Chapters Heeding the Call
Chapter 1: Receiving the Call
Edit: Read author's note If you've read before chapter update
I just received a letter requesting for me to come home. Gummy had burped it up when I returned from a party I threw for Big Mac's birthday. I came in all cheerful from another hard days worth of work. Bringing joy was my duty. And I am proud to say that I enjoyed it greatly.
I held the letter in my hooves sitting on my bed my hair falling in front of my eyes as I read. If it was a letter from my parents it would be fine. I would love to see my sisters again. To see my mother and father again. Bless their souls for they know not what they raised.
No, it was not a letter from my parents but from the Mother. She did not need to give a reason. I was called upon and I must answer. But time is meaningless for her, and she has graciously given me a week to ready myself. A week to make arrangements. A week to say my goodbyes.
I continued to sit on my bed. I clutched Gummy tightly holding him as close as I could. He has always been there for me. Always ready to listen to my random spouts of party ideas and tales of joy brought to the ponies. The Mother had given me him when I was working on the farm. My parents had thought it was an alligator, despite my insistence that it was a dragon. They simply thought it was my youthful imagination and left it alone. I later learned it was much easier to explain a pet alligator than a pet dragon.
I held him close to me contemplating what I should do. As a Daughter of the All Mother I must heed Her call. There is no doubt about it. It is rather unfortunate that I had to become important to this place. The point of my arrival was to spread Happiness to the ponies. To bring joy, and laughter.
There is the kicker. I was meant to spread joy, but never to become important. I had done my job too well and became the Element of Laughter. A nice title but not one that was meant for a being like me. Without me or anyone of the other elements they become useless trinkets until new bearers are found. This does not only affect me, but the whole of Equestria.
It was the next morning when Mr. Cake came up to my room and knocked. I had been here in my bed with a sad but thoughtful look with my hair draping over me. I didn't need rest but fell asleep at some point. I hadn't noticed him walking into the room until he was right beside my bed with a very worried face.
"Good morning, Pinkie. is everything alright?" He asked as I lifted my head. He was greeted with my tear stained face."Here let me help you out of bed. Can you tell me what's wrong?" He spoke as if I was a child. Understandable considering my usual antics. He assisted in untangling myself from my hair and Gummy. When I was righted I shrugged off his helping hoof.
"Excuse me for a moment" I droned as I walked to my bathroom. "I'm going to clean myself up and go to Twilight's. I'll be back in a few hours." My voice was barely above a whisper.
As I turned away I saw Mr Cake was confused. Before I could say anything he sighed in defeat. "Alright, dinner is at 8." he turned to my door and walked out shaking his head and muttering "mares" as he left.
I walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. I was darker than my usual shade of pink. A typical reaction to my saddened mood. My fur was matted where my tears had streamed and needed some care. I was able to clean myself up and was careful not to make it worse.
The end result was a relatively normal looking Pinkie with a darker coloration. I sighed at the mirror. The last time I had this dark of fur was when I thought my friends didn't like me anymore. My entire duty to this world felt shattered and useless. I was so glad it was just my over reaction to the situation.
This time it is worse. There is no chance of it being a mistake. I am called for and will be leaving in one week...
I forced my train of thought to stop before I would have to clean myself up again. I composed myself and patted Gummy who just stared into space as I left my room.
Upon my arrival at the bottom of the stairs I heard a small gasp to my right. I turned my head to see Mr. Cake speaking to Mrs. Cake who was facing me.
"Good evening Mrs. Cake. I'm going to be with my friend for a few hours. I should be back before dinner." She continued to stare with her hoof to her mouth as I walked out the door.
I tried walking the main way but there were too many ponies walking about. I knew them all and hated them seeing me like this. After a couple of blocks I turned down an alleyway that would be a longer route but still get me to Twilight's library.
As I walked the back alleyway I thought about what I could do. I had really two options. Three technically, but I don't think eating ice cream to wash away the tears will help much.
