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe she really left!” Sunny Daze said to her friends. The ponies were sitting in the Cotton Candy Cafe, drinking hot cocoa, and the ponies were beginning to get worried. “I mean, she can be a total ditz sometimes, but she just up and left! Again!”

“Totally.” Sparkleworks nodded, but a loud crash made them look up.

“Hey there! I’m baa-aack!” Minty smiled, causing Cotton Candy to groan at the fact that her door was now in shambles. But as Minty entered, they saw a small lavender filly nervously trot out from behind the minty mare.

“Hey there.” the filly said nervously. “I’m Northern Lights.”

Pinkie Pie was the first to react. “Minty, what is this? You leave with a bunch of magic candy cane and you come back with a filly!” The mare glared at her friend.

“No, that’s not-” Minty started, trying to explain, but realizing that nopony was going to believe that a foal just magically appeared in the middle of nowhere. Despite her ditzyiness, Minty realized the futility in arguing, and trotted out with North in tow.

The town was bustling with activity as usual, and what with it being Christmas Eve, ponies placed wrapped presents under the giant tree in the center of town, or placing them in the branches.

"Ohhhh, this town is so pretty! I can't believe you all put up so many amazing decorations!"  Northern Lights squealed in delight, looking around at all of the lights and colors in amazement. "It must be so awesome to live here, especially during the holidays!"

"Yeah, most of the time. Unless you're the town klutz." Minty said sadly, looking down at the ground. "Sometimes I think most ponies  would be glad if I just up and, *poof* disappeared."

"But why?" Northern Lights asked, shocked to hear such a seemingly cheerful mare sound so down. "Aren't your friends happy to spend time with you during the holidays?"

"Oh, I'm sure they are! My friends would do anything for me, even fly all the way to the North Pole to find me." Minty inwardly grinned, remembering a particular time with her friends. "But I really don't think they like having me around when they're trying to do something like putting up decorations, I always manage to mess stuff up."

"Well that's just silly, all ponies mess things up, and are klutzy sometimes." Northern Lights told her with a giggle. "Sometimes ponies say or do when they're mad, that they don't really mean. You should give them some time,and I'm sure they will be nice to you again!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Looking around, Minty noticed the great Christmas tree in the center of town. "Hey, I know! Lets put a few extra decorations on the great Christmas tree, and trot over to cotton Candy's for some hot coca."

"Ohh, I've never put decorations on a tree before!" The little filly exclaimed, hopping around with delight. "That sounds like a whole lot of fun!"

Minty retrieved a box of ornaments from her house,  and the two earth ponies scurried about the tree, hanging them. Tinsel and ribbons, bulbs and garland. Both girls added their own special touches to the tree, making the already pretty decorations even more beautiful.

Hey

"Ohhh, that candy cane at the top looks sooo tasty!" Northern Lights drooled, licking her lips as she stared at the giant sweet. "Why don't we go up and have a lick?"

"Uhhh, no. That's not really a good idea." Minty replied nervously, shaking her head. "I've learned from too many experiences NOT to mess with the here-comes-Christmas-candy-cane."

"Sounds like somebody has learned their lesson." Sunny Daze came trotting up, a regretful look on her face. "Minty, Sparkleworks and I are sorry about the things we said when you floated away. You can really get on our nerves sometimes, but we really think you're an awesome friend."

"Thanks Sunny, you're the best!" Minty replied, trotting over towards where the beach mare stood. "Hey, Northern Lights and I were gonna trot over to Cotton Candy's place, and get some warm Coca, you wanna come with us?"

"Sounds great Mints." Sunny replied with a smile. "But who's Northern Lights?"

But when Minty turned around to introduce her new friend... but there was no trace of the little filly anywhere.

"But... she was just...." Minty stuttered, dumbfounded.

And it was then, that Minty realized that strange and amazing miracles can happen at Christmas time. And wither it was an actual foal, or the spirit of a little filly who loves Christmas from the time of the Princess of friendship, or  wither it was the spirit of the Aurora Borealis itself trying to cheer her up, really didn't matter. Because Minty learned that Christmas was indeed a magical night, and it was a night whose kindness and warmth should be shared all throughout the year.

"Merry Christmas, everyone!" Minty exclaimed, as she trotted into the Cotton Candy Cafe, where all of her friends raised their hot coca mugs to her in greeting. "And a happy new year!"

Minty and her Shenanigans

"Ahhhhhh! Shenanigans, help me!" Her voice cried out, legs kicking frantically as she tried to get herself down. "This tree's trying to eat me again!"

Oh wow, Minty's gotten herself into another fine mess! You know, it's really cool being married to the klutziest mare in all of Ponyville. You never know what she's going to smash, break up, or destroy next! See, I live for that kind of chaos and insanity, it makes life so much more interesting. Certainly more interesting than anyone else in this boring old town is!

"Good grief Mints! How the heck did you get yourself stuck up here?"  I ask her, putting a ladder up the tree with my hooves to get her down. "What were you doing, hang gliding or something?"

"No, Shenanigans... I accidentally ate some magic candy cane bits that made me float away." My poor beleaguered spouse laments. "I didn't mean to cause so much trouble."

She's right, of course. Minty never does mean to cause the havoc she wreaks, unlike this blue stallion with this hot air balloon cutie mark. I've been playing wacky pranks and goofy antics ever since I was a little colt. Would you believe the looks you can get when putting a whoopee cushion under princess Wysteria's chair at a royal dinner? Or the wackiness of slipping something into Fiesta Flair's cooking that gives her the trots?

It's so much fun to play pranks on ponies... even if those same ponies don't appreciate that humor. I can't tell you how many times I've wound up in hot water, and been yelled at by Pinkie Pie and the other mares from court. But Minty never comes down on me for my pranks, even when she ends up being their target. My wife is one of the sweetest ponies in this town; quick to laugh and chuckle, and even quicker to forgive any wrongdoing.  That's why she and I get along so well, as I have never met any pony quite like her.

"Oh. Shenanigans... I can't ever do anything right." Minty whines, as I pull her out of the tree. "I should go out to someplace in the woods, and let a troll eat me! Ponyville would probably be better off!"

"Now you just hold on a minute!" I protest angrily, stamping my hoof on the ground. "You know there isn't a single pony in town who wants that.  All of your friends love you too much to see something like that happen to you!"

And neither could I. My sweet Minty is the love of my life, the only mare willing to put up with my childish antics. We first met when I was trying to play a prank on some mares in the park. She was the only one who thought the spider I was dangling from the thread was real, and when the other girls ran away, she trotted right up and tried to start a conversation with it. It was incredible... every time I tired to pull a fast one or a joke om her, she would naively and innocently stumble through it, her bad luck backfiring and causing the gag to blow up in my face. Do know how many times I've been bitten by wind up chattering teeth, or how many times I've slipped on a banana peel after a prank pulled on her turned around and got me instead?

But that's when I actually got to know Minty, and discovered she had a wonderful sense of humor, and a kind and gentle heart. I always love how her terrible luck causes such chaos and hilarity in Ponyville, and the excitement she always bring to my life. Yeah, with this little filly around, things are never ever boring around here.

"I-I guess you're right, Shen. I should stop whining now." She replied, drying her tears with her hooves. "Boy, I can really be a big crybaby sometimes, huh?" And then, she smiled that wonderful smile at me. "Thanks for cheering me up, hun. You're always a really big help, wherever I'm feeling blue!"

And just like that, she's back to her old, cheery self again; the mare whom I always see a smile on the face of, and the mare I truly love. She always manages to bounce back from her little pratfalls and clumsy mistakes with a smile, and rarely, if ever, gets angry about all the terrible things that seem to happen to her. How can any stallion not love such an adorable mare? You have to have a pretty hard heart to not at least find her endearing.

"Hey, Shenanigans? Wanna go get something to eat?" She yelled excitedly, galloping on ahead of me, as fast as she could go. "I could really go for some cookies... all mint green, of course."

"Of course.But I think I'll leave the green sweets to you. I'll just grab a chocolate sundae." I reply with a smile, trotting along after her. I'm just glad I can be here for Minty, when no other stallion will risk her 'bad luck' rubbing off on them. But I believe that this little green jinx is the most precious and valuable emerald in all of Ponyville. "But hey, I had a really neat idea! Why don't we mix up all the flavors in the soda fountains together, when Sweet beery isn't looking? I can't wait to see the other pony's faces when they go and try to take a sip of their root beer floats!"

Okay, yeah, I'm an incurable stallion prankster that'll never change. By the way, watch out for the whoopee cushion on that chair you just sat on!

Daisyjo knows

Little Miss Daisyjo

your ribbons all aglow

I really want to know

your garden grows?

"Hey Daisyjo, where are those flowers I ordered?" Razaroo asks me, tapping her hoof impatiently. "I'm gonna need them for Scootaloo's birthday party, yes yes yes!"

"Okay. let me clip off the stems on these zinnias, and I'll get right to work on the tulips for her floral arrangement." I yell back, snipping then ends of the flowers off, and putting down my shears. "Only the best for our dear little racing star on her b-day."

Ahhhh, growing sweet smelling flowers, cultivating them from the time they are seedlings, until they bloom into beautiful blossoms with petals galore... this is the great joy of my life. I have always adored the sweet fragrance of flowers, ever since I was a little filly in my mother's little flower shop. I grew up, helping her to take care of all the local gardens and flower beds in town. And I enjoyed it so much, that I decided to follow in her hoofsteps.

My name's Daisyjo, and I run the Ponyville  greenhouse on the west side of town. Whenever anyone in town wants a boquet for a wedding, or a  corsage for their school dance, I'm the purple mare with the yellow mane that they come to. Wysteria used to the pony pony who organized anything in this town that had to do with flowers, but I was always the pony who actually did all the watering, weeding, gardening, and hard work. And now that she's moved on to being princess (well, runaway princess now), I've fulling taken over everying in these town that has to do with flowers.

"Do you really think that all of these flowers will outshine Fiesta's presentation?" I ask her, outting the last few blossoms into place on the large floral arrangement that reads 'happy birthday Scootaloo. "I mean, when that party mare decides to go big, she really goes BIG."

"She's not going to show me up this time, Daisyjo, oh no no!" Razz guaranteed me, a smile on her face. "Especially since you promised not to give her any flowers for her party presentation."

"I couldn't let a friend down... even if it meant letting another friend down, I guess." I tell her with a sigh, shaking my head. " Besides, I'm sure she can pull together a pretty decent show of her own, even with out my flowers"

Even so, I still feel guilty about withholding my flowers from Fiesta, all of the ponies in this town rely on me to grow and provide their flowers for them. Planting the seeds and putting down mulch, watering the plants and singing to them (hey, plants really do improve when they are sung to, trust me). Mother makes sure all of her little babies out there in the garden are well cared for. And above all, it makes me so very happy to see my little flowers making all of those other ponies here in Ponyville.

"Daisyjo.... Razaroo...so good to see you, girlfriends!" A laid back pony called out, literally drifting in to my greenhouse. "How are your cosmic auras shinning this fine day?"

"Oh hey, Port 'O Bella." I replied with a sigh, rolling my eyes at the arrival of Ponyville's resident hippy. "What brings you around my greenhouse?"

"Oh! I was like, hoping I could convince you to carry this one wicked type of 'shroom I just discovered in the forest!" She announced to me, holding up a weird looking green mushroom with spots all over it. "I think it's be awesome if this mushroom could be shared with all the mares and stallions of Ponyville!"

"Oh no no no, I don't think think that's such a good idea." Razaroo told her. "We all know what happened the LAST time you gave your mushrooms to the ponies of Ponyville..."

During the winter, I often allow the farmers of Ponyville to grow certain amounts of their crops in my vast greenhouse, so that there is a small supply of various fruits and vegetables available for cooking and eating during the cold months, besides the ones they canned during the fall harvest. But there is NO way I am going to let this burned out mare hold a stash in my greenhouse... my flowers would probably get sick on her fumes from her fungal drek.

"I.. really don't think that's a good idea." I warn her, raising a hoof as we talked. "Why don't you just store them in your van with all your other mind altering substances?"

"Aw, come on! There's not enough room in there, babe!" She told us, shoving a mushroom into each of our mouths before we could move, and pushing it down our throats. "Here, just try this stuff, you'll really love it!"

Suddenly, the room lit up. There were flowers everywhere,  filling up the room and glowing brightly. We all began to dace around the greenhouse, roses and daises and daffodils falling all around us, as colors flashed before our eyes, and all the colors of the rainbow seemed to sing wonderful songs all around us. In all of my long years of life, I've never seen such a wonderfully arranged floral display! The light! The sound the COLORS!

It was the next morning that I woke up on the floor of my greenhouse, my head groggy and the room spinning all around me. I was wearing a pair of tight daisy dukes on my sore flank, along with a tied-together top. A note was lying on the floor next to me, clearly written by a stallion from here in Ponyville that I had a thing for;

Thanks for the wonderful dinner of flowers we had last night, and the wonderful time we had. Hope we can get together again sometime.

- Spring Parade

My eyes go wide in horror at the letter's mention of a 'flower meal' and I stand up and look around the greenhouse in horror. Every daffodil and daisy, every rose and petunia, every single flower in this greenhouse had had it's top bitten off and devoured, all except the daisy on my own cutie mark. All of my beloved babies, decapitated, thanks to a goofy mare on a perpetual high.

