//------------------------------// // Chapter Five – Where's Sunny? // Story: Escape from Arora Ridge Quarry // by Glimbursts //------------------------------// “Sunny? SUNNY! NOOOOO!” All the others winced as Pipp’s voice screamed through the radios in their ears. “Aaah,” Zipp cried before she barked into the radio. “Pipp, stop screaming! Sunny, come in? What’s happening? ” “Sunny, thing, poof, gone,” Pipp babbled incoherently. “Gone? What do you mean gone?” Zipp gasped in response. “I don’t like, poof,” Izzy worried. “I don’t like, thing,” Misty fretted. “Okay, nopony panic,” Hitch responded. “Sunny? Are you there?” “Misty, you’re at the next junction, any sign of her?” Zipp asked. “No, nothing,” Misty gasped. “I told you she’s gone!” Pipp sobbed. “I’m going to look for her,” Misty replied. “No! Everypony, stay where you are!” Zipp instructed. “I’m on my way. If there’s any evidence, I’ll find it!” Zipp growled as she slammed her radio headset down. Grabbing her visor, she hurried from the control desk. “Okay, gates, close the park,” Hitch instructed. “We need to preserve what’s happened here.” Knowing that Zipp will have searching the scene covered. Hitch decided the best thing he could do was speak to the one pony who’d seen what happened. Sure enough, as he approached the bench, he could see Zipp was already there. Hovering above the ground, scanning anything and everything with her visor. Hitch carefully kept to one side and moved to where Pipp was hiding. He gasped as he moved the camouflage and revealed Pipp. She was distraught, head in her hoofs as she cried into them. She sniffed as she looked up and saw Hitch looking back at her. “Oh, Hitch!” she cried as she flung herself forward and wrapped her hoofs around him. “Why didn’t I listen to you!” Hitch gasped as Pipp continued to cry into his shoulder. He sighed and put his hoofs around her comfortingly. “Pipp, that doesn’t matter now. Crying like this isn’t going to help Sunny,” he said carefully. “She needs you to be strong. You’re the only one who saw what happened. We’ll find her but only if you help us.” Pipp’s sides heaved as she gasped for air. Sniffing, she pulled back from Hitch’s embrace. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she began drying them with a hoof as she recovered. “Y...You’re right,” she breathed. “Crying won’t help. I just didn’t think anything like this could happen. I just wanted to give Sunny an awesome disguise. I didn’t think it would get her poofed away like this.” “I’d be lying if I didn’t say the possibility had crossed my mind,” Hitch admitted. “But even I thought it was unlikely. Now, come on Pipp, what happened?” Pipp sighed, rubbing her nose with the back of a hoof and sniffing. “Well, as soon as Sunny got off the bench this fire creature appeared. It was as though it was waiting for her. It fired this beam at her, she disappeared and then it disappeared too.” “Teleportation then,” Hitch responded thoughtfully. Suddenly, they heard Zipp’s voice shouting at somepony. Gasping, they saw she was shouting at Misty. Zipp was hovering above the path. Misty meanwhile was stood on the path holding a spell book. “Misty, I told you to get back!” Zipp roared. “You could be stepping on something important!” “B...But I think I can help,” Misty gasped. “Zipp, stop shouting at Misty. There’s not going to be much to find.” Hitch informed. “From what Pipp’s told me the creature used teleportation. Come and listen to what she has to tell us.” Zipp groaned as she heard somepony running. She looked and saw Izzy running up the path towards them. She glanced around at the worried faces of her friends. Then, she closed her eyes and screwed her face up into a pained grimace. “I’m sorry everypony, I just knew this was a mistake. I should have been firmer with Sunny.” “It’s too late for that now,” Hitch responded soothingly. “Right now, we need to work together to find where Sunny’s gone. Pipp saw what happened so let’s listen to her.” “Okay,” Zipp sighed. “Just please don’t walk around. There could be anything here that will help.” Zipp flew over to Pipp, pulling out her phone and putting it on record. “Okay, Sis. What happened?” Pipp sighed as she looked sorrowfully at Zipp. “It was all so fast. This fire creature just suddenly appeared. It fired a beam at Sunny that teleported her away. Then it disappeared too.” “A fire creature, can you describe it?” Zipp asked. “I know it’s difficult but try to be as detailed as you can.” Pipp took a few deep calming