Chapters A Carnival for you and me.
When there is boring, fun must take over. When there is peace, darkness must come. When these two are combined…that’s deliciously murderous.”
~~~Carnival Cat.
Ponyville had its share of travelling show ponies: The Film and Flam brothers. The ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie. And Iron Will. Even though the last was harmless, the ponies of Ponyville had their fill of show ponies. They were tired of ponies coming into their town and destroying their once peaceful lives.
It had taken two months for the ponies to reclaim their lives after the last visit of Trixie. Some hadn’t been able to look at their work because it reminded them of when Trixie was their leader, but with the help of family and friendship, they had been able to get back to work.
Ponyville citizens had gone back to their usual routine of life: work, play, laugh, party, eat, and sleep. Ponyville itself had gone back to its peaceful, country style that drew many to it in the first place.
Of course within a peaceful town there was always the youthful fire of mischief that burned within the children’s hearts: partially the Cutie Mark Crusaders (CMC). While other children played with their friends in their activates which earned them their cutie mark, the CMC’s activates were earning their cutie marks by doing various tasks, but the group of fillies soon realized that there was only a limit of actives one could do.
Day one:
“Therapist?” The boyish voice of Scootaloo was heard inside their clubhouse.
Applebloom looked down at the list, which took up half of the room, and shook her head. “Nope,” she said in her country accent, “tried tha’ already.”
“Tourist?”
“Nope. Did tha’ too.”
“Inventors?”
Applebloom looked up at the broken watch, with springs coming out of it, on a wooden shelf she had made. They had tried to make the watch indestructible, but it had failed two tests of hammers, three tests of stomping, and one test of getting thrown against the wall (Scootaloo had gotten fed up and threw it with all her strength). “Nope. Tried tha’.”
“Salesmares?”
Applebloom narrowed her eyes and pouted. “You and Sweetie Belle did, but”--She crossed her hooves-- “ Applejack wouldn’t let me.”
“Oh, right.” Scootaloo chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck. “Um, wig makers?”
“Tried tha’”-- Applebloom uncrossed her hooves-- “our only customer was a donkey with a blond wig.” She sighed. “An’ we still didn’ earn a cutie mark.”
“Caters?”
“We ain’t allowed near the stove, and sis hates givin out free samples.”
“Animal trainer?”
“Fluttershy still ain’t forgiven us for scarin her chickens.” Applebloom shuttered as she remembered the stare she had given them. Sweetie Belle was still coming to terms with visiting Fluttershy.
Scootaloo shivered as well. “Right. Fortune tellers?”
“Tried tha’. Only Pinkie is good at tha’ stuff.”
“Bird watchers?”
“Tried tha’.”
“Fishing?”
“Tried tha’.”
“Foal sitters?”
Applebloom’s eyes widen as she remembered the horrors of babysitting the cake twins. She still couldn’t understand how Pumpkin Cake had mashed her into a basketball, or how Pound Cake bounced her through the shop. “Never. Again.”
“Gem hunters?”
“Need a horn for tha‘, and Sweetie still hasn’ learn magic.”
“Hey!” Came a squeak from the corner. Both looked at their white unicorn friend who was seated with a book in his hooves. “I can hear you guys, you know.”
“Well, then why aren’t you helping us?” Scootaloo asked. “All you’ve done is read those stupid books!”
“Hey!” Sweetie examined. “They are not stupid” -- she hugged the book close to her chest--“they’re well written romance books that keep you on edge!” She stuck her nose in the air and turned her head from Scootaloo; just like her sister had taught her. “Rarity reads them all the time.”
“Well is those books of yours going to get us a cutie mark?”
Sweetie’s eyes snapped opened. “Uh,” she looked down at her book.
Scootaloo started to smirk--and preparing her ‘I thought so’ remark--when Sweetie nodded her head. “Yeah! We could try to get our cutie marks in writing!”
“Didn’ we already try tha’ with newspaper?” Applebloom asked with a raised eyebrow.
Scootaloo looked down at the wooden floor. Applebloom bit her lip as she stared at her Pegasus friend. All of them had taken it hard when everypony hated them, especially family, but Scootaloo hadn’t taken it worst when her hero had hated her. They tried to forget it, but at times they forgot like Applebloom just had.
