A light grey earth pony slowly stumbled into the patio of Café Hay. The usually proud mare walked with her head almost to the ground, and her shoulders hunched. Her mahogany mane and tail were unusually unkempt, knots upon knots with strands poking out at odd angles. She carried suitcases underneath her purple eyes, and a deep frown upon her face. Her coat was no better than her mane; the fur was matted with so much sweat that her cutiemark, a violet treble clef, was severely deformed. The mare was even missing her signature bow tie.
She walked over to a mushroom themed table, where an equally disheveled cream-coated earth pony mare with a bedraggled pink and navy blue mane sat on a pile of hay opposing her. At first the other mare failed to realize that another pony had joined her, but when she finally did the first mare was greeted with puffy red eyes.
"Oh. You- you made it Octavia." The mare who had already been sitting sniffled out.
"Of course, it's the least I could do Bon Bon." Octavia rasped out.
Bon Bon wiped her nose on her foreleg. "Any news?"
"I'm afraid not." Octavia stated with a shake of her head. "I know it's only been a week, but I can't help but to worry! I mean it's not unlike Vinyl to disappear for weeks at a time, but never without telling me first and keeping me informed!"
"And Lyra has never stayed out of the house for more than a couple of hours, even for a music gig!" Bon Bon quickly blurted out before throwing her head into the air and wailing, "Oh Lyra!"
Octavia put an empathetic hoof on her friend's shoulder. "There there, I'm sure they'll both turn up sooner or later. Safe and unharmed."
Bon Bon picked her head off of the table. "How can you be sure?"
"I just know darling." Came Octavia's sweet but naive reply.
***
Sound-Off upchucked the remains of her breakfast over the side of the island and collapsed against Scarlet Thorn with a pained moan.
The pegasus gently rubbed the center of the dragoness's back. "Are you feeling better now Sound-Off?"
"No." Sound-Off groaned. "Ugggh, I hate interdimensional traveling."
"Don't worry, it's not so bad once you get used to it." Scarlet said, helping the little reptile upwards.
Around the pony and dragoness lie a world of distortion. There were no distinguishable landmarks, only islands of varying sizes made of dark purple crystals floating over an abyss. It was dizzying to look at, and with no identifiable sky it was all but impossible to tell if they were even moving. This was a pocket-dimension unique to Scarlet's Tartarus Chiroptera alone, and quite literally the lair of the beast.
"Let's not do this again Scarlet. Next time, let's just go over to Gallant and I's cottage and talk it out there."
The pegasus shook her head. "No can do Sound-Off. We can't risk anypony learning about Z.O.D.I.A.C. or Grim Noise and his minions. It would cause a state of panic."
Sound-Off rubbed her beige-scaled belly, and burped. "I get it, but that doesn't mean you're not being inconsiderate."
Scarlet Thorn rolled her eyes before unraveling Princess Luna's scroll and clearing her throat.
Agent Capricorn, there isn't much time! You must get this message to Agent Scorpio and if possible Agent Aries immediately! Since Agent Pisces is here with me, and both Agent Leo as well as Agent Gemini are off elsewhere, I trust that you and Agent Scorpio will be able to handle the situation. It has come to my attention that three unicorns from Ponyville have recently gone missing, Lyra Heartstrings, Vinyl Scratch, and Lily Lace. Alongside the in-training Agent Libra, I have scoured the dreamscape for the missing mares- and to no such luck. However, with the aid of Agent Pisces, I have devised a spell to track the individual magic of a unicorn. The results were disturbing to say the least. It would appear that your missing fellow townsponies are somewhere within the Everfree forest, and far deeper than I would like. I felt a dark presence among them, Eidolon I am sure. If they have been missing for so long than I am sure that it's regrettable to say that they have become Obscures. Agent Capricorn, I know this will be your first mission. But I trust you both, and you have never let me down before. Put your faith into Agent Scorpio. And please, just stay alive. Save my ponies and your fellow citizens, before they are consumed by the Eidolon and become part of the Vanished! With Grim Noise's growing power I fear that it may already be too late. Best of luck to you and any other agents accompanying.
The scroll was hastily written, told by its sloppy penmanship, and was missing Luna's signature. But this wasn't an unusual occurrence among the letters the agents received. Its urgency meant that, no matter how slight, there was still a chance for them to save the Obscure. And while in the grand scheme of things saving three ponies wouldn't hinder Grim Noise, thwarting one plan meant keeping Equestria from its destruction for just a little while longer.
Scarlet Thorn rolled the scroll back up, and stuffed it down her corset. She climbed onto the the Tartarus Chiroptera's back. "We need to get going. Slasher, my scythe please."
