Author's Note

Ok this chapter has been a long time coming. But this is where the action really starts. Please sit back and enjoy.
I give a shoutout to my friend Michael Page who helped proof read this.
Here's his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/GHRockotron3000

Chapter Six - A Failed Rescue

Apart from being almost squashed together, and failing to dodge the pizza box so as to not be stained from the pizza grease, the journey was quite uneventful. The ride went from rough to somewhat soft, which indicated that whoever was pulling the carriage had decided to travel uphill on a dirt road. A few times Starlight had to shush Trixie and urge Spike not to belch out fire. Starlight hoped that she had not made a mistake and stowed away in some innocent pony's carriage. But more importantly, she hoped that her friends were ok.

After a while, the three felt the carriage come to a complete stop. Then they heard a garage door shut; they have arrived.

***

Talzotl unfastened his light blue body from the carriage. He quickly walked to the right side of his carriage as his stomach rumbled, craving the delicious hot pizza. At least, he still hoped it was hot. He opened the top carriage door with his dark green aura magic. Looking in, he thought he saw something or somepony flicker. He blinked, and then all he saw was the large pizza box.

“Probably just the one flickering lightbulb,” he thought. He had been meaning to replace it, but given the current financial situation, the budget was pretty tight.

He levitated the pizza box and shut the carriage door. As he entered the mansion through the side door in the garage, he neglected to lock said door, because he had already locked the garage door. After all, who could get in? The garage door, the back door and the front door were all locked. Of course, he didn't realize how wrong he was today, but he would find out soon enough.

***

Starlight sighed with relief as she undid the Spell of Invisibility on herself and her friends. At one point she thought the mysterious pony saw him, but he blamed it on the flickering light. As the aforementioned light flickered on, she briefly saw his face; it was a light blue face with a somewhat triangular muzzle. She could not see his mane, and his eyes were covered from the light's shadows, save for a brief twinkle where his eyes should be seen. The head disappeared and the levitating pizza box followed him. She heard a click, and the room went dark as the door closed.

After waiting two minutes, Starlight slowly, and quietly, climbed out of the carriage onto the cold, concrete floor. The other two followed suit. Starlight lit up her horn as the white light illuminated the dark garage. The room was fairly empty, except for a few boxes of spare cart parts, and a workbench. She noticed a photo on the wall in front of the work bench. It had a smiling, light blue, unicorn stallion with dark, blonde hair, and blue eyes. He looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties, and was hugging a smaller unicorn colt, who closely resembled him, but the colt had dark green eyes. Starlight couldn't help but feel sad, as she had rarely ever seen her father.

"Starlight," Trixie whispered, snapping Starlight out of her sadness, "Are we gonna explore this place or what? We can’t just stand here forever!" Spike nodded in agreement.

"Right," Starlight responded. "Let's go find our missing six."

Starlight opened the door to the mansion, and saw a narrow hallway. A few feet in front of her, there was another door. The three went through the door, and they entered what appeared to be the entryway. There was a rack that held shoes, and a closet in front of them that held jackets. The three friends went through a door on the left, and entered another hallway.

Something caught Starlight's eye. Quietly, she motioned for Trixie and Spike to follow her through an open door that led to a flight of stairs that led to the basement. They quietly went down the stairs, and entered a really large basement. Starlight was sure that they were now underneath the surface. The cedar floor and walls were each painted a different shade of grey. One room had what looked like a wine cellar with large barrels of what seemed to be different types of liquor; they were most likely as old as the mansion itself.

