Work Text:
Hoofprints of Ethereal Hearts
(Just to clarify, this takes place in a different universe from Of Gasmasks and Gummy Bears, so some fanon that applies there does not apply here. There are inconsistencies. You have been warned.)
Lyra's meaningless voice echoed throught Ponyville's tranquil still night air. It was 4AM, and all was silent and dark, excepting Lyra's melancholy chorus and the slow moan of the flying, angled wind, roaring with sound above the scene but at the same time distant and unimportant.
A sudden outbreak of rain alerted Lyra's attention away from the swirling air. She decided it was a good idea to resume her interrupted sleep. This had happened a lot recently.
She was in search of someone. Her pride was so that she dare not admit the name to anyone.
It was Applebloom. She meant the world to Lyra for a reason she couldn't explain no matter what words the tried to put to it as none described well enough the freakish sensation.
The same thing had happened to Twilight many months before, who fell into the same weird pattern with Scootaloo, who weas now living happily with Twilight nearby.
Late that morning, she aoke, and, peering out from her first-floor window, identified the figure of Fluttershy, moving in the light morning mists down on the sidewalk.
Fluttershy. Oh how Lyra's face broke into a snarl when saying that name.
Her sight continued to pan over the scene below. Among the many figures in the wispy fog, there was Applebloom herself.
Oblivious to the scene, Twilight Sparkle, closely followed by Scootaloo, was walking along the street.
“Oh, hi there!”
The voice was Applebloom. Both of them replied with little thought or effort.
For some reason unkjnown to Twilight, Applebloom was staring into space a lot.
“Did we really need to leave so early?”, Scootaloo asked quietly to Twilight. “We'll have plenty of time to spare. We could easily get to Zecora's and back and have a good two hours to spare before nightfall...”
“Well...”, Twilight answered, and, oddly incapable of finishing her sentence, drifted off into awkward silence.
“Let's just say I have some... additional plans.”
Her unnatural, unsuccessfully-surpressed smile gave away something. Additional plans? Suuuure.