Sweetie got up from her corner and walked over to her friends. She smiled at Scootaloo, hoping it’d spread, but Scootaloo kept her eyes glued to the floor. Sweeite bit her lip and looked at Applebloom, who stared at the list in hopes of finding something.
Sweetie opened her mouth to speak, but closed it when she heard something outside. Her ear peaked up as she listened. She had discovered that her hearing was better than the others when the group decided to play hide-in-seek in a pillow shop to make it a challenge.
A smile curved up on her lips. She looked at the girls and bounced up and down. “Girls! Girls!” She squeaked.
Applebloom looked up and watched her friend bounce. “Wha’ is it?” She asked. Scootaloo watched Sweetie as well, but had to look away when the bouncing made her dizzy.
“I hear music!” She squeaked. “Happy music!”
“Huh?” The other girls said at once. Sweetie stopped her bouncing so she could run out of the clubhouse.
“Follow me!” She yelled.
Applebloom looked at Scootaloo and smiled. “Ah bet it’s Pinkie!”
“No way,” Scootaloo shook her head, “I bet it’s Rainbow Dash doing new tricks with some sweet music playing!”
Both girls took off after Sweetie, hoping what they thought was right.
~~~~~~
Once the girls drew near the end of Ponyville--which was a few yards from the Apple Family Farm--they saw something that made them stop. “Huh?” They said together.
In the middle of the open field was a wagon, but no pony was around it. The music played loud enough for all three of to hear, but it was hard to tell where it was coming from. The music seemed to dance around them. It was a happy tone that made their hearts beat in excitement.
“Who’s wagon is tha’?” Applebloom asked as she walked over to it. “The only wagon Ah seem was famil’--she looked at the others--“but it don’t look like the Apple Family wagon.”
“How can you tell?” Scootaloo asked as she stood by her friend.
“There ain’t the Apple Family crest on it.”
“Maybe it’s a travellers.” Sweetie said as she walked around the wagon. She suddenly gasped as a thought crossed her mind, “maybe it’s a new citizen!” She smiled widely and her eyes lit up. “Maybe they have kids of their own!”
“But where are they?” Scootaloo asked as she looked around. “I don’t see anypony. You don’t think they abandoned it, do you?”
“Hello, little ponies.”
The girls jumped as they heard around voice. The voice sounded like an adults, yet it was unfamiliar to the three fillies. Scootaloo and Applebloom turned around to face the pony, while Sweetie hid behind the wagon. The two’s eyes widen when they saw the pony.
The pony before them was a mare with greenish-yellow skin. She had dark purple eye shadow that made her red eyes pop out. Her outfit was a black and white stripped dress. She had a white hat with black spiders hanging off the edge. She smiled wide enough to show off her yellow teeth, making Applebloom wonder if she owned a toothbrush. “Are you enjoying my wagon?”
Applebloom smiled weakly. “O-oh. Y-yeah. Sweetie Belle jus’ heard some music, so we ran over and found it.” She explained. “We weren’ gonna steal nothing!”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Oh, great job Applebloom! Now she thinks we really were going to steal something!”
Applebloom glared at her friend. “Nu uh! Ah just said we weren’, but she probably thinks we are, thanks to you, Scootaloo!”
“Nu uh!”
“Yeah huh!”
The mare giggled at their childish argument. “May, what a lively bunch you are,” she grinned, “but, where is your other friend? You said something about a filly named Sweetie Belle?”
Both girls stopped their argument long enough to search for their missing friend. They went to the back of the wagon, where she had hidden, and gasped. Sweetie had a stuffed teddy bear in her hooves and smile wide. The stuffed bear looked like a normal toy: brown coat, black button eyes, a black piece of the nose, and a red ribbon around its neck as a bowtie. “He’s so cute!” Applebloom said as she ran over to look at it.
“Where’d you get that?” Scootaloo asked as she drew near.
“I found it-”
“In my wagon.” All three turned towards Cat, who stood there. “That’s one of the prizes for my carnival.”
