My Little Exalt
THE CARNIVAL
by: Lithl
special thanks:
Rhanite
Saekwaka
On the opposite side of the crystalline gateway there were six more lions standing guard. Few ponies paid them heed, though; there, opening before them, was the most incredible sight any of the ponies had seen. The ponies had walked into a massive plaza festooned with all manner of decorations. Creatures of all shapes seemed to wander about, purchasing foods both fantastic and mundane. A four-armed, four-legged spider-like creature with green snake-like scales raced by, stopping at a stand that seemed to sell (of all things) apple pies. Another creature slithered by on a serpentine tail as thick as Big Macintosh, but its forward half was pink and fleshy, cloth covering what could only be (compared to a pony) oversized mammary glands. More golden lions patrolled the area, their demeanor similar to a royal guard on duty. Dragons like Spike (but slightly larger than a pony) floated through the air. A dark figure passed by, wrapped completely in some kind of cloth and cloaked in the same material. Bipeds – both with and without clothes – roamed the fairgrounds. Insectoid creatures that reminded Fluttershy of praying mantises chittered in a small group. A creature that struck Rainbow Dash as a cross between one of the pink bipeds and a pony was in the middle of a contortionist routine. A squid walking along the ground waved to Pinkie Pie (who waved back, of course). A giant and apparently blind mouse caught the scent of apples before waddling away. A dozen different creatures each with an ensemble more opulent than the last filled the street. There seemed to be new species everywhere Twilight turned.
The Carnival grounds were filled with creatures of all shapes, it was certain. The ground stretched as far as anypony could see in both directions, and in the center of it all stood a construction of massive proportions. The domed building was composed of plates of the same colorful stone material that the archway in the field had used, and they had been polished so that they reflected the magnificence of Celestia's sun in the sky. Around the edge stood entrances large enough to sail a royal navy trireme through, each guarded by six more golden lions. Each of the entrances was also given a very wide berth by the attendants of the Carnival. More striking than the material it was made of or the curious nature of the entrances to the building was the sheer scale: the dome stretched three miles into the sky, and from where the ponies stood the edges could not be seen.
"Okay! Before anypony runs off for the party, everypony needs to know the rules!" Pinkie's call demanded the attention of all the ponies present. It wasn't until then that they realized Pinkie had led them a short way along one of the streets feeding into the plaza, away from the center of the party and the giant domed building. The street she had led them down was unremarkable compared to the area surrounding the dome, except for a pair of obsidian pillars covered in glowing blue runes.
"Rule number one! You're not allowed to get offended at anything anyone says to you," Pinkie was looking at Rainbow Dash as she said it. "No. Matter. What."
"Rule number two! You're not allowed inside the Jade Pleasure Dome," she indicated the only domed structure within view with a hoof, as if she could have been talking about something else. "The Celestial Lions will do everything they can to stop you from getting in, and the enchantments on the archways will do bad things to anypony who passes them without an invitation."
"Rule number three! No violence of any kind!" Pinkie glared at Rainbow Dash again, and then gave Applejack a glare as well for good measure. "There are some fighting arenas around the plaza set up for tournaments and the like, but outside those fighting isn't allowed. There are even enchantments in the plaza that make fighting almost impossible," she said with a wink back at her athletic friends. "If you do get into one of the fighting arenas, any injuries you get should be healed by tomorrow."
"Finally, rule number four! You can't leave the Carnival grounds without the willing escort of a god." Pinkie turned and waved towards the obsidian obelisk next to her before continuing, "These things mark the boundaries of the fairgrounds, and it's simply not possible to pass without escort." She turned back to the herd of ponies with a grin stretching from ear to ear. "Now let's go PARTYYYYY!"
The party pony shot up into the air and raced off, leaving the other ponies to look between each other in mild confusion. After some muttering and shrugs, the ponies began trotting in small groups to sample the biggest party they'd ever seen.
"C'mon, AJ, you gotta enter this tournament with me!" As soon as the ponies began to break up, Rainbow Dash had immediately dragged her athletic rival to the first fighting arena she could find. The opportunity to get another win against Applejack while simultaneously showing off to (and also beating!) a bunch of weird creatures from another universe was too good to pass up.
Applejack was having none of it. "Ah ain't gonna fight you, Rainbow! Ah got no problem with the sports and the hoof-wrasslin' and the racing and stuff, but Ah don't wanna fight. What if Kicks McGee here," she lifted her right rear leg for emphasis, "breaks yer wing or somethin'? How d'you think Ah'd feel then?"
Rainbow brushed off the farm pony's concern, "Aw, you heard Pinkie! If you somehow manage to hurt me, I'll be healed up by tomorrow!" Her demeanor shifted suddenly, her voice sullen, "Besides, it's not like I'm using them for anything anyway..."
