"Spike! Be a little more careful with these books!”
Barely anypony came to the Golden Oak today. Thus, Twilight Sparkle had not much to do other than to read of course. It was her passion, a burning desire to always know more, to learn everything there is about Equestria and its history. She was worried that Spike’s little tumble could have damaged these already worse for wear books.
“I’ll try, but they are just so heavy!” complained the little dragon as he struggled to lift the heavy pile above his head. He finally managed to place them up on the table where the unicorn was sitting.
“Thanks Spike.” she casually said, her face still buried inside her book. She practically knew all its content yet couldn’t help herself to read it again from start to finish. Something about the precise, simple yet beautiful writing kept her attention drawn to the book.
“Need anything else?” asked Spike.
Twilight stopped reading and turned her attention to him. “Not really. Since we barely had anypony come in, I’ll let you do whatever you want for the day. Just don’t do anything dangerous.”
“Really!?” Spike had a large smile on his face as his eyes shined with wonder at all the things, he imagined himself doing on his surprise day-off. The mare nodded as her eyes snapped back to her book.
The little dragon ran upstairs to grab his stuff before making a beeline to the door. “Don’t run down the stairs, Spike! You could trip and hurt yourself badly!”
“I’ll be more careful next time!” he dismissively said, opening the door to finally take his well-deserved day-off. Just as he was about to run outside, he bumped into something and fell on his back.
“Oh! I’m sorry Spike. Are you okay?” The baby dragon lifted his head to see Fluttershy handing out a hoof to him.
“No need, I’m not really hurt.” he replied, getting up on his own. While he appreciated the great care everypony in Ponyville showed to him, he felt like sometimes they were treating him more like a fragile baby. A treatment he didn’t like in the slightest.
Having heard the voice of the Pegasus, Twilight hopped out of her seat to greet her friend. “Hey Fluttershy! What brings you here?”
“Hey Twilight, I hope I'm not interrupting anything.” she said with the usual concern in her voice that could only indicate one thing; she needed help. Fluttershy always had this particular tone whenever she had to ask somepony for help and Twilight eventually memorised it to the point that she could read her like an open book.
“Don’t worry about that, I’m always happy to lend a helping hoof!” jovially responded the unicorn.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened in surprise. “O-Oh, how did you know?”
“You could say I have the power of observation on my side.” Twilight turned her gaze towards Spike who looked nervous. The Pegasus already knew what her friend was about to say.
“No no, we can do it just the two of us.”
The lavender unicorn paused for a moment, surprised herself that the Pegasus pulled the same stunt. “Uh? Okay then.” Looking back at Spike, she said. “Well, have a nice day then. Just be careful, okay?”
With a massive smile on his face, the baby dragon left the library. “Sure will!”
Fluttershy moved to the side to show Twilight the two baskets full of carrots and treats she was carrying. “My pet Angel ran away out of the blue. I don't know why he did. I mean, I always took great care of him, fed him properly, gave him a lot of affection. I just... wonder if he felt dissatisfied with how I usually treat him.”
Twilight looked at the two baskets, gears turning in her head. “So, did he really run away for good or is he just being his petty self? I know Angel can have rather selfish needs. He’ll probably come crawling back to you if you don’t play his game.” she asked, though she knew that her friend probably already tried.
Fluttershy avoided eye contact, looking off to the side to somewhat hide her anxiety. “That’s what I’ve been thinking too but... it’s been six hours and he hasn’t returned.”
“Ah... Well, did you go out to look for him? He must surely be around Ponyville.
“Actually, Twilight, I last saw him a couple of minutes ago... running into the Everfree forest.”
Twilight now understood why Fluttershy wanted her help with Angel’s fugue. The Everfree forest is the one place Fluttershy would never go to alone. It is a dark and dangerous forest, but Twilight had the power of knowledge on her side and with time, the Everfree lost its fear factor to her. Hence, why the Pegasus trusted her the most with venturing into the forest.
Fear always comes from the unknown. It’s a natural fear that everyone possesses, be it ponies, dragons and even magical gods alike. Knowing the dangers lurking in the Everfree still made Twilight a little nervous to go into these dark woods, but she had the comfort of knowing how to deal with the wildlife should they get in trouble.
“I’m ready to go when you are, Fluttershy.” she confidently exclaimed to the Pegasus.
“No luck finding him...” Fluttershy was disappointed in how badly their search was going. Her anxiety was only rising more and more with each passing minutes. They still had a few hours left before nightfall, but the Pegasus would rather get this over with as quickly as possible for, she hated the Everfree forest and feared that Angel might fall prey to the various predators lurking around these woods.
Twilight looked up to her left and noticed the Castle of the Two Sisters overlooking the woods. This castle was long abandoned and has succumbed to nature since then. She saw a tiny silhouette making its way towards the castle.
“Hey Fluttershy! I think I saw Angel! He’s running towards the abandoned castle!”
“Th-The c-castle?” Fluttershy looked reluctant to go in, but she couldn't say no when her precious pet Angel was on the line. No matter how scared she was, she’d never leave a pet behind.
“Don’t be scared, I’ll stay close to you while we’ll be looking for him in there!” reassured the lavender unicorn upon noticing her friend’s worried expression.
And so, they made their way towards the abandoned castle. As they got close to it, they noticed that it was getting slightly darker. One simple look at the sun alerted them to a small issue. The Sun had been lowered, though not entirely. This was a heads up by Princess Celestia to let ponies know that it would be night in a few hours.
