Chapter One - Meetings and Crepes
Author's Note
First off I would like to say that this story was loosely based off the Artemis Fowl series. I enjoyed Artemis Fowl and this story was originally going to be a complete retelling of the first Artemis Fowl novel including Artemis, Butler and the fairies AND feature the involvement of the Mane Six somehow. I realized that this would not work so I scrapped it. Instead I came up with this story and I'm hoping that if it's successful that maybe I'll make a couple of sequels.
Hope you enjoy the first chapter and if there's any problems please tell me.
Chapter One - Meetings and Crepes
Prologue
The unicorn hopped off the school bus excited that his father was home from a business trip and they would be going to see the Wonderbolts Show. His favorite Wonderbolt was the one called Rainbow Dash who was said to be the fastest pegasus ever. He would see for himself how fast she really was, and maybe get an autograph and a picture with her.
He entered the mansion eagerly anticipating his father to be waiting at the door to give him a tight hug. He instead saw his mother on the floor crying. Questioning her, he was shocked to hear that his father disappeared without a trace.
Mother and son along with the local authorities searched far and wide for him but he was not to be found.
Sadly the young unicorn was forced to conclude that his father had died somewhere and would never be found...
***
Chapter One - Meeting and Crepes
Downtown Vanhoover
Hustle and bustle greeted the young stallion as he got off the train to downtown Vanhoover. He was used to it, since he had lived in Vanhoover his whole life - the sight of many ponies seeking to enjoy the night life was nothing new. Vanhoover was a great city of Western Equestria where it had it's famous Stallionly Park, Hoofville Island and a transit system bigger then the one in Manehatten that connected it to the southern town of Tall Tale. Vanhoover was a place where many ponies from all over Equestria vacationed to.
However, Talzotl Ricktaki had other plans. He was meeting somepony to discuss something that would change his financial situation. Ever since his father went missing, the family fortune had been slowly depleting and he wanted to do something about it.
He trotted to a crepe restauraunt. The place was a small building where ponies mainly ate outside when it wasn't raining. However the unicorn was going inside where he would be meeting a contact who would deliver a file to him. The contact had not arrived yet so Talzotl sat down and picked up a menu. He decided he was going to order a vanilla oat crepe.
A slightly pudgy middle aged waiter with a grey coat, black mane slicked to the side and a thin mustache walked up to his table, seeing that he was ready to order. “Hello,” the Pegasus said politely, "I will be your server tonight. Would you like to start with a drink?”
Looking up to the waiter, the young unicorn said to the waiter, “Don’t be ridiculous, and sit down.”
The waiter was taken aback. “But, sir,” he bleated “I am the waiter.”
“No you are not,” Talzotl pointed out to the Pegasus. “You are the contact I was supposed to meet. Gallop Crush, unless I am mistaken.” To his satisfaction, he saw that Gallop was beginning to sweat with fear. “Do not worry. I’m not dangerous. Maybe."
Gallop reluctantly sat down at the table. “How did you know who I was?” he asked with fearful curiosity.
“You never had a name tag when you were playing the waiter. It was a nice effort though,” the unicorn smugly added.
“So am I to presume that you are the one named Talzotl who set up this meeting?’ Gallop asked.
“You need not presume,” Talzotl answered, "because you are correct.”
Gallop took a file out of his pocket. “This is the thing I mentioned.” Talzotl reached for it, but Gallop pulled it towards himself. “Payment first, my friend.”
He glared at Gallop. “Given that you tried to deceive me, I won’t pay you until I read the contents of that file.”
Gallop considered taking the file and running away from this pony and pretend that he didn't exist, but knowing that Talzotl was the son of the most powerful business stallion in Vanhoover, he thought better of it and gave him the file.
