DAY 1 - 3:03PM
The Cutie Mark Crusaders had just had another day in school and they are walking over to Rumble's house to give him a surprise present for once he started getting better. Two days earlier, Rumble had come down with the feather flu, which prevented him from being able to fly, and as the illness was contagious, he had stayed home so as not to pass it to the other foals.

Facing Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom asked, "So, what do you think of the 'Get Well Card' I made for your coltfriend, Rumble?"

Taking the card in hoof, Sweetie Belle studied the card and responded with a sweet lilt to her voice, "I think its a beautiful card for my Rumbly Wumbly, but I think the time I'm gonna spend with him will be even better."

"Man, you been dating Rumble for like six months already. What do you see in that kid?" Scootaloo asked incredulously.

"Well for one, he's not like the other colts as he's very confident, and brave, but most of all, he's the most sweetest, most loving and caring colt I've ever met. Oh, and he's handsome and knows how to treat a lady."

Scootaloo stared at her pointedly before rolling her eyes. "Yea, like how he grabs your hoof in class and sucks on your hoofnails one by one and leaves drool all over them."

"Well... Rumble is silly with him liking my hoofsies and the rest of yours also, but I kinda like how he suckles on my hoof and sometimes touches parts of my hoofnails with his tongue. It kinda tickles, so I don't mind at all," Sweetie Belle said. "But remember he also sometimes kisses me and cuddles me too."

Apple Bloom added, " Yea Rumble can be a little weird for a boy, but you gotta admit that we're happy that Sweetie Belle has a nice colt that she can trust."

A soft smile playing on her lips, Scootaloo said, “Oh, right. I guess that makes sense.”

As the CMC are a half a mile away from Rumble's house, they hear the sound of crying from the bushes. Apple Bloom went over to the bushes to investigate."Who's there?"

Speculating over the source of the noise as she and Scootaloo followed in suit, Sweetie Belle said, "It might be some lost pony in need of help."

Unbeknownst to them, a towering stallion stood, camouflaged, at a nearby tree with a device in hoof. Upon reaching the shrubbery in question, Apple Bloom revealed a tape recorder hidden underneath. The shrill cry of somepony emanated from the recorder once more.

"It's a trap!" Apple Bloom shouted just as they heard the blare of something detonating pierce their ears. They looked down to see a canister spewing out gas all around them. Hacking back at the putrid residue filling their lungs, they quickly realized that whatever it had been was paralyzing them. Their last lingering thoughts before passing out were ones of fear and anguish.

Once they were out cold, the stallion stepped out of the relative cover of his hiding spot. Before him a truck suddenly arrived. Getting out of the vehicle, a lumbering stallion with a huge build trotted over to them, picked the three crusaders up in one fell swoop, and flung them into the back of the truck.

“The plan is proceeding accordingly,” the first stallion said cryptically as he glanced at his surroundings. It was a remote area of Ponyville, largely uninhabited due to the fact that the nearby houses were new and not yet bought by potential witnesses. “But first we need to bind them.”

Meanwhile, Rumble was at home peeping through his window through a telescope, trying to get a good look into Flitter's window. Normally he used said instrument to look at the stars, but he always found himself drifting to her window in curiosity.

He wasn't sure what possessed him to suddenly look away from the window. A sixth sense was telling him something was wrong, prodding at him until finally he shifted his attention to a nearby park. Rumble noticed a stallion, an earth pony, who was about Thunderlane's size, getting out some equipment he identified as an anti-magic strapping device of sorts.

His suspicions rising, he took out his 35-mm camera to the telescope and attached it to the telescope and began to snap away, planning to submit his findings to Thunderlane to process and report the illicit activity to the royal guards. He additionally captured the license plate of a truck which he presumed to be theirs.

Next, the unidentified pony retrieved another device, this one meant for inhibiting the use of somepony's wings. As the pony carried out his ministrations, it dawned on Rumble that he might be kidnapping somepony. When the stallion knelt down, it appeared as if he was snapping the devices on some ponies just outside his line of sight.

Despite the clear intention on the stallion's part to conceal his actions, when he placed one of his gadgets on one of the ponies, their mane, pink with violet stripes in color, swished into focus. Rumble could see their white coat of fur as the mane returned to its resting place. He knew only one pony that fit that description. Sweetie Belle! Rage overcame him.

"Sweetie Bell! Those mules are going to pay for this!" Rumble shouted before running into Thunderlane's closet and retrieved some of his weapons and ammo that he got to keep during his mentor's time as a Equestrian Guard. Finally, he tied off a bandanna across his forehead before turning back to his window. Without a second thought, he shattered the glass and leaped out and charged towards the kidnappers.

He dove to nearby bushes, concealing himself from the villains, and began to eavesdrop on their conversation. Unfortunately, he had no luck in discovering where they were planning to take the victims, but from his new vantage point he could now clearly recognize them as the crusaders. By that time, the stallion had just finished ensnaring the them with his mechanisms and was now getting back into the truck. His cohort pulled the down the truck's back door, obscuring Rumble's view of the girls.

Silently, Rumble approached the truck from behind the foliage, careful not to make too much noise so as to draw their attention his way. Beads of sweat trailed down his face as he snuck along, both from still coping with his sickness and worrying over being caught red handed by the offenders.

When they were looking away, Rumble quickly rolled underneath the vehicle and latched himself onto the vehicle, thankful they had not spotted him yet. When the sound of the engine roaring nearby could be heard, it was not long thereafter that they began to pull away from the park. They made several turns before it became apparent where they were headed-the Everfree Forest.

The Everfree Forest was a place of unimaginable dangers, one not to be reckoned with. Having no roads or posted signs, it was a place easy to get lost in if one was unfamiliar with its landscape. The forest was full of Timberwolves, wolves comprised of twigs and leaves and an assortment of other forested debris and had the putrid stink of rotten eggs. Additionally cockatrices dwelled in these parts, creatures who could stare down an unsuspecting individual and render them immobilized through fear and even encase them in stone. These were just a few of the many creatures that lurked around.

Deeper into the forest the truck drove until it came upon the opening of a cave. The click of something being pressed resounded in Rumble's ears just before a hidden opening revealed itself. Despite his best efforts to hold on until they passed through that barrier, when the truck ran into a bump, he was flung away from the vehicle. By the time he slowed to a stop, the secret door had shut behind the truck.

Getting up, Rumbled dusted himself off and tried to shake of the new-found soreness all over his body. Realizing that he had missed his opportunity to invade their secret base, he cried out in anguish, “Sweetie Belle!”

Undeterred from attempting to rescue the girls, he limped towards the face of the mountain in search of another way inside. His eyes fell onto a nearby keypad, hastily obscured in foliage.

Trotting over to it, he wiped the pad free of leaves and shook his head in disbelief. “No matter how hard you try, this just sticks out like a sore thumb. What were they thinking?”

Pulling out his screwdriver and anti-shock gloves, he proceeded to disassemble the keypad.

Author's Notes:

They tooked Rumble's favorite fillies including his beloved Sweetie Belle and they went through a tunnel that has a protected door. Looks like Rumble will have to find a way around it