//------------------------------//
// Lonely Hearts 
// Story: Eljunbyro 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	"She does not feel the wind, because she thinks it isn't there."

Bulbs of moisture lined the ends of Belle's fluttering lashes.

"Find her, rescue her, and show her that she isn't as alone as she thinks."

Belle's eyes flew open.  She shot up, tears streaming down her face.

She was lying in bed.  The window to her cottage was shut.  The light was dim, and everything was still.

Belle took several breaths.  As the beating pulse softened in her ears, her face grimaced.  She bent over and wept quietly into her hooves, hiccuping and shuddering from each wave of sorrow.  Her sobbing noises echoed against the shadows of the place.

Eventually, she looked up, brushed a hoof through her mane, and whimpered towards the far ends of the room.

"Pilate?"

There was no response.

She blinked, swallowing a lump down her throat.  Her jaw trembled.

"P-Pilate?"

Silence.

On numb hooves, she scampered out of bed.  Making a bee-line for the kitchen, she looked all around the cottage.

"Beloved?  Are you here?  I... I've awoken.  I've seen so much..."

Her shuffling hooves were swallowed up in ghostly stillness.  She paced over to the study room.  Upon taking a look, she gasped.

Pilate's desk was completely empty, swept clean, abandoned.

Her heart raced.  She glanced towards the door and bolted towards it.  Sunlight stabbed her through the trees.  Her stomach was empty; her limbs were weak, but nothing stopped her from trotting limply down the rows of gravestone houses.

"Pilate?!" she exclaimed, louder, in desperation.  "Somepony!  Anypony!  Have you seen my beloved?"

There were no answers from any of the houses.  Panicking, she spun around and sped to her next door neighbors.  She banged on the front door.  "Kenna!  Baxter!  Are you there?  Please!  I need to find Pilate!"

There was no response.  The house hung in silence.  Only the rustling of leaves and pine needles could be heard in the wind above.

Peering closer at the windows, Belle could see into the anteloupes' house.  Nothing was inside; even the furniture was gone.

Feeling a cold chill, she backtrotted, swirled around, and ran down the mountain trail.  She slipped numerous times, only to pick herself back up and gallop even faster.  Her course took her into the heart of town.  Finally, see saw ponies there, but it was a tiny number, dwarfed by the population that had inhabited the village of Blue Shelf just four weeks ago.

"Please!  I'm looking for my beloved!  Have you seen him?"

Several depressed faces glanced up at her once, but continued on their course.

"His name is Pilate!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking.  "He's a zebra, with a floating mana sphere for a seeing aid!  You can't miss him!  Please!  He's not home, and I fear something's happened to him!"

The villagers simply trotted by, carrying their tools, wares, and carts full of belongings.

Frowning, Belle reached over and grabbed the nearest pony she could find.  "Pay attention to me!  The pony that I care for is missing!  We have to alert the Enforcers—"

"Bellesmith, calm down," a deep voice said from behind.

Belle let go of the stumbling pony and spun around.  She gasped with a tearful smile.  "Great Stare!"  She ran up to the front porch of the village archives and stood, panting, before the buffalo.  "I'm so glad to see a pony I still recognize!  So many are missing!"

"I know, Belle.  About Pilate—"

"Yes!  I was out for so long!  Please tell me where he is!" she exclaimed, hyperventilating.  She shook her disheveled mane back and gazed at him with imploring eyes.  "He must be worried sick!"

Great Stare tried to smile, but his jaw failed him.  He exhaled strongly and finally gave a limp murmur, "He took a zeppelin out of Blue Shelf just two days ago, Bellesmith."

Belle's eyes twitched.

"I'm so sorry, my dear," Great Stare said.  "He... he left you..."