My Little Pony: Small Town Life

by Mythic Night

Ep 7 - Frostfire and the Golden Idol

Frostfire flew home with a wide smile on her face, carrying a bag of precious—and surprisingly heavy—coffee beans, straight from Tenochtitlan. Any day that she got a new bag of coffee beans was a very good day, indeed! She had almost run out of coffee from the last shipment, so this bag would join the many casualties before it soon enough.

She got home quickly, lugging the bag of coffee beans on her back as she made her way to the kitchen, and she placed it in one of the bottom cabinets with the partially-filled sack she was still working on. With that done, Frosty headed out once more, looking for a good story for the Ponyville Express.

= = = = = = = = = =

Hours later, across Equestria, a sturdy earth pony stallion was carrying his own bag of coffee beans into his hotel room. That stallion was Dr. Caballeron, a criminal who made a living by finding and selling precious artifacts he found in Tenochtitlan, though Daring Do usually foiled his schemes. Walking behind him were his gang of henchponies, which included a couple new probationary members.

They made it into the room, and one of the henchponies locked the door behind them while Caballeron laid the bag of coffee beans down on the coffee table. He grinned as he opened the bag, telling his minions, “This is it boys; payday!” Soon, all the work of smuggling the golden idol out of Tenochtitlan would pay off.

He reached into the bag and began pulling out coffee beans, scooping them out quickly. His grin quickly fell as he scooped out more and more, and found only coffee beans in place of the treasure he sought. “It’s not here…” He emptied out the bag onto the floor, and growled. “WHERE IS IT?!”

“W-where’d it go, Boss?” asked one minion, looking at the empty bag. “Did somepony else steal it from us?”

“How would they know we had it?” another henchpony wondered. “I thought we hid it good!”

Caballeron looked around at all the coffee, and the bag, then he turned to his henchponies and shook his head. “No, I don’t believe it was stolen, or there wouldn’t be nearly so much coffee remaining. I believe our bag was switched with another on the way here.”

“So… how are we gonna find it, then?” one of the stallions asked. “It could be anywhere in Equestria by now!”

Their leader turned towards the door as he told his henchponies, “Leave that to me…”

It took a little bit of smooth talking, as well as a bribe, but he was soon able to get the shipping records to find out where the coffee may have gone. Fortunately for the treasure hunter, there was only one other shipment sent out on this train, and that went to Ponyville.

“Ponyville, huh?” said one henchpony. “So I guess we’re all gonna take a trip then, huh boss?”

“No,” Caballeron answered. “Such a large group would draw too much attention. If we’re going to be successful in retrieving the treasure, then we’ll have to go with only a few ponies.” He turned to look at his two probationary henchponies, a gray pegasus stallion named Night Fog, and a stocky red earth pony stallion named Rocky Road.

“I think this will be a good chance for you two to prove yourselves,” he told them. “If everything goes well, then you two shall become full-fledged members of the gang. However, if something goes wrong, if we don’t get that treasure back, then you two will find yourselves unemployed. Do I make myself clear?”

“Perfectly,” said Night Fog.

“We won’t let you down, boss,” added Rocky Road.

“You’d better not,” he warned them. “Now, let’s go…”

= = = = = = = = = =

Early the next day, Frosty wandered into her kitchen, ready to grind up some more coffee for herself. She opened up a cabinet to remove her coffee grinder—which she called “Old Reliable”—and place it on the counter. It was a wooden box with a metal bowl and handle on top, and a drawer on the bottom where the coffee grounds would fall into. Thanks to its design she could get evenly ground coffee every single time.

She then went to the cabinet which held her coffee beans, and pulled out the newest bag she had just received. She huffed softly as she lifted it up to the counter, noticing how heavy it felt compared to her normal bags. I THOUGHT it felt heavier than usual, she thought to herself. But why?

She decided to find out, and she opened the bag to start scooping some coffee beans into the grinder bowl, then after it was filled she moved the bag onto its side, pouring more beans onto the counter. She reached in to scoop out the coffee beans, and hit something solid within, and her brow shot up in surprise.

“What the…?” she wondered aloud, and looked into the bag to see a glimpse of something that definitely wasn’t coffee beans! “Is that… gold?” She quickly scooped out more and more coffee beans, until the unknown item was able to be pulled free.

Frosty couldn’t help but gawk at the golden statue sitting on her counter. It was a golden leopard standing proud, with the coat pattern etched in and beautiful, perfectly-cut rubies for eyes. She had to rub her eyes to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating, but there it was. “Sweet Celestia…”

Her mind began to work furiously, trying to figure out WHY this golden statue was in with her coffee beans. It didn’t take her long to remember that Tenochtitlan was the setting for most of those Daring Do novels, where the heroine would have to fight treasure hunters from time to time as they tried to sell their stolen artifacts.

Frosty gave a happy squeal as she clapped her hooves together. “I don’t believe this! I’ve stumbled upon a smuggling ring!” She could already see the story in her head, about how a local reporter found and stopped the sale of a precious artifact from distant Tenochtitlan, and perhaps how she brought the treasure hunters to justice!

