• Published 11th Jul 2020
  • 3,430 Views, 707 Comments

The final challenge - Dianabel



The Legion if Doom and Grogar finally make their move, bringing disharmony to Equestria. It´s up to the mane 6 and their allies to save Equestria.

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Chapter 23: Laughter and generosity

Pinkie Pie didn´t recognize the figures looking at her, since her vision was blurry. Once her vision cleared, she recognized Cheese Sandwich, who was smiling from ear to ear. Though she was too tired to smile, his presence pleased Pinkie.

“Cheese…” she muttered weakly.

“Pinkie!” he replied happily.

The yellow earth pony hugged her with all his strength. Seeing that he was at the brink of choking her, Meghan and Moondancer intervened.

“Careful, careful!” Moondancer told him as she separated him from Pinkie with her magic.

“We don´t want to overwhelm her.” Meghan added as she held Pinkie on her lap.

“Meghan… It´s good to see you.” Pinkie told her.

“The same goes for you.” she replied.

The three ponies felt heartbroken. Pinkie wasn´t the colourful, positive, cheerful, and energetic mare they knew. Her colour was darker, her mane was straight, and instead of transmitting an aura of laughter, she transmitted an aura of sadness and hopelessness. They couldn´t imagine the pain that Twilight´s death brought her.

Their thoughts were interrupted when they noticed Pinkie staring estranged at Moondancer.

“Oh, right.” the unicorn laughed nervously. “I guess this is the first time we meet. My name´s Moondancer. I am one of Twilight´s old friends.”

Pinkie´s heart wrenched when she heard her deceased friend´s name.

“You were…” she muttered sadly.

Pinkie closed her eyes and lowered her head. Moondancer bit her lip and looked at Meghan and Cheese Sandwich, desperately asking them with her gaze what to do next.

“Why don´t we take you with the rest?” Meghan suggested. “I´m sure they´ll be happy to see you.”

“Ok…” Pinkie agreed with no emotion.

“Can I carry her?” Cheese offered himself.

“Of course.” Meghan accepted.

“Right now, I think you´re her closest friend.” Moondancer. “I´m sure she´ll be more comfortable with you.”

“Thank you.” Cheese muttered.

He walked towards Pinkie.

“Alright! We´re going to meet with the group right now. But don´t worry, you won´t have to walk. I´m going to carry you on my back, ok?”

Pinkie nodded. With her magic, Moondancer put her gently on Cheese´s back.

“Are you comfortable?” Cheese asked her.

“Does it matter?” Pinkie asked sadly.

“Well, after all you´ve been through, I think you deserve a break. And one important thing for a good rest is comfortability!”

“Hm… I guess so…”

Cheese smiled sadly at her. Moondancer and Meghan sighed.

“Let´s go.” Moondancer commanded.


As they walked throughout the cave, Meghan and Moondancer couldn´t stop looking back to check on Pinkie.

“I´m so worried about her.” Moondancer told Meghan in whispers. “I hope she recovers from this. Losing your friends is a really traumatic experience.”

“Yeah… She and I shared a friend that has also lost her life.”

“You´re talking about Applejack, right?”

Meghan nodded.

“I understand. Pinkie and I shared Twilight. Poor she. She´s lost five friends at once. How are we going to cheer her up?”

“Cheese might know how…”

They glanced back and saw how Cheese looked after her.

“You must be starving. Here! I made you some cheese sandwiches.” he said while taking out a trail of sandwiches. “Get it? Because of my name.” he laughed nervously.

“I don´t think that food will solve my problems…” Pinkie replied. “Besides, I´m not that hungry.”

“Oh.” Cheese looked down.

“But I might take a slice.”

“Sure sure! Eat what you want.”

“Thank you.” Pinkie Pie said sadly while taking a slice of his sandwiches.

Cheese gave her a sad smile in return.

After some time walking, they got to their destination. There were lots of unicorns. Some of them were with blankets, others nursing the injured. Between them, there were Moondancer´s friends, Minuette, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts.

“They´re back!” Minuette exclaimed after gasping.

She, Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts ran to Moondancer and hugged her.

“So, did you do it?” Twinkleshine asked anxious.

Moondancer nodded her head.

“Is she… alive?”

“Yes.” Meghan answered as she and Moondancer made way for Cheese and Pinkie.

The three unicorns sighed relieved.

“Guys! Pinkie Pie is here!” Lemon Hearts yelled at the group. “She´s alive!”

“Pinkie!” Saffron Massala and Party Flavour exclaimed at the same time while running to them, Double Diamond and Night Glider following behind.

Pinkie´s ears weakly perked up when she heard their voices.

“Hey…” she told them.

They helped her to get off Cheese´s back.

“You ok? Do you have any injures?” Night Glider asked as she checked her.

“You must be freezing. Here! Take my scarf.” Double Diamond said before putting his scarf on her neck.

“And my blanket too!” Party Flavour wrapped her up with his blanket.

“Do you need anything? Are you hungry? Father and I just made some soup.” Saffron Massala offered.

“She told me earlier that she´s not so hungry.” Cheese told her.

“But still… She might need some.” Coriander Cumin said while bringing a bowl. He let it in front of her. “Just in case.”

Pinkie sighed sadly.

“Thank you, but I don´t deserve all this care. You should have left me to die.”

Everypony gasped.

“Don´t say that!” Minuette said upset and heartbroken at the same time.

“What are you talking about? You´ve gone through the worst ordeal! This is the least we can do for you.” Moondancer tolf her.

“But I failed you! I failed all of Equestria! I failed-”

Pinkie couldn´t continue her sentence. She whimpered and sniffed.

“You think you failed our daughter, am I right?” a male voice said.

Night Light and Twilight Velvet joined everypony near Pinkie. Pinkie´s sadness got worse, as well as her feeling of guilt. Not only did not Twilight have the chance to say goodbye to her friends, she didn´t have the chance to say goodbye to her whole family. The loss of a friend was painful, but the loss of a child… that was beyond imaginable.

Pinkie sobbed and broke in tears on their hooves.

“I´m so sorry!” she exclaimed.

Night Light and Twilight Velvet hugged her.

“Don´t worry. It´s not your fault. We know that. You did all you could.” Twilight Velvet reassured her while stroking her mane.

“You were with our daughter every time she needed a friend. And for that we´re thankful.” Night Light added while shedding tears.

Twilight Velvet sniffed.

“Very thankful.”

“You were also there for Rarity.” Sassy Saddles walked towards her. “And any friend of Rarity, is a friend of mine.”

“But you should also know that it´s not too late for us.” Chancellor Neighsay told Pinkie as he came near. “We still can fight back. For Equestria and every other nation.”

“But Chancellor Neighsay, are you sure it´s a good idea?” Fancy Pants asked somewhat concerned. “Our main goal is to protect every citizen we can. If we fight back, the only thing we´ll get is getting ourselves killed.”

“Not to mention that would be berating poor Meghan´s work.” Fleur the Lis said while putting her hoof on Meghan´s shoulder.

“Oh, believe me, that would be the least of my worries.” she said with a nervous smile. “But Neighsay has a point. I don´t want to stay cooped up in here while Grogar continues to destroy us. I want to fight! Who´s with us?”

Unfortunately, the only response she got was silence. She sighed.

“I don´t know why I keep bothering trying to do a motivational speech.”

“Well, I´d also like to fight back.” Moondancer agreed.

“You didn´t have to do that speech to convince me!” Cheese hugged Meghan.

“Count us in too! We´re looking forward to kick some butts!” Night Gilder said while surrounding both Party Flavour and Double Diamond with her forelegs, who were wearing smiles on their faces.

“Me too!” Saffron exclaimed excitedly.

“Fighting is not one of my fortes, but I´d like to join you.” Sassy Saddles said.

“We would like to join but I think that we´re more needed here.” Twinkleshine said in the name of her friends.

“That´s completely fine. As Fancy Pants said, it´s also important to take care of our citizens.” Moondancer told them.

Everypony expected Pinkie´s answer.

