‘Hello floor, my dear old friend. It’s nice to meet you again…’ Spike wryly thought.

For the first time since this crazy adventure started, Spike opened his eyes and found himself on the floor instead of a bed. Groaning in exhaustion Spike rolled onto his back and saw Luna and the CMC hovering over him.

“Spike! Are you alright?” Luna asked.

“Head hurts, everything hurts…” Spike said.

“Worry not, we have already activated the healing spell,” Luna assured him.

“Wh-where’s Fluttershy?” Spike asked.

“Over there,” Apple Bloom morosely said. Spike looked to see Fluttershy being comforted by Applejack and Rarity. She was pale and shaking.

“Poor Fluttershy… Such a gentle soul should not be put through such horror,” Luna said with sorrow.

Spike got up and hobbled over to her despite Luna’s protests that he should lie down.

“Fluttershy? Are you-” Spike began but halted as Rarity gestured for him to give them a minute, and when Fluttershy looked stable enough Rarity trotted over to Spike and hugged him.

“I am so proud of you, Spike. You saved her,” Rarity said and Spike hugged her back.

“It was nothing,” Spike said, trying to sound brave despite his most recent experience.

“Indeed” Rarity giggled before heading over to Luna and talking with her. Eventually, Rarity trotted back to Spike, looking slightly miffed.

“Is everything alright,” Spike asked.

“I asked Luna if we could not include Fluttershy in the next nightmare so she could recover, but Luna insisted that she could be invaluable.”

“Oh,” Spike responded.

“Gather here, everypony,” Luna said, drawing attention to herself. “It is time to begin the tethering of Fluttershy.”

“Can’t we give her more time?” Applejack insisted.

“No, the Shadow won’t wait around. Lives are on the line,” Luna insisted though she looked sad that she was forcing Fluttershy to go on.

“Listen Luna, we need-” Applejack started but was cut off when Fluttershy put her hoof on her shoulder.

“I-I’m fine… I can manage.” Fluttershy stammered as she shakily stood up. “Saving my friends comes first.”

“That is very mature of you, Fluttershy,” Luna said with a proud smile “Just don’t push yourself too much.”

“I won’t,” Fluttershy said quietly.

“Very well, now that is settled, stand over by Spike, please,” Luna said, and just like before Spike watched as Luna assimilated Fluttershy into a ring just like the others.

“Her power of the stare is now yours, Spike. Use it and your foes will be frozen stiff, beware as soon as you get far enough from them they will recover,” Luna warned.

“Cool! I’ve always wanted to know how to use the stare!” Spike said.

“It isn’t a toy, Spike,” Rarity cautioned.

“I know, I know,” Spike said with a nod before walking to the next portal.

“You're not going to rest?” Luna said with a knowing smile.

“No, because my friends need me,” Spike said resolutely. Staring down the next pony was enough to keep him on edge, knowing this could be the toughest one yet.

Because on the portal…

Were three balloons...

Spike stepped through the portal and the sight of a carnival in the distance let him know what was coming.

“Should have guessed…” Spike said with a facepalm.

“Carnival!? Ah’ve always wanted to go to the carnival!” Apple Bloom cheered.

“I doubt this is the kid-friendly kind of carnival,” Spike said, getting in front of the trio.

“Well, regardless, you must trek onward Spike,” Luna said.

“Alright,” Spike said as the CMC went back into their ring forms and Spike went through the entrance doors and went down the pathways, eventually finding himself at a giant carousel.

“Wow, I have to hand it to The Shadow. He doesn’t skimp on the aesthetics,” Rarity said from within Spike’s mind.

“I d-d-don’t like this p-place,” Fluttershy whimpered and Spike turned to see her on the ground shaking.

“Calm down, Fluttershy. As long as you’re like this, they can’t hurt you,” Spike cooed, moving to rub Fluttershy’s shoulder to calm her.

“Th-thank you Spike,” Fluttershy said with a smile before returning to her ring.

Spike continued on seeing the odd sights as he walked on. All around him were booths with creepy prizes and inedible-looking food with flies buzzing around.

