//------------------------------// // Carnival of Chaos // Story: SteamPony Express // by SketchIt //------------------------------// Today was just a regular day for Sketch, with her pad and pencil out she was making a few sketches to bring back to her house. Her friend North was off to see her parents in Cloudsdale, Starlight also went there for an unknown reason. Lavender was off in Ponyville doing her own business and Jaxx was having a rough recovery after a Derpy incident. leaving just Sketch and Spike alone. "Agghhh, it's so boring, Sketch you know what we should do..." As she was drawing up a nice image of a meadow, she curiously let out a quiet, "Hmmm, what's that Spike?" Spike immediately jumped up from laying in the grass and stated, "We should go to the circus, it's only in town a few more days, I hear the main attraction is a pegasus they call Windstorm, they say he has the longest wingspan of anypony in Equestria, and when he flaps them they are the equivalent to a full grown dragon's wings!" The sound of the word circus made Sketch accidentally jerk the pencil off the pad making her ears curl. "Sketch are you alright?" Spike felt concerned for the suddenly tensed unicorn. Sketch began to remember the haunted feeling she had in Lady Mareweather's porcelain doll room. The eyes of those pony clowns glaring down at her. Recalling the night she had accidentally wandered into it during a dark night. Moonlight shining down on the shiny color splashed faces striking menacing glimpses in her mind! "I... I... I..." She began to stutter. The magic aura around the paper and pencil started to grow sporadic. She took a deep breath and held herself steady before she let herself go crazy. "I don't really want to go see the circus, I might just go back home and read up on some more magic exercises..." Spike stared at the nervous pony wondering why she'd miss out on a fun spectacle of acrobatics, funny clowns, and animal tamers. Sketch just out of the blue started to walk back to her home with no reason to her motive, leaving Spike just completely in confusion. Spike took a few glances around rubbing his pointer finger to his head curiously scheming a plan... a plan to figure out what's got Sketch so scared up. "Looks like Double O Spike has another mystery on his hands, the case of the Sketchy Sketch..." Only in Spike's mind did his transformation look awesome, it consisted of him running to Sweetie Belle's to retrieve the tux, and a while of struggling in a mirror to put it on himself. Inside his head he imagined it to be just a quick spin and BAM! Double O Spike revealed! Meanwhile over at the ranch, Jaxx had a badly hurt hind leg healing over. Of course the bubbly Derpy was there to give her sincere apologies to Jaxx in a very dangerous manner. "Sorrry Jaxx I didn mean to drop the thingie on your leg..." Jaxx brushed it off as she sat in bed about to eat the breakfast her sister made for her. She simply replied, "Ain't no sweat Derpy, the cool thing is ya got me a few days off a workin, I tell ya dad works the tail off me..." She paused a moment wondering what Derpy was about to do approaching her. "Wait, whut'r ya doin... don't do that...!" Derpy trotted over to see if Jaxx still had a tail, she began to lift up Jaxx's bad leg making her howl! "OWWWWWIIEEEEE!!! WHAT IN TARNATION R YA DOIN DERPY...!" Derpy suddenly dropped the bad leg startled, "YEEEEOOOWWWWCHHH!!" nervously she started to backup blindly muttering, "I... I'm sorry I was just a making sure you... h... ha... had a TAILLLLLL...!" Derpy howled back as she backed into a table and plopped her flank on it launching a vase full of water into Jaxx's face! "Oooppss... I... I'll fix that..." Derpy looked around for a towel to dry off the rather annoyed Jaxx. Jaxx tried to get her to stop by assuring her she didn't have to help anymore, but by the time she said it, Derpy had grabbed a towel and galloped over to the bedside. "Aagghhhkkk Ugghhmmmph!" Jaxx jittered around as she was scrubbed over dry leaving her still in wet covers. "Ok that's all I need thank ya Derpy, you can go on now..." Derpy seen the wet covers and gasped. "Aghhh... I can fix that..." "No no, it's alright...!" She grabbed the covers with her teeth and Jaxx's eyes grew wide knowing what was about to happen... "Oh dear CelestIIIEAAAAA!" She tugged and sent Jaxx flying off the side of the bed crashing onto the floor with a THUMP! "AGGHHHH That's smarts..." Her sister's breakfast flew all over the room crashing loudly pouring cider across the floor, her apple dumplings strewn across the room in a sticky mess! "I can fix that!" Dropping the covers she trotted over to Jaxx. Jaxx started to cry out, "Noooo... thank you, but no Derpy, please... just, just go please. I'll appreciate it if ya leave now before I end up get'n more broken legs..." Poor derpy frowned, a little sniffle came from her nose as she turned her tail and started to march off shamefully. Jaxx sighed with the overwhelming feeling she was being too rough on her. She was just trying to help. Despite it hurting more than helping, she was at least trying as opposed to some ponies not even giving a care. "Oh don't go cryin now, look here Derpy, I donno what you could do to help me recover, but ya know what would be might helpful to me while I recover?" Derpy instantly stopped her sniffles and turned around with an excited face ready to listen to her proposal! "Tell ya what, ya help with mah chores and we'll call it even." Derpy anxiously accepted the challenge prancing around yelling, "YAY! Thank you Jaxx!" She galloped out to get her job orders from Jaxx's dad while she just wiggled back up in her bed taking a deep sigh of relief, not realizing that she may have just did more harm than good for herself. Spike was on a search for clues as he tailed Sketch. Instead of going to her home, he caught her snooping around the marketplace. "AHA! She lied about going back to her house, what is she doing?" She was grabbing some quick groceries of course, but Spike documented everything she did in a small notepad. "Is she buying ingredients to cause more havok like she did that one day with the big zombie plants! It was pretty convenient for her to do that, maybe she had the plants and was waiting for that pony to bring said plants into Ponyville... so she could resurrect them so they could cause Discord!" After careful consideration of what she was buying, they looked like groceries of a normal variety which led him to the conclusion, "Nope, they're just normal vegetables, ok maybe i'm blowing this all out of proportion..." He shrugged it off and continued to observe from a bush near the park. Sketch had begun to pick up a tomato when she heard a horrid noise honk by her face. Startled she turned to touch nose to nose with the very thing that scared the daylights out of her! "AAAAAAAAYEEEEE!" Jumping in the air with a wail she bolted off without getting all the vegetables she paid for. Spike documented what he seen. "Intriguing, she left in a hurry when she seen that pony clown, almost too much in a hurry, she left some of her groceries, could it be she's terrified by clowns?" With a moment to ponder he again shrugged off the accusation replying to himself with confidence, "Nahh, nopony could be afraid of clowns, clowns are supposed to be like good funny, not bad funny... there's no way. Nopony i know is afraid of clowns that I can think of, it's like Impossible times infinity plus two." He followed her secretly moving the bush with him as he waddled on the sidewalk. Little did he know as he was snooping, another bush came across his path with both running into one another. "OWW.. hey... watch where you're going!" He snapped with a loud whisper poking his head out glaring at the other bush. The head of Silver Spoon popped out as she snapped back with an opposing glare, "Sorry!" The bushes started going their own separate ways, but both were fixed on following Sketch back to her house. Approaching the door Sketch's anxiety had her glancing around for any sign of clowns following her, all she seen were two out of place bushes on the sidewalks opposite on each side. "What, that's not right... Agghhh now reality is starting to make no sense. Bushes don't grow in concrete!" she slipped inside and slammed the door shut! Inside, her facial expression alerted Lavender to inquire what was wrong. "NOTHING, NOTHING IS WRONG, IM SLEEPY!" She dropped her saddlebags full of vegetables in a fit of fright and bolted for her room zipping up passed Humphrey and Red Tie slamming her bedroom door and slipping under the covers. Standing in a dazed confusion Lavender could not help but get to the bottom of the problem. "Sketch dear that's not nothing, you seem very spooked about something clearly, care to tell me what's wrong...?" She knocked her hoof on Sketch-it's door. "Oh please tell me what's wrong, you're going to have me worried sick all day if you don't..." Lavender attempted to coach her into telling her what was so troubling. Lavender attempted to play the concerned sister card on her. "It's nothing, I'm just SLEEPY!" Sketch barked in response, the concerned sisterly Lavender was rejected, she in turn grew angry! Responding with a glow of her horn she stomped her hoof and proceeded to command, "Sketch as your new roommate and sister mare I command you to tell me what is wrong, or I will have Red buck this door down!" "NOOO!" Sketch again responded negatively. In a burning fury Lavender snarled, "OOHHHHH!!!" The furious Lavender stormed down the stairs refusing to go any further with her, she would wait for Sketch to calm down. Before she made it to the bottom of the stairs she yelled, "You're going to get hungry sooner or later!" Apparently Lavender had been staying with Sketch for a few days now. She apparently felt intruding in her home to live while she worked on preparations sounded only logical. Sketch spent some time laying in her bed eventually falling asleep. Her dreams drifted her into a circus tent where a horrifying song played in her head. Clowns trotting about in huge floppy shoes, honking noses, and the most terrifying giggles running through her ears. All of them laughing at her as she grimaced with a fear backing in the middle of the circus ring with all of them surrounding her! "Nooo... GET AWAY... AGGHHHH!!! Those noses... the horrible honking noses!!! EEEHHH DONT TOUCH ME... AGGHHH... NOOOOOO EEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK! KEEP YOUR FILTHY SHOES OFF ME!" Screaming and curling as they laughed in her frightened face she was paralyzed as she could see nothing but bright colors and evil teeth grinning smiles! Kicking about in her bed her nightmare had her restlessly tossing and turning until she awoke screaming hours later in the afternoon sunset. Jerking her eyes about as her heart was pounding through her chest, Sketch felt just absolutely drained of energy. "Ohhh what a nightmare, soo... sooo many c...c ... clowwnnnss..." She made her way down the stairs where she could smell Red Tie's signature vegetable soups. Lavender having a seat by the couch with a magazine in front of her face began to mumble, "So you finally decided to come down..." Sketch rubbed her hoof across her face realizing she had sweat running down her reddened cheeks, and her mane was slightly damp at the roots. "Please I don't..." Out of breath strangely she didn't even try to continue. Lavender's anger was now replaced with more growing concern. Her roommate seemed disturbed by something. Being in town the sounds of the circus could be heard very