Author's Notes:

Done reading this and Kakumei's fight? Decide who wins right here!

“So, heard this one before? What’s brown and sticky? ...give up? A stick! Guehahahaha!”

Stony silence replied as his laughter died.

“Right right, that’s an old one… Well, let’s see. How about this: What’s orange and sounds like a parrot? Come on, this is easy! Time’s up! A carrot! Huehahahaha!”

Again, silence. Now he was beginning to get frustrated.

“Grrr… OK. How about: What do you get when you cross a chicken farm with a stick of dynamite? An eggsplosion! Yuehahahaha!”

For the third time, the pitch black, stoney room remained silent, dulling the roaring of Pratfall’s laughter at his own jokes. He stopped, turned, then bucked the wall several times, crying, “It’s. Comedy. Gold. Why. Don’t. You. Laugh!”

He bucked again and again until he felt his legs begin to burn, forcing him to stop. He fell to his haunches, sweat matting the short spikes of his mane, his chest heaving. Soon, between breaths, he began laughing uncontrollably.

“But the biggest joke...there’s nopony here to laugh! Heheheheeheahahaheh!”

As his heart slowed and his breathing returned to normal, Pratfall was about to launch into his encore routine—it slayed the audience every time—when the darkness surrounding him broke. First a tiny slit of light stabbed his eye painfully, then his entire body became enveloped in the stale, dusty radiance of artificial light. It was a dull, off-white glow that provided no warmth or comfort.

He crept forward, raising an eyebrow left, then swinging his head to the right, taking in his new surroundings slowly, fully. His eyes went wide, his face split into a huge grin. A twitch began at his right eyebrow as a hiss of air escaped his lips. The hiss became a whine which rose in pitch like a teakettle until it broke out into near-manic laughter.

“I’ve reached paradise!” he cried between laughs.

Surrounding him was the most glorious sight he’d ever seen. Shelves lined the walls as far as he could see. Where shelves were absent were instead giant bins. The floor was also lined with shelves or had tables lain out.

And filling every shelf, on top of every table, overflowing every bin were toys. Toys of all sorts and shapes, for all ages and interests, for colts, for fillies… It was every foal’s dream. And it was Pratfall’s entire life.

He gave another whoop of joy and dive bombed for the nearest bin, displacing a seemingly endless number of bouncy balls which clattered and bounced around the store. Like a tidal wave, they spread out, hitting a display of building blocks which collapsed like dominoes...right into a large domino display, which fell with the predicted effect. And all throughout, Pratfall laughed and laughed, flexing his wings, sending more waves of bouncy balls as he relaxed on top of the now much emptier bin.

He took another look around from his comfortable position. His mind had filled in the blanks, but he realized that it was a toy store. There were no price tags, but against the far wall he could see a checkout counter, complete with a register. Behind it was a door, with a bright red EXIT sign above it.

In the other direction were just more toys, though Pratfall could see some very expensive and well made types here or there. The whole store was empty and looked as if it had been for a long time. The lights above, a gentle and healthy gold, were bright, cheery, and inviting, but the shelves and toys themselves all had a faint layer...of…

He blinked, looking again. The dust that had been faintly covering everything was gone. Now the store looked brand new. It was still empty, but it seemed more like the emptiness just before the rush. It was pristine and ready for business.

Rubbing at his eyes, he looked again. It was just as he thought. Or...just as he had thought. As he had thought he had thought...

No no no, brain, he thought, smacking his temple to stop it hurting any more than it already did. Cracked? Now?

With a kick of his hooves and flap of his wings, he launched himself out of the bin and hovered, carefully examining everything. It seemed new, clean but, as he looked, he could see he had been mistaken. Off-colour paint and splinters dotted the wooden shelves, rust on the metal bins, carefully hidden by the goods but obvious to a close eye. Even the upper light, a sickly faint tinge of green, was clearly chosen to help dull the senses. It was sneaky, a dirty trick that his mind had overlooked in his excitement at all the toys.

