Sweetie Belle walked with Heavy Hoof still clutched in her magical grasp, dragging him along unceremoniously through the camp as the quiet of the city once again fell over everypony. The other creatures in the camp seemed to glance around nervously as they passed, and Sweetie found the sudden paranoia infectious, for she too started looking around, searching for something out of place among the still, dead city.
Shaking her head and giving a snort, she walked until the two of them were beside the large fireplace in the center of camp. With a flick of her magic, she pulled Heavy Hoof forward and deposited him on all four hooves in front of her.
“Alright Heavy Hoof,” she began, sitting down by the warmth of the fire, “We need a plan before we confront Magma Burn. I heard her as she dragged away Sir Obsidian earlier, and I’m pretty sure she’s got enough stress from the problems the expedition’s been having, but maybe we’d better get some more concrete evidence first.”
“Evidence? Of what? I just said some scared ponies got lost, is all.” The red stallion gave her a confused look as he sat down beside her, looking over at her.
“No, you specifically said they had gone missing. And… I don’t want to scare you more than you already are-”
“I’m not scared!” Heavy Hoof puffed out his not-inconsiderable chest and a new fire blazed in his eyes as he tried staring down the much smaller Sweetie Belle, “I’m not scared of anything! I’m just concerned for you and your-”
“Sure you are.” She cut him off with a deadpan look, “Okay so you’re not scared, but in just the few hours that we’ve been here, I’ve heard of other ponies who are scared. I don’t know exactly who it might be, but if ponies have gone missing and some of the other scientists are afraid to leave, we need to get to the bottom of this, and fast. My friends are somewhere out there in the city, and I’m going to make sure they come back safe from their expedition.”
She looked around the camp and saw that much of the frantic activity had already subsided, but her sharp eyes spotted one creature in particular walking out of the central building.
“Come on, I think I might know where we can start getting some solid evidence,” she yelled back as she trotted off, looking back only to make sure that the haughty red unicorn was following behind him.
***
“Well, now, really, it was nothing. Just doing my duty for the good of the camp, you know. No point having anypony here if they’re all going to freeze up the moment something bad happens.”
The diminutive figure of Sir Obsidian was seated between Sweetie Belle and Heavy Hoof at his station in the crystal-sorting room, and he was happily chatting with them as he continued looking at each new orange sample under a thick lens that was jammed against one of his eyes.
Sweetie and Heavy shared a look before she smiled wider and leaned forward.
“Oh yeah, I can totally see that! You said ponies were really scared after the first earthquake, so I bet you got really good at helping other ponies after that experience.”
“Well, it’s not just the earthquakes that have taught me. There’s all sorts of hazards that come with being cut off from civilization in an ancient ruin the size of Saddle Arabia,” He replied dismissively, “That mare, Magma Burn, being foremost among them, I might add. Whenever something bad happens she always seems to blame it on me, and if not on me, then on my planning, or something I didn’t tell her, or something else that was my fault!”
The short figure stomped its foot on the stone seat angrily before shaking its head and returning its focus to its work.
“I can… somewhat sympathize with her though. She is under tremendous stress out here. Making sure nopony goes wandering off or getting hurt in a place as tremendous as this is… no small feat, let me assure you. And sometimes I think she’s letting it get to her.”
As if suddenly realizing where he was and who he was talking to, Sir Obsidian suddenly perked up and shook his head slightly.
“Erm, yes, but uh, what about you two? I’m sure you’re both quite excited to be here, and I’m sure there are much more interesting things you two could be doing than watching as I sort suitable crystals for heating accents. Not that I don’t mind the company, but you especially, miss Sweetie, seemed very eager to get to work researching the phenomena of this city when we talked earlier.”
Well, here goes nothing, Sweetie thought, taking a deep breath and steeling herself. “Actually, we were just wondering about something that we’ve heard and you brought it up just a second ago.”
“Oh? And what would that be?” Sir Obsidian replied, not looking up from his work.
“Well, you said we had to be ready, in case something bad happens, and that whenever it does, Magma Burn gets mad at you. And if no one gets hurt during the earthquakes, then why would Magma Burn be letting anything get to her? That almost makes it sound like you’re hiding things; things that aren’t harmless.”
Sweetie stomped her hoof against the blue concrete to emphasis her point, muffled as the sound was due to the strange properties of the city. She glanced over at Heavy Hoof, who was looking at the two of them with a combination of mild interest and slight nervousness, but if he wanted to say anything about the matter, he chose not to.
