//------------------------------//
// The End of the Dream 
// Story: The Abundance 
// by defender2222 
//------------------------------//

“The world was in a dream before the war, but now its woken up and said goodbye to it. And so must we.”

- Lord Grantham, Downton Abbey





"I hate this."

Fluttershy looked around nervously, resisting the urge to throw up as many force fields as she could. While it might have helped to ease her concerns, she knew that a big yellow energy bubble would only attract unwanted attention. It was better to just continue on like nothing was the matter and she was merely trotting into her old cottage because it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

But it wasn't the most natural thing and everything was the matter.

She could feel her 'friend' trying to soothe her, whispering that it wasn't very nice of her to keep secrets from Rarity. The yellow mare ignored such things. Many ponies looked at Fluttershy and thought her to be a pushover; if she were truthful then she would admit they were right. Fluttershy tended to be bullied and coerced more often than not. She simply found it better for every pony if she just gave in and agreed with them rather than fight. Oh, she would rebel at times, but that was rare.

But there was one domain where she was queen: her mind. So many times she had felt her self-doubt well up within her, insulting her ways. Pegasi were not known for being humble creatures and even the buttercream alicorn had buried deep within her a strong ego that demanded that she show all the pathetic unicorns and powerless earth ponies who was the dominate one. Fluttershy had never given in though... and in turn she had turned the strength of her ego upon itself, to do away with her self-guessing.

Fluttershy marched over to a mirror and, mustering up her nerve, stared at her reflection. "Ok, Miss Kindness, we need to have a talk." Her eyes flashed and the buttercream mare sent the Stare right at herself. "So... get out here right now!"

"Of course, Fluttershy!" The alicorn fought the urge to rear back; she could feel her face moving, her lips forming the words, yet it was no her doing the talking but the abstract that had joined with her. Her new looks, combined with Kindness' voice, made Fluttershy instantly think of her mother. Strongheart was a massive pegasus, rivaling Big Macintosh in size and in courage. Fluttershy had, sadly, taken more after her father, a waif who tended to be on the skittish side. Kindness acted like her loving mother too, which would not help things. "What's the matter?" 

"You know what's the matter!" Fluttershy said sternly, giving her reflection the same stern look she might give a cockatrice that was misbehaving. "You've been telling fibs!"

Kindness blinked in confusion. "Fluttershy... I don't know what you mean!" The abstract looked absolutely befuddled by the mare's words. "The elements don't lie... to do so would mean we'd been so corrupted that we had gone past the point of return... you've met abstracts like that... remember Doubt?"

Fluttershy bit her lip, turning her head away, but Angel quickly raced over, shaking his little paw in aggravation at Fluttershy's reflection. Bolstered by her friend's anger, Fluttershy swallowed her fear and turned towards the mirror once more. "Yes... yes I remember Doubt. He tried to corrupt Twilight-"

"He did corrupt her," Kindness said.

"No, he didn't." Fluttershy took a deep breath. "Angel found many of my woodland friends who remember seeing Doubt during that week after the wedding. They told him about how kind Doubt was... how he worked to HELP Twilight and the rest of us. Because of that, he was redeemed. He talked to bluejays that remember all of us, including me, spending time with him, saying goodbye and he and Twilight left on their short vacation... I don't remember any of that but I don't really remember anything when it comes to that week."

"They are mistaken," Kindness said sadly. "Doubt-"

"Now you listen to me, little lady!" Fluttershy snapped, surprising even herself with the venom that came spewing from her lips. She floated up, Kindness mimicking her, and Fluttershy pressed her hoof again the mirror. "My animal friends would never lie to me! I have known them a lot longer than you, and if it comes between deciding between all of you they are going to win! So you to admit that something is going on!" Fluttershy stared at her silent reflection. "Well?"

"...it wasn't a lie," Kindness finally mumbled. "But... I did hide the truth." She looked up quickly and Fluttershy wasn't for sure if it was here or Kindness that was crying; maybe both. "I know he must have brainwashed you or tricked you! I know it!"

"How... how could you-"

"He... it must have been a trick... he couldn't be good! He couldn't have come back!" Kindness was now near frantic. "Why would he... he become good for you ponies..." Kindness lowered her head, fat tears rolling down her checks, "...and not for us?"