Her smile fell as she remembered how much danger that Daring Do regularly found herself in when she chased after those artifacts, and realized that she too could be in trouble. Her eyes widened and she gasped as she suddenly remembered the shipment of cocoa beans Sunny had also received, and she quickly left her kitchen with the golden idol to get her saddlebags. I’ve gotta warn Sunny! she thought as she put the idol in one of the bags, and left her home to fly toward Succulent Sweets.

= = = = = = = = = =

Across town, Sunshine was in her shop, dealing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they worked to earn their cutie marks. Today they decided that perhaps their special talent was in chocolate making, and thought they’d go ask the local chocolatier for help, with poor results.

“Oh please, Miss Sunshine, you just gotta let us try making chocolates!” said Apple Bloom, giving the aforementioned mare the cutest puppy-eyes she could muster.

“No,” said Sunny, brow furrowed in irritation as she looked down at the little filly. “I’ve got a shop to run, and I’m not about to just set you loose on my kitchen.”

“But chocolate making could be our special talent!” pleaded Sweetie Bell.

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,” the mare replied. “Either way, I’m not comfortable with the idea of you using my shop to find out.”

“But why not?” asked Scootaloo.

“A couple reasons, actually,” said Sunny. “Mainly, if you burn down my kitchen then there goes my livelihood until I get it fixed.”

“I’m not that bad…” Sweetie Bell grumbled.

The chocolatier sighed as she looked to the three fillies. “I’m sorry girls, but the answer is no. If you really want to try some chocolate making, then I’d suggest finding some basic recipes and getting help from your families.”

The trio of fillies grumbled and left the chocolate shop, leaving the mare alone to rub at her temples in frustration. “I swear to Celestia, those three had better get their cutie marks soon or they might try to find out if their special talent is… bank robbery or something!”

Before she could begin to ponder just what a bank robbing cutie mark would look like, the door opened, and Frosty stepped inside. She immediately turned around and flipped the sign at the door, then locked up before she turned to face Sunny again.

Sunny was thoroughly confused as to why her friend was closing her shop for her. “Frosty, what are you—“

“Is there anyone else here?” Frosty butted in, looking about nervously.

“What? No, why?” Sunny asked, growing concerned.

“We need to check your bags of cocoa beans. I promise I’ll explain soon, okay?” said the pegasus, looking at Sunny pleadingly.

Sunny’s ears folded as she nodded slowly. “Okay then… This way, Frosty,” she said as she turned around and opened the door behind the counter to head back to the kitchen, with Frosty following close behind.

They went into the kitchen, and worked together to open the bags of cocoa beans and empty them out onto the counters, finding nothing but what was supposed to be in there. It was then that Sunny wanted answers for Frosty’s odd behavior.

“So, I’ve got lots of cocoa beans all over the counter, and no idea why you seem to be freaking out,” Sunny said. “What gives, Frosty? You said you’d explain.”

Frosty took a deep, soothing breath, nodding at Sunny. “Yeah, okay. So, today I went into my kitchen to grind some coffee with Old Reliable, and—“

“Wait, who’s ‘Old Reliable’?” Sunny wondered.

“It’s my coffee grinder,” the pegasus explained. “Anyway, so I went and—“

“You named your coffee grinder…?” Sunny asked incredulously.

“Not important!” Frosty said, waving her hooves in frustration. “ANYWAY! I grabbed my bag of coffee beans, noticed it was heavier than normal, and started emptying out the bag to find out why. Lo and behold, I found… this,” she said as she pulled the golden idol out and placed it on the counter.

Sunny’s jaw dropped as she looked upon the golden jaguar sitting on her counter. “Sweet Celestia…”

“Looks like I got the wrong bag of coffee beans,” Frosty told her. “I’m guessing somepony down in Tenochtitlan was trying to smuggle this out of the country to sell to somepony else. I wasn’t sure if your bags might have anything like this in them, but fortunately it looks like you won’t be caught up in this mess.”

Sunny felt her stomach drop as she thought back to the Daring Do novels she had read, and remembered how many of the treasures she dealt with were magical in nature. “F-Frosty… Has this thing done anything weird since you found it?”

Frosty’s brow furrowed in confusion. “No, it just sits there. Why?”

Sunny tried to swallow the lump in her throat, and explained, “In the Daring Do books, she’s dealt with many artifacts that were magical. This treasure may actually be a dangerous magical artifact, going to a dangerous pony. If that’s the case, then we can’t let this get into the wrong hooves.”

The blue pegasus paled at that, taking a couple steps away from the idol. “Oh jeez… I hadn’t even considered that…” She took a couple shaky breaths, trying to calm her nerves. “So this may be bigger than some story about treasure smuggling.”

Sunny simply nodded, worried about what this treasure might do and the ponies who would be coming after it.

Frosty gazed at the treasure sitting there before her, and decided that she needed more information before they could decide what to do about this. “I think it’s best if I take this thing with me and do some research, at least try to find out if it’s dangerous or not. After I get that figured out, we can decide what to do from there.”

“R-right,” Sunny said with a nod as Frosty stepped forward and put the golden idol in her saddlebag once more.

She turned to leave out the kitchen door, but stopped to look back at Sunny. “You be careful, okay? Whether this thing is magical or not, I’m sure it’s quite valuable, and whoever stole it is going to come looking for it.”

