The surroundings were now cold and barren, with jagged stone cliffs and bare trees. A light yet chilly flurry of snow had started to fall from the purple sky.
“The music is getting louder here!” Rainbow Dash was flying above the ground and leading the way. Fluttershy flew not too far behind, and the rest of the ponies trailed on their hooves. (And Spike. Except he didn’t have hooves.)
They eventually spotted the small town of Doom-and-Gloomsville in the distance. Although the town seemed devoid of anything fun, there was undoubtedly the sound of fun.
“Pinkie Pie, we’re coming!” Rainbow rushed to the source of the sound.
But…
“What is the meaning of this!” Chimed a loud, brooding voice. It was mayor Nocturne. “This… music… this… dancing! This laughter! Ugh! I can’t take it! It’s too much FUN. That’s it. To the dungeon! Each and every one of you!”
“Aww…” All the ponies in Pinkie Pie’s parade cowered. All of them, except for one.
One brave little pink pony in the crowd refused to back down.
“No.” She said.
“Excuse me? WHAT did you just say?” Nocturne adjusted her monocle. Aggressively.
“I said. NO.” Pinkie Pie said with conviction. “All thanks to your stupid no-fun laws, these ponies have never experienced joy! Joy is the best thing a pony can live for. And my parade is making them happy! So leave us be, you dull, boring, BUFFOON!”
“How dare!” Nocturne said, her eyes brooding and horn glowing. She used her unicorn magic to make it rain on the parade. Literally.
Then Nocturne used her magic to make everyone in Doom-and-Gloomsville to fall asleep.
She made her horn glow even more and used a magic force to lift Pinkie up and toss her far away. She crashed into a brick wall with a loud thud.
“Ouch…” Pinkie groaned.
“Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie heard a familiar voice in the distance. It was Rainbow Dash! And Twilight, and Applejack, and Fluttershy, and Rarity! (…And Spike!)
“My friends! My good old friends!” Pinkie grew emotional and began crying tears of joy. “You found me! I thought… I thought I’d never see you guys again!”
“Guys, I think this is a bad time to have an emotional moment.” Rainbow Dash said.
Nocturne was using her powerful unicorn magic to summon the nearby monsters in The Outskirts to the town!
“SQUAAAAWK!” The shadowy flying creartures made terrible noises as they circled around the town, looking for prey to suck the joy out of.
“Run!” Rainbow Dash took Pinkie Pie and began to run away.
“No! I can’t run away and just leave all the people in Doom-and-Gloomsville to the monsters!” Pinkie Pie said. “The mayor put them to sleep with their magic!”
Well, then we’re going to have to fight these monsters!” Twilight said.
“HECK YEAH.” Rainbow said. “I’m not scared!”
Applejack gave Rainbow Dash a look.
“Okay. Maybe I am a little. But SO WHAT! We all have to work together!”
Nocturne maniacally laughed in the background as the monsters unleashed chaos. (Regular laughter wasn’t allowed, but maniacal laughter was. There’s a difference.)
Rainbow Dash used her super speed to lure the shadowy monsters in the same spot so they bumped into each other, each impact was hard and caused the monster birds to falter.
“Alright, you take over, Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy, who was used to giving bears massages by using martial arts moves, used her unexpected skills to pull at the birds’ muscles to give them cramps and make them unable to fly.
“Woo! Go Fluttershy!” Rainbow cheered.
Once they were on the ground, Applejack used her lasso to tie the birds up in one spot. Pinkie Pie tickled their feet, which made them ticklish and less harmful.
“Here we go!”
Finally, Twilight and Rarity used their unicorn magic to scare the birds and send them flying back to the darkness where they came from.
“Woo! We did it!” The ponies and Spike cheered.
“Man, I didn’t do anything.” Spike said.
“It’s alright, you’re just a baby dragon after all.” Fluttershy said.
The commotion of the battle woke up everyone in Doom-and-Gloomsville. For the first time, they saw the magic of teamwork in action.
“NO, NO, NO!” Nocturne stamped her hooves on the ground angrily.
“Not so great and powerful now, Nocturne!” Pinkie began to laugh at her.
