The Ghost of Chicken Scootalooby Betty_StarlightChaptersChapter 2: Meet the Weather Sisters!Chapter 3: The RetrievalChapter 4: Not Being AloneChapter 5: IntermissionChapter 6: Welcome!Chapter 7: ManifestoChapter 8: Locked UpChapter 9: Curse MarksChapter 10: Jessi TrotskyChapter 11: Adventures With Ranger Jessi!Chapter 12: ZigguratChapter 1: Bawk-ward Meetings!Chapter 2: Meet the Weather Sisters!Sunny and Izzy stood in the morning fog near the West exit to Maretime Bay in the early morning light from behind the two ponies as the unicorn looked at the clear pegasus in the chicken outfit on her left and asked, “So in your time, these zebras lived far to the west of Equestria, and they knew about ghosts and necromancy and stuff?” Scootaloo smiles while turning her head to the blue pony, “Right!” Sunny stares left past the unicorn and said, “But we don’t know if they’re still there, do we?” Izzy looks over at Sunny, “Well, not since unicorns became isolationists about five hundred years ago, no?” she raises her ears and widens her red eyes, “I mean, we’re still pretty sure they’re out there! Where else would they go?” Sunny widens her eyes and narrows her mouth, “I don’t know?” Izzy smiles, nods, and says, “Right! So, unless a giant meteor came down and blew them all up or something like that…” Sunny raises her left eyebrow, “That’s not very likely…” Izzy jitters to cause her mane to vibrate as she exclaims at a louder volume, “But it’s still possible!” Sunny tries her best to suppress a smirk before looking beyond Izzy to the pegasus again, “So uh, exactly how far are we going here?” Scootaloo stares at Sunny past the unicorn, “I’m actually not sure? You see, I’ve never been there!” Sunny looks back at Izzy, “So, we’re going to look for zebras, who may or may not be there, and blindly hoping that they know more about the spirit world than we do and hoping that they somehow know how to get poor Scootaloo here back to heaven!” she widens her eyes, “Does that sound like an accurate description of this mission?” Izzy turns her head back right to stare at the alicorn, “Well, unless you got a better idea! I mean, it’s been two thousand years! I wanna help out poor Scootaloo here!” Sunny stares at the unicorn blankly, “Well, I do too! But I’m still not sure this is the best way to go about it? I mean, shouldn’t we have a clear, concise plan or?” Scootaloo stares over and says gruffly from the left of both ponies, “I’m RIGHT HERE, you know!” Izzy turns left to face Scootaloo, nods, and calmly says, “Yes indeed, Scootaloo Chan! You are right there!” before turning her head back right to Sunny, “Anyway, do YOU have a clear concise plan by any chance, Sunny?” Sunny smiles and giggles slightly, “Well uh, no? Not really?” she normalizes her mouth and widens her eyes, “So, I guess we’re looking for zebra ghosts then?” <*****> Izzy starts humming to herself as she trots to the left of Sunny down the road. Sunny turns her head left to the unicorn and says, “What song is that, anyway?” Izzy widens her eyes to the alicorn, “Song?” Sunny nods as both ponies keep trotting, “Yeah! I mean, weren’t you just humming a tune?” Izzy frowns, “I don’t know? Probably?” Scootaloo smiles at the unicorn on her right, “You remind me of Pinkie Pie!” Izzy turns her head left, “Who?” Sunny smiles at the unicorn, “Pinkie Pie! In ancient Equestria, she was the Element of Laughter!” Scootaloo looks back at the alicorn, “Yeah, but you’re definitely not like any alicorn I’ve ever known!” Sunny widens her eyes while staring at the pegasus in the chicken costume beyond the unicorn, “Oh? Uh, how many alicorns have you known, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo’s smirks, “Well uh, technically, just one! Twilight Sparkle!” Sunny grows noticeably more excited as she jitters and perks her ears up while the three ponies continue trotting down the road, leading across grassy plains and rolling landscapes, and asks, “You knew Twilight Sparkle? Oh my gosh! What was she like?” Scootaloo eyes the alicorn, “Well, she was nothing like you! I mean, she was a book nerd who mostly kept to herself… Well, before she became an alicorn princess!” Sunny frowns and leans towards the pegasus, “You said ALL alicorns in your time were princesses?” Scootaloo nods as the rubber chicken comb on her head goes up and down, “That’s right! But you say you’re not a princess?” Sunny continues, “Correct!” she frowns, “Well, not to my knowledge? Then again, I could be meant to be a princess and just don’t know it yet?” Scootaloo widens her eyes and scrunches her mouth, “I don’t know? Maybe?” Sunny looks back to the road before the three ponies, “Huh?” <*****> As the ponies are trotting down the road westward, in a big open field with many hills over a rolling landscape, with flowers, daisies, pansies, and tulips, they suddenly hear a female voice scream. They all stop trotting abruptly… Sunny looks over at the other two ponies, “Did you girls hear that?” Izzy looks at Sunny on the right, “No!” her eyes widened, “Well, unless you meant the big bloodcurdling scream!” she nods her head, “Now THAT, I definitely heard!” Scootaloo looks right at Izzy and says, “It sounded like it came from the other side of the hill on our left?” Sunny smiles at Scootaloo, “Well, go check it out!” Sunny widens her violet eyes to the alicorn, “Huh? Why me?” Sunny nods, “Well, think about it! I mean, me and Izzy here are alive, so we can get hurt!” she raises her gaze, “But not you! You’re already dead!” Scootaloo stares blankly at the orange pony, “Okay uh, you’re technically right there, Sunny!” Sunny smiles wider and swishes her tail, “No! ACTUALLY right!” as her body bobs, up and down. Scootaloo turns her body to the left to see a hill there, roughly 30 feet from her and rising about 15 feet from the ground, with many pink and red flowers on the grassy mound. She gulps and says, “Alright uh, I’ll be back girls! Don’t go anywhere!” Scootaloo slowly trots toward the hill while Sunny trots forward from the right, and turns right to stare onward as Izzy adjusts her body to match and they both watch the brave pegasus ghost in her chicken outfit, as she slowly trots up the hill… Izzy turns her head to Sunny on the right, “What do you think that scream was?” The orange pony turns her neck left to stare at the blue pony, “I don’t know? Any idea what’s out here?” Izzy frowns, “I don’t know? I mean, I usually reach Maretime Bay with the north road! This one is further south!” The pegasus reaches the top of the hill as she tentatively paces that way, mentally telling herself to remain calm as she recites, left hoof, right hoof, left hoof, right… She reaches the top of the hill and stares downward to see a serpentine creature there, obviously made of greenish-blue cloth, with patterns sewn into it to resemble scales that says, “ROARS! I’m going to eat you unless you give me all your money!” This creature has a long neck, on top of a poorly configured body underneath, with cardboard fins near where it’s ears should be, clearly painted the same bluish-green color. Scootaloo frowns as she also notices that the head and neck are a slightly lighter color than the body… She also sees a blue earth mare there on the right, with a white mane done up into a single ponytail behind her head, holding her right forehoof in front of her face as she screams robotically, “NO! Please don’t eat me, Mister Dragon!” Scootaloo frowns and says, “That’s obviously a dragon costume ma’am! You have nothing to worry about…” Her shoulders visibly relax as she lowers her hoof, shakes her head, and looks at the costume, “I told you this was a dumb idea!” Scootaloo looks at the dragon further left. She hears the same feminine voice underneath growl, “Well, unless you have a better idea?” Scootaloo raises her left eyebrow, “You really shouldn’t pretend to be something that you’re not…” Suddenly the neck of the dragon pops off and falls to the ground before the costume, and down into a straight line as Scootaloo now sees the head of a pink earth mare, with a wisteria purple mane, done into a similar ponytail style as the other mare, who looks over at her and says, “Well, you figured out our ruse!” she sighs, “I guess that means you’re free to go now?” she starts and eyes the pegasus carefully, “Hey, why can I see right through you? And why are you wearing a chicken outfit?” Scootaloo smiles at the new mare, “I’m a ghost!” The blue mare frowns at Scootaloo as she looks over and her face grows visibly whiter, “G-ghost?” Scootaloo looks at the right nods at the mare, “Yup!” she widens her eyes and leans forward slightly as she says louder, “Oh, don’t worry! I’m not gonna hurt you! I’m a friendly ghost!” she smiles, “Scootaloo, the friendly ghost! Yup, that’s me!” she turns her head back left to the pink mare, “You really shouldn’t pretend to be something that you’re not!” The mare frowns at her, “Oh yeah? Well, why are you wearing a chicken costume?” Scootaloo starts as her mouth shrinks, “We’re not talking about that! Why are you trying to make me think you’re a dragon?” The mare sighs as she says lower, “Well, we thought it would be the only way to get ponies to help us… If they thought Cloudy here was being attacked by a dragon…” Cloudy looks at the other mare, “And I keep telling you that friendship is back! We can call on other ponies to help us, and they will now!” Scootaloo widens her eyes while giving an exasperated sigh, “Um, okay wait!” she turns her head back to the dragon, “You two, come out of the costume, and just tell me what you need!” The ghost in the chicken outfit trots down from the flowery hill slowly and the alicorn and unicorn witness that she’s being followed by three earth mares… The one on the left is blue with a white mane and tail and lavender eyes, the one in the center is pink with a purple mane and tail and distinctly green eyes, and the one on the right is green with an orange mane and tail and purple eyes. They also both notice that they all have the same high manecut with ponytails in the back and matching tails behind their flanks. Scootaloo stops trotting about ten feet from the two other ponies while the three mares stop trotting behind her. She smiles and says, “Okay, over here on your left is Cloudy, on your right Snow, and in the middle is Stormy! Uh, I just met them!” Stormy looks at Scootaloo wide-eyed as Sunny smiles and says, “Oh, hi girls!” Izzy excitedly bobs up and down wide-eyed as she shouts with a happy smile on her face, “Hi new friends!” Cloudy turns her head left at Stormy, “See? They seem pretty friendly and will probably help us!” Scootaloo starts and widens her eyes, “Uh, they have something they want to ask you!” Cloudy narrows her eyes to Stormy and lowly says, “Hang on! I’ll go see what’s up!” before turning her head and trotting forward to the right side of the ghost. She stares at the alicorn and unicorn and says at a much louder volume, “Uh, yeah! You see, we’re triplets and we farm yams! Anyway, we need a new barn, but we don’t really have ponypower to do it!” Sunny perks up with her ears directed towards the other ponies, “Do you want us to help you?” Cloudy starts as she shakes her head slightly and lowers her ears, “Um, if you don’t mind? Er, if it’s not too much trouble, that is?” Sunny turns her head left to the unicorn, “What do you think, Izzy?” Izzy turns her head to face Sunny, “I think we need a new barn-raising song!” (To be continued…) Chapter 3: The RetrievalThe yellow earth mare investigates her hotel room from the outside, after unlocking the door using the key in her mouth. She had a high-up red mane, done into a ponytail on her back and a matching tail behind her flanks as she stared at the peculiar apparition before her, after opening the door to her left… It was obviously a brown pegasus pony, but her outfit was very peculiar. She has on a strap-on beak around her face and her head is adorned with a chicken comb, while the rest of her body is covered in the white feathers of her strange outfit with her forelegs free… But this wasn’t nearly as disconcerting to Rainy as how she could see right through this pegasus! She immediately screams, dropping the key from her mouth! “AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Scootaloo cringes and holds her right forehoof to her ear as she lowers her head and says, “Oh geez, lady! I swear, I’m not gonna hurt you!” The yellow earth mare stares at the pegasus with wide dark blue eyes, “Who are you? Why are you in my room? Why can I see right through you? And why are you wearing a chicken costume?” Scootaloo lowers her hoof and shakes her head before raising her neck and affixing her gaze to the other pony, “Oh, well my name is Scootaloo and I’m a ghost!” Rainy screams again, “AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Scootaloo flinches before staring back at the panic-stricken mare with wide violet eyes and shouting, “I’m not gonna hurt you! I’m a friendly ghost!” Rainy breaths heavily in and out through her mouth while staring at the ghost with wide eyes, “Uh, okay… Okay… Uh, why are you in my room?” Scootaloo smiles, “Oh, that! Stormy sent me!” Rainy widens her eyes all the way with her mouth agape, “Stormy? How the hay did she manage to summon a ghost?” Scootaloo normalizes her mouth, “Actually, I kinda just found her?” she shakes her head, “It’s a long story! Look, Rainy! You need to reconcile with your three sisters! They need you to build the barn with them!” Rainy smirks, “Oh yeah! Somehow, I just knew this would happen!” she shakes her head and stares at the chicken-pony, “Because I was the only one of us four with the knowledge and skill necessary to build a barn!” she stares intently as she raises her neck, “Which step did they stop at anyway?” Scootaloo widens her eyes as she frowns, “I’m actually not sure? Uh, suppose I should start from the beginning?” she shakes her head and adjusts her mouth, “You see, me and my two friends Izzy and Sunny were traveling west when we came across your sisters and they really need your help! Sunny and Izzy both stayed behind to work with them and do what they can, but uh, I’m a ghost and so I can’t really pick up and move things…” she widens her eyes, “So, it kinda makes sense that I be the pony to come get you!” Rainy frowns, “So, I’m guessing Sunny and Izzy aren’t ghosts?” she shakes her head, “Also, it’s typical that Stormy would send the scariest pony she could find!” Scootaloo nods, “No, they’re not! I’m the only one of us three who’s actually dead!” she frowns, “Uh, scary?” Rainy nods, “Well, you’re not alive, are you?” Scootaloo sighs off to her left, “Well, technically no, but I don’t see how I’m scary?” Rainy leans forward as she stares on in contemplation, before finally asking, “How did you die, anyway?” Scootaloo widens her eyes to the other mare, “What?” Rainy frowns and blinks, “How did you die? I mean, you’re a ghost, which means that you were living at some point, right? How did you die?” Scootaloo starts and stares back at the live pony, “Uh, do we have to talk about this?” Rainy blinks and raises her head, “Well, not if you don’t want to, no? I mean, the only thing that is important right now is that you’re dead, right?” Scootaloo stares blankly at the earth mare as she says mechanically, “Yes! I’m dead now and we don’t need to talk about how I got that way!” Rainy raises her head and widens her eyes, “Uh, how are we gonna get you out of town, anyway? I mean, I can see right through you! Don’t you think that’ll freak some ponies out?” Scootaloo smiles, “I’ll just go invisible! They’ll never know I’m there!” “You can do that?” Scootaloo lowers her gaze, “Well, I did just meet you! It’s not like I’ve had the opportunity to tell you that. I’ll just re-materialize once you're outside of town and nopony is around! No problem! You just trot out and I’ll keep close until that point!” Rainy blinks, “Seems simple enough?” <*****> Rainy trots through the dirt path of Maretime Bay towards the West exit as she thinks to herself, There’s a ghost following me! She trots past the market to get to the other side. She sees stalls on her right and several shops to her left as she walks through. As she nears the other residential district and contemplates, There’s probably still a ghost following me! She continues trotting and stops abruptly to avoid hitting a two-pony driven wagon as it moves from her right to left on the cross-street. Whoa! I still can’t believe Stormy actually sent a ghost to get me! How cool is that! Oh no! Better not let them know that’s neat! Uh, Her eyes widen as she sees the street is clear, and so she begins trotting forward towards the gate again and thinks, Okay, almost there! Then, I’ll see Scootaloo again! Um, probably? Well, she doesn’t make herself known, but I’m sure she’s still there! Uh, right? She starts trotting again and quickens her pace to a slow gallop as she passes by the row houses of her village on either side and nears the front gate. She looks up at the metal enclosure, with a concave aluminum top and rusted iron side poles and as she slows down a bit and exits town in silence, with her eyes glued forward and her mind still racing with questions about this strange ghost she met earlier. She quickens her pace to a slow gallop once again as she approaches a grove at the edge of town. Rainy looks around and doesn’t see anypony there, but she also doesn’t see the pegasus ghost. She stops trotting at the other end as an expanse of grassy plains opens before her and she sees the dirt path leading west towards Bridlewood forest. She raises her chin and says loudly, “Scootaloo! Are you still there? I don’t see anypony around, and so it’s probablysafe to come out now!” Suddenly, a brown pegasus in a chicken costume appears from the ether on Rainy’s right. She looks at her and says, “So uh, I guess we’re going back to my old house, then?” “Mhm!” Scootaloo says as she nods affirmatively, and then adjusts the rubber comb on her head with her right forehoof… Rainy starts to trot down the dirt road, leading through the open fields and pastures and the pegasus hurriedly trots over to her right side to walk alongside her. She finally looks at Scootaloo and asks her, “So uh, why are you in a chicken suit, anyway? I mean, can you take it off?” Scootaloo looks over and sighs, “No, not really!” Rainy blinks and smiles dimly, “Well, for what it’s worth, it looks good on you!” She’s not the only pony to say that! Makes me think I should’ve let the living know about me sooner. Scootaloo thinks to herself before saying, “Well, thanks Rainy! So uh, they don’t know about algebra and geometry and stuff?” Rainy sighs, “No, I was the only one of us sisters who learned anything about barns and barn design! Stormy and Cloudy were too busy goofing off and Snow, well, she’s just Snow!” “Wow! So, you were the only one to learn?” Rainy blinks as they continue trotting past a grove where apples are growing. Rainy stops at a tree, turns, bucks it with her hind legs and several apples fall to the ground. She trots over to one, moves her neck down to eat it with her snout as it goes snap and crunch inside her mouth. Then looks to her left and collects two more, one at a time with her mouth and stuffs them in her left saddlebag. She looks at Scootaloo, “Well, I still need to eat sometimes!” Scootaloo grins and nods, “Right!” Rainy trots back to the road on her left and continues to go down it, with Scootaloo quickly catching up on her right. Scootaloo looks over and asks, “So, why don’t you like Stormy?” Rainy starts and frowns, “She’s just so stubborn! I tried to tell her last year that we really needed a new barn with the farm expanding the way it was and she didn’t listen to me!” she smiles dimly, “And now that they need me, they send somepony out to get me! Because that’s the way ponies are…” Scootaloo frowns, “What do you mean?” Rainy adjusts her mouth while continuing to trot and stare forward, “Think about it! I was living in a hotel room in Maretime Bay, and I got a job at the local cheesery. And I’d still be in that room, living my life, if they didn’t suddenlyneedme!” she sighs, “That’s the way ponies are… They never care about you, unless they want something…” Both ponies begin to trot up a shallow hill with colorful flowers on either side of the road as Scootaloo starts and says, “Well, that’s not true! I’m sure they still cared about you!” Rainy widens her blue eyes, “Oh? Then why didn’t they ever come to visit me?” she moves her head slightly to the left as she says, “Although it is kinda strange that they’d know exactly which room I was in?” Scootaloo widens her eyes as her incorporeal body begins to move through a tree on Rainy’s right as she continues to trot forward and materialize on the other side, “Well, see! They knew where you were! They were watching you!” Rainy lowers her gaze, “Okay, but… I really wish they would’ve chosen to just talk to me, and not only pay attention to me when they need something…” “Maybe they didn’t know how?” Rainy turns her neck to the pegasus ghost, “Oh, that’s just a cop-out and you know it! There’s no reason they couldn’t have just taken the time to come see me!” “And say what, Rainy?” Rainy slows her trotting and stops a moment later, “I uh, well maybe, ‘I’m sorry! You were totally right, Rainy! We should’ve listened to you!’ would be a good start?” Scootaloo stops trotting and starts snickering at the yellow earth mare. Rainy stops trotting and turns her body to the hysterical pegasus. Scootaloo stops laughing and shakes her head, “You don’t really know how this works, do you?” Rainy widens her eyes and frowns, “W-what?” Scootaloo grins as she turns her body to the earth mare and lowers her gaze at the other pony, when she wryly says, “You have to be the bigger pony…” Rainy blinks and repeats herself, “What?” Scootaloo nods her head, “You have to say that you’re sorry for trotting away before they’ll say they’re sorry for not listening to you…” Rainy narrows her mouth, “What? That’s ridiculous! I did nothing wrong!” Scootaloo raises her neck, “Okay Rainy! Let’s just say that hypothetically, we were two yam farmers, working on the same farm!” “Huh?” Scootaloo smiles, “Let’s just say, you and I were farmers, both working on the same farm! Like you and your sisters, except it’s us now, okay?” Rainy takes a long slow breath through her nose, “Um, okay?” Scootaloo nods, “Right! We’re both farmers on this plot of land, right?” she widens her eyes, “And let’s just say that we had a disagreement and rather than stay and work through it with me, you just cut and ran…” she widens her eyes, “Now, keep in mind that I’m still there, working on the farm, right? But now I have to work even harder, because you’re not around! Because you left earlier!” she lowers her gaze, “Now, how do you think that’s gonna make me feel?” Rainy’s gaze grows to piercing while her head visibly shakes with irritation, before she finally sighs and stares at the pegasus, “Uh, you’d probably feel abandoned, lost, or possibly confused?” Scootaloo lowers her smile, “Our actions always have consequences, Rainy… It’s up to everypony to make sure those consequences are good!” Rainy narrows her eyes, “Okay, but what about the way they didn’t listen to me? Don’t we need to talk about that, too?” Scootaloo smiles wide again, “And you will, once you explain to them why you left… It’s called communication and you need it to make any sort of relationship work!” Rainy widens her eyes and leans towards the pegasus slightly, “Wait! Don’t they also need to admit that they’re sorry?” Scootaloo nods and opens her mouth, “And they will! If they truly care about you, which I suspect that they must, considering they knew so much about your new life in town! I’m sure if you just explain why you left…” she raises her neck, “Trust me! That’s how friendship works!” she nods, “So please, just take my advice, and be the bigger pony here!” At this point, Rainy can only let out an exasperated sigh and look off longingly to the right as she says, “I’ll admit that I did miss them…” she looks back at Scootaloo, “So uh, I guess I’m going back home?” Scootaloo grins and says, “Well, if you wanna meet your sisters again, you’re kinda gonna have to!” Rainy gives a wide-eyed start, “Jerk!” “Idiot!” Scootaloo says before smiling and giggling. “Hey!” Rainy says while leaning at the pegasus with open eyes and mouth. “What? I’m dead!” Scootaloo shrugs, “What are you gonna do to me?” she flaps her white wings before lowering them back to her sides. Rainy corrects herself while trying to suppress a smile before sighing and staring pensively to the right again. She moves her gaze back to the pegasus, “Ugh! Let’s just get this over with!” she blinks, “Let’s go home!” (To be continued…) Chapter 4: Not Being AloneRainy looks at the clear pegasus in the chicken costume to her right with a wide-eyed frown, “Huh? What?” Scootaloo looks left at the yellow earth mare, “I was just saying, we’re back at your house!” Suddenly, the blue front door of the two-story tan farmhouse opens, and a blue unicorn comes running out to greet the pair from 20 feet away. As she trots to them, she smiles and shouts, “Hiya Rainy! They were telling me about you, but uh, “she widens her eyes to the ghostly pegasus on her left as she abruptly stops trotting, “This ghost is unnatural! It is tainted! It is foul!” Scootaloo does her best to suppress a chuckle and smile as she stares back at the hairy blue fluffball unicorn and says, “I found Rainy! Yellow earth mare with red mane done like the other three sisters, right?” Izzy widens her eyes and frowns at the other pony as she says anxiously, “Uh, Scoots! Rainy is tan, with a blond mane and tail! I don’t know who this pony is?” The yellow pony stares back at Izzy with her own wide dark blue eyes, “Really? Because I was pretty sure I was Rainy? I mean, that’s what they told me my whole life!” Scootaloo glances back to the yellow pony before staring at the snickering blue unicorn with an annoyed grimace, “Izzy, knock it off!” Izzy widens her eyes as she exclaims with a grin, “Almost! We’ll get em next time!” she stares at Rainy, “And Rainy! Next time, please try to go along with the joke!” Rainy nods back, “Right!” she widens her dark blue eyes, “Wait, what?” Izzy then adjusts her gaze to both ponies as her red eyes widen once more, “Well, are we ready to get the party started? Scootaloo Chan? Rainy Sama?” <*****> Stormy stares back at the yellow mare with her green eyes and slams her pink right forehoof to the floor, “And I was trying to tell you that at the time, we could not spare the time, resources, or ponypower necessary to build a barn!” Rainy sighs as she stares back at the other pony in the living room, as Izzy and Sunny, watch from the couch on Rainy’s left, with Sunny closer to the door behind Rainy while an ethereal chicken-pegasus watches from the other side. “We could’ve at least had a framework, you know. Maybe even a roof?” she lowers her gaze, “I’m saying, we should’ve done something!” Stormy widens her eyes, “Like what? We’re already stretched thin as it is! There’s simply too much for the four of us, now!” A green earth mare named Snow looks over at Stormy from the left, and timidly says something nopony really hears… Rainy scrunches her brow in determination as she stares back to the pink earth mare, “Think about things, carefully now, Stormy! If we had built the barn back when I said we should, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about our crops rotting and spoiling in the fields, now would we?” Izzy eyes the pink mare carefully with her red eyes while whispering to herself, “Is she gonna crack? Will the pink mare admit her mistake?” Stormy sighs and shakes her head as her violet ponytail sways back around her neck, “You just don’t get it!” The blue mare named Cloudy looks at Stormy from the right, opposite to Snow and speaks up, “Well, friendship is back? Why not ask the town to help or maybe even our family down south?” Stormy turns her head Cloudy’s way, “What?” Cloudy sighs as her white ponytail bobs on her back, “Ponies will help us if we ask now! Look!” she points her right forehoof at the smiling blue unicorn and the orange alicorn just beyond her, sitting on the blue couch to their right, “They helped us when you asked! You saw! They’ve been nailing boards together for the lower framework all morning! Don’t you think you’re being kinda stubborn here?” before lowering her hoof. Izzy tightens her body and widens her eyes at Stormy and whispers, “Will she accept it?” Stormy closes her eyes and shakes her head, “Our family down south are all elderly ponies! They couldn’t help us if they wanted to!” Cloudy shakes it off and widens her eyes to the pink mare, “Regardless, what about the village? Surely, somepony there can lend a hoof?” Stormy smirks slightly as she giggles softly, “Yeah, and in the meantime, while one of you is away asking for help, I’m short-hoofed, here on the farm!” Rainy leans towards the pink mare aggressively, “Which is exactly why we should’ve done this, sooner!” At this point, Stormy can only give an exasperated scream at the heavens as everypony else in the room flinches! She adjusts her face to be level with the ground, “You ponies have no idea what it’s like to be solely responsible for the farm!” Rainy widens her eyes, “Well, not exactly, no? But, if you just listened to us and took what we had to say into consideration, instead of doing your own thing and running it how you and you alone would do it, it might not be so bad?” Stormy lifts the right side of her mouth in a half-smirk, “Right! And while one of you is galivanting around Maretime Bay, asking for help, work continues to pile up, back here!” she widens her green eyes, “GREAT PLAN!” Rainy’s mouth tightens, “Oh, so your idea of do nothing and hope this all goes away is any better?” At this point, something snaps inside the green pony on Stormy’s left as Snow looks over to address both combatants, “NOW LOOK! If Rainy manages to get more than one pony to help on the farm, then asking for help is totally worth it! And look!” she points her left forehoof to the smiling unicorn and confused alicorn on the couch, “We already did that! There’s two of them! It’s totally feasible and it can be done!” She lowers her hoof and faces her body to Stormy to trot 2 feet and stares at her solemnly with her violet eyes as she frowns, “We’re here to help you, okay? You’re not alone…” Izzy excitedly stares on from the couch while jittering lightly and whispering, “They did it! She’s cracking!” Stormy sighs and stares back into the purple eyes of her sister, “It’s uh… It’s really hard to run all of this…” Snow nods, “I know! And that’s why we’re here for you!” she smiles softly, “We’re sisters, remember?” Stormy frowns and says, “Well, I KNOW THAT! But um…” Snow stops smiling and lowers her gaze somewhat, “But nothing, Stormy! We’re sisters and we need to talk to Rainy now…” “Um, yeah about that!” Rainy stammers out with her head raised and blue eyes wide to the pink mare. Stormy adjusts her body rightward to face Rainy once more. “Ahem!” Rainy clears her throat, “I uh, whoa!” her eyes widen before narrowing back to the other mare. “Ugh!” she sighs, before staring directly into Stormy’s eyes, “I’m sorry, okay?” Stormy blinks and frowns, “What?” The yellow pony sighs wistfully off to her left before staring back to the pink mare, “I’m sorry I left you girls to do all of my work and I’m sorry I abandoned you…” she stares back at Stormy and blinks, “Is what I wanted to say…” Scootaloo smiles with her neck turned to the yellow pony while all Stormy can do is widen her eyes at what she just heard. Stormy blinks and says, “Y-yeah! Okay!” Snow looks at Stormy and whispers, “Don’t you have something to say to her?” Stormy turns her head left and gazes briefly at the green pony in her periphery before looking back at Rainy, “Um, yeah! Ahem!” she clears her throat and widens her eyes, “Yeah! I uh, look!” she pauses for a moment and breathes in and out through her nose. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, okay?” Rainy raises her neck and rolls her eyes, “Oh sure! Now that you know I’m right!” Scootaloo’s purple eyes widen at the yellow mare, and she raises her right forehoof to say something, when Stormy suddenly says, “Look! I-I’m sorry we didn’t listen to you, but I’m not sure what else we can do?” before Scootaloo lowers her hoof again… Cloudy says from the left, “Well, we could ask the ponies of Maretime Bay for help? You know, since friendship is back?” Stormy turns her head slightly to gaze at the blue mare in the corner of her left eye, “YES! We should ask for help! We DEFINITELY need to do that!” Rainy smiles and giggles as she shakes her head before trotting a few paces to look directly into her sister’s eyes, “So, no more running the farm with an iron-hoof, okay?” Cloudy speaks up from the left again, “We’re here to help you!” Snow speaks up, “You’re not alone sister!” Stormy blurts out, “I uh…” she closes her eyes… “Stormy?” Rainy inquires as her neck leans forward slightly and she gazes on with wide eyes… Stormy opens her green eyes to the yellow mare, “Shut up! I know you’re right now, and I’m trying to come up with a witty response! Uh,” she blinks, “give me a minute!” Rainy smiles wider and trots another pace with her right foreleg before embracing Stormy in a tight warm hug! Izzy happily bounces up and down on the couch as her blue mane vibrates, “YAY! The Weather Mares made up!” and she normalizes her eyes and glances to the left side, “Now, they can make their hit song, It’s Raining Stallions!” <*****> Rainy looks intently at Izzy, Sunny, and Scootaloo from the right of the front door. “So uh, you got enough yams?” Sunny can only mutter to herself, “I am NEVER going to run out of yams, EVER in the history of anything, now!” Izzy smiles and nods from Sunny’s right, “Oh yeah! I’m sure I can think of lots of neat and yummy ways to cook these!” Scootaloo looks over from Izzy’s right, “Sorry I can’t help you carry them girls, but I’m kinda dead and incorporeal!” Izzy leans to Scootaloo, “No problem, Scoots! But since you were gone, I gotta catch up now and make fun of you some more!” