Books and Butterflies

Rainbow made her way as far away from Fluttershy’s cottage as possible, slowing down once she figured they couldn’t see her. She relaxed her wings and descended to the ground, opting to walk, as she didn’t feel like flying at the moment. She looked down at her hooves, not caring where she ended up wandering off to.

Twilight… Rainbow thought to herself. She sighed and shook her head. No… It couldn’t have been that… Maybe they just… Ah… Who am I kidding? A tear escaped from her beautiful cerise eyes, slowly making its way down her face, remaining unnoticed by Rainbow Dash.

She looked up and found that she wandered quite a ways off from the path to Ponyville. She sighed again and walked back on to the path. Where should I go? She stopped to think after she made it back to the dirt path. Home definitely isn’t an option… Rarity definitely wouldn’t understand… And Applejack… I don’t think she’d approve either… She tried thinking harder, knowing she was missing somepony…

Her head jerked back up as she shouted out, “Pinkie!” She smiled, but quickly covered her mouth with her hoof, blushing in embarrassment and hoping that nopony had heard her. She felt a little bit better, knowing there was at least somepony she could talk to. She trotted her way towards Ponyville, a faint smile on her face.

Before long, she arrived in Ponyville, trotting throughout its streets. She wandered around aimlessly, having nearly forgotten where she was headed in the first place. She occasionally bumped into other ponies, quickly apologizing and trotting off without waiting for a response.

She had trotted down an alley when she stopped to think for a moment. What am I even…? Oh. Right. She shook her head and turned back around, flapping her wings to lift herself into the air, and she flew off into the sky, passing through a small cloud. She looked back down and searched for Sugarcube Corner. Spotting it, she smiled again and dived directly towards the bakery.

Arriving near the ground, she extended her wings to slow her descent. She gave her wings one last flap before landing, and looked at the open door to Sugarcube Corner. Hmm… Pinkie doesn’t seem to be at the counter… I wonder where she is…

She took a step inside, looking around the small shop to see if anypony was there. Not able to see any of the Cakes, or Pinkie Pie, she decided to explore a little. She walked through all of the rooms on the floor, making sure to open any cupboards in case Pinkie had gotten stuck, or was just hiding. Still not able to find anypony, she was about to walk out when she noticed the stairs behind the front counter.

If she’s not down here, then she must be up there, right? Rainbow placed one of her hooves on a stair, which lightly squeaked in response. Taking a little more care with each step, she stealthily made her way upstairs, and found herself in a hallway lined with doors.

Great. How am I supposed to find her now? Rainbow sighed a little, and opened one of the doors. She peeked inside, and found only a few sacks of flour lying in a small room. She sighed, and gently closed the door.

Opening a few other doors, she found nothing that hinted to where Pinkie might be. A couple cradles in one room, which see assumed to be the Baby Cakes’ room, and another containing a double bed, along with a few socks and other bits of clothing spread across the room. She was certain this was Mr. and Mrs. Cakes’ room, and closed the door almost immediately.

She tried opening another door, but couldn’t quite turn the knob. She tried, using as many methods as possible. Her teeth, her hooves, and her wings all didn’t work, and she couldn’t think of any other ways to open the door. Slamming her hoof onto her face, she realized she could just knock on the door, and if Pinkie was in there, she would answer. She raised a hoof and knocked on the door three times, and sat outside, waiting for an answer.

“What?” A voice called from within the room.

Fluttershy stared at Twilight, who was lying on her back on the floor, having rolled off the couch earlier. She smiled, and sat down next to the unicorn. “Well… Is there any place you’d like to go to?” She asked somewhat curiously.

“Hmm…” Twilight began thinking of places they could go, and tried to roll sideways, but ended up bumping into Fluttershy. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were there…” She blushed lightly, looking directly into the mare’s eyes.

Fluttershy giggled, and looked back at Twilight. “It’s fine…” She watched as Twilight sat straight up, and lied down next to her. Twilight took a small breath and turned to look at Fluttershy.