Looking back at the naked mole rat on the seat between then, it Sweetie a moment to realize that Sir Obsidian had stopped his work. He didn’t move an inch, and if Sweetie didn’t know better, she could have mistaken him for a statue. Raising an eyebrow, she trotted in front of the desk to get a good look at his face.
“Sir Obsidian? Is every-”
Her question died on her lips as she saw the face the small figure was making, and she involuntarily took a step backwards. Gone was the slightly annoyed look in the mole rat’s eye, and the superior tone in his voice was nonexistent when he next spoke. He stood stock-still, but his eyes flicked upwards to stare at Sweetie Belle with understanding and something approaching pain.
“I can tell you some, but I don’t know much. Furthermore, I must ask that you don’t tell anypony else before Magma Burn does. And don’t tell her I told you this. If she finds out you know, you didn’t hear it from me.”
The small figure sighed as Sweetie and Heavy moved to sit down in front of the desk, while Sir Obsidian quickly glanced about the otherwise-empty room to make sure no one else was listening.
“Alright. Yes, you’re right, this city isn’t exactly safe, and not just because of the earthquakes or regular industrial accidents. This city… it’s dead. Very dead. But not everything in it is. And by that,” he silenced Heavy’s question with a stern glare as he continued, “I just mean that there are other things here in the city. Part of the reason we’re only working in a few specific locations here is because the city is massive, yes, but another reason is it’s not safe to go into some of the other places.”
“Now I don’t actually know what might be dwelling in the city; who or what it or they might be, but the places we’re working on are the only places we’ve confirmed are safe so far. You’ll hear about some locations throughout the city in the next few days that are ‘unsuitable’ for exploration. We’ve not had any official sightings of any other creatures in the city yet, but many of us here have had the strange feeling of being watched from time to time.”
“Sometimes it’s nothing. Sometimes it means some of your tools, or equipment, or some samples you brought back go missing. And then sometimes… an entire pony will go missing.”
Sweetie stared, wide-eyed at Sir Obsidian, who squirmed under the gaze before holding up his clawed hands.
“Oh come on, don’t look at me like that! I told you now, didn’t I? We’ve had four ponies go missing in the two weeks we’ve been here. Most of the ‘off-limits’ areas are underground, and Magma Burn agrees that sending ponies there is too risky. It’s getting hard to keep everyone from devolving into a fearful mob at this point. Oh I’m sure it looks like we all get along fine- we do, but everypony has been carrying this fear around with them. We can’t go into any new locations and before you arrived with the second wave, we’d thought that maybe even the airship had disappeared.”
The two ponies were silent for a long time while Sir Obsidian fidgeted slightly and finally hopped up, sitting down on the slab of stone that was being used as a table.
“So… Magma Burn was going to tell us? But when?” Heavy Hoof asked, breaching the silence, “I think I quite agree with some of the ponies that don’t want to be here if ponies have just vanished into thin air. Who’s gone looking for them?”
“There’s… We thought it best for everypony to get comfortable and settled in before we dropped something like this in everyone’s lap. It might cause too much panic and confusion if you found out too early-”
“You’re darn right I’m panicking! We already found out early, because the ponies here are scared and it’s obvious there’s secrets around here! And my two best friends are out there already!” Sweetie hollered, suddenly finding herself on her feet, “What if they went to one of these ‘off-limits’ areas? What if they go missing? And like Heavy Hoof said, who’s gone looking for them?”
Sweetie took a few steps back, heart pounding, as she tried to come back to some semblance of rational thought. Where did that outburst come from? She blinked as she wondered idly, I knew there were secrets a few hours ago, and Heavy Hoof nearly confirmed as much.
She switched her gaze to Heavy Hoof and was about to continue when she noticed that both the red stallion and the naked mole rat were staring at something behind her. Before she could turn to look though, a new voice, one she recognized, sounded behind her.
“Your friends did indeed go out with one of the exploration parties earlier today. The question is, what are you going to do about it?”
Sweetie slowly turned her head around and saw the level gaze of Magma Burn that had somehow materialized directly behind her. Scrambling back, she barely managed to suppress a squeak of fear. Unlike the other few times she had seen the mare, she now had an extremely good look at the mare’s features, and her scar coupled with the muted blues of their surroundings and the dim light gave her a sinister, inequine appearance.
“I-I… I’m going to find them and bring them back.” Sweetie said, steeling herself and locking her gaze with the cold glare of the other unicorn.