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “What?” Izzy also widens her eyes, “What?” Sunny glances at the two other ponies and tries to suppress a smirk before looking back at Rainy, “Uh, so I guess this is goodbye then?” Rainy smiles, “For now! But hey! Don’t be a stranger! I mean, we’re still out here and winter does get really boring on a farm!” Sunny smiles, “I’ll uh, keep that in mind!” <*****> Izzy huddles in her purple sleeping bag on the left side of the blue tent as she looks over to Sunny, in her own dark green bag on the right as she says, “Don’t pegasi have electric lanterns?” Sunny glances over, “I think so? So uh, do you think today went well?” Izzy frowns, “I think so? You like the yam casserole I made?” Sunny blinks, “Oh yeah! It was tasty! But uh, how the hay did you make a casserole on a campfire, anyway?” Izzy smiles, “MAGIC!” Sunny widens her eyes, “I guess? Uh, you think Scootaloo will be alright without us around while we’re asleep?” Izzy lowers her grin, “I don’t see why not? She’s been by herself for thousands of years at this point. Are the few hours we’re gonna sleep, really gonna matter?” Sunny sighs, “True, but I just can’t help but feel sorry for the poor pegasus! Uh, let’s not sleep any longer than we have to, okay?” Izzy smiles wider and nods, “Deal!” Izzy emerges from the cave to a wide-open field, where she sees Scootaloo, still in her chicken costume laughing with glee as her body faces to the right! Izzy trots down to Scootaloo, a mere 20 feet from her as she shouts, “Scootaloo! What are you doing?” Scootaloo stares at Izzy with crazy violet eyes as she turns her body to her and says, “I am the Chicken Princess!” as thousands of chickens suddenly appear flying from the wide-open plains behind her and soon, blacken the sky with their presence as the pegasus giggles maniacally! The constant sound of buck buck buck permeates the air as Izzy can only stare on in wide-eyed amazement! <*****> Izzy opens her red eyes with a start as her head rests on the left on top of her small purple camp pillow before she whispers, “Whoa! I gotta put that one in my dream journal!” She moves her body to lay on her back so she can glance right and notices that Sunny is no longer there. She also can’t help but smell the robust scent of percolating camp coffee as it’s meshed with the sweet aromatic scent of frying sweet potatoes. Izzy emerges from the blue tent to see a see-thru pegasus on the left of the campfire, standing there as she gazes at Sunny, currently frying yams in her small camp skillet over the small temporary fire pit they had erected the night before. She gazes over the vast expanse of grassy fields and then, over to the dirt road on their left before trotting the remaining few feet and plopping herself to her haunches in front of the first. Izzy yawns while Sunny magically fetches a cup of black coffee with the blue steel mug from the side and floats it in her direction in a golden glow. Izzy looks up at the cup and a blue glow soon encapsulates the mug before Sunny releases her magic, causing the gold to go away and Izzy floats the cup down to the ground before her as she looks up at the fire in the chilly morning air. Scootaloo turns her head to address both ponies, “So uh, you two rest well?” Izzy smiles, “Yeah, not too bad! You were okay without us, right?” she says before lowering her smirk and turning her red eyes to the pegasus. Scootaloo smiles dimly, “Of course! I mean, I spent quite a bit of time by myself earlier! A few hours won’t hurt me by this point!” Izzy blinks, “Well that’s good! We were worried about that!” Scootaloo raises her gaze, “Wait! You were worried about me?” Izzy nods, “Of course! We’re your friends!” Scootaloo exhales from her nose, “Wow… Uh, hey girls?” Izzy widens her eyes while the alicorn looks at the pegasus and says, “Yeah, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo swallows deeply, “I think I need to tell you something…” Izzy blinks, “What’s up?” Sunny raises her gaze, “Yes Scootaloo?” (To be continued…) Chapter 5: Intermission****Trigger warning**** The following chapter details some of my very own pain regarding how my mother passed away. I’m writing it here because I wanted it known and I feel that it needs to be said somewhere... If you are squeamish or can’t handle ultra-emotional stuff, you really should just skip to the final paragraph for a brief synopsis instead. Thank you! “I can still hear her screams sometimes, at night…” Scootaloo said to the alicorn and unicorn as she stood there in the clearing, on the campsite… Izzy leans forward and asks, “What are you talking about?” Scootaloo blinks and stares deep into the unicorn’s eyes, “I mean, I still hear her screams in agony!” Sunny widens her eyes as she stares at the pegasus ghost, “W-what are you talking about?” Scootaloo takes a deep breath through her mouth, in and out and stares at the fire before the two other ponies and closes her eyes and looks down as she says, “It was Apple Bloom… She caught swamp fever…” she raises her gaze and opens her eyes at the other ponies, “They tried to use the flash bee honey treatment again, b-but it didn’t work this time! It didn’t heal her and," Scootaloo closes her eyes and breathes heavily through her mouth again, “And she didn’t get better…” she opens her eyes to the other ponies again, “I remember that they planted her in the Everfree Forest… You know, birch trees only live for about forty or fifty years… I’m sure she’s long gone by now…” Izzy can only cough out, “I am so sorry, Scootaloo!” “Yeah um…” Scootaloo blinks, “Sweetie Belle went catatonic and wouldn’t speak to anypony after that, and I, well…” she blinks again, “I moved to Fillydelphia and got a factory job… You know, the vodka helped, but eventually, I realized there wasn’t enough vodka in all of Equestria…” she swallows, “That could fill that gaping hole AB left when she passed… I can only…” she blinks again and smiles slightly, “I can only be glad that in the end, she spent her final days as a tree… I really couldn’t imagine a more peaceful life, but at the same time, I really missed her…” Sunny just stares at the pegasus with wide cerulean eyes as she stammers out, “I really wish I could hug you right now, Scootaloo…” Scootaloo smirks slightly wider, “Yeah, I’d like that… Anyway, this chicken costume is my punishment, I’m thinking… For not being there and failing Apple Bloom, like I did…” Sunny narrows her mouth, “That makes no sense, Scootaloo! She had a terminal disease! There’s nothing you could’ve done!” Scootaloo flaps her wings, still in their white confines as she exclaims, “I know there’s something I really should’ve said or done?” she looks off to the left side while continuing to stammer, “I don’t know, but I think I failed Apple Bloom, okay?” before closing her eyes… “I failed her…” Scootaloo shudders out while hanging her head down… Sunny glances over at Izzy, sitting on her haunches on the ground to her left and whispers, “I’m not really sure how to handle this one?” Izzy takes a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth as she closes her eyes, before opening them again, up at the pegasus and getting to her hooves and causing her long wavy mane to shake as she looks at her and says, “Scootaloo Chan! Listen to me and focus!” She trots towards the pegasus a few paces as Scootaloo stares at her with wide eyes, “You need to understand that whatever’s done is done! You also need to know that whatever you did do, I’m sure Apple Bloom understands, wherever she may be, and also, you need to honor her memory by being the best you can be!” she blinks before continuing, “You need to understand that the best way to give praise to her memory is to be your best!” Scootaloo blinks back at Izzy and frowns, “But I’m a ghost now!” Izzy nods her head and stares intently at the pegasus, “Then you should be the best ghost you can be! But you should also know that I do not believe the chicken suit is punishment for not being there, as you say…” Scootaloo blinks, “You don’t?” Izzy shakes her head and stares back at the pegasus and as her mane settles, she says bleakly, “No! Think, Scootaloo Chan! As I already said, ‘there’s nothing you could’ve done!’As such, it stands to reason that the suit must be on you for some other cause?” Scootaloo visibly frowns deeper from around her strap-on beak, “Then what could it be?” Izzy widens her eyes and leans forward slightly as she exclaims, “I don’t know?” Sunny suddenly interjects from behind Izzy, “Uh, Izzy! What was that?” Izzy looks back at Sunny from over her right shoulder, “What? Was it something I said?” Scootaloo noticeably smiles from behind her strap-on beak, “I guess uh, I guess you two are my friends, right? I guess I kinda do have a life now, even though I’m actually dead…” Izzy turns her neck back to Scootaloo, “Yes!” she nods, “And you need to use this opportunity, to be the best you can be!” Scootaloo smiles as she chuckles slightly, “Yeah! I’m sure I’ll be the best chicken-ghost around!” Izzy widens her eyes, “Well, you don’t really have a lot of competition in that department?” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “What?” Izzy smirks at the pegasus, “I’m just saying, I imagine you’re the absolute best chicken-pegasus-ghost in all of Equestria, right now, as we speak!” Scootaloo widens her eyes and grimaces under her beak a moment later, “Izzy! Knock it off!” Izzy leans forward slightly again as she widens her eyes, “What?” Sunny gets to all fours as she giggles and takes a few paces towards the pegasus on the other side of the fire, now in cinders in the little pit they made, stares at her, and asks, “Wait! So, you still went to heaven, right?” Scootaloo nods, “Right! Or Elysium, or the great beyond or, whatever you wanna call it…” Sunny nods, “Right! Well, did you meet Apple Bloom there?” Scootaloo narrows her mouth so it’s all behind her beak, “Um, well, that is to say, I uh…” and she trails off in her wording while staring blankly off to the right… Sunny stares at the pegasus intently, “What was that?” Scootaloo sighs and finally stammers out to the alicorn, “Well, not exactly…” Sunny frowns, “What do you mean?” Scootaloo giggles softly, “Heh heh, well, you see, I DO know where she is!” she nods, “I know that, but uh, well…” Sunny leans forward as the unicorn looks onward from her left, “Well, what?” Scootaloo widens her eyes when she realizes that she might as well just confess and get this over with, “Well, I haven’t spoken to Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle in about two thousand years,” she widens her eyes, “Although I know where their houses are in the afterlife!” Sunny widens her eyes when she suddenly realizes who Scootaloo is, “W-wait!” she points with her right forehoof, “You’re one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Scootaloo smiles from behind her beak, “Caught me, red hooved!” Izzy turns her neck to Sunny on her right, “Cutie Mark, what now?” Sunny excitedly looks at Izzy with wide eyes, “The Cutie Mark Crusaders! They started out as a group of three fillies, trying to find their cutie marks, and ended up being like, cutie mark consultants! It’s in the Friendship Journal!” Izzy turns her neck back to Scootaloo, “Oh wow! So, you’re famous?” Scootaloo frowns, “Well I was? Once upon a time, everypony knew who I was! These days though, they mostly just scream at me…” Izzy widens her eyes and shakes her head as she says, “Oh come on Scoots! Who’s the best chicken-ghost around?” Scootaloo grimaces and giggles slightly, “Stop it, Izzy!” Izzy smiles and shakes her head while continuing whimsically, “Come on Scoots! Who’s the best chicken-ghost around?” Scootaloo smiles again and chuckles more, “I am!” Izzy nods, “That’s right, Scoota-Chicken! You are!” Scootaloo continues to snicker slightly, “I swear, Izzy! I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but you’re gonna pay for this!” Izzy widens her red eyes to the ghostly chicken, “Oh yeah, sure! I’m shaking in my horseshoes!” she cranes her head back to Sunny on her right, “So uh, we ready to head west again now, or?” And so, at the campsite, Scootaloo detailed the awful way in which Apple Bloom died and how she passed… That she had swamp fever and that no treatment worked… That she slowly and painfully turned into a tree… She also told them about her guilt, before Izzy explained to her that it’s a terminal illness and there’s nothing she could’ve done… Scootaloo still feels some level of guilt and remorse, although she’s beginning to understand now that there was nothing she could do at the time… And so, how will she move past the tragedy now? (To be continued…) Chapter 6: Welcome!“Scoota-chicken Chan!” Izzy says to Scootaloo as she stares at the ghost and frowns. Scootaloo is wearing her chicken costume and sitting on her haunches while leaning with her back on a tree and her head down, when she starts and screams up at Izzy, “AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!” Izzy blinks, “Um, you okay?” Scootaloo stares up at the unicorn with wide eyes, “Uh, yeah! Yes! I think so?” Izzy frowns, “Do you space out often?” Scootaloo frowns from behind her beak, “Well, yeah…” “Why is that?” Scootaloo sighs, “I just wish I wasn’t here…” “Do you not enjoy our company?” Scootaloo starts, “Well um, that is, I do, but uh…” Izzy leans forward with concern in her red eyes, “But what?” Scootaloo smiles faintly, “But well, I was finally thinking about Apple Bloom again after all this time… I bet her and Sweetie Belle know each other again, by now?” “Who can say for sure? But before you can meet her again, we have to get you back to the afterlife!” Izzy adjusts her gaze, “But uh, you’re okay, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo blinks, “Um, I think so?” Izzy tilts her head slightly to the left as she leans forward, “Because I can always make fun of you some more? If you think I need to?” Scootaloo starts again and tries to suppress a smile, “No no, Izzy! I’m good!” Izzy smiles as she straightens her neck, “You sure about that, comb-head?” Scootaloo gets to her hooves while shaking her head gently, “Positive!” Izzy raises her gaze as the pegasus rises, “Okay, beak-face! But just so you know, I’m here for you if you need anything, feather-brain!” Suddenly, an orange alicorn trots in from Izzy’s back left from the campsite behind her on the grassy fields and she looks at Izzy as she stops, just shy of her, and says, “Izzy, are you picking on poor Scootaloo again?” Izzy turns her head to the alicorn and says, “No!” At the same time Scootaloo cranes her neck to Sunny and exclaims, “Yes!” Sunny shakes her head and adjusts her gaze to both ponies before saying, “Knock it off, you two! Anyway, did you know there’s a village out here?” Izzy frowns, “How would I know? Unicorns don’t normally travel this far west.” <*****> The ponies approach an odd village with a single road leading through it and houses and shops on either side. All of the buildings are painted white, and they’re all connected in a straight line. As they approach however, everypony in town, earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all begin to scream and panic as they run for their buildings on either side of the street! “Curse marks!” Sunny hears one of them say as she trots next to Izzy, with Scootaloo at their front, still in her chicken outfit. Izzy looks to Sunny on her right with wide red eyes and asks, “Are they afraid of us? Because I think this has happened to me once before?” Sunny stares back at Izzy with her own wide cerulean eyes, “Uh, I’m not sure why?” She stops trotting and Izzy reciprocates as she looks forward and her horn begins to have a golden glow as she magically amplifies her voice, “Please come out! It is perfectly safe! We are not here to hurt you!” Scootaloo stops just 5 feet from one end of the village road as a tumbleweed blows from her left to the right and she frowns from behind her beak, when she suddenly hears a whispered attempt to get her attention from a wooden barrel with two black rings on her right, “PSST!” Went the voice. Scootaloo turns her neck that way to notice a tan earth mare with freckles and long orange mane and tail hiding behind the barrel as she leans above it and whispers louder so the pegasus can hear, “You’re fine! Your friends need to hide their curse marks! It will hex us all! Uh, why can I see right through you?” Scootaloo widens her eyes at the strange tan mare and says, “Uh, don’t worry about that! I’ll take care of it!” before Scootaloo turns her body back to the unicorn and alicorn behind her and the strange mare ducks behind the barrel and skulks off to Celestia knows where. Scootaloo takes 5 paces to meet the other two ponies, “Uh, hey girls! You gotta hide your cutie marks to be in this town!” Izzy widens her eyes and narrows her mouth, “That’s a new one!” Sunny swallows, “Really?” Scootaloo gazes off to the right before adjusting her eyes to the alicorn, “Yeah, they’re calling them curse marks and I think it’s a local superstition?” Izzy frowns, “That’s weird!” Sunny stares at Izzy on her left, “Izzy! Unicorns used to do the Bing Bong Song and Dance!” Izzy turns right to Sunny, “What’s weird about the Bing Bong song and dance routine?” <*****> As the two ponies trotted towards the village once more, now with colored construction paper on their flanks, just behind their saddlebags to cover up the remainder of their cutie marks there, they stop 20 feet from the same end of the road and Sunny, now with pink construction paper on her flanks, stares at Izzy, “Why did you bring construction paper?” Izzy, now with sky-blue construction paper on her flanks, stares back at Sunny, “Because we might need it!” Sunny narrows her eyes, “Yeah, but the odds that we’d be in any sort of scenario that needed construction paper were slim!” Izzy smiles, “But not impossible! Now we can use it cover up our awful curse marks! Aren’t you happy?” Sunny starts, “They’re not curse marks, and no silly superstition is going to change that!” Izzy blinks and frowns, “Well, you say that now?” Both ponies look back forward, towards the village and notice that it’s still empty. Sunny sighs, “Oh, they’re still hiding!” before her horn glows golden again to amplify her voice, “We have covered our curse marks! It is safe to come out now!” Suddenly a green earth stallion with a blue mane and tail opens the door to the shop on Sunny’s right, at the very edge of the street and it makes a jingle jangle noise as he releases the door with his flank and it shuts. He turns his body to the three ponies and trots to them before smiling and saying, “We understand that the heathen ponies don’t normally cover their curse marks, but you see, you need to keep them covered while here in our happy village!” He eyes the two living ponies carefully before raising his head and shouting, “It’s alright! They covered their curse marks!” Then, everypony else in town starts to clamor out of their respective buildings and hiding places to reveal a bustling village just full of activity! The ponies begin to approach Sunny and Izzy with smiles on their happy faces! Izzy suddenly realizes that she doesn’t see Scootaloo anywhere when a pink earth mare with a blond mane and tail smiles at her and says, “Welcome to Our Town!” (To be continued…) Chapter 7: ManifestoThe strange clear pegasus waved her little wings in their white costume up and down while saying in a faux dramatic voice, “I am a ghost, and I am cursed!” The orange mare in the bed with a red mane, looks up from the pillow of her bed at the strange sight before her when she widens her blue eyes and says, “Why are you in my room? And why are you wearing a chicken costume!” Scootaloo flaps her little wings more and says in a louder voice, “I am the Ghost of Cutie Mark Abuse and I have come to give you a warning! The marks are not cursed and are meant to be seen!” she flaps her wings some more, “Ooooo! You will listen to me, Augusta Hoofmyer, and allow ponies in this village to show their cutie marks!” “That doesn’t answer my question!” The mare exclaims before she looks intently at the pegasus and frowns as she begins to grow visibly paler, “W-wait! I can see right through you!” Scootaloo flaps her little wings severely at the other pony, “Yes! Because I am a ghost and am warning you not to make the same mistake I once did! Let ponies show their cutie marks! Ooooo!” Augusta blinks, “You mean, curse marks? Those are awful and if we could just figure out a way to keep them from showing up during puberty or maybe just take them off somehow, like the Great Magenta Pony used to do, that would be wonderful!” “NOOOOO!!!! These marks are an important part of who ponies are and you shouldn’t hide them anymore!” The mare narrows her eyes, “Won’t other ponies hate and fear me if I don’t cover up the horrible blemishes on my flanks?” Scootaloo widens her eyes when she realizes she’s losing her, and she flaps her wings once more for dramatic effect before saying, “Those marks make each pony special! They are meant to be seen!” she trails off as she continues, “Meant to be seen!” The mare frowns at the ghost, “But the ponies here are civilized and we understand how important it is to keep those marks to ourselves! They have no place in society, where everypony is equal!” “But they do!” Scootaloo tries her best to sound dramatic and serious. “Why are you wearing a chicken costume?” “I ugh!” Scootaloo chokes before regaining her composure, “I once hid who I was and what made me special, and wearing this suit is my punishment!” She tries her best to make her voice sound ethereal for her outro, “Don’t make the same mistake I did! BLEH!” Before she backs out of the room, so her incorporeal body goes out through the door. <*****> Scootaloo stands in the middle of the room after trotting in (literally) through the door and whispers to Sunny sleeping on the right edge of the bed in front of her, “PSST!” Sunny, who wasn’t asleep, opens her eyes and raises her head to stare at the ghostly pegasus before saying lowly, “What did the mayor say?” Scootaloo widens her eyes and says from behind her beak, “I think she understands, now?” Izzy stirs on Sunny’s other side before laying on her left side and looking at the alicorn, “Huh? What?” Sunny widens her eyes before looking up and saying back to Izzy, “None of this is actually happening! This is all a dream! Go back to sleep, Izzy!” Izzy frowns, “Oh, good! For a minute there, I thought you were trying to use Scootaloo to convince the mayor to allow everypony to show their horrible curse marks!” she smiles, and breaths relieved through her mouth, “But well, we wouldn’t want that!” Sunny rolls her eyes and says under her breath, “They’re not curse marks!” Izzy grins wider, “Tell them that! He he!” Sunny grimaces as the pegasus looks onward and frowns. Scootaloo asks Sunny, “Uh, what should I do now?” Sunny looks back at Scootaloo frantically, “Uh, you just hide for now! Keep your eyes and ears open in town to see what’s going on, though!” Scootaloo sighs and nods, “Uh, right!” Sunny adjusts her forehooves underneath her pillow and closes her eyes once again to get some rest… <*****> A knock is heard on the door to Sunny and Izzy’s room when Sunny opens her eyes towards the door and says, “Hang on!” before getting to her hooves on the floor and turning her body right and trotting that way towards the door, prior to opening it to the left with her mouth. She looks at the orange mare with the red mane and tail and freckles behind the door and says, “Good morning, mayor!” The mayor smiles, “Greetings Sunny!” she frowns, “Uh, please just call me Augusta! We’re friends now! I trust you rested well.” She smiles, “Now it’s time for breakfast and we can talk to you more about our way of life!” Sunny looks up and says, “Hey Izzy! She’s back!” Izzy stirs on her left side in the bed as she blearily opens her eyes, “Huh? What? Can I wake up now?” Sunny widens her eyes when she thinks about the events of earlier this morning and she stares forward blankly while saying, “Yes Izzy! It’s time for breakfast!” <*****> Augusta smiles at the two ponies from the other side of her polished wooden table from behind her two biscuits and gravy, while Izzy hungrily devours her food with her blue magic and the orange alicorn looks onward and the ginger mare explains, “You see, I found a lockbox with some old books inside. All of these books were the same manifesto that had been written by the Great Magenta Pony long ago! They told me about how my marks are evil and how they shouldn’t even be on me!” she gives a resigned sigh, “Unfortunately until one of us can come up with a way to remove them like they once did here in ancient times, we can only cover them and hope their influence is weak enough to not cause other ponies to hate us!” Sunny frowns, “But we show our cutie marks in the east and ponies don’t usually hate us?” Augusta smiles at Sunny, “Are you sure about that? They probably all hate you secretly, you know?” Sunny narrows her mouth and widens her eyes, “Uh, why would they hate me in secret? I mean, if they don’t like me, why even come around?” Augusta narrows her eyes, “Well, how would you know? Who’s to say why they would keep coming around? Ponies do LOVE to hate, after all!” Sunny frowns, “L-love to hate?” “Of course! Ponies who flaunt are horrible and they ALL do it where you’re from! Please Sunny! Allow us to show you why you need to protect yourself better!” Izzy continues to scarf floating biscuit number 4 while Sunny stares onward and says, “Flaunt? What do you mean, flaunt?” Augusta lowers her shoulders and her gaze, “Well, ponies who show their cutie marks are clearly just trying to prove they’re better than everypony else!” She raises her gaze and widens her eyes, “It’s all explained in the manifesto! Please, before you continue, won’t you read it?” Sunny continues frowning, “Uh, sure Miss Hoofmyer!” Augusta leans forward as she continues to smile, “Just call me Augusta, please!! We’re friends now and we don’t need such formalities!” “Uh, right! Sorry, Augusta! I uh, need some juice I think?” Sunny turns her head left to the unicorn, “Uh, Izzy?” Izzy is just now swallowing her last bite when she happily licks her lips and stares at Sunny with wide red eyes, and says, “Uh, yeah Sunny?” “I think I should study this manifesto from ancient times. Uh, will you be okay, without me?” Izzy smiles and nods, “Oh, sure! I mean, maybe there’s a craft store or somewhere I can get supplies to make something neat?” Augusta raises her chin at the unicorn, “Remember that if you do anything special or unique, to hide it so that other ponies won’t think you’re just showing off!” Izzy turns her head to the orange mare and frowns, “Uh, what do you mean?” Augusta shakes her head before staring back at Izzy intently, “Oh, you heathens! We’re all equal here! So, you can’t be different as differences only cause problems!” Izzy blinks and frowns, “I uh, what?” Augusta nods her head, “Yes, dear sweet Izzy! It’s all in the manifesto! I’ve had new copies printed and I invite you both to read it now and learn the error of your ways!” <*****> Izzy stands to the left of the door and stares at Sunny on the other side with wide eyes, “Strange how the mayor insisted we go back to our rooms after breakfast?” she blinks and raises her head, so her fluffy mane falls from her face, “Well, at least she provided reading material?” Sunny breaths in and out through her nose before glancing towards the door on her right, “I’m actually more concerned about how she locked the door from the outside after we both came in…” Izzy turns her head right to face the window as a striped glow visibly shows on her face now, “Yeah, and the windows are barred too!” she widens her eyes and turns her head back to Sunny, “Uh, you don’t suppose we’re prisoners here, do you?” Sunny puts on the fakest smile in Equestrian history before giggling nervously and saying, “NAW! They definitely wouldn’t be doing something like that!” she widens her eyes, “Uh, r-right?” (To be continued…) Chapter 8: Locked UpSunny read the manifesto very carefully, as she sat there on the floor on her haunches, while Izzy used her magic to manipulate a green tennis ball in the air as she stared at it floating there, around in circles at first, and then, she started to move it back and forth, side to side, as Sunny eyed the ancient words with diligence… Sunny finally raises her head to speak, “Huh? Well, it says here that cutie marks lead to specialdifferences between ponies, and that these differences only cause problems. The truth is, we can only be actually happy and have true friendship if we’re all equal?” Izzy watched the tennis ball floating in the air while she manipulated it with her magic as she mumbled, “Oh? That’s nice!” Sunny looks back down at the book before her, “Yeah, but here’s the weird thing! It never mentions curse marks, and so I guess Augusta just added that part?” Izzy smiles while continuing to stare up at the ball, floating diagonally now and says, “Oh! Like she wanted to get in on it and made some adjustments of her own, to the philosophy! Yeah! Makes sense!” while never taking her eyes off the ball… Sunny stares forward with wide eyes, “Wow! Uh, yeah, Izzy! That’s probably what happened!” Izzy starts to move the ball up and down while her eyes continue to follow it, “Right! So, all we gotta do is just wait for Scootaloo to get back and she can help us escape!” Sunny nods, “Well, right! She knows where our room is, and she’ll eventually wonder why we never came out! Good thinking Izzy! Uh, how exactly can she help us escape?” Izzy throws her forehooves up to her sides while moving the ball in a vertical circle, “I have no idea!” and then, lowering them back to her sides, all the while continuing to stare at the tennis ball. Sunny narrows her eyes and groans, “UGH! This is so frustrating! If only we had some way of talking to other ponies outside of this room!” Izzy starts moving the ball in horizontal circles and spinning it as fast as her magic can make it, so it forms a shaped blur of sorts in the air, “Yeah! Like an intercom system so our Dark Master can talk to her new recruits and see how they’re doing!” “Izzy, uhh…” Izzy nods her head and continues, “Right! And whenever it’s not being used for communication, it could play funky brainwashing recordings and stuff like that!” Sunny snaps the unicorn back to reality, “Izzy! Don’t give them any ideas!” Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door when it opens to reveal a smiling orange earth mare with freckles and a reddish mane and tail with two burly earth stallions on either side, the one to the left is green with a black mane and the one to the right is red with a tan mane. She cheerfully raises her chin to speak, “Hello, you two! Sorry for locking you in like that, but we need to be safe and to protect you!” Izzy starts to slow the ball down as she begins to move it in a more vertical circle and smiles as she exclaims, “Oh, thanks so much for protecting us mayor!” Sunny is now gazing her head turned right with her wide green eyes as she inquisitively asks, “Protect us? Protect us from what?” “Why, the Evil Pony, of course!” Sunny frowns, “Evil Pony?” Augusta nods her head, “Mhm! I read about him in another ancient manuscript! His name used to be Stygius before his hatred overtook him and then he became a pony of shadows! We just call him the Evil Pony and know not to be out during certain times!” “Uh, what happens during those times?” “The Evil Pony will lurk our very city streets, hunting for prey to transform into a pony of shadows, like him!” Izzy quickly floats her ball down to the floor and turns her head turned left at the mayor and frowns, “Oh? Well, what would be so bad about that?” Sunny widens her eyes as she turns her head slightly to the right towards the unicorn, “Izzy!” Izzy blinks, “No, I mean, just think about it! You’d get to be a Pony of Shadows and could probably do neat stuff, like go through walls, invade ponies’ dreams, and shapeshift! I’m not sure how that would be bad exactly?” Augusta frowns at the unicorn, “Well, I can assure you that it would be very bad!” she smiles again, “Now, we’ll just lock you back up here to keep you safe! We wouldn’t want him to catch you!” The door abruptly shuts after she raises her right hoof to the edge, and both ponies soon hear the telltale click of the lock from the outside. Izzy sighs and says, “I’m so glad she’s protecting us!” Sunny lowly says, “You know there’s no Evil Pony, right?” Izzy giggles slightly, “Well, duh! He only comes out every 666th full moon to feast upon the flesh of the living! But not a moment sooner!” Sunny widens her eyes, “What?” “What?” Sunny lowers her brows, “Izzy, stop it! We need a plan to get out of here!” Izzy turns her head to face forward, towards her side of the room when she says, “Scoots! She’s gone! You can come out now!” Scootaloo suddenly materializes right in front of Sunny, startling the young alicorn, “ACK!” and causing her to jolt back and knocking Izzy forward somewhat as the unicorn giggles. She widens her eyes and says to the orange mare while smiling, “Hiya Sunny! There’re freedom fighters in the next building! You’re gonna be okay!” Sunny narrows her eyes and mutters to herself, “One more! Just one more surprise today, and OH! They’ll be sorry!” Scootaloo leans forward as she asks inquisitively, “Uh, what was that Sunny?” Sunny looks up at Scootaloo, “Uh, nothing! Anyway, what’s this about freedom fighters?” Scootaloo nods her head, “Uh, right! Izzy!” Izzy remains silent and motionless as she stares at the wall in a sort of trance. Scootaloo repeats herself, “Izzy!” Izzy says robotically, “There’s a loose slat on that wall there. Inside is something that will help us escape!” Scootaloo stands there on her hooves, wide-eyed and stunned, “H-how did you know?” Izzy smiles, “Well, if you look at the gaps between the wooden slats, they’re all spaced the same distance apart, except, “she points at one slat with her right forehoof, “that one right there!” she frowns, “The only real problem is, we need something to wedge it apart, so the slat moves out of our way!” Sunny stares ahead blankly, “Like the doorstopper that’s sitting on the far corner from me?” Izzy normalizes her mouth while continuing to speak mechanically, “Yeah! That would probably work! We should at least give that a shot, I would think?” “Well, right! So, we’re going to give that a try!” Izzy nods her head, “Indeed! We’re going to try to push the slat off the wall using the doorstopper!” “Right!” Sunny nods, “So, you’ll do it?” Izzy blinks, “Well, you also have magic, Miss Alicorn! I mean, you could try, if you want?” Sunny then gives a small smile of frustration as she calmly says, “Izzy! Would you please try to use the doorstopper to force the slat off the wall, so we can see what’s inside?” Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh! Well, why didn’t you just say so?” before getting to her hooves and turning her body right to turn her head further that way and force the dark gray wedge-shaped door stopper there to glow blue and float across the room, right to left of Izzy. Izzy turns her body left to stare at the wall there and she squints her eyes as she forces the door stopper to go end first on its side, into the slightly wider crack between two slats, and then, she starts moving the glowing stopper left and right to see if either slat will move. Soon, the slat to the left starts to give way and open out before falling to the floor with a loud clack. Izzy looks up at her handiwork, “Got it!” Sunny is staring at the open hole from behind Izzy when she says, “Well, what’s in there?” Izzy stares wide-eyed, “I don’t know? I can’t really see from this distance! Uh, let me walk to it and find out!” before trotting that direction as her fluffy mane moves back and forth with her body. She leans her face close to the hole and sees the other building across the street from the house when suddenly a familiar violet eye stares back at her while the owner says calmly to her, “This is Snow! Uh, remember how we met the other day?” Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh, hi Snow! I always wanted to know! Why aren’t you named Snowy?” The purple eye enlarges itself, “W-what?” Izzy raises her head, “Well, I was thinking about it and your sisters' names are Cloudy, Stormy, and Rainy! Why doesn’t your name also end with a y? And also, shouldn’t there be another weather sister named Sunny?” “I’m Sunny!” Says the orange alicorn behind her as she ruffles her wings, “And who are you talking to?” Izzy turns her head to the right to talk to Sunny as she smiles, “Oh, it’s Snow from the Weather Sisters! She’s about to blast open the wall of this house and we really need to stand on the other side of the room now, so we don’t get hurt!” The purple eye is super wide as the voice from outside asks, “H-how did you know?” Izzy stares back, “Simple, Snow Sama! You see, if you intended to rescue us covertly, there would be no reason to speak with us first! However, since you are talking to me now, that must mean you need to tell us something. Now since you’re revolutionaries, that would imply that you need to make a statement or a point.” She smiles, “You gotta admit, explosives would be a loud and expressive way to do that!” The purple eye moves left and right as Snow shakes her head outside, “Right! Well, listen Izzy! I’m going to set the timer for two minutes! You and Sunny need to be on the other side of the room, with your ears down to your heads and your eyes closed, so you don’t get hurt when the bomb goes off. After it blasts, you two need to high-tail it east to our campsite in the forest that way! We have a lookout to signal you out there, already, so if you just run out that way, she’ll see you coming!” She narrows her eyes, “We have plans, but we need you two to pull it off!” Izzy nods, “Of course, Snow Sama! Otherwise, you’d have no reason to rescue us!” Sunny is now standing to the right of Scootaloo near the opposite wall with her body turned Izzy’s direction as she says, “Izzy, we need to talk to you about breaking the fourth wall later, but right now, you need to be on this side of the room!” Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh, right! There’s a big bomb on this end!” before turning her body and trotting over next to Sunny while playfully giggling to herself. They both hear Snow on the other side of the wall, “Okay, two minutes girls! Close your ears and eyes so you don’t get hurt! Then, run as fast as you can to the east!” Izzy exclaims, “Right!” as Sunny already cowers low to the other direction, with her wings covering up her back and her ears closed on her head while Scootaloo simply disappears through the wall there. Izzy crouches next to Sunny and brings her own ears in and closes her eyes while happily singing, “Waiting for the bomb to go off! Not much longer now! It’s gonna make a big boom! We need to start running after the big kapow! Yay!” Sunny can only crouch there with her eyes closed as she tries not to giggle at the absurd lyrics she can barely hear through her overlapped ears. Suddenly, both ponies begin to hear a louder and more reverberating tick tick tick, noise, while they wait for what will happen next… (To be continued…) Chapter 9: Curse MarksWhat happened in the next three seconds is as follows: a hole in the far wall from Sunny and Izzy forms suddenly as fragments of it are blown across the room towards the two ponies. They feel small pieces of debris flying past their bodies as a loud reverberating BOOM is heard, even from underneath their closed ears. Sunny opens her eyes blearily to see the hazy form of a lavender earth mare on her left outside the new hole, motioning for her to follow with her right forehoof. She believes the mare is shouting something but cannot hear it due to the deafening ringing in her ears. She unsteadily rises back up to her hooves and shouts, “WHAT?” at the new mare. The new mare’s long blond mane streaks behind her in it’s big single ponytail, above her back as she hurriedly trots into the room to the other side of Sunny and lowers her neck to start nudging and shoving her towards the new exit. At that point, Sunny starts and snaps to when she remembers that she’s in the middle of a daring escape! She begins trotting out, causing the new pony to stumble and fall, face-first into the floor as her rump leaves the space she was pushing on! She shouts, “SORRY!” super loud as she continues to trot outside and squats to take off, before she recalls her blue friend, and turns just in time for Izzy to smash into her face! Izzy scrunches her nose with the impact before shouting, “OW!” Sunny can make out the new mare shouting something unintelligible from behind the unicorn, just over the ringing in her ears as she turns and begins trotting out the door… Sunny sees the new lilac mare gallop up to her left side as her blond mane falls over the left side of her back in it’s ponytail and motion for her to follow her down an alleyway across the street with her right forehoof, slightly to the left of an adjacent off-white building and so, Sunny turns and starts dashing that direction. All three ponies run past buildings on either side of them as they exit the town in full gallop towards the wide-open pasture that direction, nestled neatly in between the mountains as they all head east, towards the forest that direction, now visible lowly in the horizon with many lush green trees over darkness underneath. Sunny continues to run that way as adrenaline begins to charge her legs and she breathes heavily in and out of her mouth, all in the name of escaping the insane cutie mark cult… <*****> The ponies trot into the forest and begin following a long trail, deeper into the woods as they see thick dark-green trees on either side of them while heading down the path… Sunny on the right and Izzy at the other side, with the new lavender mare trotting ahead. Sunny finally raises her chin to speak to the new pony, “So, what’s your name?” The mare smiles while continuing to trot ahead of the two mares and says, “Call me, Solar Flare!” Izzy smiles and nods, “Okay, so it’s like a sun thing, or?” “Well, my cutie mark is the bright sun illuminating everything! So, bringing things out of the shadows is kinda my thing!” Sunny looks at the new mare, “Oh, okay! So that’s why you want ponies in the village to be able to show their cutie marks!” Solar nods, “Right! I want them to stop wearing those ridiculous patches and stupid designer saddlebags, and just see each other for who they are and accept it!” she adjusts her gaze forward, “What’s your names?” Izzy perks up wide-eyed at the mare upfront, “Designer saddlebags?” Sunny says, “Well, I’m Sunny Starscout and this is my best friend, Izzy Moonbow!” Izzy shakes her head, “Oh uh,” before raising her neck to the new mare and shouting, “HIIII!!!” Solar smiles and giggles, “Hi, Izzy!” Sunny frowns, “Uh, how many revolutionaries do you have, anyway?” Solar normalizes her mouth as she keeps her gaze forward, to the encroaching forest, “Including you two now, I got three!” Sunny starts, “W-wait! So, you’re the only revolutionary?” Solar stammers out, “No! I have you two, now!” Sunny grimaces and mutters to herself, “You know, just in case the whole zebra thing wasn't already hopeless enough!” Solar starts and asks, “What was that?” Sunny looks up before the three ponies and says, “Oh, nothing! Uh, how deep into the woods is your campsite, anyway?” <*****> The ponies all stand in a small clearing in the thick forest. Sunny is standing just beyond Izzy on the left while Solar Flare stands on the other side, with a blue lean-to tent behind her and a pale green two-pony tent just beyond all three ponies towards more trees, shrouded in darkness. She smiles and says, “Well, you can crash in the lean-to behind me! The mosquitos have all went south this time of year, although we’ll probably want a bug net later?” Sunny widens her eyes as she asks, “Wait, so what are we doing again?” Izzy turns her head left to Sunny, “We’re trying to get the village to see the joy of having cutie marks, rather than shun them, Sunny San!” Sunny narrows her eyes as she turns her head left to the unicorn, “Wait! Why is this whole showing cutie marks thing, even important? Shouldn’t we be heading further west now, to help out poor Scootaloo?” Suddenly, a clear burnt orange pegasus in a chicken costume materializes just beyond Solar Flare, to the right of the blue tent. Scootaloo looks at Sunny and says, “Izzy is right! We have to get these ponies to see that who they are is important and that they should be celebrating that and not hiding it!” Solar starts and turns to the right while widening her green eyes, “You’re clear! I can see right through you!” Scootaloo turns her neck further right to the earth mare, “That’s right! And you’re opaque! I can’t see through you!” Solar blinks, “Uh, why can I see through you?” Scootaloo frowns, “That’s weird!” Solar shakes her head, “W-what?” Scootaloo raises her beak, “Well, usually they ask about the transparency and the chicken costume at the same time, but you haven’t even mentioned my beak and feathers?” Solar frowns, “I was getting there!” Izzy widens her eyes and decides to resolve the situation by saying to Solar, “Okay, don’t freak out! She’s not going to hurt you! But Scootaloo here is a ghost!” Solar widens her eyes again and screams, “AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!” Scootaloo starts, “Stop it! Why are you screaming?” Solar stops yelling and blinks while breathing frantically from her mouth to look forward with wide eyes and says hysterically, “Well, you’re a ghost!” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “Yeah, and Izzy told you that I’m not gonna hurt you!” she nods, “Which is true! So uh, what are you even afraid of?” Solar frowns again, “Well, you’re a ghost!” Scootaloo grimaces, “Yeah, but if I’m not gonna hurt you, what are you really afraid of?” Solar leans towards the pegasus slightly, “I don’t know? I mean, what if you imprison me forever or make me insane or something?” Izzy turns her neck to Scootaloo, “Can ghosts do that?” Solar turns to Izzy, “I don’t know! Do you?” Scootaloo shakes her head before adjusting her gaze to the pink earth mare again, “Okay, look! I’m not going to affect you negatively in any way, shape, or form! How’s that?” Solar breaths heavily in and out of her mouth for a moment before saying, “Uh, better!” Izzy narrows her red eyes to the lavender pony before finally saying, “Being on your own like this, must make you paranoid?” Solar turns back to the unicorn quickly, “Well, it’s been about seven months?” Sunny says, “Geez! Didn’t you try to recruit other ponies from the village to your cause?” Solar says, “Well, yeah! But the brainwashing is very strong and uh, other ponies aren’t very reliable for help I don’t think, and so, “she widens her eyes, “I’ve had nopony but myself to talk to for seven whole months!” she narrows her eyes again and breaths through her mouth, “Honestly, I think I’m holding up okay?” before smiling nervously. Izzy turns her neck towards Sunny as the alicorn says, “Look! Showing your cutie mark or whatever, isn’t really THAT important and we really need to be heading west, now!” Scootaloo takes a long breath in through her nose and breathes out of her mouth slowly and gradually before staring at the alicorn and saying, “Sunny… It’s important…” Sunny widens her eyes at the pegasus, “How? Why?” Scootaloo frowns, “Do you know what it’s like to not know who you are and to have all of that hidden underneath?” she raises her gaze, “Because I do… Who these ponies are is important and they should be able to show that to the world!” Sunny frowns as she blinks and gulps, “Um, okay Scootaloo… If it’s really that important, we can stop and help out Solar here!” Solar jumps up and down, “Yay! We can have a sleepover and cook smores and…” Sunny widens her eyes at the earth mare, “Wait! Sleepover? Smores? I thought we were revolutionaries?” Solar grimaces as her mouth curves, “It’s been seven months!” Izzy turns her head left towards the alicorn, “She’s got a point?” Sunny just shakes her head as a slow grin forms on her face, “Sure! Why not!” <*****> The ponies are all sitting around the campfire eating smores with their hooves under the starry night sky in the wooded clearing, except Izzy holding hers in a blue glow just to her left, while Sunny sits on her right and they face the mad lavender mare from beyond the fire. Sunny finishes chewing her first bite before lowering the morsel with her forehooves and saying to Solar, “So, what’s the plan to get ponies to show their cutie marks?” Solar lowers her own food, “Okay, so! We trot into town! And then, we tell everypony it’s okay to show their cutie marks!” Sunny narrows her eyes, “Wait, so you don’t really have a plan, either?” Izzy turns her head right towards Sunny and says, “Well, it sounds pretty solid to me?” Sunny sighs and stares at Solar, “Look! You need to understand that we have to undo some programming here! We should probably use something dramatic?” Scootaloo smiles from where she’s standing on the right, “Dramatic, huh? How about a ghost?” Sunny turns her gaze to the spirit, “Actually, that’s not a bad idea?” Scootaloo raises her gaze, “Okay, but can we please come up with a better idea than, The Ghost of Cutie Mark Abuse this time?” Izzy stares at Scootaloo's direction, “The what?” Sunny frowns and widens her eyes, “Uh, right! Of course!” <*****> “Okay uh,” the clear pegasus looks at Solar on her right as they both stand inside the clocktower, “You say they’ll all come out soon?” Solar nods at the pegasus, “Right! Everypony gets off work at exactly five o’clock, to be fair. And that’s when you give the speech!” Scootaloo gulps, “Uh, right! The speech!” Sunny says from behind Scootaloo, “And I’ll use my magic to amplify your voice to make sure everypony hears you!” she blinks, “You know what to say?” Scootaloo narrows her eyes, “Actually, I think I do!” before turning her body towards the circular staircase on her right, leading up the tower. Izzy smiles from the left of the staircase, “Go on Scoots! No problem!” <*****> Scootaloo stood there on the balcony, in her white chicken outfit, as she trotted forward with her hooves and her little wings at her side, also in the chicken suit… She took a long breath, in and out through her nose before the clock tower suddenly blared, DING DING DING DING DING! 5 times in rapid succession and she began to see the various shops open as ponies of various colors and races began to exit in a small throng on the only road in town… The clear pegasus speaks up noisily as Sunny’s magic loudens her voice from the first story, “HEAR ME, OH PONIES OF THIS TOWN!” she lowers her gaze and clears her throat before continuing at a somewhat lower volume, “Listen! I lived the first part of my life, not knowing who I was or what I was supposed to do! I wanted that mark, because I knew that that would be a sign or signal, I could use to help me!” she smiles, “It told me who I was and what made me special and I cherish that part of myself and don’t want to cover that up!” she lowers her grin somewhat, “And you shouldn’t either! Learn to cherish the things that make you special and celebrate your differences! Don’t cover that up!” she breathes out her nose and grins broadly once more, “Everypony is great in their own way!” A green pegasus mare with a blond mane looks to the right while standing on the road and exclaims, “She’s right! Covering up our cutie marks is stupid!” A yellow earth stallion with a wavy blue mane turns his chin towards the mare who just shouted, “Yeah, this is dumb!” Suddenly, a familiar tan mare with a red mane and tail and freckles looks up at the clocktower, “Wait! But those marks are cursed and bring nothing but misery! The ancient wisdom said so!” Scootaloo starts and looks down at Augusta standing there in the road, “Just because something was from a long time ago, doesn’t make it true and correct! Once upon a time, ponies thought the world was flat!” Augusta squints her eyes when she realizes she’s seen this figure before, when suddenly, her face grows pale, “Hey! Aren’t you the Ghost of Cutie Mark Abuse?” Scootaloo can’t help but chuckle at how ridiculous their original plan was as she adjusts her gaze to the earth mare, “Sorry if I lied, Augusta… I’m clear and you can see through me, and so I tried to trick you into doing the right thing…” Augusta and most of the other ponies widen their eyes as the mayor asks, “Why are you clear?” Scootaloo shakes her head and adjusts her gaze back to everypony standing below, “Never mind that! That’s not important!” she breathes through her mouth, before eyeing the tan mayor below, “Why do you want to hide your cutie mark?” Augusta frowns, “W-what do you mean?” Scootaloo looks sternly at the tan mare, “I’m over two-thousand years old Augusta… That gives you a lot of time to think… It’s obvious that there’s something about your cutie mark that disturbs you, otherwise you wouldn’t want to cover it up so badly…” Augusta grows visibly more annoyed as her body shakes and she grimaces up at the orange pegasus before finally sighing and turning her neck to her back right flank and using her left foreleg to remove the square white patch she had stuck to her side, to reveal a cutie mark featuring a yellow pony in a green dress, dancing and having a good time as everypony around her gawks and gasps… She sighs, “My cutie mark is about dancing… That has nothing to do with being a mayor, and so, I felt I should hide it…” Scootaloo says, “But why hide it? That’s part of who you are?” Augusta looks back up to the strange chicken-pegasus on the clocktower, “But I’m the mayor! I’m not supposed to dance or party! That’s not what I do!” Scootaloo frowns, “Just because you’re into dancing, doesn’t mean you can’t also be the mayor? Both of these things make up who you are!” she smiles, “Be proud of that, Augusta the dancer!” A pink unicorn mare shouts from Augusta’s right, “Yeah, and maybe not make us cover our cutie marks, just because you’re confused? If you need help, we’re all right here, you know?” A blue pegasus stallion with an orange mane says from behind the tan mare, “We’re friends, right?” Augusta Hoofmyer can only stand there, dumbfounded at the spectral pegasus in her chicken outfit as she frowns and looks down with her eyes, “Alright, fine!” she adjusts her gaze back up the clocktower, “If it’s really that important, we can all show our curse marks!” Scootaloo smiles, “Yeah, and one more thing! They’re called cutie marks! Not curse marks!” before vanishing in front of everypony, seemingly into nothingness. Augusta suddenly widens her blue eyes as she suddenly thinks that maybe she should honor her word, as she really doesn’t want to mess with anything like that… <*****> The trio of ponies trot forward, through the tan earthen canyon on the far side of the mountain pass, with Scootaloo upfront and Izzy in tow on the left, and Sunny to the right. They see the large imposing rock walls on either side, with their granite exterior and something far ahead, past the canyon as well. Izzy chimes up, “Hey, any idea what’s beyond this canyon?” Sunny looks at Izzy on her left, “No! And the villagers weren’t much help, either!” she adjusts her gaze forward, “What lies beyond is a complete mystery, I’m afraid!” “Oh, this sounds fun!” Izzy happily exclaims while bouncing to cause her long wavy blue mane to shake and vibrate! (To be continued…) Chapter 10: Jessi TrotskyIzzy watched the passing rock wall on their right, 30 feet up in the air as they trotted through the forest and observed it with wide-open red eyes, when suddenly an unknown voice hoarsely yells, “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!” and Izzy stops trotting and turns her head forward to behold the little green unicorn as her grayish-white wavy mane shook on her head and lightly tickled her shoulders as she lowered her head and the 4.5-inch horn on her head began to glow blue and a small light blue shield formed in front of her and she lowers her head and begins to visibly quiver before the blue unicorn on the right and the orange alicorn opposite to her in the forested area, with many pine and birch trees surrounding the dusty dirt trail. “Hiii!” Izzy shouts as she leans forward gleefully and the alicorn at her side widens her own cerulean eyes. “You’re gonna eat me or beat me up and leave me for dead or beat me up and then eat me, as my meat will be tender!” shouted the terrified foal in her raspy voice. Izzy starts and withdraws her head as she frowns, “Huh? Uh, no? Why would I do that?” The foal raises her head and opens her wide orange eyes to see the two ponies standing on the other side of the trail, “Uh, I don’t know you! Therefore, you clearly mean me harm!” Izzy widens her eyes while the alicorn looks over at her, “Uh, why would I hurt you? I don’t even know you!” The filly frowns with a glint in her left eye and she says, “I’m Jessi! Jessi Trotsky!” Izzy then loudly exclaims, “Oh, hi Jessi! I’m Izzy and this, “she glances at the orange pony on her right, “is Sunny!” she perks up as her mane vibrates, “Say hi to Jessi, Sunny!” Sunny brings her mouth to the back of her face as she’s not sure what to say at first before stammering out, “Uh, hiya Jessi!” Jessi visibly perks up and smiles as she says, “There! Now we’re not strangers anymore, so you’re not gonna eat me!” her eyes widen, “Hiya Sunny and Izzy!” Sunny frowns as she widens her eyes again, “We weren’t going to eat you before!” Izzy glances at the orange pony on her right and whispers, “Shh! She doesn’t know that!” Sunny whispers back out the left corner of her mouth, “Shut up, Izzy!” Jessi giggles and smiles as she tilts her little head to the left and her mane goes down further that direction while the mane on the other side raises. Sunny glances back at the filly, “Hey, Jessi! Where do you live?” Jessi starts, fixes her neck, and says, “Well, I live further into the forest! Tanglewood Forest is my home!” she smiles. Sunny frowns, “Tanglewood Forest? Uh, do you live in a village of unicorns?” Jessi nods, “Yeah! My home is on the edge of town, which is good because nopony knows you yet!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Right! They uh, need to know us first, I guess?” “Hey, no problem, strange, winged unicorn lady!” “Uh, just Sunny is fine!” Jessi enlarges her pupils as she giggles and says, “Okay, Strange Sunny Unicorn Lady!” Izzy turns her head right to Sunny and nods, “I like her!” Sunny raises her eyes skyward and says, “Oh geez!” under her breath… Jessi leans forward with wide eyes and says, “Well, hey! Since we’re all friends now, or whatever, you wanna come to my place and we’ll play games and eat popcorn and watch movies?” Izzy smiles, “That sounds fun!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Uh, Scootaloo? You here?” Suddenly, an incorporeal burnt orange pegasus in a chicken costume materializes out of thin air to Sunny’s right and says in her own croaky voice, “Ugh! Yeah, I see you met somepony new but uh, “she turns to the filly and widens her eyes while calmly saying, “Okay Jessi! I’m a ghost, but I swear, I’m not going to hurt you!” Jessi starts as she widens her eyes and says, “Oh? Cool!” and looks down to Scootaloo’s orange forelegs and up her body before asking, “Why are you in a chicken costume?” Scootaloo scratches the back of her neck with her right forehoof in it’s orange covering before lowering it to the ground and stammering, “Uh, it’s a long story!” Jessi frowns, “I bet you died in the chicken costume, right?” she nods while staring at the spirit, “Yup! You died that way, and now you’re doomed to be a chicken-pegasus ghost for all eternity, or whatever!” Scootaloo can only stare at this filly dumbfounded as she stutters, “Uh, yeah! Kinda sorta like that! Um, “she frowns, “you jump to conclusions a lot?” “Eh!” Jessi shrugs, “It’s just how my mind is!” Izzy turns her head right to Sunny again and whispers, “I like her a lot!” as Sunny can only stare onward at this deranged little unicorn filly… “Hey!” Scootaloo furrows her brow, “Why aren’t you afraid of me?” Jessi widens her eyes, “Oh, well I just heard my new friend Sunny here call you, and so that makes me think that you’re probably cool! And uh, “she looks down and back up at Scootaloo, “so far, so good!” she bounces causing her mane to vibrate as she leans forward slightly and smiles, “What’s your name?” “Uh, I’m Scootaloo!” “Okay!” Jessi nods. She turns her body to address everypony else, “So uh, let’s all go to my place!” she turns her neck left towards Scootaloo, “Sorry, but I don’t have any ghost popcorn or any ghost Ipsi Cola. You can’t have any sodas or snacks I’m afraid…” Scootaloo grins and chuckles, “That’s fine! Just not being alone after two thousand years is good enough!” Jessi widens her eyes, “Two thousand years! That’s a long time! What were you doing for two thousand years?” Scootaloo frowns, “Well, mostly, just chilling in the afterlife! Uh, when Sunny here became an alicorn, that brought me back to Equestria!” Jessi turns her head right to Sunny, “Wait! So funky winged unicorns don’t just occur naturally? Equestria? Oh wow! I learned about that place to the east in my history class!” she nods, “You know, that’s where unicorns are supposedly from!” she widens her eyes, “Nopony really knows for sure though!” Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh wow! That’s where my hometown of Bridlewood Forest is!” Jessi blinks, “Makes sense! Considering almost every unicorn village I’ve ever seen is set up in a forest!” Sunny then looks at Jessi, “Are there any zebras out here?” Jessi looks back to Sunny, “Oh, yeah! They were already living here during the Great Migration that happened some time ago when most of the unicorns left Equestria! Uh,” she turns her head back to Izzy, “I guess the ones that stayed now live in Bridlewood?” Izzy shakes her head as she stares at this brilliant young unicorn, “Um, maybe?” Jessi smiles, “Yeah! Probably! Well, come on!” Sunny says, “Uh, are the zebras still here now?” Jessi looks back to Sunny, “Oh yeah! We get along just great! In fact, a lot of us married each other and now, there are zebracorns!” Sunny is taken aback as she frowns, “Zebracorn?” Jessi nods, “Yeah! It’s what happens a lot of times whenever a unicorn and a zebra get freaky.” Sunny tries to suppress a smirk and giggle as she shakes her head and stares back at the filly, “Well, okay! Uh, “she eyes Scootaloo, “as long as Scootaloo is cool with it, we can take another intermission, and hang out with you, if you really want us to, Jessi!” Jessi widens her eyes as she’s taken aback, “You kidding? You’re my best friends and I literally just met you! Of course, I wanna hang out and get to know you!” “Wait!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Best friends?” Jessi nods again, “Well, yeah! You see, I had no friends before, but now I got you three ponies! Ipso-facto, you’re now my best friends! See how this works?” Sunny frowns deeply, “Where are your parents?” Jessi widens her eyes once more, “Parents? Uh, they’re gone now!” “Gone? What do you mean, gone?” Jessi blinks, “Well, you know how they were my parents, and they were alive? Well, they’re not alive anymore! They’re dead! I can visit them anytime I like though! They’re right there in the cemetery!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Oh wow! Who takes care of you?” Jessi frowns, “Um, well, me! I guess?” Izzy says, “And you live alone?” Jessi nods, “Yup! Uh,” she frowns, “You don’t mind crashing in my old parent’s bed, do you? I mean, one of you can take the couch, if you wanna do it like that?” <*****> As Izzy sat next to the foal on the green couch, she stared down at her on the right… Her normally dark orange eyes seemed to light up with color as they all viewed the big plasma TV and she grinned with delight as she used her magic to get another bundle of popcorn from the red tub between the two ponies, when she suddenly wondered where she got that? She immediately thinks it’s not important as she watches this happy child enjoying her cartoon movie with the other ponies… Later, the ponies are all in the lighted room as the fan overhead whirs with it’s typical whoop whoop whoop sound. Sunny says from her position to the right of Izzy and the front door behind her, “So uh, where is your parents’ room?” Jessi widens her eyes and turns her head to the inconspicuous little door on her left, “Oh, they used to sleep in there together! Uh, they sleep underground now…” she turns back to the other two ponies and leans forward, “So uh, did you girls have a good time?” Izzy starts when she notices that she’s being addressed and stares at the filly, “Oh, yeah! I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of those movies?” Jessi nods, “Makes sense since these movies are only played here in Zebracornia! Oh, by the way! That’s the country you’re currently in!” she widens her eyes, “You should probably be aware of that!” Sunny frowns, “Zebracornia?” “Oh, yeah! You see, when the unicorns first got here, they wanted to call it Unicornia, but the Zebras were already here, and so, they finally settled on Zebracornia! Well, after a few days of arguing about it!” she nods again, “That’s what my history book says!” she looks at Scootaloo at her right, “Too bad you just got here too! I mean, you’d probably know about this stuff if you were around!” Scootaloo turns her head to the strange filly and frowns, “Uh, probably! Well, maybe?” before blinking… Jessi turns her head to address everypony, “Okay so uh, I guess it’s time for bed now? I sleep in the futon in the backroom! Uh, “she widens her eyes once more, “there aren’t any stuffed toys that I sleep with, though…” Izzy starts, “No stuffed friends? Well uh, we need to get you some, don’t we?” Jessi stares at Izzy like a deer might gaze at an oncoming train, “Uh, no! I’m good!” Sunny smirks and giggles slightly, “You must have a lot of stuffed animals to sleep with, don’t you?” Jessi turns to the alicorn and frowns angrily, “N-no! Shut up!” Sunny snickers some more, “I like you, kid!” Jessi starts and raises her gaze, “Really? Cool! I like you too, Sunny! Um, hey! Can I come with you girls? I mean, there’s not much for me here?” Izzy smiles and says, “Sure, Jessi!” Sunny eyes the unicorn at her left, “Uh, don’t you think we should talk about this?” Izzy gazes back to the alicorn, “Uh, why? She seems okay? And you gotta admit, having somepony familiar with the area could come in handy?” Sunny sighs and smiles, “You gotta good point!” Jessi then excitedly shouts, “Yay! Friends!” as her little body vibrates ecstatically. <*****> As Sunny stared up at the ceiling underneath the warm tannish-white flower print cotton comforter with her head on the pillow on the right side of the bed, she suddenly began to wonder why everypony she ever meets is at least a little weird?* Izzy chimes in from the other side, “I like her!” Sunny turns her head towards the unicorn, “Yeah but how long has her parents been dead? How does she eat? What does she do with herself?” Izzy frowns, “Well, she apparently figured these things out, somehow?” Sunny sighs, “I can’t help but feel sorry for her…” “Yeah, me too! She must be really lonely? That’s probably why she has stuffed snuggle friends?” Sunny normalizes her mouth, “Yeah, I mean, it’s cute, sure! But I can’t help but get the feeling that there’s more to it than just that, you know?” Izzy nods, “Yeah, uh, hey! We were gonna go looking for zebras tomorrow! We should probably get some rest?” Sunny smiles, “Yeah! Well, now there’s four of us!” Izzy giggles, “Well, hey! At least she’s a lot of fun?” “Yeah… Goodnight Izzy!” Sunny says before snuggling the covers up to her chin and closing her eyes. “Goodnight Sunny!” Izzy replied before doing the same. <*****> “Hey! Wake up new friends! I made pancakes and there’s also coffee!” Izzy opens her eyes and moves her head up from the pillow to gaze down at the smiling green filly bouncing up and down in front of the bed in the room. She notices the door is also ajar and she asks, “Pancakes? Uh, do you drink coffee, kiddo?” Jessi nods, “Yeah! Usually!”** Izzy frowns, “Uh, Sunny! Time to wake up! We’re looking for zebras today, remember?” (To be continued…) Author's Note *Izzy isn’t the only one breaking the 4th wall in this story, apparently… No worries Sunny! I assure you, there’s definitely not an insane trans-woman, currently writing this story, for therapy! **Fun fact: I’ve been drinking coffee since I was 5 years old! I have serious doubts as to whether it stunts your growth like they say, as I also stand at 6 feet 1 inch tall. (185 cm) Chapter 11: Adventures With Ranger Jessi!The teal green filly named Jessi Trotsky stares up at the two ponies from her side of the table, now with an empty syrupy plate before her and a half-drunk white cup of blond coffee at her right, and brushes her grayish-white wavy mane out of her face with her right forehoof before staring at the other ponies with her wide dark orange eyes and saying, “So uh, why are you girls looking for zebras?” Sunny stares back at the filly from the right of Izzy and says, “Well, Scootaloo says they know a lot about the spirit world and necromancy and said that they could probably help her get back to the afterlife…” Jessi widens her eyes, “Oh! Okay! Um,” she blinks, “yeah, well, there’s only Old Tiqua here in town, but if you REALLY wanna find zebras, you should probably head to the town to the northwest of here called Zendukka?” Izzy leans forward, “Well, does Tiqua know anything about how to help Scootaloo?” Jessi shakes her head, “No, not really? She’s a wonderful cook and can make just about any sort of potion you want though!” she says before nodding her snout up and down. Sunny sighs, “But that doesn’t help Scootaloo!” Jessi nods, “Y-yeah, I know! So uh, I guess we’re heading to Zendukka then?” she frowns, “I’m sure somepony there can help you?” Sunny eyes this filly, “Well, we should probably talk to Tiqua first though and see if she knows anything?” Jessi eyes the alicorn carefully, “So, your whole plan hinges on the assumption that zebras can help get Scootaloo back into the afterlife with their knowledge?” Sunny grins and giggles halfheartedly, “Yeah, it’s crazy, I know!” she widens her eyes as she leans forward slightly, “I’m still not sure it’s such a great idea? But it’s really all we got!” Jessi frowns again, “Uh, maybe Scootaloo was brought back for a reason?” Sunny retorts, “Yeah! Because I got turned into an alicorn!” Jessi lowers her gaze, “Are you sure?” Sunny raises hers and asks, “What do you mean?” Jessi fixes her neck and mouth, “Well, why do you believe your transformation, or whatever, was the reason Scoots came back?” Sunny blinks, “Well, because Scootaloo said so!” “Well, what makes Scootaloo believe that?” Scootaloo, currently invisible and standing to the left of Jessi and to the right of the other two ponies, finally appears visibly, looks at Jessi, and says, “Well, there was a power surge that I felt and then, a pulling sensation bringing me back to the world of the living! And Sunny here became an alicorn, so…” Jessi turns her head left to face the pegasus, “Yes, but correlation does not equal causation! You could’ve been brought back for any number of reasons!” Scootaloo frowns, “Like what?” Jessi leans towards the spirit, “I don’t know? Lots! But the point is, I really don’t think you should be just jumping to these conclusions without verifying…” Scootaloo stares at the filly for a moment before saying, “You’re pretty smart for a little filly!” Jessi gives a wide-eyed frown, “I get that a lot!” <*****> Sunny knocks on the thatched roofed hut door with her right forehoof, while Jessi stands at her left and Izzy to her right. The door opens to reveal a striped mare with a 4-inch-long interwoven golden necklace around her neck and a scraggly grayish black mane around her zebra ears. She says, “Why Jessi, it is good to see you again, so sublime! But who have you brought with you this time?” Jessi smiles, “Hiya Tiqua! Thanks again for fixing my knee! Um,” she blinks and stares up at the zebra and frowns, “I had some new friends who wanted to meet you!” Sunny smiles from Jessi’s right and to the left of Izzy, “Hello Tiqua! I’m Sunny Starscout and this is my best friend, Izzy Moonbow! We had some questions to ask you!” Tiqua narrows her yellow zebra eyes, “This is indeed, quite strange! But hopefully, your questions are not out of my range?” Sunny widens her own forest green pupils, “Well, yes! You see, we have a friend who is, well, she’s a ghost! Do zebras know any way of getting her back to the afterlife?” Tiqua smiles grimly, “A zebra shaman is whom you should seek! But I fear such a thing may be out of my reach! I say to Zendukka you should travel, for this mystery to truly unravel!” before lifting her right forehoof and using it to gently close the door… Sunny frowns, “Well, we basically got told to do what we were gonna do anyway!” Jessi happily chimes up from Sunny’s left as her little body shakes and her grayish-white mane jitters, “I know! This is gonna be fun!” <*****> Sunny stands to the left of Izzy with Jessi on the other side as all ponies stare westward, towards the open road leading to Zendukka. Sunny says, “Okay, since you have fifty stuffed animals…” “Forty-eight!” Jessi corrects the alicorn. Sunny nods, “Forty-eight stuffed animals, we’re just going to take one in your pack as your companion and we’ll be back for the rest when we figure out what to do with you…” Jessi turns her head right towards the alicorn, “What do you mean?” Sunny gazes at the filly, “Well, you’re only about ten years old! We can’t just leave you here!” Jessi frowns, “Why not? That’s what everypony else always does and I’ve been surviving just fine, so far? I even still go to school! The lunches are cheap!” Sunny sighs, “Look, Jessi! I’ve only known you for uh, for less than a day now, but I really do want to help you!” “What makes you believe that I need help?” Sunny starts, “Well, look at you! You’re small…” Jessi grins, “I know! They always underestimate me!” Sunny widens her eyes, “What?” Jessi lowers her smile and enlarges hers, “What?” Sunny shakes her head and stares back at the filly, “Look! Just come with us and you’ll be okay!” Jessi blinks and frowns, “We’ll be back for the rest of my friends, though, right?” Sunny nods, “Of course!” Jessi smiles and vibrates as she exclaims, “Hooray!” she turns to face westward, “So uh, Zendukka is some distance this way!” <*****> All ponies trot down the road towards a wide forested area when Jessi says, “Okay, we need to make it past the Yellow Dove Woods, and across the ravine! Once we’re past those two things, it’s pretty much a straight shot!” Sunny turns her neck left at Jessi, trotting there, “So uh, you know the way?” Jessi frowns, “Well, I’ve seen maps and I know this road will get us there, but I’ve never actually been through Yellow Dove or anywhere near Zendukka. I mean, I’ve been north and south of Tanglewood though, here in the unicorn areas of this district, but…” “Well, you talked about Old Tiqua back there? What are zebras