“Eugh, suddenly I’m glad Twilight never took me to the carnival,” Spike said as he rounded a corner and jumped in surprise when confetti shot into the air. And standing among the confetti was a terrifying-looking clown.

It’s eyes were black with yellow dots for pupils, its appearance very macabre. All in all a clown Spike would sooner forget meeting.

“H-hi?” Spike said hesitantly.

“HOWDY THERE NEW FRIEND!” the clown bellowed with a squeaky but familiar voice. Looking closer now Spike could see the curly pink mane and the bouncy demeanor of the clown.

“Pinkie?” Spike said in shock.

“EEYUP BUT AT THE SAME TIME NO!” the creature bellowed at the same volume making Spike cover his ears. “I’M A CLOWN NOW! SERVING THE MASTER AND DOING ALL SORTS OF CLOWNY THINGS! BY THE WAY, LUNA IS STILL BLOCKING HIM FROM THE REAL WORLD AND HE WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU’D GET HER TO MOVE HER BIG TUSHY OUT OF THE WAY OR ELSE HE’S GONNA-” The clown shouted until Spike couldn’t take anymore.

“QUIET PLEASE! Talk normally for the love of Celestia,” Spike said, feeling dizzy from all the yelling.

“Pfffft! You’re no fun Spikey, but in any case, we’re bringing a big and fun circus to the real world ponies, and if you don’t surrender now my boss is gonna kill you, but then again he’s pretty mean so he’ll probably kill you anyway unless he’s having a good day in which he’ll probably only partially kill you. Is it possible to partially kill someone? Huh, I don’t know, It probably is but it would take-” Once again Spike interrupted.

“Pinkie! Please!” Spike said with exasperation.

“Oh! Sorry, went off on a tangerine!” The clown giggled at her own joke.

“It’s tangent…” Spike said before shaking his head and stepping forward “Look Pinkie! I just want to help you. Just give me the soul now and I can—”

“Nope nope nope! If you wanna save me you gotta play the game! My master and the plot demand it! Plus the writer is probably getting carpal tunnel just writing this part out so let’s move it along here.” And with that, the pony clown cartwheeled back into the tent.

“I’ll never understand you Pinkie…” Spike sighed before going into the tent and finding himself in a circus ring.

“So far so good,” Spike said as he continued forward, before spotting a ‘test your might’ game ahead. Feeling adventurous he approached it only for Spike to suddenly see a cage descending upon him.

“AAH!” Spike cried as the cage slammed down around him, looking up he saw the -Pinkie- Pinkill Clown (silly author)... descending outside his cage.

“Sorry, I’m late! Had to correct a typo!” the Clown stated.

“Pinkie! Let me out of here!” Spike said, gripping the bars. A car suddenly exited the giant door at the back of the ring and circled the cage several times before opening and spawning a dozen Pinkill Clowns.

“Oh no…” Spike said.

“Sorry Spikey! No can do! Instead, you’re going to be our snack! BON APPETIT!” The clown laughed dementedly.

“Not good!” Spike braced himself before Luna shouted something to him.

“Spike! Use the stare!”

“Oh yeah!” Spike called upon Fluttershy’s power, then opened his eyes and stared at the clowns who froze and gave shrieks, covering their eyes.

“MY EYES! THEY BUUUUUURN! NOOOOOO FAAAAIIIIIR!” the Clowns shouted before they disintegrated into confetti.

“......Works for me.” Spike shrugged at the odd events and used Applejack's strength to pry open the cage.

Spike went ahead into the doorway and found himself in a strange room full of darkness. Ahead of him on checkered tiles was a slide.

“This reeks of deathtraps,” Spike said, approaching the slide.

“You may have no choice, Spike,” Luna commented.

“I’m not going on a-” Spike began before he was pushed from behind by a clown.

“Let’s get a move on here. The readers are getting bored!”

“AAAAAAHHHHH!” Spike cried as he slipped and slid through slide after slide, going in loops and even flying off of the slide on occasion only to land on another one.

