Welcome to Ponyville
Part 1

Spitfire and Soarin' were relaxing on a cloud watching the other Wonderbolts practicing their flight maneuvers. There was another Wonderbolt sitting next to them, but his head was buried in the cloud. Spitfire and Soarin' leaned over to see what was wrong.

"You okay Stratos?" asked Soarin' patting the stallion on the back.

"Kind of," replied Stratos with his head still in the cloud.

"You've been down this whole week, something has to be bothering you," said Spitfire flying to the opposite side of Stratos.

"Something just feels missing about my life," sighed Stratos pulling his out of the cloud.

"What do you mean?" asked Soarin'.

"I don't know, something feels empty inside me," replied Stratos scratching his head.

"Is it about not having a cutie mark," stated Spitfire.

"…partially," muttered Stratos putting his head on his hoof.

Spitfire and Soarin' were worried; Stratos had never acted so depressed before. He usually had a pleasant demeanor and an adventurous nature. It was weird seeing their youngest member not flying through the clouds at amazing speeds.

"Come on Stratos lets go get some ice cream," said Spitfire trying to get a smile out of her friend.

"How's that gonna help?" asked Stratos with a puzzled look on his face.

"It'll at least fill you up, because we didn't see you at breakfast this morning and your stomach is starting the sound like an angry bullfrog," answered Spitfire landing on the cloud and leading the way to the ice cream parlor.

Stratos chuckled and followed her with Soarin' close behind. They stopped off at the lockeroom to change out of their Wonderbolt uniforms, so they could be more comfortable outside just relaxing. Stratos stopped in front of the tall mirror that was inside. His light and dark blue mane was pushed back during all the flying he did during the morning, so he started messing up his hair until it was the kind of messy style that he liked. He checked his silver coat in the mirror by turning around constantly.

"Stratos you look fine, now let's go before a line starts to build in front of the parlor," said Spitfire waiting by the door.

They all soon got in at Blueberry Swirl's ice cream parlor, one of the most popular places in all of Cloudsdale. Spitfire and Soarin' were chomping away at their ice cream, they hadn't eaten since breakfast and they had an intense practice all day. Stratos was just picking at his ice cream, but his stomach was growling at him to eat faster.

"Now as you were saying earlier about feeling empty inside," said Soarin' finishing his ice cream.

"Well…I've just been thinking about all that I accomplished in my life. Ever since I was little I wanted to join the Wonderbolts after my father told me about his days as one of the founding members…" said Startos.

"Ah yes, I remember hearing stories about your father Mach…oh sorry, please continue," thought aloud Soarin' without realizing that he interrupted Stratos.

"Anyway, after I spent my whole life training to get into the Wonderbolts, and when you guys accepted me, I still didn't get my cutie mark. I thought since I'm one of the select few ponies in all of Equestria to achieve this honor, I should get my cutie mark, but I didn't. Now I'm consumed with this idea that I should go out searching for what I'm meant to do, my 'calling' if you will," said Stratos.

"Well, you know what you should do Stratos," said Spitfire putting her hoof on Startos's shoulder.

"What?" replied Stratos slipping deeper into his depression.

"You need to take a vacation, go soul-searching, and do whatever it takes to put a smile back on your face. You've done nothing, but train for months; in fact you train longer than anyone else on the team. Just take a good break to get your mind settled. You're our friend and we don't like seeing you this way," explained Spitfire with Soarin' nodding in agreement.

"You sure the coach and Princess Celestia won't mind," replied Stratos with a worried look on his face.

"The coach knows you put in a lot of effort and I'm sure Princess Celestia will understand given your situation and feelings. Besides were not having a performance for a few months so, you won't be missing anything important. Now just go, we'll take care of things here," assured Spitfire.

"Thanks guys, you two are the best friends I've ever had," said Stratos with a smile slowly forming on his face.

Later on Stratos went back into the lockeroom, he walked over to his locker and pulled out his Wonderbolt uniform. He folded it gently and stuffed into his backpack. With a shut of the door and a quick sprint to gain momentum, he was airborne and off to where ever the wind took him.

The train pulled into the train station and stopped with loud wisp of steam. The doors flung open and ponies started pouring out. A white coated colt with a black mane wearing a black magician's hat strolled off the passenger car. He also had on a black cape with a triangular emerald holding the collar together (like Trixie's cape). He reached into his knapsack that was concealed by his cape and pulled out a magic spell book. He flipped the cover and pulled out a small sheet of paper. The colt walked around the station asking people they knew where the ponies that were on the sheet of paper lived. Most of them were new to Ponyville, so they didn't know. Just when he was about to give up hope someone pointed to a dirt road that led to one of the ponies on the paper. His face was beaming with happiness as trotted down the road. Eventually he came across an arch covered in leaves and in the distance he saw an immense red and purple barn. He slowly walked onto the grounds trying to find someone to help him.

"Hello," called the colt examining the chicken coop thoroughly.

"Can I help ya?" asked Apple Bloom staring at the colt that was now looking under the coop.

"Oh yes, could you please tell me where I may be able to find anyone of these ponies," replied the colt handing Apple Bloom the sheet of paper.

"These look like Applejack and her friends," stated Apple Bloom looking over the accurately drawn pictures of them.

