Fair Exchange is No Robbery

Chapters

Harmless Sleepovers
The Rain
First Clues
Getting it Together
Marching Forward
Bumps in the Night
Pieces of the Puzzle
Into the Everfree

Harmless Sleepovers

It was a beautiful sunny day in Ponyville. Life was going as it had always been, and the familiar shape of Carousel Boutique came into view.

“Sweetie Belle! If you don’t hurry up you’re going to be late for your sleepover at Sugarcube Corner!” Rarity called to her younger sister.

“I’m coming sis!” The young filly called back, trotting into the room.

“Now I want you to have fun with Pinkie Pie and the other crusaders, alright?” Rarity said warmly to her sister, “And remember that I want you back home before noon tomorrow.”

“Yes Rarity, I promise!” Sweetie Belle called back as she galloped out the door. Rarity stared after her little sister as she left, smiling softly and closing the door behind her. She only had a little more work to do for the day.

It had gotten into the evening by the time Rarity finished her work for the day. She let out a sigh of relief when there was a knock at her door. She walked over and opened the door to see her good friend Fluttershy standing there.

“Why hello there, Fluttershy!” The white unicorn said to her friend.

“Oh, um, hello Rarity,” Fluttershy meekly responded, “I just came by to get you for our weekly trip to the spa.”

“Oh why yes of course dear,” Rarity replied, closing the door behind her as she stepped outside. “I had nearly forgotten about it, I’ve been so busy with orders lately.”

Fluttershy looked down. “Oh...Well, you don’t have to come if you’re too busy...”

“Oh no no no!” Rarity said with a smile, “I will always make time for my favorite pegasus.” The shy winged mare blushed and smiled softly, “Well, shall we go?” The unicorn looked back at her friend. Fluttershy nodded and they walked together to the spa.

The two mares arrived at their favorite spa, and of course ordered their usual treatment. They both carried on light conversation as they got massages and their hooves filed. Talking about the animals Fluttershy helped during the day, and all of the work Rarity has been doing for her clients as of late. It was a casual exchange between the two as was usually the case when they came here together. Their conversation had died down by the time they had their face masks applied, Rarity’s face covered in the green mudlike substance, while Fluttershy just required two little circles on either cheek. It wasn’t until they stepped into the warm bath when their conversation picked up again.

“So Rarity, what are your plans for tonight?” Fluttershy asked, sinking slowly into the warm water.

“I’m not quite sure yet.” Rarity responded, “I will most likely read for a while and then go to bed as I always do.”

Fluttershy’s ears perked up, a sudden burst of boldness coming over her. “Would you,um, like to maybe...” Her voice trailed off in a mumble.

“I’m sorry dear, what was that?” The unicorn asked. She heard more mumbling from the pegasus again. “Fluttershy, you must speak louder!”

“Would you like to...um, go back to your house after this and maybe I could spend the night tonight?” Fluttershy asked, looking away shyly. The wave of courage had already passed.

Rarity giggled at the yellow pegasus’s shyness. “Why that sounds like a lovely idea to me.” She smiled. Fluttershy returned a soft smile of her own, and the two of them soon exited the bath and dried off. Sweetie Belle was gone for the night, and they headed back to Carousel Boutique in the late evening sunlight.

It wasn’t a long walk, they were back in Carousel Boutique as the last glimmer of sunlight passed over Equestria. They immediately began discussing the things they could do.

“What do you say you try on some of my dresses, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked with excitement.

“Well, um, I don’t know Rarity,” the pegasus softly responded, “ I’m sure you would look much better in them than I would.”

“Well now that is just nonsense Fluttershy, I just know you’ll look beautiful. Now let’s pick something out.” Without giving Fluttershy another chance to object, Rarity began sifting through her closet filled with various dresses she had made. She looked through her dresses for at least a good ten minutes before she finally decided on something. “There we are, you will look positively splendid in this dress!” Rarity exclaimed brightly. She helped Fluttershy, shyly accepting her fate, into the dress.

After Rarity finished dressing the timid pegasus, she started to braid parts of her mane. She lifted Fluttershy’s mane into a bun and tied it back with the braid, leaving strands of curled bangs on either side of her delicate face. Sure enough, Fluttershy looked absolutely beautiful in the dress Rarity picked out. The blouse was a warm and soft green color, with small dark green gems lined along the sleeves and collar. The dress itself was long, white cotton with an ivory tint to it. Fluttershy’s mane was styled in a way that complimented her outfit wonderfully. It was a sight to see.

“See, Fluttershy?” said Rarity. “You look stunning, just like I knew you would.”

The pegasus blushed at this and smiled softly. “Th-thank you very much Rarity, this dress is so beautiful.

“Oh you don’t need to thank me at all dear,” Rarity smiled, “ I want you to keep that dress, alright? A gift from me to you.” Ignoring Fluttershy’s modesty, the unicorn helped her dear friend out of her new dress. She folded it nice and neatly and put it up for Fluttershy to take home tomorrow. It was a wonderful night so far. Afterwards, the two ponies spent time sewing and sharing tips with each other about it, cooking a late night dinner, and finally getting nice and cozy in bed. They talked late into the night before Fluttershy fell asleep against Rarity, who in a rare event, held the pegasus gently. The white unicorn thought to herself, there’s something about her that is just so adorable you can’t ignore it..., She too, eventually fell asleep, still holding the kind pegasus in her hooves.

The two ponies slept late into the morning, not waking until after ten o’ clock. Fluttershy awoke first, noticing Rarity holding her. She smiled softly and continued to lay in bed with her. Rarity woke soon after, looking down to meet Fluttershy’s eyes, who then blushed softly. The unicorn smiled, and stayed in bed a little longer before releasing Fluttershy and getting out of bed. She left the room, the pegasus following, and checked the time. Sweetied Belle should be home soon. “I certainly hope Sweetie Belle had a good time at Sugarcube Corner,” Rarity said as she entered the bathroom.

“Oh I’m sure she did Rarity, Pinkie Pie is always a lot of fun to be around,” Fluttershy responded.

The unicorn smiled for a moment. “You’re right, I’m sure she had a great time.” She turned on the bath water, preparing a back. “There’s room for two if you’d like,” Rarity called out to the other mare.

“Oh, no thank you Rarity,” Fluttershy replied, “I’ll bathe at home, I need to back to my cottage to take care of the animals.”

“Well if you insist,” Rarity said as she walked out of the bathroom. She boldly kissed the pegasus on the cheek, igniting a bright blush in Fluttershy’s face. “Let’s do this again real soon...okay?” She hugged her friend closely.

“D-definitely.” Fluttershy shyly agreed. She let herself out, Rarity waving a hoof good bye and closing the door. She turned and walked back into the bathroom, stepping into the warm water and wetting her coat and mane down. She let herself soak in the water for a while before washing her mane and tail.

She took her time washing the shampoo and conditioner out of her mane and tail, then washing her coat and hooves. She relaxed in the bath a little longer and then got out and dried herself, wrapping a towel around her mane. She used her magic to dry her tail with a hair drier and curl it with a curling iron. After perfecting her signature style on her tail, she applied the same technique to her mane, giving it the same beautiful curls. She fixed up her eyelashes and put on the light blue eyeshadow she lobed so much, and smiled to herself in the mirror. “Why Rarity, you look simply divine today,” She giggled to herself softly and exited the bathroom. Sweetie Belle should be on her way home.

The Rain

It was past noon, and Sweetie Belle wasn’t home yet. Rarity was only a little worried, and kept herself occupied by organizing her various colors of fabrics and thread spools. her room was quite messy; and she needed to tidy it up. She folded her fabrics up nice and neatly, ordering them by their base colors. All the blues, reds, violets, and all of the other colors were stacked up where they would be out of the way, but easily accessible. While taking a short break, she took a glance out of her second story window. Clouds were creeping into Ponyville. The sky was covered with grey clouds, with darker ones slowly moving in behind. A thunderstorm was brewing. “Seems the pegasi have something big planned,” The unicorn muttered to herself, “Oh Sweetie Belle, where are you?”

It was getting later in the afternoon, the sky over Ponyville was getting darker as the storm clouds moved in. Panic was starting to set in on Rarity. She didn’t need to worry, Sweetie Belle will turn up, right?

Too much time had passed, Rarity could no longer wait for Sweetie Belle to return home. She had to go look for her. Not wasting any time, she rushed out into the gloomy streets of Ponyville.

Rarity trotted through Ponyville at a brisk pace, scanning the town for signs of her little sister. She was heading to Sugarcube Corner, to talk to Pinkie Pie about what might have happened to Sweetie Belle. The density of the air signified that the rain would begin falling soon. Rarity had to hurry. Without noticing, she passed her good friend Twilight Sparkle. Twilight meant to greet her, but the white unicorn rushed past her. The lavender mare watched as her friend hurried down the street, a worried look coming across Twilight’s face.

Finally, Rarity made it to Sugarcube Corner. She quickly tapped on the door with her hoof and waited impatiently for the pink party pony to answer. A minute passed, and then the door opened. “Oh, um, hi Rarity!” Pinkie Pie greeted her friend. How strange. The tone of voice she used to greet her was odd for Pinkie. The kind that would make a pony suspicious. “So uh, what brings you here today?” The Earth Pony gave a worried fake smile.

