“JOY!?!” yells the girls.
Joy’s eyes widen, she moves a hoof to cover her face.
“NO!! DON’T LOOK AT ME!!” she screams, backing off slightly, “DON”T SAY THAT NAME!! GIVE ME BACK MY MASK!!” With that she lunges forward at the mask again.
Twilight hops out of the way, causing Joy to fall over again. She starts to wail loudly.
“It hurts, it all hurts,” Joy wails, tears falling down her face, and slowly rising to her hooves.
“What does?” asks Twilight, very confused.
“Need to distance myself.., NEED THE MASK!!” with that scream, Joy turns around and lets her hoof shoots forward, extending and turning into a claw, it is heading for the mask.
Twilight throws away the mask and jumps out of the way of the claw, Rainbow Dash manages to catch it.
Joy hoof returns and changes back. “Why do you do this to me!?” she cries, “Why do you torture me so? What have I ever done to you?”
“What about tiring to kill us!!” yells Rainbow Dash, angrily.
Joy is quiet for a while, she then places her hooves around her head and screams. A scream so loud that the girls feel like they are going to go deaf, they can hear glass breaking in the distance.
“I DIDN’T KILL THEM!! I DIDN’T MEAN TO KILL THEM!! BLOOD ON MY HOOVES!! IT WASN’T ME!!” Joy’s screams, making no sense what so ever. She then collapses on the ground as a sobbing heap. “I’m sorry, so sorry! So much blood on my hooves…” she whispers, before the rest of her words disappear into her sobbing.
“Hey, are you ok?” asks Rainbow Dash, now slightly guilty that she cause such a reaction.
“Maybe we should give her back her mask, Twilight,” suggests Rarity, “The poor dear looks so distraught about losing it.”
“YES, please Twilight let’s give it back,” begs Pinkie, who hates seeing a pony this unhappy.
The rest of the girls look at Twilight, waiting to see what they should do. Twilight looks at Joy who is still sobbing on the ground, she then looks behind her and sees that a large crowd has gathered, whispering to themselves. It probably can’t look good, six mares surrounding a crying one, they are probably getting the wrong idea.
Twilight walks over to the crying mare. “Look if you promise to come back to my house and not run away we will give you back your mask.”
“REALLY!! Yes, I promise, give me back Sorrow!” Joy begs.
Twilight is about to question why she calls the mask Sorrow when Pinkie interrupts her.
“You gotta Pinkie promise!” Pinkie declares.
“What’s a Pinkie promise?” Joy’s sniffs.
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Pinkie says, doing the actions, “And you have to do the actions!”
Joy frowns, but gets to her hooves, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” she mutters, doing the actions, but like Twilight she forgets to close her eye, but unlike Twilight it doesn’t seem to hurt her.
“Alright here,” says Rainbow Dash, passing back the mask.
She greedily snatches the mask and places it back on her face. Twilight wants to ask how in Tartarus in fits on her face, but will save it for later.
“Ok, now follow us back to my place,” Twilight says, walking toward her castle.
Sorrow has other ideas, she turns in the other direction to bolt. But she finds Pinkie there.
“Forever!” she says, ominously.
Sorrow decides to ditch the other ideas and follow the six weirdos.
Sorrow stands outside the large beautiful crystal tree palace. It is very magical, Sorrow can see the magic flow past her in purple waves. She tightens her clothes, she got to make sure she doesn’t touch it without her clothes, for any prolonged exposure to her skin may just drain all the magic.
‘Thank my master, it came with shoes,’ she thinks, taking a step inside.
“Follow me to the basement,” orders Twilight, Sorrow just nods and follows her.
They walk down the steps into the stone basement. Sorrow can rest easier now, less magic.
“Is that a cage?” asks Applejack, looking at the aforementioned item in the middle of the room.
“Yes, I had one installed, just in case,” explains Twilight, grabbing a ring of keys.
“That’s not creepy or anything,” Rainbow Dash says, jokingly.
“Oh shhh,” replies Twilight.
“What is it made of?” asks Applejack, “I mean she broke through two brick walls without stopping.”
“Don’t worry they are made of mithril,” explains Twilight, “The strongest metal known to ponies.”
