"Is sanity the price to pay for power!?"
-Dante, Devil May Cry 4
Apple Bloom trotted next to 'Faith', glancing at the silver alicorn from the corner of her eye, ducking her head when 'his' eye ever caught hers. Honesty and Applejack told about Faith. The red abstract had spoken of good times and bad, chuckling about how his brother had done played some trick, only to quickly tell the filly that ‘you shouldn’t do that’. Applejack had been much the same way, after she had gotten Honesty out of her head; she had painted the picture of an angry stallion who held a high moral code.
Apple Bloom had wanted to meet this stallion, to find out what his deal really was. And when she did… he wasn’t him?
"Apple Bloom, if you wish to ask me something please do so.”
"... what do we call you? I mean, you're Cadence, but you are wearin' Faith's face and using his voice..." Apple Bloom kicked at a stone that lay in the middle of the lane, watching it skip into the grass. "It's just so confusin'!"
"I think it is just as confusing for the princess as it is for you," Sue Pie said gently. She looked up at the clouds, wishing there was a way to get to wherever Clyde was taking them faster. She didn’t like being out in the open, even if it was a beautiful day. Her husband had said little after their awakening, only telling them that they needed to get a move on. Granny Smith and Apple Bloom hadn't liked the idea of leaving the others behind but Clyde had told them that he suspected that Laughter would not let any creature hurt the others until she was done playing with them.
Cadence smiled. "It is... I have heard of 'out-of-body' experiences, but this seems to take it a step further." She glanced at the mirror wings, taking just a moment to flex her face, watching in slight amusement at the faces she was forcing Faith to make. “You have no idea how strange this feels… all the muscles are different and I feel so… bulky.”
"Princess, how did you end up in Faith's body?" Inkie asked. "And why are you just now letting us know?"
"And where is Faith right now?" Blinkie asked.
The princess shook her head sadly. "Believe me, I wanted to let all of you know I was safe... so to speak. What do you know about Trixie and Faith's time in the dungeons?"
"Not much," Clyde admitted, shifting slightly. With Cadence's help he had gotten Granny Smith onto his back, letting the old mare rest as he led them towards their destination. The weight didn’t bother him, as he had given his daughters rides up into their teens and Granny weighed about the same. "Miss Trixie isn't one to open up to most ponies and I think Faith is trying to put on a brave show about how bad it was. Think he realizes how nasty it is for us out here and doesn't want to look like he is whining or complaining."
"Sounds like Faith," Cadence muttered. "I haven't known Faith for a long time... but in that time I have found that he is one of the most self-sacrificing ponies there is. Bouncing around his brain for the last week has only confirmed that suspicion. He… keeps too much to himself." The alicorn of love flexed her wings in agitation. "You know about Doubt though, right? The first one?"
Apple Bloom frowned. "I thought Faith was Doubt... or is it Doubt was Faith..."
Granny Smith scoffed. "These young'uns and their changin' their names all the time! I just got use ta callin' Nightmare Moon Princess Luna, then that Doubt fella had ta change his name a few times and leave us all reelin'! No respect for their elders, I'll tell ya what."
Cadence found herself thankful Granny Smith was along; her rumblings and rantings made her smile and kept her thoughts from settling on the dark and depressing. Her silver horn flared and Cadence carefully lifted Apple Bloom up and settled her on her back, her wings tuck tight against her sides to keep from cutting the little filly. "What do you know about the Elements of Harmony?"
"Other than they are all nuts?" Apple Bloom asked, causing Inkie and Blinkie to choke back laughter.
"Other than that," Cadence said.
"...they helped defeat Discord and Nightmare Moon!"
"That's right," Cadence said. "A long, long time ago, six abstracts, which each represented one aspect of life, aided Princess Celestia and Luna. They were Honesty, Kindness, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity and Faith."
Sue frowned. "I thought the final element was magic."
Cadence nodded. "Yes, and that is where the problems began. My aunt, Princess Celestia, made a mistake; she feared the power of the abstracts, so she hid the name of one of them..."
"Faith?" Inkie asked.
"Correct.”
“Why?” Inkie asked. “Why just a name?”
“ Abstacts are influenced by the world. Celestia thought that if only she knew Faith’s name, she would have power over him and thus the other abstracts.” Cadence shook her head. “My aunt was… different back then. Discord had destroyed much of the land and she feared another battle could ruin everything.
“But Celestia only knew part of the story. If everypony forgets about an abstract, they grow weak and fade away. When that lost emotion is felt again, a new abstract is born.”
"Or ascends, like Scootaloo?' Apple Bloom asked as they made their way around a bend and began to descend down into a large shallow valley.
