//------------------------------// // The Cracks Widen // Story: Returning Home // by ferret //------------------------------// “It’s okay now, Applejack,” she whimpered, from where she sat rocking on the floor in the corner of her nice, safe, secure bedroom. Winona was ascratchin’ at the door but she didn’t know nothing about what was going on. “It’s okay now, Applejack,” Applejack kept on telling herself. “Sure your friends are disappearin’ one bah one, but it’s okay. First Fluttershah then Rarity, then Rainbow Dash, and now Pinkie Pie, and sure Twilight is so busy you’d never even know if she had done gone and vanished. But that don’t mean you’re next, Applejack. Everything is fine and dandy. You just remain nice and calm and—” “Sis! ” Apple Bloom exclaimed in distress, tumbling into Applejack’s room along with a worried brown lil’ doggie. With a frightened yell, Applejack wound up, but then threw out her own forelegs mid-buck, going down in a heap rather than giving anypony or anydog a world of pain. “Apple Bloom!” Applejack said angrily, pushing back the overly attentive Winona and climbing to her hooves again, “What did ah tell yeh about surprisin’ me like that!” Apple Bloom blinked her pretty orange eyes innocently at Applejack, saying with uncertainty, “That y’like surprises? This’s an emergency!” “Well—usually ah do, but with mah friends gon—aw, ah never told you about...” Applejack sighed in defeat, turning the brim of her hat down to cover the blush. “Go ahead, Apple Bloom,” she said evenly. “What’s the big emergency?” “Our school is haunted!” Apple Bloom said, beside herself with worry. “It ain’t just a ghost, it’s a downright malevolent specter!” “A specter is a... okay, what’s this really about?” Applejack asked. “Ah know you ain’t been seein’ ghosts in that there schoolhouse.” “No,” Apple Bloom replied urgently, “Hearin’ them!” “Apple Bloom, there ain’t no such thing as ghosts,” Applejack said patiently, while the two of them curled together on the floor of Applejack’s spartan bedroom around their dog. “The dearly departed go on to th’ Fields and don’t leave no trace of themselves for the most part, an’ certainly not any trace that floats around makin’ spooky noises. You sure it weren’t just your imagination?” “Ah knew you’d say that,” Apple Bloom said in frustration, with a stomp. “That’s why ah didn’t tell you at first! But now it’s a serious emergency, and ah gotta tell you, because Sweetie Belle’s beside herself and Scootaloo’s freaking out, an’ we don’t know what to do!” “Calm down, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, “You won’t get anywhere from fussing about it.” Hugging a foreleg around Apple Bloom, the little yellow filly seemed somewhat mollified as Apple Bloom recalled, “It was makin’ the strangest noises when foals got to school early in th’ morning. Ah heard them more than once. Strange laughter, an’ music coming from underneath the school.” Apple Bloom gave a worried huff in her chest, saying, “It was in the cellar! Down in that spooky dark place with the lights off. Ah don’t know what it wants, but I do know it got Pinkie Pie! ” Well, now Apple Bloom had Applejack’s full and undivided attention. Two minutes later, Apple Bloom had lost Applejack’s full and undivided attention. “So let me get this straight, Pinkie Pie was lookin’ for the ghost?” Applejack said trying mightily not to roll her eyes. “She was!” Apple Bloom said earnestly, “Ah don’t know why though.” “And when she opened the cellar, a pony in a sheet went flying out of it?” “No!” Apple Bloom said with a hurt look in her liquid orange eyes, “It was a ghost! ” “Sure sounds like a pony in a sheet to me,” Applejack replied, unconvinced, “What makes you think it wasn’t a pony?” “It could fly!” Apple Bloom declared, little yellow forehooves flung over her head in shock. A few seconds passed. Apple Bloom lowered her forehooves to the ground, looking at them and mumbling, “...oh yeah.” “Pinkie Pie was lookin’ fer Rainbow Dash,” Applejack said, “And it sounds like she found ‘er. You have any idea where they went?” “Well the ghost... somethin’ was in the cellar under the school house,” Apple Bloom said cautiously. “Ah ain’t seen them since, but we could try lookin’ there? Ah just... don’t want you to disappear too...” Applejack put a hoof on Apple Bloom’s shoulder. Catching the filly in her gentle but steady green gaze, Applejack told her, “Apple Bloom, I want you to know there are times when ah’m gonna be gone far away, but as Celestia is mah witness, I will move heaven and earth to make sure I always return home to you, safe and sound.” Breaking her gaze and tossing that hoof in the air, Applejack then declared angrily, “Pinkie Pie, on the other side, could go poof one day an’ we’d never hear she was back until the party hit! On account of...” Applejack’s gaze softened as she stared out into the dimming evening over Ponyville, “On account of she ain’t really got no family to return to.” Applejack looked at a troubled, yet sympathetic Apple Bloom, saying to the lil’ yellow filly, “Honestly ah’m surprised Pinkie didn’t disappear before Dash did. They’re probably off doin’ something stupid, and Rainbow Dash roped Pinkie into it. Let’s go check that cellar out and find out what they been do done.” Apple Bloom understood perfectly. Applejack crept into the eerie shadowy darkness of the schoolhouse cellar, and turned on the light. There was an old printing press off to the side looking a bit scuffed around, a projector screen pulled open in front of the chalkboard, and a few bits of popcorn scattered here and