Applejack slammed the door behind her. "Can't find her!"

Joanamac perked her ears. "Didja check... No, 'course ya did..."

Applejack hiked a brow. "Were you about to ask if ah checked their clubhouse?" The guilty look was enough of an answer. "'Course ah did! They ain't there or nowhere else. Where could they have run offta?!"

Joanamac tapped at her chin. "Only thin' that comes to mind was that place she an' the other fillies were askin' 'bout."

Applejack blinked. "They wouldn't... They would!" She stomped in place. "That ain't safe! They ain't got no supervision to be goin' that far away!"

Joanamac set a hoof on Applejack's shoulder. "Ah got faith in 'em, but if they ain't home when ah head to bed, we'll send a princess after 'em."

"That's..." Applejack blinked. "A mighty big promise. How, oh. Right!" She laughed with the realization. "Right! Ah'm talkin' to one, secondhoof, right now." She threw an arm over Joanamac, hugging her tightly. "Please. Ah can relax, a little... knowin' they can't run fer long. Um, wait... Can ya do that?"

"She can go wherever she wants, yes?"

Applejack cycled a hoof in the air. "Yeah, sure, but ya don't know where the fillies are, so where ya gonna go?"

Joanamac smiled gently. "We know where they said they wanted to go. She'd start there, work backwards. If they made it, should be easy t'find 'em."

"Ya make it sound easier than it might be... Or maybe ah'm just worried... This is Apple Bloom! Ah don't want nothin' happenin' to her..."

Joanamac leaned against Applejack. "Me neither... But we won't get nothin' panicking."

"Yeah..." AJ stepped back. "Yer not wrong. Um, don't the princess got work t'do?"

"Like chasin' a lost set of fillies? Pretty sure that'd count. Ah'll check if her friends are anywhere, but ah'm guessin' not." Big Mac trotted from the town at a light jog, off to doublecheck on the rest of the crusaders.

She checked in with Sweetie Belle's parents. She poked her head in with Scootaloo's aunts. "Hold on there." The larger of the two, a plump earth pony mare, was looking at Joanamac curiously. "You don't look like any of Apple Bloom's kin."

Joanamac colored faintly. "Been through some changes, but we've met afrore."

Aunt Holiday inclined an ear. "Ya got the accent..."

Maybe there had been a good reason Barb had a big party to announce their new name and appearance... "It's me, Big Mac."

The other, the lankier pegasus, shook her head. "Stop teasing them, Holiday. Scootaloo mentioned this."

"She did?" Holiday turned to face Lofty. "I don't remember that."

"She wasn't talking about it exactly, you silly thing." Lofty chuckled with a smirk. "But she mentioned a 'brother of her friend became a sister' in the middle of one of her rants. Remember that?"

Holiday whipped back to Joanamac. "That was you?! Oh, sorry... Sorry..." She leaned left and right, looking Joanamac over. "You were... Big Mac?! Wow..."

Joanamac put on her best, forced, smile. "That ain't a problem, ah hope?"

Holiday shook her head slowly. "Just surprising, is all... Come in." She waved towards the interior of the house. "I just have some cookies coming out of the oven."

Lofty chuckled softly. "She's offering cookies, that means all is well."

Joanamac stepped in, figuring it would be impolite to decline a kind invitation. "Oh, um... Thank ya kindly. Ah'm Joanamac, Big Mac's still jus' fine."

Holiday went for the kitchen. "I'll go with Big Mac then, already know that name if you're alright with it. Look at you." Not that she was facing Joanamac. "You went and became quite a mare."

Lofty hiked a brow. "You'll make the mare you already have jealous."

Holiday returned with a platter of frosted cookies. "Don't be like that. I'm faithful, but not blind. Look at her."

Lofty looked Joanamac over a moment. "Seen worse. I'm being mean." She swatted the new mare. "Did you get to pick what kind of mare you'd end up as?"

Joanamac shook her head quickly. "Nope. They just, uh... Guess this is me if ah'd just been a mare from the start?"

Lofty crossed her arms, sitting. "Huh... Then ya had this locked inside you the whole time? Fancy that... Now, eat a cookie before Holiday loses it."

Holiday huffed with puffed cheeks. "She can try a cookie when she's ready, or not, if she doesn't want to."

"'Course ah do." Joanamac took a cookie and took a modest bite from it. The still warm frosting was a splash of sharp sugary goodness on the milder baked bread of the cookie. "Mmm! Nice."

Holiday clopped her hooves appreciatively. "Glad to hear it. Now, unfortunately, Scootaloo's run off with her friends. She does that sometimes..."

Lofty sighed at that. "I blame her parents. They taught her to be very independent, because she hardly had a choice. Us moving in is nice and all, but doesn't undo that. So when she gets it in her mind she has to do something, she does it, and we get to hear about it afterwards."

Holiday raised a hoof to her cheek. "Is she in trouble?"

Big Mac shook her head. "Ah think they're all together... Ah was jus' makin' sure ah that. Um, don't panic... Ah'll be sure to have an eye on 'em."

Holiday took a bite of one of her own cookies, enjoying the flavor with a content expression that faded with renewed thought of Scootaloo. "Please, let us know. How will you watch them from here?"

"Uh..." The whole Blossom thing felt like a lot to run through. "Ah got friends in high places." Yes, perfect. "They'll make sure all the fillies are fine."

