The Pony of Smiles

*Twang* *Thk*

*Twang* *Thk*

*Twang* *Thk*

“Go Swifty!” I call out cheerily to my best friend as she fires arrow after arrow into the makeshift wooden targets we’ve set up around the trees. Every arrow is notched and fired in moments, each one hitting dead centre in the targets no matter how far away or if she is moving when she fires. My best friend is one of, no the best archer in Equestria. I bet she could even win in the Equestria Games if she felt like participating, but she doesn’t like to stand out so much. No matter how many times I tell her that she is amazing she just says it doesn’t matter, so I cheer her on. It’s important that she knows how good she is.

*Twang twang twang* *Thk thk thk*

She hits three more targets dead centre and I cheer loudly.

“Sanguine, if you keep being so loud I’ll lose my concentration.” She chides me.

“But Swiffftyyyyy, if I don’t how will you know somepony appreciates how good you are at your special talent.” I say, indicating to the drawn bow with three arrows notched sitting on her flanks.

“I’m sure I’ll remember.” She says with a smirk. “It’s not like I don’t have a constant reminder sitting somewhere on my body.” Her face darkens. “But I wish it was something that could help out in town, how is an archery talent meant to makes lives easier for everypony else?”

I run up to my best friend and hug her. “Well what about these days? With all these bad things happening you can be the protecter of Hollow Shades! I’m sure everypony would feel safer with you around.”

My smile widens when I see light enter her eyes again. “You’re right Sanguine, before it might not have mattered but we have a town who rely on us now. You keep them smiling and I can keep them safe, if these stories of raiders and rampaging beasts are true.”

“I know, I know!” I say while bouncing up and down. “We should go tell the mayor, she can make you the official town Guardspony! We’ve never needed one before but you’re perfect for the job!”

“Alright.” She relents with a big smile. “That sounds like a great idea.”

I bounce over and grab her hoof, dragging her out from our secluded area of the woods. We have a long walk into town because we didn’t want to hurt anypony in case she ever missed with her arrows, not that she would ever miss! But we wanted to be careful. So we just walked side by side along a path we had long made in the grass back to town, casually talking about anything and everything that came to mind.

“So Swifty, do you think they would have armor for you? I mean if you’re going to be a guardspony I’m sure the mayor would have armor ready for you. Wait, have we ever had guards in this town?”

“I’m not sure Sanguine, I’ve never heard of Hollow Shades ever having any guards but I’m sure there will be something I can wear. Maybe I’ll get mom to sew something. She always did like making clothing for me, even if I rarely ever wore it.”

As we walked down the familiar dirt path between the trees we could hear a strange sound. Loud drums were beating in the air, a constant, slow rhythm growing closer with each beat. Swift looked at me, her expression suddenly serious. “What could that be? There’s nothing going on in town that would require the town band to play and this long, drawn out beat doesn’t sound like any song I’ve ever heard.”

“I dunno Swifty, but we should go find out. Maybe there’s somepony new in town and they are showing their talent to everypony!” I answer, trying to bring a smile onto my suddenly morose friends face.

“Don’t you hear it though? This is much more than one drum, the sound is all coming at once but there is a small echo. Like a whole bunch of ponies are all drumming at the same time, the occasional one being slightly off time.” Her expression instead of becoming lighter was getting darker the closer the sounds came.

I wasn’t sure what she could mean, I mean it’s just drums. Why would anypony worry about music? Even if it wasn’t the kind of music we were used to, surely anypony who would come to town playing music couldn’t be all that bad. Well we should just get into town and introduce ourselves! That way no matter who they are Swifty will get to meet them and then she can smile again.

Smiling to myself with my new plan I bounced along our path, Swifty cantering by my side.

While we reached closer to the town the drum beats started to speed up. What was once a slow measured pace was beginning to run out of control as loud beats practically vibrated in the air. Swifty looked at me, her expression darker than ever, and that was when we heard it. The cries of hundreds of voices, metal clanging against metal and the lighter beats of hoofsteps following the rhythm of the drums.

Step by step we drew closer to the town and the sounds only grew. Screaming voices were slowly being drowned out by yelling ones, their tones dark and scary.

