Courage the Cowardly Dog In: Dog Days

Chapters

1 - Ends and Beginnings
2 - Found and Lost
3 - Success and Failure
4 - Ups and Downs
5 - Interludes and Procrastinations
6 - Questions and Answers
7 - In and Out
8 - Hopes and Dreams
9 - Friends and Enemies
10 - Open and Closed
Epilogue

1 - Ends and Beginnings

It was several days following the invasion of the fogponies, and all thing had seemingly worked out for the better. The mule inhabited town of Donkey Quote near Ponyville had been cleansed of the purple haze, as had Ponyville, and of course Canterlot itself. Of all the hundreds of citizens who had become infected with the transformation into mindless zombies, very few of them actually remembered it, and those that did chalked it up to a strange bout of sleepwalking. Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle were the only ones who, in fact, remembered it with perfect clarity, and both had agreed not to tell Rarity. Especially considering the unicorn was in a seasonal phase where she absolutely loathed the color purple, it might be for the best.

Fluttershy and Twilight had returned to Ponyville, and had slowly begun to resume the spiritually-draining task of taking down decorations, as Hearth's Warming had ended two weeks ago. Everypony hated taking down decorations, it was a universal thing. They would have liked to leave them up, but the longer they did so, the longer they tempted facing the wrath of Rarity and being dramatically outed as 'tacky'. Decorations HAD been in the process of being taken down already, but the whole 'fogpony' thing had put a temporary stop to that fairly quickly.

Rainbow Dash was still staying at Applejack's, and the two were pretty much doing their own thing. Applejack had plenty of chores to do even in the winter season, mostly involving snow removal, and Rainbow had undoubtedly been coaxed into helping with the promise of all the warm cider she could drink afterwards. Besides, it was monumentally advantageous to have a pegasus around for chores that required clearing snow off the dormant apple trees.

Pinkie... was... well, being Pinkie, and completely unpredictable.

All in all, things were back to normal.

Mostly.

Back in Canterlot, the apothecary at which the final battle had taken place had been labeled as contaminated by Princess Luna, and several ponies in full Hazmat suits had been assigned clean-up duty over the last few days. The majority of cleanup work revolved around the giant cauldron which still sat in the back room, which had overflowed with purple smoke that had since hardened into a seemingly immortal concrete tar. Everything from magical horn blasts to jackhammers to cannon blasts had been arranged, and the hardened purple gunk just would absolutely not come up. The clean up crew had eventually given up, labeled the entire building as 'CONDEMNED - UNSAFE' and left.

As such, nopony was around late at night to see the faint purple light dancing around the back of the building in the middle of the night. Nopony was around to hear the evil, excited laughter upon realizing freedom after untold, unknown eons of containment. Nopony was around to see the hardened purple mortar suddenly shatter on its own into thousands of pieces, releasing dark shadows that swirled around the room in a malevolent fury before disappearing up into the sky.

When the clean up crew arrived the next day to attempt removal of the mess one final time, they found what resembled fragments of small, violet shards. There was initial confusion, before eventual agreement that they must have weakened it at last, before sweeping it all up into trash bins and hauling it away.

There was little conversation amongst the clean up crew, except for the occasional jab when one of them would find an extra gas mask in the equipment locker.

"Hey. Hey, Firestrike. Are you my mummy?"

"Shut up, Starshine."

The apothecary itself was left abandoned and forgotten until such time that it would be demolished outright, and the space used later on for something else.

The dark shadows which had been released, meanwhile, had swirled violently into the sky, and made a direct path for Ponyville. The reasons behind the destination were as of yet unknown and would be for quite some time, but it may be said for now that Ponyville simply had an aura about it, an unseen force that attracted trouble like insects to flickering lights.

Finally, Fluttershy herself had calmed herself down from the previous adventure, and was simply glad that everything had turned out alright, and all of her friends were unhurt. She rather missed Courage, however, having taken a fancy to him. It was not every day that she stumbled upon an animal who reflected her own daily sense of fear and paranoia, and the two had gotten on together very well. She missed him, but knew that he was back home where he belonged, presumably with a family that cared for him, and that was alright.

Little did she know she'd be seeing him again by the end of that very day. It had been only a few days since he'd been returned to his own realm, and she didn't expect to see him again. Why would she? He belonged with his family, just as she belonged here with her animals. In any case, it was nearly feeding time, and Angel was already giving her impatient glares. She began the laborious process of salad making, and Courage the Cowardly Dog was temporarily forgotten.

Courage himself was back to his usual habits, although this meant he was frequently rather bored. It was the usual routine of listening to Eustace demand things from Muriel, why she put up with him was one of those mysteries he didn't think he'd ever figure out. He spent his days wandering around the small house and laying in Muriel's lap, receiving pettings. The old couple had absolutely no idea he'd been transported to another dimension, much less saved it. He had no intention of telling them, either. They just assumed he'd gone out wandering somewhere, and would return in his own time. He always did.

When Courage felt that he was safely secluded and neither of them were looking, he reached underneath an old floorboard where he'd stashed the golden medal of bravery that the starry blue horse had given him. It was shiny and he liked shiny things, and he was consequently slightly mesmerized by it.

"Courage..."

The voice was faded, distant. But unmistakably belonging to the starry night horse.

Courage blinked several times, but any further discovery was interrupted by Eustace, who had come up behind him and snatched the medal from his paws.

"What's eh?" His eyes widened. "Look at that! I'm rich!" He cackled. "I'm rich! I'm rich!" He held the medal possessively, but Courage absolutely wasn't having this.

It was the only thing Courage had from his equine friends, and he wasted no time in kicking Eustace in the shin. The farmer grasped his leg, and cried out with pain, dropping the medal.

"Ow! Stupid dog!"

Courage grabbed the medal, and made a run for it, Eustace hobbling for a few seconds before chasing after him. Courage slid underneath the table and around the corner, evading the farmer as he ran upstairs to the attic. Slamming the door closed and locking it, Courage looped the medal around his neck as he sat in the chair in front of the computer.

"Oh," the computer said, unimpressed. "It's you."

"Courage!" The farmer yelled, pounding on the door. "Give me back me medal!"

Courage still wasn't having it, and typed furiously on the keyboard.

"A world filled with horses, huh?" The computer sighed. "Sounds like a dreadfully boring place. Why would you ever want to go back there?"

More typing.

"You miss Fluttershy? That's cute." The computer sighed. "Well I can't help you. Have you tried rubbing it? If you really want to go back there that badly, that might work."

Courage shrugged, and rubbed at the medal around his neck. He gave a yelp as the pendant gave off a sudden flurry of stars, and a miniature version of Princess Luna stood on the computer desk.

"Courage!" Luna exclaimed. "If you're seeing this, then we're going to be in need of you again very shortly. Are you alright with coming back?" Luna asked. "You were such help last time, we'd love to have you again."

"Yes!" Courage yipped. "But how do you know you need me again?"

"I have a good sense for these things. Last time things ended a bit too... easily." She sighed. "I could be wrong, of course, but that usually means trouble is brewing again. Will you help us?"

Eustace was cackling wildly on the other side of the door, this time giving the door violent kicks. The entire frame was shaking, giving off showers of dust and wood fragments.

"Yes! Yes! I'll go!" Courage exclaimed.

"How good for you," the computer said sarcastically, and went into screensaver mode.

Eustace slammed through the door a moment later, still laughing. "Now gimme my... what's eh?" He gazed into the room, which was now completely empty. He frowned. "Stupid dog..." He turned and stepped through the hole he'd just made, going back downstairs, yelling for Muriel to start his tea.

2 - Found and Lost

The journey back to Ponyville, while mildly disorienting, was painless and nearly instantaneous for Courage. In the seconds before Eustace came charging through the door, the pink pup was aware of what felt like large, invisible hands grabbing him from all sides. The feeling made him feel terribly vulnerable, and a second later he was being plunged through the fabric of spacetime. There was only the faintest ripple in the air as he was taken between worlds, and by the time the farmer opened the door on Nowhere side, there was no sign the pup had ever been there.