Talzotl read the ad inside the file. On the top of the piece of paper, there was a picture of six mares of varying colours and on the bottom of the page it said that there would be a thirty million bits reward to the one who could prove that they had captured the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. That would be enough to rebuild my father's businesses and help my mother ,Talzotl thought to himself. He made up his mind. "You tell your boss that I'm up for the challenge,"Talzotl firmly stated "But I would like a two hundred thousand bit advance."
Surprised by the demand but knowing what his boss was like, Gallop smugly said "Talzotl, I'm afraid that that's not possible. The boss does not give advances." He thought he had the kid beat.
"Then consider the deal off. Although I doubt anypony else would be up for the challenge." Talzotl got up to leave, intending to resort to Plan B, which was to win the lottery.
Gallop considered his options. He could let Talzotl leave and find a suitable replacement. However Talzotl was known for being smarter than most ponies in Vanhoover so the chances of finding somepony similar to him would be next to zero. Gallop decided that he would try to convince his boss to agree to the two hundred bit advance. Besides the Boss trusted Gallop. What could go wrong? "WAIT!" exclaimed Gallop. "I'll see what I can do. Meet me back here tomorrow night. I will tell you if he agrees."
Talzotl agreed to the plan and he returned home.
***
Unknown House
Later that night Gallop went to the Boss's house. He was stopped by a security guard. "What's your business here?" he curtly asked. "I wish to see the Boss." Gallop responded. "Come inside and wait in the living room Gallop." Normally the guard wouldn't tell guests this but as Gallop Crush was the Boss's most trusted right hoof Stallion, he was granted the privilege.
"What do you want?" the Boss groggily demanded demanded. "It's Two o Clock in the morning and I was trying to sleep. This better be important." The mysterious stallion known simply as The Boss was the leader of the most powerful gang in Vanhoover. If anypony messed with him, they usually ended up missing.
"I met with a potential client named Talzotl Ricktaki regarding the ad," Gallop started. "But he says he will not accept unless he is given a two hundred bit advance."
The Boss thought carefully. A kid trying to blackmail him? It was something he used to do when he was a young colt. The Boss was impressed. "Tell Talzotl that I agree to his demand." he told Gallop. "However Gallop," the Boss's voice dropped dangerously low "If you wake me up in the middle of the night again, I will have you bumped off. Understand?"
"Most definitely Boss," Gallop nervously replied.
***
Crepe Restaurant - Downtown Vanhoover
The next night, he returned to the crepe restraunt and was told that the Boss was wiilling to give out the advance. "What exactly are you going to do with the money?" Gallop Crush asked.
"Invest it in my Grand Scheme to capture the bearers of the Elements Of Harmony," Talzotl answered with a sly smile on his face. "Oh I almost forgot to pay you. One thousand bits as promised in my letter." He handed Gallop a bag of bits.
Hopping back onto the PegaTrain he returned to his mansion to formulate a plan of attack...
Chapter Three - Welcome To Vanhoover
Author's Note
After much procrastination I finally release this chapter. I hope you enjoy it.
Can you spot a reference to "The Room?
Chapter Three - Welcome To Vanhoover
After lots of reading Talzotl had found out some information about the Cutie Map that could help him capture the Element Bearers.
'When a friendship problem occurs somewhere in Equestria, the Cutie Map calls for the ones suitable for the Task of Resolution' it read.
Seemed easy enough except the problem was that the Cutie Map would need to summon all six of them to Vanhoover to solve the 'friendship problem'. There had to be a way of creating a friendship problem so big it needed the six Element Bearers to come.
Well, schools in the city most likely had many different friendship problems but would it be enough? Perhaps different establishments had them. Both ideas seemed great but unfortunately Talzotl did not have time as the ponies he planned to capture would eventually track him down for the castle incident. There must be an easier way. A lightbulb shined in his mind. He could find a spell that could fool the Cutie Map. Such a powerful device would require a powerful spell. He browsed his bookshelf looking for a book on powerful spells. A minute later, he found what he was looking for.
Ancient and Powerful Spells and their Uses the title read. Looking through the pages there were many spells but none were what he wanted.
