//------------------------------// // Sorrow and Smiles // Story: My Little Pony: The Brothers of Discord // by mr.myxsiple //------------------------------// CHAPTER 26 SORROW AND SMILES "Hey, you heard about what happened a while ago?" "Yeah I heard. Somepony went crazy and started making everypony in sight scream." "Freakiest thing I ever saw..." "What if he comes in here?!" "Relax. I heard that Applejack took care of him." "First those three ponies, then that weird fire, then this guy...Just what's going on here?" That was a question almost everypony was asking late that afternoon in Sugar Cube Corner. Word of Psych's arrival in town had spread surprisingly fast causing a few ponies to grow tense look around carefully and, in the case of three flower-selling ponies, locked themselves indoors for several hours upon seeing a complete stranger. Meanwhile, the quiet air in Sugar Cube Corner's kitchen was broken by a high pitch DING! Hearing that tune, a certain pink mare spotting a pink, floral apron happily bounced on over to the oven. After slipping on some oven gloves, she reached inside and pulled out a tray of freshly baked brownies, their scent drifting filling her nostrils and making her drool. Unable to contain herself, she opened her mouth much wider than anypony else could and prepared to devour the entire thing, only to be stopped by a coughing sound. Her mouth still wide open, Pinkie looked to her right seeing two foals sitting on the kitchen floor glaring at her expectantly. Her mouth still agape, she tipped the tray causing two brownies to fall; the twins caught the falling treats in their mouths. As they chewed happily, Pinkie tipped the tray allowing the rest of the brownies to fall into her mouth. She munched on them, swallowed and let out a loud burp which made her and the twins giggle. After laughing at her own burp with with twins for a while, Pinkie glanced outside the window and spotted something large soar through the sky. Pressing her face against the glass, she saw that it was really a cluster of pegasi clad in the golden armor of the royal guard flying in perfect formation. Judging by the direction in which they were flying, they seemed to be heading towards the library. Feeling like something cool and fun was going to happen, she tossed her apron aside and galloped out of the kitchen. "Bye Mr. Cake! Bye Mrs. Cake! I'm gonna go see Twilight!" she called as she raced past the couple behind the register. "Bye Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake answered waving back at her while her husband headed into the kitchen. "Er...honey?" he called a few seconds later. "What happened to that batch of brownies in the oven?" Upon seeing the guards through her window, Twilight raced outside. By the time she was out, the pegasus guards had already landed and stood ready to receive orders, their spears looking rather menacing. Standing ahead of the other guards was a tall, sky-blue pegasus with a grayish white mane and amber eyes. "Ms. Twilight, I'm General Stratos of the pegasus guard here to station these four here in Ponyville at her majesty's order." he said formally. "Thank you General. You have no idea how reassuring it is to have some extra protection around here." she told them. Stratos nodded and looked behind him. "Flash, I'm placing you in charge here. Ensure that nothing happens to Ms. Twilight, her friends or the Elements of Harmony." On of the pegasi, a deep saffron one with blue eyes and mane nodded stepped forward holding his spear ready. "I won't let you down sir." Pleased with his response, the general looked back at Twilight. "Where they'll be staying has already been arranged by the Princess. They'll be patrolling the town day and night; you needn't worry about them. They are among the best guards I have." Twilight looked from Flash and the rest of the guards to Stratos. "Very well then. Please tell the princess that I'll be sending any updates I find." Stratos nodded, turned to the rest of the guard and saluted to them. After watching Flash and the guards return it, he spread his wings and took off towards Canterlot. Twilight watched him fly off for a while before looking down, seeing the pony in change, Flash, approach her. "I hope our stay here in Ponyville doesn't make you uncomfortable Ms. Twilight." he told her. "Oh no; it's