Moonbeam's Missing?!?!? Not Clickbait Gone Wrong!

Raya was bored.

This was the last class of the last day of school before winter break began. You’d think the teacher would let the students do something fun, or just hang out, right? But noooo, they still had to learn about the history of Port Borealis. What a lame teacher. 

Looking around, Raya was not the only kid in class who shared her feelings. Sherbet and Cherry Bomb were whispering to each other, probably sharing some juicy gossip. Raya would have to ask them about it later. Beryl was doodling in his textbook. Raya worried for whoever got that book next year. And Frozen Yogurt looked wistfully out the window by her desk, watching the snow fall. Everyone wanted the teacher to shut up and for the bell to finally ring. C’monnn, can’t this clock go any faster?!

But all those thoughts were interrupted by the school speakers suddenly going on. It was the principal, and they seemed flustered while reading the announcement. 

“Attention all students of Nebula High School, classes will be letting out an hour early today. This is due to the sudden news that the owner of Port Borealis, our dear Moonbeam, has been reported missing. We wish to reassure everyone that our investigators are doing their best to find her, and to not worry too much. We will keep everyone updated on our media. Classes are dismissed, and have a good winter break. Thank you.”

…Well then. 

~~~

“I’m unsure how to feel about this.” Sherbet’s concerned face stared at her cousin’s as they walked down the street towards their neighborhood.

Beryl smiled. “Whatever gets us home faster. Wanna come try my hot cocoa recipe? Rune’s been helping me perfect it!” Raya tried not to visibly grimace. 

“Dude, shut uppp.” Cherry Bomb rolled her eyes. Be serious for one minute. Moonbeam is missing! This could be disastrous! What if Port Borealis gets shut down?” She uneasily unsheathed her claws at the thought.

Frozen Yogurt put a paw on her shoulder. “Dude, chill. We’re gonna be fine, they’re gonna find her. Who knows, maybe she’s just hanging out with some friends! Let’s just enjoy the holidays.”

“...Yeah. That’s the most we can do right now. Beryl, is that hot cocoa offer still up?” Cherry spoke before Raya could stop her.

This was gonna be an experience.

~~~

“MOM!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU!!!! DID YOU HEAR THE NEWS???? MOONBEAM DISAPPEARED WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE PORT ARE WE STILL HAVING HOLIDAYS WHAT’S GOING ON-”

Sleet stepped on Twilight’s tail. 

“Stop! We don’t wanna worry Moms and Dads more than needed! Just relax and let’s go talk to the others.”

The siblings went into their yard where Nightshade, Hemlock and Willow were already hanging out. Ika was there too. She must’ve come over to hang. Upon getting closer, Sleet noticed the aquatic cat looking very worried.

“Hey, Ika. What’s up? What’s with the long face?”

Ika looked up at her friend. “You heard, right? Moonbeam’s missing! And to make things worse Mama that learned Proxy’s ship signal dissipated! What’s going on??? What if Mom won’t be back for the holidays?!” She started to tear up at the thought. Sleet was unsure how to respond, but luckily Willow beat her to it, wrapping a paw around the weepy-eyed kitten.

“Hey, hey. Our top investigators are searching for Moonbeam as we seek, they’ll surely find Proxy too. I’m sure they’re gonna be just fine. You need to focus on keeping yourself occupied. Come to think of it, I found a new bug recently, wanna help me identify it?”

Ika sniffled, then nodded. The two cats headed away from the main group to discuss bugs. Sleet looked back at her siblings. 

“Sooo, what do you think actually happened? Moonbeam and Proxy are the only ships that were reported missing today. Maybe an asteroid hit kits ship?”
Nightshade shook its head. “Nah, if the ship was damaged it would send a distress signal, right? Something must’ve caused her ship to malfunction without a signal. But how?”

“Maybe a solar flare?” Hemlock spoke up next. “We learned about them in school this week. They’ve been known to mess with technology before, like that one movie where it caused all electricity to fail and nobody could sleep.”

“NO ELECTRICITY?! That would be my biggest nightmare!” Twilight gasped. “But uh… if I remember correctly, in Moonbeam’s last public log, she talked about exploring an unknown sector of the galaxy. Maybe the ship couldn’t send a signal because it didn’t know where it was?”
Hemlock frowned. “Hey, didn’t that log end with her yelling at Tally to stop spamming photos of weird scarab bugs in their group chat?” 

“Tally’s just like that, it was probably nothing.” Sleet chimed in.

Nightshade cleared their throat. “What matters is they’re looking for her. I think we should try to distract Ika for now. Now how about we go in?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

“Awesome. I can only hope Moonbeam didn’t come across anything poisonous…”