“Carnival?!” The three fillies shouted and raced over to the mare.
“Wha’ kinda carnival?” Applebloom asked. “Is ‘here gonna be rides?”
“Oh, oh! Is there going to be ponies doing awesome tricks?” Scootaloo’s wings buzzed as she floated beside the mare. “If so, you should defiantly ask Rainbow Dash to help!”
“What kind of games? Horseshoes? Bob-for-apples? Um--” Sweetie’s eyes lowered to the ground as she thought “--pin the tail on the pony?”
“Those things aren’t in a carnival!”
“But Pinkie always has those games at her parties” --She paused to think--"Well maybe not the horseshoes anymore." She glared at Scootaloo. "Besides, how would you know? Have you ever been to a carnival?”
“Well, no. But I know those aren’t there!”
Cat chuckled and shook her head. “Girls, girls. Calm down. While it is true that those kind of games are more of parties”--Scootaloo smirked at Sweetie-- “I actually do have those games there”--she paused for a moment--“well expect pin the tail on the pony”--Sweetie stuck her tongue out at Scootaloo--“but I have much more.”
“Mor‘?” Applebloom questioned as she cocked her head to the side. “Like wha?”
Cat turned to Applebloom and smile as wide as she could, almost covering her whole face. “Now that’s a secret,” she winked, “you’ll have to find out in seven days!”
“S-seven days?!” Scootaloo gasped. “B-but that’s like--” she knotted her eyebrows together as she thought “--um, forever!”
“Actually it’s a week.”
Scootaloo glared at Applebloom. “What are you? A calculator?”
Cat chuckled once again. “Now, now. Seven days isn’t all that bad.” She said. “It’ll be here before you know it--” she lowered her head to the fillies level “--and just in time for Nightmare Night!”
The three fillies gasped. “We almost forgot!” They said in universe.
“Have we even picked out any costumes?” Scootaloo asked, her eyes wide. “If we don’t hurry, we’ll get the lame ones!”
“Yeah! An’ no pony wants to give a lame pony the good candy!”
Applebloom and Scootaloo raced off towards Ponyville, but Sweetie Belle stayed behind. She looked down at the teddy bear in her hooves. She knew it was wrong to take something from another pony--especially a stranger pony--but she doubt the mare would give it to her. It was a prize for her carnival. Maybe if she asked nicely-
“Take it.”
Sweetie’s head jerked up towards Cat, who was smiling down at her. “Take it,” Cat repeated, “I have plenty more.”
Sweetie’s mouth dropped. She was used to generosity from her sister, but never had another pony, whom she didn’t know, had given her things for free! She looked back at the teddy bear and smiled. “Oh thank you!” She squeaked. She ran over and hugged Cat’s leg.
Cat smiled and chuckled. “Oh, it’s nothing.” She took the teddy bear from Sweetie and placed it on her had. “Now, you two run off before your friends leave.”
Sweetie smiled and chased after her friends, who were already gone. Cat watched as the filly ran home. She chuckled. “Those girls are so cute…and stupid.”
Her eyes glowed a bright red. The teddy bear’s black eyes glowed a bright red as well. “Show me all that you see.” Cat whispered. The teddy bear’s eyes slowly faded back to black as Cat’s glow stopped.
She let out a small laugh. “Soon the gate to your souls shall open --” she looked at the wide field that would soon be taken over by her carnival “-- and I will have my carnival!”
Author's Note
Can someone tell me how to bold things? I don't see the button to do that.
A Carnival for you and me.
Day two:
Mayor Mare frowned as she looked at the town budget for repairs. In just a month they had used up all the budget for the next two years, and even though the town was repaired, they had no money for other important expenses; such as paying the weather team.
She looked at the small bag of bits on her desk and sighed. “It doesn’t seem like taxes on businesses helped much.” She said to herself. She looked to her other side and saw a stack of papers piled upon each other, but those weren’t papers that needed to be signed by the Mayor, but rather options on how to raise money. The paper on the top was covered with dark red X’s. The ink ran down the paper, covering more of the faded words.
