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// Back to the god old days 
// Story: Of Wondrous Creation, Eternal Damnation, and Chaotic Fixation 
// by MrWhatnow 
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	And so, Pinkie skipped down the stone steps to meet up with this new pony. Now, it's been said that skipping down steep stone steps is a bad idea, Pinkie Pie doesn't care. Nopony ever got anywhere in life by worrying about little things like safety and logic. Well they did, but they didn't get NEARLY as many friends as somepony who didn't. And that's the important thing, like how the logic-thinking part of her brain kept telling her that nopony was down here and that she should go back up the stairs right now. But she wouldn't, because she was Pinkie Pie, and Pinkie Pie was who she was, and nopony any this or any other side of Equestria could change that.
At last she reached the bottom of the long and dark staircase. For a moment there was an incredibly bright light, and then it dimmed. There were two doors side-by-side in front of her, one with a smiley face on it and one with a frowny face. Then she heard the weird voice again, but not in her head this time, she heard it from in front of her, it sounded like it was coming from behind those doors.
"Well, hello Pinkie Pie, how d'ya do? Scratch that, it's not particularly important, well, it is, but only to you, well perhaps not just you, but certainly not me. Where was I? Oh, yes, the doors, I need you to open these doors and set me free, and in return, I'll give you a special power to help you influence the minds a those around you, depending on which door ya choose to open."
Pinkie Pie immediately started to move towards the smiling door, but stopped. Just because it was influenced by her choice of door didn't mean it would be the power to make ponies smile. What if it only gave her influence over ponies that were already smiling? She wouldn't want to change the mind of a happy pony, and there was nothing better than turning a frown upside-down. She stepped back and though for a moment. 'The doors are only a few feet away from each other', she noted.


***

The Mad God stared at the doors in front of him. 'What was that pink one doing out there? No being had ever taken this long in the choice before, even his last champion had just thought for awhile and then said something about "saved games". Could she be-' his thoughts were stopped when the doorknobs began turning, both doorknobs. Both doors swung open an equally small amount, and then Pinkie walked through, dead center, and got her first look at the being who'd decided to guide her here. 
He looked...odd, he certainly had the form of a pony, or at least the general shape of one, but he didn't look anything like anypony Pinkie Pie had seen before, except for maybe bearing a passing likeness to the princesses. he was an enormous white alicorn with a blonde mane and a pair of wings that shined and rippled and reminded Pinkie at once of an art studio, sugar-cube corner, an asylum, and a book she once read about a stallion named Sweeney Pie, who posed as a barber and turned ponies into cupcakes. There was something about his eyes as well, they reminded Pinkie of a snake.
"Ah, Ah HA HA HA HA ha ha haaaa, that's just BRILLIANT! Oh Pinkie Pie, I've never seen anyone handle the choice like that before, what inspired you to do that?"
"I don't know, umm, what do I call you since I can't call you Mr. Voice-in-my-head because you're not just a voice and you're not in my head anymore?"
He responded loudly, with strange sounds that burned in Pinkie's mind, who, even just by hearing them, could feel their power, she had no idea what they meant, but they felt like they were merely a capsule in which to hold thoughts too complex to be placed in mere mortal language. If the Royal Canterlot voice had a mean older sibling, this would be it.

                

"- You have no clue what I just said, do you?"
Pinkie had just, for the first time in her life, found something too scary to laugh at. She quietly shook her head, her eyes wide in fear.
"Ah, well, I am Lord Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness, and one of the few beings left in existence with a proper taste for cheese. Now, don't look so nervous Pinkie. You've done me a favor, and I promised you a reward. I'll have you know that I only horribly tortured and killed FOUR of the last nine beings who tried to do me a favor in order to get a reward, and you would've helped me anyway, right?"
She did, in fact cheer up, "Right, I'd do anything to make somepony smile! Hey, Mr. Sheogorath, if you're an alicorn, and a prince, does that mean you're Celestia and Luna's brother?"
"Celestia and Luna? I've never met them, you see, I've been inside this crypt for a VERY long time, so long, in fact, that I just CAN'T WAIT to get back to the surface, would you like to teleport with me?" He offered, it was really just a formality, it's not as if she would refuse to- she interrupted his thoughts again
"No thanks Sheo, I'll take the stairs" She said as she turned around.
"...Sheo?"
"Well duh, silly, I give everypony who's my friend a nickname. We're friends, right?"
"Umm, yes, of course we are, my little pony, see you on the surface!"
"You to, Sheo."
And on that note, his horn glowed, the spell charged, and the Madgod went to go have his first look in well over 1000 years at the realm he put so much time into sculpting with.


