Just Smile

by Fire-Dash

Chapter Six

The sky was on fire.

Ponies were screaming for help, pegasai fell with burning wings. Mares, stallions, colts, fillies, foals, all burning and screaming and sizzling in the flames. Rainbow bolted, gathering as many as she could, her own coat scorching. She brought them all to a river, the only salvation. But she wasn't fast enough. The fire devoured the land, ate away the clouds, absorbed the sun. It lashed and bit and clawed it's way through everything, leaving it all to ash.

In the centre of the torture, one cry stood out.

Rainbow didn't hesitate. She flew faster than she'd ever flown before, breaking the sound barrier, blazing through the scorching air, trying to get to the scream.

There! She could see! In the distance it was Pinkie alone in the middle of the flames, crying for help. Rainbow flew faster, pushing herself harder and harder, reaching out with both hooves through the fire and smoke, lungs searing. But no matter how much she tried, how far she flew, Pinkie just seemed farther away than ever. The fire burned everything down, bubbling and sizzling and-

“Rainbow?” called a voice from far, far away.

And just like that, the whole world fell to pieces.

The pegasus sat up, blinking to clear her vision. “W-what's going on? Where am I?” She felt sheets covering her. Several blurry figures stood over her in a blindingly white room. When she tried to push herself up, there was a sharp pain in her right foreleg. Her body ached and she felt light-headed, dizzy.

“Oh, thank Celestia you're alright!” a familiar voice exclaimed. Twilight? The weary pegasus blinked a few more times and the room cleared up. Her friends stood around her, all save for Pinkie.

“When you didn't come home, we all got so worried,” it was Fluttershy speaking now, stepping in closer to the side of Rainbow's bed. “W-we thought he'd gotten you too.”

“We hadn't seen you all day!” Rarity continued. “We thought you must be out looking at first but when the sun started to set and you didn't come back, Twilight lead a search party into the Everfree to look for you.”

“You shouldn't have done that,” Rainbow said. “You could have gotten captured too-”

“An' so could you,” Applejack butted in, eyes fierce. “What were you thinkin' goin' out into that forest all by yerself?”

“I was thinking that I needed to find Pinkie Pie,” Rainbow snapped, her own eyes just as fierce. “Or have you forgotten about her?”

Applejack looked like she was about to say something but Twilight stopped her before there was an argument. “We haven't forgotten about her, Rainbow. In fact, we've been studying the Lurker and cases like this one where mares go missing to help in understanding what's going on. It's all we've been doing!” She looked the pegasus in the eyes, her gaze calming, concerned. “We won't stop until we find her but we can't go risking getting captured ourselves. We need every head we can get to figure this out.”

“Then why'd you go looking for me?” Rainbow asked, still sounding cross.

“We knew he didn't take you at night because there were no scuff marks or torn fur on the road,” the unicorn informed her. “And we knew you'd be looking in the Everfree because that's where you went the previous day.”

Rainbow shook her head, not hearing any of it. “I can't just sit still while she's still out there.” She tried to get up then but immediately got dizzy, feeling sick. She fell back to the bed, touching her head with her hoof, feeling the bandages there.

“You're going to have to,” Twilight sighed. “We found you on the forest floor, you'd hit your head pretty hard and broken a few bones.”

“You were out cold!” Spike exclaimed, jumping up onto the bed to get a better look. “You hit a ton of branches when you fell.”

“How long was I out for?” Rainbow asked, examining her broken leg and noticing the bandage on her right wing. How was she going to get out now?

“Since yesterday,” Twilight told her. “it's about 6 P.M now-”

“I've been out all day?” the pegasus exclaimed. She tried to get up again but her friends held her down. “I need to go out! Everyday we don't find her is another day she's... another day....” She got really light-headed then, the world spinning around her. She closed her eyes, trying to calm herself down. “I just need to find her.”

The room was silent for a moment. Pinkie's absence was huge. Normally, she'd be the one to dance and sing and bounce all around the room, making everything alright, making everypony feel better. But she was gone now and until she was found, the hole she left would not be filled.

At last Twilight said, “we'll find her. But I need you not to go out. Stay here and rest, help us figure this out. We will find her.”

Rainbow looked less than reassured but she nodded nonetheless.

