Berry's Test

by Maple Sunrise

The Mayor's worries and the mourning of Spitfire

Meanwhile, the little town of Ponyville was oblivious to the missing ponies, apart from those really close to them. No one had wondered where the usual group of six could have gone off to. Most likely on another adventure to a foreign region, like their trip to Appleloosa. But before they had left on their trip to Appleloosa, they had notified Mayor Mare, who notified the residents of Ponyville of their departure. After all, the mane six were always helpful around town, though they themselves have caused quite a few problems.

However, the six had been out of sight the whole day. Mayor Mare was starting to worry. If they were going off on an adventure or anything, they would notify her so that the town wouldn’t worry. Mayor Mare had no idea what to think of next. Occasionally the six would go missing without letting Mayor Mare know. There had been several times that Mayor Mare almost alerted the town of their disappearance, only to receive a letter from Princess Celestia stating that they were out on their usual adventures. Mayor Mare should have gotten a letter by now if it were from Princess Celestia.

And then there were the disappearances of some other ponies in town. The town drunk, or so she was called, Berry Punch, was nowhere in the local bars drinking her days away. Not that she does that as frequently as she did before. She had reduced her times drinking and had apparently opted to stay home and take care of her sister, Cheerilee. Even though the accident had occurred two months ago, Cheerilee still had to stay at home after being discharged a month later.

Cheerilee, still in her carriage during the derailment, had been thrown around the carriage. It wasn’t surprising that she would have gotten serious injuries. But no one knew that the concussion she had from the accident would affect her thinking for so long. Berry had since gone out less to stay home and take care of Cheerilee. So far, the school Cheerilee had been working in had a replacement following the accident, much to the students’ disapproval. Mayor Mare would often see Berry in a particular bar every night where she herself goes to every night. Being a mayor really does take a toll on your mind.

Though Mayor Mare wasn’t much of a drinker, she wasn’t afraid to admit that she might have gone a tad bit overboard from time to time. Even then, those were on special occasions. She still had to administrate the town that she loved very much. Mayor Mare wasn’t surprised that Berry wasn’t in the bar she herself went to. The party thrown by Pinkie Pie the night before had attracted a lot of Ponyville’s residents, with some talk going around the town that Pinkie had secretly snuck in alcohol. This wasn’t healthy considering how little fillies often favoured Pinkie’s parties. A way to relax, as they would say it. But the alcohol just wasn’t necessary. After all, you don’t have to be drunk to have a good time.

Mayor Mare sighed. Berry and the other six were not the only ponies missing. Word from Cloudsdale was that three members from the Wonderbolts had gone missing, one of them being a member of the mane six. This had shocked Mayor Mare. She knew something was up, but she didn’t want to take action just yet. She had overreacted in such situations before and ended up embarrassing herself in front of the town. But she knew that she had to work quick.

After a few hours, reports of missing ponies began pouring in. Mayor Mare had personally gone to see the chief of the Ponyville Police Department for anything regarding the missing ponies. The chief had said that he had never seen so many cases coming in in a single day. A missing ponies report filed by Bon Bon. A missing ponies report filed by Spike the dragon. A missing ponies report filed by the wife of Iron Anvil, the blacksmith that made amour for ponies. And the reports kept coming in. By 4pm in the evening, the number of missing ponies reports had reached 12. An additional two reports came from Canterlot, followed by three more reports from cloudsdale.

Mayor Mare was certain that something was afoot. You don’t say.... Mayor Mare had to alert the ponies of Ponyville of a potential ponynapper on the loose. The chief of the PPD decided for Mayor Mare to go against it.

“But the public has the right to know what is going on!”

The chief’s face was expressionless. It was as if he had gone through such things many times before. In fact, he actually had gone through such situations before. He knew that alerting the public would create panic, and a lot of things happen when ponies are panicking. And the chief sure as hell did not want that to happen. And even if there wasn’t any panic, telling the public would make them isolate themselves in their own homes, even more vulnerable to being ponynapped since there were less witnesses.