She narrowed her eyes at the stack. “You’re worthless.” She growled. “Mayors of different generations wrote you. They took their time when they wrote you, as if they were writing a letter to the Princess herself, yet--” She stomped her hoofs on her desk, jarring the objects on it “--You can’t help me! WORTHLESS! WORTHLESS!” She threw the stack from her desk. Each paper glided down to the floor, each marked with the red Xs. “Everything written on you is outdated!” She stomped on the papers. “Everything about you is worthless! From the faded words to the dates you were written!”
She almost spat when she remembered the earliest date on one paper was ten years ago! Ten! What had the other mayors done during those ten years?! Why couldn’t they share their secret to the mayors that would come to be in the future? And why had Ponyville changed so much in just ten years!
“Why did the other mayors have more luck than me!” She yelled as she stomped the papers harder. “Why didn’t their town get destroyed by parasprites, or cranky Usra Minors, or a blue unicorn with a big ego?! Why did it have to happen to me? Why! Why! Why! Why-”
“Mayor!”
Mayor Mare halted in her wild stomping to look at the source of the voice. A grey mare with a silver mane stood at the doorway. Her blue eyes were wide as could be, but soon turned into a glare. She shook her head slowly before trotting over to the mayor. She used her magic to levitate the mayor from the papers and placed her in her seat.
She gathered up the damaged paper into a neat stack, then levitated them over to her face before shaking her head and threw all of them in the trash. She turned her attention to the mayor’s desk. She placed each object in its rightful place--after making sure it wasn’t damaged--then turned to Mayor. She levitated a handkerchief from her vest’s pocket and used it to clean Mayor’s hooves.
Once everything was clean and prefect as it was everyday, she spoke. “What were you doing?”
Mayor Mare--who had been silenced by shock over what she had done and getting caught--tried to look down shamefully, but the mare’s magic caught her head and forced her to look into her eyes. “I-I-” she closed her eyes. “I-I don’t know what to do, Silver Bell! I just don‘t know!” She put her hooves to her eyes and sobbed loudly.
Silver Bell used her magic to shut the door before anypony else could hear the mayor’s cries, then sighed. “Mayor, please tell me what brought this up.” She levitated another handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to Mayor, who gladly took it.
Mayor took in small breathes as she tried to calm herself down. She removed her glasses then dabbed her eyes with the handkerchief. Once she was sure she would be able to talk without crying, she took in a deep breath and looked at the mare. “I received the town budget for this month from the accountant an hour ago. He seemed uneasy as he did so and kept looking at the door every second. I wasn’t sure why, until I looked at the paper.” She grabbed Silver’s shoulders and shook her. “We’re broke for the next two years!”
Instead of using her magic, like she had done many times earlier, she trotted over to the door and opened it. “Welcome, Ms. Cat.” She said before moving away.
Mayor’s breath caught in her throat as she watch Carnival Cat walk in. Never before had she seen a pony’s coat look almost...dead. It was like the pony was deadly sick and could die any second, yet she walked with ease like any healthy pony.
Carnival Cat stopped when she reach the mayor’s desk. She grinned at Mayor, making her slightly cringe before correcting herself. Mayor quickly put her glasses on then placed her front hooves on her desk, trying to look professional as much as she could. She cleared her throat before speaking. “Welcome to Ponyville. Are you in the need of a house?”
Cat chuckled lightly. “Uh, no.” She said. “I’m actually here to propose a business deal.”
Mayor’s eyes lit up as bright as they could. Silver Bell--who stood in the background--rolled her eyes. She could practically see the bits in the Mayor’s eyes. Mayor smiled as wide as she could. “Oh? What kind of business?”
Cat turned her head towards the doorway. “Come on in. Bring the board with you.” She turned her head back to Mayor. “Please excuse the appearance of my assistant. She has been in an…accident. The doctors did all they could to save her.” She sniffed a bit.
Mayor’s smile instantly dropped. “Oh, I’m so sorry.” She said. She felt her heart sink. ‘What kind of accident could cause a mare appearance to be so different that her boss had to warn ponies before she came in? Was she even that different from others?’ She thought to herself.
She didn’t wait long to have those questions answered. She instantly knew the answers the second the mare walked in.
