Dawn came once again, and that meant the mess hall for the military-inclined. However, some soldiers were busy with something, though for the moment, the Crusaders didn't care for a lick about it. Katie was at their table, having already eaten, and she opted not to say much of anything.
Because right now, all three pairs of young, living eyes were on Applejack. Applejack, for her part, had the good graces to look awfully embarrassed, and Apple Bloom had an inkling of suspicion that she knew why. At Applejack's side sat Rarity and Rainbow Dash, both of whom were glowering just a teensy bit at their friend.
"So, you've convinced three of our military escorts to hack up how they got their cutie marks, and what luck, we managed to get the one about the giant swords," Rainbow spat, grinding her teeth just a little. "What the buck?"
"I had to know where those darn things came from, because something told me to not rest until I found out," Applejack said defensively, though that didn't change her apparent embarrassment one bit. "It just don't seem right that—" Before she could speak further, Anna teleported to her, lifted a claw, and tapped her on the withers with it.
"Not in front of the children," Anna whispered harshly into Applejack's ear. She teleported when Applejack nodded in understanding.
"Regardless of your reasoning behind that, you still played a part in traumatizing our own sisters," Rarity chided, shaking her head as Opalescence hopped onto the table and waded over to Sweetie Belle to demand cuddles and attention. Sweetie Belle provided, even though she knew to not have pets over at the table. "I do believe you owe them something."
Applejack wilted, ears pinned back. "I guess I ought to," she muttered. "I'm sorry, y'all. I shouldn't have let you watch that messed-up rodeo one bit." Every ounce of the apology, short though it was, was sincere. If it had been anything else, well, suffice to say that one of her friends would have probably slapped her until she put more effort into that sincerity.
At least, that's what the Crusaders thought would have happened if the apology weren't sincere. They couldn't vouch for whatever ran through Katie's head, but guessed that Fantasian bias and cynicism took the wheel again on that one.
"It's alright, just don't do it again," the Crusaders chorused in unison with a nod.
"It don't feel alright though…" Applejack muttered under her breath, just loud enough to be heard.
"And it shouldn't. I'm surprised you didn't get bucked in the face over that," Katie piped up with a snort.
"Oh do lay off the harshness, darling," Rarity said, turning to the wraithling. "I understand the military takes some… harsh methods in dealing with the traumatizing of children, but don't you think it's a bit much if an apology has already been given, and the traumatizer forgiven?"
Katie leaned back to consider this, then nodded. "However, here on this planet, apologies are rare, and the unrepentant asswipes are a dime a dozen," she replied. "It's like… we're in one of the only sane parts of Fantasia, you know?"
Rarity glanced back at the sulking ponies of Greenwood, who seemed transfixed on the increased soldier activity in the mess hall as of late. She sighed and turned back to Katie. "I do suppose you're right, and that's something Fantasia will need to change sooner or later," she admitted with a frown.
"Yeah, but try telling that to the asshole gallery," Katie stated firmly, snorting again. "They're more likely to turn your head into a watermelon than listen to any worthwhile advice." That made Rarity flinch, but she reluctantly nodded and sighed.
"Then I guess we'll just have to save the few who will listen," Rainbow said, shaking her head.
"Good idea, and it's a start," Katie agreed with a nod of her own. She turned to the Crusaders and added, "Trust me on this one, but few Fantasian settlements are willing to consider friendship." She gestured to the booth where Lance and his cronies would have sat, if they were still eating. "So far, we're the exception, Greenwood… only came around somewhat recently, and I think Whitefall's gotten the basic idea. Of course, we can't have friendship if we aren't willing to defend it, right?"
The Crusaders nodded. "I guess it makes sense; otherwise, Equestria would have been taken over by now," Sweetie Belle said with a shrug. Opal meowed in agreement.
"It's the same over here. For all I know, we might be broiling in another conflict soon or something, and what else are we supposed to do, roll over and let the enemy have their way?" Katie shook her head at that suggestion. "From what Blueblood's told me, some of the Canterlot elite might be willing to do that if it meant cementing their rule in place of the Princesses'."
