//------------------------------//
// Trade Ya' 
// Story: Two Background Ponies Revisit Season Four 
// by Piccolo Sky 
//------------------------------//


Trade Ya’


As the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange came to a close for the day, some were packing up and others were running around trying to get a few last minute deals in. One of them was a certain green-colored pony, facing an optometrist pony at one stall.
"Well, you brought me that Eyeball Frog...so here you go! The world's finest eyedrops!"
Carl grinned as he took them. "Yes! Two more trades and that claymore is mine!" He quickly snapped away and jumped onto the back of a chestnut-colored mare, pointing a hoof forward.
"Fly, Epona!"
The mare, in turn, looked at him and frowned for a moment, before violently bucking him. "Get off me, you pervert!"
The green-colored stallion soon crashed back into the ground before the chestnut pony ran off. He blinked a few times, getting his bearings back, and as he did a certain blue-colored pony walked up to him. On seeing his state, he quickly rushed over and helped him up.
"Carl, what happened?"
"Ugh...no time to talk now, Sam... I got to hurry and finish this up while I still..."
As he stood, he blinked and looked around.
"...Say, what happened to the mountain-sized pony who was trading here?"
"He left, Carl. Along with half of the other people. The princess just ended Traders Exchange."
Carl's jaw smacked into the ground. "Are you kidding me?! It can't end now!"
Sam shrugged. "Sorry, dude. She proceeded over one trading dispute...personally I think the fact it involved pony trafficking would have nullified it...and then she declared it over. Last I saw her Spike was screaming something about 'having to reorder all the books he spent all morning deciding to trade' and 'you mean you aren't even going to reread them'..."
The green stallion swore and kicked a rock. "Damnit! All I ended up getting for that chicken's egg was eyedrops that'll expire in..." He paused to look at the time. "...three minutes and eleven seconds! I don't think I'm going to get an eye infection in that time, Sam..."
The blue stallion grimaced. "I'm sorry, man." He paused a second, then gave a smile and a shrug as he reached behind him and pulled out a claymore. "Say...want this cheap-ass Giant's Knife I traded for earlier?"
"Those things are only replicas, dude."
"Come on. That way we can make like the princess and the girls and learn a little something about friendship while getting a not great but good substitute, just like they did."
Carl snorted. "Yeah right, Sam. I know full well what happened." Rolling his eyes, he held up his hooves and made some gestures. "As soon as everypony saw the magic of their friendship, they went ahead and let them have the trades they already wanted, and everyone lived happily ever after with the best possible outcome."
Sam blinked. "...Actually no, Carl."
The blue stallion snorted again. "Come on, Sam..."
"I'm serious. Applejack got a vintage non-pie-tin, Rarity got a broach of no significance past its friendship value, Rainbow just got a paperback version of the book she wanted...even Fluttershy lost her bird whistle and had to take an orthos home."
Carl went oddly still.
"You mean...they didn't get everything they wanted."
"No."
Carl started to look fearful.
"They...didn't get to 'have it all' at the end."
"Nope."
Carl was quivering all over at this point. Immediately, he held his head high.
"Everypony, run away! Run and don't look back! It's almost too late!"
Sam blinked in confusion. "Carl, what are you..."
He was cut off a moment later and his face turned to terror as suddenly the sky began to tremble and lightning crackled behind them. A moment later, a time-space ripping sound went out as a black orb singularity appeared behind them, and immediately everypony in the area, the tents, the landscape, and everything else began to be sucked into the equivalent of a black hole which rapidly began to grow larger. Ponies screamed in terror. Those far enough away ran, but the majorty began to be sucked into the hole. Some instantly went inside, while as for others, including Sam and Carl, they quickly seized the nearest thing they could, tent ropes in this case, and hung on for dear life as they were drawn into the singularity. Chaos broke out everywhere.
"What the?! What the hell?!" Sam shouted over the sound of cosmic ripping.
"No!" Carl screamed. "What have all of you fools done?!"
"Carl, what are you rambling about?!"
"You idiots! You didn't let the girls 'have it all' after a conflict where they had to make a hard decision! When Twilight tried to find who to give her second ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala to, Celestia sent her enough so all of her friends plus Spike could go! When Rainbow had to decide between her dream of being a Wonderbolt or staying true to her principles, the Wonderbolts completely reconsidered their position and both punished her rival and made her wing leader! When Rarity made things up to her friends by agreeing to stay away from Ponyville long enough to make costumes for that show group in Manehattan, that other aspiring designer pony just happened to drop in to take the job! Those six can't ever be allowed to face disappointment! They can't ever get less than everything! By doing so, you've all ripped a hole in the fabric of our universe and threatened to destroy reality as we know it!"
"What?!"
"Everypony hurry! Get a first-edition copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue to Rainbow Dash, a gold broach with three green stones in the center to Rarity, a rusted-ass pie tin to Applejack, and somepony find that bear whistle before it crosses the event horizon! Hell, find that Power Ponies comic just to be on the safe side too and give it back to Spike!"
However, the other ponies who could still move were already way ahead of everything and running around. One, however, ran up and stopped.
"I looked everywhere for a mint condition Power Ponies comic at that tent where all of the comics were, but all I could find was a comic where the Mane-iac kills a superhero with the face of a comic-book nerd in the first four pages!"


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So how did we get out of that one?
No idea. The last thing I remember seeing is that brown-colored stallion with an hourglass for a Cutie Mark getting into what looked like a blue phone booth or something…and suddenly everything got fixed.
Huh.