Chapter 4: Day at the Boardtrot

After helping the Sheriff put Sprout behind bars, Hitch escorted Aaron towards the Boardtrot where the Young 6 and the rest of the new Mane 6 at the entrance. Aaron was astonished by what he was seeing.

"Whoa!" Aaron said. "This place is... awesome!" He then got a revelation. "Oh, I get it. This place is like a boardwalk. So I guess Boardtrot is pretty fitting in Equestria." The Young 6 nodded in agreement.

"It looks like something Rainbow Dash would want to visit," Sandbar said.

"That is if she knows how to get here," Smolder said. "Heck, we don't even know how we got here."

"I'm sure we'll find out how you all got here," Sunny said. "And I'm sure we'll find you all the way back to your time. But right now, how about we all have some fun today?"

"Well, we don't know exactly how long we're gonna be here," Gallus said. "I say, we go for it."

"How did this place even come to be?" Aaron asked.

"This place used to be an abandoned amusement park," Sunny said. "It was all doing well decades ago before all the rides started breaking down. None of the Earth Ponies could fix the rides."

"Maybe because all the pony types were all split apart," Sandbar said. "Maybe this place was built by all three pony types working together."

"That would make sense," Hitch said.

"Anyway, nopony put any effort into fixing up this place," Sunny said. "That is until Izzy got a creative block to the extreme. How she put it as... the Blockywockys."

"Blockywockys?" Aaron asked. "That's gotta be the most ridiculous word I have ever heard."

"Others will agree with you, Aaron," Izzy said. "I went on a quest to try to find a solution. So, I took the Nova Charm with me and I went all around Equestria. Mainly places outside of Maretime Bay, Bridlewood and Zephyr Heights. One of the places was a place none of us have been before. The Jade Sea."

"The Jade Sea?" Aaron asked.

"That's right," Izzy said. "There, I met a Seapony. Her name is Destiny, and she..."

"Wait, you met a Seapony?" Aaron asked.

"Oh, don't tell me you believe her," Zipp said. "Listen, Izzy, there have been no clear evidence of Seaponies ever."

"You're wrong about that, Zipp," Gallus said.

"What?" Zipp asked.

"You just haven't been looking in the right place," Gallus said. He then looked at Silverstream. "Silverstream?"

"On it," Silverstream said. She then walked over to a park bench and sat on it. She leaned her back towards the back of the bench and then she tapped on her seashell, and she transformed into a Seapony.

"WHOA!!" the new Mane 6 all said in unison.

"S-Seaponies... are real?!" Zipp asked.

"You just haven't been looking in the right place for research," Gallus said. "Silverstream's seashell comes from a magic pearl that turns whoever wears it, along with any creature she touches, into sea creatures. All of us experienced what it was like to be sea creatures."

"Ponies and Hippogriffs were able to become Seaponies because of our pony traits," Sandbar said. "But it has a different effect on other creatures."

"I got turned into a barracuda," Gallus said.

"I was a seal," Ocellus added.

"Yona became walrus," Yona added.

"At first, I was skeptical about becoming a sea creature," Smolder said. "But that was before I got turned into a tiger shark."

"Okay, now that's cool," Zipp said. "Wait, you didn't want to be a sea creature before? What made you change your mind?"

"She lost a bet," Aaron said.

"Okay, that makes sense," Zipp said. Then Silverstream turned back into her Hippogriff form. "So, why does she need a special seashell necklace?"

"She spent a lot of time underwater when the Storm King tried taking their magic pearl," Gallus said.

"The Storm King?" Misty asked. "I heard of him from Opaline. He tricked a unicorn with a broken horn into helping him, promising her that he would restore her horn if she got him what he wanted. And he betrayed her at the end."

"I kinda saw that coming when I saw it," Aaron said.

"Was it in the show?" Sunny asked.

"It was actually a movie," Aaron said.

"Wait, how Twilight and her friends took down the Storm King was in a movie?" Sunny asked. "Please tell me you got it on your computer."

"Oh, I do," Aaron said. "I'll show you later." Just then, there was shaking. The group all looked around and saw a bunch of raccoonicorns coming right towards them. "Oh, great. Raccoonicorns." Just then, the raccoonicorns charged through the group, taking Aaron, the Young 6 and Sparky with them.

"Whoa!" Aaron and the Young 6 all yelled while Sparky was screaming.

"Sparky!" Hitch cried out, reaching for Sparky.

Aaron and the Young 6 were all being pulled by the stampeding raccoonicorns. Lucky for them, they all got out of the stampede. Aaron and the Young 6 pulled themselves out of there, and into the funhouse. Sparky was holding onto Smolder's tail.

