Tears seeped slightly out of Pipp’s eyes. This was NOT what she had planned for Nightmare Night. Why did she have to have a headache on tonight of all nights? She bobbed her head slightly at the throbbing, only for it to increase.
Headaches were always the worst. Insomnia, throbbing, and poor concentration made for a terrible combination. Reluctantly, she reached out for her phone and switched on night mode to reduce the strain on her eyes. Opening RightNow, she sent a quick message.
Sorry Pippsqueaks, I’m going to have to take a day off. Headache [sad face]
Setting the phone down, Pipp gently placed her head face-down in her pillow. She could hear notifications streaming in, so she took the opportunity to use the phone’s voice command system.
“Speak, turn my phone on silent.”
The phone instantly stopped making noise or vibrations. Pipp relaxed under the warm blankets.
Bang! The door slammed open.
“Pipp, why aren’t you up for breakfast?” Zipp asked, slight irritation in her voice. She had been big on the whole ‘family’ thing recently.
“I’m coming, alright?” Pipp grumbled. “It just takes a bit longer when my head is hitting me.”
Zipp blinked as her sister rolled over and curled up to go back to sleep.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I’ll bring your breakfast. Mom will understand.” Zipp gently closed the door and trotted off.
“Eh.” Pipp mumbled from her mass of comfortable blankets.
Having brought Pipp her breakfast (and making sure none of it would spoil before her sister woke up), Zipp trotted off excitedly.
She had spent the month knee-deep in Sunny’s research, but it was all worth it. This Nightmare Night, she would dress up as a Wonderbolt!
Zipp cantered all the way to Pipp’s favorite candy store. She felt a bit guilty about snapping at her sister without knowing what was going on. Hopefully, she could make up for it by making sure Pipp got some sweets even if she couldn’t go out. She found a nice basket and went to the counter.
“Will that be all?” The storekeeper asked.
“Not quite, could I please buy some candy bracelets? And novelty chocolate? And… uh… you see Pipp here often, what else does she get?” Zipp flushed a bit.
Normally it would be considered a bit ignorant to not know what your sister would like, but in her defense, they hadn’t spent too much time together until the reunification. It had ended a lot of fights they used to have.
“Of course!” The shopkeeper brightened and added several different candies to the basket. “Here you go!”
“Thank you!” Zipp paid and exited the store. She was just making her way home, a spring in her step, when a young colt ran up to her.
“Princess Zipp! Princess Zipp!” The colt huffed, winded from wherever he had come from. “I heard that Princess Pipp has a headache, and I have some rock candy for her! My dad makes it!”
He handed a pink package to Zipp. She smiled and tucked it into the basket she was carrying.
“Thank you, that’s really sweet of you…” She paused, waiting for him to supply his name.
“Candy Storm!” The colt said, jumping up and down in excitement.
“I’ll tell her that you sent them. Have a great Nightmare Night!” Zipp offered a hoof for him to bump.
He bumped her hoof, seeming to radiate extreme happiness with every moment. “You too! See ya!” The colt ran off, skipping happily every second step.
“Pipp has really sweet fans.” Zipp said quietly to herself. The guards constantly beside her when she went out, yet made invisible by their professional demeanor, smiled.
Zipp crept into Pipp’s room. Pipp was only just consuming her breakfast, looking rather bleary.
“Hi sis!” Zipp gently set the basket down. She lay down on the edge of the bed, watching her sister set aside the half-eaten meal. “How’re you doing?”
“Ugh.” Pipp struggled to get up, wincing as she lifted her head.
“Don’t sit up, I know it hurts. I can talk to you from here.” Zipp sent a concerned look in Pipp’s direction. “Would you like me to find you some Panadol?”
“Mhmm.” Came the response.
“Okay. In the meantime, why don’t you enjoy some candy? I brought you some, and this colt named Candy Storm gave me some rock candy to give to you.” Zipp offered the pink package to her sister.
Zipp placed the rest of the basket on the makeup table and found Pipp’s drink bottle. Normally a maid would do these sorts of things, but Pipp was in no condition to call out and Zipp still felt a bit guilty for snapping at her earlier.
“Mmmm.” Zipp turned to see Pipp eating one of the pieces of rock candy. She smiled at her sister and hurried out the door to fetch Panadol and water.
