My Little Pony Monthly Issue 24 (March 1,
1999)
My Little Pony Monthly
Established June 1997
This Newsletter is Child-Friendly
E-mail Tabby (TabbyMLP@aol.com) to be removed from the mailing list.
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Issue 24
March 1999
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Editor's Note-- All the back issues of My Little Pony Monthly are now up on the
internet! Go here:
http://members.tripod.com/~TabbyToy/Monthly.htm
to see them.
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All The Pretty Little Ponies
(A Revisionist Interpretation of the MLP Mythos)
Chapter 13
by
C. Alan Loewen
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
For Candice and Allison
Synopsis: Megan, an eleven-year-old orphan who lives with her Aunt Constance, has
been given guardianship over seven magical
ponies also known as the Seven Sisters, the enchanted daughters of King Arthur and Queen
Guinevere, turned into ponies by Arthur's evil half-sister
Morgan. Through many adventures, Megan has now brought the ponies back to Britain and their
parents. Comments and constructive criticism may be
sent to cloewen@pa.net
The earth shuddered under the beat of horse hooves as the column bearing Arthur's
standard drew closer to the stone circle.
Morgan's cries grew in fear and fury as she saw the approaching column, but with the full weight
of Spike on her chest, she was helpless.
Aunt Constance, with Sarah at her side, cradled Megan's limp form, the shattered
remains of Morgan's staff laying about them. The
ponies, huddled around Medley where she lay on the cart with her broken leg, simply stared in
awe at the approaching procession. Though they knew
from the murals at Dubricius' Sanctuary that they were the daughters of King Arthur, the amnesia
that came with the curse that turned them into
magical ponies robbed them of any joy at the sight of their father approaching.
As the column of horsemen approached the hill, they could see the two men who led the
procession. One was evidently King Arthur.
Even from a distance, his regal bearing demonstrated his heritage. Riding his horse as if born to
the saddle, he sat alert and straight, his handsome face
adorned only with a close trimmed beard and mustache and wearing a simple crown of gold.
Next to him sat another man, a great feathered rook clinging to his shoulder, whom all
the ponies recognized in an instant. With cries
of "Dubricius!" they trotted to where Aunt Constance knelt, Sarah standing nearby.
Suddenly, Twilight saw the limp form of Megan. "Megan!" she cried, and the other
ponies joined her. They clustered around Aunt
Constance as they nuzzled the limp form of their friend and protector.
Arthur and Dubricius galloped up the hill followed closely by the king's knights. In a
moment, it seemed all was confusion as the
hilltop was filled with men on horseback and none knowing what to do when they saw the baby
dragon sitting on the chest of Morgan, King Arthur's
sworn enemy, not to mention winged ponies, and one of them on a cart with a bandaged leg, small
unicorns, and other talking ponies as well as an
adult woman holding an unconscious girl.
"Hold!" Arthur commanded and suddenly everybody stopped talking. "You two," the
king ordered his two closest knights, "if the
dragon allows, take Morgan into custody. Dubricius, see to the girl."
With a fluid motion, King Arthur slid down from the back of his steed and approached
Twilight. Kneeling, he searched the little
unicorn's eyes for a glimmer of recognition. "Alcyone? Is that you?"
Twilight bowed her head and knelt in the manner of ponies. "Your highness, Mother
Ellen said that Alcyone was my name, and that
you were my father."
Tenderly, slowly, Arthur reached out and stroked the unicorn's cheek. "All will soon be
made well. Trust me."
Meanwhile, Dubricius examined Megan as she lay in her aunt's arms. "Is she hurt,
Dubricius?" Ember asked, her voice
trembling.
Dubricius gave the little pony a reassuring smile. "You have nothing to fear. Smashing a
Staff of Power just takes the wind out of
you.
"Megan," he said, "Wake up, child. You have completed your task with honor. It's time
for your reward."
Megan groaned and slowly her eyes flickered open. "Dubricius?" she asked, her voice
faint and slurred. "Am I dreaming?"
"No, Megan, you're not dreaming. Just stunned. You'll be right as rain in no time."
"Are the ponies okay?"
Dubricius tenderly caressed her cheek with his hand. "Yes, the daughters of Arthur and
Guinevere are safe. Rest now. You'll soon
see a wonder."
"I think I've seen so many wonders," Megan muttered sleepily. "What could be greater
than what I've seen already?"
Leaving Megan in the capable care of her aunt, Dubricius walked over to where the two
knights were having a hard time getting the
baby dragon to get off the screaming Morgan. "Let me handle this," he said to the two. Kneeling
on the ground, Dubricius whispered into Spike's ear.
Purring, the dragon jumped off of Morgan who was immediately grabbed by the two waiting
knights.
"Bring her to the king," was all Dubricius said.
Brought before Arthur, Morgan stood defiantly before her half-brother even in the midst
of her defeat. Arthur stared at her sternly.