"Ah also don't know nothin' about these here other fighters. What if they're too weak to fight against a pony? What if they're too strong? We got no way o' knowin' how bad this could turn out, Rainbow!"
Rainbow spit out the pen back onto the sign-up sheet as she looked back to Applejack. She lifted a hoof to her ear and called back, "What was that, AJ? I couldn't hear you over my signing up for the contest!" The pegaus smiled, far too pleased with herself for her own good.
Applejack realized she was too late to stop her friend. She sighed, "Fine, Ah guess me an' Fluttershy will just hav' ta be yer cheering section." The frustrated farmer grabbed the still silent petrified pegasus' tail in her mouth, and dragged her over to the audience seating area.
Twilight managed to catch up with Pinkie just after she finished a conversation with the squid creature from before as Pinkie was waving goodbye.
"Pinkie. I think you owe me some explanations here."
The pink mare bounced up from where she was sitting into step with Twilight. "Sure Twilight! What do you need to know?"
"Well, for starters, there's that whole... glowing forehead thing. Since when can you do magic? If you can somehow do magic, why work with illusions like Trixie?"
Pinkie giggled and playfully pushed Twilight to the side. "Oh, silly! That wasn't magic! I was just displaying my caste mark to prove I was who I said I was."
"You mean your cutie mark? But your cutie mark is on your flank. And it doesn't glow. And it's three balloons, not whatever that thing was." Twilight emphasized her point by prodding her friend's rump and forehead as she spoke. "The word 'caste' is a callback to the feudal system ponies used before the princesses ruled Equestria. You don't have a 'caste mark'."
The giggling continued in response to the prodding, but Pinkie eventually managed to say, "No, my caste mark is different from my cutie mark. I got them at almost the same time, though..."
My sisters and I were raised on a rock farm outside of Ponyville. We spent our days working the fields; there was no talking. There was no smiling. There were only rocks. We were in the south field preparing to rotate the rocks to the east field, when all of a sudden there was an explosion and the sky was filled with a rainbow! (That was Rainbow Dash's first Sonic Rainboom, of course.) I had never felt joy like that before! It felt so good I just wanted to keep smiling forever! And I wanted everyone I knew to smile, too. But rainbows don't come along that often. I wondered, 'how else could I create some smiles?'
The next day, when my parents and my sisters came out of the house, I leaned out of the silo I'd been working in all night, and called out to them: "Mom! I need you and dad and the sisters to come in here, quick!" I got my family inside the silo and shouted, "Surprise! You like it? It's called 'a party'!"
They were all quiet, and it looked kinda like they were scared of my decorations and my cake. I got a little depressed, and said, "Oh, you don't like it." After a few moments' more hesitation, though, smiles spread across all their faces! "You like it! I'm so happy!" We danced and partied for hours and I got my cutie mark then and there.
Of course, we still had our rock farm, and we still had to turn a profit if we wanted to eat. My dad sent my sisters and me to the south field to finish the harvest that afternoon. Before we reached the south field, though, I saw a blinding blue light. I felt hot and cold at the same time; my body tingled. The light was so bright in my eyes that I should have been blind, but I'd never seen more clearly in my life. I've never seen that clearly since. I looked inside myself, and I saw the light spread everywhere. The light burned towards seven points, and words flew into my mind: Nirakara, shape; Nirguna, existence; Dharma, desire; Nirvishesha, identity; Nirvikalpa, communication; Nishkriya, conflict; Nirupadhika, location. Faster now, images and memories that weren't my own flooded my vision, but somehow they were my memories. I was no longer just a pony. I was no longer just a mortal. I had been transformed into a tool of my goddess and an extension of her will.
That last part confused me a bit, because even though I suddenly knew all these things, I also knew I wasn't thinking about Celestia.
Finally, I heard a voice echoing in my head. "Take now your second breath, Pinkamena. Bask in the shining glow of my love for you. You have been fated to this story since before the day you were born, and now the threads of fate lay within your reach. Join your brothers and sisters in the celestial city and take on the responsibilities of Harmony." I had to laugh at that a bit, because I didn't have any brothers. I only had two sisters.
The blue glow subsided, and I saw my sisters again. They were both staring at me strangely, so I asked them if they were ready to go harvest the south field. My little sister Inkie hid behind big sister Blinkie, and Blinkie kinda shouted at me, "Who are you? What are you doing on our farm! Rawr! I'm the Incredible Pony! You wouldn't like me when I'm angry!"
Okay, maybe Blinkie didn't claim to be the Incredible Pony. Still, neither of my sisters knew who I was after that, and it turned out my parents didn't recognize me either. They didn't really let me inside the house, thinking I was some sort of madpony claiming to be their daughter, but I did manage to see the family photo on the mantle. It... didn't have me anymore.