fine. Growing up in Canterlot Castle meant having to grow up surrounded by guards all the time. I'm pretty used to it." she reassured earning a smile from the guard. "I also heard that you have a prisoner; would you like one of us to stay as extra protection?" he offered. Twilight was quick to refuse. "Oh no; the protection placed around him is already enough. Besides..." She rubbed her hoof nervously. "He really isn't the kind of guy you'd like to be around..." Flash raised a puzzled eyebrow but didn't question her any further. "I see. Well, we'll be beginning our patrol now. Just find me or any of us in case you need anything." "I'll keep that in mind." Twilight said nodding. "Thanks again Flash." The guard nodded and left to give the remaining guards their orders. Twilight, feeling much better with extra protection in town, turned around and got a face full of pink. "Hi Twilight!" "GYAH!" In less than a second, Flash and the rest of the guards were in front of her, their spears pointed forward. "It's OK! It's OK! It's OK! She's with me!" Twilight cried out frantically before the guards could skewer her friend. Luckily, the guards relaxed. Pinkie, not at all bothered by the fact that she was almost killed, bounded over to Twilight. "Hi Twilight! What's with all the ponies in the shiny armor? Is the princess coming over for another party? Does she need anything? I got lots of streamers and balloons and party hats back home and-" "N-No Pinkie. Princess Celestia isn't coming to town." Twilight interrupted. "The guards are here for extra protection. Solstice and his brothers might make another attempt at the Elements. They're bound to make another move soon now that we have one of them here." "We do?" "Yes. One of them arrived in Ponyville a while ago and-" At the words "arrived in Ponyville", Pinkie had unfortunately bolted into the library before Twilight could explain how Psych tortured everpony he encountered. Knowing Pinkie's usual way of treating newcomers, Twilight recovered from her shock and galloped back into her home where she found Spike lying on the floor looking dazed. "Spike, where'd Pinkie go?!" she cried out helping him up with her magic. "Sh-she went right past me and headed into the basement!" he answered hurriedly. Panicking, Twilight checked the basement door which, to her dismay and surprise, was open. "B-But-My lock and-my spells-and-GRAH! Pinkie, why do you have to keep breaking the laws of physics?!" she cried out in frustration. Caring more about her friend more than her strange abilities, Twilight raced into the basement before anything could happen. "Yeesh, how OCD can you get Magic?" Psych muttered as he went through several of Twilight's outdated check lists. She had them for everything from usual day-to-day activities to making even more lists. As Psych tossed one of the over his shoulder and grabbed one of Twilight's planners, he heard the basement door open. "Hey Magic, what's with all the lists and schedules? So obsessed with order that you can't take the crap life throws at you?" There was no reply however. Instead, Psych head something come crashing down the stairs. Curious, he put the planned aside and watched as a tray on wheels rolled in front of the barrier. On top of it was a large, three layered cake with covered with pink frosting, sprinkles, gummi bears, chocolate chips, lollipops, mini marshmallows, ice cream...I'm getting diabetes just looking at it. he thought approaching it slowly. BLAM! "GAH!" Psych jumped back just as the cake exploded violently revealing a pink mare covered in frosting and wearing a party hat. "Wh-what the-" "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!" Pinkie shouted with enough force to cause Psych's mane flutter. The next thing he knew, she up hopping up and down excitedly right in front of the barrier. "Oh my gosh, we haven't had a new pony in town in weeks! I must be loosing my skills; I mean usually ponies are excited or happy whenever I come out and say: 'WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!', but lately, all they do just stare and make faces like that." "Uh...Um..." Psych was still trying to get over Pinkie's rapid chattering. "Yeah, just like that! Hey, why're your eyes all funny? The only time I ever got those eyes was when I had a whole cake and three glasses of chocolate syrup