//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The Bell // Story: Belles of Bridlewood Detectives: The Chain Pony // by Short-tale //------------------------------// I arrived at the town square next to the candle shop. The air was visible as I breathed. Summer here wasn’t very warm in the forest. It still dipped to a light chilly temperature at night.  A light tap on my shoulder turned my head. Silent waved with a slight smile. She was wearing a leather jacket, dark makeup, and even those fishnet stockings on her forehooves. It looked more eye-catching rather than stealthy.  “What in the world is wrong with you two?” I was momentarily stunned. For a moment I thought Silent just yelled at me. Then I made out the Lyrica-shaped shadow behind her. “You look like you're going to a rave,” the shadow yelled at Silent. “And you’re wearing red for stealth!” Her ears had twitched and moved the entire time. I wonder if Silent could even see it in the dark. It must be hard to communicate with gestures at night. Especially when the pony “talking” was wearing jet black from head to hoof. Only her light grey face was visible.  “It’s the only coat I own,” I countered. I looked back at my red woolen pea coat and sighed. It conveyed the feeling I wanted to give but that feeling didn’t matter on stealth missions. I should have grabbed my black turtleneck in hindsight.  “Ok ok, let’s just get this over with,” the shadow sighed.  The three of us entered the abandoned town square. Street lights surrounded the vine-laden bell. It seemed like we could just march in and take it. It felt too easy.  “So how are we going to do this?” I asked the darkness.  “I thought you had a plan or something?” the stealthy unicorn whined.  “Why would I have a plan?” “I thought you were the leader type.” Lyrica appeared from the shadows and into the street lights. The dark cloth she wore pulled the light in like a black hole.  I opened my mouth to answer when the Bell of Bridlewood clanked dully. The faint twang of the metal reverberating echoed in the square. I felt a soft warmth spread through my body. It was calming. At ease. Peaceful. The sense was disturbing. My normal feelings of isolation and brooding were gone. I felt… happy. I wanted to explore this sensation but it left as the bell's tones faded away.  “Silent!” hissed Lyrica with her ears moving rapidly. “What do you think you’re doing?!” The bell wrapped itself in a magenta bubble. No sound escaped it. Could Silent actually silence things? The sound of our hooves was deafening in comparison as we rushed over to help. Lights from the surrounding homes began to turn on. Harsh voices of confusion filled the air. It was a sea of anger roaring at the awful forces of evil that disturbed it. It wasn’t going to be long until we were caught and drowned. “What are we going to do?” The panicked ninja whined. I felt something. Something deep and electric. It was like water but tingled like when my hooves fall asleep from laying on them. It rose from the base of my stomach up through to the top of my horn. My whole body tingled. Then blue light erupted from my horn and another bubble wrapped around us.  My legs shook and sweat formed on my brow. I felt a charge as my sphere melded with Silent’s. It was like static electricity amped up.  Unicorns ran out of their houses to stare at us in the middle of the square. They stopped a few feet from our spheres. A red stallion turned to the others and spoke. I couldn’t hear it. All I could hear was my heartbeat in my ears. The other unicorns looked around us and through us but didn’t seem to see us at all.  “What are you doing? What spell is that?” Lyrica cried.  “I …don’t…know,” I gasped. It felt so heavy. I was beginning to get dizzy. I closed my eyes to concentrate. “You’re right, Silent, I think this is an invisibility sphere. Now they can’t see us or hear us. We should take the bell and go. Now! Before Gloomy passes out.” Lyra started to push me into motion. I stumbled towards the thicket of darkness.  Silent and I lifted the wooden ends of the bell off its display stand. A golden glow from Lyrica’s horn snapped the vines and twigs of age from its body. We started the slow march out of town still wrapped in our blue pink spheres.  The world blurred with each step. I felt like my body was being pressed to the ground by the bell. I glanced over at Silent who was doing a lot better than I. She was sweating too but she walked with a steady gait. Her eyes locked on mine for a second and she pointed with her ear towards the woods.  I shakily nodded and moved my rubber legs into motion. I felt like I was drunk. My body wobbled back and forth. The blue energy started to flicker as we left the square.  “Just hang on a little further, Gloomy you’re doing great,” Lyrica cheered. Silent’s spell made the sound of her voice echo around us like being in a small cave. It sounded like Lyrica’s cheer came from everywhere.  The world was starting to fade as we entered the woods. The blue sphere fizzed out and my body did as well. I tripped on the first root I walked near and fell into the soft litter of pine needles. The bell nearly landed on top of me but rolled out of the way. Silent’s sphere kept sound from resonating through the town. “Gloomy? Are you ok? That spell was brilliant. I didn’t know you could do that.” Lyrica placed a hoof on my back and spoke directly into my ear.  “I … didn’t…either.” I huffed the pine scent and waited for the world to slow down. “We should get going soon. We have to get the bell back before anypony notices it’s missing.” Lyra pulled her dark costume off in a yellow flash.  I staggered to get up and felt Silent’s hooves push me. It wasn’t a rough push but a firm one. I followed her lead. My hooves moved forward. I followed the warm grey blur in front of me and let the cool grey one push me.  “Where is the bell?” I muttered as I stumbled through the crunching blanket of needles.  “I have it.” Lyrica stepped out of the way to reveal the bell leading the way in a golden yellow glow. She wasn’t even sweating. “How can you do that? It must weigh a ton.”  “I don’t know. I just could lift stuff like this with my magic. Can’t you do it?” I shook my head. I could barely control the telekinesis let alone lift anything bigger than a can of beans. It was like watching a weightlifter just casually lift a block of concrete while I couldn’t lift the bar.