My hooves take me to all sorts of places.
Big, small, far, near; wherever there’s a party, I’ll be there.
There is one place I’d always go back, however. Regardless of parties.
And that is Ponyville.
But I can’t go there. Not anymore.
Somepony has to save her.
Somepony has to stand up to him.
I’m sorry that it couldn’t be me.
~
The lone stallion trotted over the sandy road. He was tired and his coat was full of mud, but he needed to reach the next village before sunset, or he’d have to walk through the dark. He didn’t like the dark. But he couldn’t lose valuable time by sleeping, he had to get help before it was too late.
He sighed, shook his head and took up the pace. He was almost there. Almost.
Under the mud, an aquamarine coat could be seen. His yellow mane and tail were almost brown with mud, but his sea blue eyes shone through, full of determination.
There! Finally, there was Trottingham!
He let out a grunt when he forced himself into a gallop until he reached the first few houses. He had a friend in Trottingham, he hoped that she could help.
He headed straight for the library. Knowing her, she’d be either in the library or at the newspaper, but his first guess was here.
Thank goodness the doors of the library were still open. He opened them and stepped inside.
“I’m sorry, but we’ll be closing soon…” a bored voice said from the back. He smirked and stepped inside anyway. He knew that voice out of thousands.
“Well, maybe you should see who exactly is stepping in, first.” He retorted.
The unicorn mare behind the counter looked up, surprised. Her mane and tail were curly, reddish brown with white streaks, her coat a tone lighter. Her right-forehoof was white, and so was her muzzle and the tips of her ears.
“Hello, Foxwillow.”
Foxwillow’s mouth was wide-open, her eyes wide.
“… Magical Wave? Is that you?” She gasped and jumped up. “Gosh, it’s been so long since I’d seen you!” She hugged him tightly.
Wave smiled weakly under her firm grasp, but returned the hug. “8 years…” he said, and sighed. “I missed you.”
She smiled back. “I missed you too…”
An awkward silence followed. It was interrupted by the loud town’s clock that struck 7.
“Oh, time to close.” Foxwillow said. “Come, let’s get you to my house. Then you can clean up a bit and eat something.” She beckoned Wave to follow.
She locked the library doors behind them and walked through the town, Magical Wave in tow. He was lagging behind a bit, tired from a long day of walking. She didn’t notice, but they were at her place soon enough.
~
The salad with baked potatoes smelled delicious, looked delicious, and was delicious. Was, because he had eaten it all, the moment it came under his muzzle. Foxwillow giggled and scooped up a second plate for him. She was still eating her first.
“Hungry, much?” she said. Magical Wave stopped for a moment and blushed. Foxwillow giggled again. “Now, tell me. Why are you visiting me now?”
Magical put down his fork and sighed.
“It’s a long story.”
“We have time.”
He looked her straight into her eyes, his expression turning serious and stern.
“I’ll tell you, under one condition.”
“What?”
“You will help me find her.”
Foxwillow looked confused. “Her who?”
“The Element of Laughter.” Magical replied.
“Why?”
“Uh… yeah, maybe I should tell you first.”
“Then, begin.” Foxwillow said, waving with her hoof.
“Okay… Let’s see.”
~
“I’m the C, to the H, to the E-E-S-E,
There ain’t no other pony plan a party like me!
I’m Cheesylicious!”
A huge wave of cheers sounded from the crowd when I finished the rap.
“Now, who’s next?”
I waved my hoof over the crowd and picked one of the ponies who were cheering for their turn the hardest. I gave her my microphone and let her take her turn of the rap. It was late, but the party was still in full swing. I didn´t have to leave just yet.
“I’m the S, to the U, to the N-N-Y!
There ain’t no other pony quite as sunny as me!
I’m Sunnylicious!
The crowd cheered again, and this time a little filly took the mic. She shuffled with her hooves over the stage and began to rhyme with a shaky voice .
“I- ehm, I’m the C to the A to the N-D-Y,
There ain’t no other pony, er… making candy like me!
I’m Candylicious!”
She gleamed with pride as the crowd began to cheer. I took the chance to walk around the festival for a bit; it might not be that late, but there wasn’t that much time left, either.
The town wasn’t big, but it had enough willing ponies set up the midsummer festival each year. And this year, I helped making this the best midsummer festival ever.
An aquamarine stallion approached me. He had a big smile on his face.
“Hey, Cheese! This is a really good cheese-party, one of the best I have ever been to!”
I smirked. “Until now… hey, have you been to a cheese-party before?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I was jes’ a colt back then; you threw a party for a friend of mine. Best birthday party ever!”
I smiled. “Oh, that one! I’m glad to hear you liked it. Did she like it too?”
“Of course she did! She didn’t stop talking about it for like, a month!”
~
-“Woah, hold on.” Fox interrupted. “You mean THE Cheese Sandwich? The super duper party planner from my 9th birthday party?”
