The Mare Who Laughs sat in a chair sleeping in one of her gang's hideouts after nearly a week of manic celebration and planning the next step. She twitched and grunted in her sleep as she dreamed.
In the dream, a pink mare wandered lost through a maze, the various statues that lined the pathways of the twisting maze smiled maliciously. Soon, the maze shifted to twisting and winding corridors.
The pink mare stopped, sitting on her haunches and looking around. "Where am I? How did I get here?", the pink mare asked herself. "Come on think.", the pink said to herself before coming to the shocking realization that she couldn't remember her name. "Come on think. Glbgdhtq would say..." She froze in shock when she heard herself speak gibberish and couldn't remember the name of the pony she was thinking of or their face. She knew the pony was her friend. Maybe?
Suddenly a group of pictures appeared on the wall in a frame depicting a nurse being carved up with a scalpel. Gasping in horror, the pink mare backed away from the picture frame depicting the horrible crime.

Another picture frame appeared on the wall behind her depicting several pictures of a dusty pink filly screaming in horror as the corners of her mouth were cruelly carved into a smile. Tears of fear began welling in the pink mare's eyes as she scrambled to the center of the hallway.

Another picture frame appeared with several pictures of a unicorn stallion with a broken horn having a strange breathing apparatus forced over his snout, being made to breathe in some strange green gas and him dying laughing.
More and more pictures appeared on the walls. They all depicted hundreds of mares, stallions, fillies, and colts lying dead in the streets of a city, all had their faces twisted in frightening smiles.
The pink mare began to cry and tremble as she whimpered, "What's going on? Where am I? How did I get here? And why can't I remember who I am?"

Suddenly, malicious laughter began echoing throughout the twisted corridors as the walls closed off forming a single spiraling hallway. "Come on down and we'll show you!", three voices said in unison. A light outlining a door shown at the far end of the hall.

Her legs trembling uncontrollably, the pink mare made her way slowly to the door. Looking up at the symbol on the door, it had three paintings of theatrical masks, all depicting laughing faces. As the pink mare reached her hoof to the door handle, it snapped open revealing a dark room with a cone of light shining in the center. As the pink mare apprehensively walked into the room, the door slammed shut, disappearing into the darkness.

Out of the darkness three full length mirrors slid into the column of light. Inside the mirrors appeared three stark white mares with green manes and unnaturally wide smiles, all laughing. The first mare's mane hung limply, the second mare's mane was poofy, the third mare's was a pompadour. The pink mare gasped in horror as the glass of the mirrors cracked and shattered as the three mares stepped through.

"Why have you done such terrible things?", the pink mare asked.

"Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo!", the first mare laughed hoarsely, "Because it's funny!"

"Funny?!", the pink mare said indignantly, "It's not funny to hurt others ponies! You need to stop now!"

"HAHAHAHAhahahahAHAHAHAHAhahahaha!", the second mare laughed maniacally, "Stop?! We're not going to stop until we bring laughter to every last pony in Equestria!"

"No no no no no!", the mare shook her head as tears ran down her cheeks, "That's not how you make ponies laugh."

"Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee!", the third mare giggled maliciously, "Yes yes yes yes yes! And we won't stop until everpony gets the joke!"

The three laughing mares began walking towards the pink mare as she backed away, terrified. A fourth mirror appeared in the dark. The pink mare froze in horror as she bumped into the mirror. Turning her head, she saw no reflection in the mirror. Turning back to the three laughing mares, the pink mare shrieked in terror as the three mares shoved her into the mirror. The pink mare pounded on the inside of the mirror frantically as she screamed and begged wordlessly to be released. The three laughing mares shoved the mirror into the darkness.

The Mare Who Laughs snapped away with a snort. Her mane went poofy as she began to laugh maniacally. Walking over to her steamer trunk, she put on her garish purple suit. Sitting at the vanity, she applied bright red lipstick. There was a knock at the door behind her. "Come in!", she cackled.

"Uh...hi boss.", a rotund earth pony said walking in, "We nabbed those three reports like you wanted."