The Crusaders shuddered at that terrifying thought. Katie proceeded to pat Scootaloo on the withers and added, "If that happens, you can bet we'll be among the first to take those weasels up to task. Sure, we might take a few lives here and there, but we'll avoid harming the innocent as much as we can, should that scenario come to pass."
The trio relaxed a little, and the adults stiffened. Well, at least the Aerie had Equestria's back if things should go south. A shout broke them from their conversation, and they turned to the source of the commotion to find themselves hearing the thudding of multiple hooves, at least a hundred strong.
The doors opened, and a menagerie of confused, cutie markless earth ponies, with very little in the way of pegasi and unicorns, entered the mess hall to claim what few tables remained empty. They settled in relative peace, though Apple Bloom shuddered as she found a few faces she could recognize in that crowd, all five of whom looked at her apologetically. Katie reached over and gripped her hoof, giving it a light squeeze. Strangely, there were some ghosts in the formation, but they didn't bother anyone beyond maybe weirding the soldiers out. One of the ghosts, the only one with a cutie mark, waved to Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom waved back.
"Sunnytown's atoned… mostly," Katie said with a nod. Apple Bloom looked at the wraithling as though she snorted something strong.
"You mean—" Apple Bloom started, eyes wide and jaw threatening to drop. Katie nodded firmly.
"They sorta came here of their own free will; they needed less persuasion than I'd have guessed," Katie said, turning to look Apple Bloom in the eye. "Regardless, they'll also need to be informed of the processes and proceedings around here, though I'm pretty sure that might have been covered by someone else already."
Apple Bloom looked to the Sunnytowners, most of whom seemed to regard the ex-villagers of Greenwood with curiosity. Said group looked back at the Sunnytowners with equal measure. Clamor rose from both parties, threatening to evolve into a deafening din when a sharp retort came from what sounded like a microphone. Everyone looked up to find Anna wielding a megaphone in her claw, perched atop the highest point in the mess hall, focused specifically on the Sunnytowners.
"Alright, I know this is new to those of you from Mythos, but we work… somewhat differently from Equestria," Anna announced, though only when she was sure she had the full attention of the Sunnytowners. "But to streamline the process of integrating you guys, feel free to ask any question on your minds—after you eat. You've just regained your mortal bodies, and they can't be neglected after all, so eat up; there's plenty of food to go around." She gestured to where the food line would've been, had one been present. "Dig in, but don't overdo it."
With that, the Sunnytowners moved to form a line, with some soldiers directing the herd and informing them of the nuances of the mess hall. Most were confused, but seemed to follow directions relatively well. Apple Bloom shuddered, struggling not to remember those ponies as murderous zombies, when she felt Katie squeezing her hoof again.
Applejack looked at the Sunnytowners and turned to Katie, propping her chin on her pastern. "A'ight, how'd this happen?" she asked, frowning.
Katie turned to her and sighed. "Discord helped with the transport of these ponies from their former home," she answered. "Convincing them… took some effort." She noticed a red-maned, grey-pelted earth pony trotting up to the table, orange eyes alight with regret and curiosity. "Go on, sit. There's plenty of room here."
The earth pony sat, looking at Apple Bloom with remorse in her eyes. "How… how are you doing?" she asked, her voice seemingly as tired as her eyes. And yet, mortality lingered in them just the same, Apple Bloom noticed.
Apple Bloom shrugged. "Fine, I guess. How about you?"
The red-maned earth pony wilted. "Mortal, whole… but there's just so many emotions running through my head right now," she answered, a tinge of bitterness to her voice. "I still don't know how to feel about Sunnytown being left to rot after all these years…"
Katie's ears twitched, and her orbs dimmed a little. "I know full well how it feels, Mitta. A bad place being the only place you've known getting abandoned takes a bit of getting used to," she said somewhat sagely. "But it doesn't change anything now—what's done is done. You can only move forward from here."
Mitta looked at the wraithling, seeming to see something in her that few could bear witness to. Whatever that was, Apple Bloom could not pin a name to it. "But where is forward, when everything's passed by to such an extent that you can't even tell what year it is anymore?" she asked.
