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 Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 2:14 am
 Raising a brow, though still worried, Yuuki was never one to pass on a challenge and so he took a deep breath in through his nose and dug his hooves into the ground to propel himself forward quickly.
He laughed quietly, catching up to Junior in a few strides before ducking his head down to bump his side with the top of his head, yelling as he ran past. "You're it now!"
He ran forward quickly, letting the wind run through his mane as he tossed his head back, forgetting for a few moments why they were out here.
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Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 2:31 am
 Mission accomplished. When Junior felt the tag to his side, he let out a loud whinny. He was a fast runner in his own right; built similarly to his mother, Junior was lithe and quick. He could run laps around Jasper, and Flossy too, without much effort. But in a race with Yuuki, who had stamina on his side, Junior couldn't compete. Soon he was one body length, then two, then two and a half behind his father as he galloped on ahead.
As Junior ran, trying to catch up, he covered quite a lot of distance in the forest. He was careful to keep Lyra's tracks in sight, even spotting yet another one of her peach feathers in the dirt, but it wasn't long until he could see a break in the trees a few yards ahead of Yuuki.
Calling out, he whinnied again, slowing his movements down. "Dad, wait! Are we..." Trotting instead of galloping, Junior kept moving. But he was wary now that with every quick breath he took in, he was getting the distinct smell of salt in the air. "How much farther are we going?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 2:57 am
Caught up in the running, Yuuki had hardly noticed the trees thinning even more until finally they were gone altogether.
He heard Junior faintly and before he could answer, the feeling under his hooves had changed, and instead of kicking up dirt, it was warm sand that took its place. Yuuki skidded to a stop in confusion, combing the area he saw not only the set of hoof prints that him and Junior had been following but other sets as well. A lot of them..
Lifting his head, he gasped quietly. The ocean was vast and the water sparkled, waves lapped at the shore gently but everything was calm and serene. He'd never seen anything like it and stood there at a loss for words, his brow furrowing when he noticed that all of the tracks stopped halfway through the sand before disappearing.
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Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:07 am
It took Junior another full minute of running to finally catch up to Yuuki. Once he did, and his hooves sunk down into soft sand, Junior's insides twisted again -- but this time, much much harder.
Everywhere he looked, in every possible direction, he could see hoof prints in the sand. Lyra's, he could see, led forward towards the water's edge. But there were other tracks too; coming through the trees at different places, leading around large rocks dotting the shoreline... there was even a set of hoof prints that came up and over a sand dune to the left of them.
"What in the world..." So many of them, so many ponies, all here and recently, too. But why? Why at the ocean? And.. "Why do all the tracks stop?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:15 am
Yuuki stood motionless for a few more minutes before leaning down very slowly to nudge at the sand with the tip of his muzzle.
There were so many different scents, he wouldn't be able to pick up Imani's even if he tried. He looked down either end of the shore and saw nothing but sand and water..
"I don't know Junior.. For a place that is forbidden, for there to be so many tracks.." His brow furrowed with frustration and he huffed, that uneasy feeling creeping back into the pit of his stomach. "I don't like it here.. Something isn't right."
He shook his head quickly, kicking his hooves against the sand.
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Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:32 am
Well obviously, Junior knew now that Lyra herself hadn't lured Imani here. There was no way Lyra could have lured that many ponies to come to the ocean on her own, Junior could count at least nine different sets of hoof prints before they all started to meld together.
At least nine ponies... one being Lyra, that he was sure of. But was one Imani too? Which set was hers? Where did it lead? The lapping waves had washed any prints that might've been at the water's edge, but something had caused quite a lot of ponies to congregate in one place.
"Dad, I don't like this either," he said, honestly. It was eerie now that they were there. From the way the hoof prints just stopped, it looked as if all the ponies that were here either disappeared into thin air. Or...
Shaking his head quickly, Junior's face contorted. His brow ridge furrowed and his eyes squinted shut. Then he took off again, kicking up sand as he ran, and headed straight for the foamy sand where land met sea.
"Imani!" he called out as loudly as he could, over the roar of the waves. "IMANI!!" His legs splashed through the water, though he was only in far enough for it to barely come past his hooves. "Are you here?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
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Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:50 am
Following after Junior, he stepped into the shallow part of the water, sadness washing over his features as he realized that aside from the two of them, no one else was around.
