Laughter knows no Sorrow

by AngelShy24

Element's Lament

Things were just getting a little too weird for Dinky Hooves. Ever since she bought the necklace she has from the antique store in Ponyville, she’s been getting some weir vibes from it. Most of them were good feelings, but this very day she’s been getting this eerie feeling like something bad is going to happen; and after having a run-in with that mysterious mare, her theory might be true.

She was running towards the antique shop where she thought that she might get some answers. But something kept boggling her in her mind, “This is all too weird, and I can’t shake this feeling that this mare… she may be up to no good. What was it that she said again?”

‘I have come here only to complete my destiny.’

‘A little piece of advice, little filly; if I were you I wouldn’t stick around here for too long. However, you may stay here if you like; it would all be for the better.’

“I can’t ignore this feeling,” Dinky thought, “I need answers.”

Back at the antique shop, Miss Stone was carefully dusting her shelves and sellable items for any customer that would walk through her entrance door. But soon enough, her door did open and she was prepared to do anything to help this customer’s service. But as she looked up, she realized who it was.

“D-Dinky; you’re here again,” she said in a sweet tone.

Dinky’s head was down as she was breathing heavily and she shut the door behind her. Based on how tired she was and the troublesome look on her face, Miss Stone knew that something was wrong.

“Are… are you okay, sweetie?”

After a few seconds of catching her breath, Dinky finally spoke, “I’m… sorry Miss Stone, but yeah I’m… okay; I just had a very weird experience lately.”

“Weird how?” Miss Stone questioned.

Dinky trotted over to a small stool to relax and told Miss Stone what happened, “Just some minutes ago I ran into this mare pony just outside of Ponyville; she was quite strange and looked… pretty ominous.”

“Do you know who she was?” Miss Stone asked curiously.

“Not in the slightest;” Dinky suddenly held up her necklace that she was still wearing, “however, she seemed to recognize this necklace that you let me buy.”

Miss Stone felt a little uneasy of what Dinky was telling her; about the necklace and the mysterious mare.

“Sh-she did?” she said.

“Yeah, and even though she tried denying to not know about it, I could easily tell that she knew something about it; she almost looked like she was afraid of it.”

What Miss Stone was thinking about she wasn’t quite sure if it was possible; but she wanted to make sure, “Anything else you know about this pony; just asking.”

Dinky was fine with telling her what she knew, “She had a dark crow with her and her colors of dark purple and lavender definitely stood out. And her eyes… they seemed so sad, filled with some kind of pain like it was secretly calling for help; and her cutiemark that was a dark, puffy cloud was the most confusing thing about her. I mean… what does it even stand for?”

This more than confirm of what Stone was thinking of, but she still felt like this was too much of a coincidence to be real, “Y-y-you don’t say.”

“But the worst part is that she completely refused to be my friend when I suggested it; she refused my friendship! In fact, she said that she didn’t need any friends; who doesn’t want friends?! Also, she said that she was here on some kind of mission; I don’t know what it might be, but it didn’t sound pleasant.”

“So, why did you come here?”

“Well… I’ve been having some strange weird feelings from this necklace,” said Dink as she held up the trinket, “and it mainly happened when I was near that strange pony. Is there any chance that you know what all of this could possibly mean?”

Miss Stone was sweating slightly and became worried of what this could mean for Dinky… but she better not scare her more than she already might be.

“W-well, I wouldn’t know anything about that,” she said nervously, “but I did say that it may contain some kind weird power that was rumored. Now whether or not this… pony has anything to do with that I don’t know.”

Suddenly, Dinky noticed something on Miss Stone’s body that troubled her, “Um… Miss Stone, your hoof is trembling a bit; are you alright?”

“Oh, sorry about that,” the troubled mare responded with a smile, “it’s just a bit chilly in here; I should really turn up the heat in here.”

“Y-yeah… I guess it is a little cold in here,” said Dinky suspiciously.

Dinky soon realized that maybe Miss Stone couldn’t help her with her hypothesis so she decided to go ahead and head out the door, “Well, thanks again anyway, Miss Stone; I’m going to go home and rest my head.”

“Sounds like a good idea, you look like you need it.”

“If anything else comes up,” said Dinky as she looked back at Stone, “I’ll let you know, okay?”

“A-alright, take care, Dinky.”

At first Dinky was looking at her feeling a bit worried, but then she just smiled a bit and walked out the store. Miss Stone’s smiled suddenly dimmed down to a slight frown reminiscing over what Dinky had told her. The theory in her head seemed to be real after all.

“So she is real,” she thought to herself, “and she’s come here of all places; what in the world could she be looking for?”

-----

Meanwhile back at the Library Tree, Pinkie Pie was in a slight panic as she told her friends of what happened to her some minutes ago. After she told them, they were all a bit shocked and frazzled as they all shouted…

“WHAT?!!!”

