"...Should we recognize you?" one of the pegasus mares asked, clearly confused.

Pinkie blinked. "Wait. You aren't here for me?"

"...Should we be?"

"I mean, I kinda thought so." Pinkie hefted her hammer. "Why are you here?"

"None of your business. Leave. This does not concern y-"

Pinkie slapped the mare away with her hammer. She crashed into the canopy of a nearby tree, dazed and with a newly cracked wing. Pinkie slammed the hammer into the ground. "Anypony else want to answer?"

A stallion and two mares rushed her at once. Pinkie was suddenly behind the stallion, holding him by the neck while the two mares crashed headfirst into each other. She pressed her forehead into the stallion's. "So, different question, do you guys have Flutterfree?"

"What!?"

"Any mind control going on here!?"

"What!?"

Pinkie removed the helmet, revealing the eyes of a completely normal - if confused - pony underneath.

Pinkie shrugged. "There go those ideas." Her tail twitched, prompting her to jump out of the way as a squad of pegasi tried to take her down, all plowing into the stallion instead.

The cloud above surged, attempting to hit Pinkie with a lightning bolt, but somehow she was already dodging before it struck her. Her body moved with impossible angles, jumping in midair to sharply change her velocity. She twirled her hammer around, smashing aside row after row of pegasus, dodging every bolt that came her way.

"How in..." Crypt said, jaw hanging open.

Myrrh mirrored his sentiment, sticking her head out of the Prowler just to get a better look at Pinkie's grace. She bounced around left and right, moving without a care for the limitations of physics or other ponies. She'd appear behind Pegasi, smack them into the ground, or toss them aside with a swift series of kicks. When the squad charged her all at once, she weaved through them like they were nothing but annoying birds.

The lightning was never able to hit her. Not once.

Eventually, she grabbed one of the taller stallions, wrapping her leg around his neck. "Okay, so, here's how this is going to go. Me - and all my friends - have what you want." I mean, maybe, maybe not, I have no idea. "So we're going to leave Ser'ta'ta, and you're going to have no reason to attack it again, just as you've had no reason to attack it for its entire existence. Furthermore, you are going to go back to your Sky King and complain about an impossible pink pony that just handed all your butts back to you on a silver platter. If you wanna get what you want, you're going to have to chase us."

"You have the Gem of Oreand?"

"Yep!" Pinkie lied through her teeth. "And you're gonna need more backup to get it. So go on, shoo, go back to your mountains. Come get me when you're ready."

She released him. "Everypony, let him take his wounded back! Don't give them any reason to come back!"

The ponies of Ser'ta'ta watched with quaking hooves as the remaining pegasi set about flying their fallen comrades to the smoky cloud in the sky. Many of them had broken limbs or wings, far more than Pinkie had been expecting. They had been far, far too light...

Eventually, the small cloud rose into the air - and drifted back toward the mountains.

"...We are in your debt..." Brook said, clearly not believing what she'd just seen.

"You're not," Pinkie said. "He may not have known anything, and I may not have a clue what the Gem of Oreand is, but chances are high this was my fault in some way. Best I could do was fix it."

"...I know not what the Gem of Oreand is either, Pinkie," Brook said with a sigh. "You have placed a target on yourself, though."

"I should have already had one, so really, this is just making things the way they were supposed to be!" She winked. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. But we do need to leave. As soon as possible. Like, now. Myrrh, spool up the Prowler!"

"R-right away!" Myrrh stammered, scrambling into the Prowler and starting the engine.

Antimony turned to Pinkie. "I..."

"Aren't coming with us," Pinkie said. "Doesn't matter if you want to or not, you're staying here."

Antimony wasn't sure what to make of this.

"Come on Crypt, Myrrh," Pinkie said, hopping into the Prowler's roof. "We're on the run now."

Crypt sighed. "On the run from what?"

"The Sky King. A bunch of pegasi in a storm cloud. I don't really know." Pinkie shook her head. "But if we run far enough, they won't be able to catch us."

"Y-yeah," Myrrh said. "I ran from a lot of people like this. Go south far enough and they'll just stop."

"Thanks for the party," Pinkie said, waving at Brook. "And Antimony? ...Never stop dreaming."

The Prowler kicked into gear and puttered out of Ser'ta'ta. Myrrh scrambled to repair a dent in the armor with another sheet of metal, adding a new patch to the industrial strength machine.

This time, the ponies of Ser'ta'ta did not wave at them with smiles. The Sky King might not come back - but their town was still in shambles.

And Lurse moved away from the sun, bringing the day back...