well. Spike had decided to go on his own to watch the amazing performances! "Come one come all Fillies and Gentlecolts, witness great spectacles from all across the lands of Equestria!" The ring leader was a rather shifty looking pony with a sharp pointy mustache, dark pointed eyes and his hat was abnormally long brimmed which shadowed over most of his face. His outfit shadowing over his dark brown coat and hiding his cutie mark was truly a suspicious sight to behold! Spike could not make this connection of creepy, he was too engulfed in the talented tightrope walkers and ponies swinging across the huge tent! The dark lit tent in the evening shadows just made for a suspenseful sensation to the audience who gathered inside. Rides outside were carrying on with laughter, but to Sketch the laughter just bore into her mind with images of clowns. She felt it was ridiculous that something as simple as porcelain statues could be the root to such a frightening experience, but as a foal, walking into that room in the darkness with a deep moonlit night gleaming through the windows, to see those faces light up with big creepy smiles casting shadows over parts of their profile making them look sinister was quite traumatizing. "Witness our main attractions mares and stallions, a spectacle unlike any other, behold! The family of a thousand laughs, the happy go smileys, the one, the only... the Berry Swirls!" Spike clapped with the hoof stomping ponies as a family... a rather large family began to pile out of a tiny little wind up steam car. One after another a family of Eleven trotted out, all with clownish suits, makeup, and funny headgears. One mare in the bunch made the biggest impact of the group, an extremely happy and hyper pony with a cutie mark of what seemed to be a pink bubble with a blueberry and cherry in it. She was flopping around with goofy shoes and a ridiculously huge bow tie with makeup that covered her face in the very fashion that would send Sketch flying. Her coat seemed to be rosie reddish pink in the dim light with her mane and tail the color of a cherry and blueberry swirled together with a sticky messy lick as if somepony took a bite from the side, it was sticking out everywhere with a lollipop peering out of her goofy mane, she looked absolutely ridiculous. The family was about the only thing that seemed naturally uplifting, the others were serious dare devilish ponies that looked more tense, but this family just waddled around and smacked each other with pies juggling humorously. Even the other clowns who were managing the circus rides seemed less funny than these. The one pony that again had everypony's attention was the swirly maned mare who had begun to juggle three cream pies. The crowd erupted with laughter as she tail swatted two pies into the faces of her family members who now started to trick one another into funny stunts, slipping on bananas and shooting one another with soda bottles. The swirly maned one spun her bow tie with a chord, it made a loud noise and flew out like a fan smacking an older stallion in the face several times in a comical manner! Spike felt so happy he rooted loudly for more! His curiosity though was still set to see the marvel that was Windstorm! Little did Spike know that somepony was very curious about him. The Ring leader had retreated to the back stage of the tent, with his head peering out to Spike he thought aloud, "Intriguing, a dragon tamed to co-exist with ponies, why that's such a rarity to behold... I must get my hands on this opportunity..." The ring leader expressed his rather evil motives as he turned away from the crowd into the bowels of the backstage. There he surrounded himself with fearful ponies, and other odd creatures who had spent years in his cruel circus, though the bizarre thing about this was the clowns who were not a part of the family act, were no ordinary clowns. As one began to rub off his makeup, he revealed a rather brutish stallion! The ring leader trotted back and forth mumbling, "I have acrobats, I have animal tamers, main attractions. For Haymaker's sake I have legit clowns with that hyperactive family, why would I want more.. well of course!" As if to be rhetorical with himself he replied confidently, "The money, money, money, money... sweet coins, making that jingly sound, and what better way to completely doop the entire masses than to hide a smuggling operation inside something so innocent and fun as a traveling circus heheheheheh!" The ponies and creatures in the cages were trembling as he approached one of them. A large stallion with wings that looked if he had let them open they would pierce out of the cage. "Windstorm you're up, now remember no funny business, or the filly will get it, are we clear?" Windstorm glared at the ring leader, his white coat stained from painful abuse, blue and yellow lightning mane a sheer resemblance of his once great prideful personality, he still refused to be scared at the Ring Master. The filly in question was a lonely little pony held up in a personal cage with two nasty looking stallions guarding her. "Knock'em dead out there for us. MWUAHAHAHAH!" Windstorm trotted slowly out to the audience who were waiting to be blown away by the great winged pegasus! The Ring Leader turned to a group of dressed clown stallions uttering, "Tomorrow you all will go to the smithery and take every ounce of steel, bits, rifle parts, anything you can get your hooves on and return them to the caravan before dawn, We're going to make a killing if our informant is correct. Oh the sweet money to be made, you know how much ponies would spend to see a dragon up close and not be burned to a crisp!? OR EVEN TO OWN SAID DRAGON, THEY WOULD GIVE A FORTUNE Hehehehahahahaha!" He pranced about in a giddy manner excited to have a big score in such a peaceful town too, it would be like stealing candy from a foal. As Windstorm trotted out, the audience went into an uproar! Hooves were quaking the entire tent. Almost the entire population of Ponyville and some from nearby parts had come to see him! He put a smiling facade on his face as he took a few steps forward extending his wings with a loud POMPF! The sheer size knocked wind across the back stage curtains. Dancing velvet creased and created a beautiful ripple behind his glorious white wings. Like a dragon his wings made a loud powerful WHOOF WHOOF WHOOF! He lifted himself up throwing powerful gusts across the crowd! The Ring Leader jumped out and announced as loud as he could, "Fillies and Gentlecolts, Mares and Stallions... witness the great and almighty WINDSTORM, a marvel of pony evolution, a grand stallion pegasus with a staggering height matching that of many regal ponies, with a wingspan over 15 feet across, he can create winds as strong as hurricanes, and they say when he glides, the sound of the wind being cut by those massive wings can be mistaken for a low flying dragon!" Sure enough when he took off around the tent, he passed over the audience and just over Spike who could feel the wind nearly blow him out of his seat. When he flew over him the sound of a loud bellowing WHOOOOOFF! Nearly had Spike's eyes popping out of their sockets with sheer excitement! "On the contrary, he may not be the fastest stallion with those big beautiful wings, but like the earth pony engineered war birds, the sound and sheer size is enough to mesmerize and create AWE!" The crowd roared and stomped many hooves as he flew back around to the center circle. The show continued on until the sun began to sink away, Spike began to leave with the rest of the ponies where he was greeted with the lights of a Ferris Wheel, and Carousel. Many other rides and games were all around to keep a night occupied with fun and games. "So boss, what do we do about the little dragon?" The Ring Master turned his head slightly with an insidious grin waving his hoof with a sharp slinky command, "Follow him you dolts, and when he's all alone, bring him back here!" "Right boss!" The two henchponies dressed as clowns galloped out to follow Spike in the night. Two griffins began to stroll their way over to him as he called them over with a gesture. "Keep an eye on the dragon and anypony who looks too suspicious, I don't trust most of these idiots." The griffins made their way out into the night watching vigilantly while the bumbling henchponies were all over the place. The frightened filly in the guarded cage felt the Ring Master's presence as he loomed over her. With an evil smile he ran his hoof across the cage making annoying clanking noises whispering, "Dear sweet little Starburst, the daughter of this deformed pegasus, i'm no scientist but if your wings are as magnificent as your father's, then if this war continues for another two decades, we could be seeing one of the finest attractions to my collection. A prideful stallion is no attraction compared to a beautiful mare heheheheheh! You are probably too young to even understand what I mean..." Pausing in his sentence he turned his head to the side adding with an even bigger grin, "You'll see soon enough I suppose." Already the yellow coat and blue maned filly had shown signs of abnormally large wings, large enough that in her fear of the strange pony she had covered her face from him peering through her wings ever so slightly. The Ring Master continued his speech to her as if she was a captive audience to his masterful plans. Of course, she was in fact a captive. "You see, as a little colt i was always in circus shows, and loved them so. Smiles and cheers that would make my heart soar and glow, but one fateful day the true nature of pony kind had revealed itself." He lurched with his evil smile turning sour and grim with frown he uttered, "That's when everything had changed for me." His voice lowered deeply. "The Harmonious Barrier, that world outside it, was horrifying. I don't know how but, when you take a step outside that barrier, you can feel the change... it's never the same either when you come back through, I can still feel that lurching sensation. The struggle, the deception, the feeling that everything is less safe. Liars, thieves, that ridicule... the laughter of being made a fool. TO BE CALLED A FREAKSHOW!" The Ring Master began to grow more disturbed as he raised his voice with a sharp tongue! No doubt this cruel pony has traumatized Windstorm's daughter to no end with his abusive words and behavior. Frankly everypony, even the animals were traumatized... all but the pony clown family. The Berry Swirls were abnormally happy and content in their holding cell In fact, they were actually carrying on activities like a typical family even with creepy clown mercs standing around watching over them. "Does my bow tie look upside down to you?" A henchpony leaned over to the side of the cage without realizing she had a goofy smile on her face. She pressed down on a trigger and sent the bow tie flying out and the floppy tie commenced to smack him across the face repeatedly as it spun madly! "HEHEHEHEH.... HAHAHA!" She fell on her back laughing at him as he looked at her with an even more goofy dumbfounded face. "Heh heh ehehehh... she sure got you good!" His fellow henchpony, a less brighter one was chuckling at him. He just laughed back with him as he began to point his hoof down replying, "Hey what's that?" "Huh?" The pony looked down and the other one flicked him across the face answering, "Hoof!" The henchpony held his face painfully and mumbled, "Hey... that was meann..." "Hey in case you haven't noticed, we're bad ponies." The other responded with a sour tone. "We're