like? Are there any rules or customs I need to know about?” Jessi frowns, “Uh, don’t be a jerk?” Sunny grins and giggles as she shakes her head, “Good enough for me!” The ponies begin to approach the treeline as the entryway into the forest begins to visibly lead down a trail. They soon pass the treeline into the woods and see many trees all aligned in a neat row along the sides of the trail. Sunny stares up in amazement at the bright green sun-soaked vegetation and the furry and slimy animal life and lush plants that inhabit the dimly lit forest floor as they pass while trotting along the path. Suddenly, a blue stallion with a black hood over his head and face leaps out from the left treeline to the front of the ponies and says in a gruff masculine voice, “Ha ha! I am the Masked Bandit! You will now give me your money, or I’ll beat you up!” The ponies stop trotting and Izzy frowns at this from Sunny’s right, “Masked Bandit? Really? You couldn’t think of a better criminal name?” The figure is visibly taken aback as he withdraws his head from the ponies, “Well I uh, wasn’t exactly going for clever here! Just a name, would work, you know?” Izzy nods, “Well, right! But I mean, if I were you, I’d like to think I could do better than just, The Masked Bandit!” She raises her neck and widens her eyes, “Okay, how about The Lurker or maybe The Yellow Dove Stalker, instead? Don’t you think those choices sound better?” “I uh, “ the stallion lowers his gaze and shakes his head before looking back at the ponies and leaning forward sternly, “now you’re just making me feel bad!” he shakes his head again, “L-look! Are you gonna give me all your money, or what?” Jessi just smiles and lowers her head and forces her horn to glow blue and the masked pony is soon encased in a spherical blue forcefield. She raises her neck, “Okay, you should be trapped in there for about an hour or two! Come on girls!” As the three ponies trot around the blue masked pony’s right and down the path, in the distance, the masked pony can be heard yelling, “Hey! I was robbing you! Get back here!” Izzy says to Jessi, “Those force fields you got are really handy! Can you show me how to do that later?” Jessi frowns, “Um, probably? I kinda figured it out on my own after magic came back!” Izzy giggles, “Well, yeah! There aren’t any high-ranking magicians in Equestria anymore, these days!” before frowning, “At least, none that I’m aware of!” Sunny says, “Oddly enough, that wasn’t the first time somepony tried to rob us on this adventure…” she looks up, “Scootaloo! You still around?” Suddenly, a raspy ethereal voice says, “Yeah, I’m here Sunny! Thanks for helping my friends, Jessi!” Jessi raises her neck, “Oh, no problem, Scoots! I’m not gonna let some masked hood knock over my best friends if I can help it!” “Heh, I know Jessi! And I’m sure glad you’re here!” Jessi’s body quivers as she replies, “Yeah, me too! I read that book on logical theory so many times now, I can recite it by heart and sudoku can only go so far. I was getting bored! And now, I get to encase ponies in force fields! Yay!” Sunny says, “You’re really cute, Jessi!” Jessi replies, “I’m not cute! Your mom is cute!” “You never met my mother!” “I never met your mother! You’ve met your mother!” “Uh, isn’t that what I just said?” “I dunno? Probably? Hey! We’re at the ravine now!” The ponies all stop to see a massive chasm of dark tan stone with a rickety old rope bridge with wooden slats and a rope on either side leading across from their section of the road to the one beyond. There’s forest on either side of the gorge, but just open air in-between. The fall is roughly 50-feet deep onto dark hard stone and the chasm itself is about 40-feet wide. Izzy raises her head, “Oh, yay! The precarious rope bridge adventure! I wonder who’s gonna fall?” Sunny looks at Izzy from the right, “What makes you think somepony is gonna fall?” Izzy turns her head to Sunny, “Well, it’s a precarious rope bridge, therefore, somepony is gonna fall! Don’t you know the rules? I bet it’s gonna be you!” Jessi looks over to the two arguing ponies from the other side of Sunny, “Shut up! Nopony is gonna fall!” she turns her head back to the bridge and says lower, “Not on my watch!” before taking a few paces towards the bridge and lowering her head before her horn starts to visibly glow blue… She can be heard grunting while she works her magic and finally cuts the glow to her horn and lifts her head to face the gorge before wiping the sweat off her brow with her right forehoof, “Okay! I just magically reinforced the bridge!” Izzy turns her head to Jessi, now ahead of her and frowns, “How long have you been experimenting with magic, anyway?” Jessi turns her body around to face the blue unicorn, “Um, ever since it came back about three and a half months ago?” she squints her left eye, “So uh, roughly fifteen or maybe sixteen weeks?” she normalizes her face. Izzy widens her eyes, “Wow! You’re a really fast learner!” Jessi frowns, “I get that a lot too? Ever since I first got my cutie mark when that strange blue light zapped me in a cave, I seem to have a knack for the arcane and stuff like that!” she widens her eyes, “I guess magic is my special talent and I just needed to wait for it to come back?” Izzy says, “You mean those three golden stars on your flank?” Jessi nods, “Well, yeah! The three rising gold stars with little magical trails on my flank is my cutie mark!” and smiles, “I’m sure glad magic is back in that case! I mean, a magical cutie mark doesn’t mean much if I don’t have magic!” Sunny looks ahead at the bridge and spreads her wings out to her sides before saying, “Well, I got these, so I’ll go first!” <*****> The ponies trot down the dirt pathway when they see a large pyramid-like structure rising out of the forest and they all see its cube shaped apex at the top, roughly 40 feet into the sky and rising 30 feet from the trees when they stop trotting to look. Jessi looks up and says excitedly, “Oh! That must be a zebra ziggurat!” Izzy frowns up at the structure, “A zebra what, now?” Jessi jitters, “A zebra ziggurat! It’s where they do all of their crazy hoodoo and voudon rituals!” Sunny looks at the other two ponies from the right, “Well, maybe that’s where we can find a shaman? Let’s go scope it out!” (To be continued…) Chapter 12: ZigguratSunny stares at the wooden door on top of the pyramid-like stone structure with many embankments, “So uh, do we just knock, or?” Jessi frowns from her right, “Uh, how would I know? I’ve never been to one of these ziggurat thingies before!” Izzy stares off to the left at something and her face brightens up as her eyes notice it and Sunny decides to act at this point by taking a pace towards the old worn-out wooden door with its rusty metal railing and knocking with her right forehoof… She hears somepony in the back scream out, “Yes, hang on! I’ll be right there! Not ready and so you’ll just have to wait and stare!” Sunny immediately thinks that this might be no ordinary zebra for a moment, before the door finally opens inward to the left as an old striped zebra with a wiry gray mane stares out from the far corner of the door on their right, “Yes yes! Sure, I am not busy! This is true! But a reason you still must have, for I am still not through!” Sunny widens her forest green eyes as she smiles nervously, “Uh, yes! We have a friend! She’s a ghost! She was ejected from the afterlife, and we need to get her back! She said zebras know something about the spirit world and so, well,” she grins wider, “we tracked you down!” The old zebra smiles grimly and says, “Well, first off, my name is Zand! Secondly, I will eat first and then, we’ll tend to this spiritual rubber band! She has undoubtedly been here for some time! An hour will make no difference, even should I fail to rhyme!” He nods, “Come back in an hour and to this mess, we will tend! A meal you should get too, I would recommend! Try the zebra café across the street! For they have many delicious delicacies to eat!” before slowly removing his head from the door and shutting it gently… Sunny turns her head left at Izzy, “He doesn’t seem to be in any sort of hurry?” Izzy stares back at her and widens her eyes, “Must be that mellow shaman life?” <*****> The ponies all sit under the thatched awning inside the forest, with the big straw café building at Sunny’s right and Izzy and Jessi’s left… Sunny floats the white menu before her face in a yellow glow as she frowns and finally points at the something on the left side with her right forehoof and says, “I’ll get whatever this is! That looks good!” Jessi mutters while staring down into her own menu as it glows red, “I hope they have coffee!” Izzy stares at this filly on her left before back at Sunny, “I’ll just have the guava drops! That’s my favorite zebra food!” Sunny widens her eyes, “You know about zebra foods?” Izzy looks at Sunny and replies, “Not really? But I know I like guava drops! It’s like a weird green porridge, but it’s tasty with those weird fried corn crisps they serve with it…” Sunny can only reply, “Uh, Izzy! That sounds a lot like corn chips and guacamole dip!” Izzy frowns, “Well, it’s a lot like that, yeah! But it’s been zebrafied!” Sunny widens her eyes again at the blue unicorn, “Zebrafied?” Izzy smiles and says, “Yeah, they use their own spices! Trust me! It’s different!” A zebra mare staring at this scene from the building side of the table, finally speaks up, “Yes! My name is Rhonda and I’ll be your waitress today! Are you ready to order now, or can you say?” Sunny turns her head right to the waitress zebra, “I’ll have uh, “she lifts the menu to the zebra in her yellow glow and points at something with her right forehoof while saying, “whatever that is! It looks tasty!” Rhonda smiles, “Ah, yes! The peyote salad is especially delicious, this time of year! And what would you like to drink?” Sunny frowns, “Uh, guava nectar please!” Rhonda nods, “Indeed!” she turns her neck to the other side of the table with the other two ponies, “And for the unicorns?” Izzy looks at Rhonda, “I’ll have the guava drops and a cola, please!” Jessi smiles at the waitress, “And I’ll have the same, but with blond coffee, instead!” Rhonda nods at the unicorns, “Yes, your order is simple, this is sure! Zebra foods must you try, for you to be lured!” before smiling and turning to trot to the rickety wooden door behind her two paces and open it with her mouth to trot back inside the restaurant. Sunny adjusts her gaze back to Izzy and frowns, “I want to help Scootaloo, but I just can’t shake this feeling that we’re missing something, here?” Izzy sighs and nods towards the alicorn, “Yeah, I know what you mean? I feel like it’s right in front of our snouts, too! I keep thinking about what happened to poor Apple Bloom and I can’t help but wonder how her death fits into all of this?” Jessi looks at the other two ponies, “Well, she said it was because she wasn’t there for Apple Bloom’s final moments, but I think it might have more to do with the way she feels about the whole thing?” Sunny adjusts her gaze to the small teal unicorn, “What do you mean?” Jessi nods, “Well, the way she talked about it, it sounds like she’s a lot harder on herself than the universe ever was?” Sunny widens her eyes and frowns, “Huh?” Jessi sighs, “Scootaloo told me some things about the death and how she felt about it… I don’t believe she’s being punished…” Izzy turns her head all the way to the left to stare at Jessi, “That’s what I said!” Jessi nods, “Right! And I think the chicken costume and her being here are somehow connected… I think that’s part of the reason she can’t cross over…” Sunny says, “But she was there, before, right? Why was she sent back if it has to do with the costume?” Jessi looks at the alicorn sternly, “But was she really, though? I mean, the way she talked about it, all she ever did was wander around and keep to herself! What’s the point of being in the afterlife if you’re all alone?” she frowns, “Doesn’t seem like a very happy afterlife, if you ask me?” she shakes her head, “She didn’t even have any stuffed friends!” she sighs while deep in contemplation, “I think she’s punishing herself…” Sunny eyes the filly carefully, “Well, right! She did say that she never really talked to her two best friends there, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle!” Jessi stares at the alicorn, “Apple Belle and Sweetie Bloom?” Sunny nods, “Well, in life, her two best friends were Apple Bloom the earth mare and Sweetie Belle, the unicorn! I also believe they might have something to do with this?” Jessi opens her mouth to speak before glancing to her left to see a zebra waitress exiting a wooden door with a tray on her snout… She sees the tray has three glasses on it and she happily squeals, “Our drinks are here!” <*****> Sunny suddenly finds herself inside the zebra ziggurat ritual chamber, somewhere deep inside the structure. The room is brown stone and a single story and is roughly 30 feet long and 20 feet wide with many ornate zebra masks on the walls… She sees the old shaman standing by what looks like a pale blue vortex of energy, roughly 15 feet wide on one end of the chamber… She sees a white unicorn on the other side of this vortex with a two-colored mane. The left side is wisteria purple while the right side is a lavender shade of pink and her eyes are cerulean, similar to Sunny’s… The new unicorn looks at the spectral chicken-pegasus before her and says aghast, “Scootaloo?” Sunny then finds herself trotting down a corridor inside the ziggurat. The walls are the same brown stone, except this time, they’re very tight and barely 5 feet wide! As she walks behind the shaman, who trots ahead of her to lead the way, she wonders how much further they must go and thanks her lucky stars that she’s not claustrophobic! She continues trotting and asks the shaman, “How much further, Zand?” The shaman nods, “Not much further to go! Soon, I will have amazing things to show!” Sunny suddenly finds herself inside the antechamber at the very top of the structure while saying to Zand, “We’re here now! I guess you need me to call Scootaloo?” Suddenly, a clear burnt orange pegasus in a chicken outfit materializes to the right of the alicorn and left of the zebra. Scootaloo frowns at the shaman, “I-I’m Scootaloo…” she nods her head, “I’m ready!” Sunny finds herself back inside the ritual chamber as Sweetie Belle looks at Scootaloo from inside the vortex, “Why are you wearing a chicken suit?” Scootaloo takes a pace towards the vortex and proclaims, “I’m being punished Sweetie Belle!” Sweetie frowns and says in her soft feminine voice, “Punished? For what?” Scootaloo sighs, “For not being there for Apple Bloom’s final moments… I must wear this outfit now as my mark of shame…” Sweetie widens her eyes, “Oh, that’s just silly, Scootaloo! She was terminal! There’s nothing you could’ve done!” Scootaloo stares back defiantly, “I don’t believe that…” Sweetie sighs and rolls her eyes, “Uh, hang on! I’ll go get her now…” before vanishing like a ghost. Scootaloo widens her own eyes as she lifts her right forehoof to speak, “No Sweetie! Don’t!” There’s silence as the ghost stares back at the vortex… Scootaloo lowers her hoof back to the floor after a moment and starts breathing heavily, in and out through her mouth. Sunny sees herself trotting behind the old shaman again inside the hallways of the ziggurat. While her mind isn’t sure what’s happening, she also knows that above all else, she must stay together now! This is for Scootaloo! Finally, Zand stops trotting with a small wooden door at his right. He looks over his right shoulder at the alicorn and says, “The chamber I use for rites is right in there!” Sunny is standing inside the ritual chamber again from the left of Scootaloo as the pegasus now faces the vortex and she can make out Sweetie Belle on the left this time, but to the right is a yellow earth mare with a red mane and a distinctive pink bow on the back of her head. The new mare smiles at Scootaloo, “Scootaloo! Where have you been?” Sunny is standing at the top of the ziggurat now, with Jessi at her right and Izzy on her left. She knocks on the disheveled wooden door once more and Zand answers again with his head at the right. He smiles at Sunny and says, “I am ready! But only one of you may enter, in order to keep the ritual steady!” Sunny sighs and says, “I’ll go in!” she stares at the entryway with fierce determination in her green eyes, “I’ll do it… For Scootaloo…” Sunny is standing inside the ritual chamber once more as Apple Bloom asks, “Why are you in a chicken costume?” with a distinctive country twang in her voice. Sweetie turns her neck left to face the earth mare, “She said she’s being punished for not being there for you when you got turned into a tree!” Apple Bloom widens her orange eyes at the pegasus, “WHAT?” Sunny is standing at the base of the ziggurat and stares up at all the steps that lead to the top. She takes a deep breath before saying, “Well girls, let’s do it like we mean it!” Sunny is back in the ritual chamber again, as Apple Bloom looks back at the pegasus and says, “Scootaloo! I don’t want you to remember me like that!” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “W-what?” Apple Bloom smiles slightly and says, “I know my death was horrible… I can’t imagine what you felt while it was going on, but I know this much…” she stares back at Scootaloo with determination in her eyes, “I’d rather you weren’t there, after all…” Scootaloo frowns wider and says horrified, “What do you mean?” Apple Bloom sighs, “My death was messy, Scootaloo… You know this… I’d much rather die by myself with dignity than to cause my best friend to go through that hardship…” she shakes her head, “I care about you Scootaloo and I want you to remember the good times, instead!” Scootaloo stands there dumbfounded, “Uh, so you forgive me?” Apple Bloom finally smiles all the way, “There’s nothing to forgive Scootaloo! You didn’t do anything wrong!” Scootaloo takes a deep breath, in and out through her nose before finally just admitting, “This whole time, I felt that it was somehow my fault… That I caused your death, Apple Bloom…” The two ghosts on the other side of the portal widen their eyes as Apple Bloom shouts, “Scootaloo! Why in Equestria would you believe such a thing?” Scootaloo closes her eyes and shudders, “I-I don’t know, okay? I just felt like there was something I should’ve said or done?” she shakes her head and continues with distress in her shaky voice, “Like, I could’ve saved you?” Sweetie Belle eventually just says, “Scootaloo, that’s silly talk! Apple Bloom was terminal and going to die! There’s nothing you could do!” Sunny sits at her table under the awning by the restaurant and looks at the unicorns as she says, “Well, I’ll go cover our tab this time! You get us next time, Izzy!” she turns her head to the filly, to the right of the blue unicorn, “No worries, Jessi! We’re gonna take care of you, now!” The small teal unicorn smiles up at the alicorn. Sunny is back inside the ritual chamber as she sees Scootaloo finally move her right forehoof to the crown of the headpiece of her costume and move it back to force the fabric of the chicken suit behind her head and reveal an orchid purple mohawk style mane and she finally lets out a big sigh before lowering her hoof and saying to the other two specters, “I…haven’t done that in over two thousand years…” she moves her forehooves to the sides of her head to begin removing the synthetic beak, up and over her head before tossing it to the floor… She looks back at her two best friends, “Hang on! I’ll get the rest of the costume off now!” before beginning to take off her costume, starting with the torso piece next… Sunny trots across the street towards the monolithic stone structure, with Izzy on her left and Jessi on her right… She stares up at the large imposing staircase at the front and frowns deeply, and briefly only imagines what might await the ponies inside… Scootaloo now stands naked, with the chicken costume on the floor… She stares at the other two ponies and says, “So, it wasn’t my fault and there’s nothing I could’ve done?” Sweetie frowns, “Isn’t that what I’ve been trying to tell you? Honestly Scootaloo, if you hadn’t been such a chicken all this time and just talked to one of us!” Scootaloo grins and tries to suppress a giggle, “Yeah, I was acting kinda foul there, wasn’t I?” Apple Bloom smiles too and says, “You might even say you were laying eggs over the whole incident!” Sweetie Belle also grins and says, “Well, she didn’t do a lot of squawking? At least, not as much as most chickens I’ve met…” she glances back towards the pegasus, “Silence for two thousand years, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo closes her eyes, “I was scared, okay? I uh…” she shakes her head and opens them again, “I didn’t want to face you… Either one of you…” she takes a large breath from her mouth, in and out…” Not after what happened…” Apple Bloom widens her gaze again, “Well, all I know is, I just went for a really long time without one of my best friends! And I sure would like her back!” Sweetie adds, “Yeah, me too!” Sunny is sitting at the restaurant table again as she burps and says, “Whoa! Excuse me!” and stares down at the now empty plate. “Those mushrooms weren’t like anything I’ve ever eaten before. They sure were tasty though!” Sunny is back inside the ritual chamber as Scootaloo says to the other ghosts, “Alright! I’ll join you two soon! But first, I gotta talk to my new friends for a minute!” She turns around and the other ponies finally behold the dark ginger pegasus in all her glory with her distinctive lightning bolt shield cutie mark, now finally visible on her flank. She smiles at the two unicorns and the alicorn, “Thank you so much for helping me, girls! Ahem!” she clears her throat, “Uh,” she widens her eyes while continuing, “I guess I’ll see you later?” Sunny smiles, “Well, eventually! But I’ll live for a long time!” Izzy and Jessi grin as well while the blue unicorn says, “But you’ll see me sooner!” Jessi adds, “Yeah, and I’ll be around a few decades after her!” Sunny is sitting at the table as Rhonda uses her mouth to place a round white plate before her with mushrooms, onions, and cabbage on it. She raises her neck and says to the alicorn, “Eat this slowly, you must! In me, you should definitely trust!” Scootaloo shakes her head and chuckles, before staring at Sunny back in the ritual chamber and saying, “Since the necromancy is still going, I think I can finally do this now!” before taking two paces towards the alicorn and embracing her in a tight warm hug! It’s not what Sunny expects… Her ethereal body is somehow warm and comforting and she soon returns the hug with her own forehooves… <*****> Sunny opens her eyes on the cot inside the thatched-roof hut and says, “W-what happened?” The door to her right soon opens to reveal a blue unicorn with a long wavy mane of a lighter blue shade and Izzy exclaims, “She’s awake now, Jessi!” Sunny then hears a foal’s voice say from somewhere out of view, “Oh, cool!” Izzy stares at Sunny and smiles, “Yeah, you passed out shortly after hugging Scootaloo! Jessi had the magic to float your body over here, though! I don’t know how a filly could be so strong?” Sunny stares at the unicorn and asks, “How long was I out?” Izzy nods, “Couldn’t have been more than two hours?” she adjusts her gaze to the prone alicorn on the bed, and widens it, “Your pupils are dilated!” “Ugh!” Sunny groans before shaking her head. “Never mind that! Uh, what are we gonna do with Jessi now?” (To be continued?) Chapter 1: Bawk-ward Meetings!Sunny’s bed was at the outer wall of the house, so it sat next to a window. Her Twilight Sparkle plushie lay there, beside her pillow, as its sewn-on eyes also stared at the peculiar sight. Sunny herself, stood there in the center of her bedroom, naked as she stared right through the clear orange pegasus, in the weird uniform that morning. Sunny Starscout could see right through her, but also couldn’t help but notice that she was wearing a white chicken costume! Her forehooves are free from the white-feathered costume and she moves her left forehoof to move the comb over the headpiece to her right before she lowers it back to the floor while her pale feathers and orange taloned hind legs can be seen in the electric light on Sunny’s ceiling overhead. She smiles before saying in a raspy voice from behind the strap-on beak over her face, “Hiya! Uh, you’re probably wondering who I am, why I’m in your room, and why I’m wearing a chicken costume!” before adjusting her little wings underneath the white coverings of the costume back down to her sides Sunny Starscout could only stand there and widen her cerulean eyes as she stared at the pegasus and said, “Um, yeah, among other things! Like, why can I see right through you?” The pegasus smiles nervously as she stammers out, “Yeah, uh, heh heh, about that!” she widens her wisteria purple eyes, “You see, I’m a ghost!” Sunny gives a wide-eyed grimace, “Huh?” The pegasus smiles nervously, “Yeah, my name is Scootaloo, and I stole a bunch of stuff when I was alive and so uh, now I gotta wear a chicken costume forever!” Sunny widens her eyes and narrows her mouth as she stutters, “Um, okay?” “Heh, uh, yeah!” Scootaloo widens her eyes again, “You see, I stole candy bars!” Sunny frowns, “And that justifies an eternal chickening?” Scootaloo straightens her mouth while staring at the alicorn, “Well, I stole a LOT of candy bars!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Uh, obviously! Why are you in my room?” Scootaloo smiles nervously again, “You see when you became an alicorn, that drew me here!” Sunny frowns and raises her left eyebrow, “What do you mean?” “You see, I wasn’t here! I was in the afterlife, while uh, also wearing my oh-so-flattering outfit!” Sunny smiles slightly, but not so much that she believes the pegasus will notice. Scootaloo straightens her mouth and nods, “Right! Well anyway, the magic of your transformation reached me and drew me to you, and so, now I’m in your room!” she widens her eyes, “Uh, hiya!” Sunny smiles a little bit more, “Well, that should be no problem then! Just go back!” Scootaloo frowns, “Well, I can’t!” Sunny widens her eyes and glowers again, “What do you mean, you can’t” Scootaloo raises her gaze slightly, “I don’t know how!” Sunny sighs, “Well uh, okay…” she eyes the pegasus carefully, “Can you take the costume off?” Scootaloo sighs and scrunches her mouth underneath the beak as her eyes narrow and she grumpily states, “Unfortunately, no…” Sunny widens her eyes as she stammers, “My life just keeps getting weird!” Scootaloo widens her eyes again and frowns, “Uh, sorry?” Sunny lightly giggles, “No no! It’s okay! I mean, it’s not your fault that you’re a ghost in a chicken outfit! Well, uh, actually it kinda is! But anyway, what do you think we should do now?” Scootaloo spreads her little wings out to her sides with their white covers, “How should I know?” before lowering them back to her sides. Sunny looks up at the spirit, “Well uh, right! Hey, I’m gonna make some biscuits and grab some juice for breakfast! Uh, you’re welcome to come along?” Scootaloo smiles softly as she giggles slightly, “Well, it’s not like I have anything else to do?” <*****> Scootaloo stands on the far right of the wooden floor of Sunny’s kitchen, while the alicorn furrows her brow in focus as a can of biscuits is encased in a yellow glow and knocks against the table to make a tap tap tapping noise, before the can goes POP! And explodes! Which only startles the alicorn as she gasps and widens her cerulean eyes. She looks to the pegasus on the right, “Yeah, biscuit cans always surprise me!” she smiles and giggles as she looks back to the oven, “It doesn’t really matter how well I try to expect it! It always startles me when it pops!” Scootaloo smiles visibly from the sides of her strap-on beak and says, “So uh, what’s your name? And I’m guessing you’re a princess? What are you princess of?” Sunny’s horn glows as the biscuits glow and magically arrange themselves on the oven tray sitting on the stovetop as she casually says, “Oh, I’m not a princess of anything! My name’s Sunny though! Uh, Sunny Starscout!” Scootaloo widens her eyes and says with her mouth aghast, “W-WHAT? Uh, wow! In my time-period, alicorns were ALWAYS princesses! So uh, “she giggles nervously, “I kinda just assumed you’d be the princess of something, you know?” Sunny keeps her eyes forward as her oven beeps and she soon moves her right forehoof down over the front-lever, so the oven opens and she uses her magic to encase the baking tray in a golden glow before it moves down to the second rack up, inside the oven. She kicks her right foreleg up to close the oven before bringing it down and looks over at the pegasus spirit, “Well, um, surprise!” she widens her eyes and leans towards her, “I’m not a princess!” Scootaloo chuckles slightly, “Well uh, so you say! Um, anyway! When you did whatever you did to become an alicorn, that revitalized long dead magic and in turn, me, well, me partially into this plane of existence! And since it was your transformation, I’m now tethered to you!” Sunny frowns before glancing to the left to check on the biscuits through the oven door, and then back to Scootaloo. “You seem to know a lot about this magical stuff, for a pegasus!” Scootaloo giggles again. “Well, uh, let’s just say that two thousand years is a very long time!” “I see…” Says the alicorn before frowning. She glances back to Scootaloo, “So uh, what now?” Scootaloo flinches and closes her eyes while saying exasperated, “I really don’t know, okay? I’m just here now, and I’m wearing a chicken costume!” Suddenly, there’s a knock on Sunny’s front door, to the left of the ponies. Sunny widens her eyes to Scootaloo, “Uh, Scoots! You stay here and make sure the biscuits don’t burn! I’ll get the door!” before turning her body left and trotting that way, roughly 15 feet through her living room and past her green couch on the left and to her tan front door in the dimly lit purple room. She opens the knob on the lower left with her mouth and turns her head to twist it back to the right to open it and then, corrects her neck to behold the smiling blue unicorn there with her red eyes. “Hiya Sunny!” Izzy says as the sun rises behind her, faintly illuminating the dirt roads of Maretime Bay. Sunny widens her eyes and exclaims frantically, “You’re not gonna believe it, Izzy! There’s a ghost here, and she’s wearing a chicken costume!” Izzy frowns, “W-what?” while staring at Sunny with her wide red eyes. Sunny frantically nods, “Yeah!” she stops, “Come in here and see for yourself!” Sunny backs up and Izzy soon trots through the door with her mouth scrunched in confusion as her dark blue mane bounces with each step, before her horn shines and it shuts behind her in a blue glow… She stares intently at the clear see-thru pegasus in a chicken outfit across the living room in the kitchen and widens her eyes as she says, “Uh, hi! I’m Izzy!” Sunny trots back into the kitchen as Scootaloo trots around her right side to head out into the foyer, while the alicorn goes back to the middle of the kitchen and turns her body to face the oven window to the left again to watch the biscuits as she thinks to herself, I really need to get an oven timer! The pegasus widens her eyes while standing just beyond the kitchen door and says in her raspy voice from behind the beak, “Uh, hi! I’m Scootaloo!” Izzy smiles, “Well, you gotta admit, this is a little bawk-ward, but why are you in a chicken costume and does it ruffle your feathers at all for any reason?” Scootaloo narrows her eyes in annoyance and says in a voice both croaky and grumpy, “I’m a pegasus and have feathers anyway, you know!” Izzy smiles and giggles as she stammers out, “I’m really sorry, Scootaloo! I uh, couldn’t resist!” she shakes her head and composes herself as her dark blue wavy mane flails around her shoulders and she then adjusts her gaze to the pegasus while leaning forward slightly, “Seriously though, uh, why are you in such a foul getup anyway?” Scootaloo’s mouth is scrunched awkwardly as she really doesn’t know whether to be offended or amused at this point and she widens her gaze to the unicorn and stutters out, “Uh, it’s kind of my punishment for uh, some bad things I did in life!” She nods her head slightly, “They still let me into heaven, in fact!” she sighs, “But, I gotta wear a chicken costume…” Izzy stares wide-eyed and leaning forward slightly as she exclaims, “Oh wow! Uh, it looks good on you!” Scootaloo noticeably frowns from behind the beak, “Uh, r-really?” Izzy raises her head as her mane bounces and smiles, “Yeah, really! I mean, the beak is a cute addition and I like how they made your wings and the chicken’s wings the same in there!” she widens her eyes, “And it totally makes sense that your forelegs wouldn’t even be in the costume like that!” she bounces again, “I mean, chickens don’t have those!” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “Uh, wow! I never thought anypony would think that this looks good on me? Uh, your name is Izzy, right?’ Izzy nods, “Last I checked!” Sunny trots in with two plates in her pale blue magical grasp floating at her right as she looks at the unicorn and says, “Hey, I made biscuits! Sit down at the table and join me!” <*****> Izzy Moonbow sits across from Sunny at her bright unpolished wood kitchen table, while the alicorn smiles and stares back at her from behind a steaming plate of two buttery juicy biscuits and a small glass of orange juice. Izzy magically takes a sip of juice before lowering it and staring back at Sunny, “So uh, now you have a chicken ghost!” Scootaloo is sitting between the two ponies on the left of Izzy as she says, “I’m not a chicken! I’m a pony, in a chicken costume!” Sunny smiles wider, “Well uh, right! Chicken Scootaloo is here now!” Scootaloo grows noticeably annoyed as Izzy widens her red eyes and continues while her mane bounces, “Um, right! Chicken Scootaloo!” Scootaloo closes her eyes as she frantically yells, “I’M A PONY!” Sunny widens her eyes to the pegasus on her right, “Right! You’re a pegasus!” Izzy smiles, “In a chicken costume!” Sunny leans towards the unicorn and whispers lowly out the left side of her mouth, “SHUT UP IZZY!” At this point, Scootaloo can only mutter something inaudibly underneath her beak. Izzy notices the pegasus is irritated so she leans her way at the left and says, “But again! The suit looks really good on you!” she smiles, “I think it’s cute!” Scootaloo looks to the unicorn as she widens her eyes as once again, she’s not sure whether to be annoyed or flattered. Sunny notices the tension as she widens her eyes to the unicorn and says, “So uh, what did you wanna do today, Izzy?” before magically lifting a biscuit to her mouth in a golden glow. Izzy looks at the alicorn, “Well, I just finished two projects yesterday and wanted to take a little break! So, I thought I’d trot my way down the road and see what my best friend was up to! So uh, ta-da! Here I am!” Sunny smiles at the goofiness of her friend before saying, “Yes! You are indeed, right there!” before taking more bites from the glowing biscuit on the right side of her face. Izzy smiles as her right biscuit glows blue and floats up to her face, “Yes! I could be somewhere else! But I’m not! I’m in your house!” Sunny’s face visibly shakes as she tries in vain to suppress a grin and snickers slightly at the unicorn, “Yes! You’re not anywhere else, but here! Right here, in my house!” Izzy finishes chewing her bite before looking at Sunny, “Yes, I am in, YOUR HOUSE!” Scootaloo just can’t take it anymore at this point, when she widens her eyes and exclaims, “I get it already! Izzy is here!” Izzy looks at Scootaloo on her left while grinning, “Yes! In this house!” Sunny looks at Izzy and smiles, “With me!” Izzy turns to face Sunny, “In this house! Here with you!” Sunny nods, “Yes!” “SERIOUSLY! Knock it off now, girls!” Scootaloo then yells towards the center of the table, to nopony. Izzy giggles lightly as she turns left to face the pegasus, “Sorry Scootaloo! But now, you’re initiated!” Scootaloo widens her purple eyes to the unicorn. “Initiated?” Izzy smiles, “Well, yeah!” she jitters while continuing.” For the adventure, me and Sunny are about to go on! You are now one of the crew!” Sunny widens her eyes to the unicorn. “Wait! Adventure? What?” Izzy turns right to face the alicorn and frowns. “Well, we have to help poor Scootaloo here go back to heaven, right?” Scootaloo frowns again. “And if you can get the chicken outfit off me, that’d be great too!” Izzy turns left to Scootaloo. “One thing at a time, Scootaloo Chan! One thing at a time!” (To be continued…)
