Screams.
Agonizingly painful screams that would make any pony shiver in horror. The cries of the dying, the damned, the tortured. They were the kind of cries that would make even the blackest of hearts tremble and the strongest wills falter. They spoke of agony and distress and the destruction of not just the body but of the mind and the soul.
All of these rumbled along the mindscape, echoing through the vastness of the empty world. There were only three there to hear them, and it was Cadence alone who shuddered at the sound, backing away from the horrific scene. At that moment, she would have preferred to be locked in her body, watching the original Doubt use her as a puppet. The screams were terrible and horrible…and made all the more horrific by the fact that it wasn't Laughter who was screaming.
The pink alicorn squealed in delight as Doubt threw back his head, raw energy racing through his body and leaving his nerve-endings fried. It would have been funny, the way his skeleton was occasional reviewed like an x-ray and how his mane stood on end, if it weren't for the dying cries he let loose. He trembled and shook like he was having a seizure, unable to pull away as his own magic rebounded on him.
"Stupid baby brother!" Laughter exclaimed, mocking Doubt as he was sent flying, his broken form crumpled in a heap next to Cadence's hooves. "You think I wasn't ready? You think for a moment I would appear to you without backup plans? My backup plans have backup plans! I admired Discord, baby brother, but I am not him: he is chaos without any thought of what happens next; I am Laughter and I am always setting up the joke! My mind is filled with all sorts of traps and failsafes to keeps the likes of you out! It's like a jack-in-the-box, except instead of a Jack it is PAIN!"
Cadence cried out as the pink abstract broken free of the now weakened chains, bouncing on top of her and pulling on her mane until the love goddess was staring the deranged mare in the eye.
"Please... please..."
"You like spreading love, don't you? The pleasure and wonderful feeling that come with it?" Laughter touched her horn to Cadence's and giggled as she sent a jolt of magic into her. "Well, let's have some fun, ok?" She took out a feather and tickled Cadence's side, the princess screaming in agony. Cadence bucked and thrashed as if the feather were a hot poker, crying out for mercy. "I just reversed your pleasure and pain receptors," Laughter said darkly, summoning a knife and jabbing it into Cadence's side. The alicorn of love’s screams died in her throat, a smile forming on her lips as she cooed, pressing her hooves against the bleeding wound. Her eyes rolling back in her head as she coaxed the bleeding gash open wider and wider. Laughter could tell that Cadence was trying to fight the twisted pleasure she was getting but was simply not strong enough. "What a way to die..." Laughter teased, watching as Cadence began to stab herself over and over, screaming now in unadulterated bliss.
She then trotted over to Doubt, who was still twitched as his brain was fried. "BZZZZ!" Laughter mocked, shaking like she had also been electrocuted. "BZZZZ BZZZZ!" She kicked her braindead brother before turning to her right, a portal opening up for her. "Don't worry... I'll tell your corrupted little friend Twilight... hello."
~Days Later....~
Laughter rolled about the charred remains of Sweet Apple Acres, giggling in delight. "Come on now, Applejack, you have to think this is funny! Give us a chuckle!"
The farmer didn't say a word, mostly because she couldn't It wasn't even correct to call her 'Applejack' anymore, since everything that made her her had been torn away. Laughter had converted the poor mare into a machine, merging AJ with the Flim Flam Brother's Cider Squeezer. Her metallic face stared out blankly as she worked, the spark of intelligence having been ripped away from her, making her only able to follow her new mistress' orders. She didn't even see Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, each aged till they were more like corpses than living, their bodies infected with the cutie pox. All she did was keep moving along, sucking up trees and making cider for Laughter.
She was a great contrast to Big Macintosh, who now had to keep talking or else his heart would stop. Every once and a while his eyes would droop before he would hurriedly begin speaking about anything he could think of. Laughter watched him and knew he would be day within a day… she hadn’t decided if she would alter his curse to prolong the fun.
