Bitzer sat, downcast, on the bench near the hospital entrance. He had been waiting for what seemed like forever, hoping The Farmer would walk out of those doors so they could arrive back at the farm so everything could go back to normal. As the time agonizingly ticked by, Bitzer was growing more anxious and impatient. He stared at the guard that was leisurely patrolling around the entrance. He also looked at the patient sitting beside him, sporting a neck brace, arm cast, and a sling, while holding a cup of coffee. Bitzer then noticed an orderly, pushing a cart full of laundry, heading to them. The sheepdog quickly and secretly disappears inside the cart, leaving the injured patient confused.
The orderly and the guard exchange greetings as the orderly entered the hospital. As he passed the main desk, Bitzer hops out of the cart, now where surgeon's scrubs and a mask. He sniffs around then races down a hallway on all fours. He quickly stood back up when a noticed a doctor about to face him. They walked by each other without so much as a glance. Bitzer pushed through a set of double-doors to another hallway. The sheepdog sniffs around a corner as another orderly walked past by. He peaks into a patient's room and, lo and behold, he finds The Farmer eating a plate of hospital food. The Farmer looks over and stares at him blankly. Bitzer smiles behind his masks, thinking they could now leave, but then he heard two voices heading toward him. He ducks back out, leaving The Farmer looking on in confusion. He shrugs and continues eating.
Bitzer begins to walk away from the door as two doctors head for it. Just then, two guards, conversing with each other, walk a corner toward him. Bitzer, realizing that his cornered, backs up through a set of sliding doors. Now out of sight, he wipes the sweat off his brow and turns around, only to discover he unknowingly walked into a operating room. He eyes widened as two nurses, an anesthesiologist and the patient look up at him. Bitzer holds his hands up and tries to back away, but one of the nurses, thinking he was the surgeon assigned to the operation, hands the sheepdog a chart. He begrudgingly takes it while another one of the nurses straightens out a set of surgical instruments. Bitzer reluctantly steps forward and looks through the chart. the descriptive contents was enough for him to lurch forward and cover his masked mouth, trying to keep himself for throwing up. The other people in the room stare at him with weird looks. The sheepdog pretends to tap his chin thoughtfully. He sets the chart aside as sweat drips down his face.
The patient noticed the dog's tail. Bitzer looked back and realized what the patient was staring and quickly concealed his tail, trying to act as casual as possible. The patient, however, began to panic. The anesthesiologist covers the patient's mouth and nose with a mask and the patient went limp on the table. Bitzer looks through the door windows and sees the two guards still outside. At this point, he might as well keep up the act until the guards were gone. Bitzer walked up to the patient's exposed belly, watching rise and fall with every breath. He grabs a bone saw and inches it to the exposed skin. A nurse clears her throat and exchange large tool with a small scalpel. Bitzer gives an innocent chuckle and waves his hand jokingly, then practices the scalpel with every angle. The nurse whispers to the anesthesiologist allowing Bitzer to spot a fake skeleton model sitting against the far wall. He eyes the leg bone, enticement gleaming in his eyes. He licks his chops underneath his mask. Unable to hold back any longer, he drops the scalpel and scrambles over the patient. He begins to gnaw and lick the bone making the skeleton shake and jitter. The two nurses and anesthesiologist watch in shock and confusion, then the sliding doors open to reveal the actual surgeons assigned to the operation. He looks at the sheepdog with just as much shock. Bitzer looks up with a joyfully.
The Farmer peers through the crack in the open door, seeing hospital personnel racing down the hallway. He closes the door and picks up the chart at the end of his bed. he finds his name listed as "Mr. X" and a diagnosis of memory loss written on it. He hears someone coming and quickly takes out the page from the chart, folds it, and puts it in his pocket. A man in a lab coat enters just as The Farmer climbs back into bed. he gives the patient a casual grin and lays a set of tools on the bed. The man grabs a hammer and flips it in his hand. The Farmer panics, thinking the hammer was going to be used on him. He jumped out of the bed and ran off down the hall. The man stares after him curiously before hammering a nail into the wall and rehanging the damaged painting.