Sunny nodded, and watched as her friend left to do some research.

= = = = = = = = = =

Across town, Dr. Caballeron and his two henchponies left the train that had stopped at Ponyville. It had taken a little while to reach the small town, but thanks to the shipping info, he had a pretty good idea where to find his missing treasure.

Night Fog looked around after they left the station. He noticed the Castle of Friendship in the distance, and poked his boss on the shoulder. “Uh, Boss, isn’t that the castle where the new princess lives?”

Caballeron looked to the Castle of Friendship for a moment, and nodded. “Indeed it is.”

His other henchpony, Rocky Road, looked concerned at that. “Boss, if the princess catches us then we’ll be in BIG trouble!” he said, looking around worriedly for royal guards.

Their boss growled in frustration, and turned to glare at his henchponies. “Then we’d better be quiet, and not get caught.”

They both nodded at that, and Night Fog asked, “So, uh, where should we look to find the golden idol then, Boss?”

Caballeron smiled at that, and answered, “The shipping manifest showed that the pony who got the bag also received three bags of cocoa beans. That tells me that whoever we’re looking for must own a chocolate shop around here.” He motioned to the sky, as he said, “Night Fog, fly up and look for that shop, and come back here when you’ve found it.”

Night nodded and flew up, taking a few minutes to circle Ponyville, before he landed back at the train station to meet up with the others again. “You were right Boss, there’s a shop that looks like it’s made of chocolate. Shouldn’t take too long to get there.”

The doctor grinned. “Show me the way.”

= = = = = = = = = =

It was turning into quite a busy afternoon for Sunny, as she boxed up another order of chocolates for the latest of her many customers. There were a few more waiting in line after the pony she was ringing up, and she was happy to see them fawning over the delicious treats in her display case. She was so busy dealing with that batch of ponies that she didn’t realize it when the influx of customers suddenly stopped.

Soon enough she finished serving the line of customers, and watched the last of them leave her shop. She was about to start taking inventory of her remaining chocolates and making note of what she had to make, when a stranger walked into the shop. She smiled as she heard the bell at the front door, and looked up to greet the new customer. “Hi there, welc—” The rest of the words died in her throat as she saw the stallion who came into the shop.

Sunny’s heart started racing as she recognized the brown earth pony stallion to be Dr. Caballeron, a treasure hunter featured as a villain in a few Daring Do novels. At first she was shocked that a pony she thought was a fictional character had entered her shop, and she realized that Daring Do and her adventures must be real. She grew pale upon the realization that Dr. Caballeron must have been the one to have sent out the golden idol that Frosty brought over.

“Greetings, my dear,” he said with a confident smile.

The yellow mare quickly regained her composure, throwing on the widest smile she could muster as she greeted him. “H-hi there! W-welcome to Succulent Sweets! What can I get for you today?” She flinched internally at her stuttering, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

Unfortunately for Sunny, Caballeron did indeed notice, and he had a better poker face. He kept up his smile as he went over to her display, looking over the chocolates inside. “I was just coming to visit this delightful town of yours, and thought I’d sample some of the local cuisine.”

She sincerely doubted that, but did her best to keep up an appearance of calm. “O-oh, really? Well, then you must go try out the delicious baked goods of Sugarcube Corner. Everypony goes there for cookies, cakes, and other delicious treats.”

He seemed to ignore her suggestion as he looked through her chocolates. His smile dimmed as he looked up to her, and asked, “Do you sell any chocolates which have coffee as an ingredient?”

Sunny felt a lump in her throat as her suspicions were confirmed, and she swallowed hard before she gave a shaky reply, “W-well no, I don’t…”

“Then why did you get a whole bag of coffee beans?” he asked.

Sunny felt her stomach drop, trying to think of an answer to that, before she realized the question he asked. “H-how… How did you know I ordered coffee beans?”

All pretense of civility went out the door as Caballeron lost his patience, fixing Sunny with a stern gaze. “A bribe and a little digging led me to your shop after our bags were swapped during transit.” He stepped close to the counter, causing her to take a couple steps back. “You obviously know what I’m here for, so I’ll cut to the chase; Give me the idol, and you won’t get hurt.”

She took a shaky breath, glaring at Caballeron as she told him, “I don’t have it, and even if I did I wouldn’t give it to you, Caballeron.”

He glared at her in return, stomping a hoof on the counter as he replied, “That’s DOCTOR Caballeron to you.” He turned his head toward a window and motioned with a hoof, and the door opened a second later as his two henchponies walked inside. “This is your last chance, little filly.”

Sunny felt her legs shaking, and she glanced between the doctor and his henchponies, before she suddenly turned and ran to the back door, opening it up to run into the hallway toward the kitchen. Dr. Caballeron and his henchponies were close behind, and Night Fog leapt over the kitchen’s main counter to tackle Sunny before she could reach the door.

Caballeron and Rocky Road caught up with them, the latter helping Night Fog to pin Sunny down and keep her still. She struggled, but was overpowered by the two strong stallions holding her down. “Get off of me!” she shouted angrily.

