Old News

"Hmm... hm hm... mmm, mm hm..." Bubblegum's soft humming and the sound of scissors cutting newspaper set against a dull buzz of electricity. Otherwise, the shop was empty and silent. The only light came from a single lightbulb swaying overhead, dangling from the ceiling on a long cord. She laid another picture among the rest and shot a small smile at the plush rabbit that sat against a cold stone wall. "What do you think, Alice? Am I missing any articles?" Naturally, the stuffed animal stayed silent. Bubblegum nodded and looked down at her collage thoughtfully. "I suppose I must be. This can't be the whole story. They're all years old, like everyone just... forgot. How do you forget two entire ponies?" A dreamy quality had entered her calm voice. It was late at night, and she was tired. "Maybe... Maybe they ran off together, somewhere nice. Maybe they're safe, and happy, and they've got lots of friends. And maybe they just didn't want to be in the papers anymore. It would be kind of stressful to have everypony watching your every move." She didn't want to sleep. Her worn red cushion felt so small and cold, sitting on gritty carpet in a tiny backroom of a forgotten shop, and even the old blanket draped across her back didn't seem to stop a chilly draft making its way into her bones. "But... what if they got separated, and they're all alone, somewhere scary and cold? What if someone hurt them, and no one cared at all?" Bubblegum rubbed at puffy eyes, yawning. Her jaw popped. She sighed and rested her face against her hoof, tangled yellow curls silky against her skin and wrapped about her hoof like a set of ribbons. Before her was a spread of black and white images, articles, and headlines, all focused on one thing: a disappearance of a dancer and her agent that had happened many years before, and that had, apparently, never been resolved. The newest of the papers was four years old, and only mentioned the dancer in passing as it discussed the final performance of the ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream which she had been meant to star in. Her understudy had taken the role instead to great success. "Maybe someone kidnapped them, and they kept hoping for someone to come looking for them, but no one ever did." The light flickered, and the shopkeep flinched like she'd been struck. Rain pattered on the outside of the building. Against her will, tears came welling up in her eyes. Bubblegum tilted her face up as if it would stop the tears from running down her face. She had almost forgotten the storm that had driven her to keep her light on so late into the night. "Oh. I'm sorry, Alice... you must be cold..." Bubble clambered to her hooves, and with a dazed expression on her face, she pushed the cushion over to the wall, where the rabbit sat. She picked it up and set it in the middle of the cushion, bundling it up in her grey blanket and then stepping back. She shivered. Without another word, the shopkeep settled herself on the carpet beside the cushion, curling into a tight ball. Thunder cracked. The light flicked off. Bubblegum stared into the inky blackness, emptying her mind of all thoughts.