Monster In The Mirror

The sun rose over Ponyville, bringing light to a peaceful and quiet morning in the rural pony town. In a cloud house above the east side of town, a certain cyan pegasus rolled out of bed and walked out onto her patio, stretching her wings and letting the sun warm each and every feather. Rainbow Dash grinned and looked out upon the town as it slowly woke from it's slumber.

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and listened to the whistling wind, the chirping of the birds.... No, wait. Scratch that last one. The wind blowed, but the birds were silent.

Rainbow Dash found that odd. The birds are always chirping in the morning, especially on a Spring morning like this one.

Maybe Fluttershy will know. Rainbow Dash stretched her wings once more and took off towards the shy pegasus's cottage.

Rainbow Dash alighted onto the cottage's front step. Oddly, the animals here were quiet as well. Rainbow Dash pressed her muzzle up against the window. The cottage was dark.

She slowly backed up and opened the door. She called out into the gloom. "Hello? Shy? It's me, Rainbow Dash."

Silence.

Dash gulped. "Um... I'm coming in now."

Still nothing. This would normally be the time when a certain white bunny would throw a carrot at her or something. The lack of said carrot throwing made Rainbow all the more unnerved.

Rainbow Dash slowly groped around the walls with her front hooves until she felt something that gave her relief. A light switch. After flicking the switch and casting out the gloom, Dash finally got a sense of the disarray the cottage was in. Feed sacks were torn and spilt out on the floor, a couple vases were broken, and a picture frame was smashed.

After checking the kitchen, basement, and living room, only to find the same destruction, lack of animals and butter-colored pegasi, Rainbow Dash flicked a switch near the stairwell and ascended to the second floor. After checking both Fluttershy's bedroom and the guest bedroom, she finally opened the door to the bathroom.

It was fine. No damage whatsoever. Rainbow Dash looked around.

She stopped and asked herself What's wrong with this picture?

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy knew each other inside and out. If there was a single thing out of place, she would find it. Starting near the bathtub. Rainbow found some lavender and jasmine candles, Fluttershy's favorite when taking a bath, recently lit.

Okay, so she was taking a bath. That's a start.

Moving over to the bathtub, in it were tiny drops of condensation lining it's walls, confirming her bath theory.

Okay, Dash, what does Fluttershy always do after her bath?

Rainbow Dash turns to the mirror, a hair brush sitting on it's edge.

.... She brushes her mane, Rainbow thought with a smile at her own deduction.

Rainbow Dash looks over the sink, taking note that the steam had long since evaporated, showing that the bath was not taken anytime this morning. Rainbow Dash looked in the mirror, and she saw that the window was open. She turned around to close the window..... to see it is already shut. She looked back to the window's reflection in the mirror, to see that the window is open..

Okay, how in Celestia's name does that work? Rainbow Dash walked downstairs and flew out the door, towards the library.

Maybe Twilight would know the answer.

A/N: Sorry for having such short chapters. I've been busy with other things. The next chapter will follow Angel Bunny and reveal what happened the night before Rainbow Dash started looking.