“I see,” says Applejack, impressed.
“Yes. Now can you please get in the cage,” Twilight says, looking at Sorrow.
Sorrow just nods and walks towards the cage.
“Now you just have to wait for a second while I find the right key,” Twilight says, flicking through the keys.
“Ummm, Twilight,” says Rainbow Dash.
“Just a second, I got to find the right key,” replies Twilight.
“She is already in,” continues Rainbow Dash.
“Yes, yes in second I just… What did you say?” asks Twilight, looking up at Rainbow Dash.
“She already in the cage,” repeats Rainbow Dash.
Twilight looks at the cage and her eyes widen, she is in the cage, just sitting in the middle of it.
“How did she do that?!?” yells Twilight.
“She slipped through the bars,” explains Applejack.
“Like the Smooze,” offers Fluttershy.
“It was quite disturbing,” adds Rarity.
Twilight angrily throws away the keys, “Well that just made the whole thing pointless!”
The keys landed in the cage, next to Sorrow.
“Well done, Twilight,” laughs Rainbow Dash, “Now it is even more pointless.”
“Oh shut up,” snaps Twilight. She then feels a tap on her shoulder, she turns and sees Sorrow standing next to her and she is offering the keys to Twilight. “Thank you,” she grumbles, snatching the keys.
Sorrow nods and to add insult to injury walks back into the cage. Rainbow Dash is now laughing so hard that she can’s support herself anymore, and is lying on the ground.
“Ok, let’s just asks are questions and get it over with,” snaps Twilight, annoyed.
There are nods from the rest of the girls and a nod from Rainbow Dash, when she stopped laughing.
“Ok,” Twilight says, turning toward Sorrow, “Ok, were you there at the Star Swirl university at the night of the massacre.”
“Yes,” Sorrow replies, in her usual sad tone.
“Yes?” Twilight repeats, hopefully, confirming it.
“No,” Sorrow adds.
“No?” Twilight says, confused.
“Who was there?” Sorrow asks.
“YOU WERE!” Twilight yells, now irritated.
“Was I?” Sorrow replies, “Which me?”
“What in Tartarus are you talking about?” asks Twilight, confused.
“Can you make a little more sense please,” asks Applejack.
Sorrow tilts her head, “But I am making perfect sense.”
“No you are not, you just making no sense,” complains Twilight. She then rubs her forehead, “Ok, what happened on the night of the massacre?”
“Ponies died,” Sorrow states.
Twilight feel like slamming her head against the wall. “I know that ponies died! I want to how!” Twilight yells.
Sorrow looks at Twilight. Twilight feels a chill down her spine as she looks back at the mask.
“The remains of Joy retreat, you scare her with your anger,” Sorrow states.
“What do you mean by that?” asks Rarity, confused.
“Aren’t you Joy,” adds Applejack.
Sorrow shakes her head. “Joy is dead, she was sacrificed in the ritual, she was the host. Her body was destroyed and her soul was absorbed by being known as Sorrow. What you saw before is all that is left of Joy, her remains that have yet to decide if she is still Joy or something else,” Sorrow explains.
“Then if you aren’t Joy or her ‘remains’ than what are you?” asks Twilight, confused but feeling like they are getting somewhere.
“I am a place between the remains of Joy and the being known as Sorrow, I am also known as Sorrow for I wear her face, I was created by the mask she wears now,” explains Sorrow.
“Who is Sorrow?” asks Twilight.
“A Shadow Man,” Sorrow states.
Twilight is about to ask what a Shadow Man when Applejack speaks up.
“I got question,” states Applejack, “If Joy’s body and soul is gone, then what the buck remains?”
“Her memories, her hopes and fears,” explains Sorrow.
“Her memories… does that mean she remembers what happened at the night of massacres,” asks Twilight, hopefully.
“Yes,” Sorrow replies.
Twilight feels like jumping for joy, at last they seem to be getting somewhere. “Then can you tell us what happened?”
“No,” states Sorrow.
“What! Why?” cries Twilight, feeling like they went back to square one.
“She does not wish to face her memories yet for the pain and confusion they bring,” explains Sorrow, “So I will act as a wall between her and her memories, until she is strong enough to face, and then I will no longer be needed.”
