//------------------------------// // Disappearances // Story: Abductions // by Daxisle //------------------------------// Disappearances Twilight knocked on the front door of Thunderlane's house again, a little harder than she did last time. The grey overcast of clouds caused the once vibrant and colorful town of Ponyville to be tinted in grey; the town, the trees, even the very grass became lackluster in color. Most unsettling was lack of life from the town streets, typically you'd see ponies going every which way; to work, to school or where ever. But today the streets lay bare. The purple Unicorn started to call out the Pegasus' name, hoping he would answer the door. "Thunderlane, are you in there?" After a few minutes of silence, Twilight shook her head and sighed leaning her head down, a sudden gust of wind blowing her mane all over her face. The Pegasus still wasn't home. The young mare turned her back to the dead house and walked homeward towards the Library. "How can he still not be home?" Twilight questioned as she crossed the field that lead her home. She opened the door smoothly with her hoof and proceeded inside. A purple dragon with green eyes and a green underbelly greeted her with a scroll in hand. "Hey Twilight, was Thunderlane home today?" He asked in a higher pitched but slightly more masculine voice. Twilight shook her head, "No Spike, still nothing." Spike scratched the scales on his head. "That's seven days in a row now, maybe he moved away?" Twilight squinted at Spike, "Just like Derpy moved away?" her voice growing louder with every word, "Just like Twist's entire Family moved away? JUST LIKE CARROT TOP MOVED AWAY?" She screamed starting to huff. “I don’t think I can keep buy into that lie!” She peered at the small dragon, who was now a curled up ball on the floor, his small and immature claws were over his mouth and he was trembling. Twilight didn't notice how harsh her voice was getting; she took a few steps back and covered her mouth. She had never yelled at her assistant like that before. "I'm sorry Spike. I- I didn't mean to-" "It's ok Twilight," Spike proclaimed timidly standing up and brushing off his arm. "Look I get it, she has been missing for a week and you’re worried. But you are making a big deal out of nothing. And Celestia knows when it comes to overblowing a simple problem you're a professional." The dragon tried to comfort his oldest and best friend. He hoped a little teasing comedy would help her to lighten up on the whole ordeal. Twilight let out a little laugh remembering her hysteria over a silly tardy letter to the Princess. Her horn began to glow and distort, a pair of books flying down from the bookshelf labeled "Fiction" and landing softly on the floor before her. "You're right, you're absolutely right Spike." She gave a confident smile and opened one of the books to the first page, "What I need is to get my mind off of it all with a good book. She probably just went to Cloudsdale and didn't mention it to me." She declared a nervous smile on her face. Spike cleared his throat, a bit of smoke escaping his nostrils. "Actually Twilight, a letter from the Princess came while you were out." The small dragon held up the tanned scroll with a red ribbon carefully entrapping the spiraled parchment. "Oh!" Twilight jumped up, a gleeful look stealing her face. She always loved to hear from the Princess. "Well what's it say?" Spike removed the ribbon and unrolled the paper. "My faithful student," The assistant read aloud. "It is with great regret that I must inform you that there is a serial ponynapper at large in Equestria." Twilights eyes shot wide, "WHAT?" she yelled as she rammed Spike out the way, catching the scroll with the magic from her horn and continued reading. "The pony in question has yet to be identified from any major provenance. I have sent the entire First Legion out to find this individual. Whiteness reports claim that he/she is a Unicorn wearing all black cloths; others suggest that it's been spotted with Pegasus wings.” The Mare’s breathing and reading becoming quicker the further she went. “The claims have come from Fillydelphia all the way to Manehattan. Please take this to Mayor of Ponyville at once, and tell her to make an announcement to alert the rest of the citizenry... Princess Celestia." Twilight was hard pressed to catch her breath after she was done reading; her heart felt a sting of dread. She hoped on all things magic that whoever this ponynapper was, they didn't take Rainbow Dash. Twilight shook her head and chuckled, Rainbow Dash