"PORT 'O BELLAAAAAAA!"

Catch a Falling Star

"Consider it done!"

That so simple yet meaningful phrase, one she speaks so often when she agrees to grant the humble requests of her subjects. She strides among us like a goddess, trotting out of the great butterfly tent on top of waterfall. Mane of white and pink, graceful and angelic wings far longer than any of the rest of us Pegusai. She was the one who brought us together with our earth pony sisters in Ponyville, our ruler... our queen. Starcatcher, the chieftain of our beloved Butterfly Island. All of the rest of us bow, and extend our wings in reverence at the great leader's approach.

"My fellow ponies, we have recently been blessed by the visit of the princess Wysteria, the ruler of Ponyville. She has come here looking for answers, and I decree  that no one is to harass her during her soul-searching time here."

There were several murmurs of surprise from the crowd, staring in disbelief at the news Starcatcher had given them.

"Wysteria is here? But how?!" Coconut Grove exclaimed. "She disappeared from Ponyville over a week ago!"

"The twinkle balloon from celebration castle brought her here, for what reason I know not." Starcatcher replied.

"But how did you know, my queen?" Cloud Climber asked, still bewildered by this turn of events. "And what's she doing now?"

"The island's butterflies told me so, the very moment  that  she arrived on this very island." Our queen responded. "And as to what she is currently doing, Thistle Whistle's daughter is currently guiding her deep into the jungle, to seek wisdom from the island's oldest Pegasus."

Cloud Climber should have known that, the butterfly swarm brings Starcatcher news from all over the island. That's how she always won at hide-and-seek when we were foals. There is little that escapes the queen's notice on this island, it was why we Pegasus often say our queen and the island are one.

"But Starcatcher, -tweet!- if my little girl is with Wysteria, -tweet!- then we gotta go and find them!" Thistle Whistle protested, clearly greatly concerned about her child. "They could both get hurt, or-"

"Thistle, I forbid you from following them." The queen told her sternly. "They are safe here from any danger while on this island, and this a journey that both Wysteria and your little girl must make for themselves."

We could obviously tell that didn't sit well with the overprotective Pegasus mother, but we all accepted our queen's word as law, her decisions as final. Starcatcher has always seemed like an ancient and wise pony, even when we were all little fillies and colts. She never cried or whimpered when she was little like the rest of us; rather, she was a calm and collected princess even then. Our queen has never lost her composure in front of us, we have never seen her cry or get excited. So we can never truly know what is going on in our beloved queen's heart and mind.

Often, it leads me to wonder... who are you really, Starcatcher? Beneath all that regal elegance and sophistication, what is our magnanimous monarch really like? The only face of hers we have ever known is the smiling and friendly queen who treats us all as her friends, rather than her subjects. Is that all there is to our queen? Does she not laugh... or cry... in her own personal moments, when none of us are around to see?

And this isn't just a question I am pondering, it's a very real concern. We Pegasus of the butterfly island tribe care about our Starcatcher- not only as our queen, but as our friend, as well. Many of us often worry that underneath that smiling exterior, our reserved ruler is often sad or depressed, and hides those feelings from the ponies that care about her the most. She doesn't want us to be upset that she's upset. And frankly, that upsets us a great deal.

It's ironic, that we have a royal ruler who distances herself from us, despite the fact that we want to emotionally connect with her; while the Ponyville ponies want their princess to be a distant and aloof icon. I often wonder if they would be happier with our ruler sitting in their Celebration castle, whilst we would be far happier with the more approachable and far less iconic Wysteria.

Not that we'd ever trade our beloved Starcatcher for anything in the world, of course.

But we do have an idea why our queen may be so distant to all of us, why she always keeps her serene and peaceful facade. When she was a little filly, Starcatcher's mother was lost to us. The king told Starcatcher that she couldn't let their subjects see them cry or weep for the loss, that she had to remain strong for the entire Pegasus tribe. But result is she never lets herself feel anything, ever. She always talks to us as Starcatcher the queen, not Starcatcher the friend. Only her family, and her earth pony friend Skywishes, have gotten to know the mare behind the monarch.

Her conversation with us concluded, our queen unfolds her wings and takes flight. Taking to the sky after her, I soar up beside the queen and call out to her;

"My queen, is everything all right?'' I ask, trying yet again to get her to open up. "Is there anything I can do to assist you?"

"Thank you, my loyal servant." She replies with her usual warm smile. "But everything is all right, just go about your usual business."

And wants again, I am left to ponder our mysterious queen with the strange body tattoos and mysterious eyes.

It's all fun and games

Hello, hello, hello! Greetings and salutations, my good ponies, and welcome to the Ponyville Arcade! Name's Bunches O Fun, and I'm the grade-a-number-one pony of games here in this humdinger of a town. My special talent is playing, repairing, and working with game and arcade machines of every shape, size, and variety, and I just of working with those wonderful clockwork gizmos. I just love the smiles on the faces of ponies as they rack up high scores and try to best each other on the machines!

It's always been this pink mare with the green mane's greatest joy to work with arcade machines, ever since I was a wee little filly. I've always been very good at things like pinball games and skeeball, racking up the highest scores on these machines here at the arcade. That is, whenever I could sneak away to the arcade when my overbearing and stubborn mother wasn't watching. She felt I was wasting my time on these machines, playing away the hours that I could be doing something important, like gardening (my cutie mark was a bouquet of roses with a bee...  gee, mom did a lousy job of interpreting that one!)  But here I am, running the town arcade and providing smiles to every pony who wants to come in here and pop a jangle into a machine.

And ohhhh boy, do we get some interesting ponies in here to play games! Cotton candy loves to come in during her off hours, and tell other ponies how to play the games. Pinkie Pie likes to come here and play the hoofball machines to de-stress from this whole 'Wysteria disappearing' thing, while Kimono comes in for a round of Panchinko  to get her mind off of all the 'ghosts' she's seeing around town in her visions. But you wouldn't believe what crazy event Fiesta Flair reserved my arcade for this week...

"Wow, it's so cool that Fiesta's going to hold her birthday bash for Scootaloo here." Starbeam declared, sipping on a soda as he helped me wipe down a pinball machine. "I think this a great opportunity for your arcade to shine!"

"Yeah, I just wish she weren't hanging her pinatas up in here." I tell him with a sigh, checking the flipper pedals on the machine with my hooves. "I mean, aren't the games and her taco dishes enough? Why does she have to mess up my carpet with broken pinata pieces, and falling candy everywhere?"

Starbeam, the awesome stallion with the blue coat and white mane. The ultimate slacker, he's Ponyville's astronomer who's always looking to the stars through his telescope, always dreaming of worlds far beyond our own. He also spends all of his time around here, playing the space-themed games and keeping me company, while he rambles on and on about the glittering stars in the skies above. Maybe that's why I became his girlfriend.

"I wouldn't try to worry too much about it, babe!" He tells me, putting a hoof over my shoulder. "You're games are always going to be a major hit with the ponies of Ponyville!"

I just shrugged and laughed at his response, and we go to enjoy many of the different games in my arcade.  He whips my tail at skee ball, having the bigger and stronger muscles behind those stallion hooves to send those balls a-flying up that ramp an into the hole. At the whack a diamond dog game my superior reflexes got the better of him, as I bonk more of those fuzzy fiends in ten seconds, than my much slower boyfriend can snag in a whole minute. And we found some very interesting things to do in the arcade's photo booth... though let me tell you, there is no way any one outside of Starbeam and I are going to see these snapshots.

It was then we turned our attention to the pinball machines,  and Starbeam noticed a strange-looking one standing off in the corner all by itself. The lights and music coming out of the thing seemed almost... from another time, telling me this was a very early vintage machine.

"Wow, Bunches! I've never seen this machine in here before." He told me, looking the odd contraption over. "This thing looks so old, where on earth did you get it?"

"I dunno where it came from, I found it in the back of the storeroom along with the other games brought here from Ponyville's old arcade." I  shrugged, tapping on the side  of the game cabinet with my hoof. "It looked like the thing hadn't been touched in ages, so I took it out, cleaned it off, plugged it in... and what do you know, it did still work!"

"Here, let's give this thing a whirl!"  He exclaimed excitedly, popping a token into the slot. "Hey, this thing doesn't except your arcade's tokens, it spit it right back out!"

"Here, let me put it on free play." I reply, messing with the wires underneath the cabinet until credits; 1 popped up on the screen. "There you go, no go ahead and have fun!"

And so Starbeam blasted into the game Nightmare moons revenge.

"Oh No! Little ponies I need your help again!" A motherly voice came out of the machine, clearly belonging to the while alicorn who was currently lit up on the machine's backboard. "My sister has been transformed into Nightmare Moon again, and I need your help to save her!"

Starbeam shot the ball into the play field, then hit hit three bumpers labeled cutie mark crusaders, and immediately the image of three little fillies with capes on lit up and exclaimed "Yay, we've earned our cutie marks!" Then, Starbeam hit the ball up towards a farm with a red barn up in the right-hand corner, and an orange cowpony in a cowgirl hat lit up; "Yee haw, you hit that ball clean into the apple orchard, pardner!"  He then sent the ball flying up into a small cottage on the right, where a timid looking little mechanical Pegasus popped out, and said softly; "You scored fifty points, yay!"

"Wow, these are some very interesting characters in this game." I noted, amazed at the detail and quality on the game's artwork. "I wonder why this machine was shoved into the back and forgotten about?"

Starbeam then hit the other small buildings on the table, whacking into a dress boutique, and having a white unicorn yell out. "I'll destroy you for ruining my dresses!" And earned a 'Sugarcube corners free ball', for hitting the ball into a little bakery on the play field.

"Oooo, congratulations, you get a free ball!" An eerily familiar pink mare exclaimed, popping up out of the gingerbread bakery.

"Bunches, did you see that?! That was Pinkie Pie!"  Starbeam exclaimed, so shocked that he almost let his ball go down the hole. "Pinkie Pie was in an ancient game that was made before she was even born!"

Yeah, you're right! And isn't that rainbow Dash?!" I reply in utter shock, seeing  the familiar blue pony pop out of a large mass of clouds when Starbeam's ball hit it. "But she's a Pegasus here, that's not right!"

"You it my house with that one! You're pinball skills are 200% cooler." The not-Rainbow-Dash exclaimed.

"And that voice, that isn't Rainbow at all!" Starbeam agreed, looking over the board as he lost his ball from a missed flipper shot. "Is this pinball machine possessed or something?"

And it was at his mention of possession, that I notice that a lot of the figures on the play field look a lot like the specters many ponies have seen around town. And as I look at the different figures on this pinball machine, the Pink winged unicorn by the crystal-looking city, and the little purple dragon, I'm left to wonder where exactly this machine did come from....

I believe in Yesterdaisy

When there is no future, the past is all a pony has....

I've seen this little drama play out countless times before. Two or three weeping ponies, all standing around a beloved older family member whose breath is growing and more shallow. They are all silently saying their goodbyes, their beloved grandma or uncle or cousin closes his or her eyes for the last time. One of the children collapses in tears on the bed as the dying pony stops breathing, and all the ponies present turn to comfort one another.

Crystal Lake, this era's guide of pony souls to the afterlife, appears before the dead pony. Drawing the recently deceased's spirit out of the nonliving husk, the  purple mare guides the dead pony onto the world beyond. Neither the dead nor their guide utters a word to me, departing through the wall as silently as they had come. I am left to observe all the events that follow, cataloging all of the thoughts, feelings, emotions and memories evoked by all of the ponies present.

That is my job here, recording events of pony's lives as they happen. My name is Yesterdaisy, and I live between the ticks of seconds. I see all of you going about your lives, unable to see or hear me. I watch all of you on a daily basis, going about your daily lives. I see Rainbow Dash and Sew and Sew looting over designs and patters, planning the next year's line of designs and patterns. Cotton Candy is already yakking poor Skywishes's ears off, while Minty is preparing to accidentally drop  a whole stack of teapots she's carrying onto Apple Spice's head.

Just another day here in Ponyville, just like all the days of it's past, and many many days into it's future. I can see back into all of the events of it's past simply willing it, and I am here to watch all things that are to come in it's tomorrows. When I look at a filly and wonder why she shivered at the sight of a spider, I can gaze back into her past, and see she was bitten by a spider as a foal. When I gaze upon a stallion who frowns at  a slice of cake and eats pie instead, I can look back and see that his wife had made him cake for six days in a row. I can see all that had gone past, my vision is only dark when it comes to the future.

My future is over, it has been ever since this little purple mare with the Pink and white mane went skating on an icy pond, fell through into the cold and chilly waters. I remember my hooves pushing up against the ice, trying to escape from a watery prison. My friends in Ponyville tried to find me, of course...  but I was already gone by then. But instead of passing on to the friendship gardens, my maker had a different plan for me. I have become the creator's chronicler, taking note of all that befalls everybody, while completely unable to affect anyone or anything I am seeing. It is my job to watch each and every one of these little dramas play out, such as the one going on inside celebration castle right now.

"It is settled then, we must send out a search party to the lands beyond the valley, in order to locate Wysteria."  Spike the Dragon told the two ponies standing before him. "I think we should send out Kimono and her students to bring our princess back."

"No, that's a really bad idea!" Pinkie Pie replied. "We should take volunteers to go and get her back. Kimono and her fighters would be to scary to any ponies that are out there!"