“That means if we take off her mask she will remember,” Rainbow Dash says, flying over to the edge of the cage and reaching for the mask.
Sorrow dashes to edge of the cage, advoiding the hoof like a frighten animal.
“Rainbow Dash, stop it!” scolds Fluttershy, causing Rainbow Dash to back off, “You saw what she is like before, she in no way can answer questions when she is like that.”
“I guess we now know why she wanted the mask back,” comments Applejack, “Those memories must be painful.”
“Twilight, I think we should give up on asking these question for now,” suggests Rarity.
Twilight sighs and nods, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
“I question though,” states Pinkie, stepping forward, “Why do you always sound so sad?”
Sorrow pauses for a long time and then answers, “Because Sorrow is a Shadow Man of Sadness and thus I always sound sad.”
“Wait does Sorrow know what happened on the night of the massacre,” asks Twilight.
“Yes, most likely better than the remains of Joy does,” answers Sorrow.
“Why's that?” asks Twilight.
“For she watched the whole thing unfold... and she is the massacrer,” Sorrow states.
The room suddenly got a lot chiller.
“SO IT WAS…” Rainbow Dash yells, before she is muffled by Applejack.
“Then can Sorrow tell us what happened?” asks Twilight, nervously.
“No,” Sorrow states.
“Why?” asks Twilight, not really surprised.
“For she has no desire to speak to creatures of flesh and emotions,” Sorrow states, “Not once in our entire conversation has she added anything, all that I have said came from the remains of Joy.”
Twilight is about to question her further when suddenly Spike runs down the stairs.
“There you are *huff* Twilight *huff* I have been *huff* looking all *huff* over for you,” Spike huffs, obliviously out of breath.
“I'm sorry Spike,” apologies Twilight, “I should have told you I was back.”
“Don’t worry *huff* about it *huff* I only just got back *huff* myself,” Spike explains, still huffing.
“Did you send the letter?” asks Twilight.
“Yeah, I went to quills and sofas since it was closer, and borrowed a quill and some paper, and sent it off as quickly as possible,” explains Spike, “That why I was looking for you, I got a reply.” He hands Twilight scroll.
Twilight unrolls the scroll and reads it to herself.
“Who's in the cage?” asks Spike, noticing the hooded pony.
“She calls herself Sorrow,” explains Applejack, “She is the pony that we were chasing before.”
“Oh, you caught her then,” says Spike, amazed.
“Caught might not be the right word,” snickers Rainbow Dash.
“So what does Celestia say Twilight?” asks Rarity.
“She says that both her and Luna are coming here at once,” Twilight says, panicking, “When did you get this letter, Spike?!”
“About ten or fifteen minutes ago,” guesses Spike.
“Then they could be here any minute! We got to go met them!” Twilight yells, running up the stairs.
Twilight’s friends roll their eyes and follow after Twilight.
While the remains of Joy panic.
Twilight rushes to the door and opens it just as the first knock is heard, revealing the two royal sisters. Twilight had made it in time.
“Twilight, I am sorry that I didn’t come sooner,” apologies Celestia, entering, “When your letter arrived I was in the middle of something and didn’t read it until later.”
“Don’t worry, we've managed to contain the situation,” Twilight explains, “The creature is right now in my basement.”
“Is it properly contained?” asks Luna.
“Sadly not,” mutters Twilight, bitterly.
“I think you better explains everything,” orders Celestia.
Twilight does, not leaving out a single detail...
“I see,” Celestia says, frowning.
“Sister have you ever heard this race known as Shadow Men?” asks Luna.
“I was hoping you might,” replies Celestia.
“They sound ominous,” adds Applejack.
“She said that Sorrow is a Shadow Man of Sadness,” adds Fluttershy.
“What are doing, Twilight?” asks Celestia, to her once student, who is now pouring over one of the books from the university.
“Sorry, Celestia, but now that I know what their races name is I feel like I can manage a major breakthrough,” says Twilight, excitably, “In this language not knowing one word can make translating a sentence impossible.”
“Yes, I am aware of this,” replies Celestia.
