//------------------------------//
// Dinky Takes a Stand 
// Story: Laughter knows no Sorrow 
// by AngelShy24 
//------------------------------//

	Gloom had won; no light or shine or any auras of happiness was left in Ponyville. Everywhere you went, there was no pony that was laughing, smiling, giggling; not showing the smallest hint of a smile. However, amongst the newly dreary town a sole foal was not affected by the dark magic; the kind-hearted filly, Dinky Hooves. Unfortunately, seeing everything that’s happen right before her eyes, she wasn’t exactly happy herself.
“No… no, this is terrible! Ponyville is now trapped in a state of sorrow; what am I going to do now?!”
Eventually, she came across Twilight and her friends who were all down on the ground feeling miserable with no spirit and joy in their hearts. She ran towards them feeling scared and afraid of what happened to them, but she still tried to get them to get back up on their hooves.
“Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie; come on guys, you can’t give up now! We can’t just let Gloom win!”
“This world is doomed,” Fluttershy whined, “No pony is safe anymore, not even the poor little critters. They’re going to suffer too!”
Dinky was tugging on Fluttershy’s mane trying to get her up, “No Fluttershy, the animals are safe! Go see for yourself; you’ll see.”
“I don’t think even my magic can get us out of this one;” stated Twilight, “n-not even a miracle can save us.”
“You took the words right out of my mouth, egghead,” Rainbow Dash responded, “It’s all hopeless; I give up.”
Dinky couldn’t believe what she was hearing from the mane 6; it was making her upset, “No, not you two as well; snap out of it!”
“This is worse that a fashion disaster; way worse!” shouted Rarity, “I-if she finds out about anything cheerful from us, it’ll be terrible!”
“If who finds out?” wondered Dinky.
“Well, I can honestly say this,” said Applejack sadly, “all hope is lost; darkness has engulfed us all.”
Dinky didn’t want to give up on any of them; she tried her hardest to try and reach them, “You’re all being ridiculous; hope isn’t lost, it's still here! Come on, we can still fight!”
But suddenly, Pinkie rose up and blew up at the young filly, “Be quiet, little brat!”
Dinky was suddenly silent while she stared at Pinkie feeling a bit frightened seeing her in such a upsetting state, “P-Pinkie?”
Pinkie then just sulked back down on the ground and her wavy hair hanging in front of her miserable expression, “Quit… trying to be a hero; it’s over. There’s nothing left that’s worth fighting for anymore; just accept it.” 
The light in the heroes of Ponyville were suddenly out; they had no courage to fight anymore. It seemed that all hope was lost, “How could Gloom do something like this; it’s terrible! But wait… why am I not affected like every other pony here?”
Dinky suddenly felt a warm sensation coming from below her neck. She looked down and lifted up her little trinket that she was still wearing and realized her answer, “Of course, it must be my necklace, its protecting me; amazing.”
But as amazing as it was to her little young mind, Dinky still didn’t feel any better about her situation. She wasn’t even sure that the necklace was even helping anymore; maybe it had its limits. As she pondered this she was walking around her town seeing all the sad and miserable residents. She wondered if there was anything that could be done.
“What do I do now;” she wondered to herself, “this is all too creepy for me. If every pony here in this town is affected, then…” Just then, a thought came to her mind realizing something very important to her, “… oh no, Mom!”
It finally occurred to Dinky that her mother, Derpy, was probably affected by Gloom’s spell as well. She didn’t want it to be true, but it was highly possible. She ran all the way to her home as fast as she could because she was sure that’s where she might be. When she got there, the atmosphere seemed dark and dreary; like there was no light of happiness shinning upon it.
She went inside and nothing was there at first. It was her house but it seemed so barren. She called out to see if anyone was there, “Mom, mom where are you?! Are you here?! Mom!”
Dinky kept calling out desperately hoping that her mother was alright. But then, she heard a familiar voice nearby, “Is… th-that you, Dinky?”
Dinky’s attention turned her towards a nearby couch; and when she got to it, her mother seen laying on it. She seemed to be alright, but she didn’t appear to be as cheerful as she usually is.
“It’s me, Mommy,” Dinky said as she placed her hoof on her mother’s head, “I’m right here.” 
