//------------------------------// // Foal-napped // Story: The return of Gabby Gums. // by Blonde Blue Eyes //------------------------------// "This is it." Babs said as they approached a large, red, brick building. "Just gotta go in and see if they printed those stories." "Wow!" the Crusaders said all at once as they stared in awe at the towering building. "It's huge." Scootaloo remarked "Yeah, they've been Manehattan's biggest newspaper place for over a hundred and some odd years." Babs informed her friends. "C'mon they know me, I used to do paper routes for them." "Why don't you anymore?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Eh, too boring for me. Besides I'm makin more bits workin for a ranch bout a quarter mile outside of the city." Babs said as she pushed open the metal and glass doors to the inside of the newspaper company. "Really? What do you do there?" Sweetie Belle asked with a crack in her voice. "I help take care of the animals. Feed em, exercise em, coral em. You know just basic stuff a ranch might need help with. And I only have to work one day out of a week when they go out." Babs replied gasping for breath because of the long sentence. "Are the animals cute?" Sweetie Belle asked intent on hearing about the possibly adorable animals. "Yeah I guess. I wouldn't really know." Babs said as she reached the main counter. Sweetie Belle looked a little deflated at the vague response. "Hey Frank, what's up?" Babs asked the grey fur, black maned, old stallion behind the desk. "Hey Babs, nothing new here. How's the farm life treatin ya?" He asked happily in reply. "Ranch. And it's great by the way. Anyway, my friends, cousin, and I were just stoppin by to see if you know anything about a column writer who's using the penname Gabby Gums? Maybe he or she is at this place?" Babs asked quickly. "Oh no, Gabby Gums is a column writer for the Manehattan Times." Frank replied. "Really? How'd ya know?" Babs asked in confusion. "Well, don't tell the company, but It's my favorite paper." Frank said holding up the Manehattan Times newspaper. Babs grabbed the newspaper from him and quickly scanned through it. Over half of the material was from this "Gabby Gums" impostor. She tossed the paper back to Frank and called to her friends before taking off out the door with the crusaders close behind. They kept following Babs until they reached an intersection with so much traffic there was no hope of getting across the street. Babs thought for a moment before taking off down the sidewalk. She rounded a corner down another alleyway that would allow them to get around the intersection. "Wait *gasp* girls, ah need a breath." Applebloom called to her friends. It wasn't until then that the rest of the crusaders realized they were exhausted as well. "Yeah, we should probably rest a minute." Scootaloo said as they returned to sit by Applebloom. *Clank* All of their heads quickly snapped to see where the sound had come from. It was a tray with five cups of applejuice sitting on it. There was a note sitting on it as well. Drink up. Signed A Friend. "Drink up? Do you have any friends around here Babs?" Scootaloo asked after reading the note. "I don't know. But I do know I'm thirsty as hay." Babs said as she quickly grabbed one of the cups and downed it quickly. The rest of them carefully drank up. "Hey, where did that boulder comsh from?" Babs asked as she kicked a small rock. "Woah, was that super strength potion?" She said before falling to the ground asleep. "Something's wrong." Scootaloo said as she started to feel woozy also. "Whass going on?" Sweetie Belle asked as she spun in place. "Someone poisoned us." Applebloom said as she too fell to the ground and passed out. Sweetie Belle followed Applebloom to the ground. Seeing her friends all out cold Scootaloo tried to run but only found her head smacking the ground. She tried with all her might to stand but found it impossible. Slowly her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until she couldn't keep them open any more. She passed out on the Alleyway. -------------------- "Scootaloo wake up!" Applebloom's voice called to her. "Come on!" Sweetie Belle said as she shook Scootaloo as hard as she could. Slowly Scootaloo's eyes opened to find herself in a dark room illuminated only by a crack under the door up some stairs. "Wha- where are we?" Scootaloo groaned. "We don't know." Sweetie Belle replied. Scootaloo jumped up quickly after remembering what happened. She looked around