Both at the front lines and across the towns and cities of Equestria, agents for the Princess chased up as many leads as they could to locate the four missing ponies but the meticulous record keeping that had been the hallmark of a well-run society before the Crystal Empire returned had been allowed to slip in favour of more pressing priorities.
The military, by virtue of its need to organise provided the first lead. It also helped that they had a name to work with. So it was that a messenger arrived at one of the Foot Regiments on the front line asking for a Miss Pie. Upon receiving the request and noting that it was accompanied by Royal Warrant, the aide-de-camp quickly summoned two Miss Pies. The two soldiers were clearly related by virtue of their similar looks, notwithstanding that one was uniform grey whilst the other was bright pink.
“Identify yourselves, please” announce the aide.
“Maudalina Daisy Pie, Ma’am!”
“Pinkamena Diane Pie, Ma’am!”
The aide smiled to herself; the description she had been issued included the word ‘pink’ in the narrative. Whilst it may have been possible to take a wild guess based upon their names, visual confirmation removed any room for doubt.
“Maudalina Pie, you are dismissed. Pinkamena Pie, you have been ordered under Royal Warrant to return to Canterlot. You are to pack and await transport. I have no idea what this is to do with, but I wish you luck and hope to see you back once you have done what you have been called back for.”
Pinkie and Maud exited together and exchanged a brief nuzzle. No words were said before they went their separate ways, merely the silent reinforcement of their sisterly bond.
Twenty minutes later, Pinkie returned in battle armour with a kit bag by her side. Her Commanding Officer read out a commendation of thanks for the work she had done whilst with the Regiment, then wished her well before directing her to a waiting pegasus. Outside waited a chariot drawn by two pegasi of the Royal Guard. This was a calibre of transport that she as a rock farmer and latterly a soldier would never have experienced, yet this was not what caught her attention, for circling in the sky above them were ten, maybe more armoured pegasi also from the Royal Guard.
The pegasus who had come to meet her ushered her briskly into the chariot then leapt into the air beside them, keeping close alongside them as some of the circling pegasi flew down to flank the chariot; the others maintaining combat air patrol above. Pinkie was a little surprised at the attention she was receiving; such treatment generally being the preserve of royalty, but she took a pragmatic view of the situation and accepted it.
After a long and uneventful journey, the chariot descended and Pinkie caught sight of Canterlot for the first time; it looked like it was straight out of a fairy tale rather than the down to earth practicality of her home town of Rockville.
The escorting pegasi peeled away pair at a time and joined their colleagues who were now starting to circle above, one remaining pair leading the way down to a landing area within the grounds of the Royal Castle. Down below she could see a dark blue pony with spangled mane and tail apparently waiting for them.
“She’s probably going to be pretty annoyed when she discovers I’m not royalty” she thought to herself.
The ground came up to meet them and Pinkie braced for impact but was surprised that the landing was so smooth she couldn’t tell when they actually touched down. Luna walked the short distance to meet her guest and opened her mouth to speak.
“Here we go” thought Pinkie “One roasting coming up.”
“Pinkamena Pie?” enquired the Princess.
“Yes Ma’am” she responded.
“We are pleased that thou art safely arrived” continued Luna “Willst thou partake of refreshment before thou art directed to thy quarters?”
“Thank you Ma’am” she replied, starting to feel that perhaps this reception was for her; but why?
Rainbow Dash trotted out to intercept the castle’s latest arrival, attracted by the aerial activity and the arrival of a fellow fighter with whom she could trade war stories. She started talking immediately and took over the role of escorting her from Luna who clearly had other things to attend. In truth Luna was tired; this was the middle of her sleep period after all, but she had wanted to oversee the arrival of the third bearer personally; three down, three to go.
No more word came through from the military following their exhaustive searching, so effort was directed towards the civilian sectors. Their first break came with a pony whose surname Luna had identified as Apple, immediately focusing on apple farms. It turned out that the Apple family was large and well connected, but although they all seemed to know each other’s business, none of the family had heard of one Jacqueline Apple named by Luna. Agents went from one apple farm to the next, frequently criss-crossing each other as they followed whatever leads they thought could help. Finally, one of them came to the Sweet Apple Acres apple sauce canning works in Ponyville.