That's the real reason I left the rock farm. I didn't leave because of my cutie mark clashing with my home life, and I didn't leave because I was so different from the rest of my family. I left because as far as they knew, I wasn't part of their family.
I may have just been a filly at the time, but I managed to put two and two and two together and I realized that all this 'forgetting who Pinkamena was' stuff had to be related to the blue light and the voice in my head. Since the voice told me to go to the celestial city and there were thoughts in my head about being a tool for my goddess, I figured the best course of action was to head to Canterlot! After all, it was a city where a goddess named Celestia lived; Canterlot must be a celestial city.
Well, it turned out the voice wasn't talking about Canterlot, but here in Yu-Shan. I couldn't have known that and there was no way I could have gotten here on my own, but either luck or fate was on my side. Barely two hours after I started my epic journey, I met this human (those pink, fleshy, ape-like creatures, see?) who called himself Shepherd of the North Star. At first I was afraid, because I had never seen anything like him. He liked to smile a lot, though, and when we started talking, I found out he was a lot like the way I wanted to be. He tried to be friends with everyone he met, and he helped people get where they were going all the time.
"And that's why I'm here today, Pinkamena," he told me. "I'm going to help you get where you're going." He pulled out this starmetal (that's the prismatic stuff that was in the gate arch earlier) and moonsilver (that's the cool silver stuff that was in the arch earlier) rope with knots in it. He spent a moment to untie one of the knots with those fingers of his, and when he was done a circle of golden light popped into the air in front of him; I think it was maybe a span in diameter? Anyway, he reached into the circle and pulled on something. A bell chimed, like he was just ringing somepony's doorbell.
The golden circle disappeared, and Shepherd just stood there, like he was waiting for something. I was about to ask, when one of those archways appeared in front of us! The celestial lions were kinda scary, but they seemed to know Shepherd and let us through.
"And then when I came back I got a job with the Cakes and started living in Ponyville!"
Twilight took a moment to absorb Pinkie's story. If it weren't for the festival the two mares were currently walking through, Twilight would have probably dismissed the whole thing as another one of Pinkie's eccentricities. The unicorn considered her words carefully before responding, "If this whole glowing light business made your family forget who you were, then why hasn't anypony in Ponyville forgotten you?"
"You and the girls can't forget me because you're intertwined with my destiny," Pinkie smirked. "After all, it was Rainbow Dash's first Sonic Rainboom that got us all our cutie marks, and it was you that really brought us all together as the Elements of Harmony. Even if some of us knew each other beforehoof, we weren't the big circle of friends we are now. As for the rest of Ponyville, it's a complicated dance I struggle with every day," Pinkie's face drooped a bit as she sighed. "Shepherd called it 'Arcane Fate', and it's all because some of us Sidereals broke some sort of mask a few hundred years back. All that effort I put into making friends with everypony every day is all so I can counteract the Arcane Fate. Making ponies smile is great and it makes me smile back, but not being forgotten is most important."
Pinkie's words struck a chord with Twilight, as if there was somepony else the mare was forgetting. She managed to shake off the feeling soon enough and she forgot about the missing memory without Pinkie even noticing her silence.
Twilight remembered the other thing that struck her about Pinkie's story. "Wait! You came here when you were a filly, and you managed to get back to Equestria! You know a way back to Equestria, and so does this Shepherd guy! Why aren't we on our way back to Equestria right now?!" Twilight had managed to get in front of her friend, and she had pressed their two muzzles and foreheads together as she realized this Carnival was just a distraction caused by the party pony when everypony could have been on their way home. To say Twilight was annoyed with her friend at the moment would be putting it lightly.
Uncharacteristically, Pinkie calmly and quietly pushed Twilight away so that both mares could have a little personal space. Her face grave, she said, "No, Twilight. The path I took to get back to Equestria is too dangerous. Not only did it involve ten days in a sentient and malicious desert, but I think any mortal pony would be killed within minutes of starting the journey."
"Are you saying you're immortal now?"
"I'm saying I've exalted." After a brief pause, Pinkie returned to her normal cheerful self. "Besides, I haven't died yet! Let's go see what Dashie is up to! I bet she signed up for one of the martial arts tournaments and she tried to get Applejack to sign up with her but Applejack didn't want to fight so AJ and Fluttershy decided to be Dashie's cheering section!"
All right, Rainbow, you can do this! The rainbow-maned flightless pegasus performed a few stretches to warm up for her match. It was still round one of the tournament, but hers was one of the last fights to go. These monkeys got nothin' on you, Dash! Float like a Fluttershy, buck 'em like a tree! The irony that her pre-match psych-up was entirely based on the two members of her cheering section was entirely lost on Rainbow.