“I appreciate your spirit. I´d also like to fight Grogar back for what he did to Twilight. But… I can´t. I have no magic, nor I have the energy or the motivation to do that.”

Everypony blinked. Then, they made a circle to discuss.

“What do we do?” Saffron asked worried.

“I… have no idea. But one thing´s for sure, Pinkie Pie has to fight with us.” Moondancer stated. “Otherwise, this won´t be possible.”

“But we cannot force her either.” Sassy Saddles replicated. “The poor mare has been through too much.”

“But deep down she does want to fight back!” Double Diamond claimed.

“Yeah, she´s not the type of giving up!” Night Glider agreed with him.

“The problem here isn´t that she doesn´t want to fight. It´s that she lost her spark. She lost her laughter!” Cheese Sandwich explained. “I know that from experience.”

“And how did you get your laughter back?” Neighsay asked.

“She reminded me my purpose. But I don´t think that´s what she needs.”

“Maybe we need to make her laugh!” Sassy Saddles exclaimed.

“I don´t think that´s the-”

“Good idea!” Party Falvour agreed with Sassy Saddles. “Cheese I can help you. I´m also very good at it.”

“Guys, you can´t-”

“What do you think I could do?” Party Flavour asked everypony.

“Ooh! Tell her how Meghan got all of us here. That´s a hilarious story.” Lemon Hearts put her shoulder around Meghan.

“Hilarious to you but not to me…” Meghan muttered under her breath.

“Guys…” Cheese was starting to get impatient.

“Or when you got your head stuck in that beaker!” Twinkleshine suggested.

“GUYS!” Cheese yelled frustrated to get everypony´s attention.

His yell silenced and scared everypony. Cheese inspired and expired through his nose before continue speaking.

“It´s sweet that you want to make her laugh, that´s something I also want to do! But the thing is that you can´t force laughter. The result you´ll get is putting more pressure on her, which it will make her feel worse and more guilty.”

“What do you suggest doing then?” Minuette asked.

“Um… Me and father went through something similar when we lost mother.” Saffron Massala said, almost getting teary. “Though painful, I think that sharing our feelings with our friends made us feel better. It´s not pretty but it´s necessary to let grieve.”

“I agree with her.” said Meghan. “Just like her, I lost a family member, my father, to be concrete. It felt terrible but with support and understanding me and my mom managed to move on.”

Though not comfortable with the idea, they agreed with Saffron.

Once they were finished talking, Cheese approached Pinkie and Twilight’s parents.

“It aches me not to do so, but I don´t think I can join you.” Pinkie lamented.

“It´s ok.”

“It´s just… even if I had my magic, I would still be as useless.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because… The only thing I would have is my laughter. And that´s useless against Grogar.”

“Ok. Maybe you won´t be able to defeat Grogar with laughter, that´s true. But! What´s not true is that neither laughter nor you are useless. Laughter is what helps us go through hard times, gives us the motivation to fight or going ahead, and makes the process less bitter.” he gently held Pinkie´s chin. “Pinkie, thanks to your laughter I found my way when I was lost. You helped me to find my purpose twice!”

“If it wasn´t for your laughter, our restaurant wouldn´t have evolved.” Saffron reassured her.

“If it wasn´t for your laughter, we wouldn´t have got our cutie marks back!” Night Glider said while she and her friends looked at their cutie marks.

Pinkie looked at all the ponies smiling at her. Her heart started to ache less, and she felt how her chest freed some weight.

“Wow, I- I didn´t think my laughter was that important. But… How will I be able to make you laugh? I still feel pain.”

“It´s normal that you feel pain.” Moondancer told her. “And maybe it will last for some time. Nonetheless, it will eventually go down. It´s ok to be sad.”

“I know it´s ok to be sad. But this sadness is deeper and too painful. I don´t like feeling this way.”

“Nopony does! But it´s better to feel than repress.” Meghan said.

“And to make things less rough, we´ll be here for you!” Double Diamond said.

“For all you need!” Party Flavour added.

Pinkie´s eyes got watery. Cheese smiled sadly at her. She hugged him immediately, surprising him a little.

