//------------------------------//
// Dinky and...? 
// Story: Laughter knows no Sorrow 
// by AngelShy24 
//------------------------------//

“Oh no; what’s going on?!  No, stay away from me!”
A dark shadow was chasing Pinkie Pie though complete darkness; she couldn’t see a thing. But that didn’t stop her from continuing to run for her life. But no matter how fast she ran, the shadow was never slowing down; and it seemed to be getting closer every second.
Suddenly she felt herself get tripped up by something that was on the ground; she yelped as she fell forward and landed flat on her stomach. She groaned as she felt pain go through her brain; but then saw her friends down on the ground powerless, colorless… and their elements completely lifeless. It’s as if all their enthusiasm and vigor had left them and they showed no more determination.
“Gils, girls wake up! What are you doing just napping?! Come on; I can’t do this alone!”
But all seemed hopeless as they didn’t respond. A loud caw rang in Pinkie’s ear and Pinkie yelled out a bit in pain while holding her head in discomfort, and then she was held down by a magical dark force. She couldn’t get free and she could see the dark, ominous figure coming closer and closer to her. Fear and sorrow started to enter into her as she just looked up at the creature starring back at her with its glowing dark eyes.
“Wh-wh-what… what do you w-want,” said Pinkie cowering in fear, “Who are you?!”
The dark creature stood over Pinkie as it held up its hoof with dark magic emanating from it and a dark grin appeared on its shadow-casted face, “As of now… the sole being you’ll fear the most.” 
The creature laid its hoof down on Pinkie’s defenseless body, and then suddenly she started to scream out in immense pain as she felt huge amounts of life energy being absorbed out of her. She felt a sense of dread and despair overcome her, and her will to laugh was no longer there.
“Soon… all happiness in the world will be no more.”

-----

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
Pinkie suddenly found herself waking up in front of the cash register at the front desk in Sugar cube corner. Breathing heavily and holding her head; she was becoming overwhelmed of what she just experienced.
“Wha… wh-what was that? Sweet Celestia, that was horrible.”
Just then, Mrs. Cake came rushing from upstairs where she was tending to the twins with her husband; she came down after hearing the scream to see if something bad happened. 
“Pinkie, what in blue blazes happened?!” she yelled out, “Are you alright?!”
“Sorry about that, Mrs. C.,” Pinkie responded groggily, “I sorta dozed off at the cash register and dreamt of something… horrible.” Pinkie appeared to be shaking a little, “Somepony was after me, and… a-and it wanted to rid the world of happiness and… laughter; no laughter.”
“You had a nightmare, dearie,” said Mrs. Cake tenderly, “there’s no need to worry about it. But you really shouldn’t just fall asleep in front of the cash register, don’t ya know.”
“Yeah I know, sorry. But you know, I have this weird feeling deep in my pink belly that this was no nightmare; what if somepony really is after me; what if our laughter really is in danger of becoming extinct?!” 
Pinkie was becoming worried and doubtful of what could happen and what the outcome could be if it does happen. Mrs. Cake always knew that Pinkie plus feeling bad and frighten equals… well, things that are not normal.
She placed her hoof around her and said, “Now where’s that upbeat attitude of yours that you had a little while ago? Don’t worry about it; I’m sure it’s nothing,”
“Don’t worry about it?!” Pinkie protested out loud, “Some creature was draining me of my happiness, and it took my laughter away; my laughter! I had no happiness left in me, and neither did my friends; we were all useless! This is just like the pony in the story that I told Dinky; and it felt so real too!”
Mrs. Cake realized just how serious this was to Pinkie Pie; dream or not it must have had a serious toll on her, “Oh Pinkie.”
“Mrs. Cake,” said Pinkie with her voice trembling, “I know that I’m practically almost a grown pony already, but… I’m scared.”
Pinkie came over to Mrs. Cake and lightly held on to her while crying slightly; Mrs. cake then hugged her back and was trying to comfort her… as if she were comforting one of her own.
“It’s okay to be scared Pinkie, but its fine. Don’t believe what you dreamt, dear, and just claim that it will never happen. Besides, that story is just a story, right?”
Pinkie came out of the hug and thought about it for a minute; her tears subsided and a small confident smile came back on her face, “Yeah, I guess you’re right; it is just a story… only a story.”
It definitely seemed to Mrs. Cake that Pinkie was feeling a little exhausted and she might be feeling a little jittery from her nightmare, so she did what she thought she should do.
“Um… Pinkie, dear, why don’t you take a little break; you can continue to work when you feel better, alright?”
“Okay,” Pinkie replied, “Thanks Mrs. Cake; I’ll just go outside for some fresh air.”
Pinkie found it to be a strange coincidence of telling Dinky that story about a pony who hates happiness the other day and then having this terrible nightmare. As she walked outside, she was still pondering on the thought and was still questioning of whether it was real or not.
“It’s was just a dream,” she thought to herself, “Just a dream, just a dream, it’s not… r-real.”
But jus then, a light bulb turned on in her head (hypothetically speaking) and she figured out how to take care of this; she knew just the pony to see.

