//------------------------------//
// Of Mouse and Mares 
// Story: For Everfree 
// by NPP6 
//------------------------------//

	She was seven years old, her favorite color was green, and she wanted them to call her "Mouse" because that's what her favorite uncle called her. That was the sum total of everything they managed to get out of the little grifflet.
Between threats from her chicknappers (They decided to use griffon terms) and warnings from her parents about talking to strangers, she wasn't about to tell them anything more. They also had to give up after about an hour so that they could sneak out without Vinegar knowing they were there.
A few days later, Vinegar was again out of the house, so they snuck back in. This time they brought Contrail and Lotus Blossom along. That turned out to be a good thing, apparently Lotus Blossom reminded Mouse of the maid whose daughter she played with. They didn't get much more out of her, but she was more comfortable, and they did get a little...



"So if she runs away, they hurt her parents. If her parents don't do what they want, they hurt her. As soon as they get what they want, they'll kill her and her parents."
"No Midnight."
"Moonchaser, come on, it's obvious! There's only one way to solve this problem. Featherdancer, back me up here."
"He's right about it being a solution. If nothing else, it'll buy time for her parents to vanish."
"What is it with you two? I never even would have thought about trying this until I met you, but it seems to be your go-to plan."
"Oh now come on Sunny, you can't say you never did it while running from the guards. And technically, it's our Plan B."
"Out of curiosity, have any of us ever seen your Plan A?"
"Yeah Dusty, I'm sure Midnight's shown it to you plenty of times by now, you just didn't realize it because it usually ends up with us using Plan B anyway."
"So what is this mysterious Plan A?"
Midnight smirked. "Of all ponies Contrail, you should see it, it's the same as your Plan A."
Firebrand tipped her head to one side. "Which is?"
The mage's smile turned predatory, "Fight your way out."
"I see the problem with using that here." Sunbeam drawled.
The Doctor cast a nervous glance towards where Lotus, Ditzy, and Mouse were playing in a corner. "It might not be our best plan, but it's still a plan. I say keep it as Plan B and find a different Plan A."
Further discussion was cut off as they heard Free Range call loudly from the front door, "Oh! Mrs. Vinegar! You're back early, we weren't expecting you for another hour! Is something the matter? Can I help you with anything?"
Eyes widened and heads swiveled.
Dust Runner and Contrail dove under the bed, hiding behind the dust ruffle. There's an interesting story in the name of that item about mishearing things and how Dust Runner wound up as a maid instead of a messenger, but that's not what you're here for. Another time perhaps?
Lotus Blossom, on the other hoof, fell back on her old standby of hiding in the closet. The rest all crammed themselves into a corner, Midnight, Featherdancer, and Ditzy standing on the cieling again, as somepony whispered, "Sunny, we could really use an illusion spell right now. Glamour, mirage, whatever you've got, just make us disappear."
The spell finished right as the door opened.



Vinegar snorted as she came through the gate of her domain. "You? Did you forget that you're useless Grass Stain? Get out of my way."
As she shoved him aside, she heard a door slamming in one of the halls. Ordinarilly, the first thing she would have done would be to storm into that room and give those rotten twins a beating. Unfortunately, she had business to attend to first.
When she reached the top of the stairs, the pegasus slut was coming out of the invalid's room. A hiss drove her back in.
Finally, after what felt like entirely too much effort, she threw open the door at the end of the hall and walked into the prisoner's room. Out of the corner of her eye, she though she saw something sparkle, but it was gone as quickly as she looked. Useless light. If only it wouldn't cost so much to remove the fire braziers and seal up the windows.
She sneered at the wretch standing on the edge of the bed. "Well freeloader, you'll be happy to know that you're going to be out of my mane by this time tomorrow." The impudent brat didn't even acknowledge her! Well, she would just have to teach her her place. "Just like your precious pa~rents" She deliberately drew out the word, "Are already out of Durcheinander's hair."
Ah, now there was the reaction she was looking for. Shock and tears were in the guttersnipe's eyes. Vinegar was satisfied, her record was unbroken. She could safely say that she could make any foal cry again. Now to twist the knife.
"I do have to thank you though, I got a promotion out of you." She gave a saccharine smile. "You see, before, they just used me like a warehouse, but now... Now I get to actually do what I want to!
"You see, it would have been another week before the assassins who cleaned up that mess got back, so I took the opportunity to offer my services instead. And do you know what my contacts said?" She leaned in close to whisper in the chicken's face. "They said yes!"