there. Applejack stepped on a kernel of popcorn, and it popped like a soap bubble. “At least ah know Pinkie’s been here,” Applejack grumbled, “She’s the only pony ah know who uses this cheap propcorn.” “N-no ghosts, huh?” Apple Bloom said, poking her head into the cellar. The filly’s other two friends came in after her, the orange one saying loudly, “Man, and I was hoping we could fight some ghosts!” “Well, at least we know it really was Rainbow Dash,” the white one offered in consolation. “Yeah, is Rainbow Dash here?” the orange one asked, her wings buzzing as she zipped around the room eagerly. “Not that ah can see,” Applejack said, “But somepony’s been eating popcorn, and this here projector screen’s rolled down, an’ if ah’ll be a monkey’s uncle if Twilight’s projector just walked its way off on out of her library. So mah guess is they been watchin’ some sorta movies. What don’t make sense is why they’d both be all secretivelike about it. They never even tried to ask me if’n ah wanted to watch!” “But ah thought you didn’t like those movin’ picture things,” Apple Bloom said curiously. “It would still behoove them to ask,” Applejack replied, right miffed. “An’ now Pinkie’s in on it too? Well, ain’t worth speculatin’ on until ah find them. But where could they have gone off to?” The three foals didn’t have answers, so Applejack sent them off to play away from the schoolhouse cellar. “Thanks for openin’ the cellar,” Applejack told a very practical cerise mare, who was waiting outside with the keyring in her mouth when Applejack herself emerged. “I cleaned up some propcorn, and rolled up the projector screen.” “Ish no probrem,” Cheerilee said, locking the cellar behind Applejack and stashing the keyring away in her space. “I am worried about Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie though,” Cheerilee said more clearly. “Sneaking around the school, using the cellar: it’s not like those two, not even at their worst!” “I think it’s ‘cause they’re hidin’ something,” Applejack speculated, “But ah ain’t gonna know until I find them.” “I haven’t seen either of them in days, Applejack,” Cheerilee said with a concerned look. “Ah’m just gonna hafta go see if Twilight’s...” Applejack gulped, “Not disappeared too. If ah cain find her, she’ll be able to figure out this conundrum.” “You might try talking to the local constable?” Cheerilee suggested, “There are a lot of pretty clever ponies around here, who’d know how to track those two ponies down.” “Nopony’s clever as Twilight,” Applejack said confidently, “An’ she’s the pony ah know best, so I gotta at least ask her. Never hear the end of it if’n ah didn’t give her a chance to solve this here friendship problem. She needs something else to occupy her mind anyhow.” “I’m sure you’re the best judge of that,” Cheerilee said with a gentle smile. Regarding the conflict in Montana, I think we should divert more assets towards Senator DeLancie. Since our front men have been dealt with, nobody will be able to discover we’ve been playing both sides, thus there should be no consequences for the company’s future. Our support of the opposition is key to synergizing our image in the public eye. If we continue our gradual campaign of attrition, the greater economy will be in enough upheaval that our Benecoin™ will have a strong foothold before the authorities even realize what a game changer it poses to be. I have prepared a list of contacts who are unlikely to be outside informants, along with the leverage that can be used to win them over. Please review to see which of these key players might become favorable assets for our litigation against Fannie Mae. Additionally, I have determined the most likely investments to succeed in the near future, so please shift our stocks away from Twilight snapped her head up as she heard the clinking sound of one of her flasks somehow slipping out of alignment! “What the—!” she said, turning to face oh, it’s just Applejack who must have bumped one of them. “Now that ah have your attention,” Applejack said humorlessly, “This here human business has got to stop.” The Rift site was still a bustling place, and now that the princess herself was involved, academics of all sorts were expressing an interest in the phenomenon. It was getting to be an outright scholastic circus! Applejack walked past tents and even buildings, before finding Twilight’s personal research lab, walking in, and knocking one of her beakers out of line. “This here human business has got to stop,” AJ said seriously once she had her friend’s attention, turning down the brow of her hat. She was not miles away from Twilight Sparkle when she said this, and she was not in a mood to take no for an answer. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Twilight stammered, taking a step away from the podium where she had some magic thingy she was working on. “Everything is going perfectly well, amazingly even!” Applejack shook her head, saying, “Ah know you’re kickin’ tail over there or whatnot, but look around you! Rarity and Fluttershy have disappeared! Rainbow Dash is off doin’ something foolish, an’ she dragged Pinkie Pie into it, too! You want me to be the next pony to disappear under suspicious circumstances? Because ah’m the only friend you have left!” “No, you don’t understand,” Twilight said, turning back to her thingy, “There are still a million things to do. My company has gone multinational! Its success is skyrocketing! I still need to address the Asiatic subcontinent if we’re going to gain any sort of a foothold in the world—” “Twilight, no,” Applejack said