Pinkie was quite surprised too when they told her about them having the same experience that she did before she told them her news.

“Are you freaking serious?!” Rainbow Dash shouted, “You had the exact same dream too?!”

“Well actually, that doesn’t surprise me that much,” said Rarity, “seeing that the rest of us appeared to dream it too.”

Rainbow was still getting riled up, “So even you had the same dream; that more than proves that something is up!”

“So… what does this mean?” said Fluttershy nervously.

“It means that some creepazoid creature is after Pinkie here,” Applejack responded, “and we need to make sure that it never succeeds!”

“Does this mean that we have to guard Pinkie 24/7 now?” Rarity whined, “My dainty hooves aren’t up to that kind of task.”

Spike’s eyes brightly lit up looking straight at Rarity, “Oh, I could take your place Rarity; anything for you!”

“We don’t all necessarily need to guard her every single hour of every day, girls,” said Twilight, “But I do agree that each of us should be on the lookout for this creature… whatever it is.”

“I can cover the sky view, no problem!” shouted Rainbow Dash, “Whatever this creature is it won’t escape my eyes!”

“I could have my animal friends be on the lookout near the forest,” said Fluttershy, “… if that’s okay.”

“And we’ll be on the lookout too,” said Applejack; and then she glares at Rarity, “Right, Rarity?”

“Well of course I will help too; after all we all care about Pinkie and we should help her in any way we can… even if it is… ugh, strenuous work.”

Pinkie had a little smile on her face giggling a bit, “Aw, you’re so sweet Rarity.”

Twilight knew that looking for this creature was going to be a little tough and probably dangerous, and she knew that she needed more to go on to protect her friend, “I don’t want to put too much on you girls, but do any of you have any ideas of what this creature that’s after Pinkie is?”

All of them were at a loss for words; they saw the creature in their dreams but it was hard for all them to make out what it look like, and it surely didn’t remind them of anything they ever seen or heard of. But just then, Pinkie suddenly raised her hoof and gained her friends’ attention.

“I think I know.”

“You do?” said Rainbow Dash as she got in Pinkie face, “Who or what is it?”

Pinkie had all of her friends come close together and she whispered to all of them, “It’s… Gloom.”

“Gloom?” said Rainbow Dash confusingly.

“That’s right… Gloooooooooooooooooom.”

“Who the hay is Gloom?” questioned Applejack.

“Who is Gloom, you ask?” said Pinkie in a creepy tone, “She was a dark and grimly pony who grew up during a dark, tragic time in a town that used to exist on the very far opposite side of the Everfree Forest.”

All of her friends suddenly gasped and Fluttershy hid behind Rarity shaking in her hooves.

“Her heart grew dark, and her soul turned black; and now she’s so deep into her own self- darkness and sorrow that she’s become completely immune to the vibes of joy and happiness. And now she plans to plunge the world into total sorrow so she won’t be in her own darkness alooooone. If she can’t be happy, then nopony can!”

All of Pinkie’s friends were at a loss for words; how Pinkie described the creature seemed to be pretty spot-on.

“Wow, how charming,” said Rarity nervously.

“Awesome story, Pinkie Pie,” said Spike excitedly, “do you have another?!”

“H-h-has this p-pony… ever killed any other pony?” questioned Fluttershy while still shaking.

“I don’t know; for what I know about it she’s never tried to kill anypony intentionally.”

Fluttershy slightly smiled and sighed with relief.

“Except maybe her own parents!”

Fluttershy shrieked and once again hid behind Rarity.

“Would ya knock it off, Pinkie, and get serious!” boasted Applejack.

“But I was.”

“Why in the heck would this pony kill her own parents anyway?” asked Rainbow dash, “Did they treat her like garbage or something and got fed up with them?”

“Maybe, but I don’t know,” Pinkie responded, “My Granny Pie had told me that what happened that day was about a couple of a hundred of years ago and even she didn’t know much about it”

Twilight suddenly remembered something that she saw once in Canterlot, “You know, I did hear something about some creature that went by the name of ‘Gloom’ back in Canterlot when I was just a filly. When I heard about the story, I did felt a little frighten by it, but then it suddenly peaked my interest. However, I couldn’t find much when I tried to look more upon it. I wasn’t quite sure of who she was or what she was capable of; I didn’t even know that it was a she!”

“Hey Fluttershy,” said Applejack, “That crow ya saw yesterday; you don’t think this ‘Gloom’ is connected to it in any way, do ya?”

“Crow, what crow?” questioned Pinkie.

“Oh yeah, that crow; I-I-I surely hope not.”

“So what do we do now, Twilight?” asked Spike.

“Does anypony know about this besides us, Pinkie?” asked Twilight.

Pinkie knew the answer to that, “I did tell Mrs. Cake about my nightmare, and despite being concerned for me she didn’t really think that what I dreamt about was real; ‘not to worry’ she says.”