breaths as Hitch put a reassuring hoof around her. “Take your time,” he soothed. Pipp gave a small smile before looking back at Zipp and took a deep breath. “Well, it appeared in a burst of flame. I don’t know what colour its coat was, it was too dark. But its mane and tail were made of blue and red flames. Well, I think there was a little flame at the end of its tail. Its mane wrapped around its head, and it joined together under its face. Oh, the hoofs! They were flaming too.” “That’s a lot of flames,” Zipp noted. “What about its face? I know it was really fast, but did you see that?” Pipp shuddered and grimaced. “That’s the worst part. Its eyes were completely white, its teeth were too. They were sharp, Zipp. Like they could cut through anything, and it was snarling at Sunny. Oh, Zipp, Hitch, we’ve got to find her!” “We will,” Hitch said with determination. “It doesn’t matter that she didn’t listen to us. We’ll find her.” “Exactly,” Zipp said as she put her phone away. “And we’ll all do it by working together.” Suddenly, there was a frustrated groan. Zipp, Hitch and Pipp looked to see Misty looking frustrated at the book. Izzy was sat holding it in her hoofs, using her horn as a light source. Misty’s horn was glowing, her eyes closed as it seemingly pulled her head back and forth in different directions. Finally, Misty cried out in dismay as she stopped the spell. “Misty,” Zipp said with concern. “What were you trying?” Misty said nothing, she sat down panting. Closing her eyes with a pained expression before slamming a forehoof on the ground in frustration. Izzy sighed as she looked back at the others. “She was trying to see if she could trace the spells.” “It’s no use,” Misty said at last. “There’s been too much magic used around here for this spell.” “Is there one that would just track teleporting?” Pipp asked. “Yes, but I can’t cast it,” Misty said crossly. “It’s written in old Ponish and I’ve not learnt enough of that yet.” “Misty, it’s okay,” Zipp responded. “I’m sorry for shouting at you earlier. You tried and that’s the main thing. What about the messaging spell?” “Nothing yet,” Misty advised. “When I was teaching it to Sunny, we agreed she’d message me. If we do it the other way it makes her powers appear.” “And that will blow her cover,” Izzy gasped. “That could be all that’s keeping her safe at the moment,” Hitch sighed. “Look, we know when and where these creatures appear next. Let’s put a plan together to capture one.” “Sure, let me just double-check for anything useful here,” Zipp advised. “Like scorching or anything like that. It could help piece together the bigger picture.” With that, Zipp donned her visor and began scanning the ground again. Meanwhile, Misty looked down at Sunny’s earpiece and tracker. A feeling of determination building within her. Elsewhere, Sunny let out a groan. Her vision was blurry and didn’t want to clear. No matter how many times she blinked. She was laid on something cold and hard which felt like it was slowly swaying. She groaned again, bringing a hoof to her forehead as her head pounded. Finally, her vision began to clear as the pain in her head lessened. As everything finally came into focus, she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Looking around she gasped at what she saw, and a sinking feeling grew in her stomach. She was in a bell-shaped cage. It was hanging from a chain that was attached to a pole. The pole was jutting out from a wall that was behind her. As she looked around, Sunny realised her cage wasn’t the only one, far from it. There were similar cages attached to the wall, above, below and on either side. Ahead, there was an open gap before a series of suspended walkways. Each row of cages had a walkway which were held up by a series of wires. On the other side of the walkways, there was another gap. Then more cages were attached to another wall in the same way. Sunny gasped, there were cages attached to this wall as far as she could see in every direction. She therefore presumed the same was true of the wall hers was attached to. She got to her hoofs, gasping as the movement made her cage sway. Carefully, she moved closer to the bars, so she could get a better view. The other cages weren’t empty, they each contained a creature. Not since the Night Market had Sunny seen so many different creatures.5 Some she recognised, like Griffons, but there were others that she didn’t. “Oh no, nonono,” she whispered. Her mouth turned dry as she sat down. The sinking feeling in