The Night Carnival was the most happening place to be in the United Federation (according to its promotional materials, at least). A modern amusement affair with classical styling, it had just about every kind of ride, game, and foodstuff ever conceived of by human or Mobian. It was a bit pricey, sure, but that didn’t stop anyone from showing up by the thousands; singles, couples, families and mismatched groups of friends alike.
One of the main attractions (even if it wasn’t all that attracting, really) was a tall, wavy fun house mirror set in the middle of one of the booth-lined avenues. It was also one of the few free attractions, allowing passersby the opportunity to see the world from a funny perspective. For the most part, it was only truly funny to small children, particularly to a small human child, age three or so, who laughed as they jumped up and down in front of the mirror, watching their reflection while their parents watched them.
Laughter turned to concern when the surface of the mirror started to ripple, and concern into fear when through the mirror stepped a pony. Not a pony at all like anyone may have suspected, but a pony a bit shorter, slighter of frame, and far more purple than was traditional. The fact that it had a single horn on its head and feathered wings did not help much either, but least helpful of all were the large, expressive eyes on the (seemingly) feminine face that reminded everyone around just a little too much of a Mobian when what they were seeing was obviously not a Mobian. She came to a stop and blinked her eyes several times as if clearing spots from her vision, and took in for the first time the small child in front of her, age three or so, that looked on the verge of terrified tears.
Panic washed over the pony’s face, and she turned around to retreat back through the mirror, mashing her face against the hard, unyielding surface to no effect. Tapping her hoof against it did not yield results either, but did make it very obvious that a complete hush had fallen over the area. Slowly, the pony turned around to see the disbelieving faces of many a human and Mobian.
“Um,” began Princess Twilight Sparkle, suddenly very aware that literally everyone in her immediate vicinity was looking right at her. “Hi?”
A moment of silence passed, otherwise filled only by the sounds of the various rides and games that were still running. Then, the panicked screaming started, followed by the panicked running as all the carnival attendees suddenly felt the need to be some place not occupied by a weird, horse-looking monster that was probably there for their delicious brains.
“It’s after m’brains!” someone shouted as they fled; it was impossible to tell who.
“W-wait, no! I’m friendly!” Twilight tried again. No one listened.
The mayhem continued for a few seconds more before, at the top of a flight of stairs where the entire carnival could be overlooked, the door to the Management Office flew opened. The first figure out was dressed as any carnival manager ought to be in a sharp tuxedo that would look at home on a circus ringmaster, and which did nothing to help his short, rotund stature that made him look just slightly like a human someone had overinflated. His pasty skin and pencil thin mustache didn’t do much for him either.
But the second figure out was a different story.
Like some others at the carnival, he was a Mobian, a Mobian fox to be specific, although he was perhaps younger than someone barreling out of the Management Office would have been expected to look. His most defining feature, however, was not his age, nor the red and white sneakers he wore, nor even his blue eyes, but the fact that had had two tails attached to him. More than a mere employee, this contracted consultant was as famous for his twin tails as he was for his heroics and his inventions.
None other than Miles Prower; ‘Tails’ to his friends, and also just as confused by the situation unfolding below.
“What’s going on?!” demanded the manager as he looked down over the stair railing at the rapidly clearing crowd. An instant later, he jabbed a finger towards the mess. “What the heck is that thing?!”
“I think it’s a unicorn!” Tails said excitedly, clambering up the railing for a better look. “A little unicorn! With wings!”
“What? There’s no such thing as unicorns!” proclaimed the manager, eagerly rubbing his hands together. “It’ll be the perfect attraction! Hey, boys!” Without wasting another moment, he went scrambling down the stairs looking for his wranglers.
“Wait, Mister Mooch!” Tails said too late; the fat man was already gone. With a frustrated groan, he looked down at the minicorn again. He was going to have to handle this himself.
Down on the ground, the situation had improved only because the crowds had cleared away in record time. “No, no, no, this wasn’t supposed to happen!” Twilight said to herself despairingly. “How could this have happened?”
“There’s a nice, calm winged unicorn thing,” said a young-sounding voice. Twirling around quickly, Twilight found herself faced with one of the snack stands that had a fox peeking out from behind it. A fox with large, expressive eyes that reminded her just a little too much of a pony. She only became more unsettled when it stepped out from behind the stand, revealing it to be about her height, bipedal like a human, wearing shoes like a human, and holding a churro in its hand (probably like a human). “Are you hungry, little birdicorn?”
Twilight gave a little hop backwards in alarm. “You talked!” she said, surprised.
