//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Interrogation 
// Story: Interview with an Unexpected Mage 
// by musicluvr1974 
//------------------------------//

There was a firm knock on Dotted Line's front door.  "Coming!" his wife, a pegasus mare named Aspiring Skies, responded.  She trotted to the door, opened it with a wing... then fell to her hocks in shock.  Standing on her doorstep were none other than a two-hoof tall purple dragon, and behind him, the six newest Princesses of Equestria, the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony themselves.  Recovering her voice, Skies stammered out, "Y-Your Highnesses, this is an unexpected honor!  Please, come in!  Can I get you anything?"  

"No, thank you, we've already eaten.  Besides, we're here on official business, Mrs. Line.  Were you aware that there was a riot in Appleloosa yesterday?" Twilight arched an eyebrow questioningly.  

"A riot?!  Oh, my Luna!"  Skies screamed.  "My sons went there on a school field trip yesterday and never came home!  My poor babies!  I hope they weren't caught in the middle of it..."  She broke down sobbing.  Dotted Line, hearing his wife scream, came galloping in. . . and skidded to a stop at the sight of the six alicorn princesses standing in his living room.  Bowing to them briefly, he turned to deal with his distraught spouse.  Fluttershy, on Skies' other side, felt tears beginning to prick at the corners of her own eyes as, together, she and Dotted Line gently maneuvered Aspiring Skies to a nearby sofa and gently lowered the three of themselves down onto it.  "There, there," Fluttershy began soothingly, patting the worried mother on the back with a wing.  "No need to panic--we'll have the situation in hoof..." 

Dotted Line joined in Fluttershy's attempt at comforting his wife.  "Yes, dear, I'm sure the Princesses are well able to handle this.  Besides, statistically speaking, Appleloosa is one of the top ten safest cities in Equestria, you kn--" at this point, he was cut off by his wife suddenly beginning to shriek into his face.  

"You SHUT UP!!  I don't give a flying feather about your statistics--these are our children we're talking about!!  The fruit of my body that I bore to you--twice!!"  She recoiled, gasping deeply and suddenly.  "Oh, my poor Cross!" she wailed.  "Please, your Highnesses, you've got to find them and bring them back safely!!"  

Fluttershy lit her horn, and began singing.(1)  "Hush, now, quiet now..."  Gradually, Aspiring Skies calmed enough to regain control of herself, though all the ponies present could see she was still terribly worried for her "babies".

Twilight spoke to Dotted Line.  "So, your sons left on a field trip to Appleloosa yesterday, and haven't been back home since?" she asked, easily ferreting out the salient facts to be found from Aspiring Skies' burst of emotion.  

"No, they haven't, your Highness," Dotted replied.  "And something else is odd... I found six bits missing from my wallet this morning.  If they'd needed spending money, they could have asked, even though I would of course have demanded they keep careful account of every bit they used and what they spent it on."  

"Maybe they wanted to avoid that?" Applejack asked.  "If I know foals, the first thing they'd wanta do at that kinda distance from their parents is cut loose some," she continued, remembering what Jason Clavoli had told them back at the Appleloosan hoosegow.  "They could'a wanted the bits to spend on somethin' y'all wouldn't approve of, an' that's why they took 'em without askin'."  She turned to Rarity.  "I don't know 'bout you, but ta me, this whole business is startin' ta look more an' more like--" she edited her next words, mindful of the grieving mother near her--"our witness was tellin' the truth all along."  

"Yes, it would seem so," Rarity agreed.  "We must do something about this dreadful situation at once.  Twilight?"  she asked, turning to their leader.  

"Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Line," Twilight said, turning to lead her friends out the front door.  "We'll do our best to bring your sons back to you safely."  

"Oo!  This means I get to throw all kinds more parties!!" Pinkie exulted.  "Hurray!"  

"Yeah, yeah, business first, party later, Pinkie," Rainbow chided.  "We still gotta find the foals first..."  

As they emerged outside into Celestia's bright daylight, Twilight responded, "Finding them will be fairly easy, Rainbow.  Logically, if they were last seen in Appleloosa, they must still be somewhere in town.  We need to get back there and start a search pattern."  The five other mares gathered close around Twilight, charging their horns.  Moments later, they teleported back to Sheriff Silver Star's office in Appleloosa.  





"Think we... lost them... by... now?"  Trotsthe Line panted to his brother as they skidded to a stop in the alley.  

Cross risked a peek around the corner of the left-hoof alley wall.  "Horsefeathers, they're still coming!" he whispered fiercely to his brother, ducking back into the alley.  "Hide!"  The two colts crowded closer to the back of the alley, staying as still as they could.  Luckily for them, the pursuing contingent of the sheriff's deputies charged right on past the blind alley without looking to the side.  Cross snickered.  "Easy as gardening... those idiots couldn't see the side of a barn if it was half a hoof in front of their noses."  He beckoned to his brother.  "C'mon, this way," he said, motioning in the opposite direction from the one the crowd of deputies had just taken.  