"Very good!", the mare cackled, "Make sure the boys have three cameras with a tape in each. I'll be along shortly. My adoring public deserves to see what I have to say!"

Writing a short letter, she placed it in an envelope then plucked a hair from her tail and placed it in the envelope. Sealing the envelope and placing a stamp on it she addressed it, To: The Statue of Discord in Canterlot C/O Their Royal Hiney-nesses, From: Ha-ha-ha! Fetching a fresh cylinder from the wall, she fitted it with a fresh snoutpiece. Walking out the door, she passed the envelope to a henchpony, "Place this on one of the bodies being sent to a morgue in Canterlot with directions to have it mailed to the Royal Palace."

As the Mare Who Laughs walks up to a locked door, she gestured to two henchponies wearing clown masks. Unlocking the door, the trio walks inside the room that was little bigger than a supply closet. Turning on the light reveals a sea green pegasus mare duct taped to a chair with a heavy black cloth bag over her head. From under the bag came muffled crying.

At the sound of movement in the room the pegasus mare began thrashing her head about trying to shake the bag off. "Please, just let me go!", the pegasus begged in a muffled tone under the bag.

The Mare Who Laughs gestured to the two henchponies. They set down a chair, left the room, and locked the door behind them. The Mare Who Laughs checked her mane in the reflection in the lens before turning the camera on. Walking over to the duct taped pony, The Mare Who Laughs took the bag off her soon-to-be victim's head.

The pegasus mare blinked, her eyes adjusting the light. She gasped, seeing a stark white mare with poofy green mane and an unnaturally wide smile with bright red lips taking a seat across from her laughing maniacally. "Please let me go. I promise I won't tell anypony.", the pegasus mare begged terrified as tears rolled down her cheeks.

The Mare Who Laughs shushed her. "Now now!", the mare chided her victim gently, "Calm down. You didn't even ask me why I brought you here today!" She cackled maliciously as her unnatural smile spread wider.

"Wh-why did you bring me here?", the pegasus mare asked, trembling.

The Mare Who Laughs gestured to the camera theatrically, "Why to give you an exclusive interview for my adoring public! I promise after it is over you'll never see my face again! Let's begin the interview shall we?"

"H-how should I in-interview y-you?", the pegasus mare stammered.

"Oh you know! Typical reporter banter, tell your name, who you work for, and who you're interviewing!", the Mare Who Laughs cackled before clearing her throat, "Then ask things like my family life or what I did before this or whatever comes to your mind. I promise after the interview you'll have a smile on your face. Think you can do that?"

The pegasus mare nodded her head nervously.

"Excellent! Let's get started! Whenever you're ready!", the Mare Who Laughs cackled.

The pegasus mare cleared her throat and did her best to sound less afraid, "M-my name is Hot Take. I work for WLSTA out of Manehattan. I am interviewing the wanted terrorist known as the Mare Who Laughs.", she said as a fearful tear rolled down her cheek.

The Mare who Laughs smiled unnaturally wide while cackling maniacally as she spoke, "Thank you for having me, Hot Take!"

Hot Take trembled as she continued, "W-w-what did you do before becoming a terrorist?"

"I was a comedian called Jane Napier working out of Maretropolis. My career was going nowhere and I had become chronically depressed.", the Mare Who Laughs said between cackles, "I had recently married a pegasus author named Windy Prairie. Times were tough as she was still waiting to get her first book published. To make some fast cash, I had taken up boxing. One day, I was approached by some mobsters to take a fall. The money was right, but I couldn't risk my integrity as a boxer. The day after I refused to take the fall, the mobsters tried to run me down with a wagon loaded with barrels of alchemical compounds. My wife shoved me out of the way and got crushed under the wheels. I didn't fare so well, as one of the barrels fell off the wagon and ruptured, dousing me in the alchemic compounds."
The Mare Who Laughs took a moment to clear her throat, "When I woke up in the hospital, I found I looked like this. Three days later I tried to hang myself, only for the rope to break. As I laid on the floor crying, I suddenly found I couldn't stop laughing. For some reason everything just seemed funny. A realization came to me." The Mare Who Laughs started laughing uncontrollably.