A spell to conjure squid-like monsters, nope.
A spell to invoke happiness , tempting.
A spell that shot spider webs, now that was made for nerdy wannabe superheroes.
On the last page was a spell that might do the job.
A spell to invoke false messages onto magical object. Eureka! He studied the spell intently reading the instructions on how to perform the spell properly. The spell required him to picture the object he wanted to trick, which was easy enough as he had seen the Cutie Map a day earlier and what it looked like was still fresh on his mind. He exited his study and before starting his Grand Scheme, he went to go check on his mother.
Talzotl knocked softly on her bedroom door and was met with a weak "Come in".
He entered quietly and saw his mother smiling at him although Talzotl could tell it was a bit of a struggle for her.
"How are you feeling?" he asked her.
"So far still the same. Although I think it's getting worse." She coughed . Talzotl sighed with sadness. His mother, Kimono was really sick. The doctors could not explain her predicament. It was like the flu and cancer had teamed up and decided to attack her. The flu caused her to feel extremely weak, and gave her the coughing and sneezing. Her normally pickish purple coat had become pale and her purple mane was sweaty. The cancer had slowly affected her greenish yellow eyes making seeing difficult.
"I want you to know that no matter what happens to me, that I will always love you. Even if this sickness takes me, it will never take that love away." The Earth Pony tried to hug Talzotl but she was too weak to even put her legs on the floor. However Talzotl put her legs back in the bed and hugged her softly so as to not put her in any discomfort.
"I know mom," Talzotl said softly. Kissing her on her forehead, he left the bedroom so she could rest. Outside her room he wished he could find a cure for his mother's illness.
After letting his negative emotions subside, he went outside into a large backyard to perform the False Message Spell. The area was extremely large and was the size of a small park with trees. He closed his eyes and tried to picture the crystal table. Although the map was not activated, he knew it was the Cutie Map. He struggled to keep other thoughts out of his mind and was forced to try again three times until he managed to think only of the Cutie Map. After seven seconds he felt his horn tingling and he opened his eyes to see a rainbow colored spark a few feet above him. After five seconds, it vanished. According to the book this was the spell taking effect. Now all Talzotl had to do was prepare and wait.
***
Ponyville
Yesterday's rain had finally stopped in Ponyville. Fillies and colts were playing in the puddles and all the ponies were glad they didn't have to bundle up. However Twilight Sparkle was busy questioning the stallion in charge of Ponyville Station called Station Master.
"Miss Sparkle," Station Master curtly said "All I can say is that the mysterious pony booked a ticket to Fillydelphia."
"Well then I'd like to book six-" suddenly Twilight's cutie mark - a large pink star with five small white stars surrounding it - started to blink.
"On second thought cancel the tickets," Twilight said sheepishly and ran back to her castle as the Cutie Map was summoning her. Once she got to the throne room she saw her five other friends in the room.
"Did the map summon all of you too?" Twilight was met with nods from the five others.
"So where are we are we headed? Manehatten? The Crystal Empire?" Rarity asked with curiosity. Their cutie marks hovered on an area west of the map of Equestria.
"Hmmm," Twilight put her hoof on her chin. "This city is called Vanhoover. I've read about this place but I've never been there before."
"Neither have we," the other five stated.
Rainbow Dash flew up and exclaimed "Well what are we waiting for? Lets go!"
"Hold yer horses Rainbow," Applejack admonished. "We gotta git our stuff ready."
"Thats true," Twilight agreed. "We might be there for a while. That city is bigger than Manehatten."
"Can I come? I've never been to Vanhoover before." Spike had just entered the room. Clearly he had been eavesdropping.
"Well... the eastern part of Vanhoover is known for its high rate of crime," Twilight stated "But I'll let you come since you'll be with us."
"YES!" Spike exclaimed with excitement.
The six and Spike packed their things and bought their train tickets to Vanhoover.