Cadence nodded. "Right. Because even Celestia forgot Faith's name, he forgot his name too... and his purpose. His brothers and sisters abandoned him, figuring that he would just disappear."
“They left him to die?” Sue asked in horror.
"Disgusting," Clyde rumbled. "They ought to be ashamed of themselves!"
The alicorn of love silently agreed, deciding not to mention that, thanks to being in Faith's brain, she knew his secret: when he had been abandoned he had barely been colt by modern reckoning. There was enough hate when it came to the abstracts. "But instead of fading away, Faith sought out other ponies. First was Princess Luna... but her anger at Celestia fed into Faith's anger at her and, well..."
"Nightmare Moon," Blinkie supplied.
"Right. So then, Faith found another pony, a student of Clover the Clever named Clockwork. Clockwork is the one that gave Faith a new name."
"Doubt," Apple Bloom said. Her brow scrunched up. "But wait, does that mean there wasn't a Doubt until Faith came along?"
"Very clever," Cadence said pleasantly, even as her gut tightened as she thought about the mad abstract. "You see, by taking the name Doubt and having a greater presence in Equestria, Faith stole the original Doubt's job. And an abstract without a job, he or she..."
"Fades away," Apple Bloom said. "But Doubt didn't?"
"No," Cadence said darkly, a scowl marring Faith's face. "She did not. Doubt somehow found a way to continue on... she find some abstract that she could draw power from and used it to her own ends." The currently silver alicorn shuddered slightly.
"You don't have ta go on if ya don't want ta," Apple Bloom said gently.
"No... no, I need to talk about this." Cadence cleared her throat. "Doubt blames Faith for everything she had done. And maybe she is right, but-"
"Don't matter if she is right or wrong," Clyde said, turning right. Apple Bloom and Granny Smith, looked about, startled by the seemingly barren landscape. They opened their mouths to question what they were seeing by Clyde cut them off. "Faith seems to be working to redeem himself... she just wants to find some pony to blame while she whines."
"My thoughts exactly," Cadence said. "So... You now understand the deal with Faith and Doubt?"
"As best as I'm goin' to, I guess," Apple Bloom admitted.
Cadence smiled at that. "As for why I am inside of Faith's body... when we were in the dungeons... I am ashamed to admit that I had a moment of doubt. I'd already given Doubt a hoofhold into my head back when Twilight had gone dark after the wedding and the changelings... but being down there gave Doubt enough leverage to worm her way into my head. She took over my body and forced me to watch as she plunged my horn into Faith's body.
"But the moment that happened, something strange occurred. I wasn't in my body any more, I was... well, I was sliding into Faith's. I don't know how it happened, but my spirit was transferred to Faith. I… I think it has something to do with abstracts.” Cadence shut her eyes for a moment, digging through Faith’s memories. They were tougher to get to, with him in the grip of Laughter, but she could find them. “I think because abstracts are connected to ponies and usually don’t have physical forms that I… kinda became like them when Faith and Doubt fought.”
“You became an abstract?” Sue asked.
“Something close. My talent is spreading love, which is pretty close to being an abstract… I think the time Doubt spent with me, combined with my own abilities let me do some magic that normally only an abstract can do. Problem is that I do have a body so I am kinda suck.
“But back to the dungeons. The problem was that I wasn't strong enough to fight Faith's spirit... abstracts are very strong-willed and Faith's spirit overpowered mine. I could see and hear all he did but couldn't make his body do anything I wanted... until now."
"Yes, now," Clyde said. "What has Laughter done to everypony?"
Cadence glowered. Of all the abstracts, Laughter was rapidly becoming #2 on her Hate List, right below Doubt. "She set a trap. From what I gathered from Faith's memories, Laughter and Pinkie-"
"Not Pinkie," Clyde snapped. "This is all Laughter."
Cadence pursed her lips but continued. "Ok... Laughter went into Twilight's mind. Faith and her thought Laughter was just trying to brainwash her, but now I think what she was really doing was leaving a back door in Twilight's mind. She knew she couldn't break through Twilight's mental shields, but if she could trick Twilight..." Cadence sighed. "It is hard to explain... I only understand it a tiny bit and that is because I wasn't affected like the rest of you. When the trap went off Twilight sent magic into each of you and connected all your minds. I think you all shared a vision that you thought was real... that allowed Laughter to attack Twilight's mental shields, as well as Faith's and Honesty's and the Princesses'; they aren’t dreaming but they aren’t awake either…."
"Then why are the rest of us awake?" Inkie asked.
