A Fearful Joke

by TheClownPrinceofCrime

Chapter 6: Living Your Worst Nightmare

Starlight was walking in the middle of the forest while the drone was hovering right in front of her. The camera zoomed in on her determined-looking face, but she kept her eyes focused on the path ahead of her. Then the drone suddenly turned to the right, allowing the unicorn to follow it.

After walking a few miles, she finally spotted a cave ahead right next to a dead end. Glaring daggers at the drone, the latter flew right inside the dark cave. Calmly breathing in and out, she entered the cave.

She lit up her horn in the darkness. "Trixie? Trixie, where are you?!" she called out. Her voice echoed throughout the cave.

She heard neither noise nor answer. Worried, she jumped over a log and ran. Then she suddenly stopped in front of a large boulder that had cut ropes lying around it. "Huh? They must have taken her somewhere! But where exactly?"

At that moment, streams of yellowish green gas filled the whole cave. Too late to protect herself with her magical shield, she tried to cover her face with her hooves until the gas entered her nostrils. She violently coughed with tears forming in her eyes. Then she re-opened her eyes and saw Trixie in a far distance. Her eyes glimmering with hope, she stood up on her hooves and ran as fast as she could.

"Trixie! I'm coming!"

However, large spikes sprouted from the ground and surrounded Starlight. The spikes formed mouths with sharp teeth and red eyes before they started hissing at her. "What the--?! What is happening?!" she cried out. The serpent-like spikes spread their coils around Trixie and started to choke her.

"Let her go!!" Starlight demanded, blasting her spells at the beasts. They unfortunately had no affect on them which made her widen her eyes in shock.

"Is something wrong, my furry friend? Are you hyperventilating? Is it a nightmare? Is it....fear?" Scarecrow taunted, emphasizing on the last word with a monstrous growl.

Dark figures grew out of the ground and formed into ponies....the very ponies she fearfully recognized. They grew sinister grins as they formed a circle around her.

"Would you look at that? A pathetic dictator who ruined our lives!" a stallion condescendingly spat.

"What are you doing here, huh? Do you really think we want you back here after what you did to us?!" a mare sneered, drawing dangerously close to her.

"I...I--j-just...I'm sorry! I thought you f-forgave me!" she replied, sweat drops falling from her forehead.

"LIAR! You're the same monster that manipulated us!"

"Tricked us!"

"Enslaved us!"

"Abused us!"

"You. Are. The WORST!!!" they taunted in unison. The frightened unicorn saw that her old hairstyle returned and tried to change it back to her current hairstyle. Her mane still remained untouched. The ponies then started to call her names.

"Starlight Glimmer? More like Trash-light Dimmer! Haha!" they laughed.

"Stop! Stop! Stop! You're hurting me!" she screamed, crying on the pavement. The ponies then laughed at her misery.

After a few seconds, she no longer heard them laughing. She opened her eyes and then noticed demonic figures with angry expressions on their faces. She slowly got up while she was still weeping. "Who...are...y-you..?"

"You don't belong here, worst pony!" one of the demons angrily shouted. "You should have suffered punishment for what you did!"

"You're an overpowered piece of garbage! Nobody likes you!" another added.

"Please....stop..." Starlight's words drowned out from the demonic screeching and harsh words. She again sobbed out loud and covered her face.

"Twilight and the others would be better off without you. You never change, you never learn, and you will never have friends." The demonic figures then formed into Scarecrow who used his staff to lift up her sobbing face.

"It pleases me to see a hero like you tremble...with fear. It's even more pleasing to see your greatest fear of all..." whispered Scarecrow, moving aside. The spikes continued choking the life out of Trixie while Starlight helplessly watched.

"Why, Starlight? Why....didn't you save me?" Trixie muttered, weakly gasping for air. Then the spikes instantly tightened the coils, snapping her neck.

Starlight laid there frozen, unable to fully process what just happened in front of her. The spikes tore Trixie's carcass apart and dived right back into the ground.

Scarecrow nonchalantly walked past her without looking at her. "You will bring death to all who follow you."

Starlight tried to ignite her horn to fully obliterate him in hellish fury, but she couldn't muster any more mental strength. Instead, she muttered an involuntary giggle. Her pupils shrunk, her eyes turned yellow, and her teeth turned light-green as she started to laugh uncontrollably. More tears started to flow from her swollen eyes, and foam came out of her mouth.

"Pretty fun coping mechanism, isn't it? If the world laughs at you, you laugh back at them! Nightmares are funny the more you get used to 'em! It'll be a silly roller coaster ride until you throw up, ask Mommy and Daddy for another go, and then the cycle continues! Sadly, you'll only be able to enjoy the ride once until you pass out...permanently. Well, it was nice to beat you, miss! Bye-bye!" Joker taunted, throwing a beet at her before taking off.

The beet started to tick with a timer. Meanwhile, Starlight continued to laugh until she felt her oxygen slowly running out.

Just as she was about to give her final breath, a grappling hook grabbed her hoof and took her up through an open gap. The beet exploded which ended up destroying the entire cave.

Starlight landed on Batgirl's arms who quickly administered the laughing gas antidote for her. Then the unicorn closed her eyes and felt despair overwhelm her senses.

"Trixie....I'm so sorry."

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Are the Joker and the Scarecrow the only Batman characters that appear in this story?

[Wild Stallion]

Ouch. Poor Starlight. She's really been put through the ringer huh?

11265494
I mean, Batgirl is also present.