“MOMMY!” Spike cried as was launched through the air and faceplanted on a tiled pathway.

“Owowowow…” Spike groaned as he got up and saw his environment.

“What the?” There were many weird things in front of him from two hammers smashing together to giant jack-in-the-boxes, checkered designs dotted a series of narrow pathways, and looking over the edge he saw another set of pathways on a lower level.

"What is this place?" Spike said, feeling confused at all the bizarre happenings around him.

"Well darling, this is Pinkie Pie's nightmare, so this really shouldn't be surprising," Rarity said, appearing to Spike.

"True," Spike said before hearing familiar beeping sounds. Using his perception power Spike looked ahead and saw what looked like several cars descending on his position across the pathways. Somehow, Spike could guess that letting them near him would be dangerous.

“Come on guys!” Spike said running along the pathway to his left. He went into the zone and hung a left as a car came close to him, running through a swirling tunnel. Spike had to return to the rim to avoid more of those cars as they circled around that direction. As he ran along he noticed a red light on the ground in front of him and paused.

“Hmm? What’s thi-” Spike said leaning forward a little only to have an evil jack in the box head snap its teeth inches from his face.

“......................I think my heart briefly stopped…” Spike said stiffly walking on from the scary experience.

Spike ran down the path and saw a car trying to cut him off. He hurried and managed to barely get past the car before it stopped him. However, he heard some honking sounds and turned to see Pinkill Clowns pursuing him.

“Where ya goin Spikey!?” The clowns said with an evil giggle.

“Away from you that’s where!” Spike shouted sprinting faster, upon turning a corner to avoid a second car that was going to ram him and he paused to catch his breath when he couldn’t hear them behind him anymore.

“Whew! Take that you creepy cl-”

SPLAT!

“Ow…” Spike was on the ground groaning.

“Look out for the red spots, Spike. Were it not for us, you’d be dragon jelly!” Luna scolded.

“Sorry! I should have checked to see if there were swinging hammers!” Spike let out a groan but got up when he saw more clown cars heading his way. Running to the left, he made his way through a strange but colorful tunnel and grabbed more shards along the way.

As Spike circled around the edge of the pathways he noticed a car cutting him off so he retreated to go down another path. Unfortunately, he found a car coming from that side too. Looking to backtrack, Spike was surprised to see that he was surrounded.

“Uh oh!” Spike said as he saw himself being attacked from all corners. Before the cars could get him, Rarity’s voice called in his head.

“The stare, Spike! Use it!”

“Oh!” Spike said before concentrating and using Fluttershy’s power. A wave of fear hit the cars and they u-turned and left.

“I kinda wish I could do this in real life,” Spike said, patting himself on the back. Afterward he ran across the middle and took care of the other half of the stage, then ran across a pathway but he found two cars waiting for him, parked to cut him off.

“Get out of my way!” Spike demanded. The cars responded by releasing some clowns.

“Nope!” the Pinkill giggled

Spike turned tail and ran away from the pursuing clowns who bounced after him. No matter how far he ran this time they didn’t cease their pursuit.

Spike was about to wonder if he would escape their clutches when he saw a swirling green portal. His choices were creepy random portal or creepy random Clowns.

“Portal here I come!” Spike shouted jumping into the portal as one of the clowns nearly bit his tail.

He wound up on the lower level of the room.

“So this is where that portal leads,” Spike said, seeing the Clowns on the upper floor leaving.

Spike looked ahead on the platform and saw more shards and clown cars.

“Alright, round two!” Spike said with fake cheer before he rushed ahead and grabbed the first two soul shards. A car chased him from behind but Spike thought ahead and used his multiplication power to distract the car that was gaining on him.

“I’m learning how to beat them,” Spike observed, seeing the cars trying to run over the duplicates, which allowed him to retrieve more shards.

Spike hid when the clones vanished and waited for the power to recharge when he suddenly heard an engine rev. He turned around, only to get rammed by a car, sending the dragon skidding.

“Ow…” Spike groaned, sitting up quickly when he saw the Clown car getting ready to run him down.