-----

Just on the outskirt of Ponyville, Dinky Hooves was taking a little walk across the small grassy hills that surrounded the town; all while still wearing her special necklace. She was a big pony and knew that she could take care of herself while her mother couldn’t be with her. She could’ve hung out with some of her friends, but she felt like she could use some alone time to keep her mind clear.
She stood atop a certain hill and was looking down at the town and the area around her while taking a deep sniff, “Ah, smell that fresh air; I almost forgot how beautiful things look like from here. This walk is really something that I need to get my mind off of things.”
She rose up her necklace and looked at it with much astonishment and was holding on to it as if it were part of her own being.
“I guess that I ought to look on the bright side; for a filly like me, I’m pretty lucky.”
Suddenly, the young filly felt an intense chilling feel come over her; similar to the uncomfortable feeling that she felt earlier when she left her house. The strange feeling quickly went away once again as Dinky held onto herself groaning from the sudden sensation that she felt.
“Wh-wh-what was that weird feeling all of a sudden? It just came and went so fast; what’s going on?”
Just then, her eye caught on towards another pony standing on a taller hill looking down at Ponyville with a lone, gloomy stare. A dark purple earth mare with a long silky mane that draped over her body, and there was a single charcoal crow that was sitting on her shoulder. But the strangest thing about this mare was her cutiemark; it was nothing but a cloudy puff of black smoke.
Dinky became quite curious of who this mysterious mare was and decided to carefully walk up behind this mysterious mare to get a closer look at her.
“Who is that pony,” she thought to herself, “She looks so calm, and serene; but there’s something off about her. She seems so sad, and lonely and the only friend she has is that musky crow on her should.” Dinky suddenly gasped, “Whoa, how could I tell all of that?” She then looked down at her necklace and wondered, “Could it have been… nah.”
The dark mare was continuing to stand in that single spot glaring over Ponyville with much angst in her heart, “So… this is the place, right girl?”
‘Caw, caw’
“Seems a bit small for a town; it kinda reminds me of home, yet it’s not as sad and pitiful as my home once was.” 
A dark aura came from her essence as she studied the energies around Ponyville only to finally sense what she’s been searching and waiting for all this time. 
“I sense too much happiness here; it’s definitely here somewhere.”
Suddenly, the mare heard a small voice behind her, “Um, excuse me, Miss; are you lost?”
The mare suddenly sensed the young filly behind her and she quickly turned around to see her standing and staring at her with curious eyes.
“What the…” she thought, “Why didn’t I sense this little filly coming from behind me?”
The musky crow suddenly swooped down from the mare’s shoulder and landed right in front of Dinky. It startled the young filly by cawing very loudly while raising its wings creeping towards her. Dinky was slowly backing away sweating and smiling nervously.
“Ah, n-nice birdy, nice birdy; pl-please don’t hurt me.”
“Down sweetie,” the dark mare called out, “that’s enough; come back to mommy.”
The crow ended its threatening assault on Dinky and flew back on the mare’s shoulder. As the mare was glaring down at her, Dinky was looking up at the mare feeling a bit frighten and amazed at the same time as she held onto the necklace around her neck.
“Whoa, she looks kinda menacing up close.”		
“What do you want, little filly?” the dark mare asked felling slightly annoyed.
“I-I-I don’t mean to intrude or anything,” Dinky said nervously, “but I-I saw you just sitting here all by yourself with your crow friend, and you seemed kinda lonely. So I j-just came over here to see if anything was wrong.”
It was obvious to the dark mare that this filly must have come from the town that was in her view. What was she doing here and how come she’s not running away from her? These questions were running through her head as the filly continued to stare at her constantly; it started to annoy her… more than she already felt.
“Sorry, but my business is none of your concern, child,” she responded as she turned away from the young filly.
“Oh…” said Dinky bashfully, “w-well, do you need help with anything? I can be really helpful you know.”
The dark mare looked back at the young filly that wouldn’t go away; but suddenly her eyes went shockingly wide as she noticed the necklace around Dinky’s neck.
“Where… wh-where did you get that trinket?!” she suddenly protested.
Dinky looked down at her necklace and held it up, “Oh, this? I bought this at an antique shop in my town down there; and with my own money too.” She then looked at the mare curiously, “Why; have you seen it before?”
