//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Treasure Trove 
// by HeatWave 
//------------------------------//

	Angel sat stretched across the loveseat, enjoying the momentary silence of the absence of his caretaker and the myriad other animals that usually inhabited the house on a regular basis. Complete privacy in Fluttershy's cottage was a rather rare experience, and in many ways it was quite relaxing. He could get used to this. He could get used to this very easily indeed.
It wasn't that he held no love for the pegasus pony. On the contrary he loved her very much. It had been no surprise to him when she had come home that night after the appearance of Nightmare Moon with the claim that she was the aspect of kindness in something called the Elements of Harmony. He hadn't been able to make much sense of it all, but one thing had seemed perfectly natural to him: That throughout all of the ponies in Equestria, it would be Fluttershy who turned out to be the embodiment of kindness. She was kind. She was exceptionally kind. In many ways she was too kind.
The rabbit smirked to himself. When he had first met the pegasus who had fallen from the sky, he had been your average run-of-the-mill bunny rabbit. She, however, had been far from the average pegasus, and as Angel had spent time with her he discovered something more underneath that kind exterior.
After her initial elation at having discovered the creatures of the earth—and her cutie mark—had worn off, Angel was able to meet the true Fluttershy, and learn the tale of a pegasus from the city of clouds who did not fit the mold; who, as kind as she was, had been mercilessly mocked for her inability to perform even the most basic of skills. Who had been tormented into a state of social awkwardness because of a meek demeanor and an overzealous consideration for others—which more often than not had been mistaken for weakness.
She had hidden it well. She hadn't wanted to cause anyone to worry, certainly not amongst the woodland creatures she called her friends. Even now it amazed him how she had managed to bury it all with her service to others. Still, one day he caught her in a vulnerable moment, and it revealed to him the pain that she bore inside, the pain that she covered with a soft smile and an eager disposition. It had torn his little heart asunder, and he vowed from that moment on that he would do everything in his power to take care of her just as she took care of everyone around her.
It wasn't easy. Fluttershy thought nothing for herself. Everything she did, she did for somepony else, and it often ran the poor rabbit ragged just to remind her that she also had needs and wants that needed to be met. As a result he had become much more aggressive, having to deliberately push the personal desires of the shy pegasus onto others because she could never bring herself to impose on another in the same way. What he could not do for her directly, he made sure someone else could.
He often gave her a hard time as well, if only to remind her that life was not the perfect picture she often imagined it to be, but he always took care not to push her very far. Most of the time...
Luckily things had been picking up for poor pegasus. She had found a circle of friends that had been more than accommodating, and he was finding his job becoming less and less necessary as they stepped in to help her belong and encouraged her to come out of the defensive wall she had built around herself.
Of course… that was before last week… and the Gala.
Fluttershy had come home happy enough, but even she could not hide the disappointment she had felt for very long, and he could tell that it was eating at her. What bothered him most however was that it was partially his fault, and he had been powerless to help. He didn't know what would have become of her if it hadn't been for—
His ears snapped upright long before he noticed anything, but it didn't surprise him. They seemed to have a mind of their own at times and he had long since learned to pay attention. They had caught something that he had not, and so he listened more intently. It didn't take long to pinpoint the source.
Something was outside, moving around the exterior of the cottage. They were obviously trying to be sneaky, but weren't having much success of it; not to him anyway. He sat upright on the couch, briefly debating whether or not he should go out and check. He wasn't really that worried; despite living so close to the Everfree Forest, it was a truly rare occurrence that anything dangerous would make its way out of the woods.
He decided to observe for now, moving to the windows to try and get a glimpse of whatever it was, but it remained hidden from his sight. He could still hear it though, moving from one point to another around the perimeter of the cottage. Finally, it seemed to grow bored and left, and the rabbit made his way to the door— just to make sure there hadn't been anything damaged or taken.
Initial inspections showed that nothing seemed to have been tampered with; nothing immediately noticeable, anyway. He moved around towards the back of the cottage, and as he rounded the corner the most peculiar sight caught his eye. A piece of cake lay off to one side, hidden from the cottage interior by a low bush, but it wasn't just the cake that gave him pause. It was the fact that the cake lie neatly underneath a large cardboard box that was lying open at an angle over it.
An obvious trap.
Angel moved closer to inspect the device. It seemed basic enough. The cake was a rather blatant piece of bait, with the trigger set to spring the trap the moment it was disturbed. A bell lie atop the box—probably meant to sound the alert when the trap had been sprung.
Angel smirked. He didn't know who was going around setting traps for small critters near Fluttershy's cottage but they couldn't be that bright if they thought cake was a suitable bait, and they would be sorely mistaken indeed if they thought such an obvious device would catch him anytime soon. But sure, he'd play along.
Looking around he spotted a long stick lying several feet away, and moved to retrieve it. He'd spring the trap and then lie in wait to see who—or what—it was that had placed it. Such were his thoughts when he picked up the branch only to have his life suddenly flipped and turned upside down.
He took a moment to sit right there, quite disappointed with himself. He was held suspended in midair by a metal cord around his ankle, his ears hanging losely underneath him. After a period of fierce personal berating he tried to reach the snare that bound him so he could untangle it, but found it quite secure. Realizing there was no way he was going to escape this on his own, he folded his arms over his chest and waited, a very cross look on his face. Fluttershy would be home soon. He hoped.

