Twilight's vision blurred as she entered her tree-home. She didn't see Spike anywhere in the library, but she thought nothing of it. It was very late, after all, and he was probably in bed already. Twilight intended to do the same just as soon as she was done.
Her hooves fell heavily on the stairs as she ascended. When was the last time she had gotten a full night's sleep? If she recalled correctly, not since she had made her discovery. But that wasn't the reason she had been out so late. Ever since the incident at the Crystal Empire Museum, crimes started popping up all over Equestria. A few of them were solvable, sometimes even without the use of Magicles. The culprits were just common thieves and ruffians; in terms of crime-solving, mere child's play.
Twilight cast a spell as she entered her study. Various candles scattered about the place lit up from her magical spark. She turned her attention to the wall, which was home to a very large map of Equestria. There were circles written in ink all over the map. A few of them were connected to other circles by string held in place with tacks. Some circles were isolated, and the same went for the some of the tacks.
Twilight rubbed her eyes with a hoof as she plucked another tack off a nearby desk and stuck it into the map. There were too many tacks. Too many unsolvable crimes. Impossible crimes with destroyed walls and nary a trace of magic. She shook her head to keep herself awake while she stared at the map. She tried to think, but her mind refused to form a rational thought. She couldn't see any new patterns. Maybe there weren't any patterns. Thefts, kidnappings, destruction... all over the land. None of it made any sense to her. Equestria had clearly been facing a wave of crime, but the why remained as elusive as ever.
She let out a frustrated groan and stormed out of the room. All she wanted now was to get some sleep.
Taking care to not make any more noise, Twilight entered the bedroom. Spike's bed lay on the floor, but Spike wasn't in it. Twilight glanced out the window at the moon.
It was well after midnight.
"Spike?" Twilight called out softly. She cast another spell to light all the remaining candles in the room. Still no dragon. "Spike?"
Fueled by anxious energy, Twilight did a quick sweep of the entire tree-home, lighting up every room with candles as she did so. Her heartbeat accelerated with every second that Spike didn't appear.
"No, no, no no no, please no!" Twilight returned to the bedroom and cast her magicle-finding spell. White light flashed across the room, revealing silver hoof prints leading up to Spike's bed and away from it. Twilight's anguished cry shook her entire home. "No!"
The empty bed wavered in Twilight's vision, swaying in a sea of dark possibility. Spike had been kidnapped, no doubt about it. But the crime was solvable. Twilight had her magicles. Using her magic to reveal more of the silver hoof prints, Twilight bolted down the stairs and out the front door.
Spike awoke to the sound of something crashing. He stiffened on reflex, an act which made him aware that something was very wrong. Instead of lying in his cozy bed, he found himself sitting upright in total darkness, his arms bound behind his back.
Spike shifted in his seat. Yes, he was in a chair, and his wrists were wrapped in rope. He held his breath as he desperately tried to think of a way to escape. Somewhere nearby he heard muttering; whoever had taken him was close.
The solution to his predicament occurred to Spike so suddenly that he would have smacked his own forehead had his arms not been bound. His claws were still very free.
He began to slice at the rope binding his wrists just as he heard the sound of hooves clacking against tiles, steadily drawing close. As quietly as he could, he finished his severing job and stood up in his chair. A door creaked open and the sound of a switch being flipped was heard. The very next moment, a painfully bright light burst into existence, directly into the eyes of both Spike and his captor, a brown coated earth pony wearing a black hooded cloak.
"Ah, dang it!" the stallion said as he covered his eyes with his leg. "I thought that was going to be a lot dimmer."
Spike squinted his eyes as he jumped down from his chair. He was in a closet full of cleaning supplies, and there was only one door. He bolted for the exit, but was blocked by the stallion sticking his hoof out.
"Whoa! Hold on there, little buddy—I'm on your side!" the stallion said. He squinted his eyes, same as Spike, who saw that his eyes were silver. Spike didn't believe the claim for a second, and struggled to shove past the leg in his way.
"Rrrr... Let me go—you can't keep me here!" Spike said.
"Not until I give you the message!"
Spike stopped pushing. "What?"
The stallion stood firm. "A message. For you to deliver to Twilight Sparkle."
Spike took a step back and crossed his arms. "Well, you have the right dragon. You could have just sent it to me, though. I'm basically her walking mailbox."
"Yeah, well, I had this whole act planned out which would have been better. I was gonna walk in and look all shadowy and mysterious in my black cloak here." The stallion flicked at his hood with his hoof. "But the light was too bright and stuff and it totally killed the mood."
"Are you going to give the message or not?" Spike asked.
"Can we do it with the lights off?" the stallion pleaded.