When Rainbow was led to her position in the arena, she finally got the chance to look at her opponent. She was one of those pink ape creatures; there were a lot of them around, and maybe half of the creatures that weren't the same species shared a lot of traits with the hairless apes. Rainbow's opponent removed a crimson cloak from her shoulders, revealing some kind of woven red armor. The armor had a skirt covering the creature's thighs, and she wore additional guards on her lower legs and forearms – also colored red. As she prepared herself for the fight she removed a (red) helmet which bore golden horns and a ruby that would make both Spike and Rarity drool, and she removed a pair of red and black boots which made a distinctively metal 'clink' when set on the ground. The creature handed all of the gear she had removed to an assistant standing behind her. Finally, she removed a sword that had been strung across her back which she also handed to her assistant. With most of her clothing removed, Rainbow could see tattoos covering the creature's forearms, stretched over some serious muscle.
"You ready for our fight yet, you hairless excuse for an ape?" Rainbow called across the ring. "Or do you need to priss up your helmet hair first?" Rainbow had to lean against the ring's barrier and clutch her sides laughing at her own jab.
Her opponent was less amused. The creature looked to the referee dragon waiting in the center of the arena to ask, "Why have I been paired with this? I was under the impression that this tournament would consist of only the finest fighters in Creation. And this is a mortals-only tournament! This thing must be an elemental or something." The referee shrugged in response. It was the job of the guy at the sign-in sheet to make sure everyone in the tournament fit the requirements.
"Hey! I'm Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty! I'm the winner of this year's Best Young Fliers competition in Cloudsdale, I won the first annual Iron Pony competition, I'm the only pegasus to ever pull off a Sonic Rainboom, I'm personal friends with both Spitfire and Soarin of the Wonderbolts, and me and my friends have saved Equestria from three different major catastrophes!" Rainbow stood up on her rear legs using her wings for balance as she raised her forelegs to bask in the awe of the crowd after the revelation of her amazing feats.
All Rainbow got was a barely audible "woo-hoo" from Fluttershy. She realized too late that perhaps extolling her achievements in another universe wouldn't impress her opponent or her audience, and dropped back down onto all fours.
Rainbow's opponent, despite having absolutely no idea what any of Rainbow's achievements meant and being able to easily recognize a braggart, gave the poor mare some slack. "I see. Since you have graced me with your name, I shall grace you with mine. I am Minister-General Blood Linnet of Great Forks. I command the city's army and with few exceptions I make all of the city's military decisions. I am the sole surviving commander of the massacre at Mishaka, and three years ago," Linnet paused – apparently for dramatic effect – and dropped her eyelids into a glare at Rainbow before continuing, "I took home first prize for this very tournament."
The Minister-General took a battle ready stance and Rainbow responded in kind. Seeing both combatants were ready, the dragon serving as the referee for the match nodded and raised a large bell above his head. He struck the bell once and raced out of the way of the two fighters charging to the center of the arena.
The crowd rising in stands to both sides of the arena (which had been eerily quiet up to this point) erupted with noise. The majority of the spectators either jeered at the newcomer or cheered for the Minister-General. Bets had already been placed, and as expected Linnet was the favorite to win. A few cheered for Rainbow besides the two ponies in the audience: they were the risk-takers who were willing to gamble on an unknown quantity.
The two fighters nearly collided head-on at the center of the ring, but just before they connected Rainbow pivoted on one hoof and gathered all of her strength into her hindquarters trying for a one-hit knockout buck. Linnet was surprised by the agility of the creature she had seen as 'just a horse' before the match began, and it took a rolling dodge for her to avoid two cyan hooves to the face.
While her gambit for a quick and decisive fight was foiled, Rainbow had to press her advantage. Linnet was on the defensive, and Rainbow took to a bipedal position with her wings as balance ready to strike out with her sharp hooves. She was a little unsteady on the approach with the unnatural stance, but now she was nearly as tall as her opponent and she wouldn't have to resort to surprise attacks to reach her opponent's soft face.
Rainbow lashed out again and again towards Linnet's face, but the Minister-General simply parried and redirected every swing. "Why. Won't. You. Let. Me. Hit. You?!" Rainbow huffed between her attacks.
Linnet grinned as she replied, "Why should I let you get tired hitting me, when I can let you get tired missing me? It's so much better for my complexion this way."
Rainbow stepped back from her offensive and landed back on all fours again. "Are you telling me you've been playing with me this whole time?"
"No, Ms. Dash. I'm telling you that I'm warming up!" With that, Linnet launched forward almost as fast as Rainbow Dash in flight, grabbed Rainbow around the neck, and twisted violently sideways. With a choice between excruciating pain and falling to the mat, Rainbow's body chose the mat.
Once Linnet had Rainbow on the ground, she kneeled on Rainbow's withers. With a raised fist, she called, "Do you yield?"
