//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: The Lost Laughter // by Pinkie Wannabe //------------------------------// It seemed like another day on the rock farm. All four sisters working hard to harvest the rocks in the field. Though, as much as they work, they all seemed depressed all the time. The four sisters didn't seem to care about their hard, boring work. On the inside, however, they all wished they were far, far away from the farm. Their parents came out of the building. They signaled for them to come inside. It may have been lunchtime or a quick pep talk, but whatever it was, they knew they were wanted. Limestone, Marble, and Pinkie were the first ones to come in. Maud stayed behind. Her sisters and parents looked at her, wondering if she was ever going to follow. Maud saw how they looked at her. "I'll be inside in a moment, " she said, unenthusiastically. The door slammed closed, leaving Maud outside. She sighed. She wanted to do something other than harvest rocks. She wanted to go somewhere, make friends, and try to smile. Yet no matter how hard she tried, she wasn't happy. No one in the family was happy. No one in the family had friends. The Pie Family was probably the loneliest, saddest ponies in Equestria. Just then, Maud heard a boom. "Huh?" She exclaimed as she looked up. An array of colors started coming her way. A strong gust of wind almost knocked her over. "WHOA!" Maud yelled, blocking the wind with her hoof. The wind was so strong it made her mane get all messy. "What was that?!" Maud looked up and saw a beautiful rainbow. Her eyes widened. She locked her eyes onto the colored arch. It was so amazing. She didn't even notice the movement of her mouth until her teeth were exposed. "Whoa... wait, what's my mouth doing?" Maud felt her lips. They were curved upwards. She felt her mouth drop open in shock. "Am I... SMILING?!" Maud exclaimed excitedly. "Oh my gosh. I'M SMILING!!! It feels so good!" But then, Maud's face got serious. "It's too bad that Mom, Dad and the others won't see this. They won't be able to smile..." Maud pouted as those words came out of her mouth. Then she perked up. "WAIT! I have an idea!" Maud rushed to another building on the field and started preparing something. A few minutes later, the rest of the Pie family was outside, doing more work, when they suddenly heard music coming from the other building. "MAUDALINA DAISY PIE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?!" yelled the mother (I forgot her name). All five ponies walked towards the building. They opened the door to see cakes, balloons, party cannons and more. They were all shocked to see it, but the only one who seemed to dislike it was Pinkie. She walked over to a nearby corner and kept a straight face. Maud came out from under a table. "SURPRISE!" she exclaimed. "Do you like it?" The family was silent for a few seconds. Their mouths started to twitch. What was this feeling? They thought. Maud saw their reactions and her big smile turned upside down. "You don't like it do you?" She said sadly. Maud turned around, her head hung low. Suddenly, their mouths started curving up into big, bright smiles. Maud turned around and her eyes lit up. " I knew you'd love it!" They started dancing. Well, except one. "Pinkie!" Maud yelled over to the little pink pony standing in the corner. She was frowning, unlike the rest of her family. Maud walked up to her. "C'mon, Pinkie! Come party!" Pinkie crossed her hooves across her chest, not even looking up at her sister. Maud looked a bit confused. Why isn't she smiling? She thought. I thought she would love a party! "Come join us, Pinkie! It'll make you smile!" Maud curved Pinkie Pie's mouth upward, into a giant forced grin that was way to big for her face. The smile slowly drooped down to a very droopy frown that made the ends of Pinkie's lips hang from her face. She shook her head to make her face go back to normal, which means making her mouth frown normally. "We don't have time for parties, Maud," Pinkie said. " We have work to do, you know." She pointed outside to some stray stones in the rocky field. Maud pouted. "But working all the time is BOR-ING! C'mon! This is way more fun!" Pinkie looked at her family. They looked like weirdos. But they didn't seem to care. She had to admit, they looked like they were having a lot of fun. Pinkie shook her head. She knew work was more important than these silly parties. "There's no room for fun here. This is a rock farm, not Party City. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm actually going to do work." She walked out of the building and slammed the door behind her. Maud was trying so hard to make her sister smile, that she didn't even notice a blinding shine coming from her flank. "Hey, Maud," Limestone came up to her. I'm not usually the type to point this out, BUT LOOK AT YOUR CUTIE MARK!" Maud looked down at her flank. Her cutie mark was a big, sapphire blue balloon. Maud's eyes grew of excitement. "EEEEEEEEEE!!!! I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!!!" She bounced up and down and even rolled into a ball and bounced all over the place. Her sisters were weirded out by the action, but didn't say anything about it. "You know what, I really like your cutie mark! It's pretty cool!" said Limestone. "Mm-hm." Marble agreed. Maud joined the dance with the rest of her family, who were proud of her cutie mark. Pinkie was outside looking at her family through a window. She sighed. "Even with Maud's cutie mark, I can't believe they would chose some silly party over work." muttered Pinkie. She started harvesting some of the rocks around her, not noticing the three rocks that appeared on her flank.