A tear ran down Hot Take's cheek. "I'm sorry for your loss.", she said sadly, "What was your epiphany?"

The Mare Who Laughs took a cylinder with a snoutpiece on it from inside her purple coat. "I found out that everything was a joke! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAhahahahaha!"
She stalked over to Hot Take as slipped the snoutpiece over her muzzle as Hot Take tried to twist her head away. Green gas sprayed into the snoutpiece and a few seconds later Hot Take started laughing uncontrollably as the Mare Who Laughs laughed with her. After several minutes Hot Take began to cough up blood as she died with a gurgling laugh. The Mare Who Laughs gave the camera one last smile before turning it off and taking out the tape.

As the Mare Who Laughs reached the door her mane became a pompadour and she started giggling maliciously. Reaching up a hoof, she knocked on the door. When the henchponies opened the door, she walked past them and went to her office. Entering her office, she placed the tape and cylinder on the desk, opened a box. She took out a syringe filled with a green glowing substance.

As the Mare Who Laughs left her office, she pointed to two henchponies who had their faces painted up like mimes and wore black body suits. Placing the syringe under her mane, the trio walked to another locked door. Unlocking the door, she nodded to the two henchponies who locked the door behind her after she had walked through. Flipping on the light switch revealed a large empty room with several dusty pallets laying around. In the center was a grey earth pony stallion tied to a chair with a full head clown mask over his head that had the eyes duct taped over. She stacked up several pallets into a makeshift seat. She then turned on the camera and removed the clown mask off her next victim.

The stallion stared indignantly at his kidnapper. "Who are you?! What do you want with me?!", he snapped.
Giggling maliciously the Mare Who Laughs sat on the pallets. "Aww, what's the matter? Don't you recognize my face?", she chuckled. She gestured at the camera. "As for what I want, I want to give you an exclusive interview for my adoring public."

"Why would I give an interview to some filthy foal murdering terrorist?", the stallion growled through gritted teeth.

"You don't want to know where I come from and why I do what I do?" The Mare chuckled as she grinned unnaturally wide, "I promise when you're done here you'll never see me again and you'll leave with a smile on your face."

"Fine.", the stallion growled in the back of his throat, "Why do you do these horrible things?"

"Nah ah ah!", the Mare giggled, "First you have to give your name, who you work for, and who you're interviewing. Then you ask your questions."

The stallion sighed angrily. "My name is Spinning Headline. I work for KLTV Manehattan. I am interviewing...if that's what you can call this...the wanted terrorist who is painted up like a hateful harlequin known as the Mare Who Laughs." Spinning Headline grumbled softly before continuing, "So what drove you to this?"

"Why thank you for having Mr. Headline.", the Mare Who Laughs giggled maliciously, "I worked in an alchemical factory in downtown Bronieston, Maresechuttets. My name was Dianne White and I was working the night shift when some thugs broke in. One of them was wearing a shiny red dome on his head. That's when a rare thestral had descended from the rafters to stop the thugs, but they took me as a pony shield. The thestral threw a boomerang at the thug, knocking him out cold. In the chaos I got knocked over the railing and fell into an open vat of alchemical acid. For his valiant effort, the thestral tried to save me but took a crossbow bolt to the knee. The emergency flush system was activated, but I got sucked into the river. I woke up three days late face down one the muddy bank. Looking in a puddle, my face looked like this. That's when I heard a voice talk to me."

"What did the voice say to you?", Spinning Headline asked enthralled.

"It said I have given you a big smile and the knowledge how to give every pony one to match it. Go forth my daughter and share smiles with all Equestria.", the Mare Who Laughs said between malicious giggles. She took the syringe from under her mane and walked over to the stallion. "Ah-heeheehee-oh-heeheehee-oo-heeheehee!", she giggled as she pressed the needle into Spinning Headline's neck, injecting the toxin into him before tossing the empty syringe across the room.

Spinning Headline thrashed about violently in a seizure before his heart gave out. As he died, his face twisted into a smile. The Mare turns off the camera and takes the tape out. As she reached the door, her mane drooped becoming silky smooth. Reaching up a hoof, she knocked on the door. The two henchponies opened the door and she walked past them to her office.

