Sneaky Surprises
By the time Twilight and Alistair returned to the villa, it was nearly daybreak. Both were tired from the all the excitement they had had, and were just about ready to hit the hay. When they entered the household, they quickly found Discord out like a light on the long sofa.
"Looks like I was worried over nothing." said Alistair. He then let out a loud yawn.
"Fluttershy's also probably sound asleep by now, do you want to tell her we're back?" asked Twilight.
Alistair shook his head. "No, let her rest. In fact, I'd say that we should get some rest as well. Once we've all recuperated, we can all sit down and talk."
"Sounds good." said Twilight through a yawn, trying to keep her eyes open for just a little bit longer.
Believing that all was well, not knowing in the slightest of what had occurred last night, or what had happened to their dear Fluttershy, the two ponies retired to their rooms to regain their strength. While Fluttershy was about to receive a startling surprise to say the least...
Fluttershy let out a soft moan, her eyelids slowly fluttering open, waking up to darkness at first. She tried to move around, but found herself confined in some small space, like she was inside a box. "Hmm? What's going on?" she wondered aloud. Her eyes quickly adjusted, and she was able to get a better look at her surroundings. She found that she was indeed, in some kind of box, with a few articles of clothing stacked underneath and on top of her. Panic immediately raced through Fluttershy.
"Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no!" she cried worriedly. It had happened again. Once more, she had awoken in a strange place, and was trapped, and had been taken against her will to someplace she knew not. Fluttershy started to hyperventilate, and frantically felt and searched around for a way to get out, but to no avail. "Why? Why did this have to happen again?"
A thought then crossed her mind that sent fear down her spine. "Could this be Eldra again?" she asked herself. Eldra had been the one who had had her kidnapped the first time, so who's to say she wouldn't try it again? Maybe she'd been there at the ball in secretly, waiting to strike. Maybe she wanted to finish what she started all those months ago. Or....or worse! Fluttershy did her best to try to remain calm, but that didn't stop her heart from beating feverishly.
"No, you need to stay calm Fluttershy." she said. "You may be in a scary, unfamiliar place, and your cruel aunt may be waiting for you outside to do who knows what to you..." as she said this aloud, her panic continued to rise. "But panicking will do you no good. You need to be brave. Just be brave."
Her ear twitched at the sound of a door opening. She let out a squee of fright and froze, as she listened carefully to the sounds outside the box. From what she could hear, it sounded like two colts, who were talking to one another. Their steps drew closer to the box. Fluttershy's body was preparing itself for what it could sense was happening next. The sound of latches flipping up sounded. The lid of the box began to open up.
Not wasting a moment, Fluttershy sprang out of the box, surprising the two figures and knocking them onto the floor. She wildly looked around for a way out and spotted the nearby door, which was open just a crack. She then bolted for it, not looking back at the two who'd opened the box, and instead focusing on getting as far away as possible before they could catch her. Fluttershy dashed through halls and ran down stairs, all of which seemed to blur right past her as she galloped, not stopping once. It wasn't too long until she found the door out, and hastened to leave through it.
Drake was approaching Castle Alucard, as he flipped through a well-worn book while he waited for the carriage to stop. It was then that a pink and yellow blur that ran past the carriage window caught his eye. "Stop the carriage." he called. The carriage stopped. He stepped outside and looked in the direction of where the blur was running to. He narrowed his eyes and focused on the figure, and found that he recognized it. "That...looks a lot like Fluttershy."
"Master!" cried Spike. He and Thorax were running toward him, both panting and out of breath. "Master, you're back." wheezed Spike.
Drake pointed a hoof at the disappearing figure. "Who was that just now?"
"That was Flu--" Spike covered a claw over Thorax's muzzle, cutting him off before he could finish his sentence.
"Uh, nopony! Nopony whatsoever." said Spike, craking a nervous smile.
Drake narrowed his eyes. He could tell that something was obviously up. "She looked an awful lot like Fluttershy." he said.
"That's because it--" Spike rammed his other claw over Thorax's muzzle and gave him a narrowed look before looking back at Drake with a nervous expression.
"I'm sure it's just a coincidence." he said.
"Why are you two out here anyway?" asked Drake.
"Oh, uh, we just wanted...to come out and greet you. Yeah, that's it."
Drake wasn't buying it for a moment. "Spike, do you want me to have to do the thing to you?"
Spike gulped. "No."
"Then tell me, who was that, and what is going on?"
Spike twiddled his claws and anxiously rocked on his heels. "Well....umm...you see, we--"
This time it was Thorax's turn to interrupt, as he blurted, "The pony was your sister, Fluttershy. We brought her here from the ball, and she ran out of the castle just now when we went to check on her."
Drake stared at him. Spike slapped his palm against his forehead. "You....did, WHAT?!!" shouted Drake.
Thorax quivered. Before Drake could yell at them any further, a thought crossed his mind that made him stop. He looked over his shoulder in the direction of where Fluttershy had just ran and heaved a sigh. "Go back to the castle and wait for me, I'll deal with you two later." Drake opened up his wings, letting them transform into bat wings before taking off into the sky.
