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// More or Less 
// Story: Patience is a Virtue 
// by Linkinshire 
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	More or Less

There was a problem though, naturally. It had arisen a day or so previous to Luna's arrival at the library when Twilight had collected Rarity from her bench. The issue was that when it came to using the LPS, aka. Liquid Pinkie Sense, on ponies, the options for testing were few and far between. Rarity herself wasn't able, though she offered, because she was busy crafting the armour desperately needed by Equestria's soldiers and to fall ill to unforeseen problems could leave Equestria significantly less durable. 
Pinkie could not be tested for obvious reasons, Twilight stating quite simply that if there were any affects then the chances are that they wouldn't be particularly helpful. The young alicorn also couldn't act as a test subject because it would be far too difficult for her to do a thorough analysis of herself, and if anything went wrong, she'd be putting the entire project on the line... and possibly the country. 
Princes Luna could not as she was an entire line of defence alone and to risk that would be absurd, even if the chances of problems were slim. Perhaps even microscopic. Twilight had the figures and she was confident but it had to be tested on a pony. She was careful. She'd done every other test available to her but not testing it on a pony before distributing it to troops could prove to be the downfall to the Equestrian military and this Liquid Pinkie Sense was meant to be the key to securing victory, not the cause of their demise.
Rarity and Pinkie could, after all, only understand the basics of the complex science and Rarity, despite being a unicorn, wasn't an academic in the field of magic and so knew painfully little beyond gem crafting and advanced telekinesis. Neither would be capable of continuing the research if Twilight were to fall ill from the effects. 
And so it was down to Fluttershy. They could think of nopony else who wasn't already fighting in the war, or who was nearly as reliable as the kind-hearted Pegasus.
Which, was made exceedingly more difficult by the fact that she'd become something of a shut in for the past several weeks... or was it months? Rarity couldn't really remember. She was just so busy and the time flew by and-... Yes, it was months. She remembers the last time that she saw Fluttershy being two and a half months previous when she'd... broken down over the letter that her darling Applejack had written to her; the scrawl containing a hurried promise, stained with tears long before it entered Rarity's hooves. The page still left a pang and a fear in her heart when she thought of it.
But that was the last time she'd seen her friend. When she'd needed somepony to listen to her and she'd come to Fluttershy who had, of course, brought her inside, offered her tea then let her cry onto her shoulder for several tiring hours without so much as a murmur of complaint.
Rarity cannot suppress the wave of guilt that washes over her at the thought of having allowed herself to be distracted to the point of forgetting one of her dearest friends.
She must be well though. She has letters delivered once a week to everyone despite her reclusive nature. Which, Rarity supposes, means she hadn't forgotten so much as thought Fluttershy was content enough not to need worrying too much about... which was ridiculous, of course, because Rainbow Dash was Fluttershy's childhood friend and Applejack was perhaps the only one out of the group who understood how much the ground meant to the timid Pegasus.
“... Rarity, you fool.”
She is heading towards the familiar cottage now with a fresh weight on her shoulders and an ache in her chest. Her steps are significantly quicker than usual. There is a rising anxiety and an unpleasant knot settled in her stomach that leaves her skittish. 
She is so intently focussed on the cottage in the distance that it takes her keen eye far longer than it should have to notice that the usually neat and lovingly preened and cared for plant life is, for lack of a better term, wild. Rarity pauses, her eyes scanning the overgrown grass and thriving weeds. Fluttershy openly encouraged nature to live with her but she didn't let it creep too close. She tamed it carefully like she did animals and in tern, it was beautiful for her.
This wasn't beauty... It was a mess.
Rarity frowns deeply then walks onwards at a much slower pace.
The next thing she notices is the aching void of silence where chirping birds and squeaking rodents ought to be residing. She stops again, ears pricked attentively, swivelling slightly in the hopes of catching something... Anything.
“Nothing...” She whispers. Her heart flutters with rising panic. “Nothing,” She repeats in bafflement and her eyes widen. “Where are all the animals?” She questions but of course there is nopony around to give her the answer she desperately wants. She wants somepony to tell her that they're at a tea party or have gone for a walk with Fluttershy. 
Yes... Every. Single. One of them. 
Rarity breaks into a gallop. Her hooves pounding against the dry earth as she scrambles towards her friends house, fear powering her on and leaving her oblivious to the mud staining her otherwise flawless alabaster hooves. 
“Please tell me that she's okay. Please...” She murmurs and she runs up to the small, quaint cottage. She skids to a halt, throwing up dust and her eyes dart across it's front as she breathes hard. Her heart stops dead in her chest... The curtains are shut and there is almost no sound here; just the barest rustle of leaves from a soft breeze. The curtains are shut.
Rarity swallows. Her mouth suddenly feels very dry.
Fluttershy wakes at six in the morning, bright and early to tend to the early riser and the first thing she does is open her curtains... 
They are shut.
“Maybe she just isn't awake. Maybe she's... sleeping in...” Rarity says and there is nopony there to tell her how weak those words sound but she doesn't need them to be. Her own ears, and her own heart, tell her that she's speaking what she doesn't believe. She steps up to the door and then catches sight of the small scrap of worn paper there.
She practically tears the door off in her haste to grab the note from the nail pinning it there. She stares down at the words, her mind struggling to process them. 
She reads it again...
And again...
And again...
Then she looks lifts her gaze and stares ahead at nothing.
“She's gone...” She murmurs and the note drifts out the grasp of her magic and settles gently on the ground as she hesitantly enters the building with the words glaring up at the sky, the softness and the elegance in the script doing little to ease the sting of the words.
I'm very sorry, Rarity... 
There's just something that I have to do.
Keep safe,
Fluttershy. 
Rarity gazes around at room, so warm and inviting once upon a time, and now coated in a thick layer of dust. Her next breath trembles and her hoof flies to her mouth as tears sting her eyes, the small vial of LPS in her saddlebags long forgotten.
Emptiness.
“Oh darling, where have you gone?”