The unicorn in a black suit and tie walked through the boarded up village of Ponyville, seeing nothing but abandonment and desolation amongst what had once no doubt been a thriving rural community. This was an image he and his fellow agents had seen all over Equestria; the story the same at each turn. Had he not become so hardened to the constant hardship, such a catalogue would have tipped him over the event horizon of terminal depression.
He went through his well-rehearsed patter and showed his Royal Warrant to allow work to be suspended briefly while all members of the Apple family could be asked about this Jacqueline Apple who seemed to become more mythical with each passing day.
With the family all gathered together in a supervisor’s office, he asked the same questions that had proved to be fruitless every time he had asked them before; why should today be any different?
“So, Mares and Gentlecolts, I should like to know if you have heard of Jacqueline Apple?”
An old green mare giggled maniacally at mention of the name, and a powerful red stallion joined in with a deep rumble of a laugh while a young orange mare blushed deeply.
“Now who in tarnation said you could use that name?” enquired the young mare as the laughter continued to howl around her. The agent, a city pony born and bred, looked taken aback, condemning this response as a country sense of humour.
“Hey now sugar cubes, jes you hold on there! That there’s mah real name; I’m Applejack to everypony else unless I says otherwise!”
“Sorry ma’am” said the stunned agent “Jacqueline is your real name?”
“S’what I jes said. You can call me Applejack like everypony else, ‘cept for mah friends; they jes call me AJ.”
“Is your name really Jacqueline?” asked a wide-eyed yellow filly with a large pink bow in her mane.
“Aw, don’t you go startin' too, yah hear?” came her big sister’s reply. At this, the other two started howling uncontrollably.
“Miss Jacqueline, er, Applejack” said the agent with tangible relief in his voice “You are requested at the Royal Castle in Canterlot by Royal Warrant.” The laughter stopped as abruptly as it had begun.
“Say what now?” said the mare sceptically with her head tilted to one side. The agent showed her his warrant and allowed them all to study it.
“When?” she asked.
“Right now. No need to pack; everything you could want will be made available to you, but please, the Princess is waiting.” At this, all mouths fell wide open.
“Well what yah waitin’ for young ‘un?” demanded the old green mare.
“Yeah, OK Granny; I’m on it” said AJ more than a little confused.
The agent and the farm pony were on the next train from Ponyville to Canterlot and to pass the time, he asked if she knew anything about the other two names on his wanted list.
“No, I ain’t heard of no Fluttershy, but I do recall Rarity; she went to Manehattan last I heard.”
At this, he very nearly fell off his seat.
“C – can you describe her, tell me anything more about her please?” said the startled agent raising his notepad and a pen in his magic, the pages flipping over to a clean sheet.
“Well, shoot” said AJ “She an’ I, well, we never quite hit it off, if yah know what I mean. She was plenty kind an’ generous an’ all, but she was a bit, you know, prissy; not the practical sort, yah know?” drawled the farm pony.
“Now I know that makes me sound bad, but it’s the honest truth” the farm pony continued “Perhaps it’s jes how she comes over, yah know; maybe if we’d gotten to know each other better I would see her different, like?”
“What did she look like?”
“Well Sugarcube, she’s about the same age as me, white coat, spotless white coat that is, purple mane an’ tail, always real purdy like.”
“How about family; surname, anything like that?”
“Don’t rightly know her sur-name. She had a lil sis though; she an' Apple Bloom were regular friends. Right sweet lil singer she was too, ‘cept fer when she would go sing ‘99 buckets of oats on the wall’ – ALL 99 VERSES real loud, if yah know what I mean?”
The agent was scribbling notes furiously as he listened.
“Sweetie Belle; that was her name. White coated filly with pink an’ purple mane, all poufy like. They didn’t stay in contact when Rarity left to help The Cause; there ain't much time fer readin' an' writin' these days.”