her stomach getting deeper. This was way bigger than she’d ever imagined it could be. Gasping, she tried to keep a hold of herself, she knew panicking could be the worst thing she could do. Suddenly, she gasped as she spotted one of the fiery creatures that had taken her. It was walking along the walkway below. She watched with wide eyes and gasped as she heard shouting. “Oi, where you taking us? You fire monster!” Sunny blinked as she saw the creature shouting was a dark blue Griffon. She was hanging onto the bars of her cage, shaking them angrily. The fire creature stopped, it looked at the Griffon with a blank expression. “Don’t just stand there!” the Griffon shouted. “Let us go!” The Griffon started swinging on the bars, slamming her hind paws into them, and making a loud banging sound. Other creatures began getting rowdy too but seemingly daren’t make as much noise as the Griffon. The fire creature suddenly snarled and fired a beam of magic at the Griffon. The Griffon gasped as the magic hit her, then groaned as she collapsed to the floor of the cage, unconscious. The other creatures immediately went silent. Meanwhile, the fire creature said nothing, it just resumed walking. “That’s what happens if you cause trouble,” a voice said. Sunny gasped in shock and turned to see a light teal buglike creature in the cage next to hers looking at her. “Oh, I’m sorry if I startled you,” the creature said. “I am Thymus.” “W...What are you?” Sunny gasped. “I’m a changeling,” Thymus smiled. “I presume you have never met one of my kind before. I admit, I’ve never met a pony before either. What’s your name?” Sunny gulped, remembering her disguise. “Moondust,” she responded. “Moondust Twinkle. I’ve heard of changelings but never met one.” “I suspected not,” Thymus replied. “Equestria has been hidden for so long so it’s not surprising. So, Moondust Twinkle, are you one of those ponies that does magic?” Sunny blinked, unsure if she should be honest or not. Finally, she decided to play it safe. “No, I’m an Earth Pony.” “An Earth Pony?” Thymus blinked, looking confused. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what that means.” “Well, there are three kinds of pony,” Sunny explained. “Pegasus ponies have wings so they can fly. Unicorns have horns and it’s those that allow them to use magic. Earth Ponies have neither, but we’re stronger.” “Interesting, we don’t have physical differences like that, but we choose our jobs when we are young,” Thymus explained. “I’m a guard and I help protect the hive. That’s how the Nirik captured me. I was trying to help capture one so we could find out where they were taking our brethren. But we failed.” “Nirik?” Sunny gasped. “What’s that?” “The creatures that captured us,” Thymus explained. “I don’t know much about them. I’ve certainly got no idea how they built this airship.” “Airship?” Sunny said as she cocked her head. Thymus laughed, “You ponies really have been hidden for too long. We’re on board an airship. I think it’s a big one too, what we can see from our cages is only a small part of it. I’ve been releasing pheromones which other guards of the hive will be able to follow. But I have no idea if they will make it out of the ship. Do others know you are missing?” “They do,” Sunny conceded. “Lots of Earth Ponies like me have gone missing. I thought it was other ponies taking them so offered to be bait. I didn’t listen to my friends. They said we weren’t ready for anything like that, that we needed more information. I...I should have listened to them.” “Well, I’m sure they will be doing everything they can to rescue you,” Thymus responded. “Just the same as my fellow Hive Guards will be.” “I hope so,” Sunny sighed. “This is way, way bigger than what I was expecting. If you’re a changeling, can’t you change into other creatures?” Thymus sighed and pointed to a collar around his neck. “Normally yes, but this collar is preventing me somehow. I can’t remove it.” Suddenly, there was a loud noise. A droning sound which got louder and louder. Sunny gasped as her cage began to shake. “We’re taking off,” Thymus advised. There was a series of loud bangs and thuds. Then, Sunny gasped as she felt as though she was moving. Her cage started to sway in a rhythmic motion. She looked around, spotting all the other cages were swaying as well. Sunny sighed and her heart sank as she realised, she had no idea where the airship was. Let alone where it was taking her now. She really, really should have listened to Zipp and Hitch.