In Sun's Light

Saturday

Sunshine was cowering in the bag, hoping it wouldn't open. The guy that took her wasn't Gavin. She couldn't sleep, she was so scared. Suddenly, she heard a faint knock and felt the bag get picked up. Oh no. She thought. What was going to happen?! She heard the door open, felt herself going to the edge of panic, and then heard a voice that might as well be of God!

"Thank you so much for keeping it for me." Gavin said. "I have stuff in here I can't lose." Sunshine felt relief hit her like a tidal wave at Gavin's voice, and she relaxed immediately.

"Likewise, man. Thanks for bringing mine back." She felt the bag being carried, heard a door open, and then her bag swung and she heard the door shut again. Then it unzipped.

"Look inside." She heard Gavin say. She realized what was happening as soon as hands grabbed her, and froze.

"No way!" A strange person said as he held her to his face. "A plushie!" The person started to look her over, flipping her around, and he kept poking ticklish spots. She wouldn't be able to hold it much longer. "A brushable plushie! Wow! Is this a custom order? This is-" He was cut off as Sunshine started to laugh. She couldn't help it any more. He nearly dropped her, he was so startled.

"I'm sorry Gavin." she said between giggles. "I couldn't help myself. He kept tickling me... HA HA HAHAHAHAHA!" the human carefully put her down and looked at Gavin.

"I found her in the woods. She doesn't remember who she is. I can't find out. I couldn't just leave her alone at my house all night."

"Come outside for a moment." They both got out of the car.

Eric was quiet. "Do you know who that IS?!"

"I already said no..."

"That's princess Celestia! How is she here and why didn't I know before now? This is big. Had it been Vinyl Scratch or Derpy or even fricking Twilight Sparkle that would be one thing, but this is Princess Celestia!!" Gavin flinched slightly, one because he had never heard Eric use such words before and two because of who he was saying this pony was. Princess Celestia? "Where did she come from, and no crap, where did you find her?"

"Like I said, the forest. She doesn't know who she is."

"Well tell her!"

"No, wait! We don't know what that will do to her. We don't know how she'll take it. Listen. Someone is after this filly. Somebody out there wants to hurt her, and I think Greg and Spencer are connected."

"What-"

"I need you to stay quiet about this until I can figure things out, alright?"

"Gavin-"

"Please?"

Eric thought for a minute. "Fine. But when this is all over and we get her back, you owe me a trip to Equestria."

* * *

The arthrax was long dead. Will scowled at it's prone form. This was going to be tougher than he thought with Shining Armor and his insolent earth pony sidekick around. He had to step up his game. Luckily, a certain something was buried in just the right conditions. He raised the fossil bones out of the ground, guiding the dirt and rocks to form just right around them, and gave life to a magic crystal protected by its monsterous ribcage. The resulting creature roared, storming off towards the nearest source of light. Right into town. Will also opened a rift. Might as well start an infestation.

* * *

It was six in the morning, and Gavin, Eric and Sunshine were just getting back into town. It was still dark out. The town was just waking up. Sunshine was watching all the lights and colors when she saw a car flip.

"What was that?!"

Both the boys looked over just in time to see a freight train sized dinosaur made of dirt and rock barreling towards them. From the eye sockets to the base of the skull, it was Triceratops, but the rest of it was Tyrannosaur, including the jaws fused into the trike skull. Before any of the other two could react, Eric slammed on the gas and used his breaks and gear shifts to do a doughnut, effectively dodging the creature.

'This is the second monster this week!' Gavin thought. Where were they all coming from? Even more importantly, where was the dinosaur?! His though process was smashed apart as the car lurched to the side again. Sunshine was thrown up by the breaks, and Gavin caught her and held on tight.

"This'll be bumpy." Eric said. "This guy is dead set on catching my car. I don't have the insurance for that." He took off down the street, right into oncoming traffic. Sunshine and Gavin both screamed, but Eric didn't break a sweat, dodging the cars as the dinosaur creature chased them. "We're not escaping this guy unless we get to straightaway. Hold on, this is going to get sketchy." He swerved through the traffic, finally using a trailer on a semi as a ramp, and jumped to another lane.

"Where did you pick up these driving skills?"

