Back in Hoofington…
Twilight and co. at last reached the humble little hamlet. It was so much like Ponyville that they’d almost swear they somehow made it home if not for the fact that Twilight’s castle was clearly absent. All of Hoofington’s denizens happily welcomed the Princess of Friendship and her compatriots. It was then that a distressed-looking couple ran up to her.
“Princess Twilight! Oh, thank you so much for coming!” the stallion exclaimed.
“Please! Help us find our precious daughter! Help us find our Spiral Galaxy!!!” the mare followed as she began to sob. Her husband embraced her.
Twilight calmed her down as well. “It’s okay, ma’am.” She consoled. The mare calmed down completely and Twilight began her inquisition. “’Spiral Galaxy’?”
“Yes….. It’s our fault…… We shouldn’t have pushed her away! We knew she had a problem, but we just cowered away from her!......*sob*….And now she’s gone….” The stallion said.
Ms. Fight trotted up to them. “You mean she ran away!?” she asked.
The couple sorrowfully nodded. Ms. Fight and all the others were shocked. They had once again ran into another runaway case while looking for their own. Twilight explained that they themselves had been searching for Fire Fight and their search brought them here. Spiral’s parents were shocked to hear this, especially after they had given a description of Fire Fight and realized that they remember seeing him here recently!
“HE WAS HERE TOO!? WHERE!? WHAT WAS HE DOING!?” Ms. Fight exclaimed.
The local baker joined the conversation. “Yeah! He and his friends were at my bakery earlier. Some troublemaking fillies were giving his friend wearing that dress a hard time and his other buddy from Detrot went to stand up to them while he got her a strawberry pastry.” He explained.
“Filly with a dress? Did it happen to be a bright orange?” Rarity interjected.
“Uh…yeah. You know her?” the baker responded.
“Could you please describe her in more detail, darling?” she asked.
The baker complied. It was just as Rarity thought! Amethyst eyes, dark-grey coat, bluish-grey mane, it was definitely her! The only thing nopony could say they ever saw was her Cutie Mark.
“And you mentioned a ‘friend from Detrot’? What did he look like?” Twilight inquired.
The description everypony gave was the strikingly similar, just about the exact same as the description she had gotten of Turf War. “But Spiral Galaxy wasn’t with them?” she further inquired.
The baker shook his head. “Nope. She had already ran away by then. Why? What even brought you here if Fire Fight’s from Ponyville?” he asked.
“Well….for…..reasons, we suspected that he somehow made it to Detrot, so we arrived there to look for him. And it seemed that we were on the right track as we learned that a colt that matches my son’s description was seen there with that Detrot colt before he disappeared.” Ms. Fight explained.
“But then we saw that crazy light show comin’ from here over yonder, so we decided to see just what in the hootin’ hay happened here.” Applejack added.
“Yes, really. What kind of magic were you trying to use and why? If we could see that beam all the way in another town, then you must have been trying to tinker with some form of high-level craft.” Twilight commented.
The denizens of Hoofington just stared blankly at her, having no idea whatsoever what she was talking about. “Uh…….what ‘light show’? We weren’t doing any crazy magic experiments or whatnot.” A random passerby stated.
Twilight looked confused. “Huh? B-But….we clearly saw that beam of light coming from the direction of this town!” she argued.
Again, blanks stares from all around the townsponies were her only response. Twilight and co. could tell that they weren’t lying, but what they saw was very real. Another passerby suddenly ran up to the crowd. “Hey! Something’s funny about the river!” she shouted.
Everypony’s attention was caught. Curious, they all went to the river. What they saw befuddled them.
“What’s all this weird red stuff?” Spike asked as he approached it.
Twilight pulled him away. “Careful, Spike.” She turned to Applejack. “What do you think, Applejack?” she asked her.
Applejack carefully inspected the peculiar substance. The local cotton farmer came up beside her to help. “Can’t say its anything Ah use to help grow mah cotton. Yer a apple farmer, right? Look anything you’d use fer one o’ yer trees?” he asked
Applejack shook her head. “Nuh-uh, Sugarcube. Don’t look nuttin’ like any disease neither. Are they any plants ‘round these parts that might produce somethin’ like this?” she responded.
“None Ah’ve ever seen, darlin’. And mah family has been here since this town was just a few houses full o’ settlers.” He replied.
“Better head upstream. Maybe somethin’s spillin’ into it?” Applejack asked.
“Bet yer right.” The cotton farmer replied. “C’mon now, y’all!” he called out as he and Applejack led the pack.
The hike through the woods was grueling at best……for Rarity at least. She complained about every ten or so steps, so everypony started ignoring her until they found their little source……and it was nothing short of shocking!
