My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Starlight Sparkle

Colts in Black

Twilight had been so worn out last night after the party that she had gone straight to bed, resolving to clean up the mess in the morning. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but waking up to the sight of a Pinkie party aftermath was not the best way to start the day. Nevertheless she and Spike got stuck in, and pretty soon Astra showed up and helped out as well.

"So did you have a nice time at Rarity's last night?" Twilight enquired as she magically steered a broom across the floor, sweeping the detritus accumulated there. Astra nodded as she took down a paper chain.

"She's very nice. Reminds me of the ponies back in Canterlot. And she has the most adorable little sister too."

"That would be Sweetie Bell. Have you heard her sing? She has an amazing-" Twilight stopped as something caught her eye. Setting the broom down she pointed her horn and levitated the item in question out from the corner of a bookcase. As she did so she gasped with delight.

"What is it Twilight?" Spike rounded on her and then caught sight of the thing she had discovered. Almost at once his eyes shone with rapt adoration, his tongue hung out of his mouth and he began to drool.

"Oh you found it," Astra remarked, strolling over to Twilight's side. She frowned. "I thought I had it packed away in my luggage. However did it end up there?"

What Twilight had found was in fact a large bluish purple gemstone shaped like a star. Its beauty was dazzling to behold; the way it caught the light and shone radiantly, suspended in Twilight's magical aura. Spike was hypnotised by it.

"Is this what I think it is?" Twilight asked, breathless. Astra nodded.

"A Starlight Sapphire, yes."

"But ... I thought they were just an old pony tale."

"They are, I made this one myself last year. It's artificial. Crystallized starlight. Pretty neat, huh?"

"I'll say ..." Spike murmured, making slurping sounds as he continued to gaze in abject admiration at the star stone. "I bet it's delicious."

Astra regarded the stone for a moment and then seemed to lose all interest in it, returning to cleaning the library. "Keep it. I was going to make it into a necklace, but I don't think the colour suits me. It'd look nice on you, though."

"Oh no, I couldn't ..." Twilight stirred her hoof in a faintly embarrassed fashion, "This is one of a kind."

Astra sighed as she levitated a strewn book back into its proper place on the shelf. "Then let Spike eat it-"

Spike nodded emphatically.

"-or give it to Rarity, I really don't mind. Say, do you suppose we could go over Starswirl's thesis on stellar astronomy? I heard a rumour that he hid a secret code in his-" Astra was cut off abruptly when a multi-coloured blur crashed into her and pinned her to the ground. She cried out in surprise, then gaped in astonishment as she found Rainbow Dash perched on top of her, holding her down.

"Alright Astra, what have you done with her?" Rainbow demanded, her face contorted with anger, her tone challenging. Twilight shook her head from side to side, not quite believing what she was seeing.

"Rainbow!" she shouted when at last she accepted what her eyes had just witnessed, "What are you doing?"

Rainbow barred her teeth at Astra. "Pinkie Pie was supposed to meet up with me this morning, but she never showed. I checked at Sugarcube Corner, and Mr and Mrs Cake say she never made it back last night. No one has seen or heard from her since the party. She just vanished!"

Astra cringed at the aggressive pegasus pony. "W-what does that have to do with m-me?"

"Yes Rainbow, what does that have to do with Astra?" Twilight demanded coldly. Rainbow Dash remained undeterred.

"You were angry at Pinkie for throwing that surprise party, weren't you! What'd you do? Lie in wait for her until she made her way home so you could get some payback?"

"Of course not!" Astra insisted, "I spent the entire night at Rarity's Boutique! Ask her if you don't believe me!"

Twilight levitated Rainbow Dash up and away from Princess Astra, setting the pegasus down a short distance away. "She's not lying Rainbow, and besides, Astra wouldn't do anything to hurt Pinkie. She's just not that kind of pony."

Rainbow Dash calmed down somewhat but continued to eye Astra suspiciously. "Oh yeah? Well ... where's Pinkie Pie then? I asked around Ponyville and no one knows!"

Astra picked herself up, looking visibly shaken. She was just about to say something when Applejack barged into the library, puffing and panting as if she'd galloped all the way there. She had.

"There y'are! Did I hear tell Pinkie Pie was missin?"

"Yeah! Have you seen her?" Rainbow Dash asked. To their collective surprise she nodded emphatically, her eyes wide with fear.

"I found her on mah way into town. You are not gonna believe this ..."

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stared at it for a long moment, then looked at each other. They were flying side by side.

"Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Dash asked, not quite sure if she could believe it. Fluttershy seemed equally uncertain.

"I don't know, I've never seen one before. I thought it was just something Spike made up."

Pinkie Pie had been found, alive and seemingly unharmed. Actually, finding her had been quite easy given where she was.

Sitting in the middle of a crop circle.

"Pinkie Pie, talk to me!" Twilight urged, "Are you okay?"