As they explored the basement, they noticed a stained oak wall. It looked like it had been recently built. She was suddenly reminded, to her dismay, of the time she had imprisoned Twilight and her friends. Ever since she had accepted Twilight's offer of a second chance, she had always felt constant guilt of her past actions. As if on cue, the trio heard the hum of some kind of machine. Together, they followed the sound of that mysterious hum until they found the source, another room hiding behind a door. Underneath the crack, the trio could see some kind of light illuminating the room. Quietly, Starlight opened the door, and they saw a light blue, unicorn stallion with long, blonde hair sitting in front of them with his back turned, watching a screen and occasionally pressing a button. The pony hummed a tune while he was at it and he suddenly stopped when he noticed something on the screen. Slowly he turned the computer chair he was sitting on around and faced the now terrified trio. His face bore a look of surprise complete with his mouth in the shape of the letter O.

"Hello," he said in an accent that was a mixture of Canterlot and Manehattan, "I don't know who you are, or how you got inside this mansion, but I'm not accepting any vagrants, so I must politely ask you to leave, eh."

Starlight quickly glanced at the screen and noticed Twilight and her friends. She glared at the pony.

"Why are they here?" she demanded.

"I hardly think that's any of your business," he responded.

"Those ponies are my friends, so it is my business, blue boy," Starlight retorted starting to get angry.

The blue pony simply rested his chin on his right foreleg with smirk clearly unfazed.

"Those ponies will be the key to my riches."

"I don't think so," said Starlight. She quickly shot a short beam of red light at the blue pony. It was too fast for him to react, and he fell to the ground unmoving.

Spike was horrified. "Y-you killed him!"

"I simply stunned him Spike. Don't worry," Starlight said softly.

Starlight looked around the control room looking for clues. On the stallion's desk she found a series of newspaper clippings.

EQUESTRIA'S HEROES SAVE THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE ONCE AGAIN SONIC RAINBOOM HAPPENS A SECOND TIME EVIL CENTAUR DEFEATED BY THE HEROIC SIX

Those articles were just a few of many that Starlight had found. Whoever this pony was, he had to be obsessed with her friends for some reason. The only thing she could do now was wait for the pony to wake up so that she could interrogate him. She looked at Trixie and noticed that she was eating pizza off a box on the desk.

"Focus, Trixie!" she admonished.

Pouting, Trixie reluctantly put down the pizza she was eating.

"Umm Starlight," Spike said pointing to the microphone connected to the screen, "I think you should take a look at this." Starlight trotted to where Spike was pointing at and realized that the microphone must have been how the pony was communicating to her friends.

Putting her muzzle close to the microphone, she said "Twilight, are you all okay?"

***

Room 3, Escape Room

The Element Bearers had been mostly still as they waited for their captor to return. Except for Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who paced around the room they were in. What their fourth and fifth tasks were, they could not figure out. “Perhaps we have to figure out which ruby is real or fake,” Rarity had thought. However, the thought they both shared was how to get out of this place.

Suddenly their thoughts were interrupted when the growling voice had returned.

"Twilight, are you all okay?" it said. The ponies were perplexed. Since when did the evil, pony-eating monster suddenly gain a heart?

Rainbow Dash flew up to one of the cameras and exclaimed "I DON'T KNOW WHAT KIND OF TRICK YOU'RE TRYING TO PULL ON US, BUT IT AIN'T GONNA WORK!" She punched the camera really hard, but it didn’t really accomplish any kind of effect.

"Rainbow Dash," Applejack scolded "This is no time for losing our heads,"

"Oh really Applejack," Rainbow Dash retorted, "Then why don't you use your applebucking skills and break the walls down?"

"Yah think ah haven't tried that? That darn wall is impossible to destroy!"

Rainbow Dash flew down to the ground, and with a growl, they both butted heads.

"GIRLS!" Twilight exclaimed. "This is obviously what the monster wants, to be entertained by us fighting among each other like Discord once did."

"You don't think Discord could be behind this, do you?" Fluttershy asked, fear still present in her tone.

"Of course not," Twilight responded, “But maybe the monster saw what Discord did and took inspiration."

"Ah don't mean to interrupt y'all, but ah think we should listen for more instructions."

"You're right Applejack," Twilight responded.

The six were now silent.

