Celestia let out a sigh as she began to raise the sun from her balcony. Normally she would do this with a smile on her face, knowing that her subjects would soon be out and about, enjoying the day. However, a dark cloud hung over her head as well as several others. They were filled with worry over the loss of Twilight and her friends.
After the thirty eight minute window had passed, Spike had sent a letter to Celestia who in turn did her best to try and find her student as well as the other bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Yet, she found no pony in that other dimension. Again and again she tried to find them, but the results were always the same. Finally, after several hours, she ordered a chariot to pick up Spike from Ponyville and have him brought back to the castle. Also, she summoned Shinning Armor as well as Princess Cadence. They would all need to hear this.
That night, no pony slept. They all stayed awake while Princess Luna went to search for the lost mares personally. While she was gone, Celestia did her best to comfort the group. They smiled at her kind words, but remained awake in case they would be needed or could help out in anyway. She wished she could tell them it would be alright, but she couldn’t say it because she knew it might not be.
As she looked out across the land, she saw a figure flying towards the castle. As it got closer Celestia allowed a small smile to appear on her face. It was Luna.
“Did you find anything?” asked Celestia as her younger sister landed.
“No, I found nothing,” said Luna as Spike, Cadence, and Shinning Armor approached the sisters. “I flew at top speeds for as far as I could within the other dimension; however there is not a trance of Twilight Sparkle or her friends.”
“W-What does that mean?” stammered Spike as he looked up at Celestia. His eyes were big and he looked like he was holding back tears.
“It means that they are somewhere else,” said Celestia while keeping her voice calm. “Luna would have found them if they were still in subspace. Most likely they exited it at the wrong spot and are somewhere beyond our borders. They could be in the middle of the zebra nation or the griffin empire. I will send out letters to all of our allies asking if they have seen them. If they are there then brining them home will be a simple matter.”
“But what if they’re not there?” asked Spike. The one to answer him wasn’t Celestia, but Shinning Armor who walked over to the baby dragon.
“It’s simple,” he said with a serious look on his face. “We keep looking.”
XXX
“Twilight, are you ok?” The purple mare only groaned in response, her eyes still shut. Her head hurt for some reason that she couldn’t remember. Hands were on her shoulders making her think for a moment that it was Spike. However, the voice was wrong. Slowly she opened her eyes and, for a split second, panicked before calming down. It was Andrew who was looking down at her with concern.
“Sorry about that,” she said as she felt her face turned a deeper shade of purple due to embarrassment. “Every time I wake up I keep expecting to find myself back home.” A small grin appeared on the human’s face.
“Can’t really blame you for that. But why were you trying to enter my personal library?”
“Well, you’ve been so nice to me since I came here I thought I’d make us some pan-” Twilight’s words were cut off as she noticed what was behind Andrew. It was the suits of armor! Both of them had their swords raised, ready to swing down upon the two. Twilight was about to use her magic, but her head hurt too much to concentrate.
Andrew raised an eyebrow in concern as he tried to figure out what was wrong with his new friend. She had been sort-of fine, but then cut herself off and started to stare at something behind… Andrew swore under his breath as he realized what was wrong. He turned to face the two suits of black armor before giving them both a salute. As soon as he did the two suit of armor lowered their weapons and moved back to their spots next to the door.
“Sorry about them,” said Andrew sheepishly as he turned to face Twilight again. The mares face was a mix of shock, amazement, and anger. “It’s been so long since anyone other than me tried to enter this room that I had forgotten about my security. Ah, my bad?”
“Why would you need them?” demanded Twilight. Her head still hurt, but it wasn’t anything compared to the rage she felt inside. “They could kill some pony!”
“Only if the intruder is a serous threat,” said Andrew. “We Casters have to safe guard our magical knowledge. My guards have been magically programmed to knock out the intruder first. If it was harmless curiosity then I just alter their memories a bit so that they think they just fell asleep or something like that.”
“And what if it isn’t harmless curiosity?” asked Twilight.