“That’s not a problem! We have more than enough time to find your pet and bring him back to the cottage.” Twilight’s confidence worked in easing Fluttershy’s worries as they opened the front gate of the castle and entered. The gate had a small crack at the bottom. Big enough for a bunny to fit in. Though the unicorn.
The castle had been taken over by nature. Many plants and even a few trees grew inside its moist interior. The only concern was that it was dark in certain areas where they weren’t any windows but that shouldn’t cause too much problem. The more aggressive denizens of the Everfree usually stayed away from the castle. There was little danger inside for both the two ponies and the runaway bunny.
“Um, where should we look first?” asked Fluttershy.
Twilight’s eyes darted around the various halls and stairs present. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have to pick a random direction and hope for the best. I mean, you’ve brought carrots and treats. We can lure him with them.”
They decided to start with the throne room as it was the most accessible and the closest to the entrance. The two thrones have been taken over by the vegetation creeping into the castle. They have essentially become grassy seats, which looked kind of funny to the two.
“So that’s what this 100% natural craze is all about?” playfully said Twilight.
Fluttershy giggled for a while, albeit it was an unimpressed one for she was still deeply anxious about Angel. “That was, um, pretty good, I think.”
Closely examining behind the thrones, the two ponies found a small hole, just big enough for a bunny to fit through. Finding him would be impossible if he hid in there, but that’s why they brought the food.
“Meh, if he’s really in there, we’ll just place some food down and I'll snatch him up with my magic once he sticks his head out.” confidently said the lavender unicorn as she charged her horn to place a carrot down a good distance away from the hole. “Let’s hide behind the thrones and wait for him to come out.”
“Are you sure he’s in there?” asked Fluttershy as she peeked at the apple from behind the smaller throne.
“Only one way to find out.” Twilight shrugged.
They waited, and waited, and waited...
“Maybe we’re too close? Angel might have seen us from here.”
The unicorn sighed. “You’re probably right. How about we hide behind these pillars instead?” she pointed a hoof at the pillars next to the thrones. They were located to the side of the hole, which would make it harder for the bunny to see them from the hole.
As they holed up and stared from behind the pillars, Fluttershy saw a movement in the corner of her eyes. She looked to her right just in time to see the silhouette of a small animal run past a hallway. “Twilight! I think that was Angel!” she exclaimed while pointing a hoof in the direction of the pet.
Twilight wasted no time in chasing down the runaway bunny with the Pegasus following, albeit lagging behind. As the unicorn turned the corner, she could unmistakably make out that this animal was in fact, Angel judging by its white fur. “Angel! Come back here!”
She pursued the pet up the stairs but was surprised at just how quick he was moving and yet, he remained within viewing distance. It felt almost taunting with how often the bunny looked behind to gage the distance between the two with his pearly white eyes.
Wait, pearly white eyes? Angel’s eyes are usually black. Moreover, his face had a blank expression rather than his usual mocking look that he carried on his sleeves. Angel was always a little rascal; he’d never keep such a serious visage during a chase like this. He’d be taunting her all the way through but now, he was acting very out of character. Twilight spent enough time watching Fluttershy dealing with him to know that.
The bunny eventually stopped in front of a door with a small hole at the bottom. He looked back at the chasing unicorn one last time before crawling through it. Twilight stopped and opened the door as quickly as she could. The room was dark, making it hard to see anything.
The unicorn’s horn charged up with light to illuminate the area and as she did, a large mass of colours swung down on her. She screamed as she pulled back and hit the wall behind her. Falling to her flank, she placed her hooves up to her face to shield it from any harm.
The mass split apart into tons of smaller flying things. Ugh, it was just fruit bats. Twilight got back up, feeling embarrassed at her rather dramatic reaction for such harmless creatures. There are many types of bats in Equestria, some are more dangerous than others. Fruit bats, however, are far from dangerous, that is unless you’re trying to run a farm.
As she moved deeper into the room, she was met with a curious sight. A large number of candles were placed around a large painting. The painting displayed the two alicorn sisters, Celestia standing on the left with the sun behind her and Luna on the right with the moon also being behind her. It looked very impressive, quite realistic for a painting. Whoever painted this had quite the talent.
Twilight moved in closer to get a better look at the painting. As she did, something jumped out and landed on her head.
“Wha- hey!”
Angel had jumped out of the painting and was now running outside the room. Just as she was about to chase the little rascal once again, she realised something quite bizarre.
Angel jumped out of the painting? Looking back at it, there was no damage whatsoever. Not a hole in the shape of a bunny, nothing. How did he do it? The mare couldn’t just gloss over this strange fact and so she reached a hoof out and touched the painting.
She pulled it back almost immediately when it phased through the object.
“What? How is this possible?”
She touched the painting again and just as expected; her hoof passed through it. Is this a secret passage?
Placing down the basket on the floor, she lifted her upper body to peek her head through the passage. She was not being too cautious and as she leaned in closer and closer, she lost her balance and tripped inside the painting.
“Angel! Don’t run! It’s just me, Fluttershy!”
The bunny stopped and looked at his owner. She happily picked him up and hugged him.
“Twilight! It’s okay; I got Angel!”
...Silence followed. The unicorn was nowhere to be seen.
“Uh... Tw-Twilight?”