With every pony with a plate full of yummy things, I joined the crowd and started weaving my way through it, smiling and encouraging the ponies while trying to learn their names. Spirits were high and I got more than a few smiles back. One of my helpers plopped down next to me. "Miss Pie, was it? Are you a chef as well?"

I nodded at him. "Sure am, but my main job, the thing that calls me, is gathering people together to have great times together. I'm a party planner, sir."

"I didn't think planning parties could be a profession," confessed the man. "You do have the attitude that would make it possible, if ever there was one."

"Aw, thanks, but baking's what I do for a living, which works out great! I can make all kinds of sweet treats for the parties afterwards." She flashed a smile. "You don't have to have a job that's your calling, but they can work together."

"Well said. So, if you don't mind the asking, where are you from, Miss Pie?"

Pinkie realized she'd been asked what she had meant to get around to asking. Oh well, talking would help both ways. "Well that's kind of a complicated story. Now, believe me first. I'm not here to lie to anypony, but I'm not from here." I tapped the floor. "Any of here."

"Not from China? You speak mandarin quite well."

"Thanks, but no, not from here, or anywhere you know." I tapped my chin. "A whole other world, one where there's magic and ponies like me, some griffons, diamond dogs, all kinds of things instead of just humans to talk to."

"That is no longer the case." He cocked his head at me. "We seem to have much more than 'just' humans these days."

"Shoot, that's true." I giggled a little. "But even so, you guys are still humans, underneath." I poked him in the chest. "You remember what it's like to be all tall and be naked."

"Naked and tall is not how I would have described it."

I waved it off. "Nevermind about that. Tell me about you." I smiled at him. "I saw you going to town with that knife. Are you a chef too?"

"Only as a hobby," he said in a confessing tone. "But it was a hobby I very much enjoyed."

"Why are you all here?" I waved a hoof around. "I mean, all the other ponies are in icky camps. This is a definite step up from there."

He deflated a little. "We're all related to someone important enough to get us to relative safety. We were also fortunate enough to remain aware and wakeful. Even important people were eliminated if they couldn't be reasoned with."

Eliminated... "You..." The meaning hit me. Of course it meant that. Humans took care of things in very permanent fashions when it came to things they thought were a danger to them. "Sorry. Did you lose anyone close to you?"

He rolled a hoof. "Not personally. My wife turned, but she's not changed much, you know, up here." He tapped his head lightly. "She still works for the government. She's why I'm here, and not one of those camps you mentioned."

It couldn't be! "Is she Morning Star?"

"Oh!" He jerked up with surprise. "You know her?"

"Sure do! Hey, Aiko!" I waved at her excitedly and got her to come over. "Hey, here's Morning Star's husband."

Aiko nodded at him. "Honored to meet you."

He smiled gently. "You have no idea how nice it is to meet her, through you all. They don't let us out of this floor. We can't really have any contact with anyone outside of here. When they deliver supplies we have to retire to our rooms until they're gone, so we can't even talk to those workers."

Aiko and I pouted as I leaned in. "That's terrible. You're being a good pony. You all are! They should let you get some fresh air and meet more people."

He waved a hoof dismissively. "As well mannered as we are, or not, the germs inside of us don't care. We'll infect someone, acting kindly or not." He tapped at his chin. "I confess, some part of me wants to do that, and that's the most terrifying part."

Another pony sitting nearby nodded towards us. "They're right to keep us in here, away from the clean people. What do they need a bunch of small horses for anyway?"

"Ponies," I corrected, but he turned back to his food, munching down.

The pink stallion laughed suddenly. "The spirits surely are laughing, making you as pink as I am after you met my wife. The coincidence is too strong."

I grinned at that. I didn't get to meet another perfectly pink pony all that often. "Pink ponies are the best kind. We can make anything a little happier."

"I'll do my part." He sat up. "Now that you've shown me I can cook, I can do something useful for everyone. Can you imagine? They were giving us all the supplies we needed, but not a single person here was ready to use it. We'd been chewing on whatever we could stomach, but without cooking? What kind of life is that?."

I clopped my forehooves. "Oh! It gets better!"

"Hmm?"

I pointed to one of the unicorns. There seemed to only be a few in the bunch, five at tops. "The unicorns have magic, it's built in. Aiko can show them how to use it. It's like invisible hands they can use right across the room." I turned to Aiko quickly. "You don't mind showing them, right?"