for breakfast. I was jumpy and crawled up the ceiling like a spider; Mrs. Cake almost fainted when she saw that. Have you met the Cakes yet? Oh wait, you haven't 'cause your still stuck in here, but you totally gotta go see them! They're the best bakers in town, and they can get you anything from pastries to cakes to cupcakes to-" "Pinkie!" Twilight's shout finally made her stop talking. "Pinkie, get away form him; he's crazy!" "C'mon Twilight, he can't be that bad. You and everypony else call me crazy all the time." Pinkie pointed out. "Yeah but...He's the bad kind of crazy!" "There's a bad kind?" "Yes! Now get away from him before-" "Pinkie?" Psych finally said. Everything then began to fall in place. He looked at the pink mare still covered in frosting and instantly realized who she was. "Pinkie Pie...Laughter!" He suddenly reared on his hind legs and slammed his front hooves onto the barrier. Twilight yelped and jumped back, but her shield remained intact. Pinkie on the other hoof wasn't surprised at all. Nor was she surprised when she found Psych glaring at her teeth bared, his breaths heavy. His eyes, which Pinkie had found to be funny-looking were now seething with hate. "You...We've finally met..." he said full of spite. "Uh huh. Why? Were you waiting for me?" Pinkie asked innocently. "I've always known this day would come..." Psych continued. "I've always wondered what kind of pony you'd turn out to be, what kind of pony would embody Laughter itself...and now...I'm not at all surprised..." Puzzled, Pinkie tilted her head to the side causing a drop of frosting to fall and hit the floor. "Laughter huh? Oh, I'm all about laughing and having fun. I love turning those frowny faces I see upside down." At those words, Psych violently pounded the barrier. "Pinkie, get away from him!" Twilight cried out despite knowing that her barrier would hold. "You love it don't you? You devote yourself to bringing joy everywhere you go. You can't stand the sight of gloom and despair and do you best to get rid of them. You live in a perpetual bliss and just want to share it with everypony else don't you?" Pinkie took some time to consider his questions. "Well yeah. Seeing everypony so happy make me real happy too. It's the best feeling ever!" "...I see..." Psych bowed his head and started to chuckle which eventually turned to laughter. Eventually, he threw he head backwards and began laughing in a cruel, sinister way. Twilight felt her blood chill as his peals echoed throughout the basement walls; she had never heard something to heartless in her life. Pinkie however, just smiled and started laughing as well, her own laughing filled with cheer and mirth. "Wh-Why are we laughing?!" she asked clutching her stomach and wiping a tear away. Psych eventually stopped his maniacal cackling and looked at her. "You're no different from me!" he cried out and began to laugh once again. Twilight rushed over to him. "What're you talking about? Pinkie is nothing like you!" Psych stopped once again to speak. "She is like me! We're two sides of the same coin! Both of us live by the very things we embody and spread them wherever we go! We both love what we do and refine our abilities to spread it! We're even both insane! Our only difference is what we spread; she spreads laughter and mirth while I do the same with anguish and pain!" "Huh?" Pinkie asked raising an eyebrow. "I dunno what you're talking about, but I do like making everypony smile. It make me smile." "And I enjoy inflicting misery just as much." Psych replied. "It makes me smile." "H-How can you be so cruel?" Twilight asked him in disbelief. He furrowed his brow and glared at her. "It's ponies like you who made me into the psychopath I am now. I'm merely a part of the world, an undeniable truth that will never cease to exist, yet guys like you reject me. You all hate me! Despise me! Get rid of me the minute I come into your lives!" "But none of have even met you before today; how could we hate you if we didn't know who you were?" Twilight asked wondering just what he was talking about. Psych huffed and put a hoof on his chest. "I'm Grief, sorrow, pain, everything everypony would hate in their lives. I'm the gloom you try to dispel with happy thoughts and laughter. I am the incarnation of despair and agony, and I live to sow them. It's what I