//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Valiant // by Four Crazy Stallions //------------------------------// “Stormspell’s Spectacular Showponies” The poster was plastered everywhere, at least twenty of them scattered around Ponyville. “A Night You Won’t Soon Forget!” Even as the posters was being read, more were being put up. “Games, Talents, Performances!” It was as if they had just sprung up overnight. “One night only, don’t miss this chance!” The bright blue and gold poster drew the attention of all who passed by it. One pony in particular couldn’t tear her eyes away. “Ooh, what’s this?!” Pinkie Pie queried as she pulled the poster from the wall. She squinted at the bright print covering the poster from top to bottom. “Oh my gosh! A circus is coming to Ponyville? I haven’t been to one of those in like, forever! And this one looks even more amazing than the last one!” Pinkie chirped as she rolled up the poster and placed it into her saddlebag. She happily continued trotting along her way. She was going to the meadow where her friends were gathering for a picnic. Images of performers danced through her mind, as she thought. ‘But last time I went, I couldn’t talk to anypony about it since I went by myself! I don’t want to be by myself again for this one! I should invite Rainbow Dash! I don’t know if she’s ever been to a circus before. And Twilight too! Even Rarity! Actually, I have the bestest idea ever! I should just invite all of my friends!!! We could all go together and watch the play and laugh and smile and eat cupcakes and have a super, duper time together!’ Her eyes wandered every which way, as she made mental calculations. Shows like that always made great memories, and every happy memory is better with friends! Pinkie definitely wanted her friends to share these memories with her. She also wanted some cake, but that would have to wait until the picnic. At the thought of cake, her stomach growled. Unable to contain her glee, she broke into a bounce to spread the news to her friends. *********** “Gah! I can’t stand it anymore! Can we eat yet?” Rainbow Dash groaned as she fell back onto to picnic blanket. “We don’t have any food yet, Pinkie offered to bring it all. You’re just going to have to wait for her to arrive.” Twilight replied. She knew how dramatic Dash could be when she wanted something enough. “My stomach is killing me!” Rainbow whined. “Well, we're all hungry too, but you’re just gonna have ta’ wait like the rest o' us.” Applejack retorted. Rainbow Dash decided she had enough. She leapt up and flared her wings for takeoff. Without a word to the other ponies, she flew towards the the top of the hill that hid Ponyville from the friends. Fluttershy gave a concerned, but barely audible warning, “Wait!” Rainbow Dash flew low as she zoomed up from the meadow. As she reached the peak where the land flattened out, a pink pony conveniently sprung into view. Rainbow Dash barely had time to gasp before she slammed into Pinkie Pie. Both ponies let out a yelp and crash landed a few dozen feet away with a loud “CRUNCH”. When the dust settled, Rainbow was on top of Pinkie. Pinkie was on top of the food. “Hey Dashie! Didn’t see you there! That was fun! Can we do it again?” Dash grumbled inaudible words to herself as she rolled off Pinkie and looked longingly at the crushed bag of food. Desperately hoping for something salvageable, she pulled the bag from under Pinkie and shook out its contents. Cakes, pies, cupcakes, pastries of all shapes and flavors, all crushed into a blob of boxes, crust, crumbs and various fillings. Rainbow looked at the pile of “food” on the ground for a few seconds and sighed. Then she smirked, “Oh, What the hay?” and dug in. Pinkie giggled, and happily joined her without a second thought. As the others climbed the hill,Twilight shouted, “Rainbow! Pinkie! Are you ok-” Her question cut off as she looked down at her friends. After processing the image, she broke into hysterical laughter. However, Rarity was none too thrilled. Keeping her distance from the mess, she ranted, “Rainbow Dash! Look at the mess you’ve made! If you would have just waited for Pinkie Pie like Applejack told you, this would have never happened! Now the food is ruined! What do you expect us to do now? I say Rainbow Dash gets to prepare the food nextmmph!-” Applejack cut off Rarity by shoving a clump of cake into her mouth. “Aw, quit yer complaining! It’s still good eatin’!” Applejack joined Rainbow and Pinkie in eating the crushed, but still tasty meal. Rarity slowly swallowed the mouthful of crushed cake, mumbling something about it not being “proper” to eat ruined food. Twilight slowly recovered from her hysterics. Fluttershy sat and smiled her friends’ antics, only to be distracted by a grasshopper, who she quickly befriended. As Pinkie Pie reached for another hoof-full of crushed cake, she grabbed the poster that was in her saddlebags with the pastries. Remembering the other reason she came to the picnic, she lifted her head out of the feast. She unraveled the poster and held it up for all to see, squealing with excitement, “Everypony! I forgot that I brought this poster! LOOK! There’s a circus coming into town tomorrow, and I think we should all go!” Rarity closed her eyes and lectured the pink mare, “Pinkie Pie, need I remind you that we are full grown mares? We don’t attend such childish events.” Pinkie tried to reason with the white mare. “Rarity you silly, it’s not for just fillies! There will be stunts!” At the word stunt, Rainbow Dash drew her attention from the feast. “Contests!” Applejack followed suit, tilting her head in interest. “And a performance you won’t want to miss!” The last bit caught Rarity’s attention. She opened her eyes, intrigued. “Performance? Like a... Play? Like in Canterlot?” Pinkie Pie’s mind made up truths as she went, assuming the very best from the unknown group. “Of course like in Canterlot! It’s so good, they have to go around and share their performance with everypony!” Rarity’s mind raced in thought. 