One night in Canterlot, Lars had just finished up the last of his work at the School for Gifted Unicorns, and joined Lyra in a walk home.
"A little cold tonight." Lyra leaned against him.
"You don't hear me complaining." Lars chuckled.
"So, how are Vito's studies going?" Lyra asked.
"Pretty good." Lars smiled. "The kids a real fast learner."
"Of course, he does have a great teacher." Lyra nuzzled him.
"True..." Lars nuzzled her back.
Suddenly, a screeching sound filled the air.
"What was that?" Lyra gasped.
"...Probably just a bird, or something." Lars said nervously.
Suddenly, a black shadow flew over them…
"Gah! That's no bird!" Lyra whimpered.
"Stay close to me, Lyra!" Lars ordered, as he pulled out what looked like a mini-crossbow. "Good thing I keep a teacher service crossbow for such an occasion."
"Wait, teachers are granted service crossbows?" Lyra looked at Lars incredulously.
"No. But I have been writing angry letters to them that they should." Lars pouted.
The black shadow doubled back, and Lars was about to shoot at it, but the beast came too fast and nabbed up Lyra.
"AH! LARS!" Lyra cried.
"Lyra!" Lars roared, as he began shooting at the black blur. "Give me back my wife you buckin' freak of nature!"
The beast did not respond kindly to the insult as he then came back.
"Oh sh-NEVER MIND, NEVER MIND!" Lars lost his courage as he tried running, but the black shadow descended upon him and Lars screamed.
The next day, Miracle was in a serious funk. She was the only member of the Crusaders not to get her Cutie Mark, and was frustrated by it. She couldn't understand why she was the only one who hadn't found her special talent.
"I just don't know what to do, guys." She told her former fellow Crusaders.
"Relax, Mir." Hurricane smiled. "You'll find your special talent soon enough."
"But what if I don't?" Miracle groaned. "Can you imagine how this looks to everypony? A princess who doesn't have her Cutie Mark? Who doesn't know what her special talent is?"
"Who cares what other ponies think?" Pureblood asked. "What matters is what you think."
"Right now, I think I'm a pretty sorry filly." Miracle sighed.
"Come on." Vito declared. "Cheer up. You never know, your special talent might be right around the corner."
Just then, there was a commotion at the gates. A crowd of panicked ponies had gathered there.
"We demand an audience with the princesses immediately!" Jet Set declared.
"They must do something about these disappearances!" Upper Crust added.
"Disappearances?" Miracle gasped.
"I heard dad talking about this yesterday." Hurricane said worriedly. "A lot of Canterlot citizens have vanishing without a trace during the night. The Royal Guard thinks it's some kind of mass kidnapping."
"Sounds pretty nasty." Pureblood cringed.
"Come to think of it, great-uncle Lars was supposed to pick me up for today's lesson." Vito realised. "Do you think he could have been taken too?"
"I hope not." Miracle frowned. "But who would even do such a thing?"
"That's what the Royal Guard are trying to find out." Hurricane declared.
Celestia approached the gate.
"Dear citizens, I know you are frightened, but please remain calm." She announced. "The Royal Guard is doing everything they can to get to the bottom of this. Until then, be sure to stay indoors during the night, with all doors and windows firmly locked."
Unable to argue with Celestia's answer, the crowd slowly dispersed.
"That goes for you all, too." Celestia told the kids. "Stay indoors at night, and stay alert. Understand?"
"Yes, mom." Miracle nodded.
"Good thing Constell and Luxury are vacationing at one of Lux's parents' ski chalets..." Pureblood mused.
"Yah, lucky for them..." Vito said darkly.
That night, Jet Set and Upper Crust were getting ready for bed, still sore about the day's events.
"Unbelievable." Jet Set snorted. "The uselessness of royalty today..."
"I blame it on all those commoners they've let into their family." Upper Crust prattled. "The weirdo, the farm pony, the maid... and let's not forget the one with the out-of-wedlock pregnancy."
"So true, darling." Jet Set sighed, as they climbed into bed. "Such a mess. Though if that vile beast knows what's good for it, it won't tangle with ponies of our calibre."
