The pressure of the sea swept everything before it. Huge baskets filled with gravel for ballast plummeted down the passageway between the ponies, breaking up stalls as they went by.
-- Narrator (Chapter 1 paragraph Page 14)

Importance: This quote establishes the origins of the ponies on the island, and where they came from originally. It shows that the ponies overcame much adversity and were survivors from the beginning.

Was the Phantom real? Sometimes he wondered. She had never been captured, and the roundup men did sometimes tell tall tales. Some had said she was a dark creature, dark and mysterious, like the pine trees. And some said she was the color of copper, with splashes of silver in her mane and tail. And some spoke of a strange white marking that began at her withers and spread out like a white map of the United States.
-- Paul (Chapter 3 paragraph Page 31)

Importance: This gives the reader some background on Phantom and is one...