4. Lanceriffic (The Christmas Special)

[Lancer]

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the fourth story in the My Little Pony Magic Series. We hope you enjoy this story but please remember our warning - do not read it within three hours of bedtime, or you might have a nightmare!
This is the first story in the series not to be about a white pony called Truly, but about a blue pony known as...

(To the tune of the My Little Pony Tales theme)

Something is starting, right now!
Something is starting, Oh wow!
My Little Pony, My Little Pony, My Little Pony Magic,
My Little Pony, My Little Pony, My Little Pony Magic!
Although Desiree's house is a very long way away,
We're going to make it, come what may!
My Little Pony, My Little pony, My Little Pony Magic,
My Little Pony, My Little Pony, My Little Pony Magic!
Truly, Lancer, Lofty, Dieserella and Soapy,
Lots more characters for you - Come and join the ponies!
My Little Pony, My Little pony, My Little Pony Magic,
My Little Pony, My Little Pony, My Little Pony Magic!
My Little Pony Magic!

[Lancer]

CHAPTER ONE

Bubbles's dream was annoying him. He'd been having it for several minutes, and in his sleep he was tumbling and tumbling around and around his bedroom.
He shook his ears and twitched his nose, and tried to get rid of the awful pictures that were coming into his head.
Then, someone he recognised appeared in the dream - Soapy, his twin brother.
"You've got to help me, Bubbles!" Soapy said. "Ponyland's in trouble!"
Bubbles saw another picture of a horrible Black Pony. The pony had black hair and red eyes.
"There are only four of us, and nobody else will believe us! You've got to come! You've got to help us! There could be only moments left!" Soapy cried in desperation. "He's supposed to be coming today, and the ponies won't listen! Help me, Bubbles!"
Then, Bubbles woke up. He looked up at theclock, and saw that it was still far too early for his owner, Desiree, to get up and feed him, so he went back to sleep.
The dream immediately started again.
"Help me, Bubbles!" Soapy cried.
"How can I help you?" Bubbles muttered.
"Lean on your door." Soapy said, as if he had heard his brother, "Desiree left it unlocked last night - I know she did!" Soapy smiled in the dream. "And if you do manage to escape, be sure to free Dieselbelle, Clover and Desiree's stick insects and Giant African Land Snails. We need their help too!"
Dieselbelle was Desiree's other guinea pig and Clover was her pet rabbit.
Bubbles woke up again. Was it all really true? He leant on his door just a little to see if it was open, and squeaked excitedly, when he found that it was!

My Little Pony, My Little Pony,
How has the world been treating you?
My Little Pony, My Little Pony,
Hae your dreams been coming true?
Tell me what's doing, anything brewing?
Is something special in store?
My Little Pony, My Little Pony,
Can't wait to see you once more!

The answer to the original question, "How has the world been treating you?" , is "Very well, thank you!" so long as you were not two particular ponies, because these two particular ponies knew what was to happen today.

Bubbles told Dieselbelle the exciting news. He squeaked to her, saying "If I lean on my door, I can get out! Do you want me to let you out?"
Dieselbelle said that she'd love to be freed! So the ginger and white abyssinian guinea pig leapt out of his hutch, making sure to catch the lock on Dieselbelle's hutch (which was below his) with his paw as he dropped. He landed on the ledge in front of Dieselbelle's hutch,created by the edge of Clover's hutch below.
He stepped to one side, allowing Dieselbelle to push her door open and step out. The two guinea pigs stood on top of Clover's hutch for a minute, gazing at each other.
"When we jump past Clover's hutch, we must jump on his two locks and push them down, so that he can escape too! It will also help to break our fall!"
The two guinea pigs jumped, and succeeded in opening Clover's hutch.
Clover hopped out of his hutch and listened to the guinea pigs' plans.
"We'd better go and get Desiree's insects. Remember, the humans will be awake soon!" Dieselbelle said.
Bubbles and Clover looked at her. They'd completely forgotten about their owner and her family in all the excitement of escaping.
They raced through the living room door and began knocking over the insect tanks, one at a time, making a loud smashing noise.
"That might wake them up!" Dieselbelle said.
"No, it won't!" Clover replied, confidently.
"It might." Bubbles said, doubtfully.
So they quickly made a cart out of a cardboard box. The insects and snails climbed inside the cart.
"Who's going to pull the cart?" Asked Dieselbelle. "Are you going to, Bubbles?"
"I don't think so." Said Bubbles. "What about you, Clover?"
"OK, I'll pull it!" Clover said. "What else do we need to take with us?"
"Nothing that I can think of." Bubbles said.
"Food?" Suggested Dieselbelle.
"No,we'll have to make do with what we can find!" Bubbles said. "I don't think that we have to take anything else!"
And so, the guinea pigs and rabbit ran through the kitchen towards the back door.
"Let's get going!" Dieselbelle cried.
Clover jumped up on top of the cart full of insects, Dieselbelle jumped on top of him and Bubbles jumped on top of her. Together, they reached the key in the door, and turned it. They pushed the door open, and heard footsteps behind them! Their owner must be waking up!
They raced down the path to the bottom of the garden and hid behind a wall that was just in front of the garden shed.
By this time, somebody would have discovered that they were gone. They huddled amongst the ivy behind the wall. Then they looked back at the house through a tiny crack. The door had blown shut, and they couldn't see anybody coming. They breathed sighs of relief.
"Oh, why are we here anyway?" Dieselbelle asked.
"Well, that's what I was about to say." Bubbles replied. "I know that we're really here because of my dream...but there's nothing to say that we can't have some fun at the same time!"
And the animals began to sing...

(To my own tune, so you'll have to make one up yourself !)

Bubbles: What is your mission?
What is your ambition?
Tell me, most pretty guinea pig ever seen!
Dieselbelle: I want to find a supermarket,
In the vegetable aisle I'll sit!
Looking at mouth-watering greens!
Bubbles: What is your mission?
Whait is your ambition?
Tell me please, my rabbit friend!
Clover: I want to have a race with a champion,
And be first to the end!
Bubbles: What is your mission?
What is your ambition?
Tell me, stickies, please do!
Stick insects: We're gonna find a place where brambles grow,
And eat a piece that's bigger than you -
From the tip of your nose to the tip of your toes!
All (Except Bubbles): But now we're going to ask you...
What is your mission?
What is your ambition?
Tell us, Bubbles! You got us here!
Bubbles: I want to find Desiree a pony from a Car Soot Bale,
And if I fail,
I won't be going home for a year!
And now I want to know one more answer - what is the most important thing, please?
We're going to help someone who's in trouble!
All (except Bubbles): Well, it's quite obvious, Bubbles!
We're going to help the MLP's!

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWO

The two ponies stared at the other MLP's who were playing Bouncercatch. How could they be enjoying themselves?
But Truly and Lancer knew the answer; the other ponies didn't want to believe in the message - the message that said that The Black Pony Of Darkness would be coming back on the 30th of November or, as The Black Pony Of Darkness had put it, "Perhaps I will leave it until the 1st of December!"
But the two ponies didn't want to risk that. He might be coming tomorrow, or he might be coming today. Wasn't it better to be cautious and save yourself, rather than to leave it too late?
They had tried to tell the ponies but, as it was the last day of Autumn (the ponies believed in Ponyland), they continued to play a game of Bouncercatch to celebrate the occasion.
"We have to leave soon!" Soapy, Lancer's pet guinea pig, said, trying to get his owner's attention. "I don't have much time before I have to go to Rainbow Land."
But Truly and Lancer weren't listening, because both of the ponies who had heard the terrible message the month before were singing...

(To the tune of "A Little Attention" from "Too Sick To Notice")

They just think we're boring,
All they want to do is play,
Ponies keep ignoring us,
No matter what we say!
All this fuss over playing Bouncercatch,
Because Autumn ends today,
They don't care about anything that we may say!
Everyone is playing,
Running here and there,
If they heard what we were saying,
Then I doubt that they would care!
All this fuss over playing Bouncercatch,
It really makes me sick!
They would not care if the BP played a trick!
They all act,
As if we don't exist,
If he got us,
There'd be no fuss,
We would not be missed!
Have you got any ideas yet?
Hmmmmm....
They just don't believe us,
They think we're having fun!
They only care about one object,
And that red ball is the one!
But perhaps they would change their minds,
If we really ran away!
Bet that would stop them playing any day!
Oh yes!
Lancer, your ideas simply are the best!

"My owner always has good ides, Truly!" Said Soapy, pulling on her tail. "So let's get going! Let's go back to Paradise Estate and pack our bags!"
The ponies galloped off.

"They're gone!" Desiree cried. "All three of them are gone!"
"And the insects tanks have been smashed!" Jacqui, Desiree's mother, added. "Every single one of them - smashed!"
Desiree and Jacqui looked around in horror. All of the animals were gone! The hutch doors were open and the insect tanks had been smashed.
"What on Earth has been going on?" Desiree thought aloud. She knew what had really happened though. This was all down to Bubbles and his magic necklace. She had already seen that the animals' necklaces were gone from their normal place in the back room.
She knew that if she ever did see her pets again, it wouldn't be for a very long time!

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER THREE

Truly and Lancer ran back towards the other ponies.
"We're going!" Called Soapy
"Going where?" Asked Posey. "Aren't you going to come and play Bouncercatch?"
"For the last time, my owner has told you," Soapy sighed, "The Black Pony Of Darkness is coming back! He said that he would return on the 29th of November...Oh dear! No!...the 30th of November!"
"You see? You can't even get that right!" Buttons said. "It just proves what a stupid animal you are!"
Soapy burst into tears and leapt into the pocket in Lancer's backpack.
"Now I want all four of you to go away! You're ruining our game!"
"We're going now!" Truly replied, calmly. "We only wanted to warn you..."
"We don't want to hear any more about this!" Starlight groaned. "We know that you just want to spoil our fun...as you always do!"
"Could you tell us where Majesty is?" Dieserella, Truly's strawberry roan abyssinian guinea pig asked.
"Why would you want to know where Majesty is?" Buttons asked. "Majesty would never spare time for four trouble makers like yourselves!"
"She will make time for us!" Soapy protested.
"You want to bet?" Asked Melody. "Huh! She'd only make time for important ponies like us!"
"What's so important about you then?" Said a new voice, from behind Truly and Lancer.
"Oh, Majesty!" Cried Starlight. "These two ponies and their guinea pigs want to cause trouble. They say that The Black Pony Of Darkness is coming back and..."
"He is." Majesty said, firmly. "And that's why I want all of you to go and pack your bags and come with us!"
"She's always on their side!" Starlight muttered.
"I don't think it has anything to do with whose side I usually take." Majesty said. "I just realise that you will have much more chance of escaping The Black Pony Of Darkness if you stop playing Bouncercatch and listen to what we're saying."
Buttons, Starlight and Melody looked at each other nervously.
"Well, OK." Said Buttons. "What do we have to do, if we listen to you?"
"Go and pack your bags. We will be leaving Ponyland tomorrow - I now know that the Black Pony isn't coming until tomorrow evening, so we must be out of Dream Valley by then!" Majesty said. "And no ponies should go near the home of the MLP that The Black Pony Of Darkness wants to capture which, I'm told, is in Paradise Land."

Dieselbelle awoke to find a paw on her shoulder, shaking her.
"There's something behind the wall!" Bubbles whispered.
The animals had found a quiet place to sleep by the side of a wall. They had travelled quite a few doors away from their own house and today they were going even further.
"There is something behind the wall!" Bubbles whispered again.
"Like what?" Dieselbelle asked.
"I don't know...be quiet and perhaps we'll hear it again!" Bubbles said.
The guinea pigs sat in silence and then they heard the noise:
SCRATCH! SCRATCH! SCRATCH!
"I told you! There is something scratching on the wall!" Bubbles murmured.
SCRATCH! SCRATCH! SCRATCH!
"What can it be?" Dieselbelle asked.
"A fox? A cat?" Bubbles suggested.
SCRATCH! SCRATCH! SCRATCH!
Then they heard another sound - footsteps!
The steps got louder and louder. It sounded as though something was running to the edge of the wall, ready to peer around the corner at the animals at any moment!
"It will be here very soon!" Bubbles whined.
And then the two guinea pigs saw the face looking at them around the wall.
They screamed, awakening Clover and the insects.
"Run, Clover!" Bubbles screached.
Dieselbelle jumped on top of the insect cart and Bubbles ran after them. The cat chased the little animals.
"Do you think we'll get away?" Dieselbelle asked.
"No chance." Bubbles replied, sadly.