A moment passed where neither of them blinked, before Magma Burn turned and headed back to the far wall, where Sweetie could see a vast network of dark hallways opened into the room.
“Come to my office, Sweetie Belle. We have a few things to discuss. And Obby! Keep an eye on that other one.”
The white unicorn mare glanced back to Heavy Hoof and Sir Obsidian, the former having a confused look on his face as he met her eyes. The latter didn’t meet her gaze and simply stood up, reaching out to pat the stallion on the shoulder as the two started for the main exit. Looking back to the retreating figure of the dark unicorn, Sweetie tried to ignore her growing feeling of unease as she trotted after, following Magma Burn into the dark tunnels.
***
Sweetie Belle sat in Magma Burn’s office and tried to keep her attention from drifting from the mare in front of her. Dozens of crystals of various size and color decorated the walls, as did photos of a younger Magma Burn with other ponies at what Sweetie could only assume were other archeological sites. A massive desk in the center of the room pulsed coldly with an unshakable feeling of something nearly alive and angry.
Swallowing the lump in her throat and wiggling uncomfortably in the too-large stone seat, Sweetie brought her gaze back up to the dark grey unicorn as she sat down opposite her.
“Now,” she started, resting her hooves on the desk and leaning forward, “You’re obviously smart, and truth me be told I was hoping Obby could keep his trap shut longer than he did, but the past is in the past. You know things here are a little worse than we like to pretend, even if I had planned to tell everypony the full picture in a few days’ time. I asked you a question before I brought you here. What’s important now is what you’re going to do with this information and how you’re going to act on it.”
The dark unicorn blew a strand of her red mane out of her face and raised a hoof, “On the one hoof, you can go running off into the city to find your friends with no knowledge of where they might have gone or how to find them, in a vain effort to prevent some disaster from befalling them in an area that has already been designated as safe from our previous excursions, and getting lost yourself.”
She lifted an eyebrow, “That option is ill-advised.”
Raising the other hoof she continued, “Or you can wait for them to return, safely might I add, with the rest of their company and anything they might have found while they were digging. Then, when they do come back tomorrow morning, you can do the responsible thing and request to go with them next time in order to keep them safe, or otherwise try and convince them to stay here in the camp instead. Though, knowing this place and their age, once they’ve gone out once there won’t be anything anyone can do to prevent them from going on more excursions.”
“That is your second option,” Magma Burn put her hooves down and straightened up in her seat, “and I believe it is the far more sensible option. Your friends will be fine. They have experienced ponies with them, and they’ve gone to a place that we’ve already been to several times with no incidents.”
Sweetie looked down at her hooves for a while before her ears flicked at a sound somewhere down the open corridor behind them.
Before she could try and place what it was, the unicorn in front of her spoke again, but this time with a much softer tone.
“Sweetie Belle, I know you must be concerned for your friends, but I’m the expedition leader here for a reason. I care for everyone here, and I’m concerned for all of their safety too. Trust me when I say that your friends are fine. Ever since a few ponies have gone missing, I’ve been very strict with where it’s safe to travel to within the city. I don’t want anyone else to go missing, and we will find those who have. I trust you to not make any rash decisions now that I’ve told you this. Can you trust in me enough to see that I truly want to keep everyone at the camp safe? We’re all here because we want to learn about the secrets of this world, but we have to do things properly. We’ve realised there might be danger, and we have to follow the rules; both our own rules and the ones of this city.”
Sweetie contemplated the other unicorn’s words for a while, sitting in her chair, unmoving. Eventually, she gave a sigh and looked up, locking onto the mare’s crimson eyes with her own green ones and giving a small nod.
“Alright. And… you said they’d be back tomorrow morning?”
“That’s correct. It’s a bit of a walk to the dig site they travelled to, but it’ll still be a short trip compared to some of the other locations we’ve discovered.”
“Okay,” Sweetie nodded and hopped off the chair, heading back into the dark hall, “I’ll finish getting unpacked and I’ll be waiting for them.” And I think I’ve got a few surprises to help keep them safe if something does go wrong, she finished her sentence silently, her mind going to her various contraptions she had brought with her, and she started to design.
***
It was well into the night when she first heard the sound. Sitting by the low-burning light of an oil lamp and hidden from the rest of the sleeping tents by a tarp she had hung up, she carefully adjusted the energy input to the gravity detector housed within the metal frame in front of her.