Derpy raised her head up and looked at her daughter who was slightly smiling. But her expression didn’t have a hint of a smile as she gaze sadly upon her, “I-it’s nice to see that you’re o-okay. But it doesn’t matter; none of us are safe anymore.”
It was clear to Dinky now that her mother was affected by Gloom’s spell just as she expected. However, this was her mother and she wasn’t going to give up on her so easily, “No mommy, we’re all just fine; you just don’t see it. You’re all blinded by Gloom’s magic; your feelings are not real!”
Although nothing Dinky was saying to her seemed to be working as Derpy was still feeling miserable, “I’m nothing but a failure and no pony likes me; they all hate me. If that’s the case, then why do I even exist?”
“Mom, you’re scaring me,” said Dinky, “stop saying that!”
Dinky knew that if there was one thing that made her mother happy it was muffins. So tried her luck by rushing into their kitchen and fetching a little glass bowl of muffins that her mother made before all of this happened. She carried it over to Derpy and placed it beside her; and then she hoped for the best.
“Um, here, have some of the muffins you made earlier, Mommy; they always cheer you up.”
Suddenly, Derpy got up and gasped. Then shockingly, she stared at them and yelled, “NO!!!” She then quickly whacked it away with her hoof and sent it flying and then it shattered against a nearby wall causing the muffins to scatter everywhere, “Get those away from me!”
Dinky was suddenly scared from her mother’s action, and watched helplessly as the blonde mare laid back on the couch with her hooves over her head shaking in fear.
“M-m-mom, what’s wrong with you?” asked Dinky, feeling worried for her mother.
“She’s watching; if she sees me… h-h-h-happy, he’ll come back.”
“Who?”
“Th-that… stallion; he’ll come back… to hurt us… to hurt… you.”
Dinky felt frightened knowing what her mother was talking about; just thinking about it was bringing bad memories back into her mind, “S-s-stop speaking nonsense, mommy; I don’t like seeing you like this! Please, just go back to your normal self… please?!”
Derpy didn’t look back at her daughter; all she did was say, “Just… leave me alone, Dinky. Just… leave.”
Dinky backed away a bit from her mother showing some tears, and she just ran out the house crying. After getting back outside, she let it all out and was trying to clear up her tears. She was fed up of what happened and was ready to do something about it.
“That’s it,” she said to herself semi-angrily, “Gloom has taken this too far. My Mommy doesn’t deserve this; no pony here doesn’t deserve this!”  
She took one more look at her necklace and could still feel it’s warm magic coming from it. She closed her eyes and it against her heart; and then she came to an important decision, “I guess it’s up to me now; I’ll go face her myself.”

-----

At the city of Canterlot, inside the palace, Princess Celestia was sitting calmly on her perched throne completely unaware of the dark deed that was taking place. However, as she was sitting there deep in thought, she could sense that something was wrong.
“What is this strange negative aura I’m feeling?” she thought to herself, “It feels a bit familiar; but what could it be?”
“Princess, are you alright?” asked one of the stand-by guards who noticed her troubled expression, “Is there something bothering you?”
“I’m not quite sure,” Celestia responded while shaking herself out of it, “b-but… I’m sure it’s nothing.”
Suddenly out of nowhere, a random note roll materialized in front of Celestia. She looked at it curiously wondering what Twilight could have learned today about friendship. But as she levitated it up in front of her and rolled it, her face turned to a somewhat disturbed expression as she saw that the writing on the note was in crimson blood and it spelled out a few simple words.
“What’s this? I… have… returned?”
And then another surprise came after as a huge gigantic orb formed in the middle of the throne room. All the guards there were suddenly on high alert and were ready to defend the Princess in any way. Celestia could suddenly see a figure forming inside the orb and it came into clear view with a expressionless stare.
“Salutations, Princess; I’m sure you haven’t forgotten my face.”
Celestia definitely recognized the mysterious mare that was suddenly in front of her; her voice slightly trembled at the sight of someone from her past, “It’s… it’s you; Gloom!”
“Who is that menace, your highness,” asked one of the Royal Guards.