***

Starlight could not believe that she had inadvertently caused her friends to fight. But why? Surely hearing her voice would give them hope of being rescued. Rainbow had thought she was pulling some kind of trick. She felt hurt at this. Looking at the unconscious pony, whose eye was half open, she realized that he must have used something to lower his voice. Perhaps a monster's voice. Starlight started to fiddle around with the buttons hoping to disable the voice modulator.

"Twilight," she said every time she pressed a few buttons. Looking at the screen, she noticed that her friends were scratching their heads in confusion; her button pressing was getting results, but they showed no signs of recognizing her voice. She was not quite there yet.

"Starlight!" Trixie yelled. Looking behind her, she noticed that the pony had woken up and squashed the rest of the pizza in Trixie and Spike's face. Starlight prepared another spell when the stallion galloped out of the room.

"I'll go after him Starlight," Trixie stated, trying to look dignified, but failing to do so because her face was covered in dough, cheese and tomato sauce.

Starlight nodded affirmably, and told Spike to stay with her out of concern for his safety. She returned her focus to disabling the voice modulator.

Starlight pressed another series of buttons and continued to test her voice. She then look to the screen and noticed Twilight flying up to the camera. "Starlight is that you?" she said.

With tears of joy, Starlight tried to tell her that Trixie, Spike, and herself would try to rescue them, but then the screen suddenly went blank, and the lights turned off.

***

Basement

Talzotl had to act fast. He heard a mare named Trixie call out to a mare named Starlight, and deduced that she was about to mess up his plans big time. He galloped out of the control room with Trixie in pursuit, her star cloak flapping as she galloped. Noting she was faster than him, he regretted not going out for gallops every opportunity he got on his summer break. He never really liked Phys. Ed. Though he was not fast, he knew the entire layout of the mansion from top to bottom, which gave him an advantage over Trixie. Turning a corner, he applied pressure to one of the stone walls, while anxiously looking back and forth, praying to Celestia that Trixie did not catch up to him. A part of the wall turned like a revolving door, which Talzotl entered. He closed the door behind him before a perplexed Trixie entered the same hallway he was in. Confused, she scratched the part of her head that was not covered by her pointy hat.

In the secret room, there were books from a bygone age that Talzotl never really read. The only thing that he focused on was the power switch that his grandpa Talxotl had installed.

***

Room 4, Escape Room

"It's me, Twilight," Starlight's voice explained. "Me and Tr-", suddenly the voice was cut off, and all the lights in the room went dark.

"Main power offline," a cool mare's voice said.

The trapped ponies cheered, as they believed that this meant that it would be easier to get out. However, the lights came back on as fast as they went out.

"Emergency Power online," said the cool mare's voice.

"Sorry for the hiccup, little ponies," the growling voice said. "But it is now time for the fourth task.”

Twilight flew up to the camera. "Since Starlight was able to mess around with what you were doing, I've deduced that you're not a monster, but a pony just like us," she smirked.

Rainbow flew up beside her. "Yeah," she laughed. "You're probably just an insecure little colt, who pretends to have a monster's voice just to get some excitement. Take my advice and Get. A. Life."

"I see you discovered my secret," the pony behind the growling voice laughed as he turned off the voice modulator, using a device that allowed him to remotely operate the Escape Room from his studies.

"You may have figured out my secret," the calm and collected voice with the mixture of Manehattan and Canterlot accent said, "But that won't help you in stopping me from succeeding in my plan. Your friend Starlight has no idea how to navigate this mansion."

Although Talzotl seemed calm and collected, he was mad at himself. Sitting on his comfy chair, he had realized that that flicker he saw was Starlight Glimmer and her two companions under an invisibility spell. That was the stupidest mistake he had ever made in his life, and it could cost him his monetary goal.

“Calm yourself,” he thought. He took several deep breaths; something his father had taught him when he was anxious while studying for a test. “The goal can still be done. All I have to do is get the money, and let them all go. After I somehow blindfold them.”