Every other creature in the camp was fast asleep, and Sweetie had been working on that specific contraption since her talk with Magma Burn earlier that day. Ever since then a fire of her own had burned within her veins, and she tirelessly made adjustments and additions to her most prized invention so that it would be ready when her friends arrived in the morning.
And if they don’t arrive… she quickly shook her head and snapped herself out of the dark thoughts, focusing once more on her work. Squinting, she decided to tighten the unicorn horn duplication node a little more when a piercing sound cut through the still air like a thunderclap. Squeaking in surprise and dropping her screwdriver, she lifted the goggles off her eyes and poked her head out of her makeshift workshop.
Nopony else seemed to have been disturbed by the sudden sound, and no other sounds presented themselves through the gloom of the building. Sweetie was just about to go back to her work when she saw a shadow.
Normally, in the darkness of night and the added gloom that the city itself naturally exuded she wouldn’t have seen anything, but because of the heating problem, several campfires remained lit throughout the camp at all times, and the faint light she could see by the entrance from the main fire outside had been blocked for a moment.
Straining her ears to hear anything more in the deafening silence, Sweetie heard nothing more, but several other shadows passed over the light from the campfire, and the last one had blocked it completely for long enough that whatever it was, she understood it was something big.
Frowning and picking up her screwdriver in her telekinesis just in case, Sweetie turned off her oil lamp and crept forward towards the building’s entrance. She tried moving as quietly as possible, but her hoofsteps were unnaturally quiet; for once she was thankful of the side effect that the dead city had on everything.
Making her way to the massive doorway, she hid behind one side and strained her ears as she heard muffled voices outside, but they were either too far away, or more likely, too quiet and suppressed by the strange magic in the air, for her to hear.
Dang, I really wish my coat wasn’t white. For once it would come in really handy to be dark and drab. She sighed quietly to herself and leaned forward, daring to peek around the edge of the doorway at the camp’s exterior. The large fire crackled merrily in the center of the camp, surrounded by large stone slabs that served as tables and benches, and the shadows flickered and danced on the surrounding walls.
Her gaze would have been captured by the sky, as the clear night twinkled beautifully with starlight, and the gigantic buildings around them reflected fractals of light, blending into the mosaic of stars the higher up she looked. One thing kept her from staring upwards for more than a second, and that was the form of a massive earth pony that stood not three body lengths away from her.
Resisting the urge to hide back behind the doorway, Sweetie Belle stood frozen as the hushed whispers of voices she hadn’t yet heard in the camp echoed around the clearing. Leaning out of her hiding spot inch by inch, she eventually saw that several other creatures were standing in front of the earth pony, and all were wearing heavy cloaks; though their body shape looked close enough to ponies too.
“-wanted as much research copied, but nothing taken. Remember, they can’t know we were here.” Said a silky, female voice from one of the figures, “Ram, you didn’t hurt whoever they left on guard, did you?”
A deep, rumbling voice came from the massive shadow of the earth pony in front of Sweetie Belle, and she did her best to shrink back against the shadows of the door as the group’s attention turned her way.
“Got ‘im jus’ fine. ‘E won’ remember nuthin’ by th’ time ‘e wakes u’.”
“Good,” came the mare’s silky voice once more, and Sweetie Belle did her best to quietly let out a breath she had been holding.
“Vir, go check Magma Burn’s office; Sneaky, you see if those two griffons have come across anything useful again; Pouch, you’re with me. We’re going to see if that little pipsqueak has unlocked anything with the crystals yet.”
Sweetie strained her ears, but didn’t hear anything else from the conversation, except that the large earth pony stallion, ‘Ram’, was to stand guard in the center of camp.
Taking a few steps back, Sweetie cursed the fact that her friends were gone and there was nopony else awake. But they probably came at night exactly because everyone was asleep. Or well, she thought as she smirked, almost everyone.
Checking that none of the shadows that moved off weren’t coming in her direction, the young unicorn sat down and frantically tried to come up with a plan. Come on Sweetie! What’s the best course of action? Logically thinking, I should just head back to my tent until they leave. I heard them say ‘again’, so they’ve been here before, and they might try and come back again. I should wait until they leave and then tell Magma Burn about this.
She was nearly decided when another thought crept into her mind. Wait… Magma Burn never said anything about anypony getting hurt when staying up to watch over the fires. And… How would sir Obsidian know to unlock anything with crystals yet? He’s just been sorting through the heating crystals… hasn’t he? They might be linked to these ponies somehow.
