The Lion and the Lamb

by CrazyChickenLady

Chapter Twelve: The Crime Scene

Chapter Twelve: The Crime Scene

Smokey trudged through the snowy paths of Ponyville, occasionally tossing a friendly toothy grin as a few ponies he passed by. If only he hadn’t shown his gleaming white fangs in his grin, maybe he wouldn’t have been retaliated by such responding looks of fear. Though he was long used to such responses, a hope that had been long dead--a hope that out there were ponies who would accept him despite his draconic appearance--a hope that had been rekindled by Fluttershy.

Of course there existed ponies who would accept Smokey as a friend in a heartbeat. He had misfortune to thank for following him in his early years to the present. Misfortune guided him to the wrong ponies at the wrong times, crushing all hope of acceptance out of the winged reptile. Now, it didn’t matter if any more ponies accepted him. Fluttershy and Chenoa--along with his own animal friends--was all he needed and all the fortune he was going to ask for. And right now, he was intending on making his yellow-pelted friend happy--and healthy again.

Focusing ahead, he spotted the grocery store, his excitement in knowing his tasks would be over soon and he could return to his charges back at the house with everything they needed.

***

The town of Ponyville was always peaceful, even though the area had a habit of having odd things and situations occurring in, around, or near it. Nopony had often really gave much thought to the everyday antics of those around them, and the days were generally exciting enough on their own within their own lives, going about their business or hanging out with friends.

Of course, there was the exception every so often. A monster from the Everfree Forest stirring up trouble, or some unspeakable evil being unleashed to threaten Equestria, or even just some large event that happened to take place such as the annual competitions. Heck, even a certain pink, curly-maned pony’s parties she held were often a welcoming setting.

However, sometimes it appeared there were more bad times than good times. This just happened to be one of those times as Rarity fled down the street, hoping to enlist the help of her friends.

***

Down at the Books and Branches library, a violet-scaled baby dragon smiled as he finished putting the last book away on the shelf in front of him. Stepping back, he admired the main room and living space he and his surrogate sister called home. From the top to the bottom, on every surface laid a gleaming near-reflection of the room. He had reorganized the books, swept the floor, and dusted and polished all of the woodwork from the floors to the bookshelves to even the tables. His chest swelled with pride, knowing Twilight Sparkle would be extra proud of his efforts.

“Spike, old boy, you sure outdid yourself this time!” He grinned, his catlike eyes still scanning the results of his labor. “Now, to go grab my sack of gems and take a well deserved nap!”

Licking his lips at the mental image of his beautiful, delicious gems, he thought to himself that absolutely nothing could bring down his happy mood--

A loud smash caused the treehouse to shake and rumble. Gasping and crying out, Spike lost his balance and fell over--along with all of the books on the shelves, spilling onto the floor. Groaning, he pulled himself up from the floor. Lifting his eyes and seeing his hard work ruined, he scowled, knowing only of one pony who could cause this much damage in such a short amount of time. “Oh, for PETE’S SAKE, Rainbow Dash! I just had this mess--”

He whirled around, and was cut off as he was suddenly knocked back onto his back, his arms and shoulders pinned down. Blinking, he gasped up at the mare on top of him.
R-Rarity?!”

“SPIKE!” she gasped, obviously distraught over something. “Spikey, I need your help!”

“Uhhh…” Spike blinked again, blushing. He had dreamed of times where he and Rarity would be in this very same position--sans the books all around them--, but now that it was actually a reality, he didn’t know what to do. “Certainly? What’s going on?”

“Oh, it was terrible! Absolutely terrible! Fluttershy’s been foalnapped!”

Spike breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, is that all? I thought--WAIT WHAT?!”

“Where’s Twilight?!” she practically demanded. “Is she here?! I need her and the others!”

“Uh, no, I’m afraid she isn’t,” Spike said, now feeling mildly uncomfortable as he realized he had a book pressing up into his spine. “She was supposed to meet Applejack and the others at Sweet Apple Ac--”

The unicorn was off of him and galloping out the door in a flash. As he jumped to his feet, he lifted both hands to his mouth and called after. “Rarity! Wait! After that they were suppose to go to…”

Spike rushed to the door, but Rarity was already a speck in the distance. “Go to Sugarcube Corner.”