with a dour frown. “You’re gettin’ caught up in this even more than chess, and that’s all it is: a game. Weren’t you just makin’ this company so you could get the lowdown on Rosy?” Twilight fidgeted on her hooves, saying, “Well... yes, but opportunities came up to...” “Then it don’t matter how well it does!” Applejack hollered, “You’re actin’ like you care about those humans even more than your own friends!” “What? No!” Twilight protested self consciously, “I’m not!” “Fluttershy and Rarity do done disappeared, ” Applejack emphasized very carefully. “I’m sure they’re fine...” Twilight prevaricated, unconsciously scraping a hoof on the ground. “Rarity’s been gone a week!” Applejack retorted, “Ponies stopped even coming to her boutique, since it ain’t open no more. She didn’t even leave a note! Fluttershy’s animal friends are beside themselves with worry because she’s been gone even longer!” “Wh—really?” Twilight said, violet eyes widening as she tilted her head in befuddlement, “But I just saw Rarity the other... oh, that was a month ago. What about Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash?” “They’re gone too!” Applejack said, “But them, at least ah have half a clue. They been watchin’ films or some such, and ah think they’re hidin’ away to do it. Rainbow Dash was watchin’ whatever it was in the school house cellar, but when Pinkie found her, they both disappeared to somewhere else! The Cakes begged me just this morning to get their favorite baker back before the Sunday rush.” “The school house cellar?” Twilight pondered, “But they only keep a projector screen down there. Not a...” With a groan, she tossed her head back and exclaimed angrily, “Rainbow Dash!!” “That’s what ah said,” Applejack said a little unsurely. “They ain’t got a Rainbow Dash down there no more, since she and Pinkie—” Twilight shook her head, saying, “No, no, I mean that I think I know who stole my projector.” She looked over at her unfinished extraworldly missive, known as an ‘e-mail,’ and then back to Applejack. Then the princess hung her head saying, “I was doing it again, wasn’t I.” “It’s fine to get worked up at times,” Applejack said all diplomatic-like, “But yeah, you been really stuck on this, and your friends need your help. Ah think it’s time to call it quits.” “Fair enough,” Twilight said, somewhere between cross and blushing. She genuinely smiled when she laid a hoof on Applejack’s withers though, saying, “Thank you, Applejack. I don’t know what I would do without you sometimes.” “Weren’t nothin’” Applejack remarked, wrapping a foreleg over Twilight’s own. “Now let’s go save our friends.” “Right,” Twilight said, separating and walking out of the tent alongside her apple themed friend, “Now, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash are the easiest,” she said, “So we should definitely start with them. Plus if anypony knows where Rarity and Fluttershy are, it’ll be Pinkie Pie.” “Actually, she didn’t know,” Applejack said uncertainly. “She hadn’t seen ‘em since last week, and they didn’t say anything to her when she did.” “Oh... well...” Twilight glanced back at the tent she was leaving guiltily, “I hope they’re alright. It was very good of you to bring this to my attention. That does not sound like Rarity at all. Nevertheless, we can take care of Pinkie and Rainbow Dash right away, and their aid surely will come in handy.” “How can we take care of them right away?” Applejack asked. “You know where they are?” “Pinkie Pie just took Rainbow Dash down to her basement,” Twilight said with a shrug, “She’s got a projector screen down there. Now c’mon, let’s go get them!” The princess galloped off, with Applejack soon hot on her heels, rushing through meadow and wood, down the deer trail leading to Ponyville. “Don’t you get it? Twilight becoming a princess totally jumped the shark!” “No no no. The shark was jumped long before that.” “Gimme a break. That’s when the show went straight into left field! How is that not a shark jumping moment?” “Because Twilight should have been a princess already, silly!” “That’s what I said! The show stopped making any sense after that! She became a princess because of that story mark swapping spell? That’s just crazy! She should’ve been a princess way before that.” “Well think about before that. Which pony saved the Crystal Empire, instead of Twilight?” “...you mean Spike?” “We need to watch it again.” “We need to watch it again.” When Twilight Sparkle opened the trap door into the basement stairwell, illuminating the dark confines within, the pink pony leapt backward, a set of film reels clattering as she tried to protect them with her body, shrieking, “The jig is up!” The blue pony staggered forward and pulled at the projector screen, rolling it up even as the film continued to play back on the wall behind it. Twilight followed by Applejack somewhat obscured the sunlight above, while the two haggard ponies downstairs fumbled with the equipment and the projector, one very familiar scratchy voice whispering loudly, “C’mon, turn off, turn off!” The projector shut off and the sound playing back scraped to a halt, and as Twilight and Applejack reached the bottom of that dark basement, they turned on the light. There, cringing in the glare of the overhead light was a rainbow haired, sky blue pegasus standing before them, with a nervous smile on her face, one wing spread to obscure the stolen projector that lay behind it. “What were you watching...?” Twilight asked suspiciously. “Oh, you know... just... stuff,” Rainbow Dash replied, looking every which way but forward. The pegasus