"You've lost, Morgan. Your anger has brought you to this and now you stand before me my
prisoner, your staff is broken and Dubricius tells me your
book of spells was burned to ashes by a mere slip of a girl.
"All this because you cannot forgive. I can think of no greater punishment than to just
let you go into exile where your anger will
only continue to eat at you."
Morgan glowered at him. "I'll come back. You can't keep me away."
Arthur laughed grimly and pointed to Spike. "I think not. Once again, there will be a
dragon at Camelot and no magic can touch a
dragon. Not even yours. And this dragon will be watching for you."
Morgan turned her head to see Dubricius making his way to where she and the king
confronted one another. "Merlin!" she said to
the king with contempt in her voice. "The wizard who gave up his magic for what?
Nothing!"
Dubricius could not help but hear which was what Morgan wanted all along. "Morgan,"
he said, his voice filled with pity, "I will
say this once and once only with a prayer that you may someday understand. There are only two
goals a person can strive for in life: power or love.
You cannot strive for both as they automatically cancel one another out. I gave up being Merlin
and am content to be just Dubricius. Magic no longer
appeals to me and there will always be wonder in the world."
Morgan snorted her scorn. Arthur's knights made a path for her, and with a sneer, she
made her way down from the hilltop.
"I've still had my revenge," she shouted. "I've poisoned the tales of King Arthur and his
knights. The world to come will never
know about the daughters of Arthur and the stories of Camelot will always have an unhappy
ending."
"Perhaps," King Arthur called back. "But maybe in the telling, some truth of the glory of
Camelot and Britain will still shine."
As they watched Morgan make her way down the dark hillside, Arthur felt a small hand
slip into his. He looked down into Sarah's
bright eyes. "You're right, you know," she said shyly. "I read your stories and though what
Morgan said is true about the ending, the whole world
knows about King Arthur and the knights of his Round Table and all about your quests and
adventures."
Arthur smiled down on her. "I have my daughters back and that is what is most
important to me; but I'm glad, for the sake of
Camelot and my knights, that the tales may inspire the world to come."
Dubricius turned to the ponies. "Your travels are almost at an end. Please join your
sister in the middle of the circle. The sun will
soon be rising and we must be on our way."
A knight rode up to Arthur and placed a large bundle in his hands. Taking it to Aunt
Constance and Megan, he placed it at their feet.
"Morgan's staff is broken. All she has done will soon be undone. We will wait at the bottom of the
hill. Bring my daughters to me."
As he turned to join his men at the bottom of the hill, Megan examined the bundle
closely and discovered it was clothing, dresses
made from some shimmering material.
"Megan!" Sarah cried. "Look!" Megan turned to see the seven ponies and gasped at
what Dubricius had promised would be a great
wonder. And it was a great wonder indeed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Invento Ponies
by North Star:
Name: Lastly
Body: Pure White Unicorn
Hair: Silver
Symbol: Silver Music Note and Flute
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Baby Starbow's Adventure
by Ciara Catalina
(palominos@juno.com)
Baby Starbow was looking very hard to find a hiding place in the woods. All the baby
ponies were playing hide-and-seek on a
bright and sunny day.
Baby Starbow decided to hide in the half circle of sierra bushes, a little ways from the
main path. "No one will find me here!" she
said gleefully.
Suddenly, there was a flutter of color, and Baby Starbow shrank back further into the
bushes. A beautiful purple-feathered bird
appeared. She turned towards Baby Starbow and watched her.
Baby Starbow stared at the bird's long, shimmery tail that looked like a rainbow.
"W-w-what are you?" she stammered.
The bird laughed a kind, tinkling laugh and said, "Me? I'm a Fairy Tail Bird. My name is
Windsong."
Baby Starbow looked at Windsong with awe. Wind Whistler had told the baby ponies
about these magical birds. They usually
didn't show themselves, but one could hear their silvery voices in the early morning.
"And you are?" Windsong prompted the awed pony.
"I'm Baby Starbow," the words came out breathlessly.
"Well, Baby Starbow, I was sent to find a My Little Pony and invite her to our party.
Would you like to come?"
"Oh, yes! May I?" Baby Starbow's face was lit with joy.
"My tail will carry you to our secret valley. Are you ready to go? Yes? Good! Step
onto my tail and we'll start now," Windsong
instructed her.
Baby Starbow forgot all about the game of hide-and-seek, and stepped upon the
shimmery tail. At once, Windsong flew up, her tail
carrying Baby Starbow. They flew out of the woods and higher until the trees and little stream
looked like a ribbon running through some toys.
Baby Starbow had no fear of falling; she felt like she was floating on a fluffy cloud.
"This is fun!" she cried out happily.
