“Fake?” Raindrop asked blankly, staring at the princess.

“Indeed,” Celestia responded, frowning and staring down at the five remaining fake Elements of Harmony, tossing aside the broken sixth in her hoof. “But the question is who took them...”

The young pegasus stared up at her for a long moment, her ears splaying backwards. She was unable to keep a note of whining out of her tone as she said, “But...I need the elements.”

The princess nodded once in response, beginning to pace back and forth. “Indeed...but there are bigger issues here now. I knew it was a mistake to leave the Elements so far from my influence...”

Trailing off, Celestia turned, and her horn began to glow. A pair of guards arrived momentarily, saluting her.

“Damascus, go into the garden, and check to see if Discord is still there.” She turned to the next guard. “Steelhooves, I want you to take the looking glass and fly above Equestria. Look for Wendigo’s.”

The two guards nodded, saluted, and then left to go about their designated tasks.

Raindrop stared up at the princess. “You think it was Discord?”

“I’m not ruling out any possiblities,” Celestia stated, picking up the fake Element representing generosity and staring at it for a long moment, before whispering, “The Diamond Dogs...”

“Diamond dogs? But you said it was Discord,” the pegasus said, quickly losing grasp on what Celestia was thinking. She had heard of Discord before; he was the lord of Chaos, a malevolent entity who cared for no one but himself.

“No...but the Diamond Dogs are the only race I know with access to gemstones of this quality. These gems could almost fool a dragon...” she trailed off then, as though coming up with a sudden idea. She turned to the pegasus. “There were flowers at the grave site, correct?”

“Uhm...a few?” Raindrop answered uncertainly.

“Fresh?”

“One of the wreaths looked a few days old...”

The princess gave a thin smile. “Indeed...Are you still willing to chase the Elements of Harmony, young pegasus?”

Raindrop paused a moment, weighing her options. After a few seconds, she realised she could either go after the Elements, or spend the rest of her life alone. She nodded.

“Good. I’m sending you back out to the grave site. There’s a dragon you have to meet.”

The young pegasus blinked once, her eyes widening. She squeaked slightly as she asked, “...A-a dragon?”

“Indeed. A dragon. He goes by the name of Spike. He and Rarity were quite close. I believe it was he who left the flowers at her grave. Sweetie Belle hasn’t been in Ponyville for two months at least, so it had to be him...” she said, as though to herself, before shaking her head to clear it, before adding, “Wait at the grave site for Spike. He’ll show up to leave flowers sooner or later. I’m sending Sentinel with you.”

Raindrop winced. “I think I’d prefer to go alone...and he would prefer it as well. I get the feeling he really doesn’t like me.”

“I have my reasons to send Sentinel with you, and he had his reasons to dislike you. That is between you, and he. You are finding the Elements of Harmony. A childish dislike of eachother is just something you’ll have to learn how to deal with,” she stated rather flatly, leaving no room for argument.

The pegasus sighed and nodded. “Yes, Princess celestia.”

“Wait for spike. And once you find him, ask him if he noticed any change in the Elements. Anything strange about them; or other visitors to the grave site. Anything that could give us a lead to who took the elements, or when.”

Raindrop nodded in understanding. The princess lifted her horn, and it glowed faintly for a moment. A minute or so later, Sentinel arrived.

“Sentinel. Pack things for a trip. Maybe a week or more. The Elements have been stolen. I think we’ll need your....” she cleared her throat for a moment, “Special talents.”

Sentinel nodded, saluting.

“You want to find Spike. It’s a slim chance that he noticed the Elements were switched. But being a dragon...” she trailed off, shaking her head once. “We need to follow up all loose ends.”

“Yes, your majesty,” Sentinel responded, nodding once.

“You’ll be going with Raindrop. I trust that won’t be a problem?” Celestia enquired.

The pegasus guard paused a moment, to look sideways at Raindrop, scowling a moment. “I shall endure.”

“Be nice, Sentinel. It’s not her fault,” Celestia cautioned, her eyes narrowing.

“Indeed, your majesty. I shall try my hardest to be cordial,” Sentinel responded, bowing.

Celestia shook her head. “Shoo, you two. I need to speak to Luna about this.”

Raindrop frowned a little bit, and then shook her head to clear it, turning to Sentinel. “I’ll need to get things from my home if we’re going for any extended amount of time.”

Sentinel nodded once. “I shall accompany you.”

The young pegasus frowned a little bit at that, before turning and nudging open the door, walking out it. A guard passed her, the one named Damascus. Raindrop heard him say to Celestia; “Upon closer inspection, the statue is a fake. It’s hollow.”

Raindrop looked left at Sentinel, raising a brow, wondering what he thought of this information.

The male pegasus looked worried, his ears splaying backwards, frowning. He looked at Raindrop, snorted, and then faced the front again.

Raindrop scowled back at him, but he was already facing the front again silent. Shaking her head, she bounded down the stairs to the front doors of the castle, and launched herself out of them, wings splaying wide to catch the air. Immediately, she began to head down to Ponyville, to the home she and Shine shared.

Night was falling, and the street lamps were already lit. Shine’s home, however, was dark. He wasn’t there.

Raindrop frowned as she backwinged to a neat landing at the front door. She wasn’t quite sure if she wanted to see Shine right now. She kind of wanted to tell him that she was working to get herself ‘fixed’, but his attitude towards her...she wasn’t sure if she could handle speaking to the stallion right then.

The young pegasus pushed open the front door with her nose, and then began to gather her things up for a long stay at the gravesite.

By the time Sentinel landed, Raindrop was already closing the front door and brushing roughly past him, taking several bounding steps and taking to the air again. The guard just shook his head and then followed after her.

Night flying had always been a favorite thing for Raindrop. The skies were always clear, for the most part, so she could just focus on the shadowed ground as she flew over top of it. The occasional yellow glow of a window denoted a house that still had occupants awake. Moonlight glimmered off the winding body of a river, and dark clouds edged in moonlight scudded along beneath her.

Once again, it was a quiet trip, with Sentinel not saying a word to her. But this time, Raindrop knew the way to the spot, and so didn’t need his guidance. Therefore, she took the lead, not wanting to have to even look at the guard. In the back of her mind, she wondered why she had earned his ire, but the other, more brash part of her mind just didn’t care. If he wanted to treat her with dislike, she could dislike him in return. It wasn’t like she had to be friends with the surly bastard.

It was near midnight when the two ponies arrived at the gravesite. The air was cold, and their exhalations misted in the air.

Raindrop looked back at the guard for a moment, and then snorted and unslung her bags from her back, placing them on the ground, grabbing a blanket out of one of them and settling herself down on one side of the upthrust rock, huddling in under the blanket to keep warm as her body began to cool.

Sentinel didn’t say a word, merely removing his armour and placing it in a neat little pile, stretching and arching slightly for a long moment, and then crawling in under a blanket he himself brought. Raindrop noticed that he was a well-built pegasus. He obviously worked out, a lot. A big, dumb, surly pegasus. His cutie mark was a strange green glow, and she couldn’t quite work that out. But maybe she didn’t see the entire thing in the gloom.

Huffing faintly, she laid her head down to sleep.