The Ponies of Ponyville were an oddity among oddities. Often looked down upon by the Monocle-clad gentlecolts and their trophy wives in flowing dresses that resided in the mountainside city of Canterlot, and thought to be 'country bumpkins' by the denizens of sprawling cities such as Manehatten, the citizens of Ponyville were able to shrug off most of the ire that fell upon them and continue going about their lives.
It was usually a quiet, quaint little town; possessing a 'rustic charm' as the highly-regarded Trenderhoof once put it in one of his famous articles, it pulled those who wanted a quieter life and a close-knit community. Oh, and there was your average monster attack or magical incident every couple of days, but those were dealt with (usually) swiftly, and daily lives resumed as though nothing had occurred. Even so, one wondered just why ponies stuck around the area if they were constantly in danger. Simply put? It was fun.
Fun. Laughter. The two specialties of one Pinkamena Diane Pie, also known as Pinkie Pie, also known as 'Oh-Celestia-get-her-away-from-me' in several cultures. Yes, the harbinger of parties was well known no matter where in the world you went. The places she visited tended to remain happy and cheerful for several weeks after her presence, no matter how tough and hardy the inhabitants were beforehand. The only place her influence had never been able to stick was the Everfree Forest.
Which is why, incidentally, the pink pony is currently skipping along the pathway into the magical woods, humming a tune by forming several different tones at the same time, body seeming to compress every time she touched the ground only to spring upwards, leaping a meter or so into the air. The dark branches seemed to cringe away from her buoyant nature, curling back into themselves so as to not touch her and possibly become contaminated with whatever magic she spread. Completely ignorant to this was Pinkie herself, passing it off as 'the Eversilly Forest being silly', as it usually tended to be. That is, until a light buzz started to course through her body, getting slightly stronger when she looked in a certain direction to her side.
As one of the Elements of Harmony, as well as being able to solve most of their problems with a harmony laser, she had been given a very faint sense for magical artefacts, aided by her inexplicable Pinkie Sense. While there was nothing unusual about detecting traces of magic-imbued logs and such in these particular woods, something felt distinctly off about this sensation. Like it didn't belong. Or at least, that's the impression she got from her right forehoof, which tugged to the right of its own accord, the mare attached to it giggling childishly as she allowed her limb to drag her where it pleased.
Every few steps or so, the limb would pause, twitching as though it was sniffing the air, before adjusting and leading Pinkie through the underbrush, the vibrating sensation growing stronger until her entire body was shuddering like she was sat atop a jackhammer. Completely coincidentally, that was one of her favourite activities when not saving the world, baking, throwing parties, baking, throwing more parties, baking some more, and shooting parties from her patented cannon.
Party-based armaments aside, the mare soon found herself literally floating through the air, hoof outstretched like the Superstallion guy from one of Spike's comics that she had stolen borrowed from his collection. She'd always thought it was a bit strange. Why would holding your hooves out make you fly? Wouldn't that make picking things up off a counter really awkward? What if you flew into an oven? And for that matter, why on Equestria did they not just make the hero a Pegasus? Not that she minded the Earth Pony representation, though! Every other hero was always a super-smart Unicorn or a super-fast Pegasus. It was for that reason that she enjoyed her time in the Power Ponies comic so much. 'Being fast was fun! No wonder Rainbow likes it!' she thought, not noticing that she'd come to a stop for a solid five minutes as she gesticulated wildly with a hoof, swinging and stomping it to punctuate her own mental points concerning the merits of superpowers attached to certain species. She did notice, however, once a sharp stab of pain caused a loud "Yeowch!" to echo through the empty forest.
Looking down at her fetlock, she stepped backwards, examining the wound. It wasn't too deep, but blood trickled slowly from the gash anyway. "No no no! Mommy needs you, don't go away!" She tutted, somehow scooping up the completely clean blood and pouring it back inside the hole, the wound sealing itself shut as if by magic. It was odd, really. Even Discord was occasionally bemused by the cartoonish capabilities of Pinkie Pie: she was almost indestructible, unable to be hurt properly. The only way of actually dealing with her was to trap her, distract her, or as the Draconequus liked to do whenever she got particularly talkative, take away her mouth entirely.
Turning her attention to the ground, she saw a weird, pointy looking thing jutting out from the soil, somehow completely spotless and reflecting light with a glint, even in the dark forest. Oohing curiously, the pink mare leaned her muzzle just millimetres away from the shiny stick, tilting her face left and right. In her opinion, it looked neat! Gold and shiny, silver at the tip, it looked like the kind of thing a really fancy pony would hang on his wall up in Canterlot and never use, even though he'd pretend like he did!
Glancing somewhat concernedly at the lighter pink line on her forehoof where the cut once was, she thought harder than she usually did, which meant she was serious for once. The arrow was obviously magical, as her body had led her right to it, and her body hadn't stopped vibrating, but it was a lot more muted than it used to be. Weirdly, she seemed to feel a slight tingle... A meter in front of herself, somehow.
The phantom buzzing was slightly concerning, but by far not the strangest thing Pinkie had ever felt. Her body was strange, and she knew that. Nobody else could predict dangers by feeling their tail twitch, after all! Maybe she got a new Pinkie Sense! For, uh... Finding magical arrows. It didn't feel like a sense she'd get much use of, but hey! A random power is a random power, after all! And Pinkie knew she loved those.
Anyway, Twilight would probably get a real kick out of studying a random magic arrow from the Everfree. And then disappear for a month. Never coming to any parties. Not talking to anypony. The urge to not tell Twilight at all was rising rapidly in Pinkie's mind, and responsibility battled spontaneity in her mindscape; an epic sword duel on a bridge over a canyon at sundown. Spontaneity wanted Twilight to not know, and just enjoy the parties she'd plan, and responsibility felt that it could be really dangerous if she didn't tell her about this: it could be super dangerous and nobody would have fun if they got hurt!
Responsibility won out for the first time in a long while for Pinkie and with a surprisingly heavy sigh, she went to go pluck the arrow from the ground with the ghostly hand that was hovering next to her... Wait.
Head snapping to the side, Pinkie's mouth opened comically wide as she inhaled deeply, gasping as she did whenever she met someone new. As she did so, the weird ghost stopped reaching for the arrow, facing Pinkie with a completely blank expression. It looked like...A doll? One of the porcelain ones that Rarity kept deep in her cupboard, only coming out if she needed to impress a noble with her fancy decorations. The bipedal being wore a large purple hoop skirt, black frills outlining the edges as two long, spindly arms came from the sides, clasping together in the middle of its dress, chalk white skin visible only on the hands and face. Blonde hair came in twin tails over its shoulder, straight. Its face was set in china, the eyes, mouth, and nose had no real detail, just outlines and indents where they should normally be; slightly raised and lowered bits of porcelain to make the shapes. As Pinkie looked on, it bowed at her stiffly, like an action figure with limited motion, only one direction that its waist joint could move in. Its lips unmoving, a soft, quiet voice seemed to come from nowhere.
"Good day to you, mistress Pie. I am「Dancing Queen」."
...
Utter silence. The ghost spoke. It knew her name, and... Pinkie thought back. When she wanted to pick up the arrow, the ghost,「Dancing Queen」, responded. It called her 'mistress'. And it appeared after she touched the arrow! That meant... That meant...!
...
She had a new friend to show around! "Oh! My! GOOOOOOOSH!"