//------------------------------// // Day 2.5 // Story: A Carnival for you and me. // by Rubycast //------------------------------// “I think that went well, don’t you?” The assistant said as she placed the board into the back of their wagon. Cat hadn’t said anything since they left the mayor’s office. The walk had been quiet--except for the occasional mutters from other ponies--and while that was peaceful, it made her mind restless with questions and possibilities. Cat wasn’t the type to stay quiet for long, especially after they had gotten a deal like that. Normally she would talk about marking it off their list, or going onto the next step, or even makes jokes about it, but this time she stayed silent. The assistant worried that she was anger with her, but she couldn’t tell by her master’s solid expression, which only made her worry more. She didn’t dare to speak until they got to the wagon. She knew trying to make her master talk would only end badly for her. She also feared she was the reason for her silence, but she couldn’t remember what she had done. Unless- “Circus Monster.” Cat said, making the assistant look at her. She kept her head turned from Circus, looking at something in the distances. “How would you say the meeting went?” Circus gulped. She knew she had to word her answer carefully--something she wasn’t good at--or else she could upset Cat. She licked her lips before stuttering, “I-I, um, think it went well.” She smiled weakly. “As do I.” Cat said. She raised her front hoof and examined it. Circus quietly released a breath of air in relief. Her smile grew wider as she walked towards her. “That’s good-” “Expect for one thing.” Circus froze in her tracks--a few steps from being beside Cat. Her pupils shrunk to the size of peas. The muscles around her mouth could no longer form a smile as a growing pit of fear grew inside her. Her mouth instantly dried, stopping her words in her throat. She lowered her ears against her head. Before she could say anything, Cat spoke again. “You dropped your pointer after I generously offered to split the profit.” She looked at her sardonically. “Do you not think that I am generous?” Instantly Circus shook her head. “That’s not what I meant!” She said. “You are, but-” “But what!” Cat’s voice boomed. Her eyes burned with fire as she glared at Circus, making her worry she would burst into flames. “You don’t think I’m generous after all I’ve done for you?! Did you forget what I did for you, and your promise?” “N-no! Of course not!” Circus lowered herself to the ground, but kept her eyes locked with Cat’s. “I would never forget! I-I owe you my life.” “Darn right you do!” Cat turned her head away from her, and took a deep breath. She turned her head back to her and smiled. She put her hoof under Circus’s head and slowly raised her head. “Don’t be so scared, Circus. You know I wouldn’t hurt you.” Circus slowly raised to her shaking hooves. “I was just worried,” Cat continued “that the mayor would ruin my plan. I’ve waited a long time for this.” “I know.” Circus said with more strength in her voice. “I know how much you’ve spent thinking about this, how much time you’ve spent, how much we’ve travelled all over Equestria, and how much practice’s we’ve gotten for that special day.” Cat smiled. “Yes, soon it will be over.” She laughed. “Now we just need to sweet talk those stupid farmers into giving us that land.” Circus bit her lip and looked away. “I’ve been wondering about that.” She said quietly, but loud enough to be heard. “Why don’t we just set up the carnival next to the Everfree Forest? I mean that’s where you want it and-” Cat let out another laugh. This one was loud enough to echo across the area, scattering any animals that had been nearby, but it soon ended as it began. “Silly, stupid Circus. These, stupid ponies made The Everfree into a horrid place.” She narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. “They ignored the forest and allowed it to become over grown. They made the animals out to be monsters, but they only attacked when those selfish ponies took from them!” She paced around as she complained. She stomped hard into the ground, kicking up dust--making Circus cough and gag. “They made it into a nightmare tale that they told to their children to keep them away, so they couldn’t discover the beauty that these fools can’t see!” She stopped in front of Circus and let out a low growl. “There’s no way they would come to a carnival anywhere near it!” She suddenly smiled and let out a low chuckle. “But that’s beside the point for now. We just have to focus on making the best carnival they’ve ever seen!” She turned around to face the wagon. “But for now we’ll take a break. I want to check on the children.” Circus followed behind Cat into the wagon. On the outside the wagon looked large enough to only home one pony, but inside it was large enough for three. At the back of the wagon was Cat’s bed: it was a single bed with black and white covers to match her dress. Across the bed was a cage large enough to hold a pony and give them space to stretch--very little space. Between the bed and cage was a brown door, but instead of leading to another room, it lead to the back of the wagon where they kept their stuff. The windows inside the wagon were covered by blinds, making it dark as night inside--but not all of it was actually darkness. Cat smiled. “Sludgy, mommy’s home~” She sung to the darkness. The middle of the room appeared to raise on its own, but the white eyes made it clear to anypony that it was a living being. The being had a head like a pony’s, but its body seemed endless in the darkness. Its body dripped with sludge--hence its name--but Cat had Circus line the floor with newspaper, so none of it would stain the floor. “There you are!” Cat said. “Now don’t tell mommy that you’ve been in the dark all this time.” “The light is evil, nya.” The sludge’s voice sounded exactly like Cat’s, expect its mouth didn’t move. “I know how you hate the light, but it won’t kill you.” Cat walked over to the blinds. “Besides, there’s no ponies around. You don’t have to be afraid.” Sludge rolled its eyes. “I am not