//------------------------------//
// 56 - Lost and Found 
// Story: Prickle Berry Tries to Be Careful 
// by David Silver 
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Twilight looked between the two heroes. "You're welcome as long as you like, of course." She tapped her chin with a hoof. "You're... Small Packages? I had to research fairly heavily into the topic while getting... Tiny Titan registered."

Small's eyes fell. "Oh sweet Celestia! This really is a public secret. I thought she was inflating the situation a little bit."

Immovable tilted her head. "What is?"

"You're like the only pony in this town that doesn't know!" Small put a hoof over her face. "It's alright. When we get her back, nice and safe, I'll just ask like an adult."

Twilight cleared her throat softly. "I presume you're talking about the identity of our lost filly?"

"Who else would I be talking about?" Small's tongue poked free. "Why are we still here, actually? If she's not here in Ponyville, we're in the wrong place. I promised to find her and I plan to do it."

Immovable's eyes widened a little. "You know who she is?!" She thrust a hoof at Twilight.

"What? N-no..." Twilight backed up a step.

Spike, who had been quiet until then, gave a little chuckle. "Really?"

"Oh..." Immovable sagged, then wheeled on Small. "Why'd you get my hopes up?!"

Spike joined her in a sudden sagging. "Really?"

Small put a hoof over Immovable's nose and lips. "You are just adorable. No wonder she feels safe around you." She turned to Spike. "Hey, so is there any other pony in this town that doesn't know?"

Spike let out a little strained laugh at that. "Well, uh... I suppose just about... I mean, there are some ponies."

Twilight let out a breath. "Mostly the ones that aren't paying attention, at this point. I heard one of her little friends is one of them, somehow. I leave that up to them. Let's put aside our mutual friend's desire for secrecy." She trotted towards the door. "It's more important we find her and bring her back home."





Prickle took a shortcut through an alleyway. "I should go home..." As sad as she felt, she didn't want to worry her mother anymore than she might have already.

A hoof came down on her withers and she was pulled into the darkness. "What have we here?" It sounded like a male. "A little lost filly?"

Prickle blinked in bafflement. "I'm not lost. Let go of me, please." She felt no physical fear. Physical fears worked differently for her. Was grabbing ponies a city thing? Cities were strange.

"You'll fetch a few bits, I'm sure." The male presence pulled her closer as it sat up in the darkness.

Prickle frowned and gave the unseen stallion a light shove. The stallion practically bounced off the wall behind him, trash sent flying in different directions from the rough impact. "You picked the wrong filly." She stuck out her tongue at where she assumed the stallion had landed and trotted past.

She emerged into the light and looked around. "This city has problems..." Her small tongue flicked over her lips. "Maybe I can help?" She was a superhero, right? She clopped her forehooves together lightly. "I should... act like one." Her eyes darted back to her saddlebag where her outfit resided, resolve folding quickly. "But then I'll just hurt something..." She turned back towards the alleyway she had emerged from. "Is... he alright?" Even creepy stallions didn't deserve to be smooshed flat, or so she thought to herself with a growing frown.

She turned around and went right back into the alleyway. "Are you still here? Everything alright?" Her calls had no immediate reply and she pressed on until a sound did reach her ears. It was muffled crying. Her own ears pinned back as she approached. "Are you okay?" She hadn't shoved him that hard, had she?

Slowly feeling around the darkness as she went, her hoof ran into the form of a quivering mass. It was a pony. "Here you are. I'm sorry for hurting you."

The mass unfolded as the stallion sat up, barely visible in the dim light. "You're sorry?"

Prickle quickly bobbed her head. "You shouldn't grab fillies like that. It's not nice."

"I..." He shook his head. "I guess not... Does it hurt like that?"

Prickle tilted her head a little. "I... guess if I was another filly, I would have been... scared, I guess?" She was not scared. She was the monster in that alleyway. Ponies should be scared of her, not the other way around. "It's not nice... It wasn't nice that I hurt you either, and I'm sorry."

He reached out a hoof, flinched, but then reached further, brushing her cheek. "Should I say sorry too?"

"If you hurt someone." Prickle put a hoof on his arm and ever so carefully pushed it to the side. "Did you hurt ponies?"

"Yeah... I guess I did." He let out a tired sounding sigh. "Never really thought about it before. I... just need the bits, so... You know?"

Prickle didn't know. She really didn't know. But she did know she wanted to help the stallion. She gave a little smile. "Well, my trip's spoiled, so I won't be using my planned bits... Do you want some?"

He laughed. It was a strange sound, echoing from a broken heart. "I could have just asked? I... I never tried that before." He came forward into the light a little, his snout patchy and worn. Prickle's ears danced at the sight of him. What did he eat? Did he eat? "You're a nice little filly."

Prickle's heart ached. There was a hurting pony, but one that would not be saved with a swift punch. She forced a little smile. "Do you have any friends? Family?"

He slumped. "I...  have a few ponies I talk to... sometimes... I wouldn't call them friends or nothing... I... Let's not talk about that. What about you? Do you have friends, little filly?"