not supposed to be nice." The swirled mane mare stuck her tongue out and scoffed, "Pfffft, if you ponies are really bad, why are you working at a circus, kinda defeats the purpose of being mean if all you do everyday is make ponies smile... Heheehhehe!" The stallion was about to try and counter that very, very valid point when as soon as he turned around she gave him a spray of carbonated water which her family erupted in laughter as the stallion who seemed to be the father of the bunch yelled, "SODA FIGHT!" The family without warning started to wail on each other with soda water forcing the henchponies away as they didn't want to be a part of that goofy family's games. "Why does the ring master want to keep this family I mean seriously?" As half the henchponies were out tending the stands, and half were inside watching over the captives, Spike was enjoying a ride on the Ferris Wheel. He could see the entire open fields of Ponyville lit up by the moonlight. In the awe of the moment he gazed around to see the ponies around town hoping he would know them personally. He really wanted to hang out with a friend because even the circus was getting boring alone. With a few more glances he could see Applebloom and her bunch hanging around a souvenir shop. He also spotted Derpy who seemed to be having some sort of trouble, she was spinning around as if confused where to go, and nopony was really paying attention to her. "That's unusually weird even for Derpy, I wonder what's got her tail in a knot..." Spike decided to check on Derpy before heading over to the Blank Flank bunch. As the Ferris Wheel was descending for him, he couldn't help but be antsy to get off. When he was finally able to hop off he ran over to see Derpy. She was worst than he suspected, she had a look of grave horror. The lights around her seemed to be confusing her as she mumbled constantly trying to choose a path to go. "Whoa, Derpy... slow down..." "AGHHh ahh... Spike, hey Spike... can't talk right now, i'mm... mm... trying to find something... ohhh what was it..!" "Trying to find something, you look like you're spinning in circles... what did you lose?" Derpy looked back to Spike and desperately replied, "I... I donno, but if I don't find it, Jaxx will be angry, Derpy can't let Jaxx be angry with her!" Spike asked if he could help, Derpy just gave a quick, "Mhm, you can help Derpy yes... find that thing Derpy is missing!" Spike had to know what she was missing though so he tried to squeeze the information out of her. "Agghh I donno, It's important, very important. Two things I think, they went to play and... and they left Derpy alone!" Spike still wearing his outfit like a suave little dragon agent began to concoct ideas of what these missing things were. They were obviously alive if they left her to go play somewhere, Derpy was not very bright, but she has never lied either, if Jaxx would be angry at her for losing these two living things, there was only two real answers to this mystery. One, the two missing things are animals, or two, they are Jaxx's siblings. He didn't notice any pets at Jaxx's home. The final conclusion was without a doubt she was watching over Jaxx's brother and sister! "So in my final deduction I conclude these missing things is Jaxx's brother and sister, Lil Bullet and Chess Pie right...?" Derpy turned with a bright expression nodding, "Yes yess... you know where they are?" Spike responded raising his eyebrow, "No, but now I know what to look for." Spike told Derpy to go look in one direction while he took another. He waddled through the carnival grounds slowly keeping an eye out for the filly and colt. "Chess, LIL B!" He cried out in the creepy and dimly lit darkness of the carnival rides. While he was looking for them he finally started to feel something crawl at his skin. The fun filled circus now was starting to get at his nerves when he could feel the clownish looking ponies working at the vendors and stalls staring at him awkwardly. "Ahh Jeeze, if this is how Sketch feels around clowns I wouldn't blame her, I kinda want to take back what I said about clowns... ehhhh!" He felt a chill run through him as a clown was juggling in front of a filly and her mother, but as they were fixed on his hind leg standing feat, he was fixed on watching Spike. He brushed his claw through his spikes trying to brush it off as coincidence and started walking faster. Meanwhile behind on the other side of the main circus tent near a large looking steam engine, Derpy had wandered far off into a dark area where the rides were off. "Little Bullet? Chess Pie, you here?" Derpy began to slowly creep her hooves around feeling scared of the silence. She heard stepping noises behind her and in her innocent way she thought it could be one of them so she turned around with hopeful eyes. In front of her was a rather large griffin with clown makeup. The large sack raised over his head began to fly down on top of Derpy! In her fright she whinnied and tried to struggle out, but it was no use. Spike came around some stalls that were closed down for the night and spotted what seemed to be an image of a stallion holding a sack in his mouth. "Hey... excuse me have you seen a little filly and colt running around?" The figure's sack seemed to be moving and struggling, the worse part was Spike felt another chill, but before he could react on it his lights went out as a sack blacked out everything! "Hey what's the big idea... LEMME GO!" Over him stood another griffin which transported him away to an unknown location. For a while he felt air brushing against him as if they were flying, but the flight ended soon and when he was let out of the bag, he flew into a cage plopping on the ground by a frightened Derpy and a traumatized filly and colt. "What's... what's going on here!" The cage slammed and over by them was several figures looming with a main figure walking over with a bright and creepy grin. "Sooo you four are probably wondering why you are here huh?" His sharp tone reminded Spike quickly of the Ring Master and in the shadows he silhouetted just like him. Before Spike could speak, the Ring Master pointed his hoof growling, "Let's get one thing straight, if anypony here makes any sound they will not live to make another sound again, let's just say your days of freedom is over now. You are part of my collection, and if you want you or any of the others to live you will do exactly as you are told. I've worked for years to build up this shindig, and I will not have anypony messing it up now." Spike wanted to call it a bluff but the griffins were carrying some strange device on their back that didn't look friendly, and the stallion clowns were also packing something in their teeth. The Ring Master began to explain why they were there exactly, "So some of you are in here for being too curious..." He glared over at Derpy as he continued, "The gray one and the two young ones were caught snooping around in closed portions of the carnival, as of why you all were lingering there I don't care, you should've not been there to begin with!" He snapped angrily. Chess Pie curled up quietly by her brother whispering, "I told you Lil B we were not allowed back there!" The Ring Master suddenly turned his glaring eyes at Spike who gulped part of his fear down. "As for you, nopony outside of this town has probably ever seen a dragon so friendly and in tune with pony society, I simply couldn't let this opportunity get away from me..." Spike turned his attention around the cages that surrounded them, everypony and animal inside didn't speak a word. The only lively cage was far back from the others and cramped with laughing ponies which just made this feel more and more weird. "If you'll excuse me I have to count my earnings today and prepare for tomorrow's activities, Griffins you and a couple other henchponies keep watch, Racer you are in charge of the shifts tonight." A large female griffin gave a nod and started directing everypony and the two other griffins to their posts. "Time to shut down this place, we got a lot to do tomorrow." As the carnival noises died down. In her room, Sketch was feeling a lot better. The sound of peace and quiet allowed her mind to at least attempt to sleep that night. As she drifted to sleep a dream began to form in her mind. It was not pleasant, but not about clowns persay, but a very quiet and beautiful voice was beckoning her in some strange maze. "Sketch... sketch..." Her name echoed across the maze. "H... Hello?" She slowly trotted around in the labyrinth, the whole world seemed hazy. She couldn't help but feel that just beyond the haze, something was not right, all the while the voice coached her around using a little light to guide her about. "Don't be afraid, come..." "What's going on, who are you?" She approached the light trying to figure out who this was. The light seemed to jitter around as the voice laughed, "You'll know soon enough, but please hurry, we do not have much time..." Her trotting transferred to gallops as she followed the light. "Don't stray away from me, stay close please..." She began to leave the strange maze into a place that looked like Canterlot... but the haze began to slowly slowly peel away as she stopped. She could tell this place was definitely not a Canterlot she knew of. "Don't stop... hurry... stay close." The sensation to stop following the light was hard to resist, because the closer to the orb the fuzzier everything was, but when she was away the things started to clear up. A massive dark wall jutted over a palace that seemed to have huge cannons atop turrets and steam plumed in the air from inside as if a breathing iron monstrosity was waiting to tear out of the ground and engulf the world in its cast iron grasp! "Why should I, everything seems fuzzy around you... it's sorta scary..." She began to feel as though she was asking a stupid question as all around her seemed to be shadows of dark uniformed stallions. The voice tried to coach her, "I said don't be afraid, it's perfectly safe around me, the haze is to protect you from what lies outside in the clear..." Sketch-it didn't understand what was happening, but instead of disobeying she felt a paranoia to see anymore in clear view, afraid she would see something that would traumatize her. The clear view she had glimpsed seemed like a fortified version of Canterlot with a sinister presence, one that gave a massive chill through her body. She followed onward in what seemed like forever into a room. Out in the haze she could see some strange phenomenon happening. She followed the light towards a figure in some cylindrical objects. The light entered inside and rested upon the forehead of a tall regal Alicorn, her mane of a soft cool colored rainbow with a crown adorn atop her head. Sketch's eyes grew wide as she felt she had seen this pony somewhere before. Before the Alicorn could respond a loud yelling outside her body disrupted this lucid dream. A sudden flash of light hit her as she found herself opening eyes to a disturbed Lavender! "Wake up, Wake up we have a visitor, and she's... she's in bad shape Sketch, she asked to see you!" Sketch shook her head around to wake up and she hopped out of the bed feeling her body fatigued. "She said her name was Jaxx..." Sketch's eyes lit up. "What, what happened?" "I donno she's downstairs, Red has her on the couch, she's in no condition to go anywhere, and yet she says she limped herself all the way from the ranch, that poor dear... whatever is wrong it must be an emergency... so come quick!" Sketch wasted no time and followed