The chief shook his head. “If the public finds out that there might be a ponynapper on the loose, they’d panic their pretty little heads off. You know very well that the last thing we want is panic happening in a peaceful little town like this. You, of all people, should know this very well. Don’t you think you’re being a little over-reactive?”

That be true. Alerting the residents of Ponyville would most likely result in total isolation. Nopony would trust anypony in town. Eventually the town’s businesses would close down and nopony would be able to communicate with others in fear of revealing too much information. Keeping quiet for now would probably be the best option. However, the residents who reported the missing ponies will have to continue to worry. PPD and Mayor Mare had no idea as to their whereabouts, but are in no hurry to find out.

17 missing ponies from different towns would probably go on unnoticed. Except to those close to them. And in Ponyville, everypony was close to each other. Mayor Mare couldn’t think of anyone who would want to spoil the relationships of the ponies in Ponyville. Until they find out more, Mayor Mare and the Ponyville Police Department will have to wait and see. If the missing ponies reports keep piling up, then they will have to to tell everypony to be careful. Though they might not take the disappearances of the mane six seriously, the disappearances of the other 11 ponies would not go unnoticed.

Half an hour before the final missing ponies report was submitted, the mane three had once again regrouped in the hallway, Twilight being the last pony to step out. The bookshelf on the right had yielded two books. One book about mechanical mechanisms and another, about electricity. Both books would be read later. Twilight had a brief scan of the books just in case there was a key in either one of them that could unlock her needle brace. There were not keys. The drawer at the right bookshelf had another bottle of morphine and a brass key with a string and a note attached. The note had the number “3” written on it. Twilight kept the key in her own saddlebag before stepping out into the hall.

Applejack had volunteered to carry Berry’s saddlebags, and despite all her mental warnings, Twilight had agreed. Armed with only a knife, Twilight had seen what Applejack was capable of doing. Even without a knife, Applejack could still buck the daylights out of anypony. Twilight was still skeptical of Applejack. The element of honesty, a seemingly experienced killer on the inside. Twilight shuddered, and was relieved to see that neither of the two ponies had seen her do so.

Down the hallway, roughly 50 feet away, a door hung open. It was still swaying outward slowly, as if somepony had forced it open. Twilight called over to the two ponies for them to creep towards her. She didn’t want anypony or anything to know that the three were in the building. The last thing they wanted at the moment was another confrontation in which killing was an option.

“Looks like we might have some company.” Twilight whispered over to the two ponies. Rainbow Dash and Applejack nodded. Applejack took her knife out of Berry’s saddlebags before Twilight could stop her. Twilight facehoofed. “The pony in the room probably just got through with his...or her test. I don’t think the knife will be necessary.”

Applejack shrugged, and kept her knife. Ah’m better off buckin’ anypony anyway. Twilight combed through her thoughts as she tried to devise a safe plan to check on the room that just opened. A safe plan was for one of the three to stand guard by the staircase while the another stood outside the door, just in case there were an ambush. However, an effective plan were for one to stand guard and the other two to storm into the room. Twilight wasn’t sure why, but splitting up probably wasn’t the best answer. All three of the ponies would just have to enter the room together.

Twilight eyed the two ponies. Both of them were tense. They were ready for another attack. Twilight, on the other hoof, wanted to avoid any battles for the time being. “The only thing we need now is to check if anypony is in the room. There is a high probability that there will be somepony in there, so don’t let your guard down.” That was when Twilight had remembered a spell Princess Celestia had used a couple of times when she wanted to sneak up and play a trick on Princess Luna.

Without warning the other two ponies, Twilight’s horn glowed a bright green and the bright green aura surrounded her, making her slowly, but surely, turn transparent. The invisibility spell, thought by Princess Celestia herself to Twilight, would temporarily make anypony invisible with only one tiny side effect. The spell left a slightly minty fresh scent around the pony. Those aware of the spell would be able to find out who was using the spell just by detecting the scent.