The dark mare knew that there was something about the necklace around this filly’s neck that was very familiar to her; she was having a somewhat uncomfortable vibe about it. But she turned away once again while shaking the thought from her mind.
“N-never mind, it’s nothing; nothing of importance anyway.”
As the mare was looking away again, the crow was keeping a close eye on Dinky; but that didn’t frighten the young filly at all. She knew that this pony had no one else to be with and it was very sad for her to think so. But then she had an idea.
“Hey Miss mare,” she called out cheerful-like, “you look like you could use a friend.”
The mare slowly turned her head back to Dinky again with a slightly irritated look, “What?”
Dinky held out her hoof in a friendly way and smiled, “My name is Dinky Hooves and I want to be your friend; what’s your name?”
The dark mare still couldn’t understand; her very presence should be sending this little filly away cowering. Her cheerful nature was starting to irritate her and she did her best to stay calm and refuse.
“Trust me little filly, you don’t want me as a friend; not that I care much about it anyway.”
“What, that’s nonsense;” said Dinky in an amused tone, “Why would I not want to be your friend? I know you have that bird that’s with you, but you can have a lot more friends too… down there in Ponyville!” 
Dinky was hoping up and down around the dark mare trying to encourage her more; then she pointed herself in the direction of her town, “Come on, I’ll prove it to you!”
She started to trot fast towards Ponyville; but after a few seconds she stopped and turned around realizing that the dark mare didn’t even move an inch. She wasn’t even looking at the young filly; she was still gazing intensely at the town trying to study its surroundings.
Dinky went back closer to the mare and looked up at her with pleading eyes, “Aren’t you coming?”
“Making friends is irrelevant to my interests,” the dark mare responded nonchalantly, “I have come here only to complete my destiny; something that a peppy little foal like you would never understand.” 
“Wh-why would you say that?” asked Dinky as she got right in front of the mare continuing to plead, “Whatever your destiny is I could understand, and I could even help you. Come on, let me…”
Suddenly without warning, the mare used her power to pick up Dinky and bring her up to her face. She stared at her furiously having been fed up with her antics, “Listen to me you little brat; what part of irrelevant to my interests did you not understand!? I don’t need your help; I don’t want friends, I don’t want to be your friend, and I don’t need your damn kindness! Just stay out of my way and leave me alone… before I do something drastic to you.”
And with that, she tossed Dinky back on the ground sending her tumbling a few feet in front of her. After Dinky got herself back together, she slowly got back up and wiped some tears from her face from being treated so harshly.
“O-o-okay, I see your point,” she said softly, “All I wanted to do was show you some friendship and make you feel better; but I guess you really aren’t interested in that at all, are you?”
She turned around and started to slowly head back to her town while not looking back at the mare, “I’ll just go and leave you alone.”
The mare watched as the filly went on away from her. However for a few seconds, she couldn’t help but realize that this filly was the first pony to get this near to her and not fear her. Not that she cared or anything, but even she had to admire a little bit of the filly for her courage and foolish determination; after all, she knew that it would all change soon.
“A little piece of advice, little filly,” the mare called out suddenly, “if I were you I wouldn’t stick around here for too long.”
Dinky suddenly turned around and looked back at the mare with a confused expression, “Wh-why; wh-what makes you say that?”
The mare then made a small malicious smile in her expression as she turned away and began walking off away from Ponyville, “However, you may stay here if you like; it would all be for the better.”
The musky crow glared at Dinky and made another low caw at her, and then they disappeared out of sight.
“What was that all about,” Dinky thought to herself. 
She was quite curious about this destiny that the mare was talking about, and she was wondering if the dark cutiemark on her flank had anything to do with it. If it did, it might not be a good thing.
“The way she was acting,” Dinky continued to ponder over, “and the feeling of her presence; it almost sounds like…” A slight shiver came over her body and then she just laughed it off, “No, no way; that wouldn’t be possible. It’s just a spooky story. There’s no way that pony could be real. But then again, Nightmare Moon didn’t seem to be real to us either.”
Dinky looked down at her necklace and suddenly noticed that it was emanating some kind of light within the colored crystals; Dinky knew something strange was definitely going on here, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

