Apple Bloom lay in her bed, staring blankly at the beautiful morning outside of her window, she was uninterested in anything going around her, her mind only focused on the camping trip that was still 10 days away. She was tired. She was anxious. She was worried. What about what happened to Iridescence? He's been missing for four days, the police have filed a Missing Pony's Report, looked all over Ponyville, and Pinkie, and Mrs. Cake said that she clearly saw him walk out of her bakery towards his house. It's like he up n' disappeared. If a strong colt like him was ponynapped, what about a filly like me?
“Apple Bloom it's time to wake up!” Granny Smith cheerily announced, nudging Apple Bloom as she lay down. “Apple Bloom it's time for uh.. uh...”
“Soup's on everypony!” Applejack hollered.
“Oh right! Breakfast! That's what it's time for!”
“Okay Granny Smith one more minute Ah'm tired.”
Granny Smith trotted over to the bed and blew a kazoo in her granddaughter's ear. Apple Bloom shot up, confused as to what just happened, and a little angry at being woken up.
“Granny what was that for!”
“Why am I in here again?”
Apple Bloom sighed and giggled at her forgetful, but awesome Granny Smith. Granny Smith lept across the room and flew down the stairs. Apple Bloom winced as she heard a crash.
“Granny! Are ya'll okay?” Apple Bloom ran out of her room to see her Granny clutching her hip at the bottom of the stairs.
“Of course, Applesmack.”
“It's Apple Bloom.”
“Ah know, Dining Room.”
Apple Bloom laughed and ran to help her Granny up, and insisted on taking her to the hospital, but Granny Smith just cracked her hip, jogged on the spot, and started walking again. They trotted into the kitchen, as Applejack gave each of them a nice big golden delicious apple. Both of them ate their apples, and Apple Bloom grabbed her lunch bag and began the long trot from Sweet Apple Acres, to Carousel Boutique, to Scootaloo's house, to school.
Apple Bloom walked along the dirt road that winded through the apple orchard, as she kept looking at the path ahead of her even though she could have walked along the path backwards with her eyes closed.
If anybody was watching her, and somepony was, they would have seen her looking around the orchard every couple of steps, as the obviously paranoid filly sped up every time there was a bird chirp or a twig snap.
And... safe! Apple Bloom thought as she arrived in Ponyville. But when she saw the streets devoid of any ponies on a beautiful morning like this, she got scared. She ran to Sugar Cube Corners, and realized that most of the ponies were in line for some “Pinkie-tastic treats,” for half price.
Relieved, she walked back out into the streets of Ponyville as they slowly came to life, Carrot Top, Doctor Whooves, a weeping Lyra without Bonbon- wait, Lyra without Bonbon? That can't be right. She looked back, double-checking, making sure that what she saw was correct. It was correct, Lyra was crying, asking everypony who walked by her if they saw her best friend that was now missing.
“Somepony find Bonbon!” Lyra sobbed, the plead seemed to echo throughout the streets, making it much more sad as people walked by, looking at the puffy-eyed lonely pony.
Apple Bloom took one last look, and saw something in the alley behind Lyra. A pair of glowing yellow eyes, floating in the darkness. She ran at top speeds, as if trying to escape something that hadn't even confronted her. She didn't care, she kept running, no matter how much out of breath she had become.
Apple Bloom skidded to a halt in front of Carousel Boutique, almost slamming into the door and Sweetie Belle.
“Whoa Apple Bloom! Slow down, you could have killed me, crazy!”
“Sorry Sweetie, but I saw something that scared the mane off of me!”
“Hey, did you hear that Bonbon was ponynapped? Poor Lyra...”
“Ah saw Lyra this morning! She was so sad...”
“Wait, what could have possibly scared you? You're the toughest filly in Ponyville!”
“A pair of glowing yellow eyes, Ah saw 'em! In a dark alleyway, too!”
Sweetie Belle paused for a moment, as if waiting for something to happen, but it didn't, she remained with a blank expression all the way to Scootaloo's house. And then it clicked.
“So! They were just eyes! You should've poked em! What are you a chicken?”
“No... not really but with all the disappearances lately, Ah tain't takin' any chances!”
“Yeah, I heard that even Thunder Lane was ponynapped!” Scootaloo chimed in.
“And no Sweetie Belle, Ah tain't a chicken,” and with that Apple Bloom gestured to Scootaloo as Sweetie Belle laughed.
The three fillies arrived at the school, but the doors were locked. They looked around, and nopony else was dropping their foals off at the school. They then read a sign on the door that stated “Sorry, school will be closed until further notice, a teacher has gone missing.” The three fillies gasped. With all the disappearances and ponynappings going on lately, there was no way that this was a coincidence. The three fillies rushed to Cheerilee's house.
