Featured song: "When She Loved Me" (from Toy Story 2) by Sarah McLachlan

Obi-Wan breathed heavily as a pesadila approached him as an illusion of Darth Maul, the very man who'd killed his master years ago and attempted to kill his wife too!

Peppermint jumped in front of Obi-Wan and shined a gleam of light at the pesadila, killing it.

"Whatever you do," Peppermint warned everyone with her eyes closed. "Don't look these creatures in the eyes!"

Comedia covered her eyes with her wings so no pesadilas would turn into what she feared most. For if she looked one in the eyes, they would literally freeze her with fear like what happened to Omega!

Meanwhile, Gabby sprouted her wings and tried to get her necklace back, but Silvaria blasted her with a powerful ball of magic.

Gabby screamed as she was knocked to the floor. Luckily, Carmine caught her.

"Thank you, Count Crescendo." Gabby smiled.

"You'll be safe with me, little one." Crescendo said, holding the girl tightly and tickling her a bit.

As Gabby laughed, a pesadila that came closer started to go away. And that was when Crescendo remembered: laughter drove pesadilas away!

So, he kept tickling Gabby, making her laugh, but one kid laughing wasn't enough to get rid of all the pesadilas. They needed more laughter now!

Meanwhile, Boba was trying to wake his twin from her trance. He tried clapping in front of her face, splashing water in her face, and even shouting. Nothing worked.

"Come on, Omega, you gotta get up." Boba begged, pulling his sister's hand to get her off the ground.

Boba hugged her to help her up, and that was when Omega gasped and started moving again.

"Boba? What happened?" Omega said.

"Omega! You're okay!" Boba smiled, hugging Omega tighter.

And he quickly realized something: Omega broke out of her trance after he hugged her. Hugging must break someone out of being frozen in fear by pesadilas.

There were a lot of pesadilas spreading all over the place, and they were all continuing to bring people's worst fears to life and freezing anyone they got to look them in the blood red eyes. And now Silvaria had Lamenta and was about to take Lamenta's necklace... until Omega blasted her with a ball of light.

"Ouch!" Silvaria hissed, feeling the bright light on her hand, which gave Lamenta time to fly away. "Grr! You will pay for that you little brat!"

Before Silvaria could blast them, the twins split!

Anakin fought off a pesadila that shifted into Tusken raiders that attempted to get to Shmi.

"I am not letting you take my mother again!" Anakin shouted angrily, swinging his lightsaber at the beasts.

But ironically, Anakin was feeling even more fear as he did so because it started to remind him of the time he'd murdered an entire village of Tusken Raiders the first time his mother had been taken. Still, he kept trying to protect his mother, but the pesadilas fed on his fear of losing his family again, like he'd been so close to so many times.

"Ani, don't let your fear get the best of you." Shmi said. "They're just illusions."

Anakin heard his mother say that just as he struck one more, which turned into a cloud of black smoke and disappeared once the light hit it.

"There's too many of these things!" Ahsoka said, striking another with her lightsaber.

All the Jedi did their best to strike down as many pesadilas as they could using their lightsabers. The kids started hugging everyone they could find who'd looked into the pesadilas' eyes, but they had to avert their own in order to avoid being frozen themselves. And with so many people being scared, the number of pesadilas and their amount of power was increasing faster than they could keep up with.

Comedia kept her eyes covered with her wings and called for her father.

"It's an absolute embarrassment having you as a daughter!" said a familiar voice.

That made Comedia freeze for a moment. She'd recognized that voice; the voice of her former father.

"I-I'm sorry, Daddy!" cried another familiar voice, to Comedia's confusion.

"Emeraldi?" said Comedia.

Comedia was afraid to look, but she listened to the sound of the voices, and she could hear her birth fatehr again, and she slowly unwrapped her wings from her eyes as she saw Emeraldi being tormented by their father.

"You were supposed to bring stature and perfection to this family, but you just had to be born a pegasus with no powers. It's no wonder you weren't able to beat your sister, an alicorn."

"But it's not my fault! I didn't choose to be a pegasus, and I've done everything you asked me to do." Emeraldi sobbed.