His observations were interrupted by a booming voice saying, “Welcome, friends, to round one. By now you’re probably wondering where your opponents are. Well, look around! Somewhere within the Arena your obstacle to victory is thinking the same thing. So keep on your guard! You never know where they might be or what they might be capable of.”

There was a pause before the draconequus added, “Oh, and by the way. Once one of you has proven to be a clear victor, the exit will appear at the center of the battlefield. Good luck finding it! Ta!”

Pratfall stood, still as stone, as his brain slowly processed this announcement. The store...and Discord…

“No…” he said after a moment. “It’s here. It’s real.” He poked at his chest. “I’m not crazy. But—!” Realization dawned. “Discord is! Or close enough! Oh, whew, hehehehe. That’s a big relief.”

Satisfied that the changes around him were just a product of the Chaos Lord’s, well, chaos, he headed for the seemingly endless rows of toys, content to explore and see if there was anything he had never played with before. He adjusted his bag of tricks, surmising that he had room for a few more… He just had to find the right ones.

That was when he saw it.

Slowly he approached—how had he not seen it earlier?—with a sense of wonder and awe filling him. It was ringed off by a red velvet rope, which Pratfall ducked under. There, on a simple wooden table, was the largest, most beautiful dollhouse that Pratfall had ever seen. He reached out a hoof then let it fall. This wasn’t a mere toy, it was a work of art.

One side was somewhat drab and seemed to be a factory of some sort. It was fairly uniform, with a few large, opaque windows and tall, round chimneys. To one side of that were large, square connections. Storehouses, he assumed. But it was the other side that was of real interest.

It was more the traditional dollhouse look, with various rooms stuffed with little furniture and small toys. Disappointingly, there were no dolls, but it was still wonderful to look at. He slowly rounded it and found that the other side was closed again. This one seemed to be a storefront—specifically, a toy store.

It was an old mom-and-pop-style operation, taken to a magnificent extreme. The storefront was intricately carved wood, separated by stained glass windows that displayed various staple toys. Pratfall stopped for a moment and leaned in close, pressing his eye up against a window, but it was no use. He couldn’t see inside—though, in some of the other windows, he thought he saw movement.

He was beginning to wonder if he couldn’t somehow open one of them when a loud crash caught his attention from behind. Spinning quickly with a flap of his wings, he got down low, ready to defend himself against his attacker...but saw nothing as he slid to a halt.

“Sh-show yourself!” he cried, trying to calm the nervous excitement he felt and project the confidence he had always wanted. “That’s not a very nice way to play!”

Silence answered him as he finally saw what the noise had been. A large stack of building blocks had been knocked over, making an ugly pile where once a graceful tower had reached the ceiling. But as he watched, he slowly noticed that the pile had a gentle tremble to it. Slowly, he approached, his wings up and ready to push him back at the first sign of trouble.

With a tentative hoof, he quickly jabbed at the pile, pushing aside the blocks to reveal what was hiding underneath. There was a loud cry and a large shape burst forth and began running away as Pratfall stood, dumbstruck.

“It’s, it’s… It’s a pony!” he cried, clapping his hooves together in glee. Leaping up, he took flight and began chasing after it. “Waitwaitwait! Listen to my joke!”

The running figure paid no heed—He must not be used to good comedy!—and jumped over the counter with Pratfall right behind him. It headbutted the swinging door and the pegasus found himself flying into a shadowy cavern. Almost right away, he realized he’d lost the other pony. It had had a dark, near-black coat, so it had slipped into the shadows before he’d entered.

Maybe behind one of these pillars? he thought, landing. He hadn’t noticed them at first, it being so dark, but they stretched from floor to ceiling in crooked angles. Then he thought again. It was hard to tell in the flickering light from so far above, but they seemed...square?

He landed, the pony he had been chasing long forgotten, as he looked at one up close.

“Ooooh! They’re boxes! Or crates.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “What a crate trick!”

Upon closer inspection, he found they were all marked with various types of toys. He figured it must be the shop’s stockroom, which would make sense. Although the towering individual stacks hardly did.

