The CMC are attracted to some music in the EverFree Forest in the dead of night...
ON HIATUS UNTIL EXISTING CHAPTERS ARE REWRITTEN
The CMC are having a sleepover at Applejack's house, when they hear some music coming from the EverFree forest. When they reach the source of the music, what would they find, but a carnival! But something is off, the fouls talk in a droning voice, without any emotion, the rides look like they could kill, and there is something just not right about the owner.
When a video appears, listen to it while you read for best effect ________________________________________________________________________________
"Can you hear that?" Apple Bloom said suddenly "Hear what? Scootaloo asked. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were having a sleepover at Apple Bloom's house, trying, according to Scootaloo, for the 162nd time trying to get their cutie marks. Sweetie Belle looked up from the microscope, she had been trying to find out if she was a scientist "That sort of... jumpy music?" she asked "Ya! It's jumpy." Apple Bloom looked out the window "Who in their right minds would play music this loudly at night! Most ponies are trying to sleep!" "Maybe it's Pinkie." Scootaloo suggested, as she looked back down to her box of tools and notes, she had been trying to find out if she was an inventor "I don't think so," Apple Bloom said "She usually stops at around 10" She looked at the clock. "It's 11 now, and she isn't having a party tonight, otherwise big sis would be there!" She looked down at her blueprints, box of tools, magnifying glass, and circuit boards, she had been trying to find out if she was an engineer. "Well, we've all tried everything we brought" Scootaloo said "I say we go and see what's going on." "Might as well" Sweetie Belle sighed, they scrambled around looking for things they might need "Got everything?" Scootaloo asked "Yup!" Apple Bloom whispered "Snacks, whistle, flash light, siren, small bat-" Sweetie Belle squealed "A BAT? WHERE?" "SHHH! It's a small Baseball Bat!" Apple Bloom whispered "Oh thank goodness" "Ya, ya, we get it, can we go now?" They walked outside, Scootaloo listened as hard as she could "Sounds like it's coming from that way" "Then lets go!" Apple Bloom cried, as she ran ahead, the others following close behind, as soon as they were out of earshot, Applejack and Big mac walked outside the house "Did they just-" "Eeyup." "Can you take care of em Big bro?" "Eeyup." "Thanks." Applejack went back inside while Big Mac followed the Crusaders.
As the crusaders trotted along, Apple Bloom finally broke the silence "It sounds like it's coming from the EverFree Forest, should we-" "Of course!" The other two cried. More steady pacing, as they all contemplated whether traveling into the forest at night(AGAIN) was a good idea. Scootaloo stopped staring up at the sky, the others bumped into her, they looked where she was looking, and they saw search lights coming from the forest, this did nothing but encourage them to run faster. As they were engulfed by the blanket of leaves, Skootaloo finally spoke "What to you think it is?" "Quit- running-" Sweetie Belle gasped "Stop- snack- tired-" They stopped, the music was much loader now, they could finally hear it clearly.
After a few minutes of snaking on apples (what else) they started walking much more slowly towards the sounds. After a few minutes of walking, they stumbled into a large clearing, and they couldn't believe their eyes. They looked at each other "Are we seeing the same thing, or are we just up really late?" Sweetie Belle asked. She was answered by a piercing shriek of laughter, the three fillies turned, and there stood the most frightening pony they had ever seen, her coat was a sickly green hue, her mane and tail were silver white, but with a black streak, she was wearing a red and white striped jacket, with bat wing spikes around her front hooves, with red and yellow shoes on her back hooves. But the most frightening thing about this pony was her eyes, the left eye was yellow, but red where there should be white, and the right eye was red, but yellow where there should be white! Frightening thoughts ran through the three fillies minds, and Apple Bloom thought that this pony could just be a creation of Discord.
Finally, the silence was shattered like a window that was shot by a cannon, as the pony yelled "Welcome to Catherine's Park! I am the owner of this psychotic playground, Catherine, The Carnival Cat!"
There was a long pause, "Cat?" Apple Bloom finally said "But you're a pony!" The pony's eyes seemed to burn into Apple Bloom's retinas "I AM NOT A PONY!" She shouted "Well you look like one..." Scootaloo commented "Do I look equine? These ears are definitely of feline nature!" The pony retorted "But what about your mane and tail?" Sweetie Belle asked "SILENCE! Let us never speak of this again." The pony turned to face them. The crusaders rolled their eyes at each other, but if this pony wanted to be called a cat, it would be a good idea to comply.