They arrived at their teacher's house, out of breath, and fatigued, and they knocked on the door.
The three fillies breathed a sigh of relief at what they saw next. Cheerilee, as happy as ever, greeted them with a smile on her face.
“Hi girls, how are you?”
“Oh... Miss Cheerilee, thank Celestia you're alright!” Apple Bloom managed to breathe out in between heavy panting.
“Well of course I am girls! I really hope that Mr. Doo is okay!”
“Ah hope so too Miss Cheerilee.”
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom trotted away, content that their teacher was okay, but worried about Mr. Doo and his fate.
Scootaloo looked at Miss Cheerilee one last time, and realized that her eyes began to glow yellow. Scootaloo dashed away, and told Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
Apple Bloom shivered at the thought.
“Was Miss Cheerilee ponynapped?” Scootaloo pondered.
“Or even worse, is she the ponynapper?” Apple Bloom continued.
“Nah, Miss Cheerilee is the nicestest pony of all time! She wouldn't hurt a hair in a pony's mane!” Sweetie Belle added.
The fillies trotted by another Cheerilee and looked in shock as their teacher walked by, towards her house.
“Was... that just... Miss Cheerilee... again?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Yup.” Scootaloo barely managed to squeeze past her lips.
“I suggest you ponies stop snooping, it might just save your lives.”
The three fillies turned around in shock as a hooded stallion with glowing yellow eyes glared at them.
“Hello girls, let's see if you would make good ponies. I've had a hungering for a fun one to fight lately, but everyone in Ponyville seems so weak. The strongest one was that colt from 4 nights ago.”
Scootaloo, not knowing of what to do, flapped her wings furiously, and to her disbelief she began to hover a bit. The hooded stallion, tired of this pattern, yawned and pointed the device at her wings. Her wings became tied in a knot, as she fell to the ground.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom ran around the bend, looking back at their friend, who was being encircled by thick streams of magic data coming from the device.
“No! Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom cried.
Sweetie Belle, not willing to gave up, sped by as fast as she could, and pulled her friend out of the sphere of capture. Apple Bloom, obviously inheriting some of her Granny Smith's strength and speed, ran and kicked the stallion's foreleg, which could have easily been fatal, had he not had the device.
Scootaloo remained unable to move, and Sweetie Belle tried to untie her wings with magic, as their brave little friend was fighting a battle that she was more than likely to lose.
Agile little Apple Bloom, ran behind him and bucked his back leg with all the strength she could muster. This sent the stallion forward a little bit, and he began to limp. He turned to aim the device to heal himself, but at the last second, the olive little filly kicked the device out of his mouth. The device went spiralling, as Apple Bloom was shocked that she was actually beating him, but this victory was short-lived.
Apple Bloom glanced over to see the device locking onto it's former target, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle hadn't noticed the threat approaching.
“Sweetie Belle, run!”
Sweetie Belle looked up, seeing what was about to happen. They say in a period of danger an animal's instincts will take over, and that's exactly what hers did. She kicked Scootaloo out of the way, and began to run, but she realized the air had gotten much denser, and she wasn't on solid ground anymore.
The stallion smirked.
“Looks like these three little ponies are quite worth the fight.”
Sweetie Belle was imprisoned in a large sphere of energy, a one way barrier. Anything could get in, but nothing was getting out.
Scootaloo was lying face-down on the ground, her wings weren't in a knot anymore, but the device had paralysed her from any further movements.
Apple Bloom could move, and remained uninjured, but her friends would be impossible to save. Save Scootaloo, lose Sweetie Bell, save Sweetie Belle, lose Scootaloo, or all three of them are doomed. Apple Bloom backed away, and realized a major flaw in the device. All the buttons were so large because of the possibility of pressing more than one with a hoof, that the labels were easy to see.
She set her sights on a large blue button labelled “release” she looked at the stallion, who was happily walking over to claim his prize.
“Not on mah watch you don't!” a deep voice, obviously coming from a stallion, declared against the hooded pony.
“It's okay li'l Apple Bloom! AJ and Big Mac are here to save the day!”
Apple Bloom glanced over to see her sister, rope in hooves, staring intensely at the stallion.
Big Mac tossed Scootaloo on his back, and they released Sweetie Belle shortly after, but by the time that was done, the Stallion was gone, and so was the device.
“Well our luck,”
“It's okay sis! You saved all three of us! That's more than enough.”
“That's not the point, Apple Bloom, your brother and I wanted to catch this ponynappin' stallion before he hurts anypony else, we want Ponyville to be safe! And the 5,000 bits is enough to fix Granny Smith's hip, buy a new barn and silo, and have some livin' money left over!”