“Now… Where did that pony go?” he wondered aloud. “He’s got to listen to my awesome new crate joke.” The pegasus laughed. “And then I’ve got to kick his skull in and win! Oooh, that reminds me...” He reached into the saddle bag at his side, pulling out a collection of what seemed to be sharpened teeth. “I’ll leave these around in case I miss him. Everypony likes surprises, after all, and nothing surprises like my Chompers!”

Taking off, he flew in a leisurely pace, going in between the various stacks and dropping a set of teeth here and there. He wound them tight, and their rhythmic chattering followed in his wake. Soon, he was calling out for somepony, anypony, to come out and play.

This was going to be so much fun!

Kakumei was not having fun.

Despite her initial excitement at Discord’s game—particularly his amazing offer—she had quickly began to wonder if it truly was worth any price. Not that the lives of her opponents meant anything to her, of course. Griffons, ponies, changelings… They were lesser beings. Fine sacrifices for her chance at making the world as it should be.

What was not worth sacrificing, however, was her sanity. And this damned place that Discord had sent her was pushing that to its absolute limits. She had thought ponies tampered with the world to a horrendous degree. But they could take lessons from the so-called king of chaos.

She had never really believed the histories that spoke of the draconequus’ rule before her time. They seemed like something from a hatchling’s tale, designed to scare them into complacency. Now she saw they undershot the mark, rather than exaggerated. He was utterly insane.

“But insane or not,” she told herself, “he can be used, like anything. And if it means putting my people on top where they so rightly belong…”

Her scales tingled with excitement. That was better; that was what she needed to focus on.

But it was so, so difficult.

She had expected a proper arena. A roaring crowd surrounding a circular pit. Her opponent, grim and determined, across from her. A true test of their individual abilities against one another.

Instead, she’d found herself in some sort of workshop. For toys. Piles of wood next to clockwork parts; tools left upon dirty cans of paint. It was a mess. But hardly the worst part.

After Discord’s further instructions, she had began exploring, careful to be thorough but efficient. The workshop was huge and dark. And frustratingly empty. Then she came to a simple wooden door. That’s when she began to get angry.

On the other side was a similar workshop. In fact, she might’ve been so inclined to call it the same one. Except this time it was huge. Everything nearly the same, save being four times larger.

It was then that she noted something else. Before this, she had kept her emotions in check. Her mind was focused, its goal clear. But seeing this had unlocked the rage that the foolish ponies always stirred in her. This unnatural control of reality. And this made it worse.

As she came over the initial shock, and the rage grew, the room...changed. It was subtle, at first. But the more she noticed, the angrier she got, and the faster it changed. The dark, drab yellow lighting brightened in intensity, then took on a red tone. The air became humid and hot, even steamy. And at the same time, everything within the room became more dangerous.

Tools took on wicked edges, with super sharp blades. Paint became poison. Toys became weapons—although with a certain toy-like look.

Empathic morphology, she realized. Intense, dangerous, and blasphemous magic to be sure.

Kakumei knew she had to settle down. To control her thoughts and emotions. It was technically Discord’s magic, this was true, but she was the direct cause of it. And that was not acceptable.

She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, bringing it to an even tempo. Control, she told herself. You are in control. You are in control. You are your own master, not the world around you. Be a Dragon: strength, wisdom, superiority, grace, intelligence.

It was an old ritual, retooled from her lifelong struggle against her race’s single shame: the Greed. That damnable trait was the only thing keeping her kind from their destiny as the world’s rulers. But, through iron discipline—and distraction, she admitted, substituting knowledge for gems as far as her own ‘hoard’ went—she had been one of the few to truly overcome that innate pitfall. Not eliminate, sadly. Not yet.

That’s what Discord was for, after all.

Between her desire to win and her meditation, Kakumei’s focus went from burning wild with anger to a pinpoint of controlled, icy fury. And with it, the room reacted. Slowly she forced her thoughts to shift it back to relative normalcy.

