- THE DISAPPEARANCE
☆☆☆
He may not be a wizard, but while he’s sitting at the royal dinner table cleaning peas out of his mane, as absurd as it is, he feels like he’s doing something magical.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Sunburst. I know it’s short notice…” Shining Armor began, but Sunburst was so quick to waggle a hoof at him that he trailed off.
“Not at all! I consider it-” he paused to duck as Flurry flung another spoonful of peas his way “-well within my duties as Crystaller. Any hour, I’ll be there! You know me… I don’t exactly have a packed schedule.” He gave a soft laugh.
Princess Cadance almost dropped the steady stream of objects she was packing into her away bag. “Oh! Dear, remember to tell him about…”
“On it,” said Shining Armor, and highlighted a few things around the room as he went through a mental checklist. “I know you’ve done this before, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. So-”
“Mashed peas at room temperature. Diapers in the cupboard. Spare diapers in the pantry under the shelves. Spare-spare diapers in the green chest in the west hall. Her favourite book at the moment is Gusty The Great - but she only likes the pictures,” Sunburst listed, looking pleased with himself. A wodge of peas hit him in the face, and when he took off his now opaque glasses, the blurry shape of Shining Armor cycled a hoof at him. “What? Did I miss something? Oh! And her Whammy is kept in her crib for easy finding when she gets fussy,” he added, swishing a hoof rhythmically to the rehearsed line. “I’ll make sure it finds its way back there when she’s done playing with it.”
Shining Armor breathed a sigh of relief and passed him a box of handkerchiefs. “You’ve got this, Sunburst. Thank you. Really. If we could have given you more notice-”
“Pshh. Leave it to me. I couldn't have asked for a job I love more.” That’s all he said before he was back to wiping peas off his glasses. A pink blur flapped through the air towards him, and he instinctively held out his front hooves. Flurry settled comfortably in the crook of his forelegs and he found himself smiling with her, tickling her nose to make her laugh. “Don’t think you can dodge dinner by being cute, little one. I know your tricks.”
Across the room, Cadance nudged Shining Armor and tilted her head in Sunburst’s direction, smiling candidly.
“He’ll be fine,” she whispered, and she believed it.
Shining Armor nodded. They touched horns, watching the Crystaller and their baby for a moment more, and then turned to finish packing.
A vacation was well overdue, and Shining Armor had booked them both into a spa resort - but to take Flurry seemed unfair. A baby got nothing out of a spa visit, and Flurry was one of those foals who tended to take a mud bath every time the opportunity presented itself.
So they’d decided to leave her at home, in the Crystal Empire, under the watchful eyes of the royal guards and under the close care of her official Crystaller. They would teleport back if they got worried - but nothing, Cadance said, could possibly go wrong over a weekend.
☆☆☆
“Shh! Do you hear that?”
Trixie yawned delicately, propping her face up on one hoof and smirking. “Hear what? The rain? Or the sound of you losing at Dragon Pit for the third time in a row?”
“You’re thinking of the sound of you cheating,” Starlight hissed, “and no. I mean that banging sound.”
Trixie flicked an ear this way and that, concentrating. “Oh, that. There’s probably somepony at the door.” Trixie went to roll the die, only to have Starlight’s magic seize it in mid-air and hold it still.
“At two in the morning? Who would be knocking on the castle door at two in the morning?”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “I don’t know, Princess Luna? You know I’m not really psychic, don’t you? Though that reminds me, it’s been a while since The Great And Powerful Trixie took out the crystal ball… Ooh, we should practice that next! Do you know any mindreading spells? I feel a new double-act coming on!” She clapped her hooves together over the game board, only to realise a moment later that Starlight wasn’t listening. “Hey! Where are you going? You’re not going to actually answer that, are you?”
Starlight pulled open the bedroom door and kept walking. “I have to,” she answered over her shoulder, her voice echoing under the high ceiling of the castle corridor. Trixie trotted out to follow her, hoof sounds muffled by the fluffy blue slippers she was wearing. “It could be somepony important. Imagine if I ignored one of Twilight’s diplomats! Or, or another princess, or-”
“Ugh. I get it, already. Late-night interruptions are just a perk of borrowing Princess Twilight’s castle,” Trixie groaned. She elbowed Starlight softly in the side as she caught up. “You should really get your own place. I ignore visitors all the time.”