“…There’s a reason those two are holding swords.” Twilight allowed a shiver to race through her body as glance at the two large blades. “Now then,” said Andrew as he rubbed his hands together. “I believe you were about say pancakes so lets have some breakfast.” Twilight nodded.
Andrew grinned as he gestured over to his kitchen. All at once several items began to come out of their hiding places and float in mid air. Pancake mix, butter, maple syrup, water, plates, as well as forks and knives all began to move in a circle in the air. As the pancake mix and the water began to mix themselves, Andrew sneaked a peek at Twilight’s expression. The look on her face was a priceless expression of wonder. Some Caster’s, mostly the ones that had reached the second level, were proud of their hard earned skills and liked to show off sometimes when they were with other Caster’s.
Twilight watched in amazement as the pancake batter began to separate from itself and become several floating disks before they began to heat themselves up. She knew Andrew was good with magic, he had to be to use a summoning spell, but this was impressive. Right now he was levitating several items, moving them perfectly, and using a ‘heat’em up’ charm all at once. Twilight had a hard enough time using two spells at the same time. Soon, two plates stacked with pancakes were on the table with forks and knives next to them.
As the two of them walked over to the table, Twilight began to hear a strange musical sound coming from Andrew’s pocket. The human teen sighed as he pulled out a strange device and looked at it.
“Perfect timing,” he grumbled before looking at Twilight. “You can go ahead and start eating if you want. I’ll be back in a second.” Twilight nodded as she made her way to the table while Andrew went into his room. Once the door was close he opened up his phone. “Hey Aunt Kat.”
“Morning Andrew,” said Katherine Epona to her godchild. “How are Will and Lisa doing? Are they behaving?”
“I wish,” sighed Andrew.
“I thought that was the case,” replied Kat. “I know about what he did with your money. Will thinks we don’t know about his other accounts. Don’t worry, it is being sent back into your bank account as we speak. Sadly, this will hurt him at his hearing.”
Andrew fought hard not to groan. Caster hearings were usually quick, painless experiences. He would go before the council and inform them on his siblings’ behavior while under his care. After that the council would talk about anything that they had noticed before passing sentence. And the sentencing part was what Andrew was dreading. The council might order Andrew to take care of the two for a longer period of time, which would be a nightmare for Andrew.
“Did you get my message?” asked Andrew, desperate to change the subject.
“I did,” replied Kat. Andrew could detect a change in her voice. It was an odd mix of pride, amazement, as well as regret. “I was shocked to hear that you were able to summon beings from an alternate reality. It’s not something that just any Caster can do by themselves. Yet, there are a couple of problems.”
“Like what?” asked Andrew. He was becoming a bit nervous by the way she said that.
“Twilight wasn’t the only one that you summon,” said Kat. “A member from the Council found another pony and is currently watching her. Once the rest of us were informed I cast a spell that would locate rips in our reality. There were a total of six.”
Andrew slowly sat on the bed, his eyes wide in shock. Why hadn’t he realized that this would have happened? He knew Twilight had told him that her friends had gone with her into subspace and that she had attached them together by a magical link. If the magic he used to summon that damn pineapple had pulled her down then of course it would have pulled her friends down with her. Why hadn’t he realized it?
Slowly, another thought filled his head. What about Twilight? How was he going to tell her that her friends were brought here as well? And that they could be anywhere!
“You said there were ‘problems’,” said Andrew after a moment. A thought of dread filled his mind. “Can’t you send them back?”
“Maybe,” replied Kat. “We believe that it is possible, however there is one slight problem.” She paused for a moment. “Do you know about the multiverse theory?”
“Yeah, basically there are an infinite number of alternate worlds and each one is slightly different from ours. Each world represents a choice that could have been made and how it would have played out. Like a world where the South won the Civil War or if Survivor never existed.”
“Any choice,” said Kat. “What Earth would be like if saber tooth tigers were still alive. If dinosaurs never went extinct. If humans never evolved and in their place were ponies! There are an infinite number of worlds to search through and that will take time. Perhaps more than our lifetime.”