As Jet Set made to turn off their bedside lamp, he heard a hissing noise from above. He and his wife looked up to see the creature hanging from the ceiling above them.
"I-I meant 'vile' in the best possible way, of course..." Jet Set trembled.
The creature descended upon them.
"Ahhhh!" Upper Crust screamed.
It did not stop with these two. Over the next few days, more and more ponies were being reported missing. Jet Set and Upper Crust, even the likes of Hoity Toity and Sapphire Shores. Nopony was safe.
And it didn't even matter if they heeded Celestia's warning, as Sonny and Bon-Bon learned. The two were in their kitchen.
"This 'best' thing is really starting to worry me, Sonny." Bon-Bon admitted.
"Hey, it's okay." Sonny comforted her. "As long as we stay indoors, and lock up tight, no mindless beast is gonna get us."
"Thanks, Sonny." Bon-Bon nuzzled him. "I needed that."
"Happy to help." Sonny grinned.
They continued their cuddlefest, throwing in some kissing. Then there was a knock at the restaurant's front door.
"Sorry, we're not open!" Sonny said between kisses.
The knocking continued.
"Go away! We're closed!" Sonny insisted. He laid Bon-Bon down on the counter, then leaned in...
A loud crash suddenly ensued.
"Oh, bloody 'ell." Sonny groaned. "I'll be back, Bon, my sweet." He kissed his wife on the nose.
"Don't be long..." Bon-Bon purred.
Sonny walks out to the dining area.
"Look, pal, we're closed right now, so get out before I call the-" He then saw a big black blur. "Oh, sweet mother of Faust..."
Sonny's scream brought Bon-Bon running. She arrived to see Sonny wrestling the beast.
"Sonny!" Bon-Bon gasped.
"Bonnie! RUN!" Sonny urged.
Bon-Bon tried to run through the kitchen area, heart racing, but then the beast suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Arhhh!" Bon-Bon screamed.
Panic was spreading throughout Canterlot. For Pureblood and Vito, this was compounded by the confirmation of Lars and Sonny being among the missing. Then things got even worse, as a tear-ridden Hurricane arrived at the castle one day.
"What's wrong, Hurri?" Miracle asked.
"It's Michael." Hurricane sniffed. "He and mom were... taken last night!"
"Taken?!" Pureblood gasped. "But didn't you say your parents locked your house up tight at night?"
"They did." Hurricane nodded, still sobbing. "But whoever took mom and Michael was able to break the locks."
"What about your father? How he's taking things?" Pureblood asked.
Meanwhile, Caboose was extremely agitated.
"You!" He stopped a random pony. "Stop loitering around. Find that son-of-a-mule beast, ASAP!"
"But sir, I'm just the pony who peels potatoes." The stallion cringed.
"No excuses!" Caboose yelled.
"Not well…" Hurricane whimpered.
"Aw, geez." Vito trembled. "That means none of us are safe!"
"Poor Michael." Miracle comforted Hurricane. "I hate to think what could be happening to him..."
"Him and Mist." Blue Blazes suddenly descended on them, also upset. "She was taken, too."
"No!" Miracle gasped.
"Yes." Blue nodded, shaking a bit, "That monster came and snatched her up when she was getting more cherries…he got both my girl and my kid…"
"Oh dear… this is bad…" Miracle muttered.
Inside, the royal family were discussing what to do.
"We need to find and neutralize this threat immediately!" Blueblood declared.
"Find it how?" Dusty asked.
"From what we've been able to ascertain from the reports, we may have found the kidnappers' pattern." Gothic declared. "Shine believes he may have able to locate his base of operations."
"Not only that, but Gothic's called in one of Luna's former guards, Nightwing." Shine declared, as the old Thestral entered. "Since the kidnappings happen at night, he may be able to give us some insight."
"That's provided my old skills haven't gotten too rusty with retirement..." Nightwing declared.
"I have faith you'll be able to help." Luna smiled. "You always were one of my best Guards."
"Thank you, your highness." Nightwing bowed. "Always happy to serve."
"That settles it, then." Iron Hooves declared. "I'll have my best guards join you on the rescue mission."
