Part 28 - Prisoner
It had been days since Baby Rainribbon saw Pearly. She searched the mines, checking every corner and secluded area in case she found Pearly asleep. Baby Bouncy also had not seen her, something that worried Baby Rainribbon even more.
After another day in the mines, and another without seeing or hearing from Pearly, Baby Rainribbon snuck out of her room and down to Baby Bouncy's. She knocked on the door and waited. Baby Bouncy opened it, then motioned for her to go in.
"Have you seen her?" Baby Rainribbon asked, sitting on the floor.
Baby Bouncy shook her head. "Not for days, and neither have any of the other baby ponies I spoke to."
Baby Rainribbon sighed. "Oh, where could she be?"
"We'll find her."
Baby Bouncy headed for the door, Baby Rainribbon at her back. The two baby ponies went down the corridor, heading for the mirror room. Baby Bouncy pressed her ear against the door, surprised when she fell through it. It was already open. Baby Rainribbon dashed through and into the middle of the room. She looked around and shook her head.
Everything was gone. The mirrors, the cloth, the room was completely empty. Baby Rainribbon raced around it, opening doors that were previously hidden from sight, making her way to the door at the other end of the room. She opened this door, finding it not only empty, but blocked, panels of wood attached to the doorframe.
She slumped to the ground, her hoof resting against her head. "We've lost her," she said.
Baby Bouncy pulled her to her feet then nudged her back out of the room. Despite the time, and it being well after the lights went out, Baby Rainribbon could hear hooves walking down the corridor. Baby Bouncy gathered her together then ducked down one of the other corridors. They hid themselves in the darkness, listening to the hooves.
"I know you're there, baby ponies," a voice called. The sound of the hooves stopped. The voice was not of the leader, or any of the elder pale ponies. This sounded young, almost the same age as they were.
They stepped out of the darkness and their hiding place, and followed the sound.
There, in front of them, was a baby pony, her hair dark while her skin was dull. Her eyes were blank, to the point both Baby Rainribbon and Baby Bouncy thought she might in fact be blind.
"Where is Pearly?" the baby pony asked, taking a step toward them.
Baby Rainribbon felt her stomach flip-flop.
"Where is she?!"
"We don't know," Baby Bouncy answered, stepping in front of Baby Rainribbon. "Who are you? How do you know her?"
"If you do not know, then we must find her," the pale pony told them.
"We're not about to bring her to you even if we did know. She knows better than any of us what the pale ponies that brought us here are capable of," Baby Bouncy argued. Still she stood in front of Baby Rainribbon, something the unicorn was very much glad of.
"If she's where I think she is, she is beyond our help."
Baby Rainribbon stepped out from behind Baby Bouncy. "What do you mean?"
The pale baby pony tilted her head. "You know what they plan to do. What they want with her."
Baby Bouncy looked between the two. "Baby Rainribbon, do you know this pony?"
Baby Rainribbon nodded. "We met briefly, Pearly had been visiting them."
"And now Pearly is gone," the pale baby pony added. She sighed heavily, her head drooping as she stared at the floor. "Is the room still intact?"
Baby Bouncy shook her head. "No, everything's gone."
The pale pony let out a choked breath, inhaling a deep breath a second later. "They have her."
Baby Rainribbon nodded for both to follow, Baby Bouncy going to her side immediately. The pale pony followed them back to Baby Rainribbon's room.
Baby Bouncy sat in the middle of the room, watching the pale pony. She wandered from the bed to the window, then back to the bed. She reached over and picked up Mr Stuffings. She held it close, closing her eyes and let out a heavy sigh.
Baby Rainribbon approached her. "What's your name?"
"Baby Frost," she replied, still holding Mr Stuffings. She opened her eyes again. "You need to leave. You need to warn your frineds outside, if they have Pearly and what they plan to do."
Baby Bouncy was already heading to the door. "I'll find Peach Blossom," she told them. "Will you be all right here with her?"
Baby Rainribbon nodded.
Baby Bouncy nodded once then left the room.