Taking in another deep breath, he joined Junior as he called out to Imani, doing the same. "Imani!! Can you hear me?!" He waited a few moments and the only sound that he could hear were the waves as they washed up onto the shore.
Something was definitely going on here and he wasn't sure what it was, for so many ponies to just up and disappear.. Did Seraphim know anything about this? "I don't think she is here Junior." He mumbled quietly, lowering his head.
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Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:16 am
"She has to be here!"
Where else would she go? Where else would Lyra have gone, or any of the other ponies that were obviously here? There were only two exits -- one, back through the trees, and none of the prints lead that way; or two, into the water. The deep, merciless water. Forbidden water.
Junior shook his head again and reared up onto his back legs. He let out a shrill whinny and tried to look out over the ocean, but it was calm for miles. Not even so much as a ripple past the line of waves. Still and silent, without the slightest hint that there were any ponies out there somewhere.
Now that they were there, and Imani was nowhere to be seen, frustration was taking over. Junior's heart felt heavy inside his chest and once he lowered down onto all fours once more, he kicked angrily at the relentless waves pelting his legs. "She has to be here, Dad.... Where else could she be?" There was worry in his voice again, but sadness as well. He didn't want to think it, let alone say it aloud, but if Imani had indeed been here with the other ponies... and was now no longer here.... there weren't many options for her other than being somewhere in the water.
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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 4:46 am
Yuuki watched Junior sadly for a moment and then lifted his head to stare out over the ocean, with no clues other then the hoof prints in the sand, he really didn't know what else he could do.
Did Imani go into the water? What about the other ponies? Even if they had there was no way he could know and there was nothing he could do. The realization of that made his chest feel heavy, almost painful and he stumbled back on his haunches, sitting back in the water with a loud splash.
"I don't know Junior.."
He went into a daze almost, what would he tell Dolci? He could just imagine the look on her face and it made his heart hurt to think of it. "Your mother.. I don't know what to tell her.."
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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 2:54 pm
The frown etching it's way across Junior's muzzle was deep and distraught. He kicked one leg again at the water, as if it would somehow help, before he side-stepped to stand next to his father.
Dolci.... Junior knew telling his mother that Imani was missing, and that they'd trailed her to the ocean but could find no trace of her once they were there, would probably..... oh, the thought of it alone had Junior dropping back to sit next to Yuuki. What would she do once she found out? And what about Jasper? Or Flossy? Or Leila? He and Yuuki would be the bearers of horrible news, how in the world were they going to break it all to them?
Trying to be positive for his father, even if all he felt was a pit of negative in his gut, Junior spoke after a long moment. "Maybe.... maybe she's already at home." How long had they been gone, anyway? A couple hours, it seemed. "Maybe she's already there and we're worrying over nothing."
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Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 10:21 pm
Yuuki craned his head to the side to look at Junior, he nodded once, a slight bit of hope starting to creep up in his mind.
"You think so? He took a deep breath, leaning forward to push himself up onto all fours again, shaking some of the water off of his pelt before mumbling quietly. "For your mothers sake, I hope you're right. But let's go back.. We're not doing any good here."
He shook his head slightly, turning to walk out of the water carefully, waiting for him to follow.
"It will be dark soon anyway."
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Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 12:00 am
Almost immediately after Yuuki stood, Junior followed after him. Even if he was hard-pressed to believe what he'd said, not knowing if Imani had come home while they were gone.... gave him one, tiny glimmer of hope. Hope that he would cling to as long as he possibly could. There was a chance, and while it was slight, it was still a chance.
Maybe following Lyra's tracks to the ocean hadn't meant anything at all. Yuuki hadn't been able to pick out her scent, that had to mean something, didn't it? It was admittedly more than strange that so many ponies had gathered somewhere they weren't supposed to be, and that it just so happened to be around the time that Imani had gone missing, and that--
Glimmer of hope!! he reminded himself. There was still hope. And until he and Yuuki returned to their pasture, Junior would believe that Imani's little pink face would be peeking around the fence at them once he and his father got there.
"I hope so too," he replied quietly once he came up beside Yuuki's flank. "She ought to be there. If she's not here, there's nowhere else I'd think she'd want to be." But he was trying to convince himself of it with each word he spoke.
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