seemed twitchy and had dark circles under her eyes. What’s worse, it looked like she was developing a bit of a pudge in her cheeks. Not to say she was even close to the level of Pinkie Pie, but she wasn’t looking so good. Those cheeks were flushed, and the wing she used for obscuring the projector was ragged and unpreened. “Stuff, huh?” Twilight said, levitating one of the discarded reels over Rainbow Dash’s head, while Pinkie Pie leapt for it like a shark shouting, “No!” Twilight looked at it, and it was... her own hornwriting, inscribing the text “Season V Episode D.” “These are the show reels!” Twilight exclaimed in horror, looking again at the other two: Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie who were standing side by side, looking a little shaky, but very much abashed. “Yeah, we—I mean I kinda went and uh, borrowed them,” Rainbow Dash said, ears going down. Twilight Sparkle just stared back at her, the only sound being the faint twinkle of Twilight’s magic levitating the film reel. “You borrowed them,” Twilight said in a total deadpan, “From the high security wing in Canterlot palace.” “Yeaah...” Rainbow Dash admitted, rubbing one forehoof over the other, “I kinda stole them. Sorry.” “You stole them?” Pinkie Pie whispered into Dash’s ear, a look of shock on her own face. “I can’t believe you, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said in something between rage and exasperation. “Don’t you know how dangerous these are?” “They’re not, though!” Rainbow Dash protested, “They’re awesome! That one time was just a fluke!” “Yeah!” Pinkie Pie said vehemently, making both Twilight and Applejack’s eyes widen as they looked to her. Stepping protectively in front of Rainbow Dash, the pink horse continued to say righteously, “I watched that episode, and it was fine! I watched every single second of it and I didn’t cry not even once! Okay maybe a little, but it was a good crying!” Dash poked her head up around from behind Pinkie saying, “She’s right. Watched every single second, and she loved it.” “Why would you—what do you mean you loved it?” Twilight said to Pinkie in utter confusion, “It—it reminded you of something terrible that happened to you!” “Yeah, it did, the first time,” Pinkie sniffed, “But the second time, I saw that it was my mark story! My really real mark story! It wasn’t anything bad or terrible. It was something really fun and good.” “You’re not making any sense,” Twilight said, levitating the rest of the reel tapes, “Your mark story was terrible, and traumatic. I saw it traumatize you! I have to get these back before—” “NO!” Pinkie shrieked again, and this time she had her whole body stubbornly wrapped around one of the reels despite Twilight’s attempts to extricate it from the earth pony. “You can’t take it away!” she cried, tears in her eyes, “It’s all I have left! ” “I watched every single one, ” Rainbow Dash shouted at Twilight, wings spread quivering in what certainly was not fear, “Twice! And some of them three times! And they didn’t hurt me at all. I’m perfectly fine!” “You are not fine, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight told her, giving up for now on the bizarre war with saving Pinkie Pie from her own traumatic film reel. “You don’t look like you’ve been flying in a week! Don’t you see what these are doing to you?” “Okay, first off I was flying a couple days ago, a little,” Rainbow Dash said, her confidence dropping at the thought of how little it was, “Okay, so... yes, maybe I’ve been... hiding in the dark and watching them too much. But they’re not hurting me. That’s me hurting myself!” She gave Twilight such a conflicted look, and a light dawned in her eyes, as Rainbow Dash said, “You know why I’m doing this? Because—because you told me not to! I had to know what was on these tapes, Twilight! I had to break into Canterlot, and—and hide from you. That’s what I’ve been doing. Hiding from you!” The pegasus stomped a slim hoof in utter frustration, telling Twilight bitterly, “That’s why I’m not doing so good, because I knew you’d overreact, and so I had to hide what I was doing. And I am terrible at hiding things! I had no problem when we were all just watching them... together. Why couldn’t we keep doing that?” She gave Twilight a pleading look, and there were actual tears glimmering in Rainbow Dash’s eyes while she frantically assured the princess, “It’s safe now. I swear I watched every one, and even SB EBD isn’t something that hurts Pinkie Pie anymore. It showed—she saw her family again, and you want to take that away from her?” “No!” Twilight said, desperate to keep Rainbow Dash from breaking out in tears, as well as herself, as well as Pinkie Pie. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Twilight said fretfully, “I don’t understand anything about this. That’s why it’s dangerous, because I don’t know what’s going on!” “When I was a little filly, I lost my family,” Pinkie Pie spoke up abruptly. Both Twilight and Rainbow Dash turned at that, and paled at the sight: a deflated, overtired, trembling filly with such a look of determination in her fearful blue eyes. Her voice was firm as she said, “When I got my story mark I was so happy. I was just a filly acting out, and I thought me and my sisters would have an adventure if we went exporing in a place dad told us never to play in... so um, things got really bad and... they’re gone now.” “What happened to them, Pinkie?” asked a worried Twilight. “Did something happen? They didn’t get hurt, did they?” A surprised laugh escaped Pinkie Pie, and she adopted a nervous