Sighing, Starlight gave her a sidelong glance. “I know. You ignored me last week when I came to borrow your hairbrush.”
“What can I say? The Great and Powerful Trixie needs her midday nap-”
The hammering began again, this time louder and more urgent. Starlight and Trixie exchanged looks, and picked up the pace.
Trixie threw her head back and made a despairing noise. “Oh, I should have fixed my mane! Maybe it really is a diplomat! Or a princess! Or-”
Starlight threw open the door.
“Sunburst?”
Bedraggled and waterlogged and without his cloak, Sunburst looked the picture of a pony in distress. “Starlight! Thank goodness. May I-?”
“Of course! What’s got you all-” She trailed off, quickly stepping out of the way as Sunburst floated in a decorated pram. He’d thrown his cloak over the top, and as he set it down carefully in the dry castle foyer, she had a feeling she was about to get her answer. “Is that Flurry Heart?”
Sunburst hurried over to lift the drenched cloak from over the top, flopping it wetly on his back again and peering into the pram. “Peekaboo!” he smiled, managing to convincingly fake a smile for what must have been the fiftieth time that night.
Flurry burbled excitedly, waggling her tiny arms up at him and giggling when he leaned down for a nuzzle.
Starlight, jaw agape, blinked and shook herself when Trixie gave her an urgent prod. “Sunburst! You can’t just bring the baby all the way here to Ponyville! And she's awake at this hour? Do Cadance and Shining Armour know you’re-”
“They’re gone,” he replied, his voice cracking as he turned to hide his dismay from Flurry and directed it at Starlight instead. “I - I can’t find them anywhere. They went on vacation, but they should be back by now! I’ve sent out the guards, the, the scouts, I’ve tried sending a letter to Princess Celestia-”
Sensing he was having a moment, Starlight placed a hoof squarely on his shoulder to steady him. “Whoa, whoa. Calm down! I’m sure there’s some kind of explanation.”
Trixie rolled her eyes, stepping over to the pram and peering down at the baby alicorn. “Exactly. They probably just got distracted doing whatever it is royal couples do on vacation. You know...” She tilted her head, raising an eyebrow, and Flurry Heart mirrored the motion. “Dancing.”
Flurry giggled and fluttered her wings.
Sunburst lifted his glasses off his face and scraped his wet mane away with slightly more force than necessary. “That’s not it! They’re gone. Really gone! I even had some of the unicorn guards perform a tracing spell - we couldn’t detect them anywhere in Equestria! So I thought if I came here you might be able to do something to find them but if the baby realises something’s wrong I’m not sure Forebearance will hold without the parents within range-”
“Deep breaths, Sunburst...”
Starlight’s horn flashed, fetching a paper bag from a kitchen drawer and appearifying it in front of Sunburst. He took it gratefully and breathed into it, eyes watering, while Starlight took his cape and wrung it out carefully over the castle floor.
“I - huff - really don’t - huff - know what - huff - to do!”
Trixie leaned down for a better look, inadvertently putting her face within range of Flurry’s waving arms. The baby clung to her nose, wings flared, and giggled as Trixie lifted her head again and staggered back a few steps, shocked.
Starlight glanced between them all, eyebrows furrowing. She took a deep breath and sighed deeply, trying to find her centre before things got any worse. “Alright. Okay! First things first. Let’s get you dried out.” She teleported a towel from the bathroom, dumping it over Sunburst’s head the same way one might cover a noisy parrot cage, and turned around to head in the direction of the library. “We’ll figure this out. I’m sure nothing serious happened to them, but just to be sure, let’s try a higher-grade tracking spell. I was saving this one for Discord since he’s so hard to pin down,” she explained, trying not to look too pleased with herself, “but it should work just as well for a couple of ponies, with a couple of tweaks. Follow me!”
Sunburst lifted the corner of the towel, lowering the paper bag and peering this way and that. His gaze settled fondly on Flurry - or it would have, if Trixie hadn’t been backing away rapidly until she hit a wall and staggering to one side.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie-” her magic tugged ineffectually on one of Flurry’s wings, making her giggle “-ngh - requires some assistance!”
Screwing up the paper bag into a ball, Sunburst tossed it over his shoulder and pulled a snail toy from the abandoned pram, then galloped over to float it enticingly over Flurry Heart’s head. “Flurry! Don’t you want a cuddle with your Whammy? Here - want to ride on my back?” The baby squealed, letting go of Trixie to grab at the plush toy. Sunburst took her with his magic, gently lowering her onto his shoulders where she giggled and held tight with a free hoof.