***

Applejack sat on a stool in the corner of the ballroom, coincidentally, the corner near the bar, and she had just happened to sit down in front of a place that seemed to be accumulating empty glasses at a rather alarming rate. Rainbow walked over to her friend.
"AJ, are you all right?"
"Aw shucks sugar, why wouldn't I be, ya'know, considering tha' all it took to make me give up on the thing I'm supposed to be the best at, the trait that y'all value me for above all else, was an image of us havin' a fight?" She responded, in a bitter, sarcastic tone.
"Oh, c'mon AJ, it's not that bad, we all messed up real bad yesterday, or...six days ago I guess, depending on whether or not we count Discord's crazy schedule of 10-minute days or not, anyway, getting drunk isn't going to solve anything."
She finished her drink in one more gulp and put the glass back down on the table, "One, I'm not so much of a lightweight that I could get drunk offa these watered-down city drinks no matter how hard I might care ta try, and two," she sighed, "never mind, I suppose you're right Rainbow."
"It's not like we don't know how you feel, you know, I abandoned all of you guys today, and what's my motto?"
"...Never leave a friend hangin'
"And what did I do today?"
"Left us five to dry on the clothes line like a newly-washed suit."
"I know, I'm supposed to be the element of loyalty, and I didn't even stick around long enough to even TRY to use the elements with you."
"Yeah, ah suppose Discord really got the better of all of us, didn't he?"
"Yeah...Hey, did you notice that guard captain propose to that princess, Ah-something Cadenza?"
"Yeah, it's a shame they left so quick, ah reckon Twilight 'n Rarity would've been interested to meet another princess."
"I wonder if Twilight even knows there are other princesses, I sure didn't."
"Hey, speakin' a' princesses, did ya'll notice something a bit off 'bout Celestia 'n Luna?"
"I've only met 'em a few times, but yeah, I see what you mean, it's like they lost some of their luster, or something, Maybe it has to do with discord."
Suddenly, the entire room let out a collective gasp, and everypony's eyes were on the two royal sisters, who had collapsed onto the ground in pain (elsewhere in the kingdom the same thing was happening to a certain Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, which a certain Changeling Queen decided to use to her advantage, but that's another story).
Twilight, who had just noticed Pinkie's absence and was about to start looking for her, ran back to her mentor's side. 
"Princess Celestia! What's wrong?"
"I'm not sure Twilight", she said painfully, "I feel as though something has just stolen some of my magic." She turned to Luna and sent a message to her telepathically, "sister, do you know what this is?"
Luna responded the same way, with about as strength much as Celestia, "No, I do not, but it reminds me of when Princess Cadenza appeared, I think our power may be splitting to accommodate a fourth alicorn."
"I think you're right, but that's something we'll have to address later, we must first calm our subjects down and put their minds at ease."
"Indeed, sister." Celestia stood up, and looked at Twilight, who was still standing slack-jawed with her eyes widened in shock, and whispered in her ear, "My faithful student, I need you to lock the doors, and magically enhance my voice for me, okay?'
"But, why? Is something wrong with your magic?" She asked in a worried tone
"Just, please Twilight, please."
"Okay"
Twilight's horn glowed for a second with lavender light as the door closed and locked itself, then, the powerful voice of Celestia washed across the panicked room.
"My subjects, BE CALM!" The room instantly quieted down. 'Oh, so when I do it, they all freak out, but she can go into full on royal Canterlot voice mode and they just obey without question', Luna thought bitterly.
" Now then, it seems that a most wonderful and joyous event has occurred, it seems that Equestria has been graced with a new alicorn, me and my sister know not where this alicorn is, only that he is somewhere in this world, it is vital that he be found." She turned to her student, "Twilight, I know you and your friends have been through a lot, but I must entrust this job to you, for contact with a bearer of an element of harmony can give an alicorn true control over their own power, quickly, you must gather your friends and go, do not worry about direction, for your hearts will guide you to him." She finished her speech by touching her horn to Twilight's and casting a small spell, before anypony in the room truly understood what happened, the young unicorn had left with her five best friends on an epic quest, well, she had actually left with four of her five best friends to go find Pinkie Pie, and then embark on an epic quest.