"I agree more with Pinkie Pie's plan, Spike." Princess Pinksparkle agreed, nodding her head at her chancellor's advice. "We will send out a rescue party led by Rainbow Dash. But if anything goes wrong, we will send out Kimono and her companions."

These poor ponies, looking for their princess in all the wrong places. I would love to tell the princess and her where their missing ruler, but I am forbidden to interact with these ponies, they cannot see or hear anything I would wish to say to them. It is so frustrating to be unable to say or do anything to help all of these ponies with their current plight. It is so frustrating to see everything that these ponies see and do, and yet be unable to warn them about the terrible mistakes they are about to make. it is a tragedy that I cannot prevent these tragedies from occurring.

Going outside of the castle, I see that Rainbow Dash is speaking to her friends, and I can see she is already ready to leap out of the Ponyville region, and go rescue her long lost friend.

"I'm telling you, Sew and Sew dahling, we need to go out and find our Wysteria!" Rainbow stamped her hoof angrily, pacing back and forth as she spoke to her friend. "We can't just leave her out there to face who knows what dangers!"

"Calm down, Dashie! You really need to be more patient!" Her much calmer friend told her, putting a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "We need to wait until Pinkie and Spike come to a decision!"

Oh, Rainbow Dash... if only I had had a loyal friend like you. I might not have met an unfortunate fate that I did, leaving behind a husband and daughter after I went to a watery grave. How I wish my own past had gone much better than it did, and I had ended up living a normal life in the Ponyville of my age, instead of being the guardian of Ponyville's time. In that way, the little pony named Yesterdaisy would have ended up with a much better tomorrow.

A daughter I can be proud of

You know, I can really say it's never easy being the pony who goes against the grain.

There was a time here in Ponyville, long before any of our generation was here,  that gender stereotypes were something to challenge. Ponies had almost achieved a culture free of super-girliness, when the defenders of gender norms came rushing to the defense of tradition.  A serious social conflict occurred between the two sides, with the fate of pony society hanging in the balance. And as to who won this controversial debate?

Well, just take a look at the society around us!

Red bows and flowers and pink splotched everywhere! Even suggesting acting like a boy is enough to get you a nasty stare from the mares around here. But the Rainbow family has never backed down from any kind of challenge. Like my mom before me, I've bucked the trend here in Ponyville, racing and swimming and taking part in every sport imaginable. But my own daughter has finally broken the tradition, embracing all things girly, and breaking my heart.

Well, that is... until now.

"I'm so very proud of you, Dashie! Going out and leading a rescue mission like this!" I tell my little girl proudly, as she makes her preparations to leave Ponyville with her search party. "Standing up and taking charge, leading other ponies on a dangerous quest... now, this is always the kind of pony I wanted you to be!"

"Knock it off, mother! I'm doing this for Wysteria, not for you!" Rainbow Dash yelled at me, stamping her hoof to emphasize her point. "The other girls and I are going out to look for her, not so I can fulfill your deep dark desires to have a tomboy for a daughter!"

My little girl's words are a harsh sting, but nothing have ever been easy between Dashie and I. My name is Rainbow Flash, and I am the mother of Ponyville's resident fashionista. I would rather be the mother of Ponyville's resident runner or jumper, but Rainbow Dash has always had a mind of her own.

"So, which ponies are you taking with you?" I ask her, trying to get on a lighter subject again. "You'll need a strong team to survive out in the mysterious regions beyond the borders of the valley."

"I'm taking Spring Fever, Blue Mist, and Daisy Paisley, mother dahling." She replied, her tone towards me softening a bit. "We think the four of us might have the best chance bringing her back."

"What, those three softies?" I scoff, trying to hide my disbelief. "What are all of you going to do? Hold a fashion show, and try to draw Princess Wysteria out by a desire to be pretty?"

"See now, there you go again, mother! Always criticizing my life and how I choose to do things!" She snapped again, turning to pack her saddlebags full of gear. "I don't need this kind of garbage when I'm getting ready to go on a rescue mission!"

Oh, Dashie... I never wanted to hurt your feelings. When she was a filly, I thought she'd turn out just like I did; strong, brave, and independent. I'm the mare who when a stallion held a door open for me, I'd slam it in their faces. When a guy bought me a piece of jewelry or an accessory as a gift, I'd slug him with my hoof for getting me something so stereotypical. I was a rebel, fighting against all the pre-conceived notions about what I would like. I made sure the stallion I married treated me like any of his other friends, let me tell you!

So imagine how I felt, when my own daughter embraced the establishment with her useless feminine behavior!  I was horrified seeing my foal show no interest in toy trucks, and instead start playing with brushable pony dolls. I worked overtime to try to get rid of these traits from her.  Every time her father snuck her a dolly, I was sure to get it away from her and break it. I had the beautician keep her mane cut too short to style, and I never let her go near the town's dress shops and fashion boutiques.

And what was my reward? My daughter turned against me as soon as she hit adulthood, and has gone out of her way to do everything with her life that drives me crazy. I wanted her to carry on my legacy, to be the next generation in the fight against gender norms. But instead I got the quintessential frilly fashionista for a daughter. What a waste of all the care and effort I put into raising that girl... how dare she not live up to the legacy our family left to her!?

"Mother, if you're not going to be any help, would you please leave?" Rainbow Dash grumbled at me. "Why don't you go and race motor scooters with Scootaloo or something?"

Scootaloo... now's there's a proper heir to my legacy! A filly who started off idolizing Dashie's life mistakes, she soon came around to seeing how stupid following society's expectations actually is. Seeing a kindred spirit in the girl, I took her under my hoof, and train her in the dirt bike and motor scooter racing that I've loved to do since I was a little filly. In scoots I see a kindred spirit, who is more of what I wanted in a protege than my own daughter.

"I think I will go join her her Dashie, at least she'll have something nice to say to me." I snort angrily, trotting out of her house. "At least she's a daughter I can truly be proud!"

Matchmaking Mare

Ahhh, Valentine's day! The most romantic day for all of Ponyville, it is a special occasion single mares and stallions to get together, and for those with a very special somepony to remind  each other how much they care about one another. Pink hearts, heart-shaped candies, and valentines covered in bows  and lace. It is a time when love is in the air, and I can spread happiness and joy to all of the Ponies of this town. It's the greatest joy in my life to not only watch love happen, but also to make love happen.

Yes, I am Always and Forever.... the legendary white mare with fluttery fairy wings, who fires her arrows to bring love to two unsuspecting ponies of the opposite gender. No, contrary to popular belief, my arrows do not make ponies fall in love with each other. Rather, they get two ponies who don't know they have feelings for each other to realize they are in love.  So if you see this red-maned mare in a rose covered tiara ( I don't know how you possibly could given how I'm invisible just like Yesterdaisy and the other Ponyville guardian spirits are), please don't think I'm there to make you get a crush on you own worst enemy.

But I'm not the only one who loves the feelings of love on this holiday.

"Ahhh, love is in the air!" I hear a pink mare with a red mane thinks to herself, looking at all of the passing pony couples with a smile. "I just love watching all of the happy couples I helped set up together!"

Valenshy, the sweet little mare who plays matchmakers with all sorts of ponies in this town. Whenever she sees a lonely mare and a lonely stallion who she thinks would go well together, Valenshy sends both of them valentines, each addressed from the other pony. She would use these sneaky tactics to end up bringing unhappy and lonely ponies together, and then sitting back and silently watching with a warm smile on her face.

She reminds me of.... me, when I was in her position, a few hundred years back.  A shy and lonely mare, looking to give others the love she was so desperately yearning for herself, but was totally unable to achieve. Last year, she hooked Minty and Shenanigans up together, slipping valentines into one of Minty's socks, and another into Shenanigan's whoopee cushions. This year she is watching the two cuddle on a bench from the sidelines, a blissful smile on her face because she was the one who brought them together. Such a mare, alive with the spirit of love I so desperately want to spread, deserves to have a stallion of her own.

"I wish I could find a wonderful guy like that." She sighs in her mind. "But I'm not special enough to have a very special somebody."

And as I scan the crowd, I see the answer; a VERY handsome stallion with a blue coat and red mane. Those muscles, that flank... yes, Love Wishes is the perfect mate for her!  I've had my eye on this stallion for quite some time now (for... ahem... very different reasons), and he is just as good of a matchmaker as Valenshy is! Several years ago, he rigged Scootaloo and Scooter Sprite's engine's so that they would wreck into each other, and though it led to a few scraped knees, it also led to the hottest  romance burning up the raceways. It's very rare that you find a stallion who is a hopeless romantic, but here is one of those rare occasions for you!

"Oh, hey Valenshy." The stallion mumbles timidly, as he went trotting by the bench the mare was sitting on. "H-how are you today?"

"O-oh! Love Wishes! Hi...." She looked up at him in surprise, suddenly blushing as she looked back down. "I-I'm fine. Are you enjoying your Valentine's day?"

"Yeah, I guess so..." He tells her with a sigh, scratching the back of his neck with his hoof. "... it's so great to see how happy everyone is today."

"Yeah, all the couples look so happy together." Valenshy sighed. Getting an idea, she suddenly looked up. "Say, Love Wishes? How would you like to go and get some coca from Cotton Candy's?"

"Oh, ummmm...." Love Wishes replied nervously, looking around as if trying to find a way to escape. "I'd love to, Valenshy, but I... have to go get my tail groomed."

"Oh, ok..." Valenshy replied sadly. "I just thought I'd ask."

Okay, that does it. I'm tired of these namby-pamby ponies, who can't even admit the obvious feelings they obviously have for each other. Two lonely ponies, who are totally obsessed with love, unable to see the love that is right in front of their faces. I can't just sit back on my flank, and let these two be miserable for the rest of their lives! It's time for Always and Forever, the pony angel of love, to save the day!

Pulling out my bow and and arrows, I load up six heart-tipped arrows on my bowstring. I can't take the chance this won't work, so I'm giving them each a triple whammy! Letting go of the bowstring with a loud twang, I send the barrage straight into the unsuspecting couple.

"Oh!"

"Unh!"

The two stupefied ponies stared at each other for several minutes, then suddenly smiled at each other with big, goofy grins. Love Wishes extended a hoof to Valenshy, who took it as the stallion pulled her close. I began to envision a rush of chocolate candies, long poems and songs sung by Love Wishes to the mare of his dreams, and long walks though Ponyville Park in the evening. Such a wonderful romance I have just created! How exciting this great relationship... will... be...

...wait, what're they doing?

Why are they trotting over into the bushes? Why are his hooves going there? Why is she moving like that? HOLY BUCK WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN PUBLIC?!

Uh oh, it looks like I hit them with TOO high of a dose, and made them realize their feelings  for one another a little TOO much.

Oh wow, that so incredible! How did he fit that into-

Ohhh-kaaay, I think we've read enough of this particular entry, how on earth did something this explicit end up out in the main library? I- er- better put this away in the mature section of the library for- my own personal further analysis... that's it, yes. And who keeps making these 'Ponyville Spirits' entries anyway? Oh well, let's move on to the next entry in the book....

Storybelle

Apple Spice up the World!

"All right girls, get those hooves high!" Twinkle Twirl called out. "Lift those back legs... and kick, and kick and kick!"

Twinkle Twirl has us running through our usual dance routines double duty this week, with the spring fancy paradise coming up next week and all. We're all putting that extra practice in, because the Twinkle Twirl dance studio troupe is going to get to do something we have never done before; dance in between the rolling flower floats as they go by during the parade itself. We've always been limited to dancing on stage when the parade was over- Wysteria didn't want attention pulled away from the flower floats during the event. But it turns out Princess Pinksparkle has an entirely different idea of what she  wants for the holiday, and has decided to give viewers a little more variety this year.

"Apple Spice, get a little more spin in that jump!" Twinkle Twirl demanded, trotting between each of us five dancers as she barked out instructions. "Desert Rose, that Dance step looks terrible, you need to stay on your back for twenty seconds longer to make it work!"

Twinkle is a harsh taskmistress, but she is the best Dance teacher and troupe leader in Ponyvile- heck in all of Equestria! She has taught a whole generation of fillies and mares how to put a little spice up their dance steps. And she certainly helped me from being a klutz with two left hooves into a near-perfect dancer!

Oh, sorry... Name Apple Spice, the twirling wonder of Ponyville's dance troupe. If you've ever seen one of our performances, I'm the whirling yellow mare with the  orange and purple mane. And like every other member of the Apple family, I've got this big old apple cutie mark right on my flank. By no know means does that mean that I'm an apple farmer- oh no! My special talent is dancing, and there is nothing I love doing more than performing on stage with the rest of the Ponyville troupe.

All right girls, that's enough for today!" Twinkle calls out, as we all collapse to the floor. "I want all of you to go hone, and get plenty of rest tonight! Because I want all of you back here bright and early tomorrow morning for early bird practice!"

"Later, Twinkle!" All six of us reply in unison, trotting out the door. As all of the other mares dispersed, I walked back towards my home just at the far western edge of town. It's a little more out of the way than where my other fellow dancers live, but it's a special place that only our particular family chooses to call home.

Greener than Green Meadows, four hundred acres of open fields, dotted with hundred of apple trees across the landscape. A pristine and natural setting, the beauty of this rolling orchard is broken up only by the occasional picnic bench and trashcan. Mares love to come here, and have sundae picnics with their families after church. There is no more pleasant place in all of Ponyville, not even Ponyville Park or Kimono's waterfall is this serene.

