//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Laughter knows no Sorrow // by AngelShy24 //------------------------------// Laughter… what is… laughter? What does it even mean; laughter… it’s just a word to me, nothing more, nothing less. Sadness, sorrow, fear and strife; it’s all I’ve ever known my entire existence. The only moment of happiness that I could ever recall was the very day that I was born. But how can that moment bring happiness… when your very existence causes fear and grief around you? During the period of my life, my home was located in a very poor town, and my parents… they weren’t exactly saints. However, my parents did love me and always cared for me; but sometimes… the need for money and profit made them drift slowly away from me as a matter of importance. The fact is a lot of ponies there would go through a lot and they would do almost anything to get profit. It was a rather difficult time. But me… I was just a normal little earth pony who was born into a world of risks, trials and tribulations. Unfortunately… I was a lot less normal than I thought I was. My loneliness, my sadness, and my pain; they seemed to grow bigger with every passing day, and a secret dark power hidden deep within me was soon making itself known. As I grew up, I realized that everywhere I went other ponies were glaring at me and some were even shaking a bit from my presence. What was their deal anyway; I’ve never done anything wrong have I? No of course I didn’t; how could I? But then one day, some ungrateful bullies came up to me and started pushing me around. They were calling me names like freak all because I had weird magic abilities and I was an earth pony. In my time, an earth pony with an unnatural power such as mine was a sign of evil. I did my best to ignore them, but at one point… I defended myself. When the bout was over, the bodies of the bullies were in front of me almost motionless. They weren’t dead, but they suddenly wish that they were. Unfortunately for me, other ponies nearby saw what happened and became dreadfully afraid of me; and word spread throughout the town. I tried to tell the others that I didn’t mean to hurt the bullies like that, but they didn’t care; they neglected me, and no longer wanted anything to do with me. This was so unfair; why did I have to be born like this. I was scared myself continuing to feel sorrow in my soul. I soon went to my parents to tell them of what happened; but to my horrible surprise, they decided to use the fear from the town to force more profit for themselves; to trick and scam other ponies to get what they want. To them, I suddenly became a miracle… but not of the sweet sentimental kind. How could they; how could they use their own daughter like this?! They were being downright selfish! It was bad enough for everypony blaming me for being so strangely different, but now my own parents are just using me and everyone is learning to fear me even more… no matter how many times I try to deny it to them. Despite being named Amity (meaning love), the town even gave me a nickname, Gloom. Sweet Celestia, how did this come to be?! I was now nothing more but a weapon, using my own strange power to strike fear in others. I begged my parents to stop using me in such a way, but they let the power go to heads and they no longer cared about what I thought about all of this. Pretty soon I just couldn’t take being used like this anymore. The very first chance I had, I ran away from my home; I mean there was no sense staying there anymore. The town ponies feared me and never wanted anything to do with me, and my parents were being selfish, greedy idiots! I had no friends, my family was now dead to me, and now… I’m all alone… with nowhere to turn to. What has become of me; what kind of power do I have inside me? A power that causes others to cower before me; to make them gain a feeling that there’s no hope in the world; that all that exists is sadness and sorrow; fear and darkness. I don’t want that… at least… I don’t… think I want to. I soon found myself wandering around the Equestrian grounds for a while; probably a few days, and I never bothered to make my presence known to anypony around; they would probably become freaked out by my unnatural power anyway, and totally fear me as well… causing me even more greif. I soon found a deep cave where I could hide myself in and made that my new home. I knew that I was a little young to be living on my own, but I had nowhere to go; and the only place I could go was nothing worth going back to. I didn’t know what I was going to do now and how I was going to live. What was my purpose; my reason for living? It couldn’t have been what I have been doing back at my home, could it? My heart grew lonelier, darker, and colder as I laid inside the deep dark cave; contemplating on everything that I went through back at home. But then as I drifted off to sleep, I could hear a faint sound. It sounded like it was talking to me… whatever it was, and the info seemed important. This couldn’t have been a dream, could it? It told me of a purpose; my purpose, and what it meant. I don’t know, I thought that I was hallucinating… but I don’t think I was. What it was telling me… proved to be totally true. I’m different, and everypony is afraid me; and what my own parents were doing with me were unforgivable. Perhaps… my power does have meaning, and I really do have a purpose. I’ve tried my best to be nice to everypony, and this is how they treat me?! And my parents should have treated me better. Soon it was all clear to me; I could feel that my sadness and grief was turning into dark hatred, and it was making me feel stronger… I liked it. I knew what I have to do; I had to share what I experienced to the same ones who wronged me. I soon returned back to my hometown; but when I did, I found out that my parents were locked away like criminals since they no longer had me to cover them for their scams. Like I cared about them anymore; but now that I was back, fear returned to the other ponies. Good, keep feeling that way; if they feared me already, then now I’ll give them a real reason to fear me. I used my power to cast a spell over the entire town that struck fear and grief into everypony’s heart; causing them to grovel and bow before me, and my parents… they were of no use to me anymore. Pain, suffering, darkness… I used it all to show everypony what they had put me through; their abusive neglectness was now their undoing. Sadness, sorrow, fear and strife; I used to hate all of that and wanted to avoid it in any way I could. But now… I love it; I crave it; it’s what makes me stronger; it’s what makes me feel alive, and I wanted to experience it for the rest of my days. After all… if I can’t experience laughter… if I’m not allowed to feel joy and happiness… then no one can.