Rarity gave Pinkie Pie a suspicious glance. “Why else would I be here, Pinkie? Sweetie Belle never came home today, and she was here overnight. Where is she?”

“I, uh, she...” Pinkie Pie paused nervously. “She left to go back home of course!” Pinkie Pie shifted uncomfortably, sweat visible on her brow. It was obvious that something wasn’t right. “Now I uh, have to go. Bye!” She slammed the door in Rarity’s face. There was something Pinkie wasn’t telling her.

The panic was rising inside of Rarity, she had no idea where Sweetie Belle could possibly be. All she could do is keep searching for her. She couldn’t ask Applebloom or Scootaloo if they knew anything. Applebloom was with the rest of her family in Trottingham for another Apple family reunion, and Scootaloo left with Rainbow Dash on a trip to Cloudsdale. She was on her own. She began by search every nook and cranny in Ponyville, and asking anypony she could if they had seen her sister. She had no success, so she instead continued towards the outskirts of town, coming very close to the edge of...(Pause for dramatic effect) the Everfree Forest. Rarity called out Sweetie Belle’s name as loud as she could, but was given silence in response. The white mare feared the worse for her sweet little sister. She sat down on her hind legs as tears began to take form in her eyes. Her eye makeup had started to become diluted from tear as she cried. Suddenly, the rain began to fall. Slowly at first, then faster. Rarity’s mane and tail were getting wet, the beautiful curls getting ruined, and falling straight. She didn’t care, she just continued crying.

Eventually, she had been able to regain control of herself again. Her mane and tail were soaked, laying straight against her coat. Her makeup had run down her face with her tears. What could she do now? Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be found. Perhaps she could go and seek Fluttershy’s comfort. Her cottage wasn’t far from here. She stood up, a little shaky from her crying, but otherwise fine. She slowly walked in the direction of the cozy cottage, her head hanging, and her expression that of depression and defeat. She had lost her dear sister.

Rarity’s hooves were getting muddy. It didn’t bother her. She simply kept walking as the rain continued to fall. She would arrive at Fluttershy’s cottage soon, and hopefully gain some advice and comfort from the pegasus she liked. It was true, Rarity had a crush on Fluttershy for quite some time now, but there was no time to dwell on that. Fluttershy’s cottage slowly came into view, and the defeated unicorn slowly trotted up to it. Before she got to the door however, Angel hopped outside through the little hole in the door made for the pegasus’s animals, and motioned for Rarity’s attention.

“Huh? Angel, what is it?” Rarity asked softly. Angel pointed toward the window, telling the mare to look inside. She hesitantly walked up to the window, carefully peering inside. Her heart sank as it broke in two. There, before her eyes, was Fluttershy. Not alone was she however, she was with Pinkie Pie. She was nuzzling up against the pegasus. Rarity couldn’t believe what she was seeing, she blinked back fresh tears and looked back towards Angel. “Thank you Angel I...I’ll just be on my way.” She turned and walked away in the direction that will lead back into Ponyville. Angel watched her go with sympathy in his eyes.

Rarity was utterly lost, she didn’t know who else to go to, it seemed she was on her own on her quest to find her missing sister. She was on her way back into Ponyville now, walking slowly down the stone path that led to Fluttershy’s cottage in the opposite direction. She could see the small quaint village somewhat in the distance through the heavy rain. She would probably catch a cold out here. Oh well. It didn’t matter to Rarity right now. She supposed she was just heading back to Carousel Boutique, but she didn’t know how that would help her get any closer to finding Sweetie Belle. The unicorn passed the sign that read: “Welcome to Ponyville!” written on it to welcome...Fluttershy? She was the only pony who lived in that direction, and there are hardly any travellers who would venture through the Everfree Forest to get to Ponyville. Either way, Rarity just continued walking, as the comfortable designs of the various buildings of Ponyville began appearing to her right and left. She passed by Twilight’s library, who saw her from her second story window. Twilight came rushing out to meet her fellow unicorn friend.

“Rarity?! What are you doing out here in this heavy rain?” Twilight asked worriedly. For the moment the lavender mare didn’t care too much about her own mane, and focused on Rarity.

“Oh...I’m uh...Just taking a walk I suppose..” Rarity blankly responded. Twilight could easily tell something was wrong the moment she saw her out her window. She frowned at her distraught friend, and gave her a soft nudge towards her library home.

“Rarity...Come inside with me, please. You need to warm up and dry yourself off before you catch a cold out here.

“But I...Well alright Twilight, if you insist..” Rarity turned and walked toward the door to Twilight’s library as her friend followed her inside.

Twilight closed the door behind her, and draped a soft blanket over her friend, who only had a blank and depressed expression on her face. Twilight put a blanket over herself as well, and sat down in front of Rarity, giving her a stern expression of concern.

“Alright Rarity, I’m terribly worried about you, you must tell me what’s the matter. Please, maybe I can help you.” Twilight gave her distressed friend a reassuring look, but it didn’t seem to affect her that much.

“I...” Rarity suddenly broke own into an uncontrollable sob. Twilight stared in shock for a moment, before quickly pulling Rarity into a tight but caring embrace, allowing her to just let her feelings out. She had no idea what had caused Rarity to get like this, but this rarely happens, so something really bad must have happened.

After a few minutes the white unicorn began to calm down a little, Twilight rubbed her back softly with her hoof and waited until she was ready to speak. “It’s alright Rarity, I’m here for you. Just let it out.” She comforted her dear friend as best as she could.

“Th-thank you so much Twilight...I’m..I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.” Twilight let go of Rarity and she wiped her eyes of her tears and took a deep breath. “I know you’re probably very confused as to what’s wrong, so please allow me to confide in you for help...I need somepony’s help.”

The smart unicorn gave Rarity a soft smile. “Of course Rarity, whatever is wrong I promise I will help you in any way I can.”

First Clues

(A/N: The “~~~” in between portions of the story indicates character point of view changes, i.e. from Rarity changing to Twilight.)

Twilight listened intently as Rarity retold the events of the past day, Spike sitting next to the white unicorn. He had that genuine expression of concern, most common with any creature as young as he would express. Once Rarity had finished her story, Spike and Twilight helped her at last calm down.

“I really couldn’t thank you two enough for offering your help to me.” A very subtle smile crept onto the distraught mare’s face as she hugged them both each with a forehoof.

Twilight smiled reassuringly to her unicorn friend. “You don’t have to thank us, we’re just doing our jobs as your friends. Now, why don’t you head upstairs and rest for a bit, I’m going to go out into town and start searching for clues. We will find her Rarity, I promise.”

“Oh but Twilight! I simply could not allow you to do all of this for me and-” She was cut off as a lavender coated hoof was pressed gently over her muzzle.

“Rarity, you’ve been out searching in the rain all day, now it’s my turn to get out there and look around.”

Despite feeling drained of her emotions, Rarity was smiling with fresh tears welling up in her tired eyes. “Thank you...I don’t know what to say...But thank you so much.” She pulled Twilight into a tight embrace, then slowly walked to the stairs. An hour ago, things were looking very bleak. Now however, she had hope once more. She went up the stairs. She would rest, but not for long. She had to help Twilight. She had to get Sweetie Belle back.

~~~

Once Rarity went upstairs to rest, Twilight sat down and pondered for a moment where she should begin. She face hoofed as the obvious answer presented itself.

“Okay, so I should start by heading over to Sugarcube Corner. Alright Spike, I need you to head into my office and grab my saddle bag for me. It’s time for some detective work!”

Twilight began gathering all of the tools she would need. She grabbed a magnifying glass, small bags for any evidence; typical things needed in order to find any sort of clue that could lead to Sweetie Belle’s whereabouts. Spike returned quickly and put the saddle bag on the unicorn. She then placed her supplies in the bag with her magic.

Spike jumped onto Twilight’s back and pointed at the door in dramatic fashion. “Ready to go! Hi-ho Twilight!” he shouted.

The unicorn smiled and rolled her eyes as she levitated him off of her back. “Sorry Spike, but I want you to stay here and keep an eye on Rarity.”

Spike frowned. “Are you sure Twilight?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine, and I won’t take long. Just make sure she stays here. Can my number one assistant handle that?”

Spike beamed with pride at the compliment. “You bet I can! No sweat!”

Twilight giggled at her little dragon friend. “Good, I’m glad to hear it. Now it’s time for me to get started! I’ll be back as soon as I can. Take care of Rarity.”

She pulled the door to her library home open and stepped out into a rainy Ponyville. She was determined to help Rarity find Sweetie Belle.

~~~

Fluttershy, hushed Pinkie Pie softly, holding her and rubbing her back with a hoof. once Pinkie’s sobbing died down, she let go and looked her in the eyes.

“Now, do you think you can tell me what’s the matter now?” Fluttershy asked in a comforting tone.

Pinkie Pie nodded slowly. “Yeah...I think I’ll be okay now.”

“Alright, now tell me, what in Equestria happened last night? You mentioned something about the little Crusaders and then you broke down. Did something happen to them?”

“Well yeah...In a sense...” The pink pony looked down, her ears drooping.

“Well then...What happened?” Fluttershy gently pressed.