“It´s ok, let it all out.” he left out a yelp, since Pinkie was hugging him too tightly. “Pinkie, I can´t breathe…”

Though he was uncomfortable, he didn´t want to undo the hug himself. It would be better if she was the one who undid it. So, he started tickling Pinkie. The mare started laughing, and as soon as she did, light started surrounding her. Everypony walked backwards. After a flash, the light disappeared, leaving Pinkie on the ground.

“Stop it Cheese…” she said between laughs.

She raised an eyebrow confused when she noticed everypony staring at her.

“What?”

“Your mane is curly again!” Saffron pointed out.

“And you´re pink is bright and bubbly too!” Night Glider added.

Pinkie looked at her hooves and her mane. She gasped and started jumping joyfully.

“My magic´s back!”

“How did that happen?” Neighsay scratched his head.

“Well… Rarity told me that Pinkie had strange abilities… I´m not sure if this one of hers.” Sassy Saddles replied, equally as confused.

“No, no. This… had never happened to me before. It´s kinda strange. But one thing´s clear. This is thanks to you. I still feel sad for my friends´ death but you made me realize that I still can do something, even if it´s only putting a smile on your face.”

Everypony hugged Pinkie.

“So, you´re in?” Meghan asked with a smile.

“Yes. But first, I´m so hungry! Could you bring me two bowls of soup?” Pinkie joined her hooves while pleading.

Couriander Cumin and Saffron Massala laughed.

“With pleasure.” he said.


“Here we are!” Derpy exclaimed excited when they arrived at the town hall.

Gently, she left Rarity on the ground. She knocked the door melodically. The doors opened slightly.

“Derpy? Is that you?” a female voice asked.

The pegasus nodded her head.

“Yup! And I bring Rarity too.”

They heard a gasp. Immediately after, the doors opened. The pony behind the doors was Mayor Mare. She and Derpy helped Rarity to stand up.

“Miss Rarity! Oh, my goodness you must be exhausted. Come here, it´s time you rest.”

As they entered, the ponies inside rushed around her, which made her feel a little overwhelmed. Luckily, a certainsea serpent friend closed their way.

“Distance, distance, guys. She needs some space.”

“Steven!” Rarity exclaimed. The serpent dragon lowered his head so she could hug him. “I haven´t seen you since Matilda´s wedding.”

“I agree! We need to see each other more. When this is over, we´ll go to the spa together.”

“If this is over…” she said sadly.

“Um… Can I pass? We´re close friends.” an earth pony shyly asked Steven.

“Coco! Let her come Steven, she´s my friend.”

The sea serpent nodded his head and elevated his tail so Coco could pass.

“Whatever are you doing here?” she asked her.

“I took the train to Canterlot but just when we got to Ponyville´s station, the changelings came. So I ran away. I was afraid of not finding a hiding place, but luckily everypony here was friendly enough to let me hide here.”

Rarity smiled sweetly at her friend. Her ears perked up when she heard some voices in the crowd. She saw two unicorns making their way through.

“Sorry, sorry.” they said each time they bothered somepony.

Rarity´s eyes filled with tears.

“Mom! Dad!”

“Honey!” Hondo Flanks exclaimed.

The two parents ran to hug their child.

“I thought we´d never see you again.” Cookie Crumbles said while crying.

“Me too…” Rarity replied.

She looked around, hoping that Sweetie Belle would come out the crowd at any moment. But she never appeared.

“Is Sweetie Belle with you?” she asked them.

Both unicorns shook their heads.

“We know nothing of her since the changelings attacked.” Hondo Flanks lamented.

“The only thing we can tell you, is that she was inside the School of Friendship with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.” Cookie Crumbles commented.

“Is she still there?”

“We don´t know. The ones who offered said they would check the school, but then they saw you coming and decided to rescue you instead.” the unicorn stallion informed.

“Oh.” Rarity lamented. “Well, I could go and check.”

“Honey no! You´re hurt and you have no magic.” her mother refused. “What you need is to relax.”

