Chapter 15: Memories and Cells
"Come on, there has to be more than that."
The three mares continued down the street, Trixie refusing to elaborate more on the subject. "I mean, you don't go on a dangerous rescue mission with a guy that you haven't seen since you graduated."
"Trixie does not like to repeat herself. Trixie knows Star Well from CSGU and met him again only recently." Trixie turned her head up "Trixie is helping out of the goodness of her heart."
Bright Shadow was most certainly not convinced and continued to press the issue. "Didn't you visit Ponyville last year and was upstaged by Twilight Sparkle? I was in the crowd when you preformed your act and you don't seem to be a pony that will help 'out of the goodness of your heart,' especially considering your helping to save said pony you made you look like a fool. And you call Star your 'subordinate.' I don't think you two are 'just classmates' unless you call all your friends subordinates."
Trixie sighed in relief as she saw their destination at the end of the street. "You look, Carousel Boutique. Trixie doesn't think we should delay any further and investigate. Trixie will check the upstairs, Bright, you can check the first floor, and Screwball can check around the building." The mare took off in a full gallop, racing toward the building.
"Hey!" Bright shouted, "We're not done discussing this!" Trixie just ignored her and continued forward causing the ninja to grind her teeth in frustration. "Come on Screwball, we got some searching to do."
The floating mare gave smiling salute and floated toward the shop. Bright felt a singe of jealousy as she watched the mare fly and made a quick frown out her wings before continuing forward muttering to herself. "...not even a pegasus."
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Trixie searched the upstairs bedroom first. The room was lavished in decorations, and Trixie instantly uncomfortable. The room looked to her as if somepony was trying way too hard to live like high society, everything was just too... frilly.
Trixie's mind began to wander as she searched the room. The mare who lived in the house was extremely tidy and thorough, Trixie's began to doubt they would find any hair to use. Her mind drifted and she began thinking about Bright's words on the way to the shop, making a slight smile form on her lips.
She didn't meet Star Well in the best of circumstances. In fact, she out right hated the colt when they first met.
....................
Trixie was not happy. Not happy at all.
First, somepony out stages her by beating her score of an 8.4 on the Grey Scale of magic, the highest score any unicorn has placed in the school’s history. The pony not only beats her score with a 10.0, the highest recorded score for a unicorn in the last thousand years, the same pony somehow became the personal apprentice to Celestia herself.
It's fine, Trixie told herself, all she had to do was prove that she was the best. This pony only provided a rival for Trixie to compete with, to prove it takes more than raw magical power to be the best magician in the world.
Then Trixie heard the rumor of another 'special' student. This one had apparently been admitted into the school without having to go through the entrance exam. Ridiculous rumors went around on how a pony could achieve such a feat, the pony was a foal of Celestia, the pony defeated seven dragons as a baby, the school staff were hypnotized to let the pony in, etc.
None of that matter to the filly. All that mattered to her was that another pony was stealing her spotlight. The new student didn't even have to work to get into the school, he was simply admitted, while Trixie had to study and practice for months just to pass the entrance exam. All her hard work to prove that she was the best, and she was being swept under the rug again by some random pony whose parents managed to bribe in.
And it made Trixie furious!
That's why she ran to meet the pony face to face when she heard that pony was getting a locker in the west wing. She had to meet this pony who managed to make defeat her without trying, who had become the talk of the school before she could dazzle them with her amazing skills. That's probably why all she could do was stare when she saw how plain he was.
The pony was a midnight blue with black mane and tail that had a sky blue single strip running through both. Trixie was surprised on how he didn't look like a rich kid, well groomed and smug, like she imagined, rather he looked the opposite. His mane and tail were disheveled as if he had never heard of a comb in his life, and he was rather tall and lanky. He in fact looked rather skinny, diffidently not well fed, more like he had recently recovered from being malnourished.
What irked Trixie the most was the colt didn't even have a cutie mark. This colt, had effortless entered one of the most prestigious school in all of Equestria, and hadn't even discovered his cutie mark like everypony else her class. He didn't even discover his special talent so that he could rely on it to impress any pony with his skills to earn the right to be in the school like she had too.
After a few moments of awkward staring, the colt finally decided to leave with a bow. He did not even say a word to her as he left, Trixie's mind still in disbelief that this was the pony that ruined her grand entry into the school.
After the colt left, Trixie finally was able to break her funk and grasp the situation. The filly’s anger boiled over at the thought of some random blank flank upstaging her. She was going to make his life a living Tartarus.
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The trio searched the grounds for about an hour, finding nothing. The mare that owned the shop was most certainly had a problem with dirt and messes of any kind and the place was a shining haven of cleanliness. Only one room had any kind of mess to it, but even then it seemed like a controlled mess.