The mare had stitches almost all over her body, but the way it was stitched wasn’t to close a wound, but to keep her together. There was stitches to connect her hooves to her legs. A large stitch was on her stomach and almost went all around her, as if to keep her top half connected to her bottom. There was even a purple piece that stood out from her grey coat. Was the piece fabric?!
There was even a large stitch across her neck. Mayor could have sworn that that was the only thing keeping the mare’s head connected, but that would mean the mare’s head had been cut off and the doctors rushed to sew it back onto her body, but that was impossible. Yet as she looked at the mare she couldn’t help but wonder what kind of accident this poor mare had been in.
Then she noticed two short green horns growing out of the mare’s forehead, and a grey horn between the mare’s pink mane.
She felt like fainting, but luckily Silver Bell was shoving a paper cup in her face. She took the cup and looked inside to see water. She quickly drunk the water, hoping it’d ease her nausea and faintness. Once she felt better, she nodded her thanks to Silver then turned her attention to the large notepad behind the mare. “What do you have?
The mare blushed. “U-um, well-”
“We would like to host a carnival here in Ponyville.” Cat cut in. “But to do that we need space, and there is only one spot capable of holding our large carnival.” She nodded to the mare, who flipped over a page of the notepad.
Mayor was shown a drawing of a large field with many trees planted all over but lined up next to each other. She could have sworn that it looked exactly like the Apple’s farm, but the trees were bare of any fruit. “What is this?” She asked.
“Why this is the northwest part of a farm. The Apple farm if I remember correctly.” Cat explained. “We think this would be a wonderful place to put our carnival. It has lots of space--” she paused “--well it will once the trees are gone. All we need is permission from the farmers, but I‘m sure a charming mayor such as yourself could help.”
The Mayor sighed sadly. ‘There’s always a catch.’ She thought to herself. She knew the Apple family would rather give up their left hind legs than their trees. It was their name sake. The only time they considered to give up their trees was when Flim and Flam beat them in a cider off, but that was because they were honest folks and the trees would still be there. If this Cat pony was to put up her carnival, then the trees would be cut down, and not even all the bits in the world could convince them to do that.
“Are you worried about the farmers?” Cat asked, as if she read Mayor’s mind. “I’m sure even those honest folks could understand business.”
“You don’t know the Apple family.” Mayor said.
“Why if we explain the profits to them, then I’m sure they’d be more than glad to give up a few trees.” Cat said. She nodded to her assistant, who flipped to the next page. The page was a graph with red bars going up. Next to the graph was a drawing of a bag full of bits.
Her assistant grabbed a wooden pointer with her teeth and pointed to the graph. “We have estimated there is one-hundred ponies in this wonderful town.” Cat explained for her assistant. “Now games and food together will be twenty bits, so for now we’ll say that we’ll earn twelve thousand that night--of course we’ll earn more. Then we’ll split the profit fifty, fifty--after I pay services of course-”
She was cut off by a loud bang. Mayor Mare jumped high into the air, while Cat slowly turned her head towards the source. Cat’s assistant was staring at her with her mouth open, but quickly closed it. She blushed. “S-sorry.” She muttered before picking the pointer with her teeth.
Cat rolled her eyes before turning back to Mayor. “Well? What do you say?”
Mayor bit her lip. She couldn’t deny that the money would be in the town’s favor, as well as hers. She could pay all the town’s workers, and if the carnival gained even more money, she could plan more events for the town folks, and maybe the princess would visit Ponyville more than Manehattan!
And all she had to do to get the money was convince the apple family to let go a few trees!
She smiled up at Cat. “I approve of the carnival” -- Cat smiled -- “but you will need to get the approval from the Apple family before I can sign a permit allowing you to set up your Carnival.”
Cat’s smile faded for a second before she forced it back. “But of course.” She nodded her to assistant. “We will take out leave. Thank you for your time.” She smiled once more before leaving. Her assistant followed behind, slowly dragging the board with her.
Author's Note
Happy Friday the 13th everybody! It's my favorite day of the year! I'm glad I was able to finish this today! Hehehe!