"Hey, wait for me!" Sound-Off yelled, flying over to the mare and taking her place on the saddle. The dragoness had no desire to get left behind, or worse lost, in such a misshapen world.
It didn't take long for them to come across a scythe embedded into a large island. Slasher landed next to the weapon, and the pegasus yanked it out with no trouble. It was a huge steel blade, elongated and widened like a crescent moon. The handle was a dark black, and it ended with a large series of barbs. Atop the scythe lie an outline of a heart, a cute decoration that was overlooked in comparison to the sharp edge.
Scarlet couldn't help but to grin. There was just something that felt so right about holding her scythe in her hooves, it was almost humbling. She lovingly caressed the blade. "Ready?"
Sound-Off didn't bother to respond. The dragoness knew that the mare hadn't meant the question for her, but rather for her blade. She had been around the pony long enough to know that the very second that scythe was in her hooves, the pegasus lost all traits of gentleness and motherly aspects. She wasn't with Scarlet Thorn anymore; the mare behind her was the ruthless and cruel, if not sadistic, Agent Scorpio. And as long as a scorpion had its tail, it would sting. It was in the scorpion's nature after all.
***
Black Dawn trotted down the streets of Ponyville, having gotten bored at his friend's. Audio Crash was one of those ponies who was always stuck in his own little world. It seemed to the little pegasus colt that his friend's entire life revolved around compact cassettes and their contents. That pony could just lay there and listen to whatever was recorded on the tapes from dawn to dusk. So naturally Black Dawn had gotten bored and left. The colt sighed. It wasn't even noon and yet the day felt over.
"I wish dad hadn't taken away my stupid gamecolt." He muttered, feeling sorry for himself. He didn't even think to bring his bit bag, so stopping at Sugarcube Corner was a no-go.
"Black Dawn, hey Dawn! Dawn, you'll never guess what happened!"
Black Dawn turned around only to blush. The pony galloping excitedly toward him from across the plaza was his friend Ink Token, an amethyst unicorn with a sable and violet mane. Her magenta eyes sparkled with such enthusiasm that Black Dawn couldn't help but to mimic it back.
"Hey Ink Token!" He greeted. "What's up?"
"Look, look, look, look, look!" The filly chanted, almost running into him. She shoved her flank in his face. "I finally got my cutiemark!"
Black Dawn's blush deepened, and he stumbled backwards. "W- wow! That's so great! How'd you get it?"
"Well," Ink Token's eyes rolled upwards as she recounted the memory. "I was practicing my sketches when my big sister Inky Rose came home after buying some new fabric for some big project she's been working on. And she saw the drawing I was working on and she said it would make a wicked tattoo, so I asked if I could draw it on her and she said yes!"
The filly paused to take a deep breath. And pointed passionately at her cutiemark. Not unlike her sister's, Ink Token's cutiemark was of a rose. More so, it was of a silhouette of a rose on a thorny stem. Black Dawn thought it suited her.
"And when I finished there was this flash of light and this warm tingly feeling, like when your leg falls asleep kind of, and then, it just appeared like that! I got my cutiemark!" Ink Token practically screamed out the last part. "Mom says we're going to have a huge cute-ceañera, and of course you're invited, and I got my cutiemark!"
Black Dawn's ears folded against his head. While he was just as excited and happy for his friend as she was for herself, he really wished that she wouldn't be so loud. "Yeah, I'll definitely be there! I'll ask mom if she can make a couple of quiches!"
"You know," Ink Token began, thankfully calming down. "what does your mom do anyways? I mean, I know you're dad is a super famous singer so he must make a lot of bits, but what does your mom do? I've never even really seen her out in Ponyville unless its at the marketplace or when she's with you."
"I don't know." Black Dawn shrugged his shoulders. "She use to work at some factory in Cloudsdale with dad, but after dad became famous and I was born she quit. She writes now, but her books aren't that popular. I guess she just does pretty boring stuff."
***
The air whistled past Scarlet Thorn as she plummeted, whipping through her mane and tail and causing the hair to billow behind her. The pegasus outstretched her wings, loving the sensation of the air rushing between her feathers.
"Aw yeah! Wooo-hooo!" The mare screamed out.
The forest below was quickly rising up to meet her. Like claws the tree branches reached out to snag at her soft fur and unarmored flesh. The mare welcomed the challenge, throwing her scythe out in front of her. With the expertise of a Wonderbolt she twisted her body around, and instead of battering herself against the trees the edge of her scythe caught like a hook around a thick branch. The blade dug into the hardened wood, making it about halfway through.
