The Pony Patrol

Welcome to Ponyville
Part 1

Spitfire and Soarin’ were relaxing on a cloud watching two other Wonderbolts practicing their flight maneuvers. The coach gave them the rest of the afternoon off to do whatever they pleased. There was another Wonderbolt sitting next to them, but his head was buried in the cloud. Spitfire and Soarin’ leaned over to see what was wrong.

“You alright Stratos?” asked Soarin’ patting the stallion on the back.

“Kind of,” mumbled the down trodden pony with his head still in the cloud.

“You’ve been down this whole week, what's bothering you?" asked Spitfire as she flew to the opposite side of Stratos.

“Something just feels missing about my life,” sighed Stratos pulling his face out of the cloud.

“What do you mean?” asked Soarin’.

“I don’t know, something feels empty inside me,” replied Stratos scratching his head.

“Is it about not having a cutie mark,” stated Spitfire patting Stratos's blank flank.

“…partially,” muttered Stratos putting his head on his hoof.

Spitfire and Soarin’ were worried; Stratos had never acted so depressed before. Stratos usually had a pleasant demeanor and an adventurous nature. It was weird seeing their youngest member not flying through the clouds at amazing speeds.

“Come on Stratos lets go get some ice cream,” said Spitfire trying to get a smile out of her friend.

“How’s that gonna help?” asked Stratos with a puzzled look on his face.

“It’ll at least fill you up, because we didn’t see you at breakfast this morning and your stomach is starting the sound like an angry bullfrog,” answered Spitfire landing on the cloud and leading the way to the ice cream parlor.

Stratos chuckled and followed her with Soarin’ close behind. They stopped off at the locker room to change out of their Wonderbolt uniforms, so they could be more comfortable outside just relaxing. Stratos stopped in front of the tall mirror right next to the exit. His blue mane was pushed back during all the flying he did during the morning. He began messing up his hair until it was the kind of messy style that he liked. He checked his silver coat in the mirror by turning around constantly.

“Stratos you look fine. Let’s going before a line starts to build in front of the parlor,” said Spitfire waiting by the door.

They all soon arrived at Blueberry Swirl’s ice cream parlor, one of the most popular places in all of Cloudsdale. Spitfire and Soarin’ were chomping away at their ice cream like there was no tomorrow, because they hadn’t eaten since breakfast and they had an intense practice all morning. Stratos was just picking at his ice cream, but his stomach was growling at him to eat more.

“Now as you were saying earlier about feeling empty inside,” said Soarin’ finishing his ice cream.

“Well…I’ve just been thinking about all that I accomplished in my life. Ever since I was little I wanted to join the Wonderbolts after my father told me about his days as one of the founding members...” said Stratos.

“Ah yes, I remember hearing stories about your father Mach…oh sorry, please continue,” thought aloud Soarin’ without realizing that he interrupted Stratos.

“Anyway, after I spent my whole life training to get into the Wonderbolts. I still didn’t get my cutie mark when you guys accepted me. I thought since I’m one of the select few ponies in all of Equestria to achieve this honor, I should get my cutie mark for sure, but I didn’t. Now I’m consumed with this idea that I should go out searching for what I’m meant to do, my ‘calling’ if you will,” said Stratos poking at his ice cream.

“Well, you know what you should do Stratos,” replied Spitfire putting her hoof on Startos’s shoulder.

“What?” muttered Stratos slipping deeper into his depression.

“You need to take a vacation, go soul-searching, or do whatever it takes to put a smile back on your face. You’ve done nothing, but train for months; in fact you train longer than anyone else on the team. Just take a good break to get your mind settled. You’re our friend and we don’t like seeing you this way,” explained Spitfire with Soarin’ nodding in agreement.

“You sure the coach and Princess Celestia won’t mind?” asked Stratos with a worried look on his face.

“The coach knows you put in a lot of effort and I’m sure Princess Celestia will understand given your situation and feelings. Besides were not having a performance for a few months so, you won’t be missing anything important. Now just go, we’ll take care of things here,” assured Spitfire.

“Thanks guys, you two are the best friends I’ve ever had,” said Stratos with a smile slowly forming on his face.

Later on Stratos went back into the locker room. He walked over to his locker and pulled out his Wonderbolt uniform. He folded it gently and stuffed into his backpack. With a shut of the door and a quick sprint to gain momentum, he was airborne and off to where ever the wind took him.