The Farmer hurries through the entrance and into the outside world. He looks over himself, staring at his patient wristband and food-stained shirt. Now that he was on his own, all he could wonder was what was he to do now?
At a lost property station, Shaun hands the clerk his missing persons photo.
"have you seen this stal-...guy? Have ya? Have ya?" Pinkie got right in the clerk's face.
"Pinkie." Twilight whispered harshly at the mare sitting atop of her.
The clerk steps back and scans through shelves of missing belongings and an old man sitting in a corner. They all look at him. The old man puts on a pair of women's sunglasses and tries to smile like The Farmer. The clerk turns back to flock. Shaun shakes his head and the clerk hands back the photo.
"Thanks, anyways." Fluttershy said.
That's when one of the sheep noticed a red-headed man walk by with a cellphone to his ear.
"That has to be him. He's wearing the green coat." Rarity said confidently.
Shaun waved to the others to follow. The flock caught up to the man, who turned around at them. It wasn't The Farmer. Shaun waved him away.
"S-Sorry. We thought you were sompo-...somebody else." Fluttershy apologized.
Shaun scratches his head, looking around for any possible leads.
"Let's just keep looking." Twilight said from under the winter coat.
Meanwhile, The Farmer meandered around the hospital entrance, still confused. The automatic doors open, startling him away. Elsewhere, Shaun clings onto a light pole, looking through crowds of people with a pair of binoculars.
"Anythin' yet?" Applejack asked, her voice muffled under the sweater.
"Unfortunately, not." Rarity replied.
A crowd of people walk past them, unintentionally sweeping up the two sheep dress as a woman with them. The sheep escape the crowd and stumble into a department store. The upper sheep's attention was caught by the automatic glass doors.
Shaun then spotted another red-headed man purchasing something at technology boutique. He quickly retrieves the female imposter playing with the automatic doors.
"Ya'll, now ain't the time fer dilly-dallyin'." Applejack said, as the flock headed for the store.
Together, the flock approach the boutique. the female imposter smacks into the glass doors, thinking they were automatic. The rest of the team were to their aid.
"Are you two, okay?" Twilight poked her head out, then immediately pulled it back in as the man exited the boutique.
It was another stranger.
"This is starting to become frustrating." Rainbow rubbed her forehead.
"That's why we should make a game out of it." Pinkie pulled the blue pegasus close to her.
Later on, the team stood behind a stone wall as spikey hair could be seen on the other side.
"Surely, it's him this time." Rarity said, sounding not as confident as last time.
It turned out to be a flower on a potted cactus being carried by a brown-headed man. Shaun face-palmed, clearly getting fed up by all the mistaken identities. Over the course of several hours, the team spotted several red-headed humans, but none of them were The Farmer. One of them ended up being a mannequin.
"How hard is it to just find one guy." Rainbow vented in frustration.
"Well for starters, it's a pretty big city." Twilight acknowledged. "And, secondly, we've spotted like a dozen people with the same hair color and coat. Is it just me? Or is The Farmer's attire and hair-style seem like some kind of visual style."
"Well, it's certainly a bland one, if that's the case." Rarity huffed.
The team crossed a pedestrian crossing and onto another city block. As they travelled past a park bench, Timmy snatched a man's toupee. The man looked around angrily, realizing it was missing. Timmy just whistled innocently while wearing the toupee. The team continued their search at a deli market stall. One of them sheep, under the trench coat, eyed a basket of chili peppers. Poking out of the pocket, he eats a few. Immediately, the mustached sheep begin to shutter and shake. The bottom sheep pokes back out with steam shooting from his ears and nostrils. He runs past the rest of the group. He crashes through a two-person horse costume, ripping it in half. He laps up water from a fountain. The two men in the horse costume glare at the mustached imposter. The upper sheep smiles innocently, but from their perspective, it looked like the imposter was peeing in the fountain. The two men shared disgusted looks with each other.