Scarlet flipped her body onto the branch, tugging her scythe out after. "That, never gets old."
Sound-Off flew down after her, a panicked look etched on her face. "You just jumped at least three-thousand feet straight down into the Everfree without so much as a parachute or even warning me first!"
The pegasus stretched her forelegs behind her head, giving the dragoness an unamused glance. "Only three-thousand? Lame. That's not even one third of my best record."
"You are just the literal worst to work with." Sound-Off huffed, gliding down to the forest floor.
"You just need to learn to keep up." Scarlet jumped down after, moving her scythe to her back. She steadied the handle under her wings before continuing. "I don't play nice or well with others. Other than Agent Aries, Agent Taurus is the only other one I can actually get along with. And you know she's not much of a speaker."
"Well please, keep being louder than a cockatrice in heat so the enemy knows that we're coming." Sound-Off sarcastically remarked.
Scarlet rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah? And they're not going to sense the presence of a deadly force of flame and destruction marching straight toward them?"
Sound-Off slumped her shoulders in frustration. While it was true that she could blow a flame that was larger than average for a dragon her age, it was still a far cry from a real accomplishment. "Let's just find these missing mares already, and get the buck out of here. The Everfree gives me the creeps."
At the mention of the missing mares the dragoness noticed a flash of Scarlet Thorn trickling through Agent Scorpio, but it quickly disappeared. Nonetheless, the pegasus picked it up to a fast trot. "Keep an eye out for clues. This is only a rough location of where Lyra, Lily, and Vinyl could be. We don't have enough time to double check the area, so let's not miss anything in our first sweep."
"You don't have to tell me that." Sound-Off grumbled, inspecting the ground for tracks.
A lump in the dirt caught her attention. It could've been a rock, or just a clump of mud. But it was a little too large and oddly shaped for the dragoness's liking. She jogged over to it, and kicked it with her foot. It came flying loose from the ground, and bounced off of a fallen log.
"Did you find something or are you playing?" Scarlet roughly inquired.
Sound-Off glared at her. "I'm not playing. And yes, I think I found something. It looks like a shoe."
"A shoe?" The mare inquired, trotting over to Sound-Off who was now turning the battered shoe in her claws. "Do you think it belongs to one of our mares?"
"That Lily Lace is a fashion designer and a seamstress right?" The reptile answered.
Scarlet poked at the shoe. "Well the dirt in here is firm and lacking moisture, so that means that she must've lost this shoe a while back ago. See if you can find any tracks."
"Will do." Sound-Off twittered, dropping the shoe and scampering away.
Meanwhile, the pegasus headed the opposite direction. Close enough to keep her partner in sight, but far enough to cover a good amount of ground. Nothing appeared to be out of place and no detail jumped out at her. It was really just roots, bushes, rocks, and dirt. She moved over to the brush and began to peek underneath for anything that could've gotten caught on the prickly leaves. She scanned the bush's exposed roots but ultimately declared it as nothing of interest.
Just as she was walking away, the sun broke through the clouds and dense foliage. Something glinted purple from within the bush's roots. Scarlet quickly trot back over to the bush, and pressed her belly against the ground. She had to paw at the roots and dig into them a little, but it wasn't too difficult to pull out her treasure.
At first it didn't seem like much, an almost minuscule shard of purple plastic. A literal piece of trash for all she knew. But it just struck her as out of place. They were far too deep into the Everfree for some delinquent to have dumped his trash on the ground. She continued to eye the shard suspiciously. Until she realized its significance; the missing unicorn known as Vinyl Scratch wore a pair of equally purple shades. Scarlet figured if she searched around that area a little bit more...
"There!" The mare exclaimed, pulling out a beaten and bent pair of shades. "Sound-Off, I found something!"
The dragoness ran over to her. "What is it? What did you find?"
Scarlet held up the broken glasses. "Don't these look like they could belong to DJ Pon-3? Signs of a struggle maybe?"
"Where did you find them?" Sound-Off asked.
"Over here, in these bushes by this tree." Scarlet answered.
"Well if you ask me," Sound-Off began, analyzing the situation. "It would appear that something startled the mare, causing her to panic and slam into the tree. The impact would've dazed her and knocked her glasses off. Or worse case scenario, knocked her out. And while it's faint, my dragon nose is picking up on the scent of sulfur. So whether the three had been together or not, somepony definitely used a fire spell here recently."
"Do you smell any blood?" The pegasus asked.
Sound-Off pursed her lips. "I'm not sure if it's the scent of blood or the naturally iron rich veins in the surrounding rocks."
"But we're on the right trail." Scarlet concluded.