"OK!" Majesty cried. "I want all of you to go and pack your bags. We are leaving Ponyland at 3pm. The Black Pony Of Darkness will be here at 8 o'clock this evening.
"Huh! As if we really believe that!" Buttons said. "Let's go back and play Bouncercatch!"
"You must believe us! The Black Pony Of Darkness will be here this evening!" Lancer pleaded.
"We don't believe you, and we never will!" Starlight said, as she and some of the other ponies began to walk back towards the field where they had been playing Bouncercatch the previous day, before Truly and Lancer had stopped them.

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER FOUR

"Run!" Shouted Bubbles, as he chased after Clover and Dieselbelle with the insect cart.
"Will we get away?" Dieselbelle asked again.
The cat was gaining on them.
"We've got to find somewhere to hide!" Clover said.
The animals looked around.
"There!" Bubbles cried.
"Where?" Clover asked.
"Over there!" Bubbles replied. "Look! There's a shed! We can go in that shed!"
The two guinea pigs and the rabbit raced towards the shed, seeing a small hole, just big enough for Clover to squeeze through - but not big enough for the cat to get through.
"And I'll tell you another thing - I'll tell you what I can smell!" Bubbles said.
"What?" Asked Dieselbelle.
"Lettuce!" Bubbles cried. "And lots and lots of tomatoes!"

Desiree stared out of the window. She'd been passing a lot of her time doing this since her animals had run away. Her mother couldn't understand it. She still couldn't work out how the two guinea pigs and the rabbit had escaped and how all of the insects' tanks had been smashed.
The only obvious explanation was that someone had stolen them, but there were no signs that anybody had been in the house. But Desiree knew the truth. The three magic necklaces were gone.
Bubbles had obviously run away for a reason and he'd taken his necklace with him, telling Dieselbelle and Clover to do the same. They must need to speak to someone.
Desiree had found a box in her garden on her previous birthday seven months ago. If she climbed in the box and got someone to turn the key she would be transported to Ponyland. The only way she could communicate with Bubbles was by getting him to wear a special necklace, which the My Little Ponies had given her. The necklace translated all of her words into "Squeak language" - the language that guinea pigs speak.
It also translated Bubbles's squeaks into English.
But why had he taken the necklaces? Who did he want to speak to? What had made him run away? Did he know something about The Black Pony Of Darkness? Or did he know something about the very house that Desiree was sitting in now - something that had scared him away!

Majesty couldn't get the other ponies to believe her. Nobody left Ponyland that day. Luckily, The Black Pony Of Darkness didn't attack - it must have just been a threat...or maybe he would come today instead.
"You must believe me! The Black Pony Of Darkness is coming!" Majesty said.
"It's the first days of Winter. Why should we stop playing our game?" Said Posey.
"Well, I'm leaving!" Declared Scrumptious. "I believe Truly - the rest of you are all silly ponies!"
"And so is she!" Said Melody.
"Not as silly as you!" Majesty retorted, turning back towards Dream Castle, where she would get Spike to pack her bags.

"Lettuce!" Bubbles cried. "Tomatoes!"
The guinea pigs were very hungry and so they were thrilled to find that the shed was full of boxes of lettuces and tomatoes! The guinea pogs had climbed into one of the boxes and had slowly muched their way through the lovely, juicy vegetables inside!
But now it was morning again, and it was time for them to move on. They must find a way to get nearer to wherever the ponies would be when they came to Earth.

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued... [/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER FIVE

"We are leaving you behind!" Dieserella sang, as she, Soapy and the four MLP's approached the other ponies, "We are leaving Ponyland, to go to Earth! We will find a place to stay on Earth!"
"Where are you going to find to stay on Earth?" Buttons asked. "Why don't you come and play Bouncercatch and stop talking about leaving Ponyland?"
"We are leaving." Majesty said. "You can stay and play Bouncercatch, but I'm warning you that The Black Pony Of Darkness will get you!"

"No sign out there." Bubbles said.
"No sign out the window." Dieselbelle said.
"No sign out this window either." Clover said.
"Then it must be safe!" Bubbles cried, happily.
Bubbles and Dieselbelle quickly harnessed Clover to the "Insect Carriage", as it was now known, and jumped through the hole that they had entered the shed through. Sure enough, there was no sign of the cat.
"It must have given up on us!" Bubbles exclaimed.
"Where are we, Bubbles?" Dieselbelle asked.
"Um...well, actually, I don't exactly know." Bubbles admitted.
"You mean we're lost?" Dieselbelle asked.
"Only for a moment! I'm sure that I can work out where we are. Now...which way did we go when we came out of Desiree's house?" Bubbles asked.
"I think that when we came out of Desiree's house we went to the left." Dieselbelle said.
"I think that when we came out of Desiree's house we went to the right." Clover said.
"It was the left - I'm sure!" Dieselbelle insisted.
"It was the right!" Clover argued.
"Left!"
"Right!"
"Left!"
"Right!"
"Left - I'm sure that's right!" Dieselbelle said.
"See? You agree with me! It was right!" Clover replied.
"Just stop arguing!" Bubbles said. "It doesn't matter. I can work out where we are anyway. Which way should we go?"
Suddenly, Bubbles remembered part of his dream.
Soapy had told him that if his brother wished to contact him, he just had to think of his sibling up in Ponyland.
Bubbles closed his eyes.
"Soapy!" He called out. "Soapy!"
"Yes, Bubbles?" Soapy said.
"Oh, there you are, Soapy!" Bubbles sighed in relief. "Do you know which way we went when we left Desiree's house?"
"How would I know?" Soapy asked, in Bubbles's mind, "I wasn't with you when you left the house!"
"No, I suppose you weren't..." Bubbles replied, sadly. "Where are you now, Soapy?" Bubbles asked.
"We're still trying to persuade the ponies to leave Ponyland. I want to get my owner to safety before we leave for Rainbow Land." Soapy said.
"Bubbles, what are you doing?" Dieselbelle asked.
Bubbles opened his eyes - and immediately lost contact with Soapy.
"Dieselbelle! Why did you have to do that?" Bubbles cried.
"Do what? I was only speaking to you!" Dieselbelle said in confusion.
"But I was just talking to my brother! And he might have given us a clue!" Bubbles shouted.
"Your brother?" Clover said. "I didn't even know that you had a brother!"
"He's my twin brother and he lives in Ponyland." Bubbles explained. "That's why we're here - he sent me a dream message. I told you about it!"
"I thought you had just had an ordinary dream and imagined that you had a brother. I just didn't realise." Clover said.
"Well, now you do!" Bubbles said. "I just managed to contact him and he told me that he's still trying to get the ponies to leave Ponyland. He also said something about a place called Rainbow Land. I didn't get a chance to ask him about that though so I don't know where Rainbow Land is..."

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER SIX

"Can we go now?" Majesty asked, looking around at the other ponies. They seemed ready for the big adventure ahead.
"I think so. Is there anything that we didn't pack?" Posey asked.
All of the ponies picked up their bags and peered inside to see if they had everything they would need for the journey. After a while, when nobody had said that they wanted to go back for anything, Majesty called, "Which way should we go?"
"All that you're aiming to do is get away from Ponyland." Melody said. "But where exactly are we going to go?"
"I hadn't really thought about it." Majesty said. "Has anyone got any suggestions?"
There was a long silence.
"Then I think that the only one who can help us is The Black Pony Of Darkness's sister - The Pink Pony Of Dreams!"

Desiree looked around the house. Bubbles was nowhere to be seen. Neither were Dieselbelle, Clover or the insects.
They had obviously run away for a reason and, of course, if they had run away for a reason, they wouldn't be coming back, unless that was part of their plan.
But even if it was part of the animals' plan, having had to face all the dangers of the outside world, Desiree knew that it was very unlikely that they would ever return.

On the way to The Pink Pony Of Dreams's house, the ponies met a lot of creatures who wished to leave Ponyland with the MLP's. Everyone that they met agreed with them and said that the ponies were doing the right thing.
Soon, they arrived at The Pink Pony Of Dreams's house. Majesty explained about their problem. The Pink Pony Of Dreams was very interested.
"But where we can go?" Majesty asked.
"I don't think that's a problem!" Laughed The Pink Pony Of Dreams.
And then she began to sing...

(To my own tune, so you'll just have to make up your own!)

Have you ever seen the Black Pony,
Making ponies lives a misery?
There's no hope for us here,
We need to find the home of Rescue,
Where a girl named Desiree,
Makes all pony dreams come true!
I heard a tale that there are three plastic ponies that Desiree would die for!
I know that she'd help us if our reward was these three,
So we all must start searching - both you and me!
There's only one problem, I have no idea who they are!
Truly, Bridesmaid or Magic Star!
But there is still hope -
Look through my telescope!
There's a guin...
There's a guinea...
There's a guinea pig...
He will help us!

The ponies took it in turns to look through the telescope and saw that, sure enough, there was a little ginger and white guinea pig walking down a road on Earth followed by two other small animals, one of which was pulling a cart.
Suddenly, a loud noise could be heard. An evil cackled drifted down from the Black Mountains followed by a sinister message:
"I've given you a chance, MLP's,
But now you are going to see me!
I'm giving you just one more day,
One more day to get away!
I'll be there tomorrow,
I'll be there at eight...
Not eight in the morning,
But in the evening - quite late!"
There was another evil cackle and the noise stopped.
"He's giving us just one more day to get away." Majesty murmured.
"But," Said the evil voice in the Black Mountains, "You don't have to get away from Ponyland,
I'm being kind to you!
You just have to get away from this area,
Although I might chase the pony who's blue!"
There was another evil cackle followed by silence.

The animals kept running. It got dark - they kept running. Morning came - they kept running.
They didn't know where they were going, but with their short legs, they knew that they had to keep moving to get anywhere at all.
"I know that I've seen that tree before!" Bubbles whined. "I think that we're running around in circles!"
"Don't be silly." Dieselbelle replied. "A lot of trees look the same as each other." Dieselbelle looked at the road. "Let's run in that direction."
But then a car whizzed past them.
"We can't go over there!" Bubbles moaned. "One of those horrible things will knock us down."
"It's our only chance of getting anywhere." Clover said.
"Yes," Agreed the stick insects, "Our only chance is to cross this road. There might be something important on the other side!"
"But perhaps we'll never get to see it if we get knocked down first!" Bubbles argued.
"Don't be silly. I'm going anyway. If you don't want to follow, then you can just stay here!" Dieselbelle said.
And then the guinea pig started to cross the road. Bubbles and Clover watched in horror as a car came whizzing around the corner!

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued... [/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER SEVEN

"We're not getting anywhere, are we?" Buttons said, impatiently.
"We have to get away from this area - that's what the Black Pony told us." Majesty said.
"Well, I don't think that we'll be going any further." Said Melody, who was leading the other ponies.
"Why is that?" Majesty asked.
"Because we can't cross this water!" Melody replied.
The ponies strained to look around Melody and saw what she meant. There was a very deep river just ahead of them - and the only way out of Ponyland was on the other side of it.

Desiree still hoped that her pets would return. She still stared out of the window but nothing happened. They weren't coming back. They had obviously gone on a mission. Luckily, Desiree didn't know how dangerous that mission was!