wince, saying, “Sorry, it’s... really hard to talk about.” “Have you looked for them?” Twilight asked with concern. “We could—” “No, Twilight,” Pinkie interrupted, “Don’t you remember? That’s why they don’t want me telling ponies. Why I didn’t want to tell you, because you’d try to fix it, but it’s not something that needs to be fixed.” “So... they’re... estranged?” Twilight pondered. Pinkie spun on her hooves, giving an exasperated scream. Then with her hefty, curly tailed rear facing them, Pinkie stared forward at the basement wall thoughtfully. Twilight was about to say something, when Pinkie Pie whirled again to face them with her face. And just blurted it all out. Twilight Sparkle was at a loss for words. Pinkie attempted a smile, but the corners of her mouth wouldn’t turn up for some reason, while Twilight and Rainbow Dash both stared at her, dumbstruck. “So... yeah,” the pink party pony concluded, kicking out a hoof sideways. That snapped Twilight out of it enough to smirk, saying, “Oh, ha ha, Pinkie Pie. You really had me going there for a minute.” “What?” Pinkie squeaked in astonishment. “This is Equestria,” Twilight replied chidingly. “We don’t have collapsing mines, and we haven’t used cyanide for extraction in over a hundred years, since growing gold is cheaper than mining it.” “They stopped mining for gold, when my dad was a colt,” Pinkie said, “He spent his whole life growing gold actually... my mom was a geologist who researched petriculture, before um... retiring.” “They—they would have deconstructed the mine!” Twilight argued desperately, because that’s what had to have happened! “I guess they just... didn’t?” Pinkie said with an unsure little hoof lift. “They wouldn’t have had any gold left to pay for that~” she tried to joke. “They had to—” Twilight held a hoof to her head, saying, “This doesn’t make any sense! It can’t be true, or you...!” Twilight took a step back from Pinkie Pie, her heart sounding loud in her ears. Pinkie hung her head saying in tired resignation, “Yes it made me sad, and—broken, for a while, but—” “No, it’s not true!” Twilight said, unable to look away from Pinkie, unable to stop seeing it in her mind’s eye. “This is Equestria!” Twilight protested, “That doesn’t happen here! It doesn’t—there must be a—a mistake, or...” “Twilight...” Pinkie said with such a helpless look in her eyes, that didn’t belong there! “Why are you lying to me?!” Twilight shrieked. The strong warm figure of Applejack stiffened beside her. Twilight sucked in a breath then, at the sight of both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie staring back at her in fear. When had she—? When had Twilight lit up her horn? “I–I’m sorry, I—” Twilight stammered, banishing the glow, and taking another step back as she had absolutely no idea what to say. “I— if that was true, you...” Twilight turned and fled, not stopping until she had left Pinkie’s basement, Sugarcube Corner, and the town square. Panting, with her back to the wall in an alley between two houses, Twilight whimpered, then a tight whine escaped her as she sank to her haunches, burying her head in her forearms. “Why does everything the human touches go so wrong?” she sobbed, “That wasn’t Equestria. It can’t be! Not her, not Pinkie...” As Twilight had fled everyone who could have given her one, there was no answer for the crying princess there alone in the alleyway. ... “You okay, sugarcube?” “So that’s why you got all... weird when you had that party of one?” Rainbow Dash chose to interject, after Applejack ran off after their wayward princess. Alone in her basement with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie nodded and said, “Yeah, when I got snowed in, I kinda made some friends who aren’t... there. Mister Toolbelt found me after the winter had passed, because he noticed none of us came into town to resupply in the spring. I was alone for a... while, and I was still only a little filly, so it kinda... I didn’t know how to deal with it, and thought everything was my fault. At the time I mean.” “Jeez, I can’t even imagine,” Rainbow Dash said with low ears. “What can you even do about tha—” “Nothing!” Pinkie Pie interrupted. “You don’t have to do anything. It was a long time ago, and Equestria can be a dangerous place. Sometimes ponies... die.” “Yeah, but ponies don’t die and leave a filly all by—I mean...” Dash scraped the floor. She didn’t want it to be true, but why would Pinkie ever lie about something like this? And Pinkie did admit that she was adopted, after the first time they all watched the oddly named “Cutie Mark Chronicles.” You don’t get adopted without something wrong with your family. “I’m an unusual case,” Pinkie said, trying to smile, “Story of my life, really. This was just the bad kinda unusual.” “You said it,” Dash said glumly. “I hate the bad kind of unusual.” She walked up to Pinkie, and thought to nuzzle her, but then just sat heavily beside her. The petite pegasus leaned the side of her head against her pink friend, and that did make Pinkie Pie feel better. “They had good lives. They just... got interrupted a little early,” Pinkie said, trying to smile, “Mom chose to do what she did... we even tried to force her to eat, and she just wouldn’t—” Pinkie choked on her words, wiping tears away. “Really the only problem left,” she forced out, “Is me.” “You’re not a problem—” Dash said, cutting off as Pinkie grabbed her and held her against her chest. Crying, Pinkie said, “Yes I am! I was. I was not okay for a long time, and I’m still not really, but... now you know that the problem was me, not the show. It’s