//------------------------------// // 9. Lost and Found (trAce) // Story: A Study in Silver: A RariTwi Exquisite Corpse // by SigmasonicX //------------------------------// “Twilight?” Fleetfoot’s voice bounced off the cavern walls. “Princess? Agent Sunrise? Anypony?” Her cries retreated down the dark tunnels, returning through small cracks and passages to fill the space around her. Left, right, right, center, left; Fleetfoot galloped through the twisting corridors as fast as she could while making sure she didn’t trip over a rock hiding in the darkness. Those stupid plants may keep her from remembering where she came from, but they didn’t prevent her from checking every possibility quickly enough to catch up to the princess. After all, she was still a Wonderbolt, damn it. Even if she couldn’t rely on her senses, she still had her speed. “Princess Twilight! Agent! If you can hear me, say something! Or make a noise or… or… just help me out, here.” ⸫⸪⸫⸪⸫ Rarity watched in horror as the spell that Silver Spoon’s mother loosed impacted the side of the Canterlotian stallion. After scrambling back to his hooves, he fixed the pair with a glare that could kill. “Perhaps you should stay down, darling,” Rarity said as she stepped forward to cover the angered mare from any magical retaliation. “Miss Lulamoon and I will handle this.” “They have my daughter and you expect me to sit on my rump like some useless–” her retort was cut short by a spell whizzing between the two. Rarity put a hoof on the mare’s back and pushed her to the ground. “I appreciate the enthusiasm dear, but let’s make sure Silver Spoon still has a mother when she gets home, yes?” Light poured out from Rarity’s horn to form a barrier to protect her from the second spell sent their way. Sparing a quick glance to see how Trixie was doing, Rarity advanced toward her own dueling partner. The stallion’s lip curled up in a snarl as she approached. “I ain’t goin’ back to the slamma!” He shouted and charged his horn. “Frankly, dear, I don’t care where you go,” Rarity responded and readied herself in kind. “I just want to know where Silver Spoon is.” The light from the stallion’s horn flashed a blinding white and Rarity instinctively formed another shield to cover herself. She knew it was the right move when she heard the splash of magic against it. “A dirty trick you’ve got there, trying to blind your opponents.” Rarity blinked the last of the spots out of her eyes. “But, I don’t suppose I should expect much honor from somepony who’d help kidnap a filly.” “Honor don’t mean nothin’ when youse gettin’ paid as much as I am,” the Canterlotian chuckled. Rarity looked for an opening to strike with her own magic. “Is that so? It must be a very large sum to endanger the life of a child for. I don’t think I can even imagine an amount of money that would make me do such a thing. What about you, Trixie? How much to kidnap a young filly?” “Trixie doesn’t—guh—talk while fighting!” A spell ripped across Trixie’s barrel, but she was more than protected by her armor. “However, Trixie also cannot fathom how much money it would take for her to forsake her oath to protect citizens!” “There you have it.” Rarity expertly deflected another blast of arcane energy. “Oh shut it, would ya?” The stallion rolled his eyes. Big mistake. Rarity’s barrier spun through the air, sweeping him clean off his hooves and into a pallet of boxes. With a flick of her horn, the barrier kept going, zipping past Trixie to hit the criminal she was exchanging blows with. The strike was enough to throw him off balance, which the guard capitalized on with a burst of force from her horn. Trixie looked at the two snoozing stallions before turning to Rarity. “Now you will explain to Trixie what is going on.” ⸫⸪⸫⸪⸫ Maybe Fleetfoot had been a bit overconfident. Spending the last who-knows-how-long racing through underground tunnels in the near-total darkness meant she now needed to replenish the air in her lungs. Laying prone on the rocky ground, she looked around at the myriad tunnels extending out from where she was. Which one would lead her to the Princess? Which one would lead her to wherever Filthy Rich stashed Silver Spoon? Which one lead back up to the surface? It took a few moments for the Wonderbolt to realize that she wasn’t alone. In the distance—though in which direction, she couldn’t tell—Fleetfoot heard the telltale clack of hooves. Eyes darting between the tunnels on every side, she waited and hoped. The thought that this pony could be as equally lost as she was flashed briefly in her mind, but she buried it quickly. “Panic never helps anypony,” as Spitfire would always say. Fleetfoot saw a distinctly non-pony face emerge from the inky black, nearly triggering a fight-or-flight response until she recognized that she was staring at some kind of mask. Hanging slightly over the eyes was the bright red mane of the world’s most annoying SMILE agent. “There you are!” Strawberry chirped. “You sure gave me a workout! I thought I could just follow the stomping and hollering but it sounded like it was coming from everywhere!” “If you’re going to be smart, skip it and go back the way you came.” “An intellect like this can’t be turned off that easy, y’know. It has a passphrase, though.” She rummaged through her raincoat to produce a second mask. “It’s, ‘Thank you, Agent Sunrise.’” This mare was unbearable. “Thank you, Agent Sunrise.” Fleetfoot snatched the mask out of her hoof and jammed it on. “I assume this is for the gas?” “Yep. Filters out the nasty stuff.” “And you couldn’t have pulled these out before?” Strawberry shrugged. “I told the princess to wait. I only brought two and was going to give her the other one.” “What about me?” “Leave you behind, probably. Come on.” She started down one of the tunnels, leaving a fuming Fleetfoot to scramble to her hooves. “Hopefully Princess Twilight managed to find the kid before the Archemaredis’ Nightmare fumes got to her.” “I’m sure she can just magic the plant gas away,” Fleetfoot huffed. “Are you really going to skim over the fact that you were willing to leave me behind?” “What else would we have done? Only two masks, and the Princess and I are much more capable in a fight—if it came to that.” “I’m a Wonderbolt!” “And I’m SMILE’s best agent. Trust me, one of those is a much bigger achievement than the other.” Fleetfoot felt like she was about to pop a blood vessel from frustration alone. “I cannot wait until this is over and I never have to see you again.” “Then put those scouting skills to use and help me figure out where the Princess is. Or where the kid is. Hopefully it’s the same place.”