"Applejack, Applejack are you home?" I call out, as I come trotting up to the red house shaped like a giant apple. "I wanted to talk to you about the Spring fancy parade!"

"Well, howdy there, Spice! Good ta see y'all home early!" A red mare stuck her head out of the window, smiling at me. "Ah jest made some fresh peanut butter and apple butter sandwiches fer lunch, if y'all wanna come in fer a bite!"

A long time ago, these lands were the apple family's farm. But we couldn't afford to keep it, and greedy developers from the big cities of Equestria couldn't wait to get their slimy hooves on our farm, and turn it into a strip mall and housing development. So the town of Ponyville, not wanting those sleazeballs to destroy a place so near and dear to the community,  bought it out from under us. The Apple Farm was turned into a park, and the Apple family was allowed to remain here and live, as caretakers of the park.

"So, how was things at yer dance practice today?" She asked me, putting down a plate of food as I trotted in through the door. "I bet y'all were the best dancer there!"

"Oh, I wasn't that good, A.J." I replied bashfully, sitting down at the table and took a bite of her sandwich. "I'm no better as dancer than anyone else there."

"Why, that's absolute hogwash, Spice!" A.J. snorted, stamping her hoof on the table. "Why, ah bet yer the greatest dancer in the troupe, nopony can jump and twirl with a ribbon streamer like y'all cain, Spice!"

Good old A.J., my cousin who is always sticking up for me, no matter the situation. She came here to Ponyville from somewhere else in Equestria a few years back, and moved into the Apple house with me to help take care of the park. She's always my biggest supporter in everything I do, wither it's fulfilling my dream of becoming a great dancer, or going after a stallion in town I have a crush on. She's always right there, cheering me on.

I guess the Apple family is always like that.

At least, they all should be. My own parents thought my dancing was a waste of time, and wanted me to take over running the orchard after they were gone. My brother Golden Delicious got to move into town and live out his dreams, but I was supposed to take over the family's job as caretakers, and keep the Apple tradition going here. Oh, I was allowed to do my ribbon dancing with Twinkle Twirl's troupe, but only as a side hobby. Planting apple trees and apple bucking was top priority, and anything else was a distraction.

As so after mom and dad died, I did take over the orchard, and tried to balance apple picking with my dancing (yes, I mean Picking. I refuse to apple buck and risk hurting my dancing legs.) Thank goodness A.J. came along and took over running the park, so I am now free to dance most of the time- while helping her out running the park on the side, that is.

"Soooo, I hear your troupe is performing at the spring fancy parade this year, huh?" A.J. said, pouring me a glass of cider. "I bet everypony will have their eyes glued on y'all... especially those stallions y'all have been eyeing, the ones who've been hanging around with yer brother Golden."

"Yeah, about that... A.J., you know that stallion I was interested in, Cinnamon Breeze?" I begin rubbing my hooves together nervously. "He agreed to go out with me on a date..."

"Well, ain't that just the sweetest thang!" Applejack declared, giving me a hug excitedly. "Ain't he thait one tap dancin' stallion with the pink coat an' mane? Course, we won't hold thait against him- everyone and evrythang in this town is pink!"

"Yeah, bu he only agreed to go out with me one one condition..." I tell her with a sigh. "He has a brother, Blue Mist... who has an eye on you. He'll only go out with me if we double date with both him and Blue Mist."

"Blue Mist? Ponyville's garbage stallion?" She asked in disgust, a nauseated sound creeping into her voice. "Y'all really want me ta go on a date with him?"

"Oh please, Applejack!" I pleaded, getting down on my back hooves. "It's the only way I can even get a date with him!"

"Oh, all raight... If it'll help y'all, ah'll do it." She sighed, shaking her head. "Besides, ah'm not one ta look down on a pony because of the profession he's in. Besides, the blue collar working stallion is just my type... but still, the manners a garbage pony must have, yeeech!"

Yeeeaaah... Applejack complained about a stallion's manners and cleanliness, as she belched and scratched her own flank with her hoof. Huh, maybe these two will get along better than I think they will.

Or maybe this will turn out be be the worst dating disaster in the history of Ponydom!

Applejacked

Ohhhhh, Horseapples! Why do I have to put up with all this bunk?!

You know, I have a decent life here in Ponyville; nice little apple orchard, making picnic lunches for the ponies here in town, and spend time hanging out with my friends. I have very little to complain about, as far as problems go, but it's times like what happened today that make me wish I'd learn NOT to do favors for family!

"Applejack, how's my makeup? Is my tail bow on straight?" Spice asked me in a panic, running around the house and giggling like a school filly. "Ohmygosh, I can't believe he's gonna be here soon!"

It was only a few hours before our double date with the pair of brothers, and the two of us were making preparations as quickly as possible. Apple Spice seemed like she was on cloud nine as she tried on dress after dress, but I was left as nervous as a bull trapped in a ten-foot-wide corral. This was the first time in years I was goin' out with a feller, and it wasn't something I twernt' lookin' forward to. Because the stallion I was going out with just happened to be a total dirty slob.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a cowgirl at heart. I grew up on an apple farm, where we wrestled with the pigs in the mud and mashed apples into applesauce with our hooves. So fellers who get themselves dirty and crawl through the mud are right up my alley. But there's a line that I won't cross... a level of dirt and grime that even makes me sick, and ponies who like to play in the trash with their bare hooves DEFINITELY qualifies! And sadly, the stallion Spice's hooked me up with literally needs to be taken out with the trash!

"Hey, A.J.! Cinnamon Breeze and Blue Mist are here for our date!" She calls up the stairs to me, a smile on her face as the two stallions trot in the door. "C'mon down and greet your date!"

Hey, maybe I'm being too hard on him. I think to myself, taking the last curlers out of my hair, and trot of my room and down the stairs. But all of my worst fears are quickly realized as I looked at the two stallions before me. Oh, sureeee Cinnamon Swirl is a handsome pink punk with a niiiiice pair of, ummmmm.... cinnamon buns.

But Blue Mist.... ugh! Girls, you know the kind of stallions, right? Mist had missing gaps in his teeth, chunks of the hair from his coat missing, and bugs crawling through his mane. As he walked to me, I could smell the foul stench that reminded me of rotten eggs and old moldy cheese.

"You sure got a purty mouth!" He told me, flashing me a bug-filled smile as he handed me a bouquet of dead roses he obviously pulled out of the rubbish heap. Meanwhile, my dear sweet cousin was getting a much better treatment from Cinnamon Swirl.

"Ah, here we go! Sweets for my dear sweet!" He handed her a box of chocolates, flashing her a pearly white smile. ""I hope you enjoy!"

"Ohhh, thank you, Cinnamon!" Spice giggled,giving the smiling stallion a great big hug. "You are such a sweetheart!"

Gee, sure sure got lucky on this whole thing, now didn't she?! When we both go outside with our dates, Cinnamon buns had a lovely pink motor carriage waiting for her, Blue Mist had his garbage truck waiting for me.

"Muh lady, yer carriage awaits." he told me, as I climbed into the front seat, with flies buzzing around me. The two took us to Sweetie Belle's gourmet restaurant. (See Cotton Candy lets Sweetie Belle use her cafe as a gourmet dining restaurant through the night until sunrise.) Cinnamon swirly pulled her chair out, talked nicely and politely to her, and let her order her own meal. He was really good conversation, as the two talked and laughed together while I sat with my misery- er, mystery date.

"Your eyes remind me of the deep swirling tides of the sea." Cinnamon declared, sounding like sweet honey-flavored cider as he spoke. "and your hooves shine brightly as the purest pearl!"

"Oh, Swirl!" She giggled like a silly filly. "You say the sweetest things!"

Meanwhile, Blue Mist was doing his best to get on my nerves, and make me wish I hadn't gone on this date in the first place.

"Hey, baby! Ya know ya got the cutest muzzle?" He grinned, the bugs slithering through his teeth. "Yer eyes are like two fetid pools of sewage, with rotten banana peels and dirty disposable diapers thrown in!"

"Thanks...  I think?" I tell him, trying not to throw up at the appalling stallion before me. "Y'all say the nastiest things ta me!"

I hope Apple Spice appreciates what I'm doing for her, putting up with this slob. I don't get it, how could this disgusting ball of slime be kin to such a sweetheart like Cinnamon Swirl? But I try to smile and put up with this pile of garbage that picks up garbage, so Cinnamon won't ditch my cousin.

What followed was glass after glass of hard cider, and you know what? Blue Mist Sarts to look much much better. The disgusting sleaze before melts away, and a stallion even more handsome than blue mist sits before me! Ohhh, this date's the best thing that's EVER happened to me!

.....

What followed was a blurry mess that I'm glad I can't remember, and the filthiest night of my life... literally. The next morning I woke up in the back end of a garbage truck covered in rubbish, and a case of the clops he gave me that STILL itches a week later!

Apple Spice, the next time you need a double date... call Pinkie Pie!

Dark and Dangerous

"Okay, be careful, everyone!"  Daisy Paisley tells us, as we pass out into the outside world. "It could be really dangerous out here, so we have to be careful!"

She is right, of course... the lands beyond Ponyville is a dark and foreboding place. As soon as we leave the valley, the sky changes from a bright blue, to a dark and smokey black. The air grows heavy and thick with a smog that fills our lungs, and chokes the breath out of our very throats.  And the trees go from looking alive and full of color, to sickly plants barely clinging to life. The stench of death hangs in the air all around us, and the four little ponies in this rescue party wish they had never left home.

"Cough, cough! Ugh, this air is terrible dahling!" Rainbow Dash complained, raising a hoof to her dainty mouth. "It feels like it's burning my throat!"

"Try to take smaller breaths, Dashie, and we need to get to a place with clean air very quickly." Spring Fever declared, looking over our team's leader as she would a patient. "I'm worried about the damage this toxic atmosphere is doing to our lungs."

I've always thought Equestria was a nice and beautiful place.... where and sun princess and moon princess watched over a happy kingdom of ponies who are all friends with each other. But this... this place looks like an apocalyptic wasteland, with cold and death and fear all around us. The little animals and birds flee in terror from us, as if a pony was the most horrifying predator in the world one could encounter. And if that's the case, then I hope we can complete our mission and get home before we encounter one of those ponies they are so terrified of.

"Ugh, my head hurts." Daisy stops for a second, raising a hood and rubbing her head. "I don't know what's wrong, but my something is really, really wrong."

"Just stop, and try to catch your breath, Daisy." I tell her, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "We don't need you getting sick, too."

My name is Blue Mist, the azure stallion with a pink mane. I'm the stallion in Ponyville who works at the library as Storybelle's assistant. (I'm also her boyfriend, eh heh...) I'm the pony who reads all the little fillies and colts fairy tales and stories when they come for junior story club every week. I just love fantasy stories, fantastic tales where the warrior maiden saves the helpless stallion. When I was a little colt, I would often pretend I was a handsome prince, just waiting in a castle guarded by a dragon for a beautiful princess to save me!

I wish I was in one of those fairy stories right now, instead of slogging along this unknown road in a very scary Equestria. Our little rescue party is on a mission to bring back Princess Wysteria, who ran away in a hot air balloon when she felt under-appreciated in Ponyville. Rainbow Jumped in and offered to lead our search team, and Doctor Spring Fever is here in case she needs medical attention. Daisy is Ponyville's best tracker, and is following the wind's currents to where they would have taken the twinkle balloon.

And me? I'm just here as the token stallion, so the party is balanced. I jumped in and volunteered right away, wanting to go along on a rescue mission that was sooo much like the fairy tales I love to read! But this adventure is turning out to be less of a fairy tale... and more of a nightmare.

"It's so cold here... Blue dahling, why is it so cold?" Rainbow asked, shivering as a gust of wind chilled her. "Didn't you say the Pegasus of Equestria controlled the weather beyond Ponyville?"

"Well, that's what the storybooks say, but I really don't know why they'd let it get this cold." I reply, shivering as another cold gust hit me. "Maybe the Pegasus like the cold air?"

"They'd have to be cold blooded, to survive in this horrible environment." Spring Fever replied, stifling a cough of her own. "I'm worried what damage the toxins have done to Princess Wysteria, if she's been out here this long."

"The wind still seems to be blowing in this direction, so we'd better keep following this path." Daisy told us, pointing a hoof farther down the path. "We'd better pick up our pace if we want to catch up with her balloon."

We continued trotting on for several miles, feeling sicker and sicker as we went. Soon, we saw a half rotted signpost that said 'Baltimatre' in faded letters. But since none of us had ever head of that place, we simply ignored it and pressed on. Soon, and eerie mist began to roll in over the path, and the air around us became deathly still.

"Wow, I've never heard it this quiet before." Daisy whispered, her breath visible in the cold. "I think I could hear a hat pin drop."

"Look up there on the road, dahling!" Rainbow Dash called out pointing a hoof further down the path. "It looks like a local pony. Maybe we could ask for directions?"

We all looked forward, and saw what appeared to be a stallion step out onto the road ahead. His grey coat and black mane seemed to blend in with the mist and fog, making him barely visible. He seemed to not notice us, just standing there staring off in the other direction.

"Hello, excuse me?" Spring Fever called out taking a few steps forward and addressing the stranger loud enough for him to hear. "Sorry to bother you, my good sir, but could you be so kind as to give us some directions?"