"Sorry," Apple Bloom said "It was just the mane, but then I remembered lions have manes, and they're a cat." "Ya!" Sweetie Belle chimed in "I uh... really like your mane." "Thank you" The pony said "As I said, my name is Catherine, but I would prefer you to call me The Carnival Cat." There was a long pause, as the crusaders contemplated the pony before them. "Um, Cather- I mean, Carnival Cat?" Apple Bloom asked "Why did you set up a carnival in the middle of the Everfree Forest in the middle of the night? It would have been better to set up closer to Ponyville during the day." Catherine chuckled "Obviously because it is just better to be in a place of beauty!" The crusaders looked at each other, and they silently agreed, this pony was insane, first thinking she was a cat, and now thinking that this horrifying place is beautiful? As they glanced back to the disturbing pony, she was starting to wander off, with a look of frustration on her face.
As the 3 slightly frightened fouls looked around, they thought about what they always think about "Maybe this will help us get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo said, making Catherine stop and turn back to the young fillies "Ya!" Apple Bloom cheered "We could be the... uh... the... The Carnival Crusaders!" "Perfect!" Sweetie Belle chimed, and turned to Catherine "What's your cutie mark?" This small remark that would usually cause no confusing made Catherine frown "Cutie what?" "It's a mark on your flank- uh.... back! It usually describes you or your special talent" Scootaloo explained "Well... I do have this mark on my side" Catherine turned to show them, and all three of them gasped. The cutie mark that they saw still makes them wonder to this very day, what talent a Spider Web could possibly describe.
As the strange music faded from the air around the 3 young fouls, Apple Bloom couldn't get their conversation with Catherine out of her head. Catherine had invited them back for the next morning, saying that she had to finish setting up the park, but that everyone in Ponyville would know were to go. As they trotted out of the forest, and back towards Sweet Apple Acres, Sweetie Belle broke the silence "What do you think she meant by everypo- er.. everyone in Ponyville knowing were to go?" Apple Bloom sighed "She probably just put up posters all over Ponyville, and I know she said everyone, but she thinks she's a cat, remember? So it is grammatically accurate." Scootaloo looked very angry all of a sudden "What's the matter?" Apple Bloom asked, looking at Scootaloo "I still sort of hate Ms. Cherilee for wasting so much time with the whole 'everypony vs. everyone' debate, she talks WAY too fast sometimes, so I didn't even understand half of it!" Scootaloo burst out "Is that it?" Sweetie Belle laughed "I expected something a bit more important than-" "There's the farmhouse" Scootaloo cut her off abruptly, clearly trying to avoid the entire subject
They entered the front door as quietly as they could, but their efforts to be quiet were made in vain, as somepony was sitting at the table waiting for them. "What in tarnation were ya thinkin'?!" Applejack said in a voice that was obviously restraining shouts "Do ya have ANY idea of what time it is??" The crusaders shuffled their hooves guiltily braced for the lecture, and after a few minutes, Applejack had sighed, "Now, where's Big Mac?" the crusaders looked at each other "What do you mean?" Sweetie Belle asked. Applejack rolled her eyes "I sent him to go get ya three, did ya not see him?" As the fouls shook their heads, Applejack sighed, "Well, he'll come home eventually, and I guess no luck with the cutie marks, eh?" This last remark seemed to have the biggest impact on the crusaders than anything she said before, as Applejack watched their faces go into a depressed state, she quickly changed the subject "Well, what you were doing in the forest?" At this, the three fouls burst into explanations of the events in the Everfree Forest, and the more they spoke, the more uneasy Applejack became.
Walking through the forest, Big Mac started to wonder if he was walking in circles, he was positive he saw that strange curvy branch 37 times already... 38... 39... 40... there was something definitely wrong here, Big Mac knew he was walking in a strait line, he had dismissed the notion of the forest being "alive", but now, he was willing to accept that at least something was in the forest. As he considered turning around and trying a different route, he heard the music. This slightly worried Big Mac, but he needed to find Apple Bloom and the others, so he continued deeper into the forest. As the music grew louder, he began to wonder if the 3 fillies had turned back and gone back to the house. Just when Big Mac was about to turn around to go back to the house, he wandered into a clearing, and his jaw dropped.
There was a CARNIVAL, a dang CARNIVAL in the middle of the EverFree Forest! As he stood there, jaw hanging open, he noticed a strangely colored pony running around instructing other ponies, examining the booths, and instructing the ponies again, all the while with a manic grin on her face. As Big Mac watched her, the pony turned and noticed her watcher, smiled even wider, and wandered towards him. Big Mac was startled by her speed, and within a second, the pony was hooves away from him. "Welcome to the playground of insanity!" The pony cried. Big Mac just stood and stared at the pony, before coughing slightly, and speaking "Who're you?" The pony frowned "Oh, the crusaders haven't spread the word yet? The way I heard, they were going to tell every living creature they met about me and my carnival! But I guess they've only had about twenty minutes since they left, I'd say they'd be out of the forest by now..."