***
Talzotl had been going through the steps to his plan. He would lure the six into a trap, cast a sleeping spell on them, and put them in the secret underground area where he had set up an Escape Room for them to take part in.
Why an Escape Room you may ask? Well by the time Talzotl sent proof that he had captured the Element Bearers to The Boss, it would take a while for him to respond.
He went out into Downtown Vanhoover to find somepony to help him lure the Element Bearers.
***
Vanhoover
The Element Bearers and Spike had just arrived in Downtown Vanhoover. Or to be precise Waterfront Station of the Friendship Express. They exited the station onto a busy street. Noticing the intense glares that the Vanhooverite ponies were giving Spike, he stuck closely with Twilight.
The area they were in had extremely large buildings similar to Manehatten however they were a bit smaller. They decided to explore the city. In their exploration they checked out the famous Stallionly Park, a large globe like buiding known as "Science World" which Twilight had enjoyed, its version of Central Park at the eastern outskirts of the city and the Equestrian Games village.
They found themselves back in Downtown Vanhoover where they heard two stallions arguing.
"Don't touch me motherbucker!" one voice exclaimed.
"Maybe if you treated your crew better, they woudn't have resigned from production!" exclaimed another.
Then suddenly they heard grunting. Rushing into the allyway they found a pale Earth Pony stallion with shoulder length black mane and a light orange Unicorn stallion with a brownish blond mane and beard scuffling.
"Wut in Equestria is goin on with you two? Applejack asked the two like a mother scolding two brothers fighting over a toy.
"He insist that the drug deal scene take place in an alleyway instead of rooftop," the pale stallion said with a strange accent.
"I insisted that because an alleyway is the most likely place where drug dealers are going to meet," the orange stallion said.
"Well darlings," Rarity said with a flirtatious tone "Instead of fighting over those scenes, why not just film both those scenes and decide later?"
The stallions considered that option.
"Weeeel," the pale stallion answered "That does work pretty mare. What do you say Craig?"
"If that allows production to continue then I am in Hoffy," the orange stallion named Craig said.
"Now thats the best way to do it boys".
"Well then lets go Craig. Thanks a lot pretty mare. Bye. Hi dragon." Hoffy said as he patted a dumbfounded Spike on the head.
The two stallions left the alleyway.
"Well," Rainbow Dash said "That was the strangest stallion ever.
"Ah agree," Applejack said.
"I guess our friendship problem is solved but I have to say that was pretty fast," Twilight stated.
"Can we still explore Vanhoover Twilight?" Spike pouted.
"Sure Spike," Twilight smiled. "I still want to see more of Science World."
Suddenly to Spike's horror, each of the six fainted in front of him. He tried to wake them up but very shortly he ended up fainting himself slamming to the ground.
***
"Good job boys," Talzotl smugly said to the two stallions that were fighting earlier. More like fake fighting.
"Well it was easy to act," Hoffy said
"Now give us the money you promised us." Craig demanded.
"Certainly. Two thousand bits as promised," Talzotl responded. He pointed to Craig. You mind helping me load them onto the paddy wagon?"
"Sure".
With the help with of Craig, the six ponies were loaded into the paddy wagan.
"What about the dragon?" Craig asked.
"Leave him," Talzotl ordered.
***
Talzotl pulled the paddy wagon to his mansion. On his way he attracted strange looks from various ponies since there was a young stallion pulling a large paddy wagon full of toys. Or so they thought. There were actually six mares inside. As to how he was able to pull the wagon without straining himself from the weight, he cast a spell on the wagon that made it's weight extremely light. At the mansion he levitated each of his prisoners to the Escape Room underneath the mansion. Now his plan would begin.
***
Escape Room
Twilight woke up. She scanned her surroundings. Her and her five friends and were in a small room. The walls were made with stained oak with a few pictures. The room had one door. One by one the other ponies and woke up.
"Wh-where are we? Fluttershy asked with fear in her voice.