Courage 'blipped', for lack of a better word, into existence in Fluttershy's cottage, the hands not dropping him but instead seeming to push him into her embrace. Fluttershy, who had been minding her own business and who did not at first realize had suddenly appeared in her vicinity, gave a startled yelp. This in turn caused Courage to yelp, their shrieks turning to excited gasps as they finally saw who the other one was. Fluttershy had taken to the pup and though little time had passed since she'd seen him last, she missed him.

"Courage!" she exclaimed, excited to see him, but not lost on the implications of his arrival. "You're here... what's wrong?" she asked, feeling her spirits quickly sinking. Courage held up the medal he still clutched tightly, rubbing it as if it were some kind of magic lamp. He was hoping for a reappearance of Princess Luna to explain everything, but there was none. The medal remained cold and silent.

"Well, maybe you're just here to visit? I could be over thinking things... just because you're here doesn't mean something bad is about to happen again." She gave a soft smile that resulted in an audible squeak.

Unfortunately, she wasn't.

And they were.

Derpy Hooves was many things, but above all she prided herself on being a good mother. She was caring and devoted, and allotted as much time as possible to her only child, a filly by the name of Dinky who was rapidly growing out of foalhood. The child was energetic and lovable, and Derpy's heart swelled with pride every time she looked at her. She wanted to give the child everything in the world she deserved, but didn't want to spoil her. Today they had gone to the park together, with the young filly loving to run around the open area and use the playsets. The swings were her favorite.

"Faster, mama, faster!" Dinky was squealing, laughing in that absolute pure joy that only came from children who didn't yet know what taxes were or how unforgiving the world would be in a matter of a few short years. She was swinging back and forth on the chains as Derpy pushed her, the latter frowning in concern at how high the child was getting.

"That's high enough," Derpy said gently. "If you were to fall off at that height..."

"I'm not gonna fall off!" Dinky protested, the swing slowly descending and slowing, each crest a little bit less extreme than the last one.

"How about some ice cream before we leave?" Derpy asked. "It'll be dinnertime soon."

Dinky's eyes widened. "Ice cream BEFORE dinner?" She gave her mother a look as if she hadn't heard that right. "No way, you're the best mama ever!"

Derpy glanced around. The ice cream cart was only a short distance away, and there was nopony else here at the park. It was January, after all, and the only reason Derpy was even here was for quality time with her daughter. She judged that getting ice cream would take less than a minute, and looked over at her daughter. "Wait here, and call me immediately if you see anypony, alright?"

"Alright!"

Derpy quickly made her way to the ice cream vendor, selecting two vanilla cones. The vendor was happy enough to have someone to talk to, business was dreadful during the winter months. Everything went smoothly, and took no time at all. She thanked the vendor and turned around, making her way back to her favored and only child before stopping dead in her tracks.

The swing was still slowly rotating back and forth, coming off of the momentum of the child who had been sitting on it.

Had been...

The park was deserted.

"Dinky?!" Derpy called at once, the ice cream cones dropping to the ground in an instant and splattering across the grass. "Dinky!" She stood in place and turned a complete 360, able to see in a wide panorama of all directions. But there was nopony else around. Derpy wailed and ran towards the swings, tears already falling from her eyes in blind panic.

"DINKY!"

She was alone.

Over at Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow Dash was clearing snow off the dormant apple trees in academy record breaking time. She had enjoyed her quality time with Applejack over the last few weeks, and the two had bonded to dangerously high shipping levels. Yet even with all the work they'd done already, there was still tons more of it left to do. Clearing the snow off multiple acres of farmland was no easy task.

Apple Bloom, no shortage of courage in her small body, leaped off the roof of the house into a snowdrift with a triumphant exclamation of "Yeehaw!"

Applejack glared at her. "Now ah asked ya fifteen minutes ago t'go get the shovels from the shed, and ah still ain't seen ya go anywhere near it. Enough tomfoolery, we need them shovels, sugarcube."

"But y'told me ah ain't allowed in yer shed," Apple Bloom protested, to which Applejack gave her such a reproachful glare that the filly was sent off scurrying.

Rainbow Dash lay on a low hanging cloud several feet off the ground. "You did tell her not to go in the shed," she pointed out.

"That's only when Big Macintosh is workin' on the farm equipment. Ah don't want her gettin' hurt."

"She's not gonna get hurt," Rainbow said. "It's a tool shed, how's she possibly going to get hurt clearing snow?"

At that precise moment, as if overhearing their conversation, Apple Bloom emerged from the shed with a wildly dangerous looking device attached on her back, attached to a winding hose that she held in her forehoof. She grinned, and a burst of fire shot from the end of the hose.

"Cutie Mark Crusader Flamethrowing Snow Clearer!"

"NO." Applejack said at once. "BAD."

"Aw..." Apple Bloom disappeared once more into the shed, presumably to get the shovels this time.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack talked for a few minutes more, mostly now the conversation had drifted from the upcoming spring season to how in the world AB had managed to find a flamethrower.

"What in the world is taking that child so long?" Applejack complained. "If y'want somethin' done right around here..." she stormed over to the shed, and kicked the door open. "Bloom! Ah ain't messin' around! Git the dang shovels, and-" she paused.

The shed was empty. Save for a few tools of course.

Applejack narrowed her eyes, multiple options running through her head. One, the most likely, Bloom had shirked her chores by escaping out the back. Two, somepony had taken her away. Three, she was simply hiding. Either way, no matter the reason, somepony was getting their flank whooped tonight.

The last pony we shall pay a return visit to for now was one very much familiar with Courage's previous adventure. Twilight Sparkle was busy organizing her shelves while Spike was upstairs sleeping, and had absolutely no idea of the trouble brewing once more in various parts of the town. Fluttershy and Courage had come to pay her a visit, and Twilight was delighted to see the pup again. They were catching up while Twilight worked the shelves, and she was alerted to wrongdoing only upon hearing a wild chorus of mixed voices outside her door, becoming louder by the second.

Afraid that the noise might wake Spike, Twilight stormed to the front door and swung it open, suddenly finding herself face to face with a crowd of at least several dozen.

"Rabble rabble rabble rabble rabble!" The crowd chorused.

"Quiet!" Twilight yelled, and the crowd hushed. "Whatever is going on, I'll do what I can to help all of you. But standing out here shouting rabble rabble rabble isn't getting us anywhere!"

Derpy Hooves pushed her way to the front, her eyes red and bloodshot with the tears that had been falling for the last hour. "Several children have gone missing, Twilight," she said slowly. "From all parts of town, seemingly at almost the exact same time, or at least only minutes apart. Will you help us? Will you help me find my Dinky?"

"And my Delilah!" another voice called from the back.

But it was Applejack's pale face that truly made her heart break as the earth pony stepped towards the front. "And mah sister," she said slowly, taking off her hat and clutching it to her chest.

Twilight had no idea what was going on. But she was going to get to the bottom of it.

She turned to look at Fluttershy and Courage, standing just inside the door. "Welcome back, Courage," she said solemnly. "Looks like we've got another mystery. You up for it?"

"Uh huh!" Courage replied. And he meant it.

Author's Note

Thank you all for your patience, I hope the story turns out enjoyable for at least the majority of you!

3 - Success and Failure

"Alright, alright! Settle down!" Twilight called to the increasingly upset crowd. Time was a matter of importance here, and she couldn't have things spiraling out of control on her doorstep. There was already what appeared to be a small mob forming, and she knew she had to take charge of the situation before panic broke out.

"Everypony! Listen up! Those of you with a missing child, step to the front of the crowd! Everypony else step back! We're going to do this neatly and efficiently."

