//------------------------------// // ~ 04 ~ Stolen Companion // Story: If I Could Love Again... // by Petalled //------------------------------// ''The Princess of this year's Fall Formal is...'' Principal Celestia began, taking the paper with its name on it from out of its envelope, Vice Principal Luna on her side with the crown, and readout, ''Twilight Sparkle!'' The students all dressed up standing below the stage all erupted into a collective cheer, Twilight's friends hugging her as she made her way onto the stage where the principal gently placed the crown above her head. She turned around to face the audience, the pink star twinkling brilliantly. If only a special someone was here to see her in that dress Rarity had made for her for the occasion. All of a sudden, her ears perked up to the sound of someone familiar calling out her name, someone so dearly remotely precious to her. ''Twilight! Help!'' Glancing from both sides, she looked to the front where Snips and Snails were at the door strangling Spike in their grasp as they walked out the door. ''They got Spike!'' Twilight shouted, jumping off the stage and running across the crowd. She slammed the door open and ran as fast as she could through the corridor with her friends' counterparts behind her. They stopped for a while, and Fluttershy asked, ''where did they take him?'' They glanced around at their surroundings. Nothing in sight apart from Trixie picking up a snack from the floor in front of the food machine. ''I got an idea,'' spoke up Rainbow Dash, walking towards the blue person. ''Hey, Trixie. Uh, I know we don't talk but do you think you can help us out with something? You see, have you seen Snips and Snails carrying a dog?'' Trixie raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. ''Oh, so now you want my help. Go do it yourself.'' She jabbed the food machine before walking away. ''That's Trixie for yerr,'' replied Applejack. ''Now what do we do?'' asked Twilight, worried. ''Don't worry, Twi,'' said the cowgirl, placing a hand over her shoulder. ''We'll find Spike if it's the last thing we do. C'mon, y'all. Let's separate ourselves.'' ''Plan A,'' Pinkie began, wearing a detective's uniform with a notebook and pencil. ''We swim through the lemonade, find Spike and at the end, we'll earn a giant chocolate cake.'' Everyone around her looked at each other. ''What?'' Rainbow said, blinking a few times. The pencil tapped her chin as she hummed. ''Maybe not a good plan. All right. Let's go to Plan B where we all wear ninja uniforms and—'' ''No,'' Rainbow said rather firmly this time. Pinkie sighed. ''Then Plan D!'' ''You skipped C,'' Fluttershy pointed out. ''Yeah, I kinda already noticed that,'' Pinkie replied, scratching her head. ''Well, it's only because Plan C was a little too—'' ''What the hay are we doin' wastin' time here for?'' Applejack asked, putting an end to her blubbering. ''We need to find Spike before Sunset does anything bad with him. So here's my plan. We all separate ourselves in the school cafeteria, classrooms, library...'' ''What I was thinking, A.J,'' Twilight conceded, placing a hand over the cowgirl's shoulder. She faced the others. ''All right, gang. Let's do this.'' ''Um... I don't think Spike can fit in there, Pinkie Pie,'' replied Fluttershy as she watched her friend looking through a telescope on the balcony in the library. ''You never know how Equestria works,'' Pinkie insisted, still checking through it. ''Who knows, Sunset might use magic to shrink Spike like Ant-Man!'' ''If she has magic, then how come she's never shown it off before or how come she hadn't used it on us?'' ''Maybe because she was using her magic secretly so she could do something worse once her plan is done.'' ''I doubt that, Pinkie Pie,'' Fluttershy said with a blank expression. Pinkie scoffed. ''And you don't doubt Twilightverse?'' ''We have to find Spike, Pinkie,'' Fluttershy instead said, descending the staircase to the bottom floor and searching through the piles of books scattered across. ''Strange. This must've happened because of Sunset and she's hidden Spike in one of these piles.'' ''Or maybe because Twilight and Spike were researching and sleeping here?'' Pinkie pointed out. Fluttershy turned to her. ''It's worth a go searching here.'' ''And what if we don't find him here?'' ''We keep looking,'' she simply replied, already trying to dig into the pile of books. Rainbow Dash exited the school and walked across the school's sports pitch, meeting the center. The nighttime sky above made it difficult for her to see in the dark even if there were stars dot by dot twinkling and surrounding lamp posts flashing. ''Where the heck could she have taken him?'' she questioned herself before going back into the school's building and finding Trixie staring at her. ''Well, if you're just going to stand there looking at me, you may as well help us out.'' ''I have better things to do,'' said Trixie, ignorant. Rainbow arched an eyebrow. ''Like staring at me?'' Trixie sneered and, again, banged a hand against the locker as she walked away. Irritated, Rainbow Dash sighed and