“Do you remember anything else; parents perhaps?”
At this AJ raised a forehoof to her chin and stroked it as she focused hard, brows furrowed in concentration above her big green eyes while she looked to the roof of the carriage for inspiration.
“Dang …” she uttered, deep in thought “Nope, never met them myself and I don’t recall Rarity speaking of them neither. Sorry.”
The rest of the journey was spent relaxing in each other’s company, AJ getting to find out about his family, while he in turn got used to her country ways and started to find her truly endearing, if not a little forthright.
When they arrived at the Royal Castle, they were received by Princess Luna personally, delighted to have not only another bearer but also good leads as to where to look for another. She showed the latest arrival through to a room where two ponies were busy trading war stories whilst a third was immersed in a book. Since she knew nothing about the front line exploits of Equestria’s forces, she gravitated towards the mare who was reading. At this point Luna left them.
Four down, two to go.
Whilst agents on the ground roamed across Equestria seeking to find any leads that could help them locate any and all the missing ponies, pegasi agents had only one target in their sights; the missing pegasus. Since only pegasi could walk on clouds, they decided that Cloudsdale would be a sensible place to start enquiries, free from distractions of unicorns and earth ponies. With nothing much to go on, they split into groups covering the residential areas, the weather factory and the Cloudeseum.
Those who had gone to the Cloudeseum were first to report back that this elusive Fluttershy had not bequeathed a legacy of sporting achievement and no record of her could be found as an athlete or a registered supporter. Similarly, those who had gone to the weather factory found no trace of her either and discussions with groups of workers also yielded no new information. Eventually, all groups set about following door to door enquiries; a painstaking and so far unrewarding process.
For days they made slow progress through the streets, marking off entire suburbs in their wake. If indeed Fluttershy was a pegasus, she had left no discernible impression anywhere in Cloudsdale so far as they could see. However, their job would not be done until they had checked every address, so they stuck doggedly at their allotted task, determined that by the time they had finished, if no trace had been found it was because she had no connection with Cloudsdale.
The agents had become used to hearing that nopony had heard of this elusive mare and in full expectation of receiving another rebuffal, an agent knocked at the door of another nondescript residence. The door opened just a crack and a timid voice was heard from within:
“Yes dear?”
“Good morning Ma’am” responded the practiced patter “I am charged by the Royal Princesses to enquire whether you have heard of a mare known as Fluttershy.”
“Oh my. She’s not in any trouble is she? She can be a bit of a handful at times.”
“You know of her?” gasped the agent in surprise.
“Why of course dear, she’s my daughter.”
“May I come in and talk with you please?” said the black suited pegasus, startled at his good fortune.
“I’m sorry, you’ll have to wait for my husband” she replied as the door edged a little further shut.
“Of course Ma’am” said the agent, trying to keep his enthusiasm in check “Can you tell me where I might find her please?”
“No. I’m sorry; you’ll have to wait for my husband.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry to have caused you distress. When will he be available please?”
“I have to go now” came the timid reply at no more than a whisper.
Frustrated, the agent stood back so this nervous mare and possibly also her husband could check him out from the safety of an upstairs window. Then, he just resigned himself to waiting, for however long it would take.
He became aware of an occasional rustle of curtains as the morning turned into afternoon, but he just waited patiently. He may have a Royal Warrant, but that didn’t justify his terrorising the citizens of Cloudsdale, no matter how difficult that may be. Time passed and eventually he spied another black suited figure coming down the road towards him.
“Hey Bud” said the new arrival “Is this as far as you got today? I thought you’d be at least a block away by now.”
“This is her home” said the first agent “I’ve been waiting all day for her mother to let me in.”
“What?” his partner said incredulously “All day?”
“The lady of the house is waiting for her husband before she will open the door to me.”
“All day?” repeated his partner disbelievingly, adding a cheap shot “You’ve not lost your touch then!”
“Real droll” retorted the agent with no hint of humour “Look, I’ll stay here. You see what you can find out from the neighbours then go get the others.”
With this, the black suited pegasus set off to perform a full reconnaissance of the area.