"I don't know." Twilight answered.
"Welcome my little ponies," a loud growling voice said. "To the Impossible Escape Room."
Chapter Five - A Glimmer Of Riddles
Castle Of Friendship - Ponyville
The pale purple unicorn was busy studying some magic books in her room at the Castle of Friendship. Her face was scrunched up in concentration. Suddenly, her concentration was broken when her light and moderate purple mane became itchy. She scratched it rapidly to get rid of the itch. Starlight Glimmer sighed. She should have showered that morning. She went back to her book.
Her concentration was broken yet again when she heard the knocking of the front door.
"Who is it," she snapped in frustration.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie wishes to be let in," a flamboyant voice said.
Starlight's frustration vanished on the spot as she heard the voice of her friend and happily let Trixie in. The very light blue mare trotted in wearing a purple wizard's hat with blue and yellow stars that obscured the top of her blueish white mane and a purple cape with blue and yellow stars that covered her blueish white tail and her cutie mark.
"Trixie has just returned from her amazing and spectacular magic show and now she's here to see you, Starlight."
"You've saved me from a boring day of studying as usual, Trixie," Starlight said with a dramatic tone in her voice.
Trixie trotted next to the chair Starlight was sitting on.
"What's on the agenda today?"
"Well, it's been a few days since my friends left for their Friendship Mission, and I'm kinda starting to get worried,"
Starlight said, using her magic to levitate a saddle bag onto herself. With Trixie following her, she went into the kitchen and levitated some food into her saddlebag.
"Are you coming, Trixie?" she asked.
"Admittedly, Trixie has been getting burned out from all the shows lately, so sure," she said. "Where are we going?"
"Vanhoover," Starlight said.
Trixie's eyes lit up at the mention of Vanhoover. She explained to Starlight that she had been there once during her 'Apology Tour' after the Alicorn Amulet incident.
"Good," Starlight said with an air of seriousness. "You might be able to help me with directions."
The two friends booked a ticket on the Friendship Express for Vanhoover.
The ride on the train was uneventful as usual. The landscape slowly turned from country to land with lots of suburbs and tall buildings. Starlight's eyes were wide with wonder. She had never been in a big city like this.
The train came to a stop next to the center platform at Waterfront Station. Starlight trotted to a flight of black stairs. To her surprise, the stairs were moving. Trixie laughed at her.
"It's called an escalator, Starlight," she said between laughs. "You stand on it and it moves you up. You don't have to trot."
Starlight went on the escalator and stood still. Trixie was right. She didn't need to trot up. A few seconds later they both reached the floor above.
To their right, there was a flight of stairs that the sign hanging on the ceiling said would lead to the PegaTrain. Straight ahead were doors that provided the exit out, and the area between had various fast food stands and a cart that sold candy, soda, and potato chips.
"So what do we do from here?" Trixie asked impatiently.
"Well, we search this very large city, giving us a small chance at actually finding Twilight and the others." Starlight said, unsure if they would be able to find them.
They exited the building and walked up the street. They came across a four way intersection.
"Should we go right, left, or straight, Miss. Directions?" Starlight jokingly asked.
Trixie's face turned to disgust.
"Heck no, Starlight. I've been down on Hoofstings before. The street is full of drunks who don't know what personal space is, so I say we go straight."
They continued to trot through the city. Starlight saw an alabaster mare with a neatly curled purple mane.
"Rarity!" she exclaimed. "I'm so happy to see-"
Trixie blocked her with her left foreleg.
"No no no. That is a Rarity impersonator. Her name is actually Germane."
"My friends have impersonators now?"
"Anypony famous has at least one impersonator."