Comedia couldn't believe what she was seeing. This was the first time she'd ever seen Emeraldi crying, and out of real pain and sadness. Not because she was humiliated by her sister pranking her like she had seven years ago or because she was whining about not getting her way. She started to think. Was Emeraldi abused like Comedia was and she just never realized it?

"And here we go again with your crying. You think I got where I was by crying all the time? You're weak. No matter how perfect you were, you'll always be a disappointment, just like your sister."

"But I'm not a silly-corn, at least. Isn't that good enough?!"

"You never will be good enough because you will never be queen!" Gentry told her. "You couldn't even hold onto a decent stallion any better than your sister could."

Emeraldi broke down and cried more, and then came someone to help her.

"Leave her alone! You ignorant son of a bi***!" Comedia cursed, getting between her sister and birth father. "Emeraldi has done nothing but follow every single thing you've ever told her to do! She graduated top of her classes at finishing school, she has a great singing voice, she's naturally beautiful, you always made sure she wore the best clothes, had the best education, and here you are saying she'll never be perfect enough?! Neither of us were ever good enough for you or for Mom, were we? You never loved either of us, did you? You were only looking to have kids to increase your status and turn into bullies like you, weren't you?!"

Comedia walked right towards her father and continued to berate her, to Emeraldi's great surprise. That was when Comedia thought back and finally started to put two and two together.

Comedia (in her mind):

When somebody loved me

Everything was beautiful
Every hour we spent together
Lives within my heart

Once upon a long time ago, when Emeraldi was four years old, she was so happy when she got to meet her new baby sister Comedia for the very first time. One look in that baby alicorn's big bright turquoise eyes, and she was in love.

While her parents were always too busy to pay attention to their daughters, Emeraldi took it upon herself to teach her sister everything, and take care of her like big sisters should.

And when she was sad
I was there to dry her tears
And when she was happy, so was I
When she loved me

As Comedia started to grow, Emeraldi's love for her did too. The two became thick as thieves and always had so much fun together.

Through the summer and the fall
We had each other, that was all
Just she and I together
Like it was meant to be

And when she was lonely
I was there to comfort her
And I knew that she loved me

After school, Emeraldi would most often bring Comedia to this special spot near a big tree, where there was a hill full of lush green grass perfect for rolling around in, and in the fall when all the leaves fell off, the two sisters would pile up the leaves together and jump in them.

But by the time Comedia was four, the younger filly noticed some things changing in her once happy life.

One day, from out of nowhere, Emeraldi started just turning her back on Comedia, spending most of her time in her room and never speaking to her sister, even keeping a distance from her during family gatherings and social events.

Little Comedia had no idea what it was or why Emeraldi was acting this way. All she knew was it broke her heart and she started to feel so alone, especially when her parents started forcing her to take homeschooling and not letting her go out to see her friends.

So the years went by
I stayed the same
But she began to drift away
I was left alone
Still, I waited for the day
When she'd say, "I will always love you"

"You are a sorry excuse for a father, and you don't deserve to call yourself such! You were never my father, and I know now who my real family is! You deserved being stripped of your title, and I don't care what you say about me anymore! And Emeraldi might have been a nasty excuse for a sister, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna let you treat her this way!"

And as her anger grew, Comedia tried to tackle her father, only for him to transform into a pesadila and fly away.

"It...it was just a pesadila?" Comedia said in confusion.

"I... I can't believe you actually did that... for me." Emeraldi said, tears still in her eyes. "After I was so cruel?"

"Regardless of what you think of me now, I've moved on from my past life. If that's really how our father has treated you, it's not right, and it's even worse when you decide to inflict pain on other people instead of asking for help. You might not listen, but sooner or later, if someone tries to hurt you, you gotta stand up for yourself. My new father taught me that very well."

And Comedia took off to look for her father again. She thought a lot about what she'd seen in her sister's fear. Could that be the real reason Emeraldi was such a bully? Because she was hurt and afraid like Remix's sister had been that turned her into a diva? But then she also remembered she'd noticed something underneath a torn part of her dress. It looked like a scar, and somehow Comedia had a feeling it wasn't the pesadilas who'd caused that.

