"I fear nothing... I hope...for nothing."
-Kratos, God of War 3
"This is bad, isn’t it," Apple Bloom whispered, slowly backing away from the dark alicorn. Laughter was fighting against the dark magic chains that had been wrapped around her body, bucking and snorting as she vainly attempted to escape. "This is really, really bad, right?"
"Uh huh," Pinkie said, wings fluttering in agitation before she fell to the ground, her body shifting into her Pinkimenia form. "Faith... Faith, come on-"
Faith turned, a dark smile ghosting across his face. Any hope that they might be able to reach him was lost at the sight of that smile; it was clear that they were not dealing with the Lord of the Gray at the moment but his former self, the dark alicorn Doubt. "You act so frightened! Do not tell me that you are scared of me." He rolled his eyes in annoyance. "There is nothing to be afraid of... you aren't the ones that robbed me of everything." His eyes ever so slowly slide back to stare down Laughter. "You, on the other hand... oh yes, you have much to fear, sister."
"I... I knew it!" Laughter exclaimed, grinning in triumph. "I knew you were evil!"
"You think this is evil?" Doubt asked calmly. "My dear sister... you think much too small and much too narrow." He suddenly lunged forward, Laughter screaming as he jabbed his horn at her throat. At the very last second he pulled back, leaving the poor mare panting in terror. "No... I am far from evil. Enraged, perhaps, even a bit mad... but not evil." He tapped his chin with his hoof, puzzling things over. "Of course, that doesn't mean you aren't in a world of trouble. I'd wager that if I were evil you'd be in a much better spot... evil might bite and nip... but good stallions, when pushed the anger? Oh, those poor creatures can destroy kingdoms."
"We need to go," Inkie said nervously.
"Where to?" Sue asked. "This is his mind... he is in total control."
"It's... it's ok..." Trixie whispered, forcing herself to swallow up her fear and heartache. She edged towards the group, Doubt not paying the least bit of attention to them (or perhaps he was... it was hard to tell with him). "He's still Faith."
"Don't look like Faith to me," Granny Smith quipped.
Trixie shook her head. "Trust me... Faith is still around but we need to give him some room." Trixie let out a long breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. "I want to try something." She turned to head towards Doubt, only to find Clyde was at her side. "I need to do this alone."
Clyde took a step forward, preventing Trixie from escaping. "Sorry, but I will not let you face him alone." He spoke up before she could argue. "It isn't anything against you... you are as strong as any mare I've met. You just suffered a tragedy and aren't in the greatest of spots, though. Grief makes you act funny... I know. My father died and I ended up plowing our driveway. I 'm not letting you out of my sight, Miss."
"Alight... but follow my lead and keep your mouth shut. It isn't anything against you... but one wrong move and we will be in as much trouble as you think we are in right now." Trixie closed her eyes and focused. "Doubt!"
The black alicorn tilted his head, his eyes softening slightly at the sight of the blue unicorn that was making her way towards him. "Trixie... don't try and talk me out of this."
"I wouldn't dream of it," she said, forcing herself not to shudder at the raw pain and hate that seemed to bubble along Doubt's body. She remembered how Faith had described the dark times, before his rebirth, and found this returned Doubt to be much worse than Faith's description. That was actually a small comfort, as it was strong evidence that her theory on what had happened was right... but it did little to ease the tension she felt coursing through her. "That's why I want you to open your connection to Twilight... so I can get to her."
Doubt cocked an eyebrow. "Don't you want to watch?" Before Trixie could speak Faith continued, suddenly warping to her side. "I know you do... I can feel the desire pouring off of you. it calls to my vengeance like a swallow's song." He moved around her and Trixie shuddered, power filling her form. Clyde stood his ground, trying to remind himself that none of this was truly happening and the curdling sensation he felt in his stomach was merely a trick of his imagination. "Yes... yes, your rage is strong... your hate... all of it... you want to see her suffer... scream and beg and cry and bleed. You want it... need it. Oh, you need it like one needs to breathe-"
"Doubt!" Trixie gasped, Clyde staring at her, startled by the guttural moan that escaped the mare's lips. Trixie panted, though it was hard to tell if it was from pain or absolute pleasure. "Doubt..." Trixie whimpered, eyelids fluttering as her coat darkened and dark magic began to pour out of her horn. "I... I do want it... so bad..." Her cutie mark flashed blood red and her horn for just the briefest of moments became sharper than any blade, the darkest of magics raging through it.