Katie nodded, orbs wavering for a brief moment. "I know the feeling. I went and got my stupid ass sealed for I don't know how long, and when I wake up, I find Fantasia's somehow gotten massively worse than when I left its surface," she replied. Apple Bloom got the feeling she would have frowned if she were able. "I'm just as clueless as you are." She leaned forward and added, "But the difference between you and I is that you were conscious all that time, and I just… shut down after being entombed."
Mitta chuckled, but the sound was bitter and etched with regret that lingered on her face. "So what should I do? I'm in a new area, on another planet, and Godcat's loose," she said, trying to smile even if only for a brief moment.
Katie leaned back and sighed. She wrapped a hoof around Apple Bloom's withers. "I guess you could start by doing what Bloom here wants to do—go get your cutie mark," she suggested. "It's as good a direction as any, isn't it?"
Mitta wilted at the suggestion. "I don't know… what if I fall into hubris from getting it?" she muttered, uncertainty flashing in her eyes.
"We'll help when that time comes," Katie replied, tipping her chin slightly. "Just take it slow for now though; you have to get used to being mortal again first. In that regard, you're lucky—you get to find yourself, maybe get a job, start a family…" Her head drooped, and she pulled Apple Bloom close. "Me? That, I don't know…" She scuffed her free hoof on the table, as though it were the floor. "I'm mostly lost and confused still."
Mitta nodded, and relaxed a little. Still, untold centuries of confusion and regret painted her expression, and seemed to dull it into something that was worn away by time. "I guess I could take it day by day…" she said, smiling a little as she noticed Apple Bloom patting the wraithling on her bony withers. She looked around the mess hall, taking in everything that was unfamiliar to her. "To think that the Twisted Remnant was cursed…" she muttered under her breath.
"The who?" Rainbow asked, turning to Mitta with a frown. Mitta gestured up to where Anna sat, and Rainbow noticed that, every now and again, Anna would turn to where the Sunnytowners had gathered to eat their first proper meal in a long time.
Rarity sighed, and put a hoof to her chin. "And to think she was unable to tell us anything, not merely because of the slim possibility that we would not have believed her otherwise…" she muttered remorsefully, shaking her head. She noticed Sweetie looking in the direction that Mitta had indicated and added, "I don't think she would approve of us relaying the sordid tale to you, Sweetie. It's as unhappy as I've ever heard; a true tragedy, just barely averted."
"More tragic than those stories you fancy?" Sweetie asked, with a bluntness that only a growing child was capable of. Rarity bitterly nodded and closed her eyes.
"Far more tragic than it had any right to be. Perhaps one day, she'll relay the details herself, but from what little I had heard and seen this past month…" Rarity sighed deeply through her nostrils, then shook her head and lowered her hoof on the table. "Until then, only Lance is privy to the details. He's one of the few who could possibly be allowed to understand the full scope of the insanity she had to endure."
"Allowed to?" Scootaloo parroted. Rainbow nodded, wings shuffling uncomfortably with the motion.
"Yeah… it turns out, only a few are allowed to know right now. She's not comfortable talking about it," Rainbow answered, frowning uneasily about the whole thing. "She thinks the rest of society would shun her for it if word got out, or something like that. I've seen how jumpy she is if anyone asks; it's a really sore spot for her."
"Victim shaming," Katie proffered, letting go of Apple Bloom to cross her forelegs. She snorted at the mere concept of it and turned to the Crusaders. "You've ever been made fun of for something that wasn't your fault, that was a freak accident you couldn't control?"
The trio winced, remembering Diamond Tiara's bullying. For a brief moment, the memory reels replied every single ounce of the torment in their heads without stopping, flashing by as though it were in the throes of a sugar rush. Sweetie nodded. "Yeah, I got picked on because Rarity's here and I was over there on Mythos stuck with a foalsitter," she said, wilting a little. "Not to mention still being a blank flank on top of that. And before that, I got picked on for every single attempt I made with my bestest friends to get our cutie marks."
"And I get made fun of because I'm the only pegasus in my class who can't fly for some reason," Scootaloo said, wings drooping. "I can flap and flap until the cows come home, but I can't get into the air without help."
Apple Bloom's eyes glistened, just a little. "And I get made fun of because Mom and Dad are… not here anymore," she said after a moment.