"Daddy!" Comedia shouted out. "Daddy?"

"Comedia!" Ki-Adi called, running to his daughter, Comedia returning the gesture.

But, Comedia screeched to a stop when she saw some kids being tormented by a pesadila that turned into a scary clown. And there was no way Comedia was going to let those kids be traumatized by something that was supposed to be able to make them laugh.

"Hey, you!" said the alicorn.

Comedia kicked the clown away, which made the kids relieved as the clown was gone now, but they were still frightened.

"Don't be scared kids. I'm friendly, and I know how to actually be funny. Watch this."

Comedia knew something funny to do. She looked at her tail and started spinning around, chasing it and flailing her tongue around like a dog chasing its tail. The kids watched and started to laugh, and it made the kids laugh, which started driving some of the pesadilas away.

Comedia giggled and said, "I guess the pesadilas really can't take a joke."

Comedia stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry, which made the kids laugh again and drove more of the pesadilas away.

Ki-Adi quickly realized what needed to be done. He recalled what Carmine had said about laughter weakening pesadilas, as laughter drove fear away. And Comedia's natural gift was making people laugh.

"That's it! Comedia, it's up to you."

"What's up to me?" Comedia asked.

"You are the answer. You need to make people laugh in order to help defeat these monsters."

"Are you saying...?"

"It's time to be yourself, Comedia. Your true self. Be silly."

Comedia looked at the number of people out there, and saw a lot of those who needed a good laugh to scare off these monsters. She shook the flower out of her hair and found her propeller beanie, which she put on like a boss.

"Time to prank it up in here." she said in a serious tone.

So, Comedia hopped on stage and turned on a microphone with an announcement. She blew a party blower to get everyone's attention, and she managed to grab that of many.

"Good evening, everyone. I think it's time we tone down the fear a little and add in some laughter." said Comedia. "These monsters here, they think they can beat us, but I say nay. And not just 'cause I'm a horse."

That pun made a few chuckles. So, Comedia decided to tell some more jokes.

"Here's a tough one. What starts with E, ends with an E, but only has one letter in it?" Comedia said. "Give up? An envelope!"

Comedia added a rimshot to that. Still not a ton of laughs.

"Hmm, you know, I could try telling you some construction jokes instead... although, I'm still working on those."

Still only a few chuckles and giggles here and there.

"Hmm. Tough crowd. I guess I'll just have to-" Comedia sat down and HONK!

People laughed when Comedia realized she'd sat on a horn.

"You know, sometimes when I'm outta jokes on the spot, it's like writing with a broken pencil. Pointless, when it should be simple as making lemons drop. All you gotta do is let them go."

People started laughing more as Comedia continued her jokes.

"If you like my jokes, you should see what else I can do."

Comedia put on some funny music in the form of the gummy bear song, and she started doing so many silly things to make everybody laugh.

She walked around on her front hooves, did silly dances, did the hula-copter trick with her tail, acted like a chicken and other animals, and even did a funny version of Peek-a-boo, where she hid her face behind her wings and popped out making funny faces.

"I think Comedia needs backup." Gabby said, and she joined in on Comedia's fun by bouncing around and pretending to be Tigger. Carousella chased her tail around like Comedia had done previously, and Crescent did a head spin. The other horses all started being silly too, and so did some of the Jedi.

Anakin started trying to stand on his head, only to fall down over and over again, Harmony started galloping on the piano and making funny faces, Banjo and Echo started acting like chickens, and Qui-Gon started acting like a cat.

"That's so funny, Grandpa!" Omega laughed seeing her grandfather being funny.

Indira even started running around backwards and singing funny tunes she knew.

"Hey, Obi-Wan!" Peppermint sang, and she threw a whipped cream pie in her rider's face.

"Peppermint!" Obi-Wan scolded, picking up another dessert and covering her face with whipped cream, both of them laughing.

And while people were laughing, Omega took time to muster up as much light magic as she could. The bigger the light, the better the chances of defeating Silvaria.