"And me!" Caboose added. "This time, it's personal!"
"Sorry, Caboose, but you should stay here." Shine declared.
"What?!" Caboose gasped. "Why?! This monster got my wife and baby boy! Not to mention two of my bros and their wives!"
"Somepony needs to look after the others." Gothic pointed out. "With Iron Hooves joining us, you're next in the chain of command."
"But… Daring… Michael… Sonny… Lars…" Caboose shuddered.
"Don't worry, Lieutenant, we'll find your family." Nightwing comforted, "As well as everypony else. Just keep a cool head, okay?"
"Ohh, fine." Caboose pouted. "Stupid logic..."
"Be careful, dear." Celestia urged.
"You too, Gothic." Luna added.
"We will, cherry blossom." Shine smiled.
"Count on it." Gothic grinned.
It took only moments for the rescue squad to depart. Following the path discovered by Gothic, they entered a nearby forest.
"Night raids, forests..." Nightwing mused. "This all seems so familiar for some reason..."
"What I don't get is how this guy is managing to kidnap so many ponies… evidence suggested this was a work of one pony… yet this looks like it could only be done by three ponies if not more…" Iron rambled on.
"What happens if we do catch the kidnapper?" Gothic wondered. "Would we even be able to find out where he's keeping everypony?"
"Oh, we will." Shine said grimly. "He took my little sister. I'll make him tell us where his victims are. I swear, if he's hurt any of them..."
There was a rustling sound in the trees above.
"What was that?" Iron turned.
"You don't the kidnapper could... fly, do you?" Gothic suddenly wondered.
"I do now." Shine gulped.
A dark shadow descended upon them.
"Oh sh-" Shine, Gothic, Iron, and Nightwing shouted at once before being cut off.
A short while later, the disheveled Nightwing tumbled into the castle's entrance hall.
"Nightwing?" Luna gasped. "Where are the others?"
"It got them." Nightwing gasped. "I just barely managed to escape."
"The kidnapper?" Celestia asked. "You saw it?"
"Yes." Nightwing nodded. "It was a Thestral."
"A Thestral?" Luna frowned. "A lone Thestral captured them all?"
"It was like no Thestral I've ever seen." Nightwing declared. "It was monstrous, feral... yet fast enough to evade our every attack. I-"
A loud screech issued from nearby. A dark shadow flitted across the night sky.
"Oh, buck." Nightwing gulped. "It followed me!"
"Close the doors!" Caboose yelled.
Two of the remaining Royal Guard slammed the door shut. The feral Thestral rammed against the doors fiercely, over and other again.
"Those doors aren't going to hold for long." Dusty declared.
"We need to protect everypony." Celestia said firmly. "We must gather everypony together, and hide until morning."
"Yes, your majesty!" The guards saluted, before rushing off to gather all the castle denizens.
"Can't you just raise the sun now, aunt Celestia?" Vito asked.
"I'm afraid I can't." Celestia declared. "That would upset the balance of Equestria, bringing dire consequences."
"Direr than this?!" Vito groaned.
"Well, we can't have a deus ex machina, now can we?" Hurricane growled.
"What does that even mean?!" Vito asked.
"I dunno!" Hurricane shrugged.
"We can't be sure it would even work, anyway." Luna admitted. "Thestrals may prefer to work at night, but I doubt a sudden shift to daytime would repel our attacker at this point in time."
Just as everypony was gathered together, the doors started to give.
"Let's move!" Luna declared.
"You go on ahead." Caboose stated. "I'll hold it off. Buy you some time."
"But, dad-!" Hurricane yelped.
"I have to do this." Caboose told her. "For mom and Michael and the fact that I am really ticked off right now and I need to let out my aggression. See you soon, sweetie."
Hurricane reluctantly nodded.
As the group ran down the corridor, they heard the doors splintering.
The Thestral was in the castle. It's massive frame, large intimidating (even dragon-like) wings, and bloodshot eyes with wisps coming out of it were all the more terrifying against the moonlight, having a charcoal grey coat, a long, messy, pale-white mane, and a dark star with blood red eyes for a Cutie Mark. Caboose stared the Thestral down.
