Chapter 4
“Student Found, Student Lost”
“We’ve looked everywhere!” Rainbow groaned, coming down to earth and crossing her forelegs as we stood in the hallway again. “No sign of them!”
“Whatever brute did this will suffer my personal wrath!” Rarity said.
“This does rightly stink.” Aj said, bucking the wall in frustration.
“I do hope they are okay,” Fluttershy said, looking down.
“Hey, we’ll find them don’t worry,” I tried to reassure.
“Hey guys,” Rainbow interjected. “Has anypony seen Pinkie Pie?”
We looked around the hallway and sure enough there was no sign of the Pink Prankster. Maybe she was looking too?
I just hope that they are okay, I couldn’t bare it if anything happened to Twi-
“SURPRISE!”
At Pinkie’s exclamation I leaped up to the ceiling so fast that an image of me was left behind. I glared down at Pinkie as I hanged from the ceiling. “Not funny Pinkie Pie!” I yelled.
“Nice one Pinks,” Rainbow said, hoof bumping her friend.
“Geez Private, you really oughta be more alert.” Pinkie said. “I mean, I just came by to tell you that I found Twilight and Gloam. But then you were talking with everypony else so I didn’t want to interrupt because interrupting is rude, like chewing with your mouth open. That is really rude, like that other princess lady.”
“Wait, Pinks, slow down,” Aj interrupted. “What’re you talking about?”
Fluttershy lowered me gently down onto the floor as Pinkie went on. “I said that I found Twilight and Gloam!”
“YOU WHAT!” All five of us yelled.
“Yeah, she was in that place where she first saw that really creepy door the first time we came here!” Pinkie said.
“Why didn’t you say that in the first place!” I yelled.
“Well duh, I gotta do that, being random is in my contract!” Pinkie yelled, suddenly pulling a piece of paper out of nowhere before chucking it aside.
I...don’t even...never mind!
“Where are they now?” I asked.
“They’re right where I left them, that other mean princess lady was there when I came out, I told her to go get help too!” Pinkie said, smiling.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow said, grabbing her shoulders. “You told Soleil where they are?!”
It’s official...we’re dead…
___________________________________________________________
This part of the castle looked old. And still slightly corrupt. It was dark, the stairway looked only half finished, and the floor was unevenly smoothed, with rough patches of crystal showing. The door to one’s greatest fears, however, was long gone. Twilight, and Gloaming Glitter were there, though, along with Soliel, and some of her guards. They were all looking at Twilight like she was some sort of filth.
“I find you here, with my student, the back of her head bleeding and you say you’re not responsible,” Soleil said with a smirk. “I had no idea Celestia raised her student to be so foolish.”
“You aren’t listening!” Twilight yelled. “I said we both have no idea how we got he-”
“Silence!” Soleil yelled. “It’s clear what has occurred, guards, seize her!”
The guards advanced on Twilight, their horns aglow, Twilight’s horn was glowing as well, odds were on her if it came down to a magic fight. But that never occured because I leapt down from the stairs and landed in front of her. “Just what the hell is going on here!” I yelled.
“Step aside peasant,” Soleil said. “This, sham of a princess is responsible for the abduction of my own student!”
“You have no proof!” Twilight yelled. “I told you a hundred times already, I didn’t kidnap Gloam!”
“I’m sure you’ll be singing a far better tune once my guards are through with you.” Soleil said, narrowing her eyes. “Perhaps we can start by plucking out those ill gotten feathers one by one….” Her voice was dripping with evil, I had enough.
I pulled Blackhawk out from my jacket and aimed it at her. “If you lay one hoof on her I won’t hesitate to put one between your eyes!” I yelled.
“What is this?” Soleil said, “Tell your pet to stand down Princess Twilight, he has no right to interfere.”
“He’s not my pet, he’s my husband!” Twilight yelled.
“Bah, such nonsense,” Soleil scoffed. “You are immortal now, Twilight, you need not worry about these short lived worms. All they are good for is fulfilling your desires.”
“One,” Twilight said, walking to my side to glare at Soleil. “Private is not my slave or my pet! And two, I gave up being immortal to be with him!”
“How could you even consider something so foolish!” Soleil yelled.
“Easy, I have a heart,” Twilight said with a smirk of her own.
“I have no time for this,” Soleil said, “Guards, seize them both, we’ll bring them back to Calvaria for execution!”