There was some degree of grumbling, but the crowd obeyed, resulting in six ponies standing near the front, Applejack and Derpy among them. The rest hung back, more nervous than frightened.

"Alright!" Twilight said. "That's good. Those of you with children at home, when we conclude our business here go home to them immediately, and keep an eye on them. I don't have enough evidence just yet to declare a state of emergency, but we're going to play it safe." This was met with a few murmurs of approval, as well as protest.

Turning down to look at Derpy, Twilight asked calmly. "Tell me exactly. Leave nothing out." Derpy did exactly that, and Twilight listened with sympathetic concern. Her frown deepened upon hearing how suddenly the child had simply vanished. "Did you see anything suspicious, anything at all?"

Derpy shook her head. "Nothing, Twilight." She honestly hadn't seen anything, it had just been a normal day at the park until everything had gone horribly wrong. Dinky was all she had in the world, and she wanted her back safe more than anything.

"What about hoofprints in the snow?"

"No, the snow was clean, honest! No tracks except mine and Dinky's! It's really cold still, so the park was abandoned. But Dinky loves the swings, and she wanted to go anyway."

"I see," Twilight said. "Applejack?"

The country pony related her own story with an unusually serene calm, her voice filled with sadness and anger. "I s'pose she coulda just run out an' disappeared through the back of the barn, but that ain't like her at all," she said. "She's spunky, but ain't never skipped out on chores like that b'fore. Fair amount of complainin' sometimes, but never straight up vanished. Why, when I found out who's responsible fer this, they're gonna face the fury of a nest of hornets, I tell ya what!"

"Alright, but let's just focus on the facts for now. You didn't see anything?"

"Not a thing."

Twilight rubbed her chin, and went down the rest of the line. The stories were different, but all had two common denominators. They featured a child who'd been left unsupervised for as little as five seconds, and none of them had seen or heard anything. The children in question had just dropped off the face of Equestria.

"Here's what we're going to do," Twilight said finally. "Before I declare an emergency curfew, I'm going to set up a few traps with bait using the conditions that you've all told to me, and I'm going to see if I can reproduce the vanishing effect. It's the first step to getting some answers."

Fluttershy stepped out from her silent vigil by the door, with Courage still on her back. Both looked shocked at this proposal. "You are not using the remaining children for bait, Twilight!" the pegasus gasped. "Absolutely not!"

Twilight cracked a small smile. "Who said anything about using children?" She said, and her eyes fixated on Courage. The dog blinked several times, processing this, and immediately broke into a rapid babble of protest and whining.

"Relax," Twilight said. "We're going to be watching you the whole time. Nothing's gonna happen."

Courage was still violently shaking his head, and Fluttershy was glaring at her.

"It's the best option we have right now!" Twilight insisted. "He's small enough, we can set up an experiment to attempt to reproduce the conditions of the vanishings. We're not going to hurt him, and we'll all be watching."

"I... I don't know..." Fluttershy whimpered. Courage was looking between them, and finally gave a hefty sigh. He'd been through worse before, after all.

"Alright, alright," he said finally.

Twilight didn't seem to hear this, but she did seem to understand he was coming around. "Great!" She said. "We have a plan. Everypony else, go home, and spend time with your loved ones. Keep them safe for now until I have more answers. Girls, you come with me."

Half an hour later, Courage was sitting in the middle of a clearing, wearing a large blue bonnet primarily reserved for foals, with a pacifier stuck in his mouth. "The things I do for love," Courage complained.

Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were all spread in a wide circle around Courage at the approximate four points of the compass, hiding behind conveniently placed bushes. They stared at him with an unrelenting gaze, none of them daring to take their eyes off him.

"This is so lame," Rainbow whispered, though there was nopony that could hear her. "This is never gonna work."

Fluttershy was beyond nervous, having taken very closely to Courage and not wanting anything to happen to him. If anything did, Twilight was never going to hear the end of it.

"This is never gonna work," Applejack muttered to herself, unknowingly sharing Rainbow Dash's exact sentiments. "Nothing's gonna be so stupid as to fall for-"

She was cut off by a sharp yelp from Courage as he was enveloped by a bright purple flare, and then was gone. For a moment it had seemed almost as if the dog was simultaneously being pulled into the ground and simply fading out of existence. The entire process took less than two seconds. All four of them saw it, and all four stared in unbelieving shock where the dog had been standing not five seconds previously, before slowly emerging from the bushes and converging towards the central point.

"No way," Rainbow whispered. Her voice was a mixture of complete terror and awe as if she'd just seen the coolest thing ever.

"It worked!" Twilight said excitedly. "I can't believe it! And you all said my experiments were a waste of-" she caught a glance at Fluttershy, who was glaring at her with such contempt that her gaze could have melted a concrete pillar. The Stare was back, in full force, with such strength that Twilight shrank away from it.

"Nothing's gonna happen, huh?" Fluttershy asked through gritted teeth.

"Heh... well... what I meant was-"

"Get. Him. Back." Fluttershy hissed. "Get them all back, but if anything happens to Courage, things are going to become extremely unpleasant for you."

Twilight blinked in shock. Had Fluttershy... FLUTTERSHY... just threatened her?

"Like... what?" Twilight asked hesitantly.

"Like the next time you ask me to water your plants when you're out, I might just accidentally forget to water one of them." This was, admittedly, about the meanest thing Fluttershy could think of.

Twilight sighed in relief. "We're going to get him back," she promised. "We're going to get them all back. More importantly, now we know for sure that something is going on. There's forces of evil at-"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEVIL!" Pinkie Pie shouted, running past all of them with such sudden unexpectedness that all of them jumped. "EEEEEEEEEVIL!"

"...Yes," Twilight continued, pretending that hadn't just happened. "Forces of evil at work, and I suspect it may have something to do with the fogponies we battled last time. And I'm going to get some answers." She narrowed her eyes. "Pack your bags, Rainbow Dash. We're going to Canterlot."

Rainbow, who had been sort off in her own little world until now, snapped back to attention.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," she said. "Me? Why me?"

"We can't all go and leave Ponyville unattended, what if more children disappear before I get back? I need to get to Canterlot and back as quickly as possible. Princess Luna helped us last time, she may be able to help us again. So unless you know somepony faster than you-"

Rainbow Dash shook her head almost instantly. "That's a nice story you got there, Twilight, and I'm gonna let you finish, but we all know I'm the greatest pegasus of all time. When you put it like that, of course I'll go!"

"Twi?" Applejack asked. "We're gonna get em all back, right?" Her eyes shone with worry for her little sister.

"Yes," Twilight promised. "Every single one of them."

4 - Ups and Downs

Courage at first hadn't even realized he'd been grabbed, or that anything at all was amiss. There was a sensation of warmth that surrounded him as if he'd fallen asleep in front of a fireplace, and the usual sleepy laziness that came with such an activity. His mind felt sluggish as one who'd just taken a particularly powerful sedative might experience, but he began to awaken after a minute or two.

He found himself in what appeared to be an underground cave or cell of some kind, the only exit that he could see was blocked by thick, jewel encrusted bars. Digging underground in Equestria presumably unearthed a lot of them, and and using them to enforce bars like this was admittedly rather clever. They were no match for Courage and his never fully explained shape-shifting ability, however, as the dog wasted no time in melting his body down into a puddled liquid state, and rippling through the bars before solidifying and popping back up in his normal shape on the other side. The cell had contained him for less than five whole minutes.

Courage could get a better look at his surroundings from here, and saw that the cell was one of many identical alcoves set into a long, twisting hallway, which appeared to be an entire network of tunnels. There was nobody in sight, at least not for the moment, and he knew he had to act quickly. Choosing a direction at random, he ran down the tunnels, which were lit every few feet by burning torches. He passed cell after cell, stopping only when he came to the first occupied one.

