“Come on Twilight, can’t you just tell us now?” Rainbow Dash pleaded.
“Not until Fluttershy gets here, Rainbow. This is something I need everypony to hear.” Twilight responded.
Rainbow Dash was not amused and crossed her hooves.
“Come on now,” Applejack said to her friend, “sometimes you just gotta be patient.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!” Rainbow shot back right as Fluttershy walked in. “There you are,” Rainbow complained, “what took you so long?”
“Oh, I’m so sorry girls. I had to make sure Squirley ate all of his dinner. He keeps burying so many acorns I get worried that he isn’t eating enough.” She softly explained.
“Wait I thought squirrels were supposed to do that.” Twilight pointed out.
Fluttershy nodded her head. “Oh yes, but still I-“
“Can we talk about squirrels after we hear Twilight’s announcement?” Rainbow asked impatiently.
Twilight walked over to an envelope sitting on her table. “It’s not exactly an announcement…”
Pinkie began jumping up and down. “Oh, Oh what is it then! I’m getting excited too!”
“Well, why don’t I just read it.” Twilight said as she removed a piece of paper from within with her magic. “To the Bearers of The Elements of Harmony, we know that one of you has been working on a secret project for some time now. We are interested in what you seek, and demand that you hoof over all of the information you’ve collected so far. If you fail to comply with our demand in the next week, we shall reveal to all of Equestria that you are…a filly fooler.”
The room was silent. The six ponies all exchanged glances with one another.
Twilight continued. “You know who you are, and will receive further instructions from us tomorrow. Eager to see you soon, signed anonymous.”
“What kind of demand is that?” Applejack asked angrily.
“Hold on Applejack,” Twilight said, “before we discuss this any further, I just want to ask and I want you all to be honest…is this true…?”
The room was silent again. No pony made a sound.
“Good, then that settles it.” Twilight proclaimed as she put the letter down. “Obviously this trickster is up to some convoluted scheme. I’m sorry girls, now that I’m the new princess we’re probably going to be getting all kinds of strange letters like this.”
“Hey don’t you worry Twilight.” Rainbow piped up. “It’s gonna take a lot more than some dumb letters from some dummy to get between us.”
Twilight smiled. “Thanks girls, I’m glad this is just false accusations and nothing more.”
Applejack happily hummed to herself as she made her way out of her farm. From above, she heard somepony call her name. “Oh hey there Rainbow,” she said as her friend landed beside her, “you come over to help with the chores today?”
“But isn’t today your day off?” Rainbow asked with a worried expression.
“Yup it is, funny how it seems it’s the only time you come ‘round here.” Applejack said with a sly look.
Rainbow grinned and scratched the back of her head. “Heh heh, yeah isn’t that funny. Listen though, I was thinking about that letter from the other day.”
“Yeah that was a strange one. I feel bad for Twilight getting’ bothered like that.”
“Well I was thinking…what if that letter wasn’t lying?”
Applejack gave Rainbow a quizzical look. “What, you sayin’ that one of us is hiding somethin’?”
“I mean it is possible. If one of us was hiding something like that for so long, I don’t think she’d admit in right in front of everypony just like that.”
Applejack thought for a moment. “I suppose not. Wait, you’re not here to investigate me or nothin’, are ya?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh please, I think I’d know if my best friend was hiding something like that. Besides, honest Applejack isn’t exactly very good at keeping secrets.”
Applejack raised an eye. “You know I’m kinda surprised that everypony wasn’t lookin’ at you when Twilight asked about it.”
“Oh come on,” Rainbow said as she let out an angry grunt, “lots of ponies in my family have rainbow manes, and that doesn’t automatically mean we’re all like that.”
“Settle down now girl, I was only jokin’. Since it ain’t you or me, then who do ya reckon it could be?”
“You’re top suspect is really Twilight?” Applejack asked as they entered the library.
“She happens to have me the most suspicious.” Rainbow replied.
“You a detective now?”
“Well there are lots of mysteries solved in my Daring Doo books, so I’d say I’m better at sleuthing than your average pony.”
