As I checked the map to find our next element, I noticed something peculiar, the spot that located Applejack’s element was crossed out, and the next element popped up on the map, the element of laughter. So yeah, it was obvious that this thing came from someone who had experience with magic. Oddly enough, our next element, laughter, was all the way in a retirement home. I had no idea why, but I'm not doubting it. On our way there, Twilight was concerned that her spell didn't work; she kept questioning herself, to see if she messed something up. In the end, I told her that maybe her magic didn't work as well as it would back on Ponyville. That seemed to comfort her, if only a little. When we arrived at the retirement house, the map wrote out to look for Ms. Austerus; just by the name I could tell that this was going to be fun.
"Excuse me; do you know where Ms. Austerus is?"
"Well, yes, but I'm surprised that you would want to see her. Almost no one here has."
"Might I ask why?"
"She never laughs"
See! I told you!
***
As we entered Ms. Austerus' room, we saw her, and boy, did she look stern. Her dress was plain grey, her hair ties into a tight bun; the only color she had at all was her red glasses. I found Pinkie's element hanging by a nail in a wall. Alright, I thought to myself, let the games begin.
"So, I've come to understand that you came to see me?" Ms. Austerus started.
"Yes I have, and might I add that you look lovely today."
"Well thank you, but don't use flattery on me boy, now, why are you here?"
Geez, talk about getting straight to the point.
"Well, it seems that you have in your possession something that I need." I was trying to get to the point while at the same time not revealing everything, because who would belive me?
Ms. Austerus must have seen me looking at Pinkie's element, because she had asked me if that was what I wanted. I said yes, this is what she said.
"Ah, the necklace, it’s colorful and full of joy. I absolutely hate it! How's about this, I'll give you the necklace, under one condition."
I asked what it was, she said to make her laugh first
I am good at a lot of things, but let me say this, comedy is NOT my forte, especially in front of an elderly old lady who doesn't laugh at anything. So while you read this part of the story, I'll be banging my head in the closest corner I can find.
"Make you laugh..." I say to myself. "Okay, this shouldn't be too hard. How about this: Why did the bird go to the doctor?"
Silence
"To get a tweetment!"
Behind me I could hear the groans of the six, telling them they weren't helping, I questioned myself, are my jokes really that bad?
Onward to my next failure: "Why did the math teacher confiscate a student's rubber band pistol? Because it was a weapon of math destruction! "
Now I began to learn how Fozzie Bear felt whenever he told jokes, he thought they were funny, while everyone else knew they were just atrocious.
The last joke that I told Ms. Austerus was probably the worst, "What did the newspapers say about the fire at the circus? It was pretty in tents!"
At this point, Pinkie Pie went up to me and tried to help me out by whispering a few jokes to me. That was until Ms. Austerus screamed no help from the pink pony. It was so sudden that I felll to the ground, flat on her face. And that's when I saw it, the faintest of smiles.
Jokes weren’t going to make Ms. Austerus laugh. It was going to take physical pain.
Getting up from the ground, I said to Ms. Austerus, "Of course the pink pony isn't cheating, she is merely asking if she can assist me in what I am about to do".
"I was?" Pinkie asked. I just told her to go along with it. I asked Ms. Austerus for a moment, so I whispered to Pinkie Pie,
"You have your party cannon with you, right?"
"Of course I do, I never leave home without it!"
"Good, okay, now what I want you to do is aim it in front of the window"
With her trademark, Okie dokie Loki, Pinkie, from nowhere, got her pary cannon out. Even though i saw it in person, I still have no idea how exactly she got it out.While she was positioning the cannon, I told Ms. Austerus, "Behold, a simple cannon! Instead of firing, you know the usual stuff, this cannon fires joy and happiness! You know what to do Pinkie!"
"Alrighty!" Pinkie responded, and with that, she fired the cannon.
As soon as she fired the cannon, I dived into the blast radius. Now, I know that cannons are meant to be powerful, and maybe I thought that since this was Pinkie we were talking about, the cannon wouldn’t be that powerful, but let me tell you, There’s a reason why she used it against the changelings! As I became caught in the blast of confetti, I suddenly found myself flying out the window! This better be worth it, I thought to myself I crashed to the ground. I heard Pinkie and the other girls asking if I was alright. I also heard Ms. Austerus laugh, like a hyena.
Gosh, this woman was sick.
“It’s alright, I’m fine!” I say to the girls, as I shake myself off and stand up. I poke my head through the window and say, “Alright, I made you laugh, now can I have that necklace please?”
***
“I don’t see why you had to do that, you just hurt yourself!” Pinkie said as we made our way out of the retirement home.
“Look, Pinkie, we got the element, that’s all that matters, let’s just leave that behind.”
“But you got hurt! That wasn’t very funny at all.”
“Well, welcome to my world, where things like that get people laughing, that’s why I don’t want you guys to be here any longer than you have to be. This place is full of mean people, and I just want you guys to get home safe and not deal with any of this.”
“I’m getting worried too Hector,” Twilight said, “ It seems like my spell hasn't worked all! It seems that everyone can see us!"
"Maybe that's just part of what we're doing, maybe these people have to see you guys."
I opened the map again , it did its own usual thing, cross out the element and point out to a new one, the next element was Loyalty,
"Alright Rainbow Dash," I said as I glances at the map, " your element is next!"
If before I thought that the elements were received by random people, I was totally wrong. Now I know without a doubt that all of this is staged. I mean come on, loyalty, Rainbow Dash's element of harmony, is a prize for a remote control airplane contest!
"Flying contest," Rainbow Dash said enthusiastically, "we got this element in the bag!"