Pinkie Pie blinked at her and smiled her usual smile. "Well of course I am silly! Why wouldn't I be? Wow, that was one doozy of a party last night! I don't even remember walking home." She finally seemed to notice where she was and frowned. "Hey, wait a second - this isn't Sugarcube Corner."

"Err, no, it's a wheat field on the outskirts of Ponyville. Don't you remember how you got here?"

Pinkie Pie shook her head and tried to walk a few steps, whereupon her legs decided to all go in different directions. She collapsed in a heap and then giggled. "Oh boy, just how much did I have to drink last night?"

"Pinkie, how many hooves am I holding up?"

Pinkie narrowed her eyes and concentrated. "Five?"

Applejack had found her sitting in the middle of the field, blinking in an apparent daze. All around her the wheat had been flattened down in an intricate circular pattern. There was no indication as to what had caused it, though Spike was quick to shout out 'UFE!' at the top of his voice. A small crowd of ponies was growing at the edge of the field, and nervous whispers were flying about. Strange lights had been seen in the sky last night. As silly as Spike's ideas were, some ponies were beginning to take them more seriously now.

"See?" Astra said hotly as Rainbow Dash touched down, "I had nothing to do with this!"

"Alright, I'm sorry. But what did happen to her?"

"I'm telling you all, this was the work of Unidentified Flying Equines!" Spike insisted. Twilight groaned loudly and rolled her eyes.

"Like I keep telling you, there's no such thing! That's just a load of old hooey! I mean who really thinks Pinkie Pie was abducted by little green ponies from outer space?"

"Alright, we'll take it from here."

Everypony turned to see who had said this. It was a brown earth pony dressed in a plain black suit, wearing a dark fedora hat and dark sunglasses. A second brown colt stood beside him, the two so similar in appearance that they might have been twins. Twilight strolled over to the one that had spoken as he approached.

"Who are you?" she asked, curious. Whoever they were, they weren't from Ponyville. She'd never seen either of them before.

"I'm Agent Muldavia, and this is Agent Skulduggery. CIA."

"CIA?"

"Canterlot Intelligence Agency." Agent Muldavia flashed her an official looking badge. Rainbow Dash floated just overhead, glaring at the pair with evident suspicion.

"Never heard of it."

"That's just the way we like it," said Agent Muldavia. Agent Skulduggery nodded.

"We're the first-"

"Last-"

"And only line of defence-"

"Against the worst scum-"

"In the ponyverse."

"Stand aside please."

The two mysterious colts in black were not alone. Twilight and her friends watched in astonishment as an entire team of ponies dressed in hazmat suits moved in on the area. They pushed back the crowd of ponies that had gathered and began setting up a yellow and black striped tape perimeter around the crop circle. Black clad pegasus ponies darted about overhead, snapping pictures with cameras, whilst several of the ponies in hazmat gear began assembling strange looking equipment. The two CIA ponies approached Pinkie Pie, who blinked at them with a faintly bewildered expression.

"Are you the one?" Agent Skulduggery asked her. Pinkie tilted her head as she regarded him.

"No, I'm the two," she said, and then giggled. The CIA agents exchanged blank looks.

"Were you the one taken last night?"

Pinkie Pie considered the question and then nodded. "Yup. I was quite taken with the punch last night. It was yummy! And I was taken with Princess Astra. Isn't she nice? She's just a little shy."

Again the CIA agents exchanged looks.

"Disoriented."

"Confused."

"Classic symptoms."

"Agreed."

"Lookie here, jus what in Equestria is goin on?" Applejack demanded, "What happened to Pinkie, and how in tarnation did this big circle thingy turn up in the middle of the field like this?"

The agents turned and stared at her, an act made even more unsettling because of the dark sunglasses they were both wearing.

"I'm afraid that's classified information," said Agent Muldavia.

"Young lady, you're going to have to come with us," said Agent Skulduggery to Pinkie Pie. She stood up rather unsteadily, wobbled for a moment and then bounced up and down a few times.

"Okay dokay lokay!"

"Hold on just a second," Twilight inserted herself between Pinkie and the CIA ponies and held out a hoof to stop them, "Where are you taking her?"

"To our Grooming Lake facility at Area 15."

"But you can't just waltz in here and make off with her! She's our friend!"

"This is a matter of national security, lady. By the authority invested in us by Princess Celestia, I hereby quarantine this wheat field and your friend," Agent Muldavia informed her coldly and efficiently. "Kindly vacate the area immediately."

They next thing they knew they were all standing on the other side of the yellow and black tape, watching Pinkie Pie loaded into an ominous black carriage that was pulled away by jet black ponies. The last thing they heard was-

"Do you mind if we stop for breakfast? I'm so hungry I could eat a house!"

-and then she was gone. They all stood around in bewildered silence for a while, until finally Twilight stomped her hoof, a determined expression set on her face.

"Okay, that does it. Something strange is definitely going on here, and I'm going to find out what it is!"