//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: A True Mother // by cccvvvttt //------------------------------// Twilight was missing. She had been missing all morning. Nopony knew where she was, or even how she disappeared. It was like she was just taken from the night, forced out by something. But nopony knew what the something was, and that was making her friends, her number one assistant, and her six year old adopted human son very concern for her safety. The Princes Of The Sun, along with the mane six, the human child, the baby dragon, and the two royal guards that were investigating Blueblood, were all in the throne room, trying to think about what could have happened to their friend. "She wouldn't have just ran off in the middle of the night without telling us!" Rainbow said, whilst hovering off of the ground. They all nodded in agreement with Rainbow, as Zachary spoke up ever so slightly. "Where is she then...?" He asked, in a shaky, quivery voice. He was very worried for her, he wanted her to be okay. After all, she was the one who saved him from John, and gave him a new and wonderful life to live in Equestria. Cloudy Arrow looked at him, with a concern for him, knowing everything he had been through,and knowing that he didn't deserve anymore heartache. "Don't worry kid, we'll find her, promise." Cloudy Arrow said, with the best comforting smile that he could muster. Zachary, in return, nodded his head in understatement. That's when Celestia decided it was the time to speak up. "I too am deeply concerned about Twilight's disappearance, but we must go off on what we know." Celestia said, as she looked at both Spike and Zachary. "You were the only two who shared a room with her, did she seem to act strange, or off in any certain way?" Zachary shook his head. "I don't know, I think I fell asleep after dinner." He said, with an apologetic look. Celestia noticed this, and gave him a soft smile. "It's alright, young one. I do not blame you." Celestia said in a soft, caring tone. She then turned to Spike, now putting on a more serious look. "Did you see Twilight doing something suspicious?" Spike shook his head. "No.... But there were some weird things that did happen last night..." Spike said, and Celestia raised a brow. "What happened last night, Spike?" She asked, with curiosity in her face. "Well, last night, we ran into your nephew, Blueblood." Spike began. "He was acting weird again, this time he wanted to have Zachary live at the castle on the week days, and have him live with Twilight only on the weekends." Zachary looked at him, shock in his eyes, and Spike noticed this. "Don't worry, she didn't agree." Spike said, which made Zachary calm down a bit. "Anyway, after Twilight refused to do so, he walked away, but then she felt a sharp pain come from the back of her neck. Then..." Spike then had a sorrowful look put on his face, just like Zachary's at that same moment. "Then she just vanished! I didn't see her this morning, and I don't know where she could be, and I'm so worried about her!" Celestia herself was now having a feeling of sadness wash over her, as she too missed her ex-student, and her friend, and she more than anything wanted to see her again, just to make sure she was alright and safe. "Thank you for that, Spike." Celestia said, as her face turned stern once again. "That does sound like something my nephew would do, but the reason for him being so nice to Zachary, is even beyond me." She closed her eyes, and turned to her thoughts for a solution that could lead them to Twilight. "What should we do now....?" Fluttershy asked, while rubbing her forearm. Celestia got an idea on where Twilight could be, or where a lead to her whereabouts. It was so obvious, that she was even shocked that she didn't see it before. "Well, first off, we should check Canterlot library." Celestia said, as she put a hopeful smile onto her face. "She probably either went there, and hasn't come back yet, or she left something there for us to find, to lead to where she could be." They all nodded in agreement. "Alright then, let's get going!" Rainbow said, as they all nodded in agreement. Celestia got off of her throne chair, which made TriforceAndroid walk up to her. "Princess, please forgive me, but don't you think that you should be watching over the castle?" He asked, looking up at the goddess herself. "I didn't really have any plans for today, so Canterlot should be safe right now." Celestia said. "Besides, as long as I'm still in the city, things should be fine." TriforceAndroid nodded with understatement, as he turned back to the group. "Alright, let's check out the library." He said, as they all nodded in agreement. They all began to walk out of the castle, when Blueblood walked right into the room with them. "Oh, hello there." Blueblood said, as he put on yet another fake smile, one that they could easily tell was fake. "Have any of you seen Twilight? I have been looking all over for her." Cloudy Arrow shook his head, while he walked up to the spoiled prince himself. "What do you want, Blueblood?" He asked, in a sort of a low growl. He was still suspicious on the odd way that he was acting. Blueblood put on an innocent look. "Me....? I just want to know where Twilight is, to ask her something important about Zachary right there." He replied, pointing a hoof at the child. "No Blueblood, you're not going to "Watch Over Zachary" Or whatever it is that you want to do." Spike said, as he too walked up to him. "Excuses me, but are you Zachary?" Blueblood asked, with his snooty tone returning