“To be honest Fluttershy, I don’t know. Any place that you want to go?” Twilight asked somewhat curiously.

“Umm… Well there’s this place that me and…” Fluttershy paused and frowned, tilting her head downwards to look at her hooves. “Dash went to yesterday…” She quietly said, with a tone of sadness barely hidden by the volume of her voice.

Twilight frowned, and wrapped a foreleg around Fluttershy’s neck. “Hey… You’ll be alright. We can go somewhere else if you want.” She smiled, trying her best to cheer up her friend.

“But… The food there was so good…” Fluttershy turned to look at Twilight, pouting a lip.

Twilight smiled and giggled a little. “Alright… If that’s where you want to go…”

“Well… I don’t know… I don’t think it would be a good place to go right now…” Fluttershy paused, and looked away from Twilight. She looked down at her hooves “We could go to that, umm… You know, that one place where they have really good… Salads?” She nervously smiled at Twilight, before frowning and resting her head on her hooves. “I’m not sure…”

Twilight pulled her leg away from Fluttershy, and stood up. “Hmm… I think I know what you’re talking about.” She smiled, and nudged Fluttershy gently. “If that’s what sounds good, then let’s go.”

Fluttershy, feeling the nudge, looked up at the lavender unicorn. “Are you sure?”

Twilight giggled a little more. “I’m sure.”

Fluttershy slowly stood up, stretching her legs and wings. “Alright… Thanks.” A faint smile grew on her face, but it disappeared quickly as she tilted her head. “Umm… What was the name of it again?” She asked curiously.

“Uh…” Twilight put her hoof up to her chin, trying to recall the name. “Honestly? I don’t know either.” She placed her hoof back on the ground. “I’m sorry Fluttershy.”

“Oh, you don’t have to apologize… You still know where it is, right?”

“Yeah… About that… I thought you knew…” She sighed. “Again, I’m sorry.”

Fluttershy held a hoof up to her mouth, chuckling a bit. “You know… For being so smart, you can be pretty clueless at times…” She stopped, and shook her head. “Oh, I’m not saying that you’re dumb or anything… I’m just saying that sometimes you don’t… Ah! I’m sorry…” She frowned, and looked down at her hooves.

Twilight rolled her eyes, and took a step closer to Fluttershy. “It’s alright. I understand. Now, how about we go get something to eat? I’m feeling a lot hungrier now than I did before.”

Fluttershy’s stomach decided that it would be a good time to speak up, and growled lightly, agreeing with Twilight. Fluttershy slowly nodded. “Yeah… But, umm… How are we supposed to get there if neither of us knows where it is?” She asked curiously, shifting her eyes up to look at Twilight.

The unicorn held a hoof up to her chin, trying to think of a good response. Just what were the two of them supposed to do? Deciding she couldn’t formulate a decent response, she sighed to herself and dropped her hoof back to the floor. “I’m not sure, Fluttershy. How about we just walk around and look for some place to eat? If anything, we could probably head to Sugarcube Corner.”

The pegasus smiled at this, and nodded her head in return. The thought of getting at least something to eat was good enough for her, and she lifted her hoof up in preparation to trot outside, but quickly realized that her friend was still there. She couldn’t just leave Twilight there, such a thing would be very rude. “Are you ready?” She looked at her friend, a smile on her face.

The unicorn simply smiled at her friend. “Of course, Fluttershy.” She began walking towards the front door, and a few bunnies crossed her path a short distance away from the door. She nearly fell onto her back from lifting her hooves up so quickly to avoid stepping on any of the bunnies. Fluttershy giggled as she watched the bunnies pass by, and walked up to the door. Upon opening the door, she felt a cold breeze pass into her cottage and a snowflake fell onto her nose.

Twilight shivered as she felt the sudden difference in temperature, and she immediately realized that they should probably get something just a little warmer to wear than nothing. “Fluttershy? Do you think we should get something, Oh I don’t know, a little warmer?”