“Applejack, can I borrow your strength?” Spike asked.

“Gladly,” Applejack said and Spike felt the power rush through him just as the car charged forward. Spike stood his ground, swallowed his fear, and caught the car as it rammed him. Spike grunted as he held back the car, its tires grinding on the floor. Spike continued to hold his ground until he heard noises behind him and turned to see another car had arrived and was spawning Pinkill Clowns. Thinking fast, Spike leaped out of the way and the car wound up careening into the crowd with a sound akin to getting a strike at bowling.

“Yes!” Spike cheered before running on, thankfully there weren’t nearly as many on this floor.

“I’m getting the hang of this!” Spike said as he ran around a corner and through another swirly tunnel. As Spike collected another soul shard he heard the sounds of blows being landed.

“Huh?” As Spike was about to exit the tunnel he yelped as a clown flew past him. He cautiously peeked around a corner and saw something that surprised him.

Clowns being defeated by… Pinkie Pie?!

“Pinkie escaped?!” Spike exclaimed, he was going to go and help her when Luna called out to him.

“STOP!” Luna cried

“What? Why? Pinkie needs me!” Spike said

“That isn’t Pinkie, it is… we are not sure, but she is more dangerous than the Clowns,” Luna said

Spike looked over and saw the straight-haired Pinkie causally overpowering the clowns and even bucking a car off the ledge.

“She looks helpful,” Spike said

“Leave and hope she doesn’t follow, Spike. We sense great hostility from her,” Luna warned.

“Ok, ok,” Spike said before turning back and resuming his collecting of shards, thankfully he had already retrieved the shards that were over there.

As Spike collected the last one he looked around.

“Where do I go from here?” Spike asked.

“There is a portal nearby, Spike. Go left and you’ll find it leads to the next area,” Luna said

“Ok.” Spike followed Luna’s directions until he found the portal.

“And this leads me, where?” Spike asked.

“We are not sure, but better elsewhere than here,” Luna said.

“Agreed. Pinkie needs my help, now,” Spike said entering the portal and he found himself in a strange purple tent.

“Wow,” Spike said, looking around until he could see a pink soul flying around in circles like it was chasing its tail. “Even as a spirit Pinkie is Pinkie.'' Spike chuckled

“Agreed…” a familiar but chillingly calm voice said.

“GYYYAAAAAA!” Spike yelled as he jumped away from the mare that was definitely not there a moment ago.

“No! She’s found you!” Luna exclaimed.

“I-it’s you! Don’t kill me!” Spike said, retreating to the far end of the room.

“Don’t tempt me then,” the not-Pinkie said.

“Who are you?” Spike asked.

“Call me Pinkamena, or just Mena.” The pink pony trotted up to the scared drake.

“Are you-”

“No, I’m just the side Pinkie represses. The Shadow couldn’t contain me.”

“Leave him be, monster, or you will suffer my wrath!” Luna shouted.

“Relax, he’s more entertaining to me alive than dead. Besides, I’ve got bigger fish to fry and he could be useful,” Mena said with an eye roll.

“O-ok,” Spike said, getting closer. “So what now?”

“Now we leave this top and get to the funhouse. Keep up or be left behind,” Mena said, trotting through an adjacent doorway. Spike hesitantly followed.

“She scares me,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Agreed. Keep an eye on her pardner,” AJ said.

“I will,” Spike said.

“I can hear you.” Mena shot them a glare.

“Eeep,” Spike squeaked.

“Sorry darling,” Rarity hurriedly said.

The two proceeded through the tunnel until they found a roller coaster cart.

“Get in,” Mena said, sitting down. It took Spike twenty seconds to work up the nerve to sit by her before the coaster began its descent.

The two move forward through a set of doors. The walls appear to be trippy and filled with swirls and distortions. The cart moved downwards, before heading through another set of doors. The two move forward through a large room, whereupon realizing it they saw something that shocked them... Well one of them.

“What the…?” Spike said, trembling in his seat.

“Ignore them.” Mena did not lose her constant scowl.