As they emerged, they noticed they were right near the Appleloosa General Store, which, curiously, featured a banner hung from its second story which announced, "GRAND OPENING, NEW ELECTRONICS SECTION.  NOW FEATURING TELEVISION SETS."  The devices in question were proudly displayed in front window of the store, as befitted new merchandise, and seemed to be featuring a news report.  

Breaking news, this just in!  Due to the recent rioting in the frontier town of Appleloosa, Equestria's newest Princesses have now joined in the search for two high-school-age colts suspected of being the instigators of the riot, identified as Crosses-the-Line-Twice and Trotsthe Line.  If you spot either of them, viewers, or have information relevant to the investigation, you are urged to contact either this station or your local law enforcement community immediately!"  

Trotsthe facehoofed.  "We are so, so dead, Cross."  

Cross scowled at his brother.  "Will you shut up?!  Stop being so negative and let me think!  We gotta find someplace to hide.  Surely at this time of day, there have to be some unoccupied buildings in this town!"  His eyes and head darted frantically around, finally settling on a squat rectangular building bearing a sign reading "Assay Office."  

"In there, quick!"  Cross and Trotsthe galloped for the entrance, ducking into a back hallway out of view of the front door.  Panting for breath, their sides heaving, the two colts tried to get their heart rates to slow back down.  Abruptly, they felt two hooves tap each of them on the shoulder.  With a hard flinch, they cast looks backward... to see two alicorns standing behind them!  One, a prismatic-maned slim equine with blue coat, waved a wing to them, smirking.  "Hi."  

The other, a pink-furred alicorn with a mane that reminded them strangely of cotton candy come to life, giggled at them.  "Ooh!  Are we playing tag?  I love this game!  You're it!!" she cried, bouncing forward and booping each of them on the nose with one hoof.  

"EEYAAGH!"  Screaming, Cross and Trotsthe fled the building, with the two princesses in hot pursuit.  They ran as hard as they could, terror giving them strength they didn't know they had, but no matter where in town they ran, the two alicorns seemed to be right behind them.  "I could do this all day!  You guys give up yet?!" they heard a quartz-rough voice shout from over their shoulders.  They didn't look back, however.  Stumbling, they ran into a hotel and ducked into the first large room they could find.  "Grab anything that isn't nailed down and shove it in front of the door!" yelled Cross.  "It might slow them down some, at least!!"  They grabbed a chest of drawers, tipped it on its side, and blocked the door with it, following that up with a ceramic planter, two long tables, and an assortment of chairs, napkin holders, and a radiator that the two colts managed to buck out of its floor mount.  "Any...thing...else... we could use?" Cross panted.  

"Let's see... here's an anvil you could have!" a bright voice chirped.  Startled, Cross and Trotsthe looked behind them to discover the pink alicorn holding the aforementioned object out to them in a light-blue telekinetic glow.  "Did we switch games when I wasn't looking?  Is it Hide-and-Seek now?  Who are we hiding from?!" she laughed, saying this last in a dramatic stage whisper.  Just then, they heard the same quartzite rasp from earlier call from down the hall, "Right on your heels, Pinks!", after which there was a whoosh, and the barricaded door was blown off its hinges as heavy objects exploded outward in a rainbow corona, leaving Cross and Trotsthe tumbling tail-over-nose into the middle of the room (which, fortunately, they had cleared of furniture during their barricading effort).  At the epicenter of the explosion stood, somehow unscathed, the rainbow-maned blue alicorn.  

The pink alicorn mare spoke.  "So... it was Dashie?  Did we win?"  

Seeing they were cornered, despite their best efforts, Trotsthe broke, in a similar manner as the attempted barricade just had, coughing out a confession in staccato sobs.  "Field trip... stole bits... Dad's wallet... sneaked... Salt Lick... beer... blue magic... turned water...  looked... saw draconequus... panicked... IT WASN'T OUR FAULT, I SWEAR TO CELESTIA!"   This was what Rainbow and Pinkie understood afterwards that Trotsthe said; it was hard to understand at the time, as Cross kept kicking him at intervals, hissing, "Shut up, Trotsthe!"  

"Please don't kill us!" Trotsthe whimpered.  

Rainbow facehooved.  "Calm down!  We're not gonna kill you--we never were."  Under her breath, she muttered, "Wimp...!"  She looked over at Pinkie.  "Right, I think we're about done here.  Pinkie, can you tie these two up while I call Twi and the others?"  

"Sure thing, Dashie!  You know," Pinkie said to the two colts as she produced two pairs of cannon-cuffs(2) from inside her mane and locked them shut around their front legs, "you two really need more practice at tag.  You were supposed to chase us...!"