On the other side of the cell stood a dirty, weary looking young donkey. Not quite a child, but not an adult yet either. "Heyyyyy-awwwww!" The donkey brayed. "Hey, you! You gotta get me outta here, man!"

Courage nodded his head, and tugged on the bars with all his strength. He might as well have been trying to push a building across Equestria.

"It's no good," the donkey said. "You're gonna have to get keys from one of the guards. Are you from Donkey Xote too? I don't remember seeing you."

The pup shook his head. "Ponyville," he said, as it was the first name to come to mind, and not a total lie. He remembered Donkey Xote being one of the other towns that had been assimilated during the last attack, though he'd never gotten around to actually seeing it.

"Wait here," Courage said, and the donkey rolled his eyes.

"Like I got a choice?"

Courage started to move further down, but was stopped by sounds around the corner. He pulled at the bars of one of the nearest cages out of instinct, but of course they didn't budge. He snatched one of the torches off the walls and froze like a statue, a grimace on his face and holding the torch up over his head like some sort of sentry gargoyle.

Around the corner came a creature which Courage had very much hoped he'd never have to see again in his entire life. A pony shaped entity seemingly entirely made of purple haze, broken only by solid silver orbs for eyes. It passed him without a second thought, either not noticing or not caring, and as soon as it had passed.

Feeling his flesh crawling with fear and hate, Courage slowly snuck up behind the fogpony, and snatched the keys dangling from a keyring around its misty tail. He spared no thought about how a non-solid entity could carry solid objects, and wasn't about to engage in a philosophical debate with it. He waited until the fogpony rounded the corner again, then returned to the donkey and unlocked the cell.

"Heyyyyy-awww, thanks, pup!" The donkey grinned, displaying massive flat teeth. "Come on, we gotta get the others!" He ran down the tunnel as quickly as possible, and Courage followed. Guards turned out to be slim, perhaps there was even only just the one at this point in time, as they didn't encounter any others. The donkey led him through winding tunnels as easily as if he'd been born and raised down here, and Courage wondered how long he'd been locked up.

The pair eventually came across an overlook that looked down over some sort of quarry, and Courage gasped in horror despite himself. He gazed down upon a scene that would have struck Miss Rarity with a severe case of deja vu. Gems were being mined and hauled by at least 15 children, employed against their will as unwilling labor by whatever madman was running this operation.

"Do you know who's in charge?" Courage asked. "Who we have to stop?"

"I don't know his name," the donkey said, sounding regretful. "But I've seen him a few times." He began to describe the appearance of whoever was behind all this, and as he did, the few alarm bells that were going off in Courage's head gradually became blaring sirens.

He knew who was behind it.

And he didn't like it at all.

"Oh, no," Courage whispered. That couldn't be right, it just couldn't. But then again, the description was too perfect to be anything else. But as to WHY... it didn't make any sense. It just raised more questions than it answered. "We have to get the kids out of here!" He insisted. But even as he spoke, gazing down upon the quarry, a small flare of purple light blazed into existence down below. It brought with it the appearance of yet another child, a young blue pegasus whom he didn't recognize, who appeared in shackles like the rest of them.

This brought the almost immediate attention of two more fogpony guards, who grabbed the child and hauled her away, crying and screaming for help, presumably to be trained or conditioned or whatever orientation process the others had gone through. Courage didn't want to think about it, it made him feel sick.

"Can we get down there?" He asked, pointing.

"We should get help first," the donkey said. "There's not a lot of guards, but most of them will be down there, and if we get busted, it's game over man."

Courage gave a longing look back down at the quarry, the cries of the filly still echoing in the tunnels. They'd have to move, being out of their cells like this meant the longer they were out, the higher risk they ran of being caught. He wanted to help all the children right now, right this second, and get them out of here... but they'd have to wait a little bit longer.

"Uh huh," he agreed reluctantly, and the pair began to work their way deeper into the tunnels, leaving the overlook behind and trying to find the way out.

He could only home that the mares above ground were coming for them, and that they were hurrying. When they found out what he himself knew now...

...they weren't going to like it.

5 - Interludes and Procrastinations

Word was spreading slowly but surely about the goings on of the most recent development of disappearing children. Back in Ponyville, Mayor Mare had declared an absolutely mandatory curfew for all fillies, colts and yearlings, and none of them were to go anywhere unsupervised by an adult. Two more children had been abducted, both cases resulted in the frantic terror of the parents. Some were slowly realizing that even with supervision there was little to nothing they could do to prevent the abductions from happening, so quick and unexpected as they were, but precautions had to be taken just the same.

Applejack had left the farm under the care of her brother, and was watching Scootaloo as a substitute big sister, not wanting the Crusader to suffer the same fate as her sister while the little filly's parents were out of town.

Rarity had closed up the Boutique, and was tending to Sweetie Belle.

Pinkie was guarding the secret formula of her favorite method of making cupcakes, just in case the kidnapper decided to switch gears and go after confectioneries instead. And just to be clear, the secret ingredient was caramel, not... well, you know, and we won't go into that.

Fluttershy was, of course, quite distraught over losing Courage, and was tending to her own frightened animals in the hopes that he might be returned safe, without having even the slightest idea where to begin looking for him.

And all across town, parents were locking down on their children, many not letting them out of their sight, and the children were feverishly protesting this sudden, blatant invasion of their privacy by their totally lame parents.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Rainbow Dash made it to Canterlot in record time. Rainbow flew and made it to the city first, while Twilight teleported in bursts of energy several miles at a stretch. The distance between the two cities was too great to make in one jump for even a student of her aptitude, and small jumps were the required solution.

When Twilight arrived, Rainbow had been waiting for nearly an hour, and it was already well past evening. The sun had gone down, and the pegasus waited near a street lamp. "About time, slowpoke," Rainbow said. "We could have just taken the train, you know."

"No time," Twilight panted, trying to catch her breath. "We wouldn't have gotten here until tomorrow. That's why I wanted so badly to speak with Luna. Not only did she help us last time, but I knew that if I did my math right, she'd be on duty when we got here. And I-"

"-always do my math right," Rainbow finished with a sly smirk. "So you've claimed before."

The two made their way through the elite portion of the city where the wealthier ponies lived, and were waved on through by batpony guards who were pleasantly surprised to see them. They passed the hedge maze and the decorative statues it contained, and Twilight finally stopped outside the main entry doors to the castle.

"Something doesn't feel right," Twilight said, frowning. Rainbow Dash trusted her judgement, and looked around. Everything seemed to be in place.

"I don't get it," Rainbow said. She was sweeping her vision across everything that she could see just as Twilight was, but didn't understand what she was supposed to be looking for. Everything was calm, everything was peaceful, everything was in its place.

"Neither do I," Twilight replied. Something was bothering her, and she couldn't quite place what it was. Then it hit her all at once, and her eyes flew open. She trotted over to the hedge maze, and looked up. No longer at the center of its labyrinth but at the outer corner of the perimeter, stood the previously disenchanted statue of Discord.

"I thought we took care of this," she said, sounding confused.

"Oh, but you did!"

The voice came from all around her instead of from one central point as one might expect, and Twilight jumped backwards out of instinct. The statue shimmered and its stone exterior seemed to melt into a kind of wax, dripping away to reveal the browns and greens underneath. Discord cracked his neck and swept towards them in a grand, dramatic bow. "Miss Sparkle and Miss Dash, I presume," the draconequus rumbled.

Twilight just sighed. She didn't have time for this, whatever -this- was.

"Discord, what are you up to?" she asked.

"ME?" His tone indicated great offense, as if one had just asked the Pope if he had been the one whom had farted. "Twilight, my dear, whatever makes you think I'm up to anything?"

"Because you always are."

Discord jumped down from his pedestal. "Touche, I suppose. But alas, when you most expect something, that is usually the most appropriate time for something unexpected to happen. As it happens, I am not up to anything. Despite how you may feel about me, neither Celestia nor Luna much enjoys the idea of me simply wandering about, and has tasked me with guarding the gardens. A somewhat ironic task, I must admit, as I grow so weary of the view." He rolled his eyes and flicked his talon around in tiny circles, as one might make a 'hurry up' gesture.