“NO MORE LAUGHTER… it hurts… it hurts!” Nocturne suddenly started sobbing pathetically. “If I can’t be happy, nobody can!”
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie realized she could give Nocturne some perspective.
“Hey, Nocturne?” She said. “You know, if you just tried to laugh, and smile, and be friendly to others, I think you CAN be happy. Why do you hate fun?”
“Because…” Nocturne unexpectedly showed a vulnerable side. “When I was just a little filly… I didn’t have my cutie mark. And I still don’t! So everyone used to laugh at me. They left me out of all their games! I hated the sound of laughter so much since then. And since they left me out of their games, I made it so nopony was allowed to have fun.”
“Nocturne.” Twilight Sparkle chimed in. “I understand how you feel, I promise. But that isn’t a reason to make it so nobody can have fun! Maybe you should join Pinkie’s parade, and have a party with all of us too! I’m sure once you try, you’ll finally see the wonder of joy.”
“Really?” Nocturne said. “I think I’ll try.”
———
So Nocturne joined the parade, and Pinkie Pie began to sing.
“You put your right hoof in, and take your right hoof out.
You stick your right hoof in, and you shake it all about! You do the pony pokey and you shake it all about! That’s what I’m talking about!”
Nocturne held hooves with everyone as they did the pony pokey one by one.
When it was her turn to do the pony pokey, she suddenly was overcame with a wonderful, tingly feeling… Until she was singing along too!
“You do the pony pokey and you shake it all about! That’s what I’m talking about!”
It was amazing. She had a smile on her face, and was glowing. Nocturne, who was usually a gray pony, was so happy, that she suddenly turned a beautiful lilac hue, which was her true color.
“Nocturne, I am so happy for you!” Pinkie Pie hugged the mayor. Then something magical happened… and Nocturne got her cutie mark.
Her cutie mark was a picture of a smiling face.
“Oh, oh my!” Nocturne said. “All along… my cutie mark… my purpose in life… was to smile and make people happy… I can’t believe this! This has been a wonderful day, the best one of my life!”
All the other ponies (and Spike) smiled.
The next morning, Nocturne gave a speech.
“Because I discovered the joy and magic of a smile, I have decided to walk a new path in life.” Nocturne said. “I am a changed mare, and I feel it is appropriate to change this town as well. From here on, Doom-and-Gloomsville will be called Smilesville! And we’ll have wonderful parades all the time. This is all thanks to Pinkie Pie, who gave us all joy.”
Nocturne gave Pinkie Pie the key to the town, and a hug.
“You are welcome to come back anytime, Pinkie Pie, for the party of your life.” Nocturne said. “We’d love to have you!”
Everyone gave Pinkie Pie a warm, cheerful group hug.
“Do you really have to go now, Pinkie?” Lavender said, sadly.
“Aww.” Pinkie said. “But you’ll be okay now! Your town is filed with joy! And Lavender, you can always come to Ponyville, where I live, anytime too!”
“Um, Pinkie Pie?” Lavender said one more time. She looked deeply into the pink mare’s intense blue eyes, and planted a soft kiss on her cheek.
“Thank you for all you’ve done.” Lavender smiled sweetly.
“Uh-oh! Now Pinkie is turning even pinker!” Rainbow Dash teased, smiling.
“Yep! That kiss filled me with so much joy, I’m pinker than I’ve ever been!”
Pinkie Pie hugged and kissed Lavender back, before smiling coyly at her as they parted.
“Bye, everyone!” The group said as they left back to Ponyville.
“Goodbye, Pinkie!” Lavender said joyfully. “Thank you for everything! I love you!”
———
“Dear Princess Celestia.” Twilight Sparkle wrote when they were back home. “Today I learned all sorts of things. My friend Pinkie Pie learned that just because someone may be a bit mad or annoyed at you, it doesn’t make them hate you, nor does it make you a bad pony. We all should have more patience with one another. People make mistakes, and there’s no use fighting over them. Today, a new friend named Nocturne learned that just because you aren’t happy, doesn’t mean you have to drag everyone else down too. Also, happiness is everywhere if you just look! It’s always better to face the world with a smile. You might just make someone else’s day brighter, or even change their life.
-Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie sure is great, isn’t she?