A low sigh filled the early morning's empty street. Carrot Top hated it when Pinkie was cryptic like that. The pony's delusion was aggravating at the best of times. She liked to claim that their world was a work of fiction. Sometimes she claimed it was an cartoon, and sometimes she would say it was fanfiction, like today. She kept walking through the street, until a thought hit her: she had no clue where she was. She didn't usually head into this part of Ponyville, and she'd been walking for so long while lost in thought, she'd gotten lost period. Her ear raised, and barely caught a faint voice coming from an alleyway. She trotted down the enclosure.
After changing directions a few times to fit the angle of the sounds, she peeked around a corner and finally came across another pony. Two, in fact: Roseluck and Lily. They were standing in the middle of an alley, slowly moving to the way Carrot Top hid. They were positioned flank-to-flank, each closely watching their direction. "I'm not sure I like this," Lily said, her voice as deadpan as usual.
Rose, who was facing Carrot Top, rolled her eyes. "Oh, what do we have to be worried about? We're facing creatures who can kill at the touch, if we so much as blink. No problems here."
Lily's voice seemed to raise half an octave as she spoke, "You're forgetting that the Doctor told us if the statues get into the TARDIS, all life as we know it could end." A small note of laughter entered her voice. "Just thought that could be important." The two then laughed as they edged down the alleyway, Rose with enough gusto to wake people next door and Lily barely loud enough for Carrot Top to hear. "Rose, we joke, but this is an incredibly important and dangerous adventure. Maybe our most dangerous so far."
Rose nodded, and said, "More dangerous than the one with the robot that looked like a saltshaker?"
"Maybe," Lily replied grimly. "I just wanted to let you know, in case I die here, you're my best friend." A blush could barely be seen on Lily's pink face. "I know I don't make mention of it often, but you really matter to me. Thanks." Rose smiled, for once not in jest or mock, but truly.
"I know what you mean Lil. And just so you know I lo—" Rose said before getting interrupted by Carrot Top stepping out into the alley. Rose immediately jumped into the air and screamed. Half a second later Lily turned around and sighed.
She rolled her eyes and said, "Rose, relax. It's just Carrot Top, not one of those things." Rose's breathing quickly calmed down, and she erupted in a quick laugh.
"Sorry for startling you," Carrot Top said, "but it was getting a little overly melodramatic and I had to cut in." She looked from Rose to Lily. "So, apparently you and The Doctor are on some crazy mission too?"
Not a single muscle on Lily's face so much as twitched before she answered, "Mission? What do you mean by that? We and the Doctor are simple travelers, and we've just stopped into town to pick up some supplies."
Carrot Top struggled not to roll her eyes at the mare. "Lily, I heard what you guys were talking about. Dangerous creatures, world at stake, yada yada. My roommate, who is missing by the way, spent a month 'traveling' with him. I don't know exactly what went on, but I know those who go with the Doctor aren't exactly visiting tea parties."
Lily replied, "Ms. Hooves has disappeared? Hmm..." she said, before standing quietly for a few moments. "Don't tell The Doctor if you see him. He needs to be focused on this, and if he knows something happened to her, he'd get sidetracked for sure."
Carrot Top nodded, "Also, the Bearers are dealing with something, apparently really bad. You don't have to fill me in on what's going on, just answer a quick question."
Rose raised an eyebrow. "You're taking these occurrences rather well."
Carrot Top just shrugged. "I live in Ponyville. It's literally been named the second most weird settlement in Equestria, behind Manehatten." Of course she was leaving out the bigger reasons, with her new employer and whatnot, but telling them didn't seem to be the best idea. "Anyway, just tell me: which way to Rarity's shop? I'm a bit lost, and I know how to get to my place from there."
Lily's eye twitched. "You don't know your way around Ponyville? You've been living here for years, it's barely the size of a Gryphon parti, and you got lost?"
"Uh," Carrot Top said before coughing. "I don't have the best sense of direction." Rose put a hoof over her mouth, tears forming in her eyes.
"Not the best sense of direction?" Rose couldn't hold it in any longer, and started laughing uproariously. "You got lost! In Ponyville! Oh, I can't wait to tell The Doctor!" Lily's lips twitched at her friend's joke.
She told Carrot Top, "The way to the Boutique from here is down this alleyway, a right..."
At the sight of her street, Carrot Top made a sound that could only be described as, "Squee!" As she trotted up, she noticed that Lyra and Vinyl were standing in the road outside her house. There were in the middle of a conversation, but stopped as she approached.
Lyra ran up and gave Carrot Top a quick hug, and Vinyl extended her hoof, which Carrot quickly met with a bump. "Good thing you showed up CT," Vinyl said with her usual level of enthusiasm. "Lyra here was just informing me with a little problemo she's having." At that moment, Lyra's eyes seemed to burst with tears out of nowhere.