“Yep, that one.” Magical said. Foxwillow smiled.
“It wasn’t just the party that made me smile, you know. Your present was the best.”
“The book?” Magical said, curious. “What was so special about it?”
Fox blushed. “I, eh…” But then, she frowned. “Wait a sec. Why are you bringing him up? What happened to him?”
Magical sighed. “Coming to that.”
~
I laughed. “Ah! It’s always great to make somepony smile. It truly fills my heart up with sunshine.”
The aquamarine-coated stallion laughed too. “Anyway, thanks for the great time!”
“Yeah, have fun!” I said. I continued my way to the town’s square, passing all sorts of stands and games: ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony’, ‘Twister’, and apple-gobbling stand, a pie-throwing stand; even a Monopony shand! Everypony sure had fun.
At the town’s square was everypony dancing to the greatest music ever. On the square stood a few empty carts, carrying ponies who were too tired to dance or just wanted to drink a drink and talk.
All around me, I was greeted with smiles, laughs and waves. I waved back every time. This is what an epic party looks like, he thought. A crowd filled with happy faces.
But then, a deafening roar made everypony jump, including me. We all searched for the source – and we found it.
He was standing on one of the cart, previously occupied with other party-goers. His pitch-black cloak hid his face. He was wearing some sort of amulet on his cloak, that of an evil grin. His red eyes flickered menacing over the crowd.
“So… much… happiness…” he said, loathing. “So.. much… laughter…”
He looked directly in my eyes.
“I… HATE… LAUGHTER!”
He roared again, and I began to feel… scared. But I didn’t show it, not just yet.
“Well, now, I think somepony needs a laugh!”
I took my accordion and began to play the happiest tune I knew, prompting the crowd to start smiling a little again. But they didn’t dance. They didn’t forget everything instantly. The shadow of the stranger was just too big.
“YOU FOAL!” he roared. “YOU INSOLENT FOAL!”
The cap of the cloak fell back, revealing a scarred face. “YOUR LAUGHTER HAS DONE NOTHING BUT CAUSED PAIN AND SUFFERING!”
He lit his horn, a muddy brown aura with foul green streaks in them. The amulet on his cloak lit up green.
“NOPONY WILL EVER LAUGH AGAIN!”
My ears laid back in fear. This pony was mad! You can’t just banish all laughter away!
“But I wonder,” I said, spreading my hooves as to embrace him, “Why won’t you smile? A smile is the most beautiful thing in all of Equestria.”
The pony scowled. He pointed with his hoof at his biggest scar, that went from his muzzle, over his eye and to his right ear. Another scar, on his left, took an eyebrow and the left corner of his mouth down in an eternal scowl.
“You see this?” he said, turning around.. “DO YOU SEE THIS?”
He took a deep breath.
“I got this scar by LAUGHTER!”
He swiveled around to face me again. “And when I got this scar, I understood! I understood that laugher, is BAD! Laughter will only cause you PAIN! And you,” he pointed his hoof accusingly at me, “you are the SOURCE of all the laughter in here! So I will take your laughter, so you won’t hurt ANYPONY EVER AGAIN!”
I tried to reason with him. “Oh, come on, laughter isn’t bad! It never is! Well, only if you laugh at somepony, that is a bad kind of laughter. But there’s a good kind of laughter, too…”
But he interrupted me, screaming.
‘THAT ISN’T TRUE! ALL LAUGHTER IS THE SAME! AND ALL OF IT SHOULD BE BANISHED FOREVER!”
He roared a second time. The green light of his amulet was building up, taking over his brown magic. I couldn’t look away from it, no matter hard I tried. It felt as if it was extracting all my happiness, all my laughter. I couldn’t move. Everything in me screamed to look away, to move, to smile, but I couldn’t. A terrible feeling washed over me.
I couldn’t think clearly anymore. In the corner of my eye, I could see Boneless 2 shriveling up, as if he all air was being sucked out of him. He turned black.
At last, the green light dimmed. I fell down, unable to stand.
“Pinkie, help me...” I muttered softly, before everything went black.
~
“The entire crowd began to fall down, shuddering, crying for mercy. He began to yell other strange things. As far as I could see, I was the only one who had looked away just in time. So now I need your help, to find the Element of Laughter and stop this madness.”
Fox frowned. “But how do you know that he hadn’t captured her already? Why would they believe you?”
He grabbed his saddlebag from under the table. He pulled out something… black. It stunk.
“Foxy, I give you, the late Boneless Two.”
Fox gasped, putting her hooves to her muzzle. “Oh my…”
He put Boneless Two back in his saddlebag. “Now, Foxwillow. Will you help me find the Element of Laughter?”
Foxwillow nodded. “Well, okay. I guess I could call in sick; I still need to use the holiday days I have left anyway. The library will be in good hooves… But where will we go?”
Magical took a deep breath.
“We’re going to Ponyville.”