never been the show!” Dash hugged back as best as she could, curling her forehooves around Pinkie Pie’s forearms, saying, “Hey, Pinkie, it’s okay. You’re not a problem. And that’s coming from me. ” “Y-yeah,” Pinkie said with a shaky laugh, “You don’t joke around about stuff like that.” In the meantime, Applejack was having borderline results with Twilight Sparkle, who said to the stolid orange mare, “I know, Applejack. I just... need some time to think about this. I know Pinkie wouldn’t lie about something like that, but I just... want to look into this a little bit, and reevaluate some... things.” “You might not have a lotta time,” Applejack said, “Ah still haven’t got a clue where Rarity and Fluttershy got off to, and if it’s even worse than Rainbow Dash’s trouble...” “I know, I know, it’s just... everything just loves to hit all at once, doesn’t it?” Twilight said, lashing her tail in frustration, “Just once I’d like to be able to prepare for a disaster, and study it in depth before I have to jump into it.” “We cain study for disasters,” AJ pondered, “But if we could predict ‘em, then they wouldn’t be disasters. So you never know exactly what t’ study beforehand. You cain’t blame yourself for that.” “I know, and I don’t blame myself, but it’s just...” Twilight pressed a hoof into her own temple. “Frustrating sometimes.” “You wanna join with the others?” Applejack asked. “With all due respect, I think I’m just going to go to the library for a while,” Twilight said. “Rainbow Dash isn’t going to watch anything she hasn’t seen already, and I’m just not sure I want to... face Pinkie right now.” “I understand,” Applejack said evenly, “And ah promise I won’t get wrapped up in no human show, like those two did. Ah’m just gonna go kick some sense into ‘em, maybe get ‘em out and about, get something to eat.” “Oh, something to eat sounds great right about now,” Twilight said with a growling stomach. She glanced at Applejack and said “B-but I think I’ll just... fix something for myself at home.” “You take care, sugarcube,” Applejack said. Twilight nodded, and turned to trot off to her safe place. Anxiety filled her as she just felt like the whole world was spinning crazily around her. Everything was just so weird and nothing she expected ever seemed to come true. She knew it wasn’t normal to stand there in the library staring at a bookshelf without reading it, but Twilight really needed some stability and calm right now. Meanwhile in an undisclosed location, Rarity and Fluttershy were both struggling to lift stones, crudely cut into flat bricks. “Oh my I’m... not used to this level of labor,” Rarity said, struggling to even levitate one of them. “It’s a good thing we’re all together in this, or this building would never be created. It looks...” She compared the half finished wall to the other dozen or so dumpy looking identical cottages that’d been built thus far. “Fine...” Rarity concluded uncertainly, finally shrugging, and going to struggle with another brick. Fluttershy slightly nodded in response to that, busy dragging a brick in her teeth to drag it up onto the wall. She certainly wasn’t the best choice for somepony to build a wall, but neither was anypony else here, and that was a good thing. Both of them were very certain that this was supposed to be the case. ATTN Nils Schneider, A very interesting individual contacted me, looking for employment within our security auditing division. They ostensibly went “dark” a few years ago, but want to come forward to support our organization. I need you to find out what you can about a woman named “Bruce Connell.” I don’t know much about her, but I’ve managed to dig up her last known address. It’s an apartment in Chicago, Illinois, that she was renting before she staged her own disappearance. Possibly as part of a witness protection program. I feel her inside knowledge about certain nefarious organizations that threaten our own is worth the risk of alerting the police, but I would recommend you use the services of a private investigator to somewhat draw any attention away from our organization. What Bruce has done since her disappearance is not my concern, but I am concerned about before she vanished. I want to make sure she is a reliable employee with a prestigious work history. For all I know, she might just be a very good liar, who hasn’t any experience in security outside of working at her parent’s fruit stand. The fact that she is competent enough to go completely off the grid makes me greatly optimistic, but I need a few things like her work history, her family, her date of birth, her credit report, any romantic relationships, before I can be sure of whether to bring her on board or not. Sorry to ask another favor of you. I can assure you that if you can get her information, then you might find a tidy sum gifted to your account. I’m counting on you to help me out, so please find out whatever you can about a woman named “Bruce Connell.” Her last known address is 2550 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, apt 319, and she should be listed as a missing person in public police reports. I don’t even know her family though, and I really need this information! Sara Trong Twilight sent the private message, encrypted with a simple but ingenious algorithm based on the difficulty of determining critical points on a complex polygon. It was one even she hadn’t quite figured out how to brute force, the way other encryption schemes fell apart with a simple factorization, but thankfully most of the human world’s infrastructure was still dependent on RSA, so