//------------------------------// // Laughter // Story: Surrogate Light // by scootalooftw //------------------------------// We had been traveling through the bog for an unknown amount of time, and with the miserable state of the road, along with the incessant whining of a certain member of our group, all of us were on edge. “Are we there yet?” Rainbow Dash groaned. “It’s going to take hours to get all this muck out of my coat.” “Oh, you poor thing,” Rarity said, feigning concern. “It must be so hard to get mud out of such a pristine white coat!” Releasing an exaggerated gasp, Rarity turned to face Rainbow. “Oh, wait, you don't have one!” “In case you’ve forgotten, you aren’t the only pony with a light colored coat,” Rainbow shot back, turning to face Rarity. “Well, then why don’t you simply fly,” Rarity grumbled, shooting Rainbow a glare. “You do have wings, after all.” “Because, with all these spiderwebs and low hanging branches, I keep getting tangled up!” Rainbow said, getting in Rarity’s face. “That sounds more like a personal problem, if you ask me,” Rarity growled back, butting heads with Rainbow. “Girls, girls,” Pinkie exclaimed, squeezing in between the quarreling ponies and pushing them apart. “This isn’t the time for fighting! We should all be laughing, and smiling!” “What exactly is there to laugh or smile about?” Rarity asked, redirecting her ire towards the puffy pink pony. “Yeah, this forest is miserable,” Rainbow Dash griped. “I’m miserable!” “We’re all miserable,” Applejack cut in, “but ya don’t see us startin’ a fuss with nopony else.” “Oh, AJ, you shouldn’t be miserable,” Pinkie Pie sniffled, deflating slightly. “We’re on a big, grand adventure, how can you be miserable?!” “Easy,” Rainbow Dash answered. Lifting her foreleg she began to shake it back and forth, flinging mud everywhere to make a point. “Aww, but it’s just a little mud,” Pinkie said, before poofing back up. “You aren’t gonna let a little mud stop you, are you Dashie?” “No,” Rainbow pouted, “but that doesn’t mean I need to be happy about it.” Glancing at the mud that caked the entirety of my legs, despite the fact that I had even used magic to try and keep it off, I was inclined to agree with Rainbow Dash. I opened my mouth to voice my opinion but was cut off when Pinkie began humming out loud. “But, what isn’t there to be happy about?” Pinkie asked as she began bouncing along. “You’ve got your friends, you’re on a big grand adventure against all odds, it sounds like something out of an adventure novel!” “You don’t read about this in the books,” Rainbow grumbled, attempting to dislodge a glob of mud that had ended up stuck to her feathers. ~“Oh, the trail ahead might look quite scrappy.”~ Pinkie sang as she bounced to and fro, miraculously not splashing anypony with mud. ~”And everypony’s mood is down and drabby.”~ “Is… is she really doing this?” I asked, glancing in confusion at the ponies around me. ~”And though it may sound just a little sappy.”~ Inhaling a large breath Pinkie jumped up and wrapped a foreleg around the trunk of a tree, using her momentum to swing herself around it. ~”Don’t worry,”~ Pinkie giggled, ~”be happy!”~ “She really is, isn’t she?” I groaned, resisting the urge to facehoof. Kicking off of the tree she had just swung around, Pinkie grabbed a low-hanging branch and used it to propel herself into a flip. Landing firmly on her hind legs, Pinkie threw her arms up over her head and unleashed two hoofuls of confetti. ~”Stomping our way through the trees and the mud.”~ “She is,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, much to my unease. Leaning backward, Pinkie turned her hind leg stand into a cartwheel. ~”This dreary old forest has you feeling like crud.” Coming out of her cartwheel, Pinkie began hopping backward as she sang, her infectious smile soon spreading to everypony present. ~“Just look to your friend and say ‘Cheer up bud’!”~ With a mighty leap Pinkie deposited herself right beside me, once again managing to avoid splashing even the smallest amount of mud. Throwing a foreleg over my shoulder, she pulled me into a sideways hug before continuing. ~“So don’t worry,”~ Pinkie sang, giggling once more. ~“be happy.”