Shepherd's Crook
"When one of the flock is missing it is up to the shepherds to retrieve it."
This tea is delicious I'm glad I took the time off to relax from studying and have some time to myself. Twilight was lost in her thoughts as she sat in the shade outside of the small café. It is such a beautiful day today I think I should do this more often like Spike keeps telling me to. There isn't anything wrong with vacation days is there? Maybe I should make a priorities list when I get back.
Pinkie Pie was suddenly in front of her bouncing in what appeared to be joy. "Twilight! I'm glad I found you when I did! Something just awfully awful has happened! I didn't know what I should do! I saw the paper and I thought it was a note and it was, but it wasn't a note from Fluttershy!" The pink pony spoke hurriedly not really making any sense to Twilight.
"What are you talking about Pinkie? You need to slow down when you speak or else nopony is going to know what you are saying."
Taking a deep breath Pinkie reared her head back and yelled, "FLUTTERSHY HAS BEEN KIDNAPPED!" with no regard to what anypony else around them was doing. "The kidnappers left a note on her door, see?" Pinkie Pie pushed a piece of paper over to Twilight who looked at it grimly.
Dear Elements of Harmony,
My colleagues and I have taken your friend and will Kill her unless we get what we want. Bring us twenty million bits in two days or we will slowly Torture her every minute after until she Dies. We are not the ponies you want to mess around with, either we get the money or we Kill your friend. There is a map on the back of this note leading to the place where you will leave the bits. Do not bring any authority figure into this or else she Dies immediately.
Twilight flipped the piece of paper over and sure enough there was a crudely drawn map leading to a clearing in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Forgetting that Pinkie Pie was across from her Twilight dropped her head, "How am I going to get twenty million bits in two days? That's impossible without help from somepony important like Princess Celestia."
"Don't worry Twilight! The note said no authority figure! That doesn't mean normal ponies can't help! Everybody loves Fluttershy remember? There has to be a way to get the money! I could throw a party to raise money or lead a bake sale or even do something that I will regret for the rest of my life!" The hyper pony kept rambling on about different ways she could help raise the money and didn't notice Twilight slinking away.
The purple mare kept her head low as she slowly made her way to the library thinking over all the possible ways she could get the bits in time. She couldn't think of much more to do than what Pinkie was suggesting to her but none of them seemed like they would work fast enough. This is hopeless, without help from Princess Celestia there is no way I can raise the bits. All of Pinkie's ideas would help but I don't think they will earn enough and I'm not sure I'm up to that last one if that's what she meant. She shook her head solemnly and walked without thought, without direction, until she happened upon Rarity who was just opening up shop. "Hey Rarity," Twilight said quietly, "we have a bit of a problem and I am going to need your help."
Rarity looked at Twilight with a raised eyebrow but dropped it quickly when she saw the purple mare's face. "What is it dear? You look terribly troubled, do you want some tea?"
"No I just had some but I think we should talk in private."
Rarity nodded and led her friend inside where the situation was explained to her. "Twenty million bits!? That's outrageous even for kidnappers!" Rarity yelled just after she had taken a sip of tea.
"Yes and I was hoping you could find some gems we could sell for money to save Fluttershy. Do you think it's possible we could raise enough money that way?" Twilight grimaced at having to ask her friend to use her special talent for something like this.
Rarity shook her head, "No dear everyone knows gems are worthless because they are so easily found. What we need to find is a bunch of gold but I'm afraid I don't know a spell that would work."
"Oh then this really is hopeless unless..." An idea suddenly popped into her head and the purple mare cried out, "We could make gold! I read in a book somewhere about unicorns who used their magic to try to convert scrap metal into gold. They never could master it so whole process is lost but I think if we work together we could figure out a way to truly change a piece of metal's molecular design to that of gold's!"
Rarity blinked in surprise, "But Twilight, alchemist ponies are just on old mare's tale. That stuff never truly happened and if it did how are we going to recreate that spell?"
"I don't know but frankly I don't care this is the only way we can get the money in time. If the two of us work together I'm sure we could find a way to pull it off. I need an answer now Rarity, will you help or not?"
The white mare sighed, "Well it doesn't seem like I have any choice if I want to help get Fluttershy back. Alright I'll help you Twilight I just hope we can do it successfully before time runs out."
As the day drew on the two unicorns went out into the town and gathered up as much scrap metal that they could find and began their experiments as the sun sank past the horizon. Their first attempts failed horribly as the metal turned into a thick oily sludge and ran onto the floor. Rarity abhorred the mess but didn't bother to make a big deal out of it and waste the time they hardly had. The night dragged on and they weren't any closer to success before the two unicorns decided to turn in and try again the next day.
While they were experimenting again the next day Pinkie would occasionally show up and leave a few hundred bits at a time for the ransom. When they asked her about it she just smiled and said she decided to do it. Rarity was confused by this and tried to get more information out of the pink pony but she refused to answer any questions about it and went on her way.
Twilight grimaced every time Pinkie came into the store because of what she thought her friend might be doing just to help raise the money. The experiments went better than the night before but they still were not close to getting the process down. The two mares had managed to do almost everything but converting the metal to gold. They had changed the color and the opacity of the metals. Even managing to turn it into a different metal that was similar in density but no success in making gold.
As the sun sank past the horizon, so did Twilight's heart as she knew her time was up. They had wasted their time trying to do something that was surely impossible and now their friend was going to pay with her life. Pinkie had only managed to raise fifteen thousand bits and she looked haggard and exhausted from all the work she was doing. With only a few hours left until the deadline Twilight realized there was only one way they could get Fluttershy free, they were going to have to use force.
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"Is everypony clear on what we are going to do?" Twilight was pacing in front of her remaining friends trying to lift their spirits before they continued on the rescue mission. "We are going to take back what has been taken from us and we will succeed! Fluttershy is counting on us to be brave for her sake. She needs us right now and I do not plan on letting her down. Now! Onwards into the Everfree Forest!" The purple mare raced into the forest without waiting for a response from her friends, who followed shortly after.
Twilight raced on into the forest ignoring the brambles and thorns snagging at her coat and skin and the trickle of warm blood down her sides. She had memorized the map earlier and was instinctively making all the turns necessary to get to Fluttershy. As she drew nearer to the clearing she readied her magic for a quick teleportation into the middle of everything. Before she could cast it though her hoof caught an upraised root and she tumbled headfirst into a partially exposed rock jutting from the ground. With her consciousness fading she thought she could hear voices surrounding her and somepony crying in the distance.
I have lost. The thought floated through her head as everything darkened. I have let down Fluttershy. I have lost this fight. I...failed. The black of unconsciousness overtook her as she fell into the void of her own mind.
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"Is she going to be alright Doctor Stable?" Rainbow Dash asked as she watched Twilight get tied down after being sedated.
"It's hard to say for sure Miss Dash, this is the most she has acted up since she was admitted to the institution. She kept mumbling about ‘alchemy' and how it is possible before she got up and slammed her head into the table. For now we are going to keep her restrained to prevent her from doing anymore damage to herself or others."
Rarity sniffled, "Do you think she will ever return to us doctor? Celestia is falling apart without her student's company and Luna isn't ready to rule Equestria by herself."
The brown stallion looked down at his chart and shook his head, "All we can do now is wait and see what happens. It's rare for any good outcome to come about when a pony is as lost as her." He looked at them sadly and started to turn, "I'm sorry ladies but I must attend to my other patients."
Dash watched him leave before she herself walked away pausing to pat a crying Fluttershy on the shoulder before leaving Shady Acres Mental Institution.