"Then give in, my dear... give in and we can make her pay... then we'll make all the rest pay." Doubt leaned towards Laughter, his right wing sliding along her pink belly, scratching her skin and leaving a thin line of red. "You know you want too..."
"Yesssssssssssssss..." Trixie moaned wantonly, before getting a hold of herself. It was as if a rubber band had snapped; Trixie was herself again, standing next to Clyde, all the wicked magic that had filled her suddenly snuffed out. "But not yet. Twilight... I need to see Twilight."
Doubt's eyes flashed black. "You aren't thinking of hurting her, are you?" Trixie, startled by that sudden line of thought, nearly fell back when Doubt got in her face. "You are mine, Trixie, but so is she. I will not have either of you come to blows."
"No," Clyde said, no longer able to hold his tongue. "She doesn't want to hurt Twilight... none of us do." Clyde steeled himself, hating that he felt the cold rush of fear that now tingled along his spine. "Fa-Doubt... Everypony is trapped in this illusion and Twilight is the key. You can..." he shut his eyes, hating his next words, "...do what you wish to Laughter, but please let us go free Twilight so the rest of the group wakes up." The stallion forced himself to remain committed to his words; he thought of Pinkie and Blinkie and Inkie and imagined what he would feel if they were stolen from him. That helped ease the guilt, if only just a little bit.
Doubt blinked, his anger leaving him for a moment. "Why... why of course." He let out a laugh, shaking his head in good humor. "I am so utterly stupid... consumed by thoughts of what I am about to do," he flashed laughter the briefest of looks, "that I forgot why you were here. I am so very sorry, Clyde." Doubt turned towards the group. "My apologizes for keeping you waiting!" He twisted the other way and with a blast of dark magic opened up a portal. "There... my link to Twilight's mind is still strong. Go and get her and she can bring you back here."
"Come on," Trixie called out to the others, the ponies hurrying towards the portal. "Princess!"
Cadence sadly shook her head, remaining where she stood. "I need to stay... Doubt...er... the female Doubt... she still has my body."
Faith/Doubt pursed his lips. "Doubt and Doubt? That will be confusing... it was already confusing and now it is even more so. I'll just have to kill her next."
Cadence gulped. "I have to stay with Faith, so my soul doesn't get lost when everything goes back to normal."
Sue nodded, not liking it in the slightest by knowing that Cadence was right. "Be safe."
Cadence watched as the rest of the group left, leaving her with the corrupted form of Faith and the trembling Laughter. She watched the dark alicorn slowly circle his sister like a hungry shark, his tongue running along his teeth. "Faith... maybe..."
"Cadence, you have my word that I will bring no harm to those that do not deserve it." Cadence was surprised by the soothing waves of magic that the dark alicorn sent her way. "Now that I know you are here... though how you got here I haven't the foggiest... I swear I will protect you and get you back to your body." His smile fell the moment he looked back at Laughter. "You... you should be worried, however."
"You... you can't hurt me!" Laughter exclaimed. "You can torture me but it won't work." She leaned forward, a mocking grin on her face. "You won't break me...ha...ha...ha!"
Doubt merely smiled and Cadence all at once knew that Laughter would not live to see another sunrise.
"What?" Laughter shouted, fighting against the dark chains that bound her. "Why are you smiling?"
"I am smiling because you are so utterly foolish." Doubt paced in front of her, head held high and shoulders squared. Cadence gave him plenty of space; she knew he wouldn't harm her... he'd given his word, after all... but that didn't mean she wanted to get in his way. "Do you honestly believe that I am going to physically harm a hair on that silly little head of yours? That is simply not my style, darling... if you truly knew me and my ways you would understand that. The fact that you think I would resort to cuts and burns shows me just how little you understand me."
Doubt pressed his face against hers, his warm breath ticking her cheeks. "Oh, you stupid deluded child. You don't understand just how much trouble you are in." Faith pulled back and turns away from her, his sharp tail swaying back and forth right in front of Laughter's nose. "Perhaps, if it had been a minor trespass against me, I would have let you off with some innocent blood-letting. A cut here," his tail flicked out, slashing Laughter's cheek, "a stab there," his wings flexed and one of the mirror shards shot out, driving into Laughter's leg, "simple as that. Of course, I wouldn't have made it that easy on you."