Lofty waved a hoof over Joanamac. "Sorry for sidetracking, but doesn't Big Mac, you, have a girlfriend?"

"Still do."

Lofty inclined her head. "I would be a powerful double-faced pony if I complained about that. I have a girlfriend too."

Holiday giggled, but didn't join the discussion just then.

Lofty tossed her head at the giggle. "There she is. But you met yours as a stallion, I would think? She alright with... this?"

Joanamac flicked her tail with mild tension. "Uh, she was there... wit' me..."

Holiday clopped both hooves to her cheeks. "That is absolutely precious! She must care about you so much. Even gender was no barrier... You better keep that one." She waved a thick hoof at Joanamac. "You just don't let a pony like that go."

Joanamac smiled at that, a genuine one. "Don't plan on it... Ah love her."

Lofty hiked a brow. "That's nice and all... So when is there going to be a ring on her?" Her eyes wandered as if she may spot something on Joanamac. "Nope, not one on you either."

Joanamac colored at the suggestion. "Um! Um... Ah want it to be special..."

Holiday set a hoof on Joanamac's shoulder. "She stood with you as you did this. Isn't that special enough? Just ask. You know she'll say yes. A pony doesn't go through that just to say no."

Lofty snorted at that. "Holiday, love you, but if I come home to find a stallion, not sure I'd be alright with that."

Holiday giggled gently. "See? You grab her and never let go. She's already doing the same. Now... I know you're a mare now... Maybe you're feeling it's a stallion's job to ask, but, first, that's silly." She waved at Lofty and herself. "If we followed that, we'd have never become a thing. Besides that! Equestria has come a long way, don't you know? A mare can ask just the same as a stallion."

Lofty stroked her chin. "Well, if it helps... Which of you tends to be in charge?"

Joanamac lifted her ears. "Come 'gain?"

Lofty shook her head with a smile. "Come on now. One of you is probably the one in charge. Put any two ponies together, it tends to work out." She waved at Lofty. "That softy there isn't it." She closed for a proper hug. "So I'm the one in charge, if it comes to it."

Joanamac sat, frowning with thought. "Huh... Well.... Ah think me?" She pointed to herself. "Pretty sure... Why?"

Lofty raised her brows. "Then you better get to asking! Because if you wait for the pony that likes to wait, you'll be waiting a long time, maybe. Or maybe she's gathering the strength to do it right now."

"But it should be special..."

"We went over that." Lofty swatted the unsure new mare. "You go up to her and you just ask."

"Ah need a ring at least!"

Lofty hiked a brow. "No, you don't need a ring, but if you want one, go ahead and get one. That's a weak excuse and you know it." She made shooing motions at the door. "Get out of here and don't come back until the question's been asked and answered."

"Alright, alright..." Joanamac retreated for the door, clearly being ejected. "Ah'll, um, let ya know."

Holiday came in for a hug on the departing mare. "You do that, and invite us... if you like." She rubbed her chin awkwardly. "It may sound odd, but it'd be nice to be at a wedding of another two mares. Those aren't as common as stallion and mare ones."

Lofty huffed at that. "Two stallions is still rarer, but she's not wrong." She raised her brows. "It isn't even that stallions that swing that way are rarer. They just get married less often. Funny thing..."

Joanamac thought about that. Why would that be? She was outside the home with the door closed. When did that happen? "Oh." Well, she had other things to do than ponder the demographics of equestrian sexualities. She headed back off on other business at hoof.

Night came soon enough, and there still wasn't an Apple Bloom. "Ah'll send Blossom after 'em," she promises both Granny and Applejack. "Been in that town afore, so shouldn't be a problem."

Big Mac flopped in bed and closed her eyes. Sleep came swiftly for her, as if she were being pulled from the other side as much as she were gently pushing in from the other. Another pony was ready to be awake.

Blossom hopped to her feet. With a glowing horn, she got herself dressed swiftly. She pressed the button on her walkie-talkie. "Officer Orchard Blossom checkin' in. Ah'll be followin' a missin' filly case."

"Roger that."

There, she had checked in and told them what she was up to. She vanished, appearing beside a large arena that'd become home to a big event in a day or two. "Let's have a look..." She circled around it at a light walk, searching for any clues of the fillies' presence.

She didn't spot any foals, but she did see a pony standing there next to a cart. "'Xcuse me," she called, coming closer. "Have ya seen three fillies come through here, all together like?"

The pony looked up as Blossom approached. "Hm? Nope. Don't expect too many ponies 'sides the workers, like me." He pointed at himself. "The real fun starts tomorrow!"

Blossom considered with a soft hum. "Alright... If a pony were to come from Ponyville, 'bout how long would it take to get here?"

The worker sat up. "Huh... Ponyville... Yeah, 'Least a day, probably by train?" He pointed towards the nearest station. "Why? Foals go missing?!" He stood up, alarmed at the idea.

"Checkin' out a report." She pointed to her officer's badge. "You jus' let us know if three fillies wander past. Don't panic."

"Alright." The pony nodded swoftly. "If I see them, you'll be the next to know, um, or whoever's at the station at the time."

"That'll be more than fine 'nough." Blossom lifted on her wings to get a better view of the town and that station. She had some backtracking to do to try to find those fillies.

But that was her job, as a big sister, and an officer.

Author's Note

The comments are kinda quiet of late. Speak to me! Can you guess what episode this is about?