//------------------------------// // Laughter lost // Story: Equestria's Mirage // by Alchemystudent //------------------------------// Ch 5: Laughter lost         Rainbow Dash continued to hug her two friends tightly, almost afraid of relieving the nightmare of being  alone, “Guys, I had a very horrible dream...not that it caused me to cry or anything like that,” Dash chuckled as she let go of her friends, only now to see the void that she was in, “Woah! Where the heck are we?” Dash then turned to  look at Trixie, who was standing there panting a little, “What is SHE DOING HERE?!” Her target in her sights she began to fly off towards the blue mare.         Reacting swiftly, Applejack grabbed Rainbow’s tail with her teeth, “Now hold on there!”                  “Oof!” Dash turned to Applejack, “Why is it always the tail?”         “Look Rainbow, I don't like workin with that showmare anymore than you do, but she is helping us save the others.”                  “Save us? From who?”                  Twilight stepped next to Rainbow Dash, using her magic to move some of the rocks to form a new path for them, “An embodiment of evil known as Mirage. She trapped us all here and wants to break us, and right now Trixie is the only one with the spells to get us to the other’s heads.” Twilight said as she focused her magic.         “So the short story is, we’re stuck with her,” Dash looked at trixie, who was finally getting to compose herself, “Fine. But that doesn't mean I am going to like it.”         “The feeling is mutual, miss hardhead,” Trixie said as she walked behind Twilight as the latter finished her tracking spell and began to walk, “ If Trixie wasn’t personally chosen to complete this mission and save all of your flanks, then she would’ve been already at Mirage’s taking her out. Now, if you’ll excuse Trixie, she has some important work to do. Unlike you, Trixie has some real talents and use to this mission.”         “What was that?” Dash growled at Trixie, looking at her with a deathly glare.         “Trixie said, that she has some use to this mission. As opposed to you, who has only speed and a tendency to put herself in a deadly situation with wanton abandon. Like a hardhead.”         “OK, THATS IT SHE IS,” A magical barrier pops up between the two.         “Alright you two, don't make me turn this group around. Now, I know that Trixie has done some bad things to all of us, but right now we need to...”                 Mirage sat on her throne, one hand on her knee as she watched the scene before her, “ Ohhh, this is just too perfect! Your new companion, the one most important to save the lives of your three remaining, is untrusted and hated by your true friends. The only thing that keeping you from tearing each others throats out...is you. Now, what happens when I take that from you?”         The rocks began to shake and rumble as they began to separate from the road that Twilight made with them, “GIRLS!!!!!”         Applejack braced herself as the rock that she, Trixie, and Rainbow Dash were on began to move, “Everypony hold onto somthin!!!”         Rainbow Dash flew up into the  sky as the ground began to shake, and watched as the rock began to move. She looked back to Twilight and then to Applejack and then back to Twilight who nodded in agreement. Dash growled in frustration in not being able to help both friends and flew off after Applejack and Trixie.         Dash flew after the rock until the one that Twilight was one was nothing more than a tiny dot in the distance. The rock flew through the dark void like a rocket, which for Dash was ridiculously slow. In a few seconds, she was able to catch up with it and land on it. When she reached it, it had stopped automatically and miles away from Twilight, “Oh GREAT JUST GREAT,” Dash began to walk around on the stone grumbling out loud, “Here we are, seperated from our friends, STUCK in some Celestia-forbidden hole, and with a useless unicorn to boot!”         “Are you inferring that TRIXIE, is useless,” Trixie turned to glare at Rainbow Dash.         “Yeah, I am.”         “Big talk coming from the pegasus whose flank that Trixiee thoroughly trounced once.”         Applejack got ready to step in between the two and get them to stop, when she noticed how they were arguing. Smiling, she took a step back and decided to watch the fun.         “Hey! You only beat me because you used the clouds and some illusion magic to make me look like a fool. If it was a race, then you would have lost-BIG TIME!”         Trixie blew on her hoof, “No, Trixie would have found the appropriate spell or illusion to win the match,” with a glow of her horn, Trixie made an illusion of herself, “a spell, like this.”         “Oh, big whoop a spell. Like that can compare to this,” Turning around, Rainbow flew around the rock at a high speed, creating a duplicate of herself, “See? Easy. I would be done before you could even cast that stupid spell.”         “Your turn Trixie, how ya gonna one up her there,” Applejack asked, watching this with a smile.         “Simple, to demonstrate how Trixie would have beaten the Suicidal Rainbow, she will point out that she could get us to Twilight just as fast as Dash could with but a simple use of telekinesis.”         “Oh please, by the time you finish, Twilight could be miles away. Just tie some rope around me and BOOM, we’ll be there in no time.”         “That is impossible,” With a smug look of superiority on her face, Trixie walked to the side of Dash, “First, this rock is heavy, and unless Trixie used some of her magic, Which I need to conserve, I am running out, you could never move this. Second, you have no idea where Sparkle is.         Dash growled, “First, I have a plan. You conjure up some rope, AJ makes it into a lasso. I’ll then about,” Dash looked into the distance, “88 miles and then fly back at my highest speed. When I get to here, AJ will throw her lasso around me and I’ll pull everypony to where we need to go. Second...and I suppose you know where she is?”         “Yes, Trixie does. You see, when Trixie had first met her greatest rival-”         “Shouldn't that mean she know who you are and see you as powerful as she is,” AJ snarked.         “Silence! The point being, Trixie had put a tracking spell onto Sparkle, one that will cause her horn to brighten when she gets closer.”         Dash looked straight into Trixie’s eyes, “Fine, how about this. We’ll try it my way first, then in 10 minutes, if we are nowhere near Twilight, then we’ll go your way. Deal?”         “What does Trixie get if she wins?”                  “If your way is faster, then I’ll wear a sexy magician’s assistant outfit and perform at one of your shows.”         “Hmmm, well, your flank would look good in a black outfit. If your way is faster, than...Trixie will play on stage live for a bunch of ungrateful foals at the Ponyville day care center.”         “Deal, should warn ya though,” Dash said as she took off into the sky, “Those little tykes can bite.”         As Trixie and Applejack watched Rainbow Dash fly off into the distance, Trixie concentrated to craft a rope out of the ether. She then levitated the rope over to Applejack and nodded to a nearby outcropping. Walking over to the hanging ledge, she tied one end of the rope to the ledge and then made a lasso of the other end, Are you sure you can lasso her when she hits top speed and flies over here?” “Trixie, Ah was able to lasso a stampede bull moving at high speed and hog tie it. This’ll be easy,” Applejack smirked as she saw a blue dot coming in, “And besides, I am going to trust her.” “Trust her for what?” “To catch it,” and with that, Applejack twirled the lasso above head and threw the lasso to the blue blur passing over head, and with a smile remarked, “ Hold on to something.” If anypony was nearby, they would hear the sound of two ponies screaming their heads off as they flew at speeds normally reserved for a falcon skydiving its prey. As they flew through the endless void, they watched as Dash bobbed and weaved through the rock obstacle  course, never hitting one. At one point, Trixie noticed that Dash grunted a little, as though she was beginning to tire. Concentrating, Trixie made her horn glow a light blue to lighten the load of the rock as trail continued at its high pace. Looking over her shoulder, Dash watched as Trixie’s horn began to glow brighter and brighter. A smile creeped across her face as she kicked up her pace, catching a purple blob in the distance, “Twilight catch us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Turning her head up to see Dash’s dot, Twilight’s opened in shock and glee. Then she heard Dash’s yell and began to look around for something to slow them down a little. Seeing nothing that would equal a squishy death for her blue friend, she moved onto plan B. Concentrating with all of her might, Twilight began to erect a series of nets that would act as cushions to help slow Rainbow Dash down. She watched in hope and prayer that the nets would do their jobs and hold before breaking. Luckily for her, they did as they slowed Dash’s momentum to a slower and slower pace; which allowed for her to relax and calm down. Painting, Rainbow Dash landed onto the rock and stood next to Twilight, “Thanks.” Trixie, a look of smugness still on her face, “ So your way won this time. But I can guarantee you, I will win next time.” Dash shrugged and looked at Trixie in the eyes, “Pshhh, whatever. I don't care what happens, I’ll win every time when it comes to speed, no matter what the challenge.” As Trixie and Rainbow Dash began a huge argument and one upmanship, Applejack walked to Twilight and whispered, “ I think they are becoming very close friends now.” Twilight giggled at the remark, agreeing with her and then turned to look ahead, “ITs a good thing you guys got here when you did, I was just about to find Pinkie.” “Wait, you did not wait for us or search, you went ahead?” Trixie asked following Twilight. “Well, I knew that my friends would be doing their best to find me, so while I waited for everypony I went and looked for Pinkie. I figured wherever she was, you guys would be.” “But, we didn't have the spell to find the others.” “Rainbow dash is fast, so searching in a wide area is no