“Why do I have ta help ya out with this again?”
“Cause I need somepony level headed to bounce my ideas off of. That’s how it works in the books.” Rainbow said as she looked around the library. “Darn, looks like Twilight isn’t here.”
“What exactly puts Twilight on the top of your list?”
“I’m glad you asked AJ. The first thing that got me suspicious was that the letter was sent to Twilight. It could have been sent to any of us, so why her?”
Applejack thought for a moment. “Well if they wanted all of us to hear that little announcement, it makes sense they’d send it to her. Besides why would they send that letter to her if she was the one, then she wouldn’t have shared it at all.”
Rainbow darted her eyes around, processing the information. “Ok that’s true, but you know what else makes me wonder? It’s how Twilight has always been really obsessed with Princess Celestia. Don’t you think that’s kind of odd?”
“She’s also really obsessed with her brother.” Applejack said flatly.
“Well yeah but…” Rainbow tried to think of a response.
“What are you two talking about?” They head Spike ask as he entered.
Rainbow looked at him in surprise. “Oh hey Spike, we were just uhhh…”
“Rainbow here is wondering about that letter from the other day.” Applejack said.
Spike raised an eyebrow at Rainbow. “Wait, do you think they were talking about Twilight in that letter?”
Rainbow scratched the back of her head. “Well I’ve wondering a bit and-“
“Na, there’s no way they were talking about Twilight.” Spike said. “She’s into Stallions, trust me.”
“Welp, guess that settles it then.” Applejack said.
“Yeah there’s one suspect off the list.” Rainbow said, defeated.
“You really think that letter was true?” Spike asked.
Rainbow moved her hoof in the air. “I just want to make sure is all. What do you think Spike, who do think it could be?”
Spike rubbed a finger across his mouth. “Hmmm. That’s a tough one alright.”
“Doesn’t at least one of us stick out? And you better not say me!” She added angrily.
“Like I said, it’s a tough one.” Spike replied. “When I think about it, I never hear any of you talk about wanting a stallion friend. Except for Rarity of course.”
“I guess that’s true.”
“And also, none of you have ever even had a stallion friend, have you?”
Rainbow let out an annoyed sigh. “Yes, that too.”
“And I never see any of you trying or bringing it up or-“
“Ok, ok I get it. It’s a tough one.”
“Should we really be doing this Rainbow?” Applejack asked as they walked though Ponyville. “This seems like a nasty invasion of privacy and all.”
“But listen,” Rainbow replied, “think of it this way. We shouldn’t have to hide anything from each other. That’s not cool at all. And none of us would care or be upset about it. Plus keeping secrets isn’t good for friends to do, just ask Pinkie Pie. Speaking of which…”
The two had arrived at Sugarcube Corner. “So why are you suspectin’ her now?” Applejack asked.
“Duh, have you seen the way she follows me around? She, like, stalks me and it kind of freaks me out.”
“Well I’ve seen her do that with lots of different ponies. You know she once followed Big Mac around all day once?”
“Really?”
“Yeah, somethin’ about how she hadn’t had fun with him in almost a year, and that needed to be addressed. I swear the memory that girl has is just-“ Before she could finish, Pinkie jumped through the door of Sugarcube Corner and ran right into Rainbow Dash, pushing her onto the ground.
“Rainbow Dash and Applejack! It’s so good to see you!” She exclaimed. She lowered her head down toward Rainbow. “My ears are burning, were you talking about me?” She asked with a big grin.
“This is exactly what I’m talking about.” Rainbow said as she pushed the pink pony off of her.
Applejack just smiled. “Still nothing I haven’t seen her do before.”
Pinkie hopped in place. “You were talking about me! What is it, what is it?”
“It’s about that letter we got a few days back,” Applejack explained, “we were kind of wonderin’ if it had anything to do with you.”
“You sillies, I wouldn’t hide anything from my friends.” Pinkie said happily.
“Ugh, I guess that does make sense.” Rainbow admitted.
“Are you two going around to see if one of us is keeping a secret?” Pinkie asked.
