“Ooh, introductions time!” Pinkie said, clapping her hooves together in excitement. “Bloo, this is Lyra Heartstrings, Truthseeker!” She gestured towards the filly. “Lyra, meet Winter Bell, Child of the Far Plane!”
“Wait, you’re an Owl?” Lyra said.
“Yeah!” Winter Bell replied, her little face scrunching up in annoyance. “Why does everypony always ask that!?”
Lyra suspected she knew the answer. She doesn’t look any older than Dinky! And she’s an Owl? That’s just… just… irresponsible! She could get hurt, or worse!
She then noticed the look Pinkie was giving her. Despite the alien nature of her features, its meaning was conveyed perfectly: ‘Later’. Lyra swallowed.
Right. We’re in the middle of a crisis. We can deal with the moral implications of a child in the ranks of an organization of vigilantes and monster hunters after we save everyone.
“I’m sorry. Nice to meet you, Winter Bell.”
“Hmph!” she said, pouting slightly. She opened her mouth to say more, but was interrupted by Pinkie ruffling her mane.
“C’mon Bloo, be nice! We need all the help we can get right now! Or did you forget that we have a crisis on our hooves?”
“Yeah, about that…” Lyra began. “Pinkie, what on Equis is going on out there!? Why is everypony acting so weird? Why are they looking for you? Why aren’t we affected? What’s with the flowers?”
Pinkie took a deep breath. “It’s a crisis situation and I’m not entirely sure but what we do know is thatatsomepointlastnighttheselittlepaper—”
Her rapid speech was brought to an end as Lyra’s hoof plugged her speaking mouth. “Pinkie, any other time I’d be fine with this, but I’m kinda freaking out right now! So, if you could talk at a more normal speed, that would be just great.”
“I’m sorry,” Pinkie said quite coherently, using the mouth right beneath the one with Lyra’s hoof in it.
“Er… right.” She removed her hoof.
“So here’s what we know: Early this morning, those little paper flowers blew into town and ended up behind everypony’s ear, turning them into the unwitting servants of…”
Lyra leaned forward. “Yes?”
“I dunno! We haven’t figured that out yet. Bloo and I were still deciding on a plan when you showed up!”
“We should just go out and make noise until whoever’s responsible shows up!” Winter Bell said, stomping her little hoof.
Pinkie shook her head. “No, Bloo, we can’t do that! Somepony might get hurt! And besides, whoever’s behind this would have the drop on us if we did!”
“I could take ‘em!”
Somehow I doubt that.
“Not if they snuck up behind you while you weren’t paying attention!”
“But we have to do something soon! If we don’t, then—”
“Alright, alright. Hang on,” Lyra interrupted. “Why aren’t any of us affected?” She cast her gaze towards her own flower. “And shouldn’t I be getting rid of this?” her horn began to glow as she readied her telekinesis.
Pinkie’s eyes widened, and she began flailing her forelegs. “No no no, too dangerous! Mind magic can be delicate sometimes, who knows what could happen if you interrupt it like that! You could end up permanently affected, or worse!”
The glow on Lyra’s horn immediately winked out. “Good to know!”
She then noticed something. “But then why don’t you have one, Pinkie?”
“It ripped itself up. I don’t think whatever magic’s in these things can understand my brain. That’s why everypony’s looking for me, I think.”
“Oh. That, uh… makes sense, I guess. What about me?
She tapped her hoof to her chin. “Hmmm… Well, it’s obviously to do with your blessing… Oh, I know! Maybe the blessing counts the instructions from the flower as lies!”
“That works. What about the kid?”
“Hey!”
“Oh, that’s easy! Bloo’s got her magical space whale momma in her head to protect her.”
“…Care to run that by me again?”
“She’s telling the truth,” Winter Bell said.
“No, I can tell that. My blessing lets me know when ponies are lying,” Lyra replied. “I just can’t figure out what that’s supposed to mean.”
“It means I’ve got a magical space whale living in my head.” Her eyes darted upwards for a moment. “Momma says ‘Hi’, by the way.”
“Um… Hello to her, too?”
She looked to Pinkie, hoping to get answers.
“Bloo’s adopted momma is an Elder, they’re like these big alien whales made out of sapient heartsong. She’s sitting in Bloo’s soul right now.”
Lyra’s head tilted to the side, her face contorting into a look of utter bafflement. “Sapient… Heartsong?”
Pinkie turned to the filly. “How is she, by the way?”
“She’s getting better. She says she’ll be back to full strength in a few more years. But that’s not important right now! We need to do something about what’s going on outside!” she said, her voice cracking higher as she went on.
The reminder of the current emergency snapped Lyra out of her confusion. “Right. What do we do, Pinkie?”
“I dunno! Like I said, we were still figuring that out. Bloo wants to go in eldritch-powers and soul-song blazing, but if we did that, who knows who or what could get caught in the crossfire!” Pinkie punctuated this sentence by miming a small explosion with her hooves. “Meanwhile, I want to try a sneak attack, but I don’t even know where to start!”
“Why not the castle?” Lyra asked. She received two blank stares, prompting her to explain. “The ponies outside said they were supposed to bring Pinkie there. Did you guys not know that?”
“I came here right after momma woke me up.”
“I was too busy being chased to ask,” Pinkie said. “Still, this is great! Now we can take the fight to them!”
She rubbed her forehooves together, an unsettling smile spreading across her face… and her neck.
“And I have the perfect plan…”
-----
The doors of Sugarcube Corner burst open, a pink blur shooting out of them like a cannonball. The various mind-controlled townsponies outside immediately turned in the direction of the disturbance, which, upon reaching the middle of the street, resolved itself into Pinkie Pie.
“Hello, friends! Looking for somepony?”
“It’s Pinkie!” they cried. “Get her!”
“Ooh, are we playing tag?” she said, breaking into a gallop. “I guess I’m ‘it’!”
Her escape came to a halt as she paused to contemplate her situation, her hoof tapping against her chin. “But then, shouldn’t I be chasing all of you?”
She ducked, one of her would-be assailants sailing over her in a botched attempt at a tackle. “Oh well! Come on everypony! This way!”
Lyra, watching from the window of the bakery, gave a silent cheer as Pinkie led the entire crowd of ponies eastwards—the direction opposite of Twilight’s castle.
She turned to Winter Bell, who was standing on the ends of her hooves and straining just to see over the windowsill. “Alright, our turn. Let’s go.”
After making sure the mob was far enough away as not to notice them, the two of them began running west.