“ENOUGH!” Suddenly Celestia teleported in front of us, along with Voidera and Luna.
“You have gone too far Soleil!” Luna yelled, “You are not in Calvaria, you are in Equestria.”
“Quiet you worthless night child,” Soleil said with a look of contempt.
“What was that!?” Luna yelled.
“Luna, please,” Celestia said firmly. Luna backed off at that.
“What is going on here, Soleil?” Voidera said. “Explain yourself.”
“This doesn’t concern you Celestia,” Soleil said, ignoring Voidera. “I am simply taking Gloam’s kidnapper into custody.”
“I told you I didn’t kidnap her!” Twilight yelled.
Celestia just looked back at Twilight, giving a glare that silenced her. Man, Celestia is not a pony you want to mess with when she’s mad.
Celestia simply turned back to Soleil and spoke, “Luna, see to Gloam.”
Luna nodded and walked over to the still unconscious Gloam. Luna’s horn glowed faint as she ran it across the young unicorn. “She is alright, just knocked out, a wound is on the back of her head, might have been how she was knocked out.
“By Twilight Sparkle with that chair leg,” Soleil interrupted.
“That’s ridiculous! I’d never hurt anypony!” Twilight yelled.
“As if,” Soleil said, glaring at her. “I knew something was wrong with the demonstration the moment I saw it. Then,” one of the guards came forward with the book on Mana Manipulation. “I found this, among the things in the room.”
“That’s the book I took out!” Twilight said, pointing. “I took it out because Gloam asked me to.”
“More likely you needed to perform research to further siphon mana from my student. So that your magic would seem superior!” Soleil yelled.
“Do you even realize how ridiculous that sounds?!” Luna yelled along with Twilight.
“This conversation is pointless and ridiculous,” Soleil said with a huff. “I will have my guards escort Twilight to Calvaria, there she shall be tried as an enemy of the state.”
“ENOUGH!” Celestia yelled, glaring at Soleil. “Here in Equestria, there is a very specific mantra that our courts live by. That is, ‘innocent until proven guilty’ I will not see that ignored for your petty revenge on Twilight because your student couldn’t handle a spell of such magnitude.”
“You dare accuse Gloam of incompetence? Do you want a war, Celestia?” Soleil yelled, stepping closer.
“No, that’s the last thing I want,” Celestia said firmly. “Twilight Sparkle is my student, the crime was committed in my country, therefore, we will follow the rules of said country. My student is to be put in my custody until this all can be settled. As for your student, she too will be in my care until she wakes up and explains everything.”
Soleil just growled at her.
“If you should try to fight against this,” Voidera said, narrowing his red slitted eyes at her. “You will get a repeat performance of the last time you fought us.”
They’ve fought each other before? Just how much baggage does Celestia have?
“This isn’t over Celestia, not by a long shot,” Soleil growled. “I will see that Twilight Sparkle is found guilty, I will see that she is executed for what she did. And just so you know, there’s no Uncle Lunard to save you once all this is over…”
Part of me could tell that Celestia was fighting every urge to send Soleil to the moon.
Personally, I wouldn’t stop her.
Soleil left with her guards in tow. Luna wrapped Gloam in her magic and lifted her onto her back. The princess of the night looked at Celestia and said, “I will get a room for her, until she awakens.”
“See that you do,” Celestia said simply.
Luna took the message and left without another word.
Twilight walked over to Celestia, nervously saying, “Princess I...I’m sorry I didn’t mean to cause all this.”
“I know, Twilight,” Celestia replied. “I know you did not do it.”
“Twilight, just what happened?” I asked, pulling her into a hug.
Twilight pressed into me, wrapping her hooves in a tight embrace around me. She said, “I just, Gloam and I got the book from the library, Gloam wanted to show me something in her room. She teleported me there and next thing I know there was just this light and…” She shook her head, obviously trying to make sense of all of this. “When I woke up, Soleil was accusing me of kidnapping and hurting Gloam.
“I know you didn’t do it,” I said, gently rubbing a hoof down her back. “I’m going to find out who did. I promise you.”
Twilight laid a kiss on my lips and then looked over as Voidera stood over her. “Twilight, come with me,” My teacher said firmly.
“But Voide-” I began.
“Private,” Voidera gave me a hard glare. “Don’t, even try.”