"That was close," Sandbar said.

"Yeah, it was," Aaron said. "I'm just lucky we all got out of there."

"Yeah, real lucky," Smolder said. She then screamed in fright when she saw something.

"What?! What is it?!" Aaron asked. He then looked where Smolder was looking. He saw that Smolder was looking at a mirror. In the mirror, Smolder was ponified. She was a unicorn.

"How is this possible?!" Smolder asked.

"Huh," Aaron said. "Interesting." His reflection then came into the mirror, and he also saw a ponified version of his dragon form. He was a pegasus. "This is a really interesting funhouse mirror. Usually, the mirrors are just strangely shaped to make anyone who's in front of them look goofy."

"Well, this funhouse is interesting," came Ocellus's voice. The two dragons looked towards Ocellus and they saw her reflection. She saw that her reflection was as tall as Chrysalis, in royal regalia, and she still had her reformed colors. "I'm not so sure about this."

"All hail Queen Ocellus," Gallus said in a mocking tone. In the reflection, Gallus was in royal guard armor right beside her. He then laughed, which caused the others to join in the laughter.

"So many different mirrors with different versions of ourselves," Silverstream said. "This... is... AMAZING!" She then saw her reflection in one mirror, and in that one, she was dressed up in Storm King armor. She then screamed and hid behind Yona.

"What did you see?" Gallus asked.

"I saw myself dressed up in Storm King armor!" Silverstream said, shaking.

"Okay, that would do it," Aaron said. Just then, Sparky came in over Aaron's head. Sparky giggled looking down at Aaron.

"Looks like Sparky got caught in the action as well," Sandbar said.

"Hitch will be most likely looking for him," Aaron said. "We don't want him to be activating Operation Glitterbomb."

"Operation what?" Gallus asked.

"Operation Glitterbomb," Aaron said. "If Sparky is possibly taken by a villain, like Misty almost did, Hitch will go to the extreme when it comes to finding him. Like knocking down everything in his path, or interrogating ponies who haven't even seen him that day."

"Yona think that really overboard," Yona said.

"Speaking of overboard," Ocellus said, pointing at one mirror. They all looked at the mirror and saw their reflections were the opposite gender. But Silverstream and Ocellus had different colors. Silverstream's body was now light blue, and Ocellus's neck fin and tail were dark blue.

"No," Smolder said. "N... O... No." She then headed off in one direction. "Let's get out of here." Then the others followed her.

They later went to another part of the funhouse where there were floating platforms over a bottomless pit. Aaron, Smolder, Gallus and Sparky looked down the pit.

"That looks so deep," Gallus said. "Wait a minute, isn't this place over water?"

"Yeah, you're right," Aaron said. "This doesn't even make any sense."

"C'mon, guys," Sandbar said, getting through them. "Let's just get hopping." He then hopped onto one floating platform and looked back. "See. Nothing bad's gonna..." Just then, the platform shrunk from under him and he almost fell. "Whoa!" Aaron and Gallus grabbed his forelegs before he could fall down the pit. "Whoa, thanks guys."

"Okay, looks like we have a time limit on staying on those platforms," Aaron said. "You were on there for five seconds before it shrunk and vanished, so we must step quickly."

"And if we don't?" Ocellus asked.

"At least six of us have wings," Aaron said. "The sixth being Sparky."

"Oh, that's right," Gallus said. "Hey, Spike didn't have wings when we met him. He got them until a few months after school opened."

"Still don't know how that happened," Smolder said. But then, Sparky was on top of her head, giggling. "Okay, that's getting a little weird."

"Sandbar, Yona, you two start crossing," Gallus said. "The rest of us will catch you in case you stay on too long." Sandbar and Yona started jumping from platform to platform, the rest of them followed in the air. Eventually, they all made it across."

"Okay," Yona said. "That not so hard."

"Let's see what else is in this place," Aaron said. Then they started continuing through the funhouse. Then they came into a room with stairs all around them. And not all at the same angle. "Whoa. This funhouse is messin' with our minds." Then Sparky started running ahead across a set of stairs. "Sparky, wait!"

"There he is!" Gallus said, pointing at another set of stairs, but Sparky was upside down.

"This place is messed up," Aaron said.

"Follow that baby dragon!" Ocellus said. Then Aaron and the Young 6 started going down the stairs. But when they emerged onto another set of stairs, they were split up. "Okay, how did this happen?"

"Just keep finding Sparky!" Aaron said. Then they all kept running up or down the sets of stairs they were on, each getting mixed up on their path.

