To Seek Help…
Sweetiebelle awoke in a small, dark and damp, stone cell with her hair, and tail in an absolute mess. It took her moment to realise where she was and what had happened; all she could remember was being kidnapped. They had threatened to kill her if she didn’t go quietly, yet, she didn’t know who they were or what they wanted with her.
However, the fact that she had woken up somewhere unfamiliar and unfriendly did not phase as much as what she was looking at. Her vision met the eyes of an all time enemy, someone she hated and someone she had hoped that she would never see again. These eyes belonged to a teenage girl, one of the same age as her, she was an old rival of Sweetiebelle... she was looking at Diamond Tiara.
Diamond Tiara was wearing only her school uniform which consisted of a short, black, skirt and a white, buttoned-up polo shirt with the school’s logo over the heart; she attended the high-school in Ponyville, called Ponyville High-School.
Unlike Sweetiebelle, Diamond Tiara’s hair and tail was in very good condition and obviously very well washed. She had fashioned her hair into a long ponytail and the colour was still, as always, pink.
Sweetiebelle though, was wearing her light pink, short and sleeveless dress that she had donned that very morning before readying for home. She had been stripped of her red sandals and multi-coloured bangles as well as her emerald manticore necklace and her diamond earrings.
Her fur, hair and tail were in an absolute mess and if Rarity were to see her, she would surely be disgraced. He pure-white coat had been stained with brown dirt along the shoulders and feet as well as knees. There was also a small pebble or two stuck in her twisted hair.
She eyes her captor, knowing that this was not going to be a sick joke; Diamond Tiara wouldn’t pull a prank like this... no... Something was happening and this is what frustrated her most.
“What do you want with me, Tiara?” Sweetiebelle questioned strongly, she had a lot of fight left in her and if she weren’t stuck in this cell, she would punch Diamond Tiara so hard, that her eye socket would be too destroyed to fit an eye.
“Oh so you do talk, Sweetiebelle.” Tiara taunted, “So how has my favourite blank flank been?”
“I have my cutie mark, I have for over a year now...!” Sweetiebelle growled and replied, she was annoyed that Tiara didn’t even care enough to know one simple fact.
“You do?” the pink teenager asked. “Hold on for a second.” she said, gesturing for her to stay where she was, clearly to taunt her, as Sweetiebelle couldn’t go anywhere anyway.
She put her hand in her shirt pocket, pulled out a pair off keys and unlocked the cell door. She walked in and rushed over to Sweetiebelle, pinning her against the wall and she held her there tightly.
“Now I suggest that you don’t move or make this difficult. Because you will regret it!” she warned, putting emphasis on the ‘will’ to show that she was serious; she had no intent on letting her captive get away. “Now hold still.”
She ran her hand down her dress and when she got to the bottom of it, she yanked the dress upwards, revealing her high-thigh as well as her underwear. But most importantly, it revealed her cutie mark.
Her cutie mark was deep pink, musical note that was tipped with a love heart covering a flourish of hot pink that curled at the ends. It symbolised her talent and desire to sing as she recognised how beautiful her voice could be.
“When did you get this?” Diamond Tiara asked, infuriated and she dropped Sweetiebelle dress back down and looked her directly in the eye.
“I told you, I got it a year ago.” she replied in an equally annoyed tone.
Diamond Tiara let go of her and pushed her to the floor of the cell, which made dust fly all through the air, causing them both to cough. She left Sweetiebelle on the floor, left the cell and looked the door.
“What do you want with me?” Sweetiebelle managed to ask.
Tiara stopped in her tracks and turned around to face her. Half her face was covered by the shadows of the dungeon.
“We have no use for you. They just got bored and needed some more money.” she replied and turned tail again; disappearing into the shadows and leaving two guards standing by Sweetiebelle’s prison.
– Later that night in Ponyville –
After a long day of hopelessly looking for her sister, Rarity decided that it would be best if she headed to the Ponyville Guard House to report the crime. Along side her, walked Spike who was deeply concerned for his girlfriend and whether or not she was actually going to be okay.
The journey there seemed like it had taken forever and the sun had already set. The moon that rose in its place was full and large; it was bright and clear as there was not a single cloud in the sky.
The door to the Guard House was open, as it always was, and the building itself was tall, large and made of entirely stone. It was where all the guard’s slept, kept prisoners, ate food and organised operations. The windows were well kept and dust free and from the roof, petruded a tall tower that over looked the entire town.