He sighed before shaking his head. Glancing over his shoulder, he grunted in disdain. Messy floor or not, a dear friend was in danger, and he wasn’t about to let his precious Rarity go at it alone. Making sure the door was locked and the spare key was underneath the welcome mat, he rushed off as fast as he could after his crush.

Whenever Rarity took a trip to Ponyville’s resident apple farm, she often took the time to enjoy the country scenery--like she had done earlier on her visit to Fluttershy’s cottage. However, this was not one of those instances. The panicking mare was a blur of white and royal purple as she streaked down the main road that lead out of town and split off at the edge of the outskirts. Having made many stops at the home bearing the Element of Honesty in the past, with machine-like regularity, the equine careened into the dirt road on the left.

The remaining four were toiling away in the apple orchids, blissfully unaware of Rarity’s preassumed conclusion of Fluttershy’s whereabouts. While the flightless ponies and lavender alicorn were content in the traditional method of removing snow from the trees by kicking the trunks, Rainbow Dash was happier using her wings, shaking the frost from their branches. Also, being the one with eyes in the sky--or, at least, a few feet in the air--was the first to spot Rarity and a speck of purple further behind she guessed was Spike.

Naturally, the winged equine wondered what she would be doing here. Wasn’t she supposed to be at the spa with Fluttershy? Turning her body into the direction of her friends, she lifted her hooves to the sides of her mouth and prepared to announce Rarity’s arrival.

“Hey, guys! I think I see Rarity coming!”

Applejack lifted her head up at Rainbow Dash’s announcement, arching an eyebrow.

“What did she just say?” Twilight Sparkle asked, pushing a basket full of snow away from a now clean tree.

“Ah think mah ears might be deceivin’ me, but ah think Rainbow jes’ said Rarity wuz comin’ this way!”

“GIRLS!!” Rarity’s voice could be heard, as she appeared by the gate, and was charging up to her friends as quickly as she could. “Girls! Come quickly! It’s an emergency!”

The lavender alicorn and the orange earth pony shared a look between them.

“An emergency? Rarity, what happened?”

“Fluttershy’s been foalnapped!!

“FOALNAPPED?!” the four mares simultaneously exclaimed as they, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle, pulled themselves away from the fruit-bearing trees they were about to kick before Rarity arrived--Rainbow Dash lightly touched to the ground and folded her wings against her sides and Pinkie Pie’s head popped out of a full basket of snow seemingly too small to hold her entire body, and hopped out--to gather around the white unicorn with horrified and expectant eyes.

“No way! What happened?” Rainbow Dash demanded with terrified anxiety fueled by fear of what might have happened to the sweet yellow pegasus.

“Well,” Rarity began, apprehension and fear in her eyes, “I was on my way to Fluttershy’s cottage to pick her up for our usual spa date. Normally she meets me there, but this time she didn’t. I didn’t think anything of it at first, so I went to go see what was the matter! I thought she might have been feeling a bit under the weather but…

“When I got there--oh, it was horrible! The whole place looked like a mess! Feathers from her chickens, everywhere! The smell of animal all around her house!”

“Eh, pardon me, Rare, but, uh… doesn’t Fluttershy’s house always smell like animal?” Applejack questioned.

“Yes, but, darling, the smell was everywhere, even in her upstairs room! And there were these strange tracks all over! I think there had to have been some sort of a fight!”

“Then what are we doing standing around here for? Let’s go investigate!” With determination sparking in her eyes, the pegasus took to the air again, wings flapping rapidly. In a heartbeat, she sped down the path Rarity took, barreling right past Spike in the process, the built up momentum causing him to start spinning like an out of control top.

The other four mares abandoned what they were doing, galloping off after the prismatic-maned pony. By the time Spike had stopped spinning around and was recovering from nearly tossing his cookies, the others blazed past him, unceremoniously knocking him aside and into a puddle.

***

They reached Fluttershy’s cottage in record time. As Twilight Sparkle stepped forward to observe the cottage, she arched an eyebrow. Everything didn’t seem particularly off, save for the tracks she saw in the snow and the feathers--which she didn’t see at first and actually had to squint because they blended in with the snow so well.