“Hopefully not,” said Andrew as he did his best to keep positive. “Remember they found the pineapple that I was trying to summon. That might mean that our worlds are somewhat close together.”
“True,” said Kat thoughtfully. “That’s one good thing at least. We’ll do our best to start looking for the other ponies and try to find their world. Once we do that we’ll send them home.”
“Wouldn’t concentrating on one task make things go much quicker?” asked Andrew. “I mean, focus on finding their world and then send them home as you find them.”
“That would be dangerous,” said Kat. “The barrier that separates the realities is a fragile one. Every time something passes from one reality to the next, the two worlds begin to draw closer. If we’re not careful then we might cause the two worlds to overlap resulting in the destruction of both. We believe that three trips between our worlds will be the max before the damage becomes permanent.”
“Ok then, how about you let me find them,” said Andrew. “That way you can focus on finding their home and things will get done quicker.”
Kat paused for a moment. It was a good idea in more ways than one. She was also going to mention that Andrew was going to be punished for accidentally bringing six talking ponies into the world. It wasn’t something that she believed was fair, but it was Caster law. It was the way they did things. However, she did know of a loophole. A hundred years ago a Caster had accidentally exposed magic to his home town. But by the time the Council of Seven had found out about it and sent several of its members to deal with it, the Caster had already ‘cleaned up his own mess’. He had not only fixed the damages that had been caused but also created a cover story so that the populace had believed that nothing really magical had happened. He had done such a good job, as well as showing how sorry he was for what he had accidentally done, that the Council had decided not to punish him. Perhaps the same could happen to Andrew.
“Are you sure?” asked Kat. “This could take you several weeks. Maybe more.”
“It’s fine,” said Andrew. “It’s summer and business is slow thanks to Mrs. Finkel.” Kat laughed.
“Alright,” she said. “I’ll let you handle things. Just keep me updated.”
“Will do,” said Andrew before he hung up. With a sigh he got up and prepared himself to tell Twilight the news.
XXX
“LET ME OUT OF HERE!” screamed Rainbow as she once again tried to buck the door down. Ever since she had been thrown out of Twilight’s freaky portal, Rainbow had found herself in one of the strangest places she had ever been. And she’s been to Los Pegasus! Wherever she was, the colors weren’t as bright as they were back home, she had a hard time standing on clouds for some reason, and the sky was full of strange metal creatures with different two legged creatures inside of them. These two legged creatures seemed to be all over the place, making them the most likely ones to capture her.
She still didn’t know how it happened. After flying around for awhile, Rainbow had found a roof where she could take a well deserved nap. At the time it had seemed safe enough and she was really tired. However, when she woke up she found herself in this strange white room with a single door. A door made of steel. The only thing other than herself was a small black device in the corner of the ceiling.
Suddenly the door swung open, surprising Rainbow for a moment. She then backed up as three figures entered the room. Two of them were wearing dark green outfits while carrying some kind of black, metal thing in their hands. It wasn’t sharp, like a sword, but they held these things like the Canterlot guards held their weapons. The third one to enter wore a more impressive blue suit with badges on his chest.
Rainbow backed away slowly as the two in green took position in front of the door. The one in blue, on the other hand, placed himself in front of Rainbow. The Pegasus faltered for a moment under the creature’s hardened gaze. She quickly shook her head to regain her composure before speaking.
“Alright, where am I and-” Her voice was silenced by the roar of the gun the blue one had pulled out. Slowly Rainbow turned her head to her left to see a hole in the floor inches away from where she sat. She then turned her head back towards her captor with fear in her eyes.
“I am Colonel Hughes,” he said in a loud commanding voice. “Let me make this clear: I ask the questions. And believe me, I have a lot. If I think for one moment that you are lying to me then I will have to resort to more…drastic measures. First question: where is your ship?”
“My-My what?” stammered Rainbow. She had no idea what he was talking about or why he was doing any of this.
“Wrong answer,” said Hughes as he aimed his weapon at one of Rainbow’s legs. But before he could pull the trigger the door opened again. In the doorway stood an older looking figure dressed similarly to Hughes except he had more metals.
