Quest For Harmony

by destinedjagold

Chapter 142 - Frame

“Spike”

---

It took us a lot of explaining to the Pie family, but in the end, we managed to convince them that we're only here to help out a friend in need. Or rather, to help a friend to restore his world. Whatever. I don't really know all of the details, but the important thing is that, after the Pie family understood, they let us start our search on their field.

Everypony scattered around, searching for the portal, after Twilight explained to everypony of what it looked like, for the Pie's sake, since they didn't want to just sit around and watch us all walking around randomly.

They wanted to know what it looked like, but they told us that they have never seen something by what Twilight has described. Still, after that, we began our search.

Pegasi ponies were flying around the area, scanning the sky and those above the trees. Huh, that reminded me... The Pies seemed to be really angry about us bringing along pegasi ponies. I wonder what's up with that.

No no... I shook my head. I gotta focus.

“Mind if I take a look inside your house?” I asked the old-looking earth pony, who sat on the wooden stairs in front of their front door.

The old pony looked at me with tired-looking eyes. She took a while to stare at me, which kinda crept me out, but then she closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. “No...”

I was a little taken aback from her response. “B-bu-but I thought you agreed t—”

“No means no, 'ung fellow...” she cut me off, and I actually felt my ears droop.

“There's nothing inside,” said another voice from behind me. I turned and saw the pink mare, her angry eyes stared at me. I was about to say okay, but her ears suddenly drooped and she sighed. “That would make us look suspicious...” she mumbled to herself, and I kinda agree with her on that, now that I think about it... “Fine, I'll take you inside.”

“R-really?” I immediately asked if she's honest. She nodded as soon as Sweetie Belle started walking towards us from a nearby tree beside the house.

The pink mare turned and saw Sweetie Belle approaching. “I'm only taking you, and nopony else,” she glared at Sweetie, who regarded it with a stop and a confused frown, before the pink mare turned the glare on me. I fought the urge to take a step back. “Got that?”

“O-okay, okay...” I replied.

---

Needless to say, the house was just...an ordinary house, at least, as far as the ground floor is concerned. They had a simple living room, kitchen, bathroom. Their house is mostly made out of wood, except for their lit up fireplace, which was made out of brick and stone, I think. Anyway, I checked every inch and corner of the ground floor, but I found no signs of any portal.

We stood at the foot of the stairs when a sudden thought popped into my head. “Hey uh,” I spoke, stopping the pink mare who was about to put her hoof on the first tread of the stairs. “Can I ask a question?”

She only regarded me with her usual slightly-angry stare.

“Um, have you, or any of you, saw something uh, sparkling flew around here?”

She arched an eyebrow at me. “No, I haven't seen something like that.” She then turned her attention on the stairs and started climbing up. “Maybe my Ma or my sisters did.”

Huh, well, okay. If the second floor turns out to be nothing, then at least I have something else to do afterwards rather than poking through trees around the area.

---

“This is my...Pa's room...” Pinkie explained as we stood in front of the last door that we haven't checked yet. Huh, I found it strange that she had a little difficulty explaining what the room was about.

“Something wrong?” I asked, turning to her with concern.

“No, just...go inside and hurry up.” And after that, she took a step back.

I blinked at her. She was the one who pushes the doors open and enters the rooms inside first, but now she wanted me to do it by myself this time. What's up with that?

I shook my head. Whatever. I grabbed the knob and twisted it. I pushed the door open and let go of the knob. I gasped quietly, taking my time for me to let everything sink in. Out of all the rooms in this house, this room is...really really messy, and dusty... It looked like it wasn't even visited in years! There were so many cobwebs around, mushrooms here and there. The bed is full of dust that I don't even wanna touch. Broken wood splinters, a broken cabinet. What the heck happen—

Crack!

I jumped back, and saw a broken picture frame on the floor. I...must have stepped on it. I wonder what this is? I walked closer to it and grabbed it with my claw. I lifted it up on eye level, but I couldn't see anything but dust. I inhaled and blew at it, sending a cloud of dust away. I carefully rubbed it with my other claw, and after that...

An old image, of five ponies. It looked like a family portrait. Out of everything, only the pink mare stood out the most, because, well, her coat stands out the most. Unlike the other four ponies, who's coats looked dark and dull, hers looked bright and...happy... She even looked like she was smiling. No, everypony on this image is smiling.

“That was taken a long time ago...” the pink mare's quiet voice broke the silence. I actually jumped a bit, but thankfully, I didn't drop the framed photo. I turned and saw her sad look, her eyes fixed on the frame on my claws. “This room...” she slowly looked around, “...reminds me...of old...old memories...” After a while, she turned to me with a sad smile. “...old...and happy memories...w-when Pa and Ma used to be so so happy and loving...but...” she frowned.

“But then the war happened...” I finished for her, and she sighed and nodded with closed eyes.

“Pegasi ponies started demanding that we'd help them. It forced us to work even harder than we should, and we were threatened repeatedly...”

She sniffed a bit. “Hey, hey, it's gonna be...” ...gonna be what? Okay? All right? I frowned.

She wiped her eye with a hoof and sighed. “What's done's done...” she opened her eyes and stared at me with a frown. “...There's nothing here, right?”

I looked at the photo on my claws. Nothing... Yeah, I guess there's nothing here... But, looking at the pink filly on the photo, I...wouldn't say that...

“Let's go then,” Pinkie said. She turned and walked out of the door. She turned, and frowned at me, since I haven't moved from my spot yet. “Is...is there a problem?”

“Well,” I looked at the photo, before I turned back at her. “What do you think?”

She blinked. “What?”

I'm not sure if I should be bothering myself with this. It's not really a problem I should trouble myself with, but, what would Jay do? I remember his little speech when he was going home for the first time in the old castle. He says some things that would help ponies, right?

I looked around the room. “What do you think?”

She shook her head.

“I mean, this room. What do you think?”

She arched an eyebrow. “It's nothing. Now, get out.”

“This isn't nothing...” I shook my head slightly. “Don't you think that there's something here?”

“Dust and thrash...” She deadpanned.

I shook my head. “Look closer.” I asked her. “What do you see?”

She looked confused. She shook her head, and looked around the room. “S-still dust and thrash...”

“Really?” I asked, as I stared at her. She stared at everything for a while, and her confused frown slowly went away, and turned into...normal, I guess?

“There's...only dust...and thrash...” she finally said, as she turned to me with a small smile and teary eyes. “Nothing...more...”

“Really?” I asked softly with a smile. “Nothing?”

She smiled warmly, and nodded slowly. “Really. N-nothing... Now get outta there.”

I smiled and went out of the room. I turned, and saw her grabbed the knob, and stared at the room for a short while before slowly closing it with a sad smile. When she turned to me, I gave her the photo.

“Thanks,” she sniffed, as she slowly grabbed the framed photograph.