Door number one. I say my goodbyes and leave. Just out of the blue. Rip it off like a bandage. My friends would question my betrayal and feel hurt. They would come looking for me. Knowing them they would stop at nothing to find me. Even if it killed them.
I can not let them do that, nor could I stop them as I would be gone. The end result is definitely not ideal.
Door number two. I tell them everything. I explain that I can no longer be here with them and must heed The Mothers call. It would give them what they would seek otherwise before they could endanger themselves. I will have to make them promise never to tell anyone, but I know they would never tell a soul.
In the end door number two has the least problems. When I had finished my thoughts I looked around and noticed I had taken a wrong turn somewhere. I sighed as I realized I had no idea where I was. Looking around I noticed a door back a little from where I stopped. Turning around, I trotted towards it.
After looking up and down the alleyway to check and see that the coast is clear, I turned to the door and opened it. Inside was a swirling black and blue void. I stepped through and kept walking. After a quick bright flash I found myself in a bush. The warp tunnel was not always accurate as it has to find an exit no one is looking at. I jumped out of the bush and looked around.
Lucky for me it was one of the hedges surrounding the library. I walked from behind the large tree and passed the Golden Oaks Library sign. I stood at the stoop for a moment longer before sighing and finally knocking on the door.
Everypony Knows But Doesn't Understand
Heeding the Call
Chapter 2: Everypony Knows But Doesn't Understand
Three knocks ring out around the front of the library. Normally I would burst into the room shouting gossip and news. Spike was evidently quite surprised when he opened the door and found the dark coated mare that is me. I say evidently because he was stunned into silence in the middle of his hello. Before he could catch himself and say anything, Twilight called from within.
"Spike! Who is it?" I could hear small clops as Twilight came to the door.
"Pinkie Pie. I think." Spike had only seen me like this for a few moments before digging into a pile of gems I had given him. He hadn't really paid all that much attention to my change of mood at the time. Quite frankly I don't know what I expected from him when I had made the offer of gems for a phrase that made me depressed.
"What do you mean you think Spike, either its Pinkie or its not... Unless there's two of her agi-" By then she had reached the door and pulled it open enough to see me. The sight of me made her stop everything she thought for a quick reboot. Out of nowhere she reached out and grabbed me into a hug. And they call me the random one.
"Pinkie Pie, what's wrong. Do you think someone isn't your friend anymore? Maybe we can talk to them, see if its a misunderstanding again. Or if not, we can work out whatever it is." she said stroking my back trying to comfort me.
"Twilight, stop" I pushed from her grasp "I'm fine. I just need to talk to you for a few minutes.”
"We have some spare punch from the party yesterday" He offered. I had made enough punch that everyone involved had to take some home.
"I'm sorry Spike but I don't feel like having punch. Would it be a bother to have some tea? Bengal Spice if you have any." This earned a confused and even more worried look from Spike but he headed to the kitchen.
"Now then. Pinkie, why do you look so sad?" Twilight asked from the couch. I sat down with her and looked down.
"First of all I need you to Pinkie Promise me you won't tell anypony until I say so. We're going tell everypony else in a while but I wanted to talk to you first." My voice was solemn. She knew how much I held the Pinkie promises dear. Everyone assumes it is a regular promise made with meaningless words. In truth it is a Children spell. My own personal one. I keep a list in my head of every single Pinkie Promise made. In a way, they form strings. Once that string is broken, I find out. Promising upon a Child is taking a sworn oath. The Children take sworn oaths very serious, even when our nature is silly.
Frowning at this she did the motions and droned "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye" forgetting to close her eye at the end. She rubbed her now sore eye. "I hope you're happy"
I giggled a little "yes thank you" filing the string among the many others.
I thought for a moment staring at the wooden floor of the library. There were so many things to go over. I had plenty of time but no where to start.
"Twilight, how much do you know of the All Mother?" I asked as my hooves twiddled about on the soft cushion of the couch.
This made Twilight ponder for a bit. She has a massive ability to store information but such memory has a drawback. The more she learns the more she must sift through. The more it is brought up the easier it is to recall.
