The Pony of Smiles

Black… Black was all I could see. The complete absence of color surrounded me, and shouting… Shouting voices, so familiar, and yet not. A chorus of cries surrounded me in the dark. Minutes, maybe hours passed by as I watched the dark field I found myself in.

After what felt like lifetimes the dark started to fade, but the voices never did. Slowly images came to my sight; visions of me, hundreds, maybe thousands of them. The fought one another, beams of silver and scarlet magic, swinging hooves striking one down after another. As each fell they exploded into particles of dust that separated in two, half dissolving into the one who defeated them, the rest floated over to me. Disappearing as it entered my eyes, but it didn’t sting. In fact as each cloud entered my eyes I felt stronger and my vision became lighter as the dark was banished from my sight.

As I looked over the battlefield before me I noticed something, each pony looked like me and sounded like me. But that’s not strictly true, each was slightly different. One might have a slightly lighter or darker coat and mane, while another’s voice would be softer or harsher than my own. One by one the mares would fall and both I and the victor would become stronger. I looked down and saw my body, it was not quite solid. As if I was a ghost I could see through my body, but as I saw another cloud of dust approach I became slightly more solid and I felt more like myself.

Soon there were only a few of my copies left and my body was almost whole. I watched as a charcoal coloured mare with my scarlet mane and tail blasted it’s opponent with a powerful beam of magic and another with my silver coat and a light pink mane and tail merely lifted a hoof to another that stood before it. The mare bent down in front of her, bowing before disappearing in another cloud of dust. Before long they were all who stood before me, the two mares staring at one another. Neither moved and I worried about what that could mean, the two looked like polar opposites and yet also looked like me.

The darker of the two growled and my pink maned copy just smiled warmly at her. As they moved at once a charcoal and pink bubble appeared around each of them, neither able to move within range of the other. But they continued to clash, one after another would bound forward only to be repelled by the barriers they seemingly were not in control of.

“I can’t take any more of this!” I screamed, bounding forward and stopping between the two. “Will everypony please stop fighting?”

The pink maned one looked at me, still smiling warmly. “We cannot, this is all we know.”

“Yeah, don’t try to stop us you stupid little filly.” The dark one growled at me.

“But, why should we fight? We should all be friends!” I squeaked in fear, the growl sounded so dark and scary.

“Friends? Such a stupid little idea befits such a weak mare.” The dark one growled again.

“As much as I dislike my dark counterparts explanation, I am inclined to agree with her. We are opposites, surely we cannot exist in harmony with one another.” The brighter one said calmly, her smile never leave her face.

“Well I think you’re just being silly. Everypony needs friends and if you need more to believe it then just look at your flanks!” I said while indicating to my own.

There against the backdrop of my silver coat, scarlet mane and tail lay my cutie mark, a silver smile framed by a red heart. The stubborn mares then looked to their own, the dark ones being a black smile in a red heart and the bright ones was a silver smile in a pink heart.

“See! We all have similar cutie marks. If nothing else then that means maybe we can all be friends, right?” I pleaded with them, smiling widely despite my fear and nervousness.

“Maybe she has a point.” The bright one said.

“I don’t know, this friendship stuff all sounds like bucking horseapples to me.” The dark one added, though with less stubbornness than before.

“Solly”

“Alright!” I said, bouncing from one mare to another. “Now that we are friends we should introduce ourselves! My name is Sanguine Soul and I love making everypony happy, a smile is the best payment you can ever receive!”

“I’m not sure if I have a name but I believe that I represent something, so I’ll use that. My name is Goodwill and it is very nice to meet you Ms Sanguine.” The bright one that I now know as Goodwill replied.

“Yeah, I guess it’s the same for me as that loser over there. Call me Vengeance.” The scary one added.

“Solly!”

“Yay! Well my new friends, what do we do now?” I said while lifting the hooves of the two mares.

“Solly!”

“I don’t-Does anypony hear that?” Goodwill said, her ears twitching.

“SOLLY!” A voice cried out, the realm I was in with the two mares disappearing in an instant.

I opened my eyes to see Swifty, her mane dishevelled and face covered in tears. Jumping up I wrapped her up in a big hug.

“What’s wrong Swifty? Why are you crying?” I asked while squeezing her tightly.

“Solly, I’ve been trying to wake you for hours! You collapsed, screaming outside town and frozen solid!” She answered, fresh tears streaming from her eyes joining the ones already matting her coat.

“I’m so sorry Swifty, look I’m here now so please smile for me ok?” I said trying to calm my overwrought friend before another voice spoke from my mouth. “It would appear that you are not the only one to come back Ms Sanguine.”

Swifty and I jumped when the voice spoke.

“Umm Solly, why did you say that?” Swifty asked.

“I-I didn’t Swifty… Goodwill, was that you?” I asked tentatively.

“Yes Ms Sanguine, it would appear that you were not the only one to be awoken when Ms Swift called for you.” Goodwill answered from my mouth.

“Yeah, she isn’t the only one.” Another voice answered, this time in a growl.

“Solly, what’s going on? This isn’t some strange joke is it? It’s not the right time for jokes.” Swifty fearfully asked me.

“No-No Swifty, when I saw the town everything went black and I was in a warzone. Ponies that looked similar to me were fighting each other, but two of them were too strong and couldn’t win. Because I didn’t want them to keep fighting I asked then to be my friends. They named themselves Goodwill and Vengeance.” I explained to Swifty. “But I thought that was just a dream!”

“It would appear not Ms Sanguine. While I don’t begin to fully understand, Vengeance and I appear to be just as real as you and your friend. Although we do not have our own physical bodies.” Goodwill attempted to explain.

“Umm Solly, this is real isn’t it?”

“You’ve got that right missy.” Vengeance growled out in response.