Eventually, they made it to a room with a portal, where Sparky was waiting for all of them to come to him. Eventually, they did. Sparky giggled and jumped up to Smolder and nuzzled her chest.

"Okay, is that the way out?" Smolder asked.

"That, or it'll take us into another room," Aaron said. "Let's go." Then they all went through the portal. They eventually made it into another room. There were three stones. One on the ceiling, one on the floor, and one on the wall across from them. Each stone had a gem. The one on the ceiling was green. The one on the wall was blue. And the one on the floor was red.

"Looks like another puzzle," Ocellus said. "How are we gonna solve it?"

"Looks like a three creature button trigger system," Gallus said. "Three of us are gonna have to push each gem at the same time."

"I got the ceiling," Smolder said.

"Wall," Aaron said. Then he and Smolder started flying to the two gems of their choosing. Sparky went down to the floor stone. Then they all got into position. "Okay. On three, we push 'em. One... two... three." Then the three dragons pushed on the gems. Then a wall opened up, revealing the exit.

"Let's get out of here," Silverstream said. Then all of them headed for the exit.

The new Mane 6 were running around the Boardtrot, looking for Aaron, the Young 6 and Sparky. Sunny, Zipp and Misty came from one direction while Hitch, Izzy and Pipp came from another. They all met up in front of Sunny's Smoothie Stand.

"We looked everywhere," Sunny said. "They haven't been near the Zippercoaster."

"We checked the Tinytrot as well," Hitch said. "Although, it was hard to focus when our minds have been crammed into the head of a baby."

"Tell me about it," Pipp said, her mane full of glitter. "My mane's gonna be dry all day now."

"Well, where could they be?" Zipp asked.

"Hey, guys," came Aaron's voice. The new Mane 6 looked where the voice came from. They saw that Aaron, the Young 6 and Sparky were walking up towards them.

"Oh, there you all are," Izzy said. "Where were ya?"

"We got out of the stampede of raccoonicorns and ended up in the funhouse," Aaron said. "When we got out, we had to ask three little fillies where to find you all." He then looked down to his left and standing there were Glory, Peach Fizz and Seashell. "Thanks, girls."

"You're welcome, mister dragon," Peach Fizz said. Then the three of them headed to another part of the Boardtrot.

"The funhouse," Hitch said. "We could've also checked there."

"Well, why didn't ya?" Gallus asked.

"Sunny!" came another voice. They all looked towards Sunny's smoothie stand and they saw a certain Auroricorn there. "I see that what Pipp said on her live stream was true."

"Uh, what's up with that unicorn's horn?" Sandbar asked.

"Is it made of... crystal?" Smolder asked.

"Oh, that's Comet," Sunny said. "He's not actually a unicorn. He's an Auroricorn."

"What's an Auroricorn?" Silverstream asked.

"Kinda like unicorns, but with crystal horns," Zipp answered. "They usually reside in Starlight Ridge."

"Starlight Ridge?" Gallus asked. "Never heard of it."

Aaron and Smolder then gasped and in unison, they said, "Secrets of Starlight!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Sunny asked.

"It was an upcoming Make Your Mark special," Aaron said. "I thought it was gonna involve Starlight Glimmer."

"Guess they went a whole one-eighty on your theory," Zipp said. "Pipp, you got a picture of Starlight Ridge?"

"I sure do," Pipp answered. She then brought out her phone and showed an image of Starlight Ridge.

"Whoa," Aaron and the Young 6 all said in unison.

"Anyone else getting a Crystal Empire vibe?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah, I kinda see it," Smolder said.

"The Crystal what?" Zipp asked.

"It's this city in the Frozen North where Twilight's brother, his wife and their daughter lived in," Sandbar said.

"Twilight Sparkle has a brother?!" Sunny asked. "How come I didn't know that?"

"Perhaps your dad didn't have enough research," Smolder said.

"We could give you as much information as we can while we're here," Aaron said. "But first, I'm feeling parched."

"Coming right up," Sunny said. She then got into the booth. "Alright, who wants what?" Just then, Pipp's phone beeped. Pipp checked her phone.

Pipp gasped and said, "Oh... my... glitter! Mom is coming to the Brighthouse tonight!"

"Mom's coming?!" Zipp asked. "Oh, boy. We're gonna have to get the Brighthouse cleaned up before she gets here."

"Okay, we'll get you all smoothies back at the Brighthouse," Sunny said. "Let's all get there, immediately." Then all of them quickly left for the Brighthouse, leaving Comet to stay in the booth.

"Okay, I guess I'll just wait here," Comet said, cleaning up the booth.

Author's Note

Thanks for all the votes for this chapter. And I'm glad that all of you are liking this story so far. See you all next time.