Just Smile

by Fire-Dash

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

“The moon looks upon many night flowers; the night flowers see but one moon.”
-Jean Ingelow

It was barely morning when the cries rang out. Pinkie Pie shot up, startled but before she could laugh and call it a false-alarm, the sobbing got louder. The others didn't seem to be awake yet but she figured it would be alright if she just went to see-

She bolted down the road, dust flying up behind her. “What's going on? Why is everypony so sa-”

She stopped in mid-stride when she saw it. Clumps of fur, scuffed up dirt and feathers. It was just like before, only this time.... She leaned in closer. Was that... blood? Little scarlet droplets stained the earth, flecked about the fur-clumps, splashed in the hoofprints.“W-what happened?” she asked, unable to take her eyes off of the scene.

Somepony next to her shook his head, sighing softly. “Another mare's gone missing.”

Pinkie glanced around at all the gloomy faces in disbelief. Another one? she thought, but Twilight said...

She jumped up and down, trying to catch everypony's attention. “Hey! Don't worry! It'll be okay! We'll find them and you'll see there's nothing to be afraid of and it was all just a big misunderstanding and everything's just fine and we can all laugh again!” She gave them all one of her patented Pinkie Pie Smiles and waited for the dreary sadness to lift away.

Nothing.

Nopony even glanced at her. They hung their heads and dragged their hooves. A few pegasai went out to search, some ponies were comforting family members and others just stood there quietly, staring at nothing. Pinkie tried again, grabbing a bottle of bubble soap she'd hidden in a near-by bush (because you never know when you'll need one) and pulled out the wand. She gave it a little puff of air and engulfed the area in glistening, delicate spheres that danced in the breeze. “Come on, everypony! You all like bubbles, right?” She giggled. “Well of course you do. Everypony likes bubbles, bubbles are...” she trailed off, realizing nopony had noticed.

Frowning, she to think but was running low on ideas. Maybe they liked dancing or singing or-

“Pinkie, what are you doing?” a familiar, level voice questioned.

She spun around, facing Twilight and the others as they cantered up the road. She bounded over to them, a bright urgency in her eyes. “They won't even look at me! No matter how many bubbles I blow.”

The others examined the area closely. Rarity gave a startled gasp and Twilight shook her head. Pinkie saw Fluttershy take a few steps back and Applejack went over to comfort her. Rainbow just stood there, staring, eyes distant and locked on something just beyond the scuffs and blood-spots. When Pinkie followed her gaze, she saw nothing.

“What's going on?” the pink pony asked, seeming to lose some of her energy as she watched her friends get hit by the news.

Twilight, for once, looked dumbfounded. “I-I don't know.” She shook her head again, as though trying to clear it. “I think we need to do a little more research.”

Fluttershy dipped her head, her mane falling over her face again. “Oh... he's not going t-to take any of us, is he?” Her voice was barely audible. It was as if she felt whoever was doing this would hear her if she spoke above a whisper.

Rainbow snapped out of her trance then, turning to her timid friend. “Of course not. I won't let 'im.” The athletic pegasus struck a pose, wings spread out and legs placed in a wide stance. She looked ready to fight.

“I think what we all need is a party!” Pinkie exclaimed. “A good party will take our minds off of all this sadness.”

“No,” Twilight sighed, holding her hoof up to stop her enthusiastic friend from gathering decorations. “I really don't think a party would be appropriate right now. We need to figure this out.”

As they started back to the library, Rainbow hesitated. “I'll catch up with ya later. I think I'm going to go help look for the missing mares.” And before anypony could say anything, she was already off. A polychromatic streak across an otherwise clear blue sky.

____________________________________________________________________________

Once she had gotten away from the others, Rainbow Dash slowed her flight down to an easy glide. She needed to clear her head. She'd had the dream again. The falling, the calling, the fear.... If there was one thing she truly hated it was fear. Just the helplessness of it all. It was so hopeless, so paralyzing. She would like to think that she had no fears, that nothing could phase her, nothing at all. And before that dream, she had believed it.

-No. She couldn't start doubting herself now. Not now when a real threat was looming over Ponyville. Not now when her friends needed her more than ever. She needed to be brave, strong, resilient. She needed to be the same rainbow Dash she'd always been -simply awesome. Whatever this thing was, Lurker or not, she would make sure her friends were safe. And that was that.

In the midst of her thinking, the blue pegasus had failed to notice she'd been flying over the Everfree Forest. She made an abrupt stop and hovered there a moment, just staring down into the dim, musky woods. Just as she was about to turn around, she heard something. It was faint but distinct and it came from deep in the forest.

A voice.