"Uhhh, Spring?" Daisy asked, a frightened tone creeping into her voice. "I-I really don't think you should do that..."

The stallion slowly turned his head towards us, and we all suddenly gasped in horror. The pony's eyes seemed to glow like the headlights on Sooctaloo's scooter. We were all frozen, like deer caught in bright lights, before the stallion suddenly gave out a high-pitched screech.

"PONYVILLE PONIES!" The horrific looking pony shrieked, pointing a hoof at us. "PONYVILLE PONIES IN EQUESTRIA!!"

Suddenly, as if summoned by the stallion's hideous cry, hundreds of Equestrian ponies came crawling out of the trees. Mares and stallion glared at us,  their eyes blazing light torches, fangs bared and saliva oozing from their mouths like the venom of a snake. Their bodies were small and sickly looking, as if they were malnourished. And their heads were and eyes were ridiculously swollen and enlarged, as if by disease. They swarmed down upon us in a mad frenzy, as if driven by an unreasonable hatred and rage.

"AHHHH! THEY MAKE MY EYES BURN!"

"KILL THEM WITH FRIENDSHIP!"

"LOVE...TOLERATE....BURN THEM WITH FIRE!"

"AIEEEEEEEEE! Everybody, RUN!" We all screamed in unison, turning tails and running away.

They frenzied Equestrians were hot on our hooves, a burning look of hunger as if they were ready to devour us. We galloped as fast as our hooves would carry us through the mists, but the ravenous equines crawled down every tree, and slithered out of every hole. There seemed to be no escape from our pursuers.

"Faster, girls, faster!" I cried out in a panic, running behind them and trying to urge the other tree on. "They're gaining on us!"

This... this can't be Equestria! Equestria is a beautiful land of sunshine and rainbows, not slobbering trolls ponies boiling over with rage! I turn to look back, hoping to see some glimmer of the gentle ponies from my fairy stories about Equestria. But in their eyes I see only hatred.... raw, unreasoning, burning hatred. Is this why the Princess of Friendship had Ponyville sealed away from the rest of Equestria? To protect us from this?

"Oh No! They're in front of us!" Spring Fever cried out, stopping dead as more of the Equestrian equines appeared. "This is the end, I know it!"

"Form a circle, pony darlings! Back to back!" Rainbow Dash declared, glaring at our pursuers menacingly. "If we're going to go down, we're going down fighting!"

As they close in on us, I hear their mad murmurings and insane ramblings coming from the mob.

"Destroy the false fillies!"

"Best Pony!"

"Death to the inferior generation!"

And as we prepare to fight for our lives, I am left only to wonder where all of the friendship went...

It can't end like this!

The four of us put up one heck of a fight. Rainbow Dash and Spring Fever were kicking the equestrian ponies away, knocking the left and right. Blue Mist and I headbutt several of them away, knocking about dozen of our attackers. We fight well, but they outnumber us twenty to one.  The four of us are quickly overwhelmed, and we soon find ourselves in chains, and at the mercy of captors.

"Take those defective freaks back to the circle in the clearing!" One of the mad stallions declared, his eerie glowing eyes staring at usa in contempt. "We'll decide what to do with these Ponyville mutants there!"

My name's Daisy Paisley, and I'm Ponyville's resident tracker. My purple coat and mane can often be seen in the bushes and wooded areas around Ponyville, looking for things people have lost and pets that have run away. My keen sense of smell and heightened senses can find nearly anything; a skill that serves the ponies of our town well.

Yep, bringing home misplaced things and friends, that has been the pride of my family for generations. My mother was a tracker, as was her mother before her. My family refined and perfected these tracking techniques for generations, each generation refining and improving them better than the last. Someday, I'll pass these skills onto my own daughter, along with the special touches I've added from my own experiences.

At least... if I can get myself and  my friends out of this mess.

"Wow, there are sure a lot of angry ponies out there with torches and pitchforks." Blue Mist commented, looking out at the crowd that had tied us to this big oak tree. "You think they really mean to do us in?"

"Don't be silly, darling! No pony would actually KILL another pony!" Rainbow Dash relied with a laugh, trying to keep some levity in our dire situation. "Even these thuggish bullies and brutes!"

We were all taken back to the Equestrian's encampment in the woods, where they all gathered to scorn and jeer at us. It's kind of hard to tell these demonic horrors from one another, they all look like vicious cannibals eager to devour us. But one stallion- Mysterious Entry-something or another, I believe his name is- kind of seems to be acting as their leader. He appears to be up in front of the others at the moment, ranting and raving about what should be done with us.

"HERESY! BLASPHEMY!

We ponies of Equestria are the most loving, tolerant, and friendly equines in the world. We try to make friends with the most rude and abrasive of creatures, and can forgive even the crudest of insults and most evil of actions. Every pony is entitled to make mistakes, and every pony is entitled to bad judgement now and then. We can live in harmony with almost anyone or anything.

But these... these...aberrations! These... freaks of nature! With the little hearts in their eyes and magnetic hooves and sickeningly sweet demeanor! They are a race of degenerate deformities, born of centuries of isolation in the toxic cesspool that is Ponyville! How dare one of them call themself Rainbow Dash! How dare one steal the name Pinkie Pie! We know what the real ponies are like, and we're not going to tolerate these false ponies!

But now, these mutations have found their way out into our world, seeking to spread their vapid and two dimensional personalities to the rest of Equestria! Their girly imperfection is an insult to our sophisticated and three dimensional personalities. And so we must rid ourselves of these imperfect ponies, before they can pull down our generation of pony's obvious superiority.

And so, gather the firewood, my fellow Equestrians! We shall let the fires purify these imperfections from our presence, freeing us from their shallow taint! Then, we shall follow the vermin's trail back to their nest, and exterminate that generation of Ponyville ponies from existence! Raise a brohoof to our success, my equine brothers and sisters! Praise be to great Celestia and Luna, and let the perfection of our generation's shine forever!"

"That does it, our goose is cooked!" Spring Fever panicked, about ready to burst into tears. "I'll never see my patients or my hospital again!"

"Now calm down, Spring!" I reassure her, trying to blow a few stray mane hairs out of my face. "I'm sure we'll find a way out of this mess. We've been in worse situations than this before, we'll get out of this somehow!"

"Oh now, what's this? The little freak thinks she could get away?" Their leader overheard me, and trotted up to where we were tied to gloat. "I'm very sorry, my dear, but even if you got out of those ropes, you'd never find your way back tough those woods to your precious Ponyville alive!"

"Oh yeah? Well, it just so happens that Daisy here is a tracker!" Blue Mist boasted defiantly, struggling against the ropes. "She could find her way back through the woods with her eyes blindfolded!"

"Nice going, Mist dahling." Rainbow Dash snorted at him in annoyance. Turning her head back towards the fanatical stallion, Rainbow tried to downplay the fact our party's lone stallion had so carelessly revealed. "Look dahling, Daisy doesn't really have that good of a sense of direction at all! I mean, she was supposed to be leading us to our lost princess, and we ended up out here in the wild you you ... er, gentleman." Dash rolled her eyes. "It's plainly obvious to everybody that-"

CRACK!

"It's everyPONY, you filthy Ponyville piece of sewage, everyPONY!" The  stallion raged, smacking Rainbow Dash in the mouth so hard with his hoof, that he sent several teeth, spittle, and blood flying from her mouth. "I shall not have a pony from a defective generation mutilating our glorious Equestrian language! If you cannot pronounce the words properly, then keep your freakishly large muzzle SHUT!"

Rainbow glared back at him in anger, her eyes ablaze with fire as blood dripped down her broken jaw. I have never seen the kind and gentle Rainbow Dash this angry before, and it sends a shiver down all of our spines. Even our cruel captor takes a step back, looking away from Rainbow's burning gaze as fear grew in his dark heart.

"Well then, we'll just have to take care of your precious Daisy first, so that you cannot escape our righteous wrath!" He motioned to a few of his unicorn lackeys. "Guards, prepare the toxic bath of anger! We'll make this one feel our hatred towards her!"

I am quickly untied, and dragged away from the others. They lash a large logging chain around my midsection, and pull on it to raise me high into the air over a large bubbling cauldron, which the unicorns keep pouring the magic from their horns into. The stallion leader glares at me with fiendish delight as I am lowered into the cauldron.

"This toxic acid water, taken from one of the nearby streams, boils with our eternal hated towards you Ponyville ponies!" An insane grin forms on his face as he glares up at me murderously. "My unicorn followers keep the acid magically burning with our rage. As you are slowly- and painfully- dissolved away into nothing, think of the favor we are doing to the world by ridding it of your blasphemous presence!"

They slowly lower me into the cauldron, and  a terrible shock of pain shoots though my hooves the moment they touch the foul smelling liquid. Every nerve ending in my body suddenly explodes with a burning agony, as it feels like every hair on my coat and mane is on fire. looking down into the cauldron, I see the acid permanently burning the lower half of my body blue, and scorching the ends of my lovely hooves a sickly green. Raising my head to the sky, I let out a pained and terrified scream to the heavens.

"AIIEEEEEEE!"

"Yes! Yes!" The stallion leader whinnied in triumph, almost sounding like he was in a euphoric ecstasy. "Burn, Ponyville heretic! Burn!"

Oh great B'zekre, this can't be happening! I have a whole life ahead of me! I want a successful career as a tracker! I want to have many more happy times with my friends! I want to have foals some day, and a husband who loves me! I have a duty to pass on my tracking skills to the next generation, and live the full and happy life my mother intended for me!

It can't end like this!

It can't end like this!

"Daisy! NOOOOO!" I hear Spring Fever's voice behind me, and the sound of the rope holding my friends snapping. I don't know what happened next, but I heard the sounds of fighting and struggling all around me, and the cauldron I was being dipped into was suddenly knocked aside. The chain holding me in the air was lowered to the ground, and I found myself lying helplessly on the grass.

"Daisy, can you hear me? Are you all right?" Spring's voice called out to me, as I saw her standing over me and checking my vital signs. "Daisy, stay with me now! DAISY!"

I tried to stay awake, tried to respond to her pleas, but I felt too blasted weak to move. The pain and ache finally overcame me, and darkness and silence engulfed the world around me....

A Cure For thier Disease

"Stay with me, Daisy! Don't go unconscious!" I yell at her in a panic, propping her head up with my hoof. "Stay with me, dammit!"

"Devils! The Ponyvillians fight like devils!" One of the Equestrians cried out in terror, as he and his comrades fled for the hills. "Gallop for your lives, my brothers and sisters! Before the heretics send us all to Tartarus!"

Everything happened at once; Rainbow Dash flew into a rage at the sight of one of her dear friend's suffering, and the adrenaline from the rage giving her and the rest of us the strength to break those ropes. Dash and Blue Mist dive at the zealots with a blinding fury, stomping and kicking as the rampaged through the surrounding ponies. The cultists were too shocked at the 'inferior' pony's escape to fight back, and did little to fight back as the were pounded and slammed upon by the hooves of our angry friends.

I, meanwhile, galloped over and knocked the bubbling cauldron out from under our screaming companion. Unfastening the chain that held her aloof, I used my hooves to gently lower her to the ground. Rushing over to check her vitals, I am relieved to find Daisy still alive.

"Hey, Spring...." She smiled weakly, still obviously in a groggy and weakened state. "How it going, girl?"

Examining the mare's heavily damaged body, I discovered that the situation was not good at all. The lower half of her body was scorched a myriad of colors, her coat burned clean off and the raw skin showing. I've only ever seen this kind of damage om a pony's tissue with burn victims, after a house in Ponyville had accidentally caught ablaze. I've never seen this kind of burn damage having been done from an act of violence of one pony against another before. And quite frankly, the thought sickens me...

My name is Spring Fever, and I'm the resident doctor and the Ponyville clinic and hospital. Since, I was a foal I had been fascinated by pony anatomy (my fascination with stallion anatomy did not come until my teen years... heh heh...) and the workings of a miraculous biological machine like the equine body. While other foals were  reading picture books and coloring, I was taking medical textbooks out of the town library, and reading them for fun. I could recite the name of every organ in the pony digestive system by age ten.

My mother also instilled in me a desire to compassionately help other ponies, as she had done with foals as the head of the town's day care. I apprenticed under our town's previous doctor to learn my trade, then hung my own shingle out when she retired. I've been serving as the town's doctor ever since, handling everything from a case of the sniffles, to emergency surgeries to save a pony's life.

"Wow, you sure look a little different today, Daisy."  I tell her with a nervous laugh, trying to add a little levity to the situation. "Are you trying a new coat dye?"

"Naw, just a new perfume." She giggled back, trying to hide her glaringly obvious pain. "You know how it is, trying to get the stallions attention, and all..."

The scorched smell coming from her lower half reminds me of charred chicken flesh, the kind I've smelled Spike cooking on an outdoor barbecue to eat. Now, in my years in the medical profession I've seen far worse than this; a pony who had an iron bar driven clean through her leg, a unicorn who didn't duck when he was passing under a low bridge on a motor scooter and had his horn sheared clean off, and even a Pegasus who had a bone sticking clean out of her wing.

