Laughter Died

Tensions were high as the eight of us gathered in the center of Starlight’s village, setting out routes and schedules so that we’d always be keeping an eye on the town. None of us liked the measures we were taking. All the villagers were locked up in their houses, told they couldn’t speak to anypony until further notice. It felt like a prison, made all the worse by the knowledge that, if we failed, this town actually would become a prison for those who lived here.

Still, things began relatively smoothly. We broke into teams of two, one pony who can fly paired with a pony who can’t, and divided up the days into shifts. Our hope was that, in a town this small, two ponies would be enough to keep a watch over everything.

Those not on patrol would rest or try to keep the town’s spirits high. Bring them food, pass messages along, that sort of thing. Whatever it took to fill the time and keep morale from dropping.

We had no idea how long we would have to keep watch, but we were ready.

Starlight and I took the first shift. Things were quiet. We hardly talked, and we’d gotten there so early I suspected most of the villagers had just gone back to bed. Our friends spent the time milling about, mostly chatting amongst themselves, which we did our best to ignore. We had to stay vigilant.

Then the shift was over, and nothing had happened. I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief as we passed the responsibility off to Fluttershy and Applejack.

Starlight and I walked into her house and slumped down at a table. Pinkie had already made us some hot cocoa, which helped ease my nerves quite a bit. Or, at least, she had made hot cocoa for somepony, and we drank it.

It was a while before I was calmed down enough to talk, but eventually it happened. “How are you holding up?” I asked Starlight.

“I’m alright,” she said. “Worried, of course, but I’m trying to look on the bright side of things.”

“What bright side?”

“Well…” She paused and sipped her cocoa. “Even if we fail, I can still be here for them.”

I pursed my lips. “You’re staying, then?”

“Of course I am. The ponies here are like my family, I could never leave them alone out here.”

I sighed. “I won’t argue, just… Make sure you’re thinking of yourself, too, okay?”

“I will, Twilight,” she said. “Thank you. I, uh… Hm.” She trailed off, a strange look falling over her.

I didn’t have time to question it, though, because a second later a pained shriek rang out through the air.

I blasted up and out the door just in time to see Rainbow Dash catch Fluttershy as she plummeted from the sky. “Bring here over here,” I called out, and Rainbow Dash flew over and carefully laid Fluttershy down in front of me.

She looked rough. She didn’t seem to be conscious, but still her face was contorted in pain. Her breathing was slow and sporadic, as if she were sobbing quietly.

I leaned down and placed a hoof gently on her side as the others quickly raced over. “I don’t understand,” I said. “I knew it would hurt, but it never got this bad. Did… Did she hit her head?”

I looked up at Rainbow Dash, and she shook her head. “She was already out by the time I caught her.”

I took a deep breath. “We… We need to check on the town,” I said. “Starlight, you should—” I turned around, only to find that she was nowhere to be seen. “Starlight?”

I jumped up and ran into the house, but she was gone. Her chair was knocked over, and her cocoa had spilled all over the table. A trail of chocolate-stained hoofsteps seemed to start heading towards the door, but they only lasted a few steps.

I walked up to the table. There was a note, scrawled so hastily I could barely read it.

It’s me. Don’t come looking.

I stared blindly at the paper. The words sat contextless in my mind, refusing to come together. It didn’t make sense. She just left? But why? We need her! The town needs her, somepony is…

It started to hit me. I swallowed hard.

I snatched up the note and sprinted outside. They all spun to look at me as I slammed the door open, and my heart sank at the realization that I had to tell them all the news.

“She’s…” I coughed and choked back the tears threatening to well up. “She’s gone.”

They all swarmed in on me, a cacophony of worried voices asking “how” and “why” and all the other questions I didn’t have answers to. I didn’t know what to say. I could hardly focus on them. My head was so full of racing thoughts, that I failed her again, that she’s even more alone now because of me. It was too much.

I dropped the note on the ground and just laid down.

A quiet fell over the group as they each read the note in turn. One by one their mouths fell open and their breathing quickened. There were gasps, and there were quiet sobs. All I could do was watch as their world fell apart around them because I failed.

Then Twilight’s face got serious. “I’m going after her.”

“Wait, but—” I started, but she was in the air before I could even finish my sentence, and without a second thought I was behind her.

She shot over to the mountains, to the caves where Starlight had hidden when we first stopped her, and went in. I tried to follow her, to take all the same turns, but it got harder and harder by the minute. The tiny moment it took me to figure out where she was going made me just barely slower than her, and turn by turn she started to disappear from my vision.

Then she was gone, and I was stuck at an intersection with no clue which path she had taken.