The stage magician shook her head, scrubbing at her nose. “That baby,” she declared, “is an escaping act nightmare.”
Sunburst flashed her an apologetic look. Trixie trotted to catch up with Starlight, and Sunburst followed dejectedly, pram in tow.
“So much for our sleepover,” Trixie sighed.
☆☆☆
“Nothing. I can’t believe it. If they were anywhere at all in Equestria - even shielded by chaos magic - this spell should have found them!”
At Starlight’s words, Sunburst flopped forwards, smacking his face against the desk and letting out a low, distressed whine.
"Well, then they're not in Equestria, and it wasn't Discord." Trixie sighed, relaxing back in one of the crystalline chairs with her back hooves up on the map table. “So the Crystal Empire regents pulled a disappearing act. Trixie does not see what this has to do with her.”
In Trixie’s lap, Flurry Heart snoozed quietly, having grown sleepy after a long travel through the night, and the magician had given up trying to remove her - the gifted alicorn had simply fluttered straight back whenever Trixie managed to wriggle free. Now, at least, she was quiet. Trixie could deal with that. For now.
“Trixie!” Starlight prompted, her voice edged with ice.
Trixie looked lazily from Starlight to Sunburst. The latter was still face-down against the table, forelegs covering his head as if he were hiding from a storm. Under the table, one of Sunburst’s back hooves tapped anxiously against the floor, filling the room with an ominous, rhythmic echo. Trixie scrunched up her nose in disapproval.
“Ugh. Listen, it’s not that I don’t want to help save the Crystal Empire or - whatever it is we’re supposed to be doing here.” She flagged a hoof dismissively. “But that sounds way more like a job for a Princess. I don’t see why we don’t just ask Twilight.” Trixie gave a well-placed roll of the eyes and went back to shuffling and re-shuffling a subtly-marked deck of cards. “You know. Since she’s normally the one who does the saving.”
Sunburst perked up and raised his head, glasses askew. “Of course!” His eyes strayed to the still-sleeping Flurry, and he nervously cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “...Aheh… of course. If anyone can find Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it would be Princess Twilight. Her connection with them is so strong, I’d wager Familial Requaero would be three times as powerful-!”
“Right, okay! Good point! We’ll get her to try.” Starlight stood up in her chair and pawed the table with one hoof. “Let me get in touch with her. She left a spell for that, just in case there were any emergencies.”
With a puff of displaced air, a glass bottle appeared beside Starlight, purple-tinged liquid sloshing inside it. “Does anyone have a bowl, or a cup? Something I can pour this into.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow, glancing around. Her horn lit up, and she grabbed a silver fruit bowl from the centre of the map table, quickly tossing a small shower of pears and apples onto the floor and offering the empty bowl to Starlight with a self-satisfied grin.
“Umm… Thanks!” Starlight took it, set it carefully on the table in front of her, and uncorked the bottle with a loud pop.
Sunburst straightened his glasses and peered interestedly at the potion as Starlight poured its contents into the bowl. There was a hiss, a crackle, and then a plume of purplish smoke rose from the dish and swirled in the air.
The crackling continued.
“...Is it supposed to do something?” Trixie ventured.
“Shh! It’s ringing.”
“Ringing?”
Starlight nodded. “It triggers a chime sound for Twilight. She has to answer with her own potion. I think she got the spell from-”
“Hello?” It was faint, and conspicuously sleepy, but Twilight’s voice was echoing from somewhere in the smoky spell. “Starlight? Is this spell working?”
“Twilight!” Starlight tapped a hoof on the table, trying to get her attention. “Over here! Do you see me? It’s urgent!”
“I would hope so,” Twilight replied, her voice fizzing in the middle as the spell struggled to stabilise. “It’s three in the morning! … Actually, make that four. What’s going on?” Her face came into view as she squinted through the smoke.
Starlight opened her mouth to speak, but Sunburst was at her side, leaning forwards to make himself heard. “It’s Cadence and Shining Armor. They’re gone!”
There was a rustle, and then two other faces appeared beside Twilight’s mortified face, both as shocked as she was.
“Gone?” asked Applejack. “Gone where?”
Rainbow Dash frowned, wagging a hoof at the potion smoke. “Like gone-gone, or late-back-from-vacation gone?”
