Twilight’s mind raced as she galloped through the twisting cavern tunnels. She’d long since lost sight of Fleetfoot and Strawberry, but the former was a SMILE agent and the latter was a Wonderbolt. She was fairly certain that they could handle themselves and whatever nightmares this odd cave could throw at them.
Speaking of which…
Twilight’s ear twitched at the sound of something hissing. She ignored it and kept pressing on, but she only made it a short distance before she was forced to stop in her tracks. Dark, slithering shapes covered the floor in front of her, and began to close in from the way she came. They covered the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and they showed no signs of slowing down. Twilight backed up against a wall as the sinister, slithering shadows approached from every angle. Soon they’d be upon her, scaly masses holding her down, unable to move, unable to breathe…
Twilight shut her eyes tight and shook her head, then lit up her horn. The soft magenta light of her magic chased away the shadows. A shimmering, magical veil kept the nightmare gas at bay. She couldn’t afford to think of snakes and other fears right now, she had to find Silver Spoon. With her mind clear, her ear twitched as she heard the slightest sound from one of the branching tunnels. Not quite a whisper, but it sounded like someone was mumbling softly. Twilight turned and headed towards the noise, the glowing light of her horn guiding the way forward.
The tunnel led into a sharp decline that Twilight slid down carefully, before the floor smoothly leveled out and Twilight was able to jump and land safely. This new room was just as dark as the labyrinthine tunnels that led up to it, and Twilight wasn’t taking any chances of being jumped by some new nightmare forged from the darkest pits of her mind or some sinister foal napper waiting in the shadows. However, those thoughts fell away as the quiet mumbling from earlier turned into soft sobbing.
“Silver Spoon?” Twilight ventured, creeping forward. “Silver Spoon, is that you? It’s Princess Twilight!”
“I’m never going to find my way out of here…” The sobbing continued, seemingly unhindered by her words. Twilight rounded a large pile of crates and cages, the light of her magic revealed a small gray shape in the corner of the dark cavernous room.
“Silver Spoon!” Twilight galloped towards the filly, turning her around to face her. Silver Spoon’s teary eyes widened in response, her pupils a washed out white color. “I’m so glad you’re okay! Your mom will be so relieved to hear-”
An ear piercing scream caused Twilight’s ears to fold back as Silver Spoon ripped herself from the princess’ grip and scampered away to the opposite corner of the room, trembling in terror.
“N-no, stay back you monster!” Silver stammered as she pushed herself as far against the wall as she could.
Twilight’s confused and hurt expression gave way to one of realization. “The nightmare fumes… she’s hallucinating,” the princess reasoned. As she puzzled out what to do, the sound of grinding stone caught her attention and the wall near her started moving. Twilight jumped back, placing herself between the wall and the screaming Silver Spoon as she readied herself.
“See? Told you it’d be fine!” a cheery voice carried through the darkness, one Twilight instantly recognized.
“I still don’t think you should just go around touching every little switch you see. Just because it worked this once doesn’t mean it’ll work again.” A second familiar voice reached Twilight’s ears.
She flinched initially, as the faces that emerged from the darkness didn’t belong to the voices she’d heard. After another moment however, she realized they were just gas masks, and the distinct forms of Agent Strawberry and Fleetfoot emerged from the darkness.
“Princess Twilight, You’re here too! Told you she’d be fine, Fleetfoot. She doubted you so much, princess.”
Fleetfoot sputtered. “Me?! YOU’RE the one who-”
“I hate to interrupt,” Twilight interjected, “and I’m really happy to see you’re both okay, but can either of you spare your gas mask?” Twilight cast a glance over her shoulder to the cowering filly who stared at them with eyes full of terror. “She really needs one.”
Fleetfoot moved to answer, but Agent Strawberry already had hers off. “Here, she can have mine. I’m a bit more resistant to this stuff, we go through all sorts of airborne toxin resistance trailing at SMILE headquarters.” Twilight smiled appreciatively before taking the mask and slowly approaching Silver Spoon, who instantly began shaking again.
“Two more monsters?! No, please, stay away!”
“Shh, it’s okay,” Twilight soothed. “This will help, I promise.” Twilight floated the mask over and placed it over Silver Spoon’s face. Initially she fought against it, her hooves grasping at it to take the mask off, but after a moment color returned to her pupils and she gave a deep sigh as the nightmare fumes filtered out of her system. She blinked a few times before her gaze focused on Twilight.
"P-princess?" Silver Spoon stuttered out, before climbing shakily to her hooves. "Why are you here? Where are we?" The small filly spun around to get a grasp on her surroundings, but the oppressive darkness made it difficult to see much of anything.
"I'll explain everything later, for now I think it's in our best interest if we relocate out of the nightmarish fillynapper cave," Twilight said, turning to face Strawberry and Fleetfoot.
"Probably for the best, though I must say this cave has done wonders in helping me to get over my fears. After we take down FIlthy Rich, I may need to talk to Sweetie Drops about turning this into an official SMILE training facility," Strawberry rubbed her chin in thought.
Fleetfoot turned her head to look at her. "You've been seeing your fears this whole time? If that's how you act when you're afraid, I'd hate to see you when you're angry." She rolled her eyes.