Celestia was hesitantly holding back from talking about her knowledge of Gloom, but she did anyway, “An earth pony… who turned dark over 200 years ago through an abusive and hash life. Many ponies in her homeland were afraid of her strange powers that she was born with, but unknown to them… their harshness towards her just made her power grow stranger. Her heart grew cold and she eventually used her powers to spread her sadness and sorrow throughout her town and she planned to do the same to the rest of Equestria. Once I learned of this I had to stop her, but surprisingly her power was immensely strong; I had underestimated her. In the end, I had no choice but to trap her inside a large stone mountain and sealed her within it. But now it seems that my spell didn’t last forever; and she has returned to finish what she has started.”
The guards were quite shocked by Celestia’s explanation of this strange mare, and were a bit frightened of what she was capable of. Something told them that fending off this mare if she attacked wouldn’t be easy.
“It wasn’t very nice to do that to me you know,” Gloom said with a slight scowl, “but I did learn something while I was trapped inside that mountain. I learned that I can’t trust anypony in this world, and that I’m alone in my pain. That is why I will spread my power to the world, so that it will feel and experience the sadness I had to bear.”
Celestia remembered everything that happened to Gloom and understood her pain, but she wasn’t planning on that happening again, “I know that you’ve been through a lot, but you gave me no choice back then and today it won’t be any different. I will not allow you to do anything of the sort.”
A tiny grin appeared on Gloom’s face as she had a good chuckle from Celestia’s words, “I’m afraid that you’re already too late, Princess; see for yourself.”
The scene inside the giant orb suddenly switched over to the view of Ponyville where Celestia and all of the Royal Guard saw how dark and dreary it was, and all of the ponies suddenly wandering and lounging around living in fear and their hearts filled with sadness and sorrow. 
Celestia’s eyes grew wide upon seeing this event happen right under her nose, “No…” She remembers seeing Gloom’s hometown in the same, and now it seemed that it was too late for Ponyville as well.
“Ponyville is now under my spell,” said Gloom while smirking at Celestia’s shocked expression, “and it shall be for all eternity! Not even your precious bearers of the Elements of Harmony can stop me now!”
Celestia could see what she meant; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie all sulking around together and the joy in their hearts no longer present. 
“Do you have any idea what chaos you’ll bring out corrupting the Elements?!” Celestia shouted at the dark mare, “End this nonsense, Gloom; Ponyville has nothing to do with your misfortune!”
“No, but I couldn’t stand the sight of their happiness. If I can’t have happiness in this world, then neither should any other pony; and your home is next, Princess.”
Gloom’s intimidation didn’t make Celestia falter one bit. She raised her wings and prepared magic in her horn to show off her magnificence to Gloom, “That will not happen; you will be stopped by then.”
“Oh I don’t think so,” Gloom grimly disagreed, “take a look outside.”
Outside the palace window, Celestia could already see a stream of Gloom’s power stretching over the lands and was almost at the city of Canterlot. Not fully prepare at that last minute, Celestia knew that there was nothing she could do to stop it.
“I win,” Gloom scoffed, “This world will drown forever in eternal sorrow.”
Celestia scowled at Gloom for playing her like this and couldn’t help but watch as the spell impacted into the city and spread rapidly. As the glowing orb in front of Celestia slowly faded away, Gloom made a creepy little smile as she said…
“Farewell, Celestia.”
“Curse you, Gloom!” shouted Celestia as her voice echoed throughout the palace; and then in mere minutes, the Princess of Equestria was trapped with every other pony there… amongst the dark clouds of sorrow.

----

“Today is the start of a new world,” said Gloom grimly to her crow friend.
The crow responded by flying onto Gloom’s shoulder and caw lowly as it rubbed itself against her. Gloom slightly smiled as she looked through her orb at the other places across the land; they were all ready for her to purge with her power.
“Imagine a world without any laughter or happiness at all. It’s going to be beautiful, for I will no longer be alone.”
All seemed calm and quiet for, but then a single voice nearby shouted out and it echoed her name.
“GLOOOOOOOOOM!!!”
Gloom turned her attention to the entry way behind her and saw a single little purple unicorn pony standing there huffing and puffing while fixating an angered glare at her. 
“What the…” Gloom thought in confusion, “That’s the same young filly that I encountered the other day; as well as the same one that I saw amongst the crowd today. What does she want now?”
As the angry filly walked towards the dark mare, the crow looked down at her and raised its feathers as it cawed at her harshly. It then raised its wings and swooped down at Dinky; but before it made contact, the crow suddenly stopped in its tracks as it was caught and being held up by Dinky’s magic. Dinky glared at it and then swung it behind her, smacked it against the wall and knocking it out unconscious.
