Pinkie Pie bounced down the worn path she had been traveling for the last ten minutes, her eyes scanning the thorny trees as she passed by them. Attached to her back was a trio of balloons, a box filled with assorted party goods, and a large bag filled with a large variety of baked goods that anypony would enjoy. According to what Fluttershy and Applejack had said last time she saw them the stallion who lived in this dream area was saddened by the loss of his wife, a mare by the name of Mistwing.
So Pinkie was coming prepared, intending to cheer up the sad pony so he could continue to live his life in the fullest that happiness and laughter could give him. She was prepared to give the stallion the party of his life, one that would reawaken the fun side of his now dull personality. She would reawaken whoever the stallion had been in the beginning and rekindle the fire that could have fueled his heart once upon a time.
As she looked around she couldn't help but wonder why some of her friends feared the thorny trees, considering that they all had fought the gods themselves to restore order to the world. Not that Pinkie really cared considering that she could appear anywhere she wanted, as long as she knew the area in which she was using her abilities. She cared about the safety of others, but following the rules of the universe was downright boring sometimes in her opinion.
But she continued to bounce along the path, the sound of her hooves hitting the ground for a few seconds being the only companion she had. She had stared out following the path that Fluttershy had described to her in full detail, but after some, distractions, she ended up somewhere where Fluttershy had not been before. Not even Applejack had been down this path, seeing how the two had traveled together the last time they had come to this dream area.
So right now Pinkie was alone, traveling some deserted path that none of her friends have journeyed down because she had taken her eyes off the path for a second. She knew that if she kept bouncing along she would eventually come to either the trail she had abandoned or the rundown castle her friends had mentioned to her. Still, she wanted to meet the stallion face to face and see what was troubling him so much besides the death of his wife and the ruin of his castle.
Speaking of the castle she turned around a bend and came face to face with the ruined area that her friends had described, only there was something strange about it. The destroyed tower that both Fluttershy and Applejack reported seeing was now standing tall where they said it had been. Several of the ruined walls had somehow been restored, linking the tower to other pieces of the ruined castle. Even the seemingly destroyed courtyard, the area Fluttershy had meet the snow leopard, had suddenly been repaired to some degree, now making the place look more regal than before.
Pinkie had the feeling that there was something more then what she had been told about this particular castle, something that maybe even Twilight didn't know about.
She ceased her bouncing and examined the statues her friends had seen during their visits to the rundown castle, the strange armored soldiers with the strangest emblem of them all. The strange ten sided star jewel. Upon inspection of the statues Pinkie discovered that the ponies she suspected that were ordinary ponies were actually bat ponies. That was ponies with fluffed ears, silted eyes, and, if they were a pegasus, bat wings in place of their normal pegasus wings.
Bat ponies were the royal guards of Princess Luna; so did that mean that these statues were made to resemble past heroes out of respect for those who died during the war between the sisters? Or did that mean that the statues were the guards of a different ruler, one who used Luna's own guards against her in such a time? Pinkie didn't know much about the current royal guards that protected Luna, but there was something strange at work here.
There was a snap of a twig to her right and she bounced backwards in time to avoid being pounced on by a very large and agile cat. A cat that now stood where she had been standing not a few seconds ago, staring at her as if she was prey that was to be hunted down. It had to be none other than the snow leopard that Fluttershy had met, the one the strange stallion had named Victorious. The cat was supposed to be a nice ball of fluff, but instead the cat was a brute that was trying to kill her.
She was going to have some words with Fluttershy about the meanie animal after all of this was over.
That was before one of the statues suddenly came to life and tackled the giant cat to the ground, rolling just a bit before tossing him into a wall. The cat shook itself and growled, staring the statue in the eye before making another attempt at Pinkie, which was intercepted by the statue. Pinkie had a feeling that the cat was a constant fighter, hence the reason the statues could come alive to capture the cat if it attacked a guest.
Whoever this dream area belonged to must have, at some point, been expecting guests and had once held the greatest form of defense the stallion could create. Pinkie definitely wanted to meet this mysterious stallion now.
"Victorious, what have I told you about attacking guests?" came a voice as a regal figure appeared in the walkway between the tower and the ruined castle.
The snow leopard growled as if it was trying to speak, or at least that was what Pinkie believed the cat was trying to do while the statue held it down.
