//------------------------------// // Are You Insane? // Story: I'm No Legend // by Short Stories //------------------------------// Lily, Rose, and Daisy stared in shock as Twilight Sparkle drew near. The princess that lived in Ponyville and the trio adored, like all other ponies, was coming directly they're way. "What do we do?" Rose asked nervously, prancing in place, "do we move out of the way? Do we smile and wave? Should we just pretend like she isn't--" Rose was greeted with a hard slap across the face. Once she recovered, she stared at Daisy venomously, not saying a word. "What?" Daisy asked innocently, "you wouldn't want the princess to see you acting like that, would you?" Rose pondered the thought for a brief second, looking away. "Fair point," she said, right as the princess stopped in front of them. She began to shake nervously while Daisy and Lily played it cool. "Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you where I am?" Twilight asked, making sure to look at all three. The three mares exchanged a look, wondering if it was some kind of strange test or joke Twilight had come up with that she wanted to try out on different ponies. Lily gave out a nervous laugh and nudged Daisy, who nuged Rose, they were soon all aughing nervously, wondeing what else to do. Twilight looked at them curiously, wondering what she had said that was so funny. "Um....why are you laughing?" She asked, feeling the tiniest bit hurt. Daisy shut up immediately, Rose and Lily following suit. Rose seemed to starstruck at the moment to form words, Lily was simply too shy, so Daisy decided to talk for all three of them. "We thought you were joking," she said simply, "you've lived in this town for, what, two years now?" Lily and Rose nodded their approval, looking concerned for the young princess. Twilight's eyes dilated down, ears folding back. Small droplets of sweat began to appear on her brow, which she used her magic to wipe off. "T-two years?" She asked, obviously trying to not freak out. "Y-your joking! This is all some sort of p-p-prank set up by S-spike, right? Please tell me I'm right." The mares exchanged worried glances again, not exactly sure on what to say. "I-i-is this a test...?" Rose mumbled after a while. Twilight's eyes widened, suddenly at a lose for words. She shook her head, knowing her mouth was hanging open. It was at that moment the mares realized all the questions Twilight was asking them were serious. The mare sincerely didn't know where she was or how long she had lived in Ponyville. Rose put her hoof to her forehead, raising her eyes to the sky. "The horror! THE HORROR!" She cried before fainting to an unconscious heap on Equestria's soil. Daisy and Lily joined her, forcing a bewildered and more confused than ever Twilight to move onto her next victim, not before a blinding flash of light interrupted her. A herd of bunnies trampled through the strange town, causing havoc for ponies everywhere. There was a cry from somewhere off in the distance, to witch Twilight's attention was immanently drawn too. "It was awful!" The mare with a lily in her mane exclaimed, two other mares by her side. She fell to the earth with a soft thump. "Terrible", the green-mained mare added in the exact same level of terror lily-maned mare had used, "Absolutely terrible!" She, too, fainted, meeting the ground just as the other mare had. An off-white mare fell with the green mared mare, only to awaken for all but two seconds and yell "The horror! The horror!" She fell unconscious again as a small group of bunnies that had broken apart from the herd hopped, scampered, and leaped over the three fallen ponies. Twilight blinked, looked around, wondering if anypony else had seen what she saw. Yet, there were no bunnies, or ponies running around blindly, or tiny bunny bite marks on the surrounding plants. She was extremely confused as to what had happened and considered asking somepony, but figured they might take her as insane--or worse. She figured it might have just been a memory of a small dream she had last night and attempted to shrug it off. If it happens again, she thought, I'll go ask Princess Celestia. Sweetie Belle poked her head through the tiny crack in the hardly opened door, her worried eyes moving swiftly from left to right then finally catching Spike's. "Oh, hi, Spike..." she greeted with a whisper, "Rarity isn't here right now....she hasn't been all morning. Have you seen her?" Spike moaned, though it's wasn't quite a surprise to him as it was with Pinkie or Applejack. It was still a shame to hear that the pony he was looking forward to seeing--or, at least, being there--had disapeered, too. "No," he sighed, "that's the problem. Applejack and Pinkie Pie are missing too." The young unicorn took a small step outside, raising an eyebrow. "They are?" She asked, her