“Colonel, there is someone who wants to talk to you,” said the man. Rainbow could see that Hughes clearly wanted to argue with the man. However the tone in the older man’s voice told them both that this wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order. Silently, Hughes put his weapon away and left the room. Once the door closed Rainbow fell to the ground before curling herself into a ball.
Outside, Colonel Hughes followed the other man down a corridor.
“Mind telling me what’s going on General,” asked Hughes as they turned a corner. The General said nothing and a few moments later the two of them entered a room full of monitors. Watching one of the screens was a plump, elderly African American man. His hair was starting to grey and from what Hughes could tell he was a General. Upon entering the room, the man turned to look at the two of them.
“General Cross,” said the man. “I take it this is Colonel Hughes, the man who was conducting that little interview.” Cross nodded.
“Colonel Hughes, this in General Thornridge. He just got in from D.C.”
“A pleasure sir,” said Hughes as he held out his hand. Thornridge just gave it a glance before turning his attention completely on the Colonel.
“Mind telling me what the hell you were thinking back there?!” demanded Thornridge.
“Sir?” asked a startled Hughes as he slowly retracted his hand. “I was interrogating a hostile alien. We need to find its craft so we can study it in order to better prepare ourselves for the coming invasion.” Thornridge shook his head in disgust.
“You’ve been watching too many science fiction movies,” he said. “Right now there is no proof of any alien invasion. Hell, I would hardly call our…visitor hostile.”
“I beg to differ,” said Cross. “She attacked one of our jets.”
“She didn’t even chip the paint,” said Thornridge. “The Pentagon is slit right now. One half believes that we should do as Colonel Hughes is doing right now. The other half believes that she might be here accidentally or that she comes in peace. And since there are no war ships parked in orbit right now, the President has decided that we should not take any action that might led to an interplanetary war.”
“Well then let me get the information out of her,” said Hughes. “For all we know, she’s an advanced scout or suicide boomer!”
“Or she could be some kind of alien diplomat,” said Thornridge. “Or her ship could have crash landed and she has no way of contacting her home.” For a moment there was a pause. “Lets say we continue to do this your way and your right. We might get some useful information that could save lives. But, what if you’re wrong? What if a ship appears above our planet looking for our visitor? How do you think they’ll react when we return her to them with bullet wounds and scars? I’m sure they’ll understand that we threatened and tortured an unarmed civilian.” The last part was practically dripping with sarcasm.
While Hughes seemed unconvinced, Cross nodded in understanding. Right now they weren’t under attack. There was no proof that an attack from aliens would be coming. At the same time, they had no idea who the alien really was. For all they knew she could be anything from a simple runaway to the daughter of the leader of her race!
“So what are your orders?” asked Cross.
“For now the alien will remain here,” said Thornridge as he walked out of the surveillance room. The other two followed behind him silently. “We can’t risk moving her to another location because if this leaks somehow it will be a political nightmare. The media will blow it out of proportion and other world leaders will be making their own demands on how we are to proceed. From this moment on I’ll be conducting the interrogations as I see fit.” They were now back in front of Rainbow’s cell. Thornridge placed a hand on the door handle and then paused for a moment before looking at Cross. “I hope that you will inform your men that no one is to speak of this.”
“I’ll have the whole base informed within the hour.”
Thornridge nodded as he entered the room. As he did he noticed that their captive looked up at them with fright in her eyes. He didn’t blame it after how it had been treated so far. To show that he meant no harm he removed his gun and handed it to one of the guards. Once that was taken care of he approached the Pegasus.
“On behalf of the United States of America,” Thornridge began, “I would like to apologize for your earlier treatment. The men are a little jumpy and scared right-”
“Scared!” shouted Rainbow as she jumped to her feet. “They’re scared? I have no idea where I am or what the hay you guys are. I wake up in here with no clue on how I got here and the last guy who came in here pulled a weapon on me. And you are the ones who are scared?”
Thornridge didn’t flinch in the slightest at her outburst. He understood what she was saying and couldn’t really blame her for being angry. Anyone would.
