Ponies Unexpected: Chapter Four

Chapter 4:  An Unexpected anxiety while dealing with the Unexpected

Almost everypony on that airship was happy to find new ponies.  One pony that was not happy was Princess Twilight.  The anxiety and shock on her face told all that she was not expecting ponies to be in Dream Valley.  Twilight said, “I never imagined, didn’t prepare for, what I am, what am I supposed to do?”

Noticing the look of confusion and panic of Twilight’s face, Pinkie looked at Twilight with a sympathetic smile.  Pinkie knew that dealing with the unexpected was one of Twilight’s weaknesses.  Pinkie then pulls out a ukulele from thin air, and then starts singing a parody of the song “Tiny Bubbles”.

Pinkie:  “We never expected that shiny ponies.”

The other ponies except Twilight:  “We never expected that shiny ponies.”

Pinkie:  “To be living in Dream Valley.”

The other ponies except Twilight:  “To be living in Dream Valley.”

Pinkie:  “However, you can’t let the unexpected.”

The other ponies except Twilight:  “However, you can’t let the unexpected.”

Pinkie:  “Throw you for a loop.”

The other ponies except Twilight:  “Throw you for a loop.”

Twilight then blinks, taking on a startled expression, and then her face returned to normal.  Twilight puts her hoof on Pinkie’s mouth.

Twilight then said, “Ok, I get it; you girls, my friends can stop singing now.”

Applejack puts her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.  “Don’t worry, sugar cube.  I’m sure that these shiny ponies are as surprised about us, as we are surprised about them.”

“But Applejack, I’ve never met these ponies.  Where’s my book “Diplomacy for Dummies”?  What do I say to them?  What do we have in common?”

“This is not the first time we talked to unknown ponies.  Now, fly down there and do what you did before.”  Applejack points with her hoof at the approaching news mares.  “Those two ponies look like reporters.  Why not start the conversations with them?  Remember to take deep breaths Twilight, deep breaths.”

Twilight looks Applejack in her eyes, saying after a sigh, “Gals, wish me good luck.”

With a sense of style taught to her by Rainbow Dash’s flying lessons, Twilight jumps over the railing and then guides to stand on the manicured grass of the sport’s field in front of the silver coated mare.  With a look of amazement on her face, Panorama the brass coated mare starts up her camera and then steps into the background.  Twilight then says, “Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle.  That’s my airship, the Comet.  I’m in charge of a research team to collect pony history from Dream Valley.  But, I never expected that there would be ponies living in Dream Valley.  What’s your name?”

It took a few moments before the silver coated mare could speak.  “My parents named me Newsie Newsworthy, but everyone calls me Newsie.  You are in a suburb of Unity City.  If you don’t mind me asking this question, what type of pony are you?  I’ve never heard of anypony who has both Pegasus wings and a unicorn horn.  In fact, there are no Pegasus ponies in Dream Valley.”

Twilight asked, “There are no Pegasus ponies in Dream Valley?”

“You are the first Pegasus pony I’ve ever seen or interviewed.”

“I’m not a Pegasus pony.  The fact is that I was born like you, as an ordinary unicorn.  But, a short time ago, when I completed a difficult spell, I grew these wings.”  Twilight flutters her wings.  “And then I become a princess.  However, two of my friends and all of my ship’s crew are Pegasus ponies.”

Twilight points with her hoof at her friends and ship’s crew still on the open deck of the airship.

Newsie gasps as the realization of what Twilight said sinks into Newsie’s mind.  “Pegasus ponies have returned to Dream Valley?  It has been many generations since a Pegasus flew above the skies of Dream Valley.  This has to be the greatest news story in the last one hundred years!”

With a tilt of her head, Twilight asks, “Can I assume that there are only Earth and Unicorn ponies in Dream Valley?”

“That’s correct” Newsie replies.  “There have been no Pegasus ponies in Dream Valley, not even one ever since the Great Pony Migration.  By the way, what’s it like to have wings?”

“Let’s just say I’ve experienced the thrill of flying victory and the agony of crashing defeat.”

“Trying to learn how to fly at your age must have been like learning to walk all over again.”

Twilight rolls her eyes and sighs.  “Believe me, it was.  Let me ask you a question.  Do you know how your Dream Valley ponies’ coats and manes got to be so … shiny?”

The news mare pondered Twilight’s question before answering.  “Pony documents say and pictures depict that our ancestors’ coats were as dull as yours.  But, over many generations our coats become more metallic and shiny.  Nopony knows why or how that happened.”

“That’s similar to what happened to the Crystal ponies of the Crystal Empire.  But never mind that, how can there be ponies still living in Dream Valley?  I thought that all the ponies had walked out of our ancestral homeland during the big freeze.”