“Well you see...Everything was fine last night, we were all having tons of fun playing games and eating sweets. But by time morning came...Sweetie Belle was gone. I looked all over the place, but I couldn’t find her anywhere!” Pinkie touched her head with her hoof as if in disbelief.

“She...She just disappeared? But that doesn’t make any sense...Do you think she could have been...” Fluttershy gulped softly, “Do you think she was kidnapped?”

Pinkie’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh...Why didn’t I think of that? I didn’t even think that was a possibility. But there’s a problem with that...Who would want to kidnap anypony? Much less a sweet filly like Sweetie Belle? And why would they kidnap her?”

The cream yellow pegasus scratched her head. “ I don’t know...That’s a good question. Did you tell Rarity what happened?”

The party pony shot a glance downwards again, her ears drooping once more. “I...No, I didn’t. I’m not a very good friend am I?

“Oh dear...This is not good. Why didn’t you tell her?”

“I don’t know, I just...She came over to ask where she was. I wanted to tell the truth, but I was just so scared I involuntary lied to her. It was a very super duper bad lie at that. I’m sure it was totally obvious I wasn’t being honest with her..”

“Oh goodness, this isn’t good at all...We need to go tell her right now.” Fluttershy stood up and helped Pinkie stand as well.

“Yeah...yeah you’re right Fluttershy. Let’s go.

The two mares quickly exited the cozy environment of Fluttershy’s cottage and headed out into the rainy afternoon to Carousel Boutique.

~~~

The downpour of rain had soaked Twilight’s mane and coat. She knew she should have brought an umbrella. Her hooves were muddy too now. That wasn’t important at the moment though. She quickly trotted up the couple steps to the door of Sugarcube Corner. She knocked on the door. The store always did look similar to a giant gingerbread house, and certainly stood out in Ponyville. There was no answer, so she knocked a little louder this time.

“I wonder why nopony is answering? Isn’t Pinkie Pie or the Cakes here? Where could they be?” She knocked one more time, still receiving no answer. She turned and decided to head around the back of the store.

When Twilight got around to the opposite side of the confectionery store, she went ahead and tried knocking on the back door. She wasn’t expecting an answer, and didn’t get one. She walked over to a nearby tree to sort through her thoughts while shielding her a little from the rain that didn’t seem to want to let up.

“Considering the fact that no one is here is a little unsettling...” The lavender mare began to herself, “Sweetie Belle was here last night with Pinkie and the other Crusaders, so wouldn’t Pinkie still be here? Maybe she is involved in this somehow after all...”

Twilight continued to ponder on the possibilities of this when she noticed something in the mud nearby. Breaking her from her train of thought, she trotted over to it slowly, and examined it closely. She gave a slightly contorted face of confusion upon trying to discern what it was. It was a strange looking footprint that definitely did not come from any type of pony. It was...very strange looking. To her, it seemed like it was a larger than average...dog footprint? That didn’t make much sense to her, but she knew this was probably an important clue as to what happened to Rarity’s sister.

Once she was finished looking at the strange footprint, she looked around more to see if she could find anymore footprints that looked like it. Sure enough, she found several, that she began to follow. She stopped momentarily to analyze what she had found. Adding to the growing list of things that just didn’t seem to make sense, the footprints must have been made recently. The rain had only been falling for a few hours, so whoever made them must have been here not too long before Twilight. A bad feeling was forming in the pit of Twilight’s stomach. She began walking again, following the footprints and hoping that doing so would lead her to some answers on the mysterious situation surrounding her friend’s sister.

(A/N: I’m sorry for the very long delay, an unreliable friend of mine failed to edit like he said he would, so I went ahead and posted the chapter anyway. This chapter turned out shorter than I had hoped, but I think it is the best effort I’ve put forth yet. I am just a beginner, so I don’t expect my story to be very long or anything spectacular by any means. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it!)

Getting it Together

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy approached Rarity’s boutique, the rain pouring down harder than earlier. Fluttershy was wearing an umbrella saddle Rarity had made for her, although much more subtle and average, still beautiful. Pinkie was wearing her rainbow colored umbrella hat. That wouldn’t really do much for keeping the rain off anything other than her head, but Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pie. That’s as good an explanation as anypony would get. They reached the door and Fluttershy tapped on it with a hoof. They waiting a few moments, no response.

“Oh dear, I hope she didn’t go off to search for Sweetie Belle on her own.” Fluttershy said as she glanced back toward Ponyville. She checked to see if the front door was unlocked, oddly enough it was. “I’m going to go look around inside to see if she’s in there, you wait here just a minute okay?” Pinkie nodded and Fluttershy entered the boutique to search.

Pinkie turned around and glanced in the distance, watching the rain pour down somewhat absent-minded. Suddenly, she felt a combo coming on. Her tail twitched, her right hoof had a small spasm, and her nose wrinkled. That meant somepony she was close to was in danger! She took off in a full gallop to search for anything out of the ordinary, leaving Fluttershy at the boutique.

~~~

Fluttershy walked upstairs and into Rarity’s room to search for clues. The rest of her boutique was empty of anypony, and the darkened clouds outside added and eerie effect to the building. Or maybe Fluttershy was just overreacting. Entering Rarity’s room, the pegasus noticed three finished dresses. She assumed they were the orders the unicorn was working on when she stayed here with her last night. For a few seconds, Fluttershy stood still, remembering the past night with her close friend. She smiled fondly, and then snapped back to reality.

She needed to focus on the task at hoof. Not her romantic fantasies with Rarity. She took one more thorough look around her room. Seeing nothing of interest, she exited and went back downstairs to sweep the first floor one last time. She looked over to Rarity’s dress closet, the one where the unicorn retrieved the pegasus’s new dress. Something told her she should look inside, something told her there was something inside that would give her a clue. She walked over to the door cautiously, and slowly pulled it open, peering inside.

She took a few steps in, looking around carefully but not seeing anything out of the ordinary. She delicately pushed some dresses out of the way and looked for anything strange on the walls or floor. She saw nothing. She began to doubt her instinct was something to follow. Then something caught her eye. It was the floor door that led into the boutique’s crawlspace.

Fluttershy gulped softly. She knew she needed to check inside for clues, but she was afraid of what she might find down there. It took her several minutes to calm herself down, and longer to finally work up the courage to pull the door open. She slowly lowered her head and gripped the handle with her teeth and pulled the door open.

It was dark inside. Very dark. Fluttershy shuddered, gulping again. She carefully lowered herself into the crawlspace. She’d just take a quick look and get out. Everything would be okay, right? Finally able to open her eyes, the yellow mare glanced around the crawlspace for any clues. What she saw made her gasp. There was a decent sized hole in the side of the boutique, enough for at least an averaged size pony to fit through. Somepony, or something, could easily have slipped in and came through the door to the crawl space into the boutique.

Fluttershy climbed out of the crawlspace and closed the door again. She quickly trotted outside to tell Pinkie Pie what she found, to realize that she was no longer there. She looked around for any trace of her, and saw muddy hoofprints leading back in the direction of Ponyville. Why was Pinkie acting so strange? Surely she had nothing to Sweetie Belle’s disappearance...Right? Fluttershy had no choice but to chase after the hoofprints in the hopes of finding the pink pony.

~~~

Twilight was examining the edge of the Everfree Forest very carefully for any more of the strange footprints she followed from Sugarcube Corner. She discovered that the direction the prints were going was toward the Everfree, which didn’t settle well with the studious unicorn. Anything that involved the mysterious and creepy forest was never a good thing by any means. She decided to refrain from entering the forest alone, and continued scouring the edge for more footprints instead.

Finding no further evidence of footprints into the forest, Twilight felt it best to turn and head back to the library and tell Rarity what she found. If they really needed to travel into the Everfree Forest, she would much rather come with a group rather than alone. Turning and beginning to walk away, she heard movement in the brush behind her. She turned and looked, but found nothing. She began trotting at a faster pace, getting uncomfortable with the noises behind her. Somepony, or something for that matter, was chasing her. She could hear whoever it was moving behind her. She turned to face her pursuer.

“Who are you and why are you-” She was cut off as she was struck across the face, knocking her out cold some ways away from the Everfree, and left there.

~~~

Rarity slowly stirred awake in Twilight’s bed. She groaned softly as she sat up and stretched a little. She had no idea how long she had slept for, but she supposed it didn’t really matter too much. She slowly got up out of the bed, and crossed the room to Twilight’s mirror. She looked simply hideous, her mane was messy and ruffled from sleep, and it was no longer curled. It had been straightened and soaked in the heavy rain she was caught in. She decided to brush it a little, and make herself at least a little presentable. Levitating the brush with her magic she brushed the tangles from her hair,leaving it look like she at least styled her hair in that manner. Finishing her mane brushing, she set the brush down, and sat down on her haunches. Her thoughts returned to Sweetie Belle once more.

She sighed softly, more able to control her emotions after her breakdown earlier. She raised a hoof and rubbed her forehead slowly, keeping herself under control. She heard a knock at the door. “Come in.” She spoke plainly.

The door opened and Spike entered the room. “Rarity? How are you feeling?”