He noted Starlight's use of the Invisibility Spell; only a unicorn gifted in magic could learn such a spell. Talzotl once believed he was gifted in magic, but when he reached the age of about nine or ten the powerful uncontrollable magic that usually happened when a unicorn foal reached about that age never showed up in him. It didn’t happen to many other unicorns his age either, so he didn't feel too bad. However, he realized that Starlight was not one to mess with so easily. If she had written a few entries in the Friendship Journal he had stolen, then he could’ve figured out how to outsmart her, so he would have to think quick on his hooves.

Seeing that he would not be safe in his study for much longer, he snuck across the hallway and entered the library on a floor above the study. However, he failed to realize that he had forgotten to take the Friendship Journal with him.

***

Trixie had searched the entire basement (except for locked areas) for the mysterious foalnapper, but he was nowhere to be found. She deduced that he must’ve gone through a secret passage, but she could not figure out which wall it was, so she went upstairs the regular way, and noticed that a door was open in one of the floors. Suddenly, the lights went out, then they came back on. Shrugging it off as a power surge, she looked around. The room appeared to be a study, and on the desk was a book. It looked very similar to the one Starlight showed her when she gave her a formal tour of the Castle of Friendship, The Friendship Journal. Realizing what this might mean, she quickly galloped down to the control room to show it to her friend.

When Starlight looked at what Trixie had found, she was shocked.

“The Friendship Journal? But Twilight said that nothing was stolen from the castle, unless...” she slowly came to a realization, “He used a copy spell!”

“Isn't that spell advanced though?” Trixie asked impatiently eager to go after the pony who was giving her friend a hard time.

“Yes, but if he can perform that spell, why hasn’t he tried to fight us?”

Before she could come up to a conclusion, Trixie urged Starlight to join her in the search for the foalnapper. Starlight instructed Spike to stay in the control room in case either the machines came back on, or the pony came back, in which case, he could threaten to burn him if necessary.

Knowing that the study was empty, they skipped that room. They heard the sound of trotting hooves upstairs, so they moved there quietly in order to catch the foalnapper by surprise. They saw the pony with his back turned to them, with a forehoof to his chin as he thought.

She acted quickly. “Turn around slowly, and put your hooves where I can see them” she ordered. Gasping he did as he was ordered.

“Since I am not law enforcement, I cannot arrest you or read you your Mare-Anda Rights,” she said, “But I can use even harsher interrogation methods if I need to,” she finished smugly. Though there was a flicker of fear in his eyes, the pony did not react to her threats.

“Go ahead and try,” he said, “But know that I have powerful friends that will find you and make you and your friend’s lives miserable.”

“A likely story for a pony who’s operating alone.” Starlight responded. “Now tell me why you’ve foalnapped my friends!” she snapped.

“Did you forget what I told you down in the basement? It’s because I want money, and they’re the key to getting it.” He lit up his horn and conjured up the ad that he had put in his desk drawer, and gave it to Starlight whose eyes went wider with each line of text she read.

Looking for extra pocket money?

Need to pay off debts because you took out a loan from a loan shark or your mama?

We have the answer!

For proof of capture of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we’ll give you thirty million bits!

Willing to risk getting locked in the dungeons for a lifetime of freedom and wealth?

Signed, Big Boss

Starlight saw the photo of her friends, which appeared to be cropped from a photo she had taken when she had been the new resident of Ponyville. She remembered feeling quite out of place that day. She glared daggers at the pony in front of her.

“You think I’m going to let you get away with this?” she snarled.

Talzotl laughed “If you’re thinking of cursing me, go right ahead, but since I can easily hide the evidence of my crimes, you’ll have to explain to the police why you broke into my mansion and assaulted me. But if it’s any assurance, your friends will not be harmed in any way. Look at the ad again and you’ll notice that it only said that they wanted proof.”