walked in the direction of a classroom. ''Seriously, Rares?'' called Applejack's voice from Rarity's boutique. ''Do you really think Sunset would be here with Snips and Snails coming all the way here to bring Spike to her?'' ''Well, just like it says in Shadow Spades,'' Rarity explained, wearing a black skirt. ''You got to look everywhere and I, they, mean everywhere!'' Applejack rolled her eyes. ''Uh-huh. Well, I'm gonna go on ahead back to the school to find him there.'' ''If you insist, I'll come along,'' Rarity sneered. ''But, uh, a word?'' The cowgirl turned back to look at her. ''Yeah?'' Rarity bit her lip. ''You know, I, we, did see you and Rainbow Dash making out after rekindling.'' Applejack's face turned to beat red, hiding it by lowering her hat. ''What about, Rarity?'' ''I just want to ask... how long have you two been, you know...'' ''Well, uh, after we started talking again we also started speaking out our feelings so until then.'' ''Oh. I see.'' Rarity nodded gently. ''Why do you care?'' asked the cowgirl, raising an eyebrow. Flushed, Rarity immediately turned away from her. ''Never mind, dear.'' Applejack quirked an eyebrow, stepped forward, and examined her face. ''Rares, I... do you like me?'' ''What?'' Rarity spat. ''Absolutely not! How absurd. A lady would never contribute to something like, like...'' Her ears fell, turning to Applejack. ''I can't believe you'd suggest such a thing!'' ''Well, then, enough chit-chat and goofin' around. Let's try and find Spike.'' When she exited out the door, Rarity dropped a sigh of relief. ''Thank Heavens.'' “Found anything, Pinkie?“ Fluttershy asked, searching through the book piles. Pinkie sighed. “No. You?“ Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh, I'm scared, Pinkie. What if Sunset did something to him?“ “Stop trying to think pessimistically, Fluttershy. We'll find him!“ Pinkie encouraged emphatically. “But what if we won't?“ Fluttershy cluttered her teeth as she shivered with wide eyes. Pinkie stared her down. “Fluttershy! Please?“ Fluttershy sighed. “All right.“ Pinkie smiled softly. Then she looked up at the dome. “Hey, Fluttershy. You saw that, didn't you?“ “Saw what, Pinkie?“ Fluttershy asked. Pinkie didn't answer. Instead, she sighed. “Pinkie?“ Fluttershy called out. No answer. “Pinkie, what's wrong?“ “Can...can I tell you something?“ Pinkie asked softly. “Sure. What's up, Pinkie Pie?“ “I...think I like Rainbow Dash. And even when our group split apart because of Sunset Shimmer, I still didn't have any feelings of hate towards her.“ “Oh, Pinkie. It was pretty obvious to not tell of your feelings for her,“ Fluttershy pointed out as she wrapped her arms around her friend. “Yeah, but what can I do?“ Pinkie asked, biting her lip. “It's too late. She's dating Applejack.“ “Everything will work out in the end, Pinkie,“ said Fluttershy. “Even Rarity has feelings for Applejack, and those two were each other's first kiss.“ “Me and Rainbow Dash were each other's first kiss also,“ Pinkie confessed, biting her lip further. “Oh, Pinkie.“ Fluttershy squeezed her hug around her further. When Applejack and Rarity arrived at the school, they found Rainbow Dash roaming the hallways. “Hey, babe. Found anything?“ Applejack asked. Rainbow sighed. “No. And it doesn't help with Trixie being a big jerk and not helping either.“ Applejack and Rarity looked to see the blue person still standing beside the vending machine staring. “Rarity, how about you sort this problem out while Rainbow and I can continue looking at other places?“ Applejack offered. Rarity walked away from them. Applejack walked up to Rainbow Dash with a big smirk. “So. Where were we now?“ she asked. Rainbow grinned as the two girls placed their hands on each other's hips and pulled each other into a kiss, and started full-on making out. When Rarity came back over, she was not pleased. Rarity fumed as her cheeks puffed up. She lightly banged a locker before storming away. Lights continued to flicker in the depth of the locker room, making Twilight believe she'd meet Sunset here again in addition while also finding Spike. However, when she made out the darkness, a sigh escaped her lips. ''Spike!'' she called as if he'll come running towards her. ''Spike, come on. Where are you?'' When she walked past a classroom with its door falling to the ground, she immediately came back to it and peeked inside. Inside, she noticed chairs had three legs instead of four, and stools had fallen on the ground. The room was unilluminated, and she tried making out what was in the darkness by squinting her eyes. But then she felt something brush against her naked ankle. She looked down and what she saw was... ''Spike!'' she exclaimed, picking him up from the floor and nuzzling him. ''Where were you?'' Spike frowned, his ears clamped against his skull, and simply pointed a paw to the right side of the room. A silhouette of a person was seen on the walls as a torch laid on the floor and lit it up. Soon, the person revealed themselves, walking away from the darkness. ''Well, well, well,'' came a familiar voice. ''I knew you would come and find me.''