But those were all accidents. I had watched those monsters torture and try to kill my friends, and even enjoy doing it! Now, Daisy Paisley will have that mis-colored lower half of her body for the rest of her natural life, a hairless burn scar that will forever remind her of this horrible night. As I bandage up her wounds, I fight back a bloodthirsty rage I can feel building up inside of me; I have a sudden urge to track down each and every one of those monsters who did this, and boil them in acidic Equestrian pollution while slowly torturing them to death. But the thought of behaving exactly like them only sickens me further, and I force myself to put the thought of what had just happened out of my head altogether.

"Spring, we've driven the last of those cowards off into the woods." Blue Mist snarled, snorting in anger at what the Equestrians had done. "Hurry, and get Daisy onto my back! I'll carry her, while you have a look at Rainbow Dash's jaw."

I nodded quickly, loading the still groggy mare onto the stallion's back, before trotting over to my rainbow-maned friend. Her jaw is so painfully dislocated that it must really hurt for her to talk. The only thing I can do here with my limited pouch of medical tools is simply bandage her jaw up. I'll have to wait until we get back to my clinic in Ponyville before I can do any serious work on her.  But that look of blind rage burning from her eyes as I bandaged her up.... I'll never forget it as long as I live.

"Hurry up, Spring!" Blue called out, galloping his way back in the direction we had come. "We gotta get out of here, before those crazies come back!"

And so we ran, farther and faster than we ever had before, racing out way back towards  the safety of Ponyville. The four of us rarely talked about our adventure in the outside world after that, and even then we couldn't mention it without a shiver going down our spines. We also learned Wysteria's hot air balloon had in fact not flown outside of Ponyville, but rather under the rainbow waterfall to butterfly island. In other words, all of our pain and suffering had been for nothing.

It wasn't until years and years later that we discovered who our attackers were; a crazy cult of Equestrian purists, who had had their minds poisoned by the toxic waste in their environment to the point of insanity. A traveling equestrian pony later told us that the lunar princess had eventually  had her soldiers hunt down and exterminate the cult, but it was small comfort to the innocent little ponies of Ponyville who had fallen victim to their terrible wrath.

Soul Searching

"Are you sure this is the right way, Mocha? I think we passed those ferns three times."

"I dunno, Wysteria, I-I've never been in this part of the jungle before..."

Two mares have entered my jungle.

I know both of these ponies, two mares who are trying to run away from their problems. One is a Princess, the ruler of a town that feels she had been unappreciated at her job.  Another is one of my own Pegasus subjects, the daughter of an overprotective mother who feels she has no room to spread her wings and fly. Both entered this sacred place to find answers to what is troubling to them... precious answers that are like treasurers hidden among the foliage.

...and that, is where I come in.

My name is Hidden Treasures... king of Butterfly Island, lover of hidden treasures, husband of Star Catcher, and master of scavenger hunts. Whereas my beloved wife prefers to rule our subjects as a visible monarch, I tend to remain here in the shadows. I love to find great and fantastic treasures of all kinds and types, and then bury and hide them for other ponies to find. But I am not just talking about physical treasures, like gold and silver, but also the nuggets and pearls of wisdom I have acquired over the course of my long life.

It is this wisdom that I wish to share with them.

"This doesn't seem like a friendly place, Mocha. I think I wanna go back!"

"Hey, there isn't an inch of this island that isn't friendly! Honestly, you earth ponies are scared of your own-"

"You are indeed correct, young Mochanaut." I tell the Pegasus mare, emerging from the foliage as if from nowhere. "This island holds no threat or danger to the ponies or live or visit here."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" Wysteria screamed loudly, at the top of her lungs. "Mocha, who in the heck is THAT!?"

"Ow, those are a serious set of pipes you've got on you, Princess." I groan, clutching my head with my hooves in pain. "I do believe my ears will be ringing from here until the next Spring Promenade!"

I admit, surprising two already-frightened mares maybe wasn't exactly the best idea. A tall Pegasus with a pink coat and mane, coming out of the darkness all of a sudden.... yeah, I really didn't think that one through.

"Oh, King Treasure!" The Pegasus apologized, recognizing me from my jeweled star cutie mark and pink crown. "I'm so sorry, we didn't realize that it was you!"

"King Hidden Treasure?! The ruler of Butterfly island?!" The startled Wysteria suddenly bowed. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry I hurt your ears like that!"

"Oh. that's quite all right, I should have approached you two more openly." I told the two of them, apologizing for my own actions. "But I do notice there are things troubling the two of you, and I thought that I might be able to give you some advice that may help."

"Wait, you know about our problems, how could you-"  Wysteria shook her head. "Of course you know what's bothering us, you're a royal magical Pegasus pony, you know everything."

"Actually, you'd be amazed at what we Pegasus royals don't know." I tell her, walking over to stand beside Wysteria and Mocha. "We have to do a lot of our ruling by trying to interpret and figure out what our subjects want, rather than simply knowing it. It's rather like flying blind."

"Wow, I can really sympathize with that." Wysteria sighed, shaking her head sadly. "I can't even begin to figure out what  my earth pony subjects want. To tell the truth, I always wished I'd never picked up that stupid flower and become a princess."

"Yeah, and I wish I wasn't the daughter of an extremely paranoid control freak. Thistle Whistle has never been anything bu a pain in the flank to me." Mochanaut sighed, flexing her wings. "I wish I was the daughter of a normal mare; y'know, one who would let me go out and have a little fun sometimes."

"So basically, you each wish you were somebody else, and you would choose to be someone else if you had a choice." I trot between the two of them, putting a wing over the shoulder of each of the mares. "One wants to be a normal old pony, while another wishes she had another pony for a mother."

"Well, yes, actually."

"Yeah, I really would."

"There was a time that I wished the same thing, not wanting to be the ruler of Butterfly Island." I told them, as all three of us trotted towards my large treasure chest at the end of the jungle maze. "I was a colt who loved searching out and digging up the treasurers pony pirates had buried along our beaches for centuries." I rolled my eyes. "I was an an adventurous pony, and just because I was marrying Starcatcher, didn't mean I wanted to give up that freedom to be a king!"

"But you did give up that freedom, and chose to do something you didn't want to do." Wysteria commented with a frown. "You willing gave up being the pony you wanted to be, and became something you weren't to make other ponies happy."

"How could you sacrifice what made you happy, to fill a role you never wanted in the first place?" A confused Mochanaut asked me. "Doesn't that fly in the face of everything we've been taught about ponies freedom to choose their own path?"

Smiling at them both, I trot open to the treasure chesty and open it. Reaching inside the chest, I pull out a large gemstone.

"See this emerald, how brightly it glows, and how beautifully it shines?" I gaze deep into the jewel. "Nature made this gem to be an emerald, to grace the world with all it's beauty as an emerald. But if this emerald tried to be a ruby or sapphire- if it wanted to be something other than an emerald- it would forever be striving for something it cannot achieve, forever unhappy." I had the jewel over to the two mares. "But if it accepts it is an emerald, if it embraces it's destiny and becomes the best that it can be- then it will shine brighter than any other gem in this treasure. It's not what we want to be that defines us, but who B'zekre made us to be, who we are."

And when the two look up, I am gone... I leave the two mares to think about what I have told them, with a silent hope that the small gem of an idea I gave them, will guide the two to a treasure trove of wisdom all their own.

Something is Missing...

You ever get the feeling that something's not right?

I don't know, it's just a feeling I happen to get a lot these days, like something is really off, and things aren't the way they're supposed to be. Oh, everything seems to be all right around Ponyville- no sign of trouble in sight, or anything- but you just can't shake the feeling that things aren't quite right, like something's missing that should be there.

"Hey Sweetie Bell? It's me, Scootaloo. Yeah, things have been kinda crazy, and I was wondering if I could pop on over and have a bite to eat tomorrow. You know, so we could just sit back, chill out, and enjoy some of your awesome apple pie! Anyway, I'll be over tomorrow after noon, talk to ya later!"

I received that message yesterday, and so I spent all of last night gathering the ingredients I'd need for making a pie today. Apples, pie crust, nutmeg, and all of the other ingredients. It takes me awhile to get everything ready- mixing the crust, peeling and cutting the apples, preheating the oven,  and putting the pie together. Soon, the whole mess is ready, and into the oven it goes. I've just got to make sure to set the timer right, and get back to the oven before the apple pie burns. It's all part of the baking process- a process I'm the very bestest at.

There's plenty to do before Scoots gets here, of course. Setting the table, pouring the drinks, and making sure everything is in it's proper place. Baking and cooking is my special talent, which is what I'm Sweetberry's business partner at her bakery. But I much prefer baking things for family and friends, which makes the times like these all the more special.  Preparing and eating a nice meal isn't just about chowing down. Eating should be an event, a time with good food and good friends that make s you appreciate the good meal all the more. It's why I always put my best effort into the things that I cook; so that ponies will always enjoy the things that I made for them.

"Hey Sweetie, I'm here!" Comes from outside of my house, along with a knock at the door. "Can I come in?"

"Oh, hi! Scootaloo!" I exclaim as she comes trotting through the door. "What's new with you?"

"Aw, not much... wrecking motor scooters with stunts, singing autographs, same old, same old." Scoots replied, giving me a big hug. "I'm just glad to spend some time with my best friend before my big and crazy birthday party!"

Scootaloo is right, she is my bestest friend in the whole wide world. I first met her when I came to Ponyville as a little filly, and she was the first other pony to be nice to me here. See, I was originally from a place called unicornia, where where everybody was a unicorn, like me. I lived there with my parents, and my little sister Rarity, in a really big castle. But a big storm came up with I was out picking flowers, and I got lost in the forest. I ended up in Ponyville, and was scared by being in a new place with strange hornless ponies.  So I hid from everyone, and nibbled on bits of their food to survive.

It was Scoots who found me, and introduced me to the other ponies. They let me move into  the Ponyville gumball house, and each of the pony parents took turns watching and checking up on me, and the whole village brought me up. I made a lot of friends here in town, but it was Scootaloo who always kept up with me, making sure I was doing okay when I was all alone in this big scary house, and was scared by a storm. I don't know what I would've done without her to keep me company on scary and lonely nights growing up.

"Yeah, you seem really bothered by this super-big birthday competition between Razzaroo and Fiesta Flair, huh?" I ask her, cutting her a slice of the apple pie. "Then why do you want to go to this dumb birthday bash at all?"

"Awww, they're all going through so much trouble to put a party together for me, I couldn't just not show up!" Scoots replied, taking a sip of my lemonade. "But I'd really love it if you could be there. I know you don't like giant parties Sweetie,but could you please to this one?"

"Of course I'll be there, girl!" I exclaimed, levitating my fork up to take a bite of my pie. "I'm not going to miss my best friend's b-day party." I looked away nervously. "E-even if there are going to be a lot of p-ponies there..."

"Awww, you'l be find, I'll be right there with you!" Scoots reassured me. "And say, why don't you invite that airheaded boyfriend of yours along, Wind Drifter." She shook her head in disgust. "Honestly, I don't see why you keep that dopey stallion around, he must be really good in bed for you to put up with his lazy daydreaming!"

"D-do you ALWAYS have to be so blunt, Scootaloo?! Do you have to have such a potty mouth?!" I snorted in disgust, turning away from her to hide my embarrassed blush. "There are some things a lady doesn't discuss, even with her closest friends!"

"I wouldn't know, Sweetie Belle, I ain't no lady." Scoots bragged, leaning back in her chair, putting her dirty back hooves up on my nice clean table, and letting out a very loud and gross belch. "Scooter Sprite gets a kick outta me the way I am. And I'm not ashamed to admit he's a great %#&$ in the sack!"

It must seem very odd, how two polar opposite ponies such as Scootaloo and I could be friends; a rude and vulgar tomboy, and a very frilly girly pony who likes baking and crocheting. But the two of us play so well ,off of each other, and each gets the other to try things we otherwise wouldn't do. Scoots never would have tried ballet- the one girly thing she actually likes- if I hadn't suggested it. And I never would've gotten these body tattoos under my heart and ribbon cutie mark going down my leg if she hadn't encouraged me. We make an odd pair of friends, but that's what makes our friendship so special.

But there's always seemed to be something missing... as if the universe always meant for there to be a third mare to be a part of our little friendship group. Like the names Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo should be accompanied by a third pony, who balances our two extremes out, making us a perfect trio of ponies, out there doing crazy stuff to discover who we are. Maybe in another time, another place, there was a third mare to round out our crazy trio. But in the here and now, there is only an empty third chair sitting beside Scooltaoo and I in the gumball house...

Party Tonight!

Wow, this is incredible! This si really and truly incredible! I just can't believe ponies put all of this together... just for ME!

Banners, bows, and balloons, streamers and party hats... all this done for me. Even here, from my place of hiding behind the fence, I can see the huge mountain of presents and brithday cards all of these ponies brought with them to my awesomest of awesome Bday party! There are ponies playing games of pin the tail on the pony and hopscotch, and there are ponies eating cake and ice cream! They're all gathered here to party, to celebrate the awesomeness that is me!

"Hey Fiesta, loving the cake!" I hear Sparkleworks call out. "But I think you mighta added too much sugar!"

"Razaroo, your decorations are amazing!" Cotton Candy calls out, trying to be heard over the music. "You really outdid yourself this time!"

"Well, birthday girl, looks like you have a humongous party going on there!" Sweetie Bell says from behind me, nearly causing me to jump out of my coat. "You ready to stop hiding back here, and go out and face your public?"