Big Mac raised an eyebrow "Ye saw my little sister did ya? Didn't cause no trouble did she?" The pony laughed "Oh if only she had! This place needs trouble! But where are my manners? My name is Catherine The Carnival Cat! You must be Big Macintosh. Oh don't look surprised" She cackled at Big Mac's look of shock "Why would I not get information about Ponyville before choosing a location so close to it?" Big Mac frowned "But how'd you known my name? Information about Ponyville is completely different from knowing the names of the residents" he said nervously. Looking around more carefully, he saw that there was a lot more that needed to be done; tents lying flat, booths knocked over in the wind, the other ponies looking lost now that their commander was busy. "I can help ya set up the place, if you want." Catherine's face broke into an even wider smile "Oh thank you Big Macintosh!" she cried "Uh... just call me Big Mac" he muttered nervously before walking off towards the closest tent. "Well, 'Big Mac' thank you for the help, now just stay until the carnival is over." Catherine said to herself before slowly trotting over to the trees "And I think I will need to bring the three crusaders back..." she muttered into into the trees. With a spark of insane laughter she scrambled back to work.
"So lemme get this strait." Applejack said "There is a CARNIVAL. In the middle of the EVERFREE FORREST?" The crusaders nodded "And there's some psycho looking pony in charge of the place?" they nodded again "Aaaaaaaaaand she thinks she's a CAT?" the crusaders looked at each other "Yes big sister, we told you three dang times already" Apple Bloom said impatiently. Applejack seemed not to be listening. She looked out the kitchen window before another long sigh. "I'm gonna go find Big Mac, you three stay here, I dunno about this Carnival Cat, she could be dangerous, Big Mac is tough, but he'd never hit a lady." Apple Bloom looked scared "What if she isn't dangerous?" Sweetie Bell asked, causing Applejack to smile "Then I'll invite her over for lunch." she answered, before walking out the front door and into the darkness. The crusaders looked at each other. "Let's stay on the front porch, so we can see her coming back." Apple Bloom said, "How are we going to see her? It's almost midnight!" Scootaloo cried "Either way, we could be ready if she needs help" Apple Bloom replied, before opening the door, and walking onto the porch. Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell followed, but when they stepped outside, Apple Bloom was gone.
"Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo bellowed "Where'd you go?" "She's not behind the house." Sweetie Belle panted, sprinting around a corner of the house. "Where in Equestria did she go?" Scootaloo cried, before something answered her. "Into the darkness." Sweetie Bell shrieked as a shapeless mass emerged from the shadows. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HER?" Scootaloo screamed at the creature. For an answer, the creature moved towards them, so fast that neither of the young fillies had time to react. Within a second, they were gone. Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell had vanished, as the shapeless creature moved back towards the EverFree Forest.
As Big Mac worked on various tasks, Catherine just watched him from afar, with that all too familiar feeling tearing through her mind as she watched the red pony. She knew as she watched him, Big Macintosh would stay by her side. The Lonely Colt and the Loving Cat. She giggled at how cliche her thoughts were, and as she watched, she thought back countless years, as far as she could remember, her first sight being these all too familiar trees, crawling along the ground, blood running down her face, away from an impossibly large inferno. She never did find out what happened before that, but neither did she want to. The life Catherine lived now was the one she wanted. Even if she were royalty, she would only want her carnival of chaos.
"Catherine..." A dreamy voice came from behind Catherine. She spun around to face one of the blank eyed ponies. "How many times..." Catherine growled. "Never call me that! I am your master! You do not have the right to use my first name!" "Master..." The pony said, not flinching at the outburst "That's better... Now what is it?" Catherine barked "She has them..." The pony replied, before bowing, and backing away, back to work. This put a smile on Catherine's face. "Well now..." she said, walking towards the treeline "I think you should just hold them for a bit... alright?" A rustle in the trees was all she got for a reply. "Now then..." the pony said under her breath, turning back to Big Mac. "We better hurry up, we'll want the Carnival completely set up by the time the elements get here..."
"I was hoping I'd never had ta come back in 'ere..." AppleJack muttered to herself as she walked through the dark and dreary forest. She had seen the same strange curvy branch for the dozenth time, but she knew the forest's tricks, it wants to make you think you're lost. Her ears twitched as a strange sound entered her mind. Music? "Well..." She said to herself "I guess that's th' carnival." As she continued, the music got louder, and eventually, she stumbled into a clearing, the same clearing where the carnival was."Hey sis" AppleJack turned and saw Big Mac "Big Macintosh, what're you doing 'ere?"
