Despite 13%, They are 50%

*Bwooosh*

*Bwooosh*

*Bwooosh*

*Fwomp*

“Ahh, another well-deserved afterwork rest.”

Rainbow Dash sprawled her entire figure over a small tuft of cloud barely big enough to contain her. The past week or so passed by her with an alarming amount of normalcy, a far cry from the perils her friends had been experiencing. Her floating house was self-made from movable clouds, with it’s land-equivalent tax paid every year. Since she never went vegetarian like nearly all Equestrian populace, her massive stockpile of fish and pork could provide her nutrition for months to come. Her diet came with the need of keeping griffbits around, so money wasn’t much of an issue either.

Since Pinkie was not up to pranking ponies, and it wasn’t the time and place to do so anyways, Rainbow’s boredom got so bad that she had to pester her friends for anything to do or to help with, anything at all. After some pressing, Fluttershy mentioned that she was low on medical supplies, and Pinkie revealed that she was distraught by the severe lack of supplies Sugarcube Corner had in stock.

Rainbow ran - or rather, flew - to nearby villages and towns to search for both. She did find medical supplies, but anything Pinkie needed was already either gone or kept for rationing. The entire thing took two days, before routine boredom bared it’s ugly fangs once more.

What particularly gnawed on her wasn’t those fangs, however. It was the fact that her friends wouldn’t put in any semblance of effort in finding their lost friend. Rainbow knew perfectly well that unlike her, the others still had reservations from the revelation of Applejack being a changeling. She had thought that at the very least, even if they didn’t want to admit it, one of them should have some sort of plan to get Applejack back, right?

To Rainbow’s greatest annoyance, none of them did.

Twilight stayed back in Canterlot, leaving her out of the picture. Fluttershy teetered on the edge of breakdown everytime Rainbow went to ask, netting her little information. Pinkie Pie is creative, but she never was the most plan-intelligent of them all. Rarity was her best shot, but the fashionmare evaded her after her first attempt.

The revelation left Rainbow fuming. Her mouth soured at the fact that her friends were content to leave the search to Luna’s guards. Not that she hated the moon princess or anything, but it was more on the matter of principle. She couldn’t stand by while her friend was out there, possibly hurting by herself, all alone.

Changeling or not, Applejack is Applejack, Rainbow thought, as she wrestled against her pillow, trying to suffocate herself into the land of dreams. She might’ve failed to do so, but tiredness eventually ensured her passage into it.

An alarm clock rang loudly before it was brutally silenced by a certain pony’s sky blue hoof. Rainbow went and did her morning routine with the grace of a thousand feral geese. One breakaway from the routine was her looking at a wall calendar as she brushed her teeth.

Several things were marked for that day. A scheduled storm, cloudguarding the Everfree, and the biweekly workforce shuffle. The first two are parts of her job, and the latter is a routine event that she never took part in. No amount of money or fun projects elsewhere in the country could ever entice her to settle somewhere else outside of Ponyville, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t take the extra overtime organizing it every now and then.

Rainbow remembered another thing, however. The same day marked exactly ten days after Applejack’s disappearance, since she last saw her in Canterlot, after the debacle with Daybreaker.

Fire burned on her eyes as she remembered back to the day it all happened. Celestia might be at fault for losing control, Applejack might even have a bit of fault for not telling them sooner, literally any and everypony could be at fault, but noone has the biggest sin of all but Chrysalis herself. That bitch will pay for everything… For Applejack, especially.

Rainbow’s ears picked up a nearby growl. Here, in my own house? she thought, as she quickly spun into a stance. Various forms of enemies flashed across her mind as she readied herself for a fight. Nothing was there, however. Exhaling with her dry throat, Rainbow realized that she was the source.

Rainbow began to chuckle in embarrassment as her energy dissipated. Various scenarios of what Applejack might’ve been going through kept appearing in her mind. She wanted to search across Equestria and search across every city, township, and village. Leave no stone unturned, and no pony unasked. Of course, that wouldn’t be possible without sacrificing her job as Ponyville’s head weathermare, would it?

Wait… Rainbow looked once more at her calendar, and the events scheduled on it.

“That’s it!”

The pony rocket launched from her cloud house all the way to a floating cloud office in the wayside suburbs of Ponyville, a sonic rainboom rang through the dark early dusk skies. The exchange event wasn’t particularly hard to set up, albeit a bit tedious in it’s preparation. Rainbow flipped tables and chairs around, office supplies flying around as the living whirlwind brought everything together in ten seconds flat.

That was the easy part; the hard part was routing which outposts and offices in various parts of Equestria. Rainbow took the task in stride, fueled by her desire to get it over quickly. From various reports, it was of no surprise that most weather outposts were understaffed, some even completely abandoned. Whatever politics the nobles made, it dried them out of precious ponypower, even if they weren’t ponies by traditional sense. The cities could stretch their work force thinner, but the tiny little outposts in remote settlements definitely couldn’t.