They continued to search many of the streets but they had no luck. Over time they started to get tired, so they decided to hop onto a bus. The bus was pulled by a couple of burly stallions. There was a young grey earth stallion wearing a light blue cap and a light blue shirt who made sure that the two purchased their tickets. Starlight read the name tag on his shirt. It said ' 'S. Shunpone'. They took their seats at the back of the bus. They noticed a tiny bipedal creature seated next to them, wearing a trench coat and a hat. Starlight took a closer look. She noticed a light green scaly chin and a light purple face; It was Spike. She tapped his shoulder. The distraught baby dragon looked up and his expression lit up when he saw Twilight's student.
"STARLIGHT!" he exclaimed, pulling her into a tight hug. Starlight could feel some tears dripping onto her fur.
"Where's Twilight and the others?" she asked softly.
"I don't know. One moment we solved a friendship problem and then the next moment, we were knocked out. When I woke up, they were gone. I tried looking for them and that's how I ended up here. Twilight gave me some bits in case we got separated so that I could get a bus to the train station."
Starlight put her hoof around Spike in a comforting manner.
"Now we can go find them together."
Suddenly Starlight heard a rumbling sound. She looked at Spike, who shrugged in confusion. She looked to her left where she saw a blushing Trixie.
"Sounds like somepony is hungry," Starlight teased.
Suddenly the conductor shouted to make sure he was heard over all the passengers' conversation.
"We are now stopping at the Horse Coltingwood PegaTrain Station."
"Ooh, let's go to that pizza place!" Trixie cried out. " That place was great last time I went there."
As night was starting to fall and the city was about to have one of its infamous rainfalls, all three of them agreed to go, and so they waited for the bus to stop at the PegaTrain station. Hopping off, they could hear the train over them on a guideway elevated ten feet above them. They could see a large sign that read 'Mega Good Pizza" above the doorway of a small building right next to a bar on it's left side. They trotted across the street and entered the establishment.
***
Control Room, Ricktaki Manor
Talzotl leaned over to his microphone, knowing that his voice would be transmitted as the growling, monstrous voice, and gave an angry growl that would send shivers down the spines of many ponies. On the screen he could see that Rainbow Dash and Applejack did not show any sign of fear. Then he could barely see that behind them, a frightened Fluttershy was curled up into a ball and Pinkie Pie was rubbing her back trying to comfort her. The unicorn looked away and buried his face into his forehooves, trying not to look at the pony who looked as if she was about to cry. Control your emotions now, Talzotl. You're better than this, his mind said sternly. Of course, if Talzotl had really been better than this, then he would not have held the six ponies in his Escape Room captive. If he really had been better than this, then he would not have blackmailed a particular pony who had dared to cross him when he tried to obtain an object that would make him lots of money. If he had been really been better than this, then he would not have crossed paths with a bunch of criminals who offered him a substantial amount of money.
At least he could take a break. He decided to leave his mansion to get himself a large pizza. Seeing on a T.V in his control room that it was going to rain, he decided to don his dark red cloak and take a large cart to put his pizza. He had once made the mistake of levitating his pizza with him to his manor when it was pooring rain. By the time he had gotten home, the rain water had soaked through the cardboard pizza box and into the pizza. It tasted watery and had lost most of its flavor as a result.
Going upstairs, he almost went out the front door when a thought came up to him. He went to his kitchen and stared at the phone plugged in to one of the electrical outlets. Not only did pegasi control the weather, they also collected electricity from lighting from thunder storms that was stored in special glasses intended to be used to power cities that needed the energy. It was better than using magic, as it would no doubt tire many unicorns.
Perhaps I should call one of my friends to keep watch on the prisoners, he thought.
No. That was not an option, for he had not spoken to them for a long ever since the Incident. Even then, he doubted that they would like what he was doing and would most likely release them at the first opportunity they got.
He went out the front door, got his his box shaped wooden dark blue cart out of the garage, and went down the path to the wall that seperated the mansion from the rest of Equestria. He opened the portcullis with a button he had installed on the wall. He made it so that it had a fifteen second timer before the portcullis closed to discourage would-be burglars.