"Well, we have to cross it!" Milky Way said.
"Where's it all coming from?" Peachy said.
"I think I can hear something up there - like a huge waterfall or an enormous running tap!" Said Love Melody.
"Someone will have to go and investigate." Majesty said.
All of the MLP's took a step back - except for Truly and Lancer.
"We'll go!" They said together.
"Only one of you needs to go." Majesty said. "We don't want two ponies to risk their lives!"
So Lancer went on his own.
The blue pony walked along the river bank until he found the source of it. Their was a huge container with a small hole in it. Well, it was small compared to the size of the container but the pony thought that it was huge. It was from this hole that the water was pouring. Lancer managed to block the hole with an enormous black cloth that he found on the grass nearby. The cloth had BPOD embroidered on it, and the pony realised that The Black Pony Of Darkness must be to blame for the water. The cloth would only block the river for a very short while so Lancer wasted no time in running back to the other ponies. He told them what he had seen and they quickly made their way back across the muddy grass where the water had been.
This wasn't to be the only trick played on the MLP's by The Black Pony Of Darkness!

Dieselbelle had just managed to cross the road in time. She had called the other animals to join her on the other side of the road and, by carefully looking both ways before crossing, they had managed to get across with far less trouble than their friend had.
They were now walking into a shed at the bottom of a garden where they had decided to spend the night.
There were no lettuces and tomatoes this time. In fact, the shed was empty.
"Well, at least it looks safe." Bubbles said.
And so the two guinea pigs and the rabbit pushed the insect cart into a dark corner of the shed and snuggled up to it. Soon they were fast asleep and dreaming of all the things that had happened to them that day.
They hoped that tomorrow they would have more luck in getting further away from their own home and nearer to the ponies that they were seeking.

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Pink Pony Of Dreams had now caught up with the ponies. Having packed her bags, she had followed them but the MLP's had still not reached the edge of Ponyland.
Luckily, the Black Pony hadn't come back yet!
"We will have to stop tonight!" Posey said. "I don't think that I can walk much longer without a rest!"
"We can't stop!" Majesty cried. "Not until we get out of Ponyland at least!"
"And then we'll be on Earth." Buttons said. And we'll be scared to sleep on Earth too!" Buttons looked down at her hooves. "Once we're on Earth, there's a chance that humans will see us!"
"I don't know what troubles our time on Earth will bring, but I know that we can't rest here in Ponyland. At least The Black Pony Of Darkness can't get us down on Earth."
"He can get me wherever I go..."
The ponies all turned around and saw Lancer standing at the back of the crowd.
"Actually, he can get both of us!" Said Truly, who was standing next to Lancer. "At the moment, we're the two ponies that the Black Pony wants to capture and the Black Pony..."
"...Always gets what he wants!" The ponies all cried together.

The animals ran. Although they had thought the shed was empty, it had turned out that a fox had been hiding in the opposite corner. The fox was now chasing them! There seemed to be no way that they could get away from it!
"Oh, Dieselbelle! It's no use! You go that way, and I'll go the other way, Clover." Bubbles looked at his friends sadly. "I'll get it to chase me and then at least you two will be safe!"
The animals split up and, sure enough, the fox chased Bubbles. By this time, the animals had reached a hill that was located at the bottom of the road they lived in.
Bubbles reached a goal post. He ran through a small hole near the ground, but the fox couldn't get through and it got tangled in the net! Bubbles ran on. Now, he couldn't see Dieselbelle and Clover.
And, in a big field like this, there was no way to find them. Especially as it appeared that they were no longer in the field, meaning that they must be hiding in the trees and bushes surrounding it.

Starlight looked around. Today she was the leader. The Black Pony Of Darkness still hadn't done anything.
The ponies were now in a part of Ponyland that none of them recognised.
"I'm sure that we've never been here before!" Posey said.
"I hope that there are no traps!" Shady cried.
Starlight noticed something in front of the group of ponies.
"It's a note!" She exclaimed.
"So go and pick it up!" Muttered Buttons.
Starlight walked over to the piece of paper. It read:
"Go over the tightrope,
Right over to the grass,
Don't worry - I won't hurt you,
You don't have to move fast!
The Black Pony Of Darkness"
And, sure enough, just in front of them was a wide crack in the ground. There was a thin plank of wood stretched from the side of the crack where the ponies were to the other side.
"Well, that's the only way out of Ponyland." Majesty said.
"But how do we get across?" North Star asked.
"We'll have to walk across the plank of wood, of course! The Pegasus Ponies can fly over, and the Unicorns can wink out and re-appear on the opposite side. But, although I'm a Unicorn, I shall stay with the Earth Ponies and guide them across." Majesty said.
"We could carry the Baby Ponies." North Star offered.
"Great idea! You could also carry the pets!" Majesty cried.
"I don't want to be carried by a Pegasus!" Dieserella complained. "I want to stay with Truly!"
"Well, the pets can discuss that situation with their owners." Majesty said. "But the Pegasi will have to carry the Baby Ponies."
The Pegasus Ponies began to carry Baby Ponies and assorted pets, one by one, across the crack in the ground.
"Who's going first?" Majesty asked.
"Well, it's not going to be me!" Said Starlight.
"But you're the leader today!" Majesty replied.
"I'm not going first, Majesty! No way!" Starlight cried. "You can go first!"
"I'm not going first - it should be you!" Majesty said.
"But I'm not going to do that!" Starlight said.
"If Starlight is refusing to lead us, we will have to find a new leader!"
Nobody wanted to be the new leader. But somebody would have to do it. Which pony would be unlucky enough to have to go first across the plank of wood?

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER NINE

Bubbles wished that he had never left Desiree's house. He looked up...and saw Desiree!!! Her parents were right behind her. Bubbles ran towards them. But as soon as he got to the edge of the thick bush, they walked away.
He would have run out of the bush after them, but he saw another family walking past the bush now. So he rushed the other way - deeper into the bush he was hiding in.
"I'll have to stay hidden in here. It's far too dangerous outside!" Bubbles said to himself sadly. "Anyway, it wouldn't be fair to leav Dieselbelle and Clover out here. After all, it was me who took them away from their safe hutches. If not for me, none of us would be in this awful situation!
He called out for his friends, but nobody answered. He sat there, alone in the bushes, and began to sing a song that he had heard his owner singing, many times before...

(To The Tune of "It might make your dreams come true!" from the MLP Movie)

No-one's in a fix like I am!
I am!
No-one has the luck I do!
I do!
No-one's lost their friends like I have!
I have!
Look where life has led me to!
Me too!
Nothing I can see can help me!
Help me!
And I know that this is true!
It's true!
This is just like a bad dream but I can't wake up!
Wake up!
So what good will wishing do?

"Oh, come on, Bubbles!" The guinea pig heard a voice in his head saying. It was Soapy! "Make a real wish! There are guinea pigs with bad luck like yours - I should know that because I'm one of them myself! My owner's about to cross a tightrope, and if we fall....... Anyway, that's not your problem! As I say, make a REAL wish!"
"But how can I, Soapy? Everything seems so hopeless now!"

Nothing I can see can help me!
Help me!
Feel so glum, depressed and blue!
So blue!
I wish there was a hutch for me to sleep in here!
In here!
But what good will wishing do?
It might make your dreams come true!

"There you go, Bubbles!" Soapy said. "Somebody just called out that last line and it sounded to me like your friend, Dieselbelle!"
And then, Soapy was gone, leaving just Bubbles, Dieselbelle and Clover, who had met again in the bushes.

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TEN

The ponies had no problems crossing the tight rope. This was very lucky as any pony who had fallen would probably not have survived.
Now some of the ponies had decided to rest and so all of the MLP's had agreed to stop for a while.
Soon, most of the ponies had fallen asleep. Only about ten ponies were still awake, and they began to gradually doze off too, leaving just Truly and Lancer to look out for any sign of The Black Pony Of Darkness.
A group of black birds flew through the sky and when they had passed it had got dark!
Even Truly and Lancer fell asleep in the end. But this was probably a good thing because all of the ponies would need plenty of rest for what was to happen next!

The animals slept in the bush. They woke up after only a short while though. It was a cold December night, and they looked at each other fearfully.
"What are we going to do?" Said Dieselbelle. "We never should have left Desiree. Now we'll freeze to death!"
"No, we won't!" Bubbles cried. "I'm the one who brought us out here, so I will also be the one to save us! And furthermore, we're going to save the My Little Ponies, and fulfill our dreams! What did you say you wanted to do, Dieselbelle?"
"I'm going to find a supermarket,
In the vegetable aisle I'll sit,
Looking at mouth-watering greens!" Dieselbelle sang.
"Then that's exactly where we're going - a supermarket! Where can we find one?"
"I don't know." Clover replied. "I've often seen the family going out to get their shopping, but I don't know which way they go!"
"Well, there are lots of supermarkets. I'm sure we'll find one somewhere. What do you want to do, Clover?" Bubbles asked.
"I'm going to race with a champion,
And be first at the end!" The rabbit sang.
"Hmmm...so we need to find an athletic rabbit." Bubbles said to himself. "What did you want to do?" Bubbles asked the stick insects. "I've forgotten your ambition too!"
"We're gonna find a place where brambles grow,
And eat a piece that's bigger than you -
From the tip of your nose to the tip of your toes!"
"Well, I think we can fulfill your wish here!" Bubbles said. "There are lots of brambles."
After the stick insects had eaten as many brambles as they could, all of the animals began to run across the field. In the distance, they could see houses, and they decided that was the direction they would travel in.

The ponies woke up and looked around. Which pony would be the leader today?
After a quick discussion, Sweetheart was chosen.
"Great!" Buttons said, sarcastically. "We won't get anywhere today then!"
"Don't be like that!" Said Majesty. "Maybe I should have chosen you and then we could have seen how far you actually got us!"
Buttons went quiet.
The ponies walked on. After a short while, they came to another so-called 'tight rope'. It was still made from a plank of wood, but this plank was much thinner than the last one had been. The 'tight rope' was over a raging river.
"Shall I go first?" Asked Sweetheart.
"If you will." Majesty replied. "Just make sure that you don't slip!"
The ponies started to slowly make their way across. Truly was the penultimate pony to cross. She had got about halfway when she slipped and was left clinging to the plank of wood by just her front hooves! She would fall at any moment unless somebody came and helped her. Majesty started to make her way back. Dieserella, who had been walking behind her owner, grabbed on to Truly's right hoof with her teeth, trying to pull her owner to safety, although in fact she was just making Truly let go of the wood.
"Get out of the way, Dieserella!" Commanded Soapy.
Dieserella stepped aside and Soapy went over to Truly. Soapy stood in front of Truly and told her to hold on to him. He was hoping that he would be able to drag the pony back on to the wood, but, of course, he wouldn't be strong enough on his own.
"Let me hold on to you, Dieserella!" He cried.
Dieserella held on to Majesty's tail and, together, they managed to pull Truly to safety.
Soapy ran back to Lancer, the last pony in the line. The MLP's made their way forward and then they came to a wood - "The Black Pony's Wood", if a sign outside were to be believed!
As the ponies entered, they heard a familiar sound. An evil laugh floated down from the sky, followed by...
"He who enters shall not come out again,
You'll slip and slide on the wood and tyres as down pours the rain!"
There was another evil cackle.
The ponies listened carefully, and then walked on. The first obstacle that they came across on the woodland trail was a tyre. To proceed further into the wood, they would have to crawl through it.
"I don't want to lead the ponies any more." Sweetheart whimpered.
"I said that she wouldn't get us anywhere!" Muttered Buttons.
"Well, I'll have to choose a new leader then!" Majesty said, ignoring Buttons.
She looked around.
"Choose me! Choose me!" It was Soapy.
"But you're a guinea pig!" Majesty exclaimed.
"Yes, but my owner's not!" Soapy replied.
"Don't choose them, Majesty." Pleaded Buttons. "They're useless! Look at that guinea pig - he's always over-excited!"
"We're not talking about Soapy though, are we?" Majesty said. "We're talking about his owner!"
"And Lancer won't get us any further at all!" Grumbled Melody.
"I think that Lancer and Soapy should be given a chance!" Said Majesty. "Perhaps they can lead us through tis maze of tyres and wood."

