1: The mists
Odium is coming.
Pinkie Pie jerked awake, her body slick and cold with sweat. She'd been having a dream, a dream of barren wastelands, of a land without laughter, of a land where the sky was red and the clouds rained ash instead of rain and snow. She turned over and looked out the window, smiling as she saw the luminous orb of the moon shining down on Equestria.
She tossed the soft sheet off her and stood up, stretching slightly, then walked out of her bedroom and down the hall. She crept past the twins' bedroom, it wouldn't do for them to wake up at this time of night, and moved silently down the stairs until she stood in the main room of Sugarcube Corner. She turned to her left and walked into the kitchen, the familiar scents of all kinds of pastries still hanging in the air. She could feel the slight itch to make something rise within her, but she shrugged it off, opting instead to head for the fridge. She raised a hoof and placed in on the handle, ready to open it and peer inside, hunting for a snack, when she heard something. Her ears perked up, twisting this way and that. She turned around and saw no one in the room.
“That was weird,” she said, then turned back to the fridge.
Laughter.
This time it was clear. She snapped around, hooves flying into a defensive position and ready to lash out at any attackers. Somehow she'd managed to pull a plunger from somewhere and she held it in one hoof, ready to be used. She scanned the room, trying to see anything out of place in the darkened bakery.
Laughter.
The voice wasn't coming from something in the room, it sounded like it was echoing through her mind. Pinkie gripped the plunger in two hooves, then slowly moved out of the kitchen through the doors, the soft flapping of their hinges went unnoticed by Pinkie as she crept into the room.
“I ain't afraid of ya!” she whispered loudly, careful not to wake anypony from upstairs.
Laughter.
Her eyes flashed to one of the windows and she paused, then moved quietly forward until she could look out the window and into the abandoned street beyond. She squinted, trying to see anything outside through the thick mist that had popped up in the night.
“That's funny,” she said to herself, “Dashie didn't say anything about having a night mist.” She looked closer out the window, trying to make out anything in the mist. Then she saw something. Beneath one of the lamps, just outside it's mist-enveloped light sphere, she saw a figure. Pinkie moved to the door and placed a hoof on the handle, then pulled open the top half of the door a crack so she could look outside.
She looked at the lamp, trying to find the figure again, only to realize that it was gone. She pulled open the top door a little farther and stuck her head out, looking this way and that as she tried to find the figure again.
“You couldn't have gotten that far!” she whisper-shouted into the night.
Laughter.
This time she heard it off to her left. She spun her head to face it and paused as the mist seemed to curl around it. She looked closer, the plunger clutched in her hooves, and gasped as she realized something. Whatever it was in the mist, it wasn't a pony!
She watched as the figure turned around and walked away from her, turning down the alley beside Sugarcube Corner.
“Oh no you don't!” Pinkie whisper-cried as she leaped out the door and closed it behind her almost too fast to see. She inched along the wall, careful to keep her eyes on the alley entrance. She knew from experience that the alley was a dead end, so the only way out would be to leave past her. She sidled up to the corner of the alley, then stuck her head out from behind the bakery and peered down the alley.
Mist, thick and silvery, obscured the end of the alley, though it must have only been ten feet or so from Pinkie's position.
Laughter.
The voice came again and she felt something within her spark to life, warming her and urging her forward. She let her hooves fall to her side, the plunger bouncing free of her grasp and rolling away from her. She stepped out into the middle of the alley then slowly, ever so slowly, moved down the alley. She felt the mist curl around her, growing thicker as she walked. The fire within her grew larger as she moved down the alley, pushing her on. She heard something fall to the ground behind her, at the entrance of the alley, but she didn't bother turning around.
“Pinkie!”
The cry caused Pinkie to pause and she slowly turned around to see a familiar, cyan Pegasus standing at the entrance to the alley, staring at her with concerned, rose eyes.
“Hi Dashie,” she said, almost wistfully. The tone made Rainbow Dash pause for a second, then stepped forward.
“What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night?” Rainbow asked.
“I know,” Pinkie said, smiling softly, “I just feel like I need to be out here.”
“Well, come inside,” Rainbow said, laughing nervously, “I don't want to lose you like I did Applejack.”
“You won't,” Pinkie stated, “I Pinkie Promise. I just want to check out the end of this alley.” She pointed to the alley behind her and smiled.
Rainbow shuddered in the night air, “I don't think you should go down there. I don't like the look of that mist. I don't remember anything on the roster for mist at night.” She moved forward slowly, cautiously. Pinkie gave a smile, then turned back to stare at the mist.
“I'll just be back in a few minutes, Dashie,” she said, then she started to walk into the mist. It curled around her, like it was guiding her forward. It slithered around her legs, cooling them as Pinkie walked deeper into the mists. She felt like something was calling her, something was pulling on her.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash yelled at the top of her lungs, but Pinkie just kept moving forward.
“Bye, Dashie,” Pinkie whispered, stepping into the thickest part of the mist and feeling something pull her away. She closed her eyes and let the feeling wash over her.
Laughter, thou art needed in a land beyond thine. There, thou wilt help bring light to that place, that place that is devoid of laughter and joy except for a few.
Pinkie Pie giggled as the voice echoed through her mind, you sound funny and you talk like Princess Luna.
The Princess of the Night is familiar with us, for what she bears is similar to what we both bear. The artifact thou bearest is part of that. It was shattered, but retained it's power. It is some of this power that we need.
Pinkie nodded.
Somepony needs a smile, then I'm your pony!
With that, the voice went quiet and Pinkie felt herself falling asleep. As she slept, her body changed and in a way that would make one pony very jealous.