//------------------------------//
// 2 Sightings 
// Story: Apple Bloom Goes Crusading 
// by Brass Polish 
//------------------------------//

	Quite soon, the machines had done all the readings they could and Big McIntosh appeared to be completely unaltered. Spike unhooked him from all the equipment and Twilight, convinced that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had been lying, was about to tell Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to get in harness when Rainbow Dash approached the two mischievous fillies.
“So what exactly did you see when you were in the clubhouse?” she asked.
“Well…” they said together.
“Uh, you tell her,” said Silver Spoon. “You saw him first.”
“Well, we snuck in the farm through the back door,” Diamond Tiara began.
We have a back door on our farm?” thought Applejack.
“And we walked past Big Mac while he was sleeping,” Diamond Tiara went on. “We didn’t see Glean Fetcher then, but after we got into the clubhouse, we heard a noise from outside and thought Big Mac woke up. I went to peak out the window and there was Glean Fetcher standing right in front of him. I told Silver Spoon and as soon as she got to the window, Glean Fetcher put a spell on him. Silver Spoon gasped, and Glean Fetcher looked up and saw us. Then he disappeared.”
Rainbow Dash nodded in understanding. “And when did Apple Bloom show up?”
“Right after Glean Fetcher left,” said Diamond Tiara.

“Why are you listening to them, Rainbow?” asked Apple Bloom.
Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight. “Um, this isn’t the first time somepony told me they’d seen Glean Fetcher in Ponyville.”
There was a collective gasp in the Apple’s kitchen.
“Who else saw him?!” cried Silver Spoon.
“Berry Punch told me she saw him last month,” admitted Rainbow Dash. “I said I’d tell you all, but I didn’t think she knew what she was talking about. You know what she’s like.”
Twilight’s doubts were fading away rapidly.
“Oh, come on Twilight,” moped Apple Bloom, not convinced at all. “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
“Three wrongs,” interjected Pinkie Pie.
“Huh?”
“Three. Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Berry Punch,” Pinkie Pie explained. “And that’s got to equal one right.”

So the next stop for all their equipment was Berry Punch’s house. After the mare herself was hooked up, Twilight and Rainbow Dash questioned her about her encounter with Glean Fetcher. She didn’t even ask why it took so long for them to interrogate her and instead claimed that she saw Glean Fetcher appear in her bedroom while she was half asleep. She said he put a spell in her and when she sat up, he vanished. So before the day was out, Twilight had implemented a lockdown in Ponyville and wrote a letter to Princess Celestia.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

I’m afraid my friends and I have been told by three sources that Glean Fetcher has been in Ponyville and has used his magic for some unknown purpose. Two ponies have been said to have been cursed by him, but we have been unable to identify the purpose or the effect of his spells. Nothing has been stolen from the victims, and there are no signs of alteration. Please help us question ponies around Equestria if they have seen Glean Fetcher as well and were too scared or disoriented to tell anyone.

Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle.”

A reply arrived quite quickly.

“My dearest Twilight,

I have sent a team of investigators to Western Equestria to find out if Glean Fetcher has been sighted. I would like you to send Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to Cloudsdale, and Rarity and Pinkie Pie to Fillydelphia to help with the investigation. You and Applejack can stay in Ponyville and ask the other citizens if they’ve seen Glean Fetcher. I shall also contact Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armour and ask for their assistance.

Good luck and be safe,
Princess Celestia.”

Weeks went by and the investigation did not turn up any new evidence. No one who had been questioned had seen Glean Fetcher anywhere. When they heard about the sources the investigators had to suggest that he was up to something, they were sceptical as well. They didn’t think the testimonies of a mare who was half asleep and two troublesome fillies ought to have been taken seriously. Some of Princess Celestia’s investigators were able to tell when a pony is lying, and they had been met with nothing but straight faces. Princess Luna organised an investigation party as well to talk to ponies who worked night shifts. Cadance and Shining Armour had a delicate job of questioning the crystal ponies without causing panic and alarm, but luckily, they were too put off by the previous claims to think that Glean Fetcher might have been in the Crystal Empire.

All over Ponyville, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were getting funny looks. It seemed as though the only ones who believed their story were Snips and Snails.
“What did he look like?” they would ask whenever they saw the two fillies. “Was he as cool as he looks on his wanted posters?”
Diamond and Silver hated the doubt that was pouring over them from everyone in town, and the fact that the two most gullible and easily impressed ponies were following them around was not helping one bit.
“Stop bugging us!” Diamond Tiara snapped one day. “Why don’t you wait until you’ve seen Glean Fetcher before you start talking about him?”
“But don’t go looking for him,” warned Silver Spoon, remembering that ordeal with the Ursa Minor.
“Why not?” Twist called from the other side of the school yard. “They’d be more convincing witnesses than you two.”
Laughter spread like fog across the grounds. By this point, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were feeling frustrated. They practically hoped that another pony would encounter the wanted unicorn. And they wished it would be Apple Bloom, because she had made them out to be liars in the first place.

