When the Circus Came to Town

The rest of the day I stayed pinned to her side, as I was way too scared to leave it. I still wasn't used to the sight of dead ponies walking the streets and tubular creatures (which Lily called "Grinning Worms"). We talked, mainly about my stories of after she left, until night fell and music could be heard and a warm glow seen in the town's center.

"What's that over there?" I pointed a hoof toward the lights and sounds.
"They're having a party."
"What kind of party?"

With all the events of that day, I expected something along the lines of a blood ritual or sacrifice to some unknown diety.

"Just a party, you know, with cake and stuff."

I was skeptical, with all the things walking around I didn't think it was going to be "just a party."
"Do you wanna go see?"
"I guess so," I replied.
"Then follow me!" She said in her usual cheery voice. She got up on her hind hooves and did a few cartwheels.
"I still can't do that, you know." I said in a playful voice.
"Don't worry, you'll get it someday."

She finally finished that sentence after almost a year, not being interrupted by my mother. That mare couldn't interrupt her anymore, couldn't take me back to that house. The feeling of freedom flooded over me, it was amazing.

"Thanks."
"So didn't you wanna go to the party?"
I nodded.
"Then let's go!" She said cheerily.

We trotted together toward the lights, all the while the music grew louder. When we were almost there and had only one more corner to turn, I stopped and took a deep breath, steeling myself against what might have come next.

"Come on!" She gestured for me to follow with a hoof, a smile as wide as a mile across her face.

I followed, not sure of what I was going to see. The corner went by and the party was in full sight. I saw ponies with their hoods down, the acrobatic ones without masks (Lily liked to call them The Jesters of Baltimare, and she said she was one of them), even the pegasi (They were apparently called Euphories) had the steel blades off their wings. The music was lovely, barrel organ in full play and ponies dancing all around. The melody echoing from the organ made me feel strangely good, physically and mentally. Then I saw something peculiar, some of the townsponies were there dancing with members of the group. Upon further examination of the party, I saw more and more of the townsponies. They were eating from the 7-tiered cake in the middle of the party, having cider, talking with the ponies that just killed a large amount of other ponies, and one of the brave souls was on the back of a grinning worm, taking a little ride. (The worms still made me shudder.)

"Why did you let those ponies live?" I asked Lily
"They wanted to have fun and smile and laugh with us, we don't kill everypony in every town we go to, you silly filly."
"So everypony that wants to join your group can if they want to?"
"You mean the Cult of Laughter? That's what we call our 'group'. And yes, anypony that wants to join can."

A smile spread across her face. I knew what she was going to say next.

"Do you want to join? Come on, join, pretty please? We can be together, friends side by side in this big family of a cult!"

Family. There it was again, that word. All things considered, I never had a -real- family, only a group of ponies that had similar blood to me. I longed for the sensation of a real family, a bunch of ponies who cared, who listened to me, who wanted to see me happy. I probably should have thought my decision through better.
"Yeah, sure."

She gave a squee of delight and clopped her hooves together.
"The ceremony swearing in the new members is tonight! Come on, lets tell Greytail you want to join!"
"Who's Greytail?"
"He's the leader of this branch of the cult. There's branches everywhere, all over Equestria and places beyond."

I didn't reply, I had no time. She wasn't even done with her own sentence before she turned and was trotting through the party towards the fire that was all set up near the middle of the town center. I quickly caught up and trotted by her side, excited that I was going to finally have a family that cared for me.

"So what's he like, Greytail?"
"He's a wise pony, he's pretty old if you ask me, he's got a grey tail... Oh yeah, and his laugh is so much fun to hear. I hope he laughs!"

We arrived at the fire as she finished her response and sure enough, there was an elderly pony sitting on a bench near it, holding an old-looking scroll. She poked him on his shoulder, and he woke with a start.

snort "Huh, wha?"
"Greytail, I have somepony here who wants to join."
"What? Speak up!"

She rose her voice, yet retained its softness.
"I found somepony who wants to join!"
"Why didn't you say so in the first place?!"

She looked over to me, her left eye looking up and the right one looking down and her tongue hanging out, then quickly turned back to him.
"Let me have a look at him then."

Greytail got up slowly, his legs not what they once were, and walked around me in a circle, occasionally poking me. He hit my legs once each, he pushed on my side a little bit here and there, he squeezed my cheeks between his front hooves. All the while I was looking at Lily with a "This stallion is crazy" expression on my face. She had her eyes closed tight, was covering her muzzle with her hoof and bobbing her head up and down because of her supressed laughter. Greytail finished his examination after not too long.

"Can you do anything special, erm... what's your name?"

I forgot all about what Lily said earlier about names, and remembered because he just asked. I still had no idea what my name was. I quickly thought of everything that I was proud of in life, everything that meant something to me. I thought of how I first met Lily, ducking under the tent. I thought of the day I got my mark the circus in all it's glory around me. I thought of when I first stood up to my father, the trickle from my lips, the taste, the pain.
"Well sonny? What is it?"

I looked over to Lily and whispered.
"Can you buy me some time to think?"

She nodded and turned to Greytail.
"Can I talk to you about something, Greytail?"
"What is it you want to talk about, Lily?"

She turned him around and took a few steps away, leaving me to think. Everything I ever did went through my head, every detail of myself, every name I could think of. Redeye? Scavenger? Woodsy? Stripeybutt? None of them stood out to me. I took a deep breath, thought of the best moments of my life, the thing I was most proud of. My mind was brought back to the first time I stood up to my father and when I first met Lily. The pain, the taste, the color, me dashing to the tent, throwing myself under it's fabric wall.

Crimson. Crimson Dash. That was it, I felt it in my heart. I said it out loud, to myself.
"Crimson Dash" It had a ring to it, I liked it.

So it was decided, my name was Crimson Dash. I walked up to Lily and tapped her shoulder.
"Yes?"
"Crimson Dash. My name is Crimson Dash."
"Nice to meet you, Crimson." She said in her usual cheery playful voice. "My name is Lily Blossom." She lifted a hoof.
"Charmed." I said with a smile, taking her hoof and kissing it.

We both laughed once more. It felt good to laugh, to play with other ponies, to be acknowledged and paid attention to.
"So you were saying, Lily?" Said Greytail.
"I think what this zebra here has to say is more important."

I stepped toward the elder pony.
"My name is Crimson Dash."
"Oh, good, very good. So you want to join the Cult of Laughter, do you?"
"Yes, I would very much li-"
He cut me off. "That's great! Do you have any notable talents or things about yourself?"

I didn't hesitate, I got up on my hind hooves and tumbled backward through the air, displaying a perfect flip. Then I proceeded to contort my body every which way.
"Well, that will get you somewhere around here."
"Thanks." I said as I unwound my body and stood upright again.
"The initiation ceremony will begin in about an hour. Go, have fun, get to know everypony."

Lily wrapped her wing around my side and pulled me along with it. Soon enough, we were in the thick of the party.