“That´s what we´re here for.” Lotus Blossom and Aloe approached Rarity.

“We might not have the materials, but we´ve been massaging injured ponies, and that relieved their aches somehow.” Aloe said.

“Oh no, no. It´s not necessary.” Rarity shook her head.

“Are you hungry?” Mr Cake asked as he calmed his crying twins.

“We don´t have much cupcakes left but there´s some for you.” Mrs Cake said as she showed the trail. There were very few cupcakes on it. Rarity couldn´t accept it. They needed it more than she did.

“No…” she nervously rejected. “But I could go out and get some food for you…”

“Not necessary.” Mr Cake shook his head. “We are improvising some soup for everypony.” He explained as he walked towards a pot on the fire.

“Besides, after all you´ve gone through, the last thing you need is putting yourself in danger for us.” Ms Cake said.

“Then, let me help with it.”

“No, no. You just sit here and relax.” Lotus Blossom sat her down.

“Are you cold? I´m making blankets for everypony, but I can lend you mine for a while.” Coco offered.

“No, I´m fine really. You need help? I can sew some blankets!”

“No, no. You rest. I´ll deal with this.”

“But…” Rarity sighed defeated.

Suddenly, in just a flash, Tempest, Sunset Shimmer, Capper, Dr Hooves, Octavia, DJ Pon-3, Cranky and Matilda appeared.

“You ´re back!” Derpy greeted them, while hugging Dr Hooves.

“Have you been able to deal with every changeling?” Mayor Mare asked them.

“All taken care of.” Dr Hooves replied.

“We locked them all in the castle rooms.” Cranky Doodle Donkey scratched the back of his neck.

“With extra security.” Sunset added sassily while looking at her horn.

“And fireworks!” Capper lifted Tempest.

“I´ll show you fireworks…” Tempest threatened him.

With a nervous smile, he let her back on the ground.

“But we´re not the ones you should focus in, she is.” Matilda pointed at Rarity.

The unicorn bit her lip.

“Um… But you´re also important. You´re the ones who saved me after all. There must be something I can do for you. You know, to repay you!” she laughed nervously. “Please tell me there is…”

“Girl! We are the ones who should be asking that.” Capper replied.

“NO, YOU´RE NOT!” she exclaimed frustrated.

Everypony took a step back. She covered her face in shame after she realized what you´ve done.

“Are you alright?” Capper put his paw on Rarity´s shoulder.

“I´m sorry. It´s just-” she sniffed before breaking on tears. “Everpony is being so friendly and offering me things after failing at saving Equestria! That´s the only thing you all needed, and I failed at providing you that! The least I can do right now is take responsibility for my actions by helping you in small tasks. But thanks to my state I can´t do anything!”

“But honey. You have nothing to take responsibility for.” Cookie Crumbles hugged her daughter.

“You were dealing with a treacherous villain.” Hondo Flanks added while stroking her mane.

“That´s no excuse! I´ve dealt with many villains before and this never happened.” she replied.

“But Rarity. We´re talking about Grogar here!” Cranky replied back. “He´s not like other villain you and your friends faced, and you know that better than any of us in this room.”

“Neither Gusty was able to best him if I´m not wrong.” Matilda added.

“But she still ended up defeating him. Which means that there´s still a chance that this nightmare ends.” Sunset told her.

“But if not me. Who will? None of my friends can…” Rarity lamented.

“I can go myself.” Tempest offered with a confident smile.

“But you can´t defeat him on your own. And even if you were accompanied, it would still be impossible. That´s why I want to help you so bad. I might not be able to defeat Grogar, but at least I could help you by taking care of you. It´s not much but it´s all I can offer. I don´t care if I´m tired. I have to.”

Everypony looked sad at Rarity. Steven Magnet sniffed.

“Honey! You are an angel!” he hugged her while crying.

“But Rarity we are not the ones who need your generosity.” Derpy reassured her.

“Then, who is it?” Rarity wiped her tears.

“You.” Capper poked her nose.

“Me?”

“Of course, you dummy!” Octavia exclaimed.

DJ Pon-3 nodded her head.