Few ever saw Rainbow in her secret master planner side, not even half of the Elements. Perhaps reading a book might make her a bit of an egghead, but she was happy to not let others know how she could rival Twilight if she really put the work in. Less obligation and responsibilities means more time for naps, after all. One of these few would be her boss, who was greeted with the sight of Rainbow pinning various papers, charts, and yarn trails across a tall board.

“Well this is a rare sight,” the boss quipped.

Rainbow jolted, her blush nearly popping in full force until she realized who it was. “C- Cummy! Goshdarnit, don’t surprise me like that, boss!” The comment earned her a slap on the forehead.

“I told you to not call me that! ‘Nimbus’ is fine, for princesses’ sake!” Nimbus shook her head with a grin. “Anyways, it’s not like you to be so diligent.”

Rainbow coughed a wry chuckle. “Well, it’s not like I have to track my missing friend everyday either.”

“Ahh yes, Applejack. No offense, Rainbow, but why now? You’ve been telling us about her everyday since you went back to work, but didn’t you say the princesses had it covered?” Nimbus inquired. “Or is this you finally snapping?”

“You could say that,” Rainbow answered. “I just… I know that Applejack will most likely be East of here, but with her being lost for over a week by now, and not a single update from the princesses, I kind of need to flap my own wings, you know?”

“Yeah, I get you. So, you’re finally leaving Ponyville for the first time in what, five years?” Nimbus asked.

Rainbow nodded with a tack in her mouth, before stabbing it into the board. “Yeah, I guess. I’ll probably haul my house around, in case I find Applejack and she needs a shelter.”

Nimbus raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t that illegal?”

Rainbow chuckled. “This might be shocking, but I haven’t really been abusing my status as an Element of Harmony. For this though, I’m gonna do whatever it takes.” She waved her hoof, before spinning another yarn. “They’ll have no choice but to give me a Princessial Pardon or something- oh finally, it is done!”

Nimbus leaned in to look at the board. A map of Equestria took most of the space. Stacked all over the place above it were pictures, landmark photos, and colourful yarn strings going to and fro. “...I thought you’re making the exchange board?”

“I was! But then I got too invested and I, uhh… heheh, I tried predicting where Applejack might’ve gone.” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. “But seriously though, I think I am close.”

Nimbus sat on her haunches and crossed her forelegs. “What makes you think you can do better than a whole team of bat guards?”

“I don’t, but Luna’s guards were told to look for her, not specifically play detective. Damn, I feel like I should’ve done this sooner. Anyways, here, look at this.” Rainbow pointed and trailed her hoof across a specific yarn. “So, it’s obviously normal for most of these settlements to lose ponies every now and then, maybe get one or two workers in a bit, right? This path I traced however, is a string of abandoned posts spaced every 10 or so miles. The automated registry detected somepony clocking in work, moving to each outpost with each day passed.”

“So somepony had been traveling,” Nimbus shrugged. “That’s not indicative of Applejack in any way. It might very well be just a pegasus desperate for money, or might even be a unicorn talented in weathering.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Rainbow admitted. “But we’re talking of several cases, like this one and this one. Plus, the average pegasi could’ve flown the entire way to the next town in a day. It makes no sense that they wouldn’t try to abuse the work clock, especially in these tough times. Unless, they’re just that kind of a samareitan, or if it’s a changeling. The latter can’t fly half as fast as pegasi can.”

“What if they’re foals? It would make sense for a particularly smart foal to try and escape,” Nimbus reasoned.

“Probably, there are more than one of these after all, like this one and these here,” Rainbow said. She pointed at several more yarns. “I don’t think foals would do the trek alone, though. Maybe an injured pegasi, but they aren’t...” she trailed into a mumble, before shaking her head. “The point is, I just know it. Like… like a gut feeling or something. One of them must be Applejack. She’s not stupid; I know she know that it would cost her money for a ferry to the next continent. She would definitely take the work and cash in the clock-in’s in a big city with a head office. Weather is the easiest job to get into, after all.”

“Why Fillydelphia, specifically? Escaping to Griffonia is popular nowadays, but if that’s the case, wouldn’t Manehattan be the better choice? Bigger harbours and all?” Nimbus asked.

“The papers a week ago said that Manehattan’s head weather office was destroyed. It would make sense if she wanted to cash in her clock-in’s in Fillydelphia first, before flying to Manehattan and hitch a ride there,” Rainbow explained.

Nimbus whistled. “That is some deduction skills right there, Sheryoke Pones. Are you sure you’re not an egghead?”

Unlike her usual responses, Rainbow laughed. “Hah! Not unless I need to be. Too much work for too little pay. Anyways, can you handle everything here? I need to finish my job first, then tell my friends that I’m leaving, then set up a tow for the house, and other boring stuff that happens in between exciting adventure stuff.”

“Sure! For once, you can count on me, Dashie!” Nimbus replied with a grin. “Anyways, this didn’t happen, did it?”

Rainbow returned the grin as she shook her head. “Nope, I was never an egghead detective. See ya!”

Rainbow took off towards the Everfree, where wild, unregulated clouds moved around in unpredictable ways. The clouds were sparse and thin; definitely not her main objective. Instead, she took a turn downwards and pierced the forest canopy. She had an announcement to make, and who better to start with than her lifelong best friend?