A train pulled up into the train station and stopped with loud wisp of steam. The doors flew open and ponies started pouring out. A white-coated colt with a black mane wearing a black magician’s hat strolled off the passenger car. He also had on a black cape with a triangular emerald holding the collar together (like Trixie’s cape). He reached into his knapsack that was concealed by his cape and pulled out a magic spell book. He flipped the cover and pulled out a small sheet of paper. The colt walked around the station asking people if they knew where the ponies that were on the sheet of paper lived. Most of them were new to Ponyville, so they didn’t know. Just when he was about to give up hope, someone pointed to a dirt road that led to one of the ponies on the paper. His face was beaming with happiness as he trotted down the road. Eventually he came across an arch covered in leaves and in the distance he saw an immense red and purple barn. He slowly walked onto the grounds trying to find someone to help him.

“Hello!” called the colt examining the chicken coop thoroughly.

“Can I help ya?” asked Apple Bloom staring at the colt that was halfway underneath the coop.

“Oh yes, could you please tell me where I may be able to find anyone of these ponies?” replied the colt handing Apple Bloom the sheet of paper.

“These look like Applejack and her friends,” stated Apple Bloom looking over the accurately drawn pictures of them.

“Ya called sugarcube?” asked Applejack walking towards them.

“He’s lookin' for you and your friends Applejack” said Apple Bloom pointing to the colt.

Applejack examined the white colt from head to hoof; she noticed the wizard outfit and remembered her encounter with a very vain mare.

“You wouldn’t happen to know a unicorn named Trixie would you?” questioned Applejack.

“I’ve never met anyone by the name,” replied the colt raising an eyebrow.

“Alright then, so what can I do ya for?” asked Applejack regaining her cheerful mood.

“I’m looking for this pony in particular, because my teacher told me to deliver a book to her that she cannot decipher, hoping that she could possible translate some of it,” said the colt point to a fairly decent drawing of Twilight Sparkle.

“Hmm… I believe Twilight said she was going to be over at Rarity’s place,” stated Applejack, “Apple Bloom take um… I forgot to ask your name”.

“Oh my apologies, I am Astral,” said the colt bowing and tipping his hat by using magic.

“Apple Bloom, please take Astral to Rarity’s for me, I’ve gotta help Big Macintosh move two of the apple trees that flew during last night’s storm,” replied Applejack patting Apple Bloom on the back and walking off towards the back fields.

Apple Bloom led the way as they marched down the Southern path into town.

“So where ya from Astral?” asked Apple Bloom trying to spark a conversation.

“I am from Trottingham,” replied Astral keeping the same pace as her.

“Gol-ly, that’s really far away, this must really be important for you to come up here on your own,”

“It is important according to what my teacher told me, and I’m quite used to traveling on my own. Being an orphan you tend to become more self-reliant,”

“Orphan,” repeated Apple Bloom shocked at what she heard, “I’m sorry to hear that”.

“Don’t be sorry, like I said I am quite used to this and you should not get so sad about this, since it is not a problem that affects you,” said Astral patting her on the shoulder.

“Uh…so why are ya dressed like a wizard?”

“My teacher picked out this costume for me, because it went well with me learning spell-casting,”

“So you’re a real wizard and not pretend, can ya show me some spells?”

“Well, I know only one, it is an offense move. I guess I could show you,” responded Astral looking around for a target.

He found a dead tree that was on the edge of the road. Astral stood upright and put his front two hooves together, while he spread his back hooves apart. A white circle appeared on the ground with him in the center as black aura crawled up his body until it reached the tip of his hat.

“Umbra Hastae!” yelled Astral pointing to the tree with his right hoof.

A black energy sphere zoomed out of his hoof and collided with the tree, destroying it instantly. Branches and bark were sent flying everywhere. The black aura disappeared quickly and Astral returned to being on all fours. He turned back to see Apple Bloom. Her face was in combination of shock and awe. Her mouth dropped to its lowest point, her pupils were enormous, and there was a few twigs caught in her hair. Her eyes slowly returned to normal size and a wild smile started to form.

“That was amazing!” cheered Apple Bloom jumping up and down.

“It is quite a spell, but it is nothing compared to what my teacher is capable of,” replied Astral slowly starting to lose his balance.

“You okay?” asked Apple Bloom reaching over trying to keep Astral upright.

“Yes, my spells take a considerable amount of energy, which leaves me dizzy and slightly hungry,”

His hat slid off his head and a small blue creature fluttered out. It had red wings, adorably big lime-green eyes, and short stubby legs. It flew around erratically until landing on the tip of Apple Bloom’s nose.

“Para-para-parasprite!” screamed Apple Bloom swatting at the small creature.

Astral grabbed his hat and used it as a butterfly net to catch the parasprite before Apple Bloom could hurt it. Astral slapped his hat back on his head. The parasprite bounced around in his hat until it crawled out and sat on the brim of his hat.