"Never!" Rainbow cried as she thrashed her legs around in an attempt to escape being pinned to the ground. She tried to hit Linnet with the free wing, but the angle was all wrong to do any real damage, and Linnet was able to ignore the feathered appendage. In the stands, Fluttershy was unsure whether Rainbow denied the request because she was stubborn, or because she just didn't know what 'yield' meant.
With Rainbow's refusal to yield, Linnet began a series of punches. She began along the spine of Rainbow's neck, sending waves of pain through Rainbow's body. Linnet continued punching through Rainbow's cries of pain, and began on Rainbow's jawline. The cries became whimpers. "DO YOU YIELD?!"
"Mevr!" Rainbow wheezed through the pain. She abandoned her initial strategy of randomly thrashing her limbs in the vain hope of wounding her opponent, and began a more methodical twisting of her body. Hopefully, with the right motion of her torso and her barrel, she could force Linnet off her body and get back in this fight.
As Rainbow had refused to yield, Linnet continued her assault on Rainbow's body. This time, to counteract Rainbow's twisting motion (a strategy Linnet quietly applauded the equine for compared to her earlier attempt), she attacked Rainbow's ribs. The pain managed to disrupt the rhythm of Rainbow's twisting, allowing her to keep Rainbow pinned to the mat. When Linnet finally heard a wet crack as Rainbow went rigid with pain, the whimpers changed to sobs. "DO. YOU. YIELD?!"
Rainbow weakly shook her head. The uninjured Minister-General sighed and stood up, releasing the pegasus from the ground. "Despite the enchantments in this arena and at this festival, I do not want to kill you Rainbow Dash. Reconstitution is an unpleasant experience. I know. I would have no problem inflicting it upon my enemies, but I do not even know you, much less hate you." Rainbow slowly inched herself up onto her legs, though it seemed the slightest breeze would cause her legs to buckle. "Unfortunately, you refuse to yield, and I do not intend to lose a match to someone as stubborn as yourself. You have spirit, little pony, but you do not have experience."
Unable to properly defend herself through the blackness invading her vision, Rainbow's eyes widened as Linnet slowly approached. This was the end, then. Rainbow flared her wings in an unconscious effort to appear larger than she was.
Then, with a yelp that came out more like a squeak, Rainbow felt Linnet grab her at the base of each wing and lift her bodily from the floor of the fighting arena. The world spun past Rainbow's clouding vision and she began to feel sick, as though Pinkie Pie had spun her around a few too many times during a game of Pin the Tail on the Pony. As suddenly as the motion began, it stopped. Rainbow could feel the rush of the wind over her wings. Yeah, baby, it's time to fly! Let's see that Linnet fight me when my wings are workin'!
With a crash, Rainbow blacked out.
Twilight and Pinkie walked up and into the stands around the mortals' martial arts tournament, Pinkie's unerring ability to locate things directing the pair to Applejack, Fluttershy, and the still-unconscious Rainbow Dash.
"Hi AJ! Hi Fluttershy! Why's Dashie sleeping on the floor like that? I know she likes her naps, but isn't that uncomfortable?"
Fluttershy looked up from her attempts at caring for her pegasus friend, visibly flustered by the lack of first aid supplies. "Oh, hi Pinkie. Hello, Twilight. Um... Rainbow tried to compete in the tournament a-and..." she trailed off.
"She got herself beat up, is what happened," Applejack said with a snort. She had little sympathy for the daredevil flier, getting into fights with creatures she knew nothing about. Of course she had cheered on her friend with Fluttershy and the few others in the crowd betting on the underdog, but now that was all over and maybe Rainbow had learned something from it. Applejack said as much to the others.
Twilight frowned a bit before turning to the conscious pegasus, "Wow. How bad is it?"
"Aw, she's just got a few bruises an' a cracked rib," Applejack interrupted her more timid companion. "She'll be fine. Plus, Pinkie said any wounds in the tournaments would be healed by t'morrow, right Pinkie?" The pink pony nodded. "Ah think when she wakes up her ego'll be hurt more than anything else."
Applejack shifted her weight to get more comfortable watching the current fight. These bipeds were actually kind of impressive. So far she had seen at least a dozen different fighting styles as the combatants danced around one another through the rounds of the tournament. Some of them looked strong enough to lift her big brother in one hand, and they fought as though they were living piles of stone. Others were skinnier than Fluttershy, and as they moved around the battlefield Applejack could almost imagine they had wings. Some of the fighters disabled their opponents with finesse while others would just evade and tire their opponents out. A couple of the fighters even changed styles partway through a match. Rainbow's opponent had said something about the tournament being for the finest fighters, and as the tournament neared its final rounds that claim really showed. The only breaks the competitors got were the duration of the other fights. The only medical treatment they got was what they could give to themselves. This tournament was as much a test of endurance and fortitude as it was fighting prowess.