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The animals reached the houses and saw a hole in something above them. They didn't know what it was but when, Bubbles stuck his head inside, he saw a nice cosy place where he knew his friends and himself could sleep.
They climbed through the hole and found themselves standing in a very dark place. They had no idea where they were. There was just enough space for the three of them and the insect cart to fit into. And then, all of the sudden, they heard a very loud noise. And when they looked back down through the hole, they saw that the road below them was moving!
"We're in one of those four-circle things! You know what I mean, don't you, Dieselbelle?" Bubbles said.
"I think I know." Dieselbelle replied. "And if I'm correct, I think that Desiree called them 'cars'."

"So we just have to follow the path, do we?" Soapy asked.
The ponies agreed.
"Well then, what's your problem? Why do you think that my owner and I are so terrible? We're much nicer than a lot of Little Ponies I could mention..." The guinea pig glared at some of the ponies who had been nasty to Lancer and himself since they had set off on this adventure.
"First we have to climb through this tyre." Soapy called as he scrambled through the tyre himself, followed by Lancer and the rest of the Little Ponies. Once they had all come through the tyre, they moved on to the next obstacle - a pond full of the Black Pony's pet crocodiles. There was a rope to swing across on. Soapy grabbed ahold of the rope and swang to the other side. The guinea pig was so small that the crocodiles hadn't even noticed him! Unfortunately, the first pony to cross the pond WOULD alert the crocodiles and every pony to go over the water afterwards would have a lot of trouble.
One of the crocodiles had already raised its snout higher out of the water and was watching the ponies with its glassy eyes.
"Well, come on!" Majesty said. "Someone has to go first!"
"Well, it's NOT going to be me!" Said Buttons, eyeing the crocodiles nervously.
"The pony who goes first will have the least trouble crossing." Majesty explained.
Immediately, several of the ponies stepped forward.
In the end, it was decided that Majesty should go first. She was followed by Melody, Starlight, Buttons and Ace. All of the other ponies crossed over the pond, one by one, with the crocodiels snapping more and more ferociously.
Soon, only two creatures remained on this side of the pond - one guinea pig named Dieserella, and one pony called Lancer.
Dieserella said that as guinea pigs seemed to have the least trouble crossing - due to their size - a guinea pig should be the last creature to cross, when the crocodiles would be at their feircest.
But, being the leader, Lancer insisted that Dieserella went first. Luckily, both pony and guinea pig got over the pond safely.
They moved on to the next obstacle - some green nets to climb across. The nets had big holes in them - big enough for a pony's leg to slip through, and the more they climbed, the higher they got! The ponies didn't want to stop and think about what would happen if they fell so they just kept on climbing and, fortunately, nobody was hurt.
The next obstacle was a whole group of tyres - the more tyres the ponies climbed through, the smaller the tyres became!
Soon the MLP's could hardly fit through them! In fact, the last tyre was so small that Applejack got stuck and had to be forced through with both ponies in front and ponies behind pushing and pulling her for some time!
The ponies continued through the rest of the assault course. Some of the later obstacles included a very long tunnel, some swinging logs, and a seat on a rope where the ponies had toswing across an open-top cage full of The Black Pony Of Darkness's hungry lions.
Happily though, all of the inhabitants of Ponyland made it through and came out safely at the other end of the assault course.
They raced out of the other end of the forest and found that it was night-time. It had been so dark in the forest that the ponies hadn't been able to tell what time of day it was outside. But now they had found that the stars were shining, they decided to sleep. Before Soapy went to sleep though, he went a few pawsteps further and saw that they were just a little way away from the edge of the cloud, where tomorrow they would jump down to Earth, and hopefully find Desiree Skylark.

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWELVE

The four-wheeled car stopped and the animals quickly jumped out of the hole.
"This is it!" Bubbles cried.
"What?" Asked Dieselbelle.
"Can't you see?" Bubbles asked her. "We've got to the place where you wanted to go!"
Dieselbelle looked around but all she could see were humans pushing big silver frames on wheels. They were in the middle of a road and all around them were parked cars. Dieselbelle saw one of the humans pushing a silver frame to their car. They opened up the back of their car and began to get lots of plastic bags off of the top of the frame and put their bags in their car.
Then the guinea pig looked up and saw five red lerrers undelined in blue.
T....E....S....C....O....
"Tesco!" Cried Bubbles. "And I think you'll find that Tesco is a supermarket full of mouth-watering fruit and vegetables!"
The animals ran into the shop so that "In the vegetable aisle, Dieselbelle could sit, looking at mouth watering greens".

The ponies spent the 7th of December making sure that everything they needed was packed in their bags. It was only at 11.20pm that they started to walk towards the edge of Ponyland. As they reached the very edge of the clouds, a tree stump rose from the ground, surrounded by a golden spotlight! In the golden spotlight, the ponies could see a tiny pink stone!
Together with the pink stone, the ponies found a note, which read:
"A final gift from Ponyland"
The ponies recognised the pink stone as part of Paradise Estate.
Some more words were written on the other side of the note too...
"Don't leave Ponyland until tomorrow. If you do, then you won't be safe on Earth."
And so, the MLP's decided that, just to be on the safe side, they would leave Ponyland tomorrow, on the 8th of December 2002.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Bubbles, Dieselbelle, Clover and the cart full of insects were riding in another car. Dieselbelle had sat in the vegetable aisle in the supermarket all day, and that evening, the evening of the 7th of December, the animals had decided that it was time to start travelling again. Now they were moving up a motorway at a very high speed. They didn't know where they were going, but they knew they had to keep moving in order to get anywhere, especially with their short legs. They only hoped that they could save Soapy and the ponies.

The MLP's spent one final day in Ponyland. At 9.10pm on the 8th of December 2002, they decided to leave. The ponies walked slowly towards the edge of the clouds that they were standing on, and gazed down at Earth. The planet was very far in the distance, but they knew that they must make sure that they leapt towards Britain which, they knew, was the country where Desiree Skylark lived. They took a closer look at the planet through The Pink Pony Of Dreams's telescope. They could see Britain slowly passing by. It was moving so slowly that the MLP's could hardly notice it moving at all, so they thought they had plenty of time. After searching for quite some time, they found the three little creatures which they knew were Desiree's pet guinea pigs and rabbit.
"Well, I think that it is time to jump." Majesty said. "It is time to leave Ponyland. So say goodbye to your home quickly, ponies, because we might not be returning for quite some time..."

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"I just can't understand this!" Bubbles looked at a map that he had picked up which, of course, was giant compared to him. He had found it by the side of the road - it was a page out of a road atlas, but he didn't know that. He thought it was a map of the world, and he was dragging it along behind him! "I just don't understand it! I can't see any signs for soot bales."
They turned down another road, and Bubbles suddenly smelled grass!
"Yorkshire Fog Grass!" Bubbles cried. "My favourite! Come on, you two! Let's go and have a look."
The animals raced into somebody's back garden, and found lots of grass. There was an A-frame animal run on the patch of grass. Clover ran over to the run to investigate, and found a chestnut-coloured lop-eared rabbit inside, with a white diamond on his nose.
"Hello!" The chestnut rabbit said. "Who are you? Another rabbit come to race me, and lose?"
"My name is Clover." The dutch rabbit answered. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. And what do you mean, by 'another rabbit come to race you'? Because I'm very interested in racing with another rabbit."
"Then you've come to the right place! My name is Champion, the champion of running. But my owner calls me Champy. I will race you - if you can get me out of this run, then we can race down the road outside my owner's house. Not many cars come down this road, but there's a big hill-y part about halfway up the road, and I've become an expert at crossing this obstacle, so you're not likely to win the race!"
"And what if I don't win?" Clover asked.
"Then you will have to give me a prize, just as I will give you something if you win - this little silver rabbit brooch, which I dug up under the grass one time whilst I was out in this run." Champion replied.
"That sounds fair." Said Clover. "So, I shall race you!"
And, with that, Clover started to dig a tunnel so that Champion could get out of the run.

The ponies glanced once over the edge of the cloud and then, together, shouted out, over their shoulders, "Goodbye, Ponyland!" and started to jump, one at a time...
But suddenly, they saw Earth moving at an enormous rate! It moved so quickly, that they soon weren't headed towards Britain anymore!

Desiree had just been gazing out of the window. Where was Bubbles? She knew that he would have been the one who had decided to leave. He would have been the only one who knew where she kept the magic necklaces. So what was he planning to do? Why hadn't he come back? Perhaps he hadn't done what he intended on doing yet. But he'd surely be back soon...
Suddenly, the whole house went mad! The floor began to shake!!!
"MUM!!!" Desiree called. The whole room vibrated, and Desiree could hardly keep on her feet!
But then, just as suddenly as the violent shaking had started, the house became peaceful once more.
"Whatever happened there?" Desiree thought to herself. "It felt like an earthquake, but howcome nobody knew it was coming?"
She turned, and looked around the room, which was in utter chaos from whatever had just happened. Ornaments had been knocked from shelves, and furniture was scattered the way leaves might be on a crisp, Autumn day!

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued... [/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

"What on Earth was that?" Dieselbelle said. "The ground just shook!"
"I know it did!" Bubbles replied. "I was eating a bit of Yorkshire Fog, and that horrible trembling thingemy-dooey tore it straight out of my mouth!"
"That's all you care about, isn't it? Food." Dieselbelle said. "I hope that Desiree is OK."
"I just hope that's Soapy's OK..." Bubbles muttered to himself.

The ponies had now landed on Earth, but they were definitely not in Britain. They didn't know where they were. They were in the middle of a nowhere. They were in the middle of a field, looking at lots of trees surrounding them. And they knew that they were nowhere near where they wanted to be!

"Are you sure about this, Clover?" Bubbles asked. "Are you sure that you can win?"
"I am certain." Said Clover. "I am going to win that silver rabbit brooch, even if it's the last thing I ever do!"
Champion quickly made his way through the tunnel which Clover had now finished digging. Then, he was free.
"Right." Champion said. "Let's get started!"
The rabbits ran out to the road. Clover and Champion made their way up to one end of it, while Bubbles looked after the insect carriage.
"Good luck, Clover." The ginger and white guinea pig called after his friend. "But please remember..."

(To the tune of - Well, here's one that nobody will have heard of, since it's taken from a "Thomas The Tank Engine" cassette that I had when I was just three years old! :-P - "Let's have a race!")

Bubbles/Dieselbelle: A lesson that's worth learning,
One you never should forget,
Is the art of friendly rivalry.
It's not always about winning,
You must learn that from the start,
Enjoy yourself, dear Clover,
What counts is taking part!
Let's have a race, have a race, have a race!
Let's see who is the quickest!
Who can be the fastest?
Ready, set, GO!
Let's set a pace, set a pace, set a pace,
Let's see if you can catch me,
Let's see if you can match me,
So...
Let's have a race, have a race!
Clover challenged Champy,
To a friendly race one day,
And Bubbles said,
"Get ready, but be careful on the way!"
The rabbits lined up together,
Enjoying the fun,
And Dieselbelle, she called out,
"Are you ready to begin?"
Let's have a race, have a race, have a race!
Let's see who is the quickest!
Who can be the fastest?
Ready, set, GO!
Let's set a pace, set a pace, set a pace,
Let's see if you can catch me,
Let's see if you can match me,
So...
Let's have a race, have a race!
Champion was winning,
He sped along the way,
And Clover tried so hard to catch him that sunny day!
Eventually he caught him,
And Champy had to say,
"To pass you on that hill, Clover,
I'd need wings like an airplane!"
Let's have a race, have a race, have a race!
Let's see who is the quickest!
Who can be the fastest?
On your marks, now get set, GO!
Let's set a pace, set a pace, set a pace,
Let's see if you can catch me,
Let's see if you can match me,
So...
Let's have a race, have a race!
Let's have a race, have a race, have a race!
Let's see who is the quickest!
Who can be the fastest?
Ready, set, GO!
Let's set a pace, set a pace, set a pace,
Let's see if you can catch me,
Let's see if you can match me,
So...
Let's have a race, have a race!
Let's have a race...
Let's have a race...
Right now!