"Are you afraid, Baby Starbow?" Windsong looked back at the baby pony. Baby
Starbow's face was one of complete ecstasy, and
the expression grew as they flew higher through the clouds. Windsong laughed softly. The baby
pony hadn't heard her, but that was okay. Baby
Starbow was happy and unafraid, Windsong concluded.
If Applejack and Cotton Candy had looked up in the sky while walking through Posey's
garden, they would have seen a shimmering
rainbow flying freely through the air with a baby pony riding it, namely Baby Starbow.
"Look! Paradise Estate! And further, Dream Castle!" Baby Starbow said delightedly.
"Yes, and over the waterfall and mountain is Fairy Tail Valley. All of us Fairy Tails
Birds live there." Windsong's face grew
thoughtful.
"What is it like?" Baby Starbow asked curiously.
"It is a valley full of secrets, magic, and flowers. It is a place of happiness and peace,"
Windsong sighed and continued. "We've
been there for a long time-- before the My Little Ponies came to Dream Valley. Even before the
witches."
For the next few minutes, they flew in silence; Baby Starbow marveling at the scene
before her, and Windsong lost in her memories.
Baby Starbow sighed and fell asleep with a contented smile on her face.
* * *
"Let's wake her now! The party is ready to begin and she's slept for awhile now; plenty
long enough!" a voice twittered.
Baby Starbow opened one eye and looked around her. She still felt a little tired, but
being in a new, exciting place made her wake
completely. Standing, she realized she was in a small house, woven from flower vines.
"You're awake!" Windsong appeared from the sky. "Climb on my tail again and we'll
go to the party!" Windsong was giddy and
carefree.
A smaller bird flew off from a nearby tree and Windsong said, "That was Rainsong."
Baby Starbow remembered why she was in Fairy Tail Valley and grinned as they took
off towards a beautiful garden. Windsong's
tail hadn't lost its shimmeriness, she noticed.
Looking away from the tail she stood on, Baby Starbow looked at the garden they had
entered. It was almost full of Fairy Tail Birds
that were dancing in a swirl of rainbow color. The swirling circle stopped as Baby Starbow and
Windsong stepped closer.
"They're here!" went a cry all around. Baby Starbow stepped onto the soft moss
pathway and the birds crowded around, calling out
their names. "I'm Rainweaver!" "I'm Flowerbelle!" "I'm Rainsong!" said the familiar smaller bird.
Another pushed itself in front of Baby Starbow. "I'm Morningbow, and I would like to
officially welcome you to Fairy Tail
Valley!" The birds announced their names and began dancing again, this time with Baby Starbow
in the middle.
Once again Baby Starbow had a look of pure ecstasy on her face as all the birds swirled
about her. The birds' voices rose
majestically in a song that put all instruments ever made to shame.
I'll never forget this day as long as I live! Baby Starbow promised herself. On
and on they danced, like a dream,
sometimes flying here and there and then landing softly on their feet. For such large birds, they
moved very gracefully on their feet, Baby Starbow
observed, watching them dance.
All too soon, the sun began to set, and Windsong had to take Baby Starbow home.
"We'll miss you!" the birds chorused.
"Windsong will come and invite you and your friends to our next party!" promised
Morningbow and Rainsong. As Baby Starbow
climbed onto Windsong's tail, the birds called out their goodbyes in silvery voices, their tails
waving.
"Goodbye! Thanks for the party!" Baby Starbow called out, waving a hoof. Sighing,
Baby Starbow fell back against the fluffy tail
and slept the rest of the way back to Dream Valley, dreaming all along about her wonderful dance
with the magical birds.
* * *
Baby Starbow woke as Windsong descended at Paradise Estate's gates. "Thank you
ever so much!" Baby Starbow exclaimed, her
eyes full of stars.
"You're welcome, but the sun has almost completely gone down, and I bet somebody's
looking for you!" Windsong said, her eyes
twinkling. "Remember to tell the other ponies!" she added.
Baby Starbow nodded and raced through the gates just as Sky Dancer descended.
"Baby Starbow!" she exclaimed. "Where in the
world have you been? Wait, come to the pool and tell everyone at once."
They hurried to the pool where Baby Starbow told all the other My Little Ponies about
her wonderful time in Fairy Tail Valley and
all the new friends she had made.
Baby Starbow's adventure with the Fairy Tails Birds began parties between them and the
My Little Ponies that still go on
today!
¤THE END¤
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You're Too Slow, Baby Tic-Tac-Toe!
CHAPTER THREE
by Bubblefish
The next day, everyone was very busy; even the Baby Ponies were hard at work-- they
had been told to gather as many of the
prettiest flowers as they could, and the Flutter Ponies had even allowed them to pick the flowers
in Flutter Valley.
The adults got two of the longest tables and put them in the orchard, where the Sport's
Day would be held, so no one had to travel
very far to get there.