"This is why we keep to ourselves!" Twilight whispered harshly as the team was being chased by an angry mob.
The mob march past a fancy restaurant, where the flock was hiding. As the mob past, the team peek from behind the window to see if the coast was clear. Shaun wiped the sweat off his brow in relief.
"Seriously. Whatever happen to "keeping a low profile?" Twilight reprimanded the sheep inside the trench coat.
"Bah." He said.
"I was hungry." Fluttershy translated.
Timmy chuckles eagerly and points behind them. The team turn to view the restaurant. The sheep ogle the trays of desserts as they pass.
"Guys, we've got to stay focused. We can't distract ourselves with sweets." Twilight said.
Numerous stomachs growled, signifying their hunger.
"Come on, Twilight. My stomach STILL hasn't forgiven me for that mouthful of grain." Pinkie whined.
"I do feel a bit peckish." Rarity added.
"Ah'm sure it wouldn't hurt ta just grab a bite. Just as long as we act "natural." Applejack finished in quotations.
Twilight pondered in thought. She, herself, was getting a bit hungry, but to jeopardize the entire operation? She reckoned that it was better to eat something than continue the search on empty stomachs.
"All right. But, just be careful." The alicorn caution.
Shaun chuckled and waved the others to follow.
Outside, The Farmer walked by the restaurant front, looking at his unfamiliar surroundings.
Back inside, a man elegantly plays the piano as waiters seat the team down. Shaun rubs his gloved hands eagerly, while Timmy's mom sets Timmy under the table with his teddy bear. A waiter tries to seat the mustached imposter, but the bottom sheep was facing the wrong way. He discreetly grabs the chair's legs to keep it from slipping away.
A diner with a blonde pompadour sneers at the group, while his female date shows a more curious expression. Woman knocks on the window next to them. The celebrity poses while she takes a picture.
Timmy, still under the table, eyes a dessert tray not far from him. He smiles with excitement, but ducks back underneath the table as a maitre d' hands out menus to the flock.
"Okay, let's see what they got here." Rarity studied the menu.
The female imposter took a big bite out of their menu. One of the other imposter sheep tries cutting the menu with a fork and knife, while the other seasons theirs with salt.
"What are you guys doing?" Rarity asked, floored by their actions.
"Wut's goin' on, Rares?"Applejack asked.
"Apparently, the sheep don't know anything about fine dining." The snow-white unicorn huffed.
Shaun stops them and watches the celebrity open the menu and look through. Shaun demonstrated this to the others by opening his menu. The other sheep copy him. The female's menu now had a bite-sized hole in the center.
"Uncouth." Rarity sighed.
"Come on, Rarity. They clearly haven't been to a city. It would make sense if they aren't familiar with this kind of behavior." Fluttershy said. "N-No offense."
Shaun shrugged.
"Yeah. but, you have to admit. It was pretty funny." Raibbow giggled.
"No, Rainbow, it wasn't." Rarity said in annoyance.
The celebrity takes a sip of champagne from his glass. Shaun tries to drink from his water glass, but couldn't because of his turtle-neck sweater. mimicking him, the other sheep spill water into their laps. Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy just looked on at the sheep's mediocre attempts to act like fine diners.
"Th-This...This is painful." Rarity holds her hooves to her face in embarrassment.
The celebrity accidently knocks over a knife onto the floor. As he goes to pick it up, the sheep copy him, knocking their silverware to the floor which startled the other customers.
"What in Equestria is going on up there?" Twilight whispered to Pinkie.
"Mimicry." Pinkie simply replied.
"That doesn't answer my question." Twilight said.
The celebrity daintily picks up the knife then burps. Shaun tries to stop the sheep, but it was already too late. The three sheep let out long, loud burps. The other customers stare at them with judgmental and disgusted looks. Shaun angrily shushes them. The maitre d' stares dissaprovingly at them. The young sheep chuckles at of embarrassment and buries his face in his menu. The other sheep copy him.
"This was a mistake." Rarity murmurs.