Suddenly realizing she was still in the middle of the giant room, Sweetie quickly and silently made her way over to her tent again, before going behind the curtain and looking back at her invention. Briefly flicking the lantern on and strapping her goggles to her forehead once more, she lit her horn and picked up several tools. She worked quickly, making multiple adjustments and pouring forth magic into the contraption.
If somepony else in the camp is working with these unknown ponies, they might have bad things in store for us. Worse, they’re obviously not here to work together, or they wouldn’t have snuck into camp in the dead of night. They’re hiding from us and taking what we’ve learned… but to what end? Ugh! Why does this have to be happening now! Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, where are you girls when I need you? She rubbed her eyes and snapped a few metal plates into place, taking care to make as little noise as possible. What if… sweet Celestia, what if these ponies have been foalnapping whoever finds out about them? And these ‘unsafe’ areas are just their own camp!
Magma Burn, you told me to trust you, but how can I trust you now? Those ponies even said your name! They didn’t specify anyone else, but they for sure know you enough to use your name and everypony in that group would know who you are if they didn’t have to explain it. Suddenly feeling a cold sweat on her back, Sweetie shook her head and double checked the energy tanks in her contraption. Stepping back, she nodded resolutely, powered up her horn and began to think. Alright… something that makes me… me. Hmm, memories? I mean, I need it to be linked to me if I want to control it at a distance, but maybe not memories. Maybe something less… personal. My cutie mark? She wondered as she glanced at her flanks. Sweetie’s cutie mark, a swirl of magic jammed between a music note and a single diamond, reminded her of the time she had gotten it.
It was shortly after Scootaloo had gotten hers, and she had been studying with Twilight Sparkle on devising a new spell to capture and store magical energy. They had nearly exhausted their supply of potential materials, but Sweetie had taken out the last of their rubies. Fighting back tears from so many failures, she had screamed at the gem and waved it around before she felt the gentle touch of Twilight’s hooves on her back. Lowering the gem gently back to the ground, Twilight had started singing a song about patience and trust, and Sweetie had joined in, before a fire overtook her soul and she had taken the lead of the song. Singing louder and powering her magic with her own voice, she poured everything into her song and by the time they were done, the ruby had been glowing and responding automatically to Sweetie’s emotions and thoughts, and a moment late her cutie mark had appeared.
Looking back on the memory now, Sweetie couldn’t help but smile and turned her attention back to her work. I kinda wish you were here too, Twilight. You’d know what to do about these mystery ponies. But I think I know what I have to do too. I just hope I don’t wake everypony in the camp and alert those spies that something’s up.
Closing her eyes, she touched the main casing of the four-legged machine that stood in front of her. She powered up her horn, beginning to pour magic into the construct, took a deep breath… and started to sing.
She started low, and quiet, but quickly realized that if she was going to put enough of an imprint of herself onto the machine’s core for her to be able to control it, she would need to put her true self into the song.
And her true self wasn’t quiet.
Holding back a grimace, and resigning herself to possibly waking up the whole camp, the notes of her song soared, as did her voice, while she continued to imbue her invention with the truest parts of herself. Her voice arced and echoed throughout the cavernous room, bouncing around as a haunting version of her own melody, though much quieter than her own voice sounded to her ears. Perhaps the natural damping effect of the city would prevent anypony else from hearing her?
Pouring more magic into the machine, she felt it start to respond to her call, the feeling of appendages and senses that weren’t her own adding themselves to her subconscious, and coming to life like the ruby had, all those years ago. Ending on a final crescendo, she held the note for several long moments, before leaning forward and placing her horn against the machine’s metal frame, feeling a slight sap as the rest of her magic and a fragment of her essence travelled into the machine.
Stepping back, she opened her eyes for the first time since the song began and looked over her work, scanning the machine with a simple spell to see if it the magical signature resonating inside the metal body accepted her control, and smiled as her momentary probing was rewarded with the magical equivalent of an acknowledgment and a bow.
Grinning like a schoolfilly, the weight of the situation at hoof reminded Sweetie of why she had accelerated her plans in the first place, and she checked around the sleeping quarters to make sure she hadn’t woken anypony.
Sighing in relief when she realized none appeared to have stirred during her whole song, she steeled her gaze and marched towards the door once more. I can’t do anything until they’re gone, but if they were trying to be quick and discreet then maybe…
Poking her head around the corner of the doorway, she saw that the campfire in the center of the clearing was still burning cheerfully, staving off the gloom of night in the dead city, and the group of shadowy figures was nowhere to be seen.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Sweetie turned back to the corner of the massive stairs where the tents were set up, only to run into something large, and soft, and very solid.