"I've been lookin' forward to this." Caboose growled, "You better return my wife and my son right now! Or at least a mare and baby colt of equal value!"
"Bring it, mate." The Thestral hissed in a distorted…yet British-like accent.
"Wait, you can talk?" Caboose gasped. "And you're British?"
"So I am." The Thestral smirked. "And you're a ruddy Bitalian. Never did like you pasta-munchers..."
"Okay, I don't care where you are from, but I am going to bring you down!" Caboose roared as he pulled out a heavily-modified crossbow, "Eat bolts!" He began rapidly firing at the Thestral.
However, the bolts only seemed to bounce off his hide… and he ate the bolts that were aimed at his mouth.
"Okay, apparently you can eat bolts… and you enjoy it…" Caboose gulped.
The Thestral charged at Caboose.
As the others ran, they heard a cry of pain from Caboose.
"Dad..." Hurricane gulped.
"Don't look back!" Pureblood yelled.
The ponies split up and each found their own hiding place.
"In here, everypony!" Celestia pointed to the study.
The royals rushed into the study, and barricaded the door with bookcases.
"Now what?" Blueblood wheezed. "We can't keep that thing out forever!"
"Maybe we should talk to it?" Miracle suggested.
"Do what?!" Vito gasped.
"Maybe it's just... y'know, misunderstood." Miracle shrugged.
"'Misunderstood'?" Hurricane repeated. "It's kidnapping ponies!!"
"There has to be a reason why it's doing what it's doing." Miracle insisted.
"Miracle, I admire your optimism." Celestia declared. "But you heard what Nightwing said. The Thestral is feral. It won't listen to reason."
"All we can do is keep you safe from it." Luna agreed.
Miracle frowned.
"Sorry, Mir." Pureblood sighed. "You're outvoted."
"Aunt Celestia, why can't you and aunt Luna just blast it?" Vito asked.
"We can't risk a battle, not with you all to protect." Luna told him. "Besides, from what Nightwing told us about what happened to Gothic and Shine, even we may not be able to stop it."
"Well, that's encouraging." Blueblood frowned.
Before long, the Thestral returned. Like a bloodhound, it seemed to know exactly where it's victims were hiding.
It found the guards in the kitchen…
"Back away, you monster!" One guard shrieked, as he uselessly fired magic bolts at it.
The Thestral rammed one guard into a wall, then grabbed another, and threw it at the remainder, knocking them out.
And found Nightwing in the observatory…
"Come now." Nightwing tried to talk it down. "We're both Thestrals. Doesn't that count for something?"
"Nope." The feral Thestral smirked, before charging his elder.
Even Blue Blazes couldn't get away… not that he wanted to.
"Y'know, I'm actually glad you found me." Blue declared. "Give me my girl back, slimeball!"
"No chance, feathers." The Thestral snarled, flapping in midair. "Besides, your fat mate's better off where she is."
"She's pregnant, you jerk!" Blue flew up and collided with the Thestral in mid-air. A struggle ensued, and the Thestral quickly gained the upper hoof, grabbing Blue by his wings.
"Ahh!" Blue yelled. "Let me go, you overgrown bat!"
Only the royals were left. The Thestral started banging against the study door. The bookcases started shifting backwards from the force.
"What's this guy been eating?" Blueblood gasped. "Even Big Red isn't that strong."
The bookcases tumbled as the door was thrust open.
"There you are..." The Thestral hissed.
Having no other choice, Celestia and Luna unleashed a volley of horn beams at the Thestral. The blasts seemed to stagger it, but then it straightened up, smirking.
"That all you got?" It taunted.
"Now what?" Dusty asked.
"The balcony!" Celestia pointed.
As they rushed over, the Thestral grabbed two bookcases and tossed them across the room. They landed in front of Miracle and Hurricane, blocking the archway that led to the balcony.
"No!" Celestia yelled. "Miracle!" She was about to blast the barricade apart.
"Sister, no! You'll hurt the children if you blast it open!" Luna stopped her.
"Then what do you suggest we do?!" Celestia yelled, on the verge of hysteria.
"We go around." Luna pointed to another balcony. "It may be a longer route, but it's our best shot."