“It’s like this” reported the agent to his patient colleague “The couple that lives here are Mr and Mrs Shy and the neighbours say that they are very, repeat very private ponies. He apparently used to work at the weather factory if that’s any use.”
“Yes, yes it is” said the first agent “Round up the others and go back to the weather factory to see if they can trace any former work colleagues whom Mr and Mrs Shy may trust enough to talk to.”
“On it” came the response as the second pegasus sped off once more.
It was getting dark when a handful of black suited pegasi arrived escorting an elderly grey haired pony. Lights were on in the windows of all the other houses except for this one.
“Oh, let me handle it” said the old-timer walking up to the door. He knocked, but nothing happened, then looked back at the black suited agents, rolled his eyes and shook his head.
“Hello Mr Shy, it’s your old cloud supervisor from the weather factory. Look, I know you’re in there, but these guys outside come from Princess Celestia and want to talk with you; nothing heavy I promise.”
“He’s not here” came a timid female voice.
“Oh please, Mrs Shy” he continued “Nopony’s in any trouble and the sooner you speak to these nice ponies, the sooner they’ll go away. Otherwise they’ll be here all night, with lights …”
He paused, then added “… And the neighbours will all be watching … And I shouldn’t be surprised if journalists showed up …”
Slowly, the front door opened a crack and the old-timer beckoned the black suited agent who had been waiting all day for this moment.
“Thanks Mr Shy” said the elderly pony “Good to see you again.” With that, he slipped inside the door and the agent followed.
Inside the unlit front room the two visitors caught the first shadowy glimpse of their host.
“Shall we turn those lights on?” asked the old-timer.
“Er … No” said Mr Shy “They’ll all be able to see in if we do.”
“OK; close the curtains first then” he suggested.
“But then I might bump into you in the dark” protested Mr Shy meekly.
“We promise we won’t move” assured the old-timer trying not to show the rising frustration he was feeling. He had known Mr Shy a long time, but had forgotten just how painfully timid he was.
“Well, only if you’re sure then.”
“Yes, we’re sure” he said “Please?”
Mr Shy noted the positions of his guests, then walked round them by memory, pulling the curtains closed as he went, before finally switching the light on.
The green pegasus stood timorously by the light switch as if ready to switch it off again if he didn’t like what he saw. He wasn’t sure if he did like what he saw, but a familiar face convinced him that it might just be safe.
“Thank you” said the agent “Now can we talk please?”
Mr Shy looked to his old supervisor for approval and in return received a nod.
“Mr Shy” he began “The Royal Sisters have asked for your daughter Fluttershy by name. Would it be possible to speak to her please?
“She’s not in” said Mr Shy quietly, looking down at the floor.
“Mr Shy” he said “You’re very brave stepping in to protect her, but there’s nothing to protect her from. She’ll be fine.”
“Oh I’m not sure …” his voice trailed off.
“Mrs Shy” called the old-timer “You can come down now; it’s quite safe.”
They waited, then after almost two minutes, gentle hoofsteps sounded on the stairs and the pale peach coloured pegasus descended apprehensively and took her place nervously at her husband’s side, although it was not immediately clear who was supporting whom.
The slow drawn out process of gaining the couple’s trust went on until eventually they felt sufficiently comfortable to tell the agent where their daughter lived and worked. As soon as the agent had this, he gave his excuses and left leaving the quaking parents with their old friend. Desperate to get some movement into his wings after a long day of standing doing nothing, the agent briefed his team and in the fading light, they all took off for a farm to the west of Equestria.
Trained to fly under difficult weather conditions, the onset of night presented them with no significant problems as they were privileged to observe the majestic sight of the moon begin its ascent into the darkening sky. Approaching their destination, the black suited agents split into two groups, one peeling off to the mare’s lodging address whilst the other kept on to the farm where they had been told she worked.