Cadence focused. “Faith’s memories show Laughter to be a bit… smug. She wasn’t evil back when he knew her, but she wasn’t the nicest abstract. I think she doesn’t view any of you as a threat because you don’t have magic.”
“And she took my big brother because he broke Applejack out of it!”
“Right, but we can worry about that later. Right now we need to figure out a way to break the rest of the group out of Pinkie and Laughter's-"
"Stop," Clyde said sternly, turning to stare down Cadence. "My daughter isn't doing this."
Granny Smith hopped off Clyde's back when they arrived at a small farm house in the middle of the dark and barren field. "Clyde?" Sue asked. "Why are we home?"
"I know you feel like that," Cadence said as Clyde led them into the Pie Family's house, "but you have to face facts... the abstracts corrupted Twilight's friends-"
"You’re wrong," Clyde said, marching down the hall. He hadn't been home since just before the queens' arrival; the Pie family had been coming home from Manehatten after selling a load of their finest geodes when all of this had begun. They had tried to make it back but had joined up with the rebellion shortly after. Now, Clyde regretted that choice. "My Pinkie is the only pony that has ever made me laugh... and she understands how dangerous a Pie is." Clyde walked up to a door and, opening it just enough to poke his head in, glanced inside. "If she were the queen, she would never have let us go."
"Clyde, please," Cadence said. "You-"
"If I am wrong, what do you call this!" Clyde snapped, throwing open the door for all to see.
There, tied to the simple bed with sheets, lay Pinkie Pie. Not an alicorn, not a queen... just Pinkie.
"What the hay?" Cadence whispered as Sue and the Pie sisters rushed over to the pink mare, quickly tugging her free of her bonds. "How is this..."
"Pinkie?" Sue whispered, stroking her daughter's cheek.
"Mom?" Pinkie whispered, blinking her eyes, coming out of the trance she had been in.
"We're here Pinkie."
“Is it her?” Apple Bloom asked nervously. “You know… really her?”
All of the Pies trembled at the same time. “Yes,” Inkie, Sue, Blinkie and Clyde all stated.
The pink mare began to smile even as happy tears rolled down her cheeks. She gripped her father’s hoof, speaking rapidly. "That mean abstract... she tried to trick me! I knew that she didn't want to make ponies smile like I do, so I told her no way, OJ! She wanted to wear me like a Pinkie Suit but I told her there wasn’t enough room and she should leave! Oh, and she kept calling Faith bad names and I told her he was my friend and I don’t like ponies making fun of my friends so she could go clop herself! She didn't like that and said she needed me to behave..." Pinkie licked her lips. "So she tied me up and then made herself look like me! I tried to tell her that it was a mean prank but she wouldn't listen..."
Sue hugged her daughter. "None of that... you just rest." She squeezed Pinkie tighter, only to find that she was now holding empty air.
"Are you kidding?!?" Pinkie exclaimed, now standing on her dresser. "I have been resting for the last few months… laying in that bed, Laughter feeding me and keeping me in a trance… no parties, no fun! I can’t rest now! There is some meanie-bo-feanie wearing my face and hurting my friends!" Pinkie leapt into her closet, sending bits of clothing flying all over.
"And... and how do we do that?" Apple Bloom asked.
"We take the fight to her!" Pinkie said, bursting out of her closet wearing her Mare-Do-Well hat and cape. "Mom, Dad, sisters, Apples, Faith-"
"Cadence... long story."
"-okey dokey...” Pinkie pulled the hat down a bit lower and draped to cape over the lower half of her face, “let's...get...dangerous!"
And thus the truth is revealed: EVERYTHING we have seen with 'Pinkie' was all Laughter.
With each abstract, i wanted to do something different... have them have their own style. It struck me as I plotted out this part that everyone would be expecting Laughter and Pinkie to be bonded... and it fit with the whole Inception/Wonderland theme if Pinkie and Laughter WEREN'T, and all that we had seen of her had been a trick. It also fits well with Cadence wearing Faith's body.
This chapter might get some complaints for being a review of events, but I felt it was needed. Cadence has been out of the story for quite some time so I wanted to get everyone back up to speed. Don't worry, the battle of the brains is coming.
So... we have Laughter on one side and the Pie family, what remains of the Apples, and Cadence on the other... this is going to be interesting.
What a blast from the past.
Laughter, you poor, poor abstract. You're screwed.
Oooh... so Pinkie was able to resist Laughter? And now she goes to war? Oh, that abstract is sooo screwed...
Wait... how did Clyde know? He was there or what? Pie's sense? I don't get it. It looks like only he knew.
"What do you know about the Elements of Harmony?"
"Other than they are all nuts?"