Tails gave a little hop backwards in alarm. “You talked!” he said, surprised.
“It's over this way, boys!” said a third voice in the distance.
“Uh oh! Mister Mooch is back already,” Tails said with a glance over his shoulder. An instant later, he was looking at Twilight again. “Can you fly with those wings?”
“Y-yeah?” Twilight ventured nervously, muscles knotting with worry.
“Great! Follow me!” Tails coiled up his nicknamesake, and in the blink of an eye had taken to the air and started retreating, tails whirling like a helicopter rotor. “I know where we can hide!”
Twilight stared in amazement for a few moments, and then shook off her daze. With a flap of her wings, she leapt skyward and gave chase.
It was many minutes later when Mooch found himself standing in the relative shadow of the ferris wheel (tallest one outside of Empire City!), arms folded over his chest and grumbling very loudly. He perked up slightly at the sound of approaching footsteps and spun around with a grin big to find three wranglers — a short, stout human, a tall, thin human, and a frazzled looking Mobian ground squirrel — stumbling over, very out of breath and carrying three over-sized butterfly nets. Mooch’s grin vanished immediately into a frown. “Well, where is it?” he asked. “You caught it, didn’t you?”
“Not-not yet, sir,” panted the squirrel as the three came to a stop, wiping sweat from his brow.
“Well, keep looking, then! I'm not about to miss out on a fortune just because you can't find a mythical creature!” Mooch barked. He folded his hands together pleadingly. “It would mean so much for the Carnival to have it. Don't you want to help the Carnival?”
All three wranglers, having approximately the same level of intelligence and gullibility, snapped to attention and saluted. “Yessir!”
“Good!” Mooch shouted, aggressively pointing down the avenue. “Now get out there and find my unicorn!” Without wasting a moment, all three wranglers complied and went dashing off. After a moment, Mooch leisurely wandered after them, already seeing all the money he was going to make.
Like most humans, of course, he was not in the habit of looking up, and accordingly he did not see either Tails or Twilight relaxing atop the highest gondola on the ferris wheel, enjoying prepackaged ice cream cones they’d acquired on their way to their hiding spot.
“So, you come from a place called Equestria, where everything is run by ponies like you, and you’re the Princess of Friendship there?” Tails confirmed before taking a lick of his ice cream.
“That’s right! And I came here looking for other worlds to establish friendly relations with,” Twilight replied.
“Well, that’s not the strangest thing I’ve ever heard. I mean, a whole other world isn’t that much harder to believe than the Chao Gardens are, and I’ve been to those, so why not?”
“It looks like establishing friendly relations didn’t work out here, though, and I don’t know how I’m going to get home,” Twilight added with a sigh, shoulders slumping. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.”
“Are you kidding? This is great!” Tails replied excitedly, leaping to his feet and flinging his dessert away. “Panicking masses aside, this is the first contact we've had with an alien species! And you’re friendly! And this totally validates the Berkowsky Zone Superposition Theorem! This is huge!”
“The Berko — what?” Twilight asked.
“The Berkowsky Zone Superposition Theorem. It’s like this. The prevailing theory is that ‘microcosms’ like the Chao Gardens or the Special Zones are separated from the rest of the universe by barriers, which allows their natural laws to behave differently, but are still part of that universe,” Tails explained.
“Oh! Like a time bubble or a stasis spell! You can still get to it normally, but it’s tricky or even dangerous because it’s out of phase with everything else,” Twilight remarked.
“Right. But the Superposition Theorem states that ‘microzones’ are actually completely separate from a ‘macrozone,’ and by bridging the gap between them, the two will actually phase-shift and temporarily overlap where the bridge is made, allowing travel between them. And then, there’s the Stability Corollary, which states that a bridge between two zones becomes naturally more unstable the more different the two zones are, making it harder to establish a link.
“You just being here shows that zone superposition is true, and that it’s possible two establish a link between two macrozones, and if both of those are true, then we can find a way back, no problem,” Tails replied. “And since you’re a diplomat for your people, I even know who to get you in contact with so we can establish friendly relations.”
Twilight moved immediately from ‘hopeful’ to ‘ecstatic.’ “Really?!”
Tails raised up his right hand. “Scout’s honor. I just have to make a quick call to get everything started.”
Without explanation, he reached behind his back, and an instant later brought his hand back around, holding a yellow-colored device that Twilight was dead certain he had no pockets to hold. Determining the occurrence to be a Pink-level event, she immediately ignored where it may have come from, instead asking, “Is that a phone?”