“There has been these two words in the first book that have been bugging me and making any sentence with them in it nearly impossible to translate, for each word has multiple meaning,” Twilight continues to explains, “But if it they mean Shadow Men/Man, then it all makes sense.”
“What have you worked out, Twilight,” asks Rainbow.
“Well for starters, the book is called ‘Shadow Men: Enternal Walkers of the Shadow Realm’,” Twilight says, happily, “And also what the rest of their diet is.”
“And that is?” asks Rainbow Dash.
“It say that Shadow Men feeds off a single negative emotions that is part of one of five groups,” reads out Twilight, “These five groups have give different powers to the Shadow Men compared to the others… I’m not really sure what that mean,” Twilight says, confused.
“What are these five groups called,” asks Luna, “Maybe that will give us an idea what they are.”
“The first group is called Emotions of Flowing, the next is Emotions of Burning, the third one is Emotions of Force, the fourth one is Emotions of Many, and the last is Emotions of the Final Moment,” Twilight finishes.
“Which one has sadness?” asks Fluttershy.
“I think it says it is Emotions of Flowing,” answers Twilight.
“I wonder why,” wonders Fluttershy.
“Most likely because of tears,” states Luna, “Burning is most likely has something to do with anger, but I have no idea what the other three are.”
“I will continue to translate it,” states Twilight, closing the book, “It will be easier now that I have a name.”
“May we see this Shadow Man,” asks Celestia.
“I guess, but like I explained before it can escape from the cage,” Twilight says, walking towards the basement. She opens the door to the basement, which seems darker than before.
“Be careful, Princesses, it is a long way down,” Twilight warns, walking down the stairs.
“We will Twilight,” confirms Celestia, following Twilight down, with Luna and the rest of the girls behind. They soon reach the bottom.
“There she is,” Twilight says, pointing to the cage in the middle of the room, where the hooded of Sorrow sits, her head cast down.
“Is she alright?” asks Luna, “She doesn’t seem to be moving.”
“I will go and check,” declares Pinkie, hoping over to the cage, knowing no fear.
She sticks her hoof through the bars and waves it in front of the Sorrow's face. Sorrow doesn’t respond. Pinkie starts to poke her. Nothing happens.
“Maybe she is asleep?” suggests Fluttershy.
“She is still sitting upright though,” comments Applejack.
“She not a dummy I hope,” adds Rarity, worried.
“She seems stiff, maybe I should poke the mask instead,” suggests Pinkie, “She may notice that.” Pinkie moves her hoof towards the mask.
Suddenly a clawed hand shoots out of the robes and wraps itself around Pinkie leg. It then pulls Pinkie’s leg sideway, slamming her into the bars.
“PINKIE!!” her friends yell, rushing to her side.
Pinkie just continues to stare at the clawed hand, terrified. Each claw was longer than a normal pony's leg and looks shaper than a sword and more pointed than a needle. Pinkie can feel their sharp edges dig into her flesh. Then Sorrow hood starts to rise, a pairs of glowing dark blue sad eyes appear, soon the rest of the mask is revealed. It is no longer white, but pitch black. Everypony now found it hard to move under it gaze.
“You wish to steal somepony’s guard, somepony’s shield, SOMETHING’S FACE!!!” Sorrow yells, her voice sounding halfway between somepony wailing and somepony raging. It also feels ancient and powerful. “TO STEAL SOMETHING FACE IS TO STEAL THEIR IDIENTY, CAN YOU GUESS AT THE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS!!”
Suddenly Pinkie remembers the time when she thought that her friend weren’t her friend, but turned out to be just planning her birthday party. The sadness she felt, the loneliness she felt, the sorrow she felt, she remembers it all like it is actually happening. She starts crying.
“DON’T WORRY, PINKIE, WE GOT YOU!!” yells Applejack, as she and Rainbow Dash grabs hold of Pinkie, with a strong pull they manage to remove Pinkie from the grasp of the claws. Pinkie falls on the floor, sobbing. Fluttershy and Rarity start to try and comfort her.
The claws drop back to the side of Sorrow, where they turn back into clothed hoof, she drops her head down too. It feels like something just left the room, and everypony feels like a great weight is lifted off their shoulders.