I knew I wasn’t going to win, so I let Twilight go reluctantly. She followed Voidera slowly up the stairs. I was about to follow after when Celestia got between us.
I looked up at the princess as she gave me the same stare that she used on Soleil. Only I was far less resistant to it’s effects. “I came down here, and saw that you drew a gun on Soleil. Do not ever let me catch you doing something stupid like that again.”
“I was just trying to prote-” I began.
“No excuses.” Celestia said firmly. “Thor gave you those new weapons in the hopes you would use them responsibly. Shooting Soleil would have accomplished nothing. This is twice I’ve had to reprimand you for acting reckless. Do not let me make it a third.” She then turned and teleported away.
I sighed...this was the worst day ever…
__________________________________________________________
I slunk into the conference room, feeling truly low. I looked up at the chairs, and could see the others looking rather downcast as well. Even Pinkie’s mane seemed to have flattened a bit, and her color a little less bright. Rarity’s mane was a touch messy, but unsurprisingly, rather artfully so. Applejack just looked tired, like she had tried to buck the whole orchard by herself. Fluttershy… Fluttershy seemed to want to hide from the world even more than usual. Lastly, Rainbow Dash looked like somebody had canceled all the Wonderbolts shows for all time.
“I wish I’d gone with her or something,” I said finally.
“C’mon Sugarcube, none of us could’ve predicted what would’ve happened,” Aj said, walking to me and putting a hoof on my shoulder.
Rainbow smacked her hooves together and flew into the air, a fire in her belly again. “I say we get Twilight, and smack that Soleil jerk upside the head and send her right back to Calvaria!”
“That will accomplish nothing darling,” Rarity said sadly. “Soleil will still insist on finding Twilight. Even if we got her out, we would risk open war with Calvaria. Without proof that Twilight didn’t take Gloam, we are indeed stuck.”
“At least that’s better than sitting here doing nothing!” Rainbow yelled at Rarity.
“I’m just as worried about Twilight as anypony here!” Rarity yelled back. “I’m just trying to come up with a less brash method!”
“While we’re sitting here twiddling our hooves, Soleil is plotting to come up with an excuse to cart off Twilight to Calvaria!” Rainbow yelled.
“Arguin’ ain’t gonna solve anything neither!” Aj yelled, calming them both down.
There was a quiet air over the party for a minute.
“Anypony remember when our biggest problems was who was getting a ticket to the Gala?” Pinkie said, trying to lighten the dark as night mood.
“This is all so wrong,” Fluttershy said. “Twilight would never do something like this.”
“The whole thing doesn’t make any sense,” I said, crossing my forelegs. “Why would Twilight want to kidnap Gloam?”
“She didn’t that’s why,” Rainbow said firmly. “She was set up, even I could see that.”
“But without proof we can’t get anywhere…” Rarity said.
“Um...everypony?”
“Maybe we should run around again looking for clues?”
“Nah, it’ll take too long to scour the palace again.”
“Umm…”
“Even if we do that darling, who Soleil is probably thinking of some way to weasel her way out of the situation.”
“Umm….”
“We just need-”
“Hey everypony!” Pinkie said suddenly. “Isn’t that Gloam’s friend out there?”
“That’s what I was trying to point out….” Fluttershy said quietly.
We all looked out the window to see Blaze Warden messing with the bushes. Blaze then looked up at us and started to take off in another direction.
“Dash! Get me down there!” I yelled, Dash then gripped me and we both flew down to ground level.
Blaze turned and fired a blast of gold magic, hitting Rainbow in the head, we both crash landed hard on the ground below. Blaze took off towards the city.
I looked back at the window. “Get Shining Armor!” I yelled and then took off after Blaze. I galloped like mad through the streets, having a slight advantage over the fleeing colt. The way he stuck to the main thoroughfares, it was obvious that he had never been out of Calvaria before. He was not, however, above pushing other ponies aside to try and get them to block my progress. I had experience with chasing perps, though, and was slowly catching up. He may be a guard, but he still had that armor to contend with, and that was slowing him down.
He leaped over a wagon as we went into another street. I used my magic to shove it aside. Some crystal pony was shouting about cabbages or whatever, I needed to focus now!
Man, even with armor this guy was fast, I had to do something to slow him…
I smirked as an idea came to my brain. I yelled, “Blaze! Stop or I’ll shoot!”