Fluttershy was confused. "You? You all abandoned him!"

"They did!" Kindness shouted in desperation. "They abandoned him! Not me... never me..." The abstract covered her eyes as her body shook with guilt. "The others left him and I was forbidden from going to him directly but I did all I could to help him! Everything... I was there... in every pony he talked to, that listened to him... I helped keep him alive, helped others open their minds to his... I kept trying to reach him through those ponies and he never listened... why didn't he listen to me? What... what did I do wrong?"

Fluttershy pressed her hoof against the mirror and, to her utter amazement, her reflection stepped out, altering in appearance until she became a blue-metal alicorn. Her pinkish-red hair fell over her face and hid her eyes as she cried, her crystal-like wings trembling like icicles readying to fall from a roof. The yellow alicorn reached over and hugged the sobbing abstract.

"It will be ok, I promise."

~MC~MC~MC~

What finally snapped Faith out of his despair were the giggles. 

"So you finally came to the punchline!" Laughter exclaimed, her overly wide smile taunting the ponies before her. 

Clyde glared at the abstract that wore his daughter's face. "You have no sense of shame, do you?"

"Sorry, Shame is my uncle and I tend not to talk to him!" Laughter chuckled at her own joke as she floated around the group. "Poor little Doubt, sobbing for his baby." Laughter grabbed one of the few remaining clouds that hung in the sky and sculpted it into a little foal. "Too soon?" she asked, waving the cloud at Trixie. The blue mare merely trembled, tears blurring her vision.

"Hey!" Pinkie called out, flying over to Laughter and shaking her hoof at her. "You aren't funny, you know that? And Discord is going to be mad when he finds out you are ripping off his bit!"

Laughter snorted. "Discord... oh, how I hated destroying him. He got it, you know? He understood. But he responded by stealing all of our roles and trying to take my place... couldn't have that, so it was off to the stone he went."

Sue stared at the abstract in horror. "Discord... was trying to become an abstract?"

"Well duh!" Laughter exclaimed. "Of course he was! 'Spirit of Disharmony'? What is that? Nothing, I tells ya, nothing! He tried everything! He showed ponies the cold, hard truth; they didn't like that. Then he was loyal but his heart wasn't into it. He gave ponies everything and was always so happy but that just made them greedy or upset when they figured out that what they desired wasn't what they expected!" Laughter shook his head. "He got the joke though."

"What joke?" Apple Bloom demanded. "What are you talking about?"

"Life!" Laughter shouted, getting right in the farm pony's face. "They call it a game but it is really a joke!"  Her horn glowed and a screen appeared, as did an old-timey slide projector. "I mean, look at the facts, Jack! Celestia wanted to prevent the abstracts from being used for evil and ended up making Faith fall." She switched to a slide of Nightmare Moon. "Luna wanted to be loved and ended up making every pony fear her. Pinkie, your parents are as dull as dishwater and they get the most energetic and silly pony as their daughter! Cadence is the sweetest pony in the world and yet when that changeling acted all cruel not a single one of the ponies that claimed to love her saw through the bit! Apple Bloom works hard every day for a cutie mark and never gets it while spoiled little Diamond Tiara gets one for doing NOTHING!" The screen disappeared and Laughter began to squeal in delight. "It is a joke! Life is just a big stupid joke!"

"...are you insane?" Clyde snapped. 

"No... I'm just Laughter," the pink abstract said. "Geez, do I need to spell everything out for you ponies? Life is a cruel joke! Everything you want doesn't matter! You work hard for your dreams and they never come true and if they do they aren't what you wanted! Life is like a knife that just keeps twisting in your side and you ponies just keep coming back for more and more! It is just... so... funny!" Laughter flashed them a dark smile. "The only sane way to survive is to smile and laugh."

The pink abstract landed next to Faith, pushing Cadence away. The silver abstract never looked up, never even flinched as his older sister lazily draped a foreleg over his shoulder, playing with his hair. “And then there is my poor, deluded, corrupted brother. You get the joke, don’t you? You see the punchline.” She leaned in close, kissing him on the cheek.  “I gave you everything… the two ponies you love merged as one… the war over and peace stretched out before you… a son. You had it all and now you have lost it because of your own devices. Oh… it would have been less painful to rip out your own heart, wouldn’t it?