The unicorn put on a soft smile. “I’m feeling a bit better Spike, thank you. Once I had some time to clear my mind and rest, thing got easier to bear. But no less horrible.” She looked down and let out another soft sigh. the baby dragon approached her and gave her a hug. She returned it. “I think I’ll be alright now,” she said, “Tell me, has Twilight returned yet?”

Spike looked toward the door. “No she hasn’t, I’m starting to get a little worried. She’s been gone for hours, and it’s getting dark out.”

Rarity rubbed her chin with her hoof. “Hmm, Spike, do you think we should go look for her?”

Spike looked down. “Well I uh...Yeah I do, but I don’t want to burden you any further. You already have a lot on your mind.

Rarity stood up and motioned for Spike to get on her back. “Come along Spike, we’re going to find her.”

The dragon hesitated. “But Rarity, are you sure you’re alright?”

“Spike, Twilight is doing a lot to help me, and I simply cannot rest easy without knowing she’s alright. This is my problem, and if something happened to her I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Now come on, we’re going.”

Spike crawled onto Rarity’s back, and she trotted down the stairs to the main floor of the library and opened the door. She wouldn’t let anything happen to one of her dear friends.

~~~

Pinkie Pie was frantically searching Ponyville for the source of her recent Pinkie Sense warning. She had no idea where to look, so she resolved to search everywhere until she found one of her friends. But what if it was Rainbow Dash or Applejack? Neither of them were in Ponyville right now, if they were in trouble Pinkie wouldn’t be able to help in time. She felt a little bad for leaving Fluttershy behind at Rarity’s place, but hopefully she would be able to catch up later. It was getting dark fast, so she had to hurry. It seemed there was nothing out of the ordinary in Ponyville, some ponies were coming out now since the rain had finally let up to a light drizzle. Maybe her friend in danger was somewhere on the outskirts of town?

“Where else would any of my friends be at this hour? The only place that I can think of near Ponyville is...Oh no, the Everfree Forest!” The pink pony broke into a full gallop, she had no time to waste. She startled a few ponies with her urgency to get to her destination, but she was nearing Fluttershy’s cottage quickly. Her cottage was only a few minutes away from the edge of the Everfree, so that was the best place to start looking.

She stopped in front of the cottage, trying to see anything nearby in the approaching darkness. It was getting harder to see, so she trotted out further into the field that was in between Fluttershy’s Cottage and the Everfree Forest. She was starting to get afraid that one of her friends had wandered into the Everfree alone. “None of my friends would be crazy enough to do that...Right?” Pinkie Pie practically tripped over Twilight’s unconscious body. She let out a loud gasp and kneeled down next to her unicorn friend. “Twilight! Twilight are you okay?!” She nudged the lavender mare, trying to wake her. Twilight groaned softly, and her eyes opened a little. “Twilight, are you okay? What happened?”

Twilight lifted her head up, and groaned again, shaking her head. She glanced up to see her friend with an extremely concerned face. “Pinkie? What...What are you doing here?”

Pinkie Pie gave her a stern look. “I could be asking you the same thing missy! What were you doing out here so close to the Everfree Forest?” She helped Twilight back up onto her hooves.

“I think it’d be best if we get away from here, let’s go back to the library. I’ll explain everything there.” Twilight began walking.

“Alright,” Pinkie replied as she began to follow, “But we need to go get Fluttershy first, I left her at Rarity’s boutique. She’s probably pretty upset that I left her there alone.”

“Okay, we’ll go back there and look- Oh, well that’s pretty convenient” She looked ahead up the path and saw Fluttershy making her way towards them, more likely back to her cottage. Twilight and Pinkie ran up to her.

“Fluttershy! I’m sorry I left you behind like that! My Pinkie Sense went off and told me a friend was in danger, so I had to go find the source! Pinkie Pie looked apologetically at Fluttershy, who in return offered a soft smile.

“It’s quite alright Pinkie, I’m just glad you’re okay. Anyway, what are you two doing out here this late?”

“I was looking for something out here...uhh, near the Everfree Forest. Pinkie found me unconscious out here. We were just on our way back to the library so I could explain what happened.” Twilight said.

Fluttershy gasped. “You were unconscious?! You’re okay right? Are you badly hurt?

“I’m fine Fluttershy, don’t worry. You can come with us if you want, I’ll explain everything once we’re safely inside.”

“Oh of course I’ll join you.”

Thus, the three mares walked together back to Twilight’s library to sort through the days events, unaware of the conflict soon to be headed their way.

Marching Forward

Rarity used her magic to open the door, and gasped when she saw three of her friends standing right outside the door.

“Good heavens, you three scared me nearly to death.” Rarity laid a hoof against her chest and let out a breath. When she met Pinkie Pie’s eyes, her own narrowed in suspicion. Perhaps soon she would be getting some answers as to what really has been going on. The three mares walked into the library, and Twilight shut the door behind them.

“Alright, now I’m sure we all have some sort of story to share that happened today, so let’s head upstairs and start discussing things. Spike, could you get some tea going for us?” Twilight asked as she led her friends upstairs.

The dragon gave her a salute. “Yes ma’am, right away!” he said as he hurried off to the kitchen.

Twilight motioned for Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy to all take a seat. “Alright, now let’s get any clues we might have onto the table, I’ll start first. Earlier today Rarity came to me to be consoled about her missing sister, which I did not have prior knowledge of. I did my best to comfort her and told her I would head out into town and search for clues. I spent a decent amount of time searching through Ponyville for anything that may have been important, but didn’t really find anything. Eventually I came to Sugarcube Corner, and I wanted to see if Pinkie Pie knew anything. No one answered, not even the Cakes, so I decided to head around back instead,”

Rarity again glanced suspiciously at Pinkie Pie. She knew where Pinkie was at the time. The pink pony was focusing more on Twilight, as she continued, “The back door, as I had already assumed, was locked, so I figured if I couldn’t do anything else I’d search around the vicinity of the store. At first I found nothing, and thought my trip there would end up being a bust. Then, I noticed something, something really out of place. I saw footprints being diluted in the mud. By diluted I mean that they must have been made before the rain hit, not recently. Keep in mind that I said footprints, not hoofprints. These were not made by anypony I know,” Now this really confused Rarity, and also disturbed her. Her initial suspicions pointed to Pinkie Pie, but now it would seem she had nothing to do with it. She would have to find out for sure, but she wanted to let Twilight finish her story first. “I examined them closely, but could not determine what could have made the footprints. I noticed more going into the distance, heading out of town. I began to follow them, see if they would lead me to anymore clues. Eventually they took me out to the edge of the Everfree Forest, where Pinkie found me unconscious, and then the footprints seemed to stop there. Right at the edge of the forest. I wanted to go into the forest to search, but as you would expect, going in there alone is extremely dangerous if you don’t know where you were going, and I wasn’t going to Zecora’s. I thought for a few moments on what I should do, and decided it would be best to go back to the library to tell Rarity what I had found. right as I began to do that, I thought I had heard something moving behind me. I looked back, but saw nothing near the forest. I kept moving, and eventually the sounds behind me continued, and I began to panic a little. Defensively, I turned around and demanded to know who or what was following me. I didn’t even get a chance to finish saying anything before I was knocked out cold, and that’s when you found me Pinkie. Any questions?”

Rarity took this moment to find out the truth. “Yes Twilight, I have a question for Pinkie. What exactly were those footprints leading from Sugarcube Corner, hmm? Would you like to explain to all of us what exactly happened last night?”

Pinkie understood where this was going. Rarity was obviously very suspicious of her, and for good reason. It was her responsibility to watch over Sweetie Belle and the other two young crusaders. This was inevitable, and she could only hope that Rarity would trust her words. “Well you see I... I really, honestly don’t know what happened. And Rarity, I know you might think I’m lying, but I hope you’ll trust me that I’m telling you the truth. Everything was going super duper awesome last night, the four of us were having so much fun together. Eventually we all got tired and went to sleep, and as for what happened after that, I... I don’t know..” Pinkie Pie stopped and looked down sadly, she could almost feel Rarity’s angry gaze burning into her. “When... When I woke up the next morning, Sweetie Belle was...gone. Applebloom and Scootaloo, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, and myself all searched frantically for her. We checked everywhere we could, but there was no sign of her. Eventually Applejack and Rainbow Dash came by and picked up the other two fillies, and then the Cakes left on a delivery to Canterlot. I was left there to watch the store and keep looking. That’s when you showed up Rarity. I couldn’t face you... I was too afraid to. I knew it was my fault for what happened, and I knew you would be suspicious of me. I panicked, and ended up slamming the door in your face. I understand if you don’t believe me, but I’m telling you the honest truth. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen... I’m sorry.” Finished with her side of the story, she turned away slowly. Fluttershy did her best to comfort the pink pony, but it wasn’t working too well. Then, Rarity spoke up.

“Pinkie I... I’m sorry, terribly, terribly sorry. I should not have been so suspicious of one of my best friends. I should have been more patient with you and let you explain things to me then, rather than snapping at you. Although at the time I was panicking over Sweetie Belle’s disappearance. I have not been a very good friend at all, and I hope you can accept my apology.” Pinkie looked up at this, and Rarity stood and wrapped a hoof around her, hugging the usually cheerful party pony. She eagerly returned the gesture, and smiled. The two released their grip, and sat back down. “Twilight, this has been a wonderful idea so far, it’s nice to finally have some answers. Fluttershy, do you have anything to add to our discussion?”

Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably, she knew the others would not like what she had to tell. “I... I definitely found something, something...very unsettling. I know you’ll all want to hear this, but none of you will like it.” Fluttershy took a breath, and began her tale. “Pinkie had came to my house earlier today to confess what happened the night before, and expressed her fears of telling Rarity,” Rarity froze in that moment. That is why she was at Fluttershy’s cottage? Rarity felt so much better at hearing this, as Fluttershy continued, “After she calmed down a bit, I suggested that we go over to Rarity’s boutique immediately, to tell her what happened. When we got there, there was no answer. I asked Pinkie to stay outside while I went in to see if she was there. I skimmed the downstairs for a minute, then went upstairs to Rarity’s bedroom. I searched there for a while, but I still didn’t find anything that may help. Later, when I went back downstairs, I glanced toward her dress closet. For some reason I felt like I should search in there. What I found was...really mysterious. Not to mention scary. There was nothing in the closet itself, but I noticed the door that led into the crawlspace of the boutique. As you can imagine, it was quite a scary thought, going down in there all alone...”

Fluttershy trailed off, while everypony listening did a facehoof. They should have expected the timid pegasus would be afraid of something. At any rate, Fluttershy continued, “So, after I worked up the courage to open the door and crawl in, that’s when I found something. At the other end of the crawlspace, there was a decent sized hole in the wall. About the size of an average pony at least, if not slightly bigger. Normally, none of us would think it much of a problem, but recent events would say otherwise. I thought, what if somepony, or something, was spying on Rarity and her sister? Waiting for the right moment to swoop in and kidnap one of them? The very thought was terrifying... So I got out quickly and left the boutique to find that Pinkie was nowhere in sight. One thing led to another, and here we are now...”

Her story finished, she allowed herself to trail off again. Twilight held a hoof to her chin as she sifted through all of the new information they had put together. It wasn’t much to go on, but they definitely had more knowledge than they did a few hours ago. The most disturbing piece of info, is the hole in Rarity’s crawlspace... What if somepony or something was spying on her and her sister? Maybe this whole ordeal with Sweetie Belle was a plan being developed for a long time? They could lose a lot of time if that were the case. Whoever, or whatever did this could already have her out of their reach. They had to act quickly, but what could they do? Is this enough clues to go on to start the search?

At any rate, it was getting quite late. Perhaps it was time to call it a night and send everypony home to get some shut eye. Twilight addressed everypony present, “Alright girls, I know we all want to solve this mystery as fast as possible, but it’s getting late and we should all get some sleep. No sense in trying to find her if we can barely keep our eyes open. Let’s meet here again tomorrow morning, and we’ll discuss where to go from there.”

At this, the three mares nodded in agreement, and stood up, stretching a little. “Yes Twilight, I do suppose you have a point there,” Rarity said, “I truly can’t thank you enough for helping me get through this, I think I’ll be okay to sleep at home tonight... After I seal up that hole of course..” The white unicorn shuddered at the thought.

Pinkie Pie nodded. “And as soon as I get back to Sugarcube Corner, I’ll look around for a bit longer to see if there could be any clues to be found.” The pink pony stood up, heading for the door. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, good night!” For once today, she almost sounded like her usual cheery self. Almost. She walked out the door of the library into the Equestrian evening.

Rarity was also on her way to the door as she spoke, “Truly Twilight, I honestly can never repay you for helping me. Who knows what would have happened if I never came here to ask for your help. Thank you so much. I’ll see you two tomorrow.”

She was halfway through the doorway when a certain yellow pegasus spoke up, “Um, Rarity? Would you like me to walk with you home? I can help you repair the hole in your crawl space too, if you want.”

Rarity smiled softly. “Why, yes Fluttershy. Yes, I would like that.” She stepped outside and waited as Fluttershy joined her.

Twilight followed was standing in the doorway. “You two be careful out there, alright? Whoever kidnapped Sweetie Belle knows we’re looking for her. Stay safe out there.”

The two mares nodded, and waved. Twilight closed the door, and they turned to walk down the street. “Twilight is right, we need to be more careful than we would ever need to be usually. Somehow I just know they’re watching us, making sure to stay one step ahead of us.” Rarity said as she looked down, seemingly deep in thought.

“Yes I agree, we’ll need to keep a sharp eye out from now on. I hope Pinkie will be alright alone, the Cakes should be home by now.” Fluttershy replied.

“Yes, I certainly hope so as well.” Rarity felt a cold chill down her spine. “Let’s get moving, I don’t feel safe being out here.” Those words sounded sad as she spoke them. To feel unsafe in her own hometown. She wished things could just go back to normal.

The two mares continued in silence for the rest of the walk to the boutique.

Bumps in the Night

After closing the library door, and promptly locking it, she let out a tired sigh. Today had been a very long day, for all of them. Yet Twilight still was unfinished. Should she write to Princess Celestia? Surely her help would make this whole problem much easier to solve. On the other hoof, Celestia was surely quite busy with something. Same with Princess Luna no doubt as well. Perhaps she could at least write to her mentor and ask for advice at the very least. If anything, that might help get her started on where to go from here. she sat down at her desk, and pulled out paper and a quill pen, dipping it into the ink.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I am writing to you this evening to discuss a tragedy that has occurred here in Ponyville. My dear friend Rarity, as you know as the Spirit of the Element of Generosity, has run into some serious trouble. Her little sister, Sweetie Belle, has mysteriously gone missing. Myself and other close friends have taken it upon ourselves to help Rarity find her sister. I was originally going to ask for your help, but considering you’re most likely busy, I only want to ask for advice. We have some clues to go on, but I just don’t know where we should turn from here. We have come to the conclusion that Sweetie Belle, was indeed fillynapped, by something that is not a pony. We know for sure of this because of footprints found outside of Sugarcube Corner, Sweetie Belle’s last known whereabouts. Also, we suspect the culprit was also spying on Rarity and her sister, through a hole in the crawlspace of Carousel Boutique. I have come to my own conclusion, that whatever we’re looking for, it’s located in the Everfree Forest. The footprints ended at the edge of the forest, and I was knocked unconscious when I got there. Perhaps something thought I was getting too close? At any rate, any sort of advice you may offer will be greatly appreciated. I await your response eagerly.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

Finished with her letter, she called out to a certain baby dragon. “Spike! Could you come here a moment?”

Twilight’s number one assistant wasted no time in arriving at the unicorn’s side. “Yes Twilight? what can I do for you?”

She didn’t realize how late it was, she was actually a little surprised Spike was still awake. “I’ve written a letter to the Princess, I need you to send it to her right away.” she levitated the letter into Spike’s claws.

“Yes ma’am, right away.” Spike took a deep breath, and blew the letter away in a small spout of majestic green flame. “It’s on it’s way!”

Twilight smiled. “Thank you Spike, now you go ahead and get some rest, it’s been a long day. I’ll be to bed soon as well once I record all the evidence we have gathered.”

After exchanging their goodnights, Spike went up to bed and Twilight lifted her quill and another piece of paper onto her desk. Once again dipping the quill into her ink, she began to record all of the events of the past day.

Owlowicious sat at attention while Twilight wrote with only the light of a small candle. A little reminiscent of the two’s first meeting, when she was writing a paper on the physics and anatomy of comets. Owlowicious was an owl that had once helped the unicorn retrieve the previously mentioned research paper when it blew out of one of the library’s windows on a chilly and windy evening. Soon after, he became her very own pet, and helper, when she stayed up into the late hours of Princess Luna’s night. The lavender mare allowed her thoughts to wander a bit while she worked on her task.

She hoped her friends had all gotten home alright. It certainly felt darker than usual tonight, and that unsettled the purple unicorn a bit.

“It is quite dark tonight, don’t you agree Owlowicious?”

“Hoo.” replied the owl, inciting a soft giggle from Twilight.

Her thoughts then went onto Rarity. She felt absolutely terrible that her sister had gone missing. Twilight practically jumped at the chance to offer her beautiful fellow unicorn friend help. She shook her head.

“Now now Twilight, focus.” she said to herself.

This was a very serious situation, involving the safety of a little filly. She couldn’t let her romantic feelings for Rarity get in the way of that. It was far more important to solve this mystery, and make sure young Sweetie Belle returned to Ponyville safely. There would be plenty of time after for her to gather her nerves to admit her feelings to Rarity. Right now the white unicorn needed all of their help. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and herself. She was determined to do her part.

She set her mind to finishing her paper, and then heading upstairs for long awaited rest.

~~~

Pinkie Pie was trotting at a brisk pace, in a bit of a hurry to get back to Sugarcube Corner. She had to admit, she was a little uncomfortable being outside at night. It seemed the town was no longer safe, after gathering all the clues they had. She wished she had stuck together with Fluttershy and Rarity, and left with them. She kept glancing nervously about. Even though the lanterns were lit along the road, to her it just seemed to make things more scary and unsettling. She also felt like she was being watched. That was the truly terrifying part.

She started to trot faster, not quite a full gallop, but on its way. She hoped to Celestia that the Cakes had returned, she did not want to spend the night alone in Sugarcube Corner. She heard rustling noises. Yes, she definitely heard them. Her heartbeat started escalating, she looked around in a panic. Something was following her, she knew it.