Spike rolled his eyes. It was amazing how quickly the situation had gone from scary to inconvenient. "Do what you want."
The stallion snatched a flashlight up off a nearby shelf and switched off the lights. He turned on the flashlight and pointed it up past his face. "You know not who I am, but I am your ally," he began, his voice dark and spooky.
Spike's arms remained crossed. "Doubt it."
The stallion didn't react to Spike's comment. "The answer that Twilight seeks lies with one pony... Filthy Rich."
"I don't know who that is."
"Twilight does. Trust me, she'll know who I'm talking about."
"You haven't been spying on her, have you?" Spike asked.
"No!" the stallion said quickly. "I just... have my ways of getting information."
"You're making that up."
"Time is short! Twilight draws closer, remember my message. Investigate Filthy Rich."
"How do you know she's getting closer?"
"She has this thing that lets her magically trace ponies," the stallion said as he held up a hoof. "Earth ponies have a magical connection with the ground, so she can see everywhere we walk. You didn't know about that?"
"I did. I'd just like to know how you did."
"No time! Maybe later." The stallion backed up and shut the door, leaving Spike alone in the darkness. Suddenly the door opened again, but only just enough for the stallion to stick his head in. "Oh, and tell her not to follow me," he added before pulling his head back out.
The door closed again, followed the sound of a lock turning. Spike tried the handle just to be sure. It didn't open. Not wanting to wait for Twilight in the dark, Spike turned the light back on and sat down. After a few minutes of silence, he heard the sound of someone galloping. With a crunch, the door to the closet was suddenly ripped off its hinges, revealing Twilight on the other side. Her eyes and face were wet, but Spike only had a moment to behold the sight before Twilight flung herself down before him and wrapped him up in the tightest of hugs.
"I thought I had lost you forever," she whispered.
"You didn't," Spike replied as he gladly returned the embrace. "I bet we can still catch the guy if we hurry."
Twilight looked down at Spike, her eyes still misty. "O-oh, that's right. Where did your kidnapper go?"
"He left just a few minutes before you got here. He said to tell you not to follow him, but I say we should anyway."
Twilight stood up, a look of determination setting over her face. "I agree completely, Spike. It's time for all these kidnappings to stop."
Spike grinned as he hopped up on Twilight's back. "You know what I'm going to say now, don't you?"
Twilight smirked as she glanced over her shoulder at Spike. "You'd better not," she warned teasingly.
Spike stuck out his arm and pointed a claw towards the closet door. "Hi-ho, Twilight!"
Twilight let out a short laugh as she cast her Magicle finding spell. A cone of white light from her horn revealed a set of silver hoof prints on the floor. Once they had exited the hall, Spike easily identified his location: The Town Hall of Ponyville.
Twilight swept her spell back and forth across the floor of the main room to find the trail. There were colored spots everywhere, but the color silver was unique among them. Spike held on tightly as Twilight quickly followed the silver spots out the main entrance and into the night. For a while it was just a silent run, save for the sound of Twilight's hooves against the dirt road—
Twilight screeched to a halt, nearly flinging Spike of her back.
"Why'd you stop?" Spike asked.
"The trail's ended," Twilight replied. She breathed heavily as she looked around with the white cone of light. Her horn flashed, creating a larger range for the spell that reached the cottages on both sides of the road. The silver hoofprints appeared to have stopped in the middle of the road.
"What, did he start walking on his knees or something?" asked Spike.
Twilight shook her head. "I don't think so. Look, Spike—see those tinier red specks around the spot where the trail ends?"
"Pegasus magic, right?"
"Correct. I bet he arranged to get flown out of Ponyville. It's a slow way to escape though, not really practical. Why would he do it that way?"
"Well, he did say he knew about your technique for tracing earth ponies."
Twilight glanced at Spike in surprise. "You spoke to him?"
"Yeah, he... said he was on our side, believe or not. And that you should investigate Filthy Rich."
"Really? Wow. Did he say why?"
"His exact words were, 'the answer that Twilight seeks lies with Filthy Rich.' I trust you know who that is?"
Twilight let out a long breath. "I do. He was tied to one of my earlier cases, the one that Fluttershy brought to me."
"Oh, right, that case you said you couldn't talk to me about because of a promise!" Spike scratched his chin thoughtfully. "So... does that mean that Filthy Rich is responsible for the crime spree Equestria's having?"
"It could be. I don't know. I'm too tired to think about it right now, to be honest."
"Let's go home then and figure it tomorrow. It's been a long night."
"That it has," Twilight agreed. "I'm so glad I found you again, Spike. I was really worried."
"I could tell. You ripped out a door to find me earlier."
"Oh, geez. I did, didn't I?" Twilight chuckled. "I guess that makes two things to worry about tomorrow."