am..." That last sentence seemed familiar to Twilight. Reaching through her memories, she heard the same thing coming from a grey pegasus moments before he tried to burn them alive. "Wait...Ash said something like that too." she said. "He said he was evil, that that was all he was." "Indeed." Psych nodded. "He's an incarnation just as I am. It's what we all are." "You're...incarnations?" Twilight asked. "Yes. I'm Grief itself. Ash is Cruelty itself. We're all manifestations of the worst things the world has to offer just as you are all the manifestations of the more favorable things the world has to offer. You are all loved while we are all despised and hated. The others refuse to accept this truth; only Ash and I believe it." "Wait...so you're sadness and those gloomy things?" Pinkie asked. "Yes." Psych turned his attention back to her. "In the same way, you're Laughter, cheer and merriment itself. You're friend there is Magic itself. All your friends are incarnations just like us." Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Wait just a minute, I'm not a manifestation of anything; none of us are! We're all just normal ponies like everypony else." The colt pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. "So...you deny it as well huh? I see...You don't accept your true self..." Twilight said nothing as he turned to his counterpart, his opposite. "And you...always bringing sunshine to everypony's lives...it's what you are...don't you find the task exhausting?" Pinkie shrugged. "Not really. Seeing everypony having a good time is always a really nice thing to watch." "Yes, but don't you think that it'll never cease? Ponies're never gonna stop feeling gloomy, and none of your efforts're gonna put and end to that. The joy you're bringing to them isn't perpetual...So why give them that brief moment of cheer before I come in, slap them in the face and send them back to reality?" "Pinkie, don't answer him." Twilight warned quickly. "Well...I don't really think it matters that they'll be all sad again." she answered ignoring Twilight's pleas. "If they do get all saddy and droppy again, I'll just have to cheer it them up again." "True, but won't it go on like that until your death? This is a battle you'll never win." Psych told her. "You can't keep everypony happy all the time; my gloom'll eventually worm its way into their hearts. Even knowing this, you still wanna pursue this pointless goal?" Pinkie considered the question. As Twilight watched worriedly, she sat on her haunches and began to think. After about a minute, nothing happened. Psych smiled, thinking that he had stumped her and made her realize how pointless her- DING! A light bulb suddenly appeared on top of Pinkie's head and turned itself on much to Psych's surprise. A wide grin broke out on her face as she approached the barrier. "Oh, oh, oh! I got an answer!" she cried out happily. Psych raised an eyebrow. "Elaborate then." Pinkie nodded, the light bulb vanishing in the process. "I still wanna do it." she said simply leading Psych to stare at her in disbelief. "Seriously? You'd devote yourself to such a lost cause for the rest of your life? This is something you'll never conquer! You'll be spending the rest of your days in an endless struggle to make everypony smile! You see somepony in despair and bring them into the light, but have you even considered just how long they're gonna stay there!" "The life you live is pointless, without meaning, and utterly pathetic! You try to give meaning to pony's lives, but that meaning will eventually be lost! Ponies can never be happy forever; why can't you just accept that?! What's the point of going out of your way to turn every frown you see into a smile knowing fully well that it'll just revert to its original state?!" "The point is to make them happy." Pinkie said before Psych could continue. "I dunno about all that stuff you said about me being made of Laughter or anything, but I really like making ponies smile. I know they're gonna feel sad again, but that's not gonna happen yet. Why should I think about that?" "B...Because..." Psych began gritting his teeth in anger. "You say it's silly, but hey; I'm silly, and I do lots of silly stuff too. Like this one time when thought I could make stuff bake faster by turning the oven up, but then the knob thingy broke and it