Almost right away, their attention was drawn to the back of the cottage where frantic clucking erupted. Was it the perpetrator who abducted Fluttershy?

Mentally preparing themselves for a fight, the four out of the mane six clamored to the back of the property to find Rainbow Dash attempting to interrogate Elizabeak. The poor chicken was flailing wildly in the pegasus’ fore hooves, feathers jarring loose from her beating wings and spinning to the snow-coated ground below.

“What the--?!” Twilight Sparkle blinked, her eyes going wide and staring at her friend. Storming up, she gritted her teeth. “Rainbow, what are you doing?!”

“Tryin’ to get this chicken to talk,” she snapped, turning back to Elizabeak. “Look! I KNOW you saw something, you rat! Don’t try and weasel your way out of this one, you turkey! Pony up the information! TALK!”

At this, Twilight Sparkle grunted, slapping a hoof to her face.

Elizabeak replied with a set of frightened clucks and a few desperate flaps of her wings.

“Not talkin’, huh?” Brows sinking further, Rainbow Dash snorted before dropping the hen and swinging her head around to view her friends. “Maybe somepony else knows something!”

“Ah don’t see who would,” Applejack stated. “On the account that Fluttershy lives on th’ edge of th’ forest an’ half a mile away from everypony else in town.”

“Said the farmer who lives the same distance from town in the opposite direction,” Rarity mumbled.

“Whut wuz that?” the apple farmer asked.

“I don’t know if you realize, but I ran all the way there from here! I’m sweating like… like…”

“One of our pigs?” Applejack finished with a smirk.

“YES! Yuck. Such a filthy, disgusting image…”

“Hey now, Ah’ll have you know that pigs are some of th’ cleanest--”

“GIRLS!” Twilight Sparkle called out. “Would you be quiet?! I think Pinkie found something!”

“She what?” Rarity and Applejack said in unison, looking at each other, then back at Twilight Sparkle.

“Yep!” Pinkie Pie bounced from Twilight Sparkle’s side, grinning. “I was taking a look at some of the tracks that lead to the forest, and I was, like, I didn’t recognize these because they don’t look like pony tracks or like any tracks from anything I’ve ever seen in Ponyville! Not dog tracks or cat tracks or goat tracks or rabbit tracks or Chick Tracts or--”

“Get to the point, Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash snapped irritably.

“Oh. Well, what I’m saying is… this don’t look like anything Fluttershy keeps.”

A small pause. “Well, of course not, Pinkie! That’s why I said she was foalnapped!” Rarity said. “What did you think foalnapped her?”

“I don’t know!” Pinkie smiled, giving a shrug. “Who would want to foalnap her, anyway? And why? I mean, you said there was a struggle, but that doesn’t make sense to me! Fluttershy isn’t a fighter! She wouldn’t even lift a hoof to defend herself!”

“No… you’re right. Fluttershy wouldn’t defend herself…” Twilight Sparkle said. “But she would stand up for her animal friends.”

Narrowing her eyes and staring at the tracks, imprinting them in her mind, she rubbed her chin. Pinkie’s assumption was right--she had never seen anything like it.

“Fluttershy wouldn’t keep something that big either. Looks like what ever these belong to have huge claws on their feet.” Rainbow Dash pointed out at a set of footprints that were leading away from the property and into Ponyville’s direction. “And who knows who might be next?”

“Right! Let’s follow them,” Applejack suggested.

“What?!” Rarity looked at her in alarm. “Applejack, we don’t know what we’re up against!”

“An’ we don’t know if Ponyville itself might be in danger!” Applejack countered. “Ah’m not gonna stand idly by while mah family might be threatened by this thing!”

“I’m with you, AJ!” the cyan pegasus declared, breaking into flight, her eyes glued to the tracks embedded in the snow. She didn’t care what this creature was, the Element of Loyalty wasn’t going to allow it to foalnap any more of Ponyville’s citizens--and possibly get Fluttershy back, too, if they caught it.

Comments

[VoidKat]

WOO HOO keep them coming.

[Rainbowblitz]

i sense a shit storm coming

[RadicalDishonesty]

His hard work ruined, forgotten about by his friends when there's a crisis, and knocked into a puddle when they basically run straight past him... Well, sounds like a normal day for Spike.