“And that isn’t even the best part! By doing it… by pulling yourself back to reality, you’ve ensured your dream will NEVER come true!” Laughter jabbed a hoof at Trixie as she giggled. “The blue one won’t be able to stand the sight of you because you stole her son away and the purple one will know that you chose her rival over her. Both your loves will abandon you… kind of a running theme in your pathetic little life.” Laughter flipped onto his back, her neck stretching so she could look at him eye to eye. “Wouldn’t it have been easier if you had just died, Doubty-Woubty? You’ve linger on for what… a hope at redemption? Ha! You’ll never be redeemed… life is a joke and you are the poor sap that gets the pie in the face!” Laughter conjured up a pie and threw it at Faith.

The pastry stopped an inch from his face, black magic having grabbed a hold of it. Laughter let out a yelp when tendrils of energy shot from the sky and shoved her off the stallion's back.

“You’re right,” Faith said softly, his wings trembling till, to the horror of the others, they began to crack. Little tiny shatter-points formed over their surface, raining bits of glass upon his silver hide. When each piece hit it left a gash and from those wounds dark blood began to ooze. Laughter watched on with glee as her brother began to cut himself to shreds. “It was a joke… a dream. All of this… my hopes, my desires, all my attempts… folly.” 

Laughter giggled, but the sound began to catch in her throat as she realized that the ichor wasn’t falling to the ground. No, it merely congealed on his flank, crusting over and darkening with each passing second. Faith’s mane fell in his eyes, turning gray as if time had finally caught up with him… then it was as white as snow.

“I dreamed the dream… but now I see how foolish I truly was. You and the rest of my family shouted it in my face… I have seen how Twilight and the rest look at me, wishing that it was not this silly gray fool that prattles on with his speeches...that it wasn't him that stood beside them but…” Faith shut his eyes as his horn melted away. “It is time to stop playing… and accept that nothing I do will change things.”

And with that, his wings exploded.

Clyde pushed Pinkie behind him, trying to shield her from the blast. But it was unneeded… the bits of silver glass only swirled around Faith’s body, cutting into him more and more till every inch of his flesh was torn to ribbons and his blood coated him from nose to tail. The fragments swirled about without Faith paying the slightest bit of heed to them; he didn’t even flinch when one large shard was driven through his forehead.

Laughter’s smile fell when chains made of dark magic leapt from the ground and ensnared her, wrapping around her limps and her wings and her neck. She struggled and bucked but found that she could not break them.

“This… this isn’t funny!” she screamed in a panic.

“It isn’t?” her brother whispered, the mirror shards clanging together into a pair of sharp patchwork wings. “I find it very funny.”

And then he laughed.

“Faith?” Cadence whispered in horror.

“No… not Faith,” he said. “I see that Faith was an illusion… one none of you wanted. My family didn’t want Faith, my friends didn’t want Faith… the world wants me to be dark again… and who am I to argue?” The formerly gray alicorn began to trot towards Laughter, the blood darkening to the most vile of blacks. He noticed Laughter’s wide eyes and frowned. “Why so serious, dear sister? This is what you wanted, is it not? You took such joys in reminding me of my place… you all did.” He turned his head, the dark gleam in his eyes making Apple Bloom and Pinkie’s sisters shiver. “Oh, the wonders I am going to open your eyes too!” 

“Faith…” Pinkie stammered, trembling like a leaf, “Faith, come on, you-“

“Not Faith. Didn’t I tell you that I hated names… they give power to others, so that they might control you. That was my mistake... caring about a name. Faith Faith Faith... I was so concerned about who i was that I forgot who I truly am. I see that now and I choose to fix what I broke and give you all EXACTLY what you secretly wanted." He smirked and all fo them shivered. "You wanted darkness... power... violence? You want me to be your dark sword? Very well. If you need a name for me, take the one you all so enjoy throwing at me.” The dark alicorn leaned forward, his hot breath ghosting along Laughter’s face, the pink alicorn whimpering. It wasn’t suppose to be like this… it wasn’t suppose to happen like this. “You wanted Doubt? Well... here I am."