The pink abstract glanced lazily at Rainbow Dash, the mare silently screaming at her. Every time the speedster tried to move towards the abstract or her friends, she suddenly found herself speeding up, her body moving so quickly it was intangible.
"Why is she so upset? She is always on the go!" Laughter asked the hoof puppet she wielded... which looked exactly like Pinkie. "Yeah, I don't get it either. Twilight, make a note of it!"
"Of course... have to record it, Princess Celestia!" Twilight said, fumbling for her quills. The purple alicorn would have had an easier time taking down 'Celestia's' notes if she still possed her eyes... but in their place were merely empty dark sockets. “Spike, we need to take a letter!” She reached over, bumping the frozen baby dragon, not realizing that he was unable to move and could only watch on, not even able to scream as he stared at the bloody face of his friend.
"Good girl," Laughter said with a smirk, reaching over for her chocolate milk. Discord had been so smart to come up with that-
Laughter frowned, her giggles subsiding. Her legs weren’t moving properly. She tugged, pursing her lips... it was almost like she was back in her-
"What?!?" Laughter screamed, seeing the dark chains that held her fast.
"Hello again, big sister," Doubt said, leaning in from behind. Laughter turned, but in the split second it took for her to meet her brother's eyes, the world had shifted and she suddenly found herself back in his mindscape. Twilight, Applejack and all the rest were gone. "Do you get the joke?"
"How... how?!? I killed you!"
"Did you?" Doubt said. "Is that what you saw this time?" At her confused look, Doubt laughed. "I keep forgetting that your memory gets wiped each time we do this." He sighed happily. "This is the 20th time you've snapped out of a dream, dear sister. The last one involved pirates, apparently." Laughter's mouth went dry and her heart plummeted. "Do you understand now?" The pink abstract turned, eyes wide as she stared at her brother. His color had returned to its normal silver shine, his wings restored and his magic once more a perfect blend of light and dark. The only thing that even came close to connecting him with his fallen form were his eyes; the same mix of sadness and rage that had filled Doubt's pupils now swam through Faith's. "Do you understand big sister?"
"A joke," Laughter whispered, swallowing. "It's all a joke. None of that happened..." her brow furrowed. "And is this really happening?" Faith merely smiled and his sister shut her eyes. “Is this a dream too? No… yes… you would…or…” She looked at him and Faith smiled at the fear her saw in those orbs. "That's the punchline, isn't it?"
"It is why the chicken crossed the road and why fireponies where suspenders." Faith dissolved his sister's chains and the mare fell to the ground in a heap. She didn’t bother to get up… there was no point. "You stole a thousand lifetimes from me, Laughter... so now I will steal a thousand from you. You'll never know when the dream has ended and when it is beginning again. Maybe all of it is real and I am merely warping you back, to live in an eternal loop.” Laughter shuddered and Faith let out a dry, half-hearted chuckle. "Yes, for somepony that thrives on originality and spontaneity, that would be hell, wouldn't it? To live the same life over and over? Buck up... maybe these are all just a series of dreams and you are doomed to forever live through one nightmare only to awaken in another."
"Doubt..."
Faith' scowled. "Yes... that too. Doubt or Faith? I suppose you can't believe anything when it comes to me either, as I have shown." He leaned in close, nuzzling her. "I forgive you for not understanding, big sister... I made the same mistake until Twilight and her friends showed me the truth: I am Faith and I am Doubt... or, Doubt is my past, something I will never be able to purge myself of."
He pulled back and the pink alicorn stared at him with red eyes. "How... how long?"
"Forever," Faith said sadly. "I'll torture you forever, Laughter. Of course, for us time is very subjective... a lifetime in a second and a second stretching on till Judgment Day." Faith turned and began to trot away. "And don't worry... if I am anything I am creative... you'll never be bored. How does the old curse go? "May you live in interesting times"?”
"There... there must be something!" Laughter screamed in a panic, giving chase. "Something I can do-"
"What can you do?" Faith asked blandly, his body fading away till only his eyes and teeth remained. They floated around Laughter, taunting her, his leering smile darting away from her. "You've gone down the rabbit hole, sister, and now up is down and down is sideways. I might be just another illusion Doubt is casting... that's the punchline, remember? You can never know for sure."