"I won!" Clover cried.
"But...but you can't have!" Champion said. "Nobody's ever beaten me. That's why I still have the brooch. I can't give it up...but I promised... Oh..."
"That's OK, Champion." Clover said, kindly. "Keep the brooch. I can tell everyone how I won the race - I don't need a prize."
"But I promised..." Champion said, sadly. "And you need proof to be a champion..."
"Proof of what?" Bubbles asked.
"You wouldn't understand, as you're not a rabbit." Champion said. "I feel I ought to tell you more about the brooch, and myself really. My brother, Winner, was bought by - yes, feel free to laugh! - a magical yellow pegasus. A pony with wings. Because a girl named Desiree Skylark..."
"Hey! That's where we come from! Our owner is Desiree Skylark!" Bubbles cried.
"You must take the brooch!" Champion said. "Now, I understand. I was SUPPOSED to give it to you! When I found it, many months ago, buried under the grass, I found a little scrap of paper which read, 'Give this brooch to Skylark's pets. It will help them to defeat the BPOD eventually.' I didn't know what it meant at the time, so I tore the piece of paper to shreds so that my owner wouldn't see it! So this belongs to you."
Champion picked the brooch up between his teeth, and passed it to Clover and his friends.
"Desiree Skylark's pets are meant to know the story of the My Little Ponies." Champion explained.
"That's right!" Bubbles agreed.
"You do?" Champion gasped.
"Indeed. I might even know the yellow pegasus you mentioned." Clover said. "But that's another story..."
"Well, my story goes, the yellow pegasus in question bought me, and sent me to Earth and kept my twin brother herself. Desiree was supposed to buy me, but she bought a Dutch rabbit instead. You?" Champion asked.
Clover nodded, realising that this must be the case.
"So my brother, Winner, got given to Wind Whistler, because my owner's favourite pony is Wind Whistler and, as you probably already know, human pony-lovers have pets who's twins belong to their favourite ponies."
"Your owner likes My Little Ponies?" Dieselbelle asked.
"Yes, but she doesn't own any. She saw the TV series a couple of years ago, but since the ponies are no longer available in the shops, her parents have no idea where they can find a Wind Whistler, or any other pony for that matter, for her... She has quite a selection of the er...'un-real' ones." Champion rolled his eyes, thinking of the "Your Pretty Horse" figures that littered his owner's bedroom in place of the ponies that Hasbro no longer produced.
"Oh well, I guess we ought to get going!" Bubbles said.
"Yes, I suppose so. And don't forget the silver brooch!" Champion said.
"Then I guess I, in a way, am the new Champion!" Clover joked, as he pinned the brooch to the make-shift shoulder strap that he used to pull the insect carriage behind him.
"I suppose you are!" Champion laughed. "So, goodbye, Champion Clover!
"Goodbye, Champion!" The animals shouted.

[shadow=red,left,300] To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The ponies looked around. There seemed to be no way out of the field. They had been searching all day, and now it was almost 10 o'clock that night.
Suddenly, Soapy saw it - "A gap in the trees!"
"Hut bow thid dat happen?" Tootsie said, muddling her words as usual. The Baby Ponies shrieked with delight as lollipops sprung up all around the Little Pony.
"I'm sure it wasn't there earlier." Added Lickety Split.
"Well, it is there now, and I think we ought to make use of it, before it closes up once more!" Majesty said.
And all of the ponies ran towards it. They raced through the gap, and found themselves on a small beach. Seagulls screached loudly, and they gazed out at the ocean. There was no sign of dry land anywhere...

"Oh, Bubbles! Why haven't you returned? What have you done? Where have you taken Dieselbelle and Clover? Bubbles, how could you be so stupid?" Desiree sighed, as she continued to gaze out of the window.

"Well then, you've been to a supermarket, Dieselbelle, and you've become a world-famous rabbit racer, Clover. And, of course, you've eaten a HUGE branch full of bramble leaves, stickies!" Bubbles smiled at his stick insect friends, Crispin, Cracker, Star and Sticky. "So now, we've all fulfilled our dreams...except for me. I want to go to a soot bale, and find a My Little Pony toy for Desiree for Christmas. Her parents were desperately searching for them, but weren't able to find any, so I'd love to be able to surprise them all!"
The animals nodded their heads in agreement.
"Then let's start searching for a soot bale!" Bubbles said. They continued down the road. Then they noticed a car that was just about to drive off. The boot of the car was partially open for a large chair which had been strapped inside.
"Quickly, jump on the back of that car!" Bubbles cried. And the animals clambered up inside. "Let's find a soot bale! I just hope that this four-wheeled thing...is that what you said they were called, Dieselbelle? Wheels?"
"Yes!" Dieselbelle answered, happily. "You're learning, Bubbles!"
"Well, let's just hope that this four-wheeled thing will lead us to a soot bale!"

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"I just can't believe this." Majesty said, gazing out at the ocean. "We've obviously landed on a desert island! But where are we?"
"I don't know where we are," Bubbles said. "But I know that I just love this mud!"
The ponies found her rolling in a muddy puddle, a little further along the beach. Then Gusty pointed out a small piece of wood, protruding from the mud. Maybe it was a ship, beached a long time ago, and the ponies would be able to fix it up and escape!
"Well, don't just stand there looking at it!" Seashell cried. "Let's dig it out!"
Sand Digger, the Sunshine Pony, made shovels for all of the ponies by kicking her heels twice. Once these had been passed around to everybody, the MLP's began to dig. Soon, it became apparent that the small piece of wood was actually connected to a MUCH larger structure!
"It IS a ship!" Majesty said. "And it looks like it's so enormous that we can all fit inside! That's if it isn't too damaged..."

The car had stopped at a red traffic light, and the animals quickly hopped out of the boot, and raced to the edge of the road.
"We've moved a little further anyway." Bubbles said. "So where are we now?"
They found themselves outside a cafe, in a highstreet somewhere. Seagulls screeched above them, and they could hear waves crashing against a beach somewhere in the not so far distance. There was salty smell to the air, and the little creatures realised that they must be at "the seaside", a place which Desiree had mentioned to them many times before. It was getting dark now though, and the cafe was just about to close, so the guinea pigs, rabbit and insects darted inside the shop, and huddled against a wall, hoping that nobody woluld notice them, and that they could get a good night's sleep...

The ponies soon finished uncovering the ship. Then, for the most part, they decided to rest for the night, while a few unlucky ponies had to stay awake and clean the ship, and check if it was safe or not. There were no obvious cracks in it, but since it was so gigantic, it would take a while to check it over thoroughly.
When the morning came, the ship was sparkling, and the 'cleaning ponies' were pleased to tell their friends that the ship seemed to be in perfect 'ship-shape'!
And so, the ponies climbed aboard. They didn't know where they were, so they didn't know which way to sail.
"I think that we should just sail this way." Said Sea Shell. "We're sure to come across dry land sooner or later!"
"Indeed - that sounds like a good idea." Majesty said.
With Sail-a-Way as their captain, they began their long journey across the ocean, hoping that they could somehow find Desiree Skylark, and her legendary My Little Pony Rescue Home...

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"We must be nearing a Soot Bale by NOW!" Bubbles said, impatiently. He looked around, and sighed. There were no car boot sales around here. "Well, then, we need to move on hastily! Let's travel on another car!"
The friends jumped on to the back of a parked car, and fortunately, the driver got inside as they jumped on. And so, they were soon travelling down the road. They were travelling for about two hours before the animals hopped off of the car, which was stuck in a traffic jam.
The creatures ran to the pavement, and started to run down a small road to the right of them. Then they jumped on the back of another car in the traffic jam - this time a white Ford Fiesta. Soon, the traffic began moving again. As they raced down the road, the animals noticed luscious grass on both sides of them! The creatures had trouble stopping themselves from leaping off of the back of the car to eat the grass!

The ponies eventually found dry land. Strangely, as the final pony, Mirror Mirror, walked off of the enormous ship, it disappeared in a puff of pink smoke! The MLP's didn't have time to dwell on this though, and moved on. They soon realised that instead of being in Britain, where they had intended on going, they were in America...Florida to be precise!
"We're in entirely the wrong place." Posey said, matter-of-factly.
"As if we hadn't noticed!" Starlight said.
The ponies were thirsty, so they got their water bottles out of their bags, but most of them found that they had now run out!

The animals arrived on a seaside promenade. They leaped off of the car to have a closer look at a sign, which was blowing around in the breeze. It was only half attached to the post that it had been stuck to, and the friends stared up at it. I read...
"Come to the Southampton car boot sale! 500+ stalls every Sunday at 8am!"
"Soot Bale!" Cried Bubbles. "That's it!"
There was a big red arrow on the sign, which pointed to the beach, so the animals...ran over to the pier. When they got to the end of the pier, they saw a ship, and so they climbed on, thinking that this must be a soot bale.

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The ponies kept walking, day and night, but now they had run out of food, as well as water! And being such a cold winter, all ponds they ran across had iced over! They were going to have to find a way to melt the ice, but the ice was rock solid, and it was now starting to snow. The ponies didn't have a clue where they were - they'd been walking for so long now! They had wanted to go to Desiree Skylark's My Little Pony Rescue Home in the United Kingdom, so why were they in the United States?
There was another mystery too - Soapy kept telling everybody that he had to go to a place called Rainbow Land soon. A month before this, he had insisted that his owner, Lancer, buy four guinea pigs - two sets of identical twins, and send two of the guinea pigs (one from each pair) down to Earth, so that Desiree would buy them. But why would Desiree be buying a guinea pig? She was quite happy with the two guinea pigs she already had!
But Soapy simply said, "You'll find out, soon enough...when the Black Pony comes."
But the Black Pony had come, and scared everyone away from Ponyland, and still the ponies didn't know what Soapy was talking about.
Lancer had listened to Soapy, and had gone and bought four guinea pigs. He had kept two himself, and sent the other two down to Earth. Soapy would hopefully tell his owner what to do with the two guinea pigs soon.
The two rodents were still being looked after by the rabbit and guinea pig breeder, Romper. For some reason, she said that nobody was to take a guinea pig from her, since it was bad luck to take on a new pet while the Black Pony Of Darkness was around.
Everyone found the whole situation rather confusing, and tried to forget about Soapy and his two guinea pig friends. The two new guinea pigs were lovely characters - one was a ginger short-haired guinea pig, and the other was multi-coloured with a big black marking on his nose.



They were both male guinea pigs, and were called Twinkle and Dodge. What would go with these names? What would Desiree call their twin brothers if she bought them? Glitter and Dart, or maybe something else?
As I was saying, the ponies were finding it difficult to find any water, since all liquid substances had frozen solid, and nobody had anything to drink. They shared out what little water was left. Gypsy had brought quite a lot in her green and orange caravan. Quite a few of the Ponyland Pets were riding in there too!
Suddenly, there was a scream. The MLP's were so used to thick ice, that someone had stepped on an iced-over pond, and now they saw the ice cracking below her feet!

"This can't be a soot bale!" Bubbles whined. "I haven't seen a single MLP yet. In fact, it seems nothing like Desiree described. I haven't seen any wooden tables full of old junk. But then, that might be because I can't see any wooden tables."
"That's a good reason!" Dieselbelle said. "If you don't see any wooden tables, you won't see any old junk on top of them, will you?"
"I guess so...Yes! Well, of course, I thought that!" Bubbles looked at her. "So what was that sign pointing at this boat for? That's what I thought someone said - we're riding on a BOAT! And we're on our way to a place called America! We're delivering something in those boxes over there!"
The animals looked over at the other side of the room where they were standing, and saw some big wooden boxes. Bubbles saw an enormous cardboard box in a far corner, with something sticking out of it...a strand of pink hair!
"I think that maybe soot bales aren't actually as Desiree describes them!" Bubbles cried. "We're on a soot bale! I can see pink hair in that box!"
Bubbles ran over to the box, and began to chew a hole in the box. Once the other animals joined in, they made a hole in no time at all, and uncovered what was inside. It was...