The two henchponies lifted the mare up, holding her by her forelegs as Caballeron moved close to question her, glaring angrily at the yellow mare. “Where is the treasure? What did you do with it?!”

“It’s with a friend, and safely out of your reach,” she told him.

He growled in frustration, turning away from her to pace around in the kitchen, thinking about how to get the treasure back from whoever had it. He perked up as he came up with an idea, and he turned to face Sunny again. “Well, I’m sure whichever one of your friends has it will gladly hoof it over by day’s end.”

“How do you figure that?” she asked.

He sneered at her as he answered, “I think I’ll barter with them. I’m sure they’ll be more than willing to give up the treasure to ensure your safety.”

Sunny grimaced at that, and began to struggle once more, only for Rocky Road to give her a punch to the head for her efforts. She groaned and was dazed by the sudden blow while Dr. Caballeron went to find some writing utensils in the kitchen.

He quickly found a notepad and pencil, which he used to write a ransom note, and stuck it on the display case before the four of them made their way quietly toward the edge of the Everfree Forest.

= = = = = = = = = =

Silver Streak hummed a tune to himself as he made his way toward Succulent Sweets. He had spent most of the day sculpting, and decided that it was time to take a break, and he couldn’t think of a better way to relax than to enjoy the company of a friend.

As he walked down the road to visit Sunny, he realized that he had no idea where any of the others lived, and only knew where Jewel worked because the hospital was a major location in Ponyville. He thought it would be nice if he could visit them and hang out beyond group activities, and hoped that Sunny would be willing to give him their addresses.

He walked into the shop, the bell ringing above the door as he entered, and looked around for the chocolatier. His gaze immediately fell to the note stuck on the display case, and his horn glowed as the note levitated over to him.

To whom it may concern,

We have your friend, the chocolatier. She is safe for now, but if you want her back unharmed then you must give us the golden idol in exchange. If you contact the authorities, then your friend will be the one to suffer the consequences.

We will be waiting near the edge of the Everfree Forest. Come before sundown for the exchange, or you’ll never see her again.

Silver began to tremble as he read the note, the paper falling to the ground as his focus disappeared from the wave of terror that washed over him. He felt nauseous at the thought of Sunny being hurt or worse by whoever took her, and the only thing that matched his fear was his confusion over who took her and why.

Why…? he wondered. Why would someone take her? What’s this golden idol they’re talking about? His gaze drifted down to the note again, and it levitated up once more as he turned and ran out of the shop to get help. He opened his mouth to shout for help, but all that came out was a pathetic whimper. He took a couple deep, shaky breaths, before he began to shout.

“HELP! Somepony help!” he shouted, hoping desperately that somepony, anypony could help save Sunny.

This was how Frosty found Silver as she flew back to the shop, her goal to get information on the golden idol getting her no results. Perhaps if Ponyville still had a library, or built a new one, then she could have had the resources she needed, but all she could rely on were old articles from other major publishers and the few books at the bookstore that she could find.

Frosty landed in front of the unicorn, frowning in concern. “Silver? What’s wrong?” she asked, noticing the frantic look in his eyes.

“Frosty!” he cried out in surprise and relief. The note was instantly levitated to her face as he explained, “Someone ponynapped Sunny! She’s gone, Frosty, and they want some golden idol in exchange for her!”

Frosty’s eyes widened in shock, and she pulled the note away from her face to read it properly. Her gaze hardened as she read through the note, feeling anger building within her.

Silver trembled as he stood there, quietly panicking as he wondered what to do. “W-what are we gonna do, Frosty? We can’t let them hurt Sunny!”

She gave him a look of sympathy as she slipped the ransom note into one of her saddlebags. “I know Silver, and I promise I won’t let anything happen to her.” She glanced to the other saddlebag where the golden idol was being held, and told him, “If we’re going to help Sunny, then first we need to get our friends. I’m going to go get Mystic, and I want you to head to the hospital to get Jewel, assuming she’s not with a patient. We’ll all meet up back here as quick as we can, okay?”

He nodded, feeling a little better now that a plan was being formed. “But what about this golden idol that they wrote about? If we don’t get it for them, then they’ll…” He shuddered at the thought.

“Don’t worry about that for now,” Frosty told him. “Let’s get everyone together first, okay?” She smiled when he nodded, and she unfurled her wings and flew off, while Silver glowed green and flew toward the hospital to get Jewel.

= = = = = = = = = =

A short while later, the four of them met up in front of Succulent Sweets to discuss the situation, and form a plan to save Sunny. Frosty decided to take charge of the situation, seeing as it was her bag of coffee beans that started all this trouble to begin with. All Jewel and Mystic knew was that Sunny was in trouble, and only Frosty knew why.

“Alright everypony, listen up,” Frosty said. “This morning, when I was planning on grinding some coffee, I found out that my bag had been switched on the way here.”

“And what’s that have to do with Sunny being ponynapped?” Mystic asked.

“Well, I found something other than coffee beans in my bag,” Frosty explained.

“What do you mean?” asked Jewel, while Silver’s eyes widened in understanding.