“Do you have a name?” he asked.
“Of course I have a name. A really awesome one too! It’s Rainbow Dash!”
“Alright Miss Dash, please try and see this from our point of view. My people have never seen anything like you before. Some believe that you’re a scout or a spy of an invading army.” Rainbow opened her mouth, but no words came out. She understood what he was saying. When Nightmare Moon had shown up in Ponyville she had accused Twilight of being a spy. If she were in their hooves (or feet) she might have done the same thing. “But there is the chance that you aren’t a threat. Until we can make an assessment of your intents you will have to stay here.” Rainbow paled.
“In here?” asked Rainbow as she looked around the room. “Look Mr.-”
“Thornridge. General Kenneth Thornridge of the U.S. Air Force.”
“Ok look, I’m a Pegasus! I can’t be locked in here. I’ll go crazy!”
“If we determine that you aren’t a threat we will allow you some extra room. But for the meantime I’ll try to make your stay here a bit more comfortable.” Rainbow let out a sigh. She could tell that she was going to be here for a while.
XXX
Jack Valdar sighed as he swept up the stables. He was a man in his mid-thirties with long, shaggy blond hair. Even though he had just gotten up his jeans as well as his red plaid shirt were already filthy.
As he worked he cursed his foolish decisions. Growing up, he had only ever wanted to be a magician. He had wanted to be one so badly that when he was fifteen he did the stupidest thing ever: he ran away from home and joined the circus. He had foolishly believed that they could help him fulfill his dream. And now, fifteen years later, he was still sweeping manure.
“Working hard Jack,” came a thundering voice behind him. Jack turned around to see Mr. Leo, the owner and ringmaster of the circus. As he walked into the stable, Jack noticed that he was in full business attire, a grey suit with a matching tie. In his right hand he held a cane.
“Something I can do for you sir,” said Jack. He had known Mr. Leo for years. Ten years ago he had promised Jack that one day he would get his chance to perform. That day had yet to come.
“I got us a new act,” said a smiling Mr. Leo. “I believe that she’ll really help us bring in the families. Plus, she’s willing to work for cotton candy!” Jack frowned when he heard this. It was only slightly out of jealousy. It was more due to the fact that Mr. Leo had once again coned another poor soul into working for almost nothing.
He was about to open his mouth to say something, but stopped when a bouncing pink pony entered the tent.
“Hi I’m Pinkie Pie,” it said in a sing song voice. “I’m going to be staying here for a while. Isn’t that great? Do you like parties? Who am I kidding, every pony loves parties. I know we should have a ‘Welcome to the Circus’ party!”
“Pinkie,” interrupted Mr. Leo. “This is Jack. He will be taking care of you while you’re here. Now I have to run and get ready for the show. You two should get to know each other better.” With that, Mr. Leo left the tent leaving behind a grinning Pinkie Pie and a frozen Jack who still had his mouth open.
XXX
Fluttershy was a pony of many fears. She was afraid of heights. She was afraid of sudden noises. She was afraid of…well almost everything. In fact it would have been fastest to name the few things that she wasn’t afraid of. But somewhere near the top of this very long list was the fear of being watched.
Currently she was in a room with over two hundred people, all watching her. The room looked rundown with several doors on both sides. There were no windows for her to try and escape and the only doors that led to the outside were at the other end of the room. Right now she was trapped. She could only imagine what these creatures would do to her.
“All hail Lady Fluttershy,” came a female voice. Suddenly all the people in the room began to bow on their hands and knees before looking up at her again. Fluttershy gulped, wondering what was going on.
“Lady Fluttershy, is everything to your liking?” asked the same woman who had spoken before but in a quieter voice. Fluttershy looked up at the woman who had the appearance of someone who had been in the forest for weeks without bathing. Her red hair was a mess and her clothing was filthy.
“Ah, everything is fine Amber,” squeaked Fluttershy. She then looked at all the people bowing before her. “But it’s just that all this seems a bit much just for me.”
“If anything this isn’t enough Lady Fluttershy,” replied Amber as she looked at the gathering. “As the herald of Gaia, you deserve so much more!”