“Well if you two are real then we can all really be friends!” I said happily while bouncing in place.

“Sanguine, this is strange or whatever but I think one of us needs to go look and see if anypony have tried to get back into town. And after what you went through just by looking at the town I think it would be best if I did.” Swifty told me, her voice was noticeably lower.

“I’m really sorry I can’t go with you Swifty. I understand, don’t worry. I’ll just wait here for you.” I reassured my best friend.

I watched her turn and canter through the trees until she disappeared from sight. Looking around I could see nothing but trees, boring tree and after boring tree. Thinking about Swifty or anypony else from town only hurt and made me feel lonely. I knew how much better I would feel if I could see anypony else, but that was impossible for now.

I waited there, thinking about the smiles of everypony I knew until I picked up the sound of hooves coming from the direction of town. Ducking behind a bush I watched as a shadow pulled itself from the undergrowth, my breath caught in my lungs as thoughts or who or what it could be. I quickly calmed as Swifty walked out from between two tall bushes, looking slightly different from before.

Standing in front of me was my friend, garbed in mottled green and black fabric. It covered her from neck to hoof with only a hole at the back for her tail and another on her flank to display her cutie mark, a black bow, much more ornate than her usual one was held in her magic with an arrow notched as she looked around for me.

“Solly. Are you there?” She called out softly.

“I’m here Swifty, what’s with the new stuff? It looks so cool!” I asked my best friend before I remembered why she had to leave me behind. “Oh right, did you find anypony?”

She lowered her eyes and a dark look entered her face. “No, and you really don’t want to know what I found.” She looked up after that, her face a little brighter. “But I did find tracks leading out of the village and I reckon some of the villagers were taken by the raiders, maybe we can still save some of our friends.”

I was shocked, but with a tinge of elation, the prospect that some of our friends might still be around filled me with a cautious joy. I looked at Swifty again before asking a previous question again, desperate to change the subject before she could tell me anything more about the state of our town. “So what is with the clothes and bow? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Well I went to the town hall first, I figured that anypony that wanted to be found by other survivors might hide there, but because I didn’t find anypony there I searched around for a bit. In the mayor's office there was a display case with a sign on it that said, ‘Slight Step, the greatest hunter and protector Hollow Shades has ever known.’ With everypony gone I guessed nopony would mind if I borrowed it.”

“A useful find Ms Swift, I’m sure you will honour the memory of such a great hero.” Goodwill said in her usual calm voice.

“And that bow will come in handy dispatching anypony who gets in our way.” Vengeance added, once more growling from my mouth.

“I-I don’t know about that, I’ve only shot at targets. I don’t think I could shoot anypony.” Swifty stammered.

“It’s ok Swifty. I’m sure we will find a way to get everypony back without doing mean things!” I said to my best friend, a hoof resting against her back to calm her.

“I doubt it, such pansy thoughts will only get us killed.” Vengeance stated.

With those words hanging over us we left, tracing our way through the trees and bushes. The gloom set upon us from the thick lattice of leaves and branches which blocked out much of the suns light and darkened our mood. Our path lead us around the outskirts of the town. I didn’t want to get any closer, Swifty’s words had me filled with fear at the prospect of seeing the state of our town again. After about half an hour of silent walking we found something, a wide trail of crushed undergrowth passed east and west moving away from the town.

“I think it’s safe to say this is the way they were headed.” Swifty announced quietly.

“Yeah! With this many hoofsteps many ponies from town are with them. I bet if we catch up we can get everypony back!” I said cheerily looking at the trail.

A branch snapped nearby, causing Swifty and I to jump. “Ughh.” A voice groaned out from nearby. “Is anypony there?” It asked slowly, like the words were hard to say.

Swifty moved towards the source of the voice carefully, a large bush on the edge of the trail. “Who, who's there?” She asked.

“I-Is that little Swift Shot? Please come here child.” The voice called out softly.

We broke from the path and looked behind the bush. Laying there with blood pooling around him was an old stallion who looked incredibly familiar, his charcoal coat, gray and white mane, fangs and leathery wings only pointing to one pony.

“Mr Shadow Claw! What happened to you?” I said after gasping loudly.

“Ohh Sanguine, it brightens my day to see that you two made it. I’m sorry for my appearance but those raiders didn’t like it when I couldn’t keep up with everypony else. These old bones don’t move as well as they used to.” He answered with a pained chuckle before loudly coughing, a spray of red liquid flying out of his muzzle. “They took many of us, some tried to fight them off but this town hasn’t had a reason to fight for a very long time. We were outmatched but many surrendered so some should still be alive. Please, help them.”

Rage flooded my mind and my leg moved on it’s own, slamming my hoof down in the dirt as a voice that was growing more and more familiar made its way out of my mouth. “These scum will pay! Vengeance will come upon them and give no quarter!”

“Ge-Get out of here girls, find everypony and bring them home.” The old stallion said, his voice getting weaker, his eyes were glazing over and it didn’t seem like even noticed my outburst.

“Solly, let’s go. We will talk about what just happened later” Swifty said, pulling at my hoof with her magic. “We can’t let them get away!”

I stood in place for a moment, watching the pool of red spread further and the batpony breathe less each time. But the magic around my hoof increased in strength, pulling me away. The next moment I broke out of my stupor and saw Swifty ahead of me already cantering east. Immediately I began to gallop, catching up to Swifty before slowing down.

“Please don’t leave me behind.” I said with tears in my eyes.

“I would never leave you behind Solly, not now, not ever.”

“We will be with you too Ms Sanguine and while my companion may not be the best company we will be here for you should you need us.” Goodwill added.

“T-Thank you everypony.” I said, looking through the trees before me and to Swifty by my side.

Just wait everypony, we are coming for you.