Before either could answer, Pinkie continued. “Because you shouldn’t go around snooping like that, it’s not a very nice thing to do.”
Rainbow tried to say something, but Pinkie continued. “Sometimes ponies have to keep secrets, and that’s their business, unless they want to share with you.”
Rainbow let out a defeated sigh as their pink friend hopped back into Sugarcube Corner.
“Come on Rainbow, this is just wrong.” Applejack complained. The two were now in Fluttershy’s cottage. Applejack watched as her blue friend began looking through Fluttershy’s dresser. “Besides I think Pinkie had a good point.”
“Well I think I have a better point.” Rainbow said as she shifted through dresses. “And Fluttershy said we could make ourselves at home anytime we wanted.”
“I don’t think she had this in mind.” Applejack complained. “What are you gonna do if she comes here and catches us!?”
“It’s her spa day, she won’t be home till later.” Rainbow said as she opened a chest by the wall. “So we don’t-“
She stopped as she saw what was in the chest. Applejack walked over and also looked on in surprise. The chest was filled with books. There must have been dozens stacked together neatly. From what they could see, the books all had very similar covers. Handsome stallions with long, flowing manes looked back at them. Many of them wore clothing that flowed in the wind.
Rainbow closed the chest. “Alright, we can leave now.”
The sun had begun to set. Beautiful red, orange and purples lines painted the clouds above.
“This sky sure would make a nice background for one of those books.” Applejack teased.
“Can we just pretend we didn’t see those?” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes.
Applejack giggled. “Come on, it is a right bit funny. Wouldn’t of guessed she was into those kinds of books.”
“Ugh this is so lame. We spend the whole day on this, and it turns out Twilight was right after all.”
“Well we didn’t go check on Rarity yet.”
The two looked at each and started laughing.
“So Rainbow,” Applejack asked “did you learn something today? Maybe write yourself a letter to the Princess when you get home?”
“Oh give me a break Applejack.” Rainbow said as they trotted along the darkened path.
Outside of the Carousel Boutique, Flutershy softly knocked on the door. She continued knocking, causing the door to open slightly. It opened so slowly that it didn’t even ring the bell.
“Ummm…Rarity?” She called quietly.
It was dark inside. It would have been almost pitch black had it not been for a sliver of light coming from one of the doors. Fluttershy recognized it as the door to Rarity’s inspiration room.
With her head down, she moved towards the door. She pushed it carefully and peeked inside. She could see Rarity sitting on the floor.
“Rarity?” She called, even quieter than she had outside.
Fluttershy walked into the room, not making a sound. She called to her friend again, lightly tapping her on the back.
Rarity let out a scream. Fluttershy whimpered as she quickly backed up against the wall. Papers flew everywhere as Rarity turned around with, her eyes wide and wild. She relaxed when she saw the yellow Pegasus.
“Oh…Fluttershy, it’s only you dear.” Rarity said as she took in deep breaths. “Goodness, gave me a bit of a fright there.”
“I’m so sorry Rarity, I didn’t mean to.” Flutteshy said meekly.
“It’s quite alright dear,” Rarity said smiling, “I was just a bit too absorbed in my…project.” She used her magic to grab the scattered papers and put them back in the box next to her. “What brings you here, do you need something?”
Fluttershy stood up, fixing her mane slightly. “Well I was worried, you didn’t come to the spa today.”
Rarity’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “The spa! Today was our spa day!” She yelled, causing Fluttershy to flinch. Rarity looked at Fluttershy with a sad expression. “A thousand apologies Fluttershy. I was so terribly busy today that I completely forgot. Not that that’s any excuse of course…”
Fluttershy looked around the room a bit. A couple of packed bags were sitting neatly in the corner. “Are you going somewhere?” She asked.
“Ehh…sort of.” Rarity said nervously.
“Is everything alright?” Fluttershy asked worriedly. “If there’s something wrong, you can tell me.”
Rarity let out a large sigh. She bit her bottom lip and looked at Fluttershy’s concerned face. “Ok, I’m going to tell you something. Something I’ve never told anypony else. And only because I trust you.” She said in a serious tone.
