diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/MetaDataMappingService.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/MetaDataMappingService.java
index c238e14fcdb..af79baf7514 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/MetaDataMappingService.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/MetaDataMappingService.java
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ProcessedClusterStateUpdateTask;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.action.index.NodeMappingCreatedAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.IndexRoutingTable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Lists;
-import org.elasticsearch.common.collect.Tuple;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedString;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
@@ -37,7 +36,6 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.DocumentMapper;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MapperService;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.MergeMappingException;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.service.IndexService;
-import org.elasticsearch.index.shard.service.IndexShard;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndexMissingException;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndicesService;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.InvalidTypeNameException;
@@ -46,6 +44,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState.*;
@@ -340,7 +339,23 @@ public class MetaDataMappingService extends AbstractComponent {
                         }
                     }
 
-                    return newClusterStateBuilder().state(currentState).metaData(builder).build();
+                    ClusterState updatedState = newClusterStateBuilder().state(currentState).metaData(builder).build();
+
+                    // wait for responses from other nodes if needed
+                    int counter = 0;
+                    for (String index : request.indices) {
+                        IndexRoutingTable indexRoutingTable = updatedState.routingTable().index(index);
+                        if (indexRoutingTable != null) {
+                            counter += indexRoutingTable.numberOfNodesShardsAreAllocatedOn(updatedState.nodes().masterNodeId());
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    if (counter == 0) {
+                        listener.onResponse(new Response(true));
+                        return updatedState;
+                    }
+                    mappingCreatedAction.add(new CountDownListener(counter, listener), request.timeout);
+                    return updatedState;
                 } catch (Exception e) {
                     listener.onFailure(e);
                     return currentState;
@@ -352,32 +367,6 @@ public class MetaDataMappingService extends AbstractComponent {
             }
 
             @Override public void clusterStateProcessed(ClusterState clusterState) {
-                int counter = 0;
-                for (String index : request.indices) {
-                    IndexRoutingTable indexRoutingTable = clusterState.routingTable().index(index);
-                    if (indexRoutingTable != null) {
-                        counter += indexRoutingTable.numberOfNodesShardsAreAllocatedOn(clusterState.nodes().masterNodeId());
-                    }
-                }
-
-                if (counter == 0) {
-                    listener.onResponse(new Response(true));
-                    return;
-                }
-
-                final AtomicInteger countDown = new AtomicInteger(counter);
-                mappingCreatedAction.add(new NodeMappingCreatedAction.Listener() {
-                    @Override public void onNodeMappingCreated(NodeMappingCreatedAction.NodeMappingCreatedResponse response) {
-                        if (countDown.decrementAndGet() == 0) {
-                            mappingCreatedAction.remove(this);
-                            listener.onResponse(new Response(true));
-                        }
-                    }
-
-                    @Override public void onTimeout() {
-                        listener.onResponse(new Response(false));
-                    }
-                }, request.timeout);
             }
         });
     }
@@ -441,4 +430,32 @@ public class MetaDataMappingService extends AbstractComponent {
             return acknowledged;
         }
     }
+
+    private class CountDownListener implements NodeMappingCreatedAction.Listener {
+
+        private final AtomicBoolean notified = new AtomicBoolean();
+        private final AtomicInteger countDown;
+        private final Listener listener;
+
+        public CountDownListener(int countDown, Listener listener) {
+            this.countDown = new AtomicInteger(countDown);
+            this.listener = listener;
+        }
+
+        @Override public void onNodeMappingCreated(NodeMappingCreatedAction.NodeMappingCreatedResponse response) {
+            if (countDown.decrementAndGet() == 0) {
+                mappingCreatedAction.remove(this);
+                if (notified.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
+                    listener.onResponse(new Response(true));
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        @Override public void onTimeout() {
+            mappingCreatedAction.remove(this);
+            if (notified.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
+                listener.onResponse(new Response(false));
+            }
+        }
+    }
 }