After two days, Tootsie announced that the Sport's Day was going to be the next day;
that day they worked even harder, and by the
time they had gotten everything ready, they were so exhausted that they fell fast asleep almost
straight away-- remembering to set their alarm clocks
first!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Poem to Say Goodbye to My Little Pony
by North Star
Once upon a time long ago
My Little Pony ruled, I know
But now they're gone without a trace
Missing from every single place!
No matter laughter or smiles
I've looked for miles
Oh where have the ponies gone?
They're gone but life will go on
The answer isn't here
Oh the ponies are gone forever, I fear
Where is the magic? the laughter?
Is this for ever after?
Because of Hasbro's fatal mistake
All pony lover's hearts now break
Don't make no difference, gone for good
Will they come back? They should
Will it matter, do they care?
Oh, the ponies aren't anywhere!
All I can do is hope and pray
My Little Pony is back someday....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=/\=PONY TREK=/\=
by Blu Flyer
======= Episode 3: A.I: Part Four =======
Previously, on the Starship Lollypop...
The entity "living" inside the warp core of the Lollypop has been discovered to be a
network of small machines. Upon closer
inspection, it is revealed to bear the emblem of PonyFleet.
And now... da conclusion!
*Writer's note: This episode segment was written while watching Star Trek Voyager
and TNG, so it should be kinda nifty. ^.^ Also,
COOL to the person who wrote about Pokémon! Hehe-- gotta catch ‘em all! Yeah! I may try
that out. *ahem" I'll try to wrap this up today; we
need to move on to other characters. Each one of the main crew will get their own "episode" and
thereafter rotate, so you can meet them all. :) And
perhaps I'll do other types of stories... Pokémon crossovers, etc. Or maybe some ordinary MLP
stories, even! Hehe!
Big thanks to Michael Pillar and Jeri Taylor for all their influence, and of course, Gene
Roddenberry for obvious reasons. ^.~
Medley stared in disbelief at the tiny black hoof-print on the little machine as it swam
about in the warp core fluid. It looked like a
Grob nano-probe. But what was it doing with the PonyFleet emblem? She tapped at the screen
with a hoof as if it would do anything. She looked to
Flyer, who looked deep in thought. The Captain took a breath, and came to a conclusion.
"Lieutenant, assemble an away team. Take them to S1 and eject the core. I'll be in my
ready room." The Captain looked at
Medley with a tired sparkling eye and turned back to the turbolift.
Medley considered briefly, and touched her comm badge. It chirped with more
enthusiasm than she felt. "Medley to Ensign
Countdown; meet me in transporter room four." She was so tired, and was tempted to order a
site-to-site transport. Instead, she continued to the turbo
and on to the transporter room, calling crew as she went. She called Lieutenants Glory, Ringlets,
and Paws. Ringlets and Glory were usual members
of her teams whenever they set out to get something accomplished, and Paws was a member of
the Security team. Hopefully it would be well-rounded.
They were, after all, blundering into unknown territory. She was quite sure she would have been
more excited if she hadn't been so darn sleepy.
She nearly blundered into the transporter room, nodding her head and drooping her
eyes. Countdown caught her.
"You okay?" he asked. "Maybe you should stay here? I'm sure I can handle the away
mission myself; you don't look too good..."
He helped her to her side and she yawned. Ringlets was on time, and gasped when she saw
Medley.
"I'll... I'll be fine..." Medley said sleepily as she yawned. "Just replicate me some coff--"
She blinked, hesitating.
"Get the pony a coffee," Glory ordered whole-heartedly to the transporter crewman,
who was happy to oblige.
Medley chugged the coffee and began to wake up. It was a good thing she hadn't had
such a fall on the mission. That would have
been bad. She blinked bright-eyed, and shook her mane, which hadn't been brushed in a day. She
sighed. When this mission was over she'd take a
nice, hot, old-fashioned shower. With water! Not one of those sonic-showers.
She stood up on all fours, and stepped on the transporter pad again. The crewman
activated the transporters, and they beamed
out.
* * *
Medley blinked as her eyes adjusted to the dim light of the corridor. She looked around
to make sure the rest of her away team had
made it. Countdown nodded, and Medley took off in the other direction. She looked at her
tricorder, making sure to stay out of the corridors that the
AI had sensitivity in. She finally found the wall panel she was looking for, and snapped it open.
The buzzing blue lights stirred inside, as small
impulses traveled along in the form of electric shocks and nerve impulses through the neuro-gel
packs.
She replaced several chips and re-routed the power. Well, not re-route, but developed
an access port to the main engineering to the
panel. Hopefully the AI would not... mind. As she tapped the last key, she hoped that nothing
would happen.
