A Pony and a Portal - Ch 4

A Pony and a Portal

Chapter Four – A Pony and a Problem

Apologies, a momentary Author's note!  I know some of you are not familiar with past MLP series, and My Little Pony Tales is no exception.  Before continuing with this fic, I strongly recommend you follow the link in the comments section and watch just this one tiny little ten-minute video, which is the first and only appearance by non-earth ponies in the series.  It also gives you a good understanding of My Little Pony Tales, mainly the fact that it's total crap (though it does have its fans...somehow).

Author's note over.  Enjoy the fic!

~*~

One moment, Twilight Sparkle was waving good-bye to her new friends, walking through a portal made from a magical rainbow. The next moment, she was flat on her face in the dirt.

It didn't help that Rainbow Dash and Applejack immediately crashed on top of her.

The three staggered to their feet. Twilight didn't even have time to wipe the stars from her eyes before a burst of noise directly in her ear brought them back tenfold.

"TWIIIILIIIIIIIGHT!" Posey's voice screeched. The poor unicorn could almost pinpoint the exact moment her ears started bleeding.

"Posey!" she half-groaned half-gasped, "you weren't supposed to follow us into..."

The stars in her eyes gave way, showing her a thin, small Posey. With wings. And aquamarine eyes. Twilight jumped and almost tackled her friend. "Fluttershy! It's you!"

"I'm so sorry, Twilight!" the yellow pegasus said, immediately reverting back to quiet mode. "It's just that I was waiting so long and I was afraid you weren't coming back, so I kept yelling. But I thought that maybe I wasn't yelling loud enough, so I – Twilight, are you okay?"

Twilight was staring not at Fluttershy but at a rope around Fluttershy's waist. It hovered in midair and seemed to cut off into nothing. Fluttershy herself was not looking well. Her eyes were red and tired, and she seemed very worn out.

Motioning to the rope, Twilight said, "What's going on?"

"We...we left the spot you told us to wait. We couldn't help it! Spike was coming, and he needed some help, and we didn't want him to know that you were missing. When we came back, a portal opened. But we must've been in the wrong spot..."

"How long have you been waiting here?"

Fluttershy gave a tired sigh. "I don't know. I'm just glad you're here, Twilight. I can't go back. I can pull the rope, but it doesn't go back through. I was so lonely and scared." At this she started sobbing quietly. Twilight stood close to her, comforting her.

"Not like the rest of us ain't tired. After that battle, too." Applejack collapsed on the ground, sighing. "Just ta find out we ain't even home."

"Battle?" Fluttershy looked concerned.

Twilight shook her head. "First thing's first. Let's get everyone in one spot. Fluttershy, move forward and let's see if Rarity and Pinkie are still there."

Nodding Fluttershy took a few steps forward. She stopped with a squeak. "Oh, somepony's got the rope."

"Keep going."

Fluttershy pulled a little but didn't move a hair. Applejack and Rainbow grabbed the rope in their teeth.

"Not too quickly," Twilight warned, "or we'll lose them. Slow, careful, like playing with a cat."

Soon it became clear that two ponies were pulling desperately on the other end. But the farmpony and the athlete could not be outpowered by a dressmaker and a baker. With one great tug, two ponies appeared out of nowhere, pummeling the other four with such force that they all tangled together in one large multicolored pile.

"Wow, Fluttershy! You got stronger!" Pinkie Pie observed from the top of the pile. She flipped onto her feet. "Oh, you're Twilight and Rainbow Dash and Applejack, too."

"Pinkie, isn't that...?" Twilight pointed to the pendant around the pink pony's neck.

"Yup!" The fang necklace swiveled from Pinkie's neck. She almost seemed proud of it.

"Kinda suits ya," said Dash, smirking. "Well, in a really creepy way."

"Okay, everypony, listen up." Twilight explained the situation, including their battle at Paradise Estates. At once, Rarity 'hmph'ed loudly and sat down with a pouting thud.

"If we're just going to get back home after all of this," said Rarity, more than a touch of anger in her voice, "then why in Equestria didn't you just leave us there?"

"What if we didn't return after a day?" Twilight answered. "What if we were gone for several days? What would you and Pinkie do? Hold on to Fluttershy's rope for days on end? No, it's best that we're all together. That way nopony would worry about the others."

It sounded like a good excuse, but in reality Twilight wanted safety in numbers. Having only two comrades during the situation in Paradise Estates had been a little unnerving. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy may not be valuable if there happened to be another physical combat, but Twilight still felt better having them near.

"Fluttershy, have you found out anything about this place?"

The shy pegasus shook her head. "I saw some squirrels and birds, but they were very frightened of me. I'm not sure where we are."