On returning, Zipp found Pipp fast asleep. She gently shook her sister, to no effect. Concluding that Pipp probably needed her sleep, Zipp set the small pill cup and the drink bottle on the bedside table. On her way out of Pipp’s room, Zipp picked up a piece of rock candy and put it in her mouth to melt. Pipp wasn’t the only pony who liked that stuff!
As Zipp wandered through the mostly ceremonial palace living room, she felt really drowsy. And the candy in her mouth tasted really strange. Was there some sort of drug in the candy? She’d have to find out later… right now it was time… to… sleep…
Zoom Zephyrwing and Thunder were partners in the royal guard, best friends, and newly off-duty. But as they were walking out of the palace, Zoom noticed a very peculiar sight.
“Thunder, have you ever noticed any of the royal family sleeping outside of their rooms?”
“Uh, no…” Thunder turned his head to see what his friend was looking at and stopped. “Yes? Not before now, though. It’s unusual.”
“Come on then!” Zoom walked up to Zipp and held a hoof in front of her nose. “She’s breathing.”
“And drooling. Does she have something in her mouth?” Thunder stood where he was, reluctant to be seen as being too close to the princess.
Rolling her eyes, Zoom gently opened Zipp’s mouth and used a hoofkerchief to remove the half-melted object. “It’s a candy…”
“And it smells like drugs. From all the way over here.” Thunder said flatly.
“How would you know that?” Zoom glanced between her hoofkerchief and Thunder.
“Teenage stupidity. We should probably get her to the medical bay, just to be safe.” Thunder stepped closer, knowing what Zoom would say otherwise.
Zoom picked up Zipp and put her on Thunder with as much dignity as possible. “Onwards!” She declared, playfully flicking Thunder with her tail.
Thunder carefully followed Zoom through the palace’s airy halls. As they approached the medical bay, a stressed medic noticed them.
“What next?! All these injuries from crashes, and- is that Princess Zipp?” The medic yanked open one of the doors and held it open as the two guards went in.
Two other medics on duty looked up from their brunch with wide eyes.
“What happened?” They asked.
Zoom was sitting next to Zipp as Thunder found them something to eat. Guards weren’t obligated to wait around, but nearly all the guards were unconditionally dedicated to Zipp, knowing that she had hated living a lie.
“I can’t identify it as that’s not my area of expertise, but I can make an educated guess and say that this candy contained some form of sleeping drug.” A medic told Zoom.
“Huh. What a discovery.” Zoom said sarcastically, purposely looking away from the medic to indicate that she didn’t mean it. She looked down at Zipp in concern, only to notice that Zipp seemed to be stirring.
“Where… where am I?” Zipp groggily blinked. Her eyes suddenly went wide as she noticed where she was.
“You’re in the medical bay. That candy you ate was probably laced with some sort of sleeping drug. How do you feel?” Zoom looked at the princess.
“PIPP!” Zipp was half up already, all remaining sleepiness instantly gone. “The colt gave them to me to give to her! She swallowed one!”
Thunder looked in the door with wide eyes, having just come in. “What’s going on?”
“Emergency! We need to check on Pipp!” Zoom, true to her name, zoomed out the door and down the halls. Forget off duty! What was the meaning of candies laced with drugs?
Thunder disappeared after her, and Zipp struggled against the medic who held her back. “Let me go! I need to see Pipp!”
“I’m sure you need to, but you can’t.” The medic calmly guided her back down on the stretcher. “We don’t know if the drug affected your coordination or not, so it’s not safe for you to be out and about.”
“Ugh.” Zipp sighed, sinking down.
Muffled yells were starting to echo through the palace, and Zipp didn’t like it one bit. What had happened to Pipp?
Author's Note
Two chapters this time! Look out for the next one tomorrow. This story ballooned out a lot bigger than I thought it would be.
All the stories in this series
The second the medic looked away, Zipp got up and ran out the door, spreading her wings to take some of her weight so she wouldn’t be heard. She was loathe to ignore the advice of somepony trying to protect her (for a legitimate reason), but Pipp could be in danger! She didn’t want to leave Pipp hanging… again!
She tried to walk simply with her hooves, but she kept of mis-stepping. Frowning, she spread her wings and continued using her flight magic to support herself. Galloping to Pipp’s room, Zipp bared in past the guards and gasped. Pipp was gone!
“Zipp, you said the drugged candies were from somepony. Who? And which ones?” A guard approached her.