Prickle's mind went to the CMC, all smiles, all cheering for her. She thought of her fan club, ready to celebrate her and give her all the hugs she could ever want. Prickle sank to her haunches. She had so many friends... And there she was, feeling bad for herself in the same world that the poor stallion in front of her had none. "I do..." She was letting them down, all of them! "I do!" She bounced back to her hooves. "I do and I need to see them."

The stallion gave a big smile, missing a few teeth though he was. "That's real nice. Little fillies should have friends..."

Prickle's burst of enthusiasm quelled. Rushing to her friends would wait, just a little. "You have a friend."

"I do?" He looked quite perplexed at the notion of it. "Who?"

Prickle pointed at herself. "Let's get you some help." She pointed up. "You ever fly before?"

He blinked softly. "Can't say I have. I don't have wings." He stood up slowly. "Why?"

"I'm going to take you for a fly. It'll be a little scary and kinda bouncy, but I won't let you get hurt, promise." She held out a hoof to him, but approached no further. It was his choice to make.

Soon, Prickle realized that she was exactly where it had begun. The stallion was hugging her possessively, but she had asked for it, instead of an unwelcome grasping from the dark. It made a difference. With a powerful spring, she launched from the alleyway with the stallion clutching desperately to her. She aimed for height, springing high above the city to get a good look at the surroundings. "Now where is it... where..." She came back down, having not spotted it, and bounced right back into the air.

"Where are we going?" asked the stallion attached to her. "Are you taking me to jail?"

Prickle's ears swiveled back to him. Taking him to jail would be well within her rights. He was a creepy stallion that had foalnapped before. Many would say he deserved jail, maybe forever. That was not what Prickle's heart felt at the moment. "Somewhere safe." She came down and bounced again. "It's just... hiding... There!" She thrust a hoof towards the building she wanted. The big pink cross with hearts on it.

She bounced, bouncing off roofs, carts, and awnings as she traversed the city with a speed only matched by ponies that actually had wings. Smooth athletic motions carried them both safely, avoiding the traffic of ponies and carts entirely. She landed right in front of the hospital and turned to the shaking stallion. "Alright, no more bouncing, promise. We're here. They'll take care of you." In the light, she could see the stallion was even worse than she had thought. "When's the last time you had a good dinner, a really good one?"

He looked confused at that. "I had a good one last night. Mmm, somepony done left behind something real tasty..."

Prickle decided to just not even ask further into  the specifics of that. "This way." She waved into the building and got to trotting away. The inside of the hospital was clean, mildly busy, and exactly what she had hoped for. She waved at the first pony she saw with hearts on their rump. "Excuse me!"

The stallion nurse looked down at her. "Hello there, little filly, are you lost? Hurt?" He sounded very concerned.

Prickle pointed back at the vagrant. "He needs help, not me. Good food, and a checkup. Can you help him?"

He flinched at the sight of him and leaned in towards Prickle. "Little filly, is he... related?"

Prickle shook her head. "He's just a pony I met, who deserves help."

"That's a very noble sentiment." The nurse nodded his head. "Sir?" He was looking at the disheveled pony. "If you'll come with me?"

He didn't move. His jaw worked without sound. "You're not throwing me out?"

"No, sir. You obviously need to be here. Please, this way."

The vagrant moved to follow, a few teardrops hitting the panels as he went. Was a little kindness that strange a concept? Prickle sank to the ground, considering that. As... sad as she was, she had so much more than that pony might ever. She had friends, and family. Visions of her mother haunted her. Was she worrying her? Was she making the lives of everyone that cared about her sadder? She rose up to her hooves. "It's time to do my part."





"Where is my daughter!?" An incensed Junebug stomped a hoof, barring the way for the others to proceed.

Immovable had wings, she could fly above or around Junebug, but she nodded lightly. She appreciated Junebug's blocking technique. It would just be uncouth to cheat around it.

Junebug's attention was mostly on Immovable. "She was with you! I know I expected her to be watching you, but you're the adult, for Celestia's sake! Where is your responsibility?!"

Twilight cleared her throat from behind Immovable. "Junebug, we're working on that right--"

"--I want to know what happened, now." She thrust a hoof at Immovable, jabbing her in the chest, not that it succeeded at hurting the planted pegasus. "What. Happened?"

"Oh, well there was this strength contest." Immovable flexed her arms in a demonstration. "Tiny Titan was kicking rumps! She did so great they gave her a super special award at the end!"

Junebug's frown eased a little. "That sounds... nice. So why isn't she here? Why aren't you with her?"

"I wish I knew!" Immovable huffed indignantly as her wings fidgeted. "Instead of being happy she got the best award they had, she looked like someone kicked her puppy, and she ran off."

Junebug set a hoof on both of Immovable's shoulders. "I know this isn't natural for you, but I'm going to need you to tell me exactly what happened, from the start, without skipping any of it."

"Well, I was born ab--"

"--Not that far back." She rolled her eyes. "Let's start at that contest."