Fluttershy closed the door to keep from getting too cold, and she turned herself around to face the unicorn. “Yeah, umm… Probably…” She walked over to the closet where she kept most of her warm clothing, such as scarves, sweaters, what you’d expect somepony would wear to keep warm. She pulled out a pink sweater that was of a shade just darker than her own mane, and it looked as if it was way too large for her. Once she put it on, it was easy to tell that it was. The sleeves extended well past her hooves, and it was just a little loose on her. Nevertheless, it still managed to keep her warm, and she loved to wear it. She also took a scarf of the same color, and wrapped it around her neck.

“Twilight? Do you need something to wear?” Fluttershy asked her friend, trying to offer her some clothing. “You can take a look if you’d like…”

Twilight simply smiled at the offer, and walked over to the closet, taking a look inside. She had a bit of trouble finding something that wouldn’t look ridiculous with the color of her coat. Before long, she had decided on a simple, black sweater. Unlike Fluttershy’s sweater, it fit Twilight perfectly, the sleeves ending just before her hooves. She couldn’t find a matching black scarf in the closet, so she ended up grabbing a lavender and pink striped scarf.

Now that they were dressed for the weather, the two mares walked back over to the door, with Twilight opening the door first to allow for Fluttershy to walk through. Fluttershy smiled and took a step outside, placing her hoof into the blanket of snow that covered the ground. Twilight followed shortly after, walking over to Fluttershy’s side and standing next to her, looking up at the clouds. “I didn’t know it was supposed to snow today…”

Fluttershy shook her head slowly, and shivered again. “Me neither…”

Pinkie Pie was residing in her room, feeling a little depressed that the blue pegasus who had stopped by the store earlier seemed as if she was barely interested in the pink earth pony. After all, after she had learned of what was most likely the location of their friend, Twilight Sparkle, she had immediately flown off before Pinkie Pie could do so much as speak a single word.

A large amount of candy wrappers lay on her bed, as the earth pony had indulged herself in copious amount of various sweets to try and keep herself from feeling too down. She had locked her door earlier, not wanting anypony to see her, or her to see them. She let out a long, but quiet sigh, and held onto her favorite pillow, one that reminded her of Rainbow Dash due to its color, as tightly as she possibly could.

Of course, she wasn’t allowed complete silence. The Cake family had made a lot of noise the previous few hours, conversing about various things, such as who they had seen earlier that day, what they had done, and once they reached their room… Well, things Pinkie really wasn’t glad to hear at the moment. For that matter, she never liked to hear it at all.

Once they had quieted down, they stopped by Pinkie’s room to let her know that they would be gone for the night, and that she had to watch the store. Pinkie responded with a grumble, and didn’t bother to get up and go downstairs. She lay in silence for the next few hours, before she heard somepony walking around the store. Her senses seemed to enhance themselves as soon as she realized that somepony was, in fact, in the store. She could easily hear the hoofsteps of the pony below, and she sat completely still, waiting for the pony to leave. She thought she heard Rainbow Dash calling her name at one point, but quickly dismissed it as there was no reason for Dash to be there, right?

She listened closely as she heard the infiltrator walk upstairs and check through each room, and she heard the hoofsteps pass by her door and stop as she heard a knocking upon the door. Since the pony was not trying to break in, she assumed that they wouldn’t harm her, and so she called out to them. “What?”

“Pinkie Pie?” The voice was unmistakable. It was Rainbow Dash; the ‘infiltrator’ was actually just her friend, looking for her.

She stood up, feeling much better, and happily trotted over to the door. She quickly unlocked it, swinging it open to look into the familiar eyes of her friend. “Hello Dashie!” She smiled, greeting her friend with a very tight hug. She lifted up the pegasus into the air, squeezing her tightly.

Rainbow could do nothing more than let out a small gasp for air. Pinkie soon realized this, loosening her grip and bringing her friend back to the floor, but still hugging her. “So, what brings you here Dashie?”

Rainbow gulped nervously, wanting to talk to at least somepony, but somewhat afraid that the pony she had chosen to speak to wouldn’t exactly be happy with the subject she had in mind. “Actually… I just wanted to talk about something…”