"I street race, Gavin. And do stunts. All the time." This earned shocked looks from both of his passengers. "What? I don't just watch ponies. I have a life." With that, he chuckled and kept driving, quickly getting away from the creature, which then dove under the ground. Gavin managed a whoa before the car suddenly spun and he heard a crunch outside. He turned to see the last of the creature clear its hole and land in front of them, its growl sounding like a volcano grinding rocks together. He saw it drool black liquid, watched a metal bit in its mouth go up.

"Eric, back up!" He did, just as the metal sliver in its mouth hit a rock, igniting the oil it spit. The attack just barely missed the car. Eric swerved around it, drifted past the creature, and started to drive again. The creature chased again, and Gavin noticed a turn up ahead. He knew this road. There was a cliff at that turn!

"Hold on to something!" Eric yelled.

"You're not serious!"

"I'm very serious, hold on to something!"

Eric drove top speed straight at the curve, the dinosaur in full persuit, and did a wide doughnut right at the last second, the back tires sending pebbles over the edge. The monster was not as maneuverable, and ran straight off the edge, spinning as it fell. It's hollow, eyeless sockets seemed to lock right onto Sunshine right before it crashed into the rocks below. Gavin thought he saw a crystal shatter. The dirt pile was still.

"Well..." Eric said, "We clocked the T-rex at thirty five miles per hour." Jurassic Park reference said, he turned around and drove them all to Gavin's house.

Two hours later

None of them was tired. They had all been up all night, but they were too pumped to sleep because of what happened.

"That was awesome!" Sunshine said. "You're an amazing driver!"

"What was that thing?" Eric asked. Gavin had no answer, but he knew where to find one.

* * *

Meat. How could anyone eat meat? Shining Armor was slightly disgusted as he sliced the meat for the Arby's sandwiches. He was a pony. He wasn't possibly going to eat this.

"Spencer, you're off now. Make sure you clock out."

"Thanks, Dave." He finished his latest slice of meat before turning the slicer off for safety's sake, and then he clocked out. He was expecting Graphite to be waiting for him, but instead he was greeted by a less familiar face. It was Gavin, along with another kid he didn't know.

"Hey Spencer. I thought we could talk when you had the time."

"Sure. What do you need?"

"Follow me." Shining was slightly suspicious of this whole thing already. What could Gavin possibly want? "So, we've had another run in with a monster."

"What?"

"We don't know what it was. Some resurrected dinosaur made of dirt and rocks."

Shining couldn't believe he was bringing this up in public, and around another person! He motioned for them to follow him, and took them to the spot where he and Graphite had been staying. It was a small building, more of a trailer than anything else. It was abandoned when they had found it. He had cleaned it with his magic and Graphite had plugged in a portable generator. Shining had asked what had run it, but had yet to get a straight answer. Graphite hadn't made it though. He was horrible with electronics.

"Nice setup."

"It is, huh?"

"So what can you tell us about what's going on? We need to know why a dirt dinosaur was chasing our car down."

"I'm not the one who knows about dinosaurs or monsters. That's Greg."

"Is that so?"

Gavin was pushing it. This had to stop. "I don't think he'd want to talk about it either."

"Where is he?" Gavin had asked a very good question. Where was Graphite?

"I don't actually know... Wait here."

* * *

Graphite Sketch was quiet as he watched the fast reptilian go by. His sword glinted in the light, it's blue blade out of place in the forest. He was watching a person muttering to himself as he opened various rifts, letting out all sorts of nasties that he wasn't very knowledgable about. Many creatures were dead on the ground around him from where they had broke out in disputes about territory.

The spellcaster also had a sword ready in case one of the creatures attacked him, but he apparently hadn't caught on yet to Graphite, who started to sneak forward at this moment of unawareness. He lunged, and the reaction was split second. The spellcaster caught him in midair with magic.

"You're not terribly light on your feet, earth pony. Oh, it is simply splendid that you should come back for more. What a shabby guard." Graphite quickly neutralized the energy field. He could see the confusion on this guy's face. "You are an earth pony, correct?"

Graphite nodded. "A very rare one. I can manipulate energy fields to a certain extent."

"Magic?"

"Aura."

"Very nice. Unfortunately, I must be going-"

Graphite lunged, knocking the spellcaster's sword out from in front of him. "What have you done with our princess?" The spellcaster started to exchange blows with Graphite as they talked.

"Hopefully, I've killed her, and she is long dead."

"What are your motives?"