Instead of telling them, Frosty reached to her saddlebag and pulled out the jaguar-shaped treasure to show them all. She couldn’t help but smirk at the incredulous looks they all gave at the golden idol in her hooves. “I found this in my bag of coffee beans. Apparently whoever’s holding Sunny hostage was trying to smuggle this out of Tenochtitlan to sell to somepony.”

“So let’s give it to them!” Silver shouted. “Just give them the treasure and she’ll be safe, right?”

“There’s more to it than that…” Frosty said warily, looking between the three. “Sunny brought up a point; in those Daring Do books, some of the stuff she finds is magical in nature, so this may be less a treasure and more a weapon.”

“So, if we give it to them, then some ponies could get hurt?” Jewel asked, ears folding in concern.

“You said ‘may be’,” Mystic said. “Is it magical or not?”

“I really don’t know,” Frosty admitted. “It just sat there in my saddlebag all this time, seemingly doing nothing, so either it’s just treasure OR it requires an incantation of some kind.”

“It doesn’t matter either way,” said Silver. “We have to give it to them if we want to save Sunny!”

“But Silver, what if it’s magical?” asked Jewel. “What about the other ponies who could be hurt by it?”

“WHAT ABOUT THEM?!” he shouted angrily. He saw Jewel cowering as Mystic stepped forward to protect her, and he cringed in guilt. “I-I’m sorry, Jewel, I didn’t mean to shout.” His gaze fell to his hooves, unable to look at the others. “I just… I’m so worried about Sunny. I can’t let anything happen to her.”

Jewel stood straight again, giving Silver a sympathetic look. “I understand, I’m worried about her too.” She looked about to the group, then added, “We all are.”

“He’s right though,” Frosty said, getting their attention again. “Whether or not it’s a magical artifact, these ponies won’t give up Sunny without it.”

“Sounds like we don’t have much of a choice,” said Mystic with a frown. “I suppose after the deal goes down, we could tell Princess Twilight about all this, and hope she’ll have some answers. At the very least, she can get word out about this statue thing if it turns out to be dangerous.”

“I suppose…” Jewel hesitantly agreed. “Where do we have to go to make the exchange?” she asked, looking between Frosty and Silver.

Frosty pulled out the note to show Jewel and Mystic. “They said to meet them at the edge of the Everfree Forest. I would assume it’s going to be fairly easy to find them, considering almost nopony goes near there normally.”

Silver smiled and nodded, eager to save his dear friend and put this behind them. “So we find them, give them the idol, and get Sunny back. Sounds easy enough…”

Frosty’s eyes narrowed as she looked to the unicorn. “Maybe, or maybe not. If they’re willing to ponynap Sunny, then there’s no guarantee that they’ll simply give her up when they get this golden idol.”

“So, what’ll we do?” asked Jewel.

“We’ve gotta come up with a plan,” Frosty replied. “If it all goes smoothly, they get the treasure and we get Sunny back unharmed. If they try to pull anything, then we have to make sure they don’t get either Sunny OR the treasure.”

“We’re all ears, Frosty,” Mystic said with a smirk. “What are you thinking?”

Frosty pondered on the situation for a moment, before she looked to Silver. “What spells do you know, Silver? If I’m going to come up with a plan, then I need to know what you’re capable of.”

He smiled and nodded. “Right,” he said, before he began going through the spells he knew. He was more than happy to do anything he could to keep Sunny safe, even if that meant fighting some scheming treasure hunters.

= = = = = = = = = =

Dr. Caballeron, Sunny, and his henchponies stood there at the edge of the Everfree Forest, the latter two holding Sunny’s forelegs tight to keep her from getting away. It hadn’t been more than an hour since they ponynapped Sunny, though already that was too long for the finicky henchponies.

“Uh, Boss?” asked Rocky, looking around the area. “Isn’t this taking too long?”

“Yeah Boss, what if we get caught?” asked Night Fog.

Caballeron scoffed, “Oh, will you two stop your whining? We just have to wait for her friend to get here, then we’ll get the idol and be on our way.” He sneered at Sunny as he added, “And as for getting caught, it doesn’t look like this town has any police officers, let alone royal guards, so there’s nothing to be worried about.”

Sunny glared at him, squirming in the grasp of the henchponies who held on tight. “So, what happens if she doesn’t show, huh? Are we just going to stand here all week?”

Caballeron’s eyes narrowed as he looked to the mare. “My dear, if your friend doesn’t show up by day’s end, then we’ll just BEAT the information out of you, and leave you in the Everfree Forest to rot.” He glanced over the forest and shook his head as he added, “Terrible things I’ve heard about the Everfree, and the creatures that live there. I doubt anypony would find anything left of you by tomorrow.”

She felt a lump in her throat, and tried to swallow it down as she realized that he was completely serious. She wanted to put on a brave face, to act defiant against this treasure hunter, but the very real threat of harm was quickly wearing down her bravery. Before she could get really scared, however, she saw her friends walking up, and she gave a bright smile as relief washed over her.

Caballeron cocked an eyebrow at Sunny’s curious smile, and turned to see the four walking up, all with grim looks on their faces. He put on a smug smile as he stepped forward a few paces to greet them. “It appears that you found the note I left. So you know what I want then?”