On descending to make their approach to the farm, the pegasi noticed that it was heavily populated by numbers of skittish herbivores that ran in all directions when they passed overhead. Sheep. They made a wide arcing bank to check out the lay of the land before circling back to make their landings in a space outside the many fenced off areas near to some outbuildings. From around the corner of one rickety looking wooden shed, light spilled out from an open door, painting an arc of brightness on the ground. A faint buzzing sound and some sporadic bleating focused their attention. The agent who had interviewed Mr and Mrs Shy took the lead, walking round the corner to see a yellow pegasus sitting astride a three-legged stool shearing a particularly fluffy sheep. She was speaking softly and reassuringly to the sheep and her talents were clearly helping defuse what could otherwise have been a rather fractious undertaking.
The yellow pegasus was wielding her shears frighteningly close to the sheep’s skin, so the agent waited until she had finished separating the sheep from its woolly coat before interrupting.
“Good evening, Miss” said the agent emerging into the shaft of light where he could be seen.
“Oh hello” replied the yellow pegasus quietly.
“Do you know where I may find a pegasus known as Fluttershy?” he enquired.
“Oh my” she replied in little more than a whisper.
“I’m guessing that you may be the mare I’m looking for?” he persisted.
“Eeeeep!” she responded, tailing off into sounds too quiet to be heard.
“It’s alright – don’t worry” he reassured, but she ran off to hide in the comforting darkness of the shed.
“Just one of those days …” he thought to himself.
“Miss Fluttershy” he coaxed, “Do you like the Princess?”
“Yes” she whispered in a tone barely audible “She’s sweet and kind.”
“Would you like to meet her?” he followed up.
“Why?”
“Because she would like to meet you and has written you an invitation.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve spoken with your parents today and they’re quite happy for you to go” he said handing the Royal Warrant into the shadows of the shed. She took it gingerly and read it.
“Oh gosh!” she said, tiptoeing out into the light once more “If she has written such a nice letter, I really should go. But what should I do with these sheep? I have got to shear them all before I go to bed tonight.”
”Don’t worry about that Miss Fluttershy, I’ve got some friends here who are skilled with sheep and would love to take over” he said standing back and turning to where the other agents stood “WOULDN’T YOU GUYS?”
“Oh, well that’s very kind. As long as the sheep are safe and happy, then I’ll come with you.”
A couple of the youngest members of the squad were left as a gesture to placate Fluttershy, and the rest formed a guard around her as she lifted into the air humming little song to herself. The pegasi agents were at first caught off guard by how slowly the young mare flew and almost crashed into each other, quickly adopting a more spread out formation to reduce the risk of collision. Then their leader set course for Canterlot, and they all proceeded very, very slowly.
Fortunately the journey wasn’t too long a distance, which was just as well considering how slowly the group was moving. Once they got near to Canterlot, two agents sped ahead to inform Luna of their discovery; they also requested a flarepath landing site for their timid young flyer in case she misjudged the approach and hurt herself, just to be safe.
As the party proceeded at butterfly pace Fluttershy saw the Royal Castle light up beneath her and began a gentle descent.
“Careful boys” she called out in a raised whisper “Don’t worry if you can’t keep up with me!”
Some of the pegasi looked at each other with raised eyebrows, but said nothing to dampen the spirits of the young mare who continued at such a slow speed, some wondered how she didn’t simply fall out of the air.
Luna stood ready to greet her latest bearer, rigid with rehearsed formality. She was a little surprised at how long their approach was taking, but waited stoically for their arrival nonetheless. Eventually the party landed and the black suited pegasi melted away as Luna advanced to greet her guest.
“Good evening Fluttershy” she welcomed.
“Eeeep!” was all the yellow pegasus could respond. Luna looked quizzically, but noticed that her new arrival had developed a bright pink blush all across her face.
“Art thou well, Fluttershy?” she commented, fearing that the redness could be a disease.
Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came, so she nodded her head instead.
Luna questioned for a moment what rare characteristic this mare could provide to enable the Elements of Harmony, but dismissed the thought as quickly as it had arrived. This was the mare she had foreseen, and as such she would not question the mechanism through which such powerful magic could be created.
Only one now remained unaccounted for; Rarity.