Midnight took the opportunity to take in the mare's features. Her coat was an off-white that reminded him of yellowed bones. Her mane and tail were a solid olive green that matched her eyes. What didn't make much sense to him was her cutie mark. For the life of him, he had no idea what an icicle had to do with anything.
When she left, there was a stunned silence. None of them had expected to find out they were too late.
Lotus and Ditzy descended on Mouse, trying to comfort her. Sunbeam shooed them away in disgust. "She doesn't need platitudes you idiots. Her parents got killed, not her dog. So unless any of you can bring back the dead, she needs to grieve."
Firebrand nodded, "Sunny's right, you can ask any orphan in here. She needs a shoulder to cry on and somepony to hold her more than anything."
Midnight sighed, "Unfortunately Sunbeam, it can't be you. You need to go invisible and keep an eye on what Vinegar's up to."
The mare nodded and vanished in a shimmer as Firbrand picked up the chicklett that everypony else was now afraid to go near. "In the meantime," She pointed out, "We need to come up with a plan."



Sunbeam looked ill when she slipped back into the room. She waved off help and looked at Midnight and Moonchaser. "Please tell me you have a plan."
"We've got a few," her sister said, "What did you find out?"
The unicorn swallowed hard. "I... I'll skip the details." She shuddered. "The... the point is, that she's going to cook Mouse... And then I think she's going to serve her for dinner."
Lotus Blossom and Featherdancer blanched, and Moonchaser looked like she might be ill. The Doctor and Midnight exchanged a glance and a nod. "It's settled then." The time charger said.
"Which plan are we going with?" Ditzy queried.
Midnight's voice was almost a whisper, "All of them."



Midnight shook his head as he cast the parchment littered with runes aside. "The wards are set up so that I can't take them apart or create a hole without her knowing."
"Can't you bypass it?"
"There's nothing to bypass. Whoever set this up was clever, I'm perfectly capable of making a hole or disabling the wards, but when I do, she'll know."
"Well, there went Plan A."



Sunbeam looked downtrodden as she caame back into the room. "The front door and gate are both locked and the kitchen door is open so she can watch it. We're not getting out that way."
"Well, there went Plan H."



Dust Runner sighed as she pressed the last space on the wall. "No secret passages."
"Well, there went plan Q.5."



"There went plan ZXL."



"There went plan 975."



"Plan 2376R."



"Plan Muffin."



"Plan Alphanumeric Designation."



"Plan F1R3."



"L8R."



"17 Dot Explosion."



"Three pi and a half."



"J9sev-"
"You know," Midnight cut his brother off, "Giving random names to the plans doesn't actually mean we tried any more of them."
"And it's annoying." Contrail griped.
"Well whaddaya want? Moonchaser said we're not allowed to use 'Plan B' so what was I supposed to do?"
"Doctor?" Ditzy spoke up, "I think we need to go back to Plan A."
Contrail cocked an eyebrow. "I thought we agreed that was a bad thing?"
The time traveler smiled. "Not your Plan A, mine."
Sunbeam nodded. "So what's the plan?"
"Bluff."



Vinegar stopped short as she walked into the room. Standing in front of her were a pair of stallions, an earth pony and a bat pony. The earth pony looked up at her. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. Before you ask, it's better that that's all you know me as. Now then, run along, and we'll be out of your mane as soon as we've dealt with this one." He pointed with a hoof at the grifflett where she was tied up on the bed. It looked like the bat pony was about to nuzzle her...
Or bite her the thought sprung unbidden to everypony's mind as he ran his tongue over his teeth.
The mare shook herself. "Now just a minute here, I was told that I was going to be allowed to deal with this guttersnipe."
The bat pony rolled his eyes. "You took too long. If you really wanted it that badly, then you should have finished it before we got here."
She gave him a quizzical look. "And what are you doing anyway."
"They can't can't use a blood trace on her if I drain all of her blood. It'll keep anypony from finding the body."
"I thought we wanted the body found?"
"At the right place and time. It's not enough to kill them, we have to make their deaths useful."
She took a step back. "That's not how they described you."
The pair traded a glance. "You seem to have us confused with somepony." The bat pony said, "We're new."
She took another step back. "No, they would have told me if-"
"Providing you're important enough." The earth pony again. "Besides, no good assassin gives a warning."
She took a third step and saw something out of the corner of her eye. "There's somepony hiding over there."
The earth pony nodded. "The third member of our team likes her privacy. Her invisibility spell is how we got in here past you."
She shook her head slowly. "No. They never send three. Always two." She spun and started galloping down the hallway.
The Doctor charged after her, calling over his shoulder as he did, "Midnight, Contrail, we may need your Plan A after all."