As the two moved through the room, they found themselves surrounded by four giant, enormous clowns that laughed and waved at them. The two got past them without any trouble and they go through a few more turns, before entering a room where the walls are a spiraling optical illusion. After a few more twists and turns, the two finally reached the funhouse where they got off the cart at the entrance.

“I NEVER want to go to a carnival after this!” Spike sat down to catch his breath.

“Shut up and listen. I’m going on ahead to look for the Shadow while you take care of what you need to take care of here."

“What?! But won’t it be easier if we work together-” Spike immediately shut up when she sent him a cold glare. “Splitting up! Good idea…. Yeah…” Spike said, hoping she would not knife him.

“Good luck,” Mena said, exiting the scene.

“Well, that’s great…” Spike entered the funhouse after her and found himself in a series of hallways.

Strange writings, giant plushes laying around, and pictures on the walls. Spike wasted no time running past them into the maze of corridors. As the small dragon ran through the halls collecting Soul Shards, he couldn’t help but think that this was far too easy since he had not seen any Pinkill Clowns.

As he was thinking this he ran into a room with cannons that shot giant cannonballs. He ducked under the cannons and crawled quickly to get to the other hallway.

As Spike was starting to wonder if there were any clowns here at all. He suddenly spotted one when turning a corner. It had become frenzied, with a glow-in-the-dark teal skin with black stripes and reddish eyes.

“SPIIIIIIIIIIKEY!” The Clown growled as she approached the scared drake.

“Stay back!” Spike said but his fear grew when he saw more gathering behind her. Suddenly, he felt something grip his shoulders from behind and he jumped when he realized they were behind him too.

“Run!” Scootaloo shouted.

“Good idea!” Spike responded, running down the hall while the swarm of Clowns surged after him. Thinking fast, Spike used his multiplication ability and the copies ran down different hallways. It worked in distracting some, but Spike could still see a large group behind him.

“There's too many to distract!” Spike cried.

Spike hurried down the pathways and hung a left. The clowns swarmed after him, making frenzied gibbering sounds.

"Spike! Use me!" Fluttershy said.

"Gotcha!" Spike had forgotten the stare was usable again, so he spun around and used it, which halted the clown swarm.

Taking advantage of this, Spike ran off and found himself on roller coaster tracks.

"Why are these here?" Spike asked before hearing a noise and turning to see a cart zooming right at him.

"OH CRA-" Spike didn't finish as he was rammed by the coaster and taken with it. Spike climbed onto the seat and looked up to see a Clown in the other seat who stared at him with a sharp-toothed grin. Quickly, Spike activated his strength boost and threw the clown off. Afterward, Spike used the coaster to collect the Shards faster around the rim.

“Ok, time to leave.” Spike timed his jump just right and landed in a corridor where he saw no clowns. After getting over the jet lag, he ran ahead and took a few rights and lefts until he found himself in a hall of what looked like poles.

“Spikey!!” The clowns could be heard skittering about and so Spike didn’t linger, so he gathered the shards and got out just as the clowns began to fill the room.

After he escaped them he found himself in a ball pit room. Thinking quickly, Spike hurriedly ran through the ball pit, when suddenly a pair of hooves grabbed him and pulled him under.

“AAH!” Spike yelped.

The room went quiet for a little bit.

Then Spike leaped out of the ball pit and scrambled to ground level and a Pinkill Clown chased him. Using his strength boost, he spun and punched the clown, sending her flying.

“Take that!” Spike said, feeling a little smug and proud of himself for defending himself. The clown slumped to the ground with her rib cage visibly collapsed… before she sprung to her hooves her chest cavity automatically repaired itself.

“Sorry, Spikey! You can’t kill us, remember?” The clown grinned widely.

“Darnit,” Spike said under his breath before darting away at a full sprint.

Spike ran out of the room as clowns chased him out until he turned a corner and a frying pan hit him in the face.

“OW!” Spike said, hitting the ground.

“Let’s get ’em girls!” The clowns cheered and hovered over Spike with deranged smiles.