So many people were laughing so hard. Even Crosshair guffawed at everyone acting so silly and driving the pesadilas away. And to Comedia's great surprise, even Emeraldi didn't hold back from rolling on the floor laughing.

Silvaria tried to make it all stop, but more of the pesadilas were driven away, and soon she was grabbed by a lasso shot by none other than Maybelle, while Comedia flew upside down and came to Silvaria, taking back Gabby's necklace with her magic.

"You won't be needing this where you're going." said Comedia.

Silvaria tried to get to Comedia, only to be blasted by Omega.

"I think you've caused enough trouble for one night." said Omega.

And Qui-Gon quickly grabbed Silvaria and held her tightly until the authorities arrived to arrest Silvaria.

"This isn't over!" Silvaria declared as she struggled. "I'll be back!"

"Yeah, yeah. We've heard it before." Comedia rolled her eyes before approaching Gabby with the jappor snippet in her mouth. "I believe this belongs to you, Gabby?"

"My necklace!" Gabby smiled, taking her necklace. "Thank you so much, Comedia."

"It wasn't all my doing." Comedia said. "It was a team effort."

"I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in all my life." Myra breathed, wiping a tear from her eye as she still had a few giggles in her. "My cheeks hurt!"

Comedia giggled, happy to see she managed to help save the day by making so many people laugh. And in all the commotion, her mane even turned back to curly as she'd exhibited her true self. She looked in the mirror, and this time she liked what she saw.

"Now this is who I am!" Comedia flapped her wings and did a backflip. "Whoo!"

And that was when Comedia's side started sparkling, to her and everyone else's surprise.

"What's happening?" Lamenta asked.

Comedia shut her eyes tightly, worried something painful was coming about, and then she heard a lot of gasps.

"What's wrong?! Is it bad? Do I have pony pox?! Am I gonna die?" Comedia said.

"Don't be silly now, Comedia." Reigna said. "Take a look at your side."

Comedia looked to her right side. Nothing on her flank.

"No, your other side." said Ki-Adi.

And Comedia looked to her left side and she saw, on her flank... a mark! It looked like a little pinwheel the same purple and white pattern as her hat!

Comedia was in total shock.

"I... I got my mark! I got my mark!"

Comedia jumped for joy. She actually had a mark, just like her cousins and so many of her friends did! But, the whole stadium was a mess, and before they were able to decide who won too. So, everyone there began helping to clean up so the competition could continue.

By the next day, the cleanup was complete and the competition could resume.

"Can we just get along with naming me the winner?" said Brittney.

"You mean Emeraldi, your horse, right?" Tech said.

"Who cares about them? They're just animals. You know, things you train to do things. That's what they're for."

"No it's not." Teatra said. "Horses are more than just circus animals or pets."

"Why am I even talking to Four-Eyes and a Starway reject?" Brittney rolled her eyes and walked away to get back to her horse.

"That girl is a total bi-!" Tech covered Teatra's mouth.

"Teatra! Not in front of the kids." Tech said.

And in the competition, there were only ten horses left.

Emeraldi, Sapphire, Indira, Teatra, Maybelle, Carousella, Remix, Magenta, Round n' Round, and Comedia.

But as the ten horses that were left came up on stage, Natasha Rodeya and Kalipso had an announcement that was totally unexpected. In light of feedback from past competitors in recent years, they added a fifth category to the competition: Q & A.

"Each category previously has shown the outer beauty as well as the physical skills of each pony here." said Kalipso. "But here in this portion of the contest, as the saying goes..."

The horse and her rider said together, "It's what's inside that counts."

Some of the girls had seen pageants on TV and a lot of them had this cliche of a question of one wish the contestants could have, and the only right answer was ending world hunger. But they were pretty sure it was just a staged line to seem perfect.

So, every horse and their rider rode up on stage and they were each asked the same question: "Why do you love your horse/rider?"

And every horse and rider had a different answer.

Hunter & Indira:

"Indira came off as a bit odd when I first met her, but she showed me that if I took the time to take in my surroundings and find a deeper meaning, it would uncover things beyond my imagination."

