//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: The Plot Thickens // Story: Never Lucky // by Ferris the 1st //------------------------------// Meeting with Sunny Trails was easy enough. Her husband and her lived in a house just down the way from the inn and when I mentioned an investigation, she was eager to let us in. True, she gave Silent Stroke nervous glances, but so far he was taking my advice and not bringing his aggressive voice into it. The mare herself matched her colt in color, but had a yellow mane to his oak. It was obvious that she hadn't slept well recently from the bags under her eyes and the redness there was probably due to a lot of tears lately. With her husband out of the house, I wanted to warn her against letting strangers into the house, but we needed answers. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could give us that the sheriff hadn't. We certainly got a lot of background on the foals as the worried mother was eager to give us their whole biography. Well behaved foals, according to her, that never went out of their way to cause trouble. Misty had just started getting a feel for her magic while Buck was at the point where he couldn't wait to grow up and help his dad. It was heartbreaking to not be able to comfort her in some way beyond assurances that we were going to do everything in our power to find them... I shifted on the couch Stroke and I were occupying. As much as I didn't want to broach the subject with her, I needed to ask, “Missus Trails?” I started, only to be stalled by a hoof as she smiled at me warmly from her chair. “Please, just call me Sunny.” “Alright, Sunny. We just came over from talking to Lone Star and while I don't want to stir up anything, he mentioned that you thought it was another local. A pony named Digger?” Her face morphed into a scowl and her voice escaped through gritted teeth, “I didn't want to think so at first. Digger's always been a strange fellow, but... I have to feel that it's either him or his colt,” I gestured for her to elaborate, “see, recently my foals would see Onyx and feel bad because he was always alone, so they took it on themselves to befriend him not long ago. They really were sweethearts and I was proud of them for it...” Seeing tears welling in her eyes, I gently reached over and patted to back of one of her hooves. Say what you will, but a little kindness goes a long way and she nodded thankfully before continuing, “I never wanted to believe that a colt could be bad, no matter how strange they were. It wasn't until Misty and Buck started getting caught stealing things that I had reason to suspect...” “Your foals were stealing things? Any idea why? And what kinds of things?” She snorted softly, “It was all manner of things. A piece of jewelry here, a spatula there, and other such nonsense. As for why, I asked them about it and they said that Onyx needed that stuff to help his dad, but when the sheriff went asking about it, we didn't find any of the stuff in the house. Digger claimed that he was just as confused and promised to punish Onyx, but this was about the time ponies started going missing from the inn, so it got swept under the rug.” Her eyes went to the floor, “I was concerned, just like everypony, but there wasn't much I could do to help. I thought that Sheriff Star would get to the bottom of it quickly, but it kept happening... then suddenly it wasn't strangers anymore. Friends that I'd know for some time were vanishing as if they'd never existed to begin with. It scared some ponies into moving away, but the rest of us were too stubborn to go... I can't help but think... if we hadn't been so stubborn, Misty and Buck would still...” her words gave way to a fresh bout of tears and all I could do was offer my silent support. When the tears finally started to dry up, I spoke, “You can't blame yourself for not wanting to leave your home, Sunny. If everypony up and left at the first sign of trouble, we wouldn't have the Equestria we have today and besides, none of this is your fault. I promise you, Sunny, we are going to find your foals and bring them back to you.” She was... very vocal about her gratitude for those words and it took a few minutes to calm her down again. In the end, we received permission to examine the foals' rooms hoping to find a clue of some kind while Sunny excused herself to make some tea. Walking to the back end of the house, Stroke leaned over to me, “Shouldn't make promises you don't know you can keep.” he chided me. “We don't know we can't keep it.” I shot back defensively. He snorted, “You should be prepared for the worst.” I decided to let it go if he wanted to be gloomy. Stroke excused himself to search Buck's room while I looked around Misty's. It was definitely a little filly's room considering the strange amount of stuffed animals wearing dresses within. Thankfully, it wasn't colored horrendously with the walls being a baby blue instead of a garish pink. I wasn't exactly sure what I should be looking for as I entered. Nothing really stood out to me and yelled “I'm a clue, pick me!” A small bed to my left, dresser to my right, enough stuffed animals to fill a carnival; it all looked innocent enough. Still, maybe there was something more subtle. Carefully navigating the horde of fluffy toys, I made my way to the dresser and carefully opened the drawers... CELESTIA ABOVE, WHY DID A FILLY HAVE THAT!? I slammed the drawer closed and blushed vibrantly as I backpedaled, wanting to put as much distance between me and the drawer as possible. Of course, with an army of silent, cuddly dolls all over, it was a recipe for a fall. Tripping over a particularly slippery rabbit, I ended up face first in a pony-sized bear's embrace... and bashed my nose into something sturdy. Thoughts of acceptable clothing for a filly took a backseat to curiosity. It took a few moments of fumbling to find a secret pocket sewn into the bear's chest and extract a small