“I don’t know!” Sunburst exclaimed, scrubbing at his mane restlessly with a forehoof. “They were supposed to be back two days ago, but neither me nor the royal guards - nor Starlight - can find them anywhere!”
“Did you try the chaos agna luzen you were working on?”
Starlight rolled her eyes. “Yes! And all I got was a vision of Discord gardening! ...Snapdragons shouldn’t actually breathe fire, right?”
Twilight tapped her hoof on her mouth, thinking hard. “...If they left Flurry Heart, and Starlight can’t find them, it’s serious. Girls, we’re cutting our diplomatic visit short. Someone wake up Rarity - we’re teleporting back.”
There was an exaggerated groan of disappointment from behind Twilight, and then a perky voice declared, “Fine! But we’re making it up to Prince Rutherford later! With cake!”
Twilight flashed an apologetic smile over her shoulder and turned back to the spell-call. “We’ll be five minutes, max. But that’s a long way for me to move everyone, sooo…”
Starlight smiled. “Ice pack, lemon water. On it.”
Twilight tapped her hooves together, looking grateful. “Thank youuu! We’ll see you soon. Thank you for keeping Flurry safe, Sunburst. Tell her her Best Aunt Ever will be there to see her soon!”
With that, Twilight dipped a hoof in the potion and swirled, and the spell dissipated into wisps. As the air cleared, Starlight got a straight view across the map table to see Trixie snoozing upright in her chair with Flurry Heart snuggled up to her front. One of her hooves was resting gently over the baby.
“Well,” she mused, “at least two of us are getting some sleep tonight.”
☆☆☆
“Alright, is everypony ready? You’ll all need to stay close - it’s a long trip, especially for six. I might only be able to get us as far as the edge of Ponyville-”
“Don’t you worry, Twilight. We’ll stick close.” Applejack paused, glancing upwards, and made an unimpressed face. With one hoof she reached up, took hold of the end of the rainbow tail above her, and yanked Rainbow Dash out of the air. “Close means close, genius.”
Disgruntled at being grounded, Rainbow Dash stood up and snatched her tail back, wings flapping once to make a point. “I can’t help it! How can I be expected to stand around while ponies are missing?”
Rarity smothered a yawn with a slippered hoof and came to stand by the others. “Now, darling, you may do all the flying you like after Twilight has cast this spell. It sounds like quite the… the, um...”
“Doozy,” Applejack finished for her. Pleased, Rarity nodded.
Twilight nodded, taking a deep breath and lifting her wings a little higher. “I’d rather we were all touching before I try this. I don’t want anypony getting left behind.”
Two candy-pink forelegs wrapped themselves around Twilight and pulled her in for a crushing hug. “Is thiiis close enough?”
“Ngh-” Despite the urgency of the situation, Twilight found herself smiling. “Actually, a hug isn’t a bad idea.”
“Oh, what a lovely way to travel,” Fluttershy remarked softly, and drew in close to join Pinkie - much more gently. “If trains were like this, I wouldn’t mind getting on them.”
The others quickly joined in, though Rarity first cast a longing glance at a pile of suitcases piled by her bed. “I don’t suppose you might bring our luggage along with us…? No? Well, it was worth asking.” She found a space in the affectionate pile of friends, and settled neatly into the hug. “Ready when you are, darling!”
Twilight folded her wings protectively over the group of friends, horn beginning to fizz as she carefully weaved the spell. Twilight could be said to have mastered the art of teleporting long distances; but to do it with five other ponies required a lot more concentration. Six iterations of precise targeting, the spellpower to transport matter, failsafes, double-failsafes…
The world winked out.
Author's Note
time will tell how far i get with this one. but, uh, here goes nothing!
if you read this far, you may already see the direction this is going in. it will be an adventure story - some adventurers, plus a baby, plus some magical mechanics i won't reveal just yet.
all characters will be canon and there will be no OCs! there will also be no swearing, there may be some tiny hints of adult humour (but nothing too in-your-face), and no gore or excessive blood/violence. there will, however, be some personal theory-slash-headcanon on how magic and elements work! chapter lengths may vary wildly.
i'm not sure about ships. there probably will not be any romance since i MUCH prefer wild blue yonder friendshipping, but we'll see. sorry to anyone who came here expecting starburst. :'^)
let me know what you think! it may just encourage me to continue :^)
(the image used for the cover really is mine! you can find the full version here.)
