"Handle with care? I wonder why I would need to....AHHHHH!"

Nick couldn't believe it. He was eating cupcakes and drinking Equestrian tea. IN Equestria with Princess Celestia. Princess Celestia was his favorite character from My Little Pony. Ponies in the streets of Ponyvile had given him odd looks as the two had walked to Sugar Cube Corner. Now he sat in a rather small chair, sipping from a small fancy tea glass and eating cupcakes, all provided by Mr and Mrs. Cake.

"Thank you." He said as Mr.Cake brought his another cupcake.

"Oh! Anything for a friend of the Princess." Mr. Cake said.

"Nick, as I was saying, you seem to be very familiar with Equestria. You watched that show?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, I got convinced by some friends to watch it and soon found I was addicted to it." Nick said.

"I always was convinced, even with the hidden messages the show would still get  female only audience. I always assumed men would never even look twice at the title and...." Celestia froze and her eyes seemed to look off into space.

"And?" Nick asked. He waited a second "Princess Celestia?"

He stood and walked around to the little table to were Celestia sat, mouth open, eyes staring off into space. He waved his hand in front of her face. No response. He bent down slightly and looked her in the eyes.

"Celestia? Celestia? Princess Celestia can you hear me!?" He asked raising his voice in panic "Are you okay!? Talk to me, please!" he was now thoroughly confused and panicking.

"...Nick....." Celestia said still staring off into some other world.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I am........we are.......the others.........Clarke......theres something wrong....we have to leave....NOW!" Celestia roughly grabbed Nick with her hooves and in a flash of light they teleported back to Earth.

They appeared next to the destroyed van. A full moon lighting up the parking lot. Nick and Celestia fell into a state of awe as they saw the van, on its roof. Nick saw  the doors were all wide open. The van was empty. He and Celestia walked around the van and saw a person laying down in a pool of blood on the pavement. Nick and Celestia approached the body. Celestia was first to speak.

"Clarke....." She whispered. "...it is exactly what I feared."

"What?" Nick asked a spike of anger in his voice "What the fuck did you know that the rest of us didn't!?"

"I didn't know. I had predictions." Celestia said calmly.

"What....was one of them Clarke gets killed?! Why didn't you say anything!?" Nick shouted.

"I couldn't be sure!" Celestia now raising her voice.

"You could still have said something! Shared some of these 'predictions'!" Nick shouted growing angry. "This is your fault!

Celestia horned glowed and Nick collapsed to his knees. A ringing had formed in his head. He could still hear, but the ringing as it grew louder, seemed to generate the pain of a thousand knives. "It...is...not......my fault!" she shouted in anger.

"Stop!" Nick shouted. In desperation he grabbed a small rock from the pavement and chucked it to the Princess. It hit her square on the snout. She turned her head away from Nick and cover her bleeding nose with her hooves. She began to cry. Either in pain, or in sorrow, or even both.

Nick approached her. "I'm.....I'm sorry....He's dead now....we need a plan, something to get the others back.

Celestia now talked a tad oddly. "Clarke had a cellphone. Find it. Hit speed dial 2 then." she said holding a hoof to her bleeding nose.

Nick crouched by Clarke. He searched Clarke's pockets. He found a pistol, a few loaded clips, a small flask, and Clarke's cellphone. He looked at Clarke's open eyes, void of life.  Nick closed Clarke's eyes.

"Rest in peace, the people that did this will pay." Celestia said as Nick closed Clarke's eyes. Nick rose from his crouch and called whoever was set for 2 on speed dial.

He held the phone to his right ear.

"Clarke? Everything okay? We lost contact with you. What happened?" a male voice asked.

"Clarke's dead. It looks like it was a trap." Nick said.

"Fuck! Are the ponies still there?" The voice asked now seeming uneasy.

"Only Princess Celestia and I are here. Anyone else was taken." Nick said.

"Well who are you?" The voice asked.