“Excuse me but-.”
“The Children of Gaia have waited for a sign that our Goddess would bless our efforts. And now she has sent us you Lady Fluttershy. With you at our side we will double our efforts against those who treat this world with such disrespect!”
“About that. I’m-.”
“With you, we will stop the destruction of the forests! The pollution of the skies! The killing of poor, innocent animals!”
“If you would…wait a moment,” said a shocked Fluttershy. “Poor, sweet innocent animals are being killed? That’s awful!”
“It is,” said Amber somberly. “Some are raised and then killed for food while others are hunted in the wild only to be stuffed before being mounted on a wall. There are also animals that are used as test animals for various products and drugs.”
Fluttershy’s jaw dropped in horror before tears began to appear in her eyes. She knew that some animals killed in order to survive. But the thought of killing for sport or a trophy was a horrific thought for the yellow Pegasus. And using animals in any kind of experiment was just wrong.
“I-It’s just so wrong,” sniffed Fluttershy. “We have to stop them.”
“And we will,” assured Amber gently. In front of them, members of the Children of Gaia began to nod their heads in agreement. “We shall do everything in our power to stop them, no matter the cost. But may I be so bold as to suggest that you get some rest? We have a lovely garden full of animals set up for you.”
“That would be lovely,” said Fluttershy through a half smile. As Amber led Fluttershy away, the Children of Gaia began to move towards the doors at the sides of the room. Each one was opened to reveal a storehouse of rifles and explosives. Slowly, the Children of Gaia began to arm themselves.
XXX
Rarity’s head hurt as she opened her eyes. She found herself in a dirty room full of half made jewelry. Some hung on racks while others were littered on filthy tables. There was also trash all over the place. A food wrapper here and an empty gallon of milk over there. This place was an absolute nightmare!
Standing above her was her capture. He was an old man with a thin frame and, in her opinion, poor fashion sense. He was wearing a pink button up shirt, kaki’s, and red suspenders. Currently he was looking down at her with a look of superiority.
They had met last night after Rarity had found the man’s jewelry. Once she turned around they both jumped back in shock at the others appearance. Deciding to do the right thing and not anger the creature, Rarity handed the man his jewelry with a heartfelt apology. The man, still reeling at what he was seeing, accepted them and slowly gave his thanks.
That might have been the end of the encounter; however Rarity noticed that one of the pieces had fake gems. Raising an eyebrow the man asked if she was sure. To answer this the white unicorn’s magic flared up, lifting the jewelry closer to herself. She then proceed to not only show which ones were fake but also the quality of the real ones.
Once she was done the man thanked her and offered her a place to stay for the night. Not having many options Rarity accepted the offer. However, as soon as she walked through the front door she felt something strike the back of her head before everything went dark.
And now they were here.
“About time you got up,” said the old man. “Now you can get to work.”
“How dare you!” snapped Rarity as she got up. She tried to approach him but found she couldn’t. She was chained to the wall by an iron color around her neck. “Is this how you treat a lady?”
“No,” said the man as he moved over towards a work bench. “This is how I treat animals and monsters.” He then grabbed a bunch of jewelry, walked back over to Rarity, and dumped it in front of her. “I want to know which ones are real and which ones aren’t. And I want it done tonight!”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. Who did he think he was dealing with? He was just another greedy creature, looking to exploit her skills. Well he was in for a surprise. Compared to the Diamond Dogs, he was not the least bit intimidating.
“First of all that is not how you ask some pony for a favor,” began Rarity. “You should at least start by asking their name or introducing yourself. Saying please also helps greatly. Also, my dear, calling another an animal doesn’t help matters either. But I am willing to forget all that if you will be so kind as to provide me a cleaner work-.” Rarity got no further before she was struck so hard it knocked her to the ground. She brought a hoof to her mouth and realized she was bleeding.
“Animals that don’t do what their told don’t eat,” said the man coldly. He then pulled out a knife and pressed it against her throat. “And animals that don’t learn the rules quickly get put down. Understand?”