"Very well." Celestia nodded.
Picking up Blueblood, Dusty, and the twins, they flew to the other balcony. Once they set hoof upon, they started running.
"Hurry, hurry!" Pureblood urged.
"Who knows what that thing could be doing to them!" Vito declared.
Meanwhile, the Thestral advanced on the kids.
"Y-you don't have to do this." Miracle tried to reason with it. "Just tell us what you want."
"What I want is you." The Thestral sneered.
"But why?!" Miracle cried.
Maybe I suffered some tragedy that caused me into into an insane cannibal" The thestral chuckled darkly.
Hurricane stayed stalk-still, frozen with terror.
"There must be a peaceful solution to all this." Miracle urged, "You don't have to do this!"
"But I want to… you can prat about peace and all that crud all you want." The Thestral smirked. "As for me, I think I'll take the Pegasus first."
As the Thestral reached for the still-frozen Hurricane, Miracle snapped. The need to save her best friend and everypony else induced a massive surge of power. Her horn glowed brighter than ever before.
"What the..." The Thestral stared.
"No... more!" Miracle yelled, as a beam of pure light erupted from her horn, striking the Thestral dead center.
There was a massive flash. When it faded, the Thestral was lying on the floor... but his appearance had changed to that of a normal one: his charcoal grey coat was lighter, his white mane was short and partially groomed (yet still a bit messed up), smaller leather wings, and his dark star cutie mark no longer had red eyes. Speaking of eyes, when he was waking up, his eyes were revealed to be a bright gold color, the pupil slitted as per usual of every Thestral. He was actually quite handsome.
"Ooooh." He groaned, coming to, speaking in a quiet, yet still British tone, "What happened? Where am I? What's going on?"
"You tried to kidnap us is what's going on!" Hurricane yelled.
"Wait, what?!" The Thestral gasped, horrified, "What do you mean by that?!"
Celestia and Luna rushed into teh room.
"Are you alright?" Celestia embraced Miracle. "I saw a flash, and..."
"That was me." Miracle declared. "I... turned him back to normal."
"You did?!" Vito gaped.
"Amazing..." Pureblood gasped.
As the Thestral tried to get up, Blueblood got in his face.
"Okay, you, who are you, and what have you done with Shine and the others?!" Blueblood demanded.
"Shine? Who's Shine?" The thestral asked, a bit confused.
"Don't play dumb, you son of-" Blueblood threatened.
"Dear, let me handle this." Dusty stopped him, before glaring harder at the Thestral. "Okay, bub, where's my uncles, my aunts, and my nephew?!"
"Look, I really don't know what is going on here!" The bat-pony insisted. "Everything is a complete blur…"
"If that is the case, then that means the others are still missing…" Celestia shook her head. "And we may never find them..."
"You come with us." Luna glared at the Thestral. "We need to straighten this out."
"Yes, ma'am." The Thestral said sheepishly.
As they made their way back to the entrance hall, the sun was rising and they were greeted by a surprising sight; all the missing ponies the Thestral had captured resurfaced.
"Dad!" Hurricane rushed to hug him. "Mom! Michael!"
"Are you okay?" Daring hugged her daughter.
"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Hurricane smiled. "Mikey?"
"M'okay." Michael nodded, still a little shell-shocked.
"Where did the Thestral take you?" Dusty asked.
"To the old dungeons in the mountain." Nightwing answered.
"Who knew we had dungeons in such a faraway place." Shine shrugged.
"Remarkably well-built dungeons at that." Gothic added.
"Cold, draughty... a real classic." Iron grimaced.
"How did you all escape?" Blueblood asked.
"Simple." Caboose smirked. "The big fella accidentally left my cell unlocked. Took me a while to figure it out, though..."
"Yeah, till Caboose had to use the bathroom." Sonny groaned. "We were locked up for two days, Caboose!"
"Hey, how was I supposed to know that he would leave the door unlocked, he was British! British ponies are often smart!" Caboose reasoned.
"Unlike certain Bitalian ponies..." Lars mumbled.
"Where is the Thestral, anywho?" Gothic asked.
"Um…hello."