"Just because you haven't seen this mare before doesn't mean you can attack her outright." the unicorn continued, his hood coming off to reveal the long haired stallion underneath, "Honestly Victorious, I expected you to show come compassion or kindness to those who walk through the castle gates every now and then. I don't want to keep explaining to my sisters why their subjects sometimes don't return from the castle and when they do why they are covered in scrapes and cuts."
The cat made the same movements as before, only this time more frequently and with greater haste as if he was trying to get a point across.
"You are right about that," the stallion continued, sighing slightly, "but I still care not for what my sisters say about you. I shall allow you to return to the wilderness and the old ways for a period of time, but I expect you to return here in one weeks time. After that you shall do as I say like everpony else does. Do I make myself clear?"
The snow leopard nodded and the statue released him. The cat took one last look at Pinkie before running off into the wilderness past where she had entered from. Pinkie suspected that she might have caught a glimpse of part of the stallion's real dream, the one that she and the others might have intruded on when they entered the castle area. Course she might have fit the role of a visitor from another castle and the dream could have activated at her point of entry.
"Ah, the traveling bard from Canterlot," the stallion continued, speaking to Pinkie as the statue returned to being just a statue again, "I have long awaited your arrival. I have heard that you possess the ability to cheer up and make everypony laugh in the general area of your famous parties. Maybe you could share some of your talent with me?"
The area exploded in a fury of lights and popping sounds as confetti, streamers, and dozens of party supplies decorated the entire courtyard. The unicorn stared at the pink mare, who now held what appeared to be a cannon that was smoking as if it had been fired recently, which could have explained the decor. He knew that from the way the mare walked, talked, and acted that she was the one type that partied all the time and truly gave others a smile.
"Your such a silly pony," Pinkie laughed, staring at her work with approval, "I give everypony a smile, even those who feel cranky and unhappy eventually get a smile. So, what can Pinkie cheer you up about today?"
The stallion stared at her, not really knowing what to make of the mare who seemed to have the abilities that allowed her to set up parties on the fly. She was happy, just bouncing in one spot while he stared at her, their eyes meeting briefly. And just like that she seemed to know what was making him unhappy, because she stopped bouncing and popped on over to the entrance he had come from.
"Of course, silly me, I forgot to invite the special guest," Pinkie said, a shadowy form appearing from the mist, "Mister unnamed stallion, meet your long lost wife, Mistwing."
Pinkie didn't know what to expect for Mistwings appearance, but when she stepped out of the mist she had been surprised to find a sort of gray coated pegasus mare emerge. Her wings weren't the same as a normal pegasus, instead they were large bat wings and her ears were fluffed up at the ends. Her eyes were colored light blue, but the strange thing about them was that they had a slit in them, almost like the ones Nightmare Moon had. She even had a pair of fangs, which actually made her look more like Princess Luna's guards then the wife of some stallion.
"I can't believe it," the stallion said in shock, allowing the mare to walk over to him, "I saw you fall. I could have sworn you had fallen so far that I couldn't see you again."
"Relax my darling Midnight," the bat mare said, the thorny trees around the castle shaking as the name was spoken, "We can be reunited now, to wander the Dreamscape for all eternity. Surely that is better then spending all your time wandering a ruined castle while you contemplate the defeat that landed us here?"
"It sounds better now that you say it," the stallion, Midnight, agreed with a smile on his face, "Before I let you leave Pinkie I must request that you perform the...Pinkie Promise was it?"
"Yes sir," Pinkie loudly said, "What exactly would I be promising to keep a secret and from who?"
"You must keep my name a secret from everypony else," Midnght answered, "I cannot allow anypony else to know of my existence here, other than you and your friends, but my name must be a closely guarded secret. Can I count on you to keep it secret and safe until I say otherwise?"
Pinkie nodded and recited the Pinkie Promise to the strange stallion, wondering why keeping his name a secret was so important. But she decided that it was better making him happy and laughing than to make him angry at her. Besides. she had set out to make the stallion happy and she had accomplished that quite easily, which meant she could go bug her friends in their sleep now.
As the pink mare vanished Midnight smiled again, a stray blue balloon glowing as it slowly faded away into nothingness. The pink one had been a help breaching the magic that was keeping his wife locked up somewhere deep in his mind and had made them happy. What she did not know was that he had now amassed three of the five keys needed to break the prison. Only two more and everything would be set straight.