~ Despite the urge to resist coursing through every fiber of my being, I found myself humming along with the merry tune, even adding my own voice when the chorus came around. Before anypony even realized it the path began to dry and the trees began to thin out, allowing the low light of the moon to once again light our way. It wasn’t until our path was blocked by a small fast moving river that anypony realized we had left the bog. “Well, would ya look at that,” Applejack said, using her slightly muddy foreleg to wipe the sweat from her brow. “Looks like we finally made it outta that grimy ol’ bog.” “Oh, I know,” Rarity said, cringing at the streak of mud Applejack left on her face. “I was beginning to think we’d never get out of there.” “Come on, it wasn’t that bad, Rares,” Rainbow Dash teased. “Now you know you have no room to talk,” Rarity teased back, eyeing the pegasus that was trying and failing to get the mud out of her wings. “You were making just as big of a fuss as I was, and that’s saying something.” “That just cus the mud kept getting in my feathers,” Rainbow shot back, flushing slightly. “Do you have any idea how much of a pain it is to get regular mud out of your wings? With as bad as that swamp smelled, I am so not looking forward to preening later.” “Oh, well, I have some special soap I made that works wonders on the mud from Froggy Bottom Bog,” Fluttershy said. “And I’ll even help you with your wings later if you’d like.” “Thanks, ‘Shy, I appreciate it,” Rainbow Dash said, giving Fluttershy a friendly smile. “But, it’ll have to wait for now, I think we should keep moving.” “Actually, I was thinking we could stop her for a bit,” I spoke up. “We’re more than three-quarters of the way there, but we’re all exhausted. If we stopped now to eat and rest, we’d be revitalized for when finally we get to that castle.” “She’s got a good point,” Applejack said. Turning to face the group, she looked over the rest of their dirty, tired looking troupe. “What d’y’all say? Wanna call it fer a bit, get somethin’ ta eat, and maybe get a quick nap in?” “That sounds like a wonderful idea to me, darling,” Rarity said, sitting on her haunches and allowing her bags to slide off her back. “The sooner I can get this mud out of my coat, the less it will stain.” “Oh, you can use some of my shampoo, too, if you’d like,” Fluttershy offered. “And me and Twilight can stay here and get the camp set up!” Pinkie Pie cheered. Not even waiting for approval, she reached into her pack and pulled out an already built bright pink tent and plopped it on the ground. “Why was I volunteered to set up camp?” I asked, slightly peeved at being volunteered. “Maybe I want to get this muck out of my coat, as well.” “But you’re the only pony that can help me set up without getting mud all over everything,” Pinkie said. Reaching her entire foreleg into her bags, she sifted around inside of it before pulling out a large folded blanket. I opened my mouth to retort that she would be covering everything in mud as well, only to have to do a double take when I noticed she didn’t have a speck of mud on her. “Welp, sounds like a plan ta me,” Applejack said with a chuckle. “If nopony else has any arguments, we’ll go ahead and get movin’ so you can get yer chance ta clean up.” Working my jaw in silence, I collected myself enough to nod in agreement. I watched the four ponies disappear into the nearby treeline, intent on finding a calmer section of the stream, before turning my attention back to Pinkie. Much to my amazement, she already had a tent for each of us set up and was in the process of dumping already lit logs from her bag into a fire pit in the center of the clearing. “All done!” Pinkie cheered, sitting on her haunches and pantomiming wiping sweat from her brow. “Thank you so much for the help, Twilight. I could never have done it without you.” “But… but I didn’t do anything?” I stammered, giving Pinkie a bewildered look. “Did I?” “Of course you did, silly,” Pinkie beamed, hopping over to me. “Why, without you here it would have taken me hours to get everything set up, and then everypony would have been all cranky when they got back, and we wouldn’t have been able to beat Nightmare Moon and claim the Elements of Harmony because everypony would be too tired!” I stared at the pink pony in confusion, my mouth slightly agape as I tried to make sense of her logic. She, in return, stood with a foreleg over my shoulder and her eyes scrunched shut by the large smile upon her face. We stayed like that for a long minute, until the silence was broken by a shriek coming from further upstream. Without a second thought, I turned and sprinted towards the sound of the commotion as fast as my sore travel-worn body would take me. “Rarity!” I yelled, recognizing the scream of terror. Bursting through the underbrush, I skidded to a halt as I took in the scene before me, alert and ready for any danger that might be present. The stream that we had been camped by started meandering at this point, leaving a small beach of sorts with slow-moving waters, the perfect place to wash up. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood defensively in front of Fluttershy and Rarity, and all four of them had their eyes locked on the calm waters of the river. “Girls, what’s wrong?” I asked, gasping for breath as I limped towards them. “Rarity said she saw somethin’ in the water,” Applejack answered. “What was it?” I gasped, turning to face the water as well. “I don’t know, I didn’t get a good look at it,” Rarity answered, her voice shaky with fear. “I just saw something large and purple swimming by, and I panicked.” “You did a bit more than panic,” Rainbow Dash said, turning her head slightly towards Rarity while still keeping her eyes locked on the water. “You went completely ballistic and started throwing all our stuff at it. That includes our bags, which had all of our food in it.” “I… I’m sorry,” Rarity stammered, looking down as her eyes started to water. “I just… everything’s been so stressful lately, and now we’re tromping through this icky forest in the dark, and.. and…” “It’s ok, Rarity,” Applejack said, attempting to comfort the mare. “We ain’t mad at ya, just the situation.” Pausing, she shot a quick glare at Rainbow before continuing. “We’re all just glad that whatever that was didn’t get ya.” “I just think it’s more than convenient that her bag is the only one that didn’t go in,” Rainbow grumbled. “Now Dashie, that isn’t any way to treat a friend,” Pinkie said from behind us, causing the whole group to jolt in shock. Ignoring the near heart attack she gave us, she bounced over to the stream and bent down to inspect it, nose nearly touching the water. “Besides, whatever it was, I think it’s gone.” Relaxing slightly the group, minus Rarity, slowly approached the water to make sure it really was clear. “Ah think she’s right,” Applejack said, eyes scanning the water, “Ah don’t see nothin’.” “Me either,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering a safe distance above the stream. “It’s kinda murky, but if that whatever it was was as big as Rarity said, we’d still see it.” Leaving the group to collect their things, I turned and walked back over to Rarity. She hadn’t moved an inch since Rainbow’s comment, instead, she just sat slouched and quietly sobbing. “Rarity,” I said softly to get her attention. Not getting a reaction from her, I sat beside her and gently draped a foreleg over her shoulder. “You ok?” “No, I’m not,” Rarity sniffled, “I should never have come with. I’m no outdoors-pony, I’m just a useless seamstress who’s good for nothing but getting in the way and ruining things.” She looked up from the ground, locking eyes with me, and I could barely stop myself from flinching at the amount of sorrow in her eyes. “I just… I just thought that maybe there was something I could do,” Rarity said. “That if I came with, I could do something to help everypony. But instead, I’ve ruined everything.” Unable to restrain herself any further, she broke into sobs as I pulled her into a hug. “Shh, it’s ok Rarity, you didn’t ruin anything,” I said, attempting to comfort her. “We’re all still here, and once we cross the river the castle won't be much further.” “But I’ve thrown everypony’s stuff in the river,” Rarity said. “Maybe I should just go back…” “But we need you here, Rarity,” I said, giving her a smile while I gently rubbed her back. “Besides, Pinkie and I still have our bags back at the camp, and your bag is still here.” “That… that’s true,” Rarity admitted. Levitating a kerchief from somewhere behind her, she daintily dabbed at her eyes before blowing her nose. “Now, why don’t we go and join everypony else,” I suggested, having noticed the worried glances they had been sending our way. “I’m sure they’re starting to get worried about you.” Giving a reluctant nod, Rarity stood and followed me over to the rest of the group. After a short bit of talking the others returned to camp and leaving Pinkie and me to clean ourselves up. With Fluttershy’s special shampoo sitting at the bottom of the river, I was left using just the murky water to try and scrub the mud out of my coat. The result left my coat matted and smelly, but at least I wouldn't be leaving mud all over everything I touched.