It was not going to be a good morning for Time Twister. Two missing foals, both the cause of a far too enthusiastic guard, and on his watch no less, and it had somehow made the papers, right on the front page. Maakera had made it clear how angry she was in her message to him. Delivered by magic to his quarters, it had simply read;
Throne room, alone, 9 am.
She had never written a note so short before. Normally she wrote them like letters, but three words, the place, by himself and what time. To say he was in big trouble was probably an understatement, but, as he stood outside the doors at 8:59 am, the question now was how much in trouble was he?
Somewhere far away, clocks chimed and bells rang, sounding the arrival of 9 am. The doors before him glowed in Maakera’s golden magical glow, and opened. With a gulp, he entered.
The throne room was the same as it had been, trees, water features, gazebo. But the room was utterly silent, and Maakera sat in the gazebo. Her back towards the doors, and, this time, there was no table or tea set.
His steps were shaky. The silence in the room only added to his dread, but slowly he approached. When he got to the gazebo, he didn’t even attempt to sit down.
“Two foals missing, scared into running away by the guard under your command,” Maakera stated, “and the only question I’ve been asked was how and why I let this happen. Explain yourself, Captain.”
He shivered. Maakera was always informal, she did call him Captain, but the cold commanding voice demanded answers for his mistakes.
“I used the spell you gave me to track what you said I should seek, it led us to a tree house. I can’t explain why my orders to approach with caution and not scare anyone went so horribly wrong, your highness. No sooner did I say that what we sought was inside, than the guard simply went charging in as if the tree house was filled with hardened criminals.”
“I see,” Maakera went silent for a second, “so the guard you took did not follow your direct command?”
“The magic I sensed was strong, it may have clouded their judgement. In response, I gave chase to catch the foals and explain the misunderstanding. But the magic itself was gone when I couldn’t get them and keep them from running into the Everfree forest.”
For the first time in the conversation, Maakera turned around, her initial glare softened.
“I can explain this as youthful guard acting too rash at a senior’s command. I take it the guard you took were fairly new?”
Time nodded.
“Most recently joined from the outlying edges of Equestria. Perhaps I should have taken a new recruit from Appleloosa, named Braeburn. He is a cousin to one of the missing foals, I could have sent him in, had him take the foals outside to safety.”
“Do not focus so much on the past, it will consume you,” Maakera sighed, using her magic to restart the water features and brought her table and tea set into the room. She offered Time a chance to sit as she boiled the teapot, “you have done the right thing at least, issuing missing foal posters. It won’t be long until they are safe.”
“I am just sorry I didn’t find what I was sent to get.” Time replied.
Maakera studied Time Twister as the pot reached a boil. She poured them two cups of her favourite herbal tea, and took a sip from her own cup.
“It doesn’t matter, but I believe the magic you sensed intrigues you? After all, is it not related to those books you had Twilight Sparkle help you find?”
Time slightly choked. He knew it was no big secret that he had researched other dimensions, but Maakera had never brought up his obsession before. Now suddenly she was being so blunt and open about it.
“Uh, I, indeed, how did?”
“How did I know? Come now Captain Time, is it not clear? The bird, the mysterious magic I sent you to find? Keep this a secret, other dimensions do exist, thousands, perhaps billions, all sitting like branches on a tree. But something is going wrong, the barriers between them are open, searching. Your obsession is going to help us here, because whatever is going wrong, it could threaten Equestria and a past I’d rather stay locked away.”
Maakera sipped more of her tea, looking directly at Time over the brim of the cup. It troubled him slightly she was now using his own desires to her benefit, but he couldn’t really argue. She was essentially giving him the missing piece of his jigsaw, it could lead to the world…
He smiled.
“I shall do my best your highness, how will I proceed?”
“It is already arriving to Canterlot. The airship I mean. Special guard trained for far distance travel and any enemy threats you may face. And you will be travelling further than anypony has ever travelled before.”
Rumble had told his parents he believed he knew where Applebloom was, and that he would find her in Manehatten and travel back with her to Ponyville. His father, proud of his son’s initiative, decided he could go alone. Applebloom would probably be more willing to return if it was just Rumble telling her to come back, than if his father and mother were there too.
He had just arrived to the street where Applebloom’s aunt and uncle Orange lived, to his surprise, Applebloom and Scootaloo were there, high up on a metal boardwalk outside the building, climbing in.
With a sigh, he approached the door and knocked. A mare who Rumble could only guess was Aunt Orange answered.
“Oh hello?” she said.
“Hi, I’m a friend of Applebloom’s.” Rumble replied with a smile.
