//------------------------------// // A... Carnival? Or the Worst Chapter In This Story // Story: Freedom Incarnate, or the Redemption of Chaos // by Spirit Wind //------------------------------// Just like that, I had kissed her for the first time I had remembered. And just like that, I was met with a hoof to the face. I flew like a rag doll, impacting the unforgiving stone wall and leaving a nice impression of myself. Well, I got a reaction out of her, and I was about to get a slew of (back) words as a bonus. Only, the words weren't as angry as I expected. "Now twice that's, anything or someponies special we're like not it's, again that like something do you before me warn, gah!" Screwball shouted at me. I peeled myself off the wall and hovered over to her, a confused expression on my face. "I had to do something to break you out of your trance, and what do you mean twice?" I asked. " Time next me warn just, nothing." Screwball remarked before walking to the new room with a scowl. Normally, I would pursue the 'next time' thing, but she didn't seem to be in a joking mood, so I filed it away for later. I made my own way into the new room, rest was what everyone needed. Suddenly, I found myself standing gawk-eyed at the inside of Twilight's library. Or, at least, a very well made copy of her library, complete with her own room upstairs and the guest room in back (only with more beds, enough for each of us). Everyone was actually busy unwinding in their own way. Vinyl had already set up her DJ stand and was jamming away to some unknown beat through her earphones, Octavia was reading a book about music and Golden Harvest was already laying in one of the beds, asleep. Ditzy was attempting to comfort Screwball, mostly to no success. Personally, I wanted to call it a night, today had been really jam packed with everything. However, I knew I needed to organize the group, even if I hated playing the leader role. "Okay, everypony, " I started, standing on 'Twilight's' study table, trying to get everyone's attention, "even if Discord keeps his word and lets us rest in peace, we should stay alert at least a bit, he could pull a trick and separate us or turn us against one another. To start, we should take care of our injured, then get whatever rest we can, although one of us needs to stay up and watch out at all times. A schedule should be set up." "Who are you? Twilight Sparkle? Come on, relax, Discord's too much of a show off to do try anything sneaky." Vinyl spoke up, having heard me over her music. "I'll agree with Vinyl on this one, he's not the type to go behind anypony's back." Octavia chimed in. "Still, isn't it better to be safe than sorry?" I replied, knowing that I was acting completely unlike myself. Something was off, normally, I'm not that cautious, but I was acting more and more responsible than I should. "Uh... nevermind, I'm going to rest." I quickly added before running into the guest room and flopping onto one of the fluffy beds. I couldn't sleep at all. Normally, I could even sleep through the worst thunderstorm Everfree Forest could throw at me. Thinking back on it, I think the stress of the whole situation prevented me from getting sleep. So I just laid in bed, waiting until everyone else was rested enough to move on. My thoughts were scrambled, and I couldn't focus on anything else except what could be ahead. Soon enough, the others started getting up and getting excited. We started to move back into the concert hall, if it was still there. Once we opened the tree-door again, the new scene greeted us, literally. "Welcome to the wheel of chance!" the loud sound blasted at us. Once we moved into the new room, we saw a large carnival set up, showing off all of the games set up along a path that stretched off into a dark spot in the far back. "Play a game! Any game! Get lucky enough and you may just be able to get back stage and meet the ringmaster!" "Cool! A carnival, and a chance to go straight to Discord! Let's get going!" Vinyl exclaimed. She rushed out and was immediately out of sight. Octavia chased after her shouting to not get separated. To be honest, I was starting to get giddy at the atmosphere, so I kinda... ran off myself. It was a stupid mistake considering this was nearly the same way that Discord corrupted the Elements the first time. Maybe it didn't matter, none of us really had any 'golden' traits like the elements, we were mostly average and actually had a 'bronze' trait that was more negative than anything else. If I had to think, I'd say only Ditzy had any actual good pony traits, considering she was the only one of us to hold any responsibility over anything besides ourselves. Anyway, after dashing off in glee, I was found standing at a ring toss stand. All of the rings were just sitting on the stand, with nopony running the stand. Since I was alone, I decided to take a shot! Carnival games are always rigged, these were no exception. I still had fun, I ended up sending piles of rings all over the place! After this whole event was settled, Screwball found a Ring still stuck in my mane! The final ring was laying at the table, just waiting for my throw. It all came down to this, this one throw would determine everything. If only at the time I realized how true that was. Just as I began to throw the ring, I was distracted by someone shouting my name behind me. My tail smacked the ring mid-flight, and sent it sailing. When I whipped around, I saw Ditzy and Screwball running towards me, an urgent look on their face. They were just about to say something before I disappeared from their sight, I was teleported against my will, right into the throne room of Discord.