It appeared, initially, that they were in a forest clearing. However, Twilight noticed that the 'clearing' was a little too manicured to be completely wild. A row of high bushes formed a straight wall beside them. They were flanked by trees, which arched in a semicircle. The grass was short and uniform. It was more like a park than a clearing. Twilight's immediate concern, however, was the approaching darkness as the sun was starting to set.

"You haven't seen any ponies?" Twilight continued. Fluttershy shook her head. "We'll have to find a place to rest soon. I don't know about you guys, but Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and I are –"

Twilight stopped, sensing a presence nearby. Twelve ears pricked up in attention as the bushes behind them rustled.

"See? I told you, Patch." A quiet voice called through the shrubbery. "There's someone here."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash, tired as they were, stood in front of the other four, ready to defend themselves. The effort was meaningless, however, as two young fillies appeared from the bushes.

They could only be called fillies due to their fresh looks, bright eyes, and overall sense of inexperience. The two stood, almost a head taller than the six friends, looking perplexed. They both were oddly similar; they had a light coat – perhaps white or darker, it was hard to tell in the dimming light – and their manes were shades of pink.

"Oh my goodness!" squeaked out the smaller of the two, who had the quiet voice heard earlier. "Are they babies?"

"Babies!" cried Rainbow Dash, fluttering her wings in irritation.

Twilight gave the pegasus a nudge and stepped forward. "No, we're not babies. We're just...ah...short."

The smaller pony shrunk back. "There are so many of you!"

The other pony scoffed and said, in a rough but feminine voice, "See, Sweetheart? I toldja there wasn't nothin' to be scared of."

Twilight flinched at the atrocious grammar. "Well, it's certainly...nice to meet you. I'm Twilight Twinkle." She gave meaningful looks to the blue pegasus and orange farmpony, and they both seemed to understand. "This is Apple Bloom, and this is Rainbow Flash."

"I'm Peachy Pie!" Pinkie Pie said, getting the joke. Rarity and Fluttershy were too surprised to respond, so Twilight introduced them as "Rhinestone" and "Flutterheart."

"I'm Sweetheart," said the smaller pony.

Oh, that's her name, Twilight thought in relief. For a minute there, I assumed...

"Patch!" said the other pony. Her low voice had occasions of squeaks in it, as though she was trying too hard to make her voice deep. "Hey, we can't sit here all night. C'mon, Sweetheart, we gotta meet up with the others."

"You can come with us if you want," Sweetheart offered gently. Patch rolled her eyes and walked out of the shrubbery. Tentatively, Twilight followed. Her suspicions had been right; it was a park.

The bushes opened up to a large paved road. Several houses blanketed the gently sloping hills. Streetlights flickered on as the day grew darker.

"Sorry if this sounds weird," said Twilight to her new acquaintances, "but what is this place?"

Patch scoffed again, turning around. "What? You mean you..."

She stopped flat. Twilight realized the filly was staring at her horn. An odd expression swept over Patch's face, a mixture of joy and disbelief.

"No. Way."

Twilight felt her face grow hot. "Wh-what?"

Patch gave out what could only be described as a 'fangirl squeal.' It was the same excited squeak that Rarity had let out after she – well, Fluttershy, actually – had been chosen by Photo Finish. It was the same as every girly noise that ever erupted from Rainbow Dash when the Wonderbolts were involved.

"You're a unicorn!" Patch burst. "I was so right! Come on, I gotta show you to the others!" She grabbed Twilight's hoof and pulled her along, making the tired unicorn hobble a few steps.

Twilight gasped, impulsively pulling her hoof back at the weird touch of Patch's hoof.

The ponies of Equestria had very unique hooves, as far as ponies go. Over the years, their hooves had changed from mere stiff extensions of their feet into a softer, slightly pliable foot. They could form a clumsy grasp by tightening the muscles around their bones where their toes would have been. It was not as adept as, say, a dragon's claw, but it served its purpose. Mares in particular seemed to flex their hooves more easily; the heavier and more muscular stallions had thicker hoof walls. Either way, an Equestrian pony could not bend its hoof directly in half.

Patch could, and had.

Twilight stared at the pony before her, shocked and embarrassed. Patch didn't seem to notice, standing on a paved path, a goofy, excited grin on her face. She jumped twice in the air before starting down the sidewalk in a rushed walk, waving at Twilight to follow her.

The other ponies emerged from the brush. Twilight turned to them.

"Let's be careful of these ponies, girls. I think there's more to them than meets the eye."

~*~

After a few minutes of walking, the eight came to a large soda shoppe. Oddly, it seemed to be connected to a styling salon, like the product of some bizarre dream. Patch and Sweetheart sat down at a table with five other ponies, pulling up chairs for the other six.