Spike and Thorax stood there, looking up into the sky. "Ooh, he sounded pretty angry." shuddered Thorax nervously.
Spike gave him a look. "Ya think?"
Fluttershy was beginning to slow down a bit, attempting to catch her breath before going any further. As she stood there, she got a better look at where she was. She seemed to be on some kind of forest path, surrounded by tall, thick trees.
"Oh, what do I do now?" she wondered. "How do I get back home? Sigh! I wish there was somepony here who could give me directions."
Her ears perked up, as she heard the sound of a twig snapping. She let out a gasp and whirled in the direction where she heard the sound. "W-who's there?" she squeaked.
A deep, guttural growl sounded back in reply. Fluttershy slowly back away, but soon froze, as she heard the growl coming from behind her, and then at the sides too. Glowing green eyes peered through the darkness and foliage, and the air filled with a foul sort of stench that made one sick to their stomach. Fluttershy could hear her heart pounding, as she stared straight ahead, watching, as from all sides came a fearsome band of creatures. They were made up of all sorts of bits and pieces of wood, and were circling around Fluttershy, their legs positioning to pounce upon her.
'Somepony...' Fluttershy thought. '...anypony....' The creatures then sprang into the air, let out a ravenous snarl. Fluttershy squeezed her eyes tightly shut. 'HELP ME!'
The creatures however, did not land on Fluttershy to tear her to pieces. Instead, they were all knocked to the ground by a speeding body that had swooped down from the sky. Wondering what was going on, Fluttershy slowly opened an eye to peek. What she saw made her eyes open wide. A Vampire colt was staring down the creatures with a venomous glare. His eyes were as red as blood. The creatures growled and snarled at him, but were backing away, sensing that he was a threat to them. The vampire snarled, revealing his gleaming fangs. This was enough to make the creatures run away howling into the night.
Fluttershy could not believe what had just happened. the shock and excitement overwhelming her so much that she fainted and collapsed onto the ground.
Drake turned and looked at Fluttershy, letting out a sigh of relief to see that she was no worse for wear. He bent down and heaved her onto his back, and proceeded to carry back with him to Castle Alucard. Where he would have a lot of questions for Spike and Thorax, and would also have a lot of explaining to do.
Meanwhile, back at the villa, a cry rang out, waking up both Discord and Twilight. "SHE'S GONE!"
Discord and Twilight quickly teleported to where Alistair was, which was in front of Fluttershy's bedroom.
"Alistair, what's wrong?" asked Twilight.
"It's Fluttershy, she's gone!" said Alistair. "I went to check on her, but she was nowhere to be seen."
Discord entered the room, and looked around. Sure enough, there was no trace of Fluttershy anywhere.
"Let's not panic, I'm sure she's somewhere around here." said Twilight.
"Yes." said Discord. "After all, she went to the carriage last night, so we know she made it back here."
Twilight and Alistair stared at Discord with fearful expressions.
"What did you say?" asked Twilight.
"That Fluttershy went to the carriage last night? I mean, she was awfully tired after everything, so she went to the carriage to wait till you all arrived."
"Did you see her get into the carriage?" asked Alistair.
"Well, not exactly..."
Alistair's face went pale.
"What's going on?" asked Discord, starting to get a little worried.
"Fluttershy wasn't in the carriage." said Twilight.
Discord's eyes widened. "She...what?!"
Twilight nodded. "We thought maybe she went here with you, like last time."
"I didn't, I thought....I thought she went to the carriage! I came here on my own."
"Then....what happened to Fluttershy?"
Discord's throat tightened, as he looked from Twilight to Alistair, and answered regretfully, "I...I don't know."
"You, IDIOT!" shouted Alistair, as he suddenly barred his fangs and pounced on Discord.
"Alistair!" cried Twilight.
Discord quickly snapped his talons and appeared over Alistair, who whipped around to face the Draconequus, his eyes narrowed with anger.
"You should've been with her! You gave me your word that you'd keep her safe, but didn't. And now, she's gone because of you!"
His words hit Discord hard, mostly because a lot of what he said was true.
"Alistair, that's enough!" said Twilight, stepping between the two of them. "Now listen, yelling and blaming isn't gonna get us anywhere. If we want to find Fluttershy, we need to investigate and try to figure out what happened."
Alistair sighed and calmed himself down. "You're right. We don't have a moment to lose, we must leave at once before anything bad happens to her."
Twilight turned, and was about to follow him, when she stopped and looked over at Discord. "Are you coming?" she asked.
Discord shook his head. "No, if you don't mind, I think I'll conduct my own investigation. Besides, I think it's best if I give dear Mr Alucard some space."
"Alright then, come and find us when you're done." And with that, Twilight left.
Discord turned and positioned his fingers, getting ready to disappear. "Hold on Fluttershy," he said. "I promise we'll find you." In a flash of light, he was gone.