"Your Highness!"

"A horse! NOW!"

"But.... my prince!"

"I said, NOW!"

The stable hand bowed to the blonde prince and hurried to grab the boy's horse. A special white thoroughbred given to Adrien as a birthday gift from his parents about two years ago. The colt was young but loyal and eager to please. The stable hand led the horse and tied him to a post. Adrien quickly tacked up and put the bridle on as he led the horse out of the stable. He quickly mounted and was about to leave when his father's voice stopped him.

"Adrien! You cannot leave without telling me, or without bringing anyone else!" The king shouted angrily.

Adrien didn't want to waste time, or explain the situation. A measly lie would do the trick, the boy figured, but the man would quickly learn the truth.

"Father! I have business a few hours away, well, I think.. I found my.."

"Nonsense!" Gabriel cut the boy off. "If you need to go, I will send for a carriage."

Adrien had an idea, but it would definitely come with consequences. However, that didn't seem to matter when it came to his lady. If his speculation about Marinette and Ladybug being the same person were true, then he had to confirm this soon and a carriage would take too long to get to the blue-haired princess.

"Very well," the boy sighed, backing down.

His father turned to call for a carriage. The man was taken aback when the sound of hooves running were heard behind him. He turned to find his son riding off.

"After my son!" The king roared. "If anything happens to him, all of you will be punished!"

In a few minutes, guards on horses were galloping in the direction the boy had gone.

---

Adrien signaled his horse to go as fast as he could. He still wasn't far enough from the castle to be safe from his father's knights. The horse gave it his all and managed to run a safe distance away from the castle soon enough. Adrien was still few hours away from the Dupain-Cheng's castle, and in the woods part of the journey. He rode to a nearby river and let his horse rest there. The prince was on alert and ready to mount his horse at any time.

----

It was now nighttime, but thankfully the moon was bright enough for Adrien to see where he was going. He hadn't heard any noise; he was thankful for this. It was calm and his thoroughbred colt was walking at a calming pace in a relaxed position. Everything was going good for the prince so far. It was only a short while before Marinette's castle showed up, Adrien could hardly wait to see his lady.

~~~~

Adrien grew excited- he could see lights! There was a large area of bright lights, however, these weren't the lights of Marinette's castle, they belonged to her kingdom's village.

We're close! The prince silently cheered. Adrien stood watching the lights for a short while.

However, the boy quickly grew confused to find himself on the ground a moment later. A pain erupted in the right-side of his abdomen, and he looked up to see his horse spook and run off. His ears rang and more pain filled his body when familiar knights picked him up. Adrien was relieved when darkness took over and ended the throbbing stings.

~~~

"Bring him in!" One of Marinette's knights called.

The girl went to check on the noise. She found her guards bring an unusual man into the main room. The bluenettes presence alerted everyone. Her parents were standing to the opposite side of the room and the general looked to the queen, Sabine nodded her head. What's going on? Marinette wondered.

"-ahem- Princess," the general announced. "This is a guard from the Agreste kingdom- he had news of Prince Adrien."

"Well?" Marinette gestured for him to continue.

"The prince is... missing."

The news shocked Marinette, she grew worried and wanted to order all the guards in her castle to find him- that was a bad idea and would not help her reputation however.

"What happened?"

"Adrien's father informs us that he rode off on his horse with his guards chasing after him. From there, he hasn't been seen." The general informed. "We caught an Agreste guard outside of the village."

"I'm sure he's harmless, why is he here then?" Marinette questioned.

"He was reported by some of your people, they told us of a guard covered in blood."

Marinette did not see anything wrong- her confused face signaled the guards to turn the prisoner around. And there it was. His armor and under clothing soaked in red, the guards also removed the man's gloves, and more red stained his hands and the inside of the gloves.

This could be Adrien's!

"I want guards searching for the prince! Look for a trail of blood or any sign of Adrien around the kingdom. If we don't help the Agrestes, they'll surely wage war and accusations to destroy us. Thank you for informing me general."

Everyone was still at the princesses orders- her sudden outburst shocked them. Her orders were smart moves and she announced them strongly- like a queen. The queen and king were proud and were now sure the girl would be a great ruler.

"As for the prisoner," Marinette continued."I want him questioned and jailed until further notice."

The girl turned and headed towards her room, behind her, guards took the man to the dungeons and others prepared horses for the search. Marinette entered her room:

"Marinette? Is something wrong?" Tikki asked.

"Adrien's missing, we have to find him!"

Tikki nodded.

"Tikki! SPOT'S ON!" Marinette called.

In fifteen seconds, Marinette was in her suit and mask, she jumped out her window and began to look around.

She noticed a commotion in the village square, and landed to check it out. A white horse reared and kicked out at anyone who tried to calm it. The horse spotted Ladybug and recognized the girl. Marinette -Ladybug- didn't recognize the horse until she saw the small symbol on the saddle and bridle. It was the purple outline of a butterfly and green strands-with hints of gold- that ran around. It was the Agreste's symbol.

The horse calmed down and Ladybug took the colt back to the castle.

"Ladybug?" Queen Sabine asked.

"Good evening m-" STOP STOP! "-am!" Whoops! Almost said mom. The girl sighed in relief.

"I found the Agreste's horse. I thought it might be Adrien's."

"Thank you Ladybug! This really helps." King Tom replied.

Ladybug left the horse with her parents and swang around the village in search of Adrien. The girl sighed when she rounded the outskirts of the entire village and found nothing. Her brows creased with worry and flutters of nervousness were felt in her stomach. She didn't want to stop searching for her friend, but the night grew darker and she would have to return home or else she would be "missing" too. The superheroine princess made up her mind to ride out farther early in the morning. A part of her thought maybe Adrien's horse could recognize a location anything she hoped.

She swung her yo-yo and leapt from rooftop to rooftop until she jumped into her room. A flash of red and then she was untransformed. Tikki was tired so the kwami floated wearily to a nearby drawer to doze off. Marinette was tired but she had to make sure everyone knew she wasn't gone. The princess tiredly walked to her parents room before hugging them goodnight. The girl then made her way back to her bed where she changed into her nightgown. Adrien would have to wait.