A Rabbit Hearted Mare
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Chapter One:
Just the One
Herds of ponies and other creatures from sea serpents to, to the surprise of many, changelings, left the main building in town in thick groups. Friends all gathered to celebrate after the wedding, while others left once they realized the sun was setting.
“That was the best wedding I’ve ever seen!” Lily Valley said in delight to the two beside her as they all walked home.
“You haven’t been to many weddings, have you?” Daisy asked, flashing her a crooked grin.
Lily feigned anger, cheeks puffing out, but her laughter broke it. “Well, true, but c’mon, you gotta admit that it was… interesting.”
“Sure, and one of our flowers actually snapped at the stem during the whole fiasco, so—”
“Oh, don’t remind me, Daisy!” she gasped, stopping their walk altogether. Her hoof held onto the side of her head. “That was just awful, and I don’t need a reminder of that, thank you. Seriously, the day wasn’t that bad! What do you think, Rosie? … Roseluck?”
Roseluck made no response, not even a gesture to show that she had been paying any attention to the conversation. Her posture and eyes were directed elsewhere, staring off at a pair of ponies wandering off in another direction.
“Roseluck~” Lily waved in front of her distracted friend’s face.
Roseluck blinked and looked back at her friends. “Oh, bwuh? Sorry, I… some wedding, huh?”
Lily giggled. “Is your head in the clouds again, silly?”
“Careful, sweetie,” Daisy said with a grin, bumping into her side. “Keep being distracted like that and you’ll run into a building or-or even one of the flower beds!”
“Are you saying this stuff just to mess with us?” Lily scoffed and stuck her muzzle in the air, lip pouting out. Rose thought she heard her mumble ‘cause it’s working,’ and they started walking again.
Rose shook her head, hoping her face wasn’t as red as she imagined. “Sorry, I was… thinking about something, that’s all.”
The other two’s eyes followed the path of where Roseluck was last looking. Standing in the markets, Muffins stood alongside Doctor Whooves, and the pegasus had started laughing at something he said while he shot her a sheepish look. Daisy nudged Lily, who started to chuckle.
“What?” Roseluck pouted her lips at the glinting eyes now directed at her.
“That Doctor Whooves stallion, duh,” Lily answered, leaning in with an innocent look. When Roseluck simply shot her a glare, she stuck out her tongue. “C’mon, you two were sitting with each other and everything.”
Roseluck pushed Lily away from her face, face burning much to her irritation. “That doesn’t mean anything! Besides, I’ve only actually talked to him once. We didn’t even speak to each other at the wedding.”
“Wait, isn’t he also the one who helped us with the Runaway Flora incident?”
Lily gasped. “You’re right! He and Rosie went into the Everfree Forest to stop those weirdo animals from taking all of our flowers when the breezies came here.” She flashed a cheeky grin at Rose. “Anything happen?”
Daisy rested a hoof on Roseluck’s shoulder. “Yeah, you never told us. Details, give them all to us!”
Roseluck stepped back, practically sputtering incoherent words before she could even begin to speak properly. “N-n-no, obviously, because we haven’t talked since then! But he was… nice. Pretty smart, too. He talked on and on through most of the trip, so it didn’t feel as long as it was.” Roseluck thought back and laughed a little. “He went on about these plants he’s come across and his travels and all these weird creatures he’s met. Apparently, he’s seen a rare chrysanthemum that was exactly half pink, half yellow. I’ve never seen anything like that! I can only imagine.”
Their faces lit up. “That does sound amazing,” Lily swooned. “Wouldn’t that be a sight?”
“Still, that stallion sounds a bit crazy, too.” Daisy swirled her hoof by her head in a ‘someone’s-a-bit-cuckoo’ gesture. “He just seems… weird.”
“That’s not uncommon here,” Roseluck teased.
“Don’t get me started on that weird scarf. Somepony could trip if he doesn’t wrap it properly!”
“Don’t be mean! I’m sure he’s a kind stallion,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “Maybe we can even invite him to lunch one day. Get to know him more, cause I’m sure he’s not that crazy!” She let out a dreamy sigh. “And that accent, oh my.”
“Yeah, I’m beginning to think this isn’t about Roseluck,” Daisy smirked.
“Well, good!” Roseluck feigned a sigh.
Daisy laughed, with Lily quick to join her. They both fell silent, however, and Rose saw a raindrop land on her friend’s muzzle. Then she felt it, heard it. Plop, plop! By the next few steps, rain began to pour onto the town in a relentless parade.
As ponies ran to take cover under awnings or inside their warm homes, the Flower Trio all gradually gazed at one another with horror on their faces.
“I forgot it was supposed to rain today!” Lily cried out. “The wedding distracted us!”
“This is awful!” Daisy followed, eyes wide. She started to fan herself. “What if my buds are overwatered? Did we already water them before the wedding? I thought we keep track of these things! Always!”
They shrieked, all in one.
“Oh, no!”
“The poor things!”
“The horror!”
And they crumpled to the ground with a hint of flourish. A pony passing by simply rolled their eyes and trotted around the trio of faux passed out mares.
Roseluck stayed there and counted how long they just sat there, ignoring the weird stares as she looked up at the cloudy sky, only to shut her eyes when raindrops hit them. This was how it was, the daily routine of the Flower Trio. Crazy dramatics, weird stares, the whole shebang.
As if she could blame themselves, though. How could they possibly live with over-watering their plants?
As they got up a minute later, she glanced at Daisy and Lily Valley, who smiled as she approached Roseluck and gave her a hoof to help her onto her hooves. With a smile back, she took it and was standing back up again, like nothing happened.