“I don´t understand.” Rarity said.

“This is a tale as old as time.” Dr Whooves said. “When a pony gives too much, there comes a point where they have nothing else to give and so they can´t give anything to anypony!” he paused for a moment. “I don´t know if what I said makes sense.”

“I think she got your point.” Derpy reassured him.

“What we´re trying to say Rarity, is that just as you´re generous with everypony, you also need to be generous with yourself. Otherwise you won´t be able to help.” Coco explained.

Rarity took a moment to think about the message they were trying to tell her. They were right. She was in no condition to do anything, no matter how small the task was. She needed to rest first.

“I didn´t think about it like that… I guess it´s because I feel so guilty to the point of thinking that I don´t deserve your help.”

“You are guilty of nothing of what just happened. If so, you are a victim. More than all of us.” Sunset stated.

“If so, the one who should be feeling like this is Grogar. But I´ll make sure he does.” Tempest smacked her hoof against the other.

“So… Will you let us help you?” Mayor Mare asked hopeful.

Rarity nodded with a tender smile.

“Yes.”

Everypony smiled in relief.

Firstly, they fed her and gave her the blanket Coco made for her. Then, they bandaged her wounds. Lastly, Lotus Blossom and Aloe massaged her whole body, relieving her pain.

Though still exhausted and with low energy, Rarity felt better. At least her whole body didn’t hurt. She noticed Capper trembling so much from the cold, that he couldn´t eat his soup. They offered him a blanket before, but he refused, saying that he didn´t need one due to his fur, but now he seemed to be regretting his decision. Slowly, she got in four legs and started walking towards him. She wrapped him up with her blanket.

“Take it.” she told him.

“I don´t need a blanket.” Capper replied as he handed the blanket back to her.

“Yes, you do. You´re chilling.”

“But what about you?”

“I´m feeling much better right now, I don´t need it. Really.”

“Well… In that case.” he took the blanket and wrapped himself with it. He purred in satisfaction. “Thank you, Rarity.”

“You´re welcome.”

Suddenly, light started surrounding Rarity. Capper meowed and jumped back, hiding behind Tempest. The mare frowned angrily, as he had thrown his bowl against her head. A flash of light blinded them. Once it was out, they opened their eyes. Rarity put her hoof on her forehead, being a little dizzy.

“Whoah… What happened?”

She noticed Tempest´s wet face.

“Oh dear! Here, let me clean you.”

With her magic, she took a napkin and wiped Tempest´s face. Everypony stared at her, not believing what just happened.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Rarity, look at what you´re doing!” Coco pointed at the napkin.

Rarity looked at the napkin. She was holding it with her magic! She gasped excited.

“My magic´s back! But how?”

“I have no idea. You just let a blanket on capper and suddenly, BOOM! A flash of light.” Dr Hooves replied.

Rarity blinked.

“I still don´t understand what happened. But if I have my magic, that means… I can look for Sweetie Belle!”

She rushed to the door, but her way was blocked by Steven Magnet, Capper, Tempest, Sunset Shimmer and Coco.

“You´re not thinking on going, do you?” Tempest asked.

“Of course, she´s my sister! I must find her.” Rarity answered while trying to go through them.

“Alone? All in your own?” Steven Magnet asked while playfully raising an eyebrow.

Rarity gasped moved.

“You´re coming with me?”

They all nodded their heads. Rarity ran to them and hugged them.

“Thank you so much!” she turned around. “And thank to all of you! It might seem a little out of nowhere, but I have the feeling that my magic came back thanks to you.”

The ponies smiled tenderly at her. Rarity´s parents came forward and hugged her tightly.

“I´ll find her, I promise.” she told them in tears.

Her parents also shed some tears before letting her go. Rarity gave everypony a last glance before leaving. Then, she looked forwards.

“Please, let her be there and safe.” she muttered worried.

She breathed and out and started running, the others following behind.

Author's Note:

I´m back everypony :twilightsmile:! After two exhausting weeks I finished my exams, and I also managed to upload this week :yay:. Thank you all for your patience and enjoy!