Laughter trembled. "Brother... brother I'm sorry!"
"No you aren't." Laughter whipped around as hundreds of statues popped up around her, each one shaped just like the dream foal she had forced him to have and lose. "Well, you are, but for the wrong reasons. You are sorry that you were caught and sorry you suffer... you aren't sorry for what you took from me... what you stole from Trixie... what you've done to Twilight and the rest of our friends. None of that you are sorry for. You aren’t sorry for killing my son!” Each statue exploded and the world trembled around Laughter. “You betrayed everything, Laughter, on the word of the real Doubt. And now...well... you must pay the price, much as I was forced to for my perceived 'crime'. Don’t worry… I’ll be as merciful to you as you were to me…"
Laughter looked about as the world began to shift, turning now into Celestia's throneroom. She panted, tears in her eyes as she began to wonder if she had merely dreamed up her brother being there or if this was now the illusion.
"Wait!" Laughter screamed. "There... there has to be something... there has to be..." She stammers and stumbled and racked her brain…
And then she smiled.
"Yes... yes there is a way... yes brother... one thing I know is real... that I can still control." Laughter shut her eyes and sighed. "If I am to dream forever, then I choose to go to that final sleep... dreamless and peaceful." Laughter felt her body twist and turn and the pink alicorn laid down, shutting her eyes. "I choose the path you almost took… I hope it will be enough to satisfy you.” The smiled even as she began to dissolve. “Say goodnight, Faith."
~MC~MC~MC~
"Goodnight, Faith," the silver alicorn said softly, tears in his eyes.
"Faith?" Clyde called out, confused. He and his family, along with Apple Bloom, Granny Smith and Cadence, had watched as Laughter taunted Faith and Trixie over the loss of their dream foal. Pinkie had been prepared to give Laughter a 'talkin' to!' when Faith had suddenly broken out of his depression and leapt up and pressed his horn to hers. The pony that had been wearing Pinkie's form had twitched then gone still, both her and Faith's eyes going black.
For six minutes Faith and his sister had stood there, unmoving. Trixie had snapped out of her despair and rushed towards them, only for Cadence to hold the blue mare back, fearing what would happen if she interfered. The others had shifted and twitched and licked their lips as they nervously watched the strange staring contest, wondering what was happening.
And then, as suddenly as it had began, Faith had spoken.
"Faith?" Cadence whispered, only to let out a gasp when Laughter's body turned to dust, the pink abstract letting out a peaceful sigh before she was blown to the winds.
The silver alicorn shut his eyes, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Find Loyalty on the other side, sister... and be happy." He turned to the others. "It's time."
"Time?" Sue asked.
Faith nodded. "Yes." His horn glowed and with a blast of light all but Cadence and himself were gone. "Time to go home.”
~MC~MC~MC~
Apple Bloom groaned, rubbing her head. "What... aw man!" She leapt up and inspected her little legs in annoyance. "I'm a filly again!"
Sue and Clyde looked over at each other, seeing that the gray hair and wrinkles had returned. And they smiled, for while it had been nice to be young again, they had earned every crease. It was a badge of honor, showing they had lived long, full lives.
"Yeah," Pinkie said, bouncing up and down. "Though, when he is feeling more up to it, Faith could always make you an alicorn."
"Really?!?" Apple Bloom squealed.
Granny shook her head. "Not till her chores are done, ya hear me?"
The filly looked at the old mare and pouted. "Granny, that isn't fair!"
“Don’t you be arguin’ with Granny,” Applejack said, slowly standing up. “You need-OOMPF!”
“You’re ok!” Apple Bloom exclaimed, hugging her sister. “You all are!”
The rest of the group nodded, shaking themselves as they rose from the ground. “What happened?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Laughter… Laughter happened.” Honesty turned to his left, his wings falling. “Faith… oh no…”
“Faith?” Twilight whispered taking a step forward towards the stallion. The lord of the gray turned and the others gasped at the sight of him.
