Chapter Ten

Gluco was immediately awakened from her restful slumber. The ruby on her chest glowed quickly and constantly, as if it was giving off some sort of distress signal. She flutter into the air and frantically scanned over the valley to see if all of her sugar sprites were accounted for. Everyone was there…except for one.

Shugo was nowhere to be found.

"Shugo…?" Shugo! Where are you?!" she cried in an absolute panic.

Her frantic movements caused Fluttershy and several saccharites to wake up. Other sugar sprites followed the more the leader shouted.

"Gluco! What's wrong?" the yellow pegasus asked worriedly. The worried sprite zoomed up to her with a face of minor rage.

"Shugo is missing! I can't find her!"

"What? Oh my…!"

She skims over the valley and spots Starburst still snoozing amongst the fairy circles.

"I'm positive I saw her sleeping with Starburst before I went to sleep…"

Gluco immediately glared at the colorless pony. She was surprised that the mare was still asleep despite all of the commotion. The leader took no time thinking about the various possibilities of Shugo's whereabouts, so she zipped over and began to shake her vigorously.

"Miss Starburst! Wake up this instant!" she say, jolting her awake. "I find it appalling that you would be sleeping at a time like this…Which means you surely know what happened to Shugo!"

Still half asleep yet coherent, the white pony remembered she slept close to Shugo so she could sleep peacefully. Her eyes shot open the moment she realized the tiny sprite was missing. She honestly could not explain it. She could've sworn the saccharite was snoozing by her side all night! Starburst was just as baffled as Gluco was when she attempted to explain it the best she could with her emotions, but the leader wasn't fazed by her reaction.

"Where is she…?! Answer me!"

Fluttershy ran in to intercept.

"Wait a minute, Gluco…! I really don't think Starburst knows where she is! Perhaps she is a heavy sleeper, so it must be a coincidence!"

Gluco narrowed her eyes at the pegasus.

"Perhaps, you say?" she began. "Then are you saying that there is still a possibility?"

Fluttershy realized what she had said and might have made matters worse.

"Oh, n-no! Not at all!"

"Are you covering for this pony?!"

"W-Well, n-no…But I'm sure these must be an explanation and we'll figure this out!"

Silence temporarily filled the area. The suspense was already grueling to the two ponies as it became frightening for the other sugar sprites. Starburst observed the sudden fear in their eyes. Seeing their expressions meant they were soon expecting the worst.

"…I was given your word…to make sure name of my sugarlings get lost," Gluco mumbles under her breath. "I absolutely cannot tolerate broken promises!"

The leader began to glow white. The ponies could see the other saccharites group up and back away from their fairy circles at the corner of their eyes. They proceeded to copy them the moment Gluco glowed so bright, that she began to undergo a bizarre transformation. Fluttershy did what she could to keep her calm.

"Gluco, please give us a chance!" she shouts as loud as she could. "We promise to find her!"

The transformation was near completion, taking the form of a dragon that had ascended to fifty times her size. She had clearly surpassed the size of the ponies.

"Shugo is in distress!" she bellowed. "If she isn't found by sunrise, I will leave this world in more than just craters!"

Immediately the dragon began to extend its sharp durable limbs and pierced craters into the ground before her. Her rage and the ground's constant shaking send the sprites into panic, causing them to run amok. Fluttershy and Starburst were already trying to avoid Gluco's feats.

"Oh my! This is serious!" the frightened pegasus yells, with her gaze meeting the ashen pony's. "We better find Shugo before it's too late!"

Starburst could only respond with a concerned look and nodded. She wasn't just worried about the current destruction or the other sprites' safety. Her own innocence was on the line because of the difficulty to express a voice of reason. It didn't take long for Fluttershy to catch on.

"I'm sorry, Starburst…I wasn't expecting Gluco to get the wrong idea. You must think I'm a terrible guide…"

She immediately felt a hoof on her shoulder. Starburst stood by in her gaze, smiling and shaking her head in disagreement. The issue at hand was dire, and the yellow mare had to forgive herself in order to solve this problem together.

"You've grown so much for me to appreciate her kindness," she smiled. "But where do we know to look?"

"…We know!"

Four saccharites flew before them. Starburst knew them right away. They were the same four who had bullied Shugo earlier.

"Glucy, Cara, Malta, and Fetti?" the pegasus says with ease after hours of studying the checklist.

"We know where she is!" Glucy caved.

"But I thought we wanted her to be left behind!" Fetti calls.

"Put a sugar cube in it, Fetti!" Cara interjects. "Now is not the time for that!

The ponies were even more intrigued to listen.

"Um…What is this about?"

None of them wanted to say anymore, but Glucy chose to speak for the collective.

"We wanted to leave her behind," she starts. "We had moved her while she was sleeping and wanted to keep her from returning home."

"We did it because she was different…" Malta spoke.

"But we're not the only ones!" Cara says. "The rest of the flurry didn't like how she communicated! We just couldn't stand it the most…"

"We only made it so she wouldn't be able to return!" Glucy said. "We had no intention of putting her in distress!"

"What?" Fluttershy said surprised. "Why would you do that? Do you know how cold the desert gets at night?"

The white mare rested a hoof on her shoulder once again. She knew deep down that the pegasus was angry as much as herself, but now wasn't the time to lecture them out of spite. Plus, Gluco's rage still persisted the longer they did nothing.

"…We will talk about this later," she said calmly. "Right now, it is important for us to find her before the sun rises." Her gaze shifts over to the sugar sprites. "Cara, Malta and Fetti? Please help me gather the others so they don't get hurt. Glucy, please take Starburst with you to go find Shugo!"

After everyone had complied, they split off into their groups and never looked back.