Lavender as she came down the stairs to see to the guest. "Hold still please miss Jaxx..." Red was tending to open wounds she had made in her limping journey. With a hurt hind leg she no doubt crawled all the way from the ranch down to Ponyville. "Oww... no it's fine, ya'll don't have to do this, I'm might more interested in finding mah sister and brother..." Lavender ran to her side and inquired with deep concern, "Your brother and sister are missing, why this is dreadful, we must get some sort of authority or somepony to help! When did they go missing dear?" Red wrapped the leg back up with clean bandages with alcohol on a scrapes causing Jaxx to grimmace with the burn shooting pain across her body. "Ahhh, just a few hours ago... I told Derpy she could go take Chess and Lil B to the carnival since I couldn't, I noticed the lights were off at the carnival grounds and figured they'd be back by now, but they ain't, and nopony is at the carnival... I donno many ponies here so I went to the only pony I knew well that was close and that'd be you Sketch... you figure ya can help me?" Sketch didn't want to refuse her at all, but she was really tired and maybe Derpy had let Lil B and Chess Pie stay with her at her place. "Could Derpy had let them stay at her home for the night, maybe it felt like it would be too dangerous to go back to the ranch at this time of night?" Seeing some reason in her argument Jaxx mumbled painfully, "Ahhh, maybe yer right Sketch, I'm just scared might bad, on account of some crazy stories I've heard from gypsy ponies..." Lavender's eyes shuttered strangely from the mention of Gypsy ponies. "Wha... whatt... kind of stories?" Her teeth beared with a graceful fright, Lavender was oh so curious and further added, "I've heard from my parents about the gypsy ponies and their stories, how they originated from moving herds that were full of gloom from the chaos outside the Harmony Barrier..." The ponies were all gathered by the couch and Red decided to darken the mood as this old pony felt excited in the moment. He lit the fireplace and made himself cozy with Humphrey on a small arm chair. "I do love a good story Master Humphrey, care to join me?" The dog didn't mind to sit by Red and listen to the mares. Jaxx started first mumbling, "Well, my Pappa would always after picking apples from the fields, he'd come back home'n tell us all bout the stories the gypsies would tell around the time they meet for their breaks. Well one late night mah Pappa came in white as an old stallion mane. The gypsies workin late told him bout travelin ghost carnivals!" Sketch gasped as she felt her hairs turning white. "That's just not right at all.... t... tooo think there's g...g...g...ghost cl...clownsss...!" Sketch mumbled as Jaxx nodded continuing with her story, "You bet your sweet apple cider there'd be an entire circus full'o ghostly spirits wanderin across Equestria. They say it all began when an evil pony cursed the gypsies with his evil magic! One of those things that's a comin from out of the Lost World they say. Evil chaotic magic turned many of your happy go lucky circuses into travelin soul collectin ghost carnies!" "EEEP!" Sketch jumped with sheer fright. The thought that there's ghost carnivals with evil clown spirits collecting souls was petrifying! Of course a certain pony not buying it for a second responded, "Oh that's just a load of rubbish, more than likely this phenomenon is caused by..." She paused and leaned close to them answering, "Ponynappers! Common ruffian scum. In fact I remember hearing some Canterlot folk were kidnapped and in my apartment block too by said ponynappers...!" Frightened Lavender gave herself chills as she concluded, "It's simply horrifying to know that these riff raff are getting away with it, I of course know it was them because the circus in Canterlot left as soon as they went missing, clearly those gypsies were evil..." "Well that's just a bunch of bologna, why would simple ole gypsies for that matter a circus made ta entertain ponyfolk be ponynappen then?" Jaxx argued back, but Lavender insisted, "It's true, it happens outside in the outer colonies quite often, I read newsletters from Canterlee and Galloport, reports of travelling circuses and gypsies kidnapping ponyfolk occur a dime a dozen, even with safety measures they still manage somehow to get away with it... for all we know the increased royal security are driving those monsters over here. Dastardly cruel, evil fiends. Born from the fires of this chaos that runs deep across the outer colonies." Jaxx stared at her for a moment raising a brow, but she had to admit she probably had more sense on the subject, but she was not going to back down about the travelling ghost circus idea. "Well that may be true, but ya know I've seen a ghost before so I stand on mah experience... I'm pertty sure there's a haunted carnival travelin round these parts, stealin the souls of innocent ponies'n all that spooooky stuff." Lavender didn't believe it for a second and with a sarcastic tone she scoffed, "Oh lemme guess you seen the ghost of your grandmother..." "Hey Mare, watch yer mouth, you steppin might close on hooves ya best not want'n to step on..." Lavender's snippy tone started to get at Jaxx. Lavender just held up her head and scoffed, "Well I just think it's silly believing in ghosts, it's nothing but poppycock." Jaxx just sighed and answered back, "Well it's somethin ya'll have to experience yerself to believe in." Lavender despite hitting the wrong hoof did generously tend to Jaxx as the night rolled on slowly. Red managed to add a splint in the bandages to help her walk around instead of having to crawl next time. At one point Red had crashed in Lavender's bed while she was spread over the arm chair making graceful snoring noises. Jaxx had the whole couch to herself and Sketch retired back to her room. Sketch began to feel herself tugged back into the same dream. The voice from the light echoed softly once more, "Sketch, listen to me well mare... for what I'm about to tell you cannot be repeated..." Sketch began to grumble to herself, "It's bad enough i'm not good at remembering some things, it's worse this is in a dream and I may end up forgetting right when i wake up..." The voice just chuckled once more and assured her she would remember this, "Just listen, something very special will be happening soon. It took me years of work, but it is nearing completion, and the time will be soon that the forces of harmony will make their move. You probably don't understand what this has to do with you yet, but you will know soon enough. I will give you all you need to know for now, a great destiny will unfold for you and your friends..." She paused a moment as her voice began to slowly fade, "Very soon, the elements of harmony will once more grace the lands of Equestria." Sketch still feeling confused wanted to start asking questions, but the image of the alicorn began to fade her out of the dream replying, "I'm sorry I don't have time for questions, but you have to go now, just remember... you'll see everything clearly soon." She was instantly flashed back awake where she couldn't sleep a wink the rest of the night due to worrying about being thrown back in that creepy haze. "What was that dream... talking about. All she said was things were going to change soon..." She trotted up to the side of her window peering over at the moon. The moon was in a full cycle shining brilliantly through the night. Sketch had a feeling the coming week was going to be extremely busy and confusing. "Where have I seen that pony before, I know I seen that mane, the crown... where..." Sketch now had an itch to find out. She decided in the morning she would do something completely out of her routine and check out a book on the subject. She was hoping she could hold out until morning. Sketch paced around the kitchen being the worry wart she was, her mind full of questions and in the moment it was all quiet, nopony was awake for her to talk to about the subject. She wanted to discuss what she had been through, but without anypony to talk to her mind festered on the subject. "Gahhhh I can't take this, I gotta go now it shouldn't be wrong of me... Spike would totally welcome me, but that carnival... the clowns, agghhh I feel so trapped!" She heard Lavender groan in the living room grumbling, "What, no mum I don't wanna ride the wagon, it's too dirty, I wanna play in the jacuzzi ... yay... jacuzzi... blub blub blub hehehehe." Lurching over with an awkward face Sketch whispered to herself, "Oookk... well that didn't help anything, I guess I'll just go, I shouldn't be but a little bit, but Spike is probably asleep Gahh... North's house would be perfect... if she wasn't at Cloudsdale visiting her parents... I wonder what she's up too?" All the way over in the cloudy city of Cloudsdale North had problems of her own. Her parents had left her with ponysitting her younger sister unicorn while they went to a party, North sat in her favorite chair at the house and was attempting to re-read some of her old books she had stashed there, but her hyperactive sister was running around in the wee hours of the night screaming and shouting, her nasally foalish voice echoing in the house as she charged with a wooden sword yelling, "YAHHH... TAKE THAT YOU PIRATE! I Captain Moonlight Song am the Queen's Admiral, and the most ferocious pirate SLAYER IN ALL OF EQUESTRIA!!!! HAVE AT THEE!" North curled further in her chair and dipped into the book trying to stay out of viewing range for her sister seemed bent to attack anything living! The pets were running around the room as she crashed her box ship into the walls trying to swat the poor dogs! North sighed as her sister just continued to wail into the night, eventually North had took out a pair of headphones and jacked in her player to drown out the sound. Her attempt of course a failure as a white coat star covered cutie mark filly jumped on her head screaming, "TASTE MY BLADE FILTHY PIRATE SCUMM!!! HAHA!" She began to choke her sister with her sword laughing as North was crying out, "Aahhhhkkkk... for... the looovvve... of Equeessstriaa... MOONLIGHTTTHKKKK!" With her powers she levitated her sister in the air and Moonlight gave a big goofy smile replying, "Heheheheheh..." North rolled her eyes as she planted Moonlight on the floor and growled, "I swear you are the most annoying thing in existence, if I had a mind to I'd take away that cloud walk and let you fall from the sky to be some other pony's problem!" Her sister bonked North across the head with her sword laughing! "OH MAGOSH COME HERE YOU LITTLE!" "HYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Sketch attempted to go back to sleep but to no avail. Minutes felt like hours to her. She hated this part about herself, that anxiety that grows like a monster inside with her mind pulling her back and forth, back and forth! "Just go, just wake up Lavender, it's not that hard, but what if she gets angry at me for waking her up to talk about a weird dream... but if I can't get it out of my head i'm gonna go crazy!" She put her head on her pillow and closed her eyes tightly trying to think what to do. "WHAT DO I DO!" Dawn came and Red awoke to do his routine work, when he came to Lavender to wake her... this was what he replied, "Miss Rose, it seems that Miss Sketch is not present, shall I carry on with my duties or go look for her?" Lavender brushed it off assuring that she was probably off at the market or something. "Miss Rose, it's five o' clock in the morning..." "Ok maybe