At last, the Equestria-wide investigation was over. Every Equestrian citizen was questioned and not one clue of Glean Fetcher’s exploits had been unearthed, much to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s disappointment. They certainly didn’t like being on the receiving end of cheeky insults, which were coming at them from almost every pony their age, and even once or twice from adults.
“Thanks a lot, blanky,” Silver Spoon griped at Apple Bloom one afternoon. “You made us look like idiots.”
“And Glean Fetcher’s gonna get away with whatever he’s planning, and it’s all your fault,” frowned Diamond Tiara.
Apple Bloom was not standing for it. “You shouldn’t have taken your stupid prank to a princess. Think of all the time that all those investigators wasted because of you. That’s all you two can do, isn’t it? Waste ponies’ time?”

That evening, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were sleeping over at Button Mash’s house for a night of video games. Gilt Eyes was joining them as well.
“No cheating this time, Gilty,” Button Mash warned.
“Excuse me? I don’t cheat,” Gilt Eyes protested.
“You made the split-screen switch sides to confuse us,” said Button.
“I didn’t mean to do that!” insisted Gilt Eyes. “I got wound up when you were all beating me and I lost control of my magic.”
“You’re a bigger liar than Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon,” chuckled Scootaloo.
Gilt Eyes scowled. He hated Diamond and Silver almost as much as Apple Bloom did, and was not happy to have been labelled a liar like them.

It wasn’t exactly an exciting slumber party. They had to keep their video games’ volume down so as not to disturb Button’s parents. They’d raised their voices several times when things heated up on the screen, and Apple Bloom had to keep hushing them. Button Mash wasn’t quite so concerned about making his parents angry, but Apple Bloom didn’t want him to get into trouble. She had been trying to convince him to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders for a long time, and while Sweetie Belle wasn’t so keen, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo did everything they could to keep Button Mash happy.

It was nearing midnight when they got further into their game, and so far, Button and Sweetie had the highest scores.
“You’re going down, Button,” smirked Sweetie Belle as their tie-breaker game intensified.
“There’s no way you can beat The Stache,” retorted Button Mash.
For a second, Sweetie Belle was distracted as she looked over at Button Mash and saw that he was wearing his father’s moustache.
“Did you take that from your parents’ room again?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Yeah,” replied Button Mash, not taking his eyes off the screen as he pummelled his controller.
“I told you, you gotta stop doing that,” groaned Apple Bloom. “You’re gonna get in trouble.”
“It makes me look cool,” Button insisted.
“It makes you look like a villain from a Donut Steel film,” snorted Gilt Eyes.

Soon, Button Mash had claimed victory and the five foals spent half an hour snacking on chocolates and cracking jokes before settling into their sleeping bags and getting their heads down for the night. Apple Bloom had forgotten about Button’s dad’s moustache in the excitement of that hoof-biting tie-breaker, and when she remembered, she looked over and saw in the moonlight from the window that Button still had the moustache on. She decided to return it, so she slithered out of her sleeping bag, crawled over to Button Mash, removed the moustache from his face without disturbing him, and crept out of the room.

Apple Bloom was approaching Button’s parents’ bedroom so quietly, she could almost break Fluttershy’s record. When she got to the door, she pressed her ear against it. A faint snoring came from inside, suggesting that both parents were asleep. Apple Bloom touched the door and pushed. It did not creak or moan as it swung open. This room also only had moonlight from the window as its only light source. Button’s parents didn’t stir out of their sleep, and Apple Bloom made her way to the small box on their bureau. It looked like she’d be able to complete her mission without getting caught, but as soon as she put back the moustache, there was a disturbance in the corner of the room.

Apple Bloom turned around and gasped loudly. She was face to face with none other than the wanted unicorn Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Berry Punch had claimed to have seen. Glean Fetcher was looking intently at Button’s parents asleep in their beds, but he didn’t notice Apple Bloom by the bureau until she’d squeaked in fright. He took one look at her, pulled a shocked face of his own, and vanished in a ball of blue light. Apple Bloom had screamed before realising that Glean Fetcher had only teleported out of the room. Button’s mother woke up, looked around the room and saw Apple Bloom standing close to the bed.
“Apple Bloom? What are you doing in here?” she demanded.
Apple Bloom didn’t know what to say at first, but then she spotted something on the floor. Something that hadn’t been there when she’d entered the room. It was a scroll. She ran to it, picked it up, and showed it to Button’s mom.
“Glean Fetcher was in here!” she cried. “Look! He dropped this!”
The two of them opened the scroll and looked at it. Quite soon, they were both wide-eyed with shock.