All that did was a small chime that told her the sequence had been successful. She
sighed with relief, then got back to work. First,
she had to by-pass security codes. This would take time. She had gotten tricorder recordings of
security codes from the Captain and other executive
officers. Although it would work, she still had to fix the computer to accept pre-recorded
messages. After this was done, she moved down the hall to a
bio-neural gel pack chamber while Glory began playing back the security codes. Medley opened
the panel into the chamber, and shot a small ray of
potassium and sodium molecules towards it, creating a crude, yet effective, artificial impulse. If
she programmed it right, it would alert the AI that
there was danger in all areas of the ship; that the environmental controls had malfunctioned and
the ship was loosing it's high temperature. Speaking
of which, the AI had raised the temperature so dramatically that small beads of sweat were
appearing at her brow. She turned to Countdown.
"Countdown, could you access environmental controls, please? I'm burning up here!"
Countdown nodded gratefully. Before long the temperature dropped to a comfortable,
cool temperature. Medley nodded silently in
thanks as she completed the sequence of impulses.
Finally she glanced down at her tricorder. The AI was drawing back! She watched with
amazement at the speed as it retreated back
to the warp core according to false messages. She turned to Glory.
"On my mark, and no later, eject the core," she ordered. She watched intently at the
small tricorder monitor.
"Five, four, three, two, one... mark!" she exclaimed as the AI pulled itself completely
into the core.
The segment shuddered ever-so-slightly as Glory ejected the warp core. Medley
ordered a site-to-site transport to the bridge. As she
arrived, Glory turned to Ops and activated the view screen. The warp core pulsed quickly, then
slowed. The pulsing faded like a bad dream. Medley
tapped her comm badge.
"S-1 to S-2," she said.
"Flyer here. Mission status?"
"Successful, Captain."
Flyer grinned at Tacky. Medley had certainly proved herself in this. But still, there was
the mystery of the Ponyfleet
emblem...
"Captain, incoming transmission from Pony Fleet," Tacky said, punching
absent-mindedly at her chair-console.
"On-screen."
Admiral Night Glider peered at her from her desk at PonyFleet HQ.
"Hello Blu, Tic-Tac-Toe," she said. "Congratulations. I'll be looking forward to your
logs. We need them for our
evaluation."
"Evaluation??" Blu said, hiding her annoyance. They were being evaluated?
"What exactly do you mean by...
evaluations?"
Night Glider coughed lightly. She didn't seem like she wanted to be the object of
Captain Flyer's annoyance. "Yes. Sorry we had
to keep it from you, Blu. It was necessary. We are developing a new... piece of technology that
we hope to pitch against the Grob. It is similar to their
assimilating technology, but apparently it still has a few bugs to shake out."
"So you were just going to pitch us against this new technology, and if it kills us, be
satisfied?"
Night Glider avoided looking at the viewscreen. "No, of course not, Blu. WE would
have stopped it before then." Night Glider
smiled sweetly at Blu.
"Over and out, Admiral," Blu said between gritted teeth. Tacky ended the transmission
just in time. Blu turned to Ops.
"Let's pull this ship together," she said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tabby's Treasure
by Tabby
It was nearing the end of Tabby's work day at the clinic. She tapped her hoof
impatiently on the main desk. Sugarberry, the
receptionist at the clinic, had had to leave a little early, so Tabby had to manage the main desk-- it
really wasn't a good job to put her in charge of.
There were no other scheduled appointments for her; Tabby was just hanging around to make
sure no one came in.
At that moment, the doors swung open. Tabby looked up with interest as the figure
entered the building-- it was a human, and they
were not usually found in Ponyland. Following the man was a large St. Bernard dog.
"I'm looking for the vet here," the man said, coming up to the counter.
Tabby looked indignant. "I am the vet here!"
The man looked at her in surprise. "You don't look much like a vet; more like a
receptionist."
Tabby glared at him. "Well, anyway, what's wrong with your dog?"
"He's got a cut on his back," the man said, gesturing towards the large dog. "It might
need attention. We'll see if you can fix
it."
Tabby's eyes gleamed with fury. "Fix it! I'll fix it, all right! Come on, just follow me."
She led the two into the appointment
room.
"Okay, so..." Tabby inspected the cut once the dog had been lifted up onto the counter.
"I suppose I'll clean it out first." She
busied herself attending to the task.
Once it was cleaned out, Tabby searched around for the special ointment for cuts. Oh,
where those things kept? She glanced over at
the man, who was smiling slightly. This made her anger flare up again. She wasn't about to make
a fool of herself in front of this guy!
"Try the cupboard marked ‘Ointments'," the man finally suggested after Tabby failed to
uncover what she was looking for.
"Right," Tabby sighed. Dejectedly, she flipped open the cupboard indicated. The cut
ointment was sitting right out front.
After applying some of the ointment onto the cut, Tabby handed the tube to the man.
"Here, take this," she instructed. "So, like, put
it on the cut every day, and it should heal fairly quickly."
"What, no instant cures?" the man said, amused. Tabby clenched her jaw and ignored
the question as she walked back out to the
main desk to ring up the bill.