Consequently, the entirety of the hedge maze began to turn on its axis, rotating completely around so that instead of the entrance, they were staring at an unbroken wall of shrubbery. "Just think," Discord laughed. "If anyone is inside, they'll come out on the wrong side thinking they found a false exit, and will turn around and go right back in again!"

"Is anypony in there?" Rainbow asked.

"Who knows? That's half the fun. I have to keep myself entertained, you know."

Twilight sighed again. "We're in a hurry, Discord, we're here on matters that are extraordinarily time sensitive. I'll deal with you later. In the meantime, put that back!"

Discord shrugged, as if to indicate that he would think about it, and jumped back up on his pedestal again. "Ta-ta, Twilight. Au Revoir, Rainbow Dash!" He spun around several times like a ballerina, but this produced no visible effect.

"Oh, and Twilight?" he called.

Twilight looked back at him, eyebrow raised.

"Would you bring me a glass of water?"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both exchanged a glance, then turned around and slammed the door in his face, disappearing into Canterlot Castle. They had questions to ask... but when they would leave again less than two hours later, they'd be wishing they'd never asked them.

Author's Note

I fully admit this chapter hardly advances the story but I so wanted to write Discord again... sue me. Though I PROMISE, the next chapter is a DOOZY... I think it'll make up for it. And who knows? We may see Discord again later.

6 - Questions and Answers

Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash entered through the main doors of Canterlot Castle, and were ushered forward without question despite the late hour. They were well known, of course, to the point of being at near celebrity status, and there was little question as to their motives or demands for identification. When they asked to see Princess Luna, they were gestured right up the grand central staircase, which would eventually lead to the tower where Luna held power over the night.

Twilight and Rainbow knocked on the door which led to Luna's chambers, and the booming voice of the Princess met them at once.

"WHO DARES BOTHER THE GREAT AND POWERFUL PRINCESS OF CANTERLOT?"

"Twilight Sparkle, and we've no time to waste!"

The booming voice immediately dropped to a decibel that would not cause deafness at close range, and sounded much more cheerful. "Twilight! What a pleasant surprise! Thoust may enter!"

They did enter, and found Luna sitting with a pair of headphones around her neck, and a huge bottle of Mountain Dew sitting near the bed. Beside her lay a clunky arcade style controller, on which abysmally horrific pixelated graphics were scrolling up the screen. The room was, for the most part, rather neat, but Twilight's obsessive nature was most disrupted by the plate of doughnuts sitting on the floor near the door through which they entered, and she frowned disapprovingly.

"Do you want ants?" Twilight scolded. "Because that's how you get ants."

"Forgive me, you caught me during a break," Luna said. "What can I do for the both of you? Surely it must be important, if you've come such a long, long way. Come, tell me what you've been through, so I may see what you might do."

"It's about Courage, Princess Luna," Twilight began, and was not surprised to see the Night Princess's face darken, almost as if she'd expected it.

"Continue," Luna said.

Twilight recounted the events as she knew them, from the moment that Courage had first arrived for the second time, to the disappearances in Ponyville, and of course her own failed attempt at resolving the issue. Rainbow Dash stood silent for the most part, and filled in the few details that Twilight either missed or forgot.

"I see," Luna said when Twilight had finished.

"Can you help us? Do you know what's going on?" Twilight asked.

"I do indeed," Luna said. "and it's worse than I feared. Come. There's something you need to see." She put down her headphones, and lured the two out into the hallway, then down a series of passages into a large, dark room. She fired a bolt of illumination from her horn, a bright white orb which shot up towards the ceiling and hung there, lighting up what now appeared to be a trophy room.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both gasped at the same time. The room was lined with pedestals, and on each sat a small fragment or object. The majority of them Twilight did not recognize, but at the very end she recognized both a piece of the stone from which Discord had escaped, which sat on one pedestal, and next to it, on yet another, lay a dark red sliver of Sombra's horn.

"This is the Room of Remembrance," Luna said. "Off limits to all except Celestia and myself. Here we keep the memories of past encounters, both victories and defeats, in order to keep our self confidence in line and remember our successes and failures of the past. Here we come to reflect, and to remember."

"Awesome," Rainbow whispered, moving to touch a large viking helmet but Luna pushed her hoof away.

"What does this have to do with what's going on now?" Twilight asked.

"This," Luna said, and gestured to a chunk of purple rock that sat near the beginning of the room. "Recognize it?"

Twilight thought hard. "When we defeated Katz, the fog in the cauldron hardened," she said, after several minutes. "It spilled over, but it turned solid. This was the stuff that was turning innocent citizens into fogponies."

"Correct," Luna said. "It was at this point that I began to suspect the truth, but I did not voice it, for I hoped I was wrong. Now, it seems, I was right after all, and the truth must be known."

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both looked at her with their full attention, their hearts sinking as the conversation went on.

"Many centuries ago, Celestia and I defeated a nasty creature known as Smooze," she said slowly. "He was a corrupted being of filth, who wanted only to ravage and destroy, to turn the entirety of Equestria into a barren wasteland where nothing could ever grow again. That was his second attack, and even I know very little of the details of his first defeat. I know only that he was vanquished by the Flutter Ponies that inhabited the land at the time. Now, it seems, he has tried a third time. He is as relentless as he is mean."

"So how do we stop him?" Rainbow asked. "Can I kick him in the face?"

"Nothing would please me more," Luna said. "Unfortunately, Celestia and I destroyed his physical body during his second attack, and sealed his spirit underground. I can't imagine what he's been doing this whole time, if he has, in fact, been awake. Without a host, he is powerless, but I fear that he was using Katz to do his bidding while regaining strength."

"So this whole time, it's been Smooze behind the fogponies, using Katz as a host?"

"I'm afraid so," Luna said. "I don't know for sure, but all the pieces seem to fit. Defeating Katz would have pushed him back out into spirit form."

"And we defeated Katz," Rainbow Dash said. "So we're good, right? A spell was cast that would protect everypony from the fogponies and everything went back to normal."

"That's exactly the problem," Luna said slowly. "Magic is an extremely specific beast, and a spell was cast that would protect everypony," she said. "There were creatures other than ponies caught in the wake of the fogpony attack, and following Katz' defeat, that body would have remained vulnerable to be used as a host because it wasn't under the influence of the protection spell."

"I don't know what-" Twilight began. But she began to remember, and her face paled as she did.

Fluttershy, Twilight and Pinkie Pie were in the back room, looking dazed. They brightened up as soon as they saw the pup, however. The giant cauldron into which they had been thrown had been overturned, thick purple slime spilling out into the corners. It looked like hardened magma, and no longer posed any danger.

"Courage!" Fluttershy squeaked, and rushed to him. "You did come back! What happened? My head feels funny..." Courage returned the hug that he was given, and patted her head in sympathy.

"Look, it's Princess Luna!" Spike suddenly exclaimed, perched in his usual spot on Twilight's back.

"Agh!" Twilight yelped, nearly jumping a foot in the air. "Spike, how'd you get here?!"

"I've been here the whole time," Spike deadpanned. "You brought me with you."

"Oh. I guess I sort of forgot you were here," Twilight admitted, cheeks burning red. "Sorry." Spike huffed and crossed his arms.

Luna smiled at the reunion, and then coughed. "I think a ceremony is in order, but there are still a few things to clear up. The citizens of Canterlot very narrowly escaped a bleak existence of slavery today, but I want you three to return to Ponyville at once to ensure that the residents there are returned to normal as well. They were under the curse more than a day longer than Canterlot was, and there may be lingering side effects."