I nod, and the two of us trot into the party, going on in the back garden behind my house. Every pony greets me with a warm smile, and slaps me with a hoof on my back.

"Hey, Scoots! Good to see ya!"

"How ya doing, Scoots? Awesome party!"

"Happy birthday, Scootaloo! We love you!"

"Scoo-Ta-loo! Scoo-Ta-loo! Scoo-Ta-loo!"

They cheer my name, lifting me over their heads with their front hooves as they do. This is it, my birthday, my time to shine! Everyone is celebrating my awesomeness. It's me, the daredevil Scootaloo, the most extreme and dangerous pony who lives in Ponyville. It's what I've been trying to accomplish all my life, carrying out stunts that would get other pony's attention. And it worked! Can you believe how these mares and stallions adore me! This is all I've ever wanted, and more!

It's not like I want or need Rainbow Dash's love or support.

It's not like I had her as a mentor when I was younger, who I idolized and wanted to be just like. No, I didn't spend my fillyhood wearing pretty dresses, and trying to be just like her. She didn't ignore and abandon me, leaving her more tomboyish mom to be my role model. Rainbow Flash is here in the crowd, watching me with pride. My best friend Sweetie Bell is here too, and every other pony I really care about. I don't care Rainbow Dash isn't here, and is instead off leading some crazy rescue mission that probably won't succeed.

Well, all of my friends are here to watch me succeed... all except the mare whose opinion mattered the most.

Getting on my motor scooter, I go zooming up the ramp, and take a flying leap over the gathered crowd.  Leaning back on my lean machine, I go soaring through the burning ring of fire, the flames licking the edge of my mane. As the crowds roar with applause, I feel more alive than I have for a really really long time, as their attention showers over me like a sweet, sweet rain.

It'd attention I never had as a filly, and I adore it.

But what's this? Everybody's over talking to Razaroo and Fiesta Flair, congratulating them on their work putting this birthday party together! Even my friends and family are over there, complementing the two party planners on their work!

"Wow, this party is so many flavors of awesome!" Sweetie Bell tells the two. "I've never seen ANY birthday party in Ponyville done this well!"

I-I can't believe it! Everybody is paying more attention to those two mares that me- the star of the show! This is MY moment to shine! A celebration of MY life! But all the drama is about those two ponies and their insignificant little feud, instead of about the birthday girl! How DARE the party planners upstage the party's focus! Ohhh, I'm just so upset, that I could just die!

"That does it, I'm outta here!" I scream out in anger, trying to hold back my tears as I galloped towards my motor scooter. "You ponies are the lamest group of party goers I've ever seen!"

"Scootaloo wait... where are you going?" Sweetie Bell pleaded, trotting over to me, trying to keep me from leaving. "This is your birthday party!"

"Well, you sure wouldn't know it how you girls are more concerned about the party than about me!" I snort in anger, revving me my bike. "So long Sweetie! I'll catch ya later!"

I take off, exploding out of my backyard fence, and heading off thundering down the road. I put all the pain and unhappiness behind me, taking off down the road at top speed. They just don't get it, they think I can just sit there at the party, hit pinatas and play pin the tail on the pony. But if I'm not content at being payed attention to, unless I am the utter and total center of attention.

And so I speed off, running away from the party, running away into my own little world again. That means another night tonight doing dangerous stunts and flips out at the canyon outside of town, then off to some dingy little motel in some neighboring town, where I'll wake up next to some stallion who's name I don't even know. At least, that's what I wish I could do in a situation like this one...

...at least, that's what would make the pain go away...

Winter Wishes-A day in the life of Flitter Flutter

And now, we turn back the clock a decade or two, to the time we were all little fillies, and Wysteria's mother, Flitter Flutter, was mayor of Ponyville at that time.She had an... interesting... way of running the Winter Wishes festival, to say the least..

Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear! It's already nine A.M., and I'm not out there in front of the Christmas tree! This is a disaster... catastrophe... crisis... emergency! Today is the Winter Wishes festival, and I am not present... accounted for... ready... at the tree to begin the lighting ceremony to start the Christmas season! It'll be a terrible tragedy if I'm not there to direct the ponies what to do!

"Wysteria, get up! Rise and shine! Awaken from thy slumber!" I call into her bedroom excitedly. "We need to get going! Get into gear! Initiate motion! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"

"Ugh, do we have to, mom?" I hear her groan, rubbing her eyes with her hooves. "I wanna sleep in, it's a holiday!"

"No time! No dilly dallying! No hesitation! No delay!" I respond, rushing in and throwing her covers off. "I need you to help me put a few ornaments on the Christmas tree, and smile and talk to all our friends while I'm busy!"

Oh dear, oh dear....turkey and dressing in the oven, it'll have to cook while I'm gone... pink key and white ribbon cutie mark polished, yellow coat shiny and clean, pink and purple mane coiffed and hair beret in place.... spectacles? Were are my blasted spectacles? I could've sworn I left them on the counter top! Where is that scatterbrained husband of mine?! Probably still loafing in bed, no doubt!

"Bumbleberry! Get your useless flank out of that bed!" I yell in at him, throwing a pillow at that lazy purple stallion with pink and gold mane. "I need you to keep an eye on that turkey while I'm away judging  the ornaments at the festival!"

"Huh? Whuh?" He replied groggily, looking up at me in confusion with sleepy eyes. "S'okay, don't worry about it, honey. I'll take care of it."

I gallop out of the room, and immediately hear the sound of snoring again. Ohhhh, that man is so lazy... lethargic... idle... unwilling to move!  I mean, I know stallions are useless except for breeding and fighting, but I got the most pathetic one of all! All her every does is garden in that strawberry patch of his, and lay around in the sun and sleep all day! He practically slept through our first date, and I had to order him to marry me on our second date, because he was too lazy to propose! If I weren't around to order him around, he'd probably just play cards with those worthless friends of his!

Ohhhh, I don't have time for all this reminiscing! Wysteria will just have to join me later, I gotta hop on my scooter and fly! Ohhh, I just love this little blue gizmo... gadget... doohickey... thingamabob I ride around on! It gets me places faster than I ever would galloping, and I get to wear this cute blue helmet when I ride it. Already I'm zipping by the homes of ponies cooking their turkeys and setting their tables, all sitting down to meals with their families. I wish I had the time to waste time like they do, but I have so very very very much to do around Ponyville!

I've had so much energy to do so many things! I was my school's most enthusiastic cheerleader, and I organized every school play and party, and I knew from my cutie mark that I had a knack for organizing things! Other ponies just seem so... lazy and lethargic compared to me, and I have to keep myself from yelling at them because of how LAZY they seem... appear... look to me! I can't stand how my parents only worked eight hours a day, what a waste of a perfectly good day! Oh well, that's enough time for self-contemplation, I've arrived at the festival!

Only the little fillies are here right now; Cheerilee and her little sister Scootaloo, Pinkie Pie and Toola Roola, and those two poor little ponies with the odd birth defects, Starsong and Sweetie Bell. They've all made ornaments for the Winter wishes festival today, and it's up to me to judge which one is the best. The winner will get to place the star on top of the tree this year, and all the little fillies will get to hang their ornaments on the branches!  Let's see let's see... I don't have much time to decide which ornament is the best.

Ohhhh, I'll just pick Cheerilee's, because I like that really cute button she put on her ornament! Now, all I'll have to do is leave the star from the top of the tree with her, and she can put it on at the ceremony tonight! I don't have to worry about the filly and her friends opening the box, because we always tale the little fillies here in town an old mare's tale about the star actually being alive, and granting wishes to all the ponies in town. And it's not like something crazy could happen- like the girls opening the box, and some crazy weather dragon comes down from willy-nilly mountain at the edge of town, and stealing the star.

But that would be crazy... ridiculous... ludicrous...absurd! Now, I'll just leave the star in it's box right here for Cheerilee to keep an eye on, and I'll head back home to have some of that yummy turkey that my waste of a husband was supposed to have been preparing for our Winter Wishes feast! Ohhhh, I can't wait to try that cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and vegetable plate! Then, it's off to start getting ready for Christmas next month! Whoa, I'm so terribly busy busy busy busy busy.....

Overreacting hormonal teen princess

Does anyone even care?

Ever since mom disappeared, everybody has expected everything of me. Spike tells me when to stand, and what to say. Pinkie Pie tells me what policies to enact, and what laws to approve. Two powers, one dragon and one pony, try to use me as a tool in their struggle to hold things together. Time for playing tea party with my friends? Nope, have a ribbon-cutting ceremony to perform. Maybe some time for petting my kitty or coloring in my coloring books? Have a town council meeting to attend, no time to waste on frivolity. I have a whole Ponyville to run, who's got time for something as useless as a life?

"Princess Pinksparkle! We love you!"

"Princess Pinksparkle! Wysteria's gone! What are we gonna do?!"

"Tell us what we should do, princess!"

Nobody really cares about me, they care about my position as princess. My mom? She ran off in the first place, cause she couldn't handle the pressure. Dad's not around anymore, he accidentally grabbed an exposed electrical wire and went bye bye. All my mom's friends are more concerned with trying to get her back, rather than making sure I'm okay. Everything is about looking right and acting right and making sure that I keep everyone really calm.

"Now Pinksparkle, be sure to tell everyone that all these super-scary visions of ghost ponies all around town aren't going to hurt anybody. We don't want these things causing a panic here in Ponyville!"

"Now Princess Pinksparkle, you need to hold yourself upright at all times, and try not to blush and make a fuss when those noble colts from Butterfly Island kiss your hoof again."

Orders, always orders. Spike and Pinkie always have something new to tell me to do, or say, or think. A perfect pink princess sitting on the throne, her orange mane glistening in the sunlight coming in through the celebration castle window as she spouts off exactly what Ponyville reassuringly needs to hear. Hey ponies, do you know I actually have opinions of my own? Do you know I like to collect bottle caps, and I'm learning how to knit from Sew-and- Sew? How much do you know Pinksparkle the pony, rather than Pinksparkle the princess?

The only pony who even cares about me- or at least, the only one who shows she cares- is my best friend, Princess Rarity. She's got a similar problem to mine, being the rainbow princess of Unicornia, and is the only one who seems to know what I'm going through.

"Well gee, if you hate it so much, why don't you just leave?" Rarity asked me, during one of her many visits to the castle. "That's just what your mom did, when she couldn't handle the pressure anymore."

"Because I'm not my mom, Rarity.  I could never even begin to fill her horseshoes." I tell her with a sigh. "These ponies need me, and I just can't abandon my duties just to run away and have a good time."

It's true, this is the duty I was raised into, I can't just abandon the ponies who rely on me. What kind of princess would I be if I thought of myself before my subjects? For royalty, duty must always come before personal pleasure. That's how Spike and my mom raised me, to place responsibility before my personal wants and needs. I am just an accessory that comes packaged with Celebration Castle, the representation of it's royal authority and power. Unlike my mother, who grew up as a commoner, I will never abandon the post that is as much a part of who I am as my own two hooves.

If I sound mature for a fourteen-year-old filly, it's because you don't get much of a childhood during Spike's royalty training. I almost feel sorry for those little colts and fillies who have so much time to fritter around and play. How can you get anything valuable accomplished when you're wasting all of your times on games and nonsense? I don't have hours to while away staring and clouds or playing one game after another; there are too many papers to sign, and too many important decisions to make to act like any of the other kids in this town.

"Princess, the representative from Canterlot is here to see you!"

"Princess, Queen Starcatcher's ambassador would like a word with you!"

But what these handlers of mine don't realize, is that this little princess has a mind of her own. I don't cry or whine or need to be held anymore. But I am very angry that there was no one to hold and comfort me when I was little, and they are soon going to see just how angry I can be. I am the princess around here, not Spike, and not Pinkie Pie. Pretty soon I'll be the one giving the orders around here, and those two will be doing what I say, whether they like it or not!

"Princess, where are you? We need to discuss what you're going to tell your subjects next!"

My handlers raised me to be a perfect little obedient princess, but they also raised Princess Pinksparkle to rule. The next time I get up in front of those ponies, those two will discover they are not dealing with a sweet little mare who touched a flower , but a ruler of their own making. I think for my first decree, I'll have a certain positively pink pony painted plaid, and for my second I'll have the princess rulebook shoved down a certain stuffy old dragon's throat. Oh! And then for my third, I'll have all the cute teenage colts in town salute me with their flanks....

...damn, wielding absolute power ROCKS!

Sometimes, you just don't get to finish a book....

Sometimes, you just don't get to finish a book....

Oh dear, would you look at the time! It's well past nine thirty, and we were supposed to have closed an hour ago!  I'm sorry, but I really have to be going, can't really close the library on his own, and I don't want him getting squashed trying to re-shelve a whole stack of books again! So, if you could just find your own way out...

Wait, you want to find out what happened to all the ponies in the story? Well, there's really not much to tell. Princess Wysteria thought on king Hidden Treasure's advice, and returned home to apologize to her daughter, and returned to rule over Ponyville. Fiesta and Razaroo saw how utterly childish Scootaloo had acted at her own birthday party, and it made them realize how childish they had been acting. The two have made up, and decided to work on planning the parties here in town equally  as partners.

Mochanaut and her mother came to an understanding (Thanks to Starcatcher and Hidden Treasure strong-arming Thistle Whistle), and she now has the freedom she craved. Spike and Pinkie Pie have learned that they, are the servants, and Wysteria and her daughter are the rulers. Despite not finding the princess, Dashie came back a hero for bringing her team home safely. Sparklework's sister is still driving her crazy, and well... Minty is still Minty.