she's out drawing a morning sunrise or something?" Red pointed outside adding, "In the middle of a rainstorm?" Lavender's face started to slowly grow a concerned expression. "Water painting...?" Red shook his head. Lavender tried to fathom what Sketch would be doing leaving, for the short amount of time Lavender had been around Sketch's routine didn't involve doing anything in the early morning, especially out in a rainstorm. The ponies didn't bother on the subject at the moment as they all woke up. The longer they waited though, the more uneasy they felt about the missing ponies. Jaxx asked if Red could help her to the apple farm to see Applebloom, she needed to know where Derpy lives so she could see if her sister and brother did stay over. Lavender agreed and stayed at the house to do some of the chores. Jaxx was loaded up on Lavender's special cart which also had a top cover, good for keeping Jaxx dry with her bandages. Red pulled her on her merry way to Sweet Apple Acres . North made her way soaring back to her home in a flash to escape her family and the storm! "Jeeze, the only time they call me up there is to do something for them. Ponysitting of all things too, agghhh!" As she opened her door she could hear the sounds of the traveling carnival echoing which jogged her memory she wanted to go see it before her parents had beckoned her over to let them go out to dinner. "I keep hearing about this Windstorm Stallion, I guess this is the last day i'll get to see if he even shows today?" She looked up at the storm beginning drop a downpour! "I hope this storm stops soon, or there won't be a carnival today." All the ponies were concluding their business on this relatively suspenseful start of a morning, and when Applebloom and Scootaloo accompanied with Jaxx went to see Derpy, nopony was home! "Oh sweet Celestia, I can't go back home, I can't return to my dad and tell him Lil B and Chess is missing! He's done had enough heartbreak, I just can't!" Jaxx started to get completely frantic. "We gotta find them, search everywhere in Ponyville if ya can please, I'd give a reward if a could, anythin..." Applebloom understood the severity of this problem and gave her a nod replying, "Ya don't have ta give nary a reward, we'll do it on account it's the right thing to do, Scootaloo tell every pegasi willin to lend a wing ta scour the countryside, I'ma go tell Sweetie Belle, Jaxx ya'll should see if the mayor will help." Jaxx nodded with Red immediately turning tail and escorting Jaxx to the town. In a matter of minutes Scootaloo had a small group of pegasi flying around the fields looking for the filly and colt, and the missing ponysitter Derpy in the rainy weather. When Sweetie Belle found out she wasted no time to drop what she was doing and help. Jaxx came to the mayor for help and as any Ponyvillian would do in a dire situation as this, the Mayor took immediate action! "Do not worry Jaxx, I'll have any able bodied pony on the hunt, we will not rest until they are found!" Able bodied earth ponies started to sweep around keeping an eye out for the missing ponies, though nopony liked working out in the storm, missing ponies were no laughing matter. At that time word was spreading in the vendors being passed from clown henchpony to clown henchpony. Word reached to Racer and she alerted the Ring Master of the grown alert. His face grew worrisome and his sharp sleight tone had a nervous crackle as he requested to know, "Do they suspect us at all for the disappearances?" Racer's controlled and calm tone answered back, "Not as far as we know, they don't suspect us... we also have a rather annoying captive we picked up last night on a patrol, she says she was going to the library but she seemed too suspicious..." "Agghhh if we have to kidnap anymore ponies we're definitely gonna raise alarm, that's five! We were only supposed to get the dragon..." "Sorry sir..." The Ring Master took a whip from his holster by the mouth and snapped it at the griffin's feet. "Shhorry don'cht Cutszz itss..." He stashed the whip back in his holster and added, "If we are discovered, so help me Celestia I will bring this entire little town down with me, with a vengeance!" He turned his attention to the henchponies and back to Racer whispering to the griffin, "In case we do get discovered I'll need you to be ready to get me and the money out of here, the least we need on our return trip is the money and the few things we took from Manehatten... we just have to hold out till nightfall... hopefully these dopey henchponies don't ruin the plan, our clients were ready to pay a pretty bit for those rifle parts stored here in Ponyville." Racer understood her job and left to keep an eye on things. The Ring Master slowly trotted his way back towards the cages. "Wha... WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!" He found several of the dressed clown henchponies gathered around one cage where a unicorn was screaming back at them, "AGGHHH GET AWAY FROM ME... YOU FREAKY CLOWNS, Agghhh DONT TOUCH ME, STOPP... AGGHHH!!! EEEEKKKK!" The henchponies were making Sketch's nightmare come true! Spike ran up in front of her and with his claw and a small amount of bravery he socked one of the clowns in the nose making a loud HONK!!! "LEAVE HER ALONE!" The henchpony withdrew holding his big red honker. "OUCH, that little pipsqueak hit me!" "I... I'll show you pipsqueak, just try me!" Spike was in no mood to back down, the last thing he wanted was to fight, but he didn't want his friend scarred for life from traumatizing phony clowns! The Ring Master took out his whip and started snapping at everypony's hooves yelling, "ShhhhTOP, SHHHTOP THISH INSHTANTS!" The clown henchponies backed away from the cage letting him up to the side. He put his whip back up and stomped his hoof growling, "You unicorn, why were you out late at night, why were you near the tents when it was clearly CLOSING TIME!" The dark makeup around his eyes and the clownish appearance began to freak Sketch out making her stutter, "I... I... I, was just t... tt....t... trying to go to the L... L... LIBRARY!!!!" "Just going to the library eh... in the middle of the night...?!" He cross examined her. "YYYYYEESSSSSSS!!" Apparently she was too disturbed to have normal calm responses, the Ring Master now even more furious turned his attention to the fool headed henchponies. "What are you looking at, get GOING!" He turned back around with his aggressive tone snapping, "Nopony is going to utter a word, you breath so much as to draw attention and I'll have ya Kkkkkkk!" He ran his hoof across his throat in a slicing motion. "Got IT!" Spike and Derpy held their throats afraid to lose their heads. Everypony nodded including the animals knowing not to make a word or it could be the end for them all. The only things that did make sounds in the room were the still out of the ordinary happy Berry Swirls family. One of the younger mares shot a piece of bubblegum still in the wrapper through a straw popping Spike in the back of the head. POP! "Oww..." He turned around to see a pony waving her hoof trying to loudly whisper, "PSSSTTTTT.... HEYYYYY.... TELL THE UNICORN I SAID HEEYYYYYY..." She comically stuck her head out of the cage and made a funny face like she was speaking to a foreigner, "I WANT TO TELL HER SOMETHING! IT'S REALLLY IMPORTANT..." Spike rolled his eyes and poked Sketch. "Ahhh Oh... what, are... are they gone? Was I..." She turned her attention to the guard who stared at her for a moment and grinned honking his nose. "Eeeehhh... it's not a dream, it's not dream is it?" "Nope, I wish it was..." Spike grumbled feeling more annoyed than anything as he sat by the cage bars. "Hey scaredy filly, over here! I'm talking to you..." The mare now was pointing her hoof real hard and shaking it at Sketch who noticed her this time. With a curious expression Sketch raised an eyebrow as if to ask her what? "Hi...!" "Ugghhhh...." Sketch just flopped on the ground by the silly response and rolled on her back whimpering, "How did everything get soooo... sooo flip flop and weird?" "Maybe one of us is dreaming... quick pinch me..." At the same time they pinched one another and simultaneously pulled back quickly blurting, "Owww... nope we're totally awake... I don't understand how could this happen, we're supposed to be protected from things like this..." Sketch disagreed with a loathsome groan, "That's just it Spike, the Harmonious barrier isn't anything more than some goofy name for what we like to call stability, weather stability, plenty of food water and shelter... no overpopulation, you name anything that is supposed to make a happy pony happy then you have it here, it's not some special magic barrier like the one at Canterlot, it can't protect us from this..." Spike turned around and in a shock he replied, "Wow, that sounded like something North would say..." Sketch laughed a bit and agreed, "Yeah I think she's starting to rub off on me... I donno but I feel better now, somewhat..." Sketch felt a strange sense of calm in this carnival of chaotic horrors, though Spike seemed to be the reason why it felt easier seeing as he was ready to clock one in the face for her, knowing she could talk to him or rely on him to sock one in the face made her feel more comfortable. Out of the blue she felt a piece of bubblegum hit her across the nose! "Agghh... what was that?" "Youuuuu!" Spike started to feel unnerved about the mysterious mare that kept getting their attention. "What are you trying to do get us Kkkkk... we're supposed to be quiet..." He argued back at the pony. "Psshhh boy are you two a couple of class A clucks, just like the rest of these chickens..." She rolled her eyes and gave a snickering smile as if she knew a secret and wasn't going tell flopping her swirled blue and red mane like she owned this circus. "What I'm no chicken, I just don't want to go Kkkkkkkk..." "Chieeecken... Bok bok... bukock!" "I'm not a chicken!" The guard turned around and growled in a slow bumbly voice, "Heeyyy uuhhh, you nota suppose to be talkin... sooo, shut your face pipsqueak..." "Grrr.... I'm not a pipsqueak, or a chicken..." Spike felt furious about the name calling, and he turned his attention over to the rosie pony and snapped, "What makes you so special?" She shrugged and replied, "I don't know. My name's Bubblegum Berry, care for some..." She shot another piece of gum out of her straw and laughed as it hit Spike in the eye... "Agghhh what the hay!" "Heyy, I saida be a quiet in there... or it's a gonna be curtains for youz!" Spike closed his mouth and turned his attention away from the pony to look over at a large cage. His wandering eyes caught the glimpse of Windstorm who was sitting with a shackle to his hind leg. "Nooo... Windstorm..." Spike heard so much about the acts of this caravan of carnies, but he never fathomed until now how serious a problem deceptive liars were. Here was a lie of innocent fun and thrills, but the truth was a nightmare for them, what's worse was thinking about how long they were captive, the tales of Windstorm had been scattered years ago so it was heartbreaking to see such a graceful stallion enslaved for entertainment. "Sketch we gotta do something for these ponies..." Spike whispered trying to keep his voice down from the guard nearby. "Use your magic, or something..." "Spike if it was that easy wouldn't those unicorns have done it long ago?" Sketch pointed her hoof over to a couple of unicorns who were half dressed in makeup, seemingly stained no doubt from abuses for poor performances. "Well you and North