Aiko nodded. "Of course, after dinner. It's rude to interrupt people as they eat."

The pink stallion laughed. "I don't think Pinkie minds being rude, if it might get a smile out of someone. Thank you again, Miss Pie. Things don't seem as bleak anymore." His laugh was infectious, as other ponies around us joined in, though they seemed to be laughing about their own idle chats. Still, this was a happy place, where once it wasn't. I felt happy in that special way that only came when I was a true party pony.

Aiko gently nudged me in the side. "Pinkie?" I turned to her curiously. "I was thinking, we may be in trouble."

"Why's that? Seems pretty safe here."

"Did you forget why we're here?"

"So? They're not attacking. It was a big silly misunderstanding." I shrugged a little. "That's good."

"Right, but we haven't told them that. They think the attack is still on, and they may do something reckless. Something that would see both sides eradicated."

I was entirely lost. "What could they do that'd be that bad?"

Aiko sighed softly. "We may not have the manpower, but you don't need manpower to fire missiles."

I tilted my head. "They'll throw big rocks? That's not very scary."

The pink stallion leaned in on the conversation. "Sorry for interrupting, but I think she means much more explosive missiles than a rock. Where are you from, Aiko was it?"

Aiko nodded. "Japan... We came for Japan, to stop an attack that was never coming."

I still wasn't grasping it, but our new friend seemed to get the idea, so I turned to him. "How bad could that be if they threw a few exploding things? It's so far away! How would they even get it over here?"

He put a hoof on the ground. "Here is Japan." He put his other forehoof down. "Here is China. They seem far enough away, but missiles can go long and fast. They will go right across." He moved one hoof up against the other. "Less than an hour. Does Japan have nuclear weapons?"

Aiko shook her head. "I don't think so."

I was getting more and more lost! "Nuclo-what?"

Aiko sat back. "Even if they don't have any officially, if they get desperate enough, they'll use whatever they have, and we have nuclear power. China will strike back, of course. The death toll would be so vast it could only be expressed as a statistic on both sides. We have to get word back to Japan, or things will get so much worse."

The pink stallion licked over his lips. "This is far outside of my station."

I looked to him. "Wait, what do you do if someone gets hurt or sick? There has to be some way to talk to some one around here!"

He nodded quickly. "Oh, of course." He hopped up to his hooves and began weaving through the crowd, and we followed after him, returning to the elevator. He pointed to a small red button in a steel case. "You can ask to speak to someone through that, but they get angry if it isn't a proper emergency."

Aiko threw up a hoof. "How is this not a proper emergency?"

He held up his hooves and made a placating gesture. "I'm just saying. Good luck." He dropped to all fours and moved to rejoin the others, leaving us by the panel.

I looked at the panel and Aiko. "Well, go ahead."

She didn't go ahead. "I'm not sure how to phrase this... We'll only get one chance, after that they'll be tired of hearing from us and assume we're wasting their time."

"Aiko." I nuzzled into her tense shoulder. "We're just going to tell them the truth. This is important. If you don't tell them, lots of people could get hurt! Like dozens!"

Aiko raised a brow at me. "Killed, not hurt, millions... not dozens... One in third, Pinkie. One out of three people in major cities could die in a flash of light, poof, just like that. You thought Japan has some large cities? China has some easily to match, and dense with people, just waiting to die."

"Is this true?" a new voice asked from the metal panel, making us both jump in surprise.

I pointed at Aiko, even if I wasn't sure if they could see me or not. "She wouldn't say it if it wasn't."

Aiko let out a little sigh. "Not exactly the way I planned to say it, but yes. We must talk to our people in Japan and tell them all is well, or I'm afraid someone will do something very... very regrettable that will leave both nations severely harmed."

There was silence for a few tense moments. "I will pass this on to my superiors. Return to your quarters until then."

It was the best we were probably going to get.

Author's Notes:

Talking won the poll, and noticing the world was about to end came in #2, so here we are!

While we wait, maybe...
1: Aiko tries to expand her understanding of magic while instructing the local unicorns how to use theirs.
2: Pinkie gives hoof lessons. They're not nearly as limiting as they look!
3: A stallion decides to approach Pinkie. Surely such a friendly mare is 'friendly' right?
4: Maybe we can find someone's destiny in life! Maybe it'll help calm them down?
5: What's that noise outside?