Pinkie was back at her home in an instant.
She hadn’t even decided to go back to her home. She had just thought of it and she was there. It was in the early morning, with the sun about to rise over the horizon. Which was confusing to Pinkie, considering that a moment ago the sun had been shining.
‘You went too fast and raced slightly back in time,’ Nabu explained.
“Wait, I just…time traveled?” Pinkie asked.
‘Only slightly. Ten minutes. But this works better for our needs,’ Nabu said. ‘This gives us time to gather your family and leave before complications arise. Now hurry. We don’t have much time.’
“Wait, can’t we time travel? Wouldn’t that give us all the time in the world?”
‘Time travel is a dangerous business. You never know how one small action can change everything. Avoid it if you can,’ Nabu warned. ‘Now land. We must hurry.’
Pinkie did as Nabu asked, gently touching down in front of her home. The moment she did, her suit and cape vanished into the helmet. She reached up and took off the helmet, which morphed back to its original shape. She was just about to ask where she should put the helmet, only to look down and see there was a bag slung over her shoulder. She stuffed the helmet inside before looking at her door, taking in a deep breath.
“MOMMY!”
A yellow torpedo tackled Pinkie in the gut and knocked her flat, leaving Pinkie to fight for air while her son squeezed her like a vice. “You’re back! You’re back!”
“Hey…Lil’ Cheese…” Pinkie wheezed out. Cheese Sandwich pulled their son off of Pinkie and gave her a chance to get back to her hooves, before Cheese pulled her into a hug.
“We heard about the collapse at the quarry,” Cheese said as Lil’ Cheese attached himself to Pinkie’s leg. “We…feared the worst. Dozens of lives were lost in the collapse and…and we feared…”
“Dozens…” Pinkie whispered before she glared down at her bag.
‘Their lives were unimportant to this world. Only yours matters.’
“Listen here you…” Pinkie snarled, only to notice that her son was looking up at her with confusion. Pinkie let out a sigh before her smile returned and she pulled Lil’ into a hug. “Come on it’s me. If you think a little rock fall is going to stop me, you clearly forgot where I grew up.”
“Hehe, nothing can stop mommy,” Lil’ Cheese said. He let go of Pinkie’s leg and Cheese opened the door for Pinkie to come inside, but a thought from Nabu stopped her.
‘We must leave. Now is best.’
“Why?” she whispered.
‘Just think your questions, I’ll just read your mind. But the reason is Tirek will be sending henchmen to search for the source of magical power that just rocked his cosmos at the quarry. Which will eventually lead them to you.’
‘You actually shook the cosmos?’
‘I’ve found revealing my true power gets others to do what I demand faster.’
‘And why should we be afraid of henchmen? With your power…’
‘The henchmen are not what I am afraid of. Neither is Tirek. There is another force at play here, one which might cause even me some concern. Now answer your family, they are staring at you.’
Pinkie glanced up to see both Cheese’s staring at her. Pinkie regained her composure and smiled at them with a shake of her head.
“Sorry, but we’ve got to go. Seems that the resident goons here have taken in upon themselves to blame me for the collapse at the quarry, so…”
“What? But you didn’t cause it, right?” Lil’ Cheese asked.
“No, I most certainly did not,” Pinkie confirmed with a small glare at her bag. “But that doesn’t matter. You both know how Tirek and his henchmen think. We need to go.”
“Well, it’s not like we weren’t expecting this one day,” Cheese Sandwich said with a bitter smirk. “Come on Lil’, I’ll help you pack.” He vanished into their small home while Lil’ Cheese raced after him, leaving Pinkie alone with Nabu once more.
‘Don’t,’ Nabu said.
“What?”
‘Do not tell them about me. It will create complications.’
“I’m telling them. One lie to them is bad enough, but if you think I’m not going to tell them about the helmet of god that I’ve got in my bag, then you’re not an omniscient god.”
‘I will not let y-‘
“Whoa, what’s this gold helmet in your bag, mommy?”
With a smile, Pinkie looked down at her son, who was looking at the Helmet of Fate in her bag. Nabu had gone silent as Lil’ Cheese picked up the helmet and looked at it, his wide eyes reflecting in the gold. “Where did you find this?”
“Bottom of the quarry. Turns out there was a really ancient temple down there filled with traps, bones and treasure. But this was the real treasure,” Pinkie explained. Her sons eyes went even wider, before he tried to slide the helmet onto his head. The shape of the helmet prevented it from getting any further than his nose, so after a moment of trying, he gave it back to his mom.
“That’s a strange shape for a helmet,” Cheese Sandwich said as he walked back out of the house, two full bags packed. “Definitely not for a pony. Not for really any race by the looks of it. Are you planning on selling it? Looks like it could be worth quite a fortune.”
“Maybe I will. Depends on how I feel about it,” Pinkie said.
“Well I’ve grabbed everything that we need. And I’ve packed a few things for you, mister grab my toys and nothing else,” Cheese said with a smile as he hoofed a small bag to Lil’ Cheese. The foal flashed his dad an embarrassed smile before they both looked to Pinkie. “So where do we go now?”
“Train station. By the time we get there, we should miss the crowd and have a few available to us.”
“Alright, but where are we going.”
‘Stalliongrad.’
“Stalliongrad. I’ve got…a friend who will help us once we get there,” Pinkie explained. Without hesitation her husband and son both nodded to her. The two picked up their bags, before Cheese hoofed a third bag to Pinkie.