Frosty nodded, stepping forward to meet him as the two groups stayed back a ways. “Yeah, scumbag, we found the note. I know what you want, aside from a hoof to the face…” she added with a scowl at his smug smile. “Who are you, anyway?” she asked.

He scowled at her, but answered, “I am Dr. Caballeron, and I worked hard to find that idol and get it out of Tenochtitlan, so perhaps you can understand my desire to have it returned to me.”

Silver looked worriedly over at Sunny, and called out to her. “Sunny! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Silver!” she replied.

“She is for now,” the doctor butted in, glancing back to Sunny before he fixed a glare at Frosty. “And if you want her to remain that way, then you’ll give me the idol, NOW.”

Frosty glared right back at Caballeron for a few moments, before she let out a sigh and pulled the golden idol from her saddlebag. “How’s this going to work?”

“You give me the idol, then I’ll go back there with my henchponies and free your friend,” he explained. “Now, give me the idol…” he said, his tone leaving no room for compromise.

The pegasus scowled, but hoofed over the idol. Caballeron looked it over with a smile, and stepped away from her and walked back to his henchponies. Frosty remained where she was, ready to take her friend back and put this whole thing behind them.

“You got what you want,” Silver began, “now let Sunny go.”

Caballeron looked back at them as he stood with his henchponies, and said, “Upon further consideration, I think we’ll hold onto her for a while longer.”

“WHAT?!” Mystic shouted angrily.

“That wasn’t the deal, Caballeron!” Jewel shouted at him.

“Well I’m changing the deal!” he responded with a sneer. “Just to make sure you don’t try anything, I think we’ll bring her along to the train station with us. We get our tickets and get aboard, then we let her go, and everyone goes their separate ways.”

Frosty growled. “If you won’t play by the rules, then neither will we!”

It was then that they executed their plan. Silver’s horn glowed green, and Sunny disappeared in a pop and a flash, only to appear next to him in another flash of magic, blinking at the unusual sensation of being teleported. Caballeron could only glare at them as his henchponies stood dumbfounded by the trick.

Mystic stepped forward and lowered his head, his horn glowing orange as he focused his magic. Caballeron flinched and got ready for an attack, only to feel the golden idol suddenly pulled out of his hooves from Mystic’s telekinesis as it was flung into the air where Frosty flew up to catch it.

Caballeron growled, and pointed a hoof to the pegasus. “Night Fog, get the idol! Rocky Road, let’s teach these ponies a lesson!” Night flew up after Frosty while Caballeron and Rocky charged the other four, ready to take their frustrations out on these interfering ponies.

Silver felt a fire burning in him, anger flaring as he saw the stallion who dared to threaten his Sunshine coming to attack them. He gave a furious shout as he ran forward and tackled Caballeron, the two rolling a short way before Caballeron managed to shove Silver off himself. Silver got up and growled at the earth pony, telling him, “Don’t you DARE touch her!”

- - -

As Dr. Caballeron was tackled by Silver, Rocky Road slid to a stop and turned to look, only to take a hoof to the face by Mystic, and a buck in the side by Jewel. Rocky reeled from the one-two punch, staggering to the side for a moment before he regained his composure, and managed to toss Jewel as she attempted to tackle him. Mystic used his telekinesis to stop Jewel from making a painful landing, but in his focus to help her he left himself open to a powerful punch by the sturdy stallion.

- - -

While they were all fighting on the ground, Frosty flapped her wings hard as she kept out of reach of Night Fog, who simply couldn’t keep up. “Quit flying away, you little…!” he shouted as he tried to keep up.

Frosty simply laughed as she swooped around and elbowed him in the side, knocking him out of the air to slam into the ground below. She grinned at him as he groaned and slowly got on his hooves, glaring at her. “What’s wrong, can’t keep up? You’ve gotta be fast if you wanna get the latest scoop!” she taunted him.

Night Fog’s wings flared and he went back into the air after her, determined to beat the smug smile off her face and earn his place in the gang.

- - -

Things weren’t going so well for Silver as he fought against Dr. Caballeron. Unlike the doctor, he didn’t have great physical strength or much experience fighting, and the doctor kept on him to prevent him from focusing his magic into a spell. Silver grunted as he gave Caballeron an uppercut, then shoulder-checked him for some breathing room.

He turned to glance over at Sunny, who had remained watching the two groups fighting. “Get out of here, Sunny!” he shouted to her, before Caballeron knocked the wind out of him with a punch to the gut, and an elbow to the side sent him sprawling on the ground.

Silver coughed, trying to catch his breath as Caballeron walked up, glaring down at the unicorn. “I went through a lot of trouble to get that treasure, and I’m not going to let some small town ponies ruin my chance at a big payday!”

Before Caballeron could think of beating on the weakened unicorn, Sunny suddenly hit him with a powerful punch, stunning him momentarily before she turned around and bucked him in the side to send him sprawling a yard away.

She quickly went over to Silver and helped him up. “Are you okay, Silver?”

He coughed and wheezed, telling her, “G-get out of here… D-don’t want you… getting hurt…”

She smirked, and replied, “I don’t want you getting hurt either. You don’t have to fight him alone.” She turned as she saw movement when Caballeron got up again, glaring at the stallion. “Besides, I want a piece of him myself!”