"Um, Dash?" Spike wriggles out from Rainbow's shirt.
"Spike, what are you doing? Do you want us to get caught?" Rainbow asked.
"No. But, I really need to use the bathroom." Spike whimpered.
"Oh, dear." Twilight said.
"Now? Can't you hold it?" Rainbow asked.
"No, I can't." The young dragon clutched his legs.
"Well, did you try crossing your legs?"
"Yes."
"Holding your breath?"
"Yes. Almost passed out."
"Closing your eyes and..."
"Rainbow. I'll take him to the bathroom." Fluttershy cut in.
"Okay, but make it quick. These guys know he to draw a crowd. And not in a good way." Rainbow sighed.
"And be extra careful." Twilight added.
"I will, Twilight." Fluttershy said softly. "Come on, Spike."
Spike quietly crawled over to her and climbed underneath her purple jacket. Fluttershy left her seat to search for a bathroom. At the same time, Shaun spots Timmy scampering to the dessert tray. Shaun gasped and gestures emphatically for the little sheep to come back over. Timmy, misinterpreting to gesture, dunks his face into one of the cakes. He pulls back up, frosting covering his face, and gives a thumbs up.
"Lucky." Pinkie pouts and squints at Timmy.
Shaun rolls his eyes and walks over inconspicuously to Timmy and grabs him, stuffing him and his teddy bear under his turtle-neck. One of the knitted fabrics catches a hook on the tray. As a waiter walks over to him, Shaun pats his belly, pretending to have a full stomach. The waiter pushes the cart away, while Shaun heads back to the table. he fails to notice his sweater beginning to unravel. The sheep and ponies notice, though, and motion to him.
"Shaun! Shaun your sweater!" Rainbow loudly whispered.
"Oh, nelly. That ain't good." Applejack pokes her head out.
Before Shaun could realize, he trips, launching Timmy onto the table. His mom grabs him and hides him underneath the table. Shaun shakes his heads and notices all the customers staring and gaping at him. The maitre d' stammers and dials a phone. Shaun, meanwhile, panics and runs around the restaurant as waiters chase after him. The pianist begins to play a more intense song, while Shaun gallops into the kitchen. Clatters and crashes could be heard inside. The sheep darts back out, being chased out by a chef. One of the waiters chasing Shaun bumps into another waiter carrying a whole fish. The fish goes flying and engulfs a man's head. Shaun dives under a table, while the man panics and staggers to a lobster tank where a lobster clamps his claw down on his finger. He screams in pain and shakes it off. The lobster flies across the restaurant and clamps down on a waitress's backside. She lets out a shriek and slaps a man across the face, thinking he had pinched her. As he falls, he knocks over a table sending a plate of food sailing into the air and into the face of the celebrity's date.
The celebrity laughs, invoking her to clonk him in the head with her purse, knocking his hair out of place. The celebrity checks his reflection on a spoon. He gasps at his ruined hair. Outside, the animal control truck showed up at the front entrance.
Meanwhile, Spike had just left the bathroom. He lets out a satisfied sigh, when he noticed the restaurant in complete chaos.
"What is happening?" He turned to a scared Fluttershy.
"I-I-I think S-Shuan got caught." Fluttershy stammered.
Suddenly, the lobster from earlier flew through the air and clamped down on Fluttershy's muzzle. She let out a shriek and galloped around in a pained panic. Spike chased after her. He was able to grab the lobster and yank it away before throwing to the floor.
"Are you okay, Fluttershy?" Spike asked worriedly.
"Y-Yeah. Thank you." She whimpered, wiping the tears away.
Shaun crawled out from under the table which just so happened to be right next to the pegasus and dragon.
"Shaun, we have to get out of here right now." Spike warned.
"Bah." He agreed.
"I know. Let's go." Fluttershy translated, rubbing her sore nose.