Oh, and as for those annoying ghosts, well... that's a story for another time. We actually have another book here in the library on that whole mess, and THAT one you can actually check out.

Huh? Yes, that's it... there's not anything else to tell you. You were expecting some great ending? Some grand narrative with a beginning, middle, and end? I'm really sorry, but these aren't part of a storybook, these are my friends and I's lives. They don't just end when the book ends, they keep going, and so do their problems. Rainbow Dash is still having problems with her mother, and Scootaloo is still acting like a brat. Old problems are solved, and new problems appear. It's not some story, it's called LIFE.

Oh dear, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to sound so rude! But don't worry, I certain you haven't heard the last of my friends or I adventures; after all, this story was only to get you interested in Ponyville and it's inhabitants. I'm sure there will be more tales for you to read, more of adventures for you to enjoy. Now, if you could please head down the stairs and out the back door, you should be able to find your way back to the Ponyville inn. May you have the best of journeys, good visitor, and I hope you'll stop back at Storybelle's the story loft if you're in Ponyville again. And may fortune smile upon you.

Hang on, Gossamer, I'm coming to help! No, don't file the book 'catching some z's' under the letter z!

Greetings and Salutations

Oh! Hello there, my good little pony! Welcome to the Story Loft, Ponyville's one and only honest -to- goodness library. It's really late, and I don't get very many visitors here at this hour, so I'm really happy to have you visit here. My name is Storybelle, and I'm the Librarian and caretaker of the loft. Please, do come in, and have a look around! Now, I know this place looks a little weird, being a giant lighthouse with a spinning pinwheel on the side (that's also on my cutie mark, in case you hadn't noticed!), But I can assure you, we have one of the finest collections of books this side of the Everfree forest!

I haven't seen you in town before, are you new to Ponyville? Oh, you're not from here? Well, that explains a lot! Yes, we do certainly get quite a few tourists in from all over Equestria. Huh? This wasn't the Ponyville you were expecting? Yes, we do get a lot that, too. We're kind of tucked away in our own little corner of Princess Luna's kingdom, living a peaceful existence away from the busy cities like Manehatten and Fillydelphia. But I assure you, while our town may not have any harmony bearers or magical elements, we do have a quaint charm all our own.

So, see any books you like? Oh, of course you can check out something while you're here! Just return it to the library in your hometown, and they'll make sure we get it back through our library lending program! Oh, you'd like to find a book on our Ponyville here? Well, we don't really have very many of those. You see, most ponies in town already know about our town, and have very little interest reading about something they can just walk outside and see.

Hmmmm, but wait, maybe there is something I can give you. Please follow me up to the story loft. Oh, please watch your hooves on those stairs, they are a bit narrow! Yes, this little balcony up here is where I read to the little ponies who come to story club; they like to sit on these ottomans and listen to me tell stories from the great books. Now, I happen to have that book around here somewhere, but I just can't seem to find it... Gossamer, where did you put my 'Stories of Ponyville' journal? I know I left it around here somewhere!

Oh, don't be frightened by that giant dragonfly! He's Gossamer, my personal assistant who helps me take care of the library, and keep it neat and tidy. Yes, I know she had a baby dragon as an assistant when she was a librarian, but I find a dragonfly can be very useful in getting books back onto high shelves. I am only an earth pony, after all, and can't exactly levitate the books back up onto their shelves. Oh, he's bringing me the book now- thank you, Gossamer! He's such a sweetheart, isn't he?

Hm? Oh, you want to check this out? I'm really sorry, but I can't let this book be checked out by visitors to Ponyville- this is an extra-special book for our little town, after all. This book is a personal record of all very special ponies here in our very special little town -along with our sister towns of Unicornia and Butterfly island. Oh, but you don't have enough time to sit here and read all the entries in this book, do you? Wait, I know! I could sit down and read you some of the stories out of this book, right now!

Oh, don't worry about it! I have plenty of time, and I doubt many other patrons will be visiting the story loft this evening. And I don't really have to worry about going home after we're done- I live here! Wait, why is your jaw hanging open like that? Ohhhhh, you're shocked that I can wrap my hooves around the book and lift it as if I had hands and fingers! Yeah, that's kind of an ability only we Ponyville Ponies have-kinda sets us apart from the rest of Equestria, I know- but it comes in very handy when we want to pick things up!

Now, you just sit down on that ottoman over there, and- hmmm, which pony should I start with? Maybe our 'simply Darling' Rainbow Dash? Or perhaps our 'Positively Pink' Pinkie Pie? Oh, that playful trickster Rarity might from Unicornia might be a good choice, or maybe Fluttershy and her crazy camera antics would tickle your fancy? Oh, I didn't think about the fact that you would associate those names with other, more famous ponies- they weren't the first to have them, you know! I can tell you, it's something that totally and utterly irritates my Ponyville friends to no end!

Hmmm, perhaps I should just start off with some ponies you most likely haven't heard of. Yes, some less famous friends of mine, who are probably less likely to confuse you. Oh, don't get me wrong, their stories are just as much fun as the tales of ponies whose names you've already heard. But fate has not been as kind to them when it comes to notoriety, as it has to those select few names that every Equestrian knows by heart. But I feel that makes their stories all the more special!

Ahhh, here's a good one to start with- a Pony who, for as long as I have known her, has had trouble finishing anything that she starts! Now, sit back,relax, and lend me your little ears. As I tell you the stories of the ponies of Ponyville... the mares and fillies who make this special little town of ours... so special.

A Real Puzzler

A real Puzzler! Blimey, that's what this is, a real puzzler!

'Allo friends, Puzzler's my name, and it's really great to meet you all! I'm Ponyville's resident puzzle solver and detective, I am! There's no mystery I can't solve, and I'll have a jolly good time while doing it! There's no enigma I can't unravel, and no brain twister I can't straighten out. If you ever need some missing object found, or some unanswered question answered, I'm the pony you come to! Just look for the white mare withe the puzzle piece and magnifying glass cutie mark... the one who lives in the cottage with Puzzle pieces painted all over it, it's kind of o' hard to miss.

Now, I'm a detective pony of the old school- none of this bloomin' Shadow Spade nonsense in those trashy detective novels they read outside of Ponyville! But there are few real crimes to solve here in this pleasant little community, and I'm left with such wonderful head scratchers like who ate Pinkie Pie's cookies, or where Sweetberry lost her oven mitts. So it's actually a real pleasure to sometimes get an actually INTERESTING puzzle come across my desk! And this was one of those interesting little puzzlers...

It was was a pretty bright and cheerful day, I had just spent a wonderful morning at Twinkle Twirl's dance studio, where she had just been teaching me some jolly good dance moves, and a wonderful afternoon at Sew and Sew's trying on her dresses and accessories. I was on my way home when Dancing Daffodil, one of the breezies, came flying up to me. It seemed to me she was a tad agitated, as the tiny bundle of energy was zipping around over my head in a panic.

"Oh, Puzzlemint! I'm so glad I found you!" The energetic little sprite cried out, flying around in circles so fast, my eyes couldn't bloomin' keep up with her. "Hurry, you have to come to the castle at once! It's an emergency! A real Emergency!"

"Now calm yourself down Daffodil, stop rocketing around like a bloke who's had too much sugar!" I exclaimed, gently catching the flustered breezie between my two front hooves. "Now, what are you going on about? Is something amiss at the castle?"

"Ohhh, it's worse than amiss! It's simply terrible!" The little sprite explained, trying to catch her breath. "Princess Wysteria wants you to come to the castle right away! Something TERRIBLE has happened!"

Dancing Daffodil then quickly zoomed away, and I sigh as I begin trotting towards the castle. Breezies are such daft little things; amazingly cute creatures, but easily excitable and the very definition of airhead. Wysteria probably needs help putting up a tapestry; that's about the extent of a Breezie's 'emergency'.

As I approach Celebration castle, I can't  help but admire this wonderful place, as I always do. It's  a really big pink castle that stands at the very center of Ponyville; with a drawbridge and everything! It's supposed to have been built for the princess of Friendship long ago, but we Ponyville ponies have just used it for parties and town dances for as long as I can remember. That is, until lucky little Wysteria found a magic flower under the castle, and got herself named Princess of Ponyville. Now,  that fortunate little princess lives in a castle with all sorts of Princessy things, and Breezie servants waiting on her hoof and foot, and-

No, I'm not jealous, not really. Wysteria is the kindest and most gentle soul among us ponies, second only to Queen Starcatcher, she is. She even named us all princesses at the Spring Promenade, though that was only a gesture of kindness.  Such a selfless pony is the perfect ruler of Ponyville, and she makes a far better princess than any of the rest of us would.

As I crossed the drawbridge and entered the grand chamber, Wysteria was there waiting for me, a jolly good smile on her face.

"Hello, your 'highness, Jolly good to see you!" I greeted her with a low bow. "I heard you're having some trouble 'ere?"

"Oh Puzzlemint, I'm so glad you could make it!" The Princess of Ponyville exclaimed, returning the bow with a nod of her head. "My breezies in waiting lost my royal regalia throughout the castle, and I need you to find them!  Do you think you're up to it?"

"Blimey, it's sounds like a jolly fun scavenger hunt! I'd be glad to help out!" I trot on past her, deep into the castle's interior. "I'll find your princess things in a jiff! Cheerio till then!"

And so, I wandered off into celebration castle, trotting though it's endless labyrinth of gardens, corridors, and passageways. I can't believe how big this place is; it must have over a thousand rooms, by my reckoning. As a little filly, I used to slip away from me mum when we went to market, then sneak into the castle and wander around like this. Getting lost in the hedge maze garden, activating the secret passageways and revolving bookcases scattered throughout the place. It was these mysteries that got me interested in puzzles and riddles in the first place, showing me the special talent behind the cutie mark I was born with.

As I wander through the rooms, I find pieces of the royal regalia the breezies had scattered about; a jeweled crown here, a glass slipper there. But as I trot from room to room, I notice curious items stored all over the place. Hanging in one closet is six old but beautiful looking dresses, with the label 'from our first year at the gala' taped on  each hanger. On a shelf in the ballroom are a bunch of trophies, with one reading 'manehatten fashion show-first place' and another reading 'Cloudsdale flyer's competition-first place, Rainbow Dash.'

Well, what an absurd notion that was, Rainbow Dash can't fly! She's an earth pony, not a Pegasus! I was just thinking this when I came around a corner, and was surprised by a loud BOOM! A burst of light and colour sent me flying back into the wall, covering me in confetti and streamers.

"What the bloody 'ell?!" I called out in anger in frustration, picking myself up off the floor and dusting my coat off with my hooves. "Did those bloomin breezies set booby traps in 'ere?!"

"That was a party cannon, milady. I'm afraid they're hidden all over the castle." A voice from behind me grumbled. "We never were able to find all of the ones she hid around this place."

I turned around to see a small, blue scaly form about the size of a full-grown pony standing there. Now, anybody else might have been frighted by the sight of a dragon standing in front of them, but I knew who this was right away. Even though I had never met him before, this was Spike the Dragon, Wysteria's royal adviser that she had found sleeping under the castle.

"Well, hello there, mister dragon!" I greeted him, a smile on my face. "Fancy a pony running into you here in a jolly good place like this."

"Ahhh, you must be Puzzlemint, Wysteria said you'd be looking around here!" The dragon replied politely, bowing and kissing my hoof. "I am master Kengroth Glispottum Heathspike; but you may call me Spike, for short." He shook his scaly head. "You'll have to pardon the state of the Castle, I haven't had much time to clean it recently."

"I can understand that, being how bloomin' big this place is, and all!" I agree, looking around at the castle in awe. "It's amazing how wonderful this place is, and makes you wonder about who must have lived here!"

"Oh, I don't wonder about that question at all, my little Pony." The dragon replied, an air of wistfulness filling his voice. "She was a good friend to everypony around her, and it's a tragedy nobody in Ponyville remembers her now."

"Are you talkin about the Princess of friendship? Don't be daft, bringin' up old filly tales!" I laughed, waving a hoof at him dismissively. "A dragon your age is far to old for that!"

"I suppose you're right." He replied with a sigh. Reaching into his belt satchel, he pulled out a small key. "This is the castle's skeleton key, it'll help you get into secret passages and corridors that are still locked."

"Why thank you, mister dragon!" I call out, happily bounding away as I took the key with me. "But what about-" But when I turned around to look at him again, Spike was gone.

With the aid of the key, I was easily able to find the rest of Wysteria things, and return them to her. Afterward, she let me sit on her throne and put her crown on my head, letting me pretend to be a princess before I continued on my way. Afterward, I trotted my way over towards Breezie Blossom, where I gave those mischievous little pixies a stern talking to about losing important things... all while they played hide and go seek with me in a bunch of flowers. *sigh*

You know, there are few mysteries in Ponyville I cannot solve- why Cotton Candy talks on and on so much, what that stinky cologne my boyfriend wears when we're on a date Saturday night (seriously, what the bloody 'ell is WRONG with that stallion!?) But the one mystery that still perplexes me is, who truly lived in that castle? What kind of pony was she? Did she have any friends? What did she like to do for fun?

It's a real puzzler to me, my fellow little ponies, a jolly good real puzzler.