With one last slow exhale, she rushed out, determined to find her opponent and leave as quickly as possible. She walked along, passing table legs the size of tree trunks, their canopy the table above. Giant, half-finished toys were scattered around; a doll, its eye sockets black and empty, watched her progress as her own eyes darted to and fro, on the watch for movement. So far there had been nothing.

After a few minutes, a new sight caught her eye: a sliding glass door, very different from the rough wooden one she had gone through before. Passing through it brought her to what looked like a toy store, thankfully sized appropriately. The shelves were stocked to bursting, the counter clean but unstaffed. But what really stood out was a huge dollhouse, exceptional in its design and detail. She ambled to it and looked it over.

As she marveled at its construction, she had to fight to resist the sudden urge to own it. It was clearly one of a kind, expertly made. No doubt worth a fortune. The little windows were made of thick crystal, the woodwork cherry wood. And all those little details, such as the cute toy shop sign, which swung free, and just the barest hint of aging here or there...

“No!” she cried, taking a quick step back. It had almost had her, the desire to add it to her meager hoard back home. But if she let it take hold, then what? What other marvels might it find to take in this place? She shivered a little, embarrassed at the moment of weakness.

Without even looking at the dollhouse, she headed on down the aisles, again seeing nopony, until she saw another sliding door. An exit? she thought. She hoped.

But as she approached the door and opened it, the room she found herself in was the exact same one. Complete with counter, toys, and that beautiful dollhouse. Annoyed, she headed down the same path, past another door, opening it to reveal…

The same room. The same toys. The same dollhouse.

Faster this time, she headed down the aisle, past the door, into—

—the same room! Frustration mixed with just a hint of panic as every time she opened another door, there was the dollhouse, taunting her. She began running as fast as she could.

Aisle. Door. Same room. Aisle. Door. Same room. Aisle. Door. The same damn room!

She stopped in place, her heart pounding, as the rows of toys seemed to taunt her. Glassy, dead pony eyes stared into her very soul, as stuffed animals with wild smiles seemed to shake with laughter. A small voice told her this was the battlefield responding to her emotional state, but she couldn’t seem to focus.

This place… It’s affecting my mind… I can’t, can’t…

Then her eyes caught the dollhouse once more. Only this time, it was not her Greed it brought out, but instead her panicked anger. The dollhouse seemed to warp the very air around it, perhaps the source of the strange empathic magic. How had she missed it before? Now as she looked upon it, her scales itched in irritation at the sheer audacity and unnaturalness of it.

Kakukemi roared as loud as she could, shaking the surrounding shelves, sending toys crashing to the ground. She charged, belching fire at it and striking it with her claws. Her paw came down, slamming against the roof and rebounding harmlessly.

At the same time, she was knocked to her feet as the entire room shook. “Shi—!” she cried, slamming her head against the dollhouse painfully on the way down. The room shook again, causing her to tumble along the floor.

Her head ringing, Kakumei gripped at her skull, waiting for the room to stop shaking. Ceramic dolls shattered, wooden rocking horses splintered, and plastic balls bounced all over as the toys fell and exploded.

After a couple moments, the room finally stilled and she dared to crack open an eye and look at the dollhouse above her. It didn’t have a scratch.

“Wow, that was really something,” came an amused voice from behind her. “Kind of stupid, aren’t you?”

With a push of her wing, Kakumei righted herself and got into a defensive posture. There, on the other side of the counter, lounged a pegasus pony. He had a smug smirk plastered on his stupid horse-face, but conceited pity in his eyes. “What do you mean, I’m stupid?” she asked, insulted.

He gave a chortle, gesturing with both a hoof and a wing towards the dollhouse. “Trying to hurt that. It’s something special, yeah? Why would you want to break it? Really dumb.” He sniffed. “But you’re just a dragon, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“What,” she said quietly, icily.

“A dragon. You know, right? Big muscles and fiery tempers.” He pointed at his head. “A bit short on the brains, though. Everypony knows that!” he cried as he took to the air, barely avoiding the charging Kakumei.