exploded and the Cakes had to call the fire department and they wouldn't let me play with the hose and-" Psych's glare cut her off. She giggled a little. "Oops, sorry about that." "Anyway, I think they know they're gonna be sad again, but when they do, they know I'm gonna be there to cheer them up. They don't just get all happy because of what I do, they get it 'cause they gotta friend like me. Seeing them so happy even thought there's all kinds of stuff that'll make them sad...There's no way I'd get tired of that! I even made a song about it!" "What?!" Psych exclaimed angrily. "Uh huh. C'mon, it's easy to catch on; listen! I like to see you grin. I love to see you beam. The corners of your mouth turned up is always Pinkie's dream..." Psych growled, his front hooves trembling. "But if you're kind of worried, and your face has made a frown, I'll work real hard and do my best to turn that sad frown upside down!" "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Psych screamed hammering the barrier with such force that Twilight feared it would break. Pinkie stopped singing, but Psych continued to smash his hooves again and again against the barrier, the only thing standing between Pinkie and his wrath. After what seemed like a minute, of ruthless pounding, Psych finally stopped. His head was bowed, his hooves were sore and trembling, and his breaths were heavy." "I...hate you...I hate you...I HATE YOU!" he screamed at her face. "IT'S JOY-HOARDING, CHEER-CRAVING, LAUGHTER-WANTING PONIES LIKE YOU WHO MADE ME INTO THIS MONSTER! You...YOU'RE AT THE TOP OF THAT LIST! YOUR SOLE REASON FOR LIVING IS TO BANISH ME FROM THIS WORLD AND FILL IT WITH YOURSELF! WHY?! WHY IS IT THAT YOU AND EVERYPONY ELSE JUST CAN'T ACCEPT THE SORROWS OF THE WORLD?! WHY DO YOU ALL KEEP SHUNNING, DENYING AND REJECTING ME?! I'M A PART OF THIS WORLD AS WELL DAMMIT!" "P-Pinkie...we should go." Twilight said as Psych continued to rage on. Pinkie seemed to understand and went up the stairs along with Twilight all while continuing to hear Psych scream at her. "YOU DENY AND REJECT ME MORE THAN ANYPONY ELSE! YOU'RE TOO NAIVE TO UNDERSTAND THIS, BUT YOU HATE ME AS WELL! YOU AND EVERYPONY ELSE HATE ME, AND I HATE ALL OF YOU JUST AS MUCH IF NOT MORE! I HATE EVERYPONY! I HATE YOU LAUGHTER! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" Twilight finally slammed the door and placed an array of spells on it to keep it locked cutting off Psych's furious screaming for the moment. Once she was done, she sighed and sat down feeling exhausted. "Are you OK Pinkie? He said some pretty hurtful things back in there." she asked. "Yup. I'm OK." Pinkie answered still smiling after everything. Twilight looked once again at the basement door. "I've...I've never felt that much hatred coming from a single pony before..." she remarked remembering the anger in Psych's eyes. She wouldn't be surprised if he was still screaming. "I can't believe somepony could actually hate you Pinkie." "It's OK." Her friend shrugged. "Y'know, I don't really hate him, not one teensy weensy tiny bit." "Really?" Twilight asked. Then again, the idea of Pinkie actually hating somepony was just as absurd as hearing Applejack lie. "Yeah. I know he sounds really really mad, but...he's also really really sad." She looked at the basement door thinking about the howling pony one floor down. "Didn't you hear him? He was saying 'Boo hoo. Everypony doesn't like me. Wah!'" "To be honest, all I heard was him screaming his hatred of you." "Well, he's sad OK? And I'm gonna cheer him up." Twilight opened her mouth, but Pinkie had turned away and started brainstorming. "Let's see, he's the saddest pony I know, so I'm gonna hafta pull all the stops here...I'm gonna have to go where nopony has ever gone, do thing nopony's ever done. I gotta make it a gazillion times better than my usual cheer up routine..." "Uh...Pinkie?" Twilight tried to get in. "*gasp!* I have to fix up my party cannon!" She ran to the door and pulled it open. "Gotta go Twilight; bye!" With that, she dashed away at ridiculous speeds. Once Twilight got over her surprise, she watch the dust trail Pinkie left behind wondering if she would succeed. Friendship had failed to reach Ash and had instead made things worse. Would the same thing happen to his brother? "Oh Pinkie...I sure hope you know what you're doing..."