“Good morning Twilight, read this.” Sweetie waited patiently, and then stepped into the Castle. Twilight numbly followed her, going over the notes Sweetie had handed her. Putting everything away, Sweetie pulled out her ransom note. It was done in the traditional newspaper-cutout format. Confused, Twilight read it aloud.
“Attention, we have your sister!? Pay us a fee of bits before Sunday or else? Leave your money at the stairs of the Town Center on Saturday at 5pm.” Twilight raised an eyebrow, noticing Sweetie was hovering numbers and some glue.
“I don’t know what a proper amount would be. It needs to be large enough that it looks real, but small enough it’s possible.” Sweetie put the ransom note on a table and waited for Twilight to speak.
“Well I can help you work that out but-uh-why?” Twilight narrowed her eyes, wondering if Sweetie had gone off the deep end. Sweetie blinked, and then mentally scolded herself for not mentioning the why.
“Oh right, well. Okay, see I can’t go an entire loop without needing to see either you or Rarity, and it is draining. So I’m thinking, I pretend to be kidnapped, then I can just vanish for an entire loop, maybe even two.” Sweetie beamed a bright smile, and Twilight looked away, scratching the back of her head.
“What about food, water?” Twilight wasn’t entirely behind the idea of Sweetie kidnapping herself, but it wasn’t as if it was going to harm anypony. At least, directly.
“I can take most of the stuff I need before leaving Rarity’s. And if I need something I can always teleport back.” Sweetie smiled, knowing Twilight wasn’t going to say no.
“What about the end of a loop?” Twilight wanted to make sure Sweetie had thought it out properly. Sweetie smiled, and levitated out a camping tent.
“Last loop, I had a bit of time left at the end, so I moved most of my stuff into a tent, and got Rarity to set it up in my room. She was amused, but she did it. Turns out, a camping tent also counts as an ‘inside’. Cool huh?” Sweetie put the tent away, and waited.
“Alright, as long as you’re prepared, I see no reason not to. Do you want me to use a memory wipe spell so I don’t remember this meeting?” Twilight saw the surprise on Sweetie’s face.
“You can do that? I was just gonna ask you to pretend we never met this loop. That would be great. I have to test whether it works for an entire loop, you see.” Sweetie was planning on camping out in the Everfree. If an animal killed her, she’d revive in her room with her saddlebags. So nothing of importance would be lost.
“Alright, as for the fee I think this would be a good amount. It’s half what’s in the royal treasury, and I’m sure Celestia will be more than happy to part with it to help us.” Twilight arranged the numbers into an amount, and Sweetie glued them onto her ransom note. Concentrating, she made two copies, and clenched her teeth.
One note teleported, appearing on her bed. Folding up the other two, Sweetie wiped off the sweat, gasping for breath. The good news was she could teleport smaller objects the distance from her home and the castle. Soon enough, hopefully, she’d be able to do the same with her body.
“Alright, it’s time for me to go then, see ya Twi.” Sweetie smiled, allowing herself to be brought into a quick hug. Stepping back, she watched as Twilight saluted, and galloped away. Twilight concentrated, and cast the spell, wiping her memories of the conversation. Blinking, she noticed the time, and hurried off to do her morning shopping.
Sweetie set up camp in the Everfree, on the edges near Applejack’s farm. It was one of the safer sections, due to Applejack and Big Mac having to fight Everfree constantly for their land to grow apples on. It was still unsafe, but Sweetie wasn’t worried. What were they going to do, kill her? Sweetie chuckled, checking her tent was set up properly, and waited.
After a few moment, she pouted as she realised she had no means of seeing what was happening. Thinking for a moment, she remembered Luna’s scrying spell, and considered if she’d be a high enough level to cast it. Fumbling for a moment, her horn sparked as she tried to create a makeshift scrying spell off what she had seen Luna do.
“Therewego,” commented Sweetie as a hazy image appeared in the puddle of water she had substituted for a mirror-like surface. As Sweetie continued the spell, she began to tweak the magic, eventually getting it clear enough she could see what was going on. Sitting down, Sweetie watched as her sister entered her room.
“Oh no!” Rarity’s blind panic made a slice of guilt slide through Sweetie, but she ignored it. As Rarity cantered toward Twilight, Sweetie noticed the slight increase in magic strain. Sweetie supposed her limit was likely the very edge of Ponyville. Shrugging, she continued watching.
Panic, a letter to Celestia, all in all like she had predicted. Sweetie watched the events unfold, watching as Twilight tried to detect her location with a spell. Sweetie tried to block it with her magic, and noticed the surprise on Twilight’s face. As it was cast a second time, Sweetie blocked it much better, knowing what to expect.
Twilight’s concern only grew, and Sweetie could guess why. Somepony able to block locating spells, that meant they were on the same level as pre-Alicorn Twilight. Rarity was distraught, but all faces cleared as Celestia entered. Sweetie could see the edge of a large cart full of bits behind Celestia.
It looked like Celestia was discussing something. Sweetie tilted her head, frowning. Concentrating, Sweetie blocked another detection spell from Twilight. Celestia frowned, and her horn began to glow. Sweetie gritted her teeth, calling upon her magic to block it, and felt Celestia’s spell slice through her protection like butter.
Sweetie growled and turned her attention to the picture, noticing Celestia was now examining Rarity. Sweetie felt someone snap her magic tendril, and the puddle cleared. Growling, Sweetie cast the spell out, this time to Spike’s perspective. Due to his natural resistance, Sweetie was now struggling to even keep the image clear. However, it made her spell harder to detect.
Celestia was shaking her head, holding up a spell Sweetie didn’t recognize. After weeks with Twilight, however, she recognised it as being designed to travel through protection spells, and check the target was breathing. Sweetie felt a slice of guilt, Celestia had only been checking she was still alive.
“Okay, so they can detect I’m alive, but as long as I keep the *huff* shield spell up they won’t be able to find me. Whew this is hard.” Sweetie canceled the scrying spell, putting up a shield spell instead. At the very least, it would protect her from Twilight’s attacks. Sweetie grabbed a drink of water, and tried to regain some of her breath.
“I’ll haveta...think of something for the night...to stop Twilight’s detection spell.” Sweetie felt her eyelids droop, and stifled a yawn. It had been a rough week, Sweetie hadn’t been sleeping well. Sweetie began to lean forward, drifting off.
“Blurgh!” Sweetie splashed in the muddy pool, sitting up and grimacing at her coat.
“Well, that’s one way to stay awake. At least it’s not tree sap.”