“I’m sorry, detective!” Blaze yelled, “I can’t let you stop me now!”
“I won’t, but Golden Eagle will!” I yelled, pulling the flintlock-like pistol out of my other gun holster. Thank goodness I remembered it.
Too bad I forgot to test fire it before this. Oh well, no better time than the present I guess!
I held the pistol in my magic and pulled the trigger. The runes along the barrel glowed brightly and the prongs where the end of the barrel should be started sparking electricity between them. I aimed it at Blaze Warden and a small blast of lightning shot out of the end, hitting Blaze.
The lightning shocked the stallion and caused his blond mane to stick on end. After a minute of being shocked, the stallion tumbled over, passed out.
I walked to Warden and put hoofcuffs on him. I looked at the Crystal Ponies staring at us and said, “Police business.”
Okay, half truth but who’s counting?
I dragged unconscious Warden back to the bush he was at. I set him to the side and started sifting around the bushes. My hoof touched something and I pulled it out…
My eyes grew wide at what I saw...a whole package of those magic syringes…
And one was missing….
_________________________________________________________
Blaze Warden let out a groan as he slowly came to. I stood in front of him, Aj and Rainbow flanking me. He shook his head and struggled in the chair we put him in. My hoofcuffs kept him right where I wanted him.
Rarity got out from behind him and said, “Now, we know you are close to young Gloam, under normal circumstances, shouldn’t you have been taking part in the investigation?”
“I-I…” Blaze began, looking down.
“And what was with the running act?” Rainbow asked, adopting my interrogation voice. “You shot me in the head with magic you jerk! My ears are still ringing!”
“Just what were you hidin’?” Aj said, crossing her forelegs.
“I wasn’t hiding anything!” Warden denied.
“Don’t try and bother,” I said, setting the syringes down on the table. “I found this in the bush where you were, care to explain how you got a hold of these?”
“I haven’t seen them before in my life!” Warden clearly lied.
This guy was trying really hard to hide the fact. I smiled and said, “Girls...earplugs.”
All of us put earplugs in our ears. Except for one individual….Pinkie.
Thankfully the earplugs drowned out everything that the talkative pink Earth Pony was saying, but she was going a mile a minute. She did a hoof-stand, several cartwheels, juggled, and even pulled out her one-pony band for a moment. All the while Warden was looking more and more frantic.
I dared remove my earplugs long enough to cover Pinkie’s mouth and say, “This’ll stop once you start talking.”
“Never!” Warden yelled.
“Pinkie, which is better, chimmy cherry or cherry changa?” I said innocently.
“Oh, I don’t know! They’re such fun to say! Chimmycherry, cherrychanga, chimmycherry, cherrychanga,” Pinkie uttered gleefully, and kept repeating it, because she just loved the sound of the words.
“I’ve been through worse!” Warden yelled over Pinkie’s rants.
“Pinkie, how many cupcake flavors can you make?” I went on and tried not to smirk too much.
“Oh, I can start with the basics like white cake, yellow cake, Prench vanilla, devil’s food cake. Why is it called ‘devil’s food cake, anyway? What is a devil, and why is a rich dark chocolate considered its food? Do you know? I, honestly, have nooo idea, ‘cause it may be decadently good, but I don’t think it’s sinfully good. That’s the double-fudge chocolate chip cupcakes cappuccino cream frosting. Those are so good they’ll make you slap your grandma! I mean come ON! Devil’s food with double-fudge frosting is pretty good, but you haven’t lived until you’ve had my Mexhaycan chilli cocoa cupcakes with marshmallow frosting! Spicy and creamy and gooey, and so gooooood!”
“Alright! ALRIGHT I’LL TALK!” Warden begged.
I pulled a cupcake out of my trench coat. “Get the snack Pinkie!” I threw it over my shoulder and Pinkie dived after it.
What? I always keep cupcakes on hoof in case of Pinkie Emergencies.
Oh my gosh I’m turning into her…
I shook my head and refocused on Warden. “So, who do these syringes belong to. And be honest, or I’ll introduce you to Miss whiney Rarity.”
Warden looked over at Rarity who simply smiled and added some mouth spray.
“Alright, those syringes…” Warden looked down and admitted. “They aren’t mine...they...belong to Gloam…”