was the fastest and most courageous pony in Ponyville, second only to Applejack, and there is no way anypony could overtake her. But still, ponynapping has been practically non-existent for as long as Twilight can remember. Why would a sudden stream that covered Equestria pop up like this? The young Mare unraveled the bottom part of the scroll to find more writing. "P.S. Use caution, this could be anypony." Spike sat up rubbing the side of his head that made contact with a nearby bookshelf. "Jeeze, all you had to do was ask." "Come on, we have to get this to the Mayor right away!" Twilight exclaimed running to the door. She opened it to discover a steady trickle of water falling from the sky. A flash of lightening startled her into slamming the door closed. She backed away slowly than looked back to her assistant. Spike sighed and grabbed a yellow raincoat and hat, and placed them onto the mare's back and head. She gave him a grateful smile and opened the door again taking care to keep the scroll safe in her coat pocket, the rain was coming down harder, and as she listened she could hear the drops slamming to the ground more violently. The two exited the giant tree, locking the door behind them. Another flash of lightening followed immediately by a crash of thunder caused them both to jump in surprise. Neither of them had ever heard thunder that loud, or felt the ground shake so much upon the boom. The sun's light was all but cut off from the small town by the dark cumulonimbus overhead. Twilight had to let her eyes adjust before proceeding out of the yard. She turned the corner, a flash of lighting illuminating the entire town for a split second before blinding the light sensitive pony’s eyes. "What was that?" She called trying to blink the light spots away, trying to adjust again. A light wind was starting to pick up; its sway softly rustling the trees. "What was what?" Spike asked peering around the darkness. The light stricken pony squinted again, there, by that green and yellow house. She saw the shape of a pony looking at her. Once she could see again, she let out a sigh of relief realizing it was just a left over Halloween decoration that her neighbor had forgotten to take down. "I don't see it." Spike grumbled. Twilight let out a laugh at her paranoia and trotted on to the Mayor office. After a few minutes, they came across the town hall; it was the only building in all of Ponyville that had any kind of light radiating from it. Twilight opened the door to find a third of the town ponies in the entryway, all of their eyes eerily and uncomfortably concentrated at her. Twilight froze instantly, she hadn't expect for so many ponies to be here, let alone all of them giving her their undivided attention upon entery.The purple pony removed her hat and everone let out a sigh of relief, Spike pushed past and put his hands on his hips. "Wow, what's going on? You guys that afraid of the storm?" "No!" Yelled a high pitch voice from somewhere in the heard. A pink pony skipped up to Twilight and Spike, her body a lighter pink and her mane a fuzzy and curly slightly darker pink. "There was this new pony in town, and he was TOoootally scary, he had on a black coat and black hat, the kind if hat you see on those old detective ponies wearing back in the old pictures, or the ones the news reporters wear today!" She exclaimed taking a breath. "And he was just walking around town, looking for something. I have never seen him around before so it's obvious that he couldn't have dropped something when he was here last, because if he did, I would have remembered him, because I know everypony who comes to-." The pink pony found a purple hoof covering her mouth and a pair of bewildered purple eyes beaming at her. Twilight's stomach churned and her voice shook as she spoke. "D- Did you say, 'black coat and hat’?” Twilight hoped desperately that she had heard her overzealous companion’s hyper speak incorrectly. She begged for the uneasy feeling of fear in her stomach to stop, but a quick nod from Pinkie Pie dashed any doubt of hoped miscommunication. "That Pony in black." Piped Rarity stepping forward from a group she was huddled with. The white unicorn’s usually beautiful and expertly curled mane, was now soggy and flat. "That mysterious and badly dressed newcomer. He is skulking around outside," A brown pony with an hourglass on his flank let out a grunt and stepped forward. "I've had enough. I came down here to see what all of the commotion was about, and I am told of some ponytale about a colt in black? For Celestia’s