Edited by Roarbox.
A Carnival for you and me.
“I think that went well, don’t you?” The assistant said as she placed the board into the back of their wagon. Cat hadn’t said anything since they left the mayor’s office. The walk had been quiet--except for the occasional mutters from other ponies--and while that was peaceful, it made her mind restless with questions and possibilities.
Cat wasn’t the type to stay quiet for long, especially after they had gotten a deal like that. Normally she would talk about marking it off their list, or going onto the next step, or even makes jokes about it, but this time she stayed silent. The assistant worried that she was anger with her, but she couldn’t tell by her master’s solid expression, which only made her worry more.
She didn’t dare to speak until they got to the wagon. She knew trying to make her master talk would only end badly for her. She also feared she was the reason for her silence, but she couldn’t remember what she had done. Unless-
“Circus Monster.” Cat said, making the assistant look at her. She kept her head turned from Circus, looking at something in the distances. “How would you say the meeting went?”
Circus gulped. She knew she had to word her answer carefully--something she wasn’t good at--or else she could upset Cat. She licked her lips before stuttering, “I-I, um, think it went well.” She smiled weakly.
“As do I.” Cat said. She raised her front hoof and examined it.
Circus quietly released a breath of air in relief. Her smile grew wider as she walked towards her. “That’s good-”
“Expect for one thing.”
Circus froze in her tracks--a few steps from being beside Cat. Her pupils shrunk to the size of peas. The muscles around her mouth could no longer form a smile as a growing pit of fear grew inside her. Her mouth instantly dried, stopping her words in her throat. She lowered her ears against her head.
Before she could say anything, Cat spoke again. “You dropped your pointer after I generously offered to split the profit.” She looked at her sardonically. “Do you not think that I am generous?”
Instantly Circus shook her head. “That’s not what I meant!” She said. “You are, but-”
“But what!” Cat’s voice boomed. Her eyes burned with fire as she glared at Circus, making her worry she would burst into flames. “You don’t think I’m generous after all I’ve done for you?! Did you forget what I did for you, and your promise?”
“N-no! Of course not!” Circus lowered herself to the ground, but kept her eyes locked with Cat’s. “I would never forget! I-I owe you my life.”
“Darn right you do!” Cat turned her head away from her, and took a deep breath. She turned her head back to her and smiled. She put her hoof under Circus’s head and slowly raised her head. “Don’t be so scared, Circus. You know I wouldn’t hurt you.”
Circus slowly raised to her shaking hooves. “I was just worried,” Cat continued “that the mayor would ruin my plan. I’ve waited a long time for this.”
“I know.” Circus said with more strength in her voice. “I know how much you’ve spent thinking about this, how much time you’ve spent, how much we’ve travelled all over Equestria, and how much practice’s we’ve gotten for that special day.”
Cat smiled. “Yes, soon it will be over.” She laughed. “Now we just need to sweet talk those stupid farmers into giving us that land.”
Circus bit her lip and looked away. “I’ve been wondering about that.” She said quietly, but loud enough to be heard. “Why don’t we just set up the carnival next to the Everfree Forest? I mean that’s where you want it and-”
Cat let out another laugh. This one was loud enough to echo across the area, scattering any animals that had been nearby, but it soon ended as it began. “Silly, stupid Circus. These, stupid ponies made The Everfree into a horrid place.” She narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. “They ignored the forest and allowed it to become over grown. They made the animals out to be monsters, but they only attacked when those selfish ponies took from them!” She paced around as she complained. She stomped hard into the ground, kicking up dust--making Circus cough and gag. “They made it into a nightmare tale that they told to their children to keep them away, so they couldn’t discover the beauty that these fools can’t see!”
She stopped in front of Circus and let out a low growl. “There’s no way they would come to a carnival anywhere near it!” She suddenly smiled and let out a low chuckle. “But that’s beside the point for now. We just have to focus on making the best carnival they’ve ever seen!” She turned around to face the wagon. “But for now we’ll take a break. I want to check on the children.”