He was covered in blood.
“Two…” Faith whispered. “I think two is quite enough.”
Before any of them could answer a blast of silver exploded where Faith had stood, his own variation on the Sonic Rainboom bathing the world in light and dark. They all blinked and rubbed the spots from their eyes, looking to the sky just in time to catch a glimpse of the alicorn’s trail leading North.
“If we shadows have offended, think but this; and all is mended that you have but slumbered here while these visions did appear and this weak and idle theme no more yielding but a dream.”
-Puck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
And so ends the Laughter arc.
This arc was all about not believing what you saw. All the twists and turns are designed for not just the characters but the audience to question what they are seeing and what they thought they held true. Because it took place in the mind I was able to play with dreams and thoughts and memory.
I am sure there will be questions, so if enough people are confused about what happened I will post in the next chapter what exactly happened. I will say that anything outside the dream world (like Kindness/Fluttershy's story) DID 100% happen.
Up next the gang will deal with the fallout of this chapter. A new abstract of laughter will arrive, the damage done by Laughter will be discussed, and the characters will get a chance to breath...
...because, ladies and gentlemen... we enter the final act...
So it's time for Pinkie's ascension.
That was a hell of a trippy arc, and I loved it!
-Mis
The final act! About time! I cannot wait to see Doubt get squashed!
and that was confusing.
So it was a dream.
How to have torture somepony mentally by Faith 'Haytham Kenway' the abstract.
Pinkie's going to be the new Abstract of Laughter right? I mean... really, there's nobody who embodies it more than her. Plus, they need some amount of parallelism, seeing as Twilight, Rainbow and AJ are all Alicorns still.
2398340
Is there gonna be a sequel story?
2398478
Possibly. I have a sequel in mind (right now titled "The Should-Have-Been King") but I do have other things I want to do.
Final Act? Huh. I figured this was going to be longer. Not complaining.
2398478
I don't speak for him, but if it were me I would like to move onto something else.
2398529
Correct... not to say i won't do drama... right now I have a story in mind that would show Luna's fall and the rise of Nightmare Moon that would be written in the style of true crime/historical fiction like 'Killing Lincoln'
Well, I got to hand it to you, this arc is a 'Wonderland' masterpiece. Seriously, it fits so much to the style of a corrupted Laughter. Kinda sad that Laughter just couldn't get it in the end, but like the theme of this arc was about, she was just too deep in the 'rabbit hole' to really get it. Of course, I have to say that I feel sorry for poor Faith vastly more than anyone else, for what he had to go through. As for the new Element of Laughter, I have to agree with the others that Pinkie Pie would so be the one to embodied it.
Anyway, great job with this chapter and this arc!
C&Cs:
The farmer didn't say a word, mostly because she couldn't
> Need an ending mark.
"It is why the chicken crossed the road and why fireponies where suspenders."
> Replace ‘where’ with ‘wear’.
good god, I just thought of something (no surprise there) played deadspace, found this story updated and while reading through it I thought 'hmm, would the marker screw over laughters attempts at getting into his head? or would it make it that much easier?' I chose it would screw over her attempts, since it spreads destruction and convergence ( a variation of forced harmony), while laughter wants smiles and happiness. I dunno, but it seems more likely that laughter couldn't get inside his head even if she tried, and if she could then... well... lets just say the results would be spectacularly gory for her, like this:
Day I suggest that day shouldn't be day?
... That was weak. I had a better one, but then it day away.
Really? No one's going to do it? Fine I'll do it.
2398389 Because of all the curve balls this fic already is throwing us, I have come to expect anyone other than Pinkie. It's the first one to express Laughter after all, not the most suitable. Might as well give the abstract-y ness to Applebloom.
huh, well...
there's going to be a shortage of therapists and cigarettes in Equestria when this is all said and done.
So, Laughter took the cowardly way out and killed herself. These Abstracts don't have a shred of honour in them, it would seem. Well, the bad ones at least.