big deal. Applejack has good common sense so she could track. And you could form rock paths like I could, so you just needed a way to get from there to here,” Twilight said as they walked to the egg shell chamber containing Pinkie Pie. They watched as she shivered and whimpered in her casing, noting that it looked like she was pleading, “What do you think she is dreaming about?” Twilight shook her head as she put her horn onto the shell, “I don't know and I am afraid to find out.” Twilight and Applejack closed their eyes as they felt the magic wash over them When they opened their eyes once again, they found themselves in a bakery near a staircase,” It’s sugarcube corner” Applejack said as she looked around the all too familar bakery. “It would make sense,” Twilight began to take everything in, trying to see if she could find any hints to where Pinkie was, “This is her home, and she would feel the most comfortable here and easy to hurt.” Come little children Applejack’s ears flickered to the sound from the upstairs, “Y’all hear that?” “Its singing,” It took another lyric before she could identify the voice, I’ll take you away “ITS PINKIE!!” The two then began to run up the stairs to where the voice was the loudest. Once they had reached the room, a sullen and long haired pink pony walked slowly out of the room and lifted her head to the two ponies before her. “Shhh, the babies are asleep,” The mare said, a sick smile sliding across her face. The two mares looked at each other in horror, afraid to think of what would be lying in the room. Grabbing the handle they open the door quickly to see... A unicorn and a pegasus filly sleeping soundly in their crib as they held little plushies of the pink pony, “See, as I said...they are sleeping. What did you think was there? Their corpses? I don't think that Mirage is that sick.” Twilight sighed with relief as she looked at the sleeping babes and then turned to the long haired pony, “Well, yes after all she is trying to break,” Twilight then arched her eyebrow at Pinkie as she walked closer to her, “Wait, you know its Mirage doing this and what is going on?” “Not really, the Mirage thing is just something I named this hellworld. But I was guessing when Pinkie came running to my cage and went in there to leave me out here.” “You...ain't Pinkie?” Applejack asked. “No, I am not Pinkie, I am actually Pinkamena,” She walked away from the girls and down the stairs as she continued to talk, “I am all of her rage, sadness, depression, and every other bad feeling she has ever had when she found her cutie mark all bundled up in a neat little package, HooBUCKINyay!” As they walked out the door of the bakery, Pinkamena began to shun and ignore all of the calls of irresponsible, childish, bad friend, and only good for parties from the crowd, “But why does she need something,” “Hey! I am a pony too you know,” She glared at Applejack as they got close to the Everfree forest.” “Somepony like you to dump all that stuff on?” “Its because of her greatest fear...to feel like she hurt you guys. She has it in her head that if she shows any emotion rather than happiness to you guys, then you won't want to be friends with her anymore and she will be like me again.  Its her life to make others smile, and if she fails in that, she feels like she fails as a pony.” The two ponies looked down in sadness, suddenly remembering the times that she was depressed and broken. They remembered every time they could find her broken and saw for themselves just what she could keep inside, “But...she could always be open with us,” Twilight said as they neared a clearing, “We would feel worse knowing that she feels this way. We wouldn’t care if she is more open with us.” “Maybe you should tell her that more often. Then she wouldn’t keep putting all of that pain onto me,” Pinkamena said as she headed to a cage “ The first thing she did when she entered this dream world and was subjected to all of that back in the town was run to me and jump in the cage. She hasn't moved or eaten since then.” Twilight walked to the bars of the cage, putting her hooves onto the bars and looking in, “Hey, Pinkie, its us. You don't have to hide anymore, we’re here to bring you home.” “Yeah, and sugarcube, we don't care if you ain't happy all of the time. We love you anyway, and you are probably the best friend a pony could ask for.” AJ said as she looked into the cage. “REALLY! OH THANK YOU GUYS!!!!” Pinkie sad as she ran through the cage and tackle her two friends, “I knew that they weren't real the whole time...but the things that they said,” Pinkie began to cry into the chests of both her friends. “ITs ok Pinkie, we know all about it.” Twilight said as she rubbed Pinkie’s back and then turned to the caged Pinkamena, “And you, thank you for protecting her from the worst of it.” “ITs ok, just remember to let me out more often,” Pinkamena said as she waved bye to the disappearing ponies. Once more the glass case broke, and again Trixie took a few steps, panting and tired. As she lifted her head, she saw a cupcake in front of her snout, “Here,” Pinkie said smiling, “you deserve it.”