"When I met Hunter, I could tell there was more to him that even he knew. It's said by many that we each have a sixth sense, and I believe it is true. There is more to life than what we hear, see, touch, smell, even taste. There is a spirit in every living thing, and we only sense it if we take the time to find it."

Yoda & Magenta:

"A spirited mare, Magenta is. Loud, she is in voice and in spirit. Colorful, energetic, and growing into a better mare every day, proud I am of her."

"My rider helps me see things in me that I was once too blind to see, and even when I made it difficult, he saw something in me that was the real me that needed to be released."

Round n' Round & Myra:

"Myra is my rider and so much more. She's not afraid to let all her energy out like a boss! And I have no doubt one day she's really gonna be a rock star."

Round n' Round pretended to shred on a guitar and laughed a little, which also made Myra laugh.

"What I love about Round n' Round is that she's so all over the place, it's given me a real challenge to overcome getting dizzy with all that goes on in this crazy thing called life. Even when times are tough, I've managed to stay strong somehow, but my friend R & R, she reminds me of my own strength when I forget."

And then came Ki-Adi and Comedia's turn. This time, Comedia came out dressed in her Mad Hatter outfit and her propeller hat.

"Words cannot describe how much I love Comedia." said Ki-Adi. "She hasn't been afraid to be herself since day one. I'll admit, she was a challenge in the beginning, but underneath her adorable appearance is a spirited, very playful mare with a strong desire to spread joy wherever she goes and make people laugh, especially after they've faced hard times."

And finally, the current twelve-time champion Emeraldi Evermare and her rider Brittney Parisia.

Brittney kicked Emeraldi to make her get on stage. Emeraldi was dressed in a big green gown as she stepped up for questions.

Brittney spoke first.

"My horse is practically perfect in every way. We rescued her from a tragic place when she was wrongfully thrown out into the streets and abused terribly." the girl said, putting on a fake good girl persona. "And she is now my pony. She listens to me, and I'm taking perfect care of her now and forever."

Emeraldi looked at Comedia, who had the same look as she did towards Brittney's attitude and fake persona now.

"Emeraldi. Your response?" asked the questioner.

Emeraldi looked at her rider then at the microphone. Brittney told her to answer that she loved her rider so much and was so grateful to her for rescuing her and taking good care of her. But then, she had a look of determination and anger on her face.

"I don't think words can describe how I feel." Emeraldi said. "So, I'd like to ask one of the other riders for help. Which of you is the one with power of the truth?"

"That would be Princess Lamenta." said Carousella.

"Well, I need her right now. Please?" Emeraldi said.

"Emeraldi, what are you doing?" Brittney asked as Lamenta came up.

"With Princess Lamenta's consent to help me, showing people the truth."

Emeraldi lowered her head and asked Lamenta to show everyone a memory she had from recently.

Lamenta worked her magic, and showed a multitude of memories from the time since the Evermares' divorce.

Emeraldi was living in the Parisias' home, and at first she felt sure with all she learned from finishing school and following her parents' expectations, she would lead a rich and happy life. Happier than with her parents bossing her around all the time, that was for sure. Except, her new rider was not exactly gentle when it came to horses... or any living thing for that matter.

Brittney would constantly yell at Emeraldi, slap her if she didn't move fast enough, throw water on her head if she didn't wake up before she did, and sometimes she would even hit Emeraldi with a riding crop really hard, hard enough to leave scars, and then she would tell her to heal faster and didn't even call a vet. And sometimes, when she was disatisfied with her ride, she wouldn't even feed Emeraldi or fill her water trough. Emeraldi had to resort to breaking out of her stable to drink water from a pond that was nearby and eat whatever grass she could find just to avoid dying of starvation or dehydration.

People were gasping when they saw Emeraldi had been treated so badly. Comedia couldn't believe it either despite having spotted some scars.

"This is what my rider is really like!" said Emeraldi. "Unfit to even to look after a rocking horse."

"Okay, you've had your fun!" Brittney said. "Turn that off right now! Emeraldi, I don't know what sick joke you're trying to make here, but-"

"Comedia, would you mind pulling this dress off of me?" Emeraldi asked.