voice cracking near the end of the question. "I guess that explains the note Apple Bloom gave me this morning....I was still half asleep, so it didn't make sense to me." "What did it say?" "'Applejack is missing!!!!'" Spike fought the urge to face-palm himself and glared at Sweetie instead. "Really?" He asked in a deadpanned voice, "A note that literally says 'Applejack is missing' and you don't know what it means?" While she knew that he had a very strong point, Sweetie felt that he was questioning her intelligence in some strange way. "I was tired, okay?!" She exclaimed in an effort to defend herself, "I thought the note said Apple Jacks are missing or something; not an actual pony." He impatiently tapped his foot, wonder exactly how tired Sweetie Belle was to mistake the not as something not important at all. "The cereal?" Spike asked in the same deadpanned tone. "Did you just come here to vaguely insult me," Sweetie huffed angrily, "or do you want to say something else?" "I came here to see if Rarity was here, as I said. But, since she's not, I guess I'm off to find Fluttershy." Spike said, turning around and taking a step towards Rainbow's house. Sweetie then remembered a detail she had forgotten to tell the dragon, and immediately called out his name. "Wait! Spike! I remembered something that happened last night. I-I think it might be important information..." Spike turned around, curious as to know what could have happened. Once Sweetie saw she had his attention, she took a deep breath, nervous as to how he would react. "Last night; probably around 1:45, I heard Rarity screaming. It sounded like she was saying 'get away from me you ruffian!'" Sweetie informed, imitating Rarity the best she could. "I figured she was having a nightmare--she does sleep talk a lot--and I went back to sleep." She sighed, looking down at the ground; during her story, she stepped outside and had closed the door behind her. "I should have gone and see if she was okay....I'm a terrible sister...." Spike, who was writing down notes on a spare scroll (he usually carried one around; just in case), looked up in alarm at Sweetie's words. "Why would you say that?" He asked her, finishing off his notes, "I probably would have done the same thing with Twilight. Your not a terrible sister. Don't you try and help Rarity whenever you can?" "Yeah...but....I still didn't save her..." "How were you supposed to know?" Spike asked, rolling up the scroll. It was Sweetie's turn to fight the urge to face hoof and glare at Spike. "The outcry?" "You said you thought it was her having a nightmare," Spike pointed out, "you were probably tired and comfortable in bed and just assumed the least dangerous thing happened to her. Your mind gets wacky when it's tired, you know." Sweetie scuffed the ground, raised her head. "I guess your right...," she mumbled, "I still feel bad, though." "I completely understand," Spike said, "but don't worry. I'll find her, Pinkie, and Applejack before you know it!" He looked at the scroll, shook it in the air. "I should probably send this off to Celestia, too..." He added as an afterthought, quickly covering the scroll in green teleportation flames. He looked at Sweetie again, who had the doorknob enveloped in her light green aura. "Do you want to see if Rainbow or Fluttershy are home with me?" He asked. "I'd love to," Sweetie said, "but I should probably watch over the shop. I know I can lock the door, but I can't exactly stop a brick from crashing into a window... Good luck, though! Let me know if you find my sister!!" Her voice cracked again at the end of 'sister'. Spike nodded happily as he turned around towards the path to Rainbow's house. Sweetie turned back to her door, turning it with her magic. It hardly budged. Since she couldn't use her magic on an object without seeing it first because she was still learning, she sat down outside the door, annoyed. "Great," she mumbled, "where am I supposed to find a stray brick this early in the morning?" A scroll plopped down on Celestia's bedroom floor, a shadow quickly hovering over it. The scroll was soon carried by a colorless aura as the stranger opened it slowly. Celestia! Something really strange is going on here; I'm not sure how to handle it. Twilight has no memory of what happened over the past two years and Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity are all missing! Sweetie Belle told me Rarity cried out in the middle of the night; saying something like "Get away from me you ruffian!" She thought Rarity was having a nightmare while sleep-speaking again, so she just let it be. I tried to comfort her; I told her it was probably nothing, but I think it's something really, really serious. I need your help, please come to Ponyville or reply ASAP!! ~Spike~ "Hmmm..." The stranger said, "Looks like I missed one....."