“Why do ya have a parasprite?” asked Apple Bloom with her eyes locked on the adorably deadly creature.

“I found this little guy on my way from Trottingham, so I decided to keep him,” answered Astral petting the scared little creature to calm it down.

“Ya better keep that thing close by, because that critter can eat up a whole town,”

“Uh…Sure, I shall keep an eye on the poor creature,” replied Astral raising an eyebrow.

Rarity’s house was in sight and Apple Bloom wanted to keep the conversation afloat. Before Apple Bloom could speak, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle rode past them on a scooter at a frightening speed. They saw Apple Bloom and immediately made a U-turn to meet up with her. They braked and jumped off the scooter.

“Hey Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in unison.

“Hey girls,” replied Apple Bloom.

“Who’s your new friend?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“He’s Astral, he’s a wizard and he’s new to town,” said Apple Bloom pointing to Astral.

“Greetings,” stated Astral bowing and tipping his hat.

“Hi, I’m Sweetie Belle,”

“I’m Scootaloo,”

“Hey Scootaloo, do ya think we can all fit on your scooter? Astral needs to get to Rarity’s place,” asked Apple bloom.

“We can try,”

All four ponies managed to balance themselves on the scooter and were off down the road to Rarity’s house.

A little filly with a lavender coat and a red mane, wearing a postal hat and a small set of mail bags, trotted out of the Post office. She pulled out a map of Ponyville from underneath her hat and studied it for a few minutes until she memorized the layout. She stuffed it back into her hat and took off running down the road. She reached into her mail bag, bit into a letter, and flung it into the mail slot of the house she just passed by. The filly quickly cleared the first street and turned to the next street on her map. She jumped onto an apple stand and back flipped off of it, throwing more letters into their respective mail slots. She landed on her front hooves and began cart-wheeling down the road. She wasn’t paying much attention and ran into cart that was blocking the road.

“Owwie,” said the filly rubbing her head.

“Are you okay young filly?” asked a stallion wearing a white apron with a bright green pear on it.

“Yes sir,” replied the filly standing back up and adjusting her hat, “What seems to be the problem here”?

“My cart’s front wheels broke and I can’t move it out of the way,” said the Stallion looking at his stationary produce.

“Don’t worry sir I got this,” said the little filly.

She crawled under the cart and with a loud grunt; the cart lifted off the road. The stallion was in awe of this enormous feat of strength and soon other people stopped by to watch the filly move the big cart of pears. She dropped the cart close to another stand that sold peaches, but when she turned around a whole crowd of people was watching and cheering at what she had done.

“That was simply amazing young filly, please tell me what your name is?” asked the stallion.

“Allieyoop,” replied the little filly taking a bow.

“Well Allieyoop, take this,” said the stallion handing Allieyoop a white card with a pear on it, “Just present this to me when my stand is ready and you can have as many pears as you want”.

“Thank you sir,” replied Allieyoop taking the card and putting it in the pocket of her mail jacket, “Now I must be off, the mail still needs delivering”.

Allieyoop took off in a full sprint, tossing letters in to their respective houses down the lane. She parkoured off anything she could jump onto or swing off of. She eventually ran into a bubbly pony with a gray mare and a blond mane, wearing a mail-pony outfit. The mare was looking closely at one of the letters trying read it.

“Hey Derpy, how’s it going?” asked Allieyoop landing beside the confused mare.

“I’m alright Allieyoop, just trying to read the address,” replied Derpy turning the paper upside-down and then sideways.

“This is addressed to Sugar Cube Corner,” said Allieyoop looking over Derpy’s shoulder.

“Oh…makes sense…thanks Allieyoop,” replied Derpy turning towards Sugar Cube Corner.

Allieyoop kept close behind Derpy as they made their way to Sugar Cube Corner. Derpy took a minute to slip the letter in the mailbox, but she got it in and continued off on her route with Allieyoop bouncing beside her.

“Hey Allieyoop,” asked Derpy, “Why are you still a mail pony, you could do other things with your super strength”?

“I was thinking about that for a while, but I like being a mail pony. I get to see everyone in town, and I like meeting new people,” replied Allieyoop shifting her weight forward and walking on her front hooves.

“I was just wondering, because I heard there have been some strange things happening,” said Derpy.

“Like what?” asked Allieyoop.

“Things are disappearing and reappearing, and black figures moving in and out of the shadows. I think some ponies are just seeing things,” said Derpy looking around.

“Really, I need to pay more attention to things,” remarked Allieyoop.

Just as they reached the school, a black pony appeared on top of the roof. The black pony was solid black with piercing yellow eyes; it had tendrils flicking around in the wind. It looked down towards them and slowly walked forward. Derpy hid behind Allieyoop, while Allieyoop took a karate pose. The black pony jumped into the air and landed directly in front of Allieyoop and Derpy.