Rarity nodded.
XXX
“Mornin’ Mrs. Hutchess,” said Apple Jack as said woman entered the kitchen. “I made breakfast.”
“Apple Jack, you didn’t have to do that,” said the old blind woman. While she couldn’t see anything she could smell the sliced apples, pancakes, and eggs.
“Least I could do ma’am with you letting me stay here an all.” Mrs. Hutchess said nothing as she walked towards the table. Apple Jack moved to help her sit down but the old apple farmer was a step ahead of her. With little to no effort she found her seat and sat down. Then, using her hands, she began to feel for the fork and knife.
“Still think you should let me call the cops,” she said as she found the utensils. “Or we could call these friends of yours or your family. Must be worried about you right now.”
“They know I’ll be gone fer awhile,” said Apple Jack as she looked away. Mrs. Hutchess said nothing, she just stared in Apple Jack’s direction as she cut into her pancake and brought a piece to her mouth. In a way it unnerved the mare, as if she were looking right into her soul and knowing that she wasn’t being completely honest. “Just…just give my friends a little time to get here. Please?”
Mrs. Hutchess began to chew her food as she pondered what to do. She could tell from Apple Jack’s voice that she wasn’t telling her the whole story. In fact she sounded a little scared. Was she a runaway? Was she in trouble with the police? Whatever it was, she would give Apple Jack some time to come forward with the truth.
“Alright,” she said after swallowing. “I’ll give these ‘friends’ of yours some time. But until then I expect you to pull your weight around here. I don’t house lazy bones. Never have and never will.”
“Yes ma’am,” said a grinning earth pony. She was about to ask what she could do first when all of a sudden Mrs. Hutchess got up from the table. She then stormed her way to the front door in a fury. It was then that Apple Jack heard noises outside. Slowly and carefully she moved towards the window to peek out. Standing next to a strange wagon were two men. One looked like he was ready to start trouble while the other was in a suit and tie.
“Janet,” said the man in the suit in a false sweet voice. From what Apple Jack could see he looked a little on the heavy side with slicked back black hair. “How nice of you to come out to greet me. Can I assume that you are willing to be reasonable and sell this piece of dirt?”
“This ‘piece of dirt’ as you call it has been in my family for over a hundred years,” said Mrs. Hutchess. “There’s no way I’d sell it to the likes of you. Go build your mall somewhere else Millzard!”
“You know I’ll get this land sooner or later,” said Millzard with a grin. “Nearly all of the surround land belongs to me right now. The way I see it you can either sell it to me and live the rest of your days in a nice retirement community or I can buy it from auction when you finally kick the bucket. Personally, I’d like to get this done sooner than later.”
“Then I’ll make this simple,” said Hutchess. “Get off my property!”
Apple Jack watched closely to see what the two would do. She had expected Millzard to say something or order the other guy to do something. But all he did was whisper something into the other mans ear causing him to grin wickedly. The two then got into their wagon and drove away.
XXX
Breaking the news to Twilight hadn’t been easy. He had told her what Kat had shared with him and took it badly. She understood the significance of his words, that it could take years to find their home. Also here friends could be anywhere in this world and she had no idea where to find them! Naturally she blamed herself and asked for some time alone.
Andrew was now walking down the stairs to his store, wishing there was something he could have said to make her feel better. The truth, that it was an accident on both their parts, might have fallen on deaf ears or she would have shifted all the blame to him. He could have tried joking about it in order to make her laugh, but given the situation it might just make him seem heartless. In the end he believed that the best thing he could do right now was give her some time alone.
When he got to the ground floor Andrew couldn’t help but notice that the store window was covered in green flyers. Frowning, Andrew walked over to the door, unlocked it, opened it, and walked out. His eyes narrowed when he saw that each flyer read ‘Those that shop here support the Devil!’. Furiously Andrew began to take them down and brought them all to the front counter.
Once that was done, he dialed the sheriff’s office.
“Sheriff Brandon speaking. How can I help you today?”
“I’d like a restraining order place on Mrs. Finkel,” said Andrew. “Do you know what she put up on my store?”