Katie nodded. "That's what I was talking about—except here, on Fantasia, you have no idea how bad I've seen it here. I've run into whole towns that shunned ponies because something happened beyond those ponies' control. Some…" She turned away, pursing her lips and letting her ears droop. "Some just couldn't take it anymore, so they went where nopony else would find them and dug their own graves… and then what happened? Their graves got spat on because they chose to leave the communities that bullied them into trying to escape through death to begin with." Her head shook, and her orbs went out like lights for a moment.
Then, her orbs relit, and she turned to the trio once again. "Which is probably why," she went on, anger and sorrow leaking into her voice, "we're not giving you the tours of those other towns. Whitefall and the Aerie are so far the only exceptions I've seen in my whole life, before and after I turned into a wraith. In fact, we're probably the closest thing to Ponyville there is on Fantasia."
"Then maybe we could convince those towns to stop the victim shaming?" Scootaloo suggested, wings buzzing with the faintest trace of hope.
Katie nodded, then sighed and put her snout to the table. "It'll be easier said than done, though; those same towns love having their heads in the sand so much, they think it's below them to listen to advice from outside their communities," she muttered, her own wings shuddering. "Kinda like those nobles I heard about, the ones who complained about Cadence marrying Shining." She leaned back, and turned to gaze at the ceiling. "Hell, maybe they'll bitch if one of their own somehow wins Anna's hoof in marriage."
Blueblood trotted past the table as she said that. "Assuming the courtship even gets that far with her temperament," he said bluntly. "And after the incidents with Chanson Cheval, and the feather-fondling fiasco, I'm certain they would not want anything to do with courting her, let alone her sister."
Katie turned to Blueblood and nodded. "Fair point," she conceded. She turned to the Crusaders once Blueblood had trotted away, and sighed again. "That said, what would you three do to convince the towns whose heads are in the sand to do something?"
The trio looked at each other, uncertainty flashing in their eyes as they weighed the question. How would they deal with ponies like that, who preferred to ignore problems even as those problems became too important to ignore? Immediately, some ponies they found in that category came to mind—the head of Ponyville's school board among them, when that pony didn't have her curled snout skyward. Now that they thought about it, that pony was probably ranting about Fantasia not giving her the time of day, despite the viciousness with which the Fantasians treated colosseums that murdered foals for obtaining their cutie marks.
Ideas churned in their heads, even as they considered that Ponyville was the potential exception as far as that type of problem-ignoring went. Mayor Ivory Scroll didn't count; she had to keep the conga line in order even as the citizens lost their marbles. Discord was an everyday occurrence at this rate, so he didn't amount for much beyond stirring the trouble pot for fits and giggles from time to time. The other useless gossipy hens of Ponyville, on the other hoof...
"You're asking quite a lot of blank flanked children," Rarity said, shaking her head in disapproval.
Katie turned to her, eyes narrowing somewhat. "And I didn't ask to become undead, did I?" she retorted.
Rarity sighed. "I suppose you do have a point…" she muttered in a begrudging concession.
Mitta shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Sunnytown had that same problem… before everything else hit it nonstop," she said, ears shuddering. "They would not believe me when I started telling them we were on the fast track to getting cursed by an alicorn…" She looked back to where the others sat, ears pinned back. "I'm worried it's gonna happen all over again here…"
Apple Bloom turned to Mitta, pupils shrinking. "An alicorn turned y'all into zombies?" she asked. Both Mitta and Katie nodded, almost in perfect tandem.
Katie lifted a hoof and spun it for a moment. "There was an atonement clause in it, added by Faust herself before She got shoved into a can, but I'm not particularly… knowledgeable on the details." She turned to Mitta. "I would ask you to 'splain, but I'm pretty sure you'll have to inform the higher-ups here anyway." She patted Apple Bloom on the fetlock. "Just… not in front of the kids. They've been traumatized enough."
Mitta nodded in understanding. She heard the sound of hoofsteps approaching, and turned to the end of the table to find a grey-coated filly, woefully dotted with a myriad of scabbed-over scars and with an IV drip hooked into her leg, trotting towards them with a tangled light green mane and a dozing green pegasus infant on her backside. Katie turned to the child as well, and sighed as a shade of annoyance passed on her face. "Okay Heather, what do you need?" Katie asked.