Doubt's horn glowed and Laughter gasped as her wounds healed. He whipped around, dark eyes dancing with amusement as Laughter cringed and tried to fight the chains that restrained her. "Oh, you get it now, don't you? You see what might have been and just how bad it would be to be you if I were in that kind of mood." Doubt cantered back towards her. "We are immortal, dear sister... and if I were so inclined I could torture you until the end of days. I would cut you to ribbons and let you hang on the very edge of death before pulling you back to the land of the living, only to start again.
"But as I said, I will not do that. Now now, don't believe I am going soft. As I said, that would only be for minor issues. You, sister, you... you killed my child." For a moment, just a moment, hot tears gathered in the corners of Doubt's eyes. "My boy... my son. I... I can still feel him lying beside me..."
Cadence, her own eyes misty, moved to comfort Doubt, but the stallion trembled and all signs of sadness and despair were driven from him, leaving him strong and solid once more. He looked at the love goddess from the corner of his eye and Cadence bit her lip, ducking her head and backing away.
"You were right, Laughter... it would have been easier to rip out my heart. And yet you were also wrong... because that is exactly what you did. You ripped out my heart, and with it my compassion and any sense of family love I might have held for you is now gone as well. I killed Loyalty... I gave the command and had his soul torn to shreds by cannon fire. I did it with a heavy hurt and before today I felt grief for the action I had to do. But you... I won't shed a single tear. I am going to do so much worse to you, sister, and I will not even bat an eye."
"I won't break you? Ha... now you are showing why you are named Laughter, because that is a joke. I am going to destroy you. I am going to shatter you and leave you broken and only when you are at your lowest and are begging for death will I give it." Doubt pressed his horn against her forehead. "I learned so much in my 1000 years... bones may break and minds may crumble but the worst, my dear, oh the worst... is when the soul is raked across the coals." His horn flashed and Laughter let out a gasp as Doubt began to pull her mind apart, sifting through it like a child through a sandbox. "Now then... scream for me."
If you haven't figured it out by now, I am not scared by blood and gore. Oh, that means me cringe, sure. But what truly frightens me is tension. To have a moment go on and on, every second making you worry more... and yet the attack does not come and the danger does not present itself... that is the worse. Our own brains understand better than any author what frightens us. I have a VERY active imagination, if you can't tell, and things like Doubt's toying with Laughter truly make my skin crawl. To feel the rage and the cold fury and knowing that it is very much like a violin string growing more taunt, tighter and tighter and never breaking, just growing in intensity-
That... that is terrifying.
You may disagree. if so, go to Youtube and watch a scene of Jason Voorhess slashing a woman up and pretend he is Doubt and the chick is Laughter. But here, in the realm of Doubt/Faith's mind, blood is meaningless... it is the soul that matters and Doubt knows JUST how to torture his big sister.
2365656 how do you torture laughter? by using her very element against her
Hooo boy...this is gonna be interesting. Let's see how he pulls out every little cog in the frame of her mind's workings...
I'm honestly not worried. I have every bit of faith that Trixie, Twilight, and all the others can drag Faith out of his little dark spell.
And Laughter is going to pay dearly.
2365656 I guess that's why most people fear the dark. They fear that something hides in the shadows, waiting to strike the moment their back is turned. If you truly want a mental mind screw, go try Slender: The Arrival. That game will leave you sleeping with the lights on.
I almost feel bad for Laughter. Almost. Though someone is going to finish her off and prevent Faith from falling fully. Then Pinkie will become both the Element and the Abstract of Laughter
Do it faith. Make laughter suffer.
Now I am curious to see what will happen to Laughter now... this is gonna be quite a chapter coming, can't wait
Also, I think it will take the combine efforts of Twilight and Trixie to get him sane again
2365656
Good job, really. This would have to be the only story I've read that plays upon that philosophy of tension. You win an Internet.
Aaaaaand, go to hell, Laughter.
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Oh buck. Laughter, you are majorly and utterly screwed.
You picked the wrong pony to play mind games with...and now...you will pay...with your very existence.
Enjoy your stay in Tartarus, if they will even accept you once Faith/Doubt is finished with you!
MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
- Super-Brony12
P.S. I know what you mean with what you said about tension. There have been too many times where I have read novels, fanfictions, etc. and the suspense is sooooooo killer that it nearly drives me to insanity wanting to know what happens!
I'm not sure there's much value storywise in violently executing someone who has no ability to fight back. I'm kind've hoping sinmeone intervenes in order to stop Faith from crossing the line.