Starlight realized that this pony was right. “But that doesn’t make what you’re doing right,” her horn started sparking as she prepared to cast another spell. “I’m going to give you until the count of five to deactivate that room my friends are in, or I’ll force you to.”

Before anypony could react, the doorbell rang. “Saved by the bell!” Talzotl declared, as he galloped to the desk that had a TV on it. It was one of many that broadcasted the security cameras that showed the outside of the mansion. He noticed a bipedal creature wearing a black overcoat and a black porkpie hat outside the wall gate. Based on the claws on his hands, he seemed to be a dragon, taller than Spike for certain, yet not quite as tall as any other in the Dragon Kingdom. He was waving a small piece of paper in his clawed hands.

He quickly galloped down outside to the front gates. Unlike Gallop Crush, who was an overweight and nervous fellow, this particular dragon was thin, and had a rough attitude, so most ponies preferred to not cross him. Although some might think he immigrated from the Dragon Kingdom, he was, in fact, raised in Vanhoover.

“Are you Talzotl?” he asked with a firm gaze that bore no emotion. Talzotl knew that these were just the formalities.

“Yes I am. I am the one who sent that letter with the proof that I captured the Element Bearers” he answered, managing to contain the excitement in his voice.

Talzotl pressed the button that opened the portcullis, and the dragon stepped inside, giving him the paper, which turned out to be a cheque for thirty million bits. “Don’t spend it all at once,” was all he said, and he went down the path that lead into the city.

As he re-entered the mansion, he was greeted by a glowering Starlight with her hooves crossed. “Are you happy now?” she rhetorically, and angrily, asked. “Are you going to release my friends?” Talzotl inwardly felt a twinge of annoyance, but he still kept his cool on the outside, as he casually assured her that he would release them. “Follow me,” instructed Talzotl. The two ponies went down to the basement, and entered a hidden door in the stained oak wall.

***

Room Four, Escape Room

Since The Element Bearers had lost the fear of being eaten, they began attempting to break down the walls with all their efforts. Applejack tried bucking, Rainbow Dash tried punching, and Twilight used her magic, all to no effect. Fluttershy, for some reason, tried asking the wall politely to just break, and Pinkie tried throwing cupcakes she inexplicably obtained at the wall. Rarity had refused, not wanting her hooves to get dirty.

As they were beginning to get exhausted, a hidden door opened, and a blue pony with long blonde hair trotted in.

“Where is Starlight?” Twilight demanded.

“I’m right here.” Starlight said as she herself trotted into the room.

“STARLIGHT!” all six exclaimed as they nearly tackled her in the group hug. Trixie reluctantly trotted in, along with Spike, where he was nearly squeezed to death by Twilight. “Thank you Trixie,” she said in a tone less pleasant than to her friends.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is great at everything. Even dragonsitting.” Starlight shook her head with a slight chuckle. Their moment of happiness was broken with a cough. They all turned their heads to the blue pony with revulsion.

“Would you care to explain what happened here?” Applejack demanded.

“My name is Talzotl Ricktaki and I have won!” he answered with a twisted smile; as he gave the cheque to Twilight, she looked at the amount with wide eyes. Starlight gave her the ad signed by Big Boss.

“Why would somepony put a price on our heads?” was all Twilight could ask.

“Haters gonna hate I suppose,” Talzotl chuckled. “Let’s not get into any conversations on what I’m doing is wrong, and just cut to the part where I send you all off. If you all are nice about it, I’ll give you mares a lollipop.”

“I love lollipops!” Pinkie squeaked before her mouth was covered by Applejack’s hoof. “I think he was being sarcastic, sugarcube.”

All the ponies went up to the front door and Talzotl was kind enough to hold it open for them. Each pony gave Talzotl a death glare, and Rainbow Dash showed him an obscene wing gesture.Twilight was the last in line, and as soon as Fluttershy exited the door, Talzotl had firmly shut it and locked it trapping her in the mansion.

“There is something I require of you, Twilight Sparkle.”