"Here, I've already packed everything that you need. As well as...your personal items," Cheese said with a smile. "And don't worry, I didn't miss any of them."
"Thank you," Pinkie said softly, clutching the bag close as she and her family started to walk down the road from their home. All that was left of her sisters and parents was in this bag. A few jewels, her sister's mane pin and a small rock named Boulder. All irreplaceable.
'They can easily be replaced. Jewels are easy to come by and a pebble can be found anywhere.'
It took every ounce of Pinkie's self control to not chuck the helmet off the nearest cliff and be done with it. She had decided that Nabu, despite his lack of tact, was a necessity. She may not like him, but his power was real. A power to keep her family safe. But, perhaps more importantly, a power to keep out of other hooves.
'Your concern is not needed. I decide who wields my power. And you are the only one I can truly ensure them to.'
'Care to tell me why we're going to Stalliongrad?'
'No.'
'Aw come on, we're partners, aren't we? Partners should trust one another.'
'We are not partners. I may have chosen you to wield my power, but do not think we are on an equal level. You are a mortal. I am a god.'
Pinkie was tempted to snarl at the helmet, but she took in a deep breath and regained herself. Nabu was a god from another reality or the beginning of time, possibly both. He just didn't know what it was like to have a friend, Pinkie decided, though she made sure to not think those thoughts out loud. So she would show him what having a friend was like, even if he was mean, rude and smelled like he had been locked in a crypt. Which he kinda had.
'How are you doing that?' Nabu asked.
'Doing what?'
'Thinking quietly. That is not possible. I know you were thinking right then. You should not be able to hide your thoughts from me. Yet try as I might all I hear inside your head is smile, smile, smile. How are you doing this?'
Pinkie's response was to giggle at Nabu. She then walked up next to her son and gently nudged him.
"You doing okay, my little marshmallow? Leaving home isn't hitting you too hard?"
"I'm okay. I always figured that we wouldn't be in that place forever," Lil' Cheese said with a shrug. "Not to mention it was boring there most days. All of the ponies who lived nearby were grumpy and there was no pony my age to play with. Are we going to find a new home?"
"We're going to. Someday. Right now, mommy has something she needs to do first," Pinkie winked. Lil' Cheese smiled back before he spied a butterfly and raced on ahead, leaving Cheese to fall back to talk to his wife.
"What happened while you were gone?" he whispered to her. "When you went to work today, you were your usual self. But now...something has changed. You've changed. Not your personality or anything, but your eyes. There's...determination in there. And fear. Fear that I thought I would never see in you. So what happened?"
For a moment Pinkie considered telling Cheese. Telling him about the god that lived in the helmet she had picked up and how he had given her unfathomable power. But would he believe her? Could he? When she had first met Cheese, he had been so much like her. Crazy, filled with joy and always down to party. But the years and loss had taken their toll on him...and his laughter was all but gone.
"What if I told you I found a way to undo all that Tirek had done?" Pinkie asked in a whisper. Cheese paused then motioned for her to continue. Pinkie shifted her bag to show the helmet to Cheese. "What if I said that in here rested the spirit of an all powerful god, one who had chosen me to use his power to save our world? To stop Tirek. To free our nation...to give Lil' Cheese a world of peace and love? What if I said that I had been chosen by a god?"
"Well if that's the case then I would say," Cheese began, before pulling Pinkie into a soft hug as he smiled at her. "He chose wisely."
†
Alone, sitting atop the highest mountain in the entire realm of Equis, rested a large, black castle. For three decades it had stood unopposed, a symbol of might and terror throughout the land. Yet as beast made of black magic and metal raced back and forth across the castle, trying to repair the holes in the walls and crumbling floors, the master of the castle knew something had changed.
Tirek sat on a throne made of solid gold, with six gems fitting into the chair. One was a violet, six sided star. Another was a butterfly, with a trio of diamonds next to it. A rainbow lightning bolt, group of balloons and apples made up the rest. The Elements of Harmony. The greatest source of magic in Equestria. What he had been told by his master would be the only threat to his rule. And for thirty years, his master had been right. Until today.
A black raven made of metal and magic flew into the throne room, landing at his hooves and bowing its head. "My lord, we have searched extensively, but have found no trace of whatever created that magical pulse. And we can sense no further power anywhere in the land of Equestria. Perhaps it is already in another land?"
"No. It is still here, hiding itself," Tirek grumbled, placing a hand under his chin. "And it is hiding well. I can barely trace it myself. But even with its impressive hiding skills, I can still sense it in Equestria. That is how powerful it is. And why it must be found and destroyed. Go. Keep searching."
The bird nodded and took off, leaving Tirek alone. He growled slightly as he rested his hands on his armrest, clenching his hands around the metal. The Elements of Harmony. The only threat to him. Until today.
Normally Tirek knew he was a beast of fury. That if something didn't go his way or his day was ruined he would fly into a rage, one that normally ended with him destroying a mountain range or something. But his rage was nothing to the cold fear that quelled his fire. For Tirek had been the only one who had sensed the power...and it was a power beyond nearly any he had seen before. A power he could not hope to match. A power that would end all.
And yet it was still not the strongest power he had ever felt.
"And if this power is in any way close to the power of him...then I must find it now...or this whole reality will be lost," Tirek whispered.