Before the two ponies could raise a question, Twilight had whispered over to the two. “This spell is only temporary. Don’t follow your eyes, follow your muzzles.” Twilight casted the spell on the two ponies. They accepted the spell silently. The two slowly disappeared, the only hint of their presence being the minty fresh scent. However, if one of them were to go astray, then none of the ponies would know. Twilight casted another spell, that acted as a tracking device for the three ponies so they know where to go.

“Dash, fly forward and stand in front of the staircase. If anypony goes our way, knock on the wall.” Twilight whispered while pointing at the walls. If Rainbow Dash were still visible, Twilight would have seen her nod. Rainbow Dash flew ahead, and hovered near the front of the stairwell. She had to hover as not to cause enough wind to disrupt the air in the room.

Twilight whispered to Applejack. “You can take your knife out now, if you hold onto it it’ll stay invisible, but you must continue to hold onto it.” Applejack whispered a reply, “Ah hear you Twi’.” She took her knife out Berry’s saddlebags, grabbing it’s hilt in her mouth. Applejack muttered at Twilight, and the two slowly made their way toward the door. They carefully skipped over the corpse of the stallion, hoping that nopony would come to see the carnage they had left behind.

Rainbow Dash felt the approaching minty scent below her and silently saluted the two ponies creeping towards the door. They made their way slowly to the door. No sound was coming from the stairwell, a good sign. Applejack quickly leapt to the other side of the door, with the knife still in her mouth. Twilight slowly made her way to the door. The room was bright, but the bloody mess inside was just too much to handle. Twilight had no time to look for a place to throw up, and immediately threw up behind her, the remains of what she ate at Pinkie’s party landed close to the stairwell.

Twilight knew that at this point, there couldn’t possibly be anypony that was still alive in that room. As she emptied the contents of her stomach onto the floor, Rainbow Dash and Applejack locked over at her. Twilight had a stomach of steel, once downing more drinks than Applejack could. So whatever it was that made her throw up, it was bad. Really bad. The two prepared as to face whatever Twilight had seen inside the room.

Once Twilight was done evacuating her stomach, she wiped a hoof over her mouth, wiping off any extra that had splattered over her face. The invisibility spell was beginning to wear off, as the two closed in to comfort Twilight. The two hadn’t even looked into the room on the way to comfort Twilight.

“Ya’ alright sugarcube?” Applejack whispered over to Twilight. Applejack’s colours had begun to come back, starting with her cutie mark. Rainbow Dash was also starting to recolour starting with her mane. Twilight was begin to recolour as well. The smell of the vomit disguised by the smell of the minty freshness that would stay for another ten minutes.

Twilight’s voice was shaky for a moment, but she spoke. “I guess we don’t have company. I wouldn’t recommend you two going in there. Whoever that pony was she’s long gone.” Twilight looked over at Rainbow Dash, all three of the ponies having their colours back. Twilight had no idea how to break the ice so she just told Rainbow Dash, knowing that Rainbow Dash could take such a sight. Applejack could do the same seeing as to how she finished the stallion.

Twilight sighed before telling Rainbow Dash. “Spitfire is dead.” Twilight prepared just in case Rainbow Dash were to break down or anything worse. How surprised she was when Rainbow Dash showed no reaction whatsoever. Applejack too had expected Dash to cry or at least show some emotion upon hearing the news. Rainbow Dash showed no expression. Rainbow Dash had acted as if nothing had happened.

“Spitfire was into some deep shit. She was into what the Wonderbolts had been into. Money, and it came from all directions. Bribes, corruption, the works. I wouldn’t be surprised if everypony from the Wonderbolts got ponynapped.”

Though it seemed heartless of Rainbow Dash to say such a thing, it was true. Spitfire wouldn’t be here had she been a good girl and had kept her hooves out of the cookie jar. Everything changed once she had her hooves in the jar. After her first “cookie”, she just had to have more. Greed fueled many ponies these days.