"Want find auntie," Heather said, frowning. "No find auntie."
Katie snapped her wings open. She felt a small hoof on her withers, and turned to Apple Bloom as she and the other two Crusaders tried leaning over the table to get a better look at their fellow filly. "What's with her?" Sweetie asked.
Katie blanched slightly, and her orbs shrank. She immediately tried to salvage the situation, but all that came out of her torn mouth was, "Well… I… uh…"
"We found her like that; it's a long story, and you three aren't old enough for the details yet anyway," Rainbow proffered, inhaling deeply through her nose. She got up from the table, and trotted to Heather, spreading a wing to nudge her away and shield her from the Crusaders in one motion. Heather didn't protest, and let herself be escorted away so that she could find her auntie.
Applejack shook her head. "The doctors're probably gonna pitch a fit when they realize she's outta the sick bay," she muttered in dismay. "Poor filly shouldn't be out and about."
"You said it," Katie agreed, turning back to the trio. "She's… not been educated very well. That's why she talks like that."
"Does Fantasia have schools like in Ponyville?" Apple Bloom asked.
Katie shook her head. She gestured to where her chain of command would have sat if most of them were eating, then lowered her hoof to where they were idling in a corner, talking about something. "Creamsicle and Cowpelt are self-taught, homeschooled, with some help from NoLegs. Anna seems the same way, but I haven't been able to confirm much with her," she answered. "All informal, no diplomas or anything of the sort. Lance? I dunno about him, but I haven't seen anything fancy-schmancy with him outside his largest airship." At that moment, the crystal stallion teleported over in a blue-red burst of light, and when the trio looked at him they found him shaking his head.
"The only 'school' we've got, from what I've personally witnessed, is 'homeschooled,'" he said, frowning. "I was allowed to join the lessons before everything went south, but nothing formal."
The Crusaders shared looks. "And why don't you have anything formal?" Sweetie asked.
"Sweetie Belle—" Rarity began, only to stop when Applejack lifted a hoof to hold her by the withers.
"That's a really good question, actually," Katie agreed with a nod. "Even the hive I belonged to had a formal system, as short-lived as it was when I was alive. What's the deal, Lazarus?" Lazarus sighed and plopped his rump at the table opposite of Rarity and next to Sweetie Belle.
"Ponies are… afraid," he began, frowning. "Not just because me and the rest of the Children of Catastrophe are still at large. Oh no, it's a lot more complex than that." He shuffled his hind hooves and folded his front ones on the table. "They're afraid that more cutie marks are gonna pop up, and hubris will damn the world whenever Faust decides She's gonna get out of whatever sealing She'd been shoved into."
He waved to the ex-villagers of Greenwood, some of whom were now chatting with a few erstwhile Sunnytowners. "Those guys, for example, hid behind a barrier every night, and booted out those with cutie marks or those who defied tradition," he said. He felt Anna glaring at him, turned to her, and mouthed off with, "I've been there before I hit Whitefall Town, I can verify it myself!" Sensing his new superior's groan, he turned back to the trio. "And they didn't fancy outsiders too much."
"For a while… gods, I don't even know how long, they've been afraid that their way of life was gonna crumble to smithereens if they didn't stay isolated. It only got worse when, for a whole day, the town wound up getting caught up in the Trials of Attrition. None were killed or wounded thanks to Matt and Natalie, well except the gryphons of course, but the villagers were scared out of their minds," Lazarus continued, his frown deepening.
The Crusaders' eyes went wide. Greenwood was among those that would have been sacked if not for intervention?
"And then, the villagers discovered that one of their own had strayed from tradition when nopony was looking," Lazarus said, looking at the Crusaders dejectedly. "He went and married a hippogryph, without following Greenwood marriage protocol—and no, you're not old enough to know that either. Long story short, two kids came about from that union, and most of the villagers were raising fifty thousand shades of hell over it. One of the few remaining decent ponies there skirted around the details, but… make no mistake: something very bad happened to that family. Up and vanished into thin air is what I would have assumed if the Royale Catastrophe hadn't occurred." Katie winced at the mention of this, though the Crusaders didn't catch it as they were focused on Lazarus.
