//------------------------------// // Not The Time To Panic // Story: Hidden by Shadows // by Authora97 //------------------------------// Dandelion woke up that morning with a bad feeling in her stomach. The one she always got on a bad day. It didn't help that her mother was gone. It was usually Dandelion's job to make sure her mother got up on time. She was shocked to find her mother just gone. Hearing the Bad Man err-stallion had come back did little to help the hatchling. With as much speed as she could get, Dandelion ran out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen. "Mommy's gone!" She yelled. Twilight, Acorn Pipsqueak, Spike and the newly arrived Flutterwing gasped. "Gone? What do you mean gone Dandy?" Flutter asked. "I woke up like I always do. But when I twied to check on Mommy she was just gone!" Dandy panicked. "Alright. Alright. There has to be some explanation for this." Flutter worried. "There is! Black Jay has her!" Acorn yelled. "How, I placed a protection spell on the library?" Twilight asked. A look of horror fell on Flutterwing's face. "What if he didn't get in, what if she got out?" Flutterwing said, hoping she was wrong. "No way. Authora may be at times be a couple of apples short of bushel but that doesn't mean she would do something that stupid." Acorn argued. "It makes way more sense than him getting in." Flutterwing argued back. "Maybe he came in after weakening the spell." Acorn argued. "Maybe he tricked her into coming outside!" Flutterwing yelled. "You've had some crazy ideas Clutter but those are your dumbest!" Acorn yelled while Dandy rolled her orange eyes at her aunts. They were arguing again. "At least when I have a plan I can use it Pipsqueak! How often have any of your plans worked? Can you think of any because I'm drawing a blank?" Flutter yelled. Twilight was frankly having enough. "MARES!" She yelled. Silencing both sisters, who turned their backs to each other once the arguing stopped. "Authora was right. You two do argue a lot." The sisters gave each other warnful glares. Telling the other the fight wasn't over. And it probably never would be. "We need to tell the others. Spike, you go with Acorn to tell Rarity and Fluttershy. Flutterwing will come with me to get Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Dandelion you go get Pinkie Pie." Twilight said as the group went their separate ways. All to get the Bearers together to find Authora. Pain. All Authora could feel was pain. She could feel it from the tip of her horn to the bottom of her tail. In the seven hours she was with Jay, he had his newly acquired henchponies try whatever magic they could to get her voice back. It wasn't working. A familiar blue unicorn had tried the hardest, her familiar pink eyes were now midnight blue. A side effect of Jay's control. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has tried all the spells she can think of. None of it has worked." Trixie told the alicorn. "No duh Sherlock" Authora thought. "Then get out of my sight." Jay ordered. "I'll get like what? Three seconds of peace before he wants to talk to me again. First I get a magical attack by at least five unicorns, one the Great and Powerful Trixie, now I have to deal with his ego. Authora thought. She always got a little bitchy when tired or in pain. That or she laughs hysterically. Jay was furious. The whole point of coming here was to get Abigail back but now she was mute. His favorite part of the week was listening to her voice. He knows he screwed up big time. He killed both her parents but in his mind they deserved it. Just because she was meeting a 29 year old man in the middle of a field that people rarely visited doesn’t mean they could tell her not to go. Jay was the most cautious of his dark magic but that’s what made him so scary. Jay could get you to confess to something you did when you were five just by looking at you the right way. His dark magic only added to that. People who knew him and feared him knew he had it, they knew if he wanted he could turn them into a star and catapult them into the sky without a second thought. It was all a matter of when and who to Jay. The ponies he imprisoned, ahem, coerced were there as a pony wall. If any of those ponies wanted to get to Abigail they would have to get thru 30 others ponies. Some were mothers of foals, fathers, rich ponies, random ponies from off the street. Some Jay took for their abilities in magic like that showpony and a few teachers from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. But now wasn’t the time to organize whom he had captive. It was time to find out how in the hell Abigail was going to speak again. Celestia was peacefully doing her duties for the day, actually peaceful was too general a term. She was blasting thru all her paperwork only stopping to raise the sun and eat. Ponies had gone missing all around Canterlot and Ponyville. She had received a letter from Twilight telling her she had discovered the identity of the pony the Mysterious Black Alicorn was after as well as her family. Luna was only slightly unaware of the last part. She knew that somepony had snuck into the palace and escaped. She didn’t know the pony was an alicorn but she was likely to find out soon. Why with the palace guard practically doubled and her nightwatch being given more and more shifts didn’t help. With Celestia’s guess as the last of the paperwork fell into the box labeled ‘finished’ was that Luna should be finding out tonight. “Sister was is this the guards have told me about!” Or maybe she was awakened by the guards patrolling and decided to ask her big sister. “Whatever do you mean?” Celestia asked innocently. “Do not bother with that nonsense Tia. Why has the guard at my door been doubled as well as on my balcony? I even found a handmaiden inside my bathroom!” Okay, maybe that one was a step too far. “You remember that pony I told you about? The one that managed to get pass all my security and escape just as easily?” Celestia asked. “Of course I do but I don’t see why a guard needs to be placed inside my private room.” “Because the pony wasn’t just a pony. He was an all black alicorn. I received a letter from Twilight Sparkle telling me the pony he was looking for is in Ponyville under the watch of the Bearers.” Celestia explained. “And you waited this long to tell me?” Luna asked. “Because I knew you would go to Ponyville to talk to these ponies yourself. Or better yet you would go after this alicorn yourself.” Luna stomped her hoof. She hated when her sister knew her movements before she did. As a letter suddenly appeared before Celestia, she wasted no time in reading, twice. “Which might have been a good idea. Twilight has just informed me this pony is missing.”