are like ten times better at magic than them I bet, just try..." Sketch shook her head slowly and whispered, "Not right now, if North was here she'd say now was not the time, we need to wait for an opportunity to come up so we can plan." "Ok now you're totally being North right now... next thing I know you're going to be reading a lot of books and stuff..." Sketch giggled as she felt a little bit lighter in this dreary place replying, "Well I... I just go with whatever comes to mind, and right now I'm just thinking what would my friends do so North comes to mind really, she'd know how to get out of this situation easy..." "Totally she'd be all magic missiles all up in here." Suddenly out from behind a voice answered, "See now that's what I'm talking about, you go guys, fight those bad feelings inside with smiles!" With a modest face Sketch turned around with a soft answer, "Thanks... ummm Bubblegum Berry was it...?" "That's mah name don't Swirl it out hehehehehe!" In their captivity they supposed talking to Bubblegum Berry was not going be so bad, they seemed to not be cared about when they talked to her, at least keeping their voices down they were not risking the dreaded Kkkkkk... "I'm mostly a clown, well I can trot a tightwire, I can throw a mean pie, I can make pies, mostly cream pies, cuz they are easy and fun cause you can splat them in ponies faces like so..." She pulled out a cream pie as if from thin air and KERSPLAT! She wailed a sibling of hers with a pie and he laughed snickering back, "Ohhhh SNAP, Bubblegum done started a PIE FIGHT!" The family again like last night erupted in a laughing pie throwing fit! "I STARTED THIS FIGHT AND I'LL FINISH IT FOR SURESIES!" Pies flew everywhere, and cream was splattering at a distance far enough to hit Sketch across the cheek. The search went on for hours, at one point everypony in the group gathered at Sugarcube Corner as Applebloom brought juice with Pumpkin and Pound cake dishing out treats. A small rolling echo of thunder rumbled off in the distance as they dried off from the torrential rain outside. North made her way to town. The image of an alicorn flying by was beyond what the Ring Master could've wanted happening, "What's this eh, an Alicorn... Is she regal, no she doesn't have a single guard around her or in the vicinity... nor any clothing that would suggest... Agghhh I'm over reacting, in any case this is no good either way, every moment idling in this town is a moment we could be discovered... It's no surprise why the news has spread so fast grrrrrrrr..." The shifty Ring Master disappeared into the main tent and began to order everypony to get to their positions. "Well, well well what's with the social gathering mares?" Jaxx still limping around was about to tell her when Lavender with a more distraught and quick tone cried out, "OH NORTH... you are North right, the alicorn I hear Sketch speak about from time to time?" "Yeahh, and you must be the fancy pants art mare that's staying over at her house... what's up?" Raising a brow North asked politely. Lavender placed her hoof gracefully over her forehead and whined, "Oh it's just dreadful North... simply dreadful, Jaxx has lost her siblings, the one called Derpy has gone missing, so has SPIKE... and Sketch-it was the last one to disappear, we haven't seen them since last night..." Jaxx had a glinting fire in her eye when she turned her attention out the window to the tent. "Yeah but I rekon I know what happened..." Lavender stopped her overdramatics and looked over to Jaxx with an inconclusive face, "You do??" "I'm pertty sure. You see I've seen ponies like Derpy, but mind you not as unique like her... they share one common thing, and that's honesty. She wouldn't take my sister and brother anywhere but to the circus and back home... problem is they went ta the circus and never came back... now tell me now what does that mean?" Lavender mulled it over while North and Applebloom in no time flat inquired, "The circus has them?" "Oh please you can't be serious, I said there were such things but, this circus has been around for years..." North flung her tail to the side and stared at Lavender. "What...?" "I'm with Jaxx on this, something's fishy cause I know Derpy, she would do as she was told, nomatter how destructive a path she would make in the process... not to mention Spike and Sketch are missing, this all happens when this circus is around, that's enough to investigate to me." "You can't be serious how are you..." "We..." Lavender took a step back. "Whoa, don't be putting me into this..." North glared at Lavender and with a stern tone questioned her, "If you call yourself a friend mare then you're going to get your hooves dirty with us..." Her butler of course agreed, "Might I remind you Miss Rose, would it not be for Miss Sketch in the first place you would still be in the Inn whining?" Lavender put on a nervous smile and awkwardly agreed, "Well, yes I suppose that would be true, I guess the noble thing to do since she did give me a new home and a golden opportunity would be to help find her, very well. I shall assist in the investigation of this potentially phony carnival." Satisfied, North gave a happy nod and gathered the mares around her. "Hey girls what's going on?" Starlight out of nowhere as usual came fluttering in and North just merged her in the group conversation scheming a plan. Applebloom laughed with a snark reply, "As usual another one of North's famous group huddles." "Haha very funny OK! So here's the basic idea, security is going to be pretty tight at night, but it's also going to be dark and some will be asleep giving us the best chance to investigate." "Actually the caravan is supposed to pack up sometime tonight and leave near like four in the morning..." Scootaloo added. The group looked at her awkwardly as if she just showed some useful side of herself. "What so I keep tabs on some things, no biggy jeeze, you all act like I don't pay attention to anything..." "Annyway, well if this is true then I have the perfect plan! Quick mares, to Sketch's house!" They waited until nightfall for this, the one... and probably only time these mares all dressed up as... CLOWNS! Yes clowns, the idea was to infiltrate the clown crew and figure out what's going on while they help pack up the equipment and stalls. "Ok be sure to try and immitate the other clowns, if they talk, talk like them, if they don't keep your trap shut." The mares understood and began to split up heading straight to the now closing circus. Ponies were beginning to leave which was the perfect opportune time to sneak in. North leading Starlight and Jaxx, Applebloom leading Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, and of course Lavender and Red on their own! North and her group were the first in and were called upon immediately by a griffin, "Hey... you three, what are you doing, go report to the Ring Master." It was Racer who called out to them, Jaxx and Starlight followed North towards the entrance of the tent when Racer caught sight of the limp pony. "Hey, what's wrong with your leg!?" They halted a moment as Jaxx turned gulping. Afraid of what might happen if she spoke wrong she tried her best to make a deep stallion like tone, "Ugghh...errr, I broke it slipping on... dahhh a banana peel..." Racer glared at the pony and just turned scoffing, "Pffttt, stupid henchponies... go on report to the Ring Master already!" The three of them sighed as they galloped towards the entrance. A small group of clown henchponies started to leave and caught sight of them. "Hey you three..." North got caught by the lead clown who ordered her and the two others to follow them. "Come on, we need some more hooves to do this job." Applebloom and her group succeeded where North had failed gaining access to the main tent before it was packed. They caught sight of the Ring Master who spotted them. In a hurry he commanded, "Quick get back there and help load the caravan up." While the main groups were getting mixed into the clown posse, Lavender and Red were busy looking around at the stalls and equipment as several henchponies were gathering up everything. "Miss Rose, I believe we should be mingling in with the clowns if we are to be believable..." Lavender in her lavishing makeup just scoffed as she mumbled, "Red I do not associate myself with manual labor you know that perfectly well..." Red gave a deep sigh as he stood idly by Lavender who of course insisted on giving herself a proper makeover. Her job looked more like some porcelain doll than a real clown. Applebloom and her group trotted into the back stage where they were in shock to see the sight of all the mistreated animals and caged ponies. "Dear Celestia, what is going on here..." Applebloom mumbled. Before they could get anywhere the Ring Master was behind her with two griffins aiming their rifles. "Precisely what I'm wondering mares..." The three girls felt a sharp chill down their spines as they turned to meet the snarling angry face of the Ring Master. "What you think I'm stupid or something, for one thing all of my hired hooves are male with the exception of one griffin, I'd like to also add I do not have any pegasi or unicorns as a part of my work force which leads me to believe now something is fishy, wouldn't you agree?" He ended his words with a sour and very grim tone as if to condemn the girls to an undecided fate! Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle felt they let themselves get caught and all Sweetie Belle could say was, "Well girls, looks like we're in big trouble..." "Ohhhh you most certainly are, quick cage them up, we're gonna have to deal with most of these some way, maybe pony trafficking." as his henchponies apprehended the mares, he added, "I'd like to warn you in advance, my stallions have been having a trigger happy itch. They have orders to shoot anypony who does not obey, and any other pony that can be made an example of will be shot as well so no funny business..." Meanwhile North had her hands full as she was following the clown posse to what appeared to be Anvil's smithery which was odd, what were these goons up to going to the smithery no less. "You gonna be ok back there Jaxx?" North realized Jaxx had been giving her all trying to stay up with the group but she was slowing down. "Naww I'm fine girls just... if ya gotta go ahead of me go ahead..." She understood and coached Starlight to continue with her. Inside the smithery a lone son of Anvil was working on a piece of metal. His father had done went to bed and left him to mess around with his own personal work. "A little bit of this, a dash of that... ok yes, some of this will give it a good kick..." The small area he had running with his magic seemed alive with activity, but he kept it down as to not awake his dad or anypony nearby. He was tempering steel while doing some weird concoction with another levitation spell perfectly balancing his magic activity. "I know it's possible to do this, I've heard enough stories to know it's true, come on... careful..." He was just about to take the concoction over to another table concentrating with his goggles on in case of an accident, when he heard the door open. "Whaa... dad is that, wait... no ... who... whoa... WHOA!" A small shadow became multiple and they seen the stallion as well. Desperately three ran for him to prevent him from alerting the town, but this crazy stallion wasn't about to go down without a crazy fight! "OH SNAP!" The red unicorn stallion freaked out and launched his concoction into the group with a loud PSHHH!!! The potion