He leaned towards them, ears drooping. "Everywhere except the Aerie, Goldenbrick Resort, a nameless village on one of the islands and Whitefall Town has stagnated. You three know what that word means, right?"
Sweetie Belle nodded. "It's when a place doesn't want to change, so they stay the same for a really long time and hope for the best?" she asked.
Lazarus pursed his lips for a moment. "Well… that's one way to put it," he said after a moment. "But that's just it—they think that, by trying to stamp out cutie marks and all talents associated with them, they're going to be just fine and dandy when the next big disaster hits. No hubris means a gateway to whatever heavenly afterlife awaits, right?" He shook his head as the trio opened their mouths. "Well, it took cutie marked ponies to stop Godcat from annihilating all Fantasian sentients before moving on to the Mythonian ones. I wasn't there for that, but I can tell you right now that stagnation isn't going to help in the slightest."
He sighed. "And who do you think is gonna stop the next big disaster: a bunch of pompous blowhards, bent over backwards towards cutie markless tradition, or cutie marked ponies who may not have any idea what the hell they're doing, but are willing to put some effort into seeing things through?"
It didn't take Apple Bloom a whole lot of thought, especially in regards to the situation at the mostly-forgotten Sunnytown and the very thing that caused that town to turn sideways. "My bits are on the ponies with the cutie marks," she said in a tone brokering no argument. "I bet if Diamond Tiara wasn't a bully and knew how bad the problem was, even she'd do something about it."
"Weird flex, but okay," Katie muttered under her breath.
Lazarus tilted his head. "She got her cutie mark?" he asked.
Apple Bloom nodded. "Ayep. Genuine, too," she said. Lazarus moved to ruffle her mane with a hoof, tousling up the bow a little without wrinkling it too much.
Lazarus smiled at the trio. "Good to see you three have sense, unlike most of the towns I visited," he said, his voice warm. "Y'know, I heard some things about Ponyville from Armin. Nice, quaint, but bustling and pretty to look at when the ponies aren't raising hell and there aren't any disasters happening… to be honest, I'd like to see it sometime."
Applejack grinned. "Maybe we could arrange that once everything's sorted," she said. "I know Matt and Natalie loved the food there."
Lazarus snorted. "Those two eat like black holes if given the motivation," he said wryly.
"So says Sticklegs over here," Katie snorted, earning some snickers from the other soldiers as she looked pointedly at Lazarus, the irony of the comment not lost on her. She reached over to poke him on one of his legs. "Look at you, your legs would make ponies think they're hitting up a friggin' girl from behind."
Lazarus turned back to the wraithling, his smile becoming fixed. "Says the skeleton on miniature stilts," he retorted.
"Wingie baby! Auntie that way, not this way!" Heather called. Katie turned towards the doors leading into the mess hall, and found the pegasus infant from earlier wide awake and flapping madly towards the table, squealing for all it was worth. Behind the wayward child was Heather and Rainbow Dash, both trying to keep up without bowling the tyke over. The tyke didn't get much further than past Lazarus, largely because said stallion simply lit his horn and held the little one with his magic.
The baby flailed and hollered, and started to cry as Rainbow plucked him out of the magic and air. Rainbow grinned sheepishly, but moved to take Heather back to her auntie on her hind legs, using her wings for balance and her front hooves to keep the infant from wandering off again. Katie sighed as they went past some soldiers, who were now watching the tyke as if wondering who'd calm him down.
"That foal's gonna be a real hoofful to deal with when he gets bigger," Katie muttered. "Only days old, and he's already decided he wants all the wind beneath his wings…"
"Does he have a name yet?" Scootaloo asked, feeling a twinge of jealousy that started from her own wings and climbed up several ladders to her brain. Katie turned to her and shook her head.
"Well, we haven't even come up with name suggestions yet, but I'm pretty sure he'll get his own birth certificate and everything else here," Katie replied with a shrug.