Chapter 2: Meet the Weather Sisters!Sunny and Izzy stood in the morning fog near the West exit to Maretime Bay in the early morning light from behind the two ponies as the unicorn looked at the clear pegasus in the chicken outfit on her left and asked, “So in your time, these zebras lived far to the west of Equestria, and they knew about ghosts and necromancy and stuff?” Scootaloo smiles while turning her head to the blue pony, “Right!” Sunny stares left past the unicorn and said, “But we don’t know if they’re still there, do we?” Izzy looks over at Sunny, “Well, not since unicorns became isolationists about five hundred years ago, no?” she raises her ears and widens her red eyes, “I mean, we’re still pretty sure they’re out there! Where else would they go?” Sunny widens her eyes and narrows her mouth, “I don’t know?” Izzy smiles, nods, and says, “Right! So, unless a giant meteor came down and blew them all up or something like that…” Sunny raises her left eyebrow, “That’s not very likely…” Izzy jitters to cause her mane to vibrate as she exclaims at a louder volume, “But it’s still possible!” Sunny tries her best to suppress a smirk before looking beyond Izzy to the pegasus again, “So uh, exactly how far are we going here?” Scootaloo stares at Sunny past the unicorn, “I’m actually not sure? You see, I’ve never been there!” Sunny looks back at Izzy, “So, we’re going to look for zebras, who may or may not be there, and blindly hoping that they know more about the spirit world than we do and hoping that they somehow know how to get poor Scootaloo here back to heaven!” she widens her eyes, “Does that sound like an accurate description of this mission?” Izzy turns her head back right to stare at the alicorn, “Well, unless you got a better idea! I mean, it’s been two thousand years! I wanna help out poor Scootaloo here!” Sunny stares at the unicorn blankly, “Well, I do too! But I’m still not sure this is the best way to go about it? I mean, shouldn’t we have a clear, concise plan or?” Scootaloo stares over and says gruffly from the left of both ponies, “I’m RIGHT HERE, you know!” Izzy turns left to face Scootaloo, nods, and calmly says, “Yes indeed, Scootaloo Chan! You are right there!” before turning her head back right to Sunny, “Anyway, do YOU have a clear concise plan by any chance, Sunny?” Sunny smiles and giggles slightly, “Well uh, no? Not really?” she normalizes her mouth and widens her eyes, “So, I guess we’re looking for zebra ghosts then?” <*****> Izzy starts humming to herself as she trots to the left of Sunny down the road. Sunny turns her head left to the unicorn and says, “What song is that, anyway?” Izzy widens her eyes to the alicorn, “Song?” Sunny nods as both ponies keep trotting, “Yeah! I mean, weren’t you just humming a tune?” Izzy frowns, “I don’t know? Probably?” Scootaloo smiles at the unicorn on her right, “You remind me of Pinkie Pie!” Izzy turns her head left, “Who?” Sunny smiles at the unicorn, “Pinkie Pie! In ancient Equestria, she was the Element of Laughter!” Scootaloo looks back at the alicorn, “Yeah, but you’re definitely not like any alicorn I’ve ever known!” Sunny widens her eyes while staring at the pegasus in the chicken costume beyond the unicorn, “Oh? Uh, how many alicorns have you known, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo’s smirks, “Well uh, technically, just one! Twilight Sparkle!” Sunny grows noticeably more excited as she jitters and perks her ears up while the three ponies continue trotting down the road, leading across grassy plains and rolling landscapes, and asks, “You knew Twilight Sparkle? Oh my gosh! What was she like?” Scootaloo eyes the alicorn, “Well, she was nothing like you! I mean, she was a book nerd who mostly kept to herself… Well, before she became an alicorn princess!” Sunny frowns and leans towards the pegasus, “You said ALL alicorns in your time were princesses?” Scootaloo nods as the rubber chicken comb on her head goes up and down, “That’s right! But you say you’re not a princess?” Sunny continues, “Correct!” she frowns, “Well, not to my knowledge? Then again, I could be meant to be a princess and just don’t know it yet?” Scootaloo widens her eyes and scrunches her mouth, “I don’t know? Maybe?” Sunny looks back to the road before the three ponies, “Huh?” <*****> As the ponies are trotting down the road westward, in a big open field with many hills over a rolling landscape, with flowers, daisies, pansies, and tulips, they suddenly hear a female voice scream. They all stop trotting abruptly… Sunny looks over at the other two ponies, “Did you girls hear that?” Izzy looks at Sunny on the right, “No!” her eyes widened, “Well, unless you meant the big bloodcurdling scream!” she nods her head, “Now THAT, I definitely heard!” Scootaloo looks right at Izzy and says, “It sounded like it came from the other side of the hill on our left?” Sunny smiles at Scootaloo, “Well, go check it out!” Sunny widens her violet eyes to the alicorn, “Huh? Why me?” Sunny nods, “Well, think about it! I mean, me and Izzy here are alive, so we can get hurt!” she raises her gaze, “But not you! You’re already dead!” Scootaloo stares blankly at the orange pony, “Okay uh, you’re technically right there, Sunny!” Sunny smiles wider and swishes her tail, “No! ACTUALLY right!” as her body bobs, up and down. Scootaloo turns her body to the left to see a hill there, roughly 30 feet from her and rising about 15 feet from the ground, with many pink and red flowers on the grassy mound. She gulps and says, “Alright uh, I’ll be back girls! Don’t go anywhere!” Scootaloo slowly trots toward the hill while Sunny trots forward from the right, and turns right to stare onward as Izzy adjusts her body to match and they both watch the brave pegasus ghost in her chicken outfit, as she slowly trots up the hill… Izzy turns her head to Sunny on the right, “What do you think that scream was?” The orange pony turns her neck left to stare at the blue pony, “I don’t know? Any idea what’s out here?” Izzy frowns, “I don’t know? I mean, I usually reach Maretime Bay with the north road! This one is further south!” The pegasus reaches the top of the hill as she tentatively paces that way, mentally telling herself to remain calm as she recites, left hoof, right hoof, left hoof, right… She reaches the top of the hill and stares downward to see a serpentine creature there, obviously made of greenish-blue cloth, with patterns sewn into it to resemble scales that says, “ROARS! I’m going to eat you unless you give me all your money!” This creature has a long neck, on top of a poorly configured body underneath, with cardboard fins near where it’s ears should be, clearly painted the same bluish-green color. Scootaloo frowns as she also notices that the head and neck are a slightly lighter color than the body… She also sees a blue earth mare there on the right, with a white mane done up into a single ponytail behind her head, holding her right forehoof in front of her face as she screams robotically, “NO! Please don’t eat me, Mister Dragon!” Scootaloo frowns and says, “That’s obviously a dragon costume ma’am! You have nothing to worry about…” Her shoulders visibly relax as she lowers her hoof, shakes her head, and looks at the costume, “I told you this was a dumb idea!” Scootaloo looks at the dragon further left. She hears the same feminine voice underneath growl, “Well, unless you have a better idea?” Scootaloo raises her left eyebrow, “You really shouldn’t pretend to be something that you’re not…” Suddenly the neck of the dragon pops off and falls to the ground before the costume, and down into a straight line as Scootaloo now sees the head of a pink earth mare, with a wisteria purple mane, done into a similar ponytail style as the other mare, who looks over at her and says, “Well, you figured out our ruse!” she sighs, “I guess that means you’re free to go now?” she starts and eyes the pegasus carefully, “Hey, why can I see right through you? And why are you wearing a chicken outfit?” Scootaloo smiles at the new mare, “I’m a ghost!” The blue mare frowns at Scootaloo as she looks over and her face grows visibly whiter, “G-ghost?” Scootaloo looks at the right nods at the mare, “Yup!” she widens her eyes and leans forward slightly as she says louder, “Oh, don’t worry! I’m not gonna hurt you! I’m a friendly ghost!” she smiles, “Scootaloo, the friendly ghost! Yup, that’s me!” she turns her head back left to the pink mare, “You really shouldn’t pretend to be something that you’re not!” The mare frowns at her, “Oh yeah? Well, why are you wearing a chicken costume?” Scootaloo starts as her mouth shrinks, “We’re not talking about that! Why are you trying to make me think you’re a dragon?” The mare sighs as she says lower, “Well, we thought it would be the only way to get ponies to help us… If they thought Cloudy here was being attacked by a dragon…” Cloudy looks at the other mare, “And I keep telling you that friendship is back! We can call on other ponies to help us, and they will now!” Scootaloo widens her eyes while giving an exasperated sigh, “Um, okay wait!” she turns her head back to the dragon, “You two, come out of the costume, and just tell me what you need!” The ghost in the chicken outfit trots down from the flowery hill slowly and the alicorn and unicorn witness that she’s being followed by three earth mares… The one on the left is blue with a white mane and tail and lavender eyes, the one in the center is pink with a purple mane and tail and distinctly green eyes, and the one on the right is green with an orange mane and tail and purple eyes. They also both notice that they all have the same high manecut with ponytails in the back and matching tails behind their flanks. Scootaloo stops trotting about ten feet from the two other ponies while the three mares stop trotting behind her. She smiles and says, “Okay, over here on your left is Cloudy, on your right Snow, and in the middle is Stormy! Uh, I just met them!” Stormy looks at Scootaloo wide-eyed as Sunny smiles and says, “Oh, hi girls!” Izzy excitedly bobs up and down wide-eyed as she shouts with a happy smile on her face, “Hi new friends!” Cloudy turns her head left at Stormy, “See? They seem pretty friendly and will probably help us!” Scootaloo starts and widens her eyes, “Uh, they have something they want to ask you!” Cloudy narrows her eyes to Stormy and lowly says, “Hang on! I’ll go see what’s up!” before turning her head and trotting forward to the right side of the ghost. She stares at the alicorn and unicorn and says at a much louder volume, “Uh, yeah! You see, we’re triplets and we farm yams! Anyway, we need a new barn, but we don’t really have ponypower to do it!” Sunny perks up with her ears directed towards the other ponies, “Do you want us to help you?” Cloudy starts as she shakes her head slightly and lowers her ears, “Um, if you don’t mind? Er, if it’s not too much trouble, that is?” Sunny turns her head left to the unicorn, “What do you think, Izzy?” Izzy turns her head to face Sunny, “I think we need a new barn-raising song!” (To be continued…)
Chapter 3: The RetrievalThe yellow earth mare investigates her hotel room from the outside, after unlocking the door using the key in her mouth. She had a high-up red mane, done into a ponytail on her back and a matching tail behind her flanks as she stared at the peculiar apparition before her, after opening the door to her left… It was obviously a brown pegasus pony, but her outfit was very peculiar. She has on a strap-on beak around her face and her head is adorned with a chicken comb, while the rest of her body is covered in the white feathers of her strange outfit with her forelegs free… But this wasn’t nearly as disconcerting to Rainy as how she could see right through this pegasus! She immediately screams, dropping the key from her mouth! “AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Scootaloo cringes and holds her right forehoof to her ear as she lowers her head and says, “Oh geez, lady! I swear, I’m not gonna hurt you!” The yellow earth mare stares at the pegasus with wide dark blue eyes, “Who are you? Why are you in my room? Why can I see right through you? And why are you wearing a chicken costume?” Scootaloo lowers her hoof and shakes her head before raising her neck and affixing her gaze to the other pony, “Oh, well my name is Scootaloo and I’m a ghost!” Rainy screams again, “AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Scootaloo flinches before staring back at the panic-stricken mare with wide violet eyes and shouting, “I’m not gonna hurt you! I’m a friendly ghost!” Rainy breaths heavily in and out through her mouth while staring at the ghost with wide eyes, “Uh, okay… Okay… Uh, why are you in my room?” Scootaloo smiles, “Oh, that! Stormy sent me!” Rainy widens her eyes all the way with her mouth agape, “Stormy? How the hay did she manage to summon a ghost?” Scootaloo normalizes her mouth, “Actually, I kinda just found her?” she shakes her head, “It’s a long story! Look, Rainy! You need to reconcile with your three sisters! They need you to build the barn with them!” Rainy smirks, “Oh yeah! Somehow, I just knew this would happen!” she shakes her head and stares at the chicken-pony, “Because I was the only one of us four with the knowledge and skill necessary to build a barn!” she stares intently as she raises her neck, “Which step did they stop at anyway?” Scootaloo widens her eyes as she frowns, “I’m actually not sure? Uh, suppose I should start from the beginning?” she shakes her head and adjusts her mouth, “You see, me and my two friends Izzy and Sunny were traveling west when we came across your sisters and they really need your help! Sunny and Izzy both stayed behind to work with them and do what they can, but uh, I’m a ghost and so I can’t really pick up and move things…” she widens her eyes, “So, it kinda makes sense that I be the pony to come get you!” Rainy frowns, “So, I’m guessing Sunny and Izzy aren’t ghosts?” she shakes her head, “Also, it’s typical that Stormy would send the scariest pony she could find!” Scootaloo nods, “No, they’re not! I’m the only one of us three who’s actually dead!” she frowns, “Uh, scary?” Rainy nods, “Well, you’re not alive, are you?” Scootaloo sighs off to her left, “Well, technically no, but I don’t see how I’m scary?” Rainy leans forward as she stares on in contemplation, before finally asking, “How did you die, anyway?” Scootaloo widens her eyes to the other mare, “What?” Rainy frowns and blinks, “How did you die? I mean, you’re a ghost, which means that you were living at some point, right? How did you die?” Scootaloo starts and stares back at the live pony, “Uh, do we have to talk about this?” Rainy blinks and raises her head, “Well, not if you don’t want to, no? I mean, the only thing that is important right now is that you’re dead, right?” Scootaloo stares blankly at the earth mare as she says mechanically, “Yes! I’m dead now and we don’t need to talk about how I got that way!” Rainy raises her head and widens her eyes, “Uh, how are we gonna get you out of town, anyway? I mean, I can see right through you! Don’t you think that’ll freak some ponies out?” Scootaloo smiles, “I’ll just go invisible! They’ll never know I’m there!” “You can do that?” Scootaloo lowers her gaze, “Well, I did just meet you! It’s not like I’ve had the opportunity to tell you that. I’ll just re-materialize once you're outside of town and nopony is around! No problem! You just trot out and I’ll keep close until that point!” Rainy blinks, “Seems simple enough?” <*****> Rainy trots through the dirt path of Maretime Bay towards the West exit as she thinks to herself, There’s a ghost following me! She trots past the market to get to the other side. She sees stalls on her right and several shops to her left as she walks through. As she nears the other residential district and contemplates, There’s probably still a ghost following me! She continues trotting and stops abruptly to avoid hitting a two-pony driven wagon as it moves from her right to left on the cross-street. Whoa! I still can’t believe Stormy actually sent a ghost to get me! How cool is that! Oh no! Better not let them know that’s neat! Uh, Her eyes widen as she sees the street is clear, and so she begins trotting forward towards the gate again and thinks, Okay, almost there! Then, I’ll see Scootaloo again! Um, probably? Well, she doesn’t make herself known, but I’m sure she’s still there! Uh, right? She starts trotting again and quickens her pace to a slow gallop as she passes by the row houses of her village on either side and nears the front gate. She looks up at the metal enclosure, with a concave aluminum top and rusted iron side poles and as she slows down a bit and exits town in silence, with her eyes glued forward and her mind still racing with questions about this strange ghost she met earlier. She quickens her pace to a slow gallop once again as she approaches a grove at the edge of town. Rainy looks around and doesn’t see anypony there, but she also doesn’t see the pegasus ghost. She stops trotting at the other end as an expanse of grassy plains opens before her and she sees the dirt path leading west towards Bridlewood forest. She raises her chin and says loudly, “Scootaloo! Are you still there? I don’t see anypony around, and so it’s probablysafe to come out now!” Suddenly, a brown pegasus in a chicken costume appears from the ether on Rainy’s right. She looks at her and says, “So uh, I guess we’re going back to my old house, then?” “Mhm!” Scootaloo says as she nods affirmatively, and then adjusts the rubber comb on her head with her right forehoof… Rainy starts to trot down the dirt road, leading through the open fields and pastures and the pegasus hurriedly trots over to her right side to walk alongside her. She finally looks at Scootaloo and asks her, “So uh, why are you in a chicken suit, anyway? I mean, can you take it off?” Scootaloo looks over and sighs, “No, not really!” Rainy blinks and smiles dimly, “Well, for what it’s worth, it looks good on you!” She’s not the only pony to say that! Makes me think I should’ve let the living know about me sooner. Scootaloo thinks to herself before saying, “Well, thanks Rainy! So uh, they don’t know about algebra and geometry and stuff?” Rainy sighs, “No, I was the only one of us sisters who learned anything about barns and barn design! Stormy and Cloudy were too busy goofing off and Snow, well, she’s just Snow!” “Wow! So, you were the only one to learn?” Rainy blinks as they continue trotting past a grove where apples are growing. Rainy stops at a tree, turns, bucks it with her hind legs and several apples fall to the ground. She trots over to one, moves her neck down to eat it with her snout as it goes snap and crunch inside her mouth. Then looks to her left and collects two more, one at a time with her mouth and stuffs them in her left saddlebag. She looks at Scootaloo, “Well, I still need to eat sometimes!” Scootaloo grins and nods, “Right!” Rainy trots back to the road on her left and continues to go down it, with Scootaloo quickly catching up on her right. Scootaloo looks over and asks, “So, why don’t you like Stormy?” Rainy starts and frowns, “She’s just so stubborn! I tried to tell her last year that we really needed a new barn with the farm expanding the way it was and she didn’t listen to me!” she smiles dimly, “And now that they need me, they send somepony out to get me! Because that’s the way ponies are…” Scootaloo frowns, “What do you mean?” Rainy adjusts her mouth while continuing to trot and stare forward, “Think about it! I was living in a hotel room in Maretime Bay, and I got a job at the local cheesery. And I’d still be in that room, living my life, if they didn’t suddenlyneedme!” she sighs, “That’s the way ponies are… They never care about you, unless they want something…” Both ponies begin to trot up a shallow hill with colorful flowers on either side of the road as Scootaloo starts and says, “Well, that’s not true! I’m sure they still cared about you!” Rainy widens her blue eyes, “Oh? Then why didn’t they ever come to visit me?” she moves her head slightly to the left as she says, “Although it is kinda strange that they’d know exactly which room I was in?” Scootaloo widens her eyes as her incorporeal body begins to move through a tree on Rainy’s right as she continues to trot forward and materialize on the other side, “Well, see! They knew where you were! They were watching you!” Rainy lowers her gaze, “Okay, but… I really wish they would’ve chosen to just talk to me, and not only pay attention to me when they need something…” “Maybe they didn’t know how?” Rainy turns her neck to the pegasus ghost, “Oh, that’s just a cop-out and you know it! There’s no reason they couldn’t have just taken the time to come see me!” “And say what, Rainy?” Rainy slows her trotting and stops a moment later, “I uh, well maybe, ‘I’m sorry! You were totally right, Rainy! We should’ve listened to you!’ would be a good start?” Scootaloo stops trotting and starts snickering at the yellow earth mare. Rainy stops trotting and turns her body to the hysterical pegasus. Scootaloo stops laughing and shakes her head, “You don’t really know how this works, do you?” Rainy widens her eyes and frowns, “W-what?” Scootaloo grins as she turns her body to the earth mare and lowers her gaze at the other pony, when she wryly says, “You have to be the bigger pony…” Rainy blinks and repeats herself, “What?” Scootaloo nods her head, “You have to say that you’re sorry for trotting away before they’ll say they’re sorry for not listening to you…” Rainy narrows her mouth, “What? That’s ridiculous! I did nothing wrong!” Scootaloo raises her neck, “Okay Rainy! Let’s just say that hypothetically, we were two yam farmers, working on the same farm!” “Huh?” Scootaloo smiles, “Let’s just say, you and I were farmers, both working on the same farm! Like you and your sisters, except it’s us now, okay?” Rainy takes a long slow breath through her nose, “Um, okay?” Scootaloo nods, “Right! We’re both farmers on this plot of land, right?” she widens her eyes, “And let’s just say that we had a disagreement and rather than stay and work through it with me, you just cut and ran…” she widens her eyes, “Now, keep in mind that I’m still there, working on the farm, right? But now I have to work even harder, because you’re not around! Because you left earlier!” she lowers her gaze, “Now, how do you think that’s gonna make me feel?” Rainy’s gaze grows to piercing while her head visibly shakes with irritation, before she finally sighs and stares at the pegasus, “Uh, you’d probably feel abandoned, lost, or possibly confused?” Scootaloo lowers her smile, “Our actions always have consequences, Rainy… It’s up to everypony to make sure those consequences are good!” Rainy narrows her eyes, “Okay, but what about the way they didn’t listen to me? Don’t we need to talk about that, too?” Scootaloo smiles wide again, “And you will, once you explain to them why you left… It’s called communication and you need it to make any sort of relationship work!” Rainy widens her eyes and leans towards the pegasus slightly, “Wait! Don’t they also need to admit that they’re sorry?” Scootaloo nods and opens her mouth, “And they will! If they truly care about you, which I suspect that they must, considering they knew so much about your new life in town! I’m sure if you just explain why you left…” she raises her neck, “Trust me! That’s how friendship works!” she nods, “So please, just take my advice, and be the bigger pony here!” At this point, Rainy can only let out an exasperated sigh and look off longingly to the right as she says, “I’ll admit that I did miss them…” she looks back at Scootaloo, “So uh, I guess I’m going back home?” Scootaloo grins and says, “Well, if you wanna meet your sisters again, you’re kinda gonna have to!” Rainy gives a wide-eyed start, “Jerk!” “Idiot!” Scootaloo says before smiling and giggling. “Hey!” Rainy says while leaning at the pegasus with open eyes and mouth. “What? I’m dead!” Scootaloo shrugs, “What are you gonna do to me?” she flaps her white wings before lowering them back to her sides. Rainy corrects herself while trying to suppress a smile before sighing and staring pensively to the right again. She moves her gaze back to the pegasus, “Ugh! Let’s just get this over with!” she blinks, “Let’s go home!” (To be continued…)
Chapter 4: Not Being AloneRainy looks at the clear pegasus in the chicken costume to her right with a wide-eyed frown, “Huh? What?” Scootaloo looks left at the yellow earth mare, “I was just saying, we’re back at your house!” Suddenly, the blue front door of the two-story tan farmhouse opens, and a blue unicorn comes running out to greet the pair from 20 feet away. As she trots to them, she smiles and shouts, “Hiya Rainy! They were telling me about you, but uh, “she widens her eyes to the ghostly pegasus on her left as she abruptly stops trotting, “This ghost is unnatural! It is tainted! It is foul!” Scootaloo does her best to suppress a chuckle and smile as she stares back at the hairy blue fluffball unicorn and says, “I found Rainy! Yellow earth mare with red mane done like the other three sisters, right?” Izzy widens her eyes and frowns at the other pony as she says anxiously, “Uh, Scoots! Rainy is tan, with a blond mane and tail! I don’t know who this pony is?” The yellow pony stares back at Izzy with her own wide dark blue eyes, “Really? Because I was pretty sure I was Rainy? I mean, that’s what they told me my whole life!” Scootaloo glances back to the yellow pony before staring at the snickering blue unicorn with an annoyed grimace, “Izzy, knock it off!” Izzy widens her eyes as she exclaims with a grin, “Almost! We’ll get em next time!” she stares at Rainy, “And Rainy! Next time, please try to go along with the joke!” Rainy nods back, “Right!” she widens her dark blue eyes, “Wait, what?” Izzy then adjusts her gaze to both ponies as her red eyes widen once more, “Well, are we ready to get the party started? Scootaloo Chan? Rainy Sama?” <*****> Stormy stares back at the yellow mare with her green eyes and slams her pink right forehoof to the floor, “And I was trying to tell you that at the time, we could not spare the time, resources, or ponypower necessary to build a barn!” Rainy sighs as she stares back at the other pony in the living room, as Izzy and Sunny, watch from the couch on Rainy’s left, with Sunny closer to the door behind Rainy while an ethereal chicken-pegasus watches from the other side. “We could’ve at least had a framework, you know. Maybe even a roof?” she lowers her gaze, “I’m saying, we should’ve done something!” Stormy widens her eyes, “Like what? We’re already stretched thin as it is! There’s simply too much for the four of us, now!” A green earth mare named Snow looks over at Stormy from the left, and timidly says something nopony really hears… Rainy scrunches her brow in determination as she stares back to the pink earth mare, “Think about things, carefully now, Stormy! If we had built the barn back when I said we should, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about our crops rotting and spoiling in the fields, now would we?” Izzy eyes the pink mare carefully with her red eyes while whispering to herself, “Is she gonna crack? Will the pink mare admit her mistake?” Stormy sighs and shakes her head as her violet ponytail sways back around her neck, “You just don’t get it!” The blue mare named Cloudy looks at Stormy from the right, opposite to Snow and speaks up, “Well, friendship is back? Why not ask the town to help or maybe even our family down south?” Stormy turns her head Cloudy’s way, “What?” Cloudy sighs as her white ponytail bobs on her back, “Ponies will help us if we ask now! Look!” she points her right forehoof at the smiling blue unicorn and the orange alicorn just beyond her, sitting on the blue couch to their right, “They helped us when you asked! You saw! They’ve been nailing boards together for the lower framework all morning! Don’t you think you’re being kinda stubborn here?” before lowering her hoof. Izzy tightens her body and widens her eyes at Stormy and whispers, “Will she accept it?” Stormy closes her eyes and shakes her head, “Our family down south are all elderly ponies! They couldn’t help us if they wanted to!” Cloudy shakes it off and widens her eyes to the pink mare, “Regardless, what about the village? Surely, somepony there can lend a hoof?” Stormy smirks slightly as she giggles softly, “Yeah, and in the meantime, while one of you is away asking for help, I’m short-hoofed, here on the farm!” Rainy leans towards the pink mare aggressively, “Which is exactly why we should’ve done this, sooner!” At this point, Stormy can only give an exasperated scream at the heavens as everypony else in the room flinches! She adjusts her face to be level with the ground, “You ponies have no idea what it’s like to be solely responsible for the farm!” Rainy widens her eyes, “Well, not exactly, no? But, if you just listened to us and took what we had to say into consideration, instead of doing your own thing and running it how you and you alone would do it, it might not be so bad?” Stormy lifts the right side of her mouth in a half-smirk, “Right! And while one of you is galivanting around Maretime Bay, asking for help, work continues to pile up, back here!” she widens her green eyes, “GREAT PLAN!” Rainy’s mouth tightens, “Oh, so your idea of do nothing and hope this all goes away is any better?” At this point, something snaps inside the green pony on Stormy’s left as Snow looks over to address both combatants, “NOW LOOK! If Rainy manages to get more than one pony to help on the farm, then asking for help is totally worth it! And look!” she points her left forehoof to the smiling unicorn and confused alicorn on the couch, “We already did that! There’s two of them! It’s totally feasible and it can be done!” She lowers her hoof and faces her body to Stormy to trot 2 feet and stares at her solemnly with her violet eyes as she frowns, “We’re here to help you, okay? You’re not alone…” Izzy excitedly stares on from the couch while jittering lightly and whispering, “They did it! She’s cracking!” Stormy sighs and stares back into the purple eyes of her sister, “It’s uh… It’s really hard to run all of this…” Snow nods, “I know! And that’s why we’re here for you!” she smiles softly, “We’re sisters, remember?” Stormy frowns and says, “Well, I KNOW THAT! But um…” Snow stops smiling and lowers her gaze somewhat, “But nothing, Stormy! We’re sisters and we need to talk to Rainy now…” “Um, yeah about that!” Rainy stammers out with her head raised and blue eyes wide to the pink mare. Stormy adjusts her body rightward to face Rainy once more. “Ahem!” Rainy clears her throat, “I uh, whoa!” her eyes widen before narrowing back to the other mare. “Ugh!” she sighs, before staring directly into Stormy’s eyes, “I’m sorry, okay?” Stormy blinks and frowns, “What?” The yellow pony sighs wistfully off to her left before staring back to the pink mare, “I’m sorry I left you girls to do all of my work and I’m sorry I abandoned you…” she stares back at Stormy and blinks, “Is what I wanted to say…” Scootaloo smiles with her neck turned to the yellow pony while all Stormy can do is widen her eyes at what she just heard. Stormy blinks and says, “Y-yeah! Okay!” Snow looks at Stormy and whispers, “Don’t you have something to say to her?” Stormy turns her head left and gazes briefly at the green pony in her periphery before looking back at Rainy, “Um, yeah! Ahem!” she clears her throat and widens her eyes, “Yeah! I uh, look!” she pauses for a moment and breathes in and out through her nose. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you, okay?” Rainy raises her neck and rolls her eyes, “Oh sure! Now that you know I’m right!” Scootaloo’s purple eyes widen at the yellow mare, and she raises her right forehoof to say something, when Stormy suddenly says, “Look! I-I’m sorry we didn’t listen to you, but I’m not sure what else we can do?” before Scootaloo lowers her hoof again… Cloudy says from the left, “Well, we could ask the ponies of Maretime Bay for help? You know, since friendship is back?” Stormy turns her head slightly to gaze at the blue mare in the corner of her left eye, “YES! We should ask for help! We DEFINITELY need to do that!” Rainy smiles and giggles as she shakes her head before trotting a few paces to look directly into her sister’s eyes, “So, no more running the farm with an iron-hoof, okay?” Cloudy speaks up from the left again, “We’re here to help you!” Snow speaks up, “You’re not alone sister!” Stormy blurts out, “I uh…” she closes her eyes… “Stormy?” Rainy inquires as her neck leans forward slightly and she gazes on with wide eyes… Stormy opens her green eyes to the yellow mare, “Shut up! I know you’re right now, and I’m trying to come up with a witty response! Uh,” she blinks, “give me a minute!” Rainy smiles wider and trots another pace with her right foreleg before embracing Stormy in a tight warm hug! Izzy happily bounces up and down on the couch as her blue mane vibrates, “YAY! The Weather Mares made up!” and she normalizes her eyes and glances to the left side, “Now, they can make their hit song, It’s Raining Stallions!” <*****> Rainy looks intently at Izzy, Sunny, and Scootaloo from the right of the front door. “So uh, you got enough yams?” Sunny can only mutter to herself, “I am NEVER going to run out of yams, EVER in the history of anything, now!” Izzy smiles and nods from Sunny’s right, “Oh yeah! I’m sure I can think of lots of neat and yummy ways to cook these!” Scootaloo looks over from Izzy’s right, “Sorry I can’t help you carry them girls, but I’m kinda dead and incorporeal!” Izzy leans to Scootaloo, “No problem, Scoots! But since you were gone, I gotta catch up now and make fun of you some more!” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “What?” Izzy also widens her eyes, “What?” Sunny glances at the two other ponies and tries to suppress a smirk before looking back at Rainy, “Uh, so I guess this is goodbye then?” Rainy smiles, “For now! But hey! Don’t be a stranger! I mean, we’re still out here and winter does get really boring on a farm!” Sunny smiles, “I’ll uh, keep that in mind!” <*****> Izzy huddles in her purple sleeping bag on the left side of the blue tent as she looks over to Sunny, in her own dark green bag on the right as she says, “Don’t pegasi have electric lanterns?” Sunny glances over, “I think so? So uh, do you think today went well?” Izzy frowns, “I think so? You like the yam casserole I made?” Sunny blinks, “Oh yeah! It was tasty! But uh, how the hay did you make a casserole on a campfire, anyway?” Izzy smiles, “MAGIC!” Sunny widens her eyes, “I guess? Uh, you think Scootaloo will be alright without us around while we’re asleep?” Izzy lowers her grin, “I don’t see why not? She’s been by herself for thousands of years at this point. Are the few hours we’re gonna sleep, really gonna matter?” Sunny sighs, “True, but I just can’t help but feel sorry for the poor pegasus! Uh, let’s not sleep any longer than we have to, okay?” Izzy smiles wider and nods, “Deal!” Izzy emerges from the cave to a wide-open field, where she sees Scootaloo, still in her chicken costume laughing with glee as her body faces to the right! Izzy trots down to Scootaloo, a mere 20 feet from her as she shouts, “Scootaloo! What are you doing?” Scootaloo stares at Izzy with crazy violet eyes as she turns her body to her and says, “I am the Chicken Princess!” as thousands of chickens suddenly appear flying from the wide-open plains behind her and soon, blacken the sky with their presence as the pegasus giggles maniacally! The constant sound of buck buck buck permeates the air as Izzy can only stare on in wide-eyed amazement! <*****> Izzy opens her red eyes with a start as her head rests on the left on top of her small purple camp pillow before she whispers, “Whoa! I gotta put that one in my dream journal!” She moves her body to lay on her back so she can glance right and notices that Sunny is no longer there. She also can’t help but smell the robust scent of percolating camp coffee as it’s meshed with the sweet aromatic scent of frying sweet potatoes. Izzy emerges from the blue tent to see a see-thru pegasus on the left of the campfire, standing there as she gazes at Sunny, currently frying yams in her small camp skillet over the small temporary fire pit they had erected the night before. She gazes over the vast expanse of grassy fields and then, over to the dirt road on their left before trotting the remaining few feet and plopping herself to her haunches in front of the first. Izzy yawns while Sunny magically fetches a cup of black coffee with the blue steel mug from the side and floats it in her direction in a golden glow. Izzy looks up at the cup and a blue glow soon encapsulates the mug before Sunny releases her magic, causing the gold to go away and Izzy floats the cup down to the ground before her as she looks up at the fire in the chilly morning air. Scootaloo turns her head to address both ponies, “So uh, you two rest well?” Izzy smiles, “Yeah, not too bad! You were okay without us, right?” she says before lowering her smirk and turning her red eyes to the pegasus. Scootaloo smiles dimly, “Of course! I mean, I spent quite a bit of time by myself earlier! A few hours won’t hurt me by this point!” Izzy blinks, “Well that’s good! We were worried about that!” Scootaloo raises her gaze, “Wait! You were worried about me?” Izzy nods, “Of course! We’re your friends!” Scootaloo exhales from her nose, “Wow… Uh, hey girls?” Izzy widens her eyes while the alicorn looks at the pegasus and says, “Yeah, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo swallows deeply, “I think I need to tell you something…” Izzy blinks, “What’s up?” Sunny raises her gaze, “Yes Scootaloo?” (To be continued…)