***

Perfect!
Pinkie Pie smiled a wry grin of satisfaction upon witnessing the bunny hanging helplessly in her snare and slowly lowered her spyglass. They never saw it coming. After all, no one ever suspected that a stick would be the true bait.
Of course, that's why it always worked.
Pinkie sought out a nearby string and gave it a good solid yank. Instantly a second sapling sprang up, sending the cake and cardboard box flying towards the nearby forest. The box shredded itself in midair, descending to the ground like a bushel of brown confetti that would be nearly indecipherable from the surrounding landscape. The cake made it safely past the tree line, forever concealed by the growth of the Everfree Forest.
Just as planned.
She took a moment of silence for the lost piece that would never please a hungry tongue, but she couldn't mourn for long, she was on the clock. With all incriminating evidence destroyed and Angel Bunny secured, Pinkie was now free to proceed with her designs. Fluttershy obviously wasn't home, and she hadn't seen another soul within thirty yards of the cottage, pony or otherwise. Taking care so as not to appear within Angel's line of sight, she moved around to the front door of the hovel and entered. Slowly and methodologically she began searching the cottage interior. It wasn't her usual inclination to be so careful, but she couldn't leave a trace. If Fluttershy had any keepsakes lying around she was going to find them, but she had to be discreet. She couldn't let anyone know… not yet. The first party had to be something special, and entirely unexpected.
She couldn't give Fluttershy the chance to see it coming.