“The rock candies in the pink package were from a colt named Candy Storm. He looked a bit young to be involved in kidnappings.” Zipp said sourly. Why hadn’t she been more suspicious of the gift? She could have had them checked! Pipp could be in danger now, because of her!
Zipp wandered to the open window. Pipp liked having her window open, so it could easily be missed. However, Zipp knew that the window hadn’t been open this morning. She glanced around, and seeing nothing, slumped down on the windowsill. Her eyes fell towards the ground.
“Oh. Hoofprints.” Zipp mumbled to herself, before realizing what she said. “Hoofprints! I’ve found something!” She yelled, and a guard came to the window.
“With all due respect, Princess, that could have been anypony. It would be a bit sloppy for a kidnapper to fail to cover their tracks… they would just fly.” The guard to gently told her, before returning to his previous search.
Zipp sighed, flying out of the window into the castle garden. What if this kidnapper was sloppy? They could be ignoring a lead! She was about to follow the trail when a familiar blue stallion came into view.
“There you are, Princess! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Thunder trotted across the ground.
“No, fly!” Zipp snapped, somewhat out of desperation. “Don’t muck up the hoofprints!”
“So, you’ve found a clue?” Thunder said with a grin, flying beside her. “What distinguishes these hoofprints from normal paparazzi and creepy stalker fans?”
Zipp scrunched up her face in thought, before comparing her hoof to the size of a hoofprint. “These hoofprints are huge. Clearly stallion’s hooves. They’re pressed more into the ground than yours were, implying more weight on them. Also, maybe the kidnapper didn’t have practice flying with drugged ponies on his back?”
“All interesting observations. But you’re going to need more evidence than that if you want me to come with you instead of dragging you back to the medical bay.” Thunder flew a little closer to Zipp.
“I think I see a hair in that bush!” Zipp jabbed her hoof at a bush with several wispy threads in it, going over and examining it more closely.
“That’s a cobweb.” Thunder said flatly.
“Well, that one’s not a cobweb, because cobwebs aren’t purple!” Zipp triumphantly declared, pointing out what was, indeed, a purple hair. “Also, now I think about it, that bush looks rather broken. Maybe someone fell in it?”
“Okay, you win. Are you sure you’re okay?” Thunder asked with concern.
“Positive! Flight magic isn’t affected by drugs!” Zipp said, following the hoofprints while flying suspiciously near to the ground.
“If you say so.” Thunder said, following Zipp closely in case she fell.
After about two hours of following hoofprints, trampled grass, broken bushes, and hairs, Zipp and Thunder had become increasingly concerned. Who was this? Why were they walking? There was no doubt in anypony’s mind that they were now following the trail of a kidnapper… and Pipp.
Zipp had become more distressed with every minute, breaking down into tears of guilt when she found a place where kidnapper and victim had slid and fallen down a slope into a patch of thorny bushes. As they made their way through the forest of weeds, it slowly turned into genuine forest. Yet the majesty of a forest, barely affected by litter or logging, was lost on Zipp and her escort. They were fixated of following the trail.
Zipp suddenly stopped, and Thunder bumped into her. In the distance, one could just make out the faint outline of a camp beside the cliffs. Zipp tried to run forward, but Thunder shook off his confusion and pounced on her, stopping her before she could reveal herself.
“Princess, wait. I’ll fetch backup.” Thunder got up, not bothering to acknowledge the way he had stopped Zipp for the sake of her dignity.
Zipp looked longingly at the camp, and then back at Thunder. “Fine. Make it quick.”
She had no intention of staying still. Thunder leaped up, flying with all the speed he could muster to the palace. Zipp got up and dusted herself off. She needed to look as imposing as possible. Using her hybrid flying/walking, she silently closed the distance between herself and the camp. What she saw, from behind the cover of thick bushes, left her shaken.
Her sister was sprawled out beside a fire, half awake but not really paying attention to anything. Her headache was likely worse than before, and her wings were bound. There were two small tents, which seemed fairly empty apart from boxes and bedding. A big stallion with ruined wings was penning some sort of letter. There were all kinds of hoofprints in the camp, most notably small ones. A colt’s hoofprints. Zipp’s blood ran cold.