BWAHAHA!
you really really REALLY like throwing curve balls....some of them almost feels a little 'Deus ex Machina'
that darkwing duck reference, so golden! i love how pinkie immediately accepted that faith is now cadence.
Great Chapter!
I Apple Bloom's directness and THAT last line
"She could go clop herself!"
Pinkie, language!
I feel bad that Laughter also has to die. I hoped she was also a "good/sane" abstract. But if Laughter dies, who will be the next Laughter? Could be Pinkie, would be obvious. But that would be really scary, Pinkie with the powers of an abstract. Faust save us all...
I always thought is was odd that someone as perceptive as Pinkie Pie would become a Queen that makes things so unfun for everybody, so I believe that she didn't actually turn and that Laughter is wearing her face
Now you definately gotta wonder why only Clyde realised Pinkie wasn't Pinkie but Laughter. Doesn't seem to make much sense, but oh well. At least one of the mane six had enough morality and brainpower to tell her abstract to go buck itself. That aside, tell us, Cadance, what's it like being a stallion?
That reminds me very much of Darkwing Duck
2270539
Clyde has the sixth sense like Pinkie does... and a father would always recognize his children (A good father that is)
2270526
Maybe Surprise
So Cadance literally becomes the Abstract of Love... imagine Shining becoming the Abstract of Courage
Wonder if she will get her body back, get a new one or just fizzle out and die?
Things just got epic. Can't wait ti read the next chapter!
I have to say at first I thought all of this was a trick by laughter to mess with everyone's heads, but after reading his chapter I'm glad that we're dealing with the REAL Candance and Pinkie Pie in this chapter.
Great explanation on how all this came about and how Pinkie survived after all this time.
Nice callback to one of my favorite childhood shows at the end of this chapter.
Will we get to see the Party Cannon in the next chapter ?
So please do keep up the good work on such a great tale as Laughter's going to get it now.
I have a feeling that Pinkie is about to unless a hellstorm of movie references and bad puns...please tell me she is going to do it! PLEASE!! Please Please Please Please Please Please Please !
2270616
Surprising how Laughter, Kindness and Generosity are all hypocrites
Is that the entire fic summary? I can't tell because knighty broke the fucking 'more' button.
dah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah
dah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah
PIN-KIE PIE!
... No way OJ?
2270479
Pinkie Sense.
My thoughts exactly. Their baby brother needed them and they turned their back on him and left him to die. And then when he comes back they accuse him of being evil and even after he reforms they refuse to give him a chance because they are so far gone. And they call themselves "The Elements of Harmony". And yet somehow they think they're better than Celestia and Luna or even Discord.
People like that who are so convinced that they can do wrong are the worst because they think the world is their's to control and they can care less about what others think of them and yet still get away with everything. Hm now where have I seen this before?
I didn't see that coming. So Pinkie was the only bearer who managed to tell her element to buzz off?
2270501 Well, Pinkie's grasp on reality has always been more random than she is, so it makes perfect sense that she'd adapt instantly to reality changing.
Well, I wasn't expecting that.
Oh there not fighting the real Pinkie... Well Laughter is Screwed.
Well now, this was a twist! I really, really, really hoped (much as Clyde) that Laughter was ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL the whole time, because I just couldn't see Pinkie acting and treating others the way we were being shown. But the revelation that Pinkie refused Laughter completely still took me by surprise. Good job there!
Didn't see that one comin'
Darkwing Duck ref for the win!
Please let somepony say:
"This chick is toast!"
First off, I want to hug you for the Darkwing Duck's reference.
As for Clyde, I guess the reason why he notice something was up with Pinkie, was because of the special connection he formed with Pinkie. He must have held her closed to his heart, never letting him lose faith in her, and I guess he must have sense something was off with the 'fake' Pinkie because of it. I also think the reason why the other Pie didn't shared the same suspicion was because the effect that Pinkie had created must have left a greater impression on him than the others.
As for Pinkie Pie...let face it, she is just that awesome! It is similar to what I have read in one of the Kingdom Hearts's crossover, during a situation of her avoiding being turned into a Nobody, just because she didn't give up hope. You have brought back that same feeling of epicness that I got from that story. And, if I am correct, Mare-do-Well is going to make her appearance next chapter (or, if not, at least it was still an awesome moment). So, big fat congrats on the awesomeness!
As for C&Cs:
The alicorn of love silently agreed, deciding not to mention that, thanks to being in Faith's brain, she knew his secret: when he had been abandoned he had barely been colt by modern reckoning.
> Capitalize ‘alicorn’ and ‘love’. Add ‘a’ after ‘been’.
"No... no, I need to talk about this."
