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.