“W-who’s there?” she called out softly. No response of course. Sweat was forming on her forehead, her heartbeat now nearly racing. That’s it, she couldn’t take it. The pink pony broke into a full gallop. She had to get home, and fast.

The rustling just got more and more frequent as she galloped, was there more than one pursuer? That wasn’t important, she needed to get home. A tall, lumbering shadow stood a few paces in front of her. She managed to evade it, as it made a swipe for her tail. What about that was so familiar? Not important. Sugarcube Corner, that was important. She heard whatever that was giving chase, and tried to gallop faster. She was getting tired, but there was no time for that. She had to keep pushing forward. She had to get away.

“Oh, make it stop!” She said to herself. There! She could see it, Sugarcube Corner! It was so close! If she could just get inside and lock the door, she’d be safe.

Then something grabbed onto her flank.

Whatever it was, it dug its claws into the side of her flank, drawing a yelp of pain from Pinkie. In a split second reaction, she lifted her hind legs and bucked the hay out of the face of that monster. It released its grip, groaning in pain. With that, Pinkie promptly took off at full speed. Rainbow Dash would be proud if she saw how fast Pinkie was galloping.

Finally, she reached the door! She flung it open, and slammed it shut. She locked every lock available on the door, and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She started panting now, blood was dripping from the claw wounds in the side of her flank. She walked forward slowly, nearing the shop counter before collapsing, closing her eyes and trying to catch her breath.

~~~

Rarity and Fluttershy had arrived at Carousel Boutique. the two mares were examining the hole that led underneath the boutique that Fluttershy had found. It oddly felt darker tonight than usual, and the white unicorn was levitating a lantern to light the way.

“Well, I suppose we should head to my storage shed to see if I have any planks of wood we can use to repair this.” Rarity said as she continued examining the hole. “I simply cannot fathom how I hadn’t noticed this before.”

“Hmm, how often do you come around to the back of the boutique?” Fluttershy asked.

“You have a point. Not very often. In any case, please accompany me to the shed. This night is absolutely dreadful.” Fluttershy nodded and the two turned around and headed for the boutique’s storage shed.

Rarity’s ears twitched a little. She had thought she heard something in the distance. Was it a scream? “Fluttershy...Did you hear that?” She glanced over to the yellow pegasus, who was visibly shivering a little. She received a nod in response. Rarity glanced around nervously for a moment. Then, arriving at the shed, she sat the lantern down and used her magic to release the lock on the door. She then took a few steps inside, Fluttershy picking up the lantern by the handle in her mouth, and following.

“Let’s see...Planks of wood...Ah, here we are.” Rarity wrapped her magic around a few planks of wood, and a toolbox, promptly exiting with Fluttershy in tow. Locking the shed doors up once more, they returned to the hole in the boutique. The unicorn could see that Fluttershy was still shaken up over the mysterious scream they had both just heard, so she tried to repair the hole as fast as she could.

Finished and satisfied with her handy work, Rarity and Fluttershy quickly went around to the front of the store and went inside. Fluttershy set the lantern down and turned it off while Rarity stored the toolbox in a nearby closet.

Rarity approached one of her many mirrors, and once again glanced at herself. She had to admit, the straight mane look she had going on didn’t look so bad anymore. “You know Fluttershy, I could get used to this style of mane, what do you think?”

Fluttershy spoke in a soft voice. “ I think it’s...quite beautiful, Rarity.” She suddenly realized that she wasn’t looking at Rarity’s mane at all, but at Rarity herself. The timid pegasus quickly turned away, a bright blush on her face. “I uhh...Ahem.” She faked a few coughs.

Rarity smiled and shook her head. She would let it go for now. Perhaps it would be brought up later. Suddenly, her stomach grumbled and she realized, she hadn’t eaten anything since last night. “Fluttershy, would you like something to eat?”

Fluttershy nodded in response, and they headed into the unicorn’s kitchen. Rarity suddenly remembered the time Sweetie Belle tried unsuccessfully to prepare breakfast for her and their parents. Oh, how frustrated she had made the her. That week she was with her sister was very rough on both of them. Luckily with the help of Applejack, she had realized just how important her little sister was to her. She didn’t regret getting muddy during the Sisterhooves Social at all, she had gotten her sister back. Since then, their parents had been on an extensive vacation of seeing the world inside Equestria and out. It had been about five and half months since they left Sweetie Belle in her care. They occasionally wrote, but it was getting less and less frequent. She only assumed they were consumed by all of the sights and cultures they were experiencing. She felt a moment of spite for her parents. Rarity was more like a parent for Sweetie Belle than their parents ever were. She didn’t know whether or not she wanted her little sister to return to living with their parents. She wanted her to be cared for, not neglected. Sure she could come visit Rarity whenever she wished, but she needed a parental figure in her life, somepony to look up to. Their parents just didn’t offer enough of that. Finally stepping out of her reverie, the unicorn glanced over at Fluttershy, who gave her a worried look.

“Rarity, are you alright?” The pegasus asked softly.

“Yes, I’m alright. Just...memories.” She received a gentle nuzzle from Fluttershy, which she returned. They stayed like that for a few moments before finally parting. Rarity was now more determined than ever to rescue her dear little sister.

Rarity prepared a couple sandwiches made of some daisies and lilies, and the two shared a quiet late night dinner. The two then headed upstairs to get some long awaited sleep, the distant scream that was heard now a faraway thought.

~~~

Mrs. Cake exited her upstairs bedroom and went downstairs after hearing the door slam shut. She gasped to see Pinkie Pie laying on the floor of the sweet shop.

“Pinkie, are you okay?! She said as she quickly trotted over to the injured earth pony. Mrs. Cake was a middle aged mare with a blue coat, and a swirly pink mane with mixed red colors. Her cutie mark was a set of cupcakes, signifying her expertise in baking and selling sweets.

After a few short breaths, the pink pony responded, “There was... Something that was chasing me, chased me all the way back here, and then... It stopped. It didn’t try to break in or anything. I know this probably sounds crazy to you Mrs. Cake, but it was really big. Not hydra big, but definitely bigger than a pony.” Pinkie shakily brought herself back up on her hooves, revealing to the blue mare the wound on her flank.

Mrs. Cake let out another gasp, approaching Pinkie and examining the wound a little. “What... What happened to you?”

“I told you, something chased me, tried to attack me. Maybe even kill me. It only managed to do that before I finally got away.” Pinkie repeated as she used her head to motion to the wound.

Mrs. Cake frowned. “We really should get you to the hospital to get those cuts checked out-”

“No! No, we will not go back outside tonight!” the pink party pony shouted. “I won’t leave this place until Celestia raises the sun in the morning.”

For once in who knows how long, Pinkie actually looked genuinely frightened. Mrs. Cake stood thoughtfully for a moment, then nodded. “Alright Pinkie, I won’t make you go back out there tonight. But you should at least let me bandage you up a bit so the wound doesn’t have time to get infected. Then I’ll get Carrot up and you can tell us all about what happened.

Pinkie Pie nodded slowly, and then her motherly caretaker bandaged up her wound. Afterwards, Mrs. Cake went back upstairs to wake Mr. Carrot Cake.

A/N: I am only including the descriptions of characters like Mrs. Cake and Owlowicious because I am also writing this as a novel in my Creative Writing course, and it would help non pony lovers get the image of the characters in their heads. Much easier to write for you guys than them, seeing as you know all the scenery and characters very well. ;) Anyways, I hope you don’t mind those little details. Enjoy!

Pieces of the Puzzle

It was a bright and beautiful afternoon in Ponyville today. Most residents of the quaint town had a smile on their face, and today was just a perfect day.

Rarity thought it a wonderful day for a picnic, and so she did just that. She approached her young little sister. “Sweetie Belle, what would you say to going out and enjoying a picnic today?”

Rarity smiled as her sisters face lit up. “That sounds like a great idea Rarity! Can I help make the food?”

The elder unicorn put on the most convincing fake smile she ever wore. “Well I uh... How about you go and gather all of the things we’ll need while I take care of all the food preparation?” She hoped her sister would buy this excuse.

The little white filly nodded enthusiastically. “Yes ma’am! Right away ma’am!” She hurried off to begin her mission, leaving Rarity, who let out a relieved sigh. She remembered all too well what happened last time her little sister tried to cook. She moved into the kitchen to begin preparing the food.

Once everything was finished, and Sweetie Belle with the picnic basket, Rarity organized everything nice and neatly inside. The plates stacked together, the cloth folded on top, and the food perfectly organized, as was always her style. Using her magic, she levitated the basket and off they went into the beautiful day to have a sisterly picnic.

“Sweetie Belle, what do you think of this spot?” Rarity asked as she pointed to a nice partially shaded area. There were two trees spaced apart from one another, providing the comfortable amount of shade. Not too much, not too little.

“It’s perfect Rarity! Let’s set up here!” And so they did. Rarity laid out everything, cloth first, plates, and then the food. The two sisters then sat down to enjoy lunch on this gorgeous day.

After eating, and cleaning things up, the two sisters laid there together, enjoying the light breeze and chirping of nearby birds. Rarity hoped this perfect day would never end. “The weather today is simply divine. Don’t you think so Sweetie?” She looked over to her sister, and smiled.