Well, this chapter was really, really dark.
It creeped me out the type of cruelty the abstracts can perform.
Good I slept before read it.
I do wonder if you have plans for Applebloom to "grow up" within this tale of yours.
Nice update and great ending to the madness of Laughter. So all that's left is to save Rarity,right ?
I cannot wait to see the aftermath of this intense mental battle. I can almost see the shrinks having a field day with this one. So please do keep up the good work upon such a great tale.
Wow...last chapter I wrote this long comment about how excited I am in how Laughter will end...
...well, you met my expectations at least. I'm not blown away, but analyzing this chapter will probably be quite interesting.
First of all, Faith's torture. There IS the possibility that he didn't even torture Laughter at all - after all, the whole thing played out in his mind. He COULD have tricked them all, including Laughter with his pretty good performance of a father who lost his child and gave into rage. However I don't believe that really.
I'm pretty sure he was enraged and angry and wanted revenge for the worst crime he could imagine - possibly the worst an immortal abstract like him can feel.
This quote was impressive...but taking the six minutes into account, that would be 360 lifetimes and Jugdement days for Laughter. And he only tortured her 20 times? Really? After all, followed by the 'interesting curse' from the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett...the amount of hurt and pain you can inflict in one lifetime (even in one week) is astronomical. I wish the rebels had someone like Rincewind - I would say the doctor would be a shoe-in for that role but he WANTS to go on adventures.
But still, after this supposed 20th torture he freaks the panicked and apathetic sounding Laughter so much out that she decides to kill herself. Did he really torture her twenty times or did he just make her believe that? After all, the both of them were in a mindlink within Fatihs mind. And both Doubt and Faith have shown that they are master manipulators, sewing one feeling or another in his enemies goading them into attacks when unnecessary or letting them back off in fear when it would have been wise to attack.
Secondly...Laughter died - or at least her mind she did. So is there a drooling, brainless hull of Pinkie Pie's element in the real world now? Is she gone completely?
This also raises the point as to who the next laughter will be...hmmm...I have an interesting idea: What about 'Derpy' Hooves? She always is cheerful (as long as her child isn't forcibly taken away) and likes to smile all the time. She always tries to see the positive side of things too!
Other than that...I nominate Flam for the element of Laughter - just for the lulz.
The last interesting part for me was the ending. Not the Rainboom-part, I guess with enough power any if not all pegasi (and alicorns) can do that...no, what hits me is the implication of Faith's last words of the chapter.
Has he lost his will to live? Assuming I interpret that line correctly. He lost his unborn child, two siblings and was basically broken more than once. (I consider the actions from Twilight and Trixie with the whole Loyalty shenanigans pretty much one of these two...then there is Celestias ruse, Lunas revenge, countless unnamed ponies (and I think Clover the Clever as one named one) hurting him more and more over the time...and now the loss of a foal)
It would be sad to see him go, he is literally the soul of the rebels...how would they fare without him? Even if he lost his will to fight, nothing good could come from this.
And finally, since we are nearing the end of the story: What will happen to the Elements if all is done? Will they fade away? Live with the new ponies? What of the 'new abstracts'? How will the general opinion of other ponies of them after this whole thing? Sounds like a pretty rough ending, considering the hell the five queens had raised...
2399274
The sad thing is - this is the work of a human mind. As terrible as it sounds, if humankind could, we would do this and worse to each other...
2399042
I know that the author is trying to mix things up with each of them, but now that Laughter's dead Pinkie now longer has the chance to merge with her. If she doesn't become the abstract of laughter then she'll be the only one of the mane 6 who didn't become an alicorn, which would be odd.
2399784
I'm pretty sure that the abstracts are going to start living normal lives from this point onward. Honesty expressed a desire to live a normal life, and Scootaloo still has friends and family she would want to spend time with. Pinkie, if she does become the abstract, would want to continue throwing parties and baking, and who knows what the fate of kindness and generosity will end up being.
Laughter's DED!...