'Perhaps these ponies were widely known? Perhaps Ponyville was extremely lucky to even get to see the show!' She didn’t want to let her friend down, and perhaps this show would be as amazing as Pinkie described! “Well, I suppose it could be quite the opportunity… I would indeed regret missing such a performance. I’ll be there, Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash moved in front of Rarity and asked a question of her own. She squinted at Pinkie, and asked in an uninterested tone. “Stunts?” Rainbow yawned obnoxiously loud and boasted, “I’d just like to see them try and impress me! What could they do that I can’t?” Pinkie thought for a moment, then confidently replied, “Kumquat!” Rainbow, completely baffled, could only reply, “What?!?” Pinkie’s mind, having already moved on, was equally confused. “Huh?!?” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Pinkie and sat down. She had tried dealing with Pinkie Pie being herself before and decided it wasn’t worth asking. “Yeah, I guess I could stop by. I'd be surprised if they have a stunt pony half as awesome as me!” Pinkie bounced with delight, excited to see her plan coming together. Twilight had stopped finally stopped laughing and with a smile on her face, she stepped towards Pinkie and said, “Of course I’ll come! I haven't seen a play in a long time. Oh, what fun it’ll be hanging out together! I take it we all learned our lesson from the Gala?” The friends broke into a laugh, remembering that terrible evening. Applejack sat on the ground, rubbing her filled stomach. “Ah reckon a day off from the farm wouldn’t do me any harm. Those contests sure sound fun! Ah’ve yet to meet a pony who can beat me in a pie eatin’ contest.” Pinkie Pie was shaking with excitement. Almost all of her friends had agreed to come with her to the circus. It was looking like one of the bestest days ever! Only Fluttershy had to accept her invitation. She closed her eyes in delight and turned to her yellow friend. “Well, Fluttershy? What about you? You want to have a FANTASTIC time?!” The group turned to Fluttershy and stared. After a moment’s silence, Pinkie burst into a fit of laughter at the sight of her friend. Fluttershy was surrounded by grasshoppers, and was having a quiet conversation with them. Fluttershy noticed her friends and blushed in embarrassment. All six of the friends began laughing. Twilight decided to repeat the question eventually, asking through her laughter, “W-well Fluttershy? The rest of us are going, do you want to join us?” Fluttershy dismissed the grasshoppers and asked concernedly, “It’s sounds... nice... B-but I won’t have to perform for anypony, will I?” Applejack walked over and comforted her timid friend, “Of course ya don’t, Sugarcube! Not if ya don’t want ta’.” Fluttershy smiled and stood up, closing her eyes with delight, “If it means that much to you, then of course I’ll go!” The friends laughed and headed back to their picnic sight. Rarity stopped short and exclaimed, “We still don't have anything to eat!!!” ---------------------- It was late at night, and Princess Celestia had gone to sleep, Princess Luna having taken over the night. She set a bright, quarter moon high in the night sky which illuminated the land in its soft pale glow. The stars twinkled in the pure silence, watching the world move slowly and calmly. “Truly beautiful…” Rarity gazed longingly at the sky, entranced by Luna’s creation. When suddenly, a smirk of brilliance arose on her face. “In fact, I think this display has given me inspiration for a new hat!” Rarity stepped away from her window, smiling as her mind began conjuring up ideas. She made her way over to her desk, her horn glowing a bright blue as various objects flew around the room. A dark blue cloth spread itself across the table. Gold and translucent crystals placed themselves in orderly fashion on top of the cloth, followed by scissors, needle and thread. Rarity stood back, looking at the neatly organized components that were soon to be a hat. Her eyes wandered to the night sky again as a yawn overcame her. “Well, I suppose it is getting a bit late… My hat will just have to wait until tomorrow!” She left her supplies on the table as she made her way to her bed. Unrolling the covers, she rolled over into a comfortable position, and magically spread the large, thick blanket back over herself. She levitated a sleeping mask onto her face and magically swithced off the lights. The silence and peacefulness of the night embraced Rarity as she fell into a light slumber. Peace… Quiet… DING Rarity fell out of her bed, startled by the sudden noise. DONG The doorbell. Rarity kept her thoughts to an inaudible grumble as she groggily trotted to the front door. Not exactly herself so late at night, she opened the door and began complaining, “What could be SO important that I have to be INTERRUPTED from my BEAUTY SLEEP in the middle of the night?!?” Pinkie Pie smiled, as if nothing was odd about her ringing Rarity’s doorbell late after everypony else had gone to bed.“Oh, sorry Rarity! I thought about earlier, and since you seemed so excited about the showponies, I was thinking we could go out and meet them as they came into town!” Rarity’s eye twitched, and she snapped, “You want me to go greet a bunch of circus freaks in the middle of the night!? Are you insane, Pinkie Pie?! Furthermore, I was the LEAST excited out of everypony at the picnic today! Why are you coming to ME with this?!” Pinkie hopped up and down with excitement, “Silly Rarity, they’re not coming right now! They’ll be coming in tomorrow afternoon!” Rarity inhaled, about to yell something, but gave a deep breath, realizing yelling was a waste on Pinkie Pie. She gave in, just wanting to be done with the conversation. “Ok… Fine, I’ll wait for the showponies with you tomorrow." She couldn't help but ask, "Why me, though?” Pinkie looked like she was explaining a complex math equation as she replied, “Well, first I went to Rainbow Dash, but I couldn’t reach her in her cloud house, and she’s a really deep sleeper! I shouted and shouted and shouted, but she didn’t wake up! Then I went to Applejack, but she gave me her honest opinion on my timing and locked the door! So then I went to Fluttersh-” Rarity, with no desire greater than to just go back to sleep, cut off the conversation. “That sounds lovely, dear. Now, why don’t you remind me of the event tomorrow, and we can wait for the showponies together. Alright?” Rarity proceeded to close the door as she talked until only her mouth was sticking out. “Alright! Now, goodnight Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie looked offended at the closed door for a moment, then hopped away with a large smile on her face, “Perfect! This is going to be so funtastic!”