She pressed a few keys and cocked her head at the result on the screen. "Uhh... three
jangles? No, that can't be right..." Frantically
she pressed some more. "Two thousand? What's with this machine? Oh, why'd Sugarberry have
to leave!"
The man burst out laughing at Tabby's confusion. "How about accepting this as
payment?" He pulled out an ancient-looking
rolled-up paper.
Tabby glanced at the paper and shrugged. "Sure, sounds fair." She took the paper from
the man; he waved as he and his dog
departed from the building.
"Tabby, you've screwed-up the computer," Thomas sighed as he came up behind
her.
"The program doesn't make any sense," Tabby complained.
Thomas pressed some keys. "You should've charged twenty-five jangles."
"But I got this instead!" Tabby waved her prize in the air.
"What is it?" Thomas took the paper from Tabby and began to un-roll it.
Tabby peered over at the paper expectantly. Her eyes gleamed when she saw what it
was. "That's a treasure map if I ever saw
one!"
Thomas studied the paper. It did, indeed, look like a map. "Interesting..."
"And it's mine!" Without warning, Tabby snatched it back from him.
"Hey, who said that?"
"Well, I did, of course--"
"I'm the owner of this clinic, so I should get it," Thomas argued.
"But I'm the one he gave it to!" Tabby clenched her jaw defiantly and held the map
protectively.
"Umm, are you open for business?" came a timid voice. Tabby and Thomas both
whirled around. There was Skylark, with her pet
hamster.
"Why, yes!" Tabby said brightly, not missing a beat. "Thomas can attend to you!" She
pushed Skylark forward. "And I do believe
I'm done for the day, so bye!" And before any more words could be spoken, Tabby trotted out
the doors with a triumphant smirk on her face, and
leaving a dumbfounded Thomas.
* * *
Later that evening, in the privacy of her own home, Tabby was studying the map.
Amazingly, she could make sense of most of the
landmarks pictures on it-- there was the Dark Forest, and perhaps the Black Mountains. It
appeared that a trail through the forest led up into the
mountains, and that was where a large X was drawn.
"It looks easy enough to find," Tabby said thoughtfully. She grimaced, recalling her
encounter with the man earlier. Imagine, her
not looking like a vet! She'd come across as looking clueless. That's how she always came across
as. Everyone expected her to be lost and confused
no matter what she did.
A grin slowly spread across her face as she came up with an idea. She'd show them!
She'd show them she wasn't just a weak,
confused, irresponsible little pony. She'd show them all!
Yes, Tabby knew what she was going to do. She was going to find that treasure on her
own if it was the last thing she did.
* * *
The next morning, Sugarberry was heading out to work. She glanced back at Tabby's
house. She could see no lights on; it looked
bleak and desolate. That was odd; Tabby should be getting ready for work as well.
"Maybe she went over early," Sugarberry said aloud. Then again, that didn't sound like
Tabby. She preferred to be late. "Well,
it's always a possibility."
Sugarberry trotted on towards the clinic with a hopeful heart. She pushed through the
doors, and took her place behind the desk.
She glanced around the room-- no Tabby.
Thomas appeared out of the hallway. "Hello," he greeted her.
"Has Tabby shown up yet?" Sugarberry asked anxiously.
"No." Thomas smiled grimly. "And I think I know where she is."
"What do you mean? The Satin Slipper Sweet Shoppe isn't open yet--"
"One of the clients paid with a treasure map yesterday," Thomas explained. "And Tabby
ended up with it."
"A treasure map? The things that happen while I'm away!" Sugarberry commented.
"But do you really think she'd go off in search
of treasure without telling anyone? That doesn't sound like her."
"That pony is nothing but trouble," Thomas said bitterly. "She's always late--"
"Only five minutes each day--"
"She's always skipping out--"
"Not that often--"
"The salary I pay her is outrageous--"
"It's really not that much, considering--"
"She's constantly misplacing things--"
"Well, everybody does that upon occasion--"
"And I don't see why I don't just forget about her and hire a new vet," Thomas
finished.
Sugarberry's eyes opened wide with terror. "Oh, no! You couldn't do that!"
"You bet I could!" Thomas stormed off into the next room.
Sugarberry sat still in shock. Tabby was in big trouble this time, and if she didn't get
back soon... oh, why had she had to run off? If
Thomas hired a new vet to take Tabby's place, it wouldn't be near as much fun working here.
Sugarberry was going to have to do something...
Quickly glancing around to make sure Thomas wasn't in sight, Sugarberry bolted out the
door.
* * *
Meanwhile, Tabby was traveling through the Dark Forest, following the directions on
the map. The previous night she had hastily
packed a backpack with provisions, and early that morning had departed for her journey. The
daylight emerged sunny and without a cloud in the sky--
a wonderful day for treasure hunting.