Fluttershy blinked and felt her heart beat quickly. She nodded.
“That letter Twilight got,” Rarity explained, “the one it was referring to… is me.”
Rarity was quiet for a moment, giving Fluttershy time to let the information sink in. “You mean?” Fluttershy began to ask.
“Yes.” Rarity answered. “I’m…exactly what it says.”
“I…I had no idea. It’s ok thought, you-“
“No it’s not ok!” Rarity interrupted. “You have to understand Fluttershy, my whole life I’ve always wanted to be known throughout the world for my fashion designs. But I won’t be known for that, I’ll only be known as that fashion designer who’s a filly fooler!”
Rarity moaned and groaned as she usually did when she was having a drama queen moment. Fluttershy tried to speak up, but Rarity didn’t seem to hear her.
“I can just see it. The tabloids will eat it up, businesses will refuse to sell my wares, ponies will whisper about me as I walk down the street! I’ve always been like this,” Rarity explained, “and I always knew it wasn’t right, that it wasn’t normal, that I wasn’t normal.”
Again Fluttershy tried to speak, but Rarity continued ranting. “I was hoping I could beat it. It would remain my dirty little secret forever, and that I could force it to go away. But it’s no use…”
“Rarity, you shouldn’t-“
“The good news is, I have a backup plan!” She announced happily. She took a piece of paper out of the box and showed it to her friend. On the paper was a map, with mountain circled. Near it was a drawing of some kind of gem. “This is the Sapphire of Desire. Legends say that whoever finds it will have her heart’s desire come true. ” She put the paper back. “I know it’s kind of a stretch, but desperate times and all that. Thanks to Twilight letting me use the Canterlot library, I’m sure I’ve pinpointed its location.”
Fluttershy watched as Rarity strapped the bags into her back. “You’re leaving now?”
“I must. Please don’t tell the others about this Fluttershy. I’ll be back before you know it. And I’ll finally be normal.” Rarity said as she headed out the door.
“And then this is the even more unbelievable part! It turned out that Mr. Cake had sold his favorite hat to get Mrs. Cake a new table for her figurines!”
Twilight dropped her annoyed expression when she saw Fluttershy enter. “Hi there Fluttershy.”
“Hello.” Fluttershy said softly. “I was worried you might be asleep.”
“Well I probably would be, but Pinkie insisted I hear about what happened at the bakery today.”
Pinkie happily continued her story. “Except that’s only what I thought had happened, which is why I let out a huge gasp and yelled it all out loud. But what really happened-Oh hey Fluttershy. You should hear this story too. I’ll start over from the beginning.”
“Actually, there’s something I need to tell you girls…”
“She left now!” Twilight yelled. “In the middle of the night, alone?”
“Umm, yes.” Fluttershy confirmed.
“But it’s dangerous out there.” Twilight said as she looked at the framed map on her wall. “There’s no telling what she could run into near that mountain.”
Fluttershy lowered her head. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything, but I…”
“It’s ok.” Pinkie said, giving her friend a small nuzzle. “Revealing secrets can be a bad thing, but it would be much worse if Rarity got hurt.”
Twilight put her hoof down. “Alright girls, we’re going to go get Rainbow Dash and Applejack then go after her. Spike I need you to, where is Spike?”
“Here he is.” Pinkie said from a corner of the library. Spike was sitting down quietly, staring at the wall.
Twilight trotted over to him. “Oh Spike, I guess you heard the whole thing huh.”
“It all makes sense now.” He said.
“Huh?” Twilight tilted her head slightly.
Spike stood up. “All this time, the reason why she never returned my affections, it all makes sense now.”
Twilight looked to her left. “Umm…”
“You’re right!” Pinkie said as she sat next to the baby dragon. “Remember when I helped you throw that “I love you Rarity more than anything in the whole world” party? I could never figure out why that didn’t work.”
“I know!” Spike said as looked at Pinkie. “Aww, if only I’d known sooner. I wouldn’t have written so many of those love poems.”