“Our ancestors did walk out of Dream Valley.  Yet, hundreds of Earth and Unicorn ponies lost their way from the great migration.  Frustrated, these few stragglers returned to Dream Valley to find that the freezing cold had disappeared from Dream Valley and that Earth ponies were able to grow food here once again.  One thousand Earth ponies and eight hundred unicorns started a new nation, the Dream Valley Republic.”

“Who is your leader or leaders?”

This time, without hesitation, the silver coated reporter replied, “An Earth pony mare called Cameo Moderator is our president.  President Cameo and the Dream Valley Senators govern Dream Valley and all the land up to the near shore of what we call River Canyon, several days travel from here.  The opposite shore is the Savage Plains full of woolly mammoths, erupting volcanoes, and a chain of mountains made out of pure salt.  We Dream Valley ponies don’t spend much time there or the civilized nations beyond the Savage Plains.”

Newsie holds out her foreleg and after a few hoof taps, uses her Pony Digital Assistant to show Twilight images of a river valley that appears similar to Ghastly Gorge and the other animals and places she described.

Twilight asks, “Newsie, what’s that machine on your foreleg?”

Newsie replies, “This is my Pony Digital Assistant or PDA.  I use my PDA to organize my research notes on the stories I write for Dream Valley Television news.”

“Wow, I’m sure a Pony Digital Assistant would be very useful for my library research.  Where can my friends and I purchase these?”

“Anypony can purchase a PDA in an E-PUM store.”

With a puzzled look, Twilight asks, “E-PUM?”

“Oh, that’s an acronym for Earth Pony science and Unicorn Magic Corporation.  Without Pegasus ponies to control the climate, Dream Valley Earth pony scientists and Unicorn ponies skilled in the magical arts often work together in harmony to solve problems.  E-PUM also makes forehoof shoe-gloves, like the ones my camera-mare Panorama uses to hold her camera.

Twilight notices that Panorama is wearing mechanical gloves covering her front hooves.  These gloves have four mechanical fingers and a mechanical thumb.  Panorama then said, “These hands are sure useful in steering our station’s van or holding things that we don’t want to put in our mouths.”

Twilight walks closer, and then asks Panorama, “Could you tell me something about these shoe-gloves?”

Panorama replies, “Shoe-gloves were invented two hundred years ago, to provide Earth ponies as well as Unicorn foals that hadn’t yet mastered their telekinesis, with a way to hold objects in their hooves instead of in their mouths.  Dream Valley historians have written books describing that Earth ponies and Unicorns foals had a hard time convincing adult Unicorn ponies to invest effort, money, and resources into a technology that would have little benefit to adult Unicorns.”

Twilight replied, “Equestrian Earth pony scientists and Pegasus pony scientists often conflict with Unicorn pony magical researchers over funding from Princess Celestia’s government.  To be honest, I don’t know how my Princess Celestia keeps cooperation and harmony between those two groups.  I got off the right track again, a bad habit of mine.  Where is the nearest E-PUM store?”

“I can walk with you to the nearest E-PUM store.  It happens to be located on the other side of this pony sports field.  Panorama and I covered the grand opening of this sports field seven days ago.  The mare that owns the store has a buy one get one free PDA sale for any Pegasus pony.  I think that smart aleck mare is going to regret making that offer.”

Twilight replied, “There’s a Ponyville saying, When in Manehattan, do as the Manehattanites do.  If wearing a Pony Digital Assistant will help my friends and I communicate with the Dream Valley residents, then my friends and I will purchase and then wear them while we are here.”  Twilight looks back to her airship.  “Spike, get a bag, no make that a big bag of bits and then come with me.  We have some serious shopping to do.”

Panorama still photographing with her camera asked Twilight, “What are bits?”

Twilight replied, “Bits are what Equestrians use for money.”

Panorama laughed, saying, “In Dream Valley, you buy things with Dream Valley dollars.  I’ll walk you to a nearby Unity City bank to exchange your foreign coins for Dream Valley dollars.  Do you have any questions for me before we start walking?”

“What are those metal towers for?”

Panorama replied, “Those towers are for wireless transmission of voice and pictures for our Pony Digital Assistants.  Go ahead, ask me another question.”

“In Equestria, I read that an Earth mare scientist named Groningen Mareconi Marwari thinks wireless data transmission is possible.  I suppose your PDA proves she was correct.  So Panorama, do you think that my Pegasus friends will become popular with Dream Valley ponies?”

“I do believe that your Pegasus friends will become very popular.  They might even get their own Welcome to Dream Valley convention.”

My Little Pony:  Friendship is Magic, Copyright © 2010 Lauren Faust, Hasbro Studios, and DHX Media