In a move of impressive dexterity, she had leapt, turning her body into a spear as she shot for him right over the counter. All four claws landed on the far wall as she twisted and jumped back on top of the counter. The pegasus, however, was flying down the aisle, laughing his head off.

“Get back here!” she cried. “We have a fight for me to win!” Nothing but laughter replied as she took off herself, sprinting down the aisle. Though he was flying, he could hardly get up to full speed in the cramped shop. Surprisingly, he landed expertly and slipped right through the door.

She passed through it herself and saw they were in a massive warehouse—thankfully normal in scale, just huge in dimension. The pegasus was hovering above her.

“Sorry about that, maybe that was a bit much,” he said, not sounding sorry at all. “Let’s start again! I’m Pratfall! Do you want to hear a joke?”

“Excuse me?” she replied, caught off guard by the sheer stupidity of the question.

“A joke! C’mon, everypony loves jokes!”

Kakumei ground her teeth. “What a damn waste of time… Don’t you get it? I’m your opponent, Kakumei. Get down here and die like you deserve!”

“Die? That reminds me of a great joke. A minotaur, a changeling, and a dragon walked into a bar, and the changeling says—”

“Shut up!”

Pratfall blinked, confused. “Not a Bar Joke fan, huh? OK, how about this… Knock knock!” The young dragon remained quiet, her fangs showing. “Uh…” He hesitated. Did she know how a Knock Knock Joke went? He tried again. “Knock knock?” The silence continued again, so he added, “This is where you say—”

“I don’t give a damn! Are you really that stupid or are you just trying to piss me off? ‘Cause I assure you, I am already there.”

He scratched at the back of his neck. “Uh… That’s not very nice…”

“Nice? Nice?” she said, taking on a mocking tone. “If you haven’t noticed, this is a fight to the death. The stakes are impossibly high! This is not a time to be nice, and it’s definitely not the time for your imbecilic jokes!”

At last, she seemed to get through to him as his flapping slowed and he lowered all the way to the ground. With his descent, so too did the expression on his face fall, like a deflating balloon.

“Well, you’re just a meanie,” he whined.

“Enough!” Kakumei shouted. “I am tired of you wasting my time!”

Kicking a hoof at the ground, Pratfall looked thoughtful and hurt, but there was a suspicious glint in his eyes. He said, “Fine, then! No jokes! Your loss!” Stomping a hoof on the ground, he was unaware that the air around him had begun to shimmer with heat haze as his anger took effect. “Let’s play a game. It’ll be fun.”

He’s completely oblivious to what he’s doing! She herself felt the rage come back, speeding up the change around them. The storage area started becoming a clear hazard: boxes barely stacked, awaiting a crash at the slightest touch; contents changing from harmless dolls to Real Kitchen Knife Set! For ages 6 and below. Plenty of sharp edges!; the floor became scattered with transport trolleys.

“You imbecile, can’t you see? This isn’t a game! You pitiful ponies think you can do whatever you like—well no more! I’ll kill you for your impudence, your ignorance. And then I’ll kill the next, and the next, and however many more it takes until Discord gives me what I deserve!” She couldn’t help herself; that thought was too pleasing, too delightful.

She cackled.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” cried the pegasus. He gave a wordless scream then flapped his wings, shooting himself straight for her. Despite herself, she was caught off guard. He slammed into her, hooves first, knocking the breath out of her but little more thanks to her tough hide. They tumbled backwards.

Kakumei tried to bite down on the pony’s muzzle as they were locked together, but he was crazed, stupid, and she was still catching her breath. She could lightly feel him striking at her sides, her thick hide softening the blow, and was aware they were rolling on the ground. Finally, she managed to get an arm free enough to twist it, then scratch down with her claws. In too close to truly stab into him, still she scraped skin, felt blood, as her five talons scored along his rump.