"A friend of Clarke. My name is Nick." he answered.

"Shit. You must be one of the teens Clarke took with him. I sent an EVAC to Clarke, but the EVAC was run off the road a few miles away. They're alive but hurt. Try and find a car. Then I'll text this phone directions to the new RV point."

"Got it." Nick said he stepped around on the pavement a bit. Looking to the other buildings on the empty road. He saw a beat up pickup truck in front of a warehouse across the road.

Nick gestured for Celestia to walk with him. They crossed the empty street. The brown pickup was the only vehicle in the parking lot. (Unless you count broken down, wheel less, cars. That have been there for who knows how long.)

Nick held the cellphone to his ear still. "Umm..I don't have the keys?" He said into the phone.

"Then I'll tell you what to do to hot wire a car. Switch to the camera function on the phone, and send H a photo of whatever car you can find. 'H' is me. Understood?" the H asked.

"Understood." Nick said.

"I'll call as soon as you send me a photo." H said hanging up.

Nick put the phone in his own pocket. He held a pistol in his hand.

He stood in front of the truck. He pulled the phone out again. Took a few steps back and tapped the camera app on the touch screen. He snapped a photo. Hit send and then scrolled through the short list of contacts until he found 'H'. The photo was sent in just a few seconds.  The phone switched it's screen and showed an inbound call from H.

Nick hit the answer button.

"That all you could find? Jeez, looks like that truck just crawled through a mud factory." H said.

"Well that's all there was." Nick said impatiently.

"All right then welcome to Hotwiring 101."

They had tied up the ponies and humans. Alexandra waited, tied up and a little unsure as to why they had been taken with the ponies.

Alexandra had a small cut on her head, caused by the van when it had been hit.

Half conscious from blood loss and a small beating when she had not cooperated.

"Please we have to get her to a doctor!" Fluer begged the men in the shaking trailer of the truck.

The men talked in between each other in Russian for a minute.

One turned to Fluer.

"If she we can know where the big pony is, we will get her medical assistance." the guy said struggling with English.

"Big pony?" Alexandra asked weakly leaning against the wall of the truck trailer.

"Eh......Princess.....Cal....something?" One of the men said.

"Princess Celestia?" Fluer asked.

"Yes if we find her, we will let dieing teen go. Okay?" The Russian spoke.

"Princess Celestia is some where you can't get her." Princess Luna said weakly still recovering from a beating of her own. For the same reason as Alexandra.

"Then the dieing teen, will die." The Russian said grimly.

Pinkie, purposely, let out a long fart. Everyone and everypony was forced to cover their noses, to block the smell of onions, rotten eggs, and what smelt like cat.

"Ponies fart?!" The Russian yelled covering his nose with the collar of his shirt.

Nick and Celestia now driving North. They were under a complete silence. The phone in Nick's jean pocket rang. Since Nick was driving, Celestia levitated the phone from his pocket and answered it herself.

"Hello H." She greeted.

"Ah Princess Celestia. Nick there?" He asked.

"Driving." She said

"Well. I would just like to let you know: The FBI, using footage from some old camera mounted in the warehouse parking lot, has a description of the semi-truck we are looking for. And they have Agents with them to make sure the contents of it's trailer are the ponies we're looking for."

"Good."  she said

"I need to talk with Nick." H said.

Celestia levitated the phone to Nick's ear and kept it there. "Go ahead." Nick said.

"Listen carefully: I hate to request this but I need you to be prepared, kid." H said "You're not afraid to kill anyone are you?" H asked.

"I'll kill if my own life is at stake, or someone I care about, and both of those are at stake."  Nick answered.

"Good. How about some nasty methods of interrogation?" H asked.

"What's 'nasty'?" Nick asked.

"Torture to get an exact answer."

Nick thought a second "Who needs to be tortured and killed?"

"I'm texting you and address. Should be only one dude living there. Find out where the semi truck with the ponies is going. Okay?" H asked.