She couldn't quite make out what it was saying. She thought she heard the words 'no' and 'rain' being repeated but she couldn't quite catch the rest. Confused, she lowered her altitude, drifting down cautiously, heart pounding. She hovered just above the trees, peering through the dark leaves. Nothing. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she called out, “Hello? Anypony there?”

No response.

Below her, the solemn trees swayed back and forth in the wind, branches clawing and raking at the air like talons, dragging in the light. After a moment, Rainbow decided she was probably just hearing things. “I've got to stop this. I'm getting paranoid...” she told herself, turning around and heading back to Ponyville. All this... strangeness was getting to her.

She landed on the road next to where the first mare was taken, seeing only a single pony standing there. It was the stallion she'd seen pacing yesterday. The road had been cleaned up, save for a few deep hoofprints set in the dirt.

“She never did anything wrong,” the stallion sighed, not looking up. Probably talking more to himself than to Rainbow.

“Hey, don't worry about her. Whoever did this, we'll find him. No problem.” Perhaps the young pegasus was being a bit too certain. It sounded like a lie. Like a big lie meant to disguise something horrible.

The stallion only shook his head, his short, scruffy red mane tossing back and forth as he did so. He sat down, staring at the road as if trying to look into the past, see what happened there. After a long pause, he said, “her name was Golden Rose. Never did a single bad deed, always tried to make ponies see the beautiful side of life....” He trailed off after that and stood up again. Before Rainbow could say anything, he was already galloping down the path.

She guessed he was going to look for her.

“Enough of this,” Rainbow hissed to herself. “All this sorrow and fear's getting us nowhere.” She started racing down the road then, heading back to Twilight's home. She swung open the door and trotted inside. “Please tell me you're closer to figuring this out,” she said sharply, giving her tail a flick. “I'm sick of hearing about how sad everypony is.”

Five sets of eyes stared back at her. Nopony said anything.

“What?” she asked, still on-edge.

“Whoa there, missy. We're all tryin' our best,” Applejack told her, stepping out in front.

Rainbow huffed. “So you've got nothing. Fine. We're all gonna just sit here and watch more ponies get taken.”

“What's gotten into you, Rainbow?” Twilight asked, lowering a book she'd been looking through and giving her friend a concerned look. “Just calm down. We'll figure this out.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing out from seemingly nowhere and landing directly in front of the frustrated pegasus. “Cheer up, grumpy, have a lollipop!” She shoved a pinwheel-style lollipop in Rainbow's face, all the while smiling as if nothing at all were wrong.

Rainbow let the lollipop fall to the floor. It shattered on impact. “I don't need a lollipop,” she grumbled, slamming the door shut behind her as she stepped farther into the room. “Let's just figure this out, okay?”

Granted, sitting and reading while figuring something out wasn't exactly Rainbow's style but there was nothing else she could do. No trail to follow, no real clues other than the hoofprints and nothing pointing to where this thing had taken the mares. It was all just one big blank slate. She couldn't take action in any physical way so she'd have to try and think it through.

The others just stared at her a moment before finally, Twilight broke the silence. “Alright,” she said, “let's continue.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

Another calm night.

Calm. Lurker gave a little chuckle at that. Calm. It's always calm, isn't it? Always a perfectly clear sky, fully visible moon, stars glimmering above like jewels decorating the fabric of a peaceful landscape.

Peaceful.

Another chuckle. These ponies were always peaceful. Peaceful and calm. He clenched his teeth. It's just not fair.

He scanned the town below. The quiet houses, the silent roads. There were less night-walkers out tonight. They're afraid, he thought, afraid of me. Of what I'll do. And why shouldn't they be? He was, after all, the Lurker. The one who captured mares late at night, who took them away and hid them where they would never be found. But they don't understand. They will never understand. Never, never, never.

As he searched the ground, he caught sight of some movement in the corner of his eye. A young earth pony bounded down the empty road, seemingly without a care in the world. Curious, Lurker stopped, hovering in place just high enough not to be noticed. It was the carelessness of this one that intrigued him, how even in the midst of fear, this one remained unfazed.

As the young pony walked, something trailed behind. It flickered and dancing with every little movement made. A banner, perhaps? He glided closer, slowly, calmly, sure to keep his wings silent and his breathing low.

Each step the pony made was another bounce, another tune hummed, another bit of glitter tossed in the air. Balloons were tied, streamers were hung, signs dotted the paths behind her- oh yes, her.

Lurker found himself smiling.

Perfect.

Comments

[Alpha Scorpii]

No! Not Pinkie!

The story is getting more and more interesting Good job!

[Fire-Dash]

894002

Thank you. :)

[Tealove]

Poor Pinkie! I can't wait to read more!