> Remove the extra space.
They opened their mouths to question what they were seeing by Clyde cut them off.
> Replace ‘by’ with ‘but’.
[All cases of ‘...’, with the exception of those that began into a new sentence...]
> That extra space need to be deleted.
I could see and hear all he did but couldn't make his body do anything I wanted... until now
> Comma after ‘did’. Also, as mention, delete the extra space.
When the trap went off Twilight sent magic into each of you and connected all your minds.
> Comma after ‘off’.
...the Princesses’; they aren’t dreaming but they aren’t awake either…."
> Comma after ‘dreaming’. Not sure about this one, but I don’t think you need that final period at the end. I think you only need an ending when involving ‘!’ or ‘?’.
“Right, but we can worry about that later. Right now we need to figure out a way to break the rest of the group out of Pinkie and Laughter's-“
> Comma after ‘now’.
They had tried to make it back but had joined up with the rebellion shortly after.
> Comma after ‘back’.
"We're here Pinkie."
> Comma after ‘here’.
lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VH-31hz6KKI/UUOcWFEQfNI/AAAAAAAAZuk/shcj5jvwaa8/s1600/Sad.png
It all makes sense now...
and that last line... all I can say is...
you didn't just go there...
Still, great as always.
Cool, that leaves two queens, I wonder if they realize just how out of luck they are.
Pinkie is the terror that flaps in the night!
She is the surprise in your cereal box!
She is the pony that has just run out of pink smoke... oops!
What the buck?
You once again, have thrown me a complete curve ball defender. Was not expecting Pinkie to be, well, Pinkie. I thought she was just like the others: brainwashed into thinking that what the queens were doing was okay. It makes sense though, with Pinkie being the only to defy her element. But now that Pinkie is out of her trance, an epic showdown of epic proportions is about to take place!
Pinkie & family, Applebloom, Grannie Smith, and Cadence vs. Laughter
"Get ready for the fight of your life!"
- Game Announcer, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
- Super-Brony12
So...fluttershy resisted Discord because it was fundamentally against her nature to be cruel, no matter how Discord tried to play the idea around.
So now Pinkie resisted Laughter because its fundamentally against HER nature to force laughter that way, so she could resist no matter how Laughter played the idea? Makes sense. But makes me wonder about Fluttershy again.
Fake pinkie<Real Pinkie: le alone all of real pinkie's friends.
also if pinkie is not an alicorn then I would bet that laughter will die and pinkie becomes an abstract
I'm starting to see that the 3 Adopted Abstracts (Faith, Honesty and maybe Kindness) have a conscience since they were ponies at one point unlike the other three high and mighty abstracts (Loyalty, Laughter and Generosity)
Also; I just noticed this but before the whole ascension thing:
Faith (magic): Twilight (Unicorn)
Honesty: Applejack (Earth Pony)
Kindness: Fluttershy (Pegasus)
Generosity: Rarity (Unicorn)
Laughter: Pinkie (Earth Pony)
Loyalty: Rainbow (Pegasus)
Laughter vs. Pinkamena Diana Pie/Pinkie Pie
Awwww i love the fact that Pinkie resisted that ancient punk and her charms. Whatever she comes up with is gonna be awesome.
2272050 maybe she was convinced that forcing kindness into ponies was like force-feeding a sick animal, they may not like it, but they need it...
Also, as told before, some of the abstracts did not like Kindness, because she was slowing them...
2273622 ifi remember correctly...honestly is the eldest
2275291
Eldest yes, but not high and mighty
The fight between with Laughter should be interesting, really did not see all of this coming with Pinkie resisting Laughter and Laughter impersonating Pinkie. Liked the reference to Darkwing Dark at the end and looking forward to the confrontation with Laughter.
I loved the original story, And i love this one as well. But i guess just having Twilight and Faith connected as well as the flirting comments in the first few chapters, gave me the impression that they were together. therefore TRIXIE NEEDS TO DIE.
just saying.
i am eagerly awaiting the next chapter.
Fukken, forget it! I'm done trying to guess where this is going. You no longer write in straight lines. There's a fourth dimension here, and mah brain can't take it. I'mma just read and stop making predictions.
Now, gonna go clean my brain off the walls.
I can imagine Faith's voice done by Kevin Conroy
Can't wait to see what the new chapter will tell
2270526 if pinkie pie ascends not even Laruen Faust will be able to save us
so bow down to your goddess of laughter and remember
smile
2270447
I take back what I said about the four imaginary friends. They have betrayed the Pink One, and now they can all go to-
*Clutches chest* ~Hnnng!~ My childhood! It has risen from the grave as an unkillable zombie!