"So who's his mom?" Sweetie Belle asked. Katie not only felt her sails dying with the question, but the area around her split grin puckering into something uncomfortable. What little color remained drained from her features, and she hrrrm'd uncomfortably as she tried to figure out how in Godcat's name to answer the question in a way that would keep Lance from smacking her upside the head for it later.
Fortunately, Lazarus came in to save her bacon. "I'm pretty sure if we told you, we'd have to go into a long and boring explanation that would bore you three to tears," he said, his tone as flat and level as the table they sat at. "Besides, I'm pretty sure your sisters would beat us on the noggins with rolling pins and sharp, pointy things if we told you here and now."
"Oh, no, no. I'd just buck you seven ways across both planets and through every mountain available," Applejack said, her smile fading.
"On Fantasia, there's little difference between being stabbed and being bucked," Lazarus replied bluntly.
The Crusaders wilted, about to aaaaaaaaaaaaaw! again when Applejack gave them a firm and somewhat sour look. Rarity came in to throw her two bits into the conversation, "That's… another horribly tragic story; a different sort of tragic, but awful nonetheless. It is both awful and dreadfully boring, and you'd alternate between having nightmares and wondering how such a thing is even possible."
"Another side effect of the stagnation," Lazarus muttered under his breath.
"I noticed that Heather filly had a cutie mark, looking like a campfire?" Scootaloo asked, tilting her head slightly. "Are you gonna hold a cute-ceañera for her, or has one already happened?"
Applejack put a hoof to her chin and tapped it for a moment. "Well… she's technically sick, so if we did, it'd have to be after she got better first… that, and someone would have to watch the baby so he doesn't get into anything he's not supposed to; but the cutie mark is new, so…" She pondered and pondered for a moment, frowning a little. "Would wonder why Pinkie ain't throwing a party if I hadn't seen the filly with my own two eyes…"
Katie slammed her hooves on the table, though all it did was make the plates wobble a bit. "I think we should; I'd like to see how the cute-ceañera goes," she said bluntly. "Once, of course, everything else is sorted out first."
"That reminds me, did Anna ever have a cute-ceañera of her own?" Sweetie asked.
Anna teleported over and sighed, attracting the attention of the trio. "Well… no, I haven't," she said. "Most that happened was my cutie mark got documented once the bad things stopped happening, and that was it."
It was at that moment that Pinkie Pie chose to come out of the woodwork, startling Anna by emerging from under the table with a shout. "You haven't had a cute-ceañera?!" she exclaimed.
Katie chuckled uneasily, sensing some very unsubtle changes in the air. She moved to gather the Crusaders. "I think we might have woken the beast…" she muttered. She tried to shepherd them away from the table, but it was only a few tables before Pinkie just emerged from under another one, causing some soldiers to squawk and look at her strangely.
Pinkie gathered the four in her forelegs; try as they might, she had an ironclad grip, and no amount of wiggling would save them. "Oh no, we're fixing this, right now. We're having a cute-ceañera for everypony here who didn't have one before!" she declared. "Well, except for Heather; she's sick, so hers is getting delayed."
Katie gulped, envisioning sugar comas and sweets galore. She turned to the trio. "You think we'd come out of this able to help you get your magitek cutie marks?" she squeaked.
"As long as we don't eat ourselves silly, we should be fine…" Apple Bloom answered weakly. She looked to the doors, where the six Fantasian adults were trying to sneak out of Pinkie's notice.
Unfortunately, there was no escape from the Pink Menace. She put the four down, pulled already-inflated balloons out of her mane, as well as her party cannon, and fired the moment the wheels touched the ground. The four ducked and covered their ears, and lassos and confetti shot out to rope the six trying to weasel out of their fate of being the guests of honor at their own party.
Pinkie pulled the lassos taut, with much whinnying, squawking and nickering from Lance and his cohorts. She pulled them back into the mess hall. "Nu-uh, you're having this party, right now," she said in a tone brokering no argument. "You're not leaving until I say so." With that, she pulled out party hats from her mane, pranced over to her secured prisoners, and put the hats on their heads.
The six whimpered, all ears pinned back. The Crusaders and Katie looked at them and winced. Katie spoke for all of them, "Welp, they're screwed."