"None would survive," Strawberry said with an agreeing nod.
"Okay, I'm casting the teleportation spell," Twilight spoke up as her horn glowed. "Everyone hold onto me!" The surrounding ponies did as they were told before they all vanished in a bright flash of magical light.
"...and that's what happened!" Rarity finished explaining to a very confused Trixie.
"Trixie thinks she understands," she began as she finished tying up the foalnappers who’d attacked them earlier. "But that was incredibly hard to follow. It's like each event you've gone through had less and less to do with how you started."
"I know," Rarity let out a dramatic sigh as she held a foreleg to her head. "Truth be told it's been absolutely exhausting darling, but adventures such as these with Twilight do not come along often, so I cherish every moment. No matter how dangerous they can get sometimes." She cast a glance at the two unconscious stallions.
"Trixie can't say she sympathizes," she replied as she finished tying the two of them up. "She has never been one for all the gushy romantic things."
"Really now?" Rarity asked, a devious smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Not even with Starlight Glimmer?"
Trixie's face went from blue to a deep purple almost instantaneously.
"If we're going ahead with this plan, I'd really appreciate it if you two would stop talking about your love lives so we could get on with it!" Silver Spoon’s mother spoke up loudly next to them, bucket of water in hoof.
Rarity nodded to her, though she still had a slight smile adorning her features. "Very well then darling, shall I let you do the honors?"
Silver Spoon's mom threw the water over the two sleeping stallions, who immediately jerked awake. "Whoosit, whatsit?!" The stallion blubbered out, before his gaze focused on Rarity. "You's again?!"
"Yes darling, me again," Rarity answered. "Now, if you'd like to retain what little is left of your dignity, I really must insist you disclose the location of our missing Silver Spoon."
The unicorn stallion retorted by spitting at her hooves. "I told ya's before and I'll say it again, I ain't goin' back to the slamma! I ain't tellin' you's a thing!"
His horn began to glow as he charged a spell. Rarity erected a barrier to protect herself and her comrades before clicking her tongue. "Ah ah ah, you're not in the position to be shooting spells and mouthing off to us at the moment. Loose that spell on us and I promise I’ll know you out again just as fast as we woke you up.”
The stallion's spell fizzled out as he glared at Rarity.
"Doesn't matter what you do to us," the other stallion spoke up. "You'll never find that filly! The boss has her stashed away somewhere you'll never find her!"
“Really now?” Rarity prodded. “Do tell me more, what is this ‘place I’ll never find?’”
“A place you’s ain’t got no business snooping your pretty little nose around in!” The previous stallion snapped, cutting off the other who was about to say more.
“Y-yeah!” The other one spoke up again. “There are dozens of caves all around near here, you’ll never find the right one!”
“Shut up Filcher!” the shorter stallion with a seemingly even shorter temper replied.
“A cave, you say?” Rarity stroked her chin. “Very interesting indeed, and I suppose it’s hidden away somewhere I’ll never find?” Rarity probed.
Filcher opened his mouth to say more, but was interrupted by a blinding flash of light that appeared between them. Everyone present had to cover their eyes, though eventually four familiar faces stood where the light once was. Rarity recognized one immediately.
Rarity gasped. "Twilight! It's you! And you found Silver Spoon!"
"Silver Spoon?!" the filly's mother called out, rushing past Rarity and Trixie as she galloped forward.
"Mom!" Silver Spoon raced towards her mother, and the two embraced tightly. Rarity watched the display with a smile before she slid over to Twilight and spoke to her in a hushed whisper.
"How did you find her, darling? I was trying to get the information out of these two nincompoops before you showed up."
"Hey, we're still here you know!" One of the fillynappers yelled. "Don't call us names!" Rarity simply rolled her eyes before casting a spell that trapped the two of them in a shimmering cerulean bubble.
"You two ruffians have no place to talk. Now hush up while I have a conversation with my beloved,” Rarity scathed.
Twilight’s eyes shimmered at the magical display, a light red tinting her cheeks after hearing what Rarity called her. “Rarity, a silencing spell? I didn’t even know you knew magic like that!”
Rarity chuckled, her own face tinging a slight red. “It’s only natural that I practice my spellwork, I may not be much of a mage but I had one of the best teachers in all of Equestria.” Rarity winked.
Twilight blushed deeper, but she remembered they still had a job to do and her face grew more serious. "Filthy Rich had a cave dug out near here," Twilight answered Rarity's earlier question. "I assume that's where he's been stashing his captives. It wasn't easy by any means, the entire cave was filled with some type of gas that would make you hallucinate your worst fears." Twilight shook her head. "I have no idea where he learned to do something like that, but luckily I met up with Fleetfoot and Strawberry, their help was invaluable."
Rarity glanced over at the two ponies in question, who were chatting between themselves.
“Okay, so we caught Filthy Rich’s foalnappers, saved the foal he took, and put a stop to whatever he had planned with her.” rarity turned to look at Twilight again. “What next then, dearest?”
Twilight's brow furrowed. "We're going to go have a 'talk' with Filthy Rich."