“What is going on here, Twilight?” demands Celestia, who has had been to shocked to move. She starts walking to Twilight side with Luna beside her.
“I… I don’t know Celestia?” answers Twilight, “I have never seen the mask like that before.”
“What is wrong, Pinkie?” asks Rarity, “Tell us what is wrong so we can help.”
“Don’t leave me,” Pinkie cries quietly, gripping Rarity’s side, “I don’t want to be alone.”
“You are not alone, Pinkie,” comforts Fluttershy, “We are right here with you.”
Pinkie doesn’t seem to notice and just continues to cry.
“Why does the Pink one cry?” asks a voice behind them.
They turn around and to their horror see Sorrow standing there, out of her cage.
“KEEP AWAY FROM US YOUR MONSTER!” yells Rarity, gripping the still crying Pinkie.
“WHAT DO WANT NOW!” yells Rainbow Dash.
Sorrow backs off a bit from the hostile glares she is getting.
“I do not understand why you suddenly now seem to hate us with such vigour,” says Sorrow, confused.
“LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO PINKIE,” yells Twilight, “DON”T TELL US YOU DON’T REMEMBER!”
“Then what do I tell you then? For I don’t,” Sorrow says, her usual sad voice sounding slightly confused, “I caused this sadness?”
Some of the girls seem about to yell at her again, when Luna stops them.
“Wait, didn’t you say that there were two beings?” asks Luna, “Could what we saw before be the other one?”
Twilight thinks about that. “That might be the case,” agrees Twilight, realization dawning on her face, “If that is true then we just met the real Sorrow.”
“She felt very ancient and very powerful,” adds Celestia, still slightly amazed by what she felt before.
Sorrow hangs her head down. “Sorrow was born from the sad cries of a now long extinct creature, after losing its young,” Sorrow speak, as if she is recalling something, “She saw the evolution of many creature, including ponies. She also followed the ponies as they migrated to Equestria… she has been with ponies since the beginning of their existence on this planet… she is very very ancient.”
Twilight gobsmacked by this. How old does this make Sorrow? It must be over a billion years.
“This all very interesting but Pinkie is still crying!” yells Applejack, pointing to the crying pony.
“Oh sorry!” Twilight says, panicking, she rushes to Pinkie side, “What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know,” says Rarity, worried, “She won’t tell us.”
“She wants to help,” states Sorrow.
“Who does?” asks Rainbow Dash, angrily.
“The remains of Joy,” answers Sorrow.
“We don’t need your help!” snaps Applejack, “You caused this!”
Sorrow seems to hesitate for moment, then she moves her hoof towards her mask and removes it, showing the pained and sad face of Joy.
“Please let help fix this,” Joy begs, “I don’t want any more ponies hurt because of me. Let me do what Shadow Men of Sadness are meant to do and take away the sadness.”
The girls are shocked by this, for she removed the mask herself, despite the pain it will supposedly brings her.
She walks past Applejack and towards the crying Pinkie. Fluttershy, Twilight and Rarity move out of the way. She stands in front of Pinkie and lifts up her crying face, until Joy's sad eyes met Pinkie's crying eyes.
“I am sorry for the pain I brought you,” Sorrow says, looking like she is about to cry, “Let me now take the sadness away.” She then suddenly kisses Pinkie right on her open mouth, shocking everypony.
It only lasted a few seconds but to everypony there it feels longer. Joy and Pinkie part, their mouth’s still open. Everything gasps as a dark blue stream slithers from Pinkie mouth to Joy’s. Like a snake. It soon stops and Pinkie stops crying and instead looks confused and slightly embarrassed. In her place Joy is crying.
“I’m am so sorry,” Joy cries, tears streaming down her face, “I am so sorry I forced you to remember that.” She starts to move the mask back to her face, but before she finishes she says, “No pony wants to be alone.” She finishes placing the mask back on her face, and dashes back into the cage, like the bars will protect her from everything.
“What the buck was that??” asks Rainbow Dash, breaking the embarrassed silence.
“Pinkie, are you ok?” asks the slightly blushing Rarity, tapping Pinkie on the shoulder.
“Huh?” replies Pinkie, still confused.
“Do feel better?” asks Twilight.