"I believe I can answer that!" A maniacal voice rang out above the clatter of the construction. AppleJack whipped her head around to face the source of the voice. She gasped as the Cat laughed crazily. "Big Macintosh has been ever so helpful! I doubt we would have made half of the progress we have if not for him!" AppleJack gave a sideways glance at her older brother, rolling her eyes. "Fer heavens sake Big Mac! Ya got enough work ta do at th' farm! You need to rest-" "I'm helping 'cause I offered, 'sides, not like it's apple season 'nymore" Big Mac cut her off
"Oh! You must be Applejack! Big Mac's younger sister, Apple Bloom's older sister, co-owner of Sweet Apple Acres, and of course, The Element of Honesty!" Catherine said all of this very fast "Your brother has done more than myself and my entire team of... 'Carnival Folk' have done all day! Very helpful, might actually need him to finish on time, hopefully you don't mind, because if you do-" "Wow! Slow down, lady! Ya'll hurt yerself if you talk that fast!" AppleJack interrupted "I don't mind Big Mac helping, but he really should tell me when he does this sorta thing." She gave another sideways glare at her brother "Now ya'll know so much 'bout me, and I guess that's a given, bein' one of th' Elements, but all I know 'bout you, is that yer name is Catherine"
"Well with you being the embodiment of honesty, this should be easy for you do picture! Think of me as the embodiment of INSANITY!" Catherine cackled, "And don't think of that as dangerous, I'm just as insane as every other living creature, but I let it all out!" Applejack looked at the strange pony, but of course, Apple Bloom had told her, she thought she was a cat, she looked at this 'Embodiment of Insanity' and she could see the insanity perfectly. She turned to Big Mac "Ya'll sure this pony aint dangerous?" She whispered to her brother "Anypony can be dangerous if they wanna be, thing is, I don't think she wants ta be dangerous" Big Mac replied "I'm fine, but you'd better get back to th' crusaders." Hearing this, Catherine giggled to herself, looking back to the treeline.
As AppleJack made her trek back to Sweet Apple Acres she thought about Catherine's parting laugh. There was something not right about that laugh. She was used to insane, spastic behavior because of Pinkie Pie, but this was completely different, there was something in that laugh that wasn't present in Pinkie's constant laughter, the joy and happiness was all there, but something stuck out, something... malevolent. She pushed it out of her mind, it's probably just the fact the laughter was coming out of somepony other than Pinkie. She then thought what would happen when the two ponies met. AppleJack chuckled to herself at the thought of Pinkie finally finding somepony as crazy as her, and wondered if Catherine could handle Pinkie. But her thoughts turned dark, as she wondered if Pinkie could handle Catherine. She pushed this thought out of her mind as well. What was wrong with her? She never judged a pony by how they looked, but Catherine just filled her mind with dread, as if evil was emanating from her. AppleJack couldn't help it! She felt both ashamed of herself for judging in such a harsh way, and worried for her brother, and how much danger he could be in. If only she had gone looking for the crusaders in the first place.
"Where am I?" Apple Bloom thought as she regained consciousness. She couldn't move, she couldn't scream, she couldn't even breath. She could only blink and move her eyes. The only thing she could see was her mane in front of her left eye. "Am... am I dead?" Tears began to well up in her eyes, and as she blinked them out, the drifted away from her eyes, as if gravity didn't exist anymore. "But... I still got a body... what in the name of Celestia is going on?" as this thought crossed her mind, she heard another voice in her head. "uhh.... what..? Where am I? WHAT'S GOING ON? OH PLEASE CELESTIA NO..." "Scoots?" Apple Bloom thought "WHO'S THERE? WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY CAN'T I MOVE?" "It's Apple Bloom." She replied in thought "What's going on? Is Sweetie Belle with you?" There was a pause "Are... are we dead, Apple Bloom?" "I don't think so, we still got bodies, I can see my mane in front of my eye."
There was a long pause, or perhaps not long at all, it was hard to tell. "Can you see anything? Is Sweetie Belle with you?" Apple Bloom asked "No... I can't see anything, and I remember being with Sweetie Belle, and then... OH SWEET CELESTIA!" Scootaloo's voice- or... thoughts sounded panicked "What? What happened?" Apple Bloom thought "I just remembered what happened just before... this." Scootaloo explained "You went outside... then we followed, but you were gone! And then... some black thing came out of the dark, and charged us. After that... I woke up here." Apple Bloom tried to process what was happening, but in the middle of her own thoughts, she felt something brush her leg.
"NO!" She shouted in thought. "What happened?" The panicked thoughts of Scootaloo asked, "I.. felt something brush my leg..." Tears began to well up in her eyes again, as she desperately tried to look down at her leg, but she didn't need to. A figure drifted past her, and as it began to get further away, she could see what the figure was. "Thank Celestia she's alive!" "Who? Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo asked "Yup!" Apple Bloom replied, "You see her?!" "Yup, she's still out though, hopefully she'll wake up soon" Apple Bloom stared at the white filly, and wondered just WHAT was going on.