"Ya called sugarcube?" asked Applejack walking towards them.

"He's looking for you and your friends Applejack" said Apple Bloom pointing to the colt.

Applejack examined the white colt from head to hoof; she noticed the wizard outfit and began to remember her encounter with Trixie.

"You wouldn't happen to know of a unicorn named Trixie would you?" questioned Applejack.

"I've never met anyone by the name," replied the colt raising an eyebrow.

"Alright then, so what can I do for you?" asked Applejack regaining her cheerful mood.

"I'm looking for Twilight Sparkle, because my teacher told me to deliver a book to her that she cannot decipher, hoping that she could possible translate some of it," said the colt pulling out the black and silver book from his knapsack.

"Hmm…I believe Twilight said she was going to be over at Rarity's place with Pinkie Pie," stated Applejack, "Apple Bloom take um…I forgot to ask your name".

"Oh my apologies, I am Astral," said the colt bowing and tipping his hat by using magic.

"Apple Bloom, please take Astral to Rarity's for me, I've gotta help Big Macintosh move two of the apple trees that flew during last night's storm," replied Applejack patting Apple Bloom on the back and walking off towards the back fields.

Astral used his magic to stuff the book back in his knapsack and with Apple Bloom leading the way, they marched down the Southern path into town.

"So where ya from Astral," asked Apple Bloom trying to spark a conversation.

"I am from Trottingham," replied Astral keeping the same pace as her.

"Gol-ly, that's really far away, this must really be important for you to come up here on your own," stated Apple Bloom.

"It is important according to what my teacher told me, and I'm quite used to traveling on my own. Being an orphan you tend to become more self-reliant," replied Astral.

"Orphan," repeated Apple Bloom shocked at what she heard, "I'm sorry to hear that".

"Don't be sorry, like I said I am quite used to this and you should not get so sad about this, since it is not a problem that affects you," said Astral patting her on the shoulder.

"Uh…so why are ya dressed like a wizard?" asked Apple Bloom trying to change the subject.

"My teacher picked out this costume for me, because it went well with me learn spell-casting," replied Astral.

"So you're a real wizard and not pretend, can show some spells," asked Apple Bloom get excited.

"Well, I know only two, one is an offense move and the other is a quick-fix spell. I guess I could show you," responded Astral looking around for a target.

He found a dead tree that was on the edge of the road. Astral stood upright and put his front two hooves together, while he spread his back hooves apart. A white circle appeared on the ground with him in the center. A black aura crawled up his body until it reached the tip of his hat.

"Umbra Petere," yelled Astral point to the tree with his right hoof.

A black energy sphere zoomed out of his hoof and collided with the tree, destroying it instantly. Branches and bark were sent flying everywhere. The black aura disappeared quickly and Astral returned to being on all fours. He turned back to see Apple Bloom. Her face was in combination of shock and awe. Her mouth dropped to its lowest point, her pupils were enormous, and there was few twigs caught in her hair. Her eyes slowly returned to normal size and a smile started to form.

"That was amazing!" cheered Apple Bloom jumping up and down.

"It is quite a spell, but it is nothing compared to what my teacher is capable of," replied Astral slowly starting to lose his balance.

"You okay?" asked Apple Bloom reaching over trying to keep Astral upright.

"Yes, my spells take a considerable amount of energy, which leaves me dizzy and slightly hungry," explained Astral.

His hat slid off his head and a small creature blue fluttered out. It had red wings, adorably big lime-green eyes, and short stubby legs. It flew around erratically until lading on the tip of Apple Bloom's nose.

"Para…para…parasprite!" screamed Apple Bloom swatting at the small creature.

Astral grabbed his hat and used it as a butterfly net to catch the parasprite before Apple Jack could hurt it. Astral slapped his hat back on his head. The parasprite bounced around in his hat until it crawled out and sat on the brim of his hat.

"Why do ya have a parasprite?" asked Apple Bloom with her eyes locked on the adorably deadly creature.

"I found this little guy on my way from Trottingham, so I decided to help him out," answered Astral petting the scared little creature to calm it down.

"Ya better keep that thing close by, because that critter can eat up a whole town," said Apple Bloom.

"Uh…Sure, I shall keep an eye on the poor creature," replied Astral raising an eye.

Rarity's house was in sight and Apple Bloom wanted to keep the conversation afloat. Before Apple Bloom could speak, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle rode past them on a scooter at a frightening speed. They saw Apple Bloom and immediately made a U-turn to meet up with her. They braked and jumped off the scooter.

"Hey Apple Bloom," said Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in unison.

"Hey girls," replied Apple Bloom.

"Who's your new friend?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"He's Astral, he's a wizard, and he's new to this town," said Apple Bloom pointing to Astral.

"Greetings," stated Astral bowing and tipping his hat.

"Hi, I'm Sweetie Belle," replied Sweetie Belle.

"I'm Scootaloo," added in Scootaloo adjusting her scooter.

"Hey Scootaloo, do ya think we can all fit on your scooter, Astral needs to get to Rarity's place," asked Apple bloom.

"We can try," replied Scootaloo.

All four ponies managed to balance themselves on the scooter and were off down the road to Rarity's house.