“No! That can’t be true!” Rainbow vehemently exclaimed in the Golden Oaks Library.
Twilight nodded solemnly. “I’m afraid so, Rainbow. That’s what the newspapers have been saying. Opacare Prose has seemingly vanished from his apartment in Manehattan!”
She lit her horn and levitated over the morning’s newspaper. The front page had a full article concerning the disappearance. She read the article out loud:
“Famous literary author, Opacare Prose, has seemingly vanished from the face of Equestria overnight, only a week after the release of his latest novel. One of the apartment’s maids discovered the stallion’s absence when she entered his room and found him completely gone. Police were notified, and a full investigation was called.
“A quick search of the room showed that there had been no struggle. There were also no signs of breaking and entering. Police suspect, however, that there was some foul play involved. Based on the maid’s accounts and further searching, Prose left with very few items. Police guess he brought along a small bag, and perhaps a few articles of clothing, due to the absence of a several clothes from his closet.
"Additionally, it was revealed that Prose was a bit of a recluse. Many of the maids even went so far as to call him eccentric. What attributed to this common conclusion was the reveal that he did not ever come out of his room physically—or, at least, whenever the maids were around. As such, not a single one of the maids could give an accurate description of what Prose even looked like, so great was his desire to remain a mystery.
“The investigation is still in its beginning stages. Police have contacted the mayor of Manehattan, and she in turn contacted the Royal Sisters. Further details will be released as the investigation continues.”
As she finished, her friends’ looks went from disbelief to complete shock.
“But that’s simply not possible!” protested Rarity. “Nopony can vanish overnight!”
“This is terrible!” Pinkie wailed. “I was just about to invite him to Ponyville to throw him a ‘Huge Success’ party!”
While her friends gave Pinkie a strange look, Twilight simply ignored Pinkie’s outburst. She shook her head. “Apparently this pony can disappear, Rarity.” She sighed. “I’m worried—”
“That his next book won’t come out for years?” Rainbow interrupted.
The purple unicorn shot the pegasus a withering look, but sighed again. “Maybe a little. But I’m more worried about why he vanished.”
“What do you mean?” Applejack asked.
“For all we know, he could be in danger. There was a rumor that he had several stalkers after him a few days after his latest novel’s release. The newspapers were reporting it for a few days.” She glanced around at her friends. “Maybe somepony’s after him?”
Fluttershy gasped, raising a hoof in front of her mouth. “Oh my goodness, I hope nothing serious has happened to Mr. Prose.”
Pinkie nodded. “Me too. I’d hate having to juggle a stalker and writing at the same time!”
“That’s fine and all,” Applejack said, “but, I have to ask: why do they care if Prose plumb vanished? Don’t they have better things to worry about?”
“When a high profile pony such as Opacare Prose goes missing,” Twilight explained, “it raises alarms with the ponies in authority.” She shook her head. “What’s even odder is that, Manehattan hasn’t had a missing pony report in years. So to have a famous author go missing, after filing several reports of a stalker, in a city that hasn’t had a problem with missing citizens in years…” She looked away nervously. “It raises all sorts of questions.”
Rarity let out a sigh. “Well, I do hope they manage to find him. I would hate to hear that he’s been injured.” In a smaller voice, she added weakly, “And I would hate it even more if he couldn’t finish his next book because of this.”
“Princess Celestia wants us to be on our best lookout for Mr. Prose,” Twilight continued. “He might not be in any danger, but it would ease the concerns of Manehattan and Equestria. She’s ordered several other vicinities to do the same.”
Rainbow nodded. “I’ll organize the pegasi to be on the lookout for him.”
“I’ll try to get the animals to do the same,” Fluttershy said quietly.
“Ah’ll make sure my family and those down in Appleloosa will be looking fer him, too,” Applejack added.
Rarity sighed. “I’m afraid there’s not much else I can do, unfortunately; other than look for him in Ponyville.”
“I’ll do the same! We could be lookout buddies!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Twilight nodded. “Alright. I’ll have Mayor Mare organize the town into groups to look for him.”
They nodded. “Spike, write a letter to Princess Celestia informing her that we’ll be watching for him.” The purple dragon nodded, whipping out a scroll and scribbling a few words. A few seconds later, he lifted the scroll up and blew green fire on it, teleporting it away to Celestia’s chambers.
“He’s missing?” Sweetie Belle asked Apple Bloom at the CMC clubhouse.
The tan filly nodded, her red bow tie shaking slightly. “That’s what my sister told me. The whole town’s having a bit of a panic attack.”
“Why? He’s just an author,” Scootaloo said.
“He’s more than that; at least, that’s what Rarity says.” Sweetie held up a hoof, and mimicked counting down digits. “Other than an author, he’s a pretty good lie detector, a volunteer at the police department, has helped bring in numerous criminals in the past, practiced psychology for a few years, and is also in the medical field.”
“Wow!” Apple Bloom said. “And he’s only got a Cutie Mark for writing?”