"NO!" Screamed Sky Skimmer, as the ice broke below her feet!
"I'll save you!" Soapy shouted.
"No, Soapy, no!" Lancer called after his pet, but it was too late. Soapy was out on the ice, and was falling through a large crack along with Sky Skimmer.
Sky Skimmer's friends, Bright Eyes and Mimic, ran out on to the ice after her. Then, some of the other ponies followed.
"What are they doing?" Said Majesty. "Come back! You'll freeze!"
"It's not cold!" Cried Soapy. "It's warm water!"
The the ponies noticed - steam rising from the water! A lot of the ponies were all bending down to drink the water now, so the rest of the MLP's rushed forward, and took their turn.
"Soapy!" Majesty scolded. "That was very silly of you! Somebody would have helped Sky Skimmer. You shouldn't have gone out on the ice! Your owner called you back!"
"But I wanted to go and rescue Sky Skimmer!" Soapy whined. "Sky Skimmer is one of my owner's friend's friends."
"So that's why you ran out on the ice. Well, who do you think would have been worse for your owner to lose - his best friend, or one of his other friend's friends?"
"Hmm...I guess so. Oh! I see your point now, Majesty. I'm really, really sorry..." Soapy murmured.
"I'm sure you've learned your lesson now. You're a good guinea pig." Said Majesty. "So you can go back and see your owner! And then Spike and myself can go and get a drink for ourselves."

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"The boxes must be full of Barbie things!" Bubbles sighed, as the animals finally got into one of the large boxes, and found it was filled to the brim with the teen dolls.
The friends wondered why there would be so many boxes of Barbie dolls on a ship. What they hadn't realised was that there were different names and addresses on all of the containers around them, and many sacks of smaller packages. This was probably a fortunate thing, since if the animals had known the truth, they would have probably continued opening everyone else's mail, in the hopes that they would find a pony that was being delivered to the USA...

The ponies were still making their way across America the following day, and the animals were still floating across the Atlantic. It was the 12th of December, and very cold. It seemed that everyone was caught up in a winter depression, since nothing much was happening. So, I won't bore you with any more details of this day, as the ponies made their slow journey across the US, and the animals thought about the Barbie dolls in the box they had opened, and how they wished they were My Little Pony toys...

As the ship arrived in America, the guinea pigs started to squeak excitedly, Clover hopped up and down impatiently, and the stick insects rocked about on the twig in their cart, thinking of the adventure ahead.
The animals got off of the boat as quickly as they good, since they didn't know how long they would be stopped for, and they didn't want to be stuck there any longer.
They raced across a long stretch of concrete for about half an hour before they finally reached a hedge, which they darted behind, hoping nobody had spotted them.
It was quite late by this time - about 11pm - and they decided to stay there until the next morning.

The ponies had travelled a long way too, and were actually just a few roads away from the Rescue Home pets, had they known it.
They too had stopped to rest for the night. Perhaps they would find the pets tomorrow, when they moved closer to the bush that the animals were hiding behind...

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWENTY

The pets found lots of long grass on the other side of the bush - it was an overgrown back yard.
The animals ate some of this grass, and then went to sleep, only awakening at 10 o'clock the following morning. The they continued down the road.
The ponies, meanwhile, were already on their way, and now they turned into a new road, just as the Rescue Home pets did the same thing!

Desiree looked out of the window - it was quite obvious to her now. Bubbles had tried to lead the others somewhere, but they hadn't made it. So what had happened to her pets? She would never know, just as she would never know why they had left in the first place.

"I don't believe it!" Majesty exclaimed. "Look who's ahead of us!"
"It's a pair of guinea pigs, and a rabbit pulling a strange cardboard box along behind him!" Starlight said.
"The ones I spoke of." The Pink Pony Of Dreams said.
The ponies began to gallop, and soon reached the animals.
"Oh, there you are!" Said Bubbles, as he looked at his twin brother for the first time in three and a half years.
"Oh, there you are!" Soapy laughed.
"I've been waiting for you to show up!" Bubbles giggled.
"I've been waiting for you to come into sight!" Soapy replied.
"We've been on a boat!" Bubbles cried, enthusiastically.
"So have we!" Soapy grinned.
The twins spoke to each other like this for quite some time, but then the ponies wanted to speak to Bubbles.
"Is it true that you belong to Desiree Skylark, of the legendary My Little Pony Rescue Home?" Napper asked.
"Oh yes!" Bubbles replied, enjoying his moment of glory. "I came straight from there. I've come all the way here on a ship in search of you ponies!"
"Do you think that Desiree Skylark would give us a home?" Love Melody asked.
"I don't know about that." Bubbles sighed. "We don't live in a palace, I'm afraid. And the plastic ponies take up quite a lot of room!"
"Would she be willing to help us at all, just until we can get back to Ponyland?" Gusty asked.
"Oh yes!" Bubbles replied. "Desiree always helps ponies, the best that she can!"
"Great! Is there anything we could do for her in return?" Starshine asked.
"Well actually," Bubbles started, "I was hoping to get a Christmas gift in the form of a My Little Pony model myself! So if you could help me find one of those..."
"For sure!" Summer Heatwave cried. "But where may we find one?"
"Desiree finds all of hers at car soot bales, sharity chops, and foy tairs." Bubbles explained.
"But there aren't any of those around here, Bubbles." Ribbon said sadly, before adding, "I hope you don't mind me calling you that."
"That's fine - call me whatever you like!" Bubbles snorted. "We'll just have to search around here then..."
"Look, Bubbles!" Dieselbelle cried. "There's more delicious grass over there!"
The pets ran over to the patch of grass, with the ponies hot on their heels. And then, Bubbles spotted, just what he had been looking for, lying in the bush - three little plastic ponies which would be just perfect to add to Desiree's collection - three of her favourite six ponies, Galaxy, Sweet Stuff, and the My Little Pony Tales character, Sweetheart!
Bubbles scrabbled to pick up the ponies in his mouth and, as he was doing this, he heard something on the other side of the bush...

[shadow=red,left,300] To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

James and Olivia sadly gazed out of the window. The twins really wished that they could be at home with their two new pet guinea pigs, Bubble and Squeak. But they were stuck at school. Suddenly, as they stared at the empty school playground outside, they were sure they saw three little figures running up the road - a ginger and white guinea pig, a strawberry roan guinea pig, and a Dutch rabbit, followed by a little blue cart.
At recess, the children spoke to each other, and were amazed to find out that they had both seen the same thing.
"I wonder if Bubbles and Squeak go on adventures too, while we're out at school?" James pondered.
Olivia giggled.

"Come on, Dieselbelle! We've got to go and help them!"
They heard the cries for help again - two little voices...
"Oh, please somebody! Help us!"
"We shouldn't be here anyway!"
"So come on, Splodge! Let's go!"
"But how, Sparkle? That's simply impossible. We're stuck!"
The ponies and their newly-found guinea pig and rabbit friends rushed through a gap in the bushes, and saw a run in the corner of the garden.
"Stay back!" Bubbles ordered, and raced over to the run.
"Oh look, Splodge! Somebody did hear our cries for help! It's a guinea pig, and he's actually going to help us!"
"Are you sure it's not a fox in disguise, Sparkle?"
"Of course it isn't, Silly! It's a guinea pig, and he's coming to save us!"
"What are your names?" Bubbles asked.
"My name," The short-haired ginger guinea pig in the run said, "Is Sparkle, and this..." The guinea pig turned to his multi-coloured abyssinian friend, and gave him a slightly disgusted look, "...is, er...Splodge. But there are horrible children - they call us Bubble and Squeak!"
"That is a coincidence!" Bubbles cried. "Which one of you is called Bubble. My name is Bubbles actually!"
"I am the one they call Bubbles." The ginger short-haired guinea pig replied. "But my real name is Sparkle!"
"Well, let's get them out of there then!" Said a voice from behind the guinea pigs. Bubbles turned to see Majesty standing behind him.
"I'm going to do this on my own!"
After about 30 minutes, Bubbles did manage to dig the guinea pigs out of the run, and so Sparkle and Splodge escaped through the tunnel, which their new friend had dug, and joined the group of ponies and pets for the rest of the adventure.

They were just in time to catch a ship on its way back to Britain. It was to take three days to get there, they hoped, since the wind was blowing in the right direction...
"Three days..." Majesty sighed. "And then at least we should be in the right country, so long as the Black Pony Of Darkness doesn't stop us first..."

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Three days later, on December 17th, the ponies and pets did arrive on the shores of the United Kingdom, but they didn't have any food or water at all.
It was all right for the smaller animals - they went and ate some grass. Cotton Candy also found something to eat...in the form of someone's garden flowers!
But nobody else was interested in eating the plants available to them, and the water was a dreadful problem, just as it had been in America. The ponies had managed to melt some ice, and take it with them for their overseas trip, but now that water had run out too.
Here in Britain, the water had turned to ice too, but this time it was much thicker, and the ponies had no way of melting it.
And now for the next problem - the ponies knew that Desiree lived in England, but they had no idea of her whereabouts!
They all looked around, wondering what to do next. Suddenly, Bubbles spoke. "If Desiree doesn't know we're here, she won't send a message to us, so we can't just sit around waiting. We must send a message to her!"
Sparkle and Splodge squeaked in delight, and so did their twin borthers, Twinkle and Dodge.
Romper, the rabbit and guinea pig breeder, had now allowed Lancer to take the two guinea pigs off of her hands (or should that be hooves?!), since the Black Pony wouldn't be coming now (she thought), so it was no longer bad luck for the guinea pigs to be adopted.
Soapy, sure enough, had told his owner what to do with the two new friends.
One was to be given to Truly, to be Dieserella's companion. This guinea pig was to be known as Twinkle, Sparkle's twin brother.
Lancer was to keep Splodge's twin brother, Dodge - named Dodge, because he liked to "dodge" away from people or ponies when they tried to pick him up!
"If this plan works, Bubbles, you'll have saved me twice!" Sparkle spoke, excitedly. "Once when you got me out of the run, and once...well, right now!"
"Has anybody got any wrapping paper?" Dieselbelle asked.
"I've got some that you can have." Smiled Majesty. "But why do you want wrapping paper?"
"Well, we'd like to wrap these three ponies up for Desiree for Christmas. It might encourage her to help you out!" Dieselbelle explained.
While Bubbles wrapped the ponies, he kept giving the ponies ideas, and eventually, the friends worked out a plan that would hopefully get them some money - with which they should be able to obtain food and water - and hopefully get them to see Desiree as well.

"Well, the first thing we have to do is to find a hall, available for hire on the appropriate day." Bubbles had been talking about the ponies plans all through December 18th. He hadn't stopped speaking about it - all morning, all afternoon, all evening...and it seemed as though he was going to go on all night!
It was already 12.30am on the 19th, and he was still working on the plans and making them 'perfect'!
"All right, Cupcake," Bubbles started again, "The first thing we have to do is to get a piece of paper..."
Fortunately, Bright Eyes had brought plenty of paper with her, and she handed Cupcake a sheet.
"Now you need to write a message to Desiree. She has to understand it, but it needs to be in a code that The Black Pony Of Darkness won't understand, just in case it falls into the right code..."
Bubbles ran to Soapy, who in turn ran to Lancer. Luckily, Soapy's owner agreed to write the note, and hopefully get Desiree's help.
But Bubbles still wasn't satisfied.
"So where are we going to find this hall to hire, and when is it going to happen?" He asked impatiently.
Oh, I forgot to tell you, didn't I? The ponies were going to perform a Christmas Show, but they needed to hire a hall. They would sing some Christmas carols, while the backing dancers would mime to a cassette tape of Christmas songs, and occasionally mouth messages at Desiree - should they be able to get her into the audience in the first place.
Desiree, of course, would come to the show once she received their message. The question was how to get it to her. But Bubbles was sure he had come up with a perfect idea - write the message on a piece of paper, and throwing it up into the air to be dragged away by a huge gust of wind...
But what chance was there of Desiree finding the note? And who was to say that The Black Pony Of Darkness wouldn't get ahold of it first?