"Smooze is possessing my dragon?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"In older times, purple was a color of royalty, and exclusively reserved for kings and queens," Luna said regretfully. "Being as egotistical as Smooze was and since he comes from times long past, a purple dragon would have made an alluring target. Being purple would mean being royalty. An unfortunate coincidence in this case, but a chance I imagine he would have taken."

"But... Spike hasn't been acting evil... or even out of the ordinary, really," Twilight said.

"I imagine Katz hadn't been either," Luna said. "Smooze would have had access to things like memories and personality traits, and playing things normally to deflect suspicion. But since you spend so much time with Spike, I imagine you would have caught onto anything suspicious in recent days?"

Twilight rubbed her neck. "I... I guess I haven't really given him the attention he deserves, I've been so busy lately..." She admitted with no small amount of shame.

"Did you even tell him you were coming to Canterlot?"

Twilight hung her head slowly. She was beyond embarrassed, and felt terrible. "I guess I didn't... it was only going to be a quick trip, there was so much on my mind already, and we just sort of... left. Gosh, I feel awful. When this is over I'm going to hug him and never let him out of my sight again."

"So let's get him!" Rainbow said, taking to the sky and giving the air in front of her a quick one-two punch. "We'll knock Smooze right back to where he came from, Twilight!"

"It's not that easy," Luna said. "You remember how it was with Katz. Any damage done will still harm the physical body. Unless you intend on hurting Spike, you must remove Smooze from his host without harming the dragon."

"But in that case, we're going to need another tempting host to lure him out. Where are we gonna find another purple host to-" Twilight began, then blinked. Both Luna and Rainbow Dash were staring at her.

"Oh."

7 - In and Out

Courage and his new donkey friend wandered through tunnel after tunnel, throughout a seemingly never ending network of increasingly convoluted paths. Courage couldn't help wondering who had made such a labyrinth, and how it had gone undetected underground for such a long time. Whoever it was, they'd been at it for a very long time.

"Do you know where we're going?" Courage asked.

The donkey shook his head. "Nawwwwww," he brayed. "I think we're just trying to find the paths that slope upward. Sooner or later one of them has to lead aboveground, right?" He asked. That was fairly reasonable logic, unless the tunnels were enchanted or something, and Courage really didn't want to think about that. In a case like that, they might very well be stuck down here forever.

The pair turned the corner, and immediately were confronted by a small pony coming in the opposite direction. The pony screamed in surprise and fright, prompting Courage to do the same.

"Why are we all screaming?!" The donkey hissed. "Are you crazy?"

"Don't hurt me!" he small pony exclaimed. "Ah know karate!"

Courage blinked. He recognized the kid, it was that small apple horse! Apple... something. Honestly, he wasn't sure how anyone could keep all their names straight.

"Apple Blossom?" he asked, scratching his head.

"What? Naw, s'Apple Bloom," she said.

"How'd you get out?" The donkey asked.

"I got my ways," she grinned. "Plus I've got a hoof file in my bow, nobody ever checks there. Can ah join ya? There's a whole bunch of kids down here, we gotta get 'em out of here!"

"Mmhm!" Courage agreed, nodding his head.

The pair turned trio, now together, turned and made their way around a corner that seemed to slope upward. They proceeded forward for ony a few feet, however, before turning another corner, this time being stopped entirely. This time, standing in the middle of the corridor, was a small, purple and green dragon. He appeared at first glance to be a harmless baby dragon, but the purple glow coming off of him and the deep growl coming from the back of his throat indicated he was anything but harmless.

"Oh, don't leave on MY account," the small dragon said, cracking a grin. "The party's just getting started." He braced both wrists together, palms outstretched like a move like one might see on Dragonball, not that any of them knew what Dragonball was, and thrust his small arms forward. A powerful flash of green fire appeared in his hands and shot towards them like a bullet.

All three leaped aside in different directions, and the young dragon scowled. "Blast this incompetently underaged body..."

It took a moment for the trio to get up again, and the dragon took that opportunity to raise his hands again, with the intention of firing another green bolt at the small apple horse. Apple Bloom gave a cry of pain as the bolt smacked her rump and knocked her over just as she'd gotten up again, while Courage and the donkey got to their feet and charged him. The reptile just smirked at them and snapped his claws, enveloping both himself and Apple Bloom in tongues of green fire, the latter giving off a cry of fright as the pair disappeared entirely.

"We're never going to be able to take him down here," the donkey said, and gestured with his hoof towards the corridor they had last been running towards. The one which Spike had blocked them from progressing through. "Look!"

Courage looked, and saw faint sunlight streaming down in small, broken beams.

"Come on! We gotta get help before we try to take him on ourselves and make things worse!"

The pup didn't need to be convinced, and though the pair gave a reluctant look back towards the tunnels, they charged forward towards the broken patch of sunlight. Courage was rather hesitantly pleased with how things were going. He knew the who and the where, at least, which was the important thing. All he- they, had to do, was get help and bring it back here.

As the dog and the donkey pushed aside the heavy brush that concealed the entrance to the tunnels, they stepped out and found themselves outside Ponyville entirely, near the Everfree Forest. The plants overhead were close enough to the forest that nopony would have ever bothered attempting to tame them.

The two raced towards town, now deadset on getting help.

The final showdown would commence shortly, and they needed to be prepared for it.

8 - Hopes and Dreams

Courage and the donkey escaped from the underground tunnels with surprisingly little fanfare. Courage didn't like at all the fact that the sludge-possessed dragon had simply let them go, just like that. He understood that perhaps priority was over the children, for some reason, and he didn't want them escaping, or perhaps his magical kidnapping power was limited and he could only snatch one at at time. Whatever the reason was, he didn't like it.

Panting for breath on his little legs, the pup and his companion ran from the edge of the forest where the tunnel had let out, and did not stop running until they were back in Ponyville proper. It was only at this point that Courage looked at the long-eared donkey whom had escaped with him.

"I never got your name," Courage said.

"It's Don," the donkey said, smiling doofishly and showing off his enormous teeth.

Courage just stared at him. "Seriously?" That was like naming a goldfish Goldie or something, no originality at all.

The donkey just shrugged. "No better than naming a pink horse Pinkie," he said defensively. Courage couldn't exactly argue with that. He was slightly distracted by his own thoughts, though, trying to piece together the rest of the answers. They knew who was behind this, but he still didn't know exactly why. Were children just an easier target, or was it to make a statement? He didn't know.

Courage and Don ran into town, just as Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were returning. It was still dark, all four had been up all night, but dawn was gradually breaking in the far horizon. Nothing spectacular yet, just a faint, barely visible dim glow.

Twilight looked absolutely exhausted, flying to Canterlot and back was no small achievement. Rainbow Dash looked weary as well, but less so.

"Courage!" She exclaimed, and the pup ran to hug her. He broke into a long series of nonsensical babbling, trying to communicate all they'd found in a matter of seconds. He morphed his body first into a puddle, then a dragon, then some sort of zombie. He looked up at her and whined.

"It's Spike," Twilight said slowly. "It was my Spike the whole time..." She was understandably stressed, but looked up, and seemed to notice Don for the first time. "You're from Donkey Xote, right?" She asked.

Don grinned. "What gave it away?" He asked. "Yeah... we just got away from the dragon. He's got a whole underground network of tunnels down there. A whole assembly line of children working slave labor under miserable conditions."

"Well we have to stop him!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Really?" Don asked. "I thought were just going to leave them there and were running around for the lulz."

"First of all, that's not funny," Twilight said. "Secondly, don't ever say 'lulz' again."

"So how do we stop him?" Don asked, while Courage looked between the two.

"Don't worry about that," Twilight said. "I sent a scroll via overnight express before we left to a secret weapon of mine. We'll have our ace in the hole by late morning. Within a few hours," she explained. "I can't go much more into detail, in case he's listening. If we can hold him off til then, I think we stand a chance of luring him out of Spike's body."