“Eve of Equinox,” whispered the pony as it faded away.

Derpy and Allieyoop gave each other a confused look and ran back towards the post office. They kept looking over their shoulders to see if the pony was following them.

Octavia and Vinyl Scratch walked out of the Day Spa fully rejuvenated and ready to take on the day.

“Hurry up sis!” called Vinyl Scratch turning back towards the Spa.

A mare with a long, blonde mane with dyed neon green tips, a white coat, and blue headphones wrapped around her neck trotted happily out of the spa.

“About time sis, we still got half of Ponyville to rock,” said Vinyl Scratch.

“Don’t you think we should call it a night…well more like day? We’ve been up for thirty-four hours straight, I want to go to bed,” replied Octavia trying to keep up and her eyes open.

“No way Ocatavia, it’s Fortissima’s first time in Ponyville, and we need to show her around in style,” said Vinyl Scratch standing on her back hooves and waving her front hooves in the air.

“Thanks Vinyl, but I think we should party on our own, Octavia looks really tired. Besides, I still need to unpack all my things,” remarked Fortissima patting Octavia on the back.

“Fine,” replied Vinyl Scratch.

They trotted off towards their house with Octavia slowly bringing up the rear. When they got in Octavia collapsed on the couch and Fortissima placed a cover over her, then she and Vinyl Scratch started bringing amps and guitars.

“Always thinking of other,” said Vinyl holding Fortissima’s guitar.

“Somebody has to,” responded Fortissima taking her guitar back.

“Sis, I can’t begin to imagine how much fun we’re gonna have, gigs and festivals will never be rocked as much as when we do them,” said Vinyl Scratch getting all jumpy.

“I can’t wait either,” replied Fortissima.

When they got up to Fortissima’s new room, they found a black pony with a solid black coat with piercing yellow eyes. Its tendrils were flicking around wildly. The pony was searching in one of the drawers that was already inside.

“What the...who the heck are you?” questioned Vinyl Scratch dropping the amp.

“Eve of Equinox,” whispered the pony as it ran for the window.

“Hey wait!” yelled Fortissima.

Fortissima and Vinyl Scratch ran after the black pony. The black pony crashed through the window and tumbled onto the ground below. Fortissima and Vinyl jumped out, narrowly missing the glass. The black pony ran through food stands and knocked other ponies to the ground, with Fortissima and Vinyl keeping close behind him. They kept up with him until they reached the edge of the Everfree Forest. Vinyl Scratch bit Fortissima’s tail before she entered any further into the forest.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, we are not going in there,” said Vinyl starting to shake from the thoughts of what might be in the forest.

“But we need to know who he was, what if he took something?” replied Fortissima.

“I didn’t see him carry anything in his mouth and he didn’t have anything on his back, so I don’t think he took anything,” stated Vinyl turning back towards the house.

Fortissima and Vinyl trotted back to the house, picking up to where they left off with the luggage. Octavia was still sound asleep on the couch and snoring loudly.

“True, let’s get some practice on,” said Vinyl opening a door to the basement.

They trotted down into the basement and found a recording studio with dozens of instruments. The walls were thick and made of solid steel.

“Wow,” muttered Fortissima with sheer amazement.

“I built this for me and Octavia. Whenever one of needs to practice, but the other one is asleep, they just come down here,” said Vinyl closing the door and turning on the disco ball and neon lights.

Vinyl took her spot at the disk table and Fortissima stood by the mic holding her guitar.

“1…2…3…4…PARTY!” cheered Vinyl turning on the speakers.

Vinyl stated busting out sick beats and Fortissima started shredding on her guitar. The room started shaking and the lights went berserk.

“Fortissima, hit me with a high note!” yelled Vinyl throwing her hooves in the air.

Fortissima took a deep breath and loud circular voice waves flew out of her mouth, knocking everything to the other side of the room. Everything became disconnected, except for one light still amazingly stuck to the ceiling. Vinyl was flung into the wall.

“Sweet Celestia,” said Vinyl as she slid down the wall.

“Oh no, Vinyl I’m sorry, I forgot about my voice whenever I hit high notes,” stated Fortissima running over and helping Vinyl up.

“That was…AWESOME, sis when did you learn how to do that?” asked Vinyl jumping up.

“About 2 years ago when I was practicing for a concert, I tried hitting high notes and when I hit the highest, sonic boom rings shot out of my mouth,” explained Fortissima.

“Sis, with those amazing vocal powers, we can have the best and loudest parties in all of Equestria!” cheered Vinyl imagining the amazing parties to happen in the future.