Circus followed behind Cat into the wagon. On the outside the wagon looked large enough to only home one pony, but inside it was large enough for three. At the back of the wagon was Cat’s bed: it was a single bed with black and white covers to match her dress. Across the bed was a cage large enough to hold a pony and give them space to stretch--very little space. Between the bed and cage was a brown door, but instead of leading to another room, it lead to the back of the wagon where they kept their stuff.
The windows inside the wagon were covered by blinds, making it dark as night inside--but not all of it was actually darkness. Cat smiled. “Sludgy, mommy’s home~” She sung to the darkness.
The middle of the room appeared to raise on its own, but the white eyes made it clear to anypony that it was a living being. The being had a head like a pony’s, but its body seemed endless in the darkness. Its body dripped with sludge--hence its name--but Cat had Circus line the floor with newspaper, so none of it would stain the floor.
“There you are!” Cat said. “Now don’t tell mommy that you’ve been in the dark all this time.”
“The light is evil, nya.” The sludge’s voice sounded exactly like Cat’s, expect its mouth didn’t move.
“I know how you hate the light, but it won’t kill you.” Cat walked over to the blinds. “Besides, there’s no ponies around. You don’t have to be afraid.”
Sludge rolled its eyes. “I am not afraid of them. They are weak compared to me, nya.”
“Good, then you won’t mind if I do this.” Cat threw the blind up, allowing the light to flood the wagon--making it easier for them to see.
Sludge glared at her, but Cat ignored it and walked past to the other window. “Oh, don’t get so mad. I’ll give you a treat later to make up for it.”
Sludge moved its puppet closer to her. The puppet looked like an exact copy of the feline--using two different marker points as the eyes. “Two, nya.” It spoke in Cat’s voice.
Cat smiled. “Of course. Anything for my Sludgy!” She kissed the puppet’s forehead before walking away. “Now, Circus, get the device.”
Circus nodded. “O-ok.” She walked past Sludge--making sure not to step on her sludge--and went to the back door. She opened it and dug through the different objects until she found the device. She grabbed a hold of it and wheeled it out to the middle of the wagon.
The device was a movie projector. It was placed on a cart, so it would be rolled around instead of being carried around on Circus’s back--which had worked until she complained of backaches. She placed it in the middle of the room before turning it on.
There was no movie in the holders, yet it played with no problem. It projected a light green screen on the back wall. Sludge turned its Cat puppet towards the real Cat. “Since we’re watching a movie, we have to close the blinds, nya?”
“Don’t be silly, Sludgy.” Cat replied. “This isn’t a normal movie, so it’ll play just as good in the light. Now, hush. It’s starting.”
Sludge pouted and turned its head towards the screen. The screen showed a smiling Sweetie Belle. “And this is my room.” Suddenly the picture shifted from Sweetie to pink walls, a large bed, stuffed animals in the corner, and drawings on the pink carpet. “You’re going to love it here!”
The screen turned black for five seconds before showing a different scene: a white unicorn with a purple mane was looking down at the bear with a mix between disgust and happiness, giving her an awkward smile. “That’s…great Sweetie Belle.” The mare said. “But you shouldn’t take things from strange ponies. Remember that talk we had?”
“I know.” Sweetie Belle said off screen. “But she seemed really nice, and he’s sooo cute!”
“Yes, but perhaps we should wash him first. Celestia knows what kind of unseen filth could be in that wagon.”
Circus nervously looked over at Cat. Cat was glaring at the screen while her teeth rubbed against each other, creating a loud scrapping noise. Her body shook as she used all her energy and will to keep herself seated in her spot.
Circus sighed inwardly. ‘I know Cat. I know how much this wagon means to you. He did build it for you, but please don’t do anything that could harm us in the long run.’
“Circus,” Cat said in a low voice, “who is that mare?”
Circus jumped. “U-um--” she closed her eyes as she thought back to the information she had read before they arrived in Ponyville “--her name is Rarity. She’s the older sister of Sweetie Belle, and the local fashionista. She’s also the Element of Generosity.”
Cat nodded, but said nothing. She instantly returned to her calm state once the screen switched to a classroom. The class was a small group of foals of different races. They all sat in a row of three from the front to the back. Only two of them were noticeable to Cat: Applebloom and Scootaloo, whom were seated in the front.