“Oh, oh my yes, she’s gone missing thanks to those awful guard. How can I help?”
“Can I come in? Last I spoke to her before being found, she was trying to get here. I’ve been told to convince her to come home, it's safe now.”
Before Aunt Orange replied, there was a thud somewhere in the house on the upper floor. Aunt Orange turned around and walked towards the stairs, Rumble following after closing the front door behind him.
Up on the next floor when he climbed up, Aunt Orange and Applebloom were in a panic, a first aid kit had been hastily thrown to the floor and the pair were tending to the collapsed Scootaloo. Among blood on a towel was a shard of a bullet. Rumble could only watch as the pair stopped the bleeding and bandaged Scootaloo’s wing.
“Applebloom, what happened?” Rumble asked.
“We got jumped by mercenaries twenty miles back, he took a shot at us I think, she’s lucky it didn’t hit her body, just her wing, though I thought it had.” Applebloom answered.
“This was why we shouldn’t have run! Look how much trouble you two got into!” Rumble said, wishing he now hadn’t returned when his friend had continued on.
“Look, what’s happened has happened, we can do nothing now. We just need to wait for her to wake up.”
The two friends sat down, Applebloom held Scootaloo up carefully at one point when Aunt Orange cleaned up and put clean towels under the pegasus, but otherwise, they both stayed silent. Unknown to them, Aunt Orange went downstairs and called the local Guard office, reporting the two missing foals had been found sneaking into her home, and one was seriously injured. It was a scandal, not only had the guard made them run away, but it had led to them being attacked by mercenaries. It’d be front page news again, and she could be in the story!
Rumble cleared his throat.
“We really should go home now. Your family is worried, they don’t need you missing on top of Big Mac being drafted.”
“Wait, drafted? What for? We’re not at war!” Applebloom stated, panic in her voice.
“A lot of stallions are being drafted recently, my dad would have been too, if he didn’t have a permanent injury. My brother got drafted last month.” Rumble sighed.
“I don’t like this. Equestria is gearing up for war, but why? And on top of it, mysterious Scootaloo. She claims to not be from here, she reacted to a fairy tale as if it were fact, and she keeps insisting I’m over four hundred.”
Silence fell between them again, as Scootaloo stirred. She seemed to know something was wrong, as she didn’t try to get up or speak. She lay there, looking at the friends.
“Your aunt has been downstairs for a while, could you ask if she has water for Scootaloo?” Rumble asked.
Applebloom sighed, and left the room. At the top of the stairs, she paused. There were voices downstairs, and her aunt’s was among them. Turning her head slightly, she listened.
“Yes, they came in through the window upstairs, Applebloom is a relative of mine from Ponyville, her friend, the pegasus, had a bullet fragment in her wing, she said they were attacked by mercenaries twenty miles from here.” Aunt Orange informed whoever she was speaking to.
“I see ma’am, we’ve had reports the mercenary band of High Wind arriving to Featherfall, that’s twenty miles away. If we may, we’d like to go upstairs and take the foals in to safety until their families can collect them?” one of the new voices said.
“Of course, upstairs, first door on the left.”
Applebloom hurried back into the room, Rumble looking at her confused.
“She called the guard! We got to go!”
“Really? Applebloom, I’m trying to get you home!” Rumble protested.
“But they’ll keep her until her family come get her, we may never see her again or get answers as to who or what she is! Please Rumble, help me!”
Rumble groaned and stood up.
“Fine, Scootaloo, we have to hurry out of here.”
Scootaloo simply nodded as Rumble and Applebloom worked to get her out the window. They managed to get out of sight just as the guard opened the door and spotted the open window.
“They’ve escaped! Call for backup!” the guard shouted.
The three foals meanwhile headed down an alley, and towards the city’s outskirts, trying not to be seen. Stopping many time the wait for Guard to disappear, they made it to a small forest by sunset.
“Thank you friends, I know you risk much.” Scootaloo said, slowly stumbling to a small flowing river and taking a drink.
“We’re only helping to get answers, I think after everything, we deserve them.” Applebloom stated.
“And you are correct. Why should you risk everything further if you do not know the truth? Sit, please, it may be difficult to take in.”
As they sat, hoofsteps filled the air around them. Looking around, the three foals saw they were surrounded by mercenaries, and High Wind among them.
“Your not be the only one seeking answers. Now, you three better come peacefully to my ship.”
Scootaloo looked at Applebloom and Rumble, dejected. The mercenaries had caught them, and now she would not be able to tell her new friends the truth.