Unfortunately, none of this showed in the Dark Forest. The trees were so tall and thick,
all sunlight was blocked out. Never was
there a single ray of light in the forest.
So far, Tabby had been lucky and hadn't run into any monsters or others evils. But who
knew what was lurking around the next
tree...
She glanced down at the map she had in her hoof. Since the original copy was so
tattered, she had scanned it into her computer
scanner and printed it off for a stronger copy. According to the map, there was a cave
somewhere on the edge of the Dark Forest. There was a path
drawn next to the cave, and that led through the forest up to the Black Mountains. Tabby'd found
the cave, and was trying to follow through on the
path.
Tabby shrugged and bravely trotted forward. She hummed the Sea Pony Song to pass
time. "Shoop bee doo shoop shoop bee
doo..."
* * *
Sugarberry trotted onwards to Tabby's house. Maybe she'd be able to find something
that would help her figure out where Tabby
was headed-- providing she could even find a way in the house.
She cautiously turned the handle of Tabby's front door. Yep, Tabby had forgotten to
lock it. Sugarberry let herself in. She felt
slightly guilty about breaking into her friend's house, but it was for good reason.
"Now, where do I begin?" Sugarberry wailed. There were so many rooms to look in,
and there might not be any clues
anyway.
She paused and thought the problem through. Where did Tabby spend most of her
time? Her computer room, probably. She spent
hours making lists of things to put up on the internet.
Sugarberry trotted into the computer room, where all Tabby's really cool computer stuff
was kept-- like a scanner, digital camera,
and printer. She glanced around the room. Something seemed off... ah ha! The scanner lid was
up, not down like it was supposed to be.
Sugarberry peered into the scanner bed. Interesting, there was a paper in it-- ancient,
tattered looking paper. She picked it up, and
could hardly believe her luck. It was the treasure map!
She studied it. There was a cave on the outskirts of a forest, with a path running next to
it. The path led up to some mountains.
"Let's see..." Sugarberry said aloud. "The forest must be the Dark Forest, and the mountains the
Black Mountains. So I'll have to find that
cave!"
Sugarberry remembered seeing a cave near the raspberry patch. "Well, I guess I can try
it." She trotted out of the house and
towards the berry patch.
When she got there, she hesitated slightly. Did she really want to go after Tabby, all on
her own? Remembering that Tabby'd
probably be out of a job if she wasn't found quickly, Sugarberry bravely stepped onto the path
next to the cave and continued onward.
* * *
Meanwhile, Tabby was skipping along merrily on the forest path. She had to admit,
though, that she was getting worn out. She had
been walking for quite some time now; it must be late morning, as she'd started out early.
"La de da," Tabby hummed. "Maybe I'd better stop and rest." She sat down on a
grassy patch under one of the trees and stretched.
She pulled out a piece of cold chicken she had packed in her backpack and nibbled on it.
After taking a drink of grape juice from her thermos, Tabby yawned. Her eyes slowly
closed and she drifted off to sleep.
* * *
Sugarberry opened her eyes wide when she saw something on the path up ahead. Why,
it was... pink! A pink unicorn! It could be
none other than Tabby!
Sugarberry ran up to her friend, who was still sleeping. "Tabby!" she cried as she shook
the unicorn's back. "Wake up!"
Tabby slowly came to her senses and shook her head to clear her mind. "What? What
do you mean? What?"
"Tabby, you've got to get back to Dream Valley!" Sugarberry urged.
Tabby sighed as she drowsily remembered what had happened. "Look, Sugarberry, I'm
treasure hunting. I'm not going back until I
have that treasure!"
"Thomas threatened to hire a new vet to take your place!" Sugarberry quickly explained.
Tabby's eyes opened wide. "That can't be!"
"Well, he was awfully mad, and came down pretty hard on you."
Tabby snapped her head around. "Oh, really? What'd he say?"
"Umm... that you were always late, and he paid you too much, and you skipped out, and
you misplaced things..." Sugarberry
stuttered.
Tabby narrowed her eyes. "Well! If that's what he thinks of me, maybe I'd
rather not work there anyway."
"Tabby!" Sugarberry wailed. "You can't mean that!"
"I mean it, all right!" Tabby hissed. "That does it; I'm quitting!"
"Oh, Tabby, no!" Sugarberry moaned.
"Now I'm off to find the treasure." Tabby flicked her tail and continued down the path.
"I'll prove that I'm more than just an
irresponsible wimp."
Sugarberry ran after her. "I can come with you, can't I?"
Tabby whirled around. "I'm finding this treasure on my own. I don't need any
help!"
"But, Tabby, it might not be safe all by yourself! This is the Dark Forest, you know,"
Sugarberry argued.
"I'll be fine." And before Sugarberry could do anything, Tabby was gone-- winked
away.
