“Tell us a story.”
Pinkie looked over as she shouldered her gun, aptly named 'Party Cannon', to see a dozen or so kids, each barely out of foalhood.
“You want a story now?” she asked, raising an eyebrow, “you don't want to see us head into the Crucible?”
She cringed as she saw their faces fall, then she sighed and tapped the side of her helmet.
Twilight, she called through their Mindscape, courtesy of their link to Unity. She smiled as she thought of all the times the Mindscape had come in handy and she silently thanked Amant again.
Yeah, Pinkie? Twilight replied.
I've got a few foals here that want a story. Do you mind if we hold off on the match? Pinkie asked.
No, Twilight replied and Pinkie could hear her smile, we can all sit down and tell a few stories. I'll tell the others.
Pinkie smiled and nodded, then turned her attention to the crowd of children. “Alright,” she said, “what kind of story do you want me to tell?”
“One with adventure!”
“Danger!”
“Fighting!”
“Sorrow!”
“Anger!”
“Joy!”
The chorus of voices bombarded her in an instant, and she held up her hands to ward off the attack.
“Alright, alright!” she said, as she waited for the group to calm down. She thought for a while, trying to come up with a story for the group. Then she got a smile on her face. She pinged Twilight. Do you mind if I tell them THE story? she asked.
You want to tell them that story, eh? Twilight asked and Pinkie sent back her confirmation. Twilight sighed, then agreed. But first, she stated, holding up a mental finger, let's call the Cryptarchs, I'm sure they would leap at this chance. They've been bugging me for it since I told them that we were from the Traveler.
Pinkie nodded, then led the group away from the Crucible lobby and into a much larger area. The room she stopped at was large enough to harbor two of their ships, with room to spare. She turned to the group as she stopped in the center of the large room.
“Alright,” she stated, putting her hands on her hips and pulling off her helmet, “how about I tell you all about how we all came to be here.”
“We already know how the world was created!” complained one of the children.
“I'm not talking about how the world was created,” Pinkie corrected, “I'm taking about how we, my friends and I, came to be here. How we came to be Keepers.” She studied the small group of kids, then caught motion at the open arch that served as the door to the room. She looked over to see several Guardians poking their head into the room. She smiled and waved them forward. Most of them stepped into the room while a few disappeared.
She stared down at her helmet, held in her arms, as she heard some voices coming from the comm unit. She sent a tendril of magic into her comm unit, pulling the sound up to her ear.
“Attention, Guardians of the Tower!” the voice stated, “Pinkie Pie, one of the Keepers of the Traveler, will be relating the story of the Traveler and its creation in one of the meeting rooms in the Crucible. All Guardians are invited to attend.”
Pinkie smiled, then conjured up a beanbag chair and flopped down on it. “It appears as if I'll have a larger audience than I expected,” she stated, gesturing for the kids to sit down on the ground, “But I'll wait until the rest of my friends arrive before I begin.”
She sat there, waiting, as she watched Guardians of all varieties flock to the room, bringing chairs and other seating arrangements with them. They knew, if it involved Pinkie Pie, that a story could take a very long time. And, if it involved the Traveler, the great and mysterious object above the Last City, then it would be a story worth sitting through.
Finally she caught sight of the Speaker move smoothly into the room, followed by the three Vanguards. The Cryptarch came behind them, filling in the room, but he didn't come alone. There was a gathering of half a dozen others behind him, all dressed in the same kind of robes. Pinkie just figured that they were more from the Cryptarch's group. They took up a spot in the back and each pulled out data chips and mikes. They wouldn't pass up this opportunity for a lifetime of engrams.
Last but not least, her eight friends filed into the room and headed toward the center. Amant, Celestia, Luna, and Applejack were on her left, while Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight stood on her right. They formed a circle in the middle of the room, then spun around to face outward.
“This story,” Pinkie stated, her voice growing mellow, “is not just my own, but rather the story of an entire race and how they fought against some of the worst enemies they could imagine. Because of that, I'll need the help of all my friends.”
With that, the nine friends closed their eyes and the small gem in the middle of each of their foreheads glowed with an inner light. It grew brighter until it enveloped the entire room, then dimmed to reveal a cartoony, colorful world around them. The mass of people and Guardians gasped at the expanse before them. The nine could sense eyes roaming across every aspect of the generated image and it made them smile.
They opened their eyes and grinned at the stunned expressions each person wore as they looked around them, many of the children leaning down to brush their hands through the grass, exclaiming when they found the grass felt real.
Amant, Pinkie asked across their Mindscape, do you want to start?
Amant nodded, smiling. Then he cleared his throat and began.
“A long time ago, in the magical land of Equestria...”