"That's an odd question Pinkie. I know just about as much as anyone. Its a religion that covers the entirety of the world and no one knows why. Ponies don't really celebrate her or praise her but we all know of her at the very least." She turns to me questioning without a word if I would mind the lecture of what she knows. I motion for her to continue.
"We have almost no information written on the base subject of the All Mother. There are slight deviants to the religion that have various changes to the overall story but none have gotten larger than a few hundred members." I can at least tell that the ponies do not know the full story.
"The majority of the world's population knows of her because some of the information is given to us from birth. We have no knowledge where it came from. Some scholars of the religion believe that it is given from her." She brought her mini lecture to an end as Spike came into the room to serve our tea.
"Thank you Spike" I said before taking a sip. "Mm delicious. Twilight would it be okay for Spike to go to Rarity's for a couple hours and bring her and the others here in a little while?"
At this Spike's eyes shot wide and turned to Twilight "Can I pleeeeease?"
"Alright, tell her to come here in an hour. I'm sure having everyone here will help Pinkie cheer up." At this Spike shot out the door.
I shook my head at this and took another sip. After a couple seconds I sighed "Do you know anything about her Children?" I asked turning to Twilight
"Children? I would assume that everything is her child as her name entails." She turns to me, bewilderment adorning her face.
I raise a hoof to stifle a giggle. "While yes that is correct, everything that exists are her children, that is not what I refer to. Her Children with a capital C are more like her agents. They serve her directly and govern certain sections of life for ponies both emotional and physical. Love, Light, Comfort, Joy" I reflect on my sisters. They do not know that I had arrived a few years ago yet we still had dealings.
I continued before Twilight could think much on what I had said. "She must also keep a balance, not all of her Children ponies consider good. Deception, Chaos and Anger are also Her Children. This does not make her evil, but neutral. Being neutral does not make her uncaring, but care for both sides."
"How do you know all this? No book I have read has mentioned these children in the slightest. I am certain none of the religions deviations have any mention either." Twilight was starting to panic from this apparent large knowledge gap.
"Calm down Twilight, drink some tea. They are not known to be Her children because that is not their goal. They are to govern their jurisdiction. All of them that I have mentioned you are familiar with. Children are on occasion sent to the world to more directly interact with their charge. Some are more permanent fixtures." I paused for a moment to let her soak this all in.
"I assume you can guess them already. Celestia is the Child of Light. She controls the sun and thus governs the most major source of light in the world. Luna is the Child of Comfort. She walks among the ponies dreams to make sure the world sleeps well. Cadence is Her most recent Child. The Child of Love. There was love in the world before her existence but before that the All Mother had been the decider of love. As the world's population grew, the job became larger and needed its own Child to govern it."
"Normally when a Child is sent to the world, their power is reduced. Celestia in her natural form could turn the world to a volcanic wasteland for example. That would not be her goal and would not be able to the moment she decided too, because her power would be taken away, but she could theoretically. When she came to the world she was only given the power to control the sun and still have enough power to protect her ponies from most things that could endanger the world." I looked over at Twilight for a moment. At this point she was in a form of catatonic state. I had seen her like this before. When she reads books she shuts off almost every other function so that she can focus everything on whatever it is that she is learning.
Confident she was still paying attention I continued. "Now because the All Mother is looking to strike a balance she has to allow the other side more power. There are more followers of Celestia and thus her side has strength in numbers. Children such as Discord, The Child of Chaos, are allowed a larger portion of their power when they come to the world. Celestia is no match for him without some form of aid, yet they are equals when immaterial."
"The Child of Anger, Sombra, can spread his crystals with his power and then leech of the natural magic of the world through them. Chysalis is the last Child you are familiar with, The Child of Deception. Her power allows her to transform and turn ponies she saps her love from into her loyal minions, the changelings." Finished with my lecture I let Twilight soak all of this in.