"Oh, dear!" Sugarberry sighed. "What am I going to do now? What a mess this
is!"
Sugarberry stared around at all sides of the path. She could try to catch up with Tabby
again... but she was probably too far ahead.
Maybe Sugarberry'd better just go back to Dream Valley to get some help.
Sugarberry dejectedly trotted back down the path to Dream Valley.
* * *
Thomas sighed. Now both Tabby and Sugarberry had run off-- Sugarberry was most
likely in search of her friend. Maybe I did
come down a bit hard on her, he thought regretfully. She really wasn't that bad, and he had
to admit it was a bit boring without having her
around. Yeah, he really wouldn't want to hire a different vet.
Luckily, it was a slow morning at the clinic and he hadn't had many patients to attend to.
In fact, there wasn't another scheduled
appointment for half an hour-- Thomas started thinking.
From what he had seen of the map, he remembered a cave drawn on the edge of a forest
with a path running by it. Assuming the
forest was the Dark Forest, he thought he'd seen the cave before.
Yep, he'd better go off in search of Tabby and Sugarberry. Who knows what dangers
they might run into? Thomas stuck the
"Closed" sign in the window, locked the doors, and took off.
* * *
Tabby was still walking along the path, wondering if she would ever get to the
mountains. She'd been going on for what seemed
like miles. Would it never end?
At that moment, she saw a brown, furry head sticking out of some bushes on the side of
the path. Tabby held her breath. What was
that?
The creature looked up at her. A smile lit Tabby's face. She knew this guy! It was
Tiny the Bigfoot; she used to get her magic
injections from him.
"Hey, Tiny!" she greeted the Bigfoot as he emerged from the bushes. "How ya been
doing?"
"Good," Tiny grunted. "What you doing out so far?"
"I'm off in search of treasure," Tabby said. "I got a map from some human who stopped
in at the clinic."
"Human? What he look like?" Tiny asked curiously.
Tabby gave a brief description of the man, and Tiny nodded wisely. "Me know him!
Got recipe for magic injections from
him."
"Cool!" Tabby commented. "He must wander the countryside."
"No one with you?" Tiny questioned. "That be dangerous."
"I'm going alone to prove my worth," Tabby explained.
Tiny looked skeptical. "Be careful," he warned.
"I will!" Tabby waved to him cheerfully as she continued on her way.
* * *
Sugarberry was still walking down the path, but she thought she was getting close to the
raspberry patch. Now, who am I going
to get to help me? she thought. How could anyone help me, anyway?
At that moment, she saw a flash of white up ahead. No other pony would be on this
path, but... "Thomas?" she cried out.
Thomas appeared fully in Sugarberry's sight. "Yes, it's me," he said. "I thought you and
Tabby might need my help."
Sugarberry nodded slowly. "Err... yeah... but..."
"Where is she, anyway?"
Sugarberry blinked slowly. "Well... I ran into her..."
"And?" Thomas prodded.
"I told her what you'd said about her... and that you were going to hire a new vet... and
that got her pretty mad," Sugarberry said
haltingly. "And then she said she was going to quit." She looked at Thomas expectantly.
"Great," Thomas moaned.
"And she's not letting anyone help her find the treasure," Sugarberry finished. She
paused. "I hope she hasn't put you on her
blacklist for good. That could get ugly."
"This is certainly a mess," Thomas said. "I say we'd better find her and talk some sense
into her."
Sugarberry nodded. "It's not safe being alone in the Dark Forest."
"And I'm not going to have her quit her job! Come on!"
* * *
"Oh, no!" Tabby sighed as she came to an obstacle in the path. Well, not an obstacle
exactly, but it was confusing. The path split
off into two smaller branches. Tabby consulted the map. It didn't say anything about a
branching-off path.
"Which way is right?" She cocked her head in thought. "Well, right is right, of course."
She shrugged and started off on what she
thought was the right-hand path, but it was actually the left one. She'd gotten sorely confused.
Onward she went.
This smaller path curved around, but Tabby didn't think much of it. She just hoped that
it got her to the Black Mountains.
After walking for quite some time, Tabby was getting discouraged. She was just about
ready to give up on this whole treasure deal
and wink back home when she saw something: the path she was on opened up onto a larger path!
She excitedly skipped up to the new path. She was
closer to the mountains now; she was sure of it!
Merrily Tabby skipped along. Somehow, something seemed familiar to her, but she
didn't really think about it (she didn't really
think about anything).
Then she saw something up ahead that made her stop dead in her tracks. She opened
her eyes wide with confusion. Walking up
ahead on the path were... Sugarberry and Thomas?
"This isn't right!" Tabby cried out-loud without thinking.
Sugarberry and Thomas both whirled around. "Tabby!" the both exclaimed.
Tabby trotted up to them. "I'm supposed to be ahead of you, not behind you!" she
complained. "What happened?"