“Oh yes, absolutely Rarity.” Sweetie Belle replied. the two drifted off into a comfortable silence, simply taking in the nice weather. Rarity was so glad to be able to spend time with her sister, especially on such a beautiful day like this one. She didn’t want anything to come and ruin this day for them. It was just too perfect. And then, suddenly, it was dark. Pitch black all around them. All they could see were the trees, and the cloth in which they were laying on. They could see no further in the distance. they both looked around in panicked confusion. “R-Rarity...? What’s going on?” Sweetie Belle asked, her voice shaking a little in fear.

“I...I don’t know. Come, get close to me.” She motioned for her sister, who got up to walk over. Suddenly, a long large arm, with claws, reached out and grabbed Sweetie Belle.

She let out a sharp scream. “Rarity! Help me!” The arm began to drag her away, into the darkness.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity yelled, immediately pulling with her magic, frantically trying to pry her sister from the arm’s grip. But the arm was much too strong, and with a final fright filled scream, Sweetie Belle was dragged away.

Rarity was left all alone on the picnic cloth. she looked around one more time. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. Her sister, gone. Lost in this endless darkness, and Rarity couldn’t do anything to save her. She laid down once more, and cried into her hooves.

Rarity snapped awake. It had only been a dream. No, not a dream. A nightmare. She had been sweating, and she was panting softly. “Just a dream...” She whispered to herself. But that still didn’t stop the tears forming in her eyes.

~~~

Twilight was rudely awoken by Spike that morning. He was shaking her and yelling for her to wake up. The little purple dragon was a persistent one, that’s for sure. She finally managed to sit up, and she rubbed her eyes with her hooves. “Goodness Spike...What are you yelling about?”

“Nurse Redheart just came by!” Spike said.

“Yeah? So...?”

“She told me that Pinkie Pie arrived at the hospital today! She got a nasty wound on her flank.”

Twilight’s eyes widened a little. “What? What happened? Did she say?” When Spike shook his head, the purple unicorn immediately got out of bed. she quickly brushed her bed head mane, and lifted the baby dragon onto her back with her magic. “We need to hurry and get to Ponyville Hospital.” And with that, the duo quickly headed downstairs and out the door of the library.

On their way to the hospital, they passed Sugarcube Corner. Twilight walked up to the door and peaked in. Mr. Cake was manning the counter this morning. He was slender stallion with a yellow coat, a sharp jaw and and orange mane and tail.

“Why hello there Twilight.” Mr. Cake said. “What brings you here today?”

“Well, Nurse Redheart came by this morning and told me that Pinkie PIe arrived at the hospital this morning. Do you know what happened to her?”

“She told myself and Mrs. Cake that something attacked her last night when she was on her way back here.” Twilight’s eyes widened at this, what in Equestria was going on? She had to get to the bottom of this. “If you want the full story, you should go see her at the hospital. I feel like this incident may be related to Sweetie Belle’s disappearance as well.”

The unicorn nodded. “Yes, I agree. I was just on my way to the hospital to get the whole story from her. I better hurry over there, take care Mr. Cake” She waved a hoof, and Mr. Cake returned the gesture. She continued on at a quick trot to get to the hospital.

~~~

Mrs. Cake waited in the waiting room, trying to be as patient as possible while the doctors examined Pinkie’s wound. They had left for the hospital as soon as the morning sun was brought up by Celestia. She didn’t think her wound was too bad, but you couldn’t be too careful. The baker mare was still rather disturbed by Pinkie’s story from last night. What in Equestria could have done such a thing to her? Especially in such a peaceful place like Ponyville? Then again, recent events have proved that the quaint town wasn’t as safe as everypony thought it to be. Mrs. Cake shuddered, she couldn’t help but feel responsible, at least in some part, with Sweetie Belle’s disappearance. She knew Pinkie and Carrot also felt guilt for it as well. Particularly Pinkie Pie. No doubt she is doing her very best to help Rarity find her missing sister. Pinkie may not be the most normal mare in the world, not by a long shot in fact, but Mrs. Cake couldn’t help but feel proud of her. Her positive attitude never failed to bring a smile to anypony who may be having an uphill day.

Her train of thought was broken as the doctor entered the waiting room. “Excuse me, Mrs. Cake?” He approached the blue pony, holding up a clipboard with his magic. He had a sort of a brown curly mane, with a lighter brown coat, covered slightly by the typical lab coat worn by doctors. His cutie mark was of a stethoscope. He had a very defined jaw, and was a little taller than Mrs. Cake.

“I am Doctor Baker, and I’m here to tell you the extent of Miss Pinkamina’s injury.”

Mrs. Cake perked up a little at this. “Yes? How is it?” She asked eagerly.

“Well, the wound itself isn’t too deep, and the bleeding had stopped before she arrived this morning. The way I see it, the wound will heal perfectly fine. She can be released in about an hour or so.”

Mrs. Cake let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you very much doctor, I’m glad to know she’ll be okay.”

Not a problem Mrs. Cake. However, she did mention needing to see her friend Twilight, I believe her name was. She claimed to have something very important that she needed to tell Miss Sparkle as soon as possible.”

“I assume she wants to discuss what happened last night, and-” She stopped mid sentence, receiving a confused look from the doctor.

It had only just now occurred to her. What happened to Pinkie Pie, was it somehow related to Sweetie Belle’s disappearance? She needed to know, she intended to sit in on Pinkie’s conversation with Twilight to learn more about the situation.

As if on cue, the doors to the hospital opened in an aura of purple magic, and in trotted a particular lavender unicorn. Her trusted assistant Spike on her back.

Twilight quickly approached the receptionist counter. “Hello, miss? I would like to see the patient Pinkamina Pie please”

The receptionist behind the counter glanced over a list of patient names, and nodded. “Room 27. Through those doors, second left turn, and third door on your right.”

“Thank you very much.” Twilight turned around to head through the doors when she noticed Mrs. Cake sitting in a chair, a doctor in front of her.

“Mrs. Cake! You were the one who brought Pinkie here?”

The blue mare nodded. “Got her here as quick as I could. Doctor Baker? Is it alright if we go in and see Pinkie Pie?”

The doctor nodded. “Of course, she is fine for visitors. If you’ll excuse me, I have to go and take care of some other patients. However before I go, you simply must try one of these. They’re called, “Jelly Fillies”. He levitated a said “Jelly Filly” to both Twilight and Mrs. Cake. then he turned and headed back through the double doors he came from.

After eating their “Jelly Fillies”, which were quite delicious by the way, the two mares headed through the same double doors, and proceeded to the second hallway on the left. Approaching the third door on the right, as instructed by the receptionist, Mrs. Cake knocked on the door softly.

“Doors open!” They heard Pinkies muffled but enthusiastic voice from the other side of the door. Opening the door, they both smiled when they saw the pink pony smile and give a wave with her hoof. “Hey guys! I’m okay!”

Both Twilight and Mrs. Caked giggled as they approached the bed. We’re glad to know you’re okay” Twilight said.

Pinkie then turned to face Twilight, an uncharacteristic serious look on her face. “Twilight, you will not believe what happened to me last night. I think we may have come across another clue to finding Sweetie Belle.”

The two mares got even closer to the bed occupied by Pinkie Pie. Both were eager to listen, to get more puzzle pieces into place.

“Last night, when I was on my way home, and let me tell you it was not a good idea to go home alone. Not one bit. Anyway, about halfway home I started to hear rustling in nearby bushes, and it felt like I was being followed. I tried not to think about it at first, but eventually it was too much to ignore. So I started to move faster, and I was getting scared. Really scared. I know Granny Pie always told me not to be afraid, but this was different. This was something that definitely wasn’t safe. So anyways, I started hearing somepony walking behind me, trying to keep up with me. So I started to panic more, and began to run. I kept telling myself that I had to get home!” Right as I felt like I was losing whoever was chasing me, something huge was standing in the middle of the road, only a few yards away! I decided to try and run around it, and escape its grasp. At first I thought it worked, but boy was I wrong. Some kind of hand, a hand Twilight, grabbed onto my flank. And get this, the hand had claws, and it dug into my flank and gave me the wound I have now. So in a split second thought, I brought up my hind legs and bucked it as hard as I could in the face. Then I galloped as fast as I could, finally getting inside Sugarcube Corner and throwing the door shut. I locked it too. Then Mrs. Cake found me laying on the floor, and now here we are.”

Twilight was silent for a few moments, taking in everything Pinkie had just told her. Finally, she spoke up. “This is uncanny. First the strangely shaped footprints, then the hole in Rarity’s boutique, and now this. Hands and claws? Pinkie, how big was this... This thing?”

Pinkie lifted a hoof to her chin. “It was at least twice the size of me when I’m on all four hooves. maybe just a bit taller than that. It looked like it might have had hind legs too, but I’m not totally sure since it was so dark outside last night.”

“Hind legs, huh? And I also assume that it was standing on only two legs, considering how tall it looked. These are interesting clues indeed, not to mention disturbing. From now on none of us should be alone at night. We should always stick together. I have a feeling whatever that was won’t stop with just trying to get you. It’s going to go after all of us. Which also means they’ve caught on to what we’re trying to do, and we need to figure this out really soon before they do something drastic. I think from now on, we should stay together in the same place to minimize this unknown enemy’s chances of getting to one of us.”

Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement. It was safer for them to all stick together in this situation. “Good idea Twilight, we should definitely go and get Rarity and Fluttershy after I get released from the hospital. We need to tell them what we’ve found out.”

“Once we’re done with that, we’ll set the next step in motion.” Twilight said.

“And what exactly is your next course of action?” Mrs. Cake chimed in.

The unicorn looked at Mrs. Cake, and then to Pinkie Pie. “I think we should go see Zecora.”

Into the Everfree

It didn’t take too long until Doctor Baker decided that it was alright for Pinkie Pie to check out of the hospital. They quickly left, Mrs. Cake departing the other two mares after a short way. She had to get back to Sugarcube Corner to help Mr. Cake, and she wanted to inform him of the things she had learned from Pinkie and Twilight. Now it was just Twilight, Spike and Pinkie, heading over to Rarity’s boutique to get them caught up on last night’s events.

“So do you think Zecora will know anything that can help us?” Spike asked.

“Zecora knows a lot about mysterious things and various folklore, I’m almost certain she’ll have at least some piece of advice she can offer. Pinkie, didn’t you mention that the large figure you encountered last night seemed oddly familiar?” Twilight said as she glanced towards the pink party pony.

Pinkie thought for a moment. “Yeah, it was familiar. It was too dark to see clearly, but I had felt like this thing was something I had encountered before. I also had a feeling that there was more than one of them following me. I only came across him as I got closer to Sugarcube Corner. I had heard something following me before I saw him.”

“How very strange indeed... If only I had found more clues yesterday, before getting knocked out. Do you remember where you may have come across a creature like this before? Any sort of large, lumbering, and threatening thing?”

“Off the top of my head? No, I can’t. But maybe as we discuss things with the others, things will make more sense.”

“Yeah, I’m sure they will.” Twilight agreed. And with that, the two mares picked up their pace. It wasn’t much farther to Carousel Boutique.

~~~

Once she had managed to calm down and wipe away her sudden tears, Rarity slowly dragged herself out of her bed. Like every morning, she trotted over to her mirror only to see that her mane was once again a disaster. Using her magic to grab hold of a brush, she brushed her mane straight again. She then applied the same to her tail, and set the brush down. She left her bedroom and trotted downstairs into the store part of her boutique. It seemed Fluttershy wasn’t awake yet. she glanced over at her wall clock. It was just after eight in the morning. A little late for Fluttershy to still be sleeping, but she had a long day yesterday. She needed the rest.

She then decided to go into her office and examine any outstanding orders she might need to get done. She had hoped it would take her mind off of things while she waited for Fluttershy to wake up. She quickly sifted through various documents, and found a few orders waiting to be taken care of. She only just now realized how cluttered and disorganized her office desk was.

“Heheh, organized chaos...” She said to herself quietly. “Oh, Sweetie Belle...” She had to get her mind off of things before she went insane. She exited her office and sat down at her sewing machine. Lifting her stylish red glasses and putting them on, she gathered fabric and thread and set herself to work.

She used one of her pony mannequins and began to design a pattern to use for a dress. She adjusted several pieces of fabric into place, trying to find something that she felt would be good. Her heart just wasn’t in it. She had too much on her mind to focus on her dressmaking. Deciding to give up, the pieces of fabric drifted to the floor as Rarity loosened her magical grip.

“Before I can get anything else done, I have to find Sweetie Belle. Those stuck up snobs in Canterlot will just have to wait until I decide to get these dresses finished.” She pushed all her tools and fabrics aside, and sat down to sift through everything her and the others had found out about her sister’s abductors.

Before she even had a chance to start thinking, there was a soft knock on the door. Feeling agitated, she got back up and trotted to the door. Her agitation vanished when she saw it was Twilight and Pinkie waiting on the other side of the door for them.

Rarity smiled slightly. Not much, but it was there. “I’m glad you two are here, I was getting quite stir crazy waiting for Fluttershy to wake up. Please come in.” She motioned them to enter. They did just that. Closing the door behind her, she looked to her friends. “Now, how may I help you this morning?” The white unicorn inquired.

“Well Rarity,” Twilight began, “We have something to tell you we believe you will most certainly like to hear.”

The fashionista’s ears perked up when she heard this. Had they found more clues? She wanted to know all the details. “Well go on now, don’t keep a lady waiting. Tell me everything.”

“Go ahead Pinkie.” Twilight turned to face the pink earth pony, Rarity following suit.

To begin, Pinkie turned to show Rarity the bandages on her flank. That earned a gasp from the unicorn. “Oh my Celestia Pinkie, are you alright?”

Pinkie giggled softly in response. “Of course I’m okay silly. But I should tell you, I was attacked last night on my way back to Sugarcube Corner. It was so super duper scary! I thought for sure I wasn’t going to make it! But I did, so now I’ll tell you what happened.

Rarity nodded attentively. That was Pinkie’s cue to begin.

“So last night I left shortly after you and Fluttershy left. I should have left with you guys, it was a horrible idea to be out alone at night. At first everything was fine, but after a bit I felt like I was being watched. Then I felt like I was being followed. And I was! I kinda started to panic, but I did my best to keep my cool. Whatever was following me started to move faster, so I did the same. and then faster, and faster, and faster until i couldn’t take it anymore! So I broke into a full gallop to get away from this monster! then there was something big in the road, almost twice the size of me! I tried to get around it, but it still grabbed me. That’s how I got hurt. So I bucked it right in the face and ran for dear life! I made it safely home, and went to the hospital in the morning. Now I’m here.”

Rarity’s mouth was hanging agape. She looked back and forth from both Twilight and Pinkie. She received a nod from the purple unicorn. “Do you think... Do you think those attackers were... Sweetie Belle’s abductors?”

Both the pink pony and the studious unicorn nodded. “And that’s not all,” Twilight added, “We also have more clues as to what took her.” She cleared her throat, and began to spill the new evidence. “Firstly, it was big, and oddly familiar to Pinkie. That would suggest that this very well may be something or things that we’ve all encountered before. Also, it could stand on two legs. It’s claws were what injured Pinkie. We have nearly a complete physical description of this, or these creatures. We’re so close to figuring this all out Rarity... I can almost taste it. I was thinking we could all go see Zecora soon, and see if she can tell us what it is we’re facing, so we can finally go and get your sister back.”

The white unicorn froze at this. To be reunited with her sister... She almost couldn’t bear the suspense and excitement of it. She wanted to go and see Zecora right away, but Fluttershy was still asleep. “I want to go see Zecora right now, but Fluttershy is still resting.” Rarity looked to her staircase. “I guess she’ll just have to deal with it, let’s go and rouse her from sleep.

~~~

Fluttershy was not happy one bit at being awoken by all her friends, but quickly changed her attitude when she heard of what occurred last night. Pinkie Pie getting attacked by monsters? It was so frightening to the timid pegasus. However she knew she had to be as brave as she could be to help get Sweetie Belle back. Twilight and the others wanted to go see Zecora and see if they can finalize all the clues and solve this mystery. She was hesitant at first, not wanting to travel into the Everfree Forest. But for Sweetie Belle’s sake--and Rarity’s--she would do it. They all shared a very quick breakfast together and then left the boutique on the road to Fluttershy’s cottage. They would enter the forest from there, and walk slowly along the dark path to Zecora’s hut.

The forest was very dark, and genuinely creepy. Just like when they entered to find the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters to defeat Nightmare Moon. Of course poor Fluttershy was scared out of her wits, but she had to stay strong. For Sweetie Belle’s sake. She really hoped they would finally get the answers they need. The longer it took to figure this mess out, the more of a chance that it was already too late to save Sweetie Belle. She chose to stick close to Rarity as they trudged cautiously through the strange forest. Rarity smile encouragingly to the timid pegasus, which helped a little. Everypony agreed to keep conversation to a minimal, as if they were too loud it might disturb some of the forest’s more... Unsettling creatures. Even Pinkie Pie agreed to this, and she very well may talk more than the three of them combined.

Twilight had been using a soft light spell that just lit the path directly within hoofs reach. “Alright everypony, we’re almost there. Just a bit further now.” Twilight whispered behind her, which earned a nod from the other ponies, and Spike of course.

Sure enough, shortly after Twilight had said that the path had broken into a small clearing, with the zebra’s home situated on the opposite side of them. The group of ponies plus a dragon approached the front door. It was finally time to get some hard answers, get a grip on this situation. The lavender unicorn lifted a hoof, preparing to knock on the door.

~~~

Zecora had spent most of the day gathering various flowers, herbs and the like to concoct her various potions with their various effects. Now that she was finished with that, and all of her alchemical ingredients organized, she was sitting on the floor meditating quietly. A few moments of silence passed. Then, she heard a knock on the door. Her concentration broken, she opened her eyes and stood up. She had already guess who was at the door, and she walked over and opened the door.

“Hello Twilight Sparkle, I sense you are all feeling quite distraught. Please come in, and tell me what has your minds so wrought.”

And so the four mares and the dragon entered the forest home of the zebra, and spun their tale.