“It’s even better.” Grabbing it from either side, Tails pulled and extended it into a much larger form, like a book held sideways even if it was much thinner, and started manipulating the controls. “It’s a comm-link. It does everything a phone can do, but it also has cameras and a built-in computer. If I can solve the issues with battery life, the next model will have a holographic display.”
“Wait, did you make that?” Twilight asked, her excitement intensifying.
“Sure did! Well, this one, at least. I’ll tell you about it after this call,” Tails replied as his comm-link broadcasted a ringing tone.
After only two-and-a-half rings, it was answered with a cheerful and girlish, “Rose~ residence, Amy speaking.”
“Hi, Amy? It’s Tails.”
This was, apparently, excellent. “Oh my goodness, Tails! We haven’t talked since Sonic rescued Miss Rabbit! How are you? How’s Sonic? Oh goodness, is everything ok?”
“Everything’s fine, Amy,” Tails replied, before giving a moment of thought. “In fact, everything's great! But, um, listen. Is your dad home? It’s kind of really super-important.”
“Sure thing, Tails! Just a second.”
When a few seconds of silence passed, Twilight spoke up. “So, her dad’s a diplomat or a leader?” She asked.
“He was the last time I talked to her, but even if he isn’t anymore, he’ll know who to talk to. He’s the guy that calmed everyone down after the Chaos Incident last year, so he’s kind of a big deal,” Tails replied before his attention snapped back to his comm-link. “Oh, hi Mister Rose!”
“Mister Prower, always happy to hear from you!” came the jovial reply. “How do circumstances find you?”
“The circumstances are great, Mister Rose! But, listen, I need a super-huge favor from you. You’re still in the Diplomat Corps for the League of United Nations, right?”
“That’s right,” said Mister Rose. “Is there any trouble? Do you need me to contact G.U.N.?”
“No, nothing like that. It’s just that I’ve managed to establish a channel of communication with a representative of a heretofore unknown nation,” Tails explained. “I think I’ve got a handle of the situation right now, but I know we’d both feel a lot better if we had a professional helping us with the details.”
“Oh?” asked Mister Rose, pausing for just a moment. “Excellent! We’ll need some time to get a proper attaché together, but I can leave immediately! Almost immediately. In a rush, for certain. This representative is with you, of course? Where are you?”
“We’re at the Night Carnival, the new one near the Water Palace ruins, and I know you said you could leave in a rush, but if you actually could rush, that’d be really great. The manager’s really pushy and I don’t know how much longer we can hide,” Tails replied, giving Twilight a smile that she looked to be in need of.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there before you know it.”
“Great! See you soon, Mister Rose.” With the tap of a button, Tails wrapped up his call and returned his comm-link from wherever he’d retrieved it from.
“League of United Nations? And he’ll come out here just like that? Wow, you’re... kind of a big deal yourself, aren’t you?”
“Well, I have saved the world a few times,” Tails said, looking especially pleased with himself for several moments before he had the sense to be humble about it. “I mean, I had a lot of help, too! From Sonic and Amy and Knuckles and Sha —” For just an instant, Tails trailed off — “Well, I had a lot of help from my friends. I couldn’t have done it without any of them.”
Twilight’s smile was both bright and gentle. “I get a lot of help from my friends, too. It’s so much better than alone,” she said.
Tails smiled back.
“Who’s littering?!”
They both startled and look down at the avenue below where Mooch and several of his wranglers found Tails’ discarded ice cream. After several seconds of looking around, he finally looked up at the top of the ferris wheel. “You! Get down here with my unicorn right now!”
“I’m not an attraction!” Twilight shouted back before turning to Tails. “Do you think he’ll give up?”
“Not easily,” Tails replied, looking at the rest of the Carnival. “Listen, I helped with some of the computer systems here, and it’s a maze in some places. We can probably lose them and find another hiding place until Mister Rose gets here. I hope, at least. Maybe he should’ve brought G.U.N. after all.”
The situation down below hadn’t improved. “I don’t care!” Mooch shouted, angrily throwing a net at a (very obviously underpaid) wrangler. “Just catch it!”
“Ok, we’re going! Stay close to me, Twilight, because the only way we’re going to lose them is by going fast!” Tails said with an affirmative.
Looking uncertain, Twilight nevertheless stretched out her wings. “I hope those lessons from Rainbow pay off. Alright, Tails, let’s go!”
With a final nod of acknowledgment, both fox and pony leapt off the gondola, and with whirling tails and flapping wings, sped off into the Night Carnival with an angry Mooch hollering after them.
Author's Note
Night Carnival Zone Act 1
Ready?
Go!