Then the rain became thick and poured faster, and once thunder cried out in the skies above, they jumped and squealed at the booming sound. They even giggled a little, but stopped as they separated. “It’s freezing!” Lily said, shaking herself as she ran to her house.
Daisy opened the door to her home, leaning from the doorway. “We’ll talk over this more tomorrow, though.”
“Totally!” Lily shouted.
“Fine,” Roseluck laughed and shut her door without another word.
As soon as she went inside, she ate in the silence, simply listening to the rain pouring against her window panes. With the gray clouds already out, it was pure darkness outside once she finished later that night.
By the time she trotted upstairs, the moon rose to its highest peak. Roseluck looked at the brilliant stars through her window as she drifted off to sleep.
***
That morning, Roseluck went right to Daisy’s house as soon as she woke up. The bright, warm day inspired her to start off the day with a smile and a kick in her step.
Well, after she made her bed, brushed her hair and teeth, watered her tulips on the window sill, organized her pantry, cleaned her bookshelf, and brushed her hair again.
But otherwise, she was quick to see the two in the morning and knocked on Daisy’s house with a bounce in her step. She even tapped her hooves as she waited.
And waited.
Nothing.
Roseluck groaned. “Are you up yet, Daisy? We should hurry or else our plants will get lonely! And you don’t want that, do ya?”
She waited a few seconds; counted with a tap of her hoof. Tap tap tap tap…
Another knock, just one more, before she finally let out a loud noise of anger. “If she’s already at Lily’s—”
“They’re gone.”
Roseluck froze midstep and turned about to see Carrot Top standing right behind her. The mare wore a solemn look on her face, like she had let out a burst of tears not too long ago. Whatever the reason, surely it wasn’t having to do with what she just said…
“Oh… hi, Carrot Top!” Rose greeted, wrapping a hoof around another awkwardly. “You’re up pretty early. I mean, you’re not up early like we are.”
Carrot Top nodded with a pained smile. Rose was quick to notice, but before she could ask, Carrot Top spoke first. “Well, there was some… stuff going on this morning. But you heard me, right?”
“Yeah. Where are—where they did they go? Have you seen them?”
“I dunno…” The orange mare bit her lip, her eyes glossing over. “I didn’t even know that you were okay, so I don’t know how to say this! Bu-but Roseluck, they’re missing.”
There was a pause. A long pause where Roseluck just stared at Carrot, her smile gradually melting away. “Sorry, what?” she muttered, her ears falling flat.
“Lily and Daisy… they’re missing.” Carrot sniffed and tilted her head to the side. “They a-and three other ponies just vanished last night. Just gone! And we’ve looked all over town and checked Sweet Apple Acres. Even Twilight and her friends tried to find clues, but nothing! I’m so sorry, Roseluck, but… Rose? Are-are you gonna be okay?”
Roseluck last heard something about Twilight, and then her mind wandered off. She didn’t care for the details, not now. Her gaze fell to the houses next to hers, and without another word, she pushed Daisy’s front door open.
Carrot Top shouted, “Roseluck!”, but her call was met with nothing but a swinging door.
Feeling sweat pooling on her forehead, Roseluck looked into the living room. Everything was kept in check, with all the lights out. Out of all of them, Daisy was the one with the cleanest house, and it showed. Her books were placed in order by author and title, like an actual library, only most of the books were on flora and fauna. In the kitchen, the dishes were laid out neatly on the counter, organized by color and size.
Perfectly fine. Like nothing bad happened. Carrot Top must have misunderstood, she thought, gulping down the lump in her throat.
She raced upstairs, and the clip-clop of her hooves echoed across the staircase.
More hoofsteps followed shortly, with someone shouting, “Rose! Please, what’re you doing?”
Roseluck slammed another door open, and she found Daisy’s bed. The covers were tossed off the bed, wrinkled and forgotten on the floor. Her hooves began shaking, but why were they shaking? Everything was fine. The whole room looked normal except for the covers.
Even though Daisy always does her bed in the morning. Always.
Maybe she was in a hurry!
To what?! Get kidnapped!
No! There has to be something else, like she’s at Lily’s or… She struggled to think of one thing, simply one thing that could ease her. But the panic rushed in waves over and over. It didn’t stop.
She’s gone, then! And Lily probably is, too! Gone, gone, gone, both of them! But it can’t be…
“Daisy, Lily,” Roseluck whispered, her vision blurred and her eyes burning. But she still looked all around the room, even taking a peek at the mirror on Daisy’s drawers. Before her was a pathetic looking mare having fallen on the ground with tears streamed down her face, alone in this room that wasn’t hers.
The noise of a pony approaching reached her ears, but she didn’t need to look over to see who it was. Carrot Top took a few tentative steps towards her. “Roseluck?” she whispered and brought her hoof close to Roseluck’s shoulder.
She turned around and met the orange mare’s gaze.
“What about Lily?” she finally said, and her vision became blurry.
Carrot approached Roseluck slowly, and started rubbing her back. “We checked every room and all over town. They’re gone.”
“They can’t be gone. Who would just… who would take them?” Roseluck gasped through fat tears.
Carrot Top wrapped her hooves around her, but why did Roseluck not feel any better? It should’ve been comforting, should’ve done something. “It’ll be okay, Roseluck. Whatever happened to them, we’ll find them. They’ll be okay,” Carrot Top said to her, patting her back.
But no, the pain in her chest only grew, and Carrot Top’s hug and words of reassurance did little to stop it. With nothing else to hold onto, though, she returned the mare’s embrace.
Roseluck’s silent crying became loud and shaky, as did her whole body in Carrot’s arms. And she refused to let go as she buried her face in the orange mare’s neck, crying in Daisy’s empty house.