Spike and Rarity entered the building in a hurry and immediately got the attention of a guard nearby who was sitting on a chair, holding a mug of rum. The guard was wearing his typical guard armour, which consisted of golden boots, chestplate and helmet. For his legs he wore black slacks. By his waist was a sharpened sword with a golden hilt and a silver blade.
The guard himself had cyan blue fur and brown hair and tail. He had a line of freckles that went from one cheek to another and arched over his nose. He had deep amber eyes and there was a small scar on the bottom of his lip.
“Yes?” he asked, standing up to acknowledge the arrival of the two distressed people. He placed the mug of rum down on a table to his side.
“My sister’s.... been... kidnapped!” Rarity yelled loudly in grief as she tried to catch her breath.
“Alright. Sit down.” the guard gestured to two chairs and he pulled out a note pad. “What’s her name?” He began to ask questions.
“Sweetiebelle.” Rarity replied, doing her best to answer every question.
“How old is she?”
“Fourteen, but she turns fifteen in two weeks.”
“What school does she attend?”
“She was recently expelled from Canterlot School of Equestria’s Gifted. I’m going to send her to Ponyville National High School.”
“What colour are her eyes, fur and hair?”
“Her eyes are green, fur is white and her hair and tail is pink and light purple.”
“What was she wearing when she went missing?”
“She was wearing a sleeveless, pink dress... umm red heels and blue, yellow and green bracelets.” Spike chimed in, since he was the only one, apart from Lyvia, who saw what she was wearing.
“Who was with her when she was abducted?” the guard continued to ask questions.
“Me and Lyvia Sounds.” Spike answered again.
“Where is Lyvia Sounds now?” The guard was writing everything that was said down into his notebook.
“She’s with Princess Twilight Sparkle, still looking for her.”
The guard smiled and looked at them both, “Thank you, but I have one question left to ask before you can go.” he looked back at his note pad. “Did you see who abducted her?”
“Well no, because I didn’t see their faces... but there were three of them, all of them were wearing black cloaks and one of them was carrying a knife. Another was also carrying a smoke bomb... but that’s all I saw.”
The guard wrote everything down, word for word and placed his note pad in his pocket. “Well thank you, we will conduct our search as soon as possible. Now I suggest you head off home.” he went to walk into another room but instead he stopped and picked up his mug of rum and took a sip of it. “What are your names?”
“I’m Spike and this is Rarity.” the teenage dragon spoke as he introduced the two of them to, hopefully, the saviour of Sweetiebelle.
“My name is Silver Blaze – Captain of Squad 81. We will guarantee the rescue of Sweetiebelle, Spike and Rarity.” he saluted, smiled and walked off into the other room.
After that, Rarity and Spike went separate ways. Spike went back to Ponyville Library where Twilight only occasionally stayed as she lived in Canterlot now. Rarity went back to Carousel Boutique, and on her way home it began to rain heavily. No doubt that this day had been one of the worst that she had ever experienced. She was just glad that she had people like Silver Blaze, Spike and Twilight in her life to help her.
Once she had reached her front door, the sun had completely set and it as now night-time, she was also utterly drenched and her hair and tail had straightened out. She opened the door to her home and the first thing that she expected to be greeted by was her hungry cat, Opal. However, she wasn’t, but she did see a note upon the floor.
With a flourish of magic, Rarity levitated the note out infront of her and began to read….
Dear, Lady Rarity.
We have your sister, Sweetiebelle and if you ever wish to see her again without her being dead. Then we suggest that you comply with our conditions.
1- we want five thousand Bits.
2- a priceless Amethyst Gem that we know you have.
Meet us at the small, run down shack just east of town. From there, we will negotiate a trade. You have four days to agree with this and we shall be waiting for you at noon every day or she will be killed.
Signed: The Black Apple Gang.
Rarity gasped. Sweetiebelle was in the possession of The Black Apple Gang. That gang was a ruthless, merciless group of thugs that became rich by robbing the innocent. They were also wanted for various accounts of rape, murder and grievous assault and now they had Sweetiebelle.
There was no way that Rarity would be able to refuse the deal otherwise her little sister would end up dead. But maybe, she would get a few of the guards to come along and arrest them, or rescue her before anything bad has to happen.
In any case, it would be a safe idea to tell the guards about this. So she grabbed the note and put it in her bag and rushed out the door into the rainy night in a determined haste.