"Let's just not tell her that her opponent got smacked by a one-hit knockout in the second round, all righ'?" A chuckle graced everypony's lips at the expense of their unconscious friend's ego.
Without warning, the sky over Yu-Shan shifted from the bright sunny day it had been, to a moonlit night. The majority of the creatures throughout the Carnival were unfazed by the shift, though one of the current combatants allowed himself to be distracted which his opponent quickly pressed for a victory.
"What in Equestria is going on? Did Discord follow us here somehow?" Twilight was anxious, and Fluttershy had taken to hiding under her seat. Applejack shared some of Twilight's concerns, but looked to Pinkie. All the strange happenings in this world seemed to be explained by Pinkie.
Pinkie simply yawned. When she noticed her anxious (or frightened, in Fluttershy's case, and still unconscious, in Rainbow's case) friends, she giggled again at their culture shock. "Don't worry girls. Heaven is like this a lot. There's no real day-night cycle here, it's all based on who's winning."
"Who's winnin' what, sugarcube?"
Pinkie pointed towards the towering dome. "The incarnae are in there, playing a game. Whoever is winning determines what the sky looks like. Moonlight means Luna's winning."
Silence roared between the three conscious ponies staring at Pinkie Pie, nearly drowning out the cheering and jeering spectators around them. Twilight was the first to pick up her jaw off the floor and began quietly shouting (a skill she'd picked up from her mentor) at Pinkie, "You mean to tell me that not only have you been able to come and go to this place, but Luna is here, too?! I see Luna every time I go to Canterlot, but she finds time to play this game! You said it was an extremely dangerous ten day trip when you came back to Equestria! There must be another way if Luna is going back and forth so much."
"Wait, you think..." It started as a snort. It quickly grew, becoming a giggle and then a guffaw. Soon Pinkie Pie was rolling all over the place, laughing so hard she was having difficulty breathing. Twilight and Applejack didn't find things so funny. Fluttershy had gone back to hiding under her chair.
After a full minute, the dagger stares from both Twilight and Applejack broke through Pinkie's laughter and she calmed down. "Sorry, girls, that was just too funny," she said as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I know why you're confused, but I just had to laugh."
After a beat, it was Fluttershy who finally broke the silence. "Well... um... why are we confused?"
"Oh! Right. Well, the Luna that's playing in the Dome isn't our Luna. Different goddess of the moon entirely. This Luna is a shape changer, not an alicorn."
Her question answered, but left unsatisfied, Twilight turned to Applejack. "Are you done watching aliens pummel each other, or can we go find our other friends and make sure they aren't freaked out about Discord messing with the sun and moon?"
"Just a sec, Twi'. This is the last fight of the tournament." Twilight had no idea how Applejack had been keeping up with the fighting below between the discussion with Pinkie and the laughter and the sudden change from day to night. "This here feller in the blue pants has been doin' pretty well so far, he's barely done anythin' at all. He just lets his opponent tire hisself out then lands a couple careful blows and POW! The other guy's been takin' a beating, but he don't really show it. He's got more endurance than an earth pony with a marathon cutie mark."
Twilight snorted in annoyance. Based on Applejack's description, this fight would take a long time. She trotted down to the front row, watching the two fighters carefully. When she got close, a quick telekinetic jerk at the heel of a cloth shoe sent the smaller human tumbling. As Twilight returned to her friends, she heard the referee's bell and half the crowd sprang up shouting with glee. She didn't even try to hide the smirk on her face, until she saw Applejack's scowl.
"That there's a might disrespectful, Twi'. That fight coulda' been anypony's game and you went and interfered. The worst part is we're the only ponies who know what really happened, on account of nopony else here knowing what your magic looks like." Twilight's ears drooped a bit at the tongue lashing she was receiving. "I'm ashamed of you, Twilight."
"Sorry, AJ. I just want to get out of here and find everypony else. Can we go now?"
"Wh-what about Rainbow?"
Twilight leaned in close as if to whisper in Rainbow's ear. Then she shouted, "Free Wonderbolts tickets! Get 'em before they're gone!"
Twilight barely had time to move out of the way as Rainbow flipped over onto her hooves gibbering about her idols. After taking a moment to collect herself, realizing there were no tickets to be had, and remembering the sharp pain in her side, Rainbow glared daggers back at Twilight. "Totally. Not. Cool."
Twilight brushed off the dagger stare. "Come on, girls, let's go find Rarity."
"Listen, lady. No ambrosia equals no product." The creature running the stall was nearly spherical. A pair of eyes sunk into the top of its body rested inches above a froglike mouth that took up nearly a third of its frame. Two spindly arms rested on the counter separating Rarity from the peaches.
Rarity stomped her hoof in frustration as the line behind her grew longer with each passing minute. "I have waited in this line for three hours! The number of... creatures... who have come here tells me that your product is exemplary, and I shall not be turned away simply because you refuse my currency!"