Twilight, however, didn’t want the two to view the mess in the room, even though she was confident that the two would be able to handle it well. Shrugging, Twilight led the two ponies into the room. Twilight could have at least have told the two ponies that the room would be such a mess. Telling Rainbow Dash Spitfire was dead didn’t really explain how. The moment the other two ponies stepped in, it was clear how she died.

The bright orange pony was sprawled on the floor, lifeless, lying in a pool of her own blood. A metal block, stood in the middle of the room, the surface smeared with drying blood. The pegasus’ wings were no longer on her back, and the only things in place were what would seem like stumps, but were actually just tear marks on her back. Spitfire’s wings were spread out on the wall behind the corpse, like the way butterflies spread their wings in flight. The blood stained wings had clamps holding on to the wings. The note glued down onto the metal block was blood stained and was hard to read, but the words were clear once Applejack carefully took the note from the metal block. Apparently the blood had acted like a lubricant, and at the same time weakening the glue holding the note down, making taking the note without tearing it somewhat easy.

The three read the note, Rainbow Dash still not surprised, but the other two couldn’t believe what they were reading. Apparently the Wonderbolts didn’t have the cleanest hooves in the skies. They probably knew that their hooves were too dirty to wash off before someone found out. However, hearing how Spitfire had killed a pony who had caught her accepting bribes was unimaginable. The three began to mourn in silence, the loss of a great pony, who had taken the wrong route to success.

Rarity and Berry couldn’t tell much of where they were. Berry could have told Rarity to cast a spell and light up the room they had entered after leaving both Berry’s trap and Rarity’s trap. The two had made their way through the darkness before Rarity offered to light up the space they were in. Berry knew that in the darkness they were better off without light. With light, other hostile ponies would be able to locate the two. They weren’t outside the building, that they were certain. However, stepping into the darkness out of a lighted place would have probably turned several heads in their direction if there were anypony in the same room as they were now. The room they were in was cavernous, and could be as large as Princess Celestia’s castle ballroom.

If Berry remembered the photographs of the ponies and the list of places they were placed in right, Rarity would be number #4, in the assembly hall. Which was bad news. The assembly hall was huge, which meant that there most certainly were other ponies in the assembly hall. The part of the hall they had been in was probably a separated section of the assembly hall. The Assembly hall could have other ponies in danger, and also some other ponies that could bring harm.

Berry told Rarity to shine her horn around the room, to look for an exit out of the place. Rarity lit her horn for only a moment, but during that first moment they saw another pony, who was helpless trying to face her test. Propped up around the mare were a series of harpoon guns. The pony was facing a wall, very much aware of what was behind her. She was standing on her rearhooves, chained to the floor with her forehooves chained as well. A digital timer hung on the wall right above the mare. The timer displayed 00:60 but the time wasn’t moving.

And as if on cue, the timer on the wall started to tick down with the mare no doubt gagged panicking against her restraints.

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Author’s note : This chapter was a bit rushed due to the fact that my cousins are coming over tomorrow and I might not be able to complete the next chapter by New Years. If I overlooked anything, I’ll edit it later. Have a great day.

Comments

[Maple Sunrise]

96550
random pegasi. Should edit that part of the story later

[Purple the Times]

Soon.... Berry and rarity witnessed spitfire struggling her life through the test but did nothing? That's..... Normal.

[Purple the Times]

P.S: You never told what Rarity did!

[Maple Sunrise]

96918
Berry and rarity saw spitfire struggling for her life...?
What is this? I never even wrote such a thing.
For the love of
You really didn't read the chapter didn't you

[Festus]

First important death... a bloody one at that, too. I was hoping that somehow, all of them survived. Here's hoping the other 9 will make it to the end At least let Tavi live, just let her live!

[MacDerpy]

i cant wait till fluttershys chapter i wonder how she would be there anyway?

[Maple Sunrise]

96927
You think Berry would leave both notes behind? Ohhh no she won't. Rarity didn't read her note during that time since she was blindfolded so the two will have to retrieve it later.
97320
trolololol Tavi is best background pony
97696
You'll just have to wait and see xD