Slowly but surely she became more lively. When she was again able to think coherent thoughts she asked. "That still doesn't answer how you know all of this. Not only that but you said that I had met all of them before. You left ou-" Her own thoughts interrupted her. It took her a little while, but she was able to put all of the pieces together.
"I am the Child of Joy, Twilight" I said before taking another sip from my tea.
Heeding the Call
Chapter 3: Edited for Your Pleasure.
After revealing my purpose to Twilight I knew that she would have questions. Overloading Twilight’s brain with questions was not my intention. While her mind sorted through the many thoughts rampaging through her head, I watched my reflection in my tea. I looked into the brown liquid, and I worried
The Children are not perfect. We are with emotions. We make mistakes. And I now worry that I have just made one.
There were never rules against revealing the truth. I could spread the truth to the world, show what I can do and prove everything. It just was not ever important. Nor was it a part of my duty. Although some could say spreading the truth of The Mother could spread joy… but forcing the truth onto ponies would not make everypony happy.
“Why?” I looked up from my beverage when I heard Twilight’s voice. Somewhat surprised by the first question. “Why are coming to me first? The most skeptical of ponies. Why are you telling anypony? Most of all, why is this making you sad?” As she spouted her questions a frown began to form. I was not doing my job very well. But my job must wait for once.
After taking another sip from my tea I put down the empty cup, I leaned back on the couch and spoke. “Why you first? Think about it for a moment. Who in the whole wiiiide”, I stretched my hooves out as far as I could, “world would be the best pony to judge how much knowledge there is on a subject, let alone out of my closest friends?” I put my hooves back down on the couch and I stared at her expectantly for a few seconds before she nodded.
Twilight rose one of her hooves and tapped her chin.“Sounds reasonable. Find out how much you would need to explain rather than explain the whole story.”
“Exactly! Far as I could know I would have had to explain how the universe was made before getting anywhere.”
This made Twilight stop in the middle of her drinking. It also made her cough a couple times before she could speak. “Wait *cough* DO you know how the universe was made?” She sat her tea down. “The best any scientist can guess is it poofed into existence. Some even say it was a large explosion.”
I considered answering the question but we didn’t exactly have much time. Instead I went with, “Well you see Twi, when a mommy universe and a daddy universe love each other veeery much” I stopped there in a fit of giggles.
“Oh ha ha, at least you haven’t lost your funny bone. We would have had to make a monument commemorating all its hard work” She rolled her eyes a bit before joining in the giggles. The itch telling me to make someone smile was satisfied for now.
When the laughing fit slowed I glanced at my fur. It was a little brighter than it was this morning, but I was quite obviously not my normal self.
“The other two questions are pretty much the same. I’m telling you and our friends because The Mother has called for me to return to The Essence, where The Mother dwells and all life ends up.” Adding more questions into the mix won’t help her much but it had to be answered. “And I have no idea when or if I will return.”
“Surely she can’t need you for too long, I wouldn’t think time would mean anything to Her.”
“You are right, She does not care much for time at all and as a result might let it pass without a thought or might freeze it to Her desires. When I was last called to return I did not come back for five thousand years.” I was about to reflect on my time in the Essence, but my musings were interrupted.
“Five thousand years!? B-but, you’re the Child of Joy! You must be a large part of this world. Most of the world is happy at any given point!” She was starting to panic. I don’t blame her. I am too in my own ways.
I stared down towards my hooves “But that is just it. The world is perpetually happy, thus rendering my direct influence typically useless. On a regular basis my job is to keep record of everything that makes somepony smile. I hate it.”
This made Twilight’s mind reboot. Again. “Wait, I thought you loved making everyone smile, why would you hate knowing how to do it?”
I continued to watch my hooves as tear drops began to fall to them. “I don’t get to see them. I don't get to see everyponies smile. I get to take note of what makes them smile, but not the look of joy that dawns their face.”
As Twilight gasped, my head dropped to my hooves to cover my eyes and tears. After a moment of crying I felt a comforting hoof stretch over my side. Twilight stayed there hugging me.
Neither of us noticed anything until we heard from the door a collective gasp.