-----

At the Ponyville library tree, another obscure scene was going on. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were all in a slight state of panic inside the place; they were all storming up a huge conversation that was going in different speeds and directions of thought. Twilight was rustled up too but the panicked confusion was confusing her big time; so she tried to get things settled down and gain her friends’ attention.
“Everypony, calm down; this is definitely something serious but we have to calm down!”
“This is no time to calm down, Twilight!” shouted Rainbow Dash, “We need to be alert, at attention; we need to be sure that she’s safe!”
“Rainbow’s right,” Applejack responded, “Normally Ah would be calm, but we can’t afford to mess this up; somethang bad will happen if we do, I just know it.”
“Yes, I understand,” stated Twilight, “but we can’t be too rational about this; we need to think this through carefully.”
Suddenly, Spike walked into the room where they were all of the conversations were at and became curious himself, “What’s going on here Twil… oh. Is this somekind of friendship meeting or something?”
“More like an emergency meeting!” shouted Rainbow Dash, “What we’re dealing with right now is way worst than anything we have dealt with before!”
Spike was feeling worried already seeing how serious and freaked out Rainbow Dash was feeling; his body was getting the shivers.
“I-i-is it that bad; how can it be worst than anything we’ve faced already?!”
“Oh it can be worst,” said FLuttershy nervously, “especially when the situation deals with all of us recently sharing a similar dream. Well, actually they’re more like nightmares.”
“Wait, hold on;” said Spike, “Are you saying that all of you shared the same dream… um, I mean nightmare?!”
“Indeed we have, Spike,” said Rarity, “and it’s all so terrible!”
Twilight came over to Spike to explain the dilemma , “You see, just recently we found out that we each had dreams that are just about the same; and in all of them there’s… some evil dark creature, and it is after one of us.”
“Wh-wh-which one of you guys is it after,” asked Spike out of slight fear.
They all looked at each other worryingly and then Twilight answered, “Pinkie Pie.”
“Pinkie Pie; this thing was after Pinkie Pie?! Why her; did she do something wrong?!”
Twilight just shook her head, “None of us are really quite sure why this… thing is after Pinkie in our dreams, but the creature itself is so menacing; it’s in a whole new league of its own.”
“So what does it want?” asked Spike.
“What this thing wants is something from Pinkie that she holds most dear to; something that Pinkie treasures most in all of her life… her laughter.”
Spike was suddenly at a loss for words; a creature after Pinkie’s laughter? This was definitely something serious.
“Oh my gosh, that’s terrible,” he shouted, “If you take the laughter out of Pinkie Pie, she won’t be… Pinkie Pie anymore! She won’t be so cheerful anymore, and she won’t be able to cheer anypony up!” He started to pace back and forth out of panic, “Taking the laughter out of her is like… taking the nerdness out of Twilight!”
Twililight glared at Spike for his sudden comment, “Spike!”
“What, it’s the truth.”
“Well whoever this creature is,” stated Rainbow Dash, “it’s going to have to go through us! Together I’m sure we’ll be able to knock it down flat on its ass… if it even has one that is!”
“I-I-I guess we could,” said Fluttershy, “we have dealt with stronger enemies before, right?”
“I don’t know about that,” said Twilight, “but there’s no doubt that whatever is after pinkie we can stop if we work together as always.”
Spike looked around the room and it suddenly hits him that Pinkie was nowhere to be seen, “By the way, where is Pinkie? Does she know anything about this?”
“Nah, not yet,” Applejack responded while shaking her head, “but Ah’m pretty sure that we need to tell her about this as soon as we can.”
The conversation in the library suddenly came to a halt as the entrance door swung open and inside the doorway was…
“Pinkie Pie,” said Twilight out of slight shock, “we were just talking about you.”
As they all saw her, they soon realized that Pinkie was sweating and her face expressed that of one who desperately worried of something.
“Pinkie… are you alright?”	
Pinkie just let it out while shouting and waving her hands in the air frantically, “Emergency, girls; major emergency!”