Faith is scaring me.
This...oh, this isn't good...not for Faith...and not for Laughter. Here hoping someone slaps some sense into him fast, before he make a huge mistake. Because, where he's going, it isn't going to be pretty in the end.
...
He's not acting.
...
Buuuuuck.
2365656
My fear is a little more... twisted, I suppose you could say. The victim won't die, but they might as well be dead.
I highly value freedom, it's one of the few things I couldn't live without. So my fear is having one's personality and will forcefully broken. You're alive, but you're no longer yourself. Worse, you're actively enjoying being made to be someone else's thing.
Nothing can scare me as badly as losing who I am and the freedom to choose what I do.
__
On a note unrelated to fears, this song fits this chapter like a glove custom made for Freddy Kruger.
laughing can be fun when it's at someone else's expence.
especially if you despise them
Wow...that was extremely gruesome...in fact I don't think gruesome can describe this chapter.
Tension really does help drive a story and that is more frightening than gore can be at times. So with Faith's threat Laughter is essentially screwed
Oh sweet mother of god D:
2365745 I'm with you on this one.
This story just gets better, and better as time goes on.
Awesome chapter, as always.
Well...when I played Thief, there was this heist with a ghost in an old nursery. The first half of the mission you only heard scary noises and sometimes the voice of a kid calling for you. The second half, where you actually meant Zombies (or whatever they were) and 'shadows' was supposed to be harder. Guess where I nearly chickened out? Exactly, that first part. After like 20 minutes all the little noises got to me and I actually sighed loudly in relief the first time I saw a zombie after that.
So, as you probably can gather, I can understand your reasoning completely. I actually feel bad for Laughter right now but only because I would feel bad for ANYBODY in that situation. I actually was pretty disgusted how she used her powers...although, she did one thing I predicted. The only thing that made sense in her situation: Divide and conquer...
I'm interested in how the whole scenario with Laughter will play out. Laughter herself is pretty fucked but will probably live long enough to see this through to the end. Will her dreamworlds fade with her failing wish to win? (as she would like to die more and more, she can't possibly think she still will win...although, if there was something like a bomb strapped to the real Laughter, big enough to blow up the entire Sweet Apple Acres? After all, we never knew what the queens did ALL the time. We only saw some of the fruits of their labour...
Finally...Who will be the new laughter? Pinkie Pie? I'm not sure on that one, honestly. Did we have an element AND an abstract in the same pony before? Faith and Twilight, Scoots and Dash, Honesty and Applejack and Kindness and Fluttershy. You have a trend here, defender2222, and I don't think you will break it for Pinkie Pie. So, who would be fitting as an abstract for Laughter OR as an element for the same?
I've actually read in a comment that Trixie somewhat fit that picture...although I don't agree with that for several reasons (like for example the drama will be less if all three of them have eternal lifes...), it was a good suggestion.
Even though it would break the interesting tension between the Cutie Mark Crusaders (one a normal filly, one a powered up unicorn and the last even an abstract in the form, of a pegasus), Applebloom would be another candidat for one of the Laughters. She is cheerful, so there would be some reason...
Hmmm...one of Pinkies family? Clyde, Blinkie, Inkie and...however the mother is called would only want the best for Pinkie and they all seem cheerful enough when they are close to each other.
Finally, there would be Spike. I'm not sure how well he would fit (or IF he even is fit for an abstract because of him being a dragon) and even if he fit for such a position, I don't think Laughter would fit him pretty well...maybe Generosity? (although the thought of Rarity and Spike being mind-linked sounds...abusable for any kind of things.)
I hope that Faith can be rehabilitated back to his normal self. Mainly because as we've seen before, him becoming Doubt leads to the trope Power Degeneration. Which means, for those not wanting to risk going to TvTropes, that he is now going to be slowly dying.
"This... Darker Magic. Should be nicely covering your system by now. So, it paralyzes you... and leaves all the other neurological functions perfectly intact. In other words, you can't move... but you feel everything. It does absolutely nothing to blunt the pain... and you're about to experience more of that, than you could ever fucking imagine."
2365909 I actualy hope they fail; or at least only bring him back partialy. It would make the story more interesting in my view
Not tension, but rather anticipation. The brain will get itself so scared, and thinking so fast that all thoughts flow together. Like a log jam in a river. If you're the kind to freeze up that is.