“Eeyup.”
“Is that all Big Mac can say?” Scootaloo inquired quizzically.
“Nope.” The strong stallion responded.
The five ponies laughed and began to trot back to the Apple Family's apple stand, Applejack and Big Macintosh refusing to let the fillies go off alone while that stallion was roaming around free.
At the apple stand, Rarity passed by, and stopped to chat with Applejack.
“Applejack, darling, what's wrong?”
“Uh... Nothin' Rarity.”
“Applejack, I can tell you're worried, and judging by the way you're fidgeting, it isn't over something trivial.”
“Well, these three little fillies were almost ponynapped today, and Scootaloo hasn't been able to move a muscle since. She can talk, but we think it was a strange spell of some sort, maybe Twi'll be able to reverse it.”
“Can I take a look at the darling, look for any signs of magic being used?”
“Go 'head, partner.”
Rarity trotted over to Scootaloo's motionless figure, and gently examined her body, looking for signs of magic that would be impossible for a regular pony to notice.
“Rarity, what're ya pokin' and proddin' at her for?”
“Looking at signs of magic entry, no matter how small, there is normally a very slight discolouration of matter where the magic entered, after years of using magic, somepony with such an eye for detail will start to notice these things, and I also searched her system with my magic after and there was no signs of remnants of magic, so it must have been something quite odd to be able to do that.”
“Rarity, 'r ya shore that this wasn't usage of magic?”
“Darling, do you think that my eye for detail would be unable to notice such large things like this?”
“Quite frankly, Rarity, Ah'm not shore, but your eye for detail is the only one Ah'd trust, so it's all we've got to work with fer now.”
“I'm sure Twilight will be able to fix her, but for now, she can't go home, her mother is one of the recently captured.”
Fluttershy happened to be walking by at this time, noticing Scootaloo lying down in the apple stand.
“Um... I... Um... can't help but overhearing that Scootaloo needs a place to stay?”
“Yes, that is right Fluttershy, Applejack and Big Macintosh over here actually saved the poor darling before she was almost ponynapped.”
“Oh... Oh my!”
“Rarity, Ah need you to take Sweetie Belle and go home, shore, her and Apple Bloom are watching Scoot over there, but it's troubling running the stand, watching those three, and staying alert for that thar stallion, even with Big Mac's help!”
“Of course, darling, and I suppose you would like Fluttershy to take Scootaloo?”
“Thank you, girls, Big Mac 'n Ah are really grateful!”
“One more thing, I really am sorry to trouble you so much, but what does this stallion look like?”
“Y... yes, I would like to know that too, if it's okay with you.”
“Well he has a black hood, with a golden trim, and a dark coat, Ah couldn't catch his mane, but his eyes glow yellow, and he's really fast, Ah didn't even notice he disappeared!”
“Thanks again, darling, Sweetie Belle, it's time for us to go home!”
“Aww, come on!” Sweetie Belle wailed.
Fluttershy walked over and placed Scootaloo on her back. She said goodbye and walked off to her cottage.
“Apple Bloom, you do not leave this stand without Bic Mac 'n Ah, ya hear me?”
“Okay, sis.”
“Big Mac, keep 'n eye on Apple Bloom!”
“Eeyup.”
When Rarity and Sweetie Belle arrived home, Rarity told Sweetie Belle to go upstairs, because she had lots of business to attend to. In reality, her eye for detail came to the rescue again, as she noticed a pony in the distance, walking slowly towards Carousel Boutique.
Sooner than he knocked on the door, he was assaulted with threads, needles and rolls of fabric. He easily dodged all of them, and as he moved, Rarity noticed his cutie mark.
“Hmm, you're not the brightest stallion, are you?”
“Huh?”
“It's easy for me to see many things about you. First of all, most of your coat is faded, meaning high exposure to magic, possibly a fight with a unicorn? Secondly, your mane is like bedhead, and even it is faded, being originally a bright orange, now being a pale tangerine, suggesting more than one fight, and against a very strong unicorn, judging by the expression on your face, you lost. And, there is multiple hoof prints on your legs, and sides, some deeper imprints than others, implying you fought at least one other stallion, not just Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Next, Your unicorn horn isn't very well hidden by your spiky hair, and judging by the magic residue emanating from the device on your waist, it takes quite a lot of magic to control. Your eyes also aren't the green that is told by your contacts, suggesting that you thought such a poor trick could possibly fool me. Also, your cape is far too light, meaning it flows with the wind quite a lot, allowing me to see your cutie mark. Which is a joystick for a video game, and you are panicked that I know all this information, which is why you are preparing the device for a capture, judging by the magic surrounding the capture button. Finally, that lovely shade of pink your cheeks are turning makes me think that you have a crush on me. And I have also already figured out what you do with the ponies, using common sense, and I find it disgusting using other ponies for your own entertainment, the only thing that is even more disgusting, is that they are mindless, because Scootaloo told me that when you attacked her with that device, she said her mind began to fade away, everything going blank.”