In the darkness, the two ponies had looked similar, but Twilight now saw subtle differences. Patch was darker, almost dirtier-looking in her off-white coat and dusty rose mane. Sweetheart was a lot cleaner-looking with brighter colors of the same hue. Patch had, as her mark, a mismatched square of cloth, as though somepony got lazy and just sewn on her Cutie Mark. Twilight hoped the Cutie Mark Crusaders never got the same idea. Sweetheart's mark was simply three hearts, one large and two small.

The other five were thankfully dissimilar. One pink, blonde-maned, with four stars; one dark pink with blue hair and a microphone mark; one lavender with light pink hair with a clover as her mark; one yellow with purple hair with three candies; and one cyan-colored with a bright orange mane with the mark of a notebook and pen. Twilight felt especially sorry for this last pony; she seemed genetically defaulted to the color of ugly. Sweetheart introduced them as Starlight, Melody, Clover, Bonbon, and Bright Eyes. These names immediately ran out of Twilight's tired mind like water through a sieve.

"I told you unicorns existed!" Patch snarked at her friends, pushing Twilight in front of her like a piece of art on display. The ponies stared at Twilight for a moment with mouths agape like drunken goldfish. Patch dragged Rainbow Dash out beside Twilight. "And this one has wings!"

Grouchy but complacent, Dash was in no mood to put up a fight. She glared at the gawkers like an angry zoo lion, and the ponies quickly retreated back to their sundaes.

"It's nice to meet you all," injected Rarity as Twilight stared, "and I'm sure that we have a lot of explaining to do about ourselves and why we're here. However, it has been quite a long day, so if you could point us in the direction of the nearest hotel – preferably with a jacuzzi and room service – we would be glad to tell you everything in the morning."

Thank you, Rarity! Twilight hid a relieved sigh.

The seven fillies merely looked at each other in confusion. "Sorry," spoke up the pink, blonde one. "I have no idea where a hotel is in this town."

"We're pretty far away from the city," the cyan pony explained apologetically. "There's a bed-and-breakfast, but I heard it charges about two hundred jangles a night."

"Oh, that's no problem! I-" Rarity stopped. "Did...did you say jangles?"

"Unless there's some other kinda money," snorted the dark pink one.

Rarity bit her lip, turning to the others. "I have money on me; almost a thousand bits. But I've never heard of a jangle before."

"Then we're stuck," said Twilight hopelessly.

"Nonsense!" burst Patch after a pause. "You guys can stay in our clubhouse! There's a lotta room, and we'll all chip in to get ya somethin' to eat! Starlight?"

"On it!" The pink pony slid out of her seat and walked behind the soda shoppe's counter.

"Starlight works here," explained Patch. "And Starlight's mom works on the other side in the salon."

Twilight was too tired to care. Rarity showed fake interest. Dash still glowered fiercely at the dark pink pony and the cyan one, both of which were trying not to stare. Pinkie Pie was extremely interested in Starlight's abandoned sundae but not much else. Applejack and Fluttershy just sat quietly and tried to stay out of the way.

Twilight's group ate dinner – macaroni and cheese, a juvenile but greatly appreciated meal – and were led to the fillies' clubhouse. Twilight was surprised to discover that their clubhouse was quite large and spacious. She was also surprised to find that none of the fillies lived in the house sitting on the same plot of land. While the fillies explained that the inhabitants of the nearby house were friendly neighbors, Twilight remained wary.

"Who builds a clubhouse on somepony else's land?" she said, adjusting the small pillow she'd been given. "I don't think I can take any more surprises today. If the ponies in that house come here for any reason, they'd better be prepared to get turned into cacti. I'm not in the mood."

"It's not that bad," said Pinkie, who had somehow gathered three pillows in a pile and snuggled in under them. She had placed her blanket on top of the pile and now resembled a lumpy pink hunchback under a cowl. "At least their pillows are comfy! And I have lotsa room 'cause I move a lot when I sleep."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Twilight smirked, looking at Rarity.

"You must admit, they are polite for such young fillies. They try, at least, to be more adult than they appear. Although I don't think they're convinced that we're not children."

"I guess. What do you guys think?"

Hearing no response, Twilight looked in the corner. Applejack was lying on her side, hooves under her head, making little whinny-snores. She hadn't even used a pillow or blanket. Rainbow Dash was flat on her back, wings spread, passed firmly out. Her hooves gave little twitches, as though she were running in her sleep. Fluttershy was hugging a pillow, nuzzling into it, giving contented sighs.

Twilight smiled, feeling her own sleepiness start to overcome her. She lay down on the hard floor and pulled a pillow under her head. "I guess they're not so bad."

That night, Twilight dreamed of strange, bent hooves.