***

"Do you really believe that Rarity is still letting it bother her?" Twilight asked the perplexed pegasus that drifted lightly in the air next to her.
"Well, honestly, no." Rainbow Dash responded. "I mean, not at first, but Fluttershy looked so worried—not to mention the fact that she had to have straight up lied to her sister." The pegasus paused, trying to figure it all out in her own mind. "I just… don't want to take any chances," she finished curtly.
"So where's Fluttershy now?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow shrugged, "Donno. Guess she had some other stuff to do, so I told her I'd look into it." The unicorn stalled mid-step, causing Rainbow Dash to fly several feet ahead before she could match the gesture.
"Wait, Fluttershy ran off? In spite of her worry for Rarity?" Twilight asked incredulously.
"I know, right?" Dash said, "It kinda threw me off too."
A very quizzical expression crossed the purple pony's face. "Huh," she mused, "That seems so… unusual." Her puzzlement vanished with a shrug, "Well, I guess we can ask her about it later. Meanwhile, I suppose there's no harm in checking up on Rarity. You said she wasn't home though, right?"
"Not when we were there," the pegasus confirmed. "Any idea where she might be?"
"Well, if she's not at home, and she's not with Fluttershy, and Sweetie Belle had no idea where she was—" Twilight paused in thought when she caught sight of a familiar figure. A figure who was running at a full gallop towards, alongside, and ultimately right past the two poinies, "…I'd say right there," the unicorn finished, following the interloper's movements.
"R—Rarity!" Rainbow Dash yelled after her, "Wait!"
"I'm sorry girls," Rarity called over her shoulder, not slowing in the slightest, "I've simply no time at the moment!" Twilight and Rainbow Dash could only stare after her.
"What in Equestria is going on?" Twilight asked nopony in particular.
"I donno," Dash said, a determined look crossing over her features, "But I'm gonna find out!"
In a rainbow flash she was gone, darting after the departing Rarity with all haste. She quickly overtook the galloping unicorn and moved ahead several meters before planting her hooves firmly on the ground directly in Rarity's path, forcing the unicorn to stop short or risk crashing unceremoniously into the other pony.
Rarity barely managed to avoid the collision, cutting her momentum just shy of the pegasus. Quickly recovering from the sudden stop she began pawing at the ground impatiently. "Oh what is it, Rainbow Dash?" she demanded, a note of irritation creeping into her voice. "I'm in a hurry!"
Hearing Rarity's tone, Dash felt her temper begin to rise. "What's with me?" she countered, "What's with you‽"
Rarity stopped pawing and fixed her friend with a hard stare. "And what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?" the unicorn asked in challenge.
"What do you mean, 'what's that supposed to mean'?" Dash shot back. "You get Fluttershy all worried about you, then go galloping around Ponyville like there's nothing wrong—"
"Fluttershy?" Rarity interrupted, her disposition moving from irritation to attentive at the mention of their mutual friend, "Did you see her? Is she here?"
Rainbow Dash was completely taken aback, quite puzzled at Rarity's sudden change of temperament. "Uhh… yeah…" she stammered, "I mean… she was…"
"Well where is she now?" the unicorn pressed, leaning invasively towards the other pony.
"She… she ran off," Rainbow said, taking a step back and trying to collect herself.
Rarity's face fell at the news. "Oh, drat!" she exclaimed. "Then I did miss her."
"Yeah, you di-" Rainbow Dash gave her head a brief shake, and quickly switched her tone from informative to accusatory, "I mean, yeah you did!" she finished deliberately, her earlier anger beginning to resurface as Rarity's own presence faded. "And now she's in a panic! Where were you anyway?"
"I was over— I was running some errands!" Rarity said defensively. "I… just didn't expect them to take this long."
It was Rainbow Dash's turn to get indignant. "Well they did!" she said, moving in to emphasize her point and causing Rarity to take a step back. "And Fluttershy couldn't find you, so now she's worried sick about you!"
Rarity blinked her eyes in confusion, "Worried about me? Why, whatever for?"
Dash pressed the attack, taking an offensive position. "Because you couldn't deal with the fact that your 'Prince Charming' wasn't so princely, that's why!"
At the mention of the foalish prince that had once been the object of her dreams, Rarity felt her blood begin to boil, "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, Rainbow Dash. Blueblood was a coward and a foal, and I have no desire to spend my life with such a character."
"Girls?"
"Oh yeah? Then why did you lie to your sister about what happened that night, huh?" Rainbow Dash continued, far from deterred.
The mention of her younger sibling added fuel the fire of Rarity's temper. "How did you-? Hmph! It doesn't matter! What I share with my sister has nothing to do with you!" she declared to the other pony, pushing back against Rainbow's presence. "I'm not going to ruin a filly's dream of romance just because mine wasn't as picture perfect as I'd imagined it!"
"Girls!"
Rarity's fire, in turn, only served to bolster Rainbow Dash's own. "Well maybe if you didn't have such 'high-and-mighty' expectations you wouldn't have been so affected by the disappointment when it all went south!"
"And mayhap if you weren't so pretentious with the belief that the Wonderbolts should welcome you with open arms, you might actually be a decent pony to be around at times!"
And with that, the argument had become personal. Rainbow Dash inhaled sharply through her nose, her rage easily visible on her face. "And maybe if you weren't such a—!"
"GIRLS!" Twilight shouted, forcing herself between them. She was determined to stop the tirade before it spiraled entirely out of control. "Knock it off, both of you!" The other two ponies turned to regard their friend, having momentarily forgotten about her during their mutual tantrum.
Rainbow Dash, however, wasn't quite finished. "But Twilight, she totally called me a—"
"Dash!" Twilight almost shouted, cutting her off, and giving them both a reprimanding look. "You're both letting your tempers get the better of you, we just wanted to know what's going on, remember? And shouting at each other like this isn't going to get us any answers!"
Rarity and Dash exchanged an angry glare, but remained silent. Twilight on the other hoof, took several deep breaths to calm her nerves before she continued, determined not to be dragged into the whole ordeal.
"Now," she continued once she believed that all tempers involved had subsided some, "What I believe we have here is a failure to communicate, so I'm going to moderate from this point on." She turned to her fellow unicorn first. "Rarity, Rainbow Dash says she ran into Fluttershy trying to find you at the Carousel Boutique, and became upset when you weren't there because you had left her a note saying to come see you."
Rarity nodded, "This is true," she affirmed. "I stopped by to speak with her this morning because I haven't seen her in several days, and I was worried. She wasn't in much of a state to talk, so I left a note telling her to stop by the boutique when she had the time."
"Yeah, well you could have been a little more clear about that." Dash piped in. "She was worried sick about you!"
"Quiet, Dash." Twilight demanded before turning back to Rarity. "Now, Rarity, I'm a little confused—"
"Worried about me?" Rarity interrupted Twilight in favor of hearing more from the pegasus. "You said that earlier, but why on earth was she worried about me?"
Rarity's genuine interest managed to have a calming affect on Rainbow Dash, who was becoming more confused than angry. "Well, your store was closed, and she couldn't find you. She remembered you had mentioned something about that Gala, and there was that note you left..." Dash shrugged. Now that she was looking Rarity in the eye, the whole theory was starting to sound more and more ridiculous. "I guess she jumped to conclusions that you were still worried about what happened that night."
Rarity shook her head wildly, "No, no no no no... That's not it at all. When I saw her this morning she looked absolutely horrid!"
"Horrid?" Twilight asked, having given up on her moderating now that the conversation seemed to be adopting a more civil tone.
"Why, she looked positively ragged dear! It was awful to behold! I asked her about the Gala because I was worried for her!"
Rainbow Dash was now deep in thought. "You know, she did seem a little out of it that night..." a moment of silence followed as she attempted to connect a few more pieces of the grand puzzle before her, "...but she didn't look all that bad when I saw her earlier."
"Well, she might have just gotten cleaned up a bit before going to see Rarity." Twilight offered.
Another thought suddenly occurred to the pegasus, "Or... I might have accidentally given her a snow shower before I saw her..." she said sheepishly.
"A snow shower? In June?"
"It's a long story, Twilight." Dash cut her off, preferring to stick to the topic on hand. "Anyway, I didn't notice anything really out of place about Fluttershy."
Rarity glanced to the side, sorting her own thoughts. "Well, I suppose that should be a good sign, but I would still rather speak to her. Do you happen to know where she is now?"
"No," Twilight said, shaking her head, "Apparently she had some other things to do and ran off."
"Oh confound that pony!" Rarity said, now entirely exasperated, "How she drives me to worry."
"Look," Twilight tried to reassure the other unicorn, "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for all this. We just need to find Fluttershy and figure out what's going on."
"You think she could've gone back home?" Rainbow Dash asked, casting a glance in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage.
"I suppose that's probably the best place to start looking," Twilight agreed. "We might as well check."
"Her cottage?" Rarity said in disbelief, "but I just came from... Oh never mind." Her posture sagged noticeably as she came to an unavoidable conclusion. "I'm obviously not going to be getting anything else done today. I'll come with you."