The pegasus cried out and in desperation headbutted her. The pair saw stars and Kakumei felt herself land on the ground as he disentangled himself from her and took flight with a powerful flap of his wings. The atmosphere surrounding them was charged with energy but thick with tension, both fighters’ emotions made punishingly real. The dragon found each breath began to be laborious, not helping her spinning vision, still reeling from the headbutt.

Of course such a buffoon would have a thick skull! she thought to herself as she got to her feet and readied herself to fly after him. With a quick trio of flaps she was airborne, going as hard as she could so her enemy couldn’t get away.

The chase was on, and she was not about to let her victory escape!

Though it was all he could do to keep the tears back, Pratfall told himself he wasn’t running away. He was just finding the best place to make that mean dragon pay! Even now, he could hear her yelling and roaring, telling him to stop, that he was stupid, a coward.

And she had laughed at him.

He slightly shook his head. Don’t think about it, Pratfall. She’s the dumb one! Doesn’t even know how to respond to a basic Knock Knock Joke! No, she laughed at me instead!

Though he’d mostly avoided thinking about it, there had been times when Pratfall wondered if he could truly kill somepony for his goal. He had avoided answering that question until that moment. She had laughed at him. Now he had no doubts: If she had to die, well, she earned it.

Pratfall figured his best bet was to catch her off guard. He knew dragons were tough, but she seemed kind of small and easily riled. If he went through another door…

There, up ahead, he saw one. He laughed as he noticed some of his Chompers still chattering around it. Diving, Pratfall bore straight for it, landing, opening, and passing through it in a few dexterous moves.

It was the same warehouse, only big. And it seemed he exited through the door he had come in, as his teeth—now twice his own height—loomed menacingly. Perfect! he thought. That’ll do!

Satisfied, he dropped some of his sharpened jacks in the doorway and took off again, looking for a high spot to watch the fun. There, against a nearby wall, were a stack of crates, but at this size he could easily squeeze into the spaces in between. There, he barely managed to stifle his laughter as the door opened, revealing his golden opponent.

Though Pratfall had failed to take into account Kakumei’s toughened scaly hide, the bottoms of her feet were a bit more sensitive, especially to the piercing prick of the scattered jacks. She cried out, hopping from one painful point to another, completely oblivious to his giant Chompers heading straight for her. His whole body tingled with excitement as they chomped closer and closer…

He couldn’t help it. He laughed.

That got the dragon’s attention and she turned, seeing the looming white of the fangs biting for her. She belched fire and shot forward, burning a hole just big enough for her to jump through.

“Gah! No fair!” he cried. “Using fire is cheating! The game isn’t fun if you cheat.”

“You bastard!” she replied, flapping right for him. “This is no game! Stand still and fight!”

He barely managed to scrape himself out of his little hidey hole as she crashed into the boxes, sending splinters and shards flying. More falling than anything as she whooshed over his head, Pratfall landed hard. Fire rained down, singeing his feathers as he barely ran away from his raging opponent. He began regretting ticking her off so much.

The room’s temperature was sweltering between the fire behind him and Kakumei’s anger changing the room. Already he could feel his fur dripping with sweat. The worst part was that he was slowing down and she seemed to only move faster and faster.

Desperately, he sought another door. That was his only hope…

“Door, door, door, door, door…” Door! Out of the corner of his eye the shine of glass seemed to materialize from nowhere.

Leaping as hard as he could towards it, he heard the dragon curse and crash into a stack of crates as she failed to match his sudden turn. Pratfall lowered his head and smashed through the glass, leaping up over the counter and circling to the other side of the dollhouse, as he was in the toy shop once more.

He stood and waited as he heard curse after curse and the crashing and shattering of wooden boxes. Then, though it was smashed through, the remains of the glass door were thrown wide, slamming into the wall and shattering the rest of the way. Framed by the door was his opponent, and she was terrifying. Her fangs were bared and fire slipped through between them; a similar fire seemed to burn in her eyes.