Falling backwards onto her rump from the impact, she rubbed her head and looked up, groaning, but the moment her eyes recognized what she was looking at, her voice died on her lips.
“So there’s our little snoop!” an increasingly-familiar silky voice hissed from behind the massive earth pony standing in the doorway, “Good job, Ram. We were trying to find that singing, but you know how this place is with sounds.”
Just as she was about to stand up and scream for help, Sweetie felt as something grabbed her from behind and she could feel a rag being stuffed in her mouth while somepony held her down.
“What’re we gonna do with her?” a rough voice said from somewhere above her.
“Well, she’s already seen us, so we can’t just put her to sleep, or she’ll blab about us as soon as she wakes up. We’ll have to take her with us.” The silky voice replied.
“Take her?! But you said we can’t leave any traces of us being here. What if these ponies start to suspect something?” The voice from above her came again. In the meantime, Sweetie’s heart had begun pounding so hard in her chest that she was afraid it might burst. Doing her best to concentrate, she drew on a tiny sliver of her soul and began powering her horn, trying to avoid the attention of her captors.
“Well we don’t have a choice. It’s either leave her and be found out, or take her and maybe be found out.”
Furrowing her brow, the glow from her horn began to increase as she nearly had the correct magical password in mind for what she was about to do, but a sharp pain in her horn disrupted her concentration and her spell fired off a moment too soon, disappearing into the darkness of the building behind them.
Blinking through tears of pain and lookin up at her horn, she suddenly felt the cold weight of stone against her cheek and realized that whoever was holding her down had stepped on her horn with their hooves to break her spell.
Squealing pitifully from behind her gag, she tried to look up to see some sort of recognizable feature on the figure that held her, but whoever it was kept out of her sight.
“Jeez, Vir, keep a better eye on her, or she’ll alert the whole camp!” hissed Silky.
“I just did. That looked like the spell backfired to me, we should still be clear.” Rough replied.
“Either way, get her trussed up and keep that horn of hers suppressed, or we won’t stay clear for long!”
Sweetie then had the extremely unpleasant feeling of something cold and slimy crawling along her horn, making its way over her skull and settling down somewhere along her spine, while at the same time her ears picked up a very audible click. Looking up, she was rewarded with the sight of a simple, rune-etched stone ring sitting around her horn, before a black shape moved beyond it and she found a bag being thrust over her head.
Heart hammering against her chest, she protested, squirming and thrashing as she tried over and over again in vain to pull magic through her horn, each attempt simply returning the cold, creeping feeling along her horn and spine. Despite her best efforts, her legs were held in place by… claws? And quickly tied up tightly, whatever rough rope her captors were using biting into her flesh. A moment later she felt herself tossed up and tied down around something large and warm, and suddenly realized she must have been placed on the back of ‘Ram’, the huge earth pony, and tied down like saddlebags.
What in the name of Celestia have I gotten myself into? Sweetie thought silently as she bounced along to wherever the mysterious ponies were taking her. I’m sorry Apple Bloom, Scootaloo. I wanted to prevent anything bad from happening to you, and now I’ve put myself in danger. Please, please Celestia, somepony help me!
As she slowly realized that she wasn’t going to be rescued anytime soon, and that ponies might think her disappearance was linked to that of the other ponies, it dawned on her that nopony might even come looking for her. Hadn’t Magma Burn said that the missing ponies would be found? She still hadn’t answered Sweetie’s question as to who had gone out looking for them, and now, she had a sinking feeling that perhaps… nopony was being sent out to look for any of those who went missing.
Despite the gag in her mouth and the bag on her head, this new thought managed to squash all reason in her mind and it brought on a new round of attempted hyperventilation. A moment later, all the fear, stress, and lack of oxygen caused her to pass out.
***
Though nopony from the camp had heard or seen the exchange, and none of the foalnappers had any intention of telling them just what they had been doing, the group’s presence and departure didn’t go completely unnoticed.
In the darkness of the buildings, flitting blue lights glimmered and followed the progress of the cloaked ponies, keeping track of them as they moved from alley to alley, and rooftop to rooftop.
In the darkness of a building, silently waiting between a tarp and an empty tent, two ruby-red eyes blazed to life as the magic behind them began to wake up.