“Shouldn’t she be down there in that town with the rest… affected by my spell?” Gloom thought feeling irritated, “She’s so persistent.”
Dinky then continued to approach Gloom while the dark mare scowled at her even more for knocking out her animal companion. She calmly asked, “What business do you want with me no, child?”
Dinky stopped as she got a close enough distance to Gloom and responded, “It’s quite obvious, isn’t it? I demand that you turn my home back to the way it was!”
“You demand me,” Gloom scoffed while almost smiling, “how cute. How are you not under my spell like everypony else?”
“I don’t have to tell you anything!”
“It’s that trinket around your neck, isn’t it?”
Dinky gasped a little and covered her necklace with her hoof glaring at Gloom again. Gloom just lightly chuckled under her breath, “I thought as much.”
Dinky’s necklace was becoming more and more familiar to Gloom every time she looked at it and she didn’t know why; but she knew that she didn’t have time to dwell on that fact.
“No matter, there’s nothing you can do to stop me; and if all of this makes you feel miserable, then that’s fine by me.”
“I’m not taking no for an answer!” Dinky shouted in protest, “You will return my friends, my Mom, and the rest f the town’s happiness back or else… o-or else unlike last time, I won’t be so nice!”
“Just who do you think you are?” said Gloom looking down on the young filly, “Give me a good enough reason why I even should?”
“Because we don’t deserve this; living sad, scared and miserable for the rest of our lives; that… completely blows!” 
Gloom still remained unmoved by Dinky’s reasoning and didn’t care much for her feelings, “It is my judgment to the world for treating me like a monster. If your feelings can’t handle it, then too bad; I don’t care about them anyway.”
Some tears started to roll down Dinky’s face as she quietly pleaded, “Please… I beg of you. My Mother… she’s the best thing that has ever happen to me. So caring, loving, sweet and uplifting; I love my mommy very much.”
Gloom suddenly looked over at her and noticed how badly she was crying. All of this crying for her Mother; Gloom just couldn’t understand, mainly because of how her Mother wasn’t caring or loving in the end.
“But… but your spell,” Dinky continued while glaring at Gloom, “Your stupid spell has ruined her; she’s a total train wreck! It breaks my heart to see her like this and I don’t want it to stay this way! Please, just stop this and turn everything back to normal.”
Gloom was caught off a bit by the way Dinky was acting, but no matter how much she pleaded Gloom didn’t give in, “Begging won’t do you any good either. You will never understand the kind of life I lived back then; no pony ever will. Just give it up and accept this world’s fate.”
The more Dinky kept hearing Gloom’s excuses, the upset she got with her. She just couldn’t understand why somepony would even do something like this and not feel a little bit of guilt. She understood what Gloom has been through, but that only made her remember the ordeal that she had to endure.
“You say that no pony will understand the pain you had and of how lonely and sad you felt,” said Dinky suddenly, “but… I do understand.”
“What?” said Gloom feeling confused.
“You’re not as alone as you may think you are. We may all seem so happy all the time to you, but we all had our share of pain in our lives including me.”
“What are you trying to pull here?” questioned Gloom as she glared at the filly, “Are you trying to play a trick on my mind or something?”
“What, no! I’m just trying to make you understand that doing this won’t change anything; revenge isn’t the answer!”
“And what gives you the right to tell me that?” Gloom once again questioned.
“My Mom,” she said sadly, something… terrible was done to me that made her furious and… and she wanted to get payback at the pony who was abusing me and… and…”
Dinky suddenly stopped in her speech as she started to cry a bit and she sorta turned away from Gloom to wipe her eyes.
“I’m sorry, I can’t talk about it; it’s too painful.”
Gloom just sat there staring at young filly after almost hearing what she was talking about. It seemed that she had gone through some pain like she did; she didn’t look like she was bluffing.
“Your eyes, young filly,” Gloom said calmly, “they… suddenly remind me of mine back in my youth. Are you saying that you lived a life similar to mine?”
Dinky stopped crying and looked back at Gloom seeing that she was being strangely curious, “N-no, it’s not as bad as what you went through, but it was still pretty scary.”