I find it odd that I still like Laughter more than the other characters.
That was a good punchline, though. A punchline to cause insanity.
2399173
You're being silly. Don't spout such nonsense.
Do you see now Generosity and Kindness? Do you see why you were all wrong? You tried to tell ponies how to live their lives and in doing so you became puppet masters like Discord only worse. Equestria was and always will be better off under Celestia and Luna for the two of them know what ponies want.
Of course I doubt either of you are going to accept that fact. No you're going to keep denying you have a problem and claim that everyone else does. Alas when you fail to admit you have a problem you never find out why you continue to fail.
2399932
I think I love you. marry me you magnificent bastard
here's a oddly fitting song
2400123
ill have to get a sex change then....unless you don't mind me being male and ill be the "wife" of the relationship
2400133
yaaaaay
you don't turn your back on family....even if they do.
We cast away priceless time in dreams, born of imagination, fed upon illusion, and put to death by reality.
besides, Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
This was an awesome chapter.
wear
Yikes...that was quite a trip.
2399271
Faith didn´t leave her any more options besides Hell Inception.
This said, he was even merciful allowing her to die, considering what she was about to do given the chance. The scene in Sweet Apple Acres was, literally, nightmare fuel.
If only Batman had done the same to the Joker...
2399932
Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
t.qkme.me/3rn1yu.jpg
So confused by this chapter, this arc in generally really.
2400133 Can I do the ceremony? PLEEEEEASE????
I liked the whole switched pain/pleasure receptors and Cadance killing herself. That was creepy as heck. Other than that though, I think I got lost in what was going on so try to explain that next chapter.
God I love this fic. You really had me going there, with Faith pretending to be Doubt. I also know what he means by "two is enough", if it isn't obvious already. He's already killed two of his siblings, and doesn't want to kill Kindness or Generosity. Also, what was Honesty's dreamland about?
Also, what are you thinking of doing for the last act? I hope there's a last battle with Generosity and having Kindness and Fluttershy join their side. Can't wait for the threequel!
When this is all over... will all the Abstracts go back to being spirits again? Will we say goodbye to Scootaloo?
iambrony.jsmart.web.id/mlp/gif/176974__UNOPT__animated.gif
I agree with Faith, killing one family member would be hard, two would be torture, past that I'm pretty sure I would kill myself. Two is more than enough.
2401908
Not if Rainbow Dash has anything to say about it. :rainbowdetermined:
2401908
No. Once an abstract takes physical form it is near impossible for them to go back... not because they CAN'T but because they don't WANT TO.
2403274
Oh that's good news
Dead within a day.
Otherwise, this is really good so far. Covered in blood?
Awaiting the new Laughter as well as the complications for everyone else. You still have, what, two more Elements to free. I have a feeling that they won't go down easy.
No matter how many times I read it, or how much you explain, I'll never know.
I find this joke to be both amusing and depressing. The whole "meaning of life" spiel comes to mind. Ugh, this is too heavy for late at night...
Edit: Starting to feel like "Life: The story (Pony edition)" it resonates with existentialism so much. Brain....
The only thing I'm having issues following, is Pinkie an alicorn too? I mean laughter had 100% control of her physical form, keeping her tied up in the dreamscape. I'm just trying to recall all the transformations we got in total. (Twilight = alicorn, RD = alicorn, AJ = alicorn, Scoots = grown up + cutie mark -> metallic loyalty, Sweetie = grown up) and I didn't really piece together where that one went, if it did.
The dream -> dream sequences kind of lost me
2406735
No, Pinkie is not an alicorn. Laughter never had control of her or her body.
2406831
okay, noted, I thought that was part of the dream as well. Apparently not!
2399784
I never did respond to your comment. The line about 'a lifetime in a second and a second stretching till judgement day' refers to something I mentioned earlier: abstracts view time differently from ponies. It is both quicker and slower for them, depending on their mood. They can think in their heads for ages when only a second goes by in the real world, and then the next instant live a hundred years in the blink of an eye.