The salescreature lifted itself higher so that it could angle downwards to look Rarity in the eye. Its deep gruff voice indicated masculinity, though Rarity could only guess. "Not even obols and talents are good here, horsie. Your foreign gold coins certainly won't buy you anything. Unless you got a friend willing to spot you some ambrosia, then you need to get outta here so I can help my other customers."
As if on cue, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, and a slightly limping Rainbow Dash turned around the corner at the front of the stall. "Hiya, Rarity," Pinkie called out. "What'cha up to?"
"This ruffian refuses to sell me his peaches! Apparently my bits are no good here and he wants 'ambrosia'."
"Peaches?" In a blink, Pinkie Pie was standing on the counter of the peach stand giving the proprietor a suspicious stare. She stared at the peaches themselves – apparently pristine to the point of glowing in the moonlight. She glanced back at the creatures waiting in line – each a more unsavory character than the last. Pinkie turned back to the stall keeper, "These wouldn't happen to be special peaches, would they? The kind of peaches that would require somepony to call a censor about? The kind of peaches that results in a severity five offense for stealing? The kind of peaches that nopony should have this many of?" At this point, Pinkie Pie was leaning into the (extremely flustered) face of the stall keeper. True to form, she was standing firm on the counter of the stall, yet leaning so far forward any other creature would have fallen face first.
The stall keeper seemed to sweat. "There's no need to call any censors, miss. In fact, I think it's time for me to go. Yes, I have this thing... to do... with some people..."
The rotund creature scrambled away from his stall and from the pink demon that had stared into his very soul, leaving his stall and his contraband merchandise behind.
Pinkie turned back to the line behind Rarity, now much shorter as its occupants began to slink off and avoid being associated with the bust. One man was not fast enough in his withdrawal, however, and became the next target for the exalted pony. This time, she wore a smile that could inflict a sugar coma and bat her eyelids in a manner that somehow managed to communicate 'do what I say or regret it'. "Would you please go fetch a celestial lion guard and please tell him that we have some confiscated peaches of immortality, please?" Her unfortunate victim nodded silently and ran off.
"How d'yall know he's gonna get the guard?"
Twilight had a better question, "How did Rarity end up in line for stolen merchandise?"
"Humph! How was I to know it was stolen? I was hungry and his stall looked popular!"
"Didn't y'all notice the distinct lack of other stalls nearby? Or crowds? Or guards?"
"I... may have gotten myself a little lost." Rarity's face flushed at the admission of her mistake.
The conversation between the six friends continued for several minutes, when finally a party of five celestial lions rounded the corner. Behind them followed a pair of identical humanoid figures no taller than the ponies, each with a bald head, full beards, and leafy green coveralls. Walking sedately behind the rest of the group was a much taller man in bright ornamental green robes. He wore a white sash, and like the two shorter creatures he was bald. He did wear a beard, though it was much shorter and neatly cropped. The elderly man walked with a wrapped wooden staff which had a golden setting for a large spherical red gem.
The leading lion glanced to the vacated stall and gave a gruff nod to the ponies. Without a word, the twins began to carefully collect the peaches in a large basket while the lions stood guard. The entire process went in silence, until Pinkie saw the remaining man past the lions.
With a gasp she cried, "Ohmygosh it's Ketchup!" She began waving to the individual she'd identified as 'Ketchup' and continued, "Ketchup Carjack! Over here! It's me, Pinkie Pie!"
The expression on 'Ketchup's face shifted from solemn boredom to obvious annoyance. It was an expression worn by almost everyone at some point when dealing with the party pony. He did not quicken his pace, but he turned away from the peach reclamation towards the ponies. When he was close enough to be heard without shouting he finally replied to the (still waving enthusiastically) pink mare, "How many times do I have to tell you, Pinkamena? My name is Chejop Kejak, not 'Ketchup Carjack'! That nickname doesn't even make any sense!"
"Well, you see... 'ketchup' is a condiment made from tomatoes and vinegar, and a 'car' is-"
"Thank you Pinkie," Twilight interrupted with a slightly manic smile. "Hello, mister Kejak, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm a friend of Pinkie's. These are App-"
Chejop interrupted, "Yes, yes, I'd heard that Pinkamena managed to smuggle in some extra mortals to the Carnival," he glared at Pinkie, who was still trying to rattle on about maintenance on some sort of self-propelling transportation device. "I don't know how she managed to get so many of you here from Equestria without knowing any sorcery, but your existence here poses a problem. Here at the Carnival you can pass off as gods or elementals, but in Creation the humans will likely react poorly to your appearance."
Rainbow was quick to pick up on at least one of Chejop's words. "Wait, did you say we can pass as g-" She promptly had an orange hoof filling her mouth.