“Are ya sure no pony else knows?” questioned Applejack.

Pinkie had to think about it for a second; there was always a chance that she might have forgotten something. But then, it finally hit her.

“Oh yeah,” she exclaimed as a lightbulb turned on in her, “now that I think about it… just yesterday I told the story of ‘Gloom’ to Dinky Hooves; and she was wearing the cutest little necklace!”

“Dinky; you mean Derpy’s Daughter?” questioned Rainbow Dash.

“That’s the one, but she only knows about the story, not my nightmare; she doesn’t know anything about this.”

Twilight felt slightly relieved, “Well that’s good, I don’t want any filly like her to be worried about all of this.”

Twilight used her magic to bring out some paper and her quills onto her table and neatly organized it all, “I’ll check in with the Princess and see what we can do… and to make sure the Elements are safe. If our shared dream does come true, there may be no pony left to save us.”

-----

After the weird afternoon she had, Dinky Hooves was on her way home to calm down and rest. And knowing that her Mother was still at work she knew that she could take easy. As she was approaching her home, Dinky looked down at her necklace again and remembered how that mysterious mare was acting weird towards it. What was it about this necklace that made her so nervous, she wondered.

She opened the door and walked inside spouting a big yawn; but then suddenly her spirit sprouted back up when she saw a certain mare laying on the couch waiting for her. Her eyes went wide and a big smile came onto her face.

“M… Mommy!”

She quickly rushed over to her mother and dived right on top of her hugging her tight. Derpy smiled proudly hugging her back, “Hiya, Dinky; it’s nice to see you too.”

“What happened;” asked Dinky excitedly, “I thought that you had to work longer today?!”

Derpy smiled awkwardly, “Yeah, well… it turned out that the incident that happened at work that got me in trouble wasn’t even my fault after all; so they let me off a half hour after I was found to be innocent.”

“Wow, an accident at work and it wasn’t even your fault?” said Dinky, “Wow, that’s good Mommy!”

Derpy was quite curious of how the early afternoon had treated her daughter, “So what’s going on with my little muffin today?”

“O-oh… nothing much,” Dinky replied nervously, “just… enjoying my day; but now its better since you’re here.”

“And I see that you’re still wearing your little trinket; you really like it, don’t ya?”

“Yeah,” Dinky sighed, “I guess I do.”

Derpy was quite happy to see her daughter still happy and feeling well; she never wanted to see any of that go away.

“So, since I’m off now as usual and you’re here, you wanna do something?”

Dinky suddenly answered with a giant yawn that startled Derpy a bit, “Whoa, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you were a bit sleepy.”

“Mmm-hmm,” said Dinky softly while wiping her eyes, “My afternoon did tire me out a little; can I just rest here with you, Mommy?”

Derpy pulled Dinky closer against her and covered her with one of her wings and said, “Well, if it makes you happy; I guess I’m a little exhausted myself.”

Dinky felt very safe around her mother ever since that certain time that frightened her most; but that was behind her now, and now all she wanted to do was be with her. Even if her necklace didn’t fully make her feel happy and safe, her mother sure did.

-----

Deep inside the dark seclusions of the Everfree Forest, the mysterious mare was laying and resting in a small clearing and none of the nearby creatures dared to get close to her. Her goal and true intentions were still the same, but she couldn’t help but ponder over Dinky, the young filly she came across earlier that day.

“Who was that filly,” she said out loud to herself, “and what was all that ‘friends’ nonsense? She wasn’t even afraid of my presence; doesn’t she realize who I am? She sure did show a lot of courage though, and she was being very brave and she had such strong determination. And what was she doing with that… trinket.”

The mare’s crow friend suddenly flew down on her shoulder feeling concerned about her worrying over such a thought. It called at her a couple of times to get her attention.

‘Caw’ Caw’

The mare looked up at the crow and a small, seldom smile came upon her face as she gave the crow a light pat on its head, “I’m sorry, you’re right, girl; I shouldn’t worry over such pointless distractions. What’s important now is that I finally fulfill my true purpose.”

The mare could feel her dark power burning deep within her soul and she used her hatred for all things joyful and happy and used it to surge herself with more strength. A dark creepy, smirk came onto the mare’s face as she stared at her crow friend again.

“Just you wait; soon all of the joy and laughter in the world will cease to exist. All ponies will learn to respect me out of sorrow and fear; and those who dare to defy me… their blood will flow… just like Mother and Father.”

Author's Note:

Took a little while on that chapter; so what is your thought on this story so far. Is it good, is it bad?
Do you like the setup of the plot, and what is your thought of the OC villian?

Comments

[TwilightFreakingSparkle]

Idk, it might just be me, but I think youve been using "Trinket" a lot.

Anyway, good work so far! Can't wait for the next chapter.

[SCP Pinkamena]

The Tower of Dr. Zalost.
Zalost means mourning in another country