He trotted down the dirt road from the top of the large hill that the mansion was on, which was called 'Strong' or the "Hill of Strong'. He lit up his horn and kept it on until he was clear of the forest he was about to trot into and saw lamp posts that were lit for the night that Princess Luna was slowly bringing forth.
***
Mega Good Pizza, Present
The three friends had gone up to the lightly tanned earth stallion with a slightly striped brown mane who looked to be about his late teens. He was the server.
Starlight ordered a tomatoroni pizza with cheese. Trixie ordered a cheese pizza and Spike ordered a gem pizza with extra cheese. An odd order for sure but the restaurant knew how to make gem pizza in case a civilized dragon that could fit inside the building came in to order the gem pizza. For obvious reasons, ponies never ordered it themselves unless it was a dare done by a group of rowdy teenagers. The server could remember his manager telling him that story and how one pony had ended up at the hospital for broken teeth.
The server sliced up the pizzas and gave them each two slices of their orders. Starlight paid him twelve bits and they sat down at the table right behind the glass door which was closed to keep out the cold air from the rain. They engaged in conversation. As they talked, a pony wearing a red cloak trotted in and went up to the server. He ordered a bit of everything and while waiting for his order, he engaged in small talk with the server as if he knew him. Once he got what he ordered, he thanked the server and went outside where he carefully placed the pizza box inside the cart which was parked on the side of the road. However, the pony did not go unnoticed, for a pair of eyes was staring at him intently. A pair of dragon eyes.
As Starlight was eating her pizza, she looked up and noticed that Spike, who was sitting across her, was looking at something, as if he had remembered seeing it before.
"What's wrong, Spike," she asked with concern.
He looked back at the female unicorn.
"Do you remember me mentioning the red cloaked pony who had broken into the Castle of Friendship?" he asked.
"Of course," Starlight responded. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I just saw him walk in and out of this place."
Starlight got up quickly, discreetly opened the glass door, and took a quick peak outside. She could see a pony wearing a dark red cloak entering a convenience store.
She returned to the table her friends were sitting at.
"I think Spike and I have found our mystery pony."
"But I thought we were looking for Twilight and her friends?" Trixie whined.
"Yes, Trixie," said an annoyed Starlight. "But this mysterious pony might know where they are. Let's go."
The three friends exited the restaurant quietly. Starlight cast an invisibility spell on herself and took a peak through the store window.
The cloaked pony was currently at the drinks section trying to decide which pop he should get.
Perfect, Starlight thought. She went back to her friends and opened the cart door with her magic.
"Everypony get in the cart. We're stowing away."
Spike dived in first and Trixie reluctantly got in. Starlight was the last one to get in and she used her magic to slowly close the door so that it would not loudly snap shut and alert the cloaked pony.
She noticed two things: One was that she somehow felt somewhat weightless. Two was that Trixie was squashed on the edge of the pizza box.
"Get off!" Starlight snarled at Trixie. "We don't want the pony to know that we're in here, remember?"
"Um not to burst your bubble," Spike began "but won't the pony notice that the cart will be really heavy when he starts pulling it?"
Trixie glared at the dragon.
"That's the thing," Starlight answered "I think he put a spell on this cart that made it easy to pull heavy things that might be put in here."
As if on cue, the cart started moving, which meant that the mysterious pony was pulling the cart to wherever he lived. Starlight put her right forehoof to her muzzle to tell Trixie and Spike to be quiet. A lot better than just shouting the word angrily like she once did to Twilight. They would finally solve the mystery of this mysterious pony and where Twilight and her friends were currently at.
Author's Note
So that is it for this chapter. As you can see, the action is REALLY starting to pick up. Also I got the first riddle from this website called "Easy Riddles" as I'm not really good with coming up with lots of riddles. The second riddle I created and the third riddle was from "Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders".
Anyway as usual, please comment what you liked, or if there's anything I could improve.
Brohoof /)
Chapter Six - A Failed Rescue
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.”