//------------------------------//
// Sources 
// Story: Lost Kindness 
// by xXSilverLiningXx 
//------------------------------//

	“Thanks again for coming, Fancypants, but I’m afraid you must go now.  I have an appointment in five minutes,” explained Rarity.
“That’s quite alright,” replied Fancypants.  “I can guarantee that if she’s been anywhere near Canterlot, you’ll know.”
“That’s a relief.  Bye now!”
As Fancypants closed the door, the bell let a soft tinkling fill the room.  Sighing, Rarity sank to the floor.  Let’s see...  Fancypants, Hoity Toity, Bruce Mane, and Picture Perfect so far, so that’s just eight more to go, she thought in relief.
Wait a second...  No, that can’t be right.  Eight more!  How can I possibly sit through that conversation eight more times!?  Now I know how everypony must feel about me.  They’re simply pretentious!  And I thought I liked high society...  She felt compressed, like she had been squeezed down into a tiny gem, only to be trapped inside it like amber.  The walls began to press down around her.
Exasperated, she thought, Calm down, Rarity.  You just need something for your nerves, that’s all.  Tea.  You need tea.
Trudging along, Rarity slowly looked around the kitchen.  It had been a disaster area since Sweetie’s latest attempt at cooking, but nopony had bothered cleaning it up.  They were just too busy, not only organizing a search effort for Fluttershy, but also filling orders and requesting the various favors that Rarity had earned over the years.
It wasn’t that she was doing dirty work or anything—no, far from it.  The only thing Rarity had ever done to earn a favor, was give a free dress, or keep somepony’s secret.  And there are a lot of secrets out there.  People tell their tailors anything, rather like a barber.   Even if Rarity had to use a bit of blackmail here and there, for the most part the favors were given voluntarily.  Besides, with a soul as tarnished as hers, it could use a bit more, so long as it was for the greater good.
She couldn’t help but remember all of those changelings, injured—and sometimes even crippled—in the name of Celestia.  Yet, they weren’t entirely innocent, were they?  They were invaders after all.
Suddenly, her train of thought was broken by the pitched squeal of her teapot.  Gently levitating it over to the already prepared cup, she poured the scalding water.  She watched as a cloud of steam raised itself, and her gaze followed it until it faded away.  A tinkling ring came from the door.
Well that’s not right.  My appointment shouldn’t have been this soon.  That was just an excuse anyhow.  Rainbow Dash is never on time to get her Gala dress.
“Be there in a moment!” she called.
Carefully levitating her tea, she trotted towards the foyer, but nopony was there.  The room was just as empty as when she had left it.
Strange, she thought, turning around.
When she put her hoof down, she heard the soft crinkle of paper.  It was a letter lying in the middle of her foyer.  A bat was pressed into the wax seal.
Ah, Bruce, I knew you’d come through for me!
Opening the letter, she read:
Dearest Rarity,
I must admire your audacity, and how far you’re willing to go to get what you want.  I might have to watch what I say around you, but this is exactly why I will remain a loyal customer.
On another note, I have some news concerning your friend: it would seem that she is everywhere!  Honestly, I haven’t seen her once, but ask anypony on the street and she was there “just five minutes ago!”
I was able to confirm a few sightings, but none of them make any sense.  There are so many over such a large area!  There are at least a dozen in Canterlot, about 35 in Manehatten, and a few in Baltimare.  You can see why such a thing would be confusing.
I hope this can help,
Batmane
PS: I need a new cape.
“Well that’s odd,” she mused, “but then again, so is he.  I just hope that he’s not trying to fool me.”
Rarity wrote out a quick response, and put it underneath the left column of her front porch, where she normally left her “secret” messages.
Dearest Batmane,
Your new cape will be ready on Monday.
In the meantime, the Elements are under harsh scrutiny.  If they “react”—as my friend puts it—then you will be informed.  If it happens, we’ll have to assume the worst.
Let us hope that it doesn’t come to that.
Rarity





Pinkie was stumped.  The more she played with the idea, the better it seemed, but how?  It was possibly the most significant question of her entire life: how do you play three-way tic-tac-toe?  She’d thought that going to the park would help.  Seeing everypony smiling around her did inspire creativity, but then she had remembered the letter.  She still had it, in her mane this entire time, completely unread.  As said mane shifted, the paper fell.  She caught it, mere inches above the ground.  She stared at it, venting indecision into the air around her.
“Pinkie!” somepony yelled.
She could’ve sworn she’d heard somepony, but she didn’t care.  At that moment, that letter was her world.  It was a terrible secret, the last one that a friend hides.  Or maybe it was the very last present on Hearth’s-Warming Day, which you’d been saving for that moment.  Sometimes it was difficult to tell.  All I want to do is open it, so why can’t I?
Suddenly, a deep purple mane blotted out the sun, as Rarity stood over her.  “Pinkie, are you alright?”
Pinkie sat there a moment, still lost in her distant thoughts.  Her mind still remained on the letter.  What could it say?  What could she have wanted me to know?  Eventually she remembered the question, and she managed to choke out, “No.”
“Oh, darling.” As Rarity pulled her into a deep hug, she said, “I do have some good news, though.  There have been some sightings of Fluttershy, mostly around Manehatten.  I’m starting to think that she might be there.”
“You think so?”
“I do.  Now come on.  Let’s go down to Sugarcube Corner and get you a cupcake.  My treat.”
Pinkie felt herself perking up.  She knew that sweets would make her feel better, but she just couldn’t imagine how.  “Okay,” she sniffled.
Stuffing the note back into her mane, Pinkie followed her friend.