notebook from it. My ears perked up as I noticed the words on the cover: Misty Trails' diary Don't Read! Hopefully Misty would forgive me for this small breach of privacy considering the current situation. Now, yes, it's not exactly acceptable to go through anypony's diary/journal for any reason, but it might give me insight into where she might be. Considering that only the last little bit was relevant, I skipped past dates prior to a month ago. At first, I wasn't sure what to make of what I read... ** Stroke and I left the house in silence. The thestral's search had proved fruitless in Buck's room and I wasn't quite ready to share what I'd learned. There were still too many holes in the story and we'd burnt more time than we'd intended already. Already, Celestia's charge was easing toward the horizon and we agreed that staying out after dark wasn't a good idea. Heading back to the inn, we retreated to our room and entered into our temporary base of operations. As soon as the door was closed, Stroke was nose deep in his bag, pulling out a pair of disks covered in magic runes. He placed one under the single window of the room and one on the door. Seeing the look I was giving him, he explained, “Magic seals. Ponies have been abducted out of these rooms. With those seals in place, the door and window are reinforced and removing them will trigger an alarm spell. We should be safe in here for now,” he drew the curtains closed with his wings, darkening the room, “...you had something to show me?” he asked. I nodded, withdrawing the length of cloth from my bag. Unrolling it on the ground, I gestured to the insignia, “Sheriff Star said he found this while checking out one of the disappearances. It looks a lot like the Night Guard banner, but there's just something that isn't... right about it.” Stroke removed his sunglasses and I shivered at the way his eyes seemed to glow with an inner light. His gaze traced the banner and a frown grew on his face, “At first glance, yes, it's very much like the Night Guard's. However, this is amateur work,” he tapped his hoof against the stitching, “uneven. This was meant to make it look like a Nightmare Cult, but the cultists revere Nightmare Moon too much to allow such poor quality.” I looked at him curiously, “Don't take this the wrong way, but you make it sound like you've dealt with cultists before?” His gaze could have frozen liquid magma, “Many times.” Letting that drop, I left him to his musings as I moved over to my bed across the room from him. Periodically, I'd hear him mutter about some part of the banner. Short of questioning Stroke's experience, I'd have to assume that he was right. The only problem was that if it wasn't Nightmare cultists, then who was foalnapping these ponies and why? Sighing, I prepared to sleep... ** I awoke to the sound of tapping. A quick opening of my eyes confirmed that it was still nighttime and I rolled over to face toward Stroke. His eyes were wide open and he slowly lifted a hoof from under his blanket to touch his muzzle in a shushing motion. His eyes roamed to the window and I followed his gaze. A figure was perched on the window seal with a cloak concealing the majority of their form, but I could see them twitching slowly. Judging by the way the hooves were moving, the figure was trying to open the window without much success, creating the tapping that had woken me. I didn't see Stroke move from his bed at first, but he was no longer in it and was crawling on his belly toward the window, staying low to avoid being seen. There was no chance that I was going to be able to move with the same stealth from my position, so I simply tensed under my covers and waited for all Tartarus to break loose. The tapping continued as Stroke drew up under the window and used one hoof to deactivate the seal under it. The window shot up and the figure outside let out a sharp noise of surprise... the moment before Stroke was out the window in a tackle. Springing up from my bed, I rushed to the window and saw Stroke rolling around with the individual on the ground. I rushed for the door, deactivating the seal there as I sprinted for the entrance. The pony at the front desk was startled by my sudden entrance and exit as I rushed around to the side of the building where our window was. Skidding around the corner, I noticed that Stroke's opponent was on their hooves and running away with the thestral in hot pursuit. Digging in my own hooves, I shot after them as fast as I could, but both of them had a lead on me as we rushed headlong through the town. I cursed myself for not grabbing my bag of equipment as a few things came to mind that would have helped, but assisting Stroke had been the first thing on my mind. Stroke had taken to the air and was gaining on the cloaked individual, but we were also approaching the edge of the town. Dense foliage lined this exit and the airborne pony seemed determined to keep his prey from getting away. I should have know that it was too good to be true. No sooner had Stroke descended upon the fleeing pony than another pair of cloaked ponies were upon him. Snarling and biting, Stroke fought back but his assailants struck with tactical precision. With a sharp blow to the back of his skull, I watched as Stroke collapsed. I cried out and dug in for a sprint as I watched the newer ponies drag Stroke into the brush. Seeing me coming, the initial cloaked pony flicked a hoof in my direction. I'd seen that motion during the training drills with sniper pegasi and I hit the ground quickly, narrowly avoiding the throwing dart that smacked into the side of a building behind me. Jumping back up, I searched for the attacker only to find empty space. I panicked, spending several minutes searching the forest closest to the town and calling out for Stroke. I never received an answer and as I shambled my way back to the inn, it finally sank in. Something beyond me was going on here... ...and I was alone.