Sweetie shrugged. “I guess so. Maybe those other stuff are just other things he likes to do?”
“So he has many talents. So what?” Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie rubbed the back of her head. “Rarity wouldn’t tell me much; but, from what I can tell, him missing is a very surprising incident. Guess vanishing ponies aren’t all that common in Manehattan.”
“They’re not exactly common here, either, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said. “But, yeah; I guess this is a big deal because it’s a rare thing to have happened!”
“Any ideas why he would have disappeared, then?” Scootaloo asked.
Apple Bloom rubbed the back of her head. “Well… I thought that maybe it was because he didn’t like all that attention.”
“What kind of pony doesn’t like to be famous?”
She shrugged. “Maybe he’s like Fluttershy; he might like being alone.” She looked down. “Or, at least, that’s what I was hoping…”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard mah sister and Big Mac talking in the kitchen the other day. It sounded like they were talking about that Prose feller.” She looked away. “I couldn’t hear everything, but I remember they kept mentioning some ‘stalker’ that had been tailing Mr. Prose for a while.”
“A stalker? Like, a reporter?” Scootaloo asked.
Apple Bloom shook her head. “No, like a crazy fan or something like that.”
Sweetie Belle rubbed her chin in curiosity. She reached over to her side and flipped open her bag, pulling out a thick, purple book. Scootaloo glanced up at the action, then saw the cover of the book. “Ew, are you actually trying to get through one of those mushy romance books?”
Sweetie shook her head. “Actually, what Apple Bloom said reminded me of something.” She flipped open the book to the back inside over, where the author’s short bio was supposed to be. “Look there.”
The other fillies peered over her shoulder. “So? It’s just his bio,” Scootaloo said.
Sweetie shook her head again. “But look above it.” She placed a hoof in the space where the author’s face should have been.
“He doesn’t have a picture!” Apple Bloom realized.
The young unicorn nodded. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a book that didn’t have the author’s picture in it somewhere.”
“Maybe he didn’t want to call attention to his face?” suggested Scootaloo.
“But it’s a mandatory thing,” argued Sweetie Belle. “Every book published has to have the author’s face somewhere. Twilight was telling me about that a few days ago.”
“But why is it mandatory?”
“It’s Equestrian law, Scootaloo. Twilight told me that, after several incidents involving copyright problems, the law was put into effect in order to prevent any other cases.”
“You think it could be connected to Prose’s disappearance?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Maybe… I just remembered that it was a weird thing to see.” She closed the book and placed it back in the bag. “Anyway, I have to get going. Rarity wants her book back; I took it before she could finish it.” She grinned sheepishly. “Oops…”
Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah have to get back to the farm. Ah’m gonna write a letter to Babs Seed; see if she could get her family to be on the lookout for Prose.”
“And Rainbow wants me to help organize the pegasi,” Scootaloo said. “So I guess we’ll meet later on?”
“Yep!” the other two chorused. The three of them left the clubhouse for their respective destinations.
Strange, the pewter grey stallion thought as he made his way down the dirt path. Opacare Prose wanted to get away from all the attention; and ended up calling more attention to him than he wanted. He chuckled darkly at the irony. Well, I should have guessed that would have backfired. Told him so.
He gazed around at his surroundings. In front of him was the path leading to the darker side of the Hollow Shades. Behind him was the bustling city of Manehattan, the lights flickering and the voices of the city rising up beyond the tall skyscrapers. He had always hated the noise; it was something that made him despise the city even more than usual.
The police had set up searchlights on the rooftops, and were busy swiveling them around the surrounding landscapes. Thinking quickly, the stallion ducked into a bush, vanishing before the light could find him. He grimaced. While he was not a fan of running away, he considered this necessary for his goals.
As he waited for the searchlight to move away, he found himself reflecting on Opacare Prose. They’ll never find him, he realized. As far as anypony is concerned, Opacare Prose is dead. He frowned. How long will they continue searching is anypony’s guess. Never pegged Prose for being such a popular guy.
The searchlight glanced around for a few more seconds, before moving away for another area. He let out a sigh of relief, standing up from the bush. He quickly galloped down the path, doing his best to dodge the curious lights from the city. A nearby tree’s low branch snagged his blue vest; he tore it quickly, leaving a small bit of fabric hanging on the branch. He glanced behind, and the searchlight reflected off of him slightly, though not enough for him to be fully revealed. All that the searchers could see were a pair of carnation pink orbs, which they would later attribute to being just a forest creature.
Quickly, he checked to make sure that the brown bag and its contents were intact. Seeing that they were, he resumed his way down the path.
Soon he managed to make his way into the Shades, his grey coat vanishing into the darkness within. He glanced one more time at the fading city, and a slight smile came across his features. Step one is complete. Now onto step two.
With that thought, Dusk Prosa turned away, heading deeper into the forest. His steps were soon enveloped by the foliage lying within, drowned out by the silence that the forest carried.