Chapter 5: Intermission****Trigger warning**** The following chapter details some of my very own pain regarding how my mother passed away. I’m writing it here because I wanted it known and I feel that it needs to be said somewhere... If you are squeamish or can’t handle ultra-emotional stuff, you really should just skip to the final paragraph for a brief synopsis instead. Thank you! “I can still hear her screams sometimes, at night…” Scootaloo said to the alicorn and unicorn as she stood there in the clearing, on the campsite… Izzy leans forward and asks, “What are you talking about?” Scootaloo blinks and stares deep into the unicorn’s eyes, “I mean, I still hear her screams in agony!” Sunny widens her eyes as she stares at the pegasus ghost, “W-what are you talking about?” Scootaloo takes a deep breath through her mouth, in and out and stares at the fire before the two other ponies and closes her eyes and looks down as she says, “It was Apple Bloom… She caught swamp fever…” she raises her gaze and opens her eyes at the other ponies, “They tried to use the flash bee honey treatment again, b-but it didn’t work this time! It didn’t heal her and," Scootaloo closes her eyes and breathes heavily through her mouth again, “And she didn’t get better…” she opens her eyes to the other ponies again, “I remember that they planted her in the Everfree Forest… You know, birch trees only live for about forty or fifty years… I’m sure she’s long gone by now…” Izzy can only cough out, “I am so sorry, Scootaloo!” “Yeah um…” Scootaloo blinks, “Sweetie Belle went catatonic and wouldn’t speak to anypony after that, and I, well…” she blinks again, “I moved to Fillydelphia and got a factory job… You know, the vodka helped, but eventually, I realized there wasn’t enough vodka in all of Equestria…” she swallows, “That could fill that gaping hole AB left when she passed… I can only…” she blinks again and smiles slightly, “I can only be glad that in the end, she spent her final days as a tree… I really couldn’t imagine a more peaceful life, but at the same time, I really missed her…” Sunny just stares at the pegasus with wide cerulean eyes as she stammers out, “I really wish I could hug you right now, Scootaloo…” Scootaloo smirks slightly wider, “Yeah, I’d like that… Anyway, this chicken costume is my punishment, I’m thinking… For not being there and failing Apple Bloom, like I did…” Sunny narrows her mouth, “That makes no sense, Scootaloo! She had a terminal disease! There’s nothing you could’ve done!” Scootaloo flaps her wings, still in their white confines as she exclaims, “I know there’s something I really should’ve said or done?” she looks off to the left side while continuing to stammer, “I don’t know, but I think I failed Apple Bloom, okay?” before closing her eyes… “I failed her…” Scootaloo shudders out while hanging her head down… Sunny glances over at Izzy, sitting on her haunches on the ground to her left and whispers, “I’m not really sure how to handle this one?” Izzy takes a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth as she closes her eyes, before opening them again, up at the pegasus and getting to her hooves and causing her long wavy mane to shake as she looks at her and says, “Scootaloo Chan! Listen to me and focus!” She trots towards the pegasus a few paces as Scootaloo stares at her with wide eyes, “You need to understand that whatever’s done is done! You also need to know that whatever you did do, I’m sure Apple Bloom understands, wherever she may be, and also, you need to honor her memory by being the best you can be!” she blinks before continuing, “You need to understand that the best way to give praise to her memory is to be your best!” Scootaloo blinks back at Izzy and frowns, “But I’m a ghost now!” Izzy nods her head and stares intently at the pegasus, “Then you should be the best ghost you can be! But you should also know that I do not believe the chicken suit is punishment for not being there, as you say…” Scootaloo blinks, “You don’t?” Izzy shakes her head and stares back at the pegasus and as her mane settles, she says bleakly, “No! Think, Scootaloo Chan! As I already said, ‘there’s nothing you could’ve done!’As such, it stands to reason that the suit must be on you for some other cause?” Scootaloo visibly frowns deeper from around her strap-on beak, “Then what could it be?” Izzy widens her eyes and leans forward slightly as she exclaims, “I don’t know?” Sunny suddenly interjects from behind Izzy, “Uh, Izzy! What was that?” Izzy looks back at Sunny from over her right shoulder, “What? Was it something I said?” Scootaloo noticeably smiles from behind her strap-on beak, “I guess uh, I guess you two are my friends, right? I guess I kinda do have a life now, even though I’m actually dead…” Izzy turns her neck back to Scootaloo, “Yes!” she nods, “And you need to use this opportunity, to be the best you can be!” Scootaloo smiles as she chuckles slightly, “Yeah! I’m sure I’ll be the best chicken-ghost around!” Izzy widens her eyes, “Well, you don’t really have a lot of competition in that department?” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “What?” Izzy smirks at the pegasus, “I’m just saying, I imagine you’re the absolute best chicken-pegasus-ghost in all of Equestria, right now, as we speak!” Scootaloo widens her eyes and grimaces under her beak a moment later, “Izzy! Knock it off!” Izzy leans forward slightly again as she widens her eyes, “What?” Sunny gets to all fours as she giggles and takes a few paces towards the pegasus on the other side of the fire, now in cinders in the little pit they made, stares at her, and asks, “Wait! So, you still went to heaven, right?” Scootaloo nods, “Right! Or Elysium, or the great beyond or, whatever you wanna call it…” Sunny nods, “Right! Well, did you meet Apple Bloom there?” Scootaloo narrows her mouth so it’s all behind her beak, “Um, well, that is to say, I uh…” and she trails off in her wording while staring blankly off to the right… Sunny stares at the pegasus intently, “What was that?” Scootaloo sighs and finally stammers out to the alicorn, “Well, not exactly…” Sunny frowns, “What do you mean?” Scootaloo giggles softly, “Heh heh, well, you see, I DO know where she is!” she nods, “I know that, but uh, well…” Sunny leans forward as the unicorn looks onward from her left, “Well, what?” Scootaloo widens her eyes when she realizes that she might as well just confess and get this over with, “Well, I haven’t spoken to Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle in about two thousand years,” she widens her eyes, “Although I know where their houses are in the afterlife!” Sunny widens her eyes when she suddenly realizes who Scootaloo is, “W-wait!” she points with her right forehoof, “You’re one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Scootaloo smiles from behind her beak, “Caught me, red hooved!” Izzy turns her neck to Sunny on her right, “Cutie Mark, what now?” Sunny excitedly looks at Izzy with wide eyes, “The Cutie Mark Crusaders! They started out as a group of three fillies, trying to find their cutie marks, and ended up being like, cutie mark consultants! It’s in the Friendship Journal!” Izzy turns her neck back to Scootaloo, “Oh wow! So, you’re famous?” Scootaloo frowns, “Well I was? Once upon a time, everypony knew who I was! These days though, they mostly just scream at me…” Izzy widens her eyes and shakes her head as she says, “Oh come on Scoots! Who’s the best chicken-ghost around?” Scootaloo grimaces and giggles slightly, “Stop it, Izzy!” Izzy smiles and shakes her head while continuing whimsically, “Come on Scoots! Who’s the best chicken-ghost around?” Scootaloo smiles again and chuckles more, “I am!” Izzy nods, “That’s right, Scoota-Chicken! You are!” Scootaloo continues to snicker slightly, “I swear, Izzy! I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but you’re gonna pay for this!” Izzy widens her red eyes to the ghostly chicken, “Oh yeah, sure! I’m shaking in my horseshoes!” she cranes her head back to Sunny on her right, “So uh, we ready to head west again now, or?” And so, at the campsite, Scootaloo detailed the awful way in which Apple Bloom died and how she passed… That she had swamp fever and that no treatment worked… That she slowly and painfully turned into a tree… She also told them about her guilt, before Izzy explained to her that it’s a terminal illness and there’s nothing she could’ve done… Scootaloo still feels some level of guilt and remorse, although she’s beginning to understand now that there was nothing she could do at the time… And so, how will she move past the tragedy now? (To be continued…)
Chapter 6: Welcome!“Scoota-chicken Chan!” Izzy says to Scootaloo as she stares at the ghost and frowns. Scootaloo is wearing her chicken costume and sitting on her haunches while leaning with her back on a tree and her head down, when she starts and screams up at Izzy, “AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!” Izzy blinks, “Um, you okay?” Scootaloo stares up at the unicorn with wide eyes, “Uh, yeah! Yes! I think so?” Izzy frowns, “Do you space out often?” Scootaloo frowns from behind her beak, “Well, yeah…” “Why is that?” Scootaloo sighs, “I just wish I wasn’t here…” “Do you not enjoy our company?” Scootaloo starts, “Well um, that is, I do, but uh…” Izzy leans forward with concern in her red eyes, “But what?” Scootaloo smiles faintly, “But well, I was finally thinking about Apple Bloom again after all this time… I bet her and Sweetie Belle know each other again, by now?” “Who can say for sure? But before you can meet her again, we have to get you back to the afterlife!” Izzy adjusts her gaze, “But uh, you’re okay, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo blinks, “Um, I think so?” Izzy tilts her head slightly to the left as she leans forward, “Because I can always make fun of you some more? If you think I need to?” Scootaloo starts again and tries to suppress a smile, “No no, Izzy! I’m good!” Izzy smiles as she straightens her neck, “You sure about that, comb-head?” Scootaloo gets to her hooves while shaking her head gently, “Positive!” Izzy raises her gaze as the pegasus rises, “Okay, beak-face! But just so you know, I’m here for you if you need anything, feather-brain!” Suddenly, an orange alicorn trots in from Izzy’s back left from the campsite behind her on the grassy fields and she looks at Izzy as she stops, just shy of her, and says, “Izzy, are you picking on poor Scootaloo again?” Izzy turns her head to the alicorn and says, “No!” At the same time Scootaloo cranes her neck to Sunny and exclaims, “Yes!” Sunny shakes her head and adjusts her gaze to both ponies before saying, “Knock it off, you two! Anyway, did you know there’s a village out here?” Izzy frowns, “How would I know? Unicorns don’t normally travel this far west.” <*****> The ponies approach an odd village with a single road leading through it and houses and shops on either side. All of the buildings are painted white, and they’re all connected in a straight line. As they approach however, everypony in town, earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all begin to scream and panic as they run for their buildings on either side of the street! “Curse marks!” Sunny hears one of them say as she trots next to Izzy, with Scootaloo at their front, still in her chicken outfit. Izzy looks to Sunny on her right with wide red eyes and asks, “Are they afraid of us? Because I think this has happened to me once before?” Sunny stares back at Izzy with her own wide cerulean eyes, “Uh, I’m not sure why?” She stops trotting and Izzy reciprocates as she looks forward and her horn begins to have a golden glow as she magically amplifies her voice, “Please come out! It is perfectly safe! We are not here to hurt you!” Scootaloo stops just 5 feet from one end of the village road as a tumbleweed blows from her left to the right and she frowns from behind her beak, when she suddenly hears a whispered attempt to get her attention from a wooden barrel with two black rings on her right, “PSST!” Went the voice. Scootaloo turns her neck that way to notice a tan earth mare with freckles and long orange mane and tail hiding behind the barrel as she leans above it and whispers louder so the pegasus can hear, “You’re fine! Your friends need to hide their curse marks! It will hex us all! Uh, why can I see right through you?” Scootaloo widens her eyes at the strange tan mare and says, “Uh, don’t worry about that! I’ll take care of it!” before Scootaloo turns her body back to the unicorn and alicorn behind her and the strange mare ducks behind the barrel and skulks off to Celestia knows where. Scootaloo takes 5 paces to meet the other two ponies, “Uh, hey girls! You gotta hide your cutie marks to be in this town!” Izzy widens her eyes and narrows her mouth, “That’s a new one!” Sunny swallows, “Really?” Scootaloo gazes off to the right before adjusting her eyes to the alicorn, “Yeah, they’re calling them curse marks and I think it’s a local superstition?” Izzy frowns, “That’s weird!” Sunny stares at Izzy on her left, “Izzy! Unicorns used to do the Bing Bong Song and Dance!” Izzy turns right to Sunny, “What’s weird about the Bing Bong song and dance routine?” <*****> As the two ponies trotted towards the village once more, now with colored construction paper on their flanks, just behind their saddlebags to cover up the remainder of their cutie marks there, they stop 20 feet from the same end of the road and Sunny, now with pink construction paper on her flanks, stares at Izzy, “Why did you bring construction paper?” Izzy, now with sky-blue construction paper on her flanks, stares back at Sunny, “Because we might need it!” Sunny narrows her eyes, “Yeah, but the odds that we’d be in any sort of scenario that needed construction paper were slim!” Izzy smiles, “But not impossible! Now we can use it cover up our awful curse marks! Aren’t you happy?” Sunny starts, “They’re not curse marks, and no silly superstition is going to change that!” Izzy blinks and frowns, “Well, you say that now?” Both ponies look back forward, towards the village and notice that it’s still empty. Sunny sighs, “Oh, they’re still hiding!” before her horn glows golden again to amplify her voice, “We have covered our curse marks! It is safe to come out now!” Suddenly a green earth stallion with a blue mane and tail opens the door to the shop on Sunny’s right, at the very edge of the street and it makes a jingle jangle noise as he releases the door with his flank and it shuts. He turns his body to the three ponies and trots to them before smiling and saying, “We understand that the heathen ponies don’t normally cover their curse marks, but you see, you need to keep them covered while here in our happy village!” He eyes the two living ponies carefully before raising his head and shouting, “It’s alright! They covered their curse marks!” Then, everypony else in town starts to clamor out of their respective buildings and hiding places to reveal a bustling village just full of activity! The ponies begin to approach Sunny and Izzy with smiles on their happy faces! Izzy suddenly realizes that she doesn’t see Scootaloo anywhere when a pink earth mare with a blond mane and tail smiles at her and says, “Welcome to Our Town!” (To be continued…)
Chapter 7: ManifestoThe strange clear pegasus waved her little wings in their white costume up and down while saying in a faux dramatic voice, “I am a ghost, and I am cursed!” The orange mare in the bed with a red mane, looks up from the pillow of her bed at the strange sight before her when she widens her blue eyes and says, “Why are you in my room? And why are you wearing a chicken costume!” Scootaloo flaps her little wings more and says in a louder voice, “I am the Ghost of Cutie Mark Abuse and I have come to give you a warning! The marks are not cursed and are meant to be seen!” she flaps her wings some more, “Ooooo! You will listen to me, Augusta Hoofmyer, and allow ponies in this village to show their cutie marks!” “That doesn’t answer my question!” The mare exclaims before she looks intently at the pegasus and frowns as she begins to grow visibly paler, “W-wait! I can see right through you!” Scootaloo flaps her little wings severely at the other pony, “Yes! Because I am a ghost and am warning you not to make the same mistake I once did! Let ponies show their cutie marks! Ooooo!” Augusta blinks, “You mean, curse marks? Those are awful and if we could just figure out a way to keep them from showing up during puberty or maybe just take them off somehow, like the Great Magenta Pony used to do, that would be wonderful!” “NOOOOO!!!! These marks are an important part of who ponies are and you shouldn’t hide them anymore!” The mare narrows her eyes, “Won’t other ponies hate and fear me if I don’t cover up the horrible blemishes on my flanks?” Scootaloo widens her eyes when she realizes she’s losing her, and she flaps her wings once more for dramatic effect before saying, “Those marks make each pony special! They are meant to be seen!” she trails off as she continues, “Meant to be seen!” The mare frowns at the ghost, “But the ponies here are civilized and we understand how important it is to keep those marks to ourselves! They have no place in society, where everypony is equal!” “But they do!” Scootaloo tries her best to sound dramatic and serious. “Why are you wearing a chicken costume?” “I ugh!” Scootaloo chokes before regaining her composure, “I once hid who I was and what made me special, and wearing this suit is my punishment!” She tries her best to make her voice sound ethereal for her outro, “Don’t make the same mistake I did! BLEH!” Before she backs out of the room, so her incorporeal body goes out through the door. <*****> Scootaloo stands in the middle of the room after trotting in (literally) through the door and whispers to Sunny sleeping on the right edge of the bed in front of her, “PSST!” Sunny, who wasn’t asleep, opens her eyes and raises her head to stare at the ghostly pegasus before saying lowly, “What did the mayor say?” Scootaloo widens her eyes and says from behind her beak, “I think she understands, now?” Izzy stirs on Sunny’s other side before laying on her left side and looking at the alicorn, “Huh? What?” Sunny widens her eyes before looking up and saying back to Izzy, “None of this is actually happening! This is all a dream! Go back to sleep, Izzy!” Izzy frowns, “Oh, good! For a minute there, I thought you were trying to use Scootaloo to convince the mayor to allow everypony to show their horrible curse marks!” she smiles, and breaths relieved through her mouth, “But well, we wouldn’t want that!” Sunny rolls her eyes and says under her breath, “They’re not curse marks!” Izzy grins wider, “Tell them that! He he!” Sunny grimaces as the pegasus looks onward and frowns. Scootaloo asks Sunny, “Uh, what should I do now?” Sunny looks back at Scootaloo frantically, “Uh, you just hide for now! Keep your eyes and ears open in town to see what’s going on, though!” Scootaloo sighs and nods, “Uh, right!” Sunny adjusts her forehooves underneath her pillow and closes her eyes once again to get some rest… <*****> A knock is heard on the door to Sunny and Izzy’s room when Sunny opens her eyes towards the door and says, “Hang on!” before getting to her hooves on the floor and turning her body right and trotting that way towards the door, prior to opening it to the left with her mouth. She looks at the orange mare with the red mane and tail and freckles behind the door and says, “Good morning, mayor!” The mayor smiles, “Greetings Sunny!” she frowns, “Uh, please just call me Augusta! We’re friends now! I trust you rested well.” She smiles, “Now it’s time for breakfast and we can talk to you more about our way of life!” Sunny looks up and says, “Hey Izzy! She’s back!” Izzy stirs on her left side in the bed as she blearily opens her eyes, “Huh? What? Can I wake up now?” Sunny widens her eyes when she thinks about the events of earlier this morning and she stares forward blankly while saying, “Yes Izzy! It’s time for breakfast!” <*****> Augusta smiles at the two ponies from the other side of her polished wooden table from behind her two biscuits and gravy, while Izzy hungrily devours her food with her blue magic and the orange alicorn looks onward and the ginger mare explains, “You see, I found a lockbox with some old books inside. All of these books were the same manifesto that had been written by the Great Magenta Pony long ago! They told me about how my marks are evil and how they shouldn’t even be on me!” she gives a resigned sigh, “Unfortunately until one of us can come up with a way to remove them like they once did here in ancient times, we can only cover them and hope their influence is weak enough to not cause other ponies to hate us!” Sunny frowns, “But we show our cutie marks in the east and ponies don’t usually hate us?” Augusta smiles at Sunny, “Are you sure about that? They probably all hate you secretly, you know?” Sunny narrows her mouth and widens her eyes, “Uh, why would they hate me in secret? I mean, if they don’t like me, why even come around?” Augusta narrows her eyes, “Well, how would you know? Who’s to say why they would keep coming around? Ponies do LOVE to hate, after all!” Sunny frowns, “L-love to hate?” “Of course! Ponies who flaunt are horrible and they ALL do it where you’re from! Please Sunny! Allow us to show you why you need to protect yourself better!” Izzy continues to scarf floating biscuit number 4 while Sunny stares onward and says, “Flaunt? What do you mean, flaunt?” Augusta lowers her shoulders and her gaze, “Well, ponies who show their cutie marks are clearly just trying to prove they’re better than everypony else!” She raises her gaze and widens her eyes, “It’s all explained in the manifesto! Please, before you continue, won’t you read it?” Sunny continues frowning, “Uh, sure Miss Hoofmyer!” Augusta leans forward as she continues to smile, “Just call me Augusta, please!! We’re friends now and we don’t need such formalities!” “Uh, right! Sorry, Augusta! I uh, need some juice I think?” Sunny turns her head left to the unicorn, “Uh, Izzy?” Izzy is just now swallowing her last bite when she happily licks her lips and stares at Sunny with wide red eyes, and says, “Uh, yeah Sunny?” “I think I should study this manifesto from ancient times. Uh, will you be okay, without me?” Izzy smiles and nods, “Oh, sure! I mean, maybe there’s a craft store or somewhere I can get supplies to make something neat?” Augusta raises her chin at the unicorn, “Remember that if you do anything special or unique, to hide it so that other ponies won’t think you’re just showing off!” Izzy turns her head to the orange mare and frowns, “Uh, what do you mean?” Augusta shakes her head before staring back at Izzy intently, “Oh, you heathens! We’re all equal here! So, you can’t be different as differences only cause problems!” Izzy blinks and frowns, “I uh, what?” Augusta nods her head, “Yes, dear sweet Izzy! It’s all in the manifesto! I’ve had new copies printed and I invite you both to read it now and learn the error of your ways!” <*****> Izzy stands to the left of the door and stares at Sunny on the other side with wide eyes, “Strange how the mayor insisted we go back to our rooms after breakfast?” she blinks and raises her head, so her fluffy mane falls from her face, “Well, at least she provided reading material?” Sunny breaths in and out through her nose before glancing towards the door on her right, “I’m actually more concerned about how she locked the door from the outside after we both came in…” Izzy turns her head right to face the window as a striped glow visibly shows on her face now, “Yeah, and the windows are barred too!” she widens her eyes and turns her head back to Sunny, “Uh, you don’t suppose we’re prisoners here, do you?” Sunny puts on the fakest smile in Equestrian history before giggling nervously and saying, “NAW! They definitely wouldn’t be doing something like that!” she widens her eyes, “Uh, r-right?” (To be continued…)
Chapter 8: Locked UpSunny read the manifesto very carefully, as she sat there on the floor on her haunches, while Izzy used her magic to manipulate a green tennis ball in the air as she stared at it floating there, around in circles at first, and then, she started to move it back and forth, side to side, as Sunny eyed the ancient words with diligence… Sunny finally raises her head to speak, “Huh? Well, it says here that cutie marks lead to specialdifferences between ponies, and that these differences only cause problems. The truth is, we can only be actually happy and have true friendship if we’re all equal?” Izzy watched the tennis ball floating in the air while she manipulated it with her magic as she mumbled, “Oh? That’s nice!” Sunny looks back down at the book before her, “Yeah, but here’s the weird thing! It never mentions curse marks, and so I guess Augusta just added that part?” Izzy smiles while continuing to stare up at the ball, floating diagonally now and says, “Oh! Like she wanted to get in on it and made some adjustments of her own, to the philosophy! Yeah! Makes sense!” while never taking her eyes off the ball… Sunny stares forward with wide eyes, “Wow! Uh, yeah, Izzy! That’s probably what happened!” Izzy starts to move the ball up and down while her eyes continue to follow it, “Right! So, all we gotta do is just wait for Scootaloo to get back and she can help us escape!” Sunny nods, “Well, right! She knows where our room is, and she’ll eventually wonder why we never came out! Good thinking Izzy! Uh, how exactly can she help us escape?” Izzy throws her forehooves up to her sides while moving the ball in a vertical circle, “I have no idea!” and then, lowering them back to her sides, all the while continuing to stare at the tennis ball. Sunny narrows her eyes and groans, “UGH! This is so frustrating! If only we had some way of talking to other ponies outside of this room!” Izzy starts moving the ball in horizontal circles and spinning it as fast as her magic can make it, so it forms a shaped blur of sorts in the air, “Yeah! Like an intercom system so our Dark Master can talk to her new recruits and see how they’re doing!” “Izzy, uhh…” Izzy nods her head and continues, “Right! And whenever it’s not being used for communication, it could play funky brainwashing recordings and stuff like that!” Sunny snaps the unicorn back to reality, “Izzy! Don’t give them any ideas!” Suddenly, there’s a knock on the door when it opens to reveal a smiling orange earth mare with freckles and a reddish mane and tail with two burly earth stallions on either side, the one to the left is green with a black mane and the one to the right is red with a tan mane. She cheerfully raises her chin to speak, “Hello, you two! Sorry for locking you in like that, but we need to be safe and to protect you!” Izzy starts to slow the ball down as she begins to move it in a more vertical circle and smiles as she exclaims, “Oh, thanks so much for protecting us mayor!” Sunny is now gazing her head turned right with her wide green eyes as she inquisitively asks, “Protect us? Protect us from what?” “Why, the Evil Pony, of course!” Sunny frowns, “Evil Pony?” Augusta nods her head, “Mhm! I read about him in another ancient manuscript! His name used to be Stygius before his hatred overtook him and then he became a pony of shadows! We just call him the Evil Pony and know not to be out during certain times!” “Uh, what happens during those times?” “The Evil Pony will lurk our very city streets, hunting for prey to transform into a pony of shadows, like him!” Izzy quickly floats her ball down to the floor and turns her head turned left at the mayor and frowns, “Oh? Well, what would be so bad about that?” Sunny widens her eyes as she turns her head slightly to the right towards the unicorn, “Izzy!” Izzy blinks, “No, I mean, just think about it! You’d get to be a Pony of Shadows and could probably do neat stuff, like go through walls, invade ponies’ dreams, and shapeshift! I’m not sure how that would be bad exactly?” Augusta frowns at the unicorn, “Well, I can assure you that it would be very bad!” she smiles again, “Now, we’ll just lock you back up here to keep you safe! We wouldn’t want him to catch you!” The door abruptly shuts after she raises her right hoof to the edge, and both ponies soon hear the telltale click of the lock from the outside. Izzy sighs and says, “I’m so glad she’s protecting us!” Sunny lowly says, “You know there’s no Evil Pony, right?” Izzy giggles slightly, “Well, duh! He only comes out every 666th full moon to feast upon the flesh of the living! But not a moment sooner!” Sunny widens her eyes, “What?” “What?” Sunny lowers her brows, “Izzy, stop it! We need a plan to get out of here!” Izzy turns her head to face forward, towards her side of the room when she says, “Scoots! She’s gone! You can come out now!” Scootaloo suddenly materializes right in front of Sunny, startling the young alicorn, “ACK!” and causing her to jolt back and knocking Izzy forward somewhat as the unicorn giggles. She widens her eyes and says to the orange mare while smiling, “Hiya Sunny! There’re freedom fighters in the next building! You’re gonna be okay!” Sunny narrows her eyes and mutters to herself, “One more! Just one more surprise today, and OH! They’ll be sorry!” Scootaloo leans forward as she asks inquisitively, “Uh, what was that Sunny?” Sunny looks up at Scootaloo, “Uh, nothing! Anyway, what’s this about freedom fighters?” Scootaloo nods her head, “Uh, right! Izzy!” Izzy remains silent and motionless as she stares at the wall in a sort of trance. Scootaloo repeats herself, “Izzy!” Izzy says robotically, “There’s a loose slat on that wall there. Inside is something that will help us escape!” Scootaloo stands there on her hooves, wide-eyed and stunned, “H-how did you know?” Izzy smiles, “Well, if you look at the gaps between the wooden slats, they’re all spaced the same distance apart, except, “she points at one slat with her right forehoof, “that one right there!” she frowns, “The only real problem is, we need something to wedge it apart, so the slat moves out of our way!” Sunny stares ahead blankly, “Like the doorstopper that’s sitting on the far corner from me?” Izzy normalizes her mouth while continuing to speak mechanically, “Yeah! That would probably work! We should at least give that a shot, I would think?” “Well, right! So, we’re going to give that a try!” Izzy nods her head, “Indeed! We’re going to try to push the slat off the wall using the doorstopper!” “Right!” Sunny nods, “So, you’ll do it?” Izzy blinks, “Well, you also have magic, Miss Alicorn! I mean, you could try, if you want?” Sunny then gives a small smile of frustration as she calmly says, “Izzy! Would you please try to use the doorstopper to force the slat off the wall, so we can see what’s inside?” Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh! Well, why didn’t you just say so?” before getting to her hooves and turning her body right to turn her head further that way and force the dark gray wedge-shaped door stopper there to glow blue and float across the room, right to left of Izzy. Izzy turns her body left to stare at the wall there and she squints her eyes as she forces the door stopper to go end first on its side, into the slightly wider crack between two slats, and then, she starts moving the glowing stopper left and right to see if either slat will move. Soon, the slat to the left starts to give way and open out before falling to the floor with a loud clack. Izzy looks up at her handiwork, “Got it!” Sunny is staring at the open hole from behind Izzy when she says, “Well, what’s in there?” Izzy stares wide-eyed, “I don’t know? I can’t really see from this distance! Uh, let me walk to it and find out!” before trotting that direction as her fluffy mane moves back and forth with her body. She leans her face close to the hole and sees the other building across the street from the house when suddenly a familiar violet eye stares back at her while the owner says calmly to her, “This is Snow! Uh, remember how we met the other day?” Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh, hi Snow! I always wanted to know! Why aren’t you named Snowy?” The purple eye enlarges itself, “W-what?” Izzy raises her head, “Well, I was thinking about it and your sisters' names are Cloudy, Stormy, and Rainy! Why doesn’t your name also end with a y? And also, shouldn’t there be another weather sister named Sunny?” “I’m Sunny!” Says the orange alicorn behind her as she ruffles her wings, “And who are you talking to?” Izzy turns her head to the right to talk to Sunny as she smiles, “Oh, it’s Snow from the Weather Sisters! She’s about to blast open the wall of this house and we really need to stand on the other side of the room now, so we don’t get hurt!” The purple eye is super wide as the voice from outside asks, “H-how did you know?” Izzy stares back, “Simple, Snow Sama! You see, if you intended to rescue us covertly, there would be no reason to speak with us first! However, since you are talking to me now, that must mean you need to tell us something. Now since you’re revolutionaries, that would imply that you need to make a statement or a point.” She smiles, “You gotta admit, explosives would be a loud and expressive way to do that!” The purple eye moves left and right as Snow shakes her head outside, “Right! Well, listen Izzy! I’m going to set the timer for two minutes! You and Sunny need to be on the other side of the room, with your ears down to your heads and your eyes closed, so you don’t get hurt when the bomb goes off. After it blasts, you two need to high-tail it east to our campsite in the forest that way! We have a lookout to signal you out there, already, so if you just run out that way, she’ll see you coming!” She narrows her eyes, “We have plans, but we need you two to pull it off!” Izzy nods, “Of course, Snow Sama! Otherwise, you’d have no reason to rescue us!” Sunny is now standing to the right of Scootaloo near the opposite wall with her body turned Izzy’s direction as she says, “Izzy, we need to talk to you about breaking the fourth wall later, but right now, you need to be on this side of the room!” Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh, right! There’s a big bomb on this end!” before turning her body and trotting over next to Sunny while playfully giggling to herself. They both hear Snow on the other side of the wall, “Okay, two minutes girls! Close your ears and eyes so you don’t get hurt! Then, run as fast as you can to the east!” Izzy exclaims, “Right!” as Sunny already cowers low to the other direction, with her wings covering up her back and her ears closed on her head while Scootaloo simply disappears through the wall there. Izzy crouches next to Sunny and brings her own ears in and closes her eyes while happily singing, “Waiting for the bomb to go off! Not much longer now! It’s gonna make a big boom! We need to start running after the big kapow! Yay!” Sunny can only crouch there with her eyes closed as she tries not to giggle at the absurd lyrics she can barely hear through her overlapped ears. Suddenly, both ponies begin to hear a louder and more reverberating tick tick tick, noise, while they wait for what will happen next… (To be continued…)