"What's going on? What is happening to our town?" I asked myself, my smile breaking more with every second that passed by.

A loud shriek filled the air followed by a quieter gurgle as we passed through the final layer of trees and found a sight that if I wasn’t seeing it, I never would have believed possible.

My neighbour stood by the side of a house, her crying foal in her arms as a unicorn held her up by the throat. His magical aura tightening as she was raised higher. She eyes locked with mine, they pleased with me to help her, to save her. But I was frozen. I couldn’t move a muscle and I knew that she was going to die. As I was about to let out a cry Swifty grabbed me, pulling me back into the cover of the trees and held my mouth closed with her magic.

“Shh. If you make a sound they will know we are here.” She whispered before asking me. “Do you understand?”

I nodded, my eyes wide with fear.

“Good, I’m going to let your mouth go and when I do you have to make sure you don’t scream.”

When her magical aura left my muzzle I quietly whispered to her. “Should we be helping them though? I’m sure that if we get to the mayor we can find enough ponies to make them leave us alone.”

“Sanguine, how many screaming voices do you hear right now?” She asked while we continued to watch the mare being choked from behind a bush by the tree line.

“Umm, not many.” I answered, not wanting to hear my friends answer.

While she prepared her answer I watched the foal fall out of the mare's hooves, her mother finally giving up on her struggle for life. The raider merely threw her body to the side before kicking the foal into the side of the building. I had to force my hoof into my mouth to prevent myself from crying out at the cruelty. I sat there, watching the small bundle of fur shake, before it stopped moving altogether.

“Every screaming voice is somepony we know.” She said with a hardened expression. “And every yelling one, is one of them. Every time one of those screaming voices stops it means somepony we know just died.” She used her magic to seal my mouth before I could cry out again. “Now I hate to say this but for us to hear so few screaming voices then it means that those raiders have already won. Now we need to get out of here before they either start searching for survivors, or somepony finds us.”

I nodded to her as she again removed the magic muzzling me. Tears streaked down my face, matting my coat and dripping down into the dirt. Swift pulled me away but I barely noticed my surroundings, the look in the eyes of that mare as she died was emblazoned onto my mind. I barely blinked because all I could see were those eyes, haunting me.

We travelled far back into the forest that only minutes before felt just as much home as the town we were slowly leaving behind. But now it was just an image that passed by unnoticed in my vision. Numbly I let Swift drag me back to our little archery range and I sat on my haunches the moment she let go of my hoof, recent memories playing through my mind on a constant repeat.

The next moment blinding light hit me as a hoof smacked me over the side of the face, I held a hoof up to what would surely be a bruise and looked at my assailant.

“Snap out of it Solly!” Swift called out to me, using the nickname she came up with while we were barely out of our foalhood years. “I need you right now!”

I looked at my friend, finally noticing the tears covering her muzzle and the dark look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry Swifty! Come here!” I leapt up, wrapping my best friend in a bear hug. No matter how I felt, taking care of my best friend was more important!

“Uh- not so hard, okay?” She groaned, before breathing deeply the moment I let go. “Look I know it’s hard right now Solly, but I need you to hold it together. Remember, you are the Pony of Smiles and I need you. Now, we can’t be sure that those ponies got everyone, so what we need to do is lay low here and when we are sure that they have passed on. We head back into town and search for signs of survivors. Do you think you can hold on that long?”

“I-I’m not sure Swifty, but I’ll try for you.” I answered before asking her with fear in my voice. “Do-Do you think anypony else made it?”

“I’m not sure Solly, but we need to have hope.”

No! I’m sure of it! I’m sure with all those drums somepony must have gotten away. We could hear them for ages while we travelled back. I bet a lot of ponies realized what was happening and we get back to town we will find them. The mayor will have gathered everypony and we will work on rebuilding the town. Things will be hard for everypony for a while but no matter what happens we will push through, because that’s what we always do.

I looked into the eyes of my best friend, wiped the tears from my face and brought back my smile.

“We will find as many ponies as we can and make everypony smile!” I declared. “No matter how dark things get, I will be here and everypony will smile!”