Silver nodded and smiled, glad to have some help in the fight. As the unicorn caught his breath, Sunny readied herself and charged at Caballeron, eager to get some payback.

- - -

Rocky Road was taking quite a beating from the two local ponies, but the sturdy earth pony was not about to give up. Jewel hit hard, and got in several good blows, though when Rocky would try to counter her Mystic would take the blows meant for his best friend, and received some bruises for his effort.

With the three fighting so closely, Mystic didn’t dare strike with magic for fear of hurting Jewel, leaving him to rely on his muscles to take the henchpony out. Rocky grappled with Mystic, and tossed him aside, only for Jewel to tackle him and start to pound him hard. He growled and grunted with the blows, returning a couple of his own before he gave her a head-butt, and shoved her off himself.

He got up and made to stomp on the stunned mare, only to cry out in pain as Mystic hit him with a bolt of magic. “Not gonna happen, scumbag!” he shouted, zapping the earth pony again as he moved in front of Jewel to protect her even when his body ached from the blows he already took in her defense.

“I’m fine, Mystic,” Jewel told him, getting up. “But you can’t keep defending me, you’re too banged up already!” She noticed him slowing down, wincing and limping from the attacks he kept taking that were meant for her.

“Yeah,” agreed Rocky with a sneer. “Why don’t you let me beat up your girlfriend for a while?”

Mystic growled and charged at the stallion, Jewel running close behind as she became determined to protect HIM from further punishment.

- - -

In the air, Frosty was beginning to slow down, getting worn out between the speed she was flying and the weight of the golden idol in her hooves. Night Fog soon closed the gap and began to attack the mare, and she gripped the idol tight in one foreleg while her other tried to fight him off.

“Just give me the treasure!” Night Fog shouted, grabbing onto it and trying to pull it away from the mare.

Frosty held on tight, taking the opportunity to land a few blows on the stallion’s head which was enough to make him back off. “Not gonna happen!” she shouted, trying to put some distance between them.

Night Fog closed the gap once more, only for Frosty to use the golden idol as a mace. She slammed it into his head, which stunned him and caused him to drop out of the sky…

- - -

Caballeron was losing his fight now that Silver and Sunny were working together to beat him. Sunny would get a blow in, then while he was distracted with trying to attack her Silver would hit him with a burst of magic when Sunny dodged out of the way. He couldn’t deal with two ponies working so well together, and he was quickly wearing out.

Seeing him reaching his limits, Silver ran up to fight alongside Sunny, taking turns striking the greedy stallion as he could only attempt to block or dodge at this point. He staggered with a powerful blow from Sunny, and the two turned together as one to give him a double-bucking, sending the doctor flying.

Caballeron slammed into Night Fog as he dropped from the sky, and the pair of them landed hard on Rocky Road, ending up in a pile as the five friends surrounded them. Caballeron groaned as he worked through a daze to look up at the angry faces glaring down at him and his henchponies. It was then he decided that the golden idol was a lost cause.

“I think it’s time for us to retreat…” said Caballeron.

“B-but boss, what about—“ began Rocky.

“Forget the idol! Let’s get out of here!” Caballeron shouted, getting up to run toward the train station, with Rocky and Night Fog running close behind.

“Yeah, you better run!” Silver shouted, chasing after them a bit. His horn glowing green as he aimed it toward them and fired a few bolts at the ground near their hooves, causing the ponies to jump as they ran off. He stopped, watching as they ran back into town in the direction of the train station, and he headed back toward his friends.

As he wandered back over to them, he felt the adrenaline leaving his system, which left him feeling tired and sore after the fighting. He looked over to Sunny, and everything that had happened finally sunk in; her ponynapping, the fighting, the worry he had felt for her all came crashing down, and he went over to hug her tight, trembling as he was overwhelmed by the emotions.

Sunny was startled by the hug, but returned it warmly. She heard Silver sniffling at her shoulder, and gave him a gentle nuzzle. “Shh, it’s okay Silver. I’m fine, thanks to you.” She looked over to the others and smiled, adding, “Thanks to all of you.”

“I-it was Frosty who came up with the plan,” Silver said, still holding Sunny close. “I-I saw the note on the display case, and just froze up.” He sniffled, whimpering as he told her, “I was useless until Frosty came along…”

“You were just scared,” she told him, stroking down his back. “There’s nothing wrong with that. I was scared too, until you all came to help me out.” They slowly broke the hug, and she smiled at him. “Now that you’ve gotten your first taste of Ponyville craziness; I suppose that means you’re officially one of us now.”

Silver chuckled and nodded, rubbing at his eyes with a foreleg. “How’s everyone else?” he asked, looking around at the group. “Everyone okay?”

“Mystic got pretty banged up trying to protect me,” Jewel told him. “We should get him to the hospital to make sure he’s alright.”

“I’ll be fine, Jewel, really,” Mystic replied, though his friend wasn’t convinced. “Anyway, what do we do now?”

“I think it’s best that we head to the Castle of Friendship,” Silver responded, “and let Princess Twilight know what’s happened here. We should also give her the treasure, as I’m sure she’ll know what to do with it.”