All kinds of feelings flashed through her heart. Anger, doubt, regret, guilt. Did that young colt even know what he was doing? Zipp squashed down her thoughts and steeled herself emotionally. Once she leapt out… there was no backing out of this. One more glance at the scene, at her sister, banished all fear and doubt from her heart. She wasn’t going to leave Pipp. Taking a deep breath, Zipp stepped out from behind the bushes.
“What do you think you’re doing?” She said in a calm but loud voice, letting her eyes show all the anger she felt. Don’t act in anger, don’t let on your fear, her mother had said. This wasn’t exactly dealing with politics, but the advice still applied. The pegasus with ruined wings jumped and looked up.
“If it isn’t Princess Zipp. Are you here to rescue your sister?” The stallion seemed amused by her.
Zipp spread her wings slightly to allow her flight magic to stabilize herself, and the stallion’s eyes narrowed. Noting this small movement, Zipp looked him right in the eye, not moving her wings more than necessary.
“Yes. What were you thinking? You must have known you’d be caught!” Zipp’s mind was racing. Why was he angry that she spread her wings? Was it impossible for him to fly?
“Of course I knew I’d be noticed. The gang thought I was being too foolish, so they left me.” The stallion replied, in a strangely calm manner. “As for the ‘caught’ part, you haven’t caught me. You’ve found me. I can easily take care of you… and if you don’t cooperate, I’ll break your sister’s wings.”
Zipp fought down her reaction and she calmly, slowly made her way around the fire. “You wouldn’t. You wouldn’t wish that fate on anypony.”
The pegasus twitched. “Oh, I wouldn’t. Now you’re here too, I can just ransom both of you.”
“Would you?” Zipp said plainly. She was almost certain now. This wasn’t a kidnapping; it was a cry for help from a pony made redundant.
Sitting down by her sister, she gently removed the rope binding Pipp’s wings. The pegasus made no move to stop her.
“What’s your name?” Zipp asked the pegasus. “Also, the gang? Explain?”
“Ready Wind.” The pegasus replied, hanging his head. He seemed to examine what he had written for a while. Zipp noticed that there was quite a bit of paper there. A lot more paper than required for a ransom.
Ready Wind shook his head gently and looked back up to Zipp. “The gang is against reunification.”
“And?” Zipp prompted.
He stayed silent, sadness in his eyes. Finally, he spoke. “It’s a story for another time. I imagine the guard is hot on your heels.”
Zipp nodded. Then she remembered something she desperately wanted to add. “Why did you get Candy Storm to give Pipp the candy? Did he know what you were planning?”
“He didn’t.” Ready continued. “He’s just a young colt who jumped at the opportunity. If I did it, I would be recognized.”
“If I’m guessing correctly, that would have saved us all a lot of trouble.” Zipp frowned, gently stroking her sister’s mane.
“Maybe, but I needed time.” Ready said, nodding at the not-insignificant pile of papers.
“What’s that?” Zipp looked curiously.
“A confession. I still get the last laugh because I’m giving away the gang. It may be betraying them, but they betrayed me first.” Ready gave a faint smile.
A glint of light came from the sky, and hooves could be heard pounding the ground. In an instant, guards were everywhere.
Thunder trotted into the camp. “What’s going on here?”
“I can’t believe you ran away!” Pipp exclaimed. “Usually you take medical advice so seriously!”
Zipp gave a wry smile from where she was seated, beside Pipp in the medical bay. Pipp had perked up considerably since she had had some Panadol for her headache, and the annoying physical effects of the sleeping drug had worn off Zipp.
“I couldn’t just leave you. Kidnappings have ended far worse, and that’s not what you deserved.” Zipp explained, leaving out the part where she had unwittingly helped the whole ordeal along.
“What were you and that pegasus discussing, anyway? I don’t remember very much of this kidnapping thing.” Pipp shifted to better be able to converse with her sister.
“Just some of his motives behind the whole thing. I expect it will come out soon, but he had some very interesting reasons for kidnapping you.” After she said it, Zipp realized how wrong that sounded.
“You sound like his accomplice or something!” Pipp spluttered. “I feel like you’re not taking it seriously.”
“I am, Pipp. I’ll explain it to you later… actually, I’ll explain it to you once we can visit him, so he can fill in the gaps.” Zipp patted her sister’s head, giggling when Pipp ducked out of it.
Pipp glowered slightly. “I’ll hold you to that!”
Author's Note
The epilouge has been cancelled, as the stories can stand alone enough as it is.