the room to see it was just an old basement closet. The room was too small to be the basement itself. "What do we do?" Applebloom asked with fear in her voice. "We find a way to escape of course." Sweetie Belle said trying to comfort her terrified friend. Scootaloo ran up to the door with Babs following. They both peered under the door to see a bunch of old pastry machines. Not the kind controlled by magic. It was much like the kind of machines used to work a conveyor belt. They saw a shadow coming down some stairs to the right of the door. They quickly backed away from the door before it swung open and a giant unicorn stallion stood there looking at the crusaders. A smirk crossed his face as he saw the afraid faces on Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. "Whadda you want with us?" Babs yelled to him. He just walked over and picked up Sweetie Belle in his magic. "Hey let me go." she yelled. "Leave her alone." Babs yelled as she charged for the door Scootaloo and Applebloom following. They were quickly stopped by a barrier of magic he set in front of them. The stallion closed the door. Babs and the others quickly ran to the door and looked under it to see Scootaloo kicking and fighting his magic as much as she could. He threw Scootaloo into the wheel of the machine and said "Run." "I'm not doing anything." Sweetie Belle yelled at him. He reached over and grabbed something off the wall. *Whack* The stallion swung a broom handle at her hitting her right on her right foreleg. Sweetie Belle felt tears welling up inside of her eyes as she started trotting with a limp on the machine. Several angry screams came from the closet when Sweetie Belle's friends saw him hit her. She had never been hit before and it hurt much more than she expected. The stallion put a cover over the wheel and headed back upstairs. "Hang on Sweetie Belle." Applebloom yelled to her. "Yeah, we'll figure this out." Babs said. "Back up." Applebloom said. "My sister taught me how to buck apples, maybe it will work on this old wooden door. *Thwack, thwack, thwack* on the third kick Applebloom managed to kick a small hole in the corner of the door. She tried to fit through it but found she was just a little too big. She pulled her head back out of the hole. She thought for a moment before she got an idea. "Scootaloo, you're smaller than all of us see if you can fit." She said. "Right. I got this." Scootaloo said confidently. She walked over to the hole and managed to squeeze through just barely. "Yes!" she whisper yelled. She tried to open the door but found it locked on both ends. Looking around the room she tried to find something that could help her save her friend. All she could see was a bunch of wooden crates and a metal cart hanging from a rail on the roof. Scootaloo ran up to the wheel and called to Sweetie Belle inside, "Are you ok Sweetie Belle?" She could hear sniffling inside but no response. "Hang tight." Scootaloo said to her. She tried with all her might but the cover would not come off. Scootaloo saw a switch that said "Cart Release." then came up with a great idea. She strained herself trying to fly. She worked all the strength she could gather and managed to lift off the floor. Knowing she couldn't stay airborne long she quickly aligned the cart just in-front of the wheel before her wings gave out and she fell to the floor. "Sweetie Belle. Stop running." Scootaloo said. "He'll hit me again." Sweetie Belle called from behind the cover. Scootaloo could hear her crying and that just made her angrier. "Trust me, I have an idea." Scootaloo said as she ran over to the switch. Sweetie Belle followed Scootaloo's instructions stopped the wheel. It didn't take long before their abductor came through the door grabbing the broom handle again. He stopped in front of the wheel. Using his magic he popped the cover off. As soon as he did this Scootaloo pulled the switch making the cart fall directly on his head. The cart broke his horn off and knocked him clean out. "Yeah-ha!" Scootaloo yelled. Sweetie Belle grabbed a key off the saddlebag the stallion was wearing. She was still crying a little, but she quickly wiped them away as she ran over and unlocked the door her friends were held in. Applebloom and Babs hugged Sweetie Belle together. "Let's get outta here." Babs said motioning a hoof toward the stairs. The three headed up the stairs and out of the pastry shop doors to the city. "Follow me we gotta report this." Babs said running off down the street.