On December 19th, the ponies used Bubbles's "gust of wind" theory to send their messages out. They had read...
"We hope you are able to come to the My Little Pony Christmas Show, which is taking place in the Underground Hall, Piccadilly Circus, London. During the show, the MLP's will dance and sing to festive tunes including "Jingle Bells" and one about a Christmas tree in trouble who needs help."
(The ponies had found a hall to hire that morning - obviously!)
Once these notes had been thrown into the air, the ponies had continued their journey. They would have to find Desiree, in the very likely occurence that she didn't find one of the notes, so they may as well start looking now.
As they made their slow journey through street upon street (all wearing Majesty's Magic Invisible Shoes), they realised they still didn't have a clue what Desiree looked like, or where she lived...

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Desiree had given up on Bubbles, Dieselbelle and Clover. She was convinced that something dreadful must have happened by now. They had been gone for over two and a half weeks...they wouldn't return now.
Desiree was outside a clothes shop, riding a coin operated children's horse ride. It had been very windy the previous evening, when Desiree and her family had been to a big horse show up London. The weather had calmed down a lot overnight, but now the wind was picking up speed once more, and small pieces of paper littered the street all around the young girl on the metal horse...

The ponies moved onwards. Where were they? They had no idea.
Fortunately, North Star came to their aid. She had a magoc compass which always pointed in the direction in which the ponies were headed. This time, they were making their way to Piccadilly Circus, where they had hired their hall. The guinea pigs were very excited, and kept making happy purring noises to show it. They had never been on such a long adventure...in fact, they'd never been on an adventure at all!
The rabbits were also excited, but they spent most of their time trying to help the ponies by sniffing the air and looking around, trying to gain some sense of direction.
Clover and Lucky, twin rabbits who belonged to Desiree, the Earth girl the ponies were trying to find, and Lofty, the yellow Pegasus Pony, were looking desperately for Desiree, but not having much success at all.

Desiree, on the other hand, had just finished on the coin operated horse ride, and she was just about to climb down off of the equine when a gust of wind blew something right into her face! It was a small piece of paper like all of the other rubbish blowing around the street. She reached up to pull it away from her face, and noticed a strange writing on the litter!
The girl couldn't explain why, but she was drawn towards the piece of paper, and just had to find out what was written on it!
She took a closer look, and saw the following message...
"We hope you are able to come to the My Little Pony Christmas Show, which is taking place in the Underground Hall, Piccadilly Circus, London. During the show, the MLP's will dance and sing to festive tunes including "Jingle Bells" and one about a Christmas tree in trouble, who needs help!"
Desiree noticed that some of the words were underlined, and took another look at these. They made a different message all by themselves...
"We are in trouble. HELP!!!!!!!!!"[/u]

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

The following day, Desiree rang the telephone number written on her "My Little Pony Christmas Show" advertisement.
The phone rang for a while, before being answered by...

"Oh, somebody, go and answer that phone!" Bubbles yelled over the ringing noise which filled the poor little guinea pig's sensitive ears.
The ponies were rushing around, looking for anything that might help them to find the hall they had hired at Piccadilly Circus. But there were no signs in sight, and they didn't have a clue where they were! It was getting busier around them - they had entered a city...maybe this was London? They darted in between the women with arms full of shopping bags, and the men carrying briefcases. The magic properties of the invisible shoes that Majesty had presented them with did have a downside - since no human could see the ponies, they were in constant danger of being kicked or trodden on!
Following a long walk that day, the ponies felt downhearted, and had just about given up all hope of the telephone ever ringing. But then, just as the ponies were on the verge of throwing their mobile phones (which were all interconnected so that incoming calls would be spread between them, by the way) in a nearby rubbish bin, a familiar ringing tone started up.
"Actually," Dieselbelle replied to Bubbles, "I was just about to answer it myself."
She grabbed hold of the receiver, and began to speak.
"Hello! My Little Pony Christmas Show, how may I help you?" The guinea pig asked.
"Hello, Are there any tickets for the show still available?" The voice on the other end of the telephone asked. "I was hoping to purchase three for myself and my parents."
"Yep, there are plenty of tickets left." Dieselbelle replied. "I shall reserve three places for you. Which row were you looking for?"
Desiree didn't answer the little guinea pig's question though, since she felt she had a question of much greater importance. "Thanks," she said quickly, before asking, "Who are you? Excuse me if I'm wrong, but I feel I've heard your voice before somewhere..."
Dieselbelle was taken aback for a moment, before she replied, "This is er...um...D. Squeak, sister of...um...D. TRULY happy with her owner. I'm afraid I'm not allowed to disclose my real name - it's a...secret! Yes, that's right! It's a secret!"
"Hmm...okay. Sorry for having bothered you." Desiree replied.
Dieselbelle covered the mouth piece of the receiver with her paw, and spoke to her friends. "Yes! It is! It is! It's Desiree Skylark! She received our note and is coming to the show!"
Dieselbelle turned back to the phone and spoke into it once more, "May I ask where you heard about our show?"
"Well, it was under quite funny circumstances really, but to cut a long story short, I found a flyer in the street while I was out shopping."
"Thank you - I'll add that to the records! Your tickets won't be sent to you, because it's so close to the day of the show. You'll have to pick them up on the day from the ticket desk."
"May I just confirm the time?" Desiree asked. "My flyer was somewhat bashed up by the time I received it, and I couldn't quite read it..."
"Of course!" Dieselbelle replied. "The show is being held at 4pm on 23rd December - two days before Christmas. How perfectly festive! Thanks for ringing - see you there!" And Dieselbelle pressed the button to switch off the phone with one long claw.
As soon as the phone had been switched off, the ponies began to celebrate - however, they didn't have much time. Desiree's phone call seemed to set off a whole chain, and soon all of the mobile phones were ringing, and many, many tickets were being booked, at fifteen pounds per seat, so hopefully the ponies, with a little help from various "safe-looking" believing humans (such as young children) would soon be able to buy themselves some food!

On the morning of the 22nd, Desiree kept thinking about the voice of the person she had spoken to on the phone yesterday - it had been so familiar! She'd heard it...why, only a couple of weeks ago, she was sure! Could it have possibly been...Dieselbelle?

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

The ponies found the Underground Hall at last on the 22nd of December. They raced around preparing backdrops, stage lighting and speakers for the show the following evening. They worked all night, which was just as well, since even with all of the extra hours of labour, they only completed their tasks at 3.45pm on the 23rd of December!
The ponies opened the doors at 4pm...but saw that nobody had shown up!
They waited for about half an hour, before giving up hope. Nobody had placed a reserve on the tickets, so if the people didn't feel like turning up on the day, they had no real reason to.
Sadly, the ponies sighed and walked back inside, and were just about to pack up again and leave when they heard a sound drifting down from the sky...
No need to stress, My Pony's Small,
Your audience all received a phone call,
I told them the show would not go on,
They'll be no jolly Christmas songs!
Well, not as planned - no, not at four,
Just thought I'd show you I'm still causing trouble galore!
The show is now starting at six,
So your viewers will be along in just two ticks!
The Black Pony Of Darkness cackled, and the MLP's rolled their eyes at each other. Their enemy had got yet another good laugh at them now! Once they got over their initial embarrassment however, the ponies sat down and waited for the audience to arrive.

Desiree had looked up at the clock - and panicked. It was 1.30pm, and the family hadn't even eaten their dinner yet! Luckily, before she'd had time to worry too much about getting her parents to go out without eating, the telpehone had rung, and a recorded message had told her that the show had been postponed for an extra two hours! How convenient...and yet how odd! It was almost as if the organisers had known about her predicament and were desperate for her to be part of the audience...

The ponies used what was left of their extra two hours to rehearse their show, and soon they were confident enough to claim that they were ready for 6 o'clock.

[shadow=red,left,300]To Be Continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Desiree and her parents, Jacqui and David, made their way towards the station, and left for Piccadilly Circus just five minutes later. It took them half an hour to get their on the tube. When they arrived at the station, Desiree told her parents (who she was "surprising" with the trip) to get off of the train, and then she lead them in the direction in which Dieselbelle had told her to go. They walked down a set of stairs, and sure enough, just as she had been told, theysaw two big blue doors, with a small sign pinned to them claiming that "The My Little Pony Christmas Show will now start at 6pm". And it was now 5.55pm. Just as the family approached, the doors swung open, and loads of people began to pour into the hall in front of them, including some people from a certain residential home, including Desiree's Grandparents, Mary and Allan, riding on some flying zimmer frames!
The zimmers had special motors, just on the inside of the frame handles. There was a platform on the bottom half of the frame, on which the old folk could ride on, and sprouting from either side of the zimmers were enormous angelic glowing pink wings!
Desiree and her parents were the first to go through the doors, and saw a ticket desk with many rows of seats beyond. The best seats were in the fourth row - row D - and Desiree was surprised to find that this was where the usherette was taking her, even though she hadn't been asked to pay a penny.
"I wonder what this can be?" Jacqui murmured. "I hope it's not a pantomime."
"I told you before!" Desiree said. "It is NOT a pantomime - I know you hate those! It's something that you will enjoy."
"That's right, Jacqui!" David said. "Stop being so gloomy!"
"I had to come here tonight," Desiree sighed, "It's all to do with something that's been happening for quite some time. I think you'll find out about all of that later though."
"What has been going on?" Jacqui asked. "Does it have anything to do with guinea pig's wearing necklaces?" Desiree's mother remembered a certain peculiar incident from a few months previously.
"Actually, as a matter of fact, it does." Desiree said, a tear springing to the corner of her eye as she thought of her missing pets. She quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand, before continuing, "But you'll find out all about it later - right now, we must just wait..."
"Yes, Jacqui, the lights are going down." David said.
"Oh, how exciting..." Jacqui said sarcastically, although Desiree could tell she was quite looking forward to finding out what show she had been brought to see.
And then, the curtains slowly rose...
"It's a lovely day for snowmen,
When the snow is falling fast,
It's a lovely day for snowmen,
And I hope it's gonna last!
All the clouds are full of snowflakes,
And the sun..."
The show had begun, and everybody watched, entranced, especially Jacqui, whose mouth was now wide open in shock!
Teddy was dancing around the stage dressed as a snowman, while Starlight, Melody, Bright Eyes, Patch and Bon Bon danced around him, dressed as reindeer!
Strangely, Mary and Allan, Jacqui's parents were not sitting with the other residents of their home, since the usherette had sat them there! The ponies must have got a message to her somehow, and asked her to seat the family together.
But Desiree was more interested in what was going on in the background - a little white hoof kept appearing around the edge of the curtain, calling for Desiree to come down to the stage, it seemed!
The first intermission seemed to come right as everybody was just getting into the show. The lights went back on, and a voice spoke over the loud speaker at the back of the hall...
"Will Desiree Skylark and her family please come to the stage area! Repeat, will Desiree Skylark and her family please come to the stage area!"
And so the family made their way down to the stage, but before they had a real chance to speak to the ponies, it was time for the next part of the show!
"Well, how can I get to talk to you then?" Desiree asked.
"I just can't believe this!" Jacqui interrupted. "It must all be a dream!"
Snowflake giggled. "They'll be plenty of time for talking later! In the meantime, would you like to join us onstage for the second part of the show? It's on ice, so you'd have to skate - I make magic safety skates for everyone though, so you're unlikely to slip." The little pink pony grinned.
Jacqui just stared at her. "I can't go ice skating!" She said, nervously.
"Of course you can!" Snowflake cried. "It'll be fun!"
"Well, I'll come out with you." Desiree smiled. "It will be fun!" She agreed with Snowflake.