Chapter 9: Curse MarksWhat happened in the next three seconds is as follows: a hole in the far wall from Sunny and Izzy forms suddenly as fragments of it are blown across the room towards the two ponies. They feel small pieces of debris flying past their bodies as a loud reverberating BOOM is heard, even from underneath their closed ears. Sunny opens her eyes blearily to see the hazy form of a lavender earth mare on her left outside the new hole, motioning for her to follow with her right forehoof. She believes the mare is shouting something but cannot hear it due to the deafening ringing in her ears. She unsteadily rises back up to her hooves and shouts, “WHAT?” at the new mare. The new mare’s long blond mane streaks behind her in it’s big single ponytail, above her back as she hurriedly trots into the room to the other side of Sunny and lowers her neck to start nudging and shoving her towards the new exit. At that point, Sunny starts and snaps to when she remembers that she’s in the middle of a daring escape! She begins trotting out, causing the new pony to stumble and fall, face-first into the floor as her rump leaves the space she was pushing on! She shouts, “SORRY!” super loud as she continues to trot outside and squats to take off, before she recalls her blue friend, and turns just in time for Izzy to smash into her face! Izzy scrunches her nose with the impact before shouting, “OW!” Sunny can make out the new mare shouting something unintelligible from behind the unicorn, just over the ringing in her ears as she turns and begins trotting out the door… Sunny sees the new lilac mare gallop up to her left side as her blond mane falls over the left side of her back in it’s ponytail and motion for her to follow her down an alleyway across the street with her right forehoof, slightly to the left of an adjacent off-white building and so, Sunny turns and starts dashing that direction. All three ponies run past buildings on either side of them as they exit the town in full gallop towards the wide-open pasture that direction, nestled neatly in between the mountains as they all head east, towards the forest that direction, now visible lowly in the horizon with many lush green trees over darkness underneath. Sunny continues to run that way as adrenaline begins to charge her legs and she breathes heavily in and out of her mouth, all in the name of escaping the insane cutie mark cult… <*****> The ponies trot into the forest and begin following a long trail, deeper into the woods as they see thick dark-green trees on either side of them while heading down the path… Sunny on the right and Izzy at the other side, with the new lavender mare trotting ahead. Sunny finally raises her chin to speak to the new pony, “So, what’s your name?” The mare smiles while continuing to trot ahead of the two mares and says, “Call me, Solar Flare!” Izzy smiles and nods, “Okay, so it’s like a sun thing, or?” “Well, my cutie mark is the bright sun illuminating everything! So, bringing things out of the shadows is kinda my thing!” Sunny looks at the new mare, “Oh, okay! So that’s why you want ponies in the village to be able to show their cutie marks!” Solar nods, “Right! I want them to stop wearing those ridiculous patches and stupid designer saddlebags, and just see each other for who they are and accept it!” she adjusts her gaze forward, “What’s your names?” Izzy perks up wide-eyed at the mare upfront, “Designer saddlebags?” Sunny says, “Well, I’m Sunny Starscout and this is my best friend, Izzy Moonbow!” Izzy shakes her head, “Oh uh,” before raising her neck to the new mare and shouting, “HIIII!!!” Solar smiles and giggles, “Hi, Izzy!” Sunny frowns, “Uh, how many revolutionaries do you have, anyway?” Solar normalizes her mouth as she keeps her gaze forward, to the encroaching forest, “Including you two now, I got three!” Sunny starts, “W-wait! So, you’re the only revolutionary?” Solar stammers out, “No! I have you two, now!” Sunny grimaces and mutters to herself, “You know, just in case the whole zebra thing wasn't already hopeless enough!” Solar starts and asks, “What was that?” Sunny looks up before the three ponies and says, “Oh, nothing! Uh, how deep into the woods is your campsite, anyway?” <*****> The ponies all stand in a small clearing in the thick forest. Sunny is standing just beyond Izzy on the left while Solar Flare stands on the other side, with a blue lean-to tent behind her and a pale green two-pony tent just beyond all three ponies towards more trees, shrouded in darkness. She smiles and says, “Well, you can crash in the lean-to behind me! The mosquitos have all went south this time of year, although we’ll probably want a bug net later?” Sunny widens her eyes as she asks, “Wait, so what are we doing again?” Izzy turns her head left to Sunny, “We’re trying to get the village to see the joy of having cutie marks, rather than shun them, Sunny San!” Sunny narrows her eyes as she turns her head left to the unicorn, “Wait! Why is this whole showing cutie marks thing, even important? Shouldn’t we be heading further west now, to help out poor Scootaloo?” Suddenly, a clear burnt orange pegasus in a chicken costume materializes just beyond Solar Flare, to the right of the blue tent. Scootaloo looks at Sunny and says, “Izzy is right! We have to get these ponies to see that who they are is important and that they should be celebrating that and not hiding it!” Solar starts and turns to the right while widening her green eyes, “You’re clear! I can see right through you!” Scootaloo turns her neck further right to the earth mare, “That’s right! And you’re opaque! I can’t see through you!” Solar blinks, “Uh, why can I see through you?” Scootaloo frowns, “That’s weird!” Solar shakes her head, “W-what?” Scootaloo raises her beak, “Well, usually they ask about the transparency and the chicken costume at the same time, but you haven’t even mentioned my beak and feathers?” Solar frowns, “I was getting there!” Izzy widens her eyes and decides to resolve the situation by saying to Solar, “Okay, don’t freak out! She’s not going to hurt you! But Scootaloo here is a ghost!” Solar widens her eyes again and screams, “AAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!” Scootaloo starts, “Stop it! Why are you screaming?” Solar stops yelling and blinks while breathing frantically from her mouth to look forward with wide eyes and says hysterically, “Well, you’re a ghost!” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “Yeah, and Izzy told you that I’m not gonna hurt you!” she nods, “Which is true! So uh, what are you even afraid of?” Solar frowns again, “Well, you’re a ghost!” Scootaloo grimaces, “Yeah, but if I’m not gonna hurt you, what are you really afraid of?” Solar leans towards the pegasus slightly, “I don’t know? I mean, what if you imprison me forever or make me insane or something?” Izzy turns her neck to Scootaloo, “Can ghosts do that?” Solar turns to Izzy, “I don’t know! Do you?” Scootaloo shakes her head before adjusting her gaze to the pink earth mare again, “Okay, look! I’m not going to affect you negatively in any way, shape, or form! How’s that?” Solar breaths heavily in and out of her mouth for a moment before saying, “Uh, better!” Izzy narrows her red eyes to the lavender pony before finally saying, “Being on your own like this, must make you paranoid?” Solar turns back to the unicorn quickly, “Well, it’s been about seven months?” Sunny says, “Geez! Didn’t you try to recruit other ponies from the village to your cause?” Solar says, “Well, yeah! But the brainwashing is very strong and uh, other ponies aren’t very reliable for help I don’t think, and so, “she widens her eyes, “I’ve had nopony but myself to talk to for seven whole months!” she narrows her eyes again and breaths through her mouth, “Honestly, I think I’m holding up okay?” before smiling nervously. Izzy turns her neck towards Sunny as the alicorn says, “Look! Showing your cutie mark or whatever, isn’t really THAT important and we really need to be heading west, now!” Scootaloo takes a long breath in through her nose and breathes out of her mouth slowly and gradually before staring at the alicorn and saying, “Sunny… It’s important…” Sunny widens her eyes at the pegasus, “How? Why?” Scootaloo frowns, “Do you know what it’s like to not know who you are and to have all of that hidden underneath?” she raises her gaze, “Because I do… Who these ponies are is important and they should be able to show that to the world!” Sunny frowns as she blinks and gulps, “Um, okay Scootaloo… If it’s really that important, we can stop and help out Solar here!” Solar jumps up and down, “Yay! We can have a sleepover and cook smores and…” Sunny widens her eyes at the earth mare, “Wait! Sleepover? Smores? I thought we were revolutionaries?” Solar grimaces as her mouth curves, “It’s been seven months!” Izzy turns her head left towards the alicorn, “She’s got a point?” Sunny just shakes her head as a slow grin forms on her face, “Sure! Why not!” <*****> The ponies are all sitting around the campfire eating smores with their hooves under the starry night sky in the wooded clearing, except Izzy holding hers in a blue glow just to her left, while Sunny sits on her right and they face the mad lavender mare from beyond the fire. Sunny finishes chewing her first bite before lowering the morsel with her forehooves and saying to Solar, “So, what’s the plan to get ponies to show their cutie marks?” Solar lowers her own food, “Okay, so! We trot into town! And then, we tell everypony it’s okay to show their cutie marks!” Sunny narrows her eyes, “Wait, so you don’t really have a plan, either?” Izzy turns her head right towards Sunny and says, “Well, it sounds pretty solid to me?” Sunny sighs and stares at Solar, “Look! You need to understand that we have to undo some programming here! We should probably use something dramatic?” Scootaloo smiles from where she’s standing on the right, “Dramatic, huh? How about a ghost?” Sunny turns her gaze to the spirit, “Actually, that’s not a bad idea?” Scootaloo raises her gaze, “Okay, but can we please come up with a better idea than, The Ghost of Cutie Mark Abuse this time?” Izzy stares at Scootaloo's direction, “The what?” Sunny frowns and widens her eyes, “Uh, right! Of course!” <*****> “Okay uh,” the clear pegasus looks at Solar on her right as they both stand inside the clocktower, “You say they’ll all come out soon?” Solar nods at the pegasus, “Right! Everypony gets off work at exactly five o’clock, to be fair. And that’s when you give the speech!” Scootaloo gulps, “Uh, right! The speech!” Sunny says from behind Scootaloo, “And I’ll use my magic to amplify your voice to make sure everypony hears you!” she blinks, “You know what to say?” Scootaloo narrows her eyes, “Actually, I think I do!” before turning her body towards the circular staircase on her right, leading up the tower. Izzy smiles from the left of the staircase, “Go on Scoots! No problem!” <*****> Scootaloo stood there on the balcony, in her white chicken outfit, as she trotted forward with her hooves and her little wings at her side, also in the chicken suit… She took a long breath, in and out through her nose before the clock tower suddenly blared, DING DING DING DING DING! 5 times in rapid succession and she began to see the various shops open as ponies of various colors and races began to exit in a small throng on the only road in town… The clear pegasus speaks up noisily as Sunny’s magic loudens her voice from the first story, “HEAR ME, OH PONIES OF THIS TOWN!” she lowers her gaze and clears her throat before continuing at a somewhat lower volume, “Listen! I lived the first part of my life, not knowing who I was or what I was supposed to do! I wanted that mark, because I knew that that would be a sign or signal, I could use to help me!” she smiles, “It told me who I was and what made me special and I cherish that part of myself and don’t want to cover that up!” she lowers her grin somewhat, “And you shouldn’t either! Learn to cherish the things that make you special and celebrate your differences! Don’t cover that up!” she breathes out her nose and grins broadly once more, “Everypony is great in their own way!” A green pegasus mare with a blond mane looks to the right while standing on the road and exclaims, “She’s right! Covering up our cutie marks is stupid!” A yellow earth stallion with a wavy blue mane turns his chin towards the mare who just shouted, “Yeah, this is dumb!” Suddenly, a familiar tan mare with a red mane and tail and freckles looks up at the clocktower, “Wait! But those marks are cursed and bring nothing but misery! The ancient wisdom said so!” Scootaloo starts and looks down at Augusta standing there in the road, “Just because something was from a long time ago, doesn’t make it true and correct! Once upon a time, ponies thought the world was flat!” Augusta squints her eyes when she realizes she’s seen this figure before, when suddenly, her face grows pale, “Hey! Aren’t you the Ghost of Cutie Mark Abuse?” Scootaloo can’t help but chuckle at how ridiculous their original plan was as she adjusts her gaze to the earth mare, “Sorry if I lied, Augusta… I’m clear and you can see through me, and so I tried to trick you into doing the right thing…” Augusta and most of the other ponies widen their eyes as the mayor asks, “Why are you clear?” Scootaloo shakes her head and adjusts her gaze back to everypony standing below, “Never mind that! That’s not important!” she breathes through her mouth, before eyeing the tan mayor below, “Why do you want to hide your cutie mark?” Augusta frowns, “W-what do you mean?” Scootaloo looks sternly at the tan mare, “I’m over two-thousand years old Augusta… That gives you a lot of time to think… It’s obvious that there’s something about your cutie mark that disturbs you, otherwise you wouldn’t want to cover it up so badly…” Augusta grows visibly more annoyed as her body shakes and she grimaces up at the orange pegasus before finally sighing and turning her neck to her back right flank and using her left foreleg to remove the square white patch she had stuck to her side, to reveal a cutie mark featuring a yellow pony in a green dress, dancing and having a good time as everypony around her gawks and gasps… She sighs, “My cutie mark is about dancing… That has nothing to do with being a mayor, and so, I felt I should hide it…” Scootaloo says, “But why hide it? That’s part of who you are?” Augusta looks back up to the strange chicken-pegasus on the clocktower, “But I’m the mayor! I’m not supposed to dance or party! That’s not what I do!” Scootaloo frowns, “Just because you’re into dancing, doesn’t mean you can’t also be the mayor? Both of these things make up who you are!” she smiles, “Be proud of that, Augusta the dancer!” A pink unicorn mare shouts from Augusta’s right, “Yeah, and maybe not make us cover our cutie marks, just because you’re confused? If you need help, we’re all right here, you know?” A blue pegasus stallion with an orange mane says from behind the tan mare, “We’re friends, right?” Augusta Hoofmyer can only stand there, dumbfounded at the spectral pegasus in her chicken outfit as she frowns and looks down with her eyes, “Alright, fine!” she adjusts her gaze back up the clocktower, “If it’s really that important, we can all show our curse marks!” Scootaloo smiles, “Yeah, and one more thing! They’re called cutie marks! Not curse marks!” before vanishing in front of everypony, seemingly into nothingness. Augusta suddenly widens her blue eyes as she suddenly thinks that maybe she should honor her word, as she really doesn’t want to mess with anything like that… <*****> The trio of ponies trot forward, through the tan earthen canyon on the far side of the mountain pass, with Scootaloo upfront and Izzy in tow on the left, and Sunny to the right. They see the large imposing rock walls on either side, with their granite exterior and something far ahead, past the canyon as well. Izzy chimes up, “Hey, any idea what’s beyond this canyon?” Sunny looks at Izzy on her left, “No! And the villagers weren’t much help, either!” she adjusts her gaze forward, “What lies beyond is a complete mystery, I’m afraid!” “Oh, this sounds fun!” Izzy happily exclaims while bouncing to cause her long wavy blue mane to shake and vibrate! (To be continued…)
Chapter 10: Jessi TrotskyIzzy watched the passing rock wall on their right, 30 feet up in the air as they trotted through the forest and observed it with wide-open red eyes, when suddenly an unknown voice hoarsely yells, “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!” and Izzy stops trotting and turns her head forward to behold the little green unicorn as her grayish-white wavy mane shook on her head and lightly tickled her shoulders as she lowered her head and the 4.5-inch horn on her head began to glow blue and a small light blue shield formed in front of her and she lowers her head and begins to visibly quiver before the blue unicorn on the right and the orange alicorn opposite to her in the forested area, with many pine and birch trees surrounding the dusty dirt trail. “Hiii!” Izzy shouts as she leans forward gleefully and the alicorn at her side widens her own cerulean eyes. “You’re gonna eat me or beat me up and leave me for dead or beat me up and then eat me, as my meat will be tender!” shouted the terrified foal in her raspy voice. Izzy starts and withdraws her head as she frowns, “Huh? Uh, no? Why would I do that?” The foal raises her head and opens her wide orange eyes to see the two ponies standing on the other side of the trail, “Uh, I don’t know you! Therefore, you clearly mean me harm!” Izzy widens her eyes while the alicorn looks over at her, “Uh, why would I hurt you? I don’t even know you!” The filly frowns with a glint in her left eye and she says, “I’m Jessi! Jessi Trotsky!” Izzy then loudly exclaims, “Oh, hi Jessi! I’m Izzy and this, “she glances at the orange pony on her right, “is Sunny!” she perks up as her mane vibrates, “Say hi to Jessi, Sunny!” Sunny brings her mouth to the back of her face as she’s not sure what to say at first before stammering out, “Uh, hiya Jessi!” Jessi visibly perks up and smiles as she says, “There! Now we’re not strangers anymore, so you’re not gonna eat me!” her eyes widen, “Hiya Sunny and Izzy!” Sunny frowns as she widens her eyes again, “We weren’t going to eat you before!” Izzy glances at the orange pony on her right and whispers, “Shh! She doesn’t know that!” Sunny whispers back out the left corner of her mouth, “Shut up, Izzy!” Jessi giggles and smiles as she tilts her little head to the left and her mane goes down further that direction while the mane on the other side raises. Sunny glances back at the filly, “Hey, Jessi! Where do you live?” Jessi starts, fixes her neck, and says, “Well, I live further into the forest! Tanglewood Forest is my home!” she smiles. Sunny frowns, “Tanglewood Forest? Uh, do you live in a village of unicorns?” Jessi nods, “Yeah! My home is on the edge of town, which is good because nopony knows you yet!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Right! They uh, need to know us first, I guess?” “Hey, no problem, strange, winged unicorn lady!” “Uh, just Sunny is fine!” Jessi enlarges her pupils as she giggles and says, “Okay, Strange Sunny Unicorn Lady!” Izzy turns her head right to Sunny and nods, “I like her!” Sunny raises her eyes skyward and says, “Oh geez!” under her breath… Jessi leans forward with wide eyes and says, “Well, hey! Since we’re all friends now, or whatever, you wanna come to my place and we’ll play games and eat popcorn and watch movies?” Izzy smiles, “That sounds fun!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Uh, Scootaloo? You here?” Suddenly, an incorporeal burnt orange pegasus in a chicken costume materializes out of thin air to Sunny’s right and says in her own croaky voice, “Ugh! Yeah, I see you met somepony new but uh, “she turns to the filly and widens her eyes while calmly saying, “Okay Jessi! I’m a ghost, but I swear, I’m not going to hurt you!” Jessi starts as she widens her eyes and says, “Oh? Cool!” and looks down to Scootaloo’s orange forelegs and up her body before asking, “Why are you in a chicken costume?” Scootaloo scratches the back of her neck with her right forehoof in it’s orange covering before lowering it to the ground and stammering, “Uh, it’s a long story!” Jessi frowns, “I bet you died in the chicken costume, right?” she nods while staring at the spirit, “Yup! You died that way, and now you’re doomed to be a chicken-pegasus ghost for all eternity, or whatever!” Scootaloo can only stare at this filly dumbfounded as she stutters, “Uh, yeah! Kinda sorta like that! Um, “she frowns, “you jump to conclusions a lot?” “Eh!” Jessi shrugs, “It’s just how my mind is!” Izzy turns her head right to Sunny again and whispers, “I like her a lot!” as Sunny can only stare onward at this deranged little unicorn filly… “Hey!” Scootaloo furrows her brow, “Why aren’t you afraid of me?” Jessi widens her eyes, “Oh, well I just heard my new friend Sunny here call you, and so that makes me think that you’re probably cool! And uh, “she looks down and back up at Scootaloo, “so far, so good!” she bounces causing her mane to vibrate as she leans forward slightly and smiles, “What’s your name?” “Uh, I’m Scootaloo!” “Okay!” Jessi nods. She turns her body to address everypony else, “So uh, let’s all go to my place!” she turns her neck left towards Scootaloo, “Sorry, but I don’t have any ghost popcorn or any ghost Ipsi Cola. You can’t have any sodas or snacks I’m afraid…” Scootaloo grins and chuckles, “That’s fine! Just not being alone after two thousand years is good enough!” Jessi widens her eyes, “Two thousand years! That’s a long time! What were you doing for two thousand years?” Scootaloo frowns, “Well, mostly, just chilling in the afterlife! Uh, when Sunny here became an alicorn, that brought me back to Equestria!” Jessi turns her head right to Sunny, “Wait! So funky winged unicorns don’t just occur naturally? Equestria? Oh wow! I learned about that place to the east in my history class!” she nods, “You know, that’s where unicorns are supposedly from!” she widens her eyes, “Nopony really knows for sure though!” Izzy widens her eyes, “Oh wow! That’s where my hometown of Bridlewood Forest is!” Jessi blinks, “Makes sense! Considering almost every unicorn village I’ve ever seen is set up in a forest!” Sunny then looks at Jessi, “Are there any zebras out here?” Jessi looks back to Sunny, “Oh, yeah! They were already living here during the Great Migration that happened some time ago when most of the unicorns left Equestria! Uh,” she turns her head back to Izzy, “I guess the ones that stayed now live in Bridlewood?” Izzy shakes her head as she stares at this brilliant young unicorn, “Um, maybe?” Jessi smiles, “Yeah! Probably! Well, come on!” Sunny says, “Uh, are the zebras still here now?” Jessi looks back to Sunny, “Oh yeah! We get along just great! In fact, a lot of us married each other and now, there are zebracorns!” Sunny is taken aback as she frowns, “Zebracorn?” Jessi nods, “Yeah! It’s what happens a lot of times whenever a unicorn and a zebra get freaky.” Sunny tries to suppress a smirk and giggle as she shakes her head and stares back at the filly, “Well, okay! Uh, “she eyes Scootaloo, “as long as Scootaloo is cool with it, we can take another intermission, and hang out with you, if you really want us to, Jessi!” Jessi widens her eyes as she’s taken aback, “You kidding? You’re my best friends and I literally just met you! Of course, I wanna hang out and get to know you!” “Wait!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Best friends?” Jessi nods again, “Well, yeah! You see, I had no friends before, but now I got you three ponies! Ipso-facto, you’re now my best friends! See how this works?” Sunny frowns deeply, “Where are your parents?” Jessi widens her eyes once more, “Parents? Uh, they’re gone now!” “Gone? What do you mean, gone?” Jessi blinks, “Well, you know how they were my parents, and they were alive? Well, they’re not alive anymore! They’re dead! I can visit them anytime I like though! They’re right there in the cemetery!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Oh wow! Who takes care of you?” Jessi frowns, “Um, well, me! I guess?” Izzy says, “And you live alone?” Jessi nods, “Yup! Uh,” she frowns, “You don’t mind crashing in my old parent’s bed, do you? I mean, one of you can take the couch, if you wanna do it like that?” <*****> As Izzy sat next to the foal on the green couch, she stared down at her on the right… Her normally dark orange eyes seemed to light up with color as they all viewed the big plasma TV and she grinned with delight as she used her magic to get another bundle of popcorn from the red tub between the two ponies, when she suddenly wondered where she got that? She immediately thinks it’s not important as she watches this happy child enjoying her cartoon movie with the other ponies… Later, the ponies are all in the lighted room as the fan overhead whirs with it’s typical whoop whoop whoop sound. Sunny says from her position to the right of Izzy and the front door behind her, “So uh, where is your parents’ room?” Jessi widens her eyes and turns her head to the inconspicuous little door on her left, “Oh, they used to sleep in there together! Uh, they sleep underground now…” she turns back to the other two ponies and leans forward, “So uh, did you girls have a good time?” Izzy starts when she notices that she’s being addressed and stares at the filly, “Oh, yeah! I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of those movies?” Jessi nods, “Makes sense since these movies are only played here in Zebracornia! Oh, by the way! That’s the country you’re currently in!” she widens her eyes, “You should probably be aware of that!” Sunny frowns, “Zebracornia?” “Oh, yeah! You see, when the unicorns first got here, they wanted to call it Unicornia, but the Zebras were already here, and so, they finally settled on Zebracornia! Well, after a few days of arguing about it!” she nods again, “That’s what my history book says!” she looks at Scootaloo at her right, “Too bad you just got here too! I mean, you’d probably know about this stuff if you were around!” Scootaloo turns her head to the strange filly and frowns, “Uh, probably! Well, maybe?” before blinking… Jessi turns her head to address everypony, “Okay so uh, I guess it’s time for bed now? I sleep in the futon in the backroom! Uh, “she widens her eyes once more, “there aren’t any stuffed toys that I sleep with, though…” Izzy starts, “No stuffed friends? Well uh, we need to get you some, don’t we?” Jessi stares at Izzy like a deer might gaze at an oncoming train, “Uh, no! I’m good!” Sunny smirks and giggles slightly, “You must have a lot of stuffed animals to sleep with, don’t you?” Jessi turns to the alicorn and frowns angrily, “N-no! Shut up!” Sunny snickers some more, “I like you, kid!” Jessi starts and raises her gaze, “Really? Cool! I like you too, Sunny! Um, hey! Can I come with you girls? I mean, there’s not much for me here?” Izzy smiles and says, “Sure, Jessi!” Sunny eyes the unicorn at her left, “Uh, don’t you think we should talk about this?” Izzy gazes back to the alicorn, “Uh, why? She seems okay? And you gotta admit, having somepony familiar with the area could come in handy?” Sunny sighs and smiles, “You gotta good point!” Jessi then excitedly shouts, “Yay! Friends!” as her little body vibrates ecstatically. <*****> As Sunny stared up at the ceiling underneath the warm tannish-white flower print cotton comforter with her head on the pillow on the right side of the bed, she suddenly began to wonder why everypony she ever meets is at least a little weird?* Izzy chimes in from the other side, “I like her!” Sunny turns her head towards the unicorn, “Yeah but how long has her parents been dead? How does she eat? What does she do with herself?” Izzy frowns, “Well, she apparently figured these things out, somehow?” Sunny sighs, “I can’t help but feel sorry for her…” “Yeah, me too! She must be really lonely? That’s probably why she has stuffed snuggle friends?” Sunny normalizes her mouth, “Yeah, I mean, it’s cute, sure! But I can’t help but get the feeling that there’s more to it than just that, you know?” Izzy nods, “Yeah, uh, hey! We were gonna go looking for zebras tomorrow! We should probably get some rest?” Sunny smiles, “Yeah! Well, now there’s four of us!” Izzy giggles, “Well, hey! At least she’s a lot of fun?” “Yeah… Goodnight Izzy!” Sunny says before snuggling the covers up to her chin and closing her eyes. “Goodnight Sunny!” Izzy replied before doing the same. <*****> “Hey! Wake up new friends! I made pancakes and there’s also coffee!” Izzy opens her eyes and moves her head up from the pillow to gaze down at the smiling green filly bouncing up and down in front of the bed in the room. She notices the door is also ajar and she asks, “Pancakes? Uh, do you drink coffee, kiddo?” Jessi nods, “Yeah! Usually!”** Izzy frowns, “Uh, Sunny! Time to wake up! We’re looking for zebras today, remember?” (To be continued…) Author's Note *Izzy isn’t the only one breaking the 4th wall in this story, apparently… No worries Sunny! I assure you, there’s definitely not an insane trans-woman, currently writing this story, for therapy! **Fun fact: I’ve been drinking coffee since I was 5 years old! I have serious doubts as to whether it stunts your growth like they say, as I also stand at 6 feet 1 inch tall. (185 cm)
Chapter 11: Adventures With Ranger Jessi!The teal green filly named Jessi Trotsky stares up at the two ponies from her side of the table, now with an empty syrupy plate before her and a half-drunk white cup of blond coffee at her right, and brushes her grayish-white wavy mane out of her face with her right forehoof before staring at the other ponies with her wide dark orange eyes and saying, “So uh, why are you girls looking for zebras?” Sunny stares back at the filly from the right of Izzy and says, “Well, Scootaloo says they know a lot about the spirit world and necromancy and said that they could probably help her get back to the afterlife…” Jessi widens her eyes, “Oh! Okay! Um,” she blinks, “yeah, well, there’s only Old Tiqua here in town, but if you REALLY wanna find zebras, you should probably head to the town to the northwest of here called Zendukka?” Izzy leans forward, “Well, does Tiqua know anything about how to help Scootaloo?” Jessi shakes her head, “No, not really? She’s a wonderful cook and can make just about any sort of potion you want though!” she says before nodding her snout up and down. Sunny sighs, “But that doesn’t help Scootaloo!” Jessi nods, “Y-yeah, I know! So uh, I guess we’re heading to Zendukka then?” she frowns, “I’m sure somepony there can help you?” Sunny eyes this filly, “Well, we should probably talk to Tiqua first though and see if she knows anything?” Jessi eyes the alicorn carefully, “So, your whole plan hinges on the assumption that zebras can help get Scootaloo back into the afterlife with their knowledge?” Sunny grins and giggles halfheartedly, “Yeah, it’s crazy, I know!” she widens her eyes as she leans forward slightly, “I’m still not sure it’s such a great idea? But it’s really all we got!” Jessi frowns again, “Uh, maybe Scootaloo was brought back for a reason?” Sunny retorts, “Yeah! Because I got turned into an alicorn!” Jessi lowers her gaze, “Are you sure?” Sunny raises hers and asks, “What do you mean?” Jessi fixes her neck and mouth, “Well, why do you believe your transformation, or whatever, was the reason Scoots came back?” Sunny blinks, “Well, because Scootaloo said so!” “Well, what makes Scootaloo believe that?” Scootaloo, currently invisible and standing to the left of Jessi and to the right of the other two ponies, finally appears visibly, looks at Jessi, and says, “Well, there was a power surge that I felt and then, a pulling sensation bringing me back to the world of the living! And Sunny here became an alicorn, so…” Jessi turns her head left to face the pegasus, “Yes, but correlation does not equal causation! You could’ve been brought back for any number of reasons!” Scootaloo frowns, “Like what?” Jessi leans towards the spirit, “I don’t know? Lots! But the point is, I really don’t think you should be just jumping to these conclusions without verifying…” Scootaloo stares at the filly for a moment before saying, “You’re pretty smart for a little filly!” Jessi gives a wide-eyed frown, “I get that a lot!” <*****> Sunny knocks on the thatched roofed hut door with her right forehoof, while Jessi stands at her left and Izzy to her right. The door opens to reveal a striped mare with a 4-inch-long interwoven golden necklace around her neck and a scraggly grayish black mane around her zebra ears. She says, “Why Jessi, it is good to see you again, so sublime! But who have you brought with you this time?” Jessi smiles, “Hiya Tiqua! Thanks again for fixing my knee! Um,” she blinks and stares up at the zebra and frowns, “I had some new friends who wanted to meet you!” Sunny smiles from Jessi’s right and to the left of Izzy, “Hello Tiqua! I’m Sunny Starscout and this is my best friend, Izzy Moonbow! We had some questions to ask you!” Tiqua narrows her yellow zebra eyes, “This is indeed, quite strange! But hopefully, your questions are not out of my range?” Sunny widens her own forest green pupils, “Well, yes! You see, we have a friend who is, well, she’s a ghost! Do zebras know any way of getting her back to the afterlife?” Tiqua smiles grimly, “A zebra shaman is whom you should seek! But I fear such a thing may be out of my reach! I say to Zendukka you should travel, for this mystery to truly unravel!” before lifting her right forehoof and using it to gently close the door… Sunny frowns, “Well, we basically got told to do what we were gonna do anyway!” Jessi happily chimes up from Sunny’s left as her little body shakes and her grayish-white mane jitters, “I know! This is gonna be fun!” <*****> Sunny stands to the left of Izzy with Jessi on the other side as all ponies stare westward, towards the open road leading to Zendukka. Sunny says, “Okay, since you have fifty stuffed animals…” “Forty-eight!” Jessi corrects the alicorn. Sunny nods, “Forty-eight stuffed animals, we’re just going to take one in your pack as your companion and we’ll be back for the rest when we figure out what to do with you…” Jessi turns her head right towards the alicorn, “What do you mean?” Sunny gazes at the filly, “Well, you’re only about ten years old! We can’t just leave you here!” Jessi frowns, “Why not? That’s what everypony else always does and I’ve been surviving just fine, so far? I even still go to school! The lunches are cheap!” Sunny sighs, “Look, Jessi! I’ve only known you for uh, for less than a day now, but I really do want to help you!” “What makes you believe that I need help?” Sunny starts, “Well, look at you! You’re small…” Jessi grins, “I know! They always underestimate me!” Sunny widens her eyes, “What?” Jessi lowers her smile and enlarges hers, “What?” Sunny shakes her head and stares back at the filly, “Look! Just come with us and you’ll be okay!” Jessi blinks and frowns, “We’ll be back for the rest of my friends, though, right?” Sunny nods, “Of course!” Jessi smiles and vibrates as she exclaims, “Hooray!” she turns to face westward, “So uh, Zendukka is some distance this way!” <*****> All ponies trot down the road towards a wide forested area when Jessi says, “Okay, we need to make it past the Yellow Dove Woods, and across the ravine! Once we’re past those two things, it’s pretty much a straight shot!” Sunny turns her neck left at Jessi, trotting there, “So uh, you know the way?” Jessi frowns, “Well, I’ve seen maps and I know this road will get us there, but I’ve never actually been through Yellow Dove or anywhere near Zendukka. I mean, I’ve been north and south of Tanglewood though, here in the unicorn areas of this district, but…” “Well, you talked about Old Tiqua back there? What are zebras like? Are there any rules or customs I need to know about?” Jessi frowns, “Uh, don’t be a jerk?” Sunny grins and giggles as she shakes her head, “Good enough for