to him. "That's right,m your not! So why don't you stop being rude, and let him speak for himself." Zachary started to fell tension rise inside him, as he didn't want to do or say anything that would offend the prince. "Well, um...." Zachary said, as he looked down at his shaking hands. "I..... Think I should wait until Twilight gets back, to see what she thinks about this....." Hearing this made Blueblood huff with defeat. "Fine, but I'm coming to look for her with you guys." Blueblood said, with an annoyed sigh at the end of that sentence. "Nephew, are you sure that you want to come?" Celestia asked, with a look of worry on her face. "I mean, you don't really like the library, and that's the place were going to try and look for her first." "Yes, I'm sure!" Blueblood said, now having a smile form onto his face. "If I wasn't convinced before, than I am now." The mane six looked at each other, not really sure what to make of Bluebloods strange behavior. "Okay then...." Rainbow said, as she rubbed the back of her head, with uncertainty. "Lets.... get going then, I guess...." They all were getting unsettling vibes from Blueblood as they made their way out of the castle. Even Celestia thought that he was up to something suspicious, but shrugged it off as him just trying to be nicer. "Well, we can defiantly keep our eye on him from here now... which might not be such a good thing." TriforceAndroid said to Cloudy Arrow, who nodded in response. "Yeah, well, maybe we'll be able to find something at the library this time around." Cloudy Arrow replied, with a hopeful look in his eyes. I hope that we can find something there... He thought to himself, as they continued their walk down into Canterlot, where not a lot of ponies were out, only a few were roaming the streets. Zachary looked down at the ground as he walked, still with a sorrowful expression. Why would Twilight just leave like that without telling anypony? Maybe she just went out for something, and hasn't come back yet.... He thought to himself, as he put a warm smile on his face, however, it didn't last very long, as he came to another realization. But she's been gone all morning, and now it's past noon. Where could she be? He kept to himself as they walked, nopony was really talking with each other, as there wasn't much to say at that moment. However, there was one pony who noticed Zachary's behavior. Well, more like a dragon. "Zachary...." Spike said, as he got closer to the human child, who's emotions were crystal clear. "Believe me when I tell you that I know how you're feeling." Zachary looked at him, still with a sorrowful face. "You... You do?" He asked, and Spike nodded. "Yeah, I've been Twilight's number one assistant ever since I was born." Spike said, with a soft, yet a bit of a crackling tone. "She always treated me like her own little brother, even if time were dark, or tough, she always pulled through for me." He put on a hopeful smile once more, as he looked at Zachary. "She always pulled through for me, she will definitely pull through for you too." Zachary gave Spike a look of happiness, but uncertainty. "Are you sure?" He asked, and Spike nodded once more. "Of course she will." Spike started. "She does consider you her son after all, so she will do everything she can to get back, where ever she is." He stopped for a second, putting on a small grin. "That is, unless she just went on a walk or something, and we're the ones over reacting." They both laughed at this. Celestia heard them from where she was walking, and smiled. That would be rather silly if that were the case. She thought, before another serious thought came to her mind. But.... With all the ponies going missing, it's just too hard to tell whether she is just doing something, and forgot to tell us, or if she was somehow taken by a monster..... Or worse.... Celestia shook those thoughts away. She couldn't stand the thought of losing her faithful student, and her friend that she spent those years with, watching her grow up into the alicorn princess she is today. We'll find you soon, Twilight... Celestia said in her thoughts, as the others were in they're own thoughts as well. Even though Spike had helped calm his nervous thoughts and his uneasiness, he still was worried about Twilight, but then he thought about what Spike said. We might just be over reacting..... whatever that means.... Zachary thought to himself, trying to make himself feel better, and it was only working a little. I hope we find you soon, mommy. Please- His thoughts were cut off, when he felt a sharp pain come from somewhere in his body again. In the same place he got shot at once again. He stopped, and put his hand over his wound. This time, it felt different. He didn't know why, but it was the same type of pain that wouldn't go away, unless Twilight used her magic to numb it enough so that he couldn't feel it. "Are you alright?" Celestia asked, and as she did, the pain just went away. They all gave him a look of concern, except Blueblood, who only gave him a look of confusion on why he was in pain. "I'm.... I'm fine....." Zachary said, while taking in some breaths. "The pain went away....." They all had looks of worry on their faces, all except Blueblood, who was thinking about other things. That pain should have went away by now, why is he still having it? Celestia thought to herself. She just didn't get, the best doctors there couldn't even figure out what was wrong with him. She stopped thinking about Zachary's situation for a moment, once she saw that the library was in sight. "Well, here