I decided to call out to her. “Twilight, you’ll never find her in here!”

“I have to try,” I heard her voice come from one of the tunnels, and I ran after it.

It wasn’t long until I hit another fork, though, and she was still long gone. It was clear this wasn’t going to work for long.

I fought to keep from panicking as I thought through my options. I knew she was here, and that she didn’t have any direction either, and I knew who she was. Maybe… Maybe if I just ran randomly, I’d make the same choices as her.

And so I did. I picked a direction on a whim and ran, turning left or right whenever a tunnel caught my eye. By now I couldn’t even hear her hoofsteps’ hollow rhythm echoing around me, but I pushed on. Eventually, I had to find something.

Then, a noise came. From far away down one of the tunnels, I heard Starlight scream with a fury I hadn’t heard in a long time.

“You idiot!”

I ran after her voice. She was distant, but now I had something to follow. Now I just had to hope Twilight would keep her talking.

“Yes, you could have!” Starlight yelled again. Twilight was still too quiet to hear.

More quiet as Twilight talked. I paused at an intersection to wait.

“Look at you! Can’t you tell, or are you too blinded by friendship to realize when something’s wrong?”

“You’re lucky I was!” I grimaced. That was Twilight, yelling back at her. “Otherwise, where would you be?”

“I’d be right here, and I’d be able to trust that they still had you!”

At least now that they were both arguing, I didn’t have to stop and wait. I was closing in fast.

“So I was supposed to just let you martyr yourself? You’re smart enough to know that—”

I turned a final corner and saw them, lit by the gloomy light of Starlight’s horn, but I didn’t see them for long. As soon as Starlight caught sight of me, her horn flashed and a wall of magic grew in front of me, so thick I couldn’t even see through it, and completely cut off any noise they were making.

I ran up and pounded on the wall, but it wouldn’t budge. I tried to hit it with my own magic, but got nowhere. Starlight had always been stronger than me, and I suspected Twilight might be helping her. There was no way I was getting to them now.

But why? Why cut me off? I’ll be fine if I talk to her, just like Twilight. If she let me in, I could help her, I—

A notecard flew through the wall and landed at my hooves. Again, just a few, simple words were scribbled on it.

Twilight wasn’t immune

My mind reeled. This didn’t make any sense. For years we’d gone in and out of quarantine zones without any problem, why would it be different now? Did they make the spell stronger? But why would they do that, the only thing that’s different this time is…

Me.

I must have made them panic. They saw a second Twilight and they ramped things up, made themselves more of a threat in order to thin out our numbers. If Starlight and Twilight hadn’t realized what was happening, it could’ve destroyed everything right here. Even time travel wouldn’t be an option then.

And the only reason any of that happened was that I showed up.

I forced myself not to dwell on it. I shut out my thoughts and moved on autopilot, picking up the note and teleporting myself back to the village. Then I dropped the note on top of the other one and, once again, laid on the ground.

I must have been away longer than I realized, because the scene had changed drastically since I left. None of my friends were around, not even Fluttershy, and the villagers were all huddled together in the distance, quietly talking to each other. I felt for them. I knew how much they cared for Starlight.

Behind me, the door to Starlight’s house opened. I didn’t look, expecting them to just walk past me, but instead the pony decided to lay down beside me. I couldn’t help but look then, and found Fluttershy’s soft smile looking back at me.

It was nice to see her awake, but… Her eyes had changed. I could see the pain hidden in them.

“I’m sorry,” I told her. “I couldn’t stop it.”

She reached out and put a hoof on my leg. “You did everything you could. We’ll definitely figure something out before the next one.”

I nodded, unsure of what to say to her.

“Is, um, the… other Twilight still talking to Starlight?”

I nodded again.

“Do you think she’ll be able to convince Starlight to come back?”

I let out a long, deep sigh. How was I supposed to tell her this? What words could possibly soothe the blow?

There were none. So, instead, I reached out and slid the note over to her.

She was quiet for a long time. She never looked up at me, just stared at the note with a blank expression. I felt her start to tremble, and after some time she pushed the note away.

“Y-You said…”

“I know,” I told her. “Something changed.”

“But… But how could she just not be immune anymore?”

“Somehow the magic got stronger,” I said. “It wasn’t supposed to knock you out, either. It changed.”

“But…” Fluttershy started rubbing her leg anxiously. “You said she couldn’t.”

“I was wrong.”

Fluttershy’s voice shrank, and her shaking got worse. “You said she couldn’t.”

“I’m sorry.”

Fluttershy shook her head and stood up. “I have to go.” She didn’t wait for a response. All I could do was watch as she flew slowly away from us all.