When her friends finally left, content that she was alright, the injured pony was already devising a plan.

Her name was Windsong. From the dim light still left by the waning candle, Pinkie could see she was a pegasus like Golden Rose. She was white in colour, like snow, and her mane was a pale, icy blue. Her eyes were indigo and as deep as the ocean. She looked terrified, though she'd stopped shivering now.

For a long time after Lurker had thrown her in nopony said anything. Pinkie was able to get her name but that was it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make this better. The poor mare was covered in bruises and her left back leg hung at an awkward, painful angle as she avoided resting weight on it.

Then everything went dark. The candle had burned down, nothing left but a puddle of wax and a tiny stream of smoke wafting away into the air. Golden Rose gasped and Windsong gave a tiny whimper. Pinkie jumped a bit at first but soon realized it was just the dark. And the dark is a lot like the light, just more unknown. The unknown, after all, is the fear. Not the dark itself. It's the not knowing what's near you, what's happening, what might happen, that's what's terrifying. But as scary as the unknown could be, Pinkie knew she had to push that aside.

“Don't worry!” She said, jumping up and causing her chain to rattle. There was another whimper from Windsong and a bit of shuffling from Golden Rose. “The dark's not so bad. You just have to use your other senses.” She paused, thinking for a moment before she lifted up her head and started to sing.

It was a song her mother had sung to her when she was little and feeling down. A song she knew by heart and hummed to herself every time she felt sad. She hoped the others were listening.

Pinkie could hear Windsong sniff a bit. “Oh, you're not sad are you?” the pink pony asked, trotting over to the sound. “I just thought, because this song always cheers me up, that, maybe-”

But Windsong made a sound Pinkie had not yet heard from her. A good sound, like a half-laugh. Like she was finally cheering up. “I've heard that song before,” came her weak, quiet voice. “My mom used to sing it to me when I was a filly. It's how I discovered my special talent, singing.”

Pinkie beamed. “My mom sang it to me too! Every time I felt lonely or sad, she told me to remember the song and I'd feel better.”

There was a shuffling noise as Golden Rose walked over to them. “I know it too. My older brother taught it to me. We used to sing it together when our parents went off on trips and we were alone.” she gave a small sigh. “I miss him.”

“Hey, don't worry,” Pinkie reassured her, reaching through the dark and tentatively placing her foreleg around Golden's shoulders. “We'll get out of this. You'll see him again and I'll make the biggest most super-fantastical cake you've ever seen to celebrate! And that's a Pinkie Promise!”

After a short pause, Golden Rose started whistling to the tune of the song. Pinkie grinned and joined in as Windsong sung the words in a surprisingly strong voice, a voice that echoed through the chamber and filled the mares' ears with silver notes.

The light had gone out in the chamber. Lurker knew it. He always knew when the lights went out. It was like a sense. Like he could feel the flame burn out, exit the world in a puff of smoke. Like magic.

He didn't go to look this time. No, instead he listened. He laid in his own chamber at the end of the hall. He had to go out that night, had to find others, but he also knew they town would be more vigilant now. They would lock up and set a curfew, like all the other ones had done. But this time he was smarter, more careful. He knew how to get into locked houses, knew how to take a mare undetected. He just needed to find the right herbs for something that would knock them out. Last time he'd tried to use force inside a house he nearly got caught. But not now. Now he was better.

He'd never guess just how smart I've become. Just how strong I've become. Lurker gave a laugh at that but his thoughts were interrupted when he heard something coming from the mares' chamber.

Was that singing?

He smiled, laying back in his tattered old bed and letting the music take him. When it stopped, he sat up, opening his door and heading down the hall, slowly, silently. He didn't want to scare them in case the music started again.

It did. Oh, how it did. Whistling in tune, singing so soft and yet so powerful. Soothing. So soothing.

He couldn't control himself. He threw open the door but the music stopped instantly, replaced with gasps and whimpers. “No,” he said softly. “Keep going. Keep singing. You have to. You must.” He stepped in closer but the mares backed away. He could hear their shuffling. “No!” He cried, stomping both front hooves down on the ground. “Keep singing and I won't have to discard you.”

There was silence for a moment. Nopony moved, nopony breathed. Then one of the mares stepped forward.