"My motives are my motives. Now, be gone, I do not wish to talk to you." He lifted Graphite up, and Graphite had the sensation of burning and drowning all at the same time. He struggled, but it was no use. Suddenly another stab of magic from a different source interrupted the attack. It was Shining Armor.

"Let go of him. Now." He forced the other pony off of Graphite, who fell, then stood shakily as they battled. By the time he was fit for another attack, a portal was already open, and Shining was sent through a tree.

"Best not interfere again, earth pony, or I'll have words with your cellist." This snapped Graphite out of his daze immediately.

"You'll have nothing to do with her!" He said before charging. The spellcaster blocked his attack before swiping with his own sword. Graphite feinted and managed a good hit with the flat of the blade, but then the spellcaster ducked through the portal and it closed. "We have to go after him!"

"We can't." Shining said, already up from his hit. "We have to find out where Celestia is."

"Sir, shouldn't we at least catch this guy? He was in our hooves! Let's get him while the getting is good!"

"That's not what it's actually about, is it, Graphite?" Graphite looked down. Shining had called his bluff. It was no secret what mare Graphite had been seeing. He wasn't about to let this mystery guy hurt Octavia.

"If it had been me attacking, he would have threatened Cadence, Graphite. He was bluffing. We need to find Celestia. I promise, your mare is safe."

"Fine, sir." he replied after a moment. "But if we get news that something has happened to Octavia, all bets are off."

Canterlot

That was close. Will thought. The election had almost been at risk. He wiped off the dust, got rid of any marks, and walked out of his room, nearly tripping on a young unicorn filly with a turquoise coat, two toned green mane, and a pair of strikingly beautiful gold eyes hidden underneath her red rimmed glasses. She glared at him for a moment before walking off. She had always seemed cautious and suspicious of him. He wanted to banish her to another realm as well.

'In due time, Will.' He said to himself. As he trotted down the hall, he caught many conversations.

"I think she was kidnapped by griffons-"

"Word has it Sapphire Shores was just seen with Vinyl Scratch-"

One caught his attention. "You're tellin' me, you don't plan to go against his campaign?"

"No, Applejack. If we're going to do this, we're going to play it nice and respectful."

"Ya know he won't return the favor."

"I know." Will walked off with a smirk, so he didn't stick around to hear the rest of Twilight's plan. "I'm going to kill him with kindness. He can be brutal all he wants, but if I be the bigger pony and show I can keep my cool without being mean or degrading, I can show everypony that I'm the nicer, less brutal, better thinker of a candidate."

"Oh. That is rather smart of ya, Twi."

"Yeah it is. Now, let's go tell the others the plan."

* * *

The earth pony walked in, carrying a case bigger than her on her back. Curious stares quickly averted thier gaze as she met thier eyes. She must have looked scarier than she meant to. She walked along, minding her own business and waving and saying hello to those who greeted her. She saw a few familiar faces from Manehattan, and a few from Ponyville. Speaking of, her sensitive ears could pick up the voice of Twilight Sparkle. Here was the room.

The six mares fell silent as she walked in, set down her cello, took a seat, and politely bowed her head in greeting. Pinkie couldn't help herself, she started humming the pony poky.

"Umm... Hello, Octavia." Twilight said. "What brings you to a private meeting like this?"

She cleared her throat. For a mare as quiet as her, she had a voice that demanded to be heard. It carried very well, sounded almost regal. "Twilight, it's come to my attention that you are running for candidacy to rule Equestria in Celestia's absence. I wanted to tell you that I will back you up one hundred percent."

"Thank-"

"But, if you are going to have any sort of radio or television propaganda, you need music. Now, I feel as though maybe you are not sure if you want my style of music. Here is how I see it. If I have learned anything about you at all, I know you will be modest and polite to Will, even if he does not return the favor. Now, I also know a bit about Will and he will not return the favor. To complete that modest feel, you need modest music, and it needs to be good. And simply put, I'm the best." Twilight had tried to affirm Octavia's thoughts several times, but she couldn't get a word in.

"That sounds like a plan."

Some ponies would have been so prepared to back themselves up that thier response would have been defending thier idea when it was unneccesary, but Octavia was a good listener.

"Alright." She said with a nod. "Now, I've been composing a bit, putting notes together. Here's what I've come up with."

* * *

Greg had explained droguns to them. It was a heck of a day. They had slept before going to see Spencer. Now, finally at home, it was nearly nine, so the only thing to do was sleep some more.