“I… I understand what you’re going at,” Gloom suddenly said.
“You do?”
Dinky thought that she was finally speaking some sense into her and maybe she would consider taking back the spell on her home.
“Yes, I do.” However, “But unfortunately for you it doesn’t change anything for me; because unlike you, I can never experience happiness ever again.”
“What, that’s not true!” Dinky pleaded, “You could still…”
“Silence!!! My mind is made up and it can’t be changed. All that is left for me is to share with the world of what I have endured. However… if I spare you, you could join me and we could spread our pain together.”
After all of that, Gloom still wasn’t convinced… and she even tried to get Dinky on her side. Dinky was getting fed up with her, but she still wasn’t giving up.
“No way, there is no way that I would join you to do what you are doing; it’s wrong, and you should feel wrong doing it!”
Gloom scoffed knowing that it was a waste of time to talk to the young filly, “If you do not wish to join me, then leave my presence; I’m done with you.”
“Well I’m not done with you!” Dinky shouted; and then she firmly sat her flank on the ground and refused to move as she glared up at Gloom, “I’m not leaving until you cease your stupid spell!”
Ignoring her, Gloom turned away from Dinky not minding her anymore attention, “Do what you wish, young filly; I really couldn’t care less.”
As Dinky sat there completely still, not moving a muscle, she was remembering everything that she saw in Ponyville and how miserable all of the residents were; but none of that sadden her more than remembering her mother and how she acted.
“I have to do something,” she thought to herself, “If I don’t then everypony will live forever in sorrow. Oh Mommy, what do I do?”
Dinky eyed the glowing orb that housed the corrupted energy of Pinkie’s element power and was brainstorming of how to stop it. But then she looked down at her necklace again and noticed that it was softly glowing. And then… Dinky had an idea; she wasn’t sure if it would work, but she thought it was worth the try.
“If you really are magic and powerful,” said Dinky softly as she closed her eyes and placed her hooves over the necklace, “then… give me the power… to stop her!”
Then suddenly, a big burst of power surged from the necklace and caught Gloom’s attention as she quickly turned around and exclaimed, “What?!”
The power rose up to Dinky’s horn as it shined with an immense glow that brightened the whole enclosed area. Dinky’s eyes then went back to the orb and then she took a shot.
“Oh no you don’t!” Gloom shouted as she rushed in front of the beam’s path and began to push it back with her power. Gloom was getting tired of all of this as she made sure nothing happened to her orb.
“Didn’t I tell you to give up; it’s hopeless!”
Dinky was struggling a bit, but she refused to back down, “I… will not! All of my friends, my Mother and Equestria… all of their hope of happiness is riding on me! So… I will never… GIVE UP!!!”
Suddenly, Gloom could feel her power faltering against Dinky’s and she became a bit distracted feeling shocked, “What’s this; how is th-this filly fending back my p-power?! Could it be… that necklace; no… its impossible!”
Dinky gave it all she had and then finally, she penetrated through Gloom’s defense and knocked her to the side. Gloom winced in slight pain as she rolled down on the ground; and when ehs looked back up, Dinky;s attack already made contact with the orb.
“No!”
Dinky knew that she was finally going to end this whole thing and return everyone’s happiness back as she added more pressure on the orb, “Come on, come on. Al-lmost … got it.”
But just when she assured victory, Dinky suddenly felt a struggled force against hers and it made her falter, “What the…” Then suddenly, a repel reaction ricochet from the orb and immediately dispersed Dinky’s beam and came at her in full force. Dinky braced for impact as the orb’s power smashed into her forehead; and there wasn’t even a scream, she was automatically knocked unconscious as she propelled through the air and her necklace was released from around her neck. She landed front side on the ground and her necklace landed right beside her still in one piece.
Gloom slowly got up and slightly groaned as she felt the pain in her head. Suddenly, her crow friend, now conscious again, flew up to her and landed on her shoulder. Gloom was quite glad that she was okay and that her plans were not thwarted.
“Ugh, that was… way too close, right girl?”
‘Caw’
“That filly sure was persistent, I’ll give her that.”
She looked over at Dinky who was out but still breathing lying on the ground as the dark power started to engulf her body. She had a slight sigh of relief after everything that had happened and thought to herself…
“Finally… it’s over.”