When The Ponies Neigh: Arc of Guilt

FIFTH

Over a week and a half have gone trough since the Applebloom incident. There are posters with her face all over Ponyville captioned with "Have you seen me?" With that face, it's almost as she was really saying it. The news spread quickly all over Equestria, they were squads that had false leads on Manehattan and Fillydelphia, they conclude nowhere.

For the first time in days, the mane 6 goes out in a Pick-nick. It's hard for them to ignore the situation, especially with Applebloom's face plastered all over the town.

-"Come on Everypony! What's with the long faces? Hahaha, get it? Long faces?" Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie can't stand the general sadness regarding the group. Everyone rev up the spirit with Pinkie's Attitude, Fluttershy smiles weakly. She tries to feign happiness but fails miserably

-"Fluttershy..."
-"Oh...I'm...I'm sorry" .- Fluttershy flees, her tears are quite visible as she leaves. In a classic way, Rainbow Dash attempts to follow her but Twilight Sparkle snatches her tail in mid flight

-"Give her some time"

Applejack frowns. She has never been so bothered by Fluttershy before. It's almost as if Fluttershy knew Applejack was guilty of everything and she had to show her a proper expression of grief. Applejack felt out of place, she could not hide her discomfort any longer. General awkwardness ensued.

-"W-why don't we have some cake?" Pinkie Pie retrieves the pink cake laying on her basket. That afternoon was a breath of relief in comparison with the last three days. Police Ponies coming in and out of Sweet Apple Acres, interrogating all of the residents to see if there's something else they can remember. Anything. They were desperate. The investigation in Ponyville was clearly not sophisticated enough for the job, their methods were very rudimentary.

They had to force their guts out to do it, but the Pick-nick resulted quite fine, they were laughing and joking as usual

-"Pinkie Pie! That was the last piece of cake! I was gonna eat it!" says Rainbow Dash in her usual squeaky voice
-"Well, you should have kept your *EYE* on it, te he he he" Pinkie Pie's eye pops comically out of it's socket when she says *Eye*
-"Oh yeah? let me put you where I'm putting my hoof instead" General laughter as they see Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash struggle up for the piece "
-Alright, since there is no more cake, I'd say it's time to move on the muffins, courtesy of Derpy".-Twilight presents them 'THE MUFFINS'. Their pony eyes marble at the structure of the muffins. The toppling has the perfect puffiness and roundness, and the distribution of blueberries seemed quite appealing. Boy, they looked delicious.

-"Twilight dear, there are only 4 muffins in the basket, even without Fluttershy, there's not enough for us all".- As Rarity points that, she, Applejack and Twilight pick up their own Muffins, Applejack eat hers right off

-"I'll have one!" yells Rainbow Dash as she picks a muffin"
-"What? No way, I'll have it, you got the last piece of cake, remember?"

Rainbow Dash looks at the cake for a second

-"Well, then YOU have the last piece of cake"
-"What? Oh nononono, YOU have the last piece of cake, since YOU wanted it so much"
-"I changed my mind, give it--" Laughter ensued as the mares struggled for the muffin
-"Hehe girls, why don't you give ME the last piece of cake and stay with my muffin instead?"

They both stared at each other"

-"okay"

Twilight picks up the delicious cake in her hooves. As she approaches the purple glowing pastry to her mouth, a chunk of snow falls from a nearby tree and spoils it completely.

-"There's the ice frosting" .-At this point, they are literally willing to laugh about anything
-"Hehe, very funny girls" .-Twilight Sparkle contemplates the tree for a few seconds .-"Snow is going to fall off from trees very easily, Winter Wrap up starts in 2 days"

They cheerfully discuss on their expectation for this year and remember how well displayed last year was thanks to Twilight,
Rainbow Dash stops eating her muffin in realization, Applejack soon notices something that catches her eye;Rainbow Dash was apparently nodding. Once she got her attention, she realized she wasn't nodding, she was pointing to the left with her head

Applejack caught up

Waiting for a moment of distraction, they both walk apart from the rest of the tree
-"Where are you going girls?"
-"We'll be right back!" Answers Applejack, they inferred that one of them probably needed to pee

It's getting dark, the last sunbeams are leaving slowly

-"Ok, what is it sugarcube?"
-"It's two days until the Wrap up"
-"So?" Applejacks thinks for a bit, she gets it soon enough "Oh oh..."

How could they been so oblivious? Winter Wrap was near, there would be Ponies swiping the snow. Dozens and dozens of them. There was a really good chance that they found her buried somewhere near the warrens. The land on the Warrens wasn't meant to be plowed and seeded, but there was no doubt that Fluttershy was going to notice.

-"What are we gonna do"
-"Shh, calm down, this is what we're going to do: We are gonna go that clearing, We'll dig up the bag, make a hole in the lake's ice and drop it there"
-"But what if it floats up?"
-"No it won't! Don't you know anything about anything? The bag is too heavy, it will stay up"
-"Up?"
-"I mean down, DOWN! Jeez, relax for a minute ok?" Applejack flinches. She's clearly afraid of pushing her luck too far, Rainbow sees a chance in that , a breach to find the answer on Dash's most deep doubts. As they walk back with the rest, Dash strikes:

-"AJ, what's on the chest?" Applejack stops dry. Dash's heart beats in expectation. Dash can't see her face, she wish she did.
-"AJ?"
-"It's none of your business"
-"NONE OF MY BUSINESS?! I'm in deep SHIT for you, remember?"

Applejack isn't responding

"Rainbow Dash, you ain't having cold feet are you?"

Rainbow Dash flinched

-"Uh..w-what? what are you saying?"
-"Do you trust me?"
-"What? Yes"
-"No, I mean, Do you really trust me, or you're just saying it?"

Applejack turns to see her friend. It's like her usual face, that face full of freckles, the face that says "Howdy" by itself, but it's not the same. There's something uncanny about her face . Rainbow Dash understands that Applebloom is not the only one that's gone, Applejack is here no longer. Applejack slowly walks to her friend

-"Is that a Yes?"
-"Huh?"

Applejack is close from her. Very close, face to face.
There is something really wrong with her. Rainbow Dash thought on that before, but know she knew it. Something messed up her mind up, something really bad.

-"I...yes, of course I trust you"
-"....good"

She walks away. Rainbow Dash noticed the cold running trough her mane. She was sweating. Badly

-"Come on Pard'ner! They're waiting for us" Applejack smiled like always, it even seemed as thought she was back. Rainbow Dash was paralyzed, she skipped from her trance a little later, when the voice of Pinkie could be heard saying "What took you two so long? We are leaving"