“Come on,” Twilight said, giving Spike a push, “we don’t have a moment to waste.”
Rarity made her way through the dark cave. Her horn provided just enough light so she could see where she was going. She had reached the center of the mountain. The narrow walls widened out, revealing a huge room.
“Well that wasn’t so bad.” She said to herself. “That book on pony urban myths made this place sound so much more dangerous.”
“Always good to have some clear sailing,” Said a voice from behind her.
Before she could turn around, Rarity felt herself being pushed to the ground. She didn’t need to see who it was; she recognized that voice all too well.
“Haha, so this is where the treasure sleeps.” Flim proclaimed happily.
“And once we got our hooves on it, there won’t be a single bit of treasure that can hide from us.” Flam added.
Rarity got up and was about to voice a nasty response, but the two yellow unicorns had already rushed past her. She hurried after them.
Rarity took a moment to survey the area. The room was large, and a huge pillar stood in the middle. It stretched up to the very top of the cave. The sapphire had to be up there, and it looked like the two business ponies agreed.
“Ready Flim?” Flam said as his brother stepped onto a large rock.
“Ready Flam!” He responded, as Flam concentrated, lifting the rock. It slowly began to rise up towards the ceiling.
Rarity concentrated as well. She cast her gem finding spell, aiming at the top of the pillar. It was faint, but she could sense it. There was a gem up there. Concentrating harder than she ever had before, she focused on the gem and began pulling it. She pulled and pulled, until she got a stronger grip on it and drew it off the pillar.
Unfortunately, Flim activated his own magic and grabbed onto it. The two unicorns were now in a tug of war match with the sapphire. Rarity tried her hardest, but Flim was winning. Her head was spinning. She wasn’t going to be able to hold on much longer.
Flim let out a yelp as the rock he stood on exploded under him. A rainbow trail lingered as he fell to the ground. Rarity looked over, seeing her friends emerge. “Girls…”
“Sorry Rarity, but we had to follow you.” Twilight said.
“And yours’ werent’ the only tracks we found.” Applejack said, giving a nasty look at the brothers.
“Where’d it go, where’d it go!” Flim yelled as he jumped up.
“I got it!” Flam responded, levitating the blue stone. Rarity grabbed at it again with her own magic.
Twilight shot a spell, enclosing the sapphire in a purple field. It fell to the floor.
“Twilight!” Rarity said, giving her friend a look of anger and confusion.
“Rarity, that gem could be dangerous.” The purple unicorn explained. “Wish granting items like that are known to be extremely unpredictable.”
“I don’t care!” Rarity yelled as she bolted towards it. The brothers did the same.
Spike hopped off Twilights back. “Applejack quick, launch me over there.” He asked.
Twilight gave him a disproving look. “Spike, didn’t you hear what I just said?!”
“Twilight please,” the dragon pleaded, “I don’t want Rarity to get hurt either! Let me do this!”
Applejack looked at her purple friend. Twilight sighed and gave a nod.
“Alright, brace yourself now.” Applejack said as she turned around and kicked Spike with her back legs.
Spike didn’t have time to think as he flew through the air. Applejack was, of course, one heck of a bucker, as Spike realized he was going to land right on top of the gem. He reached his arms out and took the sapphire into his arms as he landed on it.
The dragon gave out a victorious laugh as he held up his prize. Then he noticed that the three unicorns were still coming at him, with crazed looks on their faces. Spike looked back and forth at his advancers, with no idea what to do.
“Spike, give it here!” Rainbow yelled as she landed beside him. He quickly held the gem up, letting Rainbow grab it with her mouth. It was too late though. The Flim Flam brothers jumped upon her, followed by Rarity.
The others made their way over to the struggle. As they got closer, they heard Flim’s voice ring out, “Give me everlasting wealth!”
Everyone stopped. All was quiet as they stood there. “Did it work?” Flim finally said.
Rarity jumped upon the gem. “Make me normal!” She yelled out.
Again nothing happened. The three unicorns looked at the sapphire in confusion.
Rainbow Dash landed between them and tapped it with her hoof. “Make me leader of the Wonderbolts!” She demanded.