Jacqui and David did decide to come out on the ice eventually. All of the ponies joined in, including the Babies, and even the guinea pigs had a part, skating around the others and singing the chorus lines!
Desiree had a great time, as did the ponies, and by the end of the show, the whole audience were dancing and singing along in the aisles! The applause was deafening, and everybody was sad to go home.
Desiree and her family went backstage to talk to the ponies, and soon they had been told the whole story of the long adventure that the MLP's had been on. The ponies informed the humans that they were in search of somewhere to live - just temporarily, while Ponyland was rebuilt. All of the ponies had seen what had happened earlier that day...there had been a big explosion in the sky, no doubt the destruction of Ponyland.
The ponies did have something to give Desiree in return for any help she could provide - they had found her beloved pets, Bubbles, Dieselbelle and Clover, along with two new friends, Sparkle and Splodge.
Desiree was so pleased to see her animals again.
Bubbles held a small wrapped present, and Desiree put it in her pocket. "I hope you'll like it." The little guinea pig said.
"Well, you'll be able to see me open it now, won't you, Bubbles?" Desiree said.
"I'm afraid," Said Soapy. "That won't be possible. Bubbles, we have to leave now."
"What?" Bubbles cried. "I've only just got back to my owner! Leave for where?"
"Rainbow Land, of course..." Soapy said, gravely.

[shadow=red,left,300]To be continued...[/shadow]

[Lancer]

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

"Where are we going, Soapy? I can't go, I can't! I've got to stay! I'm not leaving - not now, not now! Where, and what, is Rainbow Land anyway? Noooooooo!"
"Bubbles, we have to leave. Don't be silly - Sparkle and Splodge are here now. Our time is up..."
"But leave for where? Where is Rainbow Land?"
Suddenly, Soapy grew some pink wings, identical to those on the zimmer frames mentioned earlier, and burst up into the air. He looked down at Bubbles. "Come on, Brother! You can do it."
"But I don't want to!" Bubbles protested. "I've only just got back! I've only just seen Desiree again! I can't just leave - not now!"
"We have to, Bubbles."

(To the tune of "Off you Go!" from "Gribbet")

Desiree: Off you go,
Lancer: Into the great unknown,
Dieselbelle/Clover: At least you're not on your own!
Sparkle/Splodge: Make the break,
Twinkle/Dodge: But quickly,
Stick Insects: For heaven's sake,
Ponies: Despite how our heart's might ache!
Desiree: Much as I'd love,
Lancer: To have you stay,
Dieselbelle/Clover: Believe us when we say,
Sparkle/Splodge: It's better off this way...
Twinkle/Dodge: Bye, Bubbles!
Stick Insects: Take care of yourself.
Ponies: We love you, little guys!
Desiree: It's been fun knowing you.
Lancer: Stay well, Soapy!
Dieselbelle/Clover: Off you go!
Sparkle/Splodge: Soapy's awaiting you,
Twinkle/Dodge: We'll always remember you!
Stick Insects: So off with you...
Ponies: Off with you...
Desiree/Sparkle: Off you go...
Desiree/Dodge: Off you go...
Desiree/Lancer: Off you go-oo-oo...

Desiree held Bubbles in her arms, and told him that he had to go. She wished that he could stay, but she knew that Ponyland law held that twins must always depart to Rainbow Land together, so now that Soapy was gone, his brother must join him.
But Bubbles continued to cry out in protest. He sat on his owner's shoulder, and squeaked at her.
After a while, Desiree said to him, "Bubbles, you have to go. I'm sure Rainbow Land is a lovely place."
Just then, something drifted down the stairs, and through the entrance to the hall, up on the stage, and through the backstage curtain - yes, THROUGH the backstage curtain. It was something white, surrounded by a mysterious pink glow. Two large wings flapped on either side of the strange object - they looked just like those which Soapy now had sprouting from his shoulders. Another of these strange white things followed the first!
"Come on, Bubbles." Said a voice, coming from the first of these mysterious glowing creatures.
"Who are you?" Bubbles asked.
"My name is Hoppy, and this is my brother, Jumpy. I used to be Desiree's pet rabbit, but then I went to Rainbow Land. It's lovely up here! You should come and join us! If I hadn't gone to Rainbow Land, you would never have been lucky enough to live at Desiree Skylark's My Little Pony Rescue Home. Well, Bubbles, Rainbow Land is full of lots and lots of carrots, brocolli, tomatos - they all grow there, along with lots of delicious things that nobody has ever heard of down on Earth! But the thing that there's most of is Yorkshire Fog grass."
"Grass?!" Bubbles cried, excitedly.
"Yes - lots of it! There's lots and lots of grass - mostly Yorkshire Fog, but there's some Soft Wheat, and many other varieties which only grow up in the Land of the Rainbow! There's also..."
But Bubbles had heard enough. A pair of pink feathery wings sprouted from his shoulders, and he floated up to Hoppy, Jumpy and Soapy.
"Oh, one last thing!" Soapy drifted down towards Dodge, and whispered something in his ear. Then he pulled a small envelope out from under his wing, and gave it to the little black nosed abysinnian. Soapy tilted his head on one side, as if to ask something, and Dodge nodded his head. Soapy took off, smiling, confident now that the Black Pony would soon be defeated.
"Goodbye, everybody!" Bubbles called, as he looked back down at his friends one final time.
"Goodbye, Bubbles." Desiree sobbed.
"Goodbye, Soapy." Lancer sighed.
"Goodbye, Little Friends!" Everyone shouted together.

That night, Desiree gazed out of the window. It just happened that a field at the end of the road had been available to let, and the ponies had contacted the owners immediately.
However, sixteen of the ponies had been allowed to stay at Desiree's house until they could go back to Ponyland - Truly, Lancer, Lofty, Sweetheart, Sweet Stuff, Galaxy, Bright Eyes, Posey, Teddy, Buttons, Clover, Starlight, Patch, Bon Bon, Melody and Ace would sleep in their own sleeping bags on the floors throughout the house.
It was nice to have the ponies to stay, but Desiree wanted a bit of peace and quiet, so had gone into the back reception room, and closed the door. She had taken one of the new baby guinea pigs, Splodge, with her.
"I don't know if you can hear me." Desiree said, gazing up at the sky. "Bubbles, are you out there?"
And then she heard the faintest reply, "Desiree, is that you? I'm having a lovely time in Rainbow Land! There's so much to eat, and so much to see. And I've found I can still communicate with those on Earth too. But I do miss you, and Dieselbelle, and Clover - and the little piglets too." Bubbles spoke affectionately of Sparkle and Splodge. "How are the little ones anyway?"
"We're all OK!" Desiree replied.
"I'm so pleased to hear that. Don't worry about us, Desiree. I can even come down to Earth for special occasions! I can see you but, I'm afraid, you will not be able to see me... You will be able to hear me though, and sense my presence - I will come and talk to you sometime soon! There's lots and lots of grass here." Bubbles went quiet for a moment, obviously eating some heavenly grass. Then he continued, "Maybe I'll come in a couple of days time then - on Christmas day - and then I'll be able to see you open my gift, won't I..." But then, Bubbles faded away. Desiree could have sworn she saw a star taking the guinea pig's shape for just a moment, before it burst into a shower of rainbow streamers, which twinkled before disappearing.
Then, Desiree began to recite a little poem she had written...
"I look at the stars,
And I think of you,
Although you are far,
I'm sure you think of me too.
Oh, dear little Bubbles,
You were my sweet friend,
We cuddled and cuddled,
Right 'til the end.
Bubbles was a guinea pig,
Ever so sweet.
No nicer guinea pig,
I'll ever meet.
I look at the stars,
And I think of you,
Although you are far,
I'm sure you think of me too."

Desiree's family still hadn't put their Christmas decorations up! But, with a lot of help from the ponies, they managed to tidy up and clean the house, and put together the Christmas tree in the living room.

Desiree was busy hanging some rocking horse and toy soldier ornaments on the tree, when she suddenly thought of Bubbles.
Then, she heard the faint voice.
"I'm here, Desiree! Can you hear me?"
"And so am I." Said a different faint voice, which Desiree recognised as Soapy's.
"Where is my owner? Answer me, Desiree!"
"And where is my owner? It sure would help if you'd answer me, Lancer!" Soapy laughed, as he realised the last part of his sentence had rhymed.
Desiree realised that the voices were coming from the other side of the Christmas tree.
"I'm here!" Desiree laughed. "Lancer is down the other end of the room, Soapy." The girl pointed at a little blue pony who was helping Posey to hang some holly above the doorway.
Desiree heard a whistling noise travel through the air past her, as if something small was whizzing towards Lancer across the room.
Then Desiree heard the faint voice speaking to her again. "I hope you like the gift I got you." There was a pause while, Desiree assumed, Bubbles looked around for the parcel. "Where is it?"
"It must still be in my coat pocket!" Desiree realised. She rushed out into the hall, opened the cupboard door, and reached into her coat pocket. Sure enough, there was the parcel. Desiree knew the shape of a pony anywhere, and she could feel three inside this packet!
"It must just be my imagination." She thought. "Where would Bubbles have got those. It's probably a few old lettuce stumps or apple cores!"
Desiree raced back, and placed the gift under the tree. Bubbles was gone... She saw that David was putting up some shiny stars near the ceiling. He dropped some, and asked "Desiree, could you hand that up to me?"
Desiree went and picked the gold stars up, and passed them to her father.
"Lofty!" Desiree called. "Could you put this little white rocking horse up near the top of the tree?"
She watched as the yellow pegasus placed the ornament in a prime position high above where the girl could reach to.
Desiree smiled. This was going to be a pony perfect Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, the family raced around the shops, buying last minute gifts for friends and relatives.
However, out of habit, Desiree followed her Christmas list with military precision, and only bought gifts for those listed - meaning, she forgot some certain important individuals...

That Christmas was very special, if somewhat embarassing when Desiree remembered who those individuals were - the ponies who were staying with them! She discovered that all sixteen of them had somehow bought presents, not only for her, but for her entire family too!
Sparkle and Splodge were very happy little guinea pigs, who made everybody laugh with their antics. Splodge gave Lancer a half-eaten vegetable biscuit ("Well, I'd have been happy with it, you know what I mean?") in return for his gift from Lancer - a new vegetable biscuit!!!
At the end of the day, Desiree opened all of her presents from the ponies, and from her parents. But she left until last the little gift wrapped in gold and purple paper. When she opened it, she was sure not to tear it, having seen the little scribble that Bubbles had made on the gift tag. When she opened it, she couldn't believe her eyes! Sweetheart, Sweet Stuff and Galaxy stood there in front of her. Desiree turned her back on everybody and raced out of the room. She grabbed ahold of the box and stood up on top of it.
"This Christmas is going to be even more special!" Desiree announced. She smiled at the ponies, and they nodded in agreement. The ponies gave their hosts a private performance of their Christmas Show to celebrate the arrival of the three new ponies at the Rescue Home. Everybody had great fun dancing around the living room.
Desiree had told Jacqui all about her adventures in Ponyland, and now Jacqui knew why Bubbles had been wearing a magic necklace that time.
Jacqui still couldn't quite believe what she was hearing, but Desiree laughed and told her it must just be one of those magical things that always seems to happen when you least expect it to.

The End

[Sarah-P.Pie]

I <3 the My Little Pony Magic Series!! Lanceriffic was the best yet, I think, although that whole bit at the end about Bubbles brought a tear to my eye . . . .

When will you be continuing with the next tale??

[Lancer]

*Giggles* I'm glad you've been enjoying the stories .

I hope to continue with "The Great Journey" tonight.