“I. Have. Had. It!” she screamed. She breathed flames, blasting the counter away. Pratfall could only stand and stare, afraid that she might do the same to him if he moved even an inch. “This is a bad joke and I will not tolerate it any longer! I am a dragon! A dragon! Why Discord? Why!? Why was this the opponent?” Her talons flexed, breaking through the wooden floor with a loud crack. She glared at the pegasus. “You worthless, spineless, powerless fool! Why are you even here? Do us all a favor and stand still so I can get out of this madhouse!”

The last word rang out with an emphatic echo, fading to silence save the hyperventilating of Kakumei’s post-rage. The pegasus himself just stared, dumbfounded and astounded at the outburst. Then his face fell as realization dawned. This wasn’t fun.

“I’m tired of this game,” Pratfall said flatly, gently kicking at the tiled floor with a hoof. Almost instantly, the lights began flickering as the wooden shelves peeled and rotted. The cr-r-ack of snapping tiles underhoof echoed loudly and glass cases shattered.

With a wary look at the empathic changes around her, Kakumei’s patience snapped. “You idiotic fool! Cease your irresponsible tantrums! Do you not realize you’re disregarding the natural order, changing the world like that? What will it take to smash through that moronic skull that this isn’t a game!”

“My moronic skull?” the pegasus said quietly. “Your skull is moronic! Maybe I should smash through yours to show you how wrong you are!”

“Oh! Is that another one of your jokes?” the young dragon taunted. “Forgive me, but pony humor is so subtle… It almost sounds like you parroted me, like the empty-headed simpleton you are. As if you just couldn’t come up with anything on your own. But no, clearly it was just the work of a master comedian. Ha! Ha ha ha!” Tilting her head back, bringing a scaly claw in front of her mouth, her false laughter echoed in the darkening room.

The echo of the laugh pounded at Pratfall’s ears, filling his mind. His body shook, his eyes raced, desperately seeking an escape, but no matter the direction he turned the laughter just. Kept. On. It was just like before; just like all the befores. He’d done his best, he’d given it his all, but they kept laugh, laugh, laughing at him. His jokes were great. His gags the best. But still they found him the funniest thing of all.

He could hear them all. All of them laughing. It was a cacophony of shame at his expense.

He put his hooves to his ears and tried to shut out the sound, but nothing would stop it. Stop it. Stop it!

“Stop it!” he roared. “Stop. Laughing. At. ME!”

And he turned, slamming his hoof into the dollhouse, breaking through the roof with a tremendous crash.

Immediately, a giant hoof broke through the ceiling above Kakumei. She had just enough time to turn and begin the flapping of her wings to save herself when it came crashing down, cutting off her roar of terror with a terrible finality. The hoof slammed into the ground flat, cracking the tiles below. The giant limb, covered in a soft, pale violet coat, twisted down before raising.

Pratfall removed his limb from the dollhouse, then flicked it hard, saying, “My jokes always bring down the house, but your laugh is annoying.” Then he was quiet—quiet as the world was quiet. Nopony to laugh at his joke.

But nopony to laugh at him, either.

Coming back to his sense, Pratfall slowly walked behind the counter where the glowing red EXIT sign seemed to be inviting him. Though curious, he kept his eyes away from the large, circular impression where his opponent had once stood. Nor did he let them look up at the hole that opened up confusing and painful consequences about his surroundings. Suddenly, Pratfall knew he had broken something in this place. The magic would leave. His paradise was destroyed.

As he gently pushed open the door, darkness was all that awaited him. Yet he wasn’t scared or worried. No. Already, his depressing thoughts of what he had lost were fading, replaced by excitement and expectation. What would Discord think of for the next round?

His teeth shone in the dying light of the toy store, his smile wide as a laugh escaped his throat. He laughed and laughed and laughed, chuckled and guffawed and chortled and sniggered. This time the echo was one of pure joy, his joy. As he took his first step out, he could feel that he hadn’t broken it after all. Life and laughter would fill the toy store forever, thanks to him.

Thanks to him, the wonder survived. And so he laughed, and this made him laugh even more.

He’d had such a good time already… Surely he’d have even more fun with his next opponent. Whoever it would be, surely they’d have a better sense of humor than his last.