“Let me guess,” said the sheriff with a sigh. “She put up some flyers without your consent. We’ve already gotten several similar complaints since I got in. The guys down at McDonalds got ‘Parents who eat here support obesity’.”
“So are you going to do anything about this?” demanded Andrew.
“I’ll have a talk with her and explain that she just can’t put up flyers without permission. But if you want a restraining order you’ll have to go down to the courthouse and fill out the paperwork.”
With a sigh, Andrew hung up the phone. It was so aggravating. How could one person that no one really liked get away with something like this? It made no sense!
Deciding to contact the court house later, Andrew began to throw away the paper. By the time he was halfway done the door opened. Looking up, Andrew was only lightly shocked to see who it was. It was Mr. Holt, the town mayor. The man had a long, white beard that looked a little like the one Santa would have. Sadly, that was the only hair he had. Today Andrew noticed that he was in a light blue business shirt and matching pants.
“Good morning Andrew,” he said in a somewhat cheerful tone. “I heard you had a little trouble with Mrs. Finkel.”
“From what I’ve heard I’m not the only one,” said Andrew with a sigh. “Anyways, it’s a good thing you’re here. I finished the plans the other night and was planning on brining them to your office as soon as I could. This just makes it easier.” Clare had two major fall events. The first was the annual Donut Festival and the second was the Halloween Parade. They had found out that this year Food Network was going to be doing a special for the Donut Festival. This was a big thing for the town and everyone was helping out in someway.
Andrew was given a job he excelled at, make a haunted maze! The idea was that once more people began to come to Clare, they could keep them coming back with their festivities. So, during the Donut Festival, they would be advertising the haunted maze and hoped people would show up for that as well. And no one got more into the spirit of Halloween like Andrew.
“About that,” said the mayor as his face fell. “I felt I should come and tell you in person. Halloween has been canceled.”
“W-What?” asked a shocked Andrew. “Why?”
“There was a town meeting last night,” said Holt. “Mrs. Finkel attended, like she always does, and went to work making a storm. You know how she is. Anytime anyone tried to stand up to her she just glared them down or reminded them of some past failure. She went on and on about how Halloween is evil because it promotes evil thoughts as well as obesity. Then she went onto the Donut Festival! By the end of the night there was a vote and…no one wanted to get one her bad side. Both events are canceled.”
“But how could you let that happen?!”
“You think I like this anymore than you do?” demanded Holt as he raised his voice a little too high. “There was a vote and we had to go with the majority. I have to honor it and enforce it.”
“So, no trick or treater’s?” asked Andrew who already felt he knew what the answer was.
“No,” said the mayor sadly as he shook his head. “There’ll be another vote in a couple of weeks, but it’ll most likely be the same.”
Andrew looked down at the ground. It just seemed so unfair. This year he had planned on making people costume made costumes to help promote the store. He was going to decorate the store with legendary creatures from all over the world. All his plans gone thanks to one hate filled woman.
He wanted to rebel, fight this somehow in some way. Then, an idea hit him. Maybe he could plan a secret Halloween party. He would have to find someplace secret, but he had time. And what was the worse that could happen? A fine? And maybe if the people of Clare saw how much the kids wanted to keep their Halloween then maybe they would fight for it too.
Suddenly there was a loud thump upstairs followed by a shout. Both men looked up at the stairs before they heard a large crash.
“I think someone’s upstairs,” said Holt as he moved towards the stairs. “We’d better find out just to make sure.”
Panic flowed through Andrew like a river. Once the mayor got upstairs he would see Twilight! He would ask questions! Questions that he could not answer. Not knowing what else to do, Andrew snapped his fingers before he went up the stairs after the mayor.
When the two reached the top they found a teenage girl laying in the middle of the floor. She had long black hair with a pink and purple streak. She was also wearing a purple shirt with a star on it and jeans. The girl looked at the two in confusion that mirrored the mayors.
“Andrew, do you know this girl?”
“Yes,” replied Andrew. “Her name is Twilight.”