The stallion stood dumbfounded, as all these deductions were dead on the nose.
“Oh, and darling, by the way, that cloak is very inconvenient when fighting a unicorn.”
“What?”
His hood was quickly pulled over his face, and sewn to the neck on his cloak. Without any delay, Rarity rushed towards him and delivered a swift kick to the nose as he howled in pain.
“Rarity, what's going on down there, there's a lot of crashing, can I come down?”
“No! Do not come down Sweetie!”
“But-”
“Sweetie! If you even THINK about coming down here, you will not see the other Crusaders for a MONTH!”
“Hmm, looks like this pony's got a lot of fight in her.” The stallion smirked.
“You are darn, right you ruffian!”
Rarity, adrenaline taking over, quickly bound his legs with a roll of fabric, and tossed him outside, where he slowly backed away from Carousel Boutique.
“And stay away from Ponyville!” Rarity screeched as she slammed the door, and then swore as she realized that she just let the ponynapper go.
“Rarity, what happened?” Sweetie innocently asked, standing at the top of the stairs.
“Oh that ghastly ponynapper came back, but his nose and left legs are broken, so don't worry darling, he'll be gone for a good month or two.”
“No, he won't! His device allows him to heal any and every wound!”
“Please say that you are telling me a horrid joke!”
“.... I can't lie to you Rarity...”
“Oh, Celestia no!”
“Yes, Rarity.”
The stallion, broken and beaten sat down with his device, setting it to heal, and pointed it towards himself, a crackle of blue energy engulfed the stallion as the pain pinching every nerve in his legs slowly releasing, as if melting away.
He smirked. The Elements of Harmony, eh? I'll have a lot of fun with these ponies, especially when I capture them.
He walked over to Fluttershy's cabin, looking in as she treated all of her animals, and a paralysed Scootaloo, he could see her cabin overflowing with kindness.
Stealthily trotting up, he quickly knocked on her door, and hid. When a different purple unicorn answered, he was astounded, but he still remained hidden, and when he realized that she was looking at him, his heart froze, and he became unable to move. She then grabbed a bunny that was in the bush beside him.
“Angel, you really need to stop running away from Fluttershy, she's as nice as can be, and she really cares for you.”
The two pegasus ponies were now with Twilight, conversing with her over why she walked to the door. Scootaloo then hugged Twilight, and thanked her. He managed to overhear their conversation.
“Oh my gosh Twilight, thank you so much! It feels so good to move again!”
“No problem, Scootaloo, but all that magic using will leave me weak, so we'll need to be extra careful, Fluttershy, you don't mind if Spike and I stay here tonight?” When hearing this, the stallion smirked, easy prey.
“Oh... well... of course not. I'd love to have a couple of friends over, I'm really scared with all these ponynappings happening lately.”
“Thank you so much Fluttershy!”
“No problem, I love helping other ponies!”
“Okay girls, let's go inside, we've got a long night ahead of us.” Twilight suggested.
“Yeah!”
“Y.... Yeah.”
The next two hours were a long wait, with all the losing that he had been doing lately, he wasn't tolerating anymore. Sitting in this bush was boring, but thinking about the one and only Rarity made everything worthwhile.
Somewhere along the line, his thoughts turned to dreams, and those dreams were happy ones, the types of dreams where you could stay forever and not leave, the last thing he remembered was hearing the inhabitants of the cottage next to him saying a chorus of “good nights” before the environment around him blurred and a dopey smile slowly spread across his obscured face.
Fluttershy, however was unable to sleep, her feelings a platter of worry for herself and ponyvillians, excitement over the approaching camping trip, happiness that Scootaloo was fine, and sorrow over all the lost ponies.
She stayed awake, sitting at her kitchen table, worrying of what would happen if the stallion came back. She didn't have an eye for detail like Rarity, a cannon like Pinkie, the ability to fly at sonic speeds like Dash, she wasn't strong like AJ, and even though Twilight was with her, her magic was weak at the moment. She wouldn't be able to help anything, she'd just be able to sit there and watch as one by one, her friends were taken, and eventually she would be, too, but eventually, her worry went away, and she too fell asleep at the kitchen table.
The stallion rose with the sun, wondering what had happened, and then he remembered. This morning, I've got a job to do.
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © by Hasbro/Lauren Faust
All Characters belong to their rightful owners
I do not claim ownership over anything used in this story.