"And what do we do once he's out of the host?" Don asked. "He's most likely going to try to possess someone else."

"Yeah, me," Twilight said. "But he's not going to get the chance." She smiled faintly.

"Come on. We're going back to the tunnels," she said.

"We're what?!" Courage exclaimed. He could not think of anywhere in the world he wanted to be less.

"We're going to distract him," Twilight said. "And when my secret weapon gets here, we're going to finish him. And I'm going to get my dragon back."

Courage sighed. He desperately wanted everything to work out for the better. He wanted this whole ordeal to be over with, and for the children to be safely returned to their mothers and sisters and aunts. More importantly, he wanted to go home.

Equestria was turning out to be a very dangerous, very silly place.

In any case, Courage sat upon Don's back as they reluctantly turned around, this time flanked by Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. As the quartet slowly returned to the hole in the ground and stood around it, looking down at its dark, ominous depths, they could hear the faint crying of children from far down below.

Courage balled his paws into fists. Hurting his friends was one thing, but hurting children was entirely another. "Don't worry Twilight," he said firmly. His mind made up. "We're going to get them out of there. Or my name's Wilfred. And it's not."

It most certainly wasn't.

Author's Note

I'm so sorry this has taken so long to finish, I started losing interest near the end as the story is getting sillier and sillier even by Equestria standards, so I'm gonna finish this story and be done with it before the silly policeman from Monty Python comes around and puts a stop to the whole thing.

We're almost done so bear with me!

9 - Friends and Enemies

Stopping back in Ponyville for just a moment, dear reader, we'll check in on the others before we continue. The disappearances of children seemed to have temporarily ceased as the kidnapper in question found himself relentlessly pursued by a very angry alicorn. Rarity remained ever watchful over Sweetie Belle, never leaving her alone for a moment much to the young child's annoyance. The younger sister was overcome with worry over the disappearance of her country friend, and only wanted to be left alone. Heck, left to her own devices, she would have gone charging out into the night to look for her, and Rarity absolutely wasn't having that.

Scootaloo was worried as well, and remained under the watchful eye of Applejack, who had come over hoping that having Scoots around would take her mind off the worry of her own missing sister. She wanted to go out and look, she would turn the whole town upside down given the chance, but with Scootaloo's parents out of town that would have left the child unguarded and easy prey.

Derpy had perhaps taken it the hardest, and had busied herself by hiring Pinkie Pie to throw a 'welcome home safe' party for her favorite and only daughter. The party composed of a cake, at Pinkie's insistence, and trays of ten different flavors of muffins, Dinky's favorite. The house had been decorated with bubbles and balloons and streamers, and the two sat together, playing checkers, trying to pass the time while they waited for any sign of the children being returned. Twilight had commanded them to wait, and wait they did.

Back at the hole, the final group, composed of Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Courage and Don, stood over the dark hole that led back down into what had been Smooze's lair for decades. Perhaps for centuries. Banished to a spirit form, he presumably had spent his time possessing small digging animals such as moles and the occasional passing diamond dog, in order to form this long network of tunnels. They might not ever know for sure, but what they did know was that it was creepy and none of them wanted to go down there.

"Do we have to?" Courage whined. He was all about saving the kids, sure, but wanted nothing to do with a darkened labyrinth.

"Yes," Twilight said firmly. "Come on." She led the way into the darkness, with Dash behind her, and the unlikely pair of donkey and pup behind Dash. They followed the pathway as best they could, taking a reverse course to the one which Don had taken to escape. Instead of looking for paths which elevated upwards, however, they took the paths that sloped downwards.

They followed this path for well close to an hour, even with Don leaving the occasional stamped hoofprint near intersections so they could tell which way they went if they happened to double back by accident, which they did indeed do several times. In the very near distance, the crying of children grew louder. Twilight guessed there was perhaps 20 of them down here. There weren't that many children in Ponyville, and judging by Don's presence, Smooze had started expanding to other towns.

When they reached the bottom, or what Twilight assumed was the bottom, the alicorn's horn blazed to life. The spell she cast was one that Batman would have been familiar with, had she even known who Batman was. It was a scrying spell, which allowed her to see through walls as if she'd placed a high-tech visor over her eyes. The x-rayed skeletons of working children appeared visible through the walls, very close by in fact. After a moment of hesitation, she'd counted nearly 30 of them.

"Come on," Twilight whispered, and she turned off the heightened vision, leaving only solid walls in its place. They moved further outward until they came to the base of the quarry, where all the children were working. There was no sign of Spike. Only minecarts on rusted wheels, most of them filled partway with gems and valuable rocks. Every now and then a crying, sniffling child would bring over a bag full of gems, and dump it into a cart with a clattering sound.

Twilight actually growled. "Let's finish this," she said, and stepped out into the clearing.

Youthful laughter from above met her almost instantly, and Twilight snapped her head up see Spike looking down at her. Despite being nearly three stories up, Spike stepped right off the balcony, and plummeted downwards. Twilight shrieked with horror, and instinctively rushed forward, but slammed into an invisible wall with such force that she tasted blood in her mouth. Spike laughed as whatever had been in front of her dissolved, its only purpose to stop her from approaching.

Spike's descent was met with thick purple fog that rose up out of the ground, catching him like a cloud and lowering him down the rest of the way. He stepped easily from the violet mist like an elevator.

Face to face, Twilight stared at Spike, and Spike glared back.

"Oh, NOW you remember me," Spike spat. "Well it's too late. You had your chance, and I'm taking over now!"

"Not if I can help it!"

Both parties charged forward, and the most emotional fight of Twilight's young life began.

10 - Open and Closed

Rainbow Dash flew overhead in the large underground room, which in itself was almost as big as a football field, and accelerated with such force that for a moment, Twilight feared for her little dragon's health.

"Don't hurt him!" Twilight shrieked. "Spike's still in there somewhere!"

As it turned out, she needn't have worried. The pegasus circled several times, before flying and trying to grab the dragon. Spike leaned back his head and spat some sort of gooey purple plasma at her, an attack of which Spike alone would surely have no claim. Rainbow Dash went down, wings heavy and sticking to the floor uselessly. "H-Hey! Not cool!"

Twilight teleported behind Spike when he had turned his attention on Dash, and tried to grab him. She managed to get both forelegs around him, pinning him for just a second and he squirmed out of her grasp.

"Don't touch me," Spike hissed. She knew it wasn't really him, but hearing it in his voice broke her heart a little. "You had your chance. You missed it."

Twilight looked confused at this. "What are you talking about?"

"You never pay attention to your dragon. Either you're studying too hard, or running around with your friends to other places and leaving him behind. Did you ever wonder how I managed to possess this dragon in the first place? He was wandering the streets while you were on one of your little errands, looking for you after having a bad dream. But you weren't there. You never are."

Twilight looked as if she'd been slapped.

"Don't listen to him, Twilight!" Rainbow said. She'd gotten to her feet, but was still sticky and very much unable to fly. "He's just trying to get under your skin!"

"But... I..."

Courage and Don had moved in from the far side now, and Don glared at him reproachfully. "Why do you need these childen?"

"For labor," Spike said, as if it was the most obvious answer. "Your blasted princesses destroyed my body, and it will take energy harnessed from an enormous amount of gems before I can reanimate another polluted lake and reform. What the children have collected is a good start, but I NEED more."

"And why children?" Twilight asked.

"Have you ever tried to get a full grown adult to do heavy work like this? They become tired, or their back gives out, or they need to take arthritis medication. Any number of excuses. There are plenty of children. I can work them until they drop, and then simply get more."

Courage leaped upon Spike's face when he heard this, enraged.

"That's enough!" Courage yelled.

Spike staggered backwards, trying to pull the dog off him. Courage was almost as big as he was, and the force of the pounce had very nearly knocked him over. Twilight glared with anger, although one supposes there wasn't any other way to glare, and charge up her horn, which began sparking and crackling with powerful energy.