"It's terrible!" she yelled. "Bon Bon is missing!" That caught Carrot Top's attention.
"Wait, really?" Carrot asked. "What happened after Game Night?"
"Uh, well," Lyra said, sobs between her words. "We were walking home, and then Derpy came up to us." Her eyes narrowed in concentration. "Something was weird about her, but I can't remember what...Anyway, she said she had something to show Bon Bon at her house, so they left." Somehow even more tears sprung from her eyes as she said, "And, and she told me to head on home, and she'd be back in ten minutes, twenty at the most!" After that Lyra started sobbing to hard to say anything, despite her efforts to form words.
Carrot Top sighed. "Let me guess. You waited up for her, she never showed, you went to bed, and she still wasn't there in the morning." Lyra nodded vigorously. "And then you started going to places she might be and asking around, right?" Lyra shook her head just as hard as she had nodded moments ago. Vinyl spoke up.
"Actually, I was the first person she asked. She just woke up, like, a couple minutes ago." Vinyl tilted her ahead a little. "But CT, how did you know about it already?"
An odd look entered Carrot Top's eye. "Because just as I left last night, Bon Bon showed up and did the same thing to Derpy."
Lyra's crying slowed down a little, and she shook her head. "But, but that doesn't make any sense! Bon Bon was with me, and Derpy is the one who came and got her!" They stood in silence for a while. Lyra wiped the tears from her face with her hooves, though the stains on her cheeks and quality of her eyes made it obvious to all that she'd been sobbing.
Carrot Top smiled and said, "Okay, plan time: Lyra, you and Vinyl go look for Bon Bon, ask anypony you can find about it. I'll go get Octavia, and we'll look for Derpy. Any questions?" Lyra raised a hoof.
"Um, why am I going with Vinyl?" The DJ gave her a look, or at least Carrot thought she did. It was hard to tell with those darn glasses. "No offense Vinyl! It's just, well, I thought you'd be searching with Octavia. Y'know, because you're roommates. And host a radio show together. And, well you are—" Vinyl seemed to steam with anger, so Lyra stopped mid-sentence.
"Because they're still fighting," Carrot said in a solid tone. "They're still being children, and if I put them together they'll just argue more and get nothing done. It could harm their relationship even more." She rolled her eyes, then added, "Plus, if you and I were on a team we'd each want to look for our own friend." She looked at Vinyl, and noticed she had mostly recovered, but she was still a little tensed up. "Why don't you two start searching now, and I'll grab the GM." Vinyl took a deep breath, then nodded. While they headed down the road, Carrot walked up to her neighbor's front door. She went to push it open, only to find it locked. She turned to yell at Vinyl, only to see they were already out of sight. Carrot Top swore under her breath, then looked at the front of the house again. Her eyes were drawn to a particular window, easily within her reach...
"So, why exactly was it necessary to break my window?" Octavia asked as they advanced down the street. It was still morning, though now late enough that they occasionally encountered a pony on the road. Carrot Top coughed.
"Uh, because Vinyl left the door locked. And it was right there..." Carrot said, a blush on her face. Octavia nodded.
"Hmm, yes. Quick question: couldn't you have just ran after Vinyl and borrowed her key? Wouldn't that have saved you this embarrassment? And me some money?" the cellist asked.
"Yeah, I guess I could..." Carrot Top sighed. "Listen, can we drop this? I'll pay for the damages, just stop talking about it!" she pleaded, a little louder than she meant to. A beige coated mare with a bright orange mane and a camera around her neck appeared in a nearby window.
"It's 7 in the morning! Shut up already!" she shouted at Carrot Top. The farmer blushed deeper, and nodded her head. The mare scowled and retreated back into her room. Octavia snickered.
"Carrot Top, you must understand I'm merely, how does Vinyl put it, 'ribbing' you," Octavia said, before letting out a long sigh.
"Missing her?" Carrot Top supplied. Octavia frowned.
"Me? Miss Vinyl Scratch!? She's a stubborn, arrogant, eternally frustrating and irritating cretin!" Octavia responded almost immediately. She paused. "But, there is something missing. When we banter, she and I, there's no misunderstandings. We trade insults back and forth like foals throwing snowballs, harmless and fun." Carrot Top gave Octavia a light hug. Octavia stiffly resisted and first, but then relaxed and hugged back.
"Don't worry," she said quietly. "Friends fight. This wasn't your first, and it won't be your last. Just cool off, and give her time to do the same." Octavia nodded as if in agreement, but tears welled up in her eyes.
"But," she said, barely audible. "What if she's still mad? What if we can't get over it? What if this ends our friendship?" To her surprise, Carrot Top broke out laughing. Octavia's face heated with anger. "What!"
Carrot returned her hostility with a smile. "You two? Stop being friends?" She chuckled a little more. "I'd say that the chances of that happening are somewhere between Cloud Kicker going a day without vocalizing her want to bang somepony and Berry Punch staying sober for a week." Octavia let out a pensive snicker, and stood on her own.