Twilight’s ability to secure-shell login to just about anywhere was assured. Human cleverness aside, Twilight heaved a sigh of relief on sending it. She really had been getting too sucked into the excitement of operating her own company, completely outside the realm of Equestrian law. She had to take a break from it, and focus on her own life, and her friendships. With any luck, once this background check was done, she’d learn what was keeping Bruce, aka Rosy from returning home, and Twilight could then help Rosy work through her problems, and make everything return to the way it was supposed to be. Her replacement for money just took off so strongly, it was thrilling. It was making the humans in power so hopping mad, and Twilight had even learned that it led to armed conflict, in one of the human states that was destabilized as a consequence. A bunch of people were going to walk away sore from that one, Twilight was pretty sure. Especially if it escalated into an all out brawl, before the humans determined their new herd order. She just hoped that they didn’t have to resort to using pies. That sort of fighting got really messy. But now Twilight was done with it. She looked around at the buildings, tents and instruments filling this clearing. There were going to be a lot of unhappy ponies when this Rift closed. But there were a lot more happy ponies by virtue of the fact that it had remained opened as long as it did. The mess with Rosy was going to get cleaned up, and everypony was going to come out of it better for the experience. All-in-all, Twilight was pretty happy with how things were going to turn out. All she had to do now was get Bruce back home, and also find wherever Rarity and Fluttershy had gotten off to. One month later, Twilight was absolutely freaking out about the situation. She hadn’t been able to even visit the Rift in a week, because her friends Fluttershy and Rarity had vanished off the face of the earth. They weren’t in Cloudsdale, or Ponyville. She had missing ponies posters put up in every major city. Even the military was getting involved! Twilight consulted her corkboard that she’d actually had to move bookshelves to mount up on the wall. Sure they were bookshelves in her own private bedroom, but still marked this as a significant undertaking. She paced back and forth, looking intermittently at the pinned evidence she’d managed to collect, connected by strings to indicate possible relations. The only real lead she had was that there were missing ponies reports the past few months who had all been frequent spa-goers, but Twilight had cased out the Ponyville day spa and found neither hide nor hair of any funny business. Twilight moved a pin next to where Pinkie Pie was up on the corkboard, wondering if maybe she could corellate that with the rising value of cotton in wake of the Hayshire debacle. But that would mean that a criminal element had infiltrated the looming industry. “I think I found something!” Pinkie Pie shouted up on the corkboard, scaring Twilight out of her wits. Picking herself up from frantically scrambling back, Twilight was so spooked she had to use a hoof to fold back her frightened wings. “Don’t scare me like that, Pinkie!” Twilight chided the pink pony hopping down from the corkboard. “Pff, please,” Pinkie said, rolling her eyes, “I’ve seen you scared Twilight, and that was just a little startlish.” “Nevertheless it—wait, you found something?” Twilight asked, suddenly hopeful. “Yeah, I found out that somepony got a letter recently, from Sugar Belle!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Rarity’s cousin?” Twilight asked curiously. “How’s she been?” “Disappeared!” Pinkie replied, “She went missing a year ago!” “Yet somepony got a letter from her?” Twilight asked, wide-eyed. “Do you think she’s with Rarity?” “I think... hold on, let me finish,” Pinkie said, screwing up her brow and saying rapid-fire, “Night Glider got a letter from Sugar Belle saying she was fine and everything was wonderful here, but she didn’t say where here is, but the letter was delivered by a pony who saw a pony in Dodge City, who got it from a hooded pony who found it on the—” “Pinkie! Hold on,” Twilight interrupted, plugging her friend’s yop with a hoof. “What does this have to do with Rarity? You say Sugar Belle sent a letter, saying she wasn’t in distress?” “Mmm-mmm,” Pinkie said, with pleading eyes. Oh, right. Twilight took her hoof out of Pinkie’s mouth. “She is definitely in distress,” Pinkie said, “It just didn’t say she was. But Night Glider told Sugar’s mom about it, who told Cookie Belle, who told me, since Rarity is missing too, and she sorta hoped they were both missing the same way. So... that’s what I got. And a good feeling about it. And the letter.” Pinkie brandished the letter, which Twilight snatched in her magic and read intently. It was poorly mouth-written, apparently on the back of a napkin, with some kind of flaky brownish ink. Dear Nigty, I know you’re not worry about me, because they are too wraped up in their special talents to let go of yur misery and hatred, but I still wanted to let you know I was okay except I forgot my resipes no don’t I dont need them sory. Sory for being selfish and talking to ponies who don’t understand our cause. It’s so wondurful here that I wish you could let go of your misery and haterd, but I know your too wraped up in your special talent to do it, but maybe you could give it up and then I could see you again? Suger Bell “Okay... okay. O...kay so something is seriously wrong here,” Twilight said in a trembling voice, “Have