Scootaloo sat on Applebloom’s right. On Applebloom’s left the desk was empty, but Cat didn’t have to guess who it belonged to. “This is my teddy bear, Button.” Sweetie Belle’s voice was heard off screen. “He’s so cute and special!”
“A teddy bear?” Another filly said. “That’s such a baby’s toy.” The filly faked a gasp. “But I guess that fits you perfectly.”
The filly was a pink earth pony with a white and light purple mane. She had a diamond tiara placed on her head, as if she were a prom queen. Cat knew she loved to lead ponies because her comment had gotten a few awkward laughs, even though the ponies didn’t share the same option.
“Diamond Tiara, that’s enough. You had your turn presenting your princess pony dolls. Now it’s some ponies else.” An older voice scolded.
The voice belonged to purple earth pony mare with a pink mane. She was seated behind a wooden desk. She had three smiling flowers on her flank. Cat assumed she was the teacher since she was older, but she had no idea what flowers had to do with it.
The mare smiled at the screen. “Please continue, Sweetie Belle.”
“Alright!”
But instead of hearing the rest of filly’s presentation, the screen switched to the mare again, except she wasn’t smiling: she was looking at the screen with her eyebrows raised in worry, and her bottom lip was stuck out a bit in a pout. “Sweetie Belle, do you remember that talk we had about taking things from ponies you don’t know?”
“Of course, Miss Cheerilee!” Sweetie squeaked. “But the mare seemed really nice, and she didn’t get mad at us when we went near her wagon.”
“You still need to be careful, Sweetie. Sometimes strange ponies appear nice, but they’re really not.”
“Are you saying that Carnival Cat was mean?”
“Yeah.” The Cat puppet chimed in. “Are you saying I’m mean, nya?”
“Well…no.” Cheerilee said. “But just be more careful from now on, ok? I’d hate to have anything bad happen to any of my students.” She smiled gently, but it was no regular smile. It was a smile that only a mother could give to their foals--related or not.
The smile seemed wasted on Sweetie as she gave a quick ok, then ran towards her friends, who were waiting outside the door. The screen disappeared as the memory in the projector had finished. Circus quickly stood up and walked over to the projector. She wheeled it back into the storage space before Cat--or puppet Cat--could order her to.
Sledge turned its head towards Cat. “Should we do something about that mare, nya?”
Cat--who had been silent for ten minutes--gave a small chuckle and waved her hoof at the question. “No, Sludgy. She’s just a simple schoolmare. What harm could she do? Besides--” She stood up and walked over to the nearest window. The window gave her a great view of the Sweet Apple Acres. “--We have bigger plans.”
Author's Note
Alternate ending to this chapter: Cat: “--We have bigger plans.” -Lets out a loud laugh that fills the whole wagon-
This is easily becoming my favorite story to write (that's allowed, right?), but you probably can't tell by the updates. Anyway, this is the second part of Day 2 that wasn't planned. Why? Because I needed to fit a certain character in here so later chapters would make sense, and nobody would nitpick it. Who's the certain character? Ha! You won't get it out of my THAT easily. You'll just have to wait. I'll tell you who though.
There was a scene I wanted to add with Sludge bugging Circus with her puppets, but I couldn't fit it in here right now. Hopefully I'll get to add it later. Also, in case some of you are confused, Sludge is a sludge thing that can only speak with puppets, which I found interesting. Sand probably made Sludge a girl, but I thought calling Sludge an it would fit better.
You may have noticed a few changes I made to Sludge if you seen the tumblr: Her saying nya with the Cat puppet, and her hating the light. I wasn't planning on using the nya, but to me Sludge seems like the type to add that since Cat claims she's a cat, and cats say that in media stuff. Cat probably sees that as a compliment.
I don't think the real Sludge hates the light, but seeing as he blends in the darkness, I made her hate it. She won't die by it or anything, but she's more of a night pony than a morning pony.
Well I'll rap this up since it's so long. Next time we get to see Applejack and Big Macintosh. Raise your hoof (hand) if you've been waiting to see this. Really? That many? Huh...