we are, the library." Cloudy Arrow said, pointing his hoof at the building itself. It was a beautiful one, most like the other ones in the city of Canterlot, the only difference is this one if filled with books. No surprise there. "Let's go find Twilight!" Rainbow said, as she flew up to the building, and landing on the ground, allowing her access to the door. They all went in after her, and they all began to start looking around the library for clues. "We should spread out. That way, we can find clues for Twilight, since it doesn't seem like she's here." Celestia said. They all had a look of defeat, as they realized that she was in fact not here, but they knew that there could be something here that could lead them to her. "Blueblood, you can be with my two guard ponies." Celestia said, causing a low groan from the both of them, though she couldn't hear it. "Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Zachary can be together." They all nodded in agreement. "Fluttershy and Applejack, you may come with me." They all nodded, as they walked over to the princess of the sun. After that, they all just began to spread out over the library. "Come on, kid. Lets check over there." Rainbow said, as both Zachary and Pinkie went over to that area. As they were checking out that area, the others were checking out other areas in the library. Cloudy Arrow and TriforceAndroid were keeping there eye on Blueblood, as he didn't really seem to care about finding Twilight, and Celestia's group was looking at a whole bunch of other things. "Mommy, I miss you...." Zachary said to himself, as he looked around the library with Rainbow and Pinkie. As he looked, he found a book, one that he recognized. It was a book that Twilight read to him often, and it was book that he enjoys quiet a bit. "We'll find her, don't be sad." The voice of Pinkie said from behind him, causing him to jump a little. "Pinkie, you scared me!" Zachary said, and she giggled. "Sorry, I have that effect on other ponies." Pinkie said, as she looked at the book that he was holding. "What's that book you got there?" Zachary showed her the title of the book, and Pinkie giggled again. "Oh yeah, I know that book." "Yeah, Mom read it to me a lot, I think its a really good-" Zachary was saying, but stopped once he felt something. It wasn't painful, but it was weird. It came from the side of his head, like it was drilling its way inside, though it didn't hurt. "Is something wrong little guy?" Pinkie asked, as his face went blank. Rainbow noticed this, and came over to see what was wrong with him. "Kid, are you alright?" Rainbow asked, but to now avail. He couldn't see them at all, or even hear them. All he could see, was the faint, static filled image or Twilight Sparkle, his mother. "Zach.................Wh.............re......................u................................f.......................Plea........Resp.................Made................e.................dis..........r...................Wi...............B...............yo............" Suddenly, Zachary came out of his sudden confusion, causing him to fall back into a bookcase that he was behind, having some books fall over in the process. "Zachary, are ya alright?" Applejack asked, causing Zachary's head to snap up to look at her. "I saw Mom...." He said, while rubbing his head. They all gasped, Blueblood getting a look of uneasiness on him. "Did she say anything? Anything that could lead us to her?" Rainbow asked, and Zachary got a nervous expression on. "She tried, but I couldn't hear her." Zachary said, with a sad look. "That's alright, Sugar-cube, but we need to still find her." Applejack said, ash she looked at the bookshelf, in the place where all the books fell off. There was a door behind it. "Woah, why is there a door right there?" Rainbow asked, and they all shook their heads, as none of them knew. "Lets move the bookshelf, and find out." TriforceAndroid said, as him and Cloudy Arrow moved the bookshelf out of the way, which was easy, due to the fact that there were no others around it. They were right, there was a hidden door behind it. "Why is this hidden?" Rainbow asked, and nopony really had an answer for that. "There's only one way to find out...." Cloudy Arrow said, as he walked up to the door, which opened with ease. "Lets go" With that, Rainbow, Cloudy Arrow, and Zachary made there way in first. SLAM The door all the sudden slammed shut behind them, causing them to turn around. There was barley any light in there, but there was enough to see that the door was slammed shut. Locked. No matter how much they tried, they couldn't get the door opened. "Are you alright?" Celestia asked, and Rainbow pounded on the door. "Yeah, were just locked in! Can you get us out?" She asked, and the sound of someone using there magic was heard through out the hallow room. "No, this door is magic proofed Celestia said back, trying to get the door opened once more, but failing at doing so. "Is there another way you can get out?" Cloudy Arrow looked behind him, and saw that there was another door. He could easily open it. "Yes, Princess." Cloudy Arrow replied. "Good, go through it, and see if there is another way out. I'll see if I can get the librarian to open the door." Celestia said back, as Rainbow, Zachary, and Cloudy Arrow heard he walk away. They turned back to the door, and they slowly made their way in. However, Zachary was getting an uneasy feeling. Like there was something in there, that should be left alone........ But they had no other choice...... But to walk in.............