***

Pinkie Pie swept the room once again, searching desperately for any hint that any one object in the vicinity would hold a higher consideration to the homeowner than the rest. There was nothing to be found. Not a clue, not a hint, not a seam in the wall. She had gone over the entire cottage three times, and had been unable to find any sort of evidence that such a object—let alone a cache—even existed.
What she had found was an abundance of stored animal feeds, some basic woodworking and yard tools, a plethora of sewing materials, outdoor and camping gear, and enough medical supplies to stock the local Ponyville Emergency Ward. Outside of a few photographs and some decorative figurines, there was simply no fuel to power the party that Pinkie had in mind, and it was remarkably discouraging. Either the pegasus had hidden it away too well, or it simply just didn't exist.
"Oh Fluttershy," the earth pony said with a frustrated sigh, "Can you take anything personally?" Two brief images passed through Pinkie's head; one of a gryphon that had visited Ponyville several months back, the other of a pegasus pony dressed in a flowery green dress bursting through a set of double doors in Canterlot.
"…When it's not a bad thing." she added as an amendment of her statement.
Having run into this metaphorical brick wall, Pinkie weighed her options. She could choose another pony, but the idea that she could finally throw a party for Fluttershy specifically had made her so excited that she was loathe to give up the chance. She could go ahead with what she'd found, but even Pinkie would be hard pressed to throw a party based on birdseed, a needle, and a shovel. A sewing party? Perhaps that would work, but given the various talents of her friends, it was likely that only Rarity and Fluttershy would respond favorably to the idea, and Pinkie hated to limit her parties like that.
Several other ideas sprang to mind but were similarly dismissed. There just had to be a way to make this work. Perhaps if she—
"Angel Bunny!"
The horrified shout served its purpose perfectly, and the earth pony was instantly alerted to the fact that the homeowner of the cottage had finally returned. Any second now both her and the trussed up rabbit outside would be charging through the front door, and the earth pony inside would be stuck explaining what, exactly, she had been up to. Pinkie's time had run out.