As she reached her office, she placed the tape on the desk, opened a drawer. She pulled out a knife and a short length of rope. Leaving the office, she placed the knife and rope inside her purple jacket. Gesturing to two henchponies wearing rainbow wigs, their faces painted up in colorful paint and wearing brightly colored clothes. The trio walked to a third locked door. As they reached the door, she gestured to the henchponies, and they locked the door after she walked through they locked the door. Turning on the light switch, the room was large and filled with crates. Tied to the central column was a red unicorn mare who had her horn sawed off. She had shaken off the bag over her head and glared at the Mare Who Laughs.
"Oh good!", the Mare laughed evilly, "You're ready to give my adoring public an exclusive interview!" She trotted over to the camera and turned it on.

The unicorn mare spit in the Mare Who Laughs's face. "Interview?! I wouldn't ask you what you favorite color if my life depends on it!", the unicorn mare snarled, "You're just going to murder me anyways. I may have received a medical discharge from the Royal Guard after I shattered my leg stopping a riot, but when Captain Shining Armor catches up with you, you're going to be royally fucked!"

Wiping the spit from her cheek the Mare laughed hoarsely, "Heeheehee-haahaaahaa-hoohoohoo! Very well! Have it your way! But before I do, I'll tell you my backstory! I was born in West Mareginia on a rock farm to a very happy but conservative family. My name was Hailey Quinn. My was always smiling, where I was always frowning and depressed. One morning there was an explosion in one of the mines that killed my mother, brother and two sisters. Soon my father became very sad. He turned to the bottle to keep from crying. When he became drunk, he would get angry and abusive, a complete and total bastard. Sometimes I would run away only for him to find me, drag me back home and beat me savagely. As the years went on, I never got my cutie mark, which made him even more depressed and turn to the bottle more, which just made him even angrier. One morning, he snatched me out of bed by my mane and started punching me in the face brutally. He broke the bones of my face before dragging me to the kitchen and grabbing a knife." The Mare Who Laughs pulled the knife out from under her mane and placed it in the unicorn's mouth. "The bastard carved this smile onto my face while screaming that everything was a joke! I must have been screaming pretty loud before I blacked out. One of the neighbors busted in and had to beat him down with their hooves. I woke up two days later in the hospital where a police pony had told me my dad was in jail for foal abuse and attempted murder. I never saw him again because three inmates strangled him in his cell. Once I was well enough to leave the hospital, I was placed in an orphanage, but nopony would adopt me because of my carved up face. I never forgot the last thing my father told me."
She then split the unicorn mare's cheek open with the knife. As the unicorn mare screamed in pain as the Mare shoved the knife into the other side of the unicorn's mouth and split the other cheek open. She then pinned the unicorn's head to the column and carved triangles on her cheeks. After her work was done the Mare Who Laughs let her victim's head hang inspecting her work.

The unicorn mare weeped in pain and horror. "Why? Why? All because an abusive father fucked your face up? So you take it out on the world?"

"Shh! Shh! Don't you get it? It's all a joke! Heeheehee-hahaha-hoohoohoo!", the Mare laughed hoarsely. Tossing the bloody knife aside, she removed the length of rope from her jacket and garroted the unicorn mare. After she killed her third victim, she turned off the camera and took out the tape. Walking to the door, she knocked on it and the henchponies opened it.

As the Mare was walking to her office several of her henchponies approached her. "Uh, boss? Me and the other boys have a question for you."

The Mare Who Laughs mane went poofy. "Oh but of course, my good gentlecolts!", she cackled.

"Was any of that you told those three reporters true?", the henchpony asked.

"It is both true and false!", the Mare cackled, "Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes I remember it another. If I'm going to have a history, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" She threw back her head and laughed maniacally. "Now if you'll excuse me, gentlecolts, I have some tapes to mail."

Author's Note

Mad my little pony love to The_Darker_Fonts for the edit.

I want to thank all of you beautiful bronies and pegasisters for reading my story.