But, before they could make an escape, a caution sign slammed down in front of them. They stepped back in fear and saw the animal control officer, Trumper, squinting down on them. The officer sealed the three off with caution tape before putting on a pair of gloves and safety goggles. The three hold each other fearfully. He nabs Spike, Shaun, and Fluttershy with his catch pole and laughs victoriously. The photos of the three creatures get stamped with the word "contained" on it, their looks of trepidation etched on their faces.
"We have to do something." Rainbow was about to intervene when she felt something tug on her tail. She saw Applejack giving her a discouraging look.
"And cause more problems? We can't risk ourselves gettin' caught." The farm pony said.
"But...But, we can't..." Rainbow immediately shuts up when she noticed Trumper staring at the team. They all face away from him, trying not to act or look suspicious. Trumper walks over to the table. He leans down toward the female imposter and holds up her purse with a smile.
As Timmy peaks up underneath the tablecloth, he faces Shaun who shakes his head at him. Timmy retreats. Trumper gives the female imposter her purse, then lays his card down on her plate. He winks and walks away with Shaun, Spike, and Fluttershy in his catch pole. The three looked back to see the rest of the group, mostly the ponies, with looks of worry, anger, and horror on their faces. Shaun notices Timmy's teddy bear on the floor. Twilight peeks through the coat, holding out her hoof to Spike.
"Spike." She whispered in despair.
Spike held out his hand, but was pulled away by the officer.
The waitress puts the lobster back in the tank where it bumps claws with it's buddy. Outside, the officer dumps the dragon, pony, and sheep into the back of his truck and drives off.
"We never should've gone into that restaurant." Spike lamented. "In fact, I should've just held it in."
"Spike, this wasn't your fault. And it's not yours either, Shaun." Fluttershy spoke a bit more firmly. "This was just a freak accident. Nopony, or dragon, or sheep is to blame."
"Bah-bah?" Shaun asked.
"What's going to happen now? Well, all we can hope is that are friends can save us." Fluttershy said.
"But, what will happen to us." Spike asked fearfully.
Fluttershy struggled to come up with an uplifting answer.
"...I don't know, Spike. I really don't know." She said sadly.
Spike began to tear up. He was scared. Scared for them, himself, and the others. Fluttershy put a wing around him to comfort. Shaun sighs and peers through the window as the restaurant disappeared around the corner. That's when he saw The Farmer walking aimlessly down the sidewalk. Shaun gasped and cried out to him. This caught Spike and Fluttershy's attention and saw The Farmer, too.
"Wait...that's. Hey! Hey, Mr. Farmer, help us!" Spike cried.
"Help us, please!" Fluttershy cried out, as well.
But, their pleas and cries fell on deaf ears and The Farmer didn't take any notice of them. The truck disappeared down the street.
A stretch limousine parked alongside a salon. The bald, burly drive opens the passenger door, knocks an old lady out of the way, and rushes the celebrity into the salon. The manager sits him down on a chair. Two stylists walk over and took a look at his messed up hair. the celebrity cries and looks away at the mirror in shame. The manager props his feet up on an ottoman and offers him an expresso, which he declines. One of the stylists, wearing a headband, a splotchy designer T-shirt, bracelets, and striped pants, backs up for a better look. He then notices The Farmer outside the window in his similar head bandage, stained shirt, hospital ID bracelet, and pajama. The stylists looks at him indignantly before continuing to look over the celebrity's ruined hair. The Farmer eyes a pair of head clippers dangling from a hook. A memory sparks in his head, a memory of him holding a pair of electric sheep shearers. His fingers twitch.
The two stylists argue over the celebrity's hair. As they step aside, The Farmer enters. The celebrity snaps his fingers and points to his hair expectantly. The Farmer cracks his knuckles and picks up the head clippers. He yanks the celebrity off of the chair and sits him down onto his knee as he has a flashback of shearing Shirley. The man shaves large clumps of white blond hair of the celebrity's head. The manager and a customer scream, even the burly driver lets out a girlish scream. The distracted stylists douses a woman's face in water. The driver tackles The Farmer. As the celebrity stands up, thick clumps of hair fall off his head and land in piles on the floor. He growls at The Farmer, ready to yell, but then catches his reflection. Anger turned to astonishment as he feels the close-shaven back of his head. This haircut...was actually really good. He laughs and points happily at his knew hairstyle. The manager breaths a sigh of relief and the stylists smile. the celebrity yanks The Farmer to his feet and gives a high-five and a noogie. The other people begin clapping, while the celebrity pats The Farmer on the shoulder. He holds up a handful of cash and the manager takes. He walks off, The Farmer was about to follow when the manager stopped him and handed him a five-pound note. She walks him to an empty stylish station. Outside, fans take pictures of the celebrity's new hairdo as he gets back in his limo.