Bright shadow scowled angrily as they searched the grounds, quietly asking herself why she was even doing such a pointless task. Screwball, on the other hoof, was having a blast. The mare had pulled a giant magnifying lens impossibly from her hat and was enthusiastically scouring the area while the other two scratched their heads on where she got such an object and how many things was she hiding under her hat.
Trixie regrettably was beginning to agree with the pegasus on the pointlessness of the task and was beginning to doubt that there was even hair to find.
As the three were about to give up their search and head for Sugar Cube Corner, Bright suddenly slapped her face with her hoof and ran back into the building. The sudden actions of their companion confused even Screwball, and both mares went back inside to see what the problem was. Bright met their stares of astonishment with a proud grin as she carried a stick with a clump of purple hair at the end.
"Trixie's demands you tell her where you found that!"
Bright smiled in response. "I can't believe I forgot to check the shower drain. I always find hair in mine when I clean my bathroom."
"Hooraw, Hooraw! Bright's are mare. If she can’t do it, nopony cares!" Screwball cheered.
"Yeah, yeah. That's enough. Now somepony please tell me that they have a container for me to put this in."
Twilight Sparkle awoke with a stiff start. She had woken up on a hard dirt floor and she struggled to get up, the bruises from her fight with the mantis and moth still fresh for her. She struggled to get back on her feet and tried to reach a wall for support only to bump into a certain pink pony, who was still passed out on the floor.
All of Twilight's grogginess was pushed to the side as she recognized the pony to be Pinkie Pie and in a panic tried to wake her up. The pink mare was worse shape than she was, purple bruises covered the mare head to tail and dirt blanked the mare.
"Pinkie! Pinkie! Please wake-up! Don't be dead! Please don't be dead!"
The Pinkie mare let out a cough much to Twilight's relief, she was alive if not worse for the ware. The pink party pony had most certainly seen better days, and while she did still have a pulse, the mare refused to wake-up in demand to Twilight's request.
After examing her friend, the purple mare lifted up her head to observe her surroundings. The room was wide box like container, the interior walls seemingly made out of darken soil and rock with strange dark metals scattered throughout them with no discernible order. The ceiling was made out of a dull generically grey metal and had two small round holes that gave off a strange illumination that filled the room like it was daylight. The room had only two source of light from the outside world, one was a small barred window that was on the far side of the room, revealing that it actually was daytime through the small long tunnel. The other opening came in the form of a door on the other side of the room that had a glass window for somepony to peak-in.
The room was divide by a long set of metal bars the array was eerily similar to sheriff’s jailing center except Twilight did not see any doors which to pass through the barrier. The door out of the obvious cell was on the other side of the metal bars leaving Twilight and most of the room cut off from the only exit big enough for a pony. Twilight's analytical brain began to theorize that the side with the door was used for guest and the jailors to come and visit the occupants of the cell while being quite safe behind bars and keeping the cell separate from the rest of structure.
The floor of the room was matted in soft dirt and other wise bare, the room containing very few distinguishable features. On the prisoner side of the cell, a large bed of hay was stacked in the corner. There also was a toilet and sink in the opposite corner, praises given to Celestia's grace in Twilight's head as she wouldn't have to use a bucket like the stories she heard about prisons. The only feature on the jailors side of the room that caught Twilight's eye was a pedestal that seemingly was made entirely of the same metal that was strung about that was place to the side of the room.
The most important revelation of the room was the fact that Twilight and Pinkie were not alone. Four other familiar bodies were lying on the dirt floor of the room. Twilight rushed to the next pony closest to her to check their pulse and try to wake them up before moving to the next pony. Twilight's suspicions and fears were realized as she found that each and everypony of them were her friends and fellow Elements of harmony.
Applejack and Fluttershy woke-up from their slumber quickly, there injuries almost nonexistent but still quite groggy like Twilight was when she woke-up.
"Carnsarnate, where in the blue Tartarus am I" Applejack slurred as she awoke.
"Fluttershy!" Twilight spoke urgently, "I need you to come and help Pinkie while I wake up Dash and Rarity."
The news that her friend was hurt snapped Fluttershy into attention. "Umm... yes. I-I'll see what I can do."
"Twilight, what in tarnation is goin on?"
"I wish I knew Applejack. As far as I can tell, we have been captured, and placed into this cell."
Rainbow Dash awoke with a start, groggy and just as battered as if their fight with the giant insects had been less than an hour ago. "I'm fine." She managed "I have had worse crashes in flight school. Go check on Rarity."
"No need." groaned the fashionista, "I up, barely. By Celestia is it filthy in here." Twilight smiled as Rarity's comment helped relieve her worries if she was O.K. "I would hope they could at least put us in a cell that isn't so tacky.
A voice came from the door on the other side of the room, "I would have to disagree with you. I find the design of this room to be rather beautiful." All heads turned to the door. In the doorway stood Gypsy of Linen, the bipedal moth smiling gleefully at them.