afraid of them. They are weak compared to me, nya.” “Good, then you won’t mind if I do this.” Cat threw the blind up, allowing the light to flood the wagon--making it easier for them to see. Sludge glared at her, but Cat ignored it and walked past to the other window. “Oh, don’t get so mad. I’ll give you a treat later to make up for it.” Sludge moved its puppet closer to her. The puppet looked like an exact copy of the feline--using two different marker points as the eyes. “Two, nya.” It spoke in Cat’s voice. Cat smiled. “Of course. Anything for my Sludgy!” She kissed the puppet’s forehead before walking away. “Now, Circus, get the device.” Circus nodded. “O-ok.” She walked past Sludge--making sure not to step on her sludge--and went to the back door. She opened it and dug through the different objects until she found the device. She grabbed a hold of it and wheeled it out to the middle of the wagon. The device was a movie projector. It was placed on a cart, so it would be rolled around instead of being carried around on Circus’s back--which had worked until she complained of backaches. She placed it in the middle of the room before turning it on. There was no movie in the holders, yet it played with no problem. It projected a light green screen on the back wall. Sludge turned its Cat puppet towards the real Cat. “Since we’re watching a movie, we have to close the blinds, nya?” “Don’t be silly, Sludgy.” Cat replied. “This isn’t a normal movie, so it’ll play just as good in the light. Now, hush. It’s starting.” Sludge pouted and turned its head towards the screen. The screen showed a smiling Sweetie Belle. “And this is my room.” Suddenly the picture shifted from Sweetie to pink walls, a large bed, stuffed animals in the corner, and drawings on the pink carpet. “You’re going to love it here!” The screen turned black for five seconds before showing a different scene: a white unicorn with a purple mane was looking down at the bear with a mix between disgust and happiness, giving her an awkward smile. “That’s…great Sweetie Belle.” The mare said. “But you shouldn’t take things from strange ponies. Remember that talk we had?” “I know.” Sweetie Belle said off screen. “But she seemed really nice, and he’s sooo cute!” “Yes, but perhaps we should wash him first. Celestia knows what kind of unseen filth could be in that wagon.” Circus nervously looked over at Cat. Cat was glaring at the screen while her teeth rubbed against each other, creating a loud scrapping noise. Her body shook as she used all her energy and will to keep herself seated in her spot. Circus sighed inwardly. ‘I know Cat. I know how much this wagon means to you. He did build it for you, but please don’t do anything that could harm us in the long run.’ “Circus,” Cat said in a low voice, “who is that mare?” Circus jumped. “U-um--” she closed her eyes as she thought back to the information she had read before they arrived in Ponyville “--her name is Rarity. She’s the older sister of Sweetie Belle, and the local fashionista. She’s also the Element of Generosity.” Cat nodded, but said nothing. She instantly returned to her calm state once the screen switched to a classroom. The class was a small group of foals of different races. They all sat in a row of three from the front to the back. Only two of them were noticeable to Cat: Applebloom and Scootaloo, whom were seated in the front. Scootaloo sat on Applebloom’s right. On Applebloom’s left the desk was empty, but Cat didn’t have to guess who it belonged to. “This is my teddy bear, Button.” Sweetie Belle’s voice was heard off screen. “He’s so cute and special!” “A teddy bear?” Another filly said. “That’s such a baby’s toy.” The filly faked a gasp. “But I guess that fits you perfectly.” The filly was a pink earth pony with a white and light purple mane. She had a diamond tiara placed on her head, as if she were a prom queen. Cat knew she loved to lead ponies because her comment had gotten a few awkward laughs, even though the ponies didn’t share the same option. “Diamond Tiara, that’s enough. You had your turn presenting your princess pony dolls. Now it’s some ponies else.” An older voice scolded. The voice belonged to purple earth pony mare with a pink mane. She was seated behind a wooden desk. She had three smiling flowers on her flank. Cat assumed she was the teacher since she was older, but she had no idea what flowers had to do with it. The mare smiled at the screen. “Please continue, Sweetie Belle.” “Alright!” But instead of hearing the rest of filly’s presentation, the screen switched to the mare again, except she wasn’t smiling: she was looking at the screen with her eyebrows raised in worry, and her bottom lip was stuck out a bit in a pout. “Sweetie Belle, do you remember that talk we had about taking things from ponies you don’t know?” “Of course, Miss Cheerilee!” Sweetie squeaked. “But the mare seemed really nice, and she didn’t get mad at us when we went near her wagon.” “You still need to be careful, Sweetie. Sometimes strange ponies appear nice, but they’re really not.” “Are you saying that Carnival Cat was mean?” “Yeah.” The Cat puppet chimed in. “Are you saying I’m mean, nya?” “Well…no.” Cheerilee said. “But just be more careful from now on, ok? I’d hate to have anything bad happen to any of my students.” She smiled gently, but it was no regular smile. It was a smile that only a mother could give to their foals--related or not. The smile seemed wasted on Sweetie as she gave a quick ok, then ran towards her friends, who were waiting outside the door. The screen disappeared as the memory in the projector had finished. Circus quickly stood up and walked over to the projector. She wheeled it back into the storage space before Cat--or puppet Cat--could order her to. Sledge turned its head towards Cat. “Should we do something about that mare, nya?” Cat--who had been silent for ten minutes--gave a small chuckle and waved her hoof at the question. “No, Sludgy. She’s just a simple schoolmare. What harm could she do? Besides--” She stood up and walked over to the nearest window. The window gave her a great view of the Sweet Apple Acres. “--We have bigger plans.”