Everypony glanced at the quiet voice, as the Thestral walked out from behind the princesses.
"Wait, that's the guy who took us?" Blue asked.
"He looks a lot smaller than I remember." Caboose raised an eyebrow.
"And less... scary." Lyra added.
"And a lot more handsome." Bon-Bon admitted.
"Say what?!" Sonny gaped. "He kidnapped us!"
"I know." Bon-Bon shrugged. "Just saying..."
"I think we'd all like to know why you did this." Mist glared at the Thestral.
"I suppose I owe you that much." The Thestral sighed. "My name is Echo Alchemy. I'm a scientist. I was studying the power of dark magic, seeking a way to harness it for good. But it seems all that exposure drove me mad and turned me into that monster everypony said I was, and in my compromised state, I must had started kidnapping all of you. I'm ever so sorry."
"Well, I guess that's have to do." Lars grimaced, "It's not the first time a pony lost it when he was trying to find better use for stuff."
"What I don't understand though is how I was restored to normal." Echo frowned, "I was in a really bad way…"
"It was Miracle." Celestia smiled. "The dark magic had corrupted your soul, and Miracle's light cleared all the evil from your heart, bringing you back to normal."
"I did all that?" Miracle gasped.
"You sure did." Shine smiled. "It seems you have the ability to see through a pony's heart and bring out the goodness in them, purifying their heart."
"Wow..." Miracle gasped. He flank suddenly light up, revealing a ten-pointed star Cutie Mark. "My Cutie Mark... It's really here!"
"Well done, darling." Celestia smiled.
"Congratulations." Shine added.
"Way to go, Mir!" Pureblood smiled.
"Welcome to the club." Vito grinned.
"You really earned it." Hurricane hugged her.
"Now, as for you, Mr. Echo." Luna turned.
Echo gulped.
"Since you were clearly not in your right mind for most of this escapade, I believe we can forego the kidnapping charges." Luna smiled.
"What?!" Jet Set said indignantly.
"Outrageous!" Upper Crust gasped.
"Are you sure about this, dear?" Gothic asked.
"Of course." Luna declared. "I know the look of guilt on a pony's face all too well. And Echo is truly sorry for what he has done. In truth, he has suffered more than any of us."
The crowd muttered, not all of them agreeing.
"Have you lost your mind?! That Thestral is an endangerment to our society!" Upper Crust roared.
"That leather-winged abomination should be locked up!" Jet Set agreed.
"And what's wrong with having leather wings?" Nightwing glared.
"They have a point." Iron agreed. "Whether he was in his right mind or not, he still committed several crimes."
"Yeah!" Blue agreed. "We can't just let him get away with it!"
"Our decision is final, everypony. However, we'll have to send him to the Crystal Empire for examinations, just to be sure..." Luna added.
"Anything you say, your highness." Echo bowed. "I deserve far worst."
"We'll be the judge of that, young one." Nightwing smiled.
"I owe you my thanks, young lady." Echo told Miracle. "You saved me from myself. I can never thank you enough for your deed."
"No problem." Miracle smiled. "Just doing what comes naturally. I had a feeling you weren't just some monster, anyway..."
"Time to go, I think." Nightwing told Echo.
"Of course." Echo nodded. "Thank you again, young lady."
Miracle smiled as Echo was led away. Other ponies weren't so happy; Some were still muttering about Echo being let off easy, but most were happy the nightmare was over.
After catching a few hours' sleep, the former Crusaders met up in the gardens, celebrating Miracle finally getting her Cutie Mark..
"So much for the Cutie Mark Crusaders Royale, huh?" Miracle chuckled.
"I'll say." Hurricane nodded. "Looks like it's mission accomplished."
"It was fun while it lasted, though." Pureblood noted.
"And besides, who knows what's coming next?" Vito declared. "Like great-uncle Salt says: Life's one sweet ride'!"
"Got that right." Miracle nodded. "And besides, we may not be Crusaders anymore, but we'll always be four of a kind."
"True dat." Hurricane nodded. "Hope you enjoyed the story, readers!"
"Huh?" Pureblood frowned.
"Just smile and nod." Vito muttered. "Just smile and nod."
The End.