“HOLY SMOKES!” Spike exclaimed. He and all the surrounding ponies stood where they were, mouths hung wide open at the sight of a headless corpse of a giant serpent letting its blood into the river.
Applejack and the cotton farmer went right over to inspect it. It was clear that its head had been blown off, but by what? And where was its head? “Twilight……Ah’ve never seen anything like this! Ya think it was magic related?” Applejack asked.
Twilight walked over to the gushing neck and magically scanned it for any traces of a spell. Sure enough, there were traces of cosmomancy all over it. “So somepony did cast a high-level spell, a cosmic spell no less! It would explain that beam of magic we saw in Detrot.” She concluded.
Spiral Galaxy’s parents suddenly rushed over to her. “COSMO SPELL!?” her mother exclaimed.
“That’s sounds like our daughter!” her dad stated.
Twilight gave him a look like he was crazy. “Sir, do you honestly expect me to believe that a filly could even begin to comprehend something as powerful as cosmomancy? Even the princesses have some difficulty moving the Sun and Moon.” She asked.
Her mother began to sob. “…*sob*…I bet…..Spiral could...could barely control her own magic! *sob*” she wept.
“That filly is a menace!” a random onlooker shouted.
“She tried to learn that crazy space magic and has nearly destroyed our town…..I don’t how many times!”
“Do you all remember the day she briefly opened a black hole in the town park? A BLACK. HOLE!?”
Most of the other townsponies began expressing their fear of Spiral Galaxy. A select few with unthinkable nerve even said that they were relieved to have ‘that angel of death’ washed from their hooves. All the while, Spiral’s parents helpless looked on as the bantering continued.
Ms. Fight had experienced this herself with her own child. She knew what those parents were going through and that it was nothing but unfair. She put her hoof down. “THAT’S ENOUGH!!” she shouted.
Everypony looked her way. “Shame on all of you! You’d dare belittle a sweet little filly behind her back with her parents within an earshot? Despicable!! Maybe she had some sort of issue she needed to work out, but that does not, I repeat, DOES NOT excuse ANY OF YOU to treat her as though she’ll always be some kind of menace! My own son and I endured this firsthoof, and you know what happened afterwards!? Everypony else became the menace, that’s what! So I’ll kindly thank all of you not to stoop to the level of a petty bully!” she reprimanded.
Everypony stared at her in shock. Spiral’s parents had expression as though they’d been salvaged by some god. Twilight couldn’t have been prouder. Those who spoke ill of Spiral Galaxy just walked off in shame. Spiral’s mother went over to hug her for standing up for them. “Oh, thank you…*sooooob*….Thank you!” she wept.
Ms. Fight softly shushed her. “It’s gonna be ok.” She consoled.
After things calmed down. Twilight inquired about Spiral Galaxy’s apparent talent. “Indeed…..when she was about five, we asked her what any parent would: ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ And how did she respond? ‘I wanna be the Princess of the Stars, daddy!’ We….*sob*….We laughed it off as some childish dream she’d quickly grow out of…….but no……..she was serious. She managed to find some books on that cosmomancy you mentioned and began rigorously teaching it to herself. Much to our surprise, she began to get the hang of it! We were feeling so proud!....but….” her father explained.
“It was beginning to be too much for her, wasn’t it?” Twilight guessed.
“Yes…..She became a danger to herself and everypony around her. One day she’d open a black hole, the next a little meteor, then an intense gravity field……and…*sooooob*….and we just pushed her away!” her mother said. Ms. Fight embraced them once more.
Twilight was utterly stunned. A little filly just a shade older than the CMC was almost successfully practicing cosmomancy!? Sure, she was touched by the story her parents told, but the very notion left her speechless! Even she wasn’t that adept with magic at that age!
“Ya think maybe Fire Fight and those other foals found her and took her with them?” Spike asked.
Twilight snapped out of her astonishment. “Oh! Umm…..That’s possible. But…we don’t have any leads past this. They could have left anytime and went anywhere.” She stated gloomily.
The mares and Spike began to see the realization that they might have to give up their search for now. Ms. Fight didn’t want to accept this fact so readily, but the likely notion that her son was okay brought her some comfort.
“Ah….Ah’m so sorry, ma’am…”Applejack said as she removed her hat.
Ms. Fight sighed and mustered the best smile she could. “Thank you….Applejack.” she said as the two embraced.
“Alright….well….better get back to Ponyville and….wait for another lead, I guess.” Twilight muttered.
Ms. Fight might have been a little crushed at not finding her son, but Rarity still wanted answers about their little mystery filly. It would haunt her dreams until she knew the truth.