me!” The ponies begin to approach the treeline as the entryway into the forest begins to visibly lead down a trail. They soon pass the treeline into the woods and see many trees all aligned in a neat row along the sides of the trail. Sunny stares up in amazement at the bright green sun-soaked vegetation and the furry and slimy animal life and lush plants that inhabit the dimly lit forest floor as they pass while trotting along the path. Suddenly, a blue stallion with a black hood over his head and face leaps out from the left treeline to the front of the ponies and says in a gruff masculine voice, “Ha ha! I am the Masked Bandit! You will now give me your money, or I’ll beat you up!” The ponies stop trotting and Izzy frowns at this from Sunny’s right, “Masked Bandit? Really? You couldn’t think of a better criminal name?” The figure is visibly taken aback as he withdraws his head from the ponies, “Well I uh, wasn’t exactly going for clever here! Just a name, would work, you know?” Izzy nods, “Well, right! But I mean, if I were you, I’d like to think I could do better than just, The Masked Bandit!” She raises her neck and widens her eyes, “Okay, how about The Lurker or maybe The Yellow Dove Stalker, instead? Don’t you think those choices sound better?” “I uh, “ the stallion lowers his gaze and shakes his head before looking back at the ponies and leaning forward sternly, “now you’re just making me feel bad!” he shakes his head again, “L-look! Are you gonna give me all your money, or what?” Jessi just smiles and lowers her head and forces her horn to glow blue and the masked pony is soon encased in a spherical blue forcefield. She raises her neck, “Okay, you should be trapped in there for about an hour or two! Come on girls!” As the three ponies trot around the blue masked pony’s right and down the path, in the distance, the masked pony can be heard yelling, “Hey! I was robbing you! Get back here!” Izzy says to Jessi, “Those force fields you got are really handy! Can you show me how to do that later?” Jessi frowns, “Um, probably? I kinda figured it out on my own after magic came back!” Izzy giggles, “Well, yeah! There aren’t any high-ranking magicians in Equestria anymore, these days!” before frowning, “At least, none that I’m aware of!” Sunny says, “Oddly enough, that wasn’t the first time somepony tried to rob us on this adventure…” she looks up, “Scootaloo! You still around?” Suddenly, a raspy ethereal voice says, “Yeah, I’m here Sunny! Thanks for helping my friends, Jessi!” Jessi raises her neck, “Oh, no problem, Scoots! I’m not gonna let some masked hood knock over my best friends if I can help it!” “Heh, I know Jessi! And I’m sure glad you’re here!” Jessi’s body quivers as she replies, “Yeah, me too! I read that book on logical theory so many times now, I can recite it by heart and sudoku can only go so far. I was getting bored! And now, I get to encase ponies in force fields! Yay!” Sunny says, “You’re really cute, Jessi!” Jessi replies, “I’m not cute! Your mom is cute!” “You never met my mother!” “I never met your mother! You’ve met your mother!” “Uh, isn’t that what I just said?” “I dunno? Probably? Hey! We’re at the ravine now!” The ponies all stop to see a massive chasm of dark tan stone with a rickety old rope bridge with wooden slats and a rope on either side leading across from their section of the road to the one beyond. There’s forest on either side of the gorge, but just open air in-between. The fall is roughly 50-feet deep onto dark hard stone and the chasm itself is about 40-feet wide. Izzy raises her head, “Oh, yay! The precarious rope bridge adventure! I wonder who’s gonna fall?” Sunny looks at Izzy from the right, “What makes you think somepony is gonna fall?” Izzy turns her head to Sunny, “Well, it’s a precarious rope bridge, therefore, somepony is gonna fall! Don’t you know the rules? I bet it’s gonna be you!” Jessi looks over to the two arguing ponies from the other side of Sunny, “Shut up! Nopony is gonna fall!” she turns her head back to the bridge and says lower, “Not on my watch!” before taking a few paces towards the bridge and lowering her head before her horn starts to visibly glow blue… She can be heard grunting while she works her magic and finally cuts the glow to her horn and lifts her head to face the gorge before wiping the sweat off her brow with her right forehoof, “Okay! I just magically reinforced the bridge!” Izzy turns her head to Jessi, now ahead of her and frowns, “How long have you been experimenting with magic, anyway?” Jessi turns her body around to face the blue unicorn, “Um, ever since it came back about three and a half months ago?” she squints her left eye, “So uh, roughly fifteen or maybe sixteen weeks?” she normalizes her face. Izzy widens her eyes, “Wow! You’re a really fast learner!” Jessi frowns, “I get that a lot too? Ever since I first got my cutie mark when that strange blue light zapped me in a cave, I seem to have a knack for the arcane and stuff like that!” she widens her eyes, “I guess magic is my special talent and I just needed to wait for it to come back?” Izzy says, “You mean those three golden stars on your flank?” Jessi nods, “Well, yeah! The three rising gold stars with little magical trails on my flank is my cutie mark!” and smiles, “I’m sure glad magic is back in that case! I mean, a magical cutie mark doesn’t mean much if I don’t have magic!” Sunny looks ahead at the bridge and spreads her wings out to her sides before saying, “Well, I got these, so I’ll go first!” <*****> The ponies trot down the dirt pathway when they see a large pyramid-like structure rising out of the forest and they all see its cube shaped apex at the top, roughly 40 feet into the sky and rising 30 feet from the trees when they stop trotting to look. Jessi looks up and says excitedly, “Oh! That must be a zebra ziggurat!” Izzy frowns up at the structure, “A zebra what, now?” Jessi jitters, “A zebra ziggurat! It’s where they do all of their crazy hoodoo and voudon rituals!” Sunny looks at the other two ponies from the right, “Well, maybe that’s where we can find a shaman? Let’s go scope it out!” (To be continued…)
Chapter 12: ZigguratSunny stares at the wooden door on top of the pyramid-like stone structure with many embankments, “So uh, do we just knock, or?” Jessi frowns from her right, “Uh, how would I know? I’ve never been to one of these ziggurat thingies before!” Izzy stares off to the left at something and her face brightens up as her eyes notice it and Sunny decides to act at this point by taking a pace towards the old worn-out wooden door with its rusty metal railing and knocking with her right forehoof… She hears somepony in the back scream out, “Yes, hang on! I’ll be right there! Not ready and so you’ll just have to wait and stare!” Sunny immediately thinks that this might be no ordinary zebra for a moment, before the door finally opens inward to the left as an old striped zebra with a wiry gray mane stares out from the far corner of the door on their right, “Yes yes! Sure, I am not busy! This is true! But a reason you still must have, for I am still not through!” Sunny widens her forest green eyes as she smiles nervously, “Uh, yes! We have a friend! She’s a ghost! She was ejected from the afterlife, and we need to get her back! She said zebras know something about the spirit world and so, well,” she grins wider, “we tracked you down!” The old zebra smiles grimly and says, “Well, first off, my name is Zand! Secondly, I will eat first and then, we’ll tend to this spiritual rubber band! She has undoubtedly been here for some time! An hour will make no difference, even should I fail to rhyme!” He nods, “Come back in an hour and to this mess, we will tend! A meal you should get too, I would recommend! Try the zebra café across the street! For they have many delicious delicacies to eat!” before slowly removing his head from the door and shutting it gently… Sunny turns her head left at Izzy, “He doesn’t seem to be in any sort of hurry?” Izzy stares back at her and widens her eyes, “Must be that mellow shaman life?” <*****> The ponies all sit under the thatched awning inside the forest, with the big straw café building at Sunny’s right and Izzy and Jessi’s left… Sunny floats the white menu before her face in a yellow glow as she frowns and finally points at the something on the left side with her right forehoof and says, “I’ll get whatever this is! That looks good!” Jessi mutters while staring down into her own menu as it glows red, “I hope they have coffee!” Izzy stares at this filly on her left before back at Sunny, “I’ll just have the guava drops! That’s my favorite zebra food!” Sunny widens her eyes, “You know about zebra foods?” Izzy looks at Sunny and replies, “Not really? But I know I like guava drops! It’s like a weird green porridge, but it’s tasty with those weird fried corn crisps they serve with it…” Sunny can only reply, “Uh, Izzy! That sounds a lot like corn chips and guacamole dip!” Izzy frowns, “Well, it’s a lot like that, yeah! But it’s been zebrafied!” Sunny widens her eyes again at the blue unicorn, “Zebrafied?” Izzy smiles and says, “Yeah, they use their own spices! Trust me! It’s different!” A zebra mare staring at this scene from the building side of the table, finally speaks up, “Yes! My name is Rhonda and I’ll be your waitress today! Are you ready to order now, or can you say?” Sunny turns her head right to the waitress zebra, “I’ll have uh, “she lifts the menu to the zebra in her yellow glow and points at something with her right forehoof while saying, “whatever that is! It looks tasty!” Rhonda smiles, “Ah, yes! The peyote salad is especially delicious, this time of year! And what would you like to drink?” Sunny frowns, “Uh, guava nectar please!” Rhonda nods, “Indeed!” she turns her neck to the other side of the table with the other two ponies, “And for the unicorns?” Izzy looks at Rhonda, “I’ll have the guava drops and a cola, please!” Jessi smiles at the waitress, “And I’ll have the same, but with blond coffee, instead!” Rhonda nods at the unicorns, “Yes, your order is simple, this is sure! Zebra foods must you try, for you to be lured!” before smiling and turning to trot to the rickety wooden door behind her two paces and open it with her mouth to trot back inside the restaurant. Sunny adjusts her gaze back to Izzy and frowns, “I want to help Scootaloo, but I just can’t shake this feeling that we’re missing something, here?” Izzy sighs and nods towards the alicorn, “Yeah, I know what you mean? I feel like it’s right in front of our snouts, too! I keep thinking about what happened to poor Apple Bloom and I can’t help but wonder how her death fits into all of this?” Jessi looks at the other two ponies, “Well, she said it was because she wasn’t there for Apple Bloom’s final moments, but I think it might have more to do with the way she feels about the whole thing?” Sunny adjusts her gaze to the small teal unicorn, “What do you mean?” Jessi nods, “Well, the way she talked about it, it sounds like she’s a lot harder on herself than the universe ever was?” Sunny widens her eyes and frowns, “Huh?” Jessi sighs, “Scootaloo told me some things about the death and how she felt about it… I don’t believe she’s being punished…” Izzy turns her head all the way to the left to stare at Jessi, “That’s what I said!” Jessi nods, “Right! And I think the chicken costume and her being here are somehow connected… I think that’s part of the reason she can’t cross over…” Sunny says, “But she was there, before, right? Why was she sent back if it has to do with the costume?” Jessi looks at the alicorn sternly, “But was she really, though? I mean, the way she talked about it, all she ever did was wander around and keep to herself! What’s the point of being in the afterlife if you’re all alone?” she frowns, “Doesn’t seem like a very happy afterlife, if you ask me?” she shakes her head, “She didn’t even have any stuffed friends!” she sighs while deep in contemplation, “I think she’s punishing herself…” Sunny eyes the filly carefully, “Well, right! She did say that she never really talked to her two best friends there, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle!” Jessi stares at the alicorn, “Apple Belle and Sweetie Bloom?” Sunny nods, “Well, in life, her two best friends were Apple Bloom the earth mare and Sweetie Belle, the unicorn! I also believe they might have something to do with this?” Jessi opens her mouth to speak before glancing to her left to see a zebra waitress exiting a wooden door with a tray on her snout… She sees the tray has three glasses on it and she happily squeals, “Our drinks are here!” <*****> Sunny suddenly finds herself inside the zebra ziggurat ritual chamber, somewhere deep inside the structure. The room is brown stone and a single story and is roughly 30 feet long and 20 feet wide with many ornate zebra masks on the walls… She sees the old shaman standing by what looks like a pale blue vortex of energy, roughly 15 feet wide on one end of the chamber… She sees a white unicorn on the other side of this vortex with a two-colored mane. The left side is wisteria purple while the right side is a lavender shade of pink and her eyes are cerulean, similar to Sunny’s… The new unicorn looks at the spectral chicken-pegasus before her and says aghast, “Scootaloo?” Sunny then finds herself trotting down a corridor inside the ziggurat. The walls are the same brown stone, except this time, they’re very tight and barely 5 feet wide! As she walks behind the shaman, who trots ahead of her to lead the way, she wonders how much further they must go and thanks her lucky stars that she’s not claustrophobic! She continues trotting and asks the shaman, “How much further, Zand?” The shaman nods, “Not much further to go! Soon, I will have amazing things to show!” Sunny suddenly finds herself inside the antechamber at the very top of the structure while saying to Zand, “We’re here now! I guess you need me to call Scootaloo?” Suddenly, a clear burnt orange pegasus in a chicken outfit materializes to the right of the alicorn and left of the zebra. Scootaloo frowns at the shaman, “I-I’m Scootaloo…” she nods her head, “I’m ready!” Sunny finds herself back inside the ritual chamber as Sweetie Belle looks at Scootaloo from inside the vortex, “Why are you wearing a chicken suit?” Scootaloo takes a pace towards the vortex and proclaims, “I’m being punished Sweetie Belle!” Sweetie frowns and says in her soft feminine voice, “Punished? For what?” Scootaloo sighs, “For not being there for Apple Bloom’s final moments… I must wear this outfit now as my mark of shame…” Sweetie widens her eyes, “Oh, that’s just silly, Scootaloo! She was terminal! There’s nothing you could’ve done!” Scootaloo stares back defiantly, “I don’t believe that…” Sweetie sighs and rolls her eyes, “Uh, hang on! I’ll go get her now…” before vanishing like a ghost. Scootaloo widens her own eyes as she lifts her right forehoof to speak, “No Sweetie! Don’t!” There’s silence as the ghost stares back at the vortex… Scootaloo lowers her hoof back to the floor after a moment and starts breathing heavily, in and out through her mouth. Sunny sees herself trotting behind the old shaman again inside the hallways of the ziggurat. While her mind isn’t sure what’s happening, she also knows that above all else, she must stay together now! This is for Scootaloo! Finally, Zand stops trotting with a small wooden door at his right. He looks over his right shoulder at the alicorn and says, “The chamber I use for rites is right in there!” Sunny is standing inside the ritual chamber again from the left of Scootaloo as the pegasus now faces the vortex and she can make out Sweetie Belle on the left this time, but to the right is a yellow earth mare with a red mane and a distinctive pink bow on the back of her head. The new mare smiles at Scootaloo, “Scootaloo! Where have you been?” Sunny is standing at the top of the ziggurat now, with Jessi at her right and Izzy on her left. She knocks on the disheveled wooden door once more and Zand answers again with his head at the right. He smiles at Sunny and says, “I am ready! But only one of you may enter, in order to keep the ritual steady!” Sunny sighs and says, “I’ll go in!” she stares at the entryway with fierce determination in her green eyes, “I’ll do it… For Scootaloo…” Sunny is standing inside the ritual chamber once more as Apple Bloom asks, “Why are you in a chicken costume?” with a distinctive country twang in her voice. Sweetie turns her neck left to face the earth mare, “She said she’s being punished for not being there for you when you got turned into a tree!” Apple Bloom widens her orange eyes at the pegasus, “WHAT?” Sunny is standing at the base of the ziggurat and stares up at all the steps that lead to the top. She takes a deep breath before saying, “Well girls, let’s do it like we mean it!” Sunny is back in the ritual chamber again, as Apple Bloom looks back at the pegasus and says, “Scootaloo! I don’t want you to remember me like that!” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “W-what?” Apple Bloom smiles slightly and says, “I know my death was horrible… I can’t imagine what you felt while it was going on, but I know this much…” she stares back at Scootaloo with determination in her eyes, “I’d rather you weren’t there, after all…” Scootaloo frowns wider and says horrified, “What do you mean?” Apple Bloom sighs, “My death was messy, Scootaloo… You know this… I’d much rather die by myself with dignity than to cause my best friend to go through that hardship…” she shakes her head, “I care about you Scootaloo and I want you to remember the good times, instead!” Scootaloo stands there dumbfounded, “Uh, so you forgive me?” Apple Bloom finally smiles all the way, “There’s nothing to forgive Scootaloo! You didn’t do anything wrong!” Scootaloo takes a deep breath, in and out through her nose before finally just admitting, “This whole time, I felt that it was somehow my fault… That I caused your death, Apple Bloom…” The two ghosts on the other side of the portal widen their eyes as Apple Bloom shouts, “Scootaloo! Why in Equestria would you believe such a thing?” Scootaloo closes her eyes and shudders, “I-I don’t know, okay? I just felt like there was something I should’ve said or done?” she shakes her head and continues with distress in her shaky voice, “Like, I could’ve saved you?” Sweetie Belle eventually just says, “Scootaloo, that’s silly talk! Apple Bloom was terminal and going to die! There’s nothing you could do!” Sunny sits at her table under the awning by the restaurant and looks at the unicorns as she says, “Well, I’ll go cover our tab this time! You get us next time, Izzy!” she turns her head to the filly, to the right of the blue unicorn, “No worries, Jessi! We’re gonna take care of you, now!” The small teal unicorn smiles up at the alicorn. Sunny is back inside the ritual chamber as she sees Scootaloo finally move her right forehoof to the crown of the headpiece of her costume and move it back to force the fabric of the chicken suit behind her head and reveal an orchid purple mohawk style mane and she finally lets out a big sigh before lowering her hoof and saying to the other two specters, “I…haven’t done that in over two thousand years…” she moves her forehooves to the sides of her head to begin removing the synthetic beak, up and over her head before tossing it to the floor… She looks back at her two best friends, “Hang on! I’ll get the rest of the costume off now!” before beginning to take off her costume, starting with the torso piece next… Sunny trots across the street towards the monolithic stone structure, with Izzy on her left and Jessi on her right… She stares up at the large imposing staircase at the front and frowns deeply, and briefly only imagines what might await the ponies inside… Scootaloo now stands naked, with the chicken costume on the floor… She stares at the other two ponies and says, “So, it wasn’t my fault and there’s nothing I could’ve done?” Sweetie frowns, “Isn’t that what I’ve been trying to tell you? Honestly Scootaloo, if you hadn’t been such a chicken all this time and just talked to one of us!” Scootaloo grins and tries to suppress a giggle, “Yeah, I was acting kinda foul there, wasn’t I?” Apple Bloom smiles too and says, “You might even say you were laying eggs over the whole incident!” Sweetie Belle also grins and says, “Well, she didn’t do a lot of squawking? At least, not as much as most chickens I’ve met…” she glances back towards the pegasus, “Silence for two thousand years, Scootaloo?” Scootaloo closes her eyes, “I was scared, okay? I uh…” she shakes her head and opens them again, “I didn’t want to face you… Either one of you…” she takes a large breath from her mouth, in and out…” Not after what happened…” Apple Bloom widens her gaze again, “Well, all I know is, I just went for a really long time without one of my best friends! And I sure would like her back!” Sweetie adds, “Yeah, me too!” Sunny is sitting at the restaurant table again as she burps and says, “Whoa! Excuse me!” and stares down at the now empty plate. “Those mushrooms weren’t like anything I’ve ever eaten before. They sure were tasty though!” Sunny is back inside the ritual chamber as Scootaloo says to the other ghosts, “Alright! I’ll join you two soon! But first, I gotta talk to my new friends for a minute!” She turns around and the other ponies finally behold the dark ginger pegasus in all her glory with her distinctive lightning bolt shield cutie mark, now finally visible on her flank. She smiles at the two unicorns and the alicorn, “Thank you so much for helping me, girls! Ahem!” she clears her throat, “Uh,” she widens her eyes while continuing, “I guess I’ll see you later?” Sunny smiles, “Well, eventually! But I’ll live for a long time!” Izzy and Jessi grin as well while the blue unicorn says, “But you’ll see me sooner!” Jessi adds, “Yeah, and I’ll be around a few decades after her!” Sunny is sitting at the table as Rhonda uses her mouth to place a round white plate before her with mushrooms, onions, and cabbage on it. She raises her neck and says to the alicorn, “Eat this slowly, you must! In me, you should definitely trust!” Scootaloo shakes her head and chuckles, before staring at Sunny back in the ritual chamber and saying, “Since the necromancy is still going, I think I can finally do this now!” before taking two paces towards the alicorn and embracing her in a tight warm hug! It’s not what Sunny expects… Her ethereal body is somehow warm and comforting and she soon returns the hug with her own forehooves… <*****> Sunny opens her eyes on the cot inside the thatched-roof hut and says, “W-what happened?” The door to her right soon opens to reveal a blue unicorn with a long wavy mane of a lighter blue shade and Izzy exclaims, “She’s awake now, Jessi!” Sunny then hears a foal’s voice say from somewhere out of view, “Oh, cool!” Izzy stares at Sunny and smiles, “Yeah, you passed out shortly after hugging Scootaloo! Jessi had the magic to float your body over here, though! I don’t know how a filly could be so strong?” Sunny stares at the unicorn and asks, “How long was I out?” Izzy nods, “Couldn’t have been more than two hours?” she adjusts her gaze to the prone alicorn on the bed, and widens it, “Your pupils are dilated!” “Ugh!” Sunny groans before shaking her head. “Never mind that! Uh, what are we gonna do with Jessi now?” (To be continued?)
Chapter 1: Bawk-ward Meetings!Sunny’s bed was at the outer wall of the house, so it sat next to a window. Her Twilight Sparkle plushie lay there, beside her pillow, as its sewn-on eyes also stared at the peculiar sight. Sunny herself, stood there in the center of her bedroom, naked as she stared right through the clear orange pegasus, in the weird uniform that morning. Sunny Starscout could see right through her, but also couldn’t help but notice that she was wearing a white chicken costume! Her forehooves are free from the white-feathered costume and she moves her left forehoof to move the comb over the headpiece to her right before she lowers it back to the floor while her pale feathers and orange taloned hind legs can be seen in the electric light on Sunny’s ceiling overhead. She smiles before saying in a raspy voice from behind the strap-on beak over her face, “Hiya! Uh, you’re probably wondering who I am, why I’m in your room, and why I’m wearing a chicken costume!” before adjusting her little wings underneath the white coverings of the costume back down to her sides Sunny Starscout could only stand there and widen her cerulean eyes as she stared at the pegasus and said, “Um, yeah, among other things! Like, why can I see right through you?” The pegasus smiles nervously as she stammers out, “Yeah, uh, heh heh, about that!” she widens her wisteria purple eyes, “You see, I’m a ghost!” Sunny gives a wide-eyed grimace, “Huh?” The pegasus smiles nervously, “Yeah, my name is Scootaloo, and I stole a bunch of stuff when I was alive and so uh, now I gotta wear a chicken costume forever!” Sunny widens her eyes and narrows her mouth as she stutters, “Um, okay?” “Heh, uh, yeah!” Scootaloo widens her eyes again, “You see, I stole candy bars!” Sunny frowns, “And that justifies an eternal chickening?” Scootaloo straightens her mouth while staring at the alicorn, “Well, I stole a LOT of candy bars!” Sunny widens her eyes, “Uh, obviously! Why are you in my room?” Scootaloo smiles nervously again, “You see when you became an alicorn, that drew me here!” Sunny frowns and raises her left eyebrow, “What do you mean?” “You see, I wasn’t here! I was in the afterlife, while uh, also wearing my oh-so-flattering outfit!” Sunny smiles slightly, but not so much that she believes the pegasus will notice. Scootaloo straightens her mouth and nods, “Right! Well anyway, the magic of your transformation reached me and drew me to you, and so, now I’m in your room!” she widens her eyes, “Uh, hiya!” Sunny smiles a little bit more, “Well, that should be no problem then! Just go back!” Scootaloo frowns, “Well, I can’t!” Sunny widens her eyes and glowers again, “What do you mean, you can’t” Scootaloo raises her gaze slightly, “I don’t know how!” Sunny sighs, “Well uh, okay…” she eyes the pegasus carefully, “Can you take the costume off?” Scootaloo sighs and scrunches her mouth underneath the beak as her eyes narrow and she grumpily states, “Unfortunately, no…” Sunny widens her eyes as she stammers, “My life just keeps getting weird!” Scootaloo widens her eyes again and frowns, “Uh, sorry?” Sunny lightly giggles, “No no! It’s okay! I mean, it’s not your fault that you’re a ghost in a chicken outfit! Well, uh, actually it kinda is! But anyway, what do you think we should do now?” Scootaloo spreads her little wings out to her sides with their white covers, “How should I know?” before lowering them back to her sides. Sunny looks up at the spirit, “Well uh, right! Hey, I’m gonna make some biscuits and grab some juice for breakfast! Uh, you’re welcome to come along?” Scootaloo smiles softly as she giggles slightly, “Well, it’s not like I have anything else to do?” <*****> Scootaloo stands on the far right of the wooden floor of Sunny’s kitchen, while the alicorn furrows her brow in focus as a can of biscuits is encased in a yellow glow and knocks against the table to make a tap tap tapping noise, before the can goes POP! And explodes! Which only startles the alicorn as she gasps and widens her cerulean eyes. She looks to the pegasus on the right, “Yeah, biscuit cans always surprise me!” she smiles and giggles as she looks back to the oven, “It doesn’t really matter how well I try to expect it! It always startles me when it pops!” Scootaloo smiles visibly from the sides of her strap-on beak and says, “So uh, what’s your name? And I’m guessing you’re a princess? What are you princess of?” Sunny’s horn glows as the biscuits glow and magically arrange themselves on the oven tray sitting on the stovetop as she casually says, “Oh, I’m not a princess of anything! My name’s Sunny though! Uh, Sunny Starscout!” Scootaloo widens her eyes and says with her mouth aghast, “W-WHAT? Uh, wow! In my time-period, alicorns were ALWAYS princesses! So uh, “she giggles nervously, “I kinda just assumed you’d be the princess of something, you know?” Sunny keeps her eyes forward as her oven beeps and she soon moves her right forehoof down over the front-lever, so the oven opens and she uses her magic to encase the baking tray in a golden glow before it moves down to the second rack up, inside the oven. She kicks her right foreleg up to close the oven before bringing it down and looks over at the pegasus spirit, “Well, um, surprise!” she widens her eyes and leans towards her, “I’m not a princess!” Scootaloo chuckles slightly, “Well uh, so you say! Um, anyway! When you did whatever you did to become an alicorn, that revitalized long dead magic and in turn, me, well, me partially into this plane of existence! And since it was your transformation, I’m now tethered to you!” Sunny frowns before glancing to the left to check on the biscuits through the oven door, and then back to Scootaloo. “You seem to know a lot about this magical stuff, for a pegasus!” Scootaloo giggles again. “Well, uh, let’s just say that two thousand years is a very long time!” “I see…” Says the alicorn before frowning. She glances back to Scootaloo, “So uh, what now?” Scootaloo flinches and closes her eyes while saying exasperated, “I really don’t know, okay? I’m just here now, and I’m wearing a chicken costume!” Suddenly, there’s a knock on Sunny’s front door, to the left of the ponies. Sunny widens her eyes to Scootaloo, “Uh, Scoots! You stay here and make sure the biscuits don’t burn! I’ll get the door!” before turning her body left and trotting that way, roughly 15 feet through her living room and past her green couch on the left and to her tan front door in the dimly lit purple room. She opens the knob on the lower left with her mouth and turns her head to twist it back to the right to open it and then, corrects her neck to behold the smiling blue unicorn there with her red eyes. “Hiya Sunny!” Izzy says as the sun rises behind her, faintly illuminating the dirt roads of Maretime Bay. Sunny widens her eyes and exclaims frantically, “You’re not gonna believe it, Izzy! There’s a ghost here, and she’s wearing a chicken costume!” Izzy frowns, “W-what?” while staring at Sunny with her wide red eyes. Sunny frantically nods, “Yeah!” she stops, “Come in here and see for yourself!” Sunny backs up and Izzy soon trots through the door with her mouth scrunched in confusion as her dark blue mane bounces with each step, before her horn shines and it shuts behind her in a blue glow… She stares intently at the clear see-thru pegasus in a chicken outfit across the living room in the kitchen and widens her eyes as she says, “Uh, hi! I’m Izzy!” Sunny trots back into the kitchen as Scootaloo trots around her right side to head out into the foyer, while the alicorn goes back to the middle of the kitchen and turns her body to face the oven window to the left again to watch the biscuits as she thinks to herself, I really need to get an oven timer! The pegasus widens her eyes while standing just beyond the kitchen door and says in her raspy voice from behind the beak, “Uh, hi! I’m Scootaloo!” Izzy smiles, “Well, you gotta admit, this is a little bawk-ward, but why are you in a chicken costume and does it ruffle your feathers at all for any reason?” Scootaloo narrows her eyes in annoyance and says in a voice both croaky and grumpy, “I’m a pegasus and have feathers anyway, you know!” Izzy smiles and giggles as she stammers out, “I’m really sorry, Scootaloo! I uh, couldn’t resist!” she shakes her head and composes herself as her dark blue wavy mane flails around her shoulders and she then adjusts her gaze to the pegasus while leaning forward slightly, “Seriously though, uh, why are you in such a foul getup anyway?” Scootaloo’s mouth is scrunched awkwardly as she really doesn’t know whether to be offended or amused at this point and she widens her gaze to the unicorn and stutters out, “Uh, it’s kind of my punishment for uh, some bad things I did in life!” She nods her head slightly, “They still let me into heaven, in fact!” she sighs, “But, I gotta wear a chicken costume…” Izzy stares wide-eyed and leaning forward slightly as she exclaims, “Oh wow! Uh, it looks good on you!” Scootaloo noticeably frowns from behind the beak, “Uh, r-really?” Izzy raises her head as her mane bounces and smiles, “Yeah, really! I mean, the beak is a cute addition and I like how they made your wings and the chicken’s wings the same in there!” she widens her eyes, “And it totally makes sense that your forelegs wouldn’t even be in the costume like that!” she bounces again, “I mean, chickens don’t have those!” Scootaloo widens her eyes, “Uh, wow! I never thought anypony would think that this looks good on me? Uh, your name is Izzy, right?’ Izzy nods, “Last I checked!” Sunny trots in with two plates in her pale blue magical grasp floating at her right as she looks at the unicorn and says, “Hey, I made biscuits! Sit down at the table and join me!” <*****> Izzy Moonbow sits across from Sunny at her bright unpolished wood kitchen table, while the alicorn smiles and stares back at her from behind a steaming plate of two buttery juicy biscuits and a small glass of orange juice. Izzy magically takes a sip of juice before lowering it and staring back at Sunny, “So uh, now you have a chicken ghost!” Scootaloo is sitting between the two ponies on the left of Izzy as she says, “I’m not a chicken! I’m a pony, in a chicken costume!” Sunny smiles wider, “Well uh, right! Chicken Scootaloo is here now!” Scootaloo grows noticeably annoyed as Izzy widens her red eyes and continues while her mane bounces, “Um, right! Chicken Scootaloo!” Scootaloo closes her eyes as she frantically yells, “I’M A PONY!” Sunny widens her eyes to the pegasus on her right, “Right! You’re a pegasus!” Izzy smiles, “In a chicken costume!” Sunny leans towards the unicorn and whispers lowly out the left side of her mouth, “SHUT UP IZZY!” At this point, Scootaloo can only mutter something inaudibly underneath her beak. Izzy notices the pegasus is irritated so she leans her way at the left and says, “But again! The suit looks really good on you!” she smiles, “I think it’s cute!” Scootaloo looks to the unicorn as she widens her eyes as once again, she’s not sure whether to be annoyed or flattered. Sunny notices the tension as she widens her eyes to the unicorn and says, “So uh, what did you wanna do today, Izzy?” before magically lifting a biscuit to her mouth in a golden glow. Izzy looks at the alicorn, “Well, I just finished two projects yesterday and wanted to take a little break! So, I thought I’d trot my way down the road and see what my best friend was up to! So uh, ta-da! Here I am!” Sunny smiles at the goofiness of her friend before saying, “Yes! You are indeed, right there!” before taking more bites from the glowing biscuit on the right side of her face. Izzy smiles as her right biscuit glows blue and floats up to her face, “Yes! I could be somewhere else! But I’m not! I’m in your house!” Sunny’s face visibly shakes as she tries in vain to suppress a grin and snickers slightly at the unicorn, “Yes! You’re not anywhere else, but here! Right here, in my house!” Izzy finishes chewing her bite before looking at Sunny, “Yes, I am in, YOUR HOUSE!” Scootaloo just can’t take it anymore at this point, when she widens her eyes and exclaims, “I get it already! Izzy is here!” Izzy looks at Scootaloo on her left while grinning, “Yes! In this house!” Sunny looks at Izzy and smiles, “With me!” Izzy turns to face Sunny, “In this house! Here with you!” Sunny nods, “Yes!” “SERIOUSLY! Knock it off now, girls!” Scootaloo then yells towards the center of the table, to nopony. Izzy giggles lightly as she turns left to face the pegasus, “Sorry Scootaloo! But now, you’re initiated!” Scootaloo widens her purple eyes to the unicorn. “Initiated?” Izzy smiles, “Well, yeah!” she jitters while continuing.” For the adventure, me and Sunny are about to go on! You are now one of the crew!” Sunny widens her eyes to the unicorn. “Wait! Adventure? What?” Izzy turns right to face the alicorn and frowns. “Well, we have to help poor Scootaloo here go back to heaven, right?” Scootaloo frowns again. “And if you can get the chicken outfit off me, that’d be great too!” Izzy turns left to Scootaloo. “One thing at a time, Scootaloo Chan! One thing at a time!” (To be continued…)