Button’s mom woke her husband and told him to keep an eye on the foals while she and Apple Bloom went to Library to show Twilight the scroll.
“Sorry to bother you this late,” she said when a very drowsy Twilight answered the door, “but Apple Bloom here says she saw Glean Fetcher.”
Twilight was now wide awake. “Are you sure?!”
“Look at this, Twilight,” said Apple Bloom.
She and Button’s mom opened the scroll that Glean Fetcher had left behind.
“It’s a list of every single pony in Equestria,” said Button’s mom.
Twilight magiced the scroll out of their hooves and quickly looked through it. She was very startled and questions were exploding inside her head. About a third of the names on the long list of Equestria citizens were crossed out. Others had checkmarks next to them. And when she looked in the B list, she found check marks next to Big McIntosh’s and Berry Punch’s names.
“Did Glean Fetcher put a spell on her?” Twilight asked Apple Bloom.
“No, he disappeared when he saw me,” Apple Bloom answered. “He didn’t do anything to either of Button’s parents.”
“Get Apple Bloom home,” said Twilight to Button’s mom. “I’m gonna announce a code red and call the taskforce together.”

Red lanterns were lit all over Ponyville. A wave of panic spread over the town as parents went to check on their children and possessions. Applejack couldn’t believe her ears when Apple Bloom showed up at the barn and told her what had happened.
“Twilight wants you to meet her at the Library,” Apple Bloom said when she’d finisher her story.
“On my way!” replied Applejack, and she bolted out of the barn and away from Sweet Apple Acres.
Everywhere she went on her way to the Library, Applejack saw windows lighting up from houses left and right. She met Rarity who was on her way to the Library as well.
“Is Apple Bloom alright?” she asked Applejack.
“Yeah, she’s fine,” replied Applejack. “Button’s dad’s watching Sweetie Belle, so you don’t…”
“Yes, yes, I know,” Rarity stammered. “I just hope Glean Fetcher’s magic didn’t do anything fatal to anypony.”

Barely five minutes since Apple Bloom and Button’s mom had left the Library, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were there.
“Glean Fetcher has been doing something to ponies all over Equestria,” Twilight told them. “This list has every single pony in Equestria on it.”
Her five friends skimmed over the list. There were ponies listed from every city they could think of, some with dashes, others with checkmarks, and others – including Button Mash’s parents – unmarked.
“How come some of the names crossed out and some have checks next to them?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“I looked over the whole thing before you all got here,” said Twilight (Rainbow decided that this was an inappropriate time to call her an egghead), “and from what I’ve seen, all the names that are crossed out are foals, unicorns and alicorns. So I think that whatever he’s doing, he’s only doing it to earth ponies and pegasus ponies.
Rarity couldn’t hide her relief at not being a target of a criminal, but only she and Twilight didn’t feel a twinge of panic upon viewing the list a little closer. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash all had check marks next to their names.
“Oh, no. Do we have to go through those tests?” groaned Rainbow Dash.
No sooner had she spoken when Twilight had hooked her up to the same machines Big McIntosh and Berry Punch had had thrown on them.

Twilight spent hours taking the royal taskforce’s readings one by one. She could not understand why all of their readings were normal when their names were clearly checked off on Glean Fetcher’s list. It was noon the next day by the time Pinkie Pie’s results were coming in. The other members of the taskforce were taking naps around the room. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie shouted.
“I told you!” she called over her rumbling stomach. “I told you these machines make ponies hungry.”
The sleep deprived Twilight didn’t bother to argue. She was trying to figure out what Glean Fetcher was up to. Not one test had shown any sign of abnormality in any of her friends.
“Are you four certain that you didn’t see Glean Fetcher at all since his escape?” she urged.
“If Fluttershy had seen him, she’d have screamed the place down,” insisted Rainbow Dash.
“And none of you feel weak or sick at all?” asked Twilight.
“Weak? Me? Never,” scoffed Applejack.
“Alright. I have an idea for how to catch Glean Fetcher,” said Twilight. “Since he saw Apple Bloom when he left his list behind, he’ll probably come after her. So tonight, we’ll wait in her bedroom with our elements of harmony. If he shows up, we’ll stop him from teleporting away and question him.”
And with that, Twilight promptly fell asleep.