Pinkie tilts her head slightly, “Actually I can’t remember why I felt bad,” Pinkie says, confused. Whatever it was that had upset her, has now disappeared deep within her mind, to the place where all bad memories go. “Actually I feel super happy... and super embarrassed!” Pinkie says, with a huge grin on her face and a slight blush on her cheeks.
All the girls sigh in relief, no pony likes to see Pinkie unhappy.
Twilight then turns to the two princesses. “What do you think about all of this?” Twilight asks.
Celestia closes her eyes and thinks for a bit, when she opens them again she speaks, “She is indeed powerful and this Sorrow even more so… but despite what Sorrow did to Pinkie I don’t believe either one of them to be evil.”
“How can that not be concerned evil?” asks Applejack, trying to hold back the anger in her voice.
“For we believe it was just trying to protect its mask, for it must of believed that Pinkie was about to steal it like what Twilight did before,” explains Luna, “It talked like it was protecting its face and identity, so to both it and Joy that mask is very important.”
“I guess that makes sense…” admits Applejack, “But it could still be evil.”
“But she didn’t physically hurt, even though it could have,” adds Celestia, “Those claws look quite sharp.”
“But we don’t believe it is good either, it is right now an unknown factor,” comments Luna, “But I believe Joy is good. For she doesn’t what to hurt anypony and took away Pinkies sadness somehow, she must still have a good heart.”
“She not moving again,” comments Rainbow Dash, peering in the cage at the now rigid Sorrow.
“Best not to disturb her,” Twilight suggests, “We don’t want a repeat of what just happened.”
Rainbow Dash nods and flies away from the cage.
“Luna and I will head back to Canterlot now,” Celestia says, turning toward the stairs, “We will return when we can talk to Joy again.” She turns to Twilight, “Make sure to message us if anything happens and will rush here as quickly as possible.”
“I hope you will take proper measures to guard yourself, Twilight,” asks Luna.
“Don’t worry I will set some alarm wards, and if those don’t work I will also set some other traps as well,” replies Twilight.
“Good idea, one can never be too sure,” agrees Luna.
Twilight shows the princesses and her friends to the door and after saying goodbye, heads back into the basement to set up the wards.
On the way home
“It was quite the day, wasn't it Pinkie,” asks Rarity, who is walking the pink mare home, who is right now spacing out.
“What? Did you say something, Rarity?” Pinkie says, noticing that Rarity just talked to her.
“Are you sure you are alright?” Rarity asks, concerned.
“Oh, don’t I'm fine,” Pinkie says, blowing it off, “I was just thinking about something.”
“Well if you are sure,” replies Rarity, still concerned.
By the time they reached Sugarcube Corner, the sun is just about set.
“Thanks for walking me home, Rarity,” thanks Pinkie, standing outside the door, “Will you be ok, getting back home yourself?”
“I will be fine, dear,” comments Rarity, “I planned to eat out to tonight anyway.”
“Oh, ok then,” Pinkie says, smiling. She waves Rarity off, as she heads home. When she is out of sight, Pinkie rushes inside and upstairs.
“Oh, Pinkie, you back,” calls Mrs Cake, as she notices Pinkie climb up stairs, “We will be having dinner soon.”
“I’m sorry but I think I will skip, I not that hungry,” Pinkie replies, before continuing up the stairs and into her room.
She closes the door of her room and slumps onto her bed.
She thinks back onto what happened today, one point makes her blush again.
“What should I do…?” she says to herself, “That was my first kiss.”
Back in Twilight’s basement
Twilight finishes setting everything up.
“Wow, that took longer than expected,” Twilight says, to Spike who is nervously watching the still form of Sorrow.
“Are you sure that this will be alright, Twi?” asks Spike, nervous.
“Don’t worry, Spike,” calms Twilight, “Even if it does escape I imagine it will just run away rather than attack us.”
“I hope so,” replies Spike.
“Come let’s go get something to eat,” Twilight says, picking up Spike and placing it on her back. She then climbed the stairs, careful not to trigger any of the wards or traps she set up. She turns off the light and closes the door, leaving the basement in total darkness.
Sorrow head raises, her glowing blue eyes cutting through the darkness.
“Soon the town will slumber and then I will seek.”