exploded with a bright flare blinding several of them! "GAHHH AHH CAN'T SEE!" The stallion galloped forward and dropkicked the clown in the face and as the concoction continued to sporadically throw lights and flares around, he could see his aggressors perfectly with his goggles shielding the bright light. Several started to wobble around and fall into steel works making loud clunking noises as they bumbled around! "Oh wow, a bunch of clowns... WOW, now i've seen everything..." North backed away as the flaring concoction was making a loud whistle echoing through the night! It almost sounded like somepony had unleashed a keg of fireworks! "What the blazes... GAHHH those imbeciles!" The Ring Master stomped his hoof knowing now the jig was up, that sound was going to wake up the entire town! "Come on let's hurry, just take everything you can and go!" Racer gave the word and the tents began to pack up into large steam powered trailers. "Let's move it come on!" Hidden in the bowels of the trailers connected to a mammoth steam engine the captives were all expecting this was going to be messy. "You ready Racer, in case this goes bad..." "I got all we need right here..." The strong griffin had on her back a large pack full of their earnings and all the parts she could carry from the storage. "Good, let's see how far we can get. I'm hoping we can escape, there's just too much invested in this to let it go..." The Ring Master was no fool though he would ditch his investment to keep his earnings and his freedom from the clutches of justice! North turned around to see the tents disappearing in a retractable trailer. She gasped in awe at the sight of such a mechanical device. "Ahhh no time to be star struck North! Starlight you're with me, we're gonna hitch a ride on that caravan! Jaxx you can rest easy, we'll save them on our own." Jaxx nodded as she felt pain running through her bad leg. "Alright I'ma leavin the rescuin to you gals, good luck!" "I don't like the sound of this, but I must'n let Sketch down, I shall be the most rescuingest pony I can be." Reluctantly Starlight flew behind North making an aerial swoop towards the mechanical vehicles. "HYAHH!" A buck, a kick, body slam and a small telekinetic blast, The red stallion made his offense tossing those clowns out of his dad's smithery and on the ground one by one. The clowns hesitated to use their weapons as their ride was starting to leave them. "Don't... please, no more we give!" Before a fight even started, this red stallion managed to toss an equivalent of a firework keg in their face and deliver a good ole fashioned beat down of submission. Anvil and Le-Clerc came out of their houses with their personal firearms and had the group subdued. "Don't any of you move a muscle or I'll pop a cap in your flank so help me CELESTIA!" Le-Clerc barked as he levitated his pistol over them trying to act tough. Jaxx met up with Lavender and Red who were lagging too far behind to be of any help. "Jeeze that dern thing moves faster than it looks." A blazing stallion stopped by them and replied, "So where's the rest of your goons?" "GAHHH...!" The frustrated red stallion glared at them waiting for an answer. Lavender snooted her nose into the air and replied, "Ahhh I can't believe that you would associate me with those ruffians..." Red cleared his throat and assured the red stallion, "Please forgive Miss Rose, she's still new here, we're actually dressed as clowns in an effort to investigate the disappearances of some local ponyfolk..." Jaxx and Lavender both nodded agreeing with Red's explanation. The stallion accepted their story and asked, "So what did you find out?" "They seemed to have left in a hurry so we are not exactly sure." Red replied. The stallion gave a nod with compliance and in a less frustrated tone answered, "I'm Metallic Thunder by the way, but let's keep the formalities at a minimum I got a personal score to settle with these clowns." As quick as he came he shot off towards the vehicles ready to cause some havoc! Inside the trailer the captive Spike and Sketch were feeling something was up, everypony was feeling pretty anxious. Just above them two winged ponies were descending on the trailer. "Ok you ready for this?" North gave a glance to Starlight seeing if she was ready. She acknowledged with a nod and North was ready to find out what was inside. They swooped down behind the trailer directly connected to the steam engine and North gave a powerful buck to the manual latch, this opened up the basic loading door of the trailer. They were met with two henchponies with guns! "Aghhh back away now!" The sound of the first gunshot came whistling in North and Starlight's ears. "Whoa, they actually, shot at us... tha..." North's eyes flashed a bit, as if it was the first thing that's ever came close to ever threaten her life before. She faded back with Starlight around the other side of the back trailer. "What do we do North!?" The machine was going pretty fast but they kept up with a breeze pushing against them. North was trying to rectify a plan for this problem. "Starlight, I want you to shoot ahead of me as fast as you can, grab their attention, I'm going to go around the other side..." A bit hesitant Starlight watched as North ascended around to the other side. "Oh come on Starlight you can do this, just go as fast as you can... Think shooting star..." She began to go forward and she could see the two henchponies aiming at her. "Nope, nope, nope I can't do this!" Before she could make a straight shot she squeamed out of the bolt and flew away! A few rounds popped off into the woods. North had them where she wanted them and with a flash she bolted around the side with a flying dropkick throwing both of them off the trailer! They fell to the ground where they began to get back up and make their way back. "HYYYAHHH!" Starlight flew back denying their run to safety with a powerful dive bomb kick! "Sorry for being so rough but I can't let you hurt my friends." "Agghhhh Okkk..." They mumbled in unison unable to get back up from being kicked, they were pretty much too dazed to get back up. North had managed to get inside where she crept along the side of the tent canvas, she found a small corner to sneak through and did so as the canvas flapped in the air. Upon peering into the room she could see the contents of the backstage. She spotted all the captives and tried to find Sketch and her group. As she began to sneak through the room the guards were not yet alerted by her presence. The first cage she came across was of course the small filly Starburst. As North inched her way by her she noticed North and was about to let out a startled whinny, when North put her hoof to her mouth shushing her quietly. "It's ok, I'ma bust you all out..." Watching from a distance, Windstorm had a feeling this dressed clown pony was not like the others. He noticed the guards nearby were getting anxious, they didn't hear anything else but the opening in the trailer was still making the tent canvas flap and whirl around eerily. "It's awfully quiet out there, you don't suppose..." Windstorm seen this as a chance to finally get his filly freedom and he didn't care if his outburst would cause the death of him. He started to go absolutely crazy yelling, "AGGHHHH!!! What's that, SPIDERS WHERE!!!! AGGHHH SPIDERS! OH NOO I think one bit me AGGHHHH... OOOHHHHH, EVERYTHINGS ALL FUZZY!" Suddenly without knowing the consequences of his own actions the berry family began to flip their manes screaming, "SPIDERRSS!!!" Spike looked around frantically and Sketch backed up by Applebloom with her gang which were huddled by Derpy, Lil B, and Chess Pie... "Sppp...spp...spiders... WHERE, WHERE!?" "I don't see any spidersss..." One henchpony commented, but his partner a not so bright one argued, "Dahhh how can you tell, it's dark... and spiders are dark too, dark and fuzzy with ahhhh sharp fangs... and some are poisonous... yeahh yeahh and ahhh... they are small!" "Stop it you're freaking me out now!" North seen this as a chance to act and she made a run for Windstorm's cage! She figured letting loose that big stallion would definitely even the odds for a fight. She came up to the first guard and bucked him right in the flank sending him flying into the three others! "GUAHHHPHHH!" With a clear run she sent her hooves right into the cage lock and bashed it several times to break it open. "Wow, I wasn't expecting it to be that easy?" The mare wondered when she turned she was met by four angry ponies... Her ears pinning back nervously as she backed up towards the opened cage door which at the moment the henchponies were not realizing the shadow looming over her. "What the..." When they looked up and seen the towering pegasus with a sneering grin the group started to feel their hooves grow heavy. He seemed REALLY HAPPY for some reason and when he opened his mouth the words, "Been years of holding back all this..." left rather vengefully. He bucked a shackle on his hoof into the cage snapping it open and began to spread his wings with a loud POMPF! The gust blew the henchponies back a few inches who in turn refused to even try and tangle with this beast. "I... I think it would be a good idea to... RUNNN!" The clowns galloped off tripping on one another to escape the trailer when they leaped out they were met with a posse of ponies ready to go to war! Metallic Thunder, his dad Anvil and some earth ponies from Ponyville still on their inactive duty joined in rounding up these goons as they hopped out. North felt awkward that this was getting too easy. She didn't argue with it she just rolled with it and she began to release the other cage doors. Spike could see North through her makeup and he threw his claws up rejoicing, "AND NORTH SAVES THE DAY AGAIN!" Sketch's eyes started twitching as she began to flip out, "IS THE WORLD TURNING INTO CLOWNS NOWWW... PLEASSEEE LET THIS BE A DREAM CELESTIA!" North laughed with a simple response, "Psshhh... come on you all, we're heading back..." Out of nowhere the guns started going off. "What's going on nowww?" "Get back!" The inactive duty militia were huddled back behind trees as the flung open rear trailer unleashed what seemed to be most of the clowns who were hiding by the prefabricated stalls loaded up in disassembled parts returning fire back at Anvil and his small posse. "Of all the places in Equestria to start a firefight..." "I know dad, this is ridiculous!" Metallic Thunder responded to his dad. "What's weirder is it's a bunch of phony clowns..." The stallions made a slow inch forward shooting into the back trailer. Metallic Thunder took a small concoction from his saddlebags and mixed them together. Anvil could not understand what his son seen in the wonders of chemistry and alchemy, but when that bottle lit on fire and his son volleyed the inferno into the back of that trailer the fire engulfed the the entire contents inside as the materials started to catch flame! "WOOOOO! That's MAH BOY, YEAH!" Anvil rooted for his son's ingenuity. The clowns poured out trying to keep from catching on fire of course some did! As they popped out there were two figures that didn't settle right looming a silhouette over the flames. "GRIFFINS!" Anvil yelled as the three of them shot off into the air through the flames making jets of fire! Racer who had observed the whole thing from the side of the main trailer was feeling nervous herself. She felt her light colored feathers beginning to ruffle as she was itching to get out of this growing firestorm. "What's the status of the caravan Racer?" Racer