sake, didn’t we go over this with Zecora? You're not fillies anymore," He grabbed his grey raincoat and put it on, "I’m going home, good night." "Wait!" Twilight called in angst, "Doctor Whooves!" the door slammed shut behind him. A flash of lightening outside revealed Doctor Whooves walking towards his home in the meadow. Twilight let out a grunt and ran up to the first landing of the town halls main stair case. "Listen everypony!" She announced, all conversations coming to a halt and dozens of eyes being cast upon the young mare. "I have just received a letter from Princess Celestia." She pulled the scroll out of her coat pocket and read aloud for every stallion and mare to hear, minus the snippets that were addressed to her personally. Gasps and speculation overtook the room after the reading, Twilight heard many possible suspects that the pony in black could be. Her friend Rainbow Dash being among them. She wondered back down the stairs, her mind occupied by to many questions. Why? Twilight thought to herself, her face contorting in thought. Why would anypony ponynap? Is there a link between those who have gone missing? Twilight still had hope for her friends, but just to humor the situation, she decided to dwell on their connections. Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane were both Pegasi, but Twist's entire family had been Earth Ponies, the same with Carrot Top... Twilight pondered if there was any other kind of connection other than pony type. She thought on the connections for several minutes, before her name being called snapped her back to reality. "Twilight, TWILIGHT!" Spike barked snapping his fingers; the now agitated unicorn looked up, insulted that her thoughts were interrupted with such impunity. "Dear, I can see the cogs in your head turning a mile a minute. What are you thinking?" Rarity asked, moving a few wet strands of her mane away from her face. "Oh nothing, just trying to figure out who it might be." Twilight gave a nervous smirk as she always did when she lied. Rarity glared, she knew Twilight all too well to dismiss that smile. "Twilight Sparkle, you wouldn't lie to me would you?" Twilight bit her lip. "Of- of course not, don't be silly. I'm just uh..." She stumbled over her words trying to think of something. Where was Pinkies random interjections when she needed it? "Attention! Attention everypony!" Called an older and somewhat shaky voice. They all turned to see the Mayor standing where Twilight had given her speech. Twilight let out a huge sigh of relief; the Mayor saved her from a fierce interrogation, for the moment anyway. The Mayor let out a calming sigh before she spoke again. "I know you all have seen or heard of this mysterious black pony, and if what Twilight said is true, than I think many of you will be happy to know that tomorrow, I will personally request a barracks of guards to the town." The Mayor gave out one of the most forced smiles Twilight had ever seen. A barracks of guards? Ponyville had never been occupied by a military force before. Twilight didn't like the sound of it, it made her uncomfortable to think that PeaceColts would be roaming the town, but in the interest of safety, she thought it maybe best. "It will be temporary of course,” The Mayor continued, her voice growing more confident, “but with ponies being nabbed as the Princess had said, it would be for the best to have protection. And hence forth as Mayor of Ponyville I do decree, that a nine o'clock curfew shall be put into place starting tomorrow." "A curfew?!" A male Pony exclaimed. "What about those of us who work at night? I go into the hospital at midnight for Celestia's sake" he finished, sparking an uproar and protest from the crowd bellow the Mayor, each yelling unintelligibly over one another. "Please everypony just trust me!" The Mayor pleaded trying to defuse the angering mob. Suddenly, the main doors burst open, the sound of down pouring rain even more audible than before. Everypony looked over in shock and gasped to see one brown haired pony with a sopping wet red mane standing soaking wet in the doorway. She set her two front hooves down on the ground and started walking forward a look of concern in her eyes, "Where is he?" She asked looking through the giant group of ponies. "Where is my husband?" Twilight recognized her as Doctor Whooves wife… ( A/N: Alright, my first story was a flop, maybe this one might be a little bit better. Feedback is encouraged, how the critique you get on a fanfic site is better than an actual original story site, is beyond me)