“Oh no!” Spike cried, closing his eyes and waiting for their tearing teeth, listening to the grunts and screams as… wait… Spike opened his eyes and saw the clowns were gone and Mena was standing over him.

“Mena-”

SLAP!

“OW!” Spike’s hand flew to the cheek Mena slapped. “What the hay was that for?!”

“For being helpless without me! I can’t save you every time and frankly, it’s a bother for me to do so,” Mena said, trotting away.

Spike so wanted to chew her out, and he would if it weren't for the fact she could literally chew him up and spit him out.

Leaving this be for now, he ran along and gathered the last few that were down the hallway to him.

After doing so he ran for the exit to find Mena waiting for him.

“Took you long enough," Mena said, glaring.

"Sorry. I had to be careful about the clowns," Spike said with an annoyed look. He immediately put the look away when she deepened her glare.

"Get in the cart…" she growled.

"Yes ma'am," Spike said.

The two got in the carts and as they went back, Mena spoke.

"All right, retrieve her soul and make your way back to the portal. I'll remain here."

"You can come with us. We could use your skills," Spike said.

"No, I'm going my own way. If we meet again, then it's chance," Mena said with a tone that forbade argument.

Spike bit his lip and considered his next move as they got back to the purple tent. Upon entering the pink soul flew up to Spike and nuzzled against his cheek.

"Haha, it's nice to see you again too, Pinkie,” Spike said, collecting Pinkie's soul while Mena just rolled her eyes and trotted over to the next portal.

"Mena," Spike said.

"What?" Mena said, sounding annoyed.

"Thanks."

Mena left without another word.

Spike grabbed the soul and walked out of the tent. Upon doing so he saw that he was on a new pathway that eventually led him back to the carousel.

"That was unusually easy. I might actually get out of here without having to face-"

"Hello again, dragon," the Shadow said darkly.

"Why did I not just say that and walk at the same time….?" Spike said as he turned to see the shadowy figure.

"So, here we are again. You having retrieved the soul and me cornering you. This has become a habit I'd like to break."

"You and me both pal…" Spike said with a growl.

"If there's one thing I don't like it's losing and I've lost enough times to you already. This time will be different because I have the upper hand."

"You do? Where?" Spike said, trying to sound tough.

Only to feel the ground rumble and as he looked up he saw the four Titan-like clowns towering over them.

"That's not fair!" Spike complained.

"Deal with it, and keep the After-party Clowns laughing while you die. I will thoroughly enjoy this… Oh, and Luna. I can tell you are watching through him so you have a front-row seat to his demise, enjoy."

With that, the Shadow disappeared.

“No! Spike, you need to get out of there!” Luna shouted.

“No kidding!” Spike yelled running towards the exit only to be cut off by a giant hoof nearly stepping on him.

“SPIIIIIKKEEEEEEY!” The giant clown bellowed.

“LET’S BE FRIENDS SPIKEY!” another spoke.

“AND PARTY ALL DAY EVERY DAY,” said the third.

“AND LAUGH OURSELVES… TO DEATH!” the last one boomed.

Spike screamed and ran around in circles avoiding the pounding hooves of the giant laughing Clowns.

“DON’T YOU WANT SOME PIE!? IT’S YUMMY YUMMY!” The clown behind Spike laughed before picking up a giant pie and throwing it at him.

“A GIANT PIE!?” Spike exclaimed, avoiding it by using his multiply ability.

“This is getting ridiculous!” Applejack said.

“Tell me about it,” Rarity said.

Spike ran alongside his clones but the Clown giants pounding hooves eventually took out the copies and Spike was sent flying from the impact of one of their hooves.

“AAAH!” Spike cried as he flew to the ground with a thud

“SPIIIIIIIKEEEEY!” one of the clowns said, reaching out for him.

“Take this! The stare!” Spike said, staring the clown right in the eye, which made it flinch long enough for him to get away.

“I gotta find a way around them, but anytime I go for the exit they stop me!” Spike said, not noticing the shadow behind him. “I need a plan of attack, maybe if i- GYA!” Spike yelped as one of the clowns scooped him up and held him.