Spike threw the dog against the wall, and Courage yelped. Then he turned his attention back on Twilight. "What are you doing to do?" He grinned. "Go ahead and hurt me, see what happens. If you hurt this body, I'll need another one. And the only other acceptable host here is you."

"You're absolutely right," Twilight said. "But I have a secret something you forgot about."

Spike frowned slightly. "And what's that?"

Twilight blasted an enormous, crackling shockwave from her horn, which began to sizzle and vibrate as it hit the ground next to her. Swirling, dancing, pink light rose up from the ground next to her with increasing intensity, and Spike staggered backwards again, shielding his eyes. "What are you doing?!"

There was a sound like a muffled sonic boom as what appeared to be a long distance teleportation reached its conclusion, and the dancing pink light faded away, leaving in its place...

"You?!" Spike spat.

"Me," Cadance agreed, and both alicorns charge up their horns and blasted him with pure, energized love. Spike howled with rage, and a large puddle of purple slime began pooling around his feet like a melting candle.

"You're doing it!" Don said excitedly. "Smooze can't handle it!"

"You may be stronger physically," Cadance said.

"But I'm stronger emotionally!" Twilight finished.

Courage was dancing around Spike's body, trying not to let the purple sludge touch him. He pulled out a large, old fashioned metal milk container from the hammerspace behind him, just as Pinkie had done on countless occasions. This was followed by a shovel, and he began shoveling the slime into the container with a wild grin.

Rainbow Dash stared at him. "How do you DO that?" She asked.

Spike was pinned against the wall now, Cadance and Twilight advancing on him, blasting him with their bright pink energy. He howled with rage.

"I've never been very good at the whole appointed guardian thing," Twilight said. "But I still love you! And there's nothing you can do about it!"

The pink blast intensified, and reached a violent climax with a showering of small red hearts. Spike collapsed to the ground, motionless, and Courage shoveled the last of the purple sludge into the container, and sealed it. "Yes!" He exclaimed.

Twilight and Cadance exchanged a glance.

"I didn't believe your scroll at first," Cadance admitted. "It just sounded... I don't know. Too incredible. But you told me to come, and I'd never leave my sister behind." She grinned.

"I appreciate that," Twilight sighed. "But he was right, I've neglected him something awful these last couple days. I've been so preoccupied, and now I feel terrible."

"We all know you didn't mean it," Cadance said. "That's the important thing. But don't dwell on it too harshly. We've still got a lot of work to do. Come on. You wanna get these kids back to their families?"

"Yeah," Twilight said. "I do." She looked at Courage. "You almost ready to go back home after all your help, champ?"

Courage nodded as well. He did like it here, but things were just a bit too overwhelmingly chaotic for him. At least at home... well, at least at home things had died down significantly in the last few years. Here, it seemed like something bad was happening all the time.

Twilight looked around, and noticed that whatever trancelike influence that Smooze had cast over the children was gradually wearing off. Most were looking around in confusion, and still others were throwing down their tools in defiance.

It was a welcome sight.

Epilogue

The thundering of little hooves was enormous. It had not taken hardly any time at all to spread the word among the children that they were free to leave, and at that point the young fillies and colts had needed no further encouragement to drop their picks and hammers and tools to storm out of the network of tunnels. Most of them gave Spike very dirty looks as they passed, and Twilight had to protect him behind her wings as one or two even tried to lunge forward to take a swing at him.

Twilight looked around when the tunnels had been emptied, and Don looked at her curiously.

"What's up?"

"These tunnels must have taken hundreds of years to dig like this, it could be a fantastic educational experience... I could arrange tours!" she said. "It'd be a nice boost to the economy, I bet... maybe even try to make it a historic landmark."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "It's cool and all, but let's try and focus on making sure all the kids get back home and getting Courage back, yeah?"

Twilight agreed that it was a sensible objective, and followed her friends.

Dinky rushed forward into Derpy's outstretched wings with a shrill cry of 'Mama!' The party had started only a few moments before, and all around them relatives were being reunited with their lost loved ones. Apple Bloom burst in through the back door like she owned the place, a cocky grin on her face, and hurried forward to hug her sister. Applejack grinned back, took off her hat, and placed it on her little sisters head. The hat fell over her eyes, and Bloom immediately tried to run to reunite with Scootaloo, and ran into a wall.

'Were ya scared, sis?" Applejack asked.

"Naw, no way!"

While the reunions were taking place, Twilight approached Derpy, and gave her a tender yet confused look. "Pinkie said you've had this party planned for hours, before we even knew if we were going to get the children back. How did you know we were going to be successful?"

Derpy gave her a confused look. "You're Princess Twilight Sparkle," she said gently, while hugging her daughter. "You promised you were going to get to the bottom of it, and you always keep your promises."

"But what if I'd... failed?"

Derpy laughed, and escorted her daughter towards the cookie table. "That's a good one, Twilight."

Applejack came up to her, Apple Bloom had gone off playing with her friends. "Ain't it about time y'got Courage back home?" she asked.

"Yes, I think so, I think we've all deserved a rest." she and Applejack went up to Courage, who was sitting in the corner playing with a yo-yo. "You want to go back home, pup?" she asked.

"Yes!" He got up, putting the toy away.

"I'm not sure if we'll be able to get you back here again, it was only a technological marvel that you've been here twice," Twilight said. Courage was on her back, and she was leading him back towards her castle where she'd equipped an extension of Celestia's now infamous Canterlot mirror. Applejack walked beside her, with Spike on her back. Twilight had made sure not to leave him behind again. "The medal Luna gave you was only good for one use, I think, and it will take me quite a bit of effort to open my mirror onto your world. I'm not sure if I can do it twice."

Courage nodded. That was alright with him, he just wanted to go home.

Twilight entered the castle, went down a long, decorated hallway, and entered a side room. A mirror equipped to a complicated looking set up of wires and pulleys was centered at the back of the room. Spike slid own off of Applejack, and immediately proceeded to trying to pull one of the embedded gems out of the walls.

Twilight returned her attention to the mirror, and placed a wired receptacle over her horn. "You said you came from Nowhere, Courage?" Twilight asked.

The pup nodded.

Twilight closed her eyes tightly, and tried to tune in to that location. It was difficult, as she'd never seen it, but by visualizing the dog in her mind the reluctant, shimmering visage of the farmhouse slowly warped into life in the mirror.

"Go on home, sugarcube," Applejack said. "Y'definitely earned a rest, helping us twice an' all."

Courage looked at the mirror for a moment, then ran through it without looking back. Twilight gave a groaning noise from trying to keep the link open, and the mirror went blank as she lost the connection a moment later. She went to Spike, who was still trying to pull the gem out of the wall.

"How about some pancakes instead?" she asked. "I think we still have a bit of explaining to do."

Spike lit up. "Aw, sweet!" he grinned. "I'm really tired too, like I slept for a long time. Is that alright?"

Twilight smiled. "It's more than alright, Spike. It's more than alright."

Courage ran through the mirror and skidded to a halt a second later on the dusty, cracked ground that rarely allowed any vegetation. He looked behind him, seeing a flash of pony for a brief moment, and then there was only a dull, solid rock. In two trips to Equestria he felt he had toughened up quite a bit, and perhaps was no longer as cowardly as everyone thought he was.

He opened the front door and went in through it, relieved to be home, seeing everyone where they were supposed to be, Muriel in the kitchen making tea, and the Farmer in his chair, only his legs visible behind the sprawling, open newspaper.

"Where've ya been, stupid dog?" he asked.

Courage just shrugged.

"Make a mockery of me, will you!" The Farmer exclaimed. He dropped the newspaper and lunged forward at the same time, wearing that awful green mask that Courage hated so much.

"Ooga booga booga!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

Well... maybe not as brave as he thought.

Author's Note

THAT'S IT. I'M DONE.