“That sounds like a plan to me,” agreed Frosty.

= = = = = = = = = =

Sometime later, at the Castle of Friendship, Frosty and the others finished telling their tale to Princess Twilight and her friends after they gave her the golden idol.

“I must say, that’s quite the story you had to tell,” said Twilight. “I’m just glad that everypony made it through okay.”

“I can’t believe I missed a Daring Do adventure here in Ponyville!” cried Rainbow Dash in frustration.

“Maybe if you weren’t so busy napping…” said Applejack with a smirk. Rainbow just shot her a glare while Applejack chuckled.

“What’s going to happen now, Princess Twilight?” asked Silver, looking to the golden idol.

Her gaze also drifted to the idol as she answered, “I’m going to do some research to find out what this is, where exactly it came from, and whether or not it’s magical. Soon enough we’ll know if it belongs on display in a museum, or locked away in a vault.”

“Do we have to keep this a secret?” asked Frosty worriedly. “I was SO hoping to write a story in the Ponyville Express about this!”

Twilight chuckled and shook her head. “No need to keep this a secret. The idol is safe with me here in the castle, and I highly doubt that Dr. Caballeron is going to be coming back to Ponyville anytime soon.”

Frosty grinned and cheered. “AWESOME! Just wait until everypony reads about how a local reporter and her friends busted up a smuggling ring and stopped some treasure hunters from making off with their stolen loot!” She perked up as something occurred to her, and she reached into one of her saddlebags to pull out her camera. “Oh! Princess Twilight, could you please take a picture of me and my friends with that golden idol?”

Twilight smirked and nodded, the idol moving over in a pink glow to sit between them, while Frosty’s camera was brought over to Twilight in the same pink glow. They grouped together, Jewel and Mystic on one side, and Silver with Sunny on the other, while Frosty stayed in the middle with a big grin as the golden idol rested between her forelegs. Twilight took the photo for them, and traded Frosty the camera for the idol once more.

“Thanks, Princess!” said Frosty with a grin. “That’s gonna look GREAT on the front page tomorrow!”

The five of them left the castle shortly after that, with Frosty going to her publisher to start writing the story, and Jewel insisting on bringing Mystic to the hospital to get checked out, which left Silver and Sunny alone together. He elected to walk with Sunny back to her shop, to make sure she got back without incident.

By the time they made it back to Succulent Sweets, it was past closing time. Silver was reluctant to leave Sunny all by herself after the adventure they had earlier, but she assured him that she would be okay by herself that night. After promising to check in with her in the morning, he left her to head home and rest.

That night, as he lay in bed, Silver thought about Sunny and his feelings for her. They had grown closer in the weeks he had lived in Ponyville, but until that day he didn’t realize how much he cared for her. Beyond the fear he felt when she was ponynapped, he also felt regret that he hadn’t told her how much she meant to him.

If something had happened to her, then she never would have known how I feel, he thought to himself. I would have gone through the rest of my life wishing I had the courage to tell her how much I care for her when I had the chance… He tossed and turned at the thought of living with such regret.

It was then that Silver decided he would tell Sunny how he felt, and ask her to be his special somepony. Whether or not she would return his affections, he knew he couldn’t just stand there silently any longer, not after that day.

Comments

[Grekoy]

Yep. Nothing like a good kidnapping to make a pony realize their feelings for their crush. Let's do this Silver!

[donelel]

Well, that chapter was certainly different. I like it.

The action / adventure aspects of this chapter acts as a nice contrast to the typical slice of life stories. I also like how you are showing us more of Frosty. I feel like she is the character we have seen the least so far. All in all, good job.

[orp]

“I suppose after the deal goes down, we could tell Princess Twilight about all this

Why not before??? Just because the note says so? At the very least, I'd expect Silver to bring up that option, given that the Elements are the entire reason he moved to Ponyville in the first place.

Not to mention, it's unclear why Dr. C. assumed that the note would be found by a friend of the shopkeeper - a random customer seems no less likely. And a random customer would almost certainly contact the authorities anyway.

[Mythic Night]

10574025
That's a good point, wasn't thinking about it at the time. Don't really have any excuse for this.

[orp]

10574043
The Twilight issue can be avoided if the Elements just happen to be out of town on some important mission. Perhaps, helping Daring Do to find that very idol on the opposite side of the continent, lol.

Dr. C.'s kidnapping plan is a different beast. It doesn't seem to me like it lends itself to a similar easy fix, unfortunately.

[Mythic Night]

10574135
I dunno, maybe I could rewrite it so that Dr. Caballeron would stay at the shop, waiting for whoever may show up? Tell his henchponies to wait near the Everfree forest, and if he doesn't show up in an hour to tie her up and leave her there, then after he leaves Silver would run to try and find his friends.

[orp]

10574140
I suppose Dr. C. could pretend to be some sort of a hired help and attempt to talk to every customer, trying to figure out if they are Sunny's friend. (Not that there's going to be a lot of customers, so he might get a little bored after a while, lol.) And if they are, deliver the ultimatum personally - which would lead to a new scene of him talking to Silver, first asking supposedly innocent questions, then making threats and demands. If you're considering committing to a somewhat extensive rewrite, that could work.