“GOOOOOTCHHAAAAAAA!” the giant clown laughed maniacally.

“OH NO!” Spike flailed in the clown’s grip as it held him over its mouth.

“DRAGON YUMMY YUMMY!” The clown laughed, obviously planning to eat him.

“OH NO! IT CAN’T END LIKE THIS!” Spike yelled.

“DIIIIIIIIIEEEEE- GRAAAAAGH!” The clown suddenly yelled in pain. Spike looked and saw it flailing its head from side to side.

“What? What’s it doing?” Spike questioned as he suddenly saw Mena clinging onto the clown’s head and stabbing it in the eye repeatedly with a splintered pipe.

“I tell ya you're hopeless without me!” Mena angrily yelled at him.

“MENA!” Spike said, feeling glad she came to his aid, again. Meanwhile, another Afterparty Clown threw a punch to nail her only to end up punching the other clown down when Mena leaped off onto the other clown.

Spike hit the ground hard but managed to stand and see the sight of Mena fighting off the giant clowns.

“GEEET OOOOOFFF!” the clown roared.

The clown was able to swat her off, but Mena landed on all fours and snorted.

“You gonna stand there all day staring or are you going to beat it!” Mena yelled before charging back into the fray.

“Oh! Ok, good luck Mena!” Spike called out to her before running back along the path to the portal. He felt rumbling and looked to see one of the giant clowns running toward him.

“OH NO! Come on, come on, come on!” Spike yelled as he was almost there.

The Clown giant lunged but Mena suddenly hopped out of its hair and plunged her weapon into its eye, making it tumble along the ground instead.

Allowing our purple drake to make it into the portal.

----

Spike woke up on his bed, Luna standing over him with a healing spell active.

“Luna? I did it, right?” Spike asked.

The princess smiled proudly and gestured towards a group of ponies celebrating Pinkie’s return.

Pinkie was crying happily and hugging her friends.

“I’m glad.” Spike made a futile effort to stand up. "And tired. Very tired."

“You did this, Spike. Your bravery has saved half the key ponies and in half the time.” Luna helped Spike stand up, and once he was stable on his feet, walked with him over to Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie, before you start apologizing, just know I don't hold any hard feelings,” Spike said.

“I’m so glad,” Pinkie whimpered before scooping Spike into a bone-crushing hug.

“Lungs…. Being…. Crushed!” Spike gasped.

“Ooopsie!” Pinkie set a gasping Spike down.

“We must make haste,” Luna said, catching their attention. “There will be time for celebrations later. For now, we must tether Pinkie to Spike.” Luna said only to not see Pinkie anywhere “W-where did she go?!” Luna said, beginning to panic.

“Silly, I’m right here,” Pinkie said.

“Huh? What the?” Spike said, realizing he was wearing a pink ring.

“Pinkie… how did… we did not even cast the spell!” Luna exclaimed.

“Nope, ya didn’t. I used my emergency tether ring, for emergency tether ring purposes.” Pinkie came out of her ring and gave a bow.

“Wha……. You are a very strange mare, Pinkie,” Luna said with a big sigh.

“So…. What power did I get?” Spike asked,

“The power of Pinkies…. Pinkieness.” Luna gave a confused wave of the hoof, obviously unsure how to describe it.

“Wow! I can do what she does?!” Spike said with joy.

“Only for ten seconds, it seems,” Luna said.

“Oh…. still cool though,” Spike said with a shrug.

“Don’t forget the Pinkie sense. That’ll be important I bet!” Pinkie said.

“I didn’t forget,” Spike assured the spirit before turning to Luna. “So who’s next for saving?”

Luna smiled at Spike’s eagerness.

“Come and see.” Luna pointed to the portal.

And on the portal...

A red cross

The circus of terrors has been passed.

And yet why do we have the feeling things will only get more difficult from here onward?

I may or may not be able to post tomorrow but If not then I will the next day until then stay alert.

Chapter 4 is coming to FIM.