“We’ll settle for a treasure map.” Flim complained as he pushed Rainbow aside.
“Alright that is enough.” Twilight proclaimed as she brought the sapphire to her using her magic. “You two do know that blackmailing a close friend of the new crowned princess is not looked upon very favorable, don’t you?”
“Not our lucky night, is it brother?” Flam said sadly.
Rarity stomped her hoof angrily. “You two have a lot of explaining to do! How in Equestria did you find out all these things about me?”
Flim sighed. “I suppose it’s time to spin a tale. My brother and I always keep our ears open for the latest gossip. We aren’t just the greatest business ponies in Equestria, we’re also the greatest treasure hunters.”
“Yeah right.” Applejack said sarcastically.
“We heard Miss Rarity here was asking around in Canterlot about the Sapphire of Desire,” Flam continued, “and we couldn’t help but get curious.”
“So you blackmailed her!” Rainbow yelled.
“No, we broke into her house.” Flim said proudly.
“YOU DID WHAT!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Found her little box and thought we were home free. Problem was we couldn’t make heads or pony tails of her notes. Realized we were gonna have to get the information straight from the horse’s mouth, so the speak.”
“She had written down what she planned to wish for, which was a great help.” Flam piped in.
“Flam and I are fans of win-win situations you see. We figured we’d give Miss Rarity a proposition. Either she told us where the sapphire was or we’d spill the beans. We knew she probably wouldn’t, leaving her with one option, to go find the sapphire. All we had to do was follow along.” Flim finished.
“Well, we’re going to see what Princess Celestia thinks about all this.” Twilight stated.
The brothers dejectedly dropped their heads.
“Think we need to stop the wild goose chases?” Flam asked.
“Think you’re right about that one.” Flim responded.
Back at the library, the girls had gathered. Spike was busy examining the sapphire.
“I’m sorry I kept that secret for so long, girls.” Rarity apologized. “I really hoped I would be able to change myself.”
“But Rarity we don’t want you to change.” Pinkie explained. “We love you just the way you are.”
“I know Pinkie, and I knew my friends would be ok with it. It’s just every other pony I’m worried about.”
Twilight walked over to her friend. “You know Rarity, Flim and Flam are part of the Canterlot crowd. Do you care if they don’t like you being attracted to mares?”
“I most certainly do not care what those rapscallions think of me!” Rarity said.
“I bet Fancypants wouldn’t think any less of you.” Fluttershy chimed in.
“Of course he wouldn’t,” Rarity agreed, “Fancypants is the nicest most accepting pony in all of Canterlot.”
The five mares looked at her. Rarity sighed. “I understand what you’re saying. It’s going to be tough, but I’ve got to be open and not worry so much what everypony thinks of me.”
“And you’ll always have us supportin’ you, sugarcube.” Applejack said.
Rarity smiled. “Yes, I really am fortunate to have friends like you. Spike, would you be a dear and take a letter?”
“My pleasure.” Spike said, putting the sapphire down and grabbing a piece of paper and quill.
Rarity began, “Dear Princess Celestia. For so long I was hiding part of who I am, worried what everypony would think of me. I spent so much time worrying about strangers, that I forgot who was really important, my friends. Being the great friends they are, they accept me for who I am. I shouldn’t have to hide anything from them. From now on, I’m going to be true to myself and not worry what strangers think of me. If somepony doesn’t like it, then that’s their problem.”
Twilight smiled. “Well said Rarity.”
“So uh, just out of curiosity here,” Rainbow Dash started to say, “we are all just your friends, right?”
“Rainbow!” Applejack scolded.
“What it’s a legitimate question!” Rainbow shot back.
Rarity laughed. “Yes Rainbow, all of you are just my bestest friends. You’re not my type anyway dear.”
“Oh, ok then.” Rainbow said, relieved. Then her eyes widened. “Wait, is that supposed to mean I wouldn’t be good enough for you or something?”
“No Rainbow, that’s not what I mean.” Rarity explained as the other laughed. Rainbow simply blushed from embarrassment.