She wiped her face with a hoof. "We must move on with our search, I doubt Derpy shall find herself," Octavia said with a smile. They continued down the road, then took a left down Gronseth Ave. An odd sight immediately caught their attention. Halfway down the avenue, a brown stallion with a tie and a pink mare were huddled into a corner, both looking intently at a stone statue directly in front of them, of a pegasus with wings covering it's face as if in mourning.
"Well, this is another fine pickle you've gotten us into Doctor!" Daisy snapped at the Doctor. "Oh, and blink." As she said that, the Doctor focused more intently at the statues as Daisy blinked her eyes.
"Me? You're the one who wanted to come back to Ponyville after a harrowing escapade! Blink." They repeated the maneuver, but this time the Doctor blinked while Daisy stared.
Daisy's eyebrow twitched. "What do you mean it's my fault? You said we landed here to refill the TARDIS's, uh, photon filter or something! Blink."
The Doctor coughed. "Oh, yes, that. Well, you see," he said nervously. "Thaaaaaaaat may not have been entirely accurate. You see, we could have refilled the TARDIS in a number of far more interesting and less dangerous places, but you said you'd like rest after almost being killed by a psychopathic xenophobic murdering machine. Blink." He paused from his rapid speech while they enacted their routine. "I'd rather you were happy. Not only does it do my heart some good, but when you're upset Rose and Lily are the same way in no time whatsoever."
Daisy smiled and said, "Blink. Thanks Doctor. It's good to know that you care about them, and me." The smile suddenly flipped into a scowl. "But remember, if either of them gets hurt, and you can't help..." She shook a hoof in the air for emphasis. "I'll make an encounter with one of those plunger wielding robots look absolutely pleasant."
"Ahem." Carrot Top said. The two time travelers turned to take in the appearance of Carrot Top and Octavia. The Doctor's face broke out into an ecstatic grin.
"Ah, perfect! Now we don't have to do that terrible blinking maneuver! Keep looking at the statues, girls, as my companion and I escape," The Doctor happily. Daisy climbed up on his back, and jumped over the large statue. The Doctor then tried wedging himself in-between the statue and the wall, struggling to slip through the small space. "If you have business with me, I suggest you do it now. The second I'm free my assistant and I are going to run like we've never r—no that's not exactly true, we run like that practically every day. Hmm, run like the wind then? Or is that not a pony saying?"
Octavia looked at the stallion as if he were mad, then shook her head. "We were wondering if you'd seen Derpy anywhere?" A dark look crossed over the Doctor's face.
"Derpy? What happened to her? Is she missing?" he said, his words carrying a sharp edge.
Octavia started to speak, but Carrot Top cut her off. "No, she just left something at home, and we're trying to find her along her mailing route. We thought she might have seen you and struck up a conversation." Octavia gave her an odd look, but said nothing.
The Doctor's face brightened. "Oh, is that all? Well never mind then, silly old Doctor expecting the worst. But no, I haven't seen her since I dropped her off..." he said, his voice trailing off with a note of despair.
Octavia tilted her head at him. "What? That makes no sense! You went and saw her at the hospital a few months ago!"
His right ear raised up. "I did, did I? Daisy, when we're done with, no scratch that, if we're done with this Weeping Pegasus fiasco, remind me to jump back two months in front on Derpy's house." As he finished, he finally popped out from the tight space. He gave the two mares a large smile, then said, "Well, if that's all, I have some problems to see to." He and Daisy trotted off down the road, the Doctor saying something they couldn't quite make out, though it sounded like the Gryphon language. Octavia looked at Carrot Top with a piercing stare.
"Why did you lie to that doctor fellow?" she asked.
"I had a run in with Rose and Lily earlier. When I told them what was going on, they said not to tell him about Derpy if I saw him. Something about getting sidetracked or something," Carrot Top responded. Octavia nodded, and they continued down the avenue.
It was a few hours later. Carrot Top and Octavia sat on a bench in the park, taking a small break. Carrot let out an exhausted sigh. "I don't think we're going to find her, Octavia. We've had no leads at all. Maybe, maybe we should head to the Royal Guards and file a missing pony report." Carrot said dejectedly. Octavia was about to respond, but gasped instead. She pointed with a hoof across the park.
"Look!" she shouted. There, across the somewhat crowded town park, Derpy Hooves pushed through the crowd, attempting to cut through the area.
Author's notes: Wow. Sorry this took so freaking long. And stuff. Oh, and if you want to know how Rose was going to finish her sentence, or what Lyra was going to say: nope. No Word of Roy to be found. At least, not unless you give me...A REGISTRATION TO SACANIME! ... What? You expected me to ask for your soul? Psh, I'm not THAT trite.