//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Discovery // by Josh Crapo //------------------------------// Not long after Carina leaves, Sophie and her white sedan pulls up into my driveway. I open the front door. “Yo, Jonny! I’m here!” “I can see that.” “Where’s Aita and Carina?” I hang my head. “Gone.” “GONE?!?” I nod. “What happened?” “‘A Canterlot Wedding’ happened.” “Are you talking about a new episode of My Little Pony?!?” “Yeah. Never saw it yet?” “No. So, was it so bad that Carina and Aita went to some far away state in hopes to never see it again?” “No. I only saw a clip of it with Carina. Had to tell Aita about it, and he ran away. Carina just walked out on me in depression because of that.” “Oh. I hope the two are safe.” “Carina, maybe. I have no idea about Aita though.” “So, what do we do?” “We have to report Aita as missing. Carina, I may know where she is.” “Alright then. I’ll let Tim know what happened.” “Okay.” After half an hour at Headrest Centre, I finally go around town to look for Aita, all the while thinking that it’ll be hopeless finding him. He doesn’t know the town at all, so he will definitely get lost. At the central part of town, I suddenly see a bright flash in the overcast sky. It looks like lightning, only much longer and less flickery. So, my best bet is that it’s not thundering and lightning out. However, when the flash is over, it reminds me of whenever I’d teleport from one place to another. Then, I see a dog pound to my left on my walk. I really hope Aita was never sent there when he flew away. “Mommy! Mommy! Look, a horsey!” “Leave it alone, hun. It’s probably looking for its home.” I turn to the miniature conversation with a little girl and her mother. “Actually, that’s not what’s going on.” “What?” The little girl turns to me. “I’m just looking for my little son.” “What happened?” I sniffle. “He flew away.” Then, the mother takes her daughter and comes to me. “Hey, we could go to the police department and they could help look for him.” “Really? You’d do that?!?” “You seem like you need it.” “Wow. Thanks.” Sophie and I head to Headrest Centre to search for Carina. “So, why’d we come over here?” “Carina would’ve come over here for comfort if she ever lost something important to her. It makes sense. Today, Aita flew away. Aita was very important to Carina, and she lost him.” “But why would we be looking here if she’s not present?” “She’s definitely here; I can feel it.” “Well, I can tell that she was here.” “Tomato to-matto. If we don’t find her, we’ll just go to the police department and report Aita as missing. Heck, we might even find Carina there for all we know.” “Fine. How about we go now then?” “Okay. Just one more place to look.” Unfortunately, we fail to find Carina in any of the store fronts or the food court, so Sophie and I drive over to the police department. When we get there, we see a little girl and presumably her mother at the front door. “Excuse us.” “Oh! Jon Vibe! I’ve heard about you! Great job on your videos.” “Ehm, thanks? My friend and I were going to report Aita as missing.” The little girl turns to me. “Aita? Who’s Aita?” “That would be Carina’s son. Apparently, he flew away.” Now the mother turns to me. “Funny you should say that. This little one said the exact same thing to us.” Sophie gasps. “Do you mean Carina? She’s in here? Where?” “Just at the counter.” The mother and the little girl move inside to let me and Sophie though. Upon going to the counter, the two officers instantly recognize us. “Hey, Jon!” “What’s up, my man?” “Ringo and Louis, right?” “That’s us. You must recognize me and Louis because of that announcement the other day.” “I guess.” “So, I hear this not quite three year old son of your friend’s has gone missing?” “Yeah. That would be Aita.” “Alrighty. Let’s just confirm that, and eight of our officers will be set to search for little Aita. We’ll mail you on our progress for the next week. If there’s none to be had for the next week, we have a couple of options.” Louis grabs a walkie talkie out of his belt. “We have all the info we need, over. I’ll need you and seven others to look at every single location. Security is sure to let you in at any and all establishments.” ”Over and out.” “So, what should Carina, Sophie and I do in the process?” “Try to find any clues to where Aita may have flown off to. And if you do find some, let us know right away. Alright?” “You got it, Ringo.” “Hey Handy, is that your car out there?” “Huh? Oh. Yeah.” “You’re gonna waste battery doing that.” “I know. Roman keeps telling me that too. Just a force of habit.” “Alrighty then, you three stay safe, okay?” “Okay, bye.” Sophie and I wave goodbye to Ringo and Louis as we make for the exit.