She stared back at me, not moving for a moment before smiling. “Yeah. I’m sure you’re right Solly.”

“Now Swifty, I don’t know about you but I need some sleep. We can head back after a good rest, what do you say?”

“I think that’s a good idea” She said, visibly letting go of tensed muscles and laying down on the soft grass.

I lay down not far away and closed my eyes, the vision from earlier coming back before I willed it away. I just lay there, thinking of how many ponies I would make smile when we get back to town and help them find their families, when I felt something press up against my back. The dark green form of my best friend was cuddled up against me and I felt her dual coloured mane pressing against my neck.

I smiled before whispering. “Don’t worry Swifty, I’ll always be here for you.” I saw her smile before her breathing slowed, finally asleep.

When I awoke I could see it was morning, the early sun was only barely raising itself into the sky and I smiled. I could feel that today was going to be better. After so much darkness yesterday it just had to be! Raising a hoof to my face I brushed the sleep out of my eyes and slowly brought myself to my hooves, but not before softly removing Swifty’s hoof from my side. I don’t want to wake her yet. She looks so tired and I wasn’t about to interrupt her rest, not with that little smile so delicately resting on her face.

I cantered over to a little stream that ran along our little archery range and plunged my face into the water before shaking it all out. I straightened out my mane, coat and tail using a small brush that I took out of a small bag we keep out here. Mainly due to some extra long stays in the forest. I had to look presentable when we came back! Nopony would smile if I came back to town looking all dirty and with a messed up mane full of twigs.

After making sure I looked presentable I moved back other towards my best friend and with my magic began softly brushing her mane back into place, occasionally stopping to remove some twigs or grass that had gotten stuck in there. When I was halfway done she shook and suddenly jumped up, staring at me smiling at her.

“What’s going on? Where are we? What about the town?” She blurted out in under a second.

“Calm down Swifty, let me finish brushing you.” I said, the brush still running through my overactive best friend.

She looked at me with a strange expression before resigning herself to my ministrations. My brush continued to straighten her mane before I moved onto her tail and it wasn’t until they were completed that she started talking again.

“Do you think anypony made it Solly?” Her voice came out in barely a squeak.

“Of course silly, I’m sure many ponies got away. I’m willing to bet when we get back into town there will be many ponies who will brighten up when they see Sanguine and Swifty.” I answered.

“If you’re sure.” She whispered softly before standing up.

“Let’s head home, I’m sure everypony is missing us and we don’t want them to worry for too long do we?” I asked while grabbing Swift’s hoof and dragging her off back towards the path back to the town.

“Just don’t be too disappointed Solly” Swift said, too quiet to be heard.

“What was that Swifty?”

No-Nothing Solly, don’t worry about it.”

My best friend and I galloped through the path back to Hollow Shades again, winding between trees and undergrowth quickly. I just couldn’t wait to get back and see everypony smile so I dragged Swifty along as fast as I could. It only took 15 minutes to make the whole trip, that’s probably a new record!

The entire journey Swifty had been looking up with a worried look on her eyes. I wasn’t sure what she should could have been thinking about but I’m sure once she sees everypony, it won’t be hard to bring her smile back.

Swifty started to slow down as we neared the tree line, her gallop coming to an almost complete stop.

“Solly, I think we should go back. Something feels wrong.” She said, barely above a whisper.

“What are you talking about Swifty? We are almost home.”

“Look up Sanguine.” She added, switching from my nickname when a scary look entered her eyes.

I looked up, expecting to see a bright blue sky above my head through the trees. What I saw shocked me when instead I could see plumes of smoke leading up into the sky from in front of us. In that moment the air shifted and the smell of burning filled my senses.

I galloped forward, breaking through the tree line and saw for the second time something I could have never believed. The entire town, all of Hollow Shades burning. There wasn’t even anypony around trying to put out the fires. I froze there after falling to my haunches, what I was seeing was too much. I could feel something pull at my hoof and some part of me could hear Swift trying to say something to me but none of it mattered, nothing mattered anymore.

My soul died, my heart broke, and the world turned to black.