In the salon, The Farmer styles another customer's hair. None of them noticed a flock of sheep and ponies race down the street and into a secluded alley.
"They couldn't have gone far." Rarity said, her voice wavering.
"We still don't know where they went. They could be on the other side of the city fer all we know." Applejack pointed out.
"This wouldn't be an issue if we had just intervened." Rainbow argued.
"Then we all would've gotten caught." Applejack said harshly.
"That would've been better than just Spike, Shaun, and Fluttershy getting separated." Rainbow snapped.
"Bah, bah-bah." One of the sheep said.
"And without, Fluttershy, we have no idea what they're saying!" The pegasus added.
"B-But, we need to find them. Not argue." Pinkie tried to calm down the situation.
"Do you have an idea where they are?" Rainbow asked angrily.
"Well...no..." Pinkie said.
"Exactly! We have no idea where they're being transported to and where to even find it!" The cyan pegasus yelled.
The ponies and sheep continued to argue and emotions grew more intense.
"EVERYPONY STOP!" Applejack yelled.
The group went silent and looked at the orange earth pony. She slowly walked over to Twilight, who wasn't in on the argument. Instead, she was quietly sobbing against a trash can.
"Sugarcube, are you okay?" Applejack asked,
"Okay!? Two of our friends and my son just got kidnapped by an animal control officer and are being led to Celestia know's where, and all you guys can think right now is to argue with each other!" Twilight shouted, tears streaming down her cheeks. "No, Applejack! I'm not okay."
The princess cried harder and buried her face into her hooves.
"I'm a failure." She muttered.
"Twi, you're not a failure..." Applejack tried to comfort her.
"I am, Applejack!" Twilight cried. "I failed to save Shaun, Spike, and Fluttershy. I should've never allow to go into that restaurant. I should've done better."
"Twilight, you couldn't possibly have known of this outcome. It wasn't your fault." Rarity came up to her.
"I should've saved them. I should've done something." The alicorn smiffled. "I'm a terrible friend and a terrible mother."
"Twilight, look at me." Applejack held Twilight's face up to hers. "Don't blame yourself fer any of this. None of this is your fault."
"But, I let them down..." Twilight tried to say.
"Ya didn't let anypony down." Applejack cut her off. "I know none of us wanted this to happen, but it can't be helped. The only thing we can do now is the remain strong and save them now. And ah don't want to hear any of that "terrible friend" or "terrible mother," either. You've been the greatest friend to not just Fluttershy, but tah all of us. And you've raised Spike, loved him, and shaped him into who he is now. Ah can't think of anypony of being a better mother to Spike than you. Neither he, Fluttershy, or Shaun would think of you as either a terrible friend or mother. I know that they have faith that we'll rescue 'em. But, we need to have faith in ourselves to rescue 'em. We're here for each other, no matter how hopeless the situation is."
At this point, more tears flowed down Twilight's face, but this time, they were tears of confidence. She sniffled and hugged Applejack.
"It's okay, Twi. We'll find 'em." The earth pony rubbed her friend's back.
"Yeah. We'll find a way to rescue them. No matter what!" Rainbow said confidently.
"Even if it means crawling through the trenches. Figuratively and literally." Rarity added.
"And we'll all have a good laugh about years later." Pinkie hopped around.
The sheep all bah'd in agreement. Twilight wiped her tears away and stood proudly with her friends.
"All right. Let's go save our friends." She said.
To be continued