delivered the information to him in an instant, "All the rides including the carousel, Ferris Wheel, and rear Trailer are lost, quite possibly the second trailer is going to be done for as well sir..." The Ring Master nodded to himself and he let go of the controls letting the engine coast to a slow stop. "I see, well I guess I shouldn't have expected to get away with everything, let's bolt out of here before they catch us." The two goons jumped out of the front and the Ring Master revealed his wings from beneath his coat! Racer followed behind him into the night. "They haven't heard the last of the Ring Master!" North escorted the ponies out where they could see the unfair fighting happening in the background. Pinned down by the trees the posse of small militia were unable to hold off the mass of clowns and the three griffins. "We gotta help them... somehow..." North thought aloud, Windstorm agreed with her but he took a step forward replying, "Don't worry, I got this." The huge wings blasted open and he launched in the air lofting a jet stream of wind strong enough that it began to shift the griffins in the air until their wings couldn't keep pace with the thrust and immediately they were grounded! The wind of his wings caused everypony to stop firing as the strength and power of that blast was so impressive and awe striking. What they were witnessing was the real Windstorm! For once in years Windstorm could feel an actual freedom, free from the shackles of being inside a cramped tent, free from that infernal cage. "AHHH this feels sooo good, I could just!" North and her troop of friends watched as the glorious Windstorm performed the act that would dazzle many ponies across Equestria. Tears ran from this majestic stallion's eyes as he could feel fresh air brush his cheek. Contrary to the words of the Ring Master, Windstorm could position his wings in such a way that he could jet around the sky with ease, being cramped in that awful tent was why he did not have such a priviledge! "Wowww..." Awe struck were these ponies at what years of being trapped could make a pony do when set free. That middle aged stallion was loop de looping and making a ruckus in the air like a hyperactive colt! The griffins dropped their weapons and in some strange way the violence was over in an instant, nopony lost a life though some were burned a little crispy no lives were lost in this engagement. Spike turned to Sketch and replied, "You still think the harmonious barrier is nothing...?" Sketch just rolled her eyes and laughed. When he came flying back down he tripped on his leg and he cried out, "CRASH LANDING OUT OF THE WAY AGGHHHH!!!" "OH SNAP!" Spike barreled out of the way with the ponies following his leap of faith away from the crash landing stallion! He landed on the ground upside down to the trailer with a loud THUD! He looked up in a daze and seen a little yellow coat glinting in the moonlight, her blue mane and large wings fluttering with shyly. The innocent little filly looked down smiling with a glow of happiness for the first time, and as she felt her eyes swell and tear up Windstorm starting to choke up himself. He raised his hooves up and she hopped on top of him hugging tightly crying, "PAPPA!" "Oommphh... Ahhhh... Starburst, Ohh my little filly..." That pegasus was just wanting to cry with his daughter, but he tried to control himself. He had been refused the right to hold or be even close enough to touch his child for years, what that does to a parent to see and never get to hug or comfort their child in such a situation is just sheer heart felt pain. To reunite with his daughter Starburst was just too much for him to not cry! "This is probably the second best day of my life ever!" The Pony friends all were ready to ball their eyes out, it even made the clown goons teary eyed... "What are you blubberin about..." "It... it's justss... I never got to see my dad...! Andaahhh it's so beauteeful I just... I wanna meet myyy dad now!" "Don't you cry... ddoo... doonnn't you dar.... Noww look what you gone and done, now I'm cryiinnnnnggg... WWWWAAHHHHHH!!!!" Bubblegum Berry smiled really big and she cried out, "THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION! CREAM PIE FIGHT ANYPONY!?" "PIE FIGHT!!!!" "HIT THE DECK!" North, Starlight, Applebloom and her group didn't understand for a moment until Bubblegum Berry and her family started launching pies everywhere! "THIS IS LIKE THE THIRD TIME, WHERE ARE YOU GETTING ALL THESE PIEESSS!" One of the henchponies cried out as he ducked from the onslaught of pie tins! The night wrapped up with a large group of ponies making their way back to Ponyville, but a few ponies didn't quite leave yet. Sketch, North and Spike waited back by the engine which North could not just let go. "I really want this, like really really bad Sketch..." Sketch turned her attention to North who had glinting eyes of ingenuity with cogs rolling and cranking in her head. "If you two don't mind I'm gonna take this back home, somehow... unless you two would like to help me?" Sketch glanced at it and replied, "Pfftt, mare like I told ya when we first met, I got to play with a wheel and some knobby things, I read about some of it, but I didn't read, read into it so i wouldn't know how to do anything with it." North gave a sigh understanding she didn't want to mess with it. "Oh fine, go fiddle with your magicks and your paint set, I must go and MAKE SCIENCE!" Before they could go their seperate ways two large winged ponies trotted up to them. Windstorm looked down at them and graciously gave gratitude, "Thank you, thank you so very much, there's just... no amount of gratitude I can express. For years I was stuck in that cage. I almost lost hope that my daughter would ever get to live her life." North and Sketch nodded. "But I really didn't do anything." Sketch mumbled. Windstorm trotted over to her before North or Spike could respond and he put his hoof on her shoulder replying, "Well I may have not meant it directly to you filly, but don't be so hard on yourself. You no doubt played a huge role and you don't even know it." North nodded and filled in his space, "Absolutely, I wasn't planning on a visit to the library today I was really tired, and with just Derpy, Lil B, and Chess Pie missing, Sketch you could've been the main reason why we mares took such fast action!" "Really...?" North nodded with a confident, "Yup! You might not think it mare but you're super important to all of us. As friends we're not just going to let you get ponynapped and not do anything about it!" Sketch blushed as she turned her head away mumbling, "Thanks..." Windstorm gave a slow satisfied nod. He turned to his little girl who trotted over to Sketch. Starburst gave a cute nuzzle to Sketch's cheek making her blush more. Starburst turned and gave Spike one as well. "Awwww gee...." North's turn came up and especially for her Starburst gave her a big hug for being the reason she and her father were free. "It's been forever since she's been able to actually interact with friendly ponies." North nodded slowly replying, "Well Ponyville as I've heard is the most friendly town around." Windstorm looked over at the town up the road. "You know I've been thinking we should settle down now, start a new life, maybe give my girl a school to go to, might find a fitting mare for her to call mom..." Starburst absolutely loved the idea of staying here with these ponies. "Can we pappa, can we stay!" Wiggling her flank around happily she nuzzled up against him hoping he would say yes. "Of course my little shooting star, we can stay." "YES!" She rejoiced happily fluttering her large wings lifting herself into the air. Spike, Sketch, and the gang went to their homes and received a good night sleep to erase the sheer weirdness that happened that night. Windstorm and his foal went to the inn hoping that they would be welcomed and of course with open hooves they were allowed to sleep the night for free with the other freed ponies due to their situation. When the day arose, Sketch was greeted with a loud voice as most of the times she was never given a calm morning to wake up, "HEY WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!" "GAHHHHH!!" She flopped out of her bed that she thought she would be enjoying more that day, but apparently not. She looked at Bubblegum Berry who was pointing her hoof outside her bedroom door frantically replying, "Come on there's something I want to show you... OOHHH ITS REALLY REALLY COOL I PROMISE!" "Aghhh... so it all wasn't a dream I see, aggghhh ok Bubblegum I'm coming..." "SSWWEEETT!!!" She pranced around as Sketch slowly moved her way out the door and as she came to the stairs a loud, "SURPRISEEE!" BBOOOM! A cannon went off and Pumpkin Cake SCREAMED, "WWWEEWWWW!!!! ANOTHER PARTY AT SKETCH'S HOUSE, and this time WE BROUGHT ENTERTAINMENT! KICK IT DJ VINYL!" Vinyl gave a rocking nod as she slapped a record down and the house erupted! "AAGGHHHH!!!" "GREAT PARTY HUH... I heard you had a party not too long ago, and since you were really cool and all I figured hey... this pony needs a party for being soo cool! Actually it's for all you ponies, but more it's like a welcome to Ponyville for my family sorta party, but we thought of you cause you're like really one of the first ponies we know here and so here we are I guess you could say it's like an all purpose Welcome, Celebration, Congratulatory AWESOME PARTY!" Sketch's mind could not keep up with Bubblegum's mouth. The hyper pony commenced to jump off the stair rail on top of a mini bouncy castle! "HOW IS ALL THIS IN MY HOUSE WHO... WHO!!?" What could only be described as Bubblegum's parents had approached Sketch and with a grateful thanks they graciously replied, "I know this must be quite a crazy day for ya, but Bubblegum insisted on thanking you her own special way I suppose, she's always just soooo energetic don't ya know..." Her mother replied, her father nodded adding, "I have to say this is quite an upgrade to our home, Ponyville is so friendly and spacious, all that extra stuff from the carnival equipment we used to make a nice little home. If you want we can show you later it has this..." He was about to ramble when the mother nudged him. "Ohh yes right, well we're very grateful that you could be friends with Bubblegum, it's not really that often she gets friends seeing that we traveled a lot. Hopefully turning over a new leaf will change all that." "Well anywho we're sorry if it's any trouble for hosting the party here, but she just insisted on giving you a great big thank you for being her first friend here in Ponyville... and welcoming us to Ponyville, and congratualting you all for being as she puts it... awesome!" Sketch looked down at the rosie pink pony with her cherry and blueberry mane bouncing around all carefree and just blissful smiling and laughing with the other ponies on the bouncy castle. That moment, Sketch realized it was not all that bad. The parties, the friends, why this was living in harmony compared to her old life. Though nothing could compare to her personal times with the Mareweathers this was just so festive and fun though... "Looks like I made a new friend, a really exciting one I might add. I wonder what's going to be in store for me now?" Sketch heard Bubblegum yell, "GET YOUR FLANK DOWN HERE Sketch and JOIN THE PARTAYYYY!!!" The voices of her friends North, Spike, and Starlight echoed for her to come down and join. Sketch just gave a shrug and galloped down the stairs racing for the bouncy castle replying back, "WATCH OUT MARES! HERE I COME!"