you contacted the police about this?” “Not yet,” Pinkie said, “I didn’t want to do that without making sure I wasn’t just reading it wrong. I don’t wanna repeat the Cranky Doodle incident. So, it is really terrible, even though she says it’s wonderful, right?” “Yes, yes this is definitely a very distressed pony,” Twilight replied, “Who seems to blame Night Glider’s special talent for something. Did you get Night Glider’s occupation?” “Demolition,” Pinkie replied, “I think she might also do some trick flying as a hobby.” “That... isn’t exactly the most all consuming career,” Twilight replied thoughtfully. “Well, I will definitely forward this to the police, especially since it mentions ‘us’ so other ponies may be involved. I don’t know if that would include Rarity herself, but for now I’ll pin it up next to—” “Wait!” Pinkie shouted strangely urgently. Twilight halted in the process of levitating the letter up to her corkboard, and looked back at her with worry. “Smell it first,” the pink pony said with an uncharacteristically serious expression. Twilight regarded Pinkie thoughtfully, then held the letter up to her snout and took a whiff. Twilight’s wings snapped out again as all the fur on her back stood on end. “I am contacting the princesses about this, immediately, ” she declared, staring at the floating letter as if it was going to bite her nose off. “Yeah, I thought you’d say something like that,” Pinkie said frankly. “Should I go get the rest of our friends?” Sweating bullets, Twilight said, “But without Rarity and Fluttershy, I don’t see how much we can—” “Just for moral support,” Pinkie assured hastily, “We can all help as just ponies, too.” “Right...” Twilight said uneasily, “ Go ahead and assemble the... girls. In the meantime, I need to write a letter.” “Spike!!” Twilight called out upstairs while Pinkie zipped off. “I’m never going to see my beautiful sweet diamond again!” he called out sorrowfully in reply. “This is important!” Twilight shouted back. “Leave me to my misery!” Twilight Sparkle sighed, and went to retrieve a scroll and quill. She winced at the ink, the moment before she dipped the quill in it, before composing her missive. Spike would definitely send it, but her little dragon assistant needed some more comforting again, it seemed. It would have to come after the letter. This was important. To The Princesses Luna and Celestia, I feel it is important to inform you of this right away. My attention has come to a dark plot by which ponies may have been foalnapped and subjected to traumatic conditioning. A letter has surfaced recently, from a pony known as Sugar Belle. She went missing approximately one year ago, and in my search for the other bearers, my friend found that Sugar Belle had sent a letter to her friend very recently, a letter whose contents alone are disturbing enough to guess that she is under severe mental duress and coercion, possibly by or with other ponies. The letter was crudely written, with what seem like repetitive, prescripted phrases, and her spelling was absolutely atrocious. The reason I need to bring this to your attention is that in her letter, Sugar Belle did not say she was in trouble, or under duress, and referred to her situation as “wondrful,” yet she felt her letter was urgent enough to write it in what appears to be her own blood. This is a pony crying for help, who has been made unable to cry for help. I realize I’m a princess now, and can act without your authority or prior approval, but this seems dangerous enough to Equestria at large that I felt you should be immediately informed. Any advice is welcome. I’m going to try and use a forensics spell to recover what I can from the events of this blood’s spilling. My friends and I will do what we can, but we must exercise extreme caution. If this is related to the disappearance of Fluttershy and Rarity, then we may be trotting into a trap. If it isn’t, then we’re no closer to finding Fluttershy and Rarity, and having to deal with this at a severe disadvantage with only four of the Elements together. Either way, extreme caution and awareness shall be our strategy. Yours truly, Princess Twilight Sparkle Spike was at his Rarity shrine when Twilight found him. Levitating the rolled up scroll next to her, she told the little drake, “Hey, it’s okay. Rarity’s sure to turn up pretty soon. She’s a very capable mare, you remember from the last time she was ponynapped? She’s probably got her captors kissing her hooves right now.” “But you don’t know that!” he replied in worry and sorrow, “She might be anywhere, we don’t even know where she is!” “And we’ll find her,” Twilight insisted, “Just like we used her gem finding spell the last time. I haven’t figured out what to use this time, but I’m getting closer. Listen, I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia. There’s another mare who went missing a year ago, and we might have some clues as to her current location.” “You think... Rarity will be there?” he asked, hoping beyond hope. Twilight gave him a thin lipped smile and said, “To be perfectly honest, I hope she’s lost somewhere else entirely. But if Rarity is involved with Sugar Belle’s disappearance, I assure you we’ll have both of them saved before you know it. A-assuming nothing happened to Rarity, that is.” “Happened to her?” Spike asked in horror. “Nothing, never mind, I’m just being a worry wort,” Twilight said hastily, brandishing the scroll before her like a shield. “Now please send this, and we can go about finding Sugar Belle, and anypony else who is being held captive with her.”