"Unfortunately, a trip back to your home may prove difficult," he continued. "While we have had contact with Equestria before, the trip from here to there requires passing through Cecelyne, the Endless Desert. It is a ten-day journey, and it is not a pleasant one." Chejop glared at Pinkie once more, "Which is why someone was supposed to stay in Equestria on guard, in case anything decided that Equestria could be a staging ground against Creation." Pinkie began to droop under the cold stare of the older man.
Thankfully, Twilight came to her friend's aid and laid a foreleg around Pinkie's shoulders. "Don't take this out on her mister Kejak. We arrived here after a magical mishap threw our entire town into the Noss Fens." The mention of the swamp's name drew Chejop's attention. "I was doing research on alternate universes, when I began scrying on this one. Except instead of being able to view any arbitrary point on the world, my eyes were locked with another's. Pinkie said it must have been the Dowager, but she wasn't in the Mound when we were there."
Chejop seemed pensive for a moment before asking, "When you were in the Mound, did you see the Dowager's throne room?" Twilight and Pinkie both nodded. "Was the well there? Of course it wasn't there, the two of you would be mindless shells now if it were." Chejop paused again before kneeling before Pinkie and putting a hand on her head. "Pinkamena, I believe whatever brought you and the other ponies here also sent the Dowager and the Well of Udr to Equestria. Head to the eastern entrance to the plaza and wait there. I'll send a messenger to gather the other ponies you've brought, and I'll have a minor god meet you there to let you through the Carnival boundary. Gather your things from your apartment and leave via gate sixteen."
Chejop looked solemnly to the other Bearers, "I'm sorry, but you may not be able to return to Equestria with Pinkamena. I don't know what the Dowager will do there, but anything she does will not be good for your home. The place Pinkamena will take you is habitable and near a river, but far enough away from human settlements that you shouldn't cause any uproar. I'm sorry, but you may have to create a permanent home here while Pinkamena rallies our agents in Equestria as well as the local forces. I am sorry." Chejop's eyes were impassive, but he truly meant his apologies.
Word had spread among the ponies that getting home wasn't happening. The air felt heavy as Spike double checked his head count. Everypony was accounted for, and they just had to wait for the 'minor god' to come and let them out of the Carnival grounds.
As the minutes ticked away, the mood among the herd of ponies worsened and the sounds of the Carnival seemed to dim. Fluttershy's ears twitched when she heard muted gasps at the edge of the crowd. Soft murmurs began to spread, and by the time the source of the disruption reached the Carnival boundary, all six Bearers were looking up.
"Hello, my little ponies," smiled the pearl-white alicorn with the flowing pastel mane.
It was a long trip back from Trottingham for the intrepid mailmare. The special delivery had been a success (no damage to the cargo meant success, even if there were a couple crash landings). Dinky would be waiting with her half-sister for Derpy's return. Lunch today was going to include a muffin. All was right with the world.
The grey pegasus made her landing on a small grassy knoll to stop and rest, and to eat her lunch. She fished out the sealed bowl of gazpacho soup that nice stallion with the hoofball goalpost cutie mark had given her when she made her delivery, and of course her blueberry muffin as well. Derpy popped off the top of the sealed bowl, and paused. One eye scanned the scenery around her (I should really take on more long-distance deliveries. Maybe when Dinky is older...) while the other stared hungrily at her lunch.
On the surface of the soup in the bowl, fiery golden symbols began to form. Derpy forced both eyes to focus on a single point and began reading.
Dowager in Equestria. Ponyville in Creation. Inform others and warn princesses. Do not reveal existence of Creation.
Derpy processed the information in the message, but her mind stuck on one fact. If Ponyville had been sent to Creation somehow...
Movement caught her eye as more symbols began to form, almost as if the writer had paused to think before continuing with the text.
Don't worry, Dinky is safe.
With her mind put to ease, Derpy swallowed the soup in two mouthfuls and scarfed the muffin almost as fast. If a Deathlord was in Equestria, plans had to be set into motion as quickly as possible.
The air around the mailmare began to glow yellow, and a yellow symbol appeared on her forehead. She closed her eyes, sat back on her haunches, and began to wave her hooves in strictly defined patterns. Her wings joined in as arcane figures formed in the air. Derpy started muttering in a voice that was not her own when suddenly all of the light and symbols vanished. Floating a span in front of the mare's face was a naked humanoid figure half her height. Its skin constantly shifted between many hues, and on its back were six glittering blue-chrome wings which held it aloft. She leaned in to the cherub's ear and began whispering. After a moment she leaned back and nodded.
The cherub floated up and then seemingly vanished as it sped on its journey to deliver a message. If there had been anypony around to look (and if their eyes could have followed the cherub's incredible speed), they might have deduced that the cherub flew towards Canterlot.