"No doubt about it. All three mares must've passed through here at some point." Sound-Off concurred, when a thought occurred to her. "Hey Scarlet, what do we know about these three ponies? I may need to reevaluate the situation."
"Well let's see." The pegasus put a hoof to her chin. "Lily Lace was the first to go missing. While her missing report is dated for the beginning of the week, she officially disappeared three days prior. Her cousin who had been staying with her at the time, a unicorn mare from Canterlot named Sunshine Smiles, reports that Lily left early that morning as per her normal routine for a morning trot and to check the fabric store for her new order. However the owner of the shop, another unicorn mare named Ribbon Wishes, and her sales assistant, an earth pony mare named Ribbon Heart, both report that Lily Lace never came in that morning."
"And what of her cousin?" Sound-Off pried. "She didn't notice anything abnormal that morning?"
"No. However, she did report that later that night Lily Lace broke into her home via the kitchen window. Sunshine Smiles claims it was the last time she saw her cousin, who was a frantic mess and appeared to be tearing apart the house looking for something." Scarlet Thorn noted. "Unfortunately, Sunshine Smiles had no clue about what it could've been. And whatever it was, Lily Lace didn't find it either. As soon as Sunshine reached out to her, Lily jumped back out the window. The only other thing we know is that according to Sunshine, Lily Lace was covered in shallow scratches and had leaves recognizable from the Everfree forest in her mane and tail. Sunshine then reported Lily Lace as missing three days later, after giving the mare some time to return."
"That doesn't make sense." Sound-Off scrunched her face in thought. "Why would Lily have to break into her own house? And why would she run from her own cousin? Even if she was an Obscure, confronting the personal lives of those they possess just isn't something they do."
Scarlet shook her head. "I'm not sure either. Maybe Lily escaped being possessed? No, that still doesn't sound right. She would've wanted Sunshine to know that they were in danger. It also definitely doesn't explain why she was making such a ruckus looking for whatever it was that was in the house."
"What about the other two mares, when did they disappear?" Sound-Off queried.
"Lyra Heartstrings was the next to be reported missing, three days after Lily Lace. And, unlike Sunshine, Lyra's marefriend Bon Bon reported her missing the evening she didn't return." Scarlet recounted the reports. "Vinyl Scratch, better known as DJ Pon-3, actually disappeared the same night. Her roommate and long-time friend Octavia Melody reports that Vinyl had been abnormally quiet and jumpy that day. Her biggest concern was that Vinyl had gone out without her headphones. But she did mention that the unicorn had checked-out a basic defensive and offensive spell book from Twilight four days prior."
"So the mare was listening for something." Sound-Off figured out. "My guess is that she knew that she was being followed, but she probably didn't know by what. The residue from the fire spell that was used in this area must've been from her after all. And the timing of her checking-out that book chalks it up to the day of Lily Lace's disappearance. Nothing irregular or out of place on Lyra's behalf?"
"Nothing at all. Bon Bon reports that Lyra left that afternoon to meet her friends Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts at the Ponyville Train Station, and never came home. Her friends report that after picking them up from the station the three went to the Hay Burger for lunch, and a movie at the theater followed after. Then Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine popped off to see their other friend Minuette. Neither of the two could recall Lyra acting strangely." Scarlet Thorn finished.
Sound-Off faltered, unable to come up with a logical pattern. "I can't make sense of any of it! One mare disappears only to suddenly appear again, before running away. The next mare knows something is wrong, but doesn't say anything to her friend. And the final mare just vanishes out of the blue. The only thing they have in common is that all three are unicorn mares!"
"We're wasting time. Instead of trying to find commonalities, we should be focusing on what each one lacks." Scarlet pointed out. "What we do know, or at least what we can infer, was that all three mares were being hunted at the same time. The question we need to be asking is why them out of any other unicorn? Think about it logically. Why not Rarity? Not only is she the Element of Generosity, but she's also fairly gifted with magic. There's also Starlight Glimmer to consider. So that helps us rule out the idea that this was a power grab."
"You said Lily Lace's cousin was also a unicorn, and now that you mention it that Trixie pony was in town for a while too." The dragoness considered, weighing the uniqueness of the unicorns.
"I'm not sure of the exact implications." The pegasus admitted. "but I am sure of one thing. Those mares are in terrible danger, and we need to pick up their trail."
"Well let's not wait any longer!" Sound-Off exclaimed, rushing into the brush.
The mare hurried after her, barely able to keep track of the small dragoness in the undergrowth. "Careful newbie! If we end up separated one of us," she cleared her throat in the reptile's direction, "may not come back out."
From the surrounding forest, a pair of crimson eyes followed the arguing pair.