Other people will tear their own mind apart with naught but a hint at an unknown fate. Fear is by far the worst weapon ever wielded by man. Not the most effective, but the worst.
Oh yeah, cool chapter, too. /sidenote
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And that´s why the Conversion Bureau fics are so utterly revulsive.
Changing the subject, if the corrupt form of Faith is Doubt, and Loyalty´s one may be Obedience, which is Laughter´s one? Sadism?
That moment when you realize it's been so long since you last read the story that you don't care what happens to the protagonists and begin to root for the bad guy because you find them more amusing.
It's a shame that Laughter's going. Ah, well. Each side has its losses, I suppose...
You know, this little conflict between Doubt and Laughter reminds me of when Makuta and Karzahni battled in Bionicle. Karzahni gave Makuta a vision of his worst fear come true, one that felt so real Makuta thought it was really happening, causing the master of shadows to scream. When Makuta recovered, a nearby character was so terribly frightened by the look in Makuta's eyes because of how emotionless and cold it was. Following that, Makuta calmly informed Karzahni he had made a mistake. "I don't get nightmares," Makuta said, before striking down Karzahni with a crippling blow. "I give them." He then reached into Karzahni's mind with his own and contemplated all the subtle ways he could attack, but decided that Karzahni had hurt him and had to pay in full. So, he simply tore Karzahni's mind to ribbons, leaving him in a vegetative state. This chapter reminded me of that battle. I liked it.
Oh Laughter do you get it now? All those times you and your family accused Faith of being Doubt when he really wasn't and now you face the very monster you pegged him as. You should be happy Laughter you got your wish. Oh what's that you want to take it back? well too bad there are no take backs now!
I'm sure Doubt will enjoy ripping you apart.
"Laughter, say "AAAAAAAAAH!" will you?"
I know! We will launch her into space and make her watch bad B-grade movies!
this chapter was Meh.... good... but not great.
Great update as it seems that there is still a bit of Faith left within his courrput form. Still, Laughter did take things to far and he's getting what's coming to him 10 x fold.
I wonder how Twilight's going to react to all this when the others meet up with her.
So please do keep up the good work upon such a great tale like this one.
Hmm, for some reason, I'm imagining Doubt as Batman and Laughter as the Joker...and I must say, I prefer Doubt's way of dealing with the murderously insane.
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What? B-grade movies? Of course not. What we'll make her watch instead is the first gen of MLP, teletubbies, and Barney.
Oh, and The Sound of Music, which can be a psychological weapon.
(f)doubt's probably playing G3.5 and worlds biggest tea party in her head
dear god thats horrible
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The Joker was the first thing that came to my head as well. Out of all the abstracts, I think she had the most interesting personality other than Faith. You can practically smell the crazy on her.
'Doubt, why so seri-" *hurk!*
LINK!
Do it is just me or do Loyalty and Laughter just begged to rip them apart, they called Faith a Doubt, called him corrupted and evil, wanted him dead from the start, but in reality they were begging him for death, they were putting middle finger, putting targets all over they bodies and keep saying " kill me, murder me, rip me apart ".
As much as it scare me that Faith made a step back in his character development ( what will make Twilight very very sad ), the abstracts asked for it, Anyway even if Doubt is still on good side, even if he will fight and protect those who are on his side, those who he care about, the fact that he think that no one want him, that his allies hate him, that he could not redeem himself is just sad, because in my opinion he was already liked and respected, many ponies started to see the truth, and laughter made Faith abandon everything he accomplished.
Well, easy way to say
we'reahem, Laughter is bucked. And suddenly I'm not looking forward to the big boss fight/torture. Here comes the mind-rape train.One of the cruelest tings you can do to some individuals is to leave them alive.
My punishment for Laughter would be to leave her alive in a tiny room that has no colors and has no way in or out, it is filled with things that cant see/hear or feel her and they do everything if they do anything in a short repeat cycle. Laughter cant end it, cant change it and she has no powers.
hahhahaa!!
I LIKE THIS GUY MORE DOUBT/FAITH more..........
Haha! Something finally made Doubt angry enough to kill. Laughter should have tried to escape while she still had a chance.
On another note, I wonder what Twilight will think of Faith/Doubt now that he's had a kid with Trixie? I wish she would leave him and hook
up with Celestia & Luna.
That last line, man...that is a wonderful line.
Update?
There's the crazy bastard I know and love!
Doubt/Faith is the most antagonist like protagonist I have read about.