Stolen Foals

Cadance felt as if she'd been turned to ice. She would crack into a thousand pieces if she tried to move.

Her mom, sobbing now, put her forelegs around Cadance and hugged her hard, but Cadance did not respond. In that first, horrible moment of understanding what mom was telling her, Cadance remembered her dad's last words to her, hearing his voice as clearly as if he stood beside her. "I'm ashamed of you."

In the three months since then, Cadance had relived that final morning in her mind a thousand times, wishing she could take it back and do it over.

The last thing she had said to him was, "You aren't perfect."

Maybe he wasn't perfect-who is? But he was a great dad who played Scrabble with her, and built her a balance beam so she could practice her gymnastics routine. He actually read the books she liked, and then discussed them with her. He took her and her best friend ice-skating every winter, and he came to all her school events, and even watched baseball games on TV with her.

If Cadance could live that morning over again, she would say, "You're right. I'm sorry, Dad. I love you."

Even more terrible than those hurtful last words was knowing that if he had not come back to talk to her about Lucky, he would have left for work five or six minutes earlier. He would have been safely through the area before the speeding carriage got there.

No one ever blamed Cadance for the accident because nopony else knew that her dad had returned to talk to her that morning. But Cadance knew.

She kept her terrible secret: her dad's death was her fault and no matter how much she regretted her behavior, nothing would ever bring him back.

Cadance pushed the memory of that morning away, and wondered through Mrs. Velvit's house, witch looked as if it should be featured in House Beautiful or Today's Interior Design. It wasn't formal, though. Twilight's toys were scattered about, and the books stacked on the coffee table looked as if they were there to be read, not just to serve as part of the decor.

A sliding door lead from the kitchen/family room to a large patio and an adjoining swimming pool. Cadance went out, leaving the door open a foot or so, so she could her Twilight if she woke up and called to her. She stretched out on a lounge chair, and thought how great it would be to live in a house like this. Not that it was ever likely to happen.

Cadance and her mom had a cozy two-beadroom house with nice neighbors, but the hole thing would fit in the kitchen of this house. Cadance's parents had hoped to buy a larger house in a year or so, but the plan had died along with Cadance's dad.

She didn't mind staying in their old house. It was comforting to be in familiar surroundings, where she had so many memories of her dad. Her mom didn't want to move now, eather.

"I've had too much change in my life," Mom said. "I wouldn't buy a different house now, even if I could afford to."

Neither of them said it, but they now had less need of extra space, since only two ponies lived there instead of three.

Without Dad's salary, money was tight. Cadance hoped to earn enough this summer to pay for her own things and maybe even help a little with groceries. Probably not Ben & Jerry's, but she could buy the peanut butter, apples and bagels that were mainstays of her diet.

Dad told her it wasn't enough to be sorry for a mistake; she needed to take action to atone. She now walked Lucky every day, at no charge. She had taken the foalsitting course, and she was earning some money to show that she was responsible.

Cadance made a mental note to call the community center tomorrow, to thank Mrs. Cheerilee for recommending her to Mrs. Velvit.

Feeling relaxed in the sun, Cadance closed her eyes. She thought about "Winning Secrets," a story she was writing. She had several note books and computer files of original stories and poems. She thought "Winning Secrets" was her best effort yet, especilly the parts where her characters used a secret signal to communicate.

Cadance jumped at a sudden noise. Was Twilight awake?

Cadance looked at the time on her phone. Three o'clock. She must have dozed off, because she had put Twilight to bead at one-thirty. Mrs. Velvit had said Twilight usually slept about two hours.

Cadance hurried inside to check on the little filly, as she started upstairs, she heared what sounded like another pony walking in the house. Was Mrs. Velvit home already? She went to the front door... it was open, but she didn't see her carrege. Cadance closed the door climbed the stairs, and went into Twilight's room.

The bed was empty.

"Twilight?" Cadance said. "Where are you?"

Was she hiding, playing a game?

"Twilight!" Cadance called. "Lets have some more ice cream."

Her voice echoed in the empty room. Her heart hammered in her chest. Where was Twilight?

Cadance looked in the bathroom. She ran from room to room, calling, looking under beds, yanking open closet doors. Fear ran with her, making her legs shake.

"Twilight!" Cadance shouted. "Twilight, answer me!"

She remembered the swimming pool. A fence guarded against accidents; could the gate have been unlocked? Oh, please, no, she thought as she rushed back downstairs. If Twilight hed tumbled into the pool, the splash would have awakened me. Wouldn't it? I was sitting right there, next to the water. Surely I would have heard her.

Cadance raced through the family room and out to the patio, Her eyes scanning the smooth surface of the water as she approached the pool. Only a white safety ring floated on the clear blue water. She ran to the edge of the pool, where wide steps invited swimmers to enter.

Her eyes darted from one side of the pool to the other. Twilight wasn't there.

Her relief that Twilight had not drowned was quickly replaced by dread. Had Twilight let herself out the door? Had she wandered off through the neighborhood, gone into the street? Awful possibilities, each worse than the last, flashed through Cadance's mind like a slide show. Remembering the open door, she ran back to the front of the house, opened the door, and hurried down the curved path toward the circular driveway. Had someone come in the house while she slept and taken Twilight? If so, who?

Twilight's father was out of town. Her grandmother was in the hospital. Her nanny was on vacation. Nopony else was on the list of personal phone numbers. There was no one with a legitimate reason to come into the house.

Cadance thought back, trying to remember if the front door had been locked. She remembered Mrs. Velvit hugging Twilight when they arrived at the house, telling her daughter to be good, and rushing away. She had not pushed the door lock before she went out, and Cadance had not locked it after she left.

Why didn't I lock the door? WHY?

She had learned in her foalsitting class to always keep the doors locked when she was foalsitting. After Mrs. Velvit left, she could easily have turned the lock, but she hadn't even thought of it. She had been too eager to give Twilight her ice cream, to establish a connection so that the filly would like her.

Cadance looked around the yard, listening, hoping she might still hear a little filly say, "Ice cweam," and see her galloping toward home. She only heard the drone of a fast flying pegasus, high overhead.

As Cadance turned to go back to the house, something caught her eye, a small grey lump lying at the base of one of the shrubs that edged the path. She looked closer. Smarty pants!

Twilight's stuffed toy, the grungy donkey that she had played with in the car, had pretended to feed, and had clutched as she fell asleep, lay there in the dirt.

Cadance stared at the donkey, wondering how it had gotten there.

If Twilight had climbed out of bed by herself and had gone exploring, the donkey would still be with her. Cadance knew that as surely as she knew her own name. If Twilight had dropped the little donkey, she would have picked it up. She would not willingly have left Smarty behind.

But if somepony was carrying Twilight, and Smarty slipped from her grasp, that pony might not stop to retrieve the toy. That pony might be in a hurry.

Shivers ran up Cadance's back and for a minute she feared the ice cream was going to reappear. She picked up the little donkey and carried it back to the house.

She knew.

She would have given anything to make the knowledge go away, but she couldn't. It was there, coiled inside her. It pressed all around her, a heavy dread hanging in the air, pushing down on Cadance, ready to smother her with each breath she took.

She knew.

Twilight had been foalnapped.