Comedia bit the skirt and ripped the dress right off Emeraldi, revealing a bunch of scratches and scars all over her body from the abuse she'd faced.

"I am sick of all this crap! I'm sick of always being perfect! And I mistreated my own sister because of all this! I'll never be good enough for my parents, for this bratty rider, and I've had enough!" Emeraldi shouted.

Brittney yanked Emeraldi's mane and said, "You'd better stop right now, or else!"

Emeraldi snorted.

"You forget one thing, Brittney. You're on my back, and I can do this!"

Emeraldi then ran around in a circle on stage and ran really fast before bucking really hard and throwing Brittney right off and crashing into a table. The green pegasus snorted angrily, the audience gasping at the whole thing that just occurred. And as a result of the revelation that Brittney abused her horse, she and Emeraldi were disqualified from the competition.

"I'm so sorry, Comedia!" Emeraldi said, tears in her eyes. "I never wanted to hurt you. Our parents told me that if I didn't stay away from you and start being more like them, they'd make sure I would never see you again and something really bad would happen to you. I was terrified and I thought I was protecting you, but I only ended up leaving you to be emotionally abused. None of it excuses the way I treated you. I wish I could go back and undo it all. I never hated you. I've always loved you, and your sense of humor. I always thought you were hilarious, but Mother and Father forbid me from laughing, and I hated holding it in all these years. You've never been afraid to show your true self, and I've always admired you for it."

That was also when PPS (Pony Protection Services) arrived, ready to arrest the Parisias for abusing Emeraldi, and they were going to go after Gentry and Cordelia Evermare for foal abuse. But first, Brittney had to be taken to the hospital.

Emeraldi wrapped her wing around her younger sister, and the two of them embraced for the first time in years, and this time when Emeraldi smiled, in was genuine and filled with love for her little sister.

Lonely and forgotten
Never thought she'd look my way
And she smiled at me and held me
Just like she used to do
Like she loved me
When she loved me

When somebody loved me
Everything was beautiful
Every hour we spent together
Lives within my heart
When she loved me

"I still love you too, Big Sister." Comedia said.

While Brittney was taken to the hospital, Emeraldi was taken to see the veterinarian and treat her scars.

After taking some time to settle down, the judges took the time to decide on a winner, and they came to a verdict.

Natasha came up and made an announcement that the winner had been chosen.

"In third place, we have... Sapphire Beauty."

Sapphire and Anakin stepped up. Sapphire was given a little sparkly bronze tiara with a star on it.

"In second place, we have... Indira Ghoda."

Indira and Hunter stepped up, and Indira had a pretty silver tiara placed on her head.

"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for... the pageant queen or king of this year's Pretty Pony Pageant..."

Everyone waited in great anticipation as Natasha opened the envelope containing the name of the winning pony.

"In light of her great bravery and making her mark in demonstrating her true beauty, the winner is..." she took the name out and read it out loud. "Comedia Evermare-Mundi!"

Comedia was flabbergasted as the crowd cheered for her. This was the last thing she'd ever expected to happen to her!

And when Comedia stepped up, she was given a sash that said Pretty Pony on it, a bouquet of snapdragons, and a gold tiara that sparkled like the sun.

"Congratulations, Comedia." said Natasha.

Comedia stepped up and smiled as people snapped pictures of her in congratulations. It felt so good to be on stage now, people seeing her for who she really was. She won not because she wore a fancy dress or had perfect hair, but because she showed who she really was, and by being herself, she accomplished so much. With the song she sang, she said to the world This is me, hear me roar!, and with her jokes and silly antics, she made everyone laugh their fears away, and through her words of honesty, she might have helped Emeraldi start on a path to being a better pony now that she'd stood up for herself. It seemed to her that Emeraldi never made a decision for herself in her life, and all of it because their parents cared more about power and status than they did about their own daughters.

Queen Reigna looked especially proud of Comedia. She nodded proudly with a smile that said, I've never been prouder of you, Comedia.

And though Comedia had a pageant crown now, there was a different crown she was missing for the moment.